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Alphabetical Index
 

now has a membership of one hundred and twenty.  The present church was erected in 1868 at a cost of $17,000.  The pastor is Rev. William B. Young Wilkie, who was born in Scotland in 1845; studied classics and theology in Edinburgh, and was licensed there.  He came to this country in 1867, and ordained at Cape Girardeau in 1869.
     The oldest Catholic Church is that of Millwood.  The first church was built in 1840; the second, a large brick, in 1851, and demolished in a storm in 1876, and the present one in 1877.  The membership is about one hundred and fifty families.  The pastor is Rev. Thomas Cleary, who was born in the county of Tipperary, Ireland, about the year 1813.  He studied Theology at Cape Girardeau, where he was ordained in 1860.  He has been at Millwood since 1864; he also attend the church at Troy once a month.  The Catholic church at Old Monroe was established in 1867 by the monks of the order of La Trappe.  It has a membership of about sixty-five families.  The pastor is Rev. Joseph Gerhard Johan Sudeik, who was born in Westphalia, Germany, March 19,1844; studied the classics nine years at Reitberg and Warendorf; came to this country in 1871; read theology at St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, and was ordained in St. Louis by Rt. Rev. P.J. Ryan, June 29,1875.  He came to his present charge the 18th of August, following.  The United German Evangelical church of Old Monroe was organized in 1860, and has a membership of about fifty families.  Its pastor is Rev. Samuel Fayue, who was born of German parents in Constantinople in 1841.  He studied at Marberg in Hesse and Erlangen in Bavaria, and was a missionary eight years in Asia and Africa.  He came to this country in 1876.  He has charge of a church at Anderson's Hill, Clark township, which has a membership of twenty families.
     On this subject no other data has been obtained, save the number of churches in the various denominations.  They are as follows:  Missionary Baptist, fourteen; Methodist, south, ten; Christian, eight; Roman Catholic, four; Old School Baptist, three; Southern Presbyterian, two; United German Evangelical, two; Associate Reformed Presbyterian and Cumberland Presbyterian, each one.

     There are one high, two parish, and eighty-three district schools in the county.  These latter are held from four to eight months in the year, and are generally in new, convenient and capable buildings.  The parish schools are at the Catholic and Lutheran Churches of Old Monroe, and are under the charge of experienced teachers.  The high school in Troy is conducted in the handsome building erected in 1855 by Prof. Jones,

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and in which he managed for several years the Lincoln Academy.  This was afterwards known as the Christian Institute.  It was purchased by the school district September, 1873.  For three years it was under the control of the Profs. Thurmond, who gave it a high character.  They were succeeded in 1876 by the present principal, Prof. J.P.Blanton, who has fully maintained its efficiency and added to its deserved reputation.  It has many pupils from abroad, particularly from the State of Louisiana, and is yearly turning out capable and efficient teachers, as well as affording other professions good foundations in the way of liberal and thorough education. Prof. Blanton is a native of Virginia, and was born in Cumberland County, January 1849.  During the latter part of the late war he was a member of the 3rd Regiment of Virginia Cavalry, Wickham’s Brigade, Fitzhugh Lee’s Division.  He graduated at Hampden Sidney College in 1869, and has been teaching eight years; he was formerly professor of Latin and Greek in Watson Seminary.

 Newspapers

     The Troy Gazette was established by Ellis and Edrington, July 1854.  It was the first newspaper ever printed in the county, and was the official paper of this, Warren and Montgomery Counties.  Judge E.N. Bonfils was the editor; in a few weeks he retired, and Henry B. Ellis, one of the proprietors, assumed the editorial management.  The first number of the second volume appeared with Major Geo. W. Huston as editor.  He retained the position only a short time, and Mr. Ellis again took charge of that department.  In January Ellis and Edrington sold the paper to A.V. McKee and H.W. Perkins.  In March following, Mr. Perkins sold his interest to Henry A. Bragg, and Mr. McKee continued as he had been, the editor.  June 13,1856, they changed the name of the paper to the State Rights Advocate, and April 16,1857, sold it to Edmund J. Ellis.  The latter conducted the paper two or three years.  During the Presidential campaign of 1860 he was publishing the Tribune, and Henry B. Ellis, the Independent.  I am not familiar with the newspaper changes during the war, and the period of one or two years preceding.  During most of the war there was no regular paper published in this county.  After the war Edmund J. Ellis came back and established the Lincoln County Herald.  Theo. D. Fisher bought a half interest May 31,1867, and the next year the remaining half.  Joseph A. Mudd established the Troy Dispatch April 8,1871.  The two papers were consolidated June 11,1873, under the name of the Troy Herald.  Dr. Mudd sold his interest to Wm. T. Thurmond December 13,1876.

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     Monroe was laid off as county seat by Daniel Draper. Hugh Cummins, James White, Abraham Kennedy and David Bailey, on the lands of Nathaniel Simonds, Ira Cottle and Almond Cottle, May 19,1819, with Amos Burdyne and Jacob Comegys as witnesses, and acknowledged before Prospect K. Robbins, Justice of the Peace.  The plan was on a style becoming the future county seat; the six streets running parallel to the river were numbered and the ten cross streets were named after the public men of the day.
     Troy was laid off September 16,1819, on the lands of Joseph Cottle, Lee F.T. Cottle, and Zadock Woods; acknowledged before John Ruland, Circuit Clerk.
     Moscow was laid off March 17,1821, on lands of John Geiger, Morgan Wright, James Duncan, and Shapley Ross, witnessed by Sylvanus Allison and Elijah Collard.
     Alexandria was surveyed for county seat in 1822; the plat is not recorded.  It was the best planned town ever set off in the county.  The streets were broad and crossing at right angles, with spacious public squares, parks and reservations for public buildings.  It exists only on paper.
     Louisville; plat recorded in Pike County, September 13,1832, on part of Hannibal and Marshall Emerson, and in this county January 12,1833, on the part of Enoch Emerson and Dayton Crider, the proprietors.
     Westport (Falmouth) was surveyed October 12,1836, on the lands of James Finley, Charles Cox, and JohnGalloway, on the fractional Section 24, Township 51, Range 2 east; acknowledged before E.H. Powers, Justice of the Peace.
     Chain of Rocks was laid off on a Spanish grant about 1835; no plat recorded.  The name was given it by General Amos Burdyne, on account of a section of archimides limestone exposed in the bank of Cuivre in front of the town.
     Sterling was laid off November 9,1836, on a Spanish grant of 800 arpents, confirmed to Louis Brazeau, survey 1679, Township 50, Range 2 east, on lands of Francis Withington and Joseph Cochran; acknowledged before Lawrence B. Sitton, Justice of the Peace.
     New Hope was surveyed January 16,1837, on land of Charles Cox, south end of the east half of the south-east quarter of Section 35, Township 51, Range 1 east; acknowledged before Francis Parker, clerk Circuit Court.
     Auburn, set off April 18,1838, on lands of Daniel Draper, Sr., and Philander Draper, on east half south east quarter of Section 2, Township 50, Range 1 west; acknowledged before James Wilson, Justice of the Peace.

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    Wiota (Cap au Gris), laid off November 26,1845, on land of David Bailey in survey 1653.  Township 49, Range 3 east; acknowledged before Charles Wheeler, Justice of the Peace.
     Truxton laid off about 1845, plat not recorded.
     Chantilly laid off July 2,1852, on land of Robert McIntosh, on south-west quarter of the north-west quarter of Section 19, Township 49, Range 2 east; acknowledged before Francis Parker, County Clerk.
     Millwood surveyed September 26,1853, on lands of H.P. Mudd, H.T. Mudd, and George Sands by James Reid; acknowledged before John M. Reed, Justice of the Peace.
     Nineveh, now Olney, laid off about 1855; plat not recorded.
     The population of Lincoln County is about 20,000.  In 1870 it was 15,960, of whom 13,973 were white and 1,987 coloured; 8,281 male and 7,679 female; 15,002 native, 11,290 born in Missouri, and 958 foreign.
     Chain of Rocks, Mo., June, 1878.

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