Saline County, Missouri - Chapter 30: Distinguished Men of Saline County, 1910 (part 1 of 2)

Brig. -Gen. Thomas A. Smith

A very conspicuous figure among the early settlers of this county was Brig.-Gen. Thomas A. Smith. General Smith was born at Piscataway, Essex county, Virginia, August 12. 1781. He entered the United States army as an ensign about 1800, and was commissioned second lieutenant of artillery the 15th of December. 1803; first lieutenant, 3Tst of December, 1805; captain of the Rifles (the crack regiment of the army), the 3d of May, 1808; lieutenant-colonel July 31, 1810; colonel the 6th of July, 1812; brevet brigadiergeneral for "distinguished and meritorial services." the 24th of January, 1814: brigadier-general. 25th of January, 181 5.

When General Smith came to this county, in 1825, he had seen nearly twentA'" years of active service in the regular army of the United States. Soon after being commissioned, by President Jefferson, a second lieutenant, he was ordered West to join the army of General Wilkinson, then engaged in takingpossession of the Louisiana Purchase, which we acquired from Spain during the year 1803. Major-General Wilkinson was then the commander-in-chief of the army of the Lliited States, and here in Louisiana and Mississippi he was actively engaged for the next two years.

Lieutenant Smith having been promoted to first lieutenant on the i8th of October, 1806, he was sent by General ^^'ilkinson to proceed to Washington Citv, to convey the information to the President concerning- the operations of Col. Aaron Burr, in the West. Having reached W^ashington City, he immediately made report to the President and thereupon the President immediately issued his famous proclamation against Colonel Burr and his adherents.

Afterwards, Lieutenant Smith was employed in active service until the war of 1812, at which time he had been promoted to colonel of a regiment, being- in command of the regiment of Rifles, which was considered the crack regiment of all the army. He operated in 1812, at first at Fort St. Mary's, Georgia, against the Indians and Spaniards. In the spring of 1813 he was relieved of his command there wnth permission to return to Tennessee, there to recruit his regiment and join the army of the Northwest, under General

Harrison, operating on the shores of Lake Erie. He reached the army in Aug-nst. and in September, 1813, his regiment was transported across Lake I^-ic (Ml General Perry's ships that had recently been engaged in the battle of Lake Erie. Shortly afterwards, his regiment was engaged in the battle

' of the Thames, in Canada, where the famous Indian chief, Tecumseh, was killed. In November, afterwards, he commanded the post of Sackett's Harbor, when General \Vilkinson arrived to take the chief command, and, as a part of the forces, his regiment was engaged in the campaign against Montreal, down the St. Lawrence river, fighting the battles of Chrysler's Field, Lacoll Mills, etc. This winter campaign was disastrous to the American arms on account of the extreme severity of the weather; so disastrous, in fact, that General Wilkinson was removed from command in the spring of 1814, being succeeded by Gen. George Izard.

In the early days of September. 1814, Major-General Izard and a large portion of his command, including the brigade of General Smith (he having been promoted shortly before to brigadier-general), under orders from the secretary of war, proceeded to march west and join the forces operating on the Niagara river. Reaching Buffalo, New York, in the month of December, the campaign being closed. General Smith was granted a leave of absence to return to his home at Knoxville, Tennessee. While there, peace was declared and the war ended, the treaty being signed at Ghent, on the 28th of December, 1814, and promulgated in the United States the 15th of February, 181 5. Following the peace, of course, the greater part of the army was discharged from service, the regular army being reduced and reorganized on the basis of ten thousand men and officers. General Smith and his regiment being among those retained.

In July, 181 5, while remaining in Knoxville on furlough, General Smith received orders from Major-General Jackson, commanding the department of the South, to proceed at once t(j St. Louis and take command of the Ninth Military Department. This order he immediately proceeded to obey, arriving at St. Louis on the ist of September, 181 5, his orders reciting the fact that the V Indians were turbulent in the West and formidable hostilities were expected, and his presence considered necessary. On reaching St. Louis, he at once assumed command of all the forces in the district, consisting of some two thousand men. scattered over the vast frontier in barracks and camps. St. Louis was then a town of about twenty-five hundred population. Fort Bell-

V fontaine, on the Missouri river, four miles above its mouth, had been the military headquarters for some years previously, the fort having been established by Maj.-Gen. James Wilkinson in 1806.

Here at Bellfontaine General Smith held command for over three vears. During- this time he located personally and had huilt Forts Armstrong, on Rock Island, in the Mississippi ri\cr; Fort Fdwards. on the Des Moines; Fort Crawford, at Prairie de Chien. and Fort Smith, on the Arkansas. 1"he last named fort was laid out and established by ]Major S. H. Long-, of the topographical engineers, in September, 1817, who, with the approval of the secretan^ of war, named the fort in honor of the commander of the department. During- the ser\-ice of General Smith, tlie Sac and Fox Indians were turbulent in Illinois and Missouri, but there was no general Indian war, as had been expected by General Jackson. General Smith had military sun'eys made of the Mississippi river by Major S. H. Long from the mouth of the Arkansas to its source, and of the Arkansas river from its mouth to Fort Smith.

In the spring of 18 16 the General ascended the Mississippi with five companies of the Rifles in keel boats and pirogues, selecting- in person the location of Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island, thence going- up the river to Prairie de Chien, where he located Fort Craw^ford, leaving the troops at either place to begin the erection of the forts. He continued to command the Ninth Military Department, which then included the greater part of Illinois and Wisconsin, and all the Louisiana Purchase west of the Mississippi river, until the 18th of October, 1818.

Congress having- provided for the opening of a land office at Franklin. Missouri, and for the sale of the land in the Boone's Lick country, he concluded to resign his position in the army and apply for the appointment of receiver of the land office at Franklin. This would require his resignation from the army, to which the secretary of war. his superior officers and friends at Washnigton were very much opposed, as shown by the correspondence on the matter at that time. The pay of the office of receiver was considerablv less than that receiAcd as brig-adier-general commanding a department, and he had a difficult task to persuade his friends at Washington as to the propriety of his resigning. But having- become a man of family, and both he and his wife having inherited a large number of negro slaves, he doubtless felt that his duties to liis wife and children and slaves required his resignation, in (^rder that he might have control of his own movements and select a permanent place o\ residence.

Captain O'Fallon. of the Rifle Regiment, went to Washington City in the winter of 1818 to urge the appointment of General Smith to the receivership ; and his letters from \\'ashington show that he had g-reat difficulty in l^ersuading- the President to nominate him for a civil office that would neces- sarily invol\-e his resignation from the army. However, his efforts were crowned with success, notwithstanding there were numerous other prominent men wanting the place.

Cleneral Smith's resignation was accepted in October, 1818, and his accounts with the government approved and settled.^ He departed from Fort Bellefontaine, leaving Lieutenant-Colonel Chambers in command, and on the 1st of November, in conjunction with the register, the land office at Franklin was opened and set in operation by them. The records show the receipts for sales of lands averaged over fifty thousand dollars a month for several years after the office was opened. The General built a large brick residence in the suburbs of Franklin, at that time the most populous and flourishing town west of St. Louis. In fact, lots in Franklin were as valuable as they were in St. Louis. Many of the subordinate officers of his command kept up their correspondence with him for years after his retirement, and these letters, yet preserved, show that he was most highly esteemed by them all. Major W. Morgan writing that he regarded him as he would his father, although General Smith was only thirty-nine years old when he resigned from the army.

Soon after locating at Franklin, General Smith began entering lands in Saline county, ultimately acquiring six or seven thousand acres of the splendid prairie land, a considerable portion of which he enclosed and put in cultivation by his negroes. This farm he named "Experiment," regarding his venture upon the business of farming as clearly experimental, after twenty years of military life. In 1826 he had his own dwelling house erected, but he did not occupy the place with his family until 1829. at which time he resigned the office of receiver, moving to Experiment, where he spent the remainder of his life, devoted exclusively to agricultural pursuits. He soon made Ex- V periment "blossom as the rose," the place becoming the largest and best improved and cultivated farm in this section of Missouri. Half a mile south of the Salt Fork, near where the points of the ridges of rolling prairie reach down to the water's edge, and the fringes of young timber lining the banks of the creek, he had surveyed and divided a plot of forty acres near the center of this large tract, for the site of his residence, negro quarters, stables, barns and other outbuildings. The plot of prairie was drained by a ravine through the middle, drawing off the water from a bold and permanent spring rising at the foot of the hill, on the north side of the ravine, the course being from west to east, falling into the Salt Fork. The enclosure on the south side of the gradual declivity extending down to the spring branch of five acres, embracing the yird around the residence; to the east immediately adjoining, separated by a sod fence, was an equal area devoted to a garden and nursery for young trees. Three hundred yards to the north, across the spring branch, were built two parallel rows of double cabins for the negroes, adjoining which in the east was the overseer's house; the intervening space being studded with a growth of black locust. Around the yard were double rows of cottonwood and honey locust, the yard itself being shaded with forest trees, oak, ash, elm, box elder, etc., interming-led with a variety of evergreens. The garden of four or five acres was divided into equal squares, separated by broad walks, bordered with flowers, the walks always kept clean and clear of grass or weeds. One-fourth of the garden was devoted to flowers, always kept in a perfect state of cultivation and order. The garden and yard at Experiment were the delight, above all other localities, of the writer in the middle of the last century, when he can first recollect seeing them. At that time, the shade and ornamental trees having had the growth of twenty years or more, had obtained considerable size - the cottonwoods had become thirty or forty feet high, and they, together with the other varieties of shade and ornamental trees, cast in the summer a grateful shadow over the bluegrass sward of the entire yard, and at the same time forming the abode and nesting place of innumerable birds - songsters, whose cadences were wafted the livelong day through the foliage by the winds from the great stretch of prairie adjoining, stretching out to the west as far as the eye could reach. It would seem now that the memories of Experiment, impressed upon me in my childhood, are never to fade from my recollection, though more than half a century has elapsed.

From the time General Smith made his permanent residence at Experiment to the beginning of the Civil war, after the General's death in 1844^ the place was owned by his only surviving son. Dr. Crawford E. Smith, and at that period the author frequently enjoyed the noted hospitality and good living of the house. There was never any lack of house servants, at all times in readiness. At least two cooks, two waiting maids, a dining room waiter, a carriage driver, whose business it was to look after the driving and riding horses ; a gardener, and a man to feed and care for the dogs, and in addition to these, an unusually well qualified man servant, whose duty it was to wait upon any gentlemen visitors.

If the visitor at Experiment was from a distance and disposed to take part in the deer drive, he was furnished with horse and gun and other accoutrements of a complete hunter's equipment. There was a small armory of guns and pistols of various kinds kept in a room built for that particular purpose and the arms under the care of one of the servants.

place in the first half of the last century, nine-tenths of the country being open l)rairie. with skirts of timber along the streams and scattered clumps of Inrush and thickets here and there over the open land.

General Smith was a lover of horses and dogs, always having a pack of thirty or forty deer hounds, besides coursing and bird dogs. When I was a boy, it was an interesting sight when the dogs w^ere fed in a long trough for that purpose, the food being usually corn meal mush. A great deal of the General's time was devoted to the planting and culture of fruit and ornamental trees, having his own nursery for starting the trees, himself superintending the culture, grafting, etc., and in the course of a few years he had the o-reatest variety and most extensive orchard in this section of the state, in addition to a general assortment*, of evergreen and exotics. Some of the yellow pines set out by him. now (1909) are perhaps eighty feet high and two feet in diameter. Adjoining the old garden, there are yet pecan, chestnut and mulberry trees set out by him, which are large, flourishing trees, besides white pine, hemlocks, spruce, locusts, and innumerable cedars, monuments of good taste and foresight.

Here on this farm General Smith spent the last fifteen years of his life, dying in 1844, at the age of sixty-three. After resigning the ofiice of receiver, he w^as never a candidate for office, nor made any effort to become a popular leader; on the contrary, he maintained the reserve and perhaps hauteur . of the military officer acquired by long habit. He and his wife lie buried in the family graveyard on the fann, the location having been designated by him before his death, a beautiful and appropriate locality near the public highway. Tw^o thousand acres of the original tract entered by General Smith nows in 1909, belong to his grandchildren.

A grandson, owning that part, has donated to the Presbyterian church about five acres of land, including the family cemetery, for a churchyard and cemetery, and on this land there has recently been erected a handsome stone church, erected mainly through and by the family, the land, however, being donated in perpetuity to the congregation of the Presbyterians organized in that locality, to be managed and controlled by a board of trustees, thus insuring for the future the care and protection of the family graveyard, and at the same time the church forming a lasting memorial to their grandfather, the original owner of the soil.

Claiborne Fox Jackson

g'rew up, and on reaching his majority became a handsome, athletic and energetic man of six feet in height and remarkably well proportioned.

Young Jackson migrated to Missouri in 1825, settling at Old Franklin, Howard county, in 1826, finding employment there as a clerk in a store. He formed a co-partnership a year or two afterwards and bought out his employers, conducting the establishment for some years afterwards. He proved successful as a mercantile man, being a very fine penman and an extraordinary accountant and bookkeeper, attaining in <ifter years, it was said, the accuracy in figures of an adding machine of the present day. It was said of him that no matter how long a column of figures was submitted for addition, his accuracy was such in addition that he never missed the total. He established a branch store at Arrow Rock in 1830, becoming himself a resident of that place.

In 1836 Mr. Jackson was a candidate and was elected to represent Saline county in the Legislature. Under VanBuren's administration, he held the office of postmaster at Arrow Rock. Some years afterwards he moved his residence to Howard county, being chosen cashier of the bank at Fayette, which position he acceptably filled for several years, and here, while a resident of Howard county, he was first elected to the House of Representatives, and subsequently thereafter senator from that senatorial district. In the session of 1849 he introduced into the Senate a set of resolutions on the subject of slavery, which ever afterwards bore the name of "Jackson Resolutions," and afterwards he advocated them with such force and eloquence as to secure their passage and adoption b}- both houses of the Legislature. These resolutions gave him great prominence throughout the entire state, if not the entire country. He remained a resident of Howard county until after the death of his father-in-law. Dr. John Sappington, in 1855, when he moved back to Saline county, to the farm formerly owned by Doctor Sappington.

Shortly afterwards, Mr. Jackson became a candidate for Congress, but suffered defeat. In i860 he was nominated by the Democratic party as its candidate for governor, being elected by a handsome majority, notwithstanding he had three other candidates opposing- him. He was inaug'urated governor of the state just as the clouds of civil war were rising in the political horizon, peace and quiet soon afterwards vanishing from the state for the four years following. Governor Jackson liad had no military training or war experience, and it was a new thing which he entered upon with great hesitancy and reluctance, but he was a state's rights man and politician, believing that the states had some right which the national government was bound to respect and that he was under obligations as governor of the state to pursue the course he afterwards undertook in an effort to prevent the invasion of the state by the federal troops. The event and termination is a matter of history known to all.

Governor Jackson thought it would be cowardly and disgraceful to quietly submit to federal power, which he knew was to be enforced by people hostile and unfriendly to the interests of the people of Missouri, who had elected him. Therefore, he felt obliged to make resistance at all hazards.

Governor Jackson died, after a lingering illness, December 6, 1862, in the state of Arkansas, near the capital, Little Rock. His family, consisting of his widow, two daughters and a son surviving him, returned to Missouri after the close of the war. In 1867 his remains were removed and reinterred in the Sappington cemetery in this county, and marked by a suitable gravestone.

Governor Jackson's only surviving son, Col. William S. Jackson, was born at Arrow Rock the 13th of July, 1834. He was mainly educated at Fayette, but afterwards, taking a course at the University of Virginia, studied law, but never practiced, following the life of a farmer in Saline county until his father became governor. He was appointed his private secretary, for which position he was admirably fitted and qualified. Entering the military service in 1 861, he was commissioned aide-de-camp for the Sixth Military District, with the rank of colonel, accompanying his father and the army to southwestern Missouri. From Arkansas, going on to Richmond, Virginia, he received a commission as recruiting officer for the Partisan Rangers, being assigned to Missouri, and under which commission he operated during the entire war in Missouri and Arkansas. He surrendered at the close of the war to Colonel Denny in Howard county, but was afterwards considerably annoyed and harrassed by the then existing civil authority.

Colonel Jackson possessed a striking and distinguished personality, graceful and attractive". He was the most popular man in the county, having strong friends and supporters among all sorts and classes of people, being afterwards elected circuit clerk in spite of every determined opposition from other candidates. He married in 1866, and died during the year 1880. His death terminated a career which promised to attain much higher official position in the future owing to his overwhelming popularity and ability, and was greatly regretted by the people of Saline county, where he was esteemed and admired by most everybody.

Judge W. B. Napton, who had been a resident of Saline county for forty years, died at his old home on the 8th of January, 1883. Although not a member of the supreme court at that time, his long service having ended on the 1st of January, 1880, yet the bar of the city of St. Louis assembled and prepared a memorial upon his death, which contains a suitable and correct sketch of the man, lawyer and judge, which we are content to transfer from the Seventy-sixth Missouri Reports, where it was printed by order of the supreme court, the memorial being as follows :

"The bar of the city of St. Louis assembled in the court house on the 20th day of January, 1883, to hear the report of the committee, consisting of the Hon. John H. Wickham, Hon. Samuel T. Glover, Hon. James O. Broadhead, Hon. Albert Todd and Hon. George A. Madill, appointed at a previous meeting to prepare and present a suitable memorial upon the death of the late Hon. William B. Napton. The Hon. Thomas T. Gantt was chairman, and Thomas K. Skinker, Esquire, secretary.

''William Barclay Napton was born at Princeton, New Jersey, on the 23d day of March, 1808, and died at Elk Hill, his residence in Saline county, Missouri, on the 8th day of January, 1883. He graduated at Princeton College in 1826. The faculty of that institution declined to discriminate between William B. Napton, Joseph Addison Alexander nnd Peter McCall, and divided among these three the first honors of the class. Each of these were highly distinguished in later life.

"Young Napton on graduating suddenly found himself reduced to his own resources. Up to that time his father had educated him, but then sustained reverses which disabled him from doing more. Just at this time the professor of theology at Princeton received a letter from General Gordon, near Charlottesville, Virginia, inquiring after a private tutor. He immediately recommended Mr. Napton and advised him tO' accept the position. His advice was followed, and the subject of our remarks proceeded to the residence of General Gordon, where and at Charlottesville he spent about six years, part of the time as a private tutor for General 'Gordon's family, part of the time conducting, together with Charles Minor, an academy at Charlottesville, the chief function of which was to be a preparatory school of the University of Virginia, and himself engaged during the whole period in prosecuting the study of the law and modern languages at that universit}-. He enjoyed at Charlottesville and its vicinity a society of unusual brilliancy. Mr. Jefferson was but lately dead. Mr. Madison survived and lived in what was considered the neighborhood. General Gordon was a distinguished lawyer and member of Congress. At his house, some fifteen miles from Charlottesville, Napton was accustomed to meet Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Thomas Walker Gilmer, William C. Rives, Philip Barbour and others, to say nothing- of the scholarly faculty of the University of Virginia. Nowhere in the countrv could superior (it is hard to say where equal) social advantages have been found.

"Young Napton was necessarily much influenced by the political opinions of these men. He naturally became a member of the strict-construction, state's rights school, whose leading and perhaps undeniable tenet is that the federal government has only such powers as are conferred upon it expressly. by the terms of the federal constitution, coupled with another and much more questionable article of faith, viz : That the state Legislatures, except so far as expressly restrained by the prohibition of the federal constitution and the organic law of the several states respectively, possess all the powers exercised immemoriallv by the parliament of Great Britain.

"In the year 183 1 Mr. Napton was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Virginia, and in 1832 he came to Missouri, settling in Columbia, but soon removing to Fayette, Howard county. This was at that time the political center oi the state. He made the acquaintance of some of the leading men residing- there, and the remarkable clearness and vigor of his style commended him strongly to such celebrities as Governor who urged him to take charge of a journal at Fayette, to be called the Boniislick Ga.acttc. He ccmiplied with the request and the ability with which he conducted that paper is still spoken of in that region. In 1834 he was elected secretary of the State Senate. In 1836 Governor Boggs appointed him his attorney-general. Laying aside thereupon the duties of journalism, he continued as attorney-general until 1839, when he was appointed to a seat on the bench of the supreme court, and from that time was absorbed in his judicial duties. In 1 85 1 a constitutional amendment made the judiciaiT elective in Missouri. ^Jlie first election was held in August, 1851, and he failed to be chosen. We are in danger of forgetting- that at that day it was reg'arded as unbecomingfor a person willing" to serve the state as a judge, and especially as a judge of her highest court, to solicit the place by any electioneering arts. Neither party then ventured to nominate candidates for the bench. A preference was expressed, mainly, if not exclusively, by the l)ar in different quarters i^f the state, for this or that jurist, and an inquiry was made whether he would, if chosen, accept the duties of the office. In this manner Judge Napton was among the persons voted for in August, 1851, but, as before stated, he failed to be elected. The popular choice fell on Judge Hamilton R. Gamble, of St. Louis William Scott, of Cole, and John F. Ryland, of Lafayette.

"Judge Napton returned to the practice of law and was engaged in a number of the most important cases pending before the court, the bench of which he liad so recently adorned. At the general judicial election m 1857 he was. without solicitation and without nomination, elected to a seat on that bench, and his labors re-commenced at the October term of that year. He remained on the bench, laboriously performing- the duties of the office until, owing- to political complications, he and his colleag-ues were displaced by the act of the state convention in 1861. His last decision in that year is reported at page 411 of 31 Missouri Reports, but a number of opinions pre- ])ared by him, though not delivered, were adopted as the views of the court which was appointed to succeed him and his colleagues, and appear in subse- ([uent volumes of our decisions.

"In 1863 Judge Napton removed to St. Louis and opened an office for the practice of his profession. At that time St. Louis w^as almost the only place in the state where the civil courts were open. Without parade, he. took his place among the St. Louis bar, all of the older members of which were well acquainted with his force. He took charge of none but important cases, but of these he had a large share, and was actively and profitably employed, professionally, for the ensuing- ten years.

"On the 2 1 St of June, 1873, one of the members of the supreme court died almost as suddenly as if he had been the victim of a fatal accident. On receiving the intelligence. Governor Woodson waited only for the grave to close over the deceased, and on the 24th of June appointed Judge Xapton to the vacant place. His letter, seen by some of us on the day it was received in St. Louis, informed Judge Xapton that he had, without solicitation and without even knowing that the commission he enclosed would be accepted, anticipated what he knew was the unanimous sentiment of the bar of Missouri. We wish to emphasize this incident, for in the Fifty-second Missouri Reports it is erroneously stated that Judge Ewing died on the 2d and that Judge Napton was commissioned on the 24th of June, 1873.

"Judge Napton's tastes led him to prefer the bench to the bar, but he could not without a pecuniary sacrifice accept this commission. His first impulse was to return it with thanks to Governor Woodson, but the urgency of manv of his friends, members of the bar of St. Louis, decided him to accept.the appointment. In 1874 he was elected for the remainder of the term of Judge Ewing, and continued on the bench until the" 31st of December, 1880. He survived his retirement only a few days more than two years.

"\\'hen we state that of forty-one years, ending December 31. 1880, Judge Xapton spent twenty-five on the bench, and that his labors appear in thirty-six of the sixty volumes of the State Reports issued after his appointment and before his final retirement, we have given no adequate idea of his public services. He brought to the supreme court a mind weU stored with the principles of jurisprudence. His clear, patient, penetrating and discriminating intellect enabled him to fix with nicety upon the point of every controversy. It was a pleasure to him to examine every record as far as possible by the light of the discussions and adjudications of earlier jurists; and when, as frequently occurred, the cjuestions presented were of the first impression, to apply to them logically the principles of legal science. He did not affect to know all the law of a case the moment the statement of it was made. It may almost be said that he was too patient in listening to vapid discourses on a point respecting which no lawyer could doubt, but the failing was on the right side in a court of last resort.

''The language in which he gave to the bar the results of his reflections upon a case discussed by the advocates on each side, and by the judges themselves in council, w'as almost absolutely perfect. It was clear, simple, forcible, and without the smallest infusion of the oratorical display. In this respect his opinions are models. Sometimes a case of atrocious fraud would be laid bare by the evidence, and to this he would unsparingly apply the law ; but he never resorted to denunciation. He did not shrink from giving to any conduct on which it was his duty as judge to animadvert that place in the category of offenses which the law and the evidence assigned to it, but he went no further. He gave to no one the chance of thinking or saying that he had gone out of his way to make a personal attack. When he dissented from the majority of his brethren he contented himself with stating temperately, concisely and clearly the reason of his non-concurrence, and many of these dissenting opinions became in a few years the view of the whole court when the same legal propositions were a second time examined.

"It is superfluous to speak of the spotlessness of Judge Napton's character. During his busy life no colorable charge was ever brought against him. He despised all resort to unworthy arts and never stooped to them. It has been shown how far he was from soliciting what are usually considered honors. He knew his own worth ; was honestly proud of it ; was well aware that in consenting to sen^e as one of her judges he laid an obligation on the state, at the cost of a personal sacrifice, and disdained to appear as a mendicant for an office, which, unless conferred spontaneously, is the reverse of an honorable distinction.

"Judge Napton did not pride himself upon the rapidity of his work. He preferred to hold up as long as possible the final sentence in any case admitting of doubt. This was not due to indolence. No better proof of this could be given than the mass of undelivered opinions left in the files of the court when he was displaced in 1861. He had heard and considered the cases in which these opinions were prepared ; had given form to his views of the law upon them ; but instead of emulously adding them to the list of cases alreadydecided by him, he reserved them for the possible "sober second thought" of the vacation. This practice has its evils. Delays in the administration of justice is a serious evil; but when a pause is made only to make sure that the next step is planted on firm ground, it is vindicated in the eyes of all rational men. An eminent judge of England took as his motto Sat cito sat tuto. We do not know that Judge Napton adopted this maxim as the guide of his judicial conduct, but he certainly conformed himself to it.

"The Judge's judicial services are not easily computed. He has given to our jurisprudence, especially that branch of it which concerns land titles, decisions of incalculable value. On every branch of commercial law, too, he has shed the light of his clear mind ; and he has given to all who succeed him an example of patient, unflagging, impartial attention, and most thorough research. His demeanor was generally grave; always so on the bench. When freed from toil of judicial duty he was affable, but in no sense did he cultivate the arts of popularity. He sought public approval by the quiet, conscientious and thorough performance of his duties. It has been said that he belonged to the political state's rights school. He showed the sincerity of his principles by preferring the service of the state to the more highly salaried offices of the federal government. And every one must see that the welfare of every state is intimately connected with the entertainment of this preference.

"Missouri has had but a meagre share of the judicial offices in the gift of the federal government, but she has had good cause to be proud of her own judiciary. It embraces names not easily matched, and none of them is brighter than that of our lately deceased brother. One characteristic we think we may claim for our judges: that of uprightness, justice and inflexible honesty. Of course we do not refer to the mere quality of personal honesty, for that we hope would confer no special distinction on any court. We mean that steady discountenance of unconstitutionally dishonest legislation, and of fraud in all its shapes and however ingeniously disguised, which we consider characteristic of the supreme court of Missouri. Some instances of rulings on the first subject - unconstitutionally dishonest legislation, throwing delays in the way of collecting just debts - occurred in 1822 and 1835. The example thus set was followed by Judges Napton, Scott and Ewing in 1 86 1. It is impossible without intolerable prolixity to collate the cases in which he and his colleagues have discharged the other branch of their duty - have rel)ukc(l and punished fraud, and impressed on tlie people of Missouri the lesson of lofts- and unhending morality. The ,i^rave has closed over this distinguished man, of whom it may emphatically be said that he was bene meritiis de rcpuhUca. He has an abiding claim to the gratitude of the state, and his memory cannot fail to be cherished by her bench and bar, for no one can claim to be even tolerably conversant with her jurisprudence who is not familiar with the contributions made to it by William B. Napton.

"The facts stated in these resolutions were collected by a committee appointed by that meeting, together with the chairman, Judge Gantt, from such data as they had access to at the time; and give a fair outline of the intellectual career of this great jurist.

"All that can be said of him in that aspect of his long and useful life, has been said, and may be summed up in these few words, viz : That he had an earnest, intense and ever present desire to see justice done between man and man ; and never wronged a suitor, or perverted a principle in the whole course of his judicial career. Thirty-six volumes of the Missouri Reports contain his opinions delivered while on the supreme bench, and form a monument more lasting than marble or bronze.

"It may not be out of place to say a few words about the private life and character of this eminent man. It is strange and mortifying to think how soon the facts relating to the lives and career of our most distinguished men seem to fade from the public mind in this age of so-called progress.

"It is said that republics are tingrateful, and it may be true, for however long and valuable a man's services may be to the state, when he can serve it no longer he is turned loose to pine away and die, like an old horse on a common, and his memory buried in oblivion, passes from the minds of men.

"He was married in 1839, to Miss Meliiida Williams, a daughter of Judge Thomas L. Williams, who was for many years chancellor of eastern Tennessee and judge of the supreme court of that state, one of whose brothers was for a long time a representative in Congress from North Carolina, and another in the Senate of the United States from Tennessee, and United States minister to Spain. Her grandfather. Col. Joe Williams, commanded a regiment at the 1)attles of Kings Mountain and Guilford Court House. Coming- from this distinguished family, brilliant in intellect, and charming in person, Miss \Mlliams was in every respect the equal, if not the superior, of her young and talented husband, then just rising into prominence as the attorney-general of this state. She was on a visit to her aunt, the wife of Gen. Thomas A. Smith, at his farm 'Experiment,' in Saline county, Missouri, when she first met and captivated the heart and fancy of the risingyoung jurist. They were married on the 27th of March. 1838, at the residence of Richard Shelby. Esq., a son of Governor Shelby of Kentucky, and the husband of the bride's eldest sister.

"Ten children were born of this happy marriarge, nine sons and one daughter, all of whom are still alive. Fi^-e of these sons have gone west and seek their fortunes on the mountains and plains of Montana; one is a lawyer in Kansas City, and one in St. Louis. The daughter is married to E. D. Montague and lives in Marshall, Saline county, and the youngest son carries on the farm and resides at the family residence, 'Elk Hill' in Saline county, Missouri, that beloved spot to which the Judge ( jcim iiiorifurus) retreated with that instinct which seems to lead man. in common with the lower animals, to the home of his youth when the vital powers are failing, and when he, like 'the stricken deer, in some secpestered park, lies down to die, the arrow in his heart.'

"On December 31, 1862, in the darkest hour of the great civil war which deluged this once happy country with blood. Judge Napton had the misfortune to lose his wife, the faithful partner of hisi joys and sorrows, and the mother of his young and helpless children. This was a cruel blow to him. From this time till his death he was a sadder and lonely man. and to use his own language, 'Henceforth he lived in the memories of the past, not forgetting the duties of the present.'

"It was soon after this sad bereavement that he niox'ed to St. Louis and my acquaintance with him begun. He was then a pleasant, gentle and silent companion, full of memories of the past generation and well informed upon all the current topics of the day. When he would visit his old friends,

Thomas Skinker or Dr. George Penn, in St. Louis county, it was frequently my fortune to he with him. when with these old friends of his youth, he seemed to snatch a momentary joy, and to 'breathe a second spring.' But he soon relapsed into his customary mood and there was always a tinge of sadness in his manner, which was grave, dignified and silent.

"On his last visit to St. Louis in the summer of 1882, he was at my house in St. Louis county, and I thought I saw then that a change was coming over him. He would sit silent and still for hours, with a far-off look in his eyes, that I had never observed before, and I wondered often 'of what was the old man dreaming, as he sat in the old armchair;' was he dreaming of his early struggles and triumphs at the bar; or of his long and painful labors on the supreme bench; or of his ruined and desolate home; his wife dead, the light of his life extinquished, his boys scattered far and wide over the great West, and he left lonely in the world ; or was he dreaming of that sad scene when, old and covered with the toil and dust of twenty-five years spent in the service of the state he had loved so well, it ignored his last silent appeal and cast him forth unheeded to die of old age and neglect, 'Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.'

"God grant that he may have been spared these bitter reflections, and that his end may have been as calm and peaceful as his spirit was meek and gentle.

"In the dark days succeeding the death of his beloved wife, when the cloud of civil war lowered over the land from Maine to Georgia, when men's hearts failed them, and all seemed lost, his thoughts were lifted from earth toward heaven, and, bowing his proud intellect before the throne of his Maker, he was received into the bosom of his kind old mother, the Episcopal church. Here, under the ministration of his friend, the Rev. Dr. E. Carter Hutchinson, with the meekness and simplicity of a child, he attained that calm altitude from which the earth and all things earthly were dwarfed into insignificance. In this faith and in this frame of mind he died; and let us hope that, like the 'pure in spirit,' he shall see God. Reqiiiescat in pace."

Thomas L. Napton, the second son of Judge Napton, after serving through the Civil war in General Forrest's command, returned home in 1865, renewed the study of law, and in 1866 located in Montana territory to practice. He was very successful in the practice for more than twenty years, until his death at Butte on the 2d of November, 1888. At his death, the Montana Bar Association adopted a memorial resolution reciting that :

"He was a lawyer of profound learning, a friend whose loyalty knew no diminution, a gentleman whose courtesy attracted all persons, a citizen of high integrity, and a man who permitted no circumstance or event to separate his affection from his brethren of the bar. Of a character which was the admiration of his fellow citizens, of an amiability which attached his acquaintances to him as a friend, of a research which was a high example to lawyers and scholars, of a modesty which permitted no conceit, and of many noble traits of personal character ; he was respected by the courts, dear to his colleagues, admired by all who knew him, and we proudly testify to his lofty purpose in every ambition and event of his life. So long as gratitude for professional fidelity shall endure, so long as we shall appreciate the stability and solidity of human character, so long as men shall strive to improve the administration of public justice, the memory of our brother will endure."

Two sons. Welling Napton and H. P. Napton, are at present (1909) practicing lawyers in the state of Montana, the first mentioned at Missoula and the latter at Butte. His son, Charles M. Napton, practiced law in the city of St. Louis for more than thirty years. His death occurred in 1907. Four other sons engaged in agriculture are residents of Oregon and Idaho, namely : John Napton and Louis W. Napton in Oregon, and James S. Napton and Frank Napton in Idaho.

Adjutant-General Of Missouri

General Bingham was born near Wier's Cave, Augusta county, Virginia, March 20, 181 1, and died at Kansas City, Missouri, July 7, 1879. When he was eighteen years of age, his family came to Missouri, settling at Franklin, Howard county. The family embraced besides the parents, seven children, three daughters and four sons, George C. being the second son. His father died in 1823, and his mother moved with her family to a small farm near the Arrow Rock in Saline county. A venture in the tobacco business made by the father had proved unfortunate, and the little farm in Saline county, worked by the sons, was the only support of the family. The children of the family were dependent for the most part for their education upon their mother.

At the age of sixteen years. George C. was bound as an apprentice to a cabinetmaker in Boonville. A portrait painter came to the little town of Boonville, and young Bingham, who had already exhibited some skill in drawing, had awakened in him an impulse to become an artist. His efforts were encouraged and in 1837 he went to Philadelphia and studied in the

Pennsylvania .\caclemy of JMiie Arts. Three years later he went to Washini^-ton Cit\- and opened a studio, and during the five years he hved there he painted the portraits of a numljer of distinguished men. among them ex-President John Quincy Adams, at that time a member of the House of Representatives. His name and fame were now estabhshed and he became known as "The Missouri Artist." In 1845 he returned to his old home in Saline county, where he was warmly received b}' his friends, who were proud of the reputation he had gained.

About this time Mr. Bingham painted portraits of many of the prominent people of Saline county, some of which are yet preserved. He was accustomed to taking an active interest in politics,* and in 1846 he became a Whig candidate for the Legislature, when he was elected by a majority of three votes. He was also elected a member of the House in 1848, where he ser\-ed with distinction and ability, particularly in his opposition to the adoption of the "Jackson Resolutions," which had been introduced by Claiborne F. Jackson, senator from Howard comity.

After his legislative experience in Saline, General Bingham returned to his profession as an artist, when he was the author of many famous paintings, among them "The Jolly Flatboatmen," "The County Election," "The Stump Speaking," and many others. In 1856 he visited Europe and devoted three years to the assiduous cultivation of his art in Duesseldorf. Returning home as the Civil war was coming on, with prompt decision he avowed himself a Union man, raising a company for the Federal service. His company was attached to Colonel Mulligan's command at Lexington, and was included in the capture of the garrison at that place by Gen. Sterling Price in September, 1861. Shortly afterwards he was appointed state treasurer by Provisional Governor Gamble.

When General Ewing commanded the Federal forces in the district of Kansas City, he issued Order No. 11 of August 25, 1863, ordering the depopulation of Cass, Jackson, Bates and part of Vernon counties, Bingham vehemently denounced the measure as oppressive, cruel, unwarranted and unnecessary. Three years later, after the peace, he immortalized the

* General Bingham's success and reputation as an artist were considerably marred and diminished by his inordinate hankering for politics while he lived here in Saline. He was continually taking an active part between the old Whigs and Democrats, and, removing to Jackson county after the Civil war, he was several times a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Congress, but here he was unsuccessful in his political aspirations. The only office he held after the Civil war was that of adjutant-general of the state, to which he was appointed by his old-time Whig friend and associate, Governor Charles H. Hardin.

scenes whicli attended the execution of Order Xo. 1 1 on canvas. He also painted fiill-Iength portraits of Washington. JelTerson and Clay, and the equestrian tigures of General Jackson and General Lyon to be seen in the state capitol at Jefferson City.

(leneral Bingham was a very able and caustic writer as well as a gifted artist, and this faculty was frequently exhibited in controversies with other public men in Missouri. In fact, he might properly be called the "Missouri Junius" as well as the "^lissouri Artist." General Bingham was the soul of honor, upright, liberal, gentle and true in all his relations, a companion whose society ne\-er wearied his friends,, and whom they loved with con-

Dr. Matthew W. Hall

Doctor Hall was native of WashingtcMi county, Kentucky, bom there in 18 1 7, and was a son of Nathan Hall, a famous Presbyterian preacher. In 1820 his father moved to near Lexington, Kentucky, remaining there until his son Matthew was twent}- }ears of age. In the spring of 1837 he moved from Kentucky to Illinois, settling at Salem, where he lived for eight years, practicing his profession. In February, 1845, he moved from Salem, Illinois, to Arrow Rock. Saline county, where he continued to practice medicine for twelve years. In the year 1857 he moved to his farm in Salt Fork township, on which he lived the balance of his life, dying there in 1894.

Doctor Hall was educated and graduated in medicine at the Transylvanian L'niversity, Lexington, Kentucky. In 1839. while living at Salem, Illinois, he was married to Agnes J. Lester, of Charlotte county, Virginia, and reared a family of eleven children, namely : Dr. C. Lester Hall, of Kansas City ; ^^^ Ewing Hall, now deceased ; Dr. John R. Hall, of Marshall ; Mrs. Louisa Trigg, of Boonville ; Matthew W. Hall. Jr.. living in Saline county; Dr. Thomas B. Hall, who owns and occupies the old family residence; Florida, now the wife of the Hon. Dorsey \\\ Shackelford, at present member of Congress from the eighth district, now serving his sixth term, and the youngest. Miss Efifie, now the wife of Mr. Glover, of Kansas City.

At an early age Dr. Hall became a member of the old-school Presbyterian church, maintaining- his church relationships and Christian character throughout his life. He was also an Ancient Free and Accepted Mason, and at his death had been a member of the Arrow Rock Lodge for over fort)' years.

being an earnest Southern man, warmly supported all the war measures proposed by Governor Jackson and attended the called session of the Legislature at Neosho. ^Vfter the Civil war, in 1874, Doctor Hall was again elected by the Democracy to represent Saline in the Legislature. In his public service, Doctor Hall always acquitted himself with credit and the approbation of his constituents. Li truth, no better man than Dr. M. W. Hall ever lived in Saline county. It may be said that he was universally popular and highly esteemed as a physician and as a citizen wherever he was known in the state. He died November 19, 1894, and was buried in Ridge Park cemetery, Marshall, Missouri.

Gen. Richard C. Vaughan

Richard C. Vaughan was born in Goochland county, Virginia, July 30, 18 1 3. He grew to manhood in his native county, where he received" a liberal education. He read law and was licensed to practice by the court of appeals of Virginia. He practiced three years in Virginia, and in 1839 came to Missouri. He made the long journey in wagons, starting a few months after his marriage, in Richmond, Virginia, to Margaret McNaught, a native of Scotland, whom he met while on a visit to her relatives in this county. He settled first in Glasgow, Howard county, where he practiced his profession two years. In 1842 he removed to Saline county on a farm about six miles northwest of Slater, and for fifteen years was a farmer. Among his neighbors at that early day were William and Samuel Wheeler, Daniel Hickersoh, James Jones, William Wolfskill, Benjamin Graves, Edward Garnett, Capt. C. P. Bondurant, Judge McDaniel, Pinkerton Booker, Robert Y. Thompson and others.

In 1857 Mr. Vaughan went to Lexington. From 1858 to 1861 he edited the Lexington Express, and advocated the principles of the old Whig party. In the Civil war he espoused the Union cause and went into the Federal service. He acted as aid to Colonel Mulligan, with whom he was surrendered at the battle of Lexington. He was paroled by General Price, Avent to Washington City in 1861, and returned in 1862, when he was appointed clerk of the circuit court. The following August he was commissioned brigadier-general for the Tenth Military District, and remained in the service till the close of the war. He was appointed United States asses- "sor of the revenue district in 1866, but held this position only a short time, the United States Senate refusing to confirm his appointment on account of his conservative principles. He acted with the Democratic party after the war, and did all in his power to overthrow the corrupt and tyrannical prin- ciples of the Republican party as manifested in the "Drake Constitution," and with men hke Frank P. Blair, Samuel T. Glover, Gratz Brown, George C. Bingham, James S. Rollins, etc., he stood for the complete restoration to every citizen of all rights enjoyed before tire war.

The most prominent trait in General Vaughan's character was the Godlike one of forgiveness. Living through the tempestuous days of the Civil war and being a man of decided convictions, he had his enemies as well as friends; but he had no enemies he would not have gladly gone more than half way to be reconciled to if he thought they deserved his friendship, and to bestow a favor or render assistance to those who disliked him was his greatest pleasure. Many who thought him a foe found him a friend. He died in 1889.

John G. Miller

One of the most distinguished congressmen of Missouri and this congressional district, about the middle of the last century, was John G. Miller. He lived at Boonville, but he first settled in this county when he came to Missouri with his father. Gen. William Miller, moving here from Kentucky in 1837, and settling on a farm in the southern part of the county, seven miles south of Marshall.

Mr. Miller was a native of Boyle county, Kentucky, where he was born, the 29th day of November, 1812. He graduated at Center College, at Danville, and subsequently studied law. Moving to Missouri, he located temporarily in Saline county, moving to Boonville, where he commenced the practice of his profession, about the year 1840. He met with rare professional success, soon enjoying an extensive practice.

In year 1850 Mr. Miller became the candidate of the Whig party for Congress, and was elected over his opponent, James S. Green, the Democratic candidate, who had been a member of Congress and was afterwards, in 1857, elected United States senator. Green was generally admitted to be the strongest and ablest stump speaker in the state. Miller was his opponent in two campaigns, in which he defeated him, which is almost conclusive evidence of Miller's great ability as a canvasser himself.

Mr. Blaine, in his Memoirs of the United States Senate, says of Mr. Green, senator from Missouri, "As a debater in the Senate, he may have had equals, but certainly no superior."

John G. Miller, being a Whig, must have been an extraordinarily good campaigner to have defeated Green in two successive congressional campaigns, in a district created by a Democratic Legislature, Miller served two sessions in Congress, and had been elected for the third time when his death occurred. Bv that time he had become an exceedingly able and influential meml)er of the House of Representatives - in fact, had acquired such standino- there as it was said would have insured his election as speaker in the session of 1854 and 1855. when such a long contest for that office occurred, had he been able to be present during that session. No speaker was elected for over a month after Congress convened, the contest between Whigs, Democrats and Abolitionists resulting in the election of Penington, of Pennsylvania.

John G. Miller was married in Saline county on the 31st day of May. 1841. to Margaret Williams, at the residence of her sister, Mrs. R. P. Shelby. Subsequent to his marriage, he took up his residence at Boonville, having a family of five children. He was a man of first-class ability and splendid character and of remarkable popularity. As a candidate before the people, he was almost invincible. He was also equally strong and popular in the House of Representatives at Washington, and while there was a particular friend and companion of Daniel Webster. Mr. Webster developed a special regard and friendship for him.

The author of this history can mainly recollect the Hon. John G. Miller as a companion in the deer driving of that period, a sport in which he took particular delight and pleasure. Every fall of the year he made regular visits to this county for the special purpose of deer hunting, joining in the sport with his cousin, Thomas W. Gaines, who was the leading deer hunter and most successful sportsman in the county. Mr. Gaines kept a fine pack of deer hounds and was always ready for a hunt in the deer season. One was always sure to get venison when hunting with him.

John G. Miller died on the first day of May, 1855, at his father's residence in this county. The ravages of consumption prevented his attendance in Congress in the winter of 1854-55, and he was carried off by the destructive disease, consumption, during the spring of the latter year.

Thomas Crutchfield Duggins

Central Missouri, and particularly Saline count)', was settled bv immigrants mostly from Virginia and Tennessee. These states were originally settled by English, the Puritan and Cavalier types of civilization, with a strong per cent, of Scotch-Irish - another type of men whom the historians of the present time love to honor, and who, through a period of several hundred years, have stood at the front with the best type of the Puritan and the best type of the Cavalier, in the advancement of the civilization of the English

The Scotch-Irish element, whether it came from North Ireland or not, or from England, or from any of the older states in North America, contributed some of the best citizens to Saline county back in the pioneer times. In their general moral make-up, their shrewd sense, their active intellect, their undaunted perseverance, their indomitable courage, their profound religious faith, their tenderness of family affection, their stanch patriotism, which have so distinguished this type of men - all these splendid qualities of humanity have suffered no degeneration from the transplanting of this race of men from the Old into the New World.

A typical representative man of the Scotch-Irish lineage among the influential pioneers of Saline county was Thomas Crutchfield Duggins, generally known as the "Old Surveyor."

Thomas Crutchfield Duggins was born in Louise county, Virginia, March 10, 18 10, and was one of twelve children. He was married in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1833, to Elizabeth White Jackson. He moved to Missouri and settled on a farm about three miles north of Columbia in Boone county, Missouri, in 1838. He traveled this entire distance in a wagon. In 1840 he moved to Saline county, Missouri, and settled on a farm east of ]\Iiami, but in 1844 he removed to his farm located three miles west of Slater, where he continuously resided until a few months prior to his death, which occurred in Marshall, Missouri, in January, 1880.

Prior to his removal to his farm near Slater Mr. Duggins was employed by the government to assist in surveying the ''Platte Purchase," and w-as afterwards elected county surveyor of Saline county, which position he held for sixteen years, and with such skill and accuracy that his surveys gave general, if not universal, satisfaction to the people. After the Civil war he was again often called into official service as an experienced aid to the county surveyors.

Col. William A. Wilson

Col. William A. \\^ilson was a native of V^irginia, being born December 17, 1807, in Augusta county. He and two elder brothers came to Missouri in 1825, locating in Howard county. He afterwards moved to this county and resided at Marshall the remainder of his life. In June, 1835. he married Mary E. Reeves, a daughter of ex-Lieutenant-Governor Reeves, of Howard county, Missouri. His famil\' consisted of five sons and two daughters.

Colonel Wilson and Judge Abiel Leonard lived in Howard county about the same time, and their wives, being sisters, a very strong, social, personal and political friendship grew up between them, which continued throughout their lives. Both of these men were staunch old-line Whigs, and after the Civil war was inaugurated they cordially supported the national government.

In 1835 Colonel Wilson was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the militia by Governor Dunklin, while he lived in Howard county. In August, 1836, he moved over to Saline, and in 1838 was elected county judge, serving with Judges Field and Brown. In February, 1850, he was appointed county and circuit clerk and ex officio recorder, in the place of John A. Trigg, resigned. In March, following, he was elected to said offices for an unexpired term extending to 1854, at which time he was re-elected, and filled these offices for a term of six years.

Under the Gamble provisional government of 1862, Colonel Wilson was appointed circuit and county clerk and in the same year was provost marshal with the rank of major. When the Seventy-fiirst Regiment of the Enrolled Missouri Federal Militia was organized, he was made lieutenantcolonel of the regiment, and after this he was probably better known at Federal headquarters of the state or national government than any other man in this county. He filled all the clerkships of the county from that time, including the place of recorder, up to the date of his death, in August, 1865.

Colonel Wilson was a lawyer by profession, and practiced that profession except while he was in office. Just before the war he was a partner of Col. T. W. B. Crews and the Hon. William H. Letcher. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, and for many years commanded the confidence of the people of Saline county, discharging faithfully all of his official duties. For nearly twenty years prior to the Civil war no man in the county was more generally known or highly respected.

It is not, perhaps, saying too much that he formed a nucleus around which the Union element of this county rallied and organized and gained strength. Colonel Wilson was faithful in all the relations of life ; as a husband, parent, friend, the same integrity of character and goodness of heart were manifested, gaining for him that respect and confidence which he possessed to an eminent degree. Colonel Wilson survived all the dangers of the Civil war, dying here at his home in ]\Iarshall, and was buried in the cemetery at Mt. Olive church, four miles south of the town.

John Locke Hardeman

One among the most intelligent and successful farmers in Saline county at an early day was John Locke Hardeman. He was a native of the state of Tennessee, born July 27, 1809. He moved to this state in 1819, accompanying his father, John Hardeman, who, with his family, settled in Howard county in 18 19. His father, being a man of wealth, refinement and culture, purchased a large tract of land in the Missouri river bottom in Howard county, opposite the mouth of the Lamine river, where he had, in addition to an extensive farm, the largest and most beautiful and handsomely arranged botanical garden in the western country, and it afterwards became famous throughout the state.

His son, John Locke Hardeman, usually called by his second name, became a citizen of Saline county about 1830, having entered a large tract of land within five miles of Arrow Rock. He was one of the most successful farmers in the county, bringing to bear in his operations rare intelligence and industry. He was one of the leading hemp raisers in the county, and, recognizing and encountering the difficulty of preparing the product for market, he was induced to exercise his inventive faculties, and about 1855 he invented and had patented a hemp breaking machine, which proved very successful and much reduced the severe labor of breaking hemp.

In 1854, Mr. Hardeman was elected to represent this county in the Legislature. ]\Ir. Hardeman never married. At his death, which occurred July 31, 1858, he had accumulated a fine estate, which was inherited by his kindred. The present village, which bears his name, being situated on a part of his land, was called for him. His brother, the late Dr. Glenn O. Hardeman, was long a prominent physician of Marshall. During the Civil war, to avoid trouble, he moved to Gray Summit, Franklin countly, where he recently died.

Governor M. M. Marmaduke

Governor Meredith M. Marmaduke was bom in ^^^estmoreland county, Virginia, in 1791. At the age of twenty-two he was commissioned colonel of the Westmoreland County Regiment, and served with it in the second war w^ith Great Britain, the war of 1812. After the war he was clerk of the county court of Westmoreland ; also United States marshal for that district. He migrated to Missouri in 1821, stopping first at Old Franklin, and three or four years afterwards embarking in the trade to Santa Fe. He was subsequently married to Lavinia Sappington, daughter of Dr. John Sappington, a native of Xashville. Tennessee. Governor Marmaduke had a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, namely: Col. Vincent Marmaduke, General and Governor John S. Marmaduke, Meredith M.. Jr., Darwin \V., Henry H., and Leslie, Mrs. Jane B. Harwood : Mrs. Sarah Yerby and Mrs. Lavinia Bruce.

Ciovernor Marmaduke engaged in the Santa Fe trade for about six years, and was verv successful. He then entered land and settled on his farm, live miles west of Arrow' Rock. He was both practical and successful as a fanner, accumulating a large fortune. He was greatly interested in agricultural pursuits and took an interest in everything affecting their welfare. He was president of the first agricultural society of this county, and also of the district fair association.

Soon after his settlement in the county Mr. Marmaduke was elected county judge, and subsequently county surveyor, and helped survey the town of Marshall at the time it was originally located in 1839. In 1840 he was elected lieutenant-governor on the Democratic ticket with Thomas Reynolds, from Howard county, as governor. The latter died during his term of office in 1844. Lienlenant-Goxernor Marmaduke succeeding to the place of governor, serving out the balance of the term with entire satisfaction to his friends and the people of the state. In 1845 li^ was elected a member of the constitutional convention to revise the organic law of the state.

\Mien the troubles of 1861 came on. Governor Marmaduke was a Union man, and opposed all movements towards secession, but he was unable to control his sons in this regard, all of whom became ultimately in sympathy with the Southern cause, and two of whom. Colonel Vincent and General [ohn S., taking a leading part in the war, the question soon becoming one of submission or resistance to the invasion of the state by the federal armies. The elder sons, Vincent and John, favored resistance after the fighting had begun, the old Governor himself remaining exceedingly quiet and non-committal, so far as the author of this history ever knew or heard. These two sons of Governor Marmaduke. Vincent and John S., were, at the beginning, divided in opinions in reference to the approaching war. For a while Vincent adhered to the Union and was elected a member of the state convention in the winter of 1861 as a Union man. John S., who was a lieutenant in the army, on sei-vice at Salt Lake City, or in New Mexico, soon resigned his place, immediately returning here to Saline county and tendering his sword and services to Governor Jackson.

Gfjvernor Marmaduke remained at his residence throughout the Civil war. He was not personally molested and had but little property destroyed.

He died on March 26. 1864, at his residence, five miles from the town of ArroAv Rock, at the age of seventy-three, with inflammation of the stomach and bowels, and was buried in the Sappington cemetery by the Freemasons, of which society he had been a member for a number of years.

Col. Vincent Marmaduke, the eldest son of M. M. Marmaduke. was laorn in Saline county, at his father's farm, in the year 1830. When a boy, by orders of his father, he was made acquainted with the mysteries of agriculture, being compelled to do all sorts of work necessarily done on a farm and calculated to develop the bodily strength. He began his education at a school taught by Mr. Boswell at old Jonesboro, about 1840, and subsequently to that he was sent to Chapel Hill Academy in Lafayette county, Missouri, attending this school two terms. Subsequently he went through a four-years course at Yale College, where he graduated in 1852 or 1853. Then he studied law and obtained a license to practice, but never engaged in professional business, devoting himself to agricultural pursuits on a splendid farm he owned a fe\y miles south of Marshall.

Colonel Marmaduke was always a very active man, both in his private business and in public affairs, being- a man of ability and of good education and acquirements. In 1861 he was elected, as a Union man, delegate to the constitutional convention, which the Legislature had authorized to be called, fully expecting that it would pass an ordinance -of secession. As to this the Legislature was very much disappointed, for there was hardly a secessionist elected to the convention throughout the whole state.

Afterwards, in 1862, Colonel Marmaduke, being suspected of disloyalty, was banished from the state and sent into the Southern lines, where he joined the Southern army and saw considerable military service. The war beingover, he returned to Missouri, some years afterwards becoming- the owner of his father's old place. He lived there eng-aging in farming for several years. In 1882 he was elected to the Legislature from this county, where he represented his people with fidelity and ability.

Col. Vincent Marmaduke was a handsome man, of fine physique, high spirited, jovial and companionable, and will long be remembered by his friends and companions. He departed this life on the 25th of March. 1904. cit Marshall, at the residence of his son-in-law. Dr. William Harrison, after a lingering illness.

The second son of Governor M. M. Marmaduke, John S. Marmaduke. was born March 14. 1843, ^^ ^^'s father's house in Saline county. Though in his boyhood his father was a large slave-holder, yet John S. was taught and accustomed to work on the farm. He was educated at a school at Jonesboro, in the first instance, subsequently at Chapel Hill Academy, in Lafayette county. At the age of seventeen, he entered Yale College, where he remained two terms; then he received an appointment as cadet in the Military Academy at West Point, where he went through the whole course, graduating in 1857. He was then assigned as lieutenant in the Seventh Infantry Regiment, and soon afterwards trudged his way across the plains, marching from Fort Leavenworth to join the army of Albert Sydney Johnston, then marching against the Mormons in the city of Salt Lake, Utah. Here, at Salt Lake City, he served two years, after which he was ordered to New Mexico. On leave of absence he returned to Missouri in 1861, and when the conflict became inevitable, he resigned his commission in the army and, after its acceptance, tendered his sei*vices to Governor Jackson. He was elected captain of the first company that w^as raised and ecjuipped in the county, marching off to Jefferson City at the call of the Governor to defend the capital. At Jefferson City, in June, 1861, he was elected colonel of a regiment, of which his company was a part. Soon afterwards Governor Jackson and his troops abandoned Jefferson City, taking up a position at Boonville. Here, on the approach of Generals Lyon and Blair, with a pretty well trained and well equipped army, composed of some regular troops and volunteers from St. Louis. Colonel Marmaduke was placed in command of the forces by Governor Jackson. General Price, commander-in-chief of the Missouri troops, being at the time sick in bed, Colonel Marmaduke thought a battle at this time should be avoided, but the captains of some of the Missouri companies insisted on making a stand and offering every resistance that w^as possible. The conflict that followed and the results have been fully explained in this volume else- W'here. Colonel Marmaduke, with the advantages of his West Point education, made a good record all through the Civil war, at the end holding a majoT-general's commission in the Confederate army.

Returning to his native state after the war closed. General Marmaduke was first elected railroad commissioner, then subsequently, in 1884, governor of the state, serving three years of his term, dying December 28, 1887. His course as governor was very acceptable to the people of Missouri, and it is often said that he was one of the best governors the state ever had. In fact, he attended strictly to the business belonging to the executive office, not going outside of this to hunt up trouble. He was buried in the cemetery at Jefferson City. At his grave the state has erected a suitable monument.

John S. Marmaduke's election as governor was a remarkable instance of the governor's chair of one state being three times filled by members of the same familjr and of residents of the same county. For although General

Marmaduke at the time of his nomination was living temporarily in St. Louis, yet being- a native of Saline county, he naturally came to this county to inaugurate his campaign. This he did, enlisting the support of his friends and relatives, securing instructions for himself at the very beginning of the campaign, showing that he regarded the friendship of the people of Saline county of vital importance to him. He considered this his home county.

Thus Saline county has had the unusual distinction of three governors of the state belonging to one family, two of them being sons-in-law, the third the grandson of Dr. John Sappington.

Col. T. W. B. Crews

Colonel Crews was born in Henry county, Virginia, March 16, 1832, and was the only child of Gideon Crews. Colonel Crews moved with his father and mother, in 1846, to Howard county, Missouri. Shortly afterwards he entered Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, where he remained one session to the end of the junior year. Having a preference for Union College, New York, he applied for admission to the senior class at that college, and upon examination was admitted. Here he graduated in the following year, 1852, and immediately thereafter began the study of law, subsequently completing a course of leg^al study and reading under Judge William B. Napton, of Saline county, at his country residence and law office on Blackwater, twelve miles south of Marshall. Here he applied himself to the study of the profession for nearly three years. In Januar\', 1855, he opened an office in Marshall, beginning the practice, which he continued up to the commencement of the late Civil war. The Civil war, of course, interrupted his law practice, and he engaged in preparation for hostilities, in which he afterwards learned the lesson of fortitude and the possibilities of moral, " mental and physical strength in the army life. At the very beginning of the war he took the field in command of a company of Saline county volunteers of the Missouri State Guard, the 26th of May, 1861, his company being a part of the command of Gen. Monroe Parsons, subsequently participating in the battles of Boonville, Carthage, Springfield, Dry Wood and Lexington. At the latter place, just before the battle, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the Second Missouri Regiment of Cavalry, being promoted for gallantry on the field of battle. Immediately after the battle of Lexington he was rendered unfit for service by a severe spell of typhoid fever, and while thus confined to his bed at his home in Marshall he was captured and sent to St. Louis as a prisoner of war. He was soon, however, paroled, beino^ rec|uired to report weekly at St. Louis. He made a temporary home in Franklin county in order to lie convenient to military headquarters. After l)eing paroled, he resided in Franklin county, near Lee's Summit, where his wife owned some land. Here he built a residence, to w^hich his family removed, and where he continued to reside the remainder of his days.

In 1866 Colonel Crews opened an ofhce and ])eg'an the practice of law in the city of St. Louis, but maintaining his residence in Franklin county. His legal business gradually became extensive and up to his death, in 1891, he ranked among the good practitioners in both the state and federal courts.

In 1872 Colonel Crews became a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Congress. He failed to receive the nomination, being beaten by the silver champion, Richard P. Bland. Then again, in 1882, the district having been changed, he again became a candidate for nomination for Congress, but the fates were against him and he lost the nomination by one vote in the convention. Thus he was left to devote his time and attention to the practice of law. Afterwards, in 1875, ^''^ ^'^^^ sent by his people to represent them in the convention which formulated the present state constitution, and in the formation of which he took an active and conspicuous part.

In politics, as in private life, Colonel Crews maintained a character for strict and inflexible integrity. As a speaker, he was fluent, impassioned and forcible, and as a reasoner, clear and coherent. He was a man of fine personal appearance, agreeable and impressive, and with manners dignified and courteous. He was a very careful and systematic man in the preparation of his cases and a staunch believer in the thoroughness of all work. He was always most genial and alTable in his intercourse with his fellow men, and was gifted with manv rare qualities, which endeared him to his friends and fellow' citizens. One of his strong' characteristics was his intense love of nature, and although his calling took him into cities and crowded assemblages of men, he was always glad to escape to his residence in the country when through with his work. Therefore, notwithstanding that for years before his death he had a practice requiring the most ardent lal^or to dispose of, he always maintained his residence in Franklin C(nmty. alwa^-s spending all the time he could spare in the midst of its rural delights and pleasures.

Shortly after he began practice in T857, Colonel Crews had built a residence in the town of Marshall, and married Virginia Jeffries, a most amiable and loval)lc woman, daughter of C. F. Jeffries, Esquire, of Franklin county, Missouri, one of the pioneers, who came to this state from Virginia. Mr. Jeffries w^as a highly esteemed citizen and one of the early settlers of Franklin county, and for a number of years a county official.

Colonel Crews died in St. Louis, June 25, 1891, at the age of fifty-nine years. His widow and a family of six children survive their father. The mother, Mrs. Crews, died at her home in Franklin county. December 31. 1896.

Colonel Crews was a man of high spirits and joyous temperament. He was particularly fond of deer driving and while studying law at Judge Xapton's. in this county, he indulged in deer driving very liberally indeed, enjo^-ing the sport immensely during the hunting season for the three years he spent there, and he was also quite successful and in the deer dri^'e could always claim his proper share of the game.

Colonel Crews was a warm hearted man, and a \'ery dear and intimate friend of the author of this work at the time he was a law student and for years afterward.

George G. Vest

In social intercourse, he was the most engaging and entertaining man I ever met - bright and humorous. I first saw him at Jefferson City, in January, 1858, during a session of the supreme court, where I had gone from home here in Saline to bring back my father's horse. Mr. Vest and J. W. DrafTen were present, each having cases in the supreme court, which were called and argued by them the first day of term while I was present, and this was also my first visit to the supreme court of Missouri.

Mr. Vest had already acquired a reputation as a lawyer and advocate at Georgetown, Pettis county, and been offered and accepted a partnership in the practice by the late Joseph L. Stephens, of Boonville, an older man and lawyer, who already enjoyed an extensive law business, which he offered to divide with Vest by reason of his marked ability in the profession.

We were all traveling horseback, and I was glad to have the company of Vest and Draffen on the return journey as far as Boonville. The weather was cold, with five or six inches of snow on the ground, but this did not seem to diminish the high spirits or good humor of Vest, who was continually talking the whole way, mainly directing' his remarks to "Duke" Draffen, as he called him. Air. Draffen was a man of about the same age. or perhaps a little older, and almost as good a story teller as Vest himself. It was my first acquaintance with Mr. Vest, and that day I thought him the most entertainingand amusing man I had ever met. He kept me laughing almost the whole distance, until that night at Boonville my lungs and breast were so sore that I could scarcely breathe, caused by continual laughing at his talk.

Years after this, I happened to be thrown in his company at Hot Springs, Arkansas, for a month or two when both of us were complaining of illheaUh. Here we were together on the most intimate terms for more than a month, and this intercourse sensed to conjfirm the opinion formed twenty years before on the horseback ride from Jefferson City to Boonville. Of course, we met at intervals between times. Once in the Southern army in southwestern Missouri, where he was the same delightful humorous and entertaining person that he was everywhere. I think Vest had all the humorous talent and ability of Mark Twain, and if he had turned his attention to authorship he might have become just as famous as Mark, the undisputed head of all our humorous authors. As a conversationalist, he had few, if any, equals and no superiors in this western country. Thirty years ago, when sitting on the ample porch of the summer hotel at Sweet Springs, he was always found surrounded with friends and admirers whom it seemed a pleasure for him to entertain and amuse no difference how many might be around him.

I said to him one day, after he had been in the Senate for nearly twenty years, that I was sorry he had ever been elected senator for I had since been deprived of his society nearly altogether, which I considered a great privation and misfortune.

Yes, Vest was a stronger man in a social way than he was a statesman and senator. He was stronger also before a jury in a difficult case than he was in the Senate, and he was a leader there, we all know.

Mr. Vest was never a permanent resident of Saline county, but he practiced law here for nearly twenty years, and here, at Marshall in our circuit court, was the scene of some of his greatest triumphs as a lawyer, and I believe he loved the people of this county, and was more attached to the locality than any other place on earth, and with such feelings, he came back here to die at his summer cottage at Sweet Springs, at the age of seventy-four, about one year after his term as United States senator from Missouri expired, having served twenty- four years. He was born the 6th of December, 1830, at Frankfort, Kentucky, and died in October, 1904, at Sweet Springs, Missouri. He left surviving him his devoted wife; a daughter, Mrs. Jackson, of St. Louis, the wife of a prominent lawyer there, and a son, Alexander Vest, and two grandchildren, the children of his deceased son. George G.

Col. John Smith T.

The most singular and remarkable man in some respects who ever lived in Saline county was Col. John Smith T, who lived and made salt for many seasons at the great salt springs on section 20, township 50, range 22. Here he entered and owned at an early date some two thousand acres of land, and here he built a brick house and salt works. The Colonel was an elder brother of Gen. Thomas A. Smith, born in Virginia. He came west in the year 1802, first settling at Nashville, Tennessee, removing thence to Missouri in 1804.

At Nashville Colonel Smith lived long enough to become involved ni several duels and other hostile encounters, which were at that period not easily avoided in the state of society found in that frontier community by men of spirit and courage. At that time in the West a man who would suffer an affront without resistance or who failed to respond when called out to assert or defend his reputation, had nO' chance whatever. At that time Nashville contained among its inhabitants many men who then, or afterwards, acquired reputations for their fighting qualities, Andrew Jackson ultimately taking the leading part. The general reputation of the place w'as well sustained by such men as Thomas H. and Jesse Benton, Col. John Overton, Colonels Coffey, Carroll and McNairy and others.

Colonel John Smith after he moved to Missouri added the suffix "T" to his name, meaning John Smith from Tennessee, in order to be distinguished in that way from other John Smiths, and this answered very well for that purpose, and, together with his combative nature and boldness of spirit, maintained his distinctive character from other John Smiths.

It is stated by one of his biographers, the late Col. John F. Darby, a contemporary of Colonel Smith, that he killed fifteen men with pistols during his life, the majority of them in duels ("Personal Recollections," by John F. Darby, St. Louis, 1880, G. R. Jones & Company). At that period the inclination to settle personal differences on the "field of honor" was very general in the West. In fact, the habit was almost universal among prominent men in both civil and military life, and it remained so for thirty or forty years afterwards.

There is no authentic record of the duels in which Col. John Smith T was engaged, but soon after he reached Nashville he acquired a reputation as one who never failed to respond when called out, and his reputation as a dead shot and a dangerous antagonist became general throughout the western country, following him to Missouri, when he moved to the west of the Mississippi.

At the same time Colonel John Smith T was a man of better education than nine out of ten of the prominent people of that time. He had been a student at William and Mary College in his native state and letters of his, yet preserved, show that he was a fair scholar and an expert penman, as expert with a pen as he was with a "derringer," the kind of pistol almost in universal use in personal combat at that period.

Colonel Smith was also a shrewd and energetic man of affairs. Before leaving Tennessee, he bonght a tract of land and laid out a town at the mouth of the Cumberland river called Smithland. After he removed to Missouri, he became the owner of valuable Spanish grants and mining claims in our newly acquired Louisiana territory. While his operations extended over a wide area, he made his home and headquarters at a country seat, wdiich he called "Shibboleth." in St. Genevieve county. Missouri. Among his other claims to lands was the "Yazoo" claim in Mississippi territory, for which it w^as said the federal government offered him one hundred thousand dollars, but at the end of a long litigation over this claim the suit w'as determined adversely to him in the supreme court of the United States.

At Shibboleth Colonel Smith engaged extensively in lead mining, at the same time being in various kinds of land claims, some Spanish grants of doubtful character, and was thereby involved in many suits and personal difficulties, usually settled by duels or other encounters that were always fatal to his antagonist. Though not a professional law'yer, he was appointed judge of the court of common pleas by the territorial governor. He was an active man in public affairs, and made several trips to Washington at his own expense, looking after the interests of the people of the territory.

Colonel Smith had a passion for firearms, always having at least two pistols in his belt or pocket. Among his slaves w^as a favorite named Dave, w^ho was a skillful gunsmith, and when the Colonel went from home he was nearly always attended by Dave as a body servant and guard. Dave always being- provided wdth a gun and a pair of holster pistols.

In the year 1806, when Burr's expedition was going down the Ohio and Mississippi, Otto Schrader. an Austrian, came to live at St. Genevieve. Schrader had been an officer in the army in his native country, an aide-camp to the Archduke Charles in his first battle with Napoleon, and w-as fond of relating interesting incidents of his military life. Being a man of good education, he was elected coroner soon after he located at St. Genevieve.

'^ Col. Jack Smith T was then judge of the court of common pleas and Col. Heni-y Dodge, afterwards United States senator from Wisconsin, was sheriff of the county. These two prominent men hearing of Burr's expedition to Mexico, determined to join it, both being delighted with an opportunity to engage in fighting whenever there was any to be done. They went down the river from St. Genevieve in a boat to New Madrid. On reaching there they found, much to their chagrin, the President's proclamation denouncing the scheme as unlawful and warning all good citizens to desist from engaging in it. These men, not having any idea of engaging or embarking in any treason- al^le r)r insurrectionary enterprise so far as the United States was concerned, abandoned the project at once, disposed of the boat immediately, purchased horses and returned home.

When Colonel Dodge reached his home at St. Genevieve, he found the people of the tOAvn in great consternation and excitement, an indictment fintreason having been found against him and Colonel Smith also, based upon the report that they had gone down the river to join Burr's invasion of Mexico. Colonel Dodge. l)eing a man of powerful physicjue, considering himself greatly outraged by the indictment, assaulted and whipped nine of the twelve jurvmen, and would have doubtless whipped the others, had they not run away out of his reach. Colonel Jack Smith T hearing of these proceedings at his residence in the country. About noon a day or so afterwards, he saw Otto Schrader, the coroner and acting sheriff, approaching his house on horseback. A\'alking to his front door, he yelled out at him, "I know what you are coming- here for, and if you attempt to arrest me I will shoot you dead. I will not submit to arrest. It was an outlandish outrage to indict me for treason, for I am as true and staunch a friend of the government as any man in the territory. Mr. Schrader. dinner is just ready, get down from your horse and come in and take dinner with me; but mark you. if you make a motion to arrest me, you are a dead man." Schrader dismounted and entered the house. Colonel Smith pointed to a chair at the table for him to occupy, taking a seat himself immediately opposite Schrader, as he did so drawing his pistols from his belt, cocking them and laying them on the table, one on either side of his plate with the muzzles pointing towards Schrader. Then he treated his guest with marked consideration and courtesy, directing the servants to wait upon him and seeing that every chance was offered him to partake of his bountiful liospitality and good cheer. After dinner Colonel Smith and the Coroner rode into town together. A great crowd had collected together in the streets owing to the general excitement. Colonel Smith took particular pains to let them know that he was not under arrest and no prosecutions followed the indictments.

Otto Schrader. being a man of cultivation, was soon after this appointed one of the territorial judges by Mr. Jeff'erson, in connection with Lucas and Josiah Meigs. Jr., with power to frame laws for the government of the territory.

Lionel Brown, nephew of Aaron Burr, resided at Potosi. He had a quarrel with Colonel Smith and sent a challenge, which was accepted. Being one of the most noted champions of the ''code." Augustus Jones was the second on the part of Brown. Colonel McClannahan acting in like capacitv for