Vernon County, Missouri - The whole text, 1911 (part 3 of 14)

Early in the summer of 1861 the military forces entered this township. The first were General Price's men, as they were hastening from the northern counties to join their leader in the Southwest. Then in the first week in September, came the entire Missouri army of 10,000 men, on its waj to Fort Scott and the Dry wood fight. Two months later came the Kansas troops, en route to Springfield to join General Fremont.

The first Federal troops that came in to permanently occupy the country were welcomed with bloody hands to hospitable graves." It was in March, 1862, when the detachment of the First Iowa cavalry reached Old Montevallo town, and notwith¬ standing they came with fair speeches and deported themselves like gentlemen, no confidence was reposed in them and no love felt for them, and they were bushwhacked before morning. Ever after there was no ground found in this township tenable for a Federal garrison, and no further attempt was made to establish one.

The various important skirmishes in the township; the hotel fight and Coffee's fight at Montevallo, with the burning of the town, the killing of Camp and others, are noted elsewhere.

There were two or three Union families in this township at the beginning of the war and they were roughly treated by the Secessionists. As time passed opportunity was given to certain parties for revenge, and they improved it. Every man known to have given active and willing aid and comfort to the Confeder¬ ates was informed upon, and his name and the particulars of his offense were reported either to the Federal authorities at Fort Scott or to the Cedar county militia. Then the tables were turned and it was the Southerners who fared hard.

ered. In the neighborhood of Old Montevallo, one night in February, 1863, five citizens were killed at their homes by the Cedar county militia. William Wood was killed and a man named Amos was taken from a sick bed and shot, and Tapp, Clendenin and Campbell were killed.

Old Jeremiah Ray, sixty years of age, was shot down by the Sixth Kansas as he was walking harmlessly along the road, a mile or so west of Montevallo. A man named Brewer, who lived in Montevallo, Avas shot by some Kansas troops as he Avas running towards his home and had refused to halt when ordered.

John Brown, Sr., Avas killed by the Kansas troops in 1863, as he was hunting cattle on the prairie in the southern part of the tOAvnship. It is said that he. too, refused to halt Avhen ordered and Avas then shot.

Lieut. Wesley L. Ball Avas shot by a detachment of Kansas troops led by a Captain Moore and piloted and instructed by Frank Wyrick and Jefferson Moore. This Avas in the fall of 1862. Lieutenant Ball was a lieutenant in Gatewood's old com¬ pany ; returning home he was captured by the Kansas troops and taken to Fort Scott. After a confinement of some months he Avas released on oath. The Federals claimed that he Avas a spy on them, notwithstanding his oath, and that he eA-en Avas a bush- AAThacker Avhen opportunity offered. They Avent one night, took him out a hundred vards from the house, and shot him down. But if the Federals had not killed Lieutenant Ball, the bush- AAfiiackers Avould haA^e slain him the first opportunity. While in' prison at Fort Scott he betrayed a plan of escape A\Thich some of his felloAv prisoners had matured, and caused them to be shackled and closely confined. Henry Taylor and others SAVore Arengeance against him for his treachery, which Avas occasioned by his personal hatred of one of the men in the plot.

Manuel Collins, a Union man and a member of the Federal militia,- killed two bushwhackers named Hugh Gantier and John Crockett, by beating out their brains with a smoothing iron. All three were in a dAvelling house and Collins Avas virtually a pris¬ oner. He contrived to secure the Aveapon and getting behind the bushwhackers, he, by tAvo powerful and swiftly delUered bloAArs, crushed their skulls.

Old Montevallo

The old town of Montevallo stood partly on lots 4 and 5 of the northeast quarter of section 5, or about a mile and a half to the northwest of the present town, a little west of the Lipe branch and a mile east of McCarty creek. The main street was the road from Nevada or Balltown to Springfield, which ran from northwest to southeast, and the principal portion of the town was built on either side of this street. Quite a number ofhouses were scattered irregularly about, and there was no com¬ pactness or solidity in the general character of the place.

The founder of the town was William Withers, who estab¬ lished a store here in the year 1850. The site was originally owned by Joseph Martin, the old grindstone maker, who settled upon it about the year 1840. Not long afterward J. M. Gatewood and Hon. William Blanton came to the place, and soon after the town was laid out. The name was given by Rev. Thomas German, the first school commissioner of Vernon county, and a prominent citizen. Air. German was a good scholar and chris¬ tened the town from two Spanish words - Monte Vallo, meaning a combination of hill and valley. As the town was situated in a pleasant little vale or valley, between two ranges of hills, the name was quite appropriate.

The county records show that in November, 1855, Asa Elliott was a licensed merchant in Montevallo, with William Withers and Thomas W. German as his sureties. In June, 1856, George Pape was licensed to keep a dramshop.

By a special act of the legislature, approved December 12, 1855, the Montevallo Academy was chartered. The first board of trustees was composed of R. P. Walker, Robert Crockett, James II. Mulkey, D. W. Martindale, R. T. Morgan, Thomas W. German and C. L. Clark. The building was not completed until in 1857. Schools were scarce at that day, and the establishment of the academy was largely encouraged by the citizens, who were generally believers in and promoters of the cause of educa¬ tion. There were several families of good social position and refinement, and the location of the academy was a matter of much advantage and consequence to the little town.

story in height, but was large and roomy. Religious services were held here from time to time in the absence of church build¬ ings. The first principal, probably, was Rev. Thomas W. Ger¬ man, although a Miss Ladd, of Kansas City, was an early teacher, and it is claimed that she really taught the first school. After Mr. German came Prof. Gregory. When the Civil War broke out the teachers were Prof. M. A. Page and Miss H. B. Stanwood, both excellent teachers.

Upon the commencement of hostilities, Prof. Page, who was a Northern man, left the country, but Miss Standwood died in the summer of 1861, far away from her home and kindred in the Northland, and was buried in the lonely, obscure cemetery east of Montevallo.

Montevallo was regularly incorporated by the county court February 9, 1860, on petition of F. M. German, John Dade, Wil¬ liam T. Maddox and others. The first board of trustees consisted of F. G. Reavis, John Dade, Jesse T. Griggs, W. B. Randolph and William James. All records of the proceedings of the board of the succeeding officers, etc., were "lost in the war."

After the war broke out the academy building was used to hold war meetings and for quarters for the Southern troops, and was destroyed in the burning of the town in the spring of 1862.

In the year 1857, Mr. F. G. Reavis came from Leesville, Henry county, to Montevallo and established a store, and soon after built and operated a carding machine. Mr. German, Obediah Keithley and Y illiam Withers put up a steam saw7 mill on Mill branch, a little east of town, about the same time, and after¬ wards added to it a corn cracker.

At the outbreak of the war the town contained three stores - Brown's, Reavis', and Weidemyer's; the hotels of Scobey, Drake, and Mattox; some shops, Joe Wood's livery stable, and about fifty dwelling houses. The population is variously estimated to have been from 250 to 350.

But wdien the war ended nothing remained of the town but a few ruins that were not inflammable - a few naked and wrecked chimneys, and a dozen unfilled wells. So complete had been its destruction by the flames of vrar that no attempt even wras made to rebuild it. The site is now a farm. Even the old Nevada and Lamar road is completely obliterated.

The present town of Montevallo is the successor to "Old" Montevallo, which, as elsewhere noted, was west of the Lipe branch, on the middle of section 5. The present town is laid out cn the east half of lot 2 .of the northeast quarter of section 4, in Montevallo township. The site was entered by Obediah Keitliley, December 25, 1855, but the town was regularly laid out by Samuel Manatt, November 25, 1881, but had been settled some years previously.

Zodiac

The springs bearing this name are located in the southeast corner of the township (sw. cor. sw. sec. 35), on Horse creek. There is a hotel here and a good bath house, and the locality, though not advertised largely, is liberally frequented during the warm seasons. A town was regularly laid oft* here in Sep¬ tember, 1881, by Moses Isenhower. The site is romantic and picturesque, and lovers of beautiful natural scenery are delighted with the views here presented.

Montevallo Lodge, No. 316, I. 0. 0. F. Received its charter May 20, 1874. Among the original members were John S. Lewis, John B. Mallory, Phil Hathaway, Thomas Gilbert, E. Elswick, William Warner, Harry Stuterville, Preston Pope, Andrew J. Culbertson, A. W. Van Swearingen and Charles II. Ilaines.

Montevallo Lodge, No. 490, A. F. and A. M. Was put to work under dispensation December 5, A. D. 1872. A charter was granted October 15, 1874, the following being among the con¬ stituent members: S. G. Popplewell, A. J. Culbertson, J. II. Brown, Charles Cox, William Branes, Thomas Cook, James T. Moore, B. L. McKinney and J. Roark.

very first, if not the first, Baptist organization in Vernon county. Elder D. R. Murphy formed a few persons of Baptist proclivities into an organization October 15, 1848, some of those who con¬ stituted that first body being Horatio Packard, M. H. Wilson, Eliza Copland, Lurena Wilson, G. L. Wilson, Alanson Packard, Eleanor Rose, Smith Bledsoe and Mary Hurt. In 1862, owing to certain war troubles, it was thought advisable to disband the church, but in February, 1867, a reorganization was effected by Rev. J. B. Carrico, at the house of James Robertson, with the following members: James Robertson, R. Conyers, Isom Hat¬ field, I. Paryman, J. M. Standley, Patsey Hatfield, Eliza J. Con¬ yers, Aury Paryman, Mary Ann Robertson, Bennett Utterback and Sidney Utterback.

Montevallo M. E. Church, South

The church record was lost or destroyed about twenty years ago and little record of the organization can be given back of that time. Regular services were held at the old town, but no organization of which we can learn. About 1873 a class was formed at the present town, with Rev. T. J. Strinfield as first pastor. A parsonage was purchased but services held in the school house. Rev. AY. D. Stewart, who had been the pastor at old town in 1855-56, was one of the early pastors of the new class and is still living. A church building was erected in 1886 and dedicated by Bishop Eugene R. Hendricks of Kansas City during the pastorate of Rev. W. H. Morehead, the structure cost¬ ing about $1,200. Since then it has had a varied experience. We do not know names of charter members, but none are now living. It has suffered severely from removals and death dur¬ ing its existence, hundreds having come into its fold and then moved away or died. Its membership has therefore varied in numbers, running from about 50 to 100. It now numbers be¬ tween 80 and 90, and is at present what is known among Metho¬ dists as a half station. The pastors who have served the church since 1890 are: Revs. B. V. Alton, T. C. Puckett, S. G. Melborn, J. E. Harney, A. G. Moore, W. B. Carrico, W. P Bar- rett, AY. D. Johnson, S. 0. Borland, C. A. Harris, \V. T. McGuire, M. Larkin, G. H. Green and T. B. Farny. In the history of a church it is the women who deserve mention, but there has been so many who devoted their time and energy to its interests that we cannot name all, hence will not any. Among the men who have in the past served in an official capacity are A. J. Snider, Monroe Overstreet, Andrew Ilanson, George Selsor, Robinson Pierce, J. R. Rector, II. H. Dillon and J. W. Howell. Serving at present time: A. J. Burkey, M. A. Pinkerton, B. Drummond, John Golladav. J. W. Armstrong, L. E. Fanning and II. M. Snider, the present pastor, Rev. T. B. Fany. Its Sabbath school, of which A. J. Burkey is superintendent, has an enrollment of about 100.

Arbor Grove M. E. Church, South

This church owes its origin to Mrs. Sarah G. McAllister, who in 1881 started a Sunday school in a brush arbor. In 1882 a class was formed and in the next few years a small frame church was erected. This soon proved too small and was sold to be used for a dwelling and removed. The present structure was erected in 1887 at a cost of about $1,000. The charter mem¬ bers were Sarah G. McAllister, E. E. McAllister, Mattie Mc¬ Allister, Minnie McAllister, David and Mary States, Percy States, Elizabeth Henry, Flora, Addie and Emma Henry, YVilliain Ball and wife, Edward Ball, Robert Estus and Lucinda Estus and Sarah J. Hoke. The pastor at that time was Rev. J. N. Anthony. This church, like about all country churches, has suffered severely by removal of its members to other parts. Its membership at present time will not exceed forty. It seems to have been the case all over Missouri for the last ten years that when the membership of the church removed from the community, those who took their place in the community seldom took their place in the church. The officials who have served this church we have not the means to ascertain, but among them, besides those named as charter mem¬ bers, are J. B. Adams, J. J. Adams, E. A. Bird, R. B. Kahler, A.

Montevallo Village School

The Montevallo village school was organized under the vil¬ lage act about the year 1867 with six directors and the em¬ ployment of two teachers and something like an enrollment of 150 pupils. A considerable portion of the original territory has been detached from the district and rural districts formed as the population increased. The school was taught in one room by two teachers until the present school house was erected twentyfive years ago. Our present school house is unsanitary and un¬ comfortable under the present conditions ; neither the pupils nor teachers can do the best kind of work. There are quite a num¬ ber of the patrons of the school who would like to erect a new school house.

The school has made slow but steady progress for the more thorough and higher education; at least part of the high school course is taught in the school each year. The first teachers were J. E. Smith, principal, and Miss Ella Johnson, primary; last year, E. W. Briget, principal; Miss Alice Craig, primary. The school for the present year will be under the efficient man¬ agement of Mrs. Loretta Nance, principal, and Miss Alice Craig, primary, with an enrollment of seventy-one.

Montevallo township is one of the older settled sections of the country, probably the oldest except that portion along the Osage river. The pioneer always made his abode along the streams, and Horse creek, which cuts across the southeast cor¬ ner, was the first stopping place of those coming from the East and Southeast in the march of immigration. McCarty creek rising in Benton on the south, flows almost due north through the west¬ ern tier of sections. Wilkey and Cynthia creeks on the east and Mill branch heading near the town of Montevallo, were also of sufficient proportions to attract the eye of the early settler. The prairie portion, running northeast and southwest and com¬ prising about two-thirds of its area, was not taken up, or rather was not fenced, until long after the Civil War; in fact, as late as 1875 it was supposed that it would be several generations before a large part of it would be fenced, and had not some material other than rails been discovered for fencing, it no doubt would have been a long time; but- barbed wire solved the problem, and not long after those living here found themselves confined to the tract of land on which they lived and a narrow strip on the outside called the public highway. In the face of this condition the early settler was almost as helpless as the Indian when the game is killed or driven out, raising little grain or forage; in fact, having little land cleared, he had always looked to the vast open prairie for the sustenance of his stock, both win¬ ter and summer, and wholly unable to at once adapt himself to changed conditions, the prospect was indeed gloomy and many moved on.

Of that period prior to about 1845 extremely little is known and very little need be said. In Brown's "History of Vernon County" we find the names, McCarty, McSwain, Kitchen, Wil¬ key, Dunnegan, Joseph Martin, James Ray, Evan Lipe, Dr. Smith and some others. The descendants of Evan Lipe are some of them in the county, and also some of James Ray's, but of the others not one of the lineage remain. E. VT. Smith, a son of Dr. Smith, after serving in the Confederate army, returned and was a resident of the township until a fewT years ago, when he removed to Oklahoma and died there. Condy S. Dunnagan, a son of Samuel Dunnagan, remained for some years after the war. In 1870 he ran for the office of representative in the legis¬ lature. The principal ground on which he based his appeal for votes wras on the promise that if elected he would go to Jeffer¬ son City with a wagon and ox team, take his provisions and camp on the state house grounds and thus be able to bring back his salary and spend it at home. The state records do not show that he served a term. The names of two streams, McCarty and

Wilkey, and of Dunnagan Grove, is all that remains to remind ns of these pioneers. Those of the present day can not see how they existed, but humanity quickly adapts itself to its surroundings and necessities : each age produces a people suitable to its needs. On all occasions we hear the life of the pioneer depicted as one of toil, privation and hardships. Could it not be that a life such as that of today would have been to him unbearable? We have no reason to believe that he did not get as much of the sweet and as little of the bitter in passing through life as the average of mankind. Certain it is that with every one of them as they grew older and conditions changed for what is usually called the better, they bemoaned the passing away of the good old days. But he is gone, and let us hope that when he crossed the river he found a haven of rest in the beyond.

The next period was from about 1815 to the beginning of the Civil War. This was a period of somewhat permanent growth, had it not been interfered with by the war. Crude grist mills were established here and there, and we read in Brown's history that a carding mill was located at Old Montevallo; and those who settled in what is now Montevallo township are en¬ tirely too numerous to mention, if we even knew them. On Horse ceek was J. N. Robinson and a few others. Mr. Robin¬ son still lives there, loved and honored by those who know him, and gives many interesting reminiscences of the early days. The nearest mill was on Sac river and about the only means of travel ox teams. On Little Cynthia, John Brown, Sr., and Seaton Ready. The former was killed by the Federals during the Civil War while on the prairie hunting his horses. Two of his sons still live in the county. John Brown, now of Sheldon, after serving in the Confederate army and a short stay in Texas, re¬ turned and has since been a resident. George R. Brown lives a few miles south of the town of Montevallo in sight of the old homestead. He was too young for the army, but he, with the rest of the family, were compelled to leave for safety and went to Texas. He returned after the war and has since been a resident of the township.

Hiram Ready, after serving in the army, came back to Cyn¬ thia creek, where he remained until his death a few years ago. His wife and some of his children are residents of the town¬ ship at this time. Toward the northern portion of the town- ship a small tributary of Horse creek heads. Running east it soon crosses the line into Cedar countv. On this lived John and Thadeus Clendenin, John Anderson and Joseph U. Crane. Mr. Crane still lives where he first settled. lie, Jasper N. Robinson and George R. Brown being probably the only men now living in the township who were here before the war. John Clendenin was killed by Federal troops, but left several children, who are still living: Airs. Mary C. Smith and Mrs. Jane Pierce, of Mon¬ tevallo; Mrs. Lou Falkner, of Montevallo township; Mrs. Eslinger, Miss Nannie Clendenin, of Virgil; H. P. Clendenin, of Eldorado Springs, and William Clendenin, of Oklahoma. Thadeus Clendenin went South at the beginning of the war and never returned.

Along and near the head of McCarty creek was E. W. Smith, Joe Phillips, the McCoys and Dr. J. W. Keithly. Dr. Keithly had a practice covering parts of Vernon, Dade, Cedar and Bar¬ ton counties. Some of his children and grandchildren still live in the county. The elder McCoy was killed by Joe Phillips, who, coming in from the army just after the beginning of the war, found the old man living with Mrs. Phillips. He went to the house one night where they were living and, calling McCoy to the door, put a load of buckshot into him.

The "before-the-war ' ' settlers in the north and northwest portions of the township were far more numerous, as in this portion was located the old town of Montevallo. In the list were Thomas German, William Withers, John Dado, F. G. Reavis, J. M. Gatewood, Robert Crockett, William Blanton, W. T. Mad¬ dox, Joe Wood, John and Anson Campbell. All are now dead. The cemeterv established bv the old town was southeast from that place in the direction of and not far from half-way be¬ tween there and the present town. It was adopted by the new town and is now the- cemetery used by it and the community. A modest sandstone monument marks the grave of William Withers and discloses the fact that he died in 1858. This monu¬ ment stands upright and is apparently in as good condition as when placed there. A few more graves marked with sandstone slabs, on which the inscription is yet discernable, can be found ; but in most cases they cannot be identified, and in many cases there is nothing to indicate the location of a grave. All is overgrown with native bluestem.

F. G. Reavis returned after the war and lived for many years on his farm adjoining the old town site. Addison G. Reavis, of Perelta land grant farms in Arizona and New Mex¬ ico, was a son. This circumstance shows that Vernon county soil can produce a man of large aspirations. "William Blanton was the father of Horace and Walter Blanton, lately of Nevada. Horace Wood, formerly county surveyor, is a son of the late Joe Wood, above named.

John Campbell lived in the township for many years after the war and died here, leaving several children, only one of whom, Joseph A., is now a resident of the township. He lives on the old homestead. A son of Campbell was killed during the war. One son, William D., is still a resident.

One passing through the old town site today would never suspect that fifty years ago a flourishing village adorned its surface. Near the northwest corner of the cemetery, however, on what was then a prairie knoll, now heavily timbered, the location of the seminary, which was quite a flourishing institu¬ tion in its day, is plainly discernable. The town was located at cross-roads, one running north and south from the Missouri river to Granby and the south, and one east and west from Fort Scott to Bolivar. Mr. F. M. Fortune, now a resident of the township, carried the mail on horseback from Fort Scott to Bolivar in 1861, Drywood, Nevada and Montevallo being the only offices on the route in this county.

The principal means of enjoyment by these pioneers was hunting, and this may also be called an occupation, as it fur¬ nished a material part of their subsistence. The man who was the best shot was the prominent man of the community. In addition to this was the horse race, shooting match, etc. And while they knew nothing of the scientific boxing contest of the present day, it was a very frequent custom to imitate very closely the pugilistic encounter at many of their gatherings by forming a ring around two who proposed to 11 knock it out" with bare fists, simply to determine who was the best man. The man in the community who had the reputation of being able to whip anyone who might come against him was the hero.

Churches and school houses were rare; in fact, there was not a church house, and few, if any, school houses in the town¬ ship before the Avar, except the seminary at Old MonteAmllo, and that was not used until 1857. The Civil War coming on in 1861 put a stop to all further settlement and progress and be¬ fore it was over resulted in the depopulation of the country. This portion being Southern in its sympathies suffered acutely at the close of the war. It could be said of it, as of the destruction of Solomon's temple, "Not one stone was left upon another." The old town was completely destroyed in 1862. Every portion of the township was the scene of battle or skirm¬ ish and of conflagration. Both soldiers and citizens were killed. A number of small burying grounds here and there in woods this day and shows the predominance of the animal in mankind, that such animosity could be aroused as to result in the trage¬ dies and outrages of this period.

struggle. Nearly all of those engaged in it have gone to the great beyond. The dead of both sides rest side by side in the blood-stained soil on which they fought, and the living of both sides dwell in peace and harmony around their graves. So let it be.

The close of the war found the country practically as it was before any settlement. It was, of course, better known and some had homesteads with a small amount of cleared land to which to return. A great many of the former inhabitants, for various reasons, never came back ; probably a majority. How¬ ever, others did come. From 1866 to 1880 they came rapidly. All the former settlements along the creeks were soon occu¬ pied ; new farms along the creek bottoms and in the timber were started, and along the edges of the timber the prairie here and there was encroached upon. They came from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia ; in fact, from most of the southern and eastern states, and some from foreign countries, quite a number from the older parts of Missouri. Just after the war the state established a road from Sedalia to Carthage. This ran diagonally from southeast to southwest, through Montevallo township, and along this highway the travel was immense - the land speculator, the freighter, immigrant, etc. Towns sprang up every few miles along the route. Many of those who came were of course of that class who did not remain long anywhere ; but among the more permanent were many who im¬ mediately took their place as good citizens and bore well their part as active participants in the affairs of the community and county. Outside of the town we recall the names of William L. Haynes, J. L. Dickson, William Willey, John B. Grimsley, T\ illiam Shelton, Joe W. Smith, J. B. Adams, H. G. Snider, James W. Waters, Jacob and Ludwig Faeurbach, J. P. Carter, Isaac Periman, H. C. and G. W. Wallace, A. J. Snider, Charles Nippert, Thomas Hathaway, D. W. C. Malloy, the Leedy's and the children of many of those who then or later joined in the activities of citizenship. There are many more, and we wish we could name them all. We want, however, to record the fact that no better people, as a whole, could be found, coming from different states and even different foreign countries, of every political faith and religious view. They rapidly became assimi¬ lated and were ever ready to help each other, as well as the stranger within their gates, and though comparatively poor, were ever willing to divide their scanty store with those who needed. And what can be said of the men will apply with even more force to the womanhood of that day. Let it be said of the latter, as well as those good women of an earlier day, no more true, generous, devoted, self-sacrificing class will ever be found. No wanderer or neighbor in need was ever turned away empty. We, like all of this period who still remain, bemoan the passing of the good old days. There were still others connected with this period of 1866-80, but who were more intimately con¬ nected with the present town, a brief narrative of which will be given hereafter.

Commencing about 1880 the aspect of the country, as well as the citizenship, began to change. Barbed wire came into general use and the prairie land which up to this time had remained un¬ fenced was soon enclosed. The roads then used, which ran in any direction desired without regard to surveys, were forced onto lines. New buildings were erected on the prairie. Spring wagons, buggies, and carriages began to take the place of the farm wagon and the saddle. Farming machinery and farming methods increased and improved. Considerable of this was done by residents, but many newcomers were added to the population. Since then one by one the older settlers have passed away or moved elsewhere. The opening of Oklahoma took many, and in all the territory from here to the Pacific they have gone, until hardly any remain. The oldest personal tax list available is that of 1873: it contains 110 names; a comparison with the list at this time shows three names only which are on both. There are, however, on the latter list several of the sons of those on the former. We no longer have the pleasure of crossing a stream of any size at certain "fords;" bridges, mostly steel, spanning all important streams. We can hardly find a public road along which the telephone posts, with from one to a half dozen wires, are not in evidence, and many other evidences of the march of civilization. The primitive school house has been replaced with the frame or stone building and modern furniture. Churches have been erected and the school house no longer used for re¬ ligious worship. Hut of this later period it must be left for some one in the future to write; some one who by long residence has in time become an old settler.

We now turn to the town of Montevallo. The present town was laid out in 1868 and immediately became a great trade cen¬ ter for that time. It is situated about one mile east and one-half mile south of the old town, on high prairie land and not in the valley that suggested the name of the former town; was when located on what was the Sedalia and Carthage state road. In¬ corporated April 18, 1871, with Robinson Pierce, William II. Smith, John Anderson, George Davis, and J. J. Glover, all of whom, except Davis, were for many years after connected with its interests. All are now dead. Like almost all Western towns, it was laid out around a public square; facing this scpiare numer¬ ous small wooden business houses with imitation scpiare fronts were built. Some of these yet remain. Among the first mer¬ chants were Malone & Rochester, P. Hathaway, Lipscomb & Bogan, all general stores. Keithly Bros. & Dielir were also among the first. C. C. Cornwell, drugs; C. C. Simmonton also drugs, and probably some others. John Nelson, hardware; E. G. Lewis, harness and saddlery. Of these only C. C. Simmonton remained any length of time. A. W. YanSwearingen, an attorney, came about 1869, and from that time to his death in 1884, he was prominent in town, township, and county affairs. Harry YanSwearingen, a brother, is still a resident and has for all these years been connected with the educational interests of the com¬ munity. Judge Thomas YanSwearingen, their father, coming a few years later, remained an attorney of the town until a few years ago, when he went to Ohio, where he died shortly after. About 1871 W. H. Smith bought the store of Malone & Rochester, and with the exception of about one year remained in the mer¬ cantile business until 1895, doing a large and successful business. S. D. Buck, now of Nevada, as a member of the firm of Buck & St. John, early succeeded John Nelson in the hardware business, grew to fine proportions and continued until Mr. Buck's removal to Walker some years ago, and was succeeded by H. H. Dillion, who, having died, was succeeded by the late J. W. ITonell. J. a' Harper, now dead, and A. H. Davis, now of Milo, at a little later period became identified with the business interests of the town as general merchants; Mr. Davis doing a large business for about tw enty years. Joseph W. Smith, one of the early merchants, quit that business and built the flouring mill, which he con¬ ducted for several years. The medical profession of the early times was represented by Drs. S. G. Papplewell, Ewell Elswick, J. C. McMillen, John Lipscomb, and J. "W. Fields ; and others at diffeient times for a short time. An incident occurred in con¬ nection with Dr. Lipscomb probably worth relating. He and R. H. (Hilt) Jarboe, of Dover township, had been great friends, but became estranged, and one day Jarboe was in town when the docior, who had been to see a patient, came in. He had a spur on each boot, the rowels of which were fully a half-inch long, noted for being kept in good condition. They soon met and a combat ensued. Jarboe being the larger and probably more active, soon had the doctor down on his back and he on top of him. The doctor at once brought those spurs into action on Jarboe 's back. For once the top man preferred to be on the bot¬ tom and it is needless to say that no one had to take Jarboe off. The incidents of those days, amusing and otherwise, if all could be recorded would fill a large volume. Joseph Roack, now living in Arkansas, and J. P. Grace, now of Nevada, were the con¬ stables of an early period and had as much riding to do as the county sheriff of today ; even if not as much income. The first hotel was a log structure, but soon enlarged by a frame addition, and all weather-boarded, is still the hostlery of the town. We have before us an account book kept by one of the early landlords. V e copy the first account in it and the first few items, leaving out dates and name : One pint whiskey, 50c ; three cigars, 15c ; one pint whiskey, 50c; four cakes soap, 20c ; one pint alcohol. 60c; one plug tobacco, 20c; board', $2.50." The above was for one week. Of course this is not a sample exactly, but many of them are somewhat similar. The present firm of Stuermer Pros, came with their father, August Stuermer, to the county just after the war, first to Nevada and shortly after here. J. W. Stuermer, of the firm, has for more than thirty years been identified with the business interests of the town. The legal profession bore a part in the affairs of town, township and community. The more per¬ manent of these were George Selsor, A. W. VanSwearingen, Judge Thomas Van Swearingen and the writer. Others came and went at different periods and for varying lengths of time. The prac¬ tice covered a territory including Vernon, Barton, Cedar, and, occasionally, Dade and St. Clair counties. The mode of travel and equipment was that of the old-time preacher, horseback and pair of saddle-bags across the saddle. A large part of the time was spent in the saddle. We went through snow, rain, heat and what not. There being no bridges, often had to swim swollen streams. Here it would be well to speak of the numerous changes in this, as in all other townships, in the matter of litigation in justices' courts especially. Every justice of the peace had more or less business, and in Montevallo court was held almost regu¬ larly every week. Often we ran far into the night to complete the docket of that day. Now it is often the case that a justice will serve his term without issuing a single writ. We wish we could recall and mention all who deserve recognition, but cannot do so. The town has improved somewhat, especially in the quality of its business buildings, and there has been added since an earlier day two church buildings, a better school house, a large town hall ; also better dwellings have replaced the former, but the population is no greater than in 1870.

We will not close this article without reference to a large class of men who are no doubt brought to the surface by condi¬ tions peculiar to the county being newly settled. While there was among them doctors, lawyers, veterinaries, and possibly now and then a preacher, the usual prefix to their name was that of "Prof." There were professors of everything under the sun. Hardly a week passed that notices were not posted around town that "Prof. So and So" would lecture one, two or three nights, as the case might be. These were often men of some education, ability and natural refinement, but always total failures. They had gotten down and out in iheir eastern homes and, coming to the verge of poverty, had started out to find a new home in the W est, reform, and make a new start in life. They started in the wrong direction. Any friend knowing conditions here would have told them to turn their faces to the far East (Maine) instead. In all these new7 V estern towns, at frequent intervals, along the street at this time would appear a sign across the sidewalk, fre¬ quently in crude and uneven letters, "Drugs," "New Drugs," Banner Drug Store, or something similar. From three-fourths to nine-tenths of the business of these institutions consisted in the sale of intoxicants. If one of these learned men went over the first night in town without falling a victim to the allurements of one of these drug signs, he was unusually fortunate. The time for their first lecture to begin frequently found them in too prime condition, f hey soon moved on and others came. The lawyers, doctors, etc., were a little more permanent, but it was but a question of time, and a very short time, until they, too, joined in the procession. Poor fellow's ! They had a common tie, a com¬ mon failing, and no doubt a common destiny: this destiny being a hospitable resting place in a potter's field.

AYith this wre must close, and let us hope that the one who writes of us in the distant future can say of us, as wTe can of those in the past, "They done the best they knew."

Moundville township comprises congressional township No. 34 of range 32. One of the so-called "long towmsliips" of the county, it is also one of the best. By far the greater portion of the township is prairie, which has been transformed from native pastures, covered with rank grass and weeds, to fertile fields, blooming and fruitful.

Like other portions of Vernon county, a great deal of the wealth of Moundville towmship lies under the ground: Coal! The kind of coal locally and technically known as Fort Scott coal is found in considerable quantities in the western part of the township, and nearly every land owner has his own coal bank. The mounds are full of it, too, and everywhere there is coal, easily reached, in great abundance, and good in character and quality.

coal is found under the limestone, which must he stripped off before the mineral can be readily obtained. The coal in the mounds is of much better quality than the surface coal. That taken out at Moundville is excellent.

One of the first land entries in Moundville township was made June 6, 1856, in section 14, by John J. Baxter, and consisted of a forty-acre tract on the west side of little Drywood, southwest northeast section 14. The first entry was by Judge James Grace, October 27, 1853, lots 5 and 6 northeast quarter, and 6 and 7 northwest quarter, section 1. J. M. Justus entered the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter section 23, February 23, 1855.

A very singular character was this man, John J. Baxter. He was a minister of the gospel when he first settled in Vernon, and belonged to a denomination known as the "Two-Seed Baptists." He was a forcible, eloquent speaker, and with a strong, musical voice, was celebrated as singer. Old settlers say that when John Baxter turned himself loose on, "Am I Soldier of the Cross?" or "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood," he could be heard, on a still night, from one Drywood to the other. After a time Baxter embraced the doctrine of Universal Salvation, though still claim¬ ing to be a Baptist.

But singularly enough, Baxter's greatest renown was as a fighter. In early days to be a good fighter was about as creditable as to be a good preacher, and the bully of the community was as important a personage as was to be found. The fighting was uniformly done with fists and feet; pistols were not in vogue. John Baxter "cleaned out" everything in the country. A man of stalwart proportions, mighty of bone and muscle, he was quick and active, and struck rapid and powerful blows. When he let go his powerful right arm, which he facetiously termed his "call to the uncoverted," it invariably prostrated whatever it came in contact with.

Baxter was not quarrelsome, and was seldom the aggressor in a contest. But the country was full of drunken, quarrelsome fellows, who prided themselves on their pugilistic ability, and were usually "spoiling for a fight." They were more than anxious to tackle the fighting preacher, for the novelty of the thing for one reason, and because his fame had gone abroad throughout the land. Baxter was a very clever man. he was quick to resent an insult, and whenever he was offended he pun¬ ished the offender, and whenever he was tackled for a fight, the tackier was speedily accommodated. Often he whipped two com¬ mon men with all ease, and on one occasion three men ''pitched on" him. and after the contest was over were laid up three weeks for repairs.

After a few years sojourn on Dry wood Eev. Baxter left the country and went down into Jasper. Here he got into a hard fight with the Johnsons, and was forced to leave. He then went over into Dade county and built a mill on Turnback creek. A b.ig fight here resulted in a victory, but the sheriff coming up with re-enforcements Baxter fell back to Texas. In the Lone Star State he fought according to the custom of the country, and there was a funeral ; but Baxter did not ride in the front wagon, neither did he wait to attend it. He came North again and located in the southeastern corner of Kansas, giving his name to the famous Baxter Springs, on the site of which he lived. Here in a big fight he was killed.

A sad case of accidental loss of life in earlv davs was long remembered by the people. An old man named James H. Barnett, who was one of the first settlers in Moundville township, was frozen to death on the 29th of March, 1844. Mr. Barnett, Judge William Hudson and Eeid Hudson had been down on Spring river and were returning home. A heavy snow storm came up and blew in their faces and it grew very cold. The party became chilled and bewildered and wandered aimlessly about over the trackless prairie waste, until at last, near the Bound Mound, in the edge of Barton county, old man Barnett lay down and froze to death.

The Civil War

A victim of the Civil "War - among the thousands of other vic¬ tims - was Alexander Morgan, a young man who was killed by the jayhawkers in this township in the fall of 1862. Though young Morgan had never taken up arms for either side, he was regarded as a Southern sympathizer, and the jayhawkers claimed that he was "a rebel spy." Jo Ury accused him of "packing news," and he was marked as a doomed man. At the time he was mur¬ dered, Morgan had been riding with his sister, going eastward across the prairie between the two Drywoods, in the southern part of this township, east of the Gammons farm. Presently Miss Morgan discovered she had lost a veil, or shawl, and her brother rode back to search for it. She never after saw him alive. The jayhawkers were following him, and he ran into them. They shot him dead and tumbled his body into a ditch, where it was found a few hours later. As her brother did not overtake her soon, Miss Morgan stopped to wait for him ; in half an hour she turned back hoping to meet him, but fearing the worst, and her forebodings were justified. Morgan's father lived at Fort Scott at the time.

Not long after the Price raid, in the late fall of 1864, a Federal soldier, who was returning to his command at Fort Scott, was killed on what is best known as the Brothers farm (sec. 14), a little west of Little Drywood, and four miles northeast of Bronaugh. The soldier was sick and was caught and killed by some bushwhackers. The body was buried where it fell.

In the fall of 1863 William Kuhfuss, a German, who lived four miles south of Moundville, was killed by a detachment of Company B, Fourteenth Kansas, under Lieut. James Morris. Mr. Kuhfuss had been in the Confederate army a short time, but was not re¬ garded as a strong partisan. Mr. Green Walton, a citizen of this county, had enlisted in the Fourteenth Kansas, at Fort Scott, and came over to remove his family, with the detachment men¬ tioned as an escort. The Federals went to the house of Kuhfuss, who at first hid under a bed, but finally came out and was made a prisoner. His horses were taken and he was shot.

At the close of the Civil War the house of Wilson Davenport (who came in 1860), near Moundville, was the only building be¬ tween Fort Scott and Drywood, and there was but few others in this township; but within a few years afterward, or by the 1st of January, 1869, quite a number of settlements had been made in Moundville township, for the most part on tracts hitherto unim¬ proved.

John Wray lived east of Little Drywood, on the southern part of section 1 ; T. B. Kelly was in the northern part of the township, on the north line of section 2; N. S. Howard on the southeastern part of section 3; Wilson Davenport on the northern part of section 4.

South and a little west of Moundville, on section 5, were J. M. Ashbaugh, a mile south of the village; R. K. Hill, three-fourths of a mile south of Ashbaugh; S. D. Allis, a little west of Hill; Isaiah Rusk joined Hill at the Rusk school house.

J. M. Moore came to a tract of raw prairie two miles south of Moundville (sw. % sec. 4) in May, 1869. Jesse Brothers was then living on the center of the same section. James Skaggs was a mile to the southwest (ne. % sec. 7), and east of him, on section 8, lived Bailey.

On section 16, a mile or more northeast of Bronaugh, lived G. C. Hardy, and on the same section were Kenneth Monroe, Peter Schanholtzer, Peter Cohenour, David Cohenour, M. E. Pike, and J. A. Vivion.

Mrs. Martha Pine lived on the west side of Drywood, in section 23 ; across the creek, on section 24, were James Bradley and Jacob Funderburk. Rev. John Hale lived on the southern side of sec¬ tion 2, west of Drywood, and near him was his son-in-law, John Hawkins, who gave his name to the Hawkins branch. Isaac Veach lived in the southwestern part of the township, and built the first house between the two Drywoods.

John H. Wilker settled on the northwest quarter of section 11, soon after the war. Here he improved a valuable farm and died in the summer of 1884.

Organization

Moundville township was first organized by the county court March 6, 1867, on petition of Harvey Karnes and others. The original boundary lines were different from those as at present established. The eastern line was two miles west of the present, or a mile west of Little Drywood; the western took off what are now the two eastern tiers of sections in Harrison, then ran clown Big Drywood to a point opposite the new corner of section 19-35-32. The northern cut off three miles off the southern part of Deerfield. The first election was ordered held at Karnes' store house, in Moundville village; judges, John Brown, Wilson Daven¬ port, and W. T. Powell. The first justice of the peace was Wilson Davenport, who was appointed June 4, 1867.

The town of Moundville is situated on a large mound of about 1,500 acres in extent, and was originally located on lot 10 of the northeast fractional quarter of section 5-34-32. It now comprises also a tract off of the west end of lot 10 northeast quarter of section 4, the limits of the town having been extended since the completion of the railroad.

Moundville was laid out by Harvey Karnes (and Mary M. Karnes, his wife) on the 8th of March. 18G0. The surveying was done by F. M. German, then the county surveyor of Vernon county. It was named for the mound on which it is situated. Karnes himself had a little house and farm west of the place a few hundred yards, and opened a small store here at the time of the laying out of the town. James Jones lived about forty rods south of the town site.

The town had a few houses when the war broke out, but it soon decayed. Mr. Karnes enlisted in the Confederate army and did not return until hostilities had ceased. In the summer of 1866 the town started up. There was a lot sale, at which Colonel Pitcher, of Nevada, was the auctioneer and Andrew Jones the clerk. Harvey Karnes built the first business house; Dan Arnold the first residence, which was also used as a hotel; 0. J. Sullivan the first blacksmith shop, and Dr. Ashbaugh was the first post¬ master. Prior to the establishment of the postoffice the citizens of the surrounding country received their mail matter at Nevada, where there was a box kept called "the Mound's box," into which all letters and papers for persons in this vicinity were thrown, and the collection was brought out by whosoever chanced to call for it.

For a number of years Moundsville comprised one store, a blacksmith shop, a postoffice and a few dwelling houses, but in 1882 it sprang forward and soon became a village of respectable proportions.

The Nevada & Minden Railroad, now the St. Louis, Nevada, Pittsburg, Coffeyville, Conway Springs & Larned branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, was finished to Moundville and the first cars ran about middle of May, 1886. Mr. Vandervoort was the first agent. The completion of this road was of inestimable

A good stone steam mill, owned at the time by W. T. Powell, was burned about Christmas Day, 1884, entailing serious damage to the business interests of the place. The erection of this mill was begun by Mr. Karnes.

The publication of the Moundville ' ' Enquirer ' ' newspaper was begun in the spring of 1886. The first numbers were printed in Sedalia, the "copy" being sent up by mail from Moundville.

At this time, 1911, Moundville is one of the prettiest villages to be found in the State of Missouri; the natural location, com¬ bined with the stately shade trees and well kept lawns, and the substantial business buildings, make a lasting impression on the mind of any wayfarer who happens to make this a stopping place, be it for ever so short a time, and makes him wonder if this is not a reproduction of Goldsmith's "Auburn" when it was in all its pastoral beauty. The population numbers something over 300, and possesses a fine graded school with an enrollment of 100 scholars who are instructed up to and including the tenth grade. Mr. Barlow is the principal and is assisted by Mrs. Ida May Phillips and Miss Maud Walden. There are at present three church buildings in the town, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, the Methodist Episcopal Church North, and the Christian; the Baptists have under way a house of worship which it is ex¬ pected will be completed this year.

The business interests are represented as follows : The Mound¬ ville State Bank, capital stock $10,000 ; W. L. Gray, president ; W. H. McCappree, cashier. Two general stores, J. F. Matthews & Sons, and E. D. Edwards. Two hardware stores, J. F. Hammond and J. W. Butterfield. Two lumber yards, J. "W. Butterfield and Leonard & Cole. The grain dealers are Lipscomb & Co. and Huffirn & Co.. Two feed mills, J. H. Ward and Frank Bros. W. H. McCalester is the proprietor of the livery stable. P. S. Myers, harness shop. J. H. Ward & Son and M. A. Smith are contractors and builders. D. M. Perkins, barber ; R. Williams & Son and Frank Maynerd, blacksmiths; W. T. Phillips, real estate and in¬ surance, and for nineteen years has been the postmaster. Dr. O. P. Farrington looks after the health of the community, while Mrs. Grove, of the Grove Hotel, looks after the interests of the traveling public.

There are three local coal companies in active operation the year round and employ an average of ten men. The operators are A. S. Brown, John Smith, and D. K. Perkins.

Cooper College

Moundville, the location of this college, is a thriving little village of 400 inhabitants, situated ten miles southwest of Nevada. It poses on one of the most elevated points, and in the midst of the richest agricultural districts of the great Southwest. As from an observatory, the eye delights to dwell upon the beau¬ tiful orchards, green meadows and rich grain fields in a high state of cultivation, stretching for miles on every side.

Having daily trains, it is connected with the great trunk lines of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and Missouri Pacific, two of the leading thoroughfares of the West. This beautiful sec¬ tion of Vernon county, lying between the Drywoods, attracted the first settlers of the county by the rare cluster of advantages it possessed, as if nature had fallen in love with herself, and with lavish hand had scattered her best gifts upon it.

The site of the town being lifted above the surrounding plain and embowered in orchards and groves, is thus free from miasmatic atmosphere and unhealthful water that exists in less favored localities. Nature's benefaction has been supplemented by the enterprise of the inhabitants, giving a high order of practical hygiene, and insuring the most favorable conditions of good health.

A more picturesque and entrancing landscape is not to be found between the Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains, where salubrious air, genial climate, mineral wealth, and an industrious and enterprising population unite to advocate and foster the higher elements of nature. The school house was the most imposing and important building of the place, and at no time has there been a lack of interest in the progress of local education. From the foundation of the town, schools have been cherished and the people have been restless under the claims of higher culture.

most among whom was AY. H. Cooper, deceased, after whom the school was named, met and organized a company for the pur¬ pose of raising funds with which to provide a suitable building for liigh-school work. This company succeeded in securing $6,000 and a two-story brick, modern building, imposing in appearance, was erected just west of town, in a beautiful, most pleasing and sufficiently retired location.

C. H. Miles, a man of large and successful experience in edu¬ cational work, was elected president, and on September 5, 1892, at the M. E. Church in Moundville, Cooper College was organized with an enrollment of fifteen students. The college building was completed during the year, and school opened in the new building September 4, 1893, with an enrollment of twenty-six students in attendance, which number during the session in¬ creased to forty-one. During the school year 1894-95 the en¬ rollment reached ninety-two, and for eighteen years the school continued to prosper, maintaining an attendance of nearly one hundred students.

During these years Air. Aides, the president, had become owner of the property, and in 1909 poor health compelled him to give up the work and the ownership passed to other hands. The new management being unable to find a party willing to undertake the task of keeping up the school for the revenue in sight, sold the property to the Aloundville village school district Alay, 1911.

The village of Bronaugh, which comprises the northwest quarter of section 20, the south half of the southwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 17, was laid out in the spring of 1886 on the building of the Nevada & Alinden railroad, now the Joplin branch of the Alissouri Pacific railroad, by the Bronaugh Town Company. It was named for AY. C. Bronaugh, the owner of the land where it was built, a resident of Henry county.

The village was incorporated as a city of the fourth class in 1897. Its population in 1911 is 450. AYith its location and the extremely rich soil of the country surrounding, which is underlaid with heavy veins of coal, combined with the enter¬ prise of the people living in and adjoining Bronaugh, it is des-

The Bronaugh "Journal" is a live newspaper, which shows careful and painstaking labor for the benefit of Bronaugh and vicinity. W. W. Dorris is the editor. J. L. Skaggs and G. Funk are the real estate men. The contractors and builders are Rube Havens, John Linthicum, Arthur Stevens, T. D. Gilmore and C. R. Sheer.

The secret and fraternal orders are represented by the A. F. and A. M. Vernon Lodge, No. I. O. O. F., No. 660; Modern Woodmen of America, Knights and Ladies of Security, Eastern

Bronaugh Christian Church. This church was organized in June, 1904, with nineteen members. At first there were no elders. The deacons were J. C. Lucas and J. V. Shault. Myrtle Doores was secretary. In 1910 a house was built and dedicated August 21, 1910, by J. R. Crank. The ministers that have served the church are: W. G. Hearne, J. R. Crank and J. Dejarnette. The church is enjoying a steady growth and the membership is now about eighty.

Moundville Christian Church. The Moundville Christian Church was organized April 12, 1883, with sixteen members, of which seven were men and nine were women. The first board of officers was as follows: Elders, E. T. Dennly and W. S. Creel; deacons, H. W. Narvoss and R. M. Coulter. The first house of worship was built in 1884, with a dedication service conducted by M. M. Davis. The building cost $2,382. The church is in a prosperous condition.

Osage township is composed of congressional township 37, range 31, and the two southern tiers of sections of township 38, range 31. The greater part of the surface of the township is prairie, but the existence of the two streams, the Little Osage and the Marmaton, causes a considerable area of timbered land, which is found exclusively along their banks. The Osage enters the township a little more than three miles from the southern boundary and flowing in a general direction to the northwest leaves the township two miles from the northern boundary line. The Marmaton comes in from the southwest and empties into the Osage near the southwest corner of section 11.

The land along the streams and in the peninsula between the Osage and the Marmaton is marshy and subject to overflow, but the remainder is fine and fertile. The northern portion of the township is underlaid with coal, the stratum in some instances being several feet in thickness. The immense valuable mines at Carbon Center, in the extreme northern part, are noticed else¬ where.

Osage is an historic township. It is the site of many scenes and incidents, some of which are of more than local interest. Here on the Osage, just below the mouth of the Marmaton, is that famous promontory known as the "Timbered Hill," a con¬ spicuous object for miles, massive and solemn and crowned with timber and verdure. Here, too, are the locations of the old Osage villages, where at one time the "braves" of that brave nation dwelt and from whence they sallied forth to do battle against their enemies or to secure the spoils of the chase. Many a time in the long ago has the valley of the Osage in this quarter re¬ sounded with the shrill cries of the war dance, the shouts of victory and the wailings of defeat. Here, too, came and rested the French voyageurs and Couriers du Bois, the Spanish traders and the gallant American explorers of Pike and Wilkinson. Here, too, is "Balltown," the first village in the county, once the county seat and a town of more importance than Nevada.

William Modrel was the first American settler in this town¬ ship. In the spring of 1832 he left Harmony Mission and came to his claim, on section 17, a mile east of Balltown, where he lived nine or ten years and then moved to Balltown, buying the land of Milton Morris, the first settler on the site. Morris made his claim and built his cabin in 1838. According to the testimony of Martin L. Modrel, his son, when William Modrel came to this township there were but three families living in what is now Vernon county, viz.: those of Moses, Jesse and Allen Summers, who were living three miles or more to the westward, the first two named on the north side of the Osage and the last named on the south side.

A Frenchman named Augustine De Ville, a blacksmith, who had lived at Papinsville, made a settlement on the south side of the Marmaton, a little south of the Timbered Hill, in 1835 or 1836. He set out an orchard on his place, which bore for fifty years.

In August, 1838, there landed at Ball's Mill and soon after settled in the vicinity a party of immigrants, composed of Peter Weyand, Tsaae Yocum, Mr. Quay, Robert Quay and Henry (or Henri) Letiembre. All were from Ohio but Weyand and Yocum, who were brothers-in-law, and were natives of Perry county,

Pennsylvania. William Quay located north of the Osage, on sec¬ tion 7, and his brother Robert on section 8, about two miles east of north of Balltown. Robert S. Quay, Jr., located subsequently, on section 8, east of the railroad, where Levi Welch, Esq., later lived. The older Quays died here within a comparatively short time after settling in the country. William Quay died in 1843 and his wife in 1845. A young man named Henry Wolf came with the Quay brothers.

Letiembre was a Frenchman, but came directly from Warren county, Ohio, to Missouri. He first settled in the county in 1837, opening a farm and cattle ranch at the base of the Brushy Mound (now called the Timbered Hill), on the south side of the Marmaton, near the farm and orchard of Augustine De Ville. In the spring of 1838 he returned to Ohio and purchased a herd of fine stock, with which he returned to Missouri, in company with Weyand, Yocum and the Quays. In 1839 Abraham McKnight located on or near the Letiembre ranch, at " Letiembre 's hill. ' ' The famous hill was at first called " Brushy Mound," but after M. Letiembre's settlement it was known as Letiembre Hill, or Tiembre Hill, which designation was finally corrupted into the very appropriate title, Timbered Hill, by which name it is now universally known.

One account is that M. Letiembre never actually resided here, but built a house and opened a small farm, which he stocked with cattle and horses, some of which were blooded, and that he placed the whole in charge of Abraham McKnight, who lived here until 1843, when Letiembre sold out. M. Letiembre himself boarded with Peter Collen until the spring of 1840, when he went up to the head of the Tebo, in Henry county, where he married an American lady, and afterwards engaged in merchandising. M. DeVille was a man of education and moral character. He refused to have aught to do with Indian squaws? for either wives or con¬ cubines, and keeping himself generally aloof from society of any sort, lived and died unmarried on the farm he first settled, near the Timbered Hill. He was a devoted Catholic and lived up fully to his professions.

Abraham McKnight was an employee of the Harmony Mis¬ sion. Peter Weyand was born November 29, 1798, and died Jan¬ uary 7, 1846. He was married July 12, 1821, to Rebecca Yocum,

In the year 1836 Daniel II. Austin, one of the missionaries at the Ilarmonv Mission, removed to this county with his family, one of whose members was his son, Josiah, and settled half a mile east of Balltown. He built the first mill in Vernon county. It was a water mill, and Austin afterwards sold it to Cecil D. Ball, the founder of Balltown, who came in the year 1837 and re¬ constructed it.

In the fall of the year 1838 there were living in the vicinity of Balltown, within Ihree miles, in Osage and Metz townships, the following heads of families: William Modrel, Daniel H. Austin, C. D. Ball, Rev. N. B. Dodge, Dr. Leonard Dodge, Edward Dodge, Mrs. Elvira Dodge, widow of N. B. Dodge, Jr. ; Milton Morris, Moses Summers, Jesse Summers, Allen Summers, Hardin Wright, Joshua Ewell, David Cruise, William Summers, Nelson McDermitt, William Pryor, Jonathan Pryor, Ezekiel Rhea, Daniel Smith nnd Ira Summers.

In 1839 Col. Anselm Halley came from Lynchburg, Va., to St. Louis, where he met the Frenchman Letiembre, before mentioned, who prevailed upon him to come to Vernon county. He settled just below the Timbered Hill, on the bluffs which yet bear his

Albert F. Nelson settled on a tract of land, one mile north of Balltown, in section 7, in the year 1842. His wife, Mrs. Susan P. Nelson, and his three children, Oscar M., Hardin and Julia, were with him. Mr. Nelson came originally from Stokes county, North Carolina, which he represented one term in the State Leg¬ islature, and he afterward served two terms as county judge of Bates county. lie died January 29, 1852. His son, 0. M. Nelson, was sheriff of Vernon county after the Civil War.

William Modrel, the first American settler in Osage township, was born in Cocke county, Tennessee, near the famous "Kit Bullitt's mill on the Big Pigeon," February 28, 1805. In 1819 he came with Rev. William Horn to Lafayette county, Missouri, where he remained until about the year 1825, when he came to the Harmony Mission. Here, October 5, 1826, he married Philena

Dodge, a daughter of Rev. Nathaniel B. Dodge, and in 1832 came to Vernon county. He had received some instruction before locating at the Mission, but it was here that he received the prin¬ ciples of a good education. He afterwards taught the first school er o c ounty in a log building, a mile and a half west of Balltown, south of the Osage, within the present limits of Metz township. The term was of three months' duration and sustained by subscription. Mr. Modrel was a member and for many years a deacon of the Presbyterian Church, and a man universally esteemed. He was connected with nearly all matters of interest tending to the good of the community, and his opinion and ad¬ vice were often sought for in matters of church and State. Some¬ time before the war Esq. Modrel removed to Deerfield, where he resided, half a mile west of the present village, during the greater part of the troubles. He died June 22, 1881. His wife died Feb¬ ruary 3, 1875.

As the first white settlements in Vernon county were made in this quarter, so the first mills, shops and stores were here. In 1839 Capt. William Waldo established a store on the south side of the Marmaton (sec. 33), near what was then and long after¬ wards known as the Cephas Ford, exactly where is now the bridge across the Marmaton of the Pleasant Hill, Nevada and Joplin branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The previous year Captain Waldo had put up a considerable mercantile estab¬ lishment at the Harmony Mission. Daniel and James Johnson had a small store on the Osage, a mile below Balltown, in 1839, and continued in business until 1844.

Until Ball's mill was established the settlers usually resorted to the mill at the Harmony Mission, or to Charette's mill, better known as Park's mill, on the Marais de Cj^gnes, two miles above tlie Mission. In time, however, the Bates county settlers came down to Ball's mill, and the people of this tovmship had a mill at home.

During the Civil War there occurred a few incidents of note in Osage tovmship. The burning of the mill and bridge at Balltown was, perhaps, the most notable event of the war period.

General Ewing's "Order No. 11" extended to the north bank of the Osage ; but when it came there were but few families resid¬ ing in the upper portion of this township north of the river. Jesse Ewell and Priestly Ray sought the protection of the mili- tary at Balltown. Hugh Cox, who had settled on the southeast quarter of section 26 (township 38), remained on his farm throughout the war. The first settler to locate in this portion of the township after the war was George Smith, who came from Saline county in 1866, and located a little northwest of Carbon Center (nw. *4 sec. 27, tp. 38), on the county line. At that time there were living in this township, on the north side of the river, but three families, those of Ewell, Ray and Cox, above men¬ tioned.

Sampson Farris, a citizen of this township, was killed near his home by Dick Parmenter in the fall of 1863. The killing was really the result of a personal grudge, although Farris was a rebel and Parmenter a Union man. The latter claimed that Farris abused him when he could do so with safety. Farris had been forced to leave the country and move his family eastward. He returned to look after his crop. Near Muddy bridge Parrnenter came upon him and shot him down.

A class of the Methodist Church was organized in this town¬ ship before the division of that church. Among the pioneer mem¬ bers were William Quay and wife and two or three children ; Robert Quay and wife, Isaac Yokum and wife, Peter Weyand and wife and their two sons. The first meetings were held at private houses, but about 1840 a frame building for church and school purposes was erected at Balltown. This building was all made of native lumber, sawed at Ball's mill. It stood some hun¬ dreds of yards south and east of the village, on the site of the present graveyard.

Dodge was the first minister; he also preached to a small con¬ gregation at Deerfield, often swimming his horse across the Marmaton to reach his appointment. After Mr. Dodge's death services were conducted by Elders Bradshaw, Newton, Powelson and others.

A rather noted preacher of early times was "Uncle Dicky," a good old negro slave of Balltown. Well informed in the Scriptures and zealous in the cause of the Master, and gifted with a rude but powerful eloquence, tlie old bondman converted many persons, white and black. Fie often preached in the Bates county settle¬ ments and elsewhere. He was a Presbyterian, but very liberal toward other denominations. It is said that " Uncle Dicky" died in Liberia, whither he had gone as a preacher with a colony of his fellow-negroes sent over by the American Colonization Society.

The village of Little Osage - or "Balltown," as the place was for many years better known - is located on the south bank of the Osage, in the western part of the township (se. sw. sec. 18 and ne. nw. sec. 19, tp. 37), about midway from north to south. Although at one time a place of much importance and well known throughout the country, Balltown has dwindled to insignificance - almost to obliteration. Time and the progress of events have well nigh accomplished its complete destruction. There is at present some business carried on there. Population about 100.

The first settlement on the site of Balltown was made by Daniel IF. Austin, a member of the Harmony Mission Company, who in the year 1836 came over from the Mission and began the erection of a water mill on the Osage. It was both a grist and saw mill, but at first the grinding apparatus was adapted only to grinding corn, which was practically the only kind of grain then in the country. The saw mill was of great value to the country. Prior to its establishment the only home-sawed lumber in the neighborhood was whip-sawed. The first frame house in the county was built by Edward Dodge, out of lumber sawed at this mill. Austin's mill was a well known institution to the first settlers of Vernon and Bates counties. Mr. Austin died at Balltown in 1852.

But the real founder of Balltown was Cecil D. Ball, a nephew of Rev. Nathaniel Dodge, who in the year 1837 came to the county first on a visit to his relatives. After a stay of a few months he went to St. Louis and was employed by a number of wholesale merchants as a traveling collector. He returned to Austin's Mill in 1839 and decided to engage in business and permanently locate at that point. He first purchased and then repaired and reconstructed Mr. Austin's mill and set it to sawing lumber with which to build a new mill. This was soon ac¬ complished and without delay the old mill was supplemented by a new establishment, in complete repair, well built, and with a capacity apparently quite beyond the necessities of the country at that day. But the judgment and foresight of the enterprising owner were soon made manifest. The mill was crowded with cus¬ tomers and some years later steam was introduced. The days of corn bread alone were past. The farmers could now raise wheat and have it ground and bolted into good flour, which they had hitherto been unable to do, without a long and toilsome journey to a mill in a distant locality.

Daniel II. Austin had previously been the carpenter and mill¬ wright at the Harmony Mission and had there built a water-mill on the Marais des Cygnes; but the volume of water proved to be too large and the current too powerful for the machinery, and in time he abandoned it and built a horse mill.

While Mr. Austin was operating his little mill on the Osage, two men named Barnhardt and Paper opened a little store here. But business was bad and after an experience of some months they left the country. Soon afterward Mr. Ball established a country store, erected a good two-story dwelling, a barn and other buildings and opened a large farm. At first Mr. Ball kept his goods in his dwelling house and in the room which Barnhardt & Raper had occupied, but his business increased so rapidly and so extensively that it was not long before he was compelled to build a large and commodious building expressly for a store¬ house.

The locality was at first called Austin's Mills; then Ball's Mills; then Balltown. But in 1851 Mr. Ball entered the land and laid out a town which he called Little Osage. In about 1842 the postoffice was established here and called Little Osage, having previously, about 1840, been located at the residence of Dr. Leonard Dodge, who was the first postmaster. This was the first postoffiee in Vernon county.

Cecil D. Ball was a prominent and most useful citizen of the county. Ilis business enterprise was of advantage to the com¬ munity. for it was imitated by others and led to the progress and development of the country to no small degree. Mr. Ball died November 24, 1860.

Milton Morris, an employee at the Harmony Mission and a son-in-law of Rev. Nathaniel Dodge, located at Balltown perhaps in 1838, possibly earlier. He settled upon and improved a tract of land on a part of which the village was afterward built. Mor ris sold his claim in about 1840 to his brother-in-law, Esq. William Modrel.

Col. R. W . McNeil located at Balltown in 1852, coming from c o unty in 1843, where he farmed for nine years. He engaged in business at once, opening a large general store, and soon acquiring an extensive trade.

In the year 1850 Col. R, A. Boughan came to Little Osage from Bates county, and afterward entered into partnership with Col. McNeil in merchandising and also in the ownership of the saw and grist mill. Josiah Austin was a resident of the place at that time, and the other citizens were " Governor " Ball, Colonel McNeil, Colonel Boughan, and a few mechanics, millers, etc. " Governor' ? Ball was postmaster.

Messrs. Boughan and McNeil continued the extensive trade already built up by Colonel McNeil. Some of the customers of their mill and store came from sixty miles away. The Indians were at different periods among their best customers. They often came in companies of fifty and encamped in the vicinity for several days, trading and bartering. Their visits were generally of more importance soon after receiving their annuities. All came, of course, from their then reservation in Kansas. The greatest number of these Indians wTere Osages, but the Delawares, Pottav attamies, Sacs and Foxes and Senecas were represented. Their chief articles of "country produce" were buffalo hides, tallow and skins and furs of various sorts.

To accommodate their Indian customers McNeil and Boughan employed as one of their salesmen and as interpreter Newell Dodge, who spoke the f Osage and its kindred dialects very fluently. The Osages called Colonel McNeil "Pah-hin-skosh-incah," signifying, it is said, "Little-Horse-with-White-Mane-and- Tail. They also termed him "Good-Heart," or "Big Heart," because he frequently invited the braves and chiefs to dinner and uniformly treated them with kindness and liberality.

His name of "Little Horse,"' etc., was given him by an Indian who bore it himself and gave it away to his white "brother," thus placing the Colonel under obligations to the shrewd savage ever after. It cost the Colonel many a square meal and many a present," for he could not well refuse anything to his copperhued brother who had bestowed one of his names upon him.

In 1851 the first Masonic lodge in the county was organized at Balltown. The first cemetery was the graveyard here, and the first interment, of an adult at least, was that of Samuel Newell Dodge, in March, 1838. Mr. Dodge died from a wound received in the Indian fight on the Marais des Cygnes.

"When during the alarms of the winter of 1860 the infantry company of Capt. Emmett McDonald and Capt. Jackson's battery were stationed at Little Osage, or Balltown, the people who had beef, cattle and other military supplies to sell reaped a fair profit and found a ready market for their produce. Colonel McNeil had the contract for supplying the commissary department, and "William Pryor was a sub-contractor.

The Civil War had not progressed far until its effects and con¬ sequences were felt by the village of Little Osage. McNeil's mill and the bridge over the Osage were burned by a detachment of Federal troops from Kansas, and the place became untenable for a time. The circumstances attendant were as follows:

The Federals came in from the north or northwest. On the Stinson farm, north of Balltown, on the prairie, they had a slight skirmish with the battalion of Confederates under Colonel Cum¬ mins, who went out to reconnoitre, and who after a few shots fell back to the mill, losing two men killed. Colonel Cummins said he had information that another force of Federals, 1,000 strong, was advancing on him from Ft. Scott, and so he hastily evacuated the mill and the village, taking with him the most of his supplies, and rejoined the main army in safety.

Captain Williams had with him perhaps 150 men and the fa¬ mous Moonlight 's howitzer. Nearing the village he was met by Colonel McNeil with a white flag. McNeil was a loyal man and the owner of the mill. lie asked that his property might be spared. But tlie howitzer was already unlinibered and in posi¬ tion, loaded with a shell and pointed at the mill, and Captain A\ illiams replied: "We don't load cannons for nothing; that mill has ground its last grist for the rebels - fire into her, boys!"

Captain V illiams pursued Colonel Cummins and his forces southward to the Marmaton, then returned to the north side of the Osage and encamped that night on the farm of Lewis Wil¬ son, a Union man. The next morning the Kansans returned to B a lit own and some of them burned both the mill and the bridge over the Osage. Then, after gathering up Colonel McNeil's and Mr. Ball's negroes, and a considerable herd of cattle, horses, mules and hogs, Captain Williams returned to Kansas.

The mill was a valuable one and of great service to the com¬ munity. The bridge was a fine strong structure, built of hard¬ wood lumber, chiefly walnut, was covered and sided, and its de¬ struction occasioned great inconvenience among the people and a considerable financial loss to the county. But its burning cer¬ tainly damaged the Confederate cause, and interfered materially with the army of General Price on two occasions - on the retreat from Lexington in 1861 and from Westport in the fall of 1864. On the latter occasion General Price had to cross the Osage on its upper waters and the detour he was forced to make enabled the Federals to come up with him and defeat him so completely at Mine creek.

Previous to the destruction of McNeil's mill the rebel troops under General Rains had fairly gutted McNeil's store as they passed through on their way to Carthage. McNeil was a Union man and his store was well-nigh stripped. General Rains de¬ sired also to burn the bridge, but was prevailed on to spare it.

After Company A, third Wisconsin cavalry, was stationed at Balltown from the early summer of 1863 to the close of the war, there was complete protection for the people. Indeed, so solicit¬ ous were some of the soldiers for the welfare of certain ladies of the neighborhood that they solemnly promised, in the pres¬ ence of witnesses, to become their protectors for life. There were half a dozen or more soldier weddings in the neighborhood. Captain Carpenter set the example by wedding the accomplished daughter of Dr. Leonard Dodge. One or two of the soldiers took their wives to Wisconsin after the war, but finally returned.

In September, 1863, a foraging party from Companies A and F, third Wisconsin, were bushwhacked by some of Quantrell's guerrillas up on the Marais des Cygnes, in Bates county. One man, Josiah Davis, was killed and four others were wounded.

Immediately after the war Little Osage became a place of some importance. It was the only village in the county worthy of the name, for Nevada and Montevallo had been shriveled up in the dames of the conflict. It was temporarily the county seat, until a suitable place could be had for storing the records andfor transacting the public business at Nevada. At one time a rail¬ road route was surveyed through the village, and it was believed that the Lexington & Southern road would be built via Balltown, but the location of the road a mile and a half to the east permanently injured the condition and prospects of the place.

After the destruction of the bridge the only method of cross¬ ing the river was by fording or ferrying. In December, 1866, W. W. Tibbs operated the ferry here, under license from the county court. Another fine bridge was thrown across the Osage here some years since. The first bridge was built by the Bates county court, while this territory was a part of Bates, but in June, 1858, the county court of Vernon appropriated $600 for its repair, and during the year this amount was increased to $1,000.

The Christian influence of the old Presbyterian settlers in this community was felt in after days. This township was the first prohibition township in the county. On December 7, 1857, Dr. Leonard Dodge presented a petition, signed by a majority of the citizens of the township, praying the court not to grant a dramshop license in that township for the period of one year. The prayer was granted.

Dr. Leonard Dodge was a very prominent citizen and valu¬ able member of this community. lie was a son of Rev. Nathaniel Dodge. He was brought up in the wilderness and passed 11 is life on the frontier; but he was a gentleman of education and culture, a physician of rare skill and ability, a man of strict rectitude and morality and of estimable character. During the Civil AVar Dr. Dodge was a stanch Union man, never wavering in his devotion to the "old flag"; but he was of invaluable serv¬ ice to many a Confederate sympathizer, whose property he often saved from conscription or destruction and whose life he often

Arthur. The village of Arthur, on the Lexington & Southern railroad, now the Pleasant Hill, Nevada & Joplin line of the Missouri Pacific railway system, in this township, was laid out by Frank P. Anderson, March 30, 1881. It is surrounded by a good country and considerable shipping is done from the railroad station. It is at present a prosperous little town of 100 inhabitants.

Carbon Center, a flourishing mining town, was laid out March 3, 1881, by Col. R. A. Boughan and John Mitchell. The survey¬ ing was done by Charles A. Suck. The village is located in the center of the coal region in the northeastern part of the township (southeast northeast and northeast southeast section 27-38-31), and is almost exclusively a coal mining community. A switch some two miles in length connects it with the Gulf railroad. The coal mines here are excellent. The country generally is under¬ laid with coal at a depth of from three to five feet from the sur¬ face and in veins of considerable thickness.

Marion. The railroad station on the Lexington & Southern, in the southwestern part of this township, half a mile north of the Marmaton. It was first called Blaine, for the " plumed knight," then Marion, for the "swamp fox," and latterly Hum¬ ble, for Mr. Charles Humble, the enterprising gentleman who presided over its destinies. In 1890 the townsite was abandoned and the railroad station was moved two miles north and the name changed to Horton.

Panama, a coal mining town located on section 29, range 37, township 31, was a prosperous community owfing to the extra thickness of the local veins of coal. But after these had been thoroughly worked and some bad fires had swept over the town it had a setback, though at the present time it is quite a shippingpoint and new discoveries of oil and other natural products have been made ; there is considerable interest being taken in this part of the county.

ber to be found is that along the Marmaton, which runs through -a portion of the south tier of sections. A narrow fringe of small timber borders the Cottonwood branch, the chief tributary of the Marmaton in this township.

In the northern or northwestern portions of the towmship "grease rock'' is found, indicating the presence of coal oil. Bitumen, or asphaltum, has also been discovered. There is some coal in the northern part of the towmship. There is but little stone accessible outside of that which exists in the mounds.

Early Settlements

So far as can nowr be learned, the first bona fide white settler in Richland towmship wras Willis Bush, who came to the north side of section 27 and built a cabin as early as 1845. This cabin stood about a mile north of the Marmaton. Of the antecedents of Willis Bush nothing has been learned; he died long ago, and his descendants removed to California.

The well-knowrn old German, Nicholas Ganther, came next. In 1847 he made a settlement on section 20, a mile or less north¬ west of Enoch postoffice. G anther's claim vras on the east fork of the Charloiv branch, and he was in reality a prairie settler. In a fewr vears he sold out to E. S. Wevand, Sr., and moved dowTn on Dryw'ood, whence he removed to Texas and there died.

In 1847 or 1848 a man named Colcher, a discharged soldier from the regular army, who had been mustered out at Ft. Scott, located on section 27 ; he afterward sold to Hugh and John Dougherty.

Archie Hale and William Miller located on section 28, in the year 1848. Hale was at one time sheriff of the county. In October, 1849, their brother-in-law, Jackson Beard, bought a claim from a half-breed Osage named Barnaby and moved into a cabin which stood 200 yards west of wdiere Hale lived, within half a mile of the Marmaton. Besides this Barnaby, other halfbreed Indians lived in the southern part of the towmship along the Marmaton. Hale was from East Tennessee.

A man named Bates, the contractor who built Ft. Scott and wrho previously had built old Ft. Wayne, down in the Indian Ter¬ ritory, bought a claim from a half-breed named Jo SwTiss, in 1850, and settled on section 32, on the south side of the Mar¬ maton, near what wras then called the Swdss ford, now' known

Several families of Herefords bought half-breed claims and located south of the Marmaton, on sections 33 and 34, as early as 1847 or 1848. Eliakim Cox, better known as "Buck" Cox, came from Tennessee to the same neighborhood in 1849.

Judge E. S. Weyand, Sr., bought Nicholas Ganther's place and removed here in 1851; Jacob Miller settled upon and im¬ proved the well-known McArdle place in 1853, and David Glass¬ cock came to section 16 in 1858.

The nearness of Richland township to the military post at Ft. Scott made it a famous resort in olden times for the officers at that station, who turned it into a hunting field on many an oc¬ casion. From the bluff and gorgeous old major to the trim and natty lance-sergeant, nearly every officer at the post made more or less frequent incursions on deer hunts and wolf chases. "Jack" Beard, down on the Marmaton, kept open house and a pack of hounds. The military men resorted to the one and ob¬ tained the services of the other. The prairies and bottoms w^ere full of game, and after the day's sport wTas over there was a rare season of feasting and merrymaking at Jack Beard's.

Even during the Civil War the Federal officers at Ft. Scott frequently came over hunting, borrowing Jack Beard and his hounds. These chases were uniformly riotous and hilarious rather than successful. Majors, captains and colonels were the leaders, and often Gen. C. W. Blair was a member of the party.