Saline County, Missouri - Chapter 29: Authors of Saline County, 1910

Judge Nathaniel B. Tucker

Judge Nathaniel B. 1\icker, a native of Virginia, was born at Williamsburg, September 6, 1784, and died at Winchester, Virginia, August 26, 185 1. He was a half brother of John Randolph, of Roanoke, his father, J. St. George Tucker, having married Randolph's mother. He graduated at William and Mary College in 1801, studied law and practiced in Virginia until 181 5, when he came to Missouri territory, locating in St. Louis county. He was appointed circuit judge in 1818. by Edward Bates, acting governor, holding this position for eight years.

In 183 1 Judge Tucker had become a resident of Saline county, living on his farm, which he called "Ardmour," near the town of Jonesboro, the land now owned by the Dennis brothers.

Judge Tucker was eccentric, like his half brother. When he came to the territory, he purchased a farm near Florrissant, and in a large hollow sycamore tree about ten feet in diameter, which was on the place, he. kept his law office, cutting off the tree about ten feet from the ground, cleaningout the hollow, putting in a floor, a door and window, and arranging his law book shelves around on the sides of this natural wall. AMien circuit judge, he would get on a horse, gallop twenty or thirty miles to hold court, and as soon as the grand jury finished its business, try the case presented and then return home the same way. He was an extreme state's rights man. as he fully set forth in this "Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States.''

In 1828 Judge Tucker married Eliza Naylor, of St. Charles countv. Missouri, who died five months afterwards. He married his second wife, Lucy A. Smith, daughter of Gen. Thomas A. Smith, at Experiment, his country residence, the T3th of April. 1830. Judge Tucker was an accomplished gentleman in every sense, of unusual acquirements, and his wife an elegant, handsome, refined and educated woman, and they resided at ".Vrdmour" immediately after their marriage.

Jiidg-e 1\icl<cr. while living in Saline, wrote a novel. "Georg-e Balcombe," the scene of which was laid in this county, and the leading- characters being General Smith and his wife. After returning to Virginia, in 1836, he wrote a very remarkal)le book. "The Partisan Leader," in which was set forth the Civil war, predicting" and delineating events as they afterwards occurred, 1 86 1 to 1865, being quite prophetic. Sul)sequently he wrote a "Discourse on the Importance of the Study of Political Science as a Branch of Academic Education in the United States" in 1841, "Lectures Intended to Prepare the Student for the Study of the Constitution of the LTnited States" in 1845, "Principles of Pleading-" in 1846. He left unfinished a biography of his half brother. John Randolph.

^!1ie late "History of Missouri," by Lewis Houck. ascribes to Judge Tucker the authorship of the great seal of the state of Missouri, which was provided for by the first constitution of the state. The emblems and devises of the new state seal the constitution provided should be fixed by law, and accordingly the General Assembly adopted the present "Great Seal of the State of Missouri" as the arms of the state, and which at the time in heraldic vernacular was described as follows :

"Anus: Parted per pale on the dexter side; gules, the white or grizzly bear of Missouri, passant, guardant. proper on a chief engrailed: arjurc, a crescent argent; on the sinister side the arms of the LTnited States, the whole within a band inscribed with the words 'United we stand, divided we fall.'

"7'';;/- f/ic crest: Over a helmet full faced, grated with six bars, er, a cloud proper, from which ascends a star, argent, and above it a constellation of twenty-three smaller stars, argent, on an azure field, surrounded by a cloud proper.

"Supporters: On each side, a white or grizzly bear of Missouri, rampant, guardant, standing on a scroll inscribed with the words, 'Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto,' and under the scroll in numerical letters AIDCCCXX."*

Tlie meaning- of the arms of the state is not now g-eneraHv nnderstood, and by many is considered simply a fancy picture. Yet the ^rms of Missouri possess a deep and profound significance and in beautiful and appropriate heraldic language expressed the situation of the new state, as the following explanation, which was published'at the time, shows:

The arms of the state of Missouri and of the United States empaled together, yet separated by a pale, denote the connection existing- between the two governments, and show that, although connected by a compact, yet we arc independent as to internal concerns ; the words surrounding the shield denote the necessity of the Union. Ouadrepeds are the most honorable bearing. The great grizzly bear, being- almost peculiar to the Missouri river and its tributaries, and remarkable for its prodigious size, strength and courage, is borne as the principal charge of our shield. The color of the shield is red and denotes hardiness and valor. The chief is most honorable of all ordinaries. The color blue sig-nifies vigilance, perseverance and justice. The crescent in heraldrv is borne on the shield b}' the second son, and on our shield denotes that we are the second state (Louisiana being the first) formed out of the territorv not within the original territorial limits of the United States and admitted to the Union. The crescent also denotes the growingsituation of this state as to its inhabitants, wealth, power, etc. The color white signifies purity and innocence. The helmet indicates enterprise and hardihood. The one blazoned on this coat of arms is that assigned to sovereigns only. The star ascending from a cloud to join the constellations shows Missouri surmounting her difficulties and taking her rank among the other states of the Union. The supporters, the same powerful animals, borne on the shield, which support the shield on which are blazoned the arms of the state and of the United States, denote, that while we support ourselves by our own internal strength we are also in supix)rt of the general

Crest: An appendage to the shield placed over it and usually borne upon a wreath. It is generally some portion of the coat of armor or a device commemorative of sfune incident in apposite history.

government. The motto shows that the good of the people is the supreme law of this state. The numerals under the scroll show the date of the constitution "*

Judge Tucker had two sons. Beverly St. (leorge Tucker, a physician, was a regimental surgeon in the Confederate army in Virginia, and also had charge of a general hospital at Petersburg. Virginia, serving throughout the Civil war. Immediately after the Civil war, he moved to Missouri and was a resident for many years of Marshall, and was a very successful and well known physician. Doctor Tucker subsequently moved to Colorado, becoming a resident of Colorado Springs, in that state, and here he died on the 30th of March, 1894.

Another son, Capt. Thomas Smith B. Tucker, commanded a company in the Confederate army in Virginia, subsequently becoming a farmer of this county, where he owned and conducted a farm for several years. He afterwards returned to his native state, Virginia, his death occurring in the vear KS73.

John B. Jones

At an early day in the history of Arrow Rock, about 1835, a young merchant landed on a steamboat there with a stock of goods for a general store, bought in Philadelphia. This was John B. Jones, a native of Baltimore, born in 18 10, and who could have been but little over twenty-one years of age when he opened his store there. But little is known of Mr. Jones' personal history, but we know that while he lived at Arrow Rock he was the author of two very interesting and popular books, that is to say, "The Country Merchant" and "Wild Western Scenes," editions of which are yet published every year by the Lippincotts of Philadelphia.

Mr. Jones left Arrow Rock about 1850. After returning East in 1856,. fifty thousand copies having been already issued and sold, he sold his copyright of "The Country Merchant" and "Wild Western Scenes," to J. B. Lippincott & Company, Philadelphia, who have issued many editions since.

It is not now known who suggested these arms of Missouri. If allowed to conjecture I would attribute the ideas they convey to Judge Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, who we know was at that time one of the most learned and accomplished residents of Missouri and perhaps wrote this explanation of the heraldic meaning. He was, too, a pronounced advocate of the rights of the states, an idea that seems to pervade the entire armorial bearings in Missouri.

"Life and Adventures of a Coniitry Merchant," 1854; "Freaks of Fortune,'' 1854; "Winkles," a humorous tale, 1855, an edition of fifty thousand copies of which were sold in a few months; "The War Path." and a second series of "Wild Western Scenes," 1856.

This popular author of books, who made his literary debut here in Saline county, was for many years connected with the press and established a newspaper in Philadelphia in 1857, entitled the Southern Monitor, devoted to Southern interests. He subsequently served the Southern Confederacy at Richmond probably as clerk in the war department, and after the war published "Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Capitol of the Confederacy 1866."

The author of this history has not been able to learn the history of Mr. Jones since the publication of his last book in 1866, although he has made diligent inquiry. He left Arrow Rock about 1850. returning to Baltimore or Philadelphia, and was there devoted to literary pursuits up to the beginning of the Civil war. In the preface to the edition of "The Western Merchant," he relates the difficulties he encountered in getting his first book printed, being compelled to purchase an interest in a newspaper in which it first appeared. But his books were popular from the start and over fifty thousand copies had been sold h\ him \vhen he disposed of his copyright in 1856, and they are interesting books to read yet.

Perry Scott Rader, son of Rev. Andrew M. and Isabella A. (McFarland) Rader, was born in Jasper county, Missouri, about three miles from the present site of Joplin, November 24, 1859. Early in the Civil war his father's house - as were all the houses within ten miles around - was burned by the Kansas Jayhawkers and the family refugeed to Henry county, Missouri. His father was at that time a prisoner of war in Arkansas, having previously been captain of a company of Confederate soldiers, and later for three months the chaplain of Rains' division of the Confederate army, which in fact was scarcely more than a regiment. In 1863 the family again refugeed from Henry county, having been driven out by Order No. 11 issued by Gen. Thomas Ewing. They moved to Saline county and that county has ever since been the family home. The father was a Methodist circuit rider and was one of those heroic men who set his face like flint toward duty, and went about all over southwest Missouri preaching to the early settlers and establishing civilization in this rich new country. Perry was raised to hard work on the farm, working in the fields during the summer months and in the winter attending the rural schools. \\ hen he was nineteen years of age, his father sent him to Central College at Fayette for one year, and at the close of the year gave him a horse, saddle and bridle, and that was his patrimony. He obtained a school a few miles west of Marshall, taught that A'ear and the succeeding year, and used the little money that he obtained from teaching to purchase calves, young mules and horses, selling them quickly and making a few dollars on each trade.

The summer of 1882 Mr. Rader spent in Colorado Springs, was there just four months, got up a city directory and returned with a profit of just fifty dollars per month from the work he had done while there. He then returned to Central College and remained there four years, and in 1886 graduated with the full classical degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was elected principal of the schools at Brunswick, and taught there for the next year. In the meantime he was studying law, first during his vacation under Judge John P. Strother, of Marshall, who had long been a friend of the family and with whose boys he had roomed at college, and later under Tyson S. Dines, then of Brunswick, now of St. Louis.

in tlie spring of 1887 Mr. Rader bought a half interest in the Howard County Advertiser and was its editor for one year. Then he sold his interest and in June, 1888, was admitted to the bar at Fayette, and for one year practiced his profession at that place. In 1889 he was elected editor of the Brunszvickcr, then a paper of wide circulation and influence in northern Missouri and remained its editor for six years, but all the time practicing law. By 1894 his practice had increased to such an extent that he gave up the paper and devoted himself to his profession. In 1897 he was elected reporter of the supreme court of Missouri, the duty of which officer is to write the syllabus or digest of the written opinions of the court and otherwise prepare them for publication. There were fourteen candidates for the position, three of them circuit judges. Among the candidates were James D. Fox, who has since been elected one of the judges of the supreme court ; Richard L. Goode, who has for some years been one of the judges of the St. Louis court of appeals, and Judge W. D. Shackelford, who has since 1899 been a representative in Congress. On the final ballot Mr. Rader received the votes of six of the seven judges of the court. He was again re-elected to the same office in 1903, again in 1909, and since 1897 has resided in Jefferson City, though for many years he continued to vote at Brunswick. He has devoted himself assiduously to his profession ever since 1895, '^i''^^^' while he is reporter of the supreme court, he practices law when his time is not occupied with his official duties, most of his cases being in that court.

Tn 1898. soon after his admission to the bar, Air. Rader conceived the idea of writing a history of Missouri for the use of schools. He had observerl during- the time he was teaclier that the people of the state, both old and young, seemed to know very little about its history and to have little interest in it. He went to work gathering the data from every source possible, and gave over his evenings to that work, spending time at it, as he said, that most young men would spend in loitering on the streets or in idleness of some kind. He would not let it interfere with his professional duties, and hence the work progressed slowly. His purpose was to write an absolutely truthful and accurate history. In 1891 the volume was printed and has found a large place in the schools of the state. In 1897 the Legislature passed a law providing for a commission of five men to adopt a series of textbooks for use in the public schools of the state. Mr. Rader had filed his history for adoption as a textbook. When the commission examined it they sent a telegram for him to come to Jefterson City and on his arrival they informed him that they did not have a "Civil Government" that met their ideals, and stated to him that if he would return home and write a "Civil Government" and combine it with his history and publish the two as one volume, they would adopt it. He returned home, within a few weeks wrote a "Civil Government of the United States and of the State of Missouri," submitted the manuscript to the commission and they adopted it and the history together as one book, and since then, though the book has been frequently revised, it has been used in schools throughout the state, and while other liooks on the subject have sharply competed with it for adoption and use, it has held almost a uni\ersal place in the schools. Probablv more volumes of it have been printed than of all other books written by Missourians and printed by a Missouri publishing house, for his book is printed by the Hugh Stephens Printing Company, of Jefferson City. Mr. Rader at quiet hours has been working for three or four years on two or three other books. One is "Pastime Stories About Missouri and Missourians," and is meant to be a pleasing narrative of some things that have always been interesting to the mind of the man who loves Missouri. Another is a "History of Missouri" for general readers. It will consist of about three modern volumes, and is being worked out with patience and painstaking labor, the purpose of the author being not only to make a readable book but one that is absolutely correct and true to facts.

The preparation of the written opinions of the supreme court has been his largest literary work. When these opinions are certified to him by the clerk, he goes through them and brings them to a uniform rule of spelling.

punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, etc., and writes a digest of each, called the syllabus, which consists of the points decided in the case, stated in the most concise form possible, and care must be taken that no point in the syllabus is either an overstatement or an understatement of the things decided by the opinion. The writing of the syllabus is his chief work as reporter, and it may be said here that the written opinions of the highest court in each state are printed in a series of volumes called the "Reports," and the officer who prepares those opinions for publication is called the "reporter." Hence the title of the office. During his term as reporter Mr. Rader has published over eighty-five volumes of the Missouri Reports, more than one-third of the entire number published since the organization of the state, and in this work he has written the syllabus of more than five thousand opinions.

James De Ouincy Donehoo

James de Ouincy Donehoo, clergyman, was born at Fairview, West Virginia, August lo, 1864, the son of John R. and Eleanor (McCown) Donehoo. He was graduated from Washington and Jefi^erson College as a Bachelor of Arts in 1885, with the honorary oration, and he received from that institution the Master of Arts degree in 1903. He also attended the University of Pennsylvania, taking the course in Hebrew, and the Philadelphia Divinity School, from which he was graduated in 1889. Mr. Donehoo served as a missionary at Tarentum, Pennsylvania, rector at St. Paul's church, Marion. Ohio; Trinity church, Marshall, Missouri, from June, 1892, to October, 1902, during which time he wrote the "Apocryphal and Legendary Life of Christ" (The Macmillan Company), though it was not published until 1903; Grace church, Monroe, Louisiana; was general missionary at New Orleans and rector of the church of the Epiphany at Opelousas. He was editor of the daily and weekly Dcmocrat-Nezvs at Marshall, Missouri, from 1900 to 1902, and has contributed special articles to most of the leading Sunday papers and written many short stories. During the past two years he has contributed over fifty short stories to more than twenty magazines and periodicals in the United States and Canada. Mr. Donehoo is a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and is a Royal Arch Mason. He married at Washington, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1889, Bessie Brown, and they have three children: Katharine W., born in 1891 ; Eleanor M.. born in 1894 in Marshall, Missouri; and James de O., born in 1896. at Marshall, Missouri. Since October i, 1909, he has been rector of Christ church (Oak Cliff") Dallas, Texas.