Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 82

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 82

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BYRAM.

longing to the road and canal fund. Saying that he was going to Tennessee for his niece, he left Poplar Bluff, taking with him the funds in his care and he never returned. There was little business before the courts the first ten years, the records occupying less than one hundred pages. The first person to be sent to the penitentiary from the county was James Wingo, who was given a two-year term for larceny. One of the most interest- ing cases in the early history of the courts was that of John L. Fitts and his son Rich- ard, for the murder of Dr. Tillman Rich, at Yancy Hotel in Poplar Bluff, May 19, 1860. John L. Fitts was a prominent citizen and objected to attentions paid his daughter by Rich. He and his son meeting Rich in the hotel, a quarrel between them took place in which Rich was stabbed to death. The trial of the father and son, on change of venue, came before the court in Wayne County and both were convicted of murder in the first degree at the October (1860) term of court. An appeal was taken to the higher court and the verdict set aside. The war breaking out, Fitts and his son went to Tennessee. In 1877, on requisition, the elder Fitts was re- turned to Missouri, retried and acquitted. In 1866 James Reed quarreled with one Hardin, about a half mile south of Poplar Bluff, over matters pertaining to the war. Reed killed Hardin and escaped. In 1870 he was arrested, convicted and sentenced to be hanged November 11, 1870. He escaped from the sheriff while he was en route to the jail at Ironton, and little effort was made to recapture him. The only case wherein cap- ital punishment was inflicted was that of Wil- liam Harbin, for the killing of A. Smith, July 4. 1888. The evidence was purely circum- stantial. He was hanged in the jail yard at Poplar Bluff, January 15, 1892. There was much skirmishing between the Confederates and Federals in the county during the Civil War. Many depredations were committed by lawless bands, who burned and plundered houses, stole stock, captured and, in a few instances, killed citizens. By both Northern and Southern forces some good men were court-martialed and shot on trivial charges. often based on flimsy foundations. Terror reigned within the county limits, and many residents left it. At the close of the war only four families resided in Poplar Bluff. For some years after peace was declared,

organized bands of robbers, who made their rendezvous in Clay County, Arkansas, made raids into the county, plundered citizens and ran off with stock. Persistent warfare against them resulted in their extermination about 1873. In educational matters, the county was lax for many years after its or- ganization. There is no record of any school being started in its early history. Houses were far apart, no thickly populated settle- ments, and in the only village of the county (Poplar Bluff) as late as 1860 there were not more than sixty houses. In this can be seen the reason for laxity in educating the young whose principal training and instruction was received at the firesides of their homes. In 1869 a school was established at Poplar Bluff by the Butler County Educational Society. This school was called the Black River Sem- inary and was in charge of Professor H. Mc- Kennon. Upon the establishment of the public school system, a few years later, it was turned over to the school trustees. The number of schools in the county in 1899 was sixty-five, with seventy-seven teachers, a school population of 5,531 and a school fund amounting to $48,354.70. The first paper published in the county was the "Black River News," started in 1869 by G. L. Poplin and G. T. Bartlett. The papers at present pub- lished in the county are the "Citizen" and "Republican," at Poplar Bluff. The county is divided into ten townships, named respec- tively, Ash Hill, Beaver Dam, Black River, Cane Creek, Epps, Gillis Bluff, Harviell, Neeley. Poplar Bluff and St. Francois. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Rail- way has fifty miles of track in the county. The main line runs through the central part from north to south, and the Cairo branch from Poplar Bluff, in the center, eastward, and the Doniphan branch from Neeleysville, in the southwest corner, westward. The as- sessed value of all taxable property in the county in 1899 was $3,850,987, divided as fol- lows: Real estate, $2,276,771; personal, $607,723; merchants and manufacturers, $271,524, and railroad and telegraph, $694,- 969. The full estimated value of the same is $8,347.300. The population in 1900 was 16,- 769.

Byram, Oscar Worth, judge of the Probate Court of Cass County, is a descend- ant of one of the most distinguished families

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BYRAM.

in the United States. He was born in Bath County, Kentucky, October 20, 1849, and is a son of Albert and Emily F. (Robinson) Byram. His father, a native of Kentucky and a son of Valentine Byram, devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. In 1868 he removed to Missouri, locating in Cass County, but later in life he established his residence in Henry County, where his death occurred in October, 1895. His father, Valentine Byram, spent most of his life in Kentucky, and was a native of either that State or Virginia. Valentine Byram married Ruth Fletcher, who was a sister of General Thomas Fletcher, a brigadier general on the staff of General William Henry Harrison, afterward Presi- dent of the United States, and a warm per- sonal friend of the latter, with whom he served with distinction in the War of 1812. Governor Fletcher was a graduate of the University of Virginia and a man of great prominence in public life and military affairs. He served with distinction at the battle of Princeton and was the hero of Fort Meigs. Many of the most noted men of his day, in- cluding Lafayette, Henry Clay and numerous United States Senators and members of Con- gress, were his intimate friends and were frequent visitors at his home. Three of his earliest American ancestors-and conse- quently those of the subject of this sketch- served together in the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War and fought at Bunker Hill. The first American ancestor of the family was Count Marie Joseph Fletcher, a member of the French nobility from Canton de Verd. He married a first cousin of Mademoiselle Noailles, who became the wife of the Marquis de Lafayette. General Fletch- er's mother and the great-grandmother of Judge Byram was Nancy West, a sister of Benjamin West, the celebrated portrait painter and a kinsman of George III. To the Fletcher line belong President James Madison and Vice President John C. Cal- houn. Judge Byram's mother was a daughter of John M. and Mildred (Ferrell) Robinson. She was a native of Bourbon County, Ken- tucky, while her mother was born in Wood- ford County, in that State. Judge Byram's great-grandfather Ferrell was one of the pioneers of the Bluegrass State, and met his death at the hands of the Indians there. The education of Oscar W. Byram was be- gun in the private schools of Bath County,

Kentucky, and his classical studies were con- cluded in the academy at Sharpsburgh, in that State. After leaving the last named insti- tution he began the study of law. He studied one year at Louisville, Kentucky, and two years at Charleston, West Virginia. His parents moved to Missouri in 1868, and in October, 1871, he was admitted to the bar before Judge Townsend at Harrisonville. He at once opened an office in Harrisonville, where he has since been continuously en- gaged in the practice of his profession, ex- cept during the years which he has served in public office. Always firmly adhering to the principles of the great party of Thomas Jefferson, he has been called upon several times to serve in public life as the choice of that party. In 1872 he was nominated for city attorney of Harrisonville and was elected by a large majority, serving three terms with credit to himself and to the manifest satisfac- tion of the public which re-elected him to the office. In 1894 he was chosen to the re- sponsible position of judge of the Probate Court of Cass County, and since that year has remained continuously in that official position. Upon his re-election in 1898 he had no Republican opposition, a fact which attests his popularity and the great confi- dence reposed in him by reason of his splendid administration of the affairs of the Probate Court during his first term of four years. He has always taken an active in- terest in the success of his party in both State and local campaigns and for twelve years or more has been congressional com- mitteeman for the Sixth District. Frater- nally Judge Byram is identified with the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery in Masonry, and with the Knights of Honor, the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In religion he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and has been trustee of that church at Harrisonville for over twenty years. He was married September 26, 1877, to Mary Thornton, a native of Montgomery County, Kentucky, and a daughter of Charles T. Thornton. They have been the parents of five children. Of these Kate, the first born, is deceased. Those now living are Emma, Belle, Thornton and Price Talliaferro Byram. Judge Byram is a man of the strictest integrity, possessed of a broad mind, liber- ality of heart and public spirit. He ranks

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BYRNE-BYRNS.

as one of the leaders of the bar in Cass County, and is a useful citizen and valned friend.

Byrne, John M., head of the John M. Byrne Lumber Company, one of the largest houses in its line in Kansas City, was born in 1843. in the west of Ireland. His parents were John .A. and Maria E. Byrne, who immi- grated to America in 1848, and made a home in Wisconsin. The father, who was a farmer, is yet living at Madison, in that State; the mother died in 1874. The son, John M. Byrne, was educated at Madison, Wisconsin, taking a partial course in the high school. In 1870 he entered the employ of M. T. Green, who was conducting a lumber busi- ness at La Cygne, Kansas. He afterward became a partner, the firm being incorpor- ated under the laws of Illinois as the Chicago Lumber Company. In this connection, be- tween 1870 and 1875. he personally estab- lished yards at Louisburg and Waterville, Kansas, and at Iowa City and Creston, Iowa. In July, 1880, the company entered upon bus- iness in Kansas City, Missouri, establishing large yards at Seventeenth and Wyoming streets. In 1891 Mr. Byrne purchased the interest of his partner in the Kansas City business, and placed it under the name of the John M. Byrne Lumber Company, asso- ciating with himself his brothers, P. J. and G. R. Byrne. January 1, 1900, the yards were removed to their present location at Twentieth and Wyandotte streets. A yard is maintained in Kansas City, Kansas, under the charge of George R. Byrne, and another in the East Bottoms, Kansas City, Missouri, under the management of Arthur W. Byrne. son of John M. Byrne. The firm takes first rank with those in the lumber trade, one of the most important business interests in Kan- sas City, than which none have contributed more to the material growth of the city and the development of the region tributary thereto. They are especially large dealers in white and yellow pine, and cypress, which they supply in great quantities to contractors and builders. Large supplies in these lines are constantly kept in their yards, and the firm is noted for exceptional promptness in filling orders. John M. Byrne was an organ- izing member of the E. G. Swartz Co., limited, lumber mill owners and operators, and he yet retains his interest in the busi-

ness; the mills were originally located at Chidester, Arkansas, but have been removed to Louisiana. Mr. Byrne married Miss Lucia Fox, daughter of Dr. William H. Fox, one of the most prominent physicians of Madison, Wisconsin. Six children have been born of this marriage, of whom one is de- ceased. The oldest living is Arthur, who is engaged in the lumber business as before mentioned. Mr. Byrne is methodical and far-seeing in the conduct of his business, and his name is a synonym for strict integrity in all his dealings. He has no taste for pub- lic life, and finds congenial occupation in attention to his business concerns and devo- tion to the pleasures of his home.

Byrns, Samuel, lawyer and Congress- man, was born March 4, 1848, in Jefferson County, Missouri, and was reared on a farm. After receiving a thorough English educa- tion he studied law, was admitted to the bar and began the practice of his profession at Hillsboro. Within a few years thereafter he had gained a place among the leading lawyers of eastern Missouri, and had also become prominent in politics. taking an active part in national, State and local cam- paigns as a member of the Democratic party. In 1876 he was chosen a presidential elector and had the distinguished honor of sitting in the Electoral College in which the vote of Missouri was cast for Tilden and Hendricks. Elected a member of the Mis- sonri House of Representatives, he served in the Twenty-ninth General Assembly during the session of 1877 on the committee on judi- ciary and on other important committees, and took a prominent part in shaping the legislation of that session. In 1878 he was elected to the Missouri State Senate and served four years in that body, covering the Thirtieth and Thirty-first General Assem- blies, as chairman of the committee on criminal jurisprudence. From 1886 to 1888 he was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee, and in the year last named was again chosen presidential elector. At the ensuing meeting of the electoral col- lege, he and his colleagues cast the vote of the State for Cleveland and Thurman. In 1890 he was elected to the Fifty-second Con- gress, defeating his Republican opponent, William M. Kinsey, by a majority of nearly two thousand votes. He served with distinc-

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CABANNE-CABELL.

tion during the ensuing term in the National Legislature, and then returned to the practice of his profession, in which he has since been engaged, occupying a prominent position

among the lawyers of the State. While in Congress he was a member of the commit- tee on rivers and harbors and chairman of the subcommittee on claims.

Cabanne, John P., pioneer, was born in 1773, at Pau, in the south of France, and died in St. Louis in 1841. He was educated and trained to mercantile pursuits in France. and in 1803 came to the United States with considerable capital. He first established his home at Charleston, South Carolina, and en- gaged in the sugar trade, which he conducted profitably for a year or more. Meeting with a disaster, occasioned by the loss at sea of two of his trading vessels, he then went to New Orleans and embarked in trade in that city. In 1806 he came to St. Louis and engaged in the fur trade, which was then the principal business of that place. For many years he was interested in this trade with Bernard Pratt, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., Antoine Chenie, Bartholomew Berthold, Manuel Lisa and others. For some years he was a member of the firm of Pratt, Choutean & Co., and during this period spent much of his time in what was then called the Indian country. He amassed a large fortune and left his family a rich inheritance. He was one of the commis- sioners appointed to accept subscriptions of stock to the Bank of St. Louis, founded De- cember 17, 1816. He was a member of the first Public School Board of St. Louis, was one of the incorporators of the city, and was foremost in all measures and enterprises de- signed to promote the advancement and progress of the town. So prominent was he as a business man and citizen that his death was universally regretted, and the utterances of the press and of the public of that period gave expression to the feeling that the place which he occupied in the community was one not easy to be filled. He married in St. Louis, in 1807. Miss Julia Gratiot, daughter of Charles Gratiot, in his day one of the leading citizens of Missouri. Five sons and three daughters were born to them, all of whom lived and died in St. Louis, and they have numerous descendants who still reside in that city.

Cabaret Island is located between the Merchants' Bridge and the Chain of Rocks, opposite the northern part of the city of St. Louis, and is now connected with the Illinois shore, but formerly the river ran on both sides of it. The island was named Cabaret, or Gabaret-both spellings are used-after an early French settler, and was known among the original settlers as the "Isle a Ca- baret." From two to three miles in length, it had originally an average breadth of half a mile and contained about 1,400 acres. It was first surveyed by General Rector, in 1817, un- der the name of Caskaret Island. A story, almost romantic, is connected with its his- tory. The northern half was entered by Sur- veyor General Rector, and was occupied by "squatters," who disputed his ownership. Rector then sold his part to a man named O'Hara, who was on the way to Hot Springs, and died there, leaving an infant daughter as his sole heir. Before the daughter attained her eighteenth year she married a naval offi- cer, who died on the African Coast. She came back to this country and brought suit in the United States Court of Illinois to recover a piece of land near Hannibal, her husband never having asserted his claim. Under the statute of limitation it was barred in Illinois for over forty years. She recovered it finally and established, under the same ruling, her right to recover the north half of Cabaret Is- land. A man named George Kibber, of Bos- ton, her son-in-law, then became the owner. Kibber brought suit against some of the "squatters" and obtained judgment. He then sold a portion to the "squatters" and later conveyed the unsold portion to Professor Jonathan B. Turner, of Jacksonville, Illinois, in whom the title was vested in 1897.

Cabell, Edward Carrington, emi- nent at the bar and in public life, was born in Richmond, Virginia, February 5, 1816, and died in St. Louis, February 28, 1896. He

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CABET-CABEZA DE VACA.

received a classical education at Washington College-now Washington and Lee Univer- sity -- and at the University of Virginia, com- pleting courses in both civil engineering and law. In 1837 he removed from Richmond, Virginia, to Florida-which was then a Terri- tory-and almost immediately became con- spicuous in public life. In 1838 he served as a delegate in the Constitutional Convention of Florida. After the admission of that State to the Union, in 1845, David L. Yulee was chosen its first representative in Congress, but was soon afterward elected to the United States Senate. Colonel Cabell was thereupon elected as a Whig to succeed Yulee, but was unseated as the result of the contest insti- tuted by his Democratic opponent. In 1846, however, he was elected to Congress, and served as a member of that body until 1853. In 1852 he delivered a speech in Congress on the fortification of Key West and the Tortu- gas, which is said to have secured the appro- priation for the protection of that important point. In 1855 he built the first railroad in Florida, and was identified in many ways with the early development of that State. His marriage to a St. Louis lady, in 1850, caused him ultimately to remove his home to that city, and he became a member of the St. Louis bar in 1860. During the Civil War he espoused the cause of the Confederacy, and from 1862 to 1865 served at different times on the staffs of Generals Sterling Price and Kirby Smith. After the war he continued the practice of law in St. Louis until his death, only once accepting public office. That was in 1878, when he was elected to the Missouri Senate, in which body he served with distinc- tion. In addition to being an able lawyer and a versatile and accomplished public man, he was an entertaining writer, and at one time wrote an elaborate account of Florida, which was published first in "The National Intelligencer," and afterward in "De Bow's Review." His political affiliations in early life were with the Whig party, but he became a Democrat later and was prominent in the councils of that party. He was reared an Episcopalian, and died in that faith. He mar- ried, in 1850, Anna Maria Wilcox, daughter of Dr. Daniel P. Wilcox, of Columbia, Mis- souri, who died while serving as a Senator in the Missouri Legislature.

Cabet, Etienne, French communist, was born in Dijon, France, January 1, 1788, and died in St. Louis, November 8, 1856. He was an advocate by profession; was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1831 ; founded "Le Populaire" in 1833, and fled to England in 1834, in order to escape punishment on ac- count of an article which he had published in that journal. He returned to France in con- sequence of the amnesty of 1839. He wrote "Histoire Populaire de la Revolution Fran- caise de 1789 a 1830," "Voyage en Icarie, Ro- man Philosophique et Social" (1840). He es- tablished a communistic settlement, called Icarie, in Texas, in 1848, which was removed to Nauvoo, in Illinois, in 1850. He also es- tablished, in 1855, an Icarian settlement at Cheltenham, in St. Louis County, which see.

Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nunez, sup- posed to have been the first European who traversed Texas and New Mexico, was born in Estremadura, Spain, in 1507, and died in 1559. He landed with Narvaez on the coast of Florida in 1527 and accompanied him in his march westward, and in the voyage along the coast, in boats constructed by the men at- tached to the expedition, with tools forged from their stirrups and spurs. These boats were wrecked by the swift current of the Mis- sissippi River pouring into the Gulf, and of the three hundred persons belonging to the expedition, Cabeza de Vaca and three others were the only ones who escaped death by drowning or at the hands of the savages on shore. They were cast ashore at some point west of Matagorda Bay and captured by a band of Indians, among whom Cabeza re- mained a captive six years. At the end of that time he met by accident the three other survivors of the Narvaez expedition, and to- gether they made their escape from the In- dians. Traveling westward in the hope of falling in with some Spanish expedition on the Rio Panuco or the Pacific Coast, they traversed what is now Texas and New Mex- ico, and the Mexican States of Chihuahua and Sonora, and on the 12th of May, 1536. reached the town of San Miguel, in Sinaloa. The account which they gave of nations dwelling in permanent houses in the region which they had traversed prompted Coro- nado and De Soto to set out on the expedi-

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CABINS OF WHITE FOLKS-CAFFEE.

tions which resulted in very important dis- coveries. Cabeza de Vaca soon afterward returned to Spain, and in 1542 a narrative of his adventures was published. In 1537 he was appointed administrator of La Plata, and, sailing for that colony, was shipwrecked and cast ashore on the shore of Paraguay, becoming the first explorer of that country. He remained in Paraguay until 1544, in which year, on the accusation of one of his lieuten- ants, he was taken to Spain and condemned by the council of the Indies to banishment to Africa. Eight years later he was pardoned and recalled by the king, who made him judge of the Supreme Court of Seville, where he resided until his death.

"Cabins of White Folks." - See "Adair County."

Cabool. - An incorporated town in Texas County, twenty miles southwest of Houston, on the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad. It was founded in 1878 upon the building of the railroad. It has two churches, a public school, a flouring mill, and about fif- teen stores in the various branches of trade. It has two newspapers, the "Record" and the "News." Population, 1899 (estimated), 700.

C'adet .- A village in Washington County, six miles northeast of Potosi, on the Iron Mountain Railroad. It is an important ship- ping point for tiff and other mineral products. It has four general stores, a church and a school. The population was about 150 in 1899.

Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe, Governor of the Province of Louisiana, was born in Gascony, France, about the year 1660, and died some time after 1717. He became a captain in the French Army and was ordered to Canada in 16So. In 1694 Frontenac ap- pointed him commander of Michilimackinac, next to Montreal and Quebec the largest place in Canada at that time. In 1701 he laid the foundations of the present city of Detroit. He visited the Illinois country some years later and reported the discovery of a silver mine, afterward called La Mothe mine. He was made Governor of Louisiana soon after Anthony Crozat obtained his grant of trade privileges in the Province from the French government, and while serving in that ca-

pacity established a French post among the Indians of Alabama, and also sent out the expedition that built Fort Rosalie, in the country of the Natchez tribe. His term of service as Governor ended in 1717, and he returned to France.

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 82

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