Bates County, Missouri - The whole text, 1900 (part 5 of 5)

Those in business here theu were M. S. Cowles, John W. Cullar, J. VV. Hannah, Downing & Boggs, Pyle & Wilson, Dr. Martin, Philip and Sam Glassner. Geisal & Boichert, Thomas Brashear, Fred Evans, and Filor Sackett All' of them have since died or removed to other places.

Only a few are living that were here prior to the civil war, viz: John Devinney, YanBuren Vandyke, Fred Cobb, James F. White, Charley Denny, John Atkison, Judge Frank Steele, Thomas Heath and Robert and James and William Hurt. I write these names from memory, but believe it to be correcL

Interview Of George Sears

My parents came from Kentucky to Saline county, Missouri, in the year of 1827. I was born in Saline county, November 6, 1 S3 1. My parents, came to Bates county, (then called Vernon county) in the fell of 1 S38 and settled on the farm known as the Richey farm, one-half mile northeast of where Altona now is. At that time there was not more than five or six families in that settlement. A. M. Trueman and J, Coffman are all the names 1 can now remember. My father broke the first prairie that was broke in that settlement in the spring of 1839. In the fall of 1S38 he built a double log house of hewn logs and men came from Clinton, Harrisonville and Warrensburg to help raise it. It was a two story and was a fine house in that day and time. We then had no school house nearer than Clinton, 25 miles away and no churches to attend on Sunday, therefore we usually spent Sunday at some of the manv Indian camDS on the creek. About the second year we were there the county began settling up slowly, and a school house was built about two and a half miles from our house. The first school was a three months term taught bv a Mr. Knuckles. Among those that came about that time were William Swift, Hiram Edwards, Robert Davis, Joe and Oscar Reeder, Dave Newland and Mose Strong. At that time we went to Lexington to mill ; we wonld take ox teams and wagons and take our corn, deer skins and venison and trade them for groceries. We would some times take as much as 100 bushels of corn at a time, and when we got our meal home we wcuid put it down in large boxes and put limestone rock in it to keep it from becoming old and musty before it was used. When I was about ten years old my father sent me to Johnstown (then called Hardscrabble), twelve miles distant, to get Dr. Thornton for a neighbor by the name of Johnson, and, as I had never seen a doctor, I wondered all the way down there what a doctor looked like. We lived in four counties - and did not move once - it was first VanBuren, then Cass, then Vernon and now Bates. At that time this county was full of deer and turkey and some elk - the elk came from the west and went down in Saline county to the salt pond ; my father and others would follow and kill them. I have eaten their meat, but never saw one alive. At that time powder and lead were so high and hard to get, and turkeys so plentiful, that we rarely ever shot at a turkey aud would not shoot at a deer, except at short range and when sure of a dead shot. In the winter of 1848-49 the whole face of the earth was covered with sleet about eiehtee" inches thick and as slick as glass. The whole country was then alive with deer and wolves, aid we would go out with sticks and clubs and find them, and the more they were scared the less they could run, and they were at our mercy. The first morning after the sleet fell I killed seven deer in the forenoon ; my father finally made us stop killing deer, but we killed hundreds of wolves with sticks and clubs. I hunted deer for about thirty years and I believe I have killed 1,000 deer in sight of where Altona now is. We attended court at Harrison ville until the county was changed to Vernon, and then Pappinsvill.e was the county seat I do not remember - much about the hanging of Nottingham, but I remember I would have gone to see him hanged if it had not been that I had seen a man by the name of Horton hanged at Clinton for wife murder, and I did not want to see another.

In 1849 my father owned 1,000 acres of land in and around where Altona now is. He had paid $1.25 per acre for it, and my brother, Frank, who had gone to California in 1S44, and was at Suitor's Fort when gold was first discovered, wrote father that he had made as much as $ 1,000 in a day and for father not to fool with his land, but to get an outfit and come right on ; so father sold his whole tract to Colonel Wm. Crawford, for $1.61 per acre, and started with two fourmule teams and two ox teams and got as far as Fort Kearney, where he died of cholera. My mother, two sisters and myself came back to where Altona now is, and we lived in that vicinity until October, 1861. I then went to Hempstead county, Arkansas, and went in the army and staid al! through the war.

V. B, Van Dyke

was born in St. Clair Co., Alabama, April i, 1830; emigrated with his parents to Cherokee County, Alabama, in 1837, where he attended such schools as existed at that time - the school house was built of pine logs, with the openings between the logs for windows. He emigrated to Bates County in 1855 and came to Butler when the place was covered with prairie grass, where he has resided ever since. Together with R. L. Duncan, who was then county surveyor, he surveyed the town when the same was made the county seat in 1856, and surveyed most of the additions made to it since. He operated as deputy county surveyor under R. L. Duncan for four years; was appointed by the county court as assessor of Bates County for the years 1862, '63 and 64, and was elected county surveyor for 1866, and also was elected assessor of Mt. Pleasant Township for two years, 18S9 and 1890. Worked in county clerk's office for W. E. Walton; also in recorder's office for Capt. J. C. Martin during his term, and during his long residence in Bates county has followed various other pursuits. Was made a member of the Masonic fraternity in the first lodge that was established in Butler in 1858, and was also a charter member of Butler Lodge No. 254 when same was organized in 1868, of which he is now a member.

On the 2nd day of March, 1862. I was married to Miss Precilla Scroggius. In rS66 I came back to Henry county, about ten miles from Clinton ; iu 1867 I bought the Shaw farm, on Petei creek, and moved to it, in Bates county. That fall the wolves would come and kill our pigs and geese and scratch at the door and tiy to get in. Flour was then worth $5.00 per 100 pounds, and we had to go to Warrensburg after it ; butter was 25 cents per pound ; eggs, 20 cents per dozen in summer ; hens, $4.00 per dozen , calicoes, 15 cents per yard ; thread, 10 cents per spool. In an earl)' day this country was a perfect paradise, the prairie was one vast flower bed, most beautiful to behold ; the woods were full of wild bees and in the later part of summer we would cut bee trees and get honey for winter use, and as barrels and other vessels were very scarce we would cut large linn and hackberry tree*, split the logs open and hew out huge troughs to store away our honey in. The people did not possess wealth, but they were healthy, happy and contented. At the Old Settlers' Reunion in October, 189S, I was awarded the cane for the oldest settler in Bates countv.

V. B. Vandyke Scourge

Be it Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that it be and is hereby recommended by the Senate and House of Representatives to the people of the United States that they assemble in the several counties on th»e approaching Centennial Anniversary of our National Independence, and they cause to have delivered on such day an Historical Sketch of said county from its foundation ; and that a copy of such sketch be filed in the County Clerk's office of said county, and an additional copy be filed in the office of the Librarian of Congress, to the intent that a complete record may be ob-

At a mass meeting of the citizens cf Bates county, held at the court house of Butler to make arrangements to celebrate the Centennial 4th of July, 1876, in the county, and to further comply with the above resolution of Congress, the meeting appointed VanBuren Vandyke, A. Henry and J. A. Devinney to prepare an historical sketch of Bates county.

As that part of said history that relates to the physical features, streams, timber, animals, inhabitants, government, lands, pioneers, first settlements, etc., has been related in other chapters of this book, we will only notice that part that relates to the banishment of the people of the county by the military order No. 11, by General Ewing, August 25 1863, and the visitation of the grasshoppers in 1866 and 1874.

The condition of the people of Bates county, who to the date of the above named order, No. 11, remained in the county, is difficult to describe. They had been pillaged, with few exceptions, of all their live stock and wagons, and communications had been cut off so that many did not hear of the order of banishment until the time allotted was nearly out ; but so soon as they did get the information they procured such wagons and teams as they could and loaded in their most necessary articles *nd began their march out of the country. Their furniture, houses, barns, gardens, orchards and fields were abandoned to certain destruction. Most of the men were in the army on one side or the other, and the move had to be conducted bv women and bovs. Most of them took refuge in Henry and St. Clair counties. Some families would move out and send the wagon back for others. For davs and nights the Toads were strewn with this mass of war ridden people exerting themselves to get out of danger. They went into vacant houses, barns a"d stables, and were called Bates County Refugees. The winter of 1863 was unusually cold and the suffering and privation was very great. When the fifteen days was out and the people all gone the county was overrun by marauders and parties from Kansas, who removed to Kansas what the people had left. The dry grass of the prairie was set on fire, which completed the desolation and reduced the country to a wilderness, in which condition it remained until the close of the war.

During the war parties of both armies passed over the country and many skirmishes took place between them and many incidents took place of a very cruel and tragic character which, if related in detail, would be highly interesting and instructive, showing how some men will act during a state of wcr when the restraints of law and the influence of regular society is removed and would favorably impress on the mind the blessings of peace and good government.

One little incident of an amusing kind happened during the journey of the people out of the county. A family with what little stock and effects ethy had left, arrived at the bridge over Grand river three miles from Clinton, in Henry county. This bridge was an old stvie wooden one covered like a house. The flock of sheep they had could not be coaxed or driven across it, although they tried repeatedly. At this juncture Capt. John Devinney, who was on his way to Clinton with a few men on horseback, came up and seeing the predicament, dismounted and seized a ram and tied a rope to its horns and pulled him by force across the bridge ; the rest of the flock seeing how readily their leader passed over followed without further trouble. This little circumstance gave the narrator a new idea about sheep.

In the spring of 1866 many of the Bates county refugees began to return and improve their land which was all that was left. "With few exceptions not a vestige of former homes were left standing and the chimnevs of their homes could be seen looming up above a forest of rank weeds. The rich land however could not be destroyed. This fact was noted by the soldiers that marched over it during the war, and numbers of them and emigrants from other states settled in the county and, money being plentiful, they bought the prairie at #8.00 and $10.00 per acre, and soon improved the country better than it was before the war.

In November, 1864, a number of the refugees assembled at Johnstown and reorganized the county government by electing the necessary officers. Cn the 4th of July they occupied the village of Pleasant Gap and transacted the county business there. In April, 1S66, they removed to Butler. A temporary court house and clerk's office was erected. At this time nothing but the brick chimneys could be seen standing above the high weeds ; the dry, rank weeds were ten or twelve feet high ; they had to be cut down to allow a wagon to pass through them.

Rocky Mountain Locust

On the 2d day of October, 1866, the county was first visited by grasshoppers or Rocky Mountain locust They appeared to come down from the sky like snowflakes till the face of the earth was covered with them. They devoured all green vegetation, which was but little, as there had been but few people here in the spring to plant anything. They deposited their eggs that fall in the roads, mostly one inch under ground by boring down. They seemed to select the bare ground, where there was no sod for this purpose, and the harder and drier the ground the more numerous the deposits were. Each deposit contained from ten to thirty eggs mingled with a glutinous substance which formed a sack or coating enclosing the eggs from which they hatched out the next spring - continuously from about the first of April to the middle of May. When those first hatched began to shed off their shell, at which time they were about three-fourths grown, they shed the outer covering of legs, head, body and all. Just before shedding the insect became mopish or stupid, would crawl upon some object heavier than itself, fasten its claws into it and remain there for ten or twelve hours until split open on the back, a ful' fledged grasshopper with wings. They began to hop and eat immediately after being hatched, and seemed by instinct to travel in swarms in the same direction, eating everything green, except castor beans. As soon as they obtained their wings they commenced flying off in swarms up into the heavens from whence they came.

They made their appearance again iu the county in the fall of 1S74, but, as before, nearly all the products of the soil were matured and dry and no damage was done except to the fall wheat that had been sowed, but as the people had been apprised of their gradual approach across the state of Kansas lor about six weeks before, there was not much wheat sowed iu the county. In the spring of 1S75 the young ones covered the face of the earth and devoured everything green. They went as they got wings as before in 1S67, being nearly all gone about the 20th of June, 1875.. The excretia of the grasshoppers seemed to have fertilized the grouud so that everything planted after that grew more luxuriautly than ever before, A great man)* expedients were resorted to war against the grasshoppers, but only one thing that was ever tried seemed to succeed - that was by cuttiug a ditch around the laud and burning the hoppers with straw thrown upon them. In this mauner one farmer saved all the vegetables he had planted on one aore, which not ouly supplied himself but he had some to spare to his neighbors.

On the ist of April, 1S62, one regiment of cavalry, commanded by Col. Fitz Henry Warren, was stationed at Butler. Soon after the Sternburg Bros, established a store ai-d trading house ; a\so bought and sold mules. The narrator of this sketch was employed by them to assist in the business. On the 17th of May, William Jennings sold a mule to the Sternburgs and as he lived in Walnut township he had to ride the mule back home. The narrator went with him in order to brine the mule back and remained with him all night. The next morning we mounted our horse and attempted to lead the mule, but no amount of forcing and coaxing could induce it to go. So Mr. Jennings said he would ride it to Butler, so wp started and crossed the river four miles from Mr. Jennings' house on the ferry boat. Then our ronte lay over the -wide undulating prairie ; the weather was delightful and pleasant ; the prairies at that time of year were bedecked with a luxuriant growth of grass and flowers, and perched on the big rosin weeds the prairie larks were singing as merrily as if no war was going on. Our sense of the beautiful was thus regaled, little thinking of the shocking and bloody scene we were to see in the next half hour.

We traveled on in this way until we passed the plantation of Oliver Elswiek, our route led us down into a small valley. When we got to the river at the bottom of the valley, we discovered on the brow of the hill about 200 yards ahead of us a troop of mounted soldiers. One of their number, bare headed and with pistol in his hand, left the main bodv and came in a gallop toward us when within a few feet of us, demanded if we had seen anv men that morning over that wav. pointing the way we had come. We replied that we had seen none but the man that set us over the river at that point. He made no reply, but wheeled around and rode back to his companions on the hill, who waited until we came up to them. I was recognized by Captain Balos, who was in command of the squad. Seeiug the men all with their pistols in their hands, I asked Captain JRalos what had happened. He replied that the rebels had killed some of his men at the ford of the creek just ahead of us. When we arrived at the ford there were probably 100 soldiers riding about through the woods with their revolvers in their hands and they looked very much excited. One dead soldier lay in the road on his face in a pool of blood. Another cecA soldier lay in the bed of the Aagon that stood in the middle of the creek, and the so'dieis were lifting another out of the water that had fallen into the creek. Upon the high hank a cove~ed wagon stood lodged against a stump. The mnles to this wagon were badly shot and tangled in the harness and were bleeding and trembling. It took some considerable time to j»et the wagons turned around and fresh mules with the harness adjusted and the slain soldiers in the wagons. Jennings and I were compelled to stay until they all got start ed. Half a mi)e from the fork we passed the home of G. W. Pierce, here we found the .sergeant who had been in charge of the party that were killed. He had several gunshot wounds about the face and neck ; he

The names of the soldiers that were killed were : J. Bird, M. Meredith and A. Foust, all of Company A, First Iowa Cavalry. The dead soldiers were taken to Butler and neatty dressed in new uniforms and laid on th^ green grass in the hospital yard, and were then buried about one-haif mi;e east of the square with military honors. On this occasion Gen. Warren delivered a pathetic address which caused the tears to run down the cheeks of the soldiers. After the bodies had lain there thirteen years they weie taken up and interred in the National cemetery at Fort Seott, Kansas.

The next day we had an interview with Mr. Bumgardner, the only man that escaped from the massacre unhurt. This is his story of the affair : "One company of General Warren's regiment, which had been stationed at Montavalla, Vernon county, were ordered to join the regiment at Butler, which they did al>out the 14th of May. After their arrival they had to get an additional supply of forage. The quartermaster received the information that there was a large pen of corn at Oliver Elswick's farm, >ix miles west of Butler. On the 17th day of May he sent a small detachment with two wagons to "et the corn. The wagons were loaded and returned to Butler without being molested ; the next day, May iSth, two wagons, each drawn by four mules, with a soldier and one man in each wagon, the party numbering five men, of which I was one, conducted by a sergeant on horseback. Wc arrived at the ford on the Miami creek. The sergeant had gone ahead of the wagons about one hundred yards or more into the heavy timber. After one wagon had crossed and the second one was in the creek a deadly volley was fired from the thicket of buckeye brush a few feet away. The foremost driver was riddled with bullets but was able to dismount and started to run, but only got a few feet and fell dead. It was lnckv for Bumgardner that he was in a covered wagon and was not seen by the bushwhackers. The mules at the discharge of the volley naturally swung aiouud to the right and drew the wagon after them, so the rear end was toward the bushwhackers. Bumgardner took advantage of this circumstance, leaped out of the front end of the wagon and plunged into the thicket and made his escape unharmed. He made his way up the bank of the creek about on^-half mile, crossed it and proceeded to Butler safe. He says the two men in the hindmost wagon were riddled with bullets and killed. The sergeant on hearing the volley suspected the cause and rode back in a gallop. He found the road full of armed men and attempted to make his escape by firing his pistol among them, and plunging into the creek, but when he had reached the opposite bank, one of the bushwhackers who had only discharged one barrel of his shotgun fired the other barrel at the sergeant, hitting him in the arms and neck, but not wounding him mortally.

I afterwards learned who did the shooting and the motive therefor. In the spring of 1S62 the County of Bates was in"a state of terror and confusion trulv frightful, and overrun by bands of marauders and bushwhackers who held the lives and property of the people at their mercy. As has been before stated, abouc the first of April, 1862, one regiment of cavalry, under Col. Fitz Henry Warren, arrived and were stationed at Butler. On the arrival of this regiment the bushwhackers, who up to this time had undisputed possession of the county, retired to the dense thickets and brush on the different streams. CapL Bill Trueman and his gang took up their abode on the island in the Marais des Cygnes river, about nine miles from Butler. The island is about three miles long and one mile wide. On the north side is the river and the south side is bordered by a deep muddy slough. The interior was covered with a dense growth of heavy timber and undergrowth of vines, trailers and the wild Indian plum. Those who had teken up their abode in this gloomy haunt were fed and harbored by the people of the surrounding neighborhood, which was thickly settled. It was the custom of the Federal authority, when a body of troops were stationed at a place, for them to forage on the farmers of the surrounding country. They would go out and take corn and hay, and if the farmer from whom they took it could prove he was loyal to the government they would give him a voucher with the promise to pay at some future time. If he was a Southern sympathizer they took it away without any compensation, and the farmer, his family and stock left to suffer or starve.

This state of things did not suit Capt. Trueman and his men, nor their friends living in the vicinity of the island, and he managed to send information to the quartermaster at Butler that if he would not take hay and corn from the west side of the Miami creek he would not disturb the command at Butler ; but if they continued to take it anyhow, he would take measures to resent it. Thus matters stood when the Federals began to ham the corn from the pen at Oliver Elswick's on the 17th of May. When this was reported to Capt. Trueman he immediately cal.ed a meeting at the house of one of the farmer's, with a view to ascertain what was the best course to pursue to prevent the Federals from taking their corn and hay.

Trueman made a speech to the meeting, in which he said he and his company could waylay and kill the foraging parties, but he was afraid of the consequences to them ; that they might return and burn their houses and property, which calamity he did not desire to bring upon them. They were, it seems, in great doubt as to what to do, when one of the farmers arose and said to Capt. Trueman, that if he and his men were ready to risk their lives in killing the Federals he was willing to loose his property, and so could answer for all of them. This speech removed the difficulty. CapL Trueman and his men immediately made their arrangements, loaded their gnns and pistols and inarched before day and concealed themselves near the base of a large walnut tree in a dense thicket of buckeye brushes at the ford of the Miami creek, where he knew the foraging party would pass the next morning, with the result above narrated. After the massacre the bushwhackers did not stay longer than to take the pistols off the bodies of the dead soldiers.

The subject of this sketch was horn at Wedel, near Hamburg, province of Holstein, Germany, May 30, 1852. Educated in the national schools at Hamburg. He was engaged in photography from his 13th year, and until his removal to America in i8;o, just prior to the Franco-German war. Soon after landing in this country he joined a LJ. S. surveying corps, and served as photographer in the service for about one year and nine months, and traveled through the Southwest before the buikling of the Santa Fe railroad, and covered nine states and territories. Was naturalized at Emporia, Kansas, in 1S71. He then returned to Germany, and was arrested on arrival at his old home as a deserter from the German army, and had he not been a U. S. citizen he would have landed in prison at Spandau, and would have been put to hard labor. He says that lie still feels proud that he was and is still a United States citizen. The Consul of the U. S. told him that his room of 24x28 was the United States, and to make himself at home there, which he did. He remained in the old country two years, and returned to America in 1SS0. Worked at his profession in New York, and also in St. Louis; and established himself in business in Jefferson City in the latter part of 1880, and came to Butler in iSSr.and established his art studio and gallery where it still remains. He is recognized as one of the leading artists in his line in the state, and has been honored by the State Photograph Association. He was Vice-President of the association for several vears. He has twice served the people of this city as councilman from the First Ward, elected in 1S92, and re-elected in 1S94.

He is a scholarly gentleman, and speaks and writes three languageslow Dutch, German and English. He is fond of out-door sports, likes fine dogs, a good gun. andquail. jack snipe and duck hunting, and no season is allowed to pass without his enjoyment of these sports in company with a few congenial companions. His art studio is one of the finest in the state.

Ann Dobbins

When we arrived there we found four or five of our former friends. And so my father took a claim there, and we had nothing to do but talk of the fine grass and crcps and the shooting of the deer. We thought we surelv had reached the promised land. B> t the next July told the story when we all took to chilling. We wished we were back on the old hills of Tennessee ; but Sappington's pills soon did away with all sickness and we rejoiced that we had come. Our cattle and hogs ranging in the woods and on t*ie prairies got fat enough without feeding to eat any time. We fared fine.

In 1S39, a man named Samuel Dobbins, came from Gallatin, Tenn., and purchased a farm from my father. About this time inv father died after an illness of seveu days. This left us all verv lonelv and sad. But mv mother being a good manager, overseeing everything, all moved clong nicelv. In November, 1S4U Mr. Dobbins and I were married. We improved our land and built us up a good home there ; but the great drawback to that countrv was it had never been snrveved or sectionized. My hopes were never so completely destroyed as when my husband, with other smart men, went and traced the sections up and fonnd the section line to run through the middle, and the section corner to be in the center of our land. So we concluded to sell it. Soon afterwards we were offered $500 in silver and we took it. It was worth $1,000 though. That was in September, 1842. We moved into the bottom and spent the winter. At that time we thought we would moved to Texas, but the spring of '43 was so bad we concluded to go to Bates county, Mo. My husband went horseback through the woods and prairies for the purpose of purchasing us a home. Finding an old friend on the head of NaVs creek he toid him his business. He said : " Well, Dobbins, I know where one is thrt will just suit you." And so he went with him to the very spot where Sam Dobbins, my son, and John Woody, my son-in-law, live now. And the minute he laid his eyes on it he said : " Here is my home and I expect to raise my family and live and die here." He purchased it before he returned. He gave $300 for it. There were two pretty good log houses on it, a little bit of orchard, some old boards, and fence, and seven acres of broke land.

On the 13th of April we loaded our wagons, gathered up all our little lambs, pigs, horses and cattle and started. When I saw it I thought, "Oh! man, where were your eyes? Fll never live here. You can if you want to." But I did all the same, and owned it until last September, which was September, '99. I hold no interest in the old homestead now. But it seemed as if nature did its best to induct us to stay. The streams abounded in beautiful fish, and the hickory and walnut trees were just loaded down - such times as the girls and boys had in autumn, gathering nuts. They had their nuts instead of apples. There wasn't any fruit, except that which was wild ; but there was plenty of that. In the fall the trees wouidjustbe black with wild grapes; as to plums just bushels and bushels, such as couldn't be found in any orchard at this day and time. And water melons in season. I have seen with my own eyes forty full grown water melons on one vine. And when we got out of honey, we just took an axe, went to the woods and with but little trouble secured enough to 'ast us a round year. We had vegetables in abundance. It was nothing uncommon to have turnips and cabbage that wouldn't go in a wooden bucket. With such products it isu't any wonder we stayed. The first year we came Mr. Dobbins went to work and of all the making and hauling of rails, vou never saw the like; and that year he fenced in eighty acres in pasture and one hundred acres in a field. And so everything; proclaimed prosperity.

The worst drawback to onr new home was that we could not buy a yard of cloth between onr house and Independence. Money was scarce and goods high. As far as that was concerned it didn't bother ns any, for we had plenty of cotton, hemp, flax and wool, a loom, wheel, and other necessarries, and we well understood the art of converting it into cloth, and, therefore, our family fared well ; but I couldn't sav as well for neighbors who were not so well prepared. Our neighbors were Messrs. Cooper, Snow, Lineh, Hrumfield, Hawkins, Courtney, Gnus, Fishers and Adams by the hall dozen families.

Now, I suppose you think we didn't have any religion those times, but we did. We had no such idea as living in heathendom, without any church houses. Our husbands went down into the timber, cut out every old black oak they could find, and soon erected a building twenty-two feet long, at what is now called the old Conway place. I wish you could have seen them ; some hewing, some chopping, others making mortar, some one thing, some another, all hard at work. Thev cut a log out on one side and fixed it so it would slip in and out for a window, split "fin" logs, lx>red holes and put legs in them, and we all had seats. I have seen people confess their sins, change their way of living and show deeper love for their master there than I ever saw any where else.

But alas! Ten years to a dav after we had been there my husband died. I was left a widow with six little children, John, Will, Sarah, Jane and little Sammie We lived there happy enough until the war came up, but I am not going to enter into any of the details of that. My children were all about grown bv this time and we moved out of Bates countv and stayed five years. Then we returned, built up our home anew, and if you will look around you can find things to this day to show what Ann Dobbins did with her poor old hands. But praise God! He always blesses us, and I am living happv enough, two and a half miles east of Mound City, Kansas.

Born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, February 21st, 1855. Came to Missouri in 185S, went to Illinois in 1863 and lived there until 1K70 when his family located in Vernon County. Came to Bates County in April, 1877, and took charge of the Rich Hill School (old Rich Hill). Was the Rich Hill correspondent of the Bates County Record in 1S77, at which time the coal fields were beginning to attract the attention of capital andj the papers were using their best efforts to attract the attention of railroad people to the advantages of a railroad through Bates Count)'.

Farmed in summer and taught school in winter until twentyfive years old. Was principal of the East side school at Rich Hill in 1S82-3 and soon after the close of that school year, engaged in the real estate and insurance business at Rich Hill and is still engaged in that business. Vice-President of the Farmers and Manufacturers' Bank and Secretary of the Rich Hill Fair.