History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences, Part 2

Author: Pease, Ora Merle Hawk, 1890-
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: St. Louis, National Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1260

USA > Missouri > Livingston County > History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences > Part 2
USA > Missouri > Caldwell County > History of Caldwell and Livingston counties, Missouri, written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Caldwell and Livingston counties--their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens; general and local statistics of great value; incidents and reminiscences > Part 2

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

" I am fully sensible of the value of Louisiana, and it was my wish to repair the error of the French diplomatists who abandoned it in 1763. I have scarcely recovered it before. I run the risk of losing it ; but if I am obliged to give it up, it shall hereafter cost more to those who force me to part with it, than to those to whom I shall yield it. The English have despoiled France of all her northern pos- sessions in America, and now they covet those of the South. I ani determined that they shall not have the Mississippi. Although Louisiana is but a trifle compared to their vast possessions in other parts of the globe, yet, judging from the vexation they have mani- fested on seeing it return to the power of France, I am atain that

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

their first object will be to gain possession of it. They will proba- bly commence the war in that quarter. They have twenty vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, and our affairs in St. Domingo are daily getting worse since the death of LeClerc. The conquest of Louisiana might be easily made, and I have not a moment to lose in getting out of their reach. I am not sure but that they have already begun an at- tack upon it. Such a measure would be in accordance with their habits ; and in their place I should not wait. I.am inclined, in order to deprive them of all prospect of ever possessing it, to cede it to the United States. Indeed, I can hardly say that I cede it, for I do not yet possess it ; and if I wait but a short time my enemies may leave me nothing but an empty title to grant to the Republic I wish to con- ciliate. I consider the whole colony as lost, and I believe that in the hands of this rising power it will be more useful to the political and even commercial interests of France than if I should attempt to retain it. Let me have both your opinions on the subject."

One of his Ministers approved of the contemplated cession, but the other opposed it. The matter was long and earnestly discussed by them, before the conference was ended. The next day, Napoleon sent for the Minister who had agreed with him, and said to him : - " The season for deliberation is over. I have determined to re- nounce Louisiana. I shall give up not only New Orleans, but the whole colony, without reservation. That I do not undervalue Louis- iana, I have sufficiently proved, as the object of my first treaty with Spain was to recover it. But though I regret parting with it, I am convinced it would be folly to persist in trying to keep it. I commis- sion you, therefore, to negotiate this affair with the envoys of the United States. Do not wait the arrival of Mr. Monroe, but go this very day and confer with Mr. Livingston. Remember, however, that I need ample funds for carrying on the war, and I do not wish to com- mence it by levying new taxes. For the last century France and Spain have incurred great expense in the improvement of Louisiana, for which her trade has never indemnified them. Large sums have been advanced to different companies, which have never been returned to the treasury. It is fair that I should require repayment for these. Were I to regulate my demands by the importance of this territory to the United States, they would be unbounded ; but, being obliged to part with it, I shall be moderate in my terms. Still, remember, I must have fifty millions of francs, and I will not consent to take less.

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

I would rather make some desperate effort to preserve this fine country."

That day the negotiations commenced. Mr. Monroe reached Paris on the 12th of April, 1803, and the two representatives of the United States, after holding a private interview, announced that they were ready to treat for the entire territory. On the 30th of April, the treaty was signed, and on the 21st of October, of the same year, Con- gress ratified the treaty. The United States were to pay $11,250,000, and her citizens were to be compensated for some illegal captures, to the amount of $3,750,000, making in the aggregate the sum of $15,000,000, while it was agreed that the vessels and merchandise of France and Spain should be admitted into all the ports of Louisiana free of duty for twelve years. Bonaparte stipulated in favor of Louisiana, that it should be, as soon as possible, incorporated into the Union, and that its inhabitants should enjoy the same rights, privileges and immunities as other citizens of the United States, and the clause giving to them these benefits was drawn up by Bonaparte, who presented it to the plenipotentiaries with these words : -

" Make it known to the people of Louisiana, that we regret to part with them ; that we have stipulated for all the advantages they could desire ; and that France, in giving them up, has insured to them the greatest of all. They could never have prospered under any Euro- pean government as they will when they become independent. But while they enjoy the privileges of liberty let them remember that they are French, and preservo for their mother country that affection which a common origin inspires."

Complete satisfaction was given to both parties in the terms of the treaty. Mr. Livingston said : -

" I consider that from this day the United States takes rank with the first powers of Europe, and now she has entirely escaped from the power of England," and Bonaparte expressed a similar sentiment when he said : " By this cession of territory I have secured the power of the United States, and given to England a maritime rival, who, at some future time, will humble her pride."

These were prophetic words, for within a few years afterward the British met with a signal defeat, on the plains of the very territory of which the great Corsican had been speaking.

From 1800, the date of the cession made by Spain, to 1803, when it was purchased by the United States, no change had been made by

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

the French authorities in the jurisprudence of the Upper and Lower Louisiana, and during this period the Spanish laws remained in full force, as the laws of the entire province ; a fact which is of interest to those who would understand the legal history and some of the present laws of Missouri.

On December 20th, 1803, Gens. Wilkinson and Claiborne, who were jointly commissioned to take possession of the territory for the United States, arrived in the city of New Orleans at the head of the American forces. Laussat, who had taken possession but twenty days previously as the prefect of the colony, gave up his command, and the star-spangled banner supplanted the tri-colored flag of France. The agent of France, to take possession of Upper Louisiana from the Spanish authorities, was Amos Stoddard, captain of artillery in the United States service. He was placed in possession of St. Louis on the 9th of March, 1804, by Charles Dehault Delassus, the Spanish commandant, and on the following day he transferred it to the United States. The authority of the United States in Missouri dates from this day.

From that moment the interests of the people of the Mississippi Valley became identified. They were troubled no more with uncer- tainties in regard to free navigation. The great river, along whose banks they had planted their towns and villages, now afforded them a safe and easy outlet to the markets of the world. Under the pro- tecting ægis of a government, republican in form, and having free access to an almost boundless domain, embracing in its broad area the diversified climates of the globe, and possessing a soil unsurpassed for fertility, beauty of scenery and wealth of minerals, they had every incentive to push on their enterprises and build up the land wherein their lot had been cast.

In the purchase of Louisiana, it was known that a great empire had been secured as a heritage to the people of our country, for all time to come, but its grandeur, its possibilities, its inexhaustible resources and the important relations it would sustain to the nation and the world were never dreamed of by even Mr. Jefferson and his adroit and accomplished diplomatists.

The most ardent imagination never conceived of the progress which would mark the history of the " Great West." The adventurous pioneer, who fifty years ago pitched his tent upon its broad prairies, or threaded the dark labyrinths of its lonely forests, little thought that a mighty tide of physical and intellectual strength, would so rapidly

HISTORY OF MISSOURI,

flow on in his footsteps, to populate, build up and enrich the domain which he had conquered.

Year after year, civilization has advanced further and further, until at length the mountains, the hills and the valleys, and even the rocks and the caverns, resound with the noise and din of busy millions.

" I beheld the westward marches Of the unknown crowded nations. All the land was full of people, Restless, struggling, toiling, striving, Speaking many tongues, yet feeling But one heart-beat in their bosoms. In the woodlands rang their axes; Smoked their towns in all the valleys; Over all the lakes and rivers Rushed their great canoes of thunder."

In 1804, Congress, by an act passed in April of the same year, divided Louisiana into two parts, the "Territory of Orleans," and the " District of Louisiana," known as "Upper Louisiana." This district included all that portion of the old province, north of " Hope Encampment," on the Lower Mississippi, and embraced the present State of Missouri, and all the western region of country to the Pacific Ocean, and all below the forty-ninth degree of north latitude not claimed by Spain.

As a matter of convenience, on March 26th, 1804, Missouri was placed within the jurisdiction of the government of the Territory of Indiana, and its government put in motion by Gen. William H. Har- rison, then governor of Indiana. In this he was assisted by Judges Griffin, Vanderburg and Davis, who established in St. Louis what were called Courts of Common Pleas. The District of Louisiana was regu- larly organized into the Territory of Louisiana by Congress, March 3, 1805, and President Jefferson appointed Gen. James Wilkinson, Gov- ernor, and Frederick Bates, Secretary. The Legislature of the ter- ritory was formed by Governor Wilkinson and Judges R. J. Meigs and John B. C. Lucas. In 1807, Governor Wilkinson was succeeded by Captain Meriwether Lewis, who had become famous by reason of his having made the expedition up the Missouri with Clark. Governor Lewis committed suicide in 1809 and President Madison appointed Gen. Benjamin Howard of Lexington, Kentucky, to fill his place. Gen. Howard resigned October 25, 1810, to enter the war of 1812, and died in St. Louis, in 1814. Captain William Clark, of Lewis and Clark's expedition, was appointed Governor in 1810, to succeed Gen.

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

Howard, and remained in office until the admission of the State into the Union, in 1821.

The portions of Missouri which were settled, for the purposes of local government were divided into four districts. Cape Girardeau was the first, and embraced the territory between Tywappity Bottom and Apple Creek. Ste. Genevieve, the second, embraced the terri- tory from Apple Creek to the Meramec River. St. Louis, the third, embraced the territory between the Meramec and Missouri Rivers. St. Charles, the fourth, included the settled territory, between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The total population of these dis- tricts at that time, was 8,670, including slaves. The population of the district of Louisiana, when ceded to the United States was 10.120.

CHAPTER II.

DESCRIPTIVE AND GEOGRAPHICAL.

Name - Extent- Surface - Rivers -Timber -Climate - Prairies - Soils - Popula- tion by Counties.

NAME.

The name Missouri is derived from the Indian tongue and signifies muddy.

EXTENT.

Missouri is bounded on the north by Iowa (from which it is sep- arated for about thirty miles on the northeast, by the Des Moines River), and on the east by the Mississippi River, which divides it from Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, and on the west by the Indian Ter- ritory, and the States of Kansas and Nebraska. The State lies (with the exception of a small projection between the St. Francis and the Mississippi Rivers, which extends to 36°), between 36° 30' and 40° 36' north latitude, and between 12° 2' and 18° 51' west longitude from Washington.

The extreme width of the State east and west, is about 348 miles ; its width on its northern boundary, measured from its northeast cor- ner along the Iowa line, to its intersection with the Des Moines

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

River, is about 210 miles ; its width on its southern boundary is about 288 miles. Its average width is about 235 miles.

The length of the State north and south, not including the narrow strip between the St. Francis and Mississippi Rivers, is about 282 miles. It is about 450 miles from its extreme northwest corner to its southeast corner, and from the northeast corner to the southwest corner, it is about 230 miles. These limits embrace an area of 65,350 square miles, or 41,824,000 acres, being nearly as large as England, and the States of Vermont and New Hampshire.

SURFACE.

North of the Missouri, the State is level or undulating, while the portion south of that river (the larger portion of the State ) exhibits & greater variety of surface. In the southeastern part is an extensive marsh, reaching beyond the State into Arkansas. The remainder of this portion between the Mississippi and Osage Rivers is rolling, and gradually rising into a hilly and mountainous district, forming the out- skirts of the Ozark Mountains.

Beyond the Osage River, at some distance, commences a vast ex- panse of prairie land which stretches away towards the Rocky Moun- tains. The ridges forming the Ozark chain extend in a northeast and southwest direction, separating the waters that flow northeast into the Missouri from those that flow southeast into the Mississippi River.

RIVERS.

No State in the Union enjoys better facilities for navigation than Missouri. By means of the Mississippi River, which stretches along her entire eastern boundary, she can hold commercial intercourse with the most northern territory and State in the Union ; with the whole valley of the Ohio; with many of the Atlantic States, and with the Gulf of Mexico.

"Ay, gather Europe's royal rivers all - The snow-swelled Neva, with an Empire's weight On her broad breast, she yet may overwhelm; Dark Danube, hurrying, as by foe pursued, Through shaggy forests and by palace walls, To hide its terror in a sea of gloom; The castled Rhine, whose vine-crowned waters flow, The fount of fable and the source of song;

The rushing Rhone, in whose cerulean depths The loving sky seems wedded with the wave; The yellow Tiber, chok'd with Roman spoils.

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

A dying miser shrinking 'neath his gold;

The Seine, where fashion glasses the fairest forms;

The Thames that bears the riches of the world;

Gather their waters in one ocean mass,

Our Mississippi rolling proudly on,

Would sweep them from its path, or swallow up,

Like Aaron's rod, these streams of fame and song."

By the Missouri River she can extend her commerce to the Rocky Mountains, and receive in return the products which will come in the course of time, by its multitude of tributaries.

The Missouri River coasts the northwest line of the State for about 250 miles, following its windings, and then flows through the State, a little south of east, to its junction with the Mississippi. The Mis- souri River receives a number of tributaries within the limits of the State, the principal of which are the Nodaway, Platte, Grand and Chariton from the north, and the Blue, Sniabar, Lamine, Osage and Gasconade from the south. The principal tributaries of the Missis- sippi within the State, are the Salt River, north, and the Meramec River south of the Missouri.

The St. Francis and White Rivers, with their branches, drain the southeastern part of the State, and pass into Arkansas. The Osage is navigable for steamboats for more than 175 miles. There are a vast number of smaller streams, such as creeks, branches and rivers, which water the State in all directions.

Timber. - Not more towering in their sublimity were the cedars of ancient Lebanon, nor more precious in their utility were the almug- trees of Ophir, than the native forests of Missouri. The river bottoms are covered with a luxuriant growth of oak, ash, elm, hickory, cotton- wood, linn, white and black walnut, and in fact, all the varieties found in the Atlantic and Eastern States. In the more barren districts may be seen the white and pin oak, and in many places a dense growth of pine. The crab apple, papaw and persimmon are abundant, as also the hazel and pecan.

Climate. - The climate of Missouri is, in general, pleasant and salubrious. Like that of North America, it is changeable, and sub- ject to sudden and sometimes extreme changes of heat and cold ; but it is decidedly milder, taking the whole year through, than that of the same latitudes east of the mountains. While the summers are not more oppressive than they are in the corresponding latitudes on and near the Atlantic coast, the winters are shorter, and very much milder,

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

except during the month of February, which has many days of pleas- ant sunshine.

Prairies. - Missouri is a prairie State, especially that portion of it north and northwest of the Missouri River. These prairies, along the water courses, abound with the thickest and most luxurious belts of timber, while the " rolling " prairies occupy the higher portions of the country, the descent generally to the forests or bottom lands being over only declivities. Many of these prairies, however, exhibit a grace- fully waving surface, swelling and sinking with an easy slope, and a full, rounded outline, equally avoiding the unmeaning horizontal sur- face and the interruption of abrupt or angular elevations.

These prairies often embrace extensive tracts of land, and in one or two instances they cover an area of fifty thousand acres. During the spring and summer they are carpeted with a velvet of green, and gaily bedecked with flowers of various forms and hues, making a most fascinating panorama of ever-changing color and loveliness. To fully appreciate their great beauty and magnitude, they must be seen.

Soil. - The soil of Missouri is good, and of great agricultural capa- bilities, but the most fertile portions of the State are the river bot- toms, which are a rich alluvium, mixed in many cases with sand, the producing qualities of which are not excelled by the prolific valley of the famous Nile.

South of the Missouri River there is a greater variety of soil, but much of it is fertile, and even in the mountains and mineral districts there are rich valleys, and about the sources of the White, Eleven Points, Current and Big Black Rivers, the soil, though unproductive, furnishes a valuable growth of yellow pine.

The marshy lands in the southeastern part of the State will, by a system of drainage, be one of the most fertile districts in the State.

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

POPULATION BY COUNTIES IN 1870, 1876, AND 1880.

Counties.

1870.

1876.

1880.

Adair .

11,449

13,774

15,190

Andrew

15,137

14,992

16,318

Atchison

8,440

10,925

14,565

Audrain

12,307

15,157

19,739

Barry .

10,373

11,146

14,424

Barton

5,087

6,900

10,332

Bates .

15,960

17,484

25,382

Benton

11,322

11,027

12,398

Bollinger

8,162

8,884

11,132

Boone

20,765

31,923

25,424

Buchanan

35,109

38,165

49,824

Butler

4,298

4,363

6,011

Caldwell

11,390

12,200

13,654

Callaway

6,108

7,027

7,269

Cape Girardeau

17,440

21,498

23,300

Carter

1,440

1,549

2,168

Cass

19,299

18,069

22,431

Cedar .

9,471

9,897

10,747

Chariton

19,136

23,294

25,224

Christian

6,707

7,936

9,632

Clark .

13,667

14,549

15,631

Clay .

15,564

15,320

15,579

Clinton

14,063

13,698

16,073

Cole

10,292

14,122

15,519

Cooper

20,692

21,356

21,622

Crawford

7,982

9,391

10,763

Dade .

8,683

11,089

12,557

Dallas

8,383

8,073

9,272

Daviess

14,410

16,557

19,174

DeKalb

9,858

11,159

13,343

Dent .

6,357

7,401

10,647

Douglas

3,915

6,461

7,753

Dunklin

5,982

6,255

9,604

Gasconade .

10,093

11,160

11,153

Greene

21,549

24,693

28,817

Grundy

10,567

13,071

15,201

Harrison

14,635

18,530

20,318

Henry

17,401

18,465

23,914

Hickory

6,452

5,870

7,388

Holt

11,652

13,245

15,510

Howard

17,233

17,815

18,428

Howell

4,218

6,756

8,814

Iron .

6,278

6,623

8,183

Jackson

55,041

54,045

82,328

Jasper

14,928

29,384

32,021

Jefferson

15,380

16,186

18,736

Johnson

24,648

23,646

28,177

Knox .

10,974

12,678

13,047

Laclede

9,380

9,845

11,524

Lafayette

22,624

22,204

25,761

Lawrence

13,067

13,054

17,585

Lewis .

15,114

16,360

15,925

Lincoln

15,960

16,858

17,443

Linn .

15,906

18,110

20,016

Livingston

16,730

18,074

20,205

Franklin

30,098

26,924

26,536

Gentry

11,607

12,673

17,188

19,202

25,257

23,670

Camden

17,558

17,891

20,998

Carroll

HISTORY OF MISSOURI. POPULATION BY COUNTIES- Continued.

Counties.

1876.

1880.

McDonald

5,226

6,072

7,816

Macon

23,230

25,028

26,223

Madison

5,849

8,750

8,866

Maries

5,916

6,481

7,304

Marion

23,780

22,794

24,837

Mercer

11,557

13,393

14,674

Miller

6,616

8,529

9,807

Mississippi

4,982

7,498

9,270

Monitean

13,375

13,084

14,349

Monroe

17,149

17,751

19,075

Montgomery

10,405

14,418

16,250

Morgan

8,434

9,529

10,134

New Madrid

6,357

6,673

7,694

Nodaway

14,751

23,196

29,560

Oregon

3,287

4,469

5,791

Osage .

10,793

11,200

11,824

Ozark .

3,363

4,579

5,618

Pemiscot

2,059

2,573

4,299

Perry .

9,877

11,189

11,895

Pettis .

18,706

23,167

27,285

Phelps

10,506

9,919

12,565

Pike

23,076

22,828

26,716

Platte

17,352

15,948

17,372

Polk

14,445

13,467

15,745

Pulaski

4,714

6,157

7,250

Putnam

11,217

12,641

13,556

Ralls .

10,510

9,997

11,838

Randolph

15,908

19,173

22,751

Reynolds

3,756

4,716

5,722

Ripley

3,175

3,913

5,377

St. Charles

21,304

21,821

23,060

St. Clair

6,742

11,242

14,126

St. Francois

9,742

11,621

13,822

Ste. Genevieve

8,384

9,409

10,309

St. Louis 1

351,189

31,888

Saline

21,672

27,087

29,912

Schuyler

8,820

9,881

10,470

Scotland

10,670

12,030

12,507

Scott .

7,317

7,312

8,587

Shannon

2,339

3,236

3,441

Shelby

10,119

13,243

14,024

Stoddard

8,535

10,888

13,432

Stone .

3,253

3,544

4,405

Sullivan

11,907

14,039

16,569

Taney

4,407

6,124

5,605

Texas

9,618

10,287

12,207

Vernon

11,247

14,413

19,370

Warren

9,673

10,321

10,806

Washington

11,719

13,100

12,895

Wayne

6,068

7,006

9,097

Webster

10,434

10,684

12,175

Worth

5,004

7,164

8,208

Wright

5,684

6,124

9,733

City of St. Louis

350,522

1,721,295

1,547,030

2,168,804

Ray

18,700

18,394

20,196

Newton

12,821

16,875

18,948

1 St. Louis City and County separated in 1877. Population for 1876 not given

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

BUMMARY.

Males

1,126,424

Females

1,041,380

Native

1,957,564

Foreign

211,240

White

2,023,568

Colored 1 .

145,236

CHAPTER III.

GEOLOGY OF MISSOURI.

Classification of Rocks -Quatenary Formation -Tertiary - Cretaceous - Carbonifer- ous - Devonian - Silurian - Azoic - Economic Geology - Coal -Iron - Lead - Copper - Zinc - Building Stone - Marble - Gypsum - Lime -Clays- Paints - Springs - Water Power.

The stratified rocks of Missouri, as classified and treated of by Prof. G. C. Swallow, belong to the following divisions : I. Quatenary ; II. Tertiary ; III. Cretaceous ; IV. Carboniferous ; V. Devonian ; VI. Silurian ; VII. Azoic.

" The Quatenary formations, are the most recent, and the most valuable to man : valuable, because they can be more readily utilized.

The Quatenary formation in Missouri, embraces the Alluvium, 30 feet thick ; Bottom Prairie, 30 feet thick; Bluff, 200 feet thick ; and Drift, 155 feet thick. The latest deposits are those which constitute the Alluvium, and includes the soils, pebbles and sand, clays, vegeta- ble mould, bog, iron ore, marls, etc.

The Alluvium deposits, cover an area, within the limits of Mis- souri, of more than four millions acres of land, which are not sur- passed for fertility by any region of country on the globe.

The Bluff Prairie formation is confined to the low lands, which are washed by the two great rivers which course our eastern and western boundaries, and while it is only about half as extensive as the Allu- vial, it is equally as rich and productive."

" The Bluff formation," says Prof. Swallow, " rests upon the ridges and river bluffs, and descends along their slopes to the lowest valleys, the formation capping all the Bluffs of the Missouri from Fort Union to its mouth, and those of the Mississippi from Dubuque

1 Including 92 Chinese, 2 half Chinese, and 96 Indians and half-breeds.

HISTORY OF MISSOURI.

to the mouth of the Ohio. It forms the upper stratum beneath the soil of all the high lands, both timber and prairies, of all the counties north of the Osage and Missouri, and also St. Louis, and the Missis- sippi counties on the south.

Its greatest development is in the counties on the Missouri River from the Iowa line to Boonville. In some localities it is 200 feet thick. At St. Joseph it is 140; at Boonville 100; and at St. Louis, in St. George's quarry, and the Big Mound, it is about 50 feet ; while its greatest observed thickness in Marion county was only 30 feet."

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Author: Pease, Ora Merle Hawk, 1890- Publication date: 1886 Publisher: St. Louis, National Historical Company Number of Pages: 1260

Author: Pease, Ora Merle Hawk, 1890-
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: St. Louis, National Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1260