Cass Township (part 1 of 6)

Cass Township

At present Cass township is bounded by a line beginning at the southeast corner of section 36, township 30, range 23, running thence due north to the county line ; thence west along the county line between Greene and Polk counties to the northwest corner of section 18, township 31, range 23 ; thence south to the southwest corner of section 31, township 30, range 23; thence east to the beginning. The township is a perfect parallelogram, ten miles from north to south by six miles from east to west, contains sixty full sections of land, or 38,400 acres.

Description

The principal portion of the township is timbered land. There are within the confines of the township, however, the greater portion of the Whittenberg prairie, so named from Peter Whittenberg, one of the first settlers, and a considerable portion of the Grand prairie. The latter contains about fourteen sections in Cass township. It is a beautiful area of country, containing some excellent land. Since the first settlement of the country, ti rabered tracts have come into existence where once was nothing but bare prairie. When the Indians held possession of this country they regularly burned the prairies every year, destroying everything growing or beginning to grow thereon, and thus preventing the spread of timber. When the whites came they did not burn the prairies, and also kept fire out of the

This township is on the north side of the water-shed, and its streams flow northward into the Osage, and then into the Missouri. The principal streams flowing through this township are the Little Sac, Asher creek, and Clear creek. There are numerous si)rings in the township, and it may be said that it is well watered. The Watson spring, in 14-30-23, is the source of Asher creek.

In 32-30-23 is the Lapham cave, or caves, a very interesting locality. In the north west part of 35-30-23, on a branch of Clear creek, is a good stone quarry. Plenty of stone is to be found anywhere in the township, however. The top of the ground, in many places, is covered with boulders

A great deal of the soil of Cass township is rich and fertile, but very much of the territory is sterile and unproductive. No cases of starvation among the citizens have ever been reported, however, and the people generally" are well-to-do and thrift}^, the result of hard work, close management and persistency.

First Settlements

The first settlements in Cass township were made in township 30, range 23, and on and near the Whittenberg prairie. The first settlers were Peter Whittenberg, Isaac Hasten, I. Cook, John Murray, James Gilmore, John Griffiths, James Adams, Jacob Perryman, Archibald Morris, Chas. Peck, J. Johnson, J. Simmons and Isaac Julian, who came in at various periods from 1830 to 1837.

Wm. Johnson Avas also one of the first settlers, and so was Jesse Kelly. John Richardson made a settlement on the prairie as early as 1834, and Charles L. Peck came in 1835. Wra. Killingsworth came to the prairie in 1839, and Charles McClure, in the same year. Wm. McClure, in 1837, came from East Tennessee, and settled on the prairie in section thirty-one, township thirty-one, range twenty-three, where he is still living in the enjoyment of a hale old age.

Isaac Julian, father of S. H. Julian, arrived in 1837, and made a settlement on section thii-ty-four, of township thirty-one, range twentythree. He was a native of North Carolina, l)ut came to Missouri from Tennessee, and his sons have been prominent and influential citizens. The place where Isaac Julian first settled was improved by a man named Payne. Archibald Morris was an early resident of the eastern end of the prairie. At Cave spring John Grigsby was an early resi- dent. His location was immediately at the spring. The farm of Dr. L. T. Watson was first improved by John Dillard, an East Tennesseean Thomas Fanon, from East Tennessee, was another early settler. Isaac Hastinsrs, likewise an emio-rant from East Tennessee, settied about a mile east of Cave spring about 1835.

Esquire John W. Wadlow came to Greene county from old Virginia in 1837, and settled on section fourteen, of township thirty, range twenty -three, and has since lived in that immediate neighborhood. Isaac Cook, about 1835, came from Tennessee and settled on section thirty-six, township thirty, range twenty-three. Where Mr. Biggs now lives, on the Melville road, William Parish made a settlement in 1837. He was a Kentuckian, and the last general muster ever held in the county came off at his place in 1844.

Of these general musters a writer in one of the Springfield papers, a few years since, said : " These general musters were the scenes of considerable excitement, and brought together people from all parts of the country. Three of these musters were held yearly - the company, battalion and regimental musters. The two former were commonly held in the spring, and the regimental muster, the grandest occasion of all, came off in the autumn, and was a time long to be remembered. After the muster at Uncle Billy Parrish's the militia disbanded and never assembled together again on muster day."

James Gilmore came from East Tennessee, in 1835, and lived in Cass township, on the place where he first settled, until his death in August, 1879. W. L. B. Lay, an East Tennesseean, but who lived in Indiana, settled on Clear creek, in the southwest part of Cass township, in 1837, and after living there ten years removed to Center township.

One of the first, if not the first, marriages in Cass township was that of Archibald Morris and a daughter of old Peter Whittenberg, and her death, a few months after the marriage, was one of the first demises in the community. Dr. Constantine Perkins was the first physician. Rev. Jeff. Montgomery, a Cumberland Presbyterian, and Rev. E. P. Noel, O. S. Presbyterian, were the first ministers. Montgomery preached at old Isaac Julian's, and Noel at Grandma Renshaw's, and under the arbor that was the first temple of religious worship built in the township. (See history of Mt. Zion church.) A. D. White was a pioneer school teacher, and taught his first school at Charles Peck's, where there was a primitive school house, built of logs, by the settlers, without public aid of any sort.

When the firet settlements were made in this township the pioneers often shot deer from their own door-yjirds. Wolves were very plenty and gave the settlers no little troul)le by carrying of their sheep and pigs. The usual privations of early settlers and pioneers were borne by those of Cass township. Many of the old pioneers, however, lived to see Greene county developed as at present, and enjoy its advantages and benefits.

Organization

Cass township was first organized by the county court. May 1, 1846, and named for Gen. Lewis Cass, of Michigan, who, two years later was the Democratic candidate for President. At the head of the petition asking for the creation of the township was the name of Jacob Ferryman. The first boundaries of the township were as follows : "Beginning on the northern boundary of Greene county, six miles east of the eastern boundary of Dade county ; thence to the south boundary of Robberson township ; thence east seven and one-fourth miles ; thence north to Sac river ; thence down Sac river to the range line dividinff ranges 22 and 23 ; thence north with said range line to the north boundary of Greene county ; thence west with the line dividing the counties of Greene and Polk to the place of beginning." The boundary was afterward changed in the northeast corner to the present limits.

The first voting place in the township was at the house of old Isaac Julian, and John W. Wadlow, John Grigsby, and Isaac Julian were the first judges of election.

In The Civil War

During the civil war a large majority of the people of Cass township were for the Union, and sent many men into the Union, or Federal army. For particulars the reader is referred to the general history department of this volume.

A Bushwhacker Fight

In August, 1863, a party of bushwhackers, supposed to be under the command of one Captain Lotspeich, were attacked on the Ralph Lotspeich farm, in this township, by Capt. S. H. Julian and about 30 Home Guards, or militia. The bushwhackers numbered 17, and were encamped in a dense thicket unconscious of danger. Capt. Julian surrounded the thicket and he and three of his men crawled in to reconnoiter. The bushwhackers were startled and began mounting their horses in an effort to escape. The captain and his three men opened fire with their pistols. The bushwhackers made a dash through the thicket, and as they came out were greeted with a volley from the Home Guards, who were waiting for them. This fire was returned, but none of the Home Guards were hit, and perhaps the bushwhackers escaped as well, although an uncorroborated story was current for some time that two weeks after the fight two newly-made graves were found in the timber near where the fight took place.

The same party of guerrillas encountered by Capt. Julian were charo-ed with havinoj killed Solomon Daniels the night before. Julian and his men had followed their trail from Daniels' residence to their encampment in the thicket. As has been stated, Mr. Daniels was an inoffensive Union man, and enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his neiofhbors. The bushwhackers went to his house late one night to sret his horses, and hearing a noise Mr. Daniels went out to see what was the matter, when he was shot down dead by the murderous miscreants, who then took away all of his horses that were of any value.

Cave Spring

The village of Cave Spring is the only one in Cass township. It stands on the southeast corner of section 4, township 30. The town takes its name from a large spring flowing out of a sort of cave on Asher creek near by. The first house in Cave Spring was built by John Grigs by, a farmer and trader and an old settler, who afterward removed to California and died there. The house was of logs. The first store was established in 1848, by Alfred Staley. It contained probably $500 worth of goods, chiefly staple articles, which had been *' waggoned " in from Boonville.

The first physicians who practiced in the village and surrounding country were Drs. Perkins, Wilson, Clinton, and Matthews. The first ministers were old E, P. Noel and Milton Renshaw, Presbyterians.

The first school teacher is said to have been David Dalzell. In 1868 a high school was established in Cave Spring. A Professor Perry was the first principal and taught for two years. After him came Prof. O. H. Griffin, of New York, who taught two years ; then came a Prof. McCord, who served one year, and he was followed by one Ward, who taught a portion of one year, when the small pox broke out and scared away teachers and scholars, and the school has not since been re-opened.

The first child born in the village was Lula Staley, daughter of the pioneer merchant, and now the wife of Dr. T. W. Coltrane. The first death was that of Lydia Staley, a sister of Mrs. Coltrane.

The postoffice at Cave Spring was established about the year 1867 or 1868. The only voting place in Cass township is at Cave Spring. The village now contains five stores and one blacksmith shop, and one church building belongins: to the Presbvterians.

Mount Zion Church Presbyterian

This church was organized October 19th, 1839, at Mrs. Jane Renshaw's (familiarly called " Grandma Renshaw "), by Rev. E. P. Noel, of Hermon church, near Bolivar, Polk county. The original members were, Elizabeth Stowell, Stephen Dillard, Julia Ann Dillard, Jane Renshaw, Margaret A. Appleby, Joseph A. Renshaw, Robert S. Reid, Amanda F. Reid, David Appleby, and Catharine Appleby, - ten in all. The first ruling elders were David Appleby, Robert S. Reid, and Stephen Dilliard. The church was called Mt. Zion Presbyterian church. The congregation met and worshiped in private houses at first. In the spring or early in the summer of 1840, a brush arbor was put up a short distance south of Grandma Renshaw's house, and under this, meetings were held. In the summer of 1861 a shed was erected at Cave Spring, and was called Cave Spring camp ground. It was used by all demoninations for camp meetings. This shed being too small, it was extended by a brush arbor. The first camp meetings were held the last days of July and the first days of August, in the year 1841. These' camp meetings were held annually, and attended by people from a great distance, who came in wagons, carts, on horseback and on foot. The first person received into the church was Margaret McElhanon ; she came in by letter November 17, 1839. The first on examination was James Appleby, on August 1st, 1841. Rev. E. P. Noel was the pastor from the organization of the church until November 14th, 1881. He held regular monthly services. Then came Rev. G. A. M. Renshaw, a graduate of Maysville college. East Tennessee. He died March 27th, 1857. On the 14th of June, 1857, Rev. A. E. Taylor took charge, and served until February 26th, 1860, when Rev. L. R. Morrison was called and served the church until April, 1861. From January 28th, 1866, to some time in the fall of 1869, the Rev. J. M. Brown, of Illinois, who was sent by the Board of Home Missions, served as pastor ; Rev. Enos M. Halbert took charge on May 14th, 1870, and after him came Rev. George Davis, who served as " stated supply" in the year 1881. The present pastor is C. C. Hembree. The ruling elders in their order from the time of its organization up to the year 1876, were, David Appleby, Stephen Dillard, David Dalzell, Charles Hughes, Wm. E. Thompson, Nathan Thompson, Newton A. McGill, Robert S. Reid, Alexander Stowell, Wm. Walker, David S. Dalzell, John R. Lee, Moses C. Anderson, and Samuel Hall. The first church building was erected in 1845. It was built of hewed logs taken from the forest near by. During the war this building was used for a dwelling house, and by the soldiers as a commissary and for quarters. The first meeting of the Osage Presbytery, after the war, was held in this building. The present building was erected in 1869, at a cost of about $3,500, including the school rooms. It was dedicated August 22d, 1869, by Rev. Dr. Hill, of Kansas City. Mt. Zion is one of the very oldest Presbyterian churches in Missouri, and lays claim to being the first regularly organized west of St. Louis. It is the parent of three other churches - Springfield, Mt. Bethel, and Grand Prairie. Space forbids anything like a complete history of this church, which would be not only interesting, but highly instructive.

Mount Pleasant Baptist Church

This church stands on section 29, township 30, range 23, and was organized in 1838. The original members were, Wm. Tatem, Elijah Williams, Rebecca Tatem, Andrew Simmons, Thomas Simmons, Rebecca Simmons, Agnes Davis, John Davis, Margaret Davis, B. Gilmore, Elizabeth Grantham, J. C. Johnson, A. Johnson, C L. Peck, and Louisa Peck. The first building was a frame, built in 1842. The present church is a frame, and was built in 1882, at a cost of $700. It was dedicated January 8th, 1882, by Eld. James Buckner. The pastors have been Elds. Wm. Tatem, E. Williams, George White, J. E. B. Justice, James Buckner, B. F. Meek, and George Wilson. The present membership is 95. Mt. Pleasant had a church building erected but not completed, when the storm of December 4th, 1880, completely demolished it. Mount Pleasant was one of the very first Baptist churches in Southwestern Missouri. For many years it was the only church in the neighborhood, and was attended by people from many miles around.

Miscellaneous

at a cost of about $1,000. It is the third building erected on the same site, which was donated by Mr. Murray. The first building was a log ; the next was a frame, as is the present, whose dimensions are 24x40 feet. Chei-ry Grove sehool house is on section 7, township 30. It is a frame and was built in 1867.

Cemetery. - The Murray cemetery is located on section 35, township 30. It was first opened in 1845, and the first interment was that of Mrs. John Murray, on the 6th of January of that year.

Mysterious Death. - About the 13th of September, 1876, the dead body of a stranger was found on the Whittenberg prairie, in this township. A coroner's inquest was held, but the jury could not determine the cause of the death. No money or valnables were found on the person, but it is remembered that a slip of paper, bearing the address " Eaton, Lawrence county. Mo. ," was discovered. An individual name could also be faintly discovered, but not made out, distinctly, although supposed by some to be McClaffin. The corpse seemed to be that of a middle-aged man, of medium height, with light moustache and light hair.

Murder. - August 3, 1877, at Cave Spring, at the celebration of negro emancipation in the* West Indies, there was a riotous time among the colored people. Whisky was plenty, and a number of fights occurred. In one row a negro named Jim Hendricks was killed. It was claimed, however, that this row was in no way connected with the celebration.

Mr. Biggs is the son of Moses Allen Biggs, and was born in Giles county, Virginia, October 20, 1827. He came with his father to Missouri in 1837, and in 1839 they located at Westport, Jackson county. Here George assisted his father and learned the wagon-maker's trade. His father died in 1848, and the following year he moved to Kansas City, and built the first blacksmith and wagon-shop in the place, and continued the business until 1853. He was married November 11, 1849, to Miss Louisa Jane Barnett. He left Kansas City in 1853, and removed with his wife and little daughter, who died in her first year, to Fremont county, Iowa, and carried on his former occupation, until he was elected, in 1857, to theoflBice of treasurer, recorder, and collector of that county, all those duties being combined in one oflBce. In 1862 he went to the famous mines of Nevada, where he engaged in mining until 1866. In the autumn of the same year he removed his family from Iowa to Greene county, and bought his magnificent estate in Cass township, where he has since lived and farmed very successfully. In 1872 his wife died, leaving four children, viz. : James H., Charles H., Cora H., and William W. Mr. Biggs was married the second time August 2, 1876, to Elizabeth E. Ernest, of Greene county. Two children were born to this marriage, a boy and a girl. The little boy died December 1, 1882.

This gentleman has been a citizen of Cnss township since 1867. He is a native of North Carolina, and was born in Guilford count}' August 16, 1842. He was educated in the common schools of his county, at the Quaker college at New Garden and at Trinity college, North Carolina, from which institution he graduated in 1859. He left North Carolina that year, and after traveling considerably over the United States he found himself at Springfield, Missouri. He then began teaching school in Walnut Grove township, and was so engaged when the war came up. He had previously studied medicine while at college, and had a natural bent in that direction. In 1865 and 1866 he attended the St. Louis medical college, and then went to Pennsylvania, where he attended the medical department of the Pennsylvania State university in 1869 and 1870. Then, in 1877 and 1878 he took a course at the celebrated Bellevue medical college in New York, and in 1880 and 1881 he took his last course at the Missouri medical college at St. Louis. He began practice at Walnut Grove in 1866, and removed to Cave Spring in 1867, where he has practiced ever since, save when attending medical colleges. October 10, 1882, he was elected professor of surgery and clinical surger}' at the Joplin college of physicians and surgeons, which position he still holds. They had a very successful term of the college the first year of the doctor's connection therewith, and the institution is building up an enviable reputation. Dr. Coltrane was married November 24, 1867, to Miss Lucina, daughter of Alfred Staley, one of the first settlers of Cave Spring. There union has been blest with two children, viz. : Daisy (deceased), and Victor, born December 20, 1868. The doctor has, beyond question, the finest medical library in the county. In politics he is a Democrat, and is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is also a distinguished member of the Masonic fraternity.

James Kennon Gilmore

JAMES KENNON GILMORE. This gentleman is a native of Grainger county, Tennessee, and was born in 1827. He moved to Greene county, Missouri, in December, 1835, and has been engaged in farming ever since coming to the State. He was married in this count}' on the 24th of May, 1849, to Miss Sophronia E. Edmonson. They have ten children living, four of whom are married and living in Greene county. His father was one of the early settlers, and died in August, 1879. Mr. Gilmore owns about seven hundred acres of land in the county, and is one of its most substantial citizens. During the war he was a Union man, and has since been identified with the Republican party. He and his excellent wife are members of the Baptist church. They have passed through all the phases of poineer life, and now enjoy the fruits of their industrv.

Squire Hasten is a son of Carroll and Nancy (Leak) Hasten, and was born in Cass township, Greene county, Missouri, January 22, 1844. His father emigrated from Knox county, Tennessee, to this county in 1835 and settled upon Grand prairie, and lived upon the farm he settled until his death in 1845. He was buried in the old Hasten family burying-ground. Isaac was educated in the common schools of the county. He grew up on the farm, and in 1861 enlisted in the 72d Missouri militia. After six months he joined the 16th Missouri Rangers, and served with them two years. He then enlisted in the regular service under Capt. Isaac Julian, in the 46th Infantry of U. S. A. He was mustered out at the end of seven months. He was married January 29, 1865, to Miss Mary E. Jennings, of Neosho, Mo. Their union has been blest with three children, viz.: Alice Theodosia, John, and William (deceased). He was elected justice of the peace in 1878, and re-elected in 1882. The 'Squire is a Greenbacker, but had been a Republican. He and his wife are members of the Missionary Baptist church, and he is a member of both the A. F. and A, M., and I. O. O.

Mr. Johnston was born in St. Louis county, October 3, 1823. His parents emigrated to Greene county, when he was six years old, and settled upon Whittenberg prairie, where he grew to manhood. He was married April 13, 1848, to Lj'dia Simmons. Their union was blest with six children, live of whom are now livinsj;. Mr. Johnston settled upon the place where his widow now lives. He entered two hundred and forty acres of land in his home place and resided upon it until hisd^-ath, which occurred February 1, 1872, in the forty-ninth year of his age, and is buried in the cemetery at Cave Spring. He was a consistent member of the Baptist church, being a deacon of Mount Pleasant Church, where he died. He was a member of the Masimic fraternity, belonging to the lodge at Ash Grove. Mr. Johnston was a Republican in politics, and was an honored citizen of the county.

Among the prominent names that figured conspicuously in Greene's history, none is of greater note or better known than that of Julian. Isaac Julian was born April 2, 1786, in North Carolina. His parents brought him to Knox county, Tennessee, when he was ten y^;ars of age, and there he grew to manhood. He then went to Indiana and lived there three years, killing bear, deer, etc., near where Bedford now stands, in Lawrence county. In 1821 he moved back to Monroe county, Tennessee, and lived there sixteen years. He moved to Missouri in 1837, and settled upon Grand Prairie, in Greene county, where he lived until his death, July 27, 1872. He married Nancy Wood, of Knox county, Tennessee, by whom he had twelve children, ten of whom, six girls and four boys, lived to be grown. Seven of his children are now living. Two of his sons, Isaac and Stephen, were captains in the U. S. armv in the late war.

Dennis Kime

Mr. Kime was born in Randolph county. North Carolina, September 25, 1836. He is the son of Abraham and Eliza (Brower) Kiuie. He came to Missouri in 1854 and settled in Cass township, Greene county. He was married August 11, 1859, to Miss Barbara CSpoon, of this county. She was from the same part of North Carolina that her husband was, but came to Missouri three 3'ears later. Their union has been blest with four children, viz.: Mary Ellen, now the wife of Theodore Kelso, of Center township, this county; William H., George W., and King Asa, all living. Mr. Kime is one of the best citizens of the county. He is a good farmer and deals largely in stock, particularly cattle. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church at Tatum's chapel. During the war Mr. Kime enlisted in the M. S. M., and served nine months. He has always been a Democrat.

Rev. George Long

Mr. Long is the son of Maples and Mahala (Atchley) Lone, and was born in Sevier county, Tennessee, October 30, 1829. His grandfather was a soldier in the war of 1812. George grew to manhood and was educated in the common schools of his native county. He was reared upon a farm, but worked some at tbe carpenter's trade. In 1857 he moved to Boone county, Arkansas, and in 1868, he came to this county, where, for a time, he served in company H, 8th Missouri S. M. Mr. Long has been an ordained minister in the Baptist church since 1860, and since the war, has devoted most of his time to that most noble calling. He has organized quite a number of churches in Southwest Missouri. He owns a fine farm of four hundred and eighty acres, and enjoys the love and confidence of all. Mr. Long was married in 1818 to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Atchley) Lindsey, of Sevier county, Tennessee. Their union has been blest with thirteen children, ten of whom are living, and six are married.

Joseph Pollack

Mr. Pollack was born in Reidseltz, Province of Alsace, France, October 30, 1842. Wlieti he was about eighteen years of age, he emigrated to America, landing in New York city in November, I860. He came straight on to Dayton, Ohio, where he remained six months, and then moved to Springfield and embarked in the clothing business, and sold goods until 1866.

He then sold out and went to farming, which occupation he has since followed. Mr. Pollack was married March 1, 1866, to Miss Bettie Skeen, of Greene connty. Their union was blest with nine children, six of whom are now living. Mr. Pollack is a member of St. Nicholas lodge. No. 435, A. F. and A. M. He is a Democrat in politics, and is one of Greene's most substantial citizens. His wife is a member of the M. E. Church South. *-

Mr. Robertson was born in Tennessee in 1806, and grew to manhood in his native State. He was married in 1836 to Miss Mary A. Lotspeich, of Monroe county, Tennessee, and ia 1839 they emigrated to Missouri, and settled in Greene connty, where he entered three hundred and sixty acres of land. He was one of the poineers of the county, and helped to " make the wilderness bloom as the rose." During the late war farming in his neighborhood was carried on under difficulties. The girls would act as sentinels, and give the alarm at the approach of the soldiers, and the men would hide themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Robertson reared a familj' of nine children, seven girls and two boys. He died October 12, 1877, being nearly seventy-one years of age. His widow still survives him, living upon the farm with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. David Snider. One by one the fathers of the county are being called home, and their hardy descendants become the life-blood of the land.

Weld On E. St Ale Y.

This gentleman is the son of Alfred and Lucinda (Brower) Staley, and was born in Randolph county. North Carolina, July 9, 1840. His father represented his county in the North Carolina Legislature, and was a very prominent member of that body. In 1847 his parents moved to Clinton county, Missouri, and in 1849 to this county, where Weldon E. grew to manhood and has since resided. His father died in 1852, and Weldon followed merchandising in Cave Spring until 1878, and since that time has devoted his time exclusively to farming and stock rearing. He has a splendid farm of one hundred and ninet}^ acres. Mr. Staley was married January 21, 1861, to Miss A. C. Evans, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Evans, of this county. Her parents were natives of North Carolina, and among the early settlers of the countj'. Mr. and Mrs. Staley have eight children, viz. : William W., INIollie, DoUie, Fannie, John H., Joseph A., Katie and Bunch E.

George W. Thomas

Mr. Thomas is a son of Jonathan and Anna Thomas, and was born in Monroe county, Tennessee, December 15, 1819. His father was a native of North Carolina, and died ia Monroe county, Tennessee, in 1857. George grew to manhood in his native county where he was married to Miss Sarah A. Smallin, of the same county. Their union was blest with ten children, nine of whom are living, five boys and four girls. Mr. Thomas came to Missouri in 1854, and settled on Grand Prairie, this county, where he lived two years, and then purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land in sections 7 and 8, township 31, where he has since resided. During the war Mr. Thomas served in the enrolled militia ten months and was at the battle of Springfield. His son, Jonathan C, a member of Company E, 8th Missouri regiment, was killed in the southwestern portion of the State, while pursuing a band of three hundred bushwhackers. Mrs. Thomas died February 17, 1880, and is buried at the Mt. Pleasant cemetery. Mr. Thomas is a member of Baptist church, and one of Greene's successful farmers,

Dr. Wadlow is the son of Charles W. Wadlow, a native of Tennessee, who came to Greene county, Missouri, in 1837. He was a farmer and blacksmith, and died in February, 1863. His wife died in February, 1875. Wm. C. was born October 18, 1842, in Cass township, this county, and studied medicine at Walnut Grove with Dr. A. C. Sloan. He then attended the famous Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, and has been practicing eight years. Dr. Wadlow was married October 21, 1860, to Miss Susan E., daughter of R. C. Julian, a former prominent citizen of the county. Their union has been blest with six children, two boys and four girls. The doctor stands high in the profession, and enjoys the confidence of all who know him.

Joseph B. Wilson

Mr. Wilson is the son of Isaac N. and Malinda E. Wilson, and was born in Greene county, Missouri, December 29, 1861. His grandfather, Thomas Wilson, settled in Ebenezer, this county, in 1834, where his father, Isaac N., was born September 2, 1835. He grew to manhood in his native county, and was married March 11, 1856. He died with consumption. May 24, 1870. He was a man highly respected by all. He served one term as deputy assessor of Greene county. Joseph B. Wilson is one of the prosperous young farmers of Cass township. He was married January 31, 1883, to Miss Theodosia, daughter of L N. and Mary E. Hasten, of Cave Spring.

W. W. Woodward

Mr. Woodward was born in Callaway county, Kentucky, December 6, 1824. In 1843 his father moved to Greene county, Missouri, and engaged in farming. Our subject went to California in 1850, and returned to this county in June, 1855, and on December 4th, of that year, he married Miss Emily, daughter of William S. Landreth. His first wife died December 18, 1862, leaving one child, a daughter. Mr. Woodward was married the second time to Miss M. F. Gilmore, January 27, 1864. He has lived upon the farm, where he now makes his home, since 1864. Mr. Woodward is a practical surveyor, and was deputy county surveyor for several years.

Chapter Xxix History Of The City Of Springfield

Early Histor}' - Indians and Mound Builders - Delaware Town - Burnett's Cabin - Juvenile Vandalism - First Election - Temporary County Seat - Early Days - Hospitality - Early Sports - Origin of the Name "Springfield" - First Merchants - The "Firsts," Births, Deaths and Marriages - Primitive Church - Pioneer School - First Blacksmith - First Frame - Brick Making - First Postmaster - Pioneer Press - Incidents - Permanent County Seat - Deeding the Town Site - Roberts Tragedy - Incorporation - Britt-Renno Tragedy - Primitive Amusements - Items - 1850 to 1860 - Epidemic - R. R. Excitement - Politics - Ingram's Foundry - Telegraph - Civil War - Continuation - Biographies of Prominent Springfieldians.

So much has been written in the general history department on other pages of this volume concerning the history of the city ot Springfield, that but little is left here to say. A recapitulation of the statements made is, perhaps, not only allowable, but proper and necessary.

Prior to the year 1830 the land on which the busy city of Springfield now stands had for occupants, the Kickapoo the Delaware, and the Osage Indians, who sang their songs and danced and hunted over its surface with none to molest or make them afraid. Anterior to the red Indians, sometime in the remote past, so long ago that no man's memory for centuries hatli run back to the exact time, that mysterious race of beings, the Mound Builders, were here, and, departing, left behind them their flint arrow and lance heads, their stone axes and pottery, to tell of their presence. About the year 1810 - or possibly not until after the ck)se of the war of 1812 - a band of Kickapoo Indians built a village on what is now the fourth ward, or southwestern portion of the city. In its prime this village contained about 100 " wick-a-ups " or huts, composed of bent poles covered with bark, grass or skins, and a population of perhaps 500 souls. The Kickapoo town was abandoned by its inhabitants about 1828,

Northward were the enemies of the Kickapoos, the Osages, and to the south or southwest were theDelawares, friends of every man, whether his skin was red, or white, or copper colored. The Delaware town stood about ten miles southwest of Springfield, founded aboutthe year

1 Free use has been made in this chapter of an article written by thecompiler of this history and published in the Springfield Leader, January 1, 1883.

Some of the houses in the Delaware town were quite respectable structures, being built of logs, chunked and daubed, with good clapboard roofs and puncheon floors, and some of them with two and three rooms. The chief, old John Anderson, had a very comfortable house. The traders also were respectably domiciled.

Seven miles south of Springfield, at the Patterson spring, on the James, was another Indian town, in which dwelt a small branch of the Delawares, called the Muncies, who had come from Central Indiana. The chief of the Muncies was Swannick, a lazy, fat fellow, who was a son of old John Anderson, a sort of crown prince as it were. Swannick was a " good Indian," who was born tired and was harmless enough. He wanted badly to have a white wife, and frequently tried to buy one from the few settlers here then. The Muncies went away with the Delawares, in October, 1831.

There were marrying and giviug in marriage l)etween the whites and Indians in those days. Old John Marshall, who owned the famous mill at the mouth of Findley, had an old fat squaw for a wife. Marshall did not leave with the Delawares, but went the following spring, in 1832. Other white men had squaw wives, as has been narrated. J. P. Pool, the blacksmith of the Delawares, employed by the Government, was a half-breed, who had a very pretty white woman for a wife.

About the middle of February, 1830, Wm. Fulbright, John Fulbright, and A, J. Burnett, from Tennessee, settled near the Fulbright spring, and put \\\) some cabins, built of small oak poles. Previously in the fall of 1829, John P. Campbell and his brother, Madison, Tennesseeans also, had " claimed " the land occupied b}^ the Ful])rights, by cutting their names on some trees in the vicinity of the spring. Returning to Tennessee, J. P. Campbell and his brother-in-law, Joseph Miller, set out for Missouri in the month of Feln'uary following, and on the evening of March 4th, encamped near the " natural well," a little north of the former residence of R. J. McElhany. Mr. Burnett having completed a cabin on the same site, and Mr. Campbell claiming priority of ownership, evidenced by his initials on an ash tree near the " well," Mr. Burnett was compelled to remove and readily gave way and removed five miles to the eastward. Messrs. Campbell and Miller, with their families, in all seven persons, took possession of the vacated cabin, 12x15 feet in size, while their slaves, six in number, dwelt

The cabin built by Mr. Burnett, the first habitation for white men on the town site of Springfield, stood on the hill, south of the " natural well," near where the public school building now is, on Jefferson street

At once all hands set to work, the axes rano; out in the surroundinor wood, and soon a good sized field had been cleared and fenced where tiie principal portion of the town is now, it being the intention of Campbell and his compeers, not to found a city, but to open first class farms. The site of the town was covered by a magnificent growth of red oak trees, making a fine grove, and furnishing most valuable timber. It is the testimony of old settlers that nothing like this grove was then to be found hereabouts, or now to be seen in all the county.

Among those who settled on and adjoining the present site in 1830 were Thomas Finney, Samuel Weaver, and Joseph Miller. In the next year came Daniel B. Miller, Joseph Rountree, Sidney S. Ingram, Samuel Painter, and Junius T. Campbell. The latter opened a little store near where the public school building is now. His stock, a small and by no means a varied one, was hauled from Boonville. Mr. Campbell had a partner, one James Feland, an old Santa Fe trader.

In 1831 the Delaware Indians were notified to again " move on" farther toward the setting sun, and with their departure in October, came another influx of white settlers to Springfield and the neighborhood round about.

Many of the old Kickapoo wigwams were still standing in what is now the southwest part of the city in 1830, although they had been abandoned some time. Being composed of i)ark, and poles and brush for the most part, they were highly inflammable, and the boys of that day, - old men, bent and gray now - John H. Miller, Lawson Fulbright, and others, had rare sport in burning them in the spring of 1830, after night fall, when the fire would show to the best advantage and on Sundays, too. Nor did the young vandals stop their devastation until the last old ragged wigwam was reduced to ashes.

Springfield was not regularly laid oflTinto a town until 1835 ; but by that time perhaps fifteen or twenty cabins had gone up on and near the town site and were occupied. The locality was a favorite one by reason of the numerous springs therein abounding, which furnished plenty of pure, wholesome water. John P. Campl)ell built no less than thirteen cabins in one year, his danghter states, vacating one after another in order to let some new comer have an abiding place. The location became known far and wide throughout Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas, for wdiere even two or three cabins were o-athered together in this quarter at that day, the locality was remarkable. There seemed to be an instinctive belief among the primitive visitors to Southwestern Missouri that someday there would be a town at " Fulbright's and Campbell's springs," and hence people were attracted hither - all sorts of people - good people for the most part, but all sorts of people. The first settlers of Southwestern Missouri senerallv were men of high character, bold, honest, and industrious, who had come to the new country to make comfortable homes for themselves and their posterity after them forever. Some of them remained to see the grand old red oak forests about Springfield leveled, and a city builded whereon they had grown, and to see moreover wild prairie and timbered glade subdued by the plow and made to bud and blossom and bring forth abundantly.

Three years after the Fulbrights and Campbell had come to the "springs" which bore their names, Greene county was organized, as a county, then embi-acing all Southwest Missouri. On the first Monday in February, 1833, the voters of " Ozark township, Crawford county, Missouri," met at "the usual place of holding elections," then "the house of John P. Campbell," and elected Jeremiah N. Sloan, James DoUison, and Samuel Martin judges of the county court, and John D. Shannon sheriff. The county court designated the " house of John P. Campbell " as " the place of holding the county and circuit courts" for the county of Greene, and this was the first movement toward locating the county seat of the county permanently on the town site of Springfield. It is said that at first the county judges were in favor of fixing the county seat somewhere near where Mt. Vernon now is, so as to bring it nearer to what was then the geographical center of the county ; but that Mr. Campbell, whom they appointed county clerk, entertained their honors so sumptuously and treated them generally so hospitably that they readily acceded to his suo-<yestion to locate the capital of the new county at " Campbell's spring."

Early Days Of Springfield

The " first families " in Springfield in 1830-35, would not be con sidered the " first f\imilies " in this year of grace, 1883. The houses were of loos, ruiro-ed on the outside and rough within. The floors were of puncheons, the roofs of chipboards held on by weight poles. The carpets used were very durable, since both woof and warp were of good red-oak timber, close grained as iron and sound as a dollar. Doors were of rougii boards, but the latch-strings always hung on the outside and he who pulled them was always welcome. Bedsteads, chairs and tables were made by craftsmen who wielded only such tools as axes, frows and whipsaws. When babies came - as come they did, and come they alwaj^s will into every well regulated community, heaven abundantly bless them ! - they were snuggled and cuddled into cradles fashioned sometimes from hollow logs, with hickory bows pegged on for rockers.

The tables were supplied with the best the market afforded, to speak in the language of inn-keepers. That same market was the forest whose trees made shadows upon the door yards and the clearings lately opened to the rays of the sun. The one produced honey in abundance and delicious as nectar, venison and other game meats, l)ountiful and luscious, and the other brought forth corn and turnips and potatoes. At first the corn was made into meal by pounding it in mortars which clumsy pestles, and then sifting it through sieves, made sometimes of buckskin perforated with hot wires and then stretched over a hoop. The finer meal was baked into bread, the coarser particles made " small hominy." The first mills were Jerry Pearson's, five miles east, and John Marshall's, near the mouth of Finley.

Hospitality was the universal rule, and extreme friendliness and sociability characterized all the people of the little town. The ladies made calls without card cases, and no man waited to be introduced to his new neighbor before visiting him. Sports and diversions were not lacking. Shooting matches were common among the men, and in 1833 John P. CamiDbell laid out a circular race track on the praii'ie a little southeast of the town, and there was fine sport there to be had on Saturdays for a few years, until a great light fell upon Mr. C. and he renounced horse-racing and embraced Calvinism, according to the tenents of the Presbyterian church, and the race track was broken up. »

Dancing there was, und -it was freely participated in by the light of heart and heels of both sexes. Early in the settlement a house of prayer and praise went up, for following close upon the footsteps of the first settlers came the pioneer preachers " crying in the wilderness." Very soon there was a school, where reading, spelling,

Springfield was hiid off into lots, with streets, alleys and a public square, in the year of 1835, by John P. Campbell. The original town plat comprised 50 acres, lying on both sides of "Jordan," and this tract was donated by Mr. C. to the county for county seat purposes. The plan of the town was that adopted in the laying off of Columbia, Teun., Mr. Campbell's birth-place. The town took its name from the circumstance of there being a spring under the hill, on the creek, while on top of the hill, where the principal portion of the town lay, there was Afield. This version of the origin of the name is disputed by the editor of the Springfield Express^ Mr. J. G. Newbill, who, in the issue of his paper, November 11, 1881, says : " It has been stated that this city got its name from the fact of a spring and field being near by just west of town. But such is not a correct version. When the authorized persons met and adopted the title of the -' Future Great " of the Southwest, several of the earliest settlers had handed in their favorite names, among whom was Kindred Rose, who presented the winning name, " Springfield," in honor of his former home town, Springfield, Robertson county, Tennessee. 3Ir. Rose still lives on his old homestead, 3V2 miles southwest of the city, where he has continuously resided for nearly fifty years."

At this time the business men of the place were D. D. Berry, Henry Fulbright and Cannefax & Ingram, dealers in dry goods and groceries ; James Carter and John W. Ball, blacksmiths, and S. S. Ingram, cabinet-maker. John P. Campbell kept a hotel, if it be proper to call a dwelling house, where everybody was entertained free, a hotel. From the amount of tax paid by the merchants in 1835 it is estimated that in that year they sold about $8,300 worth of goods. These goods had been bought of wholesale dealers at Boonville and Old Franklin, up on the Missouri.

The first settlers on the town site of Springfield were Wm. Fulbrigt, John Fulbright, A. J^ Burnett, John P. Campbell and Joseph Miller, in February and March, 1830.

The first house was a little pole cabin, built by A. J. Burnett, in January or February, 1830. It stood on the hill a little south of the old " natural well," and a little northwest of the present brick public school building, on Jefierson street. In size this cabin was 12x15 feet.

The first white male cliild born in the city was Harvey Fulbright, a son of John Fulbright, and the date of his birth was in 1831. The maiden name of his mother was Kirkendall, and she was from West Tennessee. She was a sister to the first wife of Levi Fulbright. Harvey Fulbright now lives in Laclede county, and the place of his birth was on or near the ground (now 1883) occupied as the residence of Capt. G. M. Jones. The first white female child born within the present city limits was Mary Frances Campbell, a daughter of John P. Campbell, the founder of the town. This is the child referred to in the chapter on the early history of the county as '* Kickapoo, My Beautiful." She was born in 1831, on the hill south of the old " natural well. " She married Dr. S. M. Sproul, and died soon after marriage, at Greenfield, Dude county, leaving no children. Mrs. John P. Campbell brought with her to Springfield from Tennessee, a child, then an infant in arms, named Talitha Campbell, who afterwards became the mother of the wife of Frank Sheppard, Esq. A little later in the year 1831, Frank Miller, a son of Joseph Miller, was born in a house which also stood near the old Avell. He is now residing; at San Diego, California. It is claimed, for these children, that they were the first whites born in Greene county.

Junius Rountree married Martha Miller, a daughter of Joseph Miller, then living about one and a half miles west of Springfield, August 7, 1831. Not long afterwards Junis T. Campbell married Mary Blackwell, at a house a mile and a half southwest of Springfield. These are believed to have been the first marriages within the present limits of Greene county.

The first meeting house or house of divine worship was built of oak logs, in 1833, at a spring in the woods north of the creek, and was occupied by the Methodists and Cumberland Presbyterians. Dr. James H. Slavens, of Warren county, who came in 1831, was the first Methodist minister to hold services, not only in the town, but in the county.

The first school house was built in 1832. It was of small locfs and stood where is now the old Christian church (used at present as a private residence), on the north side of College street, a little west of

Main, and near where Gen. Lyon's general headquarters were, and where his dead body lay. But the first school house attended by children who then lived on the present site was built in 1831, and was also of small logs. Of this school house, John H. Miller says it stood a mile and a quarter west of town, and the first teacher was old uncle Joe Rountree ; the pupils were Henry Fulbright and some of his younger brothers, the Rountree boys, John Miller, J. J. Weaver, and his two older sisters, Louisiana, late wife of Col. C. A. Haden, and Jane, mother of Joe Farrier, and a few others. The school house had a good dirt floor, and one log cut out for a window, no door or shutter. Here they learned to spell, read, write and cipher in Pike's arithmetic, on three-legged benches. Mr. Miller says the old school house on College street had a loose plank floor, a door shutter, a mud-and-stick chimney, and then the builders thought that in the matter of school house architecture they had nearly reached the top round of the ladder of civilization, and the Ruskins of that day were greatly delighted with the beautiful effect produced.

The first merchant was Junius T. Campbell, a young man only 19 years of age, who in 1831 started in trade in a little log hut near the present site of the public school building.

The first frame house was built by Benj. Cannefax, in 1836. Previous to that all were constructed of logs. Up to the close of the year 1835 there was not a sawed plank in the county of Greene. The substitute was, as in most new places of the West, split or hewed slabs.

In 1837, the first bricks were burned here, and soon after a chimney was built of brick and mortar, which attracted vast attention and interest. The whole population superintended the erection of that structure.

The first post-office was established in the fall of 1834, and Junius T. Campbell, then just 22 years of age, was the first postmaster. Mail was brought twice a month by horseback from Harrison's store, at the mouth of Little Piney. This is believed to be the most reliable account, although the following from the Springfield Express, of Feb. 17, 1882, is worthy of attention: -

Springfield has the honor of the first post-office that was established in Southwest Missouri, the same being done in the year 1833, at which time the mail was brought on horseback, once in each month, from Harrison's on the Little Piney river. The title of P. M. was conferred upon Mr. Junius T. Campbell, und tlie office was kept in a hewed log house one story -high, the logs of which now constitute the walls of a room on the northwest corner of Jeflferson and East Walnut streets, which belong to Dr. L. T. Watson. They are of oak timber and still in a good state of preservation, which speaks volumes for the salubrity of the atmosphere in these favored regions of the Ozark mountains.

The building in which the office was kept stood a little more than one hundred yards about north of its present location until the year 1842, when C. B. Holland purchased it for a dwelling house and removed it to where it now stands. In those days sawed lumber was almost out of the question, and even the floors were mostly made of puncheons.

The difference in the date of the establishment of the office, it will be observed, i3 wide in the two accounts, but 1834 is believed by the compiler to be correct.

The first newspaper was the Ozark Standard, established by J. C. Tuberville, in the spring of 1837. Shortly thereafter the name of the paper was changed to the Ozark Eagle.

Mr. John H. Miller, who was deputy county clerk of this county, says he has the record to show that the Standard was established by Mr. Tuberville in the spring of 1837. But Mr. Warren H. Graves, one of the first newspaper men in Southwest Missouri, in a letter to Mr. A. F. Ingram* a few years since, wrote : -

The Ozark Standard was started some time in the spring or summer of 1839. I remember that I was working in Jefferson City during the winter of 1838-9, when C. W. Starks proposed to me to go with him to Springfield and start a paper. I was then young and declined the pi-oposition, but Starks did go, and, in company with some one else, started the Standard. It lived but a short time, but I do not remember when Huffard changed it to the Eagle. I started the Advertiser in May, 1844, publishing it continuously up to the summer of 1861, I left, at Neosho, a full file ol the Advertiser, with orders to my l)rother there to send by express to my son Joseph, then at Springfield. I am under the impression that the box was never sent, although I paid the express charges. In those bound volumes, I think, is one copy of the Standard and one of the Eagle, bound with the second or third year of the Advertiser. The}' were given to me by uncle Joel Haden. The original Advertiser office was the same in which the Standard and Eagle had been printed. It had been idle for some time - I think for two or three years - was under control and in possession of Jno. S. Phelps, but there was a suit between Jno. P. Campbell and him in relation to the ownership, which was afterwards compromised, and the office went to Campbell. This was in the spring of

1846, and I purchased a new office. The material of the old office was used in 1846, in the interest of Campbell for Congress - the paper being published by E. D. McKinney.

Early Historic Incidents

In the month of June, 1835, Asiatic cholera visited Springfield and carried off four or five victims. In July Jeremiah N. Sloan and Geo. M. Gibson, of Barry county, and Markham Fristoe, commissioners appointed by act of the Legislature, met and selected Springfield as the " permanent county seat of Greene county." About the first of September, 1835, the U. S. land office was established with Joel Haden, of Howard county, as register, and K. T.Brown, of Ste. Genevieve, as receiver.

On the 18th of July a special session of the the county court was held, '* for the purpose of receiving and approving a plan for laying out the town of Springfield, the county seat of Greene county." The following order of the court was entered of record : -

It is ordered by the court here that the plan presented by John P. Campbell be filed and received as the plan for the town of Springfield ; and the county commissioner for Greene county is hereby ordered to lay off the town of Springfield accordingly, viz. : To lay off the public square, and one tier of blocks back from said square. The square to contain one acre and a half, and each block to contain one acre and a half, to be divided into six lots or parts, by said commissioner or by some person for him, and each of the other lots back to contain two acres, subject to division as the court may hereafter order. The streets leading to the square in the above named plan to be sixty feet, and an alley way fifteen feet back of said first tier of lots ; and the commissioner is"^ further ordered to establish the front corners in the second tier of lots ; and that Daniel B. Miller be appointed commissioner of the county.

At the August term of court, 1835, on motion, it was ordered that so much of the order made at the special term of said court on the 18th day of July, 1835, be amended so as to make the public square of Springfield two acres instead of one and a half acres, and that it should never be changed.

Owing to the uncertainty at that time with reference to what would become the western boundary, and on account of the county extending so much farther east, it was for some time quite doubtful whether the county seat would remain here, or be removed to some point tarther east ; and, although the question had been once regularly decided by commissioners appointed for that purpose, it still continued to l)e agitated until 1836, when a petition was circulated by the friends of Josiah F. Danforth, to have it removed to a site which he offered, on his farm eight miles east of town. John W. Hancock, who was that year elected to the Legislature, promised to work for whichever party got the most signatures to its paper, and as Mr. Campl)eirs friends, in this part of the county, were successful in getting the most names to their remonstrance, the county seat remained unchanged.

When Springfield was accepted as the county seat of Greene county, none of the lands were owned in fee simple by the persons who claimed and occupied them. All were alike " squatters." Those who had come here as early as 1833, had a pre-emption claim to one hundred and sixty acres each, under an act of Congress passed June 19th, 1834. This act required as conditions precedent, that the claimant should have cultivated the land claimed, in 1833, and been in actual possession of it at the time of the passage of the act.

August 27, 1836, John P. Campbell and his wife, Louisa T. Campbell, deeded to the county of Greene, for county seat purposes, 50 acres of land, whose metes and bounds were described as follows: " Beginning at a point in the middle of the channel of the branch running through the northwest quarter of section 24, township 29, range 22, where the west boundary line of said quarter section crosses said branch, running up said branch, meandering the main channel thereof, eastwardly to a point where the north boundary line of said quarter section crosses said branch ; thence with said line eastwardly to a point immediately north of the s[)ring which the said John P. Campbell uses, on said quarter section ; thence southwardly to a point immediately east of said spring ten feet ; thence south 23V2 degrees ; thence twenty-three and seven-elevenths poles to a black oak tree ; thence east and south for complement, in the proportion that 80 bears to 100, so as to include the said quantity of 50 acres." The tract of land so described was the original plat of the city of Springfield, the northeast corner being a little east and north of the public school buildins: on Jefferson street.

Other particulars regarding the location of the county seat, the official acts of D. B. Miller, the first town commissioner, etc., are set out on other and prior pages of this volume.

In the summer of 1836 occurred the killing of John Roberts by Judge Chas. S. Yancey. The latter was acquitted on the ground of self-defense. This was the first case of homicide in the place.

In 1837 the town w;is the base from which operations against the Indians were directed in the Osage and Sarcoxie wars. This year there were twelve business establishments, which did an aggregate business of $22,450.

February 19th, 1838, the town was first incorporated, the metes and bounds being established as follows : Beginning 25 rods west of the northwest corner of the northwest quarter of section 24, tp. 29, range 22 ; thence east 155 rods to a stake ; thence south 135 rods ; thence west 155 rods ; thence north to the beginning. The first board of trustees was composed of Joel H. Haden, Daniel D. Berry, Sidney S. Ingram, Robert W. Crawford and Joseph Jones. Fifteen business houses, including only those where general merchandise and groceries were sold, were in operation and the total amount of sales reported for the year were $62,600. In the summer of this year Randolph Britt stabbed and killed Joseph Renno. Britt was afterward convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to the penitentiary, but pardoned. Population of Springfield this year, according to the U. S. Gazeteer^ was "about 300."

Amusements Of The First Citizens Of Springfield

From 1836 up to 1844, camp-meetings, political discussions, dancing, hunting, and picnicking were the chief amusements of the people of Springfield and of Greene county. Whisky was plentiful and everybody drank it, a custom giving rise to great and general hilarity. The managers of the dances, it is solemnly averred by a few old graybeards who were here then, used to count the puncheons in the floor, and then charge admission in proportion to the size of the party that could be accommodated.

Red bandanna handkerchiefs were considered the heigrht of fashion and very " lum-ti-tum " in those days among the young gentlemen. If a young man displayed a white handkerchief, a titter would pervade the room and some one would call out, " Look ! he has got his sisters handkerchief!"

Mr. Escott and Col. Gilmore state that D. D. Berry often opened his house to these social reunions. On one of these occasions he invited nearly everybody in town to a dance, but for some reason, or perhaps by accident, left out one man named Shockley, who had recently moved to town. He was angry at being thus slighted, and determined to let people know it. He had a fine horse and a dog, which he valued very highly. He strung to the horse and dog as many bells^ tin-pans, and other noise-making instruments, as he could devise, and tied the dog to the saddle of his horse, with a strong rope. When all was ready, and the dancers in the midst of their amusement, Shockley mounted his horse, and, adding to the jingling of bells and the howling of the dog, his own voice in yelling and screaming, he rode around Mr. Berry's house, to the consternation and amazement of the company. Everybody, of course, rushed out to see what on earth was the matter. Satisfied with the effect there, he left the house, and, at iull speed, made the circle of the town.

It is said that every man, woman, and child, of Springfield, was out of doors that night, and the more superstitious, no doubt, thought that a certain individual with horns, hoofs and tail, who was then supposed to live in the sulphurous regions, had paid a visit to the town. Shocklev's poor dog paid for the sport with his life, and the horse and his rider came near meeting the same fate. While passing a tree, at break-neck speed, the dog took one side and the horse the other. The dog was instantly killed, and the horse and his rider were overthrown, but, as it happened, not seriously injured. With this event, Shockley passes out of sight, probably removes to some neighborhood of more congenial spirits, and is never heard of again in Springfield.

The sports and amusements of the young folks, in the early days of Springfield, were sometimes of a rather dangerous, and even tragic character. In 1835 and 1836, it became a custom among the youngsters, to " make niggers " of such strangers as they could manage. This was done by blacking their faces with burnt cork or other blacking, and, when their object was accomplished, their shouts of laughter would " raise the town." To illustrate how this was done, two or three instances are given, which were vouched for by one who alwavs took part in such sprees : - in the habit of coming to town to get their grog, and nearly always made a two or three da^^s' " drunk " of it, when they came. On one occasion they wave induced to separate for the night, and each one slept with one of the town boys. In the night, while sleeping off the effect of their potations, both of their faces were thoroughly blacked with burnt cork, and in the morning they were well prepared, in complexion, to appear as " Brudder Bones " or " Banjo Sam," but the looking-glasses were carefully kept out of sight, and both of the men were unconscious of the joke that had been perpetrated upon them. It was arranged to bring them to McElhany's " grocery," to take a

On another occasion, after this joke of blacking faces had been run for a number of months, a strapping big fellow came into town, with his loaded rifle on his shoulder, and announced that he had come expressly to have his face blacked by these Springfield boys. He looked dangerous, but it would not do to allow him to escape, after thus daring the venture. So a council was held by Charlie Haden, " Buck " and Lucius Rountrec, Ki. Blankenship, John Cox and others, and a programme arranged. One of the boys " Old Red " " cousined in " with the stranger, and soon got on intimate terms with him. After introducing him around, and getting him to drink a few times, " Red" suggested that a shave would improve his appearance, and he was induced to submit to the operation. In the meantime one of the number, who acted as barber for the occasion, was prepared with a cup of diluted printer's ink, which he used as lather, and after pretendino- to shave him, he was sent to the glass to see how he liked it. A o-lance was sufficient. With a short, quick scream of rage, the victim sprang for his gun. Another of their number had quietly taken that during the shaving operation, and emptied the priming from the pan and spiked the tube with a wire ; but, as most of the boys were not aware that the gun had been rendered unserviceable, there was some pretty fast running done. The stranger chased them for some time, trying every few yards to fire his gun, but finally ascertaining that it had been spiked, he stopped, and in his rage and disappointment began to cry very lustily. The boys then came back to him, and after he liad promised to behave himself and go home, he was taken around to old Jacob Painter's gun shop and his gun put in order. Then he departed southward, swearing he would never set foot in the accursed town again, and it is believed that he kept his vow.

From 1840 To 1850

cal ctirapaign that excited much interest in the town and county. For the first time both political parties held public meetings and barbecues in Springfield.

In 1844 two citizens of the county, Hon. John S. Phelps and Hon. Leonard H. Sims, were elected to Congress at the same election, both Democrats. Mass meetings were held at Springfield hy the partisans of Polk and Clay, respectively, the Democratic and Whig candidates for President. In May the first number of the Springfield Advertiser was issued by Warren H. Graves.

In May, 1845, the Springfield branch of the State Bank of Missouri was established. James H. McBride, president; J. R. Danforth, cashier ; C. A. Haden, clerk. In this year, also, R. J, McElhany succeeded Wm. B. Farmer as postmaster. The latter had held the office three years .

In 184G Springfield bade farewell and God speed to Captains Julian's and Boak's companies of volunteers, who started for the Mexican war. Julian's company was not accepted and returned. Boak 's men saw service, and when they came home were given a worthy reception by the people.

September 10, 1848, the first number of the Springfield Whig was issued by Fisher & Swartz. Hon. Littleberry Hendrick was editor. Bis Whio; and Democratic meetings were held this year. The total population of Springfield this year was 344, of which 108 were slaves.

In 1849 a temperance wave swept over the town. The Sons of Temperance had 75 members, and there was only one licensed dramshop in the place.

From 1840 to 1850 the public affairs of the town were managed very loosely. The trustees neglected to meet and sometimes there was no election held to choose new officers, and the old ones refused to serve. The town ran itself. When an offense was committed a justice of the peace took cognizance thereof.

The merchants did a fair business. The wholesale markets at that day were St. Louis, Boonville and Linn Creek. All merchandise was brought into the county in wagons. A trip to St. Louis and back occupied about one month. By 1850 stage lines ran regularly to and throuo-h the place from Boonville, Jeffersoii, Lebanou and Fayetteville.

*' Select schools " were established early in the '40's. In 1849 the Southwestern Missouri High School, the Springfield Academy, and Mrs. Merritt's and Miss Anderson's schools for young ladies were in full operation, as was Miss McDonald's Female Institute.

From 1850 To 1860

The population of Campbell township in 1850, was 2,142 \vhites and 561 slaves ; total, 2,703. Of this population Springfield contained about 500. This year the California fever broke out, carrying off many victims.

March 3, 1851, an attempt was made to resuscitate the almost dead and defunct act of incorporation, making Springfield a city. The affairs of the town had been running at loose ends too long to please some of the citizens. The temperance people were anxious to put down the dramshops by municipal legislation and regulation, and desired a complement of town officers. An election wjis held at which only 50 votes were cast. Of these Wilson Hackney received 45 and Peter Apperson 5, but Hackney was ineligible, and Apperson was declared elected. W. B. Logan, Wm. McAdams, S. S. Vinton, A. A. Mitchell, and Presley Beal were elected trustees, or aldermen ; Richard Gott was chosen assessor and E. P. Gott, constable.

From 1850 to 1855 coffee sold at I2V2 cents per pound ; sugar, 10 cents; salt, $3 and $5 per sack or barrel; nails, 6 cents per pound ; castings, 5 cents; muslin, 7 and 10 cents per yard ; flour, $1.25 and $1.50 per hundred ; meal, 40 cents per bushel; bacon, 8 cents per pound: spun cotton, $1 and $1.10 per bunch.

In 1852 the county court refused to grant licenses for dram shops in Campbell township, but some months afterwards rescinded the order. There was great interest taken in the prohibition question in that year and during succeeding years.

In 1853-4 the first considerable interest was taken l)y the town and county in the project to build a branch of the Pacific Railroad into Southwestern Missouri, making Springfield a point on the line. The county court took $100,000 stock in the enterprise. August 25, 1854» Willis Washam, an old man nearly 60 years of age, was hung at Springfield, upon conviction of the murder of his son, on White river, in Taney county.

office. Ill this year, December 13, a court of common pleas was established, with Hon. Patrick H. Edwards, recently deceased, as judge. At the close of the year 1855 there were twenty-four business firms in the place, which, during the year, had done business to the amount of $235,246.

From 1855 to 1860 there were warm times in Springfield among the politicians. Benton, Anti-Benton, or " Sag Nichts," Whigs, Americans and Know Nothings, all held meetings in Springfield from time to time, and excitement ran high at times. In 1856 Col. Benton, then a candidate for Governor, again addressed the people of Greene county at Springfield. The same year, October 3, the first fair in Greene county was held by the Southwest Missouri District Agricultural and Mechanical Association.

June 17, 1858, the first foundry (Ingram's) was established and did its first casting. The first Presbyterian church building was dedicated July 4, of this year, and that of the M. E. South was begun in the spring. Christmas day the population of the place was estimated at 1,200. There were 16 mercantile houses which had sold $300,000 worth of merchandise during the year 1858. There were two tinshops, two saddle and harness shops, three shoe shops, three wagon shops, three tailor shops, a gunsmith, a hatter, three meat markets, three hotels, three jewelry stores, two printing offices, three churches, five schools, four secret orders, (Masons, Odd Fellows, Sons of Temperance, and Good Templars), three confectionery stores, two milliners, a daguerrean gallery, a carding machine, a foundry, a land office, a bank, one livery stable, one saloon, ten lawyers, five doctors, four clergymen, one dentist, four land agents, twenty carpenters, two brick masons, three house and sign painters, etc. Two tobacco factories, manufacturing 200,000 pounds of tobacco annually, were in full operation. A planing mill was completed the following spring by Smith & Graves. August 28, 1858, the first steps were taken to build the present court-house.

In 1859 the sum of $417.39 was expended in improving the streets, sidewalks, street-crossings, etc., of the place, and this is said to have been the first public money so expended. In August of this year Mart Danforth, a negro rapist, was lynched in a grove just west of the cotton factory.

April 3, 1860, Sii)ringtield was first placed in telegraphic communication with the outer world, via Bolivar and JetFerson City. The line was afterward extended to Fayetteville and Ft. Smith. W. H, Parsons was the first telegraph operator in Springfield.

During The Civil Avar

At the outbreak of the civil war Springfield contained about 2,000 inhabitants, and tliough not larger in population than many of the shire towns of the surrounding counties at present, it was then, as now, the most })rosperous and important town, in a commercial point of view, in what is generalW known as Southwest Missouri. The merchants and traders of those days, whose mantle of enterprise has fallen upon the shoulders of their successors, kept in the van, and by their shrewd and capable management of private and public affairs, not only placed Springfield in the advance among the first of inland towns of Missouri, but constantly urged its growth and influence to the utmost limit. Its power in a political, commercial and social point of view has been described on previous pages of this history, and at the beginning of the year 1861, it will suflSce to say, its progress was stead}'^ in the march of general improvement.

The war summarily checked this happy progress. In no part of this distressed State was public opinion more at variance upon the momentous questions which gave rise to the civil war. Neighbors found themselves arrayed suddenly one against the other ; the energy that had characterized the people was none the less abated, now that it had been turned from the channels of industry into those of war, and the great highways leading from the city to the north, south, east and west, which were wont to resound with the cheery greetings of the hundreds of wagoners who were the patient and plodding means of social and business communication, were filled with the advancing or retreating forces of Federals or Confederates.

Early in the struggle the leaders of both armies recognized the fact that Springfield was from a military, as it had been from a commercial view, a strategic point, ^ and its possession throughout the war was bitterly contended for. It was this fact that led to the battle of Wilson Creek, so disastrous to the Federal arms in the death of Lyon and the rout of his army ; to Zagonyi's fight, to the battle on the memorable 8th of January, 1863, when the Confederate leaders, Marmaduke, Shelby and. McDonald, knocked for admission at the south gates

' "In conversation with the Committee of Safetj' about the 1st of May (1861), Lyon divulged the plan of making Springfield the outpost of St. Louis, in case of imminent danger from rebels in the State." - Peckham's "Lyon and Missouri in 1861," p. 117.

" The town of Springfield ought to be occupied by a strong force at once, and made the base of operations in that quarter." - Ben McCulloch to the Confederate Government, May 28, 1861. See "Rebellion Record," vol. 3, p. 228, et seq.

of the city and were refused admission ; to many other military movements in Southwest Missouri and Northern Arkansas. During the entire struggle it was hckl as a base of supplies and operations by one or the other of the contending armies, and not until peace had been finally declared and effectually accomplished was any attempt made toward repairing the enormous waste of property and vitality incident to that terrible five years' storm.

The history of Spriugfield during the civil war is a part of that of the county, and has already been given on other pages. From February 12, 1862, until the close of the war, it was held by Federal garrisons, and was the great Federal military depot for the army of the frontier and of the Southwest. The name of the Federal or Union commanders here during the war is legion, and cannot be given with accuracy in their proper order. Gen. John McNeil was herefrom the spring of 1863 until about the 24th of October following, when John B. Sanborn assumed command, and remained here until long after Lee had surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.

During the military occupation of the city it was greatly injured ; many houses were burned, feuces and out-buildings were also burned - the latter for fuel, the former for fun! Churches became hospitals and arsenals, private houses barracks and quarters, gardens and parks were converted into camping grounds, and everywhere were soldiers and cannon, "and guns and drums and wounds." There was much disorder, too, in the social world. Many respectable families were destroyed, some of the members going out of the country, others going to the bad. Hundreds of adventurers and adventuresses were attracted hither by the wild, reckless life led by the military, and the vivandieres and other camp followers corrupted where they could not destroy.

Sometimes grim-visaged War smoothed his wrinkled front and gazed placidly upon the spectacle of some of his bravest partisans whirling in Avaltzes, or tripping in quadrilles, with ladies of the opposite party in politics for partners. The Kansas officers, with all of their rough reputation for savage fighting and free foraging, were noted gallants, andjmany of them became social favorites while here - their balls and routs IJand free-and-easy gatherings being the " events " of the season. Other officers from other States came to be well known. Some were hon()ral)le, some were not. Owing to the unnatural character of the times and the tendency to demoralization, it was easy to work harm, and harm was worked. Many a matron, now demure and proper, was then a Miss, young and wild and gay, and had her name bandied about among many a mess with a freedom that Avould shock her ears fastidious, were it to be spoken of in these days.

The close of hostilities found Springfield much the worse for them, but such was the spirit of the then stricken and shattered little city, that no sooner did the sun of peace once more send forth its genial ravs and assert the brotherhood of man, than she threw off the weeds of woe and at once set about to rebuild the waste places. Soldiers whom the chances of war had assigned to this locality returned to their homes with marvellous tales of its wondrous charms, and about the year 1866 a tide of emigration set in from the four points of the compass, and which continued uninterrupted until 1870. Every stage from the north and east was loaded with those who had left their homes with the intention of making an abode with us. Asa consequence money was plentiful, business houses multiplied, property was advanced to fictitious values, all of which tended to a suicidal extravagance in the matter of building which was not warranted by the class of emigrants being received.

James Abbott

Mr. Abbott is the son of AVilliam and Abigail (Steward) Abbott, and was born in Salem county, New Jersey, February 13th, 1835. He was educated at the public schools of that State, and, in 1855, went to St. Louis, Missouri and took a position as clerk in the retail dry goods house of J. C. Havens & Co., for whom he worked until 1862. He then came to Springfield, Missouri, and. engaged in the mercantile business with Wm. E. Gorton until 1871, when he was elected county collector upon the Republican ticket, and served until 1874. He was appointed county treasurer in 1864, but declined to serve, but was regularly elected to serve in 1866, and held that office until 1868. In 1865-6, was city treasurer of Springfield. He was elected secretary and treasurer of the Springfield Iron Works in 1875, which is now the Springfield Foundry and Machine Shops. He was mayor of the city in 1881, and chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee of this district in 1882. Mr- Abbott was married January 30th, 1866, in New York city, by the Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, to Mary E., daugbter of Timothy C. Wooley, Esq. Their union was blest with seven children, six girls and one boy, of whom six are living, one daughter dying in infanc}-. He and his wife are members of the Calvary Presbyterian church, and he is one of the trustees. His mother died in New Jersey in 1874, and his father is still living at Brighton, Illinois. From the many positions of honor and trust that Mr. Abbott has held, it is the best evidence that no man in Greene county has a better hold upon the aflTections of the people than he.

Rev. Marcus Arrington

This gentleman is the son of Abel and Margaret (Cobb) Arrington, and was born in Wilkes county. North Carolina, July 13th, 1820. In 1823, his parents moved to Rhea county, Tennessee, and, in the fall of 1829, they emii^rated to Fulton county, Illinois, and, in 1839, came to Greene county, Missouri. He was educated by B. McCord Roberts, and at the school at Ebenezer. Mr. Arrington then taught in several of the counties in Southwestern Missouri for several years. From the scholars of his first school nine afterwards became ministers. He was married in this county July 14th, 1842, to Miss L. McClure, daughter of John McClure. Thej' had by their union two sons and two daughters. He carried on farming two years, and was then licensed to preach by the M. E. Church South, and appointed to the Osceola circuit. In the fall of 1844, he joined the conference, and, in 1845, was appointed to Hartville circuit. Then, at his own request, he was discontinued, and farmed for two years. He sold his farm, and, after moving about for a year or two, he joined the St. Louis conference in the fall of 1850, and preached upon different circuits. After the battle of Wilson's Creek, he took charge of some of the sick and wounded, and finalh? took them to Lexington. He then went to Arkansas, and was appointed by Dr. Caples as chaplain of the Missouri State Guards, under Gen. McBride. At the battle of Pea Ridge, he was taken prisoner and sent to Alton, Illinois, where he was kept five months, and then released by order of the War Department. He then went South, where he met his wife and children in Arkansas. He then went to Illinois, and remained until 18*15. He was then put upon a circuit, and so remains at the present. In 1870, he took his family to Arcadia, Iron county, Missouri, where he educated his children. He has been presiding elder of several districts, and is now living at Springfield. John B., son of the Rev. Marcus Arrington, was born in Polk county, Missouri, October 22d, 1853, and was educated at Arcadia college, Iron county, Missouri. In 1873-4-5, was principal of Doniphan High School, Ripley county, Missouri, and, in 1878-9 taught the high school at Marble Hill, Missouri. In the fall of 1879, he took charge of the Mountain House Academy, and was its principal for two years, and then returned to Springfield. In the fall of 1882, he was the Greenback candidate for circuit clerk, and received about eleven hundred votes.

Judge James Baker

Judge James Baker is the son of M. and Margaret (Waters) Baker, and was born April 1st, 1819, in Mason county, Kentucky. He was educated at the Indinna State Universitj', at Bloomington. In the fall of 1838 he moved to Davenport, Iowa, where he studied law in the office of Judge James Grant. He remained there until 1843, when he moved to Oitumwa, Iowa, and practiced law in that city for ten years. In 1853 he was appointed by President Pierce as register of the land office, at Chariton, Iowa. After two or three years he resumed the practice of law at Chariton. In 1861 the Legislature of Iowa created an executive commission to raise money and equip troops for the army, and he was appointed as one of the commissioners. In the fall of 1861 he recruited the 13th Iowa infantry, and was its lieutenant colonel. He was at the battles of Shiloh, luka and Corinth. He resigned be" cause of sickness, and in the spring of 18tJ4 came to Springfield, Mo., where he was for a time associated in law with Capt. A. M. Julian aud Col. Fazan. In 1868 he was appointed attorney for the Atlantic and Pacfic railroad. In the fall of 1870 he was also appointed attorney for the Missouri Pacific railroad, and was attornej' for both roads until 1876. He has been attorney, vice president and president of the St. Louis and San Francisco railway. He was appointed as one of the judges of the Supreme Court bj' Gov. Fletcher in 1868.

John S. Bensok

Mr. Benson is the son of Samuel and Nancy (Bull) Benson, and was born in Accomack county, Virginia, April 17, 1813. He was educated in the common schools, and at the age of seventeen went to Baltimore and learned the watch-maker and jeweler's trade. In 1835 he came West and stopped at St. Louis, Mo. In 1842 he went to Lacon, Illinois, where he followed his trade and carried on farming, for twenty-seven years. He came to Springfield Missouri, in the spring of 1869. Mr. Benson was married in 1842 to Miss Amanda F. Houge, a native of Kentucky. Mrs. Benson is a member of the Episcopal church. Her mother is still living at the age of ninety-two. Mr. Benson's father died in Virginia in 1855, and his mother in 1866. They had four sons, none living save John S.

Hon. Sempronius H. Boyd

This gentleman, one of the best know and most talented men of Southwest Missouri, is the son^of Marcus and Eliza (Hamilton) Boyd, and was born in Williamson county, Tennessee, May 28th, 1828. His parents came to Missouri in 1840, and his father shortly after took high political rank, representing Greene county several times in the Legislature, being appointed receiver of the land office, at Springfield, and a colonel in the militia during the civil war. He died in 1866. His son, S. H. Boyd, was educated at Springfield, in English and the classics. After completing his education he made a trip to Texas with a train loaded with bacon ; sold out the entire outfit, save the negroes whom he refused to sell, and returned with them and the proceeds safely to Springfield. He then took a position as clerk in the store of D. Johnson & Co. In 1847, the firm established a branch store at Forsyth, Missouri, and Mr. Boyd placed in charge, though but nineteen years of age. In 1849 he crossed the great plains, arriving in California in August of that j'ear. He mined in the placers of the Yuba, Feather and Moquelnes rivers, taught school at Volcano, Amador county, returning to Springfield in 1855, via Nicaragua and New Orleans. He then studied law under Judge Price ; was mayor of Springfield in 1856-7 ; was the first clerk of the probate and common pleas court of Greene county, and was twice city attorney. In 1831 he was major of Gen. Phelps' Home Guards; then colonel of a regiment of United States volunteers, and was in several eagagements. H-^ was elected to Congress oyer Gen. Phelps, the opposition candidate, and took his seat in December, 1863, jyas active in re-organizing the postal service in Southwest Missouri; member of the committee of post-offices and post roads, chairman of the committee of revolutionary claims and pensions. He was circuit judge of the 14th judicial district in 1865-6, which office he resigned to interest himself in the completion ot the Southwestern Pacific railroad. He was again elected to Congress, in 1868, as the regular Republican nominee, running largely ahead of his ticket. He took an independent stand in Congress; and for favoring rebel enfranchisement and supporting B. Gratz. Brown, he was ostracised by his party. He was not a mere partisan, and, with him, principles were never prostituted to position. He was the Missouri member of the Republican national executive committee from 1864 to 18(58. In 1872 he founded the Springfield wagon factory, and resumed the practice of law in 1874. Though born in Tennessee, Col. Boyd had never been back there until 1883, and being greatly pleased with Memphis, will make that city his home.

Milton Bowerman

Is a son of Stephen and Phoebe (Garrett) Bowerman, and was born April 14th, 1837, in Sombra, Canada. He was educated at Detroit, Michigan, and there learned the carnage and sign painting trade. At the age of twenty-one he went to Janesville, Wisconsin, and in September, 1861, enlisted in company A, 13th Wisconsin infantry as a private, but was afterward promoted to the first lieutenancy. He served upon the staff of Gen. Rosseau in the topographical department for eleven months, with headquarters at Nashville, Tennessee. At the close of the war he was mustered out there, and went back to Wisconsin. He came to Springfield in February, 1868, and followed his trade until 1878, when he, in partnership with Jess & Weaver, manufactured carriages until 1882, when he sold out, and in partnership with his father-in-law, Asa Root, opened a grocery store at 712 Boonville street. He married Miss Sarah E. Root, of Janesville, Wisconsin. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church, of which he is clerk, deacon, and superintendent of Sunday school. Mr. Bowerman has been secretary of the public school board for seven years. His father died in 1864, at Battle Creek, Michigan, and his mother is still living at that place. They had a family of eight children, two girls and six boys, and our subject Milton, one of the six boys, is one of Greene's best citizens.

Benjamin R. Brewer

This gentleman is the son of Fredrick and Sarah (Wright) Brewer, and was born in Polk county, Tennessee, April 2d, 1852. His parents moved to Arkansas in 1859. AVhen the war began his father enlisted as a volunteer in the Confederate service, and died in 1863. In 18BG his mother moved to Greene county, Missouri. He was educated in the public schools aided by his own industry at home. In 1873 and 1874 he taught school in this county. In 1874 he read law and upon the 25th of March, 1875, was admitted to the bar at Marshfield, before R. W. Fyan, judge. In 1877 was admitted at Mt. Home, Arkansas, and also at Little Rock in U. S. court, upon the 3d of June, 1879, by Judge Caldwell. He took charge of the Webster County News November 14th, 1881, as editor, and published a vigorous paper for fourteen months, chiefly directed against the then dominant political party -.>f that county. He came to Springfield February 15th, 1888, and is now one of the most promising young attorneys of the city. Mr. Brewer was married March 10th, 1875, to Miss Addie Wisby, at Marshfield. Their union has been blest with two daughters and one son, Gertude, Clara, and Harold. Mr. Brewer is a Mason and I. O. O. F. and a member of the Christian church, and his wife of the Congregationalist. His parents had four sons, Benjamin being the second. His mother died in Webster county in the fall of 1880.