Greene County, Missouri - Chapter 1: Pioneer History, 1883

The Red Men - The French Voyageurs - The Kickapoos - The First Whites, John P. Pettijohn, Joseph Price, Augustus Friend and Others - Mr. Pettijohn's Fearful Trip up White River - The Pattersons - The Delaware Indians - James Wilson, and Other " Squaw Men " - Old Boh Patterson - Advent of the Campbells, the Fulbrights, A. J. Burnett, Joseph Miller, and Others - First Settlement of Springfield - " Kickapoo, My Beautiful" - The Rountrees - Uncle Joe's Journey - Other Early Settlers and Settlements - Some Odd Characters - Pioneer Life - Character of the Old Settlers - List of Pioneers of Campbell Township, in 1833.

The pioneer history of Greene county is that of Southwest Missouri, for the first settlements in this portion of the State were made within what have been, until recently, the boundaries of this county, and upon the first organization into municipal government of that vast parallelogram, 75x100 miles in area, lying in the southwest corner of Missouri, it was all called Greene county.

Prior to the war of 1812 all this portion of Missouri was known as *'the Osage country," or country of the Osage Indians, who occupied it from time to time as they hunted in its forests, fished in its streams, and camped in its pleasant places. The first white men to visit the country were some of the early French voyageurs ^ who came out occasionally from Ste. Genevieve after "the year of the great waters," 1785, and made certain explorations in search of gold and silver. Returning, they reported plenty of lead indications, but none of the precious metals. These Frenchmen belonged to the colony at Ste. Genevieve, and seem to have gone as far west from time to time as into Barry, or perhaps McDonald county, from the de] scription of the country they gave. *' It is a land very rough, mountainous, and hard to travel through," said they, and there are plenty of springs, caves, and fresh water. ^

There is a shadowy tradition that De Soto's men came as far west and north as into Jasper county, but there appears no good reason to believe that this tradition rests upon anything more substantial than the assertion of some fanciful individual anxious to establish some sort of distinction for the early history of that county.

Some time during or immediately after the war of 1812, a band of the Kickapoo tribe of Indians built a town on the present site of Springfield, which they occupied for several years. The population of this town at one time was about 500 - at least it numbered 100 wigwams.^

The Kickapoos ranged north and northeast of this town, principally, and the large prairie south of Springfield was called for them ; and the " Kickapoo prairie " was more widely known in 1824 than it is now. This portion of Southwest Missouri was afterwards often called the " Kickapoo country."

Corroborative of the historical sketch of Mr. Escott, in his History of Springfield (1878), a most interesting and instructive little work, it may here be stated that the first permanent white settlements in Southwest Missouri were made in 1818 by John P. Pettijohn, his sons, their families and Joseph Price and Augustine (or Augustus) Friend, on the James river, from eight to fifteen miles south and southwest of the present location of Springfield. About the same time William Friend built a cabin on Finley creek, south a few miles of what is now Washington township, in this county, and near the town of Linden, or Kenton post-oflice, in Christian county. Jeremiah Pearson came to what isnow^the southern part of Jackson township, Greene county, a year or two later, and settled on the stream that afterwards bore his name, and not long afterward built a mill, which disputes for the distinction of being the first in this section of the State. Nathan Burrill, a son-in-law of Mr. Pettijohn, came with him and located near Wm. Friend, as did Isaac Prosser and probably George Wells.

2 " South of the Pomme de Terre, some twenty miles, is an old Kickapoo village, which numbered at one time 100 wick-a-ups or wigwams." - [Beck's Gazetteer (1824), p. 78.

the courts of Christian county, much interesting information concerning the settlement of this country has been obtained by different writers who have written historical sketches. Mr. McPettijohn has put it upon record that his grandfother, John P. Pettijohn, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was born in Henrico county, Virginia, where he married and lived until 1797, when he moved to Gallia county, Ohio. There he settled a new farm, upon which he remained until 1818, at which time he and his family, together with those just mentioned and other relatives of the famil3^ to the number of twenty-four persons, set out to seek a home in the interior of the new Territory of Missouri. Whether Mr. Wells was one of this company is not certainly known.

Procuring a keel-boat, which a was sort of large row-boat, they commenced their voyage in the latter part of the summer, down the Muskingum, thence down the Ohio and Mississippi to the mouth of White river. So tar, it had been comparatively easy sailing ; they had made good time, and were in fine spirits. The men had frequently gone on shore and killed game to add to their stock of provisions, of which they had laid in a good supply before leaving their homes in Ohio. It is not probable that it took many large Saratoga trunks to contain their surplus wardrobe, but they brought with them such things as they expected would be necessary to make them comfortable and happy in their new homes beyond the pale of fashionable society and its requirements. Among other things, they had provided themselves with a variety of field and garden seeds, and as they had spent much of their time in hunting and trapping in the forests of Ohio, they had a number of bearskins which were used as a substitute for mattresses.

Soon after commencing the ascent of White river, they encountered floods which greatly impeded their progress, the river being so full that it overflowed its banks, spreading out in some places for miles along the cane-brakes which lined it on either side, and flowing so rapidly that it was impossible to make any headway against its seething tide.

About this time sickness assailed the little band and nearly all were prostrated with malai-ious fevers. With these hindrances, and the inability to go on shore to hunt, their supply of provisions was soon exhausted, and the famishing crew were compelled to use for food all of the seeds which they had brought with them, and then even to singe the hair from the bear-skins and roast them to keep from starv- ing. After this, for nearly eight days, they were without a mouthful of food of any kind, but on the eighth day a small deer came swimming up to the boat, as if for assistance, having probably been borne down on the current while attempting to cross the river. It is needless to say that they gave it such protection as the vulture gave the lamb. On its flesh, without bread or salt, they subsisted two days, after which was another fast of eight days, and on the ninth day Nathan Burrill, a son-in-law of Mr. Pettijohn, took a skifi" and set out among the cane-brakes, declaring that he would go till he found food or die in the attempt. He had not gone far before he heard the tinkling of a small bell, and, on rowing in the direction from which it proceeded, he soon discovered a mare and a young tilly which were on a small knoll entirely surrounded by water, where they had been srrazinir, when the waters had risen around them and cut them ofl'from the main land. Mr. Burrill considered it a " military necessity," under the circumstances, to appropriate the filly to the use of himself and his suflering companions, without waiting for the owner's consent, inasmuch as he did not know where to find the owner, and there was not much time to be lost if anything was to be done to save the famishing company.

Shooting it down, he next cut its throat and drank of its blood as it flowed warm from the animal's heart. With difliculty he skinned the carcass and conveyed it piecemeal to the boat, where it was gladly received by his comrades. This furnished food again for a few days, and the waters getting lower, and the party gaining some strength, they were making their way slowly but surely toward the " promised land," where a few other families had preceded them and formed settlements but a short time before.

These settlements were on White river, near the mouth of the Big North Fork, and consequently in the present limits of Arkansas, which at that time formed a part of the Missouri Territory.

The first human habitation they found was that of a Frenchman who lived all alone, far down the river below the other settlements, where he was engaged in raising stock. From hini they purchased some corn, but he could not be induced for money or any other consideration to kill any beef or pork for them. However, with the corn, which they boiled, they soon gained suflicient strength to go out occasionally and shoot game to go with it, and it was not long till they found themselves among more hospitable pioneers, who, true to the custom of old Tennessee, from which most of them had emigrated.

And well was this kindness appreciated, for, during this long and perilous voyage, two of the number - the wife of the veteran hero and the wife of his son William - had been taken away by the hand of death, and the rest had been sadly reduced by sickness and privation.

They were, however, soon able to erect cabins and begin to provide for their own wants, as there were plenty of deer and turkeys in the country, and bee-trees well filled with honey. The bear and the buffalo were not very difficult to find, and the elk still roamed through the forests in large herds.

But their settlement on the White river was not a permanent one. Their huntins: excursions often extended several miles back amonerthe hills and valleys, and as early as 1820 and 1821, frequent expeditions were made by various members of the party as far north as the James river, where some of them erected a small cabin and thus established a, claim to a place about eight miles south of the present site of Springfield. On his return from one of these ex[)editions, William Pettijohn told his neighbors on White river that he had discovered the country which flowed with milk and honey, bear's oil and buff'alo marrow. These two latter articles were considered great luxuries among the old hunters and trappers of the West.

In the spring and summer of 1822 these families began to remove to the places already mentioned - on the *'Jeems" - and within the present limits of Greene and Christian counties. Thomas Patterson and family, who had also lived about three years on White river, which they had reached after successive removals from North Carolina to Tennessee, and from Tennessee to the Missouri Territory, came up the James in 1821, and bought the claim and improvement formerly made by some of the Pettijohn family on the place afterward owned by his son, Albert G. Patterson, said to be the oldest farm in the county, although not actually settled till August, 1822.

Alexander Patterson, a brother of Thomas, came about the same time and made a settlement on the place which was afterward known as the David Wallace place ; also another Thomas Patterson, a cousin of Albert G., settled higher up the James. A man named Ingle settled near where the bridge now stands, at the crossing of the James, on the Ozark road, and there erected what some claim was the first mill in Southwest Missouri.

Up to this time these early settlers had encountered but very few Indians - only occasional parties of Osages who were in the habit of coming here in the fall to hunt, their home being farther north and west, probably within the present limits of the State of Kansas. But, in the autumn of 1822, the Delawares came, about live hundred strong, and laid claim to all of the southwest part of the State, as a reservation given them by the Government.

These Delawares, one branch of the great Algonquins, are one of the most peaceable and friendly tribes in America, being the very same nation with whom William Penn formed his first treaty, which was ever kept inviolate by them, even when other nations bad persecuted them for their friendship to the whites. In an early day they were eminent for their valor and wisdom, and exercised an important influence over the other tribes, which was felt from the Chesapeake to the Hudson, as an evidence of which they received the title of " The Grand Father." In the sixteenth century their home was in the valley of the Delaware and on the banks of the Schuylkill. In 1751 they were on the Susquehanna, and in 1795 they were parties with the Wyandottes, Shawnees and Miamis to the treaty of peace at Greenville. Owing to the hostilities of other tribes, they emigrated after this to White river, in Indiana, where they remained until their removal to this portion of the country, whither it is probable they had been directed by designing white men who had told them that this was the reservation which had been set apart for them.

The few white settlers here, not being satisfied on the subject, as to the Indians' right of ownership in the country, sent one of their number, Thomas Patterson, Sr., to St. Louis to make inquiry concerning it, and he was there informed, although it is not known to whom he referred the matter, that the Indians were right, and that the white settlers must give up their claims. On his returning and reporting, the settlers nearly all abandoned their claims, some going to the Merramec, some to Osage Fork of the Gasconade, some back to Illinois, and some pressing onward still farther south and west.

Besides the early settlers already mentioned there is an account of a man named Davis, who settled on the James, on section 13-29-20, now Taylor township, on land now owned by Col. Jno. H. Price, some time between 1822 and 1825, and was killed by the Indians, but it has not been learned what tribe was charged with it or what the circumstances were. His wife and children probably removed from the country at the time of the general abandonment of claims on the arrival of the Delawares and never returned to reclaim it. Davis creek takes its name from this early settler. A man named Spencer O'Neil was also an early settler on the James.

The Delawares, who were now in undisputed possession of the country, rented land to a few families who came with them, and also to Mr. William Friend, who remained on his farm throughout the whole time that they had possession, and therefore, during his lifetime, was the oldest permanent settler in this portion of the State. His father was a captain in the Revolutionary war, and he himself had been a soldier in the war of 1812, and was at the battle of Tippecanoe, when Tecumseh was killed, so he had no fears in remaining among the red men, especially among this friendly tribe. Mr. Friend had successively removed from Maryland to Ohio, from Ohio to what is now Arkansas, and finally to the wilds of Southwest Missouri. He came with the Pettijohn family, the Pearsons, his brother Augustus, and the other pioneers who came by way of the rivers from Ohio.

With the Delawares, came a man named James Wilson, who was married to three squaws while here, and after living with each for a short time, would drive her off, and seek another " affinit}'." About the time the Delawares left, he sent away the third one and returned to St. Louis, where he married a white woman, whom he brought back with him, and they settled on a farm near the mouth of the creek which was named for him, and afterwards became noted as the scene of one of the fiercest battles of the civil war. After the death of Mr. Wilson his widow, a French lady, was married to Dr. C. D. Terrell, whose name afterward appears in the official record of Greene county as the second clerk of the county court.

It is said of Wilson that he gained the confidence of the Indians, and got the handling of what money they had. He is reported to have buried this money with the intent to keep it from the Indians, but Judge Lynch' s code seems to have been known to the Delawares, and they caught Wilson and hung him up by the neck until he revealed where the cash was hid. He remained here after the Indians removed, and died soon after.

A man by the name of Marshall also came with them, being married to a squaw, with whom he lived until his death, which occurred about the time the Indians were leaving here, and his widow and orphans went to the Territorj' with their dusky companions. Mr. Marshall had taken the old mill which had formerly been abandoned

Two other men seem to have come with the Indians as traders. They were Joseph Phillabert (pronounced Fillabare) and William Gilliss. Of the latter, all the information learned after the Indians left, was developed by a suit brought by persons claiming to be his heirs, in consequence of his marriage to the daughter of a chief of a small tribe who were connected with the Delawares, or under their protection, while here.

It is claimed that, like Wilson, he was not content to live long at a time with one dusky bride ; but that he, too, lived successively with three different ones, each, for the time, being considered his legal wife. It seems that while keeping a post at the Delaware town on the James fork of White river he was twice married to women of the Delaware tribe ; but, about the year 1830, he proposed to Laharsh, a chief of the Piankeshaws, to marry his daughter, Kahketoqua, and that he employed one Baptiste Peoria to negotiate the marriage. Baptiste visited Laharsh and reported favorably to Gilliss ; after which he and Gilliss went down to the settlement on Cowskin creek, where the Indian maiden lived, and carried her father and mother presents, which were acceptable, and she returned with them to become his wife. In regard to the custom among the Indians in relation to marriage, the contract was usually made thus with the parents, and if the bridegroom made presents which were satisfactory, the parent usually assented and that constituted the marriage. These contracts were dissoluble at the option of the parties, and in this case Gilliss sent Kahketoqua back after living with her for a few months, promising to recall her when he should return from the East.

But it does not appear that he ever returned or acknowledged her as his wife after this, although he frequently sent presents to her child, which was named Nancy, and in after years the heirs of Nancy, not being mentioned in his will, sued for their share of his property, which was finally granted them by decision of the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, from reports of which we obtain our information.

It seems that Mr. Gilliss' mother-in-law, the wife of Laharsh, accompanied him and his wife on the wedding tour, remaining several weeks, probably to give the wife some instructions in housekeeping, and that at the end of her visit, Gilliss took or sent her back to the Cowskin settlement. This watchfuhiess of the mother-in-law over bride and groom doubtless had the same effect as it is often supposed to have in the case of white mothers-in-law, and may have been the cause of the early separation.

Concerning Mr. Phillabert, we have the following from Col. S. H. Boyd, of Springfield, in an address delivered by him at a meeting of the pioneers of Greene county, July 4, 187(5 : -

" With the Indians lived a Frenchman whose name was Joseph Phillabert. He and some associates in St. Louis carried on a trade at this Indian town for many years, by which he accumulated considerable riches, and he now possesses large paying estates in St. Louis. From early life he had been a pioneer, and much of his career had been passed in close association with the Indians. When the Indians emigrated to the Indian Territory, Phillabert remained in this country, and still lives^ in Stone county. He takes great interest in the affairs of government, reads the weekly newspapers, and discusses with earnestness the political questions of the day. Many years have passed by since he was any distance from his comfortable Lome on the banks of the White river and the James. His agent in St. Louis makes him monthly statements of his property, and this is the only care he gives to his large St. Louis estates. He is the oldest settler of Southwest Missouri now living." ^

The Indian town and trading post referred to was in the northwest part of Christian connty, near the Wilson's Creek battle ground, but on the James, and extending from the lane where the county road crosses the river, about three-fourths of a mile down its banks. This was their princii)al town, and for several years the home of the greater part of the nation. There were, however, some suburban towns scattered along up and down the James and on the banks of Wilson's creek.

Here the Delawares remained monarchs of the forest and the prairie until about the year 1830, when it was determined that their reservation was further west. To their new hunting grounds they removed, and there they have ever since remained, true to their former pledges, at peace with the whites, and willing to suffer wrongs rather than engage in war.

As soon as they left, most of the white settlers, who had been absent during their occupancy of the country, came back and reclaimed their ol'd homesteads, where the descendants of some of them still live.

Mr. Pettijohn, who had been back to Ohio, came with his son John, who had remained in Illinois. On returning to their old home, which had afterward been the site of the Dehiware town, they found a man named Joseph Porter in possession and claiming to have purchased it from the Indians ; so they went further down the river and settled near the mouth of the James, where they both remained until their death. John Mack Pettijohn, a grandson of the old pioneer, was long a prominent citizen of Ozark, in Christian county, where he reared a family of ten children. In the spring of 1878 Mr. P. and his wife, with their six unmarried children, set out overland, with horse and ox teams, for the interior of Oregon, but it is understood that they purchased land and settled in Southern Kansas. The descendants seem to inherit the pioneer spirit of their forefathers, and likewise a good degree of the patriotic spirit of their veneral^le ancestor of Revolutionary times. John Pettijohn, Jr., and his brother William, were both soldiers in the war of 1812 ; a grandson, William C, was in the Mexican war, and two other grandsons, George and Levi, as well as a great-grandson, John W., were in the Union army in the late war, while another grandson, George, who was the son of Jacob, was in the" Southern army.

Joseph Porter, before mentioned, was distinguished as a first-rate farmer, as well as an excellent trapper and fisherman. He is said to have killed the last beaver taken in Greene county. Mr. P. is described as being of a very genial nature, full of fun and frolic, and possessing a large fund of anecdotes, which conspired to make him a general favorite with old and young.

Thomas Patterson and family returned from Osage fork in 1834, to the old plantation on the James, and in a small cemetery near the old homestead his remains and those of his wife rest undisturbed beneath the shade of a fine grove of native cedars, a fit emblem for the graves of pioneers from the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, which abound with this beautiful evergreen.

John B. and Edward Mooney settled on Davis creek, in Taylor township, perhaps in 1827, renting land from the Delawares. Rev. Mooney was a pioneer preacher, and one of the early townships was named for him. Its successor is now Mooney township, Polk county. Samuel Martin, of North Carolina, came to that section in 1829, and remained here for a number of years. He was the first presiding justice of the Greene county court, upon the organization of the county, in 1833. He afterward removed to Ozark countv, where he held the

In 1821 Bob Patterson and his father, who were from East Tennessee, settled on the James, about two miles north of Dallas, in Webster county, and a few miles east of the line now dividing that county from Greene. Bob Patterson was an exception among the early pioneers. He was inhospitable and ungenerous even to the point of hoggishness. In personal appearance he was not at all prepossessing. He was tall and ungainly and his front teeth protruded and were large and long. It is said that for many years Patterson was the only settler in that part of the country for miles, and that he planted the first apple and peach orchard in Southwestern Missouri from seeds brought from Tennessee.

On one occasion an emigrant coming westward stopped at Bob Patterson's to procure some corn for his jaded horses and to make bread for his family, a rather large one. Though he had plenty, Patterson would not let the mover have even a single bushel, though he knew there was no other source from which it could be had within half a day's journey, unless he could receive $2 a bushel for every ear sold. The emigrant's wife, who had listened to the conversation between Patterson and her husband, now concluded it was time for her to interfere ; whereupon she thrust out her head from under the wagon cover and cried out: "You go to the dickens with your corn, you stingy old hound ; we don't want to buy anything from a feller whose tushes is so long that he can bite the guts out of a punkin through a crack in the fence, and not wet his lips ! Go to the dickens with your corn ! Comeon, old man !" Andthe "old man" accordingly went on.

Patterson acted the rogue with the Delaware Indians, and was expelled from the country. He went eastward and settled near Steelville, Crawford county. What eventually became of him none of the old settlers seem ever to have known - or cared.

A number of explorers and home seekers visited this portion of the country from time to time, and among them was old William Fulbright, who came here in 1819.

In 1830, in response to numerous petitions, the Government ordered the Indians to give up this portion of Missouri and " move on," which the great majority of them proceeded to do. This seemed to be the signal for a large influx of pioneers. Although Missouri had been admitted into the Union ten years before, and the eastern and northern portions had been rapidly filling up with immigrants, there were very few white people southwest of the center of the State, and all of this vast amount of territory, now comprising forty or fifty counties, was still attached to Wayne county.

On the organization of Crawford county in 1829, this territory was transferred to its jurisdiction, under which it remained until the organization of Greene.

There were no regular roads, and the usual way of reaching this part of the country was either by way of the rivers, as has already been described, or by following the Indian trails across from Green's ferry, on the Mississippi.

Some few years since, Mr. John H. Miller, of Ritche}^ Newton county, published a series of historical sketches in the Springfield Leadei\ for which the people of Greene county must ever be thankful, since they contain much valuable information that might never have been known to this and future generations. Mr. Miller, a son of Joseph Miller, one of the very first settlers of the county, is blessed not only with a retentive memory, but with a capacity and a disposition to put his recollections on paper. Let it be impressed on our people, that to his kindness in writing these sketches, and to the Leader's enterprise in publishing them, we are indebted for much of the knowledge of the early settlement of this county that we all possess. Speaking of some of the first settlements and pioneer settlers of Greene county, Mr. Miller says : -

In the fall of 1829, Madison and J. P. Campbell left Maury county, Tennessee, on horseback, traveling toward the setting sun in search of homes for themselves and their families. Crossing the Mississippi river, thence west through the then Territory of Arkansas, on to the present site of Fayetteville, then almost an entire wilderness ; thence making a circle back in a northeasterly direction into Southwest Missouri, striking the old Delaware town, the first and only place of note on the James fork, ten miles southwest of where Springfield now stands. From there they went on to Kickapoo prairie and then north into the timber, discovering the FullTright spring and the natural well. Near the latter they cut their names on some trees to mark their claims to the land in that vicinity.

At that time the first settlers already mentioned were living on the James, and Gilliss and old Joseph Phillabert had a little log store or trading post on a knoll near the Delaware town, where they kept a few pieces of calico and trinkets for, sale to the Indians. After mentioning the return of the Campbell brothers to Tennessee, Mr. Miller goes on to say : -

Miller, fixed up with their small families, and set out for Kickapoo prairie. Mr. C.'s family consisted of himself, wife and one child, Tulitha, then not a year old, Avho was afterward the mother of Lula, wife of Frank Sheppard. Mr. Miller's family consisted of himself and wife and two children. Rufus was one year old, and John was twelve. They also had six darkies, one five-horse team and one Derbin wagon, which was driven by ^Tohn. (Madison U. did not move until l'832.)

They journeyed via Nashville and Hopkinsville, crossing the Ohio at Golconda, thence over the south end of Illinois to Green's old ferry on the Mississippi. It being in February, they encountered great difficulties in crossing on account of the quantities of floating ice, but after making several trips across the river in an old, rickety piece of a flat, the wind being high and cold, they succeeded in landing safe on the Missouri side ; thence they were obliged to almost cut their own road, but onward they went toward the West, by old Jackson in Cape Girardeau county, stopping one day to rest at old Col. Abram Byro's, five miles west of Jackson. Thence they proceeded on to Farmington, in St. Francois county, and by Caledonia, in Washington county, which was the last town, and it only contained one little store and two or three dozen inhabitants. Then on west, with scarcely any road, to the present site of Steelville, in Crawford county, and on twelve miles further to Massey's iron works, which had been in operation but a ver}' short time, and so on to where RoUa now stands. Twelve miles farther on, they came to old Jimmy Harrison's, at the mouth of Little Piney, on the Gasconade, about four hundred yards south of the present Gasconade bridge. Mr. Harrison kept a little store for the accommodation of the few settlers up and down the Piney and the Gasconade ; that was also the court-house for the whole of Southwest Missouri, and so it was the only post-office until 1832. Thence west twenty miles brought them across the Big Piney on to Roubideaux, now Waynesville, in Pulaski county. Continuing their journey, they went up the Gasconade river to the mouth of the Osage fork, where they found a few white settlers - some of the Starks, Ballous, Tygarts, O'Neals, and one old " Jim Campbell," who was sheritt'of all of Southwest Missouri. This was in the neighborhood of the present Oldland post-office. From there they came on to Cave Spring, where they crossed the Osage fork, leaving it at the old Barnett place, from which they came to Pleasant prairie, now Marshfield, and striking James fork twenty miles east, thence down to Jerry Pierson's, where he had built a little water mill at a spring just below the Danforth place ; then on west they struck the Kickapoo prairie one mile east of the present Joe Merritt place ; thence five miles more brought them to the natural well (a short distance north of the present public square of Springfield). Here they first camped on the night of the 4th of March, ^830.

John Fiilhi'ight had settled at another spring near by, and had a cabin up ; and his l)rother-in-hiw, A. J. Burnett, had succeeded in putting up a small oak-pole cabin 12x15, just on the spot of the old 'Squire Burden residence on Booneville street. Mr. Campbell having had rather the oldest claim, ))y his name being cut on an ash tree at the well, Mr. Burnett gave way and went and commenced an improvement five miles east, at the Merritt place. Both Miller's and Campbell's families then moved into the pole cabin, the negroes having a good cloth tent to live in. This cabin had a splendid dirt floor.

Then all pitched into cutting and clearing, and soon succeeded in opening a few acres on the north side of the branch (Jordan) and just north of the natural well. They also cleared a field on the top of the hill, where the city now stands, the north string of the fence being about in the middle of the public square running west and including the ground where the Metropolitan hotel now stands.

The remains of the old Kickapoo Indian village still stood in the southwest portion of the present limit of Springfield. It was built of bark and small hickory poles bent over. Plenty of dead corn stalks were to be seen in the little patches that had been cultivated by the squaws. The Kickapoos had moved northwest in 1828. They came here from Illinois.

The following communication from the pen of Mrs. Rush C. Owen, daughter of John P. Campbell, taken from the columns of the Springfield Leader, of August 3, 1876, gives some interesting incidents in connection with the early settling of the town of Springfield : -

In 1827 my father, John P. Campbell, and my uncle, E. M. Campbell, took refuge from an autumnal storm in old Delaware town on the James, not far from the Wilson Creek battle-ground. The braves had just brought in a remnant of Kickapoos which they had rescued from the Osages. Among the Kickapoos was a young brave boy ill with a kind of bilious fever recently taken. Just before leaving home my father had been reading a botanic treatise, and became a convei't. In his saddle-bags he carried lobelia, composition and No. 6. He gave them to understand that he was a medicine man, and against Uncle Mat's earnest protest, who feared the consequences if the Indian died, he undertook the case. Not understanding the condition of his patient, or, perhaps, the proper quantity of the emetic to administer, he threw the Kickapoo into an alarm, or in other words a frightful cold sweat and deathly sickness. Then there was woi-k for dear life. Uncle Mat, the older and more cautions of the two, pulled otf his coat and plunged in to help my father get up a reaction, which they did, leaving the poor patient prostrate, and "weak as a rag." My father always laughed and said : " But feel so good, good - all gone," laying his hand weakly on his stomach. They remained some time with the Indians, hunting and looking at the country. They finally made up their minds to return to Maury county, Tennessee, and bring their families. Piloted by the Kickapoo they went some distance up the James, and made arrangements with an old trapper to get out their house logs ready to be put up immediately upon their return, They had selected lands where Springfield now stands. They found four springs whose branches uniting formed Wilson creek. About the center of the area between these springs was a natural well of wonderful depth, now known to be a subterranean lake, hard by which my father "squatted," after a toilsome journey through the wilderness,. the Mississippi river frozen over so hard that they crossed on the ice in February, 1830. Several families accompanied him, among whom was glorious old Uncle Jo Miller. Who ever saw him angry? Who ever caught him looking on the dark side? The moment he was seated every child clambered and buzzed over him like bees over a honey-comb, and we had implicit faith in his "honey pond and fritter tree," and have to this day. The Kickapoo came over immediately and became an almost indispensable adjunct to the family. Seeing that my father was very tender with my mother, he looked upon her as a superior being, something to be guarded and watched that no harm come near. He was out on a hunt when my sister was bom, the first white child in Kickapoo prairie. When he came in my father, who had thrown himself on the bed by my mother, said : " Oh, ho I look here !" He approached, looked at the little creature with quaint seriousness, and said, " What call?" My mother, to please him, said "Kickapoo ;" and my father, who was cheerful and bright, had just taken bal)y's tiny hand and exclaimed, "My Beautiful," so that the child was ever to the Indian "Kickapoo, My Beautiful," and exceedingly beautiful she proved to be. The old people discourse upon her loveliness to this day, and refuse to believe that there ever was another to compare with her. The Kickapoo's greatest pleasure was guarding the rustic cradle, and drawing the delicately tapered hand through his own.

Springfield soon became a habitation with a name. Cabins of round poles were hastily put up, and filled with emigrants. My father vacated and built thirteen times in one year to accommodate new comers. Log huts filled with merchandise, groceries, and above all that curse of America - whisky - soon did a thriving trade with the Indians and immigrants. A cool autumn afternoon my mother, who was remarkably tall, with black hair and fine eyes, went to one of the primitive stores to buy a shawl, and could find nothing but a bright red with gay embroidered corners. She threw it over her shoulders, and crossed over to see a sick neighbor. Returning at dusk she was forced to pass round a crowd of Indians who had been trading and drinking. A powerful, bare-armed Osage, attracted no doul)t by the gay shawl, threw up his arms, bounded toward her shouting, " My squaw." She flew towards home. Just as she reached the door her foot twisted and she fainted. A strong arm with a heavy stick came down on the bare head of the dusky savage.

and he measured his length on the ground. The Kickapoo, for it was he that came so opportunely to my mother's rescue, carried her in, closing the door, for by this time everybody had rushed to see what was the matter, the Osages calling for the Kickapoo who had dealt the blow upon their companion. He passed on to the kitchen, making a sign to Rachel to go in ; took "Kickapoo, My Beautiful," from Elizabeth, pressed her tenderly to his heart, looked at her Avistfully, returned her to the nurse and was gone. The blow dealt really killed the Osage. Nothing but Rachel opening the door wringing her hands, with tears running down hers and Elizabeth's cheeks, with " Kickapoo, My Beautiful," screaming, the finding of my mother in a death-like swoon, and no trace of the Kickapoo saved the village from serious trouble. Days, weeks, months and years passed, and all my father's efforts to find out the fate of his red friend Avere futile, and he concluded he had been assassinated by the Osages, though assured by them, " They no find him."

John P. Campbell was for many years a leading citizen and foremost resident of the town. " He was an organizer of men, a stranger to reverses. The touch of his hand was success to any enterprise. Kind, prompt, generous and benevolent, his word was as sovereign as a State statute. He amassed large pro[)erty, and extended his field of operations over an empire. He built up schools, raised churches, and gave freely to the poor; died, leaving a name honored and respected by everybody." His brothers, Samuel, Ezekiel M., Junius T. and William Campbell, were also early settlers of the county.

Junius T. Campbell arrived at Springfield in the month of October, 1831. He was the first justice of the peace elected by the people, and vvas chosen to that office in 1832. He was also the first postmaster at Springfield. Before the establishment of the office the nearest post-office was at Little Piney, now in Crawford county, one hundred and ten miles distant from Springfield. In those days the rates of postage differed from those now in vogue. Prior to the act of 1845 the postage upon a letter composed of a single sheet was as - follows: If conveyed 30 miles or less, 6 cents ; between 30 and 80 miles, 10 cents ; between 80 and 150 miles, I2V2 cents ; between 150 and 400 miles, 18^^/4 cents ; over 400 miles, 25 cents. By the act of 1845 the postage on a letter conveyed for any distance under 300 miles was fixed at 5 cents, and for any greater distance at 10 cents. By the act of 1851, it was provided that a single letter if prepaid should be carried any distance not exceeding 3,000 miles for 3 cents, and any greater distance for 6 cents.

Junius T. Campbell opened up the first store in Springfield, and was the only merchant in the county until the arrival of Major D. D. Berry, who reached the town with two wagon-loads of goods which he brought from Bolivar, Tennessee, a distance of five hundred miles.

About the time that Messrs. Miller and Campbell settled in Sprino-- field, there were settlements being made in various parts of what was soon to become Greene county, the county seat of which should finally become a flourishing city. As before mentioned the Full)right family had settled in the west partt)f what now constitutes the city, or perhaps just outside of the present city limits; the spring which bears their name, and furnishes an abundant supply of "Adam's ale," being but a short distance from the fountain of that more recently invented beverage, lager beer. Wm. Fulbright had passed through what is now Greene county in 1819, but went back East, and settled in what afterwards became Crawford county. In 1829, just after the return of Mr. Campbell from his first trip, as before stated, Mr. Fulbright, with his brothers Levi and John, and his brother-in-law, A. J. Burnett, removed to this place and pitched their tents in the wilderness. They brought with them their families, and a number of negroes, among whom was Aunt Hannah, so well known to all citizens of Springfield, claiming to be over a hundred years old, and to have assisted in the construction of that first little pole cabin. In 1832 a mill was erected by Wm. Fulbright on a site near the head of Little Sac. Many of the descendants of this familv are still living in the vicinity of Springfield. Mr. Miller, in a communication to the Leader, pays the following honorable tribute to some of the departed members : -

In making further drafts upon the tablet of memory, fond recollections are awakened of more, and not to be forgotten, men and women who once lived in and about Springfield, but are long since gone. I call to mind the Fulbright family and others; Wm. Fulbright and his amiable wife (Aunt Ruthy) and their interesting young family of sons (they had but one daughter). When I first knew them in 1830, they lived at the spring, opened a large farm on the high ground south of the spring, and were the first to break the soil in the way of plowing, in the neighborhood. Uncle Billy's late and last residence was at the sight of the old fort, or earth-work, where he died in 1843, after spending a very energetic and useful life. He was very punctual, honest and strict in all his dealings. He taught all of his nine sons true habits of industry ; to get money, but to get it honestly, or not at all. Their third son, Henry, held several responsible offices in the county, and was for one terra receiver of the

U. S. Land Office. It was my good fortune to be personally acquainted with old Grandmother Fulbright, mother of Uncle Billy. She was of Dutch or German origin, from North Carolina, and had in her possession a very old Dutch Bible, the first I ever saw. She died, I think, in 1832, at a very advanced age. Aunt Ruthy, who died a few years ago, is well remembered, no doubt, by many for her kind, generous and amial)le disposition. Though passed away, may they long be remembered.

Andrew Bass left Tennessee iif the fall of 1829 for Missouri, arriving in Greene county toward the close of the year. His first location was half a mile west of where Strafford now stands, but on the departure of the Indians, the following year, he removed to Jackson township. Alpheus Huflf came from Franklin county, Missouri, in 1830, and settled within a mile of Mr. Bass, and Alexander Chadwick came from Tennessee in the fall of 1831, after which there were no other arrivals in that part of the county for several years.

On the south side of the James, Edward Thompson, from Tennessee, settled in 1830. Mrs. Page and her family, who were of French descent, came also about the same tinie, and remained for several years on what is known as the Galbreath place, in the same neighborhood. In the same year, Thos. Finney and wife and Samuel Weaver came, and lived for about a year, just below the present Boonville street bridge, where G. N. Shelton afterwsird had a tan-yard. Mr. Weaver was a son-in-law of Wm. FuU^right, but his wife had recently died, leaving an infant son named Marion, who was afterwards a merchant in Lawrence county.

Joseph Miller settled at the spring, a short distance southwest of the city, after which he sold out to Maj. Joseph Weaver, and removed to Sac river, thirty miles north\vest of the city. Mr. Weaver came in March, 1830, from Marshall county, Tennessee, and first settled at the Delaware town, where he purchased and improved a farm upon which he lived until his removal to the above named point. On this farm he remained three or four years before removing to the place known as the Weaver grove, two-and-a-half miles west of town. After one or two other removals, he died in September, 1852, on the farm three miles northwest of the city.

In 1831, Daniel B. Miller, a brother of Joseph, settled at what is still known as the Miller spring, in the northAvestpart of the city, and which furnishes power in the form of steam for the Springfield woolen mills. Here he made a field which was afterward used as the Federal

Samuel Lasley, who came with Mr. Miller, settled on Little Sac, where the Bolivar road now crosses ; and Spencer O'Neil, before mentioned, who had been absent from the country during the general abandonment of homes before the Delawares left the country, returned about this time, and settled in the southwestern part of the county.

Next came Joseph Rountree and family, from Maury count3% Tennessee, reaching here in January, 1831. They had started in November, 1830, and their journey was a hard one. One of the very deepest snows that ever fell in this part of the State was encountered on their journey. This snow reached the extraordinary depth of 18 inches on a level, and remained on the ground some weeks.

As a sample of what went to make up an emigrant's trip to Greene county in early days, extracts from the diary of Mr. Rountree are here given, taken literally from his old memorandum book, with its quaint chirography, now brown with age, but fairh'^ legible, its rude grammar, but plain, expressive phraseology. This old book is now a treasured heirloom in the possession of Mr. Wm. Rountree, a grandson of the original owner, and who has kindly furnished it for the use of this history. The route from Springfield to the Mississippi river in 1830 was not as easily ttaveled as that now in use in these days of palace cars and lightning express trains. The following are the extracts referred to, beginning where Mr. R. records his arrival on the east bank of the Mississippi, at Green's Ferry : -

Thursday, December 23d, 1830. - A cloudy day. The ice was very thick in the river ; we went to Kaskaskia ; the ice nearly quit in the river in the evening ; at night it rained and froze over. Our expense was 37I/2C.

Friday, 24th. - A wet morning. We prepared for crossing the river after breakfast ; we had removed our family to Peter Robert Derousse's, at the lower ferry, on Sunday last, - a very respectable gentleman with a peaceable family ; we found the ice so thick and wide on the other side that we could not land, and had to go down the river more than a mile, where we got a landing, and it took until about an hour in the night before I got my wagon and family over ; we had to make five trips ; we went about three miles and camped, and had a merry night. Expense, $5.

Saturday, 25th. - Wq started early ; proceeded to Ste. Genevieve town ; Mr. Beard had to get a skein mended ; my family stjived with a very friendly French family, Bovie by name ; in the evening we went on eight miles and camped at Mr. Bell's. Expense, $1,62V2.

Sunday, 26th. - A cloudy cold day. We traveled on and about 2 o'clock Mr. Beard's hind axletree broke at Mr. Moreare's ; we proceeded about four miles further ; we traveled 14 miles and camped at Mr. Barrington's. Expense, 62V2C.

Monday, 27th. - I went to Mr. Donaldson's, found them well, and our wagon waited for Mr. Beard's, and then went on ; camped at Mr. Baker's ; traveled nine miles to-day. Expense, $2.56V4.

Tuesday, 28th. - This day was clear and cold. We traveled on very welT; found that the fore bolster of Mr. Beard's wagon was broken ; we came through Mine a Burton and got a new bolster ; encamped at Mr. Tucker's ; it began to snow before day. Expense, 62V2C.

Wednesday , 29th. - This day was snowy, rainy and freezing ; we started and broke the tongue out of Mr. Beard's wagon ; made a new tongue, traveled seven miles, and encamped at Mr. Compton's. Expense, $1.

Thursday, 30th. - Started on and it was snowing and freezing; last night it snowed ; we had got only one mile this day until Mr. Beard's w^agon turned over in a branch and got the most of my goods wet ; we had to take up cam[) and dr}^ our things ; it continued snowing. Expense, ()2l/2C.

Saturday, January 1, 1831. - A clear cold morning ; it moderated a little ; we proceeded and crossed the Cotway,^ Huzza, and Dry creeks ; traveled about 13 miles and encamped on the ridge between Dry creek and the Merrimac. Expense, $2.75.

Sunday, 2d. - Cloudy ; we started early ; it rained very hard this day and thundered ; we crossed the Merrimac ; traveled 16 miles ; encamped at Massey's Iron works. ^ Expense, 5()i/4C.

Monday, 3d. - Last night it rained, sleeted and froze all night; this morning it began to snow ; we continued in a cabin that we had took up in ; it snowed all night. Expense, 62V2C.

Wednesday, 5 tJi. - A clear, cold day; Mr. Beard took his load about four miles to Mr. St. Clair's, and we deposited it there and returned to the cabin. Expense, 66"-/3C.

Thursday, 6th. - Clear and cold ; Mr. Beard took his departure for home ; we continued in the cabin ; in the evening Sidney [Ingram] and me went to look us out a place for to make a camp near St. Clair's ; we concluded on a place, returned in the evening, and brought home Junius and Lucius, who had went to another cabin on the Dry fork of the Merrimac the day before. Expense, $5.

Saturday, 8th. - We started about 10 o'clock and proceeded up the bad hill with some difficulty ; the day was cloudy and cold, the snow was deep and it snowed some more, but we traveled 18 miles. Expense, I8V4C.

Sunday, 9th. - Quite cold ; traveled 17 miles. Expense, |1.43. Monday, 10th. - Cloudy and cold; we proceeded and crossed Rubidoo (Robidoux) ; traveled 15 miles. Expense, 37V2C.

Tuefiday, 11th. - This morninir it was very snowy ; we discovered that Mr. Phillabare had one of the skeins of his wagon to get mended, so we stayed in camp till nearly 12, and then traveled about 12 miles and encamped at Stark's. Expense, 8IV4C.

Wednesday, 12th. - Cloudy and cold ; we traveled on slowly on account of the snow ; crossed the Osage fork of the Gasconade, and traveled 14 miles. Expense, I8V4C.

Friday, 14th. - Last night it snoAved very hard; we encamped at the Indian Grave branch ; the snow increased in depth four or five inches ; we traveled with a good deal of difficulty ; we passed Tygart's ; traveled 20 miles. Expense, 50 cents.

Saturday, 15th. - It continues to snow; the day is most intolerably cold ; we {proceeded on our way, and after traveling six or eight miles we met Joseph H. Miller and Lemuel Blanton coming to meet us. Great joy! We went on to Robert Patterson's, twelve miles, and got lodging for the night in his house, - the first night's lodging in a house since we left the cabin at Massey's Iron Works. Expense, $1.25

Sunday, 16th. - To-day was extremely cold ; snowed a little; we proceeded and got to Joseph H. Miller's between sunset and dark; found the people about the Prairie all well and glad to see us all arrive safe ; traveled 23 miles.

Father Joseph Rountree was born in North Carolina in 1782. He emigrated to Tennessee in 1819, and to Greene county in 1831. He died December 25, 1874. Not long after coming here, he was elected justice of the peace, which position he filled for several years, and in 185G was chosen one of the judges of the county court. This office he filled acceptably until the war threw everything into confusion. In 1865, the venerable old man was assaulted most wantonly bv a brutal soldier, and after a struggle he was shot through the shoulder with a revolver bullet, after which the soldier made two or three unsuccessful attempts to shoot him through the head, but the weapon missed fire, and assistance coming at that moment, the brute was prevented from completing his murderous intentions. The soldier Aviis promptly arrested, tried, and convicted by a court martial, and sentenced to ten years' continement in the penitentiary. Mr. Rountree suffered acutely for a long time from this wound, but finally recovered and lived several years. When he came to this State he brought with him a family of seven sons and two daughters, who have filled honorable places in society.

In company with Mr. Rountree on his journey from Tennessee was Sidney S. Ingram, who settled in Springfield, on East Walnut street, just north of which he erected a cabinet and wagon shop. Mr. Ingram remained in the cit}'^ a number of years, and afterward removed to a farm about one-and-a-half miles southwest of town, after which he removed to the place on the James, where, in company with F. C. Howard, he erected a saw and grist mill. There he remained until his death, which occurred about the year 1847. Mr. Ingram will hereafter be mentioned in an official capacity.

Somewhere about tbe year 1832 Randolph Britt came from near Bowling Green, Kentucky, and settled five miles southeast of Springfield, and Edmund Vaughn is said to have settled ten miles east before the Delawares left the country. A Mr. BuflTord, who settled in Jackson township, came in at an early day. Kindred Rose located on the farm he owned so long, a mile or so southwest of Springfield, in the year 1831.

Andrew Taylor, from West Tennessee, settled in 1831, one-and-ahalf miles southeast, on the prairie just east of the Phelps place, and D. D. Berry, his brother-in-law, just south of him, where he put up a little log store, bringing his goods from Tennessee. Mr. Taylor soon moved back to Tennessee, and after a village began to be shaped at Springfield, Mr. Berrj' removed his store to town.

In the fall of 1831, Peter Epperson and family came from Tennessee and settled on a place adjoining Mr. Rountree's, having sent an overseer with about twenty slaves, in the spring, to erect a house, open up a farm, and make necessary preparations to receive them.

Radford Cannefax and his family, including two grown sons, Benjamin and Cheslcy, and a daughter, who afterwards became the wife of S. S. Ingram, arrived in 1831, and settled four miles southwest of Springfield, on the farm afterward owned by Chesley. They were orio-inally from Campbell county, Virginia, where, in 1809, the elder C;innefax was compelled, in self-defense, to kill a man bj^the name of

Pitts. Cannefax surrendered himself to the authorities, was tried and acquitted. He soon afterward removed to Kentucky, where he re mained until his removal to this place, as before stated.

In the satne year. Finis Shannon, brother-in-law of Joseph Miller, settled just below the Uncle Joe Rountree place, on Wilson creek, where he soon died and was buried. He was the first white person ever buried in the neighborhood, the plank for his coffin being sawed from a green walnut log by Joseph Miller and a negro man, with a whip-saw, and the coffin was made by Junius Rountree and Sidney Ingram.

In the latter part of 1831, Samuel Painter came in from Montgomery county, Illinois, where he had lived about five years. He was formerly from Lincoln county, Tennessee, to which place he removed in 1813, when his son Jacob, who still lives in Springfield, was but two years old. Mr. Painter and his family, consisting of his wife and three sons - John, Jacob and Elisha - remained a few months in Springfield, after which they removed to the beautiful prairie in the north part of the county, where they remained about one year, near Ebenezer. Mr. Painter sold out to Thomas Wilson, and then removed to what was called the " Mill Bottom," on the James, the place first settled by Mr. Ingle, and afterward by a man named Seigler. Jacob, at the same time, removed to the place known as the " Brashear's Cave" farm, four miles southeast of Springfield. About the time of the laying out of the town they both returned to Springfield, where the old gentleman remained until his death, which occurred in 1836. Jacob still lives in the Third ward, and is, without doubt, the oldest white settler in the city. In 1845, he purchased, for ten dollars, the ground on Olive street where his present house and shop stand, and where he has ever since j'esided. Col. S. H. Boyd thus refers to him, in his historical essay, delivered at the meeting of pioneers, July 4th, 1876: -

He was a professional gunsmith, and has turned out thousands of fire-arms, and he gained quite a celebrity for his pistol pattern, knoAvn as "Jake's best." Californians, in 1849, '50,* and '51, bouo-ht them in preference to any other. Jake married the dauo-hter of William Freeman, a soldier of the Revolution, who died in 1836, and was buried on the Gardner farm, two miles east from Springfield. Jake remembers well the house of John P. Campbell, the only one, where now is our city, in 1831. William Fulbright, Benjamin Cannefax, Joseph Rountree, and Joseph Miller were the nearest residents to where now is Springfield, Jake, in those far- gone days, was accustomed to cliurch-goin<r, to hear the Rev. Thomas Potter, an uncle of Col. Thomas Potter, a leading man and i)olitician of Greene county. The county was full of game and the wtitercourses filled with lish. Jake was champion then, but he always played fair and practiced no deceit, even upon the linest game and fish. Jake never told a falsehood, and he says honey was used as a lubricator for wagons, it being so plenty then. He has continually resided here since 1831, except for a few days, when he went into the country to his brother's. Some claim that he is not now the oldest settler ; that he lost that right when he left, as he left in a hurry. The story is that Henry Fulbright, son of William Fulbright, came from St. Louis, and brought the cholera with him, in 1835 ; and that when Jake left, he left for good. But it subsided, and Jake returned. Knowing the demoralizing effect cholera has upon a Tennesseean, the court decided that Jake's domicile was not abandoned, and that he is entitled to carry the knife. Jacol) Painter has filled well his part ; always the quiet, fearless advocate of right, he never had an enemy, political or personal. Such is the oldest living settler of Springfield.

Sometime in 1831, James K. Alsop, Samuel Scroggins and Daniel Johnson settled on the Little Sac, and were followed, in 1832, by John Headlee, and two brothers-in-law, Benjamin Johnson and James Dryden.

In the same year came Thomas P. Whitlock, the father of W. P. Whitlock. He arrived in June, from Hardeman county, Tennessee, and settled in what is now Franklin township, in the north part of the county. He brought with him a wife and one son. Zachariah Simms, Benjamin Johnson, Henry Morrison, David and John Roper, Drury Upshaw, and Larkin Dewitt, all settled about the same time in that part of the county.

John Briscoe, with his sons-in-law, Jacob and AndreAV Roller, arrived from Tennessee in 1831 or 1832, and settled in the south part of the county.

Li ]832, Bennett Robberson, the father of Dr. E. T. Robberson, who is one of the oldest and most highly respected citizens of Springfield, came from Tennessee and settled near Mr. Rountree's, about two miles southwest of Springfield, and about a year afterward his mother (the grandmother of the doctor) came with her sons William, Allen, John, Edwin, Russell and Rufus, who all settled in the north part of the county, on the prairie which still bears their name. She also had three daughters, who married, respectively. Rev. David Ross, father of Dr. Ross, Thomas Stokes and Richard Say.

known as a '* sport " - i.e., a gamester - and the owner of racehorses, which he often matched for Uirge wagers. He was, nevertheless, a good and genial man, who had many warm friends among the pioneers. Mr. Lock terminated his life in an affray with one of his cousins, John Short, by whom he was fatally stabbed in the abdomen. Short also received wounds in this affray, from which he never recovered.

In the spring of 1832, Humphrey Warren located in the prairie three and one-half miles from town, which is about the main and extreme head branch of Wilson creek, where James Massey afterward lived and died. Mr. Massey was the father of William Massey, Mrs. Mc Adams and Mrs. " Buck " Rountree.

Thomas Horn, also in 1832, settled on the branch below the Beiderlinden place. James Dollison came from Tennessee about this time and settled near where the cotton mills now stand, but soon afterward removed to a farm three and one-half miles south of town. Mr. D. was for several years one of the judges of the county court.

Among the early settlers of Walnut Grove and vicinity, all of whom, pr()bat)ly, came before 1833, were Allen Williams, Michael Walsh, William Mallory, Joseph Moss, Mr. Sloan (the father of Dr. Sloan of Walnut Grove), and Hugh Leeper, from which the large prairie in the northwest part of the county took its name.

In the " Historical Atlas of Greene County," appears this sketch of the Boone family, and its connection with the early history of Greene county : -

The western part of the county was explored at an early da}'- by Nathan Boone. He was the youngest son of Daniel Boone, was a captain in the United States service, and was one of the tirst white men who traversed Southwest Missouri. He was pleased with the appearance of the west part of this county, and selected some land in the neighborhood of Ash Grove, and sent out his son to take out preemption rights. Several of the Boone family have since lived in the county . Nathan Boone located in the heart of Ash Grove - a large grove of timber composed principally of walnut and ash, and receiving its name from the predominance of the latter. James, John, Benjamin and Howard were his sons. His sons-in-law were William Canlfield and Alfred Horseman, who also settled in the grove. Nathan Boone at one time owned several hundred acres of land. James Boone, his oldest son, is said to be the oldest American white male child born in Missouri, west of St. Louis county. He was born in St. Charles county in 1800. His two daughters, Mrs. Frazier and Mrs. Horseman, and his grandson, James W., besides some other grandsons and grand-daughters, still live near Ash Grove.

In the year 1831, Dr. James 11. Slavens, then a young preacher from Warren county, and who married Joseph Rountree's oldest daughter, Amanda, in 1832, was the first Methodist that ever preached in this county. I will here mention old man Sol. Cotner as being one of the early settlers, who, with Jacob Painter, could kill more game, and they were considered the most expert hunters in the country, and long after wild game had disappeared, they could find and kill deer almost in sight of town, when no one else could. Old man James Carter put up and run the tirst blacksmith shop, which stood not far from the northeast corner of the present public square. Mr. Carter died of cholera in 1835, as also two of Mr. Campbell's negroes - old Davy and Jim - and were buried just under the hill a little way above the present bridge. At the Miller spring is a disappeared graveyard of six or seven persons of the Miller family. It is some eighty or cue hundred yards east of the spring, may be a little southeast, now covered over with houses and fences. I am very sure they have never been taken up. The graves were near the foot of a solitary large black oak tree that then stood there, which was surrounded by a thick growth of voung oak saplings or bushes. They were buried there in 1831, '32, '33, '34, '35 and '36.

In 1832, a Mr. Eads settled at the Schultz spring, one mile and a half southwest. Afterwards, Maj. Blackwell, father-in-law of Junius Campbell, lived there, and at that place Mr. C. was married. The writer was at that wedding, in 1833. Samuel Teas, another son-inlaw of Maj. Blackwell, settled at the spring one mile south of town. He afterward put up a store at Sarcoxie, in Jasper county.

Now, in rambling further, with your permission, I will lead you fifteen or twenty miles northwest - into the noted Ash Grove and Walnut Grove neighborhoods - where, in by-gone days, lived the old stock of the Boones and others. Major Nathan Boone, of old United States army notoriety, whom I well remember, and his three honorable sons, James, John and Howard, have all long ago bid adieu to time, except, probably, John ; and of the Boone daughters much might be said as to their amiability and respectability. They were the belles of the county at that date - say forty-four years ago - several of whom have long since passed away. One is, if living, the wife of Col. F. T. Frazier, who is another highly respected old citizen. [Now (1883) deceased.]

And near the Boones was another old and honorable citizen - Dr. Constantine Perkins, who lived there a long and useful life as a physician. I have forgotten when he died, but it was a long time ago. You will find the names of Dr. Perkins and the Boones on the books of the first Masonic lodge in Springfield. [In 1849 or 1850 Dr. Perkins removed to California, and died there about the year 18G0. - Compiler.'] ity, among whom were the Cuultields, Kelleys, Whittenburgs, Looneys, Tiitums, Wilsons, Murrays, Robinsons, Wadlows, and futher sonth we come to mention that noted family the Leepers, of "Leeper's prairie," and the Reynolds, Yeakleys, Lindseys - all remember ; that is, the old ones, forty-eight years ago, who, together with the above named, with others, helped to brave the storms and bear the hardships of the then western wilderness country, and 1 am now proud to class them prominently among the distinguished adopted sons of Greene county.

In 1831 a strange, odd and remarkable individual, in the person of an old and somewhat demented white man, appeared among us, named Jesse Bayles. He had some English education, but lived a wilderness life among the wild beasts and Indians, seemed half crazy, dressed very scant and odd, wore an old white wool hat tucked up at the sides, and written thereon, in large red letters, " death." He carried a long butcher knife and a tomahawk, and seemed dangerous to look at, but was harmless and even lively. I was with him considerably. He was fifty or sixty years old. He said no harm should befall me ; that he intended to keep the panthers, wolves and Indians from "ahold" of me. In a year or two he disappeared. He either died or followed the Indians.

Jesse Range Bayles was, like Wilson, a resident among the Indians here, when Mr. Campbell came. Poor Jesse was an educated man, but his mind was disordered. He was a quiet, inofl:*ensive person, constantly wandering around the country, dividing his time pretty equally between hunting for lead mines and hunting a wife, but it is said that he never found either. Some wicked l)oys caught Jesse at one tiine, and saturated his clothes with turpentine and set him on fire. He was shockingly burned. He wore what was then called a bee gum " and is now called a "stove pipe" hat, and he told his disaster by placarding his hat in large letters, " Death, Hell and Destruction ! " and pointing all he met to the inscription. He remained here- when his friends, the Delawares, left, and died about 1835.

About the same time another extraordinary and remarkable old man, then over sixty years of age, came 'round amongst the few settlers. His name was Robert Alexander ; originally from North Carolina ; came West, alone, in 1825 ; lived several years with the Miami Indians, at the mouth of Swan, on White river (at present, Forsyth, Taney county). He was well educated, had been a fine looking man and had been in high life, but ardent spirits had " got away" with him, as it is getting the best of some of our American statesmen at this date. This old man, Alexander, came within a few votes of being elected Governor of the State of Nortli Carolina in 1824, bnt, by domestic and political trouble, disappointment and defeat, he came West and lived a roving, reckless and dissi|)ated life. He was a man of fine sense, always had good horses, woidd gamble with cards and race horses and drink whisky. Finally, in 1835, he fonnd his way to William C. Campbell's, in Polk county, and, drunk, undertook to swim Sac river on horseback, and was drowned just below Orleans, and that was the last of poor old Bob Alexander.

Mr. Miller also mentions Christopher McElhannon, Randolph Lanhani and Billy Warren, living north of Springfield, and a number or other families living in the northwest part of the county, but it is believed they did not come before 1833, and are consequently out of the range of this chapter.

Some time in the year 1832, Wm. Ross, originally from South Carolina, but more recently from North Missouri, settled in the north part of the county.

Alexander McKenzie came from Pulaski county, Kentucky, and settled about the year 1830, on a farm three and a half miles southwest of Springfield, where he remained until 1832, when he sold out to Mr. Wm. ToAvnsend, the father of A. M., Thomas B., and William M. A. Townsend. The oldest son, W. G. Townsend, removed about the year 1850 to Cassville, Barry county. The oldest daughter, Nancy, was married to Benjamin Cannefax, and lived three and a half miles southwest of town; the second, Lizzie A., became the wife of Wm. Britt. who was the son of Randolph Britt, before mentioned ; the third, Lucetta A., married Rev. Matthew Barnes, and lived three miles east of town ; the fourth, Mar}^ was the wife of C/hesley Cannefax, who will hereafter be mentioned in the oflficial records of the county ; and the youngest daughter, Drucilla, was first married to Meredith Carter, who lived near the Wilson Creek battle ground, and afterward to Jas. Kelley, with whom she removed to St. Clair county, Missouri. Mr. A. M. Townsend states that his father and mother. Win. and Mary Townsend, came from Logan county, Kentucky, when he was but ten years old. He says that where Springfield now stands, was a fine forest of red-oak timber, with but a small clearing around the residence of John P. Campbell, which was a small log cabin, and at that time the only house in what is now the business part of Springfield. He speaks in glowing terms of the happy times " when this old town was new."

freely with milk, it seemed to be made up by the abundance of honey. They all agree that if a person lacked sweetness, all he had to do was to cast his eye upward toward the heavens, and he would see that industrious little insect, the honey-bee, heavily laden with his sweet .store, flying homeward to his storehouse, which was generally a hole in the side of some lt)fty oak. These bee-trees were so plentiful, and so easily found at that time, that a person had no difficulty in finding one, whenever he set out to look for it.

They also tell us wonderful stories of the productiveness of the soil, which would then produce abundant crops with little or no attention after breaking the new turf and planting the seed. Venison and other game was plentiful, and although these hardy pioneers were deprived of nearly everything which people of to-day consider the necessaries of life, and surrounded by the wilderness filled with Indians and wild beasts, they lived a comparatively happy life.

The settlers in those days were driven by necessity to use their inventive wits. Doors were made of clap-boards, floors of mother earth, bedsteads with one leg were fastened to the walls in the corners of the houses, and wagon grease was made of lioney, which was only twenty-five cents a gaHon, or about one cent a pound in the comb. When they were able to aftord good puncheon floors, and two bedsteads, it seemed quite like civilization.

Bread was scarce, and what little crops were made, were liberally divided, so that all could have a little bread. Very few hogs, and pork hard to get, but wild game was plenty, and with the faithful dog and flint-lock rifle, every one had plenty. The meal was made by pounding the corn iu a stump mortar, the coarsest for hominy and the finest for bread, and very dark at that. Men worked then at fifty cents per day, and I say this to put a correct idea and feeling into men who now-a-days think it is a disgrace to work at that price. Honest labor at even twenty-five cents per day, where a man can't do better, is fir more profitable and honorable than idleness.

In those days neighl)ors were few and far between, but everybody was friendly and willing to divide the last mouthful. The first grist of corn was ground on a little wing-dam mill that old John Marshall had on James, near the mouth of Finley, although Jerry Pearson had a little rattle-trap of a mill some nearer, but it was hardly competent to grind for his own use.

Prior to mill l>uilding, corn had to be beaten in wooden mortars with a pestle, and these were used to some extent for a long time in preference to the little " one-horse " mills of the new country. The hand-pestle was a small wooden one, similar in shape to the pestle used by a druggist in compounding and pulverizing medicines ; but the swce[)-pestle was fastened to a spring-pole, after the manner of a well-sweep. The mortars were made by boring or bnrning holes, conical in shape, in the top of a stump, or section of a large tree, and were made about a foot wide at the top and eighteen inches deep. Bread made from this meal was called '' j^ound cake," and Mrs. Campbell used to tell her friends that for a number of years after coming to Springfield she had scarcely anything to eat but pound cake."

We speak in high terms of the gallantry and bravery of the soldiers, who, in the Revolution of 1776, fought for liberty and independence, and their names are proudly borne on the pages of history. 'J'hey merited, as they have received, the plaudits of succeeding generations ; but shall not that army of heroes known as the " old pioneers " have their names, as well, emblazoned upon the pages of their country's history? Shall not they, who, through privations, sufferings, and sometimes death, made the wilderness blossom like the rose, have their meed of praise? They have followed the path of peace with a diligence that craved no rest until the broad light of the noonday sun shines upon aland secure as the abode of a people cultured, refined, and progressive. This has been the work of the old pioneer ; and those of that gallant army of peace who are yet among the living should be honored among the greatest of the land, for their strong hearts, willing hands, and their labor, privations and sufferings, have given a grand and rich heritage to the generation of to-day.

It is from these " old settlers " that very much of the early history of Greene county has been gathered. Months have been given to collecting the facts and the reminiscences which are found in the pages of this work, but to secure them has been a work of incessant toil. One great trouble has been that the memory of the old pioneers has not always been of the best, and a confusion of dates, and facts to verify incidents of the past, has been one of great trouble. History is valuable only as it deals in facts, and these should be more or less substantiated by dates. These are all important and are required, if this shall i)r()ve, what it is intended to be, a book of reference from which people and historians of future generations will date their work. This is why, in the compilation of this history, months have I)een given to the task. Many of the old settlers have already crossed the river of time and now belong to the mysterious beyond ; (»thers have removed to far distant lands, so that the source of information is small, and time, trouble, and greater research is necessary to make it complete. The " old pioneers," however, of Greene county, have contributed much to make this book a success, and they have done it willingly and cheerfully, and it has been a pleasure to the compilers of this history to listen to the stories of those early years, graphically told .

To be sure,|much information has been obtained from other sources, as, for instance, from Mr. George S. Escott's historical sketch in his valuable little volume, published in 1878, the " History of Springfield," being a history, description and directory of the city for that year. To be sure, Mr. E. obtained much of his information from previously published sketches, but he gave us much that was new, and in the foregoing pages his matter has been freely used, and sometimes without credit.

Perhaps the following list of the early settlers of the section of country now comprising the greater portion of Greene county - then called Campbell township - will be found of interest to a sufficient number of the readers of this volume to justify its publication : - Partial list of early settlers in what was then Campbell township, Greene county, in August, 1833 : John Roberts, Peter Apperson, John D. Shannon, James Carter, Joseph Porter, Chas. P. Bullock, Chesley Cannefax, Wm. H. Duncan, E. Brantley, G. Gay, Randolph Britt, J. P. Campbell, Samuel Martin, John Patten Campbell, James Fielding, Daniel Gray, Thomas Caulfield, E. R. Fulbright, G. N. Shelton, Joseph Price, Sr., Radford Cannefax, David Roper, Moses Matthews, Zenas M. Rountree, A. Morris, J. R. Robberson, G. Maberry, A. Stillion, John Buden, James Wilson, Joseph Smith, John Fulbright, Stephen Fisher, Wm. Stacey, Wash. Williams, A. Shaddock, Spencer O'Niel, F. Leeper, Wm. Price, Thos. Horn, Wm. Stout, A. S. Borne, Kindred Rose, Edward Thompson, James R. Smith, Cornelius D. Terrell, Newell Hayden, Larkin Dewitt, J. McKinney, David Johngon, Martin B. Borne, Joseph Weaver, B. W. Cannefax, C. Hottler, J. L. Martin, Wm. Fulbright, Wm. McFarland, J. Woods, Richard C. Martin, John Sturtevant, L. Fulbright, Watson Forbes, John Roberts, Jr., John R. Brock, John Ross, H. C. Morrison, John Slagles, George Shoemaker, Abram Slagles, Jerry Pierson, James McCarroll, John McKay, Elisha Painter, Joseph Rountree, Alexander