Johnson County, Missouri - Chapter 13: - Jefferson Township, 1918

Jefferson township is one of the four original townships of which Johnson county was composed. It occupied approximately the southeastern quarter of the county. It was organized May 4, 183.^. It was named for Thomas Jefferson.

The organization of other townships from time to time, parts of which were taken from Jefferson township, has reduced it to little more than one-fourth its original size. Its relative geographical position is the same, still occupying the southeast corner of the county.

Geography. - Area, 60 square miles, or 38.400 acres. Geographically, Jefferson township is a smooth body of land, with rolling country formed by the headwaters of Clear Fork on the west, Miukl\- creek on the east and Tebo creek on the south.

Soils. - According to the Department of .\griculture's Soil Survey of 1914. the township is composed for the most part of Oswego silt loam (gray soil). This is split l)y ]\Iuddy creek from the southwest to the northeast corner, witli miscellaneous bottom soils adjoining it. On the west side of the township is a very irregular stri]) of about two miles wide of Boone silt loam ("sandy"' soil) in the northwest and Bates silt loam (dark gray-brown soil) in the southwest in an irregular strip of the same width.

Oswego silt loam, upland, gray, compact soil; forms about 40 per cent, of the township. It lies all over the township, except th;it in the northwest eight scpiare miles of the townsliip are only two small patciies.

Boone silt loam. u]dand. of sandstone origin ; 25 jier cent. This occu- ])ies chiefly the eight square miles in the nortiiwest just mentioned, and also irre.guJar strips of ;d)out one-fourtji mile in width, adjitining the bottom l;ind .-ilone Muddv creek.

Bates silt loam, upland, dark gray-l'rown soil ; 25 per cent. This lies chiefly along the small branches of Muddy creek, Clear Fork and Other creeks, all just abo\e the Boone silt loam.

Crawford silt loam, upland, "red limestone" soil ; 3 per cent. This is chiefly in an irregular body of aljout one scpiare mile, lying about one-half mile southeast of .Sutherland.

Miscellaneous: 2 per cent.; small patches, chiefly of black limestone soils. Summit silt loam, and second bottom soils, Robertsville silt loam.

Of the foregoing, the Crawford silt loam and Summit silt loam are ranked as two of the best three conmion upland soils in the county, with th.e Bates silt loam next.

Early Settlements. - The earliest permanent settlements in Jefferson township were made in the early thirties. Among the first settlers, John Draper. \\'illiam Davenport and Benjamin Snelling came here from Kentucky in 1832. Benjamin Kimzey also settled here about that time.

Henry Divers entered government land in 1833. which is the first record of the kind which appears in Jefferson township, although a few farms, no (loul)t. were opened and settled a year or so prior to this date.

Among other early settlers in this townshij) were David Cooper and Feldin \\'olf, \\ho came here in 1833. and Anthony Owsley. Thomas Smith. Early Tucker. Isaac McDonald and \\'illiam Reynolds, who came in the same year. Owen Cooper settled here in 1836, coming from Kentucky, and Robert Craig, of Tennessee, came here the same year. James Patrick, a Kentuckian, settled in this township in 1834 and later went to Henry county. In 1837 Thomas J. Davis, a native of N'irginia, settled in this township, but later went to Oregon. Harvey Dyer came about the same time anrl s])ent the remainder of his life here.

The settlement of Jefferson townsliip, like other sections of the county and state, was not rapid prior to the middle of the last century. It was gradual and a majority of the early settlers made their permanent homes here. S. C. Gray settled here in 1848, coming from Boone county, ^Missouri. He spent the remainder of his life here and was prominent in local affairs and served as justice of the peace of the township for a number of years. Some of the other pioneers who made their homes here and settled prior to 1850 were Kit \A'ingfield, Elbert, Henry and Frank Cooper, John Owsley, John Draper and his sons, William, Addison and Mosely; Robert Douglas and his sons, \\'illis, Alfred, John, and Allen; Benjamin Wall. Benjamin Farwell, Richard B. Fewel. \\'ashington Garret, B. A. Holmes and his sons. Robert H.. John W.. James R., and Benjamin F. ; David White, John, Elisha, William and Addison Grison: Larkin Pettis, William Birch and Dr. Owsley.

The oldest church organization in the townsliip is Old Fligh Point Baptist church, located twelve miles south of Knol) Xoster. It was organized in 1833 by Elders Simpson and Ricketts and preaching was held in school houses until 1855. when a building was erected b\- R. B. Craig and John Epperson at a cost of eight hundred dollars and the first sermon was preached here by Rev. B. F. Goodwin. Other earlvday pastors of this church were Elders Simpson, Ricketts. W. P. C. Caldwell, A. Horn, A. M. Cockrell and T. J. Nevelle. The charter meiuliers of this congregation were Benjamin Snelling and wife. \'incent Snelling and wife, John Draper and wife, Anthony Owsle\' and wife. Aim While and John T. Ricketts and wife. The church building was destroved b}' fire in 1863, at which time the early records were destroyed.

Many of the residents of Jefl^erson townshi]i worshiji in a union church just across the line in Pettis count}-, especiall)' the Methodists and Christians.

Early Cemeteries. - There were no regularly established cemeteries in this township prior to 1840. Up to that time interment was made on the home place of the deceased. Cooper cemetery, (u)odwin cemetery and Combs cemetery were all private burial places. There was also a private cemetery in section 32 and one in section 35. .\. P. Iilewitt was the first to be buried in New High Toini cemetery. His burial took i)lace .August 24, 1881. There are a nimiber of graves in variou-^ l)arls of the township, which at this time can not be detinitely located.

The conimon branches were generally tanght and freqnenth' teachers were found of unusual educational qualifications and in such instances some of the higher branches of education were taught.

The first schools were in log school houses. One of the early cabins used for school purposes was located on the Clear Fork near the Major Neal farm; another was just west of the old Pettis farm, and another between the residences of Anthony Owsley and Isaac McDonald. The door of this last was so low the older pupils had to stoop to enter.

Early Teachers. - Among the pioneer school teachers of Jefiferson township were Dabney Pettis, a Virginian; Thab Butler, who also came from Virginia: Edward C. Curren, from Iventucky; Samuel Lowe, from Kentucky, who afterward became clerk of the state Legislature; Mrs. Nancy Bryant, a widow: Ep. M. Smith, from Kentucky, who was considered one of the best teachers in the locality: William Winfrey, from Tennessee: Joe Goodwin, Green Reese, William Fewel and a Mr. Nutter.

Early Stores and Postoffices. - Harrodsburg, according to the old United States Census, had a population of twenty-five, with postofifice, two or three stores and blacksmith shop. It was on the \\'arrensburg- Warsaw road.

Eldorado, a small place not now appearing on the map, was a trading point in the early days and Robert Irwin kept a general store there immediately after the war. Later he was succeeded by Robert Harris in the business and Dr. George Harris was engaged in the practice of medicine there.

Burtville, Henrietta and 0\\'sley were early settlements, where there are still stores. Henrietta was made a postofhce in 1879. W. P. Greenlee was the first postmaster.

Bowen is a village on the Rock Island railroad located in Jefferson township near the line of Henr\- count}-. It was platted April 3, 1905, on land owned by \\'. A. Garrett and his wife, Alice Garrett, when what is now the Rock Island railroad was l)eing constructed. When the coal mines were operating it was a very busy town. A store and a number of houses, many vacant, are still there.

Justices. - The justices of the peace of Jefferson township, as far back as the records go, with the dates of their election, are: 1836, Tosiah

County Officers. - The following are the officers who have been elected from the township since 1882. with the dates of their election: 1882 - D. L. Sutherland (Democrat), county judge. 1884-86 - Sidney Jarvis (Democrat), county judge. 1890-94-1914 - John M. Caldwell (Democrat), county clerk. 189-4 - James A. Wingfield (Democrat), county judge. 1904-06 - M. C. Draper (Democrat), collector. 1904-06 - H. H. Hudson (Democrat), sheriff. 1916 - T. L. Kimzey (Democrat), county judge. 1916 - James O. Sutherland (Democrat), representative.

Personal Property and Products. - .\gricultnro and personal property statistics for Jefferson township as given liy Missonri State Reports for 1877, and Johnson county assessors" lists for ISOr. :in.l l'M6. are:

County road impro\enients made by the township, since this system was established in 1911, were up to January 1, 1918, twenty-two in number and aggregated $1,157.50 furnished by citizens of the township, and $1,100 by the county. In amount of this work Jef¥erson township ranks nintii among the townships of the county.

Organizations. - The following is a complete list of all organizations of every kind in Jetierson township, b'ull details of each organization are in separate ciiapters on the ditterent organizaticjns.