USA > Missouri > Randolph County > History of Randolph County, Missouri > Part 10
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
It is often the case in the east that coal lands are unfit for anything but coal, but such is not the case in Missouri. Land overlying coal beds is frequently as rich and productive as any other land in the country, and this is peculiarly the case in Prairie township.
Among the old settlers of this township were John Hamilton, James Martin, R. P. Martin, Mrs. Chisham, William Butler, Joel Hubbard, Rice Alexander, Hugh C. Collins, Dr. Presley T. Oliver, Jackson Dickerson, Joseph Davis, Moses Kimbrough, Aaron Kimbrough, Thomas Kimbrough, A. Hendrix, Benjamin Hardin, Asa K. Hubbard, Presly Shirley, Jeremiah Bunnel, Thomas Stockton W. S. Christian, Granderson Brooks, Archibald Goin, May Burton, John Sorrell, Henry Burnham, William Croswhite, John Kimbrough, Bluford Robinson, Wiley Marshall, A. W. Lane, Durett Bruce, Reuben Samuel and Joseph Wilcox.
Nearly all of the above named pioneers were from Kentucky and many of these men were great hunters, notably so were Durett Bruce, Joe Davis, Cy Davis, Uriah Davis, H. C. Collins, John Sorrell and James Martin. The latter in his early manhood was very athletic and was probably the only man who ever caught an unwounded deer by running after it on foot. Durett Bruce, who came to the township in 1837 lived to a great age. He was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, eight miles south of Lexington, March 1, 1789. His father's name was Benjamin Bruce; he was a native of Scotland, and a kinsman of Robert Bruce, one of the Scottish chiefs, whose deeds of bravery and feats of manhood have been immortalized by the incomparable pen of Jane Porter.
Mr. Bruce married Miss Sarah Stephens, daughter of Col. Stephens, April 13, 1813. In 1834, October 10th, he came to Boone County, Missouri, and after raising two crops, he settled in Randolph County. Hearing that the wolves were numerous, and very destructive to sheep, he brought with him to the county 15 sheep, 18 hounds, and a cur dog, and was never annoyed by wolves after his arrival. He was in the War of 1812 and served under Gen. William H. Harrison six months and Gen. McArthur four months.
In early life Mr. Bruce was apprenticed to the trade of locksmith. a pursuit which he followed until he was past 95 years old. In 1869 he located in the then new town of Moberly, where he died.
The first mill in Prairie township was owned by Jesse Jones, and was located about three miles southwest of Renick. The first church edifice in the township was called Dover church, and was occupied by different
PUBLIC SCHOOL, HIGBEE, MO.
COAL MINE, HIGBEE, MO.
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denominations. The first school was taught by Col. John M. Bean, a Ken- tuckian, at a place called Oak Point. Lynch Turner was the first officiating minister of the Gospel.
Renick, the most important town in the township, was located in 1856, after the North Missouri Railroad, now the Wabash, had become an established institution. It is situated on a high rolling prairie, on the "Grand Divide", the waters on the east side of the town flowing to the Mississippi and those on the west side to the Missouri. The Wabash Railroad passes diagonally through the town, the depot being convenient to the business portion of it. It lies six miles south by east of Moberly. Its citizens are a thorough-going and enterprising people. During the Civil War, nearly all the houses in the town were destroyed.
Masonic Lodge, No. 186, was organized October 19, 1867, with the following charter members: G. A. Settle, A. E. Grubb, S. A. Mitchell, James Hardin, Benjamin Terrill, J. R. Alexander, R. Davis, T. Y. Martin, R. P. Martin, J. Y. Coates, S. S. Elliott, William Butler, G. R. Christian.
Clay Thompson, who came from Kentucky about the year 1856, erected the first house in the town; he also opened the first business house and hotel. William H. Marshall was the first blacksmith, Peter Hoeman the first shoemaker. William B. McLean was the first physician in that region of country.
SALT RIVER TOWNSHIP.
Salt River is the northeastern township of Randolph County. About one-fifth of the surface is prairie, the balance is timber land. The prairie is generally level or gently undulating. The timber land is more uneven, and in the vicinity of the streams is somewhat broken and hilly.
The territory is well provided with streams and stock water is abund- ant throughout the year. Mover, Mud, Flat, Mckinney, Lick, and Painter creeks, with other less important streams, take their courses through the township and every farm is convenient to some stream that contains water the year round. Nevertheless, for greater convenience, ponds, wells and cisterns are dug on the farms for the use of stock. Living water is found at short distances below the surface, giving a permanent and inexhaustible supply.
Among the early settlers of the township were H. G. Robuck, M. McKinney and Strother Ridgeway. The farms in this township are gen- erally small, averaging in size from 100 to 200 acres, and very few ex-
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ceed the latter amount. It is essentially a farming and grazing country. The quality of the soil is rich and productive and easily cultivated.
The reliable staple crops are corn, wheat, oats, timothy and blue grass. The latter is used almost entirely for grazing and is rarely mowed for hay.
Coal lies a short distance below the surface in many parts of the township.
The improvements on the farms are generally good. Farmers have neat and comfortable farm houses to take the place of less sightly edifices built in the earlier history of the township.
UNION TOWNSHIP.
Union is the middle township on the eastern border of Randolph, joining Monroe County on its eastern boundary. It has an area of about 29 square miles. Flat creek, Coy branch, Elk Fork, Sugar creek, Mud creek and Coon creek, branches of Salt River, penetrate its territory in every direction and fertilize its fields and farms. There is no district in the county, of the same dimensions that is better watered.
The first settlers of the township were George Burckhartt, father of Judge G. H. Burckhartt, Clemen Jeeter, Dr. Burton, George Chapman, Nade Chapman and William Haly. These men left the impress of their toil and industry on the country they settled and improved.
The lands of this township are unusually fertile and will compare favorably with the best lands in any part of the state. The territory is about equally divided into prairie and timber lands. Each division is equally well adapted to cultivation and pasturage. The crops of every kind are heavy and the live stock raised is of superior quality.
Coal is found in large beds and of very excellent quality in various parts of the district. Limestone, brick and potter's clay are also found.
The yield of crops is as follows: Corn per acre, average, 40 bushels, extra, 70 bushels ; wheat, average, 15 bushels, extra, 25 bushels; "ats, 25 to 35 bushels per acre; hay, average, one ton, extra, two tons.
Rev. J. A. Holloway, Mrs. Wesley Boatman and David Myers were early settlers. George Burckhartt was the first settler.
Milton, the only village in the township, is about 75 years old. Its trade has been of a purely local character, there being no facilities for shipping. It is, however, eligibly and pleasantly situated on Elk Fort. Until about 1878, four ministers made their homes in Milton, to-wit: Eld.
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J. A. Holloway, of the Christian church, Rev. Peter Parker and Rev. W. D. Hutton, of the M. E. Church South, and Rev. W. L. T. Evans of the Mis- sionary Baptist Church. The latter, a most estimable and much beloved man, died about 1879. Dr. R. R. Hall was the first physician.
SILVER CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Silver Creek is one of the four townships into which Randolph County was originally divided. It was made the smallest in extent if territory, because it embraced the most thickly settled portion of the county at the time of its organization. This fact, taken in connection with its location along the border of Howard County, which was settled first, leads us to infer that it is the oldest settlement in the county. Although originally the smallest in area, it gave up 18 square miles of its territory to the township of Moniteau when the latter was organized. It is situated in the southwest corner of the county.
While it has no railroad running directly through it, its people, taken as a whole, are as well accommodated with railroad facilities as those of any other township, except Sugar Creek.
Within a mile and a half of its northern boundary are the stations of the Wabash Railroad at Huntsville and Clifton Hill. Not far from its eastern boundary the Chicago and Alton Railroad crosses the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, at Higbee, and on the south, at Armstrong, in Howard County, is another depot of the Chicago and Alton Railroad. The town- ship is literally surrounded by railroad stations without any railroad run- ning through it, a circumstance which gives to all its people a great uni- formity of railroad advantages.
While Silver Creek contains less level land than the other townships, it may be safely asserted that the most fertile tracts in the whole county lie within its borders. The surface ranges from the gently undulating to hilly near the margins of the streams, and with the exception of a few white oak ridges and hickory flats in the northeast, and an occasional one in other parts, the soil of the entire township is of a black, rich, sandy loam, interspersed with limestone, which does not predominate in any locality so as to interfere seriously with cultivation, but is generally distributed so as to furnish the requisite supply of this material element of natural fertility.
Here, also, is to be found one of the best watered sections in the whole country. The Sweet Spring, taking its name from a noted foun-
4
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
tain on its southern margin, washes the northern boundary of the town- ship, and Silver creek with its tributaries flows from east to west through the central and southern portions. The names given to these streams, from the latter of which the township takes its name, are significant of the purity and palatable qualities of their waters and of the perennial fountains which dot their margins and spring spontaneous from the fertile hillsides in many other parts of the township.
About one-third of the township is prairie land, lying mostly south of Silver creek and along the Howard county line. Of the magnificent forests that originally covered the remaining two-thirds of the township, all has given way to cultivated fields.
Mt. Airy is located on the public road leading from Huntsville to Roanoke, about seven miles from the former place and twelve miles from Moberly. There is plenty of coal in this township.
Among the early settlers were John Viley, who was judge of the county court ; Nicholas Dysart, George W. Dameron, once sheriff ; Woodson Newby, James Goodman, Morgan Finnell, William Burton, William Thompson, William R. Burch, George Ellis, Newton Bradley, Jeff. Fullington, Samuel Cockrell, John Minor, Paschall Troyman, Leven I. Dawkins, John E. Walden, William Nichols, Roderick O'Brien, William Holman, Joseph Holman, Sr., John Sears, Sr., Hardy Sears, Iverson Sears, Allen Mayo, William Mayo, Valentine Mayo, John Rowland, Younger Rowland, D. R. Denny, Samuel C. Davis, Isaiah Humphrey, William Fort, Asa Kirby, John Head, Ambrose Medley, Basil McDavitt, Sr., Roger West, James Davis, Rev. Samuel C. Davis, Thomas Bradley, Tolman C. B. Gorham, Tolman Gorman, Jr .. Thomas Gorham, Ambrose Halliburton, William Morrow and Joseph Morrow.
Mr. William Mathis, better known as "Uncle Billy Mathis," emigrated from North Carolina in the year 1827 and erected his cabin, in primitive pioneer style, on 80 acres of land entered at government price, within five miles of where Mt. Airy now stands. He was married when he came to the state, but never had any children. He was there before the county was organized, and William Holman, Abraham Gross and James Dysart were here when he came, the first of whom was engaged in running a horse mill.
Jerry Jackson came with "Uncle Billy Mathis" from North Carolina, and settled in the same neighborhood, but emigrated to Texas.
About the year 1837, Capt. William Upton, another old settler, opened a store at his place in connection with D. C. Garth, who lived at Hunts-
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ville, and had another store there. A blacksmith shop and a tobacco factory were soon after erected, and the place was first called Uptonsville. The enterprising people of the vicinity, however, were not long in obtain- ing a postoffice, which was christened Mt. Airy, a name which it has ever since borne. Captain Upton, several years before the late war, sold out his farm and store and moved south of the Missouri river.
Judge James Head, one of Silver Creek's pioneers, a resident when the county was organized, and one of the judges of the first county court, founded Roanoke on the Howard county line in 1836. The place at first went by several names, as suited the fancy of the settlers, such as Head's Store, and Van Buren, the favorite and successful Democratic candidate for the presidency for that year. But when the postoffice was established there, at the suggestion of Judge Head, it was named for the residence of a favorite statesman of his native state-the celebrated John Randolph, of Roanoke. Judge Head emigrated to Randolph County, from Orange County, Virginia, several years before the county was organized. He was accompanied by his sister, Mrs. Fannie Medley and her husband, Jacob Medley, who settled near him, and was the first collector of Randolph County. Judge Head lived on his farm adjoining Roanoke, and carried on business in the town, until 1849, when he moved to Lockhart, Texas, where he died in 1875, at the age of 82 years. He was followed to this state in 1831 by his father and mother, and all his remaining brothers and sisters, except Mrs. Minor Rucker, who came with her husband and family in 1837. They all settled in Randolph County. His father, John Head, and his brother, John Head, Jr., settled in Silver Creek, two miles north of Roanoke, the former on the farm where he resided until his death in 1852. All the others settled in and around Huntsville. These were Dr. Walker Head, who was twice elected to the legislature from this county, and at the time of his death in 1845, he had just been elected a delegate to the state convention, to revise the constitution. Mrs. Emily Chiles, Mrs. Sarah D. Allen, Mrs. Amanda Garth, and Mrs. Harriet Rucker were other members of the family. Mrs. Martha Price, the youngest daughter, was single when she came to the state, and was married to General Sterling Price, at her father's residence in Silver Creek township, in the year 1833.
Robert Smith, who operated a tobacco factory, half a mile east of Mt. Airy, was an old settler. He came to Huntsville in 1837, where he remained six years, and then moved to Silver Creek.
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John Osborn emigrated from Orange County, Virginia, in 1835. He purchased dry goods and other family supplies at Old Chariton, in Chariton County. Allen Mayo, Daniel McDavitt and William Ferguson were Mr. Osborn's earliest neighbors, having preceded him in the settlement.
Rev. William H. Mansfield resided one mile northeast of Roanoke, on a farm of 200 acres which he settled in 1831, and was one of the oldest men in Silver Creek township at the time of his death. He was born in Orange County, Virginia, and resided in this county fifty years. He was married in 1814, in Virginia, to Miss Salina Eddings, and they had thir- teen children. Mr. Mansfield was a veteran of the War of 1812, and drew the usual pension. He took a just pride in having participated in the stirring events of that great national drama, in which his valor and patriotism contributed to win imperishable honor for Americans and vin- dicated our national motto, "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights." He never departed from the political faith which inspired his early manhood, and in his old age he adhered with unwavering fidelity to the principles which in his youth he drew his sword to defend. He was a devoted Christian, and a member of the Missionary Baptist church for nearly three-quarters of a century. He was ordained a minister of the gospel in 1832, and for more than forty years valiantly carried the banner of the Cross, until increasing age and corpulency compelled him to abandon the active duties of the ministry, when, under a conscious conviction of having finished his appointed work, he retired to the shades of a more private life. Being seldom away from home he was very often called upon to perform the mar- riage ceremony, and was noted for his clemency towards runaway couples, whom he never declined to unite, unless prevented by a legal barrier. He was remarkable for his sociability and hospitality, and always gave his friends a dinner on Christmas Day, and on New Year's 1878, he celebrated his golden wedding.
Mrs. Salina Mansfield, his wife, was the oldest woman in the township at the time of her death. She was much beloved on account of her social and Christian virtues, and, like her husband, was a zealous Christian and member of the Baptist church.
SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP.
This is one of the original municipal townships, and was organized in 1829. Its general shape is that of an L, a strip six miles long and two miles wide forming the lower extension of the letter, while a strip four
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miles wide and six and a half miles long composes the upper extension. The township contains about thirty-six square miles. It has been much reduced from its original limits, other townships having been formed from it. The narrow strip of the township reaches to the eastern border of the county, while the greater body of land lies six miles west of that boun- dary.
The "divide" runs through its territory in a north direction, in the eastern central portion of the township. The eastern part, therefore, con- tributes its waters to the Mississippi river, while the streams of the western part are tributary to the Missouri.
Among the earliest settlers having made their homes in the county before it was originated were Reuben Cornelius, Benjamin Hardin, Mal- com Galbreath and T. N. Galbreath. The latter lived in Prairie township. In 1822, when he first settled there, and even at a much later period, elk, deer, bear, wild turkeys and grouse were abundant for game, while wolves, foxes, wild cats and panthers were numerous. Col. P. P. Ruby, T. P. White, John Hannah, Alexander Jones, John Grimes, Elijah Williams, Patrick Lynch, W. H. Baird and Eli Owens were among the early settlers.
Wild honey proved a profitable crop, and could be found with little labor. In 1823, or 1824, Mr. Whittenburg built a mill in the southeastern part of the county, and Mr. Goggin one within the present corporate limits of Huntsville. These were draught or horse mills, grinding corn alone. Previous to that meal was ground on hand mills or grated on graters pre- pared for the purpose. Little wheat flour was used, and what was con- sumed was brought from Old Franklin, more than forty miles distant.
The land is diversified with prairie and timber ; comparatively little of it is so broken as to be unfit for cultivation, and all of it is adapted to grazing.
In the early settlement of the county the native grasses held possession of the soil, and blue grass was unknown. When the lands were enclosed, and the trampling and grazing of stock had killed the native grass, blue grass began to make its appearance; showing that it is an indigenous growth in this soil, and neither cultivation nor grazing will destroy it.
The township settled up slowly, owing, in great part, to its remote- ness even from local markets and the want of adequate transportation to foreign marts. The farmers fed their grain and grass to live stock, and depended upon the "drovers" to purchase their cattle, horses and hogs. After the construction of the North Missouri Railroad, settlements became
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more common, and after the close of the Civil War they advanced rapidly.
The creeks in this township are numerous, but as the land lies along the dividing ridge of eastern and western waters, these streams are small.
The variety of agricultural products is not surpassed by any other country in the world. While there are other lands that may produce one, two or even three crops in larger proportion, there are non that will yield so generous a harvest of such a great variety of productions.
CHAPTER XVI
TOWNSHIPS, CONTINUED. MOBERLY.
CHARTER GRANTED TO RAILROAD-PLAN TO INDUCE SETTLERS TO COME HERE- PATRICK LYNCH FIRST SETTLER-REVIVED AFTER CIVIL WAR-RAILROAD ACTIVITY-TOWN PLATTED-SALE OF LOTS-HOTEL BUILT-OTHER BUILD- INGS-EARLY MERCHANTS-PANIC-FIRST TRUSTEES-NEGOTIATIONS WITH RAILROAD COMPANY TO LOCATE SHOPS HERE -LAND DONATED - BONDS VOTED-TOWN INCORPORATED-FIRST ELECTION-CITY OFFICERS-PUBLIC SCHOOLS - PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS-LIBRARY -CONTRACT WITH RAILROAD COMPANY-BOND-FROM MOBERLY'S FIRST NEWSPAPER.
In 1858 a charter was granted to the Chariton and Randolph Railroad Company, with authority to construct a road from a point in Randolph County to Brunswick, in Chariton County. It was desirable that this road should tap the North Missouri road at the most convenient point for its construction, and what is now Moberly was fixed upon as the point of departure. The company laid off a town and drove up stakes marking the lots. The village of Allen, one mile north of where Moberly now stands, contained several houses, and was the shipping point for Huntsville and other points west. To induce the abandonment of this village, the Chari- ton and Randolph Company offered to all who would remove their houses to the new site the same amount of ground they owned and occupied in Allen. This was in the summer of 1861. But the inhabitants of Allen either had no confidence in the company's ability to build the road, or thought their own town better located, and destined in the future to beat its rival, which then existed only in name and on maps. From whatever cause, the proposition was rejected by the majority, and was accepted by only one person, Patrick Lynch, father of John E. Lynch, president of
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the Bank of Moberly and the present United States marshal for the eastern district of Missouri, had a small, one-story frame house in Allen, and be- lieving the junction would one day be the better point, he placed his domicile on rollers, took a yoke of oxen, and drew it down to what were then and still are lots 11 and 12 in block 12, fronting on Clark street, opposite to the Merchants Hotel, and running east with Reed street to the alley between Clark and Sturgeon.
This was the beginning of Moberly. The land around was a prairie, without fence or enclosure of any kind, and here "Pat" Lynch lived with his family, solitary and alone. The Allenites laughed at him, but he stuck to his contract and stayed. The Civil War put a temporary embargo upon town building, and Mr. Lynch concluded to profit by his lonely position. He plowed up the stakes set to mark the lots, and cultivated the land on the west side of the railroad, where the business houses of Moberly now stand. Nothing was done toward the further sale of lots by the Chariton and Randolph Railroad Company, and Lynch continued to occupy the place and "hold the fort" during the continuance of the war, unmolested by soldiers.
When business began to revive after the war, the franchises and prop- erty of the Chariton and Randolph Railroad Company passed into the hands of the North Missouri Railroad Company, and the project of building the road and extending it to Kansas City was renewed. At the head of that company was Isaac M. Sturgeon, of St. Louis, a practical business man of eminent ability.
Having determined to complete the extension to Kansas City, it seemed to be certain that a large town would grow up somewhere about midway between the eastern and western termini of the road. The junction of the north end with the western branch seemed to offer a good opportunity to lay out and establish such a place. Moberly was, therefore, resurveyed, and a sale of lots was advertised to take place on the grounds September 27, 1866. In the first map of the place, issued by the auctioneers, Messrs. Barlow, Valle & Bush, of St. Louis, machine shop grounds were indicated. The terms of sale were one-third cash when the deed was ready, one- third in one year and one-third in two years, with interest at the rate of six per cent on deferred payments-$10 on each lot to be paid at the time of bidding. The sale was pretty largely attended and lots sold at fair prices. The lot on which the Merchants' Hotel now stands was sold for $150, and some other lots brought prices ranging from $85 to $125. The
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