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 30
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 30
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 30
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JOSEPH B. TIMBERLAKE (Farmer, Post-office, Black Walnut).
Mr. Timberlake's parents were Benjamin E. and Eliza M. (Over- street ) Timberlake, his mother from Virginia, but his father from Kentucky. They settled in St. Charles county from Kentucky in 1835. The father was a stone mason by trade, and died here in 1844. The mother died in 1881. They had a family of three children, of whom Joseph B. was the second. He was born in Femme Osage township
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February 17, 1840. He was reared to a farm life, and received a good common-school education. Mr. Timberlake remained at home with his mother and family until after his marriage. He was married in 1879, to Miss Ellen A. McKnight, a daughter of Capt. D. G. McKnight, of this county. Capt. McKnight died in 1867. Mr. Timberlake has been engaged in farming from boyhood, and is still following that occupation. He is a man of character and intelligence, and is well respected in the community. Mr. and Mrs. T. have but one child, Joseph W. B. Their other child, Eugenie, died at a tender age. Mr. Timberlake now resides in Portage. township.
BENJAMIN F. KEEN
(Farmer, Post-office, St. Charles).
Benjamin Franklin Keen was born on his father's homestead in this county, July 13, 1859. He was the fifth in a family of ten children of Francis and Sarah Keen, who have long been residents of this county. He was reared on his father's farm, and educated at Lincoln Institute, in Jefferson City. After concluding his course at that institution he returned home to his father's farm, and continued to make his home with his parents until after his marriage. He was married in 1882 to Minnie Allen, of Wright City. They have one child, Benjamin F., Jr. After his marriage he settled on the place where he now resides, and land belonging to his father, a tract of about 150 acres. He is a member of the Knights of Wisemen's order.
CHAPTER XI.
CALLAWAY TOWNSHIP.
Its Location and Boundaries - Principally Timbered Land - Blue Grass Yield and Corn Crops - Stock Raising - Population -Water Facilities-Large Creeks and Tributaries - Abundance of Spring Water -Fine quality of Timber, and the Lum- ber Industry - Callaway, the Second Township Settled in the County - Advantages that Attracted Pioneer Immigration - Whom the Pioneers were - The Callaway Family -The Howells-Joseph Baugh - Henry Abington - The Edwards - Ogles- by Young - Other Pioneers-C. F. Woodson, the Oldest Living Resident of the Township-The Character of the People of the Township-Their Schools, Churches, Etc .- Biographical.
The present township of Callaway is situated in the western part of the county and lies immediately west of Dardenne township, extending thence to the Warren county line. On the north it is bounded by Cuivre township, Peruque creek being the dividing line between the two ; and on the south by Femme Osage township. It is one of the old townships of the county.
It is largely a timbered township, but has some valuable prairie lands. Much of the timber has been cleared away to open up farms, and the land, generally, is of an excellent quality for wheat and fruit, whilst the tame grasses, particularly blue-grass, yield good crops. Corn is of course raised to a considerable extent, but mainly for feeding purposes, hogs being the principal stock fattened, for this part of the county is well adapted to hog raising. Though the township has a population of 1,830 (or, rather, had in 1880, according to the United States census ), still, there is a large area of unfenced timbered lands, which afford fine range for hogs, as they produce considerable " mast," such as acorns, hickory nuts, etc. Cattle also do well, and all raise them to some extent, several farmers of the township being among the prominent cattle raisers in the county.
A considerable portion of the timbered lands is quite broken, some of it, indeed, too much so for active cultivation, but will always be valuable for pasturage, and doubtless stock-raising will continue to be one of the important industries of the township. The lands, generally, are well watered either by the main current of Peruque creek or its tributaries, or by the headwaters of the Dardenne or other streams.
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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.
There are also many fine springs in the township, which afford excel- lent water, cool, pure and delightfully refreshing.
The timber of the township was originally of an excellent class, large oaks and other trees, indigenous to this section of the country, thickly set and many of them of great thickness and height. Some of the best hard-wood lumber put on the market has been made in this section of the county, and the manufacture of this class of lumber was for a time quite a valuable industry. Indeed, there are still several good saw mills in the township, which are doing an excellent business. But as this township has been settled for many years, much of its timber, of the more valuable class, has of course been culled. Yet, there is still some very fine timber in localities, which has been carefully and wisely preserved by the owners.
Callaway township was one of the first settled in the county. In- deed, it was settled second only after St. Charles. Its lands being generally uplands, and thus free from the malaria and miasma which so seriously prevailed in the lower parts of the county, this was one of the considerations which influenced many of the pioneers to make their homes here, off of the rivers. Besides, the many fine springs met with were not unimportant factors in the early settlement of the township, for with our pioneer fathers a good spring, and with our pioneer mothers a good, cool, spring milk-house, were considered hardly less valuable than rich, fertile soil for a homestead. Those were the days before wells were generally made, and cisterns were of course out of the question. Hence, where a good spring could be found, if the land was at all arable, a home was made. Nor was a very large field necessary, for corn was not generally raised then for sale, or to be fed to stock on a large scale, but principally for meal, hominy, and to fatten the usual number of hogs for meat for home use, and to feed the stock through the winter and the plow-horses through the summer. Moreover, the abundance of game largely took the place of tame meat. Our good forefathers of the first and, in- deed, of the second generation in this county, lived, principally, on good, rich corn bread, the best of spring-house milk and butter, well cured smoke-house meat, wild game, hominy and mush and wild honey -by no means poor living ; better than many of their sons, grand- sons and great-grandsons have in these days of progress. They wore good, honestly-made homespun jeans and linsey, slept on warm, thick feather beds, drank their own apple cider and lived independent, hospitable lives, with the latch-string of their doors always out for
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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.
friend and stranger alike. Such were the early settlers of Callaway township.
Among the first who came, away back when the blanket Indians were here, or, rather, before they had got the blankets and still had on the war paint and flourished the tomahawk, were the Boones and Callaways. The Boones, however, made no permanent homes in what is now Callaway township ; therefore the Callaways were among its first bona fide settlers, and it was for them that the township was named. This was the home of Capt. James Callaway, one of the most dashing, fearless and intrepid Indian fighters of whom the pioneer history of Missouri gives any account. His career and tragic death are briefly outlined in a former chapter of the present work. Boone and Thomas Callaway also settled in this township ; and the history of their lives is intimately interwoven with the stirring events of those times, not only as respects Callaway township and St. Charles county, but all this part of the country.
Henry Abington was another early settler of the township, but at a period considerably later than that of the Callaways. He came from Virginia, but was of Scotch ancestry on his father's side. His grand- parents were John Abington and Mary (Watson ) Abington. She died in Montgomery county, Md., leaving five children, Bowles, Lucy, John, Elizabeth and Henry. The father afterwards removed with his children to Henry county, Va. The children all grew to mature years and married, some of them settling in different parts of the county. Bowles joined the American army during the Revolu- tion, at the age of 18, and served until the close of the war. He married Sarah Taylor, a daughter of William and Sarah (Scruggs) Taylor, of Virginia, and seven children were the fruits of their union : William N., John T., Susanna, Taylor, Bowles, Henry and Lucy. The eldest became a prominent Methodist minister of North Carolina ; John T. settled in Tennessee ; Susanna became the wife of. Thomas Travis, afterwards of this county ; Taylor married Amanda Payne ; Bowles married Mary Baldwin, but died soon afterwards without issue. Henry Abington of Callaway township, is still living, and is one of the leading citizens of the county, as well as one of the oldest living settlers of the township. He is a prominent and well-to-do farmer now living in retirement, and has represented the county in the Legislature for three terms.
Joseph Baugh came here prior to Mr. Abington. He settled in Callaway township in 1816, and is therefore well entitled to go down in the history of the county as one of the pioneer settlers of this
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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.
township. He was of an old Virginia family, a descendant of one of the colonists of Jamestown. He came of one of three brothers who came over to Jamestown at a time when that and Plymouth were the only white settlements in the Colonies. Abram Abington was Mr. A.'s father. He left 10 children by his wife, whose maiden name was Judith Coleman : Joseph, Thomas N., Edsa, William, Alexander, Abram, Jesse, Mary, Judith and Rhoda. Joseph Baugh, the eldest of these, and who settled in Callaway township as stated above, served five years in the Revolutionary army, and afterwards removed to Madison county, Ky. Thence he came to this county in 1816. He left eight children : William, Benjamin, Judith, Alsey, Nancy, Mary, Patsey and Lucinda.
The Edwards family, of whom Judge W. W. Edwards, Hon. A. H. Edwards and Maj. James Edwards are prominent representatives, were likewise early settlers of this township. They are descendants from Ambrose and Olive (Martin) Edwards, of Albemarle county, Va., who left 10 children : Brice, James, John, Childs, Henry, Joseph, Booker, Carr, Susanna and Martha. John and Henry settled in St. Charles county ; Carr and Martha, who married Milton Ferney, settled in St. Charles county. One or two of the others also came to Missouri, but did not settle in this county. Henry Edwards married Sarah M. Waller, a daughter of Carr and Elizabeth ( Martin) Waller of Virginia. Judge W. W. Edwards, formerly United States District Attorney and now Judge of the St. Charles Circuit, and his brothers, State Senator Edwards and Maj. James Edwards, an officer in the United States Senate, are sons of Henry and Sarah M. (Waller) Edwards.
The Howell family were contemporaries with the Callaways, in Callaway township. They came here in 1800. Three years before that time they had located in St. Louis county, or in what is now the county of St. Louis. When they came across into St. Charles, three years afterwards, no " county " had of course been formed, and it goes without saying that there was no Callaway township. Francis Howell, Sr., was the founder of the family in this county. He was the youngest of three sons, John and Thomas being the other two, of John Howell, originally from Pennsylvania. John Howell, Jr., removed to Tennessee, where he died, leaving a widow and four children. Thomas lived in South Carolina until after the Revolu- tionary War. He married a Miss Bearfield. Meanwhile, before they had grown to mature years, their father, John Howell, had removed
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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.
to North Carolina, where he died, and where the sons grew to their majority.
Francis Howell, the youngest of the three sons, married Miss Susan Stone, a daughter of Benjamin Stone, of South Carolina, and came to the vicinity of St. Louis in 1797. In 1800 he came to St. Charles county and settled on what was afterwards known as Howell's Prairie, in Callaway township. He built the second mill in the county, known as the " Band Mill." This was the first mill erected north of the Missouri river, except a small one at St. Charles. Years afterwards he replaced his old mill with a new one, which was called the " Cog- Wheel Mill." The difference in the names of the mills arose from the fact that the first was run by a band and the second by a cog- wheel. His place was a noted resort in those early times. Musters and drills were frequently held there, and Indian agents, in conduct- ing Indians to and from St. Louis, often stopped there for supplies. He died in 1834 in the seventy-third year of his age, and his wife died eight years afterwards.
They had 10 children : John, Thomas, Sarah, Newton, Francis, Jr., Benjamin, Susan L., Lewis, James S. and Nancy. John was married three times and died in his eighty-seventh year, leaving nine children. He was a Ranger in Capt. Callaway's company. Thomas married Susanna Callaway, a sister to Capt. Callaway, in whose company he also served as a Ranger. Fourteen children were the fruits of their union. Mr. H. died in his eighty-fifth year. Newton married the widow of Raphael Long. They had 10 children, and he died in his seventy-fourth year. Francis married Mrs. Polly Ramsey, widow, a daughter of James and Martha Meek. He died in his eighty-second year. He served two years as a Ranger, partly in Capt. Callaway's company and partly with Capt. Nathan Boone. He was also a colonel of militia for about five years. Benjamin married Mahala Castlio and they had 12 children. He was captain of a company of Rangers for two years, and died in his sixty-third year. Susan married Larkin S. Callaway, a son of Flanders Callaway, and died at the age of thirty- three, having been the mother of seven children. James S. married Isabelle Morris, and died in his thirty-third year. Nancy was married twice, first to Capt. James Callaway and after he was killed by the Indians to John H. Castlio. Lewis received a classical education and became one of the successful and prominent educators of this part of the country. He married Miss Serena Lamme, of this county, a great-granddaughter of Daniel Boone, and three of their six children are living.
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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.
Oglesby Young settled in Callaway township in 1829, and was a grandson of William Young, who came from England to America and settled in Halifax county, Va. He served as a soldier in the Amer- ican army during the Revolutionary War, and married Elizabeth Stegale. They had eight children : Archibald, Marland, Milton, Pey- ton, Wiley, Samuel Francis and Judith. The first three were also soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and Archibald settled in Kentucky. The other two settled in Smythe county, Tenn., and Wiley settled in East Tennessee. Samuel died in Virginia, and Francis and Judith married and lived in that State. Peyton married Elizabeth Oglesby, and of this union were Celia, George, Nancy, Oglesby, William, Peyton, Elizabeth and Araminta. Oglesby married Jane Love, a daughter of Robert and Esther (Bevan) Love, and came to Missouri, making his home in Callaway township, of this county.
There are a large number of other old settlers, sketches of whose families we would be glad to give, and some of whom are quite as deserving of a place in this chapter as any we have mentioned. But we were not favored with the facts for all of them. Those who are omitted were left out, not through any desire of ours, but because it was impossible to get the facts for all. We have presented only sketches of those for which we were fortunate enough to obtain the facts. But even if we had the necessary information for all, we could not use them for want of space. To do otherwise would necessitate the exclusion of valuable matter which ought not be omitted.
Probably the oldest living resident of the township is Mr. C. F. Woodson. The other old residents are, or were (for some of them are deceased ), Robert Bailey, Henry Brandes, Preston McRoberts, Samuel Cunningham, the McWaters, the Holts and the Hannahs, and, indeed, a hundred others might be mentioned.
The people of Callaway township hold a worthy place among the best people of the county. As a community they are law abiding and peaceable, and as neighbors and friends hospitable and kind. They are industrious and energetic, and most of them are comfortably situated in life. Probably they do not have as many large property holders among them as are to be found elsewhere, but on the other hand fewer cases of want or abject poverty are met with here than are usually observed in other communities.
Callaway township is essentially a farming community. Its people live, principally, by the sweat of their brow and the independent and honorable pursuit of agriculture. Their farms are usually not large, but are closely cultivated and well managed. They have good schools,
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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.
good church accommodations, and are an intelligent, God-fearing people. No one who goes among them can bring away, if his own head and heart are right, any other recollections than those of pleas ure and good will.
NEW MELLE.
New Melle is one of the most thriving villages in the county. It is located in the midst of a rich farming country, in Callaway town ship, eight miles from the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific railway, and twelve miles from the Missouri river. Samuel F. Cunningham, a Virginian, located near the present site of the village in 1834, but the town was not laid out until 1848. Ernst Bannerman was the first settler on the town site of New Melle, arriving there in 1840. Henry Hardach came about the same time, and yet resides near the town. Franz Henry Porter secured a government grant for the land upon which the town is built, erected the first house and practically laid out the place. He died soon after 1848, leaving a large family, many of whom still reside in New Melle and vicinity. Conrad Wein- rich, who yet resides there, passed through the place in 1837, but did not locate permanently until 1851. He is now the oldest living resident.
The town does a thriving trade, being supplied with all the neces- sary stores and a mill. Its location is high and dry, and consequently healthy. The rich prairie soil to the north-east and north-west of the town, has brought to the vicinity a class of well-to-do farmers, whose presence guarantees to New Melle a prosperous career. There are two churches here ; the town has the best of school facilities, and its people are a cordial and hospitable community.
CHURCHES.
St. John Evangelical Church - Located 11/2 miles south-east of Cappeln, was organized in 1843. The original members were: H. Prickwinkle, H. Myers, J. H. Sleahberg, E. Kammier, H. W. Nedder- meier, G. Kalaursmier and J. Koster. The membership at present is 33. The pastors who have administered to the spiritual needs of this church have been J. C. Seybold, J. H. Buchmiler, J. M. Haepler, A. Kittener, J. Becktold, A. Junion and G. Dornenburg Eilts. The present church was built in 1864, a stone structure, at a cost of $2,000. A Sunday-school of 35 scholars is superintended by E. Eilts.
Pauldingville Congregational Church - Was organized March 3,
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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.
1873, with Mr. R. J. Watson and wife, R. F. Kenner and wife, A. P. Mills, A. L. Harris and wife, Samuel Cliff and wife and Jerry G. Ahley as its original members. It is now composed of 35 members. The names of the different pastors who have served this congregation are as follows: Rev. J. S. Rounce, Rev. C. R. Dudley and Alanson Bixby. The present frame structure was built in 1873, at a cost of $1,600. The Sunday-school is composed of 56 scholars, the superin- tendent being J. H. Parsons. There is a prosperous temperance literary society connected with the church. This was the first Con- gregational Church in St. Charles county.
New Melle M. E. Church - Was organized in 1871, its original members being Henry Hackman, Joseph Giesmann, Joseph Sudbrock, Frank Sudbrock, Joseph Reiske, William Nievey, Henry Welker and J. W. Karrenbrock. The present membership numbers 43. The pastors who have had charge of this church are William Simon, Henry Miller, F. Seuyaser, John Suntmier, C. Stienmeir, Fritz Koning and J. Froeschee. This church was built in 1878, it being brick, at a cost of about $1,700. The scholars in the Sunday-school number 35, their superintendent being J. W. Karren- brock.
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church - Located at New Melle, was organized in 1842. The original members were William Wulfe- koetter, Fred Windhorst, Louis Stiegemeier, William Wanke and William Meir. The present membership numbers 400. The pastors who have served this church are H. Fick, A. Claus, Fred Ottman and W. Matuschka, who is the present pastor. The present church was erected for $3,500 in 1858, it being a stone structure. There are 75 scholars in the Sabbath-school.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
REV. A. BIXBY
(Pastor of the Congregational Church at Pauldingville).
Rev. Mr. Bixby has had charge of his present church at Pauld- ingville since the fall of 1883 and has become well known, not only to the members of his own congregation, but to the people generally of the community, as an earnest, pious minister and an able eloquent preacher. He has achieved marked popularity at his present location
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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.
by his many estimable qualities, his manifest kindness of heart, his earnest sincerity, and his untiring zeal in the cause of religion. He has been for 38 years in the service of his Master as a Christian min- ister, and has ever borne an irreproachable name, according to all testimonies, for Christian piety and usefulness in the pulpit. Mr. Bixby is a New Englander by nativity, born in Vermont (Windham county ), April 2, 1818. While he was yet in infancy his parents, John and Rebecca Bixby, removed to the State of New York. His father, originally from Connecticut, was a tanner by trade and after- wards followed that occupation in New York. He was not a wealthy man, so that his son, the subject of this sketch, had no college advan- tages as he grew up. Young Bixby, however, received a good com- mon-school education which he subsequently greatly improved by private study. Possessed of a mind much given to serious thought, the question of the future life and of the relation of man to his Maker early engaged his attention. He became fully convinced that there must be a hereafter, beyond the darkness of the tomb, where the soul finds a new and eternal light. Revolving in his mind this great ques- tion, the Revelations of the Scriptures brought to him its true solution and he determined to henceforth square his life according to the pre- cepts and doctrines of the Bible, and not only to endeavor to so live that he himself should see salvation when the end came, but to make himself instrumental as a Christian minister in bringing others into the way of life eternal. Uniting himself with the church, it was not a great while before he began a course of study for the ministry. Without means to attend a theological seminary, he was compelled to study at home. He took a thorough course of study, covering a pe- riod of two years, and in 1848 was licensed to preach by the Wesleyan Methodist Connection. In 1850 he was regularly ordained and began preaching in Steuben county, N. Y. Five years later he went to Alleghany county where he was engaged in the ministry for a period of 18 years, consecutively. In 1873 Rev. Mr. Bixby was called to a charge in Chautauqua county where he preached about six years. From New York he then transferred the scene of his labors to Kansas, and was engaged in the ministry in that State until his removal to St. Charles county, in 1879. Meanwhile a change of views on questions of discipline and church government had caused him to transfer his connection from the Wesleyan Methodist denomination to the Con- gregational Church, in which he is now a minister. In 1837 Mr. Bixby was married to Miss Cornelia, a daughter of Charles and Mar- garet Rowe, of Connecticut. They have reared four children : Lydia A., now the wife of Rev. T. W. Spanswick of Bonne Terre, San Fran- cois county ; Nettie, now the wife of John Glassford, of this county ; Fred. D., who is married and a resident of Montgomery county ; and Lucy D., who died at the age of 21 on the 5th of last January, having been an invalid all her life.
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HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES COUNTY.
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