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 25

Author: National Historical Company (St. Louis, Mo.)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis, National Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1166

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 25
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 25
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 25

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 ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

War and taken to England, where he was kept in prison one year. When he returned he found all his property advertised for sale, his friends supposing him dead.

Daniel Iman and his wife, who maiden name was Barbara Alkire, settled in St. Charles in 1818. They had nine children : Washington, Adam, Isaac, Daniel, Henry, Solomon, Katy, Mary and Mahala. Washington married Louisa Griggs. Adam was married first to Nancy Hancock, and after her death, he married Virginia Thornhill. Dan- iel was married first to Elizabeth Hancock, second to Martha A. Mc- Cutcheon, and third to Ann Brittle. Mary married John Urf, and Mahala married Benjamin H. Hancock.

· John Johnson, of England, settled in Albemarle county, Va., at a very early date. He had two sons, Bailey and James. Bailey married a Miss Moreland, and they had nine children : Beall, Susan W., Bailey, Jr., John, Pinckard, Smith, George, Charles and Presley. Bailey and Charles were the only ones who left Virginia. George was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He married Elizabeth Blackmore, of Virginia, and they had nine children : Elizabeth, Hannah, Catha- rine, Nancy, Charles, Edward, George, Bailey and Jemima. Nancy, Edward, Catharine and Jemima died in childhood, in Virginia. Charles was married twice, first to Rachel Woodward, and second to Harriet Ficklin, both of Virginia. By his first wife he had three children, and by the second four. In 1836 he bought Nathan Boone's farm and settled in St. Charles county, Mo., but in 1846 he removed to Illinois. Elizabeth married Rodman Kenner, who settled in St. Charles county in 1834. Hannah married Joseph B. Stallard, who settled in St. Charles county in 1835. George S. married Mrs. Eliza A. Hunter, whose maiden name was Gautkins. She was a daughter of Edward Gautkins and Mary Oty, of Bedford county, Va. Bailey was mar- ried twice, first to Catharine Forshea, and after her death to Nancy Campbell.

. In 1834, Rodman Kenner, of Virginia, came to Missouri, and set- tled near Missouriton, on Darst's Bottom, where he lived one year, and then moved out to the Boone's Lick road and opened a hotel where the town of Pauldingville now stands. Mr. Kenner was a first-class landlord, and his house became a noted resort during the palmy days of staging on the Boone's Lick road. Col. Thomas H. Benton and many other well known and leading men of earlier times often stopped there; and, in fact, no one ever thought of passing' Kenner's without taking a meal or sleeping one night in his excellent beds. Travelers always had a good time there, and would travel

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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

hard two or three days in order to reach the house in time to stay all night. Mr. Kenner made a fortune, and died in June, 1876, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. (See "Anecdotes and Adven- tures.")

Walter Stallard and wife, Hannah Pitts, were both of Virginia. Their son, Randolph, married Mary Bullett, of Culpeper county, Va., and they had seven children: Susan, Maria, Lucy, Thomas, Joseph B., Randolph and Harrison. Joseph B. was a soldier in the War of 1812. He married Hannah Johnson, and settled in St. Charles in 1836. They had seven children : Maria L., Mary E., Amanda M., Mortimer, Adelia, Benjamin H. and George R., who died young. Mary E. married B. H. Boone ; Maria L. married J. C. Luckett ; Amanda M., A. S. Clinton ; Adelia, Col. Thomas Moore, and Morti- mer, Amy Craig.

AUGUSTA.

The town of Augusta is located on the Missouri river, in Femme Osage township. The town was originally called Mount Pleasant, and was laid out in 1836 by Leonard Harold, a Pennsylvania Dutch- man, who came to the locality immediately after the War of 1812, through which he had served as a soldier. The population is largely German, the people being exceedingly thrifty and prosperous. The town has no railroad communication, the shipping business being done by river. Up to 1872 Augusta had a very fine landing under the hills that front the Missouri, but during that year the river changed its current, filled in the main channel opposite the town, and the place became practically shut off from the stream, so that the channel is now on the opposite extreme of the bottom land, on the Franklin county side. The landing is now twelve miles down the river, from which point all supplies are hauled by wagon. In the halcyon days of the town the warehouse of Frederick Wencker was the general headquar- ters for all trading, and he was the leading spirit of the place.

Harold was for many years monarch of all he surveyed, living alone on the village site. In 1835 the emigration of Germans began, and among the first to locate there were Louis Aversman, Conrad Hospers, William Hospers and Louis Hospers.

In 1837 Julius and Conrad Mallinckrodt came from Westphalia, Germany, and located about one mile west of Augusta. The elder brother, Julius, shortly afterward platted and laid out the town of Dartmund, which he named for his native city in Germany. The place was killed in its infancy ; in fact, soon after Mr. Mallinckrodt

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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

had sold many of the town lots, and before building operations began, the ever changing waters of the Missouri swept around to the oppo- site side of the broad bottom lands and left the village without a river front. This unfortunate circumstance nipped the embryo city in the bud, and the property again came into the possession of its original owner. The property platted as Dartmund is about one mile west of Augusta, in the low lands formed by a creek emptying into the Mis- souri.

Conrad Mallinckrodt, who is yet alive, taught the first public school ever opened in St. Charles county. The school was in Augusta. Mr. Mallinckrodt is a highly educated and intelligent man, whose influence and ability has long been acknowledged wherever he is known. He is an accomplished civil engineer and surveyor, and through his efforts many of the best turnpike roads in the county were laid out and completed. He also perfected the final village plat of Augusta in 1858. Among the achievements of his long and useful career, and to which he refers with pardonable pride, is the fact that under his tuition and careful instruction Judge Arnold Krekel, of the United States Circuit Court at Kansas City, acquired the education that has so distinguished him in his position as a scholar, a juror, and a valuable member of society.

In 1840 it was discovered that the industry of wine growing could be made a lucrative one, and for about ten years many systematic trials were made to determine the adaptability of the soil for that pur- pose. In 1850 regularly staked vineyards began to make their ap- pearance, and now the business has become one of the leading in- dustries of the community. The wine product is very large, and great pains have been taken to establish and maintain a grade of purity not excelled among the native wine growers of the country. Large quantities are yearly shipped to Chicago and St. Louis, and yet the business may be said to be in its infancy.

In 1856, while the temperance laws were being enforced in the State, a number of German residents of Augusta, who found it impos- sible without interruption to enjoy themselves around the wine table in the manner common to their native land, took advantage of an ice blocade in the river to organize a musical and social society, which has since become one of the most prosperous associations of its character in the West. They erected a tent on the ice, and here over the muddy waters of the Missouri, on January 13, 1856, organized the " Augusta Harmonie Verein." The following thirteen comprised the original membership: John Fuhr, Frederick Wencker, Ferdinand

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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

Koch, Charles F. Tieman, Berthold Hoffman, Henry Vogt, Eberhard Fuhr, George H. Mindrop, Fritz Brinckmeyer, Bernard Folleilius, Julius Heldenberg, Dr. C. L. Gerling and John Koch. For a long time the society was compelled to use a flat boat on the river as a place of meeting, and for twelve years it existed without a charter. However, in 1867, the association was incorporated under the State law, still preserving its original name. In 1869 a plat of land was purchased in an eligible location in the town, and a hall was erected at a cost of $2,000.

The society was formed for the purposes of social intercourse, the culture of vocal and instrumental music, and also to afford its mem- bers opportunities for study and instruction, through the medium of a carefully selected library, which now contains nearly three thousand volumes. The society is, and always has been, exceedingly pros- perous. It has come to embrace all the leading German residents of the vicinity. Its entertainments are of a very high order of merit, the recurring summer night musicales, and the occasional hops during the long winter evenings being red-letter events in the history of the town.

Augusta has its complement of churches, excellent schools, fine society, and being populated by an industrious class of people, its isolation from railroad communication is compensated in the spirit of harmony and content that seems to pervade among its residents.

FEMME OSAGE POST-OFFICE.

The location of Femme Osage village is quite romantic. The small collection of houses nestled among the trees in the valley of the Femme Osage creek, surrounded by high, wooded hills, gives to the place the appearance of some old Swiss village, and renders it especially attractive to the traveler who loves the wild and pictur- esque beauties of nature. A short distance from the little cluster of houses is located the old stone house erected by Nathan Boone, in which his renowned father, Col. Daniel Boone, passed his latter days.

On the side of a hill, about 200 yards from the main road, which winds along the crooked banks of the clear and quiet stream, stands an old weather-beaten and moss-covered Evangelical Church. It is built of stone in a primitive style of architecture, and is said to be one of the oldest structures in the county.

A blacksmith and wagon shop, a shoe shop and one small general store, comprise all the business houses of the place, most of the trading being done at Augusta, distant five miles. To the valley of the Femme

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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

Osage is attached special interest, for along this stream, and over the hills which girdle it, were favorite haunts of the great hunter Boone, who came to the locality before the Indians took their departure, and who must have here found a perfect fulfillment of his idea of rugged and natural wildness and solitude.

The village of Femme Osage can not become a large and thriving town, owing to its location, but the natural beauties surrounding it, and the interesting historical reminiscences of its earlier settlers, will ever attract and please the historian and antiquarian.

PLEASANT HILL M. E. CHURCH SOUTH.

This church, in Darst's Bottom, was organized in 1856, and a brick church was built the same year, at a cost of $3,000. The constituent members were D. H. Darst, W. W. Parsons, P. Ashy, Emily Schoat, Phobe Parsons and John Frazier. The present membership num- bers 12. The names of the pastors who have served this congregation at different times are : Revs. B. H. Spencer, J. H. Prichett, H. Brown, Bro. Loving, P. Vandiver, Henry Roy, S. S. Woody and W. A. Jones. There are 30 scholars in the Sunday-school, the superintendent being George L. D. Keller.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

JAMES BIGELOW

(Farmer and Stock-raiser, Justice of the Peace and Attorney in Justices' Courts, Post-office, Augusta).

'Squire Bigelow, a large land-holder and leading farmer and stock- raiser of this county, is also a man of prominence in public affairs in his part of the county. He has held the office of justice of the peace for over 20 years, and also does considerable practice as an attorney in justices' courts. His long experience as a magistrate and his thor- ough familiarity with the laws germane to justice's jurisdiction and practice, as well as his sterling good sense and judgment and influence and force as an advocate, render him a representative in courts of this class by those who have causes pending, of more than ordinary value. Indeed, taking these circumstances into consideration, united with the just influence he has by reason of his long residence, thorough ac- quaintance and high standing in this part of the county, it will be safe to say that he makes a better and more successful attorney than the average of lawyers in the circuit courts, for leading and prominent lawyers care but little for justices' practice, and therefore soon be-

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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

come rusty in it, like an advanced professor in a college becomes rusty in the elementary branches ; whilst the lawyers who are anxious for practice in justices' courts are generally men too wooden-headed to hold a place in the circuit court, and therefore incapable of learning or doing anything anywhere. A good level-headed justice of the peace of any considerable experience can knock such attorneys out of time every round in a magistrate's court, or anywhere else for that matter, where good common sense counts for anything. The 'Squire has a good practice in this department of the law, and has established an enviable reputation as a competent drawer of papers and tryer of cases in court. His farm contains 930 acres, or rather he has that much land, of which the homestead includes 320 acres. His place is well improved and he is independent. He was born in St. Charles county April 22, 1822, and was a son of Moses and Parthenia (Bryan ) Bigelow, his father from Pennsylvania, but his mother from Kentucky. They were married in St. Charles county, the father having come here in 1820, and the mother two years before, at the age of 7 years. The father served for over 20 years as justice of the peace, and died in 1864, aged 77. The 'Squire was reared on his father's farm, and has never been out of the State except once, when he walked over the bridge at St. Louis, just in order to say that he had traveled abroad and seen something of the world. He has found St. Charles county, however, good enough for him and proposes to spend the rest of his days here. He was married in 1845 to Miss Elizabeth M. Hopkins, formerly of Virginia. She was taken from him by death, however, some years afterwards, leaving two children, George H. and Ella, the wife of Benjamin Silvy. Both of the children by his first wife now reside in Henry county. To his second wife, formerly Miss Amanda Hopkins, he was married February 20, 1861. She was a sister to his first wife, and is also deceased. She left three chil- dren, Sarah M., Thomas M. and Emma. His present wife was a Miss Malinda A. Callaway before her marriage, a daughter of William B. Callaway, one of the early settlers of St. Charles county. They were married at St. Louis December 18, 1871. The 'Squire and Mrs. Bigelow, his present wife, have five children, Viola, Oleta, Morgan, Dale (a daughter) and Marvin M. He and wife are both church members, he of the M. E. Church and she of the Presbyterian denom- ination. He is also a member of the Masonic order.

THEODOR BORBERG

(Vintager, Farmer and Justice of the Peace, New Melle) .

Dr. Theodor Borberg, the father of the subject of this sketch, was of one of the better untitled families of Hesse Darmstadt, and before coming to this country was a prominent druggist of Nidda and also mayor of that city. His wife, whose maiden name was Eliza Grascurth, was of a well respected family of Bavaria. They came to America in 1857, and located in St. Charles county, where Dr. Borberg was engaged in the practice of his profession among his German-American

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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

neighbors until his death. He died here in 1877. His wife preceded him to the grave by seven years. There are two others of their chil- dren living besides Theodor, Jr., the subject of this sketch. Theodor Borberg, Jr., was born at Nidda, Germany, October 21, 1838. He was, therefore, 19 years of age when he came to this country with his parents in 1857. He was educated in Germany and also served an apprenticeship of three years under a merchant at Giessen, as is the custom in that country for young men to do who expect to make merchants of themselves. After coming to this country he clerked in a store in Warren county, this State, for some four years. He then enlisted in the Union service July, 1861, in Co. B, Third Missouri infantry, for three years, taking part in the battles of Pea Ridge, Vicksburg, Jackson, Miss., and numerous others. After the war he resumed clerking, which he followed until 1867, when he engaged in grape growing and making wine, and also in farming. He has ever since continued in these pursuits. For several years he held the office of constable and now is serving his second term as justice of the peace. In 1868 he was married to Miss Emma Kruse, a daughter of Julius H. and Minnie Kruse. They have two children living : Alma E. and Eugene Julius. Theodor is deceased.

JOHN B. COSHOW

(Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Hamburg).

Mr. Coshow's father, a pioneer settler of Missouri and a gallant old Indian fighter in the early days of this State, a companion in arms with and a friend of Daniel Boone, Callaway, Beshears and Dodge, the path- finders for civilization in this then wild and weird region, came to St. Charles county from Kentucky in 1799 in company with his mother and step-father, Jonathan Bryan, his father having been killed by In- dians. at the head of the Kentucky river during Armour's campaign, when J. B. Coshow's father was but nine years old. This family were among the first who settled in this county. Mr. Bryan saw much hard service in the early Indian wars of that period, and it was his courage and his industry that contributed to drive away the Indians and clear away the forests so that this might be the abode of a prosperous, popu- lous and enlightened people. He lived to a good old age and reared a worthy family of children. Mr. C. finally yielded his body to the earth again and his immortal part to heaven in 1866. He was mar- ried in this county in 1813 to Miss Elizabeth Zumwalt, formerly of Virginia. They reared three children, all of whom are living. Of these John B. Coshow, the subject of this sketch, was born in this county October 5, 1819. He was reared in those early days to hard work on a farm, and had little school advantages. Mr. Coshow has followed farming continuously from youth, and has become well- to-do in life. He has 350 acres of good land, 300 of which are well improved. He was married to Miss Arthusie Bowen in 1843. She died in 1866, leaving four children, all of whom are living: William T., Mary E., John A. and Teny M.

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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

HAMPSON S. CLAY, M. D.

(Physician and Surgeon, Augusta).

Dr. Clay is a native Missourian, born in the vicinity of Augusta, May 4, 1848. His father was Matthew A. Clay, also born and reared in this county, and his mother a Miss Amanda Miller, originally from Rap- pahannock county, Va., but reared in St. Charles county, this State. Mr. Clay's grandfather located in this county from Ireland in 1800, and Matthew A. Clay, his son, was born and reared in the same house where the subject of this sketch was born and now resides. The farm is the old Clay homestead settled by the grandfather about the begin- ning of the present century. Matthew A. Clay became a very success- ful farmer and the owner of a number of slaves. At one time he was one of the leading tax-payers of the county, and, indeed, was in the midst of a successful career at the time of his death, in the summer of 1860, being then in the very meridian of life. Dr. Clay was the first son in a family of five children, his younger brother, James M., being now a resident of Pike county. The Doctor was educated at the St. Charles public schools and at Westminster College, and later he began the study of medicine under Dr. John S. Moore, of St. Louis, and afterwards took a regular course at the Missouri Medical College, where he graduated with the highest honors of his class, in 1873. He then located on Darst Bottom in this county and engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1881 he removed to Augusta, having previously, however, been in practice in this vicinity. He has built up a large practice and has been very successful in his profession, both in the treatment of cases and in a material point of view. April 14, 1874, Dr. Clay was married to Miss Celia Stumpf, of this county, and a lady of superior intelligence and culture. She was educated at Lindenwood College. February 18, 1879, Dr. Clay had the misfortune to lose his wife, who passed quietly away from this world of care and sorrow after a long and painful illness. The Doctor is a member of the Au- gusta Harmonie Society.

JAMES P. CRAIG

(Farmer and Trader, Post-office, Schleursburg, Mo.).

Mr. Craig's parents, Parkerson and Isabella, were born, raised and married near Berryville in Clark county, Va. The father was born June 10, 1808, and the mother December 23, 1820. They were mar- ried November 9, 1837, and moved to Missouri in November, 1843. Settling on a farm they bought on Femme Osage creek, they lived there respected by all, and reared a family of six sons and one daughter. The father died on his farm March 2, 1875 ; the mother died March 19, 1877. Their oldest son, Josiah Craig, married Miss Mary E. Marsh and is living on a farm in this county. The subject of this sketch is the second son. John W., the third son, married Miss Missouri A.

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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

Livergood of this county, and is now a farmer in Henry county. Craven T., the fourth son, is unmarried and a farmer, living on the farm, and on which he was born. Lewis B., the fifth son, is a graduate of medicine and surgery of the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, Mo. He is practicing his profession in Salem, Dent county, Mo. He is a prosperous young physician and is one of the best skilled surgeons in Southwest Missouri. He married Miss Drusa J. Roberts, of Salem, Mo. Eben C. Craig, the sixth son, is unmarried and is living on the farm with his brother, C. T., of which they are owners. Emily J., the only sister, is living with her brothers on the old homestead ; she is an in- telligent and amiable young lady and has a host of friends. The brothers and sister, like their parents, are highly respected by the better class, and are known by their acquaintances as genuine Virginia stock, that ask for nothing but what is right and submit to nothing that is wrong. James P. Craig, the subject of this sketch, has a good education and has a thorough knowledge of business, as he is a gradu- ate of a commercial college in St. Louis. He subsequently studied law two years, but afterwards gave it up ; he is now a notary public, farmer, etc. His opinion on matters of State are not to be despised and he says he always was, is now, and ever will be a Democrat, if there's none left but himself, as he believes the principles of Democ- racy the only guarantee of a just and honest government.

HERMAN C. DAMMANN

(Dealer in General Merchandise, Augusta).

Born in the State of New York October 10, 1852, Mr. Dammann was the son of William Dammann and Frederike ( Berger) Dammann, both formerly of Germany. The same year of his birth the family re- moved to St. Louis, where the father was engaged in business for a number of years, or until his death, which occurred in 1864. The same year the mother with her family of children removed to Augusta, in this county, where Herman C. grew up and learned the carpenter's trade. After working two years at his trade young Dammann ob- tained a clerkship in a store, and followed clerking here for a number of years. In 1881 Mr. Dammann commenced business for himself, and bought out his old employer. He has since been in business on his own account. Mr. Dammann has a good store, em- bracing a large and well selected stock of general merchandise. He is doing an excellent business. Mr. Dammann is still unmarried, but keeps house, his mother having charge of the home affairs. He is a member of the Harmonie Society, and is quite a popular young man, and has a liberal patronage.

ERNST DIECKMANN

(Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Femme Osage).

Among the substantial farmers and well-respected citizens of Femme Osage township is the subject of the present sketch. Mr. Dieckmann

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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.

was born in this county February 6, 1840. His father was John Dieckmann, who came here from Germany in an early day. The father was a farmer by occupation, and died in 1857. The mother, whose maiden name was Johanna F. Arms, also from Germany, died in 1876. They had eight children, seven of whom are living. Ernst Dieckmann received a good ordinary common-school education as he grew up, and being reared on a farm very naturally became a farmer by occupation. He has since followed farming, and has nearly 400 acres of land. December 3, 1863, he was married to Miss Caroline Filling, a daughter of Louis and Kate Filling, formerly of Germany. Seven children are the fruits of their married life : Oliver, Lavenia, Paulina, Arthur, Ida, Henry and Emma. Ella is deceased.

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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 25

Author: National Historical Company (St. Louis, Mo.) Publication date: 1885 Publisher: St. Louis, National Historical Company Number of Pages: 1166

Author: National Historical Company (St. Louis, Mo.)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis, National Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1166