USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume I > Part 27
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Bank-Platte Valley Bank, W. T. Jackosn, president, J. S. Casteel, cashier.
Mills-The Monitor Feed Mill.
Postmaster-James Sawyer.
Lodges-Odd Fellows, Rebekah, Masonic, Eastern Star, Modern Wood- men of America.
Churches-Methodist (South). Christian.
Mayor-A. H. Stineburner.
Physicians-Drs. J. H. Wells, O. C. Kessler.
Dentist-L. C. Allender.
Opera Hall-Stock Company.
General dealers-A. B. Bently, F. H. Burns, Sawyer & Mow, Lewis Kaufman, Ross Hardware store.
Hardware-E. L. Lewis.
Implement dealers-E. L. Lewis, David Flynn.
Furniture-Ross Department Store.
Drugs-E. F. Alden.
Lumber-M. Goodson & Company.
Grain dealers-J. C. Peterson, Duffy & Sims.
Stock shippers-Fryar & Horton.
Produce and poultry-J. C. Peterson.
Cream station-Duff Brothers.
Restaurant-H. Toel. Harness-H. Ralston & Son.
Pumps and supplies-W. A. Conn.
Livery -- A. H. Stoneberger.
Jewelery-J. H. Percy. Millinery-Misses Roades and Cawood.
Newspaper-Ravenwood Gazette.
Paints and wall paper-Geo. Hutchens.
Blacksmith-A. M. Moore.
Hotel-Commercial House.
The reader is referred to general chapters for the schools. churches and lodges within this township. The population in 1900 was placed by the United States census at two thousand one hundred and forty-two.
CHAPTER XXVI.
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
Jefferson township, named for Thomas Jefferson, lies to the south of Jackson township, west of Gentry county, Missouri, north of Washington township, and east from Polk and Grant townships. It comprises about forty- eight square miles and is traversed by the Wabash and Great Western railroad lines, which form a crossing at New Conception.
Up to 1871 this territory was embraced within that of Washington and Jackson, but by an order of the county court. dated March 29, 1871, it was ordered that "A new municipal township be established out of Washington and Jackson townships, to be known and designated as Jefferson township. in said county, said new township to commence on the Nodaway and Gentry county line at the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section No. 34. in township 64. range 33. thence running west on the township line to the northwest corner of section 5. township 63. range 34. being the eastern boundary of Polk township, thence running south to the southwest corner of section 8. in township 63. range 34. thence running east to the northeast corner of section 16, township 63. range 34, then running south to the north- west corner of the southwest quarter of section number 33. in township 63. range 34. thence running east on the quarter mile line to the Gentry county line. thence running north on the county line to the place of beginning, and it is further ordered by the court that Conception be designated as the voting precinct of said township."
TOPOGRAPHY.
The streams of this township include the Platte river. entering in the cen- tral part north, running diagonally through its center, while Long Branch passes across the extreme northwestern portion of the township, through two sections. and flows in a southerly direction. The Wild Cat finds its source in the eastern and northeastern parts of the township, and runs southeasterly. emptying into the Grand river. The township is rather broken and rolling
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in its surface character, the uplands being prairies. The soil is wonderfully productive. Grains, grasses, small fruits, etc., do well and have with the passing years increased in value in a marked degree. The Platte valley, a mile in width, is a rich alluvium. The natural timber is scarce in the town- ship, comprising not to exceed three square miles, all told. Good stone is quarried at different points within the township. Many springs were found here by the early settlers who chose building sites near their gushing waters. The entire township is well watered and drained.
The history of schools, churches and lodges are found in chapters under their respective headings, elsewhere in this volume. The population of the township in 1900 was one thousand six hundred and fifty-two.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The beginning of settlement in Jefferson township was made along the Platte river valley and the various branches of the Wild Cat. David Rhoades. who was among the earliest settlers in this part of the county, came in 1846 and claimed land and built a cabin in the northeast corner of section 28, town- ship 63, range 34. He there owned, later, several hundred acres of valuable land. Samuel Ross came probably the same year, locating two and a half miles northwest of Old Conception.
Silas Best came at a very early day, emigrating from Washington town- ship, and with his sons claimed land on the east side of the Platte river, in the edge of the timber. He erected a house on the northeast corner of sec- tion 14, township 63. range 34, and added to his landed estate until he had all of a thousand acres. He died in 1875.
Jacob Pugh came at a very early date, from Iowa, settling on the west side of the Wild Cat, about four miles southeast of New Conception. In 1857 Anderson Smith emigrated from Virginia, settling two and a half miles west of present New Conception. The same year came Isaac Weatherman from Tennessee, settling on the Wild Cat. During 1858 John S. Aldridge emigrated from Indiana, took a claim three miles southwest of where Old Conception now stands. Benjamin Casteel emigrated from the South, and located on the northeast quarter of section II, township 63, range 33. His one hundred and sixty acres was cut in twain by the waters of the Platte river. He died in 1881 in Montana.
In 1856 Sidney Smith came from Cooper county, Missouri, and located on the Wild Cat. three miles southeast of present New Conception. Another settler of 1858 was Matthew Riley, of New York, who settled one mile south of New Conception.
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Patrick Growney originally emigrated from Ireland. He lived in Brooklyn, New York, for twelve years and in 1858 came to this township, lo- cating in section 9. township 63. range 34. He died on June 17, 1879. He had three sons, all of whom had good farms in the township in 1882. The family estate had four hundred acres. The family is still largely represented both in and out of Maryville, in Nodaway county, and are mentioned else- where.
THE READING COLONY.
Conceiving the notion of forming a colony for the West, in 1856, three gentlemen of Pennsylvania, Felix. Mclaughlin and O'Reilly, of Irish descent. set to work to perfect plans by which people might reap more for their labor than was then possible in the old Keystone state. When the colony was finally formed. Anthony Felix. O. O'Reilly and Rev. James Powers came West for the purpose of entering lands. Arriving at St. Joseph. Missouri. they fell in with Jeff Thompson, who gave them a plat of the vacant lands on which the colony was finally located. They were then advised to go to the land office at Plattsburg. Clinton county, and there make formal entry of such lands. Upon arrival there they were informed that the lands were not in the market. These three men then went on to Washington. D. C .. to visit the general land office and upon application to Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, who was then the commissioner of the land office, succeeded in effecting an entry of said lands. and the necessary documents were sent to the commissioner at Plattsburg. with instructions to make a record of the entry upon his books. While in Washington, or soon after. these three founders of the colony learned that the Plattsburg office had been re-opened (if in fact it had ever been closed) and that these same lands had been entered by another party. This made much trouble. as each party contended the land was theirs by right of entry. The case was finally taken before the committee on public lands in the United States Senate. in 1858 or 1859. during James Buchanan's administration. Said committee decided the case in favor of the said Felix. O'Reilly and Powers. These disputed lands amounted to twenty thousand acres, all of which, with the exception of one and a half section in Gentry county, lie in Nodaway county and in Jefferson township.
The names of the first settlers of the Reading colony were as follows : John M. Carty. William Brady, Michael Fagan. Jeremiah Sullivan, Thomas Reilly. Edward Reilly and Patrick Growney.
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
During the days of the four-year Civil war but little emigration was had in the township, but soon thereafter it rapidly flowed in. By 1880 there were very heavy settlements on both the east and west sides of the Platte river. The soil was well tilled, many fine farm houses were erected, hedge fences were seen growing everywhere and many miles in length. This colony was really a Catholic settlement and has ever remained such.
The name Reading colony came from the fact that Father Powers came from Reading, Pennsylvania.
TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
This township now has three towns or villages within its borders, Con- ception. Conception Junction and Clyde.
Conception (named for the Immaculate Virgin) is the oldest place in the township. It is situated eleven miles to the southeast of Maryville and about two miles southeast of the railroad station known as New Conception. Father James Powers of the Reading colony above mentioned, came in 1856 from Reading. Pennsylvania, and entered the land on which it stands and there founded a Catholic church. Father Powers and William Brady laid out the town of Conception in 1860. June 9, 1860, the colony house and chapel were finished and dedicated. There were forty acres laid out and platted as a town site. described as the southeast quarter of section 24, town- ship 63. range 34. The first lot was sold to Mr. Saul for one dollar and on the same he put up a general store building. Soon Joseph Heffner erected a blacksmith shop and a dwelling. Frank Enos followed soon with a second blacksmith shop and Father Tuerk erected a dwelling house.
In 1870 Ignatius Richlin erected and moved into a dwelling. To this was made an addition in 1871, and a general stock of goods was put on the shelves. Soon thereafter Joseph Wonderly erected a store and dwelling house. Dwelling houses were soon built by the Sisters. Not long after- wards a saloon and shoe shop was added to the new town.
The history of the Catholic interests, the church, monastery and schools. are all covered in Father Placid's history of the Catholic church in Nodaway county. found elsewhere in this volume.
The first recorded death in Conception was that of Hewey McIntyre. in 1874. The first child baptized was christened Ellen, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. Father Powers, who baptized her, gave her forty acres of land because she was the first child baptized in his parish. The first marriage was that uniting Elisha Richlin and Julia Protzman. in 1870.
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Conception is located in one of the best sections to be found in all Nod- away county and its educational advantages have always been the means of attracting many to its borders. Its present business consists of a postoffice, a few stores and the ordinary shops which carry goods to supply the community with.
CLYDE.
Clyde (once known as New Conception) was the direct outgrowth of the construction of the Wabash railroad through Nodaway county. It is two miles northeast of Conception (where the Catholic school interests are located) and eleven miles southeast from Maryville. It has come to be a ham- let of about two hundred and fifty people. When the postoffice was estab- lished it was named at a public meeting in July, 1880, when more than fifty persons assembled for the purpose of naming the office. Frank Bellows had recently been up in Canada and upon his return brought some imported Clydesdale horses and at the suggestion of one present at the meeting, it was voted on and decided to call the office Clyde, after the famous horses. The name was forwarded to Washington and the postal department so named it. Yet the name of the town still for many years was known as New Concep- tion, but when the Great Western railroad was built in 1887 and a crossing made with the Wabash a new town sprung up and was named Conception Junction, since which time the name Clyde has obtained for the place now under description.
The land on which Clyde stands was bought in 1869 by Matthias Jerman, and in 1872 or 1873 he sold it to Matthias Rogers, and the latter in 1879 sold it to the Western Improvement Company, who during the same year platted it into town lots. The first lots sold were numbers 27 and 28 to E. W. Cone. for the sum of one hundred dollars each. He immediately erected a build- ing and opened a saloon therein. The first man to engage in trade was Gas- per Kaiser, who built and opened a hardware. The first general merchandise store was opened in a building moved from old Conception by J. A. Wonderly An elevator for grain purpose was erected in 1879 by Frank Bellows and Fayette Smith. The postoffice was established in 1880 and from then on the various trades were all soon represented.
The first marriage in what is now known as Clyde was Fred Karoetsch and Julia Match. in the early spring of 1881. The first death was that of a daughter of J. F. Wonderly. July 16. 1880. The first birth was a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. C. Weaver, in 1879.
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
BUSINESS INTERESTS OF 1910.
The following concerns are doing business at Clyde in the spring of 1910: Banks-The Bank of Conception, Robert Moffatt, president, Anna Wirth, cashier.
Newspaper-The Clyde Times, I. N. Long. editor and proprietor.
General Dealers-Proctor & Graham. general merchandise, hardware, furniture and farm implements. Enis Brothers ; Charles Guittings.
Drugs-Dr. Hopse.
Postmaster-August Enis.
Restaurants-John Abels. E. Shepley.
Millinery-Mrs. Jennie Loftus.
Meat Market-Frank Luepke.
Lumber-Thomas Merrigen.
Grain Dealers-Proctor & Graham, shippers.
Blacksmiths-Louis Remple and Ely Fox.
Shoemaker-Albert Felix.
Hotel-"Rehberg."
Livery-Farnehr & Merrigen.
Lodges-Modern Woodmen. Knights of Foresters and Odd Fellows.
Fire Department-Volunteer Company.
Churches-St. Benedict's Catholic.
Mayor-Louis Remley.
Present population-Three hundred.
CONCEPTION JUNCTION.
This town was the outgrowth of the crossing of the Wabash and Chi- cago Great Western railroads, the law of the land requiring that proper junc- tion accommodations must be maintained at such junction points. It was platted by C. N. Comstock in August, 1895. on section 14. township 63, range 34, and as the name New Conception had been applied to what is now known as Clyde-one mile to the east-this place was called Conception Junction. While it has drawn much from the growth of Clyde. yet it has never de- veloped into much of a trading point until recently, when there has grown up an appreciation of the railroad interests of the two great systems of rail- road crossing here, with some liability of the freight division being located here on the Chicago Great Western line, and it is now building up materially.
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The contest is still on between Parnell, to the north thirteen miles, and Con- ception Junction, as to which will gain the division point.
The present business interests of this junction point are as follows :
Bank-Farmers' State.
Hotels-Junction Hotel. Mrs. Thomas, proprietor; Commercial Hotel, E. R. Roof, proprietor.
Newspaper-The Conception Courier, Thomas A. Carver. proprietor. General Dealers-Messrs. Richie, Stevick and Tonney Schaffer.
Groceries-L. W. Vanscoy. George Thompson.
Meat Market-George Thompson.
Hardware-Wilson Mackey.
Lumber Yard-"The Crossan Lumber Yard," established in October. 1909. by G. W. Crossan.
Livery-J. W. Corcoran, manager.
Restaurant-J. H. Gatten.
Postmaster-L. Y. Vanscoy.
Lodge-Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
During the present year it is believed that a Methodist church and a three-thousand-dollar school building will be erected.
The village is incorporated and has for its present mayor the union sta- tion agent. George Dukes.
The population is something over two hundred. It is situated in a pleasing point of view, overlooking as it does the several branches of the gently winding Platte river that courses its way a little distance to the west of the corporation.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP.
Lincoln township is bounded on the north by the Iowa state line, on the east by Atchison and Nodaway townships, on the south by Atchison and Nod- away and Green townships and Atchison county, and on the west by Atchison county, Missouri. It contains about sixty-eight miles, being ten miles from north to south, by about seven from east to west. It was one of the later sub- divisions of Nodaway county, and was first proposed in 1865, by a division of Atchison township, which up to that date included the northwest portion of the county. The county court record says :
"A majority of the legal voters of Atchison township present a petition to the court to have Atchison township divided into two townships, to be known as Atchison and Lincoln, said townships beginning on the Iowa line. and in the center of the Nodaway river, running to the section line between sections 8 and 17 (township 65, range 37) and run with said line to the county line west, thence with the county line to the state line, thence to place of begin- ning, and to call the name of said territory Lincoln township."
The present limits of Lincoln township were officially established June 14. 1866.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
Originally, the eastern portion of this township was timber land, with two groves toward the central portion, while the remainder of the domain was rich prairie land. Mill creek crosses the northern borders, runs southeast and there unites with the Nodaway river. Several small streams tributary to Mill creek run through different portions of the township. These streams with occasional springs furnish the territory with an abundance of water. There is but little waste land within Lincoln township and the soil compares with that of the remainder of the county. With the exception of some in the western part. the land is very rolling and in some places quite broken. About one-half of the township at an early day had timber on its surface. Stone is found in sufficient qualities to provide ample building material, while there are some traces of soft coal, but not in paying veins to mine.
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There are now many good school houses within this township and these are mentioned in the Educational chapter, as well as the churches and lodges, which are found under their respective headings. The population of Lincoln township in 1900 was two thousand two hundred and thirty-six.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
To Joseph Hutson belongs the honor of being the first to locate in Lincoln township, as now defined, and he was also the first white man to settle west of the Nodaway river in the county. He came in from Clay county, Ken- tucky, and purchased a full section of land, section 32. township 66, range 37, It is situated almost two miles west of the present site of the sprightly town of Dawson. He erected his cabin in the grove about a fourth of a mile east of Mill creek. The date of his arrival was October 29, 1840, and that night snow fell to the depth of four inches, but fortunately it all disappeared the next day and there was no more until about Christmas. The grass remained fresh and green, and the winter finally proved to be the mildest in the history of the entire state. During that first winter Mr. Hutson lived in his humble cabin and managed to clear up about six acres of timber land. Plows were then made of wooden mould boards, and sold at twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents each ; they were made five miles north of Savannah. Prairie sod could not be broken with these plows with less than five yoke of oxen or bulls, and frequently seven yoke were hitched to the plow, which was about seven feet long. The six acres of virgin soil thus plowed by the hardy pioneer was planted to corn the following spring. He also broke out twelve acres of prai- rie, which he sowed to wheat. He raised fifty bushels of corn to the acre.
B. F. Hutson, John Bagley, Silas Davidson and James Sunseford settled about two and one-half miles to the east of this first settler in the township. They all opened farms up in the timber on the Nodaway river, and all arrived in 1841. Thomas Heddy and Elisha Heddy, his brother, and Wiley Crowder also came that year.
Doctor Benjamin Parker located on an adjoining farm and followed the plow, there not being enough people (sick) to enable him to support him- self by his profession.
John Smith located on the Nodaway bluffs north of the Lamar claim. Other settlers were George Oster, Abijah Hampton, William Taylor, Julia Oster, William Berget and William Wiet.
The Hutson colony went in company to mill. Two men went at a time with two wagons, and took from forty to eighty bushels of grain. Then be-
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
fore this was eaten up, two more would pull out for the mill. They usually went with ox teams, three and four yoke to the wagon. They went to Hughes' mills, fifty miles distant. It required about six days to make the round trip. Pioneers were also accustomed to grate corn on a grater, espe- cially during the first winter. When going to the mill, they laid in a supply of groceries at White Hall, near Savannah, Missouri. Mail was only had from the White Hall office and letter postage was twenty-five cents a letter. Going to mill, the farmers took guns along and stopped to kill game which, at meal time, they cooked on the camp fire beside the loaded wagon.
Joseph Hutson's first neighbor was near Quitman; the second was at Graham; the third at Bennetts Lane, where all the blacksmithing was done. Three years later, in 1842, Mr. Hutson built a blacksmith shop himself. He made the first set of mill irons for a mill on Hutson's creek, long since styled Mill creek. He would weld three bars four inches wide and one inch thick with two strikers, for the spindles and gudgeons of the mill corn-cracker.
The first person on the west side of the Nodaway river to die was Mrs. Henry Lamar, who passed from earth August 23, 1842; the next was Rufus Lamar, her eldest son, and they were both buried in ground selected for the purpose on a little ridge near the Nodaway river. In the absence of mills to cut lumber, Mr. Hutson had to saw boards for the coffins out of black walnut timber, with a whip-saw.
John M. Lamar, Sr., settled in the timber, five miles north of present Dawson. He was a native of Anderson county, Tennessee, born July 6, 1804. and died .August 16, 1877. He came to what is now Nodaway county in May, 1842. At the date of his coming the land in this part of the county had not been surveyed, but on account of the ignorance of the people concerning the fertility of the soil of prairie lands, it had been "passed up" and reported to the general land office as "lost land," meaning unfit for use, hence not profit- able to be even surveyed. What a mistake it was! As one views the rich, well-kept farms of this section today, it is hardly conceivable how such land could be deemed worthless.
OTHER PIONEERS OF THE TOWNSHIP.
John Bright came from Indiana in 1842 ; John N. Lamar from Tennessee in 1842; Ransome Spencer from Ohio in 1842; Hiram Bagley, John Griffy and Franklin Parker from Ohio in 1842; Amos Halsey from Missouri in 1843; William Wyatt from Indiana in 1843; William Hudson from Ohio in 1843: George Sizemore from Kentucky in 1843; William Bates from Ken- tucky in 1843 : Monroe Cottrell from Kentucky in 1843 : John Rose from Ken-
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PAST AND PRESENT
tucky in 1845: Aaron Wallace, Joseph Wallace, Howard Reynolds, James Roberts, James Livingood and Nickol Owens from Tennessee in 1845; Elisha Walters from Indiana in 1845: Jesse Roberts from Kentucky in 1845: John Seevers from Tennessee in 1850: Daniel and William Seevers from Tennessee in 1850; James Wade from Tennessee in 1850: Mansel Graves from Kentucky in 1850; James W. Adams from Ohio in 1850.
THE TOWNS OF THE TOWNSHIP.
The towns of the township of Lincoln are Dawsonville and Elmo. Daw- sonville is located about two and a half miles northwest of Burlington Junc- tion, on section 5. township 65, range 37. The land on which it is built was originally owned by D. N. McCrea and W. M. Walker. It was named in honor of Hon. Lafe Dawson, of Maryville. For some time the citizens called the place Dawson, but the railroad company called it Dawsonville, and the postoffice was established as Dawson, hence the place is now commonly known as Dawson. The place is located within a beautiful natural grove, with the line of the Wabash railroad running through the edge of the town. In 1880 the place had a population of about one hundred and fifty, and the enumeration is now about the same. The date of its platting was December 20, 1879. and it was executed by E. A. Garvey, civil engineer for the Wabash road, who laid out the plat. The land owners gave one-third of the lots to the com- pany and its engineer for laying off and platting in legal form the place. The first train of cars reached Dawson September 2, 1879. In the same month the first business house was erected by Mr. Burnett for a general store: he received his first invoice of goods before the depot was built and landed the merchandise on the ground from the freight cars. He also had charge of the postoffice the first year after its establishment. The second building was a blacksmith shop run by Isaac Weddel and the next was a building removed from Lamar station by Alonzo Reese. A. S. Thompson then erected the first boarding house. Then followed a law office and justice of the peace head- quarters for D. V. McCrea, Esq. The town at once become a fine shipping point and during the years 1881-82 there were shipped from this place two hundred fifty thousand bushels of corn alone. Besides this there were two hundred cars of cattle shipped out. Less than one mile from Dawson was a fine water mill owned by H. Burnett, which was of much service to the settlers in that locality. The Nodaway was spanned by a nine-foot dam giving ex- cellent water power.
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