USA > Missouri > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Missouri : past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Vol. I > Part 44
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
Nevada Rebekah Degree, No. 410. Mrs. Jennie Robbins, N. G .; Mrs. Ollie Kissinger, secretary. Meet first and third Satur- days of each month at Odd Fellows hall.
Triumph Lodge, No. 16, K. of P. J. D. Ingram, chancellor commander; J. R. Davis, keeper of records and seals. Meet every Thursday evening at their hall over Nevada Bank, third floor.
Nevada, No. 112, Pythian Sisters. Mrs. H. B. Foster, M. E. C .; Mrs. Schwenk, M. R. C. Meet second and fourth Fridays at K. of P. hall.
Knights and Ladies of Security, Nevada Council. Meet first and third Wednesday nights at K. of P. hall. A. S. DeHaven, president ; Thos. Gilbert, secretary.
Osage Lodge, No. 303, A. F. & A. M. H. W. Brown, worship- ful master. Meet second Friday of each month at their hall, Duck block. corner Washington and Cherry.
Nevada Royal Arch Chapter, No. 5. C. H. Brown, high priest. Meet second Monday of each month at Masonic hall, corner Washington and Cherry.
O'Sullivan Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templars. Ralph Wardin, E. Commander. Meet second Tuesday of each month at Masonic hall, Duck block, corner Washington and Cherry.
Nevada Chapter, No. 53, Order of Eastern Star. Meet first and third Thursday nights of each month. Lucy Sterrett, sec- retary.
Brigade Headquarters. New Armory Hall. Gen. H. C. Clark, captain; H. F. Birdseye, ordnance officer brigade staff; C. C. Earp, ordnane officer brigade staff; Major E. R. Churchell, major surgeon medical department second regiment.
Co. H, Second Regiment, Mo. A. Linxwiler, captain; M. A. Breeding, first lieutenant ; E. P. Piercey, second lieutenant ; Capt. H. W. Brown regimental quartermaster.
Troop A Officers. G. C. Godfrey, captain; C. H. Hagood, first lieutenant ; S. C. Roberts, second lieutenant ; Dr. V. O. Will- iams, first lieutenant and assistant surgeon.
Nevada Camp, No. 3142, M. W. A. J. W. Randolh, V. C .; C. D. Essig, banker; A. L. Preston, clerk. Meet every Friday eve- ning at Odd Fellows hall, South Main.
501
LODGES, CLUBS, SOCIETIES, UNIONS
Owls Nest, No. 1053. L. H. Turpin, president; C. F. Rice, secretary. Meet every Friday night at Owls hall, East Cherry.
Order of Railway Conductors, No. 362. Vernon F. Corey, C. C .; G. C. Hedges, secretary. Meet second and fourth Sun- days of each month at 2:30 p. m. at K. of P. hall, corner Cedar and Cherry.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. W. J. Rooney, chief engineer; F. R. Farly, first assistant engineer. Meet second and fourth Saturdays at K. of P. hall, over Nevada Bank, third floor.
Mo. Div., No. 5, B. of L. E. (Aux. of B. of L. E.) Mrs. Sarah E. Grover, president; Mrs. Laura Pierson, secretary. Meet sec- ond and fourth Saturday afternoons at 2:30 at K. of P. hall, over Nevada Bank, third floor.
Railway Trainmen, No. 365. Wm. A. Dunn, president ; T. B. Cummins, secretary. Meet every Sunday at Owls hall, East Cherry.
Sulphur City (Aux. Railway Trainmen). Mrs. Wm. A. Dunn, president ; Mrs. Lyda Bosey, secretary. Meet second and fourth Wednesday afternoons at 2:30 at Owls hall, East Cherry.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Trainmen, No. 371. O. E. Enwood, president ; R. R. Smith, secretary. Meet first and third Tuesdays at Owls hall, East Cherry.
White Carnation, No. 65 (Aux. B. of L. Firemen and Train- men). Mrs. Sarah E. Grover, president ; Mrs. Emma Proctor, sec- retary. Meet first and third Saturdays of each month at 2:30 at Owls hall, East Cherry.
Nevada Camp, No. 332, Royal Neighbors of America. Mrs. Emma Hackett, oracle; Mrs. H. G. Foster, secretary. Meet first and third Fridays at K. of P. hall.
Oak Camp, No. 3, Woodmen of the world. J. E. Robbins, C. C .; L. N. Kennedy, clerk. Meet every Wednesday evening at Odd Fellows' hall, South Main.
Woodmen Circle, Oak Grove, No. 14. Mrs. Nettie Hill, guard- ian ; Miss Effie Pierce, clerk. Meet second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at Odd Fellows' hall, South Main.
Modern Brotherhood of America. T. J. Rice, president ; Dr. J. T. Hornback, secretary. Meet second and fourth Thursday nights. Total membership, 149,316. Membership of Nevada Lodge, No. 438, 325. Amount in reserve fund, $835,000. Age limit, 18 to 48. Rate, 65 to 85 cents per month.
502
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
VERNON COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
By J. B. JOHNSON.
The Physicians of Nevada and Vernon county have always been an intelligent and progressive class of men, devoted to their profession and aiming to be up to date in everything pertain- ing thereto, and always felt the necessity and importance of co-operation, the mutual interchange of ideas and the formal dis- cussion of matters of live interest, and so when their numbers felt justified they took steps to bring this about by a proper organ- ization, and on the second day of June, 1882, a card appeared in our daily papers signed by Drs. J. M. McAdams, Joseph Davis, C. A. Rockwood, E. A. Dulin, J. R. Buchannon, H. B. Harris, C. B. Cummings, E. J. Werth, E. J. Atkinson and J. D. Todd and ad- dressed to the physicians of Vernon county, calling a meeting at the courthouse on June 8 for the purpose of organizing a county medical society. On June 8 in pursuance of said call a meeting of the physicians of the county was held at the courthouse and a county medical association was formed with the following offi- cers : President, Dr. J. P. Hayes; vice-president, E. J. Warth; secretary, Dr. J. R. Buchannon ; corresponding secretary, Dr. M. L. Dixion. In addition to those signing the above call, the following became members of the society: Drs. E. L. Nelson, W. D. Robinson, F. P. Claycomb, J. A. Elder, R. H. Finley, J. Preston, W. Cline and Joseph Davis. Regular meetings were held and quite an enthusiastic interest was taken in the affairs of the society for a few years when interest began to slacken and the society about 1892, from lack of attention and inter- est and the fact that in the meantime the Tri-County Med- ical Association, embracing Cass, Bates and Vernon counties, and the John T. Hodgen Medical Association embracing the congres- sional district had been formed and to all intents and purposes superseded the county society and really caused the lack of in- terest in the same, it practically went out of existence.
But in 1905 the American Medical Society in reorganizing adopted a by-law that no one could be a member of a state asso- ciation without being a member of a county society, which neces-
503
LODGES, CLUBS, SOCIETIES, UNIONS
sitated the reorganization and re-establishment of the county society.
And so on April 18, 1905, the Vernon County Medical Society was reorganized with the following officers: President, Dr. H. C. Jarvis ; vice-president, Dr. E. A. Dulin ; treasurer, Dr. J. M. Yater ; secretary, Dr. J. D. Todd. Regular meetings have been held since the reorganization at which carefully prepared papers are read upon subjects immediately engaging the attention of the profession, followed by lively and instructive discussions. The present officers are : President, Dr. J. T. Hornbeck; vice-presi- dent, Dr. J. R. Buchannon; secretary and treasurer, Dr. J. M. Yater. Membership thirty-two, being practically every respect- able physician in the county.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
MILITARY AFFAIRS.
By MAJ. C. G. SYMS.
On the 7th day of May, 1886, a military company was organ- ized in Nevada under the laws of the state of Missouri, during Governor Marmaduke's administration and became Company G, Fifth Regiment, National Guard of Missouri. Its local designa- tion, however, was Harding-Robinson Rifles, in honor of Messrs. J. E. Harding and W. H. Robinson, its chief patrons and sponsors.
Its first officers were Harry Mitchell, captain ; J. E. Atkinson, first lieutenant; J. V. Seymour, second lieutenant; A. J. King, orderly sergeant, and T. F. Clark and J. T. Harding, duty sergeants.
The company had forty-seven members and was handsomely uniformed and equipped by the citizens and members of the com- pany.
In the fall of this year this company went into camp at Sweet Springs, Mo., paying their own expenses. They took a very prominent part in the sham battle, protecting the left wing of the fort.
Late in the fall Captain Mitchell resigned and was succeeded by Lieutenant Atkinson.
Owing to the legislature failing to pass a military law making suitable provisions for the maintenance of its militia, the fifth regiment was disbanded and the company disbanded about the 1st of March, 1887. Thus matters remained until in 1890 the second regiment was organized from the different organizations of the old fifth regiment.
Col. W. H. Caffee, of Carthage, was colonel at this time. Com- pany H was organized by Captain Mitchell. This company par- ticipated in the first brigade camp at St. Joseph, Mo., in 1891.
In 1892 Captain Mitchell was elected major and served with
504
HAMitchell
505
MILITARY AFFAIRS
the regiment to the Spanish-American War and participated in all state brigade encampments of the regiment.
In 1892 Capt. Alva Diehr was elected captain of Company H and served as such until 1893, when he resigned to accept a posi- tion in the government service on the Mississippi river.
In 1893 Capt. G. B. Cogswell was elected captain and served with the company continuously up to and through the Spanish- American War.
Company G received the first call to the Spanish-American War April 27, 1898, when they were ordered to mobilize at their armories and await further orders. On April 30, 1898, they re- ceived orders to assemble at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, where the regiment was mobilized, equipped and mustered into United States service on May 12, 1898, by First Lieut. Letcher Harder- man, tenth United States cavalry, for the period of two years unless sooner discharged.
They were transferred from Jefferson Barracks to Chica- . mauga Park on June 19 and remained at Chicamauga Park from June 22 until September. During camp at Chicamauga the sec- ond regiment had the smallest death ratio of any regiment in Chicamauga Park. They were brigaded with the ninth Penn- sylvania, who had a death loss of fifty-nine, while the second regi- ment only had a loss by death of eighteen, which shows the effi- ciency of both officers and men of this regiment.
The regiment in September, 1898, was transferred to Lexing- ton, Ky., where they stayed about three months and were then transferred to Albany, Ga.
During the month of January, 1899, Major Mitchell was elected lieutenant-colonel and placed in command of the regiment until same was mustered out in March, 1899. The regiment was ordered to Cuba several times, but before they were ready to em- bark the orders were countermanded for some reason unknown.
When the regiment was mustered out the officers had a meet- ing at Albany, Ga., and agreed upon their arrival home, at a call from Colonel Mitchell, they were to get together and reor- ganize the regiment, so in August, 1899, at the G. A. R. reunion at Nevada the officers assembled and agreed to have a meeting at Hotel Mitchell in September, 1899, to reorganize the regiment. At this meeting they reorganized the regiment and elected Colonel Mitchell colonel.
506
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
Company H was reorganized and Capt. R. E. Jordan was elected captain and remained captain until May 1, 1901. On June 1, 1901, Capt. L. T. Wyllis was elected captain and com- manded the company until March 1, 1906. In March, 1906, Com- pany H was ordered to Springfield to quell a riot caused by the lynching of three negroes. They went to Springfield and re- mained twelve days doing police duty; the officers and men proved themselves to be true soldiers at this time.
On July 3, 1906, Capt. W. W. Bratton was elected captain of Company H and commanded the company until January 17, 1907. On May 1, 1907, Capt. H. F. Birdseye was elected captain and commanded the company to June 5, 1909. On June 5, 1909, Capt. A. Linxwiler was elected captain and is captain at the present time.
In 1908 Governor Joseph W. Folk appointed a commission composed of Gen. H. C. Clark, Gen. James A. DeArmond and Major W. L. Chambers to select a site for a state rifle range for the National Guard. This commission visited the following places : Clinton, Sedalia, Columbia, Boonville, Sweet Springs and Nevada, looking at different sites offered by the citizens of each city on which to locate the state rifle range.
After examining the different sites they recommended to the Governor that the site at Nevada be purchased. This site is a tract of land consisting of 320 acres three and one-half miles southeast of Nevada and a half mile east of Nassau Junction. The same was purchased at the sum of $12,800.00, but in order to locate the rifle range at Nevada it was necessary for the citizens of Nevada to do considerable work on the ground. This was done by popular subscription by the citizens of Nevada at a cost of about $6,000.00.
During the month of September, 1909, Troop A was organized in Nevada and Capt. W. T. Ballagh was elected captain. He remained captain until the spring of 1910, when he resigned and Capt. G. C. Godfrey was elected captain. He remained captain until January, 1911, when Capt. V. O. Williams was elected captain and remained captain until the present time.
During the year 1909 Gen. H. C. Clark moved from Butler to Nevada, locating brigade headquarters in Nevada.
The state rifle range is now used for the annual camps of the National Guard and for rifle practice, and at the camp held
50:
MILITARY AFFAIRS
August 20-28, 1911, there were 2,500 soldiers and officers on the ground, being all the state troops except the two batteries of artillery.
THE ARMORY.
Company H was quartered in various buildings and rooms around town and had no permanent headquarters until January, 1895, when they leased a building on South Main street known as the Rinehart building. They stayed in this building until 1903, when the officers leased the old Baptist Church building on East Walnut street and fixed it up, and this was called the Armory until 1909, when the officers decided the local company was of such importance that it should have a building of its own. The following officers got together and started a movement to erect a building for this purpose: Major E. R. Churchell, Major C. G. Symns, Capt. W. T. Ballagh, Capt. H. F. Birdseye, Capt. V. O. Williams, Capt. A. Linxwiler, Capt. H. W. Brown and Lieut. C. C. Earp.
They decided to see what could be done to build an Armory. They met and decided to build the Armory by popular subscrip- tion.
They then decided to locate the Armory on East Cherry street and purchased a lot from the Barr estate and awarded the contract to J. A. Daly, in February, 1910, and the following July the same was completed and the boys moved in the latter part of the month. This is the first and only Armory in the State of Missouri built by a local organization, belonging to an organi- zation, and is now the best Armory in the State of Missouri.
The citizens of Nevada were very generous in their donations, and by their generosity and the hard work of the officers the build- ing project was successfully carried through at a cost of about $16,000.00.
CHAPTER XXXIX. TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS.
BACON TOWNSHIP.
Position and General Description.
Bacon township comprises all of congressional township 37, range 29, and that portion of township 38 lying south of the Osage and within Vernon county. It is the northeastern corner township of the county.
The greater portion of the township is prairie. The Osage is lined with timber on an average a quarter of a mile in width; Kitten creek, in the southeast, runs through a belt nearly a mile wide; while Mckenzie's branch, which flows northward into the Osage through the northwestern portion, is fringed with trees, and these comprise the entire timbered tracts of the township. The prairie is fine rolling and generally very fertile. On the Osage bottoms, which are of an average width of one mile, the land is very rich, but so subject to overflow as to be practically worthless for cultivation ; it affords, however, an abundance of luxuriant pasture and is utilized for all it is worth by the graziers of the country. The Osage may be depended upon to overflow its banks annually, but the flood varies in extent; it is sometimes comparatively harmless, but occasionally it is extensive and destructive.
Bacon township, like all other portions of the county, is un- derlaid with coal. Mines have been in operation in a modest way for a number of years, turning out sufficient coal for local consumption.
Good brick clay and potter's clay can be obtained in many parts of the township. Water is abundant and easily reached. In the southern part of the township there are extensive deposits of mineral paint of good quality.
508
509
TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS
HISTORICAL.
Nelson G. Mckenzie was the first settler in this township. In the year 1840, he came to the northwestern portion of the town- ship (ne. 29-38-29), about one mile and a half to the northwest of Schell City, and made his settlement near the stream called Mckenzie's branch. He came directly from Cooper county ; his family was originally from North Carolina. In 1849 he went to California, where he remained three years, but Vernon county was his proper home from 1840 until his death, which occurred in 1856.
Sometime after 1840 and prior to 1844, the year of the high waters, a man named Gilbert came to section 19. Robert Beal and George Beal, located on section 28. In 1849, Robert Beal went to California with the goldseekers and never returned. The nearest neighbors of those who came before 1850 were Dick Smith, who lived in the edge of St. Clair; and Mr. Melton, who lived eight or ten miles south of Mckenzie, on the Pope land. John Walker is said to have located on Kitten creek, in the southeastern part of the township, in 1842. He finally removed to Oregon.
Near the year 1856, came Jeff Houser, Thos. Moon, Archibald Moon and Henry Meyers, all of whom settled in the vicinity of Schell City. Houser's location was on the present site of the town. Houser and Thos. Moon died about the commencement of the Civil War. Arch Moon removed to the Pacific coast during the war; Meyers died a few years after its close.
Papinsville was the chief trading point of the first settlers ; subsequently they resorted to Balltown. For a time, the nearest mill was on Sac river, in St. Clair county.
The township was organized for municipal purposes in 1856, out of Osage. The first election (in November, 1856), was held at Danl. Mckenzie's, and the judges were Wilton Lady, N. G. Mckenzie and Daniel Young.
John Roberts came to this township in 1841 or 1842, from Knox county Tennessee, and settled on section 25; here he made some improvements, but in a few years removed on Kitten creek in the southeast corner of the township, on section 36. Mr. Roberts died here in 1857, leaving three children, Lafayette, Samuel, and a daughter, who afterwards married John Dunning.
510
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
An old man named Melton, who was the father-in-law of John Roberts, kept a little store on the headwaters of Kitten creek, where the Harmony Mission road crossed the stream. He also entertained travelers, and it is said that his wife kept an almost incredibly large number of cats, to which the guests often ob- jected, making their objections known in various ways, but always calling down upon themselves the wrath of the hostess. From the great number of cats at Melton's the stream on which he then lived was called Kitten creek. His name was also given to Melton's branch, on which he lived at one time.
In early days a man named Miller had a cabin where the Schell City Steam Mills were afterwards located. For him Mil- ler's branch was named. Bacon township was named for James Bacon, who lived on Kitten creek, in St. Clair county, but very near the Vernon line, as early as 1840. He cultivated land in this county, however (on the se. 1/4 of sec. 25), and was a well known citizen. He met his death by asphyxia in a well, from the accumulation of foul gases.
At the outbreak of the Civil War there were about a dozen families living in what is now Bacon township; in September, 1863, there were but three-those of Henry Myers and of two men named Westfall and Stratton. The two latter were Union men, and Stratton was in the Federal service. At last Myers moved out and then the population was unanimously Union !
Both armies passed through the township at different periods. A portion of Price's army crossed the Osage at Bennifield's ford and encamped one night on Mckenzie's branch, in the fall of 1861. The Kansas men came through, under Blunt, in consider- able force, during the fall of 1863, but did not do much damage, since there was not much left for them to do. It is not believed that there were any collisions between the forces in this township. The fight on Clear creek, a mile and a half west of the Short ford, and seven miles east of Schell City, August 2, 1862, was perhaps the nearest to the neighborhood. In this en- gagement, which was between 135 of the 1st Iowa cavalry, from Butler, under Captains Caldwell and Heath, and a considerable company of Confederates under Col. S. D. Jackson, the Federal loss was 4 killed and 9 wounded; Colonel Jackson lost Pendleton Bradley and two others of his men killed. The Confederates
511
TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS
lay in ambush behind a fence. Both parties retreated, the Fed- erals returning to Butler and the Confederates drifting further into the St. Clair hills. This skirmish is known in the records as the fight at Gordon's farm.
Though a few locations were made in the township soon after the close of the war, it was not until about 1870 that there was a substantial occupation. With the building of the railroad, in 1871, settlements were made in various portions in considerable numbers. The greater number of immigrants came from Indiana and Illinois, and a large part of the present population is derived from these states.
The Northerners brought with them not only their industry and perseverance, but their regard for schools and public im- provements. With the two latter Bacon township is well sup- plied. There was plenty of land at first, but it was soon taken, and now it is contemplated to reclaim certain wet and swampy tracts by a thorough system of drainage. This scheme is being carried out and it will be but a few years until almost the entire township will be practically in cultivation.
SCHELL CITY.
The town of Schell City was laid out in the spring of 1871, by the Schell City Town Company, an association composed of Augustus and Richard Schell, Cyrus Newkirk, J. R. Barrett, A. D. Jaynes, R. S. Stevens, O. B. Gunn, and others. The town site was purchased from J. P. Maus, the Presbyterian Synod of Mis- souri, and Mr. Sturgis. Originally the site was settled by Jeff Houser, who, in about 1856, built a cabin in what is now the northwest part of town. Maus purchased his land from Houser.
In May, 1871, the first building, a small one-story affair, was erected on the southeast corner of Third and Main streets, by two men named Barber and Kisner, and occupied by them as a saloon. Soon after, within a few days, storehouses were built in the same locality by Maus & Bro. (J. H. & A. Maus), general merchants ; Fielding Childs, general merchant; George A. Pierce, grocer ; Dr. Chas. Van Orman druggist, and Geo. W. Culp, black- smith. Then two weeks later came Asa Harvey, who opened a general store and hotel north of the railroad depot, and R. E.
512
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY
Elam, who established the railroad eating house. All of these were here by the first part of the month of July.
Among the very first citizens and business men was W. R. McGowan, dealer in lumber. Some months previously he had pur- chased a stock of lumber in St. Louis and had started to convey it by steamboat up the Osage to Belvoir. Some distance below the boat stranded and could proceed no further. McGowan land- ed his stock after some delay and hauled it out to the coal chute at first, but in the meantime Schell City had been founded and he brought it hither. It was from this stock that the first houses were mainly built.
Of the first citizens of Schell City it may be stated that Maus, Childs, Pierce, and Van Orman came directly from Belvoir, and Harvey from Illinois. Childs, a Missourian, came to Belvoir from Cooper county; Maus came from Jefferson City, Pierce from New Orleans, and Van Orman from Illinois. Childs, Pierce, and Van Orman purchased their lots in Schell City all the same day.
During the years 1871 and 1872 and the greater portion of the year 1873, the town improved with something like rapidity. In the fall of 1871 Strong & Brines began the erection of their steam flouring mill, which was put in operation a year later. At first the principal part of the village, or the business portion, was located on the northern part of Main street, on the road to the ford and ferry across the Osage. It was expected that the greater portion of the local trade would come from that direction, but the difficulty, at certain seasons, experienced in crossing the river and its wide "gumbo" bottom, and the fact that the country to the south and west soon settled up, caused the location of busi- ness houses toward the other extremity of the street, and in time the northern end was practically deserted.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.