USA > Missouri > A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I > Part 86
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The following from Colonel Glover will give an idea of the condi- tion of affairs in 1862 :
"Edina, April 10, 1862 .- Captain Benjamin, Sir: I send you a list of names marked (A), who did the killing of militia in this (Knox) county. The others are members of a bushwhacking company in this and other counties. Give a list of the names to your commissioned officers with instructions to hold all such if arrested. Keep their names as secret as possible. I do not want them to know they are suspected or we shall not be able to catch them. You have two of them, I am told (the Feltz). Hold them safely. We have five or six of them, and on yesterday we killed one of the murderers, William Musgrove. These men are scattered all over the country. You will be as active as possible and charge your men to be cautious. These men are frequently to be found in the vicinity of Magruder's on Black creek. These fellows are in the habit of crossing Salt river, southeast of your town, on a bridge on an unfrequented road. You will do well to give it some attention. My instructions are not to bring in these fellows if they can be induced to run, and if the men are instructed they can make them run. Yours respectfully, J. M. Glover."
In September, Gen. Lewis McNeil in command at Macon, shot ten
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prisoners, two of them citizens of this county, to-wit: Frank B. Drake and Edward Riggs. About this time also was the massacre of ten men at Palmyra by order of General McNeil. Buildings were also burned, three in this county being especially notable : the home of Robert Joiner in Tiger Fork, and the homes of Carter Baker and John Maupin in Jefferson township. These men were accused of keeping rendezvous for bushwhackers and murderers. Lieutenant Holliday and Captain Priest executed the order to burn these houses.
In the latter part of '62 Colonel Porter was about the only active Confederate in northeast Missouri. The others had gone south. Many men from Shelby joined him. J. T. S. Clements of Hager's Grove raised a company of eighty men in twenty-four hours and joined Porter. Soon after this, the battle of Kirksville was fought. McNeil was in command of the Union forces and Porter commanded the Confederates. Porter was routed and many prisoners were taken. Of these many were tried for violating their parole and shot. The Shelbyites among these were: James Christian, David Wood, Jesse Wood and Bennett Hayden.
In 1863 and 1864 Shelby county had 504 men in the militia, and the people lived in more peace than during the two preceding years. But in July, 1864, the notorious and dreaded Bill Anderson with thirty-four desperate men entered Shelbina early one morning. He made Judge Daniel Taylor hold his horse while he looked around the place. He lined up the citizens and robbed them, and then plundered the business part of the town, then fired the depot and some cars standing on the track. He was in Shelbina about four hours, and then went east and burned Salt river bridge for the third time. Soon after this, occurred the Centralia massacre by Bill Anderson. The foregoing are the more important events in Shelby during the terrible war. Though peace came in 1865 and was heartily welcomed by the people, it found a very bitter state of feeling between Union men and Southern sympathizers. The former were elated by their victory and the latter felt the strong arm of power over them. They felt depressed and downtrodden. They had no voice in choosing any officers, and many Union men declared that "the Rebels" had no rights and ought to be punished. In 1866 the following ministers were indicted for preaching the gospel without hav- ing taken the test oath : Jesse Faubion, Henry Louthan, Robert Holliday, Milford Powers, William Pulliam, Father Phelan, and some others. These men were arrested, but the cases were never tried, as Father Cum- mins had taken his case to the supreme court of the United States, and the prohibition against preaching and teaching without taking oath was knocked out. Gen. Frank P. Blair, who had been a gallant soldier on the Union side, refused to take the oath and was disfranchised. This was all ended by B. Gratz Brown's election in 1870; and after that the bitter feeling between those who had been on the Union side and the Southern sympathizers died out, and is now happily dead forever.
MISCELLANEOUS
- At an early day Palmyra had a strong bar; men of state wide and some of national reputation. Among these were Thomas L. Anderson, a great advocate; Samuel T. Glover, a great lawyer; John S. Dryden, John T. Redd, Edward McCabe, and W. M. Boulware. These men did a large part of the practice in Shelby before and for twenty years after the Civil war. While this county never had a bar equal to that in the neighboring county to the east, yet it had men of good ability and fair learning, and thirty years ago the people of this county found out that it was not necessary to go to other counties to secure lawyers.
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John F. Benjamin rose to prominence as an able, reliable practitioner before the Civil war commenced. He was sent to congress three times and then declined to run again.
John W. Shafer and A. M. York had quite a practice immediately after the Civil war. They were from the North, as were also Manville and Burlingame. Charles M. King was a hard student and took much pains with his cases, and was especially expert in drawing papers. B. F. Dobyns was the first prosecuting atorney elected in 1872, under the new law. Before that, circuit attorneys, elected by the judicial circuit, did the prosecuting. Mr. Dobyns was a man of ability, and had a clear mental vision. J. C. Hale was brilliant, but not proficient. He was judge of probate for twelve years. R. P. Giles was a brilliant man, a first-rate advocate, a fine conversationalist, and very popular. In 1896 he was elected to congress, but died two weeks after his election. James T. Lloyd, who had been practicing law some years at Shelbyville, was pushed by his friends to fill the place made vacant by the death of Mr. Giles. The friends of this writer induced him also to become a candidate for the place, and a spirited race ensued in the county. The latter had . been connected with the sound money movement opposed to the coinage of silver at the rate of 16 to 1, irrespective of the action of any other country, and many Democrats opposed him on that ground. The older men were generally for him, while the younger ones were for Mr. Lloyd. The primary was held in the county on January 2, 1897. The rain poured down all day and the streams were very high. This kept the older men at home. Thus Mr. Lloyd won by a small majority. and then won in the district against strong opposition. He is a popular man, very accommodating, active and stands high in the house. He has been re-elected seven times, and is now a candidate for his ninth term without opposition.
The writer practiced law in the county for about forty years, and he and Mr. Giles were usually pitted against each other. In prosecut- ing cases, Mr. Giles' strong points came out in his closing arguments. Now, J. D. Dale, V. L. Drain, and Enoch O'Brien, of Shelbyville; H. A. Wright and W. S. Hamrick, of Clarence, and George W. Humphrey, J. T. Gose, and H. J. Libbey, of Shelbina, are the principal practitioners at the bar of Shelby.
Those who have presided over the circuit court since the organiza- tion of the county are: Priestly H. McBride, 1835; Ezra Hunt, 1836; Priestly H. McBride again from 1837 to 1844; Addison Reese, 1845 to 1855; John T. Redd, 1856 to 1862, when he was ousted because he would not take the test oath; Gilchrist Porter, 1862 to 1864; John I. Campbell, 1865; William P. Harrison, 1866 to 1871; John T. Redd, 1872 to 1881; Theodore Brace, 1881 to 1887; Thomas Bacon, 1887 to 1893; Andrew Ellison, 1893 to 1899, and Nat M. Shelton from 1899 to the present time. No one of the judges has resided in this county. Judges are elected for six years.
The history of the county published in 1884 and the one published in 1911, both state that Salt river was the highest ever known in 1876, but this is certainly a mistake. That was the centennial year. June was a wet, cold month, and on flat prairies the grass outgrew the corn. The first part of July 4th was too wet to celebrate, but in the afternoon a good crowd gathered at Swift's Grove, north of Shelbina. where the celebration for the county was held. Men came from various parts of the county to attend this. The year, however, of 1875, the rains com- menced on June 5. It had been dry, corn had been cultivated once or twice, and was clean. From this commencement until after July 4th, it rained more or less every day, many days very hard, and the weather
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was hot. On July 4, 1876, the bridge between Shelbina and Shelbyville was tied with ropes to trees to keep it from being moved off its abut- ments. This is the time the river is said to have been the highest ever known. The corn crop was heavy.
F. M. Dalton published the first newspaper in the county called the Shelbyville Spectator. This was in 1853. N. C. Sperry, who bought the paper, changed the name to The Star of the Prairie. This paper was started as a Whig organ, but it failed. About the spring of 1861 Griffin Frost and G. Watts Hillias started the Shelby County Weekly. This was a red hot secession paper, and the Union men did not like to have it published. So in June, 1862, the militia notified the proprietors to stop the publication, and they did.
In 1866, J. D. Moudy started the Weekly Gazette at Shelbina and in a little while sold out to his foreman, E. D. Hoselton. The paper, however, soon became the property of Daulton, who started the first paper in the county. He sold to Shafer & York, who changed the politics to radical Republicanism and the name to the Shelby County Herald. In 1871 it was sold to W. L. Willard and moved to Shelbyville, where it is still published by Ennis Brothers as a Democratic organ. April 1, 1869, E. D Hoselton founded the Shelbina Democrat and the next year Col. S. A. Rawlings bought a half interest in the paper. In September, 1875, the latter died. It remained the sole property of Mr. Hoselton from the sale by Rawlings' administrator until May, 1881, when this writer bought one-half interest in it. He had been assisting in editorial work after Colonel Rawlings' death. In 1891 John W. Cox bought Mr. Hoselton's interest, and in 1901 sold it to this writer, who still owns the plant, though H. H. and E. W. Jewett now publish the paper. The paper, from its first issue, has been as its name indicates. Democratic in politics.
J. R. Horn started a paper at Hunnewell called The Echo, then moved it to Shelbyville and named it The Shelby County Times, but it did not long survive.
In 1892 E. D. Tingle, started the Shelbyville Guard. This paper passed through several hands to W. A. Dimmitt, and finally burned. Now the county seat has only The Herald.
In 1881 Bumbarger and McRoberts started the Shelbina Index. It passed through many hands, its name was changed to the Shelbina Torchlight and under that name it is now published by N. E. Williams. Mr. Williams practiced law for some years before he went into the news- paper business.
W. M. Bradley founded the Clarence Courier, which, after passing through a number of hands, is now owned by Hon. H. J. Simmons and Enoch Ragland. It is Democratic.
The Clarence Republican is the only paper in the county that ad- vocates the principles of the Republican party. It was founded by O. P. Devin, but is now published by A. B. Dunlap.
The Hunnewell Graphic was first published by O. P. Sturm, but is now run by H. A. Stephens. It is neutral in politics.
The county has nine Odd Fellow lodges and five Masonic. It has also Knights of Pythias lodges and many fraternal insurance organi- zations.
CONCLUSION
Limited space has compelled leaving out events and persons worthy of a place in this history, and also, in many cases compelled very brief mention where a more extended account would be justified under less restricted requirements. The aim has been to chronicle the more im-
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portant and striking occurrences in a manner to give a correct idea of the settlement and growth of the county, the character and genius of its people from the first settlers down to the present time, and to indicate the state of civilization which has prevailed and now exists in this section.
Eighty-two years ago the territory now comprising Shelby county was without human inhabitants. The land was covered with primeval forests and prairie grass, about half each. The deer, wolf, bear, panther, turkey, prairie-chicken, quail, beasts and reptiles wandered about, un- alarmed by the presence of man. There was not a road, a house, or an acre of tilled land. See what civilized man has done! Now there are about five hundred miles of laid out road. Upon some of this little work has been bestowed, and but a small part is really good except in dry weather. Now there are thousands of pleasant homes, some of them really delightful. Nearly every acre of land is more or less utilized, though much more might be produced if the land were more thoroughly cultivated. There are three cities, three incorporated towns, and several villages. A trip over the county will disclose many charming spots, many highly improved farms, and many evidences of culture, taste and refinement. As a rule the houses and barns show thrift and comfort. Here nearly seventeen thousand people dwell in safety and peace, surrounded with an abundance of the necessaries of life and many encouragements to mental development and moral and spiritual uplift. These people are a not unworthy part of this great and growing republic of which we are all so proud. Shelby will measure up fairly well with the most favored sections of this favored land.
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CHAPTER XXXII SULLIVAN COUNTY By T. A. Dodge, Milan* THE FIRST SETTLERS
The first settlement in Sullivan county was made by Dr. Jacob Holland and his son, Robert W. Holland, near the site of the present village of Scottville. They came to the county in 1836 or 1837, the exact date being unknown. Dr. Holland was not a graduate of any medical school, but had learned what he knew about the profession from the Indians and from his personal observations. He left the county in a few years to serve in the Black Hawk war, after which he settled in Putnam county. From there he went to the Mexican war and later to California to mine gold.
The next settler was a farmer, John Hatcher. Other settlers who came soon afterward were Hawkins and Hazael Harrelson, Mrs. Charles Read and Henry Dell. John Dennis, with his wife and four children, moved into the settlement in 1838. These people, with E. T. Dennison and the Rev. John Curl, who lived about twelve miles north of where Milan is now, and Matthew Kidd, who lived near the present site of Kiddville, composed the entire population of the county at this time.
The Reverend Mr. Curl was a Baptist preacher, the first minister of the gospel to come into the county. Dennis was later a county officer, being sheriff and assessor of the county for terms of four years each. Reuben Wilhite, Jesse Goins, William Daly, Hugh C. Warren and Robert Burns settled in the county soon afterward. In 1839 William W. Sevier settled about six miles south of the present town of Milan with his wife and five children. Jeremiah G. Smith came into the county from Boston, Massachusetts, in the same year, and in 1841 married one of the daugh- ters of Mr. Sevier.
Among the other early settlers were: John McCullough, James Mur- phy, Jacob Weaver, John Weaver, Elias Hudnall, Daniel Wilhite, Thomas Spencer, Gabriel Jones, William Eaton, Hiram T. Elmore, Jefferson El- more, Harrison Elmore, Armstead C. Hill, Elisha Smith, Thomas Lane, John Baldridge, Jr., Esom Hannon, William Tally, Benjamin Couch, Levi Dennis, Martha Hale, William Walker, Samuel Darr, John Con- stant, Oliver P. Phillips, Samuel Rogers, Branson Jackson, Peter Groves, Stephen R. Fields, Samuel Read, Lewis Todhunter, C. H. Levin, John Crumpacker, Francis Drake, Joseph Couch, Daniel Doyle, Sr., Daniel Doyle, Jr., Daniel Shatto, John Montgomery, Ira Sears, Solomon Grim, Hayden Brown, Barnett Yates, Griffin Taylor, George Baker, Robin- son Morris, George W. Smith and Jesse Yates.
* In the preparation of this history of Sullivan county liberal use was made, by permission, of the historical sketches by John N. Shepler and others in the Milan Standard. Walter Williams, Jr., collected material for this and other county his- tories and special chapters in this volume, writing a substantial part of them.
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The large majority of the early settlers brought with them their wives and children. They settled in all parts of the county, the largest num- ber being in what were known as the Hill settlement and the West Locust Creek settlement, around the present site of Milan or on the Yellow creek.
FIRST LAND ENTRY
The first entry of land in Sullivan county was made March 22, 1839, by John Snell, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 24, township 61, range 21. The next entries were made on May 6th of the same year by Meshack Smith, Lewis Tyre and Elisha T. Dennison. Many entries were made by persons who never settled in the county.
By the close of the year 1842 settlements had been made along all the streams of the county. The settlers grouped themselves together, to some extent, according to the state or locality from which they had emi- grated. Medicine Creek was settled mainly by people from Illinois and Main Locust Creek by Virginians, Tennesseeans and Ohioans, except that part later called "Hell's Kitchen," where the people were mainly Ca- nadians. The Canadians were nearly all related to each other but were almost always in some kind of quarrel among themselves. They later moved away, but the name "Hell's Kitchen" has clung to the locality.
There had never been many Indians in Sullivan county and when the first settlers came they were not annoyed by them. They had, how- ever, many other hardships to encounter and difficulties to overcome. They were usually poor and made slow progress in opening up their farms. As a result they raised little more than was needed to supply themselves.
THE FOOD OF THE PIONEER
A mill was established in Linn county in 1840 or 1841 on Main Lo- cust creek. It was kept running only about six months in the year, but was a great convenience to the settlers in Sullivan county. When the mill was not running the settlers either ground the corn by hand or did without bread. During the latter part of the summer potatoes and squashes were used as substitute; and these, with fat venison, beef or pork, enabled the pioneers to get along comfortably. Deer and wild turkey were abundant, but such necessary articles as coffee, sugar, tea and salt could not be obtained nearer than Glasgow or Brunswick, both about seventy-five miles to the southward.
Cattle and hogs were raised by the early settlers and some kept sheep. Wolves were numerous, however, and were a serious obstacle to suc- cessful sheep husbandry. Wild honey was plentiful and beeswax, pel- tries and tallow furnished the staple articles of export and trade. Money was so scarce that for many years these articles were used to pay even the state and county taxes.
The first crop of wheat in the county was raised by James Shipley. When the grain was ripe he could find no implements with which to cut it, so he went on foot to Glasgow, where he bought two old-fashioned sickles. With these he returned home and harvested his crop.
A mill was built in Sullivan county in 1842. It was on Main Locust creek and was owned by Peter Groves. It was equipped for grinding corn and wheat and for sawing logs. Soon afterward a mill was built on the same creek by Samuel R. Fields. A third mill was built on Medicine Creek by Charles Haley. These three were the only mills in the county in 1845.
Among the crops of the early settlers were some raised as experi- ments. The Prather brothers, N. M. Hamrick and other settlers on Medi-
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cine creek cultivated hemp on a small scale, but had to abandon it as the remoteness of the market compelled them to sell their product at too low a price to yield them a profit. Tobacco was also raised by some of the early settlers. J. W. Thomas, a former Virginian, built a small tobacco factory on West Locust creek about the year 1844. Mr. Thomas went to California during the gold fever of 1849 and afterward the manufacture of tobacco was carried on in the elm woods north of Milan by Daniel Baldridge, Robert Baldridge, Branson Jackson, William Jackson and William J. Talley. They met with considerable success until the imposition of the internal revenue tax made the business unprof- itable.
Corn, rye, wheat and oats soon became staple crops in the county and peas, beans, Irish potatoes, cabbage, beets, parsley, turnips, squash and pumpkins also were profitable. Little attention was paid to the tame grasses such as timothy, red top and clover because of the great amount of native grass. Later blue grass became plentiful and timothy and both white and red clover came to be cultivated.
HERD OF CATTLE
In earlier days the creek bottoms were of little use except for pasture. The creek banks were higher than the bottom lands and the latter over- flowed in the spring. The land is now better drained, making the county much more healthful in which to live.
THE FIRST BIRTH
The first known marriage in the county was that of John Shipley and Mary Polson, in August, 1840. The second was that of Jeremiah G. Smith and Mary Ann Sevier, February 11, 1841. The first child born in the county was that of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Toalson, born about January 1, 1840. It died four months afterward.
THE COUNTY ORGANIZED
Sullivan county was organized in 1845. It was formed with its pres- ent boundaries in 1843, when it was organized as a county, except that it was attached to Linn county for all civil and military purposes. It was then known as Highland county. In 1844, by a state census, High-
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land county was found to have enough people to permit a full organiza- tion. The representative in the state legislature from Linn and High- land counties, E. M. C. Morelock, succeeded in having the act organizing the county under the name of Sullivan passed by the legislature.
The county was divided into six townships-Liberty, Pleasant Hill, Duncan, Polk, Morris and Vrooman. Voting precincts were established in each township and the county organization was completed. The pres- ent townships are : Buchanan, Bowman, Clay, Duncan, Jackson, Liberty, Morris, Pleasant Hill, Polk, Penn, Taylor and Union.
The county court of Linn county was ordered by the legislature to pay over to Sullivan county all the revenues which had been collected within the limits of Sullivan county since February 17, 1843, after deducting the expenses of assessing and collecting the taxes and all money spent for improvements in Sullivan county. Under the provisions of this statute, Sullivan county was paid $156.55.
The first incumbents of county offices in Sullivan county were : County clerk, H. T. Elmore, 1845 to 1849; sheriff, E. B. Morelock, 1845 to 1848; treasurer, George Irvine, 1845 to 1846; prosecuting attorney, R. D. Morrison, 1872 to 1876; collector, James Morris, 1872 to 1874; public administrator, James Beatty, 1868 to 1870; judges of the county court, William Doyle, 1845 to 1846, Samuel Lewis, 1845 to 1849, Patrick McQuown, 1845 to 1850; surveyor, Jephthah Wood, 1845 to 1846; judge of the probate court, Stephen G. Watkins, 1850 to 1857; Pierson Tyer, 1845 to 1846; coroner, William Orr, 1868 to 1876; circuit clerk, Allen Gillespie, 1858 to 1862. The first representative was E. M. C. Morelock, who served from 1844 to 1850.
The present county officers are: William H. W. Dewitt, presiding judge of the county court; Thomas Jefferson Briggs, judge of the county court from the first district; Jesse H. Franklin, judge of the county court from the second district; Clarence F. Eubanks, judge of probate; Andrew D. Morrison, clerk of the circuit court; Mark II. Mairs, clerk of the county court; Edward E. Shoop, recorder of deeds; Jacob M. Wattenbarger, prosecuting attorney; J. S. Shaw, sheriff ; Charles Van Wye, coroner; L. E. Harris, public administrator; Roy Glidewell, surveyor; Roxana Jones, superintendent of schools.
AT THE COUNTY SEAT
The county seat was located at Milan and the first meeting of the county court was held there, at the home of A. C. Hill, on May 5, 1845. The first saloon license was granted November 3, 1846, to George W. Smith, who asked permission to open a dramshop at Milan.
The first courthouse was built in 1847. It was of hewn logs, one and one-half stories in height, and 20x24 feet in size. The lower story was all one room. Above there were two rooms, one for a grand jury and the other for the petit jury. The building was erected by William Putnam of Linn county, and was occupied as a courthouse until 1858, when it was removed to the southwest corner of Main and Third streets and was destroyed by fire in 1892. A substantial brick courthouse with offices below and court and jury rooms below was erected in 1858. This building burned June 26, 1908. The county court then bought an office building, which is now used for a courthouse.
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