A. Ray Taylor House

The surface of the township is very rolling excepting on the south and southwest. The prairies are high with an undulating surface giving them a natural drainage, and on the Grand River will be found many bold and rocky bluffs which look down upon its turbid waters from the height of from 100 to 300 feet. The banks of the Big Muddy are somewhat broken and uneven, but there are none of these prominent bluffs to be seen that gave the name to its larger neighbor and to which it is contributory. The township is nearly, if not quite, three-fourths timber, and such timber as makes the saw-mills Jangh with glee and the saws sing in joyful tones as they eut their way from end to end of the food furnished. "Oh! ves, I will board you, J will raise a dust around you, you slab-sided son of the forest," and there is plenty of that kind of work in Union township, and its wealth from its timber ean hardly be computed. There is no clearing done timber-land is cleared as fast only as wood and lumber are sold. Almost every variety of timber is found, and the soil of the township is rich, deep and mellow. Where the town of Gallatin now stands, and the hills surround. ing it, is the highest point of land in the county. Union is the southeast township of the four central townships in the county, and its northwest corner is the center of the county. It is bounded on the north by a corner of Marion, and Grand River townships, east by Jackson, south by Monroe, and west by Liberty, and has an area of 22,406.02 acres of land.

Passage source: The History Of Daviess County, Missouri (Birdsall & Dean, 1882), published 1882.

The county seat is located within its border, and it is the most populous township in the county. Just what the population of Union township was in 1860 is hard to tell. Gallatin township, of which its northeast portion was made a part of Union, had a population of 1,520 in 1860, and the other part was formed from Jackson, which had a population of 971 in 1860. Taking the northeast of one and the southwest of the other and forming Union township in 1869, the census returns of 1870 gives Union 1,515, whieh is nearly two-tifths of the population of both townships, while it had not one-fifth of the territory, for the next year, 1870. Jamesport, or rather Grant, Washington and Lincoln townships were taken from the territory of Grand River.

Passage source: The History Of Daviess County, Missouri (Birdsall & Dean, 1882), published 1882.

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 Union Township - 54,761 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.