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 62
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 62
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 62
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The first terms of the county court, at Lewiston, were held in the house of Mr. Kibbe, but as soon as it could be done a court-house
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
and jail were erected, both of which were of logs. The court-house was not only built of logs, but it was floored with puncheons. The roof was of clap-boards, held on by weight poles. It is said that in the intervals between sessions of the courts, the court house was often used by Mr. Kibbe as a sheep stable. Care was always taken, however, to drive out the sheep and sweep the house clean before the commencement of each session of the court. The court-room was only 16 feet square.
The jail was of the same size as the court-house, 18 feet square. It was composed of two walls, with hewn timber set on end before them. It was built by Chas. Allen. The materials for both jail and court house were furnished by different persons, who were paid off in county warrants, with which some of them liquidated their taxes for the next 10 years.
Mr. Kibbe laid off and sold lots in Lewiston, and a small town soon came into existence. George Bast and Wm. Knox opened the first store, hauling their goods from St. Louis in an ox wagon. They sold principally for skins and furs, which they bartered in St. Louis for new goods. Hides and furs were about the same as legal tenders in those days. Bast & Knox did a flourishing business of the kind as long as they were engaged in trade, but not long after they began business they met with a serious misfortune, which ruined them financially, and they were forced to suspend. They had been to St. Louis with a load of furs and started home with a stock of new goods in their wagon. When they drove on board of the old flat-boat or scow, used as a ferry at St. Charles, it sank, and their team, wagon, and goods were all lost. This misfortune left them without means to carry on their business and they suspended. It may well be conjectured that neither their capital or their stock was very large, if the loss of one wagon load of goods was sufficient to swamp them.
Lewiston continued to be the capital of the county until after Warren county was struck off, in 1833, when the following year the county seat was removed to Danville. The town - Lewiston - was never a place of any considerable size or importance, and is now wholly extinct. Indeed there are disputes among those who knew it once as to where it stood.
FIRST MURDER CASE AND FIRST LEGAL EXECUTION IN THE COUNTY.
In the summer of 1828 occurred the first murder in Montgomery county. This was the killing of John Tanner, by his negro slave
1
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Moses. Tanner lived on Cuivre river, in the north-eastern part of the county, and had not been long in the county. He had acted dis- gracefully towards Moses' wife, who was herself a slave, and she told her husband of the fact.
The negro was very much attached to his wife, and when she informed him of his master's conduct, his spirit rose in great indigna- tion and he seemed like a distracted person. Then he vowed revenge.
He left home, secreted himself in the woods, and it was reported that he had run away. But there were those who knew of his where- abouts, and who sympathized with him, gave him provisions, and counseled him to leave the country. He told his story in such feeling language and with such burning words, that one man gave him a loaded rifle, saying, " Do what you please with it, but, I would kill a scoundrel that would treat my wife so."
Moses embraced the rifle as he would have grasped his free papers and disappeared in the woods. That night Tanner was killed. Moses crawled up to the house and shot him through an opening in the wooden chimney, which had not been completed. The house was an ordinary log cabin, with a partly finished floor. Tanner was sitting on this floor, with his face towards the chimney and his feet in the lap of the wife to whom he had been so shamefully uutrue. When Moses fired, the ball struck him fairly in the breast. He sprang to his feet and called to his wife, " hand me my gun," but before she could do so he staggered to the door, fell, and died instantly.
Moses was arrested, indicted, and tried at Lewiston. He did not deny his guilt, and there was no trouble to secure his conviction. The extenuating circumstances availed him nothing except to secure gen- eral sympathy. The laws of Missouri were inexorable on slaves who killed their masters, and public policy seemed to demand the with- holding of a pardon in this case. There were a few who thought he richly deserved death, because a slave, they held, ought not to have sympathies, affections, or sensibilities, which could not be interfered with by his master in any way, and to any extent. But there was no talk of a mob in the case.
The negro was sentenced to be, and was hung, at Lewiston, in the spring of 1829. Rose thus describes the manner of his execution : -
Henry Clark was sheriff at the time, and rode in a cart with the negro, seated on his coffin, to the scaffold. The last act of the con- demned man before his execution was to sing the hymn commencing,
" Show pity, Lord; O, Lord forgive."
This he did in such an affecting manner that nearly all who were .
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
present shed tears. No other scene like it was ever witnessed in Montgomery county. The body was given to Dr. Jones, of Marthas- ville, who dissected it for the benefit of his students.
Some of those who were present at the hanging, say that Moses, on the scaffold, admitted his guilt, but stated the circumstances, and said he could not eat or sleep or rest after his wife had informed him of her disgrace. He averred that he loved his wife as devotedly as any white man loved his wife, and any injury to her affected him as deeply.
MISCELLANEOUS.
In the first settlement of the county, there was none or but little undergrowth in the woods. The Indians kept it burned off so that they could see to hunt. The ground in the woods, in the warm months, was covered with weeds, grass, peavines, and other vegeta- tion. A man, or even an animal could not go through without making a plainly visible trail, and this is the reason why trails could be easily pursued.
The wild sweet peavines grew very luxuriantly, especially in the bottoms. So rank were they that in many places they kept green and cattle lived upon them all winter, without other feed, and came out in fair order the next spring. Hogs, too, were easily wintered but for the wolves ; the bears did not give much trouble in the winter, as they were usually hibernating in some hollow tree or cave. Horses ran out in the warm season, after the Indians left, and there was no limit to the rich luxuriant pasturage they had.
CHAPTER VI.
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY FROM 1830 TO 1861.
Murder of William Kent by Waller Graves - During the Black Hawk War - Visit of Washington Irving -" The Falling of the Stars" - Organization of Warren County - Removal of the County Seat - The St. Louis Railroad Convention - Montgomery County in 1837 - Early National Elections - The Florida and Mormon Wars -The Political Canvass of 1840 -" Hard Times " -Murder of John Pear- son by his Son-in-Law, John Freeman - Hanging of Freeman -The "Jackson Resolutions " - Miscellaneous Events from 1844 to 1852 - Murder of Caroline Scholten by John Huting -Execution of Huting -The Native Americans - Miscellaneous - Census of 1860- The Presidential Campaign of 1860 - After the Presidental Election - The Legislature of 1860-61.
MURDER OF WILLIAM KENT BY WALLER GRAVES.
October 2, 1830, William Kent, who lived in what is now the west- ern part of Warren county, was killed by Waller Graves, a citizen of this county. The killing was brought about in this wise : -
A Dr. Madison boarded with a Mr. Nettles, who lived at the Beatty Place, north-west of Loutre Lick. The doctor was a mysterious sort of person, who wore good clothes, seemed to have plenty of money, but had no practice, and often made mysterious and sudden depart- ures from and arrivals into the neighborhood. At last, on one occa- sion, when the doctor had been absent some days, Mr. Nettles' horse was missing. In looking about Dr. Madison's dagger was found in the spring house. It was at once concluded that he had stolen the horse and left the country. The alarm was given, and a party was soon made up and in pursuit. Waller Graves was one of the pursuers.
At Newton Howell's, now in Warren, but then in Montgomery, Wil- liam Kent was encountered. He expressed doubts that Dr. Madison was a horse thief, saying, " He is too nice a man." Graves at once said, " You are one of his friends." A quarrel resulted, and Graves sud- denly drew up his rifle and shot Kent dead. The act was done in extreme passion, and it has been asserted that Graves was undoubtedly insane. Wm. Kent was a son of Isaac Kent, who came to Missouri in 1819. He - William - had married Mary A. Zumwalt, a daugh- ter of either Adam or John, the noted pioneers of St. Charles county. P
(580)
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Waller Graves was arrested without resistance and imprisoned in the jail at Lewiston. He was indicted and when his trial came on he took a change of venue to Callaway county, and was tried at Fulton. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to three years' im- prisonment in the county jail of Montgomery county. There was no penitentiary in Missouri at that date, and offenders sentenced to im- prisonment were confined in the county jails. In a year or so Graves died in the jail at Lewiston. A few persons believed, however, that he made his escape from jail - or was released privately, but this is not probable. There was a great deal of sympathy for him, however, because it was thought he was not responsible when he killed Mr. Kent.
DURING THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
When the Black Hawk War broke out, in the summer of 1832, there was some uneasiness in Montgomery county among the settlers who remembered the experiences of 1807-15. Fears of a general uprising among the savages, and of a raid upon the exposed settlements of North Missouri, were entertained by many, and the militia in this part of the State were mustered.
Fearing for the northern frontier and the north-eastern portion of the State, Gov. John Miller early adopted precautionary measures. About the 10th of May, 1832, he ordered the generals commanding the Missouri militia to warn the members of their commands " to keep in readiness a horse, with the necessary equipments, a rifle in good order, with an ample supply of ammunition," etc. On the 25th of May, 1832, he ordered Maj .- Gen. Richard Gentry, of Columbia, to raise, without delay, 1,000 volunteers for the defense of the frontiers of the State, to be in readiness to start at a moment's warning. Ac- cordingly, on the 29th of May, 1832, orders were issued by Gen. Gentry, Brig .- Gens. Benjamin Means, commanding the Seventh, Jonathan Riggs,1 Eighth, and Jesse T. Wood, Ninth brigade, Third division, to raise the required quota, the first named 400 and each of the last 300 men.
Subsequently, in June, affairs having assumed a serious shape, Gen. Gentry issued the following order : -
COLUMBIA, June 25, 1832.
In a general order directed to me by the executive of the State of Missouri, under date of May 25, 1832, wherein I am required to raise
1 This is the same Jonathan Riggs who was lieutenant of Capt. Callaway's com- pany when the captain was killed.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
and organize 1,000 mounted volunteers, for the defense of the north- ern frontier, from the Third division of militia, under my command, and to organize them into regiments of 500 each, I have, in pursuance of said order, made by lot, the following organizations, viz : The five companies of volunteers raised in the county of Boone, the two companies raised in the county of Callaway, and the two companies in the county of Montgomery shall constitute the First regiment. The companies composing the First regiment have been organized by lot, in the following manner, to-wit : The company commanded by Patrick Ewing, of Callaway, is the 1st; the company commanded by Thos. D. Grant, of Boone, is the 2d; the company commanded by Parker Dudley, of Montgomery, is the 3rd ; the company commanded by D. M. Hickman, of Boone, is the 4th; the company com- manded by John Jamison, of Callaway, is the 5th; the company commanded by Thomas Griffith, of Montgomery, is the 6th.
* The captains commanding companies will cause elec- tions to be held in their respective companies on the following days, to-wit: those belonging to the First regiment on the 4th of July next,
* * for the purpose of electing a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major to each regiment, at such places as the several officers commanding companies may designate, and make return to me with- out delay. By order of
RICHARD GENTRY, Maj. Gen. Comdg. 3d Div. Mo. Militia.
The companies of Capts. Griffith and Dudley were soon organized, armed, mounted, and ready to take the field. Although never called into active service the companies from this county stood prepared for duty, and were ready to seize their guns and spring into their saddles at the sound of the first war-whoop, or when their officers should give the command.
The war closed in the ensuing fall, and the period of anxiety and apprehension soon passed.
VISIT OF WASHINGTON IRVING.
About the 1st of September, 1832, Washington Irving, one of the most distinguished and graceful of American writers, visited Mont- gomery county on his way to the far West. He came by way of the stage over the Boone's Lick road. He stopped in Lewiston a short time, and at Loutre Lick he left the stage and ;remained one day at the lick and in wandering among the picturesque hills in the vicinity. To Maj. Van Bibber he said : " When I get rich I am coming here to buy this place and build a nice residence here."
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
"THE FALLING OF THE STARS."
Between 3 and 4 o'clock on Wednesday morning, November 13, 1833, there occurred in Montgomery county and throughout the whole country a meteoric phenomenon, the splendor of which never passed from the memory of those who witnessed it. It was called, in popular language, " the falling of the stars," and is vividly remem- bered by those who had the good fortune to witness it. An incon- ceivable number of meteors or falling stars shot across and downward from the heavens, as though the whole framework of the blue and cloudless arch above had been shaken. It was a radiating and heavy rain of fire, in meteoric particles of the greatest brilliancy. In some parts of the country the shower of meteors continued until near sun- rise, when, it is supposed, they " paled their ineffectual fires " only before the greater brilliancy of the sun.
ORGANIZATION OF WARREN COUNTY - REMOVAL OF THE COUNTY SEAT.
January 5, 1833, the Legislature passed an act organizing Warren county out of Montgomery, taking off the eastern side of the county, and taking out a large part from the south-eastern portion. It is said that this was done for the benefit of Jonathan Ramsey, who lived on the aforesaid " part" and wished to remain in Warren county.
The next year (1834) after the organization of Warren county the county seat was removed to Danville, and in a short time quite a thriving little village sprang into existence. (For particulars see the local history. ) It is said that Loutre Lick came near being made the county seat instead of Danville. Among the arguments in favor of the Lick was that slack-water navigation could be established on the Loutre, so that steamboats might ascend from the Missouri affording steamboat communication between the new capital and St. Louis.
THE ST. LOUIS RAILROAD CONVENTION.
In April, 1836, the first railroad convention met in St. Louis, and steps were taken to secure the building of these roads in Missouri, one from St. Louis to Fayette, on the line of the Boone's Lick road ; one from St. Louis to Bellevue Valley, in Washington county, " and also a branch from some convenient point on the last mentioned road to the Meramec iron works, in Crawford county, with a view to its ultimate extension through Cooper county to a point on the Missouri
32
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
river in Jackson county." The convention adopted the following, among other resolutions : -
1. It is now expedient to adopt measures for the construction of a railroad from St. Louis to Fayette, with the view of ultimately ex- tending the road in that general direction, as far as public convenience and the exigences of trade may require.
2. That the proprosed railroad from St. Louis to Fayette ought to cross the Missouri river at the town of St. Charles and through or within one mile of the several towns of Warrenton, Danville, Fulton and Columbia, the said towns being points most acceptable to the people of the counties through which the road is proposed to pass.
There attended this convention, as delegates from Montgomery county, Dr. M. M. Maughs, S. C. Ruby and Nathaniel Dryden. They were appointed at a meeting held in the bar-room of the old Williams brick tavern, at Danville, a month previously. A few people of this county were alive, even at that day, to the importance of securing railroads.
Delegates from Warren to this convention were Carty Wells, Na- thaniel Pendleton and Irvine S. Pitman.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY IN 1837.
" Wetmore's Gazetteer of Missouri," printed by Harper Brothers in 1837, gives the following description of Montgomery county in that year : -
Montgomery county is bounded on the south by the Missouri river, which separates it from Gasconade and Franklin counties ; on the east by Warren and Lincoln counties ; on the north by an unorganized county called Audrain, and on the west by Calla- way. The county stretches about twelve miles on the Missouri river, on which there are rich bottoms, heavily timbered. A portion of Loutre island is in this county, and contains a number of fertile farms. A considerable range of bluffs extends parallel with the river. Loutre creek runs through the western part of this county, and sev- eral branches of the same drain the north-western part of the county. Upon the waters of this stream are situated a number of farms and a considerable population. Loutre prairie extends from the creek of the same name to the eastern limit of the State, more than twenty miles, and through it passes the Boone's Lick road. In the northern and north-eastern part of the county there is much prairie. The soil of this county is in some places good, in others thin ; but in many parts there are good situations for farms, much good timber, and many fine springs. A large portion of the land in this county still belongs to the United States, and many valuable entries might still be made. The streams afford some good mill-sites. On Loutre
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
creek there have been discovered extensive bodies of valuable stone coal, that has been used to some extent in smith's shops. On the bluffs south of Lexington, in many places, are large bodies of iron ore, believed to be valuable, and it is said that there are also indica- tions of the existence of lead ore. Lead has been manufactured by the Indians on Lead creek, a branch of Cuivre, in former years. There are in different parts of the county limestone and freestone, suitable for building purposes. There is a saline, or salt lick, called Loutre lick. Wheat, corn, tobacco, and live stock are the staple productions of the country.
If a railroad be made from St. Louis to the western part of the State, it must traverse the county. The population are principally emigrants from Kentucky and Virginia. There is much good land upon Little Loutre, Elkhorn, Lead creek, Raccoon creek, and other streams, branches of Cuivre and Loutre. There were a number of adventures and fights with the Indians in this county in early times, an accurate account of which would be highly interesting.
The following were the post-offices in the county in 1836, with the postmasters : -
Big Spring, Jacob Groom, postmaster; Danville, Charles J. Drury ; Bridgeport, John A. Hunter ; Lewiston, Amos Kibbe ; Loutre Island, J. H. Neile ; West Fork, James Ramsey.
The population of Montgomery in 1830 (including what is now Warren ) was 3,902 ; in 1836, three years after Warren was taken off, it was 2,891.
EARLY NATIONAL ELECTIONS.
As Montgomery had been a county while Missouri was a territory she was one of the original counties when it became a State. It took part in the Presidential election of 1820, when James Monroe was unanimously chosen President by all the States, only one dissenting electoral vote being given, but one State not having been formally admitted into the Union, her vote was not cast.
In. 1824 the strife in Montgomery county was between John Q. Adams and Andrew Jackson ; the Adams men were slightly in the majority. The Wm. H. Crawford and Henry Clay men had but few supporters. When the election was thrown into and decided by the House of Representatives, Hon. John Scott, then the single Repre- sentative from Missouri, cast the vote of the State for John Quincy Adams, who was elected.
In 1828 the contest was between John Q. Adams, of the National Republican party, and Andrew Jackson, the candidate of the Demo- cratic party, then for the first time so called. This was the first time
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
politics excited much attention in this county. Jacob Groom, Maj. Isaac Van Bibber, Col. Wm. Talbott and Jonathan Ramsey were the leading Jackson men. Dr. Robert Graham, Jacob L. Sharp and Isaac Clark were prominent Adams men. Alex. Graham, whose father was a strong Adams man, remembers well that he was greatly incensed at Ewing Van Bibber, who, after the election, when it was known that Gen. Jackson was successful, sang lustily, to the tune of " Auld Lang Syne," a Jackson song of victory, two lines of which were as follows :
" Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind, Since Jackson is our President, and Adams left behind?"
Young Graham wanted to thrash Van Bibber for his exasperating dog- gerel.
Gen. Jackson carried Montgomery county and the State, the latter by a majority of 4,872 in a total vote of 11,672, but John Miller, an Adams man, was elected Governor without opposition.
In 1832, when Gen. Jackson and Martin Van Buren were the Demo- cratic candidates for President and Vice-President, and opposed to them were Henry Clay and John Sergeant, the nominees of the National Re- publicans, Montgomery county voted for Clay by a small majority, but the Democrats carried the State.
In 1836, Martin Van Buren and Col. Dick Johnson were the Demo- cratic candidates and Wm. Henry Harrison and Francis Granger the regular Whig nominees. Hugh L. White, of Tennessee ( Whig), was an Independent candidate. In Montgomery county the vote stood : Van Buren, 92 ; Whig candidates, 169. In the State the vote was: Van Buren, 10,995 ; Harrison, 7,337 ; White, 3,256.
THE FLORIDA AND MORMON WARS.
In the Florida War (1837) Montgomery county did not take an important part. Only three men are remembered as having partici- pated in it who were even well known here. Their names are Mon- tague Trimble, Warren Tate and Samuel Nilkes. It is said they really lived in the eastern part of Callaway, but were so frequently in Montgomery and about Danville as to be well identified with this county. They belonged to Capt. W. H. Russell's company (of Cal- laway), of Gen. Richard Gentry's regiment, the only one that served in the war from this State.
In the " Mormon War" (see pp. 54-56), the militia of this county were at one time ordered to get ready to move, but marching orders actually never came, and so they were spared the misfortune of being
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
engaged in that fiasco. Large numbers of the Mormons passed through the county over the Boone's Lick road, on their way from the Eastern States to the " Far West," then the headquarters of the Mormons. On one Sunday they encamped at Loutre Lick, on the west side of the stream, and had preaching and other religious ser- vices. One preacher jabbered away in a lot of jibberish which nobody could understand, but which all said was " speaking in the unknown tongue," an alleged holy language which only the divinely inspired could interpret and comprehend.
THE POLITICAL CANVASS OF 1840.
In some respects the Presidential campaign of 1840 was the most remarkable in the history of the United States from the time of their organization. The Whig party, then for the first time formidable ill the country, had re-nominated Gen. Harrison for President, asso- ciating with him John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice-President. The Democrats re-nominated Martin Van Buren and Richard M. Johnson.
Owing to the suspension of the United States bank, and from other causes, there had been great stringency in the money market, and there were other financial distresses which occasioned hard times throughout the country. Many working men were either out of em- ployment or were at work for very low wages ; prices of produce had fallen to insignificant figures, and there was general discontent with the situation. Many people attributed the unhappy condition of affairs to Mr. Van Buren and the Democrats. Then, as now, the party in power was held responsible for the ills afflicting the country.
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