Linn County, Missouri - Chapter 19: Bkookfield Township, 1882

Chapter 19: Bkookfield Township

Topography - Metes and Bounds - Its Ennmng Streams and Growth of Timber - Coal Beds - Early Days - Pioneer History and Incidents of Note - Who Settled it and Where They Came From Originally - Part of Yelloiv Creek and Locust Creek, and Wholly of Jeffer- 'son Since 1845 - A Voting Precinct June 5, 1866 - Organized as Brookfeld Toivnship July 2, 1866 - Township Officers Under the New Organization Laiv of 1872 and of 1880 - Population - Assessor's Valuation - Incidents, Accidents, and Crimes.

Position And Desceiption

The present boundaries of Brookfield township are a line commencing at the northwest corner of section twenty-three, towns"hip fifty-eight, range twenty, and running due east to the northeast corner of section twenty-one, township fifty-eight, range nineteen ; thence south' to the Chariton county line at the southeast corner of section thirty-three, township fifty-seven, range nineteen; thence west along the county line to the southwest corner of section thirty-five, township fifty-seven, range twenty; thence north to the place of beginning. The principal portion of the township is rolling prairie of fine fertile soil. Along the streams there are some " brakes " and a reasonable amount of timber of a fair quality. The principal streams are West Yellow Creek and Elk Branch, the former mainly in the eastern portion of the township, and the latter mainly in the western, both flowing south into Grand River. West Yellow Creek is the principal stream, and flows quite through the township. The western fork of this stream is called Long Branch before its union, which takes place in the southeast of section thirty-two, township fifty-eight, range nineteen. A good coal bed underlies almost the entire township, and has been opened near Brookfield, and in other parts of the township.' The Brookfield Coal Company has taken out vast quantities of a very excellent quality of coal, and the supply is exhaustless. The coal business has been in the past considerable of an industry, and is now assuming importance.

Brookfield township was formerly a famous hunting-ground, if not a happy one. There was in olden times game along Yellow Creek in great abundance. Elk Creek was also'prolitic in wild fowl and wild animals of every sort, and the site of South Brookfield was a noted rendezvous for ducks and geese. As late as December, 1874, a fine otter was caught in Yellow Creek, and the skin sold in Brooktield.

Early Ijistoky

Tiie first settlements in Brookfield township were made by John and David Moore, southeast of the town of Brookfield along Yellow Creek. Andrew Banning one mile north of Brookfield was another early settler, as was Dr. Thomas M. Rooker, two miles southeast. He was the first physician in the township. Holsinger lived within sight of Brookfield on the south in 1858. Shifiiett was north and kept a sout of house of entertainment for some time, principally for the benefit of parties from the south visiting the United States land-otfice at Milan to enter land.

The township' was a part of Yellow Creek and Locust Creek townships until Jefierson was formed, when it became a part of that township, and so remained until the summer of 1866. Its early history, therefore, properly belongs to Jefferson township.

Organization

The first semblance of organization that Brookfield township ever had was June 5, 1866, when the County Court made an order dividing Jefferson township into two precincts, Laclede and Brookfield, for election purj^oses, and 60 Brookfield became first a district before a township.

The citizens of Brookfield district were not satisfied with being a " district," but asked for a separate township organization, and at the next terra of the court, July 2, 1866, presented a petition to that effect. It was received by the court and the following order made of record:

"It is ordered by the court that the petition of E. H. Salisbury and others praying for a division of Jefierson township be granted, and that said Jefferson township be divided for township purposes according to a former order made by said court, dividing said township and all that portion lying east of said line to be designated and known as Brookfield township, and that N, B. Stroud be appointed constable of said township until the next general election of county officers, and until his successor is duly elected and qualified."

Under the act of 1872 the township was organized at the April election, 1873. The following were the oflBcers of the township up to the time of the abolition of the law in 1877:

Trustee, James Tooey; collector, George P. Harvey; assessor, S. W. Elliott; clerk, D. A. Shepherd; justices, J. M. Gilson, E. Hoyle, Simeon Wilson; constable, Robinson Tooey till May 17, when he died and B. F. Carey was appointed.

In 1880 the township organization law was adopted in this county by vote of the people at the November election, and on the first Tuesday in April following Brookfield township was reorganized and the following officers were elected:

G. W. Martin, trustee and treasurer; George N. Ellott, clerk and assessor; Fred Laedlein, constable and collector; justices of the peace, W. D. Hicks, A. P. Crosby and L. A. Smith.

Brookfield township was named for its principal town, the commercial metropolis of Linn county. The township, though small in area - nine miles in length by five in breadth containing forty-five square miles, or 28,800 acres - has a greater population than any other in the county.

Census Reports Of Population Town Of Brookfield

On the twenty-seventh of March, 1857, there was laid out, about half a mile east of Brookfield, on the south end of the southwest quarter of the the northwest quarter of section §ve, township fifty-seven, range nineteen, a town called Franklin. It existed as a town on the records for eleven jears, but was never a place of any importance. On the third of August, 1868, it was vacated by order of the County Court. The immediate proximity of Brooklield forbade that Franklin should ever become a point of

Killhuj of Peter Conick - In April, 1879, James B. Logsdon shot and killed Peter Conick. The two men were neighbors living in the southern part of the township, near the Chariton line. Logsdoji's farm was on the line, in the southeast quarter of section thirty-five, township fifty-seven, range twenty. It was on his premises where the tragedy occurred. The lands of the two men adjoined, and it was this circumstance that occasioned the difiiculty. They had quarreled over their boundary lines, their division fences, etc. At the time of the homicide, Logsdon claimed that Conick came on his (Logsdon's) premises and began abusing him; that he (Logsdon) warned Conick off, but that the latter assaulted him with an ax, and as he was coming toward him with the weapon uplifted, he (Logsdon) fired in self-defense. After a preliminary examination before Esquires Shepherd and Hicks, Logsdon was bound over in the sum of $3,500 for his appearance at the Circuit Court. He was afterward tried and acquitted.

Inhiivmn treatment - In the winter of 1873 considerable indignation was aroused throughout the county against a Mr. S. Griffith, who lived west of Brookfield. Griffith had a little negro boy, eight years of age, in his service, and treated him with great severitj"- and cruelty. The boy was compelled to work out of doors in the severest weather, with insufficient clothing, and suffered greatly. Griffith placed him in the field and made him husk corn, arid kept him at this work so long that the boy's feet were 80 badly frozen that they had to be amputated. Griffith was arrested, and soon after left the country.

Fatal Accidents

Drowning of Louis Bemer - On the nineteenth of June, 1869, a man named Louis Bevier was drowned in Yellow Creek, at the Stain's ford. The stream was very high and Mr. Bevier either did not know or care for the danger, and rode in, attempting to cross. He was swept away by the turbid, raging current, and lost in a moment.

SJiootlntj of Franh Whit^twn - September 30, 1873, a young man named Frank Whitman, living two miles north of Brookfield, was out hunting. He stopped at Mr. Cofi'man's to rest and was standing on Mr. Coftman's porch with his gun in his hand conversing with some member of the family. Accidentally he let the gun slip oflf the porch, and as it fell it became disoO

Killed hy his horse - December 20, 1874, early in the morning, Mr. John Fitzgerald was thrown by his horse and killed, about one-half mile north of the Stains school-house. Mr. Fitzgerald lived about four miles south of Brookfield. From appearances, his horse had become frightened at the carcass of a dead animal by the roadside, and, starting violently, had either thrown him or fallen with him - at any rate, had fallen on him. Mr. Fitzgerald was fifty-four years of age and left a wife and children.

Drowning of Lilly Cook - On the twenty-fifth of August, 1877, Lilly Cook, the twelve-year-old daughter of Philip Cook, who lived three and a half miles south of Brookfield, was drowned in her father's cistern. Mr. and Mrs. Cook had gone to Brookfield and were absent at the time. Lilly, impatient for her parents' return, had climbed up a water-trough leading^ from the eaves of the house into the cistern, to watch for them, and slipped into the cistern as she was descending. Her parents were nearly distracted at her sad and untimely death.

Suffocated hy fire-damps - On the nineteenth of July, 1879, Roberfc Thorpe, a boy sixteen years of age, living with Dr. E,. Scott, two miles south of Brookfield, went into a well to get out a bucket which had been lost. While at work he was overcome by the deadly damps and suffocated in a few moments. The body was recovered with some difficulty,

June 18, 1872, the wife of Dr. R Scott, who lived two miles south of Brookfield, took morphine on the morning of that day, and died. She was buried at two p. m. the same day. Mrs. Scott was nineteen years old at the time of her death, but had been married three years. What the cause impelling her to take the deadly drug was never known.

On the twelfth of July, 1880, Mr. Sharp, a young man about eighteen years of age, living three miles northwest of Brookfield, committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol. It was thought that disappointment in a love affair was the cause.

Miscellaneous

The tornado of 1876 was particularly severe in this township. An account of its ravages will be found in the history of the town of Brookfield.

Two well-known ladies of this township, Mrs. S. W. Elliott and Mrs. Ella G. Newcomb, died in August, 1876, the latter on the twenty-eighth, and Mrs. Elliott on the twenty-ninth. Mrs. Newcomb was the wife of S. B. Newcomb, who lived four miles south of Brookfield, and was a prominent Sunday-school worker. She was twenty-eight years of age. Mrs. Elliott was the wife of Sampson W. Elliott, and lived three miles northeast of Brookfield.