USA > Missouri > St Charles County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 102
USA > Missouri > Montgomery County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 102
USA > Missouri > Warren County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 102
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The whole of North Missouri was, prior to the year 1818, two years before the organization of the State Government, embraced within the counties of St. Charles and Howard, but new counties were rapidly organized. In 1818 Montgomery county was set off from the county of St. Charles, and it embraced previous to the year 1833, all the territory now constituting Warren county. In January, 1833, the Legislature, with due formality, declared a portion of Mont- gomery county fully designated by metes and bounds, " to be a sep- arate and distinct county, to be known and called Warren county, in honor of Gen. Joseph Warren, who fell at the battle of Bunker Hill." Jacob Groom, of Montgomery county ; Felix Scott, of St. Charles county, and Jessie McDaniel, of Franklin county, were appointed commissioners for the purpose of selecting a seat of justice for the new county.
The first white settlement on what is now the soil of Warren county was made by French trappers and traders at the old Charrette vil- lage, which settlement is said to have been made about the time M. Liguest settled St. Louis, in 1763.
The exact location of this early settlement is now a matter of con- jecture, although the mouth of Charrette creek is generally admitted to have been the place selected by the adventurous Frenchmen for their home. Their rude log cabins were erected immediately on the banks of the Missouri river, whose ever-changing and treacherous current long since washed away all trace of the locality. At this time the hills and valleys of Warren county were an unbroken waste of wild wooded timber, and the Frenchmen established sugar camps along the Charrette and Teuque creeks, and in after years relicts of their annual visits were often found by settlers.
These pioneers were originally sent to this country in the employ of the American Fur Company, but all personal reference as to who
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
they were has been lost. It is claimed, however, by several old resi- dents of the county, that a famous trapper called Indian Phillips, who was well known as late as 1810, was one of the settlers at Charrette. Phillips lived until after the War of 1812, and up to the time of his death used to make occasional visits to the homes of the early American settlers. A man named Choteroau, (Chouteau?), and another called Lozio, were also known as members of this colony of trappers. These three men each secured Spanish grants for large tracts of land, now lo- cated partly in St. Charles and Warren counties, and disposing of their interests about the year 1812, left the country. Flanders Callaway, the son-in-law of Col. Daniel Boone, was the purchaser, and on one of these tracts, located about a mile and a half west of Marthasville, Mr. Callaway died. Generations have passed since the village was en- gulfed in the waters of the Missouri, the records of its organization, the names of its inhabitants and the stories of their trials and privations have become mere legends, yet there can be no question that to these hardy Frenchmen belong the honor of having first discovered and located what has since become a populous and thrifty portion of the State. In no section of Missouri can be found a greater number of beautiful and romantic localities than are to be seen in the valleys of the Femme Osage and Charrette creeks. Nature has certainly been lavish in giving to the rocky gorges and towering hills the wildest aspect of romance. In the days of the early French settlers these creeks and their tributaries were the favorite hunting ground of the colony, and their appropriate names were given to the localities by these early residents who ranged through the forests in quest of game and furs. It was this wild and seclusive country that attracted the attention of Daniel Boone, and it was in the valley of one of these creeks that he quietly and peacefully breathed his last.
It was not until about the year 1795 that stories of the marvelous hunting grounds along the banks of the Missouri began to attract attention in the Eastern States. The wonderful stories told by Lewis and Clark, who made a flat-boat journey down the river in 1804, were looked upon as the glowing creations of a vivid imagination, but the early French settlers, in their trips to the then frontier post of St. Louis, not only corroborated these reports, but were so enthusiastic in their praise of the country as a veritable paradise for the hunter, that adventurous backwoodsmen from Kentucky and Virginia began the immigration that a few years after resulted in bringing into what is now Warren county a colony of men, who, despite the dangers and hardships which are a natural consequence of frontier existence, have
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
left the indelible impress of their rugged and independent characters upon the present generation.
In 1795 the renowned Kentucky hunter and backwoodsman, Col. Daniel Boone, accompanied by his son-in-law, Flanders Callaway, came into the country and established a settlement called Callaway Post, at a point near the present town of Marthasville. This was the first American colony to reach the wilds of what is now Warren county. The fame of Col. Boone, his knowledge of Indian charac- ter and his fearless and daring manner of repulsing the warlike ene- mies of the white settlers, at once attracted further immigration, and additional families began to seek homes among the hills that skirted the Missouri, where Boone and his companions had already entrenched themselves.
In 1803 Anthony Wyatt made his first horseback trip from Ken- tucky. He located the present Wyatt homestead, near Marthasville, and in order to secure it was compelled to return from Kentucky every season for five successive years, until in 1808, he moved to his new home. He returned to Kentucky again, however, was married in 1816, and brought his wife and family effects to his new home on pack horses.
On the first day of January, 1808, Thomas Kennedy, who had served throughout the Revolutionary War as a soldier in the Seventh Virginia regiment, crossed the Mississippi river where Alton, Ill., is located, and pushed forward to the wilds of Warren county, to which locality he had been attracted by the wonderful tales of settlers who had gone as far west as St. Louis, and returned to the eastern part of the country. Maj. Kennedy escaped from his regiment soon after the battle of Briar Hill, the regiment, through the base treachery of its commander, having been surrendered to the British. He was a rigid, resolute man, possessing all the traits of character that constitute the genuine frontiersman, and in addition to these qualifications, he was also generously endowed with practical good sense. His varied expe- riences at once made him a valuable acquisition to the small group of adventurous settlers, and in consequence he immediately took a lead- ing and active part in all their plans for the safety and welfare of the people.
In the spring of 1811 the Indians had become quite hostile. Rumors of contemplated raids by the dusky sons of the forest impelled the settlers to provide adequate defense in case of attack, and in that year a fort and stockade was erected on the Kennedy clearing. This fort remained standing for four years, or until after the War of 1812, when
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
it was torn down. It stood exactly where Judge Royal J. Kennedy's present residence is located, on the State road, about one and a half miles south-east of Wright City. At this time there were living in the immediate vicinity of Kennedy's stockade, the following persons, all of whom had come into that section previous to 1810, and who also assisted in erecting the fort : Samuel Gibson, a South Carolinian ; Daniel McCoy and David Boyd, Kentuckians, and Anthony Keller, a Pennsylvania Dutchman.
During the year 1810, quite a number of additional settlers came into the country. On Indian Camp creek, Nathan Cleaver erected his pioneer cabin on the farm since owned by William T. Carter ; and James Dickson settled on the same stream, on the Robert Pendleton place.
In 1811 Lawrence Sitton settled on the place afterwards known as the Nimrod Darrell farm. Hugh Liles and Joshua James settled on Peruque creek, above Kennedy's Post, and John Shrum made his house on Indian creek, at the place since known as the home of Sam- uel Williams.
At the beginning of the year 1812 the number of white settlers had grown quite extensively. There were many new families scattered about the several posts, among whom may be mentioned Benjamin Cooper and family, who, however, had previously settled in 1807, on Hancock's Bottom, and who subsequently removed to the vicinity of South Island.
Henry and David Bryan located on Teuque creek, near Marthasville. The Bryans were men of character, and reared large families, several descendants of whom are now living in the county. William T. Lamme, whose wife was a daughter of Col. Flanders Callaway and a grand-daughter of Daniel Boone, settled on the same creek, lower down the stream, and had descendants who lived for many years in that vicinity. William and Benjamin Hancock settled in the neigh- borhood of Marthasville, in what is now known as Hancock's Bottom. William Logan settled on Teuque creek, just above the Bryan settle- ment, where he continued to reside for many years, and reared a large family. He afterwards removed to Teuque Prairie, where his widow yet resides. His brothers, Hugh, Alexander and Henry Logan, settled a year or two later west of the present site of Marthasville. Jonathan Bryan settled near Femme Osage, in St. Charles county. Absalom Hayes, John Wyatt, William Johnson, Jonathan Davis, William Thurman, and several others settled in the south-eastern por- tion of the county, about the close of the War of 1812.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
About this date the settlers began to think of organization. The posts were gradually filling up with enterprising people, who soon foresaw the necessity of such action. This matter was discussed for three or four years, the result being that in 1818 the town of Pinck- ney, on the Missouri river, became the county seat of Montgomery county. Primitive and unpretentious public buildings were erected, and the ambitious little village started fairly upon what indicated a career of great promise. At the end of six years, however, the population had so rapidly increased that a more central location was demanded, and the seat of justice was removed to Lewiston, in 1824.
Previous to this time, however, the intrepid emigrants had pene- trated still further into the wilderness, and a settlement had been made at Loutre Island as early as the year 1818. Col. Ben Cooper, who was afterward conspicuous in the settlement and organization of Howard county, resided at this point. He moved away in 1820. The family of Irvine Pittman and two families by the name of Talbot remained at Loutre Island and formed the nucleus of what afterward became a flourishing colony. Quite a number of the descendants of the families are yet residing in Montgomery county.
The first church society ever organized in this region was effected by the Baptists. Meetings were held in the house of Flanders Callaway, the society being known as Friendship Church.
. During the stormy and eventful period of the War of 1812, although far removed from the active scene of operations, the sparsely settled country along the Missouri river did not escape the ravages of war. The posts were constantly harassed by marauding bands of Indians, and serious losses resulted from their raids upon the live stock and other property of the settlers. Among those who had made their homes on the Charrette and in that vicinity, including the Boone family and the scattering homesteads near Marthasville, were men who thoroughly understood the methods of Indian warfare. Being brave, watchful and always ready to meet and repulse the enemy when at- tacked, the Indians learned to respect and fear the gallant band led by Col. Boone, whose reputation had preceded him from the wilds of Kentucky.
Following the close of hostilities, the settlers for a period of about three years enjoyed comparative immunity from their former enemies, and while ever watchful, a feeling of fancied security began to assert itself. From this dream of a peaceful and quiet existence they were rudely awakened in May, 1818, when there occurred an event
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
that brought death and sorrow to the colonists, and opened afresh the animosities that had for a time remained dormant.
Some time previous to the opening of 1818 three brothers by the name of Ramsey had settled in the vicinity of Callaway's Fort.
Robert Ramsey built his cabin on the outskirts of the settlement, and, as he supposed, within easy call should he require the assistance of his neighbors in time of danger. On a bright morning in May, while the family were attending to their customary home duties, they were surprised by a party of Indians, who at once opened a murderous fire upon the defenseless family. In attempting to gain the friendly shelter of the cabin home, three of the children were killed and scalped, Mrs. Ramsey was mortally wounded, and Ram- sey himself received one or more serious wounds at the hands of the attacking party. There remained the boys of the family who made their way to the house of their uncle, William Ramsey, who lived on the premises, afterwards the home of ex-Sheriff Howard, where they made known the horrible details of the attack. The heavy firing had heen heard by the settlers, who became alarmed, and at once joined in an organized pursuit of the Indians. Volunteers came from the neighboring forts at Callaway's, Kennedy's and Loutre Lick, and several desperate engagements were had between the settlers and the destroyers of the Ramsey family. In one of the skirmishes Capt. James Callaway, of Callaway's Fort, in honor of whom Callaway county was named, was, with several of his companions, captured by the red- skins, and the entire party were afterwards horribly tortured and put to death near the fort on Loutre Lick. [See former account. ]
This disastrous and distressing incident occurred two years pre- vious to the adoption of a State government, which event took place in 1820. Immigration had been very rapid. The curling smoke arising from the primitive chimneys of the settlers' cabins could be seen upon all sides, and many of these pioneer residences are yet to be readily found in the vicinity of all the posts on the Missouri river and the various clear and beautiful creeks that empty into that turbid stream.
The history of any country is incomplete without reference to the established or main highways, over which the transportation of the country is carried on. The famed Southern turnpikes, the popular road from which travelers never turn without regret, had its counter- part in what became known as the Boone's Lick road, a portion of which is the main street of Warrenton. Over this highway, which was the main artery of travel, came the lumbering and veritable
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
"slow coach," with its old-fashioned mail pouch, to allay the ex- pectancy of the waiting pioneers. Those were the days when to be proprietor of a roadside inn was to be honored indeed. The old- fashioned fire-place, heaped up with crackling and cheery logs - the bar, behind which was dispensed a quality of beverages long since out of date - the genial face of the landlord, and the unpretentious yet wholesome surroundings of the tavern, made up a grand ensemble, the like of which is rapidly disappearing before the onward and resistless march of steam transportation.
In these early days within the borders of Warren county, Capt. Roger Taylor kept tavern on the Boone's Lick and was renowned as a genial, social landlord. His house was in 1816 the home of Thomas Oden. A trip over the Boone's Lick road in those days meant long drives, slow time, many discomforts, but a hearty welcome when the autocrat of the country inn stood in his door, and with beaming countenance invited the belated traveler to enter and partake of the venison steak and wild turkey roasts, that could then be secured in great plenty.
PHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.
Included in the area of Warren county are 396 square miles. In the early times, before the settlers began to clear away the timber, seven-tenths of the county consisted of heavily wooded land, but the space now clear and under cultivation comprises about one-half the total area.
In the southern section of the county, bordering on the Missouri river, are thousands of acres of rich bottom land, and here are located the best paying and most valuable farms, although in the valleys of the various creeks that flow through the county there are also many small but productive farms. The northern part of the county contains more open land than any other section, which fact is the re- sult of the settler's ax.
Walnut, white oak and other valuable timber abounds, although Eastern buyers have for years been purchasing all that was marketa- ble.
The principal streams are the Charrette which flows in a southerly direction, emptying into the Missouri river near Marthasville. The " Dry fork " of Charrette creek has its source in Elkhorn township. There are also Camp Branch and Indian Camp creek, both in the northern part of the county ; Peruque creek, Smith's, Teuque and Lost creeks are streams that generally supply abundance of water.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
From a lecture delivered by Prof. John H. Frick, of the Central Wesleyan College at Warrenton, we extract the following regarding the physical and geological character of the territory comprising the county. Referring to the Trenton lime stone found on Lost creek in Pinckney township, the Professor said :
Perhaps the most interesting of these beds is the saccharoidal sandstone.
Its total thickness in the county is estimated to be about 130 feet ; on Teuque creek it is 127 feet thick. Wherever it is well developed it affords charming scenery, rising in perpendicular cliffs, with here and there a green cedar, and covered with mosses, lichens and ferns which hang down from above in rich green festoons. Some places on Charrette the cedars are so numerous and the scenery so picturesque as to remind one of mountain scenery. Many of the landscapes on these creeks, with their scalloped hills and bluffs, covered with the tints of a rich autumn foliage, deserve to be put upon canvas by the skillful hands of some of our landscape painters. But to return to the sandstone. At the top it is usually white, with thin streaks of green, fine grained and quite soft. Lower down we find it brown, sometimes interstratified with white and brown, sometimes tinted with pink. When examined with a lens, we find that it consists of fine grains of quartz, loosely cemented together, resembling a mass of roundish, smooth, shining little pearls. That containing iron is vari- ously colored, and more firmly cemented together.
In some places it has a seam of black which probably contains black oxide of manganese. Springs are often found at its base, and on Lost creek, under an overhanging ledge saltpetre is found. Caves are also found in the lower part. Not far from Hopewell, on Dry fork of Charrette, there is quite a large one.
Two miles north of Marthasville there is a somewhat peculiar cave, called the " Devil's Boot." Its entrance from the top of the ground is about twenty-five feet across, nearly circular, and about thirty feet deep. This is the leg of the boot. Considerable debris has accumu- lated in the " heel," where myself and class two weeks ago found flow- ers and ferns growing in rich luxuriance. A large chamber extends to- wards the northeast for about 150 feet, about eight feet high in the middle at the entrance, or at what we might call the instep, and increasing in width and height to the further end where it is about twenty-five feet high and sixty feet wide.
On Lost creek, in a sort of side canon, called the " Devil's Den Hollow," we find a sort of columnar structure, near the top. These columns are from one to four feet long, perpendicular to the strata, and are from four inches to more than a foot in thickness. To what cause these columns owe their origin we are as yet unable to say, but shall try to ascertain by future investigations.
The true coal measures in this county are of quite limited extent. There is a small area in the neighborhood of Pendleton. A six inch vein of coal was found by digging a well forty-five feet deep. The
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
water reached was so strongly impregnated with sulphur that it was unfit for use. There are several other small areas containing coal in this county. One in the neighborhood of Lipstadt, another five or six miles north-east of Warrenton, on Big creek, called the " Hines Bank," and in the northern part of the county Mr. F. H. Drunert has a coal mine. At the Hines Bank the coal is said to be about 23 feet thick, six feet being left in the bottom on account of trouble in draining, ten feet being worked out, and seven feet left overhead to support the clay and gravel above, some of which has caved in. The coal is very much disturbed, pitching at all angles and in all direct- ions. It is contained in a depression in the encrinital limestone, one hundred feet wide along the Hickory branch, which runs into Big creek. According to an analysis made by Mr. Chauvenet, this coal contains 7.44 per cent of sulphur and iron, and 45.75 per cent of fixed carbon, the remainder being ash, volatile matter and water. This bank has been worked, I have been told, for a good many years, and considerable quantities have been taken out for the supply of the neighborhood. The last time I was there one man was mining and the coal was drawn up an inclined track by a single mule.
Mr. Drunert's coal bank is a short distance west of his house on Rocky branch. The coal is found under a bed of steatite or soap- stone, and has slate or jet-coal at the bottom. It, like the other de- posit, is in a depression of the encrinital limestone, and is, therefore, of limited extent. Other small deposits occur near the heads of small branches running into Big creek. In the Pendleton area on the head of Lost creek, some valuable beds of clay are found. The clays are drab, blue and purple, and one of the beds has been leased by Dix- on & Young, a St. Louis firm, for ten years. They are mining it and shipping it to St.Louis to be used in the arts. It is said to make excellent fire bricks and glass pots. The blue is said to be good pottery clay. There is a similar bed on a ravine of Camp creek. It occupies a val- ley in the encrinital limestone about 100 feet wide. There is also another bed of clay of purple and buff color, on the head of Smith's creek, which may yet prove to be valuabe in the economical arts.
There are several stone quarries along the Charrette valley, and in other portions of the county adjacent to the Missouri river. With the completion of a railway along the north bank of that stream, these stone beds could be readily utilized and become very valuable.
CHAPTER II. PIONEER LIFE AND EARLY COURTS.
First Session of the County and Circuit Courts - The Proceedings - Temporary Seat of Justice - Tilman Cullom - The First Sheriff - A Cowhide Fight.
As in every new and untried country, the early settlers of Warren county took no pains to preserve or record facts that might be of his- torical value. In locating their homes, clearing off the timber, pro- viding shelter for their families and stock, they had no time to consider that perhaps in the future their trials and privations and the incidents of their every-day life might become matters of intense interest to their descendants. With few exceptions, these early com- ers were poor, and extremely anxious to lift themselves out of a position that had for its chief recommendation (if so it can be termed) the most laborious toil, without the fullest recompense.
Living away from the bustle and strife of commerce, free from the encroachments of pride, vanity and envy, and bounds in ties of the closest sympathy with the few neighbors they had, their life was, despite the hardships incident thereto, a very happy one. Every man was put upon his honor, and his relations with his scattering neigh- bors were simply a test of genuine manhood.
It is difficult to realize a more perfect illustration of real genuine harmony of ideas, than is presented in the daily relations of a pioneer settlement. Without law, save the law of fair and upright conduct, shut out from the world's distractions and inconsistencies, these peo- ple were practically an isolated colony, where no man's hand was raised against his neighbor, but where, on the other hand, every effort was made to protect the interest and foster the friendship of each other. To lend a helping hand when required, to be ever ready to assist in time of sickness or danger, was the creed of the early pio- neers, and to this broad and charitable doctrine the closest adherence was loyally given.
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