Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 102

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856

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"New Madrid Claims" worked to retard settlement. Congress granted each soldier of the War of 1812, who had been honorably discharged, 160 acres of land and the same to widows and orphans of those who had died or been killed in service. Many of these claims passed into the hands of speculators, non-residents who hoped that improvements in the new country would enhance the value of their holdings. New Madrid claims were located also in the county, and these, too, were manipulated by land grabbers, much to the detriment of the country. For more than a quarter of a century these claims interfered with the progress of the county. Chariton County was organized by legislative act, ap- proved November 16, 1820, and was named after the town of Chariton, which had been founded two years before. The boundaries of the county were outlined as follows : "Be- ginning in the Missouri River where the western line of Howard County strikes the same; thence to and with said line to the northwest corner of Howard County ; thence with the Howard County line eastwardly to the sectional line, which divides Range 16 into equal parts ; thence north to the line be- tween Townships 56 and 57 ; thence with said line west to Locust Creek; thence down same to Grand River ; thence down the same to Missouri River and down the Missouri to the beginning." The county as then defined extended from the Missouri River to the Iowa line. Chariton was the first county seat and there a log courthouse was built. The first circuit court was held by Judge David Todd. Edward B. Cabell was the first clerk of courts. The first county justices were Colonel Hiram Craig, Colonel John M. Bell and Meshach Llewellyn. John Moore was the first sheriff. There were few important cases-in fact no serious criminal matters- to take up the attention of the early courts. Chariton remained the seat of justice until 1832, when its location was found to be unhealthful and was abandoned. James Keyte, an Englishman who had taken 'out his naturalization papers, laid out the town of Keytesville, and donated a tract of land to the county for county seat purposes. This land was sold in the usual way, at public auction, and with the proceeds a good court- house was built in 1832. In 1836, according to "Wetmore's Gazetteer of Missouri," Keytes- ville had "a good courthouse, four stores,

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CHARITON RIVER-CHARLESS.

three taverns and all the mechanics' shops that are requisite in a farming country." Ac- cording to the same authority at that time, "where the main road issues from the town and crossed a good bridge. a sawmill and a gristmill with two pairs of burrs run the whole year." Four other mills in the county were then in process of construction and the writer stated that "Mr. Keyte, the founder of Keytesville, is beginning another town he calls Brunswick near the mouth of Grand River." September 20, 1864. the courthouse was burned by Confederates under Thrailkill and Todd. Only a few of the records were lost. In 1867 the present courthouse at Keytesville was built. It is a two-story brick structure, 50 x ITO feet, and substantial and finely furnished. Slight repairs have been made to it at different times. In 1870 a jail and a residence for the jailer were built at a cost of $13,000. Among the early residents of Chariton County who gained much prom- inence were General Duff Green, who lived in the old town of Chariton and later moved to Washington, D. C., where he edited the "United States Telegraph"; General Sterling Price, and Judge Lisbon Applegate, who was county judge of Chariton County for many years and a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1845. Among the earliest preachers of the gospel in the county was Rev. John M. Peck, who preached in Chari- ton, in 1819, and organized a "mite society." and was instrumental in starting a Sunday school, which was one of the first, if not the first. west of St. Louis. John Bowler, a Baptist preacher, located at Chariton, in 1820, and preached there and in other settlements in the county. The first mill of any pre- tentious size was built in 1820 at Chariton and was known as Findley's mill. It was run by steam. It burned in the winter of 1823-4. In the summer of 1824 much of the bottom land along the Missouri River and the Chariton was inundated and caused se- rious losses to the settlers, and was one of the chief causes of the abandonment of the town of Chariton. During the Black Hawk War a company of militia was organized in Chari- ton County, and under command of General John B. Clark took part in the campaign against the Indians. The county supplied soldiers for service in the Mexican War, and during the Civil War furnished men to both the Northern and Southern Armies. There

were numerous raids made in the county and much guerrilla warfare carried on during the War between the States. Confederates under Thrailkill and Todd raided Keytesville on September 20, 1864, and burned the courthouse and murdered the sheriff, Robert Carmon. In all, the county fared much better than other counties of the central sec- tion of Missouri and recovered quickly from the depression occasioned by the conflict. Chariton County is divided into sixteen townships, named respectively, Bee Branch, Bowling Green, Brunswick, Chariton, Clark, Cockrell, Cunningham, Keytesville, Mendon, Missouri, Mussel Fork, Salisbury, Salt Creek, Triplett. Wayland and Yellow Creek. The assessed value of real estate and town lots in the county in 1900 was $4,217,707 ; estimated full value $12,653.301 ; assessed value of per- sonal property $1.410.701; estimated full value $4.232,103 ; assessed value of merchants and manufacturers $135,797; estimated full value $305,373; assessed value of railroadls and telegraphs $1.168,240. There are 89.60 miles of railroad in the county. The Wabash passes through the county in a circuitous route, entering south of the center of the eastern line, and the Omaha Branch leaving the county near the northwest corner ; while the main line to Kansas City leaves the county near the southwest corner. The Omaha Branch leaves the main line at Brunswick. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe passes in a southwestwardly direction from about the center of the northern to the center of the western boundary, and a branch of the Burlington system passes diagonally through the northwest corner. The number of schools in the county in 1900 was 132; teachers employed 200: pupils enumerated 6,767. The population of the county in 1900 was 26,826.

Chariton River is made up of three branches, East Fork. Chariton, and Brush Creek, which rise in Adair and Sullivan Coun- ties and flow south, through Macon, Ran- dolph and Chariton Counties, a distance of ninety miles. uniting in a common stream, which flows into the Missouri River three miles above Glasgow.

Charless, Joseph, founder of the first newspaper established in St. Louis, was born in Westmeath, Ireland. July 16. 1772. and died

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CHARLESS.

in St. Louis in 1834. Of Welsh origin, the family to which he belonged emigrated to Ireland in 1663, and in his young manhood Joseph Charless was a participant in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. After the failure of that patriotic movement to establish the inde- pendence of Ireland, he fled to France, and came from there to the United States. He was a printer by trade, and some time after his arrival in this country joined Matthew Carey, the noted publisher-who was also an Irish refugee-in Philadelphia. Carey was an intimate friend of the public men of that day, and, while in his employ, Charless formed the acquaintance of such distin- guished Americans as Dr. Ben. Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and others, and it was an acquaintance with Henry Clay which prob- ably brought about his removal from Phila- delphia to Kentucky. He became a resident of Lexington in the year 1800, removed to Louisville in 1806, and came from there to St. Louis in 1808. Here he founded the "Mis- souri Gazette," of which the present great daily journal, known as the "Republic," is the legitimate successor. He was a warm- hearted, generous Irish gentleman, who lives in history as the father of St. Louis journal- ism. His widow, who was Mrs. Sarah Mc- Cloud before her marriage, lived to the ad- vanced age of eighty-one years, and died in St. Louis. Their son, JOSEPH CHAR- LESS, banker and financier, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, January 17, 1804, and died in St. Louis, June 4, 1859. As soon as he had mastered the rudiments of an educa- tion he was put to the printer's trade in the office of the "Missouri Gazette," but later was sent to Transylvania University, at Lexing- ton, Kentucky, at which he completed his ed- ucation. Ile then studied law under Francis Spalding, who was at that time a leading member of the bar of St. Louis, and later graduated from the law school of Transyl- vania University, at Lexington, Kentucky. The practice of law did not, however, prove congenial to him, and, associating himself with his father, who had sold his interest in the "Missouri Gazette." they established themselves, in 1828, in the wholesale drug business in St. Louis. He soon demonstrated that he had a genius for trade, and built up what was considered in those days a vast business, becoming an importer and manu- facturer, as well as a jobber of drugs. He

was never a public man in the sense of being a politician or office-holder, although he was always somewhat prominent in the councils of the old Whig party, with which he affili- ated. As a promoter of the welfare of St. Louis, however, and a moving spirit in ad- vancing its commercial and industrial inter- ests, he was, in the broadest sense, a public man. He participated in municipal legisla- tion and the conduct of municipal affairs, serving as a member of the Board of Alder- men and a director of the public schools, be- cause he was deeply interested in securing good government for the city and in advanc- ing its educational interests, and not to gratify any personal ambition for official pre- ferment. His recognized ability as a man of affairs caused him to be designated by the Governor to act as president of the State Bank of Missouri, and at a later date he was president of the Mechanics' Bank, establish- ing the reputation of being a safe and con- servative banker and an unusually sagacious financier. He was a director, also, of the Pa- cific Railroad Company, and his unimpeach- able integrity and high standing as a business man carned for him the respect and confi- dence of the entire community in which he lived. He was looked to, in his day, as a leader in forwarding all enterprises having for their object the upbuilding of the city, and the strong impress of his individuality has been left upon the history of St. Louis. He was the firm friend of education and edu- cational institutions, and aided in founding Washington University, which has since be- come one of the leading colleges of the West. He was among the founders, also, of various charitable and benevolent institutions, and one who gave wisely and judiciously to alle- viate the sufferings of his fellow men and to improve the condition of those dependent upon the publie for support. An elder in the Presbyterian Church, he was a man of deep and unaffected piety, and under all circum- stances a consistent Christian gentleman. He met his death, strangely enough, at the hand of an assassin, against whom he had once been compelled to bear witness in a court of justice, and who expiated his crime on the gallows, November 11, 1859. After his death the Chamber of Commerce, the board of directors of the Mechanics' Bank, the church extension committee of the Gen- eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church,

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CHARLESTON-CHARTERS, ST. LOUIS CITY.

Westminster College, and other institutions with which he had been identified, bore formal testimony to his high character and his worth as a citizen in resolutions presented to his family and published in the city press. He married, in 1831, Miss Charlotte Blow, daughter of Captain Peter Blow, a veteran of the War of 1812, who had immigrated from Virginia to Alabama, and came from there to St. Louis in 1830.

Charleston .- A city of the fourth class, the seat of justice of Mississippi County, lo- cated in Tywappity Township, at the crossing point of the Belmont branch of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. The town was surveyed and laid out in May, 1837, by John Rodney, surveyor of Scott County, the greater part on land originally entered in 1830 by Humphrey Warren, and which, by purchase, passed into the hands of Thank- ful Randol. The original site comprised a fraction more than eleven aeres, and some of the land was owned by Joseph Moore and W. P. Bernard. Humphrey Warren, when he settled on the tract, built a log house, which was used as a boarding house by Thankful Randol until her death. The first store in the town was opened by John West and a man named Neil, in the same building. Later they moved into a slab-covered build- ing, and in a few years were succeeded by Arthur R. Newman, who built a log house, and for many years conducted a store. One of the prominent residents of Charleston in its early history was George Whitcomb, who came from Massachusetts in 1837, first lo- cated at Belmont, and upon the organization of Mississippi County became a resident of Charleston. For twenty years he was clerk of court ; in 1854 built the first brick hotel- the second brick building in the town, the first having been built in 1848 by James and Charles Moore; in 1857 started the first newspaper of the county, the "Courier," and principally through his efforts the Cairo Rail- road was built. In 1860 a branch of the Un- ion Bank was opened, with John Bird presi- dent, and J. C. Moore cashier. In 1862 General Jeff. Thompson raided the bank, took charge of its funds, $58,000 in silver and gold, to prevent confiscation by the Fed- erals, and distributed the money among its depositors. In 1851 a lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons was instituted, and a

lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows in 1855. When the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad was built, the place enjoyed a new era of prosperity, and has since maintained its place among the sub- stantial towns of the State. The town has Baptist, Methodist, Catholic and Christian Churches, and two churches for colored peo- ple : a fine graded school, a school for colored children, a select school conducted by the Ursuline Sisters, two banks, two hotels, an operahouse, telephone service, ice plant, flouring, saw and planing mills, pipe factory, a building and loan association, and an elec- trie lighting system. There are about fifty miscellaneous business houses, including a number of well stocked stores. There are two newspapers, the "Enterprise," published daily and weekly by John F. Martin, and the "News," published tri-weekly by S. G. Tet- wiler. Population, 1899 (estimated), 2,000.

Charters, St. Louis City .- St. Louis took its first step toward municipal dignity in 1800, when the village-or post, as it had up to that time been called-was, upon the peti- tion of two-thirds of the tax-paying inhabi- tants, formally incorporated as a town by the Territorial Court of Common Pleas. The petition was presented November 9th, and on the same day the court, composed of Silas Bent, presiding justice, and Bernard Pratte and Louis LeBeaume, associates, granted the charter, with the government to be in the lands of five trustees, chosen by the tax- payers. In this original charter the limits of the town were Roy's windmill, at about the foot of Franklin Avenue, on the north, and Mill Creek, on the south, with the western boundary line extending between these two points "along the line of the forty-arpent lots on the hill." The population was about 1,000. The first Board of Trustees chosen under this charter was composed of Auguste Chouteau, one of the founders of the post; Edward Hempstead. John P. Cabanne, William C. Carr and William Christy. This arrangement lasted for thirteen years. When the Terri- tory of Missouri became the State of Mis- souri, the town of St. Louis naturally desired a higher dignity, also, and as it claimed a population of 4,000, the Legislature granted its incorporation as a city, December 9, 1822. The boundaries were from the river at the foot of Ashley Street, on the north ; thence

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CHARTERS, ST. LOUIS CITY.

due west to Broadway, down Broadway to Biddle, along Biddle to Seventh, down Sev- enth to Labadie, along Labadie to Fourth, and along Convent to the river, enclosing an area of 385 acres, with 651 houses-232 brick and 419 wooden-a taxable valuation of $810,064, and an annual income of $3,823. The old Board of Trustees was done away with, and the incorporation was under the name of "The Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of the City of St. Louis." There was a mayor, with nine aldermen; the city was to be di- vided into wards, and stated meetings of the Board of Aldermen were to be held the first Monday of March, June, September and De- cember, with extra meetings when called by the mayor. The mayor and aldermen were to be chosen every year, and at the regular mu- nicipal election to be held on the first Monday of April, all free male white citizens who had paid a tax were allowed to vote. This charter was submitted to a vote of the taxpayers, as required by its terms, and accepted, the vote being one hundred and seven in favor of, and ninety against ; and on the 7th of April, 1823, the first municipal election under the first city charter was held. Dr. William Carr Lane, at that time, and for many years after, one of the most popular citizens of St. Louis, was chosen mayor, and Thos. McKnight, James Kennerly, Philip Rocheblave, Archibald Gamble, William H. Savage, Robert Walsh, James Loper, Henry von Phul and James Lakenan were chosen aldermen. At the first meeting of the Board of Aldermen, held one week after the election, April 14th, Archibald Gamble was made president-and the new government was fairly launched. The first ordinance passed was one prescribing that "the emblems and devices of the common seal of the city of St. Louis should be a steamboat, carrying the United States flag, and the same shall be so engraved as to rep- resent by its impression the device aforesaid, surrounded by a scroll inscribed with the words: 'The common seal of the City of St. Louis,' and not more than one and a half inches in diameter." The city was divided into three wards, the South Ward, the Middle Ward, and the North Ward. January 15, 1831, the Legislature amended the charter, providing for the appointment of an assessor, exempting the people of the city from work- ing outside roads, giving the city authorities power to regulate, pave and improve its

streets, take census, impose taxes and licenses, and annex additional territory. In 1833 another amendment was enacted direct- ing that the city be divided into four wards, and declaring all acts relating to the city of St. Louis to be public laws. Amendments to the charter, passed in 1835, extended the city limits, divided it into four wards, and provided for the election of three aldermen from each ward. The following year John F. Darby was elected mayor under this charter. In 1839 a new charter was granted, again ex- tending the limits so as to run along Mill Creek from the river, on the south, to Rutger Street ; thence west to Seventh, along Sev- enth to Biddle, along Biddle to Broadway, along Broadway to Survey 671, and thence to the river on the north. This charter re- tained the tax-paying qualifications of vot- ing, allowed non-residents living in the State and paying taxes in the city to vote at city elections, and provided for a Council, to be composed of two boards, aldermen and dele- gates-two aldermen to be chosen from each ward and to serve two years, and three dele- gates to be chosen from each ward to serve one year. There were to be four stated ses- sions a year. Mr. Darby was elected mayor under this charter in 1840, it being his fourth term. In 1841 the charter was again amended and the limits further extended. February S, 1843, an act of the Legislature reduced the law incorporating the city and all amend- ments to it into one law, and changed the cor- porate name to "The City of St. Louis," de- fined the scope of the legislative powers of the city, described the executive and minis- terial officers, provided for elections, open- ing, improving and regulating streets, and clearly set forth the miscellaneous provisions. In 1844, at the desire of the people of the county outside the city, a proposition to sep- arate the city from the county was submitted to popular vote and defeated. In 1845 the Legislature passed an act allowing the city to borrow $100,000 to improve the harbor. In 1847 an act was passed making distinction in the collection of revenue in the new limits of 1841 and the old limits, and requiring one- fourth of the revenue collected in the new limits to be devoted to improvements in the new district. In 1854 riots occurred, which the mayor found himself without authority to suppress, and which resulted in destruction of property for which the city was held re-

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CHARTERS, ST. LOUIS CITY

sponsible ; and in the following year the Leg- islature amended the charter so as to give it greater authority to suppress riots. The amendments also provided for the reduction of the city debt by authorizing the appoint- ment of a fund commissioner to manage the sinking fund; and it provided that there should be paid into the sinking fund the pro- ceeds of the sale of the "city stores" in block No. 7, and three-fourths of the net proceeds of the sales of the city commons in the year 1854 and subsequent years ; the proceeds of the sales of railroad stocks, and $10,000 a year out of the city revenues. In 1869 the charter was amended so as to provide for a Board of Health. In 1870 what was called the "revised charter" was passed, extending the limits and taking in the town of Caronde- let. There were so many new charters and revised charters that the terms alinost lost their meaning. The rapid growth of the city and the multiplication of its interests con- stantly demanded, or were thought to de- mand, additional legislation, and there was hardly a period of three years from 1836 to 1876 without a change in the city charter, and from 1852 to 1876 there was a change every year.

The relations between the county court and the city had been for many years growing cumbersome and unsatisfactory, and there was a strong conviction that a separation, which would leave the municipal population to manage its own affairs, would be advan- tageous to both the city and the county. Ac- cordingly, the State Constitutional Conven- tion of 1875 took the first step toward such a measure by providing for the election of a board of freeholders to devise a scheme of separation, with a new, complete charter for the city. This board, composed of George H. Shields, president ; James O. Broadhead, Silas Bent, M. Dwight Collier, F. H. Lutke- witte, Henry T. Mudd, George W. Parker, George Penn, M. H. Phelan and Samuel Re- ber, framed the measures which, on being submitted to a popular vote, August 22, 1876, were both adopted-the scheme by a major- ity of 1,253, and the charter by a majority of 3,222. It was a vast and comprehensive measure, the most important in the history of the municipal government, and, as it was without precedent, the execution of it was at- tended with no little uncertainty and anxiety. Fortunately the working of it was without

serious friction, and the results have been so satisfactory that no proposition of return to the old order has ever been suggested. The scheme dealt with the separation and the defi- nition of the new relations, the apportion- ment of the new county debt and county property, and provisions for starting the new county on its career. There was to be no county court in the city, but the city was to have a sheriff and public administrator, and was to perform certain functions of a county. The debt of the old county was assumed by the city, and all the old county property in- side the new city limits was awarded to the city, and the municipal assembly was author- ized to enact all ordinances necessary to carry into execution the laws relating to State, county, city and other revenues within the city. The charter extended the city limits so as to give a river front of about nineteen miles, from a point two hundred feet south of the River des Peres on the south, to the northern boundary of United States Survey No. 114 on the north, the western line run- ning from three to six miles from the river, and enclosing an area of abont sixty-two square miles. The legislative body of the city was called the "Municipal Assembly of the City of St. Louis, " composed of a Council and a House of Delegates, the Council consisting of thirteen members chosen by general ticket for four years, and the House of Dele- gates of one member from each ward chosen every two years. The city was divided into twenty-eight wards, with the right in the municipal assembly to change them every five years. The general election for city officers to be held on the first Tuesday in April every four years. The mayor, comptroller, auditor, treasurer, register, collector, recorder of deeds, inspector of weights and measures, sheriff, coroner, marshal, public administra- tor, president of the Board of Assessors, and president of the Board of Public Improve- ments are elected by the voters and hold office for four years : the city counselor. super- intendent of the House of Refuge, super- intendent of the fire and police telegraph, commissioner of supplies, assessor of water rates, police justices, attorney, jailer, district assessors, and commissioners of charitable institutions are appointed by the mayor and hold office for four years. The Board of Public Improvements is composed of the street commissioner, sewer commissioner,

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 102

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 856

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856