Nodaway County, Missouri - Chapter 5: First Settlements, 1882

Every nation does not possess an authentic account of its origin, neither do all communities have the correct data whereby it is possible to accurately predicate the condition of their first beginnings. Nevertheless, to be intensely interested in such things is characteristic of the race, and it is particularly the province of the historian to deal with first causes. Should these facts, as is often the case, be lost in the mythical tradition of the past, the chronicler invades the realm of the ideal and compels his imagination to paint the missing picture. The patriotic Roman was not content till he had found the "First Settlers," and then he was satisfied, although they were found in the very undesirable company of a wolf, and located on a drift, which the receding waters of the Tiber had permitted them to pre-empt.

One of the advantages pertaining to a residence in a new country and one seldom appreciated, is the fact that we can go back to the first beginnings. We are thus enabled, not only to trace results to their causes, but also to grasp the facts which have contributed to form and mold these causes. We observe that a state or county has attained a certain position, and wre at once try to trace out the reasons for this position in its early settlement and surroundings, in the class of men by whom it was peopled, and in the many chances and changes which have wrought out results in all the recorded deeds of mankind. In the history of Nodaway County we may trace its early settlers to their homes in the Eastern States and in the countries of the Old World. We may follow the course of the hardy backwoodsman of the "Buckeye" or the " Hoosier" state, or from Kentucky and Virginia on his way west " to grow up with the country," trusting only to his strong arm and his willing heart to work out his ambition of a home for himself and wife and a competence for his children. Again, we will see that others have been animated with the impulse to " move on," after making themselves a part of the community, and have sought the newer parts of the extreme west, where civilization had not penetrated, or returned to their native soil. We shall find much of that distinctive New England character which has contributed so many men and women to other portions of our state, and the west ; also, we shall find many an industrious native of Germany or the British Isles, and a few of the industrious and economical French - all of whom have contributed to modify types of men already existing here.

Those who have noted the career of the descendants of these brave, strong men, in subduing the wilds and overcoming the obstacles and withstanding the hardships of this country in early times, can but admit they are worthy sons of illustrious sires.

The first settlement made within the limits of what is now known as Nodaway County, was effected in the spring of 1839, by Isaac Hogan, a native of the state of Tennessee. He pitched his tent near what is now known as Brown's Spring, just south of the present village of Graham. Here he built a cabin, which was at the time the only evidence of the presence of civilized man north of the Nodaway River. For the following interesting particulars relating to this settlement we are indebted to Dr. J. W. Morgan, who is himself one of the earliest pioneers of the county :

In the spring of 1839, Isaac Hogan, in company with Daniel Hoganv Richard Taylor, a gentleman who had married a sister of the Hogans, and Robert M. Stewart, then a wandering youth, since governor of the state, concluded to seek a better country, and with a two-horse wagon and camp equipage, an axe, a shovel and grubbing hoe, started to explore the Nodaway Valley country, recently purchased from the Indians. In March, 1839, they crossed a stream that has since been called Elkhorn, and encamped at what is now known as Laughlin's brick yard, in what is now called Hughes Township, one-half mile south of Graham. On the following morning one of the horses was lame and unfit for travel, and they concluded to take a hunt, and after an examination of the resources of the country, they were not willing to proceed further. They had found a country that they would be glad to call home. They were tired and slept. Next morning a division of the new Canaan had to be entered into. Isaac Hogan, being senior of the company, had the first selection. His choice was the tract of land on which the thriving and enterprising city of Graham is now situated. Daniel, being a brother of the chief, selected the claim now owned by our esteemed Teutonic friend, Philip Maurer. Taylor selected what is known as the Hiram Groves or J. O. Brink tract of land. R. M. Stewart chose as his claim the fine land now owned by Nicholas Kavanaugh and William Burn's.

Isaac Hogan remained, broke a few acres near Graham, and planted corn, while the remainder of the party returned to Platte County. After the return of the latter, Isaac Hogan was perhaps the only living white man north of the Nodaway River in the Platte Purchase. He built a log cabin near what is known as Brown's Spring, which rises in the south side of Graham, and affords an abundance of water for the town. During the month of June following he joined his family in Platte County, where he remained until the following winter.

Daniel Hogan, Richard Taylor and R. M. Stewart arrived in Platte County in a reasonable length of time, considering all the obstacles with which they had to contend. There being no wagon roads north of New Market, in Buchanan County, they followed Indian trails as near as was possible ; yet it was extremely slow traveling, as they would often have to examine a small stream for several miles before they could find a point at which they could effect a crossing. On reaching home, Hogan and Taylor planted corn and cultivated it during the summer. R. M. Stewart hired out by the month to Joel Hedgpeth - hoed corn for thirtyseven and a-half cents per day, during the crop season. Of rainy days and at idle times he read Blackstone and the Statutes of Missouri. He practiced law for a number of years afterward ; was captain of a company during the Mexican War, and was finally elected Governor of the State. Since then his life has become a part of the history of the State and of the nation, and is familiar to all.

Isaac Hogan, above referred to, and who was the first white man to settle in Nodaway County, met a most singular and painful death while on his way in 1850 with a company of emigrants to the Pacific Coast.

He seems to have had a great antipathy to the Indians, and rashly declared that he would shoot the first Indian that he saw. As the party of emigrants advanced, they arrived at length among the Sioux, who had always been friendly to the whites. It was their boast then that they had never shed the blood of a white man. A squaw coming into the camp one evening, he shot her without provocation, and without the knowledge or consent of his companions. The Indians missing her, found that she had been murdered, and held a council. The next morning they demanded the murderer. The party of emigrants were powerless to resist an attack from the Indians, and did not seem to have any disposition to shield the perpetrator of such a crime from justice, aud so gave him up, not knowing what a terrible fate awaited him. The Indians took him a short distance from camp, and stripped and tied him to a tree. They then cut his skin in strips, and making cross sections, tore off the pices of skin with bullet molds. They continued this process until he was fairly flayed alive, or died under sufferings which passed the point of human endurance. The Sioux did not molest the remainder of the party, but having wreaked their vengeance on the perpetrator of the dastardly deed, they peaceably went their way.

Early in the spring of 1840, Hiram Hall settled on a tract of land some eight miles south of Maryville, since known as the Prather place. Hall was a man of considerable will power, that is, whenever he under- took anything his intention was that his purpose should be accomplished. He thought he had chosen one of the most desirable locations that the human eye had ever beheld. He determined to make it his home while he was an inhabitant of this terrestrial sphere ; in this he was mistaken, poverty compelled him to abandon his home, but not until he had built a house and made considerable improvements. Hill being pecuniarily embarrassed, concluded that it was best for him, and those whom God had given him, to seek a different locality. Accordingly he sold his claim to Colonel Prather, (of. whom we will speak hereafter), and settled across the One Hundred and Two River, about one mile from Bridgewater. He was still enabled to keep his head above the wave, and he bravely commenced developing the resources of the country, and was looked upon as one of the moneyed men, able to go forward and succeed in business. He built a comfortable residence, yea, a magnificent one for that day. It was a building 16x32 feet, fronting the south, the main body of the building was of hewn logs placed together, the corners notched down in a dovetailed manner ; in the center was a hall six feet in width, the partitions being made out of the same kind of material as the walls, the roof was of clapboards, and rested on streamers, called ribs, the boards were secured by weight poles - poles cut and fastened down on each layer or four foot boards - the openings between the logs were closed by chinking and plastering or daubed with a material composed of clay, ashes and common soil, applied with a trowel made of wood. The door to the front entrance was made by using two uprights hewn out of two pieces of wood, weatherboarded with common clapboards, smoothed down with a drawing knife ; the hinges consisted in an excavation in the floor and hoop at the upper end and fastened in the walls ; the latch was of wood, with the string ever hanging out ; the floor was made of puncheons, and the loft was of clapboards. The chimneys, which stood at each end of the building, were made in the following manner : In the ends there was a space of six feet sawed out of the walls and timber split, the outer ends were secured by notches, the inner ends resting in the cracks of the building. They were lined with stone on the back, the jambs being lined with a huge stone set on end. The upper portion of the chimney was constructed of sticks and clay. The windows consisted of holes cut in the sides of the dwelling and cased up with timbers hewn out without the aid of a saw, and the openings were inclosed with muslin oiled o:' greased with tallow or hog's lard. He broke and fenced sixty acres of land and put it in a high state of cultivation. Providence smiled on him for a number of years, and he accumulated considerable wealth. Soon after the Bridgewater Mill was built he purchased a still, built a small stillhouse, and commenced making whisky of an inferior quality, so much so that it was known in commerce throughout Nodaway County as " Hall's Tonic." It was used freely on election, muster and horse-racing days by many of the sturdy pioneers. In 1850, his health began to fail, and he soon after slept the sleep that knows no waking.

A man by the name of Woodcock occupied a piece of land on the east side of White Cloud, just west of Hall's claim ; he built a cabin and put in cultivation a small amount of land. During the fall of 1840 (October 29th), a small company of white men from Kentucky pitched their tents on the east bank of the Nodaway River (now Lincoln Township), expecting to cross the same on the following morning with their wagons, but the river being without a ford, known to them, they passed over on foot, leaving their wagons on the opposite side. Two of this company immediately began to explore the country in various directions, feeling satisfied that they had at last found a favored region, wherein they could build their future homes. The names of the two pioneers were Joseph Hutson and Thomas Heady. Like all the early settlers in the west, they had a preference for timbered districts, and while selecting land they discovered the same grove of timber from opposite directions, not knowing that they had chosen the same land, until after their return to camp.

Naturally enough, however, after detailing to each other the results of their day's rambles, it was ascertained that each had seen and not only admired the same grove, but had concluded in his own mind to select the land on which it stood. There being no courts in those days, wherein the rights of property and titles to land could be tested, they finally agreed to shoot at a spot at the distance of sixty yards, the one striking nearest the center to take the land. The distance was according stepped off and the parties proceeded to try their skill for the possession of their chosen home. In the contest, Joseph Hutson, with the unerring accuracy of many of his day, drove the center. He still lives upon the spot where this novel incident transpired, more than forty years ago, on section thirty-two, township sixty-six, range thirty-seven, enjoying the fruits of his early struggles.

Late in the fall of 1840, Col. I. N. Prather, a wealthy Kentuckian from Mercer County, located eight miles south of the present town of Maryville, on section twenty, township sixty-three, range thirty-five, on the White Cloud, in what is now known as White Cloud Township. He explored the Platte Purchase in search of a home but found no place to suit him until his eye caught sight of that beautiful tract of land (eighteen hundred acres) which was for many years his happy home - a portion of this tract having been settled at the time by Hiram Hall, who had arrived in the spring previous.

Col. Prather, soon after his settlement here, was made, a colonel of militia - troops having been ordered out in anticipation of Indian troubles. It was at his log cabin that the first county court of Nodaway

County met and organized. He died in 1859. His wife still survives him at the advanced age of seventy-four years. We might state in this connection that, at the time of Colonel Prather's arrival, a man named James Bryant was temporarily living in a small cabin on the place engaged in trading with the Indians, his stock consisting principally of whisky.

From the spring of 1839, to the fall of 1840, there were perhaps, not to exceed six permanent settlers in the territory now known as Nodaway County. During this time, a number of white men had penetrated the country, some on hunting expeditions, and others with the view of locating, but its remoteness from the then centers of trade, and the country being still inhabited by roving bands of Indians, but few remained with their families. We may safely say then, that Isaac Hogan, Hiram Hall, Joseph Hutson, Thomas Heady, I. N. Prather, Harvey White and possibly one other person, were the first settlers in Nodaway County. These settlements were made in Hughes, Lincoln and White Cloud Townships, and although scattered, they formed the nucleus of a population which has increased in numbers until to-day, (1881) thirty thousand people inhabit the territory which they then settled.

Only one of these pioneers is now living. He has witnessed the coming of the mighty tide of emigration which has so rapidly settled the plains and the valleys of Nodaway County, taking the place of the red men, and watched with proud satisfaction, each new development of materal wealth, which has marked the advancement of an enterprising and thrifty people. To him, forty years have wrought wonderful changes, more wonderful perhaps, than he ever dreamed of, in the days of his pioneer life, yet how much more marvelous would be the change, could he be permitted, to witness forty years hence, the grand transformations which are destined to characterize the history of Nodaway County.