History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 24

Author: Atkeson, William Oscar, 1854-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Topeka, Cleveland, Historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1174

USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 24

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About the close of the Civil War population increased rapidly, and among others came Joseph Mudd, Isaiah Brown, Morris and James Roach, James and William Bagby, J. D. Masterson, Wilson Swank, A. D. Robbins, J. W. Hurdman, Peter Black, P. G. Lightfoot, Rich- ard Richardson, John Fenton and R. F. Canterbury.

The village of Burdett is situate in the western central part of the township on Mormon Fork. It was founded in 1870 by Daniel Cauthrien and Oliver B. Heath. The first business house was built by Tumbleson & Shorb. The first postmaster was F. M. Tumbleson. A mill was erected the year the town was laid out, but destroyed by fire in 1874. This first mill was built by A. D. Basore, and a second one by Lewis Adams, which was moved to Archie, Cass county, in 1881. Burdett is a community center and considerable business is still carried on, but it is an inland village.

Parkerville was one of the oldest towns in Bates county founded in June, 1857, by Wiley Parker, after whom it took its name. It was situ- ated about one and a half miles directly south of where Burdett stands, but not a vestige remains to mark its grave. It is totally extinct yet history records the facts that John Frazier was the proprietor of a gro- cery store in its early and ambitious days; that John T. Peck was a pioneer ; that Wilson & Feely were merchants, and Doctor Thomas F. Atherton was the first physician, and W. H. Atherton the first black- smith. "The town was destroyed during the war of 1861" but it is not recorded how. There is absolutely nothing left to tell of its life or death.

West Boone Township.

West Boone is the northwest township of the county. It is gen- erally a high, rolling prairie. little broken by streams, and is practically the watershed of both the Mormon Fork and Miami creeks: the one

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running northeasterly into Grand river, and the other southeasterly into the Marais des Cygnes river. It is distinguished for being the highest elevation in Bates county, about 1,000 feet above sea level, or about 400 feet higher than the lowest levels in the county.

The first settlers in this township were Alexander, Wilson and Norris Feely, brothers, the former two coming in 1842 and Norris in 1849. It is recorded that "Alexander Feely served in 1861 as one of the county court judges, his associates being Edmund Bartlette and Samuel M. Pyle. He died August 27, 1877." Frank R. Berry, a Ken- tuckian, came from Jackson county, Missouri, and settled on the head waters of Mormon Fork creek in an early day, and soon after a rela- tive by the name of. T. E. Strode came and settled near by. Then came Joseph Clyner. Joseph and J. P. Taylor, all early settlers, but the exact date is not known. Soon after the close of the Civil War, John S. Stewart, James A. Stewart, Jacob and William Groves, G. L. Sayles, J. N. White, A. Rosier, J. H. Boswell, R. M. Feely, W. B. Akin, Jesse Nave, John Riley, Luke Gage, O. W. Stitt, J. C. Berry, and George Karter, came and settled in this township.

The only mill erected in the township was erected at the village of Rosier, now extinct, in the older days. Rosier was founded in 1881, and Bryant Brothers & McDaniel conducted a general merchandise store, and L. R. Robinson established a drug store about the same time.

West Point Township.

This township joins the state of Kansas on the west, and like West Boone, is one of the border tier of townships. It lies directly south of West Boone, north of Homer, and west of Elkhart townships. It is a part of the most elevated portion of Bates county ; an undulating prairie, cut by many streams of fine water, among which the principal are the Miami. Mulberry, Plum and Willow branches.

West Point is among the oldest settled parts of the county. Israel Brown was one of the earliest settlers, and he sold his farm to Vincent Johnson, a Kentuckian, in 1851. Covington Cooper was an early-day settler and died there in 1851. Coming in the late forties, were Benja- min Sharp. Henry Schuster, who later settled near Double Branches, in south Bates; John Green was an old settler who died during the Civil War; then, entitled to a place in the list, there were William Scott, Edgar C. Kirkpatrick, William Lamar, Jackson Clark, Nathan and Thomas Sears, James McHenry, J. E. Mooney, Samuel and James Forbes,

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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

Emberson Keaton, George Walley, William and Wiley Reed and Will- iam Adams:

The village of West Point is now extinct, with scarcely a land mark to indicate where this western post of civilization once stood, while the traffic of the savage and the adventurous pioneer poured through its marts and made its streets hum with real trade and commerce. Back in the fifties, it had a population of about 700 people, and it was the center of a large and growing trade. It was the last "outfitting" place after West Port Landing on the Missouri river and hither canie that numerous line of adventurers and settlers going south and west into the Territory of Kansas. It was located on one of the highest points in the township, if not, in fact, the highest elevation in Bates county, and the vast view in every direction was unobstructed, limited only by the horizon. The point is about 1,000 feet above sea level, and overlooks a beautiful country in all directions.

It was situate less than a mile from the Kansas line in the extreme northwest corner of the township. The land on which it was located was entered by Thomas B. Arnett and Sydney Adams and the con- veyance of the first lot was signed by Arnett and his wife in 1850. Arnett was the first clerk of Cass county. Adams sold out to Arnett prior to the sale of lots. J. A. Fox was among the first purchasers. West Point was the commercial and trading capital of a wide terri- tory. Harrisonville and Papinsville were its closest and only rivals. It was on the Texas cattle trail. The Kansas Indian tribes visited it and traded there. Among its early merchants and business men may be mentionel Curd & Barrett, druggists; a dry goods merchant ; Judge Alexander Feely: William Scott: James McHenry; Chil. Love- lace ; Thos. Sears and Dr. T. J. B. Rockwell, who were all in business some years before the war broke out. William and Joseph Potts, and Slater & Stribbens were blacksmiths. John Martin ran a saloon, then called a grocery. William R. Simpson and John Roundtree were also business men. Henry Schuster erected a mill to grind corn only and ran it by ox-power on an inclined plane, or a "tread mill." John Green also had a mill at an early day. Wyatt Sanford was postmaster in 1856, and afterward James McHenry and Irvine Walley. The first hotel was kept by Mr. Hedges, who later sold to Judge Alexander Feely.

This hotel was a two-story frame, and was the largest hotel in all the western country, having no less than forty rooms; which fact

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indicates somewhat the great travel and business of the town. Besides, there were three other hotels,' and sixteen business houses.

General Clark came to West Point in the fall of 1856, during the border troubles between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery men, with about five hundred men, and remained in town about ten days. Dur- ing the war the town was burned and scarcely a stone was left to tell where it had been. After the war a small business house and a postoffice were established there and with a few scattered residences the village had a precarious existence until the Kansas City Southern railroad crept stealthily by under the hill to the east, and the new town of Amsterdam was established a couple of miles south. Then the historic town of West Point gave up the ghost, and only debris remain to speak its former glory. It is a pitiful story, but one not uncommon in this western country. But here was really the westernmost post of civilization for a number of years, and if the real history of men and women who resided there in the fifties, were known it would doubtless be one of tragedy and sorrow. And they had a big school and a weekly newspaper.

The village of Vinton was founded in 1867, in the eastern part of the township by a Mr. Swink, who built a corn-grinding mill there which was run by steam. Swink sold it to William Morrison in 1872 and he took the mill to Sugar Creek, Kansas. A. J. Christler established a mercantile business there. Then followed Felix Cox, and later J. P. Willis. The first postmaster was A. J. Christler and the first black- smith was Thomas Hackett. The village now is only a memory but it doubtless had its aspirations.

The town of Amsterdam was laid out by John L. Rankin, September 30, 1891, in the western central part of the township, on the Kansas City & Southern railroad, and is one of the leading business points on that railroad in Bates county. It has a bank, a newspaper, and all the indus- tries and commercial establishments to be found in towns of its class. It has been rebuilt since a disastrous fire about a year ago. It is a prosperous village.

Elkhart Township.

Elkhart lies east of West Point and may be said to be an interior township. It is watered by the Miami, Knabb's creek, and Lime-branch, tributaries of the Miami.

Elkhart had few settlers prior to the war, and remained very sparsely settled until about 1866. It is more nearly level than any

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township in the county, and is little broken. Among those who are recalled as pioneers we mention Jesse Lovelace, Vinson Martin, Elias Barnett, Robert Clinging, Torraine Browning, John Ferguson, Rich- ard Westover, A. J. Satterlee, Hugh Mills, Robert Evans, John Baker, and his sons, Griswold and James, and a man by the name of Montgom- ery who settled on the Raybourn place. Among the first permanent settlers were the Keatons. Wiles Keaton, of North Carolina, is said to have settled in what is now Elkhart in 1845, and Mrs. Keaton died there in 1847, leaving a numerous family, some descendants still resid- ing in that vicinity.

After the war and between 1866 and 1869, the following located in different parts of the township: F. A. Cox, P. A. Allen, I. N. Ray- bourn, Frank Evans, F. M. Neafus, Chas. Lee, W. B. Whetstone, Will- iam Tarr, Thadius Cowdry, John Nuble, and George Pubels. The first saw-mill was built by Merrit Zinn & Co. about 1870.

What is known as Elkhart Postoffice, is about the center of the township, and is the community center of the township.

Mound Township.

Mound lies directly east of Elkhart, south of Deer Creek, north of Mt. Pleasant and west of Shawnee, township 41, range 31.

It is a typical prairie country, undulating, and not much broken. Bones creek in the southwest portion, an affluent of the Miami, is the only stream worth mentioning, but the township is abundantly watered by wells, ponds, and small streams.

Being practically a woodless prairie in the early days, settlement was slow. It was pre-eminently a cattle and grazing territory. His- tory records the fact that Boston H. Bowman and family settled on Bones creek in the south part of the township in 1855, and remained there till he died. He reared a family and left a widow who told the historian that when water was not plentiful in Bones creek, they often had to go to Balltown, then on the Little Osage in Vernon county to mill, and wait a long time for their grist. She recollected that at one time it took a week for her husband to go to mill and return. The family went to Illinois the latter part of the war, but returned to their home in Mound afterward, and he died in 1868.

Passaic was laid out July 14, 1891, by Chas. S. Conklin, situate on the Missouri Pacific railway, about half way between Butler and

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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

Adrian. It is a good shipping point. It has a store, elevator and hotel, and it is the community center of south-central Mound township.

· Shawnee Township.

Shawnee lies east of Mound. It is almost wholly a rich prairie, broken by no considerable streams. It is drained by Elk Fork and Little Deer creeks, which run north to Grand river, and Mound branch, which runs south to the Miami. There was little or no timber in the early days and like Mound, Shawnee was regarded as grazing land.

The story of the early settlers of Shawnee is shrouded in doubt and uncertainty as to date and the permanent settlers, but it appears that about 1828 a hunter named Raupe from Lexington had occasion to be on Mound, and seven Indians captured him, and after robbing him of his gun and equipment, set him free. Then it appears that a Mr. Evans was on top of the same mound in the fall of 1835, counting the deer within his vision, and viewing the beautiful landscape in all directions from that favorable elevation. It is claimed that he came to what is now Shawnee in 1832 or 1833 and took up a claim. Will- iam Charles settled on Elk Fork in 1837. A man named John Wes- chusen, directly from Germany, came and settled on the headwaters of Elk Fork. There are others mentioned in a general way, but nearly all, after a year or two, went elsewhere. Along in the forties James B. Sears, a native of Kentucky, came and settled. The historian alleges that the first apple orchard planted in Shawnee was planted by Elisha Evans, and that he raised the first wheat crop in that township, "and possibly the first crop in the county, outside of the Harmony Mission settlement." Upon these meager data and unsatisfactory details hangs the claim that the second settlement in the county was in Shawnee town- ship, the first being Harmony Mission in Prairie township in 1821.

Culver has one store, and is a community center and trading point. It is located in section 25, or near the southeast corner of the town- ship.

CHAPTER XX.

TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES-CONTINUED.

SPRUCE TOWNSHIP-JOHNSTOWN-BALLARD POSTOFFICE-DEEPWATER TOWN- SHIP-SPRUCE VILLAGE-SUMMIT TOWNSHIP-MT. PLEASANT TOWNSHIP- BUTLER-CHARLOTTE TOWNSHIP-VIRGINIA POSTOFFICE-HOMER TOWN- SHIP-MULBERRY-AMORET-WALNUT TOWNSHIP-MARVEL-LOUISVILLE- WALNUT POSTOFFICE-WORLAND-FOSTER.

Spruce Township.

Spruce lies east of Shawnee, and its eastern line is the county line between Bates and Henry. The lands are rolling, but it is one of the richest corn-producing townships in the county. There is abundant tim- ber. It is drained by Peter and Cove creeks, flowing north, and Stew- art's creek, flowing southeast, and its tributaries.

James Stewart was the first settler in 1832. He located where Johnstown now is, and Stewart's creek took its name from him. He was a blacksmith, came from Lafayette county, remained a few years and then went to Johnson county. John Pyle came from Kentucky in 1834. He bought the Stewart claim, had the usual pioneer expe- riences, remained eight years, and died in 1842, while his neighbors were still few and far between. Samuel Pyle, a brother, came to Spruce on his bridal tour in a one-horse wagon in 1836. He was a Union man and lived in Butler the forepart of the war and was the last to leave in obedience to Order No. 11. and looking back, he could see the smoke of their burning home when five miles away. James McCool and wife came from Ohio, had sickness on the road in Illinois, they sold their team and came to Boonville by water, thence to Bates county in a hired wagon. They settled one mile north of Johnstown. This was in 1840. When the war came on he and his sons, except Peter V., adhered to the Union. The family moved over into Henry county under Order No. 11 and Mr. McCool died there in 1865. Mrs. McCool and her chil- dren returned to Spruce township and they lived in and around Johns- town many years.

The first store in Johnstown was established by Jim and Dan

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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

Johnson in 1845. They were followed by Dick McClure and John Har- bert & Son. John Hull was the first blacksmith. Harmony Mission, West Point, Harrisonville and Clinton were the nearest towns. The first postoffice was in 1848 or 1849. Prior to that time the Spruce settlers got their mail in Deepwater, Henry county. Johnstown was an important business center before the war, and had five stores, two saloons, three blacksmith shops, a good mill, a cabinet shop, shoe and harness shops. It is said to have enjoyed a larger volume of business than any other town in this section prior to the Civil War. Among those who dwelt in Johnstown and in that vicinity before that date may be mentioned William B. and Nicholas Page, who came in 1842; then George Cooper, Nicholas Payne, R. L., B. J., and D. B. Pettus, and George Ludwick, but the date of their settlement is not known, except that George Ludwick, wife and two of her brothers, Henry and Jacob Lutsenhizer, arrived overland from Boonville, after a river trip from Licking county, Ohio, in October, 1839, at the home of William Lutsenhizer, who had arrived some time before and settled on the farm now owned and occupied by Hon. John B. Newberry. John E. Morgan and A. M. Odneal were among the pioneers. In obedience to Order No. 11, all the people left Bates county, and most of those in and near Johnstown went to Henry or Pettis county. It does not appear that any great depredations occurred in their absence in that vicinity and after the war they generally returned to their homes and business ; but Johnstown never regained its thrift and importance; and it is now a small inland town, a scattering village, with little to indi- cate its former greatness.

Ballard Postoffice is located in the northwest corner of section 16, and is a community center for that part of the township. It has one or two stores.

Deepwater Township.

Deepwater township is much broken by Deepwater creek and its tributaries, and hence it has considerable rough, timbered land ; but the soil is generally good, and corn, grass and the cereals flourish.

It is not known, at least it is not written, when the first settler made his home in this township, but Hiram Snodgrass came into and settled in Deepwater township, south side of Deepwater creek, near Henry county line, in section 24, in 1839. He died there in 1881. The land had just been sectionized and he entered 300 acres. Others who lived there as early as 1839 were C. Schmedting, two Morrisses, Means,

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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

Arbuckle, Moore, Ballow, and Beatty. Isaac, a son of Hiram Snod- grass, married Susan B. Myers, a daughter of Judge John D. Myers, in 1853.

Samuel Scott settled on the north side of Deepwater creek in 1834, and was appointed sheriff of the new county of Vernon when it was established in 1852, but the organization of Vernon county being after- ward declared invalid, he lost his office. He went to Linn county, Kan- sas, in 1854, was elected by the pro-slavery party to the Territorial Legislature, and was killed by a band of guerillas in 1859. Others who came between 1834 and 1845 may be mentioned: Oliver and George Drake, James Cummins, Peyton Gutridge, Rev. Milton Morris, James Morris, Sam and Matt Arbuckle, and Mrs. Elizabeth McGowen.

The list of those who came and settled prior to the war is too long for the purpose of this chapter, but it includes such distinguished citizens as Ex-State Senator John B. Newberry, and Ex-Sheriff and Recorder James M. Simpson, many of whom will be adequately men- tioned elsewhere in this book.

Jacob Lutsenhizer was the pioneer miller and erected his mill which ground corn only, on Straight branch in 1841. There is no record of how it was operated or how long it existed, except a statement that Oliver Drake began the erection of a mill on the same spot in 1854. but died without completing it.

The village of Spruce is located near the center of the township on section 16, has two stores, a blacksmith shop, two church edifices and an Odd Fellows' hall, and two rural mail routes. It is the business center of the township, and a prosperous village.

Summit Township.

This township is well watered by Mound branch and Deepwater creek and their tributaries. The land is rolling, dark and fertile -- one of the best corn townships in the county.

Reuben Herrell settled in Summit in 1842. On his arrival he had only two neighbors in the township, John McClain and Major Glass, who settled there in 1840. Nathan Horn settled in the western part in an early day. Arthur and Madison Canady and their father came in 1861. John Walker was an early settler. He was a member of the Missouri General Assembly. Abram P. Wilson, A. Brixner, G. W. Cassity, James L. Kirtley, C. T. Hokanson and A. Black may fairly be classed as pioneer settlers of Summit but the dates of their settlement

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have not been recorded by history. There is no village in this town- ship.

Mt. Pleasant Township.

Mt. Pleasant is the center township of the county and is bounded on the north by Mound, on the west by Charlotte, on the south by Lone Oak and New Home, and on the east by Summit-it is township 40, range 31 west. It is largely prairie, broken more or less by the Miami and Mound branches and their tributaries. Some rock and timber. The soil is good mulatto prairie, with rich bottoms along the larger streams. Generally speaking it is a beautiful undulating prairie country.

We gather from an old history of Bates county that all the fol- lowing were early settlers and made their settlements prior to 1861: George W. and Alexander Patterson, William Hurt in 1858, George W. Pierce, Alfred Miller, Jacob D. and Joel B. Wright, Henry Mills, Lewis Dixon, in 1861, several families of the Robinsons, Ham Case, Nathaniel and D. Porter, Reverend Phoenix of the Christian church, John Morris, in 1843, Dr. Giles B. Davis in 1843, Thomas and William McCord sometime prior to 1843, Wilds, a Mormon, settled on section 19 in 1838.

Butler is the county seat, and is about the center of the township, and near the center of the county. Its location is sightly and well drained, and sanitary conditions by nature are good. Mound branch, a short distance east, is the only considerable stream near it.

For further data about Butler, her people and business, see chap- ter on Butler.

Charlotte Township.

Charlotte is a rolling prairie land, fertile and productive. It is watered and drained principally by the Miami and Pecan branches of the Marais des Cygnes river, which for a short distance in the south- east corner of the township, form the township line.

Samuel Dobbins settled in northeast Charlotte prior to 1843. James Ramey settled on section 24, in 1840. James Browning settled near Ramey about the same date. James McCool settled in the northeast portion at the time he was one of the county seat commissioners for Bates county. He moved to Texas in 1861. Clark Vermillion settled on section 10 before the war. William Conley, Oliver Elswick, Samuel (18)

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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

Martin, J. C. Toothman, J. B. Moody, Samuel Park, Hamilton Case, Joseph Caze, and M. A. Morris were all early settlers some time prior to the Civil War, but the dates of their settlement have not been handed down.

Virginia became a trading point upon the establishment of a post- office there in 1871, and hence it has always been known as the Virginia Postoffice. Thomas Steaver was the first postmaster, and his office was a half mile east of the present village store or center. James Orear built and started the first store in 1874, and was postmaster. In 1875, S. P. Nestlerode purchased the stock and became postmaster. In 1877, Arbogart & Armstrong became the merchants and in 1879 H. H. Fleisher opened a drug store. About the same date Roberts & Presley bought out Arbogart & Armstrong and soon moved the stock of goods away. Fleisher became postmaster. James S. Pierce was his partner at this time. In February, 1882, Pierce sold out to W. N. Hardinger. February, 1879, J. W. Manahan opened a stock of furniture and in 1880 sold out to B. F. Jenkins, who added hardware. He sold in 1881 to Drysdale & Son; and the same year Fleisher & Pierce sold their drug stock to Williams & Drysdale. For a number of years Judge John McFadden ran the only general store, and the days of its business and mercantile importance, at this time, seem to have departed. It is a community center and the center of a fine rural district. Good roads and automobiles have ruined it as a natural trading point. A number of the early settlers in and about the village were Virginians and hence its name.

Homer Township.

Homer is bounded on the west by the state of Kansas. It is an undulating prairie country, of fair up-land, and rich bottoms, along Mulberry creek and the Marais des Cygnes river. It is well watered and has abundant timber and coal.

Among the pioneers of Homer in the ante-bellum days may be mentioned Jeremiah and Thomas Jackson, and another Thomas Jack- son, called "Yankee Jackson" to distinguish him, H. B. Frances, Thomas Francis, William Braden, Pierce Hackett, J. M. Rogers, Bluford Merch- ant, Chesley Hart, and D. R. Braden. The Francis brothers were from Illinois, the Bradens from Ohio and Hackett from England. Among others who came near the close of the war, and who helped shape the progress of the township were. Robert Leech, Judge Lyman Hall, James W. and J. T. Whinnery, R. M. Brown, Dr. J. M. and

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History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 24

Author: Atkeson, William Oscar, 1854- Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Topeka, Cleveland, Historical publishing company Number of Pages: 1174

Author: Atkeson, William Oscar, 1854-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Topeka, Cleveland, Historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1174