USA > Missouri > Johnson County > The history of Johnson County, Missouri : including a reliable history of the townships, cities, and towns, together with a map of the county; a condensed history of Missouri; the state constitution; an abstract of the most important laws etc > Part 21
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DESCENTS AND DISTRIBUTIONS.
Property, real and personal, subject to the payment of debts, and the widow's dower descends: First, to children or their descendants in equal parts; second, if there be no children or their descendants, then to the father, mother, brother and sisters, and their descendants in equal parts. Third, if there be none of the kindred above mentioned, then to the husband or wife; if there be no husband or wife, then to the grandfather, grand- mother, uncles, aunts, and their descendants in equal parts; if there be none of the kindred mentioned next above, then to the great-grandfathers, great-grandmothers, and their descendants in equal parts; and so on, in other cases, with end, passing to the nearest lineal ancestors and their children, and their descendants in equal parts. Posthumous children or descendants inherit as if born in the lifetime of the intestate, but the rule is not extended to collateral kindred. If there be no blood kindred nor hus- band or wife, the kindred of the husband or wife inherit. Where no part of the collateral kindred are of the half blood, they inherit only half as much as those of the whole blood.
When several lineal descendants, all of equal degree of consanguinity to the intestate, or his father, mother, brothers and sisters, or his grand- father, grandmother, uncles and aunts, or any ancestors living, and their children come into partition, they take per capita-that is, by persons
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ABSTRACT OF MISSOURI STATE LAWS.
where a part of them are dead, they take per stirpes-that is the share of the deceased parent.
Bastards may inherit from the mother, and the mother may inherit from the bastard.
DOWER.
Every widow, upon the death of her husband, is entitled to be endowed of the third part of all the real estate owned by her husband at any time during the marriage, to which she shall not have relinquished her right of dower, in the manner prescribed by law, to hold and enjoy during her natural life; and dower in leasehold estates, for a term of twenty years or more, shall be assigned as in real estate and for a less term than twenty years, as in personal property.
FENCES AND INCLOSURES.
All fields and inclosures are required to be inclosed by hedge or with a fence sufficiently close, composed of posts and rails, palings, planks, wires or palisades, or, rails laid up in a worm fence, or of turf with ditches on each side, or of stone or brick.
Hedges are required to be at least four feet high, and fences composed of posts and rails, palings, planks, wires, or palisades, four and a half. Those composed of turf, four feet high, with ditches on either side at least three feet wide at the top and three feet deep. Worm fences, five feet high to top of rider, or if not ridered, five feet to top of top rail or pole, and locked with strong rails, poles or stakes. Stone or brick, at least four and a half feet.
HOMESTEADS AND EXEMPTIONS.
The homestead of every housekeeper or head of a family, together with the rents, issues, and products thereof, are exempt from all attach- ment execution except as hereinafter stated. Homesteads in the country cannot exceed one hundred and sixty acres of land, or exceed the total value of fifteen hundred dollars. In cities of forty thousand or more inhabitants, it cannot exceed eighteen square rods of ground, or the total value of three thousand dollars; and in cities, incorporated towns and vil- lages, having a less population than forty thousand, it cannot exceed five acres of ground, or the total value of -- dollars. A married woman may file her claim to the homestead, acknowledged before some officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of deeds, and file it for record in the recorder's office, and thereafter, the husband will be debarred from selling or mortgaging the homestead.
Persons other than the heads of families may hold as exempt: First, wearing apparel; second, the necessary tools and implements of trade of any mechanic whilst carrying on his trade.
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ABSTRACT OF MISSOURI STATE LAWS.
When owned by the head of a family, the following is exempt: First, ten head each of choice hogs and sheep, the product of such sheep in wool, yarn, or cloth, two cows and calves, two plows, one axe and hoe, and one set of plow-gears, and all necessary farm implements for the use of one man; second, two work animals; third, the spinning wheels and cards, one loom and apparatus, necessary for manufacturing cloth in a pri- vate family; fourth, all the spun yarn, thread and cloth manufactured for family use; fifth, any quantity of hemp, flax and wool, not exceeding twenty-five pounds each; sixth, all wearing apparel of the family, four beds, with usual bedding, and such other household and kitchen furniture not exceeding the value of one hundred dollars, as may be necessary for the family; seventh, the necessary tools and implements of trade of any mechanic; eighth, any and all arms and military equipments, required by law to be kept; ninth, all such provisions as may be on hand for family use, not exceeding one hundred dollars in value; tenth, the bibles and other books used in a family, lettered gravestones, and one pew in a house of worship; eleventh, all lawyers, physicians, ministers of the gospel and teachers, in the actual prosecution of their calling, have the privilege of selecting such books as shall be necessary to their profession, in the place of other property allowed, at their option; and doctors of medicine, in lieu of other property exempt from execution, are allowed to select their medi-' cines. Each head of a family may elect to take, in lieu of the property mentioned in the first and second sub-divisions above, any other property, real or personal, or debts and wages not exceeding in value three hundred dollars. It is the duty of the officers to apprise the debtor of his right to exemption, and to summon three disinterested householders of the neigh- borhood to appraise and set apart the property exempt. When the debtor has absconded or absented himself from his place of abode, his wife may claim his exemption, and may sue for the articles or their value in her own name, if they are withheld. No property is exempt from seizure and sale for taxes, and no property is exempt from wages of house servants or common laborers, to the amount of ninety dollars, provided the. persons entitled to the same commence their suits within six months after the ren- dition of the last services.
Personal property is not exempt from execution for the purchase price, except when in the hands of an innocent purchaser.
INTEREST AND USURY.
The legal rate of interest is six per cent, per annum, when no other rate is agreed upon, for all moneys after they become due and payable, on writ- ten contracts, and on accounts after they become due and demand of pay- ment is made; for money received for the use of another, and retained after the owner's knowledge of the receipt, and for all other money due or
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ABSTRACT OF MISSOURI STATE LAWS.
to become due for the forbearance of payment, whereof an express promise to pay interest has been made.
The parties may agree in writing for ten per cent, upon any contract.
Judgments upon contracts bear the same rate of interest as the contract, and those not upon contracts bear six per cent.
If, in any action on contract, it be found by the court or jury that more than ten per cent interest has been received or taken, the court will make an order that the whole of the interest be for the use of the common school fund of the county, and the defendant may recover his costs. By con- tract in writing, interest may be compounded annually.
JURIES.
Jurors, grand and petit, are required to be male citizens of the state, residents of the county, sober and intelligent, of good reputation, over twenty-one years of age, and otherwise qualified. No exceptions to a juror on account of his citizenship, non residence, state or age, or any other legal disability is allowed, after the jury is sworn.
The following persons are exempt from jury service: Members of voluntary fire companies duly organized, and ready for active service; persons employed in any paid fire department; persons exercising the functions of clergymen, practitioners of medicine, attorneys at law, clerks or other officers of any court, ferry-keepers, postmasters, overseers of roads, constables, millers, professors or other teachers in any school or institution of learning, judges of courts of record, or any person over the age of sixty-five years. Jurors may be attached and fined, not exceeding fifty dollars, for non-attendance.
LIENS.
Mechanics, material, men and laborers, have a lien upon the improve- ments and the land upon which they are situated to the extent of one acre, or the whole lot if in cities or towns, and the lien attaches to the improve- ments in preference to any prior lien.
Liens must be filed with the circuit clerk by original contractors within six months, by journeymen and day laborers within thirty days, and every other person within four months after the indebtedness has accrued. The lien has preference over all other liens attaching to the property subse- quent to the commencement of the improvements.
Persons keeping, boarding or training animals, have a lien on such ani- mal, and on any vehicle, harness or equipment coming into his possession therewith, and the person having the lien has the right to hold possession until it is paid, and the lien is valid against any purchasing or receiving with notice.
Hotels and boarding house keepers have a lien upon the baggage and other valuables of their guests or boarders, and upon the wages of such
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ABSTRACT OF MISSOURI STATE LAWS.
guests or boarders, for accommodations, boarding and lodging and extras furnished at their requests. Liens against animals and baggage of board- ers, are established by suit before a justice of the peace in the manner pointed out in Sec. 3197, Vol. 1, Rev. Stat., 1879.
LIMITATION OF ACTIONS.
Actions for the recovery of lands, or the possession thereof, must be commenced within ten years after the right of action accrues, except in case of military bounty lands, which must be commmenced within two years.
Civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can only be commenced within the following periods after the cause of action has accrued:
Within ten years: First an action upon any writing, whether sealed or unsealed, for the payment of money or property; second, actions brought on any amount of warranty contained in any deed of conveyance of land must be brought within ten years next after there shall have been a final decision against the title of the covenanter in such deed, and actions on any covenant of seizin in such deed, must be brought within ten years after the cause of action accrued; third, actions for any relief other than above mentioned.
Within five years: First, all actions upon contracts, obligations or liabili- ties, express or implied, except those mentioned as being limited to ten years, and except upon judgments or decrees of courts of record, and except where a different time is hereinafter limited; second, an action upon a liability created by a statute other than a penalty or forfeiture; third, an action for trespass on real estate; fourth, an action for taking, detaining or injuring any goods or chattels, including actions for the recovery of specific personal property, or for any other injury to the rights or person of another, not arising on contract, and not herein otherwise enumerated; fifth, an action for relief on the ground of fraud, the cause of action in such case to be deemed not to have accrued until the discovery by the aggrieved party, at any time within ten years of the facts constituting the fraud.
Within three years: First, an action against a sheriff, coroner or other officer, upon a liability incurred by the doing of an act in his official capac- ity, and in virtue of his office, or by the omission of an official duty, includ- ing the nonpayment of money collected upon execution or otherwise; sec- ond, an action upon a statute for a penalty or forfeiture, where the action is given to the party aggrieved, or to such party and the state.
Within two years: An action for libel, slander, assault, battery, false imprisonment or criminal conversation.
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ABSTRACT OF MISSOURI STATE LAWS.
In an action to recover a balance on a mutual account, the cause of action is deemed to have accrued from the time of the last item in the account on the adverse side.
ROADS AND BRIDGES.
Public roads are required to be not less than thirty nor more than sixty feet wide, to be determined by the county court. Applications for new roads or change of roads are made by petition to the county court, signed by at least twelve house-holders of the township or townships through which the proposed road may run, three of whom shall be of the imme- diate neighborhood, specifying the proposed beginning, course and termination, with not less than two points named on the direction of the road, and such road must run on government surveys when practicable. Notice of the intended application must be given by printed or written hand-bills, put up in three or more public places in such township or townships at least twenty days before a regular term of the county court at which the petition is presented. When the petition is presented and publicly read, and upon proof of notice as above stated, the court may hear the remonstrance of any twelve or more householders residing in the township or townships through which the proposed road may run.
STRAYS.
It is provided by statute, that no person shall post any animal as a stray, until he shall have given ten days' notice of his intention to do so, which notice shall be given within two days after such animal is taken up. And - no person shall take up as a stray an unbroken animal, between the first day of April and the first day of November, unless the same has broken · through a lawful fence, and be found within any person's enclosure.
If any person sell, swap, or take out of the state any stray, before the legal title vests in him, under the provisions of the stray law, he is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of not more than three hundred dollars or imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year.
TRESPASS AND DAMAGES.
For malicious trespass upon real or personal property, the party tres- passing is liable in triple damages. Any person voluntarily throwing down, or open any doors, bars, gates or fences, and leaving the same open or down, other than those that lead into, their own inclosures, or throwing down any partition fence without six months notice, if the adjoining fields are cultivated, forfeits five dollars and double damages. The penalties above mentioned may be recovered by civil action under the statute, or by indictment or information at the option of the party imperiled, and when the proceeding is by indictment or information, the penalty is paid into the county treasury.
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ABSTRACT OF MISSOURI STATE LAWS.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
The bushel consists of the following number of pounds: Wheat, beans, clover seed, Irish potatoes, peas and split peas, sixty pounds; rye, shelled corn and flax seed, fifty-six pounds; unshelled corn, seventy pounds; barley, forty-eight pounds; oats, thirty-two pounds; bran, twenty pounds; onions, fifty-seven pounds; dried peaches, thirty-three pounds; dried apples, twenty-four pounds; 'buckwheat, fifty-two pounds; castor beans, forty-six pounds; hemp seed, forty-four pounds; blue grass seed, fourteen pounds; timothy seed, forty-five pounds; cotton seed, thirty-three pounds; salt, fifty. pounds; mineral coal, eighty pounds; coke and charcoal, twenty-six hun- dred and eighty cubic inches to the bushel; sweet potatoes, fifty-six pounds; parsnips, forty-four pounds; common turnips, forty-two pounds; carrots and rutabagas, fifty pounds; corn meal and millet, fifty pounds; green peas and beans, unshelled, fifty six pounds; apples, peaches, pears, and Hungarian grass seed, forty-eight pounds; top onion sets, twenty-eight. pounds; red top and orchard grass seed, fourteen pounds; sorghum seed, forty-two pounds; Osage orange seed, thirty-six pounds; apple barrels: must be twenty.eight and one-half inches in length, with chines of three- quarters of an inch at the ends, diameter of the heads seventeen and a. quarter inches, and diameter of the center, inside, twenty and one-half inches.
Plank and sawed timbers must be sold by board measure. The par- ties may, by special contract, agree upon weights or measures different · from those herein mentioned.
WILLS.
Every male person twenty-one years of age and upwards, of sound mind,
. may by last will, devise all his estate, real and personal and mixed, and all interest therein, and every such person over the age of eighteen years, may by last will, bequeath all his personal estate, saving in all cases the. widow's dower.
Every will must be in writing, signed by the testator, or by some per- son by his direction, in his presence, and attested by two or more compe- tent witnesses, subscribing their names to the will in the presence of the testator.
- In testing the question of testamentary capacity, or soundness of mind of the testator, the law does not require any particular degree of under- standing, but the testator must have sufficient capacity to intelligently know what disposition he is making of his property.
As to the practice in probating wills, more accurate information can- always be obtained by consulting the statute (Chap. 71, Rev. Stat., 1879), than we could possibly give in the limited space allowed us here.
History of Johnson County.
CHAPTER I.
THE INTRODUCTION AND NAME.
History, in its most general signification, is a narrative of events. It includes a record not only of national events and affairs in the world at large, but also an account of small districts, families and of the lives and acts of individuals. History is of two kinds-narrative and philosophical -the former mere statement of facts as they occur, one after another; while the latter also comprehends deductions from those facts and the relation of cause and effect. At first history took the form of tradition, which is oral opinions or memorials handed down from father to son or from ancestor to posterity, and much of it was obscure and mythical, assuming the form of religious belief.
Among the oldest examples of written history are sculptured inscrip- tions and records of the acts of rulers, especially their victories, and are found on temples and pyramids of Egypt, Assyria, Greece and Phoenicia. Herodotus, the "father of history," was born about the close of the fifth century, before Christ, and his writings, so far as known, are the earliest that can be classed under the name of history. Thucydides was the second great historian, but his writings approached more nearly the philo- sophical style than Herodotus. The ancient historians of Greece and Rome usually confined themselves to plain narrative, as Xenophon in his Anabasis, Cæsar in his Commentaries, and Livy in his History of Rome. Tacitus showed his purpose in portraying tyranny in its blackest colors. Eusebius was the first great ecclesiastical historian.
Modern history has the tendency of critical, rather than merely narra- tive. Many of the histories written within the last half century, are won- derful monuments of critical research. In these days the historian is no longer a mere reporter, he must be prepared to analyze character, and to weigh events. He must seek his materials at the fountain head, must compare the private with the public actions of the characters he portrays, and present to his readers a picture of men and women which shall be accurate in minute detail, and yet embrace the remoter consequences of their actions.
-
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Annals are a chronicle divided into distinct years, biography, the history of the life and character of a particular person, memoirs, an account of transactions in which the narrator bore a part, a romance, a fictitious tale and chronicle, the narration of events when time is considered the chief feature. All these are closely related to and fall within the province of history. The writer of history includes within his subjects more, and a greater variety of material than any other literary man, and history is a more fruitful source of practical instruction than any other branch of liter- ature. The pleasure and profit derived from careful perusal of the pages of history, is unlimited. Histories are multiplying as the popular demand increases, for the chief object in making a book is its sale. All books, except, perhaps, the Bible, are made with the prime object of profit. Scientific works, works of fiction, histories, school books, books of poetry, newspapers, and all other periodicals, are issued with the full expectation of pecuniary profit to the publisher, and it is right that they should receive reward, for, in the strife for wealth and power, men would otherwise neglect the cultivation of the mind, and the production of hidden truths. No man would publish a newspaper for the sole purpose of conferring a benefit on his fellow; no man would publish a history for the sole object of glory, or through a philanthropic act, desire to confer a blessing to those into whose hands it chanced to fall. Literature, like all other occupations, must be suitably rewarded. It is not at all probable that the publishers of this work would have undertaken such a great task unless they right- fully expected suitable remuneration.
It is intended to make the history of Johnson county all, and far more than the publishers have promised or their friends expected. Mistakes and inaccuracies will occur. No history nor any other book, not even the Bible, has yet been written without them. Books of this character have been known in older states for several years. County, township, city, neighborhood, and even family histories have been compiled in most of the eastern states, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California and many other western districts. The history of one of these counties combines the good qualities of many histories in one book, besides furnishing a personal sketch of rare worth and gratification. A short history of the state, which also relates to many national affairs, then a detailed history of the county under many different heads, in such a manner that if the reader will make it a careful study, he will be greatly pleased and profited.
The historian should be a man of broad and generous views, free from prejudice. Such is a stranger who goes into a county to place in order its history. True, he meets with many obstacles which would not present themselves to one who has long resided among the scenes. he desires to
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
narrate; but the advantages possessed by a stranger are far greater than those possessed by the resident. The stranger has no " friends to reward," and no " enemies to punish." He enters upon his task free to select from the best and most reliable sources, those items of history which will inter- est the greatest number, without having his mind pre-occupied with a special subject or particular class of citizens.
Just as in an important trial at law, he who enters the jury box least prejudiced by former knowledge of the case, makes the best juror; so the intelligent stranger can most impartially decide what is acceptable history, and what is not. The corps of historians who furnish this record of such facts as they have, with diligent work been able to obtain, do so with no other motive than doing their task well; and fulfilling their promise to their patrons. That persons will harshly criticise this work, and that too, when the greatest array of facts testify to the correctness of the book, is conceded; but the value of a record like this, will only be appreciated in future years, when a greater portion of its pages would have been lost or forgotten, had not laudable enterprise rescued them from oblivion. To attempt a criticism on another is thought by some, to show wisdom and culture; to such the following lines of Pope appropriately apply:
" Some have at first for wits, then poets, passed; Turn'd critics next, and proved plain fools at last."
THE NAME.
Clustering around the name of an object are associate thoughts as immortal as the name itself. If, as has been said, "there is nothing in a name, " then history is vain; for often a single name contains a whole his- tory. The name Washington signifies to the mind, more than any three syllables written or uttered at random. A name is not merely a single sound or combination of sounds. It has a perpetual existence. The per- son or thing may die or vanish away and be forgotten, but the name will live forever. Even the ideal picture of Homer, the greatest of poets, will fade from earth, but his name will not leave the pages of history till time shall be no more. So much importance is attached to the name of an object, that it becomes the first thing claiming attention. Immediately after the creation, God brought every living thing "unto Adam to see what he would call them." Nothing exists apart from its name, but the name exists perpetually without the object. In this world there is very little unalloyed truth, but in the expression, "there is everything in a name," we have a statement much nearer universal truth, than in the expression " there is nothing in a name."
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