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Chapter 1:

Introductory to Monroe County

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 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, therefore, 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 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 origin. 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, from 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 portions 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 of the  descendents 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 objection 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 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, by the McGees and others. On the Middle fork, east of Madison, by Daniel and 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 aristocracy 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. 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.

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 W. L. Smiley's sketch of countyships 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 dictate 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.

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:

  • Henry Ashcraft

  • 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 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 Greening

  • 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,

  • Robert Scobee

  • Cavil Shearer

  • Davis Scott

  • 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

  • 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. Still living, in his 90th year. Still living.