USA > Missouri > A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I > Part 83
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THE LIFE OF THE PIONEER
The pioneers here, like those in most of the country, were a hardy, robust race. In fact, frontier life produces that class of people. There was no place for weaklings among them. Only the strong survived. They became accustomed to enduring hardships and their manner of life was plain and simple compared with that of their descendants. Their houses were built of logs, the cracks filled with split pieces plas- tered with clay. A large fireplace provided heat for comfort and for cooking purposes. Some had glass windows but others did not. Many lived in one room for years, but usually there was an upstairs used for sleeping purposes. Some built two rooms on the ground to begin with. Usually there was a wide passageway between the two with a roof over all, and later this passageway was closed up and made a third room on the ground floor. The roof was made of clapboards, split on the prem- ises and held on by the weight of small logs. The floor was made of split logs hewn smooth. Few were able to secure nails and wooden pins were used to fasten things together. Furniture was home-made except where the immigrants had brought a few things in their wagons. They were generally provided with good featherbeds. In a few years saw-mills appeared, and then frame houses began to be erected, and at a later period brick was used to some extent.
For the first twenty years the settlements were in the timber, gener- ally along streams where springs could be found. Few ventured to tackle the prairie; and there were several reasons for this : the luxuriant growth of grass made the prairie soil too wet for cultivation, the sod was tough and difficult to break, and the flies were so numerous and hungry that neither man nor beast could endure them. It is related that when a settler had occasion to cross any considerable extent of prairie in the summertime, he went at night to escape these pests. Then in the timber material was at hand for building purposes and for fuel.
While the life of the pioneer was rough and he had few advantages compared with the present, he had his pleasures and his virtues and he was not, as a rule, destitute of the feelings and promptings of a gentle-
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man. He was kind, generous, hospitable, ready to lend a helping hand not only to neighbors but as well to strangers. He had few opportunities to learn of the happenings in his own vicinity and the world at large except by word of mouth; and this one source of information he usually improved. He went long distances to attend all gatherings, and thus he gained information and enjoyed intercourse with his fellows. Of course there were good and bad people then as now, but these qualities were manifested then somewhat differently from now. The use of whisky was then common, and the article was cheap and free to all and few thought its use wrong; indeed many considered it absolutely neces- sary for health. Yet excess was condemned, but drunkenness was not considered so disgraceful as now.
To build a farm in the timber is necessarily a slow and laborious proc- ess, and especially was this the case with the poor equipment of the pio- neers. With the exception of the ax there is scarcely a tool which has not been greatly improved in the past sixty years. Farmers now would think it impossible to make a crop with only a crooked stick or a wooden mouldboard with an iron point, with which to stir the soil. Yet the pio- neers had only such plows and they secured good yields as a rule. They farmed, however, on a small scale. Some years were too wet and some too cold. We hear little complaint of drought and heat in those days, but accounts of hard winters and late and early frosts have been handed down. It is related that just before the middle of May, 1835, there came such weather that the ground was frozen to the depth of two feet. This is no doubt an exaggeration. On September 16th of that year there came a killing frost which cut the corn crop short. No doubt the seasons have changed for the better as science recognizes the fact that clearing up of forests and cultivation of a country renders a climate warmer and dryer. It is said that two thousand years ago when Ger- many was covered with dense forests, the seasons there were much colder than now.
In the early days corn was raised largely for bread; some, however, was fed to work horses. Oxen were chiefly used for work on the farm, and these lived on wild grass and prairie hay. To have pasture a lot of neighbors would burn off a patch after the young growth had reached con- siderable height. Hogs lived and fattened on acorns and other nuts, but constant watch had to be kept to protect pigs from wolves and other wild animals. Wolves were numerous and sometimes attacked people. There were also wildcats, bears and panthers, and of course snakes, poisonous and harmless, were abundant. With the exception of flies and mosquitoes most of the pests which now bother the farmers had not made their appearance at that date. The chinch bug first became destructive about 1842 and its last appearance in great numbers was in 1881. Be- tween these two dates this bug did more or less damage several seasons. Corn was the chief crop but wheat yielded as generously as fifty bushels to the acre sometimes. All farm products when the yield was good, brought low prices; wheat twenty-five cents per bushel, corn ten to fifteen cents, horses twenty-five dollars, cows ten dollars, hogs a dollar or two each. Fat hogs were driven to LaGrange or Hannibal and sold at from one to two cents a pound. Most articles of food were raised on the farm or secured by the gun or trap. Deer, turkey, prairie chickens, quails, fish and wild honey were abundant. Clothing was made from wool and flax at each home. There was little money and the pioneer had little use for it. The men generally wore buckskin trousers and jackets of other kind of skin. They made moccasins, but usually went barefooted in summer, as did the women, except upon dress occasions.
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SOME OF THE PIONEERS
To return to individuals among the pioneer settlers, the Holliday family was one of the earliest and most prominent. Mrs. Holliday, a widow with six sons and three daughters, came in 1830 from Winchester, Virginia, and soon after settled in what is now the eastern part of Shelby county. These sons were named Richard T., Angus MacDonald, William J., James M., Elias L., and Cornelius T. The last named was one of those appointed to view the first road laid out in this wild country, but William J. was the most prominent. He was the first representative to the legis- lature from this county, being elected in 1836. In 1838 he was chosen county judge for four years and in 1847 county clerk for six years. In 1865 he was appointed county clerk by the governor. In 1866 he was elected to that office by the radical Republicans. When the war came and men had to choose sides, he became a strong Union man, and later was known as a bitter hater of those he considered disloyal. He served as a soldier in Colonel Benjamin's regiment.
Some of the Holliday descendants still live in this county, and James M., son of Cornelius T., after being a prominent citizen of this county for many years, moved to Sixteen, Montana, where he still lives. He has, for many years, been considered a walking encyclopedia of historical knowledge, especially political, of this county, state and nation.
Another family prominent in the early history of the county was that of the Vandivers. Abraham Vandiver was here at the time the county was organized in 1835, and some years later it was said that the Vandiver connection was the most numerous of any in the county. Samuel A. Vandiver represented the county in the legislature which convened in January, 1885.
W. B. Broughton had a store at Oak Dale, the first in the county, and at his place the first circuit court was first held. He raised a family of three sons, two of whom settled in Paris, Missouri, and established and ran a woolen mill. One son, W. C., after living in Ralls county for sev- eral years, returned and bought the farm where his father lived at Oak Dale, and a son of his, T. J., now owns the old place; and two other sons are large farmers near Oak Dale. These are B. F. and J. L. There is still at Oak Dale a store and also a good school and Methodist church.
Russell W. Moss was a settler prior to the organization of the county. and for many years he was a prominent figure, both in this county and .at Hannibal. He held several offices, among them that of representative. to which he was chosen at the August election in 1844, and for more than thirty years after that he was active and influential. His physical form was large and impressive and he was a man of energy and capable of enduring great hardship.
Robert and Addison Lair were also settlers prior to the organization of the county, and they became prominent and the Lair family numerous.
John McAfee is also numbered among those living in the county at the time of its organization, and more than once afterward, he repre- sented the county, and was chosen speaker of the house.
Dr. Adolphus E. Wood was originally a New Yorker, but came here from Cuba where he had lived for some years, to settle near Oak Dale in the early '30s. He had, as most men of that day did have, a large family, and some of his sons still live in the county, but most of them have crossed over to the unknown country. One son. Dr. A. G. Wood, living at Lentner, in this county, is quite active at the age of eighty-one. Doctor Wood's brother Fernando was at one time mayor of New York and was also a congressman.
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RESIDENTS IN 1835
Following are the names of seventy men who were residents in the spring of 1835, as recorded in a history of the county compiled in 1884:
George Anderson, Josiah Abbott, James Y. Anderson, Thomas J. Bounds, W. B. Broughton, Anthony Blackford, James Blackford, Isaac Blackford, Samuel Bell, Alexander Buford, Silas Boyce, Samuel Buck- ner, Thomas H. Clements, William S. Chinn, Bryant Cochrane, Samuel Cochrane, J. W. Cochrane, Charles Christian, Obadiah Dickerson, Robert Duncan, William H. Davidson, Levi Dyer, George Eaton, Elisha K. Eaton, John Eaton, James Foley, Benjamin F. Forman, Jesse Gentry, George W. Gentry, Julius C. Gartrell, James B. Grenn, William J. Holli- day, Thompson Holliday, Elias L. Holliday, Thomas Holeman, Charles A. Hollyman, Bradford Hunsucker, William D. B. Hill, Julius C. Jackson, Robert Joiner, Peter Looney, Oliver Latimer, Michael Law, Russell W. Moss, J. M. Moss, John H. Milton, William Moore, William T. Matson (died same year), J. C. Mayes, S. W. Miller, Henry Musgrove, John McAfee, Samuel J. Parker, George Parker, Elijah Pepper, W. H. Payne, Peter Roff, John Ralls, Hiram Rookwood, Robert Reed, James Shaw, Cyrus A. Saunders, Henry Saunders. James Swartz, Peter Stice, Montil- lion H. Smith, Hill Shaw, John Sparrow, William Sparrow, Major Turner, William S. Townsend, John Thomas, Abraham Vandiver, Dr. Adolphus E. Wood, Nicholas Watkins.
And the following twenty-two men settled in the county within a year after its organization :
John Dunn, James Graham, Alexander Gillaspy, Lewis Gillaspy, Stephen Miller, James L. Peake, Samuel Bell, John Jacobs, Joseph West, James Ford, William Conner, Robert R. Moffit, William Matson, Elisha Moore, J. T. Tingle, G. H. Edmonds, S. O. Van Vactor, M. J. Priest.
One familiar with the people of this county will recognize a majority of these names among the citizens of the county at this time, more than three-quarters of a century after their ancestors settled here.
POPULATION INCREASES
From the time of the organization of the county when it contained less than five hundred, probably not over three hundred, inhabitants, until the breaking out of the Civil war, population in the county grad- ually increased, both in the natural way and by the addition of settlers from other states. One of the latter who obtained most prominence was John F. Benjamin, who came from central New York some years before 1850, and settled on a farm some few miles southwest of Shelbyville, the county seat. He was then about twenty-five years of age, with a fair, probably superior for those days, education. The gold fever attracted him to California, but he returned in time to defeat John McAfee for the legislature. This was the first time Joshua M. Ennis figured prominently in politics except as a candidate himself, and I shall have more to say about him hereafter. While in the legislature, Benjamin commenced the study of law, and soon became the leader of the bar in Shelby. He was a man of strong mental faculties, and was inclined towards financial affairs. Had he been in a place where business centered, he would prob- ably have become a millionaire. When the war came on he became an uncompromising Union man, and in the winter of 1861-62 he raised a company of cavalry, was its captain, later its major, and when this company was consolidated with the Second Missouri State Militia, he became lieutenant-colonel. At the election of 1864 he was chosen to rep- Vol. 1-40
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resent the district embracing a large territory in Northeast Missouri in congress and was reelected in 1866 and 1868, but declined to be a candi- date in 1870. He made a good record in the house. Before his term expired, he established a national bank at Shelbina, the first bank organ- ized in the county. Now there are fourteen. Mr. Benjamin built the best homes in the county in his day, two at Shelbyville and one in Shel- bina. In 1873 he closed his bank in Shelbina and embarked in the bank- ing business in Washington. This was caused by a difficulty between him and James Hanley. Benjamin accused Hanley, who was an honor- able man, of stealing. This Hanley resented and shot Colonel Ben- jamin. This developed the fact that there was much feeling against Benjamin, growing out of his course during the war. This led the colonel to change his abode. But Mrs. Benjamin remained in their man- sion, which was built like an Italian villa and stood in grounds of five acres. At Washington, in the spring of 1877 the colonel died, and a long lawsuit over his will ensued. He had no children and his wife soon followed him across the river. His brother George from Syracuse tried to break the will, but after two hung juries, the case was dismissed.
In 1837 Joseph Ennis came from Maryland and settled at Shelbyville, where he ran a mercantile house. Merchants in small places did not specialize but kept a general stock of all articles their customers were expected to buy. His son, Joshua M., who had gone from Maryland to New Orleans, joined his parents at Shelbyville and made his home there from that time until his death a little over twenty years ago. The older Ennis was county treasurer. He built the first brick building at the county seat in 1839. This was used as a hotel building for half a cen- tury. The younger Ennis was ambitious and became sheriff and col- lector in 1846 and held these positions for four years, again from 1856 to 1860 he held the same positions, and still again from 1880 to 1884. Thus he was six times elected to these important positions and for four years from 1874 to 1878 he was county treasurer. Mr. Ennis did not aspire to wealth, but he was a liberal, large-hearted, genial man, very hospitable, his home being open not only to his friends but also to all strangers who were gentlemen. This made him popular and gave him political influ- ence. If a candidate could count "Josh" Ennis as his active friend he was almost certain to succeed. In 1850 he espoused the cause of Ben- jamin, a comparative stranger and a "Yankee," against John McAfee, who sought reelection, and Benjamin won. This was the beginning of a life-long friendship, though Benjamin was an uncompromising Union man and a Republican and Mr. Ennis the reverse. Mr. Ennis had the qualities which would have made him a first rate political boss had he aspired to such a position. He raised a large family, one son of which, Charles, has been clerk of the county court for eight years, and is now a business man in Shelbina.
It is said that the Dimmitt family was originally from France but they came to Maryland at an early day from England and then to Ken- tucky. Judge Walter B. Dimmitt settled in Marion county, Missouri, in 1829, and became a large land-owner and farmer. Philip was born in the "blue-grass state" in 1824 and came with his parents to Missouri. At twenty-one he began the study of medicine and practiced at Monti- cello, the county seat of Lewis county, at Boonville, in Cooper county, both in this state, and just before the Civil war he located on a farm in this county. He was a leading physician and a large farmer, and although he never held office, he was always prominent in political and other affairs. He raised six sons, five of whom are prominent and re- spected citizens of this county at the present writing, three of them being bankers. He died something like twenty years ago.
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Dr. Anthony Minter was one of the early settlers from the Old Do- minion, a physician and an agriculturist in the northeastern part of the county. He died in Shelbina more than thirty years ago. He was a man of strong personal character and somewhat eccentric. His nephew, Daniel G. Minter, came to the county in the fifties, was a mer- chant in Shelbyville, a captain in the Confederate army, was captured and banished to the North under a $10,000 bond, but was permitted to return at Colonel Benjamin's intercession. Later he engaged in business in Shelbina, from which he retired some fifteen years ago. He was a man of commanding personality and always influential. He died June 10, 1912.
There were others among the very early settlers worthy of special no- tice in this history, but limited space compels their exclusion. From my acquaintance with many of these early settlers, and from information gathered during the past forty-odd years, it seems to me there were an unusual number of strong characters, many more than could be found among an equal number of people now. Perhaps this is true of pioneers generally. Weaklings seldom migrate. And then the fact that these men had access to few publications, and the sparseness of the settlement, gave those inclined to think at all, time to reflect on the common as well as the great questions and problems of life. Thus each thought out matters for himself and came to an independent conclusion. The life of the pioneer, no doubt, developed men vigorous physically and mentally.
As the foundation of a building is the most important part of a structure, so the character, habits and surroundings of the early settlers of a county should be carefully noted in history, since these have much to do in shaping the future course of events. For this reason much space has been taken in describing the pioneers of this county.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES
The early settlers were not indifferent to education or religion, but it was some years before either churches or schools could be established. The wilderness had to be grappled with, the wild beasts subdued, and dominion over the land secured. Inhabitants were too few to maintain schools. No record seems to have been kept of the first efforts at educa- tion. Prior to 1865 the school system as it exists now was unknown in this state. But private schools were organized in all neighborhoods in the county as soon as there were sufficient people to support them. The circuit rider and the schoolmaster came at an early day; the one with saddle bags in which he carried a Bible, a hymn book, and a few articles of apparel, the other a little bundle containing a spelling book, a reader and an arithmetic. The former was unselfishly seeking the lost sheep and earnestly trying to persuade men to amend their ways. The latter felt called to instruct the young in the elements of book knowledge. Some- times the children were taught in private houses, but generally the neigh- borhoods, each for itself, by mutual agreement erected a log schoolhouse, and here the children gathered for instruction. The benches were of slabs or of split logs with pins for legs, and the writing desk was of the same or was a wide plank fastened to the side of the room. All was rude and primitive, but many boys received in these rough buildings the foun- dations on which they built until they became men of education and power. The proportion of the illiterate gradually decreased, and soon more pretentious schools were established. Palmyra, the seat of justice for Marion county, had several colleges before the Civil war. Philadel- phia, in that county and near Shelby, had a college of note. At Shelby- ville a seminary of high standing was established and flourished until the
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early seventies. In 1877 Shelbina Collegiate Institute was established with a good building, and subsequently a large boarding-house in connec- tion. Dr. Leo Baer was the first principal, and later, E. L. Ripley, a man of much culture and ability, occupied the position for a number of years.
In 1888 Macon district high school was established at Clarence. This is now controlled by the Independent Holiness people. In 1890, the Rev. John T. Welch established a school of high grade at Leonard, in the northwest part of the county. However, in a few years the public schools became so good that there was no field for seminaries, academies or institutes, and the Holiness school at Clarence is the only one which was not long since abandoned. Shelbina, Shelbyville and Clarence each have high schools of such standing that all educated citizens are proud of them. There are now in the county about eighty public schools, and though more improvement in the rural schools is to be desired, yet they are probably as good as such schools elsewhere. Missouri has an excel- lent public school system and a large school fund. The University. the five normal schools, and the schools in the cities generally, are abreast of the times.
Whether the Methodist, Baptist or Presbyterian, first proclaimed the Gospel in this territory cannot now be determined, but at an early day the first-named denomination held a camp-meeting near North river. As early as 1835 the Revs. Jeremiah Taylor, M. Hurley, and William Fuqua, Baptists, preached in the county and organized a society known as Mount Zion, which still exists in the northern part of the county, and later a Sunday school was organized there with William T. Looney as superintendent. W Moffett was the clerk of this church. Near Tiger Fork was also organized at an early day Looney's Creek Old School Baptist church. This denomination, which was once quite prominent in this part of Missouri, now call themselves Primitive Baptists. North River Baptist church was organized in 1844. Later Shiloh, also Baptist. was organized farther west than the others named. Oak Ridge Baptist in the southwestern part of the county was organized immediately after the Civil war. And later still, Prairie View Baptist in the southeastern part of the county. These are rural churches. Shelbina, Shelbyville. Clarence and Hunnewell each contains an organization and a church building of this denomination. Henry Loudon, who made a large farm in the eastern part of the county near North river, was a Primitive Bap- tist preacher of force and power, who did much before the Civil war in making this denomination strong. But since his day the numbers have dwindled to small proportions. The Missionary Baptists, however, have grown and become a very influential denomination.
No records seem to tell of the first Methodist preachers and societies. but they were among the first. The circuit rider has always followed the pioneer, and has always been indefatigable in his efforts for the salvation of souls. As early as 1836 the Oak Dale church of this denomination was organized, the Rev. H. James being its pastor. In 1839 the Method- ists organized at the county seat and erected the first building for wor- ship in the county. Even prior to this the Methodists organized Bacon Chapel, a little southwest of the center of the county. This has been a stronghold for the Methodists since early days. It has produced a num- ber of preachers of ability. Soon after Shelbina became a station on the railroad with a few inhabitants, the Methodists organized a society there. So churches of this denomination were organized at Clarence and Hunne- well. and since then they have been scattered all over the county. When the division in the Methodist church came in 1844, all the organizations in this county went with the Southern church and no M. E. churches were seen until Civil war time. Then and shortly after the conflict.
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