USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 7
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The temporary court house, as it was called, was completed in February, 1842. Superintendent Hines was directed to place the key of the establishment formally into the hands of Jeremiah Phillips, the sheriff, who by order of the court was placed in charge of the building. The original plans for this court house had been considerably altered. There were four windows, several brick chimneys and the structure was weatherboarded. In the court room were eight wooden benches, fur- nished by Goldsby Quinn, who was paid $66.54 for them.
Pleasant Hill township was organized May 3, 1842. This township was also located in what is now Sullivan county. The voting place was at Mathew Kidd's house. Linneus Davis was appointed road district- ing justice for the township.
The first and only slave property mentioned in the records of Linn county up to the year 1845 was found in settling the estate of Capt. Daniel Flournoy. In December, 1842, the court made this order :
"It is ordered by the court that Robert C. Combs, William Burt and James Carson be appointed commissioners to divide the estate of the late Capt. Daniel Flournoy, consisting of four slaves, named as follows: Frank, Phil, Anna, and Edith, as coming to a part of said legatees, to wit: Virginia Ann Williams, formerly Virginia Ann Flournoy. And it is further ordered that the clerk deliver a copy of this order to John G. Flournoy, agent for the guardian of the said Virginia Ann Williams."
The territory north of Linn county to the Iowa line was attached to Linn county for all civil and military purposes, and had no par- ticular name until 1843. At the session of the general assembly, in the winter of 1842-43, an act was passed defining the territorial limits of a county of the territory above mentioned, which included the present county of Sullivan. This was Highland county, but it was not organ- ized into its municipal government until two years later.
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The act provided that "the revenue levied and collected by the county of Linn, for county purposes, within the aforesaid county of Linn, after deducting the expenses of assessing and collecting the same and all the expenses which may arise from criminal prosecutions origi- nating in the county of Highland, shall be reserved for the use of Highland county and shall be paid over to said county by the county court of Linn county whenever the said county of Highland may be organized." The act was approved February 17, 1847.
The following order of the county court shows the care that was exercised in looking after minor children:
"It is ordered by the court that Frederick Hester be appointed guardian for Daniel Franklin Clary, minor and heir of Henderson Clary, and that the said guardian bind the said minor to Levi Moore upon the following conditions, towit: The said Moore is to school the said minor to read and write, and in arithmetic to understand the 'Rule of 3,' to clothe said minor with sufficient clothing, lodging and diet until he shall become 21 years of age. At which time the said Moore is to furnish said minor two suits of common clothing and one suit of fine clothes which is to be worth $20, and one horse, saddle and bridle to be worth $60."
The remainder of the Linneus town lots were ordered to be sold by the then county commissioner, Charles A. Fore, who had charge of the county seat property. A commissioner had been appointed to appraise all the unsold lots, and the order stated that the price to be paid must measure up to the appraisement, otherwise they were not to be sold. The commissioner was authorized to make the sale of the lots. The terms of the sale were two equal installments at twelve and twenty-four months from date of purchase, 10 per cent interest, with security. The deeds were to be given when first installment and inter- est were paid in full. The report of the sale was filed February 7, 1845.
The first contested election case in Linn county was between William J. Cornett and John Spencer. Both were candidates for jus- tice of the peace in February, 1844. The court decided in favor of Cornett.
On May 6, 1845, the county court made the following order appointing commissioners to lay off Linn county into seven municipal townships :
"It is ordered by the Court that Linn county be divided into
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seven municipal townships, and that Hiram E. Hurlbut, James W. McCormack, Thompson K. Neal, Stephen McCollum and Samuel Baker be appointed commissioners to lay off said county into seven municipal townships, and that the said commissioners shall meet at the Court House in Linneus the second Monday of July next in order to make said townships, and that said commissioners designate the township's boundaries by water courses, range lines, township lines and sectional lines, referred to in Acts of the 26th of January, 1845, and that they make report to this Court at the next regular term thereof, and that the sheriff notify them of their appointment."
On November 5, 1845, the commissioners brought in their report fixing the boundaries of the respective townships as follows :
"Yellow Creek Township-Commencing at the southeast corner of township 57, of range 18 west, thence west with said line to the section line dividing 34 and 35, township 57, of range 19; thence north with said line to the line dividing sections 15 and 22, in township 58, of range 19; thence west with said line to the line dividing sections 21 and 20, township 58, of range 19; thence north to the township line dividing townships 58 and 59; thence east on said line to the county line between Linn and Macon counties; thence south along said line to the beginning.
"Baker Township-Commencing at the southeast corner of town- ship 59, of range 18; thence west to the section line dividing 32 and 33, in township 59, in range 19; thence north to the County line between Linn and Sullivan counties; thence east to the county line between Linn and Macon counties ; thence south along said line to the beginning.
"Benton Township-Commencing at the southeast corner of sec- tion 8, in township 59, of range 19; thence west along said line to the middle of the channel of the main Locust Creek; thence up said creek to the mouth of the west fork of said creek, thence up the said west fork in the middle of said channel thereof north to the county line between Linn and Sullivan counties; thence east along said line to the section line dividing sections 8 and 9, township 60, range 19; thence south along said line to the beginning.
"Jackson Township-Commencing in the middle of the channel of main Locust Creek where the township line divides townships 58 and 59, of range 21; thence west along said line to the county line between Linn and Livingston counties; thence north to the county line dividing Linn and Sullivan counties; thence east along said line to the middle of the channel of the west fork of Locust Creek; thence down the same to the main Locust Creek to the beginning.
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"Parson Creek Township-Commencing in the middle of the chan- nel of main Locust Creek on the county line between Linn and Chariton counties; thence west to the southwest corner of Linn county; thence north along the county line between Linn and Livingston counties to the township line dividing townships 58 and 59; thence east along said line to the middle of the channel of main Locust Creek; thence down the same to the place of beginning.
"Jefferson Township-Commencing at the southeast corner of section 34, of township 57, of range 19; thence west along the county line to the middle of the channel of the main Locust Creek; thence up the middle of the channel of said creek to the section line dividing sections 14 and 23, in township 58, of range 21; thence east along said line to the section line between sections 22 and 23, in township 58, of range 19; thence south along said line to the place of beginning.
"Locust Creek Township-Commencing at the southeast corner of section 17, in township 58, of range 19; thence west along said line to the middle of the channel of the main Locust Creek; thence up the same in the middle of the channel to the section line dividing sections 11 and 14, in township 59, of range 21; thence east along said line to the northeast corner of section 17, of township 59, of range 19; thence south to the place of beginning."
These townships were all in Linn county proper. Sullivan county was organized February 15, 1845, out of the territory of Linn county. Previous to that Sullivan county had been known as Highland county. The report of the commissioners was approved.
After 1846 dawned the growth of Linn county and its increased official business demanded a more adequate court house. The pressure upon the county court became so strong that on March 4 Thomas Barbee was appointed to prepare and submit to the court a plan for the building of a court house in Linneus, fixing the dimensions, naming the materials and estimating the cost of such a structure.
An appropriation of $4,000 was made for the new building July 1. It was specified that the court house should be built in the center of the public square at Linneus. William Sanders, Hiram E. Hurlbut, and Daniel Grace were appointed to superintend the construction. After the August election a new county court took charge and at its session in September an order was made relieving Hiram E. Hurlbut and Daniel Grace from acting as commissioners.
William Sanders was appointed bridge commissioner to super- intend the construction of a bridge across Long Branch, on the state road to Macon county, and one across Big Muddy creek, on the state
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road to Brunswick. Mr. Sanders, who still acted as court house com- missioner, reported plans and specifications for a new court house. They were approved and placed on file. The county court made an order on March 14, 1847, giving the necessary directions to Sanders, who was appointed superintendent, for the building of the court house and providing for its payment.
The county court ordered a final sale of the town lots of Linneus on the first Monday in May, 1847, with instructions to continue from day to day until all the lots were sold. In May, $1,504.45 was realized from the sale and in August $98.25 additional.
Enoch Kemper, county clerk, filed his reports of the county's receipts and expenditures for the year 1846, as follows: Receipts, $1,189.38; expenditures, $1,075.17; balance on hand, $114.20., The tax levy of May 31, 1847, was one-half of 1 per cent additional for county purposes, while the state tax was about double what it had been the year previous. The increase of the county tax was necessitated by the building of the court house. This tax levy gave the county a revenue of $1,464.71, and yielded to the court house fund $742.86. It was sup- posed that this with the receipts from the Linneus town lot sales would be enough to meet the demands for building the new court house.
James L. Nelson, who built the court house at Gallatin, Davis county, was the contractor for the Linn county court house.
Lot 1, block 24, Linneus, was reserved for the county jail building.
William Sanders resigned as superintendent of the construction and Augustus W. Flournoy was appointed to supervise the completion of the court house.
Carlos Boardman, the first public administrator of Linn county, was appointed February, 1848.
Having disposed of all the lots in Linneus as shown on the original plat, and the court house project still requiring more funds, the com- missioner for the county seat, Charles A. Fore, was ordered to lay off the residue of the town tract, to make a plat and have it attached to the original plat. This was done February 12, 1848.
The foundation of the court house building having been laid, and the brick work well under way, a committee was appointed to examine the material and workmanship. Owen Rawlings, Samuel S. Swope and G. Walker were chosen on this committee. The committee made its report, which was received and approved by the county court.
On this an order was issued to the treasurer to pay John L. Nelson, the contractor, $1,130 to apply in his work. This was in March.
On May 2 the superintendent reported to the county court that
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two-thirds of the work on the court house had been credited, that the material was good and the work well done. On June 5 the contractor was given an additional warrant for $1,330.
Commissioner Fore having completed the platting of the addition to the original town of Linneus, was ordered to sell the six lots embraced therein for $45.971/2.
On October 16 Superintendent Flournoy reported to the county court that the new court house had been completed according to con- tract, and recommended that the same be received. The court accepted the report and ordered another warrant for $1,330 to Contractor Nelson as balance due. The total cost of the building was $3,894.85, including some slight alterations made in the contract.
That was in the year 1848. Today counties of Missouri with no greater population than Linn county has are building court houses that cost all the way from $50,000 to $100,000.
A notable thing about this pioneer court house building was that it was built inside of the contract price. It seems from all the data obtainable that the commissioners and others appointed to look after the building exercised the utmost vigilance to see that not a cent of money was wasted and that the material was fairly up to specifications.
A statement of the county's financial condition for the year 1848 showed a balance on hand of $592.61.
At the August term, 1849, the county court made an order that no greater sum than $100 should be loaned to any one person out of the road and canal fund. Two hundred and $300 loans had been made, and if this was continued it was found that there wouldn't be enough money to go around.
The county was now getting close to the railroad era-that is, to the talk that preceded the actual constructions. On October 10, 1849, the court made this order :
"It is ordered by the Court that there be $200 appropriated out of the internal improvement fund of this county for the purpose of surveying the track for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, subject to the order of the president of the Board of Commissioners of said road."
This order marked an epoch in the development of Linn county. It was the initial step in the inauguration of the movement which has done much for the prosperity and development of the county. In that distant day it was not dreamed, possibly, what railroads would event- ually mean to this county. The ambition was to secure a line across the county which would furnish an easy method of reaching the two
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great rivers bordering the state, where the produce of the county would then be transferred to steamboats and carried to the great market centers. Today Linn county has three great lines of railroad travers- ing her bosom and two important division points, Brookfield and Marceline. Laclede is a junction and an important railroad center, also Bucklin. Doubtless the county court of 1849 thought $200 was a liberal appropriation for railroad enterprises, because in those days the layman had but small comprehension of the great costs of railroad facilities.
That $200 appropriation got the people to talking railroad. It crystallized public sentiment in favor of better means of communica- tion. It made the iron horse a reality. Yet it was ten years in the future before the connections were made and the trains running.
The first primary election that ever occurred in Linn county was ordered to be held the fourth Saturday in January, 1850. It has been stated that this was in reality the first primary election in Missouri. Thomas K. Neal had resigned as assessor and it became necessary to fill the office. There were plenty of candidates. The election was carried out strictly by the order of the county court, which read as follows :
"It is ordered by the Court that the legal voters in and for Linn county may meet on the fourth Saturday of January next, 1850, at the several election precincts in said county for the purpose of electing an assessor to assess Linn county for 1850, and that the Court will appoint the person receiving the highest number of votes."
William Clarkson received a majority of the votes and was duly appointed on February 4.
Linn county's first jail was built under an order made March, 1851. The sum of $1,100 was appropriated for that purpose. It was specified in the order that the jail was to be "double wall of brick and logs, fitted with iron, located on Lot 6, Block 22." Hiram E. Hurlbut was appointed to supervise the construction and he was enjoined by the order to see that the jail was made proof against the most accomplished unfortunate to regain his liberty on being confined therein, without some help."
Edward Hoyle was appointed county treasurer to succeed David Prewitt. Hoyle took possession of the office October 6, 1851.
Another $500 was appropriated for the location of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad through Linn county, April 14, 1851. An elec- tion was also ordered for the third Saturday in May so that the people
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
might say how much stock the county should subscribe for to encourage the road.
In September, Colonel Robert M. Stewart, promoter of the railroad company, appeared before the county court and requested that body to take stock in the railroad. This is the order of the county court on that proposition :
"On motion of Colonel Robert M. Stewart, agent for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, it is ordered by the court here that the county of Linn take 250 shares in the stock of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, at the sum of $100 per share. ($25,000.) And that the court reserve to themselves the power to pay over the installments as they may be called for by said company on said stock, either by pay- ment in cash, or by issuing her bonds as it may be required; and also, if the bonds which may hereafter be issued by the county for the pur- poses aforesaid shall be disposed of by said company at a discount, the said county is to bear no loss on account thereof. Said bonds to bear interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, payable annually."
Colonel Stewart, referred to in the court's order, was one of the famous men of his day. The successful construction of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad is probably due more to his indefatigable energy than to that of any other man.
Because of his eternal optimism for the road, there are many who think that "Mark Twain" took his character of "Colonel Sellers" from "Bob" Stewart. It is stated, but without any particular authority, that a railroad enthusiast of the 50's started an ox team at Hannibal and plowed a furrow clear across the state, and that Stewart, who assisted in the survey of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, followed this primitive survey almost exactly. For fifty years following the road's construction the inhabitants of northern Missouri have spoken of this ox team survey and its wonderful practicability. Truth is, it was originally intended to run the road through Shelbyville, Bloomington and Linneus, and Bloomington made a large donation on the strength of an agreement to strike that town. Afterward the line was moved southward and Bloomington's money was refunded.
Robert Morris Stewart, to whose untiring energy and faith the building of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road is ascribed, was born at Truxton, Cortlandt county, New York, March 12, 1815, and died at St. Joseph, Mo., September 21, 1871, a poor man. He was never mar- ried. His remains rested in an unmarked grave in Mount Mora ceme- tery, until 1908, when the state had erected a handsome and imposing monument to his memory.
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In his early life Stewart taught school and studied law in his native state. He came to Missouri in 1839 and located in St. Joseph. Stewart served as prosecuting attorney of Buchanan county and two terms in the legislature, once in each branch. In 1848 he was appointed registrar of the Land Office at Savannah, which position he resigned in order to engage in the preliminary survey of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. He superintended the entire work, in spite of the fact that a part of the time he was compelled to go about on crutches as result of an injury. His earnest and indomitable energy overcame all the embarrassing obstacles confronting the enterprise. Shortly after the completion of the survey Stewart went to the national capital and secured the land grant referred to in the report of the Chillicothe con- vention. [See railroad chapter.]
Stewart served as president of the road after its completion, and labored incessantly to make it a popular means of travel. It is related that a baby was disturbing the sleep of the passengers one night. The weary mother was unable to quite the little one. Finally, President Stewart, who was on the coach, took in the situation. He walked over to the mother and remarked: "Madam, my name is Stewart." I am president of this road and its my duty to look after the comfort of the patrons. Hand that baby to me."
Not knowing whether he was going to throw the child out of the window or otherwise murder it, yet fearing to disobey the "president of the road," the frightened mother handed her infant over. Stewart, who never had a child of his own, clumsily took the little passenger in his arms and walked as steadily as he could up and down the swaying aisle. The compound motion seemed to be just what the youngster wanted and it fell asleep in the president's arms. Then it was handed back to the mother, with the admonition to send for the president if it kicked up any more fuss.
Stewart aided in the construction of the St. Joseph and Denver Railroad and projected the St. Louis & St. Joseph road. He was the author of the "Omnibus Bill," under which the railroad system of the state was built up. To every enterprise or measure calculated to help the state he was an earnest friend and worker.
In politics Stewart was always actively interested. This campaign is characteristic of the man: Trusten Polk (Democrat), of St. Louis, was elected governor at the election in 1856. Soon after his inaugura- tion Polk was elected United States Senator to succeed Henry S. Geyer, deceased. He accepted the senatorship and resigned as governor. A special election was held in August to fill the gubernatorial vacancy.
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Stewart became the anti-Benton Democratic candidate. James S. Rol- lins, known as the "Father of the State University," was the Whig nominee.
An exciting contest followed the lining-up of the rival candidates. Rollins was well-known as a campaign orator of power. He was alert, quick to see a point and take advantage of it, and of attractive personality.
Stewart, less skilled in oratory, had considerable ability. The rivals met in joint debate several times. On each occasion there were large and tumultuous crowds. The dynamic subject of slavery was up, with all its direful portent. State enterprises, various internal im- provements, etc., were the less sinister issues trailing along with that of the black man. The battle waged fiercely. After a meeting some said Rollins had the better of it; others insisted Stewart had flattened his opponent out. At times bloodshed between the heated partisans was narrowly averted. At Gallatin a personal encounter occurred between Rollins and Stewart on the platform. This came near participating a riot among the shouting multitudes, but quiet was finally restored and nobody was carried home on a stretcher.
The contest was marked by bitter sarcasm, withering denunciations and dramatic defiance. Whenever the candidates were billed to appear it was no trouble to get out a crowd. An edict of the mayor wouldn't have kept the people at home.
Rollins was beaten by 334 votes in a total of 96,640. Stewart was inaugurated in January, 1858. His first official act was to pardon William Langston out of the penitentiary, where he had been sent for complicity in a killing. Langston had at one time nursed Stewart through a long and serious illness. Stewart was never the man to for- get anyone who had done him a kindness.
Not long after Stewart became governor of Missouri, Rollins went to Jefferson City and registered at the Madison House. Governor Stewart met his old antagonist, extended a friendly hand and invited him to be his guest at the executive mansion while in town. Rollins accepted, and all the animosities of the campaign were wiped out at the governor's hospitable board.
In the fall of 1858 Govenor Stewart issued the first Missouri proc- lamation for a day of fasting and prayer in recognition of the Divine Blessings to the state and its people.
When the Civil War came on Govenor Stewart lined up with the Union side, and was a member of the Gamble Constitutional Convention of 1861.
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