USA > Missouri > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Missouri > Part 6
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SQUATTERS-SOME TOWNSHIPS LAID OFF IN 1842-UNITED STATES LAND OFFICE AT PLATTSBURG-METHOD OF SURVEYING GOVERNMENT LAND-MARKING SURVEYS-FIRST LAND ENTERED NORTH OF TOWNSHIP 62 IN 1846.
When the squatters first came to this county each one could get as much land as he wanted, that is, could claim what he wanted for farm or pasture or timber, for the land was not then surveyed or laid off into sections of townships.
About 1842 the land in township 62, that is a strip five miles wide on south side of county, was laid off into sections and opened for entry, and in 1845 the land in townships 63, 64 and 65, that is eighteen miles more north, was surveyed and sectionized, and in 1846 was opened for entry at the United States land office, then at Plattsburg, Missouri.
The surveyors first laid off the townships six miles square, and these were afterwards subdivided into sections. Each section was in- tended to be one mile square and to contain 640 acres, but as the original townships were not always accurately surveyed they were found some- times to be more and sometimes to be less than that size. The surveyors laying off the section would commence at the southeast corner of the township and survey north and west, so the south and east sections were made one mile square and the last tier of sections on the north and west was often either more or less than the one mile square, and the north part of the last sections adjoining the township line on the north side of the township, and the half of the sections adjoining the range line on the west side of the township sustained the loss or gain. The inside eighty acres was usually full and was called lot 1, and the outside eighty, or the tract next the line, was called lot 2, so lots 2 are often more than eighty acres and again often fall below that size.
The government surveyors only ran the section lines and marked the section corners and the half-mile posts on their lines. In the timber
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or where they could get stakes conveniently they would make a stake about four inches square and four feet long and drive into the ground two feet. Upon the sides of the stakes were marked the number of the section it was made to face and the township and range. This was for the convenience of the people who desired to enter the land.
Sometimes upon the large prairies the surveyors would run out of stakes and then they would pour down about a quart of charcoal to mark the exact corner and cover it up with earth, making a small hillock. It was a violation of the law for any person to move these stakes or hills.
Of course the section lines did not always suit the squatters, as sometimes they would have their houses in one section and their barns in another, and very frequently their cultivated lands would be divided by the lines. Sometimes a squatter would find his small field in four sections.
As the surveyors did not run the inside lines, it gave occasion for the squatters to exercise their skill in sighting through, setting stakes and running the other lines.
The first lands entered north of township 62 were entered by John S. Allen, David Buck and James A. Dale on December 22, 1846. At the same time John A. Allen as county seat commissioner entered 160 acres for the county for county seat purposes, to-wit: The west half of the southeast quarter, and the east half of the southwest quarter of section 10, township 63, range 28, west of the fifth principal meridian. Thus the land upon which the county seat was located was not entered or purchased from the government until some time after the county seat was located, and part of it laid off into lots, some of the lots sold and a few houses erected on them.
CHAPTER X
EARLY DAY CUSTOMS.
THE PRINCIPAL CONCERN OF THE PIONEER-IMMIGRANTS-FIRST SETTLEMENTS ALONG STREAMS-CLEARING A HOME SITE-BUILDING THE PIONEER LOG CABIN-PLAN OF CONSTRUCTION-WOMEN'S WORK-INSTINCT OF THE PIONEER -- HOME-SOCIAL AND MORAL STATUS-NEIGHBORLY SPIRIT -- PRESENT DAY CONTRAST-THE LOG HOUSE-IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS.
The principal concern in the new country was to provide bread. There was wild game for meat and hollow trees often contained honey. The pioneers fed on corn dodgers, honey and venison were healthy, happy and wise. A man could have all the land he wanted, that is, he could claim all he desired, and the settlers usually regarded each other's rights and would not settle when or where there were any objections by the prior settlers.
The immigrants generally brought with them some stock, such as horses, cattle and sometimes sheep and a few hogs. They also brought some breadstuff and a scant amount of household goods, as bedding, dishes and something in the furniture line.
The first settlements were made along the streams and in the edge of the timber. Thereby they were near wood and water. It saved them digging wells, and they were near the trees for hunting bee trees, for honey and beeswax was a principal industry. The prairie sod was so tough it required a team of four or five yoke of cattle to "break" it, and it was so much easier there to erect their cabins.
The first thing after selecting a location was to cut down trees, cut off logs the proper length and then invite the neighbors to come and help raise his house. The neighbors were those who lived in a radius of ten or twelve miles. When such invitation was given it was the custom to drop all other matters and all turned out to assist. Not to do so was an act of incivility, unknown among the pioneers.
Four men were selected to "carry up" the four corners of the house.
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PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING, EAGLEVILLE, MO.
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The top of each log was scored off to receive the next log, and the next one had a notch cut in it called the "rider" or "saddle" to fit upon the one beneath it, and the ends were then cut off smooth. The owner or his help would cut out places for the doors, windows and a fireplace. Trees were cut down and split into puncheons out of which the floors the doors were made and short boards called "clapboards" were split for the roof; logs were laid at proper distances to receive these clap- boards and other logs were laid upon them to hold them down.
The fireplace and chimney were made of suitable timbers but plastered with mud to prevent their burning. Thus the entire house would be made ready for occupancy without any metal about it. The windows were usually left open for air holes in summer and were covered with cloths or greased paper in cold weather. It is said that Judge Aseph M. Butler was the first settler in the county to use window glass in his house, and for this he was regarded by his neighbors as putting on en- tirely too much style for these new settlements.
As soon as the cabin was completed the settler moved in and then all hands went to work to open out a little farm; the women helping in the necessary work as well as in their household duties.
The women of the frontier knew how to work and were always ready to take a hand at it. Mothers then taught their daughters to play on the spinning wheel and loom instead of the organ and piano. The music was more profitable, if less melodious. The men wore flax shirts and home-made woolen pants, and the women wore linsey-woolsey dresses. All the work of manufacturing the material and the making of which was done by them. Occasionally some of the more wealthy ladies would have a calico dress, and then she was said to be fixed up.
The settlers who blazed the way through the wilderness for us and advancing civilization, have builded wiser than they knew. They were experienced pioneers with hearts of gold. With ruddy health and hardy sinews they coped with and conquered the wilds. They despised the coddling ease of luxury and the wintry winds, sleets and snows had no terrors for them. They determined the time by the shadows, and guided their paths at night by the stars. They knew the approaching storm. The sky was to them an open book. Schooled in wood-craft and learned in Indian lore, they tracked their game and followed the trail of the savage. They read the story of the broken twig and fallen leaves. Their vision was piercing, and their hearing acute. Accountered with rifle, (5)
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hunting knife and axe they contested with the forest, and wrested from it food, shelter and raiment.
The one-legged bedstead, now a piece of furniture of the past, was made by cutting a stick the proper length, boring holes at one end one and a half inches in diameter at right angles, and the same sized holes corresponding with those in the logs of the cabin the length and breadth for the bed. in which were inserted poles.
"True it is, that Home is not four square walls, Though with pictures hung and gilded, Home is where affection calls, Around the hearth that love hath builded."
Those pioneers were home builders, the very foundation of a nation, the true root of patriotism and love of country. They appreciated the fruits of their own industry, and manufactured or made most of their own utensils.
A person not many years ago in contrasting the social and moral status of his latter years with those of his early pioneer days, said, "Then if a house was to be raised, every man turned out, often the women too, while the men piled up the logs and fashioned the primitive dwelling- place, the women prepared the dinner. Sometimes it was cooked over big fires near the site where the cabin was built. In other cases it was prepared at the nearest cabin, and at the proper hour was carried to where the men were at work. If one man in the neighborhood killed a beef, a pig, or a deer, every other family in the neighborhood was sure to receive a piece. We were all on an equality. Aristocratic feelings were unknown, and would not have been tolerated. What one had, we all had, and that was the happiest period of our lives. But today, if you lean against a neighbor's shade tree, he will charge you for it. If you are poor and palsied, you may lie and suffer unnoticed and almost un- attended, and will probably go to the poorhouse, while just as likely as not, the man who reports you to the authorities as a subject of county care, charges the county for making the report."
Thus our early settlers, burdened with what we deem today, untold hardships and deep privations, looked back, in the latter days of their lives, to the good old days; and even in our own generation we may find many who decry the great progress of the present and long for other days. It is ever thus, and ever will be. Even the reader, should he
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search his memory, will recall as a pleasing recollection some trial or danger or experience through which he has successfully passed and even our failures are not necessarily unpleasant to recall.
Much has been written regarding the log house of the early pioneer. It furnished an inexpensive and convenient shelter, and around it clus- ter many pleasant recollections that are even yet dear to those of us who had the good fortune to have been reared within its sacred portals. Unpretentious, uniform in size and architecture, the log house of the early pioneer was the greatest democratizing agent of the early day. No social lines could be drawn based on the grandeur of dwelling places, and consequently each and every one was valued at their true worth, de- termined solely by their every day life and character. The era of the log house is a space of time as distinct from others in its peculiar cus- toms as is the Paleozoic or the Stone Age. There is a song which ends, after trailing through innumerable verses reciting the trials of the log house bachelor, which runs as follows:
"Oh, the hinges are of leather, and the windows have no glass And the board roof lets the howling blizzard in,
And I hear the hungry coyote as he sneaks up through the grass Near my little old log cabin on the hill."
The farming implements of the pioneers were crude affairs, adapted, however, to the conditions that surrounded them and to their circum- stances. The bull-plough, the mould-board of which was generally of wood, was adapted to the fields abounding in stumps and roots. Occas- ionally the mould-board was part iron, and possessor of such a bull-plough was looked upon as real progressive.
Other implements and utensils were of like character. When the clothes the settlers brought with them began to wear out, the wild nettle furnished them a substitute material. This, by process of drying and stripping, they would weave into a cloth, sufficient for their needs until the coming of the wintry blast. Then the furs of the wild animals were requisitioned with which the pioneers braved the snows and sleets in the coldest weather.
The prairies were not often settled until after the first pioneer period, therefore the forests of the timbered lands in small tracts were cleared, leaving the fields prolific in stumps and roots. Hence the cradle and the bull-plough were well suited to the cultivation thereof.
CHAPTER XI
PIONEER MILLS.
PHILIP HARRIS' MILL IN 1840-PRIOR TO THAT MADE TRIPS TO TRENTON OR GALLATIN-THE "GRITTER"-ISAAC HAMMER'S MILL-HORSE POWER- "WAITING FOR THE GRIST"-HUNT'S MILL-WATSON'S MILL-NOAH SNELL'S MILL-DR. BUSH BUILDS A MILL-CHARLTON'S MILL-CAIN'S MILL-FIRST STEAM MILL AT BETHANY-A MODERN MILL-"GRITTERS" AGAIN IN COLD WINTER OF 1842-43.
In 1840 Phillip Harris settled west of Big Creek, three miles south- west of Bethany, and seeing the necessity for a grist mill began erecting one and the next year had it in operation and there was no longer occas- ion in that vicinity for "gritting." The first settlers had to go down to Grand River near Trenton or Gallatin to get their corn ground into meal, or else they had to "grit" it at home.
A "gritter" was made by taking part of an old coffee pot or piece of tin and punching it full of holes, bowing it up in the middle and nail- ing the edges to a board rough side up. The corn in the ear was first boiled in a kettle; then when cooled after removing was rubbed on the gritter to make it fine. It was then run through a seive.
About 1844 Isaac Hammers settled at Taylor's grove. He erected a horse grist mill, so when the water got too low at Harris' mill the "hoss" mill could do the grinding, and the gritting process was perma- nently laid aside. Each man going to the mill was expected to furnish the team whilst his grist was being ground. Parson Allen is said to have remarked later to a neighbor, "Did you ever in cold weather go twenty miles to a horse mill and swing around the circle until you ground out a two horse load of corn?" To spin around that circle for four long, weary hours of a cold, dark, dreary night, punching up the team, is no laughing matter. Cheerless, but for the hope of the call to come, "Your grist is out," heard through the chink of the logs as the miller called it out.
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About the year 1840 John Gibson settled in the southeast part of the county on Sugar Creek, and being somewhat ingenious and to save going a long way to mill, he rigged up a hand mill for grinding corn and made such good meal that on receiving patronage from the neighbors he at- tached a horse power to it and conducted the mill business in that man- ner for several years.
About the year 1843 Edward Hunt and Joseph Hunt built a dam across Big Creek near the south line of the county and put up a small corn mill which was a great convenience to that part of the county, and they did a good business for a number of years. Joseph Hunt was a blacksmith and put up his shop at about the same place in 1841, and he did the horseshoeing and mending of plows, wagons and other farm im- plements for many years and was a very useful citizen.
James Watson came from Indiana about the year 1841 and erected a mill on Big Creek in Daviess County a few miles south of Harrison County which was largely patronized and by citizens of this county for a good many years.
At an early day Noah Snell built a mill on Big Creek where the village of Brooklyn now stands. This was perhaps the best mill ever built on that stream and for nearly thirty years did a good business grinding corn and wheat.
Dr. E. B. Bush built a mill on Big Creek a few miles above Snell's mill which ground corn and sawed lumber. It was kept up by the doctor for about twenty-five years. Big Creek was a rapid stream and not well suited for mill purposes. The water frequently got too low for mill purposes, but in times of great rains and overflows from the extent of territory it drained it would become very high and swift, so it was difficult to erect dams that could withstand the floods, and the pro- prietors were put to great expense and trouble keeping them in repair. So all the mills on the creeks were finally abandoned. The Hunt and Watson mills were washed out and abandoned long before the Civil War and about 1880 all had been finally given up and abandoned.
Arthur Charlton erected a mill on Big Creek a few miles north of Bethany at an early day, where they ground corn and sawed lumber. It was continued by Mr. Gates and Mr. Barnes for several years.
Peter Cain was an early settler in Mercer County not far east of Cainsville which is named after him. At an early day he built a mill on Grand River which he kept up and made of it a good grist and saw
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mill. It proved to be an excellent investment and a good location for a mill and did a good business.
C. L. and E. M. Jennings started the first steam mill at Bethany about 1851. It was then used to grind corn and saw lumber. They continued to run this at odd times, adding and mending parts for about fifteen years, when it was sold to Henry S. Laney, who added wheat buhrs and carding and spinning machinery. This mill was later de- stroyed by fire.
The first modern mill which was operated in Harrison County was by the McClure brothers at Bethany. They began operations here in 1878 and in 1887 installed a roller process, which was the first of its kind in the county. This was an up-to-date mill and had a capacity of about fifty barrels of flour per day. They also operated a carding and spinning mill in connection with the flour mill and manufactured woolen goods.
It is said that the winter of 1842-43 was the coldest and longest ever known by the white man in this country. That fall the Harris mill froze up and so remained until the last of March. The snow was very deep, and of course the roads were not good. There were not enough settlers to keep them open and in good condition and the "gritters" again had to be brought into use. Some jocularly called them the "armstrong" mill, and others spoke of the process as "planing meal," but whatever called and however primitive it was good business for hungry people and these were a people who could and did devise means to help themselves. Harris mill had plenty of patronage as soon as the winter broke. It is said his extreme honesty in the matter of taking toll kept him poorer than most millers usually are.
CHAPTER XII
ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY.
BOUNDARIES OF HARRISON COUNTY-LOCATION-CREATED IN 1845-DESCRIBED- STATE LINE IN DISPUTE-SURVEYED AND MARKED-COUNTY NAMED IN HONOR OF HON. ALBERT G. HARRISON-A PART OF THE FOURTH CONGRES- SIONAL DISTRICT-FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT-COUNTY SEAT COMMISSION- ERS-COUNTY SEAT LOCATED-PLATTED-FIRST NAME OF COUNTY SEAT- LATER CHANGED-FIRST COUNTY OFFICERS SELECTED.
Harrison County is one of the northern tier of counties, joining Iowa on the north, Mercer and Grundy Counties on the east, Daviess County on the south and Gentry and Worth Counties on the west. In the tier it is the sixth county west of the Mississippi River, the fourth county east and north of the Missouri River and the second county east of the Platte Purchase. It is centrally located in the celebrated Grand River country. The territory embraced within the limits of Harrison County originally formed a part of Daviess County and remained such until created a separate jurisdiction by an act of the General Assembly approved March 28, 1845.
That act in section 18 described the boundaries of Harrison County as follows: "Beginning at the northeast corner of Daviess County, thence north on the range line between ranges 25 and 26 twenty-four miles, thence due west to the range line between ranges 29 and 30, thence south on said range line to the northwest corner of Daviess County ; thence east along the northern boundary line of Daviess County to the beginning." The northern boundary line of Daviess County is described in section 14 of the same act as follows: from "The northeast corner of section 36 in township 62 in range 26, thence west on said section line to the northwest corner of section 31 of township 62 of range 29.
The state line between the states of Missouri and Iowa was then in dispute and the district north of township 65 for a distance of about twelve miles was then called the "disputed territory." The state line
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was settled and permanently located in 1850 and iron stakes six inches square and six feet long were planted along the line at intervals of ten miles.
On March 1, 1851, the territory between the former county limits and the state line was added to the county, it becoming then a little over thirty miles long and twenty-four miles wide, the area of the county being a little more than 720 square miles. But as the state line does not run: exactly with the section line, but bears a little southward, running west, the true area of the county is about 456,000 acres of land.
The county was named in honor of Hon. Albert G. Harrison, of Callaway County, Missouri, who was a representative in Congress from the second congressional district of Missouri from 1834 to 1839, dying in the latter year.
The county when organized became a part of the Fourth Congres- sional District, and of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, provision being then made for the holding of terms of the circuit court in the county on the Thursday after the third Monday in April and October of each year.
Shortly after the organization of the county Edward Smith, of De- Kalb County, and John Gibson and Ebenezer Wood, of Gentry County, sere appointed commissioners to select the site for the county seat.
These gentlemen spent some time in viewing the country and selected the place where Bethany now is for the county seat. This was on the banks of Big Creek and it would seem that they were governed in the selection by consideration of the convenience of wood, water and stone, as well as the fact that it was near the then geographical center of the county.
At the May term, 1845, of the county court an order was made allowing each of these commissioners for eight days' service at $2.00 per day, $16.00 for each commissioner, which were the first warrants issued by the county court.
The county court at this term appointed John S. Allen county seat commissioner to have the brush cleared off the site for the county seat and to have some lots laid off. John Plaster, then the county surveyor of Gentry County, was employed by Mr. Allen to lay off the town and fifteen blocks were laid off by him, being five blocks east and west and three blocks north and south, the court house square being in the center. The streets running north and south were four rods wide and the streets running east and west were three rods wide.
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The plat of the first survey of the county seat (then called Dallas) was reported to the county court at the June term, 1845 thereot, and it was then approved and adopted and the county seat commissioner was authorized and directed to sell lots.
At that term the account of John S. Allen for $30.371/2 for expenses of having the brush cleared off the ground for the survey was presented and allowed.
The settlers did not like the name of the county seat to be Dallas and at the November term, 1845, the county officers took a vote on the naming of the town which resulted in the choice of Bethany, and the name was thus changed accordingly.
The first meeting of the settlers to select county officers was held at Phil Harris's mill, at which about fifty voters were present and the persons selected by them were recommended to the governor for appoint- ment. Lewis Charlton, Asaph Butler and Samuel Edmiston were selected for county court justices, John W. Brown was chosen sheriff and Thomas Flint circuit and county clerk, all of whom were duly commissioned by the governor. They met pursuant to appointment on May 5, 1845, for the purpose of formally organizing the county and putting in motion its machinery.
CHAPTER XIII
FIRST OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS.
FIRST COUNTY COURT HELD UNDER A TREE-OPENING PROCEEDINGS ENTRIES IN THE RECORDS-TOWNSHIP BOUNDARIES FIXED-FIRST PROBATE BUSI - NESS-SECOND SESSION HELD IN JUNE, 1845-JOHN S. ALLEN APPOINTED COUNTY SEAT COMMISSIONER-OTHER OFFICIALS APPOINTED-ROAD FUND -OTHER RECORDS OF TRANSACTIONS-HIGHWAYS LAID OUT-SALE OF LOTS AUTHORIZED-BILLS ORDERED PAID-DIGGING A PUBLIC WELL- TAXES-FIRST OFFICERS.
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