USA > Missouri > Clinton County > The History of Clinton County, Missouri : containing a history of the County, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Clinton County in the late war, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men etc > Part 15
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SECRET ORDERS.
Though unprovided with a public hall of very extensive pro- portions, Gower has had, and still includes some rather numerous societies. Of these Gower Lodge No. 397, was granted dispensa- tion, with John R. Creason, W. M .; John Westbrook, S. W., and James Roberts, J. W. N. G. Cummings was secretary, and J. L. Harrod treasurer. The other members were Dr. G. R. Fallis, Robert Dusky, William T. Weakley, and James W. Garton. In 1871, the lodge was chartered with the following officers : Robert Dusky, W. M .; John Westbrook, S. W .; John W. Hall, J. W., and N. G. Cummings, Secretary. These were re-elected in 1872, and again in 1873. In 1874, the officers elected were John W. Hall, W. M .; John Atchison, S. W .; John West- brook, J. W .; and George T. Hall, Secretary. In 1875, John C. Atchi- son W. M .; John W. Hall, S. W .; John C. Weakley, J. W., and George T. Hall, Secretary. The officers in 1876, were J. D. Coleman, W. M .; John W. Hall, S. W .; John C. Weakley, J. W., and L. G. Bailey, Secre- tary. In 1877, John W. Hall was W. M .; W. B. Sanders, S. W .; Henry Barnes, J. W., and D. S. Hall, Secretary. In 1878, J. D. Coleman was W. M .; John C. Atchison, S. W .; J. Westbrook, J. W., and David Hall, Secretary. In 1880, John W. Hall was W. M .; W. B. Sanders, S. W .; John Weakly, J. W., and D. S. Hall, Secretary. The officers in 1881 were W. B. Sanders, W. M .; John Westbrook, S. W .; George W. Everett, J. W., and N. G. Cummings, Secretary. The organization has prospered abundantly from its origin to the present, (1881), and includes a mem- bership of twenty-nine.
Gower Central Protective Association was organized February, 1879, with the following members: John Bretz, president ; John W. Hall, vice president ; William Ogden, treasurer; B. F. Poe, secretary ; J. L. Bradshaw, assistant secretary ; and John Westbrook, doorkeeper.
The Good Templars once had a prosperous organization in the town. The population of Gower, in 1881, was about two hundred, and included as orderly and intelligent a community as is to be found in any similar locality in the state. Many of the neighboring farms, both in Clinton
145
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
and across the line in Buchanan County, are well improved, while all are healthful as well as productive localities.
The township is well supplied with public school buildings, each and every district within its limits being provided with an excellent building, in which schools are maintained, ,often eight months of the year, and occasionally, for a longer period.
The original settlers of Atchison Township, in common with those of other sections of the county, were generally men of more than average attainments, for people of their station, and the spirit of literary enterprise which prompted, on their part, an early attention to the scholastic training of the young has, evidently, not been lost to their offspring.
10
CHAPTER VIII.
SETTLEMENT OF CONCORD TOWNSHIP.
PLATTSBURG-ITS EARLY HISTORY-LOCATION-NAMES-COMMISSIONERS-TOWN LAID OUT-SALE OF LOTS-FIRST DEED RECORDED-TOWN INCORPORATED-ADDITIONS -OFFICIAL RECORD-OLD SETTLERS AND WHAT THEY DID-PRIVATE AND PUB- LIC SCHOOLS-PLATTSBURG COLLEGE-CHURCHES-M. E. CHURCH SOUTH-M E. CHURCH-FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH-CHRISTIAN CHURCH-PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH -ST. MARY'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH -CATHOLIC CHURCH-SECRET SOCIETIES - NEWSPAPERS-BANKS AND BANKERS-HOTELS.
Concord Township, the limits of which we have already described, is the central division of the county. It is generally recognized as a prairie section of the same, but the banks of numerous streams, by which its surface is veined, are generally clothed with an abundant growth of the valuable timber proper to this section of the state. The most import- ant of these streams are Smith's Fork, Horse Fork and Roberts' Branch.
The only town within the limits of this township is Plattsburg, the county seat, located in the southwestern portion of the same, near the waters of Horse Fork, which touch its eastern limits.
Among the earliest settlers of Concord Township, may be mentioned Solomon Fry, since dead. He built the first court house in the county. The first church, also in Plattsburg, was built by Thomas McMichael, still (1881) a resident of the place. M. M. Nagel, also deceased, built the first jail in the county. John Harsel built the first mill in the township. This was about the year 1836. It was a horse grist mill, and was located two and a half miles north of Plattsburg. About 1844, or 1845, Solomon Fry started, in Concord Township, a tread- wheel mill. Burnet Scott, who afterward built the first house in the town of Hainesville, in Jackson Township, also put up, in Concord Township, a saw mill about the year 1846.
Among the early settlers of the township, outside of the town of Plattsburg, may be mentioned George Funkhouser, Abraham Funkhouser, Anthony Miller, N. O. Hopkins, D. R. Galloway, Pat Haggerty, Solomon Kinsey, Winslow Turner, Joseph Hunter, Sinnet Young, Madison Young, John Patton, John Biggerstaff, William Wilkerson, Reuben Randolph, with his sons, Harry Randolph, Milton Randolph, and William Randolph ; Daniel Minkler, after whom the branch running through the northern portion of the town of Plattsburg derives its name, and who afterward moved to Oregon ; and Joseph Jackson, who moved to Texas, where he
147
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
died ; Ezekiel Jackson, Henry Mitchell, Bartholomew Thatcher, Levi Thatcher, Thomas Palmer, Milton Oldham, and William Goudy. Most of the above referred to are now dead. Alexander Vaughn, Robert Greer, Pittman Hanks, Littleton Roberts (at one time sheriff of Clinton County), Churchill Jones, from Virginia, and Benjamin Fry, from Ken- tucky, who established the first distillery in the county, were also num- bered among the early settlers of Concord Township.
CHURCHES.
Among the earliest public buildings of the township may be men- tioned the structure of " The Old Log Church," the first organization of Christians in Concord Township, three miles east, by north, of Platts- burg, erected in 1846. It was originally, as it name implies, a log building. Its diminsions were twenty-four feet square. The congrega- tion that met here was organized by Elder Duke Young, about the year 1842. Its first elders were Judge John Biggerstaff, Oliver Jackson, and Charles Young. Among its earlier deacons were Samuel M. Bigger- staff, John H. Trice, John Anderson, and Granville Biggerstaff.
Among the early preachers of this church were Elder S. S. Trice, whose sudden death in the pulpit of Bethany Church, Lafayette Township, while uttering his sermon, on the second Sunday in May, 1877, is referred to in our mention of that organization. The old log church, a primitive structure, was erected in 1846, and continued, through many changing years of the history of Clinton County, to subserve the purpose for which it was erected. At length, in 1878, its dimensions being deemed inadequate to the increasing demand for accommodation, and the structure having become delapidated with age, it was determined to replace this relic of a pioneer day with something, in the way of a building, not only more commodius, but more in harmony with the present prevailing spirit of progress. The old log building was accordingly torn down, and on its ancient foundation rose, at a cost of about $1,000, the present neat and tasteful frame structure, which the stranger is surprised to hear still designated as the "Old Log Church," an appellation bestowed in com- memoration of its rude though venerable predecessor, hallowed in the memories of those devoted pioneers whose persevering enterprise sub- dued the then surrounding wilderness that now rejoices and blossoms as the rose. There is, in the spirit that prompts this recognition of the early piety of those primitive days, a sentiment as ennobling as it is touching. The membership of the "Old Log Church" has grown in a ratio corresponding with the general advance of the county, and now includes largely over one hundred of both sexes. The present (1881) elders are John Anderson and A. K. Porter. The deacons are S. H. Trice, Virgil Dixon, James Bradley and Noah P. Jackson. Elder W. C. Rogers has been, since 1878, the regular pastor of this church.
148
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
Walnut Grove Church of the Brethren, or German Baptists, com- monly called "Dunkards," are numerous in certain parts of the county, and have an organization and substantial frame church building in Con- cord Township, about one mile and a half north of Plattsburg. It was built in 1870, at a cost of $3,500. The first minister of the organization was Rev. D. D. Sell, from Blair County, Pennsylvania. He organized the church with a very small membership, and meetings, from time to time, were afterwards held in school houses, etc., till the congregation became sufficiently strong to erect their present neat and spacious church edifice. The ministers who have served this church from its organization to the present (1881) time, are Rev's D. D. Sell, John H. Keller, Daniel Gibson, John Fillmore, Hobbs A. E. Orr and Josiah Ellen- burger. The present membership of this church is one hundred.
The buildings first erected by the pioneers were, of course, generally of a temporary character ; a few, however, among the first built, though rude in external appearance, were substantially constructed. Of these, the " Old Log Church," above referred to, may be counted a fair sample. A few built even prior to that now removed building, yet remain in the township. Of these, the oldest structure to-day extant, in Concord Township, is the residence of Judge John Biggerstaff, three miles north of Plattsburg. Here, in the year 1833, the first circuit and county courts of Clinton County held their sessions. The building is a double log house, constructed of the almost indestructable white oak timber. This, after braving for many years the storms of winter and the suns of sum- mer, was subsequently weather boarded. It is an antique specimen of far west architecture, and bids fair yet to assert its solidity for many a coming year.
Many of the pioneers of Concord Township were from among the original settlers of Clay County. Some of these were men of consider- able means, and, not a few, persons of unusual intelligence, while sev- eral among their number were men of distinguished scholarship. The general character for intelligence still remarkable in Clinton County is doubtless due to the fact that even with the crude facilities extant in that day, the pioneers were determined that learning should not be "buried in the graves of their ancestors," and among their earliest steps in behalf of a common interest, was the establishment of schools for the young, some of which were taught by men of distinguished learn- ing, and the often ungenerously sneered at log cabin school houses of the early days of Clinton County not infrequently turned out young men and women with a well earned character for scholarship of which many a more pretentious institution of learning in the present advanced day might well be proud.
149
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
PLATTSBURG.
The original town of Concord (now Plattsburg), the county seat of Clinton County, was located on the east half of the northwest quarter of section 24, of township fifty-five, range thirty-two. To the east, and forming the eastern limits of the town corporation, flows the Horse Fork, the banks of which are still covered with a native growth of tim- ber, consisting of walnut, oak, hickory, and other varieties. This stream still abounds in fish, and, during the spring and summer months, it is a pleasant place of resort, both to the angler, and those who seek the quietude of its dense, cooling shade. To the south, and southwest, may be seen the dark timber belt, which fringes the banks of the Horse Fork, as it flows along its sinuous bed to its confluence with Smith's Fork, three-quarters of a mile distant.
The country, west and north of the town, presents all the attrac- tions of a prairie landscape. Its surface is gently rolling, sometimes swelling into broad, elevated plateaus, alternated with wide, slightly depressed valleys, while, here and there, the hand of man has added to the beauty of the scene; the well defined field, the green hedge, and the pleasant cottage-the whole constituting a most charming pastoral picture. Within the limits of Clinton County, there is no body of land that is more prolific, or that is so admirably adapted to the growth of the cereals, or the grazing of cattle, than that surrounding the hand- some little city of Plattsburg.
The commissioners charged with the important duty of locating the seat of justice, were General David R. Atchison, John Long and Howard Everett. This they did, in the spring of 1833, the town being named Concord. In January, 1834, the name was changed, by order of the county court, to Springfield, and, in January, 1835, it being ascer- tained that there was another town in the state bearing the same name, by act of the Legislature, the town was called Plattsburg, taking its name after Plattsburg, in Clinton County, New York.
In November, 1833, the county court appointed Henry F. Mitchell commissioner of the seat of justice, and at the same term made the fol- lowing order :
"Ordered, that the commissioner of the seat of justice proceed as soon as practicable to lay off the said seat of justice into lots, streets, alleys, squares, etc., upon the same plan as the town of Liberty is laid off."
Mr. Mitchell gave bond as commissioner and immediately began his labors. Associated with him, as co-workers in this important under- taking, were Orval H. Searcy, who surveyed the town site, Bartholomew Thatcher, Daniel Thatcher, John Livingston and Littleton Roberts, assistants and chain-bearers. For their services in thus localizing and
150
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
defining the spot whereon was to be reared the future town and seat of justice, these gentlemen received from the county treasury the following sums :
Henry F. Mitchell $20 50
Orval H. Searcy 24 00
Bartholomew Thatcher 10 75
Daniel Thatcher
3 00
John Livingston 4 50
Littleton Roberts 75
Mr. Mitchell, having finished the work of laying off the town, he pre- sented a plat of the same to the County Court on the 13th day of Jan- uary, 1834, which was received and approved by that body. The Court thereupon "Ordered, that lot No. 110 be, and the same is hereby reserved for the purpose of erecting a court house thereon ; and further, it is ordered, that all those lots on the blocks around the public square, except the one reserved as above, in No. 47, on the plat aforesaid, be offered for sale by the said commissioner, on the following terms, to wit: To be sold to the highest bidder, on the days of sale, payments to be made as follows : one-fourth of the purchase money to be paid at the time of sale, and one-half of the residue to be paid on or before the expiration of twelve months from the day of sale, and the balance to be due eighteen months after date. Bond and approved security required of purchasers. The sale to commence on the premises, on Monday, the 7th of April, 1834, and to continue for three days."
The commissioner was ordered to publish the sale of lots in the Liberty Enquirer, a weekly newspaper, published in Liberty, Clay County, by giving six insertions, and also by five written handbills, put up in different portions of the county.
On the 13th of July, 1835, there were sold in the town of Plattsburg the following lots : Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 44, 45, 46, 47, 55, 59, 63, 86, 87, 90, 91, 100, 101, 104, 105, 108, 119, 122 and 123, each of which contained one-sixth of an acre, and also the following two acre lots : Nos. 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 14. The Court ordered that the first lots should not be sold for less than $5, and the remainder for not less than $10. During the same month there were also sold lots Nos. 28, 29, 44, 45, 46 and 47.
The first deed upon record of the sale of lots in Plattsburg, was made by Henry F. Mitchell, commissioner, as grantor, to John M. Evans, grantee, conveying lot 28 for $24.25, and recorded November 18, 1835.
PLATTSBURG INCORPORATED.
On the 4th day of May, 1835, the county court made the following order :
151
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
" This day, the citizens of the town of Plattsburg presented to the court a petition, praying to have the tract, lying withing the following bounds, incorporated, and a police established for their local govern- ment, to wit : Beginning at the southwest corner of the town tract, and running thence east eighty rods ; thence north eighty rods ; thence west eighty rods ; thence south eighty rods, to the beginning. And it is thereupon ordered by the court, that all the tract of country contained within the bounds aforesaid be, and it is, hereby incorporated, and the inhabitants are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the inhabitants of Plattsburg, and by that name they and their successors shall be known in law, have perfect real succession, and do and perform all and everything which a body politic and corpor- ate may of right do by the laws of the land ; and it is further ordered that John M. Evans, James, M. Long, Shadrach B. Taylor, Elijah P. Howell and James Smith, be and they are hereby appointed a board of trustees, for the government and management of the same, and are ยท hereby vested with all the powers and authority to which they and their sucessors are by law entitled."
Since the date of the incorporation by the county court, the bounda- ries of the town have been enlarged by the following additions :
Vance's first addition, dedicated in 1851.
Vance's second addition, dedicated in 1854.
Vance's third addition, dedicated in 1856.
Craig & Ingles' addition, dedicated in 1856.
A. W. Palmer's addition, dedicated in 1857.
Vance's fourth addition, dedicated in 1857.
Land and Building Association, dedicated in 1869.
Vance's fifth addition, dedicated in 1870.
Railway addition, dedicated in 1870.
Vance's sixth addition, dedicated in 1870.
George Moore's addition, dedicated in 187 -.
Riley's subdivision of two lots in old town, 1875.
The Railway addition has since been vacated.
The city obtained a charter under an act of incorporation passed by the general assembly in 1861, approved February 8th of that year, and also approved March 24, 1870, under which the city government was organized by the election of mayor and councilmen, which occurred in 1869.
The town had previously been governed by a board of trustees and the township justice and constable.
152
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
OFFICIAL RECORD.
1869.
Charles Ingles . . Mayor
William Dunagan . .
. Councilman
Edward S. Randolph .
. Councilman
A. Q. Hill .. Councilman
John H. Mooreland. . Councilman
Thomas R. Livingston
Marshal
William L. Ferguson
Assessor
Orbison P. Riley
Treasurer
James M. Riley
City Attorney
James M. Riley
Clerk
1870.
Charles Ingles. . Mayor
Moses Shoemaker
Councilman
E. S. Randolph . Councilman
A. J. Neill
Councilman
N. L. Ford. :
Councilman
Thomas R. Livingston
Marshal
No record
Assessor
Virgil R. Porter
Treasurer
No record
City Attorney
James M. Riley
Clerk
John Carrol
Supervisor of Streets.
1871.
John M. McMichael Mayor
McMichael resigned and was succeeded by W. P. Hooper.
J. N. Rogers Councilman
Mason Hord Councilman
A. J. Neill. Councilman
T. R. Livingston
Marshal
No record
Assessor
No record Treasurer
No record City Attorney
. J. M. Riley
Clerk
John Carroll
Supervisor of Streets.
1872.
Charles W. Porter . Mayor
Robert Ray
Councilman
153
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
Joseph H. Bennett
.Councilman
A. J. Neill. .
Councilman
James A. Funkhouser .
Councilman
M. W. Dorser
Marshal
F. Kennedy
Assessor
(No record)
Treasurer
Edward W. Turner
. City Attorney
J. M. Riley
. Clerk
1873.
Charles W. Porter Mayor
H. S. Foree
Councilman
W. H. Conner
Councilman
A. Meininger
Councilman
George Riley .
Councilman
T. J. Henderson
Marshal
W. P. Hooper
. Assessor
George P. Funkhouser.
Treasurer
Edward W. Turner
City Attorney
Adolphus Musser Clerk
T. J. Henderson resigned in July, 1873, and Virgil R. Porter appointed. Porter resigned and Roland Hughes appointed. Hughes resigned and Francis D. Phillips appointed in October, 1873.
Edward W. Turner succeeded Adolphus Musser as city attorney by appointment.
1874.
Charles W. Porter. Mayor
Henry S. Foree
. Councilman
W. H. Conner
Councilman
George R. Riley Councilman
N. F. Essig Councilman
Francis D. Phillips
Marshal
(No record)
Assessor
George P. Funkhouser
Treasurer
(No record)
City Attorney . Clerk
John M. McMichael
1875.
Charles W. Porter W. H. Conner James M. Clay
Mayor Councilman Councilman
154
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
O. P. Riley . . .
Francis D. Phillips . .
W. T. Funkhouser
John M. McMichael . .
Councilman Marshal Treasurer . Clerk
1876.
James A. Trimble.
Mayor
Isaac Porterfield .
Councilman
James H. Thomas . .
Councilman
Edward S. Randolph .
Councilman
Samuel M. Froman
Councilman
Ed. J. Smarr
Marshal
No record .
Assessor
William T. Funkhouser
Treasurer
Ed. W. Turner
Clerk
Leonidas Fry
Street Commissioner
1877.
Lawson Moore. Mayor
Ed. S. Randolph
Councilman
James M. Riley
Councilman
A. W. Stearns Councilman
C. M. Hooper.
Councilman
John P. Lewis. Marshal
William T. Funkhouser
Treasurer
Joseph M. Lowe.
City Attorney
Joseph M. Lowe.
. Clerk
1878.
C. Anderson Mayor
R. C. Smarr
Councilman
George P. Funkhouser.
Councilman
George R. Riley
Councilman
A. E. Meininger
Councilman
Charles A. Doniphan
Marshal
William T. Funkhouser ..
Treasurer
W. P. Hooper
Clerk
1879.
C. Anderson. Mayor
A. E. Meininger
Councilman
George R. Riley
Councilman
R. C. Smarr
Councilman
155
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
George P. Funkhouser ..
Councilman
Edwin Whittington. . . William T. Funkhouser.
Marshal
Treasurer
Roland Hughes
City Attorney
J. M. Craig.
Clerk
1880.
W. P. Hooper. . . . Mayor
E. S. Randolph.
.. Councilman
William H. Conner .
Councilman
S. W. Stonum.
Councilman
W. W. Scutt
Councilman
James W. Livingston .
Marshal
W. T. Funkhouser
Treasurer
John T. Wrinkle .. Assessor
E. C. Hall.
City Attorney
C. Anderson Clerk
At a special meeting held at the call of Mayor Hooper, August 5, 1880, S. W. Stonum, W. H. Conner, W. W. Scutt and Ed. S. Randolph tendered their resignations as councilmen, which were accepted by the mayor. There were two elections held afterward, but the parties elected refused to qualify, excepting the mayor, (W. P. Hooper), who is now (1881) mayor of the city, and who in conjunction with the township officers, controls the city government.
About the year 1869, the City of Plattsburg voted bonds to the Chi- cago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company to the amount of $25,000. In 1880, a judgment was obtained (a suit having been brought upon the coupons) against the city for about $12,000. Between the time of sub- scribing the bonds and the date of obtaining the judgment, about one- half of the bonds subscribed to the railroad company had been bought up by the citizens of the town. This caused a division of public senti- ment, and the question of paying the bonds was made the issue at the municipal election for mayor in 1881. W. P. Hooper, who was opposed to the payment of the bonds, was elected by a small majority. The mayor and his friends claim that the railroad company did not comply with the conditions upon which the bonds were voted in the location of its depot, hence their opposition to their payment. It is also claimed upon the other hand, that the election did not test the matter; that politics and one or two local questions entered quite largely into the race, causing the election to result as it did.
The bonds and interest amount to something over $60,000 at this time.
156
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
OLD SETTLERS OF THE TOWN.
1833.
Forty-eight years constitute a long period in the life of man. His recollection, however tenacious of the most important events which transpire around him, fails as to exact dates and names of individuals. We have, however, obtained sufficient data, which we believe to be. authentic, and from which our readers may learn much of the early history of Plattsburg, and of the men who founded it.
Among the old veterans, was Richard R. Rees, who was appointed the first circuit and county court clerk in 1833. Mr. Rees was originally from Kentucky, but came from Clay County to Plattsburg. He continued his clerical labors, as an officer of the courts until 1836, when, obtaining a license from the supreme court of the state, he resigned and began the practice of law. In about 1836, he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he continued the practice of his profession, filling in the mean- time many important offices, among which was that of probate judge of Leavenworth County. He died in 1879.
John Livingston came about the same time from Kentucky (1833), and had the honor of building the first house in Plattsburg, (then called Concord). This building was a pole cabin, and was used for a court house and clerk's office. It was located southeast of where the court house now stands. Mr. Livingston was fond of hunting, and during his first winter here, he killed forty-eight black bears; twenty-two of these were killed on a large elm tree, which stood upon the present site of the court house. Mr. Livingston died in Plattsburg in 1867. His two sons, T. R. and C. G. Livingston, still survive him, and are citizens of Plattsburg.
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