Montgomery County, Missouri - Biographical sketches (1 of 2 so headed), 1885 (part 2 of 3)

About the beginning of May, 1812, the chiefs of the Great and Little Osages, the Bice Reynards or Foxes, Shawnees and Delawares met in St. Louis, in order to accompany Gen. Clark to Washington City ; a plan which it was thought would have a happy effect. After their departure few outrages were committed by the Indians for a considerable time; and although large parties of them continually lurked about Fort Mason and the other posts on the Mississippi, such was the generally frustrated in their designs. But Tecumseh and his brother;' the prophet, were becoming more and more popular among the Indians, and so long as this was the case, no favorable termination of the con- - test could be expected. Many, it is true, were, as they always had been, opposed to his ambitious views; but the majority in his favor 'a was so great that these were obliged to submit. ; a On the 26th of June, 1812, a connell was held between the follow- _ ing nations of the Indians, viz.: the Winnebagoes, Pottawatomies, Kickapoos, Shawnees, Miamis, Wild Oats (from Green Bay), Sioux (from the river Des Moines), Otoes, Sacs, Foxes and Iowas. The - five first named were decidedly in favor of the prophet, but some others refused any participation in the war with the United States ; and the remainder were unwilling to give any decided answer, but rather encouraged the idea that they would unite with the hostile tribes. Thus, through the influence of the prophet, many of the tribes who had been uniformly at peace with the Americans now appeared in arms on the frontiers of the territory, and were only waiting for the removal of the rangers to commence a dreadful slaughter.!

The first victim of the war in. Montgomery county was Harris _ Massey, who was killed at Loutre Lick, in the spring of 1813. In the previous winter months his father, Thomas Massey, had left the shelter of Fort Clemson, on Loutre island, where he had settled in 1809, and came to the Lick, having leased the land from Col. Nathan Boone, to whom the Spaniards had granted it 15 years before. Massey had built a cabin on the north side of the little stream known as Sallie's branch, and had cleared a little field on the south side.

His second son, Thomas, was a member of Col. Nathan Boone's company of rangers, and Rose says that on one occasion during the war he, with others, was scouting over in Illinois, and coming upon an old Indian and his son, they took the latter prisoner, but let his father go; that then they cruelly murdered the boy ; that in order to avenge this wrong a party of Sac warriors, to which tribe the old man belonged, went to the house of Thomas Massey's father and killed his son, Harris. This story is very preposterous, and he who is deceived thereby is not wise. It would have been more plausible if Mr. Rose had explained how the Indians came to know the names of every one of the rangers that did the alleged killing, where they lived, where their fathers lived, and whether or not they had male relatives on whom they might wreak their vengeance, and especially how it came that the Indians selected the particular brother of Thomas Massey as their victim. Black Hawk, in his ' Life,'' states that he killed some of the settlers on the Cuivre, in Lincoln county, te avenge the murder of the son of an old friend of his, and it is probable that from this yarn the author of the story referred to above got his materials.

Young Harris Massey was killed under the following circumstances : His father had gone up the Loutre to look at some Indian signs that had been discovered the evening before. When he left he set Harris at work in the little cleared field south of the branch to plow with a team of horses. He directed the boy to tie his rifle to his back while at work, and if the Indians appeared to fire on them at once. After a time the boy, as is supposed, grew weary of carrying the gun and set it against a tree near the cleared ground. About 10 o'clock in the day a band of Indians, presumably Saes,' slipped down Sallie's branch and crawling under the bank approached within 100 yards of the boy. Two Indians fired and the boy fell. With savage yells the ''noble red men "' sprang out into the clearing, and running up to the body proceeded to offer it every brutal indignity. They tore off the scalp and then gave it a loathsome mutilation hardly to be described. ;

Mr. Massey's family, at the house, were in plain view of the frightful tragedy when it was perpetrated. They screamed in great alarm, and Ann, one of the daughters, seized upon the dinner horn and blew one loud, long blast after another upon it. This seemed to disconcert the Indians and they soon fled. The statement, sometimes made, that they mistook the sound of the horn for the rangers' bugle is only guesswork. Mr. Massey heard the horn and hastened home. The Indians had not taken away his horses and he gathered up his family as best he could, and started for Fort Clemson, on Loutre island, distant by the nearest trail' eighteen miles - (fifteen '¢as the crow flies."? How the poor fugitives made their way that long, toilsome distance, over the rough, stony hills and through the wilderness, expecting every moment to be ambushed by the Indians, with the memory of the murder of their brother and son ever before them, can only be imagined.

Thereafter, for some time, there was no attempt at settling the country on the part of the Loutre Islanders. 'They preferred to remain quietly close by the fort.

Killing Of Daniel Dougherty And Adventure Of Groom And Stewart

In the spring of 1814 occurred the next tragedy in the Montgomery county settlements. A man named Daniel Dougherty was killed by the Sac Indians at the Big Spring. He belonged to the colony at - Loutre fort, or Fort Clemson, and volunteered to go up to a salt petre cave on Clear Creek, about four miles south-east of Danville (about the center of section 8-47-5), to get some saltpetre with which to manufacture powder. At that time pioneers made all their own powder themselves. As he did not return at the appointed time, some of the colonists became uneasy, and Jacob Groom and Jack Stewart volunteered to go in search of him.

Groom and Stewart set out from Fort Clemson on horseback, taking the trail to the cave by way of the Big Spring. Previous to this, Groom had lived at the spring, having purchased the claim embracing it from Laney Bowlin, its first settler. A quarter of a mile north of the spring, and a short distance north of 'Possum branch, as the two men were riding along leisurely, Stewart suddenly called out: ''Lord! Jake, look at the Indians!'' Sure enough, there they were, only a hundred yards in front, a cloud of them!

The two scouts turned to fly. The Indians, only half of whom were mounted, pursued thein. Such yelling and hooting! Crossing 'Possum branch Groom's horse jumped with a mighty leap and Groom's saddle turned - his feet being out of the stirrups. But he clung to his horse, and unbuckled his saddle and let it fall. The Indians were firing and Groom's horse was slightly wounded ; as they emerged into the clearing near Groom's house, at the spring, the Indians gave them a good volley. Stewart's horse was seriously wounded, and Stewart himself was struck in the heel.

A mile south Stewart's poor horse staggered and fell. Groom stopped, and seeing that Stewart could make but slow progress with his wounded leg, took him on his horse.

Luckily both men reached the fort in safety that day. There was of coarse great excitement, and pickets were at once put out and all the outlying settlers warned in. There was a general appreciation of Groom's courage and self-sacrificing disposition, as there ought to be admiration for him to-day, and no wonder that Groom had so many admirers among the old settlers. Yet this is the same Jacob Groom whom Mr. Rose unfortunately saw proper to caricature so shamefully in his book !

Capt. Clemson and the people at the fort expected an attack at once and prepared for it, but it did not come. In a few days a company of rangers came out and found the body of Dougherty half way up the hill from the Big Spring (north part of section 32-47 - -5) and

1 It must be borne in mind that this does not refer to the present hamlet and postoffice now called Big Spring, but literally to the spring itself, on section 32-47-5.

buried it. The Indians had scalped it and mutilated it with their tomahawks, and it presented a sad spectacle. Daniel Dougherty was a young, Wiinenatied man, and one of the bravest and most venturesome spirits in the fort.

Rose says, in half a dozen places in his '* Pioneer Families," that both episodes, the killing of Dougherty and Groom and Stewart's adventure, happened March 7, 1815, the day Capt. Callaway was killed, but Jacob Groom's daughter, Mrs. Lurinda Snethen, informs the writer that she is positive, from repeated statements made by her father and others, that Capt. Callaway was killed a year after her father's perilous experience. In this she is corroborated by her husband, W. B. Snethen, who now lives at the Big Spring, and whose remarkably accurate memory is well known.

His Untimely Death And The Terrible Fate Of Five Of His Men

If Mr. Rose's '* Pioneer Families '' had no other merit, the elaborate account it gives of the tragic fate of Capt. James Callaway ought to commend it to all who seek to be correctly informed in regard to the early history of Montgomery county. The writer has taken pains to investigate the account, and takes pleasure in stating that in but a few particulars has he ever heard or seen it disputed. The account is mainly derived, in great part literally extracted, from Mr. Rose's narrative, in the '* Pioneer Families."'

The most serious calamity that befel the settlers during the Indian War, was the defeat of Capt. James Callaway and a portion of his company, and the death of their leader, at Loutre creek, near the line of Montgomery and Callaway counties. Capt. Callaway was a son of Flanders Callaway, and grandson of Daniel Boone, and being distinguished for his intelligence, fortitude and courage, was elected :to_ have inserted a sketch of his life, public services, and death, in the St. Charles county division of this work [pp. 150-159], where also an elaborate account of his expedition against the Indians, his defeat, etc., is given., Consequently it would be useless to repeat here what has of necessity been already inserted. Several months after his death and burial,

The slab (or at least the inscription) was prepared by Tarleton Gore, of St. Charles county, a cousin of Capt. Callaway. The inseription is plain at this day (for the writer has seen it), but time is obliterating it, and the lines are filling up. The grave is simply a pile of loose stones. Callaway county has frequently talked of erecting a monument over it. The county was named for the impetuous and daring ranger.

The account given of the Callaway fight by Dr. M. M. Maughs, in Wetmore's Gazetteer, wherein it differs from Rose's, is most probably correct. Dr: Maughs wrote, in 1837, only 22 years after the affair, and obtained his information from Maj. Van Bibber, who buried the bodies of the slain men, and from Lewis Jones and others who were personally acquainted with the circumstances. The doctor says that Callaway and his men were out scouting when the Indians stole the horses and '' accidentally fell upon their trail.'' This seems more probable than that they should have come all the way from Loutre island and marched 30 miles over as rough and hilly country as there is in Missouri, by ''2 o'clock p. m.'' The following is Dr. Maughs' account : - .

In the spring of 1815 the Sacs and Foxes stole horses in the neighborhood of Loutre island. Some 15 rangers, commanded by Capt. _ James Callaway, being out on duty, accidentally fell upon their trail, and followed it. They arrived at the encampment of the Indians, at 'the head of Loutre creek. The horses were there, but the enemy was out, probably on some other excursion. The rangers retook the horses, and proceeded on towards the island without molestation, until they arrived at the Prairie fork, at the crossing, about 100 yards from its junction with main Loutre.

The doctor makes no mention of the controversy between Riggs and Callaway, and then proceeds to give a description of the ambush and the fight different from that rendered by Rose. The manner of Callaway's death is especially given at variance from Rose's details : - _

Capt. Callaway, wishing to relieve some of the men that were driving the horses, intimated his intention to his lieutenant, Jonathan ~ Riggs, and at the same time requested him to take command of the company. The company then proceeded, and were crossing the creek, Captain Callaway and the horses being some distance behind, when the latter were fired on by a large body of Indians, estimated at from 80 to 100, who had lain in ambush and completely invested the passage, from a deep ravine (Harrison's branch) to an adjacent steep hill. Callaway, finding himself severely wounded, broke the line of the Indians, in order to join his men, calling out to them to form upon the opposite bank of the creek. His order was of no avail; the survivors sought security in flight, and Callaway, now endeavoring to make his escape, proceeded with his horse to the main creek, which could at that place only be crossed by swimming. There he was again intercepted by the enemy, and being mortally wounded, fell into the stream and expired.

The writer hesitates to accept the statement that Callaway ' fell into the stream,'' as Dr. Maughs indicates he did, from the bank. That he was shot while in the water is more probable. It is doubtful if any one ever knew exactly the manner of his death. As to the men - killed Dr. Maughs says : -

The names of the others who fell in the skirmish are McDermot, Hutchinson, McMullin and Gilmore. The latter was at first taken prisoner, but eventually killed by the Indians. A part of the Callaway rangers made good their retreat to island; the remainder to Woods' fort.

Whether or not Dr. Maughs is correct as to the names of MeDermot and Hutchinson, which Rose gives as McDermid and Hutchings, can not be here stated; but certainly Dr. Maughs is correct in his statement that Gilmore was one of the men killed, although Rose does - not mention him in his account. He, however, states that he was one of Callaway's party ; but on page 183 of «* Pioneer Families,'' in the - sketch of the Ramsey family, he says: '* India Ramsey married | Thomas Gilmore, who was a ranger under Capt. Callaway, and was - present at his defeat ;"' while on page 335 (sketch of the Gilmore family) he says: '* Thomas Gilmore, of Kentucky, settled in St. Charles county in 1808. He wasa ranger in Capt. Callaway's com-

According to the last statement it would seem that both father and son were rangers, and the latter killed, but no attempt is here made to straighten out the '' mixed up'' accounts.

Maughs makes no mention of the killing of Hiram Scott, although Rose is certain of it, and it is probable that he was. This would make six killed among the whites. Capt. James Callaway, Parker Hutchings (or Hutchinson) Frank McDermid (or McDermot), James Mc- Mullin (or McMillin), Thomas Gilmore and Hiram Scott.

Rose alleges that while it is not certainly known whether or not any of the Indians were killed in the Callaway encounter, yet 'one of their chiefs named Keokuk, a man of some distinction, was wounded and died shortly after.'' This could not have been the renowned Fox chief so well known to the student of Western history, and yet the suspicion is that an attempt is being made to claim that distinction for a dead Indian who, Rose says, '' was buried in the prairie, one and one-half. miles north-east of the present town of Wellsville. In 1826 his remains were taken up by Dr. Bryan and several other gentlemen, and upon his breast was found a large silver medal, containing his name (?) his rank (!), etc. He was evidently a giant in' stature, for the jaw bone, which, with several other bones of the body, is still preserved by Mrs. Dr. Peery, of Montgomery county, will fit over the face of the largest sized man.''

There is no other chief named Keokuk known in the annals of Indian history than the famous orator chief of the Fox nation, who became so renowned for his efforts to bring about peace in the Black Hawk War of 1832. The name ' Keo-kuk"' signifies '* watchful,"' and as Keokuk belonged to the Fox tribe of Indians he was often : called '* The Watchful Fox.'' His tribe was so closely allied with the

, Foxes. They lived, hunted intermarried, and went to war together ; but in the Black Hawk War the Foxes, under Keokuk, were for peace, while the Sacs, under Black Hawk, went on the war path. Keokuk died on the reservation in Kansas, in about 1845, of bad whisky. He was a short fat man, and not at all '+a giant in stature."'

Other Events Of The War

Jacob Quick and Isaac Best both had forts on Best's Bottom, above Loutre island, during the war. Best had a horse-mill, and his fort was a sort of block house. It is said that he had sixteen cur dogs trained to give the alarm on the approach of the Indians. One day while grinding at his mill, Best's canine sentinels sounded an alarm, attracting his attention, when he and a friend and assistant, named Callahan, sallied forth. A shot from the Indians wounded Callahan, when the two men retreated to the block house. Although Mr. Best made good use of his rifle, the Indians secured the horses and retired to the bluff. Best and Callahan abandoned the mill, took to the Missouri, embarked in a canoe, and paddled down the river to Fort Clemson, where they remained until the war was over.

On the 20th of May following Callaway's defeat occurred the murder by the'Indians of the wife and three children of Robert Ramsey, two miles north-west of Marthasville, which-is fully noted elsewhere. A few days later these Indians and some others who had rangers, under Capts. Craig and Musick. At this time occurred the ''sink hole fight,'' in which the noted Sac warrior, Black Hawk, commanded the Indians. .

From The Close Of The Indian Wars To 1820

Close of the War of 1812 - Treaty with the Indians - List of the Principal Settlers of the County before 1820, with their Locations, etc. - Old Lewis Jones - Early Aristrocrats - Quashquama, the Friend of the Whites - First Steamboats up the Missouri, the Independence and the Western Engineer - Organization - Pinckney, the First County Seat - First County Officials - The Weather in Early Days.

Close Of The War

Two days after Capt. Callaway was killed, or March 9, 1815, a treaty was concluded with the Indians, by which the territory within the following limits was resigned to the whites: '* Beginning at the mouth of the Kaw [Kansas] river, thence running north 140 miles, thence east to the waters of the Au-ha-ha [Salt River], which empties into the Mississippi, thence to a point opposite the mouth of the Gasconade, thence up the Missouri river, with its meanders, to the place of beginning.'' . But some of the Indians cared nothing for - or let us hope they had heard nothing of - the treaty, and it was more than two months after it had been ratified and proclaimed when the Ramsey family were killed, and the murders took place in Lincoln county.

Gradually, however, they left the country, but returned occasionally in small bodies, generally as hunting parties, committing no depredations other than a few petty thefts. A large body of Sacs came in a few years after the war, and wintered on Loutre, two miles above Van Bibber's Lick, and near Robert Graham's. They were quite peaceiible, but nevertheless the settlers did not leave many articles

Some Settlers Before 1820

Settlers came in rather numerously for a time after the war. Benjamin Gammon, who had lived in the county since 1812, but who had been ''forted up'' during the troubles, came back to his farm in the southern part of the county in 1816. Of Mr. Gammon it is related that he built a hand-mill on his farm, which was the first in that part of the country, and it supplied his own family and his neighbors with meal for some time. The meal for his own family was generally ground just before it was required for use, and he allowed two ears of corn for each individual. The grinding was done by the children, and it was said that Mr. Gammon 'broke all his children at the mill.''

In the fall of 1815 Maj. Isaac Van Bibber went up to Loutre Lick and put in order the Massey improvement. Robert Graham followed him in 1816, andsettled a mile above. Francis Whitesides came to the neighborhood of the Lick in 1818. Ambrose Bush settled on Dry fork in 1818. Presley Anderson, Jr., located near Brush creek, in 1817; he came to Warren county, in 1815, from [llinois, and occupied Robert Ramsey's house, near Marthasville, soon after Ramsey's wife and children had been murdered by the Indians. The blood of the victims was still on the floor of the house when the Anderson family moved to it, and Mrs. Anderson scrubbed it up before the furniture was put in. 2

William Brown settled on Clear creek, near its mouth, in 1819. He built his house under a high bluff that ran parallel with the creek, and cut his fire wood on the top of this bluff, and rolled it down to the door of his house. When the wood gave out he moved his cabin to - another place, and when it gave out there he moved it again, preferring to move his house rather than haul his wood.

George Bast settled in Montgomery county, in 1819, and Larkin G. Jones came the same year. Hon. Isaac Clark, of Kentucky, came also-in 1819, bringing with him, it is claimed, the first set of chinaware ever brought to the county. '

William Hall came from East Tennessee, and settled on Dry fork in 1817. His daughter, Dorcas, married Mark Cole, the first hatter in the county, and he also came in 1817, and located here. He made «* Boss'' Logan's famous hat, which was worn for twenty years. It was composed of 20 ounces of muskrat fur, mixed with 13 ounces of raocoon fur, and held an even half-bushel. The crown was 18 inches high, and the brim six inches wide. Nancy Hall, another daughter of Wm. Hall, married John R. Crawford, who built his cabin in Montgomery county in 1818. Among others who were present and assisted him to raise the cabin, were Daniel Boone and his sons Nathan and Jesse. Lewis Jones killed the game and cooked the dinner, and found a bee tree not far distant, from which they obtained fresh honey for their dinner. Crawford was noted for his a to tell humorous yarns, and entertain a crowd.

mile or more north-west of Loutre Lick. Drury and Henry Clanton, of Tennessee, settled on Pinch branch, five miles south of Danville, in 1818.

Benj. Ellis settled on South Bear creek in 1815; he was a wheelwright 'and a chairmaker, and also had a good hand mill. James Ellis settled on Bear creek, in 1819. Richard Fitzhugh came from Tennessee, in 1818, and settled south of Danville, on the east side of Loutre ; he and his son, Hopkins, were noted whip-sawyers, and when Danville was building, in 1834-35, they furnished a great deal of lumber for the citizens. Mr. Fitzhugh once had several of hisribs broken, and it is said that afterwards he subsisted almost entirely on mush and milk.

Joseph Gray came from Kentucky in 1818 and settled on Brush creek, where he died in 1830. Peter Hunter came to the county with his family and two sisters, Sarah and Elizabeth, in 1819. Joseph Howard came in 1818. Thomas Hickerson moved to the county in 1818, and settled on the west bank of Loutre, near Loutre Lick; soon after he married Susan Van Bibber, a daughter of Maj. Isaac Van Bibber. Wm. R. Jones, a Methodist preacher, came into the Loutre Lick settlement in 1819, a single man, but the same year married Mary Whitesides. ; came the same year. Alexander Logan settled on South Bear creek, on the line between Warren and Montgomery, in 1818. John Marrow located in the southern part of the county as early as 1816. _ Reuben P. Pew removed with his family to the eastern or northeastern part of the county in 1819. He built the first horse-mill in the northern part of the county, and made good flour. His boys peddled this flour on horse back, frequently going thirty miles from home; the uniform price was one cent per pound in cash, or two cents in '* trade."" i

Enoch Spry, married Mary A. Logan, the only sister of the Logan brothers, and settled in the southern part of the county in 1817. Soon after steamboats began to navigate the Missouri river. Mr. Spry, happening to be in the vicinity of the river one day, heard a 'boat blow its whistle, at which he became very much frightened, and ran home. He told his neighbors that a panther had caught a man down on the river, and he never heard any one halloo like he did. His story created so much excitement that a company was organized and went in pursuit of the '* panther,'' which, of course, they could not find.

Lewis Jones

Among the others settlers in the southern part of the county, prior to 1820, was Lewis Jones, who first came to Missouri in 1802; he married Susannah Hays, the grand-daughter of Daniel Boone. Lewis Jones, was a famous character among the old pioneers. When Lewis and Clark passed up the river, on their famous expedition, in 1804, they came upon Lewis Jones and John Davis, who were engaged in sawing lumber with a whip-saw. The officers tried to induce Jones and Davis to accompany them, but they refused because they mands of any one, and resumed their sawing. Jones came to Missouri from Kanawha county, Va., and John Davis came at the same time from Keutucky. Both were spies or sceuts in

In about 1809, Jones and Davis -went on a hunting expedition up into the Platte river country and were captured by the Indians, who stripped them of their clothing, gave them an old musket with six loads of ammunition and started them back home, which they reached, after numerous incidents worthy of interest, in ten days.

When game became scarce, and hunting was no longer a paying occupation, Jones studied surveying under Prospect K. Robbins, and became one of the most efficient and correct surveyors in North Missouri. If any of the land owners had a dispute about a line, Jones ought to go, there it-went, because they all knew he understood his business and would not make a false or incorrect survey. Lewis Jones was a great reader, and possesssed a wonderful memory. He was a close student of the Bible, but an avowed infidel and reviled and ridiculed many of the statements and teachings of that Holy volume. He died as he lived, . a disbeliever.

Early Aristocrats

\ or vast estates, the majority of the first settlers of this county were as 'well off as many of our citizens of medium fortunes are today. Indeed, many of the people in various parts of the county live to-day in as comfortless and as poorly furnished cabins, eat as coarse and as scanty food, go as poorly clad, have as little money, and are as poorly informed and as unintelligent as the poorest and lowest among the pioneers of seventy years ago.

The Americans had one good friend among the Sac Indians. This was the old chief, Quashquama. He opposed the War of 1812 against the Missouri settlers, and took no part in it. He was much grieved because his nation had yielded to the persuasions of the British emissaries and joined England in the war against the United States. The British long tried to induce him to raise the tomahawk against the Americans, but he always refused. In 1810 he started for Washington City to see the President, but was stopped at St. Louis by Gov. Wm. Clark. While at St. Louis on this occasion Quashquama delivered the following speech, which was reduced to writing and forwarded to President Madison : -

My father, I left my home to see my great father [the President], but, as I can not proceed to see him, I give you my hand, as to himself. * * * TI have been advised several times to raise the tomahawk. Since the last war [the Revolution] we have looked upon the Americans as friends, and shall hold you fast by the hand. The Great Spirit has not put us on earth to war with the whites. We have never struck a white man. If we go to war, it is with red flesh. Other nations have sent belts aniong us and urged us to go to war; they say if we do not, that in less than eight years the Americans will drive us off our lands. * * * We have not listened to them ; our rivers, our country, have always been, and still are, open to. our friends, the Americans.

Quashquama was well known to the first settlers of Montgomery county. He often passed through the settlements in the lower part _of the county, and was on one or two occasions at the Loutre Lick. After the Black Hawk War, in 1832, the Sac Indians - or a great portion of them - were removed to Kansas. The. warriors were marched across the country, while the squaws and old men, under Quashquama, were sent down the Mississippi and up the Missouri in boats and canoes. Passing up the Missouri the Indians stopped at Loutre island, and Quashquama embraced the opportunity to call om some old acquaintances and make some new ones. He came into the - house of the widow Patton, and spent some time. He was dressed in citizen's clothes, of which fact he seemed quite proud. He was well received by the people.

Several years afterward an old Indian paddled down the Missouri in a canoe and landed at Loutre island. He was alone and seemed weary, broken and dejected. Wandering quietly about he occasionally seemed attracted by some location or object on which he would gaze for some moments in reflection. On the site of old Fort Clemson, he said to a citizen: '' Here was a fort one time.''~ At last he walked into Patton's house, and seating himself at the fire, said: '© You don't know me. Iam Quashquama. I want to cook my dinner.'' Being offered a dinner with the family, he respectfully refused, and said, '¢I will cook my own.'' - Then he drew from his hunting shirt a duck's egg, which he roasted in the ashes of the fire and ate.

His short and simple repast ended, the old chieftain returned to his canoe, and, as he pushed it from shore, he waved his hand and said '¢ good-by.'? Then he passed away down the river, and that was the last ever seen of Quashquama by our people.

First Steamboats Up The Missouri

A few of the old settlers are now living in the county who remember when the first steamboats passed up the Missouri. |The steamer Independence, Capt. John Nelson, from Louisville, Ky., was the pioneer steamboat in the navigation of the Missouri, and the first to enter the stream. Col. Elias Rector, Stephen Rector and others, of St. Louis, chartered her to go up the Missouri as high as the town of - Old Chariton (now extinct), which stood near the mouth of the Char- - iton river, two miles above Glasgow. The boat left St. Louis, May 15, 1819, and arrived at Old Franklin, Howard county, May 28, occasioning the wildest excitement and the greatest joy among the people.*

The Independence landed at old Fort Clemson, on Loutre island,' and Mr. Robt. H. Patton states to the writer that all the islanders, except some who were afraid of her, flocked to the bank to see the | new and great wonder. She put off some freight - 10 barrels of whisky (? ), fora trader named Mills, who lived out in the Camp Branch country, and had a post not far from where Warrenton now is.

In 1818 the United States government projected the celebrated Yellowstone expedition, to ascertain whether or not the Missouri river was navigable for steamboats, and to establish a line of forts from its mouth to the Yellowstone. The expedition was under command of Col. Henry Atkinson. It arrived at Pittsburg in the spring of 1819, and here Col. S. H. Long, of the topographical engineers, had constructed a small steamer called the Western Engineer, to be used by him and his corps in pioneering the expedition up the Missouri.

June 21, 1819, the fleet of steamboats, the Expedition, Capt. Craig ; Thomas Jefferson, Capt. Orfort; R. M. Johnson, Capt. Colfax, and the Western Engineer, Lieut. Swift, and nine keel-boats provided with wheels and masts, left St. Louis for the Yellowstone. The boats entered the mouth of the Missouri with flags flying, bands of music playing, bugles blowing and the crews cheering. An accident to the machinery of the Jefferson prevented her from being the first to enter the river, as had been intended, and the post of honor was given to the Expedition. She landed at Fort Bellefontaine, four miles from the mouth of the river, and the next morning the Western Engineer took the lead, and was far in the advance when the fleet passed Loutre island.

The Western Engineer was a singularly constructed vessel. It had no cabin and. but one chimney. From its prow projected the iron image of a huge serpent, painted black, with mouth agape and colored a livid red, and tongue like a glowing coal. The steam exhausted from the mouth of this serpent with a noise, the combination of a puff, a hiss, and a snort, and all the Indians - and many of the whites - were terror-stricken at the appearance of the seeming monster. Itis related that a band of Indians followed along the river, side by side with the boat, for nearly a whole day, expecting every moment that its strength would give out, '' as it panted so,'' and then they would capture it! They imagined that the boat and its crew were borne on the back of the serpent. |

Organization

The Territorial Legislature of Missouri commenced a session at St. Louis in December, 1818. During this session the counties of Jefferson, Franklin, Wayne, Lincoln, Madison, Pike, Pulaski, Cooper and Montgomery were organized.!_ This county was organized December

14, 1818. It was formed from St. Charles and included not only the present territory of the county, but that now included in Warren and a portion of Audrain and Callaway as well.

The county was named for Gen. Richard Montgomery, who fell at Quebec during the Revolution - or, as Rose says, for Montgomery county, Ky., from whence many of the settlers had come. At the time of its organization the county had a population of about 1,000.

The first election in the county after its organization was held at Big Spring, at the house of Jacob Groom. 'There was but one voting place in thisfpart of the county, and the polls were kept open for three days to allow the voters from the back settlements a chance to come in and vote. The voting place in the eastern part of the county was at Marthasville. ,

The county seat was located at a new town called Pinckney, but the first courts (county and circuit) were held in a log cabin, three miles east of Pinckney, in the door yard of Benjamin Sharp, the first clerk of these courts.

As has been repeatedly published in previous historical sketches, the seat of justice of Montgomery county was first located at Pinckney,' on the Missouri river, and within the present limits of Warren county. This town was named for Miss Attossa Pinckney Sharp, daughter of Maj. Benj. Sharp, the first clerk of the county and circuit courts of Montgomery county. It was once a flourishing place, but the removal of the county seat to Lewiston proved its. death blow, and the town disappeared many years ago. The spot where it originally stood has fallen into the river, and a post-office in the vicinity, with perhaps one store, are the only reminders of its existence.

The land upon which the town was built was originally granted to Mr. John Meek, by the Spanish government, but he failed to comply with the terms, and it reverted to the United States government. upon its purchase of the territory. It was sold at land sales in 1818, and bought by Mr. Alexander McKinney, who sold 50 acres of the tract to the county commissioners, for, the use of the county, for

The first public building erected in the place was the jail, which was built in 1820, at a cost of $2,500. During the summer of the same year, Nathaniel Hart and George Edmondson built a frame house there, which was the first frame house erected in Montgomery county. It was 25x30 feet in size, and was rented to the county for a court-house, at $100 a year. The rent was paid with county scrip worth 25c to the $1. The same summer Frederick Griswold built a log house, and opened the first store in Pinckney. The next house erected in the place was a mill, partly built by Hugh McDermid, who sold it to two Germans named Lineweaver and Duvil, who completed it.

Pinckney, a post town, and the seat of justice of Montgomery county, on the north bank of the Missouri, about two and a half miles above where the line dividing ranges 2 and 3, west of the fifth principal meridian, strikes said river. The site is low, and in some seasons of the year it is difficult to reach it, on account of the number of sloughs and ponds by which it is surrounded. It contains eight or nine houses and cabins: The county seat will probably be removed to a more central and eligible situation. This town is in latitude 38°, 35' north ; eight miles above Newport, and about 55 miles south-west of St. Charles. It is surrounded by a fertile district of country, watered by Lost and Charrette creeks.

- The first judges of the county court were Isaac Clark, Moses Summers and John Wyatt. At the first meeting of the court Mr. Clark resigned, and Maj. Benjamin Sharp was appointed to fill the vacancy. _ He also resigned soon afterward and Hugh McDermid was appointed the removal of the county seat to Lewiston. Previous to his appointment as judge of the county court, McDermid was a member of the Territorial Legislature, and when the line was established between

Irvine S. Pitman was the first sheriff of Montgomery county. John C. Long was appointed first county and circuit clerk, by Gov. McNair, after the admission of the Territory into the Union, but he sold the offices to Jacob L. Sharp before assuming his duties; so that Mr.

Sharp became the first incumbent of those two offices under the State government, which he held by election for many years afterward. Robert W. Wells was the first prosecuting attorney, and Alexander McKinney was the first county surveyor.

Andrew Fourt built the first hotel in Pinckney, and on court days he generally had a lively time. Men would come to town and get drunk, and then quarrel and fight in and around the hotel, which they regarded as a public place, where they could do as they pleased.

The first criminal case tried in Pinckney was against a man named Jim Goen, who had stolen a pair of shoes. He was sentenced by the court to receive 29 lashes at the whipping post, which, at that time, was a familiar instrument of justice, as there was one at every courthouse in the State. As soon as the sentence was pronounced, the prisoner started to run, and the sheriff (Mr. Irvine Pitman) gave chase. It was a pretty close race until they came toa fence, which Goen attempted to jump, but failed and fell. Pitman secured him, took him back to the whipping post, and inflicted the punishment, which was the first and last sentence of the kind ever executed at Pinckney.

The Weather In Early Times

As to the temperature during the winters of early days, there are fortunately records in existence which give it to us exactly, so that we can know what our pioneer settlers had to encounter in the way of cold weather. The winters were about the same as those at present.

Maj. Stoddard, in his sketch of Louisiana, observes: 'For three successive winters, commencing in 1802, the Mississippi at St. Louis was passable on the ice before the 20th of December each year, and it was clear of all obstruction, with one excption, by the last of February. In January, 1805, the ice in that river rather exceeded 22 inches: in thickness. There is seldom more than six inches of snow on the ground at the same time, but the severity of the weather at St. Louis is generally about the same as in the back part of the State of New - Jersey. The mercury frequently falls below 0, and the cold keeps it depressed as low as 10 or 15 degrees for several weeks each winter."'

In January, 1811, after several weeks of delightful weather, when the warmth was even disagreeable, the thermometer standing at 78 degrees, a change took place, and so sudden, that in four days it fell to 10 degrees below 0. This winter was also remarkable for a circumstance which the oldest inhabitant does not recollect to have ever witnessed ; the Mississippi closed over twice, whereas it most usually remains open during the winter... We have no particular account of the

The mean temperature of January, 1817, was 26°, about equal to that of the same month in New York. The winter of 1818-19 was very mild and exhibited a singular contrast with the two or three preceding. The mean temperature of January was nearly 39°, the weather continued mild during the month of February, and the thermometer on some days rose to 72°. At St. Louis, the Mississippi remained open during the whole season. During the winter of 1819-20, the Mississippi closed about the 20th of December and remained in this situation until the 10th of February. The mean temperature of January was 27°, varying but little from that of the same month of 1817. On two occasions the mercury fell to six degrees below 0. From 10 to 12 inches of snow fell during the month, and continued on the ground for three or four weeks. The winter of 1820-21 differed but little from the last. The Mississippi continued closed for six or seven weeks, and the earth was covered, during the months of December and January, with from six to 12 inches of snow.

The winter of 1821-22 was less severe than the two former. About the 1st of December the cold weather commenced. On the 22d, the Mississippi closed opposite St. Louis, and during the remainder of the month, the weather was clear and pleasant, and the thermometer frequently rose to 60°. On the 4th of January, the mercury fell to 4° below 0; but after this the weather again became mild and continued so during the month. On the 22d the Mississippi opened, having been closed since the 22d of December. The depth of the snow this winter never exceeded six inches.

Character of the First Settlers - The First Settlements - Objections to Prairies - Dr. Beck on Prairies - First Mills - Game and Wild Auimals: Elk, Deer, Bears, Wolves, Panthers, etc. - Sundry Adventures of Certain Pioneers with the ' Varmints'? of Early Days - Crops and Crop Raising - Cotton, Flax and Nettles - Dress of the Pioneers - The Settlers' Bills of Fare - Pioneer Weddings - Housekeeping Incidents - Pioneer Preachers, etc.

Pioneers And Pioneer Life

It is customary to indulge in a great deal of gush and extravagant adulation in speaking of the first settlers of acountry. Their virtues are extolled immoderately, their weaknesses - it is never admitted that they had any vices - are seldom ever hinted at. The true-hearted pioneers of Montgomery county would not wish to be written of other than fairly. Our first settlers were mere men and women, with all of the virtues and graces, and all of the vices and frailties of that number of people taken at random from rural communities. They were neither any worse or any better than their descendants.

The pioneers were hospitable and generous as a rule; so are their posterities and successors. There was the doing of good works, the rendering of generous deeds, and there was cheating also inearly days. There was industry and there was laziness ; there were thrift and penury, misery and happiness, good men and bad men, and after all, in very many respects, ican here county people in 1820 were about like" Montgomery county people in 1880.

The life of the early settlers of this county was that of the pioneers of the West generally, which has been written of and described so frequently that it need not be detailed here. The people, while they dwelt in log cabins and were plainly appareled and fed on humble fare, lived comfortably, happily and well. It can not well be said that they suffered hardships, since the deprivation of certain modern luxuries and conveniences was well sustained by ample substitutes. |

There was a scarcity of purple and fine linen, but there was an abundance of comfortable and durable linsey and jeans and homespun cotton, much better suited to the rough and tumble life. Fine clothes and gay raiment would have been as much out of place in the primitive log cabins and among the clearings of early days as would 'coonskin caps and buckskin breeches in the parlors and drawing-rooms of the handsome residences that stand upon the well improved lands of the county to-day. In that day, as now, people dressed and lived according to their circumstances.

In their somewhat isolated positions the settlers were dependent upon one another for many things. Men were willing to help a neighbor because they felt that they might at some time need help themselves. A new settler was always gladly received. He first selected his claim, cut his house logs and hauled them to the spot he had chosen for his home, and then announced his '' raising.'' It did not take long to put up the cabin, as the neighbors came from far and near, and whoever refused to attend a raising that could do so and had heard of it was guilty of a serious offense.

cut down. That which would make rails or fencing was so utilized. The rest was piled and rolled together and burned. The stumps of the saplings were grubbed up, and then the land was plowed. The plow used was a very simple affair, with sometimes an iron point and sometimes without, and always a wooden mold-board. It is said that some farmers used a plow made from the fork of a tree. The soil in the bottoms was like an ash heap for mellowness, and almost anything in the shape of a plow would serve to fit it for the reception of the seed corn. There was, of course, the usual difficulty in plowing regarding the stumps, and as the most of the pioneers were not profane men, their sufferings at times were intense ! _ It is true, however, that in early days the prairies of Missouri were deemed undesirable for homes and farms for many reasons. Mr. Lewis C. Beck, a master of arts and an accomplished scientist, in his Gazetteer of Missouri (1823), writing of the country in this quarter, has this to say (p. 244) of the prairies: -

The prairies, although generally fertile, are so very extensive that they must, for a great length of time, and perhaps forever, remain wild and uncultivated ; yet such is the enterprise of the American the expiration of ten years, instead of being bleak and desolate, they may have been converted into immense grazing fields, covered with herds of cattle. It is not possible, however, that the interior of these prairies can be inhabited; for, setting aside the difficulty of obtaining to cross from one side of a prairie to the other. In summer, on the contrary, the sun acting upon such an extensive surface, and the southerly winds which uniformly prevail during this season, produce a degree of heat almost insupportable.

It should not, by any means, be understood that these objections apply to all the prairies. The smaller ones are not subject to these inconveniences ; on the contrary, they are by far the most desirable and pleasant situations for settlement. They are of this description in the county of which we are treating; surrounded by forests, and containing here and there groves of the finest timber, watered by beautiful running streams, presenting an elevated, rolling or undulating surface, and a soil rarely equaled in fertility.

In the early history of the settlements mechanical conveniences were few and of an inferior character. Few of the settlers had been regularly trained to the use of tools, and, in consequence, every man articles presented a rough and uncouth appearance, they answered every purpose, and the families were as happy in their use as are the most favored people of later generations with the multiplied devices of modern invention. The great disadvantage the pieneers labored under was the need of mills. Grain was at first reduced to flour and meal by means of a mortar. The grain was put in and pounded for hours with a pestle, and when sufficiently beaten the finer particles were separated from the coarser by a common sieve, the finer being used for making bread and the coarser for hominy. This process became slow and wearisome, and other methods were introduced.

A kind of hand-mill rapidly supplanted the old mortar. It was constructed by putting the flat sides of two large stones together, the upper one well balanced on a pivot. A hole was made in the top ef the upper stone, into which was forced a round pin, used as a handle, to put the mill in motion by one hand, while the other hand was used to feed it. Simple as were mills of this kind, they were, however, very scarce at first and were used only by a few. The majority clung to the old mortar and pestle, the noise of which could sometimes be heard long after the usual hour of retiring, busy in the preparation of the meal and hominy for the morning's breakfast. The constant employment of about one member of each family was required to keep the family provided with bread.

horse mills were put up in various settlements, and these proved great conveniences. Patton's horse mill, on Loutre island, at Ft. Clemson, was built in 1814. Reuben C. Pew's horse mill was the first in the northern part of the county; Dryden's, east of Danville, was the first in that portion of the county. Capt. John Baker's water mill, built in 1820, on Loutre, at the mouth of Dry fork, was the first of the kind in the county.

Game And Wild Animals

As has been already stated, upon the first occupation of the country the woods were full of game of all sorts. Though there were no buffaloes here, their bones were to be found on the prairies in great abundance, showing that they had not long left the country. Their '¢wallows'' and trails were also to be seen. Indeed there is a tradition that in about 1812 a stray buffalo or two were seen in the western part of the county, returning from the Loutre Lick, as was supposed.

There were plenty of elk on the prairies up to 1830. The settlers would mount their horses when they wanted some rare sport, and chase the elk into the timber and brush through which the males could not pass on account of their long horns and became easy victims. Up about where Wellsville now is was a favorite feeding ground for the elks, and the hunters often chased them into the Whetstone hills and killed them.

Bears were numerous on Loutre and in the other timbered portions of the county. They were black bears, and the finest of their species. Some of them that were killed in this county weighed 500 pounds. The Skinners, Ben Ellis, and other bear hunters often killed them when the carcasses dressed weighed 400 pounds.

Rose says that Bear creek, in this county was named by old Daniel Boone, because he found a great many bears in that locality. North Bear creek was named by Presley Anderson, who settled in Montgomery county in 1817. The name originated in an adventure which he had with some bears, one day, while hunting on that stream and which nearly cost him his life. While stalking through the woods - looking for game, he saw two cub bears run up a tree, a short distance from him, and desiring to capture them alive, he set his gun down and climbed after them. Pretty soon he heard a fearful snorting and tearing of the brush under him, and looking down he saw the old mother bear just beginning to climb the tree after him, with her bristles on end and her white teeth glistening between her extended jaws. He had only one way to escape, and that was to play the squirrel and immense spring and safely landed among the branches of a neighboring tree. Then hastily sliding to the ground, he secured his gun, and killed all the bears. This incident led him to name the adjacent stream Bear creek, but as main Bear creek had already been named, he designated the former as North Bear creek, by which name it has been known ever since.

The bears occasionally killed a stray hog, but were usually not of much damage to the settlers. They furnished many a family with <'bacon,'' instead of robbing them of it. '* Bear bacon,"' as the cured bears' meat was called, an article to be found in every hunter's larder, was an article not to be despised, either. Near Graham's saltpeter cave was a great resort for bears.

The fierce panther made its home here. Many an early settler, as he sat by his fireside, felt his blood chill as the piercing scream of a prowling panther was borne. to his lonely cabin on the night wind. They were frequently encountered, and many of them killed by the pioneer hunters. Wild cats or catamounts were quite numerous.

On one occasion, about 1820, Robert Graham, of near Loutre Lick, sent his black man, ' Bill,'? one night with a letter to Maj. James Beatty, who lived two miles north-west. The way led up the Loutre bottom, and 'Bill'? rode on horseback, taking some hounds with him. Near the mouth of Davis' branch a huge panther sprang out of a leaning sycamore tree (still standing - the writer has seen it) upon the dogs. Poor ' Bill'' turned about and scampered for home as fast prairie wolf. The first two varieties made many a foray on the settlers' flocks and herds, and sometimes it was a difficult matter to raise sheep and pigs on account of the depredations of these marauders. The sheep had to be penned every night and the hogs carefully looked after. Isaac Clark in the south part of the county, poisoned dozens of wolves with nux vomica, or * dog buttons."' his steel traps, broke the chain, and dragged the trap away with him. The Doctor, Joseph Scholl, and Maj. Van Bibber tracked the wolf and came upon it where it had gone into Smith's branch, north of Danville, and was struggling with the dogs in the water. Graham waded into the creek for the purpose of killing the wolf with his knife, when it caught one of his hands and bit it nearly off; but he succeeded in killing it by literally holding it under water till it drowned. On another océasion the Doctor and a party of hunters ran a large bear into his cave, and tried to smoke him out, but could not succeed, and finally shot him. After the bear was dead the Doctor was the only one of the party who had nerve enough to crawl into the cave and drag the carcass out. Wolves were plentiful then, and one day while out hunting he killed thirteen.

Deer were very plentiful. They could be found on every section. A settler could kill a deer almost anywhere and almost any time - before breakfast, if he wanted to - and the juicy venison steaks of the old time were long remembered. Wild turkeys, squirrels and other edible game were so numerous and so easily obtained as scarcely to be worthy of consideration.

Numerous hunting stories, narratives of adventures with wild beasts of the forests, and exploits in the chase might here be printed if there was room, and if they were deemed of sufficient historic interest and importance. These tales are best when told in the graphic style of the old hunters themselves, by a winter's fire, or under favorable circumstances of some other character. They somehow lose much of their interest when given in print, unless they are colored and exag- - gerated. ,

Fish stories, too, might be given, for fishermen were numerous and the smaller streams were crowded with crappie and bass and other fine fish, while the great Missouri contained enormous catfish, and the bottom ponds and sloughs were full of buffalo, '* bull heads,'' pike and other varieties.

Up to 1825 not much farming had been done in the county, and indeed not a great deal attempted. Every settler had his '' truck patch,'' wherein grew potatoes, a little corn, a few vegetables, ete. ; and he had also a corn-field corresponding in extent to the length of time he had been in the county, his means or his desires.

Corn was the principal crop, and if enough of this was raised to supply the family with pone, Johnny cake and honey, the settler was satisfied. There was no wheat raised of any consequence.

the first years of the settlement of the county. As the county grew older more of it was planted. The cotton was all hand-ginned at first, and its conversion from raw material into fabrics was slow and tedious. Rose says that Francis Whiteside, who came in 1818, was the first to raise cotton successfully, but cotton was among the first crops raised on Loutre island. Robert Graham had a cotton field in 1818, a little north of his house, above Loutre Lick, and immediately in front of the cave, described elsewhere. The site of this field is now covered with timber, some of the trees being large enough for saw-logs. Nearly every settler had a cotton patch. Olly Williams built the first cotton gin, east of Danville, on the Boone's Lick road, in 1822.

Flax was among the first crops raised. The seed was rarely sold, and the crop was cultivated for the bark, of which linen and linsey were made. Nearly every family had a flax patch and a flock of sheep* - the dependence for. clothing supplies. To be a good flaxbreaker was at one time considered a great accomplishment among the men, and the woman who was a good flax or wool spinner and weaver | was the envy of many of her sisters.

The first settlers down on the Missouri bottoms used a great deal of ''nettle linen."' The bottoms were covered in many places with wild nettles, which, when treated like flax, yielded a tough, smooth fiber, that made a fair article of yarn, and when mixed with cotton or wool, a good article of cloth.

The dress of the pioneers comported well with their style of living. The male portion wore a hunting shirt of some sort of cloth or buckskin, a pair of buckskin or jeans pantaloons, a coarse wool hat or a 'coonskin cap, and a pair of home-made shoes of home-tanned leather. When the women could procure enough calico to make for themselves - caps for their heads they were happy, and the woman who could wear: - a dress made entirely of store goods was the envy of dozens of the less . favored of her sex. ca

Old pioneers say that buckskin makes a very fair article of pantaloons, but when it is wet it shrinks or contracts. Quite often a ~ pioneer came home after wading through streams and wet grass with - the bottoms of his pantaloons nearly up to his knees, a

The early settlers of this county raised almost everything 'lien ate except meat, and manufactured nearly everything they wore. Their smoke-houses were always well supplied with meats of various kinds, - and honey of the finest flavor. After the first year or two there was - plenty of meal in the chest and butter and milk in the cellar. Very q little coffee and sugar were used, and tea was almost unknown. The y family that had coffee two or three times a week were considered '¢high livers.'' Often it was only used once a week - Sunday morning for breakfast.

Many families used sassafras tea, spice tea, and sycamore tea; the latter was made of sycamore chips, and was in considerable favor with the Loutre islanders. It is said that sycamore tea, when sweetened with maple sugar, resembles chocolate very much.

Pioneer Weddings

A pioneer wedding in this county would not compare, in point of elegance and finish, with one in these days. For there were lacking the paraphernalia of display and the pomp and circumstance attendant in this age upon affairs of that character. In those days few people wore '' store goods.'' Their apparel was for the most part of homespun. A '* Sunday suit'' resembled an '*' every-day "' suit, so far as general appearance went.

A bridal toilet, therefore, was not expensive ; neither was it elaborate, fanciful or very showy; neither was it extensive. But it was sensible, for it was sufficient, and it was appropriate to the times, the manners, andthe circumstances. Yetthe bride was as well dressed as the groom. But for allthis, and for all of many other discomforts and disadvantages, the marriages were as fortunate and felicitous and the weddings themselves as joyous as any of those of modern times. The wedding was seldom or never a private one. The entire settlement was invited and uniformly accepted the invitation. To neglect to send an invitation was to give offense; to refuse was to give an insult. There were all sorts of merry-making and diversion during the day. At night a dance was had, in which there was general participation. Many of the dancers were barefoot, it is true, and the ball-room floor was composed of split puncheons, from which the splinters had not all been removed, but the seles of the feet were covered with a coating impenetrable almost as a coat of armor, and bade defiance to any fairsized splinter. Indeed, one old pioneer says that a real merry dance _ always resulted in smoothing a puncheon floor, as if it had been gone over with four and twenty jack-planes ! eae

The wedding feast was always worthy of the name. The cake was se corn-pone; the champagne and claret consisted of good old Kentucky and Missouri whisky, clear and pure as mountain dew, unadulterated by mercenary '' rectifiers'? and untouched and untaxed by gauger and _ government. The latter article was usually imported for the occasion, sometimes from St. Louis or St. Charles, and sometimes from old.

On page 78, Pioneer Families of Missouri, is given an interesting but peculiar account of a wedding in an early day, the ceremony being performed by Jabe Ham. Space forbids,its insertion here. But some of the early weddings in this county were not such rude affairs, for the parents were fairly well-to-do, and were able to provide the contracting parties with suitable outfits, and have everything done decently and in order.

Pioneer Preachers

Following close upon the footsteps of the first settlers came the ministers. Sometimes they were the first settlers themselves. They labored without money and without'price. They did not make merchandise of their mission. Freely had they received and freely they gave. They gained their subsistence as did their neighbors, by the rifle, and by their daily toil in the clearings and corn fields. Nearly every pioneer preacher was as expert in the use of the rifle as any of the laity. | generally attended, utiformly bringing their rifles, to procure game going and coming. The assertion of Scripture that he who will not provide for his own, '' and specially for those of his own household, is worse than an infidel,'' found credence with the pioneers. The practice of carrying fire-arms was not abandoned even on the Sabbath. An old pioneer states that on one occasion religious services were _ held in this county when the preacher proclaimed the gospel of peace with his hands and his clothing covered with blood from a deer he had - killed and butchered on his way to the meeting that morning. Thé circumstance did not tie his tongue nor cause his hearers to abate one jot or tittle of their attention. The man was not a graduate of any gospel had an effect upon his congregation which clearly showéd that the spirit of the Master was with him. '¢ Pioneer Families,'' p. 237, says : -

The dates of the organizations of the various churches in Mont- - gomery county are difficult to obtain. On the 16th of April, 1824, a Baptist church called Freedom was organized at the house of John - Snethen, on Dry fork of Loutre, by Revs. William Coats and Felix -

Brown. The following members were enrolled at the time: John Snethen and wife, Nancy Skelton, Sarah Elston, William Hall, Mary Allen and Jonathan Elston. Mr. Snethen was chosen dee and Jonathan Elston, clerk. A small log church was erected the following July, and their meetings were held in it for a number of years. In this church, on January 4, 1825, Alexander Snethen and Jabez Ham were ordained ministers, by Revs. William Coats and Absalom Brainbridge. During the first four years of the existence of this church the collections for all purposes amounted to $1.75.

stagnant water it subsequently received the facetious appellation of 'Frog Pond.''? The association was afterward removed to Jonesburg, and retained the name of Freedom.

Conclusion

Thus has been sketched, in general terms, the life of the old pioneer, and incidents of those early days. Not all is here given, for it would take many more pages than is generally contained in one book to record them, but while there may be numerous omissions, enough is here written to show the present generation how the old settlers, in the early history of the county, worked to improve their lands and secure a competency for old age. And so the country grew and prospered under the strength of the brawny arms of ber noble old pioneers. Civilization advanced, and material prosperity could be seen on every hand. Such has been in a measure the history of the early pioneers of this beautiful country, and those who are living can look back with interest to the days which tried the nerves, the muscle, and the indomitable will of the fathers and mothers who had the future of the county in their keeping.

The early pioneers made history, but took no care to preserve it. This isa sad loss to the county. Those years, and the lives and actions of the heroes and patriots then living, were of the greatest importance. Then it was that the foundation was laid and a noble and enduring superstructure was to be reared, upon which the moral, physical and political future of the country was to rest. While there were no stirring events or remarkable happenings, it was a time of self-reliance, _ of persevering toil, of privation, that was endured with heroic fortitude, believing in a future reward of successful labor, of the good time coming, when the woods and the open prairie should resolve themselves into well cultivated farms, and their humble cabins into residences befitting their improved financial condition. They had come into the boundless wilderness poor in purse, but rich in faith and powerful in endurance, and their future was before them.

Leading Incidents From 1820 To 1830

Montgomery County after the Admission of Missouri into the Union - Establishment of the Boone's Lick Road and Stage Line - First Fourth of July Celebration - Dr. Beck on Some of the Features of the County in 1822 - Poor Markets - Removal of the County Seat to Danville - First Murder in the County and First Legal Execution - John Tanner Killed by His Negro Man '' Moses?' - Hanging of '' Moses'? - Miscellaneous.

For the particulars of the 'admission of Missouri into the Federal Union as a State, the reader is referred to pp. 31-86 of this volume. It will be seen that Montgomery county had two delegates in the con- | vention which framed the first constitution of the State - Jonathan Ramsey and James Talbott. Mr. Ramsey lived in what is now Warren county. Dr. James Talbott lived in the southern part of this county; he afterwards represented the county in the Legislature.

The first election in Montgomery county after the State was admitted into the Union came off in August, 1822. At this election a member of Congress (John Scott) and representatives to the Legislature and a State Senator were chosen. Elections were held in what is now Montgomery county at the Big Spring and Loutre Lick.

The population of Montgomery county in 1821 was 2,032, but this included what is now Warren county, and considerable other territory, not now belonging to Montgomery.

One of the first three judges of the Supreme Court of the State appointed by Gov. McNair was Matthias McGirk, of Montgomery county. Judge McGirk married Elizabeth Talbott, a daughter of Col. Hail Talbott, andcame to this county in 1819. He lived on the Missouri _ bottom, above the island, and built the brick house at the foot of - the bluff, where Dr. G. Y. Bast lived afterwards. The supreme judges were appointed to serve until they were 65 years of age, and Judge McGirk resigned in 1841. He died in the brick house ~ before mentioned. The Judge was a native of Tennessee, born in 1790. ie i (572) Wen ' at

Doubtless the most famous thoroughfare in Missouri is what is now and always has been known as the '* Boone's Lick'' road. This road was surveyed and laid out in the year 1820, and originally ran from St. Charles to Old Franklin, in Howard county, nearly opposite Boonville. Prior to this a sort of trace or poor road had been used, but now this was to be made a public road, under the patronage of the soon-to-be State of Missouri.' The road then in use was largely traveled, but it needed repairing and straightening in many places.

As to the amount of travel over the road in 1819, read the following from the Old Franklin (Howard county) Jntelligencer of April 23, 1819: -

The immigration to this Territory, and particularly to this county, during the present season almost exceeds belief. Those who have arrived in this quarter are principally from Kentucky, Tennessee, etc. Immense numbers of wagons, carriages, carts, etc., with fanitieg have for some time past been daily arriving. During the month of October it is stated that no less than 271 wagons and four-wheeled carriages and 55 two-wheeled carriages and carts passed near St. Charles, bound principally for Boone's Lick. Itis calculated that the number of persons accompanying these wagons, etc., could not be less than three thousand (3,000). It is stated in the St. Louis Hnqutrer of the 10th inst., that about twenty wagons, etc., per week had passed through St. Charles for the last nine or ten weeks, with wealthy and respectable emigrants from various States whose united numbers are supposed to amount to 12,000. The county of Howard, already respectable in numbers, will soon possess a vast population; and no section of our country 'presents a fairer prospect to the emigrant.

When the road was made in 1820, Col. Nathan Boone surveyed it through what is now Montgomery county. It is believed that Alexander McKinney was the principal surveyor, however. In the neighborhood of Loutre Lick, especially on the west side, those who worked on the new road were Robert Graham, Maj. Isaac Van Bibber, '¢Fauncy'' Boone, Thomas and Jerry Smith, Thomas Hickerson, James Beatty, David Craig, Tarlton Gore (cousin of Capt. Callaway ) and a few others. Alex. Graham, who carried his father's dinner to him when he was at work on the road, remembers the time very well, and remembers also that Tarlton Gore and David Craig had a fight while they were at work on the hill west of Loutre er eck

When the road was opened travel over it increased, and, as it has been many a time since, one could stand on the road at times and not be out of sight of an emigrant wagon. As soon as the road was opened ane a stage line was established from St. Charles to Old" Franklin. This was contemplated the year before, as witness the following from the Old Franklin Intelligencer of April 23, 1819 : -

It is contemplated, we understand, shortly to commence running a stage from St. Louis to Franklin. Such an undertaking would, no doubt, liberally remunerate the enterprising and meritorious individuals engaged, and be of immense benefit to the public, who would, doubtless, prefer this to any other mode of traveling. A stage has been running from St. Louis to St. Charles, three cae a week: for several months past. Another from the town of Illinois (now East St. Louis, opposite St. Louis to Edwardsville - a line from Edwardsville to Vincennes, we understand, is in contemplation. It will then only remain to have it continued from Vincennes to Louisville. When - these lines shall have gone into operation, a direct communication by stage will then be opened from the Atlantic States to Boone's Lick, on the Missouri. :

The stage made at first weekly trips; then it ran twice, then three times a week, and at the last it ran daily, and sometimes so heavy was the travel that four or five coaches left St. Charles daily for the far West. At first the line ran only as far as Franklin (or Old Franklin, - as it is best known), on the Missouri river, in Howard county, nearly opposite Boonville. But the site of Old Franklin has long since been washed into the river and what was once the metropolis of the Boone's Lick country, and a flourishing town generally, has faded away for ever. In 1821 the line was extended to Fort Osage, in Jackson county, 275 miles from St. Louis, and 100 miles above Franklin." The following is a copy of the table of distances between stations from St. Louis to Fort Osage by the stage line in 1822, as shown in | Beck's ; Gazetteer of 1823:

The first Fourth of July celebration in Montgomery county was held at Loutre Lick, July 4, 1821, when Missouri was practically and rightfully of the American Union. Great preparations had been made for the event. Maj. Van Bibber labored hard to make everything a success. He procured an abundant supply of provisions, including several gallons of whisky.

There was a large crowd present. Many came from Pinckney and Loutre Island, and all of the upper country turned out. The stage from St. Louis brought up the speakers, who were Edward Bates, David Barton, Elias Rector and other notables. Numbers. were present from St. Charles county. Speeches were made by some of the most noted men in the history of Missouri amid great enthusiasm. :

Toasts were responded to by Edward Bates, David Barton and others. At night there was a big dance in Maj. Van Bibber's new house, which, though unfinished at the time, had plenty of room and

Charrette creek, a beautiful stream of Montgomery county, runs a southerly course, and empties into the Missouri on the left side, in township 45 north, in range 1 west, of the fifth principal meridian, two or three miles below the town of Newport. The lands on this stream are generally fertile.

Charrette village, at the mouth of Charrette creek, contains 40 or 50 families, which are principally French. It lies ina bent of the Missouri; and opposite to it is a large island, which is very fertile. The distance from the place to St. Charles is about 40 miles.

Loutre river, a stream of Montgomery county, runs a southeast course, and empties into the Missouri in township 46 north, in range 5 west, of the sixth principal meridian, 10 miles below the confluence of the Gasconade. It affords a number of excellent mill-seats ; and on its borders are some fine districts of farming land. Loutre island

Poor Markets

Up to 1830 prices for all sorts of produce were very low in Montgomery county. The average price of wheat was 37!/2 cents per bushel at Loutre Lick and elsewhere in the county, and only 50 cents at St. Louis. There was scarcely any market for tobacco at home. Commonly it was hauled to St. Louis, where the lugs brought $2 per hundred, and the best leaf $4. As the trip occupied a week on an average, and as the expense of crossing the river at St. Charles was considerable, there was not much money in tobacco.

There was not much money in anything the settlers raised. There was no market for hogs and cattle at home. In 1825 a dealer from Ohio came to Maj. 'ran Bibber's, at Loutre Lick, and let it be known that he wanted to buy a few hundred head of cattle. The péople flocked in with their stock, and he soon had as many as he wanted at his own price. For fine cattle, weighing 1,200 pounds, he paid $5 and $6, and other grades brought proportionate prices. Yet even at these figures settlers came and sold their cattle from off Lower Loutre, and from far and wide throughout the country. :

Wages at this time for laborers, when any were hired, were e from 25 cents to 50 cents a day. Ofttimes slaves were hired for $100 a year and their board and two suits of coarse clothing. |

In 1826 or 1827 the county seat of Montgomery county was removed from Pinckney to a new site, near the center of the county. Pinckney was down on the river, and very inconvenient for the - people who lived in the upper portion of the county. i#

The new capital of the county was laid out on the Boone's Lick road, a short distance south of where New Florence now stands and west of High Hill. Every vestige of the town has long since disap- - peared. It was named in honor of Col. Merriweather Lewis, of Lewis J and Clark's. expedition, and also the second Governor of the Terri- - tory of Louisiana. He committed suicide in Tennessee, in 1809. The land on which the town was situated was entered in 1818, by Amos - Kibbe, who donated to the county a sufficient quantity of land on pi : to erect the public buildings. " and jail were erected, both of which were of logs. The court-house was not only built of logs, but it was floored with puncheons. The roof was of clap-boards, held on by weight poles. It is said that in the intervals between sessions of the courts, the court house was often used by Mr. Kibbe as a sheep stable. Care was always taken, however, to drive out the sheep and sweep the house clean before the commencement of each session of the court. The court-room was only 16 feet square.

The jail was of the same size as the court-house, 18 feet square. It was composed of two walls, with hewn timber set on end before them. It was built by Chas. Allen. The materials for both jail and - court house were furnished by different persons, who were paid off in county warrants, with which some of them liquidated their taxes for the next 10 years.

Mr. Kibbe laid off and sold lots in Lewiston, and a small town soon came into existence. George Bast and Wm. Knox opened the first store, hauling their goods from St. Louis in an ox wagon. They sold principally for skins and furs, which they bartered in St. Louis for new goods. Hides and furs were about the same as legal tenders in those days. Bast & Knox did a flourishing business of the kind as long as they were. engaged in trade, but not long after they began business they met with a serious misfortune, which ruined them financially, and they were forced to suspend. They had been to St. Louis with a load of furs and started home with a stock of new goods in their wagon. When they drove on board of the old flat-boat or scow, used as a ferry at St. Charles, it sank, and their team, wagon, and goods were all lost. This misfortune left them without means to carry on their business and they suspended. It may well be conjectured that neither their capital or their stock was very large, if the loss of one wagon load of goods was sufficient to swamp them.

Lewiston continued te be the capital of the county until after Warren county was struck off, in 1833, when the following year the county seat was removed to Danville. The town - Lewiston - was never a place of any considerable size or importance, and is now wholly extinct. Indeed there are disputes among those who knew it once as to where it stood.

Moses. Tanner lived on Cuivre river, in the north-eastern part of the county, and had not been long in the county. He had acted disgracefully towards Moses' wife, who was herself a slave, and she told her husband of the fact.

The negro was very much attached to his wife, and when she informed him of his master's conduct, his spirit rose in great indignation and he seemed like a distracted person. Then he vowed revenge.

He left home, secreted himself in the woods, and it was reported that he had run away. But there were those who knew of his whereabouts, and who sympathized with him, gave him provisions, and language and with such burning words, that one man gave him a loaded rifle, saying, '* Do what you please with it, but, Z would kill a scoundrel that would treat my wife so.

Moses embraced the rifle as he would have ee his free papers and disappeared in the woods. That night Tanner was killed. Moses crawled up to the house and shot him through an opening in the wooden chimney, which had not been completed. The house was an ordinary log cabin, with a partly finished floor. Tanner was sitting on this floor, with his face towards the chimney and his feet in the lap fired, the ball struck him fairly in the breast. He sprang to his feet and called to his wife, '' hand me my gun,'' but before she could do so he staggered to the door, fell, and died instantly. :

Moses was arrested, indicted, and tried at Lewiston. He did not deny his guilt, and there was no trouble to secure his conviction. The extenuating circumstances availed him nothing except to secure general sympathy. The laws of Missouri were inexorable on slaves who killed their masters, and public policy seemed to demand the withholding of a pardon in this case. There were afew who thought he richly deserved death, because a slave, they held, ought not to have present shed tears. No other scene like it was ever witnessed in Montgomery county. The body was given to Dr. Jones, of Marthasville, who dissected it for the benefit of his students.

Some of those who were present at the hanging, say that Moses, on the scaffold, admitted his guilt, but stated the circumstances, and said he could not eat or sleep or rest after his wife had informed him of her disgrace. He averred that he loved his wife as devotedly as any white man loved his wife, and any injury to her affected him as deeply.

Miscellaneous

In the first settlement of the county, there was none or but little undergrowth in the woods. The Indians kept it burned off so that they could see to hunt. The ground in the woods, in the warm months, was covered with weeds, grass, peavines, and other vegetation. A man, or evenan animal could not go through without making a plainly visible trail, and this is the reason why trails could be easily pursued.

The wild sweet peavines grew very luxuriantly, especially in the bottoms. So rank were they that in many places they kept green and cattle lived upon them all winter, without other feed, and came out in fair order the next spring. Hogs, too, were easily wintered but for the wolves ; the bears did not give much trouble in the winter, as they were usually hibernating in some hollow tree or cave. Horses ran out in the warm season, after the Indians left, and there was no limit to the rich luxuriant pasturage they had.

Murder of William Kent by Waller Graves - During the Black Hawk War - Visit of Washington Irving - ''The Falling of the Stars'? - Organization of Warren County - Removal of the County Seat - The St. Louis Railroad Convention - Montgomery County in 1837 - Early National Elections - The Florida and Mormon Wars - The Political Canvass of 1840 - '' Hard Times '? - Murder of John Pearson by his Son-in-Law, John Freeman - Hanging of Freeman - The '' Jackson Resolutions '? - Miscellaneous Events from 1844 to 1852 - Murder of Caroline Scholten by John Huting - Execution of Huting - The Native Americans - Miscellaneous - Census of 1860 - The Presidential Campaign of 1860 - After the Presidental Election - The Tegisittnre ef 1860-61.

Murder Of William Kent By Waller Graves

October 2, 1830, William Kent, who lived in what is now the western part of Warren county, was killed by Waller Graves, a citizen of this county. The killing was brought about in this wise : -

A Dr. Madison boarded with a Mr. Nettles, who lived at the Beatty Place, north-west of Loutre Lick. The doctor was a mysterious sort of person, who wore good clothes, seemed to have plenty of money, but had no practice, and often made mysterious and sudden departures from and arrivals into the neighborhood. At last, on one occasion, when the doctor had been absent some days, Mr. Nettles' horse was missing. In looking about Dr. Madison's dagger was found in the spring house. It was at once concluded that he had stolen the

At Newton Howell's, now in Warcen but then in Montgomery, William Kent was encountered. He expressed doubts that Dr. Madison was a horse thief, saying, '' He is too nice a man.'' Graves at once said, '« You are one of his friends.'' A quarrel resulted, and Graves suddenly drew up his rifle and shot Kent dead. The act was done in extreme passion, and it has been asserted that Graves was undoubtedly af insane. Wm. Kent was a son of Isaac Kent, who came to Missouri ~ in 1819. - He - William - had married Mary A. Zumwalt, a daugh- - ter of either Adam or John, the noted pioneers of St. Charles county.

Waller Graves was arrested without resistance and imprisoned in the jail at Lewiston. He was indicted and when his trial came on he took a change of venue to Callaway county, and was tried at Fulton. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to three years' imprisonment in the county jail of Montgomery county. There was no penitentiary in Missouri at that date, and offenders sentenced to imprisonment were confined in the county jails. In a year orso Graves died in the jail at Lewiston. A few persons believed, however, that he made his escape from jail - or was released privately, but this is not probable. There was a great deal of sympathy for him, however, because it was thought he was not responsible when he killed Mr. Kent.

During The Black Hawk War

When the Black Hawk War broke out, in the summer of 1832, there was some uneasiness in Montgomery county among the settlers who remembered the experiences of 1807-15. Fears of a general uprising among the savages, and of a raid upon the exposed settlements of North Missouri, were entertained by many, and the militiain this part* of the State were mustered.

Fearing for the northern frontier and the north-eastern portion of the State, Gov. John Miller early adopted precautionary measures. About the 10th of May, 1882, he ordered the generals commanding the Missouri militia to warn the members of their commands «to keep in readiness a horse, with the necessary equipments, a rifle in good order, with an ample supply of ammunition," etc. On the 25th of May, 1832, he ordered Maj.-Gen. Richard Gentry, of Columbia, to raise, without delay, 1,000 volunteers for the defense of the frontiers ef the State, to be in readiness to start at a moment's warning. Accordingly, on the 29th of May, 1832, orders were issued by Gen. Gentry, Brig.-Gens. Benjamin Means, commanding the Seventh, Jonathan Riggs,' Eighth, and Jesse T. Wood, Ninth brigade, Third division, to raise the required quota, the first named 400 and each of the last 300 men.

CoxtumBiA, June 25, 1832. In a general order directed to me by the executive of the State of Missouri, under date of May 25, 1832, wherein I am required to raise of said order, made by lot, the following organizations, viz: The five companies of volunteers raised in the county of Boone, the two companies raised in the county of Callaway, and the two companies in the county of Montgomery shall constitute the First regiment. | The companies composing the First regiment have been organized by lot, in the following manner, to-wit: The company commanded by Patrick Ewing, of Callaway, is the lst; the company commanded by Thos. D. Grant, of Boone, is the 2d; the company commanded by Parker Dudley, of Montgomery, is the 3rd ; the company commanded by D. M. Hickman, of Boone, is the Ath ; the company commanded by John Jamison, of Callaway, is the 5th; the company commanded by Thomas Griffith, of Montgomery, is the 6th. * * * * ~The captains commanding companies will cause elections to be held in their respective companies on the following days, to-wit : those belonging to thé First regiment on the 4th of July next, * * * for the purpose of electing a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major to each regiment, at such places as the several officers commanding companies may designate, and make return to me without delay. "By order of RicHarD GENTRY, Maj. Gen. Comdg. 3d Div. bel Militia.

The companies of Capts. Griffith and Dudley were soon organized, armed, mounted, and ready to take the field. Although never called into active service the companies from this county stood prepared for duty, and were ready to seize their guns and spring into their saddles at the sound of the first war- ae or when their officers should give the command.

About the Ist of September, 1832, Washington Irving, one of the most distinguished and graceful of American writers, visited Montgomery county on his way to the far West. He came by way of the stage over the Boone's Lick road. He stopped in Lewiston a short time, and at Loutre Lick he left the stage and ,remained one | day at the lick and in wandering among the picturesque hills in the vicinity. To Maj. Van Bibber he said: '* When I get rich I am coming here to buy this place and build a nice residence here.''

Between 3 and 4 o'clock on Wednesday morning, November 13, 18338, there occurred in Montgomery county and throughout the whole country a meteoric phenomenon, the splendor of which never passed from the memory of those who witnessed it. It was called, in popular language, '' the falling of the stars,'' and is vividly remembered by those who had the good fortune to witness it. An inconceivable number of meteors or falling stars shot across and downward from the heavens, as though the whole framework of the blue and cloudless arch above had been shaken. It was a radiating and heavy rain of fire, in meteoric particles of the greatest brilliancy. In some parts of the country the shower of meteors continued until near sunrise, when, it is supposed, they ' paled their ineffectual fires'' only before the greater brilliancy of the sun.

January 5, 1833, the Legislature passed an act organizing Warren county out of Montgomery, taking off the eastern side of the county, and taking out a large part from the south-eastern portion. It is said that this was done for the benefit of Jonathan Ramsey, who lived on the .aforesaid ''part'' and wished to remain in Warren county.