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 5

Author: Goodspeed, firm, publishers, Chicago (1886-1891, Goodspeed Publishing Co.)
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The Goodspeed publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1308

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 5
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 5
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 5
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 5

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Probably the first merchant in Lewis County was a Mr. Everett, who had a small store at Smoot's Landing, on the Mis- sissippi, two miles below Canton, in about 1830. Who was next can not now be stated. Stores were not abundant in early days. In July, 1833, soon after the organization of the county, there were but three, each paying a license of $5 per annum, but in the fall of 1835 the number had increased to eight. The names of the proprietors may be found in the sketches of the towns.

Judge Anderson asserts that the first miller was John McKinney. In about 1830, certainly before 1833, he built a water mill on the Wyaconda, near its mouth, and immediately north of La Grange (Section 25-61-6), hard by the bridge on the La Grange and Canton road. In a few years the back water from the Mississippi carried away both mill and dam. John Bozarth erected a mill on the Wyaconda, a mile above the site of Mckinney's, perhaps in 1832; his mill and that of J. E. Trabue were in existence in June, 1833, as shown by the county records. The same evidence proves that John B. Carnegy's mill was in operation in the fall of 1833; it was on the Wyaconda (Section 28-62-6), immediately below the bridge on the north road, between Canton and Monticello. Carnegy's mill was not put up until

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

1833; Judge Anderson says in 1824, but he was misinformed. It was a " water, saw and grist-mill."

John G. Nunn built his mill on the Middle Fabius (Section 19, 60, 6) in the fall of 1832. Mr. Nunn, who has furnished the information, says that his first buhr-stone was made from a " lost rock " (granite boulder ) which he found near Canton. In 1834 his mill was enlarged, and he began grinding wheat. The new buhrs were brought from St. Louis. The original mill was but a " corn-cracker." Mr. Nunn states that the dam of Bozarth's · mill leaked badly, the current forcing its way under the center in spite of every effort to prevent it. After some years Halsey White, of Canton, and Hewitt, of St. Louis, purchased the Bozarth mill, and spent a considerable sum in its repair and con- duct, but it eventually went down.

John McPheeters' mill, on the Middle Fabius, was running in June, 1834, and may have been built the previous year.

Benjamin P. Curd built a mill two miles southeast of Tolona, on the South fork of the North Fabius (southwest of the north- west quarter of Section 5, 60, 7), in the fall of 1834; the warrant of approval was granted in October. George Staples began the erection of his mill on the North Fabius (east half of the north- east, 1, 61, 8), one mile northwest of Monticello, in the fall of 1834; the writ of ad quod damnum was granted in October, and the building was approved in July, 1835. The latter was after- ward known as Caldwell's mill, and Curd's was succeeded by Hall's mill.

Lewis Tracy built a mill on the Middle Fabius, (then called the South Fork of the North Fabius) six miles northwest of Monticello (southwest of the northeast, 25, 62, 9), in July, 1836. Isaac D. Davis erected the mill on the Wyaconda (east half lot 2 of the northwest quarter, 1, 62, 7), five miles northwest of Canton, which soon after passed into the hands of the Green family and was known as Green's mill. It was operated for a number of years by Senator James S. Green and his brother, Gen. Martin E.

The first steam mill was built at Tully in 1841 or 1842 by John Nelson, of Kentucky. It was a large flouring mill with powerful engines, expensive machinery, and its capacity for work

STATE OF MISSOURI.

was large. It was too big for the country. There wasn't grain enough taken to all the mills in the county to keep this one in operation; it could not wait for the country to grow up, and in a few years went down, entailing considerable loss on the proprie- tor.

The first ferry license granted by the Lewis County Court to run a craft on the Mississippi was given in December, 1833, to John R. Wilcox, who lived on the river (fractional Sections 9-64-5), in what is now Clark County, and authorized him to operate a ferry-boat across the Father of Waters for the term of one year. In the fall of 1835 John Montague was licensed to run a ferry across the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Des Moines. Jeremiah Wayland was given a license September 2, 1833, to conduct a ferry across the Des Moines River " at his residence;" and in March, 1836, the location was designated as Fort Pike, built by Capt. Mace during the Black Hawk war. No ferries were operated in what is now Lewis County for a long time after its organization.

In December, 1834, the county court took action toward building the first bridges. The sum of $400 was appropriated in aid of a bridge across the North Fabius, south of Monticello, on the Palmyra road, and a similar amount to assist in building a bridge over the Wyaconda, at the crossing of the road from Myers' Landing to Monticello. It was thought that the sum named would not be sufficient to build the bridge in either case; the citizens in the vicinity were expected to and did make up the deficiency. The contract for the Fabius bridge was taken by Isaac Reese, but abandoned by him in March, 1836, and B. P. Majors completed the work the ensuing fall. The Wyaconda bridge was built by Andrew Beckner and James Crooks, and was not finished and received until May, 1837. A bridge across the North Fabius, at Lay's Ford, was built by the county, under the direction of William Ellis, and completed during the sum- mer of 1838.

· The first legal inquest "on a dead body " was held in June, 1834, by Judge John Taylor, of Clark, acting coroner ; the records give no particulars. The first county seal was adopted in Sep- tember, 1835; device, a steamboat.

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

The first naturalization papers were issued in July, 1834, to Thomas Legg, Robert Legg and David Legg, " heretofore sub- jects of William IV, King of Great Britain and Ireland."

As elsewhere stated the first regular courthouse belonging to the county was completed in time for the holding therein of the June term, 1834, of the county court. It was a rather small log building, and cost $210. The second courthouse was com- pleted during the latter part of 1841 and the first part of 1842. It was of brick, and stood on the site of the present building. Its construction was virtually begun in February, 1839, when the county court appropriated $3,200 for the purpose. The total cost of the structure was not far from $4,000. William Ellis superintended the work of building. The public square was not graded or fenced until 1847.

The first jail was built in 1842. It was constructed of logs, and really consisted of two strong log pens, one inclosing the other, with the intervals between them filled with other logs set in palisade form deep into the earth. It stood in the southeast corner of the square, and cost the county $1,000.

The first county treasurer's report to be found on record is that of J. H. McBride from March, 1834, to March, 1835. The receipts proper were $521.78; disbursements, $522.78, leaving the county indebted to its treasurer in the sum of $1. Mr. McBride resigned his office at the latter date, and John Mattingly was appointed in his stead. Mr. Mattingly made the following report of the receipts and expenditures of his office from the period between March, 1835 and December, 1836: Receipts- taxes and merchants' licenses, $639.09; proceeds of lot sales at Monticello, $397; total $1,036.09. Expenditures, $997.06; bal- ance on hand, $39.03. Fines to the amount of $58 had been received, as also the proceeds of the sale of certain school lands, but the moneys so received had been loaned out according to law. In December, 1863, Mr. Mattingly resigned, and George Railey was appointed treasurer, holding the office about twenty years.

SLAVERY.

The first school district was organized in Union Township, in September, 1837, and called Union. The trustees were Shelton G. Speer, William Wright and Lite T. Morris.

STATE OF MISSOURI.

Some of the first settlers of the county were slave owners, and brought their peculiar chattels with them. The first mention of slavery in the records is dated in October, 1834, and is an order of the county court permitting Reuben Long, administrator of the estate of Meshach Birchfield, to hire out the "slaves of said estate."

Besides the control and authority vested by law in the master over his slaves, they were kept under other restrictions. Usually they were not allowed off of their master's plantation after 9 o'clock at night without a written pass from him. But often Sambo would steal away to a neighboring farm and spend two- thirds of the night in the company of a dusky sweetheart, or go prowling about the country on one frolic or another, and then the next day he would fall asleep over his plow and be incapable of half a fair day's work. It was the practice in all slave hold- ing States, where slaves existed in any considerable number, to have a company of mounted police, appointed by the county court, in every civil township, whose duties were to patrol that township a stated number of hours in every month, and who were paid for their services out of the county treasury. The patrols, as they were called, made their rounds after nightfall, and nearly always at unexpected times. If they caught a negro away from home without a pass, he was usually given a sound whipping, and sometimes was taken into custody, and his master sent for.

It became necessary to appoint patrols for Canton and Dick- erson Townships, in this county, as early as in January, 1836, and they were directed to patrol for twenty-four hours in every month. Those for Canton Township were Elias Sinclair, cap- tain; James Armstrong, Diederich Huner, William Duncan, James Crooks, Ellsworth Owsley and Alex Brown. Those for Dickerson were A. P. Williams, captain; Ralph Smith, B. P. Major, John Snapp, Eli Finley and Samuel Cox, Jr.

It was made a penal offense for a master to allow a slave to exercise any jurisdiction over himself. He could not hire him- self, enter into a contract, or make a purchase of merchandise. In at least three instances merchants of this county were indicted for "trading with a slave" and in the summer of 1836 Mrs. -

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

Catherine Hayden was indicted and arraigned for "permitting a slave to hire his own time." A year later the case was dismissed because the prosecuting witness, B. P. Major, had left the country.

Free negroes were not allowed to reside in the State without a special permit from a county court, and might be placed under bonds for their good and orderly behavior. The first free negroes licensed to live in this county were Jack, Isaac, Sally, Harriet and Hannah, all of whom had belonged to Jacob Myers, deceased, who, before his death, had manumitted them. The license was granted in March, 1836. From time to time other free negroes were granted permission to reside here. After the Myers slaves, heretofore mentioned, the first slave emancipated in this county, as appears of record, was "Chaney," a negro woman, who was set free by her master, John E. Thomas, in July, 1840.

EARLY MARRIAGES.

Probably the first marriages in what is now Lewis County were those of John Bozarth, Jr., and Amelia Bowles, and Abner Bozarth and Millicent Bowles, both on March 5, 1829. The grooms were brothers, and sons of John Bozarth, Sr .; the brides were sisters, daughters of Dabney Bowles, at whose house, be- low La Grange, the double wedding was celebrated. If there was an earlier marriage than these, the fact can not now be ascer- tained. After the organization of the county, the first marriages were the following: Joseph Loudermilk and Nancy Bailey, by Rev. Eli Merrill, March 3, 1833; Thomas Roland and Jane Hogue, by Rev. Eli Merrill, April 9, 1833; Jacob B. McPheeters and Julia Ann Nall, by Rev. Jeremiah Taylor, May 2, 1833; William H. Jourdan and Mary Garland, by Robert Sinclair, justice of the peace, May 12, 1833; Vincent Foreman and Rose Ann Nall, by Rev. Eli Merrill, May 28, 1833; William R. Harrison and Catherine E. Webb, by Judge John Taylor, August 1, 1833; James Smith and America Webb, by Judge John Taylor, August 5, 1833; James Parker and Eliza Williams, by Elisha H. Groves, August 11, 1833; Matthew Ray (of Marion) and Sarah Brown, by Rev. Jeremiah Taylor, September 29,1833; Umbleton Gregory

STATE OF MISSOURI.

and Amanda Crooks, by Squire Robert Sinclair, October 27, 1833; Ebenezer Gash and Maria McReynolds, by Rev. Will- iam Fuqua, October 26, 1833; William P. Frazier and Mary K. Saddler, by Rev. Mordecai Boulware, November 11, 1833; Upton Gassaway and Melinda White, by Judge John Taylor, March 23, 1834; Christopher Stephens and Mary Ann Bourne, by Rev. Eli Merrill, March 24, 1834; Robert Taylor and Mary Trotter, by Squire Robert Sinclair, March 31, 1834; Martin Baker and Ann Maria Lawrence, by Rev. Eli Merrill, April 21, 1834; J. H. McBride and Lettice Tate, by Squire Robert Sinclair, April 25, 1834; John Tolman and Mary Duque, by Peter P. Le Fevre, a Catholic priest *; Ira Bozarth and Eliza Carnegy, by Squire Robert Sinclair, June 8, 1834; Lloyd W. Knott and Martha Ann Allen, by Squire Robert Sinclair, June 26, 1834; Elias Sinclair and Eliza Rossetter, by Squire Robert Sinclair, July 3, 1834; George W. Bourne and Eliza Butler, by Squire Robert Sinclair, July 13, 1834; Samuel Cox and Eliza Wells, by Judge John Taylor, August 9, 1834; Abner Merrill and Sarah May, by Rev. Jeremiah Taylor, September 18, 1834.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND HISTORIC INCIDENTS FROM 1830 TO 1840.

In the summer of 1832, during the Black Hawk war (see Clark County), there was considerable uneasiness among the settlers in this quarter, especially until after Capts. Mace's and Mudd's militia or, "rangers " had gone to the frontiers.

In July, before the rangers were sent out, the settlers on the North Fabius built a strong block-house for protection and defense against the Indians, should they invade the country. This structure stood on Martin Nall's claim, on 'Bear branch, (northeast corner east half of the southeast quarter of Section 20, Township 61, Range 7,) a mile west of the Fabius. The builders were Martin Nall, Ransom Reddish, Silas Reddish, Robert Garnett, William H. Edwards, James Rankin, Isaac Reese, Peter Johnson and Washington Young. The block- house was built after the old Kentucky pattern. It was of strong, heavy logs and two stories in height. The lower story was 18 feet square, the upper 22 feet. square. The second story

* May 24, 1834.

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

projected over the lower, so that the savages could not burn the building without extreme danger and peril; for when they should crawl up to kindle the fire against the walls they would be shot through holes in the projecting floor above. This par- ticular fortress was called Nall's Block-house, and it is said that 120 persons, men, women, and children, depended upon it for protection, and on one or two occasions, during an alarm, resorted to it. A few of the old logs are still to be seen on the site, three miles east of south of Monticello, on the farm of Jeptha D. Nall, a son of Martin Nall.

On one occasion William McReynolds and Thomas Creacy spread an alarm among the settlers on the lower Fabius, and in the southeastern part of the county generally, that the Indians were coming down from the north like wolves on the fold .. Numbers were frightened, and fled to Palmyra for safety. But John Wash, John Redding, John G. Nunn, John Gerhart, and the famous hunter, Gabriel Long, and some others mounted their horses and scouted through the country north of Monticello as far as into Clark County, but not finding the Indians, and failing to discover even the signs of any, they returned to the settlements, and the scare was soon over and confidence fully restored.

The Indians never gave the settlers any serious trouble. Sometimes they were annoying, but never insulting or menacing, and no objection was made to their presence so long as they en- camped in the timber. Often they came in small parties to the upper waters of the Wyaconda, Sugar Creek, and the North Fabius, and encamped and hunted for different periods; but they kept out of the southern parts, and Judge Nunn, who was on the lower Fabius, says they were never encamped in the southeastern part of the county after 1830. The Indians who visited this section were the Sacs, Foxes and Iowas, and belonged far north- ward, in central Iowa, save some of the Sacs, who belonged to. Black Hawk's band, and whose village was on the Des Moines, about sixty miles from its mouth. Here, near the present vil- lage of Iowaville, Black Hawk died, in October, 1838.

STATE OF MISSOURI.

OTHER INTERESTING EARLY ITEMS.

Aside from the organization of the county, the first official proceedings, election, etc., the only memorable incident in the county in 1833, was the meteoric shower, general throughout the United States, on the night of the 11th, or rather on the morning of the 12th, of November. This remarkable celestial phenome- non is commonly called the "star shower," and old settlers are wont to speak of the occasion as "the night when the stars fell." It is fully described in other volumes, and nearly every astronomical work mentions it.

In this county a shower of gaseous meteors began falling shortly after midnight on the morning of the 12th, and continued until daybreak and probably thereafter, or until, their light. paled in the brighter effulgence of the rays of the sun. They filled the heavens as thickly as flakes in a heavy snow storm. Some of them resembled balls of fire and burst like rockets, but. without noise, scattering the fragments around. The effect was peculiar, not to say weird and astonishing. The negroes, and the ignorant, uneducated whites, were amazed and terror-stricken, and believed, as they said, that the end of the world had come! Some fell upon their knees, confessed their sins, and prayed for mercy! But the alarm was sensibly quieted when the sun rose the next morning on time, and in a few days the sinful had returned to their evil ways.

The first brick house in the county was built by John La Fon, near La Grange, in 1836. The next was by John G. Nunn, near his mill, in 1837, and is still standing. Edmond Weber's, in La Grange, was put up in 1838, and Judge William Hagood's, probably the same year. The brick for these houses was made by James Hale and Ben Hale, and Joseph Buckley did the wood work.

December 29, (?) 1830, the memorable " deep snow " com- menced falling, covering the ground to a depth of twenty inches on a level, and forming in drifts twelve feet in height. On the 3d of January, following, another heavy snow fell, making the entire depth of the fall actually from thirty-two inches to three feet, without drifting. In a few days a slight thaw was succeeded by intense cold, and a crust was formed, strong enough to bear

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

the weight of a dog or wolf, but not sufficiently strong to carry a deer, whose sharp hoofs, too, would add to its liability to break through. Large numbers of the poor deer, floundering in the snow, were killed by the wolves and dogs, until many of the settlers agreed to tie up the latter lest the game should be exter- minated. Flocks of turkeys and quails starved to death. Travel was almost impossible; the few roads were blocked, and no one pretended to go abroad except on horseback. The deep snow lasted until the 4th of March, 1831, when it went off in a sudden thaw, resulting in extensive floods.

In July, 1833, Asiatic cholera broke out in Palmyra, and before it subsided, 107 persons had died out of a total population of perhaps 600 .* A few cases, nearly all of them fatal, occurred in Lewis County. Col. John Bullock, who lived on the seminary lands, just above La Grange, went to Palmyra, returned with the contagion upon him, and communicated it to his family, six members of whom died.

The little hamlet of La Grange was thrown into consternation. Some of the families moved into the country at once, and those who remained were forbidden personal intercourse with their friends, and even with their relatives, in the interior. Some were stricken down, and after terrible suffering recovered. David Smith died. Dr. Higgins, then perhaps the only physician in La Grange, sent his family to the residence of a relative, Justinian Mills, two or three miles west of the village, and devoted himself to the care of the plague-smitten. Every evening he rode out to communicate with his wife and children, but was not suffered to approach nearer than fifty yards, compelled to call to them from the road, while they stood in the field. But one evening he rode out for the last time; that night he was seized with the cholera, and died the next day after enduring the most intense agonies. He saved others, but himself he could not save.

Coffins for the victims were made in the country by John Loudermilk, out on Durgens' Creek, and brought by him to the Wyaconda, at the " lover's leap," and deposited on the bank of the creek. From here they were taken away in canoes, as fast as

* It is claimed that the plague was brought to this quarter of Missouri by Gen. Scott's troops, from Prairie du Chien, who had been sent up during the Black Hawk war.

STATE OF MISSOURI.

needed, Loudermilk having been ordered to keep a supply con- stantly on hand. In a week or two, however, the plague was removed, owing to the strict precautions taken against its spread, and owing, too, partly to the sparseness of the population. In 1849 the cholera reappeared and carried off " Juba " Jenkins and perhaps one or two others.

NATIVITY AND CHARACTER OF THE SETTLERS.

By far the greater portion of the first citizens of the county were originally from Kentucky. Some were from Virginia, a few from Tennessee, with here and there a man from the free States. A majority of the Kentuckians came directly from the Blue-Grass State, but many had lived for a time in Marion or some of the other Missouri counties. A few were descendants of the first settlers of Kentucky, and thoroughly accustomed to pioneer life.

The first settlers were of the usual description of western pioneers. Nearly all were farmers and hunters, without much education or culture, and with moderate ambitions and wants easily satisfied. To "make " a farm of a greater or less extent, to live plainly and frugally but comfortably, and not to work very hard seemed to be the chief desires. There was not much opportunity to acquire polish and competence and less inclina- tion. The majority were poor when they came and never became wealthy.

Of cultured, scholarly, enterprising and ambitious men, there were perhaps enough. The first county officers were well quali- fied and the records are not marred by crude penmanship, bad spelling, and other evidences of illiteracy. Many brought some money, slaves and other property to the country, established themselves comfortably from the first, and soon or eventually reached conditions of affluence. Some of the merchants and other business men were shrewd and successful. The doctors and lawyers were creditable representatives of their professions. There were no gentlemen of leisure.

The manners of the people were like themselves, a little rough, uncouth, and unpolished, but free, hearty and open. There were hospitality and generosity, but no more in proportion

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

than are to be found among their descendants or those who occu- pied the country after them. Notwithstanding the frequency and apparent fervor with which some of the old pioneers assert that people were better in the "good old times," and the simu- lated melancholy with which they contemplate the degeneracy of the present age, it is more than probable that the citizens of the county of to-day are the equals, at least, to the pioneers in all that is commendable and ennobling.

There was no more hospitality in 1837 than in 1887. There was no more morality during the first decade of the county's existence than in that just past. There were not nearly so many Bibles and churches, schools and schoolbooks, in proportion to the population, nor nearly so many God-fearing men and women. Indeed very many of the "noble old pioneers" were rather "tough." They drank a deal of whisky, they brawled and fought, they used hard language, they ran horses on the Lord's Day and many of them were under little moral restraint. The first indictments were for adultery. Among the next were some for larceny and perjury, and at one single term of the circuit court, in 1839, nearly a hundred were found against as many dif- ferent individuals for " playing at cards for money " or gam- bling.

For two or three years after the Black Hawk war, home-seek- ers were a little chary about venturing into this quarter, but in 1831 and 1835 so many immigrants poured into this county that they could not be fed with the provisions then in stock until they could raise a crop, and they were forced to send down into Marion County for corn, meat, and other supplies. Comparatively few farmers raised a surplus. The average agriculturist owned but eighty acres, not more than one-fourth of which was culti- vated, and the system of cultivation was not at all thorough. It was hard work to clear up the land and reduce it to cultivation, and it was harder still for many a man to plant, hoe and reap it afterward year after year. It was easier to take a rifle and hunt an hour or two and bring in a hundred pound deer, which would furnish meat for a fortnight. than to toil in the hot sun to raise corn to fatten pork, though indeed a majority of the hogs ran wild, and fattened on the mast in the woods.

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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 5

Author: Goodspeed, firm, publishers, Chicago (1886-1891, Goodspeed Publishing Co.) Publication date: 1887 Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The Goodspeed publishing co. Number of Pages: 1308

Author: Goodspeed, firm, publishers, Chicago (1886-1891, Goodspeed Publishing Co.)
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The Goodspeed publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1308