USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. I > Part 7
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BUILDING OF THE FIRST CHURCH
As mentioned in the preceding article, the first church organized in Jasper county was the Centerville Presbyterian church, which carried on its work at the home of some good brother or at its annual camp-
OLD FREEDOM BAPTIST CHURCH ON JONES CREEK, UNION TOWNSHIP
meeting held at the old Sarcoxie Spring. Thus the work of the Master went on until 1841 when the Rev. Greenville Spencer, a Baptist minister, came to the community and eommeneed labor in the southeast- ern part of the county, then the most thiekly settled and most important
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
part of the new settlement. He was a man of action and an indefatigable worker and at once set about to organize a church and build a house of worship.
The church was called the Freedom Baptist and was built on Jones creek in what is now Union township. As will be seen from the picture of the old church which we here present, this first house of worship was built of logs and furnished with the home-made furniture then in use by the pioneers.
The building of the ehureli was a great event in the early history of the county and was the occasion of one of the old-fashioned log raisings so popular in those days. The logs were cut and hewed on the farms of the members and hauled to the spot chosen for the church home, and on the day appointed put in form by the pastor and his followers. The church was thirty-four by twenty-four feet and the height to the top of the roof twenty feet. The ceiling was eight feet high; the floor was made of oak and ash planks and the door, which swung on the old strap hinges was fastened with wooden buttons.
When the church was first built it was among the giant forest trees so plentiful in those days, but now, with the thousands of feet used for mining timbers, railroad ties, etc., they have almost disappeared.
Back of the church is an old cemetery and the stones, now erumbling with age, tell the story of a pioneer people who came and blazed the way for a splendid civilization which their children and their posterity should enjoy.
The following are the names of some of the men who helped to build this church and thus erected the first temple of worship in the third county of the state : The pastor, Rev. Greenville Spencer, Samuel Spence. Daniel Spence, Jerry Gillstrap, Ephraim Jenkins, Jacob Hammer, Lewis Jones, John Jones, James Jones, William Cloud and Woodson Angel.
For more than forty years services were held in this old log church and many a man and woman, like John Bunyan, first saw the new light there and felt the burden of their sins fall away to trouble them no more. The church has not been used since the early 'eighties and is now al- most a ruin, the roof having fallen in and nothing being left to tell the story of the early religious activities in the county except the four walls which have been left as a saered relic to mark the spot where the white banner of the Prince of Peace was first planted.
Here, too, under the protecting branches of the monster forest trees near the church, were held some of the greatest camp-meetings and the people for miles around came to these gatherings.
It might not be out of place here to give for the younger generation. not acquainted with those wonderful gatherings, a description of the old fashioned camp-meetings which were held not only here, but all over the county, in the pioneer period. The last one of the great camp- meetings having a county-wide influence was held in 1883 on the site of beautiful Lakeside Park.
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
OLD-FASHIONED CAMP-MEETINGS
The old camp-meeting was an out-of-door revival where the people gathered to stay for several days and camped out while attending the meetings, which were sometimes continued for several weeks. The pul- pit or preacher's stand was built under some monster tree whose wide- spreading branches made a canopy for the shelter of the speaker and those who came to the mourner's bench.
Each family usually brought several chairs which were carried baek and forth from the meeting to the camping place, and sometimes impro- vised benches were made by cutting down a few trees and using the logs for seats.
The campers' wagons were scattered around in all directions from the meeting place and at night served as a shelter. In summer-time beds were made up under the wagons and trees and if, perchance, the meet- ing was held in the fall, around the camp fires which were kept burning through the night.
At meal time and between services the children frolicked and the people made new acquaintances and renewed old friendships. The good house-wife, before coming to this meeting, cooked a great quantity of food and brought it along, together with a few cooking utensils which would be needed for quick service on the ground.
There were usually three services during the day, morning, after- noon and twilight. Darkness put an end to the services, because in those days only candles were used and these, of course, would not go far in lighting up a quarter of a mile of forest.
These meetings were of great importance in the early day-first, because the Gospel was preached ; secondly, because they had a tendency to better the morals of the community, and, thirdly, because they served as a means of bringing the people together and thus making them better acquainted ; and as friendships were made and the bonds of sympathy became greater, the people became interested in each other's welfare and were neighbors in every sense of the word.
REV. HARRIS JOPLIN AND REV. ANTHONY BEWLER
Contemporaneous with the Rev. Spencer was the Rev. Harris Joplin. who located in the western part of the county on the banks of the creek which was named for him and where afterwards was commenced the mining activities of the future metropolis of southwest Missouri.
Mr. Joplin was the pioneer Methodist and labored among the people of West. Jasper from 1840 until about 1845, when he moved to Greene county where he died in 1847. During his sojourn here he organized a Methodist church which worshiped at his cabin, but after his departure meetings were discontinned and the church rolls and other evidence of its existence was lost.
The Methodist church was permanently planted in the county in 1844 when the Sareoxie circuit was created and the Rev. Anthony Bew-
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
ler assigned to the charge. At that time there was no church building save the Freedom Baptist and Mr. Bewler was commissioned as a trav- eling minister to preach the Gospel, organize churches and urge them to build a church home.
The first ehnreh organized by the Rev. Bewler was at Cave Springs, in the extreme eastern part of the county. He was what was known in the early days of Methodism as a circuit rider. Hle rose to the high po- sition of presiding elder of the Springfield district in 1850 and completed his ministerial labors in Texas in 1860. Ile met with an untimely death while on the way home to join his family in Missouri.
The Methodist church, as is well known, divided on the slavery ques- tion, and the Rev. Bewler cast his lot with the Anti-slavery party and boldly expressed his views here and in Texas on the great question which a few months later brought on the War between the States. His Texas congregation became enraged at his speech and an anonymous letter was sent to him giving him a certain number of hours in which to leave the state. Feeling was so high, however, that he was siezed while re- turning home and hanged at Fort Worth, on September 6, 1860.
The following are the Methodist ministers who labored in Jasper county before the war : Rev. Mark Robinson, Rev. W. J. Markham, Rev. J. K. Alderman: Rev. S. H. Carlisle, who organized the work in Car- thage : Rev. J. M. Pape. Rev. D. W. Wise, Rev. J. Doughty, Rev. C. C. Arrington, Rev. James Hahan, Rev. Bery Hall and the Rev. Henry IIuh- bard.
PEACE CHURCH OF GALENA TOWNSHIP
Among the historic old churches of Jasper county was the Peace church in Galena township southwest of the Snapp farm. It was organ- ized by the Rev. Greenville Spencer, the same minister who founded the Freedom church and like it, was built by the congregation, each man furnishing a certain number of logs. The church building served for a time also as a schoolhouse, when the old Enterprise school district was organized. The old church was torn down in 1909 and all that now re- mains of that once famons church is the old cemetery and the memory of the good that it has done.
CHAPTER IV
VARIOUS PIONEER EVENTS
MINING COMMENCED AT LEADVILLE HOLLOW-FIRST LEAD FOUND IN JOP- LIN CREEK VALLEY-DISCOVERY OF LEAD NEAR ORONOGO-THE FREEZE OF 1848-THE DRAGON FLY PEST- BURNING OF TWO NEGROES-GO- ING TO MILL-SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS-A SCHOOL TEACHER TARRED AND FEATHERED-FIRST NEWSPAPER IN THE COUNTY-OLD SHERWOOD --- TOWNS IN JASPER COUNTY BEFORE THE WAR-FIRST CENSUS OF TIIE COUNTY.
In the spring of 1849 David Campbell of Neosho, who was an ex- perienced miner. was visiting William Tingle at his Turkey Creek farm and while walking about with his friend noticed a number of shallow depressions on the south side of the creek which to the casual observer had no special significance. They had the same appearance as the rest of the surface covered with a thick growth of underbrush and trees, but they excited the curiosity of Mr. Campbell and, on a close examination, appeared to be excavations of some sort which had been abandoned many years before. It occurred to him that these depressions might have been the mines which had been worked by the Spaniards or the Indians, and he concluded to look more closely for indications of mineral. Ile proceeded up the picturesque little valley now known as Leadville Hol- low, popularly known in those days as "Shakerag," and while walking along the banks of what was then a silvery stream (but now filled with sediment and refuse from the many mining plants along the banks of the little brook) he discovered half a dozen little chunks of lead on the banks of the ravine. Working loose one of the chunks he carried it to Mr. Tingle who at once went to his home and, procuring a spade, re- turned with Mr. Campbell to the spot; and in half an hour they threw out more than a hundred pounds of pure galena, all within a foot or two from the surface and free from rock or other foreign substance.
MINING COMMENCED AT LEADVILLE HOLLOW
Mr. Campbell and Mr. Tingle, who were related, immediately con- cluded to mine the traet. and Mr. Tingle at once set out for Springfield to enter the land where the mineral was found. Mr. Tingle was a shrewd business man and realizing the value of the discovery entered the entire section, and on his return commenced mining in real earnest with Mr. Campbell who had discovered the treasure.
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
Mr. Tingle also interested in the enterprise John Fitzgerald, of Car- thage, who with him ereeted a small furnace at the month of the hollow and here the lead was smelted and made ready for the market. This smelter, compared with the mammoth lead factory of the Picher Lead Company where daily is smelted many tons of lead, was a quaint and primitive piece of mechanism.
The power for the blast was furnished by two monster bellows, each about twice the size of those seen in the ordinary blacksmith shop. Be- tween the two bellows was ereeted a shaft from which was suspended a pump beam fastened to the bellows sweep. The pump beam was kept in motion by a horse power whim and as one bellows was filled the other
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LEADVILLE HOLLOW --- WHERE FIRST LEAD WAS DISCOVERED
was emptied; thus a constant blast of air was kept blowing on the fire. The fire was made of wood charcoal burned near the furnace and the lime used in the smelting was also burned at a kiln alongside of the creek and built for that purpose.
The pig lead made at this furnace was freighted overland to Boon- ville where it was placed on the market. An interesting story is told of taking the lead to Boonville. Mr. Tingle had a trusty slave Pete (who, by the way, had been given him by his father when he left Mary- land for the west and whom his father had raised from a boy). Pete was an exeeptionally bright colored man and a shrewd trader and Mr. Tingle frequently entrusted him with important business transactions, often sending him alone to Boonville with a four-horse wagon load of freight. Pete always sold his goods to advantage and upon his return accounted to his master for every penny.
The little camp which sprang up in this valley was called Leadville and at one time before the war numbered a hundred miners. The lead
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IIISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
in those days had a standing value of ten dollars per thousand delivered at the furnace.
It is interesting, too, to contrast the manner of cleaning the lead then and now. The mineral was cleaned with a tool which the miners called a pickawee, a small hand pick about the size of an ordinary hammer. Wash places were then unknown. All small particles of mineral which could not be separated with the pickawee were thrown out on the dump pile and left until the more recent days, where the great mills at an up-to- date mine save almost one hundred per cent of the mineral which comes from the ground.
FIRST LEAD FOUND IN JOPLIN CREEK VALLEY
The same year in which lead was discovered in Leadville Hollow mineral was also discovered in the Joplin Creek valley, and in a manner even more romantic than the discovery at Leadville, for it was purely accidental.
The following story was told the writer by Henry Blackwell, the man who built the first house in East Joplin and who assisted Judge Cox in surveying the original town.
Judge Cox owned a little negro boy, Pete, who was very fond of fishing and loved this sport even more than hunting the opossum, or eating the luscious red water-melon. On every occasion when oppor. tunity presented he would like to Turkey creek or the Joplin Creek branch, which was much nearer the judge's home, and there fish, gener- ally with good success.
On one occasion he went to Joplin creek in what is now called Kansas City bottom and began digging for fish bait. While thus engaged he turned up a good size chunk of lead and, being curious to know what such a heavy thing was, he carried it to Judge Cox who at once recog- nized its value. After digging around some at the spot where the little negro turned up the chunk and finding large deposits of mineral he at once went to Springfield and entered the entire section.
Little mining was done on this tract until after the war, when Mof- -
fett and Sergeant came from Oronogo, took a lease on the tract and commenced to mine. The opening of the mines by Moffet and Sergeant was the commencement of Joplin.
DISCOVERY OF LEAD NEAR ORONOGO
Almost simultaneously with the discovery of lcad in Leadville Hol- low, good pay dirt was also found near the present site of Oronogo; mines were opened up by Judge Andrew Mckee, Thomas Livingston, Messrs. French, Ringnold and others, and a thriving camp was soon in full blast.
The new town was called Minersville. Thomas Livingston was the leading spirit in the new camp and, being a man of great energy, erected a smelter quite similar to the Tingle Furnace and also conducted a gen- Vol. I-3
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
eral store. Mr. Livingston had been raised in the west and his sehool- ing had been neglected, but he was a shrewd business man and amassed what in those days was called a considerable fortune. Many fabulous stories are told of him and the gold he buried before going to the war.
Mr. Livingston was a man of great bravery, impetuous to a high degree, and knew not the meaning of the word fear. Yet with this firey nature he had a tender side to his make-up, and was as chivalrous as he was brave. Ile was a most devoted father to his two children, who had been bereaved of their mother during their tender childhood days.
A considerable quantity of lead was mined both at Minersville and Leadville until the breaking out of the war, when all commerce came to an end. There is a tradition that at the approach of the Federal troops a large quantity of lead at the Livingston Smelter was thrown into Cen- ter ereek to prevent its use by the Union soldiers.
There is an old story handed down by the pioneers that the lead in these parts was known by the Indians long before the discoveries above mentioned, and that they would dig out a small quantity for hunting purposes and then carefully conceal the mine to prevent discovery. The lead taken by them was smelted in crude chip fires, made hot enough to melt the metal. The melted lead would be allowed to triekle clown to a small elay pot and there be taken up and east into molds for bullets. We do not voueh for the truthfulness of this story, but give it for what it is worth.
Minersville at the breaking ont of the Civil war contained about twenty-five houses and was quite a thriving camp. The history of Min- ersville, now Oronogo, will be taken up later and the development of this important mining distriet brought down to date.
THE FREEZE OF 1848
Jasper county, as a rule, has a most delightful climate, and her win- ters are usually open. It is seldom that the thermometer gets very far below zero and a severe eold spell hardly ever lasts longer than a week, but the winter and spring of 1848 was an exception. In January of that year there eame a drizzling rain which afterward turned to sleet and snow, whiel froze as it fell. This continued for a full week and when the storm was over the entire earth's surface was a great skating pond, and the trees, underbrush and dried prairie grass were also coated with iee.
It did not thaw until the latter part of March and during all this time the trees and shrubs sparkled and glistened all through the day and by moonlight, making a seene like a fairy garden. The grass stood up like miniature palisades and was with its iey coat swelled to an ineh thiekness.
The sumach bushes resembled crystal pendants and the monarch oaks and stately sycamores were one solid mass of ice and made a fitting retreat for the Storm King.
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
THE DRAGON FLY PEST
During the carly 'fifties the county was visited by a plague in the shape of large swarms of dragon flies, described by oll settlers as being as large as ordinary bees and as their size corresponded to the ordinary fly just that much more annoying. These flies became so annoying to the settlers that it was necessary to plough at night and leave the horses and oxen blanketed in the barn during the day time.
One can imagine the inconvenience of trying to tend a crop when the greater part of the work had to be done during the moonlight season, and rainy weather at times interfering with this kindly light that was the farmers only hope.
BURNING OF TWO NEGROES
In August, 1854, there occurred in this county one of the greatest tragedies of the pioneer period, the burning at the stake of two colored men for the double crime of rape and arson.
Dr. Fisk who lived on a farm near Carthage had some business deal- ings with John B. Dale and had received a considerable sum of money.
A negro named Colley belonging to Mr. Dale knew of the transac- tion and conceived the idea of enticing the Doctor from his home that night and robbing him of the money, thinking that he would carry it on his person. He took into his confidence another negro named Bart who belonged to John Scott and the two men set about to carry out this design.
That evening about dusk Colley came to Dr. Fisk's house and told him that Mr. Dale's child was very sick and that the family wanted him to come at once to the bedside. Dr. Fisk at once saddled his horse and taking his medicine case set out for Mr. Dale's house.
After the Doctor had gone a short distance Bart came out of the brush and pulled him from his horse. Colley who had followed, came up and knocked the Doctor in the head with an axe, killing him with a single blow. Not finding the coveted treasure on their victim the two colored men prowled around until about midnight when they went to the house and after outraging Mrs. Fisk killed her and the little baby. They then plundered the house, securing about thirty dollars and a watch, and, no doubt with a view of covering their crime, set fire to the home. They then hid the plunder in a corn crib and fled, Colley re- turning to his cabin on Mr. Dale's farm and Bart, becoming frightened. fled to the timber and hid.
The next morning when the terrible crime was discovered the neigh- bors gathered in and public feeling ran high. Every man constituted himself a committee of one to hunt and bring to justice the perpetrators of the deed.
Mr. Dale noticed that Colley had changed his clothing and going to his cabin found blood stains on the clothes that he had worn the day
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
before, and at once communicated his suspicions to his neighbors. In order to test Colley, Mr. Dale sent him to watch by the corpse of Dr. Fisk and help prepare it for burial. Colley, although he had helped prepare a number of bodies for burial before, could not look at the body and begged to be exeused saying that he was sick. He was at once arrested and for a time declared that he was innocent, but after a day made a full confession in which he told the details of the awful crime. The money was found, as he said it would be, in the corn crib.
A posse at once started in pursuit of Bart who, being ignorant of the country, had made little progress toward his escape. In traveling at night and on unknown roads and not daring to ask anyone the way, he had never gotten beyond the confines of Jasper county and was cap- tured in the brush near where Georgia City was afterward built.
An examination was had before a committee of citizens, the infuriated people not being willing to wait for the law to take its course and await the convening of the court. It was agreed to put the two negroes to death. Some were in favor of hanging them, while others thought they should be burned at the stake as a warning to others. A vote was taken on the public square in Carthage and fully two to one voted to burn them. The day of execution was fixed as three days from the date.
The largest crowd of people that had ever gathered at Carthage up to this time came to witness the execution. Farmers came for many miles bringing their slaves with them. About 2:30 on the day set, the two negroes were brought out and chained to a stake. The burning took place in a hollow in the northwestern part of the town. About a cord of dry faggots were piled around the men, reaching up to their waists. Two colored men lighted the fire and in a short time the two eulprits were burned to death.
Mr. Dale's negro, Colley stood the test bravely and sang songs while the flames lcaped about him, and continued to do so until he was suf- focated by the smoke. Bart, the other negro, however, sercamed and begged for them to liberate him and shortly fainted away and died long before Colley did.
The incident was long after talked of and perhaps caused more ex- citement than any other event prior to the Civil war.
GOING TO MILL
In the pioneer days every farmer took his wheat and corn to the mill to be ground and waited until the grist was turned out, the miller receiving for his pay a portion of the flour or meal.
At the mill every one had to take his turn and during the busy sea- son would sometimes have to wait all day. At the mill the settlers swapped yarns or discussed the public affairs of the day. The following description of the old Sarcoxie mill is given us by one of the early set- tlers : "When a very small boy I used to carry a bag of corn or wheat on horseback every week to the old Sarcoxie mill to have it ground for bread. The house in which the grain was ground stood a little east of the present commodious mill. It was a frame building sixteen by
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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
eighteen feet, weatherboarded by rough oak plank, neither ceiled, plas- tered or painted, and was one story high. It set east and west and opened on the south side fronting on the pond. The east and west corn- ers on the south side rested on the bank of the pond. The east and west corners of the north side rested on pillars made of stone built down in the water. By this arrangement the house was so high above the water that one could easily ride horseback under it."
SOCIAAL AMUSEMENTS
Until after the war there were no large towns in Jasper county and the community was strictly an agricultural one, save the two little mining camps of Leadville and Minersville. The social amusements consisted principally of spelling, apple and husking bees.
It is hardly necessary to describe the spelling bee, or spelling mateli, as it is more properly called in our day, because we have all participated in these during our school days; but it might be said that the spelling was better mastered perhaps by our fathers and mothers than it is in our day. Webster's Blue Back Speller was the standard in those days, and many a boy and girl mastered it so completely that it was a difficult task to spell them down. There was great rivalry among the communi- ties over the championship at a spelling bee and it was no uncommon oc- currence for people to go ten and sometimes twenty miles to attend a spelling bee.
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