A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I, Part 79

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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There are two unusually large farms in the county, one, the Baldwin farm, between the Mississippi river and Dardenne creek. It consists of four thousand acres, under the management of one man whose large crops of cereals and hay are produced annually and pay dividends on the investment. The tract has been levied and thoroughly drained, and shows the success with which wet lands may be drained. The other consists of about twelve hundred acres of Mississippi bottom land which has also been thoroughly prepared for cultivation by ditching and levy- ing. It belongs to John M. Keithly, who superintends its cultivation. It is highly productive and yields its owner a handsome income. He is a model up-to-date farmer, putting into practice all the modern ideas of cultivation and stock raising. His farm lies one mile west of St. Peters.

CHAPTER XXIX SCHUYLER COUNTY By Winfred Melvin, Lancaster BEFORE THE WHITE MAN

Schuyler county is situated in the central northern part of Missouri, which land is included in the Louisiana Purchase acquired from France in 1803. After 1812 the northern part was known as the Missouri terri- tory. At first the settlements followed the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, but at the close of the War of 1812, the immigration grew larger, most of the settlers coming from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Schuyler county was visited by the Sac and Fox Indians in their hunts, and excepting the fight on Battle creek, in the southwestern part of the county, where several were killed on both sides, they were always on friendly terms with the whites. It is thought by some that the Mound Builders once inhabited this county, since a number of mounds have been discovered. But these were probably graves of Indians.

FIRST SETTLEMENTS

The first permanent settlement in the county was made in the south- east corner by Moses Stice late in 1834 or in the early part of 1835. The next settlement was made by Samuel Eason in township 65, range 16, near the Chariton river. Then came David Floyd, who settled in the same township, and in 1837 Jefferson, Richard, and John S. Fulcher settled in township 65, north range 15 west. Other early settlers were John Davis, Martin Parton, Robert Bowler, Henry Downing and a man named Taylor. In 1837 Henry Downing settled four miles southwest of where the village of Downing now stands. The following is a list of names of the early settlers in the respective parts of the county : In the central and southern part-Oliver Towles, Henry Davis, Austin Coffey, Price Arnold, Uriel Sebree, Henry Weitzel, Jacob Snowbarger, Nicholas Sloop, John Fugate, Herman Figge, Frederick Warner, John M. Fish, Edward K. Gibbon, John S. Sheller, Elias Fletcher, Isom B. Fletcher, M. F. Brass- field, John Lesley, A. D. Farris, Samuel Tipton, Josiah Hathaway, Will- iam A. Rhodes, Elkanah Hensley, William T. London, Charles M. Lon- don, Jesse Holt, William Barlow, Spottswood Bradford, James M. Bry- ant, David Rice, Ezekiel Rice, Henry Mull, Thomas Threlkeld, Thomas B. DuBois, John Mikels, Elias and John Bromer, Moran Husley, James Wells, Benjamin and John Brown, John Johnson, Isaac Mitchell, Will- iam Baker, Leonard Griggs, and George Crump; in the northern part- James Custer, James H. Ford, A. K. Cowgill, Bright Gilstrap, James and George Hombs, William Athel, George and Moulter Tobin, Thomas Butts, Hiram Reeves, George Bridewell, Morris James, Robert J. and

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William Maize, Jesse Gray, Henry Piercy, Stephen G. Custer, Peter Blansett, and Mancil Garrett; in the eastern part-James Hall, Henry Buford, Nicholas Shobe, Edward Snyder, William Ogg, William Webster, Henry Kethe, George Kethe, Jr., Henry H. Kethe, Henry Downing, George Palmer, George and John Lyle, A. T. Hite, A. D. Farris, John Hulen, Henry Prime, Charles Cook and Thomas Butts.

The first settlers located in groups, or, as they termed them, settle- ments. One of the chief attractions to them was the great number of bee trees. Beeswax was one of the principal exports. Honey and wild fruits and game were their principal articles of food. A whole neigh- borhood would go bee-hunting sometimes a great distance from home. Until the white people came, such wild animals as the buffalo, bear, pan- ther, wolf, wildcat, catamount, deer, and wild turkey were numerous. But as the country became settled these animals gradually moved west- ward to unsettled parts. The early settlers followed the streams and the timber. One reason offered for this was because they needed the timber for their homes and were assured of food and fuel; but the principal reason seems to have been because they came from timber countries.

PIONEER HOMES

Their homes were crude. The typical house was built of logs and con- sisted of one room. The cracks were filled with mortar. The floor was made of puncheons split out of white oak timber and one side made smooth with an ax. The roof was clapboards fastened overhead by weight poles. The fire-place or chimneys were boards or wood plastered from top to bottom with clay mortar. The doors were made of clap- boards and were very open, allowing the wind, rain and snow to enter freely. Oftentimes a log was left out of the side of the house that suf- ficient light might be received. Nails were not to be had and this was a great inconvenience. The bed was made by fastening a post in the floor and running poles into holes bored in the logs of the wall on the two adjacent sides of the house. Chairs and other pieces of furniture were made of hickory bark. P. C. Berry gave the following account : "Our cooking utensils consisted of coffee pot, skillet, frying pan, and small pot for boiling dinner. Cook stoves were not in use at that time. The cooking was by the fireplace. My father's family consisted of nine per- sons and the cooking, eating and sleeping were all done in the same room for a number of years. Our food consisted of cornbread, hog meat, coffee and vegetables. There was no fruit except wild fruit, such as plums, crab apples and blackberries. Our bread cost us more labor than any other part of our food. The corn was ground on steel mills by hand. These mills were made of steel and iron on the plan of a coffee mill. It was bolted to an upright post and had a crank or handle on both sides in order that two persons could work. The meal was of a coarse variety but made very good bread. There was no mill at that time nearer than Monticello in Lewis county. But, after all, living was not bad."

The implements, as well as the houses and furniture, were very crude. The plow of that period had a wooden mould-board and cut a furrow from thirty to forty inches wide. It was drawn by from four to ten yoke of oxen. The average settler did not possess this number of oxen, so certain settlers in each neighborhood broke prairie for the neighbors for wages.

The settlers had no money except what they got in trading with the Indians, who received money from the government. The taxes were paid in wolf scalps. The state gave one dollar for every wolf caught and killed. At that time the taxes were of very slight importance. Vol. 1-Xx

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For years stock ran at large. Each settler used a peculiar mark to designate his herd. The cattle were branded. A number of hogs strayed away from the owners to the dense forests and became wild and savage. Those who had lost hogs this way would organize into clubs in the late fall and hunt and kill the wild hogs. The horse was a rare animal; oxen were used instead. The pioneer strove as hard to have a matched yoke of oxen as the present farmer does for a matched team of horses.

EARLY CUSTOMS

In the early period the settlers endured many hardships. Markets were far away and roads were very bad. The growing, spinning and weaving of flax took up a great portion of their time and the rest was spent in hunting. So little time was left for the securing of extra wealth. Money was very scarce and what little they had went to enter land; there- fore the barter regime was put in full play. They used skins, furs, honey, venison, beeswax, hogs, etc., to pay for their imported articles. Neighbors frequently exchanged commodities. The average farmer made a trip to market each year and this annual trip was one of the utmost importance. The wagon, drawn by an ox team, was loaded with skins, venison and other commodities of trade. A large bunch of hogs were driven behind the wagon. They often traveled more than a hun- dred miles to market and sometimes received as high as two cents a pound for the hogs. The principal markets were Ottumwa and Alexandria. The farmer usually received in exchange for his commodities a barrel of sugar, a barrel of whisky, and as many other household necessities, such as turpentine, powder, tin cups, etc., as he could procure with his load of produce. Later when the little villages and towns sprang up it was a familiar sight to see the farmers come to town about harvest time with two large jugs, one in each end of a sack. One they filled with New Orleans molasses; the other was reserved for whisky with which to treat the harvest hands.

THE GRINDING OF CORN

The settlers were far away from mills and blacksmith shops, which are so essentially necessary in all communities. In some neighborhoods there was a hand-mill with which to grind the corn. These mills were steel and were fastened to a piece of timber, so fashioned that two men could work at the same time. They were carried from one house to another on horseback. They were set up in a mortise in the sleeper in front of the fireplace. Two men could grind three or four bushels of corn in a day. They were not adapted to wheat, as flour was used only on Sunday and special occasions. Those who could not get the use of a steel mill pulverized the corn in a mortar with a maul or iron wedge. One old pioneer had described the way they fared thus: "We made what we called a hominy mortar, so you see we had plenty of meal when we ground it, and plenty of honey when we found it, with plenty of fat hog and hominy." These steel mills were followed by horse mills. William Hendren, living in the eastern part of the county, built the first one. Later another was built by Oliver Towles and W. H. Harrison in the western part. In 1840 John Jones erected a carding machine near Tippecanoe to which was attached a set of burrs for corn. After a time these mills gave way to two water mills built on the Chariton river. by James Hargraves and James Wells.

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THE LIFE OF THE PIONEER

In the early period cows were worth five dollars a head; a veal calf could be bought for seventy-five cents; a yoke of steers for $22; horses ranged from $25 to $40 a head; hogs (dressed) from $1.25 to $1.50 each ; wheat brought from 35 cents to 40 cents a bushel; corn 50 cents a barrel, delivered; honey 25 cents a gallon; venison 50 cents a saddle, skin thrown in for a quarter of a dollar; wages for labor were 25 cents a day, and rails were split for 25 cents a hundred.

While it is true that the pioneers suffered many hardships, they also had many pleasures. In general they preferred the cornbread to the wheat-bread and consequently did not suffer much when deprived of the wheat-bread. They fattened their hogs on acorns and such feed, making their pork cost them but little. Then with plenty of wild honey, veget- ables, wild turkey, venison and pork, "and a hoe cake to sop in the gravy," they lived rich as kings. The settlers were very friendly and helped each other in harvesting, house-building, etc. Men would go for miles to help raise a cabin.

Judge Caywood, a well known early settler, gave this account : "A large proportion of the early citizens of this and neighboring counties were made up of men and families of more than ordinary culture and ed- ucation. This is accounted for in this way: Following the hard times and general crash among all classes in the year 1837, found thousands

MULES READY FOR MARKET

of the best business men, including all classes, hopelessly ruined; and rather than drag out an aimless life when they were all at the bottom round of the ladder, without hope, many of them gathered up their little remnant of a former fortune and determined with brave hearts to start anew in life, in the far west and there, with the class of hardy hunters that had preceded them, rebuild their ruined fortunes; and they carried with them what they found among the earlier pioneers-hearts over- flowing with kindness and good feeling for their fellowmen; all being poor, with no wealthy nabobs amongst them to, imitate or envy, their wants few, and each one made it a point to contribute to the general enjoyment and happiness and, with moderate industry, aided by the rich virgin soil, they soon gathered around their humble homes a suf- ficiency to make them comfortable and, as time rolled on, advanced to even the luxuries of life and now from among the children of this stock have arisen and gone out into the world the best business men and the finest talent of the country."

The proof of the statement that the pioneers were poor and self- reliant, is seen in the fact that very few brought slaves. In 1850 there were only 57 colored people in Schuyler county. Thus the county did not sustain a great loss by the abolition of slavery. At that time there were only 39 colored people in the county and only a portion of these were competent to work. For a number of years there has not been a colored person residing permanently in the county. .

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One evidence that the pioneers had pleasures as well as hardships is the description and pictures left of the happy family or families gath- ered around the fireplace. The time was spent in roasting apples, pop- ping corn, making molasses taffy, and telling ghost stories. P. C. Berry gave the following account of one of the Fourth of July celebrations : "It was customary in the early days to celebrate the Fourth of July with a barbecue. I remember being at Hill Town July 4, 1849. A small beef was roasted with plenty of bread and coffee. I suppose there were present twenty-five or thirty people. John W. Minor, a lawyer from Lancaster, was to make the speech, but for some cause he did not come. The Declaration of Independence was read by an old man by the name of Wells, after which dinner was declared ready. But before you were allowed to eat, a gentleman appeared on the ground with a tin cup and a three gallon bucket of whisky. He proclaimed that no man should drink until the ladies were served. He proceeded to take the bucket and the tin cup around among the ladies. Every woman and man on the ground took a drink out of the bucket. The day was wound up with an old-fashioned dance under the shade of a tree."

COUNTY ORGANIZATION

Schuyler county was created by an act of the legislature passed February 17, 1843. The boundaries of the county were: Beginning at the northeast corner of Adair county in the middle of range 13, thence due north to the boundary line of the state of Missouri, thence west with said state line to the middle of the Chariton river, thence south through the middle of the main channel of said river to the northern line of Adair county, to the place of beginning. At first Schuyler county remained a part of Adair especially for civil and military purposes. but the revenue collected in Schuyler county was set aside for its use. On March, 1845, the legislature completed the organization of the county. The governor of the state of Missouri, John C. Edwards, appointed Will- iam L. Robinson, Alexander D. Farris, and William Hendren as county judges; Joshua Riggs, sheriff, and G. W. Johnson, surveyor. These county judges met at the home of Robert S. Neeley on the third Monday in April, 1845, and organized the first court organized by choosing William L. Robinson as presiding justice. Then they appointed Isaac N. Ebey clerk, George Naylor assessor, and Robert Neeley treasurer. The court then proceeded to divide the county into the municipal town- ships, Fabius, Independence, Wells, Chariton, Liberty, and Salt River. Later Schuyler lost jurisdiction over Wells and Independence, as it was the disputed land between Missouri and Iowa and fell to Iowa in the settlement. Then a new Independence township was formed, also Gien- wood and Prairie, making seven townships, the present number.

FIRST COURT PROCEEDINGS

The first jury empaneled in the county, the first jury trial, the first verdict rendered, and the first guardian and ward was when Jesse Hall presented a petition for the appointment as guardian for Joseph Jack- son, thought to be of unsound mind. The court ordered a jury to be empaneled of "six good and lawful men" to investigate the affair. The jury gave a verdict of insanity and appointed Jesse Hall guardian of the estate and person of Joseph Jackson.

At this time the road problem held the attention of the county. Com- missioners were appointed to view the best places for roads. There were unique descriptions of roads. In 1853 the court described a

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road as "beginning between the garden and stable of Jefferson Fulcher and running nearly a westerly course along said Fulcher's orchard fence, thence north along said fence to a pasture, thence a few yards in said pasture, etc." The first public road established in Schuyler county led from Kirksville to Iowa City. It was established in 1845 and laid out by Isaac N. Ebey, William L. Robinson and Henry Davis who were allowed $9 each for their services. George W. Johnson was allowed $18 for surveying the road through the county. Peter Klein and Thomas S. Davis were allowed $4.50 each as chain carriers. Then a number of roads followed. The average width of the road was thirty feet. The expense of road building was paid from the state apportionment of the road and canal fund. In the summer of 1847 Schuyler county began to negotiate with Putnam county for a bridge across the Chariton. Funds were appropriated and the bridge built.

In 1859 the North Missouri railroad or the Wabash was extended through Schuyler county to Glenwood, Missouri. It was not until the summer of 1872 that a railroad passed through the county seat.

THE CENSUS

From 1850 when the first census was taken to 1900 the population of the county had increased from 3,287 to 10,840. It took the first assessor, George Naylor, twenty-two days to assess the taxable property of the county. He was allowed $44 for his work, the one-half to be paid by the state and the other half by the county. There is a striking contrast be- tween the time it took and what it cost then to assess the county and the time it now takes and what it costs to assess the county. But then the county was in its infancy and there were only a few persons and but little property to assess.

CHURCH HISTORY

The first sermon preached in the county was in 1837, and was de- livered by Elder William White of Boone county, a minister of the Christian church. The second sermon was by the Rev. Abraham Still, a Methodist minister, who shortly afterward settled in the southern part of the county. He was also a physician and the father of Dr. A. T. Still of Kirksville. In those days there were no churches and the meet- ings were held out in the groves where the settlers erected rude pulpits of slabs and seats of the same material for the congregation. In the winter and bad weather the meetings were held in the cabins of the settlers. The entire population were church-going people and when a minister came into the neighborhood everyone went to meeting and united in the work with the greatest zeal regardless of denomination.

The following account came from P. C. Berry : "Religious meetings were held in cabins or the woods. I have seen as many as ten or twelve persons at one meeting, sometimes not more than three or four. The people seemed inclined to be religious and I think, as well as I remem- ber, the majority belonged to the church. The first sermon I heard preached after we came here in the fall of 1849, was by the Reverend Dr. Still. I remember he sang a song, the chorus of which I shall never forget. It was

" 'This world is a howling wilderness, This world is not my home.'

"And as I look back over the time, I think nothing could have been more appropriate. I remember at one of these meetings held in a

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grove near my father's cabin in August, 1842, while the minister was preaching a swarm of bees came over the congregation causing some disturbance. The minister turned it to good account by telling his hearers that they should seek a home in Heaven as the bees were seeking a home in the forest. It had quite a good effect on the congregation. A Sunday school was organized in a grove. People came five or six miles to attend it. They brought their dinners with them and held one ses- sion in the forenoon and another in the afternoon."

The first camp-meeting was held in the county in 1840, on Battle creek in the southwest part of the county, by the Rev. Abraham Still and the Rev. Jesse Green of the Methodist church. The organization of the Methodist church in the county dates from this period. Dr. Still . was the first circuit rider in the county.

The first Methodist Episcopal church society in the county was organ- ized at the house of Jefferson Fulcher in 1838. Prominent among the members were Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson Fulcher, Mr. and Mrs. Mansel Garrett, Mrs. Threlkeld, John and Richard Fulcher, Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Robinson, George Naylor and Mrs. Mitchell. Other Methodist Episcopal churches were soon organized. In 1844 the church was divided by the question of slavery. The new organization was designated as the Meth- odist Episcopal Church South. Until after the Civil war the new church was the stronger in Schuyler county, but since the war it has been outstripped by the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1854 the Methodist Episcopal church organization at Lancaster erected a building which was used after the Civil war by the Methodist Episcopal church. Later a more commodious brick building was erected. The Methodist Episcopal church in Glenwood was organized in 1870 by Rev. John Wayman. The same year they erected a building costing $1.200. The Methodist Episcopal church at Queen City was dedicated on Sun- day, October 22, 1871, by the Rev. John Wayman and A. H. Hamlin. The Methodist Episcopal church South has two organizations in the county, one at Bethel, the other at New Hope.

The first Baptist church in Schuyler county was known as Lynn Grove church and was organized about 1837. The first meeting house in which this society worshipped was a log cabin which was erected on the south side of Bridge creek and three-fourths of a mile south of the present Lynn Grove church. The next church building was also made of logs and stood near where the present frame building stands, which is between two or three miles south of Downing. Among the original members were the families of William B. Rippey, H. Garden Petty and Mr. Lake. The Rev. A. T. Hite was the first pastor. While he was preaching during the fifties, donations were not numerous then and some of the people forgot to pay their dues. Mr. Hite appealed to one

of these delinquents one day and the man gave him a calf if he would catch it. The proposition was accepted and after a prolonged chase. in which the preacher's clothes were considerably soiled with mud, he succeeded in capturing the animal. During the Civil war he was shot and killed one night while sitting by his own fireside. The second Bap- tist church in the county was organized at the home of David Floyd.

The first Christian church in the county was organized during the forties by the Rev. Mr. Wells of Boone county. George Nichols. John Sleighton and Josiah Hathaway were the first elders of the church. the Rev. Isaac Foster succeeded as pastor and continued preaching and organizing churches until about the year 1858. In 1845 a (Christian church was organized, meeting a mile north of Lancaster. A brick church building was afterward built in Lancaster. Later this church was taken down and a frame building put up just south of the south-

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west corner of the square. Plans are now being cogitated for a more commodious building. The Christian church has grown in Schuyler county until it has as many and perhaps more different organizations than any other religious denominations. The Christian church at Down- ing was organized in 1883, with W. B. Smith, Jerome Bridges and J. K. P. Tadlock as elders.

Other denominations in the county are the Lutheran, Union and Holi- ness churches. In the early day the Presbyterians had an organization in the county, but it has since dissolved.

SCHOOLS

The school houses were very crude constructions. One. pioneer has said: "The teachers were like the school houses and the pupils were like the teachers." Few books could be gotten hold of. In early times they used Webster's spelling book, the New Testament, Aesop's Fables and United States history for readers. The pupils were known as sub- scription pupils, each one paying $2.00 for three months. Usually there were fifteen to twenty pupils. Sometimes they lived five miles or more from the school house. In 1860, when, according to Parker's Gazette, Schuyler county had 6,658 people, there were seven frame and twenty-seven log school houses. There were 3,091 children, of whom 1,748 were in school at that time. There were thirty-three common schools, six select schools and no high school. Years ago some pioneer settler published in the Excelsior the following retrospective view of a backwoods school house of seventy or seventy-five years ago: "When enough had settled in a neighborhood, say from three to four miles around, some sage old veteran would suggest to his neighbors the ne- cessity for a school. Then by common consent they met at a convenient place to wood and water, with chopping ax in hand a schoolhouse to build, and while some of them do cut and haul, others hew and maul puncheons for the floor; and at night they have it ready for the school. Then who is to teach comes up. There is one of them who has learned to read and write and cipher to the rule of three, and he proposes to teach six months if they will raise twenty-five scholars, he to teach for $1.50 per scholar per quarter of thirteen weeks, and board around; if not, he must have $1.75 and board himself; in either case the tuition to be paid at the end of each quarter. School commences and the little fellows have blue primers and wooden-back Continental spellers and the older ones have slates and Dillsworth's or Smiley's arithmetic and in the bosom of their hunting shirts the English reader. The school must be taught from an hour after sunrise until an hour before sunset. They are seated on long benches. At such places Corwin and many others were educated and the teacher was paid in coon skins, bear meat, venison, etc."

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A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I, Part 79

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