USA > Missouri > Randolph County > History of Randolph County, Missouri > Part 8
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CHAPTER XIII
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
FOUR ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS-LATER TOWNSHIPS-ORIGIN OF COUNTY SYSTEM- BEGINNING OF TOWNSHIP SYSTEM-EARLY METHODS OF TAKING UP GOV- ERNMENT LAND-PRESENT SYSTEM OF LAND SURVEYS-CONGRESSIONAL TOWNSHIP-MARKINGS.
Randolph County was originally divided into four townships: Silver Creek, Prairie, Salt River and Sugar Creek. The townships of Chariton, Clifton, Salt Spring, Jackson, Cairo, Union and Moniteau have since been added, making eleven municipal townships. Prairie is the largest, and occupies the southeastern portion of the county. Jackson and Union are the smallest.
We deem it proper here to give some explanations of the county and township systems and government surveys, as much depends in business and civil transactions upon county limits and county organizations.
"The county system originated with Virginia, whose early settlers soon became large landed proprietors, aristocratic in feeling, living apart in almost baronial magnificence, on their own estates, and owning the laboring part of the population. Thus the materials for a town were not at hand, the voters beng thinly distributed over a great area.
"The county organization, where a few influential men managed the wholesale business of a community, retaining their places almost at their pleasure, scarcely responsible at all, except in name, and permitted to con- duct the county concerns as their ideas or wishes might direct, was more- over consonant with their recollections or traditions of the judicial and social dignities of the landed aristocracy of England, in descent from whom the Virginia gentlemen felt so much pride. In 1834 eight counties were
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
organized in Virginia, and the system extending throughout the State, spread into all the Southern States and some of the Northern States; unless we except the nearly similar division into 'districts' in South Caro- lina, and that into 'parishes' in Louisiana, from the French laws.
"Illinois, which, with its vast additional territory, became a county of Virginia, on its conquest by Gen. George Rogers Clark, retained the county organization, which was formerly extended over the State by the constitu- tion of 1818. and continued in exclusive use until the constitution of 1848. Under this system, as in other States adopting it, much local business was transacted by the commissioners in each county, who constituted a county court, with quarterly sessions.
"During the period ending with the constitution of 1847, a large por- tion of the State had become filled up with a population of New England birth or character, daily growing more and more compact and dissatisfied with the comparatively arbitrary and inefficient county system. It was maintained by the people that the heavily populated districts would always control the election of the commissioners to the disadvantage of the more thinly populated sections-in short, that under that system 'equal and exact justice' to all parts of the county could not be secured.
"The township system had its origin in Massachusetts, and dates back to 1635.
"The first legal enactment concerning the system provided that, whereas, 'particular townships have many things which concern only them- selves and the ordering of their own affairs, and disposing of business in their own town,' therefore the 'freemen of every township, or a majority part of them, shall only have power to dispose of their own lands and woods, with all the appurtenances of said town, to grant lots, and to make such orders as may concern the well ordering of their own towns, not repugnant to the laws and orders established by the general court.'
"They might also," says Mr. Haines, "impose fines of not more than twenty shillings, and 'choose their own particular officers, as constables, surveyors for the highway, and the like.'
"Evidently this enactment relieved the general court of a mass of municipal details without any danger to the power of that body in con- trolling general measures of public policy.
"Probably, also, a demand from the freemen of the towns was felt for the control of their own home concerns.
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
"The New England colonies were first governed by a general court or Legislature, composed of a Governor and a small council, which court consisted of the most influential inhabitants, and possessed and exercised both legislative and judicial powers, which were limited only by the wis- dom of the holders.
"They made laws, ordered their execution by officers, tried and de- cided civil and criminal causes, enacted all manner of municipal regulations, and, in fact, did all the public business of the colony."
Similar provisions for the incorporation of towns were made in the first constitution in Connecticut, adopted in 1639, and the plan of town- ship organization, as experience proved its remarkable economy, efficiency and adaptation to the requirements of a free and intelligent people, became universal throughout New England, and went westward with the immi- grants from New England, into New York, Ohio, and other Western States.
Thus we find that the valuable system of county, township and town organizations had been thoroughly tried and proven long before there was need of adopting it in Missouri, or any of the broad region west of the Mississippi River. But as the new country began to be opened, and as Eastern people began to move westward across the mighty river, and formed thick settlements along its western bank, the Territory and State, and county and township organizations soon followed in quick succession, and those different systems became more or less improved, according as deemed necessary by the experience and judgment and demands of the people, until they have arrived at the present stage of advancement and efficiency. In the settlement of the Terirtory of Missouri, the legislature began by organizing counties on the Mississippi River. As each new county was formed, it was made to include under legal jurisdiction all the country bordering west of it, and required to grant to the actual settlers electoral privileges and an equal share of the county government with those who properly lived in the geographical limits of the county.
The counties first organized along the eastern borders of the State were given for a short time jurisdiction over the lands and settlements adjoining each on the west, until these localities became sufficiently set- tled to support organizations of their own.
"Previous to the formation of our present government, the eastern portion of North America consisted of a number of British colonies, the territory of which was granted in large tracts to British noblemen. By treaty of 1783, these grants were acknowledged as valid by the colonies.
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
After the Revolutionary War, when these colonies were acknowledged independent States, all public domain within their boundaries was acknowl- edged to be the property of the colony within the bounds of which said domain was situated.
"Virginia claimed all the northwestern territory, including what is now known as Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. After a meeting of the representatives of the various States to form a Union, Virginia ceded the northwest territory to the United States govern- ment. This took place in 1784; then all this northwest territory became government land. It comprised all south of the lakes and east of the Mississippi river and north and west of the States having definite boundary lines. This territory had been known as New France, and had been ceded by France to England in 1768. In the year 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte sold to the United States all territory west of the Mississippi River and north of Mexico, extending to the Rocky mountains.
"While the public domain was the property of the colonies, it was disposed of as follows: Each individual caused the tract he desired to purchase to be surveyed and platted. A copy of the survey was then filed with the registrar of lands, when, by paying into the State or Colonial treasury an agreed price, the purchaser received a patent for the land. This method of disposing of public lands made law suits numerous, owing to different surveys often including the same ground. To avoid the diffi- culties and effect a general measurement of the territories, the United States adopted the present mode or system of land surveys, a description of which we give as follows:
"In an unsurveyed region, a point of marked and changeless topo- graphical features is selected as an initial point. The exact latitude and longitude of this point is ascertained by astronomical observation, and a suitable monument of iron or stone, to perpetuate the position, is thus reared. Through this point a true north and south line is run, which is called a principal meridian. This principal meridian may be extended north and south any desired distance. Along this line are placed, at dis- tances of one-half mile from each other, posts of wood or stone or mounds of earth. These posts are said to establish the line, and are called section and quarter-section posts. Principal meridians are numbered in the order in which they are established. Through the same initial point from which the principal meridian was surveyed, another line is now run and estab- lished by mile and half-mile posts, as before, in a true east and west
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
direction. This line is called the base line, and like the principal meridian, may be extended indefinitely in either direction. These lines form the basis of the survey of the country into townships and ranges. Township lines extend east and west, parallel with the base line, at distances of six miles from the base line and from each other, dividing the country into strips six miles wide, which strips are called townships. Range lines run north and south, parallel to the principal meridian, dividing the country into strips six miles wide, which strips are called ranges. Township strips are numbered from the base line, and range strips are numbered from the principal meridian. Townships lying north of the base line are 'townships north'; those on the south are 'townships south.' The strip lying next the base line is township one, the next one to that, two, and so on. The range strips are numbered in the same manner, counting from the principal meridian east or west, as the case may be.
"The township and range lines thus divide the country into six-mile squares. Each of these squares is called a congressional township. All north and south lines north of the equator approach each other as they extend north, finally meeting at the north pole; therefore north and south lines are not literally parallel. The east and west boundary lines of any range being six miles apart in the latitude of Missouri and Kansas, would, in thirty miles, approach each other at 2.9 chains, or 190 feet. If, there- fore, the width of the range when started from the base line is made exactly six miles, it would be 2.9 chains too narrow at the distance of thirty miles, or five townships north. To correct the width of ranges and keep them to the proper width, the range lines are not surveyed in a con- tinuous straight line, like the principal meridian, entirely across the State, but only across a limited number of townships, usually five, where the width of the range is corrected by beginning a new line on the side of the range most distant from the principal meridian, at such a point as will make the range its correct width. All range lines are corrected in the same manner. The east and west township lines on which these correc- tions are made are called correction lines, or standard parallels. The sur- veys of the State of Missouri were made from the fifth principal meridian, which runs throughout the State, and its ranges are numbered from it. The State of Kansas is surveyed and numbered from the sixth. Con- gressional townships are divided into thirty-six square miles, called sec- tions, and are known by numbers according to their position.
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
"Sections are divided into quarters, eighths and sixteenths, and are described by their position in the section. The full secton contains 640 acres, the quarter 160, the eighth 80, and the sixteenth 40.
"Congressional townships, as we have seen, are six-mile squares of land, made by the township and range lines, while civil or municipal town- ships are civil divisions, made for purposes of government, the one hav- ing no reference to the other, though similar in name. On the county map we see both kinds of townships-the congressional usually designated by numbers and in squares; the municipal or civil township by name and in various forms.
"By the measurement thus made by the government the courses and distances are defined between any two points. St. Louis is in township 44 north, range 8 east, and Independence is in township 49 north, range 32 west; how far, then, are Kansas City and St. Louis apart on a direct line ? St. Louis is 40 townships east-240 miles-and 5 townships south-30 miles ; the base and perpendicular of a right-angled triangle, the hypoth- enuse being the required distance."
The "township," as the term is used in common phraseology, in many instances is widely distinguished from that of "town," though many per- sons persist in confounding the two. "In the United States many of the States are divided into townships of five, six, seven, or perhaps ten miles square, and the inhabitants of such townships are vested with certain powers for regulating their own affairs, such as repairing roads and pro- viding for the poor. The township is subordinate to the county." A "town" is simply a collection of houses, either large or small, and opposed to "country."
The most important features connected with this system of town- ship surveys should be thoroughly understood by every intelligent farmer and business man; still there are some points connected with the under- standing of it, which need close and careful attention. The law which established this system required that the north and south lines should correspond exactly with the meridian passing through that point; also, that each township should be six miles square. To do this would be an utter impossibility, since the figure of the earth causes the meridians to converge toward the pole, making the north line to each township shorter than the south line of the same township. To obviate the errors which are, on this account, constantly occurring, correction lines are established. They are parallels bounding a line of townships on the north, when lying
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
north of the principal base from which the surveys, as they are continued, are laid out anew ; the range lines again starting at correct distances from the principal meridian. In Michigan these correction lines are repeated at the end of every tenth township, but in Oregon they have been repeated with every fifth township. The instructions to the surveyors have been that each range of townships should be made as much over six miles in width where it closes on to the next correction line north ; and it is further provided that in all cases where the exterior lines of the townships shall exceed, or shall not extend, six miles, the excess of deficiency shall be specially noted, or added to or deducted from the western or northern sections or half sections in such township, according as the error may be in running the lines from east to west, or from south to north. In order to throw the excess of deficiencies on the north and on the west sides of the township, it is necessary to survey the section lines from south to north, on a true meridian, leaving the result in the north line of the town- ship to be governed by the convexity of the earth and the convergency of the meridians.
Navigable rivers, lakes and islands are "meandered" or surveyed by the compass and chain along the banks. "The instruments employed on these surveys, besides the solar compass, are a surveying chain 33 feet long, of 50 links, and another of smaller wire, as a standard to be used for correcting the former as often at least as every other day, also 11 tally pins, made of steel, telescope, targets, tape-measure and tools for marking the lines upon trees or stones. In surveying through woods, trees intercepted by the line are marked with two chips or notches, one on each side; these are called sight or line trees. Sometimes other trees in the vicinity are blazed on two sides quartering toward the line; but if some distance from the line, the two blazes should be near together on the side facing the line. These are found to be permanent marks, not wholly recog- nizable for many years, but carrying with them their old age by the rings of growth around the blaze, which may at any subsequent time be cut out and counted as years ; and the same are recognized in courts of law as evi- dence of the date of survey. They cannot be obliterated by cutting down the trees or otherwise without leaving evidence of the act. Corners are marked upon trees if found at the right spot, or else upon posts set in the ground, and sometimes at monument of stones is used for a township corner, and a single stone for a section corner; mounds of earth are made when there are no stones nor timber. The corners of the four adjacent
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
sections are designated by distinct marks cut into a tree, one in each sec- tion. These trees, facing the corner, are plainly marked with the letters B. T. (bearing tree) cut into the wood. Notches cut upon the corner posts or trees indicate the number of miles to the outlines of the township, or, if on the boundaries of the township, to the township corners.
CHAPTER XIV
TOWNSHIPS.
CAIRO TOWNSHIP-CAIRO VILLAGE-CLIFTON TOWNSHIP-CLIFTON HILL-CHAR- ITON TOWNSHIP-DARKSVILLE.
CAIRO TOWNSHIP.
Cairo township lies in the second tier of townships from the northern boundary of Randolph, and in the central northeast part of the county. It contains an area of 21,920 acres, or a fraction over 34 square miles. The grand divide runs in a northwesterly direction through it, separating it into two nearly equal parts. Its territory was formerly a part of Sugar Creek township.
The soil is a rich black loam, overlaying a substratum of stiff clay that, when exposed to the influences of rain and sunshine, snow and frost, not only becomes friable and arable, but imparts a peculiar productive energy to the soil and is admirably adapted to the cultivation of certain crops. Hence, the meadows and grass fields that have been deeply stirred are among the best in the state, and the township is noted for the rich and nutritive quality of its grasses. The cereals, also, are cultivated with success. About two-thirds of the territory is a high rolling prairie.
The Wabash Railroad follows the divide and runs through the town- ship; even the farmers who reside in the most remote parts of it are not more than six miles from a depot.
The East fork of Chariton River and Walnut Creek on the west side, and Mud Creek, Elk fork and Flat Creek on the east, afford plenty and never failing water for all the operations of the farm.
Live stock is raised extensively and the amount shipped to markets of
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
cattle, sheep. hogs, horses and mules, is very large, returning a handsome income to the farmers.
The average yield of farm products per acre is as follows: Corn, 30 bushels average, extra, 60 bushels; oats, 35 bushels average, extra, 50 bushels; hay, one and a half tons.
Among the early settlers in Cairo township were Leonard Dodson, from Kentucky; Andrew Goodding, from Kentucky; Samuel Martin, from Kentucky; Col. Robert Boucher, from Kentucky; Isaac Baker, from Ken- tucky; Benj. Huntsman, from Kentucky; Daniel Mckinney, from Ken- tucky; James Cochran, from Kentucky; William King, from Kentucky; James T. Boney, from North Carolina; Benjamin Dameron, from North Carolina; W. S. Dameron, from North Carolina; Judge Joseph Goodding, from Kentucky.
Judge Joseph Goodding is said to have been the first settler in the township. He emigrated to Howard County, Mo., from Kentucky, in 1818, and in 1823 located in Cairo township. He was a prominent citizen, and filled the office of county judge three or four terms.
WV. S. Dameron came to the township in 1841, from Huntsville, Mo., and has lived in Randolph County 52 years. He was born in Nirth Carolina, October 29, 1824.
Cairo was located in 1860, on the North division of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway, eight miles from Huntsville, and seven miles north of Moberly, and 152 miles northwest of St. Louis. The town site originally comprised 40 acres, owned by W. S. Dameron, who donated five acres for depot purposes. The remaining 35 acres were laid out in lots. The new town was at first called Fairview, but there being another town of the same name, it was changed to Cairo, at the suggestion of Thomas Dameron.
P. G. McDaniel, from Kentucky, erected the first store building in the town; Thomas Dameron, the first dwelling house, located east of the rail- road. J. C. Tedford was the pioneer physician. Abner Landram was the first blacksmith, and Thomas Carter was the first shoemaker. B. R. Boucher taught the first school. The Methodists (M. E. Church South) erected the first church edifice. Thomas Dameron was the first postmaster, and wrote the first mail matter that was sent from the town.
CLIFTON TOWNSHIP.
Clifton is the middle township on the western border of Randolph county. It is five miles in width from east to west, its greatest length
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
from north to south being seven and a half miles, giving an area of about 321 square miles. It is watered by the Middle and East forks of the Chariton, Muncus and Dark creeks, the slopes are gentle and the land lies in beautiful waves. Towards the southern and western parts of the town- ship the hills become more abrupt, and in the vicinity of East fork, on the south, and the Middle fork, on the west, it is broken and somewhat ragged: This is one of the best farming sections of the county. The soil is deep and rich, affording such a variety, that, with care in selection of position, almost any crop may be developed in perfection. About one- third of the township is prairie, the balance timber land.
The Wabash Railroad passes through the southern part of the town- ship, and no point in it is distant more than seven miles from that road. This gives a convenient outlet to all the products of the farm and easy shipping of live stock and other farm products.
All the field crops yield heavy harvests. Corn will yield 8 to 12 bar- rels or 40 to 60 bushels to the acre; wheat, 15 to 25 bushels; oats, 40 to 50 bushels; hay, 1 to 2 tons. Besides this, blue grass spontaneously, and clover when cultivated give rich crops.
Kentucky is more largely represented in the early settlement of this township than any other state. Her sons and her daughters have ever been in the front ranks of civilization, and wherever they located, lived and died, there may be found even to this day, among the present genera- tion, many of the traits of character which they possed. Early settlers in Clifton township are as follows:
Joseph Baker, from Kentucky; Charles Baker, from Kentucky; Noah C. Baker, from Kentucky; David Harris, from Kentucky; David Proffit, from Kentucky; Sadie Baker, from Kentucky ; Wm. Titus, from Kentucky ; Russell Shoemaker, from Kentucky; Levi Fox, from Tennessee; Samuel G. Johnson, from Tennessee ; Joseph Harris, from Kentucky; Noah C. Harris, from Kentucky; James Holman, from Kentucky; Hiram Stamper, from Kentucky; John C. Turner, from Kentucky; Augustine Bradsher, from Kentucky ; Capt. N. G. Matlock, from Kentucky ; J. M. Summers, from Ken- tucky ; T. J. Summers, from Kentucky; Judge D. J. Stamper, from Ken- tucky ;. James Ferguson, from Kentucky; A. G. Rucker, from Kentucky ; David Bozarth, from Kentucky; F. H. Hackley, from Kentucky; David Milan, from Kentucky; W. H. Ball, from Kentucky; W. B. Crutchfield, from Kentucky; J. M. Creighton, from Kentucky; W. B. McCreary, from Kentucky; J. M. Patton, from Kentucky; E. Greer, from Kentucky ; Thomas Williams, from Kentucky; J. H. Wayland, from Kentucky.
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
Samuel G. Johnson, born in 1807, who was one of the first settlers in the township. once speaking of early events, said: "I came to the town- ship October 16, 1833, from Wilson County, Tennessee. We all lived in log cabins. My cabin had a board roof, which was weighted down with poles. When there was a snow storm the snow would drift through the roof, and after the storm was over, the snow would be almost as deep on the inside of the cabin as on the outside, the beds being covered like the floor. I have awaked many a morning with my head and neck covered with snow, and after making a fire had to clear away the snow from around the fire, so my wife and children could get up to it and warm.
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