Vernon County, Missouri - The whole text, 1911 (part 1 of 14)

In War Times. 1151553

Blue Mound township passed through a severe experience dur¬ ing the Civil War. So harrowed were the people and so full of danger was their situation that all those who lived in the lower 'S3 congressional township, except Joshua Hightower, left the coun- - - try, and some of them never returned.

The first tragedy in the township occurred in the fall of 1862. Of Two men who had been in the rebel service, either as bushwhack¬ ers or regular soldiers, and whose homes were in St. Clair county, were pursued by a company of St. Clair militia who knew them and were overtaken and killed on Ladv's branch, west or southwest of Connely's Springs. The militia then went to the residence of Mr. A. B. Howard, told him they had killed two rebels 'Tip there on the branch," and added that he had better "go up and bury them." Mr. Howard did so. Assisted by a few of his neighbors he dug a hole, wrapped a blanket around the bodies and gave them as decent a burial as possible. After the war friends came from St. Clair county, gathered up the remains \ and removed them to their home cemeteries.

But the most serious raid into the township was made by a NvA squad of six or seven of the St. Clair county militia in January, V 1863. About 10 o'clock at night this band of miscreants - for \ such they proved to be - made their appearance at the residence \)f Mr. A. B. Howard. Two of them dismounted and entered the house, and began seizing such articles as they fancied. Mrs. Howard endeavored to save their property, when one of the rob¬ bers pushed her aside and handled her rather roughly. Mr. Howard caught up a poker and struck the ruffian several severe blows, Avhen the fellow's comrades opened fire with their re¬ volvers. At the first fire Mr. Howard was shot through the body and fell. The brigands then robbed and pillaged the house, barn, and stables, taking property of all kinds, and then set fire to the house, which was totally consumed with all its contents ; what the robbers left the fire burned. Mr. Howard was rendered an invalid from his wounds and never recovered from ifiem; he lingered, however, till December 12, 1864, when he died from their effects.

township, near Belvoir, and stopped at the residence of Mr. Eddy, a former merchant and hotel proprietor at Papinsviile, and a gentleman universally respected. It was now 1 o'clock in the morning. Mr. Eddy was called out of doors, and then told to run for his life. He ran but a short distance when he was shot through the mouth; he fell, got upon his feet again and again started to run. He did not proceed far, however, when he was overtaken and killed.

It is but justice to say that while the victims of this raid were "Southern men," they were not shot because of their politics solely. The raiders, too, while they were in the Federal militia service were so more for purposes of robbery and plunder than because of devotion to the Union cause. It is claimed that the leader of the party was afterward hung for the murder of a Union man, a citizen of this county. It was soon after this raid that all the citizens left except Joshua Hightower.

The natural features of the country here forbade its being a favorite locality for bushwhackers and bushwhacking. Whatever fighting was done, therefore, must be in fair open field; and so both bushwhackers and jayhawkers kept out of it, save when on predatory incursions. A number of the men of the township of Confederate sympathies left for Price's army from first to last, and it is reported that nine of them were encountered by the Federals and killed before reaching their destination.

Presbyterian. Bethany Presbyterian Church, located on the northeast quarter of section 33, in towmship 37, was built in 1884, and cost about $1,500. The quarter share of the expense of the building was borne by Messrs. George W. Poage, John Kincaid, Wm. A. Terrill, Dr. Nelson, W. S. Fewick, M. J. Moss and Rev. Milster. The organization was constituted about the year 1870, with only a few members, among whom were H. B. Cresap, Mr. and Mrs. Poage, Mrs. Moss and Mr. and Mrs. Hyatt. The first pastor was Rev. Montgomery, of Clinton ; he was succeeded by Rev. Baker, who in turn was succeeded by Rev. A. W. Milster.

Baptist. The Blue Mound Baptist Church organization dates from the year 1871. The original membership numbered about twenty-five persons. The church building stands on the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 35, in township 38, in the northern part of the township, a mile south of the Osage. It was built in 1880, and cost $1,000, in round numbers. The first pastor was Rev. Wolf, of Clear Creek township. He was followed by Revs. Smith, Ingram, Owens, and Smith again.

Christian - Berea Church. The church was organized by Brother W. H. Bryan, at the Smith school house in Osage town¬ ship, about 1876. In 1880 the organization was moved to the Howard school house in Blue Mound township, where it remained until the Berea Church was built in 1883. This building was 32x54, 16-foot ceiling, a good building and in good shape at the present time. Its first elders were J. Q. Thompson, O. P. Comp¬ ton, and E. T. Letton. It was dedicated bv Brother M. M. Davis in August, 1883. Among the preachers who have served the church are Brother W. H. Bryan, Brother Birge Greenstreet, W. W. Warren, Brother Clavpool, Brother King, Phil Stark, Brother Adcock, W. W. Blalock, Alva Blalock, Brother Pontious, , and C. B. Wrait, its present pastor.

M. E. South. A class of the Methodist Episcopal Church South was organized in this township before the Civil War. Some of the members wTere Avery B. Howard, Daniel Dale, Joshua Hightower, and their families.

The village of Belvoir stood on the northeast quarter of section 25, in the northeast corner of Blue Mound township. The site was originally entered by John F. Son, December 2, 1839. Mr. Son, as elsewhere noted, established a ferry here at an early day, and operated it for many years. The site was long known as Son 's ferry.

For a time after the war Belvoir was a fairly thriving village. Col. Tom Austin, of Nevada, was its principal citizen, and he worked zealously for its advancement. It was hoped that a rail¬ road would cross the Osage at this point, but that hope was dis¬ pelled, and there was a stampede from the place from 1871, upon the location of Schell City. Sometime afterward Colonel Austin went back to Nevada and the town went to decay.

The only remaining town in the township of Blue Mound is Ketterman, a hamlet of about fifty souls. It is located in the southeastern part of the township, and gets mail by rural route from Walker.

Badger -township comprises township 35, range 30. In the aggregate the general surface is fairly divided between timber and prairie. The latter embraces the central and southern por¬ tions of the township, while the timbered lands lie generally in the northern part, along the west fork of Clear creek, and its tributaries, Sturgis and Camp branch. There is some rough land in the township. In general the farming lands are of superior quality, and there are many fine farms.

The coal stratum underlying the township has not been opened very extensively. In about 1874 a mine was established in the southeastern portion of the township, on the farm of A. Miller, and it is claimed that this was the first regular coal bank in the township. There is an abundance of coal, timber, stone, water, and clay in Badger township.

The peculiar rock formation, called the Clear creek sandstone, exists in this township to a considerable extent. On section 16 and elsewhere in the vicinity it abounds as a fine, valuable grit¬ stone, suitable for grindstones, whetstones, and oilstones. Forty years ago the settlers here made their own grindstones, and on one occasion Dr. A. Badger took a load of them to the Gasconade country and sold them very readily to the settlers.

First Settlers

Perhaps the first actual settlers in Badger township were Esq. Isaac D. Smith and his son-in-law, John Hanson, who came in 1842 to the northern part of the township on the north side of Clear creek. Smith located in the timber on section 4, and Hanson east of him. on section 3. But the same vear Judge James Overstreet settled in the northeast corner of the township on the southwest quarter of section 1, half a mile northeast of Westminster church.

In 1843 a man named Johnson came in and bought out Judge Overstreet, who moved over into the eastern border of Cedar County, where he lived a short time. With Johnson came his son-in-law, a man named Scruggs, who settled on section 9, on the south side of Clear creek, south of Esq. Smith, and two miles west of Westminster. Johnson in a few years sold out to Dr.

In the spring of 1843 the Tij>pitt family - Singleton. James, and their father - came in, and with them a Mr. Woods, a sonin-law of the old gentleman. All located in the western part of the township on Clear creek. James Tippitt settled on the north side of the creek (se. *4 sec. Tj : Singleton Tippitt was a mile north se. *4 sec. 6) in the edge of the timber, mile north (se. *4 sec. 6) in the edge of the timber.

In June. 1844. Dr. Albert Badger, for whom the township was named, settled on the northeast quarter of section 11. in the northeastern part of the township.

In the summer of 1846 Dr. Harding and family settled in Badger township, and in the spring of 1847 Thomas Shivers and Mr. Wooliver came in. The latter bought out Esq. Isaac Smith, who moved over on the southwest quarter of section 1. He sold his farm to Stapp and went to Texas in 1855. Thomas Shivers, who settled on section 20, was a soldier of the War of 1812. and served under Andrew Jackson.

Of some of the first settlers of Badger township it may be stated that Isaac D. Smith was bora in Lee county. Virginia. March 22. 1800: emigrated to Williamsburg. Kv. in 1817. and married there in 1820: came to Osage county. Missouri, in 1833. and settled on the site of Linn, afterward the county seat. He raised eleven children, nine of whom, in their turn, had large families. He died in 1852 at Old Montevallo.

John Hanson, Smith's son-in-law, was an eccentric character, rough, uncouth, and semi- civilized. It is said that he never, or verv rarelv. wore a hat or anv sort of head covering. but went bareheaded in all sorts of weather, his long, matted, shaggy hair furnishing sufficient protection for his cranium. He lived in the woods in a little pole cabin, which he removed three times in order to be near firewood. He said it was easier to move his cabin to the wood than to move the wood to the cabin. The cabin could be moved in one day. but the wood required several days to move. His house was always set in the thick timber, and when this was cut down and burned for a considerable radius around, it was time to move again. Hanson died in this township and was buried in the Stapp graveyard.

county, there was an election in what is now Clear Creek town¬ ship, then about the center of what was designated as Clear Creek precinct, a district twelve by twenty-four miles in extent ; the voting place was at Overstreet's Sulphur Springs, in Virgil township. Isaac Smith, of the Badger settlement, was chosen justice of the peace.

The first case before Esq. Smith was a notable one. It was an action for debt, based on a running account. The parties lived some miles away. The plaintiff, Peter "Welch, could read and write, but the defendant, Thomas Massey, could not, and therefore engaged a lawyer, Hon. Kindred Pearson, to conduct' his defense. The cause was tried before a jury, with Esq. Smith to decide the law points. The defendant's counsel examined the account sued on and demanded a non-suit, because he said the aforesaid account was not "intelligible." The magistrate was surprised but silent. Repeated demands for a non-suit at last brought the summary inquiry: "Mr. Pearson, what the devil does 'intelligible' mean?" After a few seconds of cogitation, head-scratching, and palaver, the attorney answered: "Your Honor, in this case, the word 'intelligible' means alphabetical." "Well, that's worse than the other," rejoined the dignitary; "what the devil does alfybetikle mean?" The lawyer, with a perverseness peculiar to his profession refused to serve as a dic¬ tionary, and thereupon the 'Squire overruled his motion for a non-suit, to the great delight of the spectators, who were eager to see the first lawsuit in Clear Creek precinct carried to a conclusion.

The trial was before a jury, and lasted from noon of one day until after breakfast of the next, the court remaining in session and the cause progressing through the entire night. Smith's "women folks" cooked for and fed the entire crowd, litigants, counsel, witnesses, jury, and spectators, providing a bountiful dinner and supper, and a "snack" at midnight, wind¬ ing up with a substantial breakfast the next morning.

Both the plaintiff and defendant had presented accounts and sworn to them, and each had provided a number of witnesses who had testified in support of his claim. The case became in¬ volved and so mixed up that Esq. Smith and a majority of the spectators declared they couldn't "make head or tail of it." But the gentlemen of the jury were equal to the occasion. After a short season of deliberation in a brush patch near the house, they returned and solemnly announced their verdict: 4 'We decide that both accounts shall be squared."

The decision was entirely satisfactory to everybody but the constable. That officer had ridden over the county for miles and miles, through brush thickets and over rough country, swim¬ ming streams and climbing hills, in the discharge of his duty, summoning witnesses, jurymen, and the parties litigant, and now he was ignored entirely - no provision having been made for the costs of the suit. He at once stepped forward and de¬ manded his fees, and swore that somebody had to pay them. Esq. Smith asked the jury to reassemble and redeliberate and assess the expenses of the trial properly and equitably; but Kindred Pearson objected, unless the case should be tried over, de novo, as the lawyers say.

Appalled at the consequences of a new trial, involving, as he knew it would, the feeding of another hungry crowd, Esq. Smith threw up his hands and expostulated: "For the Lord's sake, bo}rs," said he, "fix it up some other way without a new trial. By gonny, I'm clean out of meat and my wife had to borry meal for breakfast. Please don't have a new trial, boys!"

The matter was finally referred to the constable as the party most interested, and he decided that as AYelch, the plaintiff, had brought the suit, or, as he expressed it, had "commenced the fuss," it was but fair that he should pay the costs. The justice affirmed the decision. Then AYelch arose and said, "I am satis¬ fied, gentlemen ; and now if that constable, and all the other constables in Missouri, can find any property belonging to me that is exempt, they are welcome to it ; as far as I know I haven 't got half the property the law allows me. Good-clay, gents ! ' '

So ended the case. The litigants shook hands and were once more friendly. The spectators were awed and imbued with due reverence for the majesty and the workings of "the law," and it somehow seemed as if a great and beneficial event had occurred. But somehow it seemed rough on the constable, who had for his only recompense the consciousness of duty well performed.

In the summer of 1844, the first school south of the Osage and east of Upper Drywood, was taught at the residence of Isaac Smith, in this township, by James Hays. The teacher had a dozen scholars, the children of the few settlers in the country, their age varying from five years to twenty-one. The branches taught were rudimentary, and the course of instruction was simple and not at all thorough. Dr. John Smith, afterward a well-known citizen of this township, was one of the pupils at this school. It is claimed that this was the first school taught in Vernon county.

Although the first school in the township was taught in the summer of 1844, the first public school house was not built until 1860, when the Badger school house, a little south of the residence of Dr. Badger (near the center of section 11), was erected. The first school in this building was taught in the winter of 1861, by Hon. Alfred Cummins. Air. Cummins taught his first school in Virgil township in the summer of 1859.

The first preachers in Badger were Methodists. Rev. Mr. Crow came in 1844, and preached occasionally until 1855. Rev. Ash¬ craft held services here from 1849 to 1856. Rev. T. J. Wallace, of the Christian Church, came to the township prior to the Civil War. Rev. Ashcraft lived at the "Seven Mounds," in Cedar county, while Rev. Crow resided in what is now the northern part of Dover township.

In the early settlement roving bands of Indians frequently camped in the bottoms, while they hunted in various parts of the country. The women made baskets and all of them traded and trafficked more or less with the settlers. The savages were repre¬ sentatives of various tribes, the Osages, Pottawattamies, Miamis, Sacs and Foxes, and perhaps others. All were friendly.

Game was abundant. Packs of wolves and herds of deer were to be found on the prairies, and flocks of turkeys lived in the timber. The Indians preferred this ground for hunting to the territory out in Kansas, even as far west or southwest as the Arkansas river.

During the Civil War Badger township was the scene of a tragedy or two, and the few citizens that were left were preyed upon rather disastrously. Many wagon loads of corn, hay, and oats were hauled off and fed out by the Federal cavalry.

In the spring of 1862, two Confederates were hung in the edge of the Clear Creek timber, in the northeast corner of the township (northeast section 1), north and east of Richard Butler's. Their names were Thomas Ryan and James Johnson, and their execu¬ tioners were Kansas men under the command of Captain Moore probably. Ryan lived in Clear Creek township ; he was a young married man and a son of Wm. Ryan ; he had been in Price's army and was a prisoner at Clintonville. Captain Moore had gotten hold of him and was carrying him through the country. Johnson lived near Nevada ; he too had served under General Price, but was at home when captured.

Valentine Mashaney, of this township, was killed by a detach¬ ment of Company A, third Wisconsin cavalry, on a charge of feed¬ ing, harboring and otherwise aiding and abetting Confederate bushwhackers.

The prairie portion of the township was not settled until after the war. A few fields had been opened by parties living in the timber, but no houses were built out upon the prairie until after 1865.

Some of the hard characters that infested the Clear creek coun¬ try after the war located in this township. A man named John Wilson was hung on Clear creek by the "Regulators;" he was accused of horse stealing and other crimes. An old German named Wonsettler located here afterwards. He and his wife were noted pilferers and thieves. The "Regulators" visited them and gave them both a sound whipping and ordered them from the country.

The land in this township was surveyed by the government and placed in market in the year 1843. No entries were made prior to that year, although a few claims had been taken.

Badger township was organized in January, 1873, and named in honor of Dr. Albert Badger, one of its oldest, prominent and most worthy citizens. It is now well improved and settled and contains good farms and comfortable homes, the abodes of a very respectable class of citizens.

Greene Springs located in the northeastern part of the town¬ ship have been noted for many years for the medicinal virtues of the waters. A few people make their homes here, and if they had railroad facilities no doubt they would rival the famous springs of Eldorado.

A village or town adjoining this spring was regularly laid out and platted on the land of John C. Shaffer (south half northwest quarter southeast quarter section 12-35-30) by Mr. Greene, on the 25th of September, 1886, and named Greene Springs.

Presbyterian Church South. In 1868 this church was organ¬ ized with the following members : Charles N. Logan, Sarah Lo¬ gan, Mrs. Elizabeth Butler, Miss Sarah Logan, Miss Nancy Lo¬ gan, Miss Emma Badger, Dr. A. Badger, Mrs. Sarah E. Badger, Mrs. Cochran, Mrs. E. D. Harding, Mrs. Joseph E. Harding, Jo¬ sephine Arrington, Henry L. Badger, William A. Gose and Bar¬ bary Gose. A frame church building was erected in 1882 on the northeast corner of section 11, which cost $1,200.

D. S. Mosley, wife and daughter, G. W. Sullivan and wife, R. T. Mountjoy and wife, T. J. Haley and wife, J. D. Cline, J. Id. More and wife, V illiam A. More and wife, I. C. Bole and wife, Francis Lynd, Mrs. M. J. Ewell. Mollie Ewell and M. S. More. In 1882, on section 29, a frame house of worship was erected at a cost of $750.

West Fork Christian Church was organized in 1874. Some of the first members were M. P. Stroud, Priscilla Stroud, Charles BolanJ and wife, George Sullivan and wife, David Morreslv and wife, Sophia McGavney and George Mountjoy and wife.

Lee Kibler

M. E. Church South. Marvin chapel is located on section 20 and was erected in 1884 at a cost of $800. In 1908 the church was remodeled and enlarged at a cost of $1,200. The original members were Elizabeth Sullivan, Henrv Purnell and wife. Andrew Kibler and wife, I. T. Kibler and wife, M. M. Haverstick and wife, J. M. Anderson and wife, W. McGary and wife, T. Y. Brannock and wife, L. A. Swaney and wife, Mrs. J. B. Moon,

E. C. Hedrick and Cora Haverstick. Those still holding membership of the original members are L. A. Swaney and wife, Mrs. Sarah Kibler, AY. McGary and M. M. Haverstick.

The organization of this church occurred in 1882 by Swift and Dowdy, while pastors of the Nevada circuit in the fall of 1883 the Nevada circuit was divided, forming what is known as the Sheldon circuit of which Marvin chapel is a part and was served one year by H. L. Anderson as pastor, at which time he was succeeded by E. H. Morrison (1884), who was followed in 1885 by D. B. Price. After serving one year, C. A. Emmons came on the work and was pastor two years, being succeeded in 1888 by B. H. Gragg. In the fall of 1889 came J. T. Loyal as pastor and served the church one year, being followed in the fall of 1890 by T. C. Puckett, who remained on the work two years, and was succeeded by J. P. Robb in 1892, who was followed in 1893 by W. P. Barrett, who was pastor one year, being succeeded by L. M. Phillips in 1894, who remained two years. In the fall of 1896 S. G. AYelborn came as pastor and served the church two years, being succeeded by J. J. Reed in 1898, who remained till 1901, when Marvin chapel was cut off from the Sheldon circuit and put with Austin chapel of Nevada, and Jacob Shook made their pastor. After serving one year, Marvin and Austin was separated and Marvin put back on the Sheldon circuit and served one year each by the following pastors: F. E. Gordon (1902),

L. F. Shook (1903), R. J. Kyle (1904). J. Y. Busby came on the work in the fall of 1905. After serving the people about six months, he was very suddenly called to his reward, dying in the home of J. F. Hill. His funeral was preached at Marvin chapel by AY. G. Beasley, after which he was laid to rest in Deepwood cemetery, Nevada, and Joseph King was pastor during the bal¬ ance of the year and was succeeded in the fall of 1906 by C. L. Stofer, who remained one year, followed by E. S. Ailor in 1907. In 1908 J. D. Randolph was appointed to the work, but was soon transferred to another conference and Joseph King was pastor for one year and was followed in 1909 by T. C. Puckett, who is the present pastor.

The present membership is 155. The Sabbath school in con¬ nection with the church has a membership of 200. D. M. Hoff¬ man served as superintendent from the building of the church till the fall of 1898, at which time he was succeeded by Lee Kibler, the present superintendent. The trustees are L. A. Swaney, E.

Center township comprises congressional township 35, range 31. It occupies exactly a central position in the county from east to west, and its northern boundary is in the center from north to south.

A little more than the eastern two miles of the township is prairie ; the remainder was originally covered with timber. Lit¬ tle Drywood in the western part, Moore's branch and Birch branch, in the southern, which are the principal streams, are widely bordered with timber.

South of Nevada, and almost adjoining the town, most valu¬ able quarries of blue sandstone have been opened. The stone is well adapted for ornamental work of various kinds and much of it is in use in the asylum and in other buildings. It is but reasonable to conclude that this stone is to be found else¬ where, since the general variety to which it belongs (hydraulic sandstone) is frequently to be seen. There are numerous ex¬ posures of sandstone along the streams, notably on the western border of Nevada, on the Ft. Scott road.

Coal lias been found in the northwest quarter of the town¬ ship. The belief that natural gas exists under the surface near Nevada is not sufficiently general and strong as yet to induce speculative capitalists to bore for it. The greater portion of the coal consumed in Nevada is brought from other parts of the county. Near Nevada a gravel bed exists as a depth of sixteen feet, and that in this bed logs and sticks have been found in digging wells. South of Nevada, on Birch branch, is a good mineral spring.

First Settlements

The first actual settlers in Center township were John Hale and Jesse Anderson, who came directly from Pulaski county here in the fall of 1840. Hale located about three miles west and north of where is now the public square in Nevada, and Anderson built his cabin a little east of the southwest corner of the fair grounds. At the same time a man named Swearingen settled on the asylum grounds, his house standing a short dis¬ tance west of the site of the main building; he was from Inde¬ pendence, Jackson county. In a year or two Swearingen sold

August 10, 1841, Hale and Anderson were re-enforced by the arrival of Luke Hale and James Skaggs, the former the father and the latter a brother-in-law of John Hale. The Hale family came originally from Bledsoe county, Tennessee. Luke Hale died in the fall of 1853, and was buried in the old graveyard, northwest of Nevada. Anderson died at Luke Hale's probably in 1844; John Hale died in Kansas, and James Skaggs died in Moundsville township in February, 1871.

David Teel, a Pennsylvanian, and the father of Peter Teel, came from Knox county, Illinois, by way of Clay county, Missouri, to Vernon, and in July, 1842, settled at the head of Birch branch, near where the railroad depot now stands. Mr. Teel and his family occupied temporarily an empty cabin which had been built a year or two previously by John Son, Jr., whose father, Samuel Son, lived two and a half miles north of Nevada. John Son had built his cabin, lived in it for a time, and then moved back to the neighborhood where his father lived. In a week Mr. Teel removed to another vacated cabin, which had been built and occupied by "Runaway Bill" Moore; in a short time there¬ after he bought out a claim on which old Nicholas Ganther had settled, north of the Minden railroad (north part of section 21), a little more than a mile south of Birch branch.

At that time there were living in the township, besides the Hales,. James Skaggs, and Jesse Anderson, and perhaps one or two others ; Rev. Benjamin Moore, who lived on the branch bearing his name on the west half of section 28; his son-in-law, Samuel Beavers, lived half a mile to the westward. Both Moore and Beavers were from Ohio, and were members of the United Brethren Church, Mr. Moore being a minister of that denomina¬ tion. Simeon and John Moore were also early settlers on Moore's branch.

¥m. Mann lived a mile south of James Staggs (southwest quarter section 9), north of the M., K. & T. railroad. Mr. Mann was a settler of some prominence and consequence. He was a good blacksmith, a fairly good doctor, a man of some means and a slave owner.

lived his brother-in-law, a man named Hammons, who died in the fall of 1842, and was buried in the Moore graveyard - the first death and burial of an adult in the township. Louis Wilder mar¬ ried Hammons ' widow and resided in the neighborhood. Horace Wentworth was another early settler in the neighborhood of Ferguson, living on the same section.

In 1843 Hugh Ferguson put up a band mill. He, Louis Wilder, and David Teel went down on Horse creek and got the stones and put them in proper shape for use. This mill was the first in the township, and served the purpose of the settlers very well.

In about 1844 or 1845 Ferguson, Wilder, and Wentworth moved back to Knox county, Illinois, from whence they had come directly. All three, however, were Kentuckians originally.

In 1845 John J. Baxter located at Son's Point, a locality a mile and a half east of the present court house, not far from the cabin mentioned as the work of John Son, Jr.

In 1846, Thomas H. Austin settled on a tract of land, a por¬ tion of which is now included within the city of Nevada. His house was located about one-fourth of a mile south of the present court house. Colonel Austin purchased the claim from a man named Allen, who went elsewhere. Austin himself entered the land in 1854.

The first settlers built their houses in the edge of the timber and farmed the prairie principally, although nearly every family had a " truck patch" in the timber. There was but little farm¬ ing done, however; no attempt was made to engage extensively in general agriculture. If a sufficiency of " bread" corn and a few vegetables for home consumption were raised, the people were satisfied. There were serious drawbacks, too, to an extensive scale or system of farming. The green-head flies were so bad on the prairies in summer that but little plowing could be done with horses during that season, and every fall the prairies were swept over by disastrous fires, which frequently invaded exposed fields and destroyed the crops. There was little inducement, moreover, for engaging largely in grain or crop-growing. There was no home market worth quoting for wheat, corn, and produce, and it would not pay to haul it to Independence and Boonville for the prices then in vogue.

they resorted to Balltown and Montevallo, until Nevada was started. From the first settlement until 1855 there were two or three drouthv years, when crops were either a total or a partial failure. At these times the people were driven to go either down into the Spring river country or east on Sac, in order to procure provisions from their more fortunate neighbors.

The country was as healthy as to-day. The principal dis¬ eases were chills and fever, and rheumatism. The first physician that practiced in the "Haletown" settlement was Dr. White,' who in 1852 removed to John Hale's place. After the war, Dr. "White married the widow of A. G. Hale, of Ft. Scott, and died on the Marmaton.

Religious services were held by the Methodists at a very early date. In October, 1841, Rev. Reuben Aldridge, serving as a missionary of the M. E. Church, held a two days' meeting on Jesse Anderson's place, and organized a class. People attended from far and near. Afterward the Missouri Conference sent cir¬ cuit riders into the country, who preached at "Haletown" - as the settlement near Nevada was called - every four weeks. The first of these circuit riders was Lorenzo "Waugh, an earnest, zealous preacher, prominently identified with the history of the Methodist Church in southwest Missouri. He was succeeded by Rev. Deeper.

"With the location of the county seat at Nevada City, the country in Center township began to improve and grow in value ; but, like other portions of the country, it had just begun to settle fairly when the Civil "War came with its swords and torches, and from 1861 to 1866 there was no progress, and indeed the town¬ ship did not hold its own.

After the war, or in 1866, this township started up again and in a few years, so rapid had been its advancement, it was dif¬ ficult to believe that there had ever been a war, or that the prosperity of the country had ever been checked by any cause whatever. This course of prosperity has been uninterrupted to the present time.

counties, on the north by Bacon township, on the west by Walker, on the south by Virgil. About two-thirds of the township - chiefly the northern portion - is prairie. The timbered tracts lie in the southern or southeastern portion, along Clear creek, with a small tract in the northeast corner, on a branch of Kitten creek.

The general surface of the township slopes from north to south into the Clear creek valley. In the northern part there are beautiful undulating farming lands; the central portion dips more rapidly, while in the southern portion runs Clear creek from southwest to northeast.

Clear creek - from which stream the township is named - enters from the south about midway from east to west on the township line (southwest corner section 34), and leaves the town¬ ship in the east at a point about midway between the northern and southern boundary lines. It receives in this township, soon after entering, the waters of the West Fork, which flows along the southern line for three miles or more ; also Fly creek and Stone Coal branch, which come in from the south, in the south¬ eastern portion of the township, and empty into the main stream, the first a mile and a half and the second half a mile from the point where it leaves the county; and the Melton branch which ' comes in on the north side, half a mile above the mouth of Fly creek. The West Fork receives Robinson's creek, which flows along the west side of the township for four or five miles.

The Clear creek sandstone is the chief formation along Clear creek and throughout the greater part of this township. It is generally of fine quality and a good article of gritstone. Grindstones equal, if not superior, to the famed Berean stones of Ohio, have been obtained from the exposures along this stream.

In the southeastern portion along Clear creek there is found a good quality of limestone, of the variety known to geologists as the Keokuk limestone - because the same kind of stone was first found and described at Keokuk, Iowa - and this stone is reasonablv abundant. Prof. Broadhead savs there are occasional outcrops of this stone as far north as in section 13, where Clear creek leaves the county, and thence up the stream to the old White Oak mills, in the northwest southwest section 26. He gives us a section of the earth at the White Oak mills, going down about ninety feet, which he says is as follows :

" First, a few feet slope from the top; then twenty-five feet Clear creek sandstone, tolerably fine grained, with some micaceous beds (containing mica), and containing fossil remains of plants - the stone occurring generally in even flags which make good grindstones ; then twenty-one feet of slope, with a thin coal seam in the lower part ; then outcrops of shale and fragments of coal ; then thirty-three feet of slope to the water in Clear creek, the low^er twelve feet being carboniferous limestone."

Three-quarters of a mile south the Professor observed twelve inches of coal in place, about fifteen feet below the Clear creek sandstone ; the coal was capped by light blue shale. A mile east of the mills Prof. Broadhead gives us another section of the rocks, etc., as follows :

" First, five feet of sandstone; twelve feet of drab, sandy shales ; five feet of thin layers of sandstone ; two inches of rotten coal ; thirty-two and one-half feet of deep blue shale, with bi¬ tuminous layers, and a seam of bituminous coal ten feet from the top ; one and one-half feet of shales mingled with concre¬ tions or lumps of pyritiferous limestone, from six to eighteen inches in diameter ; two and one-half feet of black shales ; six inches of rough, sandy pyritiferous limestone, containing a fossil gastropod (or snail) ; four and one-half inches of coal; two inches of black slate; two feet of fire clay."

The four and one-half -inch vein of coal is probably the same as that at the mill, and the seam in the large shale formation is doubtless the same as that half a mile south of the mill, which also appears in the creek banks a mile above.

The learned Professor states that the sandstone here is of firm texture and generally very durable. It is sometimes ripple marked and full of wavy lines, such as would be formed by gently flowing mud, for there is absolutely no clay in its com¬ position. He suggests that it may be fucoidal - that is, made by sea weed.

"Even, firm, and durable beds were observed at White Oak mills. Formerly very good grindstones were made here, as well as at several other places in the neighborhood, and were quite an article of export. The rock forms an excellent grit, suitable for grindstones and coarse whetstones and may in the future be

In the northeast part of the township (northwest southeast section 7), near Kitten branch, there are two fine sulphur springs. One discharges three quarts and the other three gallons a minute. The water is very pleasant.

The first settler in Clear Creek township was James Fergus. In the fall of 1837 he came over from St. Clair county and built a cabin on the southeast quarter of section 24, within a quarter of a mile of the Cedar county line, and a mile south of where Clear creek leaves the county. His daughter, Virginia, who was born May 13, 1839, was the first white child born in the township. Mr. Fergus was the first elected sheriff of Vernon county, and died in office, October 13, 1859.

Some years after Mr. Fergus settled in this township, the Packard brothers came to the country. There were three of them, Alanson, Phineas and Horatio; all were from Ohio, and they must have emigrated to Missouri about the year 1840. Alanson Packard lived in 1844 in Cedar, near the point where that county corners with St. Clair and Vernon. His brothers lived in the southwest part of this township, south of Clear creek - Phineas on the northwest quarter of section 36 and Horatio on the southwest quarter of section 25.

Dr. Badger relates, as portraying the character and mode of living of some of the first settlers of this quarter of the state, that in the fall of 1844 he went to the house of Phineas Packard, in what is now Clear Creek township, to borrow a cross-cut saw, belonging to Alanson Packard, of St. Clair. Accepting an invi¬ tation to dinner, the Doctor seated himself on a three-legged stool at a clap-board table. Surrounding the family board were the Doctor, Mr. and Mrs. Packard, and their eight children, grown up boys and girls, some standing and some sitting on stools. The table furniture consisted of two-thirds of an iron kettle and three battered tin cups. The kettle contained a boiled chicken and a quantity of thick soup, while on one corner of the table were piled three pones of corn bread, constituting the bill of fare.

breeches, a hunting knife, and severing a leg of the chicken and filling a cup with soup, he placed them before the Doctor ; the corn pone was next handed round. There were not cups enough to go around. The boys and girls understood this, and each formed from the soft part of the bread a miniature fort or bas¬ tion on the board, and into this enclosure a ration of soup was poured, and "sopped" out with another piece of bread at will. Occasionally a little crevasse, or break in the levee, occurred and a small stream of gravy would trickle forth, but it was soon suppressed by the swift motion of a finger, and the rift in the embankment closed. The host and Dr. Badger ate with their pocket knives; the rest used their fingers.

Phineas Packard, though a poor, rough man, was a worthy one, and reared a respectable family. He was a sincere Christian, and Dr. Badger testifies that the Packard family was one of the happiest he ever knew, even if they were without knives and forks or plates and spoons.

It is difficult to determine at this late day the names of all of the very first settlers in this township, and the location of the settlements in their proper and regular order. It is certainly known, however, and may with confidence be stated, that among the first were J. A. Neafus, William Collins, James Craig, Rev. R. A. Blakey, Conrad G. Carr, and Lawrence Drenning. All these were here before March, 1857, when Judge H. P. Mobley settled here and the majority lived in the lower part of the township.

Judge "Coonrod" Carr, as his Christian name was some¬ times pronounced, was from Illinois, and finally died in that State while on a visit ; he was one of the first justices of the Cernon county court. Mr. Neafus was from Callaway county, Kentucky, originally, but came directly from Henry county. J. T. Sullivan came with Blakey to the country. Judge Mobley was from Hickman county, Kentucky.

Maj. H. W. Corker was an early settler in this township, and made persistent efforts to establish a grist mill on Clear creek. He tried first to run a water milk then he employed steam to drive his machinery, but both schemes failed, and in 1855 he gave up the attempt and removed over into Walker township.

It was a log building and stood on section 34, near the residence of Mr. Blakey. There were no public schools until after the war, but there were private schools at private houses before that time. William French, of St. Clair county, was one of the first teachers.

One of the first townships in old Bates county comprised the eastern portion of what is now Vernon and was called Clear Creek. The voting place was at Judge James Overstreet's, down in Virgil, and some of the early justices of the peace were Isaac Smith, Judge Overstreet and Samuel Dunnagan, who lived at Dunnagan's Grove, near the Barton line.

During the war it was six of the jayhawkers to half a dozen of the bushwhackers, and between the two the people of the township had a rough time of it. Some of them were driven out, after having their horses taken, their stock driven away, and their houses plundered.

Marchbanks' and Taylor's bushwhackers found occasionally a snug refuge in the Cedar creek timber in this township, but there were never any encounters between them and the Federal forces. The Cedar county militia '"made it hot" for the Con¬ federate sympathizers here - the unarmed portion, at least - but they did more foraging than fighting.

The old Blakey graveyard on section 34 is the oldest cemetery in the township. In August, 1886, the name was changed and the Mount Pleasant Cemetery Association organized, with J. M. Carr, president; John Kelly, vice-president; George H. Mobley, secretary and treasurer; John Kelly, George IT. Mobley and William A. Brim, trustees.

Bedrick. The village of Dedrick, located on the Eldorado branch of the M., K. & T. K. R., is a local trading and shipping point of some importance, containing general stores and other conveniences.

Mount Vernon M. E. Church South is located on section 20, Clear Creek township. The organization of this church was ef¬ fected about the year 1861. The following were the original

Towns And Towxships

Buford, S. Hill, A. M. Sullard and their wives; Mrs. Easley, Mrs. Julia Lancaster and Mrs. S. Morgan. In 1884 a frame church building was erected which cost $1,000.

Oak Grove, Baptist. December 20, 1885, this church was or¬ ganized with the following members : S. P. McCrary and wife, Jasper McCrary and wife, Stephen Easley, Samuel Nance and wife, Josephus Collins and wife, James Roberts and wife, Frank Beauchamp and wife, William Hurt and wife, Mrs. Sadie Corbin, John Stephens, Charles Gardner, Nancy Holland and Jane Hardin.

Veve Branch, Reorganized Latter-Day Saints. The branch of the above named church was organized in Clear Creek township January 17, 1892, with the following officers: Joseph Sterling, president; R. T. Walters, priest; G. M. Shearer, teacher, and W. H. Lowe, deacon. The same year a church building was erected twenty-six by forty feet, costing $620 and located on section 15, range 29 in Clear Creek township. The present officers are W. H. Lowe, president; Joseph Sterling, elder; L. B. Click, teacher; Reuben Gliek, deacon. The membership now numbers ninetysix and the enrollment in Sunday school is fifty.

Coal township comprises all of congressional township No. 35, range 33, and its western boundary line is a portion of that of the state and county.

The Marmaton cuts the northwestern and northeastern cor¬ ners of the township; Moore's Branch flows from west to east along the southern tier of sections and empties into Big Drywood, which runs from south to north through the eastern portion, leaving it a little more than two miles from the northern line. Sprague's branch and numerous other small streams furnish an abundant running water supply.

By far the greater portion of the township is prairie. The only timbered tracts are those which fringe the larger streams. Away from the bottoms the soil is generally loamy and very fertile. There are a few elevated ridges or truncated mounds in the western parts, where there is some stone. On the northwest quarter of section 14 is an excellent quality of potter's clay, largely used by the Deerfield pottery.

Coal

The township takes its name from the great abundance of this mineral within its boundaries. It underlies every section and can be obtained almost everywhere by light stripping. So far as it has been developed most extensively it exists north and south of Clayton; on section 17, on section 20, where the vein is from eighteen to twenty inches; on sections 18 and 19, along the Kansas line, where it is from twelve to sixteen inches; and in the vicinity of those localities. At every point the coal is found at but a trifling depth from the surface.

The first American settlements in Coal township were made in the southern part along Moore's branch. Smith Profitt was the first settler. In the spring of 1838 he came to the country with Kinchin Gammons and built a cabin on the south side of Moore's branch, on the southeast quarter of section 34. A year or two later his brother, Judge William Profitt, and William Horner, a son-in-law of the .judge, came to Moore's branch, to the westward a mile or so. Judge Profitt located on the north side of the branch, on the south side of section 28 and the north side of section 33. Horner was on the west side of 34. The Profitts and Horner w*ere all from Tennessee.

Judge William Profitt was a prominent citizen in early days. He owned slaves, farmed extensively and was elected one of the first county judges of Bates county in 1841 ; Col. George Douglass and George Manship were the two others. He died on his farm about 1850. William Horner sold out to J. B. Logan, in 1856, and went to California.

A man named Reed settled on section 32, a mile or more west of Judge Profitt 's, in and about 1844. In a year or two he sold to John Linn. John Linn was a native of North Carolina, but came from Barren county, Kentucky, to Vernon county, locating at first on Chouteau's place, near Deerfield.

The prairie portions of the township were not occupied until after the close of the Civil War. The general objection to that character of soil was coupled with the scarcity of timber on its surface, but the latter difficulty was in great part overcome by the discovery of coal in such large quantities so near the surface. The building of the railroad was of great advantage to the thor¬ ough settlement of Coal township.

The first settlers cultivated the borders of the prairies next the timber and did not clear off much timber. They raised good crops, too, without much difficulty. The greatest trouble encoun¬ tered was the prairie fires. Every farmer surrounded his fields with a belt of plowed ground in the fall of the year, but often . the fire was so large and fierce that men, women and children all turned out to fight it and to burn against it.

It was in the northeast corner of this township, on the Marmaton, where the storehouse of Edward and Charley Chouteau was located in early days. Old Henry Heriforcl, too, had a store in the western part of this township, near the line, in pioneer times, and was a well-known citizen of the county for many years.

Although the first settlements in this township were made along Moore's branch, it is impossible to state how that stream derived its name. Presumably, in the long ago a man named Moore settled on its banks, but doubtless not in Missouri ; no settler of that name is remembered as having ever lived in this quarter. The stream was called Moore's branch when the first settlers came, and, perhaps, he for whom it was named lived on its head waters over in Kansas.

A tragedy of early days in this quarter was the assassination of Samuel Lambert, who lived on Dry wood, near the ford that yet bears his name. Mr. Lambert was returning to his house and was shot as he was entering the dooryard. The ball struck him in the back, at the crossing of his suspenders, and was evi¬ dently fired by an expert marksman in ambush. So mysterious was the affair that one of his sons was at last thought by some to be the guilty party, but nothing could be proven against him, and he was doubtless unjustly accused. The real perpetrator was never discovered. The assassination occurred about the year 1850.

ship had a memorable experience. The battle of Drywood or Hogan's Crossing was concluded on section 13 in this township, and from that time until peace was made the prairies were hoofbeaten by the continued trampling of Federal and Confederate raiders.

October 27, 1864, the day when General Price's defeated legions retreated through this county, hundreds of the Confed¬ erates passed through the eastern portion of the township in the greatest distress and demoralization. Hungry and fatigued and half delirious from loss of sleep and expecting every mo¬ ment that the Federals would fall upon them, the poor fugitives were scarcely conscious of what they did. The prairie for two miles west of the Drywood was strewn with guns, pistols, broken down wagons, sore-backed and wornout horses and mules, and other debris of the wrecked and shattered army.

In their bewilderment some of the men, in trying to find the Lambert ford over Drywood, went two or three miles south of Moore's branch, then turned and coming north, by painful and harassing marches, made up the distance they had lost. In pass¬ ing where the Logan selioolhouse stands, these men abandoned much plunder. Passing the house of Mrs. Mary Logan, as that lady related, the famished soldiers begged from her almost the last morsel of food she possessed.

One old soldier, from Benton county, Arkansas, sank down in Mrs. Logan's dooryard, sick, starving and exhausted. In a few hours he died on her doorstep. His body was buried, uncoffined, by two old men and a few women of the neighborhood in the old Profitt graveyard. Months afterward the skeleton of a young man, with a rusty pistol belted about the waist, and clad in gray, was found in the Drywood timber. The fleshless fingers of one hand were still grasping a dry and withered bunch of wild grapes. It was not certain, but it was believed that this man, too, died of fatigue and starvation.

The Village Of Eve

The village of Eve, formerly Clayton station, at the junction of the M., K. & T. R. R. and the Kansas Southern railroad, has a population of about 100, some shipping and merchandising, and is a thrifty and progressive community.

The Christian Church. The organization of this church was effected February 28, 1877, with the following among the original members : M. E. Cox, J. N. Bridges, Maggie Bridges, S. S. Dunn, Lerrilda Dunn, J. P. Hale, Mary Hale, Amos Huddleton, A. J. Emerson, S. P. Simms and Mrs. M. E. Simms. A church build¬ ing, a frame structure, was erected in 1884 at a cost of about $1,501.29. The first officers were J. P. Hale, John Nanson, H. J. Emerson and J. Bridges. The church enjoys a fair degree of prosperity.

Bethel M. E. Church. In 1876 a church edifice was erected on section 20 at a cost of $2,200, and dedicated the Bethel M. E. church. Through the kindness and active help of some of its members the actual cost was greatly reduced. Among the origi¬ nal members of this organization may be mentioned B. Bradley and wife, John C. Bradley and wife, Theophilus Rimbey and wife, H. T. Woods and wife, Frank Couch and wife, Philip Hud¬ son and wife, J. G. Witt and wife, Susan Mosher, - Thompson,

Deerfield township comprises all of township 35, range 32. It lies between the two Dry woods and immediately south of the Marmaton, and is therefore bordered with timber on three sides. A central portion of the township is gently rolling prairie, abound¬ ing in fine fertile farms.

The Big Drywood empties into the Marmaton in the north¬ western part of this township; along the banks of the former stream, a mile or so from the mouth, are considerable bluffs, where the sandstone is freely exposed. ITackberry creek is in the southwestern part and flows northwest into Drywood. The Little Drywood empties into the Marmaton half a mile from the northeast corner of the township. McCoy's branch, so named from an early settler who located near its mouth, rises in the northern part of the township and empties into the Marmaton.

In the southern part of the township, near Moundville, coal is mined very successfully; and so also in other parts of the town¬ ship this mineral is found. There is more or less " grease rock" in tlie southwest part, and in the southeast corner of section 20, be¬ tween Tucker's branch and the Hackberry is an "oil well." Recent discoveries of oil or gas have been made on the property of Parson Henry Hogan, of this township, and also at other places noted below :

Oil or gas has been struck on above named persons' farms in the townships as indicated. These as a matter of course are in addition to Dover, Richland and Henry townships. In the northern part and especially in the northwestern portion there is considerable elevation of the land with occasional mounds.

Early History

The first settlers in this township were Col. George Douglass, who came to the north side of the Marmaton (northeast quarter section 6), a mile northeast of Deerfield, in May, 1834; Abram Redfield and Capt. Alexander Woodruff, who settled near Deer¬ field in 1836; (?) John Chorn, who located near Big Drywood on section 19, two and a half miles south of Deerfield, and Gabriel M. Stratton, who bought out Chorn 's claim in about 1837 or 1838. Ebenezer C. Howe came in 1839 and settled at Deerfield, having previously come to the Union Mission in 1838.

Woodruff's house was three-fourths of a mile north and east of Deerfield, across the river from Colonel Douglass'; Redfield 's was a quarter of a mile south of the village; Howre's was half a mile west of north, nearly in Coal township. Ebenezer C. Howe was a native of Livingston county, New York. He died December 5, 1850. He was the father of thirteen children.

Old John Chorn (pronounced Corn) was a singular character. His cabin was a wretched affair, hardly as comfortable as an Indian wigwam, and he lived in it in a condition of squalor and filth. His companions were his dogs, and he hunted, ate and slept with them on terms of perfect freedom and familiarity. He was quite a successful hunter, and, aided by his dogs, caught many a deer. His claim was the land on which afterward, in Septem¬ ber, 1861, the principal portion of the Dr}rwood skirmish was fought. Where lie came from and what became of him cannot now be learned.

In 1856 Judge J. H. Requa came over from Bates county and settled on section 5 in the northwestern part of the township, nearly two miles northeast of Deerfield. The quarter section upon - which he settled he purchased from Abram Redfield, Esq., for $120. Although Esquire Redfield had entered the land, he had forgotten it and sent Requa on a wild goose chase to the land office at Clinton to enter it for himself. He was astonished when Requa returned in a little ill-humor and said: "Why, squire, you already own that land you sent me to enter. Colonel Marvin, the register, says you have owned it for five years." The honest and well-meaning Esquire Redfield then agreed to sell the land to Requa for $80 less than even the entry price - a very cheap tract indeed.

WThen Judge Requa came Esquire Redfield lived at Deerfield; William Modrel lived half a mile west ; Capt. H. C. Cogswell lived on the old Douglass farm; ex-Sherif¥ G. M. Stratton was on the old Chorn claim, at Hogan's crossing of Drywood, and Thomas Puckett was on the west side of section 4, a mile east of the iron bridge. There were absolutely no settlements on the prairies in the central and southern portions of the township. Puckett's farm was the only one between Requa 's and Nevada, or the two or three buildings at "Haletown." Mr. Puckett died on his farm after the war. Chouteau's store on the Marmaton, two miles northwest from Deerfield, was just breaking up.

In the year 1857 W. W. Prewitt and his father-in-law, Smiley H. Sample, came from the Missouri river to the north central part of the township, a mile northwest of the village of Prewitt (or Ellis). Major Prewitt had entered several hundred acres of land and sold a farm to Sample. The main portion of the Prew¬ itt farm was the northeast quarter of section 9. These were the first settlements in that quarter.

But soon after 1857 nearly all the land in the township was entered and some tracts settled. The tracts along the Nevada and Fort Scott road were in favor, but the land along Hack- berry and the Drywoods was eagerly sought after. Not, how¬ ever, until after the war were the fine prairie lands of the town¬ ship settled generally in all parts.

During The Civil War

The skirmish on Big Drywood came off in this township on section 19 at Hogan's crossing of the Big Drywood, September 7, 1861. No other hostile encounters are remembered to have occurred in the township during the war.

In the early part of the year 1863 the two companies of the third Wisconsin cavalry which were stationed on the borders of the township made their appearance. Company D, Captain Shaw, was at the Lambert ford on Big Drywood, three and a half miles south of Deerfield, and Company F, Captain Vittum, afterward lieutenant-colonel, was near the Shively ford on the Marmaton.

General Price's army made its appearance twice in this town¬ ship. The first time, in September, 1861, it entered determined and confident, and left victorious and exultant. Three years later, in October, 1864, it came again, this time crushed and de¬ moralized, and left crippled and despondent. The defeated army camped at Deerfield on the night of October 26, and the soldiers got a few hours of much-needed rest. Next morning before day¬ light the retreat was resumed, and the poor, dispirited raiders, weary, hungry and apprehensive, departed by the light of burn¬ ing wagons and to the sound of exploding ammunition. For years afterwards pieces of the debris of the wrecked army were picked up at Deerfield and on the prairie to the southward - guns of all kinds, cannon balls, shells, etc. The army crossed Drywood at the Hogan and Lambert fords, where three years before many of the same men had passed when they had driven Montgomery and Moonlight back into Kansas. The night the army lay at Deerfield General Price made his headquarters at the house of Esquire William Modrel, who then lived half a mile west of the village.

From first to last three citizens of alleged Confederate sympa¬ thies were killed in this township and one Federal soldier. It is asserted, however, that two of the three citizens were really Union men, while it is certain that the third was harmless, no matter what his sympathies may have been.

Schell City Public School

down into Vernon county on a marauding expedition. They first visited the residence of Col. Smiley H. Sample, who lived on the Fort Scott and Nevada road, a mile northwest of Prewitt. He had a considerable sum of money which his wife secured and hid away when she first heard the robbers. Colonel Sample was called out and shot down while standing on his cellar door. The ball passed through his heart, killing him instantly. The robbers failed to secure the money they were after and rode on to Deer¬ field. Here they came upon and killed Marcus Woodruff, a young man, a son of the pioneer settler, Capt. Alexander Woodruff. The killing was wholly unprovoked and unextenuated. Marcus Woodruff was a cripple, unable for military service, and not in¬ clined to take an active part on either side. Pie was, perhaps, a Confederate sympathizer, but he was not killed on account of his politics, but in recklessness and wantonness.

Colonel Sample was a quiet, unobtrusive gentleman, a good citizen and universally esteemed. He was really a a conserva¬ tive Union man. Of Northern birth and lineage, he was never a secessionist and had done nothing against his government. lie had been given " protection papers" by the military authorities at Fort Scott, in whose confidence and esteem he was. At the time of his death Colonel Sample was about sixty years of age.

The Federal commander at Fort Scott made an effort to cap¬ ture this murderous band of "red legs." They committed depre¬ dations on Unionists and Confederates alike, and a detachment of Federal cavalry hunted them through eastern Kansas and finally, after killing three or four of them, broke them up.

In the summer of 1863 a scouting party of Kansas troops shot and mortally wounded a man named Fitzwater, who lived near Deerfield. His murderers called him a rebel, but he was really in the employ of the government, under John Lambert, at the time. He was in humble circumstances, and hearing that he was badly wounded, General Blair sent an ambulance for him and conveyed him to Fort Scott, where he died in spite of all the surgeons could do for him.

In November, 1862, the Mayfield boys and others raided the Union men along Drywood, taking horses and other property, and chasing the owners into the woods. There were fifteen men in the band when they took breakfast one morning near Deerfield. Esquire Redfield went to Fort Scott on the 11th and asked Major

A Federal soldier, who, it is claimed, was either a lieutenant or a sergeant and on recruiting service, was caught by a squad of bushwhackers and hung on the Drywood. The details of this affair cannot be learned, but it is said that the killing was simply an atrocious murder of an unarmed and defenseless prisoner.

No houses were burned in the neighborhood of Deerfield by the Federal soldiers, and but little property destroyed, although thousands of them passed through the country. The citizens at¬ tributed their immunity from molestation and injury to that stanch old Unionist, Esquire Abram Redfield. Known from the first, and at all times, and under all circumstances, to be an un¬ conditional Union man, Esquire Redfield was regarded with great favor by the Federal soldiers everywhere, and his influence over them was very great. At Fort Scott he was in especial esteem, and it was said of him that he could get anything he wanted from the officers there.

Esquire Redfield used his influence for good. His generous, manly nature led him to do good at all times, and during the war he had abundant opportunities for pursuing his inclination. His neighbors came to him in their distress as children run to a father. Some of them were openly avowed disunionists, others were pro-Confederates at heart ; but when one of them lost a horse or had a son taken prisoner, or had gotten into trouble with the Federals in any way, he went straightway to Esquire Redfield for relief, and always got it. Many a horse was recovered, many a prisoner released, many a house saved, and many a life spared through the kindly offices of this good man. Abating not one jot or tittle of his Unionism, wishing eternal confusion and de¬ struction to the Confederacy, he yet sympathized with those of his Confederate neighbors when they were mistreated, as he did with all others who were in distress, and did what he could for their relief.

In the beginning of the troubles at one time some Vernon county secessionists set out from southwest Missouri with the avowed object of "cleaning out" Esquire Redfield and some other Union men, in retaliation for what the Kansas troops were said to have done, but on arriving here they were easily persuaded to forego their intentions.

An honest man before the war, upright in everything, Abram Redfield was an honest man during the war, faithful in all things and abounding in good works. When he died December 8, 1862, he died the death of the righteous, mourned by all that knew him. He was a member-elect of the legislature, but had not taken his seat. Conversing with his friend, Judge Requa, only a few hours before his death, he remarked: "I don't believe I will go to Jefferson this winter; what's the use?" Judge Requa re¬ minded him that if he went he might be able to do something for the scheme of compensated emancipation, in which the slave¬ holding Union men of the state were interested. "Ho!" (his peculiar expression) exclaimed Mr. Redfield; "well, then, I'll go; if I can do any good for the Union men I'll go; just as soon as I am well, 1 will go."

He (as was afterwards his wife) was buried in the Deerfield cemetery, and his memory is blessed by the many who recall his good deeds and his pure and noble life.

A melancholy incident in the history of this township was the drowning of George G. Weber, a young man, twenty-one years of age, who was the son of Henry Weber, a resident of the Hackberry neighborhood. The incident occurred about 5 p. m. of Wednesday, July 27, 1886. Mr. Weber, his three brothers, their father and a man named Wolf were seining near the Lambert ford when young Weber attempted to swim across the stream, just below the sein. He soon lost breath and sank. Mr. Wolf plunged iii to the rescue, but returned to the shore to remove his boots, and in the delay Weber rose and sank again and was drowned. The body was drawn to the shore with the sein, which in the excitement was not used to save the young man's life.

Singularly enough, exactly three years prior to young Weber's drowning, or on July 27, 1884, at about the same hour in the day, and near the same spot, Prof. A. L. Gibbs was drowned in Drywood. He was from New York and was a noted teacher of penmanship.

A few years after the war a man and his son traveling through the country attempted to ford Drywood farther down the stream, near Deerfield, and both were drowned.

The village of Deerfield stands on lot 2, of the northwest quarter of section 7, in Deerfield township, running up the town¬ ship line on the west, and to within a mile of the line on the north, making its location in the northwest corner of the town¬ ship. It is a station on the M., K. & T. railroad, and is a thrifty little burg of something over two hundred inhabitants, with churches and good schools, and well-stocked stores and shops of various kinds.

The town was regularly laid out December 19, 1871, by David Redfield; J. E. Harding, surveyor. A school house was built here before the war and was known far and near as one of the first in the county.

Prewitt, or Ellis, as it is now called, is located on the M., K. & T. railroad, east of Deerfield. The town was laid out July 5, 1876, by W. A. Still, and named in honor of Maj. W. W. Prewitt. In naming their station the railroad company changed the name to that of Ellis. Though a small place, it has a good general store conducted by John J. Hall.

Dover township comprises congressional township 34, range 30. About one-third of the township was originally prairie land ; the remainder being timber land, much of which is now in cultiva¬ tion. Clear Creek, including Little Clear creek - or Little Peshaw - flows from southwest to northeast through the township, and receives also the Walnut branch, which, rising a little west of Bellamy, flows north through the eastern part of the township.

It is a long clear creek and its tributaries where lie the tim¬ bered tracts of coarse, scraggy " jack-oaks," for the most part. The soil here is generally thin and unproductive ; the sandstone lies on the ground or near the surface, and the land is with dif¬ ficulty reduced to cultivation. Much of the timbered area, too, is rough and broken.

The prairie lies in the extreme western, the northwestern, the southwestern, the southeastern and a portion of the eastern sec¬ tions of the township. In the southeast corner of the township, on section 25, is the famous Dunnagin's grove. A little north¬ west of this grove, and between it and Bellamy, are scattered on the prairie some tumuli, which may be artificial mounds.

The sandstone in this township is very abundant, very promi¬ nent, and very fine. On the Walnut branch, west of Bellamy, on northwest section 23, is some very excellent gritstone, as fine, and even finer, than the famed Berean sandstone of northern Ohio, so renowned for grindstones. In other parts of the town¬ ship the same variety doubtless exists.

West and southwest of Bellamy are flowing wells of bitumen, called by the people "tar springs." The asphalt is of fine quality, as good as any. How far this flow may be increased by the aid of exploration and introduction of machinery and other appli¬ ances cannot be said.

The presence of bitumen or petroleum in the southern portion of this township is well established, and the "oil springs," as they are termed, were known to the first settlers. Stones satu¬ rated with bitumen, called "grease rocks," were collected by the pioneers and used for illuminating purposes, as substitutes for the old pine knots of old Tennessee. Near the center of section 27, a mile and a half southwest of Bellamy, a flow of oil was obtained which caused some excitement. Certain parties in Nevada were prepared to purchase the property and develop its resources, but satisfactory negotiations could not be conducted with the owner.

Good mineral paint is found in the southwest part of the township in considerable quantities. A deposit of bright red ochre on the upper Clear creek is remarkable.

There is a good "tar spring" on section 24, half a mile south and the same distance east of Bellamy. Another is on section 27, a mile and a half southwest of Bellamy, near the oil well before mentioned ; and another is south of the last named, on section 34. "Grease rock" has been found in various quarters of the township. On the east side of section 16 is a fine sulphur spring; there is also a good one on section 23 ; two or three others are said to be along Clear creek, while on section 27, near the oil well, is one mingled with tar. The "tar spring" on section 27, and also the sulphur spring near by, are noted by Prof. Nor¬ wood in his report published in Broadhead's Report of the Geological Survey of the County, page 154.

Specimens of "grease rock" or "oil rock" obtained in this township have been examined by experts and declared to con¬ tain petroleum or coal oil, and to indicate the presence here of vast quantities of that substance. There are those who are con¬ fident that the southern portion of Dover township will one day become a great oil producing region.

The coal in Dover township is abundant in the southern part. At Bellamy the mining, in times past, has been extensive. The want of a railroad running through prevents the development of the coal fields of this township.

The First Settlers

The first settlers of this township came in about 1842, in which year a man named Britton settled on the northeast quarter of section 7, north of the branch. He was from Greene county directly. On his death here, which occurred about 1844, his farm was sold to Charles Massey. About the same time Stephen "Wilson located on Clear creek, near the Collins bridge (lot 9, northwest quarter section 2), and a little east of him Andy Sharp came soon after. Wilson was a one-armed man, and a school teacher. He had a wife, but no children, and the couple died many years ago.

John Prior and John Branson came from Gasconade county to this township in 1843. Prior settled first on the northeast quarter section 19, but in a short time located at the spring near Warwick P. 0., section 20. Branson lived on the southeast quar¬ ter section 19, across Little Clear creek, on the south side, from Prior's first location. Branson set out the old orchard from slips brought from the Harmony mission.

In 1844 Peter Welch took a claim in the northeastern part of the township on lot 2 or 3, northwest quarter section 2 - and removed from Cass county. Isaac Lemmons settled on the site of Warwick postoffice, but in a few years sold his claim and moved over on Little Drywood, in the northeastern part of Moundville township. The same year Nathan Jarrell came from Pulaski county and settled in the northwestern part of the town¬ ship, on lot 6, northeast quarter section 5.

On the 7th of April the families of Thomas Capeheart, Daniel Prior, and Mrs. Tabitha Frazier landed at the spring near War¬ wick, where John Prior was then living, and soon after found

The same spring - 1845 - Nathan Creek came to lots 1, 2, 3 and 4, northeast quarter section 2, and bought a claim of his brother-in-law, Peter Welch, who had come the previous year. He was a Kentuckian, but came to Vernon directly from Cass county. He stated that AVelch did not make the first improve¬ ment on his claim, but that there was a deserted cabin standing there in 1844, when he (Welch) came. . Who built this cabin cannot now even be conjectured. Mr. Creek was a stonemason, and did nearly all the stone work in this neighborhood in early days. He was employed at Fort Scott when the Mexican war broke out.

In 1844 Samuel Dunnagin settled in Dunnagin's Grove (sec¬ tion 25), in the southeastern part of the township. His house stood in the northeastern part of the section, within 200 yards of where the church building now stands. Here he died in the

Daniel Prior was on section 16, about a mile west of Riley, and had been there long enough to have a bearing orchard. South of Prior, on the same section, was John Woodward. Jesse Mattox lived in the center of section 22, having come in the previous fall from Monroe county. Calvin Goss, a son-in-law of Morris Baker, had recently came to the site of Warwick postoffice.

Zach and David Williamson were on Little Clear creek, on section 19. Joe Frazier and Tom Massey were on the east side of Clear creek, below the forks, on section 4, and a little farther down was Abram Woodall. A. J. Phillips was on the west side of Clear creek, in the northeastern part of the township.

Wm. McCoy lived south of Riley; he was killed during the war by Joe Phillips, who accused him of wrongful interference in his domestic affairs. Joe and George Abbott lived on Clear creek, on the west side of section 28 or the east side of section 29, south of where the Baptist church now stands. William Curry lived north of the Abbotts.

Tragedies Of The Civil War

The killing- of the seven bushwhackers at the Gabbert place, in this township, in May, 1863, is detailed elsewhere. The Gab¬ bert house was burned at the same time.

There were a number of other tragedies and burnings in this township during the war. In every instance reported the Con¬ federates and their friends were the victims. Probably this was because there were no Union men of the unconditional stripe in the township to kill or burn out. The Mayfield family, including Brice and Crawford, lived in section 14 of this township.

Among those tragedies may be mentioned the killing of Shelby Jarboe, who lived on Little Clear creek, a mile north of Warwick. Jarboe was of Confederate sympathies, but had never taken up arms. He was husking corn in his field early one morning, when some Kansas troops came riding by, on a scout through the country. On their approach Jarboe, fearing they might harm him, ran and concealed himself in a shock of corn. The soldiers saw him, thought he was a bushwhacker, called to him to come out, and when he did not do so fired into the corn shock at a venture and shot him through. They declared afterward that they would not have harmed him if he had not acted so sus¬ piciously.

George and Lafayette Prior were killed at their home on Clear creek, in section 16, by a detachment of Federals under Lieutenant Pond, of the Third V isconsin. Both were young men. George had been for a time in the Confederate army, but harmless, although the Federals said they were bushwhackers. Lieutenant Pond rode over to Elias Riley's and ordered him to bury the Prior boys, which he did.

In March, 1861, the Kansas troops burned Jo Frazier's house on Clear creek on the lower part of section 4; he moved his family into another house near Warwick, and in July, 1863, the Kansans came back and burned it also. Not only were the corn fields and smoke-houses of the "rebels" levied upon by the Federal troops, but even the professed Union men were visited by the foraging parties. On one occasion Capt. L. J. Shaw, of the Third Wisconsin, stationed at the Lambert ford on Drywood, came and took 1,000 pounds of bacon for his men and seven tons of hay for their horses from Elias Riley, who at other times was fed on and plundered by the bushwhackers.

Often the Federals and rebel scouting parties came together in this township. The Clear creek timbers abounded in coverts and' lairs for the bushwhackers, and often the "Feds." ran on them. In June, 1863, Joe Frazier and half a dozen other rebel partisans were encamped on Little Clear creek, a mile or more northwest of Warwick. They were washing in the creek, when a scouting band of Kansas troops crept up and leaped upon them, scatter¬ ing them in all directions. Philip Brown was killed.

South of Joe Frazier's, on Clear creek, Will Kelly, another bushwhacker, died fighting. He and Tom Moore had started to Ft. Scott on a matter of business. Half a mile out on the prairie they met ten Federals and turned and fled. The soldiers chased them into the brush and an overhanging limb knocked Kelly from his saddle. The Federals said he disdained to surrender. Emptying his revolvers he threw them at his pursuers and died like a Spartan. "We hated to kill him, he died so game," said the leader of the Federals.

Bellamy City

The town of Bellamy City was laid out by Thomas Bellamy, in September, 1882. It stands on the northeast quarter of section 23, Dover township, on a high prairie, in a most beautiful loca*

Dover Cemetery. On section 21, was regularly laid out in 1866, by an association of citizens. The site is to be used "for¬ ever'' as a cemeter}''. It is an old burial ground; interments were made here as early as in 1850.

M. M. Me Grew and wife, F. M. McGrew and wife, E. D. Owen and wife, Henry Owen and wife, C. Collins and wife, and two daughters, John Owen, Jennie Owen, J. James and wife, J. De Villiers and wife, Fannie Wilson, D. Job and wife, Mrs. R. Doyle and daughter, and Jeptha Rauthbun and wife.

Olive Branch Baptist Church. Was organized soon after the war with C. D. Smith and wife, H. L. Williams and wife and G. Drummond and wife among other constituent members. Wor¬ ship was conducted in a school house until 1884, when a neat frame building, costing about $700, was erected.

Dunnagin's Grove Christian Church. To Elder Wallace, well known in this community, is due much of the credit for the suc¬ cess of the organization of this church, which was started June 3, 1877. The first members were, as far as remembered, C. D. Lindsey, E. Riley and wife, J. W. Keithly and wife, H. C. Wallace, who was also the first elder ; E. W. Smith and L. Batts and wife.

Drywood township is composed of congressional township 34, range 31. Although scant six miles in width, from east to west, it extends from the Barton county line north eight miles.

Three-fourths of the township is prairie. The only timbered tracks lie along Pleasant Run and its tributaries in the southwest, and the Lanclon and Lost branches in the northwest. The gen¬ eral surface is level, but along the streams it is broken. The sandstone is exposed in many places, especially in the western part of the township.

Pleasant Run is appropriately named. It is indeed a very pleasant stream. Rising a mile north of Sheldon, it Aoavs in a general direction to the northwest, leaving the township two miles north and five miles west of its source at the railroad, and empties into Little Drywood. Along its banks in many places the sand¬ stone forms cosy grottoes, and with the trees and bushes pre¬ sents delightful retreats and pleasant seats.

On the southwest quarter of section 23, a little west of the railroad water tank north of Sheldon, a fine natural mound rises out of the prairie to the height of sixty feet, its base covering more than an acre of ground. From the top of this mound, which is covered with ferruginous sandstone, a delightful view of the surrounding country is to be had.

Early Settlers

Perhaps William Hudson was the first actual settler in Drywood township. In 1840 or 1841 he came from Alabama to the north west corner of the township and settled on lot 6 of the northwest quarter of section 6. Plere he built a large double log cabin, known as Hudson's tavern, because he entertained trav¬ elers, passing over the road known as the Texas trail - the main road from Balltown to Fort Gibson and on to Texas. Here was the voting precinct of Drywood township, when this was a part of Bates county. Hudson was one of the county judges of the county (Bates) from 1842 to 1846, and one of the townships of Bates county was named for him.

A mile or more south of Hudson, on lot 2, lived Jesse Mundin, an Illinoisan, in 1842. In 1846 he evacuated his claim, however, and went to Jasper county. A little south of Mundin, on lot 1, lived Dr. James WTiite ; and still below, on section 7, lived a man named Bigham; both Bigham and his wife died about 1847.

According to the testimony of Peter Teel, who came to the country in 1842, there was a considerable settlement at that time in the neighborhood of Avola. The families of Jefferson Cope¬ land and Jesse Copeland, and the Nugents, Halls and Bloom¬ field were living here. The Halls and Nugents lived on section 19, west and northwest of the village. All were from Illinois. A few years later the Nugents removed over on the Osage and the Copelands and Halls to Iowa.

Samuel Simpson came in 1847 to the southeast quarter of section 18, a mile north and a little west of Avola. His brother, Benjamin, came the same time and located on Pleasant Run, aft¬ erward at "Shanghai." The Simpsons were natives of Kentucky, but came directly to this township from Gasconade county. Ben Simpson was killed in the Confederate service during the war.

Other early settlers in the township were Judge Grace, who lived in the northeast corner of the township ; Dr. Helper, who lived near Sam Simpson ; Barnett Boulware, who lived a mile east of Avola, having removed there from the western part of the county in 1855, where he married a Miss Apperson, daughter of Mrs. Celia Apperson, who came to Harrison township in 1842; Rev. Thomas R. Davis, who lived near Shanghai.

from North Carolina and settled in this township, on the north side of Pleasant Run, on the south part of section 6. He built a blacksmith shop on the old Nevada and Lamar road, and this he operated for some years. During the Civil War he was com¬ pelled to leave, and with his family removed to Cooper county. Returning in 1865, he found his farm dismantled by the storms of war, but in a few years he had about made his losses whole. Mr. Estes died in 1879; his wife in 1876. His eldest daughter, Helen M., married George C. Hardy, of Moundville township.

The first postoffice in the southern part of Vernon county was at the residence of Judge William Hudson, who was the first postmaster. The office was called Drywood. After Judge Hud¬ son the next postmaster was Judge James Grace. After the war Peter Teel had charge of the office for many years. Then it was moved a mile to the eastward, and when Milo was estab¬ lished the office was discontinued or practically removed to Milo.

Shanghai

In the southwest corner of this township in the northeast quarter of section 31 there was a locality before the war called ' ' Shanghai. " (The situation was about a mile and a half south of Avola.) Several years before the war Rev. Thomas R. Davis started a steam sawmill a quarter of a mile from the exact loca¬ tion where he had laid out a town which he called "Fairview. " At Shanghai" proper Benjamin Simpson had a considerable dry goods and grocery store, and there was a blacksmith shop, a grocery and two or three dwelling houses.

Shanghai wras a hard locality. A great deal of whisky was sold and drank and the place was the scene of frequent brawls and fights. In vain did Mr. Davis try to repress the sale of whisky and the proceedings of those who drank it. When the war broke out Mr. Davis went to Illinois, where he remained until it was over. Nothing more was heard of this place after the war and the site is now an excellent farm.

During the Civil War Drywood township was the scene of some tragedies worthy of note. All occurred at or in the imme¬ diate vicinity of Shanghai.

In the fall of 1861 the first tragedy occurred at the cross¬ roads near the house of Mr. Davis. A Union citizen from Bar¬ ton or Dade was fleeing into Kansas. His family was with him.

as was another man, and the entire party were traveling in a wagon. At Davis' they were overtaken by a party of secession troops who had followed them. The Union man jumped from his wagon to defend himself, but the leader of his pursuers shot him dead after an exchange of shots between them. The other man's life was spared, but the dead man's arms and his saddle were taken. The family were then allowed to go on to Kansas, taking the dead man with them.

Another time, in 1863, a Union man named Buffington, who had lived near Greenfield, was on his way to Fort Scott in a wagon with his household goods. He, too, was overtaken at the Davis place by a party of Confederates and killed. His horses were taken at the time, but his wagon, some harness, a spinning wheel and other trumpery were scattered about and left to decay.

In the fall of 1864 - some say it was at the time of the Price raid - three Confederates, or bushwhackers, were captured down in Barton county (at Jesse Riggs', probably), by some Kansas troops, brought to Shanghai and hung on the apple trees in Mr. Davis' orchard.

But in the summer of 1863 an incident occurred at Davis' which was bloodless in its character, but exciting, full of interest and fairly humorous. Benjamin Archer and Benjamin Simpson, Jr., two young bushwhackers, just setting out, waylaid two Kan¬ sas soldiers at the Davis house. The soldiers were mounted and going from Lamar to Fort Scott. Archer and Simpson were in Davis' abandoned house; one had a musket and the other a horse pistol. The road ran by within thirty yards of the doors and when the soldiers came opposite the house the boys poked their weapons through a crack and called out, "Halt! Surrender or we will blow you through!" The soldiers stopped and threw their arms over the fence, when Archer went out and dismounted them. Simpson came out and the two buckled on the captured revolvers and carbines, mounted the horses and sent the prison¬ ers on to Fort Scott. The Kansans were greatly chagrined when they found how they had been taken in. They swore as only troopers can swear and declared they believed Archer and Simp¬ son when they said, "There are ten muskets and shotguns point¬ ing at you." But at last they made the best of the situation and good-naturedly set out on their trudging journey to Fort Scott.

dier, named AYilhite, was killed by some bushwhackers at the house of Joseph Copeland on the Landon branch. The soldier lived in Cedar county, near Stockton ; he was on his way to Kan¬ sas on private business and stopped at Copeland's for the night. The bushwhackers rode up dressed in blue and claimed to be Federal soldiers from Fort Scott. The soldier was deceived, ad¬ mitted his identity in spite of the hint of Mr. Copeland that he was in danger and the bushwhackers took him out and shot him. His body was buried on the Landon branch on the south part of section 4. In years past the lonely grave was strewn with flowers every Decoration day.

Permanent Settlement

According to the best information obtainable, the first per¬ manent settlement in Drywood township was made a score of years before the beginning of the Civil War. The credit is cine to one of three men - Barnett Boulware, L. Caney Grace or Sam¬ uel Simpson. These three men, with their respective families, located in 1840 or thereabouts in the neighborhood of what was later Avola in West Drywood. As is usual in all new countries, the first settlements were made in the vicinity of water courses, and this is, in all probability, the reason that Little Drywood and Pleasant Run were chosen as the first homes of white fami¬ lies in this township. L. Caney Grace, who was probably the township's first settler, came from Tennessee, a state which, with Illinois and Indiana, furnished the majority of South Vernon's emigrants. While the first permanent settlements were made about 1840. it was onlv shortly before the time of the Civil War - in the early fifties - that this section began to attract general attention.