Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I, Part 5

Author: Fairbanks, Jonathan, 1828- , ed; Tuck, Clyde Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1086

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 5

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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

the south of section 26, township 28, range 21, of Greene county, reaching the Russell spring branch in the west half of section 26, where they camped. On the Ist of January, 1819, they passed along this trail to a point just be- low the Ozark bridge, south of what is now the town of Galloway, where they forded the river and passed some four miles up the western bank of the stream to the James river lead mines, just east of what is now Kirshner's spring. With this brief introduction, we will here insert several pages from School- craft's journal, which, long since out of print, is inaccessible to most people* : He says : "On leaving the valley of the cave (Smallen's), and ascending the hills that environ it, we passed over a gently sloping surface of hill and vale, partly covered with forest trees, and partly in prairies. I have seldom seen a . more beautiful prospect. The various species of oaks and hickories had strewed the woods with their fruits, on which the bear and wild turkey rev- eled, while the red deer was scarcely ever out of sight. Long before the hour of encampment had arrived, the hunters had. secured the means of making a sumptuous evening meal on wild viands: and when, at an early hour, we pitched our camp on the borders of a small brook ( the Russell spring branch ), Holt, who was ever ready with the rifle, added a fat brant from this brook to our stores. We then prepared our couches and night-fires and slept. The first of January, 1819, opened with a degree of cold unusual in these regions. Their elevation is, indeed, considerable : but the wind swept with a cutting force across the prairies. We were now on the principal north- western source of White river (at the Ozark bridge just south of Galloway), the channel of which we forded in the distance of two miles (from the Russell spring branch camp). The western banks presented a naked prairie, covered with dry grass and autumnal weeds, with here and there a tree. We pushed on toward the northeast. The prairie hen, notwithstanding the cold, rose up in flocks before us, as we intruded upon their low-couched positions in the grass. Of these, Holt, whose hunting propensities no cold could restrain, ob- tained a specimen : he also fired at and killed a wild goose from the channel of the river. On passing about four miles up the western banks of the stream (at the old Phelps mines on the' banks of the James river near Kirshner's spring), we observed a lead of lead ore, glittering through the water in the bed of the river, and determined to encamp at this spot, for the purpose of in- vestigating the mineral appearances. The weather was piercingly cold. We- found some old Indian camps (Osage) near at hand, and procured from them pieces of bark to sheathe a few poles and stakes, hastily put up, to form a shel- ter from the wind. A fire was soon kindled, and, while we cooked and par-

* "Journal of a Tour Into the Interior of Missouri and Arkansas in the Years 1818 and 1819," Henry R. Schoolcraft. London, 1821, p. 54, and "Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Regions of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas," Henry R. Schoolcraft, Philadelphia, 1853, p. 110.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

took of a forest breakfast, we recounted the incidents of the morning, not omitting the untoward state of the weather. When the labor of building the shanty was completed, I hastened to explore the geological indications of the vicinity. * In the meantime my New England companion took a survey of the surrounding country, which he pronounced one of the most fertile and admirably adapted to every purpose of agriculture. Much of the land consists of prairie, into which the plow can be immediately put. The forests and groves, which are interspersed with a park-like beauty through these prairies, consist of various species of oaks, maple, white and black wal- nut, elm, mulberry, hackberry and sycamore.

"Holt and Fisher scanned the country for game, and returned to camp with six turkeys and a wolf. Their fear of the Osages had been only ap- parently subdued. They had been constantly on the lookout for signs of In- dian enemies, and had their minds always filled with notions of hovering Osages and Pawnees. The day was wintry, and the weather variable. It commenced snowing at daylight, and continued till about 8 o'clock a. m. It then became clear, and remained so, with occasional flickerings, until 2 o'clock, when a fixed snowstorm set in, and drove me from my little unfinished fur- nace, bringing in the hunters also from the prairies, and confining us strictly * to our camp. This storm continued, without mitigation, nearly all night.

I found the bed of the stream, where it permitted examination, to be non-crystalline limestone, in horizontal beds, corresponding to the formation observed in the cave of Winoka (Smallen's cave). The country is one that must be valuable hereafter for its fertility and resources. The prairies which extend west of the river are the most extensive, rich and beautiful of any which I have yet seen west of the Mississippi. They are covered with a most vigorous growth of grass. The deer and elk abound in this quarter, and the buffalo is yet occasionally seen. The soil in the river valley is a rich black alluvium. The trees are often of an immense height, denoting strength of soil. It will probably be found adapted to corn, flax, hemp, wheat, oats and potatoes, while its mining resources must come in as one of its future ele- ments of prosperity.

"I planted some peach stones in a fertile spot near our camp, where the growth of the sumac denoted unusual fertility. And it is worthy of remark that even Holt, who had the antipathy of an Indian to agriculture, actually cut some bushes in a certain spot, near a spring (Kirshner's spring), and piled them into a heap, by way of securing a pre-emption right to the soil.

WHEN DE SOTO CAME.

"The region of the Ozark range of mountain development is one of singular features, and no small attractions. It exhibits a vast and elevated tract of horizontal and sedimentary strata, extending for hundreds of miles

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

north and south. This range is broken up into high cliffs, often wonderful to behold, which form the enclosing walls of river valleys. Through these Alpine ranges De Soto roved, with his chivalrous and untiring army, making an outward and inward expedition into regions which must have presented unwonted hardships and discouragements to the march of troops. To add to these natural obstacles, he found himself opposed by fierce savage tribes, who rushed upon him from every glen and defile and met him in the open grounds with the most savage energy. His own health finally sank under these fatigues, and it is certain that, after his death, his successor in the com- mand, Moscoso, once marched entirely through the southern Ozarks, and reached the buffalo plains beyond them. Such energy and feats of daring had never before been displayed in North America; and the wonder is at its highest, after beholding the wild and rough mountains, cliffs, glens and tor- rents, over which the actual marches must have laid.

"Some of the names of the Indian tribes encountered by him furnish conclusive evidence that the principal tribes of the country, although they have changed their particular locations since the year 1542, still occupy the region. Thus the Kapahas, who then lived on the Mississippi, above the St. Francis, are identical with the Quappas, the Cayas with the Kanzas, and the Quipana with the Pawnees.

"The indications of severe weather, noticed during the last day of De- cember, and the beginning of January, were not deceptive; every day served to realize them. We had no thermometer, but our feelings denoted an in- tense degree of cold. The winds were fierce and sharp, and snow fell during a part of each day and night that we remained in these elevations. We wrapped our garments about us closely at night, in front of large fires, and ran alternately the risk of being frozen and burnt. One night my overcoat was in a blaze from lying too near the fire. This severity served to increase the labor of our examination, but it did not, that I am aware, prevent any- thing essential.

"On the fourth day of my sojourn here a snow-storm began, a little be- fore one o'clock in the morning ; it ceased, or, as the local phrase is, "held up," at daybreak. The ground was now covered from a depth of two or three inches with a white mantle. Such severity had never been known by the hunters. The winds whistled over the bleak prairies with a rigor which would have been remarkable in high northern latitudes. The river (James) froze entirely over. The sun, however, shone out clearly as the day advanced, and enabled me to complete my examinations as fully as it was practicable to do under the existing state of the weather.

"It happened on this day that my companion had walked a mile or two west, over the smooth prairie, to get a better view of the conformation of the (4)

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

land, returning to camp before the lumters, who had also gone in the same general direction. On their coming back, one of them, whose licad was al- ways full of hostile Osages, fell on his returning track in the snow, and care- fully traced it to our camp. He came in breathless, and declared that the Osages were upon us, and that not a moment was to be lost in breaking up our camp, and flying to a place of security. When informed of the origin of the tracks, he still seemed incredulous, and could not be pacified without some difficulty. We then prepared, by collecting fuel and increasing our bark defenses against the wind and snow, to pass another night at the camp.

"I had now followed the Ozarks as far as it seemed practicable, and reached their western summit, notwithstanding every discouragement thrown in my way by the reports of the hunters, from the first moment of my strik- ing the White river; having visited the source of nearly every river which flows from it, both into the Missouri and Mississippi. I had fully satisfied myself of its physical character and resources, and now determined to return to the camps of my guides at Beaver creek, and continue the exploration south.

"It was the 5th of January, 1819, when we prepared our last meal at that camp, and I carefully put up my packages in such portable shape as might be necessary. Some time was spent in looking up the horses, which had been turned into a neighboring canebrake. The interval was employed in cutting our names, with the date of our visit, on a contiguous oak, which had been previously blazed for the purpose. These evidences of our visit were left, with a pit dug in search of ore, and the small smelting furnace, which, it is hoped, no zealous antiquarian will hereafter mistake for monu- ments of an older period of civilization in the Mississippi valley. When this was accomplished, and the horses brought up, we set out with alacrity. The snow still formed a thin covering on the ground, and, being a little softened by the sun, the whole surface of the country exhibited a singular mat of the tracks of quadrupeds and birds. In these, deer, elk, bears, wolves and tur- keys were prominent-the first and last species conspicuously so. In some places the dry spots on the leaves showed where the deer had lain during the

storm.

Frequently we crossed wolf trails in the snow,

and observed places where they had played or fought each other, like a pack of dogs-the snow being tramped down in a circle of great extent. We also passed tracts of many acres where the turkeys had scratched up the snow in search of acorns. We frequently saw the deer fly before us in droves of twenty or thirty."

We have given the foregoing lengthy quotation from Schoolcraft's jour- nal. because of its vivid picture of what is now Greene county before the ad- vent of the pioneers-the only written record that we have preserving for us the knowledge of the abundance of game and the early-recognized richness of

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

the soil, and portraying for us the marvelous changes that have taken place in this region in less than a century.

George Catlin, the great artist and painter of Indians, describes a journey which he made from Fort Gibson (near Muskogee, Oklahoma), north to Boonville, in October, 1834, with only his faithful horse for companion, and gives a somewhat detailed account of finding his friend, Captain Wharton, at Kickapoo settlement, the Kickapoo village already described as probably southeast of Springfield. He states :* "I struck a road (sometime after leav- ing the Requa Indian village) leading into a small civilized settlement called 'Kickapoo Prairie,' to which I bent my course, and riding up to a log cabin which was kept as a sort of a hotel, or tavern, I was met by the black boy (who accompanied Captain Wharton, who had preceded Catlin on the trip from Fort Gibson to Boonville).

The reader of history finds it difficult to reconcile Catlin's own descrip- tion of this journey with geographical facts. He makes mention of visiting, on the way, the Requa Indian village, which was in what is now Bates county, and of meeting there his old friend, Beattie, who had been a guide for Wash- ington Irving in his travels through the region in question. Continuing his journey, he describes striking a trail which led into the Kickapoo settlement, and which was about half way on his journey to Boonville. After crossing various streams with steep banks, he records the fact that he reached the Osage river, "which is a powerful stream." He further says, "I struck at a place which seemed to stagger my courage very much X there seemed to be but little choice in places with this stream, which, with its banks full, was sixty to eighty yards in width, with a current that was sweeping along at a rapid gait." As the Requa village is north of the Osage, which at that point is a very small stream, he could not have crossed again on his trip to Boonville by that route, which, moreover, would have taken him en- tire away from what we now believe to have been the Kickapoo settlement and prairie. As there was no settlement of that name in the region traversed except that near Springfield, as far as can be learned, and as his descriptions of the country through which he traveled before and after reaching that set- tlement strikingly correspond with Ozark scenery, it seems as though he must have journeyed through Greene county. But his own testimony, so definite in statement, is thrown in doubt by his mention of visits to the Requa Indian village and his old friend Beattie, thus rendering the' reader uncertain as to which of two possible routes to the north he may have taken. Another stumbling block in his description is the fact that the Osage, where he must have crossed before he could reach the Requa village, is a very insignificant stream.

* "The George Catlin Indian Gallery," Smithsonian Report, 1SS5. Part II, pp. 325 and 495.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

EARLY 11UNTERS AND PIONEERS BEFORE THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLERS.

In the historical sketch accompanying the Atlas of Greene County, pub- lished by Jolin R. Williams, 1876, page 18, it is stated that the first pioneers and hunters who came into this region were compelled, by the Delaware In- dians, to remove from the reservation that had recently been granted this tribe by the United States government. It is further stated that Thomas Patterson, a native of North Carolina, and subsequently an emigrant to Tennessee, moved from the latter place to the Little North Fork of the White river, in 1819 .* Two years later he followed up the course of the James river, till he came to a spot which he selected as his future home-the immediate vicinity of the farm on which his son, Albert G. Patterson, was living as late as 1876. This was in the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 27, township 28, range 22, eight miles south of Springfield, in Greene county. Thomas Pat- terson brought his family to this place early in 1822, and continued to live there until the Delaware Indians came to occupy their reservation, an event that occasioned the removal of the white settlers. When the government again removed the Delawares farther westward, Thomas Patterson came back to his first home. There were several families by this name who were early settlers in this part of the county. Alexander, the brother of Thomas Pat- terson, made an early settlement on what was later known as the David Wal- lace place, afterward as the Stutzman, and now ( 1915) as the Robert Mack place, one-half mile northwest of the James River Club House, in section 19, township 28, range 21.

The names of Pettijohn, Patterson, Price, Friend, Pierson, Burrill, Pros- ser, Wells and Ingle appear in the story of pioneer immigration to this region, and the hardships borne by some of these families coming by the way of the Ohio, Mississippi, White and James rivers, is related by Escott,* from which work, as well as from Vaughan's History of Christian County, Schoolcraft's Journal of a Tour in Missouri and Arkansas in 1818 and 1819, Williams' Atlas of Greene county and the History of Greene county in 1883, by Perkins and Horne, we have correlated the information herein given regarding the early pioneers, as belonging to this chapter on exploration. Most of the above men, with their families, came by water, in a keel-boat, in which they had loaded the things most necessary for life in a new country, including field and garden seeds. Escott says :** They killed game on the way, which saved their pro- visions, but, encountering floods on the White river, they were hindered in their progress until all their food was exhausted and nearly all the party ill

* The writer believes, from evidence to be given later, that this must have been in 1817 or 1818.

* "History of Springfield." George S. Escott, 1878.

** "History of Springfield. Missouri," George S. Escott, 1878, p. 12.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

with malarial troubles. They were reduced to such extremities for food, ow- ing to the impossibility of landing anywhere in the broad expanse of flooded country, that they were obliged to consume their seeds, and even roasted their bearskin sleeping rugs, after having singed the hair off from them. Then they were practically without food for eight days, when a young deer swam to their boat and was promptly made use of as a gift of Providence. Another time of starvation then intervened, when Burrill made an expedition in a skiff to the canebrakes, where a mare and colt were found stranded on a dry elevation. The colt was captured and converted into food. So great was the captor's necessity that he cut the throat and drank the blood of the animal before skinning it and cutting it up to convey to his comrades. So they were again provided with food, which lasted until they could make their way to the mouth of the Big North Fork, where a few other families had preceded them and formed settlements a short time before.

The Pettijohn family, consisting of John, with his sons and their families, together with Joseph Price and Augustine Friend, were the first white men to locate, one at eight and another fifteen miles south of Springfield. Jerry Pierson went to the head of the creek in eastern Greene county which still bears his name, and historians are agreed that Burrill, Prosser, Wells and Ingle soon followed them into what is now Greene and Christian counties. Escott* says it is doubtful if Wells was one of the company, but Schoolcraft. states in his Journal of November 30th, 1818, that he met a hunter who told him of another hunter located at the mouth of the river (Big North Fork) and still another named Wells, nearly equidistant on the path he was pur- suing-undoubtedly the George Wells referred to. He states further, "Our approach was announced by a long-continued barking of dogs, who required frequent bidding from their master before they could be pacified. The first object worthy of remark that presented itself on our emerging from the for- est was a number of deer, bear and other skins, fastened to a kind of rude frame, supported by poles, which occupied the area about the house. These trophies of skill in the chase were regarded with great complacency by our conductor, as he pointed them out, and he remarked that Wells was a great hunter and a forehanded man. There were a number of acres of ground, from which he had gathered a crop of corn. The house was a substantial, new-built log tenement, of one room. The family consisted of the hunter and his wife and four or five children, two of whom were men grown and the youngest a boy of about sixteen. All, males and females, were dressed in leather prepared from deer skins. The host himself was a middle-sized, light-lfmbed, sharp-faced man. Around the walls of the room hung horns

* "History of Springfield, Missouri," George S. Escott, 1878, p. 18.

** "Scenes and . Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Regions of Missouri and Ar- kansas," Henry R. Schoolcraft, 1818-1819, p. 77.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

of the deer and buffalo, with rifle, shot-pouches, leather coats, dried meats and other articles, giving unmistakable signs of the vocation of our host. The furniture was of his own fabrication. On one side hung a deer skin, sewed up somewhat in the shape of the living animal, containing bear's oil. In another place hung a similar vessel, filled with wild honey.

"All the members of the family seemed erudite in the knowledge of wood- craft, the ranges and signs of animals, and their food and habits; and while the wife busied herself in preparing our meal, she occasionally stopped to interrogate us, or take part in the conversation. When she had finished her preparations, she invited us to sit down to a delicious meal of warm corn- bread and butter, honey and milk, to which we did ample justice. A more satisfactory meal I never made. Wells recited a number of anecdotes of hunting and of his domestic life. When the hour for rest arrived we opened our sacks, and, spreading our blankets on a bear skin which he furnished, laid down before the fire and enjoyed a sound night's repose. The following morning we purchased from our host a dressed deer skin for moccasins, a small quantity of Indian corn, some wild honey, and a little lead. The corn required pounding to convert it into meal. This we accomplished by a pestle fixed to a loaded swing-pole, playing into a mortar burned into an oak stump."

John Pettijohn, Sr., who had been a soldier in the Revolution, was born in Henrico county, Virginia, where he married and lived until 1797, when he removed to Gallia county, Ohio, and where he farmed until 1818, though the writer thinks it must have been earlier, possibly 1817, when, probably in com- pany with the families of the men before named, he sought a home in Mis- souri. Their first settlement on the White river was not a permanent one. As early as 1820 and 1821 they made extended hunting excursions northward, and a small cabin erected, about eight miles south of what is now Springfield, established a claim for them there. William Pettijohn, on his return from one of these excursions, stated that they had discovered "a country that flowed with milk and honey, bear's oil and buffalo marrow-great luxuries among the trappers."*

It was in the spring and summer of 1822 that these families began to move to locations that they hadselected on the "Jeems," within the limits of what are now Greene and Christian counties. Vaughan, in his history of Christian county, says that at about the time that John Pettijohn, Sr., located on James Fork, John Pettijohn, Jr., made a settlement at what is now known as the Berry Gibson place, or Delaware Town, just below the mouth of Wilson creek. Joseph Price is also named among those early settlers who made their homes within a few miles of Springfield.

The statements made by Escott and others in regard to Augustine Friend

* "History of Springfield, Missouri." George S. Escott, 1878, p. 15.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

are verified by Schoolcraft's Journal, ** wherein we read "about five miles below Bull Shoals on White river, some little distance below the mouth of Little North Fork, January 12th, 1819, the head of Friend's settlement was reached, where we landed at a rather early hour in the evening at a log cabin on the left shore, and were hospitably received by 'Teen' (undoubtedly Au- gustine ) Friend, a man of mature age and stately air, the patriarch of the settlement. It was of him that we had heard stories of Osage captivity and cruelty, having visited one of the very valleys where he was kept in durance vile." *

* * Then he says, "Mr. Friend, ** being familiar, from per- sonal observation, with the geography and resources of the country at large, states that rock salt is found between the South Fork of White river and the Arkansas, where the Pawnees and Osages make use of it. * *

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Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I, Part 5

Author: Fairbanks, Jonathan, 1828- , ed; Tuck, Clyde Edwin Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen Number of Pages: 1086

Author: Fairbanks, Jonathan, 1828- , ed; Tuck, Clyde Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1086