USA > Missouri > Dunklin County > History of Dunklin County, Mo., 1845-1895 Embracing an historical account of the towns and post-villages of Clarkton, Cotton Plant, Cardwell, Caruth [etc.] Including a department devoted to the description of the early appearance, settlement, development, resources With an album of its people and homes, profusely illustrated > Part 7
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HALCOMB.
This is a town on the St. Louis, Kennett & Southern Railroad. It was quite a thriving village before the
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railroad came through; many say it was a more thriving town then than now. Owing to a dispute which arose between the people of the town and the railroad company, the depot was, first built about a mile below town, and the station called Pine City in honor of the Lone Pine near by. However, a satis- factory settlement was at length made, a depot erected at Halcomb, and the station at Pine City discontinued. The town has several stores, the oldest general mer- chant being Judge John A. Hogue. Dr. I. W. Powell has a very nice drug store here, and is one of the leading physicians ; the others are Drs. G. W. Quinn, W. G. Hughes and E. T. Applegate.
Halcomb has a good school building and supports a good school eight months in the year, and two churches, Baptist and Methodist. A legacy was set apart by Mrs. Hogue to build a Presbyterian church on that church lot in Halcomb, so that it will soon have three churches. The largest Union Sunday-school in the county is carried on in the Methodist church at this place under the supervision of Dr. E. T. Applegate and Rev. Owenby.
Halcomb has been a great lumber center, but the saw-mill business is not so brisk as a few years ago. Considerable farm produce is shipped from this place ; melons and strawberries are two of the most prom- inent products, and these cannot be excelled for either quality or size, and are generally ripe more than a week earlier than in the surrounding counties. Almost anything can be successfully raised around Halcomb that can be grown in this climate, and its agricultural
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resources only need development, for no better soil can be found anywhere. Wheat, oats, clover, corn, grasses, melon, small fruit, poultry and eggs, are raised plentifully here.
Not only the town of Halcomb, but all of Halcomb Island, has improved very rapidly in the last few years. There was not a brick chimney nor a glass window in the neighborhood fifteen years ago. Then one could not see over a quarter of a mile in any direction on account of the heavy timber, and deer roamed the woods in the neighborhood even in the daytime. Now one might stand on a house-top in Halcomb and see farms for a distance of five miles, or as far as the eye can see. Seven churches and six schools with 600 scholars enrolled are within the bounds of the little island.
Col. H. A. Applegate's, the Messrs. Blakemore's, John P. Taylor's [deceased] and Ben F. Hicks' are noted farms. Mr. Hicks' is said to be the most con- veniently arranged and best fenced farm in the county.
THE TOWN OF HORNERSVILLE.
W. H. Horner came to Dunklin County in 1832, and located on the bank of Little River, entering from the Government, at the old land office in Jackson, Mo., the east fractional half of section 8, township 16, range 9, east, and built a large log house - which is yet standing and owned by Wm. Herman - by the side of a mound where he would have dry land in time of an " overflow," and there opened up a small farm.
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Believing he was near the head of navigation on a good trading point, he concluded to lay off a town.
In 1842, he laid out the town of Hornersville, con- taining all of fractional southeast quarter of section 8, township 16, range 9. Commencing at his own dwell- ing place, which is situated on lot one, block one, he laid off the plot along the river bank. The town site is one of the most beautiful in the county ; command- ing a splendid view of the open river, it is higher than the surrounding country and is well drained by Little River, which at this point, more especially in spring, is exceedingly pretty.
The first merchant in the town was Jesse Story, who in later years lived at Weaverville, New Madrid County. Jeff. Mott and Horner and Satterfield were other early business men. Wagster and Douglass, dealers in tobacco, cigars, fine wines, liquors, etc., was plainly discernible on some of the door posts of an old house a few years ago. Joel Chandler was another early resident and merchant of Hornersville. In its early days " Hornerstown " was a brisk trading point; the hunters and Indians bringing their furs to the merchants and buying of them their traps, tents, ammunition, guns, etc.
By 1861 it had become a considerable town, had a schoolhouse, church and Masonic hall. It was, how- ever, nearly destroyed by the war, and for several years after made very slow progress, having not more than one or two small merchandise houses and a grocery or saloon or two. W. F. Shelton kept a saloon in a little house which had no door
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shutter. A box, or some similar contrivance, was
placed across the door at night to keep the cattle out. The counter was a dry goods box; the stock on hand consisted of a barrel of liquor and a tin cup. The cup was filled and passed around to the boys.
Other business men here about this time were Edwards and McCrackin, H. G. Pasley, Henry Stewart, and later Harkey and Schultz. They com- menced business about 1870, and were very successful, soon ranking among the best business men in the county.
Hornersville has at present two general stores, a grocery store, grist mill, two sawmills, and a drug store. The leading merchant is Dr. John L. Mathews, who is one of the best posted men in financial and mercantile matters in Southeast Missouri. Dr. Mathews keeps one of the best stocked general stores south of Kennett, and Pope and Mckay are enlarging their business with encouraging prospects.
Hornersville is one of the best trading points in the south end of the county, and its merchants sell thou- sands of dollars' worth of goods every year.
Some of the lands around this town are subject to overflow in spring, none in the county, however, excel it in fertility. These high waters do not come every spring. The waters have not been high enough to inconvenience Hornersville and vicinity since 1886.
It is a reasonably healthy locality, and thus need only two practicing physicians - Drs. E. T. Anderson and Floyd Kinsolving. A daily hack from Kennett brings the U. S. mails. Tom Kinsolving is postmaster.
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Mrs. Samuel Edmonston and Mrs. W. N. Cole accom- modate the traveling public, and their guests fre- quently dine on wild goose, duck, turkey, venison steak, frog legs and fresh fish, as this is one of the greatest hunting and fishing centers in the county. The history of Hornersville would fill a good-sized volume in itself, and can only be touched lightly here. At first it was only a peaceful little hamlet where the steamboats and keelboats from Memphis landed to exchange their wares for produce, game and furs.
In those days the fur buyers were ordinary person- ages, and in spring laid their sacks of gold in the tents of the hunters as though they were so many sacks of salt. A thief was considered the meanest and most insignificant of all creatures and hence the gold was never touched. Fighting and brawling among the neighbors was unheard of, and preaching at people's houses, singing meetings, corn huskings, old fashioned quiltings and log rollings were frequent occurrences. But all this soon changed, as this place was found to be a good-hiding place for desperadoes, it being impossible to trace them through the dismal swamps of Little River.
John A. Murrell's gang made Hornersville one of their meeting-places, and as the citizens were too scarce to put them down, they had things about their own way for a while. They at first palmed themselves off on the citizens as Masons, and when a man was per- suaded to take the oath, to break it meant certain death, thus the only thing he could do was to " keep quiet," after such persuasion.
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More . will be said about this " gang " elsewhere, but it may be said here that Hornersville was not their only place of meeting in this county, and that they did not commit as much crime here as in many other older and more thickly populated counties. However, there is no doubt but the influence of this "gang" was very demoralizing and that they sowed the seeds of future depravity.
Soon after the suppression of this gang the Civil War broke out, and as Hornersville was about the largest town in the county it was the common stopping- place of the "Yanks," the " Secessionists " and " Guerrillas," when they were in the county. During these hostilities the town hall was burned and the town nearly demolished. It was several years after the war before order was even partially restored, and many so inclined had ample opportunities to cultivate their evil propensities. But be it said in behalf of Hornersville, that although there has been number of murders committed here, there a
has not been more than in other towns of its age, and the many stories of its " desperate " men, have either been exaggerated or made out- right. There has never been a time in the history of Hornersville when a man who acted the gen- tleman was not treated as such, unless, perchance, he fell in the hands of the Murrell gang. Horners- ville was never incorporated, and it must be confessed that the associations of the saloon of former years gave some cause for the stories told of its morals. But it has had no saloon for several years ; its " blind
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tiger " and " dead fall," days are past, and the peo- ple in that locality say it will never have another saloon, at least, until it is incorporated .. The ladies of that vicinity are setting a high standard of morals for the sterner sex, and it seems almost needless to say that the standard is fast being reached. The ladies declare they will never again suffer anything to be said against the morals of their husbands and brothers, for with a few exceptions, they are as gallant, moral and law-abiding as any men in America.
Hornersville has a good church building nearing com- pletion, and in it a Sunday-school, weekly prayer meetings, and weekly singing are carried on for the edification of its people. The people of this vicinity are of the " big-hearted " kind, and if you have occa- sion to visit Hornersville, you will be met with old fashioned Southern hospitality.
The people of this vicinity expect the Paragould and Southeastern Railroad to strike this town. Believing it will come east near the line of the old wagon road known as the " Bear Road," pass through Lulu and Hornersville on its route southeast to Osceola, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn. Should this be the case, Horners- ville has everything to make it the best town between Kennett in this county and Osceola, Ark.
KENNETT.
Dunklin County's capital is centrally situated, one mile east of Varney's river, and is about 270 feet above the mean tidal wave of the Gulf of Mexico, where the
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high or overflow waters never touch it. From the clock tower of the county courthouse one may view many miles of as beautiful and prosperous a county as there is in Southeast Missouri. Kennett is considered the oldest town in the county, and yet Hornersville was laid off in town lots before the former town. But
RESIDENCE OF R. H. JONES.
Kennett was an Indian village long before this county was settled by the whites; and as the Indians thought it a desirable centralizing point, as also did the early settlers, they located and built little log cabins near its present site, until the pioneers dignified it by call- ing it a town.
The Indian chief Chilletacaux, must be given the honor of building the first log hut and, in a way, of
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starting the town of Kennett. He was a progressive Indian and aspired to live in a house instead of a wig- wam. So, according to his progressive views, he built a two roomed log, or pole cabin, planted some peach and apple trees around it and believed himself to be quite up with the times. In his kitchen he built a mortar with attachments for the purpose of pounding his Indian corn into meal for breadstuff. The chief's claim eventually was bought by Howard Moore, who turned the corn mortar into a coffee mortar, and erected near by one of the first grist mills of the county. " Uncle " Dave Moore, who was the second white child born in the county, can yet describe all of those early improvements, and remembers how the little place was first called Chilletacaux, in honor of the Indian chief and his claim.
In 1845, when Dunklin County was organized and Chilletacaux was chosen as the seat of its government the lawyers, who looked after its legal affairs, soon arrived at the conclusion that Chilletacaux was too long and hard a name for a county seat. They made their opinion known to the county's representative in the Legislature and asked him to effect a change of name. He complied, and had the town called Butler. But this name proved unsatisfactory also, as the mails for Butler town and Butler County were continually getting mixed and causing delays and annoyance. Again the representative was appealed to, with the result that Kennett was chosen as a name for Dunklin County's seat of government. The pioneers built a little pole hut to be used for school and church ser-
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HISTORY OF DUNKLIN COUNTY, MO.
vices, and this served as a place of shelter, when shel- ter was necessary, for the first court officials after the organization of the county until the citizens had time to erect a courthouse. This they did in 1847. The building was of logs, but was substantial and suffi- ciently large, and served its purpose admirably until it was destroyed by fire during the war.
The history of the several courthouses of this county has been given elsewhere, and it is sufficient to say here that the present courthouse, erected on the public square, in 1892, is one of the finest in this part of the State, and of which not only Kennett but the entire county is proud.
Kennett's first store was opened by Elbert C. Spil- ler, who was for a time in partnership with James Cude ; they continued in business for several years, and were finally succeeded by A. M. Davis, and J. R. Mccullough, John S. Houston, John H. Marsh, and Campbell Wright. Kennett grew steadily, and had good prospects when the war broke out. This left it, as it did the remainder of the country, in a very deplor- able condition ; business had been suspended, and a heap of ashes marked the remains of what had once been the courthouse; in short, the town had been destroyed and had to be rebuilt again.
W. F. Shelton began business here about the close of the war, commencing in a very crude little log cabin. His present wealth testifies to his having done a prosperous business ; but many of its other citizens seem to have dropped off in a Rip Van Winkle dose, from which they were never fully aroused until the
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whistle of the locomotive was heard in their midst. This occurred about January 1, 1892. True, it had before this begun to cast about and put forth consid- erable energy, although it still enjoyed retiring at 9 P. M., and rising at 6 A. M.
Kennett had to this date built two good churches and a Methodist parsonage. It had a cotton gin and grist mill or two, and general stores were run respect- ively by T. E. Baldwin & Co., Tatum Bros., Phillips & Co., S. S. White & Co., W. F. Shelton, B. Weil, and others. A drug store had been opened by A. B. Mobley, and a family grocery by G. W. Huskey. The brick bank building on the north side of the square had been erected and the citizens were striving for the new courthouse. It was even then a thriving, if a modest town. At present and in the last four years Kennett has been on a prolonged and steady " boom."
A " boom" in this instance does not mean that Kennett has advertised and deceived unwary home- seekers into coming to " the garden spot of America," "a perfect paradise," etc., or described it so that one might expect to see the corn cobs grown around it set with gold dollars instead of ordinary corn, or the cotton bolls filled with silver coin so that it would be easy to gather all one would ever need in a day. Oh, no, Kennett has done nothing of this kind, in fact, it has had less extravagant praise bestowed upon it, and less advertising than any town in this part of the State. Its people have been content to let others find the many advantages they enjoyed as citizens of Kennett and Dunklin Co., believing that its true
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merits would gain more lasting friends than bragged- up localities.
SANDERS INS LOUIS
Kennett makes no claims at being a "perfect paradise," but it is a real live American, Missourian- ized town.
SHELTON BLOCK, KENNETT.
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HISTORY OF DUNKLIN COUNTY, MO.
This may be understood as meaning that the people are descendants from all nationalities, who - or their forefathers long ago - had chosen Missouri as their favorite State, Dunklin as its best county, and Ken- nett as their choice town in their adopted country ; and that they have gone to work with all the energy and bustle - peculiar to the American - to make it just what they want it.
Kennett has nearly 2,000 inhabitants, and they may be said to be typical Missourians as well as Americans. Some might term them a bit old-fashioned, perhaps, for although its gentlemen have caught a whiff of the bicycle craze, its ladies are yet innocent of the bloomers and the "wheeled horse; " and yet the latter understand how to arrange their hair in the latest style, use six yards of silk in a dress sleeve, sing, dance, lead a prayer-meeting, preside over a society club, command and retain the respect of their male com- panions, and rule their part of the nation, not with scolding or the ballot box, but with that something which is called " tact." In this way they appear sub- missive, thereby making mankind happy, but at the same time have their way pretty much the same as all other American women ; and last, but not least, they can teach their children, and personally keep their homes in the good old-fashioned way. Be this woman old-fashioned or otherwise, she is the typical woman of Kennett and of Dunklin County.
The men possess a large number of the good qual- ities and a sprinkling of the less desirable ones peculiar to both sexes and all nations, and are energetic, thrifty,
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HISTORY OF DUNKLIN COUNTY, MO.
law abiding, reverential, money-making and able, regardless of calling. From the saloon man to the doctor of divinity they are always ready to go down into their pockets every time their wives tell them their town needs a new church, the widows and orphans assistance, or any other charitable deed done. These are the men who have given this town a four- years' " boom " which has not yet reached its zenith.
RESIDENCE OF T. E. KING, KENNETT.
These are the kind of men you will find in Kennett and all over Dunklin County. They are thoroughly awake now and are determined to make their corner of " Grand old Missouri," all that any other part of it can be made.
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Two years ago Kennett had a fire which almost swept out the south side of Main street, but the ashes were scarcely more than cool until brick structures as good as any to be found outside of a city had replaced those old frame buildings and the town was really the gainer instead of the loser thereby. It has four attractive churches and a $9,000 public school building. Over 400 scholars are enrolled and under the able tutorage of A. B. Sloan, as principal, and Misses Ida Morgan, Alma Stokes, Ada Summers and Lemma Timberman, assistants. The term is nine months.
The business of the town is of a substantial and lasting kind and can only be exhausted when the county is depopulated. The 5th of September one of Kennett's cotton gins turned out the first bale of cotton for this year, and since that time its gins, four in number, have been kept busy almost day and night, and will continue their work for a month in the new year of 1896. Three steam corn shellers will prepare for market the surplus corn of at least the south end of the county.
Tatum Bros., W. F. Shelton, Jr. & Co., Levi Mer- cantile Co., and B. Weil may be said to be the old and permanent general store companies although there are others who do a good business.
To mention all of the general and fancy grocery companies, hardware and drug stores and other like enterprises would be tedious ; suffice it to say that it has all these, with special delivery wagons, etc., fish, game and cold storage warehouses, lumber yards,
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brick yards, etc. It has a nice new opera hall and a number of handsome brick business houses.
RESIDENCE OF MR. HUNTER, KENNETT.
The Silver Cornet Band has fine instruments, new uniforms and makes fully as good music as any band of its age in this part of the State.
HISTORY OF DUNKLIN COUNTY, .MO. 129
As to hotels, Kennett has three: The Commercial Hotel, presided over by Mrs. E. G. Slicer, who is an all-round hotel woman; The Gatis House, which is a general travelers' home, and the Wyman House, which is the largest in town.
A live growing town always has a live growing newspaper, and Kennett is fully up with the times in this line; and has in the Dunklin DEMOCRAT a most able champion of Dunklin County and its capital. It is now in its new brick office in the Tatum Block. Every subscriber will receive this paper every week in the year and always find something new in it, and this is much more than can be said of many county papers.
Kennett's people believe, and rightly, that they have in Mr. E. P. Caruthers one of the most able editors in the Southeast, and are never afraid to have their county paper compared with any in this part of the State, for after a close comparison one must think just a little more of the Dunklin DEMOCRAT.
The Bank of Kennett has a nice building, a time lock, burglar-proof safe, etc., and a capital stock of $25,000. January 1, 1895, it had a deposit of nearly $72,000. T. E. Baldwin is president, W. F. Shelton, vice-president, and D. B. Pankey, cashier.
The town is in a good condition financially, it is out of debt and the taxes are light. All the business houses, churches, hotels, and the courthouse, as well as the streets, are, without exception, lit by electricity.
Within the last few years there have been a number of valuable additions to the plot of Kennett; among them are the Shelton, Baldwin and Bragg, and the
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railroad companies additions. The lots have been sold and houses erected at such a rapid rate that now there are comparatively few vacant lots for sale.
Kennett never has any vacant houses; one must watch and wait to get a house for any purpose. In America one may have a fair idea of the degree of prosperity of a town or community by the character of its residences ; these speak well for Kennett. Many of the new residences are in architecture and finish unsurpassed by any to be found in a town of its size. Among the handsomest are those of Judge T. E. Baldwin, D. B. Pankey, J. F. Tatum, R. H. Jones, W. G. Bragg, and Mrs. Sturgis. The resi- dences of Drs. Finney and Harrison are exceptionally fine homes.
The St. Louis, Kennett and Southern, and the Kennett and Caruthersville Railroads are among the most potent influences of the prosperity of Kennett. They are doing an immense business, and in a credit- able manner for new roads. A. J. Keerfoot, the retir- ing superintendent, has proved himself a thorough business man of no mean ability, by his rapid manner. of bringing these roads up to their present standard. Louis B. Houck is the present superintendent, and makes Kennett his headquarters.
These roads belong to the Houck System, and will no doubt be all that as enterprising a town as Kennett could desire in the near future. Kennett will always be a good town, surrounded as it is by fine farming land, the most convenient shipping point for the south and central portions of the county; the seat
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of one of the best counties in the State, the resources of which are just being realized, - with moneyed men to back it, it has everything to not only make it, but keep it, a good town.
LULU.
Lulu post-office was established in October, 1883, and named by Judge E. J. Langdon, as he said "in honor of one of his old sweethearts, who, by the by, was one of the most beautiful women I ever saw." Mr. J. T. Karnes was the first postmaster, who, when the office was established, was running a small general dry goods store at that point. As it was too far for the farmers to go to either Cotton Plant, Senath or Cock- rum for their mail, the office was a great convenience to them as well as to Mr. Karnes. Lulu is now a busy little village 17 miles from Kennett and in a fine belt country. It has two general stores, a grist mill and cotton gin. The business is run by J. M. Karnes and J. M. Tucker ; they buy and ship cattle, hogs, cotton, corn, eggs and other produce; in fact do an " all- round " country merchant business, carrying a heavy stock and selling an immense amount of goods. They think theirs will be a good town when the Paragould and Southeastern Railroad is extended from Cardwell. The large and substantial farm houses and other gen- eral improvements tell their own story of fertile soil, energetic farmers and their prosperity. A good school six or eight months in the year, a church house in which two or three denominations preach, are near by. This is a desirable locality to buy land as it can
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