History of Saline County, Missouri, Part 51

Author: Missouri Historical Company, St. Louis, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: St. Louis, Missouri historical company
Number of Pages: 1008

USA > Missouri > Saline County > History of Saline County, Missouri > Part 51

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).

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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.

pany already pay out to their employes, regularly employed in and around Slater, from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars, which is, of itself, sufficient to insure a good sized town.

But besides all the great advantages growing out of favorable relations with the railroad company, Slater holds an admirable natural position, in the very heart of one of the finest and most productive sections of Saline county. Marshall, her strongest competitor on the line of the railroad, is twelve miles away, and the competing river points are not nearer than ten to twelve miles.

The land upon which the town is built belonged to Josiah Baker, Jr., and to his sagacity, enterprise and spirit it owes its existence. He donated to the railway company 80 acres of the 160 upon which Slater is located for its necessary uses -round-house, depots, offices, side-tracks, work shops, etc., and each alternate block of the railroad front of the town-and by these means, and his continued enterprise and energy, has produced the splendid results exhibited.

Besides many tasteful and pleasant residences-most of them yet of wood-Slater has three churches, an extensive flouring mill and elevator, a fine three-story brick hotel, finely furnished, one brick banking house and bank, ten brick stores, two newspapers, one brick livery stable, and numerous frame business houses. As is usual in all new railroad towns, the population of Slater is a mixed one. Business men are there from every part of the Union; but its business men are live, energetic and enterprising, and the little city has before it a brilliant future.

THE TOWN OF SLATER.

The town was named in honor of Col. Slater, of Chicago, a prominent director of the Chicago and Alton road. The first settlers in the place besides Mr. Baker, were Mahlon Hatfield, Hiram Liggett, T. B. Morris, J. Nauerth, Zahl Bros., Jas. Swink, W. P. Casebolt. Probably there were others. The first business establishment was the lumber yard of Ancell & Baker, in September, 187S, and the first business houses com- pleted were those of W. P. Casebolt and Josiah Baker, Jr., in October following, the latter building being occupied by Jones Bros., druggists.

The first marriage was that of L. L. Alverson and Miss Sue Darnell, by J. W. Winning, a justice of the peace. The first death was that of a ten-year old son of Mrs. John Cutz.

The first regular physician was Dr. M. T. Fulcher (or Fulker) from Schuyler county, this State, late of Howard county, and now a resident of Brookfield. The first minister was Rev. Henry Eubank, of the Christian Church, and the first services were held in the house of worship belonging to that denomination. C. Q. Shouse was the next (perhaps the first). The first school house in the place was the old district school

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house, near the railroad in the southwestern part of town. Z. T. Bowen, now an attorney in the town, was the first teacher. He had about thirty scholars, and received fifty dollars per month. The Christian Church was next used for a school building. An election has been called to vote $8,000 to erect a new and suitable building.

When the town was first laid out lumber was hauled from Arrow Rock, fifteen miles away, and from Cambridge, eight miles. There was a great scarcity of water. A good spring not far from town supplied many families and Mr. Baker furnished considerable.

The first newspaper in the place was the Slater Sentinel, which was established about the 1st of August, 1879, by Jas. W. Eastin, formerly of Glasgow, and son of one of the oldest editors in the State. The paper was democratic in its proclivities and placed at the head of its editorial columns a proposed presidential ticket for the next year as follows: "For President, W. W. Eaton, of Connecticut; for Vice President, Geo. G. Vest, of Missouri." The Sentinel did not long exist. The next paper was the Monitor, removed by Mr. Miller, its proprietor, from Marshall, and established at the latter place as a greenback temperance organ. The next was the Index, removed from Miami.

CHURCHES IN SLATER.

BAPTIST CHURCH.

This church was formerly called Rehoboth Church, and the house of worship was located half a mile north of town, but on the building of the town the old structure was taken down and the material worked into the new church at Slater. Rehoboth Church was organized September 1, 1850. The original members were Daniel Hickerson, W. W. Field, W. E. Thomson, R. Y. Thompson, R. Johnson, Willis Holloway, B. Hamp- ton, I. N. Graves, Claiborne Hill, Maria Hickerson, Francis Hickerson, Francis Hampton, Lucy T. Thompson, Anna L. Hampton, Lucy A. Thompson, Lucy A. Field, Martha Johnson, Rachel Huff. The old Rehoboth church was built in 1850; the new (Baptist Church of Slater) in 1880. The old church building cost $2,000. Noah Flood dedicated it on the fifth Sabbath of July, 1853; Rev. W. Pope Yeaman dedicated the new one August 29, 1880. Rev. Thos. Fristoe was called as first preacher of the old organization, November 1, 1851. Jos. S. Conners was first pastor of the new. The present membership is about one hundred. During the war an association was being held at Rehoboth. The militia arrested all of the ministers present and put them under bonds.

CHRISTIAN CHURCH. (Old Mt. Zion).

This church was originally organized one-half mile north or northeast of the town. The first members were: T. V. Gwinn, Joseph Ootts, Wil- 30

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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.

liam Ewalt, C. H. White, R. P. Gwinn, Josiah Baker, T. J. Allen, L. P. Allen and H. G. Allen, Mary Bowen, Martha Thompson, C. H. Hick- man, and about thirty others. The organization was effected in 1866. A church building was erected in 1867. It was a frame building and cost $2,000. In 1879 it was removed to the new town. It is not yet dedicated. Its pastors have been O. Spencer, Stephen Bush, Samuel McDaniel, M. M. Davis, R. A. Davis, C. Q. Shouse, and R. H. Hudson. The present membership is about 150. This church was originally called Mt. Zion, but is now called the Christian Church of Slater.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.

This church was organized in the summer of 1879. Andrew and James Bridges, A. Kirby, W. H. Dyer, H. C. Mead, A. F. Mead, M. T. Fulcher, A. F. Rector, John A. Rich, J. W. Gibbs, T. O. Mead, A. F. Frayley, and about thirty others. The church building was erected the same year. It was a frame and cost $1,600. A dedicatory sermon was preached in August, 1879, but a mistake having occurred whereby the church was found to still have an indebtedness upon it, another sermon was preached after the debt was extinguished, in September, 1880, by Rev. D. R. McAnally. Names of pastors-J. A. Murphy, F. H. Briggs and L. H. Vandiver. Number of members at present, about one hun- dred. The informant states: "When the enterprise of building a south- ern Methodist Church in this county was begun there were very few of that denomination living here, and therefore the undertaking proved a great one; but owing to the indefatigable energy of about six men the money was all raised in less than two years, and the property of the church is worth about $2,000, and is entirely free from encumbrance. There is every prospect for success. The Sunday-school under the superintend- ency of C. W. Mead, numbers about one hundred members, mostly chil- dren."

CIVIC SOCIETIES.

MASONIC.

Cambridge Lodge, No. 53, A. F. and A. M., was organized at Cam- bridge, in 1866. The charter members were: J. W. Petty, W. Wharton, J. H. Barnes, S. H. Donahoe, W. D. Odendahl, L. M. Alexander, Wm. Burford. The first officers were: W. Wharton, L. M. Alexander, and J. W. Petty. The present officers are: R. L. Harvey, W. M .; E. W. Smith, S. W .; J. W. Gibbs, J. W .; Z. T. Bowen, secretary; Richard Fristoe, treasurer; Wm. Reid, S. D .; J. Jones, J. D .; George Nauerth, Tyler. The number of members is twenty-eight. There is no hall belonging to the lodge. Under a special dispensation from Joseph Brown, G. M. of the state, dated February 18, 1880, the lodge was removed from Cambridge to Slater. The lodge is now in a very prosperous condition, and there is a bright prospect for good work in the future.

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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.

ODD FELLOWS.

Samaritan Lodge, No. 390, I. O. O. F., was organized November 20, 1879, by A. A. Wheeler, D. D. G. M. The charter members were: E. Ancell, M. Hatfield, A. Durnill, J. Nauerth, and J. A. Stern. The first officers were: J. A. Stern, N. G .; M. Hatfield, V. G .; J. Nauerth, secre- tary; E. Ancell. The present officers are: E. Ancell, N. G .; N. H. Gaines, V. G .; M. Haas, recording secretary; J. W. Gibbs, permanent secretary; J. Nauerth, treasurer. Present number of members, at this time, twenty-nine. The lodge meets in a hall, in a brick building, built in August, 1879, by W. P. Casebolt, at a cost of $3,000.

ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN.

Slater Lodge, A. O. U. W., was organized in 1879, by Rev. John. A. Brooks. The charter members were: Henry Eubank, H. C. Mead, Jacob Nauerth, John Martin, Wm. P. Casebolt, Geo. Young, Dr. F. A. Howard, E. C. Bernard, and J. W. Gibbs. The first officers were the charter members mentioned. The present officers are: E. C. Bernard, Thos. C. Graves, R. A. Irvin, W. H. Norvell, T. F. Haynes, F. M: Brown, Geo. J. Deyer, E. D. Jones. The respective offices belonging to the first and last officers have not been furnished. There are twenty- three members at this time. The lodge meets in a room in the build- ing belonging to W. P. Casebolt, described in the sketch of the Odd Fel- lows' lodge.

CLAY TOWNSHIP.

In this township were made the first settlements in the county. For here was the site of Cox's bottom and a portion of the Big bottom. The land on which old Jesse Cox built his cabin has long since been washed into the Missouri river. For full account of the early settlement of Clay the reader is referred to the history of the settlement of Cox's bottom and the Big bottom.

Here the first cabin was built, the first orchard planted, the first corn planted, the first mill established-old Christopher Catron's "hand mill"- etc., etc.

In this township there now lives the venerable Ephraim McClain, son of a Baptist minister who organized the first Protestant church west of St. Louis. Mr. Ephraim McClain came to Saline county in 1827. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk war, and an old pioneer who is entitled to reverence and respect. He resides with his son-in-law in Saline City. May his days yet be long in the land he has done so much to improve and protect.

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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.

Clay township underwent its full share in the horrors of the civil war. Federal militia and Confederate bushwhackers passed through and through, and left evidences of their presence every time they passed. Three or four small "brushes" took place during the war between the militia and the guerrillas, but both sides seemed to delight more in harass- ing and annoying inoffensive citizens than in fighting each other, and always avoided encounters when possible. Two young ladies named Jackson were arrested by Col. Lazear, of the Missouri militia, and taken to Marshall, for feeding bushwhackers, as was claimed, and Marshall Piper, who was shot at Arrow Rock, by the same officer, was a citizen of this township.

But the people of Clay are now almost universally disposed to "let by- gones be by-gones," and are disposed to look forward to the future rather than back to the past, and so the memories of the black days of the war are fast passing away. And this is well.

SALINE CITY.

The town of Saline City ( postoffice Little Rock,) is situated on a high bluff bank of the Missouri river, on the eastern side of Saline county, and in the southeast part of Clay township, section 1, township 50, range 19. The site of the town was cleared off by Mr. Rufus Bigelow, in 1858, and the town surveyed and laid off by Col. Geo. W. Allen-the land belonging to Thos. Jackson and Lewis Eversman. The first store, a frame, 20x33, was built by Rufus Bigelow, and is still standing. In it Mr. Bigelow sold the first dry goods and groceries. Mr. F. Thorn- ton put up and operated the first blacksmith shop. Messrs. Thos. Jack- son and Isaac Thornton put up the first warehouse, after the town was laid out, there having previously been one a little further up the river. The first dwelling house was erected by Burton Lawless, but after the town was laid out, it was found to be in a street. It was built of cotton- wood logs, and is still standing-one story high, and with two rooms. Jackson & Liggett built the third storehouse, frame, and kept a grocery store. This building was burned in 1876. Isaac Thornton put up the second store house, and had a stock of dry goods, sugar and coffee.

The first church was built in 1876, a frame building, and will seat about five hundred people. It was built by, and belongs to the Meth- odist Church South. Before it was built services were generally held in the school house, one-half mile west of town, or at private dwellings.

The landing at this point is good, and considerable shipping is done per river. The town was named Saline City-though the point had been known by the Indians, and by them named "Little Arrow Rock." When the postoffice was established here it was found that there was Iready a postoffice in Missouri named Saline City, hence the Postoffice

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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.

Department registered the office as " Little Rock, Mo." The town and its site were long called " Little Arrow Rock."

I. O. G. T.

Saline City Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars, was organized, November 3, 1879, by - Hutchinson. The charter mem- bers were G. W. Herald, J. D. Thompson, Mrs. G. W. Herald, J. C. Diggs, J. Kelly, J. W. Petty, Miss H. Brockway, James Sappington, E. Fitzgerald, B. F. Miller, Lizzie Kelly, M. D. Diggs, Laura Fair, C. Wray, William Thornton, Frank Casey, and Nora and Hester Diggs. The first principal officers were J. D. Thompson, W. C. T .; Mrs. G. W. Herald, W. V. T .; J. C. Diggs, W. C .; J. W. Petty, W. S. The present principal officers are J. D. Thompson, W. C. T .; Maggie McClain, W. V. T .; Ed. Case, W. C .; Kemp Barnes, W. S. The present number of members is 134. The lodge meets in the Methodist Church South, a frame building erected in 1868. The lodge is in a flourishing condition, and has been in good working order ever since its organization. The W. C.T. has held the position from the first. There are 53 members of the temple.

Just below Saline City, there empties into the Missouri, the stream called Pierre Fleshe, named by the French, in the eighteenth century, and at the mouth of which there was a camp of trappers, in the long ago, where a quantity of furs was buried or " cached." The stream itself, though small, abounded in beaver, otter and other fur-bearing animals, and seems to have been much resorted to by the hunters and trappers of long ago. Mr. John Thornton, an old pioneer, stated to Jerrold Letcher, that Pierre Fleshe was so called by the Indians; that it puts into the Mis- souri, where the current, formerly, ran "swift as an arrow," and hence, its name, meaning " a swift arrow." Mr. Thornton has been misinformed. The word should be spelled Pier Flece (pronounced Peer Fle-sa, the accent on the latter syllable of the second word), signifying a large or thick rock. The term was probably applied, by the French, first to Arrow Rock.

OREARVILLE

This place was first called Centerville. Its site was first settled by James Smith, of Tennessee, who located on sections 26 and 27; he sold to James Shelby, son of ex-Governor Shelby, of Kentucky; he to Ennis Combs; he to Abram Russell; he to B. F. and N. C. Orear; they to George and Ed. J. Orear, and the tract now belongs to George and F. H. Orear. The first marriage of a resident of the place was Miss La Belle Orear, to - -, in the church at Jonesboro. The first children were George Hambleton, son of Ben. F. and Ollie B. Orear, and Zella, daugh- ter of P. E. and Laura P. Orear. George H. was born in 1855. The

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first death was Thomas Orear, son of Ed. J. and Julia E. Orear, in 1862. The first practicing physician was Dr. Fielding Combs, from Kentucky, who is now in California. The first school was taught one-fourth of a mile northeast of the village, by R. H. Jenkins. He had thirty or forty scholars, and his compensation was about $40 per month. The first school house was built at the same place, on land donated by George Orear, in 1865, at a cost of $400. The citizens were taxed to build it.

When the place was first settled there were no roads opened, but there were but few fences. The nearest trading points were Arrow Rock, twelve miles; Glasgow, twelve miles; Cambridge, nine miles; Marshall, ten miles.

MASONIC LODGE.

Tranquillity Lodge, No. 275, A. F. and A. M., was organized January 25, 1868, by J. W. Petty, D. D. G. M. The charter members were B. J. Orear, Robert Willis; Joseph Gerrell, John Dawes, Geo. M. Jameson, F. A. Combs, Wm. R. McLain, M. C. McCarty, A. Jackson and Henry Neff. The first officers were B. J. Orear, R. W. Willis, Joseph Gerrell, A. Jackson, F. A. Combs, W. R. McLain, E. C. McCarty .* The pres- ent officers are: B. J. Orear, M .; C. A. Carthrae, S. W .; Henry Sheark, J. W .; A. J. Allison, Treasurer; J. R. Marshall, Secretary; A. Jackson, S. D .; John Hayes, J. D .; S. S. Dick, Tiler. The lodge meets in a frame hall built in 1874, by E. Ancell, at a cost of $600. Present number of members, twenty-five.

COUNTRY CHURCHES.

FISH CREEK CHURCH.

According to Rev. W. M. Bell, of Miami, and others, the Baptist (Mis- sionary) Church, called Fish Creek, was organized at the residence of James Crosslin, in the year of 1841 or 1842, with the following mem- bers: W. L. Ish, James and John Crosslin, Joseph and Susan Thrailkill, Elias and Nancy Wilhite, Elizabeth Doak, James Hays, Meredith Cross- lin, John Neff, John Netherton, McBride Hays, and perhaps others. The first candidates for baptism were Weston Woolard and Mary Ish. The congregation met first at what was called the "Denny House." In 1848, a frame church, costing about $500, was built. It had a seating capacity of about 200. Its location was on the site of the present church, which is a large frame, and was built in September, 1869, at a cost of about $2,000. The land was donated by John Crosslin. Rev. Bell dedicated the pres- ent house. The pastors of this church have been David Anderson, Abner Gwinn, Thos. Fristoe, Amos Horne, Weston Wallard, J. D. Mur- phy, W. R. McClain, Wm. M. Bell, J. L. Tichnor, J. B. Dodson, B. E. Harl. The present membership is about 125. A large sink-hole, nearly

* Names of office not furnished.

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in front of the church, has been used as a baptismal font, but the congre- gation usually assemble at the creek near by, when the ordinance of bap- tism is to be performed.

UNION CHURCH-PRESBYTERIAN.

This church was located on section 3, township 50, range 19. It was used by the Old School and the Cumberland Presbyterians, and takes its name from that circumstance. The Old School congregation was organ- ized about the year 1837, by Rev. Dr. J. L. Yantis. The orignal mem- bers were Col. Benj. Chambers, the first county clerk, and his family, Mrs. Doak, Mrs. Wilson, and others. The Cumberland congregation was organized about the year 1843. The first members were Rob't Dysart and wife, Ephraim McClain and wife, James Wilhite and his wife and daughter, Carroll W. Ish and wife, Jacob Ish, Parthena Ish, and Thos. A. Ish. The church building was erected in 1844, and dedicated in July of that year by Rev. - Coulter and P. G. Rea. It was a frame, and cost about $1,600. During the civil war it was burned by a negro, it is said, who had stolen the chairs belonging to the church and took that diabolical means of concealing his crime. It is claimed that this was the first frame church ever built in Saline county. The membership of this church has become largely divided between Mt. Horeb and Arrow Rock. The first elders of the Old School congregation were Col. Chambers, Dr. Venable, and Capt. Harberson; of the Cumberland, Jacob Ish, Robert Dysart, and James Wilhite. Jacob Ish was the first Cumberland Presby- terian that ever came to Saline county.

It is much to be regretted that no statistics have been received from . the fine Methodist church near Saline City.

ARROW ROCK TOWNSHIP.

The history of this township would fill a large volume. Its early set- tlement, its prominence for so long in the history of the county, the num- ber of its citizens prominent and leading in state and national affairs, its vast resources and natural wealth, added to the substantial development made of them-all place it among the very first townships, not only in Saline county, but in the state of Missouri.

The famed "Arrow Rock," where the first ferry across the Missouri west of Old Franklin was established, is in the township. Here, too, dwelt some of the most prominent men of the state. Two governors of the great state of Missouri were from this township-Marmaduke, the farmer- statesman, the Cincinnatus of Missouri, the Union-loving old farmer pat- riot who died devoted to the old flag under whose folds he had served,

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and Jackson, the high-minded, talented, courageous southern patriot, who died a victim to his services in the cause of southern rights. Here, too, lived the cabinet-maker's apprentice, the painter-statesman and soldier- George C. Bingham, whose pictures hang high in the galleries of art, and whose services for his country have been of such great value. Then here also lived the old philanthropist, Dr. Sappington, who left a princely sum to place the means of education within the reach of the poorest child in the county, and who seldom rode out through the country without one of his coat pockets filled with blue grass seed, which he scattered far and wide, and thus "set" the land with the abundance of that species of grass, which grows so luxuriantly in all parts of the county. Here, also, lived Wood, and Field, and Smith, and Price, and Hall, and many others who have been identified largely with the interests of the county from the first.

To this township came prominent politicians in the long ago. Col. Benton came often, making his stay with his intimate personal friend, Gov. Marmaduke, and there receiving his adherents and friends. Then Gen. John Miller, John B. Clark, Leonard, Rollins, Price, Doniphan and others made their visits and delivered their speeches to the voters of Arrow Rock.

The finest farms in the state are in Arrow Rock township. Some there are presenting the appearance of English manors. Residences there are in which barons might be proud to dwell. There are here also to be found as much refinement, culture, taste, and as great cordial hos- pitality, good breeding and gentility, as in any land.

The first settler in the township, if he could be called a settler, was the Indian trader Geo. Sibley, who built his log trading house on the bluff, now in the township of Arrow Rock. (See early history). This was either in 1807 or 1808.

Mr. Henry Nave, one of Andrew Jackson's soldiers in the war of 1812, prominently mentioned in the history of the settlement of Cox's bottom, says the first permanent settlements in this township were upon section thirteen, township fifty, range nineteen, by Daniel Thornton, from Ten- nessee, Jesse Cox, from Illinois, the first settler in the county, and Isaac Clark. Mr. Nave remembers that when his party crossed the river in coming to the county, the stock was swum across, and the goods and the people brought over in canoes. The wagons were brought over by placing a canoe under each of the two sides of a wagon. This held the canoes together.

Mr. Nave further states that the first physician was Dr. Sappington; the first minister Frederick B. Leach, who preached in the houses of the settlers; the first school teacher, the Irishman, Ned Mulholland, who taught about fifteen pupils for fifteen dollars a month, and afterward " moved off' to some of the back counties"-went west, "to grow up with

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the country," probably. The first school house was built, one or two miles west of where Thornton lived, by the patrons.

Corn-meal was the only kind of breadstuff used for years. Sometimes it was brayed in a mortar, sometimes grated, and sometimes ground on a " hand mill." At first, deerskin was used for shoes, pants, vest, and over- coats, or hunting shirts. What thread and needles were used were brought by the settlers from their former homes. The great merchant prince, Abram Nave, of Nave, McCord & Co., a son of Henry Nave, when a boy wore a buckskin " slip" and a pair of buckskin moccasins. And these were all the garments he wore for months at a time. Yet he was as well dressed as the most of his companions. Joel Scott, another old settler, adds P. B. Brown, Asa Finley, Benjamin and Joseph Huston, of Virginia, to the list of pioneers, and states that the first religious ser- vices in his neighborhood were held by Thos. Fristoe, a Baptist, in an old log church 250 yards south of Mr. Scott's house, in the woods. The first school was taught on the farm of E. F. Scott, by a Mr. Gregory. The first school house was built in about 1835, two and a half miles northeast of the Scott farm. It was built by the patrons.

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History of Saline County, Missouri, Part 51

Author: Missouri Historical Company, St. Louis, pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: St. Louis, Missouri historical company Number of Pages: 1008

Author: Missouri Historical Company, St. Louis, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: St. Louis, Missouri historical company
Number of Pages: 1008