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 40
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 40
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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
Charles Veatch.
BUSINESS HOUSES.
3 drug stores,
3 dry goods stores,
6 grocery stores,
2 blacksmith shops,
1 shoe shop,
1 wagon shop.
1 flouring mill,
1 stoves and hardware,
1 lumber and hardware,
& saloons,
3 white churches,
1 restaurant and bakery,
2 colored churches.
1 millinery shop,
2 banks,
1 barber shop,
2 harness shops,
I hotel (and one in process of construction ),
1 printing office ( Chariton Courier ),
2 tobacco factories,
KEYTESVILLE AND OTHER TOWNS IN 1837.
Wetmore has this to say of Keytesville and other towns in 1837, in his Gazetteer, published at that date : " Keytesville is the seat of justice for this county, and is the principal town in it. The old town of Chariton was built at an early period, a little above the mouth of the Chariton river, and within a near view of the Missouri. This lo- cation proved an unfortunate one, and the place was found so sickly that it is now a deserted village. It is within a half a mile of the con- fluence of the two principal forks of the Chariton river, and on the wide bottom made by the Missouri and these two rivers. An attempt was made to erect, out of Chariton, two or three other towns in its vicinity. But the business men interested in the trade of the rich and populous country embraced within Howard and Chariton, and at suitable distance from the landing of the great bend of Missouri here, have fixed on a new site within the western boundary of How-
Jas. R. Horsley, J. J. Mills,
434
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
ard county, and they are commeneing their business operations there. An excellent house of entertainment will remain at Old Chariton for the accommodation of travellers, and the steam saw-mill will continue as a useful contributor to the growth of the new town below. From Old Chariton the traveller crosses the east fork of the Chariton on an excellent bridge and pursues his route towards Keytesville, to which place it is seventeen miles. After travelling about six miles the road runs through a beautiful aud very rich timbered country for eleven miles to Keytesville. This town is happily situated on the left bank of the Muscle fork, a branch of the main Chariton, within the timbered country and on a high site. To the south, a fine view . opens over a prairie as rich as any part of the globe, and sufficiently rolling for the convenience of farming operations. Much of the prairie is already occupied, and the improvements add to the natural beauty of the view from Keytesville. There are in Keytesville a good court-house, four stores, with a general assortment of merchandise in each, and three taverns, aud all the various mechanics' shops that are requisite in a farming country. Where the main road to the upper counties issues from the town and crosses a good bridge, a saw-mill and grist-mill, with two pairs of stones, run the whole year. This is a convenience that is peculiar, and in Missouri but few places enjoy the same advantage. Although Chariton has not settled as rapidly as some of the counties, the lands of which were in market at an early period, yet there is alarge portion of the county that is first-rate land, and much of it remains subjeet to entry at the minimum price of one dollar and a quarter per aere. There are many springs in this county, and some salt water. One salt spring, the property of Major Ashby, is strong enough for the manufacture of salt. The mill-sites in Chariton are numerous, and there are four mills being built in ad- dition to the one already mentioned at Keytesville. Mr. Keyte, the original proprietor of Keytesville, is beginning another town at the mouth of Grand river, which he calls Brunswick. The site is an eligible one, and will probably become the point of landing and ship- ment for the fine back country north and east of the position chosen for that purpose. One and a half miles from Keytesville, on the Grand Chariton, is a mill-site unoccupied, of great value, having a rock bottom and one bank of solid rock. There is supposed to be water sufficient for a saw-mill and one or two large merchant mills. .
* The improvement and settlement of Chariton county have been greatly retarded by the military bounty-lands within it,
435
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
being owned to a great extent by non-residents. Those persons who would be disposed to purchase and settle on these lands might look in vain for the owners, who reside in some distant quarter of the Union."
ANTIQUITIES.
There are abundant evidences to prove that this Western country, and in fact nearly the entirely continent of America was, at some remote period of the world's history, thickly populated with a comparatively enlightened race of people. The burial mounds along the rivers and water courses, and on benches overlooking fortile valleys, that were formerly the beds of lakes or rivers, are filled with human bones and strange relics of an extinct race. Some of these mounds present evi- dences of great labor in their construction, and the same general fea- tures that characterize them show that they were ereeted by one nation of people for one general purpose. Specimens of earthenware, silver and copper ornaments, ancient weapons, skeletons and bodies in a partial state of preservation have been taken from them in large numbers. Those ancient people were an entirely different race from the Indians, and lived at such a remote period that not the slightest tradition in reference to them has ever been found among even the most intelligent aboriginal tribes. They were small in stature and were evidently inclined to the pursuits of peace rather than of war. They had large cities and a comparatively dense population. by whom the arts and sciences were cultivated and the earth made to bring forth its fruits for their subsistence. A large cemetery was dis- covered at an early day on the Meramec river. in St. Louis county, from which many partially preserved skeletons were exhumed. They had been buried in stone coffins, and, in some instances, the bones were nearly entire. The length of the bodies were determined by that of the coffins, which averaged from three feet and a half to four feet. In Tennessee two bodies were found in a limestone cavern, and neither of them exceeded four feet in height. The teeth were sepa- rated by intervals, and were small, long, white, and sharp. The hair seemed to have been sandy or inclined to yellow. Great pains had been taken to preserve the bodies, and much labor had been expended in making the funeral robes in which they were folded. Two splendid blankets, woven with the most beautiful feathers of the wild turkey, arranged in regular stripes and compartments, encircled them. The cloth on which these feathers were woven was a kind of linen of neat
436
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
texture, someting like that which is made from the fibres of the net- tle. One of these persons, a female, had evidently died from the ef- fects of a blow on the skull, as the marks of coagulated blood could still be traced where the blow fell, when the body was exhumed. The skulls and face bones of all the mound builders were of a peculiar shape, somewhat resembling the head of a squirrel or fox, and very small, the face and chin protruding, the forehead narrow and retreat- ing. There were evidences to show that this pigmy race of people lived contemporaneously with the mastodon, that immense antedilu- vian animal which has been extinet for unnumbered centuries. The pottery which had been taken from the mounds was unbaked, the glaz- ing was incomplete and looked as though it had been moulded by hand. A drinking cup taken from a mound in St. Charles county, is thus described by a gentleman who owned it: " It was a smooth, well_ moulded, and of the color of common gray stoneware. It had been rounded with great care, and yet, from slight indentations on the sur- face, it was manifest it had been wrought in the palm of the hand. It would contain about two quarts, and had been used to hold animal oil, for it had soaked through and varnished the external surface. Its neek was that of a squaw, known by the clubbing of the hair, after the Indian fashion. There seemed to have been an attempt at wit in the outlet. It was the horrible and distorted mouth of a savage, and in drinking you would be obliged to place your lips in contact with those of madam, the squaw."
The curiosities here mentioned are but two or three among the thousands which have been found in many parts of Missouri ; indeed, the State is rich in the relies of a pre-historic raee, there being seareely a single county that has not produced one or more of these silent, but unmistakable memorials of that strange people. What became of the mound-builders is a question that will probably never be set- tled. That they were exterminated by a stronger and more war-like raee there is but little doubt ; but, then, who were their destroyers, and what, in turn, became of them? They were certainly not our modern Indians or their progenitors, for in that case some tradition of so great a conquest would have remained among them. When we contemplate this subject the mind runs far back into the misty realms of imagination and is not satisfied. It is an insoluble mystery which eternity alone can unravel. One who studied the subject long and earnestly, and assisted his studies by observation, says : " Here must have been a race of men on these charming plains that had every call
437
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
from the scenes that surrounded them to contented existence and tran- quil meditation. Unfortunate, as men view the thing, they must have been. Innocent and peaceful they probably were, for had they been reared amidst wars and quarrels, like the present Indians, they would doubtless have maintained their ground, and their posterity remained unto this day. Beside them moulder the huge bones of their contem- porary beast, which must have been thrice the size of the ele- phant. * *
" The unknown race to which these bones belong had, I doubt not, as many projects of ambition and hoped as sanguinely to have their names survive, as the great of the present day."
Mr. Charles Veatch. present ( 1883) postmaster at Keytesville, has a magnificent variety of antiquities, consisting of 2,000 relies, 1,000 minerals, and 2,000 specimens of beetles. Mr. Veach has spent ten or twelve years in the collection of these relies, and can now congrat- ulate himself upon the fact that his years of patience and labor and careful research have yielded him such an abundant harvest. He has had cabinets made especially for the preservation of these strange but unique Indian and pre-historic memorials. Each class of minerals and relies have been carefully and tastefully arranged in an infinite variety of drawers, placed in tiers, varying in capacity and size. The beetles are inclosed in glass cases and make a brilliant display. Among the latter may be seen the gorgeous winged butterfly, together with the most infinitesimal insect that buzzes through the air or erawls upon the earth.
Among these strange and faseinating specimens we noticed a spade, which was plowed up in Keytesville township, and is thirteen inches in length ; a stone mall from Howard county that weighs thirteen pounds, one beautifully shaped axe of varigated granite, a number of fleshers from Chariton and Howard counties, a pestle and bowl from Chariton county, paint stones from mounds in Bee Branch township, iron ore implements, flints of all colors and sizes, scrapers, chisels from Kentucky, points of arrows from the most delieate to the largest size, drills, spear-heads, beads, amulets, sharpening, banner, and pol- ishing stones, seven large stone pipes, models from the Sioux tribe consisting of arrows, sewing awl, and medicine bag of the chief Brave Bear, who was hung in Yankton in 1882. We saw also the war club of the Sioux Indians, and a scalping-knife with a case made of deer's toot, also the pipe out of which Brave Bear smoked just before his execution, and a bear's skull which was found in a cave near the Py-
30
438
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
renees in France. This vast collection of stones, which have been so exquisitely wrought and tastefully designed, are silent, yet eloquent, evidences of the intelligence and taste of these pre-historie designers. There are mounds in Keytesville, Bowling Green, Brunswick and Triplett townships, in Chariton county, some of which have been cx- plored to a slight extent.
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CHAPTER VII.
BRUNSWICK TOWNSHIP.
Boundary - Physical Features - Old Settlers - Brunswick - Its Early History - Mills and Manufactures -Banks and Bankers - Eureka Lodge, No. 73 -Chapter, No. 37 - Brunswick Lodge, No. 34, 1.O.O.F. - Knights of Honor -Jerusalem En- campment -Report of Public Schools of Brunswick-County Seat Question ~ German Settlements - War Reminiscence of 1861 -Growth and Trade - Grand River - Additions to Brunswick -Clippings from the first issues of the Brunswicker -- Business Houses and Exports-Number of Steamboats-Destructive Fire - Correspondence between the citizens of Brunswick and Colonel Thomas H. Benton.
BOUNDARY.
This is one of the southern tier of townships, and is bounded on the north by Mendon, Salt Creek and Triplett townships, on the east by Keytesville and Dalton, on the south by the Missouri river, and on the west by Triplett township and Grand river.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
This township contains about seventy-two square miles, and has a very irregular shape. Its water facilities are good - having the Missouri and Grand rivers on the southern part of its territory, while Salt, Brush, Lake and Palmer creeks water other portions of the same. There isa diversity of prairie and timber, bottom and npland. The bottom land is of first quality in all places not too low or too wet for cultivation ; the upland, much of it, is productive prairie. The timbered portion of the npland consists of a line of rather steep bluffs, becoming less broken, as they recede from the river. About one-third of the whole area is timber. Sandstone and limestone are found in abundance. Coal is found in many places in the hills, and has been worked a little. Several Indian mounds are found on the bluff line.
OLD SETTLERS.
Brunswick township is one of the most important municipal divi- sions of the county from the fact it contains the city of Brunswick,
(439)
440
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
which has a greater population than any other town in the county. Having in the early years of its settlement, not only a market in the town of Brunswick, but also an excellent shipping point ( the city being originally located on the banks of the Missouri river), the agricultural resources of the township were early developed, and especially was this the case with tobacco. which was in ante-bellum days perhaps the chief resource of wealth to the farmer. Many hogs were also raised in this township, and were taken to Brunswick and were sold to pork packers, who shipped the meat by way of the river to Eastern and Southern markets. The old settlers were generally from Kentucky and Virginia, and occasionally one was found from one of the Carolinas. Among the earliest settlers in this township were Caton Usher, from Kentucky ; George Ashby, from Kentucky ; Preston Gaines, from Kentucky; Caleb Martin, from Kentucky : John Hibler and sons, from Kentucky ; John Ellison, from Ken- tucky ; Jesse Gray, from Kentucky; Jesse Ashby, from Kentucky ; and John W. D. Lettrell, from Kentucky. All of the above settled in the township prior to 1840, and a few came as early as 1825. William Penick, from Virginia : William Fleetwood. from North Caro- lina ; and Clark Banning, from Tennessee, were also among the early settlers. Lisbon Applegate, Creed Chapman and his brother, and John Allega and his boys may be counted amongst the pioneers.
The first mill erected in the township was a band mill, and was put up before the year 1830 by Jesse Ashby, about three miles north of the town of Brunswick.
BRUNSWICK.
This town was laid out by James Keyte, in 1836, on the northwest quarter of section 11, township 53, range 20, which was at that time one mile below the mouth of Grand river. James Keyte was also the founder of Keytesville, the county seat of Chariton county, for whom the town was named. Brunswick, when originally laid out. was located in the bottom, on the banks of the Missouri river, and about four hundred yards south of the present site. The banks. however, began to crumble and fall into the river, and in the course of twenty years, the business houses and the few residences that were then near the river were moved to the base of the bluffs. Mr. Keyte, who was an Englishman, named the town after Brunswick (Tennis ), near Manchester, England.
The first house built in Brunswick, was a log house, erected by
.
441
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
James Keyte, which was used as a store of general merchandise. Mr. Keyte also erected a saw-mill about the same time, which was un- doubtedly the first mill of the kind ereeted in the township. Among the pioneer business men, who located there soon after the town was laid out, were Peter T. Abell, John Basey, Perkins and Conwell. Abell, Perkins and Conwell had general stores, and Basey opened the first hotel. Abell also operated a hotel in connection with his store. Capt. James Usher opened the first dram-shop in the town. E. B. Clements was also proprietor of a dram-shop. The men above men- tioned, with possibly two or three aceessions, constituted the business men of Brunswick, until about the year 1840. During this year, Doetor M. C. Spencer, and a man by the name of Threldkill, kept hotels. Wilson Elliott was the wagon-maker in 1840. Moses Short and Elhanen Short. were the brick-makers. Doctor Edwin Price, brother of General Sterling Price, was one of the earliest and the most promi- nent physicians of Brunswiek. He lived there until his death. Mrs. A. E. Cross, the widow of Doctor Henry Cross, and a daughter of Doctor Price, now resides in Brunswick. R. B. Price, a son of Doctor Edwin Price, is a prominent business man, and a banker of the city of Colum- bia, Missouri.
Brunswick did not grow very rapidly from the time that it was laid ont, until 1840, as there were but twenty-five votes polled in the town in the spring of that year, which indicated a population of about 125 persons ; this we state upon the authority of Judge John M. Davis, who now ( 1882), resides in the town. The first postmaster in the town was James Keyte, the founder, who held the position until his death, which occurred in the fall of 1844. The pork-pack- ing interest of the town from 1838 to 1811 was quite extensive. Among those who bought and packed pork were Peter T. Abell, who failed in business on account of it, in the spring of 1841; Pugh Price, brother of General Sterling Price and Perkins and Gates, who also failed in the spring of 1841.
Amasa Silrey and Joseph Silrey will be remembered by the oldest inhabitants as the men who operated the cooper shop. Broady Bar- rett, George Dupey, and R. G. Beazley were among the early buyers and shippers of tobacco. Thomas E. Gilliam and A. Johnson, were the first manufacturers of chewing tobacco in the town. Joseph Win- ters and Joseph Caton were the first tailors. Nathan Harry was the first saddler. Colonel Peter T. Abell and Colonel C. W. Bell were the first lawyers to practice in the town. The first church editice was
442
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
built by the Methodist Episcopal Church South, the Episcopalians and Presbyterians erecting houses of worship soon after. The pioneer school teacher of the town was Judge John M. Davis, who opened a school on the 19th of June, 1840, for a term of five months. The school numbered about thirty pupils, among whom were, John, Ben, Charles and Samuel Spencer, Sterling Price, nephew to General Sterling Price and Beverley Price, William Turner, Elias, Samuel, William and Asa Elliott, Isaac and Samuel Hibler, James, Edward and John Keyte, William Penick, Ann E. Price, Eliza Basey, Mat Spencer, Camilla and Bettie Price, Bettie Penick, and others. The school building was a log house, and stood south of where Grand river now runs.
MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
There was no grist mill located in Brunswick, until after the war of 1861, when Patrick Smith erected a steam flouring mill and carding machine.
BANKS AND BANKERS.
The first bank that was opened in Brunswick was the Brunswick Branch of the Merchants' Bank of St. Louis, about the year 1856. This was controlled by a president and board of directors. The president was Adamantine Johnson, the cashier was George W. Out- calt, and the clerk of the bank, was William C. Applegate. It sus- pended business during the civil war of 1861.
The next bank was a private institution and opened in the fall of 1865, by W. H. Plunkett. This was succeeded by the Chariton County Exchange Bank.
Statement of the Chariton County Exchange Bank, Brunswick, Missouri, June 30, 1883. S. Mauzey, president ; R. II. Hodge, vice- president. Chartered, 1877 :
Resources -
Cash and sight exchange,
$122,343 28
Government bonds,
7,000 00
Chariton county bonds,
14,000 00
Loans and discounts,
85,901 49
Bankiug house,
5,500 00
Furniture and fixtures,
2,000 00
$240,744 77
443
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
Liabilities -
Capital stock, -
$ 25,000 00
Surplus fund,
6,256 00
Interest and premium,
3,000 00
Deposits,
206,494 77
$240,744 77
LODGES.
Eureka Lodge No. 73, organized August 23, 1845. Charter mem- bers : Robert P. Price, James D. Price, Richard E. Holland, Peter T. Abell, Thomas T. Elliott, John W. Price, John M. Fulton, Richard Woodson, Samuel Q. Anderson. Eureka Lodge was burned Febru- ary 1, 1882.
Present officers - S. E. Everly, W. P. ; L. Mernaugh, S. W. : T. S. Dines, J. W. ; W. H. Plunkett, treasurer ; R. G. Beazly, secretary.
Old Chapter, organized September 10, 1847, with the following charter members: J. W. Smith, S. B. Kyle, T. P. Wilkerson, - Hobson, N. A. Grubbs, C. F. Bundurant, W. C. Hill, A. Johnson, Samuel Q. Anderson. Charter was surrendered in April, 1851. and reorganized January 30, 1868.
Chapter No. 87 (New Chapter), organized Jannary 30, 1869, with the following members : John Knappenberger, H. L. Gaines, N. A. Grubbs, John M. Davis, James D. Price. JJames T. Plunkett, John H. Townsend, Wm. C. Applegate, Samuel E. Taylor, Wni. Rosen- tein.
Present officers -J. S. Wallace. H. P. ; N. A. Grubbs, K. ; J. F. Cunningham, S. : J. T. Plunkett, P. S. ; John Knappenberger, C. H. ; John A. Miller, secretary ; W. H. Plunkett, treasurer ; Wm. Rosen- tein, K. A. C .; L. Mernaugh, M. 3d V. ; Lloyd Herring, M. 2d V. ; G. W. Rucker, M. Ist V. ; R. G. Beazly, G.
Brunswick Lodge No. 34, I. O. O. F. Date of charter June 9, 1848. Charter members- Thomas M. Davis, Thomas G. Sullivan, C. L. Willard, Sarshel Woods, E. D. Shackelford. Organized June 24, 1848.
Present officers - Edward Bowman, N. G. : Wm. A. Griffin, V. G. ; Jacob Corelson, secretary ; Willie H. Plunkett, treasurer.
Knights of Honor, Chariton Lodge, No. 2112, organized March 20, 1880, with the following charter members: E. P. McDonald, John Keuchler, Louis Beneeke, Wm. S. Land, Jos. U. B. Hedger, Otto
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444
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
Amerlan, Geo. W. Young, R. D. Edwards, G. W. Edwards, Jacob Saal, P. S. Price. Levi Likins and A. G. Kennedy.
Present officers -- R. D. Edwards, P. D. ; James Walsh, D. ; Win. Foyer, V. D .; Joseph Gross, A. D .; Ed. Wehmeyer, Ge. ; Ed. Reugger, G. ; H. E. Schultz, B. ; Otto Amerlan, F. R. ; Louis Kink- horst, T. ; Henry Wanger, Gn. ; J. J. Saal, S.
Jerusalem Encampment, No. 54, organized May 20, 1870. The names of the charter members we were unable to obtain.
Present officers - S. Corby, C. P. : Jacob Colston, H. P .; Ed. Bowman, S. W .; J. X. Mitchell, J. W. : C. W. Finch, treasurer ; W. A. Griffin, secretary.
REPORT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS AT BRUNSWICK (1881).
Number of white persons between 6 and 20 years of age :
Males
231
Females
249
Number of colored persons between same ages
109
Female
111
Total .
700
Total enrollment of white pupils, male and female
212
Total enrollment colored pupils .
70
Total enrollment, white and colored 282
Number of pupils enrolled between 6 and 16 years of age
253
Number between 16 and 20
29
Average number of days' attendance by each pupil Number of days schools were taught
40
Total number of days' attendance by all pupils
7,896
Average number of pupils attending each day
204
Number of teachers employed in the district during the
year
7
Average salaries of teachers per month
$42 00
Highest salary paid teachers
80 00
Lowest salary paid teachers
25 00
Total salaries paid distriet officers, teachers and janitors per month
307 00
28
445
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
Number of school houses in the district
2
Number of pupils that may be seated in the various sehools
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