HISTORY
OF
MONROE COUNTY, MISSOURI,
CHAPTER I.
Introductory -- What Time has Done - Importance of Early Beginnings - First Settlements
made in the Timber - Parts of the'County first Settled - Names of Pioneers -
Postal and Mill Facilities - County Organized and Named - The Name - James
Monroe.
INTRODUCTORY.
History " is but a record of the life and career of peoples and nations.
" The historian, in rescuing from oblivion the life of a nation,
or a particular people, should "' nothing extenuate, nor set down
aught in malice. " Myths, however beautiful, are but fanciful; traditions,
however pleasing, are uncertain; and legends, though the
very essence of poesy and song, are unauthentic. The novelist will
take the most fragile thread of romance, and from it weave a fabric of
surpassing beauty. But the historian should put his feet on the solid
rock of truth, and turning a deaf ear to the allurements of fancy, he
should sift with careful scrutiny the evidence brought before him,
from which he is to give the record of what has been. Standing
down the stream of time, far removed from its source, he must retrace
with patience and care, its meanderings, guided by the relics of
the past which lie upon its shores, growing fainter, and still more faint
and uncertain as he nears its fountain, ofttimes concealed in the debris
of ages, and the mists of impenetrable darkness. Written records
grow less and less explicit, and finally fail altogether, as he approaches
1 (87)
88 HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
the beginning of the community whose lives he is seeking to rescue
from the gloom of a rapidly receding past.
Memory, wonderful as are its powers, is yet frequently at fault, and
only by a comparison of its many aggregations can he be satisfied
that he is pursuing stable-footed truth in his researches amid the early
paths of his subject. It can not then be unimportant or uninteresting
to trace the progress of Monroe county from its embryotic period to
its present proud position among its sister counties. To this end,
therefre, we have endeavored to gather the scattered and loosening
threads of the past into a compact web of the present, trusting that
the harmony and perfectness of the work may speak with no uncertain
sound to the future.
WHAT TIME HAS DONE.
Fifty-three years have passed since Monroe county was organized.
Most wonderful have been the changes, and mighty have been the
events and revolutions, the discoveries and inventions, that have occurred
within this time.
Perhaps since " God formed the earth and the world, " and tossed
them from the hollow of his hand into space, so many great things
have not been accomplished in any fifty-three years. Reflection can not
fail to arouse wonder, and awaken thankfulness, that God has appointed
us the place we occupy in the eternal chain of events. Tennyson
and Browning, Bryant and Whittier, Lowell and Longfellow
have sung. The matchless Webster, the ornate Sumner, the eloquent
Clay, the metaphysical Calhoun and Seward have since reached the
culmination of their powers and passed into the grave. Macauley,
Theirs, Gizot and Froude have written in noble strains the history of
their lands; tand Bancroft and Prescott and Hildreth and Motley have
won high rank among the historians of the earth. Spurgeon and
Beecher and Moody have enforced, with most persuasive eloquence,
the duties of morality and religion. Carlyle and Emerson, Stuart
Mill and Spencer have given the results of their speculations in high
philosophy to the world. Mexico has been conquered; Alaska has
been purchased; the center of population has traveled more than 250
miles along the thirty-ninth parallel, and a majority of the States
composing the American Union have been added to the glorious constellation
on the blue field of our flag. Great cities have been founded
and populous countries developed ; and the stream of emigration is still
tending westward. Gold has been discovered in the far West, and
the great Civil War-the bloodiest in all the annals of time-has
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY. 89
been fought. The telegraph, the' telephone and railroad have been
added to the list of the most important inventions. In fact, during
this time, our country has increased in population from a few millions
of people to fifty millions. From a weak, obscure nation it has become
strong in all the elements of power and influence, and is to-day
the most marvelous country for its age that ever existed.
IMPORTANCE OF EARLY BEGINNINGS.
Every nation does not possess an authentic account of its orioin.
Neither do all communities have the correct data whereby it is possible
to accurately predicate the condition of their first beginnings.
Nevertheless, to be intensely interested in such things is characteristic
of the race, and it is particularly the province of the historian to deal
with first causes. Should these facts be lost in the mythical traditions
of the past, as is often the case, the chronicler invades the realm
of the ideal and compels his imagination to paint the missing picture.
The patriotic Roman was not content until he had found the , first
settlers," and then he was satisfied, although they were found in
the very undesirable company of a wolf, and located on a drift,
which the receding waters of the Tiber htd permitted them to preempt.
One of the advantages pertaining to a residence in a new country,
and one seldom appreciated, is the fact that we can go back to the
first beginning. We are thus enabled to not only trace results to their
causes, but also to grasp the facts which have contributed to form and
mold these causes. We observe that a State or county has attained
a certain position, and we at once try to trace out the reasons for this
position in its settlement and surroundings, in the class of men by
whom it was peopled, and in many chances and changes which have
wrought out results, in all recorded deeds of mankind. In the history
of Monroe county we may trace its early settlers to their homes in the
Eastern States and in the countries of the Old World. We may follow
the course of the early backwoodsman, fiom the I" Buckeye " or
'Hoosier" State, and from Kentucky and Virginia on his way West,
" to grow up with the country," trusting only to his strong arm and
willing heart to work out his ambition for a home for himself and
wife, and a competence for his children. Again, we will see that
others have been animated with the impulse to move on, after making
themselves a part of the community, and have sought the newer por-
930 HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
tions of the extreme West, where civilization had not penetrated, or
returned to their native heath.
We shall find something of that distinctive New Elgland character,
which has contributed so many men and women to other portions of
the West. We shall also find many an industrious native of Germany,
as well as a number of the sons of the Emerald Isle, all of whom have
contributed to modify types of men already existing here. Those who
have noted the career o the cnn f e descedants of these brave, strong men,
in subduing the wilds and overcoming the obstacles and hardships of
early times, can but admit that they are worthy sons of illustrious
sires.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS MADE IN THE TIMBER.
The first settlements in the county were invariably made in the timber
or contiguous thereto. The early settlers did so as a matter of
necessity and convenience. The presence of timber aided materially
in bringing about an early settlement, and it aided in two ways; first,
the country had to depend on emigration from the older settled States
of the East for its population, and especially Kentucky and Tennessee.
These States originally were almost covered with dense forests, and
farms were made by clearing off certain portions of the timber. Almost
every farm there, after it became thoroughly improved, still retained
a certain tract of timber commonly known as "the woods."
' The woods " was generally regarded as the most important part of
the farm, and the average farmer regarded it as indispensable. When
he emigrated to the West, one oljection was the scarcity of timber,
and he did not suppose that it would be possible to open up a farm
on the bleak prairie. To live in a region devoid of the familiar sight
of timber seemed unendurable, and the average Kentuckian could not
entertain the idea of founding a home away from the familiar forest
trees. Then again the idea entertained by the early immigrants to
Missouri, that timber was a necessity, was not simply theoretical. The
early settler must have a house to live in, fuel for cooking and heating
purposes, and fences to inclose his claim. At that time there were
no railroads by which lumber could be transported. No coal mine
had yet been opened, and few if any had been discovered. Timber
was an absolute necessity, without which material improvement was
an impossibility.
No wonder that a gentleman from the East, who in early times came
to the prairie region of Missouri on a prospecting tour, with a view of
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY. 91
permanent location, returned home in disgust and embodied his views
of the country in the following rhyme: -
' Oh! lonesome, windy, grassy place,
Where buffalo and snakes prevail;
The first with dreadful looking face,
The last with dreadful sounding tail!
I'd rather live on camel hump,
And be a Yankee Doodle beggar,
Than where I never see a stump,
And shake to death with fever'n ager."
The most important resource in the development of this Western
country was the belts of timber which skirted the streams; and the
settlers who first hewed out homes in the timber, while at present
not the most enterprising and progressive, were, nevertheless, an
essential factor in the solution of the problem.
Along either side of the various streams which flow across the
country, were originally belts of timber; at certain places, generally
near the mouths of the smaller tributaries, the belt of timber widened
out, thus forming a grove, or what was frequently called a point, and
at these points or groves were the first settlements made; here were
the first beginnings of civilization; here " began to operate those
forces which have made the wilderness a fruitful place and caused the
desert to bud and blossom as the rose."
Much of the primeval forest has been removed for the building of
houses and the construction of fences; other portions, and probably
the largest part, have been ruthlessly and improvidently destroyed.
PARTS OF THE COUNTRY FIRST SETTLED.
As early as 1817 parties came into what was then. Pike county, and
in the vicinity of Middle Grove located tracts of land, but no permanent
settlement was made within the boundaries of Monroe county
until 1820. The first settlement was begun in the county about three
and a half miles east of Middle Grove, by Ezra Fox, Andrew and
Daniel Wittenburg and others. For many years afterward this was
known as Fox's settlement. About the same time a settlement was
commenced between the Mliddle and North forks of Salt river between
Paris and Florida, by Joseph Smith, Sr., Alexander W. Smith,
Joseph Smith, Jr., Samuel H. Smith and others. This was designated
by the early settlers as the "Smith settlement." Not long
subsequent to the formation of these settlements others were begun,
namely: On the Elk fork, south and east of Paris, bv the McGees
and others. On the Middle fork, east of Madison, by Daniel and
92 HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
Urbin East and others. On the North fork, in the vicinity of Clinton,
by Robert Martin, Col. Gabriel Jones, Caleb Wood and others,
and also in the neighborhood of Florida, by Robert Greening, Samuel
Nesbit, William Wilkerson, John and James Dale and others.
As early as 1820 Benjamin Young settled on the South fork not far
from Santa Fe. He was the only settler in that portion of the county
until 1828. Only eight families were living in this settlement when
the county was organized. For eleven years after the first settlements
were commenced, the history of the county is connected with that of
Ralls. These were years of toil and hardship, of hope and disappointment,
of genuine hospitality and true friendships. There was no
squinting at aristrocracy among the people, no formalities, all were on
one common footing, grappling with nature in a united effort to reduce
it to the uses of civilization. Rude cabins with puncheon floors or
without even this resemblance of a floor, without windows, except a
hole closed with a piece of greased paper to let in the light, were built,
forests were felled and cleared away by the united efforts of the pioneers.
Immigration came in slowly; gradually the settlements began
to lose that distinctiveness of separation which characterized them
during their earliest years; gradually the monotony of the wide
stretches of country intervening between the settlements was broken
up by rude cabins of the pioneers, scattered here and there ; gradually
the settlements were linked together. There were no trading places,
blacksmith-shops nor mills in the county for a number of years. The
settlements supplied their few wants at the trading posts or towns on
the Missouri or Mississippi rivers. The first blacksmith shop in the
county was opened on the Louisiana road, near where Upton's old
shop now stands, by Charles Eales. Among the first, and perhaps
the first store in the county, was opened in the fall of 1830, one-half
mile south of Florida, near where Hickman's mills now stand, by
Maj. W. N. Penn. The town of Florida was laid out during the
winter of 1831. Robert Donaldson, John Witt, Dr. Keenan, Joseph
Grigsby, W. N. Penn and Hugh A. Hickman were its founders. Soon
after the town was laid out Maj. Penn moved his stock of goods to the
site, and became the first merchant of Florida.
It is said that the first mill in the county was built by Benjamin
Bradley, about two miles north-east of Florida. It was simple in construction,
and was run by horse power. Some amusing incidents are
told to illustrate the slow operation of grinding on these mills, but
our space will not permit us to reproduce them here. Some of these
mills are yet to be seen in the county-memorials of the old time.
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY. 93
The first public road established in the county was what is now known
as the "Old London Trace." Traces of it are yet to be seen. It
began at Fox's settlement, followed along down the dividing ridge
between the Elk Fork and the South Fork, crossing the latter near
where the Louisiana road now crosses the same stream, thence through
White's neighborhood and on to New London. This road was surveyed
and laid out by Alexander W. Smith, Robert Hickland and J.
C. Fox, pursuant to an order of the county court of Ralls county. 1
POSTAL AND MILL FACILITIES.
The early settlers of the county, for several years after they built
their cabins, had neither postal nor mill facilities, and were compelled
to travel from 25 to 50 miles in order to reach a post-office, or to get
their meal. Their usual way of sending or receiving tidings from
their friends and the news of the great world, which lay towards the
east and south of them, was generally by the mouth of the stranger
coming in, or by the settler who journeyed back to his old home, in
Kentucky or Virginia. Postage at that time was very high, and if
the old settler sent or received two or three letters during the year,
he considered himself fortunate. His every-day life in the wilds of
the new country to which he had come to better his condition, was so
much of a sameness that he had, indeed, but little to communicate.
His wants were few, and these were generally supplied by his rod and
his gun, the latter being considered an indispensable weapon of defense,
as well as necessary to the support and maintenance of himself and
family. No wonder that the pioneer loved his " old flint lock,"
and his faithful dog, whose honest bark would so often-
" Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as he drew near home."
MONROE COUNTY FORMED AND ORGANIZED.
During the years 1829-30 emigration came in rapidly. The inconvenience
of being so remote from the county seat, New London, and
the hope of more rapid settlement, induced the pioneers during the
latter part of the year 1830 to take steps to secure the organization
of a new county. The subject was laid before the General Assembly
of the State, was favorably considered, and on January 6, 1831, the
following act was passed creating a new county: "All that portion of
the territory within the county of Ralls lying within the following
boundaries, to wit: Beginning on the township line between town-
1 W. L. Smiley's sketch of county.
94 HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
ships 52 and 53 at the first sectional line east of the range line between
ranges 7 and 8, thence with said sectional line on a parallel with said
range north, to the southern boundary of the county of Marion;
thence west along the Marion county line with the township line
between townships 56 and 57, to the range line between 12 and 13,
it being the eastern boundary line of Randolph county, thence south
with said range line to the township line between townships 52 and
53, thence east with said township line to the place of beginning, be
and the same is hereby declared to be a separate and distinct county,
to be known and called by the name of " Monroe county" (Laws of
Missouri). These boundaries have not been materially changed.
The same act appointed Hancock S. Jackson, of Randolph; Stephen
Glascock, of Ralls, and Joseph Holliday of Pike, commissioners to
select the seat of justice for the county. These were men possessing
integrity and purity of character. Joseph Holliday afterwards
removed to the county, where he lived and died, respected by all who
knew him. Hancock S. Jackson was afterward elected Lieutenant-
Governor of the State, and was one of the most highly respected men
in the State.
The first entries of land were made by the following persons:
Township 53, range 8, George Markham, in 1819; township 54,
range 8, Bennet Goldsberry in 1818; township 54, range 8, John
Hicklin, in 1819; township 54, range 8, Joseph Holliday, in 1818;
township 54, range 8, Benton R. Gillett, in 1819 ; township 54, range
8, Andrew Rogers, in 1819; township 55, range 8, Daniel McCoy, in
1819; township 54, range 9, Joseph R. Pool, in 1819; township 55,
range 9, James Adams, in 1819.
THE NAME.
A great dramatist intimates that there is nothing in a name; but
a name sometimes means a great deal. In many instances, it indicates,
in a measure, the character of the people who settle the country
and have given to it its distinctive characteristics. Names are sometimes
given to towns and countries by accident; sometimes they
originate in the childish caprice of some individual, whose dectate by
reason of some real or imaginary superiority is law. Whether the
policy of naming counties after statesmen and generals be good or
bad, the Missouri Legislature has followed the practice to such an
extent, that fully three-fourths of the counties composing the State
bear the names of men who are more or less distinguished in the history
of the country.
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY. 95
THE NAMES OF PIONEERS.
When we consider that more than half a century has passed since
the men whose names we append below, pitched their tents within the
present limits of the county, it will be readily understood how difficult
has been the task of collecting them.
In placing these names upon record we have doubtless made mistakes
and omissions, but feel confident that the errors will be overlooked,
when it is remembered that we have spared no little effort
to be accurate and perfect.
They who in the early dawn of Western civilization first " bearded
the lion in his den, " opened a path through the wilderness, drove out
the wild beasts and tamed the savage Indian, are entitled to one of
the brightest pages in all the record of the past.
The old pioneers of Monroe county--the advance guard of civilization
-have nearly all passed away; those remaining may be
counted on the fingers of one hand. A few more years of waiting
and watching, and they, too, will have joined-
"The innumerable caravan, that moves
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death. "
Fresh hillocks in the cemetery will soon be all the marks that will
be left of a race of giants who grappled nature in her fastness and
made a triumphant conquest in the face of the greatest privations,
disease and difficulty. The shadows that fall upon their tombs as time
recedes are like the smoky haze that enveloped the prairies in the
early days, saddening the memory and giving to dim distance only a
faint and phantom outline, to which the future will often look back
and wonder at the great hearts that lie hidden under the peaceful
canopy.
These are the names of the old settlers:
HenryAshcraft, J. R. Abernathy, R. D. Austin, Ovid Adams, Otho
Adams, William Atterbury, James Alfred, George Abbott, Chris. C.
Acuff, Jerry Burton, Dr. John Bybee, Reuben Burton, Elijah Burton,
John Burton, Benjamin Blubaugh, Lawrence Boggs, Thomas Brashears,
Thomas Bell, Benjamin Bradley, James Bell, Isam. Belcher,
Elijah Bozarth, Ezekial Billington, Ephraim Brink, Shadrack Burnes,
Abraham Bush, Elijah Creed, Samuel Crow, Augustin Creed, James
Cox, Jeremiah Crigler, John G. Collison, Samuel Creed, A. B. Combs,
Charles Clay, Triposa Clay, Samuel Curtright, John H. Curry, John
96 HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
Colvin, Richard Cave, Green V. Caldwell, Isaac Coppedge, Simon
Duckworth, John Dale, James Dickson, James Dale, Ramey Dye,
Phanty Dye, George Dry, William Donaldson, Robert Donaldson,
Thomas Davis, Van. Davis, Reese Davis, William Delaney, John Delaney,
Fount Leroy Dye, Edward Damrell, Joseph Donaldson, Cornelius
Edwards, Urban East, Daniel East, Charles Eales, Enoch
Fruit, Ezra Fox, J. C. Fox, Pleasant Ford, Jacob Ford, Sr., Daniel
Ford, John Foreman, Joseph Foreman, Hasting Fike, Thomas M.
Glendy, Thomas Gundy, Angle Gillespie, Robert George, John Gee
Martin B. Gay, Robert Greeniing, Edward Goodnight, Robert Gwyn,
David Gough, Spencer Grogin, F. Gillett, Jonathan Gore, Leonard
Green, Clem. Green, James Gilmore, William Goforth, Stephen
Glascock, George Glenn, William B. Grant, Bartholomew Grogin,
Joseph Holliday, Hackney T. Hightower, John Hocker, Hugh A.
Hickman, John B. Hatton, Amon. Hicks, Salmon Humphrey, Edward
M. Holden, John Howe, Ezra Hunt, Paul Hereford, Henry Howard,
Esom Hannon, Robert Harris, James Herndon, Dr. Sylvester Hagan,
Joseph Hagan, Samuel Harper, Robert Hanna, Asaph E. Hubbard,
William Horn, John Ivie, William Jett, Col. Gabriel Jones, James
Jackson, Daniel H. Johnson, John Johnson, Jeremiah Jackson,
George Kipper, Henry Kinote, Thomas Kelley, Williamn Kipper,
Abraham Kirkland, John Kipper, Lewis Kincaid, Samuel Kipper,
Dr. Keenan, David Kirby, Marshall Kelley, Thomas Kilgore, John
McGee, James McGee, John S. McGee, William McGee, John Mc-
Kamey, D. E. McKamey, Joseph H. McKamey, E. W. McBride,
Charles McGrew, Hiram Manama, Boaz Maxey, John C. Milligan,
Travis S. Moore, William McSwain, R. C. Mansfield, James Mappin,
Matthew Mappin, Henry Miller, Robert Martin, Payton Maghan,
Benjamin Mothershead, Samuel Nesbit, M. Newland, James Noel,
Joel Noel, Garnet Noel, Elijah Owens, Mrs. Ownby, John Porter,
Jesse Pavey, Maj. James Poage, James Powers, Richard D. Powers,
Thomas G. Poage, Minor Perry, Samuel Pool, William N. Penn,
Ezekiel Phelps, William H. Proctor, Aniel Rogers, Achilles Rogers,
Andrew Rogers, Joseph Rigsby, Archibald Rice, Nathaniel Rice,
William Runkle, John Rigsby, George Rouse, Jones Reavis, Nathaniel
Riggs, Daniel Rhodes, Edward Shropshire, Harrison Sparks, Harvey
Swinney, Robert Swinney, Austin Swinney, Joseph Stephens, David
F. Sloan, Joseph J. Sumner, Samuel G. Sutton, William Smith,
Joseph Smith, Sr., Alex. W. Smith, Joseph Smith, Jr., Samuel H.
Smith, John B. Smith, Robert Simpson, John Simpson, John Shoots,
Peter Stice, Joseph Sproul, William P. Stephenson, Stephen Scobee,
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY. 97
Robert Scobee, Cavil Shearer, Davis Scott,l Robert Snider, Wilson S.
Spotswood, George Smizer, George Saling, Ephraim Smith, Larken
Stamper, Milton Smizer, Rumsey Saling, Robert Smithey, Richmond
Saling, James Stewart, George Stubblefield, Bostick Talliaferro,
Thomas Thompson, Michael Trombo, Alexander Thompson, Hiram
Thompson, Jacob Trumbo, Peter B. Thomas, Thomas Threldkeld,
William K. Van Arsdell, James Vaughn, Andrew Whittenburg, Daniel
Whittenburg, Joseph Weldon, James Weldon, John Willingham, John
Wright, William Wilcoxson, Caleb Wood, Thomas Wood, Fielder
Wood, Milton Wilkerson, Hiram Williams, S. J. Williams, Huron
Williams, David Weatherford, M. C. Warren,2 Joseph White, William
Wilkerson, John Witt, James Woods, Giles H. Welch, George W.
White, Jacob Young, Benjamin Young, John Yates, Vincent Yates.
In addition to the names above given, others will be mentioned in
giving the history of the different townships.
1Still living, in his 90th year.
2 Still living.
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