Saline County, Missouri - The whole text, 1881 (part 13 of 28)

The first death, of which the judge can give account, was that of a man who died in the fall of 1837, a few miles west of Cambridge, and was buried at Old Good Hope. Dr. Ranier, from Virginia, now dead, and Dr. John A. Hicks, who died at Marshall, of cholera, in 1849, were the first physicians. The first ministers were Kemp Scott and Abner Gwinn, both Missionary Baptists, and the first services were held at Old Good Hope. The first school was taught in Old Jefferson, by Winston Loving, now in Kentucky. The first school house was built in Old Jefferson, by the patrons, at a cost of between $25 and $50.

Capt. R. D. Richardson, of two miles southwest of Cambridge, states that the first settlers in that neighborhood were Henry Nave, Daniel Thornton, Ephraim McClain, James Wilhite, Jeremiah Odell, Wyatt Bingham, Robert Field and John Piper. His other recollections of early days refer to Arrow Rock township. To'get grain ground was the greatest trouble in early days. Every family had a grater upon which corn was grated into meal. This was a tedious mode of getting meal, but it was the only one at times.

During the war some of the citizens of this township suffered severely at the hands of the contending parties. John G. Fletcher, a respectable citizen, was killed by some Federal militia, said to be some of Capt. Bingham's company. Mr. Fletcher was engaged in making sorghum and went to a neighbor's to get some soft soap with which to lubricate his cane mill. The militia met him in the rdad and shot him dead.

the militia near Mr. F. H. Gilliam's. Yager had been desperately wounded in the attack on Arrow Rock. The militia tracked two of the guerrillas to their retreat, opened fire on them, dispersed them all but Yager, whom they riddled with bullets and then broke in his skull with the butt of a musket. Miss Janie Flannery, a refugee from Jackson county under "Order No. 11," whose two brothers, Ike and Silas, were with Quantrell, lived in a tenement house belonging to Mr. Gilliam, and fed and cared for \ ager, and confessed that she did, in order to save the life of Mr. Gilliam, who had been accused of the act and was in imminent peril of his life at Marshall.

Judge Land relates that soon after he came to the country he was called upon to perform the marriage service for a couple. The knot was duly tied, and immediately thereafter the groom grasped his bride and whirled here around and around, yelling all the while, "I've got her! I've got her!" In the exuberence of his joy the happy fellow came near knocking over the judge and one or two of the guests.

The Town Of Cambridge

This town, situated on the Missouri, was formerly one of the principal shipping points in the county. It was first occupied in 1845, and regularly laid out in 1848. The first man that did business was F. A. Brightwell, and he built the first house. He was the first postmaster, the postoffice being established about the year 1845. The first school teachers in the place were G. P. Beswick and a Mr. Harvey. The first regular physician in the place was Dr. B. E. Powell, from Kentucky, at present in Glasgow. The first minister was Rev. Wm. M. Protsman, a Methodist. The only cemetery that ever belonged to the place was the one now in use, one and a half miles from town. The present town officers are Dr. J. H. Barnes, Thos. Holmes, D. M. McCormick and E. J. Dunlap. Thos. Holmes is chairman of the council.

As has been stated, the town of Cambridge was at one time a place of considerable importance, but the building of the Chicago & Alton railroad, or rather its location, away from the town, and the building of Slater and Gilliam have greatly damaged its prosperity. Houses have been moved to Slater, and business men have followed them.

M. E. Church, South

This church was originally at Old Jefferson, about three miles up the river from Cambridge. It was first organized in August, 1837. The first members were Robert and Mary Martyr, Winston and Frances Loving, Robert C. and America Land, Charlotte B. Land, John A. Hicks, Mary A. Wooldridge. The church was built in 1840 or 1841, and dedicated the same year by Rev. J. R. Bennett. It was a frame, and cost $700 or $800. The pastors of this church, until its removal to Cam- bridge, were George Bewley, B. R. Johnson, Hugh Dodds, W. P. Nichols, J. K. Lacy, and W. W. Jones. In 1854 a new house of worship was erected at Cambridge, being dedicated in the winter of 1854, by Rev. Mr. Mitchell. This also was a frame and cost about ^2,000. To this church the congregation removed and in it thereafter worshipped. The pastors have been Wm. Protsman, - Peterson, Wm. S. Brown, Wm. Compton, Geo. Savage, - Wharton, - Wallace, Gervis Smith, Luther Pulliam, McAllister, Berryman, Garden, A. M. Rader, Dr. Camp, Spencer Hogan, F. A. Taylor. Present membership, 150.

Odd Fellows Lodge The Town Of Stater

The town of Slater is situated on the line of the Chicago & Alton railway, twelve miles distant from Marshall, and twelve miles distant from Glasgow, and the railroad bridge over the Missouri river at that point. It was first laid off in 1878, and has now, in less than three years, a rapidly increasing population of eighteen hundred. But three years ago it was a corn-field, and now it is the railroad town of the C. & A. road, west of the Mississippi river. It is emphatically and essentially a railroad town, - backed up by a magnificent body of farming lands around it. The railroad interests, however, are the chief interests - and the C. & A. company seem to have concentrated and are still concentrating all their favors and working interests, west of the Mississippi river, here. Slater is one of the general divisions of the road, and the company have built here a splendid round-house and turn-table, large repair shops and handsome offices for train dispatcher and for division superintendent. The round-house is a large and costly building, with capacity to accommodate twenty locomotives. There are about ten miles of side-tracking at Slater. The com- pany already pay out to their employes, regiilarly employed in and around Slater, from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars, which is, of itself, sufficient to insure a good sized town.

But besides all the great advantages growing out of favorable relations with the railroad company. Slater holds an admirable natural position, in the very heart of one of the finest and most productive sections of Saline county. Marshall, her strongest competitor on the line of the railroad, is twelve miles away, and the competing river points are not nearer than ten to twelve miles.

The land upon which the town is built belonged to Josiah Baker, Jr., and to his sagacity, enterprise and spirit it owes its existence. He donated to the railway company 80 acres of the 160 upon which Slater is located for its necessary uses - round-house, depots, offices, side-tracks, work shops, etc., and each alternate block of the railroad front of the town - and by these means, and his continued enterprise and energy, has produced the splendid results exhibited.

Besides many tasteful and pleasant residences - most of them yet of wood - Slater has three churches, an extensive flouring mill and elevator, a fine three-story brick hotel, finely furnished, one brick banking house and bank, ten brick stores, two newspapers, one brick livery stable, and numerous frame business houses. As is usual in all new railroad towns, the population of Slater is a mixed one. Business men are there from every part of the Union; but its business men are live, energetic and enterprising, and the little city has before it a brilliant future.

The Town Of Slater

The town was named in honor of Col. Slater, of Chicago, a prominent director of the Chicago and Alton road. The first settlers in the place besides Mr. Baker, were Mahlon Hatfield, Hiram Liggett, T. B. Morris, J. Nauerth, Zahl Bros., Jas. Swink, W. P. Casebolt. Probably there were others. The first business establishment was the lumber yard of Ancell & Baker, in September, 1878, and the first business houses completed were those of W. P. Casebolt and Josiah Baker, Jr., in October following, the latter building being occupied by Jones Bros., druggists.

The first marriage was that of L. L. Alverson and Miss Sue Darnell, by J. W. Winning, a justice of the peace. The first death was that of a ten-year old son of Mrs. John Cutz.

The first regular physician was Dr. M. T. Fulcher (or Fulker) from Schuyler county, this State, late of Howard county, and now a resident of Brookfield. The first minister was Rev. Henry Eubank, of the Christian Church, and the first services were held in the house of worship belonging to that denomination. C. Q. Shouse was the next (perhaps the first). The first school house in the place was the old district school house, near the railroad in the southwestern part of town. Z. T. Bowen, now an attorney in the town, was the first teacher. He, had about thirty scholars, and received fifty dollars per month. The Christian Church was next used for a school building. An election has been called to vote $8,000 to erect a new and suitable building.

When the town was first laid out lumber was hauled from Arrow Rock, fifteen miles away, and from Cambridge, eight miles. There was a great scarcity of water. A good spring not far from town supplied many families and Mr. Baker furnished considerable.

The first newspaper in the place was the Slater Sentinel, which was established about the 1st of August, 1879, by Jas. W. Eastin, formerly of Glasgow, and son of one of the oldest editors in the State. The paper was democratic in its proclivities and placed at the head of its editorial columns a proposed presidential ticket for the next year as follows : "For President, W. W, Eaton, of Connecticut; for Vice President, Geo. G. Vest, of Missouri." The Sentinel did not long exist. The next paper was the Monitor, removed by Mr. Miller, its proprietor, from Marshall, and established at the latter place as a greenback temperance organ. The next was the Index, removed from Miami.

Churches In Slater Baptist Church

This church was formerly called Rehoboth Church, and the house of worship was located half a mile north of town, but on the building of the town the old structure was taken down and the material worked into the new church at Slater. Rehoboth Church was organized September 1, 1850. The original members were Daniel Hickerson, W. W. Field, W. E. Thomson, R. Y. Thompson, R. Johnson, Willis Holloway, B. Hampton, I. N. Graves, Claiborne Hill, Maria Hickerson, Francis Hickerson, Francis Hampton, Lucy T. Thompson, Anna L. Hampton, Lucy A. Thompson, Lucy A. Field, Martha Johnson, Rachel Huff. The old Rehoboth church was built in 1850; the new (Baptist Church of Slater) in 1880. The old church building cost $2,000. Noah Flood dedicated it on the fifth Sabbath of July, 1853; Rev. W. Pope Yeaman dedicated the new one August 29, 1880. Rev. Thos. Fristoe was called as first preacher of the old organization, November 1, 1851. Jos. S. Conners was first pastor of the new. The present membership is about one hundred. During the war an association was being held at Rehoboth. The militia arrested all of the ministers present and put them under bonds.

Ham Ewalt, C. H. White, R. P. Gwinn, Josiah Baker, T. J. Allen, L. P. Allen and H. G. Allen, Mary Bowen, Martha Thompson, C. H. Hickman, and about thirty others. The organization was effected in 1866. A church building was erected in 1867. It was a frame building and cost $2,000. In 1879 it was removed to the new town. It is not yet dedicated. Its pastors have been O. Spencer, Stephen Bush, Samuel McDaniel, M. M. Davis, R. A. Davis, C. Q. Shouse, and R. H. Hudson. The present membership is about 150. This church was originally called Mt. Zion,but is now called the Christian Church of Slater.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South

This church was organized in the summer of 1879. Andrew and James Bridges, A. Kirby, W. H. Dyer, H. C. Mead, A. F. Mead, M. T. Fulcher, A. F. Rector, John A. Rich, J. W. Gibbs, T. O. Mead, A. F. Frayley, and about thirty others. The church building was erected the same year. It was a frame and cost $1,600. A dedicatory sermon was preached in August, 1879, but a mistake having occurred whereby the church was found to still have an indebtedness upon it, another sermon was preached after the debt was extinguished, in September, 1880, by R^v. D. R. McAnally. Names of pastors - J. A. Murphy, F. H. Briggs and L. H. Vandiver. Number of members at present, about one hundred. The informant states: "When the enterprise of building a southern Methodist Church in this county was begun there were very few of that denomination living here, and therefore the imdertaking proved a great one; but owing to the indefatigable energy of about six men the money was all raised m less than two years, and the property of the church is worth about $2,000, and is entirely free from encumbrance. There is every prospect for success. The Sunday-school under the superintendency of C. W. Mead, numbers about one hundred members, mostly children."

Masonic

Cambridg^ Lodge, No. 53, A. F. and A. M., was organized at Cambridge, in 1866. The charter members were: J. W. Petty, W. Wharton, J. H. Barnes, S. H. Donahoe, W. D. Odendahl, L. M. Alexander, Wm. Burford. The first officers were: W. Wharton, L. M. Alexander, and J. W. Petty. The present officers are: R. L. Harvey, W. M.; E. W. Smith, S.W.; J. W. Gibbs, J. W.; Z. T. Bowen, secretary; Richard Fristoe, treasurer; Wm. Reid, S. D.; J. Jones, J. D.; George Nauerth, Tyler. The number of members is twenty-eight. There is no hall belonging to the lodge. Under a special dispensation from Joseph Brown, G. M. of the state, dated February 18, 1880, the lodge was removed from Cambridge to Slater. The lodge is now in a very prosperous condition, and there is a bright prospect for good work in the future.

Odd Fellows

Samaritan Lodge, No. 390, 1. O. O. F., was organized November 20, 1879, by A. A. Wheeler, D. D. G. M. The charter members were: E. Ancell, M. Hatfield, A. Durnill, J. Nauerth, and J. A. Stern. The first officers were: J. A. Stern, N. G.; M. Hatfield, V. G.; J. Nauerth, secretary; E. Ancell. The present officers are: E. Ancell, N. G.; N. H. Gaines, V.G.; M.Haas, recording secretary; J. W. Gibbs, permanent secretary; J. Nauerth, treasurer. Present number of members, at this time, twenty-nine. The lodge meets in a hall, in a brick building, built in August, 1879, by W. P. Casebolt, at a cost of $3,000.

Slater Lodge, A. O. U. W., was organized in 1879, by Rev. John. A. Brooks. The charter members were: Henry Eubank, H. C. Mead, Jacob Nauerth, John Martin, Wm. P. Casebolt, Geo. Young, Dr. F. A. Howard, E. C. Bernard, and J. W. Gibbs. The first officers were the , charter members mentioned. The present officers are: E. C. Bernard, Thos. C. Graves, R. A. Irvin, W. H. Norvell, T. F. Haynes, F. M. Brown, Geo. J. Deyer, E. D. Jones. The respective offices belonging to the first and last officers have not been furnished. There are twentythree members at this time. The lodge meets in a room in the building belonging to W. P. Casebolt, described in the sketch of the Odd Fellows' lodge.

In this township were made the first settlements in the county. For here was the site of Cox's bottom and a portion of the Big bottom. The land on which old Jesse Cox built his cabin has long since been washed into the Missouri river. For full account of the early settlement of Clay the reader is referred to the history of the settlement of Cox's bottom and the Big bottom.

Here the first cabin was built, the first orchard planted, the first corn planted, the first mill established - old Christopher Catron's " hand mill" - etc., etc.

In this township there now lives the venerable Ephraim McClain, son of a Baptist minister who organized the first Protestant church west of St. Louis. Mr. Ephraim McClain came to Saline county in 1827. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk war, and an old pioneer who is entitled to reverence and respect. He resides with his son-in-law in Saline City. May his days yet be long in the land he has done so much to improve and protect.

Clay township underwent its full share in the horrors of the civil war. Federal militia and Confederate bushwhackers passed through and through, and left evidences of their presence every time they passed. Three or four small "brushes" took place during the war between the militia and the guerrillas, but both sides seemed to delight more in harassing and annoying inoffensive citizens than in fighting each other, and always avoided encounters when possible. Two young ladies named Jackson were arrested by Col. Lazear, of the Missouri militia, and taken to Marshall, for feeding bushwhackers, as was claimed, and Marshall Piper, who was shot at Arrow Rock, by the same officer, was a citizen of this township.

But the people of Clay are now almost universally disposed to "let bygones be by-gones," and are disposed to look forward to the future rather than back to the past, and so the memories of the black days of the war are fast passing away. And this is well.

Saline City

The town of Saline City ( postoffice Little Rock,) is situated on a high bluff bank of the Missouri river, on the eastern side of Saline county, and in the southeast part of Clay township, section 1, township 50, range 19. The site of the town was cleared ofi" by Mr. Rufus Bigelow, in 1858, and the town surveyed and laid off by Col. Geo. W. Allen - the land belonging to Thos. Jackson and Lewis Eversman. The first store, a frame, 20x33, was built by Rufus Bigelow, and is still standing. In it. Mr. Bigelow sold the first dry goods and groceries. Mr. F. Thornton put up and operated the first blacksmith shop. Messrs. Thos. Jackson and Isaac Thornton put up the first warehouse, after the town was laid out, there having previously been one a little further up the river. The first dwelling house was erected by Burton Lawless, but after the town was laid out, it was found to be in a street. It was built of cottonwood logs, and is still standing - one story high, and with two rooms. Jackson & Liggett built the third storehouse, frame, and kept a grocery store. This building was burned in 1876. Isaac Thornton put up the second store house, and had a stock of dry goods, sugar and coffee.

The first church was built in 1876, a frame building, and will seat about five hundred people. It was built by, and belongs to the Methodist Church South. Before it was built services were generally held in the school house, one-half mile west of town, or at private dwellings.

Just below Saline City, there empties into the Missouri, the stream called Pierre Fleshe, named by the French, in the eighteenth century, and at the mouth of which there was a camp of trappers, in the long ago, where a quantity of furs was buried or " cached." The stream itself, though small, abounded in beaver, otter and other fur-bearing animals, and seems to have been much resorted to by the hunters and trappers of long ago. Mr. John Thornton, an old pioneer, stated to Jerrold Letcher, that Pierre Fleshe was so called by the Indians ; that it puts into the Missouri, where the current, formerly, ran " swift as an arrow," and hence, its name, meaning " a swift arrow." Mr. Thornton has been misinformed. The word should be spelled Pier Flece (pronounced Peer Fle-sa, the accent on the latter syllable of the second word), signifying a large or thick rock. The term was probably applied, by the French, first to Arrow Rock.

This place was first called Centerville. Its site was first settled by James Smith, of Tennessee, who located on sections 26 and 27; he sold to James Shelby, son of ex-Governor Shelby, of Kentucky; he to Ennis Combs; he to Abram Russell; he to B. F. and N. C. Orear; they to George and Ed. J. Orear, and the tract now belongs to George and F. H. Orear. The first marriage of a resident of the place was Miss La Belle first death was Thomas Orear, son of Ed. J. and Julia E. Orear, in 1862. The first practicing physician was Dr. Fielding Combs, from Kentucky, who is now in California. The first school was taught one-fourth of a mile northeast of the village, by R. H. Jenkins. He had thirty or forty scholars, and his compensation was about $40 per month. The first school house was built at the same place, on land donated by George Orear, in 1865, at a cost of $400. The citizens were taxed to build it.

When the place was first settled there were no roads opened, but there were but few fences. The nearest trading points were Arrow Rock, twelve miles; Glasgow, twelve miles; Cambridge, nine miles; Marshall, ten miles.

Fish Creek Church

According to Rev. W. M. Bell, of Miami, and others, the Baptist (Missionary) Church, called Fish Creek, was organized at the residence of , James Crosslin,, in the year of 1841 or 1842, with the following members: W. L. Ish, James and John Crosslin, Joseph and Susan Thrailkill, Elias and Nancy Wilhite, Elizabeth Doak, James Hays, Meredith Crosslin, John NefF, John Netherton, McBride Hays, and perhaps others. The first candidates for baptism were Weston Woolard and Mary Ish. The congregation met first at what was called the " Denny House." In 1848, a frame church, costing about $500, was built. It had a seating capacity of about 200. Its location was on the site of the present church, which is a large frame, and was built in September, 1869, at a cost of about $2,000. The land was donated by John Crosslin. Rev. Bell dedicated the present house. The pastors of this church have been David Anderson, Abner Gwinq, Thos. Fristoe, Amos Home, Weston Wallard, J. D. Murphy, W. R. McClain, Wm. M. Bell, J. L. Tichnor, J. B. Dodson, B. E. Harl. The present membership is about 125. A large sink-hole, nearly in front of the church, has been used as a baptismal font, but the congregation usually assemble at the creek near by, when the ordinance of baptism is to be performed.

Union Church Presbyterian

This church was located on section 3, township 50, range 19. It was used by the Old School and the Cumberland Presbyterians, and takes its name from that circumstance. The Old School congregation was organized about the year 1837, by Rev. Dr. J. L. Yantis. The orignal members were Col. Benj. Chambers, the first county clerk, and his family, Mrs. Doak, Mrs. Wilson, and others. The Cumberland congregation was organized about the year 1843. The first members were Rob't Dysart and wife, Ephraim McClain and wife, James Wilhite and his wife and daughter, CarroU W. Ish and wife, Jacob Ish, Parthena Ish, and Thos. A. Ish. The church building was erected in 1844, and dedicated in and cost about $1,600. During the civil war it was burned by a negro, it , is said, who had stolen the chairs belonging to the church and took that diabolical means of concealing his crime. It is claimed that this was the first frame church ever built in Saline county. The membership of this church has become largely divided between Mt. Horeb and Arrow Rock. The first elders of the Old School congregation wef-e Col. Chambers, Dr. Venable, and Capt. Harberson; of the Cumberland, Jacob Ish, Robert Dysart, and James Wilhite. Jacob Ish was the first Cumberland Presbyterian that ever came to Saline county.

The history of this township would fill a large volume. Its early settlement, its prominence for so long in the history of the county, the number of its citizens prominent and leading in state and national aflFairs, its vast resources and natural wealth, added to the substantial development made of them - all place it among the very first townships, not only in Saline county, but in the state of Missouri.

The famed "Arrow Rock," where the first ferry across the Missouri west of Old Franklin was established, is in the township. Here, too, dwelt some of the most prominent men of the state. Two governors of the great state of Missouri were from this township - Marmaduke, the farmerstatesman, the Cincinnatus of Missouri, the Union-loving old farmer patriot who died devoted to the old flag under whose folds he had served.

and Jackson, the high-minded, talented, courageous southern patriot, who died a victim to his services in the cause of southern rights. Here, too, lived the cabinet-maker's apprentice, the painter-statesman and soldier - George C. Bingham, whose pictures hang high in the galleries of art, and whose services for his country have been of such great value. Then here also lived the old philanthropist. Dr. Sappington, who left a princely sum to place the means of education within the reach of the poorest child in the county, and who seldom rode out through the country without one of his coat pockets filled with blue grass seed, which he scattered far and wide, and thus "set" the land with the abundance of that species of grass, which grows so luxuriantly in all parts of the county. Here, also, lived Wood, and Field, and Smith, and Price, and Hall, and many others who have been identified largely with the interests of the county from the first.

To this township came prominent politicians in the long ago. Col. Benton came often, making his stay with his intimate personal friend, Gov. Marmaduke, and there receiving his adherents and friends. Then Gen. John Miller, John B. Clark, Leonard, Rollins, Price, Doniphan and others made their visits and delivered their speeches to the voters of Arrow Rock.

The finest farms in the state are in Arrow Rock township. Some there are presenting the appearance of English manors. Residences there are in which barons might be proud to dwell. There are here also to be found as much refinement, culture, taste, and as great cordial hospitality, good breeding and gentility, as in any land.

The first settler in the township, if he could be called a settler, was the Indian trader Geo. Sibley, who built his log trading house on the bluff, now in the township of Arrow Rock. (See early history). This was either in 1807 or 1808.

Mr. Henry Nave, one of Andrew Jackson's soldiers in the war of 1812, prominently mentioned in the history of the settlement of Cox's bottom, says the first permanent settlements in this township were upon section thirteen, township fifty, range nineteen, b}- Daniel Thornton, from Tennessee, Jesse Cox, from Illinois, the first settler in the county, and Isaac Clark. Mr. Nave remembers that when his party crossed the river in coming to the county, the stock was swum across, and the goods and the people brought over in canoes. The wagons were brought over by placing a canoe under each of the two sides of a wagon. This held the canoes together.

Mr. Nave further states that' the first physician was Dr. Sappington; the first minister Frederick B. Leach, who preached in the houses of the settlers ; the first school teacher, the Irishman, Ned MulhoUand, who taught about fifteen pupils for fifteen dollars a month, and afterward " moved oft' to some of the back counties" - went west, " to grow up with

Corn-meal was the only kind of breadstuff used for years. Sometimes it was brayed in a mortar, sometimes grated, and sometimes ground on a " hand mill." At first, deerskin was used for shoes, pants, vest, and overcoats, or hunting shirts. What thread and needles were used were brought by the settlers from their former homes. The great merchant prince, Abram Nave, of Nave, McCord & Co., a son of Henry Nave, when a boy wore a buckskin " slip " and a pair of buckskin moccasins. And these were all the garments he wore for months at a time. Yet he was as well dressed as the most of his companions. Joel Scott, another old settler, adds P. B. Brown, Asa Finley, Benjamin and Joseph Huston, of Virginia, to the list of pioneers, and states that the first religious services in his neighboorhood were held bj^ Thos. Fristoe, a Baptist, in an old log church 250 yards south of Mr. Scott's house, in the woods. The first school was taught on the farm of E. F. Scott, by a Mr. Gregory. The first school house was built in about 1835, two and a half miles northeast of the Scott farm. It was built by the patrons.

The lead mines in this township may in time become fully developed and of considerable value. Some mining has been done by the Missouri River Valley Mining Company. The first operations were begun in the winter of 1873 and 1874, with varied success. In June, 1876, the company named took charge. The company has leased 220 acres of land for twenty years. The mines are situated on section 19, township 49, range 19. Large quantities of lead ore "have been taken out, but the work in the mines has been suspended, on account of their liability to overflow from the south of Salt Fork and Blackwater, near the junction of which streams the mines are situated, ,

The coal mines, of both cannel and bituminous coal, have so long been worked, and are so abundant, that their history would be hard to give, and their description too lengthy here to state. Probably, however, Dr. Sappington opened the first coal bank.

The date of organization of this church cannot be definitely ascertained, but it was in 1845 or 1846. Some of the first members were Chas Wood, Daniel Thornton, Philip Thompson, Sam'l Green, Rob't Fields, Adam France, Wm. Roper. A frame church building, costing $700 or $800, was erected in 1845 or 1846, and dedicated in the latter year, by Rev. Thomas Allen. Only the names of two pastors have been learned, Lewis Elgin and Allen Wright. The number of members at presept is about one hundred. The church building was erected partly by subscription and partly by work and labor furnished by the different members. It was at this church where, during the war, the Federal militia came upon a portion of Col. Jackson's " partisan rangers," and wounded and captured Lieut. Durrett, afterward taken to Arrow Rock and shot.

Walnut Grove Church, M. E., South, was constituted in 1877, but not recognized in the Conference, until in September, 1880. The original members were J. H., Edmonia B., Mary E., Edmonia E., and Newton H. Jamison; Rector James and wife; Martha E. and Delia McMahan; B. E. Lawless, John Smith and wife, Isaac Nave, Jr., and Mary E. Brown. A frame church building was erected in 1877, by the Grangers, Methodists, Baptists, and Presbj'^terians, and in this building W alnut Grove Church meets. The pastors have been J. F. Hogan, W. R. Bennett, W. B. Palmer, E. G. Frazier, L. H. Vandoren. The present number of members is only l8.

The Town Of Arrow Rock

This town, one of the oldest in the county and country, is situated on the right bank of the Missouri river, on a high and commanding plateau overlooking a magnificent forest valley on the opposite or Howard county side, that stretches away for miles. It is situated in a rich farming, horticultural and stock country, which contains also unlimited natural resources.

The place was formerly called "Me Arrow Rock." As such it was know by the early French voyageurs, and the trappers and hunters. This name was given to the large rock or cliff at the town. Upon the formation of the town it was christened after the rock.

There are divers versions of the origin of the name. One is that the rock or bluff was much frequented by the Indians hundreds of years ago,, who here obtained the material (flint) out of which they manufactured their arrow-heads and lance-heads. Every year, it is said, the Indians came for many miles to "the arrow rock" to obtain flint. Another version is that ages ago the Indians on this side of the river repelled an attempt to cross on the part of a hostile tribe on the other side. The river being narrow at this point it was selected by the would-be invaders as the best crossing place. The Indians on the Saline county side took position on the high bluff bank and defied their adversaries, who, from their strong bows, let fly clouds of flint-pointed arrows at them. Many of these arrows,. it is said, came a little short of their intended destination and fell at the foot of the bluff Afterwards the site was found to abound in these arrowheads, which all pointed one way as they lay upon the earth, and the first whites that landed at the bluft'gaveit the name it now bears. There is a

Another version of the origin of the name is that given by Mr. Nowlin, an old citizen. The Indians, in the long ago, were in the habit of crossing the river at this point, in the summer, from their encampments in the bottom, on the opposite side, where the heat, at that season, was uncommonly intense and severe. This side of the river gained, they would repair to the high bluffs, to cool off. One particularly rocky point was a favorite resort, for there a cooling breeze almost constantly swept and fanned the swarthy brows of the perspiring savages. This point was called the " Windy Rock," or the "Airy Rock," and the latter designation became the more common. When Mr. Ferrell established his ferry he called it the "Airy Rock Ferry." In time this name became corrupted or changed to Arrow Rock, and was thus known ever after. It is said that the Tennesseeans pronounced the word arrow as if it was spelled arry, or airy, and when they heard the place called Airy Rock, understood it to mean Arrow Rock.

Mr. J. T. Pattison states that the first ferrying was done here by Mr. Becknel, in 1811. The crossing was made by having two canoes fastened together and a platform on top. Mr. Becknel afterward represented Saline county in the Missouri legislature. On the 23d of May, 1829, a meeting was held at the Arrow Rock ferry, for the purpose of receiving propositions, made by different parties, wishing to donate land for the town site; and Joseph Huston, Peyton N. Nowlin, Rudolph Hawpe, Joseph Patterson, and Benjamin Huston were appointed commissioners to select a town site, and receive deed to the same. They made choice of the present location, which was deeded to them on the 10th day of June, 1829, by Burton Lawless and Nancy, his wife, and by John Bingham and Mary, his wife, and containing fifty acres. Also, the free use and benefit of all the springs and water that may be on any of the lands of said Lawless, near and adjoining the said town tract of land, for the benefit of the citizens of said town in general. M. M. Marmaduke (afterward governor of the state) was county surveyor, and was employed by said commissioners to lay out the fifty acres into town lots. The first dwelling house built on the fifty acres donated for the town site, was built by Joseph Patterson, in the fall of 1829. The same timbers are yet in the house, which has been remodeled, and is now occupied.

In 1839, the county seat was removed to Arrow Rock. (See general history.) Thereafter it gradually increased in importance, and in time became the most important town in the county. It was a great shipping.

In 1859, a branch of the Bank of Missouri was established at Arrow Rock. The first officers were W. B. Sappington, President, and W. L. Boyer, Cashier. After the breaking out of the civil war. Gen. Fremont ordered the money of this bank to be removed to the vaults of the parent bank, at St. Louis. The officers refused to obey orders, but took the specie in the bank to a certain hole in the ground, where it was buried and remained for a year or so, under the sod and the daisies, where moths did not corrupt, nor bushwhackers and militiamen break through and steal. It was at last resurrected and taken to the State Bank, at St. Louis, where it remained in safety until the close of the war. (The old State Bank of Missouri, at St. Louis, in 1878, suspended, causing a loss to the citizens of this county of about $100,000.)

Arrow Rock had a newspaper in 1860-61, the Saline County Herald, removed to that place from Marshall. In May, 1861, the editors and proprietors. Col. G. W. Allen and his son James, having enlisted in Gov. Jackson's Missouri State Guard, the paper was suspended. The press and material were boxed up and stored in a house which was burned by Blunt's guerrillas in their attack on Arrow Rock, in 1864.

Early in 1861, after the firing on Fort Sumter, certain citizens of Arrow Rock and vicinity fired on some steamboats that were ascending the river, and supposed to contain Federal arms and munitions of war.

The majority of the people of Arrow Rock were strong southern sympathizers during the war, and were often charged by the Federals with "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." Accounts of certain military operations in the place are given elsewhere.

Since the war and "reconstruction," the town has gradually and completely recovered from the prostration into which it then fell, and has made very much of improvement and advance, keeping step with the universal advancement of the entire county.

M. E. Church South

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Arrow Rock, (now called M. E. South), was organized about the year 1831. Some of the first members were W-m. Brown and wife. Miss Nancy Fretwell, Mrs. Mary Bingham, Rudolph Hawpe and wife, Joseph Patterson and wife, Benj. Huston and wife, Jesse and Margaret Reid. A frame church was built in the year 1849, at a cost of $2,000. It was dedicated in 1850 by Rev. James Mitchell. Names of pastors - Jesse Greene, - ^Jameson, - Dodds, B. F. Johnson, W. R. Bewly, and others. Present membership, one hundred. Since the organization of this church the great division between the Northern and

Southern Methodists has occurred. Information concerning this church has been derived from Mrs. Margaret Reid, its oldest living member, and a worthy Christian lady.

Cumberland Presbyterian

This church was organized December 12, 1853. The original members were J. E. Ancell, Elisha Ancell, Sam'l Oldham, J. H. Sutherlin, Samuel Stewart, Margaret W. Wallace, Lucinda Ancell, Susan West, Catharine S. F. Steel, Catharine Wallace, Sarah }. Brownlee, Laura E. Neill, Mary L. Stewart, Elizabeth Turley. A frame house of worship was built in the year 1867, at a cost of $2,250. It was dedicated the same year by Rev. E. D. Pearson. The pastors have been P. G. Rea, R. S. Read, W. D. Mahon, M. B. Irvin, J. E. F. Robertson. Present membership, 51.

Arrow Rock Lodge No. 55, A. F. and A. M., was organized October 17, 1842, by A. T. Douglas, G. V. The charter members were P. WNowlin, E. C. McCarty, John Piper, Joseph Huston, Rudolph Hawpe, Benj. Huston, Wm. Roper, Thos. McMahan. The first officers were Rudolph Hawpe, W. M.; Benj. Huston, S. W.; Wm. Roper, J. W.;Jos. Huston, treasurer; W. S. Long, secretary; John Piper, S. D.; Bernis Brown, J. D; Henry Nave, tiler. The present officers are C. M. SutherUn, W. M.; P. T. Reynolds, S. W.; A.Neff,J. W.; H. S. Wilhelm, treasurer; G. H. Bowen, secretary; J. C. Thompson, S. D.; G. W. Herrold, J. D.; S. C. McClain, tiler. B. F. Thompson and H. T. Montgomery, stewards. Present number of members, 42. The lodge meets in a brick hall, built by the lodge in 1868, at a cost of $4,000. This was the first Masonic lodge organized in Saline county.

Friendship Lodge, No. 40, 1. O. O. F., was organized August 23, 1849, by the Grand Lodge of the state. The charter members were Abner Trigg, J. A. J. Aderton, H. V. Bingham, James E. Ancell, B. H. Hawpe, and Thos. M. Davis. The first officers were Abner Trigg, N. G.; J. A. J. Aderton, V. G.; B. H. Hawpe, Secretary; H. V. Bingham, Treasurer. The present- officers are Hugh Cragg, N. G.; E. T. Alexander, V. G.; P. H. Goetz, P. Secretary; W. M. Tyler, Recording Secretary; W. M. Putch, Treasurer. The number of members at this time is twenty-five. The hall is a two-story brick, built in May, 1868, by Ancell & Fitzgerald, at a cost of $3,000. There have been several other lodges started from

Good Templars Patrons Of Husbandry

Worthy Grange No. 99, P. of H., was organized March 26, 1873, by J. R. Cordeel. The charter members were W. M. Price, T. W. Russell, Dr. A. Nefi; N. H. Huston, J. R. Dickson, J. L. Smith, Jas. Thornton, John Neff, W. S. Jackson, Mrs. T. W. Russell Mrs. W. S. Jackson, Miss Kate Dickson, W. H. Huston, Jas. West, L. R. Reynolds, J. Bingham, S. F. Crockett. The first officers were W. M. Price, Master; T. W. Russell, Overseer; A. NefF, Lecturer; N. H. Huston, Steward; J. R. Dickson, Asst. Steward; J. L. Smith, Chaplain; Jas. Thornton, Treas.; W. S. Jackson, Secy.; Jno. NefF, Gatekeeper; Mrs. T. W. Russell, Ceres; Mrs. W. S. Jackson, Flora; Miss Kate Dickson, Pomona; Mrs. A. E. Price, Lady Asst. Steward. The present officers are N. H. Huston, Master; J. L. Howell, Overseer; R. E. Richart, Lecturer; J. Diggs, Chaplain; W. R. James, Steward; J. N. Jameson, Asst. Steward; W. Davis, Treas.; J. R. Dickson, Secy.; R. T. Huston, Gatekeeper; Mrs. Loxiise NefF, Ceres; Mrs. M. Edwards, Flora; Mrs. M. E. Price, Pomona; Miss .Delia McMahan, Lady Asst. Steward. The grange meets in a hall built in 1876 by themselves principally. It is a frame, and cost about $1,000. The secretary writes that this was the first grange organized in Saline county. Worthy Master Price was chosen chairman of the executive committee of the Missouri State Grange at its first meeting, held at Knob Noster, Mo., and was appointed grain agent for the state, which position he still holds.

This town, once the capital and the metropolis of Saline county, and known far and wide, has become, by the mutations of time and the progress of events, so reduced in size and population as to now be but a wreck of its former greatness. Although its population, in its most flour- ishing days, was but a few hundred, it was still a place of considerable importance. In addition to its being the seat of justice of the county, where all public business was transacted, it was a favorite outfitting depot and starting point for many traders, explorers and adventurers, who traveled to and from Santa Fe, in early days, and who preferred this place to Independence, in Jackson county, as a port from which to set sail for their long voyages over the prairie seas.

Jonesboro was also visited by the early settlers from Grand Pass, and from other parts of this county, and by the people of Cooper and Pettis, who came here for the few supplies they were compelled to buy.

The room in which court was held, when the place was the county seat, was the upper story of a double log building, which was situated on a kind of elevation or second bank of the creek (Salt Fork). The lower story was divided into two rooms, in one of which a grocery was kept, and in the other, a livery stable. To this latter room, juries retired for deliberation, after the horses had been .led_.out. But in that very unpretentious court room were gathered, from time to time, some of the best and brainiest men in Missouri. Judge Todd, Abiel Leonard, Hamilton R. Gamble, Gen. DufF Green, John E. Ryland and other able lawyers and good men, were members of this court. The hotel, at which the lawyers and court attendants stoppe^d, was a simple structure, plain as to adornment, circumscribed as to' accommodation, substantial as to fare, reasonable as to rates. There was plenty of food always to be had, and the establishment was rarely without a very fair article of Kentucky whisky, unadulterated, uncontaminated and untaxed.

But with the departure of the county seat to Arrow Rock departed the glory of Jonesboro. Its stores and Galbraith's mill drew people thither for a time, but as time passed other stores were established and other mills were built, and the place dwindled and shrank away until its size was insignificant, its streets were vacated, "nettles and brambles grew in the fortresses thereof," and the old court house became a habitation for bats and a court for owls.

Here, too, was the great mustering ground of the Saline county militia in the days when the yeomanry of the land were required to assemble on stated occasions and at designated places to drill, and " in time of peace prepare for war." From these musters and by reason of the requirements of the militia laws, there sprang a bountiful crop of military titles, and generals, colonels, majors, and captains became as plenty as blackberries in their season.

Zoar Church

At Jonesboro is this reverend old church, now nearly sixty years old. It was organized by the Baptists in the year 1827, with nine members, whose names it is now impossible to obtain. The first church was built in 1831. It was composed of logs, and was 40x20 feet in size, costing perhaps $200. Tiie congregation met in this house ^for eighteen j'ears, or until 1849, when a new church building was erected at an expense of $1,000. Eleven years thereafter another house of worship, the present one, was built at a cost of $1,500. The pastors have been Peyton Nowlin, Thomas Fristoe, David Anderson, Wm. Bell, Thornton Rucker, Wm. Gentry, J. D. Murphy, Thos. Hudson, John C. Hamner, Wm. Cleaveland. J. L. Tickenor, C. T. Daniel, J. L. Tickenor. The present membership is 120. There has been no cessation of preaching for any length of time, since the organization, as far as known at present. During the war, Rev. J. D. Murphy was pastor, and services were continuous, the pastor residing at Jonesboro. On one occasion the church was surrounded by the militia during preaching. The services were closed, and the men inside were made to fall in, and were marched off.

These two townships, lying in the same neighborhood and only separated by the Blackwater river, may have their history written in one chapter. Their settlements were intimately connected, and their general history is nearly the same, and Salt Fork was formed from Blackwater only recently.

At the November term of the county court, held at Old Jefferson in 1826, the boundaries of Blackwater were established, it being formed from Arrow Rock. It then comprised a large extent of territory, reaching westward into what is now Salt Pond township, and northward into Marshall and Clay. In Blackwater, Renault's men continued their search for valuable minerals, begun on Finney's creek. About the year 1819, nearly one hundred years thereafter, Chas. Lockhart, who was from Cooper county, prospected through this township and the Blackwater country generally, continuing the search begun by the Frenchmen.

At Jonesboro, in Salt Fork township, in 1824, Alex. Galbraith had a water-mill on the Salt Fork, the first of the kind in Saline county. Galbraith was the first settler in that section, and built the first house, but when he came is not certainly known. The settlers from all the adjacent country helped him in his enterprise. Henry Nave, who then lived in the Big bottom, says that he gave him a week's work, and " we all assisted him what we could." Mrs. Adkinson, then a young wife of seventeen, says the other settlers in the "Jonesboro country " at that time were Walker Adkinson (her husband), Jas. Robinson, Samuel Davis, Richard Scott, who " lived up the creek," Henry Galbraith, " west ' of us," and

Wyatt Bingham. In two or three years Dr. Geo. Penn came and lived on the hill just above Jonesboro. Asa Finley lived near the mouth of Blackwater.

Mrs. Ann Adkinson, the lady referred to, was a daughter of 'Cornelius Da\'is, and was born in Kentucky in 1807. She moved with her father to Missouri in 1810, and settled at New Madrid. The earthquake broke him up, and he received a " New Madrid certificate," which he located five miles above above Booneville in 1819. In the spring of 1821, he located in the Big bottom, opposite the town of Old Chariton. In 1823, she married Mr. Walker Adkinson, a native of Halifax county, Virginia, born in 1789, who had removed to Missouri in 1819 with Joseph Robinson. The marriage ceremony was performed by Esquire Geo. Tennille. Mr. A. died in 1844. In March, 1824, Mr. and Mrs. Adkinson left the Big bottom and settled on Salt Fork, near Jonesboro.

In her neighborhood, Mrs. A. says, the first school house was at Wyatt Bingham's, and John Scott taught the first school, in 1829. The first house was built by a son-in-law of Alex. Galbraith's, on the Stephen Smith place, about 1821. The first church built was Zoar, near Jonesboro, about 1825 ; the next was Smith's Chapel. In that day wild beasts of many different species infested the country, and panthers were quite plentiful. Mrs. A. started her children to school one morning, and shortly after she heard the scream of a panther. For some time she was veryuneasy, but the children were not harmed. The scream of a panther, says Mrs. Adkinson, is very much like that of a person calling in distress.

Mr. Wm. A.Findley, guardian of his sisters and his brother, Walker H.. Firiley, settled with them December 24, 1829, near Jonesboro, on section 22, township 49, range 20, being a tract of land entered by him. " Here," Mr. Walker Finley says, " I labored for about ten years. At that time the country^ seemed to be almost a wilderness. There were only small neighborhoods and they few and far between. The winter of 1830-1 was the severest ever known in Missouri. Snow fell the last of November, 1830, and remained on the grofind till the first of March. No such snow storms have I ever witnessed since, and much of the temperature was extremely cold. The snow at that time, on a level, was iromfour to jive feet deep, and drifts on the prairie were from ten to twenty-five feet in depth. At that time most of the people lived in moderate-sized houses; they were their own architects, and built to suit their means and surroundings. The snow was so terrible, and the quantity so large, that it. would bank up and close their windows - if they had any, and not unfrequently reach the ' button-pole ' or the eave of the house, and mechanical means had to be used to remove the obstruction. The decade following 1830 was one of well-regulated seasons. The springs and summers were pleasant ; the winters were regularly cold and severe, with continued snows from the last of November and first of December, with but little variation, till the last of February or the first of March, when spring would come in with all its verdant glories, and with the rays of sunshine to warm the earth and cheer the people of Missouri, and especially of Saline county.

" In September, 1830, in company with my sister, Phil Houx and David Morrow, I went from Wyatt Bingham's to Lexington. By an earlj^ start we made the trip in a day, then called sixty miles. There were only two or three settlements between Jonesboro and Lexington. Cornelius Davis lived near where Marshall now is. The Hayeses, Owenses, Hunters and Gillettes were on Salt Pond creek; Johnson Grove, and Page and Samuel Walker were on the Tebo. The trail or road was not more than eight or ten inches wide. It led through the praipe, on which, in many places, the grass was taller thafl a man on horseback. I returned home after an absence of one week, without missing the road.

" The seasons since that time have been variable ; snows have not remained all winter. Wheat has often been sown in January; but the spring has often been of the same character as the winter, to the detriment of the prosperity of the farmers.

"At that time, (183()) game was plentiful; deer were abundant. I might stand on an elevated piece of prairie, between the mouth of Salt Fork and Marshall, and count "on various other elevations, twenty, forty and sometimes sixty deer, in a herd, quietly feeding. It Is probable that these animals were more numerous at that day tiian domestic stock, in this county. It was nO trouble to kill deer then; three or four a day was not considered very great work. *****

" The first marriage I remember, after arriving in Saline county, was that of Claiborne F. Jackson and Miss Sappington, February 17, ]831. The next jvas Dr. George Penn and Miss Chambers, daughter of Colonel Benjamin Chambers, the first county clerk, and then Judge N. B. Tucker to Miss Smith, daughter of Gen. Thos. A. Smith. The mortality of the county was certainly very slight; there were not many people to die. Samuel Brownjohn, an Englishman, died near Jonesboro, in the year 1 830, and was buried near where he died, Jonesboro. The business men of the county, when I first made my appearance here, were Dr. Sappington, Col. M. M. Marmaduke, (afterwards governor). Col. William Lewis, Gen. Thos. A. Smith, Wyatt Bingham, Nathan Harris, Asa Finley, Judge Huston, Benjamin Huston, Nowlin, Hawpe, the Thorntons, the Naves (or Neffs ), the Beattys, the Browns, the Harveys, the Davises, the Lawlesses, Adkinson, Marshall, and a number of others, who were identified with the interests of Saline county. So far as I know, all of these have passed away, except Henry Nave, Andrew Brownlee and Ephraim McClain, all of whom have attained an advanced age.

" The first birth of a male child that I remember was that of Peter Thornton Reynolds. The first female child was a daughter of John Thornton. The first school house I noticed was built before I came to the county, near Wyatt Bingham's. It was not designed by an architect from St. Louis or the east. Five or six men built it in about two days. It was a natural school house, as it was built of round logs with the bark on, and the teachers were pioneers, unaccustomed to any other kind of houses but those built of logs. The first of these at my time were Green Finley, Mr. Adams, and afterward Mr. A. Trigg. About twenty scholars was the largest number those teachers had, and they received about twenty dollars per month. I was one of the pupils of the first two named. The first sermon of which I was an auditor was preached by Rev. Justinian Williams, a Methodist, at the house of Wyatt Bingham, who was absent at that time. There was circuit preaching by ministers of the same denomination, Revs. Ben. Johnson, Millice, and others. There was no regular preaching by other denominations. There were occasional services by the Baptists within the bounds of our communitj^, first by Riv. Peyton Nowlin, and afterwards by Rev. Abner Gwinn.

About that time the Cuiiiberland Presbyterians had preaching by Rev. Archibald McCorkle, Rev. L. Burns, J. L. Wear, and Henry Weedin, at the houses of Asa Fiijley, W. B. Wear, Wm. Burk, and Robt. Wallace, with an occasional sermon by Henry and Robt. Renick, Robt. Sloan, and Wm. Kavanaugh. A Cumberland Presbyterian church was organized in 1833, either' at the house of Asa Finley or at the old Salt Fork campground, near Richard Marshall's, with Wm. Burk and Wm. B. Wear as ruling elders, and Rev. Daniel Buie in charge as pastor. In the course of a very few years a church edifice was built on the south of Blackwater, about two miles from the mouth of Salt Fork, being a hewed-log building, and considered adequate to the wants and demands of the people at that time. This structure remained in a somewhat unfinished condition until about 1847, when it was destroyed by fire from one of our then large burning prairies. Those prairie fires were greatly dreaded by the people. Another church was then built about half a mile east of the line in Cooper county, in the year 1848, at a cost of, say $1,200. This church is honored and respected by all for the good work it has done in elevating the moral tone of society and the promotion of the cause of Christianity in our neighborhood. I am proud to say that I have been a member of this church since 1833. Rev. Robert Crockett is in charge of this church at this time, and has been for several years an honored and an honoring member."

The southern, or southeastern portion of Blackwater township, near Ridge Prairie, began to be settled about the year 1826. The first settler was Stephen Dial, in that year,, from South Carolina ; he staked his claim on section 12, township 48, range 20. Richard Howard came in 1830, Irom Virginia, and settled on section 11, township 48, range 20. Dick and Branch Jeffries, and James Bruce, remained a while in the neighborhood, but did not locate.

The first male child born was Watson Dial, in 1826, a son of Stephen and Deborah Dial. The first female child is believed to have been Elizabeth Bruce, daughter of James and Jane Bruce.

The first school house was built by the neighborhood, in 1839, near Richard Howard's. It was composed of logs, and one end was " flared " and converted into a huge fire-place. Its roof was fastened by weightpoles, instead of nails. No money was expended in its construction.

Regarding the first manufacture of cloth in the neighborhood, it is stated that Mrs. Deborah Dial, having no loom, and there being no artisan in the community sufficiently skilled to make one, she took her warp and woof to Harmon Bailey's, in Cooper county, eight miles away, and there wove her web.

The mill used by the settlers was on Muddy creek, in Pettis county, sixteen miles away. Supplies were drawn from the river, ten or twelve miles off. Economy was everywhere inculcated, enjoined, and practiced.

When Uncle Dick Marshall's daughter was married, her father called her to him, after the wedding supper, and said: " Now, Linda, you hear - don't let your face be seen in a store for six years! Do you understand?"

The chimney to Richard Howard's first cabin pulled the smoke in instead of sending it out. On windy days the children, which all told numbered only sixteen, were sent under the bed to save their eyes from the smoke!

There were not many doctors, and no lawyers, no taxes, and no divorces. Nearly all the first settlers, by dint of industry and economy, amassed a competency and some of them gained wealth, and their mere word was worth as much as their descendants' " bond and security."

Among the many incidents narrated of Blackwater township history, it is said that when Judge W. B. Napton was building his place, "Elk Hill," he directed the carpenters to shingle the rooijrom the "comb " down, and grew indignant because they would not obey him! The judge is one of the most profound lawyers and able jurists that ever sat on a supreme bench, but one of the workmen remarked, " he don't know everything."

Ridge Prairie

A historical sketch of this place and its neighborhood has been furnished by Mr. S. W. McCorkle, and is here given. The. town is in the southern portion of Blackwater township :

Ridge Prairie gets its name from our first postoffice, which was at 'Squire Hancock's, and by " pony purse," was brought weekly from Arrow Rock. The office got its name from the prairie which extended from the Sappington farm, one-half mile west of our village, to the Sam Bridge-

Stephen Dial was the first settler on the prairie, about 1830. James Bruce began a settlement about the same time, where F. Plumer now lives. Two years later Richard Howard settled one-half mile north of the present village. About this time Dr. Sappington, Uncle Dick Marshall and Ben. Jones settled between Blackwater and the river, in the direction of Arrow Rock.

This almost entire, oeautiful prairie, remained unentered for the next ten years, owing to the conviction in the minds of the immigrants, that there was " not timber enough in the country to fence it." They also thought the timbered land much richer. These ideas have been exploded long since, and hence every nook of prairie land is eagerly utilized.

The village sustains two mercantile houses, one drug store, two blacksmith shops, and several dwelling houses. Our growth has been retarded, by several influences: First, our people had the habit of going to the river to buy their goods, and hence, were slow to patronize a village, home merchant. Second, the merchant failed to buy their produce, hence necessitated their going to the river.

But while the village failed to build up, the surrounding country has steadily improved. The last acre of land will soon be enclosed, to produce either grain or grass, for private use. Stock and grain raising are quite remunerative. Lands remain very low, selling from three dollars to thirty dollars per acre, the minimum for unimproved, the maximum for highly improved farms, including elegant mansions, barns, &c.

Schools. - For many years, owing to the scarcity of people, and their great distance from each other, our educational facilities were exceedingly limited. Our first school was taught by a widow lady, Mrs. Lavina Howe, just over in Cooper county, in her dwelling house. This was in 1834. Our next was taught by Rev. Thornton Rucker, a Baptist minister of sacred memory, in a small cabin built for the purpose in a grove, three-quarters of a mile northeast of our village location. He taught two wmters - 1838 and 1839. Our next school, the following winter, was taught by Rev. Wm. B. Wear, a Cumberland Presbyterian piinister, also of sacred memory, in his own house, who settled and then lived on the splendid farm now owned by S. R. Cockrell, and the widow of the late R. V. Harvey. The next two winters, by way of accommodation, the school went back into the edge of Cooper county, and was taught by another minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Rev. A. McCorkle. Next winter, by compromise, it was taught in a deserted cabin, on the farm now owned by L. M. Nelson, midway between the extremes of the settlement. Thus our school was portable until the year 1846, when a log cabin, of diminutive dimensions and humble pretensions, was reared near the site of our rather commodious house, which supplanted it in 1857 or '58. This last is located in West Ridge prairie, and the upper story owned and occupied by the Odd Fellows.

Churches. - Owing to the fact that our churches out-rank our village in years, we have no village church. And because there are services all around us, at convenient distances, nearly every Sabbath, we rarely enjoy a sermon in our school house. On the east, two and a half miles, stands Salt Fork Church, the oldest in the country, built in 1848. On the west, one mile, stands a Baptist Church, of thirty years standing.

Heath's creek was named from Mr. Heath who made salt from the springs along its bank at an early day, and sold it wet and dripping for $1.60 ber bushel to the settlers. Elk Lick white sulphur springs, is situated on Heath's creek, near the county line, and before the war was something of a watering place and resort, to which people came from a distance. The proprietor, Jas. Witcher, erected a comfortable hotel for the accommodation of his guests. It was a noted place for political meetings, " stump speakings " and other political gatherings.

Upon one occasion, an old line ^hig relates, Frank Mitchell, whig candidate for congress, kept his opponent and Gov. C. F. Jackson at bay all day, at this spring. Another time, according to the same authority, Gov. Jackson made a speech against know-nothingism, at the same place. James Harris, described as a "little, slow sleepy-looking man, a school teacher and a relative of the Boone county Harrises," replied, and did it so well that his friends raised a big hurrah for "the little sleepy man" when he had finished.

In the eastern portion of the township, according to Mrs. Wood, Gervas Smith, and other pioneers, the early settlers in that portion of Salt Fork were Wyatt Bingham, Gen. Smith, Maj. Milton Wood, P. Thornton, Asa Finlej% Gen. W. B. Miller, Nathan Harris, Col. Wm. Davis, Thos. Gaines, Judge Napton, R. P. Shelby, James H. McAllister, James Hunt, and John B. Dedrich. Some of these settled in what is now Blackwater.

Early marriages were those of Madison Wood and Angeline Thornton, Mr. Herron to a daughter of Maj. Wood, Judge W. B. Napton and Miss Malinda WiUiams, John G. Miller and Miss Margaret Williams, daughters of Judge Williams, of Tennessee.

The first deaths were a man named Wilhelm, who was buried on Major Wood's farm, and a child of Mr. Bingham, that was buried in the old family burying ground on the Trigg farm.

The early physicians were Drs. Sappington, Penn, Hutchinson, Todd, Hicks, Hall, and Lawless. The latter was the first that moved into the neighborhood.

The first minister was Gary Hickman, of Maryland, Old School Presbyterian, who preached first at Marshall. The Methodists and "Campbellites " had held camp-meetings in the vicinity previous to Hickman's meetings.

The first school was taught on the Bingham farm, by a teacher named Parsons. Here was one of the first school houses; another was near the James Smith place, and was a small frame building.

Jonesboro and Oliver's mill were early milling, points. Some of the first settlers went to "Pin Hook," Pettis county, to mill, the trip requiring two days, over the rough roads and unbridged streams. Game of all kinds was plentiful. Major Thomas Gaines killed 110 deer in one season. Wild turkey became so tame as to come around the cabin door of Mrs. Wood.

Bethlehem Church

This church, of the Christian denomination, was organized in 1870. The original members were C. G. Clark and wife, Rufus Clark, Burr Harris, D. S. Merry, wife and daughter, A. H. Hanley and wife, Samuel and Agnes Barley, W. W . Woodson and wife, Elisha Woodson and family, Thomas Settles and wife, Samuel McDaniel and family, James R. McDaniel and wife, Angeline Garrel, Kittie Bauldin, J. M. Jones and wife, and Lizzie Hurt. A frame church, 40 by 36 feet in size, was built in the fall of 1871, at a cost of $2,400. It was dedicated by Elder James Wright. The pastors have been James Wright, Samuel McDaniel, Pinkerton, Hancock, Phillips, Chappel, Schouse and Hudson, and Bro. C. Q. Shouse, the present preacher. The present membership is about eighty. This church has had preaching regularly since its organization, and Sunday-school during the summer season.

Salt Fork Church

This church, under the control of the Cumberland Presbyterians, and in the new Lebanon Presbytery, was organized at an early day. Its first members were Asa, James, Dabney and Wallace Finley; Mollie, Elizabeth, Mary and Margaret Finley; Thomas, Rhoda, Porus and Nancy Finley; Rhodes and Polly Marshall; James and Lorena Burke; Margaret Wallace, K. J. Steele, W. H. and Mary C. Finley, and Miss Margaret Wallace. A frame church, costing $1,200, was built in 1848; the informant states that it was "built before dedications had come in fashion in this region." The pastors have been Wm. Barnett Wear, Archibald McCorkle, W. E. Burke, Robert Crockett, with many others as assistants. Number of members at present, 100. The first and second camp-meetings of this congregation were held on the north side of Blackwater, about one mile northeast of the Marshall bridge, in 1840-41. In 1842, Rev. A. McCorkle deeded and dedicated two or three acres of land to the church, where the Salt Fork church now stands, and the annual campmeetings were held there ever after. But few years have since passed in which the members have not had their annual communication and revival meeting. "Many hundreds of persons," says the chronicler, "old and young, black and white, have there dedicated themselves to God, ^ large percentage of whom have died triumphantly and joined the church on high."

Saline Church

Missionary Baptist, was organized in 1861, and re-organized in 1869. The original members were P. I. Parsons and family, Mr. H. Sellers and wife, J. C. Hansborough and daughters, B. F. Lyon, Mrs. Hansborough, John T. Woodson, J. M. Yager and wife, Wm. Murphy and wife, and others. The congregation as yet has no church building, but services are held in a school house in the neighborhood. The pastors have been B. T. Thomas, N. T. Allison, I. B. Dodson, J. L. Tichenor, E. T. Shelton. Rev. Tichenor is the present pastor. Number of members at present, 41. Have had regular preaching once a month, since the re-organization. The organization of 1861 was broken up by the war, and not re-organized until 1869.

This church was first organized in the year 1843, at the house of Nathaniel Bridgwater, in Cooper county. The first members were Mr. Bridgwater and his family of eight children; Nick Harlow and his wife, son, and daughter; Rev. J. F. Clark; Jesse Alhson, wife and daughter; Rev. Thornton Rucker, wife and two sons; Carter, Martha, and Elizabeth Dix. A frame church, costing about $500, was built in the year 1848 or 1849, by Mr. Grear. The house was newly sided, ceiled, roofed, and painted, in 1879. The pastors of this church have been Thornton Rucker, Abner Gwinn, Isaiah Williams, J. F. Clark, Rev. Sands, Wm. Gentry, A. P. Williams, Rev. Hudson, J. B. Dodson, I. B. Payne, W. R. Green, and Sheldon Whipple.

This church, called the Blackwater arm of the German Baptist church - often termed the "Tiinker" or "Dunkard" church - was organized, July 17, 1873. The first members were David L. Williams, Leah C. Williams, J. and C. Smith, J. T. Shores, S. Evans, N. Evans, H. Evans. H. Van Buskirk, M. Turner, and Amanda Turner. No house of worship has ever been built. The pastors have been D. L. Williams and John Umphlet. The present number of members is thirty-four. The informant states, that this is a branch of the " Brethren " or German Baptists, commonly called Dunkards. " Their peculiar tenets are that they take the New Testament for their guide in theology,- church government, and disciplinary rule; and they believe that the Master meant, in all things, just what He said; that all of His commands are to be observed; that there are no 'non-essentials,' and that we are accountable in proportion to our loyalty or disloyaltj- to God."

Salt Fork Churches

SALT FORK CHURCHES. smith's chapel. This is one of the oldest Methodist churches in Missouri, and the oldest in Saline county. It was organized in 1824. Some of the first members were Wyatt Bingham and wife, Adam Steele and wife, Walker Adkinson and wife, and Benj. Brown. A frame church, costing about $a,000, was built in the year 1857. Dr. C. E. Smith donated the land and $300. The site was in the brush. J. T. and D. A-. Stoufier were the contractors. The brush was cleared off and located, and the work was paid for when completed. The pastors have been Revs. Mr. Pace, Lee, Millice, Ben. Johnson, Best, Nichols, JLacy, Anderson, James and Thos. Wallace, Tom. Finney, Wm. Protsman, Joseph Dines, J. D. Reed, Warren Wharton, Nathan Talbot, Lowe, A. M. Rader, "Josiah Godby, W. B. McFarland, J. D. Blevens, John R. Bennett, J. F. Hogan, M. Duren, W. M. Bewley. The first presiding elder on this district was Rev. Redmon. During the war there was no regular preaching for about four years.

It was in this township, on Finney's creek, where Renault's French Argonauts, in 1720, made search for precious metals, and delved in the earth, and erected rude smelting furnaces. They probably visited portions of Blackwater township also, as noted in the first pages of this history. It is not certain who were the first actual settlers in the township, as it is now constituted. Robert Fitzgerald. F. Lockney, Chas. Beasley and Caleb Witcher were the first of whom it has'been possible to obtain information regarding the early settlement. They are said to have come about the year 1838. Histories of neighborhoods, early schools, etc., although solicited and promised, have not been obtained.

The early settlers shared the same fortunes, however, and had the same ups and downs as did their neighbors in other townships. Indeed, a sketch of early life in one township in Saline, will very nearly answer for any other. Jonesboro, Arrow Rock and Brownsville were the trading points for the first settlers. Drs. Penn and Sappington, and Dr. Parks were the first physicians. A portion of the history of this township may be found in that of Blackwater.

soldier, well liked by both parties. A skirmish or two occurred in this township, between the Federal militia and the bushwhackers, and, on the Price raid, in the southern partfof the township, some of Jeff, Thompson's men came on a party of militia, and, it is said, killed three out of eight or ten.

Since the war, the material prosperity of the township has largely increased, and the country is now well settled. There is an abundance of churches, schools, .etc., within its boundaries, and Liberty township is now one of the best, in all general respects, in the county.

In April, 1881, Elijah Keyton, a prominent farmer and well known citizen, was murdered at his home in this township, by Charles Phelps, a young man in his employ. Phelps had formed an attachment for a young daughter of Keyton's, which was very distasteful to iVIr. Keyton, and the latter had threatened to send the young man away in a short time. Phelps watched his opportunity, and one evening, unobserved, killed Keyton with an ax. He was arrested and confined in jail, and his case is yet to be disposed of.

Town Of Herndon

first house was built by Edward S. Herndon, and is the storehouse now occupied by Fenwick & Surbaugh, harness and saddlery establishments The next business house built was one for general merchandise, by Jesse McMahan, of Arrow Rock, who put his son in charge of the store, but sold out to Herndon & Hall, of which firm Mr. Herndon has continued in business to the present time. At this time there are general merchandise stores, Herndon, Huston & Holmes; two saddle and harness establishments, two blacksmith shops, one carpenter shop, one flouring mill, with two run of stones, and two physicians, one wagon shop, postofEce established in December, 1875, Mr. Herndon being the present postmaster. The population is eighty-five souls. The town was named for Mr. E. S. Herndon, who established the first store, the first dwelling house and the postoffice.

Country Ohurches

was organized about the year 1860, and at first held meetings in a school house. The original members were C. J. Clark, A. Hanley, Samuel Barley, E. S. Merry, Dr. Farris, Alex. Hamilton, James Witcher. A frame church building was erected in 1872. The real cost value of the building was about $2,000, but the members all worked at its construction, and made the actual cash cost about $900. It was dedicated the same year by elder Samuel McDaniel. The pastors have been Dr. Farris, Elgin A. Wright, G. W. Langdon, - Hancock, Peter Donan, and - Robinson, before the war; since the war, Samuel McDaniel, Bro. Joseph Wright, Wm. Pinkerton, - Chappel, G. W. Phillips, R. H. Hudson, C. Q. Shouse. Present membership, near eighty. During the war preaching was suspended for some time. Tom Woodson and his band of bushwhackers were at the church on one occasion when services were in progress. The congregation was badly frightened at first, for the bushwhackers were greatly feared, and the pastor dismissed the audience somewhat unceremoniously. Woodson assured him, however, that he had no intention of hurting any one, and he did not, although, perhaps if he had found those for whom he was looking, there would have been a fight.

Antioch Church was organized about the year 1851. The first members were J. Fulkerson, Thos. Miller, J. K. Farris, John Smith, Samuel Scott, John Dickerson, Zinc Maupin, and L. B. Williams. A frame church, costing $1,200, was built in 1866. It was dedicated by Rev. Birchfield, the Rev. Thompson preaching the dedicatory sermon. Names of pastors - Birchfield, Spurgin, Gott, Cleaveland, DeRacken, Dodson, Hudson, Burgess. Number of members at present, 150. For the last year or two the organization has been somewhat demoralized. The Christian Church owns one-third interest in the building, and the German Baptists, or "Dunkards," hold meetings there. Many of the members of the Baptist Church have joined other organizations.

This church was constituted in the spring of '79. The original members were J. A. Sink, Mrs. J. C. Sink, Dorsey Sink, Wm. Rothrock, Mrs. Ellen Rothrock, L. Ezell, Mrs. Sarah Ezell and B. F. Bufibrd. A frame church, costing $900, was built in the fall of 1880. The pastor's name is H. C. Wells; J. A. Sink and Hiram Rothrock are stewards; J. A. Sink, Wm. Rothrock, Richard Wall, and Philip Land are trustees. Number of members at present, 45.

Herndon Churches

Bethel Church, M. E., South, at Herndon, was organized in 1866. The original members were R. P. Wall, W. G. Boatright, James Ashman, Mrs. R. P. Wall, Mrs. W. G. Boatright, Mrs. Crawford, Mrs. Barzilla Riggins, Al. Hudson and wife, Mrs. Jackson, and Mrs. Marshall. The organization was effected at the school house one mile and a quarter west of Herndon. A frame church, 30x40 in size, was built in 1S68, at a cost of about $1,200. It was dedicated in 1878, by M. M Pue. The first pastor was A. M. Rader, and since him have been Josiah Godbey, Jno. R. Peoples, M. Durand, and the present pastor, Wells. Present membership, about ninety; it has numbered 120. Adjoining the church grounds is a fine cemetery. By invitation of the Methodist society, the Cumber-

Hazel Grove Church

This church was organized September 17, 1869. The first members were Jesse M. Clark, Nancy J. Clark,"]Wm. L. Corum, Virginia E. Corum, Jno. G. Herndon, Florence Herndon, Edward S. Herndon, Mollie S. Corum, Wm. A. Huff, Edmond Huff, Wm. M. Taylor, Matilda J. Taylor, Mrs. M. J. Hansborough, Sarah J. Clark, Margaret J. Clark, Wm. P. Claycomb, Josephine Claycomb, Eliza Buck, and Susan F. Short. The congregation holds services in the M. E. Church building near Herndon. Revs. S. M. McCorkle and James Robinson organized the congregation. The pastors have been James Martin, James Logan, J. T. Jopling, 0. Guthrie. The present pastor is James Martin. Present membership, aljoutj sixty. With the exception of one year the church has had regular services since the organization. As many as 120 have been in the congregation.

Herndon Lodge, No. 487, A. F. and A. M., was organized October 15, 1874, by Xenophon Ryland. The charter members were: Wm. L. Grain, Thos. H. Ferguson, Oscar D. Page, and several others. The first officers were: Wm. L. Crain, W. M.; Thos. H. Ferguson, S.W.; Oscar D. Page, J. W. The present officers are: Will Trigg, W. M.; John S. Crain, S. W.; Wm. M. J. Hall, J. W.; Will H. Fenwick, secretary; E. S. Herndon, treasurer; Hardin Witcher, tiler. A "frame hall is used by the lodge, which was built by the Masons and Odd Fellows, at a cost of $400. The present number of members is forty. The secretary states »that the lodge first commenced work under a dispensation in 1872, when it was set to work by Jno. P. Strother,. of Marshall, acting under authority of the G. M. of the state of Missouri, and the brethren have ever since manifested a great interest in the good work. The lodge is situated in the pleasant village of Herndon, in a beautiful portion of Saline county, and in a society unsurpassed anywhere.

Present membership, thirty-eight. A frame hall was built in 1872, by the Masons and Odd Fellows. The lodge has not missed a regular meeting since its organization, except in the severe winter of 1881, when, on account of the severe weather and deep snows, there were two meetings missed. There has been a gradual increase of membership since the organization. Only one brother has been lost by death.

Hazel Grove Lodge, No. 30, 1. O. G. T., was organized November 10, 1879, by T. J. Hutchinson. The charter members were J. W. Mitchell, Wm. M. Taylor, Sr., J. M. Riggins, T. F. Huston, Cora Riggins, Susie Clark, George Fisher, Miss M. J. Taylor, J. H. Clark, W. H. Durham, H. A. Taylor, W. H.- Montgomery, Z. F. Taylor, Miss M. J. Taylor. William M. Taylor was the first W. C. T., and the other leading offices were filled by J. W. Mitchell, M. L. Kennedy, T. F. Huston, W..H. Durand and George Fisher. Those holding the present principal offices are W. H. Montgomery, Zilla Huston, J. F. White (secretary), Annie E. White, Wm. M. Taylor, Sr., Martha J. Chaney, Henry Taylor. Number of members, 78. Meetings are held in a frame hall, which is rented. This is a live, active lodge. It is progressive, and keeps up an interest in the temperance work, and has been the chief cause of the suppression of intemperance in this part of the county, and especially in the town of Herndon.

This township is in the extreme southwest corner of the county. It contains the famous sweet springs (described and illustrated elsewhere), and also the salt springs, so valuable to the early settlers of the country, and contributing toward the derivation of the name of this county.

The first county seal adopted, impressions of which are yet to be found on many of the early papers and records in the county offices, was designed by Benj. Chambers and Gen. T. H. Smith, and represented two men boiling salt in such a furnace as was often used in this township at an early day.

Before the civil war. Salt Pond township was known as the stronghold of the whig party in Saline county, and was always relied upon to offset the heavy democratic vote of Arrow Rock. It was always visited by the speakers of both sides.

1837, from Barren county, Kentucky; entered 700 acres of land, and also bought it in St. Louis for $2.50 per acre, he being the highest bidder. It is claimed that this was the first land sale in this part of the state. Eighty acres of this tract have never been transferred. The next was Benjamin Prigmore, who came from Virginia in 1818. Then there were John Logsdon, Duke Prigmore, Jacob Spotts, J. Reed, Felix Bradley, Isaac Van Meter, Thomas Miller, James L. Bailey, Dr . Thomas Parks, Beverly Cary, Dr. J. L. Yantis, Isaac King, WiUiam Kincaid, John Prewitt, - Smelser, and others.

The first marriage in the township was that of Warren P. Reavis and Margaret Smelser, in 1820, east of Brownsville, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Isham Reavis. Probably the next was Isaiah Prigmore and Miss Pinnel, April 11, 1834, by Elder Duke Young.

The first birth of a male child was that of a son of Edward and Zylpha Reavis, in the year 1820. George Wentworth, son of Stephen G. and Eliza, was born in November, 1839; but, doubtless, there were others born in the township before he was. The first female child was Elizabeth Reavis. A daughter of Hickinson and Mary J. Berry was born, September, 1838.

The first death was that of an infant son of W. P. and Margaret Reavis, who was burned to death in the year 1821, and buried on the land of Edd Reavis. An infant child of Hick, and Mary J. Berry died in

The very first minister was Isham Reavis, an old school Baptist, and the first religious services were held at the house of Edward Reavis, in 1820. Then there were Daniel Buie an^ Henry Weedin, Cumberland Presbyterians, who held services in the house of Jacob Spotts. Then there was " Old Jake " Montgomery, the famous old negro Presbyterian, who preached as often as and whenever circumstances permitted. Dr. Yantis, the founder of the academy at Brownsville, a Presbyterian, was a favorite minister in the last of the '30s.

The first school was taught, one and a half miles east of Brownsville, by Warren P. Reavis, in the '20s. He had only five or six pupils. He finally died in Arkansas. Then Rev. John Hood taught in the same locality, and James A. Gaines taught about twenty scholars, in a house built b}' Thos . Miller, on his premises, for $1 per month per scholar. The first school house built, was where W. P. Reevis taught school, and was erected in 1821, by Benjamin Prigmore, Ed. Reavis and Smelser. It did not cost a cent of actual cash. The first' pubHc school houses were built one mile east of Brownsville, in 1836, and on the farm of Thos. Miller, date not given. The latter cost $150.

Mrs. Zylpha Reavis put up the first loom and did the first weaving. In early days, every household did its own weaving. One family wove carpets and foot-mats out of the inner bark of the Hnden tree.

In early days there were no mills. The settlers used hand-mills. Trading was done at Old Franklin, and what little mail there was came to that point first. Finley's mill, on Salt Fork, was the first. The first postoffice in the county was Jonesboro, the old county seat, about twenty-five miles away. A letter cost twenty-five cents, payable on delivery. Milling was done also at Grinstead's mill, on Heth's creek, and it took four days to make the trip to mill; this was in Pettis county, and was an old "horse mill." Coffee and sugar were at first bought at Jonesboro and at Dover, the latter in Lafayette county. Coffee was twenty-five cents per pound ; sugar, ten cents.

" Hog and hominy " were the chief articles of the bill of fare at the early settlers' table. Venison, wild turkey, and all the other kinds of wild game were always to be had. Wild honey was abundant and very excellent. The choicest could be bought for four cents per pound.

The first accidental death , that occurred in the settlement was the drowning of Old Nelson, a negro slave, in a mill-dam on Blackwater. The first murder case reported was the killing of Jack Logsdon by Aaron McMillan, in the year 1847.

The prairie fires often caused serious loss of property where farmers neglected to plow or burn around their farms. The fencing around a farta would take fire and burn up in an hour or so, leaving the crops exposed. When a casualty like this occurred, the neighbors would come to the rescue, gather the crop, and re-fence the field.

The first settlers were all hunters, as well as farmers or salt makers, They dressed in buckskin .suits for every day wear, and their " Sunday clothes" were of jeans. Game of all kinds abounded. There were buffalo, elk, bear, panther, deer, wolves, and other species of game, quite enough to satisfy the most exacting hunter. Absalom Womack once had a fight with a bear, which cii-cumstance was long the talk of the settlement.

' Old " Natty " (Nathaniel) Walker hunted in these parts, and had enough 'adventures to furnish the groundwork for a, book of considerable size. He was a singular character, as well as a great hunter. He wore moccasins when he covered his feet at all, but oftener went barefoot. His prescription for the ague was a very disgusting and repulsive one, certainly, but it is averred tKat he often administered it to himself. It consisted of three of those insects commonly trapped with a fine-tooth comb, swallowed before breakfast!

Early Days In Salt Pond

Mr. Prigmore landed at Booneville in 1818. There was only one store in the place at the time, owned by a Mr. Wyan, in a small log house. Prigmore moved from there to Buffalo Prairie, at the mouth of Blackwater; lived there two years, then moved to the mouth of South Fork, near Brownsville. At that time there were two families of Mayes' (John and Mat.), living at the McAllister Spring; two families oiE Reavis' (Ed. and Isham). These four, and Mr. Prigmorc's, making five, were the only white settlers in the neighborhood. The Mayes both moved in a short time, and Messrs. John and Robert Owens moved on to their places. This was about the year 1824 or 1825. Some two or three years after this, on account of troubles with Indians on the north side of the Missouri river, all of the settlers left, all going to Howard county, except Mr. Prigmore, who went to Lafayette, then called Lillard. Before the summer was over Mr. Reavis moved back. All the settlers moved back the next spring, except the Messrs. Owens, who remained in Lafayette. Parsons, Pennill and Hays moved in about this time, and Mr. Owens came back about this time also. The Osages, Kaws, Kickapoos, Sacs, Delawares, and a few Shawnees, were the Indian tribes that frequented this part of the country at that time. They were perfectly friendly and honest. The settlers traded, hunted, run horse and foot races and wrestled with the Indians in perfect peace. This was the hunting- ground of the different tribes at that time. All of the settlers were farmers, except Mr. Reavis, who farmed and made salt. They were all from Kentucky, excepting Parsons and Pennill, who were from Virginia.

The nearest mill was a horse mill, owned by Mr. McFarland, about forty-five miles off, southwest of Booneville. They would take a wagon load at a time, once or twice a year. That was so much trouble that Prigmore bought a small pair of mill-stones and fixed them up for handpower. The bed-stone was fixed on four posts; the runner was placed on the bed-stone, on a pivot, on a small piece of iron, raised by a lever, as runners are now. It was fed by a few grains of corn at a time, thrown in by the hand. A free negro man also owned one at about this time. Edward Reavis had what they called a mortar made ia this way. The mortar was a log, adzed out, so as to make a basin that would hold about one-half bushel. The pestle was a timber four or five inches in diameter and six or seven feet long, with an iron in the head of it, similar to an iron wedge. A pole was then fastened by one end to the ground, and then a post was put in the ground so that the pole would rest on it at the spring. The pole was then fastened to the post and on the end of the pole was attached the pestle, and a pin put through it to work it by. At every house there was a grater. Their clothing was made from cotton and flax, which they raised, carded and spun.

Mr. Isham Reavis was an old regular Baptist preacher who preached once a month regularly, and sometimes every Sunday, as long as he lived. He also taught school in the winter months at from ten to twelve dollars a month. Messrs. Trapp and Young, of the old Christian Church, came once a month and preached through the summer months. In a short time a Methodist preacher came and preached once a month at Mr. Parsons'. Occasionally a traveling preacher would come along and let it be known that he would preach. They would put a bo}' on a horse and have him a good congregation.

At this time, on the headwaters of Blackwater, there was plenty of buffalo, bears, elk, deer, panthers, wolves, wild-cats or catamounts, turkeys and bees. The bears, panthers and wolves were very destructive to stock, especially hogs. Bear was hunted when snow was on the ground, with dogs; deer and such game with rifles, without dogs; wolves with steel traps principally. If any one was so fortunate as to get a new gun, the rest had a sort of spite at him, until they beat the gun shooting at a target. At a house-raising all of the neighbors, from eight to ten miles would go with their guns. If a deer was not wanted they would shoot at a mark some 60 or 100 yards for awhile and go home. If any of them wanted a deer they would go after it, and get it. Rifles were used altogether.

As the country settled a little, once a year they would select two captains and the two companies would see which could capture the most wolf scalps in a year. They would meet a few days before the Fourth of July and count wolf scalps. The captain that got beaten would give a barbecue on the Fourth of July. If there were any politicians on the grounds they would have some speeches, and the declaration of inde- .pendence read. The declaration would be read anyway. The militia had two company musters a year, one battalion, one regimental, and one drill muster. The timber was such as we have now - no undergrowth ; burnt out every fall. Soil same as now. Streams and springs the same as now. Salt was made, until the steamboats commenced to bring it up; that made it so cheap that they stopped making it.

In 1824 or '25, the first steamboat came up the river with supplies and $150,000 in silver. It struck a snag just above the mouth of the Lamine, and' sunk. It raised a big commotion among the settlers. Before this, supplies were brought up in keel-boats and wagons from St. Louis. It was a long time after the sinking of this boat before any others came up.