USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > St Joseph > History of Buchanan County and St. Joseph, Mo. : from the time of the Platte purchase to the end of the year 1915 biographical sketches of noted citizens, living and dead > Part 30
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The war stagnated business, scattered the population and killed the prospects of this ambitious and thriving point. In rapid settle- ment and development of Kansas, when peace was restored, Elwood was overlooked and forgotten and went into rapid decline. The ravages of the river finished the work, and there is but little left of the ground upon which the ambitious young town stood.
The years 1866, 1867, 1874 and 1875 are known as "grasshop- per" years, owing to the existence of a plague of Rocky Mountain locusts. Kansas was stricken first each time and the locusts crossed the river in September of 1866, in July of 1867, and in September of 1874. The first two visits were not so costly to the farmer as the last one. The city was deluged with the insects, however, and they were a great annoyance. The wells were polluted with their car- casses; they ate the lace curtains in the dwellings, and devoured the vegetation.
In 1874 and 1875 all the country west and north of Missouri was plagued with the locusts. The people usually referred to them as grasshoppers. Indeed, the insects greatly resembled the ordinary grasshopper. They came down from the Rocky Mountains, quickly overran Colorado, then came on through Kansas, devouring every green thing, taking every live blade of grass, every leaf on tree and bush, every flower and vegetable. In September of 1874 they struck Buchanan County. The crops having matured, they did little mate- rial damage that year. But they deposited their eggs in the ground and the warm spring weather hatched them out in great numbers. As they developed the verdure disappeared. First the young clover, then the tender bluegrass of the pastures, next the vegetables in the gardens, and finally the shrubbery and small trees; in fact, almost everything that grew fell before the greed of the insect. As they grew so did their voracity, and their depredations increased. Farm- ers were powerless. Some tried digging pits and driving the locusts thereinto, where they were either scalded or covered up. Others drove them into piles, where they were cremated. In fact, numer- ous plans for ridding the country of the pest were tried, and while untold millions of locusts were undoubtedly destroyed, others seemed to take their places immediately. It mattered not what was done, no diminution in the numbers of the hopping, creeping things was discernible. Livestock suffered greatly from the lack of food, and the farmers lost heavily by the death of cattle and hogs. When half-grown and able to fly the locusts began to disappear, and by
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July they were nearly all gone. The farmers at once set to work with energy. The seasons were favorable and the frost late. There was a grand harvest. In fact, all over the state there was a pro- digious yield, and this fact served largely to alleviate the business depression of the two previous years.
In 1869 pedestrianism was the popular athletic fad. The news- paper files contain accounts of a rather grotesque performance of this kind in St. Joseph. One R. F. Leonard, a laundryman, agreed, on a wager, to walk one hundred miles in twenty-four hours. His route was on Second street, from Faraon to Isabel, a distance of half a mile. At midnight, February 17, Leonard began his task. The route was illuminated with torches and the pedestrian carried in one hand a lighted lamp and in the other a bugle, upon which he executed military signals as he marched. An immense crowd witnessed the performance. Leonard made the first mile in thir- teen minutes. The ninety-ninth mile was made in twenty-two minutes, and the one-hundredth mile in thirteen minutes and twenty-two seconds. Leonard covered the one hundred miles in twenty-three hours and thirty-nine second, resting but forty-one seconds during the time.
In 1874 the question of waterworks was not only earnestly dis- cussed, but a considerable sum was expended in an experiment to obtain a supply from the bed-rock of the river. This venture was directed by a number of influential citizens known as waterworks commissioners. The members of this commission were Mayor I. T. Hosea, Wm. M. Wyeth, Victor B. Buck, Bernard Patton, George H. Hall, Milton Tootle, Winslow Judson, Louis Hax, Charles B. France, R. P. Richardson, George Buell, Louis Fuelling and Charles A. Pfeiffer. These gentlemen served gratuitously and created a fund with which to conduct the experiment. The bridge having been recently completed, apparatus for pneumatic pressure was easily available. A caisson was sunk and the workmen went a consider- able distance below the bed of the river. However, the cherished hope of finding a sufficient supply of pure water was not realized.
In July, 1870, the first mixed jury was impaneled in Buchanan County. The case was before a justice, and the constable had pro- vided a jury composed of three negroes and three white men. The late Judge Henry S. Tutt, who had been engaged by the defendant, refused to serve.
Buchanan County has furnished the state three governors- Robert M. Stewart, Willard P. Hall and Silas Woodson. The office of secretary of state was filled for two terms by Francis Rodman of St. Joseph. Mordecai Oliver, who was appointed secretary of state
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by the convention of 1861, was then a resident of Green County and did not come to St. Joseph until after the war. The office of state treasurer has had one incumbent from St. Joseph-Col. Elijah Gates. Francis Carroll Hughes of this county was appointed war- den of the penitentiary by Governor Polk in 1856, and served until the exit of Governor Claiborne F. Jackson. Henry A. Vories and Philomen Bliss of Buchanan County were judges of the supreme court, and Willard P. Hall, Jr., was judge of the Kansas City court of appeals. James M. Johnson is now judge of the Kansas City court of appeals; S. S. Brown is a commissioner of the supreme court. James B. Gardenhire of St. Joseph was attorney-general. The following resident of St. Joseph have been members of con- gress : Willard P. Hall, Sr., James Craig, Benj. F. Loan, Isaac C. Parker, James N. Burnes, Daniel D. Burnes, George C. Crowther, Charles F. Cochran and Frank B. Fulkerson. Gen. Robert Wilson, who was appointed United States senator by Governor Hall, resided on a farm at Jimtown, in Andrew County, a short distance beyond the Buchanan County line, but was much interested here, and may be accredited to St. Joseph. Joseph K. Toole, the first governor of Montana, was a former resident of St. Joseph. Alexander W. Ter- rell, the first city attorney of St. Joseph, was afterward United States minister to Turkey, and Ethan Allen Hitchcock, minister to Russia, and later secretary of the interior, was a merchant in St. Joseph before the war. Jacob T. Child, minister to Siam under President Cleveland, was in the newspaper business here before and during the war, as was also E. C. Davis, the first state superin- tendent of public schools. James W. Porch was a resident of St. Joseph when appointed consul-general at the City of Mexico. John L. Bittinger, once consul-general at Montreal, was appointed from St. Joseph. Jerome B. Chaffe, at one time senator from Colorado, was a banker in St. Joseph before the war.
The practice of delivering groceries was established by Major H. R. W. Hartwig in 1865. At that time he was conducting a retail grocery store on Fourth street, south of Edmond street. He sent to New York for a modern delivery wagon, which he placed in active service, in charge of Chris. Hubacher, now a prominent citizen of St. Joseph.
"Voting on string" is a term that will be remembered by those who were active in politics during the reconstruction period and particularly when the odious registration law was first put into operation. Only those who were registered could vote. And only those who took the iron-clad oath were registered. There were those who were rejected by the registering officers, either for valid or political reasons, who announced that they would vote in spite of the proscription, and there were many indications of trouble. The election judges, like the registering officers, were all Republicans in those days. A council of the party leaders was called to decide upon
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the easiest and best way out of the impending difficulty. It was finally decided to receive all votes that were offered and to place the ballots of those who were registered in the regular box and to file the ballots of those not registered upon a string. The election was held without trouble. When an unregistered voter appeared he was greeted with courtesy, voted his ticket and departed well satisfied. But his ballot went on the string and was not counted. This trick was practiced and kept secret until the political condition had changed and the presence of Democratic judges made it unsafe for the Republicans to continue the practice.
Biographical
JOSEPH ROBIDOUX-It is proper that the following biographical sketches of the living should be pre- ceded by those of some of the pio- neers who have gone before, and whose names are prominently con- nected with the early history and de- velopment of Buchanan County. Joseph Robidoux, the first of these, was born in St. Louis, August 10, 1783. He was the eldest son of Joseph and Cath- erine Robidoux. He had five brothers -Antoine, Isadore, Francis, Michel and Louis-and one sister. Of these, Antoine, Isadore and Francis died and were buried at St. Joseph.
The father of this family was a Canadian Frenchman, who went from Montreal to St. Louis, where he lo- cated shortly after the settlement of that place by the French. He accumu- lated a fortune, became influential and occupied a large mansion. The first general assembly of the state of Mis- souri did him the honor of holding its first session at his house, in Decem- ber of 1812. He educated his children as liberally as was possible in those days.
Joseph, the eldest of the boys, mar- ried Eugenie Delslille, at St. Louis, when he was eighteen years of age. There was one child by this union- Joseph E. Robidoux, who spent his life among the Indians and who died some years ago near White Cloud, Kan. Four years after this marriage the wife died. After her death the widowed husband became a wanderer. He visited New Orleans and different points along the lower Mississippi, and then went north, locating upon the present site of Chicago, as an Indian trader. He was robbed by the In- dians in a short time and returned to St. Louis. Soon thereafter he made a trip up the Missouri River with one of the Chouteaus in the interest of the American Fur Company, going as far north as Council Bluffs. Robidoux returned to St. Louis, purchased a
stock of goods and returned to the "Bluffs" in the fall of 1809. He traded with the Indians there for thirteen years, shipping his furs and peltries to St. Louis in keel boats.
While dwelling at the "Bluffs" in 1813, Robidoux married his second wife, who was Miss Angelique Vau- dry, also of St. Louis. By this union there were six sons-Faraon, Jules C., Francis B., Felix, Edmond and Charles. There was also one daugh- ter, who became Mrs. S. P. Beauvis. Edmond Robidoux went from here to Omaha some years ago. Mrs. Ange- lique Robidoux died in this city Janu- ary 17, 1857.
Robidoux was so potent a rival to the American Fur Company, also es- tablished at the Bluffs, that this con- cern bought h'm out with the stipula- tion that he should remain away for three years. During this period Robi- doux lived at St. Louis, where he operated a bakery. After three years he announced his intention of again establishing a trading post. The fur company's representative offered to place him in this neighborhood at a salary of $1,800 per year, provided he would not interfere with the trade at the Bluffs. Accepting the proposition he landed at the mouth of a creek now known as Roy's Branch, north of the city, in the fall of 1826. Shortly afterward he moved to the mouth of Blacksnake creek, where he erected a small log house. In 1830 he became the sole proprietor of the trading post. Then he erected a large house, locat- ed about where the Occidental Hotel stands, northeast of Main and Jule streets.
Robidoux's family lived at St. Louis during his early struggles here. He owned a negro named Poulite, who knew French and who attended to the household duties. Robidoux spoke the various Indian dialects fluently. His English was broken and strongly fla- vored with the French accent. He was
JOSEPH ROBIDOUX
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a heavily built man, about five feet Ie then went to Kentucky, studied ten inches in height, of swarthy com- plexion and with piercing eyes. He was a natural trader and highly suc- cessful in his line. His manners were mild and persuasive and he was polite and hospitable. He died in this city on May 27, 1868, nearly eighty-five years of age, and was buried at Cal- vary cemetery, having been a Catho- lic. There was a public funeral. Busi- ness was suspended and the people generally participated in the last trib- ute to the founder of their city. Robi- doux was, comparatively, a poor man at his death, having lost much of his property by unfortunate speculations.
AUSTIN A. KING, the first judge to hold court in Buchanan County, was born in Sullivan County, Tenn., Sept. 20, 1801; came to Missouri in 1830; in 1834 was chosen to the legis- lature; in 1837 was appointed judge of the Fifth circuit, to which Buchanan County was attached when organized; served until he was elected governor in 1848. In 1860 he was a delegate to Charleston where he supported Stephen A. Douglas. He subsequently took the ground that the war was unnecessary. In 1862 he was again made circuit judge, but resigned to go to congress, where he served 1863-65. He then devoted himself to farming and the practice of his profession. He died April 22, 1870.
PETER H. BURNETT, the first cir- cuit attorney who prosecuted in Bu- chanan County, was born in Nashville, Tenn. He was appointed circuit attor- ney of the Fifth judicial circuit in 1837, and after serving, resigned to go to Oregon. In 1848 he went from Oregon to California, of which state he was the first governor, and after- ward one of the judges of the supreme court. He published "The Path Which Led a Protestant Lawyer to the Catho- iic Church" (1860), "The American Theory of Government Considered With Reference to the Present Crisis" (1861), "Recollections of an Old Pio- neer" (1878). and "Reasons Why We Should Believe in God, Love God and Obey God" (1884). He died May 17, 1895.
ROBERT M. STEWART, Missouri's eccentric governor, was born in Trux- ton, N. Y., on March 12, 1815. He taught school when he was seventeen and until he was twenty years of age.
law and was admitted to the bar at Louisville. In 1839 he came to Bu- chanan County and located in Bloom- ington township, practicing law at Sparta and at Blacksnake Hills, wher- ever the court happened to sit. In 1845 he was elected to the state con- stitutional convention and soon gained well deserved reputation as a debator. From 1846 to 1857 he was a member of the state senate. In 1857, when Governor Polk resigned, he was elect- ed as a Democrat. He was a delegate from Buchanan County to the conven- tion of 1861. He was not in favor of abolition, but he was against seces- sion, and ardently supported the Un- ion. In fact, his decided stand against secession, when so much seemed to depend upon the action of Missouri, helped to save the state to the Union, and made his action one of national consideration. He was one of the projectors of the Hannibal & St. Jo- seph Railroad and helped to survey the line, and by his eloquence and logic, to secure the right-of-way. He was a bachelor and a man of many eccentricities. He died September 21, 1871, and there was general suspen- sion of business in St. Joseph upon ine day of his funeral. His remains were buried at Mount Mora. The fol- lowing, which appeared in the Jeffer- son City Tribune, as a contribution from Col. Jacob T. Child, illustrates the character of Governor Stewart:
"When Missouri was in the turmoil of the gigantic struggle between the two great sections of the Republic, Bob Stewart of St. Joseph defeated Gen. James S. Rollins of Boone, one of the greatest men of the then West, for governor. Then Jefferson City was comparatively a small village, the gubernatorial mansion, a frail old frame building, occupying the same site where the present mansion stands. It was a time of vast changes. Every- thing was in an embryotic state. Stewart was a 'Bourbon' in the full sense of the word. A New Yorker, he took the Union side of the cause, but the tide of secession was so strong that he could not stem the current, and he passed down and out with but regrets. His administration was novel in the extreme for many of his actions. As soon as he was inaugurated he had his private secretary, Dr. Peabody, fill out a pardon for William Langston, a
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prisoner from St. Joseph, charged with aiding in the whipping of a man of worthless character to death. As soon as he could get away from the capitol he went to the penitentiary and called for Langston. The old man was em- ployed in digging a well. Stewart went to the brink and called him up. As he stepped out of the bucket the governor slapped him on the back, exclaiming, 'Billy, old man, let me greet you as a free man for all time,' and handed him his pardon. Langston had befriended Stewart when he was an invalid and had no friends.
"Another time the governor had been 'social' with a number of friends and in the 'we sma'' hours called for his horse, rode rapidly up the stairs into the reception room, ordered his servant to open the piano and pour in on the keyboard a peck of oats, re- marking, with an oath, that his horse had just as much right to food and refreshments as the balance of man- kind. The hoof marks of the horse could be seen on the stairway until the old mansion had been demolished. Feeling the influence of stimulation to excess, he imagined that he had snakes in his boots, and, sending for a pint of camphor, he poured it into his shoes; he pulled them on, and by night the snakes were gone, as well as all of the skin off of his feet. His pardoning of the female convicts is known to all, and the employment of them in the mansion, where they stole things ad libitum. Notwithstanding these eccentricities, he made a good governor. While he was drinking ne would never sign a state paper. He was an urgent advocate of internal improvements, and as president of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, never ceased his labors in favor of that great highway till the gleaming steel con- nected the Mississippi and the Mis- souri, which aided materially in the war of the sections. His reception of the Prince of Wales in St. Louis was so courteous that Albert Edward pro- nounced him the most polished man he had met in the states. But the worm of the still was working in his vitals; he was his worst enemy. Prior to his death I was his major. He was appointed colonel of volunteers un- der Fremont, but excessive drinking caused General Halleck to relieve him of his command. After that he lived a life of Bohemianism in St. Joseph, till
the dark wings of Azrael overshad- owed him, passing away comparatively friendless, and if I mistake not, the grassy hillock that covers his remains has no memorial to mark the spot.
"Thus one of Missouri's most fa- mous governors passed away, and he is mostly known for deeds that should be forgotten, rather than for those that should halo his memory. Visiting the state capitol and mingling with its progressive people, I could not help thinking when Bob Stewart was the brave fellow well-met with all, and whose name was a housenold word from the Ozarks to the Iowas. I offer this laurel Jeaf in the columns of The Tribune to the memory of a man that might have been worthy of much to imperial Missouri, but he fell by the wayside and passed away as an arrow shot through the air."
WILLARD P. HALL - This name also figures prominently in the history of Missouri. He was born at Har- per's Ferry, Va., May 9, 1820, and graduated from Yale College. In 1842 he came to Buchanan County and practiced law at Sparta. Governor Reynolds appointed him circuit attor- ney. In 1844 he was a Democratic presidential elector and had the honor of carrying the vote of the state elec- tors for James K. Polk, to Washing- ton. In 1846, while a candidate for congress against Judge Birch of Clin- ton County, he abandoned the cam- paign and enlisted as a private in the First Missouri cavalry, upon a call for troops to fight Mexico. He went with Gen. Kearney's expedition, under Col. Alexander W. Doniphan, as far as Santa Fe. He was detailed to aid Colonel Doniphan in preparing a code of laws for the government of the ter- ritory of New Mexico. While thus en- gaged he was notified that he had been elected to congress. As the con- gress to which he had been elected did not meet until December, 1847, he decided to go with General Kearney to California. He was in congress for six years. He was elected as one of the representatives of Buchanan Coun- ty to the convention of 1861, and was so ardent in his opposition of seces- sion, that when the convention as- sumed control of the state, he was made lieutenant-governor. During the war he was prominent in the direction of military affairs, and upon the death
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of Governor Gamble, January 31, 1864, General Hall was made governor, which office he filled until the inaugu- ration of Governor Fletcher, January 2, 1865. He then resumed his law practice in St. Joseph, and was classed as one of Missouri's greatest lawyers. He died November 3, 1882. He was twice married-to his first wife, Miss Annie E. Richardson, in 1847, and to his second wife, Miss Ollie L. Oliver, in 1864.
SILAS WOODSON, the third Bu- chanan County man to fill the govern- or's chair, was born in Knox County, Ky., May 18, 1819. He worked on his father's farm, attended the log cabin school in the neighborhood and spent his leisure time in reading and study. He clerked for a time in a country store and then took up the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1842. In 1842 he was a member of the Kentucky legislature, and from 1843 to 1848 he was circuit attorney. In 1849 he was elected to the Kentucky constitutional convention. In 1853 he was again a member of the Kentucky legislature, and in August of 1854 he came to St. Joseph, where he opened a law office. In 1860 he was elected judge of the Twelfth judicial circuit. He was a Union man during the war and was on the staff of General Wil- lard P. Hall. In 1872 he was nomi- nated by the Democrats for governor and defeated John B. Henderson, the Republican candidate. At the expira- tion of his term he resumed the prac- tice of law in St. Joseph. In 1885 he was appointed judge of the criminal court of Buchanan County, which posi- tion he held until 1895, when he re- tired owing to failing health. He died October 9, 1896. During his last ill- ness he embraced the Catholic faith. He was married three times. His last wife was Miss Jennie Lard, daughter of Rev. Moses E. Lard, whom he mar- ried December 29, 1866, and who, with two daughters, survived him. He was a man of high character, and a power- ful advocate before a jury.
M. JEFF THOMPSON - This man figured as a brilliant genius in the early history of St. Joseph. General Thompson was born at Harper's Ferry, Va., January 22, 1826. His father, Captain Merriweather Thomp- son, a prominent citizen of that place,
was a native of Hanover County, Vir- ginia. He was for years in the pay- master's department of the United States army at Harper's Ferry. The proper name of the subject of this sketch was Merriweather. The appel- lation "Jeff" was a nick-name applied in childhood, and the manner in which he acquired his middle name is some- what amusing. It appears that in early life, the future general was anything but a studious child, indeed, was sore- ly addicted to playing truant, and hav- ing in numerous instances of desertion from school been found perched on the top of a scavenger's cart driven by an ancient darkey, who rejoiced in the name of Jeff Carlyle. By way of sham- ing the young runaway and reclaim- ing him from his objectionable habit, his friends called him "Jeff Carlyle." The name, however, clung to him through life and after he had attained to manhood, and emigrated from his native home to St. Joseph, many who knew him as "Jeff," and were ignor- ant or oblivious of the fact that it was a nick-name, continued so to address him. Powers of attorney were made out to him in this name under which, of course, he could not act, and in consequence he induced the legisla- ture to legally affix "Jeff" to his name. On leaving home in 1846, he stopped in Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, where he clerked in a store about a year, at the end of which period he moved to St. Joseph and engaged as a clerk in the house of Middleton & Riley, remaining in the store till 1852, when he went in their interest to Great Salt Lake City. Returning in the fall, he started in partnership with Major Bogle, a grocery store in St. Joseph. He subsequently closed out his store and accompanied, in the capacity of commissary, the survey- ors of the Hannibal & St. Joseph rail- road. He afterward returned from Hannibal in charge of a surveying party, having acquired during his trip, by close application, a competent knowledge of practical surveying. He was entrusted with the task of con- structing the western division of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, and remained in that position up to the period of its completion, in February, 1859. In 1858 he filled the office of city engineer, and in 1859 was elected mayor. He was president of the Mary- ville or Palmetto & Roseport railroad
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