USA > Missouri > Grundy County > The History of Grundy County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 18
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MARRIAGE RECORD.
The first marriage of record in Grundy county, reads as follows:
" This is to certify that on the third day of January last, I did join Jolin B. Howard and Rebecca Williams in the marriage covenant. Given under my hand this 27th day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1841."
" THOMAS THOMPSON, P. G."
The second one recorded reads:
" GRUNDY COUNTY, Jan. 14, 1841.
" I do hereby certify that on the 14th day of January, 1841, I did sol- emnize the bonds of matrimony between Ansel Brassfield and Susannah Brassfield, both of this county. Witness the undersigned being an ordained minister of the gospel.
"NATHAN WINTERS."
We find that Joseph Thrailkill and Elizabeth W. Harsha were united in marriage, February 25th, 1841, by Henry Blaisdell; and John S. P. Marshall and Nancy Young, both of Grundy county, on the same day, Feb- ruary 25, 1841, by Mahlon H. Harlan, justice of the peace.
Joseph Sullivan, justice of the peace, united John Belew and Cincinnati Dunkerson in marriage, February 26, 1841.
These were the first marriages recorded, the next of record being in April following. One certificate reads as follows, P. G. meaning preacher of the gospel :
" STATE OF MISSOURI, 1 GRUNDY COUNTY. 5
" This is to certify that I did join William and Sarah Jones in the mar- riage covenant, on the 5th of February, 1846.
" W.M. REID, P. G."
The shortest certificates recorded are four, by Jas. G. Benson, J. P. All are alike except the dates and names of the parties. One specimen is liere given.
" July 20, 1862, married Selbourne Reed to Sarah Belden.
" JAS. G. BENSON, J. P."
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
THE COFFINS.
We have spoken of the death of Mrs. Daniel Devaul in a previous chap- ter. She died early in February, 1837, some two years after the arrival of the family in Grundy county. There were no coffin storerooms in those days, neither were there any cabinet-makers, but such work needed was done with an ax, a broad-ax and a whip-saw. Mrs. Devaul's coffin was made out of a wagon box belonging to Mr. Samnel Benson and furnished by him. It was the only resource for boards to be found in the settlement. Another death occurred soon after in the Thompson settlement, near the river, in Madison township. It was of an old lady by the name of Downey, and her coffin was made of plank cut out by a whip-saw. She died at the residence of Dr. William P. Thompson. These are the earliest deaths of record, but while many more followed in later years, these tell of the sorrows of those days and the best arrangements that could be made for the loved ones in death.
A CHEAPER MARKET.
In one respect the early settler had a few advantages not possessed by the poor mortals of to-day or of those even of a generation baek. While they endured the privations with which they were encompassed with heroic for- titude and a patience which exalted them, these old time heroes and heroines could get the necessaries of life at a good deal less cost than their favored children and grandchildren of this day. They did not purchase any silks or satins, in fact a calico or gingham was considered fine enough for church wear, or visiting, and even these would give way to the enduring, durable homespun, when an extra quality of yarn and coloring had been secured for weaving. But it was not of this alone we would speak. There was any quantity of good land lying around loose at government price, $1.25 per acre, anxious to be tickled with a hoe that it might langh with a harvest. The financial erash of 1837 had completely demoralized valnes. Property shrank to sneh amazing smallness as to put many people in doubt as to whether they possessed anything except their lives and their families. The necessaries of life were cheap, and they who suffered most in those days were of the class called wealthy. The farmer and the mechanic had little to complain of. Their wants were few and the supplies cheap; if corn, was at a low figure, tea, coffee, sugar and whisky were also cheap. And right here we will quote, from an article contributed to the Grundy County Times by the Hon. George H. Hubbell, the prices which he gave for many purchases, and the market prices of the many necessaries of life as late as 1842. The article was contributed and read at the celebration of the fourth of July in the centennial year, 1876, and published in the issue of the Times of July 13. It was a history of Grundy county, in a condensed form, from its
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
settlement to that date and a production well worthy of record and preserva- tion. The author would here acknowledge many other extracts taken from the same source.
The article says: "The situation as regards general business had up to 1842 been depressed for several years. The monetary crisis of 1837 still hovered over the land. For nearly five years prices of goods and products of every description had ruled very low and the prospect for a raise still seemed far from encouraging, and the time somewhat distant. In 1842 I paid five dollars for the first cow I ever owned, and $7.50 for a good cow and calf in trade. Horses were also cheap; while the best could be had for $40. others could be purchased at from $25 to $35. Working cattle were down to what they called in those days almost nothing, $22 buying a good yoke. Hogs, dressed, without much regard to weight, were held at the enormous price of $1.25 to $1.50 each-neither were they full of trichina. Garnered wheat only brought from 35 to 40 cents a bushel; corn 50 cents per bar- rel, delivered, and a good veal calf, 75 cents. You could go out into the woods and eut down a bee-tree, gather the honey and bring it to market, and you got 25 cents a gallon for it; it was thought the bees got well paid for their honey. And such honey, so clear and transparent that even the bee-keeper of to-day with his patent hive and his Italian swarms would have had a look of envy covering his face from car to ear on beholding it. The wild deer came forward and gave us their hams at 25 cents each, and the settlers generally clinched the bargain by taking the skin also, which, when not cut up into strings or used for patches, brought another quarter, cash or trade, as de- manded. It was also a habit in those days for farmers to help each other, and their sons to work in the harvest field or help to do the logging to prepare for a new seeding. This was a source of wealth to the early settler and to his rising family. They raked in 25 to 50 cents a day and board. That was wealth. It was the foundation of their future prosperity. It was the first egg laid to hatch them a farm, and it was guarded with serupulous care. Economy was often whittled down to a very fine point before they could be induced to take or touch that nest-egg, the incipient acre of the first farm. And then again, a day's work meant something besides getting on the shady side of a tree and three hours for nooning. It meant labor in all its length, and breadth, and thickness, from holding the breaking-plow behind two yoke of oxen, to mauling rails. Right here we will mention that rails were made at 25 cents a hundred. Just think of splitting rails at 25 cents a hun- dred! It is enough to take the breath away from every effeminate counter- jumper in the State. This covers a good deal of what the old pioneer had or received for labor and farm products."
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
STORE GOODS.
In some respects the merchants held a better hand in the game of life, and in others they didn't. They wanted from fifteen to twenty-five cents a yard for calico, and from twenty-five to seventy-five cents for gingham, but, as said before, those early settlers were a self-sacrificing people, and they let the merchants not only ask these prices, but allowed them to keep these goods upon their shelves to give their stores the appearance of carrying a large stock. The fact is, the merchants of those days didn't coin money from their calico and gingham departments. Trade and barter were their " best holt." Here is where they got in their best work, growing up and thriving, like a veritable Yankee, by what they called "dicker." Ten pounds of good Rio coffee for a dollar, and from sixteen to twenty pounds of coffee for the same sum of money, were standard prices. When they sold a calico or a gingham dress pattern they threw in their profit by giving a spool of thread (200 yards), hooks and eyes and lining. In the thread business, however, it was only a few years after before thirty and fifty yard spools took the place of the former of 200 yards. Tea could be bought for from twenty to fifty cents a pound; soap was "powerful " cheap, either by the gallon or by the bar; saleratus took the place of baking-powder and was as low as five to eight cents; and whisky, good old whisky, one drink of which would make a man love his neighbor as himself, was eighteen cents a gal- lon by the barrel, and from twenty to twenty-five cents per gallon retail. It is questionable, to the writer, whether the extravagances and the high prices of the present age, with all its boasted improvements, taken in con- nection with its varied and high taxes, the increased cost of living, are a fair equivalent for the good old days of hog and hominy, of venison and honey, of jeans and linseys, of low prices, and of peace, plenty and hap- piness. In those days of log houses and log churches and schools, when puncheon floors, and puncheon stools their softest seat, when a skillet and a kettle with a big fire-place, did duty for a modern $75 stove, with its new fangled hot water arrangement and extra ovens, and wagons without springs served as carriages, the people were as happy as to-day and far more contented. That these improvements are desirable all will grant. It must be borne in mind that the increased wants and extravagances of the present era, and the accumulated wealth of the country, is what has made these things not only a pleasure but a necessity.
NAMES OF OLD SETTLERS, JANUARY 1, 1841.
In closing the record of the old pioneers the names of those who figured in the history of the county at that early period will be of interest. It was impossible to get all, and if familiar names to some are missing it is because the author failed to find them or hear of them, while many names will be found in other parts of the work that are not recorded in this list:
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
OLD PIONEERS.
Edmund Furgeson.
Riley Burgess.
Zela Conkling. Jolın S. Miller. William Cole.
William Gentry.
Russell Oxford.
Daniel Mickey. John Henry.
John Burry. Thomas Cole.
Moses Bennett. John S. Miller.
Charles Htuman. James J. Hobbs.
Noah Benson.
Ezra B. Evens.
Daniel McAtee.
Samuel Howard.
B. A. Ferrell.
Benjamin F. Wood.
Harvey Low.
Henry Wood.
James Phillips.
John Bennett.
Felix Wild.
James E. Darnaby.
Henry Hampton.
Cornelius Darnaby.
~Samuel Chesnut. Calvin Renfro.
Thomas Clark.
Andrew Weldon.
Gideon Gonck.
David Cole.
Wesley Reynolds. Mahlon H. Harlan. ~
Aaron Wilson.
David R. Benson.
Charles Chapple.
Nathaniel M. Landy.
James Slinger.
Henry I. Landy.
Win. McCammon.
Henry M. Henderson.
Hugh Ogden. James Brown.
Wm. P. Thompson. James Bunch. L. P. Shirley. Isaac Shirley. James R. Devaul.
William Wyatt.
Daniel Brock.
Wm. C. McAfee.
Madison B. Moss.
Henry Roger.
Thos. W. Jacobs.
James D. Roberts.
Martin D. Long.
James Work.
R. T. Nance. Wm. Fruer.
Sampson Beathand.
Duncan R. Standbey. John Stucker. Jethro Sires. William Cox.
Stephen Forbes. E. B. Harris. John Scott. Thos. Hamilton.
George W. Hamilton. John McCammon, Jr. John McCammon, Sr. Norris McCammon.
James Nordyke. Joseph Applegate.
James Lucas.
William Long.
John S. Darnaby.
Richard Bennett.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
John Johnson, Jr. Bazel Tinsley. Josialı Anderson. Edward Cox. James Bennett.
Moses Gee. Joseph Sherring.
Moses Sherring.
Michael Hornback. Archibald Chitwood.
John Harsher. Riason Bain. Jesse Bain.
Wm. T. Cornwell. B. B. Cornwell.
Daniel Devaul.
Samuel Kelso.
James Weldon.
John Priest.
Wmn. Cochran.
George Tetherow. Jacob Bain.
John Rockhold.
Benj. Saxton.
Royal Williams.
Chas. W. Seott.
Rev. Thomas Thompson. Jacob Thrailkill.
Coonrod Woltz.
Jas. S. Estes.
Stanley Arbuckle.
James Johnson. Talton Masters.
Lorenzo D. Thompson.
Richard Williams. Jewett Norris.
Robert Peery. Benj. F. Woods.
Wilson G. Perkins. Richard Minehel. Wmn. P. Fitzpatrick.
David Ashbrook.
Abiel Miles. Geo. Wood.
John Moore. Hamilton Bennett.
James Harvey. James D. Nordyke. David Phillips.
Jacob Applegate. James Applegate.
J. C. Renfro. William Willis. John Charlton. Arthur Charlton.
Jetson Ray.
China Best.
Sarah Tandy.
Charlotte Merrill.
John Sires.
Robert Hobbs, Jr. Hiram Marshel.
Evans Peery.
John J. Gibson.
Marcellus Renfro.
Albert G. Pugh.
John G. Woods.
Bryan F. Woods, Jr.
B. A. Fewell. J. Livingston. Jesse Harris.
Thos. E. Tootle.
Chas. W. Prescott. Win. Reed. Allen England.
Wm. C. Benson.
James R. Blackburn. John Blackburn.
Edward Smith. Joseph Davis. Andrew Davis. George Tront. John Varney. Wm. W. Bond. Hiram Smith. John W. Bond.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
Harrison Weldon.
Allen Scott.
Wm. Donnellin.
Win. Estes.
James Morgan.
Wm. Collins.
John Lambert.
Walter Bennett.
Yancy Stokes.
G. H. Forkner.
Wm. Hawkins.
P. H. Thompson.
James Chapple.
Geo. Drinkard.
John Chapple. Thos. C. Jones.
W.m. Thornbrugh.
Jesse Miller.
Evans F. Grubbe.
Erris Casteel.
W. B. Grubbe.
Matthew Childers.
Jas. Claypole.
Wm. Bennett.
Thos. Kilburn.
Henderson Work.
Lemuel Casteel.
Philip Wild.
Howard B. Best. Elijah Meddle.
James Wilson.
Belintha Gentry.
W. P. McAfee.
Moses T. Ellis.
John Gentry.
Benj. Townsend.
Jas. F. Hamilton.
Henry Warmouth
Jas. II. Meek.
J. C. Boies.
Richard S. Lomax
Harvey Odell.
Thos. Hutton.
Robt. B. Moss.
Wm. Metcalf.
John Chaney.
Willis D. R. Elkins.
Samuel Johnson.
Jolın L. Turner.
Jolın Casteel.
Peter Conner.
G. W. Dickson.
Robert H. Benson.
John A. Hurst.
Jas. B. Tilghman.
Levi Merrill.
Samuel Knight.
Win. Evans. Jno. M. Nichols. Alex. Work.
R. D. Manzey. Larkin Fields.
Jas. R. Merrill. Wm. Renfro. Waddy L. Curran.
Carter L. Reynolds.
Wm. Thrailkill.
A. J. Walker. Wmn. Clark.
John Dille. Jarvis Woods.
Samuel Benson.
Hiram Warinner. Richard Chenoweth.
A. B. Forkner. Samuel Forkner.
Abram Fields.
Lee Spenser. Alfred Mordley. Benj. Mourning.
Elisha Inman. Levi Moore. Samuel Benner.
Benj. S. Lomax.
Jno. C. Hamilton.
Caleb Brooks.
Jacob y Sindall
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TILOF
IIISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
165
Thos. Ettinger. Jas. Blizzard.
Jas. Houston.
Jab Holloway.
John McHargue.
James May.
Peter Conner.
Joseph Faulkner.
Franklin Woods.
Daniel Schooler.
Thomas Tucker.
Martin Winn.
Wythe Temple.
G. W. Warmoth.
James Hennings.
A. More.
John Carro.
Thos. Dobbins.
James Sperry.
Humphrey Best.
Thomas Pemberton.
Archibald Peery.
Mrs. Linney.
Thos. Peery.
Mrs. Davis.
Jas. L. Henshaw.
Mrs. Mary Jones.
Henry Foster.
Mrs. Jarvis Wood.
Geo. MeCready.
Mrs. Jas. R. Devaul.
Thos. N. Carnes.
George Nocks.
Moses Kirkendall.
Benj. V. Casteline.
Carter B. Whitfield.
Jarvis C. Boies.
John Sires.
Francis F. Petty.
Henry W. Lyda.
Benj. A. Fewell.
Jacob Spears.
Norris Metcalf.
Michael Chrisman.
Alvin Johnson.
Samuel Rooks.
E. L. Winters.
James Rooks.
Chas. W. Scott.
OLD SETTLERS' POEM.
"Tis almost half a hundred years, Since you and I, old pioneer, With aspirations free A home within this region sought;
But who of us then dreamed or thought
To see the many changes wrought, That we have lived to see ?
From different counties then we came; Our object and our aim the same- A home in this far West. A cabin here and there was found, Perhaps a little spot of ground Inclosed and cleared, while all around In nature's garb was dressed.
James May.
Terry Wilson.
Richard Turner. Win. Woldridge. Geo. Dockry. Jas. S. Lomax. James Cash.
John Holloway.
11
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
Here then we saw the groves of green Where woodman's ax had never been- The spreading prairies, too. Within these groves so dense and dark Was heard the squirrel's saucy bark; The bounding stag was but the mark To prove the rifle true.
But all is changed and cabin's gone; The clap-board roof with weight-poles on, The rough-hewn puncheon floor; The chimneys made of stick and clay Are seen no more-gone to decay- The men who built them, where are they? I need not ask you more.
They're gone, but they're remembered yet, Those cabin homes we can't forget Although we're growing old : Fond memory still the spot reveres, The cabin homes of youthful years Where with compatriot pioneers We pleasure had untold.
The dense and tangled woodland, too, The groves we often wandered through No longer now are there; The prairie with its sward of green With flowerets wild no more are seen, But farms with dusty lanes between Are seen where once they were.
Large towns and villages arise And steeples point toward the skies, Where all was desert then; And nature's scenes have given place To those of art; the hunter's chase Has yielded to the exciting race Of speculative men.
Ah! what a change the pioneer In forty years has witnessed here; The country changing still; How many changes it's passed through- And we, old friends, are changing, too- There's been a change in me and you And still that change goes on.
And when we think upon the past, Those friends whose lots with us were cast On this once wild frontier, And pass them all in our review, As oftentimes in thought we do- Alas! how very few Are there remaining here.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
A few more years will come and go, As other years have done, you know; And then-ah! yes, what then ? The world will still be moving on; But we, whose cheeks are growing wan, Will not be here! We'll all be gone From out the ranks of men.
Our places will be vacant here, And of the last old pioneer The land will be bereft. The places which we here have filled, The fields which we have cleared and tilled,
Our barn, though empty or though filled, To others will be left.
Let us go back-in memory, go Back to the scenes of long ago, When we were blithe and young, When hope and expectation bright
Were buoyant, and our hearts were light;
And fancy, that delusive sprite, Her siren sonnets sung.
'Tis natural that we should think, While standing on the river brink, How wide the stream had grown.
We saw it when 'twas but a rill, Just bursting from the sunny hill, And now its surging waters fill A channel broad, unknown.
'Tis natural and proper, too, That we compare the old and new- The present and the past -- And speak of those old-fogy ways
In which we passed our younger days, Then of the many new displays That crowd upon us fast.
We little knew of railroads then, Nor dreamed of that near period when We'd drive the iron horse; And 'twould have made the gravest laugh Had he been told only one-half The wonders of the telegraph- Then in the brain of Morse.
We did not have machinery then, To sow and reap and thresh the grain, But all was done by hand; And those old-fashioned implements Have long ago been banished hence, Or rusting, lie inside the fence- No longer in demand.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
Yes, there are grown up men, I know, Who never saw a bull-tongue plow, A flail or reaping-hook; And who could not describe, you know, A swingling-board or knife, although Their grandmas used them long ago, And lessons on them took.
The young man now would be amused To see some things his grandsire used, Some things he ne'er had seen. The way in which we cleaned our wheat, When two strong men with blanket-sheet. Would winnow out the chaff and cheat, And twice or thrice the thing repeat, Until the grain was clean.
The single-shovel plow and hoe, To clean out weeds was all the show- We knew no better ways; And now our sons would laugh to scorn Such poky ways of making corn, And bless their stars that they were born In more enlightened days.
They say the world has wiser grown, They've got the speaking telephone- Talk hundred miles or more. And preachers now may preach and pray To congregations miles away ;
And thousand other things they say We never had before.
And yet I do not know but what The pioneer enjoyed his lot, And lived as much at ease, As men in these enlightened days With all the strange new-fangled ways The world of fashion now displays The mind of man to please.
'Tis true we did not live so fast, But socially our time was passed, Although our homes were mean. Our neighbors then were neighbors true, And every man his neighbor knew, Although those neighbors might be few And sometimes far between.
Ah! yes! old pioneers, I trow The world was brighter then than now To us gray-headed ones. Hope pointed us beyond the vale, And whispered us a fairy tale Of coming pleasures ne'er to fail Through all the shining suns.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
Ambition, too, with smile so soft, Was pointing us to scats aloft, Where fame and honor last. We had not learned what now we know- The higher up the mount we go The storms of life still fiercer blow, And colder is the blast.
That though we reach the mountain top; Fruition find of every hope, Or wear the victor's crown; Though far above the clouds we tread, Other clouds there are still o'erhead, And on the mind there is the dread, The dread of coming down.
Ah! yes! Old Settlers, one and all, Whatever may us yet befall, We will not, can't forget, The simple, old-fashioned plan,
The routes in which our fathers ran
Before the age of steam began To run the world in debt.
And while we talk upon the past, Of friends who are dropping off so fast, And those already gone, It may not be, my friends, amiss For each of us to think of this- The curtain of forgetfulness Will soon be o'er us drawn.
The mind goes back through all the years- We call to mind the pioneers, Those bold and hardy men; We pass them in the mind's review, The many dead, the living few. Those unpretending settlers who Were our compatriots then.
Men who of toil were not afraid, Men who the early history made Of this now famous land; The men who ere the Mormons came, This heritage so fair to claim, Were here, prepared through flood and flame Those claimants to withstand.
But time would fail to speak of all Those changes that our minds recall; The world is shifting strange, And soon its shifting scenes will bear The last old pioneer to where His lost an loved companions are, Low in the silent grave.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
But ere, my friends, we hence embark,
We fain would place some lasting mark Upon this mountain shore, A mark the traveler may see In coming years and know that we
Have lived and passed the road that he May then be passing o'er.
When death's dark curtain shall be drawn And we old pioneers are gone, Let truthful history tell
To far posterity the tale,
As down the stream of time they sail,
How we with motto "never fail" Came here and what befell.
Let history then impartial state The incidents of every date, And that it so may do,
Let pioneers of every age
In this important work engage,
And each of them produce his page, His page of history true.
The incidents of early years, Known only to the pioneers, With them will soon be lost,
Unless, before they hither go,
Those incidents are stated so
Posterity the facts may know, When they the stream have crossed.
CHAPTER III.
GRUNDY COUNTY ORGANIZED, 1841 TO 1849.
Metes and Bounds-First Elections-First Road-School Lands-First School Organization -- Township Boundaries-County Organization-Hon. Felix Grundy-First Sheriff- County Justices-First Circuit Court-County Seat Imbroglio-Writ of Error -- Elec- tion County Officers-New Court-house-First Deed-Stray Notices-Original Town- ships-Mexican War-Freeman of Color-Naturalization-In Court.
"Lift we the twilight curtains of the past And, turning from familiar sight and sound, Sad and full of reverence let us cast A glance upon Tradition's shadowy ground Led by the few pale lights which, glimmering round That dim, strange land of Eld, seem dying fast."
FIRST METES AND BOUNDS.
As it is well known that Grundy county was formerly a part of Livings-
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
ton county, and that this latter county included not only the present ter- ritory of Grundy, but of Mercer also, running to the Iowa State line, it is necessary to go back to 1837 to find what Grundy county was supposed to represent at the time Livingston county itself was organized and her boun- daries defined, which was in 1837, and the territory now Grundy and Mercer counties was included in her civil jurisdiction until 1841, when the legislature passed a bill organizing Grundy county and placing the terri- tory now known as Mercer county under the civil jurisdiction of Grundy.
On the organization of Livingston county in 1837, the county court of that county divided all the territory north of her north line between two townships. The order of the county court which was held April 7, 1837, reads as follows:
" By the order of court all the territory north of Livingston county is to be divided into two townships. All east of the East Fork be known by the name of Muddy Creek township, all west of the East Fork be known as Sugar Creek township."
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