USA > Missouri > Howard County > History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most official authentic and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 14
USA > Missouri > Chariton County > History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most official authentic and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 14
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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
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
Sections are divided into quarters, eighths and sixteenths, and are described by their position in the section. The full section con- tains 640 acres, the quarter 160, the eighth 80, and the sixteenth 40. In the following diagram of a section the position designated by a is known as the northwest quarter; i is the northeast quarter ; of the northeast quarter; d would be the south half of the southeast qquarter, and would contain 80 aeres.
1 Sec. post
See. post
5 Sec. post
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160 acres
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A Sec. post
ij Sec. post
e
b
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d
Sec. post
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14 Sec. post
Congressional townships, as we have seen are six mile squares of land, made by the township and range lines, while eivil or municipal townships are civil divisions, made for purposes of government, the one having no reference to the other, though similar in name. On the county map we see both kinds of townships - the congressional usnally designated by numbers and in squares ; the municipal or civil township by name and in various forms.
By the measurement thus made by the government the courses and distances are defined between any two points. St. Louis is in township 44 north, range 8 east, and Independence is in township 49 north, range 32 west ; how far, then, are Kansas City and St. Louis apart on a direct line > St. Louis is forty townships cast - 240 miles - and five townships south - thirty miles ; the base and perpendicular of a right-angled triangle, the hypothenuse being the required distance.'
ORGANIZATION OF TOWNSHIPS.
The " township," as the term is used in common phraseology, in many instances, is widely distinguished from that of " town," though many persons persist in confounding the two. " In the United States, many of the states are divided into townships of five, six, seven, or perhaps ten miles square, and the inhabitants of such townships are vested with certain powers for regulating their own affairs, such as repairing roads and providing for the poor. The township is subor- dinate to the county." A " town " is simply a collection of houses, either large or small, and opposed to " country."
The most important features connected with this system of town-
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
ship surveys should be thoroughly understood by every intelligent farmer and business man ; still there are some points connected with the understanding of it, which need close and careful attention. The law which established this system required that the north and south lines should correspond exactly with the meridian passing through that point ; also, that each township should be six miles square. To do this would be an utter impossibility, since the figure of the earth causes the meridians to converge toward the pole, making the north line of each township shorter than the south tine of the same township. To obviate the errors which are on this account, constantly occurring, correction lines are established. They are parallels bounding a line of townships on the north, when lying north of the principal base ; on the south line of townships when lying south of the principal base from which the surveys, as they are continued, are laid out anew ; the range lines again starting at correct distances from the principal meridian. In Michigan these correction lines are repeated at the end of every tenth township, but in Oregon they have been repeated with every fifth township. The instructions to the surveyors have been that cach range of townships should be made as much over six miles in width on each base and correction line as it will fall short of the same width where it closes on to the next correction line north ; and it is further provided that in all cases, where the exterior lines of the townships shall exceed, or shall not extend six miles, the excess of deficiency shall be specially noted, and added to or deducted from the western or northern sections or half sections in such township, according as the error may be in running the lines from east to west, or from south to north. In order to throw the excess of de- ficieneies on the north and on the west sides of the township, it is necessary to survey the section lines from south to north, on a true meridian, leaving the result in the north line of the township to be governed by the convexity of the earth, and the convergeney of the meridians.
Navigable rivers, lakes and islands are " meandered " or surveyed by the compass and chain along the banks. "The instruments employed on these surveys, besides the solar compass, are a survey- ing chain thirty-three feet long, of fifty links, and another of smaller wire, as a standard to be used for correcting the former as often at least as every other day, also eleven tally pins, made of steel, telescope, targets, tape measure and tools for marking the lines upon trees or stones. In surveying through woods, trees intercepted by the line are marked with two chips or notches, one on each side ; these are called
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sight or line trees. Sometimes other trees in the vicinity are blazed on two sides quartering toward the line; but if some distance from the line the two blazes should be near together on the side facing the line. These are found to be permanent marks, not wholly recognizable for many years, but carrying with them their own age by the rings of growth around the blaze, which may at any subsequent time be ent ont and counted as years ; and the same are recognized in courts of law as evidence of the date of the survey. They cannot be obliterated by cutting down the trees or otherwise without leaving evidence of the act. Corners are marked upon trees if found at the right spots, or else upon posts set in the ground, and sometimes a monument of stones is used for a township corner, and a single stone for section corner; mounds of earth are made when there are no stones nor timber. The corners of the four adjacent sections are designated by distinet marks cut into a tree, one in each section. These trees, facing the corner, are plainly marked with the letters B. T. (bearing tree) cut into the wood. Notches cut upon the corner posts or trees indicate the number of miles to the outlines of the township, or if on the boundaries of the township, to the township corners.
CHAPTER VI.
BOONE'S LICK TOWNSHIP.
Boundary-Physical Features -- Lakes - Salt Springs - Indian Mounds - Early Set- tlers - The Name - Daniel Boone -The Date of His Visiting the Township-He Never Manufactured Salt- Historie Ground - Character of the Early Settlers - Their Troubles - Supplied Themselves with Many Things -- After the War of 1812 - Biograpical Sketch of Major Stephen Cooper - Boonsboro - Its Early History --- Incident.
We shall begin the township history of Howard county, not alpha- betically but chronologically, giving each as nearly as we can in the order of their settlement, commencing with Boone's Lick town - ship.
BOUNDARY.
This township, which was re-organized in 1821, has suffered no dimunition of its territory since that period, nor has its arca been increased. It occupies the southwestern corner of the county, and is bounded on the north by Chariton township, on the east by Rich- mond and Franklin townships, on the south by Cooper county and the Missouri river, and on the west by Saline county and the Missouri river.
PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC.
The ,township was originally heavily timbered and a great abun- dance of the best of timber is now standing, but much of it has been cleared off preparatory to the opening of the farms, which are now located ou almost every quarter section of the township. The sur- face of the township is undulating and in many places hills and ridges abound. Limestone is found in different portions of the township. It is well watered by Salt, Bowen's Simpson's, Brown's and Clark's branches, and by Sulphur and Bartlett's creeks, all of which flow into the Missouri river, which forms the southern and western border of the township. Besides these streams of water the township, many years ago, was noted for its lakes, known as Cooper's and. Nash's lakes. . The latter was quite an extensive body of water, and at one time covered portions of sections 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34. It has
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been ditched and drained, and its entire arca is now under fence and paying a rich tribute to the farmer. Cooper's lakes were located on sections 2 and 11, but, like the one mentioned, they have been drained and are now properly classed among the tillable lands of the township.
In this township there are a number of salt springs, the most celebrated of these being Boone's Lick. From the date of their orig- inal discovery, a great quantity of salt has been manufactured from the brine and shipped to St. Louis and elsewhere. throughout the country. A few years since a well was bored to the depth of 1,001 feet at this " lick" from which tlowed a stream of brine sufficiently strong and rapid to produce one hundred barrels of superior salt in twenty-four hours.
A number of Indian momids are found in the township.
The soil is generally fair on the highlands and exceedingly fertile in the river bottom. The bulk of the tobacco raised in the county is produced in this township.
EARLY SETTLERS.
There is probably more historical interest connected with the early history of Boone's Lick township than with any other municipal division of the county. The great dramatist intimates there is nothing in a name. A name, however, sometimes means a great deal, as it does in this instance. Had the township received its name by accident, or had it been given as the mere result of some man's capricious or idle whim, then it could have had no significance. But when we know that it was bestowed upon the township after mature deliberation, then it is that we begin to realize something of its import, and naturally ask ourselves the question, " Why the name of Boone's Lick? "
Would that we knew more of the brave hunter whose daring ex- ploits illumine the pages of the pioneer history of two States ! Espe- cially of his connection with Boone's Liek township, and the Boone's Lick country, in honor of whom the entire region took its name. Without stopping to discuss the seemingly apparent conflict between tradition and the meagre historical facts relating to the probability of his once residing within the present limits of Howard county, we shall simply state, as we did in a preceding chapter of this book, that Daniel Boone erected a cabin and camped one winter in the immediate vicinity of Boone's Lick. The date of his doing this is not known. He had doubtless visited the " lieks " quite often in search of game before he had concluded to camp there. We are, however, confident, from the
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
most authentic records we have examined, that the date of his coming to Boone's Liek township was not far from the beginning of the present century. That Daniel Boone ever made salt here or elsewhere we are disposed to doubt. Ile was a hunter, both by habit and inclina- tion, and followed exclusively the life of a hunter as a livelihood, and it is very improbable that he would turn aside from his legitimate avocation, and one that he esteemed above all others, to pursue, even for a short season, any other employment, which at that early day, promised no such remuneration as inured to the benefit of the active and vigilant hunter and skilful trapper. His sons Nathan and Daniel. however, manufactured salt in the township some years later -- in 1807 -- and conveyed the same to the river in hollow logs, so imper- fect were the facilities then for transportation,
Every acre of Boone's Liek township is historie ground, hallowed to the memory of the most distinguished pioneer that ever pitched his tents in the forests of the great west. Its hills and its valleys first echoed and re-echoed to the crack of his unerring rifle. And it may be that its soil had never been touched by the feet of the white man until pressed by his. As Daniel Boone was bold in adventure and fearless in his character, and possessed many of the sterling character- istics of a noble manhood, so were the early settlers of this township, fearless in their attempts to conquer the wilderness, and so did they possess in a large measure, the distinguishing traits of a superior manhood. As heretofore stated (and the fact is obtained from the first recorded deed in the county ), Joseph Marie, a Frenchman, had made a settlement and improvements in Boone's Liek township in 1800, in the neighborhood of Eagle's Nest, and about one mile south- west of Fort Kincaid. Col. Benjamin Cooper came in 1808, and located at Boone's Lick, but his settlement there being regarded as an infringement upon the Indian lands, he was ordered by the govern- ment to return to a point below the mouth of the Gasconade, and in doing so he established himself on Loutre island. After remaining on the island for two years, and being joined there by about twenty- five families, he returned with a large portion of these in the spring of 1810, to Boone's Liek, where they erected cabins and put in crops in the succeeding fall. This was the first permanent settlement of the township, and the embryotie settlement of Howard county, which has widened and widened, until like the waves of the sea, it has long since reached the remotest limits of the county, having increased more than a thousandtold.
Among the names of the early settlers we find the following :
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
Col. Benjamin Cooper, and sons, Frank, Benjamin, David, and Sar- shall; Sarshall Cooper and sons, Joseph and Braxton; Braxton Cooper and his son Robert : John and Abbott Hancock, John and William Berry, John and Henry Ferrill, Peter Popineau, William Wolfskill and sons, Joseph and William ; James Anderson and sons, Middleton and William ; John O'Bannon, Stephen Jackson, Josiah Thorp and sons, William and John; Grey Bynum, Robert Brown, Robert Irwin, James Coil, James Jones, Adam Woods, Gilead Rupe, Amos Ashcraft and sons, Otho, Jesse, James and Alexander.
The settlers had to contend with many difficulties, even before the war of 1812, chief among which was the opposition of congress to their occupying lands within the limits set apart as belonging to the aborigines, who, however, acquiesced in their remaining. The settlers determined they would not surrender their claims, if they could help it, and continued to occupy the lands they had purchased, derived from a Spanish grant, which had been obtained by Ira P. Nash in the year 1800. They manufactured their own powder and salt, and supplied themselves with a fabric, which was made from wild nettles, and which served to them the purposes of cotton goods. They obtained their meats from the woods and the streams, the former abounding in choicest game, and the latter swarming with varied tribes of multitudinous fishes.
By chase our long-lived fathers earned their food; Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood; But we, their sons, a pampered race of inen, Are dwindled down to three-score years and ten.
They not only had to contend with the hardships and privations which fall to the lot of the pioneer in their heroic struggles to dissipate the gloom of the forest : but scareely had they completed their cabins, beneath whose humble roofs they were about to enjoy the first fruits of their labors, when a more terrible ordeal, through which they were destined to pass, suddenly confronted them. War had been declared against Great Britain, and that uation had ineited the Indians upon our frontiers to deeds of violence. It was so here, and to protect themselves against these savages they were compelled, single-handed and unaided, to build a fort ( Fort Cooper), where they remained the greater part of three years. [For farther history in reference to Fort Cooper see preceding chapters. ]
When peace was concluded ( 1815), the settlers commenced the
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
work of improvement in earnest. They were principally from Ken- tueky, and were noted for their liberality and kindness, and for the high standard of morality which they brought with them, and which they maintained even when they were no longer a law unto them- selves, and after they had become subject to the jurisdiction of terri- torial laws. John and Henry Ferrill and Robert Hancock were from Tennessee : James Kyle from Virginia ; Grey Bynum from South Car- olina : Stephen Jackson from Georgia.
MAJ. STEPHEN COOPER.
Maj. Stephen Cooper, who now resides in Colusa, California, was one of the pioneers of Boone's Lick township, and being one of the very few men living who shared with the early settlers the dangers and difficulties of that eventful period ( the first settlement of Howard county ), we publish in this connection a sketch of his life, feeling con- fident that it will be perused with great interest : -
My parents emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky at a very early dav. My father's name was Sarshall Cooper. My mother was in the fort at Boonsboro at the time it was besieged by the Indians. My father was at some other station, the name of which I do not now re- member. I was born in Madison county, Kentucky, March 10, 1797. In 1810 my father emigrated to Missouri and settled at Cooper's fort in Howard county. St. Louis was then but a small French village, with a few miserable houses, mostly thatched with straw. At that time, and for several years afterwards, the settlers generally lived in fortified houses, or forts, as they were called, on account of the In- dians. My father had command of three forts, viz : Cooper's fort. Hempstead and Kincaid. The two latter were ten miles from the former. For several years we had no organized government ; each did what he thought right in his own eyes, and we had very little trouble in our own fort - in fact we never had any. Sometimes iny father and unele would be sent for to go to the other forts to settle some slight difficulty, but never anything serious occurred. On one ocension a Frenchman had stolen twenty dollars - a large amount at that time. He was ordered to leave the settlement. Ile begged hard to be permitted to come back at the end of a year, and he promised so faithfully to behave himself well, if he were allowed to, that the desired permission was given, and after serving ont his term of ban- ishment he returned, and was ever after a good citizen.
STYLE OF LIVING.
We lived very simply in those days. Coffee was worth 50 cents per pound in St. Louis, and it was seldom we saw either tea or coffee. We had no markets for our produce, so we merely raised enough for our own consumption, our principal products being corn, hogs, cattle,
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and some little wheat, the old-fashioned ox-mill- ( so-called ), being about the only mills in the country. We raised cotton enough for our own use, and with that and the wool which came from our sheep, our women folks made nearly all the clothing worn by either men or women. During
THE WAR OF 1812
I served as a volunteer in my father's company, who was under the command of Gen. Henry Dodge, a great Indian fighter and afterwards United States Senator from Wisconsin. I was detailed as a spy, and was often sent out to look for Indian trails, emmps, or fortifications. On one occasion, accompanied by Joseph Stills ( whose two brothers and son-in-law are now residing near Stockton, in this State), we were surrounded by about three hundred Indians. In attempting to charge through them, Stills was shot from his horse and instantly killed. Myself and horse escaped unhurt. At that time I killed the principal " brave " of the Sac nation. It has always been my motto never to run with a loaded gan in my hand.
My father was shot and instantly killed, sitting by his own fire- side, by an Indian, who picked a hole in the wall one dark, stormy night. This was after we had heard that peace had been declared in 1815.
Many incidents occurred in my younger days which it would take a volume to relate. Once, while attending school, an alarm of " Indians !" was given. I threw my book across the room, never stopping to see where it fell, and seized my gun. This. was about the close of the war, and the alarm proceeded from a large party of Indians who were on their way to St. Louis to make a treaty with the United States government.
THE INDIANS
continued to commit depredations occasionally, even after peace had been made. On one occasion they took two negroes who were chopping wood and carried them off .. The alarm was given and seventy or eighty men collected together and pursued them. About dark we struck the trail. We were all mounted, and my brother and myself put our horses on a lope. Directly my horse jumped over an Indian fire, from which they had just fied, leaving their meat still roasting over the coals. We heard one of the negroes ery out, but it was so dark we were unable to find him or his captors. A few days after we found his body. The other negro was never heard of.
THE SANTA FE TRADE.
I was one of a party of fifteen who first opened the Santa Fe trade in 1822. In 1823 ] went on a second trip to Santa Fe a- leader or captain of thirty men. Our stock in trade was principally dry goods, for which we expected to get money in return. All went
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prosperously with us till daybreak on the morning of the first of June, when a party of Indians fired on us, stampeded our horses, and ran off' every head, except six, which we saved. Fortunately none of us were killed or wounded, although I managed to kill one Indian. This occurred on the banks of the Little Arkansas. In company with five others I went back to Missouri, bought horses and returned to our company. When we got in sight of the camp, we saw fully fifteen hundred Indians in and around the same. This looked rather squally. and some proposed to back out ; I told them they could do as they pleased, but I should go on to our comrades, if no other man went with me. Finally we all went up, and found it to be a party of friendly Kaw Indians on a buffalo hunt - a different tribe from those who had stampeded our horses,
We pursued our journey without any further molestation from Indians, but sometimes suffered severely from want of water. On one occasion eight of our men gave out entirely on that account, and were unable to travel. The rest of the company, with the exception of myself, cut the lash ropes from their packs, scattered the goods upon the ground, took the best horses and scattered off' like crazy men for water, leaving me and the eight men behind. Some of those who Wero leaving us fell on their knees and plead with me to go with them and save my own life ; urging as a reason that the men were bound to die, and that I could do them no good by staying. I said I would not leave them as long as a breath of life was left in one of them ; that if they found water they should return to us. This was one or two o'clock in the afternoon. When it became dark I built a fire of buffalo chips, and tired guns in the air as a signal to guide them to us. About midnight four of the men returned with water and we were all saved. The others had drank so much water that they were unable to return, and remained by the water hole. We were lost in attempt- ing to reach them, and it was four days before we found them. From this time on to the end of our journey we had no further difficulty.
In 1825 the United States government laid out a road from the borders of Missouri to Santa Fe. I was appointed pilot and captain by the company.
In the Blackhawk war in 1833, I volunteered and acted as a spy and guide under Captain Matsen. After he was called in, I joined the company of Captain Hiekman of Boone county, Missouri, in the same capacity, and served till the close of the war.
In 1837 Governor Boggs, of Missouri, appointed Col. Boone, Major Berrecroft and myself commissioners to locate and mark out the northern boundary of Missouri, which we did. President Van Buren appointed me Indian agent for the Pottawatomie, Ottawa and Chippewa tribes of Indians - headquarters Council Bluffs. The ap- pointment was nnasked for, and I retained it until removed by Presi- dent Tyler for political reasons. In 1844 I was elected to the legislature of Missouri from Holt county. I remember at one time
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during the session making the remark that Lexpected to live to see the Mississippi river and the Pacific ocean connected by a railroad, which caused a great deal of laughter.
CALIFORNIA.
In the summer of 1845, I was indneed by several letters received from Colonel Benton, stating that my services would be needed. to accompany Colonel Fremont on his expedition to California. I went with him as far as Bent's fort, on the Arkansas, where I informed him I could go no further with him. There the company divided. Colonel Fremont with his party pursuing his original plan. whilst I went south through a part of Texas, returning home that winter. Ihave omitted to mention that I was married in 1824. We have had six children - four daughters and two sons -all of whom, with their mother, are still living. I have also sixteen grandchildren.
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