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 86

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 86
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 86
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 86

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).

JOSHUA B. WINTER

(Of Winter & Baker's Grist and Saw Mill, Post-office, Montgomery City).

Mr. Winter was reared to the milling business, has followed it thus far almost uninterruptedly all his life, and has been engaged in run- ning his present mill for about 12 years. It is an excellent mill run by steam power and supplied with the best machinery and with a good building, 28x36 feet in dimensions and three stories high, erected in 1870. The mill has a capacity of 30 barrels of flour daily, and a saw- ing capacity of 3,000 feet. Mr. Winter is a thorough miller, and is therefore enabled to manufacture the best grade of flour. He is a man of character and unquestioned standing, and has the full confidence of the public, both in his business and as a citizen. He is a native of Tennessee, born in Blount county, April 10, 1839. His father was

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Sterling Winter, and his mother a Miss Decia Birdwell, both Tennessee- ans, where they were reared and married. They came to Missouri in 1840, locating in Montgomery county, and in 1849 the father built a mill on Price's Branch, which he ran for 10 years. He then erected a mill at Danville, which he carried on until 1864. From that time up to 1870 he was engaged in farming, when he and Mr. Baker erected the mill in which his son afterwards succeeded him. The father went to California in 1881, but died near Wooden in that State in less than two years afterwards, in the fall of 1883. His wife; the mother of Joshua B., died in 1856. There were 10 children in their family, among whom the subject of this sketch was the third. He was reared in Montgomery county, and on the 2d of February, 1864, was married to Miss Luticia, a daughter of Granville and Elizabeth P. Nunnelly, of this county. Mr. and Mrs. W. have three children : Charles E., John W. and Mary E. Both parents are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the A. F. and A. M.

CHAPTER XVI.

MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP.

Position and Description - Early History - County Churches - Montgomery City --- Early History -- Benj. B. Curd - Laying Out the Town -- How the Location of the Railroad was Secured -- Names of the First Citizens -First Stores, etc. - General Historical Sketch - Tragedies - Killing of Bob Harris - Mobbing of George Richards - Killing of "Pack" Slavens -Leading Institutions - Steam Mills - Tobacco Factory -Tow Mills -Newspapers -- Fair Association - Churches - Public School-Secret Orders.

POSITION AND DESCRIPTION.

Montgomery township is the last formed municipal township of Mont- gomery county. Up to 1872, after the formation of those townships, its territory was embraced in that of Upper Loutre, Danville and Prairie. It comprises nearly two congressional townships 49, range 5, and 49, range 6, with the northern tier of sections of township 48 of the same ranges. It is 12 miles in length, running from the range line between ranges 4 and 5 to the Callaway line, and the eastern portion is six miles and the western five miles wide. It contains 42,240 acres of land.

The western part of the township through which the Loutre and sundry of its branches flow is rough, broken and timbered. The eastern portion, lying upon and east of the watershed, is largely prairie, and though it was the last settled it is by far the best improved and most valuable portion of the township.

EARLY HISTORY.

The `western portion of this township, along Loutre, was the first settled. In the southern part of the western portion of the township there was a settlement called " Cobbtown," as early as 1823, in which year came Samuel Cobb, Sr., and his sons, Samuel, Jr., Adam and Philip, and located here in the border of the prairie. The Cobbs were from Kentucky. Adam was a soldier in the War of 1812. He married Delilah Bodkin and had 10 children. Samuel, Jr., lived to be nearly 90. He was the father of Alvin Cobb, the noted guerrilla.

To the vicinity of " Cobbtown " came the Peverleys (or the Peve- leys as they are called) in 1824. There were Daniel, David, Jacob

(814)

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

and Peter Peverley, and they were related to the Cobbs. Another settler in early days in the same neighborhood was Wm. Brown, a son-in-law of Daniel Cobb. Isaac and James Olfrey came into the settlement in about 1825. All of these were Kentuckians. .

Daniel Peverly was thrown from a horse and killed, May 7, 1868, while he and his grandson were riding a small pony which Mr. Peverley had purchased from the wife of Alvin Cobb, who, with her two chil- dren, had ridden the animal all the way from the Indian Territory, when she left the noted bandit.

The eastern portion of the township, especially on the prairie, was not settled until about 1848, and indeed some sections were not im- proved or even entered from the Government until as late as 1855.

COUNTRY CHURCHES.

New Providence Old School Baptist Church. - This organiza- tion, probably the oldest one in Montgomery county, dates its origin here the 1st of April, 1826, David Hubbard being the most promi- nent person in its formation. The following names appear on the church roll as constituent members : Emanuel and Anna Sailor, Abner and Katherine Johnson, Sarah Nettle, Mary Cobb, William and Elizabeth Jones, George W. and Nancy Crane ; Magdalene Cobb, Sibba Peveler, Kitty Jones (col'd), Silas Thomas, Jabez and Hannah Ham, Polly Hays, Dorcas Boone, Cloa McCart, Thomas Fand, Re- becca McCart, Rachel Still, Margaret Oliver, John Hays, Azariah B. Green, Daniel Groves, Elizabeth Bunch, Nancy Moore, Richard Jones, Grace and Isaac Hunt, Hezekiah and Elizabeth Jones, James McCor- mack, Winnie Jones (col'd), William and Elizabeth L. McCormick, John and Mary Wilburn, John and Francis Woody, Ganet and Ann Lowery, Mary Patterson, Mary Davis, Catherine Davis, John Woody, Jr., Prudence Woody, John R. Teneson, Emeline Louton, Daniel Hunt, Rena (col'd) and Uenic McCormack. The present member- ship is 25. David Hubbard, Jabez Ham, Stephen Ham, William Jones and James E. Lee, have supplied this pulpit at different pe- riods. A church building was erected in 1826 and rebuilt in 1828 ; it stood on section 5, township 48, range 6, but at present there is no house of worship, the house having been taken away. The cemetery, however, is kept up.

Bethel Church M. E. South. - This church was first organized some time previous to 1840, and a log building was erected about that time, but owing to the loss of this structure by fire, the early records being contained therein, and of course destroyed, we are unable to

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

give the pioneer history of this body. It was reorganized, however, through the efforts of William Eads in 1865. Mr. C. D. Maupin and wife and P. Harrison were among the first members. The congregation, which now numbers 75, worship in a frame church house, built in 1869, and the ministers in charge have been Will- iam Eads, Jesse Sutton, Horace Brown, Henry Craig, John F. Shares and Revs. Jones, Edwards, Taylor, Penn, Paine, Loving and McClen- tic. The Sabbath-school has 50 pupils ; C. D. Maupin, superintendent.

Salem . Church -Had until February 28, 1881, a frame house in which services were held, erected in 1875 and costing $1,000. At the former date fire destroyed the building and the church has not been rebuilt, the members, numbering 23, having disbanded and gone to Montgomery and Wellsville. It was organized originally at Phipps' school-house with James H. and Carmilla V. Oliver, Miss Sallie Oliver, Isaac M. Oliver, Joseph Phipps, and Martha and Jane Phipps. William Penn was the incumbent of the pulpit one year, I. M. Oliver, one and a half years ; E. D. Oliver and W. D. Grant, each for a like period; the last pastor was M. M. Modissett. Twenty scholars in the Sabbath-school were superintended by A. P. Oliver.

MONTGOMERY CITY.

Prior to the year 1853 the land on which Montgomery City is now situated, and the region round about, was open prairie, virgin and un- broken, trackless and unsubdued. Habitations were few and far between on the prairies in the county at that time ; a large portion of the land still belonged to the United States government, and was subject to entry. It was in the Palmyra land district.

In 1851 or 1852 James M. Robinson entered a tract of land in the northern portion of section 31, south-west of the present town site. To this land, in the early spring of 1853, he hauled the timbers for a log house from some distance in the country and erected the building. This was, however, outside of the corporation, and the building is yet standing 175 yards south-west from the college building, and oc- cupied by a colored family. Also, in the same spring, a house was finished by T. C. McClearey.

In April, 1853, a citizen of this county, a Mr. Franklin, of Dan- ville, went up to Palmyra, in Marion county, to enter some land in this neighborhood. Mr. Benj. P. Curd, then, as now, a citizen of that county, and one of its early settlers 1 was in the office at the

1 Mr. Curd was born in Jessamine county, Ky., in 1810, and settled permanently in Missouri in 1832.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

time. He believed that the great thoroughfare known as the North Missouri Railroad, then already projected, would come along the watershed between the Mississippi and the Missouri from the mouth of the latter to the Iowa line; and learned, from the Montgomery county man that there was some land in this quarter wild and unen- tered. He selected 160 acres in a square, covering the site of the town, and 80 acres to the westward, embracing the fair grounds and other portions, and entered the same in his own name.

Between St. Charles and Mexico, along the route of the railroad surveyed, there was not a single town which was certain to be a point on the road. In November Mr. Curd had the town laid off, and soon after there was a sale of lots.

Seeking out the local attorney of the railroad company, Mr. Wm. Saulsbury, of Danville, Mr. Curd proposed to give every other lot in the town plat if he would cause the railroad company to build its track through it and locate a permanent depot therein. Mr. Sauls- bnry readily accepted, set to work to influence the company to make the location accordingly, but in the meanwhile two brothers named Morris, of St. Louis, had purchased the tract of land lying east of Curd's land from Ira Ellis for $30 per acre, the Knapp Bros., of St. Louis, proprietors of the Missouri Republican, becoming their sure- ties in some way for the money.

The Morris Bros. endeavored to influence the railroad authorities to locate the town on their tract. However, the railroad company decided that whoever gave the most should have the town. Sealed proposals were made, and the town given to Curd, who gave to the railroad company 10 acres south of the track and in the heart of the town, besides right of way. These 10 acres include all the land from the track to Walker street on the south, and from Sullivan street on the east to Fourth street on the west. Ten acres west of town were also given the company. The company only leases its 10 acres in the original town plat, where the railroad hotel, the park adjoining, the elevator and other buildings are.

Mr. Curd pursued a very liberal and generous course in the up- building of the town. He sold his lots at reasonable prices, and indeed gave away a great many. In the spring of 1857 he gave to Thos. Stevens a prominent lot on the corner of Second and Allen streets, north of the track and immediately fronting it (where the mansard building now, 1884, is), and soon after Steven began the erection of a store building, the first in the place. Prior to this, however, David Snethen and Abraham Grooms had built a little

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

"grocery," or saloon, on Second street, below Allen, south of the track and near Schambach's boarding house.

Some time after Stevens had opened his store came Daniel and John Bryan and opened a general store on Allen street, between First and Sullivan. They had previously conducted a store half a mile east of town, whither they had removed a small stock from down on the Dry fork of Loutre. The Bryans had for a clerk John W. Ham, now a merchant of the city. The store stood on the present site of the Jackson house.

Other buildings followed. William Saulsbury built a residence north of the track, in the western part of the town, which is still standing. Daniel Bryan built a dwelling house (yet standing ) on the south side of the track. The lumber out of which Bryan's store and house were built was hauled from his mill, down on Dry fork, 12 miles away, by J. L. Pegram.

The first railroad depot building was put up in the fall of 1857, before the track was laid. Its construction was hastened by Sauls- bury, to make assurance doubly sure that there would be a depot at Montgomery City. It stood on the company's ground, just south of the track, on the west side of Second street-now the site of the freight depot. The original building was moved back, and is yet in existence. The first depot agent was Thomas Stevens.

The grading of the railroad at and near Montgomery City was completed early in 1856, but owing to the length of time required to complete the " big cut " near Warrenton and to finish the grading in Warren county, the track was not laid to this city until about Decem- ber 1, 1857, soon after which time the cars began to run regularly. A turn-table was built, and Montgomery City was made the terminus of the road for two or three months following. This was of great advantage. The town improved, although it was a cold winter, and many buildings went up. The next terminus of the road was at Mexico.

In the fall of 1857 two painters, named Mullen and Bartlett, built a house on block 22, north-west corner of Sturgeon and Third streets, which they intended for a business house. The first hotel was built and managed by one Nelson, in the early winter of 1857. It stood on the corner of Second and Allen, north of the track and opposite the then depot. In about a year Nelson sold out to H. D. Brown, who also purchased the Mullen & Bartlett building and removed it to and adjoining the hotel. Both buildings were burned in 1861.

In 1858 the citizens and proprietors of the town determined to build a college or high school building, in order to compete successfully with

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

her neighbor - Danville. Mr. Curd gave a tract of land in the west- ern part of the original town as a site, and $1,500 in cash besides. Mr. James Robinson's proposal to donate land was also accepted, and the building was put up on Robinson's land in the summer of 1858. The first school was taught therein in 1859, with Rev. William A. Taylor as principal. It was called Montgomery College.

Also in 1858 there was considerable other improvements. Along Allen street, on the north side of the track, houses sprang up, and stores, groceries, etc. Numerous dwelling-houses were erected in various parts of the town.

Morris Bros. failed to pay for their land, and the Knapps relieved them of it and laid off Knapp's addition, which soon began to be settled with residences.

The first post-office was established at Montgomery City in 1857, with John Bryan as postmaster. He held the office until in the sum- mer of 1861, when he turned it over to Thomas Stevens for a short time and entered the Southern army. In June, 1861, David Bruner took the office and held it until ousted by Andrew Johnson, in about 1866, being succeeded by Col. D. M. Sullivan. In March, 1870, Bruner was reappointed and served until March, 1882, when he was succeeded by the present incumbent, S. D. Ham, Esq.

The town was not laid out with the cardinal points of the compass, but with the railroad track, and therefore the streets run from north- east to south-west and from south-east to north-west. The surveying was done by the railroad surveyors.

July 4, 1856, John Stone and Joseph Hibbert began building a steam mill on the site now occupied by the Montgomery City Mills, in the southern or south-eastern part of town. The machinery and appointments for this mill were shipped from St. Louis by the Mis- souri river to Portland, and hauled across the country to Montgomery.

Herman Schambach, of Danville, soon came, and he built a small one-story house on the west side of Second street, south of the track, and nearly west of the mill (lot 1, block 9), and this was used as a boarding-house for Stone & Hibbert's employes. When the steam mill was completed, in the fall of 1856, it was regarded as a curiosity by many, who came for miles to see it in operation. It was at first only a saw mill, but in 1857 it became a grist mill. In 1858 a dis- tillery was added, with a capacity of a barrel and a half of whisky a day, and it was run until 1864. In 1862 Stone & Hibbert sold the mills to Capt. Goodrich.

The town was incorporated by act of the Legislature, approved

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

February 9, 1859, as a town, and is still running under its original charter. The incorporation included the original town plat and a strip 40 rods in width on the east, south, and west sides of the town.

The commissioners of the first election to choose municipal officers were Daniel Bryan, Thomas Stevens and A. W. Joues. The first mayor was Dr. John C. Hagan.

The first school attended by the children of the new town was taught by the Misses Wheaton, two sisters, from Connecticut, in the vacated store house of Daniel Bryan, half a mile east of town. Miss Eliza Robinson taught the first school in town, using the Mullen & Bartlett building on Sturgeon street, before mentioned. This was in the summer of 1858.

Perhaps the first religious services were conducted by Rev. Levi T. McNeiley, then of the M. E. Church South, in the spring of 1858, before the college building was completed. At first the preachers held forth where they could, and services were held at the residences of Thos. Callaway, Mr. Busby, in the railroad depot, and elsewhere. Upon the completion of the college building it was used by all denominations,1

The first practicing physician was Dr. John C. Hagan, who came in the summer of 1857. He is still in Missouri.

Up to the outbreak of the Civil War, the population of Montgomery City had grown to about 300. There was a good mill and distillery, two or three general stores, some grocery stores, saloons, blacksmith shops, etc. Numerous citizens from the Northern States had come in and settled, and the Union sentiment predominated.

Upon the call of Gov. Jackson for the assembling of the Missouri State Guard, the Bryans, Daniel and John, turned out. John gave up the post-office, and Daniel was chosen captain of a company re- cruited from this neighborhood .. The company took part in the affair at Averton's Run, or the " Fulton races," July 17, 1861.

When Capt. Bill Myers, of Pike county, burned the Wellsville depot, in December, 1861, he came on down to Montgomery, but was persuaded not to burn the depot here by Tom Stevens, then the depot agent. Myers took Dominic Byron, a Union man, as prisoner, but released him when he left the town, the same night.

In July came Morgan L. Smith's Eighth Missouri regiment (the " American Zouaves "), and then Capt. McNulty's company of the

1 The Baptist and Methodist Union Church building, built in 1868, was the first regular church building in Montgomery City.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Second Illinois cavalry. In the early winter of 1862 Capt. Tyler's Eighty-first Ohio was sent here to garrison the place and to encourage recruiting for the Federal service. It was stationed in the college building for some two months, and during this time Capt. Rice and Lieuts. McCammon and Meigs organized their company, afterwards known successively as Co. F, Twenty-second Missouri, and Co. E, Twenty-fourth Missouri, attached to the Tenth Missouri infantry ..

While Tyler's company was here Daniel Bryan's store was adminis- tered upon by some of the officers, and it is alleged that many of the goods were sent to Ohio in flagrant violation of right and law. Bryan had been killed on his way to Price's army.

From this time forward until the close of the war, Montgomery City was safely in the hands of the Federals, though in August, 1863, the town was reported in danger of being raided by certain bands of Confederate bushwhackers and there was some alarm.

Among the other companies of Federal troops here during the war was a company of the Third Iowa infantry. This company destroyed the press and material of the Pioneer Gazette printing office. The company obtained an unenviable reputation for thievery and general lawlessness while here. Its commander was one Capt. Ogg, of whom his men spoke as a coward, and often sang in his presence one couplet of an improvised song referring to his conduct at the battle of Blue Mills : -

And in the fight old Captain Ogg He ran and hid behind a log. -

In the fall of 1864, during the Price raid, when Col. Holmes' For- tieth Missouri was sent into this county, it passed through Montgom- ery City on its return to St. Louis. Some of the members broke into the post-office and carried away postage stamps, as well as some goods then exposed for sale.

After the war many new buildings went up and the prosperity of the place increased considerably during 1865-66-67. In 1866 an effort was made to bring the county seat here, but, as noted else- where, this effort failed. January 10, 1866, the Montgomery county Independent was established, by R. E. Verdier, and since that date the town has never been without a newspaper, except from July, 1867, to January, 1868.

Very soon Montgomery City began to attract to it a large trade from an extended radius and area. The railroad hotel was built in the early summer of 1866, with the present proprietor, H. Spinsby, as its first landlord.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

The mill did its full share in attracting patronage to the town. Curd was always liberal to new-comers in the sale of lots.

The progress of the town has since been healthy and substantial. Buildings have gone up as they were needed, and proper improve- ments have been made from time to time as demanded. W. L. Gate- wood's hall, on the south-east corner of Sturgeon and Second streets, was the first public hall of the kind in the place worthy of the name. The public park is inclosed, an artesian well is being bored, and the ground will be well cared for hereafter.

LEADING TRAGEDIES IN MONTGOMERY CITY.

In the year 1876 or 1877 a negro named Bob Harris was shot and killed at or near the colored church in Montgomery City by another negro named Trimble. The latter was tried and sent to the peniten- tiary for 10 years.

June 8, 1879, occurred, at Montgomery City, the murder by a mob of a negro named George Richards, who was accused of a nameless crime against a respectable white lady of the place. Saturday night, June 1, 1879, Mrs. Hamlin, who resided with her children in the western part of town, was assaulted by George Richards. When the facts became known on Sunday, a warrant for his arrest was issued and served and Richards was placed in the calaboose, where he was identified by Mrs. Hamlin. Sunday night, about 11 o'clock, the door of the calaboose was broken open and the body of the criminal rid- dled with bullets, thus ending the life of one who had been a source of fear to all respectable citizens.

About the 1st of October, 1884, a man known as " Pack " Slavens was shot and mortally wounded by a young man named J. W. Shu- mate, in Crockett's restaurant, on Allen street. Slavens was not a man of good reputation regarding his disposition, especially when in- toxicated, as was frequently the case. On one occasion he assaulted an old man, James L. Pegram, and gave him a terrible blow on the head with a fence-picket. For this he left the county and was absent some time. Shumate is about 19 years of age, and his home is in Lincoln county. At the time of the shooting he was a clerk in Hance's store.

On the day of the shooting Slavens was intoxicated, and approached young Shumate in a rude and boisterous way. Some time afterward Slavens and a drunken companion, named Sayers, went into Crock- ett's restaurant for dinner, and in a few minutes Shumate came in and . a quarrel, a fight, and a struggle resulted between them, and at last

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Shumate shot Slavens in the abdomen. At the instant the shooting was done Shumate was lying on the floor with Slavens upon him.

Shumate was arrested on a charge of assault with intent to kill, and released on bail. Slavens died three or four days afterward, leaving besides a wife, several children. The case against Shumate is yet undisposed of.

LEADING INSTITUTIONS OF MONTGOMERY CITY.

Tobacco Factory. - In the spring of 1880 J. H. Lacy and Paul Brown determined to remove their tobacco factory from Wentzville to Montgomery City. The citizens here gave them considerable encour- agement, financially and otherwise, and early in the spring they began the erection of their building. In May they moved in and began work. January 1, 1881, the Lacy & Brown Tobacco Company was incorporated and took charge of the institution. The capital stock was $30,000 ; Paul Brown has been president of the company since its existence, and L. W. English, secretary, treasurer and shipping clerk. Mr. Lacy retired in 1884, but the style of the company is un- changed. The institution manufactures chewing and smoking tobacco, and readily disposes of its products. It buys by far the greater por- tion of its leaf tobacco in this county, with much in Callaway, Audrain and adjoining counties. Its manufacture is about 500,000- pounds of tobacco annually.

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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 86

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