USA > Missouri > Saline County > History of Saline County, Missouri > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109
188
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
in daylight, selected a nice fat mutton or pig, and made off with it some- times in plain view of the farmer. It could whip as many dogs as could be induced to attack it.
At last the citizens decided to make a united effort to rid the country of this lupine marauder, already as much dreaded as the famed weir-wolf of German legend. The packs of hunting dogs of Asa Finley, "Uncle Dick" Marshall, and Brutus Finley, were secured, and the timber along Blackwater "beat up" until old "Bob-tail" was started, near Isaac's ford. The trail once struck, the chase was kept up for two days and a night, many of the pursuers in the meantime being "thrown out" and abandoning the hunt, until the Missouri was reached, near Booneville. Here "Bob-tail" bravely plunged into the current, and succeeded in reach- ing the Howard county shore in safety. The Saline county hunters here gave up the chase, and returned home.
The wolf soon after took up his abode and plied his vocation on the Grand prairie, in Boone county. Here he stayed for about two years, preying on the farmers' flocks, and defying all attempts at capture. A reward, aggregating nearly $100, was raised and offered for the capture of "Bob-tail."
A noted hunter, named Hendershott, pursued the animal all one day with his pack of trained dogs. At night Hendershott went home, leaving his dogs to care for the wolf as best they might, not doubting, however, but that he would find them all safe and sound in the morning, except the wolf, of course. The next morning, alas! on going out to search for his dogs, Hendershott found one of them, maimed and bleeding, dragging itself homeward, and a little further on, the rest of them, all stretched out, dead, near a large gopher-hill, on which, apparently, the wolf had stood and dealt out death to its assailaints as they approached him.
. "Bob-tail" then made his way over into Audrain county, where he was at last poisoned by one Walker, who took the skin, scalp, stump-tail, and all, into Boone county, in order to make certain of receiving the promised reward.
A favorite method of capturing wolves was to organize a general hunt or chase. A day would be appointed, and the male population for miles around would assemble, all mounted and armed, and accompanied by packs of dogs. A large circle would be formed, two or three miles in diameter sometimes, and the hunters with their dogs would gradually close in upon the center. The wolves would be started and chased from one part of the circle to the other, and few of them would escape. Various other kinds of game were frequently taken in these "circle hunts" as they were termed.
During the civil war wolves became rather plentiful, and many of them were killed; but, as previously stated, save now and then a straggling
189
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
coyote that occasionally sneaks into the county, it may be said that there are no wolves in Saline county.
Wild cats, catamounts, and an occasional lynx were often seen, but were neither very destructive or very troublesome. They restricted their raids upon the settlers to sundry visits to the chicken-coop or to the goose-pond.
Mr. Daniel Snaddy and others caught a large black wolf out in the Petite Osage country that was over three feet in height. The animal was caught in a large steel trap. He had killed a good sized, two-year- old heifer. The men cut his hamstring, and he whipped six large dogs and one fiste very easily while in this crippled condition. The hunters were forced to shoot him.
Deer formerly abounded in the county in great numbers. The fine feeding grounds and the numerous salt licks attracted them here from other localities, and it was a long time indeed, in the history of the county, before they became at all scarce. As late as the year 1850, three citizens of this county, neighbors, Messrs. Gaines, White and Herndon, killed, in the aggregate, 246 deer. Mr. Gaines killed 97; Mr. White, 47 and Mr. Herndon, 102-all in one season. At that day and for some years thereafter, it was not an uncommon sight to see deer in herds of twelve or fifteen, taking their evening " browse," or bounding through the tim- ber or over the prairies.
Of course where there were so many of these animals there were some cxceptionally large ones, and many a story is told of mammoth bucks slain by the early hunters. The number, variety, character, and lack of evidence of their verity precludes the publication of all these stories in these pages. Says Wetmore's Gazetteer on this point, as long since as 1837: " One of the hunters of Saline was in at the death of a buck which he killed on Blackwater, that weighed 302 pounds, the largest, it is claimed, whose obituary ever found a place in the annals of field sports. Several have been killed in Saline weighing as much as 240 pounds, which were con- sidered enormously large."
In the early settlement of Saline, before bacon and beef were numbered among the productions of the county, the settlers used venison almost universally for their meat. The skins of the deer, when properly pre- pared, furnished material for their hunting shirts and trowsers, and hence deer hunting was a business as well as a sport. The bucks, when wounded, would frequently turn upon the hunters and prove quite ugly customers. Encounters of this kind were not at all rare, and many of them were exci- ting if not thrilling. Space forbids full descriptions of affairs of this kind -of the fight Mr. Sam Martin had with a huge buck in olden time; of how Mr. Mooney caught a deer in a shock of corn and held it until a boy ran a quarter of a mile and brought a knife, with which he cut the ani-
190
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
mal's throat; of how Capt. L. dispatched one with an axe, and afterward dived into ten feet of cold water to recover his weapon; etc., etc.
A famous old buck, called " Old Crump," from the circumstance of his having a crumpled horn, a large specimen of his species, was well known among early hunters. He had been shot at and chased repeatedly by them. His range was in the neighborhood of Mr. Philin Irvine's. At last " Old Crump " was killed by J. A. Saufley, in Irvine's grove.
One morning in winter, over forty years ago, Mr. Philip Irvine started up three deer near a small ravine. Two of them ran away. The other jumped behind a bush and turned with its face toward Irvine, who fired at random. At the crack of the rifle the deer, a large buck, fell. Irvine ran up to it to cut its throat, but just as he reached the animal it started up and attacked him. "I caught him by the horns," said Mr. Irvine, relating the incident a long time thereafter, " and endeavored to hold him down. The ground was covered with sleet, and we were on the edge of the ravine. Down the bank we went into the ditch and breaking the ice, which covered a pool of water at the bottom. Our fight was a hot one. First the deer would have the advantage, then I-owing to which one of us was near enough to the bank to brace his feet against it. Just as I was about exhausted, my dog came up, and I fell back, leaving the fight to him. I was completely worn out. I do not know how the fight between the dog and the deer would have terminated, but fortunately my brother came up and despatched the deer. On skinning the animal I found that my ball had struck it on the head and had merely stunned it. I was in a sad plight, for I was wounded, bruised and exhausted, and worse of all my bran new jeans pants were torn to shreds!"
Beaver and otter were so plentiful at one time as to attract many trappers to the county, but that day has long since past. A famous trapper was one McReynolds. It is said that the beaver, otter, and muskrats would come up to him, lie down on their backs, and resign- edly await the manipulations of his skinning knife!
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
Prior to 1820 this county, and indeed a very large expanse of country and territory adjoining, belonged to Cooper county. The land now com- prising Saline was then divided into three townships, Arrow Rock, Miami and Jefferson. These townships retained their names and their bound- aries upon the organization of the new county. Mr. McMahan was a justice of the peace for Miami; Jacob Ish for Jefferson. Missouri was then but a territory of the United States.
The influx of population, the immense value of its natural resources, the certainty of its soon becoming able to "take care of itself," and
191
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
withal the inconvenience of belonging to a county whose county seat was a long day's ride away, made it certain that Saline county must be formed. With regard to the origin of the division of states into county and town- ship organizations, which in an important measure, and to a great extent should have the power and opportunity of transacting their own business and governing themselves, subject to the approval, of course, of the state and general government, of which they each formed a part, it may be asserted that it had its origin in the natural desire for and belief in the prin- ciples of self-government. There seems to be in every man an inherent inclination to do "that which is right in his own eyes," without command- ment or prohibition from any outside authority.
The principles of "home rule" are eternal, for they are natural. They follow a man's love of home and country. And man loves them and is devoted to them in this order:
First, his house-home, which, however humble, is his castle, his domin- ion, his empire. And here he reigns as emperor, with his wife for empress, his children for princes and subjects. No spot so dear as this. Then his neighborhood, with his neighbors and friends; and there are laws here, unwritten though they may be, which he reverences and regards. Then his township; then his county; then his state; then his general government; then all mankind.
It may be regarded as a rule that man will pay allegiance in the order named. And this, although but two of the governments possess the ele- ments of sovereignty. A distinguished American, Senator Conkling, of New York, returning from an extended trip to Europe and other foreign lands, some years since, was given a reception by his fellow-citizens. In response to an address of welcome, he said, among other things: "I have seen the best, the grandest, the most beautiful parts of the world. I have traveled in many lands where there is much to delight, to charm the natural senses of man. And I have been in nearly every state in this union, and in very many of the counties and cities in this state. But no land have I seen so great, so grand as the United States; no state so great, so grand, so dear as New York; no county so good as Oneida; no city so beautiful, so attractive, so rich in all that is dear to me, as Utica.
"The world is governed too much." There should be fewer laws, and they should be more exactly and more rigidly enforced. Men should be governed more by laws of their own making. There should be more of local self-government, especially in this country of ours, where every man, in theory at least, is a sovereign freeman. The laws of the general government should be few and only those made strictly in conformity with the constitution and necessary to " provide for the common defense, estab- lish justice, and promote the general welfare." These should be uni- versally obeyed and enforced, and legislation on every subject possible left
192
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
to the states. . The states, in turn, should remand everything consistent with their sovereignty and independence to the counties.
A western author * says that the county system originated with Vir- ginia, whose early settlers soon became large landed proprietors, aristo- cratic in feeling, living apart in almost baronial magnificence on their own estates, and owning the laboring part of the population. Thus the mate- rials for a town were not at hand, the voters being thinly distributed over a great area.
"The county organization" says Judge Haines, "where a few influen- tial men managed the whole business of the community, retaining their places almost at their pleasure, scarcely responsible at all, except in name, and permitted to conduct the county concerns as their ideas or wishes might direct, was moreover 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 1734 eight counties were organized in Virginia, and the system, extending throughout the state, spread into all the southern states, and some of the northern states, except the nearly similar division into "dis- tricts" in South Carolina, and 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. Clark, retained the county organization, which was formally extended over the state by its first con- stitution, adopted in 1818, and continued in exclusive use until the consti- tution of 1848. Under this system, as in other states, most local business was transacted by the commissioners in each county constituting the county court.
The " township system," according to Mr. Haines, had its origin in Massachusetts, and dates back to 1635. It grew out of a state of affairs, thus described by the law providing for the system: " Whereas, particular towns have many things which concern only themselves, and the ordering of their own affairs, and disposing of business in their own towns," etc., etc .; therefore, " the freemen of every town, or the 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 orders of the general court." The township system has been adopted in Illinois, Iowa, and perhaps other states. It is maintained by the people of those states that the heavily populated districts always control the election of county commissioners, to the disadvantage of more thinly populated se ctions. In short, that under the exclusive county system, "equal and exact justice to all men " cannot be secured.
* Judge E. M. Haines, of Illinois.
Ino, Or Boy and
193
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
At the first session of the Missouri state legislature, begun in St. Louis, September 19, 1820, an act was passed, organizing, among others,
" THE COUNTY OF SALINE."*
The bill, it is believed, was introduced by Hon. Wm. Lillard, then a member of the legislature, from Cooper county, and previously a colonel in the war of 1812, from Tennessee. It passed without opposition, and was approved by the governor, Alexander McNair, the first elected gov- ernor of the state, November 25, 1820. At the same time the county of Lafayette (previously called Lillard, in honor of the gentleman before named), was organized, as also were the counties of Boone, Callaway, Chariton, Cole, Gasconade, Perry, Ralls, and Ray.
The county was named from the character of the water of many of its springs. There were salt works, so-called, at one or two places in the county, where, although the machinery and the methods employed in the manufacture were of the rudest and simplest form and character, a very fair article, in very respectable quantities, of salt was produced. It was thought then that in time salt manufacture would be the leading industry of the county, and its most valuable feature.
By the terms of the act of organization " the town of Jefferson, in said county," was made the county seat. Bartholomew Gwinn and George Tennille were appointed judges of the county court. An act of the leg- islature was also passed at the same session, "prescribing the times and places for holding courts," and agreeable to the provisions of the act, the first term of the county court, of this county, was ordered to be held on " the third Monday (the 16th) of April, A. D. 1821."
The county judges were appointed for four years. Bartholomew Gwinn was a native of Virginia, and had been a resident of the county about a year prior to his appointment. George Tennille was a descend- ant of one of the early French families of the state, and if not a native of
*" SEC. 23. Be it further enacted, That all that portion of territory included within the following boundaries, to-wit: Beginning at a point where an extension of the range line between ranges 18 and 19, west of the 5th principal meridian, due north, will inter- sect the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river; thence running due south to the bank of the said river, where the said range line terminates; thence with the western boundary line of Cooper county to the middle of the main channel of the Osage river; thence up said river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to a point at which an extension of the range line between ranges 23 and 24 will intersect the same; thence due north to the middle of the main channel of the river Missouri ; thence down said river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the beginning ;- shall compose the county of Saline."-Laws of Mo., I General Assembly, Chap. 1. Of Counties. The boundaries were not long afterward changed to conform to those circumscribing the county at present, as follows : " Beginning in the center of the main channel of the Missouri river, where the range line dividing ranges 23 and 24 crosses said river at the northeast corner of Lafayette county ; thence due south with said range line to the northwest corner of section 19, town- ship 48; thence due east with said section line to the county line dividing Cooper and Saline counties; thence north with said county line to the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river; thence up said river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the beginning." The county was surveyed by Gen. Duff Green, and Benj. Chambers.
13
194
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
Missouri, of the town of New Madrid, or of St. Genevieve, was born in Louisiana. He came from New Madrid to Saline county.
The court, upon assembling, appointed Benjamin Chambers, clerk. He held the same office for sixteen years. Mr. Chambers was a Pennsylva- nian, and a member of the Chambers family, of Chambersburg. No more efficient officer ever held a place in the county. The early records, many of which are still in existence, show him to have been an accu- rate composer, a skillful penman, and an officer who comprehended that the work he was doing was not only for the benefit of the people of the county then, but for their posterity, and for generation after generation to come; for his records are all intelligibly and intelligently written, and with care and precision. It is to be regretted that a complete biographical sketch of this gentleman cannot here be given.
After the appointment of the clerk, the next act of the county court was to appoint commissioners to take charge and care of the school lands within the county. Messrs. Jacob Ish, Peyton Nowlin, Peter Huff, Wm. McMahan and Charles English were appointed the commissioners, and " were sworn in open court."
At this session Wm. S. Edwards was appointed constable of Arrow Rock township; Daniel McDowell, of Miami; and Alexander Goodin, of Jefferson. There were but three townships-those named-then in the county. Wm. McMahan was justice of the peace for Miami town- ship; Jacob Ish, for Jefferson.
Joseph H. Goodin was appointed assessor for the county, and had previously been appointed by the governor, sheriff of the county, to serve until there could be an election. David Warren was appointed county collector. Rev. Peyton Nowlin was appointed surveyor of the boun- dary line between this county and Cooper, to act in conjunction with Dr. Hart, of the latter named county.
The next session of the county court was held July 16, 1821, " being the third Monday" of the month. Present-Gwinn and Tennille, judges; Benj. Chambers, clerk; J. H. Goodin, sheriff.
The first business done and recorded was the appointment of Littlebury Estes, Daniel McDowell, and Wm. White, Jr., as commissioners " to view and mark out" the first road established in the county, "petitioned for by Lewis Rees and others, leading from the Arrow Rock to the Grand Pass, by the place where said Reese now lives, and from thence to the western boundary of the county, and make return to this court at the next term."
The first letters of administration were granted at this court, to David Warren as administrator of the estate of James Warren, deceased, and Richard W. Cummins, Edward Burleson and Wm. Shipley, appointed appraisers of said estate.
The first enumeration of the county was made just previous and reported
195
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
to the October term of the court, 1821, it taking the assessor, J. H. Goodin, (or sheriff, for he was both,) just eight days to make the said enumeration. The population of the county at this time was 1,176.
It seems that there was a deficiency in the county tax for the first year, and also a deficiency in the state tax, as it was ordered by the court at the January term, 1822, "that the sum of four dollars forty-three and two- third cents be allowed to David Warren (collector) for the deficiency of the county tax, 1821," and also ordered " that the sum of thirty-six dollars, seventy-seven and two-third cents be allowed to David Warren, (collector) the deficiency of the state tax."
At the same January term, 1822, the first ferry license was granted by the court, to John Nave, across the Missouri river at the mouth of Rich- land creek, for which he paid two dollars into the treasury.
Thomas Shackelford, the third judge of the county court, having pro -. duced his commission from the governor, was sworn in and took his seat at the February special term of the court, 1822.
At the same term the court fixed the boundaries of the three townships, Arrow Rock, Jefferson and Miami, into which the county was then divided, Arrow Rock covering nearly the southern half of the county, and the northern portion being nearly equally divided between Jefferson and Miami.
At the same time, February, 1822, Joseph H. Goodin was appointed collector, and different assessors were appointed for each township, Hugh Galbreath for Arrow Rock, William Ferrill for Miami, and Laban Gar- rett for Jefferson.
At the August term of the court, 1822, the second year after its organ- ization, the court ordered one-half of the state tax for that year to be col- lected for the use of the county.
The first deputy county clerk was appointed at the August term, 1822. J. H. Goodin, collector, being appointed deputy clerk.
At the November term, 1822, James Wilkinson appears on the records as sheriff of the county. He had been elected at the previous election, on the first Monday in August. Governor McNair commissioned him, Sep- tember 3, 1822, at St. Charles, then the capital of the state.
One circumstance connected with Wilkinson's commission may be noticed. The first documents of that character bore the governor's pri- vate seal in attestation of their genuineness and authority, for the reason, as was stated in the commissions, that no seal of the state had been provided. The commission of Sheriff Wilkinson bore that " strange device " known as the Great Seal of the State of Missouri, of which Mr. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), a native Missourian, says: "The armorial crest of my own state consists of two dissolute bears holding up the head of a
196
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
dead and gone cask between them, and making the pertinent remark, 'United we stand, (hic) divided we fall.'"
To show how small was the valuation of property in Miami township, at this early day, it is only needed to state the amount of pay allowed to Wm. Ferrill for the assessment of the taxable property of that township for the year 1822, which was three dollars.
The fees paid the county officials in 1822 sound very small at the pres- ent day, though, when properly understood, they were larger than they now are. At the November term, 1822, B. Gwinn was allowed, for ser- vices as judge of the county court, $22; B. Chambers, for services as clerk, $33.25; while J. H. Goodin, former sheriff, was allowed $45.53, and as deputy clerk, $26.00, for general and special services.
At the November term, 1822, the first final settlement of an estate was made (that of Wm. Bones, deceased, by H. Tennille, administrator), the value of the property and sales being $874,013.
The first tavern license was granted to John McMahan at the February term of the county court, 1823, to keep a tavern in the town of Jefferson, he paying the sum of ten dollars into the treasury.
It seems that the first collector of the county, David Warren, had some difficulty in making his settlement with the court, as in the February term, 1823, it was ordered by the court that "David Warren, collector for 1821, have until the next term of this court to settle respecting the certifi- cate of non-resident land sales to the state, for taxes, etc."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.