History of Cooper County, Missouri, Part 4

Author: Johnson, William Foreman, b. 1861
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Topeka : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Missouri > Cooper County > History of Cooper County, Missouri > Part 4

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).

When France, in 1803, vested the title to this vast territory in the United States, it was subject to the claims of the Indians. This claim our government justly recognized. Therefore, before the government of the United States could vest clear title to the soil in the grantees, it was necessary to extinguish title by purchase. This was accordingly done by treaties made with the Indians at various times.

When Missouri was admitted as a territory in 1812 by James Madison, it embraced what is now the state of Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, west of the Mississippi, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, Nebraska. Montana, and most of Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. It has therefore been truly said that Missouri is the mother of all the great west.

CHAPTER III.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

DANIEL BOONE-BOONSLICK COUNTRY-FIRST TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS- LEWIS AND CLARK-NATHAN AND DANIEL BOONE MAKE SALT-CHRISTY AND HEATH-BENJAMIN COOPER-FIGHT WITH INDIANS-INDIANS MEET GENERAL CLARK-COOPERS AND COLES SETTLE PERMANENTLY-FIRST SETTLERS SOUTH OF RIVER-CONDITIONS MET-FIRST SETTLERS IN BOONS- LICK COUNTRY-OTHER SETTLERS SOUTH OF RIVER-ENGLISH STIR UP INDIANS-FIRST DEEDS RECORDED.

While the preceding chapters deal with history, largely speculative and inferential, leading up to the year 1804, when the United States took possession of Upper Louisiana, the present chapter is the story based on actual facts from 1804 to 1812, of the Central Boonslick country, and particularly that portion of the same on the south and north banks of the Missouri, in what is now the northern part of Cooper County and the southern part of Howard. So intimately correlated are the events on both banks of the river, that the story of one is the story of the other.

Over a century of time has elapsed since the first hardy pioneer built his cabin in the wilderness which is now known to the world as Cooper county. During the period which has passed since the first settler braved the hardships and privations of the unknown and undeveloped country bordering upon the shores of the mighty Missouri, a wonderful trans- formation has taken place.

Cooper County has risen to become one of the wealthiest in Missouri and is one of the leaders in value of farm crops and farm wealth. It has become famous for enterprise and industry, and ranks among the first counties of the great state of Missouri in the prosperity of her citizens. All this has been accomplished by the men and women who

HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

have delved into its rich soil and developed the limitless resources of the county.

It has furnished to the state and nation men eminent in the councils of both and famed in statesmanship. Its citizens have won distinction in the professions and in letters, have been in the van of advanced agri- culture, horticulture and stock-breeding, and have in remote sections of our great country, carried with them the vigor of mind and body that shed luster in their adopted homes.

Schools have multiplied and towns have been built upon the broad expanse of her territory; the old trails have given away to well-kept highways; steam locomotives haul palatial trains where once the slow moving ox-teams transported merchandise to and from the Missouri.

Even the buggy and carriage, once the evidence of prosperity, have been superceded by the more elegant, more comfortable and speedier means of travel, the automobile. The telegraph, the telephone and the wireless have bound together distant communities. Distance has been eliminated and time conserved.

The history of Cooper County, from the time of the red men and the first hardy adventurers and pioneers, involves a wondrous story which is well worth preserving. States and nations preserve their history, but the story of a county and its creation and development touches a chord of home life and home making which is dearer and nearer than that which is purely informational.

Daniel Boone, whose name is so intimately connected with the carly pioneer history of Kentucky, when an old man, lost his holdings in that state by reason of defective land titles. Though learned in wood- craft and versatile in Indian lore, he knew little of man-made laws. Chagrined and baffled, but with never quailing heart, he determined to move farther west where he would not be elbowed by a crowding civil- ization. He secured a grant of land on the Femme Osage, in what is now St. Charles County, in the state of Missouri, and eventually located there about 1797. He was strong and vigorous, and for several years thereafter hunted and trapped up and down the Missouri River, depend- ing solely and alone upon nature and his trusty rifle for all his wants.

When Hunt, in his expedition across the continent, on Jan. 17, 1811, touched with his boats at Charette, one of the old villages founded by the original French colonists, he met with Daniel Boone. This renowned patriarch of Kentucky, who had kept in advance of civilization and on the borders of the wilderness, was still leading a hunter's life, though then in

HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

his 83d year. He had but recently returned from a hunting and trapping expedition, and had brought nearly 60 beaver skins as trophies of his skill. This old man was still erect in form, strong of limb and unflinching in spirit. As he stood on the river bank, watching the departure of an expedition destined to traverse the wilderness to the very shores of the Pacific, very probably his pulse beat the faster and he felt a throb of his old pioneer spirit impelling him to shoulder his rifle, and join the adven- turous band that was to travel lands heretofore unexplored, again braving the wilderness and the savage.

Boone flourished several years after this meeting in a vigorous old age, the master of hunters and backwoodsmen, and he died full of sylvan honor and renown, in 1820, in his 92d year.

John Peck, that noted pioneer Baptist preacher, in his memoirs of the Louisiana Territory, thus describes Boone:

"His high, bold forehead was slightly bald, and his silvered locks were combed smooth, his countenance was ruddy and fair and exhibited the simplicity of a child, a smile frequently played over his countenance ; in conversation his voice was soft and melodious; at repeated interviews an irritable expression was never heard; his clothing was the coarse, plain manufacture of the family, but every thing denoted that kind of com- fort that was congenial to his habits and feelings, and evinced a busy, happy old age. His room was a part of a range of log cabins kept in order by his affectionate daughters and grand daughters. Every member of the household appeared to take delight in administering to his comforts; he was sociable and communicative in replying to questions, but did not intro- duce incidents of his own history. He was intelligent, for he had treas- ured up the experience and observation of more than fourscore years "not moody and unsociable as if desirous of shunning society and civil- ization." This was in 1816, four years before the death of Boone.

This brief mention of Daniel Boone is but a small tribute to the man from whom, because of his noble traits and unique career, the Boonslick Country, Boone County, and Boonville take their names.

Boonslick Country .- In one of his many hunting and trapping expe- ditions, Boone came into Howard County and discovered certain salt springs, about eight miles northwest of what is now New Franklin. These springs were for many years thereafter known as Boonslick, from them this section of country took its name. All of the present state of Mis- souri lying west of Cedar Creek and north and west of the Osage river, and extending practically to what is now the state line on the west and

HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

north, was for many years known as the Boonslick Country. The first settlers who came to this section knew it only by that name, as at that time no counties were formed in the central part of the state. There is no reliable evidence nor substantial tradition that Boone ever permanently resided at this Lick, but it is certain that he camped near there, prob- ably on many occasions. Nor is there substantial evidence that he ever resided in the present county of Cooper, yet it is very probable that he frequently crossed to the south side of the Missouri river, and trapped and hunted along the Missouri in what is now Cooper County.

Samuel Cole, a member of one of the first white families which settled in the present limits of Cooper County, has been positive in his statement that Daniel Boone never lived farther west than St. Charles County. The conclusion, therefore, is inevitable that those who have assumed that Boone ever resided permanently in either Howard or Cooper County are in error. However, John W. Peck, who in the early days traveled in this section, gives a very interesting account of his observations and experi- ences.

A few years before the old hunter's death, Peck visited him in his home in what is now St. Charles County. He states that Boone pitched his tent for one winter at the salt springs, afterwards known as Boone's Lick, and later put up a cabin there. Mr. Peck does not give the date. The presumption is that he got his information from the lips of the old hunter himself, and we would further suppose that Boone camped there between the years 1797 and 1804, likely nearer the former date than the latter for the reason that he was at that time younger and more robust, and more inclined than he was later to enjoy sylvan sports, the chase and the hunt.

First Temporary Settlements .- Joseph Marie, in the year 1800, set- tled upon lands situated near what is known as "Eagle's Nest", about one mile southwest of where Fort Kincaid was afterward erected, in what is now Franklin township, Howard County, and erected improvements thereon. This has been controverted, but we give it again for what it is worth.

The first authentic record we have dealing with any settlement is a deed executed in the year 1816, transferring the above lands by this same Joseph Marie to Asa Morgan, whose name is so intimately connected with some of the first land deals in this section, and who with Lucas laid out the town of Boonville. We give this deed at the end of this chapter.

Also in the year 1800, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Louisiana,

HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

Charles Dehault Delasus, granted to Ira P. Nash, a large tract of land in what is now Howard County. This land was surveyed on Jan. 26, 1804, and certified to on Feb. 15th of that year. We also append at the end of this chapter a copy of the deed transferring this land. In the latter part of February, Ira P. Nash the above named, a Deputy United States surveyor, together with Stephen Hancock and Stephen Jackson, came up the Missouri River and located a claim on public lands nearly opposite the mouth of the Lamine River, north of Cooper County. They remained there until March, of the same year, employing their time in surveying, hunting and fishing, and during that month returned to their homes, on the Missouri River, about five miles above St. Charles.

In July of the same year, Ira P. Nash, with James H. Whiteside, William Clark and Daniel Hubbard came again into what is now Howard County, and surveyed a tract of land near the present site of Old Franklin. On this trip, it is stated, Mr. Nash claimed that on his former trip when he came up the river in February, he had left a compass in a certain hollow tree. He and two other companions started out to find it, and agreed to meet the remainder of the company the next day at what was known as "Boone's and Barkley's Lick." This he did, bringing the compass with him, thus proving beyond a doubt that he had visited the country before. This incident is remembered as having been important, in the early days, in bearing on the title of Nash's land.

Lewis and Clark Expedition .- When Lewis and Clark in their won- derful exploring expedition across the continent to the Pacific Ocean, came up the Missouri river, they arrived near where the Boone Femme flows into the Missouri river, on the north side, and camped there for the night. This was on June 7, 1804. . When they arrived at the mouth of the Big Moniteau Creek, they found a point of rocks covered with strange heirog- lyphic paintings that deeply aroused their interest, but this place was infested with such a large number of rattlesnakes, that a closer examina- tion was rendered hazardous and practically impossible. As they traveled up the river they arrived at the mouth of the Lamine on June 8th and on the 9th they reached what is now Arrow Rock. This expedition re- turned from its journey in 1806, after thrilling experiences, having suc- cessfully accomplished all the purposes for which it was sent out.

In passing down the Missouri River, on Sept. 18th, the expedition camped on the north side of the Missouri river, opposite the mouth of the Lamine. Passing up the Missouri in 1804, and down on their return trip

HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

in 1806, they passed the present sites of Boonville and Franklin, and doubtless made short explorations on both sides of the river.

The next positive evidence that we have of any white person being in the country is the following :

Nathan and Daniel Boone Make Salt at Boonslick .- In 1807, Nathan and Daniel M. Boone, sons of old Daniel Boone, who lived with their father in what is now St. Charles County, about 25 miles west of the city of St. Charles, on the Femme Osage Creek, came up the Missouri River and manufactured salt at Boone's Lick in what is now Howard County. After they had manufactured a considerable amount of salt they shipped it down the river to St. Louis, where they sold it. It is thought by many that this is the first instance of salt being manufactured in what was at that time a part of the territory of Louisiana, now the state of Missouri, however soon after this sale was manufactured in large quantiitiies, salt licks being discovered in many parts of the state.

These were the first white persons who remained for any length of time in the Boonslick country, but they were not permanent settlers. They came only to make salt or hunt, and left soon thereafter.

So far as authentic records give us light, the foregoing were the first white settlers who came to this section of the Boonslick country. Thus we see that prior to 1808 three parties had entered it while on exploring and surveying expeditions. Two parties had been to its fine salt licks to make salt. It must not be assumed, however, that these were the first white men who came into this section of the state. There had been for many years settlements in the eastern part of the state and especially on the Mississippi River. Doubtless many of these hardy pioneers, on their hunting expeditions, tracked the forest to the Boonslick country. Many years before 1800, French traders and Spanish voyageurs were wont to trap, hunt and traffic with the Indians, up and down the Missouri River. Suffice it to say that these white men who came to this section were not looked upon by the Indians in surprise and wonder. They knew the ways of the white man, and gave evidence of having had previous dealings with him.

Christy and Heath Make Salt in Cooper County .- William Christy and John J. Heath came up from St. Louis in 1808, and manufactured salt in what is now Blackwater township, Cooper County, at a place now known as Heath's Lick. For years afterwards, Heath made salt at the same place every summer and shipped it to St. Louis, in hollow logs closed at

HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

each end by chunks of wood and clay. The salt springs where Heath's salt works were located is known as Heath's Creek, named after him, as was also Heath's Lick.

In 1804, when the United States took formal possession of the province of of Louisiana, it became the territory of Louisiana, and was afterwards divided into the Upper Louisiana Territory, and the Orleans, or Lower Louisiana Territory, to the former of which this section belonged. It was then that the rugged American pioneer looked with longing eyes towards the West, seeking cheap lands, a new home and adventure. Soon there started a stream of immigration from the south, east and north, but the first settlers were principally from the southern states.

Benjamin Cooper First Settler in Boonslick Country .- Benjamin Cooper was the first permanent settler in the section. In the spring of the year 1808, he and his family, consisting of his wife and five sons, moved to the Boonslick country, about two miles southwest of Boonslick in the Missouri River bottom. Here he had sought cheaper lands and a new home, together with the necessary adventures second to his sturdy nature. He built a cabin cleared a small piece of ground and began the preliminary work for a permanent home. However, he was located so far beyond the protection of the government that Governor Merriweather Lewis, then governor of the territory issued an order directing him to return below the mouth of the Gasconade River. Cooper was so far ad- vanced in the Indian country, and so far away from the protection of the government, that in case of Indian wars, he would be without other aid and unable to protect himself against the depredations of the ruthless savages. So he returned to Loutre Island, about four miles below the mouth of the Gasconade River, and remained there until the year 1810. This precaution was perhaps due to the fact that Indians were being stirred and exploited by our then quandam friends, the English, in some cases being supplied by them with guns and ammunition.

As Stephen Cole and Hannah Cole and families were the first perma- nent settlers in Cooper County, it may be of special interest to the reader to learn something about them.

Stephen Cole and William Temple Cole Fight With Indians .- Stephen Cole and William Temple Cole were born in New River, Wythe County, Virginia. There they married sisters named Allison, and emigrated to the southern part of the Cumberland, Wayne County, Kentucky. In 1807, they came to Upper Louisiana, and settled on or near Loutre Island, about the same time that the Coopers settled on that island.

HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

In 1810, a roving band of about eighteen Pottowattomies, led by a war chief named Nessotingineg, stole a number of horses from the settlers of Loutre Island on the Missouri. A volunteer company consisting of Stephen Cole, William Temple Cole, Sarshall Brown, Nicholas Gooch, Abraham Potts, and James Mordock, was formed with Stephen Cole, then captain of the militia of Loutre Island, as leader. The company proposed to follow the Indians and recapture the stolen property.

The volunteer company followed the Indians up the Loutre Creek, about 20 miles, and came to a place where the Indians had peeled bark, evidently to make halters, there the white men stopped for the night. The next morning they followed the Indian trail about thirty miles across Grand Prairie, just as they emerged from a small patch of timber, sud- denly discovered the Indians with the horses.

William Temple Cole and Sarshall Brown, on the fastest horses, started in pursuit, the others following them. So hard did they press their pursuit upon the Indians, who did not know the number of whites chasing them, and who were apprehensive that they might be captured in their wild flight, that they threw their packs into a plum thicket near a pool of water, and they scattered in the woods. These packs, consisting of buffalo robes, deer skins and partly tanned leather, they had stolen from Sarshall Brown.

Night overtaking the party, they went into camp on the Waters of Salt River at a place known as Bonelick, 65 miles from the Loutre settle- ment, and about a mile or two northwest of the present city of Mexico, in Audrain County. Here contrary to the advice of their leader Stephen Cole, they without posting any sentinels, tied their horses in the thicket. After broiling some meat for supper, they went to sleep, with the excep- tion of Stephen Cole, who with the sagacity of the experienced frontiers- man, was apprehensive of an attack. They had not been asleep long, when Cole thought he heard the cracking of a bush. He told his brother to get up, for he believed the Indians were near. However everything remained still. and solemn quietude prevailed. Stephen Cole pulled his saddle against his back and shoulders, and sought again his repose after the hard day's chase, but still impressed with impending danger. The Indians, who had crawled up so near that, by the light of the little camp fire, they could see the faces of their unsuspecting victims, waited but a short time till all was quiet then they opened a volley upon the party, instantly killing Gooch and Brown, wounding William Temple Cole and another one of the men. A hand-to-hand struggle between the Indians

HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

and Stephen Cole then took place in which Cole killed four Indians and wounded a fifth; the remaining members of the Indian band disappeared.

Stephen Cole then went into a nearby pool and squatted in the water to wash the blood from the many wounds which he had received. After a little while the Indians returned, found Temple Cole and killed him. Patton, who had managed to get off some distance, also was found dead near a little sapling. Stephen Cole, after stanching the flow of blood from his wounds left the scene of the bloody encounter. The next morning, after he had gone about two or three miles, he sat down on a small gopher hill to rest, when he discovered two mounted Indians some distance away. They eyed him for a few minutes, then wheeled their horses and disap- peared. He reached the settlement on the third day nearly famished, having had not a morsel to eat during all this time. James Moredock escaped unhurt, and it is said that if he had acted with one-half the bravery of Stephen Cole, the Indians would have been defeated.

Samuel Cole, a son of William Temple Cole, says that the Indians did not scalp the whites in this encounter. Peace was supposed to prevail between the Indians and settlers. This skirmish proved to be the begin- ning of the Indian troubles on the Missouri River.

It is possible that this band of Pottowattomies had been on the war path against the Osages, and since the war trail from the Pottowattomies' led to the mouth of the Gasconade, near which Loutre Island is situated in the Missouri River, the temptation to steal some of the horses of the settlers had been too great for the Indians to forego. At any rate, so far as we know they did no personal injury to the settlers, except yielding to their penchant for stealing. If they had been bent upon more serious mischief, they undoubtedly could and would have perpetrated it.

James Cole, a son of Stephen Cole, says that in this fight Stephen Cole received 26 wounds, and that on his way home he chewed some elm bark and placed it on his wounds. Stephen Cole was killed by the Indians on the banks of the Rio Grande near El Paso in 1824. Cole was a strong, virile, robust, uneducated, but sagacious frontiersman. On one occasion he was present at a session of the legislature, says Houck, when two mem- bers who had been opponents in a spirited debate during the session, engaged in a fight, after adjournment for the day and clinched. This was a common occurrence in those days when physical strength and prowess were so greatly esteemed. Governor McNair, who happened to be pres- ent, tried to separate them, but Cole seized the governor and pulled him

HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

away, saying, "In sich a scrimmage a governor is no more than any other man."

Saukees and Renards Meet with General Clark .- It was shortly after the Loutre Island incident that a delegation of the Saukees or Sacs, and · the Renards or Foxes, had a meeting with General Clark in St. Louis and assured him that they were peaceably inclined. Quashquama, in a speech to Clark, said: "My father, I left my home to see my great-grandfather, the president of the United States, but as I cannot proceed to see him, I give you my hand as to himself. I have no father to whom I have paid any attention but yourself. If you hear anything, I hope that you will let me know, and I will do the same. I have been advised several times to raise the tomahawk. Since the last war we have looked upon the Amer- icans as friends, and I shall hold you fast by the hand. The Great Spirit has not put us on the earth to war with the whites. We have never struck a white man. If we go to war it is with the red flesh. Other nations send belts among us, and urge us to war. They say that if we do not, the Americans will encroach upon us, and drive us off our lands."

This was fine-sounding and very romantic speech in light of what fol- lowed. In the war that started in 1812, and from then until its close, in 1815, these same Saukees and Renards, some of whom lived in this sec- tion, committed atrocious deeds, and gave the early pioneer settlers much trouble. But all the tribulations of the settlers at this time cannot be attributed to these tribes alone, as other roving bands of savages infested 'the country.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Cooper County, Missouri, Part 4

Author: Johnson, William Foreman, b. 1861 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Topeka : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Johnson, William Foreman, b. 1861
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Topeka : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1464