A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I, Part 61

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864-1935, editor
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 731

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When the war broke out, the people of Marion divided into sides, some being Federals and some Confederates. A Confederate flag was raised in the public square in Palmyra, March 30, 1861. Companies were or- ganized soon thereafter, and preparations were made for hostilities. Governor Jackson had had powder distributed throughout the state, and the warriors had no difficulty in obtaining implements for the strug- gle. Many cannon were made in the foundry of Cleaver & Mitchell, in Hannibal, for the Confederates. There were, too, a large number of Unionists in Marion, and they organized their forces. The first Federal troops to enter the county from without came from Illinois, the next from Iowa and the next from Kansas. General Grant first entered hostile territory in Marion county at West Quincy.

The Federals desired to prevent Missouri from joining the South, if they could not preserve it to the Union. Missouri was a vital unit, and for this reason unusual efforts were exerted in the state to settle the issue with dispatch. The importance attached to Missouri brought Grant, Palmer and other leaders to the scene almost at the opening of the struggle. The Marion County Battalion of the United States Reserve Corps was organized in Hannibal on June 1, 1861. The Missouri State Militia was organized in the winter and spring of 1860-61.

Probably the events of the war which are told today with the warmest eloquence are the campaign of Colonel Martin E. Green in northern Missouri, the battles and activities of Colonel Jo C. Porter, and the Palmyra massacre. Residents of Marion county were busy, on one side or the other, in all the movements of Green and Porter. Green stirred this part of Missouri for the Confederacy with his exploits in surpris- ing the Federals, evading them at pleasure, and leading them into danger from the Mississippi to the Missouri.

Porter, who had been with the Confederate forces in Mississippi and Arkansas, returned to Missouri to gather recruits and enthuse the people for the Southern cause. The Confederates in the summer of 1862 re- ceived him with acclaim, and he went from place to place, increasing his forces everywhere. He engaged in many conflicts with success, but the battle of Kirksville, which he had lost, reduced the number of his fol- lowers, and it was necessary that he should win another triumph to re- kindle fervor and strengthen his command.

What is known as the Palmyra raid, or Porter's raid on Palmyra, was the colonel's final attempt to organize the Confederates in Missouri. With four hundred men Porter surprised Palmyra in the morning of September 12, 1862. Porter demanded that the town be surrendered, but Captain Dubach refused. After a hot skirmish, Porter released the prisoners and captured the arms and stores; he had planned no more than this. Seeing that he could not take possession of the town with- out heavy bloodshed, he decided to move forward and try another ex- ploit. Soon afterwards Porter retired to Arkansas, where he achieved renown in the Civil war before his untimely death. He is described as a leader of fine qualities, and it is the general opinion that the failure of his strenuous efforts to organize the Confederate forces and keep them intact cast a pall over the Southern cause in Missouri.

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Andrew Allsman, a contractor and builder, who had performed many services for the Federals, was captured in Porter's raid on Palmyra and carried away. Porter, when on his flight from Missouri, told every man "to take care of himself" and counseled Allsman to seek safety. Alls- man replied that he feared to escape, as his enemies among Porter's men would kill him. Porter then permitted him to choose the men to accom- pany him. Allsman did this, but he was killed, nevertheless.

Incensed, General John McNeil gave public notice to Colonel Porter that, unless Allsman were returned in ten days, ten Confederates, then in Palmyra, would be executed in reprisal. On October 17, when it was apparent that Allsman would not appear, McNeil ordered the provost marshal, W. R. Strachan, to pick the men to be shot. Strachan went to the jail and selected the ten whom he classed as the most pronounced Confederates. Some of the men had been with Porter, others were non- combatants.

About noon, the next day, the doomed men were taken to the place of execution in government wagons, seated on their coffins. They were driven to the old fair grounds. The coffins were placed on the ground six or eight feet apart, and the prisoners knelt between them to pray. Their orisons done, the men took seats on the coffins, facing the execu- tioners and bravely met death. Several volleys from the muskets ended the Palmyra massacre, which shocked the whole world.

Jefferson Davis demanded of Lincoln the surrender of McNeil, threat- ening the shooting of ten Federal soldiers if his request were not honored. McNeil was not surrendered; yet Davis did not fulfill his threat. Hon. Frank H. Sosey, editor of the Palmyra Spectator, has truthfully treated this execution in an entertaining book entitled "Robert Devoy, a Tale of the Palmyra Massacre."

WILLIAM MULDROW

Minus reference to that picturesque character, William Muldrow, no chronicle of Marion county would be complete. Charles Dickens took occasion to draw one of Muldrow's great enterprises in "Martin Chuz- zlewit."

While associated with the Reverend Doctor David Nelson and others, the remarkable Muldrow conceived the brilliant idea of founding a link of great cities in the county and building a railroad to the Pacific ocean. Among those whom Muldrow succeeded in interesting in his project, while he was in the east exploiting the college, were the Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, of Philadelphia; Rev. James Gallaher, of Cincinnati, and John McKee, of Pittsburg.

Muldrow's talents were equal to almost any situation, and 'his im- agination was unsurpassed for fertility and extravagance, though it must be said that many of his ideas and plans were logical and promis- ing. He proposed building at what is known as Green's Landing, about six miles from Palmyra, on the Mississippi, the great metropolis of Marion City. Had the city been formed as it was laid out, with spacious streets and wide lots, it would probably have been the world's city most beautiful. It is said to have been the first city beautified by great public buildings, churches, schools, hotels, on paper, west of the Mississippi river.

The site of Marion City was a marsh. Other cities which Muldrow and his friends projected were New York, Philadelphia and Ely. The enterprises were well advertised, and Muldrow succeeded in obtaining in- vestments of $185,000 in Marion City and $35,000 in Philadelphia. Boats brought new citizens from the East with the blare of trumpets. The Muldrow towns were flourishing. But the Mississippi started on a

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rampage, overflowed the country and wrecked the promise of Marion City. In brief, this is the story of Muldrow's prospects; it is well worth the time to read the account of them in detail. Muldrow was really an accomplished promoter. After he left Marion county he continued his enterprises in California.

THE COUNTY TODAY

The restoration of peace, with all the scores forgotten, brought happi- ness back to the people, and Marion county settled down to the arts of agriculture and commerce. Before the war there came the formative period; during the war conditions arose which would delay a while accel- erated progress, as it was first essential that the residents should retrieve their losses, recuperate, and amass resources. In recent years the de- ferred prosperity has been manifesting itself with vigor, and Marion is animated by the ambition and energy not only of the natives, but

JERSEY HERD

also by the skilled and favored talents of farmers from Iowa, Illinois and other states who are settling here.

Marion county, according to the last census, that of 1910, had a popu- lation of 30,572. Most of the people are devoted to agriculture. In 1860 the total population was 18,700. There is exhibited a gain of 11,872, which is large for an agricultural community, and unusually large for a community that had to overcome the reverses of war.

The real estate of the county has an assessed valuation of $7,484,030. and the personal property an assessed valuation of $2,808,210, a total of $10,503,465. The actual value of the property is about $45,844,780, of which $37,420,150 represents real estate and $8,424,630 personalty. There are 275,911 acres, assessed at $3,580,940, or $12.97 an acre, and 6,316 town lots, assessed at $3,903,090, or $617.96 each.

The assessment, as follows, on the personal property, gives some idea of the holdings in the county: Horses, $311,055, or $39.82 each; mules, $80,745, or $51.89 each; asses and jennets, $10,455, or $145.20 each ; cattle, $164,170, or $14.54 a head; sheep, $19,570, or $2.03 each ; hogs, $71,915, or $3.55 each; money, notes, bonds, etc., $1,003,485; bank stock, $697,500, and all other personal property, $449,315.

The agricultural production of the county is best exemplified by the shipments to outside markets. The Bureau of Labor Statistics gives the items, as follows, for 1911: Cattle, head 4,299; hogs, head 9,650; horses

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and mules, head 750; sheep, head 2,971; goats, head 12; live poultry, pounds 240,904; dressed poultry, pounds 32,008; eggs, dozen 137,180; feathers, pounds 3,202; honey, pounds 500; sorghum molasses, gallons 90; corn, bushels 13,200; wheat, bushels 31,500; oats, bushels 9,400; timothy seed, bushels 300; clover seed, bushels 91; millet seed, bushels 60; hay, tons 174; straw, tons 5; popcorn, pounds 420; slough grass, tons 470; nuts, pounds 530; vegetables, pounds 74,532; potatoes, bushels 320; sweet potatoes, bushels 320; tomatoes, bushels 110; canned vegetables and fruits, pounds 396; miscellaneous fresh fruit, pounds 900; melons, 900; strawberries, crates 1,100; apples, barrels 58; raspberries, crates 2; cantaloupes, crates 2; blackberries, crates 15; grapes, baskets 42; peaches, baskets 60; roots and herbs, pounds 50; ginseng, pounds 50; nursery stock, pounds 1,000; cut flowers, pounds 4,375; wool, pounds 96,800; butter, pounds 174,924; ice cream, gallons 10,385; milk and cream, gal- lons 4,816; cheese, pounds 250; lumber, feet 144,000; logs, cars 2; wal- nut logs, cars 3; railroad ties, 14,000; fence and mine posts, 1,000; cord- wood, cords 1,421; game, pounds 18,400; fish, pounds 6,600; furs, pounds 13,606; gravel and ballast, cars 4,504; sand, cars 125; stone, cars 111; flour, barrels 86,200; bran, shipstuff, pounds 325,975; feed, chops, pounds 26,400; wine, gallons 6; vinegar, gallons 10; cider, gallons 60; natural mineral water, gallons 100; hides and pelts, pounds 140,718; dressed meats, pounds 9,292; tallow, pounds 216,050; lard, pounds 120,710; brick, cars 12; lime, barrels 87,600; junk, car 1; ice, cars 44.

The land along the river contains stone, minerals and clay unsur- passed for many industrial purposes, and these resources promise as- cendancy in manufacture to Hannibal, which soon will have the extra advantage of cheap power from the Keokuk dam and transmission line.

Behind the bluffs there is rolling prairie and timbered land, unex- celled for agriculture. The land is fertile and productive. The country is settling up rapidly. Farmers from Iowa, Illinois and neighboring states, appreciating the value of the land, are moving into Missouri and Marion county is getting a large percentage of them. The increase in the population and the quickened development are stimulating advance- ment in all directions. Marion county is modern in all respects. The lands and properties are well maintained, and there are numerous evi- dences of wealth and progress.

The leading markets, St. Louis and Chicago, are near, and Marion has the best of transportation facilities. There are direct trunk lines north, south, east and west-the Burlington, the Wabash, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the St. Louis & Hannibal, and the Mississippi af- fords conveniences for steamboat and barge traffic with St. Louis, New Orleans, Minneapolis and St. Paul.

PALMYRA, THE COUNTY SEAT ·

Palmyra is the county seat. Situated somewhat east of the center of the county in the celebrated elmwood district, it is one of the best built and most beautiful cities in the state. It has fine homes, stores, mills, hotels, colleges and all other conveniences. Its people are well educated, highly, intelligent, contented, prosperqus and progressive. Palmyra is leading in building fine gravel roads. Already many miles of gravel roads center there and many more are contemplated and under construction. It has a splendid commercial club, always at work and very effective. It has two newspapers, the Spectator being one of the oldest in the state, and fine railroad facilities, being in direct connection with all the large cities, ports and markets of the world. In addition to its colleges, Palmyra maintains one of the best public school systems in

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the state and has constructed excellent public school buildings. Its church edifices are especially commodious and attractive, while the water and electric light systems are as good as can be constructed. There is no better place in Missouri in which to live and be contented and happy than at Palmyra.

HANNIBAL

Hannibal, the metropolis of Marion county and Northeast Missouri, bears the distinction of being one of the largest ports on the Mississippi and a manufacturing center of prominence. It has always been able to hold its own against larger rivals, making gains in the number of its in- dustries, as well as in the population, and nearly every year finding some means of planting a new and pretentious industry. Hannibal has the spirit that makes great cities, and, with the resumption of steam- boat traffic on the world's principal waterway, it should rise to higher rank in manufacture and commerce. It has one of the best commercial clubs in the state, which is always at work for the advancement of Hannibal.

Some of the advantages that Hannibal has are:

The best shipping facilities of any city on the Mississippi, except St. Louis.

The best railroad center in the Mississippi Valley.

Trunk facilities in all directions.

Abundant supply of clear water-20,000,000 gallons daily.

Population of 20,000.

Free sites for factories in all parts of town.

First class fire department, well equipped and ably directed.

Two thousand miles of river transportation.

Low tax valuation-25 per cent, and low tax rate-2.5 per cent on $100.

Fifty-four passenger trains daily, thirty-four regular freight trains; handsome union station.

Ten railroads one east, two northeast, two north, two west, one south- west, two south.

Three shoe factories, daily output of 10,000 pair of shoes.

Three strong banks, one strong trust company.

The largest railroad shops in the west-the Burlington.

One hundred and ten factories.

Four thousand factory and railroad employes.

$4,000,000 annually paid to labor,

Municipal electric light and power plant.

The cheapest electric power.

The largest Portland cement plant in the world.

The largest shoe factory outside of St. Louis.

Twelve cigar factories, output of 15,000 cigars daily.

Three large flour mills.

Four large grain elevators.

Two large breweries.

First class electric railway system.

The largest brick works in Northeast Missouri.

Cold storage plant of large capacity.

Inexhaustible deposits of commercial limestone, 99 per cent pure lime.

The finest building stone in the Mississippi Valley.

Unlimited supply of natural resources for Portland cement. Ten hotels.

First class public library.

Ten public school buildings.

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Modern hospital. Protestant, Catholic and Hebrew churches.

One orphans' home. Largest car-wheel foundry in the West.

Stove foundry turning out 60,000 stoves and ranges annually.

First class theater.

One of the largest printing and book manufacturing concerns in the West.

Center of winter wheat production in the United States.

Surrounded by prosperous farming settlements.

Within twenty-four hours of center of corn production.

First class public school system.

Two modern daily newspapers.

Fast mail facilities to St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Kansas City and other places.

Center for lumber and high grade millwork.

The future of Hannibal cannot be overestimated. As a commercial center, no city between St. Louis and Minneapolis and St. Paul has such bright prospects. Raw material, adapted to industrial or mercantile purposes, is a necessity for any place aspiring to leadership, and this Hannibal possesses. . The eminent modern town is the one that manu- factures, or produces. The conspicuous success of the great cement works, the shoe factories, the stove foundries and other large industrial plants furnishes demonstrations from experience of the city's capacity in manufacture.

When the hydro electric transmission line of the Keokuk water- power system is put into commission, in May, 1913, the position of Han- nibal will be strengthened. There will be available any quantity of electric power desired, and at a remarkably low price. Factories will have a more emphatic incentive to locate in Hannibal, where they will be sure to have, besides, the most favorable labor conditions, an agree- able environment and unsurpassed transportation facilities.

Hannibal is the foremost jobbing center of Northeast Missouri, and it will undoubtedly increase its already large business as a distributing point. It is a logical procedure in business that the big manufacturing and wholesale houses of St. Louis, Chicago, New York and other metro- politan centers should have branches in Hannibal and use the special conveniences afforded by this city for distributing their wares through- out northern Missouri, a part of Iowa and a part of Illinois.

Great cities, like St. Louis, have more railroads than Hannibal, but they are not, relatively, better provided than this city with transporta- tion facilities ample for all demands. Hannibal has the Wabash, the Burlington, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the St. Louis & Han- nibal, with three lines to St. Louis and points to the South and South- west; one line to New York, Boston, Detroit and Eastern points; two lines to Chicago, Milwaukee and the Northeast; two lines to the North in- cluding Minneapolis and St. Paul, and three lines to Kansas City, St. Joseph and points in the West.

Hannibal has the advantage of the Mississippi for marine transporta- tion. It is a certainty that an immense volume of freight, now hauled by the railroads, will in the future move by boat or barge. It is a rea- sonable certainty that the towns on the Mississippi will soon be, to all practical purposes, seaports. Already Hannibal is in the advance, with a barge line that is hauling a large quantity of freight. Boats operat- ing on the Mississippi have access to the Gulf of Mexico, ports on the Ohio and ports on the Illinois, and the time is not remote when they

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will find their way, past Chicago and past Minneapolis and St. Paul, into the Great Lakes and thence into the Atlantic. Already, a barge line, the Atlas Transportation Company, has its home office in Hannibal and is very successful in handling articles in that city.

Marine transportation means as much to Hannibal, and thereby to Marion county, as it does to any port. There will be numerous mercan- tile opportunities in the development of traffic by river.

Hannibal has always displayed a lively public spirit in behalf of · enterprises which might benefit city or county. The people of this city have contributed large funds in the support of the railroads pene- trating the country, and to the construction of gravel and rock roads, and I doubt whether there is any railroad line operating here, with the possible exception of one, that has not been benefited with money given by the city. This public spirit Hannibal is manifesting at present in the efforts to get more factories, especially by offering free building sites and similar inducements, and it is bound to be a factor in the greater progress just begun.

The Business Men's Association is the potential body that is striving energetically and loyally to promote the interests of Hannibal at home and abroad. The rapid increase in population during recent years attests to the organization's conquests, as do also the new factories, business homes and buildings, and the stimulation of an enthusiastic civic pride. The association is giving land and offering other inducements to bring more industrial plants to Hannibal, and it is wide to accept every chance for advancement. It is leading in the construction of gravel and crushed rock roads, not only in the county, but in different sections of the state. Good roads is one of its slogans.

Hannibal is the home of the Federation of Missouri Commercial Clubs. It is becoming widely known as an interesting convention city, and it is growing customary for many state and national organizations to hold their regular and special meetings here. It is a city of beautiful homes and well paved streets, with all the public utilities that give com- fort and advantages to the young and the old. It is one of the richest and most cultured towns in the West.

The Marion county of the present is an area of comfort, happiness and prosperity. The troubles and reverses of the war are forgotten, and men and women who were foes from impulses of honest resentment are cordial friends, enjoying the blessings of accelerating prosperity. The lands and riches won by daring, self-sacrificing pioneers are, in many instances, in the possession of respected descendants of the brave souls who civilized the wilderness. Sons and daughters of the gallant pioneers, loving Marion as the best district in the world, are cooperating with equally patriotic newcomers in making the county a place of greater contentment and greater agricultural and commercial importance. It has one of the best managed and finest public school systems in the nation.

Marion's future is now marked out, and its people are working with systematized purpose to mould it well. The utility of all the natural resources has been ascertained, and the means of employing them has been invented and applied. For pursuits of agriculture Marion has the best hearts, the best talent, the best hands, in the world. For industrial progress and commercial offices, Marion has the sterling brains and the indomitable will. All the resources of the county are at last in use; yet advancement has only just begun. The full development of these resources points to population and wealth and influence many times greater than today's records show.

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Marion county is now and always has been essentially a county of splendid homes, having about them a delightful home life.

"Without the roundness and the glow of life How hideous is the skeleton."

Without the pleasures and contentment of the home how bleak and barren is life. "To make a happy fireside chime To weans and wife; That's true pathos and sublime Of human life."

CHAPTER XXII MONROE COUNTY

By Thomas V. Bodine, Paris A MODERN BOURBON COUNTY

It was Motley who demonstrated that all real history is of necessity a "story," and it can be said without any resultant charge of provin- cialism that the history of Monroe county is peculiarly so. The history of the establishment of Anglo-Saxon-Celtic civilization in the valley west of the great river teems with romance, but in no instance is the romance in question more real, more virile or more alluring than in connection with the settlement and development of Monroe county.

Monroe county was settled by the Virginia-Kentucky-Tennessee strain, which had a genius for war, politics and story-making, and no county in the state has so preserved its racial solidarity or more effectu- ally kept to its traditions. Most of its people came from half a dozen counties in Kentucky-Clark, Boyle, Madison, Jassamine, Woodford and Mercer-and their descendants for the large part occupy today the fat prairies and the fine woodland farms their grandsires subjugated, repelling unconsciously alien intermixture, and emigrating, as in the case of Texas and Oklahoma, only to return. They have, of course, been modernized, all the towns and the country as well being abreast of twentieth century civilization, but the Brahmin instinct persists de- spite. A Kentucky or Virginia pedigree is still the highest social guar- antee-the best that earth affords, though others are not despised. It is one of the typical Bourbon counties imbued with an essentially modern spirit.

THE COMING OF SETTLEMENT

Monroe county was cut off from what was then Ralls county in 1831 and Hancock S. Jackson, of Randolph, Stephen Glascock, of Ralls, and Joseph Holliday, of Pike-who afterwards moved to the county, where he died-were appointed commissioners to select the county seat. The new county was named for President James Monroe, which indicates clearly the political complexion of its settlers, which, with a Whig victory occasionally in the forties, has ever since been maintained.

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A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I, Part 61

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864-1935, editor Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 731

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864-1935, editor
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 731