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 52
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ton County. Rev. J. V. B. Flack,
CLINTON COUNTY.
James R. Watts, Joseplı Walker,
William Gartin
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
One of the most interesting features in connection with the Old Settlers meeting was the presentation, by Col. James N. Burnes, of the first reunion badge issued by the association, to the widow of the late honored Solomon L. Leonard. This badge is of the most elegant white silk, and the presentation was accompanied by a few appropriate and affecting remarks. The elegant testimonial was gracefully received and pinned upon the bosom of Mrs. Leonard.
OLD SETTLERS MEETING, SEPTEMBER, 1875.
We take the following from the St. Joseph Gazette, September 7, 1875:
Yesterday was a grand and proud one for the old settlers of the Northwest, and a day that will long be remembered. From early morning until the noon hour they came pouring into the city from all parts of the territory of the Platte Purchase, and many came from a long distance to once more mix and mingle with the friends of their youth and to grasp the hand and exchange salutations with those who with them had borne the hardships and privations of pioneer life, subduing the forests, battling with wild beasts and wild men, and above all enduring the privations and exposure of hunger and the elements, until they wrought out of the wilderness the blessings of the civilization their posterity now enjoys.
As they mixed and mingled upon the Exposition grounds, there was many an old eye dimmed with tears, many an aged hand that trembled with emotion as the palms of those long separated again crossed in friendly greeting in the roll call of memory, unearthed the name and merits of those who had fallen by the wayside and passed into the tomb. Even we younger ones whose years had not yet passed the three-score mark, feel a pain upon our hearts as we cast the backward glance, and note the multitude of those who began the struggle of life with us but are now numbered with the dead.
How thick are the monuments that rise above their graves ; mile stones in our journey telling us that of all who begin life two-thirds depart before they reach the forties, and nine-tenths fail to reach the seventies ; and as the last tenth of these old folks meet and read the book of life from the finish to the preface, how sad and yet how entrancing must have been the record ; how full of sadness and yet of joy must their hearts have been and how truly must they have realized that in life at best the laugh lies close to the fountain of tears, that the brighter the rainbow the denser the mist through which the warm sun shines.
But the old people met. The sun came down upon the unshaded seats of the main stand as remorseless as hunger and thirst upon a vagrant, and, as the old fathers and mothers assembled in their places, it was evi-
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
dent that they were scarcely prepared for this last trial, which did not fall upon their old heads exactly in the shape of a blessing, and before the speaking was over there were scores of them who would have been ready to register an oath that this identical heated term was the worst they ever saw, and that the grand stand had been erected exactly in the spot where the sun would shine the hottest and longest in a direct focus. . At last it was announced that the exercises would begin and Colo- nel Burnes stated that owing to sickness in his family, it would be impossible for Colonel Doniphan to meet with the old people and address them according to programme. In his place Gen. David R. Atchison was called upon to make the opening address, and replying to the call he stepped forward and made one of his characteristic addresses inter- spersed with anecdotes and adventures that always gladden the hearts of the old and give pleasure and instruction to the young. He spoke of those pioneer days, the old people were all so familiar with, and of the hardships connected with them, which now appear like a chasm and a lure to the young. After the conclusion of General Atchison's remarks, Governor George Smith, of Clinton, was announced, and said that as General Atchison had in his remarks related some incidents connected with the early settlements of the western part of the state, which he said would show the condition of civilization of the west, he would in a few words relate some of his experiences and observations as an old settler, which would illustrate in one particular the progress made by and grow- ing out of the bold enterprise of these old pioneers. He said that it had been his good fortune to have passed the most of his early days on the frontier, subjecting him in early days to carrying the product of his toil as a farmer by flat-boats to New Orleans for a market. On his return from his second flat-boat expedition, he came to St. Louis on the 4th of March, 1832, the city then having a population of about seven hundred persons, thence on horseback, with two boating companions, he traveled into the western part of the state ; but an incident of said trip would be all he would call in review to illustrate the great progress made in the material interest of our great state. Arriving at Arrowrock, where we desired crossing, we found a ferry-boat consisting of a platform on two canoes, upon which, by assuring the ferryman that we were boatmen, he agreed to risk ourselves and three horses, and we arrived safe about dark in the town, consisting of one double log cabin, where a religious meeting was being held. We expressed some hesitation as to remain- ing over night, but it being eighteen miles to the nearest house on the western trail, we accepted the kind hospitality of the proprietor and remained over, there being ample room for the entertainment and the weary traveler, as understood by those kind, hospitable pioneers. Now, old settlers and friends, let us turn our attention to the picture present- ing itself to our view of the seven magnificent bridges spanning the
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
waters of this magnificent, boisterous river, besides innumerable other facilities for crossing its turbid waters. He remarked : Nor is it a matter of wonder that such evidences of rapid progress are to be seen when we consider the great natural resources of our state. All persons who have traveled over the state would bear evidence to the fact that by drawing a line from the northeast corner diagonally to the southwest corner and taking the country north and west of said line, it would nearly all be con- sidered of excellent quality for agricultural products, and St. Joseph is in the very heart of the same, whilst much of the land east and south of said line was good for farm products, it would be admitted on all hands it was unsurpassed in mineral wealth, and only waiting for, labor and capital for development. These were attractions that could not escape our intelligent American citizens, consequently we may reasonably sup- pose the young people of the present time may have the pleasure to inform the next generation of the great and useful changes that have taken place in their day.
Senator Cockrill followed Governor Smith, whose remarks had been listened to with pleasure by all present. He congratulated himself upon being a native of the state, although of that portion lying south of the river. He rejoiced in its growth, its advancement, its wealth and its prosperity, and he felt that he had an especial right to feel proud of standing before these old people. He had been by their aid and the aid of their posterity, elevated to a position of worth and trust, where he could stand as a pleader for their cause, and a defender of their rights and liberties.
Colonel Wm. F. Switzler, editor of the Missouri Statesman, at Columbia, was then introduced. He had not expected to make a speech. A matter of business, having no connection with the exposition, or with the reunion of the old settlers, called him to St. Joseph, and he made it convenient to come at this time, but with no expectation of occupying a place on the programme of speakers. Although not an old settler of Northwestern Missouri, he nevertheless could claim to be an old settler of the state, understanding from personal observation and experience much of its early history and the privations and trials of the pioneers of our present civilization. He could not boast, like Senator Cockrill, that he was a native of Missouri, but nevertheless was not ashamed, even in the presence of those who were to the manor born, of announcing with pride that he was a son of the mother of Missouri, the grand old Com - monwealth of Kentucky. ( Applause.) As early as 1826, he came from Kentucky to Howard County, Missouri, where he was raised and located, and where as a lad, he first met a distinguished gentleman, who now occupies a seat on the platform-Judge Birch. Missouri was then in the sixth year of its history as a state, and did not perhaps contain more than fifteen or twenty thousand voters, and the region now embracing
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
the happy homes of a vast majority of those present was under the almost undisputed dominion of the Indian and buffalo. Since this early period in the annals of the state what a wonderful history we have made as a member of the Federal Union, as a Nation, as a People. What achieve- ments we have made in the arts and sciences, in agriculture and com- merce, in education and means of inter-communication, in all the agen- cies and industries which distinguished the civilization of our age. Very befitting reference had been made by speakers who had preceded him to this progress and prosperity. Let it not be forgotten that to the noble and self-sacrificing efforts, singular perils and consummate wisdom of the heroic men and peerless women now present, and to their associates, living and dead, are we indebted for laying broad and deep the foundation of our cherished civilization and great prosperity. The men and women of a state, especially the pioneers, who lead the van- guard of the world's march against ignorance and barbarism, are the state, are of more value than all our fields of coal and mines of gold and silver, than all our railroads and bridges and halls of sciences and learn- ing. Men constitute the state, and those before us to-day form the connecting link between our own eventful times and the ignorance of bondage in the bulwark of prosperity at home and respectability abroad. (Applause.)
Colonel Charles Mansur, of Chillicothe, was called to the stand, and introduced by General Craig. Colonel Mansur then said :
LADIES: I must, much as I love the old settlers, name you first, ladies, old settlers and friends. I feel that I owe the high compliment of an invitation to address you, to the too partial preference of my friends General Craig and Colonel Burnes ; and yet the swelling pulsations of my heart tell me this is one of the proudest moments of my life, and I should feel recreant to my own spirit if I did not embrace the oppor- tunity thus offered.
While the lockss of my head are yet undamaged by the snows of forty winters, you may wonder what I may know that will prove of interest to thousands of old settlers here assembled, and while I feel doubtful of the honored appellation of old settler, I can only say, that if I had worn my blue coat and brass buttons I should have felt as if I could have divided the honors in that line with my venerable old friend, Judge Birch. Permit me to say that Judge Birch, in calling up his struggles for Congress, suggests to my mind that about the earliest politi- cal struggle that I can remember was in those old Democratic days when the only road to political honor was through the Democratic ranks, when two of our old memorable friends, Judge Birch and Judge King, under- took to pluck the Democratic goose that laid the Congressional egg in this district, at the same time, and beneath their joint efforts the proud old bird was so jaded and wearied that not a Roland but an Oliver stole in and captured the coveted prize, and proved to my distinguished friends anew the the truth of the old adage, that " in union there is strength." I well remember the first time I saw our honored president, General Atch- ison. It was in March, 1855. I, with a number of Rayites, were camped
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at the Platte City Bridge, on the west side of the river, when General Atchison rode up at a full gallop, and with a Satanic rather than a God- like earnestness, proceeded to give us his views of our mission as border ruffians, and our duty toward our benighted Yankee brethren, sent out by Gospel societies of New England, under the protection of Sharpe's rifles, to subdue the virgin soil of our sister state of Kansas, and, to echo the sentiment of the general, then and there was born and begun our late internecinal war. Although not born on Missouri soil, yet the first sentiment of thought I had was of Missouri scenes and actors. My parents emigrated to this section in 1837 ; and, reared in our sister county of Ray, my memory is flooded with a series of recollections from say 1845, when only ten years old, up to 1850. How well I remem- ber the old school house of my childhood, built by the hardy pioneers without the use of nail or window glass, the product alone of his own right arm, with sturdy axe and broad-axe, a puncheon floor and log chimneys daubed with mud. Now view the landscape o'er of our North Missouri ; every village, town and hamlet vie with each other in rearing palatial structures, structures that compare with those of the older and more favored sister states.
Who, too, does not remember the hospitality, characteristic of our well-to-do settlers. The latch-string was ever out, and their genuine and sometime burdensome hospitality puts to shame the article of modern times. Old settlers of Ray, Clay, Clinton, Platte and Caldwell, do you not remember our old-time camp-meetings, where every well-to- do farmer had his log hut or tent, and entertained both man and beast of all who would accept ? Those rich and rare old scenes in the open square of the camp ground are gone, alas ! I fear never to return. Do you remember old father Patten, who would talk so loud that he placed his thumbs in each ear to prevent his own voice from deafening himself ? Do you remember the store coats ; how few they were and how great a curiosity the appearance of each one and its owner excited ? Do you remember the stirring times incident to the mustering in of the com- panies furnished by each county as its quota for the Mexican war, the heartrending partings, in many instances, and the joy manifested at their return, and the rich and generous barbecue given to them ?
Do you remember the Mexican saddles brought back by them, and the rage of the young men for them, especially for those with the silver mountings ; and that of each young lady to possess, as her own individ- ual property, with bumble bees, or some other kind, nicely stitched upon the seat in golden colors, in an age when our only mode of travel was upon horseback ? And now, how varied and different the scene. Rail- roads checker North Missouri like a chess board, and in our travels, as the darkey said, "we are there before we start," for truly is distance annihilated and time overcome.
I remember well in the late summer of 1852, when only a strippling grown, of returning from the East, where I had been at school for nearly three years, of being on the road for three weeks, and now it is readily done in as many days. Then the Pennsylvania Railroad, probably now the most wealthy railroad corporation in the world, was not completed from Philadelphia to Pitttsburg, but was supplemented by the slow-going canal.
But time passes and I am warned I must close. How magical the changes wrought in our midst. Even far more so than those of the Genii of
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the magic lamp possessed by Aladdin. Northwest Missouri, yea, even your own proud city of St. Joseph, have no ancestry to boast of. They are alike the product of the energy and genuis of her own sons and the hon- ored and venerated pioneers who are all around me. Twenty-five years ago that man would have been declared insane who prognosticated the . simple truth of to-day, and the most boundless and vivid imagination could not and did not foretell the half of to-day. Your own proud, but turbid and restless river, on my right, has been subdued. Seven bridges, monumental of man's power and energy, span its rapid current, and I, young as I am, have seen the celebrations over those erected at your own city, Kansas City and St. Louis. What shall I say, in conclusion, of St. Joseph, proud and Queen City of the Northwest. I have declared she had no ancestry to boast of, No ; she has sprang into existence full fledged, armed at all points, and equipped for the battle of life, resting upon the strong arms of her own sons to carry her on to still greater victories than any yet achieved in the past. Her proud career and com- manding station in our state, furnishing as she has, governors, supreme · judges, and other high state officials, and the home of such men as a Burnes, a Hall, a Woodson, a Craig and a Vories, reminds me of an anecdote of General Jackson's administration. Shawnee was a great Indian warrior, the measure of whose fame filled his own nation, and was the envy of surrounding tribes. He visited the great father, at Wash- ington, and while there was asked by Mrs. Jacskon, who did not know how sensitive every Indian warrior was upon the subject of his ancestry, who his father was. His face darkened with a cloud, but quickly recovering, he said years ago, the Great Spirit, in his wrath was angry at his red children, and in his fury, in the midst of storm and thunderings and lightnings, the Great Spirit smote the oldest and proudest oak of the forest, and rent it from top to bottom, and as it fell prone upon the earth, from out of its heart stepped Shawnee, a full-grown Indian warrior brave. So it is with St. Joseph, she sprang into existence full-grown, and her commanding position, as the gateway of the Northwest, will enable her to maintain her vantage ground.
Judge Birch was then introduced, and spoke as follows :
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN ;- As there can be no motive to impugn the sincerity of the declaration that none of you can be more disappointed than I have been by the non-attendance of the distinguished citizen you came to listen to, who, as the orator of the day, would have so generally swept the field, I will waste no time in excusing myself for that want of preparation to properly supply his place which will soon enough become apparent to you all. I will proceed, therefore, at once to the duty which has been assigned me, and shall hope to di's- charge it in such a manner as may be at least excusable as the results of the reflections of an hour or so instead of a week, or a monch, as it would have been my duty and my pleasure to have expended upon a task so complimentary and so honorable had it been assigned me in time. As the chronologies and other items of precise information which should have entered so largely into an address of this character will have to be recalled from memory instead of the more reliable sources with which I might have refreshed and better assured myself at home, I can but promise to do the very best I can, and as no man has ever heard me premise a speech by excuse of any nature before to-day, it is felt that I
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may the more confidently rely even upon the indulgence of criticism, than I could have done had I been set to the task you have assigned me and in many respects failed to redeem your reasonable expectation. What I deem it appropriate to suggest in advance of anything that I may be prompted to bring up before this vast assembly, is to submit to the old settlers who thus so candidly and encouragingly honor us with their ear, the reverential recognition of an overruling Providence who has so long guided and sustained us, and who has in like manner encouraged and sustained those who subsequently followed us to a country which is here so grandly represented in the all-embracing Exposition of the industries, the enterprise, and, in short, the progress and civilization which have grown up and gladden the eye and car almost to the verge of intoxication. All honor to the man and men of St. Joseph who pre- sided over and have carried to consummation the magnificent Exposition which is before us and around us, and who have inaugurated this re-union of the old settlers who yet linger around and among them.
And what has brought us to all this pass since the distinguished president of this re-union and myself, with the hundred who are before us, were men of middle age ? Those of us who are called " old settlers," and who are known accordingly in the programme, and in the badges of the day, are of course content that it be written of us as it has been, that we so blazed the way to what we sec before us and around us as to encourage others to follow us up as they have done, and it may perhaps be added without immodesty, that we have been strengthened and accredited to have so borne ourselves in the conflict to which our cir- cumstances have committed us, each in his sphere, as to have at least not repelled such proper associations and enterprises as have since clus- tered around us, and as are typified around us to-day. This little con- ceded, we as unreservedly concede the rest to others, each again in his sphere, and point again and again to this wondrous Exposition as the result of a progressive and common civilization, the outcome, if we may say, of the germs, which, however rudely planted, had nevertheless to be planted before there could be realized the fruition and fruits of to-day. May such and similar fruitage be progressive in the heritage of our chil- dren, and our children's children, who may remain to enjoy them ; or if, in the untowardness of events, some of them shall feel constrained to go in quest of new associations, and to embark upon newer fields of useful- ness or of enterprise as their fathers once did, may they carry with them at least the sturdy manhood of their fathers, and continue to adorn and to benefit society, instead of inflicting a blemish upon it or staining it with a wrong.
What more shall I say in recognition of the distinction which puts me in the place of such a man as Alexander W. Doniphan, upon such an occasion as the present one? Firstly, that I shall not be presumptuous enough to expect to speak as he would have spoken, even by trying to say it in a different manner to what he would have said it, but simply to substitute as best I may such incidents or experiences as it may occur to me will be most indulgently received by the rows and tiers of benches, pit, box and gallery full, which so rise up and stretch out before me, as for the first time in fifty years to render me distrustful as to whether my voice can compass the audience which thus honors me with its ear. 1 briefly allude, therefore, to what I have witnessed, and the humbler part
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in which I was permitted to act during a period of many years in our state. It may be permissible to premise that when I first looked upon the city of St. Louis from the deck of a steamer which was about to land me there, during the winter of 1826-27, there was something in what seemed to be the stately grandeur andthe unerring prestige of the location, which made me feel that the good old uncle, who had long r-sided there as a bachelor surveyor of the public lands, and who had invited and enticed me (young as I was) to come to him, buy the office of a newspaper establishment, which had been presided over by Thomas H. Benton, up to the period of his election to the Senate, and afterwards by General Duff. Green, until his transfer to Washington, as the organ of what was then known as the "Jackson Party," at least intended great things for me, whether I could be brought up to them or not. I soon came to believe, however, that although the population of the city at that time was only about 6,000, it was too large a place "for one of my age," and months afterwards, I transferred myself to a village of the interior with a small newspaper, then the extreme newspaper west.
And, as I see before me some of these old settlers of Howard County whose acquaintance I made when they were commencing life, as I may say, at Fayette, it will at least be unpardonable should I not occupy the remainder of my time with what they and I then knew and have since come to know of the state and the people, of whom we form a part. The state was divided into four judicial circuits, the one over which the Fayette lawyer traveled extending from Montgomery and Gasconade Counties, and all westward on both sides of the river, to the state line inclusive. By and by a new circuit was organized in this end of the state, and, as one of the governor's military confidants, was appointed to be judge of it, but served as his aid-de-camp, the com- mander-in-chief, was courteously and confidently conferred upon me, which is the way I came to be colonel about forty-five years ago. Then we had one member of Congress. Now we have thirteen-but even yet there are not half as many who can get to go to Congres as are willing to make the sacrifice. Then we had a mail once a week from St. Louis to Fayette in a stage, which the passengers had frequently to pry out of the mud and otherwise help along at the steep places. And from Fayette to Liberty, which was the county seat of western civilization of the United States, the mail was sent on horseback once a week.
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