USA > Missouri > Grundy County > The History of Grundy County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
137
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
children's children, free from the cares, the trials and vexations of a pioneer's life. The people of to-day should reverence these people of a past half cen- tury, and those who are spared to us at this late day should have all the care that loving hearts can give. Years of devotion.is but a small recom- pense for the heroic sacrifices made by the pioneer in the carly settlement of the county.
CHAPTER II.
PIONEERS.
Early Settlers-1833-1834-First Store-Heatherly Gang-1838-1839-New Settlement- Mormon Family-Campaign 1840- Women Pioneers - Wedding Tours -Marriage Record-First Coffin-Cheaper Market-Hard Cider Campaign -Names of Old Settlers-Tetherow and Lomax-The Coming County Seat Struggle-Poem-1841.
THE PIONEERS.
The early settlers are entitled to a high and honored place in the pages of history. Many, many days of toil have been devoted to gathering the facts which shall embalm the memory of this band of civil heroes who gave to Grundy county its first step in the progress of civilization, and who, in all the phases of life, have proven themselves not only true sons of toil but noble men and respected citizens. If the time spent in trying to secure facts and reliable information necessary to make this history com- plete has been one of incessant toil to the author, it has, also, been no less a work of love on his part, for in the records of the past, and when the light of civilization and progress first dawned upon this section of our common country, and in the early reminiscences which have been secured, he has fonnd much which brought to mind many bright and glowing incidents of early days, and of those who taught him what life was and is, and what might be in the vista of the far off future, but who have now gone to the home beyond.
Memory is ofttimes treacherons, and a confusion of dates has not been the least of the troubles which has fallen in the pathway of the compiler. Re- liable dates of the early settlement of the county are all important to those who take an interest in the progress of events, and who desire of its early days a correct and succinct history.
Many of these old settlers have removed to other States and climes; very many have crossed the "dark river " to the impenetrable and mysterious beyond; while those who are left are weak in body, with memory sadly at fault on many facts of deep interest. Nevertheless, they have been willing. so far as health and memory would permit, to impart all the incidents and trials of early years, and with a spirit of cheerfulness that makes it a pleas-
138
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
ure to record them. They are to-day, as in olden times, the same self-sac- rificing people. It is well that in the sordid, grasping avariciousness which characterizes so many of the present generation, that they should have yet within them, by consanguinity, the leaven which made the grand old pio- neer stand out so prominently in unselfish and heroic sacrifices as "God's noblest work."
WIIAT MAY HAVE BEEN.
There may have been a few settlers somewhere on the southern line of Grundy county, but when or where they settled, if at all, is not of record earlier than 1835. It has been reported that a few families had made a home there so close to the border of Livingston county that when the Grundy county line was run they found themselves just over the border, for there are no foot-prints of man found on this side of the line, not even an initial spot where the historic cabin might have been erected.
Forty-eight years have passed since the first settler placed his foot upon the soil of Grundy county, and the date was October, 1833. All previous to that date is a blank, unsolved mystery.
1833.
The first white man who came to Grundy county to make it his home was Gen. W. P. Thompson, of Ray county, who came here the last of Octo- ber, 1833, and was followed in a few days by Jno. Scott and Harvey Meek, who settled on the west side, northeast of Edinburg, on the Thompson River, at that time known as the West Fork of the East Fork of Grand River. Dr. Thompson's was the first cabin in the woods, quickly followed by others, and the Thompson settlement became the pioneer one of the county. They proved an energetic class of citizens, and Gen. Thompson, perhaps better known as Doctor Thompson, for years was the most prom- inent man in this whole section of country.
1834.
We can find nothing to dispute the point that Moore's settlement con- tained the first white invaders of the soil of Grundy county, east of Grand River. They occupied the land which is now the flourishing city of Tren- ton, the metropolis of Grand River Valley, and built cabins thereon in the spring of 1834. The family of Levi Moore was a large one, consisting of a wife and a number of children, besides his four sons-in-law. Their names were Win. Cochran, John Thrailkill, George Tetherow and Yancy Stokes. The first had a family, and Mr. Jolm Thrailkill had just married. Wm. Thrailkill came at the same time. They came from Randolph and Howard counties, and their cabins were located near the bluffs. Of course this set- tlement soon began to grow, and not only this part of the county, but other sections began to receive their quota of the hardy and venturesome pioneers.
139
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
1835.
Next is found in the early spring of 1835 that the Heatherleys, whose reputations were not of the most savory kind, with the Watsons and Hawk- inses, settling in the southeast corner of the county. Then the Dobbinses and others on the east side, near where Lindley now is. Settlers, however, while dropping in, were not numerous. There were miles of wooded hills and bot- tom-lands and open prairie between the cabins of the pioneers. It was weeks, and sometimes months, before the lonely occupant of the wilds would see a sign of a human being outside of his own family. These settlers of '34 and '35 became, many of them, of much note in the county. Cochran and Thrailkill held some offices in the early organization of the county, the latter, Mr. Thrailkill, being the first sheriff. But the man of grandest note at that day was Dr. Thompson. He came from Ray county, in the full prime of his manhood, a man of noble mould and a character so self-sacri- ficing as to win the love of all his neighbors and retain it until the earth covered all that was mortal of his giant frame. He practiced as a physician for many years, and that practice was immense, literally covering hundreds of miles in extent. The west fork of the Grand River was named after him. He died in 1848. Both Harvey Meek and Jolm Scott, who came with Dr. Thompson from Ray .county, were hardy, progressive men, who fully met the demands of a pioneer's life. Humphrey Best was another of the early immigrants, and settled here in 1835. It is reported of him that he was the first man to break prairie in the county. Cochran owned most of the site of Trenton. He bought it at government price and sold it to Jas. R. Merrill, for $400. It is worth something over a half million dollars to-day. That old pioneer, Uncle Levi Moore, outlived nearly all of those who came to the county past middle age. He was of a lively, jovial character, was loved and reverenced by the young folks, and never more happy than when telling the wonderful stories of pioneer life, or joining in the fun and frolic going on around him. He lived to be one hundred years of age and died in 1875. His farm became known as the Lomax and Jacob land, and among his many descendants are his two sons, Capt. Jolin Moore and James Moore. Among the few other settlers scattered through this section are found the names of George Peery, and his sons William, Archibald and a daughter Louisa, Jewett Harris, Philip Wild, George Bunch, Humphrey Best and others. There were three other Peerys, Evan and his son William N., and a Thomas. The latter was a Methodist minister who preached in the Bain settlement off and on all the winter of '37-38. Mr. George Peery, who settled on the west side of the river in 1835, was held in the highest re- spect by his neighbors and was for years a leading spirit in advancing the social and material interests of Grundy county. He lived to the good old age of ninety years and died, in the year 1874, leaving a large family, and his death seriously mourned. Jewett Norris finding himself rather eramped
140
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
for room, several settlers gathering within a mile or two of him, after living here several years left for a pioneer's life in Minnesota. Before leaving he had become quite a public man. His neighbors believed in him, and he was made a member of the first county court and thrice elected State Senator. He was both merchant and farmer, and is reported as doing well in his new home.
Daniel Devaul came in March, 1835, bringing a wife and eight children. He first settled near the river on the east side, known since as the Old Ben- son tract, Devanl having sold his claim to Samuel Benson, in 1838. Daniel Devaul was a man of great energy of character, and was of much value as an early settler, for he could turn his hand to almost anything. He believed in pushing things and built, with the assistance of his son, James R. De- vaul, the first store-house erected in Grundy county. It was a fine build- ing for those days. Generally the cabins were built of round logs, but in this new store building the logs were all hewn square and fitted nicely, and the plastering was done with real lime mortar. This last was, also, a de- cided innovation, for up to that time, according to the language of the na- tive poet,
"Our cabins were made of logs of wood, Put up in squares and corked with mud; If the cost was light, the roof was good, For a new country."
It was located on the ground now known as the Ridgeway property, and on that part where the vineyard and nursery now stand, in the southeast corner of the present town-site. On a visit to Richmond, Ray county, in the fall of 1838, Mr. Devaul persuaded James I. Lomax and his brother-in- law, Thomas Jacobs, to bring a stock of goods to the settlement and open a store, agreeing to rent the log palace aforesaid to them for a place of busi- ness. They accepted the offer, and Lomax and Jacobs opened the first store in Grundy county. The settlement up to that time had been called Moore's and sometimes the Bluffs, but on the opening of the store was afterwards generally known as Lomax's store. Still, the old familiar name would crop out quite often, when a settler would call out to his neighbor, "I am going down to the ' Bluff's,' can I do any thing for you?" Mr. Devaul continued actively engaged during his stay in the settlement. He had the great misfor- tune to lose his wife early in February, 1837, but resided here until the gold fever broke out in 1849, then left for California. He remained a while in Nevada prospecting, but eventually went to California, settling near San Jose, where he died in 1871. He left a large family here, among whom James R. Devaul, a resident of Grundy county since 1835, is the oldest; Mrs. Capt. Woods, a daughter, now sixty-one years of age, is a woman of fine presence and remarkable preservation-looks not over fifty-with all the openness and frankness of the "old time" settler. James R.
141
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
Devaul is still living, now an honored resident of Trenton, but lived for a number of years in what is now Lincoln township. He was the first justice of the peace in that township, and was elected a second time, but de- clined to serve. In what was called the Heatherly War, in 1836, James R. De- vanl, then a young man of twenty-two years, carried Brigadier-general Thompson's requisition for two companies of militia to Ray county. Gen- eral Thompson was the Dr. Thompson previously spoken of. Mr. Devaul acted also under orders of the general, in taking charge of the wagons filled with stores and ammunition and their escort, and bringing them to this county, from Livingston, to General Thompson's home. Lomax and Jacobs did business for several years. Mr. Jacobs is dead and Mr. Lomax is now a resident of California. They, however, did not long have a monopoly of the mercantile business of those early days. William Thrailkill & Brother started a store the following year and they were followed by James L. Hen- shaw. This latter store was located not far from the Lomax store, and on the Ridgeway property. It is said that some of the logs hewn for the Lo- max store by Daniel Devaul, are yet doing duty as a part of a residence on Trenton Avenue. Lomax hauled his goods from Richmond with ox wagons. Previous to the opening of the Lomax store, most of the trading was done at Glasgow, on the Missouri River. Some few went to Richmond, and later to Brunswick, but the main trading-point was Glasgow. The farmers loaded their wagons with skins of all kinds, such as deer, coon, mink, musk- rat, and with venison and venison hams, honey, etc., and brought back their winter supply of groceries, a little flour and some whisky. The his- torian will mention right here that the latter article was not used in those days for intoxicating purposes. The Old Pioneer was the advance-guard of civilization, but he left it to a later, and by some called a more cultured, era to introduce whisky as a beverage, and to furnish to this higher type of civilization the "common drunkard." Goods were hauled in those days from Glasgow at sixty cents per one hundred pounds, and the merchant would fill a wagon with skins and produce and bring baek goods, thus load- ing both ways.
THIE HEATHERLY GANG.
In 1836 the Heatherlys, who were known to be hard cases, had organ- ized into a regular band of horse-thieves, and, becoming bolder, were making raids wherever they would likely meet with success. In the fall of 1836 a man by the name of Dunbar and a companion were robbed of their horses, and in the defense of their property were both killed and their bodies thrown into the Medicine River. For fear of the consequence of the discovery of this terrible crime which was traced to them, they gave out that the Indians, the Iowas and Sacs, were on the war-path killing and sealping, and their way lighted by the burning cabins of the settlers whom they had murdered. This report caused the wildest excitement, for the
142
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
people, having no defenses, were powerless against the supposed army of savages then so near. The settlers at Moore's and Thompson's settlements assembled and those at Moore's hastily ent logs and raised a sort of a block- house for protection. Gen. Thompson ordered out the militia, two companies having been ordered from Ray county and two from Clay, while a number joined from this and Livingston. A reconnoisance in force soon dispelled the fears of the people, but the settlers were determined to investigate the cause of this false alarm, which was traced to the Heatherly gang, who had stated men had been murdered. The bodies of the two men were found in Medicine River and the Heatherlys, a man by the name of Hawkins and a negro were arrested. They had murdered these men, stolen their horses and outfit, stripped them of their valuables and consigned their bodies to the river, and to cover up their crime charged it to a party of Indians, on a hunting expedition, composed of the above named tribes. These facts were gathered from one of the gang, Hawkins, who turned on his com- panions in crime, as State's evidence. The gang were sent to the peniten- tiary. The four militia captains who commanded the companies under General Thompson all became men of note in the political history of the State, Captain David R. Atchison, one of the four, becoming a United States Senator in 1844.
Thus ended what was called the Heatherly War, and by which name it is known to this day. The gang was effectually broken up, and they were the only desperadoes that ever had a foothold in Grundy county.
CONTINUING TO ARRIVE.
Immigrants continued to arrive, and the years 1836, '37 and '38 were memorable ones, for they brought to Grundy county some of her best and foremost citizens. They came from all parts of the country, but chiefly from Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio. They most always came in squads of from five to fifteen families each, generally settled in the same neighbor- hood, forming a company of old time acquaintances, which their new home and widely diffused population cemented more firmly together in bonds of friendship and brotherly love. James Bunch, who has been mentioned as belonging to the Thompson settlement, put up the first horse-mill in the county. It was patronized extensively by the Bain settlement on the east side, and the west side settlers. Mr. Bunch, however, while furnishing the mill did not furnish the motive power -- each customer hitched on his own animal and ground away until he was through. The next took his turn and owned the mill for the time being. The toll for the use of the mill was one- eighth. Samuel Benson, and his nephew William Benson, came in the fall of 1837. So, also, did Evans and William N. Peery, who came from Vir- ginia; William McCammon, William Metcalf, Elisha Inman, the Oxfords, Grubbs, Applegates and Winns, who made their homes on the west side of the river, while on the east side came those sturdy pioneers' of Lincoln
143
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
township, who settled some six miles north of Lomax's store, Jesse and Riason Bain, Samuel Kelso, Henry Foster and William Dille. This was called for a long time the Bain settlement. These all came, as we have said, in the fall of 1837; they represented as noble a band of pioneers as ever walked in the van of the onward march of civilization, and their descendants have proven themselves worthy sons of noble sires. At that time the Bain settlement was the most northerly one in the county. Mr. Samuel Benson, who bought the Devaul property, the present site of the city of Trenton, owned the ferry across Grand River, put up a horse-mill, the second in the county, which was the stand-by of the people for miles around, and by his great hospitality and kindness of heart placed himself among the leaders of men of other days. William Metcalf became county judge and sheriff, Kelso was a leading spirit, and Elder MeCammon stands out in the broad expanse of to-day as a beacon-light which has guided many and many of the old settlers to a haven of rest.
1838-1839.
Then came. the Merrills, Landys, Houstons, Townsends and George McCready, all of whom were originally from Maryland, adding to the pop- ulation and wealth of 1838. There came, also, the same year, James Wel- don, who settled up the river, and from whom the east fork of the Grand River takes its name, who proved a worthy addition, because of his being a persevering and progressive man. Thomas N. Carnes, the Kirkendalls, Stokes, Moores, Cochrans and Woods moved here in the spring of '38, and also may be added the names of A. C. and Larkin Fields, John and Jethro Sires, Robert Hobbs, Judge John McHargue, John Priest, the Ashbrooks, School- ers, Collins, Renfroes, Rooks, Holloway, Lydas, Drinkards, Spears, Win- ters, Andersons, Perkins and Chrismans, who all called Grundy county their home from and including the year 1839, and here add the names of the Warrens, Kilburns and Merrimans, of Wilson township.
A sad and terrible accident happened to Jethro Sire, one of the last named settlers, December 9, 1873, he having been killed by the falling of a tree on him while engaged in felling it. He made a mistake as to the way the tree would fall, and before he could turn, on discovering it, the tree crushed him, breaking his neck and one arm and killing him instantly. He had proven, in a residence of thirty-four years in the county, a kindly neighbor and an upright man.
From the south part of Trenton township, now Jackson, there were few sturdier men than James May, John Henry, John Roberts and Peter Con- ner, who made their appearance in 1839. They belong to the true pioneer stock. The latter named, Peter Conner, left some years after for California, and never returned, living and dying in that great El Dorado of the West and of the Pacific slope. All of the above named are now dead, but they left the footprints of their energy and progressive spirit in the broken prai-
144
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
ries and the clearing of the woodlands. There were many others of that early day of whom we have been unable to gather satisfactory record, but who, like their neighbors, came to make a home in the valley of the Grand River.
The Evanses came in 1842 or '43, William and Thomas, long known as substantial farmers and upright citizens. The principal settlement was be- tween Grand River and Honey Creek. Some good farms were located near Honey Creek.
The settlers were sometimes disturbed by the prowling wolves which oc- casionally made the nights hideous, and warned owners to take care of their stock-more especially at that time hogs or pigs. Mr. John Priest, who came in the year 1839, relates one of his scrapes with the wolves. He had a fine sow and a lot of pigs, eleven in all, taken in one night. John said a pig or two wouldn't have made him mad, but this going the entire hog, pigs thrown in, was too much for his temper. He took a few pones of corn-bread, blanket and rifle, and tracked the wolves through the snow to their den, some twelve miles distant. There he laid in wait, and within two days and a half he was back home, with the scalps of the two old wolves and eight cubs. Those scalps paid his taxes that year. It wasn't equal to the expected pork crop, but John said he felt satisfied, for besides paying his taxes there was the sweet revenge.
Wm. T. Cornwell settled here in October, 1839, some two miles north of the Bain and Kelso settlements; his son, B. B. Cornwell, is now living on the old homestead. Wm. Cornwell came from Tennessee to Grundy county, but was reared in Virginia. He was born in the year 1800; married in Ten- nessee, November 21, 1824, to Miss Jane Payne, and died in Grundy county, Lincoln township, March 18, 1874. B. B. Cornwell, of Lincoln township, was twelve years of age when he came here with his father, in 1839. He was born in Smith county, Tennessee. Mrs. Jane Cornwell, the wife of Wm. T., and mother of B. B. Cornwell, died at the latter's residence, on the old place, February 25, 1880, leaving one daughter, two sons, thirty-two grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Mr. Cornwell was a prom- inent citizen in his township.
In 1839 the Rev. Thomas Thompson settled on the Weldon River, near where Spickardsville now stands. He was one of the first settlers in Frank- lin township, the father-in-law of Geo. A. Spickards, an early settler of the same township.
A MORMON FAMILY.
There are pretty strong evidences that a few Mormon families lived for a short time in Franklin township some years previous to its reported first white settler, James Weldon. The arrival of these families dates from the time of the settlement of the Mormon colony which located in Daviess county in the spring of 1836. These were, undoubtedly, an offshoot of that colony, and settled near the river. The families found it too lonesome, and
.
Your oft. Scrat 1.26 Shanklin
T. : * * YORK PURLA' LIDAARY
ASTOR IFNOX TILDES . I TIONS
147
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
seemed to have left in the fall. The Indian hunters of that day reported that these families lived on the east side of the river for several moons, and then left for the Grand River. It is believed they joined the main body at their settlement in Daviess county. These families antedate the arrival of Mr. Weldon some two years. The story is given not as the record of actual settlers, but to show that a white family had trod the soil of Frank- lin township as early as 1836. The object of this work is to give the facts and a faithful record, so far as they can be gleaned from young and old, and from the written records of the past. There is no doubt that the fanii- lies lived there, for Mr. Weldon found evidences enough to convince him of the fact. What was learned all tended to confirm the belief that they joined their friends in Daviess county.
NEW SETTLEMENTS.
In 1839 new arrivals, consisting of several families, settled in Lincoln township, about three miles east of the Bains and Kelsos, and quite a num- ber of other families joined them in the winter of '39 and '40. The county now, 1839, began to be generally settled, with, perhaps the exception of the northwest section. The west part of Washington and the north part of Tay- lor townships, or what are now known by these names, had very few settlers up to the organization of the county, in 1841, but all other sections im- proved rapidly and very evenly, excepting the Lomax store, which seemed to be recognized as the central headquarters, and from it radiated the political power which controlled the county. It improved faster than any other colony of settlers in its general welfare, and its population in- creased more rapidly. The faet is, an embryo Trenton was under way. It was the location. The Grand River, a mile and a half below the junction of the Thompson and Weldon rivers, assumed proportions that made its water-power valuable. The high bluff, with its circular mound in the bend of the river, gave a bold, picturesque site for a town and a healthy residing place for its inhabitants. A strong desire to have the county seat located on the Big Muddy, between three and four miles northeast of its present location, was entertained by the settlers in that neighborhood, claiming it to be nearer the center of the county, which had been decided as being in the northwest corner of section two, township sixty-one, range twenty-four, and the commissioners first located it near where said settlers wanted it, but there was so much dissatisfaction that a new commission by the county changed the decision of the State commissioners and located it on the present site. It is now about three and a half miles southwest of the actual center of the county, and the Grand River is to blame for that.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.