Douglass School

Wm. Collins, Senior, a soldier of the revolutionary war from Carolina, also his son and son-in-law and their families, amounting to eight persons, were among the first settlers of this township, settling here in 1825. The first marriage in the township was that of Martin D. Warren to Miss Dillingham. The first male child born »here was James Anderson, son of Wm. H. and D Anderson; the first female child was Nancy, daughter of Larkin and Sarah Graham. The first death occurred in the township in the latter part ot 1837, and was buried at Johnson's Grove, near Higginsville. The first Christian minister in this township was Rev. Thomas McBride, of the Christian church, in a log cabin south of where Higginsville now stands. "We had no roads in the early times of Davis township, but traveled by courses - our principal market place was Lexington. The boys would often have a big deer hunt, kill as many as eight deer, and get home to dinner."

Passage source: History of Lafayette County, Mo. , Carefully Written and Compiled from the Most Authentic Official and Private Sources, Including a History of Its Townships, Cities, Towns, and Villages, Together with a Condensed History of Missouri; the Constitution of the United States, and State of Missouri; a Military Record of Volunteers in Either Army of the Great Civil War .., published 1881.

The first regular physician was Dr. C. W. Seeber, who still resides near the city engaged in a lucrative practice of his profession. The first religious services were held in the Evangelical church, conducted by the Rev. Henry Haefer. The Evangelical burial ground is located about one mile east of town and is tastefully laid out. The present city officers are as follows: Mayor, B. M. Hutcherson; councilmen, W. L. Smiley, M. A. Brady, H. Horstmann and H. G. Smith. Two years ago, when the Chicago & Alton road was built through, Higginsville was comparatively small. It now has a newspaper, a bank, two steam flouring mills, a steam elevator and grain warehouse, two freight and passenger depots, eight churches, a fine graded public school, a select school, flourishing civic societies, a large lumber yard, and about twenty business houses. According to the official report of the United States census, taken June 1, 1880, it has a population of 797. It, however, has grown quite rapidly during the past year, and now considerably exceeds that number.

Passage source: History of Lafayette County, Mo. , Carefully Written and Compiled from the Most Authentic Official and Private Sources, Including a History of Its Townships, Cities, Towns, and Villages, Together with a Condensed History of Missouri; the Constitution of the United States, and State of Missouri; a Military Record of Volunteers in Either Army of the Great Civil War .., published 1881.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Davis Township - 45,418 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.