Nodaway County, Missouri - Chapter 3: First Settlements in the Country, 1910

The patriotic Roman citizen was not content until he found the "first set¬ tler," and then he was satisfied, although they were found in the very unde¬ sirable company of a wolf, and located on a drift which the receding waters of the Tiber had permitted them to pre-empt.

In any new, or even comparatively new, county one of the advantages pertaining to a residence is the fact that we can easily trace back to the first beginning, and can thus trace results to their cause quite readily. We ob¬ serve that a state or county has attained a certain position, and we at once try to trace out the reasons for this position in its early settlement and sur¬ roundings today, by the class of men by whom it was originally peopled, and in the many changes which have wrought out results in all the recorded deeds of mankind. In the history of Nodaway county, one may easily trace its pioneer settlers back to their former homes, in some one of the Eastern or Southern states, or, possibly, to some one of the European countries. The Pennsylvania German, the Buckeye and Hoosier, or the resident of old Ken¬ tucky, or Virginia, loaded their belongings into boat or covered wagon and put forth for the "Far West," as this county was known a half century ago. Again, another element became the foundation stones of Nodaway countv - the sturdy New Englander, with his Puritan character and impulses, all aglow with patriotism and thoughts of genuine freedom and liberty, the same as in¬ spired his forefathers in the Revolution. The German empire and the British isles, together with France, all furnished their share in the settlement of this goodly county.

Those who have observed tbe career of these brave sons from many na¬ tions, and many states in this Union, understand the obstacles they encoun¬ tered, the wilds they met and conquered before their homes were fully estab¬ lished and they were permitted to enjoy the fruits of a well-regulated neighbor¬ hood, township and county government, with schools, churches, postoffices and railroads.

The first settlement in Nodaway county was effected in the spring of 1839. and the honor (for such it was) belonged to Isaac Hogan, a native of

Tennessee. He pitched his tent near the pure waters of what has for many years been styled Brown's spring, just south of the present sprightly village of Graham, in Hughes township, as that part of Nodaway county is now known. Near that tenting spot, Mr. Hogan built his log cabin, which was the earliest evidence of a white man's civilization north and east of the Nodaway river in this county.

The publishers and writers of a modern-day county historical work real¬ ize how fortunate they are in this instance, to be able to here reproduce an article on the early settlement of the county, from the pen of the well known pioneer, Dr. J. W. Morgan, who was numbered among the van-guard of early settlers himself. More than a quarter of a century ago the good doctor wrote as follows :

In the spring of 1839, Isaac Hogan, in company with Daniel Hogan, 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, con¬ cluded to seek their fortunes in a better country, and with a two-horse wagon and camp equipage, an ax, 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 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 ex¬ amination of the resources of the country they were not willing to proceed further. They had found a country that they might 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 enter¬ prising 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 Burris.

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 fol¬ lowing, he joined his family in Platte county, Missouri, 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 during the summer. R. M. Stewart hired out by the month to Joel Hedgepath - hoed corn for thirty-seven and a half cents a 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 nation, and is familiar to all.

Issac Hogan, above referred to, and who was the first white man to in¬ vade and settle in Nodaway county, met a most painful and singular death, while on his way to the Pacific coast with a train of emigrants in 1850. 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 ad¬ vanced, they arrived at length among the Sioux, who up to that date 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 and con¬ sent of his companions. The Indians missing her, found that she had been murdered, and held a council. The next morning they demanded her mur¬ derer. 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, and so gave him up, not knowing what a terrible fate awaited him. The Indians took him a short distance from the camp, and stripped him and tied him to a tree. They then cut his skin in strips and, making cross sections, tore off the pieces of skin with bullet moulds. They continued this process until he was fairly flayed alive, or died under suffer¬ ings which passed the point of human endurance. The Sioux did not molest the remainder of the party, but having wreaked vengeance on the perpetrator of the dastardly deed, they peaceably went away.

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, whatever he undertook to do he sought to accomplish. He thought he had chosen one of the most desirable locations that 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 mis¬ taken, as 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 further mention will be made), and settled across 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 de¬ veloping the resources of the country and was looked upon as one of the monied men, able to go forward and succeed in business. He built a com¬ fortable residence, yea, a magnificent one for that day. It was a building six¬ teen by thirty-two feet, fronting the south; the main body of the building was of hewn logs placed together, the corners notched down and dove-tailed; in the center was a hall six feet in width, the partitions being made of the same kind of material as the walls, the roof being of clapboards, and rested on streamers called ribs, the boards being secured by weight-poles - poles cut and fastened down on each layer of four-foot boards. The openings between the logs were closed by chinking and plastering or daubed with a material com¬ posed of clay, ashes and common soil, applied with a trowel made of wood. The door in the front entrance was made by using two uprights hewn out of two pieces of wood, weatherboardecl with common clap-boards, smoothed down with a drawing knife; the hinges consisted in an excavation in the floor and a hoop at the upper end and fastened in the walls; the latch was of wood, while the string was hanging out at all times ; the floor was made of puncheon, and the loft was of clap-boards. The chimney, which stood in the end of the building, was 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 se¬ cured by notches, the inner ends resting in the cracks of the building. They were lined with stone, on the back, the jams being lined with stone set on end. The upper portion of the chimney was constructed of sticks and clay. The windows consisted of holes cut in the side of the dwelling and cased up with timbers hewn out without the aid of a saw, and the openings were inclosed with muslin oiled or greased with tallow or hog's lard. He broke and fenced sixty acres of land and put it under 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 still-house, 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 at elections, musters 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 29) a small company of white men from Kentucky pitched their tents on the east bank of the Nodaway river (now in Lincoln township), expecting to cross the same on the following morning with their w'agons, 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 at last had found a favored region, wherein they could build for themselves comfortable homes. The names of the two pioneers were Joseph Hutson and Thomas Heady. Like all the early settlers in the west, they too 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 property rights and titles to lands could be tested, they fully agreed to shoot at a spot at the dis¬ tance of sixty yards, the one striking nearest the center to take the land. The distance was accordingly 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 ( 1882) upon the spot where this novel incident transpired, more than forty years [now more than sixty-eight] ago, on section 32, township 66, range 37, 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 southwest of the present town of Maryville, on section 20, township 63. range 35. on the White Cloud, and in what is now within White Cloud township. He explored the Platte Purchase in search of a home, but found no place to suit him better until his eyes caught sight of that beautiful tract of land (one thousand eight 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 the spring previous.

Colonel Prather, soon after his settlement here, was made a colonel of militia, troops having been ordered out in anticipation of Indian troubles. It was in his log cabin that the first county court was held for Nodaway county, and where the county was really organized. He died in 1859. We might state in this connection, 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 beginning 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 county, some on hunting expeditions and others with the view of locating, but because of remoteness from the then centers of trade, and the country being still in¬ habited 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 (1910), thirty-three thousand people inhabit the territory which they then settled.

In 1882 only one of these settlers was living. He witnessed the coming of the mighty tide of emigration which so rapidly settled the plains and val¬ leys of Nodaway county, taking the place of the red man, and watched with proud satisfaction each new development of material wealth which has marked the advancement of an enterprising and thrifty people. To him forty years had 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 Nod¬ away county.

The reader will find much more concerning the early settlement of the county, by consulting the pages of the various township histories in this vol¬ ume, where more in detail is given concerning our first pioneers.