USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 51
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In view of his candidacy, an amusing story may not be mal-apropos as told of Mr. Cowherd. When a young boy at the state university, he was invited by his chum, Tom T. Crittenden, to acompany him to Jefferson City to the inauguration of his father, T. T. Crittenden, sr., as Governor of Missouri. The boys were stored away in a garret room of the mansion and each carved his name and a few remarks on the bed slats. William Cow- herd carved the words, "I'm coming back when I can stay longer."
The early homes of Kansas City, Independence and Westport were log houses, and some of them were standing in 1908 covered over by weather
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boards, but to the trained eye, the general shape and sag of these houses, the small panes of glass, the outside chimney and not infrequently moss on the north wall attest the age of the house. These were followed by the brick houses, the brick being burned on the place or sent with the woodwork and hardware from St. Louis by packet. Many families, whether traveling to Independ- ence by water or overland, brought old family furniture, silver and dishes. Mrs. J. C. Slover of Independence has, in perfect condition, a large pot of old willow ware, a tea set from which "dishes of tea" were served-colonial glass and silver carried by her ancestors, the Hamiltons, over the Wilderness Road from Virginia to Kentucky, and by the Howes from there by flatboat and overland to Missouri, without damage. The Woodson family also have silver and china brought originally from Virginia by their Ashby ancestors, and from Kentucky to Missouri by Colonel and Mrs. H. S. Woodson.
The road between Independence and Westport became known to fame in 1832, as the Santa Fe Trail, when this song was popular:
"I'll go to Santa Fe and make lots of money ;
Then I'll kiss the pretty girls, sweet as any honey."
But the people of the two towns always called it the Westport and Independ- ence road. There was a good deal of visiting among the people of the two towns and the people who had farms along the road. As travel was both difficult and expensive, the people of Jackson county contented themselves mainly with visiting each other. One entire family would go to visit an- other family for a week, although living but three or five miles apart.
The people of Jackson county were very much alike, and what was true of one neighborhood or family was true of all. Three-fourths of the people that came were from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, with the Virginians in the majority. Patriotism stirred the breasts of the county organizers, for 1826 was the semi-centennial of the American independ- ence, and Andrew Jackson was campaigning for the Presidency to which lie was elected. Hence the name of Jackson county and its county seat, In- dependence. Across the river on the north, the Kentuckians who settled there had already named their county seat Liberty and the county Clay, for Henry Clay, to whom Missouri has ever been grateful for his services when the state was admitted to the union in 1821. It has been told of an old slave who, after unolading one of the boats at Wayne City Landing, looked across the river and prophetically said, "Libartee's on de one han', an' Independence on t'other, an' Freedom am a'comin' down de road."
The first settlers of the county came direct from the above mentioned mother states by flat boats and by wagon, or up from St. Louis, St. Charles, Warren, Culloway, Boone and Howard county over the Boone's Lick Road to Old Franklin and from there over the Santa Fe Trail, or all the way
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from St. Louis to Wayne City by packet; frequently a family would stop and raise a crop before proceeding further westward, and some remained several years before the "gad-fly" of adventure had again stung them into following the honey bee, the forerunner of civilization. It is told of one pioneer that he never let his chickens roost, for as often as a wagon bound for the West stopped at his cabin, he either drove away in it or followed it that night. The prairie calls its own with a voice as alluring as ever a sailor heard from the sea. A commingling of the sounds of the deep forest, the calls of the strange birds, the howling of wolves and coyotes, the rushing of rivers and the yells of Indians formed the seductive note of the Lorelei of the plains that called men from hearth and home to the pot of gold at the Santa Fe end of the rainbow.
The three settlements of chief interest were at Independence in 1826, at Westport in 1833 and at Kawsmouth or Kansas City in 1838, the dates representing the organization of several towns, the actual earliest settlements being several years previous in each case. The pioneers who came with fam- ilies came to stay; they bought land from the Osage Indians, or entered it prior to 1840 at $1.25 an acre. There were always willing hands to help raise the log cabin, a crop was put in and the children started to the log school house, frequently a mile away in the deep woods. Church services were at first held under the trees. Every family had its own hominy block ; the men dressed in buckskin and wore coon skin caps, the women calico dresses and slat bonnets, and life began in earnest. Those who fol- lowed the pioneers found the life less arduous. They brought their hab- its and customs from "home," back in "ole Virginny" or "Kaintuck," along with the family mahogany, silver, feather beds, horses and slaves. They planted the Tree of Heaven and the locust, found wild roses in profusion, and cultivated the Prairie Queen. Papaws and hazlenut bushes formed a thick underbrush. Jackson county has always been a land of plenty. Its wealth was in the lands and in the slaves. The slaves took great pride in having been "bawn in de fambly," a certain kind of caste existing between the "bawn niggah" and the "boughten niggah."
Family life was on the patriarchal as contrasted with the individual life of today; the husband, father and master was the head of the family and directed its affairs of heart, mind and estate, from his wife down to the last spinster relative and orphaned children under his care. He was called "Colonel," sometimes earned by signal service to his country, but generally by common consent and courtesy, doubtless owing to the fact that a man was of colonel caliber who could direct several hundred slaves in the plant- ing of several hundred acres, and who was at the same time a pillar of the church and of the school, a devoted father and husband. He never way-
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ered from the Democratic party, was an orthodox church member, and sat on the men's side of the church, honored his debts, and had a few bed-roek principles from which he never wavered. Repudiation of debts was never tolerated either in this eounty or state. The colonel's life was full of hon- ors, loved by his family, admired by his neighbors, passing down an hon- orable name to his children. Many families of Jackson county have lived here to the fifth generation, firmly believing, "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of Death than the day of one's Birth."
When the Missouri planter was called Colonel. his wife certainly de- served the rank of General: for it is no small matter to be mistress of the chamber, queen of the parlor, director of the kitchen and loom house, and ruler over the negro quarters. While her brothers and sons were taking college degrees, she stayed at home and was mistress of the whole sit- uation. Her children were the jewels in her crown, and her neighbors and relatives her devoted friends, for whom hospitality and entertainment and good cheer abounded.
The whole country-side attended camp meetings. All the women be- longed to the aid societies of the churches. And county fairs-today in the old homes throughout the county may be seen the silver cups, water pitehers and goblets that were taken as premiums on cattle at the county fairs by the old planters, and the women's quilts, handwoven bedspreads or "eounterpins," and the rag earpets that took the premium in the Floral Hall.
Almost every family had its Bingham portraits, the family carriage, the family jewelry and the family burying ground. Southern hospitality is proverbial and well so, for it extended its arms to the neighbors who had come visiting for a few days, gave six feet of ground in the family burial ground to poor relatives, improvident neighbors, or the stranger within the gates.
The ante-bellum days are generally conceded the happiest period in American history, yet in Jackson county there was no gas nor city water, no electricity, no sewers, sidewalks nor pavements, no railroads and no news- paper until 1850.
The following letters give a feeling of the old days of Westport when friends and neighbors did not "eovet" but "borrowed" the ox or the ass and "toted" each other's letters. These two letters, written by Mrs. Findlay from Westport to her daughter. Margaret C. Findlay, afterwards Mrs. William S. Chiek, who was visiting her brother at Lone Jack, reveal by a word or two the great changes that have transpired in Jackson county during the past fifty years :
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West Port, August 14, 1840.
Dear Margaret :
Mr. Chick is going down in the morning and I thought you would expect me to write. I do not wish to hurry you home, but leave it entirely to yourself. Wmn. says he will ride a horse, which you can return on, if you chuse, as he has a mule down there ..
I have just put my punje skirt in the frame and should like very much to have you three girls to help quilt it out. Should there be any fine col- oured cambriek in James' store that will do to line my cloke, I wish you would ask him to send me ten yard in this place. I am not very particular about the colour and do not care that it should be very dark, though I wish something rather grave: if you do not like to chuse for me, send some sam- ples and I can write to you to bring it when you come. I wish you to send me a pair of good kid shoes with heels: you can judge of the size by your own foot: you know they must be quite small for you. The new goods is expected every hour and when they come, I shall have a great deal of sew- ing to do for Charles. Tell James I set up Wednesday night waiting for him until every one in town had gone to bed. I shall expect to have a letter from some one of my children every week. with a lively interest in every- thing that concerns each and all of you, I am your affectionate mother,
Give my love to Sarah.
H. C. D. Findlay.
To
Miss Margaret C. Findlay Lone Jack Jaekson Co. Mo. Politeness of Mr. Wm. Chick.
West Port, August 27th, 1840.
My Dear Daughter
It is now bed time and I have not had a moment which I could com- mand to write you a few lines since I coneluded to send for you at this time and the reason I was not before determined is that I had some expecta- tion of coming for you myself. Charles had promised to take me down to- morrow or Monday provided he could get off. Mr. Vanbibber was sent for two days after you left to see his brother who was not expected to live but a few days: and has not returned yet Mrs. Parks is sick the new goods has been here some eight or ten days; so that I have been obliged to give up my visit for the present reluctantly be assured, for I never was so near going before as Mr. Sympson has said we should have his carriage. I am yet in hopes Charles will be able to take me down some
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time next week and would not have sent for you but as H. Harris is going to be married on tuesday I thought you would wish to be at home and I was glad of any opportunity of hearing from Lone Jack as I, am a good deal uneasy about all you from hearing of the neighborhood so sickly; we have had some sickness in this settlement.
Mr. Phelp died thursday and a Mr. Clarkson on Blue the same day and Mr. John Long also: John and Harriet Gist are very sick. give my love to Juliet and tel her if I should get to see her I will bring her a bottle of catchup and a few preserves. Mrs. McDowel sends her a mellow apple if I should not forget to send it. Your brother has gone to Park's since supper to try and get a horse to send for you. The cambrick will not do. tel James and Juliet to write to us by mail the letters will get here some time. Mr. and Mrs. Lykins both sick. Mrs. Jack and little black child sick. Mr. Hunter has moved to Mr. Sympson's place and Mr. Sympson to Mr. Hunter's home. With the expectation of seeing you and my other chil- dren soon I bid you all good night. Affectionately your mother
H. D. C. Findlay.
Miss M. C. Findlay Lone Jack
Politeness of H. Chick.
The principal hotel of Westport was called the Harris House hotel and was kept by Mr. John Harris. This hotel, which is still standing, was the center of the town. It stood on the corner of Main street and Main Cross street, now Westport avenue and Penn street. It was famed far and wide for its generous hospitality and southern cooking; every traveler of note who was not privately entertained stayed at the Harris House hotel, as well as the outfitters, the wagon masters and government sutlers and factors: General Fremont, Senator Benton, Washington Irving and Horace Greeley are known to have stayed there; Senator Benton spoke of a drive through the western part of the country in which he said his horses' hoofs were stained red with the juices of the wild strawberry, and he, further spoke of the richness and beauty of the surrounding country. General Fremont left his wife at the Harris House hotel for months at a time, while he made his expeditions in the far west.
There were no dances given at this hotel, as Mrs. Harris did not ap- prove; she brought up her large family of daughters "by hand"-taught them to hem and embroider fine cambric and to be discreet and modest after the fashion of gentlewomen. A family of slaves were the servants of the hotel. Aunt Minerva and her husband, Mark, were the cooks. Mark would "roach" up his hair, put on a white apron and soft slippers and fly into the dining room, where he turned into head waiter. He presided over
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the meat table and carved venison, wild turkey, three year old home cured ham, or a whole roast pig with a flourish and distinction that made him famous.
Colonel Al. G. Boone, a relative, of Daniel Boone of Kentucky, was a great entertainer, and after the custom of the times kept open house where many of the distinguished visitors stayed weeks at a time. Mr. Wm. R. Bernard and his brother, Joab Bernard, were among the most prominent men of the town. Mr. Wm. Bernard kept a general store two doors east of the Harris hotel, and from an old note-book the following articles were noticed, listed from time to time, to be bought on the next trip East. The wide range from sewing birds to bowie knives evidences the domesticity of the women and the valor of the men of old Westport.
Spring of 1855, mule harness, muskito bars, good suspenders, Jane's hair oil, bullet ladles, gum comb and hair pins, puffs combs, sewing birds, black silk vests, portmonies, bowie knives, purple calico, Linsey, Jacknout flouncing, French worked shirts, white merino and delaine, ivory tablets and card cases, brandy, saleratus and tea, morocco and seal trunks, bonnet for Mrs. Harris, not black. The expense account is also given for the trip- it amounted to $178.90; from Westport to Lexington, St. Louis, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston and home again. The largest amounts were the ticket from St. Louis to Baltimore amounting to $28.50 and the ex- pense at New York, $16.50. No merchant of today could equal that.
Mr. Bernard often told of his first social call in Westport: As a young man, about 1848, he and Colonel Handy, both dressed in white linen suits, started on Sunday afternoon up the hill where the Allen school now stands, to call upon Miss Munday, whose charms so weighed upon the mind of Colonel Handy that he missed his footing and fell into the tanning vat, which misfortune necessitated his retirement, and Mr. Bernard made the call alone.
A letter to Mr. Joab Bernard, in 1856, is of interest :
Baltimore, July 7, 1856.
Dear Brother :
I wrote to you on the twenty-second of June, informing you of the death of Sister Comfort and have got no answer from you yet. Does it take the mail so long to go where you live George E. Odell whent to Iowa in three days. He left there on Sunday morning and got home on Wednes- day evening and how much farther are you off from here than he was. I long to see you all I wish you never had gone out there
Norah Worthington.
To Joab Bernard :
N. B .- Please write as soon as you get this.
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Mr. Joab Bernard had a daughter, Mamie, whose, marriage and court- ship was one of the romances of Westport. Epifano Aguirre of Sonora, Mexico, was a familiar figure in the town. He traveled back and forth over the Santa Fe Trail in his own as well as his brother's vast interests. Although he, could not speak English, and Mamie Bernard could not speak Spanish, they fell in love with each other, with the assistance of Mr. Jesse Polk as an interpreter, and were later married. When Senor Aguirre was ready to start back to Mexico, he had his twenty-six wagons loaded, every yoke of oxen decorated with white satin ribbons, every retainer, teamster, ox goader and packer decorated with a white satin rosette; a beautiful lady's riding horse, with white satin bridle and a magnificent silver studded Mexi- can saddle, and presented the whole thing to his sixteen-year-old bride as his bridal gift. But Mamie, with true feminine feelings, had changed her mind; Mexico was a long way from home and friends, and she disliked giving up the mother tongue. To be a bride in a strange country, unable to converse with her husband, daunted this daughter of a pioneer, and she wept so bitterly and was so unhappy that Aguirre said he would do any- thing in the world to make her happy. A sudden thought came to her- if only some companion could go along-"some one she had been raised with." She said, "Take Stevie." "Stevie," her childhood friend and neighbor, now known, outside of Westport, as Senator Stephen B. Elkins, had just graduated from the Missouri university and was teaching school in Mr. Nathan Scarritt's school in the Methodist church and reading law on his mother's side porch between times.
Aguirre at once sought out Stevie, asked him to go to Mexico, to live in his house and promised every benefit that his own and his brother's posi- tion and wealth in Mexico commanded, and Stevie accepted. Together, Stevie and Mamie learned Spanish and as Stevie acquired the language more readily, he gave Mamie's orders to her servants, and after six months' time was able to defend a client in Spanish before a Mexican judge. Mamie Bernard's shrinking from the unknown and wanting a companion of her own race, and language upon the long journey and in a strange country was the knock of opportunity at the door of the Elkins' log house. "Stevie" responded and got his start from the wild country where ability easily and quickly forged to the front. Epifano Aguirre was killed by the Indians on the Trail a few years after his marriage; and his wife died two years ago. She made herself authority on folk-lore and Indian relics of New Mexico, and was appointed by the governor as commissioner to the St. Louis exposition. She took her exhibit there and was invited to visit Sena- tor and Mrs. Elkins at Washington, D. C., but the change of altitude affected her so severely that she returned to New Mexico and died. The
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Aguirres had three children: Pedro, Bernard and Stephen Aguirre, who were sent back to Westport to be educated and lived at the home of Mr. Wm. Bernard.
Among the old families identified with Westport were those of John Harris, Joab and Wm. Bernard, Duke Simpson, Jacob Ragan, Edward Price, Price Kellar, J. M. Hunter, James and Charles Findlay, Rev. Isaac McCoy, John C. McCoy, John Wornall, Wm. Bent, Dr. Johnston Lykins, Rev. Thos. Johnson, Dr. Hereford, A. G. Boone, Robert Patterson and Louis Vogel. Among the picturesque characters of national fame, frequently to be met in Westport were Kit Carson, Jim Bridger and F. X. Aubrey.
The following is taken from J. C. McCoy's scrapbook: "Capt. John Sutter, at whose mill race first gold was discovered in 1848, was for some years a resident of Westport and left there a few years before with one riding horse, one pack horse, and a mounted companion."
Kansas City has had a short but interesting history. While it does not reach back to French and Spanish possession and to memories of the Revolution as does that of St. Louis; yet the site of Kansas City was men- tioned by the early French writers, was approached as near as the present Bonner Springs by Coronado, and in 1804 Lewis and Clark, while standing on the bluff and gazing at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, recognized this place as a natural trading post, and mentioned it in their diary, which was afterward published by order of President Jefferson. While the French and Spanish flags never waved over the town of Kansas, there were many French and Spanish inhabitants. The French settlement was under the bluffs, near the present Union Station. Some of the French families were: Major Dripps, who drove a two-wheel cart; the Prud- hommes, whose estate became the town site; the Philaberts; the Etues; the Guinottes from Belgium; the Chouteaus, a proud old French family that came direct from France to St. Louis and whose sons established the first trading post near the present city. Chouteau's Landing antedated Kaw's Mouth, or Kansas, or "Westport Landing." Others were LaLiberte and Louis Bartholet, "Grand Louis," as he was called from his size and in dis- tinetion from "Little Louis," another famous character, and "Old Pino," who lived to be 110 years old.
Mr. John Calvin McCoy was intimately associated with the earliest his- tory of Westport and Kansas City. He might easily be called the city father, if not the founder of Kansas City. He wrote for the Kansas City Journal his recollections of the earliest days of the city and from the files of the Journal (which is a complete history of Kansas City after the news- paper was established about 1850), and the scrapbook of Mr. McCoy, much information may be gathered. Mr. McCoy made the following list of the
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earliest settlers of Kansas City, and the date of their arrival: Mrs. Berenice Chouteau, 1821; Capt. Pierre M. Chouteau, 1821; Mrs. Mary Phillibert Boone, 1821; Mrs. Sarah Bales, 1825; Wm. Mulkey, 1825; Harrison John- son, 1825; A. B. H. McGee, 1827; Mrs. Amelia Steen, 1827; Mobillon W. MeGee, 1827; Mrs. Ellen Campbell, 1827; James H. McGee, 1827; David Burge, 182 --; John C. McCoy, 1830; Rev. Isaac McCoy, 1830. .
Others that came later and became identified with the city were: Wil- liam Bales, Kersey Coates, Joseph Guinotte, M. J. Payne, Nehemiah Holmes, Nathan Scarritt, Daniel Stone, Richard T. Van Horn, Thomas Smart, Thomas S. Ridge, Thomas Ransom, William Miles Chick, J. S. Chick, and Henry Chick, John Campbell, Col. C. E. Kearney, T. S. James, Dr. T. B. Lester, Father Donnelly, Father Dalton, Thomas R. Swope, James Porter, Jesse Porter, and Jacob Ragan. The following families have lived here to the fifth generation : the Chicks, Porters, MeCoys, Bales, Stones and Smarts.
The following extract from the McCoy scrapbook, under date of 1879, may settle some mooted points in the early history of Kansas City :
"In 1825, there was only one point west of Big Blue where, white people lived; it was the trading post of Colonel F. G. Chouteau on S. bank of Mo. R. below city. An Indian trail or path crossed the river at that point passing S. of the long canon of the river bluffs which heads near residence of D. O. Smart, thence by old Johnson homestead (Judge Bales'), crossing Turkey creek at present ford on Belton road to high prairie S. where a Sauk Indian village was situated on the Sam'l. Ilays farm.
"Robt. (1825) Pattison settled at the Vogel place bet. Westport and State line and was first Justice of the peace above the Blue. Other party was John Johnson, wife and six sons: Sam'l., Elliott, and Robert married and had families; Charles, James and John, single; and one dau., Sarah (Mrs. Judge Bales)."
On the levee stores and warehouses were built and a few homes back on the hills. The town company was organized November 14, 1838, and it bought the town site from the estate of Gabriel Prudhomme, paying for the same $4,220. W. L. Sublette, Moses G. Wilson, John Calvin McCoy, Wil- liam Gillis, Fry P. MeeGe, Abraham Fonda, W. M. Chick, Oliver Cald- well, George W. Tate, Jacob Ragan, William Collins, James Smart, Samuel C. Owens and Russell Hicks formed the company. These fortunate men, it is said, met in the woods east of the town, and, sitting on a red moss- covered log, discussed the future and the great city that each foresaw.
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