USA > Missouri > Linn County > The history of Linn county, Missouri. An encyclopedia of useful information > Part 64
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WILLIAM WILSON.
Mr. Wilson is a native of Ireland and was there born on the first day of February, 1832. Ten years later his parents emigrated and located in
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
Troy, New York. In 1847 they removed to Essex county, in the same State, and William lived there, engaged in farm work, till he went to Jef- ferson county, Iowa, in 1856. There he engaged in farming till 1861, when he went to Huron county and engaged in coal mining. Returning east in 1862 he remained a year or two, and then came to Missouri, stopping first in Scotland county, where he engaged in farming on a place he had pur- chased two years before. In 1868 he quit farming and began merchandiz- ing at Arbela, in the same county. He was in this business for eight years and accumulated property to the amount of some fifteen thousand dollars. Retiring from mercantile life he again went on his farm and engaged in buying and shipping live stock. Owing to the ill luck of a defective title, Mr. Wilson lost his farm; he was also unfortunate in some stock ship- ments, and soon found himself financially flat and forced to begin life anew. Macon City, Missouri, was his next field of commercial enterprise, and he sold goods there in 1879. In 1880 he came to Laclede, this county, and began merchandizing and has driven a profitable business since his coming, and still enjoys a good trade ..
Mr. Wilson was married in 1862, to Miss S. A. McIntire, of Van Buren county, Iowa. They have two children, both girls, named Jennie and Blanche. He is a member of the Odd Fellow's Lodge, and is a highly re- spected citizen.
JAMES N. WILSON.
The subject of this sketch was born in Boonville, Cooper county, Mis- souri, on the seventh of April, 1840. His parents were Robert and Caro- line Wilson, both of whom were natives of Culpepper county, Virginia. The same year James was born they moved to Linn county and settled on a farm. Mr. Wilson accordingly grew up on the farm and obtained his education in the schools of the county. When the civil war began he espoused the cause of the Union, and on July 2d, 1861, enlisted in Com- pany A, of the Eighteenth Missouri Infantry. He was at the surrender of Island Number Ten, and participated in the battle of Shiloh, and was there captured by the Confederates on April 6th, 1862. While held as a prisoner of war Mr. Wilson was incarcerated in several different rebel prisons, in- cluding Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Macon, and Libby prison at Richmond. He was exchanged November 14, 1862, and returned to his command at Corinth. He was wounded at Atlanta, in June, 1864, and discharged in November following at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Returning to Linn county he soon afterwards engaged in merchandizing in the general mer- chandise business at Laclede, in which he is still engaged at this writing.
He was married on September the 15th, 1867, to Miss Jennie O'Neal, of Linn county, daughter of Preston O'Neal, a gentleman who served on the first jury ever impaneled in Linn county.
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Mr. Wilson is one of the leading business men of Laclede. He has made his own way and amassed a good property by industry, economy, and strict attention to his affairs.
WILLIAM D. WOOD
was born in Hendricks county, Indiana, June 12, 1840, where he lived until eighteen years of age, being raised on a farm and educated in the common schools. In 1858 he went to Clay county, Illinois, and at the breaking out of the war, enlisted (June 12, 1861) in Company D, Eleventh Missouri In- fantry, the State of Illinois having filled her quota. Mr. Wood partici- pated in the battles of New Madrid, Corinth, Iuka, Vicksburg, and Nash- ville, besides numerous minor engagements. He also joined in a sixty-days' march after the Confederate general, Price, from Arkansas to Cape Girar- deau, Missouri. The battles and skirmishes he engaged in numbered thirty-two. At the battles of Iuka and Vicksburg, he was slightly wounded. At the battle of Nashville, December 16, 1864, he was seriously wounded, and sent to the hospital. He was mustered out June 12, 1865, having served exactly four years, and made a record that any true soldier might be proud to call his own. Mr. Wood returned home, learned the shoemaker's® trade, and has been engaged in that business ever since. In 1874 he re- moved to Stockton, Cedar county, Missouri, and in 1878 located at Laclede, Missouri, where he is now doing a flourishing business, having made the ad- dition of a fine stock of harness and saddlery. He employs first-class work- men, and is himself very energetic.
Mr. Wood was married in 1865 to Miss Mary E. McCorkle of Davis county, Indiana. By this union they have had six children, only three of whom are living: Elmer E., Charles M., and Maggie J. Wood.
JOHN YOUNT,
son of David and Barbara (nee Stover) Yount, was born in East Tennessee, March 30, 1810. When a small child his parents removed to Middle Ten- nessee, and in 1817, they located in Howard county, Missouri. In 1824 they went back to Tennessee, and three years later returned to Missouri, settling in Cole county. The subject of this sketch received a limited edu- cation in subscription schools, the branches of study being writing and arithmetic. In 1833, he formed a copartnership with David Curtis, then living in Linn county, Missouri, and bought a lot of hogs and cattle and drove them to that county. He and Curtis kept bachelor's hall for two years, living together in a cabin. In 1835 Mr. Curtis went to Howard county, Missouri and married. After that Mr. Yount kept bachelor's hall himself most of the time until he, too, married in 1838. He and Curtis were accustomed to buy hogs in Howard county, Missouri, and drive them to Linn county. When they had fattened on mast they would drive them
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back and sell them, getting sometimes only one, cent per pound, dressed. Keytesville, Missouri, was their milling point. On one occasion, as Mr. Yount was on his way from mill he was water-bound for two weeks. He had started home with five bushels of meal on two horses, but when he reached there only one bushel was left, he having loaned the balance along the road. Such was an incident of the pioneer experiences of that time. On another occasion he had to go to Keytesville to get a doctor to come and see his sick brother. The trip occupied two nights and a day. Mr. Yount. was the first constable of Linn county, sometimes having to ride twenty miles for a witness and getting only twenty-five cents for the service. He helped to build the first cabin where Linneus now stands in the winter of 1833-34 for Jack Holland. Mr. Yount removed to his present farm in 1839, and is the only survivor of the settlers living in Linn county in 1833. The rest have all gone to that bourne from whence none ever return. Since the latter named year he has been a constant resident of Linn county. Mr. Yount was married January 11, 1838, to Miss Margaret Taylor, daughter of George and Rebecca (nee Raymee) Taylor. Her parents were natives of Virginia, and removed to Tennessee, but emigrated to Linn county in 1836. Mrs. Yount was born in the latter State in 1820. She is the mother of six children, four of whom are living: William P., Joseph A., George W., and Amai.da. They all live near their parents, excepting George W., who has been mining in Colorado the past nine years. Amanda married Mr. Wil- liam Furbee, and lives in Linn county. Mr. Yount's farm comprises two hundred acres, splendidly improved. As an indication of his liberality and prosperity he has given to each of his four children sixty acres of valuable land. He has always been a highly esteemed and useful citizen.
CHAPTER XXIV. TOWN AND TOWNSHIP OF BUCKLIN.
When Settled and by Whom-Soil and its Fertility-Material Progress-Valuation-Indian Hunters-Early Incidents, of Life, Marriages, Deaths, etc .- The first School District Organized-Some Incidents in Justices' Courts-Other Settlements and their Early His- tory-A Singular Mistake-Steam Whistle vs. Panther-Railroad Rumpus-Some more of Civil War Incidents-When Township was Organized and Bucklin Town Incorpor- ated-Schools and Churches-Accidents and Crimes-Tornado, September, 1876-Popu- lation of Bucklin-Schools, Churches, and Societies-Its Business Interests -- Biographies.
POSITION AND DESCRIPTION.
This, the southeastern township of Linn county, is twelve miles in length by five miles in breadth and contains sixty square miles or 38,400 acres. Its boundaries are a line from the northwest corner of section five, township
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
fifty-eight, range eighteen due east to the Macon county line; thence south along the Macon line to the Chariton county line; thence west along the Chariton line to the southwest corner of section thirty two, township fifty- seven, range eighteen; thence due north to the beginning.
Description-The northern part of the township is composed for the most part of rolling prairie, interspersed with tracts of timber along the streamns. The soil is excellent and is well adapted to the cultivation of tobacco, of which product large quantities have been and are raised. The southern, southwestern, and western portions of the township are made up of fine prai- rie and an exceedingly fertile soil. The eastern portion, especially near the Macon county line, is poor, the soil being thin and the land very broken. The famous Elk Knobs are in this vicinity. These knobs forın a chain like a miniature mountain range, and are really a succession of abrupt elevations irregular in form, but for the most part of a conical or sugar-loaf' shape, ex- tending north and south through this county-in Blake and Bucklin town- ships-a distance of perhaps twenty miles. The knobs are from fifty to three hundred feet high. Formerly the prairie fires, which annully swept over the country, kept them free from bushes and trees, but in late years, comparatively, pin-oaks, jack-oaks and other small timber have crept up the sides and over the tops of most of them. The soil on the knobs is of course poor in quality, furnishing only grass suitable for pasturage. The land is very cheap and can be bought for less than $1 per acre.
The knobs run at an average of about three-fourths of a mile from the Ma- con line, and there are some small valleys among them very fertile. How they were named can only be conjectured. It is supposed that at an early day the pioneers saw them covered with elk grazing upon their summits. Their geological formation is of the drift character, according to represen- tations.
Timber-The best timber in Linn county is to be found on the west side of Bucklin township, in a belt about six miles long and three miles wide, extending north and south, parallel with East Yellow Creek, and among its branches. It is mostly white oak, and has an excellent reputa- tion. It is suitable for almost any purpose, being sought after for railroad ties, fence-rails, posts, and for boards, wagon and plow timber as well. Along the other streams of the township is to be found a sufficiency of tim- ber for all practical purposes. Numerous portable saw-mills have converted, and are now converting, much of the timber into lumber.
Economic geology-Underlying the entire area of Bucklin township is a large and valuable bed of coal, comparatively easy of access but not much developed. This is a portion of the same bed so extensively worked at Be- vier, Macon county, at St. Catharine, and at other points. There is an abundance of the best quality of stone in the townsip, and there are numer- ous exposures, some of which have been used as quarries. There are both
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
limestone and freestone ledges readily accessable. At Coulson's bridge, across East Yellow Creek, a little outside of the limits of the township, there is a fine quarry of excellent stone lying in regular strata and easily approached, and each stratum is broken into blocks of different sizes, from two and three feet square to parallelograms large enough to cover an area of six by ten feet. All that the people have to do when they want one of these stones is to go to the quarry, select one that suits them, remove it from its bed, and haul it away. No drilling or blasting is necessary. On section seventeen, township fifty-eight, range eighteen, there is a fine exposure of valuable limestone and a quarry. On Light's Branch there are exposures of stone every few rods. The greater number of quarries and stone open- ings are in the northern and western portions of the township. Good brick clay is to be found on nearly every section in the township.
Streams -- Bucklin township is well supplied with water and water- courses. East Yellow Creek and Mussel Creek are the streams which drain the township by means of their branches. Commencing in the northeast, Long Branch, Light's Branch, and Spring Branch, flow in a general direc- tion from northeast to southwest and empty into East Yellow Creek. In the southern part of the township the following streams flow in a general direction from north to south and fall into Mussel Fork; namely, Van Deu- sen Creek, Clark's Branch, and Locust Branch. In the southeastern part Mussel Fork itself enters the township, and flows south for about three miles.
Springs-There is a great abundance of springs of excellent water throughout the township, many of which flow in the dryest seasons. About one mile and a half north of Bucklin town, in section twenty-five, is a spring said to possess many powerful medicinal qualities. Many persons have been-or have imagined themselves to be-cured of divers ailments and complaints by drinking the waters of this Linn county Bethesda. In sum- mer time it has been quite a resort for the novelty seekers on days of leisure. Some enthusiasts declare the virtues of this spring to be as many and pow- erful as those of the famed Eureka Springs of Arkansas. And they may be, and yet - The reader may supply the ellipsis.
No archæological specimens or pre-historic relics of any consequence have ever been found in this township to any important extent. No mounds exist other than natural.
Some idea of the character of the soil in the northern half of the town- ship may be gained from the statement of Lawrence Switzer, who lives in the neighborhood of the Warren school-house, and who states that he has never failed to raise good wheat, and an average crop, for sixteen years.
There is a great deal of unimproved land yet in the southern part of the township, although the major portion of the territory is in a high state of cultivation, as is evidenced by the assessed valuation of the township in 1881, which was $314,430.
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
EARLY HISTORY-FIRST SETTLEMENTS, ETC.
Wyett's Settlement-Probably the first settler within what are now the. confines of Bucklin township was Mr. Sampson Wyett, who is still living .. Mr. Wyett states that he came originally from the State of Tennessee to Chariton county, and on the twenty-fourth of March, 1835, came to and' settled upon the southeast quarter of section twenty-nine, township fifty- seven, range eighteen. His nearest neighbor then lived on Mussel Fork, .. six miles east; on the south the nearest was ten miles away, in Chariton county. His only other neighbors were the Bowyers, Yount, and the other settlers in the neighborhood of Linneus. Shortly after Mr. Wyett came, there arrived the following pioneer settlers: Samuel Mapes, from Illinois, in 1836; John Guyer, from Kentucky, in 1837; William Kennedy, from Kentucky, in 1837; Mordecai Lane, from Kentucky, in 1838; Josiah Wat- son, from Kentucky, in 1836.
The first marriage in the neighborhood was that of Alfred McDaniel and' Nancy M. Lane, at the house of the bride's father, in 1838 or 1839. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Joshua Lawson, and there was a general attendance of all the settlers for miles around.
The first child born in the township-at least, in this neighborhood- was Eliza J. Wyett, daughter of Sampson and Emily Wyett, the date of whose birth is set down as February 18, 1837. The first death was that of the wife of John Beeler, who died in 1839. She was buried on section thirty-two.
The first practicing physician was Dr. John F. Powers, who came from Ohio in 1841. Reverend Thatcher, a Methodist, was the first minister; and the first religious services were held at Mr. Wyett's residence. Jacob Coul- son was the first school-teacher, and taught the first school in 1839, in a little log school-house built by the settlers on section twenty-nine. He had about fifteen scholars of both sexes and all ages, and received one dollar per month per scholar for his services.
The first cloth woven in the settlement was by Mrs. Emily Wyett. The settlers did their first trading and milling at Keytesville. It being so far from mill, and such an undertaking to make a trip thereto, Mr. Wyett de- termined to make a mill of his own. Accordingly, he burned a hole in a stump, rigged a sweep and attached to it a pestle, and beat his corn into meal in this mortar, using the coarser particles for hominy.
In early days the settlers' hogs ran in the woods and fattened on the mast, which was very abundant. The wolves were very troublesome in carrying off the young pigs and shoats. Game was plentiful -- deer, tur- keys, prairie-chickens, etc., besides wolves, foxes, and other " varmints," as the settlers called them. Scarcely a family in the settlement was without. venison at any time.
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
The Indians, of course, had abandoned the country as a permanent abid- ing place many years before Mr. Wyett and his neighbors settled here; but thereafter they frequently came down from Iowa on hunting expeditions, and passed through the settlement. "They were uniformly friendly and sociable toward the whites .. For the most part, these Indians belonged to the Sac and Pottawattamie tribes.
On the northwest, quarter of section twenty-nine, township fifty-eight, range nineteen, is a cemetery laid out by James Ainsworth and Sampson Wyett in 1844. The first burial therein was that of a daughter of James Ainsworth. Mr. Ainsworth deeded two acres of land to Sampson Wyett and Harrison Veal, as trustees, to be used as a public burying-ground, and for a church to be used for religious worship by all denominations.
Watson's Settlement-James H. Watson states that his father, Josiah Watson, came from Chariton county (originally from Kentucky) to this county and township in 1836, and settled on the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section sixteen, township fifty-eight, range eighteen. In the same year came John Guyer, from Cooper county, (also a Kentuck- ian,) and settled on section nineteen, and Willis Skelton to section eigh- teen. Wyett was considered a neighbor, though he lived away from them, in another part of the township. Indeed everybody was a neighbor that lived within ten miles.
The first death was Mrs. Beller; and the first physician, Dr. Powers, as stated by Mr. Wyett; but Mr. Watson thinks the first religious services were by Rev. Martin Morgan, an Old School Baptist, at Wyett's. The first male child born in Watson's settlement was John L. Watson, son of Josiah and Rhoda Watson, who was born July 18, 1838.
.Lane's Settlement-According to Judge J. M. Cash, Mordecai Lane settled on the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section twenty- one, township fifty-seven, range eighteen, in the year 1837. Mrs. Ruth Slaughter, a daughter of Lane, says her father settled on the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section six; but probably this settle- ment was a re-location. Lane was originally from Kentucky, but came di- rectly from Chariton county here. Sometime after Lane had settled Amos Ladd came in from Illinois, in 1846; Alfred McDaniel from Virginia, in 1846 or 1847; Loyd Cash, J. M. Cash, and Thomas Wiley came to section fifteen in 1849.
The first death in the neighborhood was that of Jacob Ladd, who was buried on section twenty-two. Dr. J. F. Powers was the first regular phy- sician. He came from Ohio in 1841, and settled on section fifteen. Dr. Powers died at Jefferson City in 1865.
The first public school was taught in a school-house that stood on section ten, in 1855, by Lloyd Cash. He received twenty dollars per monthı. The school began July 30, 1855, and continued thirty-four days, when it closed
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
by reason of the illness of the teacher. Mr. Cash had on his roll the names of nineteen scholars. The first public school-house in the neigh- borhood was built on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of sec- tion fifteen, township fifty-seven, range eighteen. It was a frame, eighteen by twenty-two feet in size, and cost about four hundred and fifty dollars.
In the fall of 1853 Thomas Wiley, William Witt, and Mr. Cash met at the house of Mr. Wiley and organized the first school district. The whole of township fifty-seven, range eighteen, was organized into one school dis- trict. Some time afterwards the township was re-districted, and two school districts were formed by a line running north and south through the center of the township.
Upon the first settlement the pioneers in the Cash settlement got their supplies mostly from Brunswick. Milling was done at Williams' mill, near Keytesville, at Bowyer's, near Linnens, and at other points. Judge Cash says that when he came to the township, in 1849, there were in cultivation between Yellow Creek and Mussel Fork east and west, and to the Chariton line on the south, but sixty acres of land.
Mrs. Ruth, Slaughter, the daughter of Mordecai Lane referred to, is still living, and from her it is learned that her father was the first settler on Yellow Creek in this county. The exact location of Mr. Lane was then, and is yet, in Yellow Creek township, but so near the Bucklin line that it may, with propriety, be referred to in this chapter, as the majority of his neighbors lived in what is now this township.
Mrs. Slaughter never saw any matches until a long time after her family settled on Yellow Creek, and there were none in the settlement. If a family allowed the fire to go out, and there were no flint and " punk " handy, some member, usually a boy, was sent to the nearest neighbor, often two miles away, to " borrow some fire." Sometimes breakfast could not be prepared until a journey of four miles had been completed after the fervid element. Many a pioneer boy, now an old man, remembers that his first steps in the acqui- sition of the profane language were taken when he was returning from a long trip "after fire." Usually he would obtain a "chunk," or burning brand, and as he ran with this toward home, it would be fanned into a flame, which, together with the sparks, would blow back upon his hand and cause him much pain of body and a great deal of irritation of mind.
Indians were plenty when Mordecai Lane first came to the county, and some funny things were wont to happen. On one occasion Mr. Lane sent a slave boy, a mulatto named John, to a store, some five miles away, to get some tobacco. When John was returning, and was about half way home, he was overtaken by some half a dozen Indians. Poor John was badly frightened, and started for home as fast as his legs could carry him. The Indians, for pure mischief, pursued him all the way home, yelling savagely, while John, frightened almost out of his wits, screamed loudly at every jump, for " Mars' Mort .! Mars' Mort .! "
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
The first physician called into the settlement was Dr. Pettigrew (or " Pet- ticrew") from Keytesville, and his first patient was Sampson Wyett.
Settlement of the southeast portion of the township-Mr. W. G. Har- din, living on section thirty-five, township fifty-seven, range nineteen, in the southeastern portion of the township and county, says that the first set- tlers in his neighborhood were Lemuel Henry, who came from Tennessee at an early date-the exact time is not known, but it was probably as early as 1850; he settled on section twenty-five. Elijah Nelson came from Arkan- sas in 1856, and located on section thirty-five. An Irishman, named Mur- tor came in 1856, and settled on section twenty-five. Mr. Hardin himself came in 1857, from Chariton county, and settled where he now lives on sec- tion thirty five.
The first marriage remembered in this community was that of Joseph Vanentine and Maria Lambert, which occurred in the fall of 1864. The first child born, according to Mr. Hardin's memory, was one of his own, Eph- raim Hardin; and the first death was that of his daughter Rebecca. The first practicing physician in the neighborhood was Dr. West of Chariton. Rev. Joseph Roberts of the Christian Church held the first religious ser- vices, using the dwelling-houses of the people. The first school-house was built by "the neighbors " at a small cost. It was of logs, and stood on sec- tion thirty-five. Charles Clifton taught the first school therein. He had fifteen or twenty pupils and received thirty-five dollars per month. Mr. Clifton now resides in Chariton county.
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