USA > Missouri > Greene County > Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103
When the territory was organized, in 1818, there was among the counties as set forth in the act which gave it a legal existence as a territory of the United States, one which was named after "Mad Anthony," of revolutionary fame,
I21
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
"Wayne county." On the map of Missouri, as we see it today, Wayne county occupies a rather inconspicuous position in the southeastern part of the state. But as it was first formed it stretched away to the westward, even to the western boundary of the territory. Thus it included not only all of what afterwards became Greene county but many other counties also. In short, it occupied a large part of the south half of the entire territory.
The territorial alignment of the counties, so far as they affected Greene county, continued after the admission of Missouri to the Union, until the year 1831. Then a huge county was carved out of the original Wayne county, and named Crawford. This new division covered all the south- western part of Missouri, and, of course, included in its boundaries Greene county with the rest.
But immigration was flowing rapidly into the southwest in those days. The sturdy settlers from Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky were taking up homes upon the government lands, and new conditions called again for another readjustment. So in less than two years after the organization of Crawford county, on the second day of January, 1833. the Legislature of Missouri passed a special act creating a new county, cut from the overgrown area of Crawford, and the state fathers christened this new member of the family "Greene county." So in the columns of history, the second day of January, 1833, should be forever marked as the birthday of Greene county.
The act, giving our county a legal existence and an honored name, is of enough importance and interest to warrant entering it in full upon these pages. It is in the following words :
"BE IT ENACTED, BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI (As follows) :
"I. All that part of the territory lying south of the township line, be- tween Townships Thirty-four and Thirty-five, extending in a direct line due west from the point where the said township line crosses the main Niangua river, to the western boundary of the state, and southwest of the county of Crawford. which is not included in the limits of any other county, and which was attached to said county of Crawford by joint resolution of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, approved the 18th day of January, 1831, be, and the same is hereby organized into a separate and distinct county to be called and known by the name of Greene county, in honor of Nathaniel Greene, of the Revolution.
"2. The qualified voters residing within the limits of said county, shall meet at the place at present appointed by law for holding election, on the first Monday of February next. for the purpose of choosing three fit and proper persons to compose the County Court of said county, and one fit and proper person to act as sheriff ; and the persons so elected shall be commis-
122
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
sioned by the governor, and shall hold their offices until the next general election, and until their successors are duly elected and qualified.
"3. The County Court, when organized as aforesaid, shall have power to designate the places of holding the County and Circuit Courts within and for said county of Greene, and until otherwise provided by law.
"4. The election proposed to be holden under the provision of the second chapter of this act shall be governed and conducted in all respects by the laws relating to general elections, except that returns thereof instead of being made to the clerk of the County Court shall be made direct to the Governor, who shall issue commissions accordingly. January 2, 1833."*
The lines given in the act constituting Greene county inclose a tract extending to the west and south lines of the state. The eastern boundary is more indefinitely stated. We do not know just what territory was included under the words of the act: "To the western boundary of the state, and south- west of the county of Crawford, which is not included in the limits of any other county."
One record which I have seen makes the statement that these limits ex- tended "to the Gasconade on the east, and the Osage on the north." That is probably correct as refers to the eastern boundary being at or near the Gas- conade, but the northern line, as given in the act just quoted, is "the township line between Townships Thirty-four and Thirty-five, extending in a direct line due west from the point where said township line crosses the main Nian- gua river, to the western boundary of the state."
That line nowhere approaches the Osage river nearer than about four- teen miles, and it is within even that distance for only a short distance near its western extremity. Most of the way it is twenty to twenty-five miles south of the Osage. And yet it will be seen a little later, in this chapter, that when the newly organized court of the new county divided their domain into municipal townships, they gave boundaries for some of these divisions which reach to the Osage. The court records of Green county, both of County and Circuit Courts, show too that the county jurisdiction extended to the south bank of the Osage. All this has caused confusion in most of the historical statesments made in the past and tends to make added confusion in an attempt to write the correct account of the organization of the county.
The explanation is, however, quite simple. The boundary on the north was, as first given by the act of organization, the line between the two town- ships stated, but for some years the territory to the north and northwest of that line, and reaching to the Osage was, we are told, "added to Greene county, for civil and military purposes." Thus we find the County Court at its first session, and for some years thereafter exercising jurisdiction over much terri- tory not included in the act giving the county its organization.
*See "Territorial Laws of Missouri," comprising all laws passed in Missouri be- tween 1824 and 1836. Vol. 2, page 306, chap. 235.
123
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
A VAST REGION.
The region covered by the act of the Legislature included all of what now constitutes the following counties : McDonald, Newton, Jasper, Barton. Dade, Lawrence, Barry, Stone, Christian, Greene and Webster. Also parts of Taney, Dallas, Polk, Cedar, Vernon, Laclede, Wright and Douglas. A principality indeed, and much larger than any one of several sovereign states of the Union.
These boundaries, however, remained intact for but a short time. Immi- gration was coming into the county rapidly. New settlements, and increased population demanded new alignments for the greater convenience of the people. The county-seat, at Springfield, was several days' journey over the rough "traces" of the wilderness, for a large part of the county, and men required a tax paying location that did not require so long and strenuous a journey to reach.
So on December 13, 1834, a new county called "Rives" was carved out of the northwestern part of the original Greene county. The name of this new division was afterwards changed to "Henry" county, the present day limits of which are wholly outside of anything that was ever included in Greene.
January 5, 1835, another big piece was cut out of Greene and organized as "Barry" county. This made necessary a new adjustment of the boundar- ies of our county, and an act was passed by the Legislature and approved March 3, 1835, as follows :
"GREENE-Beginning where the line dividing Townships Twenty- Six and Twenty-Seven crosses the line dividing Ranges Seventeen and Eigh- teen ; thence west with the said township line to the intersection of the eastern line of Barry county ; thence along said line to the southeast corner thereof ; Thence south to the beginning."
Anyone trying to trace the lines as stated in the above act will find dif- ficulty in making them come together at all. But such they are described. and under the act so worded the county of Greene continued to thrive and grow!
Previous to these divisions of the original county, an election had been held, as directed in the act organizing the county. There is a discrepancy between the actual date on which the records state that this election was held and the day as set forth in the act of the legislature. That act names as the date of the election to be held for selecting the justices of the County Court and the sheriff : "The first Monday of February next," i. e., February, 1833. The records of Greene county, however, state that the election in question was had "On the 14th day of February, 1833." Obviously that date could by no possibility be the "First Monday in February."
124
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
However, the election was held, and it resulted in the selection of Jere- miah N. Sloan, James Dollison and Samuel Martin, as justices of the County Court, and John D. Shannon as sheriff. To these men Governor Dunklin is- sned commissions in due form, and on the 11th day of March, 1833, they met to organize their court. This first session was held, as told in Book A., at page 1, of the County Court records, "At the house of John P. Campbell, within and for said county of Greene." John P. Campbell was the original settler in the limits of what has grown to be the city of Springfield, and is well entitled to the name of "The Father of Springfield." His house, where the first session of the court was held, was a log structure, very nearly at the center of the present city limits. All of which will be found more fully set forth in the appropriate chapter of this history.
The various acts and orders made at this initial term of the County Court will be found stated in subsequent chapters, with the exception only of those which divided the county into the various municipal townships.
Right here a confusion is apt to arise in the mind of the ordinary reader concerning these townships. We have mentioned, in giving the boundaries of the county, the dividing line between certain townships as forming the northern boundary of the territory set aside by the legislative act of organiza- tion. How, then, some may ask, did the County Court have to divide the county into townships if they were already such subdivisions, as is indicated in the act?
The explanation is this: The government surveys its domain into town- ships, generally six miles square. These are again divided into thirty-six . sections of one mile square each, and containing six hundred and forty acres, and numbered from one, in the northeast corner of the township, to thirty- six in the southeast. All legal descriptions of land in those states where this system is followed, locate the land by the section, township and range. To one familiar with this method it is a matter of but a few seconds to locate any tract in a state if given only the figures representing the section, town- ship and range. To the uninitiated it seems an intricate and difficult matter to be able to find a certain tract from a few figures, and there are thousands of men who have lived all their lives upon certain tracts, who are unable to tell you offhand the section, or township, or range, in which is their home. As a matter of fact, however, the system is one of great simplicity. It is the tradition that it was first designed by George Washington himself, and, if so, it is by no means the least of the many great things he did for his country.
But, in the settlement of a wide space of country, the settlers naturally chose the best locations. Soil, water and timber were the great points they considered in getting a home in the new state. Thus the communities gath- ered, not according to the mathematically straight lines of the government surveys, but along the streams, at the margins of prairies, and wherever the
125
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
conditions were such as they sought. So, when a sufficient number of peo- ple had located within reasonable distance of one another to require a town- ship organization, it became the duty of the County Court, as we see stated in the act organizing the county, to divide these 'communities by certain boundaries, for their own government. These are the "municipal town- ships," and have no relation to the boundaries of the government townships, as set forth in section, township and range.
This division of the county into townships was among the first and most important matters transacted at this first term of the court. And it was a duty by no means easy of accomplishment. Here was an immense territory of thinly settled country. The inhabitants were in isolated communities of pioneer farmers, mostly along the bottom lands of the principal streamis. The three judges upon whom it devolved to make an equitable and conven- ient division of this great tract had probably among their number not one inan who was familiar with the entire region in question. Their work could be at best little more than experimental, and subject to frequent and radical changes in the future.
The records show us that even at the second term of the court, held in June, 1833, only ninety days after the first, there were urgent calls for changing some of the township lines, and for the organization of new town- ships. As population increased these changes became more frequent, and thus the municipal divisions have, along down the years, adjusted them- selves in accord with the principal of "the greatest good to the greatest num- ber."
The vast size of the territory, the lack of maps and the conflicting and . selfish interests of the different communities affected, rendered the task of this division an onerous one, indeed, and it is a monument to the patience and ability of those first three judges that they were able to do as well as they did.
The orders made at this term of court, and which divided the county into townships, are well worthy of permanent record, and I shall give them in full. Incidentally, I will say that if the reader will take a good map of Missouri as we have it today and try to follow the lines laid down in these orders, as shown in the records, he will realize somewhat of the difficulties under which those first faithful officials labored.
The following are the boundaries of these first townships as set forth in the records of this first term of the County Court in March, ~1833. Every one of them covers more ground than any one county today. Some equal any two or more counties now included in the original limits of Greene. Very few of them bear the names now held by townships in this county. but may be found here and there in widely separated counties of southwest Missouri.
"Spring River Township-All that portion of territory lying and be-
126
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
ing in Green(e) county, and included in the following boundaries : Begin- ning on the west boundary line of the State of Missouri west of Vivian's creek; thence east on the dividing ridge between the waters of Vivian's creek and Oliver's creek; so as to include the settlers on Vivian's creek ; thence north on the dividing ridge between the waters of the Osage and Grand rivers; thence on the same dividing ridge to the boundary of the State of Missouri; thence south to the beginning. Elections to be held at Samuel Bogard's.
"Jackson Township-Beginning at the north boundary line of Greene county, as now established, running with the dividing ridge between the North Fork of Sack river and the Pomada Tarr river, without limit, or so as to include all the settlements on both sides of Sack river. Elections to be held at Ezekiel Campbell's."*
Those two words in the foregoing description, "without limit," would seem to introduce an element of uncertainty as to the exact boundaries of Jackson township sufficient to drive a conscientious surveyor to distraction. There is nothing in it to halt him from extending that line to the north pole, or, for that matter, off in space to the planet Mars! The court evidently in- tended that there should be no mistake in including "all the settlements, on both sides of Sack river," and they certainly made their intention clear.
Next comes Osage township, as follows :
"Osage Township-Beginning at the mouth of Little Niangua river, running so as to include the place where William Montgomery now lives ; thence to the mouth of little Pomada Tarr river; thence west to Sack river and down Sack to the Osage river. Thence down the Osage river to the beginning. Elections to be held at William Brinegar's ferry, on Pomada Tarr."
This description covers a large area not included in the description of Greene county as set forth in the act of organization. It is a part of the outlying territory temporarily under the jurisdiction of the Greene County Court. The line from the mouth of Little Pomme de Terre to the mouth of the Little Niangua is nearly sixty miles in length. This gives some idea of the size of these old townships.
OTHER TOWNSHIPS.
"Mooney Township-Beginning at Pomada Tarr river where the Nian- gua Trace crosses; thence taking the waters of Pomada Tarr to the mouth
* The names of the rivers mentioned in this description of Jackson Township, seem to have been stumbling blocks to the fathers. Pomme De Terre is here spelled "Pomada Tarr." In many of the old records it is rendered "Pomley Tarr." The actual spelling, Pomme De Terre, is French and literallly translated is "Apples of the Earth," or as we would say, "Potatoes." Sac too, is here spelled with a "K," which is not correct.
127
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
of Little Pomada Tarr; thence up the Little Pomada Tarr to the dividing ridge between it and Sack river; thence along the line of Jackson Township to Sack river; thence up the Dry Fork of Sack to the beginning. Elections to be held at John Mooney's. Judges of elections, James Smithson, Aaron. Ruyle and John West.
"Campbell Township-Beginning at the mouth of Finley, running thence to include the settlers on Finley to the eastern boundary of Greene county ; thence north with said line to Niangua river; thence with said river to Niangua Trace; thence with said line to James Ross' on Sac river ; thence to the Widow Leeper's; thence to the Parr Springs; thence to the point where the road leading to Washington Clay's crosses said creek; thence in a straight line to the mouth of Finley to the beginning."
This is another quaint description : "The said line to James Ross' on Sack river," and "thence to the Widow Leeper's," are deliciously novel. One can but wonder how a surveyor could locate this boundary in case James Ross or the "Widow Leeper" should have died or moved out of the country ! Then, too, "the point where the road to Washington Clay's crosses said creek." What creek, and where was Washington Clay's ?
Today Campbell township is the metropolitan township of Greene county. As its importance has increased so have its limits shrunk, until from covering much more land that all Greene county now includes, it has decreased till it comprises only the two government townships, 29 of range 21 and 29 of range 22, a space just twelve miles by seven miles and a half, with the city of Spring- field nearly in its geographical center.
"White River Township-Beginning at the mouth of Finley, on the James Fork of White river; thence down said James Fork so as to include all. the settlers on both sides thereof, to the mouth of said James Fork; thence due south to the State line ; thence with said line of Campbell township ; thence with said line to the beginning. Elections to be held at Felch's old place on- the north side of White river. Edward Mooney, James H. Glover and Newsome, Judges."
This is another terribly mixed description. White River township boundary, we notice, runs "due south" from the mouth of James river to the State line. Then comes the puzzling statement: "Thence with said line of Campbell township to the beginning." Now, the lines of Campbell township, as set forth in the records, would not touch the south line of the state by twenty miles at least !
But to continue : "Oliver Township-All that portion of territory lying and being south of Spring river, and not included in any other township."
At the second term of the court, held in June, 1833, Sugar Creek town- ship was created, and described as follows:
"Beginning on the south boundary of Missouri where Brown's lane
1
128
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
crosses the Missouri line; thence north with Brown's lane to the dividing ridge between the waters of Friend's river and Colonel Oliver's Fork ; thence cast to Elkhorn Spring; still east to the Peddler's cabin on Flat creek. Thence southeast to White river; thence up White river to Roaring river and the Missouri line."
Note that "still east to the Peddler's cabin on Flat creek"! Flat creek today heads in Barry county near the county-seat, Cassville, and after a cir- cuitous route empties into James river near the center of Stone county. But where the "Peddler's cabin" was located history does not hint, and no man living, probably, could positively say.
Most of the seemingly unintelligible and confusing descriptions in these recorded township boundaries arose from the fact that much of the land included in Greene county had not yet been surveyed by the government at the time these townships were set off. So, instead of being able to say, as a County Court in these days would, "Beginning at such and such a corner, section, township and range," etc., the pioneer court had, perforce, to depend upon such local landmarks and farm settlements as happened to be best known to themselves, or to the men appearing before them, to ask for such a delim- itation of territory as suited their wishes. Even in the regions where the gov- ernment had sectionized the land, unless the pioneer settlers were much bet- ter posted upon the numbering of lands than are their descendants of the present day, not one man in a hundred of them could have given the correct section, township and range of any tract, however much he might have wished to do so.
Thus, with much painstaking effort, the new county was divided into townships. At the same term of court there were appointed numerous jus- tices of the peace and constables for the newly formed subdivisions, and from thenceforth the machinery of county government was in operation, not to be wholly suspended even during those four years when Greene county was in the very vortex of civil war.
١
ـبيه
,
0.7:3 951
PIONEER SOAP MAKING.
CHAPTER V.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
By A. M. Haswell.
WHERE THE PIONEER SETTLERS EMIGRATED FROM-WHERE THEY FIRST EF- FECTED THEIR SETTLEMENT-THE EARLY-DAY MILLS-EARLY ROADS-
PIONEER SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, CUSTOMS AND MANNERS- GOING TO MARKET-MAIL FACILITIES.
In writing this chapter I shall endeavor to confine myself strictly to the story of the first permanent white settlers of Greene county, leaving to others the interesting account of the few white men who were in this region from time to time, but who made no permanent homes here. In order, however, to write intelligibly the story of the first men who here opened their permanent homes, it will be necessary to go back of them a little, and state how the way was first blazed, and how from one of these pathfinders the first permanent settler obtained land rights, that, after great trouble and several years of waiting, resulted finally in establishing the first home in this then wilderness.
In the year 1818, as we have seen stated in other chapters of this work, Congress passed a joint resolution organizing the Territory of Missouri. At that time there was an old veteran of the Revolution, named John P. Petti- john, living in the State of Ohio. He was a Virginian by birth, and had re- sided in that state until 1797, when he removed with his family to Ohio, When this old soldier heard that Congress had opened a new territory west of the Mississippi for settlement, he gathered together his sons and their families, his friends Joseph Price and Augustus (or Augustine) Friend and enough others to make up a total of twenty-four people, and set forth to find homes in the new territory of the West.
The expedition was loaded upon a keel boat, which carried not only the people, but such of their simple belongings as they felt to be indispensable in the wild land to which their faces were turned. Some day, perhaps, an Amer- ican poet will arise with the genius and the will to write an epic telling of that pioneer voyage. Certain is it that the voyage of the Pilgrim Fathers upon the historic old Mayflower, two centuries before this voyage, did not compare with this, either in the danger attending it, the time it required to make it, or the bravery and resolution necessary to bring it to a successful conclusion. Suffice it to say here that after floating down the Muskingum river to the
(9)
130
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
Ohio, down the Ohio to the Mississippi, and down that great river to the White river, this intrepid expedition proceeded to force their clumsy craft against the strong current of this last named stream. Marooned by floods, going for eight days at a time without food, escaping by the closest possible margin from death by starvation, leaving two of their number sleeping in unknown graves in the wilderness, at length they reached a little group of frontier farms and log cabins around the junction of the Big North Fork and White river.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.