USA > Missouri > A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I > Part 53
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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The only murder known to have been committed by Indians in Lincoln county before the breaking out of the War of 1812 was the massacre of the McHugh children. Doubtless some others were per- petrated as some of the descendants of the pioneers remember to have heard the facts stated; but names and circumstances are alike for- gotten.
In 1804, William McHugh sent his sons, James, William and Jesse, to hunt the horses, which they found about a mile from home up Sandy creek. On their return they fell in with Frederick Dixon, a famous Indian scout. The two older boys were each riding a horse and Jesse, a lad of ten or twelve years, got up behind Dixon. At the ford of Sandy creek, while their horses were drinking, they were fired on by Indians concealed behind a large sycamore. The two older boys
A MISSISSIPPI RIVER SCENE
were killed instantly and Dixon and Jesse were thrown to the ground by their horse. Dixon, unarmed, fled, and Jesse was killed.
THE WAR OF 1812
The apprehensions of the early settlers as to the Indian attitude were greatly increased by the news of the declaration of war with Great Britain. The population within the confines of Lincoln county did not exceed five hundred. The exposed condition of the inhabitants would invite the hostile attention of the five or six tribes who con- sidered the county their hunting ground. The people lost no time in building stockade forts and providing for the defence of their homes. Major Clark, with the assistance of two hired men, built a stockade at his residence, and it was called Clark's Fort. He put up seven thou- sand pounds of pork to cure, with other provisions for the use of families that would seek shelter within its walls after being driven from their homes. A large stockade was built at Troy and called Wood's Fort.
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Stout's Fort was built on Fort Branch, near Auburn, and another large stockade was built on a bluff between Chain of Rocks and Cap- au-Gris. This was called Fort Howard.
Most of the rangers who volunteered from Lincoln county, as far as known, served in the companies of Capt. Christopher Clark, Capt. Daniel M. Boone, Capt. Nathan Boone and Capt. James Callaway, the last named a grandson and the two Boones sons of Daniel Boone. All three were from St. Charles county. A few were under a Cap- tain Craig, who was killed in Lincoln county.
THE COUNTY ORGANIZATION
To the first settler of Lincoln county was reserved the honor of securing its establishment as a separate county and also of selecting its name. In the territorial legislature which convened in St. Louis in December, 1818, the organization of several new counties was dis- cussed. Major Clark, who was a member, proposed a new county out of the area of St. Charles, of about twenty-four miles square, with the boundaries corresponding very nearly to the present lines. The county was organized and was the sixth one set off by the territorial legislature, not including the county of Arkansas, which has since been made an independent state.
The act creating the county and a supplemental act fixing the time and place for holding courts had been passed only a short time before the organization of the county began. The first court convened at the home of Zadock Woods, in Troy, on Monday, April 5, 1819. It was a circuit court, but under the provisions of the law it exercised the functions of a county court and kept separate and distinct records. David Todd, of Howard county, was the first circuit judge; John Ruland, the first circuit and county clerk; and David Bailey the first sheriff. The commissioners to locate the county seat were David Bai- ley, Daniel Draper, Hugh Cummins and Abraham Kennedy.
The first grand jury was composed of Joseph Cottle, John Null, Prospect K. Robbins, Samuel H. Lewis, Thacker Vivion, Job Wil- liams, Alembe Williams, Jr., Jeremiah Groshong, John Bell, Jacob Null, Sr., John Hunter, Elijah Collard, William Harrell, Jacob Null, Jr., Isaac Cannon, Hiram Millsaps, Alembe Williams, Sr., and Zacha- riah Callaway, "who after being duly sworn and charged, retired to their room, and after some time returned without making any pre- sentment and were discharged."
On the second day the clerk was ordered to apply to the clerk of St. Charles county for all orders relating to public roads heretofore established in this county. The court then proceeded to divide the county into four townships. The county lines, the fifth principal meri- dian running through the center of the county running north and south and the line between townships forty-nine and fifty, running through the center east and west, constituted the boundaries of the townships, which were named Monroe, in the southeast, Bedford, in the southwest, Union, in the northwest, and Hurricane in the north- east.
Prospect K. Robbins, James Woods and Joseph Oldham were appointed judges of the election for Monroe; Elijah Collard, Benja- min Blanton and Alembe Williams, Jr., for Bedford; Robert Jame- son, Philip Sitton and Samuel Gibson for Union; and Benjamin Allen, John Ewing and Jesse Sitton for Hurricane. The places the elec- tion was to be held were also named, in three townships at the home of one of the judges. In Bedford township the home of Zadock Woods
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was the polling place. James Woods was appointed a constable of Monroe township, Lee F. T. Cottle of Bedford, Thacker Vivion of Union, and Allen Turnbaugh of Hurricane. Their bonds were fixed at one thousand dollars each, a large amount for those days.
The first justices of the peace in the county, appointed by the gover- nor, were Benjamin Cottle and James Duncan for Bedford, Daniel Draper for Union, Benjamin Allen for Hurricane and Prospect K. Rob- bins for Monroe township. The election provided for was held August 2nd, and a delegate for congress was voted for. Samuel Hammond and John Scott were the candidates. Hammond carried Lincoln county, sixty- nine to five, but Scott was elected. He was then the incumbent, having held the office from 1816; he continued until Missouri was admitted as a state, and then was elected as a member of congress three times, retir- ing in 1827.
COUNTY COURT PROCEEDINGS
The first county tax ordered to be levied and collected by the sheriff, was as follows: On each horse over three years old, fifty cents; neat cattle same age, six and a quarter cents; on each negro or mulatto slave between the ages of sixteen and forty-five years fifty cents; on each billiard table, twenty-five dollars; on each able-bodied man, twenty-one years old and upward, not possessed of property to the value of two hundred dollars, fifty cents; on mills, tanyards and distilleries, in actual operation, forty cents on every hundred dollars of their valuation.
At the third term of court, December, 1819, the first petit jury was impaneled, consisting of Ira Cottle, foreman; John Lindsey, Guion Gibson, Jacob Williamson, George Jameson, Samuel Gibson, Robert Jameson, Sr., Thacker Vivion, Isaac Cannon, Abijah Smith, Hugh Ber- nett and Andrew Cottle. The case was that of the "United States vs. Robert McNair, for hog stealing." Robert McNair was a brother to Alexander McNair, the first governor of the state of Missouri ..
The commissioners to fix upon a county seat reported that they had selected Monroe and that a jail had been erected there, and the court thereupon ordered that the courts be held afterward at that town. The first accounts ever presented against the county were allowed at this term.
The court met at the new county seat for the first time on Monday, April 3, 1820. The first change in the boundaries of the municipal townships was made. Part of Monroe was cut off and added to Bed- ford. Little else was done besides appointing judges of election, which was to be held on the first three days of May, 1820, for a member of the convention to frame a constitution for the admission of the state into the Union. This election was the second held in the county and was the first in which all four townships participated. In the first election held in the county no vote was cast in one township. Four can- didates were voted on in the election, Malcolm Henry, Sr., receiving 119 votes, Meredith Cox 81, Joseph Cottle 42 and James Duncan 6. These were all pro-slavery men and all but Cottle came from slave- holding states.
At the January term, 1821, Bennett Palmer appears on the records as county and circuit clerk. The first county court as a separate body was then in session. Jonathan Riggs and Ira Cottle produced commis- sions from Gov. Alexander McNair and took their seats as county judges. In the April term, John Geiger produced a like commission and took his seat.
The selection of Monroe as the county seat was never satisfactory to the people of the county. By reference to the session acts of the legis-
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lature for 1822, will be found an act providing for its removal from that point. In the preamble it is set forth that the inhabitants of the county suffer great hardships and inconveniences occasioned by their seat of justice having been located at Monroe, which is situated in the south- east corner of the county, and that a good majority of the citizens had presented a petition to the general assembly for the passage of a law for the removal of the seat of justice to the center of the county or some suitable spot not more than three miles from the center. The legisla- ture thereafter appointed Robert Gay, of Pike, Francis Howell, Sr., of St. Charles, and William Lamme, of Montgomery, commissioners and empowered them with full authority to select a suitable site in accordance with the petition. The courts were to be continued at Monroe until the erection of a court house and jail at the new county seat.
The last term held in Monroe was in November, 1822. No mention is made on the records of any compliance with the terms of the legislative act before the removal of the county seat; but on the first Monday in February, 1823, the county court convened at Old Alexandria, the point selected by the commissioners as the new county seat. The books and papers had been sent up the previous Saturday and deposited in the only dwelling house in the place. This was a hewed log building, one and a half stories high, with one window containing twelve lights of eight by ten glass, clap-board roof, floor and door of rough wood and mud chimney with stone back, capable of holding a six-foot log. A small room adjoining was used as a kitchen. This was quite a stylish and comfortable residence for the frontiers of Missouri in that day, and it was with no little pride that the good lady of the house surrendered the "best room" for the use of the court, and retired to the kitchen.
In 1828 three-fifths of the voters of the county petitioned the county court to remove the county seat from Old Alexandria to Troy. The court appointed Felix Scott, of St. Charles county, Thomas Kerr, of Pike, Richard Wright, Philip Glover and George Clay, of Montgomery, commissioners for selecting a court of justice. The commissioners chose Troy and their selection was approved by the circuit court. An election was held December 8th at which the people of the county ratified the removal by a vote of 211 to 2. The last session of the county court at Old Alexandria was held on January 3, 1829, and the first one in Troy was on February 9, 1829.
MISCELLANEOUS
Eight new townships have been created in Lincoln county at differ- ent times. They are Waverly, Clark, Prairie, Millwood, Nineveh, Burr Oak, Snow Hill, and Hawk Point.
From the assessment list of 1821, the earliest one preserved among the records, is found the list of the then resident tax-payers. The list together with the widows and the estates of deceased persons made the number 276 tax-payers. The taxes paid ranged from two and one-half cents to $12.411/2, the latter sum being the amount paid by Shapley Ross. The average was about 95 cents. Ross was the largest slaveholder in the county as well as the largest tax-payer. He had seventeen slaves and also much other property, including 504 acres of land, on which stood a saw and grist mill, thirty-nine town lots, twelve horses, eighteen cattle and one watch. He was taxed on these things, according to the records.
Several Revolutionary soldiers were among the early settlers of Lincoln county. Among those known to have lived in the county are Noah Rector, Isaac Hudson, John Chambers, John Barco and Alembe
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Williams. Noah Rector lived at Millwood until 1849, when he died at the age of 102 years. Isaac Hudson moved to the county from Kentucky in 1819 and settled in the present Nineveh township. He was a black- smith and a farmer. John Chambers, a veteran of the battle of Mon- mouth, lived in Clark township. Williams and Barco were natives of North Carolina.
The first letters of administration granted in the county were granted to Dr. Benjamin English, on the estate of Daniel Epps. They were dated May 10, 1819. The first guardian was James Murdock, appointed to the heirs of William Lynn, April 3, 1820. The first divorce granted in the county was that of Samuel Smiley from Elizabeth Smiley. The charge was desertion. The first foreigner naturalized was Eleazer Block, a native of Bohemia, February 6, 1827.
The present court house was built in 1870 at a cost of about $27,500. The present jail was built in 1876 at a cost of about $7,500.
THE "SLICKER" WAR
During the years 1843, 1844 and 1845, there raged in Lincoln county what was known as the "Slicker" war. The term originated elsewhere, probably in Benton county in 1841, and came from the peculiar mode of punishment inflicted by the regulators-whipping with hickory withes or "slicking," as the backwoods parlance of that day termed it. An organized band of counterfeiters and horse and cattle thieves existed in many counties of Missouri and other western states, and about the period mentioned above, the people of the eastern part of the county found it necessary to organize for the protection of their property, so extensive were the depredations. It has been said that the persons who operated in Lincoln county sold twelve hundred horses during a single season at one sale stable in St. Louis. Of course, not all of these were taken from Lincoln county. Their operations in beef cattle were on as large a scale. Sometimes the thieves would be taken with the stolen property in pos- session, but would always manage to have enough convenient witnesses on hand to secure acquittal, and would march off with the stock before its owner's eyes. This aroused the greatest indignation which was heightened by the fact that the prevalence of counterfeit money, both metal and paper, seriously affected the transaction of business. A company of regulators was organized with James Stallard, of Hurricane township, as captain. Some of the very best men of the eastern half of the county went into it. Brice Hammock drew up its constitution and by-laws. Had the spirit of these been strictly followed, some blood-shed and much ill-feeling might have been avoided. Some inexcusable ex- cesses were committed, partly the result of the excitement of the times, but more from the fact that a few unprincipled men took the opportunity, either as active members of the organization or as pretended friends, to settle personal grudges. When the evidence against a suspected person became satisfactory to the regulators, such person was either "slicked" or ordered to leave the county by a given date, or both; and the penalty for a refusal or a failure to leave was either "slicking" or death, accord- ing to the merits of the case. The principals all fled.
THE CIVIL WAR
The people of the county were profoundly interested in the stirring political events that followed the presidential campaign of 1860. Their sympathies were largely with the South and when Governor Jackson issued his proclamation calling for volunteers to defend the state against
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the invasion of the Federal troops, no county responded more enthusi- astically and more freely than did Lincoln. Her soldiers were in every considerable engagement fought in the state. They were in the first great battle, that at Springfield, in a regiment that went into action with 232 men, killed the Federal commander, and almost unaided drove back two of the finest regiments of the opposing army, and answered roll-call next morning with 105 men, and not one missing, having the severest loss in the army. The same bravery and patriotic enthusiasm were shown by them on a hundred battle fields, ending at Blakely on Mobile Bay, where the last gun of the war was fired, and by Lincoln county men under Lieutenant-Colonel Carter, who kept up the battle for more than. one hour after the last Confederate flag had been furled for the last time. If the career of the Lincoln county soldiers who entered the Federal ser- vice was less brilliant from force of circumstance, it was none the less honorable. They fought over nearly the same ground as did their brothers on the other side, and they were ever distinguished for bravery, a strict obedience to discipline and a heroic devotion to the cause for which they contended. Further than this, which is only a just tribute to the brave men who fought on either side for their conviction of right, I shall not speak.
EDUCATIONAL
The early development of the educational interests of Lincoln county makes an interesting chapter in its history. One of the first teachers in the county was Samuel Groshong and others were Philip Orr, James Wil- son, James Reid, Clayton Alcorn and Ariel Knapp, all of whom taught . in the vicinity of Auburn. Joseph E. Wells was one of the early teachers in the vicinity of Millwood. Richard H. Hill, who afterwards moved to Texas, also taught in that neighborhood as did Athanasius Mudd, a graduate of the college at Georgetown, D. C. William Watts was one of the early teachers of Hurricane township, teaching the first school in the vicinity of where Elsberry now stands, about the year 1833. The first public school districts of which the records make any mention were organized by the county court at the term held in February, 1837. They were Nos. 1 and 2, township 50, range 1, east. Elijah Myers, Alexander Martin and James Stoddard were appointed trustees of No. 1 and Thomas S. Reed, James Finley and Harrison D. Allen of No. 2. At the same term of court four districts were organized in township 48, range 1 west and Andrew Brown, William Vaughan and Benjamin Bowen were appointed trustees of No. 1; Silas M. Davis, Robert Hammond and Allen Jameson of No. 2; John Thurman, B. F. Blanton and David Boyd of No. 3; and John M. Faulkner, Mervin Ross and A. Cahall of No. 4. The work of organizing the county into school districts went on rapidly after these districts were formed, more districts being organized as the population increased.
There are now 91 school districts in the county with 93 school houses and 125 teachers. The enumeration is 4,889. The value of the school property is estimated at $95,000. The school funds amount to about $55,000 annually. The total permanent school fund of the county- loaned on farm mortgages-amounted in 1912 to $53,121.32.
In addition to the common schools in the county, there are graded and high schools at Troy, Elsberry and Winfield.
CHURCHES
The early religious history of the county has not been accurately pre- served and hence there is a difference of opinion on the subject of the Vol. 1-26
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organization of the earliest churches. Dr. Joseph A. Mudd gives it as his opinion that Sulphur Lick Baptist church was organized in 1813 by Elder Bethuel Riggs. But the Rev. R. S. Duncan, an authority on Bap- tist history, says that the church was not organized until 1823. If Dr. Mudd is correct, the Sulphur Lick church was the first one organized in the county. If he is not correct, then probably the New Liberty Method- ist church was the first, the date of its organization being given as 1818. It is believed to have been organized by the Rev. John Scripps at the home of some private citizen.
Among the pioneer ministers of Lincoln county were Andrew Mon- roe, David Hubbard, Bethuel Riggs, Hugh R. Smith, Abraham Welty, Darius Bainbridge and Benjamin S. Ashby, all of whom solemnized marriages, as shown by the record of marriage certificates prior to 1830. And, commencing with 1830, the record shows the following: 1830, James W. Campbell and Thomas Bowen; 1832, Elder Thomas McBride, of the Christian church, and the Rev. Samuel Findley, of the Presbyterian church; 1833, Nicholas C. Kabler, of the Methodist Episcopal church; 1834, John S. Pall, of the Presbyterian church, Jacob Lanius, of the Methodist Episcopal church, Sandy E. Jones, of the Christian church, John M. Hopkins and Robert Gilmore, of the Baptist church, and Fred B. Leach; 1835, Hugh L. Dodds, of the Methodist Episcopal church, and J. H. Hughes, of the Christian church; 1836, Ephraim Davis and Eze- kiel Downing, of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, Peter R. Le- fever, of the Catholic church, and S. G. Patterson, of the Methodist church; 1837, Robert L. McAfee and Lewis Duncan; 1838, F. B. McElroy and William Patton, of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Nathan Woodsworth. Some signed their names as "ministers of the gospel,". and others as ministers of the churches to which they belonged.
In the early history of the county, the Baptist church (known since 1836 as the Primitive Baptist) was among the first organized. The Stout's Settlement (afterwards' New Hope) church was organized in 1821 by Elders Bethuel Riggs and Jesse Sitton. If Dr. Mudd errs in regard to the organization of Sulphur Lick church, then the New Hope church is the oldest Baptist church in the county. We are, however, inclined to the opinion that the Sulphur Lick church is the older. from the fact that it was organized at the home of Elder Riggs; it seems probable that he would organize a church at his own home earlier than at a point so far distant as that at which the Stout's Settlement church was organized. The Troy church (now Sand Run) was organized in the year 1825. A church known as Cuivre was organized in 1828. New Hope and Sand Run are the only churches of that faith in the county.
After the division in the church over missions, in 1836, the Troy and New Hope Missionary Baptists were first organized. New Salem church was organized in 1843 and has today a larger membership than any other church in the county. Fairview church was organized in 1845 as Bethlehem. Mill Creek church was organized in 1851, Ebenezer in 1869, and Corner Stone in 1874. At the present time there are other Baptist organizations in the county as follows: Elsberry, Foley, Har- mony Grove, Highland, Mount Gilead, Oak Ridge, Olive Branch, Olney, Pleasant Grove, Silex, Star Hope, Whiteside and Winfield. The total membership of the denomination in the county is about nineteen hundred. All of the churches belong to the Cuivre Association, organized in 1891.
The Methodist Episcopal denomination, as has been previously noted, organized New Liberty church at an early day at a private home in the northwestern part of the county. They did not build a house of worship until 1848. That and the congregation at Truxton, which was organized about the year 1864, are the only churches of that denomination in the county.
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Next to the Baptist denomination in point of membership is the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Among the earliest churches of the denomination organized in Lincoln county were those at Troy, Moscow and Slaven's Chapel. The congregation at Troy built a substantial brick house of worship in the year 1859, the corner stone of which was laid on the 19th of July, 1859, by Troy Masonic lodge. On August 24, 1900, the same lodge officiated at the laying of the corner stone of the handsome edifice which now stands where the old house was built forty-one years before. There are now eighteen congregations of the denomination in the county: Olney, Oak Grove, Souls Chapel, Elsberry, Smith's Chapel, Briscoe, Old Alexander, Asbury Chapel, Winfield, Bethany, Highland Prairie, Old Monroe, Moscow Mills, Sugar Creek, Troy, Slaven's Chapel, Linn's Mill and Little Zion. The total membership is not far from fifteen hundred.
The Christian church is third strongest in point of numbers. The oldest organizations were at Louisville and Troy. The church at Troy was organized in July, 1856. Judge F. Wing, of Moscow Mills, was the first church clerk, and held that office for many years. Other organiza- tions in the county are at Lynn Knoll, Corinth, Elm Grove, New Hope, Highland Prairie, Old Alexander, New Gallilee, Winfield, Sulphur Lick, Louisville, Hawk Point, Olney, Elsberry and Moscow Mills. The mem- bership in the county is about one thousand.
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