Caldwell County MO Archives History .....FARM LIFE IN KINGSTON TOWNSHIP IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mo/mofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Karen Walker khw4@yahoo.com September 1, 2008, 4:40 pm FARM LIFE IN KINGSTON TOWNSHIP IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES Narrator: Mrs. Margaret Kendall Burkett of Hamilton, Missouri Railroad Land Neighbors Trading Cotton Roads and Vehicles Schools Kendall Chapel Mrs. Burkett was born 1862 in Davidson County North Carolina one hundred miles west of Raleigh. Her parents were John Kendall and Elizabeth Trice; the Kendalls by tradition being early colonists in North Carolina. Her father stood for the Union in the Civil War; and after the war things became unpleasant for him. One of the daughters and her husband had already gone to Indiana. Hence John Kendall took his family there while he came to Missouri to prospect. He had been here several times looking around. Finally in 1867 with two sons he came to Caldwell County and bought land of the railroad in the northern part of Kingston township, this land being in the family to this day, and now farmed by Mrs. Burkett's son-in-law Leonard Snyder. Mr. Kendall built the first home, a four room house which later was greatly enlarged. The land was to be paid for in ten years and it took much savings on the part of the family to pay it off. In February 1868 after he came Mrs. Kendall and the daughters Maggie and Martha came out. Mr. Kendall died three years later and the burden became greater. In those times, there was the well travelled "State road" from Hamilton to Kingston. In coming from Hamilton, the Burketts used this road as far as the present George Burkett house (a little south of the half way house) then cut across the field. At first they rode in a lumber wagon or horse back. Finally Mrs. Kendall bought a two seated spring wagon from Columbus Ohio which was about the best looking rig in the country. One half mile to the south was the farm of Jacob Allee (half brother to Taylor Allee of Hamilton) who had come into the county two years before. Between the Kendalls and the town of Hamilton at first there were only two houses as she recalled - the "old red house" on the Whitt farm and the old Dodge house. In the fall of 1868 the country began filling up rapidly. She got most of her schooling at the West Prairie (Williams) school with Mr. Shelley as teacher. Her first term was with Wm. Curp (also a singing master) who taught the Dillon school. That district had no school house so Mr. Curp rented his downstairs to the district for a school room. Mrs. Burkett then a little girl learning her letters would be taken to his home Monday morning and they would come after her Friday evening. Later she attended a summer subscription (select) school at Kingston taught by her brother-in-law Mr. Dayhoff. When they traded at Hamilton they bought goods to the amount of their butter and eggs and chickens and no more. That was real trading. Her father got his first cows by buying a wagon load of apples cheap at Lexington taking them up to Iowa and buying two cows with the money. Mrs. Kendall had brought cotton seed form North Carolina which she planted on her farm. They carded the cotton and wool and made bats for comforts and spun thread for cotton and wool stockings, borrowing a spinning wheel from Mrs. Jacob Allee. Kendall Chapel was built on land given by Mrs. Kendall; the congregation was a result of a revival in 1887 by a preacher named Bitner. He held services in the West Prairie schoolhouse. Interviewed July 1934. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mo/caldwell/history/other/farmlife103gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mofiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb