History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 201

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 201

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The managers have about three hundred head of sheep to graze the lands. A prosperous village has sprung up, with a population of about one hundred in- habitants. Never-failing springs abound ; building and dimension rock is worked ; sand-rock is shipped to St. Louis to use in bottoms of steel-melting pots; the schist or flints are used to mix with firc-clays at the retort-works ; paint-clays of several colors are dug, and gravel of several kinds forms mosaic walks for the landscape gardener, and the common gravel, every- where abounding, forms almost indestructible roads.

John Oliver, resident manager and originator of the lower lime-works, to whose restless energy much of the

success of the industrial enterprises of the valley can be traced, was born in Northampton County, Pa., in 1833. He came to Missouri in 1856, and began his lime exper- iments in 1868, while managing the farm of his father- in-law, Joseph Bagot, of the St. Louis Glass-Works, and to whose knowledge of metallurgic chemistry and financial liberality much of the success of the indus- tries of the valley is traceable. Mr. Bagot died May 28, 1867, in the prime of active life, with a high record and within easy grasp of affluence.

Mr. Oliver has never mingled with active political life or held office, has been a promoter of industry, the active patron of agricultural and horticultural progress, a practical farmer, and a thorough family man.

Andrew Crawford opened a quarry on quite an ex- tensive scale near Eureka. He had a sidc-track and all the needed appliances, and worked for several years getting out building rock. The cost of transportation and competition of rock nearer the city compelled him to relinquish the enterprise.

A fine quality of building rock is found north of Allenton, which was used with fine effect in the con- struction of the county farm buildings.

T. M. Hunt worked a fine sand-face on the county line near Pacific. It produces a fine quality of pure glass-sand that is shipped to St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and other points for making glass. The railroads cut through a hill of this sand-rock of remarkable char- acter in this vicinity.

Mineralogical specimens of great interest and value are frequently found. Ores of zinc and lead, contain- ing silver, iron, barytes, are found in some localities in quantity. Large slabs of shells, forming beautiful tablets, are found abounding on the highest hills, and rare specimens arc obtained in the quarries. In the débris of the ravines fine specimens of pebble, car- nelian, onyx, and other gems are found.

Agricultural pursuits occupy the large proportion of the people, and many large, productive farms exist. Wheat, corn, and potatoes of very high quality are produced, with rye, hay, millet, etc. Hemp and to- bacco, formerly staples, are now given up.

Horticulture has received great attention, and is found both a pleasant and profitable investment. Apples and peaches are the staples. The apricot has done well where tried, and has in some places been found quite profitable. The pear, cherry, and plum arc moderately successful, and the small fruits can always be depended on. Wild native fruits are abun- dant. The service-berry, persimmon, mulberry, and papaw are of high character, and persistent efforts are being put forth to domesticate them, and with the

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COUNTY OF SAINT LOUIS.

most flattering suceess. Some new fruits of especial excellence have originated here. A fine yellow October peach, the "Pond," originated in the Essen orehard at the Pond Store, and is widely disseminated. " Aunt Susan's Favorite" is a fine large showy striped apple, ripening in the end of August. It came from seed planted in 1837 by Mrs. Susannah Tippett at " Cedar Groves," on the State road. It has gained a wide eelebrity.

On the farm of William H. Coleman is one of the very largest of apples (yellow, overspread with russet, ripens in October), of very rich, high flavor. It came from seed sown by a colored man in 1856. The seed come from Speneer Tyler, in St. Charles County.

The seedless persimmon obtained by William Muir, on the edge of the county, is a wildling of very high character, and will be apprceiated as a new departure in native fruits.

Two nurseries are established in the township. Erich Essen, near Orrville, makes peaches and grapes a specialty, and William Muir, on the Allenton-Glen- coe and State roads, makes " native plants" a specialty, along with a general nursery and ornamental stoek.

A few native animals still exist here. The red fox, wild-eat, mink, skunk, opossum, and raccoon are eom- mon. The musk-rat still frequents the creeks and ponds. Oeeasionally a colony of beavers appears on the Missouri River. Last season a number have set- tled in a belt of cottonwood on the land of William H. Coleman and cut down quite large trees. There have been three trapped, and the skins sold at a high figure. The gray and fox squirrels, chipmunk, and rabbit abound. Deer are often secn, sometimes killed. Several have been killed this winter.

The turkey, quail, and pheasant still haunt the woods and fields, but are too recklessly killed, even in violation of stringent laws and protective soeieties.

Fine fishing is had on the Meramee, which is still, as of old, mueh frequented by parties for pleasure. Besides the common native varieties, several fine kinds have been introduced by the State Fish Com- missioners, and all are wisely protected by law. The cold spring streams of the Meramee are well adapted to the varieties of trout. The fresh-water mussel is common, and fine pearls arc sometimes obtained from them. The honey-bee is still found in the woods, but is not a great sueeess in domestication. Honey-dews are very eopious some seasons.

The edible morell (Phallus esculentus), erroneously but commonly ealled here the "mushroom," abounds in April, in the open woods near old post-oak or hiekory-trees, and in old apple-orchards. The culti- vated mushroom (Agaricus campestris) has followed

in the wake of pastoral oeeupations, and is abundant in old meadow lands in August in favorable seasons.

Red and white elover did not exist in the county at its early settlement, and it was felt to be a great want by stoekmen. At an early date Absalom Link, of Fee-Fee, made a visit to Kentucky, and with other artieles brought elover-seed, which he sowed and tended till it beeame a large erop in common use.

The towns and villages in this township are not large in themselves, but possess in an eminent degree that rural feature of large populations clustering around and tributary to them.

Ashland, at the mouth of Fox Creek, on the north bank of the Meramec, was a purely paper town, laid off by a party from Pittsburgh at a very early date, with beautiful plats of steamboats, mills, hotels, ete., but never a building. Several of the owners of eorner lots liave visited the plaee and bewailed the seene, and although long ago sold out for taxes it has still an ex- istenee on the ınaps.

Allenton is a pleasant village thirty-two miles west of St. Louis, on the Missouri Paeifie and the San Francisco Railroads. It is situated in a strikingly beautiful valley, extending from Pacifie to the mouth of Flat Creek, a distance of about eight miles, and presents, especially at its western end, some striking marks of "water-wear" on the rocks that form the edges of the valley. The view from the hills on the north is serene and lovely in a high degree. The town was laid out by Thomas R. Allen in 1852 upon the north edge of the Courtois traet.

Among the original owners of lots were John De- mier, John Des Moulins, W. C. Turner, William J. Meyers, Richard Ivers, John Fleming, Louis Leud- wig, C. S. Prongue, James S. Phelps, Mrs. Chamber- lain. On the north side of the railroad track were several buildings not within the charter limits. The mill ereeted by Mr. Allen has been notieed. The buildings are generally neat and clean, and display mueh floral taste. I. C. Brown has a finc residenee on the east side of the town, and a large farm elose adjoining, with an extensive orchard. The store and post-offiee kept by F. Wengler is large and eommo- dious, with a large brick addition. George W. Foster ereeted a fine briek building on the site of the Phelps house. Nelson W. Allen oeeupics the old family man- sion. There are several fine residences within view, those of the late William Harris and the Hon. R. C. Allen being most conspicuous. Besides the store and post-offiee, there are a saloon and meat-shop and a blacksmith-shop. There is a fine district sehool build- ing in the village, and a colored school is kept in the old school building to the west. There is a literary

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society, and the village is noted for the soeiability and intelligence of its inhabitants. G. Letterman, the teacher, a native of Pennsylvania, has oeeupied that position for thirteen years, and is a botanist, geologist, and antiquarian.

The county farm-buildings, just north of the vil- lage, on the Lawler-MePherson land, seetions 33, 34, 44, 3 east, were projected before the separation of the city and county, on a magnificent scale, the estimated cost being two millions of dollars. Work was sus- pended after the foundation and first stories had been built, and the ruins remain, a stupendous waste of labor and capital.

The fruit farm of the Allen heirs, one of the largest and best in the county, is on a portion of the Courtois tract, just south of the town.

Thomas Rowland Allen, who laid off the town, was born in Frederick County, Va., on the 5th of March, 1815. His father, Robert L. Allen, died there at the age of eighty-four. In 1838 he married Diana Snapp and came to Missouri, in 1839 settling near Chesterfield, and taught sehool. In 1846 he re- moved to St. Louis and entered business as a whole- sale and retail groeer. In 1851 his wife died of cholera. By her he had five ehildren, all of whom are now dead. In 1853 he married Dorothea Adelia, daughter of Capt. Wash, of Virginia, then living near Kirkwood. When he laid out Allenton he built and removed his family there. The mill is notieed in another place. He was justice of the peace about 1854, and township assessor in 1861. While in that office at his own expense he collected the first agricultural and horticultural statisties of the town- ship, and this led to the appointment of a State com- missioner of statistics in 1866. He was an original member of the Meramee Horticultural Society, and on the 25th of August, 1870, became a charter mem- ber and master of the first grange in Missouri- Meramee, No. 1, organized by O. H. Kelly, of Washington, D. C., secretary of the National Grange. He was appointed general State deputy in 1871. In 1872 the State Grange was organized, and lie was eleeted master. He was elected in 1872 for a second term, and in 1876 was elected chaplain. He died Feb. 3, 1878. . His wife and three sons survive.

Isaiah Clark Brown, whose large property and fine residence adjoins Allenton, was born near Dozier's. His grandfather, John Brown, eame from Kentucky in 1796, and settled in Florissant, upon a grant from the Spanish Government. He moved to Fox Creck, on the Leonard Farrah survey, No. 148, in 1812, sold it to Doty, who in turn sold it to William Harris in 1825; moved to near Kirkwood, and died in 1840.

Benjamin Griffin Brown, one of two sons who reached maturity, was born in 1796, married a daugh- ter of William Inks, and moved to the Bittiek sur- vey, No. 2010, in 1840. Bittiek sold to William Inks, who came from Kentucky with the Votaws and others, and settled on the farm now owned by Au- gustus Wengler, in 1802. B. G. Brown taught school for many years. The first sehool-house was built on the William Harris place, and taught by Mr. Edwards. Mr. Brown was justiee of the peace for several years, and township assessor from 1844 to 1848. He died at his home on the 15th of March, 1872; his wife, born in 1801, having died the day before. Both were buried at the same time. The orehard he planted in 1816 still exists and bears some good fruit. The children were Isaiah C., John T., Martha (who died young), Cyrus, and Andrew.

Isaialı, the oldest, was born in 1825. He was de- puty sheriff of St. Louis for three years, during the terms of Lebeaume and Maddox; was two years in the county marshal's office under David McCullough ; was coroner in 1852-54; dram-shop collector one year ; and superintendent of the county farm nine years. He married in St. Louis, and has two chil- dren grown.

Fox Creek, near by on the west, was so named by an early hunter from Bridgeton, who shot a very large fox there. Foxes are still numerous in that vieinity.

Frederick Wengler, postmaster and store-keeper of Allenton, eame with his father, William Wengler, from near Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, with Paffrath Steines and others, in 1834. The father settled near Fiddle Creek, and died of eholera in 1849. His family were William, Frederick, Augustus, Albert, Minnie, and Otto. Frederick went to Judge Me- Cullough in 1836 to learn tanning and shoemaking. He married Agnes Pyatt in 1842. He held a pre- emption and located one hundred and fifty-seven acres in section 33, 44, 3 east, which he still farms. The remainder of the valley was taken up by John Pyatt. Hc opened a store in 1854, and in 1861 bought the present store from F. R. Allen; was appointed postmaster in 1860, was mail agent on the Missouri Pacific Railroad for several years about 1864, and was superintendent of the county farm from 1870 to 1874. He has quite a large family, of whom Wil- liam C. is the oldest. He was for several years sta- tion agent, then deputy United States eolleetor in St. Louis, deputy sheriff of the county under Robert Sehneeks, and is now deputy county elerk. The oldest daughter is the wife of the Hon. R. C. Allen.

William C. Inks, son of William Inks, who came

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with the Votaws from Kentucky in 1803, lived on the old place on survey 2010. He owned consider- able property, and laid off Pacific City, in Franklin County. He married Ann Eliza King, from near Manchester, and had a large family of daughters. He died on the 24th of September, 1864.

William Harris, the oldest son of Samuel Harris, of Fox Creek, was born at Fee-Fee in 1809. He married Easter, youngest daughter of Josiah McClure, born March 31, 1816. He bought the pre-emption of the home place, section 33, 44, 3 east, from Joseph Inks. He also bought one hundred and fifty acres from Doty, section 3, 44, 3 east (the Benjamin G. Brown place), with its fine orchard. He opened a store near the creek near the railroad bridge in 1851-52, and sold out to John T. Brown. He was elected a member of the State Legislature in 1854-55, along with Francis P. Blair, B. Gratz Brown, Thomas H. Benton, and other celebrities, and polled a larger vote than Col. Benton. His family consisted of two sons and two daughters, of whom only one survives, Mis- souri Frances, wife of I. J. Collins. He was an en- thusiastic farmer and fruit-grower, a great reader, and an original thinker. He died March 28, 1881, and was buried in the McClure cemetery. His brother Joseph was killed in the Gasconade railroad bridge disaster, in November, 1856. He was twice married. His son by the first wife, James Rennick, is a cord- wood merchant in St. Louis.

Josiah McClure came from Bowling Green, Ky., in 1819. He remained for a time at Fec-Fee, and bought property on Fox Creek, in section 4, 44, 3 east. He married Sarah Harris in Virginia, April 16, 1793. The family consists of eight daughters and one son. Of these, Easter, the youngest, is the widow of Wil- liam Harris. He died in 1826. He donated an acre of ground as a public cemetery at a very early date. It still bears his name.

Andrew McClure, the sixth child of Josiah, was born Oct. 21, 1805. He was a widely-known citizen, and died on Nov. 1, 1877, leaving one son, William, and threc daugliters still alive.

Hon. Robert C. Allen owns and farms the McClure place. He has a handsome brick' residence, with grove and lawn convenient to the farm buildings, and near the railroad bridge over Fox Creek. He was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1836, was in Iowa a short time, and came to Missouri in 1857. On the breaking out of the war he assisted Gen. Francis P. Blair to raise a battalion, and in 1861 was chosen captain of Co. A, and was United States mail agent on the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1862-63. At the time of Gen. Price's raid he joined the Fortieth

Missouri Regiment, and was captain of Co. K. He was mustered out in the spring of 1865, and was appointed judge of the County Court by Governor Thomas C. Fletcher. In 1866 he was elected judge of the County Court, and re-elected to the same office three terms in succession ; was commissioner of roads and bridges in the new county in 1879, and lias been elected to represent the Second District in both the Thirty-first and Thirty second General Assemblies.

He married Minnie, eldest daughter of Frederick Wengler, and has six children living and two dead.

Eureka is thirty miles west of St. Louis, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, in the corner of survey 3206, part of the Louis Courtois, Jr., tract. It was laid out in 1858 by Meesrs. Strodt & Shands, of St. Louis. It has a fine business position, the country roads to Bunkum, Big River, Antire, Bald Hill, Glencoe, Allenton, and Clifty Crcek, all centring there. It is surrounded by a fine agricultural and fruit country. There are about one hundred houses in and immediately surrounding the village. There is a church (Methodist Episcopal Church South), the foundation is laid for a Catholic chapel, and an Episcopal chapel is being subscribed for. There are also a district school, Freemasons' Hall, post-offices, three stores, two blacksmiths and wagon-makers, and a saloon. The Methodist Church is a very neat frame building, cost about one thousand two hundred dollars, besides donations and labor, and was dedicated by the venerable Dr. McAnally, Aug. 8, 1880. The mem- bership numbers about forty, and has a flourishing Sunday-school. The Catholic families number about fifteen. The sites for both churches were donated by Peter M. Brown.

The Masonic Hall is a large, substantial frame building owned by a joint-stock company of Masons, and represents two thousand five hundred dollars of stock. Meramec Lodge, No. 95, meets there. It was organized Nov. 22, 1877, with the following officers and charter members : Samuel R. Woods, W. M .; Daniel Cleary, S. W .; August Guttermuth, J. W .; Charles Vanhorn, S. D .; David Horn, J. D .; Frederick Wengler, Treas .; George Hornecker, Sec .; Samuel G. Trower, Tyler; R. C. Allen, James Ev- erctt, J. B. H. Beale, R. A. Lewis, John Weiss, Charles Paffrath.

Thomas Thomas, postmaster, store-keeper, and no- tary public, was born in Manchester, England, in 1822; came to the United States in 1844 ; enrolled as a volunteer in the Mexican war in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1846, and served till its close, and located a bounty warrant on Big River in 1848. He moved to Eureka in 1856 ; served in the Fifth Missouri Cavalry for two

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years during the eivil war; was justicc of the peaee for three terms ; is married, and has a family mostly grown up.

George Hornecker was born in Haguenau, Alsaee, in 1830; came to St. Louis in January, 1853, and graduated in Roher's Commercial College. He began business in Eureka as a general merehant in 1865 ; was elected justiee of the peace in 1878; has for years been a prominent Mason, holding liigh positions in the lodge; is married, and has a young family. His father eame to the United States in 1855, and is yet living.

Several distinguished men have been residents in this vicinity. Edward William Johnston, brother of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, lived from 1860 to 1866 * on his farm at Waldstein's Switch. He was a bril- liant political writer, and died in St. Louis in 1867. His wife died the day after him, and they were buried together. The venerable Maj. Beale was a native of Virginia ; was a veteran of 1812; lived for many years with his son, Dr. J. B. H. Beale, and was for many years justice of the peace ; he died in December, 1881.

James Brown and Peter M. Brown, brothers, are two of the leading citizens of the county. They took up their permanent residence in Eureka in 1865, on giving up their life oceupation of farmers. They eame to Missouri with their father, Russell Brown, from Virginia in 1818, James being twelve and Peter M. ten years old. They traveled from Bellefontaine by the " old King's Highway," and settled near Labadie, on the Missouri River, where they remained till 1839. At that time they moved to a New Madrid grant in Jefferson County, on the Meramec River, opposite Eureka. James married Melinda Cochranc, of Lin- coln County, on the 9th of April, 1829. She died Mareh 5, 1874, having lived together nearly forty-five years. His father died in 1843. Of the family two are still alive, Miss Henrietta and Joseph A., justly esteemed for the wisdom of his eounsels on the eriti- eal questions arising out of the separation of the city and county. At that time he filled the office of county counselor and prosecuting attorney.

Lorenzo Dow Votaw is the representative of two of the oldest families in the State. His grandfather, John Votaw, came from Kentucky in 1803, aecom- panied by his sons John, Henry, and Isaae, and his brother-in-law, William Inks. George Smith, Me- Keage, Williams, and Benjamin Terry eame about two years after. John Votaw died in 1828, and was buried in St. Louis. John, the oldest son, was born in Kentucky in 1797 ; entered United States land in seetion 32, 44, 3 east, and married Mary Koonce, born

in St. Charles City in 1794. His family consisted of seven sons,-Lorenzo Dow, Silas P. (in California), Felix A. (died in St. Louis when quite young), Jolin A. (in California), George Wash (died in Texas in 1866), Nicholas Marion (dicd in MeDonald County in 1878), Landon J. (died in Texas in 1868).

Lorenzo Dow, baptized and named after the eele- brated Methodist missionary preacher of that name, was born Oet. 25, 1820. He married Pauline Keat- ley, of Franklin, Dec. 29, 1841, by whom he had a son, Alonzo W. She died in 1852. He then mar- ried Eliza Robertson, of Manchester, Mo., who had a daughter, Laura A., and died in 1859. He married Elizabeth H. Davis, who died Jan. 5, 1883. The elder Votaw planted an orchard of seedlings about 1816, of which a few proved of great value, especially the Walton. The trees are almost entirely gone. When quite young he went a few days to a sehool kept on Clifty Creek by a man named Mellvain, who was killed in a eave on the Mississippi River a few years after. When a boy he helped to make whiskey for the traders at Christmas-time, ran raees, and traded among the Indians along with his unele, and was a great favorite and on intimate terms with them. The year of running off the Indians is often referred to by the old settlers, and was 1814-16, when the settlers united and went out to punish the Indians in the upper Missouri country and in Illinois for numerous thefts, murders, and general insubordination.

Samuel Pruitt settled on survey 1975, the site of St. Paul, and was regarded as the oldest settler on this edge of the county.

Glencoe, a station and small village on the Missouri Paeifie Railroad, twenty-six miles west of St. Louis, where Hamilton Creek empties into the Meramee, was laid out about 1854 by Woods, Christy & Co., of St. Louis, and is the switch-point of the Gleneoe valley traek. It contains a few houses and small store, but for about a year has had no post-office. There are some fine residences in its immediate neigh- borhood. "Gleneoe Heights," northeast of the depot, was built by Robert K. Woods about 1855, and is now the property of William L. Ewing. It is a fine frame pavilion, with the finest ornamental trees and plants and a elioiee orehard. Northwest of it is the fine concrete residenee of Alfred Carr, with a stately lawn and fine meadows. It has one of the finest or- ehards in the county. Southwest of the depot, and almost overhanging it, is the summer residenee of B. W. Lewis, of St. Louis, with a fine orehard. Still farther south is " River Craig," the imposing eonerete house built by A. W. Alexander, from which a mag- nifieent view is obtained.

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The Orphan Protectorate, a charitable institution for the care of orphan boys, is about a mile north of the depot. It was founded and is principally main- tained by the Catholics of St. Louis. From sixty to one hundred boys are there cared for and educated. The establishment is in charge of the Christian Brothers, and was opened in 1872, and was under the care of Brother Leo, as managing director, in 1876- 78. He was the pioneer of the Protectorate at West- chester, N. Y. Brother Tertullian relieved Brother Leo in 1878, and continued till 1882, when Brother Leo was again put in charge. A lay board of direc- tors in St. Louis manages the finances, and gives direc- tion to the operations of the institution. There is a resident priest at the Protectorate, and regular daily morning services arc held besides the Sunday services. There are about five regular assistants, and farm hands are employed as needed. The boys work on the farm, and attend school in relays.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 201

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358