USA > Missouri > Caldwell County > History of Clinton and Caldwell Counties, Missouri > Part 18
USA > Missouri > Clinton County > History of Clinton and Caldwell Counties, Missouri > Part 18
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Guards were stationed all about the city and no one was allowed to go out on any mission whatever. Many who had abandoned their farms and fled to Far West when the trouble began were now in a sad plight. Provisions, wood and corn were scarce and there was suffering in the homes, while the troops foraged upon the flocks and herds and destroyed
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property. General Clark arrived in person a few days after the surrender and he assembled the multitude in the public square and addressed them as follows :
"Gentlemen: You whose names are not attached to this list of names will now have the privilege of going to your fields to obtain corn for your families, wood, etc. Those that are now taken will go from thence to prison, be tried, and receive the due demerit of their crimes; but you are now at liberty, all but such charges as may be hereafter preferred against. It now devolves upon you to fulfill the treaty that you have entered into, the leading items of which I now lay before you. The first of these you have already complied with ; first, that you deliver up your leading men to be tried according to law ; second, that you deliver up your arms-this has been attended to. The third is, that you give over your properties to defray the expense of the war-this you have also done. Another thing yet remains for you to comply with-that is, that you leave the state forthwith; and whatever your feelings concerning this affair, whatever your innocence, it is nothing to me. General Lucas, who is equal in authority with me, has made this treaty with you. I am determined to see it executed. The orders of the Governor to me were that you should be exterminated, and not allowed to continue in the state; and had your leaders not been given up, and the treaty complied with, before this, you and your families would have been destroyed, and your houses in ashes.
"There is a discretionary power vested in my hands, which I shall try to exercise for a season. - I do not say that you shall go now; but you must not think of staying here another season, or of putting in crops; for the moment you do, the citizens will be upon you. I am determined to see the Governor's message fulfilled, but shall not come upon you imine- diately. Do not think that I shall act as I have done any more-but if I have to come again, because the treaty which you have made here shall be broken, you need not expect any mercy, but extermination, for I am determined the Governor's order shall be executed. As for your leaders, do not once think-do not imagine for a moment, do not let it enter your minds-that they will be delivered, or that you will see their faces again; for their fate is fixed, their die is cast, their doom is sealed.
"I am sorry, gentlemen, to see so great a number of apparently in- telligent men found in the situation that you are; and, Oh! that I could invoke the spirit of the unknown God to rest upon you, and deliver you from that awful chain of superstition, and liberate you from those fetters
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of fanaticism with which you are bound. I would advise you to scatter abroad, and never again organize with bishops, presidents, etc., lest you excite the jealousies of the people, and subject yourselves to the same calamities that have now come down upon you. You have always been the aggressors, and you have brought upon yourselves these difficulties by being disaffected, and not being subject to rule-and my advice is, that you become as other citizens, lest by a recurrence of these events, you bring upon yourselves irretrievable ruin."
The prisoners were taken to Richmond under a heavy guard, where they were charged with several crimes, of high treason against the state, murder, burglary, arson, robbery and larceny.
According to Joseph Smith, they were imprisoned in the jail at Rich- mond and chained together with chains and padlocks and suffered all manner of abuse. At the investigation that followed all the prisoners, except Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Alexander McRae and Caleb Baldwin and Sidney Rigdon, were released, but these were committed to jail to await trial before Judge Austin A. King.
After being incarcerated for five months, during which time efforts . were being made to secure their release, an appeal was made to the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri for a writ of habeas corpus. In the meantime only one was brought to trial. Gibbs was tried and acquitted and the cases against the others were finally dropped, Smith and Pratt having escaped and left the state.
CHAPTER XI.
MORMON EVACUATION.
GOVERNOR BOGGS INTERVIEWED-MORMONS BANISHED FROM THE STATE -- "DIS- SENTERS"-RETURN OF THE TWELVE-FAR WEST A DESERTED VILLAGE -- A MEMORY.
The Mormons sent representatives to Jefferson City and interviewed Governor Boggs, acquainting him with their side of the controversy, and he told them that the stipulations entered into by the Mormons to leave the state, and sign a deed of trust, were unconstitutional and not valid. Elder David H. Redfield presented the matter to the Legislature, where it was discussed at great length. A petition was presented to the House by John Carroll. Childs, of Jackson County, in speaking on this matter, said: "There is not a word of truth in it, so far as I have heard, and it ought never been presented to this House. Not long ago we appropriated $2,000 to their relief, and now they have petitioned for the pay of their lands, which we took away from them. We got rid of a great evil when we drove them from Jackson County, and we have had peace there ever since; and the state will always be in difficulty so long as they suffer them to live in the state; and the quicker they get that petition from before this body, the better." The House finally dropped the whole matter and noth- ing further was ever done in regard to it.
Having been banished from the state, the Mormons decided to settle in Illinois, and selected Hancock County as their future home. During December, 1838, and January, 1839, in the midst of very inclement weather, many of the Mormons, including women and children, the aged and sick, as well as the strong, set out for Illinois, making the entire distance in mid-winter on foot. A large majority, however, remained until spring, as under the terms of the treaty they were allowed to remain in the county until that time. They offered their land for sale at very small figures, but very little of it was ever sold and conveyed, as attested by almost in-
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numerable suits to quiet title which have been filed in the Circuit Court from that day to this, and even now there is seldom a session of court whose docket does not carry one or more cases to quiet the title to "Mor- mon" lands, the record title being defective about the time of the evacua- tion of that people. Many Mormons were forced to abandon their lands and these were afterward settled upon by Gentiles, who secured some semblance of title by paying the taxes and having possession.
Quite a number of Mormon "dissenters" refused to follow the Prophet to Illinois, and remained in Caldwell County, where some of their de- scendents still remain. These were of two classes. One class still em- braced the Mormon faith, but refused to be governed by the then authori- ties of the church, and to follow them to Illinois. To this class the Whitmers belonged. They have descendants living now in the vicinity of old Far West. The other class comprised those who renounced entirely both the faith and practices of the church, alleging they had been deluded and deceived, but that now their eyes were opened to the true character of Mormonism, which they charged to be a humbug, upheld and covered over by a few unscrupulous men who sought their own temporal and per- sonal welfare alone.
By the 10th of May, 1839, all Mormons in good fellowship had left Missouri for the new Mormon city, Nauvoo, Ill.
Whatever may be truthfully said about the justice of the handling of the Mormon problem by the state, and however the Mormons may have deserved punishment, the manner, in which they were compelled to leave the state and the suffering which they endured in that journey is one of the most pathetic and deplorable chapters yet written in the history of this people. In this narrative the writer has quoted more from Mormon publications and has given perhaps more from their viewpoint than from the opposite, for the reason that the material was available and seeming authentic. It can not be denied that there was two sides to the contro- versy, but an impartial observer, in the light of history, is forced to the conclusion that the expulsion of the Mormons from the state was neither justified nor necessary, and was a mistake of the gravest kind on the part of the authorities. If the Mormons were the kind of people to require such drastic action, criminal and treasonable in character, it was not the part of good citizenship to inflict them on a neighbor state. Doubtless the Gentiles had much to complain of. In that day on the frontier only a rough sense of justice obtained and religion received scant attention, and
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it was but a natural consequence that a sect laying such stress on their peculiar belief should come in contact with opposition.
The Church History of the Latter Day Saints, Vol. 2, page 552, is an account that is interesting in connection with Far West:
"There is one event of this time which we can not pass without men- tion, viz: the return of the Twelve to Far West amid dangers, in the face of a threatening mob, as they believed, by command of God. There were five of the Twelve who made this journey from Illinois, accompanied by others, viz: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, and John E. Page. They assembled on the Temple Lot with several of their brethren on April 26, 1839. They then commenced laying the foundation of the temple by rolling a large stone near the southeast corner, and Elder Alpheus Cutler, master workman, placed it in position. The Twelve then returned to Quincy, taking several families who had not removed during the winter."
This stone is said to be yet found in the location it was left in at that time.
At this time Far West was almost a deserted village. From a city of 2,500 inhabitants, within less than a year it became almost depopulated. It remained the county seat, however, until 1843, when Kingston was laid out as a new county seat of Caldwell County.
Today the spot where Far West was located contains nothing to indi- cate that there ever was a town, except the excavation for the temple, which may be seen at almost its original depth, and a few stone scattered about the temple site. The cemetery west of town gradually fell into disuse, and the place where sleep many of the loved ones of the inhabitants of this extinct city long since has been in cultivation and pasture. The 80 acres which contains the temple site was purchased by Joseph F. Smith, president of the Mormon Church at Salt Lake City, in 1909, from Jacob J. D. Whitmer, a descendant of John Whitmer, paying therefor $7,000, and the title is now held by him. The house where his father lived in Far West was said to have been a one and a half story log house with a large chimney, and stood until in the eighties, when it was torn down.
Far West is buried in the past as effectually as if the earth had opened and engulfed the Mormon city. A few years ago a small frame church was erected across the road and a little to the southwest of the temple site, by the Reorganized Latter Day Saints, who worship there, and doubt- less in the stillness of a Sunday morning they look out upon the beautiful
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farming community and think of the departed glory of the place and look forward to the coming of the time when it will be rebuilt. For the leaders of the church have always claimed that the Mormons would again occupy the land as their Zion, and within the past few years a large number of them have been coming into the country and settling.
CHAPTER XII.
RECONSTRUCTION.
GENTILE SETTLERS-PUBLIC LANDS-ABANDONED FARMS-"SMOKED" TITLES - COUNTY SEAT REMOVED TO KINGSTON-WATER MILLS-TRADING POINTS AND PRICES - EARLY RELIGIOUS SERVICES - "LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN"- KINGSTON LAID OUT AND LOTS SOLD.
The departure of the Mormons in the spring of 1839 left the county with only a few hundred inhabitants, whereas the population had exceeded 5,000. But there soon was an advent into the county of parties who had purchased Mormon claims and lands at ridiculously low prices, and now sought to make all they could out of them. The abandoned cabins were occupied by Gentile settlers here and there throughout the county, who completed the improvements on the farms which had been begun by the Mormons. As late as 1885 to 1890 there were yet quite a number of these log cabins in Mirabile Township, situated here and there, standing in their delapidated condition, unoccupied save for bats and owls, a mute reminder of other days. So far as the writer knows, there is but one standing in that community today, and is on what was formerly known as the Capt. Ed Johnson farm, northeast of Mirabile. A few years ago it was moved back from the road to give place to a modern residence, and is now used as a storeroom.
Many tracts of land in this county were entered and patents obtained by the location of land warrants given soldiers of the War of 1812. Many of these were bought from the soldiers by speculators and sold to and located by other parties. The sixteenth section of every congressional township was set aside to be sold for the benefit of the public school fund, and could only be offered for sale on petition of a majority of the inhabit- ants of said township. The county court had jurisdiction over the sale of such lands. Some of these sections were sold prior to the year 1850 and were the beginning of the school fund now available for the public schools,
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being loaned on good real estate security by the county court, has been accumulating through the years until now is of quite respectable propor- tions.
The abandonment of such a large number of farms by the Mormons created a situation and a condition that developed land sharks who came into the county to benefit by hook or crook and force settlers to pay large sums for immunity from their alleged interest in the lands. One such shark is mentioned in the "History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties." A man by name of Oliver B. Craig, a Kentuckian from Lexington, came into the county, having in his possession a large number of government land patents for land in this county, on which many settlers were living in undisputed possession, as they thought. Craig obtained these patents from the Mormons who had originally entered the lands covered by them, and many settlers paid him handsomely to secure the initial and only missing link in their chain of title. "Smoked" titles also came to be quite prevalent and existed even after the Civil war. These were forged and fraudulent deeds written on paper which had been held in a current of smoke until it turned a yellowish color, giving it the appearance of age. Unscrupulous parties ascertained the numbers of certain lands on which they knew settlers were residing without perfect titles, and forging such deeds necessary to complete the title, would present them and demand either possession of the land called for or a cash compromise. The sharpers usually effected a compromise very beneficial to them as a reward for their ingenuity and rascality.
In the history above referred to is a reminiscence of one Judge John Brown, who at that time had lived in Caldwell County since 1839, which gives some interesting facts in connection with the history of the county, and it is here quoted :
"My father, Lowden Brown, settled in this county on the last day of February, 1839. He located on a tract of new land two and a half miles southwest of where Kingston now stands. He was born in Virginia, in 1790, removed to Pulaski County, Kentucky, in 1817 or 1818, and to Lafay- ette County, Missouri, in 1838, where he lived until he came to Caldwell, where he purchased 400 acres of land from the Mormons.
"The Mormons entered about all the land that was worth entering, and some that was not. There was a cabin on nearly every 40 acres of timber land. Those who were not able to buy were furnished land by the church. They seemed to care for the poor and furnished them homess and
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kept them at work. They did a great deal of work, all among themselves, especially building. There were many excellent mechanics among them, but they had not made many public improvements. They built one large schoolhouse near Far West, which was moved before it was quite finished into the town and completed and used as a courthouse as long as the county seat was at Far West.
"The county seat was removed to Kingston in 1843 and the stakes were stuck where the courthouse now stands, where then was a little field in cultivation about as large as the present public square. All around was thick brush. A small road passed east and west a little south of the public square, leading from Far West to Salem, two miles east of Kingston.
"At this time there were three water mills in the county, all on Shoal Creek-two in the eastern part of the county (Haun's and White's), and one north of Far West (Fugitt's). There was a good horse mill north of Far West. It was owned by a Mormon named Gardner, who stayed there some years after the Mormons left.
"After the Mormons were driven out, this county was settled by citizens of various states. Although strangers to each other at first, all soon became acquainted, and helped one another as if they all belonged to one family. The settlers labored under many disadvantages. Every man invested his money in land. The country was new and this land had to be put in cultivation and the people supported from it. Very slow progress was made. There was but very little money in circulation; all had been invested in land.
"Very good crops were raised. Wheat was fine, but it could not be sold for cash ; it was hauled to Lexington and bartered for groceries. All the money that the farmers seemed to want was enough to pay their taxes. Dressed pork was worth $1.25 per hundred weight; milch cows, $10 each; good horses, $40-all in trade. Those were hard times, but the people did not complain and seemed to enjoy life. The people had con- fidence in one another, and every man advised and counseled with his neighbor for the best-especially how to keep out of debt. No property was mortgaged to secure a debt; a simple note of hand was sufficient.
"Taxes were very low-about 25 cents on the $100. There were very few men whose taxes amounted to $5. Land was not taxed until about 1842. Under the law then land was not taxed until five years after it had been entered.
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"The first murder in the county was that of Beatty, by Capt. Sam I. Bogart, at Far West, in November, 1839.
"Some of the settlers were Christians, and it was not long after the first settlement until preaching was had in their log cabin homes. I think the first sermon after the Mormons left was preached in my father's house in June, 1839, by Dr. Rainwater, a local Methodist preacher, then of Knox- ville, Ray County, and now of St. Louis. People came from all parts of the county to the meeting. The next year the conference sent a traveling preacher up from Richmond. He preached and organized a class at my father's house, and another at Far West; he also preached at the house of Ed Jones, in the western part of the county.
"The Old School Baptists held services on Log Creek in about 1842, and the Methodists had meetings in Kingston as soon as there was a suitable house to preach in. I believe the first church house in the county was built by the Presbyterians at Mirabile in 1854, and the next by the members of the M. E. Church, South, at Kingston, in 1860, but the latter was not completed until after the close of the war, and was then sold to the Christian Church, as there was not a class then of the Southern Methodists."
The last named church is yet standing, the oldest church in the county, and has been in constant use almost all the time by the same denomination, until about three years ago, when they joined in a com- munity church plan with other denominations.
"A minister named Wooster was killed by lightning in Kingston, in about 1848. He lived near Elk Grove, south of Breckenridge. He came into town one Saturday evening to have his large prairie plow mended, and left his buggy standing on the northeast corner of the square, and sought shelter from the approaching storm in the house, put up by Mr. Doak, the first in the place-and still standing."
This house was moved to Kingston from Far West. The above was written in 1886, and the house is yet standing in 1922, in the same loca- tion, and is used as a garage! What a change in affairs and in occupancy has this old landmark witnessed in these years !
Continuing Mr. Brown's narrative: "He was standing in front by the fireplace, in the east room, when a thunderbolt struck the chimney and, passing through the wall, came down and tore to pieces a clock that stood on the mantel over the fireplace and killed the minister instantly.
(17)
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Some persons believed one of the clock weights struck him and killed him."
The first presidential campaign which took place after Caldwell County was organized was that of 1840, which is generally known as the "Log Cabin Campaign." The campaign became exciting in Caldwell among the local partisans. A Democratic meeting was held at Far West, addressed by Hon. Austin A. King, the man in whose honor the new county seat, Kingston, was afterward named. A small Whig meeting was also held there and addressed by James H. Birch. The Democrats carried the county by a small margin.
After the Mormon evacuation, Far West continued to be the county seat, but the center of population gradually moved nearer the center of the county and complaints arose about the location of the county seat, and a new county seat was demanded by the citizens. In 1842, John Skidmore was, at the August election, chosen representative from Caldwell County, and he succeeded in having a bill passed by the Legislature appointing commissioners to locate a new capital for Caldwell County. The commis- sioners appointed were: George W. Dunn, of Ray; Littleberry Sublette, of Clay; Robert D. Ray, of Carroll; John Austin, of Livingston, and Mil- ford Donaho, of Daviess.
Only Dunn, Ray and Donaho acted in that capacity, and they first selected a tract of land on Log Creek, two miles southwest of the present site, but the owner, W. B. Bryan, would not donate more than 40 acres to the county. The commissioners then chose the present site, and James Ramsey and William Hill between them donated 160 acres for county seat purposes.
In the spring of 1843 the town was regularly laid out, and Charles J. Hughes, then a young lawyer of Far West, was appointed commissioner to sell the lots. The commissioners named the town Kingston, in honor of Judge Austin A. King, of Richmond, who was Circuit judge, before whom the Mormon leaders were arraigned. He was afterward elected Governor of Missouri, and when the war came on was a decided Union man.
The lots in the new town were sold at auction and the proceeds used in building the first rude courthouse.
CHAPTER XIII.
MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS-1843-1860.
COUNTY RECORDS REMOVED TO KINGSTON-THE MILITIA-MEXICAN WAR-GOLD FEVER-BUILDING OF RAILROADS SLAVERY QUESTION AGITATED.
At the time of the removal of the county seat to Kingston, the popu- lation was not to exceed 1,500, and but little public business was done. All records were removed from Far West and placed in the new courthouse, which was built in 1844, which was a log building.
Among the most interesting events of that early day were the militia musters which took place in the county up to the time the law for same was repealed in 1846. The able-bodied men of the county between the ages of 18 and 45 constituted the militia. This force was divided into companies, battalions, regiments, brigades and divisions. Sixty men con- stituted a company, three companies a battalion, two battalions a regi- ment, and certain counties comprised a brigade or division. Some counties had two or more regiments, but the population of Caldwell County was so small that it had only one. Col. Thomas N. O. Butts was elected colonel by this regiment and was commissioned by the Governor.
The militia were required under the law to meet at stated times for drill and instruction, and those who failed to be present were fined or im- prisoned, unless they presented a good excuse. The first battalion musters were held at Salem in 1841, and later regimental musters were held at Kingston.
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