The History of Jackson county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Jackson county in the late warhistory of Missouri, map of Jackson county, Part 20

Author: Union Historical Company
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Kansas City, Mo. : Union historical company
Number of Pages: 1068

USA > Missouri > Jackson County > The History of Jackson county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Jackson county in the late warhistory of Missouri, map of Jackson county > Part 20

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" But it has been beautifully said that ' there is no night without a morning.' After four years of scourging the hand of a beneficent Providence was reached down and the blackened cloud at least partially removed, and as we gazed upward we behold once more the glorious sun of liberty peeping through its crevices. But, alas, its first rays fell upon an impoverished, ruined, but thank Heaven, not a down cast or dispirited people. The highest type of manhood is seen, the noblest feats of heroism are performed, not in the full blaze of prosperity when all goes well, but in the deep, dark hour of adversity when the man is crushed to the very earth, but when like eternal truth he rises again, shakes off the dust of oppression and prepares to regain his fortunes and vindicate himself in the eyes of the world. Such, without the slightestreference to either contending party, are the evidences of manhood which have been portrayed, and the deeds of heroism which have been achieved under the most trying circumstances in the noble old county of Jackson. They are mentioned not in the effort to recall any unpleasant remembrance or to awake in any breast the bitter feeling of the war. but because I conceive that that there is to be found in the history of those times the crowning glories of many of our Old Settlers, and because by this just comparison we can then see the hardships they have endured and the obstacles they have overcome in the progress of the last ten years. I mention it, because I know at least one young man who is proud that it was not his lot to be reared in the sickly lap of luxury, but that he was called upon to share the necessity and watch the bright examples of just such a race of heroes. No, far be it from me, to attempt to throw an apple of discord into an assembly like this, for even this morning I have beheld if possible a still grander exhibition of Christian manhood than the one just mentioned, in that, I have seen the conquered and the conqueror ' clasp hands across the bloody chasm,' and that hardest of all divine injunctions, 'forgive thine enemies,' beautifully and practically illustrated.

"To-day, as we look around us, instead of beholding a howling wilderness we see a land of prosperity and plenty, and can count over the teeming thousands of the second county in the great State of Missouri. In ten short years by a series of triumphant progress almost unprecedented in the history of nations, we have emerged from the desolation of war, and now with a population of more than 60,000 inhabitants stand out to the gaze of an admiring world a little empire within ourselves, larger and stronger than the petty republics of ancient Greece, the primitive cradle of the liberties we now enjoy. Agriculture, science and all the peaceful arts again flourish in our midst, whilst upon our western border, on the banks and commanding the commerce of the valley of what is really "the father of waters," there rises upon a thousand hills a bustling growing metropolis that one day bids fair to bring the blush of shame to the cheek of ancient Rome,

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

as she sat upon only seven hills, on the banks of the classic but insignificant Tiber. Whatever else may be said, harmony is again restored, the sweets of peace are again within our fruition, the olive branch again blooms upon the grave of the past, and even though a gauzy cloud may now and then bedim our sky, let us look forward with hope to a bright future, and once more in the pure atmosphere of free, open, independent thought and action, look up and thank the Giver of all Mercies that ours is indeed the citizenship of the "land of the brave and the home of the free."

" Although your patience has been already put to a much severer trial than was anticipated, you must be kind enough to permit me, in conclusion, to apy a passing tribute to what is doubtless far the noblest reflection suggested by an occa- sion like this, for otherwise I should feel that I had come infinitely short of my duty, and fallen far below the dignity of this hour. There are those nice, flip- pant, airy, modernized ones, who have doubtless sneeringly called this " the meet- ing of the old fogies." Old fogy ! I must confess that, to me, there is something noble in the term. They possess a god-like element of character, which, to our reproach be it said, seems now to have almost gone out of date-in a lax, vacil- lating, degenerate age-you always know just where to find them! See you yonder mountain, firmly planted in its base ? It may not be covered with a particle of moss, nor be decked with the green foliage of herbs and trees; it may not be decorated with all the fantastic lattice-work and ginger-bread of modern civiliza- tion ; but there in its native, unadorned simplicity it stands; and all the storms and tempests of heaven may come and beat against it, but there it remains, un- moved and unshaken. Thus have I seen what you, call the old fogy stand; and, though the billows of error beat against him, the machinations of men assailed him, and the whips of parties cracked around him, he stood there, and all the powers of earth and hell combined, couldn't move him. To come plainly to the point, as I here gaze down into the wrinkled faces of the sires of a former gener- ation, I am reminded of those time-honored, immutable, glorious principles of our government, handed down to us, bedewed with tears, hallowed by the prayers and stained in the blood of our forefathers, and of which to our shame be it con- fessed, we are too often the ungrateful recipients.' I am reminded that there was a time in the history of this nation, when all the miserable sham and deceit, and wire-working and trickery of policy and party were unknown, and when men planted themselves upon eternal principle ; a time when there were "giants in the land" who had but one heart, one purpose, one country, one God; a time when rulers ruled not for sordid pelf alone; when patriots struggled not for ambi- tion, but for the good of their race and when we stood out not a " bye-word and hissing " to the nations, but the wonder and admiration of the world. How, if I had time, could I dwell upon so delightful a theme ! How could I wish for my country a return of those happy days! Oh, how I could pray heaven for the gift to my own lax times of a few such immortal men ; men who would dare to stand at the post of honor, men who lived not for themselves. but for others ; men who cared not for majorities; men who, in the midst of threats, and scorns, and ridicule, would not be afraid to do their duty ; men who stand like mighty invincible rocks, and roll back the tide of error and iniquity that now engulf the land. Would to God that I had an archangel's voice, for louder than ten thun - ders, would I sound it out through the length and breadth of this fair land, call- ing the young men to action, calling them away from the giddy whirl of modern life, to a just appreciation of the sacred trusts committed to their care. My fel- low comrades, ye who hear me now, gather around, and here behold in the per- son of our fathers, the embodiment of that which is really substantial and sub- lime. Here contemplate types of grander proportions and more unfading beauty than ever yet the painter drew upon the glowing canvass, or the "Grecian chisel awoke from out the sleeping marble." Here let us come to emulate their exam-

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ples, and, like so many solar stars, place them high in the northern sky, and while the way is still lighted up, by the aurora borealis of their own effulgent lives, press onward to the attainment of their virtues. Yes, as valiant soldiers, let us come and take our places in the ranks of war, with the few battle-scarred veterans who still remain with us as our standard-bearers; and when amid the roar and smoke of the mighty contest, the tattered ensigns shall drop from their trembling hands, let us catch them as they fall, and bear them on to victory or to death.

"I am happy that my poo: effort on this occasion is now to receive a response from just the kind of a man I have attempted to describe-the living portrayer of those independent traits and graces which we are all bound to love and admire- a man who always reminds me of an inexorable old Roman soldier at his post; a man who would not turn aside from the path of duty were all the execrable shapes of the infernal world to impede his progress ; a man, who, in America's second but darkest hour of affliction, like the immortal Lafayette, threw aside his own self-interest, overcame the power of prejudice and maganimously and defiant- ly bared his breast to the tyrant's bolt, in the cause of the oppressed. Let me assure you, sir, you have your reward. So long as there breathes a disinterested patriot's soul on Missouri soil ; so long as the undying artist may perpetuate his genius on the painted canvas; so long as there lives a tongue to lisp the name of the true and brave ; just so long shall you dwell in the fond memory of thousands ; just so long shall your unfading productions embellish the walls of our habitations, and just so long shall the voices of an admiring people dwell with delightful rapture on the name of George C. Bingham."

At the conclusion of W. H. Wallace's remarks the next speaker was General George C. Bingham. His response was as follows :

" In responding to the kind, considerate and eloquent address, which as a rep- resentative of the young men of this portion of the State, you have delivered to your gray-haired seniors of the same se tion, who in accordance with their annual custom, are here assembled, I state but the truth in affirming, that I feel myself but poorly qualified to meet the just demands of the occasion.

THE REMINISCENCES

growing out of the trials and struggles of the past-its successes, reverses, tri- umphs and defeats-constitute the history with which they are associated. This, so far as it relates to them, must soon reach its last chapter and last page, thence. forward to be laid on the shelf, to form a portion of those annals which give to each succeeding generation the experience and garnered thought of its predeces- sors ; tending thus to make the sons wiser than the fathers, and by so doing, force onward and upward that march of human progress, the measured step of which, we have reason to believe will continue with accelerated pace when our mortality shall put on immortality, and the temporary sleep of the grave give place to the ceaseless activity of an endless life.

ON THE OTHER HAND

those whom you represent have but recently entered upon the stage of active life. Your history is yet to be made. How its fair and uninscribed pages are to be filled up, whether they shall exhibit a record of manly and patriotic deeds, of ill- directed and abortive efforts, or worse still, be blurred with transactions such as disfigure the sad and dark portion of the history of our tempted and erring race, are matters which yet belong to the unknown, and which the future only can reveal.

" Men who have supposed themselves drowning, and thus perishing without disease in the vigor of manhood, have testified, that all the transactions of their lives, both good and bad, passed in review before them in that brief and terrible moment.

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

" It is well known that very aged men, in the act of throwing off the wornout habiliments of this life, have frequently imagined that they were school-boys again, conning over their lessons, or sporting on the lawn with the associates of their childhood. It seems indeed to be

A LAW OF OUR NATURE

that impels us, as we approach the end of our earthly pilgrimage, to look back and survey the route over which we have traveled, recount the adventures and dangers, the mishaps and successes which have marked our journey, and by the blessed faculty of memory, with which we are so highly endowed, walk amidst the scenes, and enjoy anew the society of long-buried companions of our early life.

" Those of us who have chalked down our three score years, and our still more advanced and more venerable associates, have but little more to anticipate in our earthly future. The hopes which gave energy and elasticity to our movements in our younger days, can impel our sluggish blood no longer. They have either perished beneath the relentless tread of a harsh experience, or been realized by a reasonable fruition. They have nothing further to promise us in the brief space that intervenes between us and the terminus to which we are ticketed, and which marks the finale of all sublunary desires and expectation.

" But it is far different with you, and those whom you so creditably represent upon the present occasion. All that now appears to you is tinged with the roseate hues of the morning.

" From our own early experience we can safely venture the assertion that the active fancy of yourself, and of each of your young associates, is daily teeming with plans and purposes looking to the future, and abounding in promises of rich re- sults, all seemingly assured to your yet inexperienced minds by the cheering fal- lacies of hope. Some of you have diligently qualified yourselves for the learned professions, and expect to achieve wealth and distinction therein.

HONORS AND EMOLUMENTS.

" The tempting bait of official position which inspires alike the low craft of the politician, and the nobler ambition of the statesman, may reasonably be sup- posed to obtrude itself occasionally in the prospect which lies open before you. This is as it should be. Such aspirations are in complete harmony with the great design of our being, and stimulate to exertion that period of human life most capable thereof. And although the result of individual exertions in myriads of cases may fall immeasurably short of the expectations which prompted them, it is, nevertheless, to human effort impelled by human aspirations that we are indebted for all those real, tangible and grand results which we now behold around us, and which confer the practical blessings of an advanced civilization on so many millions of the human race. Many of the most important and most wonderful of these results are to be credited to the genius, energy and perseverance of those whose surviving representatives and colaborers are to be seen in the venerable forms and time-scarred visages which are here assembled. Within the compara- tively brief period commencing with their birth, we shall scarcely go beyond the truth in affirming that more has been accomplished by man for the benefit and amelioration of his race than can be properly credited to the aggregated human effort of any preceding five hundred years. When they drew their first breath, the locomotive which draws the freight of nations over every quarter of our globe, had no existence even in the dreams of its immortal projector.

"The use of steam in propelling water craft was equally unknown, and had any one, at that period, predicted that the person was then living who would see the lightning of heaven subdued and put in harness by the genius of man, and its fiery speed utilized in transmitting instantaneous intelligence over every quarter of

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

the inhabited earth, he would have been regarded as the wildest visionary that ever merited quarters in a lunatic asylum. But these and other miracles of human invention equally wonderful-and all contributing to the advancement of our race -by no means transcend in importance the redemption from savage sway, and the opening to emigrants from all lands, of this vast western territory which we inhabit. For this service, the millions who are to succeed us, and whose ballots are destined to shape the future policy of our great republic, will not fail to give a due portion of credit to the hardy pioneer-"the old settler"-who boldly ven- tured beyond the confines of civilization, and by the stroke of his ax, or the crack of his rifle, first broke the silence of the primeval forest.

DANIEL BOONE

and his hardy and adventurous associates, and the old time-worn settlers who are here to-day, are as fully entitled to the gratitude of our coming generations as the statesmen who have given organic form to our republican institutions, the generals who have led our armies to victory, or the Morses, Fultons, and Stevensons who have enriched the world by their inventions. They have been leaders in a field which made leadership pre-eminently the position of hardship, danger and pri- vation, requiring the constant exercise of those qualities of the head and heart which form the elements of the hero. In the full vigor of early manhood, they tore themselves from the associations in which they were reared, and boldly ventured out into untrodden paths to make available to civilized man the locked- up wealth of a region whose products are now burthening the channels of com- merce, and feeding the hungry of distant lands. No discouragements were allowed to impede them in their perilous journeyings. Through malarious swamps and mountain passes, they pushed onward until their stakes were fixed on the virgin soil which was to be the future homes of themselves and children. Their unerring rifles furnished them the means of immediate subsistence. The ax and a few simple tools were all that they required in the construction of their primitive log cabins.

"These up, and affording shelter to their wives and little ones, the clearing and the cornfield next appeared. The golden grain gathered therefrom, and the porkers fattened thereon, soon secured them the well-known and substantial luxuries of frontier life. The dressed skins of the wild deer furnished the men and boys with outer garments, than which none could be better adapted to resist briers, brush, and the frosts of winter. The spinning wheel and the looms were set in motion in every cabin, and the fleece of a few sheep, and products of the flax or cotton patch were constantly being wrought by steady and dexterous female hands into shirts for the men and gowns for the women.

" Thus, without commerce or intercourse with the civilized world, from which . they had separated, each sparse settlement, formed by their location, became a self-sustaining community, supplying from its own unaided resources those essen- tial wants of life beyond which the temperate desires of its members seldom, or never extended.

"Against all assaults of the red men, banded together for their extermination, they heroically defended their infant settlements and successfully maintained their right to dwell upon and cultivate the soil which savage possession would have continued a perpetual wilderness. And it is this right to occupy and bring into use the unappropriated soil of the earth, thus bravely defended and maintained by our Old Settlers, which now constitutes the real basis of the title to every acre of land lying within the limits of our broad domain.

" It would be folly iu me here to attempt even a brief recital of their heroic deeds of self-sacrificing services in the cause of civilization. Many of them occupy a conspicuous place in the written history of their country. Others will

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

go down to posterity in traditions from father to son, and furnish material for the poet, novelist and painter for unnumbered years to come.

" Well merited, therefore, is the honor which you have so elegantly recognized as due to their venerable survivors who yet linger with us and give interest to this occasion by their presence. And when those of you have the good fortune to survive the dangers, accidents, and diseases which strew the journey of life with the wrecks of mortality. shall become the old men of Jackson county, and as such meet together as these venerable citizens now do, may your retropections be as pleasant and satisfactory as theirs, and a life of patriotic devotion, integ- rity and usefulness equally entitle you to the remembrance and gratitude of pos- terity."

FOLLOWING THIS

the Old Settlers of the county, sixty-four in number, formed in line and, headed by the band, marched in procession around the ring. This concluded and an hour of recess was allowed for dinner. Baskets filled with home food were hauled from their hiding places in the wagons, clean white cloths were spread upon the grass, gay couples ranged in order round the tables and the grounds fast assumed the look and shape of a real old-fashioned picnic.

After the sandwiches were disposed of the merry assembly was again called to order and

JACOB GREGGS, ESQ.,

of Sni-a-bar township, was introduced. He delivered a very interesting speech, giving a thorough history of Jackson county from its earliest settlement down to the present time.

The "early French settlers" of Jackson county called

DR. JOHNSTON LYKINS

to his feet. He spoke as follows :

" I was appointed to prepare for presentation to you on this occasion brief sketches of the early French settlers of Jackson county. For this service the notice was too short and unexpected, and urgent business intervening, I have been unable to do more than to get up a list of the names of those early and hardy comers to our pleasant county, and have to beg your indulgence for further time and opportunity for sketches which may appear in the papers.

" Almost forty-five years ago, almost in youth, with a young wife and child, I came to this region and found here the most lovely and fertile country-in its almost virgin state-to be found anywhere under the broad expanse of heaven. The best country, the best people, and let me say, the best wives, sisters and mothers in the world.

" Old Settlers and New, I rejoice to meet you here to-day, to shake hands and to wish you a prosperous and happy future.

" Reference was made by the eloquent young gentleman who, in behalf of a younger generation addressed us Old Settlers, to the days of the past, and here allow me to say that when the early pioneers took possession of this land, we found on its highways no stage coaches or daily mails, on its rivers no steamboats, no railroads, no telegraph lines, no steam power in use, no cities, no towns, no churches or school-houses, or improvements of any kind, save the rude and hasty structures prepared by our hardy and daring pioneers. In surrendering this, our noble charge, to you, a younger generation, to you young men before me, we do it with a mournful pleasure, because we are passing away. We pause to-day to recall with pleasure the remembrance of the wooed and cherished ones, the long list of our loved fellow pilgrims who sleep by the wayside of the past, and are admonished that our rest draws near. But in turning from you, perhaps never again to thus stand before you, I gladly and proudly point to a wilderness found by us nfty

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

years ago, now budding and blossoming as the rose, with exultant feelings of joy, to the great net-work of railroad everywhere bisecting our country ; to our multi- plied telegraph lines flashing intelligence to every land; to our cities, our towns, our stately churches, our palatial halls of education, our floating palaces, and that type of civilization, intelligence and refinement present and before me to-day-a land filled with arts, sciences and wealth. So have we, your sires, discharged our trust.

" Such is the charge we surrender, as one by one welie down to rest-a heri- tage-a land-the soil, the climate, the locality of which will compel this to become the cradle of the highest type of civilization, the center of the greatest activities, of commerce, the arts, sciences, and human progress, and from which shall go out a moral, religious and political power to bless the world."

An address was then delivered by

COL. R. T. VAN HORN, -

On the " Commercial Future of Jackson County."

In the meantime the judges had been busily engaged in receiving, taking down and counting the votes and names for the different prizes to be awarded. When completed they ran as follows :

For the oldest settler of Jackson county, an easy chair, value $21.50, which was awarded to Mrs. Pitcher.

The names of the contestants for this prize, together with the year in which they first became resident, are subjoined :

Mrs. Mary A. Pitcher, 1821.

Wilson Lewis, 1822.

Emanuel Bitter, 1823.

Mrs. Flora A. Gregg, 1823.

Col. James Lewis, 1825.

Mrs. Polly Lewis, 1825.

Jacob Gregg, 1825.

Henry Noland, 1825.

Mrs. Margaret Chambers, 1825.

James Chambers, 1826.

William Shepherd, 1826.

Silas Hudspeth, 1827.

Mrs. M. A. Irwin, 1827.

Sloper Adams, 1828.

Roliet Hudspeth, 1828.

Joel Hudspeth, 1828.

George Hudspeth, 1828.

Mrs. M. P. Bell, 1828.

Mrs. Mary Smart, 1829.

Abraham Coger, 1829.

Levi Potts, 1829.

Mrs. Tobithe Silvers, 1829.

Albert Vaughn, 1832.

Landes Stayton, 1833. Mrs. Michael Rice, 1835.

For parent or parents of greatest number of children born in Jackson county, silver pitcher, goblet and waiter, value $41. The contestants were few, as fol- lows, David Daily carrying off the prize : David Daily, 22. Nelson Warren, 20.

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The History of Jackson county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Jackson county in the late warhistory of Missouri, map of Jackson county, Part 20

Author: Union Historical Company Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Kansas City, Mo. : Union historical company Number of Pages: 1068

Author: Union Historical Company
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Kansas City, Mo. : Union historical company
Number of Pages: 1068