USA > Missouri > Henry County > History of Henry County, Missouri > Part 3
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
The convention to frame the Constitution met in Saint Louis, early in June, 1820. The chief question which was to come before the con- vention, was that of restriction of slavery. There seemed to be, however, but few of the counties in which there was any contest for seats in the constitutional convention between those who favored restriction of slavery by the State and those who opposed it. There was not a delegate elected who was in favor of restricting slavery in the State.
In the convention the most popular member, David Barton, after- wards elected first United States Senator, was the president. There were forty-one members, representing seven different lines of descent, twenty- six of them being English. Seventeen of the delegates came from Mary- land, Kentucky or Virginia; eight from Tennessee and North Carolina; five from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, three from Pennsylvania or Spanish Upper Louisiana. Thirteen farmers and thirteen business men sat in the convention. Of the other delegates, nine were lawyers, two doctors, two surveyors and two teachers. This convention was in session some- thing over thirty days. It is said to have spent for stationery $26.25. The constitution adopted by it took effect immediately without an act of the people. This is the only Constitution or constitutional revision made between 1820 and 1830 in six different States, that did not require submission to the people. Shoemaker, in his Struggle for Statehood,
78
HENRY COUNTY HISTORY
mentioned above, states that "there was no demand on the part of the people for such a referendum or adoption; the people of Missouri Terri- tory wanted an immediate State Government without further delay; the delegates possessed the confidence of their constituents, the Constitution was generally acceptable and the convention itself was opposed to such a course."
One of the provisions of the Constitution was that the Legislature should enact a law preventing free negroes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in the state. This caused considerable friction in Con- gress, when, after a large amount of debate and many attempts to settle the matter, a second Missouri Compromise was effected by the efforts of Henry Clay, although the Compromise was prepared by Thomas of Illi- nois. This Compromise provided that Missouri should be admitted whenever her Legislature should pass a Solemn Public Act, re- peating the clause in reference to the exclusion of free negroes and mulattoes. This was done by the Missouri Legislature, called in special session at Saint Charles to pass the Solemn Public Act, which was of no value whatever from a constitutional point of view.
Shoemaker states that Missouri must be regarded as having been admitted into the Union on July 19, 1820, the day on which the conven- tion adopted the Constitution; however, President Monroe did not issue the proclamation declaring Missouri admitted into the Union as the twenty-fourth State, until he had received a certified copy of the Solemn Public Act, as passed by the Missouri Legislature. This proclamation was issued on the 10th of August, 1821. The constitutional convention issued writs for general election the same day that they adopted the Con- stitution, or on the 19th day of July, 1820. The first general election was held on August the 28th, 1820. Alexander McNair was elected gov- ernor. Fifty-seven representatives and fourteen senators were elected to the General Assembly. In Howard County there were thirty-nine candidates for the General Assembly and nineteen made the race in the city of St. Louis.
The first General Assembly met in the Missouri Hotel in St. Louis in 1820. The most notable business transacted was the election of David Barton and Thomas Hart Benton to the United States Senate. Ten new counties were created, three presidential electors were chosen and Mis- souri was really a State.
CHAPTER V.
ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES
LILLARD COUNTY ORGANIZED-ITS FIRST COUNTY COURT-FIRST DIVISIONS- TEBO TOWNSHIP-REV. HENRY AVERY-FIRST TOWNSHIP OFFICERS-FIRST ELECTION-EARLY HENRY COUNTY SETTLERS-FIRST FARM IMPLEMENTS- OTHER EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
1299233
The History of Henry County may properly be said to begin on the 16th of November, 1820, only a few months before the official procla- mation of President Monroe, announcing the admission of Missouri as a State into the Union; for it was on that date that Lillard, now Lafay- ette County, was organized. This county embraced the entire territory now included by the present boundaries of Henry County. In addition, it extended as far north as the Missouri River, while to the south of us it included the northern part of our neighboring county of St. Clair. The northern line of this new County of Lillard was the Missouri River; the eastern boundary was the range line between ranges 24 and 23; the south boundary the Osage River as far west as the Kansas boundary, while the west boundary of Lillard County is the present western boundary of the State of Missouri. So, this new county included all of the coun- ties of Lafayette, Johnson, Cass, Jackson and Henry, about one-half of St. Clair and nearly four-fifths of Bates.
The county seat of Lillard County was established at Mount Vernon, which was situated on the Missouri River some miles below Lexington. On the eighth day of December, 1820, the County Court, composed of James Lillard, Sr., John Whitsitt and John Stapp, who had received their commissions from Alexander McNair, who had been chosen on the twenty- eighth of August as Governor of Missouri, met for the first time. The first clerk of Lillard County was Young Ewing. In 1823 the county seat
80
HENRY COUNTY HISTORY
was moved from Mount Vernon to Lexington, the present county seat of Lafayette County.
This marks the beginning of the history of Henry County. We have no record of white settlers having definitely located in the present bound- ary lines of Henry County until nearly ten years later, though hunters and trappers no doubt were to be found throughout the county as early as 1825 or 1826. As stated in an earlier chapter, the Osages and Shawnee Indians occupied all of the territory of the Osage and Grand River coun- try, which must have abounded in game of all kinds. Doubtless the mis- sionary trail from Jefferson City to Harmony Mission, in what is now Bates County, passed through the present limits of Henry County and many a story of Indian life and adventure and many a circumstance of pioneer days could have been told concerning these hunters, trappers and missionaries who lived their lives in this county before a time when we have any written record of their existence.
The first municipal division of Lillard County of which we can find any record, was called Lexington township. In May, 1830, was organized Davis township. At the same time Blackwater township was organized. The dividing line between these two townships was the range line be- tween ranges 25 and 26, running as far south as the Osage River; this range line is the line which marks the eastern boundary of the present townships of Shawnee, Fields Creek, Clinton and Fairview, so that the twelve townships in the present boundaries of Henry County which lie west of this range line belonged to Davis township of Lafayette County, which was the new name given to Lillard County. The seven townships that lie east of that line, or the present townships of Windsor, Tebo, Springfield, Deer Creek, Leesville, Bethlehem and Osage, belonged in Blackwater township. These two townships as such, soon pass out of the history of Henry County. There seems to be nothing to definitely fix their relationship. On the other hand, the one township which is definitely located with the history of Henry County and which remains today firmly fixed in the minds of all of those who think of the municipal divisions of the county, is the township of Tebo. This township was organized on the twenty-first of May, 1832. The description which ap- pears upon the records is as follows:
"Ordered that the following shall be the line and boundaries of Tebo township in Lafayette County, Missouri: Beginning where the main Blackwater crosses the eastern line of this county, it being the line be-
NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCH, CLINTON, MO.
M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, CLINTON, MO.
81
HENRY COUNTY HISTORY
tween ranges 23 and 24, thence up the said creek opposite to Uriel Mur- ray's, thence due west to the line between Lafayette and Jackson Coun- ties, thence south with said line to the middle of Osage River, thence down the same to the line between ranges 23 and 24, thence north on said line to the place of beginning; and the number of taxable inhabitants residing in said township are about thirty-five polls, which is ordered to be certified."
It will be noted by the above record that reference is made to Jack- son County, which was organized as a county on the fifteenth of De- cember, 1826. To "translate" this order so that it can be read without difficulty, it may be explained that the line between the ranges 23 and 24 is the eastern boundary of Henry County; while the point "Opposite Uriel Murray's" and the line drawn from that point due west to the line between Lafayette and Jackson Counties, is the northern boundary line of Johnson County. From the Jackson-Lafayette line due south to the Osage River, the western boundary of Tebo township ran; while the southern and eastern boundaries were the channel of the Osage River and the eastern line of Henry and Johnson Counties. It will thus be seen that this township of Tebo included all of Johnson and Henry Coun- ties and half of St. Clair.
At the same session of the County Court of Lafayette County, it appeared that twenty or more petitioners had recommended that the Rev. Henry Avery receive his commission as justice of the peace for Tebo township of Lafayette County and consequently he was appointed to that office, the date of his appointment being May 21, 1832.
At the same session the home of John Brummet, who lived in what is now Johnson County, a short distance north of the Henry County line, was designated as the polling-place; and James Warren and Chesley Jones, residents of the territory now included in Henry County, were named as two of the three judges of election for a period of two years.
In November, 1832, James McWilliams, who was living in what is now Windsor township of Henry County, was appointed first constable; . and it is said that the first fine which he ever collected was collected from Drury Palmer, who is said to have paid a fine of one dollar because of a trespass committed by his horse.
We find the record of but one election held at the house of John Brummet; this seems to have been merely a local matter. We find the record showing that the election of 1832 was held at the home of Alfred
82
HENRY COUNTY HISTORY
Askins. In this election, two of the most distinguished Americans who ever contested for the Presidency were candidates. Upon the Democratic ticket appeared the name of Andrew Jackson, who is referred to today as one of the great apostles of Democracy; upon the Whig ticket was the name of the great Kentuckian who served in the United States Congress before he was old enough to qualify under the terms of the Constitution of the United States, and whose compromises gave him the title of "The Great Pacificator." So far as Tebo township was concerned, it shows that Andrew Jackson received twenty-four votes, while six electors cast their ballots for Henry Clay. At this election the clerks were Drury Palmer and Henry Avery, while Thomas Arbuckle, who has been credited with putting up the first cabin within the limits of Henry County, was one of the judges of the election.
From 1828 to 1832 we can note the coming of several men whose names are closely connected with the early history of Henry County. Thomas Arbuckle, Thomas Kimsey, Mathew and James Arbuckle, Isom Burnett, Thomas Collins and P. D. Wade are said to have come between the years 1828 and 1831. In 1831 appeared Thomas Anderson, the first blacksmith in the county; Henry Avery, noted above as being the first justice of the peace; William Ogan, P. W. Sissel, Drury Palmer, William Gladden, William Crowley, Alfred Askins, James and Jesse McWilliams, William Simpson, Fielding Pinel, Mason Fewell, James Warren, Chesley Jones, Valentine Bell, George W. Lake and Zekiel Blevins, all are re- ported to have settled in this county in the year 1831.
It is not necessary in a narrative of this kind to discuss in any detail the hardships and experiences of these early pioneers; in other books, notably in social and industrial histories, are given accounts of the early life of the men and women who blazed the way for us who have come later. It is sufficient for us to pay our silent tribute to their many vir- tues and to strive to so live that we may prove worthy of the heritage which they have left us.
In 1831 the Rev. Henry Avery built his cabin; the first one known to have had window-glass in the windows. Two sash with four lights each appeared in the walls of this modern house. His children had slept in a wagon-box prior to the building of the cabin, a sort of sleeping-porch it might be called. In this cabin was held the first term of court of what is now the present organization of Henry County.
Henry Avery also brought the first plow and the first four-wheeled
83
HENRY COUNTY HISTORY
wagon. To him is given the credit for first plowing the prairie in the spring of 1832; for this purpose the plow brought from a few miles below St. Louis and four yoke of cattle were used.
It seems strange to us of the present generation, that the prairie lands were shunned by the earlier settlers. Not long ago, the writer speaking to the descendant of one of the old Missourians who settled in Callaway County, heard him complain about the lack of vision of his forefathers. He said that when his grandfather came to Missouri, he secured 640 acres in the hills along the Missouri River, while he could, with less effort, have secured the finer land of the northern part of Calla- way or the southern part of Audrain County. The same condition pre- vailed in Henry County ; the necessity for wood and water kept the early settlers along the stream; and gradually they moved out to the prairie country, plowing the virgin soil and raising corn and wheat and oats, as the development of the country either permitted or required them to do.
After 1831 the county continued to grow in population constantly. In 1833 was born the first white male child in Henry County, Preston Blevins, the event taking place within what is now the boundary line of Shawnee township. The first marriage in Henry County was that of a couple whose names are unknown. On the night of the fifteenth of May, 1832, a man and a woman who had ridden four days in search of some- one who could marry them, reached the home of Squire Henry Avery, who performed this, the first marriage ceremony to take place within the boundary lines of the present Henry County.
The early history of the county is connected rather with settlements than with the municipal or congressional townships. For instance, the Fields settlement, in what is now Fields Creek township, the Avery set- tlement, in what is now Tebo township, and settlements in and around Windsor, which included the Arbuckles, the Prices, the McWilliams, Kimseys, Palmers and others. The Parks settlement was started in 1833, nearly all of the family coming from Lincoln County, Kentucky. Mr. John Parks, the father of William Parks, settled on section 5, town- ship 40, range 24, in what is now Leesville township, his descendants scattering over the neighboring sections. Peyton Parks, who platted the town of Clinton, settled in Tebo township in 1834. Besides these "set- tlements" many other names of early pioneers who came between 1830 and 1840 may be noted. The Walkers, George W. and Pleasant, who had come in 1832, spent eleven days coming from Lexington to Fields'
84
HENRY COUNTY HISTORY
Creek township, being delayed by swollen streams. William Hatfield and David Ross and Barber Price, appointed constable of Tebo township in 1834; John Buchanan and the Comptons came in 1832. Robert Allen, the first elected sheriff of Henry County, immigrated in 1833; William Goff, one of the first county judges, at whose house was held the first Circuit Court, came in 1835. John Legg, Colby Stevenson, James Fields, who opened a store at Goff's in the spring of 1835, were among the 1833 arrivals. In 1834 the Cecils came to what is now Springfield township. In 1835 came the Wallaces, who ran a store in Fields' Creek township, just north of Clinton. Bethlehem township was settled by James An- derson; Thomas Keeney and Whit Mulholland settled in Bethlehem town- ship in 1836 and Major S. M. Peeler in 1837. Many others, whose names can be traced on the records of the county, appeared during the ten years from 1830 to 1840.
In May, 1834, there was organized a new township called Spring- field township. The official order of the Lafayette County Court shows that all of Tebo township east of the range line between ranges 26 and 27 was to be organized as Springfield township. This division of the county obtained when Henry County became a county, on December 13, 1834, under the name of Rives County.
It will be noted that the range line above described is the range line on the west side of Shawnee, Fields Creek, Clinton and Fairview town- ships, so that the eleven townships east of this line were designated as Springfield township, while the eight townships west of this line com- prised Tebo township.
CHAPTER VI.
-
THE BEGINNING OF THE COUNTY
THE FIRST COUNTY COURT-STORES ESTABLISHED-COUNTY SEAT LOCATED- ECONOMIC CONDITIONS.
The records show that the first County Court was held at Henry Avery's on the fourth and fifth of May, 1835, the next term being held at the cabin of William Goff in Deer Creek township. Here was held the first term of the Circuit Court, in December, 1835, with Charles H. Allen as judge.
The trading point of the early settlers was Boonville, on the Mis- souri River. Goods were brought up the Missouri River by boat and thence overland to Henry County. The needs of the growing county demanded the establishment of stores, and so in 1835, not far from the home of Henry Avery, Thomas and Charles Waters opened the first store ever opened in Henry County. Clark and Boggs, the former a merchant of Boonville, opened the second store. Near the home of Will- iam Goff James Field opened the third mercantile establishment, while a little later "the store down on the creek" was started by Hall and Ketcham, at the crossing of Tebo Creek. The hard times which followed in the "panic of 1837" caused the failure of all of them except one, and that was owned by Wallace Brothers, at Clinton, where in the year 1836 the county seat was located.
In the year 1834 the Legislature of Missouri, which organized Rives County, appointed a commission composed of Anderson Young and Daniel McDowell of Lafayette County, and Daniel M. Boone of Jackson County, to locate a county seat for the newly organized Rives County. Twenty- one months after their appointment, in the fall of 1836, these gentlemen reported that they had selected the southeast quarter of section 3, town- ship 41, range 26, for the location of the county seat. The County Court accepted the report at its November term, 1836, and appointed Peyton
86
HENRY COUNTY HISTORY
Parks as county seat commissioner, with full power to lay out and plat the new county seat, to build roads, etc. James M. Goff was named by Mr. Parks to lay off sixty-four lots and the first sale took place in Feb- ruary, 1837. The first building was for the store of Wallace Brothers, which had hitherto been located in Fields Creek township, north of Clin- ton, but it was moved to the county seat after the commissioners had located it.
At the time of the location there was some rivalry over the matter. It is probable that the present site of Calhoun would have been selected had it not been that the commissioners felt that it lay too far north of the center line of the county. The first hotel was put up by John Nave and was located on the ground now occupied by the Clinton National Bank. Logs are said to have been hauled by Nathan Fields and the buildings themselves obtained the sky-scraping dimensions of one and a half stories.
As was stated earlier, the trading point for the people of the county up to 1836 was Boonville. Even with the establishment of the county seat and the revival of trade and credit that followed the panic of 1837, the wants of the settlers were not as extensive as the average citizen's of today, who is unable to live without the telephone, the automobile and the electric light. Travel was on horseback. Light was given by tallow candles, while the method of communication was the mail which reached them through the postoffice at Muddy Mills, some thirty to fifty miles distant. The land was worth $1.25 an acre, cows from $5.00 to $10.00 apiece; a good horse cost $25.00, a dressed hog from $1.25 to $1.50. Wheat sold for from thirty-five to forty cents a bushel, corn could be bought for fifty cents a barrel and a young calf for seventy-five cents. Farm-hands received from twenty-five to fifty cents per day and their board, while the price for splitting rails was twenty-five cents per hundred.
With the coming of the country store came also the horse-mill, so that it was not necessary to continue to go long distances to have corn ground. In 1835 Richard Wade erected the first horse-mill in Henry County, which was situated on section 7, township 43, range 45, or about three miles west of the Avery settlement. In the same year, William Collins put up a mill in the eastern part of Henry County ; in 1838, a grist- mill was established on Honey Creek, by John Dickson, and Huntley's mill, which had a run of burrs for both wheat and corn and which was considered a particularly good mill, was established in Clinton township in 1845.
CHAPTER VII.
THE OFFICIAL ORGANIZATION
JOHNSON AND RIVES COUNTIES ORGANIZED-THE FIRST OFFICERS-THE FIRST SHERIFF-ACTS OF THE COUNTY COURT.
In reality the official history of Henry County as a county separate from that of Lillard or Lafayette may be said to begin with the year 1834; for on the thirteenth day of May in that year the Legislature passed an act organizing the counties of Johnson and Rives. Rives, later called Henry County, was named for the Hon. William C. Rives of Virginia. Its organization was officially recognized on the fourth day of May, 1835, by the convening of the county court consisting of two members. The commissioners named in a preceding chapter were ap- pointed to select a county seat for Johnson County and a county seat for Rives County. At the same session of the General Assembly, the bound- ary line of St. Clair County was more defined, but as there were not enough settlers in St. Clair County to justify it being set apart as a dis- tinct organization for civil and military purposes it was attached to the County of Rives.
At the first session of the County Court, which met on Monday, the fourth of May, 1835, at the house of Henry Avery, only two judges- Thomas Arbuckle and William Goff-appeared. Jonathan D. Berry was appointed clerk by the judges present. The record shows that Henry Avery was the justice of the peace of Tebo township of Lafayette County and William B. Price was constable. These gentlemen appeared at this first session of the County Court of Rives County and presented their resignations. The Court appointed George P. Woodson assessor and John G. Castleman constable. On the second morning the Court proceeded to lay off the County of Rives into municipal townships, dividing it into
88
HENRY COUNTY HISTORY
four and naming them Big Creek, Tebo, Springfield and Grand River. The northeast quarter of the county was called Tebo township; the north- west quarter Big Creek; the southeast quarter Springfield and the south- west quarter Grand River. Tebo township comprised the present munici- pal townships of Windsor and Tebo; the eastern half of Shawnee, the northern half of Springfield and Deer Creek and the northeastern quarter of Fields Creek. Big Creek township was composed of the western half of Shawnee, the northwest quarter of Fields Creek, the north half of Honey Creek and White Oak and all of Big Creek and Bogard. Spring- field township was east of the line which divided Fairview, Clinton and Fields Creek townships, while Grand River township was west of it.
The County Court also accepted the resignation of Mr. Avery on the second day of this term, appointed Colby T. Stevenson to succeed him, named the County of St. Clair, which was under the jurisdiction of Rives County, the township of St. Clair, and adjourned.
At the second meeting of the County Court Joseph Montgomery, who had received his commission from Governor Daniel Dunklin, ap- peared to sit with the other two judges. In passing it may be well to pay tribute to the memory of Governor Daniel Dunklin, for it was he who was the father of the present free school system of the State. To no man is more honor due than to the statesman who can realize the fact that upon public education depends the welfare of any State, and who can, through practical application of his idea, bring such education home to all the children of a commonwealth.
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.