History of Clay and Platte 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 Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens., Part 61

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

USA > Missouri > Platte County > History of Clay and Platte 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 Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 61
USA > Missouri > Clay County > History of Clay and Platte 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 Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 61

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).

Lee.1-Beginning in the main channel of Platte river at Anderson's ferry, thence down said channel in the middle thereof to the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river, thence up the same to a point where the line which separated the attached parts of Clay and Clinton counties ( when the Platte country was attached to those counties for civil and military purposes ) terminated, thence east along said line to Bee creek, thence down Bee creek to the ford, where the road running

1 All the six townships substantially as the six of the same names now are (Pres- ton exactly) except Pettis and Lee. The latter included all of its present territory, all of the present township of May and all of Waldron east of the Platte. Lee in- cluded all of its present territory, all of Weston and substantially all of Fair.

572

HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

from Moore's and Thompson's mills to Anderson's ferry crosses the same, thence along said road to the point of beginning.1

Green. - Beginning at the middle of the main channel of Platte river at Anderson's ferry, thence up and following the course of said channel to the county line, thence west with said line to the road run- ning from Pennick's store by Linville's store to Weston, thence down said road to the line which separated the attached part of Clay and Clinton counties ( when the Platte country was attached to these coun- ties for civil and military purposes ), thence east along said line to Bee creek, thence down the same to the ford where the road running from Moore's and Thompson's mills to Anderson's ferry crosses the same, thence along said road to the point of beginning.

Marshall. - Beginning at a point on the road which runs from Pennick's store by Linville's store to Weston, where said road is crossed by the county line, thence down said road to the line which separated the attached parts of Clay and Clinton counties (when the Platte country was attached to said counties for civil and military pur- poses ), thence west along said line to the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river, thence up and following the course of said chan- nel to the northwest corner of Platte county, thence east along the line of said county to the point of beginning.

OTHER PROCEEDINGS AT THE FIRST TERM.

Peter Crockett, of Preston ; Matthias Maston, of Carroll ; James Heard, of Pettis ; Robert Patton, of Lee; William M. Kincaid, of Green ; and Samuel S. Mason, of Marshall townships, were appointed " distributing justices to lay off" their respective townships into convenient road districts.

Francis Dean, Robert Patton and Isaac Archer were appointed com- missioners to view and lay out a county road from Platte Falls (Platte City) to New Market. John Pace, William Arsary and Jacob Adamson were appointed to lay out a road from New Market to Weston.

Isaac McEllis was granted a license to keep a ferry across the Mis- souri river between the Platte county side and Kickapoo village, on the opposite side, and the rates of toll were fixed.

Letters of administration were granted to Jeremiah Spratt on the

1 Weston township was established May 16, 1840, of territory taken from Lee, as follows :

Beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river opposite the mouth of Bee creek, thence north to the mouth of said creek, thence up and following the course of said creek to the point where the line separating the attached parts of Clay and Clinton counties (when the Platte country was attached to these counties for civil and military purposes) crossed the same, thence due west to the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river, thence down the same to the point of beginning. This was substantially as it now is.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

estate of John Hensley, and Bethel Allen was appointed guardian of the persons and estates of Telitha and Polly Allen, minor children of Samson Allen, deceased.

Edward Wilcox was appointed constable of Carroll township, and after granting several merchants' and grocers' (dramshop-keepers') licenses court adjourned for the term on the 13th of March, 1839, to meet again April 1st following. 1

ADJOURNED APRIL AND REGULAR MAY TERMS.

The " adjourned " April term lasted but one day and no business of general interest was transacted. Its work was confined principally to probate. business, granting merchants', grocers' and ferrymen's li- censes, appointing a commission or two of viewers to lay out roads and receiving a few reports of minor importance.

But at the regular May term the work of setting the entire machin- . ery of county government in motion, so far as that duty devolved upon the county court, was well nigh completed.

County Boundary Report. - The special commissioner, Matthew M. Hughes, appointed by the Governor to survey and establish the county boundaries, made his report to the court, which was received and approved and entered of record. As before remarked, it located the northern boundary of the county a small fraction more than five miles north of the old line which separated the attached parts of Clay and Chariton counties,1 under the act of the Legislature, approved December 16, 1835.2 This report established the bound- aries as they now are and have been ever since.

Road Overseers and Roads. - At the same term of court the allot- ting justices to apportion the county into road districts, appointed at . the first (March) term, made their report which was received and ap- proved.3 It divided the county into 31 road districts, for each of which an overseer was appointed by the court, as follows : -

Lee township - Road district No. 1, Paton Murphy ; No. 2, Benj. Smith. Preston township -Road district No. 1, Henry Netherton ; No. 2, Axiom Farmer; No. 3, David Hunt ; No. 4, Chesley Burnett. Car- roll township - Road district No. 1, Jno. Linch ; No. 2, Daniel Con- roy. Of the Garrison road on the line of Carroll and Pettis - Road

1 Therefore nearly all of the northern line of Congressional townships in this county wasfor a time a part of Clinton county.

2 But which did not go into effect until December 16, 1836- ante p. 6.

3 Jno. B. Collins in the meantime had been substituted on the commission in place of Harry Kincaid, who refused to serve

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

district No. 1, Adam C. Wood ; No. 2, Jacob Higgins ; No. 3, Fantley P. Rice. Pettis (new road ) - Road district No. 1, H. T. Barker ; No. 2, James Coleman ; No. 3, Wakefield Cox; No. 4, Geo. B. Mc- Adow. Marshall township - Road district No. 1, Lewis Burnes ; No. 2, Jno. Todd ; No. 3, Andrew Tribble; No. 4, Jno. Boulware ; No. 5, Jackson Bates ; No. 6, Robt. Cooper ; No. 7, Wm. Massey ; No. 8, Jacob Cox; No. 9, James Means. Green township - Road district No. 1, Jno. Fry ; No. 2, Jno. Forbes ; No. 3, London Barker ; No. 4, Madison Drace; No. 5, Lewis Bell; No. 6, I. T. Lewis ; No. 7, I. Huntsaker; No. 8, Harvey Kincaid ; No. 9, Wesley Barker; No. 10, Isaac Grasscock.

A number of roads were ordered to be " laid out " and several road reports were received and approved. In a short time good wagon roads were established in every direction throughout the county and ferries were licensed at the various crossings of non-fordable streams. Early in the " Forties " there were probably not less than fifty roads open in the county, besides several State roads.

Township Justices - Under the law at that time (1839), each town- ship was entitled to four justices of the peace. By the organization of the new county of Platte, the terms of the justices who held under Clay county commissions expired by operation of law. It was there- fore necessary to provide for the election of their successors. For this purpose a special election was ordered by the county court at its May term, to be held on the fourth Saturday in June. John P. Smith, Jas. Cox and Solomon Leonard 1 were appointed judges of election in Marshall township; Jas. B. Wells, Demetrius A. Sutton and Jno. Hendricks were appointed for Lee township ; Matthias Cline, Francis Dean and Harry Kincaid for Green township ; James Butler, Sr., Pa- ton Murphy and William Masterson for Preston ; John Young, David Hunt and Wm. Bowlin for Pettis, and Joseph Higgins, Wm. Brown and David King for Carroll township. Here we may be permitted to digress slightly to give the names of the successful candidates: In Preston township they were Peter Crockett, Archibald Hill, Wm. Banta and H. D. Odin ; Carroll - Matthias Maston, Daniel Clary, Isaac W. Gibson and James Flannery ; Pettis - S. B. Thorp, Andrew Campbell, William Fox and Robert Stone ; Lee - Jeremiah H. Spratt, Robert Patton, Charles Wells and Thomas E. Jordan; Marshall - Milton Byrum, Thos. J. Lovelady, Jno. R. Bounds and John P.

1 Afterwards circuit judge and later still a judge of the Supreme Court; see Chap- ter on Carroll Township.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

Smith ; and in Green - Henry Brooks, John C. Bywaters, Jackson Adamson and J. M. Fulkerson.1

PROCEEDINGS OF OTHER EARLY TERMS.

County Seat Established. - November 15, 1839, a minute was made of record that the members of the commission appointed by the Governor to select a permanent seat of justice for Platte county be notified that the court was ready to receive their report. They had selected the site on the east side of the Platte river adjoining the falls - the southwest quarter of section 24, and the west half of section 36, in township 35, and range 53 - as the permanent seat of justice for the county, and on the 3d of December, their report, as already confirmed by Judge King, of the circuit court, was received and approved by the county court. Samuel D. Lucas and Samuel Hadley, of the commission, made the report, and the new county seat was referred to at the Platte Falls.

The next day Stephen Johnson was appointed commissioner of the seat of justice, and ordered to lay out the site of the place (or at least a part of it) into lots of convenient size, and locate the necessary streets and alleys, causing a plat thereof to be made and to be filed and recorded in the recorder's office, as the law required. He was also directed (February 3, 1880), to sell every alternate lot of the place, ex- cepting lots 10, 11 and 12 of block 25, which were reserved for public buildings, and to report the result to the county court. His bond was fixed at $20,000. Judge Leonard was the assistant of the com- mission in the work of laying out and platting the town. February 3, 1840, it was given its present name, Platte City, by the county court. Several public sales of lots were held, and the last one was advertised in the St. Louis Argus and the Liberty Far West. Twenty thousand dollars were realized.

Court-house and Jail. - At the May term of the county court, in 1840, D. A. Sutton, Jesse Morin and Elijah Moore were appointed commissioners to prepare a plan and make a contract, or contracts, for the construction of a court-house, on the lots above mentioned as excepted for public buildings. The plan submitted at the same time by D. A. Sutton was approved - the one upon which the court- house was built - and he was awarded the contract for its construc- tion. It was when completed a square, substantial brick structure, two stories high, with an inclined quadrilateral roof surmounted by a

1 In 1840, when Weston township was formed, Jas. C. Means and Geo. H. Keller were elected its first justices.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

cupola - a tastily constructed, " well appearing and substantial pub- lic building." 1

At the next January term $3,000 were appropriated by the county court for the construction of a jail on lots 7 and 8 of block 23, and a substantial log structure, with iron-barred windows and sheet-iron- lined cells, was built. It probably did well enough for those days, but now it would be simply a pleasant pastime for the average " crook " to pass quietly and gracefully out without consulting either court or jailor.

Jesse Morin who was appointed the first circuit clerk of the county, while he was a member of the Legislature, was also appointed superin- tendent of public buildings by the county court, and served in the latter office as well as in that of circuit clerk for a number of years.

FIRST TERM OF THE CIRCUIT COURT.

It would have been apparent to even a stranger at the Platte Falls on the morning of Monday, the 25th of March, 1839, that some event of more than ordinary importance was at hand.

A small frontier village of ten or a dozen houses nestled down among the hills in the midst of a great forest, and without a street - for none had been established then - and barely with a single road leading to a fort on the east and to another across the Missouri river, it nevertheless presented a busy and animated scene ; and although everything seemed to be in confusion, each settler was busy putting things in order for the coming event.

Zadoc Martin was here. He had been at work for a week or more arranging about his house and putting things in shape to make it a hospitable village hostelry, a welcome travelers' rest. It was a new business to him, and he was not sure that he would like it; but cir- cumstances had changed now, and he must adjust himself to the new order of things. For years as ferryman for the Government at the Falls, away back in the days of the forts and the Indian reserve, he had been the grand provincial sheikh of all this region of country, with none to dispute his authority. His word was law, and he needed no one to tell him what his prerogatives were or how to use them. But now the government had yielded its control over the Platte coun- try to the State, and the Indians were all gone or were leaving, whilst settlers were pouring in by thousands. Poor old friend Martin saw that the days of his rule were numbered - that they were even already

1 It was burned down during the war. See chapter on Carroll township.

577

HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

passed away, and now he must become one among many citizens, all equal before the law, and do as others did. Thus it happened that on the morning referred to he was found just completing arrangements about his house - a hewed log house of two rooms and with a kitchen in the rear - to make it a village tavern.

And John Fayler was here, too - a good-natured, generous soul, energetic and industrious, but not thrifty ; poor when he came but with plenty to eat and wear, and poor but not hungry or out of humor when he left. He of course had a tavern, too; he was too agreeable an host, and too generous not to have one. His wife put their house in order, and he had seen to it that ample provisions were on hand for the table.

There then were others here, the storekeepers and the like, and the village was not without its " groceries " - bad villagers. Ample sup- plies in this line had been laid in also.

All was in readiness for the coming event.

The morning of the 25th was at hand. The smoke from the chim- neys of all the village houses curled gracefully above the forest and floated off in the distance. The murmur of the waters of the Platte, as they coursed on to the Missouri, was borne gently on the breeze. By and by settlers began to arrive from all the country round about, some horseback and not a few afoot. Soon horses were hitched to almost every tree and crowds began to gather at the stores and groceries. Now and then a stranger, generally on horseback, but once in awhile afoot, put in an appearance; and with each new arrival of these the inquiry went quickly around, " Who is he ?"

Finally, a man of marked presence was seen approaching, coming up the road on horseback, and at a brisk trot. A minute or two later and he had hitched his horse and was among the crowd shaking hands warmly with most of the strangers and a few of the villagers and other settlers whom he knew. " Who is he?" was asked by many with almost a single voice. He was Judge Austin A. King, judge of the circuit court of this judicial circuit, and afterwards Governor of the State, and he had come to the village of the Falls of the Platte to hold the first term of circuit court ever held in Platte county.

It was for this event, the holding of the first term of court of general jurisdiction in the county, that all these preparations had been made, and to take part in, or witness, for which these settlers and strangers had come. The residents of the county were here as witnesses, jurors (grand or petit), litigants or spectators. The strangers who came were almost without exception attorneys, and some of them had come

578

HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

many miles over difficult roads and across swollen streams, before the days of railroads, and even on foot.

Those were the days of pioneer, dauntless lawyers, as well as of fearless, hardy frontiersmen. A prominent citizen 1 of the county has given an interesting sketch of the early experiences of the bar in this part of the State.

" In those early days," he says, " the lawyers followed the judge, afoot or on horseback, according to their circumstances, on his circuit around through the district ; or, sometimes, on their long and weary journeys from county to county, through a sparsely settled country, they rode in tic-that is, the one who had been riding for awhile would dismount and let his pedestrian companion ride, whilst he, the previous rider, would walk along beside and relate or listen to amus- ing anecdotes that raised such peals of laughter as to wake the echoes of silent forests and drive away hunger and the tedium of travel.

" But they rarely, if ever, suffered from hunger. When ready to start from one county to that of another, they managed to store away in their saddlebags or coat pockets enough good honest corn-bread and strength-giving spare-ribs or fried bacon to last them until the next county town was reached ; and many a merry picnic those jour- neying hemi-peripatetic attorneys had with their luncheons spread upon a log or friendly stone by the wayside.

" It was often amusing to see them arriving at the county seat. At the spring terms of court the infantry line would usually reach town with their shoes and pants and other wearing apparel sorely bespat- tered with mud, and sometimes they would even be dripping wet to a point above their knees, caused, doubtless, by misplaced confidence in trusting well but not wisely to the thickness and strength of the ice for a bridge across some ill-starred, treacherous stream.

" But, after all, they were a good-natured, humorous ' guild,' and as soon as one brave footman was safely arrived and dry, he was ready to laugh heartily at the others who came trudging in. Fre- quently the greeting was heard from those already in, to their more tardy and, perhaps, less fortunate brothers : 'How is walking?' ' How did your phial hold out ?' ' Where is your bedding?' and the like." ‹

But to return to the scene of the first circuit court of the county : -

Judge King and the lawyers who came found the little village and the officials ready to receive them. It was a red-letter day for the .

1 Judge W. H. Roney.

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HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

Falls, and all were disposed to do due honor to the occasion. Zadoc Martin's hotel of two rooms, and John Fayler's, which contained four besides the kitchen, were thrown open for guests. The Judge and the attorneys were comfortably provided for.

COURT OPENED.

The room in Fayler's tavern in which the county court had held its first term was secured by the sheriff, Mr. Owen, for the circuit court ; and promptly at 10 o'clock a. m. Judge King took his seat (a hickory bark split-bottomed chair in one corner of the room), and directed the sheriff to open court. Court was called, and the Hon. Jesse Morin came forward and was sworn in as circuit clerk, having been appointed to that office by Judge King. Thereupon the names of the grand jurors summoned for the term were called, and they came for- ward and were qualified by being sworn and charged as the law di- rected.

FIRST GRAND JURY.

The following is a list of names of the first grand jury of the county : Jesse Lewis, foreman ; Joshua Yates, James Beagle, Will- iam McLain, Peyton Murphy,1 Robert Cain, Isaac Norman, Patrick Cooper, John McCarty, Daniel Dearborn, Solomon Tetherow, John Brown, James Flannery, Joseph Todd, Sr., Henry Matheny, Samuel A. Brown, James Brown, John S. Malott, Isaac Blanton and Isaac Glascock.

WORK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT - INDICTMENTS.

Court continued in session but three days, but during that time dis- patched a large amount of business. On the first day the grand jury returned sixteen indictments, nearly all for gaming and none of any general interest. Reporting that they were through with their busi- ness, they were therefore discharged by the court. Wm. T. Wood, now Judge of the Jackson (county ) circuit court, was at the time circuit attorney for the circuit and appeared for the State as prosecutor in the cases reported by the grand jury. All or nearly all of the defendants, however, pleaded guilty and were each assessed a small fine and costs. Gaming at that time was hardly considered as much of an offense against morals as it came to be in later years. It was quite a com- mon pastime then and often those who stood high in public esteem were addicted to it. Hence the number of indictments of this class found on the day of court and the apparent leniency with which the defendants were treated.

1 Referred to elsewhere as Paton Murphy.

580

HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

CIVIL CASES.

There were 11 civil cases on the docket at the first term, under the following titles : Harvey Kincaid v. John Pearson - appeal for debt ; Anna Gunn v. John Gunn - divorce for drunkenness ; John S. Malott v. William Sloan - certiorari; McGunegle & Way v. Furgerson & Mullekin - assumpsit; George Frazier v. Joseph Mullekin - petition in debt ; Thomas M. Page v. John C. Staats - attachment for debt ; Felix G. Mullikin v. John D. Mullikin - attachment for debt ; Suy- dam, Sage & Co. v. John C. Staats - attachment for debt; John Smith v. Asher & Davidson - appeal for debt ; N. & J. T. White v. John C. Statts - petition in debt.

Most of these were disposed of at that term, and in the Gunn di- vorce case, Mrs. Gunn was granted a divorce on the ground pleaded in her petition, the drunkenness of her husband. He was proved to be entirely worthless as well as dissipated, and Judge King set an ex- cellent example of the humanity of the law by relieving a worthy woman of a worthless husband.

FIRST ATTORNEYS.

The members of the bar who appeared and enrolled at the first term of court were the following: David R. Atchison, Amos Rees, Alexander W. Doniphan, Russell Hicks, John A. Gordon, Peter H. Burnett, James S. Thomas, A. E. Cannon, William D. Almond, Theo- dore D. Wheaton, William T. Wood and the venerable Gen. Andrew S. Hughes, most all of whom have passed from this earth. Nearly all of these were then, or afterwards came to be, prominent at the bar and in public life. New county and new country, as Platte county then was, there has probably not been such an array of legal talent assembled at any one term of circuit court in this part of the State for many a year as met at the Platte Falls on the occasion of opening the first term of circuit court in this county in March, 1839.1

RECORDER'S OFFICE.

Under the law the circuit clerk of the county was (and is yet) ex officio recorder of deeds, and other instruments of writing required to be recorded, and hence the duties of that office also devolved upon the ever busy, energetic, polyarchial Col. Morin, then circuit clerk.2

1 For sketches of the lives of the leading lawyers of the county, see chapter on Bench and Bar further along.

2 During the year 1839 Col. Morin held the offices of member of the Legislature, cir- cuit clerk, recorder of deeds and superintendent of public buildings.

581

HISTORY OF PLATTE COUNTY.

FIRST INSTRUMENTS RECORDED.

Bill of Sale for a Slave. - The records in the recorder's office show that the first instrument of writing recorded therein was a bill of sale for a slave, from Felix G. Mullikin to Zadoc Martin, the money con- sideration being $200, and the slave, a negro man, Willis, aged about thirty-three years. It was dated May 11, 1839, and was filed for record two days afterwards.

Deed for Real Estate .- The first deed for the conveyance of real estate executed in this county, at least so far as the record's show, was made on the 2d of March, 1839. It conveyed one-eighth of lots number 382 and 383 in the town of Weston, with covenants of warranty, from Soya B. Church to Bela M. Hughes, the consideration being $12.50. It was witnessed by John T. Gregory and acknowledged before Charles Wells, justice of the peace in Lee township.

Chattel Mortgage. - Poor Mike Fayler, always liked and good natured, and always poor, needed a little extra cash, probably to fix up at his tavern with, and of course had to borrow it. Times were hard then in the new settlement, and money scarce, and it mattered nothing how much one was known in the community, or how many friends he had, good security and a high rate of interest were the only terms upon which he could hope to obtain a loan. Anyhow, friend- ships and good opinions, and all that, are well enough in their way, as a sort of every-day, polite hypocrisy, - necessary, perhaps to the social state- but when one is out of money, and needs a little, he finds how very like the substance of a dream they are - gone, upon the slightest test. Mr. Fayler had not yet obtained title to his hotel property, and therefore a loan on that was not considered good. His only other property were his household effects, and a couple of milk cows. On them he was compelled to give a chattel mortgage to secure a loan of $80. The mortgagee was Alexander Graham. He was given a lien in six feather beds six blankets, six bed spreads, 12 sheets and two cows and their calves, as the record shows. This was the first chattel mortgage recorded in the county, dated December 27, 1838. Afterwards, we are glad to say on account of so good a man as Mr. Fayler, the debt and interest were paid, and the mortgage entered " satisfied."

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Author: Publication date: 1885 Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1156