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. II > Part 13
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In 1906, by a unanimous vote, the congregation accepted the union proposition, is now incorporated and a part of the Presby- terian Church, U. S. A.
Since its organization this congregation has been served by the following pastors: R. W. Ward, Z. T. Orr, J. A. Poteet, S. R. Shull, A. M. Buchanan, E. E. Baker, J. M. Galloway, E. M. Wright, C. E. Wilson, J. T. May, J. W. Sullivan and C. A. Harris.
VIRGIL TOWNSHIP.
Virgil township is composed of congressional township 35, range 29, and was named for Virgil City, the little village in the southeast corner. Its eastern line is a portion of the line be- tween Cedar and Vernon counties.
Clear creek runs diagonally, from southwest to west of north- east through this township, its course being generally tortuous and irregular. This stream is sometimes called by the old In- dian name, "Peshaw." It was a noted water course among the Indians. On either side was a considerable body of thick tim- ber, which sheltered flocks of turkeys, herds of deer and other game, and was often resorted to by them as a hunting ground. The land on either side of Clear creek is generally broken and stony.
Mr. Carty's creek, the Lipe branch, and Mulberry branch empty into Clear creek in this township, coming in from the
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south. There is a great deal of timbered land along these streams.
On Clear creek, about the center of the township (se. sw. sec. 16), are two fine sulphur springs. The stream bubbles up from a dark gray sand and is very strong. A shaly bed containing iron pyrites (sulphur mingled with iron), occurs below the spring, but Prof. Norwood doubts that this has anything to do with the properties of the water. The springs afford a great deal of the water, which is pleasant to the taste.
EARLY HISTORY.
Judge James Overstreet was the best known old settler of Virgil township, although he did not come until about 1844, having previously lived in Badger township and Cedar county. He changed his location frequently, but finally located on sec- tion 13 and at the sulphur springs. He was a Virginian and went South in 1861.
It may that Dr. Elisha Smith was the first settler in the town- ship. In the year 1840 he came from Indiana to the southern part of the township (section 35) and settled near Mulberry creek. The next fall half a dozen families settled on Horse creek. Dr. Smith practiced his profession through the country for a number of years. In 1853 he went to California and finally died in Oregon.
William Owens settled on section 23 in about 1843.
In about 1842, Capt. Andrew Girard came to the southwest part of the township (section 30) and located on Clear creek, at the point since known as the Girard ford. The captain was from Ashtabula county, Ohio. He was a Catholic and in 1846 and afterwards Fathers Bax and Schoeppenhorst, the Jesuit mission- aries among the Osages, came from the mission in Kansas and attended the spiritual wants of his family. Perhaps they said mass at his house, for there were a few other Catholics in the country. Captain Girard removed to California in about 1852.
It is quite difficult to trace and establish the few other pio- neer settlers here. There were but few of them, however, and they changed their locations in a short time, and had but little influence in the development of the county.
There was preaching at the house of Dr. Smith at a very
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early day by Rev. Arbuckle, of the Christian denomination. Hon. Robert Jordan, of Cedar, was one of the first school teachers. A man named Callison was another pioneer teacher who la- bored in the southern part of the township. A Mr. Reed was an early instructor and a good one.
A sad case of drowning, in about 1850, is remembered. Charlie Overstreet, a promising young man, and the son of Judge Overstreet, attempted to swim his horse across Clear creek at the Girard ford. The stream was high; the horse and its rider were swept away and both were drowned. The casualty occurred on Sunday, and the following Thursday Charlie was to be mar- ried to Tempie McKnight, the daughter of the old pioneer, Abram McKnight. The poor girl was well nigh heart-broken at the fate of her betrothed, and received the deepest sympathy of everybody. Judge Overstreet gave her all of Charlie's per- sonal effects and the portion he had intended for him, saying, "You are in effect Charlie's widow, and entitled to what be- longs to him and what I intended for him."
The Nottingham murder in this township occurred in 1854, and Dr. Nottingham was hung in November, 1855. The name of Mrs. Nottingham's first husband was David Duncan.
Dr. Badger asserted that the oldest hunter that ever lived in this country was John Skidmore, who lived on the site of Virgil City for many years and died about 1850, at the age of 85. He came to Missouri with Daniel Boone, and assisted in the con- struction of one of the first forts in the Howard county settle- ments. For some years after Mr. Skidmore settled here he was visited annually by Col. Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone, and an officer in the regular army for a considerable time; he died in Greene county in 1856. Colonel Boone had great respect for Mr. Skidmore, because of his former association with his (Boone's) father, the noted pioneer and explorer.
Mr. Skidmore informed Dr. Badger, with whom he was very intimate, that he had trapped for beaver on the Arkansas and Red rivers prior to the year 1800; that he had been the father of twenty-one children, twenty of whom were twins, and all by one mother; that he had outlived most of them, and that he had accumulated in all of his wanderings and experiences only about $800, on the interest from which, together with what he could raise on a few acres of ground near Virgil, he contrived to sub-
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sist. In his last days he lived alone in a small cabin near the present site of Virgil, in the borders of Cedar; he had two sons in that county.
Of the first elections in what was then Clear Creek township, Bates county, Dr. Badger said they were held at Judge Over- street's sulphur springs, then about the center of the district. A short piece of board, or puncheon, for the table, a sheet of foolscap paper and a pen, placed under a thick shade near the spring (elections then were in August), pointed out the place of voting. The judges and clerks were always within hail- ing distance at a pony race, shooting match, or perhaps listen- ing to an anecdote related by some candidate between drinks. Yet there was never any tampering with returns.
The voting was done on the plain old courageous viva voce plan. Each voter walked up, called out the name of the candi- date for whom he wished to vote, and the clerks made a "tally mark" accordingly. When the polls closed the result was easily ascertained, and it was a matter of record ever after for whom every voter had expressed his preference. Matters were fre- quently simplified by the announcement of the voter in this wise : "I vote the Democratic ticket, state and county, straight;" or "I vote the Whig ticket straight." When an ancient mugwump wished to "scratch" a particular candidate he called out : "I vote the Democratic (or Whig) ticket straight, except John Smith for sheriff; I vote for Thomas Brown," etc. The viva voce method was abolished and voting by ballot substituted during the Civil War, and the first election in Missouri where ballots were exclusively used was in November, 1863.
Some of the old-time voters at Overstreet's were Overstreet himself, old "Black Hawk" (A. M. Markham), Muke Box, Dun- nagan, Swanson, Jarrell, Welch, Smith, Rose, Collins, Ray, Mas- sey and Martin. Of these old Muke Box was a Howard county pioneer, who in 1812-15 was an inmate of Fort Hempstead, in the Missouri river bottom, in that county.
The residence of Mr. Markham (or "Black Hawk") in this township was in the southwest corner, on 31.
In 1850 a store and blacksmith shop were established on Clear creek (section 31) in the southwest corner of the town- ship. Here, in about 1855, George Pope stabbed Wooliver in a fight at the blacksmith shop. Pope was a cripple, lame in one
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leg. The grand jury wouldn't indict him, and this disgusted Wooliver with the country and he removed to Texas.
A man named Martin built a mill on Clear creek, on the Faulkner place (section 21), at a very early day. Dr. Badger said it was running when he came to the country, in 1844. It was but a "corn-cracker" and the dam was made of brush. Kindred Pearson bought the mill.
DURING THE WAR.
In the early fall of 1862 five men on their way to the Con- federate army were killed at the old Butler ford, now called the Smith ford, on Clear creek, in the southwest corner of the township. It is said that the time was the day after John Camp and others were killed near Montevallo. Two of the men, Horn- singer and Kennedy, were from this county; the others were from Bates. It is said that these men were captured by Frank Wyrick, James Moore. Bob Kane, Jim Millender and thirteen other men from this section, who were in the Federal service, and shot down after they had surrendered. The bodies were never buried; even after the war the bleached bones lay scat- tered about on the ground. A very probable version of this in- cident is that there were but three men and that they were captured at the ford and taken nearly two miles northeast, in the vicinity of the Baptist Church, and killed, and that Wyrick and his men were watching the ford with a view of intercepting recruits who were going to Coffee. Still another version says the killing was done by Bacon Montgomery's men.
Valentine Mashaney, who had come to this township from St. Charles, was murdered by the Federals; some say by the Third Wisconsin, for harboring bushwhackers, while others as- sert that the killing was by Wyrick's men and was for money ; Mashaney was a potter and a few days previously had sold some crockery at Fort Scott.
In the fall of 1862, Mr. Faulkner, an old and prominent cit- izen, was brutally murdered at his home by some Kansas troops. He was shot down in his barnyard. The charge against him was "feeding bushwhackers." The facts were that some irregular parties had encamped on his place from time to time, but of course he was powerless to prevent them.
Some time during the war a Union citizen was killed where
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Kennedy and Hornsinger were. His body was never buried. The killing is attributed to the Mayfield boys.
Frank Wyrick lived in the extreme western part of the town- ship, nearly a mile east of Greene's Springs. His father-in-law, James Moore, lived near by. Before the war Wyrick was a quiet, peaceable citizen and generally respected. When the troubles came on he was a Union man, but announced that if Missouri seceded he would go with his state. As Missouri did not secede, he remained loyal to the Federal Government. His former neigh- bor, Mr. James Lancaster, says Wyriek was offered a lieutenant's commission if he would enter the rebel service, but he refused. When Price's army came into the county just before the Dry- wood fight, Wyrick and other Union men were made prisoners and taken out to the camp. Here he escaped the night after the fight during the thunder storm. The next day he was searched for. As he lay in the tall prairie grass, his neighbor's son, Jim Millender, saw him but considerately looked the other way and did not betray him. Wyrick made good his escape and at once went on the war-path. He alleged that he was badly treated while a prisoner, threatened with hanging, and that had he not escaped he would have met the fate of Chronic, who was hung in the border of Barton county. He raised a squad of men in this and Cedar county and it is said he killed fourteen Confederates before he left the country in the fall of 1863, when he and Moore removed to California. One of his men was Jim Millender, who saved his life on Drywood, and who deserted Price's army to join him.
CHURCHES.
Mt. Hebron Baptist. This church was organized in 1868 by Rev. G. M. Lamkins. P. R. Encell and wife, William Bryant and wife, Lucinda Lancaster, S. L. Lancaster, E. F. Lancaster, Mr. Quisenbury and wife, and Henry Siebler and wife were among the first members. A frame church building costing $750 was constructed in the same year as the organization. This is said to have been the first Baptist church building erected in the county.
Sulphur Springs Baptist. The organization of this church was effected in July, 1867. The original members were Alfred Ryan and wife, Moses Busby and wife, Richard R. Hargrave and
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wife, W. W. Vaughn, J. A. Neafus, Mary J. Bivins and Sophia Barnes. In 1880 a frame church building was erected at a cost of $750.
VIRGIL CITY.
The village of Virgil City is located in the southeastern cor- ner of the township, on the county line, a part of the village being in Cedar. That portion of the town in Vernon was laid out on the land of Andrew Ingraham; in Cedar, on the land of James Henderson.
The town was laid out in September, 1866, by Virgil W. Kimball and Andrew Ingraham, and Mr. Kimball, the real founder, gave it his Christian name. John S. Lewis, of Cedar county, built the first house, which was used as a store building. Other business houses were put up soon afterwards by Murphy & Carroll, William A. Ackason and Johnson & Wallace. Drs. Alfred Barter and J. W. Cochran were the first physicians. Cap- tain Hubbell established a hotel, which he conducted for many years. Some years afterward Mr. Kimball built a large brick residence.
For a year or two after its establishment Virgil City grew quite rapidly. In 1869 more business was transacted here than at Nevada, and the town had a population of 400 or 500. Its business men were enterprising and it promised to become an important point. A daily line of stage coaches ran through from Sedalia to Carthage and hundreds of travelers, investors, and home-seekers visited it. Parker, in his "Missouri As It Is," (1867), mentions it as an example of the rapid growth of towns in the West. The site is on the old road from Boonville to the Granby lead mines, a well-known thoroughfare before the war. On petition of John D. Reed and others the village was incor- porated September 5, 1867.
In 1867 a Masonic lodge (Hesperian, No. 286,) was established. An Odd Fellows' lodge was organized here at an early day. The Presbyterians had an organization here at an early day and held meetings in a building originally constructed for a store- house. Subsequently the Christian denomination built a good church.
Pashaw and Virgil City are neat little towns which have con- siderable local trade. The fact of their not being on any rail-
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road retards their growth, but does not prevent the people from enjoying the comforts of life.
WALKER TOWNSHIP.
Walker comprises congressional township 37, range 30. It is almost exclusively a prairie township. The only timber is in the extreme southern part, where there is a narrow strip along the north branch of Clear creek. The soil is generally very excel- lent and there are some fine farms. The existence of so much prairie had much to do in the past in retarding the settlement of this township, but the same cause eventually proved its best for- tune. It contains some of the best farms in southwest Missouri.
Walker township is almost entirely underlaid with coal at a shallow depth from the surface, in most places at from two to four feet. The vein is generally three feet in thickness, and reached by "stripping."
The first actual settler within the confines of what is now Walker township, was Dr. J. N. B. Dodson, who came from Camden county in 1855, and located near the Dodson mounds, having entered several tracts of land in sections, 5, 7, 8 and 17.
After Dr. Dodson came Maj. Hillery W. Corker, to section 9, and Joshua Hightower to section 5, both in 1855. Corker came from only four miles away, but Hightower was from Camden and Moniteau counties. Then came George W. Bolton, C. D. Smith, Pat Maxey, and B. J. Clinton to various portions of the township, all before the Civil War. Indeed, Walker township did not exist as a separate municipality until after the building of the M., K. & T. railroad and after the town of Walker had been laid out.
There were but a few houses in the township, or in what is now the township, at the close of the war, and not until some years after did the real development begin. When the railroad was built settlers came from every quarter and filled up the country quite rapidly. It was not long until the district was well settled.
TOWN OF WALKER.
The town of Walker is situated in the central portion of the township (n. 1% se. and se. ne. sec. 16, and s. 12 nw. and n. 1/2 sw. sec. 15), on the M., K. & T. The site is in the midst of a fine
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prairie, surrounded by a fine farming country and thriving community.
The town was laid out in December, 1870, by the Walker Town Company, of which J. R. Barrett, of Sedalia, was presi- dent; H. L. Marvin was the surveyor. Hiram F. Walker, an old and prominent resident, for whom the town was named, and William Leslie, were the original owners of the land. Maj. B. J. Clinton, who located here a few years before the war, was per- haps the first settler in the vicinity.
Like many another town, Walker owes its origin to the building of the railroad. It was platted soon after the line was constructed to Fort Scott and grew apace.
Walker at this time has a population of 480 people, and in addition to its being the market for the usual crops of corn, wheat and oats raised in that vicinity, it is a prominent ship- ping point for live stock and hay. In an ordinary year from 250 to 300 car loads of live stock being shipped, and from 800 to 1,000 car loads of hay.
The town was incorporated as a city of the fourth class in 1886, and has an excellent graded school organized in 1883, caring for pupils up to the eighth grade, with an enrollment of 100 at present. The principal is Miss Phenia Floyd, assisted by Miss Blanche Gass and Mrs. Thomas Cannon. There are five organized churches, Christian, Baptist, Presbyterian, Church of the Latter-Day Saints, Methodist Episcopal.
The Walker "Herald" was established in the summer of 1882 by S. J. Preston who, since that time, has been continuously recording the births, deaths, joys and sorrows, together with the expectations and realizations of nearly two generations of the people who have made Walker and vicinity their home.
The Farmers' Bank of Walker, with a capital stock of $10,000.00, is a safe and reliable institution, of which E. T. Let- ton is president and R. K. Palmer cashier.
SOCIETIES.
The secret and fraternal orders are represented by the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America, Rebekahs and the Royal Neighbors.
-
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The I. O. O. F. of Walker own a fine two-story building, the lower story being used for stores, while the upper story is a large and well-appointed hall, which is used by them and the other lodges in the town as a lodge room.
The health of the community is looked after by Drs. C. B. Davis and L. H. Moore. Logan & Moore sell lumber and build- ing material; Dale & Son, hardware and implements; Henry Boyer & Son carry on a general store; John A. Buck sells furni- ture and groceries; A. Cherry runs the livery stable ; J. H. Hig- ley operates a feed mill; Jim Truc, the harness-maker; Ed. Prichard runs a restaurant, and Otis Ferguson looks after the tonsorial parlor.
L. D. S. Church at Walker. The first preaching done in Walker by ministers of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was by Elder Alfred White, about 1891. He was soon followed by others, among whom were W. S. Macrae, I. N. White, Gomer Wells, A. J. and F. C. Keck.
Several were baptized in 1892-94 and united with the Veve branch, but February 10, 1897, were organized into the Walker branch. For several years they rented a hall for services, but in 1906 they bought a store building, moved it onto a nice lot and remodeled it into a neat chapel.
A. S. Leeper has been pastor most of the time since the organization. MRS. A. C. SILVERS.
CHRISTIAN CHURCH, WALKER.
Unfortunately this church has no preserved records previous to 1883. The church house was built in the year of 1883 at a cost of about $1,600, and was dedicated October 28, 1883, by M. M. Davis. The elders elected were J. B. Rains, M. C. Darr and J. V. Cowan. Deacons elected were J. S. Rains, Caleb Embree, D. H. Clinton and J. W. Martin. Preachers employed to serve as pastor of the church were William Birge, W. W. Blaylock. W. H. Bryan, J. M. Claypool, J. M. Rudy, J. H. Jones, O. H. Ishamel, Slaid, Ben F. Hill, McGee, Cook, J. D. Pontino and J. P. Adcock. Elders at this time were J. V. Cole, J. M. Compton and Charles Canon ; deacons, E. F. True, S. T. Prewitt, James Forman, W. T. Prewitt and G. H. Boyer.
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WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
Washington township comprises township 36, range 31.
The Marmaton river runs through the western portion of the township from south to north, and Foland's branch and Old Town branch flow in the same direction through the eastern part. Along these streams there is considerable timber. As to the origin of the names of these water courses it may be here stated that the word "Marmaton" is absolutely meaningless. It has a French sound, however, and is doubtless a corruption of the French word Marmite, signifying a pot or cooking kettle. From the circumstances of finding a kettle, or losing a kettle, or some incident connected with a kettle in some way, it is quite proba- ble that the first French voyagers called the stream "Marmite," pronounced Marmita, or Marmeta, and by the old settlers "Marmetaw," or "Mommetaw," accent on the first syllable al- ways. Wetmore's Gazette of Missouri for 1837 spells it "Marmeta." The word Marmiton, as it is sometimes written, means a kitchen scullion or pot-scourer. Doubtless the true English name of the stream is Kettle creek; but if the French term is employed it should be written Marmite, and pronounced as indicated above. Old Town branch is so named because near its mouth, in Osage township, the old town of the Osage Indians was located at one time. Foland's branch is named for Jacob Foland.
The surface of the country is somewhat diversified. Asylum No. 3 is located in the extreme southern part of the township on a beautiful site, and there are other fine expanses of coun- try; but much of the country is broken. There are many ex- posures of sandstone in the southern part. There is a good quarry in the northeastern part and there is some limestone along the Marmaton, in the southern part. Coal has been dug in some places.
EARLY SETTLERS.
It is claimed that Augustine DeVille made a temporary set- tlement on the east side of the Marmaton, in section 9, in about 1835, but this may be doubted, as his settlement was nearer Timbered Hill. Abraham McKnight was probably the first set- tler. In the employ of M. Letiembre, it is said he opened a farm
O
ROBERT S. DEAN.
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in the northern part of the township, a little east of the Mar- maton (sw. 14 sec. 4) in about 1838. McKnight came to own the land and sold it to Jesse Lowe, who did not live on it, but in turn sold to Lawson Carter, who lived here until his death, in 1856. Jacob Foland came to the place from east Tennessee in 1857. Erasmus Foland came to the country with his brother Jacob.
Joseph Douglas came to the country with his brother, Col. George Douglas, in 1834. In about 1837 he made a settlement .in the northwestern part of this township (se. 1/4 sec. 7), north of the Marmaton, and near the branch which still bears his name. Here he opened a fine farm, which became eventually one of the best in the country. He owned a number of slaves and em- ployed other help in the management of his plantation, and be- came in time quite wealthy.
Mr. Douglas was a most excellent citizen and an honorable gentleman. Hospitable, generous, and charitable, he was a whit peculiar. His uniform price for corn was 35 cents per bushel- never a cent more, under any circumstances, and when the mar- ket price was half that amount, or less than his standard, he gave his corn away, rather than abate his rule. He had a reason- able price for everything he had to sell, and no amount of jew- ing would induce him to abate it.
In religious belief, Mr. Douglas was a Universalist; he said he believed in God and therefore did not fear him. His life was one of morality and strict rectitude and when he died, in the summer of 1860, his death was universally deplored.
Noalı Caton came in 1839 to section 20, in the southwestern quarter of the township. It was at his house where the first term of the Vernon county court was held. Mr. Caton died in March, 1862. Samuel Son settled on section 29, near the site of the Union school house, in 1840. James B. Logan settled near the sulphur springs, four miles north of Nevada, in February, 1842.
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