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 37
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 37
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 37
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 37
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
or more, while now it can be obtained almost everywhere through- out the county at depths varying from ten to thirty feet. True, at some points it can not be found at the latter depth, while at other points it comes almost to the surface. In proof of this assertion attention is called to the fact that in the year 1846 a public well was dug in the northeast corner of the courthouse square at Memphis to a depth of 196 feet before a sufficient supply of water was obtained, and a public well has recently been sunk on the southwest corner of the same square to the depth of twenty-five feet only, where water, which has ever since been abundant, was found. A majority of the people of Scotland County prefer cis- tern water for family use, and, owing to the expense of digging wells, and the labor of drawing water therefrom, artificial ponds are used mostly for watering stock.
MOUNDS.
There are no distinct mounds in this county, the construction of which can positively be accredited to that pre-historic race known as the Mound-Builders. There is a large mound in the bottom of the Middle Fabius, where it crosses the line between Ranges 11 and 12 west, in Township 64 north. Near this mound there used to be a large pond of water, which is now dry and under cultivation. It has been supposed by some that the earth composing the mound was taken from the place where the pond used to be, but this is only conjecture. The mound and pond were probably both formed by nature. There are some mound-like formations on the lands of Cox, Stine and Barnes, near Memphis. Two of them have been opened, but nothing found. There are some large sand mounds along the streams, which were probably formed by high waters. There are some Indian mounds or burial places of considerable dimensions situated on the bluffs in the forks of the Fabius, northwest of Memphis.
SETTLEMENT AND INCIDENTS.
When the settlement of Scotland County began, the territory now composing it, together with the northern Congressional town- ships of Knox County, was all included in Benton municipal township of Lewis County. Accordingly this latter township,
26
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HISTORY OF SCOTLAND COUNTY.
which was organized in September, 1834, by the Lewis County Court, was much larger than the entire county of Scotland is at present. It was then, by permission of the Government, the hunting grounds of the Sac and Fox tribes of Indians. These tribes returned annually for the purpose of hunting until about the year 1842, after which they never returned in a body. More will be said of them further on in connection with the settlement of the territory by the whites. The honor of being the first white settler in the county has been claimed by and for several different persons. The writer has made diligent inquiry, and will give the reader the benefit of his investigations. Levi and George Rhoads settled with their families near Sand Hill in the latter part of the year 1833, and were the first settlers in Scot- land County, as it is now bounded. It is claimed by a descend- ant of one of the Rhoads, that they settled in the fall of 1832. It is also claimed that Robert T. Smith, who was the first treas- urer of Scotland County, came in the fall of 1832, and erected a log cabin into which he moved his family in the spring of 1833. These latter claims are a mistake, for there were no white settlers here in 1832, it being the period of the Black Hawk war, and no white man dared to or did at that time venture so far into the wilderness. Again, it is well-known, and conceded by all, that Stephen Cooper, who settled a few miles southeast of Sand Hill in what is now Knox County, and after whom the " Cooper settle- ment " was named, was the first settler in that settlement, and that he did not locate until late in the fall of 1833.
Willis Hicks and his father, James Hicks, settled with their families near the place where Willis now lives in the southeast corner of Sand Hill Township, on the 11th day of March, 1834. He was of mature age when he became a settler, and has always been an upright and trustworthy citizen, and is now the oldest one remaining in the county of the settlers of 1834. Some of the children of other settlers of that year still remain. He is authority for saying that Robert T. Smith, of Tennessee, first became an actual settler in May or June, 1834, at which time he settled with his family one-half mile east of Sand Hill on the spot where William Taylor now lives, and where he built an "open face camp" in which his family resided until the following
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fall when he built a better habitation. He was visited by Mr. Hicks immediately after locating.
The first white person that died in Scotland County was a small son of Levi Rhoads. His clothes caught fire from a blaze in the "clearing " and he was so severely burned that death re- sulted. This occurred in May, 1834. It has been claimed that Jesse Stice and his two brothers-in-law, Moses Stice and Tyra March, were the first settlers in the county. This, however, could not be true, although it is evident that Jesse Stice always so con- sidered it, and believed it true, as appears from the following com- munication which was published some years ago in the Memphis Reveille:
SCRAPS OF HISTORY.
Myself and two brothers-in law started from Howard County, Mo., on the 2d day of March, 1834, in search of new homes. After a long, tedious and tire- some journey with an ox team, through mud and no roads, we arrived at the southwest corner of what is now Scotland County on the 14th day of March, 1834. On the morning of the 15th we rode around some to see the new country, killed a very large rattlesnake and found two bee-trees. In the afternoon of the same day we cut a tree with which to make clapboards, and set to work at once to put up a log cabin for myself. This was the first house in Scotland County. We had considerable stock and no feed, but the grass was so good that we did not need any. - Our nearest neighbor at that time lived at what is now known as Newark, in Knox County, a distance of about thirty-five miles. In April I went to the settlements in Boone County for provisions; was gone eleven days. I then set to work at clearing a piece of ground on which to make some corn. By the 17th of May I had six acres ready to plant; arose early on that morning to commence planting, and found the ground covered with a heavy frost. I concluded I had got into a cold country, but I went ahead with my planting and made a fine crop.
I commenced operations here with a wife, three children, two cows, three horses and $3 in money. This was my whole stock invested. The season being fine my crops were good, and I had enough to feed my family. Wild grass was abundant, and I had no trouble in saving a plenty for my stock. The land here was not yet in market, and the first settlers selected their claims, marked them out, and no one intruded on the choice of his neighbor. Wild honey bees were very plenty, and hogs would become as fat running in the woods as you can now make them in the pen. Perhaps you would like to know how we got our bread. We made what we called a hominy morter; so you see we had plenty of meal when we ground it, and plenty of honey when we found it, with plenty of fat hog and hominy. In the spring of 1835 the county began to settle up consider- ably. All were sociable and friendly, and for two years all were strictly honest. One might find and mark a bee-tree and no other person would disturb it, no matter how long it stood. All were neighborly and friendly, and any one would at any time go five or ten miles to help a neighbor raise a house. We had no whisky, and ten men would do more work in one day than twenty will now. Mr.
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HISTORY OF SCOTLAND COUNTY.
Editor, if you consider this worth publishing use it, and I will hereafter give you something about the Indians and society. Yours, JESSE STICE.
The foregoing was written by an honest, hardy pioneer of Scotland County, who, with his party, were the first settlers in what is now Mount Pleasant Township. He settled, and built the house of which he speaks, about one-half mile south of the present village of Bible Grove, led an industrious and useful life, and passed on to his "new home" in the other world. Willis Hicks, who also came from Howard County, traveled one day with Stice and his party, and then they separated, Stice following a trail, which led to the left hand, and Hicks one which led to the right. Having set out to seek new homes, their exact destina- tions not being known to each other, and not fully known to them- selves, it so happened that Hicks settled near where he now resides three days before Stice and his party reached their destination. Having settled at least fifteen miles apart it is not likely that they met soon, and perhaps never compared dates, and as Stice knew of no neighbor nearer than Newark, it was natural enough for him to think that he was the first settler and built the first house in the county. Willis Hicks, after having made some improve- ments, and after the family provisions, which he and his father brought with them, were partially consumed, went to Paris, in Monroe County, to get some grinding done. He purchased and shelled sixty bushels of corn, but the mills were so busy that he was delayed a long time before he could get it ground. It was finally ground for him at the Sprawls mill, and he then returned home with his meal, after having been seventeen days in " going to mill." After Jesse Stice had occupied his new home about six months he met George Tobin, who was then living in his cabin on the creek, which now bears his name, and about one-half mile northeast of Pleasant Retreat. Upon comparing dates it was found that Tobin, who came from Tennessee, settled six days later than Stice. During these months they had been silent tenants of the forest, about only five miles apart, without having discovered each other. Rudolph March, the father-in-law of Jesse Stice, came from Kentucky, and settled near the site of Bible Grove in the fall of 1834, and the other settlers of that year, so far as the writer has been able to ascertain, were Jacob Shuffet, who
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
came from Kentucky and settled on the John M. Pettit farm, about two miles south of Pleasant Retreat, and Jack Lyle, who settled between one and two miles west of the same place. Allen L. Smith, a son of Robert T. Smith, who was a child when his father came to the county, still resides near Sand Hill; and Robert R. Rhoads, a son of George Rhoads, who was also a child when his father and Willis Hicks came, still reside in the county. All of the other named settlers of 1834 have passed away.
AN INDIAN INCIDENT.
In June, 1834, a small band of Indians, on a hunting expedi- tion, encamped near the residence of Jesse Stice. The women of Stice and his relatives were very much frightened, but the "wild men of the forest" proved to be very friendly, and the set- tlers traded with them for venison and dressed buck-skins, which in those days were very useful for clothing. The Indians remained until near the close of the following winter. The articles traded by the whites were pumpkins, squashes, potatoes and other vege- tables.
SETTLEMENT CONTINUED.
In February, 1835, George Forrester came from Randolph County, Mo., and settled on the farm where he now lives, which is in Sand Hill Township, and about two and a half miles south- east of Pleasant Retreat. An Indian trail then entered what is now Scotland County, near the present village of Greensburg, of Knox County, and passed northwardly by the residence of For- rester, and thence in the same direction until it entered the territory of Iowa. It passed about a mile and a half west of the site of Memphis. Another Indian trail entered the territory of the county east of the residence of Willis Hicks, and continued northward to the Iowa Territory. Forrester says that he assisted many of the early settlers in selecting their locations. They would come from the south on the Indian trail, and stay over night at his cabin, and the next day he would go with and assist them in selecting a location adjacent to water and timber. Return- ing to his house they would again stay over night, and then return to their old homes to get their families. In this way Mr. Forrester rendered valuable assistance in settling up the country,
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HISTORY OF SCOTLAND COUNTY.
and for his services and hospitality in this respect he never charged or accepted any compensation. He, however, was not alone in performing these kind offices for the incoming settlers.
A GOOD WHITE MAN.
Soon after Forrester settled, a party of Indians brought a large number of packages to a place near his residence, and hung them to the limbs of the trees, out of reach of the wild animals, and then returned to their hunting grounds, about Edina, to get the balance of the game they had captured. While they were gone Forrester discovered the packages hung in the trees. He did not disturb them, but marked them so the Indians would know that some one had discovered their game. On returning the Indians looked around to find the white man who had marked their packages and had not disturbed them. Upon finding his cabin they approached exclaiming: "Ne-she-shin-a-mucky-man!" which meant " a good white man." By this act he gained their confidence, aud they were always very kind to him.
They frequently encamped on his land at the place where they had hung their parcels of game, and he sometimes went hunting with them. Uncle George claims to have been a "crack shot " with his rifle, with which he procured many a wild turkey. He relates that on one morning he and a small party of Indians went out to get some turkeys, but, notwithstanding his skill as a marks- man, he failed to get a turkey while his wild associates got nine. They were liberal, and made him take two out of the nine. On one occasion, soon after this, while the Indians were encamped on Forrester's place, one of their horses was stolen by an early settler whose name was Sexton. They notified Forrester, and he went with them in search of the stolen animal, which they tracked to Sexton's house, and from thence to a hiding place in the forest where they found it. Having secured the animal, the Indians moved on without looking after Sexton. The latter soon returned to Boone County, whence he came, and finally found a home in the penitentiary, as a result of his subsequent horse stealing. This man was an exception to the good character of the first settlers, but fortunately for them he did not remain long. He was guilty of the first horse stealing in the county. Prominent
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
among the settlers of 1835 were the following: James L. Jones, who came from Tennessee and settled at Sand Hill, and sub- sequently became the first sheriff of Scotland County; Elijah Whitten, from Boone County, who settled two miles northwest of Edinburg; Thompson and Cornelius Holliday, who settled at Edinburg; Elijah Mock, who settled on the Woodruff farm in Mount Pleasant Township; Joseph Price, who settled near Sand Hill; William Myers, who settled about two miles southward from Pleasant Retreat; Burton Tompkins, who settled on the Pitkin place at Memphis; Jonathan Riggs, who settled on the Sanders farm southeast of Memphis; Branch Miller, who settled in the forks of the Fabius, a few miles northwest from the site of Memphis; Mr. Niseley, who settled about ten miles west of Memphis.
William L. Mills, who now lives two miles south of Memphis, came from Kentucky, and settled on the Wyaconda six miles north and a little west of the site of that town in October, 1835. He was accompanied by his father, who assisted him in putting up a round log cabin 12x14 feet square. The father then returned to Kentucky. William kept " bachelor's hall" in his forest cabin until his father's family came the following year. The only animal he had with him was a milch cow, and in order to keep the wolves from destroying her he had to build a high pen near the door of his cabin and cover it closely with heavy poles · in which to keep her at night; and then the hungry wolves, on many occasions, would howl and snap around his premises all night. 'As soon as Mr. Mills was fully established in his new home he began clearing his land, and by corn-planting time of the next season he had ten acres ready for the plow, and all enclosed with a good fence, the rails of which he had made, car- ried and placed in position. The father and his family arrived in May, 1836, in time to assist in plowing and planting the ten acres. Mr. Mills brought bacon and corn with him from Ken- tucky, and from the time of his coming until the arrival of his father's family, his food consisted principally of meal, bacon, milk, and wild game, such as venison and turkey. He relates his experience in going to mill, as follows: He would put a half bushel of corn into a sack, and carry it on his shoulder to the
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HISTORY OF SCOTLAND COUNTY.
house of his nearest neighbor, Mr. Burton Tompkins, who lived where Mr. Pitkin now lives at Memphis, and there grind it on Mr. Tompkin's steel hand mill-a mill resembling a coffee-mill, but larger. After raising his first crop he went to mill on horse- back, to Paris, in Monroe County, and it required about four days to make the trip. During the time that he kept "bachelor's hall," he spent a portion of his time sporting and hunting with the Indian chief Keokuk and his braves, with whom he became well acquainted, and by whom he was well used. Other settlers of the year 1835 were Logan Jones, Samuel Cecil, Richard Sales and Samuel Cox.
THE FIRST ELECTION.
The first election ever held in the territory now embraced in Scotland County was at Sand Hill in August, 1835, for the pur- pose of electing two representatives to Congress, a clerk of the circuit and county court of Lewis County, of which the territory then formed a part, a surveyor and assessor for said county, and justices of the peace for Benton Township, which has already been described. The persons voting at this election, as shown by the poll books on file at Monticello, were Willis and James Hicks, Jesse and Moses Stice, Robert T. Smith, George Tobin, Rudolph, Tyra and John March, Levi and George Rhoads, Shad- rack Barnes, Nicholas Plummer, Reuben and James Cornelius, Stephen Cooper, James Davis, George Forrester, Hugh and McCune Henry, William Myers, Elijah P. Mock, Isaac Newland, Jonathan Riggs, Jesse Roberts, Stephen Tate, and M. B. Tomp- kins. Those of the foregoing who have not been named as early settlers lived, with perhaps one or two exceptions, in that part of Benton Township which extended into what is now Knox County.
LATER SETTLERS.
Among the settlers of 1836, specific mention will be made of the following, who are believed to comprise nearly all who came that year, giving their names and places of settlement: John C. Collins, from Kentucky, at Pleasant Retreat, in October; George Buskirk, near Edinburg, in November; Rev. Sanford Myers, from Kentucky, on the Hathaway place near Pleasant Retreat, and near where he now lives; Jacob Maggard, near Pleasant Retreat;
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
Phillip Purvis, from Ralls County, near Bible Grove; Joseph Johnson, on Indian Creek, three miles northeast of Sand Hill; Michael E. Spillman, from Kentucky, near Sand Hill; Sylvester Allen, în the east central part of the county; Runkle, one mile east of Arbela, on the Beach farm; Thomas Donaldson, from Monroe County, two miles south of Pleasant Retreat; Allen Tate, one and a half miles east, and Samuel Wilfley the same distance west of Pleasant Retreat; Thomas and Martin Lowe, from Boone County, two miles west of Pleasant Retreat; Caleb W. Mills, (father of William L.), on the D. W. Webb place in Union Township; James Cornelius, from Howard County, on the old Fifer farm about seven miles north of Memphis; Edward Smoot, on the State road, two and a half miles west of the W. P. Child- ress place; Reuben Riggs, near where the postoffice in Memphis is now located, and who afterward froze to death in the mount- ains of the west while surveying lands; Samuel Riggs, on the Baker farm, near Memphis; Huram, Hiram and Johnson Will- iams, in 1836 or 1837, about two miles southwest of Memphis. Others who settled in the county in the year 1836, were Thomas S. Myres, Henry L. Asbury, William D. Short, Thomas McDow- ell, William Forsyth, Pierce Starke, William F. Fipps and their families.
Mr. Phipps died in this county at the advanced age of one hundred and eleven years. Mrs. Phipps was the mother of thir- teen children, the youngest of whom was born when she was in her fifty-fourth year. Surviving her husband, she lived to see the fourth generation of her descendants, and died in 1876 at the residence of her son, Joseph Fipps, three miles west of Memphis, at the age of 106 years, and left surviving her six children and 140 grand, great-grand and great-great-grandchildren. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for fifty-three years, and died in the Christian faith.
Benton Township was divided July 11, 1836, when the township of Mount Pleasant was organized. The latter included the west ten miles in width of the old township, and the entire length north and south, and the name Benton was retained for the east eleven miles in width of the original township. (See Organization of Townships.) Notwithstanding this division, the
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HISTORY OF SCOTLAND COUNTY.
presidential election in November, 1836, was held at Sand Hill for the original township of Benton, and the following are the names of the voters on that occasion : Aquilla Barnes, Amos Barnes, A. Q. Barnes, James M. Bryant, John Bone, Bazil Brewer, Samuel Cecil, John Carmon, Hannibal Clemons, William Forsha, George Forrester, John Clayton, Stephen Cooper, Hugh and McCune Henry, Willis and James Hicks, Thomas L. Lowe, James L. Jones, Andrew Kincaid, Stephen McKinney, Hinson H. McLaughlin, Josiah and Joseph McReynolds, Isaac Newland, Reuben, Isaac and Jonathan Riggs, George Rhoads, Samuel Steele, Jacob Shuffet, Pierce Starke, David Smallwood, Robert T. Smith, John W. and Israel Standiford, Samuel Shannon, Stephen Tate, Elijah Whitten and John Douglass. As the presidential election is always one of great importance, it is not likely that many of the early settlers staid away from it, consequently the foregoing list, together with those who have been named as set- tlers of 1836, must comprise nearly all of the voters then resid- ing in the territory of Scotland County, and of the north six miles of Knox County.
The second death that occurred in the county was that of Mrs. Jacob Shuffet, who died in August, 1836, and the third was that of William L., a child of Rev. Sanford Myres. The remains of these two persons were buried in the cemetery near the residence of Rev. Myres. The first of the early settlers to get married was Jacob Shuffet, who married a Miss Smallwood, residing about six miles east of the site of Edina, in what is now Knox County. And the first couple married in the territory of Scotland County was Charles Carter and Miss Fanny, a daughter of Rudolph March, in 1837. The ceremony was performed by James L. Jones, a jus- tice of the peace, who, forgetting the formal words of the ceremony became confused and exclaimed, "d-n it, take your seats ; you are man and wife." This was rather a novel and informal ceremony, but just as binding to the contracting parties as any that could be used. Following this, and among the subsequent early marriages, was. that of Miss Susannah March, a sister of Mrs. Carter, to Rich- mond Bradley, which took place about the year 1841. The second marriage in the county, following soon after the first, was that of Thomas Lowe and Lydia Lyle, which took place near Edinburg.
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
Among the settlers of the year 1837 were the following; whose names are given, together with the name of the States or places from which they came, and the places where they located, so far as the writer has been able to learn: William Foreman, in February, about one and a half. miles north of the site of Memphis; Thompson Mason, from Kentucky, on the old Dickey place near Arbela; Aaron Pierce, on the Musgrove farm, in - Township 65 north, Range 11 west; Riley Gale, from Ohio, in. Mt. Pleasant Township; John T. Billups, and James, his father, from Virginia, in September, on the place where the former now resides, near Prairie View; David Crawford, on the Williams farm; Stephen Darby, from Ohio, on the Wyaconda, four miles. north of Memphis; Fifer and his sons, John and Solomon, on the Cornelius farm, seven miles north of the county seat; Joseph Graves, on a farm adjoining the Mills farm; Wilson Gentry, two miles north of the latter; William G. Woodsmall, where he now lives, in Harrison Township; John Rainbeau and Walter P. Ellis, in Harrison Township; John McPherson, from Kentucky, at Sand Hill; Carman Dunn, from Ohio, in Jefferson Township, and Charles Crocker, from Sweeden, in same township; Mrs. Patsey Sawyer and her family, on the James Means farm, in Township 66 North, Range 10 West. Perhaps the latter settled in 1836. In the fall of 1837 a party of immigrants consisting of Jeptha Dunn and his sons, James D. and Aaron, and George Henry and James Campbell, and their families, came from Rich- land County, Ohio, and on the last day of their journey they reached the South Wyaconda, opposite where Gametts then lived, on the "Lynn tract." The river being swollen it became neces- sary to construct a raft on which to cross it. A pole raft was constructed, and a wagon bed placed on chairs, was set there- upon. In this they attempted to cross, but the raft gave way, and Mrs. Aaron Dunn, Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Campbell were pre- cipitated into the water. Campbell jumped into the river to res- cue his wife, but not being able to swim, he was drowned. The other men, however, got Mrs. Campbell out and saved her life. But all their efforts to rescue the other two ladies proved inef- fectual, and they too were drowned. Mrs. Dunn and Mrs. Henry were sisters, and each left two children. James D. Dunn settled.
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