History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 96

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

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When F. A. Huston was a youth, sixteen years of age, he came to Bates county with his parents and he recalls clearly the open condi- tion of the country at that time. He attended school at Garrison school house after coming to Bates county and was taught by Miss Duncan and John McPeak. About thirty years ago, F. A. Huston attended a sale in this county and, when the auctioneer failed to make his appearance, Mr. Huston was asked to "cry the sale." An enthusiastic, eager, young man, who never knew what timidity means, he did as requested and was at once pronounced by those in attendance as a "star performer." Henceforth, F. A. Huston was many times called upon for his services and became a successful. popular auctioneer in this part of the country.

The marriage of F. A. Huston and Mary J. Field, a daughter of Mr .. and Mrs. A. J. Field, of Cass county, Missouri, was solemnized in

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1883. To this union was born one child, a daughter, Mrs. Grace Lee, of San Bernardino, California. Mrs. Huston died seventeen years ago, in 1901. Mr. Huston has never remarried.

There have been many sorrows and tragedies interwoven in the career of F. A. Huston and more than once have the depths of his moral fiber, the strength of his character been sounded-and still he is an opti- mist. He enjoys a good joke and a hearty laugh as much as any man in Bates county, probably more than many men for he has known from hard, bitter experience what a sob is.

Mr. Huston recalls among the pioneer preachers, whom he per- sonally knew, Reverend "Billy" Miller, Reverend Gans, and Reverend Nicholson. The last mentioned, Reverend Nicholson, was a lover of sports, especially games of baseball. "He had during the week attended a game and had participated in a fight, but the following Sunday he filled his regular appointment. Both his eyes had been most thor- oughly blacked, but he said that he never let anything interfere with his serving the Lord.

John Huston, the father of F. A. Huston, was a Methodist minis- ter. The son describes an early-day wedding, which he witnessed, when he was a curious, fun-loving lad. F. A. Huston states that young people often came from Kansas to Missouri to be married, in order to avoid the extra expense of obtaining a marriage license and his father was frequently called upon to perform the marriage ceremony. On one occasion, Reverend Huston was away from home and a crowd of young people from Kansas, riding in a wagon, came to the Huston home and announced that two of their number wished to be married. As his father was not at home, young F. A. directed them to the resi- dence of the justice of the peace of the township, and then followed them there. The justice, Levi Gritten, was down along the creek fish- ing. When informed that there was a young couple at his home want- ing to be married, Judge Gritten sent word on to the house that he would be there in a short time, and in the meantime practiced the cere- mony upon his two sons, who were with him. When ready to begin the performance, the justice could find no pencil and no paper, except the fly-leaf of an old, worn, bethumbed law book, that the young people might sign their names. The matrimonial prospects stood up on the wrong side of one another, which furnished much amusement to a "red-headed girl" in the crowd, who seemed to know more of the ethics of marriage ceremonies than the rest. After the ceremony, Judge Grit-

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ten kissed the bride, which furnished more amusement to the "red- headed girl," and she screamed in mirth. Justice Levi, barefoot and his scanty raiment held together by one suspender, returned to his fish- ing, from which he had most reluctantly parted, saying gleefully to young Huston that he should take the word to his father that the justice would have to "set them up" to him for being away, as he had extracted two dollars and fifty cents for his services !

As a public-spirited citizen and useful member of society, F. A. Huston ranks with the substantial and enterprising citizens of this county and the high esteem in which he is held bears mute testimony to the sterling qualities of his head and heart.

APPENDIX

439 Federal Building, Denver, Colo., December 21, 1917.

Hon. W. O. Atkeson, Butler, Mo.

My Dear Sir: Yours of Dec. 13 rec'd and in reply will try to give you my recollection of some of the things you ask about. To explain my present situation I will say that I have just arrived at the Denver office after a field season and have not had the use even of my own notes in matters of Mo. history, so any statements I may now make should be accepted only after verification.

As to the precise date when "Marais des Cygnes" as the name of this main upper fork of the Osage was used can only be fixed in a general way. So far as I know now your finding in treaty of 1825 is first official use of name. But the name is much older than that. The French Canadian voyageuer, coureurs des bois, or trapper, who overran this whole country that borders the Missouri, Osage and tributaries as early as 1700, trapping and trading with the Indians, gave the beautiful names to the streams which they now bear. Of course this fork is also known as the "Osage" and the other fork coming in just below Papinsville as the "Little Osage," and I believe that the Presbyterian Mission at Harmony when reports were made referred to this stream as the Osage, and no doubt you will find the people living along this stream today often refer to it as the Osage and that the names are used interchangeably. (Is this true?) (No. The Author.)

The "Marais des Cygnes," means in English, "River of the Swans," and no doubt was so named by the early trappers because of the great numbers of "Swans," or Sand Hill Cranes and Brants, (Branta Canadensis) and birds of this kind that frequented its reedy sloughs and ponds. As you state the earliest official mention of this name is in the treaty of 1825 with the Osages, but I truly believe the name to have been in use for 125 years prior to this time. It has been my great pleasure to have spent some time among the remnants of the voyageuer, that trapper tribe that may now be found in the Northland, along the Mackenzie, Porcupine, Yukon and tributary waters, living much as did their prototype on the Osage, running their trap lines in the winter months. Around his camp- fire at night I have listened to his tales of adventure, have employed him as guide, have had him draw maps for me of the country ahead of my party, and I know the way he does this from memory, and these maps are useful to the explorer, altho as "maps" they are mis- nomers. He has a peculiar way all his own. He will lay down his main stream probably as a straight line, but on that line he will give each tributary its relative position, with the name by which it is known to him, and as he is still a French Canadian his name will likely be in French. No doubt Pike carried such a map with him as he passed your way .* For proof of this I will cite the very appropriate name he gave to "Gravois" creek in Mor- gan Co. Mo. Now the Gravois at its mouth is as placid a stream with well defined banks and as far as Pike or any of his party on that August day would have time to examine, was just like many other streams coming into the Osage. But several miles up stream its true character is apparent and the name is very appropriate. Pike was the first to bring this name into notice, but the map that Pike carries of the Osage and its tributaries had this information on it from previous explorers. No doubt his party was hired, or many of them because of their familiarity with the upper Osage.

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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

As a boy I lived on the Harmony Mission trail in Morgan Co. Mo. I have often wanted to map this trail from Jefferson City, or from the mouth of the Osage, where the old Indian trace commenced, to the Mission, but have never had the opportunity. Much of its entire length is now in use, and traces can be followed through the cultivated fields to this day.

The Grand Osage village in Pike's time was probably where he said it was on the prairie near the Little Osage, and in Vernon Co., but I do not now remember what details he gives. There were other villages. The Osages deserted their villages after a few years' use or when a pestilence broke out, going to a new place, as the wild tribes of the Northland do today. There is not a flat place of land near the forks of a stream or near a spring of good water in your county which does not contain a village site at some time. By looking the ground over one may find the site of the arrowmakers 'wickyup' by the conchoidal chips covering the ground, together with discarded broken arrow and spear points.

So soon as I have the opportunity to get into the main office I will take great pleasure in looking up the notes in this matter of Osage village, but the villages likely to have been noted on the land surveys, you will readily see, may not be the original of Pike's village. Just at present I can be of very little use to you, but will go you 50-50 in exchanging ideas on any part of this subject.

I would like to write you an article on the history of the survey of the State line that forms a part of the boundary of your Co. and also of the men who made the subdivision in your county and anything that you may want in that line, if you care for it. You may use anything I write as you see fit and in any way that will be useful to you.

I would like to possess a copy of the Harmony Notes if not too much trouble, and as I have time I will send you whatever I think will interest you.

Very respectfully, DAVID W. EATON.

*I meant to state in this connection that could we find Pike's sketches of the country that he had it would be interesting to note the names they bore.

War Department, The Adjustant General's Office, Washington, December 20, 1917.

Hon. W. O. Atkeson, Butler, Mo.

Dear Sir: In response to your letter of the 7th instant, in which you state that you are engaged in writing the history of Bates county and desire to locate as definitely as possible the site of Fort Clark or Fort Osage from the records on file in the War Depart- ment, I have the honor to inclose a copy of date relative to Fort Osage, Missouri, as shown by the records on file in the War Department.

In addition to the data referred to, an old paper on file in this office furnishes the following description of the Fort :

Fort Osage stands on an elevated bluff, commanding a beautiful view of the river, both above and below. The works are a stockade of an irregular pentagonal form, with strong log pickets perforated with loop holes ; two block houses are placed at opposite angles, one of thein, however, flanks one of its curtains too obliquely to be of much service in defending it. There is also a small bastion at a third angle. Within are two series of buildings for quarters, storehouses, etc.

The position of the fort is not a secure one, on account of numerous ravines and declivities that would cover an enemy within a short distance; but is such that boats ascend- ing or descending the river must be exposed to its fire. The stream in the middle of the

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river, and on the opposite side is so remarkably rapid that it is in vain to contend against it with the oar or paddle. It is therefore, usually necessary for ascending boats to enter the eddy, which brings them within musket shot of the fort.

No record has been found showing location of the Grand Osage village referred to in Very respectfully,

your letter.

H. T. MCCAIN, The Adjutant General.

DATA RELATIVE TO FORT OSAGE, MISSOURI, AS SHOWN BY THE RECORDS ON FILE IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

Fort Osage was situated on the right bank of the Missouri river at the junction of the Osage river in Jackson county, Missouri, latitude 38° 40' N., near the site of the town of Sibley, Missouri.

May 17. 1808, the Secretary of War wrote to Thomas Hunt at St. Louis :

"The government having concluded to establish a trading house on the Osage river, & * this is to request you to establish a military post as a guard to each of those trading houses. *

* * Each post ought to consist of 30 men A stockade work with a block house ought to be erected with barracks, &c. I shall request * Genl. Clark to go with Mr. Sibley the other agent up the Osage River to aid him to fix on a suitable site for the house and post. You will please to send with him a party of 30 men, under a suitable officer with instructions to erect the necessary buildings and a blockade (?) work as soon as possible." (War Department Military Book No. 3.)

June 25, 1808, letter from General William Clark to Secretary of War, acknowledges receipt of letter from Secretary of War dated May 17, requesting him to accompany Mr. Sibley with the party of troops up the Osage river to fix a site for a store and post. He states that the Osage is only navigable for a short distance, and suggests that "some situa- tion on the bank of the Missouri above that river would be more (word illegible) to the Osage tribes." ( War Department, Letters Received.)

August 18. 1808, General William Clark to Secretary of War, states that Mr. Sibley has started up the Missouri with Captain Clemson and his company and that he (Clark) will soon follow and probably reach Fire Prairie on the Missouri by the time Captain Clem- son and party arrive there. (War Department, Letters Received.)

September 4, 1808, Captain Clemson reported the arrival of his party and General Clark's at camp on the Missouri four miles above Fire Prairie and that "The Spot of ground for an establishment General Clark is authorized by the Secretary of War to select, which I doubt will not go on rapidly." ( War Department Letters Received.)

September 6, 1808, General Clark to Secretary of War-Letter dated from Fire Prairie relative to establishing a fort, &c. (War Department Letters Received Book. Letter charged to Indian Bureau. )

September 23, 1808, General Clark to Secretary of War-tells of selecting site for fort near Fire Prairie and of progress made in erecting buildings, &c. (War Department Letters Received.)

Letter of William Clark to Secretary of War dated St. Louis, December 2, 1808, states "A few days ago I rec'd a letter from Capt. Clemson & the gentlemen at the establishment on the Mo., near Fire Prairie, by which I am informed that the fort at that place is nearly completed, strong & well built." (Letter on file in War Department.)

In a joint letter dated Fort Osage near Fire Prairie, on the Missouri, July 16, 1812, Captain Clemson and other officers of the Ist Regiment recommend the abandonment of

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Fort Osage and set forth the reasons on which their recommendation is based. (Letter on file in War Department.)

In letter dated May 14, 1813, Colonel D. Bissell, Ist Infantry, stated that he has "ordered the evacuation of the garrison of Fort Osage." (Copy of letter on file in War Department.)

Note: The Captain Clemson referred to in the foregoing memorandum was Eli B. Clemson, Captain of the Ist Infantry, United States Army.

Smithsonian Institute, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C., December 21, 1917.

Dear Sir: Your inquiry of November 21 was referred to Mr. La Flesche of this Bureau and a copy of his reply is enclosed herewith.

Very respectfully yours, F. W. HODGE, Ethnologist in Charge.

Mr. W. O. Atkeson, Proprietor, The Bates County Record, Butler, Mo.

(Inclosure.)

Washington, D. C., December 18, 1917.

Mr. F. W. Hodge, Bureau of Ethnology,

Washington, D. C.

Dear Mr. Hodge :

The letter of Mr. W. O. Atkeson of Butler Mo., which you referred to me Nov. 24, 1917, is received. In this letter Mr. Atkeson asks information as to the location of the Great Osage Indian village and of the Harmony Mission, and their nearness to or remote- ness from each other.

Maj. Zebulon M. Pike who spent about fifteen days (August and September 1806) with the Osage Indians, when on his expedition to the Rockies, places the Great Osage village on the east side of the Little Osage river, near the mouth of the stream now known as the Marmiton river. The recent atlases show that the Little Osage river runs through the northwestern part of Vernon County, Mo .; therefore, there can be no doubt that the Great Osage village was sitnated in the land now known as Vernon County and not in Bates County. At the time of Maj. Pike's voyage up the Osage river upon his visit to the Osage Indians, the two branches of the Osage river upon which were situated the Great Osage village and later the Harmony Mission, seem not to have been known to the Europeans by any particular names, for Pike, the earliest traveler to mention these rivers, refers to the one upon which was established the mission, as the "right hand fork" and the one on which was the Great Osage village as the "left". (See page 386 of The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Coues' edition.) For a detailed description of these forts I would refer Mr. Atkeson to note 42 of the editor. (Mr. Coues, pages 385-386.)

The Harmony Mission was established in the summer of 1821 and its buildings were located on the north bank of the "right hand fork" of the Osage river. At some time between 1821 and the visit of Maj. Pike to the Osages in 1806 this "right hand fork" of the Osage river became known as the Marais des Cygnes river. Rev. Jedidiah Morse in his report to the Secretary of War on Indian affairs quotes a letter addressed to General Steele by a Mr. Newton, one of the missionaries, that was dated from Harmony, Mo., Sept. 27,

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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

1821, in which he (Newton) states that: "Harmony is situated on the margin of the Marais de Cein river, about six miles above its junction with the Osage. This place was granted to us by the Indians in council, on the 13th of August." (1821). Mr. Morse also quotes a letter written about the same time by a Mr. Sprague, another of the missionaries, to his brother, in which he says: "We are within fifteen miles of the Great Osage Village." (See pp. 222-223 of Jedidialı Morse's Report.)

In 1831 was published "Letters on the Chickasaw and Osage Missions," by Sarah Tuttle. On page 69 of this little book she says, "The station is situated upon the north bank of a branch of the Osage river, called Marais des Cygnes, one mile from the United States' factory, or trading house, and about fifteen or twenty miles from the place where the Osage villages then were." In another place she says that the missionaries arrived at Choteau's post on August 2, 1821.

Reference is made to the Harmony Mission by Mr. Houck in his history of the state of Missouri, as follows: "In this delightful land, in 1821, the United Foreign Missionary Society established a school for the education of the Osages, on the margin of the Marais des Cygnes river about six miles from the junction of this stream with the Osage, on land granted the Society by the Indians in council, the school being situated about seventy-five miles from Fort Osage and about fifteen miles from the Great Osage village. This place was named "Harmony" and was situated within the limits of the present Bates County."

Thus it would appear from these records and from the examination of certain maps of the state of Missouri, that the Harmony Mission was situated on the Marais des Cygnes river, in Bates County, northwest of the Great Osage village which was on the Little Osage river, in Vernon County, and that the distance between the two places, on a straight line, is about eight or nine miles. The writers who speak of the distance as being about fifteen miles must have taken into account the necessary detours of the path leading from one place to the other.

Having examined all the accessible records I have failed to find any explanation as to. "when and how the Marais des Cygnes river got its name." There may be some hint as to the origin of this name in Mr. R. I. Holcomb's History of Vernon County, published in 1887, a book mentioned in a note by Mr. Coues in Pike's Expedition, but the book is not carried either by the Library of the Bureau or by the Congressional Library.

Mr. Atkeson also asks "if it is not true that the Osage river begins at the confluence of the Marais des Cygnes and the Little Osage on the line or boundary of Bates and Vernon counties." Referring to these two branches, the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes, Mr. Cotes says, in a note on page 385 of Pike's Expeditions: "The present confluence is at the point where Bates and Vernon cos. begin or cease to be separated by the meanders of the Osage, for the Little Osage runs in Vernon Co. and the main Osage, above the confluence, runs in Bates". Both forks head beyond (W. of) the Missouri State line, in Kansas, in which state the main Osage river bears the name of Marais des Cygnes."

I trust that this information may be of use to Mr. Atkeson and indicate to him the records from which he may gather further details, should he need them.

Very truly yours,

FRANCES LA FLESCHE.

(This letter is submitted to show the errors and confusion which exists among the alleged authorities. The courtesy due the writer of this letter forbids comment here. Our views are stated elsewhere in this volume touching the errors in the authorities cited, after examining all of them, except the little book by Sarah Tuttle which we have not read : hence further comment here is unnecessary. The Editor.)

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United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, Washington, D. C., January 17, 1918.

Mr. W. O. Atkeson, Butler, Mo.

Dear Sir :

In compliance with the request contained in your letter of the 2nd inst., I have taken some pains to look up the matter of the Osage and Marais des Cygnes Rivers.

In going back over the various maps of the state that have been published from time to time, I find there is no map of the Osage River that gives evidence of anything more accurate than mere Indian legends earlier than the one contained in Maj. Z. M. Pike's narrative of his expedition to the Rocky Mountains, which was published in 1810. In this map the lower Osage is laid down in such a way as to indicate that it had been actually surveyed even then. The name of the river is not shown on the map above the mouth of the Sac. This latter stream is called the Grand River. The map shows a forking of the stream some distance above the mouth of the Sac and close to the location of the Osage Indian village, one stream coming in from the south and the other from the northwest. It seems evident that these two branches are what are now known as the Marais des Cygnes and Little Osage Rivers, although no name is given to either of them on this map.

On the map published by one Carey in 1822 the name Osage is applied to the river even out in Kansas. There is no such term as Marais des Cygnes on any of the branches though the map would indicate that the term Osage applies to the Little Osage while the stream now called the Marais des Cygnes is shown as a small stream without any name.

A map published by E. Browne and E. Bancroft in 1827 shows the same branch of the stream as was shown on the last map and the term South Fork of the Osage is applied to the southern branch while no name is given to the northern one.

Exactly the same nomenclature and relationship is shown on H. S. Tanner's map pub- lished in 1831. The fact that the stream called South Fork of the Osage on this map is really what is now called Little Osage is indicated by the location of Harmony Mission on the unnamed branch a few miles north of the junction of the two.

On Hinton's map, published in 1832 the same nomenclature is applied to what seems to be the Little Osage. A small stream is shown which seems to be intended for what was later named the Marais des Cygnes, although the Harmony Mission is not shown.

Exactly the same thing is shown on Tanner's map of 1836 except that on this map Harmony Mission is shown in the same position that it occupied on the Tanner map of 1831.

On the map published by Bradford in 1838 the term Marais des Cygnes first appears. It is applied to the small stream that on all the maps published heretofore had been without a name although the Harmony Mission is not located on the map, yet there can be no doubt but that the stream called Marais des Cygnes is the one on which the Mission is located. The stream Little Osage is called Neosho Creek on this map.

On Mitchell's map of 1840 the Little Osage and the Marmiton are shown in just about their true position and the Marmiton is called the Manitou Creek. The stream on which Harmony Mission is located is called Marais des Cygnes. From this date onward all the maps show the Marais des Cygnes.

In none of the maps, so far referred to does the name Osage appear in such a position as to give any indication where it was intended that the river should begin.

On the map published by Morse and Breese in 1844, however, the name Osage appears immediately below the junction of the two streams designated as Marais des Cygnes and the Little Osage Rivers. The one designated as Marais des Cygnes shows the town of Batesville, which seems to be a new name for Harmony Mission, just above its mouth. There seems to be good historical ground, therefore, for applying the term Marais des

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History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 96

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