USA > Missouri > Livingston County > Past and present of Livingston County, Missouri : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 20
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Sarah (Harpin) Davis was born in Bedford, Bedford- shire, England January 13, 1823. On August 11, 1845, she was married to Wm. Davis who was also born in Bedford, England, on April 29, 1822. In 1853 they came to America, making their home in Dunkirk, New York. Mr. Davis en- gaged in the mercantile business while there. In June, 1872, they moved to Wheeling, Livingston county, Missouri, where they have since resided. Mr. Davis engaged in the farming business. Mrs. Davis was the mother of three children, Cor- nelius, William and Elizabeth (Mrs. W. W. Edgerton). Cor- nelius resides in Bradford, Pennsylvania. William died at
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the age of eighteen years. Mrs. Edgerton resides in Chilli- cothe, Missouri. On October 18, 1909, Mr. Davis died at the age of eighty-seven. Mrs. Davis still resides on her farm south of Wheeling, Missouri.
James Hutchinson, better and more familiarly known as "Uncle Jimmie," is the oldest man in Livingston county. "Uncle Jimmie" was born on the 23rd of May, 1815, in the blue grass region of Kentucky, emigrating to Livingston county in 1840. His first vote was cast for William Henry Harrison for president. He was born and reared to manhood under the influence of strict orthodox parents and today is an active worker in so far as his age and strength will permit, being a member of the Christian church of Chillicothe. When a boy he learned the trade of a carpenter, which he followed for many years after coming to this county, assisting the contractor on the courthouse erected in the public square in 1840. He also did most of the carpenter work on the old Poindexter residence that stood at the southwest corner of Clay and Cherry streets, but which was torn down some years ago. He also followed agricultural pursuits several years since his abode here. Although somewhat feeble "Uncle Jimmie" makes his daily trips to the business section of the city from his home corner of Clay and Walnut streets, and has a cheer- ful "How d'y" for everyone he meets. He has fair promise of reaching the century mark. His brother, Judge Thomas Hutchinson, passed away a few years ago at the age of one hundred and one.
The subject of this brief sketch, David Girdner, better known as "Uncle Davie," and a former resident of Jackson township, is now residing with his son, Dr. J. M. Girdner of Chillicothe. David Girdner was born May 3, 1826, in Whit- ney county, Kentucky, being one of thirteen children that came to bless and enliven the lives of his parents, David and Eliza- beth Girdner. David Girdner, the elder, was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving as drum major of his regiment. Our "Uncle Davie" followed farming nearly all of his life, except when he was "fiddling" for dances about the country. He was often called to help make music at the dance, for he was a
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great fiddler in his younger days and even now, in his 88th year, he loves the instrument with as much apparent affection as a child loves a doll, and many are the prizes he carries off in old fiddlers' contests. He came with his parents to this county in 1834 and saw much of pioneer life and has witnessed a great change in the affairs of the county since that time. Then Indians were numerous in the county and wild beasts were at home here. Neither schools nor mills were here and many hardships were undergone by those brave enough to undertake for themselves a home in the wilderness. Young Girdner's educational advantages were limited but this did not deter him from being successful from a material point of view. He has owned 1,035 acres of good land and has given considerable attention to the stock business, in which he was well versed.
Catharine Easton Wright was born near Jonesboro, Wash- ington county, Tennessee, August 26, 1824. When she had grown to womanhood she was united in marriage to David Taylor Wright, a pioneer preacher of the Christian church and founder of the Christian Pioneer, on the 26th day of January, 1842. To this union was born thirteen children, four of whom are now living. Mrs. Wright came with her hus- band to Missouri in 1846, settling first in Mercer county, later moved to Grundy county and from there to Chillicothe in 1864. Mrs. Wright and her husband traveled in a flat boat from Tennessee to Paducah, Kentucky, and from there by steamboat to Brunswick, Missouri, by way of St. Louis and thence overland by ox team to destination. Mrs. Wright and her husband left their Tennessee home on the 3rd of March, 1846, and reached their Missouri home June Ist, 1846. The subject of this sketch makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Clark Wells, of Chillicothe.
David W. Pond was born in Matamora, Indiana, on the 4th day of August, 1832, and emigrated to Livingston county with his family in 1870, purchasing a farm five miles east of Chillicothe where he now resides. At the date of his wife's death, on February 14, 1911, he had been married fifty-two years. By their union eight children were born, all of whom
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are living. The subject of this sketch, at the age of eighty- two years, is in perfect health and is as active as a man of thirty.
PIONEER MARRIAGES
From the oldest records of the county and from other sources we learn that the first marriages in point of elegance and display were less attractive than at the present day. These weddings, however, were appropriate to the times. The groom with his Sunday suit, which included a coat and trousers of Kentucky jeans, a cotton shirt and shoes of home-tanned leather, and often a coon-skin cap, constituted his wedding garments. The toilet of the fair bride in some instances was a little more elaborate but usually consisted of home made goods. Happy marriages in pioneer days did not consist of any elaborate display of silks, satins and costly gems. The people for many miles around were always invited to these pioneer weddings. All sorts of merrymaking and a dance at night, with a grand wedding feast which included venison, roast wild turkey, honey, maple syrup and sugar, corn pone, pie and cake and usually a few gallons of Kentucky or Mis- souri whiskey. Marriages in those early days were more for- tunate than those of modern times. Divorces and separations were almost unknown.
Shortly after the organization of Livingston county the first marriage that took place (so the records show) was that of Thomas Maupin and Elizabeth Austin. The ceremony was performed by James D. Penny, a justice of the peace who resided in Shoal Creek township, and the date of the wedding was February 5, 1837. Then on the 12th day of February of the same year Jacob Work and Lena Tinney were united in marriage, County Judge Reuben McCoskrie saying the words that made them husband and wife. February 19, Wm. Maybury and Mary Wilkinson were married, Esquire John Newland, of Medicine Creek township, officiating. Other marriages in the county, in 1837, were the following :
March 9, James Coffreth and Serena Winegan were mar- ried by Jas. A. Davis, justice of the peace.
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March 30, Matthew Gibbs and Susan Williams were mar- ried by Jas. A. Davis, justice of the peace.
May 6, Milton L. Moore and Louisa D. Perry were mar- ried by Rev. Lorenzo Waugh of the M. E. church.
May 16, Samuel J. Beard and Eliza Fletcher were mar- ried by Jesse Newland, justice of the peace of Medicine Creek township.
May 20, Jefferson Bryan and Jane Bird were married by Reuben McCoskrie, county judge.
June 29, Rice Wood and Matilda Gee were married by Isam Wood, justice of the peace.
July 10, Thomas Wilkerson and Mary Moore were mar- ried by Nathan H. Gregory, justice of the peace.
August 27, Joseph Todd and Susan Harrison were married by Reuben McCoskrie, county judge.
September 26, John Ryan and Susan Botts were married by N. H. Gregory, justice of the peace.
October 22, Zachariah Blair and Keziah Ogle were mar- ried by Reuben McCoskrie, county judge.
November 13, John Simpson and Martha Venable were married by Jas. A. Davis, justice of the peace.
November 16, John Walker and Matilda Gann were mar- ried by Jas. A. Davis, justice of the peace.
November 26, Jewett Nevis and Sarah A. Perry were mar- ried by W. P. Thompson, justice of the peace.
ALL OVER REMINISCENCES
The early settlers took a lively interest in the education of their children. They built log schoolhouses, with chimneys of sticks and mud. Few of the houses had glass windows. At the rear of the room a portion of a log was cut out and the open- ing thus made was covered with muslin greased to admit the light. Just beneath this long window was the writing desk. Generally this was constructed out of a walnut plank, two or more inches in thickness which had been ripped out of the log with a whipsaw. The seats for the children were of split logs with the flat side up and with four pins inserted into
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auger holes constituted the legs. They had no rests. Teach- ers were paid by subscription. The price of a scholarship for three months' term was two dollars and fifty cents. Usually the teachers boarded around with the patrons of the school. In order to get fifteen or twenty scholars many of them were obliged to go long distances. Attending school in those days was a privilege which was greatly enjoyed. Delinquencies or "tardies" were unknown. The children all carried their din- ners to school and were given one hour recess at noon. Steel pens were unknown, the goosequill alone being used, the "schoolmaster" whittling the quill and making the "split" in the sharp point with a keen-edged pocket knife. For recrea- tion the children played town-ball-the game which has been modified into the great National game of baseball. Other games were bull-pen, oldcat, Anthony over, marbles, tag and mumble peg. Jumping the rope and swinging the girls were also indulged in. In this age of luxury it must not be imag- ined that the children of the pioneers did not enjoy life, es- pecially during their school days.
Jackson township was settled more rapidly than most other sections of the county. Jesse Nave opened a store at Spring- hill, then called Navetown, in 1834, and within a few years thereafter Thomas Tootle, John Stewart and John Doss, each were conducting mercantile establishments there. John Doss also followed the porkpacking business at the same place. The surplus bacon, wheat and other products of the county at that time were hauled by ox-teams to Brunswick, on the Missouri river or shipped by flatboat to St. Louis. For a number of years Springhill was perhaps the most active trading point in the county. From 1840 to 1850 Jackson township produced tens of thousands of hickory hoop-poles, which were also shipped to St. Louis in flat boats. The prairie and forest fires which occasionally swept over the country resulted in seedling hickories coming forth in many places in countless numbers. When these seedlings had attained the proper size they were cut and hauled to the bank of the river during the fall and winter. Flatboats were then constructed mostly of black wal- nut lumber, whipsawed from the log, the plank being two
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inches in thickness. This lumber also found ready sale in the St. Louis market. Among the many who built flatboats for the shipment of hoop-poles and other products of the country, were Isom Ware, Benjamin Hargrave, John Doss and Andrew Winkler.
Snakes were very numerous in those pioneer days and some of the older people are yet referred to as the descendants of St. Patrick who helped kill off the snakes in Jackson township. The eastern section of the township is somewhat rough and rocky along the streams and the shelving rocks furnished a splendid rendezvous or winter quarters for the reptiles. Elias Guthridge is often quoted as authority for the biggest snake story, and as it is now related was about as follows: One warm spring morning the settlers got together at the home of Noah R. Hobbs (now Andrew Young's farm) and arming them- selves with clubs, proceeded to the creek bluffs where the rep- tiles were known to have their winter quarters. The warm spring sunshine had limbered their bodies and they were found in great numbers basking everywhere. As the story goes the men began the slaughter and when the battle was over four hundred and forty dead reptiles of various sizes, had been slain and as the narrator often told, "it was not a very good day for snakes either."
Following is a verbatim tax receipt given "Uncle" James Hutchinson, who is now a resident of Chillicothe, at the age of ninety-eight years :
"Received of James Hutchinson five dollars and fifty cents for his taxes for the year 1847, assessed upon the following described Real Estate to-wit: 80 acres, S. E. 27, 58, 24; 40 acres, N. E. 28, 58, 24; 40 acres, S. W. S. E., 28, 58, 24; 160 acres, N. E., 27, 58, 24; 40 acres, N. E. N. E., 28, 58, 24; 40 acres, N. W. N. E., 28, 58, 24.
J. LEEPER,
Collector, Livingston County, Missouri."
Two paroled Federal prisoners who had been captured at Lexington, Missouri, passing through the county, going in the direction of Iowa, stole two horses north of Chillicothe and
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while proceeding on their journey northward, were overtaken by Lewis Best and his men and after being shot were horribly mutilated by Lewis, who plunged his bowie-knife many times into their bodies. Later Lewis exhibited his gory knife and boasted that he had "put two d-d Yankees out of the way." The bodies of the murdered men were later found in the brush and buried.
Of the old landmarks of Livingston county, little known at the present day, there yet remains an article once used by the Austin Brothers at a place called Austin Springs, in Mon- roe township. It was here the brothers operated a still for the manufacture of whiskey in 1851. The building was of round logs, but the structure has gone to decay and about the only article remaining to mark the spot is the old mash trough made of black walnut lumber.
Back in the troubled days immediately after the Civil war Dr. D. J. McMillen was a deputy sheriff under the late Garry Harker. It was McMillen who arrested the late Bishop Hogan in Chillicothe because the then young church- man refused to take what was known as the "Test Oath." Dr. McMillen was active and prominent in the affairs of Living- ston county for several years. He moved from Chillicothe to Kansas City where he resided continuously until his death, April 2, 1913. For the past twenty years he had been presi- dent of the Western Dental College in that city, where he accumulated a comfortable fortune.
SPRING HILL, March 30th, 1854.
Reuben Hawkins having produced to me satisfactory evi- dence that he sustains a good moral character, was examined by me as to his proficiency in the branches hereafter specified, and his fitness to govern and teach a public school and I hereby certify that on such examination I found him qualified to teach the following branches (viz.) Spelling Reading Writ- ing Geography English Grammar and Arithmetic.
D. R. MARTIN,
Commissioner of Common Schools for Livingston County Mo.
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On October 2, 1851, Messrs. Bell & Austin, who owned a general store at Springhill, bought a bill of goods from J. W. Tucker of St. Louis, which was shipped to Utica by river and thence transported by ox team to their place of business. The assignment consisted of two ounces of sulphate of quinine, $10; one pound of English calomel at $2; gum champhor, mustang liniment, paregoric, vermifuge, Godfrey's cordial, Bateman's drops, nerve and bone liniment, bears oil, rose hair oil, almond shaving soap, McLean's liver pills, Cook's pills, two dozen pain killer, five pounds Maccaboy snuff, castor oil, linseed oil, copal varnish, etc. The bill for the goods amounted to $88.47 and was receipted January 7, 1852.
On April 8, 1853, A. J. Austin of Springhill bought a bill of goods from McMeckan & Ballentine of St. Louis, which included one hogshead of sugar, 1,052 pounds, at 434 cents per pound ; seven bags of coffee at 10 cents per pound ; three kegs of nails at $5.50 per keg; clarified sugar; soap; a barrel of tar; dried apples, rice; buckets; batting, flour, star can- dles and five barrels of rectified whiskey which sold at 18 cents per gallon. Total amount of the bill, $386.10.
One of the pioneer physicians of Livingston county, and for twenty years among the best known citizens of this county was Dr. Wm. Keith. He was born near Georgetown, Scott county, Kentucky, December 20, 1806. At the age of seven- teen his father George Keith moved to Ballet county where he lived until he was twenty-two years of age. His ancestors were Scotch; his great grandfather, George Keith and a brother, Alexander came to America, soon after the failure of the Stuart cause in 1715, from Scotland and settled near Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Elizabeth Farrell was a native of Wales. At the age of seventeen, having a fair edu- cation he began teaching. He continued to teach in various places in Kentucky until 1836, when he began the study of medicine in Mortonsville, Kentucky, with Dr. Wm. M. Wil- son, and finished his medical education under Benjamin W. Dudley, the noted surgeon, and professor of surgery in Tran- sylvania University in the spring of 1838. He was a private pupil of Dr. Dudley for one year. He practiced for two
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years in Woodford county, then came with his parents to Missouri. The family settled near Chillicothe, about three miles cast of the city on the Linneus road. In 1843 he made the acquaintance of John Graves, Thos. R. Bryan and W. Y. Slack, all of whom persuaded him to locate in the new town they had just laid out. He did so and bought some property. In 1848, he moved to a farm near Springhill, in the forks of Grand river where he practiced medicine for ten years with the exception of the years 1850 and '51 which were spent on the route to California and in the gold fields of that state. In 1858, he moved back to Chillicothe in order to give their three sons the benefit of good schools. He was a director of the school boards of the districts in which he lived for many years. He is remembered as the friend of free education. Next to the practice of this profession his chief desire was to have the children in town and country, all taught to read and write and to understand the rudiments of grammar, arith- metic and geography. When the Civil war came on he left his home in Chillicothe, June 14, 1861, and joined the Lost Cause as assistant brigade surgeon under General W. Y. Slack until the latter's death soon after the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in March, 1862, where he received a mortal wound. Dr. Keith then acted as hospital surgeon under Price and Van Dorn until the autumn of 1863, when he left the army and accompanied by his wife and youngest son repaired to Kentucky where his oldest son was a student at college, and remained there till the war was over. During the war he was present and assisted in taking care of the wounded at the battles of Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Lexington, Pea Ridge, Iuka and Corinth. In time of battle he was cool and intrepid; in the hospital, a careful and cautious surgeon, un- tiring in his efforts to relieve the wounded and knew no dif- ference, he said, in his attention to Federals and Confederates. In 1865, he returned to Missouri with his wife and youngest son and located at Sturgeon where he resumed the practice of his profession and continued for twelve years when he turned it over to his son, Dr. J. F. Keith, who in the mean- time had graduated from the Missouri Medical College. He
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was an active member of the Masonic fraternity and of the State Medical Society. He was a constant student and stood abreast of the age in which he lived. He loved the theory and the practice of medicine devotedly. Had he been as selfish and money-loving as he was gifted and accomplished in his profession he could have become enormously wealthy. But he was hospitable and generous to a fault-a gentleman of the old school, and he died comparatively poor. He was for many years before his death a member of the Christian church, and was a man of sterling integrity and a high sense of honor and taught his sons to tread in the same path. He left two sons, Dr. James F. Keith of Sturgeon, Missouri, and Dr. Clay- ton Keith of Louisiana, Missouri. He died September 28, 1890, at his home in Sturgeon, Missouri, at the age of eighty- three years and nine months, beloved and his memory revered by the whole community, leaving a good name and a spotless reputation as a heritage to his children.
This sketch does not refer to Realists or Idealists. It is of a Livingston county "Literalist" in the days of '54 who lived in the forks of Grand river on lower Indian creek in a settlement that bore the name of "Guntown" who when the news came to him that a railroad was to be built through this county, was delighted at the thought of being able to contrib- ute to its construction. So one day as the four-horse-stage- coach stopped to change horses at the station west of Spring- hill he met a railroad man who was traveling through the country and assured him that with all the white oak timber on his forty acres he could easily furnish three thousand white oak rails for the use of the H. & St. Joe Railroad and wished to know of the man what price he might expect for the rails per hundred on the ground. As the man resumed his seat in the coach, he said, "I guess we won't need them."
Not long after this, the man fell sick with ague and sent for a doctor who came and after examining him, Ieft some bitter powders to be taken three times a day. "How shall I take them?" "In a little pumpkin," replied the M. D., who saw some dried pumpkin hanging on sticks in the loft. The next day the doctor was passing by his patient's field of corn,
NELSON KNEASS
--
BEN BOLT
THE ORIGINAL BURIAL PLACE OF NELSON KNEASS, AUTHOR OF THE MUSIC TO "BEN BOLT," IN EDGEWOOD CEMETERY, CHILLICOTHE
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and to his surprise, observed the man out walking in his pumpkin patch with a July sun pouring torrid rays down upon him. "Hello! What on earth are you doing out there? Get into the house and into bed as soon as possible." "I will as soon as I find a little pumpkin." "A little what?" demanded the physician. "Why, a little pumpkin. Didn't you tell me to take my medicine in a little pumpkin?" "Yes, but I meant a little stewed pumpkin." "O, Doctor, why didn't you say that first? I try to follow directions as close as I can."
One other instance of his "literalism" will suffice for this sketch. On another occasion when he was sick he tried a different doctor who left him medicine in the form of a pow- der dosed out in separate papers, and told him to take a paper every night and morning. At the doctor's second visit he said, "Doctor, I wish you wouldn't put so much paper around my medicine. I can hardly swallow one of them." "I didn't intend that you should swallow the paper-only the medicine in the paper." "I wish doctors would say what they mean for I try to follow their directions to the letter." He was a "literalist" gone to seed. And such men were well known in this section of the county.
The City Hotel in Springhill in 1854 and for several years afterward was kept by John Stewart, a veritable "Son of Erin." On June 24, 1854, the Masons were celebrating St. John's Day, and while Rev. John D. Vincil, who was a spell- binder in that early day was addressing a crowd of people in the west end of the village under the trees, several of the boys took leave of their mothers long enough to run down to the City Hotel where a crowd of people were standing in the street. A boy standing close up against the front of the hotel near a window saw a tall man come out of the saloon on the opposite side of the street with a blacksnake whip in one hand and a long "horse pistol" in the other. As he staggered along the street in front of his "grocery," he shouted, "Oh, yes, I'm going to horsewhip the d-d old rascal." He reeled as he walked up the street, past the crowd and when about forty yards west of the hotel and in the middle of the street, he turned partly around as if going to the hotel. Just then the Vol. I-16
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window by which the boy was standing was thrown up and a double-barrelled shot gun stuck out and was fired twice and the window let down. The rowdy, with the whip in his hand, had fallen to the ground-the first load taking effect in the fleshy part of his right thigh and hip-and as he turned he received the second load in the fleshy part of his anatomy. The wounded man was Lorenzo Dow Kirk, the keeper of the saloon. He was carried into Richard Lumpkin's front yard and laid in the shade. His uncle, Dr. Samuel L. Williams, was summoned, who called Dr. Wm. Keith to assist him with the case. They probed for the bullets which proved to be buckshot and slugs, until they had extracted eighteen of them. After a few weeks careful attention he recovered. The man who did the shooting was John Stewart, proprietor of the City Hotel. He immediately ran up stairs, locked the door, and reloaded his gun and declared from an upper window that he was ready for any officers that might attempt his ar- rest. It was not until the third day after the tragedy that Stewart capitulated and gave himself up to the sheriff who had starved him to terms by forbidding either food or drink to pass the door of his room. On the third day of his fast when weak and famished from want of food or drink and from the excitement and loss of rest, he could hold out no longer, he called for Dr. Keith and told him to do all in his power to save Kirk's life; that he had changed his mind in regard to killing Kirk. He was assured that his victim would recover as no vital organ had been penetrated; that in the esti- mation of the doctors the charge of powder was too small for the amount of lead in front of it; and that had he put but half the number of buckshot and slugs and had he doubled the amount of powder, the case would have been hopeless. The trouble was amicably settled through the intervention of friends. Stewart was acquitted and both men were often seen afterward on the streets of Springhill. They were both brave and fearless men. Kirk made a good soldier in the Civil war, or at least it was so reported.
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