History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 60

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220

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where the stream makes a great bend of a mile or more, and returns within about 50 feet of itself, a tunnel was cut through the solid lime- stone to the same stream opposite, giving a fall of about fifteen feet and saving the building of a dam. Little Bonne Femme creek rises in the southern part of Columbia township and flows southwest and thence southeast in a kind of curve through the western part of Cedar into the Missouri river. The face of the country along this stream is rough in the vicinity of Rockbridge mills. West of this are Perche creek and Missouri river bottoms. Of course, the bluff districts along the Missouri are rough and broken as they are everywhere on that great stream. The finest farming country is in the central and northern portions, and the Two-mile Prairie.

REMARKABLE NATURAL FEATURES - THE CAVE AND NATURAL BRIDGE AT ROCKBRIDGE MILLS.

This natural feature is located a quarter of a mile east of the natural bridge, on the farm of Mr. D. M. Emmitt. The entire country in that locality is honeycombed with " sink-holes," and the cave whose opening fronts east, is entered by going down into one of these sink- holes. The entrance is large enough for a man to ride in on horseback, though there is no evidence that anyone ever accomplished that feat. The opening is about ten feet high by fifteen feet wide, and though it has been explored to some distance, no terminus has ever been discov- ered. Inside is a stream called Cave creek, that flows wholly.under ground from northeast to southwest. A distance of some 200 yards can be penetrated on terra firma, when it then becomes necessary to proceed in a boat, the stream in some places being ten or fifteen feet deep. It has its stalagmites and its stalactites, its compartments, rooms and passages, all that goes to constitute a cave of real inter- est. The largest apartment known is about 200 yards from the mouth, and is entered by a passage some fifteen feet high, which opens out into a room about twenty-five feet high by 150x75 feet in length and width. One gentleman, who explored it to the distance of nearly a mile, pronounces the passage irregular, but not difficult. Other parties claim to have gone in far enough to exhaust four miles of guide string without finding any terminus.

BASS'S CAVE.

This cave is also on Little Bonne Femme, four miles from Ashland, on the land of the old Bass estate. It opens about ten feet above the

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creek bed, and the mouth is large enough for a man to walk in erect, being nine feet high by five feet wide. It penetrates the bluff from where it opens on the west, running back east to a distance of about 300 yards. It has several compartments, the largest of which is the main cavern, dimensions about 15x25x80 feet in height, width and length. It terminates in a small room at the eastern extremity, and has running through it, from a spring in the interior, a stream of very cold water which flows from the opening into the creek below. This place is quite famous as a neighborhood picnic resort.

QUILLAN'S CAVE.

On the farm of J. B. Quillan there is a peculiar cave utilized by him as a cellar. The location of the cave is near Mr. Quillan's resi- dence. It is reached by descending a stairway about 100 feet in length. The floor of the cave is perhaps forty feet from the surface. When the temperature outside is 100 degrees it is only 50 degrees in the interior of the cave. Mr. Quillan makes considerable quantities of butter and stores his milk in the cool receptacle so nicely provided by nature.

CAVE ON LICK CREEK.

There is also a cave on Lick creek, in the southeast quarter of sec- tion 18, township 46, range 11, which is somewhat peculiar. The aperture is cylindrical in form, is about five feet in diameter, and has the appearance of a hole bored with a huge auger. At the entrance the whole surface of the walls is of solid rock, but further inward the floor is of gravel. It has never been fully explored. Its depth or extent is unknown. Foxes have been chased into this cave, pursued by dogs, and after a considerable time the dogs would reappear, but without their game.

MISCELLANEOUS.

On the southwest quarter of section 16, township 45, range 12, there lies a huge boulder. It is about 125 feet in length, 12 feet high, and its greatest width is about 30 feet. It is supposed to have fallen from the bluff or ledge near by, and has lain in its present position for many years.

In February, 1882, Mr. Benjamin Wren found a petrifaction very much resembling a buffalo horn, sawed off at the base. The interior presents a flinty appearance, while the outside resembles limestone. Specimens of fossil corals, resembling honeycomb, mistaken by many

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

for petrified wasp nests or honeycomb, and so called, have been picked up in different parts of the township.

Along the Missouri river are scattered many mounds of the sepul- chral class, built by the Mound Builders centuries ago. One of these mounds was opened some years since, and in the interior were found fragments of human bones, charred wood, ashes, and a fine pottery pipe, the latter well and handsomely made, and in a perfect state of pre- servation. The archæology of this township is well worth study and in- vestigation, although to this date not much attention has been given to it.

In digging a well near Stonesport, about the year 1860, when the workmen had reached a depth of some twenty-two feet some pieces of ribs belonging to a prehistoric animal, resembling a mastodon, were found. They were about 24 inches in length by about three in width.

ROCKBRIDGE MILLS.

The Rockbridge mills, situated on section 7, township 47, range 12, six miles straight south of Columbia, take the name from a natural bridge spanning the Little Bonne Femme creek at the place where the mills are located. The creek sinks into the ground on the farm of Alexander Bradford, about three miles above the bridge, and emerges from a cave about fifty feet above the mill. Here it passes under the natural bridge of rock about 100 feet wide. It is seventy feet from the ground to the top of the bridge, the arch of which is fifteen feet high and forty feet wide. In 1876, Mr. Emmitt, the present owner, built a stone wall across the side of the rock farthest from the mill. The mill was built by S. Tuttle, in 1822, and was among the first in the county. Tuttle had associated with him other gentlemen. It was built of logs, and the next year broke down and was washed away. It was rebuilt by Keyser & Co., partly of logs and partly framed, and stood thus till sold to James McConathy, in 1840. He made addi- tions to it, and changed the power from water to steam, and added a distillery. About the close of the war it passed into the hands of Mr. James Emmitt, of Ohio, who still owns the property, which is occupied by his son, David M. Emmitt.

CHIMNEY ROCK.

A short distance above the residence of Mr. Allen Burnett stands a column of stone known in the locality as the " chimney rock." It is about forty feet in height, is nearly cylindrical in form, with a di- ameter of about ten feet. It is composed of what seem to be a

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

number of small stones cemented together, but it is really one rock, the small stones being air-slacked fragments thereof. The col- umn stands almost perpendicular, and on the whole is well worth seeing.

Miscellaneous. - On the farm of Mr. Murphy (s. w. 1-45-13), there is a very large cottonwood tree, measuring at the base 39 feet and four inches in circumference.

On the farm of Mr. Crenshaw (s. w. 17-45-12), there are two large- sized elm trees, whose bases are near together, and one of which, at an angle of 45°, enters the other at a height of about ten feet from the ground, and thus the two form one trunk. The bases are about twelve feet apart.

On the same farm there is a large circular sink hole, some thirty or forty yards in diameter and ten or twelve feet deep. There is another sink-hole of a similar dimension on the farm of S. B. Bryant, ad- joining.

Not far north of Wilton the Missouri river has recently made a break into the Bonne Femme creek. There are really two of these breaks, which are some Distance apart. The Bonne Femme now empties into the river, and a short distance below the river runs into Bonne Femme again. Large quantities of earth have fallen into the river lately in the neighborhood of Providence and down the river, and considerable injury to land has resulted.

MINERALS.

No paying mines of any kind have as yet been opened in Cedar township. The biggest excitement of this kind is one of recent de- velopment. Mr. Robin Parker, of Colorado, who was spending the winter of 1881-82 in Boone county, began prospecting for the precious metals in Cedar township. He claims to have discovered both gold and silver on the farm of W. A. Barton, near Wilton. A company was formed, called the Boone County Gold Mining Company, which be- gan operations on Monday, May 8, 1882. They however discovered more lead than either of the precious metals, and altered their operations accordingly, and there is a prospect of obtaining lead in paying quan- tities. They claim, however, to have found gold, and a fine quality of dust was exhibited at Columbia, said to have come from the Cedar mine.

Mr. L. L. Lindsay is also sinking a lead shaft on his place, and the indications are good. No coal banks have as yet been developed, but the indications are good on the east side of the township.

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

On the farm of Wm. M. Jones, that gentleman has frequently picked up, after a heavy washing rain, a great nuniber of pieces of lead, which some have thought indicate that the locality was once the site of a battle-field ; but as there is no record, or even tradition of a battle in this section in which bullets were used, it is believed by others that the pieces found indicate the presence of lead in consider- able quantities beneath the surface.

EARLY SETTLERS.

It is not always possible to get at the facts pertaining to earliest settlement, especially where different parties claim the priority. As far as can be correctly ascertained the following will give the principal pioneer settlements : David Rice came from Kentucky to Boone county in 1818, and settled on Bonne Femme creek, six miles north- west of where Ashland now stands. He moved over on the river in 1835, where he has since resided. Tyre Martin and the Nichols brothers also came at an early day and settled mostly in Cedar town- ship. Martin drove the first covered wagon that crossed the river at St. Charles. John Nichols had twenty-twee;hildren, and thus became the progenitor of a numerous stock, all of whom are said to be pro- lific. Earlier still, in 1817, it is claimed that Ira P. Nash, James Adams, Samuel Buckalew, William Ramsey, Hiram Bryant, Thomas Brooks and John Herald came to Boone county and settled in several neighborhoods in Cedar township. Two years later Daniel Hubbard and G. B. Sappington settled in Cedar, all of whom were there prior to the admission of the State and, of course, before Cedar was laid off into a township.

Peter Ellis came in 1818, and brought the second, if not indeed the first, keel-boat that came up the Missouri. After the Ellises, came the Basses, and these in turn were followed by others from the grand old States of Virginia and Kentucky, till soon after Missouri's admis- sion into the Union Cedar township had a population of considerable numbers.

In the general history department of this volume, Col. Switzler has handled the pioneer history so completely that further mention of first comers is here unnecessary .

Rev. Dr. David Doyle was also a pioneer, and was the first resident physician who practiced in Cedar township. [See biography.] It is uncertain whether he or Berryman Wren preached the first sermon, as they were cotemporaneous, and the honor is claimed for each. Those

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUTNY.

who claim the priority in ministerial labors for Rev. Wren, locate the first service at Goshen, while by others it is held that Dr. Doyle's service, held at the house of Anderson Woods, was the first, the dates in each case being indefinite. But, however that may be, they were both worthy men, and all honor is due them for their God-fearing, mån-loving zeal.

Rev. Berryman Wren was born in Rutherford county, N. C., in 1796. He came to Boone county in 1819, and was licensed to preach in 1821. He was noted as a very earnest and zealous minister of the gospel, and " died in the harness " September 19th, 1867, after a brief illness. His wife, Tabitha, is still living, at the age of 87.

James Beazley came from Virginia to Boone county in 1828, and settled on section 30, township 48, range 13, where he lived till his death, in 1854. Henry Jefferson, the father-in-law of Beazley, was also a Virginian, and came to Boone in 1827. He located on the southeast quarter of section 16, township 47, range 13. Louis Hume came from Madison county, Ky., in 1823, and settled on the northeast quarter of section 5, township 47, range 13.

Near Claysville were Robert P. Carter, who came from Virginia originally, and from Kentucky to Missouri directly, in the year 1829, and settled where the town of Claysville now stands. Capt. Wm. Ramsey made his advent into the county in about 1825, locating a mile and a quarter west of Claysville. The captain was probably never commissioned to his office, but won his spurs, as it were, by be- ing a great and successful Indian fighter. Job Murray, a Tennesseean, settled one mile east of Claysville, in 1835 or 1836. Greenberry Blevins was an early settler, and made his claim on the Clardy farm.

The first marriages in this neighborhood, now remembered, were those of John Marley to Maria Toombs, 1827, and Mark Sappington to Euphy Ramsey, in 1828. As early as 1830 Dr. David Doyle prac- ticed his profession as a physician in the community and preached the gospel on Sabbath days whenever convenient. It is said that when on his way to preaching or to see a patient he would always carry a gun with him for fear of Indians. Probably the first religious services were conducted by Dr. Doyle, although Rev. James Suckett, an old Baptist minister from Kentucky, preached here in 1838 and a claim is made that Rev. Berryman Wren, who began his labors in the vineyard in 1830, was the first minister in the community.

The first school-house, in the southern part of the township, was built about 1830. It stood down in the corner of the county, close to

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

the Callaway line, on section 25, township 45, range 12. A man named Hayden taught the first school the same year the house was built. He had twenty or more scholars and was paid $2 per month per scholar for his services. Mr. Hayden is reported to have died " up in the prairie somewhere."

P. H. Mellon claims to have put up the first store in Claysville, in 1845 or 1846. He was probably the first postmaster. Claysville has for a long time been a steamboat landing, and a great deal of freight has been received and shipped from time to time. Robt. P. Carter, a native of Culpepper county, Va., who came to Boone in 1829, first settled where Claysville now is, and kept a wood-yard for a number of years. The town was named for Henry Clay.

INCIDENTS, REMINISCENCES, ETC.

When Peter Ellis, Sr., lived in Cedar in early times, seven In- dians came to his house either on a plundering, begging or stealing expedition, one or all being given to whichever of the above weak- nesses that circumstances most favored. " Boys," said Mr. Ellis to his sons, " go to the smoke-house, corn-crib and tobacco-house, and don't let 'em in." Abe went to the meat-house, and posted himself inside. A squaw tried to force her way in, tempted by the thought of the well-cured hams hanging within. Abe tried to " hold her out," but she pushed him in and entered. He pushed her out and she fell backwards over the door-sill, which made all the other Indians laugh. They went off without doing any damage.

Peter Ellis was a very determined old man, and had no notion of having his " truck " carried off by loafing Indians. Abe would have been rougher in keeping out the squaw, but was afraid of the Indians, thinking every minute his father might do or say some- thing that would awaken their vengeance.

JONES THE JOKER.

Joseph G. Jones is a historic character, in the sense of being the " boss joker " of Boone. It is related of him that once, when a neighbor came to his house and ground some sausage, Jones told him, while there, of a panther that had been prowling around, and cau- tioned him to be on his guard. After he was fully away from the house, returning through the woods, Jones took a near cut, headed him off in the woods, and set up a mock-panther scream that caused the hair to rise on his scared neighbor's head, who dropped his bucket.

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

of sausage and ran for his life. Jones took the sausage home, and, to complete the joke, brought back the bucket, scratched up as though the " varmint " had eaten up the sausage and left the bucket in the woods.

On another occasion he caught a pony belonging to his father and painted it, up. The old gentleman thought he discovered a stray ani- mal on his place, and set the dogs on it to get rid of it. But the pony came back, and it was not till the process of dogging was re- peated and the poor brute chased nearly to death that the delusion was discovered.

One of Jones' neighbors had been enterprising enough to erect a lightning rod on his premises. Jones was not to be outdone ; so, pro -: curing some paw-paw poles, he fastened them together and set them up by his chimney. He then went to the house of his friend who had the " sure-enough " rod on his house, and told him he had put up one on his place. Fearing it was not properly adjusted, he urged the neigh- bor to go over and examine it. He consented, but when they arrived and he saw how he was sold, it is said he came near taking satisfac- tion out of Jones' hide.

A favorite prank of the joker was to palm off on people not well posted some buzzard eggs, and induce them to hatch them out as the eggs of a fowl of very fine breed.

TRAGEDIES OF THE CIVIL WAR.

Killing of James Harrington. - September 3, 1864, a company for the Confederate service was being recruited in this township. Informa- tion of the fact was conveyed to the Federal military post at Fayette, and Captain Rives Leonard, of the 9th Cavalry, M. S. M., was sent out with a detachment to capture or disperse the Confederates. At Colum- bia he was joined by a detachment of Captain Carey's company of the 3d M. S. M. Making his way into the township, Captain Leonard reached Rockbridge mills. Here some of his men broke into McCona- thy's distillery and got drunk. From the mills the command marched to the residence of Mrs. Edwards, near Nashville church. On the road from the mills to Mrs. Edwards' Leonard's men overtook Mr. James Harrington, a citizen of the township, and shot and killed him. The Federals claimed that as soon as Mr. Harrington saw them he ran and refused to obey the command to halt; that he was chased some distance and fired at several times, but would not stop, and at last re- ceived the fatal bullet. Captain Leonard further represented that he

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took Mr. Harrington and some others of his neighbors with whom he was in company to be a portion of the Confederate command he was expecting every minute to encounter, and that their conduct in pre- cipitately retreating confirmed him in his belief. The truth was, Mr. Harrington, although a strong Southern man, was not a Confederate. He was a very exemplary gentleman and a universally respected citi- zen. Whether killed by accident or design, his death was greatly to be deplored. Leonard's men committed serious outrages on this raid. They caught Mr. Wm. Grooms, who was riding along the road, and, taking him for a bushwhacker, as they said, hung him up to a tree, but he was rescued before he was seriously injured. At Mrs. Ed- wards' several citizens were attending a public sale. Of these Samuel Olds, Benjamin F. Orear, Bradford Lanhorn, and J. S. B. Douglass were made prisoners and cruelly maltreated, being beaten over the head with muskets and knocked about with great brutality. The pris- oners were not carried away.

Afterward Captain Leonard came upon the Confederates and had a short but sharp skirmish with them. Some men were wounded' on both sides, but nobody killed. The Confederates, being indifferently armed, and generally without experience, were soon completely routed and driven away in great confusion. After the skirmish the Federals returned to Fayette by way of Columbia.

In 1863 a company of Federal cavalry from Jefferson City raided the lower portion of this township. They were commanded by an officer remembered as Capt. White. This company visited the resi- dence of Wm. T. Nevin, a returned Confederate soldier, near Bur- lington. Nevin was taken out and shot, his house burned, and many articles of his personal property carried away. His father was made prisoner, as was Mr. John Sappington. Other citizens of the neigh- borhood were also arrested. The Federals claimed that Nevin was a notorious bushwhacker, and that his house was a rendezvous for bush- whackers, guerillas, thieves, and robbers.

In 1863, near the northeast corner of the township, in Callaway county, but near the Boone line, and near the Columbia line also, John Trigg was shot by some of the Ninth M. S. M. He was in a camp of Confederates that were routed that morning by the militia, who were led by Gen. Guitar. The skirmish is noted elsewhere.

In the year 1864, John C. McCall, a Confederate, was shot by Ste- phen O'Connor, at a point about four miles south of Ashland.

In the fall of 1864, Ellington Ford, said to have been a peaceful cit-

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

izen and a reputable man, was shot by a soldier belonging to Capt. Carey's company of Federals.1 The killing was done by the roadside, and, so far as known, was wholly unprovoked and unextenuated.

Other tragic episodes during the war were the shooting of Tilman Vaughn, a Union man, by the bushwhackers, and the killing of a rob- ber who attempted to rob P. H. Mellon, Esq. The latter shot the miscreant and killed him instantly.

About the 1st of September, 1864, Mr. Franklin Harris was return- ing home from Providence, when, in a secluded place on the road, he was halted and fired on from the brush, a ball taking effect in his neck and making a dangerous wound.

Skirmish at Stonesport, Cedar Township. - About 10 o'clock on the night of May 22, 1862, information was received at Claysville by Col. Guitar, near which place he was then camped, with a detachment of his regiment, that a party of Confederates were crossing the river near the mouth of Bonne Femme creek. Preparations were at once made to circumvent and capture them. Three squads, one led by Capt. Leonard, one by Lieut. Mckinsey, and a third by Col. Guitar in person, accompanied by Lieuts. Ross and Kemper, marched by dif- ferent routes to the objective point. About daylight the Confederate camp was surprised, and the men fled in every direction, throwing away blankets, guns, and what else might impede their flight. In the skirmish Col. Guitar and his men captured eight men and nine horses. Among the captured was D. B. Cunningham, who was armed with a carbine.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The first brick building in Cedar township was put up by Perry Spencer in 1839, on the southwest quarter of section 26, township 46, range 13. It is still standing, and is occupied by his son. A fine stone dwelling house was put up by P. H. Mellon, Esq., about half a mile below Claysville, some time between 1855 and 1860. It is a fine structure, and cost several thousand dollars.

Relics .- Mr. Whitfield (s. e. 2-46-12) has in his possession a watch which bears evidence of having been manufactured in the year 1616. Mrs. Tabitha Wren, widow of the pioneer preacher, Berryman Wren, has a primer which she purchased in 1804, and several other interest- ing relics. Mrs. S. A. Carter (s. e. 14-45-12 ) has a queensware pepper- box over one hundred years old. It has a hole in the bottom in which

1 Believed to have been a company of the 3d M. S. M., on a hunt for horses.

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to put the pepper, and this hole is stopped with a cork. The top is not removable, but perforations are made therein through which the pepper is sifted as wanted.

When Dr. Robert Martin had just returned from a medical college with his " sheepskin," a waggish farmer sent for him in great haste to come and set " a broken leg." Arriving at the farmer's house, the doctor found that the broken limb belonged to a deer-hound. Not disconcerted, he set to work, reduced the fracture, did a good job, and the animal was soon well again. The farmer laughed right heartily at the young doctor for a time, but a few days thereafter Dr. Martin pre- sented and collected his bill for his services, amounting to $50. Then the doctor laughed !

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History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 60

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1220

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220