USA > Missouri > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Missouri > Part 17
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"I live on the land I first entered and folks, I am spry if I am over ninety years of age. I have tried to live in peace and harmony with my neighbors and lend them a helping hand when I could."
Mr. Maize died at his home in Cypress Township October 9th, 1921, at the remarkable age of ninety-nine years, two months and four days. He retained unusual mental and physical vigor for one of his age to within a few weeks of his death.
CHAPTER XXXII
REMINISCENNCES-CONTINUED.
JAMES G. TUCKER-CAME HERE IN 1841-OTHERS IN THE PARTY-SETTLED SOUTH OF BETHANY-THE "GRITTER" AND COFFEE MILL-FIRST SCHOOL- INDIANS-WILD TURKEYS AND DEER-WALKING TO LIBERTY-NEATY GAR- TON-ATTENDING "MEETING"-HARRIS' MILL-COUNTY COURT ORGANIZED -A TRIP TO ST. JOSEPH-THRESHING FLOOR-VALUE OF HORSES AND OXEN.
An interesting communication written in 1915 by James G. Tucker of the early settlement is as follows:
"I was born in Indiana about fourteen miles from Greencastle, No- vember 8, 1824. When quite young I moved with my parents to Illinois and settled on the Mackinaw River about fifteen miles from Bloomington, where father built a mill.
"In the spring of 1841 we started to Missouri in company with J. S. Allen, W. R. Allen, Ephraim Stewart, John W. Brown, Thomas Brown, C. L. Jennings, A. W. Allen and a young man named Reeves. The last two had no families.
"Our first stopping place in this county was with Beverly Travis, who was already located about five miles south of the present site of Bethany. I think John S. Allen remained with Beverly Travis and the rest of the company went north of Bethany and camped three-quarters of a mile east of the Jake King farm, upon which C. L. Jennings settled. W. R. Allen settled where we first camped. John W. Brown settled on the Cunniff farm. Thomas Brown bought out a squatter named Collins, who had settled on what was known for years as the David Travis place. My father, Thomas Tucker, settled on the farm known until recently as the Johnson Hogan farm. Ephraim Stewart settled the Madison Buck farm and John S. Allen settled on the William T. Buck farm. A. W. Allen afterward went to Dunkerson's Grove, where he married. I never knew what became of young Reeves.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
"Of all that company of men, women and children who came in our wagon train in 1841 to Missouri, save Emaline Templeman (daughter of John S. Allen), Mary Phillebaum, my sister Lizzie and myself. Those who had preceded us and were living in this neighborhood though some- what scattered were Sharp Winningham, Isaac Cheney, Beverly Travis, George Williams, Phillip Harris, Henry Fuller and Collins.
"When we came to this county we suffered the privations common to all pioneers. In those days the "gritter" was a blessing to mankind, and the coffee mill did noble service, for it not only ground the precious coffee but many a time ground our buckwheat. After a year or two Thomas Taylor started a horse-mill near Halleck's farm, which ran for several years.
"The first school I attended was taught by Willis Allen in a log cabin near Allen Dale's house. The next year John W. Brown taught. Teachers usually boarded around. I don't know what they were paid for their services, but I do know that they licked me every day, but it was no more than my share, I guess. (This was the grandfather of Frank Morris Frisby-they looked much alike and from that last state- ment were, when boys, I presume, much alike .- Ed.)
"There were plenty of Indians, deer and turkey. The Indians passed through our settlement often and camped on the creek near us. They would come to Sharp Winningham's to buy pork. They were always peaceable. They traded furs and venison hams for our produce.
"The winter of '41 my father and Lossing Jennings took the con- tract to erect a log ice house at Liberty, Missouri. They were there a couple of months. They went down afoot and came back the same way, each carrying a pack of sugar, coffee and domestic. An unusually heavy snow storm began before they arrived at home. That snow stayed on all the rest of the winter, more than a foot deep all the time. Soon after returning from Liberty my father engaged to split rails for Sharp Win- ningham for fifty cents a hundred. Father never stopped short of his hundred a day and often he made more and took it out in meat at $1.50 per hundred pounds.
"My sister, Neaty, married David Garton and settled west of Bethany, where she lived until her death six years ago. A narrow trail or foot- path which one might travel on horseback ran from our settlement, north- east of Bethany, diagonally southwest past the old graveyard, the J. S. Allen home and Cornelison's store, the postoffice, following the slope to
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
the falls, where Big Creek was forded, as was also West Big Creek north of Bob Nelson's house, and finally stopped at Sister Neaty's house. This path ran through heavy timber most of the way and the underbrush was very thick, especially where the first survey of Bethany was laid out. Sister Neaty died in 1909 after the big flood, when most of the bridges were carried away. The funeral cortege bearing her remains was com- pelled to ford the creek at the falls, as she had done hundreds of times sixty-odd years ago.
"We attended meetings at Phil Harris's house which was led by John S. Allen and George Flint. We always went in the ox wagon. In those days everybody went to meeting and they seemed to like it. My mother was very devout and it was a common saying among the settlers that "No woman had a greater faith in the Redeemer than Aunt Betty Tucker." My sister, Lizzie, and I thought nothing of riding twenty miles on horseback to Pilot Grove, Daviess County, and get there in time for eleven o'clock service.
"After about two years my father rented Harris's mill on Big Creek. The log house and mill stood on the west side of the creek at the Slaughter bridge. Part of the old dam is yet to be seen when the water is low. My brother, John, and I tended a corn crop on the hill east of the creek and we waded the water on the bottom to our knees every day that summer to get to our corn. Father ran the mill two or three years, Phil Harris having gone to Oregon.
"We lived at the mill when the county court was organized in 1845. My mother cooked the dinner that day for the first county judges. The meeting was held under two large trees that stood close together, a linn and an elm. I have done many a washing under those two trees. My mother wasn't very strong and the washing fell on me. Though my mother was not very robust she served her day and generation as best she could. Doctors were few and their practice ranged from the Iowa line to Gallatin. consequently their labors were onerous. On the advent of the numerous offspring in most of the families for miles around my mother was sent for and was ever found the present help in time of trouble. Sometimes she would be gone from home for days at a time, having been called from one case to another. In some families having from twelve to fifteen chil- dren my mother was present at every birth. She rode a large white horse named Selah and that horse and its rider were anxiously watched
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for and gladly welcomed, both at the house of sickness and at home when they returned.
"When I was fourteen years of age a doctor (I can't recall his name) practicing medicine in Bethany, ran out of medicine. He wanted some one to go to Saint Joseph to get a supply. I agreed to go. I rode a two- year-old filly and made the trip in three days. There wasn't a single house from Gentryville to Third Fork (near Union Star). I stayed at old Mr. Miller's house on Third Fork the first night. The second day I went to Saint Joseph, got my medicine and back to Mr. Miller's for the second night, then on home by the third night.
"When my father moved from the Harris mill he moved to the Alvord place in the south part of Bethany. We built a log house eighteen by twenty feet with an addition sixteen by sixteen feet. I hauled all the logs from west of Big Creek, where Uncle Sammy Clayton lived. We afterwards built a log barn and a large crib with a threshing floor be- tween, which was twenty by twenty feet. This was the first threshing floor in the neighborhood and people came for miles around to thresh their grain here. Threshing grain on this floor was a vast improvement over threshing on the ground. It came out so much cleaner and the bread was so much whiter.
"My father sold a horse for $40 that would sell now for $175, and a yoke of oxen for $21 and delivered them to Pattonsburg to get money to enter the quarter section which included the Alvord place. A part of that tract was laid off in town lots and known as Tucker's first and sec- ond additions. Later other parts were laid off in the Garton, Heaston, King, Nordyke and Elmwood additions.
"My father died in 1872 at the age of seventy-seven and my mother died in 1883 at the age of seventy-eight. After an absence of thirty years the return to the scenes of my youth and manhood is fraught with pleasure in meeting so many old time friends, though saddened with sorrow at the loss of my life companions who shared those scenes and memories for nearly sixty years."
The above letter was written in 1915. The writer was well acquainted with Mr. Tucker, and on his advent to this county in 1878 made his home at the Elmo Hotel, then kept by Mr. Tucker.
Mr. Tucker's wife was Rhoda Howell, a daughter of Marshall K. Howell, and Mrs. Eva Frisby, wife of Hon. Ezra H. Frisby, is their daughter.
CHAPTER XXXIII
REMINISCENCES-CONTINUED
JOHN S. ALLEN-CAME HERE BEFORE HARRISON COUNTY WAS ORGANIZED- SETTLED NEAR BETHANY-DELEGATE TO STATE CONVENTION IN 1861-A STRONG UNION MAN-ONE OF THE FIRST MASONS HERE-BUSINESS CAREER -RELIGIOUS WORK-TEMPERANCE ADVOCATE-PERSONAL CHARACTERIS- TICS.
As a further exemplification of the class and character of pioneers, the development of their communities and the characteristics of the leadership they best loved to follow, I introduce here an obituary of Elder John S. Allen, written by the late Colonel D. J. Heaston :
"John S. Allen was born in Overton County, Tennessee, June 26, 1814. He died at his home in Bethany December 13, 1893, aged seventy-seven years. In 1832 he moved to Illinois, where in 1835 he was married to Nancy Childress, who still survives him, and who for fifty-eight years was his worthy companion and helpmeet.
"In 1841 he came to Missouri and settled near Bethany. There were at that time very few white people living north of Bethany. He was among the advance guard of white settlers, living upon the margin of civilization. At that time the land here had not been surveyed and each settler built his cabin and cultivated such land as he desired. At that time Harrison County was not organized, but the territory was attached to Daviess County for general purposes. In 1845 the county of Harrison was organized and the county seat was located where Bethany; now stands and a quarter section of land was entered in the name of John S. Allen for county seat purposes, and he was appointed to lay off the town and sell the lots. He was also appointed commissioner to build a court house, which duties he performed very acceptably. In the spring of 1846 upon the death of Thomas Flint, circuit and county clerk, Parson
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Allen was appointed to fill the vacancy, which office he filled for about six months, but refused to be a candidate for re-election.
"In 1861, when a state convention was elected consisting of three delegates from each senatorial district to consider the relations of Mis- souri to the Union, to decide which course our state should pursue, John S. Allen was elected one of the delegates from this district. In the sev- eral meetings of this convention he exerted all his influence in favor of Missouri remaining in the Union. These were the only political offices he ever held, though often urged to become a candidate for other posi- tions. He preferred the quiet of home and the calling of a preacher to political preferment.
"When the Masonic Lodge was organized in Bethany in 1853 he was cne of the first to take the degrees, and afterwards served several years as worshipful master.
"In 1850 Parson Allen engaged in mercantile business in Bethany and continued therein until his death. When in his prime he did a fair share of the business, but of late years he used but little exertions to keep up trade.
"In 1872 he with others organized the Bethany Savings Bank, of which he was long the president and a large stockholder.
"When the public lands were first opened for entry in this county he entered a large amount of choice lands and from this source and judici- ous management and that careful economy that distinguished him, accomu- lated considerable property. While he was careful and close in his busi- ness affairs it is believed that he never knowingly wronged one out of a cent.
"I have not yet spoken of Parson Allen's religious life and character. It was in this that he was best known and most distinguished, and will be longest remembered. In 1827 he had united with the Christian Church and had been made an elder in the congregation. As soon as he had pitched his tent in the new country he had called his neighbors together "on the first day of the week" and in the shade of an unbroken forest he preached to them the unsearchable riches of the Gospel, and upon the very edge of civilization he erected an altar for the worship of the one true and living God and afterwards for forty years he continued to preach to his congregation and break bread with them around their alter 'with out money and without price.' Besides preaching freely at home, he helped to organize other congregations in this and adjoining counties. He also
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
gave liberally of his means as the Lord prospered him to build churches and carry on the good work. He never wavered or doubted but was a constant and consistent Christian.
"He was not a religious zealot, but was a good, straightforward, every day Christian, always the same without variableness or shadow of turning. I believe he was the most even tempered man that I ever knew. At all times, in all places and under all circumstances he was the same calm, cool and consistent Christian gentleman.
"With him there was no high tide and low tide, but the same constant, unhurried, overflowing stream, as if supplied from the same unvarying fountain. It may be permitted me to echo what I believe to be the gen- eral sentiment of esteem in which he was held by all who knew him.
"As a man he was frank in disposition, courteous in manners, gen- erous in spirit, brave in principle, true to every trust reposed in him. There was about him no pomp, ostentation, or desire to be conspicuous, but on the contrary he was modest, retiring, somewhat reticent and there- fore needed to be thoroughly and closely cultivated to be fully understood and appreciated. He was not ambitious of outward show, notoriety or political distinction, but all he did was in the spirit of meekness, and for the advancement of the Master's cause. He hated shams and false teach- ings and despised hypocrisy. He felt it was his duty to antagonize error and to fight sin.
"He was an uncompromising temperance man because he believed that intoxicating liquors were the cause of much sin and misery. He said to me once that he disliked making temperance speeches because he could hardly do so without offending somebody, and a temperance speech that did not attack the rum traffic had as well not be made. In his kind- ness of heart he was sorry to hurt the feelings of even the rum seller. Parson Allen had but poor school privileges when young but by extensive reading and close observation of men and things he became a well in- formed man. He was not an orator, but a convincing speaker. He spoke from the sincerity of motive and was filled with an honest conviction of right and duty and this made him appear always earnest. He spoke from the heart and generally reached the heart.
"He had a superb voice, clear as crystal and ringing like a bell. He had a commanding appearance and large brain and when he arose before an audience he attracted their attention at once, and held it until he closed. He was an original thinker and naturally witty and seasoned
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
his addresses with enough wit to please, while it entertained and con- vinced. He interested his hearers by the honest utterance and honest faith of an honest and sincere man. He believed what he said, and a zeal which only comes from devotion to truth kindled corresponding fires in the hearts of his hearers. He was simple, plain and honest in his every day life and his purity of character was a great element of his strength.
"The personal character of Parson Allen was full of noble qualities, endearing him to his friends while living, and making his memory a constant delight. Kindness of heart seemed to mellow his whole nature. There was in him neither envy nor hate and only generosity, charity and good will. In many respects he was a remarkable man. For the past fifty years he has been the most prominent man in our county. To him are we more indebted for good society, for religious development, and for all that makes our people happy and good than any other man that ever lived in the county. 'With charity for all and malice toward none' he went about among his neighbors doing good. It was his mission to preach the word, help the poor and aid the deserving.
"Every good work reecived his pure heart and noble soul. He had the zeal of a martyr and the valor of a patriot. In him was greatness, but it was the greatness of unselfishness, gentle and pure as the heart of a child. In him was charity. Charity white and gentle as the moonlight that shines into the shadow of night. In him was heroism-it was the heroism of the knight that draws no sword but waved in his hand, high above his benevolent brow, the sacred wand of religion, of love and of fraternity.
"By reason of strength and good habits his life was lengthened to the Psalmist's four score years. But now he has gone. He has fallen like the mighty oak in the stillness of the forest. We can only mourn his loss and indulge the fond hope that the good he has done may live after him, that this sad bereavement may do much to help seal the truth he so long taught, that his public utterances like good seed sown upon fertile soil may continue to bring forth good fruits of an hundred fold, and that the hearts of his neighbors may be brought together in a union cf fraternity, fellowship and love.
"Having known Parson Allen intimately for more than a third of a century, having counseled and associated with him closely and having
NEW RIDGEWAY HOTEL, RIDGEWAY, MO., W. H. CASADY, PROP.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
been in perfect accord on nearly every question, I deem it a pleasure to bear witness to his many good qualities of head and heart, to make this statement voluntarily, and without solicitation, to pay this tribute of respect to one I have known and admired so long. Farewell, kind teacher. Dear friend, farewell."-D. J. Heaston.
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CHAPTER XXXIV
REMINISCENCES-CONTINUED.
IN THE OLD DAYS- CAINSVILLE AND VICINITY IN 1858-BY A. F. WOODRUFF OF COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.
I came to Cainsville about the middle of June, 1858, having migrated from Scioto County, Ohio, with my brother of the half-blood, A. J. Tucker, who had bought a farm about a mile north of the town the year before. The family of A. J. Tucker at that time consisted of himself, his wife, Keturah F .; a son, David E., then an infant; a sister-in-law, Esther J. Woodruff, and myself. Cainsville was then a small village that had grown up around Peter Cain's water mill, which had been erected some years before at that point on Grand River. Grand River was a crooked, sluggish, muddy stream, so small in comparison to other rivers with which the early settlers had been familier that they were disposed to belittle it by calling it a creek.
Cainsville is located in the northeastern part of Harrison County, Missouri, in a part of the state which was but sparsely settled in 1858. The adjacent country was fertile and beautiful. It was sufficiently rolling to be attractive without being hilly. The surface of the ground was made up of prairie and timber; the timber predominating. Much of the so- called timber land was covered with a growth of shrubs, such as hazel, stool oak, alder and shumack. This shrub covered land was always desig- nated as "brush"land. In summer the prairie, covered with tall grass of two or three varieties, which was interspersed with many wild flowers, was a thing of beauty. Probably three-fifths of the territory around Cainsville was unenclosed and unbroken. The country had not been man- handled. The unenclosed portion belonged for the most part to non- residents of the state, and was free pasturage for anyone who wanted to use it. None of the timber was so large as that found in states further east, nor was there so great a variety. Oak, elm, hickory, walnut, ash,
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
basswood, cottonwood and maple were the principal varieties. No beech, popular or chestnut were to be found. The country was well watered; many small streams furnishing water in abundance for live stock, and water of good quality for domestic use could usually be secured by sink- ing wells to a depth of from twenty to forty feet.
I do not know whether the town built the mill, or the mill built the town. I think the latter is the correct supposition. I have made some effort to determine just how large, or better said, just how small the town was in 1858, but have failed to do so. The census of 1860 throws no light on the question, as towns having less than 1,000 inhabitants were not given a separate enumeration, but were included with the municipal township in which they happened to be located. I do not believe there were over 100 souls in the town the day I arrived. There were perhaps thirty children attending the summer school that year in Cainsville, about one-fourth of whom did not live in the town. Hannibal Harrison was the teacher. I think 100 is a liberal estimate of the popu- lation of Cainsville in 1858.
The name Cainsville, literally Cain's town, was derived, as everyone knows, from Cain's mill, being an adaptation and euphony of the latter name. In the year 1858 there was still standing one finger board that I recall, directing the traveler to Cain's mill. The name is sometimes erroneously written "Cainesville." I believe it is spelled that way in the United States Postal Guide, so that the postoffice at Cainsville is "Cainesville."
As before stated, the town had grown up around Cain's mill. The first reason for the town was the necessity for houses in which the employees of the mill could live, the owner, Peter Cain, living five or six miles south in the country. A postoffice, blacksmith shop and trading post were necessary at that point, as well as a mill. These necessitated people, and the people built houses. Princeton was at that time the nearest trading post to Cainsville, being a little nearer than Eagleville.
Peter Cain's mill was a saw and grist mill of rather crude construc- tion, but good for that time and place. A dam had been constructed across Grand River at that point to get a head of water, a mill race built in connection, and the power furnished by passing the water through the mill race and over an overshot wheel. The sawing was done by a single upright saw, set in a frame, and the machinery for making flour and meal was imperfect. However, both the flour and meal produced
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
were probably more suitable for human food than the same articles now offered to the public by our grocers. Especially was this true of the meal, which was far better than the present day highly pulverized prod- uct sold under that name. The buckwheat flour was a unique article of food. The mill did not have the proper machinery to separate the hull of the buckwheat from the fiour, so that this flour resembled the ordinary flour with a plentiful mixture of iron filings. The weakness of the ma- chinery was demonstrated on one occasion when the mill suddenly stopped, and an investigation showed that a large catfish had lodged in the water wheel! This is not intended as a fish story.
The people came a distance of thirty or forty miles to this mill and camped while waiting to have their grists ground. There was a large room on the east side of the mill on the first floor which was set apart as a sleeping room for the people waiting for their grists. I do not know why the people did not exchange their grain for flour and meal, and thus avoid the long delay. Perhaps the mill owners were not prepared to make the exchange.
During the winter the people in the vicinity of the mill, say within five or six miles, hauled in logs, usually on sleds or log wagons, and filled the mill yard with them. The mill yard was a large lot on the east side of the mill, and south of Cain & Bailey's store, which was located where the Cainsville Bank now stands. The timber furnished was for the most part walnut, oak, basswood and cottonwood. In the spring when water was plenty in the river this timber was sawed into lumber, which was used in the construction of houses, barns and fences.
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