Audrain County, Missouri - Chapter 21: Agricultural Societies and Granges, 1884

Chapter 21: Agricultural Societies and Granges

- Officers - Directors - Stockholders - Third Organization - Its Officers - Di¬ rectors - Stockholders - Statement of Receipts and Expenditures - Colored Fair

The people of Audrain county, feeling the need of a county fair, effected an organization in 1859. The benefits of such an organization, when rightly conducted, are varied and manifold. The society placed right ideals before the people, and by various incentives, called them to a higher plane of thought and action. The best thoughts of the world, the results of much study, experiment and investigation, are transferred from all lands and brought into the homes of the people. The premium list covers the whole circle of human industries, and every family in the county feels the benefits incident to emulation. The gathering of people in masses and the annual display of the best products for examination, comparison and study, carries higher ideals and new thoughts to every home. Farm¬ ers discuss these matters around the fireside and their farms begin to show improvements in every way. Improved breeds of stock are in¬ troduced, better seed is sown, and new cereals tried, improved imple¬ ments are bought, farm-houses are constructed on better plans, and the home is furnished with many comforts and luxuries, which would never have been thought of, without the fair. It may be conceded that conductors of fairs have fallen below the true ideals, and have not used all the forces, placed in their hands by these organizations, for human improvement, but the Audrain county fairs have never fallen below the average.

After the war, in 1867, a new organization took place, the old fair grounds were purchased by the new society, handsome improvements were made on the east side of Mexico, and a number of fairs were (366) held with much interest and great success. A majority of the stockholders finally concluded to sell the grounds and lay them off into lots, which was accordingly done, and this portion of Mexico is now known as the " Fair Ground Addition to Mexico."

The records of the first and second organizations have either been lost or destroyed, and but little is now known of them, or their officers.

Of the second Agricultural Society R. W. Sinclair was president. The following were the stockholders of the second organization : - J. D. Tucker, William Stewart, T. W. Garrard, J. M. Ricketts, Hord & Fant, N. F. Kilgore, J. S. & J. A. Potts, Albert White, R. Pear¬ son & Sons, James M. Sims, Daniel Leonard, James E. Ross, William D. Harrison, Charles Rawlings, S. A. Craddock, A. C. Cassidy, Z. J. Ridgeway, Rufus Hisey, J. R. McClelland, Norris & Rines, R. Pulis, James B. Davis, John A. Judy, R. W. Sinclair, William Lewis, A. Lackland, William M. Shumate, J. M. Gordon, W. O. Johnson, F. P. Canterbury, M. F. Simmons, W. D. H. Hunter, C. H. Hardin, R. W. Bowen, Logan Munday, John G. Dingle, James Callaway, Henry Larrimore, Blum & Dutcher, W. Fowles, C. T. Quisenbury, William H. Walker, Woodward & McKee, Henry Williams, James D. Dillard, Cy. Barnes, D. W. Sumner, Amos Ladd, Alexander Carter, W. B. Collier, George W. Page, Joseph Watts, J. J. West, J. E. Hutton, A. R. Ringo, Charles Winant, W. A. Hart, R. M. Barnes.

Mechanical Society

Directors for 1881 - R. W. T ure mail, Joseph A. Potts, D. E. Shea, Lewis Hord, E. D. Graham, Edward Rines, John A. Guthrie, Caleb Berry, S. E. Kendall.

Directors for 1884. - C. W. Baker, Edward Rines, Lewis Hord, S. E. Kendall, R. R. Buckner, B. F. Dobyns, J. B. Botkins, J. A. Potts and D. E. Shea.

Statement ot the receipts and expenditures of the Audrain County Agricultural and Mechanical Society, for the year ending November 6, 1883 : -

To cash on band last settlement Amount from rent of ground Amount from grass sold Amount from rent of booths Amount from rent of stables Amount from entrance fees Amount from outside privileges Amount from gate fees

Colored Fair

The Audrain county Colored Agricultural and Mechanical Society was organized in 1880, and the first fair was held at Mexico, Septem¬ ber 22, 1880.

The grange movement was organized about the year 1874 in Audrain county, and continued its existence until about the year 1880. There were nineteen granges and a membership of possibly 1,000. The name and number of each grange was as follows : -

Young's Creek Grange, No. 276 ; Henry Scheiffer, master; Taylor Berry, secretary. Post-office, Young's Creek. Met first and third Saturday in each month.

John's Branch Grange, No. 704 ; B. H. Wilder, master ; George H. Edwards, secretary. Post-office, John's Branch. Met every second and fourth Saturday in each month.

Saling Grange, No. 557 ; B. F. Turner, master; G. W. Downing, secretary. Post-office, Centralia. Regular meeting was Saturday before full moon, and two weeks previous.

Jefferson Grange, John H. Kilgore, master; David McGee, secre¬ tary. Post-office, Mexico. Regular meeting was third Wednesday in every month.

Representative Farms And Farmers

Close on the eastern border of Mexico is the stock farm of C. T. Quisenberry, more noteworthy for the uses to which it is appropriated than for its area or improvements. Mr. Quisenberry, who has ren¬ dered the country invaluable services as an importer and breeder of fine short horns, thoroughbred horses, pure-bred Berkshires and Cotswolds, devotes his leisure mainly to the feeding of high grade steers, his feed the present year embracing about 200 model steers, with the usual proportion of choice pigs, the steers ranking with the best ever fed in the county, 60 of them having already gone to buyers for the European trade, and the remainder being likely to reach the same destination. Himself and son, A. W. Quisenberry, are liberal buyers of mules, and ship from their city yards large installments of choice animals for the southern markets. He is one of the strongest and most successful feeders in this region, and is essentially a stock man. Mr. Quisenberry has, too, some valuable mining interests in the Gun¬ nison country, which promise a rich outcome. He is a Kentuckian, has been nearly 20 years in this county, and for honesty of purpose, kindly impulse, genial, social nature and real nobility of life, is a man to be honored and remembered.

700 acres in extent. About 450 acres of this handsome estate are grace¬ ful rolling prairie, chiefly devoted to pasturage and meadow, the remain¬ der being delightful rolling woodland, watered by the Beaver Dam. The more noteworthy feature of the estate is the new dairy barn which Mr. Reed has lately completed at a cost of $3,200. It is 60x72 feet on the ground, has a nine-foot basement, enclosed with a heavy rock wall, and supplied with water by pipes from the adjacent ponds. The sec¬ ond floor, like the basement, is devoted to stabling, a double row of finely arranged stalls running parallel with the central driveway the entire length of barn. The third floor has storage capacity for 200 tons of hay and other forage, besides two feed bins, with a capacity of 2,500 bushels, from which feed is carried by conductors to the stalls of both lower stories. Gutters are provided for carrying off the liquid manures from the 150 stalls, and the ventilation is perfect. The 100,- 000 feet of lumber, and 320 perch of stone used in the building, were furnished from the native forest and quarry of the farm. The barn is a model of convenience and utility, and for its purpose, one of the finest structures in the country. Mr. Reed has a milk dairy of 55 cows, their produce going to the daily milk supply of the city, and will increase the number nearly 100 per cent. The admirable loca¬ tion, fine old home, charming open woodlands traversed by the clear running stream, and the rich swelling prairie lands of this beautiful farm, together with the capacious barn and ponds, make it one of the most valuable and desirable dairy and stock farms in the country, and no man could be worthier its possession than the public-spirited and companionable owner whose energy and rare business gifts have brought him enviable fortune and position.

the 1,600-acre suburban stock farm and home of Maj. R. E. Lawder lies directly on the eastern border of the town and is one of the most attrac- tive and valuable estates in the county. About 400 acres are devoted to corn, the yearly product of which ranges from 12,000 to 20,000 bushels and is fed upon the farm. The remaining 1,200 acres, includ¬ ing 300 acres of open woodland, are finely stocked with blue grass and timothy. The estate is admirably watered by Salt creek, the great pond of the Chicago and Alton Railway, and several deep, permanent ponds well distributed over the premises which are divided into 160-acre lots, finely enclosed with eight miles of Bois tV Arc hedge and with plank, post and rail fencing. Maj.Lawder devotes his place entirely to the grazing of young cattle and the feeding of steers and pigs, his yearly surplus of fat stock for shipment running from 70 to 120 steers and from 100 to 200 pigs, both of the higher grades generally fed here. He has fine old home in the plantation style, handsomely and centrally located in a spacious and delightful lawn, surrounded by beautiful wood¬ land and an orchard of 1,200 apple and pear trees which are mostly in bearing. There are eight tenant houses upon the estate, the grain lands being worked upon the tenant plan. Maj. Lawder, who is an Ohio man and U. S. collector of revenue for this district, settled on this farm at the close of the war, is gradually improving and beautifying the estate, and is one of the most popular and influential men in the county, his personal popularity with all parties and classes attesting the high appreciation of this people for good men without respect to politics. One of the prettiest of the smaller suburban places is the charming home and 30-acre fruit farm of Judge John P. Clark, adjoining the fair grounds. The neat and attractive gothic cot¬ tage and smaller out-buildings, like the lawn, garden, vineyards and orchard, indicate the presence and care of the master in fruit and garden culture and landscaping. Judge Clark is one of the pioneers of the county in these delightful arts, has given a quar¬ ter century, or more, to careful study and practice in fruit farming, doing much to inspire in others something of his own enthusiasm in this commendable work. He also owns the beautiful Rock Spring Dairy Farm adjacent to the Hardin College campus, where Mr. Hightshoe is now running an extensive milk dairy, and has for nearly 40 years been an earnest, inspiring worker for agricultural and horticul¬ tural advancement, and especially in practical and experimental fruit culture has a home to be coveted and is always named among the strong, manly, influential men of the county. Two miles north-west of the city is the handsome old style mansion home and 260-acre meadow and stock farm of Judge J. H. Shell, a Tennesseean, who settled here 40 years ago. This fine prairie and woodland farm, which commands a good view of the city, is well supplied with substantial buildings, finely fenced with hedge, rails and barbed wire, and excepting 40 acres of woodland blue grass pasture, is laid down in timothy and clover meadow, the product of which is shipped in the form of baled hay, mainly to the Southern market, to which Judge Shell annually ships from $4,000 to $7,000 worth of baled hay, several of his neighbors selling him the product of farms almost wholly devoted to meadow. He has grown hay for shipment many years and believes it the most profita¬ ble line of husbandry. He keeps 100 Cotswold-Merino sheep and a few well-bred showy short horns, with a good stock of horses and mules on his woodland pasture, and is a successful farmer. Judge Shell improved this fine farm from a wilderness, has made an ample fortune in its cultivation, meantime raising and educating a laro;e family of intelligent sons and daughters, and is himself one of the liberalspirited, influential and successful men of the county, whose long experience here gives him a very high appreciation for the coun¬ try and people. Little more than two miles north-east of the city is the residence and 550-acre farm of Gov. C. H. Hardin, one of the heaviest land-owners in this region. We have little data coneernino; the management of this charming estate and only know that the proprietor has improved it with elegant and convenient farm buildings, laying the spacious lawns, yards and garden with excellent taste, and thinning and underbrushing the well grassed woodlands, till the estate has all the attractions of a beautiful, natural park, and is a fitting home for a man, who, Cincinnatus like, has retired to its inviting shades and fields for needed change and rest from the cares of an eventful and most honorable public life. Gov. Hardin is a native of Kentucky, was graduated with honors from Miami University and began the prac¬ tice of law in 1843. In 1848 he was elected State's attorney and in 1859 was appointed one of the managers of the State Insane Asylum, discharging the duties of both positions with signal ability. Begin¬ ning with 1852, he represented Callaway two successive terms in the lower house of the General Assembl}'- with such marked ability that he was made a member of the commission for a revision and compila¬ tion of the statutes of the State, following this service by a third term in the lower house of the Legislature in 1858. He was elected State Senator from the Callaway district in 1860, and the following year re¬ moved to Mexico, where he conducted a large and lucrative law prac¬ tice, from which he retired in 1871. He was elected to the State Senate in 1872, and two years later was made Governor of Missouri by an overwhelming majority of the popular vote. It is not too much to say that Gov. Hardin's administration of this high trust marked " a new departure" in the government of the Commonwealth, and for scrupulous honesty and economy in public expenditures, statesmanlike views of public policy and a high order of executive ability, gave him rank among the ablest public men of the time and his party but in¬ dorsed the popular estimate of his eminent services to the State, when a little later in general convention it was

" JResolved, That we point with pride to the administration of Charles H. Hardin, Governor of Missouri, as a model one in the his¬ tory of the State, and challenge comparison for it with that of any other State in the Union."

Gov. Hardin is a man of rare attainments, sterling sense, unim¬ peachable integrity, clear comprehension and fine executive gifts, has been one of the foremost, influential workers for the advancement of his adopted State, and whether at the helm of State or the bar, in deliberative assembly or in the more quiet walks of rural retirement, is a man to be honored and revered.

late the home and 1,100 acre farm of James Robinson, universally known as the " champion bareback rider of the world." Of this valuable estate 1,020 acres lie in a solid square, surrounded bv the public road and enclosed by a fine plank and barbed wire fence, of which there are six miles upon the farm ; 620 acres of the farm are in native and do¬ mestic grass, 80 acres of it being orchard grass ; 180 acres of corn, 60 acres of oats, and 15 of navy beans were in crop the past year. The farm is devoted mainly to stock-raising, the present stock embrac¬ ing a fine yard of pigs, 30 milch cows, 25 heifers, 30 calves, and 50 steers, all of high grades, with two thoroughbred short-horn bulls; 38 horses, including three fine Norman and Clydesdale stallions, and three Henry Clay colts ; 10 jacks and jennies, and 129 Cotswold sheep. A capacious stock-barn 40x150 feet, with a storage capacity of 130 tons, has recently been completed for the stabling of cattle and sheep. The horse barn is 42x144 feet, upon the ground, with ample forage-storage capacity above, first-class stabling below, one end of this building being octagon-shaped, and enclosing a ring or circular track where Mr. Robinson trains his green horses in the winter season. A living well, operated by a wind-mill, furnishes 200 barrels of water a day, an ample supply going to both barns by a well planned system of pipes, the more remote portions of the farm being watered by Five Mile run and never failing ponds. A hand¬ some residence and some minor buildings complete the improvements which have already cost the enterprising owner upwards of $15,000. The management of the farm is in the hands of Mr. A. Atkinson, a very companionable man, and an old traveling friend and business agent of Mr. Robinson. The master of the estate spends the summer in the service of one of the great traveling circus companies, and the winter season upon this farm in the society of his accomplished wife, the care and training of his matchless ring horses, and an occasional ramble with his dog and gun among the well stocked neighboring haunts of quail, prairie chickens and rabbits. The charming home of this world-famous man is replete with cheerful and elegant furnish¬ ings and souvenirs of many lands, and made doubly inviting by the presence of its refined and heroic mistress, who, with tender wifely pride and devotion, shares the fortunes of her famous husband in his world-wide journevings, returning with him from the triumphs of the arena to the domestic quiet and rest of this happiest of homes, whose balcony commands one of the loveliest prairie landscapes in the West. James Robinson has here at beautiful Bellevue an estate fit for a prince of the realm, and from its ample halls dispenses hospitality like a baron. He is every inch a man ; brave, generous, charitable and chivalrous to a fault, modest as a maiden, with a soul as big as the world of human sympathy ; this prince of equestrians has thrice made a triumphal tour of Europe ; carried away honors from the Indies and Australia; traversed the States and Provinces from Quebec to the Golden Gate, and after passing eleven winters at "Bellevue" pro¬ nounces Audrain county the finest country of his knowledge.

A mile north of Bellevue, on Young's creek, is the 360 acre farm of Capt. J.W. Bryan, about 100 acres of it being woodland bottoms, and the balance prairie. Capt. Bryan, who resides in Mexico, farms this valuable tract out to tenants, but is getting it mostly in blue grass and timothy, and will devote it to stock raising. He is a native of Pennsylvania, but has been steamboating on the Ohio and Missis¬ sippi for the last thirty years - is now in command of the steamer City of Greenville, of the St. Louis and New Orleans line, and is one of the most widely-known and popular men in the river service. He is a born gentleman of liberal worldly knowledge and experience, has modesty, courage, good sense, and easy self-command, is one of the most intelligent and manly men we have met in the Western country, and expresses the belief that no part of the south-west is more gener¬ ally prosperous than Audrain county, and that for comfortable living, good society, good order and agricultural resources, no country of his knowledge is to be preferred before it.

of 2,500 acres, five miles north-west of Centralia, in the west division of the county. It is graceful undulating prairie, finely drained and watered by Long branch, is well fenced and is soon to be further im¬ proved by one of the most capacious and convenient stock barns in the country. About 1,900 acres of this handsome estate are laid down in timothy and blue grass. Col. Clay has here a herd of 25 short horns, mostly pure Duke stock of the famous Bates line, and lately brought from his father's well-known Auvergne" herd in Kentucky. He is a believer in grazing, keeps 1,200 Cotswold-Merino sheep, and about 80 head of young cattle, and will increase his herds to the full grazing capacity of the farm. Among the additions to be made to the stock are some thoroughbred horses and colts from Col. Clay's 2,500 cotton plantation in Mississippi, where he has the pres¬ ent year grown 1,000 acres of cotton. Col. Clay made the purchase of this fine stock farm on account of its superior grass growing qual¬ ities, and because he believes the soil stands drouth much better than the blue grass region of Kentucky. He is himself a native of Ken¬ tucky, graduated from Yale College, was secretary of the American Legation at the court of Russia and charge d' Affaires at Florence and Turin under the Lincoln administration ; recently represented his parish in the Mississippi Legislature for two terms with honorable dis¬ tinction, and is now settled in a charming suburban home at Mexico. Col. Clay is a man of liberal culture in books and the best ways of the world ; has the candor, manliness, courage, strong sense and high mental gifts of his distinguished family, and is in the best sense an acquisition to the county, of which he speaks in the highest praise.

the well known stock farm of W. J. Booth, Esq., president of the Bank of Centralia. It is 2,000 acres in extent, 800 acres of it lying in Boone and the balance in Audrain county. This beautiful estate abounds in graceful prairie swells, dipping with easy incline toward Young's creek which traverses it centrally and is fringed with a belt of about 300 acres of bottom woodland. About 1,600 acres, including the forest, are richly set in blue grass and the balance devoted to corn growing, clover and timothy meadows, orchards, gardens, lawns, feed yards, etc. The farm is admirably watered by the creek, and half a dozen well distributed ponds, so elevated that the pastures, sheds and stables are well supplied with water by iron pipes and self-regulating water checks, of Mr. Booth's own invention, by which all classes of stock are self-watered in all seasons. The estate is finely fenced with hedge and rails, and the home group of buildings are approached from the highway by a broad, well hedged avenue a mile and a quarter long. The pretty old time cottage is set in a charming lawn well shaded with evergreens and covered on the west and north by the for¬ est and the horse barn, sheds, cribs, ice, smoke, poultry and scale houses, and a well constructed and capacious grain, machine and mill house, with feed-grinding, straw-cutting, wood-sawing and elevating machinery and a heavy corn sheller arranged by Mr. Booth, who is a natural mechanic, and driven by a twelve horse power engine. Most of these buildings are of Mr. Booth's construction and are methods of convenience. A 40x50 foot stock barn, with basement and a broad lean-to upon three sides, affords stabling and shelter for 50 feeding steers, a dozen horses and 100 pigs in the west part of the farm, while other portions are provided with smaller stock barns and several ten¬ ant houses for renters who cultivate the grain fields and divide with the owner. Mr. Booth is partial to stock farming and feeds the 10,- 000 bushels of corn grown on the premises to his own stock, occa¬ sionally buying more for heavy feeding. He grazes about 80 head of hicrh o-rade cattle, has a small herd of thoroughbred short horns, and generally makes a yearly feed of 40 to 75 model steers which go to the European buyers at an average weight of 1,600 to 1,900 pounds, bringing from $75 to $120 per capita. They are followed by 80 to 150 prime pigs which fatten on the litter of the feed yard. About 60 thoroughbred Cots wolds and Downs of Mr. Booth's own importation are kept oil the farm and for several years have given him net yearly returns of 70 to 80 per cent on their cost and care. He is a careful feeder, grazer and breeder, has owned and occupied this estate ever .since the war, and believes this to be one of the finest stock-growing regions in America. He is a native of Michigan, took his academic honors at Ann Arbor with the class of '64, is a model farmer and a gentleman of superior judgment, fine business gifts, cautious, conser¬ vative temper and habit, strong sense of honor and capital mental and worldly discipline, ranks with the most popular, liberal spirited and influential men of this region and entertains a high opinion of the country and people.

There are many other fine stock and grain farms through all this region and scores of able feeders, among the latter James Callaway, who brings 30 months' steers up to 1,700 pounds ; William Sims, who has always made money by feeding prime steers and pigs ; Judge J. E. Ross, whose sheep and cattle feeding enterprises have made him opu¬ lent, and many another strong farmer and stockman whom we should be pleased to mention, if only space permitted.