USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > The history of Buchanan County, Missouri > Part 13
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 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
Benjamin Sampson and his brother, John, came to Bloomington Township in 1838. Sampson's Mill is now owned by Henry, a son of John Sampson.
Abraham and William Womack settled here in 1838, on the farm now owned by Thomas Hill and Ennis Burns, in 1840.
William Fountaine and Rice McCubbin were also early settlers. Rice McCubbin now resides in Kansas. Fountaine died before the war. His widow still survives, and is the wife of P. R. King.
The first store within the limits of the township was opened by Hol- land Jones and Joel Hedgpeth, on the quarter section now owned and occupied by J. H. Piles, and adjoining on the east, in 1837. It was, as may be supposed, a small affair, at that early day. The second store was kept by James G. Finch.
John Dairs, a native of Virginia, was the first man to distill whisky in the township, prior to 1843. He died on his way to California, and his remains were brought back and buried in DeKalb.
Archibald Stewart is believed to have been the first preacher to exercise his calling in the township. He preached his first sermon under
125
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
a buckeye tree, on Sugar Creek, three miles south of DeKalb, thus liter- ally bearing testimony to the truth of the lines :
' The groves were God's first temples."
This was in 1839. His church was called the New Light, now the Chris- tian Church.
The first building erected and used in the township exclusively for church purposes was a log house, near the above mentioned tree, on Sugar Creek. It was built in 1839, by the Hard-Shell Baptists. This has long since disappeared.
The first camp-meeting held in the township was in 1842, near the site of Valley Chapel school house. The second was held in 1847, a half a mile below Martin's old mill.
The last camp meeting was held in 1855, near the same spot.
The first mill was built in Bloomington Township, in 1838, by Stephen Field, who came in 1837. It was a horse mill, three miles from DeKalb, and took all night to grind two bushels of meal. The second mill erected in the township was a water power, owned by General John T. Martin, who afterwards converted it into a steam mill. It was located on Sugar Creek and has long since disappeared.
In 1865-66 J. H. and B. Sampson erected a flouring mill on Contrary Creek, two miles northeast of DeKalb. It turned two runs of burrs ; attached to this was a small saw mill. J. H. Sampson, Sr., also owns and operates a steam saw mill one and a half miles northeast of DeKalb.
The first marriage in Bloomington Township occurred July, 1839. The parties were James Bryant and Rosa Davis, a daughter of Mrs. Sally Davis, who died, as before stated, in 1873. The ceremony was per- formed by Hiram Roberts, Esq. It was a runaway match.
Judge Cornelius Roberts, brother of Hiram Roberts, Esq., settled in Bloomington Township at a very early day, in 1837, and still resides within three miles of DeKalb. Judge Roberts was fourteen years on the county bench, twice by appointment and twice by election, and was legislated out of office by the adoption of the Drake constitution. He is the second person who received the contract for keeping the county poor, his bid being the lowest.
Major Thomas Christopher, formerly a prominent citizen of Bloom- ington Township, now resides in St. Joseph.
Judge J. P. Pettigrew, now operating Sampson's mill, near DeKalb, came from Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and settled in the southwest corner of the county in 1839. He first worked at the carpenter's trade twelve years, and then, with John T. Martin, operated a grist mill on Sugar Creek. He was elected captain of militia in 1840, was justice of the peace of the township, holding the position for twelve years, was
I26
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
appointed county judge in 1864, and elected probate judge in 1870. He was at one time postmaster of DeKalb.
P. R. King, another old citizen of this township, came, in 1840, from Montgomery County, Missouri. He worked at the tailor business in 1848, when he put up a saw and carding machine which was run by horse and ox power. He was afterwards a merchant in DeKalb, Atch- ison, Kansas, and some years after the war returned again to DeKalb, where he now resides.
SETTLEMENT OF CENTRE TOWNSHIP.
Among the first settlers of Centre Township was Richard Hill, who, in the fall of 1837, settled in the immediate vicinity of the subsequent town of Sparta. By act of the General Assembly of Missouri, his house was designated as the place where the first courts of the county should be held, until otherwise ordered by the county court. The county court was held at his residence until after April, 1841. At their July term, 1840, the county court made the following order for Mr. Hill's benefit : "Ordered, that Richard Hill be allowed sixteen dollars out of any money in the county treasury, appropriated for county expenditures, for room furnished the county court, including this term of the court."
At the same term we also find the following :
"Ordered, that the house of Richard Hill be the place of holding elections in Centre Township."
Robert Duncan settled east of Sparta in 1839.
William Hunter settled east of Sparta in 1839.
Andrew J. Hunter located in the same neighborhood in 1839.
John Richey came to Centre Township also in 1839, and was shortly after his coming made a justice of the peace. Mr. Richey was appointed allotting justice, by the county court, in 1840, of Noble Town- ship, which included a portion of Centre Township at that date.
About the same time (1839) came James Donovan, of Augusta, Ken- tucky, John Hill, Samuel Hill and Joseph Hill, and settled near the town of Sparta.
Captain William Fowler moved to Sparta from Crawford Township, after the location there of the county seat, and afterwards removed with county seat again to St. Joseph.
General B. F. Loan, Governor W. P. Hall, General James B. Gar- denhire, Judge Henry M. Vories, Judge Wm. B. Almond and General J. M. Bassett (whom we have mentioned elsewhere in this history) located in Sparta, between 1840 and 1845, and came to St. Joseph, after the removal of the county seat, in 1846.
Among the early settlers in this township were : Jesse Reames, Zachariah Waller, Elijah W. Smith, Lucas Dawson, John Croy.
127
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
Along the line of bluffs in the western part of the township, John Martin settled in 1837, seven miles south of St. Joseph. When he first came to that locality his log house was the first south of Robidoux's, in following the line of the bluffs.
Thomas Moore made a settlement in 1837, one mile south of Mar- tin's.
Wm. Farris settled in the southeast part of the township in 1840, on the farm where his son, N. B. Farris now lives. He came from Indiana.
George Raney came to the township from Indiana.
H. G. Gordan settled in the township in 1842.
James Woodward and Robert Donnell, now a banker, of New York, came at an early day.
Evan Jordan located in the southern part of the township.
Ransom Ridge was an early settler.
Martin Hiroch is an old settler, living in the same neighborhood with Moore.
Coates settled in 1840, the place where George Hirsch now resides.
Joseph Mathers and his brother-in-law, Oman Miller, were the first settlers to improve section 35, who settled there in 1842.
On section 23, a man named Spratt had a farm at an early day, and a man by the name of Pell a wagon shop.
Samuel McCauley, one of the leading men of the township, settled here in 1840, improving section 34. He was from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The Ganns are also early settlers of the township.
William C. Connett, father of William C., Squire S. and Horace F. Connett, settled here in March, 1839, where the residence of the sons now is. He came from Lexington, Kentucky. The Connetts have been engaged in pork packing since 1850. Steam was brought into requisi- tion in their establishment in 1870; the works have been enlarged from that date and a large business is now carried on.
John Copeland settled on section 22 in 1840. Mr. Copeland died in 1873.
The Gazette, in noticing his death, says :
"On last Saturday morning, December 13, 1873, at 9 o'clock, at Agency, departed this life, Mr. John Copeland, at the wonderful age of one hundred and five years. A life begun before the American revolu- tion and extending over a century, the most important and eventful in the world's history, is something so remarkable as to arrest our atten- tion. John Copeland was born in North Carolina, in 1768. In 1829 he moved from the place of his birth, then at the age of sixty years, to Ten- nessee, where he lived till 1840. In 1840 he moved to Missouri, and settled at Old Sparta, in Buchanan County, then the county-seat. For the last thirty years he has made his home in this county.
"Mr. Copeland, as would be inferred, had a remarkable constitution. For three-quarters of a century he was a man of splendid physical powers ;
128
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
and, indeed, remained in excellent health, in possession of all his facul- ties, mental and physical-except only his eye-sight-till the day of his- death. He complained of no pain, and fell from no disease. His was lit- erally a death from old age.
"In 1868, in the hundredth year of his age, Mr. Copeland professed religion, and united with the Baptist Church at Sparta, and was baptized by Elder J. W. Waller, of Agency, since which time he has been a devoted Christian. Mr. Copeland had ten children, and his descendants are very numerous. His sons have been among the best known of the citizens of the Northwest for a quarter of a century. Mr. Abner Cope- land, one of the most respected and useful citizens of this county, is a son of the deceased patriarch, and watched with deep affection the clos- ing years of his father's life.
"Mr. Copeland's remains were followed to the grave by a numerous concourse of friends, and the last sad rites were touchingly and affection- ately performed by those among whom his long life had closed in peace and hope."
The old county-seat of Buchanan County-Sparta-stood on the present farm of Samuel McCauley. The county-seat was located there in 1840, and six years afterward removed to St. Joseph. It was only a small town when at the zenith of its prosperity, and after the removal of the seat of justice, it died a natural death, and the site has since been abandoned. The plat of the town was recorded in December, 1840, and the place was doubtless intended by those interested in it to become a populous and important town. Its streets were named Harrison, Main, Walnut, Cherry, Cedar, Chesnut, Market, Vine, Olive, Prune and Hazel, and ample provision made for its prosperous growth.
Sparta had a brief existence, a short life of six years, during which time it was the county-seat of Buchanan County.
Judge Robert Duncan was also an early settler, locating in Sparta after the location of the county-seat. He built in the town a hotel, a frame building, which is now occupied by Samuel McCauley. Judge Duncan was one of the county judges of Buchanan County, and removed to St. Joseph, where he died in 185 -.
The old Sparta graveyard was started in 1842, and the first person to be buried in it was a man named Whittle. Whittle was an overbear- ing, vindictive ruffian, and was a terror to the community where he lived. He was killed in 1842 by one Gillett, a peaceable and quiet citizen.
Gillett happened to come into Sparta one day, riding a good horse, when Whittle, who was sitting in front of a dry-goods store, got up, went to Gillett's horse, cut off his tail and threw it in Gillett's face. Gillett borrowed a pistol from one of the citizens and shot Whittle, who fell in the street, while pursuing Gillett, after he had been shot. The demise of Whittle was the occasion of great rejoicing among his acquaintances. Gillett left the country and was never seen afterward.
129
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
SETTLEMENT OF RUSH TOWNSHIP.
Among the early settlers of Rush Township, now living, is William Allison, who came and located in the township before the county was surveyed, in 1837. .
John H. Allison came in 1837.
James Canter also located here in 1837.
John Seips came in 1839.
Eli Seips in 1839.
Mitchell Owen in 1839.
In the same year John Utt and Black Hawk Smith, an officer in the Black Hawk war, settled in the bottom opposite to Doniphan, Kansas. Colonel Wells immigrated at an early day to this township and died a few years since at the advanced age of eighty years. Colonel Wells raised a company and served in the Confederate army during the war.
Henry Hays and Sylvester Hays settled here in 1839, also Morris Baker and James Carpenter, who sold his farm to Burgess Elliott about the year 1841.
The first settler on the quarter section including the town site of the town of Rushville, was John Flannery, who came in 1839. He after- wards sold out to Perman Hudson and James Leachman, who laid out the town of Rushville, in 1847. The first man who distilled whiskey in Rush Township was Anthony Graves. This was in 1839. His distillery was near the present site of Rushville. He is now living in Nodaway County, at the age of eighty years.
The first mill in the township was put up by Flannery & Son. It was a log house on the waters of Lost Creek, which supplied the power for one small run of burrs. This was in 1840. This has long been num- bered with the things of the past.
About the same period (1840) Sylvester Hays, commonly known as " Boss Hays." before Rushville was laid out, and when Flannery & Son had their mill, also operated a small corn mill and distillery.
The first sermon preached in Rush Township was by Rev. J. R. Lowe, a Hard-Shell Baptist, in 1843.
In the same year the first marriage was performed in the township by the same minister. The contracting parties were James D. Buntin and Ursula Flannery, daughter of John Flannery, above referred to. The groom has long since been dead, but the bride still lives in the neighborhood of Rushville.
James Leachman was the first postmaster, in 1851, of the township. his office being known as Leachman's postoffice. He was succeeded by William Green, who in turn was succeeded by Alexander McPherson, who served till 1854, when James R. Dickson received the appointment. Mr. Dickson has been a prominent merchant of Rushville. He is one of
130
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
the old citizens. In 1855 Esquire Elijah Watson, from Kentucky, suc- ceeded Mr. Dickson as postmaster. He has held the office uninterrupt- edly ever since.
Rush Township has been, at different times, the seat of some excel- lent flouring mills.
In 1868-69. M. H. and S. F Floyd put up a spacious and well- appointed mill : a strong frame on stone foundations ; two runs of burrs and superior machinery. It burnt down in 1873. A. Fenton and James H. Canter own at present the steam flouring mill. built in 1875 by Esquire McFarland. It is furnished with two runs of burrs. The mill is leased by J. H. Rankin, who now (1881) operates it.
SETTLEMENT OF AGENCY TOWNSHIP.
About the first settlements in what is now known as Agency Town- ship were James Gilmore and his brother Robert, who located here in 1837. They were natives of East Tennessee, and settled first in Clay County, Missouri. Robert Gilmore, when coming to Buchanan County, located on section 29. township 56. range 34. He was the father of James J. Gilmore, now living at Agency, and brother of James Gilmore, who lived in the Platte country, as blacksmith for the Iowa and Sac Indians, long before it was settled by the whites. James Gilmore com- pleted what was known as Dixon's Mill, two and a half miles above Agency, on the Platte River. Of this mill scarcely a vestige now remains. Its builder. Mr. Dixon, was from Maryland. James Gilmore died in Oregon : was the father of James J. Gilmore, who is now a prom- inent farmer of the township.
James J. Reynolds came from Clay County in 1838, and settled near the Agency.
Samuel Poteete settled the farm where James J. Gilmore now lives. He was originally from Tennessee, and located here in 1837.
Wm. McDowell, from Clay County, came in the spring of 1837, and lived near Agency till his death, which occurred in 1874.
Jacob Reese, a native of North Carolina, reached the county about the year 1838. and settled on Pigeon Creek. The farm which Mr. Reese occupies is the oldest farm in the county, being opened up ten or twelve years before the settlement of the county by the whites.
Benjamin Moore, from Virginia, settled on Pigeon Creek.
Littleberry Estes settled on Pigeon Creek.
Moore was the first postmaster in that part of the county and kept the post office, which was called Walnut Hill.
John McGanhey came from Indiana, in the summer of 1839, and located one and a half miles south of Agency.
Bright Martin first settled the farm of M. W. Farris, on section 31.
131
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
John Lamb settled on the Platte, just north of the Jackson County line, in 1839. He died en route to California.
The first mill on Platte River, in Buchanan County, was Dickson's Mill, which stood two and a half miles above Agency. It was built by Benjamin and James Dickson, and James Gilmore, and was constructed in 1838.
Richard Fulton was one of the early settlers.
The location on which the town of Agency now stands was from the earliest settlement of the county known as Agency Ford. In 1838 or '39, Robert Gilmore established a ferry, which he operated till the year 1865, when William B. Smith, the founder of the town, purchased a large flat boat, which he hauled from the Missouri River at St. Joseph, by means of ox-teams, and established his ferry across the Platte at Agency. The building of a wagon bridge across the river at this point in 1868, ended the necessity for a ferry, which was then discontinued. . There is at present an iron wagon bridge at this point, built on the abutments of the old bridge which had been condemned. A few hundred yards above this is the bridge across the Platte, of what is now a branch of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad, built in 1869.
At this time (1881), a substantial wagon bridge is being constructed across Pigeon Creek, half a mile north of the town of Agency, on the old State road. David Yates, a prominent merchant of the town, was drowned here in 1879.
The town of Agency was founded in 1865 by William B. Smith, and during the following year his father, Hugh Smith, sold his farm, on which was the town site of the original town of Sparta, and established himself also here.
The town, after being laid out by Mr. Smith, continued to grow until 1869, when the completion of the branch of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad, gave a new impetus to business of all kinds. In 1864, Smith Bros. completed the building of a mill at Agency. In 1868 and '69, R. R. Boone became the sole proprietor. In 1878, he sold a half interest to his son-in-law, E. M. Yates. Since that date several improvements have been added to the mill, which now has a grinding capacity of three hundred bushels of wheat per day, producing an excel- lent quality of flour.
V. C. Cooley's mill is located on Platte River, three miles southeast of Agency. It has three runs of burrs, is supplied with Anderson's steam heater, and has a capacity for grinding six thousand pounds of flour daily.
One of the first sermons preached within the limits of the township was delivered by Bishop Marvin, in a log cabin called the "Wood" school house.
One of the earliest postmasters of Agency was Benjamin Moore.
132
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
J. B. Hollingsworth, a justice of the peace of the attached part of Centre Township, by the erection of Agency Township, became the first justice of the peace of the new township. W. H. Ritchie was the first constable, and Susan M. Holland was commissioned the first notary public.
General Andrew S. Hughes, of whom we have spoken elsewhere, was Indian Agent, stationed at Agency Ford for several years.
SETTLEMENT OF MARION TOWNSHIP.
Marion Township, from the fact that the territory embraced within its limits occupied the northeastern part of the county, was not so rap- idly or thickly settled as the southern portion.
The first settlers generally occupied that portion of the county lying contiguous to the line of Clinton County.
Calvin James was one of the earliest settlers of Marion Township. He came from some one of the older settled counties of Missouri, and located near the town of Easton in 1837, and still resides in the town- ship.
Benjamin Cornelius, from Clay, came in 1837 and settled on section 15, township 57, range 34. When he located here his nearest neighbor was four miles distant.
Peter Boyer, the father of Jacob and Henry Boyer, who lived on Third Fork, settled the place now owned by Isaac Gibson. Mr. Boyer was from Pennsylvania.
James Blakely settled on section 22, township 57, range 34, and came to the county from Kentucky, in 1838.
Thomas McGowan came in 1838 and settled south of Mr. Blakely.
Jesse Clark arrived in 1838, originally from Tennessee, but came from Clay County to Buchanan.
Barnes Clark came the same year, being also from Tennessee, and at the time of his location here from Clay. The Clarks are still living in the township.
The Markers, from Ohio, settled about a mile and a half west of the Third Fork, at an early date.
Caleb Hasenmeyer, who was also from Ohio, was among the early German settlers in the township, coming about the same time that the Markers came.
John Ledgerwood came from Clay County in 1839, and made a set- tlement on the east side of Platte River.
Nicholas Roberts located in the township in the spring of 1838, on , land now owned by E. V. Kelly.
James Roberts settled here also in 1838, on the place now occupied by Monroe McCorkle. They were from Clay County.
.
I33
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
James McCorkle, from Clay County, settled in the forks of Platte and Third Fork, in the spring of 1838, on land now owned by Jesse A. Clark.
George Rapp was also an early settler.
- Dougherty was the first settler of the school section (16) of -
township 57, range 34. He left the country soon afterward.
Joseph Kessler, who lives in the vicinity of Easton, was one of the first German settlers.
Among others who came at an early day, we have the names of John Wunderlich; Wolfgang Beck; John Slaybaugh, from Pennsylvania ; David Davis, from Ohio; Dr. John Minor, from Kentucky ; John Davis, brother of David, from Ohio; Isaac Gibson, from Missouri ; Isaac Voo- hies; William P. Shortridge, from Kentucky; Augustus Wiley and James Wiley.
SETTLEMENT OF WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
Peter Price was one of the earliest settlers in Wayne Township. He came in 1837, and located where Thomas Leisure now lives.
James M. Hawley, from Indiana, settled here in 1839 ..
Stephen Hawley, also from Indiana, came in 1839.
Isaac Lower, from Tennessee, came in 1837.
William Jones settled where his sons, Levi and Frank Jones, now reside.
William Dunning settled in the township in 1839, ten miles south of St. Joseph. He was born in Guilford, North Carolina, in 1794; served through the war of 1812; married in Tennessee in 1821, and moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where he filled several important offices, among which was that of Associate Justice for the period of eight years. He was appointed Judge of the County Court of Buchanan County in 1842, and continued thereafter to fill the position by election for fourteen years. He resigned in 1862, and died in 1879, at the advanced age of eighty years.
Daniel Devorss, a native of Ohio, but who came to Missouri from Indiana, was an early settler of the township.
Henson Devorss became a resident of the northeast corner of the township in 1846, and for three years previously had lived in Washing- ton Township.
SETTLEMENT OF LAKE TOWNSHIP.
Lake is the smallest township in the county. The early settlers were mostly from Bartholomew County, Indiana.
William McHammer came to this township in the spring of 1841.
Henry Sibert, father of the wife of Isaac L. Peck, arrived in the fall of 1841.
134
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
Nathaniel Wilson, father of John Wilson, came the same year.
William McGalliard came in 1841.
James McKinney in 1841.
John McGalliard in 1841.
James McGalliard in 1841.
Thomas McGalliard in 1841.
James Wilson in 1841.
Eli Gabbert in 1841.
The above named settlers came from Indiana, Bartholomew County.
In 1844 the township was flooded, and also in 1881, the population having to move to the bluffs.
James L. Peck, one of the prominent citizens of the township, is a native of New York, and has been a resident of the township since 185 1.
SETTLEMENT OF TREMONT TOWNSHIP.
The Rock House Prairie, in the southern part of this township, was so, named from the following circumstances: While the Indians still occupied the county, the route traveled between Clay County and the Indian Agency, near Agency Ford, after crossing the Platte River, led across the prairie. On a rocky point of ground, near the residence of Ransom Ridge, the Indians had erected a huge pile of stones, shaped as much as possible in the form of a house. This was known as the Rock House. It stood directly on the road traveled from Agency Ford to Liberty, Clay County, and attracted the attention of every white man who traversed that region, and from this fact, at an early date, the prairie came to be called the Rock House Prairie.
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.