USA > Missouri > Clay County > History of Clay County, Missouri > Part 14
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Koerner. Until the building of the present frame church in 1875 (cost- ing $1,000), services were held at private houses. It is now in good condition both spiritually and financially, and is having steady growth. An important adjunct to the church is the Sunday school, Epworth League, W. F. M. S. King's Herald and Cradle Roll.
The Town of Kearney.
What is now the southeastern portion of the town of Kearney was originally called Centerville, and was laid out by David T. Duncan and W. R. Cave in the spring of 1856. Duncan lived on and owned the north half of the site of Centerville. Cave purchased the south half from his father, Uriel Cave, the original owner. The first houses were built by Adam Pence and W. R. Cave and theirs were the first families in the village.
Barney Spencer, a Kentuckian, owned the first store in Centerville, which was conducted for some time in the beginning by his brother-in- law, Sam Trabue. The second store was owned and run by John Wade, of Ohio. These stores were established in the spring of 1857. John Gil- boe had the third store. A school house was built in about 1858 by W. R. Cave.
Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Centerville contained about 20 families, but when it closed there were only two or three. During the war only two houses were destroyed, however, and these were burned by the Federals-Ford's and Jennison's men. They were owned by John Corum and John Gilboe, but at the time they were burned Doctor Cravens lived in Corum's house, and W. R. Cave had a small grocery in Gilboe's building. The Federals claim that they did the burning in retaliation for the killing of Mr. Bond by the bushwhackers.
The murder of John Julius, an old man and a reputable citizen, by Lysander Talbott, shortly after the war, was the only tragedy of note that ever occurred in Centerville. The killing was wholly unprovoked. Talbott was on the "war path" and "wanted to kill somebody". He was arrested, indicted, took a change of venue to Clinton County, escaped from jail, went to Texas, and was himself killed in a row.
April 12, 1869, Alfred Pyle shot and killed Charles Smith, in a diffi-
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culty in Kearney, but Esquire Corbin acquitted Pyle on the ground that he had acted in self-defense, and he was never afterwards indicted.
The town of Kearney was laid out upon the building of the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad in the spring of 1867, by John Lawrence. The first house was built by George H. Plitt, on the southwest corner of Washing- ton avenue and Railroad street, fronting the depot on the east. Plitt occupied it as a store room but afterwards conducted a hotel. The build- ing was erected before the railroad depot. Plitt was proprietor of a lum- ber yard and the leading spirit of the place for some time. Perhaps James Hightower had the second store.
The town was named by John Lawrence for Fort Kearney, Nebraska, and not for a certain worthy citizen of the community. It is understood that Lawrence was at one time a resident of Fort Kearney before he came to Clay County. Soon after its establishment the village began to be peopled very rapidly. Stores and shops of all kinds were built, and in a little time Kearney and Centerville were practically united.
Kearney was incorporated "as a town or village" by the county court, April 5, 1869. The first board of trustees was composed of George H. Plitt, Peter Rhinehart, R. B. Elliott, D. T. Dunkin and George Harris. As the location of the town is very attractive, the town itself presents a handsome appearance. Washington avenue, the principal street, is well lined with stores and shops, and the business done is considerable.
The Clipper newspaper, a five-column sheet, was established by Thomas H. Frame, in July, 1883. The first church was the Missionary Baptist, which was at first called Mount Olive. It is worthy of note that John S. Majors, Esq., took an active and prominent part in the building of this church, contributing to it from first to last $1,000. It is a fine brick structure and still standing.
Kearney Christian Church .- On the 25th of August, 1868, Lucy E. Coryell, Elizabeth Petterfield, Eliza Netherton, Hannah Pollock, Abraham Netherton, Shelton Brown and wife, William H. Hawkins, D. T. Duncan, John S. Groom, James Reed and wife, Alfred Arnold and wife, George S. Harris. William Hall, G. D. Hall, Mrs. A. Rodgers, R. H. Burden and wife, Emily Craven, Nancy E. Pile, J. S. Sirpan, Elizabeth Rodgers, Alida Harris and Robert Morris formed themselves into an organization now known as the above church. This original membership has been added to from time to time. Among those who filled the pulpit here were Pres-
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ton Akers, J. D. Wilmot, Joseph Davis, T. J. Williamson, Reverend Martz, Preston Akers a second time, James W. Waller, J. W. Perkins, B. C. Stephens and William S. Trader.
Holt.
The village of Holt, situated on the Clinton County line, on the northeastern half of section 35, township 54, range 31, has been in exist- ence only since the completion of the Cameron branch of the Hamilton and St. Joe Railroad. It was formerly the site of a heavy body of tim- ber in a little bottom on a branch of Clear creek. The land was owned by Jerry A. Holt, an old North Carolinian, whose residence was just across in Clinton County, and who came to Missouri in about 1835. There were many other families of North Carolinians in this region.
Holt was laid out in the fall of 1867, and named for Uncle Jerry Holt, the owner of the land. Timothy R. Dale was the surveyor. The first house was built on lot 5, in East Holt, by J. C. Dever, and the build- ing was occupied by Mr. Dever first as a store. It was burned down in 1873. Soon after Mr. Dever built a hotel called the Dever House, on lot 10 in West Holt. The second store was built by Samuel Garrison on lot 11 in East Holt. In the spring of 1869 Capt. Joab Lamb built the third store on lot 8 in Holt East. The second house in Holt West was built by Richard Fitzgerald, in the spring of 1869.
The railroad depot was built in the spring of 1868, but previous to its construction the section house was used as a freight depot. The first station agent was Hiram Towne, and his brother, D. W. C. Towne suc- ceeded him. The public school building was erected in the summer of 1873. A mill was completed in the spring of 1883, by A. P. Cutler, S. L. Cutler, J. K. Morgan and J. F. Lampson, who composed the firm of Cut- ler, Morgan & Co. The first church, the M. E. South, was completed in the spring of 1883.
In 1868 the post office was established. Capt. Joab Lamb secured the office and was the first postmaster, but in a short time he was super- seded by D. W. C. Towne. Prior to its establishment Haynesville, Clinton County, was the nearest post office. The first practicing physician in the place was Dr. J. M. Brown, of whose abilities many of the old citizens speak disparagingly, but yet it is admitted that he had fair success.
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Holt was incorporated February 4, 1878. The first board of trustees was composed of Boston L. McGee, A. P. Cutler, Adam Eby, J. C. Dever, William H. McIntyre. Upon the organization of the board A. P. Cutler was made chairman; Boston L. McGee, clerk; D. W. C. Towne, treasurer, and William M. Troxler, collector and marshal.
The Baptist Church was completed in February, 1885.
M. E. Church, South, located at Holt, in Kearney township, was organized in 1837 at Pleasant Grove, but was afterwards moved to Haynes- ville, and from there to the present place. Early pastors who served this church were Revs. B. C. Owens, T. H. Swearingen and J. T. Winstead.
Christian Union Church, located at Holt, in Kearney township, was organized in November, 1879. Its constituent members were B. L. Mc- Gee, Adam Ebly and wife, W. O. Greason, Jerry Holt and wife, G. M. Isley and wife, William Holt and wife, William Albright and wife. M. M. Albright and wife, and many others. G. W. Mitchell was the organizer of the church.
Baptist Church at Holt, was organized in 1884. The same year a frame house of worship was erected which cost $1,700. Among the first members were W P. Garrett and daughter Bettie, John L. Clark and wife, Byron Allnut, L. P. Garrett, Joseph Downing, Mrs. Emsley, Whitsell, A. S. Garrett and wife. Prof. A. J. Emerson organized the church.
Holt Lodge No. 49, A. F. & A. M. was first organized at Haynesville, May 19, 1854, but was removed to Holt in 1877, where it still is. Some of the first officers were Henry B. Hamilton, worshipful master; John R. Ling, senior warden, David W. Reynolds, junior warden. The hall was erected the same year of the removal of the lodge to Holt and cost about $600.
CHAPTER XVI
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY-RAILROAD FACILITIES-GREENVILLE AND CLAY- VILLE EXTINCT TOWNS-FIRST SETTLERS-TOWNSHIP FORMED IN 1830- BOUNDARIES-FIRST OFFICERS AND ELECTION-MT. VERNON MISSIONARY BAPAIST CHURCH.
Washington township forms the northeastern portion of Clay County and is composed of all of congressional township 53 and the lower tier of sections of township 54, in range 30. Much of the territory is very broken, rough and rocky. Many small streams, all of which ultimately run into Fishing River and its forks, head in the township. In many places picturesque bluffs are found along these streams, and the scenery is beautiful to look upon, but hardly appreciated by those owning the land.
The St. Joe branch of the Santa Fe Railroad runs through the north- eastern corner of the township, a distance of about two miles, and Law- son, in Ray County, is the nearest station and general shipping point. Kearney and Holt, on the Hannibal road, give the people something of competition in the matter of railroad facilities.
Greenville (Claytonville P. O.) was located in the southern part of the township on Williams creek, sixteen miles northeast of Liberty and about six east of Kearney. At one time it contained a school house, two churches (Methodist and Christian), and about seventy-five inhabitants. It was one of the oldest villages in the country but it now no longer exists.
Claysville (Prospect Hill P. O.) was about two miles northeast of Greenville within half a mile of the Ray County line, and four miles south
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of Lawson, the nearest railroad station. Like Greenville, it no longer exists. Not a store in the township.
As early as 1824 Travis Finley settled on section 26 in this township, two miles southeast of Greenville. Archibald McIlvaine, Stephen Bax- ter and others were also early settlers. Ryland Shackelford located north- west of Greenville soon after Finley came, and Mr. Shackelford often de- clared that when he made his location and for a year afterwards, there was not a white settler between him and the North Pole.
At the May term of the county court, 1830, Washington was created as a municipal township out of Platte and Fishing River. The boundaries were originally the same, practically, as at present, the two western tiers of sections being taken off in 1872 when Kearney was formed. The boundaries as ordered by the county court when the township was organ- ized were as follows:
Beginning at the point on the county line between Ray and Clay Counties where the line between townships 52 and 53 strikes the same, thence due west along said township line for eight miles to the section corner on said township line between sections 34 and 35, in range 31, thence due north along said section line between sections 34 and 35, in range 31, to the northern boundary line of the county.
Singularly enough the court omitted to describe the northern and eastern boundaries of this township. They will be understood, however, to have been the northern boundary of the state, and the line between Ray and Clay extended to that boundary.
It was certified to the Secretary of State that there were at least 95 taxable inhabitants in the township upon its creation. John P. Smith and Harlow Hinkston were the first justices of the peace, John Wright the first constable, and Stephen Baxter, Archibald Mellvain and Richard Clark the first election judges. The first election was held at the house of Stephen Baxter.
Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist Church, located on section 15, township 53, range 30, was organized in 1857 by Rev. William Barrett. The names of the original members were Waltus L. Watkins, Mary N. Watkins, Kate Watkins, Spencer Anderson, Kitty Anderson, Mary Ander- son, Rev. William C. Barrett, Jackson Garrett, L. B. Garrett, Samuel Hollingsworth, T. W. Barrett, Louisa Barrett, Olivia Barrett and Nancy K. Barrett. The present membership is sixty-four. The names of some
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of those who have served as pastors are Revs. William Barrett, who filled the pulpit for three years, Thomas Montgomery, Asa N. Bird, J. W. Luke, G. L. Black and J. J. Fetts. This brick edifice was erected in 1871 at a cost of $5,000, more than one-half of which was contributed by Waltus L. Watkins.
CHAPTER XVII
WILLIAM JEWELL COLLEGE.
THE STORY OF ITS FOUNDING AND LOCATION-OFFICERS AND FACULTY.
It was at the request of an honored president of the Board of Trustees of William Jewell College, the following events and circumstances are related by one who was a youthful witness of the greater part of them, Hon. Leonidas M. Lawson, and who received the authentication of the remainder of them from the direct testimony of those who were them- selves the principal participants in these important transactions. It is probable that the remembrance of these deeds cannot be found in any other living repository, because most of the actors and their coetanians have passed away.
The legal existence of the institution began when on the 27th day of February, 1849, the Governor of Missouri approved the act of incorpora- tion which constituted the persons named therein a body politic and corporate for the purpose of endowing and building up a college under the direction of the General Association of the Baptists of the State of Missouri. But as early as the year 1834, the subject of higher education began to be discussed and written about by prominent members of this enlightened and enterprising denomination in various parts of the state, and a voluminous correspondence is still in existence which evidences the rising interest in this important subject.
A perusal of some of this quaint correspondence between the prim- itive promoters of this great educational enterprise the reader will observe the frequently recurring use of the word "Seminary" as descriptive and definite of the school it was the intention of the Baptists to establish.
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It is worthy of especial note that the significant etymology of this word was a happy forecast and an appropriate harbinger of the great work that has been accomplished. A seminary is a place where seed is sown for producing plants for transplantation. Felicitous metaphor has ap- plied the word to an institution of learning and appropriately and aptly to this great institution of learning because it has become a spot where is sown the seeds of superior scholarship and of the principles of civil and religious liberty, so vividly illustrated in the history of the great denom- ination of Christian which has struggled and fought and suffered on all the great fields of thought. The seed here sown has germinated and fructified and multiplied an hundred fold and by the free winds borne have been wafted to the remotest regions of our land and country, and have found a lodgment and a habitation under alien skies.
In the annals of a nation, a state or a community, there is nothing of so transcending importance as the history of the origin, the location, the establishment and growth of its eminent schools. The existence of a college gifted with a great energetic and intrepid spirit, like that which informs the people of Missouri and the neighboring districts of the Mississippi Valley, diffuses an intellectual atmosphere which makes life better worth for every one who has the opportunity of breathing its invigorating influences. Immortal honors are due to those who conceived the work, who laid its foundations, who labored for its success, who made sacrifices for its completion and who stimulated the pulses of the people to a common effort for the great achievement.
The inhabitants of the region which was destined to become the home of the seminary were a vigorous, manly, liberty-loving people, and their devotion to freedom caused them to name their county after the great Western statesman whose father was a Virginian Baptist minister, and one of that heroic band who stood for religious liberty in the Old Dominion. The early occupation of the son bestowed upon him the sportive appellation of "The Mill Boy of the Slashes," and his service to the people won him the title of the "Great Commoner". The sterling worth of this people and the vitalizing power of the principles which governed their public and private conduct made Clay County an eligible spot in which to plant a seminary of learning.
When the Baptists of Missouri determined to establish a college, and appointed the meeting of a convention at Boonville, on the 21st day of
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August, 1849, to effect an organization and settle the place of its permanent abode, the friends of learning and education at Liberty committed to Gen. Alexander W. Doniphan the task of arousing the people of the county to the importance of making an effort to secure the location of the school in their county town and of obtaining the necessary subscription of money for that purpose. He responded to the call.
General Doniphan had but recently returned from Mexico, crowned with great military distinction, and had been everywhere greeted with the applauses of his admiring countrymen. He was at the zenith of his fame as a soldier, a lawyer and a statesman. Seldom has it been the lot of a great leader to unite in the same bright combination so rare, so happy and so delicate an assemblage of eminent qualities and qualifications as met in this brilliant man. His intellect was of passing power and force, incisive, serene, capacious and catholic, rapidly assimilative, luxuri- antly fruitful. His memory was astonishing and at the docile service of a nimble and agile intellectuality. His discernment resembled inspiration. His imagination was warm and vivid, his judgment clear, his energy sur- passing. His mind had been enlarged by an unusually wide experience. In the world of literature and the world of life he was equally at home. His face and figure were such as sculptors love to dwell upon. His per- son was tall and commanding; his stature was six feet and four inches; his features were of classic elegance, but eager, mobile, animated; his hair was of the richest auburn hue; his forehead was high and intel- lectual; his finely cut nose was a combination of Grecian and Roman significance; his lips indicated eloquence; his dark eyes were full of fire; his grace and dignity blended themselves in his deportment; his mental character was so happily constituted that his powers so compatible with each other were tempered into exquisite harmony. One faculty had been granted to him in the largest measure-the faculty of eloquent expression ; no man in the Western states was his superior in the "tongue's wars". There was a thrilling note of sincerity in his voice vibrant with a vast store of feeling and compelling magnetism.
These superb powers he devoted to the task of awakening his fellow- citizens to an interest in higher education, and to inspiring an effort to secure the establishment of a college in the capital of their county. In making a series of brilliant addresses, he visited every part of the county, traversed every community, and presented a masterly, convincing argu-
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ment for the cause of the college, and with unflagging zeal and tireless energy, he solicited the aid and support of the people in the great under- taking. Crowds poured forth to meet him, and joyful acclamations rent the air, similar to those which are evoked in times of great political excite- ment. The ambition of the people were stirred, their zeal was inflamed, and social, political and religious distinctions were submerged in the waves of the rising enthusiasm. With so powerful an advocate, with so grand a cause, and with so receptive a community, failure was hardly possible. The great effort was crowned with success and with a formid- able subscription the delegates from Clay County were sent to the con- vention at Boonville.
Great interest in the enterprise had developed and was manifest in other parts of the state. Lively competition sprang into life and there was active and determined rivalry in the emulous contest. Marion County, Gallaway County, Boone County, Howard County and Cooper County were represented by delegates composed of influential Baptists, and they bore with them important contributions to the capital fund for the foundation of the college. Cooper County, in which Boonville is situated, and where the convention was to be held, was making a special effort and with the advantage of being the convention city and the oppor- tunity thus afforded for the exercise of the social amenities of its grace- ful hospitality was exercising, exerting a powerful influence upon the assembling congress of the Baptists of the state. It was the center of a society which numbered among its members some of the most accom- plished men and women of the time.
On the early morning of August 21st, 1849, a conference of the partisans of Boonville was held to consider and discuss the situation. It met in the counting room of Isaac Lionberger, an eminent and enlight- ened merchant, a devoted Baptist, and a relative of President Richard E. Turner, who was then a youthful resident of Cooper County. There were present, among others, the brilliant and versatile T'yre C. Harris, and notably the sturdy, stalwart, Jordon O'Bryan, who journeyed from his country home to counsel, encourage and aid his friends with his presence and his advice. They gathered round a circular board, but where the O'Bryan sat was the head of the table. He was a great planter, a man of wide knowledge and practical wisdom, his acquaintance with affairs was large, his judgment was sound. He was a skillful and adroit poli-
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tician, a man of the highest probity, a loyal Baptist and an enthusiastic advocate of the candidacy of Boonville for the location of the college. He had been a representative of his county, and a senator from his dis- trict in the State Legislature. His influence was potent. Senator O'Bryan inquired of his colleagues about the personality of the several delegations which were in attendance upon the convention. The names of those from Howard, Boone, Callaway and Marion Counties were given him. They were the eminent Baptists of the several localities.
Confidence was expressed that a canvass of the lists indicated a con- dition favorable to the choice of Boonville. At last, Senator O'Bryan in- quired if no one had come from Liberty? The reply was that Clay County had not evinced any great interest, that no Baptist people had come thence, that two distinguished gentlemen, not Baptists, had arrived, but that the Baptists of that locality were not in the contest. Besides, Liberty was a frontier town on the verge of the vast desert which stretched a limitless waste and unbroken wilderness until it reached the shores of the Pacific (at this period, 1849, the noble cities and prosperous commonwealth that embellish the map of the regions west of the Mis- souri River were not only unborn and unnamed, but they were undreamed of, save in the fecund brain of that illustrious statesman and precinct geomancer, Thomas Jefferson, who forty-six years before, had bought from the Emperor of the French the vast domain of rivers and plains and mountains, and dedicated it to American enterprise and American free- dom). Senator O'Bryan listened with patient urbanity and asked who were the distinguished gentlemen who had arrived from Clay County. He was told they were Gen. Alexander W. Doniphan and Judge J. T. V. Thompson. A look of surprise and anxiety mantled the bright, genial face of Jordon O'Bryan. He spoke gently, but with emphasis and con- cern. Said he: "Gentlemen, you have trained your guns in the wrong direction. You have been wasting your ammunition and your energies. Liberty is the point for you to attack, the fortress you must take. Doni- phan and Thompson have not come here for mere maneuver or dress- parade. There will not be a mock tournament. I have served in the Legislature with both these men and I know their character and abilities. Judge Thompson is a shrewd and prudent manager and Doniphan is no carpet knight. While he is chivalrous and fair and gallant, you will find him armed cap-a-pie and ready to do and dare for his cause. He is the
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