USA > Missouri > Carroll County > History of Carroll County, Missouri : carefully written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, cities, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri ; the Constitution of the United States, and State of Missouri ; a military record of its volunteers in either army of the Great Civil War ; general and local statistics ; miscellany ; reminiscences, grave, tragic and humorous ; biographical sketches of prominent men and citizens identified with the interests of the country > Part 5
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The homestead is in the nature of a lien or charge, in favor of the wife and children, upon certain property of the husband, defined in extent, and limited in value. A declaration of what this property is may be recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds, and notice is thus imparted to all persons having dealings with the owner, that this particu- lar property is not subject to execution, and that they ought not to give credit on the faith of it. The state', under this head, provides that: "Any married woman may file her claim to the tract or lot of land occupied or claimed by her and her husband, or by her, if abandoned by her husband, as a homestead. Said claim shall set forth the tract or lot claimed, that she is the wife of the person in whose name the said tract or lot appears of record, and said claim shall be acknowledged by her before some officer authorized to take proof or acknowledgment of instruments of writing affecting real estate, and be filed in the recorder's office, and it shall be the duty of the recorder to receive and record the same. After the filing of such claims, duly acknowledged, the husband shall be de- barred from, and incapable of selling, mortgaging and alienating the homestead in any manner whatever, and such sale, mortgage or alienation is hereby declared null and void; and the filing of any such claims as aforesaid with the recorder shall impart notice to all persons of the con- tents thereof, and all subsequent purchasers and mortagors shall be deemed, in law and equity, to purchase with notice; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the hus- band and wife from jointly conveying, mortgaging, alienating, and, in any other manner, disposing of such homestead, or any part thereof."
Such a law, while securing the benefits of a homestead to the debtor, works no injustice to the creditor. He sees that the debtor has certain property recorded as his homestead. He never gives credit on the faith that this property will be subject to his execution; but he looks simply to the other property of the debtor, or to the state of his business and his char- acter for honesty.
It may be added that the supreme court of this state has construed the homestead laws liberally, with the view of carrying out the benevolent purposes of the legislature. If the debtor is ignorant or timid, when the sheriff' comes with an execution to levy, and fails to claim his right of homestead, his family are not, therefore, to be turned out of doors. The
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sheriff must summon appraisers and set the homestead apart, whether the debtor claims it or not; and if he does not do this, his sale will pass no title to the purchaser so far as the debtor's homestead is concerned. If the debtor makes a conveyance of property embracing his family homestead, for the purpose of hindering or defrauding his creditors, this does not work a forfeiture of his homestead right; his wrongful act is not thus to be appealed to in prejudice of his wife and children. If the cruelty of the husband drives the wife from the homestead, this does not put an end to her interest in the homestead. She may return and claim it after his death, and his administrator must set it apart for her.
EXEMPTIONS OF PERSONAL. PROPERTY. .
Pursuing the same wise and benevolent policy, the statutes provide that the following personal property shall be exempt from attachment and execution when owned by the head of a family: "1. Ten head of choice hogs, ten head of choice sheep, and the product thereof in wool, yarn or cloth; two cows and calves, two plows, one axe, one hoe, and one set of plow gears, and all the necessary farm implements for the use of one man. 2. Two work animals of the value of one hundred and fifty dollars. 3. The spinning-wheel and cards, one loom and apparatus, necessary for manufacturing cloth in a private family. 4. All the spun yarn, thread and cloth manufactured for family use. 5. Any quantity of hemp, flax and wool, not exceeding twenty-five pounds each. 6. All wearing apparel of the family, four beds, with usual bedding, and such other household and kitchen furniture, not exceeding the value of one hundred dollars, as may be necessary for the family, agreeably to an inventory thereof, to be re- turned, on oath, with the execution, by the officer whose duty it may be to levy the same. 7. The necessary tools and implements of trade of any mechanic while carrying on his trade. 8. Any and all arms and military equipments required by law to be kept. 9. All such provisions as may be on hand for family use, not exceeding one hundred dollars in value. 10. The bibles and other books used in a family, lettered grave- stones, and one pew in a house of worship. 11. All lawyers, physicians, ministers of the gospel and teachers, in the actual prosecution of their calling, shall have the privilege of selecting such books as shall be neces- sary to their profession, in the place of other property herein allowed, at their option; and doctors of medicine, in lieu of other property exempt from execution, may be allowed to select their medicines." In lieu of this property, each head of a family may, at his election, select and hold exempt from execution any other property, real, personal, or mixed, or debts or wages not exceeding in value the amount of three hundred dol- lars.
The legislature of the state has wisely considered that the debtor ought
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not to be permitted to plead poverty as against the claims of creditors equally necessitous. It is accordingly · provided that the foregoing exemption cannot be claimed when the debt is for wages due to a house servant or common laborer to the extent of $90, and when the action to recover the same is brought within six months after the last services were rendered. Nor can the purchaser of goods make this law an instrument of fraud by claiming goods which he has purchased on credit against an execution for the purchase money.
. RIGHTS OF MARRIED WOMEN.
State legislation is extremely careful of the rights of married women. If a wife is unjustly abandoned by her husband, the circuit court will sequester his property for the purpose of maintaining her and the children of the marriage. If he abandons her, or from worthlessness or drunken- ness fails to support her, the court will not only allow her to sell her own real estate without his joining in the deed, but will require any person holding money or property to which he may be entitled in her right, to pay the money over to her. 1. Under such circumstances she is entitled to the proceeds of her own earnings and those of her minor children. 2. If her real estate is damaged for railroads, or other public works, the damages accrue exclusively to her. 3. If her husband gets into the peni- tentiary, she becomes to all intents and purposes a femme sole. 4. And if he, by ill usage, compels her to live separate and apart. from him, she may claim the sole and exclusive enjoyment of her property as if she were un- married. Rents, issues and profits of her real estate cannot be taken in execution for his debts, except when contracted for family necessaries. Moreover, by a very broad statute lately enacted, a wife may hold all her personal property free from her husband's control and exempt from liabil- ity for his debts. If he becomes incompetent to lead in the marital part- nership, she may take the reins in her hands, engage in trade, accumulate property, and no act of his will create a charge upon it. Finally, at his death, the family homestead descends to her and the children; if any there be, to be held by her for life; if there be any children, in common with them; if not, by herself alone. She also takes dower in one-third of all the real estate of which her husband may have been seized at any time during marriage, in which she has not conveyed her right of dower, diminished, however, by the homestead which is set apart to her. She takes also a child's share of his personal estate; and, in addition to all this, she is allowed to retain as her absolute property a large amount of personalty.
TAXATION.
The constitution places it beyond the power of reckless or dishonest
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public agents to burden the people with excessive taxation. Taxes for state purposes, exclusive of the taxes necessary to pay the bonded debt of the state, cannot exceed twenty cents on the hundred dollars valuation; .and whenever the taxable property of the state shall amount to $900,000,- 000 the rate shall not exceed fifteen cents. The rate of taxation for county, city, town and school purposes, is likewise strictly limited. Counties, cities, towns, townships and school districts cannot become indebted beyond the revenue provided for each year without a two-thirds vote of all voters therein, nor, in any event, to an amount exceeding five per cent on the value of the taxable property.
The statutes of limitation in Missouri provide that an open account can- not be collected after it has run five years; a note is uncollectible if held for ten years after due; and a judgment expires by limitation in ten years.
The standard legal rate of interest in this state is six per cent; but a higher rate not exceeding ten per cent may be contracted for.
PUBLIC DEBT LIMITATION.
The state debt, according to the State Auditor's last report, [1878], is $16,758,000. This mostly grew out of the various issues of bonds given in aid of railroads, and bears interest at the rate of six per cent per annum. To liquidate this debt the constitution provides for the annual levy of taxes, now fixed by law at twenty cents on the $100 of the valuation. With the sum thus raised the interest of the debt is first to be paid, and of the remainder not less than $250,000 is to be set apart as a sinking fund for the purchase and retirement of the bonds themselves. Hence, in a few years, with the vast increase in the taxable wealth, which is sure to come, the whole of the debt will be extinguished. There is an additional state tax of twenty cents on the $100 for current expenditures, a large share of which is devoted to the support of the common schools. This tax is ample for the purposes for which it is intended, and there is a con- stitutional provision that it shall be reduced to fifteen cents on the $100 as soon as the taxable property of the state shall aggregate a total valuation of $900,000,000.
The state, and all its municipal subdivisions, whether counties, cities or towns, are forbidden by the constitution to loan their credit to any corpora- tion, so that there is no method by which the public indebtedness can be increased in the usual way. Owing to the great zeal of the people to for- ward public improvements of all kinds, a municipal indebtedness, aggre- gating, according to the auditor's last report, $35,727,566.49, has been contracted. Of this amount the debt of the city of St. Louis is shown to constitute $22,712,000, leaving for the agricultural portion of the state and the other cities, towns, townships and school districts only a little over $13,000,000.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
The present organic law prevents any municipality from contracting liabilities, in any one fiscal year, beyond the amount of the levy made for that year, and in no county can the rate of taxation for local purposes, aside from the school tax, exceed fifty cents on the $100 valuation, unless two-thirds of the voters shall assent to the levy of a larger sum. Neither can the school tax in country districts exceed forty cents on the $100 without the consent of the tax-payers, to be obtained by a vote of the ma- jority of the residents.
COMPARATIVE TAX RATE.
It will be interesting to note how the tax rate of our own state com- pares with that of adjoining states.
The average tax levy for all purposes in Missouri is about $1.30 on the $100; adding to this 70 cents on the $100 for the payment of bonded indebtedness where it exists, there is an average of $2 on the $100 as the rate, and a certainty of its steady decrease. This is given as an average, and while in a few counties the tax rate is higher, in the majority it is much lower.
By the report of the state auditor of Kansas, for the year ending June 30, 1878, the tax levy for state purposes is shown to be 55 cents on the $100, and the average levy for local debts and expenses $3.82 on the $100, making a total average tax of $4.37 on the $100. The taxable property of Kansas in 1878 aggregated the sum of $138,698,810.98, and the local indebtedness was reported by the state auditor at $13,473,197.51. In Nebraska the tax levy for state purposes alone is 623 cents on the $100, exclusive of taxes to pay local debts and expenses.
In Iowa, the average rate of taxation for the year 1878 was $2.67 on the $100. In Illinois the tax levy for 1877, the last given in the auditor's. report, was $3.24 on the $100, and the local indebtedness of that state was then the sum of $51,811,691.
Thus, it is clear that Missouri has a lower rate of taxation than any of the neighboring states above mentioned; and, in addition to this, under. her wise constitutional provision, the rate of taxation must continually decrease every year, until only a sufficient amount of taxes to liquidate. current expenses will be collected.
There are twenty counties that have no indebtedness whatever, and forty more the debt of which is merely nominal; so that their burden of taxation will be lighter than in any other portion of the United States.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
FEDERAL AFFAIRS IN THE STATE.
FEDERAL COURTS.
The United States is divided into nine supreme court circuits, to each of which one of the supreme court judges is assigned. Missouri is now in the eighth circuit, which includes Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, MISSOURI, Nebraska and Colorado; and George W. McCrary, of Iowa, who was secretary of war, in President Hayes' cabinet, is now the judge of this circuit. Missouri is divided into an east and west United States judicial district; and Samuel Treat, of St. Louis, is United States judge of the east district, while Arnold Krekel, of Jefferson City, presides over the west district.
FEDERAL REVENUE.
Missouri paid the following amounts of internal revenue to the United States during the year ending June 30, 1880: On distilled spirits, $2,151,- 643.98; on tobacco, $2,391,989.93; on fermented liquors, $711,654.53; on banking, $182,929.25; on other items, $1,360.27. Total, $5,448,344.83. Illinois, Kentucky, New York and Ohio were the only states which paid a larger sum of revenue on spirits; Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia paid larger on tobacco; Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin paid larger on fermented liquors (chiefly lager beer); California, New York and Pennsylvania are the only states which paid larger.on banking transactions.
In 1878, Missouri ·paid $115,729.64 as penalties for violation of U. S. internal revenue laws, which was the highest amount on this item paid by any state -- the next highest being Pennsylvania, which was "caught at it" to the amount of $27,867.20.
U. S. LANDS AND LAND OFFICES.
There are now three U. S. land offices in Missouri, to-wit: at Boon- ville, Ironton and Springfield. The report of the general land office for 1879 showed 41,836,931 acres of government land still open to home- stead entry in Missouri.
LEGAL TENDER IN MISSOURI.
Gold coins of the United States (unmutilated), and the " greenback" paper currency are legal tender for the payment of any possible amount of indebtedness. Silver coins are legal tender for any amount not exceed- ing $10 at one payment-but the standard silver dollar is legal tender for
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
any amount, unless the contract specially provides otherwise. The baser coins of nickel, copper and alloy (3 cent pieces), are legal tender for any sum not exceeding 25 cents. The "trade dollar," and national bank notes are not legal tender; neither is any foreign coin, either of gold or silver, nor the " stamped bullion " gold pieces of California.
U. S. CUSTOM HOUSE.
St. Louis is a port of entry for foreign goods; and the imports received here during the year 1880, amounted to (foreign value), $1,401,180; on which the import duties paid was $537,257.83. A fine custom house building is in process of erection, and will be completed in 1881.
MILITARY.
In the south part of St. Louis, on the river, there is a United States arsenal, and six miles below the city, Jefferson Barracks are situated, a sta- tion for a small part of the regular army. A few squares from the arsenal there is a United States marine hospital.
MISSOURI'S DISTINGUISHED MEN.
Within our allotted space we can only give a brief sketch of those citi- zens of Missouri who have so pre-eminently distinguished themselves as to have achieved a solid national, and in some cases a world-wide fame. First among these is-
DANIEL BOONE. The adventures of this famous hunter and Indian fighter have become a staple part of the world's perennial stock of daring exploits and hair-breadth escapes. He was born in Bucks county, Penn- sylvania, February 11, 1735; emigrated to North Carolina and there mar- ried. In 1773 he emigrated with his own and five other families to Ken- tucky, and founded the present town of Boonesborough. In 1795 he removed to the Missouri river country, and settled in St. Charles county, about forty-five miles west of St. Louis, where he died in 1820, aged 85. His remains, together with those of his wife, were many years after- ward removed to Boonesborough, Kentucky, and a monument reared over them.
THOMAS H. BENTON. Col. Benton was, in his lifetime, recognized as one of the foremost statesmen of the nation, and the hearts of all good Missourians kindle with pride at the mention of his name. He was a specimen type of the best sort of Democrat; he always stood with Gen.
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Jackson and opposed the state-rights doctrines of John C. Calhoun; in congress he opposed the repeal of the "Missouri Compromise;" and during Gen. Jackson's presidency Col. Bentoń was so vigorous a champion of hard money, as against the old U. S. bank swindle, that he came to be familiarly known all over the United States as "Old Bullion." Col. Benton was born near Hillsborough, North Carolina, March 14, 1782; studied law at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1810. In the war of 1812 he served as a Colonel under Gen. Jackson; settled at St. Louis in 1815. In 1820 he was elected as the first U. S. Senator from Missouri, and continued to be re-elected every term for thirty years; the longest period that any man in the nation has filled a senatorial seat. In 1852-3 he served one term as member of con- gress from the first district. In 1856 he was defeated in his candidacy for governor by the state-rights party, to whose doctrines he was strongly opposed, from the time of the nullification acts of South Carolina in 1832, up to the day of his death. In 1854 he published his great work, "Thirty Years in the United States Senate," in two large volumes, and these are held in high esteem as standard authority by politicians and statesmen of every class. Col. Benton died April 10, 1858, mourned by the whole nation as one of her worthiest sons.
JAMES B. EADS, a citizen of St. Louis. His marvelous achievements as a civil engineer have made his name familiar in all civilized countries on the face of the earth; and his last great work, the jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi river, has revolutionized the commerce of three continents. Mr. Eads was born at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, May 28, 1820; emigrated with his parents to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1829; and in 1833 settled at St. Louis. In July, 1861, the government advertised for seven gun-boats of about 600 tons burden, drawing not over six feet of water, plated with iron 23 inches thick, to steam nine miles an hour, and carry thirteen guns .* Mr. Eads contracted to build those seven vessels in sixty-five days. At this time the timber for them stood uncut in the forest; the iron for their plating was still in the mines, and no machine yet in existence of capacity to roll such enormous plates; and not a pound of iron or steel. yet wrought or cast for the construction of the twenty-one steam engines and thirty- five boilers required to propel the fleet. But within twenty-four hours from the signing of the contract at Washington, he had all the iron works, foundries and machine shops of St. Louis, started on the work; and inside of two weeks he had more than 4,000 men working in alternate gangs by night and day, Sundays included, so that not an hour should be lost. The boats were built at St. Louis, but the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota and Missouri were all drawn upon for material, while large works in Cincinnati and Pittsburg were also whirling every
*See Major Boynton's "History of the United States Navy."
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wheel to hasten forward the great undertaking, all being under the direc- tion and control by telegraph or in person of this one man; and he filled the contract. The world's history shows no parallel to the wonderful mastery of resources and the tremendous vigor of executive and super- visory talent which this achievement involved. He projected, planned and built the magnificent railroad bridge across the Mississippi river at St Louis, which ranks among the greatest works of its kind on this round globe. He projected and built the jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi, which enable the largest sea-going vessels to pass in and out freely, thus making possible the barge system of shipping grain and other products from St. Louis and Kansas City direct to foreign countries, and which has within two years revolutionized the entire international commerce of the Mississippi and Missouri valley states. He is now engaged in devel- oping a ship railway across the Isthmus of Panama, which will take the heaviest loaded ships into a dry-dock on wheels and trundle them from ocean to ocean as easily and safely as they are now towed through the ship canal at Suez.
CARL SCHURZ. Born near Cologne, Prussia, March 2, 1829; educated at the University of Bonn; took part in the revolutionary agitations of Europe in 1848 and following years, involving Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, etc .; and in which Kossuth in Hungary, and Garibaldi in Italy were prominent leaders, whose names are familiar to and honored by all Americans. Mr. Schurz came to the United States in 1852; settled as a lawyer at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1859; in 1861 was appointed minister to Spain; resigned and came home, and in 1862-3-4, was a major-gen- eral of volunteers in the Union army. In 1867 he settled at St. Louis as editor of the Westliche Post; was United States senator from Mis- souri from 1869 to 1875, and was secretary of the interior in President Hayes' cabinet. Mr. Schurz has thus won the highest positions ever held in the United States by any foreign-born citizen, and has reflected honor upon Missouri, his adopted state, by his masterful ability as a public speaker, and his strong, earnest, humanitarian efforts as an executive offi- cer.
PROF. CHARLES V. RILEY, was born in London, England, September 12, 1843; came to the United States in 1860. In 1868 established in St. Louis, in company with Benjamin D. Walsh, a scientific journal called the American Entomologist, and was the same year appointed state entomol- ogist of Missouri; this position he filled to the great benefit and honor of the state for eight years; then he was called to come up higher, and took position as entomologist of the national department of agriculture at Washington. Prof. Riley's valuable investigations and discoveries with regard to the Colorado beetle (potato bug), the Rocky Mountain locust 4
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
(grasshoppers), the cotton worm, and the phylloxera, or grape insect, have placed his name in the foremost ranks in the world of science, and among the greatest of benefactors to the agricultural and horticultural industries of the world. This he achieved while serving Missouri as state entomol- ogist, and through the publication by the state of his annual reports. Hence, the name and good repute of our noble commonwealth is insepar- ably associated with his honor and fame, which has reached the farthest confines of every land where potatoes, cotton or grapes are cultivated.
MISSOURI IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Missouri was powerfully agitated by the controversy on the slavery question in 1818-19-20, which resulted in the "Missouri Compromise." This was a compact, mainly carried through congress by the eloquence and influence of the great senator, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, by which it was agreed that Missouri should be admitted to the Union as a slave- holding state; but that slavery should be forever excluded from any states which might thereafter be formed out of new territory west of the western boundary of Missouri, and north of the parallel of 36 degrees, 30 minutes of north latitude. This line practically corresponds with the southern boundary of Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Utah, as they now stand.
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