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SPOONEMORE stories
This is copied from the SPONHEIMER KINDRED book "Sponheimer Kindred."
Eunice Konold, Hazel Brown Kennedy Sunlight Press 1975. The Decendents
of Johann Friedrich Sponheimer, covering PA, KY, MO, IN ILL, ...
SPOHNHEIMER, Sponheimer Kindred: Incl. SPOHNHEIMER,
Sponamer, Spoonhimer, Spoonemore_and Allied Families, 655 p.; map; photos,
8294, Konold, EC & HB Kennedy ...
The following account of David and his family was provided by Mrs. Walter
A. Spoonemore of Pampa, Texas
…David Spoonemore born 10 August 1804 was the eldest son and second
child of Henry and Ellephan (Hammond) Spoonemore who were married in Stanford,
Lincoln County, Kentucky 19 May 1800. David married 12 December
1827, Nancy Clifton, and they were the parents of fourteen children.
Born in Stanford, Lincoln county, were James Henry, Sally Ann, and Armanda
(Mandy). The family moved to Indiana about 1831 or 1833 (maybe have
lived in Illinois a short time). Born in Putnam county, Indiana
were: Susan, Armilda (Milly), Richard George Washington (Dick), Elizabeth
(Betsy), and Mary Jane. David moved with his family, traveling by covered
wagon, to Andrew County, Missouri in 1840. Born there were Perry
(Bud) and Andrew Jackson. In 1844 he moved to the territory that
later became Nodaway County, Missouri. He was the first or one of
the first, settlers in the section that became Jackson Township in July
1846. Born there were: Malinda, Anderson (Toe), Goodlow, and Nancy
Caroline.
David was a farmer and took a claim in 1844, the N.W. 1 4, Section 8,
Township 4, Range 33, of fertile land and located his home site in a grove
of trees, two miles north and a little east of what later became Sweet
Home. He remained there the rest of his life. He was a respected
citizen, serving as a election judge; was instrumental in getting the
first school and church established; and was known to be a good provider
for his large family. On election day, August 1846, there were seven
settlers in the township; David Spoonemore, Jessie Harper, Elisha Brown,
Claiborne Hughes, Jacob Grindstaff, John Clifton and Mose Stingley.
David and his family lived in typical pioneer housing until he built a
substantial home in 1854. O September 2, 1854 the account of what
he paid Jefferson Martin for work on the house was listed as; cash 50
cents, hogs $6.00, one bushel of corn $1.25, 16 pounds of bacon $1.15,
10 pounds bacon $1.00, one bushel corn 24 cents, one calf $4.00, 183 pounds
pork…(no value given). State and County taxes for 1851 were $2.24.
One day in 1846 David and his son, James Henry, were hunting about two
miles from home when their dogs, Jule and Cinch, jumped a big black bear
out of the tall grass. The bear ran to the river and was about to
kill the dogs in the water when David shot it. It was believed to
have been the last bear in the county. The dogs were very savage,
but good watch dogs which every settler needed as there were wild animals,
Indians, carpetbaggers, and uninvited travelers passing, sometimes during
the night, and the family felt safe with the dogs to warn them of intruders.
Some years later when Anderson (Toe) came home from the Civil War the
dogs ran him up a tree some distance from the house and he had to yell
for the dogs to be called off.
The Pottawtomie Indians has relinquished their claim in the Platte Purchase
and had been moved to a reservation in Kansas but would return to their
hunting grounds frequently. They would pass by quietly in bodies
of one-hundred or more…In December, 1849, about two hundred Pottawatomies,
including squaws and papooses, made an incursion into the county and constructed
their temporary wigwams in a grove near where Simeon Davidson now lives.
A white man named Isaac Rice, who had married a squaw, accompanied them.
After hunting for a few days, they hired Jacob Grindstaff to go to St.
Joseph and purchase of Joseph Robidoux a barrel of whisky, called in the
tongue of the Pottawatomies “gooenetoss”. Grindstaff
arrived safely with the whisky at the Indian camp on Christmas eve, accompanied
by Andrew J. Anderson and David Spoonemore, who fell in with him
as he passed their homes.
Immediately on the arrival of the “firewater” the squaws secreted
all the knives, guns, and tomahawks, to forestall any effusion of blood.
The drinking and carousal began at midnight in the “forest primeval,”
and was prolonged through the day and night following, when half the whisky
being sequent “pow-wow”. It is scarcely necessary to
note the fact that the three sturdy pioneers, Anderson, Spoonemore and
Grindstaff, then in the prime of vigorous manhood, imbibed freely of “firewater”.
Joined in the grotesque dances and lustily imitated the war whoop of their
savage hosts. …The three sturdy pioneers, known to the Indians as
their friends, were treated with great respect.
New settlers were coming to the country in increasing numbers. The
land of gently rolling hills was heavily wooded and had two rivers, the
Platte and Nodaway, providing good hunting and fishing. Wolves,
elk, deer, turkeys and other small animals were plentiful, agriculture
consisted mainly of corn and a kitchen garden. Hunting for meat
and trapping for skins were the chief means of livelihood. When
David moved to Missouri there were no railroads or mail delivery in that
part of the country. No one knew where he had settled. About
fifteen years later his brother, Greenberry, decided to move his family
“out west”. He was traveling by covered wagon and stopped
about sundown at Mose Stingley’s place to inquire if he might spend
the night nearby. After supper Mr. Stingley visited his camp anticipating
a pleasant visit as there was only one other settler near him. He
learned the traveler’s name was Spoonemore and told him of his neighbor,
David. Greenberry went on horseback with Stingley’s and was
happily reunited with his brother. That night, April 27, 1855, at
the age of forty-seven, Nancy died. She was buried in the Sweet
Home Cemetery. Greenberry took a home site near David from the Government
for $1.25 an acre.
David married Mary Jane Rickman Sharp 20 February 1856. Mary Jane,
born 8 June 1829 in North Carolina, had two daughters, Elizabeth Sharp
who died 16 Mary 1860 and Naomi Sharp, born 28 June 1850. David
and Mary Jane had seven children: Jesse Wilburn, Rebecca Ann, Frances
Ellen, John David, William Monroe, Laura Isabella (Larey), and Charles
Harrison. David fathered twenty-one children, the last one at the
age of sixty- five. Mary Jane died 3 November 1885 at the age of
fifth-seven, a year before David died 11 August 1887 at the age of eighty-three.
Both are buried in the Sweet Home Cemetery. Their children were born in
Nodaway County, Missouri.
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