USA > Missouri > Clay County > History of Clay County, Missouri > Part 2
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
the West by Louisiana-a province of France; contentious, belligerous nations, implacable enemies, virtually surrounding an infant government, without a navy to protect her seaboard.
The dangers of such a condition as early as 1790, had been seen by Mr. Jefferson, for he then indicted certain secret observations, not elab- orating them, but in epitome, which abound in much historic value, and of much interest. In the archives in Washington, D. C., are many of the books, and papers of Thomas Jefferson, bought by Congress at large ex- pense, from which has been secured excerpts from what Mr. Jefferson termed "Heads of Consideration," as follows:
Heads of Consideration on the Conduct we are to Observe in the War between Spain and Great Britain, and Particularly should the Lat- ter attempt the Conquest of Louisiana and the Floridas.
The dangers to us, should Great Britain possess herself of those countries :
She will possess a territory equal to half ours beyond the Mississippi.
She will reduce that half of ours which is on this side of the Mis- sissippi: By her language, laws, religion, manners, government, com- merce, capital; by the possession of New Orleans, which draws to it the dependence of all the waters of the Mississippi; by the markets she can offer them in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere.
She will take from the remaining part of our States the markets they now have for their produce; by furnishing those markets cheaper with the same articles, tobacco, rice, indigo, bread, lumber, arms, naval stores, furs.
She will have then possessions double the size of ours, as good in soil and climate.
She will encircle us completely, by these possessions on our land- board, and her fleets on our sea-board. Instead of two neighbors balanc- ing each other, we shall have one more than the strength of both.
Would the prevention of this be worth a war?
Consider our abilities to take part in a war. Our operations would be by land only. How many men should we employ ?- their cost? Our resources of taxation and credit equal to this.
Weigh the evil of this new accumulation of debt against the loss of markets, and eternal expense and danger from so overgrown a neighbor.
But this supposition that France, as well as Spain, shall be engaged
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in the war; for with Spain alone, the war would be unsuccessful, and our situation rendered worse.
No need to take a part in the war as yet. We may choose our own time. Delay gives us many chances to avoid it altogether.
In such a choice of objects, Great Britain may not single out Louisi- ana and the Floridas. She may fail in her attempt on them. France and Spain may recover them.
If all these chances fail, we should have to re-take them. The differ- ence between retaking and preventing, overbalanced by the benefits of delay. Delay enables us to be better prepared to obtain from the allies a price for our assistance.
Suppose these our ultimate views, what is to be done at this time?
1. As to Spain:
If she be as sensible as we are, that she cannot save Louisiana and the Floridas, might she not prefer their independence to their subjection to Great Britain. Does not the proposition of the Count d'Estaing fur- nish us an opening to communicate our ideas on this subject to the court of France, and through them to that of Madrid, and our readiness to join them in guaranteeing the independence of those countries? This might save us from a war, if Great Britain respected our weight in a war; and if she does not, the object would place the war on popular ground with us.
2. As to England :
That as to the treaty of commerce, we would prefer amicable to ad- versary arrangements, though the latter would be infallible, and in our power; that our ideas are, that such a treaty should be found in perfect reciprocity, and would, therefore, be its own price; that as to an alliance, we can say nothing till its object be shown, and that it is not to be in- consistent with existing engagements; that in the event of a war be- tween Great Britain and Spain, we are disposed to be strictly neutral; that, however, we should view with extreme uneasiness any attempts of either power to seize the possessions of the other on our frontier, as we consider our own safety interested in a due balance between our neigh- bors (It might be deemed advantageous to express this latter sentiment, because, if there be any difference of opinion in their councils, whether to bend their force against North or South America, or the islands- and certainly there is room for difference-and if these opinions be
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nearly balanced, that balance ought to be determined by the prospect of having an enemy the more or less, according to the object they should select).
Heads of Consideration on the Navigation of the Mississippi.
We have a right to the navigation of the Mississippi: 1st, by nature; 2nd, by treaty. It is necessary to us. More than half the territory of the United States is on the waters of that river. Two hundred thousand of our citizens are settled on them, of whom forty thousand bear arms. These have no outlet for their tobacco, rice, corn, hemp, lumber, house timber, ship timber.
We have hitherto respected the indecision of Spain, because we wish peace; because our western citizens have had vent at home for their productions.
A surplus of production begins now to demand foreign markets. Whenever they shall say: "We cannot, we will not, be longer shut up," the United States will be reduced to the following dilemma:
1st, To force them to acquiescence. 2nd, To separate from them, rather than take part in a war against Spain. 3rd, Or to preserve them in our Union, by joining them in the war.
The first is neither in our principles, nor in our power. 2nd. A multitude of reasons decided against the second. It may suffice to speak out one; were we to give up half our territory rather than engage in a just war to preserve it, we should not keep the other half long. 3rd. The third is the alternative we must adopt.
How are we to obtain that navigation ?
(A) By Force.
1st. Acting separately. That we can effect this with certainty and promptitude, circumstances decide.
Objection. We cannot retain New Orleans, for instance, were we to take it.
Answer. A moderate force may be so secured, as to held out till succored. Our succors can be prompt and effectual. Suppose, after tak- ing it, we withdrew our force. If Spain retakes it by an expedition, we can recover it by a counter-expedition, and so as often as the case shall happen. Their expedition will be slow, expensive, and lead to catastrophe. Ours sudden, economical, and a check can have no consequences. We should associate the country to our Union. The inhabitants wish this.
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They are not disposed to be of the Spanish government. It is idle in Spain to suppose our Western inhabitants will unite with them. They could be quiet but a short time under a government so repugnant to their feelings. Were they to come under it for present purposes, it would be with a view to throw it off soon. Should they remain, they would com- municate a spirit of independence to those with whom they should be mixed.
2nd. Acting in conjunction with Great Britain, and with a view to partition. The Floridas (including New Orleans) would be assigned to us. Louisiana (or all the Western waters of the Msisissippi) to them. We confess that such an alliance is not what we would wish. Because it may eventually lead us into embarrassing situations with our best friend, and put in power of two neighbors into the hands of one. L. Lansdowne has declared he gave the Floridas to Spain rather than the United States as a bone of discord with the House of Bourbon, and of reunion with Great Britain. Connolly's attempt (as well as other facts) proves they keep it in view.
(B) By Negotiation.
1st. What must Spain do of necessity? The conduct of Spain has proved that the occlusion of the Mississippi is system with her. If she opens it now, it will be because forced by imperious circumstances. She will consequently shut it again when these circumstances cease. Treaty will be no obstacle. Irregularities, real or pretended, in our navigators will furnish color enough. Perpetual broils, and finally war will ensue. Prudence and even necessity, imposes on us the law of settling the mat- ter now, finally, and not by halves. With experience of the past and prospect of the future, it would be imbecility in us to accept the naked navigation. With that, we must have what is necessary to its use, and without which it would be useless to secure its continuance; that is, a port near the mouth to receive our vessels and protect the navigation. But even this will not secure the Floridas and Louisiana against Great Britain. If we are neutral, she will wrest those possessions from Spain. The inhabitants (French, English, Scotch, American) would prefer Eng- land to Spain.
2nd. What then had Spain better do of choice? Cede to us all ter- ritory on our side of the Mississippi; on condition that we guarantee all her possessions on the Western waters of that river, she agreeing fur-
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ther, to subsidize us if the guarantee brings us into the war. Should Great Britain possess herself of the Floridas and Louisiana, her gov- erning principles are conquest, colonization, commerce, monopoly. She will establish powerful colonies in them. These can be poured into the Gulf of Mexico for any sudden enterprise there, or invade Mexico, their next neighbor, by land. Whilst a fleet co-operates along shore and cuts off relief. And proceed successively from colony to colony.
With respect to us, if Great Britain establishes herself on our whole land-board our lot will be bloody and eternal war, or indissoluble con- federacy. Which ought we to choose? What will be the lot of the Span- ish colonies in the jaws of such a confederacy? What will secure the ocean against the monopoly ?
Safer for Spain that we should be her neighbor, than England. Con- quest not in our principles, inconsistent with our government. Not our interest to cross the Mississippi for ages. And will never be our interest to remain united with those who do. Intermediate chances save the trouble of calculating so far forward.
Consequences of this cession, and guarantee: 1st. Every subject of difference will be removed from between Spain and the United States. 2nd. Our interest will be strongly engaged in her retaining her Ameri- can possessions. 3rd. Spain will be quieted as to Louisiana, and her territories west of that. 4th. She may employ her whole force in de- fence of her islands and Southern possessions. 5th. If we preserve our neutrality, it will be a very partial one to her. 6th. If we are forced into the war, it will be, as we wish, on the side of the House of Bour- bon. 7th. Her privateers will commit formidable depredation on the British trade, and occupy much of their force. 8th. By withholding supplies of provision, as well as by concurring in expeditions, the British islands will be in imminent danger. 9th. Their expenses of precaution, both for their continental and insular possessions, will be augumented as to give hope of running their credit down. In fine, for a narrow slip of barren, detached, and expensive country, Spain secures the rest of her territory, and makes an ally where she might have a dangerous enemy.
Formal possession of Louisiana by the United States was in Decem- ber, 1803, and no later than January, 1804, the President, to the cele- brated Dr. Joseph Priestly, thus expressed himself. "I very early saw that Louisiana was indeed a speck in our horizon which was to burst in
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a tornado; and the public are unapprized how near the catastrophe was. Nothing but a frank and friendly development of causes and effects on our part, and good sense enough in Bonaparte to see that the train was unavoidable, and would change the face of the world, saved us from that storm. I did not expect he would yield till a war took place between * * France and England, and my hope was to palliate and endure
I believe the event not very distant, but acknowledge, it came sooner than I expected. Whether, however, the good sense of Bonaparte might not see the course predicted to be necessary and unavoidable, even before a war should be imminent, was a chance which we thought it our duty to try; but the immediate prospect of rupture brought the case to im- mediate decision. The denouement has been happy; and I confess I look to this duplication of area for the extending a government so free and economical as ours, as a great achievement to the mass of happiness which is to ensue."
CHAPTER II.
ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY.
UNDER TERRITORIAL ACT-CLAY COUNTY FORMED IN 1822-COUNTY SEAT SELECTED-REDUCED TO ITS PRESENT LIMITS IN 1833-TWO ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS-PERMANENT SETTLERS - IMMIGRATION -OLD FRANKLIN - TOPOGRAPHY-ACT CREATING CLAY COUNTY-CLASS OF CITIZENS-FROM BECK'S GAZETEER-EARLY INDUSTRIES-FIRST ROAD-PIONEER SCHOOLS- TEACHERS' INSTITUTE ORGANIZED.
Under the territorial Act of 1812, all west of the Mississippi river and north of the Mississippi river, formed St. Charles County; which continued until 1816, when that part of Howard, north of the Missouri, was taken, and from Howard, in 1829, Ray County was formed, includ- ing all areas west of Grand River to the State line, and from the Missouri north to the Iowa line.
Clay County was formed from Ray, January 2, 1822, extending from the Missouri River north to the Iowa line, with its present width of about twenty-one miles, and its length, of about one hundred miles.
The Act of the Legislature creating the county, appointed five com- missioners to select a permanent seat of government for the county, and further provided that until the selection of this permanent seat was made, all courts should be held at the house of John Owens, which house was located upon what is now known on the plat of the town-now city-of Liberty, as lot 173, on Water street. The commissioners named in the Act were Henry Estes, Enos Vaughn, Wyatt Adkins and John Pouge. These commissioners made report to the Circuit Court of the county, July 1, 1822, as follows:
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"That in pursuance of the object of their appointment, they as- sembled together on the 20th of March last, to examine the different dona- tions offered the county, and continued in session three days examining sites for a town, that after mature deliberation and minute investigation the tract of land owned by John Owens and Charles McGee was thought best adapted for which it was designed, as being more central for the population, surrounded with good and permanent springs, lying suffi- ciently elevated to drain off all superfluous waters, in a healthy and populous part of the country, and entirely beyond the influences of lakes, ponds, or stagnant waters of any kind; they therefore, unanimously agreed to accept of the proposition of Mr. Owens and Mr. McGee of a donation of twenty-five acres each for the use of the county."
Again it was deemed advisable to limit the area of the county, and on January 2, 1833, the reduction was made to its present limits, being bounded on the north by Clinton on the east by Ray, on the south by Jackson, with the Missouri River intervening-and on the west by Platte. The county comprises 254,423 acres. The county was divided into only two townships-Gallatin and Fishing River; the county seat being in Gallatin until May 2, 1825, when Liberty Township was created. Platte Township was created June 4, 1827; Washington Township, August 9, 1830, and Kearney Township was created September 3, 1872. That part of the county north of its present limits in 1831, extending to the Iowa line was called Lafayette Township, and was very sparsely settled, and on the west of the limits of the county "attached for civil and military purposes," was the Platte country, or rather the greater part of what constitutes now Platte County, was in 1837, divided into Pettie, Carroll, Far West and Preston Townships.
No reliable, authentic information can be given of any permanent settlement made in what is now Clay County prior to the year 1819. In that year there came John Owens, Samuel McGee, Benjamin Hensley, William Campbell, Thomas Campbell, John Wilson, Zachariah Averett, John Braley, Charles McGee, George Taylor, Travis Finley, Cornelius Gilliam and Edward Byburn. These located in the southern, southeastern and northeastern parts of the county ; many descendants of whom are at this time residents of the county.
The great tide of immigration began in earnest in 1820, and settle- ments were made on Fishing river. Big Shoal, along the Missouri river,
-
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
and the southern portion of the county, generally by Samuel Tilford, John Thornton, Andrew Robertson, Sr., Andrew Robertson Jr., Colonel Shubael Allen, Robert Murray, John Bartleson, Andrew Bartleson, Andrew Bartle- son, John Dean, Henry Estes, Thomas Estes, Peter Estes, James Hyatt, Samuel Hyatt, Richard Hill, William Munkers, James Gilmore, Robert Gilmore, Ennis Vaughn, Andrew Russell, Eoba Tillery, Martin Parmer, Henry Mailes, Squire Hutchinson, Solomon Fry, Edmund Munday, William Lenhart, Wm. L. Smith, Humphrey Best, David McElwee, Eldridge Pat- ter, Thomas Hixon, Joseph Groom, Hugh Brown, Joseph Brown, Thomas Officer, Robert Officer, Patrick Laney, and others. It can be said of these early settlers that a more intelligent, industrious, better educated and worthier set of men never settled in any new country. They were the scions of a noble ancestry, who had settled originally in Virginia, giving to that State renown and prestige such as no other State in the Union possessed; whose fathers had gone to Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, and whose sons now were seeking homes in western Missouri. It is not contended that all of this immigration was from these States, for such was not the case, but by far the greater portion of these settlers were from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina.
In 1820 the territory embraced in Clay County formed a part of what was known as Howard County, and the county seat was Old Franklin. At this time, there was not a store at which goods could be purchased within the present confines of Clay County. (It is true some French men had a trading post at Randolph Bluffs, where barter and trade were made for furs and beeswax, exchange being made therefor, in gewgaws and trink- ets; but nothing of a substantial character could be purchased. At this time, if a settler wanted a new axe there was no place to obtain it north, south or west, but only at the nearest place, which was five miles this side of Old Franklin, in Howard County, to a certain blacksmith, who made axes with his bellows, steel and iron, anvil and hammers, and it was estimated for a settler to leave home, with his saddle bags, go to this blacksmith's, get his axe made, then return home, sharpen the axe with an old fashioned grindstone, would take about two weeks of the settler's time. Up to 1819, there was no money in circulation, nor was there in what is now Clay County, according to Mrs. Shubael Allen, then a resi- dent, a silk ribbon.
Blue grass was indigenous to this immediate section of the country ;
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the topography of this section bore a striking resemblance to that of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee; timber abounded almost over the section, especially for miles along and away from the Missouri River, all these things, together with the cheap cost of the land, were very alluring, captivating to these young men of the older states, and determining to avail themselves of opportunity afforded them, hastened to this section of the country, and right well did they do their part, not only in secur- ing homes, but in clearing the land of its dense timber, cultivating the soil, erecting school houses, churches, colleges, building towns and vil- lages; foremost in all enterprises, until now, no county in the state has a better prestige for morals, enterprises, education, thrift and general en- lightenment.
Bluffton which stood on the Missouri River, near where Camden now / stands, was made the county seat of Ray County, after that county was taken from Howard, Clay County being at the time a part of Ray. The first county court was held there in April, 1821, and two of its members were John Thornton and Elisha Camron, and the clerk of the court was William L. Smith; all three of these officers were citizens of what is now Clay County.
The first settlers of the territory bordering on the Missouri River, not only in what is now Clay County, but in almost all other counties, were Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the two Carolinas, and in mak- ing their settlements, located their houses near springs. Their locations were in timbered lands, not prairie, for in that early day prairie land was an unknown quantity, it having been reported, and believed to be, fit only for grazing purposes, hence settlements were made almost exclusively in timber lands. V
So numerous were the settlers in what is now Clay County, prior to the autumn of 1821, that it was determined to create a new county, sub- dividing Ray into two or more counties, and accordingly on the 2nd day of January, 1822, the Legislature passed the following act creating the county of Clay :
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri as follows:
1. A new county shall be established as follows: Beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Missouri River, south of the range line passing between range twenty-nine and thirty west of the fifth prin-
1
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
cipal meridian, thence north and with said range line, pursuing the course thereof, when continued to the northern boundary line of the state; thence west with the northern boundary line to the northwest range of this state; thence south with said boundary line due south to the Missouri River, and to the middle of the main channel thereof; thence down the middle of the main channel thereof to the place of beginning, which shall be called the county of Clay.
2. John Hutchins, Henry Estes, Enos Vaughn, Wyatt Adkins and John Poague, be, and are hereby appointed commissioners, with power to fix upon the most suitable place in said county whereon to erect a court-house and jail; and the place whereon they, or a majority of them shall agree, shall be the permanent seat of justice for the said county of Clay.
3. The power and duties of the said commissioners within the said county of Clay shall be the same as the powers and duties assigned by an act entitled "An act defining the limits of Howard County, and laying off new counties within the limits of said county as heretofore defined", to the commissioners appointed to point out and fix upon the most suit- able place in the county of Ray whereon to erect a court-house and jail for the said county of Ray.
4. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, be and are hereby empowered to receive as a donation, or to purchase the land by them selected, and to lay off the same into lots or squares, and to expose them to public sale under the same restrictions as were imposed by the before recited act, on the commissioners of Ray County, and the powers and duties of the judge of the circuit court shall be same in the said county of Clay, as in the said county of Ray.
5. The courts to be holden in the county of Clay, shall be at the house of John Owens, until said commissioners shall choose and fix on a temporary seat of justice for said county; and after the said commis- sioners have selected a temporary seat of justice for said county, the courts to be holden for said county shall be holden at the temporary seat of justice until a house for holding courts and a jail is provided at the permanent seat of justice for said county of Clay.
6. All executions to be issued after the taking effect of this act, from the circuit court of the county of Ray, shall be directed to the proper officers of the county of Clay, if the person against whom they
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may issue resides within the said county of Clay; and such executions shall be executed and returned by him in the same manner as if issued by the clerk of the county of Clay; and all accounts of executors, ad- ministrators and guardians now pending in the county of Ray, if such executors, administrators or guardians reside in the county of Clay, shall at the request of such executors, administrators or guardians, be certi- fied by the clerk of said county of Ray, with the proceedings had thereon, to the clerk's office in the county of Clay, and shall stand ready for trial or settlement as if they had commenced therein; and all justices of the peace and constables now residing in the limits of said county of Clay shall continue to execute all the duties of their offices, as justices and constables, in the county of Clay; and it shall be the duty of the county court for said county of Clay, at the first term of said court, to appoint a collector for said county, who shall immediately enter upon the duties of his office; and the taxes for the said county of Clay shall be collected and accounted for by the collector of said county in the same manner as is now required of the collector of Ray County.
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