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 8
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stores, an active W. C. T. U. a good baseball team, one water- filter factory, three insurance agents, almost 500 population, best farming community, three real estate dealers, one first-class res- taurant, three grain and hay dealers, one exclusive millinery store, three contractors and builders, two church ladies' aid so- cieties, one job printing office-the "Times," no empty business or resident houses, no debts, money in town treasury, beauti- ful modern and comfortable homes, Christian Endeavor Society and Epworth League, one telephone company with a list of 250 subscribers, a good school building with an addition to be built soon, no more gentlemanly nor accommodating merchants anywhere.
A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR HOUSES OF WORSHIP.
Metz M. E. Church. The following brief history of the Metz M. E. church, South, was written by Col. John G. Hudson :
"The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was built at Old Metz in the summer of 1887. The size of the building was 26x36 feet. It was enclosed and then seated with slabs and loose lum- ber. The year following-1888-the building was finishel and seated. Henry Pond made the seats and T. J. Pond made the pulpit and gave same to the church. Rev. A. B. Donaldson was the pastor in charge and Rev. Joseph King presiding elder. In 1890 the town of Metz was laid out and the town committee gave the church lot No. 1, block 2. In 1891 the church was moved from Old Metz to Metz, and the following September J. F. Robb was assigned as pastor by conference. In 1893 T. J. Pond made a stand table of walnut and gave same to the church. In 1899 an addition to the church was built on the south side, size 20x36; Rev. J. C. Diggs, pastor. The first bell was hung May 31, 1902, and was rung for the first time for services June 1, 1902, at 9:30 a. m.
The church has a membership of 163. W. B. Bull is the pastor, and preaching services are held on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. The Sunday school has an average at- tendance of about eighty-five. J. J. Stark is the superintendent. The Epworth League, with a membership of about fifty, holds meetings every Sunday evening.
Metz Christian Church. The Metz Christian Church was or- ganized by Elder Claypool on October 12, 1898. The charter
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members were: Mrs. Emma King, T. J. Pond, Mrs. L. P. Pettit, Mrs. W. W. Penrod, Dr. J. T. Hornback and wife, J. W. Mc- Kibben and wife and daughters Blanche and Nellie, Frank Ben- nett and wife, Mrs. M. J. Plew, Mrs. Lee Scrutchfield, Mrs. Elijah Stout, Mrs. Rosa Usrey, Mrs. Mary E. Willis, Mrs. Mary Baze, Lillie Baze, W. S. Earhart, Elmer Charles and wife, Mrs. Belle Cline, Mrs. Syrenus Cline, Mrs. Delieu Blake, Ella Berry and Marion Bouse and wife. Elder R. R. Coffee was the first pastor.
The church building was erected in the year 1890. An ad- dition of 20x40 feet was built in 1908, giving 2,000 feet of floor room.
Preaching service is held the first Sunday of each month. Elder C. B. Wait is the pastor. The membership now numbers 155.
The Christian Sunday school has had an average attendance of almost one hundred during the past three months. G. H. Summers is the superintendent.
The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor meets at the Christian Church every Sunday evening. The society has a membership of about fifty-five.
Metz Baptist Church. The Metz Baptist Church was or- ganized January 22 of this year by Rev. G. W. McClanahan, missionary and colporter of the Nevada Baptist Association. It now has a membership of about twenty. The church building known as the Methodist Protestant Church was purchased a few weeks later. Services are held the third Sunday of each month, with Rev. G. W. McClanahan as pastor.
Sunday school is held every Sunday with a good attendance at 3 o'clock p. m. G. P. Wolfe is the superintendent.
Osage Valley Baptist Church. The Osage Valley Baptist Church, one and one-half miles west of Metz, was organized in the spring of 1869. The original members were Alfred R., Cor- nelia A., G. W., Nannie A., Jacob F. and Eliza Norman and Rob- ert T. Ellis ; James Morgan was soon after admitted. The first pastor was Jesse Johnson, and the first deacons were R. T. Ellis, Benjamin Wickham and S. J. Conner. In 1872 a frame house of worship was erected at a cost of $1,000.
The church had a large membership for many years, but re- movals and other matters caused a decrease in the number, and about two years ago the congregation disbanded.
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Rinehart Christian Church, Rinehart Christian Church was organized in 1872. The first members were J. R. Rinehart, M. M. Summers, E. B. Weyand, John Daniels, James Wilkins, Allen Summers, W. A. Flesher, M. A. Rinehart, J. J. Townsend, S. J. Baze, J. H. More, Joseph Rynard and wife, Mrs. Leah Town- send and Mrs. L. Price. The church building was erected in 1882 at a cost of $1,200.
Services are held monthly, with Elder De Jarnett as pastor. Sunday school is held every Sunday. Charles Scott is the superintendent.
Rinehart cemetery, adjoining the church grounds, is the last resting place of many who have passed away in that locality.
THE FRATERNAL AND BENEFICIAL SOCIETIES OF METZ.
Odd Fellows. Metz Lodge, No. 694, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was instituted March 27, 1905. The five charter members were C. H. Compton, H. D. Carmichael, J. D. William, Paschal Henshaw and John Campbell. Meetings are held every Monday night. The lodge has a membership of seventy-one. E. P. Mullen is N. G., and G. H. Summers, secretary.
Modern Woodmen. Metz Camp, No. 3387, Modern Woodmen of America, was established in December, 1895, with the follow- ing charter members: E. D. Allen, N. Conner, C. E. Handly, W. E. Hudson, James Hawkins, C. R. Harris, L. W. King, John W. Montgomery, John T. McCoy, Henry Pond, Henry C. Roberts, William R. Rowan, A. Sartorius, John W. Swan, William H. Shannon, John R. Snoddy, M. A. Theis and E. W. Watts. The camp had a membership of 138 at the clerk's last report. Meet- ings are held the second and fourth Friday nights of each month. Elmer Charles is V. C. and F. I. Rucker clerk.
Since the camp has been established it has paid out $26,000 in death losses.
Modern Brotherhood. Smith Lodge, No. 903, Modern Brother- hood of America, was instituted. in October, 1905. Meetings are held the first and third Friday nights of each month. The lodge has a membership of eighty-six. G. H. Summers is the president and F. I. Rucker, secretary.
Royal Neighbors. Friendship Camp, No. 2762, Royal Neigh- bors of America, was instituted October 29. 1901, with forty-six charter members. Meetings are held the second and fourth Sat-
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urday afternoons of each month. The camp has a membership of about sixty. Mrs. Minnie Morris is oracle and Mrs. Mary Cox, clerk.
Daughters of Rebekah. The members of Metz Lodge, Daugh- ters of Rebekah, have not had a meeting for several months, but still retain their charter.
Grand Army of the Republic. Mt. McGregor Post, No. 252, Grand Army of the Republic, was organized at Sprague, Novem- ber 28, 1885, with thirty-one members. The Post was moved to Metz in October, 1895. Meetings are held occasionally at the homes of the members.
The present members of the Post are James Bradburn, John Stack, G. W. Charles, A. Cox, R. C. Elder, Thomas Foreman, M. E. Frazier, Thomas Irvin, T. Bogan, J. W. Carlisle, W. F. Gault, and Leroy Taylor. M. E. Frazier is commander and John Stack, quartermaster and adjutant.
OUR NEIGHBORING VILLAGES.
Horton, our neighboring village, is located six miles south- east of Metz, on the Kansas City-Joplin branch of the Missouri Pacific. C. F. True is the postmaster, and he also conducts a general merchandise store. The town has a good school and the M. E. South congregation has a handsome church building. Among the town's leading citizens are A. L. and Gus Hanly, R. B. Vest, D. G. Greenlee, Forest Wilmouth, Mr. Anthony, H. Kimrey, and J. W. Welch.
Arthur, located five miles northeast of Metz, can boast of a good school, with T. W. Armstrong as teacher. The Baptists have a good church building here and a growing membership. G. W. McClanahan is the pastor. Arthur is also located on the Missouri Pacific railway. H. H. Gist is the postmaster and he also conducts a general merchandise store.
Rinehart postoffice, located five miles southeast of Metz, is a trading and shipping point. J. H. Miller is the postmaster and merchant, and he also looks after the railroad business. Consid- erable grain and hay is shipped from Rinehart.
Fairview neighborhood, about six miles north of Metz. includes among its citizens some of our oldest settlers. Bethel Baptist Church, located here, is one of the oldest in this part of the state and has a large membership. G. W. McClanahan is the pastor.
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Fairview is the home of W. C. ("Gabe") Hedden, the well-known newspaper correspondent, who manages to keep it before the people.
MONTEVALLO TOWNSHIP.
Montevallo township is composed of congressional township 34, range 29, and is the southeastern township of Vernon county, adjoining Cedar on the east and Barton on the south. It is a "long township," eight miles in length from north to south, and about five miles in width.
Nearly two-thirds of the township is, or was originally, timber land. The prairie runs in a strip, varying in width from the northeast to the southwest, with an arm two miles wide extend- ing from Montevallo town to the county line. The timber lands are generally rough, broken, and covered with black-jack jungles. The sandstone is very abundant and found on the surface in many places. Along McCarty's creek, in the western part, and Horse creek, in the southeastern, the timber is dense.
McCarty's branch, which takes its rise in Barton county and flows northward through the western tier of sections in this township and empties into Clear creek, and Horse creek, which cuts across the southeast corner, are the leading streams in Montevallo. Mulberry branch, Pea branch, and Mill branch are in the northwest, and McDougal's branch (or "Little Cynthia") is in the southeast, emptying into Horse creek, near the Cedar county line.
There are a few living springs in the township, and no scarcity of water. Coal exists in considerable quantities, but has been opened or developed more extensively in the southern part. The best fields known are in the southwestern portion of the town- ship, on McCarty's creek. Over on Horse creek parties claim to have found specimens of iron ore. which is not improbable, con- sidering the ferruginous (or ironish) character of the general formation of the county. The dark yellow sandstone, the red clay, and the dark water of the township are all colored with iron in one form or another.
EARLY HISTORY.
Samuel Dunnagan was one of the first white settlers in what is now Montevallo township. He came in the year 1839 from
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Polk county to "Little Cynthia" creek, in the southern part of the township (center of section 22), now part of the old McDougal farm. ("Little Cynthia" was named for Cynthia Brown.) Dun- nagan left in a year and a half, and moved three miles to the westward, over on McCarty's creek (section 19). His house was in the little valley, almost on the bank of the creek. But the location was very sickly, and one night in the rainy season of 1844 the branch overflowed its banks, flooded the valley, down which it poured a volume of water that would float a steamboat, and "drowned out" Dunnagan and his family. He then took refuge in the grove which still bears his name, where he died in the year 1867. He was a prominent citizen in early days, and his grove was a well known locality. While this was a part of Bates county Mr. Dunnagan was a justice of the peace of what then was Clear Creek township.
McCarty, who gave his name to the little creek, settled on the stream about two miles from the Barton county line (north part of section 30). He came in 1838, or not later than 1839. In about ten years he sold his claim to one McSwain, who in turn sold to Samuel Dunnagan.
Sometime about 1845 a man, named Kitchen, located a mile north of McCarty's claim (on section 18), but when the California gold fever broke out, in 1849, he contracted it and it carried him ' off to the Pacific coast. McSwain, too, went to the diggings and never returned. Capt. Elijah Smith located on McCarty's branch in the southwest part of the township (s. 1/2 se. 1/4 sec. 30), on Smith's branch.
In the northern part of the township Joseph Martin settled on the site of Old Montevallo about the year 1840. He and his sons were famous grindstone makers in early days. They used the Clear creek sandstone and hauled their wares to Independence and Lexington sometimes, where they readily exchanged them for merchandise of various sorts. Martin died at Old Montevallo.
James Ray, a Tennesseean, settled on Mill branch, in the northern part of the township (lot 9, nw. 1/4 sec. 4), in the year 1842. His daughter, Mrs. J. P. Grace, was born here the follow- ing year. Ray was a blacksmith, and although he owned a farm he worked chiefly at his trade. He afterward lived near Monte- vallo and died in this neighborhood. He had four sons killed
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on the Southern side during the Civil War; two, George W. and John H., were killed at Wilson's creek. The place on which Ray first lived was first settled and improved about 1840, by a man named Piper, from whom Ray purchased the claim.
The first religious services by the people in the southern part of the township, were held at Samuel Dunnagin's, in Dunnagin's Grove, in 1846. Rev. Joseph Dunnagin, a brother of Esq. Dun- nagin, was the preacher. He, too, was from Polk county. If Rev. Thomas W. German was not the first preacher in the north- ern part of the township, he was certainly among the first.
The first school in the southern part was taught at Esq. Dun- nagin's by a man named MeKinney. Some of the scholars in the northern part, along Mulberry, attended Callison's and Reed's schools, over in Virgil. Robert Jordan was an early teacher in this section of country. After a time, when the Montevallo Academy was established, it was generally resorted to by those desiring a good education.
Like their neighbors in other portions of the country, the first settlers in Montevallo township enjoyed a sort of from-hand- to-mouth existence. Few cultivated more than twenty acres of land ; a forty-acre tract was a "big farm." Stock was generally raised, but there were no large herds or flocks. and not much pains taken or expense incurred with either hogs or cattle. Hogs ran in the timber, and were uniformly mast-fattened. Some- times, a week or two before slaughtering time, they were shut up and fed on corn to "harden" the fat; for the fat portions of mast-fed pork "drip" badly-that is, the lard oozes out, except in extreme cold weather, and keeps the meat in bad condition.
There was a great deal of game. In the Horse creek timber and in the MeCarty creek timber, and in all the timbered tracts, in fact, deer were very abundant. One of Esq. Dunnagin's boys, a lad only twelve years of age, killed 175 deer in one winter, at as late a period as after the year 1850.
Raccoon skins and deer hides were common articles of barter. The woods were full of bee trees, and often they were cut more for the beeswax they yielded than for the honey.
There were other animals in the woods besides deer and 'coons. Wildcats were numerous and panthers and timber wolves were not infrequent.
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
Montevallo was one of the original townships of the county. It then comprised all the territory east of Center and Drywood townships and south of Clear Creek and Center townships, to the county lines on the east and south. The first justices of the peace were B. T. Morgan, John E. Rogers, Lucas Woodward, and Joseph Stepp. The first election was at Withers' store, in Monte- vallo town; the judges were James Ray, James Wilson, and Isham Hatfield. In 1856 the township was divided into two voting pre- cincts ; one called "Butler" was at Jonathan Butler's, and the judges were B. H. Brashear, William M. Brim, and Henry Prewitt; the other was at Old Montevallo; judges, Z. German, Jacob Sigler, and Z. Williams.
After the Civil War, in November, 1866, the township was reorganized and an election held for township officers. Only seventeen votes were cast. R. T. Parks and J. H. Mitchell were elected justices of the peace; W. T. Mitchell, constable.
IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Nearly every acre of ground in Montevallo township was the scene of some incident worthy of record during the Civil War. . Every crossroad was the locality of a. skirmish; every patch of timber through which a road ran was the scene of an ambuscade ; every school house and prairie field was a mustering place or a drill ground; while many a glen and dale and bit of roadway witnessed a silent sickening tragedy, none the less horrible for its privacy and the swiftness of its execution. Some one kept count and at the close of the war it was reported that no fewer than thirty-six men had been killed in the vicinty of Old Montevallo, in this county; of these eight only were Federals or their sym- pathizers, while of the twenty-eight Southerners, eight had never taken up arms.
Montevallo was Confederate in her sympathies from the first. Among the people there were few who were not ready and eager to fight for their faith. Led by Hon. J. M. Gatewood, a citizen of the township, the able-bodied men formed themselves into a company before Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, and this company
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was one of the very first to spring to arms in all Missouri upon the call of Governor Jackson. And in the desperate battle of Wilson's Creek more than one-half of this company was killed or wounded.
Montevallo furnished two other companies to the Confederate service, and from first to last more men from this township fol- lowed the bright but ill-starred banner of Secession than there were voters in the fall of 1860.
Early in the summer of 1861 the military forces entered this township. The first were General Price's men, as they were hastening from the northern counties to join their leader in the Southwest. Then in the first week in September, came the entire Missouri army of 10,000 men, on its way to Fort Scott and the Drywood fight. Two months later came the Kansas troops, en route to Springfield to join General Fremont.
The first Federal troops that came in to permanently occupy the country were welcomed with "bloody hands to hospitable graves." It was in March, 1862, when the detachment of the First Iowa cavalry reached Old Montevallo town, and notwith- standing they came with fair speeches and deported themselves like gentlemen, no confidence was reposed in them and no love felt for them, and they were bushwhacked before morning. Ever after there was no ground found in this township tenable for a Federal garrison, and no further attempt was made to establish one.
The various important skirmishes in the township; the hotel fight and Coffee's fight at Montevallo, with the burning of the town, the killing of Camp and others, are noted elsewhere.
There were two or three Union families in this township at the beginning of the war and they were roughly treated by the Secessionists. As time passed opportunity was given to certain parties for revenge, and they improved it. Every man known to have given active and willing aid and comfort to the Confeder- ates was informed upon, and his name and the particulars of his offense were reported either to the Federal authorities at Fort Scott or to the Cedar county militia. Then the tables were turned and it was the Southerners who fared hard.
From the spring of 1862 until the close of the war the killing went on. The particulars in every instance cannot now be gath-
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ered. In the neighborhood of Old Montevallo, one night in February, 1863, five citizens were killed at their homes by the Cedar county militia. William Wood was killed and a man named Amos was taken from a sick bed and shot, and Tapp, Clendenin and Campbell were killed.
Old Jeremiah Ray, sixty years of age, was shot down by the Sixth Kansas as he was walking harmlessly along the road, a mile or so west of Montevallo. A man named Brewer, who lived in Montevallo, was shot by some Kansas troops as he was running towards his home and had refused to halt when ordered.
John Brown, Sr., was killed by the Kansas troops in 1863, as he was hunting cattle on the prairie in the southern part of the township. It is said that he. too, refused to halt when ordered and was then shot.
Lieut. Wesley L. Ball was shot by a detachment of Kansas troops led by a Captain Moore and piloted and instructed by Frank Wyrick and Jefferson Moore. This was in the fall of 1862. Lieutenant Ball was a lieutenant in Gatewood's old com- pany ; returning home he was captured by the Kansas troops and taken to Fort Scott. After a confinement of some months he was released on oath. The Federals claimed that he was a spy on them, notwithstanding his oath, and that he even was a bush- whacker when opportunity offered. They went one night, took him out a hundred yards from the house, and shot him down. But if the Federals had not killed Lieutenant Ball, the bush- whackers would have slain him the first opportunity. While in' prison at Fort Scott he betrayed a plan of escape which some of his fellow prisoners had matured, and caused them to be shackled and closely confined. Henry Taylor and others swore vengeance against him for his treachery, which was occasioned by his personal hatred of one of the men in the plot.
It is said that the same parties that killed Ball also mur- dered Mr. Markham and his son, who lived on Horse creek.
Manuel Collins, a Union man and a member of the Federal militia, killed two bushwhackers named Hugh Gantier and John Crockett, by beating out their brains with a smoothing iron. All three were in a dwelling house and Collins was virtually a pris- oner. He contrived to secure the weapon and getting behind the bushwhackers, he, by two powerful and swiftly delivered blows, crushed their skulls.
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OLD MONTEVALLO.
The old town of Montevallo stood partly on lots 4 and 5 of the northeast quarter of section 5, or about a mile and a half to the northwest of the present town, a little west of the Lipe branch and a mile east of McCarty creek. The main street was the road from Nevada or Balltown to Springfield, which ran from northwest to southeast, and the principal portion of the town was built on either side of this street. Quite a number of- houses were scattered irregularly about, and there was no com- pactness or solidity in the general character of the place.
The founder of the town was William Withers, who estab- lished a store here in the year 1850. The site was originally owned by Joseph Martin, the old grindstone maker, who settled upon it about the year 1840. Not long afterward J. M. Gate- wood and Hon. William Blanton came to the place, and soon after the town was laid out. The name was given by Rev. Thomas German, the first school commissioner of Vernon county, and a prominent citizen. Mr. German was a good scholar and chris- tened the town from two Spanish words-Monte Vallo, meaning a combination of hill and valley. As the town was situated in a pleasant little vale or valley, between two ranges of hills, the name was quite appropriate.
The county records show that in November, 1855, Asa Elliott was a licensed merchant in Montevallo, with William Withers and Thomas W. German as his sureties. In June, 1856, George Pape was licensed to keep a dramshop.
By a special act of the legislature, approved December 12, 1855, the Montevallo Academy was chartered. The first board of trustees was composed of R. P. Walker, Robert Crockett, James H. Mulkey, D. W. Martindale, R. T. Morgan, Thomas W. German and C. L. Clark. The building was not completed until in 1857. Schools were scarce at that day, and the establishment of the academy was largely encouraged by the citizens, who were generally believers in and promoters of the cause of educa- tion. There were several families of good social position and refinement, and the location of the academy was a matter of much advantage and consequence to the little town.
The academy building was a frame, and stood a little south- east of the town, on the east side of the branch. It was only one
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story in height, but was large and roomy. Religious services were held here from time to time in the absence of church build- ings. The first principal, probably, was Rev. Thomas W. Ger- man, although a Miss Ladd, of Kansas City, was an early teacher, and it is claimed that she really taught the first school. After Mr. German came Prof. Gregory. When the Civil War broke out the teachers were Prof. M. A. Page and Miss H. B. Stanwood, both excellent teachers.
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