USA > Missouri > A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I > Part 20
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WOMEN STUDENTS IN JOURNALISM WITH WINIFRED BLACK
From left to right-Top row-Miss Cannie R. Quinn, Miss Etna McCormick, Miss Mary G. Paxton, Miss Florence LaTurno.
Bottom row-Miss Heloise B. Kennedy, Miss Josephine Sutton, Miss Bess Fried- man, Mrs. C. A. Bonfils (Winifred Black), Miss Blanche Whittaker.
run through two editions. Before her marriage to Otho F. Matthews, the author was city attorney of Palmyra, a position which she capably filled. Mrs. Matthews does considerable sketch writing, and is "associate counsel" for her husband, who is a well-known lawyer.
William Turk, of Macon, an invalid nearly all his life, wrote the "Completion of Coleridge's Christabel." An eminent critic of poetry, residing at Boston, said this of Mr. Turk's bold attempt:
"Christabel's completion at the hands of this young western author has lost none of the dignity and grace that Coleridge himself might have imparted to it."
Mr. Turk was just twenty when he finished the work which brought that commendation from Boston. He wrote a great many plays, several of them tragedies, which he submitted to Mansfield and other high priests of the drama. All spoke well of the young man's work, and some of the plays were being prepared for presentation, but on June 14, 1903, the young author died, right at the threshold, seemingly, of his fame. He was just twenty-seven.
The late Dr. Willis P. King, was at one time resident of Macon
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county, Missouri, and while traveling on horseback over the muddy country roads, performing the arduous duties of a rural practitioner, acquired the material for an interesting volume which he published later, and called "Stories of a Country Doctor." Dr. King produced another work, "Perjury for Pay," which attracted a great deal of attention.
"Forty-five Years in the Ministry" is a story of the circuit riding days of Elder J. W. Cook, a Baptist minister of Elmer, Macon county. "The History of the First and Second Missouri Confederate Brigades," and "From Wakarusa to Appomatox" is the title of a rather large volume by Colonel R. S. Bevier, who lived at Bloomington, the old county seat of Macon, up to the war between the states. The work is largely personal reminiscences, and yet there is much valuable information between the covers of Colonel Bevier's highly entertaining book. Colonel Bevier took from Macon county a Confederate battalion, which joined General Sterling Price, at Nevada, Missouri.
"The Phoebe Cary of the West" is the graceful title that was bestowed upon Mrs. G. W. Hunt, a poetical writer, by Colonel W. F. Switzler. Mrs. Hunt lived in Randolph county. She was a regular contributor to Godey's Lady's Book and the old St. Louis Republican, and occasionally to the Columbia Statesman. In 1876 Mrs. Hunt pub- lished a small volume containing some of her best work. Among her most popular poems were: "The Skylark," "The Evening Hour," "Over and Over Again," "A Temperance Battle Cry," "My Happy School Days." Governor George Hunt, of Arizona, is a son of Mrs. Hunt, who died at Huntsville, November 3, 1883.
John W. Million, president of Hardin College, Mexico, has produced a valuable work entitled "State Aid to Railways in Missouri," which appeared as one of the studies by the Department of Political Economy in the University of Chicago in 1897. and which has been favorably reviewed by leading journals. The Chicago Post devoted a column of interesting discussion to Mr. Million's book and its purpose. Among other things the Post said: "We are glad to find, in the economic studies of the University of Chicago, a volume giving useful information regard- ing state activity in connection with railroads. The book is entitled 'State Aid to Railways in Missouri,' but it is not limited to the experi- ence of Missouri alone."
"With Porter in North Missouri" is an interesting narrative of the war of the sixties, by Joseph A. Mudd, a native of Lincoln county, Missouri, but now residing at Hyattsville, Maryland. The book describes the battle of Kirksville, the retreat of Porter and his stand in Macon county, where he stopped the Federals, and made a successful evacua- tion of the district, with his recruits. The work is of considerable historical importance, and is well-written by a brave soldier and able historian. The book was published in 1909. Following the war, Mr. Mudd was for some time editor of the Troy, Missouri, Dispatch.
Montgomery county has produced some interesting literary people. Their names and works follow : R. S. Duncan, "History of the Baptists of Missouri," and a personal memoir.
Mrs. C. K. Reifsnider is an extensive and capable contributor to the magazines.
Bruger
Robert Rose and Wm. S. Brough wrote a humorous and entertaining book dealing with "Pioneer Days in North Missouri."
Judge Robert W. Jones, "Money Is Power."
Francis Skinner, a 49er, described his experience in a book entitled : . "The Route to California, and the Medical Treatment that was Admin- istered to the Travelers Thereon."
Elder James Bradley, "The Confederate Mail Carrier."
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Mildred S. McFaden developed good literary ability while attending Central Wesleyan College at Warrenton; afterwards taught music and then went to St. Louis where she became a member of the Chaperone editorial staff, and later one of the editors of the Sterling Magazine, which was said to be the handsomest and most attractively edited publi- cation ever produced in the metropolis.
Here is a verse from Mrs. McFaden's "Song of July," published in the Sterling:
My trio of beautiful sisters Have filled the whole world with their song, Tho' scarcely I hope to be welcome, I promise to tarry not long. I sing not of beauty and loving -- The heart of a soldier have I; The deaf'ning boom of a cannon Is sweeter to me than a sigh!
"A Little Book of Missouri Verse," comprising "Choice Selections from Missouri Verse-Writers," collected and edited by J. S. Snoddy, of Woodson Institute, Richmond, Missouri, includes work by the follow- ing who now live, or have lived in Northeast Missouri :
Nathaniel M. Baskett, editor of the Moberly Monitor; M. W. Prewitt Doneghy, Eugene Field, Willis P. King, Mildred S. McFaden, Thomas Berry Smith, Adelaide E. Vroom, Mrs. Anna M. Weems, Mrs. Elizabeth Ustick Mckinney, Horace A. Hutchison, Mrs. Lillian Kelly, wife of George B. Kelly, founder of the Moberly Monitor; Grace Hewitt Sharp.
In 1884 N. M. Baskett published a volume of verse entitled, "Visions of Fancy." He edited the St. Louis Medical Almanac in 1889-90; was state senator from the Ninth Missouri district, 1892-1896. As editor of the Moberly Monitor he has given that paper a distinction for his graceful writing and clearness of thought.
Thomas Berry Smith published in 1880 a chart, "Circle of the Mater- ial Sciences," and in 1890 a text book entitled: "Study in Nature and Language Lessons." His verses have appeared from time to time in state and national publications. Since 1886 he has been professor of chemistry and physics at Central College, Fayette.
LIST OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI AUTHORS
The following list of Northeast Missouri authors and their work is taken from "A Catalogue of Publications by Missouri Authors"; com- piled by F. A. Sampson, secretary State Historical Society of Missouri :
J. W. Barrett-"History and Transactions of the Editors' and Pub- lishers' Association of Missouri." Canton, 1876.
James Newton Baskett-"As the Light Led." New York, 1900; "At You-All's House, a Missouri Nature Story," New York, 1898; "Story of the Birds," New York, 1897; "Story of the Fishes," New York, 1899; "Sweetbrier and Thistledown," Boston and Chicago, 1902.
Mrs. Julia M. Bennett-"Beauty's Secrets," "Ladies' Toilet Com- panion," Hannibal, 1880.
Chess Birch-"Reminiscences of the Musical Evangelist." Hannibal, 1891.
J. B. Briney-"Form of Baptism," St. Louis, 1892; "The Relation of Baptism to the Remission of Alien Sins." Moberly, Mo., 1902.
Carl Crow-"The Columbia Herald Year-Book," Columbia, 1904. George W. Dameron-"Early Recollections and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens of Pioneer Days," Huntsville, Missouri, 1898.
Henry Clay Dean-"Crimes of the Civil War," and "Curse of the Funding System," Baltimore. 1868. (See sketch of life.)
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The Rev. R. S. Duncan-"History of Sunday-Schools," Memphis, Missouri, 1876; "History of the Baptists in Missouri," St. Louis, 1882.
W. W. Elwang, papers: "An Address to the Students of the State University," September 14, 1902; "The Negroes of Columbia, Missouri," a study of the race problem, Columbia, 1904.
Forrest G. Ferris-"Moberly Libraries and Literary Societies," Moberly, 1904.
Elizabeth Davis Fielder (Elizabeth Monckton)-"The White Canoe and Other Legends of the Ojibways," New York, 1904.
C. O. Godfrey-"Treatise on the Bituminous Coals of the West," St. Louis, 1872. (Mr. Godfrey was one of the early coal operators of Macon county, being associated with Thomas E. Wardell-Ed.)
John D. Hacker-"The Church of Christ, Viewed in the Midst of Rival Elements," Columbia, 1897.
LOVERS' LEAP
Wilfred R. Hollister and Harry Norman-"Five Famous Missour- ians-Mark Twain, Richard P. Bland, Champ Clark, James M. Green- wood and Joseph O. Shelby," Kansas City, 1900.
Richard H. Jesse and Edward A. Allen-"Missouri Literature," Columbia, 1901.
Maximillian G. Kern-"Rural Taste in Western Town and Country Districts," Columbia, 1884.
W. H. Martin-"Reminiscences of My Home," Moberly, 1902.
Alex. Mudd-"Reasons Why I Am a Christian and Not a Romanist," Montgomery City, 1902.
John R. Musick-"Banker of Bedford," and many other works. (See sketch.)
Dowler B. Newberry-Masonic papers, "Science of Symbolism," Hannibal, 1896, "Ancient and Modern Masonry," Hannibal; "Look to the East!" Hannibal, 1895; "The Mystic Art Divine," Hannibal, 1894.
Frederick B. Newberry-"The Voice of Christianity," Hannibal, 1897.
Vol. 1-10
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Philemon Pement-"Probation After Death," Moberly, Missouri, 1897.
S. Y. Pitts-" Mt. Pleasant Association; Historic-Biographic," Salisbury, Missouri, 1895.
J. J. Porter-"Restricted Communion," Columbia, 1900.
The Rev. J. H. Pritchett and Elder John S. Sweeney-"Religious Discussion at Clarksville, Missouri," St. Louis, 1869.
Perry S. Rader-"Civil Government of the State of Missouri," Columbia, 1897; "School History of the State of Missouri," Brunswick, Missouri, 1891. Also issued with Thummel's and Rader's Civil Govern- ment, Columbia, 1897.
W. K. Roberts-"Divinity and Man; a Doctrinal Hypothesis upon the Structural Order of the Universe, the Career and Destiny of the Soul and the Moral Obligations of Life," Mexico, Mo., 1895.
Will A. Rothwell-"Moberly Art Souvenir," Moberly, Mo., 1896. F. A. Sampson, Secretary of State Historical Society of Missouri- papers : "Natural History of Pettis County, Missouri," 1882; "Notes on the Distribution of Shells. Article III," Kansas City, 1883; "Bulle- tin of Sedalia Natural History Society," Sedalia, 1885; "The Shells of Pettis County, Missouri," Sedalia, 1885; "Pettis County and Sedalia, Missouri," Sedalia, 1886; "Notes on the Subcarboniferous Series at Sedalia, Missouri," New York, 1888; "History and Publications of the Missouri Horticultural Society," Jefferson City, 1891; "Mollusca of Arkansas," Little Rock, Ark., 1893; "A Bibliography of the Geology of Missouri," Jefferson City, 1890; "A Bibliography of Missouri Authors," Sedalia, 1901; "A Bibliography of the Official Publications of Missouri," New York, 1904.
Dr. John Sappington-"Theory and Treatment of Fevers," Arrow Rock, Missouri, 1844.
The Rev. Louis F. Schlathoelter-"Hypnotism Explained," Moberly, Missouri, 1898.
D. W. Shackleford-"Missouri Criminal Code," indexed and annotated, Columbia, 1895.
The Rev. George W. Sharp-"Faithful God; as Shown in Sketch of Life of the Rev. James E. Sharp," 1896. Author resides in Kirks- ville.
Dr. A. T. Still-" Autobiography, with a History of the Discovery and Development of the Science of Osteopathy," Kirksville, Missouri, 1897; "Philosophy of Osteopathy," Kirksville, Missouri, 1899.
Wm. F. Switzler-"Report of the Internal Commerce of the United States," Washington, 1888; "Illustrated History of Missouri," St. Louis, 1879. (See sketch.)
The Rev. H. E. Truex-"Baptists in Missouri; an Account of the Organization of the Denomination in the State," Columbia, 1904.
The Rev. Dr. Pope Yeaman-"History of the Missouri Baptist Association," Columbia, 1899.
G. M. Dewey-"Railway Spine," Keytesville.
Eugene Field and Roswell M. Field-"Echoes from the Sabine Farm," New York, 1895. (See sketch of Eugene Field and his works.) Mary E. Reiter-"Pure Gold," Moberly, Missouri, 1896.
W. H. Porter-"Seven Original Poems by an Old Blind Man," Han- nibal, 1887.
T. Berry Smith-(Poems) "Two Weddings," Fayette, Missouri. 1902; "The Pigeon, A Study in American Literature," Fayette, Missouri, 1903.
George E. Trescott-"Chirps; Odd Rhymes at Odd Times," Troy, Missouri.
CHAPTER VIII THE STORY OF THE STATE
By Jonas Viles, Professor of American History, University of Missouri, Columbia
Although Missouri has shared with the surrounding states the great advantages of soil and climate common to the great valley and also borne her part in the history of western development, certain influences have given her history a number of distinctive features. She has unusual variety of surface and natural resources, leading to a diversification of industries. Her geographical position in reference to the Ohio, the Missouri and the Mississippi, great natural highways, have made her a sort of cross-roads for the commerce of the middle west and brought about within her borders the meeting and mingling of streams of migra- tion from the north, the south, and abroad. And the early introduction of negro slavery made her like Kentucky and Tennessee, a western slave state, with an allegiance divided between the west and south, a division for years profoundly affecting her history.
SETTLEMENTS BEFORE 1804
De Soto, the Spaniard, may have reached what is now the state of Missouri; Joliet and Marquette and LaSalle, the French discoverers and explorers of the Mississippi, certainly floated past her shores, but her history began in 1699 and 1700 when French missionaries, peasants and fur traders from Canada began their settlements at Kaskaskia and the neighboring villages. Soon afterward these fur traders explored the lower Missouri, while other adventurers opened up the lead mines on the Meramec and the St. Francois. At the crossing to the lead country grew up about 1735 the first permanent settlement in Missouri, the town of Ste. Genevieve. Thirty years later the Missouri river fur trade led to the founding of the second settlement at St. Louis, by Pierre Laclede Liguest, of the firm of Maxent, Laclede and Company, merchants of New Orleans, who held a license for the fur trade on the Missouri. After a winter at Fort Chartres, west of the Mississippi, Laclede fixed his trad- ing post at St. Louis in February, 1764.
When the great struggle for the control of the Mississippi valley ended in the defeat of France and her surrender of the valley, the eastern part to Great Britain and the western to Spain, and when an English garrison in 1765 took possession of Fort Chartres, hundreds of the French in the thriving villages around Kaskaskia moved over to Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis. With this sudden increase in population they became thriving villages of over five hundred inhabitants, the largest settlements above New Orleans. Population then increased more slowly but gradually new centres were established: St. Charles for the conven- ience of the Missouri river traders and trappers; Cape Girardeau, origin-
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ally an Indian trading post; and New Madrid just below the mouth of the Ohio.
After 1796 there came another wave of immigration, this time of Americans from Kentucky and Tennessee, attracted by the free land and low taxes. These Americans avoided the French villages and settled on detached farms, especially in the present county of Cape Girardeau and around Fredericktown, Farmington and Potosi. Among them was Daniel Boone, who, in 1799 moved from Kentucky to the frontier of settlement in the present St. Charles county. When the American flag was raised over Missouri in 1804, at least six thousand of the total population of ten thousand was American. The villages, however, re- mained distinctively French and as yet dominated the whole province.
CONDITIONS UNDER FRENCH AND SPANISH
After the Spanish took formal possession of the western half of the Mississippi valley, that portion north of the Arkansas river was known as Upper Louisiana and was ruled by a succession of Spanish lieutenant- governors at St. Louis. These governors, however, identified themselves with the province which remained French in all but political alle- giance. The Spanish lieutenant-governor was an absolute ruler except for orders from New Orleans and rare appeals to the courts there. He controlled the troops and militia, acted as chief judge under a code which did not recognize trial by jury, and established local laws and regulations quite unrestrained by any popular assembly. The French language was still used in the courts and of course in every-day life. Spanish law and French law differed only in detail. Very few Spanish came up the river. In fact, the transfer of Spain brought no real break in the continuity of the history of the province.
Notwithstanding this primitive and paternal form of government, the people were happy and content. The Americans on their farms were interfered with very little, their religion was connived with if not offic- ially tolerated; in fact they lived very much as their brothers across the Mississippi, in Kentucky and in Tennessee. There was practically no taxation, land was given for nominal fees, and the governors in practice were lenient and tolerant. The forms of trial were simple, judg- ment cheap and expeditious and justice reasonably certain. The lack of any political life was no doubt an obstacle to future development, but does not seem to have worked any tangible hardship or aroused dissatis- faction. On the contrary, after the transfer to the United States many of the Americans looked back with regret to the simplicity of the Spanish regime.
The French have always been a social people and so in Upper Louis- iana seldom settled outside the villages. Here the home lots stretched along one or two streets, each lot with its log house, barns and out- buildings, vegetable garden and orchard. The farms were located all together in one great common field, where each inhabitant owned certain strips or plots. There were few distinctions of rank or wealth. The richer men were the merchants, the wholesale dealers or middlemen, who sent the products of the colony to New Orleans or Montreal and distributed among the people the manufactured goods they received in return. The younger men spent much of their time with the professional trappers on the Missouri or Mississippi, or in the lead districts on the Meramec and St. Francois, in any case keeping their homes in the villages. Here life was simple, happy and uneventful; the village balls and numerous church festivals furnished the recreations; crime was
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almost unknown and the people led a gentle, kindly and unenterprising life.
The settlements, English and American, were a mere island in the wilderness, hundreds of miles from the outside world. As the Spanish and French alike kept on good terms with the Indians, there was little striking or interesting in the narrative history. Only at rare intervals were these frontier communities touched by the stirring events of the outside world. At frequent intervals a flotilla of picturesque flat-bot- tomed barges carried down the Mississippi to New Orleans the fur and lead, salt from the numerous saline springs and the surplus wheat, corn and beef. In the long and tedious return voyage against the current the boats were laden with the few articles of luxury required by the colonists, such as sugar and spices, and manufactured articles of all descriptions. The artisans were few and incompetent, so that practically all the imple- ments, except the rudest, were imported. Even the spinning wheel was a rarity in the homes of the French, and butter a special luxury. The Kentuckians were a more enterprising and ingenious people, but their influence on their easy-going neighbors was slight. The merchants, however, were energetic and successful. Much to the disgust of the English, they succeeded in diverting from Montreal much of the fur trade of the Mississippi valley.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
Meanwhile certain changes were going on in the eastern country and in Europe which in their outcome were to end this isolation, swamp the old comfortable French society and substitute the energetic, nervous. western, American type. The result was probably inevitable when just at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, Sevier and Robertson and Boone and their companions crossed the Allegheny barrier and began the settlements in Tennessee and Kentucky, but it was precipitated by the problem of the control of the Mississippi river. The free navigation of this great highway was a matter of life and death to the rapidly increasing American settlements on the western waters, for before the day of pikes and railroads the river formed the only outlet for their bulky agricultural products. Unless their corn and wheat and pork and beef could be floated down the Ohio and the Mississippi to New Orleans and there loaded on the sea-going ships, they could not reach a market at all or hope for more than a bare subsistence. Spain, however, very rightly feared the extension of American settlement, seeing clearly that it would not stop at the Mississippi but eventually over-run and conquer the western half of the valley as well. Accordingly she steadfastly re- fused to open the Mississippi at New Orleans and intrigued, often with fair prospect of success, to separate the pioneers of Kentucky and Ten- nessee from their allegiance to the United States and create a western confederation under Spanish protection. During the Revolutionary war and for nearly fifteen years after it. the United States tried in vain to secure some concession from Spain, but in the end fear of an American alliance with Great Britain and a joint attack on Louisiana forced her to yield. In 1795 Spain granted the free navigation of the Mississippi to the Americans. Migration to Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio increased at once, and the Americans soon crossed the Mississippi into Missouri.
Five years later the whole Mississippi question reappeared in a far more serious form. After the confusion and anarchy of the French revolution, Napoleon had restored a strong government in France and made her the strongest power on the continent. Turning then to the restoration of the French colonial empire, which France had never alto-
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gether lost sight of since its loss forty years before, in 1800 he forced and cajoled the King of Spain to give back Louisiana to France. This substitution of a powerful and ambitious power for decrepit and bank- rupt Spain was a serious menace to the United States and to the west in particular. President Jefferson at once began negotiations for the purchase of New Orleans or at least, a sufficient guarantee of the opening of the Mississippi. When in 1802 the officials at New Orleans closed the Mississippi anew, the west was in a turmoil. Jefferson sent Monroe to France to hasten the negotiations and even contemplated an alliance with Great Britain. But Napoleon had already tired of his colonial schemes, in the face of the negro revolt in Hayti and approaching war in Europe. He startled the American ministers by proposing to sell them not west Florida or New Orleans, but Louisiana, the western half of the Mississippi valley. After some haggling as to price, the Ameri- cans agreed to accept the territory for $15,000,000. Thus at one stroke the area of the United States was doubled, the whole of the great central valley secured and the Mississippi question settled forever. Incidentally the purchase marked the beginning of the really vital part of Missouri history.
GOVERNMENT IN THE TERRITORIAL PERIOD
As far as Upper Louisiana was concerned, the retrocession to France had been without effect. Napoleon had never taken formal possession nor had any French official reached St. Louis. Accordingly when Captain Amos Stoddard, of the United States army, came up the river early in 1804, he held a commission from France, took formal possession in her name and then as representative of the United States raised the American flag. President Jefferson and congress were in complete ignorance as to conditions and proceeded very cautiously in framing a government in the new country. Stoddard simply succeeded to the powers of the Spanish lieutenant-governor and continued the old order of things until October. Congress also refused to confirm all Spanish land grants made since 1800. The first regular form of government was hardly more liberal; all of the purchase north of the thirty-third parallel was created the district of Louisiana and attached to the territory of Indiana. The people were very much dissatisfied, sent a formal protest to Washington and in 1805 congress organized the same district as the separate Territory of Louisiana.
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