USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume I > Part 8
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
1850
Valuation of property in this county-
Real Estate
$266,228
Personal property
90,819
Total in county $357,047
Tax for county purposes-
County Revenue
$645
Poor Fund 244
Grand Jury Fund
I04
Total levy for county $993
1860
Valuation of property-
Money and Notes
$140,947
Number of Slaves ( 135)
60,500
All other personal property
224,989
Total personal property . $426,436
Real Estate : Resident-Number of acres, 158.751 ; value. . $763.224
Non-resident Real Estate-acres 348,000 ; value. 980,945
Total in county of all property $2.170,605
1870
Valuation of property-
Personal
$1,511,940
Real Estate (560,171 acres)
4,160,114
Total in county $5.673.054
1880
Valuation of property-
Personal
$2.421,789
Real Estate :
Town Lots (5,500)
677.760
Number of acres land (557.III) 4,606,800
Merchants' Statements 332.95I
Railroads and Telegraphs $ 1.557,000
Total of all property in county $8,680.930
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PAST AND PRESENT
1900
Valuation of property-Personal and Realty
$9,980,000
1909
Railroads and Telegraphs $ 1,557,000
Lands and Town Lots. 10,696.357
Personal Property
2,862.357
Total of all property (about one-fourth value) . . $13,559,138 The usual average year's tax for county purposes is sixty-five cents on a hundred dollars and forty-seven cents for school purposes, and property is assessed at from one-fourth to one-third of its actual value.
CHAPTER VII.
RAILROADS AND EARLY TRANSPORTATION.
The pioneers of Nodaway county, in common with those of all other new countries, had to undergo the hardships of going to mill and market a long distance before the advent of the railway systems that now cross and re-cross this fertile domain. Savannah, St. Joseph and other river points were the nearest market towns and to these the settler had to make frequent trips to provide the necessities for his household. To such far-away points he wended his lonely way with what provisions and farm products he might have to dispose of. None but he who lived through those early days and ex- perienced such trials can know what the pioneers passed through before the railroad era had dawned on Nodaway county. Freighting came to be. in time, a big business of itself and many engaged in it for a number of years.
The stage coach carried the mails from North to South, from East to West. Ten cents per mile was charged for a passenger to ride. Stage sta- tions, where the relay of fresh horses was made, usually had an excellent but rude country tavern, or inn, at which passengers were refreshed by a good meal and plenty of "spirits." With unbridged, angry and highly swollen streams, the passage was anything but pleasant and safe, but this is the way. after such facilities had been established, many of the new comers came into Nodaway county to secure their homes.
RAILROADS.
It was in 1845-seven years after the organization of Nodaway county- before the sound of a locomotive whistle had been heard on Missouri soil. and then it was fourteen years longer before Nodaway county had the ad- vantages of a railroad.
The three great railroad systems now represented in Nodaway county are the "Burlington" (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy ) : the "Wabash" (Wa-
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PAST AND PRESENT
bash. St. Louis & Pacific), and the "Maple Leaf" (Chicago Great Western) lines. The first line to be completed through the county was the "Burlington," known by the corporate name of Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs road (Maryville Branch). This was completed to the city of Maryville in the autumn of 1869. and to the Iowa line in the winter of 1870.
To give the reader a clearer understanding of the advent of the different railroads into Nodaway county, it will be important to go into some historical facts that to some may seem old, though to the younger generation and the more recent comer to this county it will appear new.
The smoke of the battles of the great Civil war had just cleared away, when the enterprising citizens of Nodaway county commenced to agitate the question of securing important transportation facilities by means of the steam railroad. It was in the early days of the spring of 1866 that a mass meeting of the citizens was called at Maryville, the prime object being to get an ex- pression and build up a public interest and sentiment that would support the measure of voting bonds to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. to the St. Joseph & Iowa and to Alexandria. Bloomfield & Rockport railroad companies.
Accordingly, on the 10th day of May, 1866, the county court of Nodaway county "ordered that Nodaway county subscribe the sum of one hundred and . fifty thousand dollars for the purpose. of or aiding in the building of the fol- lowing railroads through Nodaway county, viz: First, the sum of seventy- five thousand dollars to the railroad known as the St. Joseph & Iowa Line Railroad, from north to south on the valley of the One Hundred and Two river, on the most practical route through the county. Second, the like sum of seventy-five thousand dollars to the railroad known as the Alexandria, Bloom- field & Rockport Railroad."
This proposition was submitted to a vote of the people, who voted for the roads by a large majority. The companies who thus sought to secure aid in construction of these two lines across Nodaway county made no effort to build the proposed railroads, and nothing more was done in the matter until in September, 1867, when another proposition was submitted to vote bonds of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars to each of the two following roads: The Missouri Valley and the Mississippi & Missouri River Air Line railroads. The proposition carried at the polls and the Missouri Valley Rail- road Company accepted the result of the election by giving a formal legal notice of its acceptance.
On March 25. 1869, the county court formally subscribed the sum of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, but in May of that year the
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
court was presented with a motion, asking to reconsider its former order to subscribe stock for said road. The motion was sustained, and February 10. 1871, almost two years later, the court revoked its own order and instructed the county treasurer not to pay such bonds, and employed Attorneys Herren & Rea, of Savannah, Missouri, to defend their position before the supreme court of the state. On September 25, 1871, the supreme court ordered the county of Nodaway to pay the bonds voted to the railroad above named. In the meantime, however, the original company had sold its interest to what was to be known as the Kansas City. Saint Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad Company, which company had constructed the said road within the time specified in the bond issue with the Missouri Valley Company, whose right and title had been turned over to the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Company-that is, completed it to Maryville, in the autumn of 1869, and on to the line between Iowa and Missouri in the winter of 1870. Later this property was merged with or controlled, as now, by the great Burlington system. This is its history in brief.
As to the other railroad (the Missouri River Air Line), it should be said that it was never constructed and hence no bonds ever issued for same.
THE WABASH RAILROAD.
The second railway to be built through Nodaway county was the Wa- bash, St. Louis & Pacific. called at the time of its construction the Council Bluffs & St. Louis, and it was built entirely by private subscription.
In the autumn of 1878 the citizens of Maryville assembled at Union Hall, the object being to perfect plans by which the sum of fifty thousand dollars might be raised, the same being demanded by the Council Bluffs & St. Louis Railroad Company, who would build their line into Maryville pro- viding this amount could be raised. They also demanded the sum of seventy- five thousand dollars from the country outside of Maryville, this last amount to be paid in produce by the farmers. In all, the people succeeded in raising about one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars in the town and county. of which amount fifty thousand dollars was paid in cash.
The meeting above mentioned was adjourned and held from day to day. for nearly a week. The ladies, for the first time in the history of Missouri railroading, took an equal interest with the men. all loyal, enterprising citizens doing their full share in order to hasten on the construction of the new rail- road.
(6)
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The company was liberal in that it allowed much more than the actual market price for corn, wheat and other farm products taken in from the farmers on their subscriptions. The amount was raised and the construction company at once commenced its work, pushing it forward with all possible dispatch. The road was completed and cars running regularly by October 24. 1879. It was soon the property of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Company, and such it still remains.
The coming and operation of these two railroads gave the county, as well as the seat of justice, Maryville, an impetus hitherto unknown in their history. Really, the county's history is divided into three eras-the "before the war" days, the "after the war" days, and the railroad period.
In the circulating of the subscription papers by which the funds donated to the Wabash road were secured, many citizens were very active, and in this connection the name of Capt. I. V. McMillan, who collected the subscriptions throughout the county and was otherwise engaged in working up the project. should not be forgotten.
OTHER LINES.
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system was built from Villisca, Iowa. on its main line from Chicago to Council Bluffs, to Burlington Junction via Clarinda, Page county, Iowa, reaching Burlington Junction, October 9, 1879.
The Nodaway Valley railroad (really a construction company for the Burlington system) was built through the county from Burlington Junction to Skidmore. in 1880, completed to the latter point August 15th, of that year. These two lines are now known as the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs company, but operated as a part of the great, far-reaching Burlington system. Local aid, such as depot sites, right-of-way privileges, etc., was granted to these lines. Hence all of the steam highways of Nodaway county were constructed within about one decade, except possibly that of the Chi- cago Great Western, which came a few years later.
From about 1879 to 1889 the Wabash company operated a road from Burlington Junction to Clarinda, Iowa, but it was abandoned, after the col- lection of quite a sum in way of taxes collected in Iowa, and the rails and bridges were pulled up and the road-bed abandoned since that time. Whether it was bought in or wrecked by the Burlington company, is not fully known now. It was never a paying investment, at least, after the construction of the Burlington, which traversed the same section of country. Page county, Iowa.
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
voted and paid the sum of one hundred thousand dollars to secure this road, which left the main line at Roseberry, Nodaway county, Missouri, eleven miles south of the Iowa line. It went into the hands of a receiver, had its hearing before the Iowa railroad commissioners, who decided in December, 1889, that it was best to let the company become defunct and the last train passed over the road about the middle of December that year. The track was taken up. the bridges removed and nothing remains to show where the road was save the few piling of bridges and the grade itself, which is all that is left of the "Wabash Plug," as it was always styled.
THE CHICAGO GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD.
What was first known as the "Diagonal" route, running from Kansas City to Waterloo, Iowa, via DesMoines and Marshalltown, then extended to Chicago and St. Paul, via Oelwein, Iowa, after which it was named the "Maple Leaf" route, under President Stickney's management, and still later consolidated with lesser roads and branches under the corporate title of the Chicago Great Western Company, crosses the Wabash road in Nodaway county, at Conception Junction. This railroad from the start has been of much service to shippers and farmers throughout the central and eastern por- tion of the county. It was completed through the county in 1887.
RAILWAY STATIONS IN NODAWAY COUNTY.
The following station points are now maintained within this county, on the three lines of railroad :
On the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs ("Burlington") line are (main line ) Skidmore, in Monroe township ; Quitman, in Green township: Burlington Junction, in Nodaway township, and Clearmont, in Atchison township. On the Maryville division. Barnard, in Grant township: Arkoe. in White Cloud township; Maryville, in Polk township; Pickering, in Union township. and Hopkins, in Hopkins township.
On the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific ("Wabash") line. Clyde. in Jeffer- son township: Conception Junction, in Jefferson township; Bedison, in Polk township ; Maryville, in Polk township: Wilcox. in Polk and Nodaway town- ships : Burlington Junction, in Nodaway township : Dawson, in Lincoln town- ship, and Elmo, in Lincoln township.
Chicago Great Western ("Maple Leaf") line, Guilford, in Washing- ton township; Conception Junction, in Jefferson township; Ravenwood, in Jackson township, and Parnell. in Independence township.
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PAST AND PRESENT
RAILROAD MILEAGE IN THE COUNTY.
With the lines giving direct communication with St. Joseph, Kansas City, Omaha, Lincoln, Nebraska and St. Louis, the mileage of road-bed is : For the Wabash system, forty-five miles; for the Burlington system, fifty-six miles, and for the Great Western line, twenty-three miles, making a total mileage in the county of well equipped railroad trackage of one hundred and twenty-four miles.
CHAPTER VIII.
BENCH AND BAR OF NODAWAY COUNTY.
In the history of every county, the legal profession-the lawyers and judges-has ever been of interest and great importance to the upbuilding of the commonwealth. The makers and administrators of law have gone hand in hand with true civilization, and while the bar may have had at times design- ing, tricky men who have sought to create litigation among the people, yet for the most part they have been above the average citizen in all their dealings with their fellow men. The best lawyers and judges have ever sought to make law simple and plain, and have endeavored, when possible, to make set- tlement "out of court." and thus have been peace-makers.
It will be the province of this chapter to narrate some of the things con- nected with the Bench and Bar of Nodaway county, mentioning many of the earlier lawyers, together with a list of the present members of the bar in the county. In doing this, the author has taken the liberty to draw largely from the history of this county issued in 1882, in which is truly portrayed the prin- cipal traits of character which impelled these professional men in their laudable work among their fellow citizens. The history of these men was written by Judge Ira K. Alderman, one of the ablest and oldest members of the Nodaway county bar about 1880, for the publishers of the work just referred to.
The pioneer attorney of Maryville was James M. Dews, a Kentuckian by birth, who located in Nodaway county in 1848, at a time when there had as yet been but little litigation. In the summer of that year he taught the first school in the new county-seat town. His office was kept in the old log court house, which he also used as a school room. He was accounted a good lawyer, careful and painstaking, and one of the kind who seldom ever touched a case unless he was certain in his own mind that his client was largely in the right. His advice was sought in all parts of the new county and was usually considered sound and correct. He practiced five or six years, teaching school and practicing alternately, after which he sought out a better field for his legal career and moved to Glenwood, Iowa, where he soon acquired a lucrative practice. From that point he removed to Kansas City, where he was living in the early eighties, aged sixty-five years.
R. M. Stewart (once governor of Missouri) was among the very early limbs of the law in Nodaway county, and doubtless was the first law student
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PAST AND PRESENT
in the county, for he is spoken of as coming here soon after the first settler (Hogan) arrived. He came with Richard Taylor and Daniel Hogan, follow- ing the Indian trails. He hired out to Joel Hedgepath and hoed corn at three shillings a day, and at odd times, rainy days and winters, read Blackstone and the Statutes of Missouri. He was admitted to the practice of law and later became a captain in the Mexican war from Missouri, and still later was elected governor of Missouri. Had it not been that he tarried long at the wine. he would have been an honor to the state.
HON. HENRY L. WARREN.
Henry L. Warren was born in Quincy, Illinois, about 1830; attended law school at Rochester, New York, and came to Maryville, Missouri, in 1858, beginning the practice of law as a partner of Hon. Samuel D. McEnery. In his youth he had the advantages of a college education. After remaining here two years, he returned to Quincy, and subsequently became a distin- guished member of the legal fraternity. He became a United States district judge in one of the far Western states, which position he was ably filling in 1883.
The law firm of Warren & McEnery will be remembered only by the older citizens of the county, for they practiced a half century ago here. Here they had their early struggles, but finally won their way to the forefront of dis- tinction and made a national name for themselves by their judicial rulings.
HON. SAMUEL D. M'ENERY.
Samuel D. McEnery arrived in Maryville in the spring of 1858, from Louisiana, where he was born about 1835. Shortly before his coming he had graduated from the law school at Rochester, New York, after having first been well educated in one of the high educational institutions of the country. He was small in stature, weighed about one hundred and twenty pounds, but was very active and energetic. Possessing a warm heart and genial manners. he soon made many friends. He commenced the law practice with his part- ner. Henry L. Warren, of Quincy, Illinois, a friend and schoolmate, the part- nership existing until about 1860, when he returned to his native state.
Mr. McEnery, although he practiced law here but two years, gave evi- dences of ability which has since distinguished him as a lawyer. He has filled many positions of honor and trust in Louisiana, being the governor of the state in 1882.
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
MATTHEW G. ROSEBERRY.
Matthew G. Roseberry was born in Adams county, Illinois, in 1833. He received his common school education in his native county, and afterwards took a course in the scientific department of what was then known as the Illi- nois College, at Jacksonville. From 1854 to 1856 he was a teacher under the school laws of Illinois. He then studied law with Hon. C. A. Warren, an eminent lawyer of western Illinois, and was admitted to the bar, after a thor- ough and searching examination by that eminent jurist, O. C. Skinner, of the supreme court of that state. He located in Maryville in 1857, beginning the practice of law with J. H. Richardson. Business being dull here, he returned to Quincy and entered into partnership, soon, with D. C. Johnston, at Rush- ville, Brown county. In 1859 he started for Pike's Peak; went as far west as Old Fort Kearney, and there turned around and headed for Adams county, Illinois, and in November. 1859, returned to Maryville, Missouri, where he ever afterward made his home. He built up a large and honorable practice. He and Judge Herren defended Amos Halsey for the murder of Lawrence. which was at that day a very celebrated case. Hon. Silas Woodson was the trial judge on the circuit at the time. In the year 1861, when the great Civil war came on, Mr. Roseberry, though reared a Democrat and having adhered to the principles of Democracy as expounded by Stephen A. Douglas, es- poused the cause of the Union, and early in 1863 was appointed provost mar- shal for Nodaway county. In his official capacity he was always kind and considerate with those with whom he had to deal,-those who were under the ban of disloyalty,-yet always doing his duty. Soon after he was out of this federal position, he formed a partnership with A. P. Morehouse in the prac- tice of law and the real estate business. He was foremost in educational affairs and took deep interest in the public school system in Missouri. In 1864-65, when a school tax was voted for the erection of a school house here. some of the citizens, not having been reared to the belief that schools were important, demurred at payment of taxes. Roseberry & Morehouse appeared for the school district. The case was one of vast importance and one in which the higher courts in Missouri had not yet passed upon. After the usual legal battle, the case was decided in favor of the school district and the building was erected-a big victory for Roseberry.
In 1868 Mr. Roseberry was nominated and elected to the state senate. He served on the committees of ways and means, of criminal jurisprudence and county boundaries. He was the author of the bill by which swamp lands ceded to Missouri by the United States were patented to the several counties. He championed the railroad consolidation bill that became a law in 1870.
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In 1870 Mr. Roseberry founded the Maryville Republican, whose editor he was for two years. After the breaking out of the Civil war he was a mem- ber of the Republican party. On account of a difference of opinion over mat- ters within his political party, he was urged to establish the paper referred to. The constitutional amendments were at that date a troublesome question in the two parties. In church connection, he was of the Christian denomination. In all the walks of life, he was exemplary and broad-minded. Death claimed him November 19. 1888.
HON. BERRYMAN K. DAVIS.
Berryman K. Davis was born in Pettis county, Missouri, in April, 1839. His father moved to Nodaway county in 1842, settling on the White Cloud. Here young Berryman acquired a good common school education. During the Pike's Peak gold mining excitement he took a trip to the mountains and followed mining one summer. The highest aim of his youthful years was to obtain a college education, but fate and circumstances seemed against his ac- complishing this laudable ambition. In 1860 he was found attending school in Maryville. He then entered the law office of M. G. Roseberry, as a law student, but the country was at that time torn asunder by reason of the Civil war, so, instead of studying Blackstone and Kent, he buckled on a sword. He was elected major of the Forty-third Regiment Missouri Infantry, but his career as a soldier for the Union was of short duration, as his command was captured in the spring of 1864 by General Price, and he was not exchanged in time to enter into the service again.
Mr. Davis then took up law again and commenced to practice in 1866 and soon attained to eminence as a lawyer, in 1868 being elected as prosecuting at- torney for the twelfth judicial district. He held this position almost four years with much credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents.
In 1872 he was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket. He was prominently named for Congress in 1876, but he withdrew his name volun- tarily. Later, he accepted the nomination for state senator, but did not live to fill the office ; he died in. November, 1876. Major Davis was a man of fine talents and strict integrity. After the death of his father, he had to be at the head of the family, and at his funeral, a sister remarked that "Berryman never spoke a cross word to one of us." At his funeral. Hon. Lafe Dawson de- livered a befitting eulogy on the life and character of this noble man, who was a great favorite with the members of the Nodaway county bar. The closing
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
paragraph of the oration just mentioned reads as follows : "Although Berry- man Davis is dead, he still lives ; lives by his example ; lives in the hearts and affections of those who knew him best ; and our bereavement is only intensified because he was cut down in the vigor of his manhood, in the meridian of life, when his mind was undimmed, his intellect unclouded, and his usefulness un- impaired."
JOHN EDWARDS, ESQ.
Among the conspicuous members of the Nodaway county bar there should not be omitted the name of John Edwards. He was born at Valley Forge, Chester county, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1836, and when one year of age moved with his people to Highland county. Ohio. His father was of Welsh descent and named Robert Edwards, and his ancestors were among the first immigrants to Berks county, Pennsylvania. Robert Edwards married Elizabeth Conrad, who was a direct descendant of Dennis Kunder, who was among the Quakers who settled at Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1682, com- ing from Germany.
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