USA > Missouri > Lincoln County > History of Lincoln County, Missouri, from the earliest time to the present > Part 23
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NATIVE ANIMALS AND WILD FOWLS.
A hundred years ago, ere the "pale faces" came, the land
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now enclosed within the boundaries of Lincoln County was a vast solitude, over which the native animals prowled, and the wild fowls sported, unmolested save by the Indian's arrow. The native species of animals were the buffalo, bear, elk, deer, wolf, lynx, catamount, panther, wildcat, raccoon, opossum, fox, wood- chuck, skunk, rabbit, squirrel, etc., and of the wild fowls, there were geese, swans, turkeys, ducks, quails, and an almost innumer- able variety of beautiful birds that filled the " native wilds " with the music of their songs. Ere the close of the last century, the buffaloes, scenting the approach of civilization, moved westward, and abandoned their pastures to the white man's plow. The other animals, seemingly, were not thius disposed to give up their native haunts, but remained until nearly all the larger kinds became extinct, in consequence of their destruction by the new possessors of the soil. The few that were not destroyed retired to the unsettled and undisturbed forests and prairies, that lay in advance of the onward march of civilization.
At the beginning of the settlement of the county the bears were not very numerous, and consequently not very troublesome to the settlers. They were fond of pigs, however, and not a few of these domestic animals were sacrificed to gratify Bruin's appe- tite. Being large animals, they could not well hide from the early settlers, whose combined efforts soon put a stop to their depredations, and caused them to become extinct in an early day. The elk were likewise scarce and soon disappeared. From the antlers found by early settlers, it is evident that very large animals of that species once existed here. Deer were very num- erous-so numerous that herds containing as many as fifty each were frequently seen. Many of the first settlers supplied their families with all the venison they could consume, and for a long time only 25 cents could be realized for a " saddle of venison." A " saddle" consisted of the hind-quarters or hams, the balance of the carcass being usually thrown away. As the settlers increased in numbers, the deer decreased -- venison became more of a rarity, and the animals were hunted, chased and killed until they finally became extinct. In the fall of 1862, William Watts, of the northeastern part of the county, killed fourteen deer, and never saw any afterward. It is believed that they became extinct dur- ing the war period.
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The wolves were also very numerous, very destructive, and a greater source of annoyance to the early settlers than any other of the wild animals. They would destroy all the hogs, pigs especially, sheep and calves that they could get, and would sometimes devour grown cattle. Many a pioneer saved his first milch cow from destruction by these hungry and ferocious ani- mals, by allowing her to feed around his cabin under the observ- ance of his family during the day, and confining her at night in a tight log pen with a tight pole covering. They were the most destructive to sheep, and the only way that these domestic animals could be raised, while the wolves were numerous, was by confining them in tight pens at night. The wolves generally went in " packs " or " gangs," and at night kept up a continual howling around the pioneer's cabin. In 1829 the county court offered 50 cents each for wolf scalps, and in 1830 it offered 50 cents each for wolf scalps under six months old and $1 for those six months old or over. [Unless the officers knew just how to tell when a wolf was six months old by an examination of its scalp, it is most likely that Lincoln County paid $1 each for many scalps not quite six months old. | Bounties for wolf scalps have always continued to be paid. In the early days wolf scalps were legal tender for paying taxes. Being very destruc- tive, and not good for food or anything at all, the wolves were hunted and killed with a view to their extermination; and were so substantially exterminated that they ceased to be troublesome years ago, and now one is seldom ever heard of. The lynxes, catamounts, panthers and wildcats, all savage and destructive animals, have shared the fate of the wolves. Of these, probably the wildcats were the most numerous. All these latter animals belong to the feline race, and, like the wolves, are destructive and worthless.
The raccoons and opossums have also been numerous, and remain in considerable numbers yet. They have been extensively captured and used by the colored people as articles of food. The woodchucks still remain in limited numbers, and are also some- times used for food. Foxes, as remarks an old settler, have been as plentiful as poultry is now. They are very destructive to poultry, and on this account have been chased and hunted for
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their extermination, but being so sly and cunning, they still re- main in sufficient numbers to be quite annoying. Skunks (pole- cats) have been numerous, and still remain in sufficient quanti- ties. Though their odor is not pleasant, they have one redeem- ing quality, their skins are valuable for ladies' muffs, etc. The innocent rabbits, that eat the cabbage and bark the fruit trees, and the nimble squirrels, have always been and are yet abundant, though not so numerous as formerly. These little animals are used for food by all classes.
After the county was settled, and as long as game was plenti- ful, the people had their "Christmas frolics" during the holi- days. That is, large numbers of men would assemble at certain points, well armed for the chase, and well supplied with horns for signals, and would extend a circular line around a certain tract of country, then commence blowing the horns and contracting the line, and thus drive the animals toward the center. In this way all kinds of animals would be corralled on a small spot of ground, and finding themselves surrounded, would attempt their escape through the closed up line of sportsmen. Then came the fun; many animals would be killed in attempting to pass through the line, and many would escape. Upon the settlement of the county, and for many years thereafter, the wild fowls, especially turkeys, were very numerous, but latterly all have become scarce. Most of the species of native birds still remain.
CHAPTER IV.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY, COURTS, ETC.
The county of Lincoln was organized in accordance with an act of the Legislature of the Territory of Missouri passed December 14, 1818, and a subsequent act passed on the 23d day of the same month. To the first settler of the county was re- served the honor of securing its establishment, and of selecting its name. In the Territorial Legislature which convened at St. Louis in December, 1818, being the fifth session after the crea-
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tion of the Territory, the organization of several new counties was discussed. Maj. Christopher Clark, who was a member from St. Charles County, living in that portion out of which Lincoln was carved, proposed the creation of the new county, with the boundaries corresponding very nearly to the present lines. The project met with favorable consideration, and a bill providing for the organization of the county was prepared, a blank space being left for the insertion of its name. Several names were proposed and discussed.
Maj. Clark arose to address the assembly, a duty he seldom attempted in that body. He was not a fluent speaker and was not accustomed to speaking in public. He was a man of excellent. sense and judgment, and possessed clear and vigorous ideas upon every subject that engaged his attention, which he could always express in his plain, homely, yet terse and forcible manner. With the peculiarities of a rude frontier education, that read more of the beauty and grandeur of wild nature than of books, he united all those îner qualities of head and heart that under other circumstances develop into the cultured and polished gentle- man. His stern and inflexible principles of personal integrity and honesty, which ever shaped his rule of conduct, never warped his mind into any puritanical bias, but charity and forbearance toward every human creature were as natural to him as his own unbounded generosity and hospitality. These qualities made him a quiet, unobtrusive, industrious and valuable member of the Legislature, and they were as fully recognized and appre- ciated by his fellow members, as by his fellow citizens at home. His stalwart and powerful form, his dignified and courteous bearing, and the courage that upheld him on the battle-field and in the peril of the wilderness, and that shown unmistakably in the gleam of his bright eye, always secured him the attentive ear of the entire Assembly. On this occasion, his manner was earnest, and yet without any exhibition of that egotism his words might suggest. His purpose was evident; he gave a personal reason for the motion he was about to offer. He said: "Mr. Speaker, I was the first man to drive a wagon across Big Creek, the boun- dary of the proposed new county, and the first permanent white settler within its limits. I was born, sir, in Link-horn County,
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N. C. I lived for many years in Link-horn County, in old Kain- tuck. I wish to live, the remainder of my days, and die in Link- horn County, in Missouri; and I move, therefore, that the blank in the bill be filled with the name of Link-horn." The motion was carried unanimously, and the clerk, not adopting the frontier parlance of the Major, wrote "Lincoln" in the blank space of the bill. This was on the 14th day of December, 1818. On the 8th, Jefferson County had been created, and on the 11th, Frank- lin and Wayne. In 1813 Washington County had been estab- lished, and in 1816 the county of Howard. Thus Lincoln was the sixth county established by the Territorial Legislature, not counting the county of Arkansas, set off during the session of 1813-14, and afterward formed into a separate State. The following is a copy of the caption of the record of proceedings of the first term of court held in Lincoln County, as provided by the acts creating it:
COUNTY COURT PROCEEDINGS .- FIRST TERM.
TERRITORY OF MISSOURI, Northwestern Circuit, April Term, 1819.
LINCOLN COUNTY.
Be it remembered that on this fifth day of April, one thousand eight hun- dred and nineteen, at the house of Zadock Woods, in said county and Territory, being the time and place directed by the several acts of the Legislature of said Territory, the first entitled "An act for establishing the county of Lincoln," passed the 14th of December, 1818, and the other entitled "An act fixing the times and places for holding superior and circuit courts, and for other pur- poses," passed the 23d day of December, 1818.
David Todd appeared and produced a commission appointing him judge of the Northwestern Circuit in said territory, which was read openly and is in the following words:
FREDERICK BATES, SECRETARY OF THE TERRITORY OF MISSOURI, AND EXER- CISING THE GOVERNMENT THEREOF.
To all who shall see these presents, Greeting :- Know ye, that reposing spe- cial trust and confidence in the integrity, abilities and diligence of David Todd, I do appoint him judge of the courts of the Northwestern Circuit, composed of the counties of Cooper, Howard, Montgomery, Lincoln and Pike, and em- power him to discharge the duties of said office according to law. To have and to hold the said office with all the powers, privileges and emoluments to the same of right appertaining, from and after the first day of February next.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed the seal of the Territory. Given under my hand at St. Louis the first day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, and of the independence of the United States, the forty-third.
[SEAL.]
(Signed,) FREDERICK BATES.
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Upon the back of Judge Todd's commission was endorsed his oath of office, as taken before Squire Augustus Storrs, of How- ard County. After the reading of his commission, the Judge took his seat, and proclamation being made by David Bailey, sheriff, the first court was opened and constituted for Lincoln County. John Ruland then appeared, and produced the follow- ing commission appointing him clerk of the court, to-wit:
WILLIAM CLARK, GOVERNOR OF THE TERRITORY OF MISSOURI AND COMMANDER- IN-CHIEF OF THE MILITIA THEREOF.
To all who shall see these presents, Greeting :- Know ye, that whereas the Hon. David Todd, judge of the Northwestern Circuit, has appointed John Ruland, Clerk of the circuit court for the county of Lincoln, I do hereby commission the said John Ruland clerk of the circuit court of Lincoln County, and em- power him to discharge the duties of said office according to law. To have and to hold the said office with all the powers, privileges and emoluments to the same of right appertaining.
In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the Territory to be affixed. Given under my hand at St. Louis, the first day of April, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, and of the independence of the United States the forty-third.
(Signed,) WILLIAM CLARK.
FIRST OFFICIALS.
John Ruland, the clerk thus commissioned, then filed his bond in the sum of $3,000, with Samuel Wells and Nathan Heald, of St. Charles County, as sureties, and took the oath and assumed the duties of his office. David Bailey then produced his com- mission as sheriff of Lincoln County, it having been executed January 1, 1819, by Frederick Bates, then acting Governor, and executed his official bond to the satisfaction of the court, with Ira Cottle and James White as sureties. He then took the oath of his office, and assumed the duties thereof. This complet- ed the organization of the first court held in Lincoln County, the first business of which was the selection and empaneling of the first grand jury .- Joseph Cottle, foreman; John Null, Prospect K. Robbins, Samuel H. Lewis, Thacker Vivion, Job Williams, Alambe Williams, Jr., Jeremiah Groshong, John Bell, Jacob Null, Sr., John Hunter, Elijah Collard, William Harrell, Jacob Null, Jr., Isaac Cannon, Hiram Millsaps, Alambe Williams, Sr., and Zachariah Callaway. Being duly sworn and charged,
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this jury retired to their room, and after "inquiring in and for the body of the county." returned without making any pre- sentments, and were discharged.
The commissioners, David Bailey, James White, Daniel Draper, Hugh Cummins and Abraham Kennedy, appointed by the Legislature in the act creating the County of Lincoln, to se- lect a site, and to locate the county-seat thereof, then appeared and filed their official bond in the sum of $15,000, with Jonathan Riggs, Hugh Barnett, Zadock Woods, Ira Cottle and Allen B. Wilson as sureties. The bond was approved by the court, and the commissioners qualified to perform their duties. This ended the business of the first day of the court. The following day the court ordered the clerk to apply to the clerk of St. Charles County, for certified copies of all orders establishing public roads within the boundaries of Lincoln County, and all orders appoint- ing overseers of roads, who were then in office, and a transcript of all orders, and the original papers pertaining to roads not fully established in the territory of Lincoln County.
FORMATION OF TOWNSHIPS.
The court then divided the county into four parts, and ordered that all that part lying east of the fifth principal meridian, and south of the township line, between townships forty-nine and fifty north, should constitute one municipal township to be called and known by the name of Monroe; and all that part lying west of the fifth principal meridian, and south of the above named township line, should constitute a municipal township to be called and known by the name of Bedford; all that part lying west of the fifth principal meridian, and north of Bedford Township, to constitute a municipal township to be called and known by the name of Union; and that all that part lying east of Union and north of Monroe, should constitute a municipal township to be called and known by the name of Hurricane.
APPOINTMENTS.
Judges were then appointed to hold elections in the several townships, at the places designated as follows : Prospect K. Robbins, James Duncan and Joseph Oldham, for Monroe
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Township, at the house of Prospect K. Robbins; Elijah Collard, Benjamin Blanton and Alambe Williams, Jr., for Bedford Town- ship, at the house of Zadock Woods (Troy ) ; Robert Jameson, Philip Sitton and Samuel Gibson, for Union Township, at the house of Samuel Gibson ; Benjamin Allen, John Ewing, and Jesse Sitton, for Hurricane Township, at the house of Benjamin Allen.
Constables for the several townships were then appointed as follows: James Woods, for Monroe; Lee F. T. Cottle, for Bed- ford; Thacker Vivion, for Union; and Allen Turnbaugh, for Hurricane. They were all required to execute bonds in the sum of $1,000 each, with approved security, before assuming the duties of their offices. The court then recommended Joseph Cottle to the Governor, as a suitable person to be commissioned surveyor of the county, and Samuel Bailey was appointed deputy sheriff. This completed the organization of the county, and the court adjourned "to term in course."
The first justices of the peace in the county, appointed by the Governor, were Benjamin Cottle and James Duncan, for Bedford Township; Daniel Draper, for Union; Benjamin Allen, for Hur- ricane; and Prospect K. Robbins, for Monroe.
FIRST ELECTION.
The elections provided for, as above mentioned, were held Au- gust 2d, following the organization of the county, and was for a delegate to Congress; Samuel Hammond and John Scott being the opposing candidates. For some reason, no election was held in Hurricane Township. In Monroe Township nine votes were cast for Samuel Hammond, in Bedford five for John Scott and forty-eight for Hammond, and in Union, twelve for Hammond, making a total of seventy-four votes cast in the county at its first election, and of these Hammond received sixty-nine and Scott five. The latter, however, was elected, notwithstanding the large majority against him in Lincoln. He was then the incumbent of the office, having been first elected in 1816, from which time he held it until Missouri was admitted as a State, and then served three terms as a member of Congress, retiring in 1827.
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SECOND TERM OF COURT.
The second term of the court was held at the same place as before, beginning on Monday, August 2, 1819. A number of petitions for the location of public roads, the particulars of which are given under the head of "Highways," were presented and considered. Joseph Cottle produced his commission as surveyor of Lincoln County, and filed his bond as such in the sum of $2.000, with Elijah Collard as surety. David Bailey, sheriff, then filed two bonds with Joseph Cottle and Benajah English as sureties-one for the sum of $1,000, conditioned for the collec- tion of the county tax, and the other for the sum of $1,500, con- ditioned for the collection and payment of all moneys for Terri- torial purposes. In fixing the penal sum of bonds it seems strange that the court should require $2,000 in the surveyor's bond, when no moneys went into his hands except his own fees, while only $2,500 was required in the bond 'of the sheriff, the general collector of the taxes. Christopher Clark, David Lord and Almond Cottle were each granted a license to keep tavern in the county, upon payment of a fee imposed by law, which was $10 per year. The grand jury at this term made a number of presentments, all of which will be considered elsewhere, except- ing one in which they expressed their disapprobation of the attempt then recently made in Congress to impose certain restric- tions in the constitution of Missouri, preparatory to its admis- sion into the Union. This presentment reads as follows: " The grand jurors for the body of the county of Lincoln, Mis- souri Territory, beg leave to represent to the honorable court that they consider it their privilege, as well as their bounden duty, to take notice of all acts, whether of a public or private nature, calculated to deprive them and their fellow citizens of any of the privileges and immunities which as Republican freemen they have an unalienable right to exercise and enjoy. They therefore present that the restrictions attempted to be imposed upon the Missouri Territory, by the Congress of the United States, at the last session, in the formation of her State consti- tution, is unconstitutional and unprecedented, bearing the stamp of oppression heretofore unknown to and perfectly inconsistent with the principles upon which our happy Government is
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founded. They consider the formation of a State constitution the most solemn and important duty which freemen are ever called upon to perform, and in its performance they ought to en- joy the full exercise of unshackled and unrestricted volition. They much regret that the necessity has occurred which impera- tively demands an expression of their feelings and sentiments, and trust that, when the question of the admission of the Missouri Territory into the Union of the States shall again be agitated in Congress, the true, genuine and Republican spirit of the consti- tution will be consulted and have its due influence unimpeded by mistaken notions of philanthropy, or the direful genius of usur- pation." Signed by Isaac Thurman, Jacob Null, Reuben Noel, John Castleman, Allen Jameson, Abraham Kennedy, Christopher Clark, William Howdeshell, J. D. Morris, Jacob Null, Sr., Sher- man Cottle, John Null, Jesse Cox, William Harle, Nathan Ram- sey, John A. Spencer, Zachariah Callaway, Thomas Hampton, Benjamin Crose, Jeremiah Groshong, Miles Turner and Samuel Groshong.
The "restrictions " referred to in the foregoing consisted of a clause which the anti-slavery members of Congress insisted in having incorporated into the constitution of Missouri, to prohibit slavery, before they were willing to vote for its admission into the Union. Great political excitement then prevailed through- out the country, which finally culminated in the " Missouri Com- promise," and the admission of Missouri as a State. [ See State History on this subject. ] These grand jurors, being represent- ative men of the county, showed by the foregoing expressions how zealously the people of Lincoln County, in its infancy, pro- tected what they believed to be their " sacred rights," and how strenuously they favored State sovereignty.
COUNTY SEAT.
In April, 1819, Ira Cottle, Almond Cottle and Nathaniel Simonds offered to donate to the county a tract of land contain- ing fifty acres, at the town of Monroe, as a site for theseat of jus- tice. The commissioners previously named, who were appointed by the act creating the county of Lincoln to select and fix upon a site for the seat of justice thereof, and to superintend the
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building of a courthouse and jail, accepted this offer and as- sisted in laying out the land into town lots, with appropriate streets, and procured title for the same from the donors by a deed dated April 29, 1819. They then proceeded to sell lots, and began to accumulate funds for the purpose of defraying the ex- penses of erecting public buildings. During that summer they caused to be erected a jail at Monroe, and in December following they reported to the court that they had selected and fixed upon a site for the seat of justice, at the town of Monroe, and that a sufficient jail had been erected thereon. The court then ordered that the courts within the county be thereafter held at the town of Monroe. In obedience to this order the next term of the court was held at Monroe, commencing on Monday, April 3, 1820; and there the courts continued to be held while the seat of justice remained at that place.
THE FIRST COUNTY COURT.
When Lincoln County was organized, there were no separate county courts in the Territory of Missouri; but the circuit court was given jurisdiction over all county and probate business, in addition to the business over which circuit courts usually have jurisdiction. Consequently, up to the time that county courts were established by law, the county and probate business was all transacted in the circuit court. The law providing for the forma- tion of county courts was passed by the first session of the Leg- islature of the State of Missouri, even though the State had not at that time formally been admitted into the Union of States. The first term of the county court of Lincoln County was opened by Justices Ira Cottle and Jonathan Riggs, two of the persons commissioned by Gov. Alexander McNair for that purpose, and the following is a copy of the caption of the record of their proceedings at the first term.
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