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 16
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minister would accept nothing. The preachers of the frontier were not in their work for the sake of the loaves and fishes.
The first Presbyterian church in the county was organized by Rev. E. P. Noel, from a company which met at the home of Mrs. Jane Renshaw, in Cass township, some mile or two south of Cave Spring. This was on thic 19th of October, 1839. The new church was called the "Mount Zion Presby- terian Church of Cave Spring." It originally consisted of ten members, and has continued to this day. This church is one of the very oldest of the Presbyterian denominations in the entire State of Missouri. It claims to be the first church of that order in the state west of St. Louis. It is also the worthy mother of at least three other churches, one of them being Calvary Presbyterian church, of Springfield.
In 1834 the Cumberland Presbyterians organized a church in Franklin township, near where Belleview Presbyterian church now stands. They first met under a "Brush Arbor," but after organization they gathered at the houses of the membership in rotation. Once every month the meeting place was at the house of T. J. Whitlock. Mr. Whitlock was up to the time of his death one of the most active and highly respected citizens of the county. He was a large land owner, and became wealthy. The name Whitlock ap- pears frequently and always with honor upon the records of Greene county.
The Baptists are a strong denomination in Greene county, and their ministers were early on the ground and at work. Doubtless there were Baptist churches organized in pioncer days, but if so I can find no record thereof. John B. Mooney, who has been mentioned in this chapter as a very carly settler in Taylor township, in castern Greene county, was a Baptist preacher, and used to cover a vast territory, holding meetings in the cabins of the pioneers.
Jesse Mason, described as "A Hard Shell Calvinistic Baptist," was an- other Baptist preacher who was very early on the ground, having settled on the Sac, in Boone township, before 1840. He is credited with doing much preaching in that township, and also with being the first to hold meetings in Center township, south of Boone.
McCord Roberts is the name of another Baptist preacher of an early day. He was a man of commanding presence, an eloquent speaker and who was known from one end of Missouri to the other, and has left an enduring monument of work accomplished.
The Christians are another strong denomination who had a representa- tive in Greene county at an early date. Rev. Thomas Potter, of this denomina- tion, located in Taylor township soon after the removal of the Indians. I do not find, however, that any churches of the denomination were organized in what may strictly be called "pioneer" days. Like American pioneers always and everywhere, from Plymouth Rock and Jamestown to the Pacific,
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the pioneers, of Greene county first formed the church, and next the school. So we find that in 1831, when there were yet but a few families on the site where Springfield was to grow up, a small building of oak logs was put up at a point somewhat more than a mile west of the present site of the city for school purposes.
LOG CABIN SCHOOLS.
Here old "Uncle Joseph Rountree," whose journal we have read in this chapter, taught a little group, almost every child of which bore a name that has since become historic in this region. The settlers were quite proud of this, their first educational edifice. It is described by Mr. John H. Miller as having "a dirt floor; one log cut out for a window; no shutter to the door, and no chimney!" Here good old Uncle Joe taught the young ideas of Greene county, as they perched on the rough three-legged stools, "to spell, read, write and cipher in 'Pike's' Arithmetic."
The next year, in 1832, a somewhat better school house was provided, being built about where now is the northwest corner of Main and College streets, in Springfield. Mr. Miller assures us that this building "had a loose plank floor; a door shutter, and a mud and stick chimney!" What more could be asked?
Other parts of the county were not much behind Springfield in establislı ing the beginnings of our present public school system. On section 10, town- ship 30, range 21, in Franklin township, Robert Foster taught in 1835. This was a "pay school," and Mr. Foster received the munificent sum of fifty cents a month per scholar. In 1837 the settlers in this part of Franklin township gathered and built a log school house, whether Mr. Foster still continued as a teacher is not recorded. Foster was also a Methodist preacher.
In 1835 a small log school house was put up in the northeast part of Campbell township, and David Appleby, ancestor of the numerous and in- fluential family of that name, taught here, at a stipend of one dollar per scholar, each month.
Taylor township is recorded as having a school in 1836, "In an old log house on the Danforth farm." Nothing is said as to who was the teacher. The territory now called Brookline township had a school held, in the barn, on the farm of Thomas Hazeltine, in 1834. This was on section '4, town- ship 28, range 23. It is worth noting, to prevent confusion of names, that this Thomas Hazeltine was no relation to the prominent family of that name now living around Haseltine Station, only about three miles from the loca- tion of the school just given. This last named family came to Greene county ' from Wisconsin in 1871.
Walnut Grove township had a school taught by B. F. Walker, in a little log cabin that stood about a fourth of a mile west of the present town. This was in 1836-37. It is but truth that each and every township of Greene.
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county is on record as having organized schools among their first public acts. But as this chapter is concerned only with the pioneer days we will not liere mention others.
Postal facilities in the earliest days of the county were conspicuous for their entire absence. We have noted that at the time of the general immi- gration into Greene county, in 1830, that Harrison's store, at the junction of Little Piney creek and the Gasconade river, was the nearest postoffice to Greene county. This was almost exactly on the location of the station of the Frisco, in Arlington, in Phelps county, and a full one hundred miles from Springfield.
It was not until 1834 that Springfield and the surrounding territory had enough population to be deemed of sufficient importance to be afforded postal facilities. In the latter part of that year the first postoffice in the county was opened at Springfield. Junius T. Campbell, then only twenty-two years of age, was appointed as the first postmaster. The office was located in a hewed log house that stood on the west side of south Jefferson street, not far from the present location of the building of the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company.
Mail was received twice a week from Boonville, Missouri, and Fayette- ville, Arkansas, and twice a month from Harrison's store, on the Gasconade. There was not much letter writing among the pioneers. The postage was twenty-five cents for a letter from any point outside the state, and this was payable on delivery. What the postage was on letters from points within Missouri, history does not state.
There were no envelopes in those days. One side of the sheet was left blank, and the letter was folded with the blank side out, on which the ad- dress was written. The letter then being sealed with sealing wax or wafers.
As Springfield increased in size and importance it became more and more the commercial center for the entire region. Going to market to sell the products of the farm, the hides and peltry, and the medicinal barks and roots, was no small matter. When it became necessary to make the trip, frequently the entire family went together. More frequently than otherwise the mode of travel was by wagons drawn by oxen. This was exceedingly slow, and when, as was often the case, the distance to Springfield was fifty or seventy-five miles, the time involved ran into several days. The farmer and his family, if as usual they accompanied him, came supplied with food and bedding, and camped along the road, and after reaching town. Very little actual cash was received for the produce brought to town, nearly all the purchases being made in trade.
There were also the long journeys made to St. Louis, by some men from each community each year. These trips were for hauling wheat or deer skins, and the other products of the new country, and exchanging them for
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salt, sugar, coffee, calico and such other of the common necessities as were not yet produced by the pioneers themselves.
Cloth for the ordinary wear of both men and women, with the excep- tion of a small amount of calico and muslin, was very soon after the settle- ment of the county began, the product of the home-made looms of the pioneers. On practically every front porch stood the great four posted loom. Hewed out with an axe and pinned together with mortises and wooden pins. These rude machines produced a strong serviceable cloth, either wholly of cotton or mixed cotton and wool, the last of course being the "jeans" for which Missouri is still noted. These cloths were woven wholly by the women of the farms, and were dyed with white walnut or other natural dye stuffs furnished by the woods. Even to this day one frequently sees the old-time loom standing on the porch of some houses among the hills, and many a suit of good old fashioned blue jeans is still worn in the Southwest. And no more serviceable cloth was ever fashioned into a farmer's suit than this.
SAMPSON BASS' MILL.
Near the Pomme de Terre river and the pretty village of Fair Grove, in Greene county, Missouri, may yet be seen the ruins of what in its day was the most useful mill in the state of Missouri, and few, if any, mills in the world have had a more attractive history than the one which may there be seen in the last stages of decay. But there is yet enough of the crumbling pile to prompt the traveler to ask its history, and this is the story he learns :
Early in the year 1858 Sampson Bass, who then, as now, was one of the most enterprising citizens of the Southwest, concluded that the advance- ment of the times warranted the building of a steam flour mill at the place mentioned. The country was rich in resources and the soil yielded abundant harvests of the finest grain, but there was no modern mill in that territory to make flour for its inhabitants and the markets of the world. Sampson Bass thought a steam mill would pay, and so he set out to build one. What an undertaking that was can not be measured by the rules governing such an enterprise today. It was an undertaking that all men before him shrank from because it involved such a great venture and the expenditure of an immense amount of money. Indeed, if in these times of progress and com- mercial boldness it were necessary to haul all the machinery by wagon over hills and mountains, across rivers and swamps the distance from St. Louis to the Pomme de Terre over two hundred miles-but few men, if any, would care to identify themselves with the undertaking and hope for success. But Sampson Bass was bold and he was far-seeing and what he undertook to do was done, and thus it happened that though great trials were endured and a
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fortune risked in the enterprise he did not falter until the end was reached- nor then.
After months of hard work and many mishaps the mill was completed and the people from all the country side came to see, for the first time in their lives, the operation of a steam plant ; and wonderful stories of it were told for many a day thereafter. That was in the year 1859. At that time there were many water power mills throughout the country, but their owners did not pretend to run every day, nor half so often; and it was not expected that a mill should run every day, and few people there thought it possible to so- rig one up that it could be made to turn stones one day with another. But Sampson Bass was one of those few who believed in advancement, and was the only one in his neighborhood who was willing to stand by his faith in acts. And so it happened that he was to demonstrate to all his neighbors and to the residents of other counties that what was claimed for his mill was true. The people believed just enough of what they had heard of steam power in mills to regard it as a probable success, but nothing more. All old timers remember the drouth of 1859-60, which disabled the water powers throughout the Southwest. Then it was that the people of Greene, Polk, Webster. Ozark, Dallas and other counties in Missouri turned to the mill erected by Sampson Bass for bread. In their misfortune they hoped he would succeed in running every day, and they were surprised beyond mea- sure to find that it was quite easy to keep the mill going one day as another. That settled whatever question there might have been of the success of the mill, for it was thereafter known as the only one in southwestern Missouri to be relied upon at all times.
And it is not surprising therefore that at the breaking out of the Civil war the troops operating in that part of the country should be stationed as near as possible to Sanipson Bass' mill. At that time it had a wide reputation and the soldiers knew of it. Accordingly the Federal and Confederate troops were massed by their commanders as near the mill as possible, the armies being on either side of it. That was before the battle of Wilson's Creek. when both armies were dexterously laying plans for the other's defeat in the battle which, to both, was inevitable. Naturally both belligerents be- lieved themselves superior in numbers and prowess, and both claimed the mill. At that juncture, Sampson Bass' good sense stood him greatly in hand. It had been a matter of conjecture with the people as to which cause the owner of the mill would espouse. Some thought he had a weakness for the Confederate cause and others were equally certain that he was a stanch Union man. Sampson said nothing. He gave no sign as to what he would do until General Lyon called on him and demanded his mill to be used in grind- ing flour for his army.
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"You can not have it," said Sampson Bass, firmly.
"Then you are a rebel"? retorted the Union general.
"No more than you," said Sampson Bass.
Just then a messenger front General Mccullough put in an appearance and notified the miller that his superior expected to take possession of the mill at once and to use it exclusively for his army.
"Tell him I will not agree to that," said the miller at once.
The Federal officer stood a little apart from them, but in the light of what transpired, evidently heard what was said, and mentally agreed to it.
"But we will take possession whether you agree to our request or not," said the Confederate officer, following instructions.
"You will not take possession until I bid you do so," said Sampson Bass, and the officer who had thought otherwise a moment before was not of the opinion that he had been mistaken.
At that the Confederate officer moved away, and the conversation he had interrupted between General Lyon and Sampson Bass was resumed.
"You have taken a wise course," said the general. "and I respect you for your firmness. What do you mean to do with your mill?"
WOULD FEED TROOPS OF BOTH ARMIES.
"My mill," said the miller, "is at the disposal of my countrymen, but not for the use of one army as against another. We are all Americans, no matter how much we may differ in opinion; and the man from the North gets just as hungry and has just the same right to have that hunger satisfied as the man from the South, and as long as Sampson Bass has anything to say in the matter every American shall have an equal show for his daily bread."
"Good!" said the general, "but suppose the Confederate army should march upon you, and you could not repel it?"
"With the help of your army I would try," said the miller deliberately. "And what do you propose to do? asked the general.
"I propose that the two armies shall take turns about using the mill, and that its owner act as superintendent and referee in the matter; and, furthermore, that if you are the first to agree to my proposition your army will be the first to use my mill for a day."
Just then the Confederate general's representative returned, and the pro- posed agreement was mutually ratified, and for several weeks the two armies were in sight of each other, maintaining a neutrality strange in war, at the dictation of an individual.
Sampson Bass had been advised against this neutral course by friends of different beliefs, but realizing the critical condition in which his country-
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men on either side woukl be placed if he took sides with and delivered his property to the control of either army, and also realizing his own situation as the proprietor of a comparatively new property on which was a debt of three thousand seven hundred dollars, his judgment told him that it was better to have two friends than one enemy, while at the same time he could do humanity a service. And so he did, and continued to do, until the Con- federates gained control of the surrounding country and captured his mill, but even then he enforced his right to be superintendent and to grind for his customers on certain days.
Shortly after the Confederates took possession of the mill a friend of Bass, who had early advised him to give his property into the hands of the Confederates and thus establish his friendship for their cause, met him and in a spirit of pleasantry made this remark, the answer to which will live longer than its author of his posterity :
"I thought you could whip two armies, Sampson, but I see one has captured your mill."
"He is a poor soldier and has been little at war who thinks he can defeat one belligerent as easily as two opponents."
During the years 1862-63 the mill continued to run day and night, both grinding and sawing, in order that no one should want for bread or shelter. But when the Confederates obtained control they put out a picket line, and it was not until the Union army took possession of Springfield that the Con- federate forces thought of surrendering the mill. Three times during these years of strife had a council of war decided that Bass' mill was a help to the enemy, and as many times was it condemned and ordered burned, but each time it was decided, when possession was gained, that it was a good thing to keep. In 1863 there was established near the mill a post office, blacksmith shop, dry goods store, drug store, two grocery stores and a pot- ter's shop. That was the commencement of the village which has but par- tially outgrown the appearance it took on in war times. The first election after the war was held in Sampson Bass' mill, which had become a famous rendezvous.
In 1867 Sampson Bass sold the mill to James Gray, who moved the machinery away, Springfield by that time having acquired a steam mill, and the impression being that profitable milling days on the Pomme de Terre had passed. But Sampson Bass did not think so, nor does he yet. He soon after built a one hundred-barrel roller mill at Strafford, three miles from the site of the historic mill, for the possession of which armies contended. When asked his object in building this new mill, he replied :
"I am building it for the benefit of my sons, my country and myself."
The new mill cost ten thousand dollars and was a model plant but it
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never eclipsed the old one in point of history. Mr. Bass sold this mill and soon thereafter it burned down. The world may never know of all the heroism and the wealth of romance that was brought out within the shadow of that mill, but enough is known to prove Sampson Bass, the miller, was a great hero in the times that "tried men's souls" as even Lyon, who fell at Wilson's Creek, and who now sleeps 'neath a stately monument towering above a mound decorated with flowers, and around the base of which on imperishable slabs is inscribed Theodore O'Hara's immortal poem, "The Bivouac of the Dead."
CHAPTER VI.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
By A. M. Haswell.
FIRST SET OF OFFICERS-PIONEER AND LATER COURT HOUSES-JAILS AND CARE
FOR THE UNFORTUNATE POOR-BOND ISSUES-ROADS AND
BRIDGES-FINANCES AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.
On page 1, of Book "AA," of the records of the county court of Greene county, Missouri, we read, under date of March 11, 1833:
"At a County Court began and held at the house of John P. Campbell, within and for the County of Greene, it being the place appointed by law for holding said courts on the second Monday in March, in the year of our Lord One Thousand and Eight Hundred and Thirty-three. Present the Honorable Jeremiah Sloane, Samuel Martin and James Dollison, Esqrs., Jus- tices of said Court. John D. Shannon, Esqs., Sheriff of said county and John P. Campbell, Esqr .. Clerk of said Court."
The above named men are therefore the first officials of Greene county, having, with the exception of the clerk of the court, been duly elected to their respective offices at an election called for in the act of the Legislature which constituted a portion of the southwestern part of Missouri as Greene county. Their commissions were issued to them by Governor Daniel Dunklin (John C. Edwards, Secretary of State).
The first business transacted was to provide the court with a clerk, to keep record of its proceedings. And we find the next entry as follows :
"Now at this day comes John P. Campbell, Esqr., who was on the 23d ult. duly appointed Clerk of this Court, and, it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court here, that the said John P. Campbell has deposited in the office of the Secretary of State his appointment as aforesaid, together with a bond duly allowed and approved of by the Court, for the faithful performance of his duties as Clerk as aforesaid, Therefore the said John P. Campbell is here, by the Court, authorized to perform the said duties according to law."
After the clerk was thus inducted into office we read :
"On motion, it is ordered by the Court that Samuel Martin, Esqr., be appointed President of this Court, for the term of six months from this date, and until his successor be duly appointed, according to law."
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On the second day of this first term of the County Court Richard C. Martin was appointed county assessor. A. C. Burnett was also appointed as collector, but he declined, and sometime later Larkin Payne was put into that office. Junius T. Campbell, at this time barely past his majority, was made county treasurer, and Samuel Scroggins surveyor. At this same session of the court, justices of the peace and judges of election were appointed for the various townships, and elections were ordered held for electing con- stables.
The justices of the peace mentioned above, as appointed at this term of court, were as follows :
Jackson township, William H. Duncan; Osage township, Christopher Elmore and John Riparton; Campbell township, Andrew Taylor, Richard C. Martin and Larkin Payne; White River township, Samuel Garner; Oliver township, Thomas B. Arnett. No appointments were made at this time for Mooney and Spring River townships. When Sugar Creek township was created Samuel Vaughn was appointed justice of the peace therein.
Treasurer Campbell and Collector Payne resigned their offices on June Ioth, and John Fulbright was appointed to serve as treasurer, and Sheriff Shannon had the duties of collector added to his other labors. That these labors were by no means trivial we can see when it is told us that this first sheriff frequently had to ride fifty miles to summons a witness, and for this received the sum of fifty cents! Holding office in those times consisted in something more than simply drawing the salary.
Thus the court was duly organized; the several officers of the county inducted into office, and Greene county assumed her proper place in the sisterhood of counties in the great new State of Missouri.
For three days, beginning August 5, 1833, the first election was held in Greene county. The length of time that the polls were kept open was under a provision of the law of that time, in order that the voters "from the back districts" might have time to reach the polls and exercise their rights of franchise.
On the 12th day of this month of August the first term of the Circuit Court of Greene county convened, in Springfield. Hon. Chas. H. Allen, known in all the region as "Horse Allen," was the judge; Thos. J. Gevins was circuit attorney; Chas. P. Bullock, a son-in-law of Judge Allen, was clerk, and John D. Shannon was sheriff.
These with the officials before mentioned constituted the entire machinery of government in and for Greene county.
It was quickly evident that some means must be devised for providing a court house and jail for the rapidly growing community. And this was a matter of no little concern to the County Court, responsible for devising ways and means to accomplish this end. For it must be remembered that although
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