USA > Missouri > Linn County > The history of Linn county, Missouri. An encyclopedia of useful information > Part 39
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A piece of patchwork-In the spring of 1879 Miss Cora Murrain, the twelve-year-old daughter of William Murrain, living east of Linneus, fin- ished a quilt, the work of her own hands, which was composed of 8,000 pieces of material. The young miss began her work when she was ten years of age.
Suicide of Mrs. Ashbrook-On the twenty-eighth of October, 1879, the wife of Thomas Ashbrook committed suicide at her residence east of Lin- neus. The lady had been in bad health for some time, and to such an extent that her mind had become affected. She hung herself with a bridle-rein.
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
THE NICHOLS TRAGEDY.
On the morning of February 10, 1867, Sid Nichols, a man some fifty years of age, with a good character for honesty, etc., living on a farm in the township, committed one of those horrible deeds of murder and self-de- struction that sends a thrill of horror through the community in which it occurs. Mr. Nichols was in good circumstances, sober and industrious, but with an ungovernable temper which made him feared by all who came in contact with him when in these fits of rage. He had been married three . times and it was this third wife and two sons living at home that he wreaked the horrors of his insane rage upon.
On the date in question he rose in the morning and began quarreling with his wife. Her children were awakened by the disturbance. Mrs. Nichols had considerable spirit and would return word for word when as- sailed. Presently Nichols shot the woman with a revolver, inflicting a ter- rible, but not a mortal, wound. Mrs. Nichols's two boys by a former mar- riage were present and started to run. Nichols fired at and killed one of them, a lad aged ten; the other, about twelve years of age, continued to run and Nichols brought him down by a shot in the back, which was taken out in front, the ball being extracted by Dr. D. I. Stephenson, of Linneus, the next day, from near the sternum or breast bone.
After shooting the boys Nichols caught his wife by the hair, dragged her into the yard, then, in the hearing of the wounded boy, he exclaimed, " you have been the cause of all this," and fired again, killing her instantly. Then he put the pistol to his own head, fired, and fell dead himself. All four of the bodies were found in the same door-yard not twenty feet apart. The wounded boy lived a year or more, and from him the particulars of the dreadful tragedy were learned.
DEATHS OF OLD CITIZENS.
Mrs. Elizabeth Bowyer, relict of Jesse Bowyer, one of the very first set- tlers in Linn county, died March 6, 1879, aged seventy-five years. Mrs. Bow- yer was married in Howard county and came with her husband to this county in 1832.
John Tyer, one of the pioneers of the township and county, who came to the county with the Bowyers, died in March, 1880, aged seventy-four.
Reuben Couch died January 9, 1881, aged seventy-six years. Mr. Couch was born in South Carolina. He came to Linn county in 1840, and built the house in which he died.
LIBERTY CHURCH -- OLD SCHOOL BAPTIST.
This church is one of the pioneer churches in Linn county. It was first organized at the residence of Anthony Hine, in July, 1843, by Rev. George Baker. Among the original members were John Reed, Reuben Couch, An-
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
thony and Anna Hines, Susan Hines, Abijah Woods. There were about twenty members in all. The first church building was a log house, put up on Anthony Hines's farm, not long after the church was first constituted. This building was never completed. Services were held in it during the summer for a time. Afterward the congregation mnet in school-houses. The present house of worship was built in the spring of 1875. It stands on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section ten, township fifty- eight, range twenty. It is a frame, 40x30 feet in size, and cost about $1,000. The first pastor of the congregation was George Baker. Among those who succeeded him were Revs. Willoughby, William Elston, Martin Doty, and Wilson Thompson. The latter gentlemen ministered for about fifteen years after the close of the war. Rev. Walter Cash is the present pastor. The church has maintained its organization since the beginning, but during the civil war services were suspended. It is still prospering fairly. It has no debt and its present membership is thirty-seven. Connected with the church house is a cemetery, the two occupying a lot of two acres of land, generously deeded to the organization by J. P. Moore, Esq.
NEW GARDEN BAPTIST CHURCH.
This church, one of the oldest in the county, was first organized in 1852, and its early or original members were the pioneers of the county, men and women of noble mind and energetic action, who settled the wilderness and wrought civilization and Christianity out of the hunting-grounds of the red man. These pioneers came from Howard, Boone, and Chariton coun- ties and located in what became known as the Morris and Ridgeway settle- ments and in the country round about, and its first meetings were held near the present site of St. Catharine. The Rev. Thomas Allen took the lead in its organization and became its first pastor, as it was the first church organ- ized in Yellow Creek township. This position he held until the Rebellion, when a different feeling of a portion of the members and the different opin- ions existing causing some bitterness, he resigned his charge and removed to Texas. The church mnet, as all of the pioneer churches of that day met, in the "old log" school-house. This school-house was situated about midway be- tween the present location of the towns of Brookfield and St. Catharine. This continued until early in 1858, when the members commenced the erection of a large frame church building. Want of funds and the civil war com- ing on the building was never finished, but was used for church purposes in its uncompleted condition until the year 1875.
In the above year the church decided to erect a new place of worship and the point settled on was its present location in the Ridgeway neighborhood where they erected one of the handsomest country churches found in north Missouri, neatly and even elegantly furnished in all its appointments. The present membership now numbers 200. The Rev. Alton F. Martin suc-
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
ceeded after the resignation of Rev. Thomas Allen and he was succeeded by the present pastor, the Rev. G. C. Sparrow, of Macon City, in 1867, who for the past fifteen years has ministered to the wants of the church, and per- formed his sacred duties to the satisfaction of his large congregation. On the completion of the church in 1876 it was dedicated by the Rev. Alton F. Martin, and among the pleasing incidents was the announcement that this church that day dedicated to the service of the Almighty God, was free from debt, its cost, something over $2,000, being fully paid. It is one of the most beautifully located churches in the county. Standing upon a handsoine elevation of land lying upon a ridge, it commands a beautiful view of the surrounding country, while the members of the church have embowered it in an artificial grove of maples and evergreens, a shady retreat, a cozy pic- ture suggestive of quiet, peaceful, and reverent worship.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CITY OF LINNEUS.
Incorporation-Its Founder-Some Reminiscenses of Early Times-Wolves make Music that Lulls the Early Settler to Sleep-A Woman's Strength and Devotion-The First Settler of Linneus a Colored Woman-Aunt Dinah's Experience-Metes and Bounds- The First Frame House-The First Native Born-Churches and Schools-First Mer- chants-Senator Benton's Visit-Lynching of "Tennessee Tom "-The First Railroad Train-Accidents and Crimes-Business Houses-Visit of General Weaver-Lodges, Societies, Churches, and City Officers-Biographies.
1 THE CITY OF LINNEUS.
The first settler on the town site of the town of Linneus was Colonel John Holland, who came from Virginia to Linn county in the early spring of the year 1834, and located his claim on the section whereon the capital of the county now stands. Colonel Holland's cabin was of hewed logs, and comprised two rooms. In this double cabin court was afterwards held, school taught, and a great deal of important public business transacted. The cabin stood near the center of the public square. Heavy timber-or at least a heavy growth of timber-stood all about for some years, and upon its first occupancy, its inmates were often lulled to their slumbers by the howling of wolves and the hooting of owls. The Colonel once related that at the first breakfast ever eaten in this cabin the principal dish was a brace of stewed squirrels which he shot from the trees that surrounded his domicile while standing on his doorstep.
Soon after he had built his cabin, Colonel Holland set about digging a
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
well. His negro man Peter was at work on the job, and had dug down twenty feet when he came upon a large stone. He left the well to get a proper implement to raise this stone, which he had already loosened. When he again descended, he was prostrated by the fire-damps, which it was be- lieved had come into the well with the loosening of the stone. Colonel Holland called his good wife, Elizabeth, and bade her assist him in rescuing poor Peter, who, like truth, was at the bottom of the well and crushed to the earth. Mrs. Holland, though a slight woman and commonly not of much strength, lowered her husband to the bottom, and he at once fastened a rope to the gasping negro, and then ordered his wife to haul him (the Colonel) up. She began to do so and just then the Colonel himself was over- come by the damps and fell senseless into the bucket. Mrs. Holland un- der the excitement succeeded in drawing her husband out in safety and then screamed for help. A settler who chanced to be near, heard her and came to her assistance. By his help not only did Mrs. Holland get l'eter out of his predicament, but she restored her husband to consciousness, thus saving two human lives, and adding another incident to the long list of he- roic actions performed by the pioneer women of Missouri.
The first occupant of Holland's cabin was his negro woman, Dinah, who - came up with her master to cook for the men who built the cabin, and care for the house until the family should come. Colonel Holland brought with him some thirty head of sheep, and these were the especial charge of Dinah. The dusky shepherdess led her flock each day to the woods, to let them " browse " upon the buds of the hazel and elm, and great was her concern lest the ravenous wolves with which the forest was infested, should raid upon the innocent sheep and devour them. At night she penned them in one room of Holland's cabin, while she lay down to sleep in the other. A huge mastiff, cross and vigilant kept watch and ward outside. In the daytime this dog was kept chained. " Aunt" Dinah remained in charge of her master's property for several weeks, for Colonel Holland was delayed in his return by reason of the swollen streams. All the while she was alone. Oc- casionally William or Jesse Bowyer would pass by the cabin and see that all was right. She had plenty of provisions, but would not accept of any venison or other fresh meat lest the smell should attract the wolves, and they should break through every obstacle and slay her.
"Aunt " Dinah, the first female inhabitant of Linneus, still lives in the place, aged eighty-eight. Her daughter, aged about sixty, takes care of her. Relating her early experience to the writer, Dinah said:
"I members de time vary well, massa, when Massa Jack Hollan' fotch me wid 'im. Dey was nuffin but woods and woods; an' in de woods was wolves and wolves. I tuck keer of de sheep for mont's. De wolves 'ud jist come right up in sight and howl and yowl, an' at night when I druv de sheep in de cabin, an' shot de doah an' prop't it tight, and turn' de dog
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
loose, an' him an' de wolves jist had it fum dat till mawnin'. Bimeby come along Billy Boyah or Jess' Boyalı, an' dey say, 'Howdy, Dinah, how you git along?' I say,' ' Monstrous lonesome.' An' dey say, ' Well, don't git skeered, 'an you'll come along all rite.' So it went on an' went on, an' went on, an' nobody come, an' I got so lonesome, tenin' to dem sheep an' luffin 'em browse, an' singin' to my own self 'kase I didn't feel so 'fraid when I heerd my own voice; an' never seein' nobody 'cept once in a while Billy Boyah, or Jess' Boyah, or Massa Jedge Clark, an' dey all de time say, ' Don't git skeered, Dinah; Jack Hollan' come bimeby.' An' so one day I heerd a big nise, an' wagons a rum'lin', an' cattle a bawlin' an' men a hol- lerin', and, sure 'nuff, dere dey was-Massa Jack Hollan' an' Missis Hollan' (my fust Missis Hollan'), an' all de chillun, an' de black folks, an', O, Lawd! I was so happy I hollered right out so you could a heern me a mile."
Upon Colonel Holland's death, July, 1855, according to the provisions of his will, Dinah was set free. Ever since she has lived in and about Linneus, Peter, the negro who was overcome by the fire-damps in Colonel Holland's well, was afterwards sent down into Chariton county and hired out. Be- coming tired of his condition of servitude, he concluded to free himself. and one night " struck out for the north star," as the act of running away to the Iowa abolitionists was then expressed, and was never heard of in these parts again.
When Colonel Jack Holland first visisted the "Locust Creek country " it was in about 1832. He was over on Parson's Creek exploring the country, when he got lost. He was on horseback, riding a famous animal named Hector. With all of his skill and science in woodcraft and experience as a pioneer, he could not find his way out. For three days he wandered help- lessly about with no food for himself and no shelter but heaven's canopy, and he was well nigh exhausted. At last he gave liimself over into the care of old Hector, and the faithful animal soon carried him in sight of a smoke which curled up gracefully from the chimney of a settler's cabin. Upon reaching the cabin the Colonel was taken in by its occupant, one Dunbar, who, after refreshing his famished guest, kindly piloted him over to Mr. Bowyer's house, in this township. What ultimately became of Dunbar is not known, but not long after he was incarcerated in Keytesville jail on a charge of murder, and visited in prison and ministered to by Holland's daughter, Miss Sallie, now Mrs. Edward Hoyle, of Brookfield.
Just who were the next to locate upon the town site of Linneus cannot be definitely ascertained, there being many claimants for the distinction. Up to 1847, however, ten years after the establishment of the seat of justice, the following persons had either been residents of the place or property owners therein:
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
E. T. Denison. Charles F. Gibbs. Beverly B. Estes. Mathew Dale. John Shepherd. Alexander Ogan. James Pendleton. Joseph Auberry. Lyman Stearnes. James Carson.
Robert W. Holland.
Marshall Harrison.
James C. Connelly.
William Clarkson.
Meredith Brown.
Ennis Reid.
H. H. Gibson.
H. E. Hurlbut.
John T. Stockard.
John B. Relph.
Benjamin Prewitt.
Edward Hoyle.
W. B. Philbert.
R. J. Menifee.
T. T. Easley.
John U. Parsons.
John Barr.
James Davis.
Joseplı Phelps.
William R. Smithi.
Dr. James Bell.
Bennett Phillips.
Charles Bodie. · Giten.
Samuel Bell.
Jolın Lane.
Jacob E. Quick.
Buck.
William Harrison.
John Pullis.
Henry T. Brown. James Reid.
Henry Wilkinson.
William M. Long.
William Murrain. A. D. Rawlins. Benjamin Russell. R. W. Foster. Irwin Ogan. Samuel Iles.
John McClintock.
Bolding R. Ashbrook.
Jackson Flournoy.
Susan Lane. John Phillips.
Elijalı Kemper.
Elkanalı Bounds.
Samuel D. Sandusky. Wesley Halliburton.
Elizabeth Flournoy.
David P. Woodruff.
William Saunders.
William B. Woodruff. Henry T. Grill.
Kenneth A. Newton.
William Bowyer. John Walkup.
Beverly Nece. Artemas V. Neece.
Martha A. Boisseau.
Hezekiah E. Sutton. John J. Flood. George W. Smith. M. H. Williams.
Samuel Pullis.
John Bell. Alexander. Colonel William H. Moberly.
INCORPORATIONS.
On the ninth of February, 1853, the County Court granted the prayer of the petition of the inhabitants of the town of Linneus, and incorporated
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
the place. The particulars can best be given in the language of the rec- ords :
* It is ordered by the court here that the town of Linneus and commons hereinafter described be and the same is hereby incorporated in the name and stile of the inhabitants of the town of Linnæus (sic) agreea- ble to the provisions of an act of the general assembly of the State of Mis- souri, approved March 7, A. D. 1845. The metes and bounds of said town and commons are as follows; to-wit, Beginning at the northwest cor- ner of section six, in township fifty-eight of range twenty, running west on the township line dividing townships fifty-eight and fifty-nine eighty rods; thence south one hundred and sixty rods; thence east one hundred and sixty rods; thence north one hundred and sixty rods; thence west eighty rods to the place of beginning.
And it is further ordered that John G. Flournoy, Edward Hoyle, Alex- ander Carroll, Marshall Harrison, and William M. Long be and they are hereby appointed trustees of said town, as aforesaid, to hold their offices re- spectively until their successors are elected and qualified.
Other incorporations were enacted from time to time, not especially wor- thy of note and enumeration, and additions were also made. On the eight- eenth of March, 1880, by a large majority of the vote of the citizens. Linneus was made a city of the fourth class, under the State law, and took its station among the other cities of the State. Its population at the time was 860, as shown by the United States census report.
INCIDENTS OF EARLY HISTORY.
Immediately upon the establishment of the county seat the town began to grow and to prosper. Speculators and home-seekers bought lots and im- proved them, and it was not long until quite a snug little village, composed principally of log houses, nestled in the woods which had formerly sur- rounded Colonel Holland's cabin. The first frame building in Linneus was built by one Gibbs, a tailor, in the year 1840, and stood north of the public square. The lumber was sawed with an old-fashioned whip- saw, there being then no sawmills in the country within a reasonable distance. The house was used by Gibbs as a tailor shop for a long time.
The first white male child born in the place was John T. Flournoy, who was born on territory now in the city limits, near the northwest corner of the public square, May 5, 1837. His parents were Augustus W. and Mary E. Flournoy. John T. is still a resident of Linneus.
The first white female child whose birth occurred in Linneus was Mildred Williams Holland, daughter of John and Elizabeth Holland. " Milly "Hol- land, as she was called, (now Mrs. Russell,) was born January 17, 1839. Upon the death of her mother, whose burial it is claimed was the second in the Linneus cemetery, which event occurred in 1841, little Milly was taken into the family of Mr. G. Murrain for a time.
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
The first marriage was that of John G. Ball and Elizabeth Flournoy, and was in the month of April, 1839; the ceremony was performed by Esquire Gibson. Mr. Ball was probably the first merchant in Linneus, al- though his claim to the distinction is disputed. Miss Flournoy was a young lady who had taught school in this county prior to her marriage. The mar- riage took place at her father's, Colonel Flourny's, and was quite an event in those days.
The first death in the place is declared by Mrs. Robert C. Combs, who lived in Linneus at the time, to have been that of Henry, a negro slave be- longing to Col. A. W. Flournoy. He was at work engaged in digging a well, and a negro woman, Mary, now in Linneus, was drawing up the dirt in a large bucket. In some way the windlass slipped from her grasp, and the heavy bucket fell upon Henry and killed him. This occurred in 1836 or 1837.
The next death was that of Timothy Weber, in 1840 or 1841. Weber was a carpenter by trade and also kept a small grocery store. Colonel Hol- land had donated an acre of land to the town for the cemetery. On hearing of this Weber remarked: "Well, it would be a good thing now, if some- body would die, so that we could mark that graveyard and give it a good start." Weber himself died, not long after, and his body was the first to be buried in the cemetery. This cemetery is the one now in use. Other early interments therein were the bodies of John Little, of Kentucky, Mrs. Colonel Holland, and Mrs. Flournoy.
Mrs. Edward Hale, formerly Miss Sallie Holland, states that Benjamin White taught the first school in Linneus, about 1838. Mr. Allen Gillespie was probably the next. No particulars can be obtained of these schools, as no one can be found who attended them who remembers much of them. After White and Gillespie, John G. Flournoy taught the next school. This was in 1839 or 1840. The school-room was in the old Holland house, which was then surrounded by timber. Joseph Combs, of the Linneus Bank, at- tended Flournoy's school and was old enough to remember that one tree overhung the house in such a manner that patrons of the school were ap- prehensive that it might fall upon the building some day with disastrous effects, and so they came and cut it down, first tying a rope to the upper limbs and pulling on it in such a way as to cause it to fall from the school- house.
The first public school-house was built about the year 1847, and stood about where the stock-pens of the railroad now are. It was a frame, eighteen by twenty-two in size, and cost about $300. William Sanders taught the first school in this building, and had some twenty-five pupils. He was a native of Maine. He died in 1865.
The first physician in this section was Dr. Dryden, and the first doctor was Judge James A. Clark, who never studied medicine in his life, and
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
perhaps never read a " doctor book." He made no pretensions to being a physician, but there were those who considered his attainments in medical science superior to those of many who wrote "M. D." after their names. The Judge always kept a plentiful supply of quinine and calomel about him, and these therapeutical agents were considered sovereign for the cure of chills and fever, the prevailing diseases of those days in these parts. The Judge acquired quite a reputation and secured considerable "practice," although he prescribed free gratis to all, and made no money thereby. The nearest regular physician was at Keytesville.
On one occasion Judge Clark was called to prescribe for the wife of Col- onel Augustus Flournoy. Mrs. Flournoy was suffering from a mnost vio- lent headache, which threatened to become inflammation of the brain. The Judge prescribed a blister for her head, another for the neck, and an- other for her feet, and sent for Dr. Scott, of Keytesville. When the Doctor came he approved the Judge's treatment of the case, and left the manage- ment of it with him. Mrs. Flournoy had a beautiful -suit of hair of which both she and her husband were justly proud, and which Judge Clark de- cided must be cut off, so as to allow the blister to do its work well. Colo- nel Flournoy consented that this might be done, upon being assured that the hair would grow out again, but he shed tears when the long beautiful tresses of his wife were shorn away-stout man that he was and brave as Bayard. But then " the bravest are the tenderest."
The first regular physician to locate in the town is believed to have been Dr. Iles, a renegade Mormon, or at least a seceder from the Mormon Church, who came in about the year 1840.
The next was Dr. Isaac Relph, from Ray county, a native of North Carolina, who came in 1840. He died in this county in 1848.
Perhaps the first religious services were by Rev. A. F. Martin, of the Missionary Baptist Church, who preached at a private house in 1839.
As to the first merchant in the place it may be said that the distinction is claimed for John G. Ball. The County Court, at the July session, 1838, ordered "that Kemper & Givens be allowed license to sell merchandise in said county for ten dollars to the State and ten dollars for county levy." (Book A, County Court record, page seventeen.) Ball, Hezekiah Sutton, and Weber were among the very first merchants and "grocery keepers." Ball's store stood on the lot now occupied by his son-in-law, Mr. Menifee. The stores in those days were very modest affairs, indeed. A wagon load of goods was -considered a large stock-" a mammoth lot," the modern dealers would say. The people wanted but little in the way of general merchandise. As a rule the people were poor and were easily satisfied. Sugar and coffee were the staple articles of groceries; calico and muslin or " factory " the leading articles in demand in the way of dry goods, and even these were not sold in large quantities. As late as 1844 David
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