USA > Missouri > Chariton County > Historical, pictorial and biographical record, of Chariton County, Missouri > Part 7
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EDUCATIONAL.
In educational opportunities, Missouri occupies second position to no state in the Union. The first constitution of the State provided that, "one school or more shall be established in each township, as soon as practical and necessary, where the poor shall be taught gratis."
Thus it will be seen that the framers of the Constitution, in 1820, made provision whereby the poorest and humblest of the State could receive at least the benefits of a primary education. Prior to the es- tablishment of the free school system, education throughout the State was obtained wholly from private institutions.
It was not until 1839, during the administration of Governor Boggs, that the public school system, in its essential features, was perfected. At that time the clause limiting its benefits to the poor was eliminated, and provision made for a State Superintendent of
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public instruction, for a county board of education, and for a town- ship board.
Prior to '39, the idea of a free school, for all classes, was not popular, and met with considerable opposition, especially among those who were in a condition to send their children to private institu- tions of learning, believing, at that time, that the public school system could not be otherwise than defective. Since then, however, the school laws of Missouri have undergone many changes, and the system has steadily grown in usefulness and power. While the greatest growth of our public school system succeeded the civil war, it was not until 1875, when the new constitution was adopted, that the pres- ent admirable system of public instruction went into effect, which not only made provision for the education of the white, but for children of African descent. In addition to an annual income derived from a public school fund set apart by law, not less than twenty-five per cent of the state revenue, exclusive of the interest and sinking fund, is an- nually applied to the support of the public schools of the state. The officers in charge of Missouri's public school interests are a State Board of Education, State Superintendent, County Commissioners, County Clerk and Treasurer, Board of Directors, and Teacher. The State Board of Education consists of the State Superintendent, Gover- nor, Secretary of State and Attorney-General, the Superintendent, who is chosen by the people every four years, being the executive officer. In addition to keeping a record of the county school funds and annually distribute the same to the counties, he is supervisor of the work of county school officers; grants certificates of higher qualifi- cations; makes an annual report of the condition of the schools to the General Assembly, and has various other duties connected with the educational interests of the state. County Commissioners are also elected by the people, for a term of two years, it being their duty to conduct institutes, examine teachers, distribute blanks and make reports.
Among the many institutions of learning in the state, the State University, at Columbia, ranks along with the first. This institution w.is provided for in the state constitution in the year 1820. When the State was admitted to the Union, Congress granted to it one entire township of land for the support of a "Seminary of Learning." This land was put into the market in 1832 and brought $75,000, which was invested in such a manner as to increase by accumulation to the sum of $100,000. In 1839, by an act of the General Assembly, five commis
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sioners were appointed to select a site for the location of the Univer- sity, which was to contain fifty acres of land in a compact form, within two miles of the county seat of Cole, Cooper, Howard, Boone, Calla- way or Saline counties. Bids were let among these counties, and Boone having subscribed $117,921, which was about $18,000 more than any other county, the University was located there, and on the 4th of July, 1840, the corner stone was laid with appropriate cere- monies. Since the opening of this institution it has prospered and has been a monument of power in the educational interests of the state, and one that the people of Missouri should point too with the finger of pride.
EVENTS OF LOCAL HISTORY.
FIRST NEWSPAPER IN MISSOURI.
The first newspaper established west of the Mississippi was fairly inaugurated at St. Louis, July 12, 1808, by Mr. Joseph Charles, and was called the Missouri Gazette. This journal was the germ of the present St. Louis Republic, one of largest and most influential journals now published. The establishment of the Gazette, though a sheet not larger than a royal octavo page, marked the beginning of a new age in the growth of St. Louis. In 1811, St. Louis is reported to have had 12 stores, 2 schools, 1 printing office and 1,400 inhabitants. A large portion of the currency consisted of peltries, lead and whisky. The first paper established west of St. Louis, was the Missouri Intelligencer, published at Franklin, by Nathaniel Patton, in 1819; was moved to Fayette in 1823, and in 1835 to Columbia, where he began the publication of The Patriot, afterwards changed, in 1843 to the Missouri Statesman, and published by Col. Wm. F. Switzler, now editor of the Boonville Democrat.
NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE.
On the morning of the 16th of December, 1811, occurred an earth- quake, with its center of disturbance in point of violence and position near New Madrid, Mo., and extending over half a hemisphere, that proved one of the most extensive and destructive in the history of the world. The first shock was felt about two o'clock and was repeated with decreasing violence, for several weeks. While perhaps there have been published many exaggerated reports relative to this catas- trophe, its awfulness, and the indescribable horrors that filled every living creature, beggars description. The earth reeled and rocked under men's feet, and fissures were formed, five and six hundred feet in length and from twenty to thirty feet in breadth. The undulations
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of the earth upheaved the waters of the Mississippi and much of the country adjacent; Sabrina, one of the Azores Islands, was elevated 360 above the level of the sea; and Caracas, a Venezuelan city of 12,000 inhabitants was totally destroyed and sunk sixty feet under water. One of the marked features of this catastrophe were the great depress- ions and elevations of the surface, for in many instances lakes became dry land and elevations became lakes. Considerable land in the south- eastern part of the state was ruined for agricultural purposes, and some of it for time to come.
PIONEER STEAMBOAT OF THE "BIG MUDDY."
The first steamboat to enter the Missouri river and ascend that stream was the Independence, Captain John Nelson, from Louisville, Kentucky. According to contract with a number of St. Louis parties to go up the river as far as Chariton, a town near Glasgow, long ex- tinet, and return, she left St. Louis, May 15, 1819, and arrived at Franklin, Howard county, May 28, occasioning considerable excite- ment and joy among the people. At Franklin a big public reception and dinner was tendered the officers and passengers of the boat. The voyage was continued up to Chariton, per contract, and then returned to St. Louis on the 5th of June. The successful navigation of the Missouri thus far, evoked no little amount of joy and enthusiasm throughout the country and marked an era in the history and prog- ress of Missouri civilization.
HARDEMAN'S GARDEN.
The following is taken from Colonel William F. Switzler's His- tory of Missouri:
"Just above the mouth of the Lamine river, in Howard County, and five miles above Old Franklin, there was from about 1820 to 1835 a lovely and famous retreat known as 'Hardeman's Garden'-a vine- clad and rose-covered bower, very similar to the renowned 'Tower Grove' of that public benefactor, Henry Shaw, deceased, of St. Louis.
The founder of this celebrated garden, John Hardeman, was a North Carolinian by birth; born in 1776, removed in 1817 to Caronde- let, Missouri, from Williamson County, Tennessee, and two years afterward to Howard county. He was a gentleman of wealth and culture, and studied and practiced law in his native State. But, being passionately fond of agricultural and horticultural pursuits, he abon- doned his profession and determined to establish in the wilds of Mis- souri and on the rich alluvial lands in 'Cooper's Bottom' the most splendidly-equipped farm and garden west of the Alleghanies. Am-
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bitious to excel in this attractive industry, he purchased several hun- dred acres of land, and on a chosen spot immediately on the Missouri river laid off ten acres in an exact square for a botanic garden, spar- ing neither expense nor labor in adorning it with fruits, flowers and shrubs, indigenous and exotic. Serpentine walks, paved with shells, conducted the admiring visitor through this charming court of Flora, where, amid zephyrs of the richest perfume, flowers of the most beautiful hue greeted the eye and fruits of the most delicious flavor tempted the hand.
No doubt Byron was endeavoring to convey some idea of such a spot when his rich fancy gushed forth in this beautiful rhapsody:
' Know ye the land of the cedar and vine,
Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine; Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppressed with perfume, Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gul in her bloom;
Where the citron and olive are the fairest of fruit,
And the voice of the nightingale never is mute;
Where the tints of the earth and the hues of the sky, In color though varied, in beauty may vie.'
But 'Hardeman's Garden' is gone! And he, to whose genius and cultivation it was indebted for the adornment and brilliancy which made the forest bloom and blossom as the rose, is gone also-having, in 1829, on his way home from Old Mexico, died of yellow fever in New Orleans. And the gay and cheerful groups who once threaded its labyrinthian paths, enchanted by the songs of birds and made hap- py in the midst of cultivated magnificence, are to be seen no more. Not a tree, or shrub, or vine, or flower of the Garden remains. All are gone-even the very spot on which this Elysium was located! It, as well as the onee flourishing town of Franklin, has fallen a victim to the treacherous currents of the river, whose banks they once adorned."
MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE VISITS ST. LOUIS.
In 1825, Marquis de La Fayette, accompanied by his son, George Washington La Fayette, while the guest of the United States, upon the invitation of the President, visited St. Louis. This grand man after an absence of nearly fifty years, came to visit the country for whose independence he had not only risked his own life, but expended of his own means 700,000 francs ($140,000) during our Revolutionary struggle, by sending a regiment, armed and equipped, to fight for American Independence, and freighting a vessel loaded with arms and munitions of war. He visited each of the twenty-four states, and was everywhere received with true patriotic cordiality and gratitude.
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Upon invitation of its citizens, he visited St. Louis, April 28, 1825, where he was tendered a most enthusiastic reception. During his stay in St. Louis, other than private hospitalities accorded him, he was tendered a splendid banquet at the leading hotel. He also visited the Missouri No. 1, of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, an order of which he has long been a member, and with his son, were elected hon- orary members of that lodge. While the guest of the nation, La Fay- ette visited the Capitol, and was received in both houses of Congress, where he was welcomed with great favor and gratitude, and when as a token of the nation's appreciation for past services and sacrifices, an appropriation of $200,000 in money, and twenty-four thousand acres of land in Florida was made for his benefit. His death occurred May 20, 1834.
ASIATIC CHOLERA.
During the entire history of the city of St. Louis, nothing has transpired that created so much consternation as the raging Asiatic Cholera which made its appearance there during the summer months of 1832. The first attack of that dreaded disease was on a soldier at the Jefferson Barracks, but it did not come without warning. Every- thing was done in St. Louis to prevent the spreading of the disease, but to no avail. It first visited the outskirts of the city and invaded most of the principal streets, carrying death and desolation to the homes of every one it visited. The disease lasted five weeks and destroyed about four per cent of the city's population. The disease returned again in the years of 1836 and 1849.
ST. LOUIS FIRE.
Among the most notable events of Missouri's history, which has transpired within the past fifty years is the great St. Louis fire which occurred on the 19th day of May, 1849. In the evening of that day fire broke out on the steamer "White Cloud" while lying on the wharf between Vine and Cherry streets, and every effort to arrest its progress was futile. The flames very soon reached four other boats that were in close proximity. The fastenings of the White Cloud were soon burned loose and she floated out into the stream among other steamers in port, and in a very short time twenty-three other boats were on fire. This immense conflagration was a mile in length and the levee being covered with barrels, bales, boxes and combustible articles the fire reached the city where whole blocks were wiped out of existence. Twenty-three steamers, three barges and one canal boat were destroyed whose total values, with their cargoes, was esti-
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mated at $439,000. The value of the whole amount of property de- stroyed was estimated at $3,000,000. This was the most disastrous spectacle that ever came under the observation of St. Louisians.
THE FIRST RAILROAD.
In 1851 the contract was let for the building of the St. Louis and Pacific Railroad, from St. Louis to Washington, a distance of forty- five miles, and about one thousand laborers were employed to do the work. By November 1, 1855, the road had been extended to the length of 125 miles, from St. Louis to the state capital at Jefferson City, when a celebration of this great event was proposed by an ex- cursion over the road and a grand dinner at the state house. The train left the depot at nine o'clock and in about three hours reached the bridge across the Gasconade, which was not fully completed but was thought to be in a condition to transport the train, which was about 600 feet long. When the engine reached the first pier the span gave way and the engine, baggage car and several passenger cars went down to a watery abyss below and several of the pleasure seekers were killed. This was no doubt the first railroad wreck that ever occurred in the state.
DEATH OF JESSE JAMES.
On July 15, 1881, the fact of the killing of the noted Missouri outlaw, Jesse James, by Robert Ford, brought a sigh of relief to many of the inhabitants of the state. Jesse and his noted band of highwaymen for a number of years after the war, terrorized the peo- ple of Missouri by their lawlessness in the way of robbing banks and trains in all parts of the state. It was not until the date above men- tioned, that Governor Thos. T. Crittenden offered a heavy reward for him dead or alive that one of James' confederates was induced to shoot him from behind his back. Ford was arrested by the author- ities of St. Joseph, where he committed the deed, but was soon given his liberty by Governor Crittenden, who paid him the reward. Ford became very reckless, and led a fearful life after he had killed a man who would have risked his life in his (Ford's) behalf, and was finally killed in Creed, Colorado, in a manner similar to that in which he killed Jesse James. His brother, Charles ford, who was also in on the deal, finally shot himself in a house, one mile east of Richmond, Missouri, within a short distance of where he was born and raised. A short time after Jesse was killed his brother, Frank, surrendered to Govenor Crittenden and has since lived an honest life. So ended the career of a noted gang of bandits.
CHICAGO & ALTON RAILWAY BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSOURI RIVER AT GLASGOW, MO.
NOTE :- The above bridge was the first steel bridge ever erected in the world.
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DEATII OF BILL ANDERSON.
Shortly after the bloody massacre at Centralia, September 27, 1864, the leader of that nefarious gang of robbers, outlaws and mur- derers went to Ray county, where on the 26th of October, he got into a skirmish with a company of Missouri Militia and was killed. Upon his body was found $300 in gold, $150 in treasury notes, six revolvers and several orders from General Price. There has been several dis- putes as to the point where he was killed, whether or not it was in Carroll or Ray county. At any rate his death occurred somewhere near the line of these counties.
THE GREAT CYCLONE AT ST. LOUIS.
May 27, '96, will long be remembered as the date of one of the most destructive and disastrous cyclones in the history of the United States, devasting a large portion of St. Louis and a still greater por- tion of East St. Louis, Illinois, carrying death, destruction and deso- lation in its wake, rendering thousands homeless and in many instances scattering the savings of a life-time to the four winds of heaven. Perhaps the full extent of the damage and suffering caused by the tornado may never be known, yet it is known that nearly 400 people were killed and more than a thousand injured, to say nothing of the individual suffering, or the deprivation endured in silence by the thousands who were only too glad to escape with their lives. The path of the storm through the city measured seven miles, and damag- ed property to the estimated value of nearly fifty million dollars.
THE STATE CAPITOL DESTROYED.
On the 17th of November, 1837, the state house, situated upon the site now occupied by the Governor's mansion, at Jefferson City, caught fire and was entirely consumed, with all the records of the office of the Secretary of State, the whole of the office furniture and a great portion of the State Library, involving a loss that could not be replaced. The building, a brick structure build at an original cost of $25,000 was erected for the occupancy of the Governor, when the capitol, then in course of erection, was completed. The present capitol was commenced in 1838 and was occupied by the Legislature of 1840-41, and cost $350,000. At the ensuing November election (1896) the tax payers of Missouri will be called upon to vote on a proposition removing the state capitol to Sedalia, the citizens of that town having given satisfactory bond to erect suitable buildings and to defray all expenses incurred by the removal, free of cost to the state.
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SALARIES OF STATE OFFICERS.
Governor, $5,000 and mansion; Lieutenant-Governor, $1000 and $7 per diem during session of the Legislature; Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, Superintendent of Public Schools, Attorney-Gen- eral, Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners, Superintendent of In- surance, State Geologist and Clerk of Supreme Court, cach $3,000; Labor Commissioner and Adjutant-General, each $2,000; Mine Inspec- tors, $1,500; and Librarian, $900.
AD DIVID
UNITEDWES
ED WE FAL
SALUS
LEXESTO.
POPULI · SUPREMA
MDCCCXX.
History of Chariton County. PART II.
History of Chariton County.
HARITON, the best county, in the best state of the Union, embracing an area of 740 square miles and containing 466,891 acres of land valued according to the last assessment as $3,846,093, was organized No- vember 16, 1820, being a part of the territory then embraced by the boundary of Howard county. Thus almost four score years have come and gone since this, one of the oldest and fairest daughters of the mother county came into existence; and the events and changes, discoveries and inventions that have taken place within this period have indeed been
many. At the time of the organization of Chariton county, all that territory now embraced in the counties of Linn, Sullivan, Putnam, and a part of Adair and Schuyler were embraced by its boundaries. The county seat was established at the town of Chariton, situated in the southern part of the county near the mouth of the two rivers of the same name, which streams were called after some carly French traders who had a fur agency at this point. These men are supposed to have been the first white persons to press the soil of Chariton county. Just when they made this settlement is unknown, but it is certain they were here as early as 1804.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
The earliest permanent settler of the county of whom we have any account was one George Jackson, who located in the southern part of the county, near the Missouri river, in 1812, and who afterwards represented the county in the General Assembly. The next settlement was made on Yellow Creek, north of Brunswick, by John Hutchinson, his sons and their families, about 1816, though the exact date of this settlement is controverted.
In 1818 the Missouri river bottoni, west of the Grand Chariton river, was settled by James Earickson, afterwards Senator and State · Treasurer, his son-in-law, Galton Turner, Archibald Hix, Samuel Williams, Col. John M. Bell, John Morse, Henry Lewis, Richard Woodson, John Doxey and others who settled the county as far north as Bowling Green prairie.
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About the same time settlements were made in the Forks of the Chariton by Joseph Vance, Colonel Hiram Craig, Abraham Lock, Nathaniel Butler, Thomas Watson, Peterson Parks, Robert Hays, Samuel Burch, Samuel Dinsmore, JJames Heryford, James Ryan and Abner Finnell. During the same year Major Daniel Ashby, Abram Sportsman, Alexander Trent, John Harris, John Sportsman and Ed- ward B. Cabell made a settlement on the Bluffs, and John Tooley, Samuel Forest, Joseph Madox and Thomas Anderson settled in Chari- ton Township.
Thomas Stanley, a noted hunter and trapper, who dwelt in a hugh sycamore log, and spent much of his time in the woods and along the streams, was the original pioneer settler on the banks of the Grand river. With wild food as his subsistence and a sycamore splin- ter dipped in raccoon oil for light, Stanley spent his long winter even- ings perusing the current literature of the day as happy and contented, perhaps, as a prince.
While the list given above does not include all the pioneer settlers and the places they settled in the then Chariton county, yet, these were among the pioneers who penetrated the "Western Wilds" and settled amid the savage Indians and dangerous beasts, and suffered the hardships of frontier life while carving out comfortable homes for themselves, their wives and children. Many were the hard- ships they endured. Besides the encounters with the Indians, the dan- gers, fear and dread of that race, which they had constantly to endure, they were without roads, bridges, mills, blacksmith shops and many other thing so essentially necessary to the welfare and convenience of a community. Yet, withal, they lived happily, save the fear and dread of the Indians. Every settler owned one gun and one dog, at least. These were considered indispensible, for without them the wild beasts would have invaded the yards and houses of these pioneers. Each raised a patch of flax, a patch of cotton and a little corn, as these were deemed necessaries. They manufactured all their own clothes out of the skins of wild animals and out of flax and cotton. The old- fashioned loom and the big and little spinning wheels were common furniture in most of the houses. These machines were manufactured by the men and the women knew how to use them. In winter the men wore fox-skin caps and straw hats in summer. Shoes were made of buckskin tops and rawhide soles and were called shoe packs or moc- casins. The women wore home-made cotton goods and much rivalry existed in those days between the ladies in regard to getting up new
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and beautiful patterns of checked and striped cotton dress goods. Sugar, in those days, was made at home out of the sap of sugar or maple trees, while coffee, being a foreign article, was so costly that it was a luxury these pioneer settlers could not afford. Venison, bear meat, wild turkeys and wild honey abounded in great abundance and those who had cows to produce milk really lived in "a land flowing with milk and honey." Bee trees filled with honey could be found everywhere, and the honey cost only the labor to get it. Wild game was so abundant that the early settlers kept their families well sup- plied with it. With these meats, wild honey, wild fruits and plenty of "hoe-cakes" the pioneer housewife could set a table "good enough for a king."
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