USA > Missouri > Cooper County > History of Howard and Cooper counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages : together with a condensed history of Missouri, a reliable and detailed history of Howard and Cooper counties-- its pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens, general and local statistics of great value, incidents and reminiscences > Part 83
USA > Missouri > Howard County > History of Howard and Cooper counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages : together with a condensed history of Missouri, a reliable and detailed history of Howard and Cooper counties-- its pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens, general and local statistics of great value, incidents and reminiscences > Part 83
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
February 10, 1865, January 5, 1870 ; William E. Baird, * January 5, 1870, November 15, 1870; C. Keill, November 15, 1870, November 14, 1872 ; James Thomson, November 14, 1872, November 7, 1874; James Thomson, November 7, 1874, November, 1880; George B. Harper, November 8, 1880, term expires 1885.
COUNTY ATTORNEYS OF COOPER COUNTY,
with the date of election or appointment, and date of retiring from office : -
William S. Brickey, March 3, 1819, June 26, 1840; James Win- ston, June 26, 1840, May 9, 1851 ; J. L. Stephens, May 9, 1851, July 25, 1864 ; William Douglas, July 25, 1864, May 30, 1865 ; John Trigg, appointed pro tem., during term circuit court ; D. W. Wear, June 5, 1865, November 10, 1866 ; D. A. Milan, November 28, 1866, January 1, 1873 ; John Cosgrove, January 1, 1873, January 1, 1875 ; James H. Johnston, January 1, 1875, January 1, 1877 ; John R. Walker, Jannary 1, 1881, January 1, 1883; D. W. Shackelford, Jannary 1, 1883, term expires January 1, 1885.
There was, we think, a small space of time (a few years), during which time William D. Muir acted as county attorney for Cooper county, ex-officio, he being at that time state circuit attorney for this district of Missouri ; but the records of the county do not show the facts.
* William E. Baird was appointed county treasurer in the place of Christian Keill, on account of his being rendered unfit to discharge the duties of his office by what afterwards proved to be temporary insanity. But in the suit which Keill brought after his recovery, for his salary as county treasurer, while the office was occupied by Baird, the supreme court decided that the office was illegally held by Baird, because Keill had not been declared insane by the proper tribunal.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE FIRST CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY IN THE COUNTY.
On the 4th day of July, 1820, the first celebration within the county of Cooper of the anniversary of the declaration of the na- tional independence took place at Boonville, which then consisted of but a few houses. For some time notice had been circulated among the settlers all over this portion of the state, and on the morning of that day great crowds gathered " from near and from far" to take part in this, to them, great day of thanksgiving ; for, at that time in the nation's history, the declaration of independence and individual right meant something besides empty words.
The oration of the day was delivered by Benjamin F. Hickox, father of Truman V. Hickox.
The feast, of which all were specially invited to partake, was spread on the grass and ground north and northeast of the court- house. Such was the crowd present that the table spread for them reached from the vacant lot north of the court-honse to the large mound still standing in the front yard of Mrs. Jesse Homan. James Bruffee, a blacksmith, then living in Boonville, made a large wrought iron cannon, with which they fired the salutes in honor of the day.
The festivities continued through the day and the following night. After the speaking and the reading of the declaration of in- dependence had been concluded, the people separated into groups - the young ones to dance and to play different games, and the old ones to watch the pleasant sports of the children and to talk over the current gossip of the day, for it was very seldom that they ever met in a large crowd. This day is still remembered with pleasure by the old settlers, for many of them, on that day, met for the last time their friends, who lived at a distance, and who soon became separated from them and died without ever seeing them again.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
THE CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH IN 1876.
Fifty-six years after the first celebration of the Fourth of July in Cooper county, occurred the centennial, or 100th anniver- sary of our national independence. That was a day in the history of the county long to be remembered, especially by those who partici- pated in the festivities of that occasion. The celebration at Boon- ville commenced on the evening of the 3d of July, with the firing of cannons, a grand illumination of the principal streets, and a lengthy torchlight procession. Main street was in a perfect blaze of light, with gas jets, candles and lanterns, and every business house was decorated with flags and banners having appropriate mottoes ; in fact, with hardly an exception, the people participated in the grand dis- play.
The streets were crowded with people during the whole of the evening, and it was frequently remarked : " Where did so many people come from?" A great many attended from different parts of this and surrounding counties, Howard county being especially well represented in the procession. The procession was considered a great success -even beyond the most sanguine expectations of the com- mittee of arrangements.
It could, perhaps, be here remarked that the celebration at Boon- ville of the " nation's birthday " was not, in proportion to its popu- lation, excelled in any respect by that of any other city or town in the United States. The property holders and occupiers seemed to strive with one another as to whose premises should make the best appear- ance, both in the illumination and the display of flags, lanterns, etc. The citizens were very quiet, and made no boast of what they intended to do, but when the signal was given for " lighting up," they aston- ished everybody else, and even themselves.
On the evening of the 3d the procession was formed by Judge T. M. Rice, chief marshal, with Colonel Robert McCulloch and Captain George Meller, assistant marshals. In front was a large wagon, con- taining thirteen young ladies, who represented the thirteen original states of the union. Then followed twelve men dressed in Continental uniform, who represented Washington, Jefferson, Lafayette, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and others, among the most prominent men who took part in the Revolutionary struggle. Then came men bearing flags and torches, in all forming a procession more than one- half of a mile long. Twelve men on horseback, dressed in Indian cos- tume, rode several times pell-mell through the streets, yelling and giving the Indian warwhoop. This was a ludicrous, attractive and
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
prominent feature of the procession. Three bands of music marched at different places in the procession : the Boonville silver cornet, the Clark's Fork and the Pilot Grove bands. After the procession had marched and counter-marched through the principal streets of the town, it halted at Thespian hall, where the assembled multitude was entertained by an address prepared for the occasion and delivered by Mr. Malcolm McMillan, of Boonville ; and last, as the closing exercise of this the first day of the great celebration, the crowd witnessed some of the best tableaux ever seen in Boonville, the principal characters of which were the young ladies who represented the thirteen states. It was past eleven o'clock before the exercises of the evening were con- cluded, and the people dispersed to seek rest, to prepare for the duties and the pleasures of the following day, for the greatest effort had been expended to make that the " crowning glory " of the celebration.
The morning of the Fourth was dark and gloomy ; rain fell in torrents, and the heavy boom of the " artillery of heaven," drowned that of the " feeble sons of earth." But this day had been set aside by the people for enjoyment, and early, crowds of people thronged the principal thoroughfares of the town, seeking the place where the closing exercises of the celebration were to take place. At four o'clock in the morning all the bells in the city were rung, and thirty- eight shots were fired by the cannon, one for each of the states of the Union.
As the morning was very disagreeable, although the rain had ceased falling about eight o'clock, the procession was not formed until about eleven o'clock, when it proceeded to Lilly's grove, about one- half of a mile east of Boonville, there to listen to the reading of the Declaration of Independence, and to the speeches and addresses pre- pared for the occasion.
After an appropriate prayer by Rev. Mr. Curtis, of the Episco- pal church at Boonville, the Declaration of Independence was read by Professor J. P. Metzger. He was followed by Colonel H. A. Hutchi- son, who read an excellent and appropriate poem, written expressly for the occasion, and which will be found in full at the close of this chapter.
Colonel William Preston Johnson, of Virginia, was then intro- duced, and delivered a most eloquent speech, which was received with loud cheers by the assembled crowd.
Then Mr. G. Reiche delivered an address in German. He was followed by Mr. John Cosgrove, who delivered the oration of the day.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
After this, Mr. N. M. Drake read a sketch of the history of Cooper county, which had been prepared for the occasion in accord- ance with the request of the committee of arrangements.
At the close of each of the above exercises, an appropriate chorus was sung by a choir composed of one hundred voices. Also, frequently during the afternoon, the boom of the cannon was heard, seeming- ly to remind the forgetful portion of the citizens that indeed they were celebrating the " Centennial Fourth."
On the night of the Fourth the citizens were called together to witness the display of fireworks, which had been prepared at great expense. At ten o'clock the last " honquet of flowers " was fired into the air, and the heavy boom of the cannon notified the assembled multitude that the great celebration of the Fourth day of July was over, and the people retired to their homes, satisfied with the success of their endeavors to make memorable the birthday of three millions of "Sons of Liberty."
JULY FOURTH, 1876.
BY II. A. HUTCHISON.
The goddess of liberty, sent from above, Ou mission of mercy, on errand of love, Rejected of empire, discarded by throne, Through kingdoms and monarchies wandered alone, Till taking her flight to a land o'er the sea,
She found there a people who sighed to be free.
She breathed on the hearts of our patriot sires, And kindled within them those burning desires Which ne'er would be quenched or would slumber again, Until the fair goddess triumphant would reign. Sustaining the weak and inflaming the cold, She strengthened the doubtful and cheered on the bold, And giving our banner the stripe and the star, She bade them go forth in her service to war,
The mother and sister, and fond-hearted wife, Restrained not their dear one from joining the strife; The maiden, suppressing a sorrowful sigh, Her lover sent forth with a " cheerful good bye," And though they were few and their enemies strong, Yet striking for freedom, and maddened by wrong, They struggled and suffered thro' dark weary years Of want and privation, of hopes and of fears, Till tyranny fled and oppression was past, And victory perched on our banner at last.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
That banner unfurled to the sun and the breeze, As proudly it floats o'er the land and the seas, The beautiful emblem of freedom and right, To-day we will hail with a shout of delight! And let the grim cannon be brought forth once more Not death from its red mouth in anger to pour, But only to blend the deep tones of its voice With shouts of the people who meet to rejoice O'er this the return of the glorious day, Ou which, just a century now passed away, Our patriot fathers proclaimed them prepared To die, or sustain Independence declared !
From England and Scotia and Erin so fair, From Germany's shore, from the Alps bold and bare, From sunny Italia and beautiful France, From Spain whose fair daughters win hearts with a glance, From regions of snow and from tropical isle, Where summer time reigns with perpetual smile, Our country's adopted, from all o'er the earth, To-day will rejoice with her children by birth; And though they oft dream of the fatherland yet, Sometimes it may be with a sigh of regret, Beneath our proud flag to the breezes unfurled, They'd stand by our country against the whole world! Tho' memory brings up, in dreadful review, The armies of gray and the legious of blue, The heroes who once met in hostile array, Will mingle together as brothers to-day; And if the invader should come to our shore, I know they would rush to the battle ouce more, Each veteran's heart to our whole country true, Though one wore the gray and another the blue!
Now let the wild tones of the jubilant bells, Be mingled with music, as sweetly it swells! And may the soft winds, as they wander afar, Breathe gently to-day, on each stripe and each star, And bear the glad tidings all over our lands, There's UNION OF HEARTS, there is joining of hands, In north and in south, in the west and the east, Where gather the people, at church or at feast, On liberty's altar their garlands to cast, And cover with roses the thorns of the past.
May heaven protect, as in days that are gone, The old ship of state riding gallantly on, And be we united, whatever befall - OUR COUNTRY! OUR COUNTRY! the watchword of all.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONCLUSION-COOPER COUNTY OF 1883.
" With superior boon, may your rich soil Exuberant nature's better blessings pour O'er every land, the naked nations clothe, And be the exhaustless granery of the world."
A splendid country, with a great destiny is this beautiful central Missouri, whose fortunate location, charming landscape, equable clim- ate, versatile and generous soils, fruitful orchards and vineyards, matchless grasses, broad grain fields, rich coal measures, noble forests, abundant waters and cheap lands present to the capitalist and immi- grant one of the most inviting fields for investment and settlement to be found between the two oceans. During the unexampled western migratory movement of the last six years, which has peopled Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska and other regions with an intelligent and enter- prising population, this remarkably rich and productive country has, until recently, remained a terra incognita to the average immigrant, the new states above named getting accessions of brain, heart, muscle, experience and capital that have given them a commanding position in the union. And yet it cannot be denied that Missouri offers to in- telligent, enterprising and ambitions men of fair capital, more of the elements of substantial and enjoyable living than any country now open to settlement. In one of the fairest and most fertile districts of this division of Missouri are Howard and Cooper counties. Cooper county is admirably located within the productive middle belt of the continent, a strip of country not exceeding 450 miles wide, lying be- tween the latitudes of Minneapolis and Richmond, reaching from ocean to ocean, and within which will be found every great commercial, financial and railway city, ninety per cent of the manufacturing indus- tries, the great dairy and fruit interests, the strongest agriculture, the densest, strongest and most cosmopolitan population, all the great universities, the most advanced school systems and the highest aver- age of health known to the continent. Scarcely less significant is the location of this county in the more wealthy and productive portions of the great central state of the union, which, by virtue of its position
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
and splendid aggregation of resource, is bound to the commercial, political and material life of the country by the strongest ties, and must forever feel the quickening of its best energies from every throb of the national heart.
Cooper county is in the right latitude, which is a matter of pri- mary interest to the immigrant. Lying squarely in the path of empire and trans-continental travel, in the latitude of Washington and Cincinnati, it has the climatic influence that has given to Northern Kentucky and North Virginia an enviable reputation for equable tem- perature. The climate is a benediction. A mean altitude of eight hundred and fifty feet above the tides. gives tone and rarity to the atmosphere, and the equable mean of temperature. Most of the typical short winter is mild, dry, and genial enough to pass for a Minnesota Indian summer. The snow-fall is generally light, infrequent and tran- sient. The long genial summer days are tempered by inspiriting breezes from the southwestern plains, and followed by deliciously cool, restful nights.
The annual rainfall is from twenty-eight to forty inches, and is generally so well distributed over the growing season that less than a fair crop of grains, vegetables and grasses is rarely known.
The natural drainage of the county is excellent, the deep-set streams readily carrying off the surplus water from the generally un- dulating surface, only a limited area being too flat to quickly shed the surplus rains.
A high average of health obtains among men, animals and plants. There are no swamps or lagoons to breed malaria. The air and water are pure, and the conditions to normal health obtain here in as good measure as any where iu the west. The face of the country is fair and attractive. In the central and eastern portions of the county, at the summit level, are broad reaches of open plain or prairie land, from whose margin the country dips with graceful incline outward and downward in sympathy with the diverging water-courses that flow down through groves and green, grassy glades, intervals and fringes of timber, and pretty low-lying, winding valleys, to where they are lost in the larger streams and forests. Here and there along these larger streams may be seen a range of low hills, with occasional out- croppings of the lime rock into wild, weird, picturesque forms, but the general aspect of the landscape is peaceful and pastoral, and from every point of view has the semblance of a magnificent natural park, to whose native charms the hands of man have added a thousand graces of art in grain field, orchard, homestead, hedgerow and lawn.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
The water supply of this county is alike ample and admirable. More than a score of deep-set streams traverse every portion of the county, and with numerous springs, hundreds of artificial ponds and many living wells and cisterns, furnish pure water for all domestic uses. The county is well supplied with timber, much of its surface be- ing covered with groves and belts of oak, ash, elm, walnut, butternut, sycamore, hackberry, maple, cherry, mulberry, box-elder, hickory, linden and kindred woods. The markets are well supplied with hard and soft woods at $2.00 to $3.50 per cord, and there is a fair supply of building and fencing timber. A good portion of the county is un- derlaid with coal, whose frequent outeroppings along the streams and ravines expose veins which are easily worked by " stripping " and " drifting." Explorations made by shafts disclose well-defined veins, and there is not a doubt of very extensive deposits of the best bitumin- ous coal. The supply of good building stone too is equal to all pres- ent and prospective needs, massive deposits of well stratified limestone being found frequently outcropping along the streams and ravines.
The cost of fencing is materially lower here than in most of the new or old prairie states. In the wooded districts the fences are cheaply made of common post or stakes and rails. In the prairie dis- tricts the older and abler farmers do a large amount of fencing with the osage orange hedge, which is an unqualified snecess in this coun- try. There are miles and miles of fine hedge in this country, and with the proper care a farmer can grow a mile of stock proof hedge in four years, at a cost of $125 in labor. The newer farms are being uni- versally fenced with barbed wire, which is esteemed the quickest, most reliable, durable and cheapest fencing now in use here. The stock farmers are especially friendly to barbed wire fencing, some of them having put up as many as five and six miles in the last three years.
The soils of Cooper county are developing elements of productive wealth as cultivation advances. The prairie soil is a dark, friable al- luvial, from one to three feet deep, rich in humus, very easily handled, and produces fine crops of corn, oats, flax, rye, broom corn, sorghum, vegetables and grasses. The oak and hickory soil of the principal woodlands is a shade lighter in color ; is rather more consistent ; holds a good per cent of lime and magnesia, carbonate, lime, phosphate, silica, alumnia, organic matter, etc., and produces fine crops of wheat, clover and fruits, and, with deep rotative culture, gives splendid re- turns for the labor bestowed.
The valleys are covered with a deposit of black, imperishable al- luvial, from three to eight feet in depth and as loose and friable as a
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
heap of compost, grow from sixty to eighty bushels of corn to the acre, and give an enormous yield toanything grown in this latitude. While these soils present a splendid array of productive forces, they are sup- plemented by sub-soils equal to any known to husbandry. The entire superficial soils of the county are underlaid by strong, consistent, sili- cious clays and marls, so rich in lime, magnesia, alumnia, organic mat- ter, and other valuable constituents, that centuries of deep cultivation will prove them like the kindred loess of the Rhine and Nile valleys, absolutely indestructible. Everywhere, about the railway cuts, ponds, cisterns, cellars and other excavations, where these clays and marls have had one or two years exposure to frost and air, they have slacked to the consistency of an ash heap, and bear such a rank growth of weeds, grass, grain, vegetables and young trees, that in the older and less fertile states they might readily be taken for deposits of the richest compost.
After two and a half years observation in central and northwest- ern Missouri, we are prepared to believe that a hundred years hence, when the older eastern and southern states shall have been hopelessly given over to theartificial fertilizers of man, and a new race of farmers are carrying systematic and deep cultivation down into this wonderful alien deposit of silicious matter, the whole of north and central Missouri will have become the classic ground in American agriculture, and these im- perishable soils in the hands of small farmers will have become a very garden of beauty and bounty, and these Cooper county lands will command splendid prices on a strong market.
The lands of Cooper county are nearly all available, because they are nearly all good. The lowest bottoms are, as a rule, free from swamps and lagoons, and the highest elevations comparatively free of rocks and impediments to cultivation. It is safe to say that these soils, together, give the broadest range of production known to Amer- ican husbandry. It is the pride and boast of the Cooper county farmer that he can grow in perfection every grain, vegetable, grass, plant and fruit that flourishes between the northern limits of the cot- ton fields and the Red river of the north. Both the surface indica- tions of soil and its native and domestic productions indicate its remarkable versatility and bounty. Hazel brush, red elm, linden, su- mac, mulberry, wild cherry, white and black walnut, resin weed and growths, found in nearly every neighborhood of the county, indicate a rich and versatile soil.
In the line of productions corn takes the lead by a large margin, the gross crop of the county for the year 1880, according to the United
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
States census, being 2,389,965 bashels. This was grown upon 63,988 acres, which is an average of about thirty-eight bushels per acre. Winter wheat is grown to some extent, especially in the timber lands, and yields from fourteen to thirty bushels per acre, but corn and stock raising are found so much more profitable that the tendency is more and more to their production. The wheat crop for 1880 was 516,138 bushels. Oats and rye are both profitably grown, the former yielding from twenty to forty bushels per acre, and the latter from twelve to twenty-five bushels per acre, after more or less winter grazing. The yield of oats for 1880 was 263,389 bushels, and the yield of rye 4,225 bushels. The county produced in 1880, 21,252 pounds of tobacco from twenty-nine acres. Among the other field crops there are flax and barley, millet and hungarian, broom corn, Irish and sweet potatoes. The garden of the careful cultivator makes as fine a showing in this county as anywhere in the west, every vegetable of the middle lati- tudes coming to perfection in these flexible and generous soils. This portion of the state is one of the finest of fruit countries, The eleva- tion, soil, climate, latitude, all favor the perfect growth of the apple, peach, pear, cherry, plum, grape and smaller fruits of the garden. The apple is the most successful crop ; peaches give a full crop in two out of four years. The pear does well on the more tenacious oak and hickory soils. This part of Missouri is the home of the vine. The lowland forests are in many places festooned with a gorgeons growth of wild grape vines, many of them of great age and size. Nearly all the standard domestic grapes of the middle latitudes are grown here in profusion, at a cost of two or three cents per pound, and for flavor, size and color they will rank with the best grown along the Ohio and Delaware, or in the Erie islands. Wherever they are given half a chance both vines and fruit trees are remarkably thrifty.
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