USA > Missouri > Randolph County > History of Randolph County, Missouri > Part 9
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"The floor of my cabin consisted of loose planks, sawed by hand. The bedsteads were made of small logs, with poles put across and boards laid on them."
Such was the primitive method of living and yet there were compen- sations and pleasures which were experienced by these pioneers, that are wholly unknown to the people of today. The forests abounded with game and all the streams teemed with delicate varieties of fish.
The first mill that was erected in that section of the county, was built by Ezekiel Richardson, in 1824, on the Middle fork of the Chariton River. Richardson resided in Chariton County and sold the mill to Levi Fox.
The first religious services were held at Joseph Baker's house, but were afterwards held at Ezekiel Richardson's cabin, about the year 1828, where they were continued until 1834, when Mr. Johnson's cabin was used as a house of worship. After a period of four or five years. a small house, known as Johnson's school house, was erected, which served the purposes of a church and school. Here met these humble Christian worshipers until 1846, when a larger and more costly building was constructed and called Providence church. This edifice, although not a very stately and magnificent one, was something of an architectural wonder, as it con- tained 12 corners. The services above mentioned were conducted by the Methodists, who also erected Providence church. Among the early min- isters of the gospel was Rev. John Shores, a Methodist.
Clifton Hill is the only town in the township and was laid out in 1866, on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 35, township 54, range 16, and was named after David Clifton, who came from Owen County, Kentucky, about the year 1850, and was the owner of the town site.
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William Holman erected the first house that was built in the town. The first hotel was opened by Julius Rogers. Dr. J. J. Watts was the first physician to practice in the town. Dr. E. F. Wilson was the first resident physician. The first school was taught by Ansel Richardson, from Vir- ginia. William Wagner and James Maddox were the first shoemakers, and W. M. Roberts and Cyrus Clifton were the pioneer blacksmiths.
The present village officials are: Mayor, George F. Christy; clerk, Everett Thurston; treasurer, H. C. Eubank ; collector, P. D. Blake; street commissioner, E. E. Hurt; marshall, W. B. McDavitt. Councilmen : George F. Christy, Everett Thurston, H. C. Eubank, P. D. Blake, E. E. Hurt.
CHARITON TOWNSHIP.
Chariton township lies in the northwest corner of Randolph and borders on Macon and Chariton Counties. It was organized in 1832, and of territory originally belonging to Salt Spring township, and extended 12 miles into the present limits of Macon County. By the subsequent organization of that county Chariton township lost two-thirds of its terri- tory, and was reduced to its present dimensions of 54 square miles in a rectangular shape, being nine miles long from east to west, by a width of six miles from north to south.
The first settlement was made in about the year 1829, by a few families on each side of Dark's Prairie, near the present site of Darksville. These were followed in the spring and fall of 1830 by others, and from that time the country was rapidly filled up by immigrants from Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee. In about three years from the time of its first settlement it had acquired sufficient population to justify its organization into a separate township, with Joseph Turner its first magistrate and Henry Smith its first constable.
The soil of this township, while ranking along with the best in the county, is remarkable for the uniformity of its adaptability to agricultural and grazing purposes. There is very little waste land in the whole town- ship, and scarcely an acre can be found that is not valuable for growing grass or grain. The soil is principally a black loam of great fertility, and sufficiently undulating to avert disaster from the crops in extremely wet seasons, and yet sufficiently retentive of moisure to preserve them from total failure in extreme drouths. The township is about equally divided between timber and prairie land, the timber embracing wide mar- gins along the streams, and the prairie occupying the intervening space.
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This natural arrangement afforded the early settlers ample scope for select- ing their lands with a proper division of timber and prairie, and has re- sulted in the establishment of some of the best organized farms for mixed farming in the county. The township is well watered by four principal streams and their tributaries, all flowing from north to south, and so well distributed as to furnish abundant stock water convenient to all the farms the year round. Along the eastern margin of the township flows the East fork of the Chariton, and through the central portion, at an average distance of two miles, are Dark creek, Muncas creek, and the Middle fork of the Chariton, while the western portion is watered by a tributary of the Chariton River, the latter of which flows from north to south just outside of the western boundary. Surface springs are not abundant, but unfailing living water is of easy access in well distributed localities throughout the entire township, by sinking wells to a depth of 10 to 30 feet. Its inhabitants are engaged almost exclusively in agri- cultural pursuits, and the well-improved condition of their farms indicate their general prosperity.
Darksville was settled in 1856, and takes its name from a creek called Dark creek. William Elliott was hunting in the township in 1821, and night overtaking him on the banks of a creek, he camped all night, and said that it was the darkest night he ever saw; hence the name, Dark creek.
Early settlers of Chariton township before 1848 were: John Sum- mers, Aaron Summers, Johnson Wright, Allen Wright, Hezekiah Wright, Nathan Barrow, Daniel Barrow, Joshua Phipps, and James Phipps, from Kentucky; Robert Grimes, from Virginia; Robert Elliott, Robert Elliott, Jr., William Cristal, Thomas Rice, A. R. Rice, William H. Rice, George Shipp and Owen Singleton, from Kentucky; John W. W. Sears, from Vir- ginia; Philip Baxter, William Terry, Jonathan Cozac and E. H. Trimble, from Kentucky; John H. Hall, from Maine; William Rutherford and John McCully, from Kentucky; Mathias Turner, Joseph Turner and John M. Turner, from Tennessee; Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Mary Dawkins and Henry Griffith, from Kentucky; John M. Gates, Giles F. Cook and James Carter, from Virginia ; James Lingo, Samuel Lingo, G. W. Harland, Isaac Harland and James Harland, from Tennessee; Hancock Jackson and William Sump- ter, from Kentucky; Burchard McCormick, John Gaines and John Head, from Virginia; Thomas Robert and Chitwood, from Kentucky ; James Holeman, Thomas Gillstrap and Thomas White; William Brogan and
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Henry Brogan, from North Carolina ; Black; Nathaniel Tuley, from Virginia; James Hinton, from North Carolina; Green Shelton and N. Tuttle, from Tennessee; William A. Hall and John H. Hall, from Maine; Dr. R. L. Grizard, from Tennessee; Dr. Stephen Richmond, from North Caro- lina; John Harland, Josiah Harland, Lee Harland, Josiah Smith, Henry Smith, John Smith, James Smith, William Beard, Josiah Taylor, from Tennessee; William Redd, from Virginia; John Richmond, Samuel Rich- mond, James M. Richmond, John Dameron and James Dameron, from North Carolina ; Pipes and William Pipes, from Kentucky; John Hix, Elliott R. Thomas, Henry Thomas, Lowden Thomas, - Haines, from Virginia; Bruce Stewart, Frances Terrell, Ned Stinson, John Wilks, Tyra Baker, Andrew Baker, Douglas Baker, Alfred McDaniel, Thomas Kirkpatrick, Ephriam Snell, Jordan Elliott, Perry Elliott, William Elliott, Jr., H. M. Rice, Joshua Rice, Bennett Rice, Yancey Gray, Mike McCully, John McCulley, Jr., Robert Turner, Elijah Turner, John Turner, Carroll Holman, John Godard, Samuel Turner, Bartlett Anderson, John R. Ander- son, Crafford Powers, - Campbell, John Campbell, Thomas Camp- bell, William Edwards, James Lamb, Ashbury Summers, Thomas Egan, Benjamin Cozad, John Terrill, Caswell Smith, Grant Allan, Henry Johnson, George H. Hall, George W. Barnhart, and Silas Phipps.
One of the oldest settlers in the township was Judge Joseph Turner. He was born in North Carolina, in 1802, moved with his parents to Tennes- see in 1815, was married in 1822, and moved to Missouri and entered the land on which he now resides, near Eldad church, in 1830. He was ap- . pointed justice of the peace before the township was organized, and had jurisdiction to the Iowa line. He held the office of justice of the peace until 1850. In 1861 he was appointed county court justice, was president of that body, and held the position nearly six years. When he first set- tled he had for neighbors Joseph Holman, George Epperly, Richard Blue and Asa Kirby. These were, perhaps, the first settlers on the west side of Dark's prairie. Richard Blue and Asa Kirby were the only heads of families then residing west of the Middle fork. John Richmond moved to Randolph County from Tennessee in 1830, and lived in Silver Creek town- ship until the fall of 1832, when he entered 120 acres of land where ne lived and built his cabin upon it in pioneer style. He raised a family of six children, four boys and two girls. When he first came to the town- ship, the first settlers of that neighborhood, already mentioned, had been increased by the addition of Yancey Gray, Mark Crabtree, Samuel Rich-
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mond, Josiah Smith, Henry Smith, James Lingo, Samuel Lingo, Isaac Har- lan, John Withes, Andrew Baker, Tyree Baker, Jesse Miller Thomas Kirk- patrick and Greenbury Shelton. Some of these made their settlements about the same time with Mr. Richmond. Among those who settled in his neighborhood soon after him were Daniel Milam, John Gray, Jonathan Haynes, Thomas Brookes, John McCully and Madison Richmond. On the east side of Dark's prairie, south and east of the present site of Darks- ville, were living at that time (1832) Johnson Wright, John Waymire, Joseph Summers, Hodge England, and Pleasant and Nicholas Tuttle. With the last named lived their father, a very aged man and a revolutionary soldier.
Among the strongest minded and most influential men of his day in that township was John M. Yates. He immigrated from Kentucky to Randolph County about 1835 and after living a year or two in the southern part of the county, settled on Dark's prairie about the year 1835, and died on a farm adjoining the one he first settled in the year 1872. He was twice married and raised 15 children, 13 of his own and 2 step-daughters.
Mr. Yates was an uncle of the celebrated Richard Yates, once Gov- ernor of Illinois and U. S. Senator from that state, and was himself a man of much more than ordinary intelligence and soundness of judgment.
Judge William A. Hall was born and partly raised in the State of Maine. His father having been appointed to a position in the U. S. armory at Harper's Ferry, Va., he moved with his parents to that place, and when they moved to Chariton township, about the year 1839, he soon followed them, being then a young man nearly 25 years of age. About that time his father died, and he made his home with his widowed mother, although he kept his law office in Fayette, Mo., and for a short time edited a Demo- cratic paper in that place. He made regular visits to his mother's home in Chariton County whenever his professional duties would permit, and very often walked the entire distance of over thirty miles. He rapidly advanced to the front rank in his profession, and on the death of Judge Leland, which occurred about the year 1846, he was appointed by the Governor judge of this judicial circuit, a position to which he was con- tinuously re-elected until 1861, when he was elected to represent the dis- trict of which Randolph was a part, in the U. S. Congress. About the time he was first appointed judge, he was married to Miss Octavia Sebree, a niece and adopted daughter of Uriel Sebree, a prominent citizen of How- ard County. Soon after his marriage he settled on his farm in Chariton
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township, where he remained until he removed to Huntsville in 1861, and the following year to a farm near Huntsville.
In the winter of 1860-61, Judge Hall was chosen, with Gen. Sterling Price, to represent this senatorial district, then composed of Randolph and Chariton Counties, in the State convention called by the Legislature to con- sider the relations between the State of Missouri and the general govern- ment, in view of the then impending crisis which threatened a disruption of the Union by the secession of the Southern states. In that convention he sided with the majority in favor of the state continuing her allegiance and loyalty to the Union, and during the war that followed remained a consistent Union man. By his conservative position and able management he did more to protect the Southern people of this county and State from military despotism and the lawless acts of an unrestrained soldiery, than any other man. He was twice elected to Congress during the war, and at its close he resumed the practice of his profession at Huntsville, in which he continued until about 1874, when he improved another farm in the northwest corner of Chariton township, where he resided in complete retirement from public life, in the bosom of his family and surrounded by his flocks and herds.
CHAPTER XV
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TOWNSHIPS, CONTINUED.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP-JACKSONVILLE MONITEAU TOWNSHIP-HIGBEE-PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP-RENICK-SALT RIVER TOWNSHIP-UNION TOWNSHIP-MILTON- SILVER CREEK TOWNSHIP-MT. AIRY-SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP.
Jackson township is the middle township on the northern border of the county. It is somewhat irregular in shape, and is less in size than a congressional township, having an area of 17,400 acres, or 271/2 square miles. It is watered on the west by the East fork of the Chariton and Walnut creek, and on the east by Hoover and Mud creeks. Almost every acre of the soil is susceptible of cultivation. Prairie and timber land are about equal. Its valuable minerals consist of coal, limestone and fire ciay. The farms generally are in good condition. The prairie is undulating, and in its wild state, produce a strong, healthy and vigorous growth of native grasses. In a state of cultivation it yields generously to the care and culture of the husbandman, all the grains, grasses, roots and fruits usually cultivated in this latitude.
The early settlers in Jackson township settled generally along the course of the streams, and in the timber; in fact the pioneers throughout this Western country all sought the timber and water. The prairies were not settled until many years had passed. Many of the pioneers were poor, and did not have teams sufficient to break the prairie, as it required from three to four good yoke of oxen to draw the plow, and coming as they did from Kentucky and other States, which were originally covered with dense forests, they naturally located conveniently near to or in the timber. The
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old settlers now say, the prairie land has undergone a great change since they first came to the county; it then appeared to be of a cold, wet, and clammy nature, and did not possess the same productive quality that it now has. As the country became opened and settled, and the prairie were grazed and trodden by stock, their productive qualities were greatly im- proved until they are now considered the better farming lands.
Jackson township is not so well watered naturally as some other town- ships. The streams generally vein the western and southeastern portion of it. Walnut creek, the East fork of the Chariton River, Hoover and Mud creeks, and their tributaries, all take their rise in this township, and all flow southwest and southeast excepting Hoover creek, which flows northeast.
The early settlers included some of the following names: Henry Owens, from Kentucky; Isaac Reynolds, from Kentucky; John Coulter, from Kentucky; Robert Stevens, from Kentucky; William McCanne, from Kentucky; H. J. McCanne, from Kentucky; Thomas McCanne, from Ken- tucky; Nathaniel Sims, from Kentucky; Benj. Polson, from Kentucky ; James W. Lamb, from Kentucky ; Milton Durham, from Kentucky ; Stokely W. Towles, from Kentucky; Leonard Hill, from Virginia; John Hore, from Virginia; George W. Hore, from Virginia; David McCanne, from North Carolina; L. C. Davis, from North Carolina; Jonathan Hunt, from Vir- ginia ; John Ancell, from Virginia; Frank Ancell, from Virginia; C. F. Burckhartt, from Virginia; Frank Sims, from Tennessee; William Bailey, from Tennessee; John H. Penny, from Virginia.
Among the oldest settlers were Henry Owens and James W. Lamb. Mr. Lamb came in November, 1837, from Casey County, Kentucky, and followed farming and later kept a hotel in the town of Jacksonville. In 1837 there were no settlements on the prairie. A road ran north and south through the township, called the "Bee Trace," so called from the fact that it was the route traveled by the old pioneers who hunted wild honey, which was worth at that time twenty cents a gallon.
Mr. Lamb occupied his time after his arrival in the township, cut- ting timber and splitting rails at thirty-seven and a half cents a hundred, and sawing planks with a rip saw at $1.50 per hundred feet. Tobacco was raised at an early date, and taken to Glasgow, where it was sold to the merchants and shipped to St. Louis and elsewhere, for $1.50 per hundred pounds. Bacon was worth $2.25 per hundred.
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After remaining here a few years Mr. Lamb went back to Kentucky and while there, married. After his marriage he determined to return to Randolph County, and in 1842 he started upon his journey of nearly 600 miles, with ouly $10 in money, his wife, a horse and buggy, and nearly traveling 26 days, he arrived at his new home, having spent all his money, excepting seventy-five cents. Deer were so numerous from 1835 to 1840 that oftentimes 30 and 40 could be seen at one time.
Humphrey and Brock erected the first saw mill in the township, which was soon destroyed by fire, and immediately rebuilt, when it was sold to George W. Jones, who combined it with a grist mill. Jones sold to Benja- min Sims. The mill was located about half a mile north of Jacksonville, at a spring, which furnished water during the dry seasons for many of the citizens of the town.
The first church that was built in the township was also located at this spring by the Christian denomination in 1852, and was a union church.
The town of Jacksonville is located on the Wabash Railway, 19 miles northwest of Huntsville, and 12 miles north of Moberly.
The town site was owned by William McCanne, Jr., John W. McCanne, Sr., and Henry Owen, who donated 50 acres to the railroad company, pro- vided they would locate a depot upon it. This was about the year 1858. The town was named after Hancock Jackson, who was an early settler in the county, and who filled besides several county offices, the position of Lieut .- Governor of Missouri. The first business house was erected by J. J. Humphrey and was occupied by him as a general store.
Samuel Ridgeway opened the first hotel, and continued to occupy it until his death, which occurred in 1880. Dr. Burckhartt was the first physician. Thomas Demster was the pioneer shoemaker. The first church was erected in 1867 by the Christians. Thomas Griffey and Robert Skinner were the first blacksmiths.
Masonic Lodge, No. 44 was organized in Jacksonville in June, 1866, with the following charter members: James A. Berry, James A. Holt, James M. Hannah, J. H. Pety, David Halliburton.
MONITEAU TOWNSHIP.
Moniteau is the middle township on the southern border of Randolph county. It contains a fraction over 37 square miles, and was cut off from the townships of Prairie and Silver Creek after the construction of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, from Hannibal to Sedalia. Soon
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after this event a depot was established in the present territory of Moni- teau, on lands then belonging to Edward Owens, called Higbee, and soon a village was laid out on lands belonging to Edward Owens and Joseph Burton. A post-office was also established, and the growth of the future town was begun. This growth was afterward accelerated by the location of the Chicago and Alton Railroad through its borders, crossing the Mis- souri, Kansas and Texas road near the center of the town. These arrange- ments having been completed, a petition was numerously signed by citizens of the vicinity, asking the county court to organize another township, to be called Moniteau, as it would be located on the head waters of Moniteau creek.
The Moniteau, Silver and Bonne Femme creeks take their rise in the borders of this township. Along the borders of these streams the country is broken and hilly, covered with black and white oak timber. Where the bottoms and valleys are broad enough for cultivation, the land is found to be very rich and productive. Even the land that cannot be cultivated is covered with a heavy growth of valuable timber composed of sugar maple, walnut and cottonwood. As the dividing ridges of these streams are approached, a sightly and fruitful country is presented, now occupied by substantial farmers, and highly improved. For grazing purposes it seems in many respects, better than regions adjoining, which have a richer and deeper soil. Clover and timothy produce well with cultivation; but blue grass, the first to come in the spring, the most nutritious while it lasts, and the last to be affected by the frosts, is the spontaneous production of this region.
Bituminous coal underlies the surface and crops out at intervals along almost all the streams. The proximity of the railroads to these deposits of "black diamonds," makes either enterprise a safe and profitable invest- ment and coal mining is carried on extensively at Higbee.
Moniteau was first settled by Virginians, Kentuckians, Tennesseeans and North Carolinians, among whose virtues were temperance, industry, probity and hospitality. Of these were James Dysart, John Dysart, Dr. William Walker, Rev. Jesse Terrill, Montgomery Whitmore, J. Higbee, George Yates, Nicholas Dysart, Christopher Dysart, M. M. Burton, Maj. J. B. Tymony, Joseph Burton, Edward Owens and George Quinn. Edward Owens was the oldest man in the township at the time of his death. Among other settlers were John Turner, William B. Tompkins, Lynch Turner, Joseph Wilcox, Jacob Maggard, Charles McLean and Thomas Dawkins.
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John Turner erected the first mill that was put up in the township. It was an old-fashioned horse-mill; was located in the northern portion of the township, and was running as early as 1828.
Thomas Dawkins taught the first school about the year 1830; the school house, a small cabin, stood near a small stream-one of the forks of Silver creek. Dawkins was from Kentucky, and was much thought of as a teacher.
The name of James Higbee, a worthy citizen of Moniteau, now de- ceased, gave the title to the station which has grown into a lively, pro- gressive and thriving town. Higbee is situated about three miles north of Howard County line, at the crossing of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas and the Chicago and Alton Railroads. It possesses good facilities for shipping second to no place in North Missouri. It stands on an open ridge two miles wide, between the Moniteau and Bonne Femme creeks.
The present city officials of Higbee are: Mayor. Lee Thomason; clerk, Richard L. Hines; collector, Joseph W. Burton; assessor, Walter Davis; street commissioner, Oscar Fowler; health commissioner, George M. Nichols; marshal, W. Isaac Williams; fire chief, John Egly ; aidermen, Roy Compton, Jenkin Williams, Clarence Leland, John Little.
PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP.
Prairie township lies in the southeastern corner of Randolph County. It is the largest township in the county, and has an area of about 88 square miles. The amount of prairie and timber land is about the same. As the township is bounded on two sides by Monroe, Audrain, Boone and Howard counties, Prairie is in the front rank of townships, and is settled by a progressive and prosperous people. The soil is a black loam with substratum of clay. The land has an undulating surface, drains itself readily in seasons of protracted rainfall, and retains sufficient moisture for the sustenation of vegetation in periods of protracted drouth.
It is watered by the tributaries of Salt River on the north and east sides of the "divide" and by Perche and the tributaries of Moniteau River on the southwest. These streams take their rise within its territory, but before they leave it, form large, deep creeks that contain water during the entire year, however dry the season. The smaller streams being numer- ous, supply stock water for every part of the district. Coal is abundant throughout the district and several mines are worked.
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