Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 39

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

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 39

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which it prejudiced him in the public mind, he became a recognized leader in the councils of the young Commonwealth of Missouri, and when the State government was formed he was elected, at the end of a prolonged and bitter contest, one of the first United States Senators from this State. Possessed of a com- manding intellect, an assiduous student, reso- lute, temperate, industrious, and endowed with a memory whose tenacity was marvelous, he soon placed himself among the leaders in the national council. One of his earliest ef- forts was to secure a reform in the disposi- tion of the government lands to settlers. A pioneer himself. he sympathized with the de- mands of the pioneer, and in 1824, 1826 and 1828 advocated new land laws. He demanded ( I) a pre-emptive right for all actual settlers ; (2) a periodic reduction according to the time the land had been in the market, so as to make the prices correspond to the quality: (3) the donation of homesteads to impoverished but industrious persons who would cultivate the land for a given period of years. He pre- sented a bill embracing these features, and renewed it every year, until it took hold upon the public mind, and was at length substan- tially embodied in one of President Jackson's messages, which secured its final adoption. Becoming reconciled to General Jackson, he was one of the ablest and most loyal support- ers of his administration. and gained great in- fluence in the Democratic party. He was one of the earliest advocates of a railroad to the Pacific, and was prominent in directing explorations in the far West, in encouraging overland transit to the Pacific, and in working for the occupancy of the mouth of the Colum- bia. He also favored the opening up and protection of the trade with New Mexico : en- couraged the establishment of military sta- tions on the Missouri and throughout the interior. and urged the cultivation of amica- ble relations with the Indian tribes, and the fostering of the commerce of our inland seas. In the first annual message of President Jack- son strong ground was taken against the United States Bank, then the depository of the national moneys, and subsequently. when he directed the withdrawal of the deposits and their removal to certain State banks, the result was disastrous to the business of the country. Colonel Benton took up the matter, addressed himself to a consideration of the whole ques- tion of finance, circulating medium and ex-

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change, and urged the adoption of a gold and silver currency as the true remedy for the ex- isting embarrassment. He made on this sub- ject some of the most elaborate speeches of his life, which attracted attention throughout the United States and Europe, and the name of "Old Bullion" was given to him. His style of oratory at this period was unimpas- sioned and very deliberate, but overflowing with facts, figures, logical deduction and his- torical illustrations. In later life he was char- acterized by a peculiar exuberance of wit and raciness that increased with his years. From 1841 until 1851, under Presidents Tyler. Polk and Taylor, he participated in the discussions that arose in regard to the Oregon boundary, the annexation of Texas and other important subjects. During the Mexican War his sery- ices and intimate acquaintance with the Span- ish provinces of the South proved most useful to the government. At one time it was pro- posed by President Polk to confer upon him the title of lieutenant general, with full com- mand of the army, in order that he might carry out his conceptions in person. Ques- tions in regard to slavery were brought on by the acquisition of Mexican territory. These were adjusted by the compromise acts of 1850, which were introduced by Clay, were opposed by Benton, and defeated as a whole, but passed separately. In the nullification struggle Benton was Calhoun's leading Dem- ocratic opponent, and their opposition to each other developed into a lifelong animosity. In 1847, in answer to the "Wilmot proviso," which excluded slavery from all territory sub- sequently acquired, Calhoun introduced reso- lutions that embodied his doctrine of State rights. Colonel Benton denounced Cal- houn's resolutions as a "fire-brand." The resolutions never came to a vote, but they were sent to the Legislature of every slave State, were adopted by several of them, and were made the basis of after conflict and party organization. In his hostility to Benton. Cal- houn sent the resolutions to Missouri, and confided them to certain Democrats in the Legislature whom he knew to be unfriendly to Benton's re-election to the Senate. Bv skillful management the resolutions were passed in both branches without Benton's knowledge, and a copy was sent to Washing- ton. He promptly denounced them as not expressing the sense of the people, and con- taining disunion doctrines, designed to pro-

duce separation and disaster, and declared that he would appeal from the Legislature to the people. On the adjournment of Congress, he returned to Missouri and canvassed cvery section of the State in a series of speeches famed for their bitterness of denunciation, strength of exposition and caustic wit. The result was the return of a Legislature, in 1849-50, with Benton men in the plurality, but composed of opposite wings, and he was defeated by a coalition between his Demo- cratic opponents and the Whigs. . At the close of his term he therefore retired from the Sen- ate, after six successive elections and thirty years' continuous service. In 1852 he stood as a candidate for Congress, made a direct appeal to the people of his district, and was elected over all opposition. He gave his warm support to the administration of Frank- lin Pierce, but when the Calhoun party ob- tained the ascendency, he withdrew this sup- port. The administration then turned on him, and displaced from office all his friends throughout Missouri. Soon afterward the Kansas-Nebraska bill was brought up, and he delivered a memorable speech against it, which did much to excite the country against the act, but failed to defeat its passage. . \t the next election he was defeated for Con- gress, and retiring from active politics, he de- voted two years to literary pursuits. In 1856 he became a candidate for Governor of Mis- souri, but while his old friends rallied to his support, a third ticket, and the consequent division of political forces, lost him the elec- tion. In the presidential election of 1856 hc supported Buchanan, in opposition to his son- in-law, Colonel Fremont, giving as a reason that Buchanan, if elected, would restore the principles of the Jackson administration, while he feared that the success of Fremont would engender sectional parties, fatal to the per- manence of the Union. In 1854 he issued the first volume of his "Thirty Years' View" of the workings of the government, which pre- sented a connected narrative of the time from Adams to Pierce, and dealt particularly with the secret political history of that period. The second and last volume appeared in 1856, and the work is known everywhere as one of the most important contributions to the political history of our county. In the closing years of his life he undertook the task of abridging the debates of Congress, and this work, which was brought down to the conclusion of the

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great compromise debate of 1850, was pub- lished in fifteen volumes. Colonel Benton married Elizabeth McDowell, daughter of Colonel James MeDowell, of Virginia. She suffered a stroke of paralysis in 1844, and from that time he was never known to go to any place of festivity or amusement. She died in 1854, leaving four daughters, the second of whom married General John C. Fremont.

Benton County .- A county in the cen- tral western part of the State, 100 miles south of Kansas City. It is bounded on the north by Pettis, on the east by Morgan and Camden, on the south by Hickory and St. Clair, and on the west by St. Clair and Henry Counties, and contains 744 square miles. In 1898 it con- tained 3.420 acres of public lands subject to entry. The northern portion is mostly rolling prairie, timber predominating in the southern part. The prairie soil is mixed with clay, and yields large crops of small grains ; the soil of the valleys is a rich dark loam, and is noted for productiveness. About one-half the acre- age is under cultivation, and the untillable land affords excellent pastirage. There are three distinct watersheds. The Osage River coursing almost centrally to the cast, is the principal stream. Previous to 1860 it was a valuable waterway, and as many as seven steamboats from St. Louis have lain at the Warsaw wharf at a time. On occasion a boat was too large to turn in the stream, and was obliged to go to the head of the tow for that purpose. Railroads and diminution of water supply, consequent upon cultivation of the soil and removal of the timber, destroyed this traffic. The Osage River receives from the south Beaver, Big Deer, Little Deer and Turkey Creeks, Big Pomme de Terre River and llogle Creek ; and from the north Buffalo, Cole Camp. South Indian and Williams Creeks, Little Tebo River, Grand River which receives Clear Creek, and Big Tebo River fed by Brush Creek. Duck Creek, into which flows Barker's Creek, waters the northwest. Ross', Persimmon and Spring Creeks, with their feeders, flow northerly toward the Mis- souri River. The streams are fringed with heavy growths of hard wood, principally hick- ory, oak, ash and walnut. Building lime- stone abounds, and there are large deposits of lead, zinc and iron. Traces of furnaces near Warsaw, and lead diggings between Osage

and Grand Rivers, are attributed to early French explorers. Since the settlement of the county iron was mined northwest of Warsaw, and lead near Cole Camp and Lincoln, but the works were soon abandoned. There are nu- merous clear water and some mineral springs. Until 1861 White Sulphur Springs, on the Osage River, eight miles above Warsaw, was a noted resort. On Cole Camp Creek is a cave containing many curious formations. Wind Cave, so named from a constant percep- tible air current issuing therefrom, some five miles northwest of Warsaw, is interesting sim- ilarly. Fine mastodon relics have been found. among them one almost complete skeleton, which was taken to Cincinnati, and another to the East. In 1880 a fragmental tusk, nearly three feet long, evidently from a tooth nine feet in length and six inches thick, was in possession of a druggist at Warsaw. These relics were found on the Pomme de Terre River. Railways traversing the county are the Missouri Pacific and the Sedalia, Warsaw & Southwestern. The principal towns are Warsaw, the county seat, Cole Camp and Lin- coln. In 1898 the principal surplus prod- tiets were: Wheat. 18,051 bushels ; flaxseed, 5,896 bushels ; hay, 1.923.400 pounds ; flour, 19)1,462 pounds ; poultry, 369.880 pounds ; but- ter. 62,425 pounds: eggs, 352,290 dozen; game, 11,628 pounds; hides, 37,154 pounds; feathers, 5,401 pounds: lumber, 261,900 feet : cross-ties, 128,759; cord wood, 7 .- 662 cords ; dried fruit, 4,280 pounds ; cattle, 2,326 head: hogs, 21.755 head; sheep, 3.920 head.

When the first white settlers came the In- dians were in full possession. On the Osage River, near Warsaw, were the Kickapoos and Shawnees, and the Osages occupied points on the Pomme de Terre River to its mouth. That stream marked the line between the whites and the Indians, the latter occupying the west side. The whites gradually encroached upon the Indians, either by purchase or on suffer- ance, and relations were generally amicable. In 1835 the Indians had mostly disappeared to the West, returning each year to hunt, as late as 1840. The first white settlers-the year of whose coming is not ascertainable-were Narcisse Pensinean, a Frenchman, and John F. Hogle, a German. The name of the latter is perpetuated in that of Hogle Creek. These men established a trading post at the mouth of Flogle Creek, where was a large Indian

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village. In 1832 Thomas J. Bishop came and entered their employ ; he afterward succeeded to the ownership of the post, and later became the first county and circuit clerk. . The first native American settler is believed to be Ezekiel Williams, one of the Lewis and Clark explorers, who came late in 1830 or early in 1831, settling southwest of Cole Camp. After- ward came Oliver L. Brown, Richard Wil- liams and the Ross brothers. Late in 1831 Lewis Bledsoe located on the Osage River just above Warsaw, and established a ferry. Shortly afterward one Yager opened a store there, and Stephen A. Hlowser settled on the site of Warsaw. Quite an immigration came in 1832 from Kentucky and Virginia. Wil- liam Ripetoe was the first settler on Pomme de Terre River, and George Alexander on Turkey Creek. Captain John Halloway lo- cated on the Osage River at Heath's Bend, so named for his son-in-law, C. G. Heath. Mil- ton Kincaid. George Blanton and John Gresham, Sr., settled on Little Tebo, and Lewis Johnson and John H. Howard below Warsaw, on the Osage River. Prior to 1836 three free negroes located near Fairfield, and their place came to be knownas "Free Nigger Springs." Among the settlers in the early 30's were Joseph C. Montgomery, on the prai- rie; William Kays, who built the first mill in the county, on the Osage River, near Turkey Creek : Elijah Doty, Jonas Dawson, and George Richardson on Deer Creek; John M. Williams and William Denton, below War- saw : the Foster and Anglin families on Grand River ; John W. Lindsay on Little Tebo ; Jolin Shipton, who built the first mill in that region, on Indian Creek, and Samuel Orr, James and Wiley Vinson near Lincoln. As late as 1836 Boonville was the nearest postoffice: a few years before it was the nearest mill point. The public lands were not open for entry until 1836, and the first entry was made by Richard Williams.

Benton County was named for the great Missouri Senator and statesman, Thomas H. Benton, and was created by act of the Gen- eral Assembly, January 3. 1835. Originally its present territory north of the Osage River was a part of Howard County. That portion south of the river belonged successively to Washington, Crawford and Greene Counties. Pettis County, at its formation in 1833, in- cluded all the Benton County territory north of the Osage River ; that portion south of the

river remained a part of Greene County. Feb- ruary 17th. following the creation of Benton County, by supplemental act there was added to it that part of the present Camden County south of the Osage River and west of the Big Niangua River, called Niangua Township, which was relinquished to Camden County by act of January 29, 1841. By act of 1845 twenty-four square miles of the northwest part of Benton became a part of Pettis County; and Hickory County was created, taking nearly one-half of its northern territory from Benton County, reducing the latter to its pres- ent dimensions. The organic act named com- missioners to locate a county seat, but they failed to act, and the county remained unor- ganized for two years, until January, 1837, when the General Assembly appointed as com- missioners Bethel Allen, Henry Avery and Richard D. Bradley, and directed them to lo- cate a judicial seat centrally and near the Osage River. Two rival trading places con- tested for the location, Fristoe, one mile north of Warsaw, and Osage, or Bristoe, as it was variously known, about five miles northwest of that place. The two points were popularly known as Old Town and New Town, respect- ively. Their merits were championed so warmly that the commissioners rejected both, and selected the site of Warsaw, where was then only one house, that of Stephen A. How- ser. James Ramsey, as commissioner, had Robert Wyatt lay off the town and proceeded to sell lots. In 1838 a log courthouse was built at a cost of $300, and a jail was also erected. In 1839 a new courthouse was con- tracted for at not to exceed $2,500, but the contractor failed in the work, a new contract was made, and the house was partially built in 1842. Later the foundation was con- demned and the building was sold. In 1886 a sightly and commodious building was erected at a cost of $9.089. The old jail was used until 1852, when it was replaced with a new one. The first county court comprised Judges Joseph C. Montgomery, John W. Lindsay and William White, who sat Febru- ary 16, 1835, at the house of Markham Fris- toe, with Thomas J. Bishop as clerk. Their first official act was the granting of a saloon license, and the next the appointment of James Ramsey as commissioner to pre-empt public lands whereon to erect public buildings. In 1867 a probate court was established, with H. Il. Ham as judge and David E. Fields as

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clerk. The first term of circuit court was held September 10, 1835, at the house of Markham Fristoe, Judge C. II. Allen presiding, with Thomas J. Bishop as clerk and Markham Fristoe as sheriff. The first resident lawyer was De Witt C. Ballou, who became the first surveyor, and later a judge. For many years the court was occupied with perjury, riot and vagrancy cases, which habitually resulted in acquittal. In 1845 State Senator B. P. Major died from a wound inflicted by ex-Judge Eli- jah Cherry, and in 1845 John HI. Wilson was killed by Thomas Coats. Acquittal followed in each case. The Turk-Jones feud, costing many lives, and which the courts were power- less to end, finally requiring the services of the military, is treated under a separate head- ing. The county now belongs to the Twenty- ninth Judicial Circuit. The first representa- tive elected was Zachariah Fewell, in 1836. During the Civil War the majority of the male population took up arms on one side or the other. The Confederates were in the ascend- ancy until the fall of 1862, when the enrolled militia was called into service and took pos- session. In the Sixtieth Regiment were Ben- ton County companies, commanded by Cap- tains Samuel Webb, William Miller, George Gallaher and Jacob Freund. In the Eighth Cavalry were Captain Richard H. Melton's company, from Cole Camp and Warsaw, and Captain John Cosgrove's company in which were many Benton men. In the Seventh Cav- alry, Captain Owen D. Hawley's company, and most of Captain T. W. Hout's company were from this county. Company I, Forty- fourth Volunteers, was largely made up in the county, and there were many in the Sixth Cav- alry and other commands. In the Confeder- ate service the only organized body, except two Warsaw companies, were Captain Feas- ter's company, but many enlisted elsewhere, singly or in squads. Education received early attention, but in no effective manner. Itiner- ant teachers taught for short terms in log buildings which did service as church and schoolhouse. In 1836 a seminary was pro- jected at Bledsoe's Landing, but never estab- lished. In 1852-3 a public school was taught at Warsaw by Mr. Johnson and Miss Good- man, and the following year an academy was opened by Lougan and Shanklin. There are now schools in every township, but a few log buildings were in use as late as 1800. There were, in 1898, 93 schools; 106 teachers, and a

permanent school fund of $20,150. From the earliest days itinerant preachers held religious meetings in passing through the country. Probably.the first organized church was Anti- och Primitive Baptist, in 1833, on North Prairie, which, since the division of Benton, is in Hickory County. Elder L. Elgan organ- ized a church of the same denomination on Little Tebo in 1842. A noted Baptist minis- ter of the early days in Warsaw and vicinity was one known as "Snag-Boat" Williams, whose florid rhetoric was drawn from river ex- periences. In 1839 the Cumberland Presby- terians held a camp meeting near Little Tebo. conducted by the Rev. Finis Downing and Peter Foy. These people were the first to build a church, a brick edifice, in Warsaw, in 1847, previous to which time all worshiping congregations met in the old log courthouse. A Southern Methodist Church was founded west of Lincoln prior to the war. All other existing bodies are of later origin. Strong Lutheran Churches exist near Cole Camp, Lincoln and on Lake and Indian Creeks. In 1880 the railway from Sedalia was completed, and from this date the present advanced con- ditions in business, education and religion. The population of the county in 1900 was 16,556.

Berkley, Edward Fairfax, D. D., Protestant Episcopal clergyman, was born in Washington, D. C., September 20, 1813, son of George and Mary (Cross) Berkley. Both his parents belonged to old American families, and in the paternal line he was descended from the English houses of Fairfax and Berkley. He obtained his academic education at Bristol College, located on the Delaware River above Philadelphia, and was then fitted for the min- istry of the Protestant Episcopal Church at the theological school of Lexington, Ken- tucky, founded by Bishop Smith, of that State. He entered the ministry well fitted for his work by a thorough course of education, and peculiarly adapted to it by natural quali- fications and experiences in early life, which had developed the moral and sympathetic elements in his nature and also his self-reliance and force of character. His mother had been left a widow while he was still a child, and as a boy he had gone out into the world to make his own living and assist in caring for the rest of the family. He had served an apprentice- ship to Messrs. Davis & Force, then publishers

A. I. Banays. A. 2.

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of "The National Journal," at Washington, and among his duties was that of delivering the "Journal" daily, except Sunday, to the State, Treasury, War and Navy Departments. While thus employed, he delivered the "Journal" to Henry Clay, then Secretary of State, and first formed the acquaintance of the great Kentucky statesman as a newsboy. Singularly enough, after he had succeeded in educating himself for the ministry, had been for some years engaged in his chosen work and had become famous as a minister of the gospel, he baptized Mr. Clay into the church and subsequently performed over him the burial rites of the church. Admitted to the order of deacons at Christ Church of Lexing- ton, Kentucky, in December of 1838, Dr. Berkley was immediately afterward called to the rectorship of that parish. He entered upon the discharge of his duties in January, 1839, and remained there until November, 1857, doing extensive missionary work throughout central and western Kentucky and establishing flourishing churches at Paris, Maysville, Mt. Sterling, Cynthiana, and other places in the meantime. His upright char- acter, his many acts of kindness and charity, his genial nature and his devotion to the spiritual welfare of the people with whom he was thrown into contact made those who came under his care his lasting and loving friends. At the end of nearly twenty years of remarkably successful ministerial labors in Kentucky, he responded to a second and par- ticularly urgent call from the vestry of St. George's Church, of St. Louis, and came to that city. Ile assumed charge of the parish in November, 1857, and during the fourteen years of his administration of its affairs, brought to it a great degree of prosperity and gave it large influence among the churches of the city. In 1871 he resigned the rectorship of St. George's Church, and shortly afterward organizing St. Peter's parish, built a beautiful stone church for its occupancy on Grand Avenue, near Olive Street. After freeing this church entirely. from debt, he resigned the pastorate, when in the seventieth year of his age. During the remainder of his life he was not regularly attached to any parish, but was frequently called upon by his brother ministers and friends to exercise the functions of the priesthood. The degree of doctor of divinity was conferred upon him by the Mis- souri State University, of Columbia, in 1864.

He was a finished public speaker and an elo- cutionist of such rare ability that he became known throughout the West as a popular public reader, his services being frequently given for the benefit of charitable and benev- olent enterprises in St. Louis and other cities. He was fearless in the discharge of his duties, and during the cholera epidemic of 1866, al- though he and his family were absent from the city when the scourge made its appearance, he returned to St. Louis and devoted his whole time to visiting the sick, comforting the afflicted and burying the dead, irrespective of race, creed or condition, until the dread malady disappeared. In early life he was a member of the Whig party, but became a Democrat when the Whig party ceased to ex- ist, and to the end of his life was firm in his convictions and outspoken in his sentiments on all political questions. During the Civil War he was thoroughly in sympathy with the cause of the Confederacy, and contributed lib- erally to the relief of the stricken people of the South at the close of the war.

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 39

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