USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 43
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The present population is 289. The Ar- cadia Valley Enterprise is an influential week- ly paper edited by Fuller Swaift and is Re- publican in politics. The town is situated on the main line of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway.
LESTERVILLE
The town of Lesterville in Reynolds county was settled about 1860, but has never been incorporated as a town and it is now im- possible to give the names of the first settlers. The first merchant in the town was William Bowen, there are now four general stores and a hub factory. The financial interests of the town are cared for by the Bank of Lesterville. The more important buildings are the school house and Masonic hall. The town is not situated on a railroad and is rather difficult of access. Its population is about 300.
SMALLER SETTLEMENTS
Des Arc, an incorporated village in Union township in Iron county, is twenty-nine miles south of Ironton on the Iron Mountain Rail- road; it has a hotel, flouring mill and two general stores. Its population is about 200.
The little town of Middle Brook, a short distance north of Ironton and on the line between Iron county and St. Francois county, was laid out as a town in 1856.
CHAPTER XXV
POLITICAL, CIVIL AND MILITARY
THE FIRST STATE ELECTION-CONTEST FOR THE SENATORSHIP-THE EIGHT COUNTIES. COURTS IN EACH COUNTY-ORGANIZATION OF NEW COUNTIES-SOUTHEAST MISSOURI IN THE MEX- ICAN WAR.
The people of Missouri, after the adoption of the first of the two compromises, supposing that they would be admitted to the Union, proceeded to the formation of a government. The constitution was framed in July, 1820, and it called for a meeting of the general assembly in September of that year. The election was ordered to be held August 28th. The people were then to elect a governor, lieu- tenant governor, a representative in Congress for the sixteenth Congress, one for the seven- teenth, members of the general assembly, and sheriff's and coroners in the various counties. The constitution fixed the number of senators in the state at fourteen and representatives at forty-three.
FIRST STATE ELECTION
The election was held on the date announced and the entire state government selected. This was nearly a year before the admission of the state into the Union, so that Missouri pre- sented the unusual spectacle of a sovereign state with a duly authorized government under a constitution, but outside of the Union and still not independent.
The election resulted in the choice of Alex- ander McNair for governor, William H. Ash- ley for lieutenant governor, and John Scott
as representative in Congress for both its ses- sions. Scott lived in Ste. Genevieve.
CONTEST FOR THE SENATORSHIP
The general assembly met in St. Louis in September, 1820. James Caldwell of Ste. Genevieve was the speaker of the house. Among the duties of the legislature were the election of two United States senators and the appointment of three supreme and four cir- cuit judges. One of the judges of the supreme court was John D. Cook of Cape Girardeau. The contest for United States senator was a very interesting onc. There were two senators to be selected. David Barton of St. Louis was elected on the first ballot by an unanimous vote, but a fierce contest was waged for the remaining place. The candidates were Thomas H. Benton, John B. C. Lucas, Henry Elliott, John Rice Jones and Nathaniel Cook. Of these candidates, Judges Lucas and Benton were the most prominent. After a long at- tempt to select a senator Benton was finally chosen.
THE EIGHT COUNTIES
When Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1821 there were only eight counties organ- ized in Southeast Missouri. These were:
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Washington, Perry, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, Wayne, New Madrid, Jefferson and Madison counties. All the other territory of this section of the state was embraced in one or more of these counties. It is plainly evident that some of them were vastly larger in area than they are at present. This was true especially of Wayne county; out of it there were afterward created several large counties.
COURTS IN EACH COUNTY
In each one of these counties, as in other counties of the state, there was a county court composed of justices of the peace, and having very limited jurisdiction. These county courts were not thoroughly organized, and the prin- cipal business of the court was conducted not by the county courts but by the circuit courts.
The counties of Ste. Genevieve, Madison, Wayne, New Madrid, Cape Girardeau and Perry were organized into the southern judi- cial circuit. One judge presided over the sittings of the court in each of these counties. Terms of the court were held at specified times, and these terms were so arranged as not to conflict with one another, and thus make it possible for one judge to hold court in all the counties of the circuit. Washington and Jefferson counties belonged to the north- ern circuit, which included besides these southeastern counties St. Louis, St. Charles and Franklin counties. The circuit courts, as organized in each one of these counties, was a body having wide jurisdiction and great power. In addition to the jurisdiction now exercised by circuit courts the early courts had a large part of the jurisdiction which now belongs to either the county court or the pro- bate court. We have seen that the first judge of the southern circuit was Hon. Richard S.
Thomas, who during his term of office was a resident of Jackson.
At the time of the organization of the state government each county was represented by one or more members in the legislative council. Upon the organization of the state govern- ment each county was then represented by one member of the house of representatives, and there were organized senatorial districts for the election of members of the upper house. There was at the time of admission only one member of the national house of representatives. The population of Missouri was not sufficient to entitle the state to more than one representative, and this condition lasted until about 1840.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI IN THE MEXICAN WAR
From the close of the Indian troubles, which were connected with the war of 1812, until the breaking out of the Civil war, the people of Southeast Missouri had little opportunity to make military history. The only time in which they were called upon to become sol- diers was during the Mexican war and not many from this section of the state took part in that struggle. Only a few companies were organized and not a very large number of the individuals joined commands in other parts of Missouri and in other states. In the sum- mer of 1846 Captain Thomas M. Horine or- ganized a company at Ste. Genevieve and marched with it to Fort Leavenworth. At Fort Leavenworth the company became part of the Second Missouri Regiment which was commanded by Colonel, afterward General Sterling Price. It took part in the remark- able expedition known as Doniphan's expedi- tion. In company with the other regiment forming Doniphan's command these troops marched west from Fort Leavenworth and finally reached Santa Fe. It took part in the
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engagement in New Mexico and when General Price was left by Doniphan in command of the territory of Mexico the Missouri soldiers remained with him. They fought a number of skirmishes with the Mexicans and Indians. One of them was the Battle of Taos, lasting all day and resulting in the surrender of the entire force of the enemy.
On August 23, 1846, Captain Firmin A. Rozier organized a company of one hundred and fifteen men in Ste. Genevieve and Perry counties. The organization was known as the South Missouri Guards. They were re- cruited for service in California under Gen- eral Kearney and made their way to Fort Leavenworth on the Kansas border. They there became part of a regiment which, by the time the organization was completed, was too late in the season, and no effort was made to cross the plains and the company remained at Fort Leavenworth. In 1847 Captain Robert H. Lane recruited a company at Frederick- town, and the company was mustered into service at Jefferson barracks as Company I of the Third Missouri Mounted Volunteers. John Ralls was colonel of this company and
Captain Lane was elected lieutenant colonel. This left his position as captain of Company I vacant, and John Head was chosen to suc- ceed him as captain. From Jefferson barracks the regiment was sent to Fort Leavenworth and from Fort Leavenworth was ordered to Mexico to reinforce the command of Colonel Doniphan. They went by way of Santa Fe and El Paso and joined Colonel Doniphan at the city of Chihuahua, which was then his headquarters. On March 16, 1848, this Third Missouri Regiment, with three other com- panies, fought a battle with the Mexicans at Santa Cruz. It was a hard fight and lasted all day, for the Mexicans were entrenched within the town and their possession was de- fended by artillery. In spite of this they were defeated with the loss of three hundred and thirty killed, and the rest of the Mexican force surrendered. The greater part of this regiment, including Company I, was then stationed at Santa Cruz until July, 1848, when they were ordered to return to Inde- pendence, Missouri, and were then mustered out in the following October.
CHAPTER XXVI
CREATION OF NEW COUNTIES
ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY-SCOTT COUNTY-ORGANIZATION AND SETTLEMENT OF STODDARD COUNTY-RIPLEY COUNTY-PIONEERS OF DUNKLIN COUNTY-REYNOLDS, BUTLER AND BOL- LINGER COUNTIES-PEMISCOT COUNTY-ST. FRANCOIS LEVEE DISTRICT - COURTS OF THE COUNTY AND PROMINENT CITIZENS-IRON AND CARTER COUNTIES-FOUNDERS OF THE EIGHT OLD COUNTIES.
The state had hardly been admitted into the Union until new counties were formed. On December 19, 1821, a bill became law for the creation of part of the counties of Ste. Gene- vieve, Washington and Jefferson into a new county, to be known as St. Francois county.
ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY
The new county was named from the St. Francois river, which runs almost entirely through it. The governor of the state ap- pointed James Austin, George McGehan and James W. Smith as the county court. They held the first meeting of the court February 25, 1822, at the house of Jesse Murphy, in the neighborhood of Farmington, and ap- pointed John D. Peers as county clerk.
St. Francois county was attached to the northern circuit and the circuit court was organized April 1, 1822, by Judge Nathaniel B. Tucker of St. Charles county. There was no particular business before the court at this first meeting, nor at any early subsequent meetings. The commissioners for the selec- tion of the seat of justice were Henry Poston, John Andrews, William Alexander and James Holbert. On September 22, 1822, fifty-three
acres of land were donated by D. Murphy for the purpose of laying out a county seat. They thereupon laid out the present town of Farm- ington, which has continued to be the seat of justice since that time.
The county was divided into four town- ships: Perry, Pendleton, Liberty and St. Francois. The officers in these townships were: Perry-William Hale, constable; John Andrews Jr., assessor; Thomas Hale, Archi- bald McHenry and John Baker, judges of election. Pendleton-Wesley Garret, con- stable and assessor; James Milburn, Absalom Dent and John Sherrill, judges of election. Liberty-Robert Hays, constable ; James Dun- lap, assessor ; Reuben McFarland, James Dun- lap and Samuel Kincaid, judges of election. St. Francois-Benjamin Burnham, constable ; Laken Walker, assessor; Richard Murphy, John Murphy and D. F. Marks, judges of election.
Until 1824 the courts were held in the Meth- odist church, which at that time stood on the hill south of town where the cemetery now is. In that year a brick court house was built on the public square and at the same time a log jail was erected on the site of the present jail.
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This jail building was two stories in height and had a dungeon below, which was entered through a trap door. The jail was burned about 1850 by a prisoner. In 1856 it was re- placed by a new structure at a cost of $4,400; the present jail was erected in 1870 under the supervision of William Carter and L. D. Walker. The first court house was used until 1850, when it was replaced by another build- ing at a cost of $8,000, and was erected by HI. H. Wright. In July, 1885, the contract was let for the construction of the present court house. James P. Killick was the con- tractor and he turned over the completed building on October 7, 1886, the total cost being $15,560.
The court created a new township in St. Francois county in August, 1836. This was called Marion township and was cut off from the north part of Perry township. In 1840 a township called Black River was created in that part of the county out of which Iron county was later formed. Of the other town- ships in the county Iron was formed in 1850, Randolph in 1858, and Big River in 1863.
SCOTT COUNTY
Scott county was created by an act of the legislature, December 28, 1821. It was or- ganized from a part of New Madrid county and was named in honor of Hon. John Scott, the first congressman from Missouri. At that time it included the present connty of Mis- sissippi. The governor of the state appointed Richard Mathews, Andrew M. Ramsay, and James Houts as the county court, and John P. Rutter as clerk of the circuit court; Joseph A. Hopkins as sheriff; and the county court appointed John P. Rutter as its clerk, also.
Enoch Evans, Abraham Hunter, Thomas Roberts, Joseph Smith and Newman Beck- with were the commissioners to locate the
county seat. They selected the site of the town of Benton, and here in a little log house were held the first meetings of the courts. At the time of the organization of the county there were but two townships: Tywappity, which included Mississippi county, and Moreland. The county court, however, soon created four new townships: Richland, Kelso, Mississippi and Wolf Island. In 1836 Ty- wappity township was divided and the south- ern part was called St. James township, and in 1839 a township known as St. James Bayou was created.
Scott county was made part of the southern judicial circuit and the circuit court was ganized February 11, 1822, by Judge Thomas; Joseph A. Hopkins was the first sheriff. He gave bond in the sum of five thousand dollars, and his sureties were John Hall and William Meyers. At the next term of the court, which was held in June, 1822, a grand jury was impaneled, and it returned indictments against Samuel Glove and James Ramsay for assault and battery, against Newman Beckwith for selling liquor to the Indians and against Anthony Wills for va- grancy.
The first court house in Scott county was a small log building erected on the public square at Benton. Shortly after the town was laid out a jail costing $500 was erected in 1837. Before that time prisoners had been kept in the jail at Jackson. The first court house was torn down in 1844 and a brick building erected. It was so poorly constructed, how- ever, that it soon became unsafe and was re- placed by a frame building. The legislature moved the county seat away from Benton in 1864, to Commerce. The old court house was then sold and a brick court building erected at Commerce. In 1866 a jail was constructed, costing nearly $4,000. However, the people
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of Scott county were not satisfied with Com- merce as the county seat, since it was on one side of the county, in fact, almost in the northeast corner, and in 1878 the seat of jus- tice was returned to Benton, where the pres- ent court house, costing $11,000, was erected in 1883. The present townships are Sandy- land, Kelso, Sylvania, Tywappity, Commerce, Morley, Moreland and Richland.
ORGANIZATION AND SETTLEMENT OF STODDARD COUNTY
The general assembly passed an act in the year 1829 which defined the boundaries of a new county to be erected out of a part of Wayne county. It was to be named Stoddard, in honor of Captain Amos Stoddard, the agent of the United States government who received the transfer of the Louisiana territory. At this time, however, the county was attached to Cape Girardeau county and the court of that county divided the territory into two townships. That part of Stoddard county east of Castor river was called Pipe township and the part to the north and west Castor township. The first justices of the peace were Joseph Chapman and Thomas Wylie in Pike township, and Thomas Neale and John Eaker in Castor. Joel Ramsay and William Hardin were appointed constables in Pike and Castor townships, respectively.
Stoddard county remained under the juris- diction of Cape Girardeau officials until Jan- uary 2nd, 1835. At that time the legislature passed an act to organize a county govern- ment. The territory of the new county lay between St. Francois and Little rivers and to the south of Mingo, the Big Swamp.
The commissioners for fixing the seat of government selected the site of the present town of Bloomfield and the first meeting of the county court was held at the house of
A. B. Bailey in the southwest part of the town. This was February 9, 1835. The court was composed of Jacob Taylor, Field Bradshaw and John Eaker, and Jonas Eaker was the clerk of the court. Within a short time the court arranged for the erection of a small brick building to be used as a court house. This was placed on the public square and a log jail was built southeast of the square; both of these buildings were used un- til 1856. At that time $10,000.00 was set aside for the erection of a new court house. It was constructed under the supervision of Solomon G. Kitchen.
The county court, at one of its earliest meetings, divided the county into four town- ships: Castor, Pike, St. Francois and Lib- erty. In 1850 Duck Creek township was ere- ated, and shortly afterward four more town- ships were laid out. They were named Prai- rie, Clay, Benton and Filmore. In 1853 the county was re-divided, owing to the fact that it had been considerably reduced in size. Only five townships were made, under these names : Liberty, Richland, Duck Creek, Castor and Pike. A little later New Lisbon was created.
The circuit court in Stoddard county was organized at the house of A. B. Bailey by John D. Cook, on March 21st, 1836. At this sitting of the court a grand jury was im- paneled and consisted of the following men : Samuel Lesley, Andrew Neale, Benjamin Tay- lor, Frederick Varner, Ephraim Snider, Jacob Crites, William V. Carlock, George Slinkard, Frederick Slinkard, Peter Proffer, Levy Baker, Henry Miller, Henry Asherbranner, W. W. Hicks, Daniel Bollinger, Samuel Moore, Thomas Neale and Horatio Laurence.
This court house was burned during Price's raid in 1864. It was one of a number of court houses destroyed about the time of the Civil war, but unlike most of the other cases,
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the records of the county were not destroyed. They had been removed by Major H. H. Bed- ford, who took them to Arkansas and con- cealed them; they were returned after the war was over without the loss of a single book. The rebuilding of the court house was undertaken in 1867, when the court appointed William G. Phelan as superintendent. The contractors, George F. Miller and Samuel D. Henson, completed the building in 1870. In that same year the contract was let for the building of the jail at a cost of $8,000.
There has long been a strong rivalry be- tween Dexter and Bloomfield and for a num- ber of years an effort was made to move the county seat from Bloomfield to Dexter. Fail- ing in this, the people of Dexter secured in 1895 the enactment of a law declaring that four terms of the circuit court should be held in Stoddard county, two of them at Bloom- field and two in Dexter, making Dexter prac- tically one of two different county seats. The citizens of Dexter erected a handsome two- story brick building to be used as a court house. The arrangement, however, was found to be unsatisfactory and within a few years the law was repealed and Bloomfield became once more the sole county seat. This left the people of Dexter with a court house on their hands for which they had no particular use. It was finally transferred to the Chris- tian church to be used for college purposes. For a short time an academy was conducted in the building, but in 1911 the building be- came the property of the school district of Dexter and is now in use as a high school building. The present townships are Pike, Elk, Liberty, New Lisbon, Richland, Castor and Duck Creek.
Henry Hale Bedford, who was for a num- ber of years the leading lawyer in Stoddard county, was a native of Tennessee, where Vol. I-20
he was born November 27, 1821. He received a common school education in Tennessee and was employed for three years as a teacher. With the money which he saved from teach- ing he purchased a farm in Scott county, Mis- souri, at the foot of Wolf Island. While en- gaged in farming, he began the study of law under Judge Hough. The great flood of 1844 compelled him to leave his farm and he re- moved to Bloomfield in Stoddard county. Bloomfield then had a population of about 150 and Mr. Bedford combined the practice of his profession with school teaching for several years. Later he devoted himself ex- clusively to the law and soon built up a very extensive practice, as he was an able lawyer and one of the very first in that part of the state. At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted in the Confederate army in the brig- ade commanded by General Jeff Thompson. He was promoted to be a major at the battle of Belmont and served until the close of the war. Major Bedford had considerable polit- ical experience, also. He was a member of the legislature for two terms before the war and served for twelve years as prosecuting attorney. He was a Democrat in politics and was for many years one of the most influen- tial citizens of his county, taking a great in- terest in all matters looking to the upbuilding of the community and to public improve- ments.
RIPLEY COUNTY
As we have seen, the first permanent settler in Ripley county was probably Lemuel Kit- trell, who settled near Current river about 1819. Shortly after he made this settlement, a road was laid out from Potosi in Washing- ton county to Little Rock, Arkansas, and the first settlements in Ripley county were made along this road. Other early settlers besides
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ยท Kittrell were William Little and Thomas Pul- liam, who located on a small creek which flows into Current river. Near the present town of Doniphan the early settlers were George Lee, Joseph Hall, William Dudley, William Merrill and Abner Ponder; the de- scendants of these families are still living in the county. The general assembly of the state organized Ripley county by an act passed January 5, 1833. It was named in honor of General Eleazer W. Ripley; pre- vious to its organization the territory had been part of Wayne county. As first organ- ized, the county was vastly larger than it is at the present time. It was reduced to its present size, finally, by the organization of Carter county in 1859. For many years the county seat of Ripley county was Van Buren in what is now Carter county and the princi- pal population of that section was in Carter county. The whole country was slowly set- tled. In 1840 there were in all Ripley county, then much larger than it is now, only 2,856 people; and Van Buren, the county seat, had one store in 1837 and a log building for the courts.
When Carter county was created in 1859 Doniphan was selected as the seat of justice for Ripley county and has remained the county seat until this time. A court house was erected shortly after the selection of the county seat, but it was burned during the war, as was practically all of the town of Doniphan. The new court house was erected shortly after the close of the war and is still in use. There are now thirteen townships in the county, as follows: Current River, Doni- phan, Gatewood, Harris, Johnson, Jordan, Kelley, Pine, Sherley, Thomas, Union, Varner and Washington.
PIONEERS OF DUNKLIN COUNTY
The first settlers in Dunklin county were Howard Moore and family, who were natives of Virginia. They came to the county in 1829, settling about four miles south of Mal- den. They lived here for a short time and later bought the cabin which had been erected by the Indian chief, Chilletecaux, near Ken- nett. Here Mr. Moore made his home until the time of his death. He left a large family and many of his descendants still live in the county. His son, David H. Moore, who was born July 10, 1832, was the second child born in the county.
Another of the pioneer citizens of the county was Pascal Rice, who moved to the county in 1830. He was at the time about 12 years of age and spent the rest of his life in the community to which he first moved, near Hornersville. At the time he came to the county it was the home of many Indians and he became well acquainted with these Indian chiefs and attended many of their war dances.
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