USA > Missouri > Scotland County > History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records > Part 20
USA > Missouri > Lewis County > History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records > Part 20
USA > Missouri > Clark County > History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records > Part 20
USA > Missouri > Knox County > History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records > Part 20
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· The first church was the Presbyterian, built in 1868; the Christian Church was erected in 1869. A class of the Methodist Episcopal Church South was organized in January, 1869, and is still in existence, but without a house of worship of its own; services are held in the Presbyterian Church. .
The town of La Belle was regularly laid out November 1, 1871, by Caleb Pomroy, Jacob Halderman, of Quincy ; and Samuel Sayre, Isaac Allen, Dr. William S. D. Johnson, of Lewis. The surveying was done by L. Emack, assistant chief engineer of the Q., M. & P .* From this date the real growth of the town began. The railroad had been graded through the county that year, and it was determined that a station should be established at La Belle. The first passenger car reached La Belle at noon, on January 11, 1872. It was drawn by a locomotive which came up backward all the way from Quincy, for at that time there was no turntable on the line of the little road. Four years later, or in 1876, the population of the village was 300. In 1880 it was 560.
The town has a most excellent trade. It is situated in a most productive and valuable agricultural region, and is the market for hundreds of the best farmers of Lewis and Knox. The town is noted for its bright, cheerful, and cleanly appear- ance. The site is on a high and beautiful prairie, the residences are generally neat and tasty, the abodes of a thrifty and intelli- gent people.
La Belle is well supplied with schools. Besides the Western Academy, noted elsewhere, there is an excellent public school. Before the war a small log school building, originally called the Garnett or Young schoolhouse, had been moved up from the
*The numbers of land are given as the southeast quarter of the south west quarter of the north- west quarter, and the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 4; also the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter and the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter and twenty-six acres on the east side of the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 5, all in Township 61, Range 9.
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timber, and placed on the site of the present building. It was used for district schools for some years. The principal portion of the schoolhouse now in use was erected in about 1873. It was a single story in height, but in the summer of 1876 it was enlarged and made a two story building. In 1886 another addi- tion was made, and a room 18x24 feet in size attached to the main building. In the spring of 1886 a proposition to erect a new schoolhouse costing $5,000 was voted down. The present enumeration of the children of school age in the district is 214, viz .: White males, 94 ; females, 107. Colored males, 7; fe- males, 6.
The first newspaper in La Belle was the La Belle Journal, which was established in September, 1878, by R. E. Hicks. Its publication was continued but twenty-one weeks, when the office and material were removed to Monticello, and used in the . publication of the Lewis County Jourual. The La Belle Star was started in the spring of 1883 by C. W. Mulinex. The first number was issued April 14. At first it was a five-column in size, but in the fall of 1886 it was changed to a seven-column folio. The Star is a very newsy, clearly printed sheet, and re- ceives a liberal patronage.
Lewiston .- The village of Lewiston was laid out July 1, 1871, during the building of the Q., M. & P. Railroad, by Caleb M. Pomroy, W. C. Zimmerman, David Rodifer, Thomas W. Ammer- man and J. P. Mitchell. The plat (southwest quarter of the northeast quarter, northeast quarter of the southwest quarter, southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter, Section 17, Town 61, Range 8, the central 160 acres of the section), was surveyed by Charles Peter.
The first buildings in the town were erected by William Fible, who put up a store building (on Lot 24, Block 14) and a dwelling house (on Lots 1 and 2, Block 19) in November and December, 1871. Mr. Fible opened a large general store, which he still conducts. Soon after came Isaac Potter, and established a blacksmith shop, About the same time Grant Burnett opened a small store and a boarding house, and Rev. Minter and Marion Zimmerman started a grocery store. A union church was built
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by the Baptists, Christians, and Southern Methodists in 1872, at · a cost of perhaps $1,500.
The village has increased to something like respectable proportions, but assumes no pretensions to vast importance or to magnificent prospects. A daily hack line runs between the railroad station here and Monticello, and passengers from the county seat take the cars here for all points on the Q., M. & P. Railroad. The public school is but an ordinary district school, with one teacher, and an average attendance of perhaps thirty- five, but there is an excellent private school now in progress, taught by Mrs. James Longmire.
Durham .-- The little hamlet of Durham was laid out in April, 1872, after the completion of the Q., M. & P. Railroad, by Caleb M. Pomroy and Larkin M. Humston; Charles Peter, surveyor. The location (southwest quarter of Section 22, and northwest quarter of Section 27, Township 60, Range 7), in the southern part of Highland Township, is unfavorable for the upbuilding of a considerable town, and the greatest importance the place pos- sesses is as a railroad station.
Robert Briscoe and a man named Turner had the first store. They sold to Fred Bringer, who owned the building when it was burned a few years since. W. M. Johnson and B. W. Graham were among the early business men, and the latter is now the oldest resident. A number of parties located here not long after the village was laid off, but their stay was only for brief periods.
Durham had an unenviable notoriety in the early period of its existence. A great deal of liquor was sold, and it was the resort of a host of disorderly characters who drank and quarreled and caroused nights, Sundays, and all the time, as one of the first residents testifies. Latterly the hard characters have deserted it, and it is now a quiet and orderly little village. It is some- what noted as a "tie station," a point from which hundreds of railroad ties are annually shipped.
Maywood .- The village of Maywood, on the Q., M. & P. Railroad, eleven miles west of Quincy, was established as a rail- road station in 1872. Although situated in Lewis, it is near the Marion line, and receives trade from both counties. It is a pleasant little station, and has a population of perhaps 125.
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Tolona .- The little town of Tolona, also on the Q., M. & P., was regularly laid out in April, 1872, by Caleb M. Pomroy, Charles E. Bell, Lewis S. Eads and David Bell. Its location, on parts of Sections 35 and 36, Township 61, Range 8, is in the northwest part of Highland Township. It has never been able to rise above the dignity possessed by a country railway station with a depot, one or two stores, a blacksmith shop and a dozen houses.
Steffansville, in Salem Township, contains a good store and a group of dwellings. Benjamin, on Sugar Creek, in Lyon Town- ship, has a postoffice, a general store, and was named for Hon. John F. Benjamin, a member of Congress from this district for some years after the war. Gilead, in the central portion of Highland, on the Fabius, has a good store and a wagon shop.
OBSOLETE TOWNS.
Tully .- The town of Tully was laid out by Thomas Gray, Thomas C. Rutherford and Jacob Myers November 20, 1834. It stood on the Mississippi, and at one time was a town of more importance than Canton, which it adjoined immediately on the north. The first house was built by Jacob Myers, and the second by David and James White. The first store was kept by Thomas. Gray. The county records show that William Carter had a gro- cery here in December, 1836, John Nelson another in May, 1837, and that Humert & Tate were merchants in December of the latter year. Tully was regularly incorporated as a town Novem- ber 15, 1842. The first board of trustees was composed of Samuel Stewart, James Mickley, William B. Martin, A. B. Ows- ley and Noah Stewart. The town had a considerable trade for a number of years. It had a fine natural steamboat landing, and was the point to which merchandise was shipped from St. Louis and other marts for the country west and northwest. From time. to time, however, it was injured by the river floods, and at last the memorable high waters of 1851 almost totally destroyed it. One or two of the original houses are still standing.
Kennonsville .- In March, 1836, Rev. Joseph Anderson laid off a town which he called Kennonsville in honor of his friend, Hon. William Kennon, an old time member of Congress from
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Ohio. The town was located in the south central part of High- land Township (Section 2, Township 60, Range 7), where a con- siderable settlement had already been made. Block No. 9 was reserved by the founder "for literary purposes," and Block No. 12 for a Presbyterian Church site. A number of houses were built in 1836, and the place promised to become a considerable inland town at one time. " Eastman's old store in Kennonsville " is mentioned in the county records in the spring of 1838.
By an act of the Legislature, approved February 1, 1837, the Holstein Female Seminary was chartered at Kennonsville. The trustees were George Railey, Chauncey Durkee, James H. Lay, Joseph B. Buckley, John G. Nunn, Thomas B. Williams, George W. Eastman, Elias Kincheloe, Presley N. Haycraft, E. H. James, Samuel Henderson, John C. Johnson, John La Fon and William G. McPheeters. Although this was a rather formid- able board of trustees, and although they were invested with something like extraordinary powers, and though, as the act recited, "a number of the citizens in the town of Kennonsville and vicinity " obtained a donation for the site, and made exer- tions toward that end, yet the Holstein Female Seminary was never established.
In its early existence Kennonsville was a "hard" locality. It was the resort of the drinking characters of the frontier neigh- borhood, who congregated at the village quite frequently, and indulged in "a good time." Drinking, gambling, quoit-pitching, horse-racing and fighting were the principal diversions. An old. lady, a resident of Kennonsville in early days, and now in Mon- ticello, was asked to describe Kennonsville from 1835 to 1840. She replied: "Well, it was so near hell that if you stuck a mat- tock into the ground up to the eye, the blue smoke would come up, and you could smell sulphur!" The village contained at one. time an extensive tavern, at which the stage coaches between La Grange and towns to the westward made regular stoppages. The village dwindled gradually, and ultimately the site was vacated by the Legislature in 1861.
Lewisburg, on the northwest quarter of Section 1, Township 62, Range 7, was laid out by John Flynn September 26, 1837, but never built.
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HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
Jerusalem was laid out by Abram Oyster December 28, 1840, John A. Anderson, United States surveyor. The location was on the northwest quarter of Section 5 and the northeast quar- ter of Section 6, Township 60, Range 8, half a mile northeast of Troublesome Creek, in what is now the northeastern part of Salem Township. Mr. Oyster planned his city on rather a large scale. He gave the streets names of prominent personages, beginning with Perry Street, which he named, as he said in his certificate, "for Commodore Perry, of the Lake Erie battle." And he further declared that "the above town of Jerusalem is a commodious and beautiful elevated situation, and it can be extended or enlarged, as may suit the proprietor or the inhabit- ants of the town, and the name may be changed to suit a majority of the citizens of the town." If any settlement was ever made at Jerusalem, the fact can not here be stated.
Augusta was laid out in 1836 on the northeast quarter of Sec- tion 22, Township 63, Range 6. To the original plat which was denominated "Marshall's, Moorman's and Colly's addition," was made the same year.
Oneida, on the Middle Fabius, near Hall's Mill (southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 5, Township 60, Range 7), was laid off in March, 1870. E. W. Cooter was the surveyor.
LaGrange-As stated previous, the first caucasian that settled on or near the present site of La Grange was Godfrey LeSeur, a Frenchman, who during the halcyon days of the Spanish posses- sion (probably in 1795) came up from St. Louis, and established a trading post at the mouth of the Wyaconda .* How long this adventurous and enterprising trader remained here can not now with certainty be stated, nor can many of the details of his set- tlement be given. The archives at St. Louis show that he was a licensed trader "at the Weaucandah, on the upper river," in 1795; · and the ruins of his four cabins were here, plain to be seen, when John Bozarth came to the country, in 1819. The walls of the main building were in a tolerable state of preservation when others of the first settlers came, from 1821 to 1825, but, the
* The statement that it was in 1816, or soon after the close of the war of 1812, when the post was established, is incorrect, as shown by the records. A neglect in the correction of a proof sheet of the first chapter of this volume, containing the mis-statement, is much regretted.
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chimney had fallen down, the doors had tumbled in, and the roof let in the sunshine and the rain. It is remarkable that all vestiges of this establishment were not destroyed during the war of 1812, by the fierce Northern Indians, who made raids down the river on two or three occasions as far as the Lincoln County settlements, and burned everything inflammable north of the Cuiyre that had any marks of civilization upon it.
In about 1822, some St. Louis speculators projected the town of " Waconda," at the former site of LeSeur's post, but no town was ever built. A description of "Waconda" from " Beck's Gazet- teer," of 1823, is given elsewhere.
John S. Marlow was the first settler on the present site of La Grange. He came in the fall of 1828, and built a cabin on the river near the lower tobacco works. The next February he entered a tract of land two miles below town. Mr. Marlow died in 1833. The town was laid out by William Wright in April, 1830. The plat was acknowledged by Mr. Wright and his wife, Mary C. S. Wright, before S. W. B. Carnegy, May 5, 1830. The original plat ran along the river from South Street seven blocks to the northward, and from the river westward only to Second Street. The first merchants were an old Indian trader, named Campbell, and John S. Marlow. The first tavern was kept by Joseph Miller. The first physician was a Dr. Higgins, who died of cholera in 1833, during the prevalence of that dread malady here.
In 1833, when Judge William Hagood came to the county and bought his present farm, a mile west of town, there were then living at La Grange the Widow Marlow, who subsequently married a man named Stubblefield; John Carnegy, who had a store on the present site of Hagood's hardware establishment; Clifford, who kept a little stock of goods in a building where Johnson's warehouse now stands; Thomas A. Wise, a hatter, who had come from Palmyra; Risdon Smith and James L. Jenkins, tanners; Drs. Morrow and Higgins, physicians, and per- haps half a dozen others. The only frame house in the place was Carnegy's store; all of the other buildings were of logs, and one or two are still standing. Jenkins, the tanner, was commonly called "Juba" Jenkins. Col. Bullock was living on university
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land, above the mouth of the Wyaconda, and that year lost sev- eral members of his family by cholera.
In May, 1837, according to the records, B. G. Houston and P. B. Pritchard were merchants, and Dr. Robert Croughton was a practicing physician. Dr. James B. Wigginton opened a tavern in November, 1839. Dr. Croughton was something of a poli- tician in early times. Dr. Wigginton was very popular as a physician and as a citizen; his death, which occurred in 1846, was very generally regretted.
From 1850 to 1861, La Grange enjoyed its greatest prosperity. The town was built up to its present proportions, and was the locality of a very extensive trade. The merchants were pros- perous, and did a large business. The stores of John H. Talbot and John M. Cashman were large and well filled. The proprie- tors bought coffee by the hundred sacks, sugar by the hundred hogsheads, salt by the thousand barrels, and other articles in proportionate quantities. Trade came from sixty miles in the interior, and day after day the streets were thronged with teams loaded with produce, and coming to or going from market. The boats landed regularly, and discharged large shipments. The hotels cared for dozens of guests, and La Grange was renowned as a place of thrift and enterprise from St. Louis to St. Paul.
The war interfered very greatly with everything. There was literally no destruction of property, no burning of houses or sacking of property, but the loss of trade occasioned by the gen- eral paralysis that had stricken down the business of the country was keenly felt. The war prejudices, too, interfered no little. For some time, in 1863-64, Capt. Lewis' company of militia was stationed in the place, and the Confederate people in the country learned to so thoroughly detest them, that they re- fused afterward to trade at La Grange, because they somehow identified the militia with the town.
In May, 1864, a negro man (a slave belonging to Edward Robinson ), who lived six miles south of La Grange, ran away and came to town. Here he hired two young men, named John Miller and Charles Davis, to go back with him to his master's house and bring away his things, and also to carry off two negro girls,
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the property of Robinson. The young men were promised $10 for their services. The party visited Robinson's after mid- night; they were in a wagon and all drunk. Hearing a noise, Mr. Robinson arose and went to his door. The two men de- manded admittance, cursed and threatened violently, until Mr. Robinson fired upon them, mortally wounding Miller, and fright- ening away Davis and the negro. Miller died the next day, ad- mitting that he had brought death upon himself. The entire community, militia and all, fully exonerated Mr. Robinson, and even applauded his action.
In about 1872 the La Grange Iron & Steel Company estab- lished an extensive and magnificent plant in the northern part of town for the manufacture of railroad iron, and for the general purposes of a rolling mill and machine shop. The establishment was the property of Eastern capitalists mainly, and the town voted it a considerable subsidy conditioned upon its production and duration. The mills cost probably $100,000, but ran only long enough to demonstrate that it could run. For years it has been entirely idle, and the latest proposition for its disposition is to trade it for a natural gas well.
For some years past there has not been much improvement in the town. The college attracts a number of people, and is the pride of the people. The railroad and the steamboats carry away the shipments, and bring in merchandise, but business is quiet. There is a system of excellent public schools. The white school has five teachers, and an enumeration of 252 male scholars and 240 females. The colored school has two teachers, with an enumeration of 86 males and 142 females. The district is out of debt, and maintains a school for about eight months out of the year. There are nine church organizations with houses of wor- ship, viz .: First and Second Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal South, German Methodist, Christian, Baptist, Lutheran, Congre- gational, and Catholic. There are also lodges of the Free Masons, Odd Fellows, United Workmen, Knights of Honor and Grand Army of the Republic.
The first newspaper in La Grange was called the La Grange Free Press, and was started early in the year 1846 by Booth & Doyle, with R. L. Doyle as editor. In 1850 the Free Press was
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succeeded by the La Grange Missourian, with Hon. James R. Abernathy as editor. Mr. Abernathy was a pioneer lawyer in Northeast Missouri, and for ten years held the office of circuit attorney. He was a prominent Whig, and became a Republican. He died at Paris, Monroe County, in January, 1886, at the ad- vanced age of ninety-one. After an editorial experience of a year or more "Old Abby," as he was often called, resigned, and was succeeded by George Gilbert. The La Grange Bulletin was started in 1853, with Samuel R. Raymond as editor, but was after- ward conducted by N. N. Withington & Co. In 1858 the La Grange American was established by Howe & Armour, but after- ward the senior partner, Charlton H. Howe, assumed the entire ownership and control. The paper was published until in the fall of 1861, when the office was closed, and the editor entered the Union Army as a lieutenant in Col. Glover's Third Missouri Cavalry. In 1864, having resigned from the service, he resumed the publication of the American, and continued it until after the re-enfranchisement of the "rebels," in the fall of 1870, when the paper was discontinued, and the editor retired in disgust. Mr. Howe was an editor of considerable ability, but a very aggressive and particularly caustic writer. He was an ardent Union man, and uncompromising in his hostility toward the disloyal element of the country, and is even yet execrated by the Democratic Con- federate people of the county. Some time after the war a jour- nal called the Democrat was published for a short period by Moore & Parker, and in 1871 was succeeded by the North Missourian, which was published by Parker & Porter. The present La Grange Democrat was established in. 1872 by T. O. Towels & Co. In 1872 the present editor, R. M. Wallace, Esq., assumed the sole proprietorship. The Democrat is one of the ablest edited and best filled country newspapers in the State. It is original, intelligent in discussion, proper in tone, enterprising, and interesting. Such a paper ought to have a much wider field for the exercise of its influence.
The first incorporation of the town was by the county court, September 3, 1838, under the name and style of " the inhabitants of the town of La Grange." The incorporation extended over only theoriginal plat. In February, 1840, it was reincorporated,
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and the boundaries extended so as to include Shropshire & Wright's addition. The first trustees were Joseph Miller, Thomas J. Rickards, A. C. Waltman, William P. Skinner, and T. C. Threlkeld.
In 1853 La Grange was incorporated by the Legislature as " a city." The act of incorporation was amended by successive General Assemblies February 24, 1855; March 24, 1868; March 9, 1871; and the present charter was granted February 29, 1872. The first officers under the incorporation of 1853 were V. M. Smith, mayor; Joseph Fowler, recorder; D. C. Hawkins, marshal; S. H. Williams, street commissioner; Thomas Richard- son, treasurer; John La Fon, mayor; David Wagner, attorney and clerk; Samuel McAfee, engineer; Joel S. Van Ness, assessor, and J. A. Hay, G. M. Triplett, P. P. Cluff, Ferd. Gill, John H. Talbot, and A. C. Waltman, councilmen.
The first addition to the original town plat was Wright & Shropshire's, made by William Wright and James P. Shropshire, in 1837. Waltman & Louthan's addition was made in July, 1852, by A. C. Waltman and Walker Louthan. Marlow's ad- dition was made February 23, 1857, by George F. Marlow and others. North La Grange was laid out in October, 1856, by a number of citizens. An addition to North La Grange was platted by Dr. Joseph A. Hay and others, July 18, 1862.
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY.
C LARK COUNTY, Mo., lies in the extreme northeast corner of the State, and is bounded on the north by the State of Iowa, on the northeast by the Des Moines River, which separates it from a portion of Iowa, on the east by the Mississippi River, which separates it from Illinois, on the south by Lewis County, and on the west by Knox and Scotland Counties; and it con- tains an area of 500 square miles. It is watered by the Missis- sippi, Des Moines, Fox, Wyaconda and North Fabius Rivers, and Sugar and Honey Creeks. The Des Moines River flows in a southeasterly direction through a valley that is mostly bordered with high bluffs, and empties into the Mississippi about a mile above the town of Alexandria. All the other rivers mentioned, and flowing through the county, have their sources west and northwest thereof, and, like the Des Moines, they all flow in a southeasterly direction, and empty into the Mississippi. Sugar Creek rises near the center of the county, and empties into the Mississippi below and near the mouth of Fox River. Honey Creek rises in the west central part of the county, and empties into the Mississippi below and near to the southeast corner of the same. Thus the county is well watered, every Congressional township being reached by some of these streams or their tribu- taries. Observing the course of the streams, it will be seen that the entire area of the county has a general trend or slope toward the southeast, and that all its surplus waters flow down the Missis- sippi. There are very few springs in the county, but most excellent water for family use is obtained in great abundance from wells, averaging from twenty to twenty-five feet in depth.
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