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 59
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In the valley of Bear Creek, and Clear Fork, north of Montserrat, are the fine farm and stock lands. Here are raised large crops of wheat, corn, hay, and oats, most of which, except the wheat, is fed out on the farms, by the stock-feeders.
Along on Clear Fork are to be found many "patches," owned by the miners principally. From these "patches" they raise sweet corn, turnips, tomatoes, and peas, for culinary purposes. Grape culture is very profit- able all along these ridges. The eastern and southern part of the town- ship is very fine for agricultural purposes. L, C. Littlefield has a beauti- ful stock-farm, and handsome brick residence, about four miles southeast of Knob Noster. He has been classed as one of the largest land-holders of the county. He owned, at one time, upwards of 3,000 acres. He now owns about 1,200 acres of well-improved land. At his home residence he has 250 acres in cultivation. His is the fourth brick residence of the rural homes. He has a very fine blue-grass pasture of about fifty acres, which affords a good stock pasture much of the year. He raises fine timothy. His wheat yield this year (1881) was thirty bushels per acre. This soil is underlaid with marl, which, in time, will be utilized, and yield a handsome income to the farmer. Jacob Shoemaker is one of the largest farmers of the township, and never fails of success. Frequently, he can count his wheat crop alone by the thousands of bushels, bringing him several thous- and dollars annually. He is German extraction, and as that class gener- ally do, sticks close to business, and makes a success of farming. He owns a fine brick residence, and several hundred acres of good land.
This township has some excellent land for the horticulturist. Grapes and all small fruits are doing well. At present no one is especially engaged in growing fruits. In the past a few enterprising men have paid some attention, and at one time this township was an equal with War- rensburg in the manufacture of wine.
Apples, peaches, pears, apricots, nectarines, and wild goose plums do very well everywhere over the township, and almost every farmer has a
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
little orchard and vineyard. On Dr. J. L. Lea's place are fine thrifty apple trees twenty and thirty years of age. The scions were taken from a home nursery in Lafayette county. The soil of this township appears to be adapted to agronomy, and the successes of the past warrant us in predicting that this township will some day have her fine agricultural and horticultural land developed.
Stock-raising, until a few years past, has attracted but little attention. However, stock-feeding has been carried on successfully here for several years with good success. At present the best farmers have taken a deep interest in the improvement of their stock. The following farmers are classed among the enterprising farmers, stock-raisers and feeders: L. G. Littlefield, J. Shoemaker, Will D. Carpenter, T. M. Ramsey, Sim. Blackburn, R. H. Utley, Geo. Souther, S. S. Brown, S. Hall, John Lem- ley, P. B. Shafer, Isaiah Hanna, J. T. Gillum, W. S. Mayes, E. W. Daw- son, Neal Gaut, James G. Goodnight, A. S. Mayes, and M. Butterfield. Many of these farmers have fine blooded stock, or' stock of a high grade.
INCIDENTS.
An odd gentleman by the name of James Brown resides here. He is a clever man, and attends to his own affairs. He was born in New Jer- sey, March 24, 1801, and came here and settled in the year 1832. We learn that he never voted, never sued anyone or was sued at law, and belongs to no order but the " stone-masons." He has not a single belief concern- ing the origin and destiny of man. He holds the idea that man first came from the ground and will only get to Heaven by doing good deeds.
In 1837, during the Mormon war in Missouri, Lieut .- Col. Jehu Robin- son commanded a battalion. James Warnick was captain. The follow- ing constitutes a list of his privates: Wm. Thornton, Jerome B. Greer, Henry Hayes, Daniel Marr, Elmer Marr, Wm. Marr, Joe Dixon, James Borthick, Charles Oglesbey.
An old legend has it that while a company of wealthy Spaniards were traveling on their way to St. Louis, that a party of savage Indians pur- sued, and the Spaniards buried their gold dust near the noted Knobs.
Col. Jehu Robinson vouches for the following story: He states that a man by the name of Macum Gragg urged him to go and see a fine silver mine that he had found, which was near the line of Pettis and Johnson coun- ties, east of a little knoll called Pilot Knob, on the headwaters of Fisher Creek. Macum Gragg had some of the ore tested at Boonville, and it was found to be very rich. Mr. Gragg died without showing the spot, which he minutely described to Col. Robinson, to any human being.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV .- KINGSVILLE TOWNSHIP.
Introductory -- Situation-Name Derived -- Churches -- Baptists -- Presbyterians -- Chris- tians -- Methodists -- United Presbyterians-Early Ministers-Schools-Teachers- Incidents-Wild Prairies-Devil's Ridge -- Centre Knob-Bluff Spring-First Church -Cemeteries-Mills-Slavery-Sunday Schools -- Trees-Lost Creek-Township Sys- tem -- Officers -- Noted Citizens-Grasshoppers-Kingsville Town-Depot-Large Orchard-Massacre-Public Schools.
Kingsville Township is apparently a small area in the county; has a his- tory interesting and worth recording for all those living within its bounds, which in after years will be held in sacred memory by generations yet to fill the places of their fathers, and to read and think as they have done. It is said:
There is a joy in every spot, Made known in days of old; New to the feet, although each tale A hundred times be told.
Without entering into controversies concerning the origin, cause, and bias of the various factions and difficulties pertaining to the people and this locality, we proceed to give facts, dates of prominent events, as gath- ered from reliable sources, precluding from our narrative anything tinged with political or religious bias, or family preference.
History is the narration of events as they have occurred. It is the grand master key that unlocks the store-houses of past ages, and presents to our view, Rome, in all her glory; Greece, in her magnificence and refinement; Phanecia, in her commercial enterprise; and the inspired hand of Moses has left for us sacred history that no age can efface. Hence, so dear to us is the history of our country and ourselves, that we should claim it as a birthright, to be vigilantly guarded, lest through carelessness we forget our ancestors, our institutions and ourselves.
This township was originally part of Madison township, until 1870. It is bounded on the north by Jackson township, on the east by Madison township, on the south by Rose Hill township, and on the west by Cass county. It is seven miles in length from north to south, and five miles in width from east to west, and contains an area of thirty-five square miles. This is the smallest township in the county, being less than a congressional township. The surface of this township is quite varied in character. That part which is situated north of the railroad is diversified with hills, timber and brush land, ravines; creeks, and rolling dales of prairie. It is highest in the western part, where Devil's Ridge begins. On the west of this ridge it is a gradual trend of high land for two miles, where it joins Cass county on the west. On the east of this ridge numerous branches have their source, and flow, making many turns, into South Blackwater. On either side of these branches there are many erosions, and sometimes
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
cliffs of limestone. In this part, timber is plentiful. Old settlers state that large quantities of timber have been used, and that at present the forest contains a finer and more luxuriant growth of timber than when, about fifty years ago they cast their lot in the "western wilds." No doubt, the keeping fires from the forests is a great saving of timber. This township south of the railroad is unlike the northern part. It consists almost entirely of rolling prairie. Lost Creek and its branches are the only little streams that diversify the monotony of the prairie, by containing some timber and brush along their serpentine wendings. However, this land is well drained, and is in a high state of cultivation.
The occupation of the people is principally farming and stock-raising. Agriculture will, no doubt, continue to be the leading industry for many years to come. Farming land rents for three dollars per acre. The price of land ranges from fifteen to thirty dollars per acre. Corn and wheat are the principal productions. Rye, oats, flax, buckwheat and sorghum are sometimes raised. Clover and timothy doe's well. In some parts blue grass presents the year round a beautiful carpet of evergreen. Bees are kept by only a few farmers, and have done well till within a few years past. Sheep do well here, and much of the northern part is adapted to the raising of sheep. Large numbers of hogs are raised and annually shipped to eastern markets. In the early settlement, in about 1830, hogs lived wild in the woods, and when an old settler wanted pork, he threw his gun on his shoulder and called his cur by his side, and stalked off to the woods, and soon returned with a fat hog. Every man that had set swine at liberty in the woods to gather the mast, was entitled to search for porkers, and the best one he met was his meat.
This township ranks as one of the foremost in the county for its size, in the value of live stock, and the corn and wheat will favorably compare with any other township of the county. In 1877 it contained 179 voters out of a population of 903. Only nine of this population were negroes. In the same year the following statistics have been gathered: Horses, 407; mules, 202; cattle, 958; sheep, S20; hogs, 2076; wheat, 29,053 bushels; corn, 184,240 bushels; oats, 2,016 bushels; barley, 87 bushels; rye, 1,011 bushels; tobacco, 9,916 pounds; wool, 1,897 pounds; hay, 881 tons; wine, 6 gallons; sorghum molasses, 1971 gallons. In 1880 the population had increased to 1,073.
This township derived its name (Kingville) from the station on the Mis- souri, Pacific railroad, which bears the same name. Very few settlers were here previous to 1840, as the situation was uninviting to frontier men, owing greatly to the scarcity of timber, except upon the head- waters of the few creeks, which have. their source in this township. Many older and stronger settlements forming around this township hindered its progress in many ways, until a rather late day. No church
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY. .
organizations were effected prior to 1860, in Kingsville, when the Baptists organized. It is true, that long before this time, the people occasionally had preaching at their own rude log cabin dwellings, by itinerant or trav- eling ministers, and now and then, in his uncouth way, a pioneer farmer would address his neighbors upon Sundays. At that day it was not uncommon for whole families to go to religious meetings, seven or eight miles in a rough ox wagon, and return the same day. The United Pres- byterian and Christian churches were not organized till after the war, and are treated under the head of churches.
A Presbyterian church that is now defunct, existed in Kingsville. A neat Presbyterian church building was erected in the village during the year 1870, at a cost of about $1,200. The money used, in part, belonged to the building fund of that church in the east. The congregation, after a trial of a few years, failed to become self-sustaining, and in 1875, the building was sold and moved to Raymore, Cass county, and the money returned to its legitimate place. The few members of that denomination are scattered, and at present this township has no Presbyterian organiza- tion.
A few members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, reside here, but have no organization within the township since the " late unpleasant- ness. " Prior to this war, this was the leading denomination.
The following are the names of some of the early ministers: A. H. Stout, L. C. Dunham, Geo. W. Lougan, and David Nation, of the Chris- tian church, Rev. Mr. Minton of the Baptist, and David Hogan, B. F. Thomas, and the Morrow Brothers of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.
The early settlers, where are they, They are falling one by one;
A few more years may pass away, And leave but few or none.
Schools were early taught at Lost Creek and Bluff Spring. The school buildings were rudely constructed log huts, with dirt or puncheon floors, slab seats, and fire-place in one end. Chimney's were often built in part of mud and sticks above the mantle piece. Chinks were pulled from the cracks for windows. Houses were generally covered with clap- boards and wait-poles held them on. Nails were not much used by the pioneers, for the first few years. Doors were even made without a nail, and hung upon a wooden latch.
In these early schools the teacher taught from " early morn " till almost sunset, received about twenty dollars a month, and paid seventy-five cents a week for board, or took his board out in "visiting around among the scholars. "
33
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
An incident is related in one of the pioneer schools, that is yet fresh in the memory of those about Bluff Spring, who are classed among old set- tlers. In a rude old school house, a class of boys and girls were taking a writing exercise. They were seated before a broad plank, used as a writ- ing table, fastened to the wall, and each one in order to keep steady, placed his feet in a large crack opened for the purpose; now, at this time it was a common custom for the boys and girls to go barefooted, until near twenty years of age. But few thought, perhaps, on occount of their simple dress and diet, of affiancing until eighteen or twenty years of age, and, therefore, their unassuming ways were entirely discreet to them- selves. In this school house crack, more than a dozen dozen toes pro- truded to the outside, where they were visible, and amused a boy who had laid his book aside and left the room and was meandering in the syl- van surroundings of this rural school. A thought struck him, what a fine joke it would be to fasten a cord around a gay maiden's great toe, and then bend a flexible sapling to the ground, and fasten the other end of the cord, and dash away as quick as light. The joke was played to per- fection, and the youth who was hero of the tragedy, was by this time in the room looking apparently amazed on the scene, as if he were aston- ished, and anxious to learn who was so naughty as to play such a prank on the young lady, who, by this time had her foot drawn by the force of the flexible sapling, as far as it would go through the crack. The teacher and scholars after diligent inquiry could find no one guilty, and since no one was hurt, no further remarks were made.
Hackney school-house, an old log cabin, which has perished long ago, stood near Bluff Spring, was undoubtedly the oldest school-house in the township; and the next was the Hornsby school-house which stood in the southwestern part of the township. These structures have long since per- ished, and have left no visible monuments to tell where they stood except the few old settlers who received some rudimentary knowledge within their walls.
Some of the early teachers who taught in these log school-houses, were, Alfred Hawker, James Allen, Wm. W. Sparks, Joseph Y. Alexander, J. N. Furguson, A. J. Longacre, Hugh Wallace, Ben. Howell, and R. G. ·
Stokeley; the last named was killed at Grand Gulf in 1863.
In the early days but little sickness prevailed in the township except malarial diseases. Small-pox broke out here in 1848, but was confined to the family where it originated.
This township contains five school districts besides the Kingsville dis- trict, No. 127, which is under the supervision of a town board of six directors. These schools are known and located as follows; Ralston school, 115, is a neat little frame building, and was erected in 1869, at an expense of $750. It is close to the railroad and also on the public high-
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
way in section 35, town 46, and range 29. Wm. Ralston was the first director. In 1871 the law required three directors. D. R. Hobbs and R. T. Fryer were added. The directors now in office are, James Douglas, R. T. Fryer and W. C. Ruff; James Douglas, president and R. T. Fryer, clerk. Teachers employed since that time are Wm. T. Johnston, Thos. McKee, Miss Maggie Duncan, J. K. P. How, R. T. Fryer, P. L. Hyer, Stanley T. Rogers, James A. Wright, T. A. Reavis, Maggie A. Totten, Dora Donthit, C. H. Hartzell, T. N. Haynes, F. E. Meigs, Wm. L. Nel- son. Average monthly wages paid teachers, $39.75. Average number of months taught in the year since 1870, eight. Liberty school, 112, was put up in 1868, consumed by fire in 1880; is not rebuilt. It was section 15, town 45, range 29. Lost Creek school, 111, was built in 1870. It is section 11, town 45, range 29; near Pleasant Run. It is a small frame building. Jordan school, No. 94, was erected in 1870, and is in section 17, town 45, range 28, near what was formerly called the Osage Division, Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad, but now the Santa Fe branch of the Missouri Pacific railroad. The last teachers were Henry Williams, Laura Blackburg. Everett school, No. 101, was erected in 1871, and is in sec- tion 29, town 46, range 28, about one mile from South Blackwater.
Kingsville public school will be treated under the head of Kingsville. town. Many of these school buildings are greatly damaged by ill-use. They are all frame buildings, and have been more or less used for preach- ing, Sunday-school, and every sort of amusement, besides school teaching, the one purpose for which they were erected. At present the Everett district has a well organized Sunday-school, with W. C. Donalson, super- intendent, the only one held at any school-house.
The price of land has varied here from 1850, $1.50, to the present, $15 to $30 per acre.
The first settlement on Pleasant Run now commonly called Duncan's Branch, was made in 1839, when no other person lived within a circle of ten miles. Judge Anderson Smith, son of Wm. Smith, formerly sheriff of this county, was the oldest settler and built the first house at Bluff Spring .. He sold to Benj. Longacre in the year 1826, who soon put up a tan yard, which furnished the early settlers with dressed skins and hair, for a circumference of fifty miles. Henry Colbern, then the first saddler of Warrensburg, which was then a village in its infancy, father of Geo. Colbern, present banker in Warrensburg, frequently came to this early tan yard for his supplies. It is said that he was often seen on his way home, riding a pony, with a roll of dressed deer skins in front and a bag of hair behind his saddle. The distance he traveled was about twenty miles, making a round trip of forty miles. At an early day a public road was laid out between these two points, and was the only public highway leading to Warrensburg. About 1856 the road was discontinued and now
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
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there is but little trace of it. Benj. Longacre built the first grist mill of the township in 1827. Prior to this time the old pioneers beat their corn in a mortar, burnt out of a block of wood, with a wooden pestle, using the finer portion of the meal for corn cake and the coarser for hominy.
Joseph D. Longacre, son of "Uncle Ben," above mentioned was born in 1820, in Tennessee, and moved to this township in 1829 and settled near his father, where he resided till the spring of 1881 when he moved to Madison township. He is now quite feeble, having served in the Mexican war from the opening till the close in 1848, during that time his health was greatly impaired. For his services, so far, he has only received a land warrant from the government. He served in late war from 1861 to 1865, under Gen. Joe Shelby.
When Bluff Spring settlement was made, the nearest postoffice con- tinued to be Columbus, the oldest and strongest settlement in the county, till 1827, when a postal route between Clinton and Lexington was estab- lished and Bluff Spring made the first postoffice in the township, with Benjamin Longacre first postmaster. Then came Samuel Bolejack in as postmaster. This office was discontinued in 1856, and the office moved to the village of Kingsville, which was just laid out. Sam'l Bolejack moving to the new town and was continued in office till the war of 1861.
Nearly all the southern half of the township consists of rich prairie lands, but the greater part of the northern half originally was covered with scrubby timber and brush, only varied here and there by small spots of tall prairie grass, called broom sage by the settlers, who often used it in lieu of broom corn for sweeping. Once the prairies are said to have been covered with a natural growth of grass, with scarcely any weeds inter- mingled, ranging from six to eight feet in height, so that when a man rode on horseback, only his head and shoulders were visible. So extensive was this dense growth of grass that the early settlers were misled to believe that the land was marshy and would never do for cultivation. It was only when the ground was putting forth the early spring crop of grass, or in the fall after an ocean of flame had consumed the grass that large herds of deer could be seen on the prairies. The supposed cause of these high lands appearing to the pioneers as too wet to ever be utilized, was the softening of the ground by the early spring rains and the rapid and luxuriant growth of vegetation which so covered the ground that the sun's rays could not penetrate sufficiently to cause the dampness to evapo- rate from the surface of the soil. Hence, the general belief that prairie land was unfit for cultivation. Other reasons why it was not sooner . opened was the lack of prairie plows sufficiently strong to break the turf, therefore, the early settlers for the want of proper implements were obliged to confine their settlements in the woods or along the creeks until they became able to subdue the wild prairie land for agricultural purposes.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Gophers were plentiful here on the prairies, building their hillocks, till about 1855.
In those early days the habits of the people were strictly moderate and simple. In dress, simplicity was closely observed, and principles of domestic economy were practical.
Joe Howard and Joseph Longacre were the noted wolf hunters of this section. An anecdote is related that the two met once and the following conversation ensued: "Joe Howard, I saw a wolf jest down the path, can we git 'im." "Now, Josie, now be keerful, an we'll take 'im in." The result of their chase was that they did "take him in."
The honor belongs to Rufus King for introducing and using the first prairie plow, and erecting the first dwelling in the open prairie. This gentleman is of Irish ancestry, born in Alabama, in 1829, and moved to this section in 1850, in company with George Lemon and family, and is now living on his farm in unusual good health. In the breaking out of the war in 1861, he entered the regular service, under Gen. Sterling Price and served as a soldier in the confederate army, till 1863, when he was detailed to run cotton and grist mills in the south. He was in the follow- ing battles: Wilson Creek, Newtonia, Pea Ridge, Drywood, Missouri; and Dripping Spring, Arkansas, besides many skirmishes.
The highest land of this township is a dividing ridge, known as Devil's Ridge, extending no farther south than section 25, township 46, range 29. On this ridge of a clear and favorable day, Warrensburg and Butler are visible. This ridge extends north and south. It divides the water sys-
tems of the Missouri and the Osage. The streams running east from it, find their way through the Blackwater, and the La Mine to the Missouri river. The streams that flow westward find their way through Big creek and South Grand river to the Osage at Warsaw. On this divide the rainfall is said to be about twenty inches. Statistics show that this is a healthy part of the county, even holding pre-eminence in this respect. Heré the soil is deep and light in most parts, but in limestone regions it is often heavy and hard to manage, yet very productive. There is no poor land here. No swamps or lakes. The land is well drained. The cultivation of grapes does well in the northern part, where it is said that the early settlers found, growing wild, summer grapes of an enormous size, comparing favorably with many of those found at present in the vineyards.
. The soil is said to be composed of lime and magnesia. Its foundation is a bed of fine silicious marl, which will cause the land to improve, rather than deteriorate by cultivation. Except the rocky ridges this township has but little sterile land. In general, it is supposed that this land contains but little mineral qualities. Coal exists only in detached, shallow beds, near the surface of drift land, and a few wells have been bored through
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