The First Days of Kidder - Caldwell County, Missouri

THE FIRST DAYS OF KIDDER
Narrator:  Miss Nannie Beaumont of Kidder, Missouri

Miss Nannie Beaumont is a daughter of James Beaumont who came to Kidder
October 1860, when nothing was there but the depot and a start on the hotel.
Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont and their little daughter Nellie aged nine months
stayed in the depot till the hotel was finished.  This Hotel was the pro-
perty of the Kidder Land Company and was kept by A.W. Rice, Mrs. Beaumont's
father. This Kidder Land Company (New England Land Company) was a New Eng-
land corporation and induced a large number of "Yankees" from Massachusetts
to settle. George S. Harris was the superintendent of this company and laid
out the town, he was a cousin of James Beaumont which explains why the
Beaumonts came from Illinois very soon after the town was laid out August 3,
1860.  The Rice family was the first family to live in the town.  At first,
the town seemed a family affair with this Harris-Rice-Beaumont set-up.  Mr.
Beaumont was station and express agent, Post master in fact about everything.
He afterwards ran a general store with Ben Laribee under the firm name - J.
Beaumont and Company.  The two men never disagreed in their long partnership.
They were located on site of the Farmers Bank.

The Rice Hotel or "Kidder House" (where Nellie Beaumont lives as a child)
was a well known hostelry of the early sixties.  It stood west of the old
Kidder Bank.  Their nearest house at the start was the Judge P.S. Kenney
mansion nearly two miles to the west.  It still stands, and is well known
to this day as a land mark for travelers.

In time other buildings arose. One of these was the Drug Store kept by
Worth.  He sold out to Winston Bros. and they to Osborn.  Charlie Shaw
worked for Osborn and finally bought him out.  That Drug Store was mid way
in the block.  In 1880 occurred the Shaw fire and Mr. Charlie Shaw put up
the brick drug store on the well known Shaw Corner.  Which he and his
brother Frank kept till his death a few years ago.

During the later part of the Civil War the Kidder Hotel changed hands, M.E.
Conger being proprietor.  An interesting old dance invitation (now in the
possession of Mrs. James Kautz) inviting her Mother, Fanny Dodge to attend
a cotillion party to be given at the Kidder House January 20, 1863, with
three dance managers, all Soldiers; and supper at 10 P.M.

While Kidder was a younger town than Hamilton it soon became a bigger one;
but the Kidder Land Company made a sad mistake in placing too high a price
on its lots which sent home buyers away to cheaper sites.
Interviewed  August 1934.


THE REAM FAMILY AT KIDDER - 1867
Narrator:  Adam Ream, 80, of Hamilton

Mr. Ream was born Dec. 1854, the son of Conrad Ream and Amanda Grable.  On
March 13, 1867, the Ream family got off the train at Kidder, and Adam, the
boy of 12, saw a very small town.

The family had decided to move west from Summit County, Ohio.  They already
had moved to Stevenson County, Ill.  The story of how they chose to come to
Kidder is peculiar.  One of their old Ohio friends, John Hallam, a teacher
and preacher in Greensburg, Summit Co., had gone to Omaha for a job.  On
account of poor railway connections, he missed the job, and got on the train
to return.  When the family was near St. Joe one of the children became sick.
It was discovered that it had scarlet fever and the conductor forced the
whole family to get off at Kidder.  When the entire family had recovered
from the disease, the father was in love with Kidder people and Kidder
country and wanted to stay.  He bought a farm northeast of the present Allen
School and afterwards taught school in Hamilton in the old school on the
Methodist parsonage site walking over every day.

He wrote back to his Ohio friends about the country and they came and bought
farms.  There were the Heldbrand family, east of Winston, John Rohrbough,
near the Allen School, Michael Young, near Winston, Henry and Ephraim Koonse.
Henry H. Brown bought two and one-half miles southeast of Hamilton.  He
later married the widow Clampitt.  The Conrad Ream family bought one and
one-half miles southwest of Kidder, paying $3,000.00 for 233 acres.  They
bought it of Herman Townsend, whose predecessor had entered the land.  It
had a log cabin which they used for nine months.  Now, Kelley Strickland
owns one-half of it and Jesse Ream (Adam's son) the other half.  Conrad Ream
proceeded at once to fence.  He bought 1200 feet of fencing, paying $39.75.

When the Reams came in 1867, Kidder had about twenty houses.  One mile west
of Kidder was the Kenney mansion around which much local interest has
centered, and about which arose the Kenney-Hemry quarrel in the early
eighties.  To this same P.S. Kenney belonged the three-story frame on site
of the present garage opposite the old Shaw corner.  This was the site of
one of the first wells.  The first story of the building was Kenney's
general store, the second was the home of Kenney's mother, the third was
the Catholic Chapel for services once a month.  A little earlier, the
services were held in the mother's apartment and the third story was the
office of the land company.  Then there was a one story store where the
Farmers Bank is, a general store owned by D.G. Chubbuck's widow and run by
Ben Laribee, his brother-in-law.  In 1867, James Beaumont's term as
postmaster ran out and he and Laribee became partners in the above general
store.  Fitzpatrick had a wagon shop on the street north of Front Street.

Mr. Ream attended the one-room Kidder school several years, it being on the
same lot as the present school.  Some of his teachers were Miss Mary Sackett,
Charlie Fletcher, C.W. Smylie who was a farmer teacher living near the
present Manson district and the father of Prof. C.N. Smylie, now of Carlton
College, Minn.  They afterwards lived in Hamilton on the corner northeast of
the park.  Mr. Ream also was a student at old Thayer College both down town
under Van Collem and out on the hill in the new building when Dr. Cochran
came from Grinnell.  But he grew tired of school and did not stay long.  The
enrollment varied from thirty to sixty with three and four teachers.  Dr.
Cochran had a charming young lady daughter, Minnie, who taught music.  They
lived north of Thayer Hall in a house built by Miss Mary Sackett who also
built the one-story part of the Burbank home.  The old Cochran home later
was known as the Prof. Burmeister house (Prof. Burmeister and his wife
taught music at Kidder Institute) and is now the property of Sterling Shaw
(son of Prof. G.W. Shaw).

Mr. Ream talked about the church history of Kidder.  The Catholics, as had
been said, met in the Kenney Hall.  The Congregationalists being the
predominant class in Kidder ran the town in those days; hence they took the
public school building for their church-house and wouldn't let anyone else
in.  G.G. Perkins was the pastor, afterwards a pastor in the church at
Hamilton.  Little by little the Yankee element in Kidder decreased, either
by death or removal elsewhere and the church dwindled.  Mrs. Purple, mother
of Ed Purple, the wealthy stove manufacturer in Chicago, was a great worker
in it and for her sake Ed gave much money to its support.  Now it is unused.

The Methodists held monthly services in the home of J.G. Thompson.  Kidder
and Hamilton at that time were on one circuit.  He finally moved to Hamilton
and bought land from the present Methodist Church corner out north to the
Doll home, intending to make it into a Thompson addition.  Finally A.H.
Gurney came to Kidder in 1869 and being a strong Methodist, circulated a
subscription paper to raise money to build a church.  The Methodist church
had the first church building in Kidder.


KIDDER NEAR CENTENARIAN
Narrator:  Mrs. Eliza (Thornhill) Stephenson  Kidder, Missouri

Covered Wagon Days
Indians in Daviess County
Frank James Story

Mrs. Stephenson was born 1834 and almost reached her one hundred years.  She
was born in Kentucky and was sixteen years old when her parents left their
farm and brought a dozen slaves and two covered wagons to Missouri settling
near Gallatin in Daviess County.  It took them a month to come, but it was
a wonderful trip especially to the youngsters, with out door meals and new
sights every day.  After they built their new home she saw Indians but they
were what people called "friendly or begging Indians."  By 1860 the
occasional wandering Indians in this section did not bother anyone except
for cooked food.

During the Civil War, the Thornhills sided with the South.  One day a body
of Union troops passed their home.  Her brother promptly showed his mother's
training by yelling "Hurrah for Jeff Davis."  The soldiers quickly scared
him into silence.

She loved to tell a story about Frank James, the famous Missouri bandit.  She
had then moved to Kidder.  One of the family was called back to Kidder on
account of illness in the home.  She got on a train, by mistake, which did
not stop at Kidder.  She pled in vain to have the train stop there to let
her off.  Suddenly a passenger informed the Conductor that the train WAS
GOING to stop at Kidder.  When the astounded Conductor recognized the
passenger as Frank James he naturally stopped the train at once.

Miss Thornhill was married 1862 to William Vallandingham and to A.J.
Stephenson in 1882.

Interview taken  1934 (shortly before her death).


THE BEGINNING OF THAYER COLLEGE
Narrator:  Frank Shaw of Kidder, Mo.

The plan for a College at the New England village of Kidder came from George
S. Harris Superintendent of the Kidder Land Company, as he came there 1860.
Nathaniel Thayer of Boston negotiated a provisional land grant of over six
hundred acres from the above company.  But the Civil War and the consequent
depression deferred action.  In 1868, the matter was again taken up.  By
1869, the building was started and the outside completed but no money was
left for the inside.  In 1870, the people were determined to start their
College, building or no building.  There was a vacant store on Front Street.
They rented this room and installed Mr. Van Collen, a German from Iowa, a
capable teacher, as head.  That year they had about thirty pupils.  He lived
north of town.  The next year, the newly elected President Dr. S.D. Cochran
of Grinnell Iowa came on.  He and Van Collen did not get along well and the
latter left for Iowa where he became well known as an Educator.

It was while the College was on Front Street that Frank Shaw first became a
pupil.  The Shaw family lived above that store and they coaxed Frank to be
janitor for his tuition.  He also went to the new building "Thayer College"
as it was called from the early friend Nathaniel Thayer.  The course of
study was largely preparatory, although the school was called a College.
Most of the pupils were resident pupils; a few out of town boys stayed in
the upper floor of the College building.  Latin and Greek were stressed, but
few were advanced enough to take these subjects.

Some of Frank Shaw's schoolmates were H. Huson, Joe Townsend, Leslie Allen
(son of Edmund Allen, the agent for the Land Co. who had an office on the
site of the old Kidder Bank), James Temple, Minnie Lacy, Cassius M. Hoyt.
There were two graduates of old Thayer - one was Carrie L. Smith (Mrs. Utter)
and the other was Levi Chubbuck who died August 1934.

The School lasted four years under Dr. Cochran and then the doors were
closed under foreclosure and the building on the hill was given to bats and
birds.  It was reopened in 1884 as Kidder Insitiute under Principal G.S.
Ramsey.

Interviewed  August 1, 1934.


EARLY DAYS AT KIDDER INSTITUTE
Narrator:  Wm. Bristow of Daviess County

Mr. Bristow was one of the pupils who attended Kidder Institute when
Professor G.E. Ramsey came in the early eighties to revive it after it had
been closed for several years.  There were around 120 in attendance.  Some
of those enrolled were Grant McCrary, Tyua Catron, Lettie Martin, Emma
Brown, Chas. Burris, Mary and Della McCrea and Byron Evans.  While there he
and three other boys (Grant McCrary, Byron Evans, John and Ames Hubbard)
rented a room and batched which reduced expenses to a very low point.  This
was a very common thing to do and many a boy used to joke about baking his bread
before he came to school.  As a matter of fact, most of the food was brought
from home already cooked on Monday afternoon; Monday being a holiday.

These days the majority of K.I. students took the common branches with extra
hard training in Arithmetic, History and Grammar to prepare to teach.  When
he got this work he took the teachers examination under Professor Brown the
County School Commissioner at Winston.

He was then 22 years old and begun teaching at Swisher School (Daviess
County) at $35 a month.  He taught then at Sell, then back to Swisher and
then the Wooderson, making twenty years in all.  He quit teaching once and
then they had trouble with some of the big boys at one of these schools they
came for Bill to straighten them out.  He did so in a short while.

Out at Wooderson he taught the Sears children among whom was Jesse who is
now a professor at Leland Stanford University and won a Ph. D. degree at
Wisconsin.

Interview  August 1934.


BARWICK CHAPEL AND THE PLUMBS
Narrator:  Mrs. A.D. Crockett

Mrs. Alice Plum Crockett the second oldest child of William and Anna Maria
(Knoch) Plumb was born on a farm in the Barwick community in Kidder Township.

Mrs. Plumb was born in Pennsylvania and Mr. Plumb was born in Preston County
now West Virginia March 14 1921.

In 1840 Wm. Plumb left Virginia and settled in southern Ohio where he lived
until 1844 then settling in Caldwell County, Missouri.  In 1846 he went to
Mexico with the United States Forces to repress a revolt.  In 1847 he
entered the employ of the Government as express carrier in New Mexico also
having charge of grazing camps of Government stock for two years.  In 1850
he went to California during the "Gold Rush" and was on the road thirty two
days.  He returned to Missouri in 1853 and homesteaded his farm which still
belongs to the family.  At the outbreak of the Civil War 1861 he raised a
company of Union Troops of which he was Captain and for meritorious conduct
was made Major.  Mr. Plumb's grandfather Wm. Plumb was also Captain in a
company in the Revolutionary War.  Major Plumb and Captain Turner were in
the army and were the very closest of friends as long as they lived.  They
lived in the same community.

Mr. and Mrs. Plumb were the parents of ten children.  These children were
all born and reared in the same house on the same farm which was unusual for
those times.  The Childrens names are Adelia, Alice (the Narrator), Clara
and Belle (twins), Arthur, Rose, Harry, Harve and Addie.  The four older
girls attended a "Select School" in Cameron.  A Mrs. Tiernan and Miss Bell
had this school in their own homes.  Mrs. Tiernan would have from thirty to
forty pupils and Miss Bell would have fifteen or twenty.  These schools were
considered "the Place" for the children of such parents as the Plumbs.  The
younger children attended the Kidder Institute.

Alice married Andy Crockett, a staunch Democrat in the County.  Mr. and Mrs.
Crockett are the parents of three children, Clara, a very beautiful girl
died as a young lady, Foster, a son lives on a farm near Kingston and
another son in Oklahoma.

Mrs. Crockett relates a very funny incident:  Her father Wm. Plumb was a
very strong Republican and her husband a strong Democrat were arguing
politics one day and they got pretty loud.  The Mother begun to fret lest
they would really become angry so insisted they quit.  The father says, "Oh
Andy knows something and reads, I like to talk to him, and besides he knows
enough not to get mad."

Mrs. Crockett recalls the organization of the Barwick Chapel.  The Barwick
Chapel church was organized sixty years ago, after a ten weeks  meeting held
in the school house near the Chapel now called Barwick School house, not the
same building but the same location.  Brother Charles Phillips was our
pastor.  He lived at Kidder but preached at Mirabile and our School house.
The Meeting was held in the winter.  There was sleighing for eight weeks out
of ten weeks.  Many came from Kidder, Mirabile, Hamilton also from Cameron.
We had only a small membership before that Meeting, twenty five or thirty.
We had a Membership of a hundred or over at the close of the Meeting.
Brother Phillips did all the preaching only helped by a young man, who led
the singing.  It was an old fashioned meeting with shouting and much praying.
All converts testified at their conversion.  The church was named for our
Presiding Elder, as they were called then, District Superintendent now,
Brother Barwick.  After a few years, Kidder and Barwick had the same Pastor
and so continued for many years.  They had a fine working church for many
years and a great many able pastors.  Some of them were:  Brother Bobee.  I
went into the church during his preaching, the year before we built the
church.  I was only ten when I joined the church, with an older sister and
four other little girls.  I remember two McCrea girls one of them still
lives in the neighborhood, Mrs. Beryl Spurlock.

Brother Caughlin, Jones, and Harrison were especially fine men.  Brother
Jones is one of the Ministers that helped conduct my fathers funeral.  Our
home was always the home for the Minister but father especially always
insisted most on paying the pastors salary.  He said that must be paid just
the same as your grocery bill.  When other failed to pay he paid for them.
I know of only three or four of the old members left, a Mrs. Jerry Bell,
she was also a McCrea.  They still have preaching twice a month and have a
much smaller membership but still some very active members.  A good Aid and
has been a power for good in the neighborhood.  The last time I was there,
was at my sisters funeral Mrs. J.E. Petree.  She was also married at Barwick,
and as I now remember as the only church wedding.

Interviewed  August 1934.


THE McKEE FAMILY IN LOVELY RIDGE IN THE SEVENTIES
Narrator:  Mrs. Alice McKee Shaw, 75, of Kidder

On Dec. 13th, 1872, the Addison McKee family came to Caldwell County.  After
service in the Civil War, Mr. McKee, then living in Indiana, resolved to
come west.  For seven years, he tried Macon County, Mo., but somehow it was
not what he wanted.  He heard of the good bargains in fine farms in Caldwell
County and finally bought what was known for years as the McKee farm in
Lovely Ridge district, west of Hamilton.  Mrs. Shaw recalls how the family
hated to leave Indiana to come to Missouri, even the child playmates pitying
them, for in the sixties in Indiana and other states near by Missouri was
regarded as very wild, very wolly and full of Indians and rattlesnakes.

When Mr. McKee came here, he found few farms with fences, poor roads and no
bridges.  People in Caldwell County in the seventies preferred not to use
the laid-off roads, as they could drive across the open prairie and save
time and horse-strength.  Mr. McKee, like other farmers round here, had his
cattle on the range and the McKee boys had the daily job of rounding them up
in the afternoon.  The hunt was over when the last cow was turned homeward.
The old McKee farm now belongs to the narrator, Mrs. Chas. Shaw.

Mrs. Shaw attended school at the second Lovely Ridge school (the one which
burned down).  It was her father, Addison McKee, who suggested the pretty
name "Lovely Ridge."  Some of her teachers there were Herbert Huson who had
attended Thayer College, Sam Bay (who married a Bray girl and came from
Vinton County, Ohio) and Hettie Martin (first wife of Dr. Tensley Brown).

The McKee family always traded at Kidder with the Beaumont store and with
Pat (P.S.) Kenney who had the largest store building ever put up in Kidder,
a three story affair with the store on the first floor.  This burned several
years ago.  Mr. Kenney had a store at Breckenridge before coming to Kidder
in 1858.  At one time, he owned probably 10,000 acres of land around Kidder,
but bad luck and law suits lost much of it for him.  It was due to Pat
Kenney's activity that at one time Kidder was about the most promising town
in the county.  (See also Adam Ream paper).

After Mrs. Shaw married Chas. Shaw as his second wife, she moved to Kidder
and became interested in the Kidder Congregational Church.  This church was
first held in Thayer College and lastly in the present church building which
stands almost in front of the Shaw home and has been unused for several
years, since the congregation federated with the Methodists in Kidder.

Interviewed  July 1934.


MRS. HELEN L. BOOTH'S YOUNGER DAYS IN OHIO AND CALDWELL COUNTY
Narrator:  Mrs. Helen L. Booth, 80, of Hamilton, Missouri

Mrs. Booth was born July 30 1854 in McArthur Ohio, the child of Ellis B.
Pugh and Cassandra Selfridge.  Pugh, a birth right Quaker, was a cabinet
maker and wagon maker and had passed through the three steps of apprentice,
journeyman and master workman in his trade.  He opened a shop in Moorfield
Ohio and later in McArthur.  His name was on most of the wagons and buggies
used in Vinton County from 1850-1880.  As a cabinet maker, he made chests,
bureaus, beds, tables and chairs in a period when little furniture was
brought on to sell in the small town store.  He also made small articles
like paddles, potato mashers, rolling pins, apple butter stirrers.  She
still has left some of these articles which he made over sixty years ago to
help his children begin their kitchen outfits.

Her Mother was an early milliner in McArthur and knew all the tricks of the
millinery trade when one must reshape straws on blocks, sew braid, bleach
straws, make wire and buckram frames, cover them with satin or velvet and
sew on flowers and plumes to nod exactly right.  She always kept one or two
apprentices who helped with the house work to pay for their "tuition" in
learning the trade.  There was usually at the back door a pile of plaster-
paris hat blocks; for new blocks must be bought every summer and the old
shapes discarded.

The bleaching of hats demanded special knowledge.  A wooden box was built
waist high with a pole across the top under the lid.  From this hung the
hats to be cleaned.  At the bottom was a dish of brimstone, mixed in exactly
right proportion with acids.  These recipes were part of the instruction and
were handed on to the apprentice.  The mixture was lighted and the bleaching
began.  The time depended on the condition of the hat.  When the peep-
windows were opened, the white vapor almost suffocated one.  Most women made
their straws last two years with a bleaching the second year.  So this was
an important part of the business.

Mrs. Booth was her mother's trimmer and began by getting 5 cents a hat,
which was not so bad then for a fifteen year old girl.

She was a small girl during the Civil War and recalls the horror of seeing
soldiers brought home dead.  She, when ten years old, sang a popular war
song "Good bye Mother, You will never press me to your heart again" at the
funeral of a sixteen year old boy killed in battle.  Even at that time she
had a very unusual soprano voice.  She recalls the dread of Morgan's raiders
who came very near McArthur.  The women buried their silver and jewelry and
baked up pies, cakes and ham but Morgan did not come.

Those were the days when dignified society ladies met in teas and chewed
snuff out of beautiful snuff boxes just as today women smoke cigarettes.
Mrs. Booth saw it but was too young to rub snuff.

Her childhood games were much like those of her daughters some years later:
Blackman, hide and seek, drop the handkerchief, hopscotch, button, button
(for an out door game) Needles eye when a string of players ran under a
couple with hands clasped high; "Needles eye that doth supply the thread
that runs so smoothly; many a fair one we shall pass before we catch Miss
Julia.  At the end of the last word, the arms suddenly came down on "Miss
Julia" and she had to stand in the mushpot (the center of the ring).  Then
there was "King William."  One stood in the middle and a circle of players
leaped around and sang -
King William was King George's son
And from the royal race he sprung
Upon his breast he wore a star
Pointing the way to his Kingdom's far"
and the last word, King Wm. in the mush pot suddenly pointed out her
successor and the game went on.

At eighteen she married Dan Booth and they soon left Vinton County to come
to a farm west of Hamilton in the Lovely Ridge district in Caldwell County.
Her people pitied her because she was coming to poor old Missouri.

She stayed at the Broadway Hotel (Later Harry House) kept by the Van
Volkenburg family on site of present Davis Motor Company.  The next day they
went out to the new farm which had been bought from Altman, it is now the
Gregory farm.  There she went through many new experiences for a town
girl - like taking care of milk (but her husband never had her go out after
the cattle as many neighbor women did) raising chickens and making butter to
sell.  She sold it to the hucksters and to the Goodman Hotel in town.  She
learned to cook harvest dinners for thirty to thirty five men without the
aid of a girl, things which scared her to death when her motherly neighbor
Mrs. Jack Edminister told her about them as necessary duties of a farm wife.

Her worst experiences out there were - grasshoppers which came to the farm
when Mr. Booth was on a cattle buying trip to Nebraska; the hog cholera
which killed every hog for miles, the James Boys who lived not far away and
rode by the farm once or twice.  When word came of their approach her
husband would turn his horses loose from the barn.  The worst scare came one
night when a terrible wind storm was upon them.  They dragged the furniture
against the doors to keep out a current which might lift up the house from
the ground.  That night they both determined to sell out and go back to Ohio.
This same wind was a cyclone north of town.

One of the things they had on the farm is still in the family - a hutch
table. In those days, the kitchen also served as a dining room.  A bench was
built against the kitchen wall to serve as seats at the table.  The average
family then had six chairs and a family was quite unusual if that did not
have to move chairs from one room to another.

When the Booths left the farm 1881 after seven years to come to Hamilton to
live they came in such a snow drift that they drove a sled through the
fields, over a few fences, since it was shorter and equally easy on the
horses.

Interviewed  April 1934.


TO LOVELY RIDGE IN A COVERED WAGON
Narrator:  Mrs. Hattie Bennett Smith, 74, Hamilton, Missouri

Mrs. Smith is the eldest child of Thos. Bennett born 1834 and wife Betsey
Gibson Bennett.  They were both born in England but met first in America.
Thos. Bennett was a poor man and came into Caldwell County 1871 to get a
farm cheap.  His brother-in-law Fred Gibson had moved here and told him
about the county.  At that time, the Bennett family was composed of man,
wife and three children, the eldest boy being nine years old.  They came
here in two covered wagons which held all they had.  Bennett drove one wagon,
the little boy Jim, the other.  They had no extra horses so had to make
frequent rests by the road side.

They bought two miles west and one-half mile north of Hamilton in Lovely
Ridge district.  It was a two room house with a lean-to.  They were so poor
that they had no carpets at all which meant much scrubbing.  The girls and
boys "worked out" for the neighbors.  The children set out hedge plants
around the farm by the road and in a dry spell carried buckets and buckets
of water to save them.

The Lovely Ridge community had frequent revivals in the school house.  After
the service the host would treat the crowd to cider or apples, and people
would try to beat each other in pealing an apple without breaking the
pealing.  The Bennetts were Methodists; other Methodists there were the five
families of the Jones tribe, the Bray family, Altmans and perhaps others.

Going to church in town became quite common in the late 70's; when the big
Bennett family would fill the lumber wagon with chairs (probably all the
chairs they had).  If the horses gave a lurch at a whip or a passing train
etc., the chairs were apt to land the youngsters backward.  There was a
baptizing hole to the north where converts of all denominations from that
part were immersed; in fact immersion was much more general those days than
now; and a "baptism" drew big crowds as a mild diversion on Sunday
afternoons.

Interview taken  April 1934.


FARMING IN LOVELY RIDGE  LOVELY RIDGE NEIGHBORS
Narrator:  C.C. Alden, 78, of Kidder, Missouri

Mr. Alden is the son of George L. Alden and Marietta Bump and is a lineal
descendant of John and Priscilla Alden.  When he was three years old, his
parents came west to settle in Missouri.  His father, as he says, was of a
roving disposition and tried several homes before he settled down.  They
were two years in Illinois before they came in the early Sixties to this
county.  At one time they owned the Lenhart place over the line in Daviess
County but they did not run the old mill there.  They lived for a while on
the McKee farm in the Lovely Ridge district, but the lack of fruit trees did
not please them.  In the early seventy's Mr. George Alden was in the produce
business with Andrew Nash in Hamilton, located on south Broadway, an early
business street, about where the Cope shop stands.  They employed hucksters
who went in wagons through the country and picked up eggs, butter and
poultry.  He finally settled down on land bought from Henry Clark, father
of Elmer E.

The son C.C. Alden worked as a hired hand four years for Clark getting $186
cash yearly besides room, board and washing.  When he asked for $200, Clark
refused; and C.C. struck out for himself, got married and began paying for a
home on time.

Farming, even as late as 1800 was harder work than today.  Much of the land
was full of stumps which had to be encountered in plowing.  The farm
processes took more time because they were done by hand not machinery.  A
trip to town for necessities meant a day not a few hours.  They had crops
burned out (although never as bad as in 1934) they had crops ruined by
grasshoppers 1875; they lost all their hogs by cholera about the same time -
when soap companies sent wagons through the county to pick up dead hogs;
they had to experiment to find the best crop for their new soil.  They had
their small, poorly built homes damaged by the hard winds.

Some of the neighbors whom Mr. Alden recalls in the Lovely Ridge district
are:  D.W. Rosencrary, the first teacher in the second school, who lived
first house south of its site; Addison McKee who suggested the name Lovely
Ridge and lived near the Shaws and Baldwins to the west of the Henry Clark
farm and east of George Alden; the Esteb family lived in the brick house,
but earlier lived one-quarter mile south of the brick.  Jake Esteb, a son
built on the present Ora Hosman place.  The Forbes family lived on the Jim
McBride place; the Allen place was the present Hogkinson home near the
county line.  Dan Booth owned the Gregory farm and across the road was
Jackson Edminster.  Wm. Bray lived west of Edminsters, George Brown south of
Edminsters, Thos. Bennett west of Browns.  The Jones families Wm., Jones,
Will Henry, John and Joe were all clustered east of Booth farm by the
railroad.  The C.C. Alden farm is yet owned by the Alden family.

Interview taken  August 2, 1934.


THE MARTINS AT LOVELY RIDGE
Narrators:  Mrs. Carrie Royer and Lottie Martin

Farm Conditions
School matters

George B. Martin and his wife Lydia Duncan Martin (the first born in
Illinois, the latter in Ohio) came to the Lovely Ridge Community three to
five miles west of Hamilton in 1877.  They had been poor people in Illinois
and could not buy a farm but hearing that land was much cheaper in western
Missouri; they came out and bought an eighty (80) acre tract.  The family
stayed at the Van Volkenburg Hotel (Broadway Hotel) located where the
present Davis Motor Co. is, until Mr. Martin bought a place.

The Martin Post Office was Kidder and they rode there once a week to get
their mail.  Often one man would get mail for all his neighbors along
the way, so they could get it more often.

The farm conditions were back of those in Illinois but that was to be
expected of cheaper land.  There were many unfenced lands till the 80's when
the stock law required people to restrain their stock - a law rather
unpopular at first, because it cost money to fence.  Up to that law, Miss
Lottie used to get on her pony and go after the cattle late in the afternoon.
They might be a mile away feeding on the open prairie.  Miss Carrie the
elder sister was the housekeeper.  If by chance Mrs.  Martin went, she would
go on foot because she hated horse back riding.  In the days before 1880,
one could go across the prairies from Martins house for miles without
meeting a fence.

The Martin girls went to school at Lovely Ridge School.  They attended when
the second one was burnt 1878 by the carelessness of Mr. McAtee the teacher.
He was followed by Hettie Martin (Brown) who walked out from Hamilton every
week end.  She was followed by her sister Addie Martin who boarded with Dan
Jones.  Boys and girls went to school till they finished their books and
then maybe came back to review.  They learned the State Capitals in a song.
There was a tardy roll on fools cap paper on the wall to be viewed by
visitors.  Corporal punishment was frequent especially by the above McAtee.
School was often started by a song:
"O where have you been tardy boy, tardy boy
O where have you been all the morning?
O to school I have been and they would not let me in
And so I have lost all the morning."
The roll of Lovely Ridge pupils of their day include many familiar names:
Carrie and Lottie Martin, Lizzie Booth, Anna and Belle Rogers, Simon,
Jake and Chas. Hendricks, Ida Lane (Rauber), Kate Esteb, and always some of
the large Bennett family.

Interview taken  March 1934.


CRAWFORD MIRABILE MILL - THE LOVELY RIDGE SCHOOL
Narrator:  Mrs. Emma Eckelberry Alden, 71, of Kidder, Missouri

Mrs. Alden is the daughter of Valentine Eckelberry and Mary Jane Cornelius.
This couple came from Muskingam County Ohio sixty eight (68) years ago (1866)
attracted by the talk of Missouri land in this community.  They went to the
Mirabile community and rented there for thirteen (13) years.  In 1879 they
came up into the Lovely Ridge neighborhood and bought their farm there.

In her Mirabile youth, she recalls three doctors, Dr. Oakley Brown who came
to Mirabile Township about the time her father did and Dr. Klepper, both of
whom had their offices at home.  Then there was Dr. Wm. Crawford who besides
being a doctor there since before the Civil War was a store keeper and a
miller.  He bought the mill and the store from the pioneer Marquam.  The
Eckelberrys always carried their grist to Crawford, no matter where they
lived and paid one-sixth of the grist for toll.  He also ran a carding mill,
where folks could have wool carded if they did not use home-cards; he had a
saw mill where much of the lumber in that part was prepared.  He was the man
who kept a lantern swinging in front of his mill to guide prospective night
customers to his various business enterprises.  This mill stood for 100
years, being razed 1933.

Mrs. Alden began her education in the Mirabile one-room school and finished
it over in Lovely Ridge.  She knew all about the school house history there.
There was for the few earlier settlers a small building located near the
Esteb farm hence called the Esteb School.  She of course did not go to this
but her husband C.C. Alden did.  Then a larger one was needed when the land
became more settled.  Some one bought the house and moved it to Kidder where
it now serves as a good little home - first door west of the Kidder Public
School.  The new school was built a mile east of the old site.  It was burnt
one night 1878 when Mr. McAtee the teacher piled hot ashes in ash barrel too
near its front.  The third was built on the same site and faced east instead
of south.  It is still used.

Interview taken  August 3, 1934.


THE STREETERS IN DODGE DISTRICT
Narrator:  Mrs. Josie Borden, 70, of Hamilton, Missouri

Cox Family
Half Way House
Stage Coach and Women's Styles of the 70's

Mrs. Borden is a daughter of Judson Streeter, the eldest son of Horace
Streeter who came into Caldwell County 1855.  Her mother was Maria Frances
Cox daughter of Daniel L. Cox who lived this side of Kingston.  He had three
children, Mrs. Streeter, Fred who was struck by lightning and John Cox who
drove a stage coach from Lexington to Gallatin.  Judson Streeter lived on a
farm west of the "Half Way House" and later on a farm east of the "Half Way
House."  During his service in the Civil War his family lived with Grandpa
Horace Streeter, Grandpa Daniel L. Cox and with Betty Dodge at Kingston.

The "Half Way House" (half way between Kingston and Hamilton) has always
been a familiar landmark to travelers along the road.  Mrs. Borden did not
know the first owners; but she knew that in the late sixties it was owned by
Sam Lane whose wife on her death bed gave her baby to Mrs. Mary Edminster to
raise.  The baby now is Mrs. Ida Lane Rauber of Hamilton, Missouri.  Lane
sold it to Mr. Ford (see Sigman papers) who tore down the log house and
erected a good frame house.

Mrs. Borden recalls seeing her Uncle John Cox driving the stage coach past
her home.  The coach was high with steps at the back, railing at the top to
hold baggage and aisles at the sides.  The driver sat outside the front of
the coach with a long whip to drive the four horses.

The old stage road ran from John Whitt's house north; and at the south west
corner of the present Borden ten acres (then owned by Fred Gibson), it went
diagonally to join the south end of Main Street.  In later days Billy Dodge
drove a hack daily from Kingston to Hamilton and later moved to Hamilton and
started his hack out from that town to Kingston with mail and passengers.

She recalls some of the long ago styles in clothes.  Hoop skirts were very
fashionable and Mrs. Borden wore them.  She was fond of riding horse back so
she slipped a hoop over the saddle horn and the hoop skirt gave her no
trouble.  Every woman wore a chemise (often pronounced shimmy) for every day;
drawers extending below the knee were made of brown muslin in summer and
canton flannel in the winter.  Three or four starched white skirts were not
at all uncommon.  She recalled that J.F. Colby's wife and Mrs. Van Slyke
both wore white pantelettes showing under their dresses and she wondered if
all Adventists (to which church both ladies belonged) had to wear them.

She attended school at the Dodge (Independence) School then on the present
site of the Ollie Dunlap home.  Some of her teachers were Hannah Ford
(Schartzer), Mary Kingsbury's father, Willis Allee and Louisa Leavitt.

Interviewed  July 31, 1934.


EARLY HAMILTON SCHOOLS
Narrator:  Mrs. Mamie Eldredge, 75, of Hamilton

In the early seventies and late sixties, schools here in Hamilton were held
in a little brown frame school house of two rooms on the lots where now
stands the Methodist parsonage.  In later years, a part of it was moved to
the site of the present South Side School and became known as the "Little
Brown School", even after it was painted white.  In its first location, the
teachers were Miss Sarah (Dot) Morrow, lower teacher, and Mrs. Place, the
other room.

Other grades in the school were in the Whitely Building (or the old Windmill)
opposite what is now the City Park, directly east and across Highway 10.
After going a while to the first mentioned school, I went to the Whitely or
Windmill building, with the following teachers - Mr. Chadeon, Henry Gee, and
Miss Clara Van Slyke (afterwards Mrs. Daley, mother of Dr. Lyle Daley).

Later on for a short time school was held in a two story frame building on
the east side of South Main about where the barber shop and shoe shop now
stand.  The upper rooms were two - the front one was a school room, the back
was where the Hamilton paper was printed.  Leander Theodore Hill was the
teacher.

Then came the occupying of the new brick school building on the north side
with Prof. D.M. Ferguson as principal, and Miss Fouk as assistant.  She
taught one month and married; then came Miss Ella Griffin who was the
assistant for several years.  Prof. Ferguson taught nine consecutive years
1873-82 and his age was about 41 when he left.  He left here to go to
Gallatin where he received $720.00 a year.

The upper floor of this grand building was one large room with a recitation
and entrance at the north end.  The lower floor had two rooms with two
entrance halls at each end.  These housed the intermediate and primary
departments.  C.S. Shellabarger was the intermediate and Miss Anna Smith
primary teacher.

Classes were divided in the upper room into A,B,C,D,E Classes.  The E class
sat upstairs but recited downstairs.  School duties were carried on by
system.  The 1-2-3 signals meant, rise, go to the recitation seats, be
seated, and the dismissal from class was by the same signal.  Classes were
seated in the room according to merit in scholarship; those having highest
grades had the back seats.

Monitors were appointed for different duties:  Water monitors passed the
water around at stated intervals; pen and pencil monitors and copy book
monitors distributed these articles before a writing lesson and collected
them giving them to Prof. Ferguson.

Prof. Ferguson was so anxious to help his pupils learn that he offered a
Latin class.  Several boys and girls wanted the course; so he not being able
to get it in the program, taught it after supper.  Many a night we went over
to the north side to get our Latin lessons, till some of us finished the
first book and the Latin reader.

(That was the last chance that Hamilton High School pupils had at Latin till
Prof. Gentry came 1891 as superintendent - Interviewer's note.)

Interview  October 1933.



THE FORD FAMILY IN THE DODGE DISTRICT IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES
Narrator:  Mrs. Margaret Sigman, 84, of Hamilton, Missouri

Plowing with Cattle
Dodge School
Play Parties
Hamilton Mill

Mrs. Sigman's parents were David Ford and Nancy McIntosh formerly of
Scotland, who lived in Canada.  The Ford family came to Missouri in 1868
because the Tait family of Canada had come here and praised Caldwell County
highly.  When Mr. Ford came, he bought the property mid-way between Kingston
and Hamilton on the Stage road, later to be generally known as the Half Way
House.  The family were terribly blue for awhile, for this country was so
different from Canada.  Here was nothing but work to break up the prairie
grass; some of their farms had been cultivated but not much.

Mrs. Sigman recalls in 1870 seeing old William McCoy who then owned a ten
acre tract on the Kingston road about one half mile south of Hamilton (now
Booth land) break up the soil with five yoke of oxen hitched to a plow.
This Wm. McCoy in 1870 moved to town to two lots (present Hawks Garage site)
and on the east end built a two-story frame with a grocery store on the
first story.  This store stayed for three generations in the McCoy family -
Wm., Clark and Roy.

Mrs. Sigman attended Dodge (Independence) School, where long benches were
placed around the walls and low writing desks fastened to the walls.  D.G.
McDonald (later a merchant at Hamilton and still later a conductor on the
Hamilton-Kingston Railroad), Celia Tattershall, Wm. Church (who married a
Lunn) were some of her teachers.  They had to cross Tom Creek everyday to
get to school.  They crossed on the trunk of a fallen tree without any
railings.  One day, they went across when Tom Creek was up level with the
log, but they went bravely on.

     They attended church and Sunday School at Dodge School and also at the
Joe Williams school near Kingston.  Walking a few miles meant nothing to
them.  They often walked to Hamilton to trade or mail a letter or get mail.
Perhaps they might catch a ride with a passerby.  Wm. Curp, a near by
teacher was also a music teacher and held singing school in the winter at
night in the school house which helped their social life.

Mrs. Sigman spoke of "play parties" as a type of amusement.  This expression
came also from three other old people as a term for social evenings which
seemed to have been devoted to singing and skipping games or a form of
disguised dancing allowable to strict church members.  (Even an old Darky
used the expression "play party."  Saying "the negroes used to jig
individually or in a set at play parties."  Interviewer's note.)

Mrs. Sigman was married 1875 to John Sigman (b. 1825 in Ohio) a Mill Wright
who came to Hamilton 1868 and built the Hamilton flour-mill which he sold to
Austin and he to Henry Clark and he to his son Frank Clark.  It was under
the Clarks that the mill explosion occurred, killing Alex Crow, a farmer in
the mill yard.  The mill was burnt 1878 rebuilt and finally abandoned as a
mill.  It now 1934 serves as an ice plant.


THE STREETER FAMILY IN DODGE DISTRICT IN 1855
Narrator:  Geo. W. Streeter, 81, of Hamilton

Mr. Streeter is the son of Horace B. Streeter and Cornelia R. Gillett and
grandson of Josiah Streeter and Ruby Stebbins of New York and Massachusetts
respectively.  Horace Streeter was born in Cayuga County, New York and came
to Caldwell County as a prospective settler in 1855.  He made the first trip
prospecting.  He came as far as Palmyra in the train (that was the end of
the railroad) and "hitchhiked" the rest of the way to Caldwell County where
his old neighbors, the Dodges, had already settled.  He bought land from the
government for $2.50 an acre near the Dodge farm and across Tom Creek; his
land being the present Silas Dodge farm; and went back after his family.
They came in 1857 by train and by water up to Camden and then by wagon to
their new home.  At this time, George W. was four years old and has but a
dim memory of the trip out here.

He recalls his first experience at school.  On his first day, the teacher
was angry with him because he did not know his letters, for at that time it
was customary for parents to teach the A,B,C's to their children before they
started to school.  The teacher sent him home and his parents kept him there
until he was in the Second Reader.  That was an old log school, then a
better one was a frame which stood on the site of the Tom Creek Coal Mine.
It was formerly called the Dodge, but now the Independence district.  The
present site is changed.  In those days of the early sixties, children from
Hamilton used to come out and go to school there at Dodge because there was
no school in town.  He recalls some of these children-the Formsby children,
the Richardson children, (not the Squire Richardson family).  This must have
been about the time that A.G. Davis had a governess come to teach his
children.  The town was very small.  Two early teachers at Dodge School were
Jap Carter and Henry Gee.  Seats were placed all around the sides of the
room with a writing desk against the wall.  If the children wanted to write,
they turned toward the wall.

Walking wasn't much of a chore those days.  Children not only walked to
school but to Hamilton to trade or to Kingston to Sunday School which was
between three or four miles.  Nobody had buggies out there; few had farm
wagons.  The Streeters had an ox-cart about 8 feet by 3 1/2 feet used with
oxen for farm labor.  Sometimes a farmer owned three pair of oxen,
especially if young ones were being broken in.  They used a heavy ox yoke
which was held by a bow-key to a log and a ring to the plough.  If this
slipped, the oxen became loose.  Mr. Streeter told of his near escape from
death in an ox-cart.  It was during the Civil War when one day the yoke-key
loosened and the oxen almost threw him into the creek.

There was a covered bridge one hundred feet long which once stood over Shoal
this side of Kingston where the road then ran.  In fact, the later bridge of
the 90's used the same buttresses and stone work that belonged to the old
covered bridge.  It was about twelve feet high above the floor.  George B.
often took grist to mill over at the Spivey Mill at Kingston and passed over
this bridge.  He carried a full bag on each side of the horse to balance the
load.

He recalled Bennett Whitely avaricious elder of the Hamilton Baptist Church
in the late 60's, the old Baptist Chapel, east of the park, the Whiteside
store which stood by it and later became a barn.  He knew old Wm. McCoy when
he was not old, and when he ran a little farm on Kingston road into Hamilton.
He knew the Paxton boys, the Kempers, father and son, Geo. Lamson, the depot
agent and banker.  He said Geo. Lamson was the next to the best banker ever
in the county.  Dan Booth was the best.  He recalled that picturesque
character of the early days, Sam Hill, who lived out his way for a while.

An old graveyard was on the Dodge farm.  It now lies behind the Diem house
in a pasture.  There were several graves there in his youth.  A Union
soldier was buried there without a stone; his own little brother lies there
without a stone.  Possibly some transients lie there.  Some say that started
as a Morman burying ground.  Mr. Streeter said that might be so, for the
Mormons once lived on the Dodge farm and a Mormon log cabin was still there
in his youth.  Mrs. Nellie Snider, a daughter of Dwight Dodge, said that
they always spoke of one part of their land as the Mormon field because it
belonged to the mormons in the Mormon period.

Interviewed  July 15, 1934.


MRS. FRANCES CLARKSON AND THE DODGE FAMILY OF THE DODGE DISTRICT
Narrator:  Mrs. James Kautz, Hamilton, Missouri

Mrs. Kautz is the daughter of Nathan Clarkson and Frances Nevada Dodge 1853
to 1920.  Mrs. Clarkson the daughter of Silas Dodge and Mary Ann Hull was
born 3 miles south of Hamilton where her father settled in 1846 and the farm
remained in the Dodge family for more than 70 years.  He cut the walnut
shingles for the first [house] that was built in Hamilton.  Silas Dodge was
the son of Dwight Dodge and Susan Monroe, also pioneers.  Dwight Dodge came
into the country in 1844 and settled near Mirabile.  He was not only a
farmer but a Christian Minister.  Thus the Dodge family was among the very
early settlers in the county and the community school for many years was
called the Dodge School.  The Silas Dodge home is mentioned by old timers
as a landmark between Hamilton and Kingston.

On her mothers side Mrs. Clarkson was descended from the Alvord families
which made her related to Mrs. George Walters, a very early settler.  The
Walters family came to the Mirabile Kingston neighborhood in 1836 and are
buried in the old section of the Kingston Graveyard.

As a girl, Mrs. Clarkson attended the District School on her fathers farm
and enjoyed the few social opportunities of those early times: district
school literary societies and dances.  Fourth of July was a day always to be
observed in the big wagon, one spring seat, the rest chairs.  She said they
always had a wagon full by the time they left Kingston.  But there always
had to be room in the wagon for the wonderful picnic dinner which was a part
of the Fourth.

Like most young people of her time, she went places horseback.  One day she
and her brother, Dwight, were going through Kingston when her horse being
scared acted up and broke the saddle girth, letting her fall to the ground
in sight of the whole town, much to her embarrassment but to her brothers
amusement.

She married Nathan Clarkson Feb. 20, 1874 and had four children three now
living - Mary C. Kautz, C.D. of Kansas City, and Egbert of Nettleton,
Missouri.

The companion of her youth died in 1906 and in 1911 she married Jackson
Edminster.


SAMUEL HILL  PIONEER IN CALDWELL COUNTY IN 1833
Narrators:  Mrs. Mamie Eldredge, Fielding Hill, George Streeter and Others

In building up the life and traditions of this well known character in the
pioneer life of Caldwell County, it has been necessary to talk with many
people, both his descendents and outsiders, to get the meager information
given.  Everyone of the older outsiders quoted have seen him and knew his
peculiarities well.  The younger people quoted heard about him in their
childhood.

Samuel Hill came from Tennessee into Caldwell County as early as 1833 for
then he entered a quarter section of land in present Kingston township from
the government.  He entered other tracts of land from time to time and
became very land rich.  In 1859, he owned 40 acres southeast of the new town
of Hamilton, which he and his son, Greenberry, had entered.  This was
divided into town lots and sold as Hillsborough, being later included in
Hamilton as Hill's addition.  The present Eldredge home (old Dr. Tuttle
property) is in Hill's addition.  Much trouble came from these deeds; for
Greenberry Hill someway entered the land in his own name and Sam Hill sold
the lots in his own name, so Greenberry's name had to be given the property
owners.

While Sam Hill was well off, at least in land, reports say that his way of
living was frugal.  F.W. Hill recalls him when he lived between Hamilton and
Kingston and says he lived in a hovel of two rooms.  They had so many
children that he drove pegs into the log-walls and put boards on the pegs to
sleep his little children.  His few comforts seemed to satisfy him.  At that
time he was living with his second wife, who claimed to be part indian.
They parted and they divided the farm straight up and down.  It is said by
George Streeter that she took the girls and he the boys.  That farm was the
present Bob Minger farm (part of the old Gibson farm).  This second wife
used to tell the informant about eating raw bear meat which swelled up
inside her after being eaten.  His children as this informant recalls were
as follows; John (married a Ross and lived near Polo), Lucy, Greenberry
(child of first marriage), Dave, Bill, Harriett, Gim (Probably Gilbert), and
Peter.  Some served in the Civil War.

Another informant says that he always understood that Sam Hill could not
read or write.  He married a third wife, a very young girl and he, by this
time was in the late sixties.  By this time, he was living in Gomer township
on the present Foley farm.  One old lady now past ninety says she saw his
children there being rocked in the top of a trunk as a cradle.  That house,
too, was more or less of a shack.

About 1870, he had a very serious sickness, and Dr. King and Dr. Tuttle
(father of Mrs. Eldredge who recalls him as grey, old, and decrepit with
rheumatism).  All his sons and daughters by now had families of their own
and were greatly upset when he married the third wife, for his mind seemed
to be somewhat affected.  In connection with his illness, Mrs. Eldredge
tells a story of the first lemons in Hamilton.  The doctors had ordered them
from Kansas City for Mr. Hill, and kept them uptown in an office, taking
them out to Sam Hill as needed.  But it got around that there were some
lemons in town and about half of them were stolen; for lots of people did
not know what a lemon tasted like.  Surely Hamilton in 1870 was thirty miles
from a lemon!  (A saying used in those days.)

One of Sam Hill's peculiarities according to F.W. Hill was wearing an old
tall silk hat, no matter what his other clothes were.  He was a vigorous
walker and people could recognize him down the road at a distance by his hat.

His name used to be the cause of many jokes for in this community the words
"Sam Hill" were used as a common saying to express something extreme without
reference to him.  Therefore, when Mrs. Lottie Anderson (as a girl) was told
that old Sam Hill lay buried on the other side of the hedge, she thought it
was only a joke referring to the old saying.  A man recently told of his
father, a contemporary of Sam Hill, meeting him as a stranger.  The first
told his name and asked the second his name.  The second said "I'm Sam Hill",
whereupon the first, taken back by the answer said, "Well, I'm sure glad to
meet you for I have always heard of you."  Hill said "How?" and the other
man said, "People are always saying that it is as hot as Sam Hill or as cold
as Sam Hill and, at least, I know who Sam Hill is."

At Sam Hills death, he asked to be buried under a certain tree by the hedge
on his place.  Even today, people speak of attending that burial probably in
1870.  Another says that in her girlhood, in going to Locust Grove school,
the grave was pointed out to her, and people told her about the peculiar old
man.  James Murrell moved into the neighborhood in the 70's and used to have
the mound pointed out to him.

Mr. Taylor Allee recalls that Sam Hill was a good hearted man but a hard
drinker, as pioneers often were; and that when half-full, he was ready to
fight all comers but few people took him up.

William Hemry tells another story showing the families queer ways.  He is
reported to have buried money.  He had a son also who is said to have done
the same.  At any rate, one day when William Hemry was working at the
Blacksten place, a daughter of the son came out and dug around a spot in the
orchard in the Greenberry Hill farm, saying that she was hunting two pots of
gold which her father had buried there for her and a sister.  Mr. Hemry saw
the torn-up-places where she had dug but everyone said that she found
nothing.  No marker has ever been put up at the grave of the old pioneer Sam
Hill, as far as the interviewer has been able to ascertain.


HAMILTON'S FIRST BUILDING
Narrator:  Joseph Davis, 77, of Hamilton and Others

Mr. Davis is the first white child born in Hamilton, having been born June
13, 1856 in the first house erected in Hamilton.  This was the old Davis
Hotel or Lone Star Hotel, built by his father Capt. Albert G. Davis in the
summer 1855.  It was a two-story frame on lot 2 block 21 east side of Davis
(Main).  It had a frontage of 22 feet, and the lot is the north half of the
Chet Martin store site.

For some months it was the only house between Richmond and Gallatin, and was
a landmark to travelers along the pioneer road.  It was intended as a
residence for the Davis family but became a hotel by necessity to
accommodate transients who came by stage or horse to look around and stay
all night.  The pine timber cost $70 per thousand feet, shipped from St.
Louis up the Missouri river to Camden, Ray county and from there by ox teams
to Hamilton.

It was finished by October 1855, and probably gave meals to those attending
the first sale of lots.  His family did not come up from Mirabile till April
1856.  His three youngest children were born there and two children died
there.  The building cost $1000 when finished.  The only town well was on
the premises.

In 1858 Davis sold it on time to Joseph Elliott and he to Jacob Brosius and
he to Perry Claypool, whose hotel Claypool House became well known.  While
the Claypools were there Dr. Tuttle had a suite of rooms for a doctor's
office on the second floor.  A.G. Davis seems to be the owner again by
January 1876 for in his rent books, he speaks of $3 a month rent from Mrs.
Mattie White and $2.50 rent from Dr. G.W. Tuttle for rooms there.

In 1875 E.H. Bishop had his drug laboratory in the building.  By 1878 the
Grange (Farmers Store) was there under M.S. Kellogg until 1879.  Then A.J.
Rhodus had it a few months as a general dry goods store, Dr. King being the
owner.

George Rogers was the next owner.  In the eighties Rogers and Wyatt had a
real estate office above and a gallon store on the north room.  In May 1887,
it caught fire while occupied in the south room by Rush McKenzie baker - the
fire being put [out] with some damage.  In October 1891 it was burnt so
badly that it was torn down.

Then Mr. Roger sold the lot (22 feet) to C.A. Martin for $1300, when the
Martin brick was built.  With the passing of time changes became so rapid in
the building that Mr. Davis can not recall all who used the building for a
place of business.


THE HAMILTON TOWN COMPANY
Narrator:  Mrs. Anna Brosius Korn of El Reno, Oklahoma

Mrs. Korn is the grand daughter of Captain Albert Gallatin Davis the founder
of Hamilton and lived in his home till she was married, hence hers is
reliable information of the town company who first owned the town.

She says the plan began with her grandfather then a resident of Mirabile and
he talked it over with E.M. Samuels of Liberty to start a town along the
right of way of the projected line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad,
then only surveyed.  Accordingly the town company was formed.  Mr. Samuels
was President.  A.G. Davis trustee, G. Bird, John Berry, Michael Arthur, S.
McGaughey, S. Ritchie of Liberty, John Ardinger, Ephriam Ewing of Richmond,
A.G. Davis and John Burrows of Mirabile, Chas. J. Hughes of Kingston, Thos.
T. Frame of Gallatin and Jeff Thompson of St. Joseph.

Most all these men had streets named for them.  The present Main Street (not
meant to be Main) was named for Mr. Davis because his house was already on
it.  The Main street at the start north of the depot was named for S.
McGaughey but he eventually gained little, for the name is rarely used and
the street is unimportant.  John Ardinger's street is commonly called
Broadway and John Berry's street usually Mill; while Chas. Hughes got a bad
deal, for the north end of his street is treated like a back alley and the
south end is called Kingston avenue.

Some of these men who invested their money in the land of the town company
never saw the town.  Some came here for the lot sale.  Some lived here.
John Ardinger started a restaurant here in 1858 but in the Civil War we
find him at Kingston with a store which was the gathering place of Southern
Sympathizers.  His daughter married Tilton Davis, a nephew of A.G.  He is
also related by marriage someway to the Menefee family.  The Ardingers were
fine people.

John Burrows was an early post master here in the Davis store.  He also
managed the Store about 1859-60 (so active was he that some people in their
interview call it the Burrows Store).  Ephriam Ewing lived here 1858-60
although his occupation is not known.  His family kept a maid Julia
Larrimore who became the wife of Dr. Clayton Tiffin here.

Jeff Thompson of St. Joseph was such a close friend of Mr. Davis that he
called him Albert and wrote often to him.  Mrs. Korn has some of these old
letters.  One dated 1857 speaks of the Scarlet Fever epidemic which had
taken off two of the Davis children.  Another dated 1857 speaks of the
Kansas-Missouri trouble over slavery.  He was Mayor of St. Joseph in 1859
when the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was completed and he helped start
the Pony Express.  When the war broke out he became an able leader in the
Southern Army.  Mr. Davis looked on him as one of the biggest men in western
Missouri.

But of course as Mrs. Korn says, the biggest man in the Hamilton Town
Company was her grandfather A.G. Davis who built the first home (called the
Lone Star Hotel or Davis House), who surveyed the town lots, built the first
store (present moving picture site) was the first post master, the first
station agent, the first freight agent and before he had a depot to hold his
freight would hire a man to watch it till the owner came.  He named the town.

Mr. Davis was a loyal Mason and in his Masonic regalia as shown in a picture
he was impressive.  He did not join a church till in his last years, then
convinced that Masonry did not equal church membership he was taken into the
Methodist church - a very impressive sight.  At his death in 1908 he was
accorded every honor possible by the citizens of Hamilton.

Interviewed  January 1934.


HAMILTON BUSINESS MEN BEFORE 1860
Narrator:  Mrs. Anna Brosius Korn of El Reno, Oklahoma

Mrs. Korn (grand daughter of A.G. Davis, founder of Hamilton) has the old
record of the town, kept in a painstaking way by her grandfather.  She says:
The Lone Star Hotel was the first business house in town, built 1855 and
operated April 1856 by A.G. Davis and wife.  He then built a house or office
for Henry Holmes a brick maker at the site of present Iron Clad Implement
House.  Bricks were needed for the foundations and chimneys of the homes to
be.

Then the first store was built by Mr. Davis on the present picture show
corner which continued to be the leading store for several years under
different names.  As clerks, he had John Burrows (Burroughs) of the town
company, Dr. McClintock (his brother-in-law), Wm. P. Steele (nephew-in-law),
James Kemper and Judge Otis Richardson.  In 1874-5 account books of Mr.
Davis show he was using the old building for a grain store room, renting it
at 2 cents a bushel per month to Frank Clark.  In the eighties it was a
barrel hoop factory and later the Davis family removed it to the Joe Davis
farm north of town where it is still doing good service as a barn.  During
1858-60 Mr. Davis was station and freight agent at the depot.

A blacksmith shop owned by Mr. Davis and operated by Presley Thomas was put
up in 1857 but no one recalls the site; this too was an essential factor in
the new town life where farmers could supply their needs.  Joseph Elliott
came as a second blacksmith in 1859 and P. Claypool the third in 1860.  The
Claypool shop was probably located in present site of Leslie Clark shop.
John Ardinger of Richmond kept a restaurant probably on a short street north
of the depot 1857-61, then went to Kingston.  Lumber was also necessary for
the quick growth of the new town and Samuel Badwin started the first lumber
yard in 1858 where the present lumber yard is located.  Before long he sold
it to Mrs. Julia Davis and she to J.A. Brown.

In 1858 David Buster had a saloon in the site of the Methodist parsonage and
soon transferred it to the right of way on Broadway where it was known as
Saloon-grocery, a common thing those days.  Uncle Davy is suppose to have
used his home (site of Davis Motor Co.) for a hotel in those days before
1860.  Rufus B. Mitchell came as a carpenter in 1859.

Dr. Thomas K. Kavanaugh was the doctor and his office was probably in the
Davis store where he served as Post Master a few months. The young attorneys
Junius A. Holliday, and Marcus A. Low came about 1860.

The old Davis Hotel by 1859 had passed into the hands of P. Claypool and the
purchase of thirty one sacks of flour in three months from the Davis Store
shows he was feeding his boarders well.

There may have been other business men in Hamilton before 1860 but neither
records nor memory brings them to Mrs. Korn's mind.

Interviewed  December 1933.


HISTORY OF THE POST OFFICE AT HAMILTON, MO
Narrators:  Mrs. Maude Harlow of Hamilton and Mrs. Anna Korn of El Rene, Ok.

Mrs. Maud Harlow, who has been a milliner here at Hamilton for over 35 years,
and who has lived here ever since her birth, was for some years before her
marriage to Frederick Harlow, a clerk under two different postmasters in the
local post office.  With the help of data furnished by Mrs. Korn who has the
records of her grandfather A.G. Davis, founder of the town of Hamilton.  Mrs.
Harlow has given the following account of the past of the postoffice here.

Previous to the establishment of the Post Office at Hamilton, the nearest
postoffice was found in Daviess county, named Orion with John C. Lantford as
first postmaster, appointed April 1st 1856 and Samuel Balding as second
appointed November 5, 1857.

By the efforts of A.G. Davis founder of the town of Hamilton, the postoffice
was removed to Hamilton Jan. 12, 1858 and established in the Davis store,
west of the depot, near the site of the present Courter theater.  Mr. Davis
was appointed postmaster but finding he had too many duties, he had the
office transferred to Wm. P. Steele (his nephew in law) who served till May
1858, when he was succeeded by Dr. John H. McClintock (brother in law of
Davis) who served till De. 29, 1858 when he became manager of the Davis
branch store at Kingston.  He was succeeded by Thos. K. Kavanaugh who served
till Aug. 16, 1859 when he was succeeded by John H. Burrows (manager of the
Davis Store) who served till June 28, 1861.  He was followed by John H.
Booher who served till Aug. 15, 1861.  He was succeeded by Wm. E. Jones who
served till Nov. 16, 1861.

He was followed by Otis B. Richardson who served till March 31, 1875.  He
was followed by Rollin G. Whitman who was succeeded by W.A. Morton with his
niece Miss Maud Morton as assistant.  He relinquishes the office to a
Democrat, John Marens who kept Miss Morton as assistant.  Marens gave way to
a Republican Nathan Clarkson who had Miss Lilla Martin as assistant.  Then
John Marens again served with Mrs. Maud Morton Harlow.  He was succeeded by
E.E. Low.  On the latters death Mrs. E.E. Low became postmistress.  W.J.
Clark was the next incumbent, followed by the Democrat Dr. Tinsley Brown,
who in turn was succeeded by Harley Shively, the present Republican
incumbent.  These statistics have been verified by Mrs. F. Korn through the
Post Office department at Washington D.C.

The early appointees of Hamilton postoffice held office but a short time
until Mr. Richardson who moved the postoffice to his own store building
north of the depot.  In the four following years, the postoffice was located
on the site of the present store of Ollie Howard.  With the building of the
Morton Block (corner north of Penny store) Postmaster W.A. Morton moved the
office to that site.  Later under John Marens it was moved to its present
sit where for many years it occupied only the rear of the building, the
front being the postoffice bookstore or other small business.

From the ledger kept in the Davis store 1859 is to be found charge accounts
for stamps by Wm. P. Steele.

In the earlier years, before city delivery of mail was started, waiting for
the mail to be distributed was an exciting feature of the day, and the
postoffice was crowded at such periods.


JAMES M. KEMPER  HAMILTON MERCHANT IN THE SIXTIES
Narrator:  W.T. Kemper, 68, of Kansas City and Others

Wm. T. Kemper, the Kansas City banker, is a son of James Madison Kemper, a
pioneer of Hamilton and Sallie Paxton both natives of Kentucky.  James M.
Kemper came to Hamilton at the age of seventeen in 1858 to be a clerk in the
A.G. Davis store - the first store here - located at the site of the Courter
Theater facing south.  He was a clerk under John Burrows of Mirabile, who
managed the Davis Store.  When he came, people called him Jimmy and for
years he was thus known.  When about twenty one he and Wm. Stone started a
General Store in the Davis Building for themselves and it was in this store
that the Casey-Bristow killing began.

Later the firm was made up of John Ballinger, S.P. Cox, and J.M. Kemper,
still down by the railroad.  An old ad in the 1864 Kingston Newspaper said
they had a good supply of flour, salt, dry goods, groceries and took produce.
They had a salt yard just north of their store building.

In 1865, Kemper and Paxton built a two-story frame on Main Street on the
spot where the Bram Store now stands.  James Whitt lately of Daviess County
was the head clerk and above the store lived the young George Lamson and
wife and baby Harry, who was then depot agent.

This store was popular and a money maker as all the early old timers recall
it.  It burnt sometime about 1870 and Kemper sold the site to Anthony
Rohrbough and son-in-law Moore who built on the site the brick block which
still stands.

When James Kemper decided to leave town a farewell dinner was given in his
honor and B.M. Daley a prominent young lawyer sang a funny song with a
refrain, "Jimmy Don't Go."  Where upon every one present was supposed to
weep in fun and ended by weeping in earnest.

During the rest of his life Mr. J.M. Kemper's heart was always in Hamilton.
Here in this county he had met and lost the bride of his youth Sallie Paxton
and they are both buried in the Kemper-Paxton lot in the Highland Cemetery.
While living here he owned the big white house on the hill in the west end
of town, now the James Kautz home.

He left here to enter a Mercantile business in St. Joseph where he stayed
forty years.  His first wife having died, he married again.  He died in
California 1928.

He was related to the Kemper family which have lived for years in the
Mirabile neighborhood.  He was also related by inter-marriage with the
Paxtons of Mirabile and with the A.G. Davis family and the Penney family of
Hamilton.


A DAUGHTER OF A HAMILTON PIONEER
Narrator:  Mrs. Clara Prentice of Hamilton, Missouri

Mrs. Prentice was in Hamilton in the years of its very early history, coming
here from Daviess County with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Otis Richardson in
1859.  Mr. Richardson had served as a soldier in the war with the Florida
Indians in the New Jersey Dragoons, enlisting from Maryland his home.  The
story is told that a shyster lawyer volunteered to get him a pension with a
commission as pay for this service.  He could find no Government record of
it so he found another Richardson name who served in the Mexican War and put
that in the application, but of course Mr. Richardson refused to sign it.
Mr. Richardson built the home for his family, now the property of James
Deems, which is one of the oldest houses in town.  A few years ago when the
house was remodeled, it was found that it had been made with wooden pegs not
nails.

He was appointed Post master here November 1861 and held the office till
March 31, 1875.  Many of the old timers tell of him in that office.  At
first he gave out the mail at his home, then at the Kemper Store, then he
built a shack at the east end of the Kemper store where he also sold
groceries and candy.

He had a big family of boys and girls come to maturity - some were Alice
(Singleton), Clara (Prentice), Minnie (Price), who was born 1860 after the
family moved here, Mrs. Hemry and George the baby.  One son was killed while
serving as a special guard at the lumber yard by a mistake.  Mr. Richardson
became Justice of the Peace and some yet call him Squire Richardson.  He was
quite determined in his speech and actions and rarely stopped on his way, to
talk.  He carried a cane by habit and put it down on the side walk every
three steps.  People on his way home always knew he was coming.

Clara Richardson went to school here in town to a school located on a lot
just south of her fathers home, then she went to the school on the Methodist
church parsonage site.  There she was a pupil at the subscription school
kept by Andrew McClelland in the early seventies.  She was also a Davy
Ferguson girl in the big north brick.

She married Gideon Prentice who had come here as a timer for the Morton
Bros. and finally branched out into a business for himself.  His first
location as a Hardware man was in the block north of the Penney Store; then
he moved to a brick on the south east corner of Main and Mill where he was
burned out.

Mrs. Prentice was probably the most successful "canvasser" that the town
ever had.  She sold corsets, toilet articles, spice etc. and made it a
regular business.  Her ice cream for Congregational lawn socials was an
institution  in the town and the same was true of her cakes and pies.

Her youth was passed in primitive ways.  She used to tell of letting butter
and milk down on ropes into the well to keep them cool in summer time--
sometimes the rope broke and then the food was lost.  Those earliest days
few people had even heard of kerosene lamps, and she told of making tallow
for candles and stringing the candle molds with candle wicks.  She told
about going out to the creeks and getting reeds and rushes which when dried
scoured milk pans.  There was a favorite practice of soaking quince seeds in
water and wetting the hair with it before doing it up in curl papers; and a
butter milk face-wash was good for the complexion.  (Real butter milk it was,
too.)

Her stories of the Civil War days came from her own experience.  One night,
a band of Union Soldiers on the way from the Battle of Lexington stopped at
the Richardson home and demanded food.  Word had already been passed of
their coming this way, so the Richardsons had cooked a lot of food from
their store.  For an hour they shoved out victuals through the front window
of their home to the soldiers out side.

During the war many stores were held up at night for money by bushwhackers
on both sides.  Every afternoon Alice Richardson used to carry the Post
Office money in a box out to Judge Wm. Bristow north of town.  No thief ever
guessed that the girl on horse back was carrying money.  She was just a
school girl with books.  The family never knew whether she was safe till
they saw her horse over the hill the next morning.  Most of the country to
the north of their house was empty and their view was unhindered.

Interviewed  1933.


HAMILTON IN 1860 AND LATER
Narrator:  Wm. Hemry, 84, of Hamilton

Mr. Hemry was eight years old when his father, Israel, moved form Carroll
County, Ohio, to Caldwell County in 1859.  Both Wm. and his father were born
in Carroll County.  The Hemry family came to Ohio from Pennsylvania.  Israel
located on land two miles south and half-mile west of Hamilton.  The son,
Will, began to make his living by working in the Harper and Goodman livery
barn which faced the alley running north and south back of the depot.  He
recalled the custom of keeping a goat in the livery barn, the idea being
that the odor was good for horses.  The goat from the barn of Bill and Bob
Paxton was taken over to the new brick schoolhouse and Prof. Ferguson had
quite a time in driving it out.  The Paxton stable stood on the present post
office site and a little north.  The Green stage line horse barn was where
Mrs. Caroline Thornton lives.

When Mr. Hemry first recalls Hamilton in 1860, Kemper and Stone ran a
general store on the present movie picture corner.  Later O.B. Richardson
(whose daughter became the wife of Will Hemry) put up a shack to the east
of the Kemper store and used it for a post office.  Most of the business in
1860 was on the short street back of the depot.  Next in line was Dr. James
McAdoo - office and drug store - who had the first soda water for sale.  It
was made by a suction pump.  (Some time later John Minger made soda pop from
an acid pressure tank.)  North of the Kemper store and facing west was a
salt lot, the salt being shipped in barrels from Michigan and Virginia.

He recalls as a boy the very early Buster House located at the corner of
Mill and Broadway back from the street and facing south, which took in
travelers.  This same Dave Buster kept a saloon-grocery on the right of way
south of the tracks on Broadway.  He says that Buster was a good man despite
his saloon.  He also said that the Buster House was later moved northeast on
the same block and formed a part of the Hamilton House built by Dudley.
However, Dudley's son declares this is an error.

He recalls when the Morton brothers, John and "Cap" returned from the war
and started up (1865) in hardware and tin (north end of the lumber company
lot); the people said they were way out of town.

The Covington family came here from Gallatin and started a restaurant on the
west side of North Main.  Phil Covington would never sell the last of any
kind of candy from his candy jars.  He recalled the only three-story
building ever on Main - the Kelso block.  (Mr. Kelso was the father of Mrs.
W.J. Ervin.)  The fellows called this building the Buzzard's Roost.  Later
this became the Phoenix Hotel.  It stood where the Mo. Dry Goods Store now
stands.

The old Cochran brick bank (later Spratt-Houston) stood in 1868 on the
present C.A. Martin corner.  To the north of it was the Claypool Hotel.
There was also a Claypool blacksmith shop on the site of the Leslie Clark
Shop.  To the south across the street was the frame Kemper store which was
soon to burn down and be replaced by the Rohrbough brick.  Rohrbough earlier
was in a frame store on the present Penney site.

The earliest church building was the Methodists.  There was held a Union
Sunday School with Sam Martin (C.A.'s father) a Presbyterian, as
superintendent.  The first church on the site of the Presbyterian Church had
a peculiar history.  Col. Pace (a South Methodist preacher and lawyer here)
had begged the money for the church-house.  But they would not hire him to
preach.  So he charged them for this services in collecting the money and
took the building on the debt which somehow their church laws allowed.
Then he sold it to the Presbyterians, and he became a Presbyterian.  Before
the Methodists had a church, they met in the public schoolhouse which stood
on the site of the present Methodist parsonage.  He also recalled the talk
about Rev. Wm. Wilmot, who was sent here as a Congregational missionary.
The report was that he raised money to build a church and then he put some
money of his own with it and built a home on Kingston Street with a chapel
on the south for religious purposes.  There was some trouble about it and
the Congregational people left and met in a hall uptown, while the Wilmots
left the Congregational Church forever.  That house still stands south of
the park.

The Christians (or Campbellites as they were wrongly but commonly called)
met first at the home of James Whitt, then at the Schoolhouse on Kingston
street, then in a McCoy's Hall about 1876, then in their first church home,
(a small building northeast of the north school which has been changed into
a dwelling) and lastly into their present church which was the first of a
series of fine churches built about thirty-five or forty years ago.  There
seemed to be a contest as to which church should put up the nicest building.
To that era belonged the brick Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational
Church-buildings.

He recalls how the Baptists drifted around from one meeting place to another
till they finally bought and built.  For years, the Baptist church, while
not the nicest, was the biggest church where union meetings were apt to be
held because of its size.

Mr. Hemry was a witness to the Casey-Bristow fight in Civil War days in the
Kemper store and the Buster saloon.  He was also a witness to the Brosius-
Davis shooting on north Main about 1870, when Jim Brosius (who was a son-in-
law of Squire A.G. Davis and separated from his wife) and Squire Davis shot
at each other, with wounds on each side.  This shooting occurred near the
site of the Penney store, he says; the Davis family at the time lived in a
house on the next corner now occupied by the north bank building.  The older
Brosius (father of the above) was at that time proprietor of the Hamilton
House, south of the depot.  Mr. Hemry was sworn in as a deputy to help keep
peace between the two sides that night after the shooting.

Interviewed  April 15, 1934.


TAYLOR ALLEE IN HAMILTON IN 1865
Narrator:  Taylor Allee, 85, of Hamilton, Missouri

Mr. Allee's parents were Isaac Reed Allee (1812 War soldier) buried at
Kingston and Mary Ann Parks Allee buried in Highland Cemetery Hamilton.  He
was born in Henry County Indiana.  In 1865 Taylor Allee, his sister and half
brother came to Caldwell County, the father and mother came 1866.  The
children had come because a near relative Sarah Smith and her husband
Philander Smith had located in the county.  Their father's farm was a half
of the later Waterman farm three miles west of Hamilton, the other half was
the P. Smith farm.  Later Allee sold to W.H. Henry, a relative, and bought
in Daviess County.  Isaac Allee was an herb doctor and doctored many people
here and in Indiana.  In Indiana he had his own herb garden and always
compounded his own medicine.  The Taylor Allee family still have some of his
old bills in which his charges are shown as 12 1/2 cents for medicine, 16
2/3 cents for a visit.

Taylor Allee with five other Allees enlisted in the Union army from their
county in Indiana.  He declared he was 18 but really was 15.  He was a big
boy five feet seven inches weighed 143 pounds, and got by with it.  They
examined him by giving him two big thumps on the chest and having him jump
over a box.  His job was to hunt down bush whackers.

He well recalls Hamilton of the 1865 day - which was the time he first saw
the town.  Then, Kidder was a better town than Hamilton.  There were not
five hundred people here.  He came fresh from the war - age 16.

He as all the other older citizens begins the description of early Hamilton
by going to the corner now occupied by the Picture Show north west of the
depot.  This in 1865 was occupied by the Brosius Brothers (George and Jim)
in a general store and Otis B. Richardson had his Post Office in the store.

Then came a space and then Charley Manuel Saloon, then a space and Aiken Dry
Goods and Saloon then a space and a Drug Store which might be Jas. A. McAdoo
or he might have come a little later.

On the south east corner of this little street in 1865 was a vacant lot but
it was soon to have the Dry Goods Store of Bye and Gibson.  Due south of the
depot on a high bank was the Hamilton House with Uncle Jake Brosius (father
of George and Jim) as landlord.  On north Main just north of Bye and Wilson
was the Van Buren grocery.  It was a few years later that Phil Covington
opened a restaurant in a poor building located where Hopson is now (and
about the same time John Minger had one across the street).  About the time
of Mr. Allee's coming, the Goodmans had built a hotel south of Covington and
Sain had a saloon in the back room.  It was in the brick now owned by
Whitman and erected as a part of the Goodman block.

On the east side of Davis (Main) was the Kemper-Paxton store (a frame on the
Bram site) first building in 1865, then came a space and the livery stable
of Thurston Green brother of Harvey who ran the stage coach line which
originally ran from Richmond to Gallatin with Hamilton as a middle point.
As the railroads developed to the north it was shortened from Richmond to
Hamilton.

In the middle sixties Dr. Nunn was the only doctor.  Before 1870 Bennett
Whitely built a mill due east of what is now the park on the south west
corner of the block.  This was afterwards used for church and school.  He
was an ordained Baptist Elder, a merchant and Editor in his time.  There was
the Goodman lumber yard on Broadway on present Ralph White home.

Before 1870, on Mill street about the site of Parker's grocery, Austin Dodge
had a blacksmith shop.  His wife soon opened up a millinery shop on the
corner of Mill and Broadway.  At his death, she married R.D. Dwight and the
shop became known as Mrs. Dwight's Millinery Shop.

After Mr. Allee's father bought the Daviess County farm Taylor went there
and worked ten years, so he knew little of Hamilton in the seventies.  It
was about 1870 that the elevator by the right of way on Main was put up, Guy
and Naugle ran it, Love and Lamson, Love and Eugene Low, were some of the
early men there.

When he came back to Hamilton after living in Daviess County he worked for
Schaffer-Tanner in the hard lumber business, site of Alec Warden's home
south of the tracks on Broadway.  Then he worked seven years for Lamson and
Love in the elevator.  Then he began clerking for Emmet White who bought
out Deaerick on north Main.

Mr. Allee played on the first baseball team in Hamilton about 1870.
Dr. King was captain, another player was Roy Bowman (Alston Bowman's son).
They played in Dudley's pasture.  There were some differences in the old
game.  The pitch was underhand pitch, not a throw.  The pitcher had to give
the batter whatever kind of a ball he asked for, as a knee ball, a waist
ball.
     Interviewed  June 1934.


THE HARRAH FAMILY OF HAMILTON IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES
Narrator:  Mrs. Mollie Logan, 75, of Denver, Colorado

    The Old Harrah Home on Mills Street     Lady Clerks - McCoy's
Store     Harry Logan's Band

Mrs. Logan is the widow of Harry Logan well known blacksmith in
Hamilton over fifty years ago.  Even better known was he as leader of
the Hamilton Comet Band when the band wore bright green and white
uniforms.  Logan was an all round natural musician, also giving violin
lessons.  He also played leading parts when the band put on Home
Talent plays in Anderson's Opera House back in the eighties.

Mrs. Logan is the daughter of Andy W. Harrah who was here before the
Civil War closed.  He was a horse buyer, having headquarters later
with the Paxton Livery barn.  Mr. Harrah and family once lived in the
house later occupied by Wm. McCoy facing on west Mill.  At that time,
before 1870 it was the only house on that block, the rest was open
commons.  There was a much used road (of course not legal) cut
diagonally across the block from the Kingston road (or street now) to
get to Mill at present Hawk's corner.  Mrs. Logan said that often a
high spirited horse driven by a high spirited driver would go over
this path and come within an ace of hitting the east corner of their
home.

Mrs. Logan soon was to see Wm. McCoy move into that house and build a
frame store on the north east corner.  She soon saw the young George
Rohrbough family build what is now the Mrs. Mary Kautz home, and his
brother-in-law Moore build on the south east corner next door (the
house later was moved on the east side of the street and belongs to
Earnest Snape).  About 1882 she recalls that Dan Booth who had
recently been made Cashier of the Savings Bank bought the remaining
open lot south of the McCoy's store and built a home.

Mrs. Logan's grandmother Harrah lived for some time in what is now the
Jordan home on north Broadway.  Her aunt was Mrs. Hattie Alexander,
later Mrs. Billy Dodge.  Her brothers were John and Andy Harrah, names
familiar to the social young set of the eighties.

She recalled others of that crowd.  There were the Brown girls,
daughters of Double O. Brown, a Broadway Merchant, Pem Vorhees, a
clerk in the Anderson store married one of them.  He was the perfect
beau here in the late seventies and early eighties.

Lady clerks were rather rare those days.  Of course, the women members
of the merchants family might sometimes wait on customers with
propriety.  Miss Rhene Harvey worked in the Harvey and Rosenthal
store, Mrs. Franke always sold goods in the Franke (Jew) Store.  Mrs.
Farabee helped her husband Harve Farabee in the P.O. Bookstore.  Mrs.
Brown and the girls helped O.O. Brown but few women outsiders worked
out in stores.  You hunted up the lady clerk, as they said, when you
wanted to guy garters, stockings, a corset or underwear.  Trying on
shoes in a store was horrible because the man-clerk had to see your
ankles; so most women took a bunch of shoes home to try them on.
There was always a problem too of setting the shoe buttons over one
way or the other.

As to Logan's band; in those days nothing was thought of the fact that
after a certain number of pieces were played on the streets most of
the band probably marched into a saloon to "wet their whistles" with
some kind of a drink.  Playing in the band then was a man's business;
no women or children were in the picture.

Interviewed  October 1933.


HAMILTON MERCHANTS IN 1868-69 Narrator:  Irving Harper, 72, of
Hamilton, Missouri

Irving Harper was born 1861 in Illinois, the son of Joseph W. Harper
and Frances Allen.  His father came to Hamilton prospecting in
December 1867 and arranged to buy a livery stable.  In April 1868, the
whole family came.  They stayed at the Western Hotel (George M.
Goodman owner) until Mr. Harper built a home.  He had bought land to
the west of town, a mile out.  Property which is still in the family
belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hooker (Minnie Harper).

Mr. Harper went into the livery business with Wm. Goodman of the
Hotel.  The barn was back of the Hotel and faced on the alley (now
running back of the McLean Hotel).  Livery barns did a rushing
business and they kept fifteen to twenty horses for hire and two or
three drivers and hostlers.  His rival in business was Weldon who had
his barn on Main, occupying the space from the present Baker Drug
store to the Post office.  The Weldon barn was the stage stop for
state coaches from Lexington to Gallatin, a thing which had already
stopped before Mr. Harper came.  In the early seventies Weldon sold to
the Paxton Brothers who kept it till the 1875 fire.  The Paxtons later
had a site two blocks up north and still later on the present Tiffin
Building site.  Henry Thornton opened up his livery barn about 1870 on
the site of the Mrs. Carrie Thornton homes.

There were many gaps then in the various business sections of
Hamilton.  The Goodman block embracing the Western Hotel and a grocery
stood where the Whitman building is now.  Right north of it was Phil
Covington's restaurant, a mere shack and on its north was another
Shack - the first location for John Minger's restaurant, but he soon
moved into a similar shack on the east side right opposite.  At the
north end of the block was the Rohrbough store.  That finished that
block in 1868.  On the opposite block to the east - was the Kemper
store, the Ervin Drug Store, Reed's Dry Goods, William Drug Store,
Goldberg the Jew (not long), Minger, Weldon's livery.  North of this
block was the "Brick Bank" which Cochran had just sold to J.F. Spratt
his son-in-law who soon took in R.B. Houston as partner.

On the block opposite stood McAdoo Drug Store, the Harper Furniture
and Higgins lumber yard; across to the north was Reddie Lumber yard
and further north the Morton Brothers in Hardware and Tin shop.

South of the track, Main Street was beginning also to build up.  At
the north east corner (site of First Bank) was the office of Squire
A.D. Davis, facing north.  Then came a long space; at the south east
corner was the Witwer Wagon yard.  On the opposite side by the tracks
was an elevator owned by George Lamson and Charlie Goodnow.  Then came
a grocery store lately owned by Spratt who sold it I.J.C. Guy.  There
were several frames along there which changed hands so often that they
defied remembrance but in one of them on the upper story Professor
Hill had a school, and above another the Congregational people had
church after they had left the Wilmot home until the old brown church
was built.

Broadway was quite a business section too.  Mrs. Dodge (later Mrs.
Dwight) had a Millinery shop (on site of Hawks Filling Station) in her
home while her husband Austin Dodge had a blacksmith shop about where
the Parker grocery stands, just across from the home.  Goodman and
Lamson had a lumber yard on the present site of Ralph White house
which Chandler ran for them.  Further north on Broadway a little west
of the present library was a Shack where O.O. Brown began his store
and home.  He was soon to build two good store rooms to the south, one
of which the brick stands yet belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Lee Souders.
At the library corner was the small Millinery Shop of the Clark
Sisters.  North of the tracks on Broadway was the old corner store in
1869 belonging to one of the Brosius boys.  Going on north to the
corner opposite the present Deems home was a small frame - the old
Green Stage office, used for different uses.

Back of the depot to the north, was the original Main Street, already
in 1869 losing its prestige.  Next to the Brosius corner store to the
east was the little Richardson store and Post Office and several of
the earlier buildings to the east.  Here was Manuel's Saloon.  Another
Saloon was on the Broadway right of way belonging to Dave Buster.

Directly south of the depot and standing on a high ridge on the
present location of the library was the Hamilton House with an
extensive front porch and a long flight of steps leading to the depot.

Even on Kingston Street, there was business.  Bennett Whitely had a
little general store on the south east corner opposite the park in the
building often called the Baptist Chapel those days.  This building
was soon to have a windmill attachment for the Shellbarger mill and
also to house some of the grades of the Hamilton School.  It ended its
existence as a barn.

Interviewed  July 1934.


HAMILTON BUSINESS MEN IN THE 70'S Narrator:  C.A. Martin of Hamilton

Mr. Martin came here as a boy in the late 60's with his father, Sam
Martin, and has seen almost every business change in Hamilton.  He
told me about the business men between 1870-80.

He began on Kingston street east of the park.  There was the
Shellbarger Mill.  North of it was Ben Whitely's grocery store.
(Hamilton stores had a bad time at first deciding to stay on Main.)

On Broadway, on Ralph White's present home, was the Goodnow-Lamson
(conducted by W.H. Chandler), and later the W.F. Colby lumber-yards.
Up a block was Wm. McCoy's grocery store, opposite him was Mrs. Dodge
(later Dwight) in a millinery store.  Her first husband Austin Dodge
had a blacksmith where O. Parker is now.  North of McCoy's was a block
of frame buildings, Nash Produce, A.G. Howard Drugs, Geo. Hastings
grocery.  On the east side at the north end was the millinery shop of
Alma and Lou Clark; then the brick and frame store of O.O. Brown and
the Broadway Hotel, kept for some years by L.D. Van Volkenberg and
later by Mrs. Harry.  Some place in that street was a shoe shop
(McCammon) and a tailor shop.

Just south of the right of way on Broadway was the old Buster saloon,
occupied sometimes by a Jew jeweler, sometimes by a family; the place
was going back.  On the site of the present Alec Warden home was a
hard wood lumber yard run by _________ Schaeffer.  Going on north, on
the corner south of the Presbyterian church was Henry Thornton's
livery barn.  On the opposite side, was a blacksmith shop, the
calaboose, (jail) another old building and the old Davis store
building used by him in the 70's for storing grain, later a hoop
factory.  Along the old street back of the depot, formerly Main, few
races were left of the old activity.  There was in the early 70's a
saloon, kept for awhile by Dort, and a restaurant by Hoagland, and
some minor business done there.

On the side street running east from Main was the Hare Photograph
Gallery (S.E. of present Martin Grocery), a blacksmith shop
(Claypool?) and on the opposite side was the Logan blacksmith shop.

Now for Main Street.

Far to the north end of Main Street on the west side was John Morton's
hardware store in the middle of the block where the lumber yard
stands.  South of him was the Reddie lumber yard.  Across the street
south was the Higgins lumber yard, a furniture store belonging to
Harper who sold to another who sold to Hiram Tilley; Dr. Jas. McAdoo
Drugs; Patterson's hardware store, then a space at the end occupied by
A.G. Davis home.

On the opposite block, in the late 70's was the Stone-Menefee
warehouse for wagons and implements.  South of them was a home built
by __________ and later the Higgins home.  The Red Front drug store -
B.P. Doddridge, later R.W. Napier.  The New York store and Harvey Dry
Goods in the big Kelso building.  The old Grange store and later the
Rhodus store; then Houston-Spratt bank.  The first block on the north
of the railroad west side had several changes and some stores may be
omitted.  In the J.C. Penney store site was a dry goods store
belonging successively to Rohrbough, Davis and Brosius, Davis and
Gunby, and O'Neil and Wilson.  Above the store, was De Stevens,
Dentist.  Along that side at various times were Claypool and Rymal,
meats; L.M. Love, music store; Harry Dickinson, Tailor; C.B. Franke,
Dry Goods; Wm. Goodman, hotel; grocery and saloon; C.C. Greene, meat
market; (and Greene and Sain) Frank Van Buren, grocery at the south
east corner of the block.

On the opposite side at the north end were (not all at one time) the
new brick of Rohrbough and Moore, south of it was the Reed Store,
Ervin Drug Store, Jacob Goldberg, Dry goods; Bob Williams, drug store,
Minger Restaurant, Simon Bernheimer, General store; the Paxton livery
barn at the south corner.  South of the tracks on the west side was
the office of Squire Holliday.  There was a gap.  John Marens had his
News Graphic on the row.  Later, a building from up town was moved
down for an office of Penney and Dildine, the south corner was empty
for a while but later J.W. Fowler had a shed grocery there.  Set back
in the lot was Witwer wagon yard.

On the east side opposite was the elevator-Lamson-Love, Love-Low, etc.
just south of the tracks.  To the south ran Griffing wagon shop, a
saloon kept by Tanner awhile, law offices of B.M. Dilley, W.W. Chapel,
Seth Young, Eugene Lowe, etc.  Hamiltonian office, R.H. Benedict,
grocer; Harve Farabee, post office followed by bookstore, C.A. Greene.
White's grocery.  To the south was the Daley and then Harper, then
Colby lumber yard and McBrayer livery barn.

All has now been told in an imperfect way perhaps, except the street
with the Hamilton House south of the depot.  The Brosius men kept it
up to a high standard, but after they left it began to lose out.  East
of it was a grocery called the "Oasis" in slang probably with
something to drink there.  The next was Hugh Buford (colored) barber.

Of course Frank Clark's flour mill ran east of town. Interviewed
February 1932.


THE OGDEN FAMILY AT HAMILTON IN THE 70'S Narrator:  Minnie Ogden, 75,
of Hamilton, Missouri

The Ogden Property Trees and Dances

Robert Ogden, father of the narrator, lived in Ontario County, N.Y.
He decided to make a western trip in 1871 to prospect.  He went to
Illinois and Michigan where he had relatives and then to Hamilton,
Mo., where his relatives Dr. Robt. Brown and Mrs. Geo. Barlow lived.
He was delighted as he watched Brown plough all day long and not hit a
stone (plenty of stones in N.Y.) and here was plenty of grass for
cattle on the open prairie.  He straightway hunted up a town house for
sale.  He bought the property of R.B. Houston, banker, for $3,000.00.
There were six lots and a two story house.  This stayed Ogden property
till Dec. 1910 when Miss Ogden sold it.  The Parr and Whitman homes
now stand on the land.  This half block was originally part of the
A.G. Davis holdings.  She says that he once had a great pile of rocks
there intending to build a store; and in 1867 when the agitation arose
to move the courthouse from Kingston to Hamilton a foundation for the
courthouse was actually built there.  She recalls that when her father
built an addition to his home, he used the rocks of the so-called
courthouse foundation.

Mr. Ogden supported his family mostly by the interest on his money.
He had about $10,000.00 and this he loaned at 10 percent.  Also, they
always had room in the big house for boarders, teachers preferred.
Some of their boarders were Judge Holliday, Ella Griffith, a high
school teacher, and Miss Anna Smith, a grade teacher.  A story shows
how few trees were here then and also it shows how slow the trains
were.  Miss Smith always went home to Kidder for the week-end.  From
the upper window, she could see the train leaving Breckenridge.  When
it left Nettleton, she would start for the depot, some seven blocks
away and get there in time to buy a ticket.      When the Odgens came,
trees were very rare.  The Menafee family who lived across the road
(Dr. Eads' home) had several soft maples in their yard.  Minnie and
her sister Cora were amazed at the maple pips (they did not have soft
maples in New York).  They collected some and planted them in a box.
Later, their father set them out and from that origin all the trees on
those six lots started.      There were plenty of dances then.  Among
the good dancers were George Hastings ( a grocer on Broadway in the
70's) who often led girls out on the floor; John Minger and wife who
in German style waltzed straight ahead without reversing.  Mollie
Davis Brosius, Clara Reddie, Mollie Harrah, Maude Goodman (Hosmer),
Reila Aikens were all good dancers.  Dances were held in the new brick
school before the seats were fastened in, later in Rohrbough's Hall
and Kelso's Hall.  The waltz and the square dance were favorites.
Organ and fiddles made the music.  The walls were lined with
spectators.      Interviewed  March 1934.


    THE ROHRBOUGH FAMILY IN HAMILTON - 1867     Narrators:  A Group of
Old Timers in Hamilton

     In 1867, the Rohrbough family came to Hamilton.  There was
Anthony Rohrbough, his wife, Mary, the sons, George and John, and a
daughter who was to become Mrs. L.D. Moore.  They opened a store in a
frame building on the present Penney store corner, and lived over the
store.  About 1872, they leased this building to A.G. Davis and Gunby
and built a brick building on the former Kemper store corner, which
brick still is used by the Bram store.  Here Rohrbough and Moore
(son-in-law) did a big business till they sold out to Anderson Bros.
(Wallace and Joseph) in 1879.  The hall above was used for
entertainments and was called Rohrbough's Hall or "The Opera House."
At that time, the family lived in the present Ream home, one block
east of Martin's grocery, (or in older terms, three doors east of the
brick bank).  Mr. Rohrbough was soon recognized as a good citizen, for
in 1868 he was a member of the first board of trustees.      John, one
of the sons, was an expert piano player and it was quite a treat to
have him sit down at the piano.  He was organist at the Methodist
church.  He was one of the first from here to go to the State
University.  Albert Davis (A.G. Davis' son) was another early M.U.
student.  Both boys were gazed upon with awe on their return.  The
Rohrbough family were strong Methodists and Anthony Rohrbough was
probably the largest giver that the Hamilton Methodist church has ever
had.      When George married, he and his wife resided in the house on
south Broadway now owned by Mrs. Mary Kautz and his brother-in-law,
L.D. Moore, owned the corner house south (site of Houghton Funeral
Home).  The Moore house was afterwards moved to the second lot on the
opposite side of the road by Kenney Dwight and is owned now by Ernest
Snape.  There was a partnership well on the Moore-Rohrbough started in
1868 the Prairie Cemetery (see Paper) which was more usually called
the "Robough" Cemetery or the Old Cemetery.  The older citizens almost
invariably mispronounced the family name as indicated.      Mr.
Rohrbough the elder, at one time during the later 70's tried to beat
hard times by taking corn in return for dry goods.  So many farmers
brought in corn that he built a very long shed on the north side of
the present Booth lots (then empty) to store his corn.  Corn went down
and he is reported to have lost heavily (reported by W.J. McBrayer).
In general, however, the firm prospered and possibly made $100,000.00
from their store here.  The family were of the better class of
citizens and helped Hamilton grow into a good town.


    THE SPRATTS OF CALDWELL COUNTY, MISSOURI     Narrator:  Wm.E.
Spratt of St. Joseph, Missouri

     John Fulkerson Spratt, son of William H. and Matilda Fulkerson
Spratt was born in Lexington Missouri on February 14, 1838.  He
married Martha Jane Elliott of Estill, Howard County, Missouri on July
29, 1863.  His wife died October 1st, 1869, leaving three children.
His second wife was Mary Amelia Cochran (pronounced Kaw'hern, not
Cock-ran) the daughter of A.C. Cochran of Zanesville, Ohio, whom he
married May 21, 1872.  They had two children.      Immediately after
the Civil War, the territory north of Richmond, extending all the way
up to the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad in the vicinity of Hamilton
was given considerable state-wide advertisement and publicity on
account of the fertile rich farm land.  Many acres were purchased for
speculation to be held for a rise in price.      William H. Spratt, of
Lexington Missouri was one of those to so invest.  He purchased two
half sections of land, not expecting to reside on the land, but to
sell it later as a profit.  One of the half sections was sold and
became in an early day the south one half of the George Larmor sheep
farm, situated a mile east of Hamilton on the Nettleton road.  The
other half section William H. Spratt made a present to his son, John
F. Spratt, who in 1868 moved to Hamilton.  This half section was
located one mile south of the town on the Kingston road and was in
1885 sold to J.B. Clough who extensively improved the farm by erecting
thereon many fine large stock barns and a very costly and beautiful
residence.      When John F. Spratt first came to Hamilton, he took
his family to the Goodman Hotel, on the west side of Main Street, to
live while he was constructing a residence on his farm south of town.
For a while they boarded at the Hamilton House, a large frame building
south of the railroad tracks facing the depot.  The new home was
finally completed and he moved into it in the fall of 1868.  George H.
Lamson was in the lumber business and furnished the material out of
which the house was built.      There was very little improved land
anywhere in that locality.  Colonel J.W. Harper and his family lived
on their farm west of town.  When the Spratts and the Harpers visited
they rode horseback, "cross country" from one house to the other with
no fences to bother.  Newton G. Spratt was born on this farm and the
slats across the windows which kept him as a crawling baby from
falling out of the second story windows are there today after 65 years
on the old house which was moved across the road to the east side,
south of the big barn, to make room for the new Clough home.      John
F. Spratt for a while ran a grocery store on Main Street, first door
south of the elevator, which Vic Walker operated later in the early
eighties.  During the time of the Civil War and following it, it was
more the custom than otherwise to serve whisky freely, upon all social
and friendly occasions.  It is said that at the opening of the Spratt
Store that one day there was a barrel of Whisky with tin cups handy
for all who wished to partake.      A.C. Cochran owned and operated
the bank over on North Main Street by the public pump.  Water was
free, but money cost interest.  Mr. Cochran came into that locality a
well recommended stranger, without any relatives there, from Ohio.
His family consisted of his wife and daughter, Amelia, who on May the
21st 1872, after the death of his first wife married John Spratt.  It
was soon after this that an agreement was made and the Spratt farm
south of town was traded or exchanged for the bank and Mr. Cochran
went back to Ohio to reside and it is not known that he ever again
returned to Missouri.  He later resold the farm to Mr. Spratt who held
it and operated it until he sold it to the Cloughs.      For a period
the bank was operated under the name of John F. Spratt, Banker.  Then
later as the town grew, when more capital was needed, Robert B.
Houston was

taken into partnership and the firm name was changed to "Houston and
Spratt."  For many years the bank was the strongest financial
institution in the county.      In 1892, the members of the firm
decided that they desired to quit business.  They called for all
customers to come in and get their money.  Some declined or neglected
to do it.  The bank finally made a list of all unpaid depositors, and
went across the street, carried the money and placed it in the State
Savings Bank, and notified the owners where to go and get their cash.
That method of liquidation is in striking contrast to the costly
receiverships of later days.  All of the members of that banking firm
have long since passed on to their reward, but they left a record
which would be well to emulate.      The children of John F. Spratt
were:           Jemmie Elliott, married first to Herbert H. Taylor,
who died, second                 to Edwin F. Willis, no children.
William E. Spratt married Effie Cowgill, two children.
Newton G. Spratt married in California, no children.           Mae
Cochran married Frank Poteet, one child.           Xema L. not
married.


    THE McBRAYER LIVERY BARN     Narrator:  W.J. McBrayer of Hamilton

    Excelsior Livery Barn     Large Credit System with Banks

     The McBrayer Excelsior livery barn was built 1875 by Samuel
McBrayer on Main Street, two blocks south of the depot.  Mr. McBrayer
was born in Daviess County, his ancestors having come from North
Carolina.  The barn was increased in size from time to time, the
pictures of it in 1885 showing a bigger building than the picture of
1875.  Later on, Mr. McBrayer built a big sale barn farther south on
Main.  The livery stable itself had about 30 horses for hire.  In the
sale barn, often there would be from 150 to 300 horses kept.      The
livery barn kept a corps of drivers hired to accommodate customers.
Some of these men were Sam and Jake Buster, Fred and Austin (Ott)
Farr, and Mr. Eggleston.      The livery stable of the 70's and 80's
and 90's had two uses - 1) to supply horses and buggies for pleasure
drives.  You could get for a Sunday afternoon drive a double rig, (two
horses and double covered carriages) for two dollars.  However, on
some very important occasions like picnics or campaign speeches, the
cost was higher and you had to engage a rig several days ahead.  The
other use was for commercial purposes.  It gave transportation for
drummers or traveling men to inland towns.  Drummers would get off
here at Hamilton with their four or five trunks, go to the livery man
and he would fix up the trip.  First the trunks would be put into a
lumber wagon with a driver and the drummer with another driver drove
behind.  They made Kingston, Polo, Knoxville, Taitsville, Dawn,
Russellville, and some towns which no longer exist, to sell goods to
the country store keeper.  They might be gone a week or ten days, and
if the drummer's trip went east, they would go to Chillicothe where he
and his trunks got a train and the two drivers brought the vehicles
back to Hamilton.  On such trips, the drummer paid all the expenses of
drivers and horses.  This sort of thing went on in these parts till
the Milwaukee railroad, 1886, came to some of the above towns.  The
grocery drummer never kept out a team as long as a dry goods drummer,
but he came more often.      When asked if goats were a necessary part
of a livery stable to keep away disease, Mr. McBrayer said, "Nothing
to it" but they often had a goat as a pet for Claude, the youngest
son.      Samuel McBrayer (usually called Sam) had a son, Wm.J.
(usually called Billy) the narrator of this story.  He and his father
bought the old "Excelsior" livery stable from each other several
times.  Wm.J. is a born horseman and still loves to talk about his
horse buying days.  At one time, he employed ten to fifteen men in the
local barn and had about the same number of men in Kansas and Missouri
buying up horses and mules.  Over eighty people were dependent on his
payroll.  About thirty-five years ago, mules cost $300.00, and at one
deal one of his buyers bought one hundred mules, sending in a check of
$30,000.00 on W.J.  Other buyers sent in enough checks to make his out
going checks $60,000.00 which he borrowed from three banks, showing
the strength of his credit.  These things are of interest, because
business is not done that way now.      He told how he happened to
trade with the old Savings Bank.  He had had his money in the Houston
Spratt and Menefee Bank an old private bank of fine reputation here,
but small.  He offered checks on this bank while buying horses in
Kansas.  They would deliberate and then accept them saying "Why don't
you do business with a bank on the National list?  This list does not
contain your bank but does have Hamilton Savings Bank."  He came home
and took his money over to Dan Booth, cashier of the Savings Bank.

     He recalled when be bought the old red bandwagon - a high long
wagon with a canopy top and seats running lengthwise.  It held
twenty-two people and was the popular way to go to the Hamilton
Fairgrounds.  He took it full of men to Gallatin to see the murderer,
Jump, hanged.  They used to have public hangings in the eighties.  On
that occasion, people travelled all night over the Gallatin road to
witness the death.  Sometimes people would bring home pieces of the
rope as a keepsake from hangings.      On the occasion of W.J. Bryan's
first race for the presidency, in the 16 to 1 days, he recalled that
fifty to seventy-five white horses were collected from here and
elsewhere to accommodate girls who were riding in Bryan's silver
procession.      Interviewed  March 1934.


    FREDERICK GRAER - EARLY HAMILTON BLACKSMITH     Narrator:  Lillie
Graer of Hamilton, Missouri

    The Trip From Kentucky     Blacksmithing     Indians

     Miss Graer is the daughter of Frederick Graer who was born in
Germany, came to the United States at the age of fourteen to escape
military service and lived with a man in Virginia who was a well to do
farmer with a blacksmithing and wagon making shop on his place.  To
him, young Graer apprenticed himself to learn the trade.      However
he became a teacher being a student by nature and he taught in
Kentucky.  As a relic of those school teaching days the Graer girls
have a note book nearly eighty years old which he wrote in methodical
hand writing for his pupils as a guide in holding the pen correctly
before the copy book.      Then he married Miss Denny of Kentucky and
after three little girls came he decided to quite teaching and follow
Horace Greeley's idea of "go west, young man."      In 1868 after
seeing Iowa and Kansas he came to Hamilton.  On his way here he and
his family came by way of river as far as St. Louis; and on the boat
his wife for the first time saw white people serving meals.  It seemed
terrible to her, and the sign of a "poor trash" country.  When the
family came to Hamilton they boarded in the home of Captain Morton
till they got a home.      Then Graer bought what is known now as the
Switzer farm but could make no money, not being a real farmer.  Then
he went to his trade of a blacksmith.  First he worked in Kidder, then
he bought a shop on Mill Street in Hamilton where he later built a
splendid brick blacksmith and wagon shop and many 1870-80 wagons had
his name on them.      He bought a house of John Courter, a carpenter
here in the late sixties and early seventies and this became with
additions the present Graer home.  Apparently the blacksmithing and
wagon making trade was a very lucrative one in the seventies and
eighties for he died a fairly rich man for this town.  Their early
neighbors were Putnams, Tuttles, Nashes and O'Neils.      When the
family first came here the Indians were still roaming through the
country.  Miss Lillie recalls that when they boarded with Mrs. Morton
the Indians came to the house and Mrs. Graer in fright got her
children in a corner and stood in front of them with a shawl out
spread.  The Indians came to towns to trade their Indian wares for
white man's things.  After that Indian visit Mrs. Graer was still more
disgusted over the new country and pled with her husband to go back to
Kentucky; but he had already invested his money in the farm and could
not leave it.  Then he said that if he could sell his farm he would go
to Kansas City where there was a call for blacksmiths, but she
objected to that since that would bring them still closer to more
Indians in Kansas.  It really was hard for her to get used to life in
Hamilton where white women did manual work done by the blacks in
Kentucky, but she soon got accustomed to the life and liked it.
Interviewed  February 1934.


    THE PICKELLS AND JORDAN FAMILIES IN HAMILTON IN SEVENTIES AND
EIGHTIES     Narrator:  Mrs. Hattie Jordan, 79, of Hamilton, Missouri

    Jordan the Piano and Organ Man     The Old Phoenix Hotel

     Mrs. Jordan is the widow of William Jordan, a Hamilton Merchant
over fifty years ago and the daughter of George Pickell and Rebecca
Miller of Lancaster County Pennsylvania.  Her father was a brother of
Wm. Pickell and her mother was a sister of Mary Miller his wife.  Thus
Mrs. Jordan is a double cousin of Wm. Pickell aged 88 of Hamilton.
Her father lived one half mile from Bart in Lancaster County
Pennsylvania and after his death the Mother and children moved to
Lancaster City.  In 1872 the family came to Hamilton.  Her brother
George was already here on a farm near Nettleton.  Three brothers out
of five lived here - George, who later quit farming and became town
marshall; Wm., a produce dealer; and Ben, who was in a music store
with her husband.      Her mother rented the last house on Bird Street
north side now owned by George Bretz and later bought the little house
east of Seth Young's house.  Mrs. Jordon lived there till her
marriage.  After she became the wife of Mr. Jordan, they lived in with
Aunty Smith (who used to be a well known Bible teacher here) in the
house still known at the Aunty Smith house.  There her daughter Mrs.
Maud Turner was born.      Mrs. Jordan was a Davy Ferguson pupil, in
the old north brick school.  Some of her class mates were:  Addie
(Martin) George, Wilda Rohrbough, Genoa and Mattie Claypool (Aunts of
Mrs. Mollie Wines).      Her husband Wm. Jordan was a lawyer by study,
passing the Ohio Examinations 1878.  But because of his health he came
to Hamilton in 1880 and began to sell pianos and organs.  He and she
used to ride around the country and leave an organ in a home on trial
for a week or so in hopes of a sale.  He had his own brand of organs,
The Jordan Organ.  Mr. Jordan owned the old Phoenix Hotel on Main
Street and had his show rooms there for a while.  This building was
the only three-story building ever erected in Hamilton.  It was once
the Kelso building.  In the late seventies Mr. Jordan rented the whole
building to the Harvey family who kept a Dry Goods Store on the ground
floor had their living rooms on the second floor and their sleeping
rooms on the third floor.  Later the Harveys built a brick directly
across the street and lived above the store.  This was about where the
Lindley building is.      The Jordans owned quite a frontage on north
Main in the eighties, from the present McMasters through the site of
the Missouri Store.  After her husbands death, Mrs. Jordan sold the
old buildings to Finis Martin who tore it down and built two houses in
town out of the lumber.      Interviewed  April 1934.


    THE GEE FAMILY IN HAMILTON IN THE SEVENTIES     Narrator:  Mrs.
Chas. Anderson of Hamilton, Missouri

    The Gee Homes     Congregational Church History     The Tuthill
Family

     Mrs. Anderson is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Tuthill
and the grand daughter of Israel Gee and Deborah Covert.  Mr. and Mrs.
Gee came west 1868 on account of the health of his son.  Their former
home was Cincinnatus New York.  The family first stayed at the old
Hamilton House till he found a lot for sale.  They used to tell how
the negro servants at this Hotel came into the dining room to see how
the Yankees ate (for Yankees were still a strange set to Missourians).
Mr. Gee bought a lot on south Broadway and built the house on it,
where now Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Anderson live.  So great was the boom
here and the scarcity of homes that for a while three families lived
in that house (then much smaller).  There was the family of Mrs. Julia
Holmes (his daughter) the Gee family and the R.D. Dwight family
consisting of Mr. Dwight the first Mrs. Dwight and their son Kenny.
In 1868 Mr. Gee planted the hard maples in front of the home which
still are there.  He also owned the Gee (now Cahill) farm north west
of town, where he intended to live but his wife died soon after they
came here, so he turned the farm over to his son Henry Gee - a teacher
- farmer of the eighties and nineties.      It was fitting that this
dignified New Yorker be elected to the board of trustees in the
village of Hamilton 1870 before the place was really a town.  He was
Chairman of the Board, equivalent to the later title of Mayor.  He
served several times as Justice of the Peace and his decisions were
never reversed in a higher court.      He loved music, played a flute
(still in the Gee family) and for twenty years led a choir of sixty
voices back in New York by this flute.  He was a smooth shaven man in
an era of beards and mustaches.      At the time of the arrival of the
Gee family in Hamilton, the Congregationalists were trying to organize
a church.  The Gees were of that faith in New York and helped in the
new move.  Ten out of thirteen Charter members were Gees or related to
them in some way.  Meetings were held in a room called the Chapel in
the Rev. Wilmot house, standing on Kingston street south of the park.
This room was built with Missionary funds and Mr. Wilmot was termed a
Missionary much to the dismay of some people who did not think
Hamiltonians were Missionary material.  Moreover some people used to
say that during the week this "Chapel" was the Wilmot kitchen and so
they said they attended church in the Wilmot kitchen.      Mr. Gee's
daughter Mrs. Theodore Tuthill and her husband came here 1868 stayed a
year then went back.  They returned 1879 to spend their lives here.
Mrs. Tuthill was quite a musician and in 1868 was one of the early
music teachers, having as her piano pupils Mrs. James Collins (then
Miss Goodman).  Mrs. Tuthill was among the first here to possess a
square piano.      Mrs. and Mrs. Gee and son are buried in the old
(Rohrbough) cemetery on the west end of town.      Interviewed
February 1934.


    A.G. HOWARD - AN EARLY DRUGGIST IN HAMILTON, MISSOURI
Narrator:  Alma Howard of Hamilton, Missouri

    Why the Howards Came     Early Drug Store Ways     Men's Stylish
Clothes

     Mr. Howard came to Caldwell County 1868 from Wisconsin.  He
served in the Union Army.  While there he caught pneumonia and had an
abscess on the lung.  He always declared that he owned his life to a
nurse who applied a boiled onion poultice to his chest.  That bad lung
gave him his pension.  At the close of the War, he got a bounty of
$1000 and wanted to invest it in land.  He lived in Wisconsin and
heard of the good land bargains in north west Missouri, following the
opening of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad.  So he and his fellow
townsmen C.C. Greene (brother-in-law) Jackson Edminister and Wm.
Everts all came down to look the country over.  They went in together
and bought a big tract south of Hamilton, Mr. Howard's being the
Gillett farm.  Mr. Howard stayed on his land a year and then sold it
out at a good profit.  Then he bought a house and lot in Hamilton of
S.H. Swartz who owned two lots extending from Broadway to Kingston
street.  While Swartz was building a new house on the south end which
he kept, he and his family lived on the second floor of the house they
had sold to Howards who lived on the first floor.  Houses were scarce
here because Hamilton was having a boom.  There was much doubling up
in houses.  Howard bought a half interest in the drug store of Dr.
Ressigeau on Broadway, west side, south of the tracks, which was quite
a business section then.  Opposite was the Broadway Hotel - afterwards
the Harvey House and O.O. Brown (always called Double O. Brown) the
Dry Goods Merchant.      In a year Mr. Howard bought out the whole
Drug Store.  He had previously gained from Dr. Ressigeau sufficient
knowledge to fill prescriptions.  John Harrah worked for Howard,
practically for nothing to learn the trade and prescription work,
doing the sweeping etc. in return.  At that time there was no law
requiring an examination in pharmacy.  When that law came on Mr.
Howard was almost ready to retire.  He sold much patent medicine; and
later sold jewelry and musical instruments.  (He himself was a
fiddler.)  He carried cigars, paints and oils.  In fact at first he
sold about all the paints and oils used here.  In his windows stood
two very large red and green bottles which were typical signs for a
Drug Store.  In 1882 he moved to Main Street and these big bottles
were carefully carried there.      Mr. Howard was a dressy man.  He
wore white "boiled" shirts with stiff cuffs and bosoms that took much
skill and time to iron.  They were polished with the heel of an iron
to shine like glass.  No town then ever wore limp colored shirts or
soft collars.  They were for farmers who fed hogs.  He had a high silk
hat for every day wear and he kept handy a fine brush to make the nap
flat and shiny.  Up town he would flick his silk handkerchief over it
every time he took it off.      The old Howard house was replaced some
years ago with a modern one.  The old store building he once owned on
Broadway and his second on Main have both burnt down.      Interviewed
February 6, 1934.


    THE OLD OR ROHRBOUGH CEMETERY     Narrator:  Hon. Seth Young, 78,
of Hamilton, Missouri

     Mr. Young is one of the few business men left in Hamilton of the
seventies and his own history is interesting apart from his memories.
He was reared on a farm west of town on the Cameron road, where his
father C.H. Young moved 1869.  The young man studied law in the office
of Shanklin, Low, McDougal at Gallatin and was admitted to the bar
1876.  He located at Hamilton 1878 and began in an office on south
Main east side where Chas. Burnett's barber shop stands.  Several
years ago, he served as State Senator.  He has held the job of Notary
Public fifty six years under sixteen Govenors.      His parents and
several others in his family are buried in the Old Cemetery west of
town and his story concerns this burying ground.      The plot is
described as east half of out lot (44) forty four railroad addition to
Hamilton.  It was legally called the Prairie Cemetery as shown on the
old deed giving the plot to the City by Mr. and Mrs. Anthony
Rohrbough.  Mr. Young now has this deed.  In the sixties and seventies
every one called it the Rohrbough (or more often Robo) cemetery from
its owner.  In 1868, Alston Bowman and Vincent Bowman circulated a
paper among the citizens for the purpose of buying ground for a
graveyard.  Ben Langshore purchased the land from the Hannibal and St.
Joseph Railroad and sold the same to Anthony Rohrbough, he then called
A.G. Davis to survey the land and lay it out in lots, giving him as
pay several lots in the north west corner.  The Davis lots are now
vacant because their dead are moved to the new or Highland Cemetery.
A plat is in existence made by Mr. Rohrbough which shows very careless
register of graves, at times the plot and tombstones left are in
conflict.  In a few instances he marks a grave site - name lost - or
unknown - or sold.      The charge were high: $8 for a lot, $15 for a
double lot, $3 or $2 for a single grave, much higher than the first
prices in the new cemetery - $3 for a regular lot.  He is said to have
demanded pay before burial was made.  There were no roads inside the
cemetery, only paths between lots.  Coffins were carried by hand from
the public road.  The Hamilton people became dissatisfied and wanted a
city-owned graveyard.      After the new cemetery started 1876, Mr.
Rohrbough lost patronage because the new lots were cheaper, better
arranged and in a better site.  Thus, the old cemetery with taxes
became a load on the owner and without profit.  He tried to give it to
the City of Hamilton to hold as long as the premises should be used
for cemetery purposes.  But Hamilton would not accept the gift.
Hamilton tried to make Rohrbough take it back, the case went into
court, even to the Supreme Court of the State with the result that
they declared that Rohrbough did not have to take it back and Hamilton
did not have to take it.  Hence today it stands as No Man's Land, with
broken stones and unkept and untaxed.  The last burial was that of
T.H. Hare, photographer 1916 in the old Hare lot with his wife and
children.  On that day, cars drove to the graveside over sunken graves
and empty grave holes.      Interviewed  December 1933.


    EARLY BAPTIST CHURCH HISTORY IN HAMILTON     Narrator:  Wm. M.
Pickell, 88, of Hamilton, Missouri

     Mr. Pickell was born in Lancaster County Pennsylvania.  His
father was Wm. Pickell and his mothers maiden name Miller.  Mr.
Pickell is a cousin of Ben, George, Wm. Pickell and Mrs. Hattie Jordan
all having lived here in Hamilton about forty years ago while Wm. M.
lived on a farm near by.  Mr. Pickell is one of the few G.A.R. men
still left.  He and his wife came to this country 1868 and settled on
the farm where they stayed till the children grew up.      In 1876,
Mr. Pickell became sexton of the Hamilton Baptist church when that
body was using the old frame Presbyterian Church half time.  He and
his wife Jane joined 1878.  The Baptists had had quite a moving time
since their organization 1868 at the home of Elder Bennett Whitely.
First they met in his building - commonly called the Baptist Chapel -
east of park on the corner; the building later called the Windmill
School.  They thought they had bought it, then they and Whitely fell
out about it and they went to McAdd's Hall 1869 and used all their
ready cash to buy eleven chairs to seat it.  The Presbyterians used it
half time, and each paid $62.50 a year.      In 1872 they met for
awhile in McCoy's Hall corner of Mill and Broadway.  In 1875 they met
with the Presbyterians in the latter's church.  In 1878 they built
their church on the present site which cost them $150.  They called
their preachers Elders and their leading men Deacons, as Deacon Aaron
Edminister always so-called.  They called each other Brother and
Sister in conversation.  He recalled their early Elders were Bennett
Whitely, Elder Dalby, Elder Leavitt who stayed many years, and T.M.S.
Kenney.  He believed he was present when the last two were ordained.
Those days sextons got $50 a year for sweeping the church and caring
for the fires; Elder Leavitt got $200 a year-half time (about 1880)
and often this might be slow pay.      The Baptists were very strict
those days.  Members were excluded or the hand of fellowship was
withdrawn from several members.  Covenant meeting was held Saturday
afternoons, once a month, and such things came up.  Some charges were:
dancing, covetousness and non-walk with God.  Members voted on the
person and a majority bote was enough to "withdraw the hand."
Interviewed  January 1934.

(These statements of old Mr. Pickell were verified by reference to a
book of old minutes of the First Baptist Church of Hamilton.
Interviewer's note.)


    WILLIAM H. GWYNN - BLACKSMITH     Narrator:  Mrs. Mary Keefe, 78,
of Braymer, Missouri

    Life at Hopewell and Hamilton     Changes in Hamilton in his life

     Mrs. Keefe is the daughter of Wm. Harrison Gwynn (1824-1907) and
Martha Ramsey both of whom lived in Cadiz, Harrison County and Noble
County Ohio before coming to Caldwell County in the western rush after
the Civil War.  Mr. Gwynn was a blacksmith and wagon maker an
occupation much in demand those days.  He first established a home and
a shop near the Hopewell Baptist Church - this county; the house built
in 1867 is still standing owned by the Taylor family.  Then finding
out that many of his old friends from Ohio had located in Hamilton he
moved to Hamilton in 1868 to be near them.  These Ohio friends were:
Prof. Davy Ferguson (see his paper) Alex Crow (killed in the Clark
Mill explosion) George Wilson (father of Dr. Clyde Wilson) Edward
Green (one of the leaders in the founding of the Presbyterian Church
here) Andy Harrah and Wm. Stewart.      In 1874 he worked for Fred
Graer at the Mill Street blacksmith (see his paper) and then he put up
his own shop, east of the McBrayer livery barn on Mill street.  His
family home was for years the house south of the present Scott house.
During Mr. Gwynns life the style of wagons changed as much as clothes.
The Conastoga of his boyhood, the linchpin, the stiff tongue, and the
limber tongue wagons followed one another and he saw them all.  He
knew the ox-cart.      He had seen Hamilton's streets changed from
platforms built of boards in front of each store to the beginning of
our concrete payments.  When he came the streets were poorly lighted
at night by occasional street lamps and a man traveled around in the
afternoon with an oil can and lighted them.  They burnt themselves out
my morning.  When he died the electric lights were in town.  In those
early days, doctors like Dr. Ressigieu (who lived on south Broadway in
the present Katherine Houghton home) maintained their own street
lights.  There was a lamp before each church corner (all the churches
happened to be on  one corner).  It was a bad boy's trick those days
to throw stones at the street lamps to see the glass break.
During Mr. Gwynn's life here, the old "Ferguson" brick school on the
north side was built and he lived to see it out-moded and torn down.
The little old brown school on the south was replaced in his life by a
nice brick building.  He truly saw Hamilton grow.      Mrs. Keefe was
married 1876 to Eugene Keefe who after the Civil War settled on a farm
in Fairview township.  Their trading point was still her old home in
Hamilton for Cowgill and Braymer did not come into existence till
after the Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad went through the southern
part of the county late in the eighties.      Interviewed  April 1934.


    HAMILTON IN THE MIDDLE AND LATE SIXTIES     Narrator:  Mrs. Mary
Jane Holliday, 94, Hamilton, Missouri

    The Bowman Family     The Early Main Street     The Episcopal
Church

     Mrs. Holliday was born 1840 in Illinois.  Her maiden name was
Mary Jane Kendall and her first husband's name was Glasner, the second
Holliday.  In 1865 just after the war the Glasner family came to
Hamilton, drawn here by the fact that her mother married Vincent
Bowman and already lived here.  The Bowmans were early settlers in
this town.  Alston Bowman had a lumber yard and his brother Vincent
built many of the early houses here, the Art Lollis house, the old
Cochran-Spratt house in the north west part of town, and the house
formerly standing at the south west corner of the High School lot.
In 1865 Mrs. Glasner lived on the present Harry Lampton home and her
closest neighbors were two ex-slaves who lived in white washed
shanties across to the south east - Uncle Charley Dunn and Uncle Lewis
Butts.  The old Henry Thornton family lived near them on Mill Street.
Much of that district was empty.      When she came in 1865, most of
the business was done on the street north of the depot-now treated as
an alley.  On that street were:  Kempers, Richardson, McAdoos
(druggist) and later on there was a Jew, Lombosaky, who had a jewelry
store there and hired a clerk named Mitchell.  Mitchell had a store
there later on.  She recalled Marion Hines running a lumber yard on
the Higgins property (now the Tooley Mill site).  Some after this
time, there was a yard on the Cash corner on south Main where the
Witwers had a wagon store.  At the north end of this block Mr. Davis
had a one story frame (location of Bank today) where he had a office.
Later he rented it to Squire Holliday his relative (no relative of her
second husband).      In the early sixties Mrs. Glasner was cook for
the Western Hotel kept by the Goodman family and located at the middle
of the first block north of railroad on Main west side.  When she was
cook, Bill Kemper, Lee Cosgrove, Ben Langshore boarded there at times.
It was quite a fine hotel in its day.      Mrs. Glasner-Holliday was a
charter member of the Episcopal church which stood there on the site
of the present Mrs. Harry Sloan home.  It was sold some years ago and
now is the Catholic rectory in the south end of town.  Other early
members were Mr. and Mrs. George Reddie, Mrs. Brosius, Miss Alma
Clark, the Rook family, the Waterman family and a few others.  The
Tuttle family came in a little later.  When the monthly services were
held, outsiders who attended sometimes giggled when the rector came in
with his white robes.  The chant music too seemed queer and sometimes
aroused a grin from those not used to the service; likewise the
frequent "getting up and getting down" of the members.  Some people
then thought the Episcopal church was the Catholic church because they
both used a prayer book and there was a cross on the church.
Interviewed  June 1934.


    THE PROUGH FAMILY IN HAMILTON     Narrator:  John Prough, 71, of
Hamilton, Missouri

    Early Prough Life in Hamilton     Baptist Church Leaders     Meat
Markets and Ice Men

     John Prough was born 1857 in Stark County Ohio.  He was the son
of Jacob Prough and Mary Wachler.  Jacob was from a Pennsylvania Dutch
settlement, and the family had been in America a long time, yet they
spoke little English.  The Wachlers were in an Ohio German settlement
and they also spoke German.  Hence the Prough family here usually
spoke German at home and the elder Prough had a decided German tongue.
     Jacob Prough came to Daviess County 1870 and brought what is not
the Alden place.  He became angered when the section line road was not
run by his farm, so he sold it and went to Indiana.  In 1876 he came
to Caldwell County locating at Hamilton.  He bought the present
Blevins home in the west end of town for his home and slaughter yard,
and set up a butcher shop on south Main.  His store was a two-story
frame where the John Bennett produce store now stands.  The Prough
family afterwards lived above the store.  Most of the frames then on
Main Street were one story with a "false front" extending to a height
of two stories.  To the north of Prough's meat market was Seth Young's
law office, on the south was Grigsby's Hardware, Jewelry and Fence
store.      Later, Jacob Prough moved his shop to Dr. King's
building-north Main, the present site of the Missouri Store.  A third
site was in Tom Hare's building east of (present) Chet Martin grocery.
Butcher shops those days used a Stevens ice box to keep meat fresh.
They having the quarters on hooks for a day or so to get rid of the
animal heat and save the ice.  Then they were stored in the ice box
for four days to ripen before selling.      Ice was put up in winter
from ponds and packed in ice houses in saw dust.  A warm winter was
dreaded by ice men who often were butchers.  Ice was very cheap and
delivered by being thrown (brown with sawdust) in the front yard.
John Prough worked for his father and also for Lievan another butcher.
He was paid $20 to $25 a month.  He recalled when Mrs. Lievan hanged
herself in the barn of the Lievan home.  They were then living on the
farm just north of John Prough's present home.      John Prough became
a Baptist and was immersed in Marrowbone.  Another baptizing place
much used then was Nettleton.  Baptist leaders of the late seventies
at Hamilton were:  Deacon Edminster and son Jack, Goddards, Clarksons,
R.F. Whitman, of course the Penny family, E. Lawrence, Mrs. Van Note,
Griffin and Kingsbury.      Interviewed  June 1934.


    WM. WAGENSELLER  HAMILTON BUILDER IN LATE SIXTIES     Narrator:
Mrs. Wm. Wagenseller, 91, of Hamilton, Missouri

    Their Neighbors     The McCoys     Indians     Fires

     Mrs. Wagenseller (born Eliza Garner of Illinois) lives by herself
in her own home built by her husband Wm. Wagenseller sixty years ago
on Kingston Street, in the extreme south end of Hamilton.  In spite of
her years, she is yet a careful house keeper and quilt piecer.
She and her husband came here in 1867 in the building boom.  He had
gone to Keytesville Missouri from his Crawford County Illinois home to
claim a piece of land given him by his father, but it was so heavy
with back taxes that he let it go.  There he heard of the building
boom in this county and he came to Hamilton hoping there would be need
of his work - plastering and carpentering.  Mrs. Wagenseller soon
followed.  They stayed at the Claypool Hotel (formerly the Davis
House) on the east side of Main Street second block north of railroad
till they found a vacant house to rent - "a shack" north of the
Presbyterian church.  Then Mr. Wagenseller bought the land on the
Kingston road (now street) where he built what is known to old timers
as the Murray House now replaced by bungelows.  The Wagenseller family
lived on the first floor and rented the second floor to another
family.  Such was the demand for houses.  Then he sold this and bought
a lot to the south where he built the present Wagenseller home.
In their part of town, the neighbors were Rev. and Mrs. Wilmot and her
mother Mrs. Perkins - first house south of park (still standing);
Whitely, the grocer in a store on the south corner opposite the park
where a wind mill also stood later; the Schwartz house east of the
Wilmot (still standing); the Sproue family farther down south on the
road (Sproue committed suicide and was buried at the extreme south end
of the Old Cemetery because self murderers were not entitled to a
place among other dead); on the south end of Broadway were the Witwers
(Mr. Witwer and sons had a wagon yard on the south east corner of
South Main now commonly called the Cash corner); and by them lived the
Healey family (Mr. Healey was Mr. Wagenseller's partner).  Quite a
distance down Kingston road was Wm. McCoy's ten acre place (now Booth
property) where McCoy farmed and lived with his first wife and his
large family - Mel, Mary, Lucy, Roxie, Ollie, Harmon and possibly
more.  He lost his first wife here.  Afterwards he moved into town
married the widow Farabee and built a grocery store facing on South
Broadway, his home being on the same lot; above his store were rooms
used for lodge and church purposes, later used as a home by the McCoy
girls.      She recalled the Indian visits to the town in the late
sixties.  They would come up from the south road leaving their ponies
outside of town.  If a neighbor saw them coming, she would run and
tell their neighbors.  All would quickly prepare cooked food for that
was what the Indians wanted.  One woman had her own meal on the table
when she ran to inform her neighbor about the Indians.  When she came
back her food was all gone.  They walked into the homes without
knocking.      Those were the days of bad fires for no fire company
existed.  When the cry of "Fire" was heard repeated on the streets it
was the custom for a man to pick up a bucket and go to help with the
bucket-line or bucket-brigade by which water was passed from the well
to the fire.  The first fire engine was bought early in the eighties.
The hook and ladder company existed some earlier.  The "hook" tore
down buildings or walls to prevent a spread of fire.      After Mr.
Wagenseller was too old to build, he became township collector.  He
was a strong G.A.R. man and a member of the school board for many
years.  His daughter Mollie (by his first wife) clerked in the O.O.
Brown store on Broadway, Nellie gave music lessons, and Jessie (Mrs.
Smith) was a school teacher of the nineties.  His son George became a
business man in the South.      Interviewed  February 1934.


    EARLY BUTCHER SHOP IN HAMILTON     Narrator:  Bert Goodman, 67,
Hamilton, Missouri

     Mr. Goodman is the son of old Wm. Goodman who kept the Western
Hotel on the west side of North Main during the sixties.  Having spent
his life in Hamilton he has known almost every Merchant in town during
that time.      You used to enter a meat market or meat shop or
butcher shop, as many said, to see on either side whole steers or hogs
hanging on stout hooks.  They were dressed and aging to eat.  Men
would go in and pick out the cut of meat they wanted from the large
stock (no telephoning for meat sight unseen those days).  There were
no groceries sold in meat shops.      Usually two men worked in a
shop, so busy at times that several customers were waiting.  Meat was
cheap and many had it three times a day.  Ten cents bought sufficient
round steak for an average family, fifteen cents paid for porter
house.      Butchers bought their own cattle and slaughtered them in
their own slaughter-houses at the edge of town.  These places were
very unpleasant to smell.      Some early butchers were:  Claypool and
Rymal, Claypool was a familiar name in the early years here.  He ran
the Claypool Hotel (the old Davis House) and was a good butcher.  His
partner was George Rymal - a Canadian by birth who came to Kingston
1861 as a carpenter and married Miss McClelland (Joe McClelland's
aunt).  The Civil War drove him to Canada.  After the war they
returned to Caldwell County.  He became a farmer, a butcher, a
carpenter, by turns in Hamilton.  In the eighties he was a partner in
a meat shop with James Collins who married Bert Goodman's sister.
Collin's meat shop was on the site of the present First Bank and Trust
Company in the old Manning brick.  His father, Michael Collins lived
in the sixties on the old "Prouty" farm just east of town.
Another partner of Collins was C.C. Greene who came to Hamilton first
in 1868 with his brother-in-law A.G. Howard and bought a farm south of
town but he soon went into the meat business about where the McLean
Hotel stands.  His partner then was Sain who later was also a partner
of Collins.  Jacob Prough and sons John and Dory had a meat shop where
Bennett's Produce store stands and later went on the north side.
Lievan had two or three shops till after a fire in the eighties when
he quit.  Mallory and sons were here in the early eighties in the old
Oasis shop, first door east of the Hamilton House.  John Minger, who
kept a grocery and a restaurant, seems to have been the first grocer
to try to sell meats.  He tried it awhile about 1879 but it was not a
success.      Interviewed  January 1933.


    GEORGE LAMSON - EARLY STATION AGENT AND BANKER AT HAMILTON
Narrator:  Mrs. Hattie Lamson, 90, Hamilton, Missouri

    Hamilton Savings Bank     Mr. Lamson's Funeral

Mr. Lamson was born in New Hampshire 1839 and moved to Illinois as a
youth.  In 1863 he came to Brookfield, Missouri as a railroad depot
employee.  In 1864 he came to the little town of Hamilton as depot
agent.  He held this place till asked to be cashier of the Hamilton
Savings Bank May 1878 and was there till his death December 1878.
This Bank had been organized about two years before under Ed House of
Cameron, Missouri but it was almost failing when Lamson took it.  In
the short time he was there, he raised the bank stock above par.
People who had been hiding their cash around the house now put it in
"George Lamson's Bank," because of their knowledge of him at the
depot.  They had also voted for him as County Judge in 1870 and knew
that he was square.      In 1865 in Fairbury Illinois he was married
to Hattie Henderson.  He wouldn't accept any of her father's money to
promote his business.  At different times he was partner in the lumber
business and the elevator.  He must have owned over a dozen pieces of
property in Hamilton, then selling at a profit, and he was what people
called wealthy those days.      Mrs. Lamson possesses his colored
picture taken in 1878 which shows black hair and eyes, red cheeks,
full face, and under-chin whiskers in the fashion of the day.  He
loved gayety, dances, card parties and was of a convivial disposition.
His wife was reared by a strict Scotch Presbyterian father; but
finally she also grew to believe that dances were not always of the
Devil.      When Mr. Lamson died in 1878, his funeral service was held
in Rohrbough's Hall (later Andersons) Hundreds were turned away.  The
religious services were by Revs. W.H. Welton, P.B. West and F.J.
Leavitt (all of the town's preachers).  The Masonic ritual was used.
The town paper of that date said the funeral procession was over
one-half mile long with one hundred Masons and fifty in Knights
Templar regalia.  It was headed by Pryor's Silver Cornet Band of
sixteen pieces from St. Joseph Missouri and the paper stated it was
the grandest event of its kind ever witnessed in Hamilton.      At his
death, Crosby Johnson a lawyer and stockholder, took his place as
Cashier of the Bank and Mrs. Hattie Lamson the widow became the first
woman to serve as a bank director in the county.  She was Secretary of
the board and earned two dollars per meeting for the work.  Finally
the directors meeting was changed from afternoon till night and she
dreading the walk home late at night, resigned.  John Rohrbough took
her place.      When Mr. Lamson was dying, he appointed Wm. Wilmot a
leading Mason here to take especial care of his widow.  (That was a
Masonic duty in those days.)  But she soon was able to get along
without Mr. Wilmot's financial advice.      When Mr. and Mrs. Lamson
first came to Hamilton as a young couple 1866 they boarded at the
Hamilton House, then kept by the Mitchell family.  It was directly
south of the depot and stood on a hill with a long flight of steps
down to the tracks.  Afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Lamson had rooms above
the Kemper store (later the Anderson Corner) on Main Street where
Harry Lamson was born 1867, Dr. King was the doctor.      Then they
bought the house at the south end of Broadway long known as the Lamson
house - now the home of Mrs. Lottie Anderson.      Interviewed
January 1934.


    THE REED FAMILY, HAMILTON MERCHANTS IN 1869     Narrator:  Mrs.
Lottie Reed Daniels of Texas

    Hamilton Stores     Mrs. Goldberg and the Masons     Fourth of
July     Music Teachers

     Mrs. Daniels (better known to the earlier Hamilton people as
Lottie Reed and Mrs. Herbert Low) is the daughter of Myron Reed.  He
and his brother Henry came to Hamilton 1869 and opened up a dry goods
store in about the third building south from the present Bram site on
Main Street.  The family lived in various places in town - one site
being above the store.  At that time, Dr. Tuttle's family lived in the
house north of the present Bram site and Mammie Tuttle (Eldridge) and
Lottie Reed (Daniels) were playmates in the alley between the homes.
That block in which her father's store stood was the first block north
of the railroad-east side.  The buildings were frame.  At the north
end was the Kemper-Paxton Store, then Reed's and then Bob William's
Drug Store.  Goldberg, the Jew had a General Store near by.  A
ludicrous story is told about Mrs. Goldberg.  The family lived behind
the store and the upper floor was rented to the Masonic lodge.  Mrs.
Goldberg had an intense desire to peep at the Masons.  She got a
ladder and fixed it against the trap door (which were common in the
two-story store buildings at that time).  She lifted the trap and got
her curiosity satisfied, but some how the ladder slipped and she fell
down with a crash.  Dr. Tuttle had to set her arm.  The family left
town soon fearing the threats of the Masons.  Another early lodge hall
was above McCoy's Store on Broadway and the mill.  The frame building
was built about 1870 and was torn down not twenty years ago.      The
Kempers who kept the store on Main street built a house on a hill in
the west end of town - where now lives James Kautz.  Some of the
younger Paxtons boarded there and went to school.  Mrs. Kemper was a
Paxton.      The Fourth of July celebrations of the Seventies were
held near the present Peddicord home (Dudley Addition).  One year they
had a real barbecue and a bower or arbor built of branches for the
singers and speakers.  They lighted candle wick balls soaked in
kerosene and threw them into the air.  Another Fourth thirteen girls
for the thirteen colonies marched ahead followed at a distance by the
other "States" and still further back by the territories.      Music
teachers were in demand, none being especially highly trained.  Mrs.
Niles (Mother of Clarence Green's mother) Dr. Ressigien's daughter,
Mrs. T. Tuthill, Mrs. Whitman (wife of the Postmaster) Mrs. Ben
Pickell (Kate Johnson) were some of the music teachers of the
seventies.  Dr. and Mrs. Stevens were vocal and instrumental teachers.
He was a dentist above the Wilson-ONeil frame store which stood on the
Penney Store site.  Transient singing teachers could always get up a
good singing school.  Few girls went off to school and those who did
were usually sent to convents.  Mrs. Daniels went to Davy Ferguson
here and then to a convent.  Correct reading for the nice young girl
in the Seventies was Peterson Magazine, Godey's Lady's Book, Frank
Leslie and another not so correct but very alluring - New York Ledger
which made Saturday a day to look forward to.      Mr. Myron Reed was
the nephew of Myron Walling a farmer north of town who came into the
County 1866 from New York.  He had two daughters Emma and Ida, the
latter being the school teacher.      Interviewed  August 1, 1934.


    STRATHER M. MITCHELL, HAMILTON, MISSOURI     Narrator:  Mrs. Ida
Culp of Hamilton, Missouri

    Carpenter in the 60's and 70's

     Strather Marion Mitchell (b. 1839 d. 1883) came to Hamilton 1868
from Daviess County.  He was nineteen years old when he married Miss
Terrill aged sixteen of near Gallatin.  They began farming at once on
a rented place, neither of them knowing how to do their work well.  He
ploughed and she spun and wove.  In 1866, he bought a small place near
Grand river but the water rose and buried their crops and hopes.  That
ended their farming.      Being a carpenter, he came to Hamilton in
the building boom of 1868 to earn some money.  At first most of the
houses were small being all that the new settlers could afford.  Two
of the houses he built are still standing - the Tillman Reed home
(with whom Mitchell worked) and the house of George McGill (colored).
The first home of the Mitchells in Hamilton was on the rock road on
the north leading from Gallatin.      Wages were low.  He thought he
was doing fine if he got $1.50 a day.  Yet when he brought home a sack
of flour it cost him $3, coffee was very high then, Calico was narrow
and poor in quality cost fifty to sixty cents a yard.  A calico dress
then was prized more than a silk now.  The quilts of the time point to
the high price of calico.  They were small and the calico pieces were
few and far between.  The farmer got three cents a dozen for his eggs,
seven cents a pound for middlings at Gallatin.  Mrs. Mitchell often
put six eggs in a batch of corn bread and twelve to fifteen in a cake.
     Mr. Mitchell and his wife kept the Hamilton House (opposite the
depot) about 1866 and George Lamson and his bride stayed there till
they rented rooms over Kemper's store.  Mr. Lamson was the railroad
agent at that time.  (See the Lamson paper).  Mr. Mitchell later went
to Excelsior Springs and built and ran the first hotel there.  He and
two of his children are buried in the old Hamilton Cemetery.
Interviewed  February 25, 1934.


    JUDGE JUNIUS ALONZO HOLLIDAY - EARLY HAMILTON LAWYER
Narrators:  H.D. Elderidge and Others

     Judge Holliday was an early settler in Hamilton and for over
sixty years he was a well, known character here.  Information about
him has been gained from various sources.  His third cousin - Mrs.
Anna Korn of El Reno Oklahoma says, "he was the son of Ben Holliday
who founded the Missouri Intelligence and Boone's Lick Advertiser at
Old Franklin, the first county newspaper in America outside of St.
Louis.  Ben was the father also of Caroline Holliday an early College
teacher at St. Charles and Prickett Institute; and of Mrs. Fannie
McClanihan of Columbia.  This Ben was a first cousin of Ben Holliday
of National fame."      The early Lawyer of Hamilton, J.A. Holliday
came here because his cousin A.G. Davis had founded the town and the
town needed a lawyer.  He stayed on till his death about twenty two
years ago.  In the earlier years, his office was at the north east
corner of south Main, a frame, two room building, owned by Squire A.G.
Davis (site of present First Bank and Trust Co.).  It was  one of the
few buildings on that side, south of the tracks.  His office was in
the front room, his sleeping room in the back.  He ate at different
hotels up town.      He never married.  Miss Minnie Ogden said, "he
had two unmarried sisters else where whose support rested on him."
The children in town looked on him as a sympathetic friend and were
not afraid to ask him for a nickel for candy.      His contemporaries
as lawyers were (Doc) B.M. Dilley, Seth Young and Chappell, some
younger than he.  His buddies were a gunsmith who had a shop on the
street north of the depot, named Goodwin or Goodin; and a carpenter
called "Old Mitch" whose shop was on the site of the Colored Baptist
Church.      He had no particular ambition to make a lot of money, yet
he always had money to loan when a fellow would show good security.
When his relation here died or moved away, he seemed to like to be
left alone.  As the years went on, he was more disinclined to take
practice.  He had an excellent law education.  He was a member of the
Legislature of Missouri which framed the Constitution of 1875; was
Clerk of the Senate and was J.P. in Hamilton for years.  He loved to
sit and read - a splendid scholar.      In disposition he had a quick
temperament.  Larry Lampton says, "that one day while Holliday sat in
his office back of the table, a fellow called him a liar.  Squire
Holliday quickly jumped the table, not waiting to go around, and
knocked him down.  He was tall and spare in build, and very stately in
carriage.  He was one of the last men shawl-wearers.  Others of his
time were Wm. Wilmot and R.B. Houston the Banker.     After his death,
young lawyers form all over the state came to bid on his excellent
library.


    SOME NEWSPAPER HISTORY IN HAMILTON     Narrator:  Eugene A.
Martin, 81, Editor of Pattonsburg Call

     Mr. Martin's father M. Clark Martin lived in the last house on
the street running west between the James Kautz house and Hudson
house.  It was then out of town.  Martin took it in a trade with Rev.
Robert C. Hill for a farm near Cowgill 1869.  Mr. E.A. Martin was
reared in Hamilton and had his first training as a newspaper man here.
He tells newspaper facts as he recalls them after a long life here and
in Pattonsburg.      In 1867 or 68 Gabe Paxton and J.M. Gallemore
established the Hamilton Investigator.  It was located north of the
railroad on Main Street.  Paxton sold his interest to Bennett Whitely
and he moved the plant to the "Baptist Chapel" so called, on the
present Kingston Street east of the Park; this being the property of
Whitely which was later used as a feedmill by M.M. Shellabarger and
also was a High School.  Early 1870 Whitely sold his interest to M.A.
Low, and the name was changed to Hamilton News, while the plant was
moved to a back room in the middle of the block on the east side of
south Main where Low ran it for years.  Later, he ran it with the help
of (Doc) B.M. Dilley a rising young lawyer as local editor.  Then M.A.
Low's brother Eugene ran it till it was sold to J.E. Hitt and John
Marens.  In the later seventies Hitt and Gus Chapman began a second
paper, the Hamilton Graphic, but Chapman sold out to John Marens and
the Hitt-Marens firm bought the News from Eugene Low and News-Graphic
was born.  The Marens ran it alone till late in the nineties in the
building on west side of South Main, the old Graphic office.      In
1878 W.A. Morton (brother of John and Marcus) established a third
paper the Hamiltonian, upstairs above the Post Office site then, east
side of South Main.  He afterwards moved it to the new Morton Building
west side of North Main (Citizens Trust Company site) who sold it to
Wilbur Clark.  Clark brought it back to the south side - the present
Clark Building and sold out later to Roy McCoy who sold it to another
party.  Finally a few years ago, it became combined with the
News-Graphic which thus meant three papers.  But the present one,
Hamilton paper really means four papers, for the word Advocate in its
title.  About 1890 James Barnhill started a Populist or farmers
movement paper calling it Farmer's Advocate.  He sold it to Al Filson.
It ran in the basement of the present Post Office building.  Filson
bought the News-Graphic of Marens and combined his papers in the
News-Graphic site.  He sold it to Prof. Holman and Cliff Ridings who
eventually became sole owner and now has run it thirty four years.

(Interviewer's note - It seems odd that in the gradual fusion of these
four newspapers the paper should be generally known by the name of the
weakest one - the Advocate.)


    PROFESSOR DAVID M. FERGUSON     Narrator:  A group of his Pupils

     Prof. Ferguson has left an indelible mark on the lives of the
elderly people in Hamilton.  It is fitting that they tell about him
and his work.      He came here from Ohio 1873 to be the first
principal of the new Brick School on the north side.  The schools
before that event had been in bad shape, some rooms here, some there,
little supervision and no grading.  Pupils took what they wanted and
where they wanted to.  All that has been described elsewhere.
When Prof. Davy Ferguson came, he and his wife first lived in the old
Kirkendall house (after Marion Hines) then he moved into the present
Seth Young House to be near the school.  He stayed there.  His wife
was his second one and she was quite charming in looks and ways.
Joe Davis recalls the zest that pupils had in entering the new brick
for the first time; it was a High School, a term new to them.  There
were other changes awaiting them under the new Professor.  He took
each one and examined them, putting them where they belonged, so that
the term Hamilton Graded Schools, which he started meant something.
Then those fitted to be in High School, he assigned to four classes
A.B.C.D. (corresponding to Senior, Junior, Sophomore, and Freshman).
As time went on, the best students won the back seats.  Under Prof.
Ferguson the High School Assistant was Miss Founts who resigned in a
month and Miss Griffin came and stayed several years, finally becoming
the second wife of Marion Hines.  On the first floor were Ed Rix
intermediate and Dot Morrow primary.      The school board did not
have the money to buy a bell for the school; hence Prof. Davy had
school entertainments and raised money to buy a bell, an organ and
chandeliers, so that it could be used at night.  One of these plays
was "The Last Loaf."      The brick had one big room on the second
floor and a recitation room at the north end.  Afterwards many changes
were made but the first way is the way it is recalled by Ferguson
pupils.  He stayed in Hamilton from 1873-1882, leaving to go to
Gallatin, but somehow he found it handy to come to Hamilton often for
a few years.  He was about forty two when he left.      He never had a
regular graduating class, but he had several who finished the course
and they were recognized later as Alumni.  One of his A classes which
finished the course numbered about twenty including Ida Walling, Mel
McCoy, Herbert Low, Will Moffit, Abby Perkins, Nolie Elliott, Mollie
Partin Reed, Mamie Tuttle, Minnie Perkins, etc.      He had a fine way
of talking to the pupils.  They recall how he talked at the deaths of
Leila Aikens, Flora Blaker and a Penney boy killed by the train.  His
favorite Bible selection was the 23rd Psalm.      He taught spelling
from his own book on orthography which went through two editions, a
copy of which is in the library.  The pupils spelled by syllable - as
it incompatibility I-n in c-o-m-com incom; p-a-t pat incompat -i-
incompati; b-i-l bil incompatibil; -i- incompatibili;
t-y-incompatibility.  You never got lost in your spelling that way.
His title was a new one - Principal of the Graded Schools and it
stayed that way till 1891 when D.T. Gentry became Superintendent.
He was severe in his order and exacting in Scholarship yet his pupils
would do anything for him.  Perhaps that is why today in the Hamilton
Public Library there is the Ferguson Memorial library collection for
his memory.      At recess he played with the pupils, turning the rope
or running, but the minute the bell rang, he was all business.  He
wore carpet slippers to get around noiselessly and slip up on the
idle.  One morning he saw some youngsters loitering two blocks away
from school.  He ran towards them and somehow they never played on the
way to school after.      The High School pupils often had sociables
in the building at night.  One of his favorite games was Hurly Burly.
Every one was instructed to make a noise of some animal.  In the midst
of the noise he yelled "Hurly Burly" which meant to run for a chair;
since there was always one less chair than players, it was quite
exciting.      Professor Ferguson or Uncle Davy as his old pupils
called him after he grew older, was not a handsome man; yet his fine
dark eyes made him quite a distinguished look.  He wore a chin beard,
as the fashion of time demanded.  The reader of this paper can walk
over to the Ferguson corner of the library and see an enlargement of
the picture which he had taken here as a teacher.  He gave small cuts
of it on calling cards to several of his pupils.      It is difficult
for us who worked under him to tell the extent of his influence in
moulding the lives of men and women who became leaders in Hamilton
life and progress.  To him we were always his boys and girls; to us
always he was the perfect teacher and gentleman.


    DAN BOOTH VETERAN HAMILTON BANKER 1881-1924     Narrator:  Bertha
Ellis Booth of Hamilton, Missouri

     My father Dan Booth was born May 25, 1840 on a farm near
Radcliff, Vinton County Ohio.  He was of pioneer stock.  His parents
John Booth (1804-1892) and Elizabeth Radcliff (1805-1862) came as
pioneers to Ohio from Harrison County (West) Virginia and their
parents before them had moved "west."      John Booth was a leader in
his community.  He besides being a farmer was what frontiersmen called
a mechanic; he was an expert with the broad-ax, which work consisted
in squaring the logs for a log house and required special genius.  In
house-raising, his job was to notch the logs and fit them at the
corners.  The old Booth log house which he made is still standing,
made without nails - when nails were necessary he made them.  He made
his own ox-shoes.  He also rived shingles.  Once he took a contract
from the county court to build a bridge over Raccoon Creek and he
searched all over the county to find two suitable oak logs.  There the
forty foot sleepers of that bridge stand today-made of these two feet
square logs squared with his own broad ax-a monument to his work.
There is a later covered bridge on it which he did not build, but the
sleepers are his.  His house was always open to travelers.  The word
seemed to be "Go to Johnny Booth's he'll put you and your horse up."
The charge was nothing.  The pack peddlers always stopped there and
Grandmother Booth bought from them her wonderful store of linens.  He
had six boys and as each came to man's estate he told them to ride to
town and have a broadcloth suit made by a tailer, as a mark of
respectability, I presume.  The neighborhood afforded little
schooling, yet the six sons somehow succeeded in picking up a fair
amount of knowledge.  I have heard Father say that he never went to
school more than six months; but he had a practical knowledge of
arithmetic that guided me through my common mathematics.  He was
careful of his grammar and noted other people's talk.  His attitude
toward education was almost worshipful and he gave his children all
the education they wanted.      One of my father's earliest jobs back
in Vinton County was to contract char-coal for iron furnaces.  For the
work he used oxen.  His first ox came to him by good luck.  A cattle
driver in passing the Booth place had abandoned one ox that got mired.
Father somehow got it out of the mud hole and it was his.  This work
as a contractor made him known over the county and helped elect him as
Democratic Sheriff.  He was already making money as a cattle drover.
I have heard him tell of buying and driving cattle from Vinton County
to Baltimore.      Then he married my Mother Helen L. Pugh and decided
to come west.  It was in 1873 that he selected his farm three miles
west of Hamilton in Lovely Ridge district.  He bought it of Altman who
had bought it from the railroad.  Mr. Altman had planted acres in wine
rhubarb and other unprofitable crops and was ready to quit.
Father, there indulged his old love of raising cattle often going as
far as Hastings Nebraska to buy cattle.  In these days his cattle like
others were on the open prairie or "outdoors" as they called the
unfenced land.  He was a good horse swapper, being able to see
possibilities in run down horses which he would buy low and feed up
for a good sale.  I have heard Mother say that he would never ride
these wretched looking speimen home but would send his cow-men Fred
Jones or Will Wells after them.  While on the farm, the Democrats of
the county ran him for Sheriff and he barely lost the election by
sticking loyally to an Ohio friend now living neighbor to him - who
was his political supporter but whose habits were under sensure.
For further details of his life on the farm, see the paper which my
Mother gave of her life in Lovely Ridge.      By this time, Father's
ability as a financier was beginning to be noted.  When a vacancy
occurred in the youthful Savings Bank he was offered the place of
cashier.  He sold the farm at a good profit to Mr. Pierce and moved to
town.  About the only vacant house in town then was a small  cottage
in the west end, now enlarged into the Charley Johnson house-south of
the tracks.  There were few houses over there at that time.  Then we
moved to the first house west of the old A.G. Davis house; and then
Father bought two lots of Wm. McCoy on Broadway and built our present
home 1882.  Broadway was as well settled up then as it is now.  At
that time we always owned a cow, and every evening the whole family
would march out over our back lot with Dad and go off to his cow
pasture back of Webb Conrad's house and drive the cow home for the
night.  These days too, we always entertained the Episcopal Ministers
who came to preach in the little church over by Mr. Reddie's home.
Mother and Father belonged to a clique of friends - the Cowgill, Tom
George and Booth families.  No Christmas Thanksgiving or New Years
went by without a big dinner for the three families.      All this
time the Savings Bank was paying good dividends.  In the early days,
it was located somewhere near the site of the McPherson Produce Store
but it was later moved to about the site of the Parrish building near
the Penny Store.  There it was burned down and rebuilt about 1884.
His salary most of that time was $1800 but he had to pay $600 of it to
his assistant Finis A. Martin.  Harry Lamson was another clerk.  The
ordinary bank these days was handled by two men, for the checks and
drafts were less.  The other bank in town was the older Spratt,
Houston and Menefee.      Father was also a "silent partner" in two
Dry Goods Stores-Cash Cowgill and Company (Penny Store Building" and
McDonald, George and Company (Cash Building).  The company also had a
store at Vibbard.      In 1898, he resigned from the Savings Bank and
became President of the First National Bank which was then in a weak
condition.  The shares soon rose in value and dividends were paid.  It
was to this bank that he devoted the rest of his life.  He kept going
down to the bank till within four weeks of his death.  He was 84 years
of age when he died June 14, 1924.      He loved Hamilton and gave his
money freely to its projects-the Tom Creek Mine, the Fair Association,
Church Buildings, the Library Building.  Although not a church member,
I am told that at one time he paid on the salaries of every preacher
in town.  It seems to me, however, that his best work for Hamilton lay
in his advice and help given to young men who came to him for advice.
Interviewed  August 22, 1934.


    COWGILL HISTORY IN CALDWELL COUNTY     Narrator:  Mrs. Effie
Cowgill Spratt of St. Joseph, Missouri

     James Cowgill, son of William Cowgill was born April 2 1848 on a
farm in Henry County near the town of New Castle Indiana, where he
grew to manhood and where he married Pamelia Ellen Myers, September 22
1867.      Pamelia Ellen Myers, the daughter of John C. and Leah
Brendle Myers was born on a farm near the town of Kingston and not far
from Mirabile, Missouri on March 20, 1849.      During the Civil War
or what the Southerners prefer to call the "war of the States," John
C. Myers was sheriff of Caldwell County.  He was a Southern
sympathizer.  War feeling was keen and intense in that locality.  It
was often worth a man's life to express an opinion on either side.
There were many untimely deaths not accounted for in open battle, but
by the "bushwhacking" method.      One evening in November 1862
following an election, John C. Myers was called to the door of his
home, and in the presence of his family was shot to death from the
dark of the night.  Some twelve or fifteen men in this locality at
different times met similar deaths.  A number of these deaths are
accounted for at pages 216 and following in the Caldwell-Livingston
County History published 1886.      The wife of John C. Myers was so
disturbed over the cold blooded murder of her husband, and not knowing
where or when the killing would end, she gathered her family together
and left the community.  She took refuge in New Castle Indiana.  There
it was that Ellen, her youngest daughter met and married James
Cowgill.      After the war was over, in 1868, the Myers family
returned to reside in Caldwell County, and James and Ellen Cowgill
came along with them.  This is the story of how lives came together
who were so forcible to impress themselves upon the development of
their community and who were to broaden out and become statewide
influences for good and progress.      James Cowgill came from an
ancestral family of farmers and livestock raisers.  In his new
Missouri location he at once rented a small farm and set up an
individual home, in which to reside and rear his family.      From his
first forty acres he broadened and widened and extended his efforts
until at one time down in the southern part of Caldwell County he
owned and operated a farm of over 1500 acres of land.  At the time of
his death he owned and operated, clear of incumbrance, a cattle ranch
at Garden City Kansas, containing over 20,000 acres of land, upon
which were over 1200 head of cattle.      Nor did James Cowgill
confine his efforts alone to farming, and stock raising.  In the
middle 80's he branched out into the Dry Goods and general
merchandising business.  His first venture was on South Main Street at
Hamilton in a partnership with D.G. McDonald and Co.  Then later he
formed another partnership with Robert S. Cash and started still
another store on North Main Street.  These two institutions for many
years were the model stores of up-to-date progress.  They were
successful financially.  They were a credit to the town.  They
attracted trade for many miles away.  New buildings were erected to
house the stores.  It was this kind of enterprises that eventually
changed Hamilton's entire building front of Main Street, and developed
a beautiful little city out of a theretofore country side town.
In 1888 after the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad built
through the southern part of Caldwell County, leading into Kansas
City, James Cowgill, to a great extent, gradually concentrated his
efforts to that section of the county.  The railroad passed through a
portion of one of his farms.  A town by the name of Cowgill was
established there.  He erected an elaborate brick hotel building.  He
built and established a bank.  He constructed an outstanding residence
and

removed his family there.  He gave land for a school and established
and assisted in building a Methodist and a Baptist Church.      He was
elected as a Democrat to be Presiding Judge of the Caldwell County
Court in 1882.  He was elected and served in the Missouri State
Legislature in 1890.  He was elected in 1892 to membership in the
Missouri State Railroad and Ware House Commission for a term of six
years.  This office required his residence in Kansas City, so it was
that in 1892 he and his family removed from Caldwell County.  While
living in Kansas City he was nominated and elected Missouri State
treasurer and he served four years.  He served two terms or four years
as Treasurer of Kansas City.  He was serving his second term as Mayor
of Kansas City, when early one morning in the Mayor's office in March
1922, without warning, he was stricken with a stroke of apploplexy,
and died without gaining consciousness.  His funeral was one of the
most largely attended of any ever held in Kansas City.  Dr. Burris
Jenkins conducted his services.  Prominent men from the wide
extremities of the State were in attendance.  Throngs of people for
hours filed past his bier to bid a last farewell to a strong and
forceful man, who had so commendably implanted himself in the hearts
of those with whom he came in contact.      The children of James and
Ellen Cowgill were:  Effie Leah married William E. Spratt, Mae,
married Duncan M. Tait, Cora Frances married George A. McWilliams, a
girl baby who died in infancy, and James Cowgill, married Abbie
Winters.      As an indication of the buoyancy of spirit, and of the
always optimistic disposition of James Cowgill, which crowned his
efforts all through life, it is related that when he first began
farming, he borrowed enough money to purchase a team.  Nobody could
farm without horses.      In those days there were great broad acres
of prairie land which laid "outdoors."  There were no fences anywhere
except around cultivated fields.  The farmers turned their stock out
to graze the commons.  They would in the evening gather their cows and
such stock as they needed and then turn them out again the next day.
One evening Judge Cowgill caught up one of his mortgaged horses,
bridled and saddled him, and rode out to drive up their cow.  The cow
was not easily detached from the herd.  She didn't want to leave to go
home to be alone for the night in a dry lot.  She broke back and as
the horse was spurred up quickly into a run to head her off, they came
unexpectedly upon a deep ditch.  The horse strained to clear it but
fell back with his head under his body, with its neck broken, and
died.  The rider was thrown clear and uninjured.  The first thoughts
were those of distress for having lost a mortgaged horse.  He
pondered, "How now will I ever make my crops with which to pay my
debts on these horses?"  Distress gripped him all over.  He was in
convulsions of fear and excitement.  All at once he seemed to "come
to," all of a sudden he became aware of the really good luck which had
befallen him.  It was the horse's neck that was broken and not his
own.      He managed to get the saddle and bridle off the horse and
trudged off for home on foot, no horse and no cow.  As he approached
his house his wife saw him from afar with his saddle over his
shoulders and she rushed out to meet him in wonderment at what had
happened.  After relating the story, he said, "Well it is a good thing
it was the horse's neck that was broken, for if it had been my neck it
most probably would have been harder debt for you to pay alone with
both horses, than for both of us with one horse."      No body ever
heard James Cowgill lamentingly relate a hard luck story.
Interviewed  August 1934.


    UNCLE CHARLEY DUNN - EX-SLAVE OF HAMILTON     Narrators:  Mrs.
H.D. Eldredge and Mrs. Sarah Haggerty of Hamilton

     Charles Dunn, colored, Uncle Charley as he was known in Hamilton
for many years, was brought from Virginia with a lot of other slaves
when a boy of three or five years away from his own kin and came to
Ray County, Missouri.  He was bought by a family by the name of
Thompson.  As he grew old enough, his duties was to care for and act
as playmate for the Thompson children.  In later years, he did other
work until he reached manhood.  His master not needing his work,
allowed him to work for others and he had his wages to do with as he
pleased.  Saving his wages, he in time was able to buy the freedom of
his slave wife, Aunt Harriett Dunn, as she was known to Hamilton
people.  After his freedom, he came to Caldwell County, and lived on a
farm in the Duston District; later they moved to Hamilton where they
lived a useful upright life.  Uncle Charley, dying in Hamilton at the
age (as he said) of over ninety years.      Joe Thompson of
Breckenridge was his master's son and used to invite Uncle Charley up
every year.  Thompson, the Kansas City photographer, was some kin to
his master and used to come and see Uncle Charley bringing money and
other gifts to the old family servitor.      Uncle Charley lived in a
house east of the Tuttle-Eldredge home, which is now used for a
storehouse.


     THE WEAVER AND BOWEN FAMILIES IN GOMER TOWNSHIP     Narrator:
Mrs. Euphema Weaver Bowen, 80

     Miss Weaver, the daughter of Samuel Weaver came into Caldwell
County 1872 with her parents, at the age of twenty one.  They settled
three miles east of Nettleton.  In 1875 she married S.L. Bowen and
they improved some land next to the Weaver farm, hence she has spent
most of her life in one community.  She had four sons and three
daughters all of whom lived on a farm.  The Bowens gradually fenced
their land from the prairie land on all sides, put down wells, planted
orchards, and laid the foundation for good farms.      She knit all
the mittens and hose used on her own farm, made underwear, dresses,
shirts and pants, in fact had a complete clothing factory.  She dried
fruit - the old fashioned way of drying of peaches and apples was to
split them, seed them and spread them out on tablecloths on a low roof
till they were sun dried.  Then they were tied up in flour sacks,
against flies and worms.  There was little canning done and mostly in
tin cans with sealing wax on tops.  They dried peas, sweet corn cut
off the cob, navy beans and lima beans; gallons of cucumbers and green
tomato pickles and the kitchen was bright with dried peppers.  Soft
soap was made at home and supplied all their need for general
purposes.  Candles were made and molded at home in molds of twelve or
twenty four holes.  A quilt was always ready to work on.  Every wife
had a hop vine for yeast and bread.  You can see that no woman these
days had time to spend foolishly in attending teas and card parties.
The old Bowen farm is now owned by Edbert Clarkson who married the
youngest Bowen daughter.  Mr. Bowen died several years ago and Mrs.
Bowen lives with Egbert.  The Weavers and Bowens bury in the Weaver
Cemetery near Nettleton.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    MRS. ELIZA BROWN OF VAN NOTE DISTRICT     Narrators:  The Sturgis
"Boys"

     Eliza Dixon was born in Alabama 1841.  Her people decided to move
west and came in a flat boat 1849 over the very rapids where Muscle
Shoals are located.  They were in a band of emigrants, some headed for
California gold fields, some for nearer points.  The Dixons stayed in
Illinois then moved to cheaper lands in Kansas and lived near where
Emporia is now.  There she saw the last ceremonial war dance of the
tribe of Indians who had come from near Neosho, Missouri.  With Kansas
Civil War troubles the Dixons moved back to Illinois where Miss Eliza
married her first husband - Sturgis.  In 1870 the Sturgis family came
to Caldwell County where kin-folks had already preceded them.  They
settled on a farm east of Hamilton in the Van Note district beyond the
school where they lived over forty years.  On the death of Mr. Sturgis
she married a Brown and was usually called Mrs. Sturgis Brown to
differentiate her from the numerous other Browns out there.  She was
connected by marriage or blood with several prominent families of this
community; the Van Notes, Browns and Odgens.      When the Sturgis
family came into the county, roads were in a poor state.  Because
farms were unfenced people drove into the prairies to get around a
ditch and forded streams for there were no bridges.  Sometimes the
beaten wagon road would look like this Lumber wagons were the usual
conveyance.  Mr. Judd, Mr. Ira Houghton and another man several miles
to the south east were the only ones owning buggies between Hamilton
and Lincoln township.  Later, spring wagons came to be common.
The Van Note school building was built 1871 and Mrs. Brown's two
oldest sons Charles and John began their schooling that day.  The
first teacher was "old Man" (Geo.) Moffit, father of Will and Andy
Moffit - the cabinet makers in Hamilton during the 80's and 90's.
John received a large reward of merit composed of several coupons
which was a high honor.  Another teacher was Anna Watson (Kaufman) of
Nettleton.  Of all those early neighbors of 1870 only two women are
left:  Mrs. Elizabeth Dawson and Mrs. Sarah Gurley.  Mrs. Brown
herself died a few years ago.      Interview taken  March 1934.


    THE HARPSTER FAMILY OF GOMER TOWNSHIP  CALDWELL AND DAVIESS
COUNTIES     Narrator:  Mrs. James I. Murrell, 69, of Hamilton,
Missouri

    Van Note School and Head Marks     Davies County Creeks

     Mrs. Murrell was born in Ohio, the daughter of Amos and Loveta
Harpster and grand daughter of Jacob Harpster all of Ohio.  They came
to Missouri for a better chance to earn a living.  Twenty one of the
Harpsters unloaded at one time at Nettleton 1871 from a Hannibal and
St. Joseph train.  At first they rented land of the railroad company.
That first rented farm now belongs to Willard Lankford.  The railroad
land agent was George Lamson the depot agent at Hamilton and later a
popular banker.  Another renter of the railroad land near Nettleton
was George Pickell later City Marshall of Hamilton.  This land became
part of the Wm. Mapes land and part of the Schartzer farm.  About 1876
Jacob Harpster owned his own farm of one hundred sixteen acres in
Gomer township, south of the railroad.  He was neighbors on the east
to J.B. Sturgis on the south to Wm. Markwitz.  His land lay south of
Wm. Paxton and he was near the farm of J.C. Penney Sr.      Amos
Harpster came to Hamilton in the seventies.  He and George Rymal ran a
butcher shop in about 1874 on Broadway near where O.O. Brown's store
stood.  Later he ran a restaurant near or in the same place.  Then he
moved to Daviess County and bought land between Dog Creek and
Marrowbone.  His father Jacob owned the place north of Kidder College
where now Jim Hainsworth owns.  The Harpster family is now identified
with Daviess County in the Kidder vicinity.      Mrs. Murrell went to
school in the Van Note district east of Hamilton and learned her
a-b-c's from Anna Watson (Kaufman).  She had as school mates all the
Sturgis boys, Maud Dawson, Nettie Judd, the Van Note children.  She
spoke of the old head mark (head of line in spelling) a small card was
given and ten of these were exchanged for a big reward of merit card
to be kept forever.  To get a head mark, one had to be head at the end
of a class period.  Next day he went foot.  The next person in the
line advanced to head but must stay there to the end of the period.
Some children never got a head mark.  They just could not spell.
When Mrs. Murrell's father moved up near Dog and Marrowbone creeks,
she asked the old timers why these creeks had these names.  They said
that the creeks were named by early hunters passing through the
unsettled country one hundred years ago.  Marrowbone was named thus;
the hunters had killed many fat deer drinking in the creek.  The
marrow out of the venison bone is supposed to be a great dainty.  They
all ate heartily and then spent the night in agony with old fashioned
"belly ache."  They named the stream from that event.  A night or two
later, all the camp dogs who like-wise had eaten their full of the
venison began to show the effects also and so the stream by which the
dogs were sick was called Dog Creek.  A near by stream was called
Panther because a panther was seen there once.  Honey creek, also in
that general country, was named because a bee tree was there.  Thus
the early hunters gave the names to these "cricks" which they thought
were fitting.  Mrs. Murrell said that every one used to say "crick" in
those parts, that the pronunciation "creek" marked a person as putting
on airs or affected.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    THE DAWSON FAMILY IN THE SEVENTIES IN VAN NOTE DISTRICT
Narrator:  Mrs. Elizabeth Dawson, 90, Hamilton, Missouri

     Mr. and Mrs. O. Dawson came west in 1870 "to grow up with the
country."  They came from Oil City Pennsylvania, where the first oil
well was put down by man-power used on boards.  When the oil came up
they did not know what to do with it, and experimented.  The first oil
lamp was burned in O. Dawson's father's home.  It was not refined oil
and was really dangerous.      Mr. Dawson had just inherited $3000
from his father and he wanted to buy a home with it.  He invested it
in the present Dawson farm of eighty acres at $45 an acre.  One and
one half mile east of Hamilton and the money which was left went for a
wagon and horses.  The house on his land was a two room shack, really
one, for the back room was a lean-to.  The front room was so small
that in getting out of bed one's feet almost went into the kitchen
oven.  In that room, they cooked, ate, and slept.  The lean-to was
filled with corn which the previous owner had "thrown in" with the
land as a bargain.  There were two windows to keep clean.      Next
fall the Dorr Judd family came out.  Mrs. Judd was a sister of Mrs.
Dawson and also had a $3000 inheritance.  They happened to be lucky
enough to buy the adjoining eighty acres for $25 an acre from a
home-sick settler.  So they had more money left after the farm was
bought.  They made a better house to begin with.      Soon Jim and
Jeff Van Note bought eighty acres on the same side of the road.  All
were young couples beginning life and bore hardships easily.  The Van
Note district began with excellent people.  Mrs. Sturgis (afterwards
Mrs. Brown commonly called Mrs. Sturgis Brown lived on the opposite
side of the road to the east).  These were the near neighbors.      A
well known character of the seventies who used to frequent these farms
was Mrs. Lee or "Old Mrs. Lee" as she was often called.  She was a
demented woman who even before Mrs. Dawson came 1870 was known as a
tramp and beggar.  At first she dragged her three young boys with her,
but as they grew older they were ashamed of her and refused to go.
Some where to the north she had a daughter who wished to care for her
but Mrs. Lee preferred to tramp and beg.  She was seen in these parts
as late as 1883 still as subject of fear to children.      This was
her appearance:  an old frowsy gray haired woman, calico bonnet,
calico apron, worn dress; she carried a stick in one hand and carried
her worldly possessions (a sack of clothes) on another stick on her
back.  She went from house to house begging food and shelter; she also
begged from stores.  They would give her short lengths of calico to
get rid of her.  She sometimes worked a few hours for farm women to
get them to sew for her.  She picked gooseberries for Mrs. Dawson who
made a sunbonnet in return.      But she never stayed long in a place.
After a nights rest in a barn or in a kitchen, off she went early to
the road, a crazy harmless soul.  Occasionally she would ask for soap
to wash her dirty clothes.  At one time the Caldwell County
authorities put her in the County Poor Farm as a poor and insane
person but she walked out the back door to freedom.  If refused a bed,
she always quoted Scripture "The foxes have holes, the birds have
nests, but the Son of God hath no place to lay his head."
Interviewed  January 1934.


    THE GURLEY FAMILY IN EXCELSIOR DISTRICT     Narrator:  Mrs. Sarah
Gurley, 89, of Hamilton, Missouri

     Sarah E. Raymer of Ontario New York was born 1845, the daughter
of Henry Raymer and Phoebe Mead.  She married George C. Gurley January
1868 and in the same year the young couple came to Caldwell County.
He had met George Putnam of this county in the east and Putnam had
urged him to come out here.  When they came they spent the first day
and night at the old Hamilton House south of the depot.  The landlord
then was Mr. Brosius and his son was merchant here.      Mr. Gurley
bought eighty acres of the railroad at $12 an acre from George Lamson,
agent for the railroad.  While he was fixing up a home, Mrs. Gurley
lived in the home of George Putnam, who at that time lived just
outside Hamilton on the north which afterwards was the Lindley home.
George Putnam was an early character about Hamilton, a stockman and
farmer and later in charge of the scales at the stock yards.  His
worst fault was drunkenness.  He later lived on a farm east of town
near the Penney place and later in town in the present Dawson home.
His first wife was a sister of Myron Walling's wife.  He died over
forty years ago.  The entire family lie in the old cemetery.      Some
of the outstanding events in the many years spent by Mrs. Gurley on
the old farm were the terrible winds; one night in 1876 their two room
house blew over; fear of Indians who yet traveled the roads in small
groups, Mrs. Gurley gathered switches and hung them over the front
door, the idea being that the Indians in fear of switches would stay
away; the James boys, who never came their way; great rattle snakes,
which appeared even in the door yards; the wild deer used to graze in
their neighborhood the first year or so.  One morning as they awoke
early, there was quite a herd in the yard, but Mr. Gurley would not
shoot them lest they belong to some distant neighbor.      Their
neighbors those first two years were rather distant - the nearest was
John Haigh, whose wife was a very eccentric and energetic woman,
walking four miles to Hamilton to wash for Mrs. T.D. George and then
walking back in the evening.  Other neighbors were the Markwitz family
and Chas. Rook.      They traveled much on horse or in lumber wagons.
Finally Mr. Gurley and Billy Mapes (brother of Mrs. Etta Naylor) built
a spring buggy, seating two people, which was quite a fine job.  Often
as they forded streams the water came to the wagon hubs, but the
stream was so narrow that there was little danger.      The Gurley
boys went to school first in a building on the Clampitt place, then
over to Van Note 1873 then to their own new school house in the
Excelsior district. Mr. Gurley shipped fine driving horses back east
besides farming and he had just returned from such a trip when he
died, over forty years ago.  The Gurley farm has never changed hands.
Chas. Gurley, a son has it now.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    THE MURRELLS IN GOMER TOWNSHIP IN THE SEVENTIES     Narrator:
James I. Murrell, 76, of Hamilton, Missouri

            The Murrell Farm                      Locust Grove School
Easy Credit                           The O'Neil Home
Country Schools

     Mr. Murrell, now a retired farmer was born in Ripley County south
east Missouri of southern parentage.  His father was Benjamin Murrell
and his mother Mary Everett Galpin, who with a daughter is buried in
McCrary cemetery in Daviess County.  The father was a southern soldier
(as Mr. Murrell says "it was all the way we knew") and died in a
Little Rock Hospital.  The Mother had four children to support and
they were lucky if they had corn bread to eat.      In 1874, James I.
his Mother and the other children came to Caldwell County where he
worked on two farms east of Hamilton - on one he worked for J.C.
Penney Sr. (father of the Penney Store man) on the other for the
Paxton Brothers, farmers of Mirabile township and liverymen of
Hamilton.  Then fifty two years ago he bought a farm without a cent in
hand, eighty acres at $30 an acre from Judge McMillan and paid off the
mortgage.  Credit was easy then for every borrower paid his debts.  To
be sold out was a disgrace.  Later he bought forty more acres at
$87.50 which shows how land values increased.      Those days farmers
did not need to use fertilizer, corn grew easily for the soil was
almost virgin.  At first in his farming he used a walking plow.  It
was in 1874 that he first shucked corn.  Before that time in Ripley
County, they had pulled corn and stalk off together.      His farm was
near the Locust Grove School four miles north east of Hamilton.  An
early teacher there was Eva Glasener of Hamilton who got $20 a month,
did her own janitor work and walked out each day from home, a good
four miles. Another teacher was Jim Wilson of Kidder.  They had big
country schools then forty two to fifty.  Nowadays the same school has
seven to twelve.  Families were large and the big boys and girls kept
on going even after they had finished their books, sometimes till they
were twenty, especially in the winter when there was little farm work.
There were two terms; winter ordinarily four possibly five months;
summer - three months.  Pupils were ranked by the reader they used.
The remark "He is in the third reader" really showed his class.  Each
country school was a law to itself.  No rules existed to make it work
like some other school.  Consequently the country pupils were in hard
luck when they came to town school.      Mr. and Mrs. Murrell gave up
farming a few years ago and bought a home east of the Federated
Church.  This house originally smaller than now is one of Hamiltons
old homes.  They bought it of Mrs. H.B. O'Neil whose husband was in
the Dry Goods firm of O'Neil and Wilson in the seventies, located at
the Penney Store site.  The O'Neils bought their home of Wm. Partin
and wife who inherited it from Mrs. Partin's father, Rev. Eli Penney,
who gave them the home for taking care of himself and wife in their
old age.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    THE WATSON FAMILY IN GOMER TOWNSHIP 1870     Narrator:  Mrs. Ida
Watson Hargrove, 68, Hamilton, Missouri

Mrs. Hargrove is the daughter of Thos. Jefferson Watson (1827-1909)
and Abbie Frances Cole both of whom lived much of their lives in Rhode
Island where the Watson name went back to the colonial days.  Thos. J.
Watson moved to Illinois in the sixties and to Caldwell County 1870
when Mrs. Hargrove was three years old.  He bought a section of land
near Nettleton at $12 an acre and afterwards considered he had paid
too much since land near by had sold at $3 an acre and "Old Man"
(Fred) Pawsey had bought timber land for 25 cents an acre, but of
course that was earlier.      When the Watson family landed at the
Nettleton depot (then called Gomer) there was a tiny depot, a store
kept by McIntyre and a house where the Camp family lived.  This family
had three children, a daughter who became Mrs. Grimes (Mother of Joe
Grimes of Hamilton) Mrs. Sloan (mother of Tessie and Cassie) and a son
Wright.      She recalls the ugly prairie grass, the prairie chickens,
but also the beautiful prairie flowers new to her; no bridges, no
roads, not a house between them and Shoal Creek.      At first, the
two elder boys went to school at Mr. Pleasant school some distance
away, but soon a school was built at Nettleton and she started her
schooling there.  Her sister Anna Watson Kaufman went back to Illinois
to school and then on her return taught in the adjoining Van Note
School.  One of Mrs. Hargrove's teachers was Sam Scott father of Mrs.
John Finch.      She has a vivid memory of grasshopper year 1875.
They had been hearing of the plague else where and two of the boys had
ridden to see the sights some twenty miles away.  They brought some in
a bottle as a souvenir.  The very next morning the grasshoppers came
to the Watson farm, like a heavy cloud, landing on fences, porches and
corn.  The children drove them from the corn by beating the stalks,
but some of them fell on the throats of a big brood of young turkeys
and killed them all.  The next day they suddenly rose and flew east.
The Watson family lost three members of typhoid fever within a few
weeks one summer in the seventies.  It was said to be due to the dry
prairie grass.  Whole families used to die of typhoid those days.
Funerals held in the school house and the services were often held a
week or more likely a month after the death, especially if the disease
was catching.  The burial ordinarily occurred the next day after death
because they could not keep a corpse much longer and because it took
the neighbor men about a day to build a coffin.      One of the
brothers was photographed after he died because he had never had a
grown up picture taken.  T.H. Hare, the Hamilton Photographer came out
and fixed the body in a semi-sitting pose.  Mr. Hare then had his
gallery east of the present Martin grocery.  She recalled having
cabinet and tin types taken there.  Her father used to tell of
traveling photographers who went thru this country taking pictures
right on the farms, so you would not have to go to town.      The
Watson family was well fixed, yet the children never had much money to
spend.  On Fourth of July they were given fifteen cents 15 cents (or a
quarter when older).  Five cents of this in Mrs. Hargrove's case, had
to go for a ride on the merry go round, five cents for peanuts, and
five for taffy candy, or later when ice cream came out, a dime went
for that.  Surprise boxes were always alluring but the old folks
always advised them not to buy for they had musty old candy or popcorn
in them, even if they did contain a ring.      Interviewed  June 1934.


    A GERMAN FAMILY IN CALDWELL COUNTY     Narrator:  Mrs. Lottie
Anderson of Hamilton, Missouri

     Martin Christiansen, Mrs. Anderson's father was born in Germany
in the dyke and sea districts.  In his later years he often told of
those early days when the family at meal time ate out of one dish,
each with his own wooden spoon.  After the meal each washed his spoon
and put it up.  They did not drive to town but in the summer they
rowed and in the winter they skated and pushed before them a skating
chair with an oldery one in it.  At fifteen Martin ran away from home
to sea and served fifteen years and won the coveted iron cross.
As a sailor he came to New Orleans.  He worked up the Mississippi on a
steamboat.  In a boat trip to Ohio he met his future wife, also a
German.  He came to Missouri 1866 and bought land in Caldwell County
of the railroad.  His eighty acre place was part of the present Frank
Hooker farm.  Christiansen held it till 1880 when he sold it to Col.
J.W. Harper (Hooker's father-in-law).      When the Christiansens came
to Hamilton they boarded a few days at the Brosius Hotel (Hamilton
House) till he got ready for her to come out.  They lived in a tent
for several months till he built a house.  At that time and for years
after there were no fences.  They fed hogs and cattle (all branded) on
the open prairie.  His mark was M.C.  The mother often had to walk in
the afternoon to bring home the cows to be milked and fed.      After
Mr. Christiansen became established he sent money back to Germany to
bring on his old father and brothers and sisters because he wanted
them to have American comforts of life.  One sister came to American
later and lived but he never saw her from the day he ran away till his
death.      In 1880, having sold his farm he bought another near
Nettleton where he reared his large family.  He often longed for boats
and the sea but never saw them again.  He became naturalized in time
to vote for R. B. Haves as President.      The couple always spoke
broken English.  The Mother learned to read English as her young
children brought home their first readers.  She learned also to write
the English script with them.  At first, Mr. Christiansen being a
sailor was absolutely ignorant of farming but was eventually a good
farmer.  In those early days of the sixties he also dug many wells and
built homes for the settlers.      Interviewed  April 1934.


    CHRISTIAN SCHNEITER, SWISS SETTLER IN CALDWELL COUNTY 1867
Narrator:  Mrs. Sam Teegarden of Nettleton, Missouri

     Christian Schneiter, father of Mrs. Sam Teegarden was born in
Canton Berne Switzerland 1831.  He came to the United States 1867,
with a Swiss colony and settled in New York Township in Caldwell
County, Missouri.  The next year he sent for his wife and five
children.  He soon found out that there was good money to be made
digging wells for the settlers who were flocking into the prairie
land.  He laid money and bought at first twenty acres and finally
owned one hundred sixty acres.  With much well digging on hand, he was
gone quite a bit, leaving the farm work largely to the wife and nine
children.  Mrs. Teegarden recalls how her mother would work in the
fields day by day and then go out on the prairies after the cows in
the afternoon to milk.      Reminiscent of the 1934 drought, she
recalls the 1874 drought when the farmers instead of digging wells to
water their stock, as farmers do now, would turn them loose to find
their own water in water holes and creeks scattered over the prairies.
She could recall hearing the cows low in their great desire for water.
Her sister Mary married John Shaney; both Mrs. Shaney and Mrs.
Teegarden married farmers and settled in Gomer township.
Interviewed  August 1934.


    IN "GRAND RIVER COUNTRY"     Narrator:  Dr. Libby R. Woolsey of
Hamilton

       The Woolsey Family            At the End of the H. & St. Joseph
R.R.     Early Whiskey-Making          The Irish Settlers at
Breckendridge

The Woolsey family came very early into what is now Caldwell County.
Some of them were here in 1835 before the county was organized.  Some
left and came back later on.  Cardinal Woolsey, the father of Dr.
Libby Reynolds Woolsey, was a native of Tennessee (born 1818) of
Scotch Irish lineage.  He settled in Breckenridge, Missouri before
Mormon days.  His son, Dr. Napoleon Bonaparte Woolsey, was born there
in 1849 and Dr. Libby R., the youngest son, was born there in 1859.
Dr. Halstead of Breckenridge, who lived to be over one hundred years
old, was present at his birth.  Being a doctor runs in the Woolsey
family for centuries.      Dr. L.R. Woolsey was born on the old
Woolsey farm two miles east of Breckenridge in a house that was part
log cabin and part tent.  That farm is now owned by Dr. C.B. Woolsey
of Braymer.      His grandfather, Gilbert Woolsey, put up a
still-house one mile north of the above farm in the early days, but
when Berry Diddle made his still-house near Henkins bridge, the two
men fell out and Woolsey moved his still into fresh territory near
Hamburg, Iowa, where he and his wife are buried.  Dr. L.R.'s parents
are buried in the old Gant cemetery near Breckenridge.      Whisky
sold cheap then, twenty-five cents a gallon, for good pure stuff.
Often the distillers would sell it in this way.  They would hear of a
harvesting or a barn raising or the like.  They then would fill a
twenty gallon barrel with whiskey, put it on an axle (which might be a
round of a tree, for a fellow was might lucky those days if he had a
spoke wheel), put runners under this, hitched horses to the
contraption; and he himself sitting in the barrel, drove away to sell
the whiskey.  When the twenty gallons were gone, he went after more.
He lived near the Jerome Terrill place, went to that school, and
played with the little Terrill niggers, for the Terrills were
slaveholders.  The Terrills, who were a very proud family, thought it
was outlandish for a white boy to play with niggers, but it did not
hurt a Woolsey for they too held their heads high then.      He
recalls hearing about the first store at Breckenridge.  Sam Rial and
Billy (Daddy) Houghton put up a three room log cabin store where they
sold everything, even whiskey.  That was when Breckenridge was at the
end of the railroad.  The Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad started
from Hannibal and worked west; and there was a pause in the work for
some weeks at Breckenridge late in 1858, when Breckenridge was the
western terminus of the line.  This was a little before Dr. Libby R.
Woolsey was born and his name was given to him because Libby was the
name of the first conductor who brought a train there.  Afterwards
this Rial store was sold to Sidney McWilliams.      He recalls that
his father, Cardinal, bought this land near Breckenridge from the
government at 12 1/2 cents an acre and sold it to old man Greenwood
for 25 cents an acre and thought he was putting over a smart deal.
The lumber for his permanent home was hauled by oxen from Brunswick
and that old house is still standing and in good shape.      In the
days before Breckenridge started, all that country was known as the
Grand River country and the Post office was called Grand River Post
office which passed away with the birth of Breckenridge.  The Grand
River country attracted people from far and wide in this U.S. and even
Ireland.  He spoke of several Irish families who came to that
district.  John Scanlon came over and built a big stone house and
bossed the railroad section work for forty-five years.  Anthony White
was another, and Mr. Helm another Irishman.  Some were Catholics.
Some came here, returned to Ireland and then came back here, realizing
that the Grand River country could not be beat.      Interviewed
August 1934.


    THE ESTABROOK FAMILY IN BRECKENRIDGE TOWNSHIP 1867

     Edward Wilson Estabrook and his wife Mary E. Wagner came into
Caldwell County 1867 and settled on a farm near Breckenridge now owned
and operated by a son Wilson and a grand son Edward.  E.W. was born
1827 in Massachusetts and was a cabinet maker by trade.  First he
tried his work in Wisconsin but moved from there to Caldwell County in
the land and building boom of 1867-8.  The father died in 1885 and the
mother 1900.  The sons Elery and Wilson went to Wolf Grove school near
their home and Elery afterwards was a school director there.      The
house occupied by the Estabrook family was built 1884.  The sons by
the instruction of their carpenter father cut, sawed, and planed
native oak for the frame work and burnt rock to use in the plaster of
the house.  It is still in fine condition and shows what people can
make out of materials already on their place.      The Estabrooks now
own a stock farm of 540 acres near Breckenridge and are breeders of
Ramboulette sheep of which they usually have 600 head.  This pioneer
Estabrook family has made a name for themselves far beyond the limits
of Caldwell County.  When a family sees its fourth generation in one
community like the Estabrooks one can call it a well established
family.


    THE HALSTEAD FAMILY IN BRECKENRIDGE TOWNSHIP IN 1837     Narrator:
Mrs. Mary Halstead Alexander, 76, Hamilton, Missouri

     Mrs. Alexander is a niece of Dr. J.L. Halstead of Breckenridge
who died a few years age over 100 years old.  Her father a brother of
the doctor came one year and a half ahead of Dr. Halstead who came
1857 and brought with him the salves, building material and
implements.  The buildings were all built by slave labor under their
father's supervision on the section of land south of Breckenridge
which Dr. Halstead had entered 1855.  He also had bought 120 acres of
timber land making a total of 760 acres at a price of $2.50 an acre
for the prairie and $4.50 an acre for the timber, showing the
comparative low value in these days of prairie land.  Dr. Halstead
paid for this land in gold coin and rode alone horseback with it
through a thinly settled frontier.      For a year and a half 1855-7
Mrs. Alexander's father and his family lived in this newly built home.
They could see deer grazing on the prairies, and turkey, grouse and
prairie chickens scurried as men approached.  They depended largely on
their own place for clothing-for they had sheep.  At first they raised
cotton to give the salves something to do; but after the Missouri
river began to carry boats to Richmond, it was cheaper (especially
when you no longer had slaves) to buy it there.      When Dr. Halstead
with his family came to take charge of the farm, Mrs. Alexander's
father moved his family to Breckenridge where he helped to build many
of the early buildings there.  They moved in mid-day; that evening the
train passed by their home.  The children had never seen a train and
were unprepared for its awful appearance.  They ran shrieking into the
house.      She recalls some of the closing events of the Civil War
about Breckenridge.  She heard the shots which killed the southern
sympathizer Humphrey Weldon.  (See his paper)  Her own father was not
active as a Southerner but Dr. Halstead was one of those who helped to
raise the Confederate flag in Breckenridge and she recalls that Henry
Gist (later killed by the Union militia) was one of the Southerners
forced by the militia to dig up the stump of the Confederate
flag-pole.      She recalls too that one night her father was called
out of bed to identify a man by the name of Ireland.  He had delivered
some cattle and was caught riding at night by the militia as a
suspect.  Before he was released, men who knew him and his calling as
a cattle trader had to identify him.      She recalls hearing her
father say that when he first came to Missouri, small change money was
so scarce that he once had seen a dollar cut into quarters to make
change.  His brother Dr. Halstead told of the days about 1841 in the
Richmond country when there were 6 1/2 and 12 1/2 cent pieces, for 5
and 10 cent pieces were not coined till about that time.      The year
1858 was a memorable drought year (few can recall it and nobody seems
to be able to compare it to the 1934 drought).  No rain fell from
April to September.  Corn and all crops were an entire failure.  These
few farmers who had sold old corn sold it easily at $1 per bushel;
whereas if the corn crop had been good, they would have received 10 to
20 cents.  Families who used real coffee two or three times a week
were simply extravagant, for people usually used coffee
substitute-parched corn, dried sweet potatoes and the like for a
beverage.  Everything was very high.      Mr. and Mrs. Alexander
bought unimproved land north of Nettleton and made it into a valuable
farm and there reared a family of nine children.      Interviewed
July 1934.


    DR. JAMES EARL IN BRECKENRIDGE TOWNSHIP 1937     Narrator:  Mrs.
Leta Earl Moore of Breckenridge

     James Earl, son of John and Mary Earl, was born in New Jersey,
Sept. 25th, 1797.      After growing to young manhood in his native
state, he became a sailor.  Soon he was threatened with tuberculosis
and took up the study of medicine.  After finishing his medical
course, he migrated west, making the journey partly by boat and partly
by ox team.      He came in with the Mormons along the Shoal Creek and
settled in the extreme eastern part of Caldwell County in 1837 where
he homesteaded 120 acres of land.  Later he bought hundreds of acres
of virgin soil in Caldwell and Livingston counties, much of which he
sold after there was a rumor that the government was contemplating
taking over much of the land of large land-owners to encourage
settlement.      On his homestead in 1858, he built the first frame
house in that part of the country.  The whole structure was built by
hand.  Doors, window frames and all other frame work were planed,
grooved and mortised by hand.  Weather boarding, doors, casings,
built-in cupboards, and clothes closets and all other inside woodwork
were made of walnut.  The frame was of oak.  Shingles were split or
rived and then planed.  The lathes were also split.  The plastering
was made of sand and lime with cow hair for fibre.      The skill with
which the workmen finished the house equalled if not surpassed factory
work of to-day.  The lumber was selected from the best timber
available and the woodwork was sandpapered and pumiced by hand.  The
structure was fifteen months in the making.      While James Earl
practiced his profession, (medicine) his hired help tilled the soil
with oxen and small walking plows and later with mule teams.  The
ground was laid off with single shovels and the corn was cultivated
with double shovels, after being planted sometimes by hand and
sometimes with hand planters.      Clothing was made from home made
materials-home spun and home woven.      James Earl was married to
Martha Dennison Anderson June 12, 1854.  Their two children were Mary
Earl who married Calvin Sergent and James Thomas Earl who married
Minerva Dye.  Mary Earl died in 1926 and James Thomas Earl, April 28,
1931.  His wife, Minerva Dye Earl, still lives on the farm homesteaded
by James Earl.  James Thomas Earl's daughter, Mrs. Leta Earl Moore
collected the above facts.


    THE GOINS FAMILY IN BRECKENRIDGE TOWNSHIP - 1863     Narrator:
Bluford Goins, 96, of Breckenridge

     Bluford Goins of Breckenridge was born 1839, hence he is now in
his 96th year.  He was born at Cumberland Gap, Tenn., while his
father's family was on the road "west" from their home in Lee County,
Virginia.  They were in a covered wagon, of course, with a company of
emigrants.  Every wagon had its spinning wheel and home made
furniture; most of them had a package of cotton seed to sow in the new
homes.  Much of the journey was over paths instead of roads and the
parents walked by the slow horses or oxen as the case might be, so
that the children might ride.  They came by easy stages and the Gap
was a rest-stage on their road to Kentucky.  In Kentucky, they lived a
few months, then to Texas County, Mo. and then on to Lexington, Mo.
From there Mr. Goin's father came overland to Caldwell County about
1863.  He invested in a farm north of Breckenridge and lived there on
the farm till 1883.  During the 60's and 70's, he often cut wood and
hauled it to Breckenridge for $1.00 a cord.      During the Civil War,
he served in Co. H. of the First Mo. Cavalry volunteers under Col.
Whitman, Lieut. Col. Chandler and Gen. Steele.  The family still has
his Cavalry sword.  It is the old-fashioned long type with basket
hilt.  Her served 2 years, 7 months and 19 days.      One a year, he
with his son, makes a trip to Gallatin, Daviess County, to pay his
subscription to the Gallatin North Missourian to which he has
subscribed seventy years:  he was a subscriber when it started in
1864.      Interviewed  December 1933.


    THE TERRILL FAMILY OF BRECKENRIDGE     Narrators:  Mrs. Sarah
Haggerty, 70, and Mrs. H.D. Eldredge of Hamilton

     These Hamilton women were well acquainted with Mrs. Mary Terrill
and her children since Mrs. Sarah Haggerty taught for years in
Breckenridge.      Mr. and Mrs. Jerome B. Terrill and children came to
Missouri in wagons in very early days.  She was only sixteen when she
was married.  They came to the Breckenridge country when the place was
a mere settlement without a name, except the Grand River country.
She brought with her as a part of her dower her slaves who lived with
her many years.  He brought among other things, his library, a very
fine one for those days.      Before locating at Breckenridge, they
went to Westport Landing when it was only a steam boat landing, then
decided to come up to Caldwell County where a kinsman was located.  He
bought land and it was on some of this land that the town of
Breckenridge was laid out in 1856.  He was one of the Breckenridge
town company.  He named the town after his friend, Col. Breckenridge
of Kentucky.      From their home, before the town started, they could
see one vast expanse of prairie.  The only trees in their vision were
those along streams and a cluster of poplars on a Foley farm north
west of Breckenridge.      They built a log house which is yet
standing, as far as I know.  I recall her saying that one of the
happiest days in her life was when finally she had a level puncheon
floor so she could rock a cradle.      Groceries and other necessities
of life were brought from Hannibal but there were few trips taken.
Mr. Terrill was killed within a mile of his home by falling from a
railway train Nov. 1864.  That left her to struggle on with several
small children.  Her latchstring always hung outside, as a gathering
place for the young people.  Camping parties to Trosper Lake and Grand
River frequently had her as a chaperon.      Uncle Bob, one of the
Terrill slaves, was for years a well known character in Breckenridge.
The elder Terrills are buried in the Terrill private graveyard one
half mile east of Breckenridge.      Interviewed  August 25, 1934.


    THE SCANLON FAMILY IN BRECKENRIDGE TOWNSHIP - 1858     Narrator:
Patrick Scanlon of Breckenridge

     Patrick Scanlon's father, John Scanlon, came from Valley Glass,
Ireland. In the party were his two brothers and one sister, his
father, Thomas Scanlon and John, Patrick, Michael and Anna McNicholas.
These were his wife's people.  They came first to Indiana where they
worked on the railroad.  At that time they had no steel rails, only
two by fours with strap iron fastened on them.      They traveled to
St. Louis and then by boat to Brunswick.  There, Bill Colvin moved
them by ox-team to land two miles south of Breckenridge.  They were
due south of the log store, one mile east of Breckenridge, run by
Allan Rial.  Then they moved into Breckenridge and lived in the
section house.  They built their own big rock house in 1864.  The
present members of the family live in this house.  Patrick Keely and
Jim O'Toole did a great share of the work on the house.  Here they
kept a boarding house and fed the train and section hands, buying
flour by the carload, and meat and potatoes from the farmers.  They
herded cattle west of town on the prairies and the boys became quite
expert in cutting off the heads of prairie chickens with a cattle
whip.  The wild geese were so thick they ate the grain in the fields.
They took their grain for grinding to the Ed. Groves mill at Lick
Fork.  Across from the depot was the Ollie McMillan Store.  Also, the
Rial Store.  Early families of the times were Trospers, Bennetts,
Gants, Greenwoods, Terrills and McCubbins.      The men all worked on
the section and John Scanlon was the whiskey boss, issuing the
allowance of whiskey to the men five times a day.  During the Civil
War, prisoners were confined there in box cars.  The guards made them
carry water from springs in the east part of town.  One batch of
prisoners killed three guards and escaped.  The men of the town served
as local militia to guard the bridges.  It was a common practice of
the town to bury their gold in their gardens during the war.  The
railroad was built by mules and wheel barrows.  They hauled ties with
horses and hauled the steel rails along the roadbed on mule cars.
Trains only ran once a week and there was a large wood yard east of
the depot for they had nothing but wood-burning engines then.  The
family did not have to do their own spinning and weaving but a lady
called Grandma Hershberger did this for a great many people of the
community.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    THE TROSPERS OF BRECKENRIDGE     Narrator:  Wm. B. Trosper, 75, of
Breckenridge, Missouri

    Home Work     Kerosene and Whiskey     Navigating Grand River

     Mr. Trosper was born July 14, 1859 on a farm a mile north of
Breckenridge.  His parents were Robert B. Trosper and Mary Rice Comer.
He was one of a family of eight children.  His parents came into
Caldwell County from Knox County Kentucky arriving June 29 1837 in a
wagon.  His grandfather Nick Trosper settled north of the present
Excelsior Springs Missouri 1826.  Originally they had come from
Brunswick County North Carolina, moving to Kentucky on horse back.
His grandmother's maiden name was Rachel Brank.  Family tradition says
that her father was killed in the Revolutionary War by General
Tarleton.      Mr. Trosper was born in a log house, two rooms below
and one up.  He first attended the public school in Breckenridge and
later a private school here.  His first and last public speech was
given by him, when he was four years old, in a log school in the west
part of town next door to the broom factory.  Sally Napier was the
teacher (She was the ardent Southern supporter who at the beginning of
the Civil War at a public meeting urged the men to drive off the
Unionists.)      They used ox-teams to break up the ground for farming
and then laid off the corn rows with single shovel plows drawn by
horses.      His Mother did her own carding, spinning, weaving and
dyeing for their clothes.  They grew their own cotton and kept sheep.
They lived near the river and took their sheep there to wash them
before clipping the wool.  She dyed the wood with walnut and white oak
bark.      He lived in the day when kerosene cost 75 cents a gallon.
His older brother Nick worked in Ollie McWilliams store in
Breckenridge and while they sold kerosene at 75 cents a gallon they
sold whiskey at 35 cents a gallon.  At one country school attended by
his brother Nick, the teacher brought a gallon jug of whiskey for the
last day and treated patrons and pupils with it.      After the family
moved a mile further north, then they were living in Daviess County
where many of the Trospers now live.  At that time, Grand River was
navigable part of the year.  During the winter they built a large flat
and all co-operated in loading it in the spring with dried fruit, furs
and anything they could sell.  When the river rose to flood, they
floated it down to St. Louis.  When they came back, they could only
bring the raft to Brunswick and then travel overland to Breckenridge.
They brought back flour, coffee, brown sugar and like necessities
which they could not raise.      Interviewed  November 1933.


    THE McCUBBIN FAMILY AS PIONEERS NEAR BRECKENRIDGE     Narrator:
M.R. McCubbin of Breckenridge, Missouri

    Crossing the Plains to California     Making Brick at Breckenridge
    Susannah, the Weaver

     The following will give some of the historical facts concerning
the earlier part of Barnett Monroe McCubbin and his wife Susannah who
lived as pioneers in Caldwell County.      Barnett M. McCubbin was
born in Hancock County Illinois January 8 1836 his father Pleasant
McCubbin was the son of James McCubbin of North Carolina and later of
Kentucky.  James was a soldier in the war of the Revolution and served
under Washington at Valley Forge.  His wife was Polly Cook of Virginia
and tradition has it that she was the one chosen for the partner in
the grand promenade at the close of the revolutionary war when
Washington with many of the patriots was celebrating the close of the
Revolution and the surrender of the English.  Pleasant was a veteran
of the Black Hawk war and moved with his family to Missouri near what
is Warsaw now and the head of the Lake of the Ozarks, in September of
1836.  Barnett was only about eight months old at this time.  It was
here that he grew up to about seventeen years and in the spring of
1853 crossed the plains to California with the ox trains of Howsers
and Hood.  They started the first part of April and reached Hang Town
California on the thirteenth day of October, being on the road over
six months.  He served with the train as driver part of the time and
as the hunter for supplies of wild game much of the time.  He was
captured by the Indians on one occasion and was rescued by the rear
guard of the train who had remained longer than usual to allow the
stock to feed on the grass as much as possible.  He remained in
California about three and a half years and returned home by way of
the isthmus of Panama by steamer and crossed the isthmus on the make
shift railroad that was there at that time, stopping at Havana Cuba,
from there to New Orleans, St. Louis and to Jefferson City and by
stage to his old   home at Warsaw, Missouri.      He came to Caldwell
County soon after and began his trade, that of brick making which he
learned while in California.  The first brick building in Breckenridge
on the corner where Ollie McWilliams first run a store was built then,
he putting up the brick work from brick made and hauled from a place
two miles south and about a quarter mile west of the Finley corner.
Many of the early brick buildings were build by him as contractor.
In religion he was a Baptist, and politically he was always for all
progressive matters that would be for the betterment of the common
people.  While much ridicule was offered to these things they have in
many instances been enacted into law and many other things more
radical are being put into being today.  He died in Breckenridge
Missouri April 12 1929.      Susannah G. his wife was born in Miller
County, Missouri November 30 1836 near Versailes, and later while yet
a young woman moved to a homestead about five miles southwest of what
is now Breckenridge.  They got their mail either at Kingston or Utica
Post Office as there was none other nearer.  Most of the country was
new and there was hardly a fence to be seen only where the new homes
were being carved out.  Stock roamed at will over the vast expanse of
prairie, where the wild blue stem-grass grew in great abundance.  At
that time there was wild deer, bear and much wild game of all sorts,
so that the new settler was well supplied with meat, and also there
was wild fruit and grapes in profusion.      While it was hard work to
clear the ground of brush and timber so there could be plowing done,
these other natural resources helped wonderfully.  In these times
there was much home work about the house that had to be done and
included in this was the art of carding and spinning cotton and wool
and the preparing of flax to be woven into cloth for the clothing.
Susannah was very expert at this work and was in great demand about
the country to do weaving for the neighbors, for it was not so many
that could do this kind of work with any degree of quality.  In later
years this was not needed as the time came when the calicoes and other
cloths were beginning to be manufactured.  She was a very industrious
woman and mother, rearing eight children, beside taking care of many
other relatives and acquaintances.  She was a very earnest Christian
and was a Baptist.  In the early days there were no church buildings
and such services were held at the homes for regular meetings and in
warm weather there were camp meetings held in groves where they would
build a temporary arbor for shelter.  The seats were such as they
could readily construct from boards and logs.  These places were not
only centers for religious purposes but social life as well.  It is
hard to realize that only a generation or two ago this region was so
sparsely settled that homes were several miles apart.  There were no
roads or fences but only paths and driveways that went most any
direction way to where they desired to go.      Interviewed  January
1934.


    THE OLD MIRABILE TAVERN     Narrator:  Mrs. Ella Clark of
Mirabile, Missouri

     Sometime between 1850-1855 (people assign various dates) Isaac
Stout built a brick tavern at the new village of Mirabile.  Mirabile
then was not very old; it had its beginning in 1849 when Wm. E.
Marquam of Indiana moved a log store and a stock of goods from Far
West (then almost abandoned) to Mirabile.  This new trading point was
called "Marquam's Store" for some time till Marquam himself named it
Mirabile.  The new town lay on the old pioneer road which ran through
Caldwell County to Lexington and Richmond and the stage coaches
carried men who were looking around for new homes and needed a place
to sleep and eat while on the way.  Some travelers too were still on
the way to California so the Mirabile tavern was a good idea.  The
tavern those days not only gave lodging and meals but sold whiskey in
the front room - the tap room.  The building stands on what is now
South Main; and in those days of the fifties, John Burroughs brick
store was east of it.      The tavern was well built with iron
supporting rods inside and outside; its general shape was and is like
that of the well known Arrow Rock tavern.  It has needed little repair
or change in the eighty years since it was built and is now used as a
residence.      A history of its activities is of interest.  During
the Civil War, the old tavern was a center of Union loyalty.  Union
drums in Caldwell county were first beaten at Mirabile probably right
in front of this building, for the Home Guards were organized here
under E.S. Johnson and stationed here till ordered south.      It has
been used for a hotel, residence and cheese factory.  In the spring of
1883, Mamie Vanderpool and Anna Klepper used one room for a millinery
shop.  In the fall of 1884, Isaac Sackman opened its doors again as a
hotel which continued till the fall of 1890.  In 1895 H.K. Hartpence
bought it and he and his wife Kate ran it till his death 1930.  She
now uses it as a residence.      In the horse and buggy days thirty to
thirty five years ago people would drive in buggies and spring wagons
for miles to trade with John L. Clark at Mirabile and then eat at the
Mirabile Hotel because the meals were so good for the price.  Mrs.
Hartpence is an excellent cook especially pastry.  People from
Hamilton would engage Sunday dinners.


    THE SMITH FAMILY IN PLUM CREEK DISTRICT     Narrator:  Joseph
Smith, 84, of Hamilton, Missouri

               Smith Farm                         Plum Creek School
Plum Creek Churches                Boyhood Games

     Mr. Smith was born 1850 in Seneca County Ohio, son of John Smith
and Angeline Groves.  They came to Caldwell County 1857 seeking a
cheap home.  John Smith enlisted in the Union Army and he is buried at
Lone Jack, Battlefield, Missouri where he fell.  His wife is buried at
Carrollton.      John Smith bought three hundred acres of land at $12
an acre, north west of Mirabile, lying over against the Clinton County
line.  Joseph's brother is now on part of that land and the rest is in
the hands of strangers.      Mr. Smith attended Plum Creek district
school located then on the present site of Plum Creek cemetery.  The
present school is a quarter mile farther up the road.  The school
(old) had puncheon logs arranged across the room, thus differing from
the usual pioneer type where the puncheon logs were around the sides
of the room.  No backs were made to the seats and the youngsters had
to sit up or be scolded.  He used the blue spelling book, which one
had to know by heart in that district before going into the first
reader.  They had five to six months school tax-supported.  His wife
added that in her district often there were winter subscription
schools if the taxes were too scanty to pay a teacher; or there might
be six months school paid by taxes and two months paid by the
subscription of so much per pupil and paid by parents sending
children.      At Plum Creek School two churches held services, turn
about on Sundays; the Christian and the Latter Day Saints or Mormons
as they were commonly called.  Every body went to church regardless of
the doctrine preached, in true pioneer style.  The Mormons were left
over from the Mormon expulsion of 1838 and were not Brighamites, i.e.
did not believe in polygamy.  Some of these Mormon Settlers at Plum
Creek were very interesting.  Old George Strope (1812 War Veteran) was
a Mormon preacher but could not read.  Mr. Smith has seen him holding
up a spelling book and expounding the Bible from it.  The Bozarths
(often pronounced Bozer) were also earnest saints.  Bill Bozarth used
to preach at Far West in the Mormon Church.  Sarah Bozarth married a
Sackman and Miss Carmelia Sackman married Bill Clevenger, but the
Mormon faith did not get beyond the Bozarth name.  The Whitmers of
course were Saints, since the original Whitmer in the county was a
witness to the finding of the gold plates and that meant that Mrs.
Chris Kerr (a Whitmer) was a Saint although she married outside.
He recalled his boyhood games.  They were games for the timber boy.
They played "deer."  That meant that one boy was the deer and others
"hounds" and they chased with much baying.  Then the boys used to
climb trees and run races in jumping from branch to branch.  Then
there was town ball played with a twine ball, much like baseball but
took less players.  Mr. Smith married Mahala Jones, daughter of Billy
Jones of Kingston township.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    THE KEMPERS WERE PIONEERS.     Narrator:  Claud S. Kemper of
Cameron, Missouri

     A family tree faultlessly executed shows the arrival of John
Kemper Colonist in America in 1714 and John Henry my great, great
great grandfather arrived in the Old Dominion in 1730.      My father
John Quincy Adams Kemper was born in Garrard County Kentucky January 3
1826.  He was the son of Thornton B. Kemper of Fauquier County
Virginia.  J.Q.A. came to Missouri in 1850 by boat from Lexington
Kentucky to Lexington Missouri.  On leaving the boat at Lexington
Missouri he sought a way to get to Mirabile.  A freight hauler told
him he could ride on the wagon "down hill."  He accepted and made his
way from the Missouri River to Mirabile riding down hill and walking
up.      In 1851 he married Adalaide Smith the daughter of Lieutenant
Governor Smith.  "Governor Smith" as he was called came to Missouri
from Columbiana County Ohio to Missouri in 1832 on a tour of
inspection, finally moving to the State in 1844.  He bought a farm
lying partly in Rockford and Mirabile Townships.  He had brought a
large bunch of sheep from Ohio to this farm and was known as the
"Sheep Raiser Smith" in that part of the county.  Gov. Smith was State
Representative from Caldwell County in 1853 and also in 1862 and 1864.
Was Lieutenant Governor of Missouri 1864-1868 and United States
Marshall 1869-1877.      My Mother and Father located on a farm in the
Plainview neighborhood in Clinton County just over the Caldwell County
line a mile or so.  They were the parents of eleven children, three
girls and eight boys.  My Mother died in 1874, leaving a house full of
children.  The oldest daughter married R.D. Paxton the year following
mothers death, so it became sister Betty's (Elizabeth) duty to raise
the big bunch of boys.  She was very young for such an undertaking but
she stayed at home and took good care of us until we all had homes of
our own.  She also cared for father till his death.      My father
enlisted as a Union soldier in the Home Guards at Mirabile; being in
only a few months.  The older children can recall the fears and
horrors of the war.      Father was an excellent carpenter in his day.
He did a great deal of building in and around Mirabile, records show
that he built one of the oldest churches in the county at Mirabile.
The children all attended country school at Plainview and went to
church at the Brookyn church between our home and Lathrop.  This old
church has just recently been torn down.      Interview  August 1934.


    CAPTAIN EDWARD D. JOHNSON OF MIRABILE AND KINGSTON     Narrator:
Mrs. Miriam Johnson McAfee of Hamilton, Missouri

    Civil War Troubles     Home Made Clothes and Winter Food
Corded Beds and New Organ

     Mrs. McAfee's father was Captain Edward D. Johnson.  He was one
of the three wealthiest men in this vicinity at one time; the other
two were J.D. Cox of Kingston and Sol Mercer of Clinton County.  He
was also prominent in the Civil War history of the county.  His father
was born in Ireland.  Edward D. moved from Ohio to Iowa and in 1854 he
bought a farm half way between Kingston and Mirabile where he was a
stockman.  His first farm was directly across from the old Eli Penney
(later Orr) farm.  He later bought the James place.      In 1864 he
enlisted in the Mexican War.  In the Civil War, he was made Captain
and raised one of the first companies for the Federal service in
Northern Missouri.  He was the especial object of the hatred of the
Confederate Thraillkill because two Southern soldiers were killed on
his farm.  Mrs. McAfee says that on two occasions the Thraillkill men
visited the Johnson home to kill him.  At the second visit he was
gone; and Mrs. Johnson and the children hid the valuables in the
orchard; put three or four dresses on each child and hid upstairs till
the men went on.  The first visit Captain Johnson had been called home
to see a sick child.  A Penney slave (Penneys lived across the road)
heard that Thraillkill was coming to get him, so he went across the
road to warn him.  The Captain ran out leaped on his horse jumped the
horse and rider fence and escaped.  His wife took his guns out and
pushed corn shucks over them.  When Thraillkill came, Martha Seeley, a
Mormon neighbor read his title clear for coming into a house of
sickness, so Thraillkill went away without his man.      Her girlhood
memories go back to home spun dresses made by her Mother, plain colors
for every day, checked ones for best.  The checked goods were made of
yarn colored in two shades, black walnut made light brown and blue
madder made blue.  These two colors were used on the loom.      The
girls wore shaker straw bonnets with pink and blue gingham tails to
school.  Then there were the slat sunbonnets worn continuously out
doors to preserve a fair skin. Tan was no sign of beauty then.
There were some interesting peculiarities about the home.  The front
and back doors were secured at night by an iron bolt laid across hooks
at the side.  There were two beds to a room under each bed was pushed
a trundle bed which the long bed covers hid.  Captain Johnson used to
crawl under a bed in the summer to sleep to avoid flies, for screen
doors did not exist.  The beds were all four poster, corded with rope
laced back and forth on hooks.  Beds had to be recorded about every
two weeks by the husband, otherwise they might let the head down too
low or let the two sleepers slide down in the middle.      Captain
Johnson was good to his women folks.  His wife was the first woman in
her district to have a sewing machine and a large cook stove and his
daughter Miriam (Mrs. McAfee) was the first one to have an organ.  It
was a two stop organ and cost $200 and had a name which she had
forgotten but which meant "I have found It."  The people came for
miles to see it; it was then early in the seventies.  The only musical
instrument anything like it in the district was a Melodeon owned by
the Lankford family who used to load it in the spring wagon and take
it to the Methodist church every Sunday.      The Johnson pantry and
smoke house were always full.  Seven or eight hogs were killed every
winter and one steer.  They smoked the pork and dryed the surplus
beef.  In the kitchen were the flour barrel, the sugar barrel and the
salt cask.  Captain Johnson took his own wheat to Crawfords Mill at
Mirabile and waited for his own grist.  The night before corn was to
be sent to be made into corn meal, the children shelled off the corn
and then made great houses out of the cobs.  The Johnson family moved
to Kingston when Mrs. McAfee was fifteen.      Interviewed  February
1934.


    THE JOHN ORR FAMILY IN MIRABILE TOWNSHIP.     Narrator:  Mrs.
Sallie Morris, 70, of Hamilton, Missouri

              Prairie Fires                         Trading in Town
Stock and Fences                      Banks and Money
Pleasant Valley School

     Mrs. Morris was born in Millersburg Holmes County Ohio in 1864.
Her father John Orr was born in Armstrong County Pennsylvania and John
was twelve when his people moved to Ohio.  He did not serve during the
Civil War but bought horses for the Government.  He was married to
Sarah Haley first and Prudence Criswell the second time and had twelve
children.  This large family containing several sons probably led him
to come west at the close of the war where he could get plenty of land
cheap.  First he came prospecting and then he went back after his
family.  He bought two hundred and twenty acres with a large house
from John Dodge for twenty five dollars ($25) an acre.  It lay half
way between Mirabile and Kingston.  This land before Dodge held it had
belonged to one of the Penney family, a slave holder, but when slaves
were freed he had to sell his incompleted house to come out even.
Orr's father came out soon too but the grandmother Orr stayed in Ohio
four years longer and came out with the Elliotts of Millersburg Ohio
who located at Mirabile.  The new Ohio settlers would stay at the Orr
home till they got a home.  The Orr home was big with many big rooms.
It took thirty yards of rag carpet to cover a floor.      When they
first came out, prairie fires were common, set on fire often to burn
the grass roots.  In despair over homesickness for Ohio, one of the
Orr boys said "he wished the prairie fires would burn up the whole
State of Missouri."  Wild turkeys were seen in the Orr district even
as late as the eighties, but she recalled no other wild animals except
the snakes.      The Orr family traded at stores in Kingston and
Mirabile.  George Treat was their Mirabile merchant.  The trip took a
half day.  Once or twice a year they took a whole days trading trip to
Hamilton or Cameron in the lumber wagon; and took the family lunch and
often the family dog too who guarded the wagon while they did their
trading.      There were laid out roads to Hamilton and Cameron
running past the Orr house, but the people often made their own paths
through the unfenced prairies, whether on foot, horse or wagon.  There
was much fording of streams, because there were few bridges.  Mrs.
Morris has seen most of the bridges that now stand in the Kingston,
Mirabile and Hamilton region erected in her own life time.      The
stock, being branded had free range in the sixties and seventies and
the stock law was passed requiring the owner to care for his own stock
it required the farmer to build fences much to the farmers objection.
Many of these fences were horse and rider (stake and rider) made of
tree branches, with a big waste of land resulting from the shape.
In the days of the seventies Mr. Orr was a man of unusual means in his
neighborhood.  His was a pioneer home without home made furniture and
home privations.  There was lots of land and considerable money.  He
did not use a Bank until 1879 when the Hamilton Savings Bank elected
George Lamson as Cashier.  People did not use checks then and needed
money handy.  When he got money he handed it to his wife to care for.
She hid it wherever her fancy led.  One day Sally (Mrs. Morris) was
hunting in a scrap bag and found a roll of bills.  Robbers would never
look there.      The Orrs lived in the Pleasant Valley School district
near Mirabile.  The district school was first held in a log building
in the yard of Mrs. George Walters (great grandmother of Mrs. Louisa
Kennedy).  Then the present school building was built one half mile
north of the Walters log cabin.  This school was the first one
attended by Mrs. Morris and Miss Rachel Houghton (sister-in-law of
Mrs. Morris) was the first teacher in that school.  Mrs. Morris' first
teacher was Mrs. Clark Edgecomb and her second Mr. Clark Edgecomb.
They had blackboards, chalk, Spencerian Copy books but no maps.  They
used slates with "spit" to erase them.  The middle aisle had the
stove.  On each side was a row of single seats and a row of double
seats built into the walls.      At seventeen she put on long dresses
and put up her hair.  The roach comb was the fashion then with teeth
at both ends to push back the hair from the forehead.  She went to
lots of play parties where guessing games were used.  Boys went
courting about once in two weeks.  Dances might be held in the big
kitchens.      Interviewed  March 1934.


    THE MORRIS FAMILY IN MIRABILE TOWNSHIP IN THE SIXTIES
Narrator:  Robert M. Morris, 74, of Hamilton, Missouri

    Mormon Community     Early Schools     Coffee

    Mr. Morris is the son of Henderson C. Morris and Nancy Kerr.  This
couple came from Kentucky to Caldwell County 1858.He eventually had
two hundred and sixty acres and became a rich man.  During the Civil
War, although a Southern sympathizer by wise action he escaped the
injury to life and property which came to many of his friends.  He was
right in the midst of the Kingston-Mirabile Federal center.  He lived
near Captain Johnson's home where occurred the killing of the two
Southern soldiers buried in the Morris cemetery.      The Henderson
Morris farm was on Goose Creek and the old Mormon road between
Lexington and Far West ran through his front yard, through the fields
and Goose Creek.  This same road ran between the Morris farm and the
Peddicord farm and today is yet to be traced in some places by a hard
depression.      Near this locality was the old Fugitt Mill of the
early day, one half mile east down the creek from Stoners Bridge,
north of Kerr.  By the sixties, this old Mill existed only as a memory
to the old timers and the name meant a fine fishing place to the
youngsters like Robert Morris.      This was an old Mormon community
and a few of the old Mormons still lived there who did not go with the
exodus of 1838.  Mrs. Bidwell, an Ohio Mormon, lived in an old cabin
as a squatter on the Billy Jones farm, even in the seventies.  She
declared that she would never die, being a godbead, but she did die in
the county poor farm.  Another Mormon was Mrs. Sealy, and a third Mrs.
Christopher Kerr (Sallie Whitmer, Aunt-in-law of Bob Morris).  She
called herself a member of the church of Jesus Christ and not a
Mormon.  She was a daughter of the witness Whitmer who saw the Mormon
Revelation to Smith and she kept the gold plates for many years.  They
were exhibited at the dedication of the Kingston Mormon church.  She
had a son by her first husband Ticky Johnson.  This Nathan Johnson
lives on the old Whitmer place at Far West.      Another early Mormon
character of that part was James (Jim) Richey now of Lamoni Iowa who
was known those days as a wonderful trapper and hunter.  (See the
Richey papers).  Still another Mormon was old Mrs. Smith (one of the
original Smith family) grandmother of Jim Richey.  In fact it was his
Mother's religion which he took.  His father was not a Mormon.
The Morris family went to Mill at the Spivey mill near Kingston in the
sixties and seventies and some went to the Crawford mill at Mirabile.
The farmer carried a two bushel sack of corn and the miller took a
peck for toll.  He would either sell this or feed it to his hogs.
One of Mr. Henderson's sons is the narrator Robert M. Morris.  He
married a neighbor girl Sallie Orr.  He first went to school to Mrs.
Charlie Stevenson - step-daughter of Wm. Goodman of Hamilton.  This
school was not tax supported but kept up by contributions of the
patrons and held in an old building of Mr. Morris' aunt.  The teacher
stayed with Billy Jones, a relative.  His next school was in a log
cabin which was said by some to be a "nigger shanty" in the yard of
Mrs. George Walters (great grandmother of Gene Morris and Louisa
Kennedy of Hamilton).  This was taught by a man Johnson Boyd, who gave
a great treat at Christmas.  It was apples; apples were scarce then,
for there were few orchards.  His third school was the Pleasant
Valley.      There were no section roads in the early sixties and
people rode and drove as they wished across the prairie to Mirabile
and Kingston.      Mr. Morris well recalls the green coffee ear.
Farmers would bring home a huge package of green coffee for a dollar.
The Women parched it in ovens and the children ground it in mills
every morning.  Coffee was cheap and people used it three times a day.
No coffee in bags was sold till about 1880, when the Arbuckle Coffee
came, costing two pounds for twenty five cents.  He never saw a paper
sack of any kind till about 1880.      Interviewed  April 1934.


    THE HARPOLDS, PIONEERS IN MIRABILE TOWNSHIP 1845     Narrator:
Mrs. Catherine Rogers, 90, Cowgill, Missouri

     Mrs. Rogers is the oldest child of Absolam Harpold of Mirabile
township; at the age of one year or eighty nine years ago she came
into the county with her parents Absolom Harpold and wife (whose
maiden name was Rhodes) both of Virginia.  They came on the river as
far as Brunswick, Missouri.  Then he engaged sleeping quarters for
wife and child in a blacksmith shop and came afoot to Kingston.  He
bought land on Goose Creek in Mirabile township got a wagon and went
back to Brunswick after his wife and child.      Time went on in
frontier fashion.  Mrs. Harpold's way of passing "wash day" is of
interest.  In the morning she started down to Goose Creek with her
bundle of clothes; she also had a mess of dry beans.  While the beans
were cooking in one pot, the clothes were boiling over another fire.
Dinner was eaten on the spot.  The clothes were hung on the bushes,
and while they were drying, they picked wild berries, plums or grapes;
going back home with a fine day's work done.      They manufactured
their clothes on their own farm beginning with the sheep's wool and
ending with sewing the goods by hand.  They dyed with various types of
bark, gentian, pike berries which gave red color.  Poke berries were
also used for ink.  They made their own yeast out of flour, corn meal,
yeast and potatoes.      Her father Absolam Harpold (1821-1864) was
one of the victims of the Civil War excitement in Caldwell County.  He
had served a three year enlistment in the Southern Army and was
returning home.  As he got off the train at Hamilton to go to his home
west of Kingston a personal enemy saw him and reported it.  One
Penniston killed his horse in riding to Kingston to report it to the
Home Guards.  When Harpold got out to his home, he surmised the state
of affairs and rode to Kidder to take the train west and get away from
trouble.  A report was sent to Cameron, the militia entered the train
and took him off--hanging him with very little delay.      Interviewed
August 16, 1934.


    THE CRAWFORD FAMILY AT KINGSTON IN 1867 AND HAMILTON IN 1875
Narrator:  Mrs. Joseph Crawford, 91, Hamilton, Missouri

     Mrs. Joseph Crawford born 1843 now lives in Hamilton but she came
into Caldwell County as a Kingston resident.  She was born in
Washington County Virginia, was of a Southern family and knew all the
troubles of the Southern people after the war was over.  Her husband
came from Tennessee.  After the war conditions were so hard in the
south, that her husband, who did not have much, decided to come west.
They came up the Mississippi river from Tennessee on a boat and it
took them four days and four nights to get to Illinois, where
Crawford's brother had already settled.  They had with them very
little baggage - for they had sold their old Conastoga wagon and some
furniture before starting.  In Illinois, they ran up against Bill
Schwartz who came from Caldwell County and told them how much better
bargains in homes they could get in Missouri.  He said if they were
not satisfied with Caldwell County he would pay their way back to
Illinois.  He brought them on to Kingston where Crawford began his
trade of shoe maker to which he had been apprenticed as a boy.  It was
a trade which meant good money those days.  Often he made $7 a day in
making (not mending) boots and shoes.      They bought their land from
Dr. Lemuel Dunn father of the late Dwight (Pete) Dunn of Hamilton.  On
this he built a two room shack and they lived there till his death
1872 aged 27, he lies in the old part of the Kingston Cemetery.
During the stay in Kingston, he held the highest office in the Masonic
lodge and most of his friends were Masons.  At that time Hugh Chain
and family kept the frame hotel (afterwards Cadman House).  Dr. Dunn,
Dr. Neff and Dr. Smith were the doctors.  She recalled old man Turner
and the older Spivey, Henry Botoff and a druggist Gudgell.  Most of
the people there were Northerners and so Crawford used to say to his
wife "We are in a Yankee settlement.  We have to lay low," especially
so when the war had been over only three or four years.      After her
husband's death Mrs. Crawford and two children Kate and Lula in 1875
moved to Hamilton to get something to do.  They were very poor.  For a
while she sewed for a living and took her pay largely in vegetables,
milk, meat, needing just enough money to pay rent.  At that time she
lived on the site of the Methodist parsonage.  Finally she began
taking care of Mrs. Dort who was an invalid, and stayed in the Dort
home as house keeper forty years.  There she still lives.  Her
daughter Kate now owns that very home and Ben Dort, who formerly owned
it, died a few years ago at the County Farm.      During 1875, there
was a scarlet fever epidemic here.  Her daughter Kate had a severe
illness; and when she recovered she began peeling off.  The doctor had
not known what the illness was but finally decided it was scarlet
fever.  She was the second one to have it in the 1875 epidemic.  It
grew worse and killed several children.  She had caught it from
visiting another little girl who was sick.  You see there were no
scarlet fever signs those days and no quarantine.  So it was no wonder
they had bad epidemics.  At that time, the doctors in town were Dr.
Stoller who had his office at his home south of the present Methodist
parsonage.  Dr. Tuttle in Claypool Hotel, Dr. Brown just starting out
as a young physician.  Dr. Ressigeau in present Katherine Houghton
home.  The dentists were Dr. Simrock above Nash Produce store and Dr.
Stevens over Wilson and O'Neil.  He made a set of uppers for Mrs.
Crawford which she has used ever since (56 years) without a bit of
repair.      The Rohrboughs were leaders then in town government and
business.  At that time Anthony and his son George owned the brick
block of two rooms now the Bram Store and ran a grocery and dry goods
store.  They said (so Mrs. Crawford reports) that they were going to
stay here till they made $100,000 and then go.  She says they made it
and then sold out 1879 and went to the city and lost it.  She said
they died in modest means.                    Interviewed  January
1934.


    THE RICHEY FAMILY OF RICHEY MILL AT SALEM 1833     Narrator:  J.L.
Richey, 85, of Lamoni, Iowa

     The Richey family is connected with the very early history of
Caldwell County, back of the Mormon days.  J.L. Richey, now of Lamoni,
Iowa but once a resident of the county near Kingston, was so
interested in our project that he gave us an interview in a letter.
"I was born one mile south of Kingston Feb. 12, 1849.  The Richeys
came there in 1833 and Samuel Richey, my grandfather, had the leading
part in founding the town of Salem.  There were three of the Richey
ancestors in the Revolutionary War but a fire destroyed the records.
My grandfather Richey had a large family as men did those days and all
worked hard in his mill, which was a pull-around type.  The burrs of
this mill are in McClelland cemetery.  My Aunt Mary married Dan Baker.
My father, Robt. Richey, married a Smith.  They came in with the
Mormons and I followed my mother's religion.  The Richey's were
Presbyterians.  My mother's sister Martha Smith Seeley was the first
white child born in Caldwell County.  When most of the Mormons left
the country after the Mormon troubles, ten families stayed in the
western part of the county.  The Seeley family, my mother's family and
the Snider family were some.  About 1862, the Richey family moved to
Iowa to avoid further trouble with Federal militia.  My uncles had
already been killed.  It was no wonder we moved.  Some of the early
Richeys are buried in the old Salem graveyard."      Mr. Richey was
well known in his youth here as a trapper and hunter and still wears
his hair shoulder length.  Within recent years, he built a boat and
rowed it down from Iowa to near Hamilton.      Interviewed  February
1934.


    ELDER R.C. HILL IN KINGSTON TOWNSHIP 1854 AND HAMILTON 1968
Narrator:  (Doc) Fielding Wilhite Hill, 82, of Hamilton, Missouri

     Mr. Hill is a son of Rev. Robert Chapman Hill and Mary J. Hume
who came from Virginia to Warren County, Mo. in 1834, then to
Knoxville, Ray County, then to Caldwell County in 1854 before the
Civil War.  F.W. (Fielding Wilhite was the name of a favorite Baptist
preacher) was born in Warren County.  In Caldwell County, they lived
on a farm about three quarters of a mile from Kingston, the present
Tantlinger farm.  They were there when the Civil War came.  They
bought part of this farm from John C. Myers who was killed during the
war.      The Hill family were southern sympathizers and two boys,
Robt. Livingston and Thos. S. enlisted in the Southern Army.  The
militia stationed at Kingston continually plundered the Hill place and
wore out their horses.  The three youngest boys, (F.W. was nine) did
the ploughing to keep the farm going.  Finally after seeing friends
killed in the militia activity and in order to get out before they
lost everything to the militia, they moved to Kentucky in 1863.  In
1869, they returned to Caldwell County and bought a 4 acre plot and
built a house on it, west of Hamilton.  (This place now belongs to
Joseph Smith and while on the outskirts of Hamilton, is in
town-limits.)  The old minutes of the Hamilton Baptist church show
that Brother R.C. Hill united by letter with the new church May 1,
1869 and left Nov. 1869.  Mr. R.C. Hill traded his place in 1869 to
Clark Martin for a farm near the present Cowgill where the family
continued to reside.  F.W. Hill also established his own family on a
farm in the Cowgill neighborhood.  He married Mary Eliza Tydings of
Monroe County, Mo., whose people were from Maryland.  Her father was
Edward Tydings and her mother, Amanda Lane.      He told of school
life at Kingston in the 50's.  It was a one-room school close to the
present Smith brick home.  Fellows often went to school till
twenty-five years old.  His first teacher there was named Quinn.  He
studied Ray's arithmetic and Webster Blue back Speller.  They used
home made copy books of fool's cap paper.  The teacher made a copy at
the top of the page to follow.  The seats were made of sawed logs with
peg-legs, were without backs and could be moved.  A big desk stood at
the side of the room where pupils went when they wished to write.  A
blackboard was at one end.      His father, Elder Robt. C. Hill, was a
missionary Baptist preacher even before he left Virginia.  He
organized the Cottage Grove Baptist Church near the southern line of
the county in the early 70's.  This church was first organized in the
schoolhouse; then when it was strong enough, the church building was
erected.  Later, this early church was moved to Cowgill where it is
now used for a town hall.  In those days, a would-be Baptist preacher
often studied at home and then was publicly examined by the church
officers and generally ordained in his home church.      Rev. Robert
C. Hill, his wife, and some of the other Hills are buried in the
Cottage Grove cemetery, originally in the yard of the old Cottage
Grove church.      Interviewed  June 1934.


    THE McCLELLAND KIN IN CALDWELL COUNTY     Narrator:  Joseph
Dennison McClelland, 72, of Hamilton

     Mr. Joe McClelland says he is related to most everyone in the
north part of Caldwell County and all his kin belong to the older
families, so he undertook to prove it.  Besides the family of his
brothers and sisters, he is related more or less to the Richey, Baker,
Jones, McBride, Snider, Rymal, Doddridge, Tospon families in this
county.      First in time comes the Richey family who came in 1833.
His mother was Aramintha Richey, who was the child of Sam Richey and a
McBride who became a local character as Mother Richey who ran the
Richey Mill after the death of her husband.  She was so capable and
strong that she could stand in a bushel basket measure and lift two
bushels of wheat (120 pounds) in her hand.  She had seven children,
Sam, Robt. R., Alex (killed in the Civil War), Aramintha McClelland,
Joe (for whom Mr. McClelland was named), also killed in the war,
Thos., Mary Baker.  The Richeys had their own graveyard on their farm
on the Salem townsite; The McClelland grandparents are buried in the
McClelland cemetery, where the present owner years ago forbad any more
burials.  Grandfather Wm. McClelland died 1854, aged, 64, while his
wife Elizabeth died fifty years ago, July 4, 1884 and was up in her
80's.  Her father from Virginia was Major Dennison of the
Revolutionary Army and from him, Mr. McClelland gets his middle name.
Thus at the desolate McClelland cemetery near Kingston lies a Daughter
of a Revolutionary Soldier, with grave stone down and covered by dirt
and bushes.  The McClellands came here about 1845 from Virginia.
Mr. McClelland's great grandfather McClelland was in the 1812 war.
After his return to Virginia, he went on a trip with considerable
money on him.  He never returned and was probably killed by
road-robbers for the money.      The Baker family into which his Aunt
Mary Richey married was an early southern family down on Crabapple
Creek in the southern part of the county.  Many of that family were
killed in the fall of 1864 in the militia warfare on southern
sympathizers.  Geo., Wm. Sr., and James were killed but Dan Baker, Mr.
McClelland's uncle by marriage, managed to escape.  The rest of the
Baker family sold their farm to Mr. Cheshire and moved away.      A
McClelland aunt married Geo. Rymal, a Canadian, who came to Kingston
before the war but went back to Canada during the war because of the
militia activities in this county.  After the war, he returned and
became a Hamilton butcher and carpenter.  Only one of his descendents
is now alive - Mrs. Wm. Parmenter.  Another McClelland aunt married
Wm. (Billy) Jones as his first wife and she died in 1849.  They lived
a mile south of Kingston.  His uncle Robt. Richey married into the
Mormon Smiths who were left in this county after the Mormon War.
James Richey or "Jim" as he is known is these parts, is a son of that
marriage and is a staunch Mormon.  (see his paper)  These Smiths were
some kind of cousins to the prophet Joseph and followed him here.
While the McClellands are related to several Mormons as the Sniders
and Richeys, they them selves are not of that faith.  It probably came
about because they settled near a left-over Mormon community and
intermarried.      The Snider connection is as follows; David and Jane
Snider were original Mormon settlers in Caldwell County with Joseph
Smith.  They stayed on after the migration to Illinois.  They lie in
unmarked graves in the Duston graveyard.  They had a daughter who
married a Hinkle and Hinkle's daughter, Ellen, married Joe McClelland
(the narrator).  The Sniders had a daughter Jane who married Hilton
Hooker, whose son Sam married Hattie McClelland, Joe's sister.
The McBride connection is the "Mother Richey" who was a sister of John
McBride, born 1802 in Hampshire Co., Va.  They were strong
Presbyterians in Va. which explains why Mother Richey was one, too.
John McBride came into the county in 1851 and the McBride family has
grown to large proportions hereabouts.      His daughter, Florence,
married first a Tospon, second George Doddridge whose grandfather Dr.
Joseph Doddridge came here to Mo. from Ohio in 1875.      Interviewed
January 1934.


    BILLY JONES FAMILY OF KINGSTON TOWNSHIP     Narrator:  Mrs. Mary
Mahala Smith, 83, of Hamilton

    Wm. Jones Family Very Early           Funeral Customs     Jones
and Far West Graveyard

     Mrs. Smith is the wife of Joseph Smith, retired farmer, and the
daughter of Wm. Jones and Martha Bailey, who was born in Kentucky but
came west to Buchanan County to live with Aunt Sallie Stout.      Wm.
Jones was a brother of Mrs. Caroline Peddicord of Hamilton ("Aunt
Tomony" to Mrs. Smith), also a brother of Mrs. "Dilly" Goodman (mother
of Bert Goodman and Mrs. James Collins).  Another sister was Mrs.
Rannels and a brother was "Cap" Albert Jones of Callaway Co.  The old
Jones family had two homes - one mile south of Kingston, on the Polo
road (before the Civil War) and five miles west of Kingston, a farm of
160 acres where "Cap's" widow now lives.      The Jones family came
very early into the county from Kentucky, in a wagon.  The Grandfather
Jones was dead but Grandmother Jones came along and died in a bad
epidemic of small pox before 1850.      To show how long the Jones
family have been here, Mrs. Smith says that when her father Billy
Jones used to go to the Mormon town, Far West (now utterly gone) to
take dancing lessons, he used to be scared out of his wits by screams
of panthers and howling of wolves.  She herself can recall seeing
several buildings at Far West, stores and dwellings in the middle
fifties.  Her father taught his children the dance steps he had
learned in that dancing class - the reel and French Four (quadrille)
and others.      Billy and Martha Jones' children were Minerva Marino
Pollard of Kingston, John married Elizabeth McBeath (cousin of Bob
Morris), Millard Fillmore married a Haywood out of the county, Mahala
married Joseph Smith, Jeff Davis married a Taylor of Cameron, Lilly
and Annie died unmarried, Fronia married a Wyckoff, and two infants
died.  It is not strange that the Jones clan can "claim relation" to
much of Caldwell County.      The Jones graveyard is about in the
middle of the first Jones farm.  Once enclosed by a fence in
timberland, it is now a cow pasture.  Following the custom of the
times, they put up no permanent grave marker and now the graves are
lost.  The dead there are Grandma Mahala Jones, died about 1850,
Peggy, sister of above; two small children of Wm. and Martha Jones,
________ Clark, the first husband of Aunt Dilly Goodman; Willie Jones,
son of Wm. Jones and his first wife, a McClelland; a colored slave boy
of the Jones family.  Near by at the Far West Methodist Church is
another private graveyard, that of the Hill where J.T. Hill and family
are buried.  Mr. Hill gave the site to the Methodists for a church
because his dead were there.  The church is now unused except by bats.
     Mrs. Smith recalls some of the grave-customs of her day.  The
neighbors built the coffin; it was their sign of sympathy instead of
modern flowers.  A grave was dug the depth of the coffin.  At the
burial the coffin was set in this hole and the lid or boards laid on
top, on a level with the ground; then the ground was heaped high.
Often burials were made without a word being said over the body.  This
memorial service might occur a week, a month or a year after burial or
not at all.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    WM. McCLELLAND FAMILY IN CLADWELL COUNTY 1845     Narrator:  Mrs.
Hattie Hooker, 86, of Hamilton, Missouri

    Old Salem Town

     Mrs. Hooker is the widow of Sam Hooker, grandson of David and
Jane (Spurgeon) Snider orginial Mormon settlers in Caldwell County who
did not join in the generation migration to Illinois after the Mormon
wars.  (David b. 1795 and Jane b. 1804 - lie in unmarked graves in the
old Duston graveyard.)      Mrs. Hooker is the grand daughter of Wm.
and Elizabeth McClelland.  He died 1854 and she died 1884, both are
buried in the old McClelland, which used to be considered McClelland
ground; but after the graveyard was started in was ascertained that
the first surveying was in error and it belonged to another.  The
McClelland family came here from Virginia probably about 1845 or
earlier.  The family themselves have been in the county so long that
they have lost the exact date.  They settled just east of Kingston on
what was known later as the Jess Butts farm.  They were not far from
the Sam Richey farm on the site of Salem, hence we find Aramintha
Richey becoming the wife of a son of Wm. McClelland.  This couple were
the parents of Hattie Hooker and Jo McClelland of Hamilton.  Wm.
McClelland built a fine house - a log house of three ground rooms and
two above.  The kitchen was lower than the main part and formed an L.
There were three chimneys to the house and it was a famous landmark
along the road in the forties and fifties as the house with three
chimneys.  On this account too Wm. McClelland got the name of being
very rich.      Because her grand mother was Mother Richey of the old
Mill Mrs. Hooker was over to old Salem a great deal.  The old road
from Salem to Kingston ran by Grandma Richey's home which was on the
site of the old town.  As a small girl, she used to ride the sweep on
the old mill horse at the Mother Richey horse mill.  Grandpa Richey
was dead by then.  In fact, she still has a scar from falling off the
sweep while the horse went around.      She recalled the terrible news
that her Uncle Alex Richey had been shot in the Civil War by the
Militia.  Her story of the killing is some what different from that
found in the Caldwell-Livingston History.  The Richeys sympathized
with the South but they were trying to get on good terms with the
Northern militia for the sake of their homes and lives.  Mary Richey,
a sister of Alex and a daughter of Mother Richey had married Dan Baker
of the Crab Apple Southern sympathizers.  The Richey men and the Baker
men had been to Kingston one day to swear not to harbour any bush
whackers; and the next day they were to start to Richmond to swear
allegiance to the Union; but hearing soldiers coming, they "laid out."
Their motives were mistaken and they were captured and killed as bush
whackers.  Alex was buried in the Knoxville cemetery.      Interviewed
April 1934.


    HUGH CHAIN, AN EARLY KINGSTON CARPENTER     Narrator:  Miss Sarah
Chain, 81, of Hamilton, Missouri

     Miss Chain was born in Ohio but came to Kingston as a child when
her father Hugh Chain brought his family there 1859, shortly after the
Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad had started up new towns and a
building boom in Caldwell County.      Hugh Chain was a carpenter and
had a good trade.  He would often be gone from Kingston for weeks on
jobs, at times as far as Hannibal to build houses.  An old freight
bill for lumber dated July 2 1860 involves his name.  J.A. Brown owner
of the lumber yard at Hamilton consigned the lumber to A.G. Davis, the
freight agent at Hamilton--the nearest freight station for Paxton and
Chain.  Its freight cost was $39.60 for one car of 2,000,000 pounds, a
charge which is less than the present freight rates from Hannibal.
Chain was building for Paxton of Mirabile, father of the well known
Paxton brothers of Hamilton.      During the Civil War, Chain had a
narrow escape from death.  He with Aaron Pfost and other Kingston and
Mirabile men were captured by the Thraillkill (Confederate) force, and
were in danger of being killed, but were released when Pfost showed he
was a Mason and threatened the Thraillkill force with Masonic enmity
if any was killed.      When Miss Chain was a little girl, the Indians
occasionally used to roam in small bands through Kingston scaring the
children to death, but only wanting food.      Miss Chain taught
school in the county for over thirty years beginning in the 70's.  In
those days, you got a certificate by going up for examination on
appointed days.  There were three grades lasting one, two and three
years.  Later in the 80's the summer Teachers Normal was held for four
weeks ending with examination.  Stephen Rogers of Kingston was County
School Commissioner 1874-83.      The Chain family ran the Kingston
House (later Cadman) at Kingston for several years and in 1881 Mr.
Chain built the Chain House at Hamilton (now the Snyder Hotel).  After
Mr. Chain's death 1884 the three Chain sisters ran the Hotel.
Interviewed  February 1934.


    CALDWELL COUNTY POOR FARM     Narrator:  Mrs. Ada Dunn of
Hamilton, Missouri

     Mrs. Dunn is daughter of Sherman Minor Bassett and Elinor Fort.
The Bassetts came to Caldwell County in the late seventies from
Coshocton county Ohio and at their arrival at Kingston they landed in
the "poor farm" as they like to say.  At any rate, they stayed for
some weeks with Eldert Fort and wife who for several years managed the
county poor farm.  Mr. Bassett's new farm which he bought "sight
unseen" through Mr. Fort is the present Seth Hootman farm near
Mirabile.  Mrs. Dunn was about thirteen when she came west to Missouri
and expected to see a very wild and wooly country - despite the nice
things the Forts had written back.  Missouri had a bad reputation in
the East.      Having lived in the Poor Farm, Mrs. Dunn knew something
of its history.  A family by the name of Nixon owned the place which
is now the poor farm.  He died and the administrator of the estate,
Mr. Orr sold it to the County 1873.  At first there was a small house
on the place which is the back of the present large building.  They
had a custom those days of keeping mildly insane cases there as well
as the aged poor.  The above Mr. Orr's daughter said that hardly had
the Poor Farm started when they had two hard cases - Billy Blood who
was crazy and Ann McCollum who was so afflicted that she could not sit
in a chair and she sat hutched up on the floor.  Both these old folks
are buried in the graveyard that is on the farm for the old folks who
have no friends to claim their bodies.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    F.D. CLARKSON FAMILY AT KINGSTON IN EARLY SEVENTIES     Narrator:
Mrs. Clara Brosnihan, 82, of Hamilton, Missouri

    A Wagon Train of the Sixties     Clarkson and Farabee Families
Frozen Mince Pies     Early years at Polo

     Clara Clarkson was born in Knightstown Indiana July 1852 and came
with her parents T.D. and Hannah Clarkson from Indiana to Missouri
1869.  The Jacob Allee family, T.D. Fort family and T.D. Clarkson
family all started to Missouri with some six or seven covered wagons.
They had a safe journey and before reaching Missouri they were in
company with sixteen or seventeen wagons, not all stopping in Caldwell
County.  They all stopped on Saturday afternoon, baked, bathed and did
their washing with no Sunday travel.  She thinks their trip took over
a month.      The Clarksons had once been prosperous but T.D. signed a
note for a relative and lost money, so in order to be miles away from
his mistake he decided on a new country.  He came with a sick wife and
six children and settled at Kingston.  Clara (a sister of Nathan
Clarkson once a Hamilton Post Master) helped in every way for the
comfort of the family.  Her mother died a year after they cam to
Kingston.  Her father edited a Kingston paper for a time and she
worked in the printing office.  She says that work really was her
schooling; sitting on a high stool in a print shop.      She became
the wife of Oliver Farabee in Polo 1872.  They had a Hotel, Livery
Barn and a General Store in Polo, in fact they were about ALL Polo for
several years until the Milwaukee Railroad came through there.  Mr.
Farabee died 1886, when the first ground was just broken for the
railroad.  After that, she and the girls worked hard to keep going;
later they moved to Kansas City and she married Mr. Brosnihan.
She tells several interesting tales of the pioneer years when she was
Clara Clarkson.  She used to ride from the Fort farm to near Bonanza
behind an ox-team.  She used to go horse back to attend spelling
schools and singing schools and to attend dances in a sleigh - if
possible.  When mince pie time came they always baked a lot of pies,
eight or ten, in the big oven the same day.  Then came the problem of
storing them till all were eaten.  Some people wrapped them up in
paper and kept them in a bin out doors.  The Clarksons wrapped them
and put them in the frozen rain-barrel where the pies also froze.
Before a meal, they were re-heated in the oven.  They were delicious.
The early home makers make their own bread, butchered, made soap,
dried fruits and vegetables, rendered lard, knitted sewed carpet rags,
and were always ready to help in sickness at the next neighbors.
Interviewed  May 1934.


    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.


    THE JACOB WONSETTLER FAMILY AS PIONEERS NEAR KINGSTON
Narrator:  Mrs. Sarah Wonsettler, 86, Kidder, Missouri

     Mrs. Wonsettler is the widow of Jacob Wonsettler who came into
Caldwell County in the early sixties.  She is the daughter of Wm. A.
Morrow, a pioneer in Daviess County 1854 coming when she was six years
old.  (For those pioneer days, see paper of Mrs. Aurora Williams,
another Morrow daughter.)      At the age of twenty she married Mr.
Wonsettler and came to Caldwell County where they rented of John D.
Cox three miles east from Kingston and stayed there five years.  On
the place was a heavy body of hard maple timber, about one hundred
trees located south west of the creek bottom.  They had a sugar camp
every year while there.  She still recalls the whole process.  You
make spiles of elm out of which you could pinch the pith, fitted them
into the sugar trees and caught the drip in troughs below.  The
troughs were occasionally emptied into pails.      Then you fixed up
an out door brick furnace with a chimney at one end and on it you
placed a twenty five gallon kettle with the drip from the maple trees.
You skimmed it occasionally and got syrup.  If you wanted sugar, you
boiled it more and stirred it till it grained.  They had square pans
about five inches across and sold the maple sugar cakes in stores for
10 cents a piece.      Mrs. Wonsettler recalls how she used to make
with her own hands absolutely every inch of her clothes, back in
Daviess County.  Her father kept sheep for wool.  There was no big
older son, so she did boy's work in shearing and washing the wool.
Then it was sent usually over to Watkins woolen factory in Clay County
to be carded although at times she did it at home on small cards.
Then she spun it, wove it and sewed it up.  And when the dress had
belonged to one or perhaps two members of the family and was out worn,
she would tear it up for carpet rags.  Thus she said she could trace
material from a sheep's back to a carpet - all work done on the home
place by her own hands.      She told of early dress styles.  One mode
of trimming was cording.  You used candlewick or twine and sewed it
into the seam, of course by hand.  Her mother would hold up a length
of calico or home spun, from the neck to the waistline of the person
to be fitted.  This person would hold the cloth in position while Mrs.
Morrow cut out the arm-holes and neck line.  That was the way they
made waist patterns for many years.  The skirts were full made of
straight breadths and hung to the ground.  Hand sewing was an art then
and no rough seams were allowable.      Interviewed August 1934.


    EXCITEMENT AT THE COUNTY SEAT CALDWELL COUNTY     Narrator:  Mrs.
Fannie McLaughlin of Hamilton, Missouri

    "Stealing the County Seat"          The Hamilton-Kingston Railroad

     Mrs. McLaughlin was born in Columbiana County Ohio.  She came to
Caldwell County with her parents David Cannon and Mary Drake 1869 in
the boom days after the Civil War when the Hannibal and St. Joseph
railroad were advertising the county through which its tracks passed.
Mr. Cannon was a farmer and bought near Kingston.  His son John Cannon
was a druggist in the eighties at Kingston.      Soon after she came
to Kingston she heard the story of how Hamilton had tried to steal the
Court House from Kingston.  The project was active in 1867 and it was
still much discussed with some rancor remaining against Hamilton
leaders who had backed the scheme.  They had planned to take a tier of
townships from Daviess County and that would put Hamilton in a central
place in Caldwell County.  Being a railroad town - which Kingston was
not - would make it a better County Seat.  Kingston, knowing its life
depended on keeping that honor fought against the plan and it was
defeated in the Legislature but it left an ugly feeling between the
towns for years.  It has been stated on good authority that Hamilton
was so sure of the plan that rock was hauled for a courthouse
foundation on land owned by A.G. Davis, one of the sponsors.  (In Fact
Miss Minnie Ogden whose father bought that site, stated that their
foundation was made largely from rocks already on the lot for the
above purpose - Interviewer's note.)      However in late years the
two towns joined together in a project for their mutual good - i.e.
getting a railroad for Kingston, which has always been a dream down
there.  In 1890 the Haines, Hamilton and Kingston railway was
completed and Kingston had a big day.  Haines was a capitalist from
away some where who soon got out of the deal.  The railroad than
became known as the H. and K.  It soon was a joke in this territory.
The road bed was poorly built, the engine was old and always to be
repaired.  It might stop in the middle of a cornfield or even on top
of a forty foot trestle and the passengers would have to walk.  D.G.
McDonald conductor and Tom Livick fireman were the crew.  Finally it
went into bankruptcy in 1902.  To-day nothing is left of the H. and K.
but the old right of way cuts.      Interviewed  February 1934.


    THE KERN FAMILY OF KINGSTON TOWNSHIP     Narrator:  Mrs. Martha
Ellen Baker, 78, Hamilton, Missouri

    Home Made Clothing                    Ox-team Rides

     Mrs. Baker is the widow of Edgar Baker who came into Caldwell
County with his parents 1869.  She is the daughter of Margaret Ann
Zachary who married first Daniel Z. Cox (1817-1851) who is buried in
the Brown Cemetery and who is the grandfather of Mrs. Josie Borden of
Hamilton, second F.J. Kern, who was the father of Mrs. Baker.  Her
parents were both early settlers.      As a girl, Mrs. Baker lived
north and east of Kingston.  Mrs. Kern, her mother carded all the
family wool on a pair of cards.  She spun all the yarn, and wove all
the cloth for every article of clothing except boots, shoes and hats.
She insisted on her children wearing woolen hosiery all year around.
She and her girls knitted diligently to keep up a supply.  She striped
the dyed yard with bright colors for stockings.  She knitted mittens
and even gloves which were not clumsy.  Mrs. Baker says she can't
recall seeing her sit down with idle hands.      For colors, she used
white oak bark, which being boiled with the yarn or cloth gave a
golden brown color.  The red and yellow dyes had to be bought at the
general store or drug store.      She also wove carpet for herself and
customers.  The carpet loom was rarely empty.  Sometimes the rags
would be assorted for striped carpets, sometimes mixed for hit and
miss.  Sewing rags was a fine way to put in a winter evening, with a
dish of apples near by.      Mrs. Baker's brother Charles Kern often
drove the ox-team (Tom an Jerry) to Kingston in the sixties.  Both
Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Josie Borden her niece had ridden behind them.
The oxen wore a yoke instead of collar and the driver used no lines
but directed them by his long ox whip and by gee (right) haw (left).
These orders were plain to them and they went along nicely.  Usually
they were allowed to go their own way - a brisk rolling walk.  If
pushed they went into a dog trot.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    THE JAMES HOUGHTON FAMILY AS PIONEERS IN NEW YORK TWP.
Narrator:  Katherine Houghton of Hamilton

    Houghton History                    Early Hardships
An Accident at Otter Creek          New York Families in N.Y. Twp.
New York Cemetery

     James Houghton and his wife were among the New Yorkers who helped
start the so-called New York settlement in Caldwell County in the
60's.  Mrs. Houghton was Amy Jane Hall who was born in Jefferson
County, N.Y. in a community called New Connecticut because the
settlers were from that state.  Her parents were Caleb G. Hall and
Catherine Lewis.  They were prosperous and progressive people as shown
by the fact that in 1875 they had a furnace and carriage and other
niceties of life.      Mrs. Amy went to rural school, then to Antwerp
Academy and then taught school and "boarded round."      In 1875, she
was married to James Houghton, once also of Jefferson County, but then
of Caldwell County, Mo.  He, in 1865, had started out from home with a
youthful comrade to see the country.  They went through this section
on a train and it pleased him.  He got a job as a brakeman on the
Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad and "fell for" the rolling farm lands
through which his train ran.  Finally he quit railroading in the fall
of 1865 and bought a farm in the present N.Y. township, where his
family lived for several decades and which is now in the possession of
his daughter, Katherine.  His farm like others at the time, was not
fenced, so he split rails in 1867-8 and fenced it.  His father, Otis
Houghton, brought his family out in 1867 and set up a home near by.
When  James Houghton's bride came out in 1875, she naturally found a
contrast to her New York home.  Here were few fenced fields, roads
were laid but little used since it saved miles to cut across the
prairie; no bridges but people forded the creeks; no buggies but
people used lumber wagons or as New Yorkers said "double wagons."
She had been here just a week when she had an alarming experience.
Mr. and Mrs. Houghton and his family (Otis Houghton) had gone to town
to buy dishes, kitchen utensils, sugar and flour to fix up James' new
home.  It was in the spring and snow was melting.  They forded the
Otter Creek easily in the morning but in the evening they met with
much trouble.  They were in a "double wagon" and the force of the
water dragged the horses and Mr. Houghton holding the lines, also the
wheels and the wagon frame away from the wagon bed in which were left
Mr. Houghton, the elder, Mrs. Houghton and their purchases.  The wagon
bed drifted on till they came to the log of a tree.  There they caught
hold, but the force of the water carried away the wagon bed and their
stuff and left them hanging to the log.  Finally, Mr. James Houghton
got to shore with the team, caught the wagon bed, rescued them and
their only loss was sugar and flour.      After James Houghton came to
this county, other families from Jefferson County, N.Y. came, too.
First, there were the three Austin brothers, Jake, Bill and Oliver;
Jake bought a section and sold some to his brothers.  Other Jefferson
County settlers were the Searls, Salisbury, Thwing, Enos Boutwell
families as well as the Owens, Doyle, Wolcott, Few, Combs families
from other N.Y. counties.      Mail was a scarcity.  Four families had
an arrangement whereby each took a turn at bringing out the mail from
Hamilton for the four families.  This was usually once a week but in
the winter in bad roads and weather it was at longer intervals; and at
times Miss Houghton says, there was a gunny sack of mail sent out.
The community in 1875 started its own cemetery, New York Cemetery, in
which the first burial was Mrs. Lucy Houghton buried Feb. 23rd.  It is
now endowed with $1200.00 for perpetual care.  The original plot was
one acre donated by A. Wolcott.  This has lately been increased.  The
community also a soon built its own church.      This New York
township was originally settled by what the New Yorkers called
Missourians but the New York settlers soon became the dominant
population and the community is generally known as New York
settlement.      Interviewed  June 1934.


    THE COX FAMILY LIFE     Narrator:  Mrs. Sarah Hannah Puckett, 68,
Hamilton, Missouri

    Missourians and Yankees            Spring Valley Teachers

     Mrs. Puckett belongs to two of the older Caldwell County
families.  Her father was John Cox and her mother Lydia Welker.  The
Coxes were some of the Virginia families who lived in what is now New
York and Fairview townships.  They did not like it very well when a
large group of "Yankees" from New York state came into the community
in the late sixties to buy land near them.  At first there was a sharp
line of difference between the two groups of settlers.  The New
Yorkers called the earlier settlers Missourians and the latter called
the later comers Yankees, both with a tone of their own superiority
(see note at end).      John Cox was a son of old Jesse Cox
(1801-1852) and Sally Cox (1794-1892) early pioneers in this county.
The old Jesse Cox place was one-quarter mile east of the Cox
Graveyard.  Jesse's boys were, Enoch who married first Jane Crist and
second a Miss Martin; Nathan who married Lucy Brown; Jeremiah (Jerry)
who married Mary Hatfield and John who had four wives:  Nancy Peabody,
Lydia Welker, Nellie Wells and Mrs. Culp (Kay Culp's Mother).  Jesse
Cox's wife (Sallie Edwards) lived to be almost one hundred years old
and almost blind but she could always tell the denominations of money,
silver or bills.  The John Cox place is now owned by James Puckett.
It was a quarter south of the Puckett land.      Mrs. Puckett went to
Spring Valley or Cox School and some of her early teachers were:  John
Boyd (afterwards Post Master at Nettleton) Charles Cline, Courtland
Van Slyke (buried many years ago in the "Old" Hamilton Cemetery)
Phoebe McFee and Mollie Stubblefield who taught about sixty years in
this county.  Mrs. Puckett attended Hamilton High School 1882 under
Prof. Guttery.      John Cox used to trade in Hamilton, coming at
first across prairie land, any which way and going around the streams
or fording them.  He used to say that he recalled when only two or
three houses stood between them and Hamilton, one was the Jacob Kautz
house.  He knew Hamilton when there was a saloon, a store and a
blacksmith shop here.  Early settlers produced most of their eats and
clothes at home and rarely came to town to buy "bought on goods."  In
the early Cox home, whatever bacon could not be used at home was
hauled to Lexington to be shipped south.      Most of the early Cox
family lie in the Cox Graveyard; Nathan lies in the Brown Cemetery;
the Pucketts lie in the Cox.      Interviewed July 1934.

Interviewers note:  The Yankee-Missourian feeling of animosity
gradually wore off in New York settlement but it continued fairly
strong today in the Kidder community.


    THE KAUTZ FAMILY IN CALDWELL COUNTY     Narrator:  Worth Kautz of
Wichita, Kansas

     The Jacob Kautz family came to Caldwell County in 1859 from
Illinois to which they had come from Indiana.  They settled in what
was known as Grand River township now New York township in the
Pleasant Ridge district.  They came in a slow ox-wagon.  The settlers
who came here in the fifties had a much harder time than those who
came in the sixties, for every year of pioneering advanced conditions
of living in a new country.  There were three sons; George, Ross and
Worth; six daughters; Laura (Dodge), Emily (Lemon), Hannah (Lambert),
Margaret (Noel), Annetta (Houghton), and Mollie (Spivey).      When
they came here they all lived in a covered wagon till the house was
finished; and since there was not yet sleeping room inside for the
boys, they slept that winter out doors in the covered wagon.  In those
days of 1859-60, the Kautz house has been mentioned by old-timers as
one of two houses to be seen for twelve miles south of Hamilton.
When the Civil War was about to break out and it became likely that
the oldest boy George would be expected to go to war, he went back to
Illinois to enlist with boys whom he had known before they moved to
Missouri.      Those first few years were hard ones.  They had to find
the right crops for the new soil and they had to subdue the soil.
They had to provide for the family needs and they had very little
money to spend.  They rarely ate store victuals for most of their food
came off the place.  They had little white bread mostly corn-bread.
Worth was the youngest son and he went with his mother on her trips to
gather berries (gooseberries, strawberries, blackberries,
elderberries); to gather herbs for medicine since doctors were costly
and far away.  He used to hunt bee trees for by the old law of the
land the finder of a bee tree had the honey, no matter where the tree.
He and his father and brothers shot or trapped wild game and kept them
for winter meat.  He told of hunting deer with Al Pemberton of the
neighborhood.      The Kautz and the Houghton family intermarried.
Annetta Kautz married Ira Houghton.  Mary Houghton married George
Kautz and Sophia Houghton married Ross Kautz.      Interviewed
November 1933.


    ANDREW BAKER - PIONEER PREACHER OF NEW YORK TOWNSHIP 1860
Narrator:  Mrs. Caroline Williamson, 84, Breckenridge, Missouri

     Mrs. Williamson is a grand daughter of Elder Andrew Baker and
Nancy Bryant.  Rev. Baker was born in Washington County Virginia 1797
and died about forty years ago.  He was an outstanding character in
the church history of Caldwell county.  His grandfather Andrew Baker
was a farmer-preacher in Virginia and was a chaplain in the
Revolutionary war.  He himself followed in his grandfather's steps and
was ordained a Baptist Elder at Versailles Indiana in which State he
and his young wife had moved as pioneers in 1828.  In 1860 he moved to
Caldwell county in what is now New York Township and acquired a farm
of 400 acres.  While a splendid farmer in reducing the unimproved
lands to fertility, he never forgot his church and the ministry.
He busied himself in arousing an interest in the Missionary Baptist
church in his community.  For some years they had held occasional
services in homes before he came on the scene.  Finally he organized
the Hopewell Church; its organization dates from November 10 1866; and
he and his wife Diana, his son Thomas and wife, his grand daughter
Caroline (later Williamson), Sarah Cox, and Elizabeth Puckett were
some of the constituent members.  He preached there till he died.  He
gave liberally to the church building erected 1867 and besides gave
$1000 to be loaned at 6% to be used in paying a preacher's salary.
This fund still is being used for this purpose.      When the Hamilton
Baptist church was being organized in May 1868 at the home of Elder
Bennett Whitely we find Elder Andrew Baker there to help in the
organization as a messenger from the "Baptist church on Shoal near the
mouth of Crab apple Creek" which was an early designation for his
church.      By his first wife, Elder Baker had ten children.  After
her death 1861 he married Diana Bateman and had two daughters Mrs.
Hattie Young and Mrs. Grace --- who was a milliner here in Hamilton in
the nineties.  Grace Baker his youngest child was much younger than
his grand daughter, Mrs. Caroline Williamson the narrator aged 84.
Rev. Baker is buried in the Hopewell Cemetery.      Interviewed
September 1933.


    EDWARDS FAMILY IN NEW YORK SETTLEMENT     Narrator:  Mrs. Ollie
Peabody, 86, Hamilton, Missouri

    The Trip From Virginia               Reasons For Moving
The Marriage Cap                     Frolics of the Edwards Family

     Mrs. Peabody was the daughter of Isaac Edwards and Nancy Moore of
Grayson County Virginia who made the trip from the hills of Carroll
County Virginia to Caldwell County in a covered wagon 1849.  They
settled in New York Township then called Grand River Township.  Mrs.
Peabody recalled much of that trip west which took six or eight weeks.
They were strict Campbellites and did not travel on the Sabbath.
Whenever they stopped Saturday night they stayed till Monday Morning.
They herded their cattle along the road and often the cattle were a
day behind the wagons.  At night the women folks slept in the wagons,
the men folks under the wagons.      There are two reasons for their
coming west.  First Mr. Edwards had several of the Edwards clan (who
largely composed the neighborhood) marry their own cousins; and he
said he was going away so his children would not have to marry their
cousins.  Again little Ollie (Mrs. Peabody) had the pthsic and needed
a change.  When they started she had to stay in the wagon, but when
she got to Caldwell county she could ride horse back.      Mrs.
Peabody was never seen without a cap to the day of her death.  She
said she put on a cap with her wedding veil and after that she was
never without it except to comb her hair or wear a hat.  It was a sign
"back there in Virginia" of a married woman.  At night she wore a
night cap.  Mrs. Rosamond Bowers her sister knew of this custom but
did not observe it.      The social events of her day were many.
Infair dinners were always given the second night after a wedding.
Her own family gave an infair for an orphan girl who had been married.
There were dances, games and the Virginia reel.  She and her sisters
used to ride horseback half a day from the Bowers home in New York
Township to attend a "play party" up at the Bowers home in Daviess
County.  They would stay all night and return the next day      Mrs.
Peabody's brothers and sisters who came to maturity were:  Celia,
Solomon, Amos, Haywood, Rosamond Bowers, Matilda Hawks and Ruth
Wonsettler.


    IN NEW YORK TOWNSHIP IN THE SIXTIES     Narrator:  Mrs. Mary
Kautz, 87, of Hamilton, Missouri

    Houghton Family     Horse Back Riding and Roads     School
Teaching in the Sixties

     Mrs. Mary Kautz is the daughter of Otis Houghton.  In the spring
after the close of the Civil War, her brother James came into Caldwell
County as a visitor and was so well impressed that he went back and
told his father that out in Missouri there was land which you could
plow all day long without striking a stone.  He came back and bought
and the father came also in 1866.  Both bought land from the railroad
in what is now called New York settlement because so many New Yorkers
settled there.  The Otis Houghton farm is the present Ben Mackey farm.
It is sometimes said that the Austin families were the first New
Yorkers to settle there but really James Houghton came earlier but
without a family.  (See Katherine Houghton paper for further data.)
When the Houghtons came there were no roads between New York township
and Hamilton.  Often, she said, she would lose her way in the many
horse paths across the prairie.  Then she dropped the reins and left
the matter to the horse, who would pick out the way, especially on
returning home.  She used to come to town with a long black riding
skirt and a satchel for her shopping.  In town she would find a horse
block and get off; let down her riding skirt and go shopping.
Mrs. Kautz was one of the early teachers in that country.  She had
already taught in New York so she easily got a school here.  Her first
school was the Radical log school, the Pleasant Ridge, then Wolf
Grove.  She "boarded round" in part of her experience.  She got $2.50
cash per week and her board from the patrons.  At Pleasant Ridge she
got a little bit more and she paid her board at the home of Jacob
Kautz whose son George she afterwards married.  Her description of
school life of that time are very interesting.  She said that
sometimes there was no uniformity in readers, arithmatics etc.; that
at the Radical school every pupil brought what ever text book they
happened to have and had to be taught out of it.  When she complained
to a director he said "she had better put up with it, for there was
prejudice in the district any way against stuck-up Yankees."  The
country down there was settled with Southerners before the New York
people came.  All three schools in which she taught had about the same
type of seats and desks.  At three sides of the room were writing
desks made of planed logs and held up by supports, underneath was a
second shelf for books.  The seats faced the wall and also were made
of planed logs - no backs.  Some short ones had "milk stool" legs,
some long ones had uprights at intervals.  When the children recited,
they had to turn around and face the teacher.      She recalled that
she took her teachers examination under Floyd McAfee' grandfather, he
being the county school commissioner.  She said it was oral and took
about half a day.  A cousin of hers came out from New York who had
been off to school.  She had a New York certificate and they let her
teach without any examination.      Aunt Mary Kautz today has a wide
reputation as a fine cook.  About thirty five years ago she baked
bread and doughnuts and redeemed a large debt.  Until very recently
she baked the chicken pies for the annual Congregational Church
Supper.  Her 87 years' vigor makes her a character in Hamilton.
Interviewed on her 87th Birthday  February 2, 1934.


    THE FILSONS IN NEW YORK TOWNSHIP     Narrator:  Mrs. Zelma Adams
Filson, 70, Hamilton, Missouri

    School Affairs               Shoal Creek Tricks

     Mrs. Filson is the widow of Thomas Filson of Hamilton and the
step-daughter of John Owen.  She was born in New York State and she
came west with her Mother and her step-father in the colony of New
York neighbors who settled in the present New York Township and
Fairview Township in the late sixties.  (For her remembrance of Haun's
Mill, the old Mormon site, see special paper.)  There she grew up.
In her seventeenth year, she took her first teachers examination for a
license to teach.  Steve Rogers of Kingston was the School
Commissioner.  He gave her a very severe oral examination on account
of her youthful aspect, thinking she might be poorly prepared.  She
passed and later 1883 taught in the primary department of the
"Hamilton Graded Schools" as they said those days under Professor
Guttery.  This was in the old north side brick which was torn down
about 1905.      She married Thomas Filson 1884 whose father James
Filson had come into the county from Kentucky prior to the influx of
the New York settlers.  There were two Filson brothers, Washington
(known as Wash) and James (Jim).  They settled in the forks between
the Otter and the Shoal Creeks.  Jim, being nearer Shoal, soon saw
that he had made an error when he put his log cabin in the rich bottom
land; for every time Shoal would get up it would come right into the
cabin; and they putting the chairs on the tables would go over to
Wash's house till the creek went down.  So when they built their
permanent home, they dug a cellar of only two feet then heaped up a
high foundation and built the house that.  When Shoal came up, it
filled the cellar two feet but could not get into the house.      When
Mrs. Filson and her husband were married they lived in this very
house.  She recalls one time that Shoal came up to the house and when
it receded they went out in the yard and picked up a mess of fish.
This farm was afterwards sold to E.G. Wallace who lived there many
years (and so did the Interviewer who taught down there).  Mr. Wallace
told the same "fish story" about the fish once being picked up in the
grass of the dooryard.  Since the Filsons lived there, Shoal Creek has
changed its course at least once; and in flood years ruined many a
corn crop but at other times has given bumper crops in its bottoms.
Captain Wash Filson was a member of the Caldwell County Home Guards
during the Civil War and his duties brought much trouble to him with
the Southern sympathizers of that neighborhood.  Jim was not active in
the War.  He had three sons come to maturity, Thomas, Frank and
Alfred.  Wash's children were George Leonard, Samuel and Mrs. Dave
Paullin.  With the exception of Mrs. Filson there is not a person
living today in the county by this name; so widely has the family
scattered.      Mrs. Filson's daughter married James M. Hill a
grandson of the pioneer Samuel Hill (see paper).      Interviewed June
1934.


    THE PUCKETT FAMILY IN NEW YORK TOWNSHIP IN 1859     Narrator:
James Puckett, 79, of Hamilton, Missouri

     Mr. Puckett was born 1855 in Carroll County Virginia.  With his
father Constant Puckett and the other members of the family, he came
1859 to Caldwell County to live.  Constant's brother-in-law Elisha
Edwards already lived here.  They came to Lexington Missouri by boat
and from there overland by ox team.  When ever any relation came out
to visit the Pucketts, they always drove over to Lexington after them.
     Constant Puckett first bought a forty from the Government in New
York Township, later an eighty from the railroad, six miles south of
the railroad, the land still is in the Puckett name, being owned by
James the narrator.      James' father and some of the sons were in
the Union army.  Neighbors of the Pucketts were:  Elisha Edwards, John
Cormona, John Cox, Isaac Edwards and Billy Hawks.      His first home
was a one-room log cabin later a shed kitchen built on.  The cabin had
a window at one end and a chimney at the other and a door in front.
Inside was a bed, a trundle bed to be shoved under the bed and often
beds on the floor for the children.      The church was Hopewell,
Baptist with Father or Grandpap Andrew Baker (they called him both) as
pastor; in this church Mrs. Constant Puckett was a constituent member.
     The school was Pleasant Ridge and early teachers were: Mr.
Woosebeck, Annetta Kautz who married Ira Houghton, Miss Scott (later
Clevenger).  Amusements were literary societies, debates, spelling
matches and all day work like husking corn at some farm when the women
quilted and the food "was brought in".      Mr. Puckett recalled some
of the old farming ways which he had known as a youth.  There was the
old linch pin wagon and the stiff tongued wagon which used the linch
pin wheel, the jumping shovel plow for ground with stumps (it was like
a single shovel but had a cutter in front of the shovel which made the
plow jump the stump) there was the old wood turning plow.  He recalled
how first the ground was broken with one yoke of cattle, then run over
with single shovel plow, then planted by hand from a seed
bucket--three seeds to the hill (one to rot, one to grow, one for the
birds).  The plow then went through the parallel lines, then checked
in the other way through and at each check seeds were planted.  Then
it was covered by dragging a stone the size of a pillow over the
field.  Later came the hand planter, still later the horse planter.
Changes came to in cutting wheat.  First a bunch of wheat was taken in
hand and cut with a hand sickle until enough was done for a bundle.
Then came the cradle and the binder.  Todays' machinery combine many
of these steps.  The old wheat threshing was done on a "threshing
floor" which was really hard ground swept clean, then the wheat was
spread out with heads all in the same direction and horses were driven
over it in a circle.  It was cleaned by a fan.      Few people had
buggies those days.  Billy Clampitt, and Charlie Hawks were the first
in their part.  The buggies (later spring wagons) cost $150 to $200
and that was a lot of money to spend when you already had a farm
wagon.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    THE WALDO FAMILY IN FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP - 1868     Narrator:  Mrs.
Louisa N. Chapman, 84, of Breckenridge

     Mrs. Chapman is the daughter of Asel Waldo and Aurelia A. McNutt,
both of Lake City, Ohio.  On her father's side, she descends from Seth
Sprague who fought for his country in the Revolutionary and 1812 Wars.
In 1846, Asel Waldo took up a homestead in Marquette County,
Wisconsin, and in 1868 joined the land rush to Caldwell County,
Missouri.  His farm was near the site where the next year the new
town, Proctorville, was founded by Dan Proctor.  A "ramshackle" school
house was built in the corner of a cornfield and Mrs. Chapman, who had
had some good schooling in Wisconsin, was the second teacher there.
The Waldos kept sheep and sent their wool to Berlin and Brunswick to
be carded and made into rolls 18 inches long and as big around as
one's finger, from which the mother and the girls knit the family
stockings and mittens.  Mrs. Chapman and her mother both spun and
today she can still run an old spinning wheel.  While both knew how to
weave, they did little of their own weaving but put it out to an
expert woman who did it for the community.      At the age of 22, she
married J.N. Chapman and he first helped her father with the large
tract of land, and later bought a part of the farm.  They have three
children, Elizabeth Morse, W.W. of Braymer and Asel B. of Madison
County, Mo.      Mrs. Chapman recalls in the late 60's, still in the
Reconstruction days after the war, that her father and Mrs. Chapman
both had to take an oath of allegiance to the government before they
could vote.  Those days women sufferage was just a wild dream and any
woman who wanted to vote was a kind of a freak, and rather unladylike.
     Interviewed  1934.


    THE PROCTOR FAMILY OF FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP 1856     Narrator:  J.M.
Proctor, 74, of Braymer, Missouri

     Daniel Proctor the founder of the village of Proctorville was a
pioneer farmer, merchant, doctor, legislator and preacher and did all
well.      Coming to this section in 1856 from Illinois with his
family and settling among strangers, the next day he attended a house
raising and announced preaching for the next Sunday.  Upon coming to
the log house nearby appointed for the service the next Sunday, he
called for a Bible and was given a large Biography a scoffer.  He took
his text and preached as if he had a Bible.  This was the first
religious service held thereabouts and was followed by service every
Sunday.  Black Oak, Shoal Creek (now Proctorville) and Ludlow were his
appointments.      In 1860 Dr. Proctor (as he was usually called) was
ordained Elder by Bishop Ames.  The war came on and most of the
preachers left.  He kept up his appointments.  At Black Oak, one
Sunday they had fear of trouble.  When Dr. Proctor arrived at the
church the members were there with their guns.  He took out his pistol
and laid it beside his Bible and preached.  The enemies came but were
careful to keep a mile away.  All around this circuit as the war went
on, more Ministers were afraid and left and some were killed.  Dr.
Proctor stayed right on for he was a fearless person, helping to build
churches, planning church work, caring for the sick for all of which
he received very little compensation.  His first purchase of land was
320 acres on which he erected a store, postoffice and saw mill which
he operated during the winter months.  His holdings increased until he
owned 200 acres much of which had cost him 50 cents per acre.  A part
of this land is still owned by his son J.M. Proctor now 74 years of
age.  He is a retired farmer living in Braymer, Missouri and it is a
fact of which he is very proud that this land has always been in name
of Proctor since it was bought from the Government and never had a
mortgage on it.  Daniel Proctor gave each of his thirteen children a
farm and kept for himself a comfortable competence.  He was a member
of the 23rd General Assembly also 39th General Assembly.      As a man
he was held in high esteem.  One of the laws introduced by him and
passed was the one compelling the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad to
pay for stock killed by the trains, which forced that corporation to
fence in their right of ways.  Up to that time, there was no fence and
with stock ranging over the prairies, there were many cattle killed by
the trains.      Interviewed  June 1934.


    THE CHAPMAN FAMILY OF FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP     Narrator:  W.W.
Chapman of Braymer

     Judge J.N. Chapman was born 1846 in Ontario, Canada, the son of
Benjamin and Mary (Pepper) Chapman.  Benjamin and his wife were both
natives of Ireland and had come to America as the land of promise for
struggling Irishman.  From Canada, as a temporary stopping place, they
went to Wisconsin where lands were being opened up for settlement
rapidly about 1846-47.      He came to Caldwell County in 1869, where
the Waldo family also from Wisconsin had preceded him by a year.  He
settled in Fairview Township and began working as a "hired hand" for
$16.75 a month, which meant food, room and washing.  Later, by close
economy, he laid up enough to purchase half-interest in a farm (Waldo)
which had been bought for $13.00 an acre.  In 1919, he sold the farm
for $125.00 an acre.  During his farm-experience, he passed through
all the changes of method of getting a crop which other old-timers
have described.  When he quit farming in Fairview Township  in 1907,
he had the latest farm implements on the market, and was known as a
wealthy man.      Mr. Chapman was married 1872 to Louisa Waldo (whose
paper describes the Waldo life in Fairview township).      Mr. Chapman
got his title Judge from serving for eight years as presiding judge of
the county court (the only man in the county who served that long).
He spent the last years of his life in his home in Breckenridge.
Interviewed 1933.


    THE CHESHIRES, EARLY PIONEERS IN CALDWELL COUNTY     Narrator:
J.R. Cheshire, 88, of Hamilton

     James Riley Cheshire was born Jan. 3rd, 1847 in Jefferson County,
East Tennessee.  He came with his family to Caldwell County on the
17th day of Oct. 1857, locating in the Cottonwood District, one and
one-half miles northwest of what is now Polo.  He started to school
there in that district.      After living there three or four years,
the family moved about ten miles east.  They rented a farm on
Crabapple Creek owned by Wm. Baker.  Most of Mr. Baker's boys had gone
to Ray County to join the Rebel forces, for these were Civil War days,
and Mr. Baker had moved from his farm to an adjoining farm belonging
to his son-in-law.  So, the Cheshires moved to the Baker place which
had a big log house.      Mr. Cheshire, although only 14 years old,
can remember very vividly the tragedies occurring in their
neighborhood.  He saw one of the Baker boys and Mr. Ritchie, a
brother-in-law, soon after they had been shot by the Union soldiers.
This happened just a half mile from his home.  These men were moved to
the Cheshire home and prepared for burial.  Just as the men were being
placed in their coffins for burial, the militia came but they did not
molest the bodies.  The Cheshires, taking no part in the war, but
living in that particular section, were suspected and their house was
searched several times for fire arms and Rebel soldiers.  Mr. Cheshire
saw the old man Baker (owner of their home) marched into the timber
and heard the three shots which were fired into him.  Soon as the
militia had ridden on, he and his sister, five years old, ran to the
old man and spent several hours guarding him, (for in those days the
hogs had free range, there were no fences) until word could be sent to
the coffin maker and they could get help to move him.  It took a half
day to make a coffin and it was not started until after the death
occurred.  The hatred against the Bakers was so great that the
Kingston militia decided to burn all their property, so the Cheshires
were ordered to remove their goods from the house, and it was set on
fire.  Having only one wagon and team, Mr. Cheshire's father borrowed
a yoke of oxen and wagon from a neighbor and moved the family back to
Cottonwood.  Because an older man would be suspected of carrying news
into the Baker boy's community, Mr. Cheshire, then 15, was sent to
return the wagon and oxen.  He had no trouble making the trip over to
the old home but on the return trip, as he walked up on the top of a
hill, he was spied by a troop of soldiers.  They rode up to him and
although he explained to them why he was there, they did not believe
him and cursed him.  About that time, a young man who belonged to the
Knoxville militia rode up and knowing him, befriended him.  Mr.
Cheshire says those were hair-raising experiences.      When Mr.
Cheshire was seventeen, some officers came to their farm and demanded,
at the point of a gun, that he enlist in the Union Army.  This he
refused to do and told them to go on and shoot him but when they found
they could not scare him they went their way.      A neighbor, moving
to Nebraska, asked Mr. Cheshire to drive his cattle through, so he
did.  He worked at a saw-mill in Nebraska until spring, then started
home.  The trip from Omaha to St. Joseph, costing $8.00, was made by
boat on the Missouri River, then from St. Joseph to Hamilton on the
Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad and from Hamilton he took the "Green
Stage," a stage coach operated by Judge Green of Gallatin.  Mr.
Cheshire said the roads were heavy with mud and the stage was so
loaded that the men had to ride on top with the grips.  It was
necessary for them to get off and walk up each hill.  He walked at
least half the way to Kingston.  The price of the ticket from Hamilton
to Kingston was $1.00.      Mr. Cheshire farmed in the summer and did
carpenter work in the winter.  He helped to build the first buildings
in Polo, working on the first business house there.  He built several
homes and barns.  He had a little money, a team and some implements,
so he rented a farm.  He married Harriet Ann Hill in 1876.  She was
the daughter of Rev. W.R. Hill, an early pioneer Baptist minister, who
helped in organizing the Missouri Baptist General Association on Aug.
27, 1834.  Soon, Mr. Cheshire bought a 40 acre tract and built a small
house.  They moved into the house on Dec. 11th and during the night
there was a twelve inch snow.  He had no barn yet and it was a
difficult task to get enough corn from the field to feed his stock.
It was customary to turn all the sheep in the country out on range in
the spring.  Each owner using his own brand on the ear of his sheep.
By fall, there would often be one thousand sheep to be brought in.
The owners would set a date to meet and pick out their own sheep.
Often times there would be a lot of sheep unclaimed and these would
continue to graze until cold weather.  When the sheep got cold, they
would hunt shelter and the farmers would take them in, reporting that
he had so many strays.  It has been known that some greedy farmers
would go to the farmers reporting stray sheep and claim them when he
knew they were not his.      Mr. Cheshire sold his improved 40 acres
and bought 160 acres, partly improved.  As soon as he was able, he
bought 80 acres more.  All this time, he was continuing his carpenter
trade.  With a partner, he was making coffins.  He was the first
person in the county to make a "flat top coffin."  It made a big hit
with the people and this style was used afterward instead of the
rounded tops formerly used.  These coffins were of hard wood, nicely
finished and varnished and lines.  They sold for about $5.00 or $6.00.
     Mr. Cheshire lived on his farm until he retired and moved, with
his wife and two daughters, to Hamilton about twenty-three years ago.
Kingston was the county seat when he first moved to the county, and it
was the largest town in the county.      The first plows that Mr.
Cheshire used were single shovel plows drawn by one horse.  He bought
his first double shovel plow in 1871 against his father's wishes.  He
traded a cow for his first cultivator.      Mr. Cheshire's mother made
all the clothes from sheep's wool and cotton grown on their farm.  She
made a suit for him which was a beauty and wore for many years.  The
last pair of boots that he bought were made by Henry Murphy of Polo.
These boots were high heeled and were decorated around the top.  They
cost $8.00 and Mr. Cheshire wore them several years for Sunday before
taking them for every day use.      Sammie Mathews, a fast friend of
the Cheshire family, owned the first carriage in the county.  The
Mathews were very wealthy and dressed their negro slaves better than
most white people could afford to dress.  Every Sunday they could be
found at the Presbyterian Church at Mirabile, Mr. Mathews, his family
and all the slaves.  Mr. Mathews built a brick hotel at Cameron in
1864 (now the "Cameron Hotel") and the Cheshires visited them at the
hotel many times.      Mr. Cheshire has a walnut press which he made
sixty-seven years ago.  He bought the tree from a negro, cut it,
hauled it to a mill and made the press, taking great pains to finish
it well.  He has lived through five droughts, 1864, 74, 81, 1901 and
1934.  The 1934 drought being the worst he has ever known.  Though he
has traveled much, he has never voted outside the county.


    FARM LIFE IN THE FIFTIES IN DAVIS TOWNSHIP     Narrator:  Andrew
F. McCray, 91, Cowgill, Missouri

    Subscription School      Threshing Wheat        Marketing Farm
Products

     Mr. McCray was born 1843 in Calloway County Missouri.  When he
was five years old his parents Wm. McCray and Nancy Carroll McCray
came into Caldwell County.  Wm. McCray had been up here first to look
around.  He came on a Missouri River Boat as far as Camden and walked
over from there to the farm he wanted to look at.  He finally traded
for it.  It was an eighty and lay five miles west of the present site
of Braymer in Davis township.  His father was a blacksmith and was a
bit asset to the new country, the nearest shop being eight miles away.
     The first school that Andrew Frank McCray attended was a
subscription school (supported by money paid by the parents so much
per child and not by taxes).  There was not yet any school tax or any
organization of districts in that part of the county.  He was nine
years old when it opened the spring 1852; it was three miles from his
father's house but the walk was nothing.  The school house was made of
sawn logs and was quite large since it cared for children from a large
territory.  It was called Black Oak School.      His father raised
wheat and corn.  Wheat was a hard crop to raise those days, because
the severe winters often froze it out.  It was threshed by hand and a
flail on a prepared floor on the ground or might be tramped on a
prepared ground floor by horses in the age-old fashion.      Prior to
the Building of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad through the
northern tier of townships in the County 1857 everything had to be
freighted to or from Lexington by teams of horses, mules or oxen.
Lexington traders sent the stuff east and west.  A neighbor woman used
to sell chickens in Richmond at $1.25 a dozen.  The little surplus -
if any - prior to the completion of the railroad was consumed at home
by neighborhood shortage or by new settlers who had come in between
crops.  Since there was no market nearer than Lexington; farmers had
little inducement to raise large crops - just something above their
year's necessities.  Of course after the railroad went through,
farmers could ship their produce easily at Hamilton.      While Wm.
McCray began his life in Caldwell County with eighty acres, he finally
acquired a thousand and twenty acres which shows the size of some of
the early farms when land was very cheap.      Interviewed  January
1934.


    LIFE IN DAVIS TOWNSHIP BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR     Narrator:  Mrs.
Mary J. Eichler, 93, of Braymer, Missouri

     Mrs. Eichler is a daughter of Conrad Oster a pioneer settler of
Caldwell county.  She was born in the little town of Mirabile January
27 1841.  When she was three years old, her parents moved three miles
west of the present site of Braymer.  There she grew up amid the
simple pioneer conditions of the forties and fifties.      Her father
Conrad Oster (b. 1815) was the son of George L. Oster (an 1812
soldier) who came out with his family into this county 1839 and
located in what is now Mirabile township.  In fact, the Oster family
unloaded their big wagon on the very site of the present Mirabile.
From there Conrad Oster as said above moved to Davis Township where
the Oster name became well known.      While at Mirabile Mr. Oster
helped build the first store building erected there for Wm. E. Marquam
(pronounced Markum and sometimes spelled that way).      Those were
the days of wild turkeys, deer, ox-teams, and cumbersome lumber
wagons, when neighbors were few and far between and highly valued.
Trips to town meant barter, not spending money.  The expression "I
finished my trading." meant exactly that.  In her youth, Kingston and
Mirabile were the only towns in the county.  Occasionly the men folks
went to Lexington on business.      In 1864 Mary Jane married Henry
Eichler a native born German who had served in the United States
Regular Army and had been stationed in the western plains.  He bought
a ranch in Wyoming.  Apparently he was in our county to buy cattle for
his ranch when he married her.  He and his young wife started to drive
the cattle back to the ranch and got there after many troubles.
To begin their story, it took them two days to come with their ox team
from Davis township to Kingston.  They rested a night then started out
again.  Almost immediately an axle broke and that made a delay.  They
took ten days to get to St. Joseph (already people were saying "St.
Jo").  Then came the hard slow journey in a wagon-train over the
plains to Fort Laramie.  The wagon-train was not attacked by Indians
but their ranch home was destroyed later.  Such losses made the
Eichlers long for Caldwell County.  They had lost their first born
babe there also.  In 1866 Mr. Eichler bought one hundred twenty acres
in Davis Township and later his estate was five hundred sixty acres.
Interviewed  1933.


    EARLY DAYS AT BLACK OAK     Narrator:  Mrs. Kelley Brown of Far
West

     Mrs. Kelley Brown is a grand daughter of John T. Davis who came
from Illinois into Caldwell County just after the Black Hawk War where
he served with the Illinois troops.  He and his wife Margaret Moore
were married when she was sixteen years old.  When she was twenty-two
they came into the county in the summer 1840 and built near Black Oak
Grove as it used to be called.  There were no windows or doors hung in
the cabin.  They hung a wide cloth at the door and window openings.
He needed windows and some tools for his work, so he left her alone
and went back over the long pioneer trail to Illinois to get them.  He
was gone about three weeks and she used to build fires at night by the
cabin door to frighten away the panthers who frequented those woods.
The cry of the panther was something to scare you even at a distance,
and especially terrible at your own door.      The Davis brothers were
the first settlers in what is now Davis Township after the Mormons
left.  John T. Davis' place was a little south west of the present
Black Oak village.  Davis Township was named after this family.  His
father Dennis Davis (1791-1879) a Black Hawk soldier came into the
county with his sons.  He and most of the Davis family are buried in
the Black Oak Cemetery, which is quite early in date.      Interview
taken  July 1934.


    THE ROGERS AND McDONALD FAMILIES IN EARLY CALDWELL COUNTY
Narrator:  Elwood Rogers, 68, of Hamilton, Missouri

     The interview with Mr. Rogers is quite important because he is a
great grandson of Jeremiah McDonald who made the first land entry in
Caldwell County in the present Rockford Township 1832.  Moreover Mr.
Rogers is a son of George F. Rogers who in the period 1860-85 was
widely known as a Mason and a well-to-do sporting gentleman of the
community north of town.      Jeremiah McDonald never lived in
Caldwell County, but lived at the foot of the Devil's Backbone in Ray
County and died there after the Civil War.  He was a well known
character, especially for his frugality, living poorly in spite of his
large land holdings.  In 1839 Randolph his son entered a quarter
section in this county.  Part of the present Rogers farm north of
Hamilton is land entered by him.  He had two daughters, one Lockie
married George Rogers and the other, Eliza, married Haman Hemry of
North of Hamilton.  When George Rogers came to this vicinity, he lived
in a log cabin which is still standing in part on the Rogers farm.
Elwood, the son of George lived for awhile in his youth near
Lisbonville a village less than one hundred yards south of the
Caldwell County line, with his grandfather Randolph McDonald who lived
near the south line of Rockford township in the county.  The common
name for Lisbonville then was "Chicken bristle" or "the Bristle."
This little hamlet became a dead town when the Milwaukee railroad went
through the south part of the county and the post office moved from
Lisbonville to Elmira.      Elwood's uncle by marriage was Haman Hemry
who was the son of Abraham Hemry - an early settler (1856) in this
county and quite a queer fellow.  Abraham loaned money and had many
notes on people in Daviess, Caldwell and Ray Counties.  He used to
ride around collecting interest, his notes stuffed in saddle bags.  If
a man could not pay interest, Hemry would stay at his house and board
it out.  Haman's brother Issac was mysteriously murdered near Kidder
1885 - a murder never solved.      But the most interesting of all
Elwood Roger's kin was his father George F. Rogers a son of George
Rogers a pioneer of Daviess County.  Swarthy, tall and erect, he
affected a wide-rimmed black hat of the southern type, Prince Albert
coat, heavy watch chain and flowing ties.  He was a ladies man by
instinct and manner.  He was self educated to such a degree that he
became Deputy Grand State Lecturer for the Masonic Lodge.  A farmer by
blood and living but he hired most of the work done.      He was an
old fiddler and loved to play for dances.  When he died he left his
fiddle to Bob Bryant.  He wanted it to go to a good fiddler and his
son did not play.  In his youth he used to ride clear from Rockford
Township twelve miles up to Daviess county to dances.  It was at a
dance he met his future wife from Rockford township.  In this
connection, it may be said that girls too rode long distances to
attend dances, spending the night, while young men went home after the
dances.      The following story shows George Rogers, the hot-tempered
fire eater.  He had a little trouble with a fellow named Harrah who
worked for him on the farm, and fired him.  Harrah came back and
"agged" him into a quarrel.  Finally he invited Rogers to bring out
his shooting irons.  Rogers replied with a motion of his fists that
they were the only shooting irons he needed.  Finally he got his
revolver and they shot it out.  It ended in the wounding of Harrah.
Rogers rode to town after a doctor and paid the bill and gave himself
up but no action was ever taken.  Afterwards, the two men being Mason
made up their quarrel.      Interviewed  1933.  (See also the story of
George Rogers by S.R. Guffey.)


    THE DEATH OF E.G. WALLACE     Narrator:  E. Green Wallace, 85,
Kingston, Missouri

     Mr. Wallace was born in 1840, his parents being Abathal Wallace
and Adaline O. Stanford of Tennessee and later Livingston and Ray
Counties Missouri.      Mr. Wallace was for many years a farmer in New
York township owning the earlier Jim Filson farm.  In his youth he had
an adventure which is known to all of his friends.  He tells it thus:
During the Civil War he tried to get through the lines and reach his
brothers in the Confederate army.  He with other were captured by
militia and were lined up to be shot since they were considered
guerillas.  At the crack of the guns Mr. Wallace received no shot but
he fell and feigned death.  To make sure of killing the men, the
militia leader shot each of the victims through the head; but in Mr.
Wallace's case the bullet passed through his hat, cut off a lock of
hair and went on without harm.  Thus he twice escaped death but he was
reported as dead by the militia.  After nightfall he crawled away to
bushes and escaped.      Soon after this occurrence he realized that
the safety of his parents' home was well as their lives were
endangered because of the son's enlistment in the Southern Army.  He
talked it over with his father.  His father was about to move to Ray
County (as he did afterwards) to avoid trouble.  He advised Green to
enlist in the Union Army cause as a member of the militia for his own
safety.      He gave him a swift riding horse and said "I hope you
know how to use it."  So whenever Mr. Wallace was in action as a Union
militiaman, some how the unmanageable horse always turned and ran
away, carrying young Green with it.      Mr. Wallace married Mary A.
Kesterson 1865.  The Wm. Kesterson family was also of the Southern
side.  They had been "burnt out" by the Caldwell County Militia in the
Crab Apple trouble of 1862.  Not long after the family moved to
Nebraska to get out of further trouble with the militia.
Interview taken 1932 a few months before the death of E.G. Wallace,
August 1932.


    THE KILLING OF HUMPHREY WELDON     Narrator:  Dr. Libby Woolsey of
Hamilton, Missouri

     When Dr. Woolsey was quite a small boy, the horror of the Civil
War in Caldwell County was about him.  Many men who expressed Southern
sentiments were slain for it.  Dr. Woolsey's brother had enlisted in
the Southern Army and the family lived mid a bunch of Southern
sympathizers near Breckenridge.  His Uncle by marriage on his father's
side was Humphrey Weldon who was known as a "rebel" sympathizer.  He
lived a little this side of Lick Fork Church.      June 8 1864 some
Confederate prisoners had escaped from St. Joseph and it was reported
they were making for southern friends at the Weldon Settlement near
Breckenridge.  Two militia forces sent out to get them June 9 mistook
each other for the enemy and attacked each other.      That night a
militia force supposed by the family to be Captain Noblett's men went
to the Weldon home and called Humphrey out.  They asked him who was
harboring the fugitives?  He said, "That if he knew who was harboring
them, he would not tell."  They straight way dragged him off and shot
him full of holes.  After firing the barn, they departed.  The Weldon
family hearing the shots, guessed his fate and went out and found his
body.  He was buried in Lick Fork Cemetery.      Interviewed  July
1934.


    THE KILLING OF JOHN C. MYERS     Narrator:  J.W. (Billy) Myers of
Cowgill, Missouri

     Mr. Myers is a grandson of John C. Myers and a son of Sam Myers.
This is a story which he says has come down concerning the death of
John C. Myers.      John C. Myers, his wife Leah Brinnell Myers and
their young family came by wagon from Pennsylvania to the Mirabile
community in 1841.  There they lived the very simple life of pioneers.
Mr. Myers was a Democrat and was sheriff of Caldwell County 1856-60.
He was re-elected for two more years.  However, the Civil War was in
the air and being a firm believer in Secession he refused to take the
oath of fidelity to the Federal Government.      This act was widely
known.  Moreover he was prominent in the Secessionist activities.  He
once rode at top speed June 10 1861 to warn the Secessionists who were
gathering in Woodson Ardinger's store (their headquarters) at Kingston
that the Federal Troops were marching from Hamilton to Kingston.
He went South and entered service.  In the fall 1862 he came back.
The fedual order was that all Ex-Confederate soldiers should surrender
to the Federal authorities in the county.  He told his family that he
feared to do this lest the Unionists kill him under some excuse; and
he preferred to take chances in avoiding capture.      On November 4th
1862 he went to the home of an old friend in Rockford Township, where
he lived before he went to Kingston as sheriff.  This man was Henry
Whitenack.  He urged Myers to surrender but Myers would not.  Some
enemy must have seen him for after nightfall the ever wakeful militia
came to the house and called Myers out.  They began firing and then he
ran - falling mortally wounded.  The family had a surmise about the
identity of the members of the force.  (See a variation in this story
in the Caldwell-Livingston History.)  Mr. Myers is buried in the Hines
Graveyard, which was probably open to "Rebels."      Interview taken
August 1934.


    THE HANGING OF JIMMY SILKWOOD     Narrator:  Mrs. Kelley Brown of
Far West

     Mrs. Brown was reared in Davis Township and often heard her
father tell the Jimmy Silkwood story, which is another one of the
tales showing the rough treatment given the War prisoners on both
sides in the county during the Civil War.      John T. Davis of Black
Oak her grandfather, was hauling supplies for Col. Mulligan at
Lexington and the Thraillkill (Confederate) raiders came into the
Black Oak Grove vicinity.  Knowing John T. Davis' work they started
out to "get" him and stop the supplies.  Davis hid out.  Jimmy
Silkwood who was working for Davis was caught and questioned.  While
he knew where Davis was, he refused to tell.  They threatened to hang
him yet he would not tell.  They tied him hand and foot and hanged him
to a tree and left him.  They had thrown the rope over a limb and tied
the end around the trunk.  He struggled, the knot slipped and he
dropped to the ground.  He wormed his way down to the Davis house and
Grandma Davis cut the rope loose.  To his death, Jimmy had a knot on
the side of his neck and carried his head on one side as a result of
being hanged.  He is buried in Black Oak cemetery, his grave being
marked with a field stone.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    BRISTOW - CASEY FIGHT     Narrator:  Wm. Bristow of Hamilton,
Missouri

     Wm. Bristow farmer is a nephew of Judge Wm. Bristow who was a
participant in the killing at Hamilton of John Casey and son John in
1864.      He tells the story thus:  Judge Bristow was sitting in a
Hamilton Store (The story told by others say it was the Kemper store
located on the present picture show site).  The elder Casey came in
pretty drunk.  He began to swear at the Northern Army and the Federal
supporters, swinging his arms wildly.  Finally they got over Bristow's
head.  He held a knife.  Bristow first thought he just was talking
generally but finally he said "Do you happen to mean me?"  Casey
replied, "Yes, if you want to take it that way."  There upon, the
Judge knocked the elder Casey down.  Casey arose and went into another
store (other Narrators say it was the Buster Saloon and Grocery across
the street and across the tracks).      A little later, young Casey
came in the first Store and pulled out his revolver, saying to Bristow
that he would get anyone who struck his father.  Both men  got on
their feet in a quarrel.  The Store had two doors on east and west.
The Old Casey entered now by the east with his knife.  "I reckon he'd
have cut Uncle's head off if it hadn't have been for his silk
handkerchief around his neck, " Mr. Bristow said.  At the same time
both the Judge and Young Casey shot.  Casey's shot went wild.
Bristow's shot killed Casey.  Then Judge turned around to settle the
Elder Casey and saw him lying on the ground - shot seriously by some
bystander - he never knew exactly who it was.  Old Casey died the next
day.      Years after - a story goes that a stranger introduced
himself to Judge Bristow with the remark that he saved Bristow's life
on the above occasion.      After the double death in the Casey
family, the Caseys moved nearer Gallatin.  Judge Bristow's work often
took him to Gallatin but he always feared to go, for a Bristow-Casey
feud arose out of the killing.  For a long time the Bristows carried
guns when in the Casey neighborhood; but the ill feeling gradually
disappeared and no further harm came of it.      This version  varies
somewhat from the version p. 194 in History of Caldwell-Livingston
Counties 1886.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    KILLING OF SOUTHERN SYMPATHIZER IN CALDWELL COUNTY     Narrator:
Mrs. Mahala (Jones) Smith, Hamilton, Missouri

     Mrs. Smith belonged to the Billy Jones family near Kingston.
Southern sympathizers; but they were very careful of what they did and
said for several of their friends were killed because of their
attitude.      Mrs. Smith was thirteen when in 1864 Richard Lancaster
and Stump Breckenridge, two southern soldiers were killed, right in
her own neighborhood.  These Thraillkill men were killed by the Home
Guard, hut no one knows exactly by whom.  At the time Captain Edward
Johnson seemed to be blamed somewhat because the men were shot on his
farm but he always disclaimed the shooting.      They were shot one
evening and the next morning about 8 o'clock Captain Johnson who was
the big military man there ordered out the Southern neighbors to bury
"their men" in the near by Morris cemetery.  Among the men called out
were Mrs. Smith's father Billy Jones and Chris Kerr.  She saw the
burial.  They were not allowed to make coffins but were forced to dig
shallow graves and pitch the men in, covering their faces with their
hats.  The graves were so shallow that for days the files gathered
there.  While the work went on Captain Johnson stood reared back, gun
in belt.      She also recalled the killing of Absolam Harpold of that
vicinity.  He had come home from the Southern army.  The militia were
determined to get him.  He got wind of it and took a train at Kidder
for the west.  Some personal foe of his reported this and the militia
rode to Cameron and took him off the train.  They hanged him there at
once in an old mill.  She recalls the day he was brought home in a
wagon.  They buried him in their own Harpold cemetery and it is only a
few years ago that they removed him to the Kingston cemetery.      She
also was a friend of the McBeath family another Southern family which
lost a member in this drive of the county militia on southern
sympathizers.  Robert McBeath was shot to death having been taken away
from home because he would not turn over the gun, according to county
orders.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    HE VOTED FOR LINCOLN - CIVIL WAR STORIES     Narrator:  William
Shephard, 87, of Hamilton, Missouri

     Wm. Shepard was born 1847 in Williams County Ohio.  His parents
were Alfred Shepard and Jane Peddicord.  They moved from Ohio to Iowa
and from there to Grundy County, whence Wm. moved to Caldwell County
where he has lived nearly fifty years.      He served three years in
the Union Army and he cast his first presidential vote for Abraham
Lincoln at the latters second term.  He said he voted for him because
his family already were Republicans.  He told some Civil War stories
of his own expense.  He said the common soldiers carried a musket, two
navy revolvers in his belt, a belt with shot and shell and a knap sack
on his back.  This contained emergency food and a canteen which held a
gallon of water.  The knap sack was on a strap around his neck and a
soldier could easily move it and get a drink while on a march.  It was
his duty to fill the canteen when near water.      Among other
Missouri engagements he was in the battle of Independence (Westport).
After this battle the soldiers looted the town.  He and his comrade
went into a saloon and drove out the bartender.  One of them had a
dime.  He stood outside the bar and the second went behind the bar and
gave him a drink and took the pay.  That gave him the dime and he now
played the customer on the outside of the bar and paid the dime to his
friend now behind the bar.  This buying drinks with one dime went till
both had all the whiskey they wanted, and every drop had been paid for
somehow.      In his part of the country, bush whackers on both sides
were common, boldly enloving homes to take food, taking farm supplies
and even breaking up dances and parties.  Women would hide their
victuals and men would drive their horses and wagons into cornfields
to hide them.  Soldiers of both sides visited his wife's people in
Saline and Cooper counties, one army after another took stuff away,
giving orders for payment which often were worthless.      Interviewed
June 21, 1934.


    THE "HANGING" OF GEORGE ROGERS     Narrator:  S.R. Guffey of New
York Township

     George Rogers was in business in Gallatin during the Civil War.
Some brought the accusation that he was buying horses from the Home
Guards and selling them back to the United States Government.  A
company of Militia was sent to Gallatin to arrest him and bring him
back to Hamilton for trial, because Gallatin sentiment was in his
favor.      After they got about three miles from Hamilton close to
the place he afterwards owned, they saw a cloud of dust up Gallatin
way.  Fearing lest Rogers be taken from them, they decided to hang him
right there on the spot.  Accordingly they strung him up on a cotton
wood tree on the east side of the road (this tree stood until about
eight years ago) and then rode toward Hamilton.      The cloud of dust
developed into a detachment of State Cavalry sent from Gallatin to be
assured that Rogers got safely to Hamilton, knowing the disposition of
his captors.      The cavalry to which Mr. S.R. Guffey belonged cut
him down and brought him alive to Hamilton where they confined him in
a box car used as a guard house.  Mr. Guffey said that Mr. Rogers was
told the name of his accuser who afterwards was put in the car with
him.  It was necessary to carry out the accuser in about fifteen
minutes.  The trial next day freed Rogers of the charge.      Mr.
Rogers never told this story to his children; but when asked by the
interviewer, he admitted it was true.      The story was verified by
the victim, by one of the band who hanged him and by one of the men
who cut him down.


    THE MORMON TEMPLE AT FAR WEST     Narrator:  Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Morris  Hamilton, Missouri

     In 1884 and 1885 Mr. and Mrs. Robert Morris began their married
life in a little home just south of the old Mormon Temple excavation
at Far West.      Their farm of fifty acres was apparently part of the
once populous Mormon capital city Far West, for Mr. Morris found
several rock foundations on his farm.      The excavation was deeper
fifty years ago than now and the rocks were larger for Mrs. Morris
recalls how sight seers would come over to their home to borrow an ax
or hammer to knock off a piece of rock as a souvenir.  Visitors both
Mormons and Gentiles were frequent, some getting off the train at
Cameron and driving over to see the excavation and cornerstone of the
Mormon Temple which was never finished.  The gaps in the rocks then
probably were just as they were left when the Gentiles drove the
Mormons away 1838 after the battle of Far West.      The temple lot
belonged then to John Whitmer one of the original witnesses of the
Mormon revelation.  (Since then it has passed into the possession of
the Latter Day Saints of the Utah Church)  Just east of the temple lot
was Jacob Whitmer's home and father east was the home of his father
John Whitmer.  All these were still adherents of the Latter Day Saints
faith.  Not far off was Mrs. Chris Kerr a daughter who possessed the
historic golden plates which Joseph Smith dug up.  The Morrises knew
the location of the old Mormon cemetery but no stones were left 1885.
They knew nothing of the story that those monuments had been taken to
form the foundation of some house in that community--the inscriptions
being turned in.      Interview taken  August 5, 1934.


    LIVING BY HAUN'S MILL     Narrator:  Mrs. Zelma Filson, Hamilton,
Mo.

     Mrs. Filson is the widow of Thomas Filson and the step-daughter
of John Owens who came west in the late sixties in the influx of New
York families into what is now New York township and Fairview
township.      Mr. Owens needed a woodlot, having no timber on his
place.  So by chance he bought a woody place which contained a site
important in early Caldwell County history - Haun's Mill in Fairview
Township.  After he had purchased it, he heard its history from the
older settlers.  Jacob Haun was a Mormon settler and started a mill
along Shoal Creek.  Oct 30 1838, the Gentile Militia fell upon the
Mormon settlers gathered at the mill and blacksmith shop and they
killed eighteen.  For lack of time to dig graves, the Mormons
survivors placed their dead in an old well and covered them up.  Among
the Mormon dead was a Revolutionary Soldier Thomas McBride.  Mrs.
Filson said in her day the Well was marked by a round sunken place.
She lived there about twelve years and said there was nothing to
report that vegetation grew more densely over the grave because of the
bodies there.  She said that there was no way now of finding the spot
accurately since it had been turned into corn and plowed level.
However, in the summer of 1933 two elderly Saints from Salt Lake City
told the Interviewer that it could be determined accurately by the
depression and by bits of iron scattered from the old blacksmith shop.
     Mrs. Filson says that in her day the Saints had already begun to
make pilgrimages to the spot as a Scared place and they still do.  The
old Haun's Mill stones are set up in Breckenridge.  The Haun's Mill
site is on the farm of J.M. Hill.      Interview taken  July 1934.


    HISTORIC MORMON SITES     Narrator:  Wm. Stinson, 73, Hamilton,
Missouri

     Fifty years ago Mr. Stinson used to be very familiar with the
historic Haun's Mill site in Fairview township, for his fathers home
north west of the present city of Braymer gave him a riding range over
the county where the ill-fated mill once stood.  He said that Shoal
Creek where he played was about a town block's distance from the mill
site.  Old timers told him there had been a store, a blacksmith shop
and a few houses there once.  About thirty feet from the shop was
supposed to be the well into which the eighteen (18) dead Mormons were
buried by their people after the Gentile attack in the Mormon War.
This attack was made on this place 1838.  All these things were still
matters of talk as the boys swam in the Shoal swimming hole nearly
sixty years ago.      The well then was covered with split timbers and
crossed with others.  It was in a wood lot and the pile of wood was
pointed out to him as the spot of the well.  There seemed to be no
doubt of the site then.      He used to hear that the first burials in
the White Cemetery (an old graveyard) were made by the Mormons down in
that section near the Mill.  He also had the idea that they had graves
in a graveyard (perhaps without stones) on the Mud Creek in Davis
Township.  The Mormon ford was south and a little west of the Mill.
Fifty years ago in that section people still nursed hatred for the
Mormons and when they wished to threaten a person they would say:
"I'll send you where the other Mormons are buried."      Interviewed
July 1934.


    DR. WILLIAM EARL McLELLAN (McCLELLEN) EARLY MORMON IN CALDWELL
COUNTY     Narrator:  Mrs. Nellie Scott, Kansas City, Missouri

     From the church records at Independence Missouri I found the
following:  "In 1831, Wm. E. McLellan heard the gospel preached by the
elders of the church (then at Kirkland Ohio) on their way to Missouri
and followed them as soon as he could arrange his business."  Some of
his business may have been getting married for he married my mother's
sister, Emeline Miller, the April of the next year.  The year
following Dr. McLellan and his wife made a wagon trip to Illinois and
then to Independence, but stayed there only a few months, for Gentile
antagonism was growing very strong there to rid that country of this
new sect.  In July 1833 the citizens of Jackson County adopted a
resolution to expel the Mormons.  The Saints committee (of which
McLellan was one) agreed to urge their elders to leave by January 1st
1834 and to urge the others to leave by spring.  While many Mormons
refused to agree to this Dr. and Mrs. McLellan left.  They went
probably to Ohio and later returned to Missouri; this time to Clay
County where many of the Saints had fled.  On July 3, 1834 McLellan
was elected to the High Council of the Church in Clay County.  He was
also made Traveling Council or Apostle.  By this time he had advanced
so far in the church that he was in a position capable of receiving
revelations.  At one time he had a revelation suggesting a plural wife
but Aunt Emeline showed him the revelation was not divine.  They were
in Kirkland Ohio now and stayed there till Joseph Smith and his
followers were driven out.  This time they went to Far West, Caldwell
County having been set apart by the legislature as a home for the
Mormons.      Accordingly the county seat was established at Far West
and a log school house was erected in which court was held.  The
McLellans came to Far West in 1837.  By this time, Uncle William began
to have doubts and questions about some of those working with Joseph
Smith.  At all events, he was tried for Apostacy and expelled from the
church May 11 1838 at Far West.  Ever after, he was called a
Dissenter, altho he never entirely severed his connection, in spirit
at least, with the followers of the "Great Prophet, Joseph Smith."
Uncle William left Far West before his trial.  He lived awhile in
Davenport Iowa where he practised medicine (he was in part an old
fashioned herb doctor) but in 1845 he and my Aunt went back to
Kirkland Ohio trying to re-organize the Church on the earlier plans.
Somewhere about this time, he returned to Far West trying to
reassemble the Saints who had stayed in Caldwell County when the
general Exodus of Mormons occurred after the fall of Far West 1838.
Eventually after many years of being on the move, the McLellans
returned to Independence where they lived the remainder of his life
and where he is buried.  He had six children and none embraced their
father's faith.


    RAG CARPETS     Narrator:  Kate Crawford, 66, of Hamilton,
Missouri

     Rag carpets are now almost out of style, but there was a time
when they were in every woman's plan of living in these parts.  You
either had rag carpets or bare floors.  As time went on rag carpets
served for bed rooms and perhaps one could afford in ingrain for the
front room or maybe trade two rag carpets for an ingrain at the store.
     Miss Crawford was reared in the Dort home and they used rag
carpets entirely up till about 1890 when they got in ingrain from the
old Tilley store with Asa Thompson as salesman.      Sewing carpet
rags was a regular spare time occupation for the women of the
seventies and to some degress in the eighties.  Women prided
themselves on even rags and on getting a yard of carpet out of a pound
of rags.  The coarser the rags the thicker the carpet and fewer yards
in weaving.      Many women were content with hit and miss (mixed
colors) sewed but for front rooms it was nice to have the carpet woven
in stripes.  This meant they would dye bunches of rags different
colors.  They could buy dye powder or use bark, or polk berries.  Some
used chamber dye to make copper; indigo made blue.  You could make
shaded rags by the tie and dye method.  When the rags were balled,
there was the cost of the carpey warp and the weaving to be paid for.
Among the old carpet weavers in this community some are yet well
remembered.  Aunt Lizzy Butts (colored, Mother of Jim Butts) had a
loom and wove in the seventies.  When she began, she had a hard time
with turns so Mrs. Van Note a white neighbor taught her how to do it.
Later Mrs. Horseback wove many carpets and had people on the waiting
list.  Later came Mrs. Ogburn in the north end of town, and still
later Mrs. John Banks who still plies the old trade in weaving rag
rugs.  Looms might be erected in the front room or even in a clean
barn.  The old carpet weavers not only helped support the family but
contributed their part to the community comfort.      The Interviewer
was amused at a story told by another old timer.  A new rag carpet had
just been put down in a parlor in the early eighties and a neighbor
had come in to admire it.  The daughter of the house objected to a rag
carpet in their parlor.  The neighbor said "You must not be proud or
you can't marry my son." (They did go together)  The young woman
straightway said "Well I don't want to marry him any way" and she did
not.      Interviewed  January 1934.


    EPIDEMICS IN CALDWELL COUNTY     Narrator:  Emma Brown of Hamilton
and Others

     Miss Brown is the daughter of George Brown and Jane Wilkinson who
lived in Vinton County Ohio till in 1873 they joined the Ohio
immigration to Caldwell County.  They bought a farm in the Lovely
Ridge District west of Hamilton.  There were several Vinton County
folks there:  Dan Booth, Ike Dunkle, Sam Bay, Hi Smith, Block
Doddridge, and Henry Clark (father of Mrs. Elwood Rogers).  When
George Brown died 1880, the family moved to Hamilton into the home on
South Broadway where Miss Brown still lives.  She is a sister of the
late Dr. Tinsley Brown who began his practice here 1876, hence she has
been interested in watching and hearing about various epidemics which
have gone through this community.      One of the earliest epidemics
of which the oldest old timers mentioned by hearing is the typhoid
epidemic of 1835.  It broke out in the southern part of Daviess County
just over the line, among the McCrary family who had come there about
1830 from North Carolina.  In 1835 about seven or eight of the McCrary
family died of what was later found to be typhoid fever; but before
the Doctor gave it a name, the neighbors called it "McCrary fever"
because of the large number of sick in that family.  Grandfather
McCrary (then the head of the clan) died of it and his burial started
the McCrary Cemetery.      There were several severe epidemics in the
earlier years of Caldwell County which took a heavy toll of children's
lives; the older cemeteries show a large proportion of children's
deaths often belonging to certain years.  There was a Small Pox
epidemic in the 1840's reported by the Jones family in which their
grandmother died.  In 1856-57 there occurred a hard Scarlet Fever
epidemic.  In the summer of 1856 the family of Allen Tobban in Davis
Township was visited by it and five children died from July 28 to
August 6th.  The little graves in White Cemetery tells the story.  Mr.
Andrew McCray (92) says that Dr. J.B. Gant of Knoxville was the
doctor.  Mr. and Mrs. McCray (Andrew's parents) as neighbors helped
care for the children; being careful not to take it home to their own.
By January 1857 it had spread up to Hamilton and two of A.G. Davis'
children at Hamilton died of it.  All had it.      In 1872 came a
diphtheria epidemic; there are many 1872 tombstones of children.  In
1873 came another Small Pox Epidemic.  This run of Small Pox is
reported to have started by some negroes who dug up Small Pox clothes
which had been buried.  People yet living here lost children the R.D.
Dwight and son, Kenny had it and received resulting pocked faces.
Little Ora Hare, son of T.H. Hare died of it and was buried in the old
cemetery.  The old story is that he was privately buried at night to
prevent spread of the disease.  A dog from a Small Pox home carried
the germ to him.  In the Fall of 1873, black or virulent measles
struck Hamilton and Dan Booth who had come from Ohio on a prospecting
trip almost died of them.      In 1874 there was a bad run of typhoid
fever in the late summer.  The people those days explained typhoid as
due either to the poison that came from newly turned virgin soil or to
the dry prairie grass.  Irwin Brown aged twenty two brother of Dr. T.
Brown died of typhoid 1874 and three members of the Watson family at
Nettleton.  In 1875 Sarah Low and Leon Low were among the victims.  In
1875 again Scarlet Fever came and Dr. Stoller's own child was among
the many victims.      In 1879 Diphtheria came and whole families were
taken off.  The Pittman children buried in Highland cemetery are well
known examples.  Parents hung bags of asafetida around children's
necks to ward off the disease.      In 1883 came Measles again,
starting mildly but it acquired such virulence that even grown up
people died of it.  There must have been a Small Pox scare 1881 for
middle aged people now can recall being vaccinated then as children
and also the agony when it "took."      There was an epidemic of
Chicken pox about the same time that caused serious illness but no
deaths as far as the narrator recalls.  In April 1884 there was a
epidemic of Seven Years Itch here in town which caused the schools to
close without final examinations.  This was not as serious as it was
embarrassing to the very respectable people who had it.
July 1934.


    GOING TO TOWN BEFORE AUTOMOBILES CAME     Narrator:  John Bennett,
66, of Hamilton, Missouri

     In the days before Farmers possessed automobiles, going to town
was quite an event.  Such trips were usually on Saturday so the
children could go too.  The old farm wagon was the usual vehicle,
although some people had a two-seated spring wagon which seated six if
needed.  Mr. Bennett's folks began with a lumber wagon and finally the
father bought the spring wagon.  In a wagon,  the parents sat on the
seat, the children might sit on a board laid across the wagon or on an
additional wagon seat or in the wagon bed itself which was filled with
straw covered over with old quilts.  Mr. Bennett's mother hardly ever
went to town on account of the numerous youngsters, so one of the
older girls sat up with the father Thomas Bennett.      When the
family went to town, they took their lunch and ate in the shade of
some big tree, feeding the horses at the same time.  The water was
carried in one of their own buckets from some public well in Hamilton.
Their father disliked to have his horses drink out of the trough by
public wells lest they catch some disease.  There used to be a public
well and trough just south to the Orville Parker grocery store and
another was located south of the old Houston, Spratt and Menefee Bank
(which has recently been restored to its old usefulness in the 1934
drought).      Some town folks did not like to have country folks eat
under their front trees because it called flies, but some country
people have recalled that there were some town people who even brought
out fresh water to them and would invite the country women into the
house till time to go.      If the men went by themselves they were
apt to buy crackers and cheese and eat in the store, sitting on a
cracker barrel.  Or they might drop into a restaurant for a bite.  At
Fourth of July celebrations and the old Hamilton Fair, the family went
as a whole, excepting Mrs. Bennett.  They started to the fair early so
the father could see the stock in the morning.  At noon they laid
their dinner out on the ground on a table cloth and were always proud
of the dinner prepared by Mrs. Bennett and the Bennett girls.  Such
dinners were a matter of family pride.      Interviewed  August 15,
1934.


    OLD WELLS AND SPRINGS IN HAMILTON AND VICINITY     Narrators:
Mrs. Gertie Cavanaugh, Joe Davis, and Guy Thompson

     The 1934 drought has brought back many abandoned wells and
springs and caused much discussion among older folks on the subject.
Guy Thompson says that his father Asa Thompson came to Hamilton 1867.
He was a cabinet maker (furniture maker) but there was little demand
for his work.  He knew something of well digging so he and a partner
bought a hand-bore with a board fastened at the top.  By the two
pushing at the ends of the board, they bored a well.  One of Asa
Thompson's well was on the premises of the present J.M. Hill home,
then occupied by the shack of Carr Taylor, a negro here in the
seventies.  Mr. Thompson made a good living out of wells for a few
years for the new homes established here in the 1868 boom.
Another well digger of the late sixties was Martin Christiansen,
father of Mrs. Cavanaugh.  He came here as a farmer and used the well
digging to help out his earnings.  Two well known wells were dug by
him and his brother John.  One was on Mill street south of Parker's
grocery, now covered by the pavement.  This had a chained tin cup and
a horse trough on two or three sides.  Many people in this section got
their water at this public well, till they sank a cistern or well.  It
was good water.  Another Martin Christiansen well was the old one just
south of the old Houston-Spratt and Menefee Bank (present C.A. Martin
stand).  This well served thousands of people for a refreshing drink
and thousands of weary horses too at the horse trough.  During the
drought of 1934 it has been restored to usefulness and shows a steady
stream of water even when subjected to a heavy drain.      An old well
dating to the seventies now closed up, stood on the partnership line
between the Moore home (Houghton Funeral Home) and the George
Rohrbough home (Mrs. Mary Kautz house) on Broadway.      The old McCoy
well dug about 1870 by Wm. McCoy when he started his general store on
South Broadway was closed up when the Hawks garage was built on that
site.  The old McCoy cistern by the McCoy home on same lot is still in
usable shape and stands in the garage about half way back.
Another very old well still going strong was the old A.G. Davis well
dug for the Davis family use when they left the Davis hotel and moved
about 1859 to a house across the street on the present site of
Citizens Trust Company.  This well 80 feet deep was put in good shape
several years ago when Eb Galpin built the brick building now occupied
by the George McPherson Produce store.  It stands inside by the south
wall.      Another old well still much in use is the one built by O.O.
Brown in the early seventies by his two store buildings on south
Broadway.  Its water is so excellent that today you may see people
taking a walk to get a drink there.  It was long known as the Stoller
well and now the place is Souders property.      An old well recently
was brought to light on the Will Gay farm near Mirabile.  This well
may well be nearly 100 years old.  It is on the old Lexington trail,
and probably many a Caldwell county pioneer of the thirties and
forties drank there.  It is going strong.      Abner Frazier of the
New York township recently dug out an old spring for the sake of his
neighbors.  The exact location of the well had been forgotten but he
had heard his father say that grand father Frazier used it, and
knowing its general location it was re-discovered and flows very
strongly today.      Another old spring which has come back in 1934 is
Ponce de Leon.  In the early eighties, this was a well known spring at
Bonanza, then in a boom.  Picnics were held there for the water was
held to be medicinal (Bonanza just missed being a real town because of
quarrels among the leading men).  Then Ponce de Leon ceased to flow
for Shoal Creek changed its course and hid the spring.  In 1934,

owing to dry weather, the creek went down and the spring appeared
again and is giving a fine volume of water.


    THE 1874 DROUGHT IN CALDWELL COUNTY     Narrator:  John T. Lane of
Braymer, Missouri

     John T. Lane who has lived in this community for over sixty years
remembers the 1874 drought here he says "It is the next to the worst
time I ever saw in this section.  The worst was the drought year of
1874.  In that year, it stopped raining in April and didn't rain again
till October.  All vegetation was dead, and it became a very serious
problem to get the necessities of life.  There was no way to get
commodities into the county.  Railroads had not been built down here,
trucks had not been heard of and the only shipping method was the team
and wagon.  People in that day, thru necessity, had to raise or make
nearly everything used."      "During the fall of 1874, there was no
old corn left in the county and no way of getting it.  People did not
have the money to buy with.  There was not even any seed corn.  My
father happened to have a little ready cash, so he sent a team and
wagon to Iowa to buy a load of seed.  The trip required nearly three
weeks.  But the next year was different.  That 1875 year saw a bumper
crop of all kinds in this section.  One farmer who was a heavy feeder
had volunteer corn came up in an old feed lot that made sixty bushels
to the acre and was never cultivated.


    EARLY SCHOOLING BOTH IN CALDWELL AND RAY COUNTIES     Narrator:
Mrs. Lena Baker, 67, of Hamilton, Missouri

     Mrs. Lena Baker, daughter of James and Ella (Wyatt) Lukey was
born in Clay County, Missouri near the town of Smithville.      James
Lukey came from England when he was eighteen years old with his
parents, who settled near Smithville.  The Mother (Ella Wyatt) was
born in Illinois.  She came to Smithville to visit a sister and while
there the Civil War broke out so she decided to remain with the sister
rather than try to go home during such a turmoil.  While there she
fell in love with Mr. Lukey and they were married 1862.      Soon
after this they moved to Lisbonville, a small town in Ray County just
a few hundred yards from the Caldwell County line, and bought the Mill
from Isom Allen.  This Mill was located on Crooked River and was
considered a very unhealthy place to live.  The people who had lived
there were troubled with "Agur" or "The Chills" as was called
sometimes.  Mr. Lukey bought a farm of eighty acres a short distance
from the Mill but on higher ground, so as to get away from the "agur."
He paid $12 an acre for this tract of land.  He rode back and forth to
the Mill each day but this soon became tiresome so he sold out farm
and all and moved to Lawson.  He worked in lumber yards for several
years and finally moved to Plattsburg in Clinton County and it was
here he retired.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Lukey are buried in the Plattsburg
Cemetery.      Mrs. Baker attended several schools when she was a
child.  The country schools would have school for two or three months
according to the money they had.  She would go to one school for their
term, to another for a few months or their term and then on to
another.  They studied what they wanted to and as long as they wanted
to.  She recalls studying long division at one school and then
changing to another school and decided she did not like division and
could not learn it so wouldn't try it any more cause she hated it any
way.  She went one term to Prairie Ridge to Tip Jones, an old time
teacher.  Mr. Lonin Cooper was a pupil there at the same time.
Dr. Jimmie James was the old time Doctor at Lisbonville.  He married
Eliza Cates.      The Lukeys attended church at "Slip Up" church in
Ray county.      As Mrs. Baker became older she decided to teach
school.  While visiting in Lawson with a sister, she decided to "get
up" a Subscription School or Select School, which she did.  Miss
Lillie Smith (Mrs. Ben Kemper of Denver Colorado) and Mrs. Baker had
their school.  They received $1.50 a month per pupil.  At the end of
this term they had a basket dinner and of course had their pictures
taken.  Mrs. Baker has in her possession a picture of this event,
which is very interesting both for styles and photography.      Mrs.
Baker married W.P. Baker of Ray County.  They have lived in Hamilton
most of their married life.  Mr. Baker worked in Dr. Tiffin's Drug
Store for several years and after Doctor's death started a Drug Store
for himself.  Mr. Baker died in 1933 and is buried in the Hamilton
Cemetery.  Mrs. Baker lives with her only son John who now has the
Drug Store.      Interviewed  August 1934.


    HE VOTED FOR LINCOLN     Narrator:  Philip J. Burger, 91, of
Hamilton

     Mr. Burger was born 1843 on the Rhine, Germany, the son of John
C. and Mary Frances (Issler) Burger, who were married 1829.  In order
to have more freedom, they came to the United States.  The father was
a cutler by profession and of course, located in a big city to
practice his trade.  The home was in Philadelphia and little Phil was
sent to a German Lutheran school where he recited in German.  In 1854,
the father decided to go to Iowa and the children were of course sent
to school but alas! it was an English school and little Phil knew no
English so he had to go back in the first reader and learn his a-b-c's
with little fellows while he was twelve years old.  Soon however, he
overcame this obstacle and went where he really belonged.      When
the war came, he enlisted in the 26th Iowa Cavalry.  He had no
hesitation; to him, the country was his country and secession was
wrong.  Many of the fellows were not so eager "to fight for niggers"
which was the felling common at the beginning of the war.      He
tells with great earnestness of the evening dress parade in which the
adjutant read the offer to the Southern States to keep their slaves if
they would withdraw from secession.  Then three months later, again
there was a dress parade and again the adjutant read orders to the
company.  The South had rejected the offer made by the U.S.
Government.  Now the Adjutant asked all who were ready to preforce the
war with shot and shell to step five paces forward.  Every man moved
forward.  From that time on, it was a deeper spirit that moved the
soldiers; they were fighting for a union.      I asked him why he
voted for Lincoln.  It was Lincoln's second term and Phil Burger's
first vote for a president.  He said because in the conduct of the
war, he (Lincoln) had shown that he was a great leader.  Mr. Burger
had no past politics to settle the matter for him.  He saw Lincoln at
a public demonstration about 1862.  He said he was homely, but no one
saw that because he looked grand.      When Mr. Burger decided to
leave Iowa and come to Breckenridge, Mo., to farm in 1878, his Iowa
friends joked him about going down among the Rebels but he told them
that the war was over, there now were no Johnny Rebs.      Interviewed
June 1934.


    A PUBLIC HANGING     Narrator:  Elwood Rogers, 67, of Hamilton,
Missouri

     In these days when hangings are conducted with as much privacy as
possible within walls, the description of a public hanging in 1886 at
Gallatin as given by Mr. Rogers, is of interest.      The criminal to
be hanged was Jump.  He and another fellow Smith had killed in a
drunken quarrel the foreman of the construction work on the railroad.
They had used a Pitman rod of a threshing machine and had disposed of
the dead man in a well out by the old Grand River College.  The body
was found and the crime laid on Jump and Smith, who denied the charge.
One of the two wore a hat which when removed by Mr. Davis father of
the druggist Davis of Gallatin showed the railroad bills in the sweat
band.  They were both condemned to hang, and at the last minute Smith
was reprieved (but later hanged).      A double scaffold was built on
a flat ground by the railroad tracks.  Two hills rose on two sides.
Mr. Rogers rose early to start to Gallatin for the event.  As he got
to Honey Creek, he came on campers who had slept there all night on
their way to Gallatin.  Hamilton sent a big delegation; in fact it was
a dead town that day.  People went from Lexington and even Carrollton.
When he got to Gallatin, Mr. Rogers saw the hills about the scaffold
crowded with people. Box cars at the tracks held people on their tops.
The scaffold itself was built very high, so one could not miss the
sight.  Every where were refreshment stands set up and drinking water
sold at five cent a glass.      Presently the train pulled in from
Maysville where they had kept Jump in jail (The Gallatin jail was
burnt, if Mr. Rogers recalls correctly).  Jump, handcuffed, was
removed from the train, hustled into a buggy and taken to the
scaffold.  He sang "IS MY NAME WRITTEN THERE?" and "WASHED IN THE
BLOOD OF THE LAMB," then the black cap was adjusted and he swang into
eternity.  After it was over, people bought bits of the hangman's
rope.  Some men took their sons there as a lesson never to drink and
commit murder.  It is also interesting to note that the Pitman rod
with which the murder was committed was used as a lever to spring the
trap for the execution of the murderers.  Likewise, it is of interest
that the old well in which the murdered man was thrown was covered
with logs and was never used from that time till now.      Interviewed
August 16, 1934.


    ELECTING A PRESIDENT IN THE LATE SEVENTIES AND EARLY EIGHTIES
Narrator:  Mrs. Mabel Gwynn McBrayer, Hamilton, Missouri

     The business of electing a President was a more exciting matter
in former times than now.  First the Civil War was near enough to
color all politics.  The Republicans were Black Republicans to the
Democrats and the Democrats were rebels to the Republicans; and even
the children felt the hatred at Election times and yelled ugly words
at one another.      Again preparing for election day was quite a show
in itself here at Hamilton.  There were numerous torch light parades
in "rallies"; each party gave a rally at night and on that occasion
there would be a long procession of torches, horse back riders, floats
and four sided transparencies showing slogans.  Always there was a
fair young lady as goddess of liberty with forty eight girls as States
and Territories.  Bands played and people yelled.  Along the line of
march, the homes of the opposing partisans were black as night but the
homes of the party giving the rally would be bright with candles and
Chinese lanterns.  Every curtain in the house had to be taken down and
the windows filled with boards on which rested candles.  The yards
were strung with clothes line, trunk ropes and Chinese lanterns.  Some
of the family went on Main street but some always stayed at home to
watch the candles.  Of course it cost money but it was worth it, and
the Chinese lanterns were used year after year for church lawn
socials.      Then if your party won in the election you had a still
bigger time at the ratification which was held just as soon as the
returns had clearly shown what side really won.  That was sometimes
not known for days, for they did not have the quick counting then to
get returns.      On Election day, there was a rough crowd in town and
the men did not like for their women folks to go by the polls; it just
did not look nice.  Men drank and became noisy.      At one Rally at
Hamilton - the Cleveland-Thurman - every one in the parade wore red
bandanas on their head, around their necks etc., because old Allen
Thurman, the Vice President candidate was supposed to use one.  When
Ben Harrison ran for President the Republicans had an old log cabin in
the procession (echoing his grandfather's slogan) while the Democrats
ridiculed him by having a small man wear a hat much too big, "Trying
to wear Grandpa's hat".  When Cleveland was defeated for re-election
the Republicans had a float with E.H. Daley, who resembled Cleveland
rowing a boat "going up Salt River".


    AN EX-SLAVE SPEAKS     Narrator:  Doc (James) McGill, 74, of
Hamilton, Missouri

     Jim McGill was born in slavery and was five years old when he was
freed.  He is the son of Mary Martin McGill and George McGill.  Mary
was owned by Jack Martin, six miles north west of Richmond, Missouri,
who ran a grist mill.  George was owned by Mr. McGill also of
Richmond, Missouri.  The couple were married by a colored preacher and
had five boys and give girls who were the property of Martin, since he
owned the mother.  These were his only slaves.  McGill also had but
one slave family.  Martin sold one of Mary's girls to a Richmond man
named Hamilton for about $1000.  She afterwards came to the town of
Hamilton with her son Green Thompson who is a respectable colored
hostler etc. here.      The colored family lived in a log cabin and
were well treated.  Mr. Martin told them whenever they needed flour or
corn meal to go to the sacks and get what they wanted.  Mary spun and
wove for her mistress as well as for her own children.  Her girls
worked in the mill, in the fields, cut wood like men.      Doc McGill
recalls the day they were freed.  The Richmond negroes visited back
and forth and laughed loudly for they thought they would not have to
work any more.      Then the negro father went down to Camden on the
river and rented a cheap farm and set his boys to work; harder than
they had worked before.  The river kept coming up on his crop every
year; and although he had bought the land he was glad to sell it and
come back to Caldwell County about fifty years ago.      Jim worked
for over twenty years as a handy man to Dr. Tiffin which gave him his
nick name "Doc."  He never had a chance to go to school a day for
there was no colored school near Camden.  He can not read nor write
but can count money and laundry pieces in his job as laundry man.  He
recalls several of the old ex-slaves of the Hamilton vicinity.  There
was Tony Huggins who could read.  He was a preacher.  He owned his own
farm east of town and had a rock quarry where he employed other
darkies.  He as well as Uncle Charley Dunn both peddled hominy and
horse radish.  Uncle Charley gave a yearly possum and sweet potato
dinner at which the aristocratic white folks paid fifty cents a plate.
No trash were invited.      Jim McGill sang a song which he learned
years ago.  He sang slowly with many a twirl and rest in his voice.
"The day is past and gone, the evening shades appear    May we all
remember well, the night of death draws near."      I wonder how old
the song and the tune were.      Interview taken  June 1934.


    BEFORE THE DAYS OF BANK CHECKS     Narrator:  Wm. Stinson, 73, of
Hamilton, Missouri

     Mr. Stinson was born in Illinois 1861 and came with his parents
into Caldwell County in 1872.  His parents were John J. Stinson and
Mary Madden Stinson.  They bought forty acres of land for eight
hundred dollars from the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad.  The land lay
two miles west and one and one-quarter mile north of present site of
Braymer, Missouri.  They were too late for the bargain prices of
Missouri land.  For instance the Turpin estate near by had six hundred
and forty acres in one place alone while much of it was timber but
some very rich soil bought from the government at twelve and one-half
cents an acre.  Joe Mayes bought some of that estate when it was
settled in 1882.      Mr. Stinson, as well as several others older
people interviewed, recalls the days when few or no checks were used
even in big money deals.  One case illustrates:  On one occasion some
men in the Black Oak country were sending twenty five thousand dollars
to Chas. Schultz of Chillicothe for cattle.  They did not dare carry
it for the transaction was known and the road led through the Marshall
Mill country between high crags and woods.  It was not uncommon for
robbers hearing of cattlemen's deals to lay and wait for the money on
the route.  So the cattlemen rode on ahead empty handed while two
miles behind rode young Stinson - an unpretentious fellow with twenty
five thousand dollars on his person in notes.  He had a swift horse
and at the least suspicion was to ride to Breckenridge.  The money got
through safely.  A neighbor sent his fifteen year old boy to the
Hamilton bank for two thousand dollars to be paid to him for cattle
for the same reason.  A woman carried two thousand dollars in her bag
from Hamilton to Ohio for she did not know about checks.
Interview taken  July 1934.


    BURIAL CUSTOM IN THE 70'S     Narrator:  Irvin Harper, 73,
Hamilton, Missouri

     Mr. Harper's father J.W. Harper kept a furniture store in
Hamilton about 1870 and took on the undertaking duties that went with
it.  He had to make the coffins.  He measured the body then cut
varnished black walnut boards which he kept in stock for the required
length and width.  The box was narrow at the feet and was lined with a
figured muslin made for that purpose.  There was no padding but a row
of fringe hung around the edge.  The lid might be hinged or simply
laid on.  It took about a day to make a coffin.  There were many home
made coffins, especially in the country.      The undertaker did not
have the laying out of the body.  He did no embalming.  The family and
friends renewed the clothes, moistened with soda and water on the face
and hands to prevent discoloration or "mortification settin' in" as
the expression was.  This explains the necessity of "setting up" with
the corpse and on which occasion refreshments were laid out for the
friends.      In the late 60's and early 70's there was a frequent
custom of burying the dead on one's premises.  The Harper children who
died then were buried in the front yard of their home because the
family were not in sympathy with the Rohrbough Cemetery management.
When the new (Highland) cemetery started Mr. J.W. Harper moved his
children there.  Most front yard graves were abandoned about the same
time.  George Putnam's son was buried in a field back of the present
Dawson home (the old Putnam place) but was moved to the old cemetery
when the field was sold 1875.  The first Mrs. Wm. McCoy was buried in
the McCoy yard on the Kingston road, then removed to the old and later
to the new cemetery.  These few examples illustrate the custom.
When the new cemetery was planned the Railroad Company would not sell
them land for the purpose lest it spoil the sale of lots out there.
J.W. Harper bought the land from the Railroad and then sold it to the
town at the purchase price.      Of course there was a simple hearse
those days but often it could not be used since the roads out there
were so bad that it took a lumber wagon to carry the coffin.
Interview taken  July 1934.


    MADDUX FAMILY IN LIVINGSTON COUNTY - 1857     Narrator:  M.W.
Maddux, 73, of Breckenridge

     Mr. Maddux was born 1861 in Mooresville, Livingston County,
Missouri.  His parents were Thos. B. and Abigail Reynolds Maddux.  The
father was born in Kentucky, the mother in Tennessee.  Both were
brought when about two years old to Missouri.  The fathers parents
went to Ft. Peinich, Howard County, the mother's to Livingston County.
S.W. Reynolds was in Mooresville township in 1835 and Henry in 1836.
Thomas' mother was left a widow when he was two years old, for his
father was shot down by an Indian arrow when he was returning to Ft.
Reinich after giving a woman medical aid.  So the widow took Thomas
back to Livingston Co., near Mooresville where she died at the age of
ninety-six.  Thomas and wife settled on eighty-three acres of land in
Section 31, Twp 38, Range 25 in 1857 which M.W. Maddux of Breckenridge
still owns.      Thomas was murdered by bushwhackers Nov. 28th, 1865
on his way home from Breckenridge where he had gone for a doctor.  He
left a widow and five children, the youngest having been born the
night of his murder.      His widow continued to live on the farm,
renting out some land and raising cows, sheep, hogs and saddle horses
to support her young brood.  She carded her own wool, spun it, wove
it, and cut and fit it into clothes.  She made yards and yards of
linsey and jeans.  She died in 1880.      M.W. Maddux, the narrator,
started to school at the Watson District to Eliza A. Davis of Daviess
County, who was the first teacher in that district.  Later this
district, which at first covered several miles, was divided into
three.      He was married in 1885 to Lizzie Lutz.  For six years,
they lived in the hewed log house his father had built for his family.
On Jan. 20, 1895, a violent windstorm turned this house over with two
and half revolutions but the family, who were in it, were not
seriously hurt.  Mrs. Maddux was the daughter of Benj. F. and Rebecca
Lutz who moved from Pennsylvania to Daviess County in 1872.  The
Maddux family have ten children, five boys and five girls.
Interviewed  June 1934.


        THE JACKSON FAMILY IN RAY COUNTY IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES
Narrator:  Mrs. Malvina Leabo, 71, of Hamilton, Missouri

    Civil War Troubles          Country Churches

     Mrs. Leabo is one of sixteen children born to Jacob Jackson and
Martha Ford, being born at Knoxville Ray County Missouri 1863 on a
farm one mile from town.  Jacob Jackson and wife made the trip to
Knoxville from Nashville, Tennessee in a big wagon, in the middle
fifties, to make a better living.  They rented awhile as they looked
around for a bargain in land.  Then War came Jacob enlisted in the
Southern Army and left Mrs. Jackson with the oldest boy six years old
to care for the corn.  She plowed and taught the six year old boy to
run the plow too.  It was all they could do.  The child would cry as
he looked at his bad furrow.  While living near Knoxville, they had a
neighbor John Forson who used oxen to pull wood to town.      In the
early seventies her father bought one hundred eighty acres of land in
Ray County near Taitsville very near the south line of Caldwell
County.  Here her old neighbors were:  John File, Norton Switzer (kin
to the Hamilton Switzers) Cleveland Kelsey (Uncle of her husband Sam
Leabo).  Dr. Gant of Knoxville was their Doctor and after his death
Dr. Wilkerson.  Mrs. Leabo's parents and brother lie in the Pleasant
Hill Cemetery, connected with a Methodist church (formerly) on the Ray
County side.  The Baptists in the seventies had a church nearby at
Cottage Grove and near it is the Cottage Grove Cemetery, both in
Caldwell County.      Every church in that community used immersion
for baptism those days and Mrs. Leabo (then Miss Jackson) was immersed
in Greenwood Creek, commonly used as a baptizing hole.  It was near
Greenwood School.  In the seventies country churches had no organs
unless some member would loan their organ into a wagon and haul it to
the church.  They ordinarily had six months tax school and three
months extra for those who were able to pay the subscription.  There
was too much work at home for any girl to go to school long those
days.      The feminine labor of the farm in Ray County of the sixties
and seventies was told by Mrs. Leabo.  Mrs. Jackson raised enough
cotton to stuff comforts for the big family.  The children gathered
cotton in the bolls (hulls) and picked out the seed.  The Mother
flattened it out in pads about elbow length to use in quilts and
comforts.      Then there was the wool work.  On the first day of May
sheep were shorn.  The family picked out the burrs.  The wool was
carded on carding machines into rolls one yard long and spun into yarn
and wound on broaches.  Each girl (they had three of working age)
would spin enough for three yards of cloth every day.  That was the
old rule for their labor to supply the constant family use.  Then they
reeled it off in hanks of yarn.  Then it was woven into cloth on the
family loom.  They made blankets, wool cloth an linsey cloth for the
small children.      They knit wool socks and stockings and mittens
for every one in the family.  They colored the hose with diamond dyes
making a dull red.  They often sold knit stockings and mittens for
cash or traded them for "boughten" things.      Living at Taitsville
their trading place was Hamilton.  Often Mrs. Jackson would get up
before sun up to get a good start for Hamilton and not get back till
nine o'clock in the evening after all the chores were done.  They
might use the spring wagon or a lumber wagon if many were to go, using
chairs or boards for extra seats.  They took along dinner for man and
beast.      They always went to Fourth of July Celebrations.  You
could not keep her father at home on that day.  It might be at Black
Oak, Polo, Richmond or Hamilton.  They got mail about once a week
usually arranging to visit their Post Office (Taitsville) when their
weekly paper, Richmond Conservator was out.      At the age of twenty
Mrs. Leabo became the wife of Samuel Leabo whose father was Isaac
Leabo of Ray County and Tennessee.  At the time of her marriage to
Samuel Leabo, he could span her waist - a highly desirable waist line
for a young lady of that day.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    THE BORDEN FAMILY IN CALDWELL AND DAVIESS COUNTIES     Narrator:
George Borden, 76, of Hamilton

    Railroad Land     Farmer's Troubles in Early Days     Early Roads

     Frank Borden, father of George, came into Caldwell County in 1869
and bought forty acres of railroad land, two miles south of Hamilton.
When the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad went through the country,
the railroad had been given every other section ten miles north and
south of the tracks by the government in return for their risk.  Then
they sold or rented this land to new settlers.  The Bordens sold this
land and rented 160 acres south of town; later they moved to the south
part of Daviess County where they bought land again.      They had all
sorts of bad luck common to the earlier settlers, chinch bugs,
droughts (never any as bad as the present one of 1934), army worms,
hog colera, grasshoppers in 1875; in fact, many a settler those days
became discouraged and sold out at a cost below what he had paid, and
went some other place hoping for better luck.  That accounted for the
large number of mover-wagons in the late 70's and early 80's, many
headed east.      Those days in the 60's and early 70's, few roads
were laid out in these parts.  If one avoided creeks, he could ride
over open prairie-land from the Borden home south of Hamilton to Dawn,
near Chillicothe.  Mr. Borden traced the old road that led from the
old Borden home to the very small town of Hamilton.  It came
"cat-a-corner" from John Gibson's farm across the prairie and through
the corner known as the Wilmot house, south of the Park.  Rev. Wilmot
did not live there then but on his farm further south -- the present
farm known as the Walter Whitt place.  The Wilmot 80 there was the
last prairie land to be fenced in between Hamilton and Kingston.  He
did it about 1880.      Mr. Borden has been boring wells around
Hamilton for over fifty years.  He is a practiced "water-witch" and
believes thoroughly in the value of "water-witchin'" in locating water
by the time tried means of a new-growth fork from a peach tree.
He recalled when the park was planted with trees.  It was given as a
gift to the town by the railroad as long as it should be used as a
park.  That was in 1856.  But little attempt to plant it with trees
was made till about 1870.  Then James Mapes, who died here a few years
ago, brought in trees from the woods and planted them.
Interviewed August 21, 1934.

(Mrs. Komora Thornhill says she too knows that for a fact.  Mapes also
planted all the trees in the present Thornhill-Cheshire yard where he
once lived in the Baptist Church yard.)  Interviewer's note.


    COVERED WAGON TRIP TO DAVIESS COUNTY - CHEROKEE STRIP
Narrator:  Mrs. Aurora Williams, 72, of Kidder, Missouri

     Mrs. Williams is a daughter of Wm. A. Morrow and Mary F. Huttram
who came in a covered wagon eighty years ago from Kentucky to Daviess
County.  They had two horses to the wagon and a riding horse hitched
behind.  It took six weeks to come, for there were really no roads,
mainly trails through the prairies.  They stopped off in Indiana to
see some kin, fearing that they would never get back to see them
again, nor did they.  At first while "looking around" they rented.
Finally they bought land on Grand River north of Lick Fork, from
Thornton Talbot.  Mr. and Mrs. Morrow and a daughter are buried in old
Lick Fork cemetery which is still in use, though many of the old
stones are down.      Mr. Morrow died 1872 and the family lived in
Daviess County till 1885 when Mrs. Morrow and those children who were
still at home moved close to Cowgill, four miles north west of the
town.  They lived in the first house south of the Excelsior School
house (there are two Excelsior Schools in Caldwell County, this is the
south one).  This school district was named by Mary McCoy of Hamilton
who was the first teacher in the new school house.      Before Mrs.
Williams married she learned the dress making trade in the dress
making and millinery shop of Mrs. Cosgrove and Martha Glasener, on
south Main street in Hamilton in the late eighties.  She then married
and became a participant in the opening of the Cherokee Strip 1894.
Her husband already owned land which touched the roped line.  The
cowboys and soldiers lived with them.  On account of benefits
received, the soldiers offered to let Mr. Williams go into the strip
the night before as a "sooner" but he wanted to be fair.  He got a
good claim but there was no way of making any money there.  They
stayed on the claim as long as they had any money, then sold out and
came back to Missouri.  Her Mother pioneered in Missouri and she
pioneered in Oklahoma.      Interviewed  August 2, 1934.


    THE McCLELLAND FAMILY IN DAVIESS CO. 1859 AND CALDWELL COUNTY 1863
    Narrator:  Andrew McClelland, 84, of Long Beach California

     Mr. McClelland is the son of James McClelland who in 1835 came
from Smith County Va. to Grundy County Missouri; but there was no
chance for the childrens education there, so in 1859 he moved to
Daviess County where Andrew attended the Singleton School north of
Hamilton.  (It was in the Singleton School at a church session that
John Singleton announced in Andrew's hearing that Lincoln was shot).
Andrew recalls many incidents of his boyhood in Daviess County.
He used to go horseback to the Lenhart Mill with his father.  They put
one of their own horses to the sweep and ground the meal.  (Customers
customerly used their own horses.)  The old millstone at the Hamilton
Library grounds is the grist stone from the Jeremiah Lenhart Mill,
which has come from an older mill - the Hardin Stone Mill.  The two
stones at mills always were different color:  one red one gray.
Lenhart was a preacher, miller, farmer, and wheel wright.      He also
recalls the log rollings.  People would cut good walnut logs half a
foot in diameter to clear off the land.  At night they would roll them
together in a big bonfire and have a good time.  Sunday Schools came
into his experience in the late 50's in Grundy County.  They used
testaments.  Sunday School was held in homes or the School House.
There the Baptists, Campbellites, and Methodists were strong, but any
preacher was welcome.  Everyone turned out to hear any kind of a
sermon because they were treats.      He attended school first in
Grundy County when he had puncheon seats and desks (split logs) around
the room resting on logs.      At Singleton School in Daviess County
he had split log seats.  When he came to Hamilton 1863 to live.  Wm.
Goodman's  sister was teaching the first public school on the site of
John Morton's tin shop.  Then he went on in school here in Hamilton;
his last teacher was Prof. Helm in 1867-8.      James McClelland
having moved his family to Hamilton opened a harness shop in 1863 in
the second floor of Davy Buster's saloon-grocery on the Broadway right
of way.  James had been in the Union Army although he was over the age
limit.  Two of his sons had already been in the war and spent some
time at home as paroled prisoners.  During the war Young Andrew 13 or
14 years old spent much of his time at the Union Camp at Hamilton
placed about where the City Park now stands.  It usually had about 200
men.  He longed to enlist as a drummer boy but he was the oldest boy
at home.  He, his mother, and sisters tended to the crops.  When the
McClelland first came here the father bought a house on the southwest
corner of what is now the North School Building.  There Andrew planted
four trees which still stand.  A few years later, the father bought
the present Emma Doll place (Mrs. Alice Doll her mother-in-law was a
sister of Andrew).  Andrew with the help of Henry and William Atherton
built the house.  Andrew was a carpenter at 18.  He worked in a bunch
of John Courter plaster, Lee Cosgrove painter, Andrew lather, Martin
Bros. (Clark and Sam) carpenters.  This bunch built the first
Methodist Church.      In the old McClelland house (Doll home) the
sills resting on stone foundations are made of oak spleced together
with wood pegs.  He carried 9 saplings at once on his back from
Marrowbone to plant in the yard in April 1869.  One still stands.
In 1869 he decided to teach school.  First he went to Mr. Bostaff,
County Superintendent of Schools at Gallatin.  Bostaph asked him
questions for forty minutes and gave him a second grade certificate.
Then he visited the trustees of different schools and finally got a
school.  He slept in a kitchen of a home where he boarded.  Next year
he got a better job and a better room.  He drew from $35 to 150 for ?
months a year and paid $6 for board, and room and washing provided he
chopped the wood for his own fire.  In the summer of 1869 he taught a
summer school here at Hamilton of 3 months at 35 dollars a month.  The
winter term had been 5 months with another teacher.  Dot Morrow had
the primary, Mr. Mc. the intermediate, and both were in the building
east of the M.E. Church.  Prof. Leander Theodore Hill was the head of
the school.  Some of Mr. McClelland's pupils were the Richardson
children, Mrs. Allee (Miss Whitt), Lottie Reed.  Little attention was
paid to courses; Algebra, Geography, History, Grammer, were some of
the higher branches.      In 1863 there were few stores in Hamilton
and most of these were north of the depot.  There was the John
Burroughs general store in the present picture show corner with Judge
Richardson as clerk and postmaster, then a space kept by Chine Manuel,
then a gunsmith Goodwin, and the McAdoo drugstore.      Claypool Hotel
stood north of the present Martin Grocery.      The Davy Buster Saloon
on Broadway on the right of way; above which was James McClelland
harness maker.  The lumber yard in 1863 was where it is now on the
north side.  Main street had not begun to be a business street and
farm houses were standing where town streets now run.      In 1863 the
church condition in Hamilton was very poor.  Some early services had
been held at the depot without an instrument and few attended.  Some
groups were holding ocassional meetings in homes or the schoolhouse as
the Methodists.  He recalled a debate here between a Campbellite
preacher (hand) and an Adventist over a Bible verse.  People became
greatly excited when talking over religious questions.
Interviewed  June 1934.


    THE MANN FAMILY IN DAVIESS COUNTY     Narrator:  David Mann, 79,
of Hamilton, Missouri

    Journey in Ox-Wagon          Home Made Furniture
Linch-pin Wagons             The First Home     Game In the Fifties
and Sixties.

     Mr. Mann's parents were Milton Mann and Julia Leech married 1851
in Kentucky whence they came later 1853 to Daviess County by a small
ox-team.  They were six weeks on the trip.  The wagon was a linch-pin
wagon; the wheel had no iron around it but had a spindle which made
the wheel revolve and they locked it fast by a key.  If the key
loosened, the wheel came off.  He said that Milton Mann his "pap"
always declared that all they had on arrival in Daviess County was a
"little feather bed, a rifle gun, a $45 debt and nary a cent in his
pocket."  But they did have more.  There were two spring seats in the
wagon - a part of one they now possess; there was a hickory home made
chair, bought by Pap for his Wedding outfit, which was one hundred
years old and yet strong (the interviewer sat in it 1934).  It had a
split bottom or rather hickory bar bottom.  The chair was made without
nails or glue.  The rungs were seasoned.  The forms with the holes
were green.  The latter dried and held the rungs in forever.  The
spinning wheels were absolutely necessary for their existence.  The
Mother did all the weaving and sewing for a big family, the boys
filling the spindles for the loom.      They went to mill at Groves's
Mill.  Once a week (Sunday morning) they had white flour biscuits as a
treat.  Even later than 1865 they saw deer.  When they moved to
Harrison township (still Daviess County) near Breckenridge in Caldwell
County early one morning they ran down three wet young turkeys and ate
the three for breakfast.      Milton Mann was in Daviess County two or
three years when he saw his first blue grass since he had left
Kentucky.  It was a small patch and he thought "It won't live long
here" for everywhere else was prairie grass.      He entered timber
land from the Government at $1.25 an acre for forty acres.  He chose
timber because he had no plough heavy enough to cut the prairie sod.
In former timber land they used a jumping shovel plow made by a local
blacksmith, which jumped over a stump and went on.      His first home
there was a log cabin, in November 1855 built by him and his neighbors
- no floor and a rag being at the window instead of glass.  They built
the stick and clay chimney too rapidly, since winter was on them, and
it fell down part way but they used it that way all winter.      At
their first farm, David often walked to Gallatin (nine miles away) to
do the trading since it was quicker to walk and carry groceries than
to use the ox-team.      While living there, he was in school when the
pupils heard very plainly the big guns at the Battle of Lexington in
Civil War.  The pupils were so upset that the teacher dismissed school
for the day.      At the second home near Breckenridge Mr. Mann
recalls an early church at Lick Fork made of logs with clapboard roof
in bad repair and parts of the wall fallen in.  His parents are buried
in the Lick Fork graveyard; also his grandmother Rhoda Mann
(1809-1878).      The Mann family traces from Maryland to Virginia and
from Virginia to Daviess County Missouri and then to Hamilton.  He
says that they are not related to the other Mann families in Daviess
County or to Jesse Mann who made the first settlement in Caldwell
County.      Interviewed  July 1934.


    IN DAVIESS COUNTY IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES     Narrator:  Mrs.
James Brookshier, 80, Hamilton, Missouri

    Horse Back Riding          Primitive Baptists     Barter

     Mrs. James Brookshier was born Ursula Drake 1854 in New York
State.  The Drakes came to Daviess County when she was fourteen.  The
father had died in New York and the mother yielded to the desires of
the sons to come west.  Of course there were no fences and few roads
then; you could ride for miles across the prairie.  She and her sister
went horse back to Kidder one day 1869 and passed a building just
being erected.  The workmen told her it was going to be a College.
(It was the present Thayer Hall.)  On that whole trip to Kidder they
did not use a single road.      Girls rode on side saddles with long
black calico (domestic) skirts, which they took off at their
destination and tied to the side saddle.  The horse was hitched to a
hitching post, which were very common.  A few girls could not mount a
horse from the ground.  But most wanted a stump or a block which also
were common sights.  Once in a long while out in the country, a girl
would mount from a man's hand - he boosting her up in the saddle.  But
most men refused to do it.      Mrs. Brookshier was twice immersed.
She joined first the Christian, then the Methodist the church of her
first man, and lastly the Primitive or Hard Shell Baptist, when she
was again immersed, since they did not accept other sects baptism.
This church was the church of her second man, James Brookshier, whose
people always had been of this faith.      To this day, she is
faithful to this sect.  One Church was and is near Polo and another is
at Richmond.  In Polo, once a year is held the "June Meeting" a sort
of a camp meeting.  The Primitive Baptists have certain peculiarities.
They use no musical instruments in the church house.  They allow no
eating in the church.  They do not take up collections or have
sociables to raise money for the preacher.  He supports himself
although they pay his traveling expenses.      This Primitive Baptist
Church was an early one in Caldwell County.  The Penney family, who
were here in the Fifties belonged to it and Rev. Eli Penney farmer and
preacher near Mirabile was a leading light.  His son James was also a
farmer and preacher without pay for preaching.  J.C. Penney, the Chain
Store man is a son of James.  He sometimes attends these "June
Meetings" at Polo in honor to the memory of his father and
grandfather, although he does not belong to the sect.      When Mrs.
Brookshier was a young woman she knitted two pairs of double-knit
mittens and took them to a Hamilton store taking in return two calico
dresses, the calico being twelve and one-half cents a yard.  Barter
was common at the stores then.  When a farm wagon drove up before the
board platforms in front of stores the wife usually carried in farm
made commodities to trade for muslin, calico, thread, sugar and
coffee.  Butter was graded in price by the name of the woman who
churned it.  One woman could get twenty five cents another only
fifteen cents a pound, for the trade knew their butter makers.
Interviewed  January 1934.


    OLD STYLE WAGONS AND OLD CEMETERIES NEAR HAMILTON ON THE NORTH
Narrator:  Frank Stewart, 78, of Hamilton, Missouri

     Frank Stewart, a retired farmer lived as a youth three miles
north of Hamilton near the Daviess County line.  He knows much about
the old graveyards and burial places in that vicinity and also is
acquainted with old style wagons.      He recalled seeing a few
Conastoga wagons pass the farm in the sixties when he was young, but
he knew the old style type without knowing the name.  He said they
were boat shaped, high back and front.  But the wagon used here in the
sixties and early seventies was the stiff tongued wagon, the rear end
of the tongue absolutely immoveable without the several joints between
the tongue and the wagon that mark the present limber tongued wagon.
The front of the tongue was very loosely attached to the horse.  The
horse wore no yoke and the tongue was attached to the chest girth by
chains nearly a yard long, yoke-chains.  If the front wheels of a
wagon went in a rut, up flew the tongue and hit the horse in the nose.
     Mr. Stewart said that men used to drink whiskey heavily before
going into the woods and deep weeds for "whiskey killed the poison of
a snake bite."      There were many private burial places near his
fathers home.  On the farm known as the Harve Bainter place or old
Lewis farm north of town, two slaves were buried north of the house at
a gateway to a pasture.  You still had to drive over the mounds in
1865 to get into the pasture.  On the old Charley Morton farm the site
of several unmarked graves is known.  Once they were said to have been
fenced in, but the fence fell down and now people farm over them.
Charley Morton moved his dead from there.  On the old James place
stands a lone slab stating the name of a girl and giving her age as
eighteen; it is very old.  In the Sell graveyard over in Daviess
County near Marrowbone Creek Bridge are said to be forty eight graves
and fifteen years ago but one stone was left.  The Whitt graveyard in
Daviess county toward Honey Creek received many early Hamilton dead.
It existed in the sixties.      The Singleton graveyard four miles
north on the Gallatin road lies in the timber.  The stones which are
left lie flat among the trees.  Hamilton people were often taken there
in the time between the founding of the town and the start of our
first cemetery (Rohrbough) in 1868.  When that cemetery was started,
some of these bodies were moved to Hamilton, as the Penney boy,
originally there but now in the Highland Cemetery (two removals); the
Thornton child (Jamie's Uncle who died 1866) was first buried in
Singleton.  Singleton graveyard started in the early sixties and was
on the Singleton farm, later the Prouty farm.  The Singleton family
used to be well known here.  A Richardson girls married a Singleton
and one of their sons Otis Singleton was for years a Government
printer in Washington D.C.      McCrary cemetery was started almost
one hundred years ago, when the original McCrary died of typhoid fever
ninety nine (99) years ago and a burial plot was begun on the McCrary
family land.  It now lies in the timber in South Daviess County near
the county line.  Hamilton People continued to bury there even after
our town cemeteries started, because their people lay there.


    LIFE IN INDIAN RESERVATION     Mrs. Ellen (Johnson) Primm, 65, New
York Township

     Mrs. Ellen Primm daughter of William and Susan (McKean) Johnson
was born in Williamsburg Kentucky.  She attended the schools in the
Cumberland Mountains.  Most of her teachers were men as the big boys
went to school until twenty or twenty two years old and were rather
difficult, at times, to manage.  There were no High School close so
the eighth grade was as far as they went in their education.      At
the age of fifteen Mrs. Primm (the baby of the family) ran away from
home and married Henry Floyd a neighbor boy.  They lived in Kentucky
three years and then moved to Dunbar Oklahoma then an Indian
Reservation.  Mr. Floyd bought and sold stock while Mrs. Floyd "run" a
store and the Post Office.  Mrs. Floyd says the Indians would travel
twenty to thirty wagons at a time going by there to Texas and would
stop at her store for provisions.  She could not understand them so
they would go to the shelves and get what they wanted but always paid
her.  She was frightened at first but soon become accustomed to their
habits.      The Floyds lived there for about seven years then one day
decided to leave.  They started out with their babies (three) in a
covered wagon and traveled twenty eight days.      They finally
settled in Cherokee Nation another Reservation.  The Comanche, a full
blooded tribe lived across the river from this tribe.  Mrs. Floyd
recalls one day seeing an Old Indian Squaw from this tribe come to the
Floyd's spring and dipping up a pan of water to wash her hand, she
washed and washed then finally turned up the pan and drank it.  These
Indians were dirty and "way behind times."  Henry butchered and sold
meat to them as they had no idea of how to butcher a beef.  She says
the little papooses would come to the butchering block and grab
entrails and eat them right down.      The Floyds had folks living in
Caldwell County so decided to come to Missouri.  They settled in New
York township and farmed until Henry died 1905.  Mrs. Floyd married
Ceph Primm 1913.  The Floyds had eight children living around near by,
but have scattered since.  Mr. Primm died 1934 and is buried in the
old Cox Graveyard.      Mrs. Primm is a little, stooped woman which
she says is caused from hard work and so many trials and tribulations.
     Interviewed  August 1934.


    HOME STEADING IN KANSAS     Narrator:  Albert Bolen, 73, of
Hamiton, Missouri

     Mr. Bolen was born in 1861 in Vinton County, Ohio, ten miles
north.  In 1885 he and his wife left Ohio for Kansas to grow up with
the country; as so many have said.  There was a whole train-coach of
Ohio emigrants on that trip.      Mr. Bolen went to Kansas in the boom
years of the 80's when covered wagons went through Missouri towns with
big signs "Kansas or Bust."  A year or two afterwards, the same wagons
might return with the sign "Kansas and We Busted."  Perhaps one half
of the homesteaders did not stay to prove up their claims, for lack of
moisture and bugs spoiled the corn crops which most of them planted.
On getting to Kansas, at first Mr. Bolen rented; then desiring a home
of his own, he and his wife took up a homestead in Stephens County
which was not yet organized.  Everything was very new.  Prairie grass
was everywhere - as were the bones of buffalo, which men collected and
sent off to factories for fertilizer.  Not a tree could be seen.  Not
a bird was seen or heard of that first year.  They had hundreds of
jack rabbits, coyotes, rattlesnakes, wild horses and some antelopes as
late as 1886.      They were far from any stream, hence the
homesteaders dug wells.  Mr. Bolen's well was one hundred fifty feet
deep and it took seventeen days to dig it with spade and shovel.  He
paid twenty-five cents a foot for the work.  One Joe Vinton, also of
Vinton County, Ohio, who was a regular ground-mole when it came to
digging deep wells, did the work.      Their fuel was "buffalo chips"
with which the ground was covered.  Mrs. Bolen also said she had baked
bread in a sheet iron stove with dry weeds as fuel.     The terms of
getting a homestead was to stay five years; then the farmer got one
hundred sixty acres.  Of course there was the tree-claim which some
people used to get their land.  They had to plant ten acres of trees
and get their quarter section (160 acres).  Mr. Bolen was not able to
raise enough on his place to keep his family, so he became a freighter
and hauled lumber and goods from the railroad station at Hartlin.  He
hauled lumber for his own home near Woodsdale forty miles.  Although
he had a wood house, many people had sod houses.  Buffalo sod was cut
into strips twenty-eight inches long, fourteen inches broad and four
inches thick.  They were laid to gether in brick fashion and stuck of
their own power.  they were cool in summer and hot in winter.      Mr.
Bolen came to Caldwell County thirty-eight years ago and bought land
in the Mill Creek district - the farm now owned by John Potts.
Interviewed  July 1934.


    KENTUCKY LIFE IN THE SEVENTIES     Narrator:  Ed Vaughn, 72, of
Hamilton, Missouri

    1.  Horseback Riding          2.  Civil War                    3.
Droughts                  4.  Centennial Year     5.  Driving Oxen
with a Limber Tongue

     Mr. Vaughn was born in Estell Co., Kentucky on a farm and stayed
there until he was 22 years old.  He followed his sister, Mrs. Robert
Cash, to Caldwell Co., Mo., and worked the Kenney farm near Kidder
which belonged then to Mr. Cash.      The Vaughn family in Kentucky
had been slave owners before the Civil War.  Their community during
the war was about 50-50 in sentiment.  Even their own family was
divided.  The father followed the Union because he thought secession
was wrong, while one of the sons fought for the south.  The Vaughn
home was not molested because the father was a strong Mason.
Every boy and girl of well-to-do parents were given a horse and saddle
at an early age, and that provided them a way to go places.  When a
young couple went out to-gether, each provided their own way
generally.      There was a terrible drought in 1880 for one hundred
five days.  Mr. Vaughn's father raised just enough feed to get through
the winter.  In the spring, he paid a dollar a bushel for seed-corn
and feed.      He recalls vividly riding to town to attend the big
Fourth of July celebration in 1876 when the nation celebrated the
centennial of its birth.  There were fire crackers, fire works,
cannons, lots of whiskey and a half-drunk orator.  He said he could
still picture some of the fashionable clothes he saw on that occasion.
     One of his interesting experiences in Kentucky was driving steers
over the hilly land.  He said that it was not at all uncommon to use
two yoke wagon and from that up to eight yoke could be hitched
together.  A chain on each side ran from one yoke to the one back and
this last chain was hitched to a limber tongued ox-wagon.  There were
no lines but the driver used a buckskin whip by which he controlled
the steers.  Oxen, if uncontrolled, had a tendency to make for streams
of water.  Steers were broken to driving at two years and were
splendidly fitted for the heavy loads on Kentucky hauls.  Every steer
knew his name and obeyed at once.  "Whoa-haw-Buck" meant for the steer
called Buck to turn to the left.  About one-fourth of the hauling was
done in the 70's and 80's by oxen.  The stiff tongued wagon, used for
horses, which in Missouri has given way to the limber tongue is still
the favorite type in hilly Kentucky.


    THE McQUEENS -- PIONEERS IN IOWA     Narrator:  Chas. McQueen, 78,
of Hamilton, Mo.

    1.  Going West in 49          2.  Early Schools
3.  Early Styles              4.  Early Sewing Machines

     Mr. McQueen's father, John McQueen (1817-1893) was born in
Scotland.  He brought his mother and two sisters to America to improve
their circumstances.  They lived one year in New York then moved to
Galena, Illinois.  In 1849, he joined a wagon train for the gold
fields of California.  There were one hundred ten men, forty wagons
and six yoke of oxen to each wagon.  Not knowing what was ahead, they
filled their wagons with materials ill fitted for their expedition.
They were the first wagon-train to cross the plains and found going
very hard.  There were no bridges and they swam the cattle through the
water and cut down trees to make pontoon bridges.  They passed through
St. Joseph and went on the Great American Desert (as Kansas was then
called).  They ran out of water.  Men and animals suffered, and died.
As the oxen died, they began throwing stuff out of the wagons to
lighten the load and went on.  When they got to their destination they
had been out one year and had three oxen and the front wheels of one
wagon.  They stopped at Feather River close to Sacramento City and all
found gold in small amounts.  They lived in a log cabin four years and
three months.      Mr. McQueen returned by way of Cape Horn in a
sailing vessel, back to New York and then to Galena and home.  He then
bought land in the Iowa Prairie at $1.25 per acre.  Later he bought
one and one-half sections in Cherokee County, Iowa, one hundred eighty
miles west of his former home, which the McQueen family still hold.
Mr. Chas. McQueen told much of his boyhood days in Iowa.  They had
begging Indians who were different from the wild Indians which his
father had met on the western plains who shot people with arrows.
They had no roads, no bridges in the 60's and 70's.  At school, he
learned the 3 R's; the McGuffey reader ended one's education.
Examinations were unknown.  Teachers boarded round on the patrons--one
week at a home.  School lasted four months a year and that in the
coldest months.  Seats and desks were built around the wall, and the
pupils faced the wall; turning around to face the teacher to recite.
The teacher was very fortunate if she taught in a boxed-up school, for
most of them were log-schools.      Men's and boy's clothes were
somewhat different from now.  Boys wore boots with copper toes if they
wanted to be stylist.  For boys of 5-16 years, there were "jimmies" or
vests of coarse cloth held by a buckle in front (called by Ohio
frontiers-men "wampus").  Boots of genuine leather cost only $3.00 and
they came up to the knee.  They had bootjacks to pull off  boots and
the straps pulled them on.  Hog grease kept the leather soft, also
kept out the water.  No male person wore a necktie; why do it when a
long beard would hide it?  However the gold front collar button often
had a fancy set for show.      Enemies of stock were coyotes and
wolves.  There were regular hunts to destroy them.  The blizzards in
Iowa were terrible.  People got lost and their bodies might lie for
weeks before found.      The old dinner horn (some animal horn) hung
at the back door and it was the duty of the women folks to blow it a
half hour before meals.  A gourd from their own garden always hung at
the well.  There was no white sugar, all was dark brown.  Candy was
rare except for a Christmas treat, and Christmas brought simple gifts
those days of the sixties up in Iowa.      Mr. McQueen never saw a
kerosene lamp till he was ten.  They used candles and grease lamps.
The coal-oil was dark colored.  The new lamp his father bought had a
sign on it "Never move after you light it."  The body of the lamp was
bronze, so you stuck a straw in to see how much oil was there.

     All sewing was done by hand till his father bought a sewing
machine "Little Giant" about 18 inches long.  It was screwed on to any
table you had.  The children turned the knob on the wheel while the
mother directed the garment under the needle.  There was no belt on
the machine.


    PIONEERING IN KANSAS     Narrator:  Mrs. Nellie Scott of Kansas

     This is my mothers history.  The maple sugar making and the
sleigh rides on Lake Erie are the only frolics I recall hearing her
mention.  The quilting and husking bees we so often heard of from the
older generation seem not to have entered in her life.  Possibly she
was too young to have shared in these things, possibly too busy, for
she married so young that every minute and all her strength was
consumed by her family.      Julia Clarissa Curtis, daughter of Julia
Miller and Richard Curtis was a direct descendant of Richard Warren of
the Mayflower and of Philip Delano the French Huguenot, and both
progenitors of a long line of pioneers who would settle and start the
rudiments of culture when they would move on to repeat the same in a
new region.      Mother came to Kansas 1870, the wife of Jeremiah
Stewart, a Homeopathic physician.  My Mother's mother was a pioneer
from Vermont to Portage County Ohio in 1818 in ox-drawn sleds cutting
their way through the forests.  The Miller forbears, Hosea and Isaac,
had gone from Massachusetts to settle the town or township of
Deimmerston Vermont 1770.  Isaac and his eight sons rendered patriotic
service in the Revolution.  So the love of conquering the unknown -
the spirit of pioneering - was in the blood.      Mother and father
started from Indiana to Kansas September 1, 1870 in a covered wagon
accompanied by a number of others families intent on taking up
homesteads.  My parents settled in Washington County one of the
poorest counties of north eastern Kansas.  There were all the
privations possible, blizzards, cyclones, droughts, grasshoppers, what
the drought left, the grasshoppers ate up.  The most available food
was the wild jack rabbit but it became stale as a regular diet.
Building upon the prairie, it was too rocky to cut and build a sod
house and no timber at hand for a log cabin.  The material used was a
cheap lumber and built in what is known as a box house, the boards
running up and down with battings used to cover the cracks.  I have
forgotten the size of the house which we always called the "Homestead
House" but it was not large enough to have sleeping rooms apart form
the kitchen and living room, which was one and the same, hence the
attic was utilized, access to which was gained by a ladder on the
outside.  The smaller children were tucked away in the trundle bed,
lodged when not in use under the large bed.  Four children were born
in the Homestead House.      A district school was established and in
the school house the church service was held, usually by the faithful
circuit rider who "put up" with the doctor and his family.  There were
few books to borrow among the neighbors.  My mother relied on the
Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Toledo Blade for current events and on
Godey's magazine for fashion and home articles.  Once when she was out
of something to read, she sent my eldest sister to a neighbor to ask
if she had something to read.  The neighbor offered her the Bible,
much to my sister's embarassment, for the Bible was a well known book
in our home.      In those early days, when the family was to attend a
gathering of any sort or a trip to town taken it was done in the farm
wagon.      There were few orchards and almost no berry patches
productive then.  Most of the fruit was wild plum, gooseberry and
grape.  Not much jelly was made because sugar was scarce and
expensive.  Most of the fruit was made into butter where sorghum could
be used for sweetening.      During the later years of my mother's
life, many of the hardships had disappeared and life was more
comfortable.  She died January 1 1906 and was buried two days later in
the worst snow storm I have ever seen.  No one was able to attend the
interment but the sexton and his helpers, the undertaker, the
minister, and two of her children.                        Interviewed
July 1934.


    IRISH PIONEERS IN IOWA AND OKLAHOMA     Narrator:  Mrs. Julia
Tofflemire of Breckenridge, Missouri

     Mrs. Julia Tofflemire, mother of Dr. C.D. Tofflemire of
Breckenridge, Missouri was born in Providence Rhode Island June 23
1866.  At the age of six weeks, her parents went by train to
Providence Illinois.  Provisions were high, flour being $16 a barrel.
One of her recollections of the life in Illinois was the candles her
mother made.  They always had one large candle that would burn all
night on Christmas night.  Her parents had only been over from Ireland
a year when Julia (Sheila as they called her in Irish) was born.  Her
father, Daniel Sullivan came from Kahersiveen County Cary and her
mother Catherin O'Brein came from Bantry County Cork.  The name in
Ireland was O'Sullivan, the O being a sign of the nobility but after
coming to this country they dropped the O.      When Julia was eight
years old they went in a covered wagon to Greefield Iowa and bought a
hundred sixty acre farm from James Calman of Des Moines.  They lived
on this farm for years keeping the family from 1875 until 1915.  They
lived in a tent and in a covered wagon while they hauled lumber twenty
miles from Creston, each trip taking two days.  When their house was
nearly finished a big wind storm blew away the tent and blew in the
end of the house.  The small creek came up and carried away lots of
their household furnishings.      It was the custom on the open
prairie for the community herdsmen to take cattle out and herd them
all day.  He received $1.50 a month for each cow.      They built a
sod barn of thick pieces of sod about two feed square.  For windows
they used lime barrels with open spaces between the staves.  They set
out willow and cotton wood shoots and planted maple seeds for trees
and started a young orchard.  The wolves were thick and killed their
pet dog and got after their young pigs.  For a Christmas treat they
had bakers bread, candy, tea with cubed sugar in it.      They went
thirty two miles to Stuart to exchange wheat for flour and went twenty
miles to Creston to church.  Every Saturday Julia rode horse back
across the open prairie nine miles to Greenfield and carried a bucket
of eggs to exchange for sugar, tea, and tobacco.      In the fall,
Julia started to school, making the first path across the prairie to
the String Town School House.  The main road afterwards followed this
same route.  There was no bridge so she forded the creek, the only
bridge being west several miles by the big buffalo wallows.  These big
hollows in the ground were the salt licks and wallows of the buffalo
are still to be seen there.  One day while in Greenfield, a prairie
fire started cutting her off from home.  She found a narrow place and
jumped her horse across the blaze but the horses tail was burned
getting across.      At twenty one she was married to Charles Jerome
Tofflemire.  They moved to St. Joseph Missouri to live.  He worked in
the K.C. shops as blacksmith.  The K.C. shops, now the Burlington
Round House were then the south edge of St. Joseph.  Lake Contrary was
all wild country then.  Mr. Tofflemire shot wild ducks there and she
used the feathers for baby pillows.  A grocery store near their house
was a favorite loafing place of Jesse James known as Jesse Howard.  He
was a great friend of Wilkerson, the boss blacksmith, and often came
to visit the men.  He was considered a very quiet fellow and a model
citizen.  They were very much surprised after his death to find out
who he was.  He was a familiar figure on his fine saddle horse.
After they had lived there ten years they went to Oklahoma by covered
wagon and took up a homestead.  The town of Fay now stands on this
homestead.  They built a log house for it was wild country.  Their
land lay between the two forks of the Canadian River but there were no
bridges near.  They forded the river to go to Watonga fourteen miles
away.  There were plenty of wild turkeys and prairie

chickens and deer were thick.  The deer loved to eat watermelon and
raided their patch often.      They raised a big patch of melons and
raised two crops of sweet potatoes on the same ground each year.  Also
raised lots of peanuts and the sun roasted the peanuts in the sand.
Snakes were common and came in the house too.  Mrs.

Tofflemire possessed a heavy butcher knife and she became quite expert
at throwing this knife and killing snakes on the log wall.      Some
one stole property from the Indians and they were very much excited,
threatening to take the war path.  The sound of the war drums carried
for miles and the settlers were warned to gather together.  But the
militia came and quieted them so there was no trouble.      Mr.
Tofflemire's health failed and after two and half years they went back
to Lenox Iowa.      Interviewed  October 1933.


    PIONEER OZARK CABINS IN THE SIXTIES     Narrator:  John Ferguson,
90, of Iberia, Mo.

     Mr. Ferguson came into the Ozarks after serving in the Civil War
and settled near what is now Iberia, Miller County.  The 1860-70
period was quite a pioneering period in that county.  He did as others
did after arriving at his new land--he first built a home.      The
little log cabin was usually built the next day after arrival.  With
several helpers, it was a day's job.  The logs might be split; or if
time pressed, they would be left in the round.  After the cabin was
up, that night the neighbors for miles around came to dance, which
welcomed the newcomers and helped them get acquainted.      Most of
the cabins were one-room affairs; although sometimes there was an
attic under the roof where the children climbed up a rude ladder and
slept.  Few early cabins in the Ozarks had any widows, because glass
cost too much and had to be brought too far.  To admit light and air,
the door had a sliding board at its upper part.  This could be opened
little or much.  Through it, too, the owner could peer if he heard an
intruder, or he could shoot wild game in his vicinity.  Mr. Ferguson
told of killing five wild turkeys this way one fall morning.  The
latch string literally hung on the outside of the door, by which the
door was opened.      Inside the door, over the door was the faithful
pioneer gun, resting either on a forked stick or on deer's antlers.
The walls usually whitewashed logs although occasionally a family
might cover the logs with boards.  The plank floors gradually took the
place of puncheon floors.  The housewife kept her floor white with a
cornshuck mop, and on Saturday she scrubbed it getting down on her
hands and knees.  Only the higher-ups had rag-carpets.  The corded
bedsteads in the corner were built into the house and floor, and had
great quilts which hung to the floor and hid the articles stored under
the bed.  The trundle bed was pushed there too in the daytime, for
they needed every inch of space in that one room.  A bench built into
the wall gave added seats at the table.  The two spinning wheels - one
for wool, one for flax - stood by the fire place.      The great stick
and clay fireplace served for heating and cooking, since a stove was
unheard of in those parts till 1870, and a luxury till 1875.  No one
used matches, so the fire was never allowed to go out.  If it did, one
had to borrow hot coals from a neighbor - which often meant a long
ride.  Lighting was done by candles or by a rag twisted in a dish of
lard.


    WASH DAY IN OZARK PIONEER DAYS     Narrator:  Mrs. Wm. Irwin, 78,
of Iberia, Mo.

     We lived in the 60's in a clearing which father had made when he
and mother came to Miller County in a mover-wagon.  Mother died of
malaria fever and as I was an older girl, much of the work on washday
fell on me.  It was a mighty poor housekeeper who did not wash on
Monday.  So I would crawl out of bed two hours earlier to get our big
wash done by ten o'clock.      After I put on the ground grain (which
stood us for coffee) to cook at the fireplace, I hurried down to the
branch.  There I dipped water into the great iron kettle which swung
over open fires.  Some women near us heated the wash water by throwing
into it red hot stones from a fire but our way was easier.  After the
breakfast work was done, we went back to the branch and poured the hot
water in tubs which were made of sawed off barrels.  Then the clothes
were smeared with soft soap (which we made) and put into the tub.
This soft soap was made twice a year and answered for both laundry and
toilet purposes.      After the clothes had soaked half an hour, we
stretched them on clean wide boards and vigorously beat them with a
clothes paddle or a clothes spanker as some call it.  This took the
place of the wash board which we did not have.  This was not as bad
for the clothes as it sounds, for all our things were made of a coarse
homespun which lasted a long time.  As a matter of fact, I did not
have a store calico dress till I was eighteen.      Next came the
wringing which was done by hand.  A sheet was wrung by two people
holding the sheet and twisting in opposite directions.  Our boilers
were either the big iron kettles or a regular copper boiler with a rim
but no handles.  Usually we had three boils by the well established
rules that governed a wash.  The first had the men's white shirts, our
Sunday white skirts and dresses, sheets and pillow cases.  The next
had towels and underwear, the third dish cloths, dust rags and grimmy
things, all three boils boiled in the same suds.  There was no
blueing, so we rinsed our clothes in three waters to take out the suds
and dirty water; and our clothes were very white.      We had no
clothes lines and no clothes pins.  We spread the wash on the grass or
bushes or even on the broad clean rocks.  The sun whitened them all
day long.      Our ironing day was Tuesday.  The irons were heated red
hot in the fireplace and then lifted out by tongs and cooled a little
in a pail of water.  The men's white shirts had stiffened bosoms and
often I spent a half hour on one.


    "CAVE" WILSON OF MILLER COUNTY     Narrator:  J.W. Waite, 68, of
Iberia, Mo.

     John Wilson was one of the first hunters in the Osage country of
Miller Co., Mo.  He located 1822 on Tavern Creek and furnished that
county with a tale thrilling enough to be a legend but it was really a
fact.     He was born in Ireland about 1776 and came with his whole
family into a very wild country to live.  Almost from the first the
other settlers called them Uncle Jack and Aunt Nellie because of their
hospitality.  He got the nickname Cave Wilson because he and his
family lived in a roomy cave till he had means and time to build a
house.  This cave was near Tavern Creek at the mouth of Barren Fork.
He found a cave higher up on the bluff which he chose to be his tomb.
He frequently explained to his wife and his friends how he wished to
be put away.  He made a coffin and kept it in the tomb.  When he died
in 1855, his wife followed his directions.  She had his entrails taken
out and his body filled with salt; salt was packed about his body in
the coffin.  A demijohn of the best old liquor was placed inside the
tomb.  The sepulchre was walled up and all who attended the funeral
were treated to dinner and drinks.  After seven years his friends were
to met there, open the tomb and drink from the demijohn in his memory.
     When the seven years had passed, the old timers say that the tomb
was opened but the whisky was gone, probably stolen by some wandering
Civil War soldier, for the story was widely known.      Many Miller
County people declared that they have seen the concrete which sealed
up the cave-tomb again after the demijohn disappeared.  They all
declared that Cave Wilson's body is still lying in the cave, probably
still well preserved in salt.


    THE CLAVES, GRUNDY COUNTY PIONEERS     Narrator:  Mrs. Wm.
Shepard, 84, of Hamilton, Missouri

     Mrs. Shepard, or as her husband tenderly called her "the old
woman" is a daughter of Alex Clave and Catherine Crawford both
Emigrants from Scotland before 1841.  They lived for awhile in New
Jersey where Mrs. Shepard was born.  Clave got a homestead in
Wisconsin and took up land there.  Then followed a long list of moves
in various counties of Missouri.  Finally they bought a Grundy county
farm home where Mrs. Shepard met her husband.      Mrs. Shepard is
well known over the State because she and her sister Mrs. Jeanette
Briggs of Trenton are probably the oldest living twins (84) in the
United States.  They are still quite similar and as young women it was
very difficult to tell which was which.      She described the home
work of the girls of the sixties in Grundy County.  Their father had
his own sheep.  They used the wool for clothing and filling for
comforts and quilts.  The girls carded the wood, spun it and wove it.
No wonder they wove their own wool and cotton for muslin those days
cost $1 a yard, other goods accordingly.  The Mother was clever at
cutting out garments and that was her job.  Styles of patterns were
not changed for several years.  Five years was a medium time for a
style.  The color of the wool was varied by dye.  Maple bark made
purple and the purple thread mixed with the natural tan homespun made
a beautiful stripe.      Every girl carried a starch bag around her
person made of a three inch square gathered together and filled with
starch.  It corresponded to the modern girl's powder puff, and took
the shine off the face.  The girls wore corsets and hoop skirts and
later bustles tied around the waist.  Occasionly the knot would slip
and the bustle dropped down and made the wearer feel very cheap.
Mrs. Shepard said, "that in Grundy County days, Christmas did not mean
much."  Pappy took a load of punkins to town and got toys with the
"punkin money."  There were mainly sweet sugar candy animals made in
bright colors and put up on a shelf to look at but not eaten for
months.  Most other candy was home made.  Pop corn balls were nice
treats for Christmas.      Interviewed  July 1934.



Aikens,
Leila   63
Reila   40
Alden,
C.C.    13, 15
Emma (Eckelberry)   15
George L.   13
John    13
Priscilla   13
Alexander,
Hattie  35
Mary Halstead   82
Allee,
Isaac Reed  33
Jacob   109, 110
Mary Ann Parks  33
Mrs.    163
Taylor  23, 33, 110
Willis  16
Allen,
Edmund  5
Frances 36
Isom    151
Leslie  5
Anderson,
Chas., Mrs. 48
Joseph  41
Lottie  22, 58, 77
Martha Dennison 83
Wallace 41
Ardinger,
John    25, 26
Woodson 134
Arthur,
Michael 25
Atherton,
Henry   163
William 163
Austin,
Bill    114
Jake    114
Oliver  114
Badwin,
Samuel  26
Bailey,
Martha  105
Bainter,
Harve   167
Baker,
Andrew  118, 122
Dan 101, 103, 106
Diana   118
Edgar   113
George  103
Grace   118
James   103
John    151
Lena    151
Martha Ellen    113
Mary    101
Mr. 126
Thomas  118
W.P.    151
Wm., Sr.    103
Balding,
Samuel  27
Ballinger,
John    28
Banks,
John, Mrs.  144
Barlow,
Geo, Mrs.   40
Barnhill,
James   62
Bassett,
Sherman Minor   108
Bateman,
Diana   118
Bay,
Sam 9, 145
Beaumont,
James   1, 2
Nannie  1
Nellie  1
Bell,
Jerry, Mrs. 8
Miss    7
Benedict,
R.H.    39
Bennett,
Betsey Gibson   12
Jim 12
John    54, 147
Thos.   12, 13
Bernheimer,
Simon   38
Berry,
John    25
Bidwell,
Mrs.    97
Bird,
G.  25
Bishop,
E.H.    24
Blaker,
Flora   63
Blood,
Billy   108
Bolen,
Albert  169
Booher,
John H. 27
Booth,
Dan 11, 13, 19, 35, 44, 65, 145
Helen L.    10
John    65
Lizzie  14
Borden,
Frank   161
George  161
Josie   16, 113
Bostaff,    163
Botoff,
Henry   100
Boutwell,
Enos    114
Bowen,
Euphema Weaver  70
S.L.    70
Bowers,
Rosamond    119
Bowman,
Alston  34, 50, 53
Roy 34
Vincent 50, 53
Boyd,
John    116
Johnson 97
Bozarth,
Bill    91
Sarah   91
Brank,
Rachel  87
Bray,
Wm. 13
Breckenridge,
Col.    85
Stump   137
Bretz,
George  47
Briggs,
Jeanette    179
Bristow,
Wm. 6, 30, 136
Brookshier,
James   166
James, Mrs. 166
Brosius,
George  33
Jacob   24
Jake    33
Jim 32, 33
Mollie (Davis)  40
Mrs.    53
Brosnihan,
Mr. 109
Brown,
Charles 71
Double O.   35
Dr. 100
Emma    6, 145
George  13, 145
Henry H.    2
Hettie (Martin) 14
Irwin   145
J.A.    26, 107
John    71
Kelley, Mrs.    130, 135
Lucy    116
Mrs.    71
O.O.    38, 49, 55, 72, 148
Oakley, Dr. 15
Robt., Dr.  40
Sturgis, Mrs.   71, 73
Tensley, Dr.    9
Tinsley, Dr.    27, 145
Bryan,
W.J.    45
Bryant,
Bob 131
Nancy   118
Buford,
Hugh    39
Bump,
Marietta    13
Burger,
John C. 152
Mary Frances (Issler)   152
Philip J.   152
Burkett,
George  110
Margaret Kendall    110
Burmeister,
Prof.   2
Burnett,
Chas.   50
Burris,
Chas.   6
Burroughs,
John    90, 164
Burrows (Burroughs),
John    26
Burrows,
John    25, 28
John H. 27
Buster,
Dave    31, 37
David   26
Davy    164
Jake    44
Sam 44
Butts,
Jess    106
Jim 144
Lewis   53
Lizzy   144
Cannon,
David   112
John    112
Carter,
Jap 19
Casey,
John    136
Cash,
Robert  170
Robert S.   67
Robert, Mrs.    170
Cates,
Eliza   151
Catron,
Tyua    6
Caughlin,   8
Cavanaugh,
Mrs.    148
Chadeon,    17
Chain,
Hugh    100, 107
Sarah   107
Chandler,
Lieut. Col. 84
W.H.    38
Chapel,
W.W.    39
Chapman,
Asel B. 123
Benjamin    125
Elizabeth Morse 123
J.N.    123, 125
Louisa N.   123
Mary (Pepper)   125
W.W.    123, 125
Cheshire,
James Riley 126
Mr. 103
Christiansen,
Martin  77, 148
Chubbuck,
D.G., Mrs.  2
Levi    5
Church,
Wm. 18
Clampitt,
Billy   122
Clark,
Alma    38, 53
Ella    90
Elmer E.    13
Frank   18, 26, 39
Henry   13, 18, 145
John L. 90
Leslie  26
Lou 38
W.J.    27
Wilbur  62
Clarkson,
C.D.    21
Clara   109
Edbert  70
Egbert  21
Hannah  109
Nathan  21, 27, 109
T.D.    109
Clave,
Alex    179
Claypool,
Genoa   47
Mattie  47
P.  26
Perry   24
Clevenger,
Bill    91
Cline,
Charles 116
Clough,
J.B.    42
Cochran,
A.C.    42
Dr. 2
Mary Amelia 42
Minnie  2
S.D., Dr.   5
Colby,
J.F., Mrs.      16
W.F.    38
Cole,
Abbie Frances   76
Collen,
Van 5
Collins,
James   57
James, Mrs. 48, 105
Michael 57
Colvin,
Bill    86
Comer,
Mary Rice   87
Conger,
M.E.    1
Cook,
Polly   88
Cooper,
Lonin   151
Cormona,
John    122
Cornelius,
Mary Jane   15
Cosgrove,
Lee 53, 163
Mrs.    162
Courter,
John    46, 163
Covert,
Deborah 48
Covington,
Phil    31, 33, 36
Cowgill,
Cora Frances    68
Effie   43
Effie Leah  68
Ellen   68
James   67, 68
Mae 68
William 67
Cox,
Daniel L.   16
Daniel Z.   113
Enoch   116
Fred    16
J.D.    93
Jeremiah    116
Jesse   116
John    16, 116, 122
John D. 111
Maria Frances   16
Nathan  116
S.P.    28
Sally   116
Sarah   118
Crawford,
Catherine   179
Joseph, Mrs.    100
Kate    100, 144
Lula    100
Wm., Dr.    15
Crist,
Jane    116
Criswell,
Prudence    95
Crockett,
Alice (Plumb)   7
Andy    7
Clara   7
Foster  7
Crow,
Alex    18, 52
Culp,
Kay 116
Mrs.    116
Curp,
Wm. 18, 110
Curtis,
Julia Clarissa  173
Richard 173
Dalby,
Elder   51
Daley,
B.M.    28
Clara (Van Slyke)   17
E.H.    154
Lyle, Dr.   17
Mrs.    17
Daniels,
Lottie Reed 59
Davis,
A.D.    36
A.G.    19, 25-28, 32, 38, 40,  41, 50, 65, 107, 112, 145
A.G.    148
Albert  41
Albert G.   24
Albert Gallatin 25
Dennis  130
Eliza A.    158
Jeff    4
Joe 26, 63
John T. 130, 135
Joseph  24
Julia   26
Mr. 153
Tilton  25
Dawson,
Elizabeth   71, 73
Maud    72
O., Mrs.    73
Dayhoff,
Mr. 110
Deems,
James   29
Delano,
Philip  173
Dennison,
Major   103
Denny,
Miss    46
Dickinson,
Harry   38
Diddle,
Berry   79
Dilley,
B.M.    39
B.M. (Doc)  61, 62
Dixon,
Eliza   71
Doddridge,
B.P.    38
Block   145
George  103
Joseph, Dr. 103
Dodge,
Austin  33, 36, 38
Betty   16
Billy   16
Billy, Mrs. 35
Dwight  20, 21
Fanny   1
Frances Nevada  21
John    95
Mrs.    38
Silas   19, 21
Doll,
Alice   163
Emma    163
Dort,
Ben 100
Mrs.    100
Drake,
Mary    112
Ursula  166
Dunkle,
Ike 145
Dunlap,
Ollie   16
Dunn,
Ada 108
Charles 69
Charley 53, 155
Dwight (Pete)   100
Harriett    69
Lemuel, Dr. 100
Dwight,
Kenney  41
Kenny   48, 145
R.D.    33, 48, 145
Dye,
Minerva 83
Eads,
Dr. 40
Earl,
James   83
James Thomas    83
John    83
Mary    83
Eckelberry,
Valentine   15
Edgecomb,
Clark, Mrs. 95
Edminister,
Aaron   51
Jack, Mrs.  11
Jackson 49
Edminster,
Deacon  54
Jack    54
Jackson 13, 21
Mary    16
Edwards,
Amos    119
Celia   119
Elisha  122
Haywood 119
Isaac   119, 122
Matilda Hawks   119
Rosamond Bowers 119
Ruth Wonsettler 119
Sallie  116
Solomon,    119
Eggleston,  44
Eichler,
Henry   129
Mary J. 129
Eldredge,
Mamie   17, 22
Elliott,
Joseph  24, 26
Martha Jane 42
Nolie   63
Ervin,
W.J., Mrs.  31
Estabrook,
Edward  81
Edward Wilson   81
Elery   81
Wilson  81
Esteb,
Jake    13
Kate    14
Evans,
Byron   6
Everts,
Wm. 49
Ewing,
Ephriam 25
Farabee,
Harve   35, 39
Oliver  109
Farr,
Austin  44
Fred    44
Ferguson,
D.M.    17
David M.    63
Davy    29, 47, 52, 64
John    176
Prof.   17, 31
File,
John    159
Filson,
Al  62
Alfred  121
Frank   121
George Leonard  121
James   121
Jim 132
Samuel  121
Thomas  121, 141
Washington  121
Zelma Adams 121
Zelma, Mrs. 141
Finch,
John, Mrs.  76
Fitzpatrick,    2
Fletcher,
Charlie 2
Floyd,
Henry   168
Ford,
David   18
Martha  159
Fort,
Eldert  108
Elinor  108
T.D.    109
Fouk,   17
Founts,
Miss    63
Fowler,
J.W.    38
Frame,
Thos. T.    25
Franke,
C.B.    38
Mrs.    35
Frazier,
Abner   148
Gallemore,
J.M.    62
Galpin,
Eb  148
Mary Everett    75
Gant,
Dr. 159
J.B., Dr.   145
Garner,
Eliza   55
Gay,
Will    148
Gee,
Henry   17, 19, 48
Israel  48
Gentry,
Prof.   17
George,
Addie (Martin)  47
T.D., Mrs.  74
Tom 66
Gibson,
Fred    12, 16
John    161
Gillett,
Cornelia R. 19
Gist,
Henry   82
Glasener,
Eva 75
Martha  162
Glasner,
Mary Jane   53
Goins,
Bluford 84
Goldberg,
Jacob   38
Mrs.    59
Goodman,
"Dilly", Mrs.   105
Bert    57, 105
George M.   36
Maude (Hosmer)  40
Wm. 36, 38, 57, 97, 163
Goodnow,
Charlie 36
Grable,
Amanda  2
Graer,
Fred    52
Frederick   46
Lillie  46
Green,
Clarence    59
Edward  52
Harvey  33
Judge   126
Thurston    33
Greene,
C.A.    39
C.C.    38, 49, 57
Griffin,
Ella    17
Miss    63
Griffith,
Ella    40
Grimes,
Joe 76
Mrs.    76
Groves,
Angeline    91
Ed. 86
Guffey,
S.R.    139
Gurley,
Chas.   74
George C.   74
Sarah   71, 74
Gurney,
A.H.    3
Guttery,
Prof.   116
Guy,
I.J.C.  36
Gwynn,
Wm. Harrison    52
Haggerty,
Sarah   85
Haigh,
John    74
Hainsworth,
Jim 72
Haley,
Sarah   95
Hall,
Amy Jane    114
Caleb G.    114
Hallam,
John    2
Halstead,
Dr. 79
J.L., Dr.   82
Hare,
Ora 145
T.H.    50, 76, 145
Tom 54
Hargrove,
Ida Watson  76
Harlow,
Frederick   27
Maud (Morton)   27
Harper,
Irvin   157
Irving  36
J.W.    42, 77, 157
Joseph W.   36
Harpold,
Absolam 99, 137
Harpster,
Amos    72
Jacob   72
Loveta  72
Harrah, 131
Andy    35, 52
John    35, 49
Mollie  40
Harris,
George S.   1, 5
Harrison,   8
Ben 154
Harry,
Mrs.    38
Hartpence,
H.K.    90
Kate    90
Harvey,
Rhene   35
Hastings,
Geo.    38
George  40
Hatfield,
Mary    116
Haun,
Jacob   141
Hawks,
Billy   122
Charlie 122
Heldbrand,  2
Helm,
Mr. 79
Hemry,
Abraham 131
Haman   131
Israel  31
Issac   131
Mrs. (Richardson)   29
Will    31
William 23
Wm. 31
Henderson,
Hattie  58
Hendricks,
Chas.   14
Jake    14
Simon   14
Henry,
John    92
W.H.    33
Hershberger,
Grandma 86
Hill,
Bill    22
Dave    22
Fielding W. 22
Fielding Wilhite (Doc)  102
Gim 22
Greenberry  22, 23
Harriet Ann 126
Harriett    22
J.M.    141, 148
J.T.    105
James M.    121
John    22
Leander Theodore    17, 163
Lucy    22
Peter   22
Professor   36
Robert C.   62
Robert Chapman  102
Robert Livingston   102
Sam 19, 23
Samuel  22, 121
Thos. S.    102
W.R., Rev.  126
Hines,
Marion  53, 63
Hinkle,
Ellen   103
Hitt,
J.E.    62
Holliday,
Ben 61
Caroline    61
Judge   40
Junius A.   26
Junius Alonzo   61
Mary Jane   53
Squire  38
Holman,
Prof.   62
Holmes,
Henry   26
Julia   48
Hooker,
Frank   36, 77
Frank, Mrs. Minnie (Harper) 36
Hattie  106
Hilton  103
Sam 103, 106
Hootman,
Seth    108
Horseback,
Mrs.    144
Hosman,
Ora 13
Houghton,
Billy   79
Ira 71, 117, 122
James   114, 120
Katherine   52, 100, 114, 120
Lucy    114
Mary    117
Otis    114, 120
Rachel  95
Sophia  117
House,
Ed  58
Houston,
R.B.    36, 40, 61
Robert B.   42
Howard,
A.G.    38, 49, 57
Alma    49
Ollie   27
Hoyt,
Cassius M.  5
Hubbard,
Ames    6
John    6
Hughes,
Chas. J.    25
Hull,
Mary Ann    21
Hume,
Mary J. 102
Huson,
H.  5
Herbert 9
Huttram,
Mary F. 162
Irwin,
Wm., Mrs.   177
Jackson,
Jacob   159
James,
Frank   4
Jimmie, Dr. 151
Jenkins,
Burris, Dr. 68
Johnson,
Captain 97
Charley 65
Crosby  58
E.S.    90
Edward  137
Edward D.   93
Nathan  97
Susan (McKean)  168
Ticky   97
William 168
Jones,  8
"Cap" Albert    105
Annie   105
Billy   91, 97, 105, 137
Dan 14
Fred    65
Fronia  105
Jeff Davis  105
Joe 13
John    13, 105
Lilly   105
Mahala  91
Martha  105
Millard Fillmore    105
Minerva Marino Pollard  105
Tip 151
Will Henry  13
Willie  105
Wm. 13, 105
Wm. (Billy) 103
Wm. E.  27
Jordan,
Hattie  47, 51
William 47
Judd,
Dorr    73
Mr. 71
Nettie  72
Kaufman,
Anna Watson 76
Kautz,
Annetta 122
Annetta (Houghton)  117
Emily (Lemon)   117
George  117, 120
Hannah (Lambert)    117
Jacob   116, 117, 120
James   28, 59, 62
James, Mrs. 1, 21
Laura (Dodge)   117
Margaret (Noel) 117
Mary    35, 41, 120, 148
Mary C. (Clarkson)  21
Mollie (Spivey) 117
Ross    117
Worth   117
Kavanaugh,
Thomas K., Dr.  26
Thos. K.    27
Keefe,
Eugene  52
Mary    52
Keely,
Patrick 86
Kellogg,
M.S.    24
Kelsey,
Cleveland   159
Kelso,
    31
Kemper,
Ben, Mrs.   151
Betty (Elizabeth)   92
Bill    53
Claud S.    92
James   26
James Madison   28
John    92
John Quincy Adams   92
Thornton B. 92
Wm. T.  28
Kendall,
John    110
Maggie  110
Martha  110
Mary Jane   53
Kennedy,
Louisa  95, 97
Kenney,
P.S.    1, 2
Pat (P.S.)  9
T.M.S.  51
Kern,
Charles 113
F.J.    113
Kerr,
Chris   137
Chris, Mrs. 91, 140
Christopher, Mrs.   97
Nancy   97
Kesterson,
Mary A. 132
Wm. 132
King,
Dr. 22, 24, 34, 54, 58
Kingsbury,
Mary    16
Klepper,
Anna    90
Dr. 15
Koonse,
Ephraim 2
Henry   2
Korn,
Anna    27, 61
Anna Brosius    25, 26
Lacy,
Minnie  5
Lampton,
Harry   53
Larry   61
Lamson,
Geo.    19
George  28, 36, 58, 60, 72, 74
George H.   42
Harry   28, 58, 66
Hattie  58
Lancaster,
Richard 137
Lane,
Amanda  102
Ida (Rauber)    14
John T. 150
Sam 16
Langshore,
Ben 50, 53
Lankford,
Willard 72
Lantford,
John C. 27
Laribee,
Ben 1, 2
Larmor,
George  42
Larrimore,
Julia   25
Lawrence,
E.  54
Leabo,
Isaac   159
Malvina 159
Sam 159
Samuel  160
Leavitt,
Elder   51
F.J., Rev.  58
Louisa  16
Lee,
Mrs.    73
Leech,
Julia   165
Lenhart,
Jeremiah    163
Lewis,
Catherine   114
Lievan,
Mrs.    54
Lincoln,
Abraham 138
Livick,
Tom 112
Logan,
Harry   35
Mollie  35
Lollis,
Art 53
Love,
L.M.    38
Low,
E.E.    27
Eugene  34, 62
Herbert 63
Herbert, Mrs.   59
Leon    145
M.A.    62
Marcus A.   26
Sarah   145
Lowe,
Eugene  39
Lukey,
Ella (Wyatt)    151
James   151
Lutz,
Benj. F.    158
Lizzie  158
Rebecca 158
Mackey,
Ben 120
Maddux,
Abigail Reynolds    158
Henry   158
M.W.    158
Thos. B.    158
Mann,
David   165
Jesse   165
Milton  165
Rhoda   165
Manuel,
Charley 33
Chine   164
Mapes,
Billy   74
James   161
Wm. 72
Marens,
John    27, 38, 62
Markwitz,
Wm. 72
Marquam,
Wm. E.  90, 129
Martin,
Addie   14
C.A.    24, 31, 38, 148
Chet    54
Clark   102, 163
Eugene A.   62
Finis   47
Finis A.    66
George B.   14
Hettie  9
Jack    155
Lettie  6
Lilla   27
Lottie  14
Lydia Duncan    14
M. Clark    62
Miss    116
Sam 31, 38, 163
Mathews,
Sammie  127
Mayes,
Joe 156
McAdoo,
James   31
Jas. A. 33
Jas., Dr.   38
McAfee,
Miriam Johnson  93
McAtee,
    14, 15
McBeath,
Elizabeth   105
Robert  137
McBrayer,
Claude  44
Mabel Gwynn 154
Samuel  44
W.J.    41, 44
McBride,
Florence    103
Jim 13
John    103
McClanihan,
Fannie  61
McClelland,
Andrew  29, 163
Elizabeth   103, 106
Hattie  103
James   163, 164
Jo  106
Joe 57
Joseph Dennison 103
Wm. 103, 106
McClintock,
Dr. 26
John H., Dr.    27
McCollum,
Ann 108
McCoy,
Clark   18
Harmon  55
Lucy    55
Mary    55, 162
Mel 55, 63
Ollie   55
Roxie   55
Roy 18, 62
William 18
Wm. 19, 35, 38, 55, 66, 148
Wm., Mrs.   157
McCrary,
Andrew  145
Grant   6
McCray,
Andrew F.   128
Nancy Carroll   128
Wm. 128
McCrea,
Della   6
Mary    6
McCubbin,
Barnett Monroe  88
James   88
Susannah    88
McDonald,
D.G.    18, 67, 112
Eliza   131
Jeremiah    131
Lockie  131
Randolph    131
McFee,
Phoebe  116
McGaughey,
S.  25
McGill,
George  60, 155
Jim 155
Mary Martin 155
McIntosh,
Nancy   18
McKee,
Addison 9, 13
McKenzie,
Rush    24
McLaughlin,
Fannie  112
McLellan,
Wm. E.  143
McMillan,
Judge   75
Ollie   86
McNicholas,
Anna    86
Michael 86
McNutt,
Aurelia A.  123
McPherson,
George  148
McQueen,
Chas.   171
John    171
McWilliams,
George A.   68
Ollie   87, 88
Sidney  79
Mead,
Phoebe  74
Mercer,
Sol 93
Miller,
Emeline 143
Hosea   173
Isaac   173
Julia   173
Mary    47
Rebecca 47
Minger,
Bob 22
John    31, 33, 36, 40, 57
Mitchell,
Rufus B.    26
Strather Marion 60
Moffit,
Andy    71
Geo.    71
Will    63, 71
Monroe,
Susan   21
Moore,
L.D.    41
L.D., Mrs. (Rohrbough)  41
Leta Earl   83
Margaret    130
Nancy   119
Morris,
Bob 105
Gene    97
Henderson C.    97
Robert M.   97
Robert, Mrs.    140
Sallie  95
Morrow,
Dot 63, 163
Sarah (Dot) 17
Wm. A.  111, 162
Morton,
Cap 31
Charley 167
John    31, 38, 62, 163
Marcus  62
W.A.    27, 62
Mulligan,
Col.    135
Murrell,
Benjamin    75
James   23
James I.    75
James I., Mrs.  72
Myers,
J.W. (Billy)    134
John C. 67, 102, 134
Leah Brendle    67
Leah Brinnell   134
Pamelia Ellen   67
Sam 134
Napier,
R.W.    38
Sally   87
Nash,
Andrew  13
Naylor,
Etta, Mrs.  74
Neff,
Dr. 100
Niles,
Mrs.    59
Noblett,
Captain 133
Nunn,
Dr. 33
O'Brein,
Catherine   174
O'Neil
H.B., Mrs.  75
O'Toole,
Jim 86
Ogburn,
Mrs.    144
Ogden,
Cora    40
Minnie  40, 61, 112
Robert  40
Orr,
John    95
Sallie  97
Oster,
Conrad  129
George L.   129
Owen,
John    121
Owens,
John    141
Pace,
Col.    31
Parker,
O.  38
Orville 147
Parmenter,
Wm., Mrs.   103
Partin,
Wm. 75
Paullin,
Dave, Mrs.  121
Pawsey,
Fred    76
Paxton,
Bill    31
Bob 31
Gabe    62
R.D.    92
Sallie  28
Wm. 72
Peabody,
Nancy   116
Ollie   119
Peddicord,
Caroline    105
Jane    138
Pemberton,
Al  117
Penney,
Eli 93
Eli, Rev.   75
J.C.    38, 166
J.C., Sr.   72, 75
James   166
Perkins,
Abby    63
G.G.    3
Minnie  63
Mrs.    55
Petree,
J.E., Mrs.  8
Pfost,
Aaron   107
Phillips,
Charles 7
Pickell,
Ben 47, 51
George  47, 51, 72
Jane    51
Kate (Johnson)  59
Wm. 47, 51
Wm. M.  51
Pierce,
Mr. 65
Place,
Mrs.    17
Plumb,
Addie   7
Adelia  7
Alice   7
Anna Maria (Knoch)  7
Arthur  7
Belle   7
Clara   7
Harry   7
Harve   7
Rose    7
William 7
Poteet,
Frank   43
Potts,
John    169
Prentice,
Clara   29
Gideon  29
Primm,
Ceph    168
Ellen (Johnson) 168
Proctor,
Dan 123
Daniel  124
J.M.    124
Prough,
Dory    57
Jacob   54, 57
John    54, 57
Puckett,
Constant    122
Elizabeth   118
James   116, 122
Sarah Hannah    116
Pugh,
Ellis B.    10
Helen L.    65
Purple,
Ed  3
Mrs.    3
Putnam,
George  74, 157
Radcliff,
Elizabeth   65
Ramsey,
G.E.    6
G.S.    5
Martha  52
Rannels,
Mrs.    105
Rauber,
Ida Lane    14, 16
Raymer,
Henry   74
Sarah E.    74
Ream,
Adam    2
Conrad  2
Jesse   2
Reddie,
Clara   40
George, Mrs.    53
Reed,
Henry   59
Lottie  59, 164
Mollie Partin   63
Myron   59
Tillman 60
Ressigeau,
Dr. 49, 100
Ressigien,
Dr. 59
Ressigieu,
Dr. 52
Reynolds,
S.W.    158
Rhodus,
A.J.    24
Rial,
Allan   86
Sam 79
Rice,
A.W.    1
Richardson,
Alice (Singleton)   29
Clara (Prentice)    29
George  29
Judge   164
Minnie (Price)  29
O.B.    31
Otis    26, 29
Otis B. 27
Richey,
Alex    103, 106
Aramintha   103, 106
Aramintha McClelland    103
J.L.    101
James   103
James (Jim) 97
Joe 103
Mary    106
Mary Baker  103
Robert. R.  103
Robt.   101
Sam 103, 106
Samuel  101
Thos.   103
Ridings,
Cliff   62
Ritchie,
Mr. 126
S.  25
Rix,
Ed  63
Rogers,
Anna    14
Belle   14
Catherine   99
Elwood  131, 153
Elwood, Mrs.    145
George  24, 131, 139
George F.   131
Stephen 107
Steve   121
Rohrbough,
Anthony 28, 41, 50, 100
George  35, 41, 100, 148
John    2, 41
Mary    41
Wilda   47
Rook,
Chas.   74
Rosencrary,
D.W.    13
Royer,
Carrie (Martin) 14
Rymal,
Geo.    103
George  57, 72
Sackett,
Mary    2
Sackman,
Carmelia    91
Isaac   90
Samuels,
E.M.    25
Scanlon,
John    79, 86
Patrick 86
Thomas  86
Schaeffer,
    38
Schartzer,
Hannah (Ford)   16
Schneiter,
Christian   78
Mary    78
Schultz,
Chas.   156
Schwartz,
Bill    100
Scott,
Miss    122
Nellie  173
Sam 76
Sealy,
Mrs.    97
Sears,
Jesse   6
Seeley,
Martha  93
Martha Smith    101
Selfridge,
Cassandra   10
Sergent,
Calvin  83
Shaney,
John    78
Shaw,
Alice McKee 9
Charlie 1
Chas.   9
Frank   1, 5
G.W.    2
Sterling    2
Shellabarger,
C.S.    17
M.M.    62
Shelley,
Mr. 110
Shepard,
Alfred  138
William 138
Wm., Mrs.   179
Shively,
Harley  27
Sigman,
John    18
Margaret    18
Silkwood,
Jimmy   135
Simrock,
Dr. 100
Singleton,
John    163
Otis    167
Sloan,
Cassie  76
Harry, Mrs. 53
Mrs.    76
Tessie  76
Smith,
Adalaide    92
Anna    17, 40
Carrie L.   5
Dr. 100
Hattie Bennett  12
Hi  145
John    91
Joseph  91, 102, 103, 105, 143
Lieutenant Governor 92
Lillie  151
Mahala (Jones)  137
Mary Mahala 105
Mrs.    97
Philander   33
Sarah   33
Smylie,
C.N.    2
C.W.    2
Snape,
Ernest  41
Snider,
David   103, 106
Jane    103
Jane (Spurgeon) 106
Nellie  20
Souders,
Lee 36
Sprague,
Seth    123
Spratt,
Effie Cowgill   67
J.F.    36
Jemmie Elliott  43
John Fulkerson  42, 43
Mae Cochran 43
Matilda Fulkerson   42
Newton G.   42, 43
William E.  43, 68
William H.  42
Wm. E.  42
Xema L. 43
Spurlock,
Beryl, Mrs. 8
Stanford,
Adaline O.  132
Steele,
Gen.    84
Wm. P.  26, 27
Stephenson,
A.J.    4
Eliza (Thornhill)   4
Stevens,
Dr. 59, 100
Mrs.    59
Stevenson,
Charlie, Mrs.   97
Stewart,
Frank   167
Jeremiah    173
Wm. 52
Stinson,
John J. 156
Mary Madden 156
Wm. 142, 156
Stoller,
Dr. 100, 145
Stout,
Isaac   90
Sallie  105
Streeter,
Geo. W. 19
George  22
Horace  16
Horace B.   19
Josiah  19
Judson  16
Ruby (Stebbins) 19
Strickland,
Kelley  2
Strope,
George  91
Stubblefield,
Mollie  116
Sturgis,    71
J.B.    72
Sullivan,
Daniel  174
Swartz,
S.H.    49
Switzer,
Norton  159
Tait,
Duncan M.   68
Talbot,
Thornton    162
Tarleton,
General 87
Tattershall,
Celia   18
Taylor,
Carr    148
Herbert H.  43
Teegarden,
Sam, Mrs.   78
Temple,
James   5
Terrill,
Jerome  79
Jerome B.   85
Mary    85
Miss    60
Thayer,
Nathaniel   5
Thomas,
Presley 26
Thompson,
Asa 144, 148
Green   155
Guy 148
J.G.    3
Jeff    25
Joe 69
Thornhill,
Komora  161
Thornton,
Caroline    31
Carrie  36
Henry   36, 38, 53
Thurman,
Allen   154
Tiernan,
Mrs.    7
Tiffin,
Clayton, Dr.    25
Dr. 151, 155
Tilley,
Hiram   38
Tobban,
Allen   145
Tofflemire,
C.D., Dr.   174
Charles Jerome  174
Julia   174
Tospon  103
Townsend,
Herman  2
Joe 5
Treat,
George  95
Trice,
Elizabeth   110
Trosper,
Nick    87
Robert B.   87
Wm. B.  87
Turner,
Captain 7
Maud    47
Tuthill,
T., Mrs.    59
Theodore    48
Tuttle,
Dr. 22, 59, 100
G.W., Dr.   24
Mamie   63
Mammie (Eldridge)   59
Tydings,
Edward  102
Mary Eliza  102
Vallandingham,
William 4
Van Buren,
Frank   38
Van Note,
Jeff    73
Jim 73
Mrs.    54, 144
Van Slyke,
Courtland   116
Mrs.    16
Van Volkenberg,
L.D.    38
Vanderpool,
Mamie   90
Vaughn,
Ed  170
Vinton,
Joe 169
Vorhees,
Pem 35
Wachler,
Mary    54
Wagenseller,
George  55
Jessie (Mrs. Smith) 55
Mollie  55
Nellie  55
Wm. 55
Wagner,
Mary E. 81
Waite,
J.W.    178
Waldo,
Asel    123
Louisa  125
Walker,
Vic 42
Wallace,
Abathal 132
E. Green    132
E.G.    121
Walling,
Emma    59
Ida 59, 63
Myron   59
Myron, Mrs. 74
Walters,
George, Mrs.    21, 95, 97
Warden,
Alec    34, 38
Warren,
Richard 173
Watson,
Anna (Kaufman)  71, 72
Thos. Jefferson 76
Wright  76
Weaver,
Samuel  70
Weldon,
Humphrey    82, 133
Welker,
Lydia   116
Wells,
Nellie  116
Will    65
Welton,
W.H., Rev.  58
West,
P.B., Rev.  58
White,
Anthony 79
Emmet   34
Mattie  24
Ralph   33, 36, 38
Whitely,
Ben 38
Bennett 19, 33, 37, 51, 62, 118
Whitenack,
Henry   134
Whitman,
Col.    84
Mrs.    59
R.F.    54
Rollin G.   27
Whitmer,
Jacob   140
John    140
Sallie  97
Whitt,
James   28, 32
John    16
Walter  161
Wilkerson,
Dr. 159
Wilkinson,
Jane    145
Williams,
Aurora  111, 162
Bob 38, 59
Joe 18
Williamson,
Caroline    118
Willis,
Edwin F.    43
Wilmot,
Mrs.    55
Rev.    48, 55, 161
Wm. 31, 58, 61
Wilson,
Clyde, Dr.  52
George  52
Jim 75
John    178
Wines,
Mollie  47
Winters,
Abbie   68
Wonsettler,
Jacob   111
Sarah   111
Woolsey,
C.B., Dr.   79
Cardinal    79
Gilbert 79
Libby Reynolds, Dr. 79
Libby, Dr.  133
Napoleon Bonaparte, Dr. 79
Woosebeck,
Mr. 122
Young,
C.H.    50
Hattie  118
Michael 2
Seth    39, 47, 50, 54, 61, 63
Zachary,
Margaret Ann    113




































    Historical Data in This Volume

    Was Compiled by

    Major Molly Chapter

    D.A.R.

    1933-1934
















    Retyped and Indexed
    by

                Karen Walker           and            Marilyn Williams
                1281 NW Bus. 36 Hwy.                  5498 NW Browning Drive
                Hamilton, MO   64644                  Kingston, MO   64650
                816 583-2350                          816 586-4551
    1995

























    Major Molly Chapter

    Volume I










  *****FOREWARD*****

This Collection of 150 interviews is the gift of Major Molly Chapter
D.A.R. of Hamilton, Missouri to the Missouri State D.A.R.  The Chapter
is also making a duplicate gift of these interviews to the Historical
department of the Hamilton Library, which it is hoped, will be a
growing collection with new interviews to be added as found. In a few
cases, there will be found to be two interviews from the same narrator
under different divisions.  In this way, subject matter has been more
easily codified.  The total number of persons interviewed has been
145, the total number of interviews 150. To this work, the interviewer
has devoted months.  Often a whole afternoon has been given to getting
an important interview; for the minds of the old can not be hurried
else mental confusion will result.  In a few cases, important data
necessarily had to be given by the second generation. Most of the
collection is given to interviews concerning early Caldwell County
history; a few concern the early history of our citizens who pioneered
in other Missouri counties or other states.  A group of three
interviews came from pioneers in Miller County, Missouri, where the
interviewer taught in the Ozarks. It has been a continuous aim to
reproduce the spirit and the words of narrators and to get true facts
as far as it lay in our power.  Should errors have crept in despite
our care in inquiry, we shall welcome any correction. We wish to
acknowledge the assistance given to this project by the old timers
themselves who thus have aided in preserving unwritten history, by
fellow D.A.R. members who have suggested "prospects" or submitted
data, and to the interested outside friends who have helped by
suggestions, and by typewriting our manuscripts.
Submited by


                                   (Miss) Bertha Ellis Booth
                                   Major Molley Chapter D.A.R.
                                   Hamilton, Missouri


    CALDWELL COUNTY, MISSOURI HISTORY
    Interviews
    ----------Volume I----------
    by
    Dr. Bertha Booth
    of
    Major Molly Chapter, D.A.R.
    ___________

                               Table of Contents                         Page

First Days of Kidder - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   1
     Ream Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   2
     Near Centenarian- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   4
     Thayer College- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   5
     Kidder Institute- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   6
     Barwick Chapel and the Plumbs - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   7
     McKee Family - Lovely Ridge - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   9
     Interview - Mrs. Helen L. Booth - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  10
     To Lovely Ridge in Covered Wagon- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  12
Dodge District
     Cox Family - Half Way House - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  16
     Coach - Women's Styles in 70s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  16
Hamilton Schools - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  17
Dodge District - Ford Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  18
     Streeter Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  19
     Dodge Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  21
Samuel Hill, Pioneer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  22
Hamilton's First Building- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  24
     Town Company- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  25
     Business Men Before 1840- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  26
     Post Office - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  27
     Merchant James Kemper - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  28
     Daughter of Pioneer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  29
     1860 and Later- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  31
     Taylor Allee, 1865- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  33
     Harrah Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  35
     Merchants - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  36
     Business Men in 70s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  38
     Ogden Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  40
     Rohrbough Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  41
The Spratts- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  42
McBrayer Livery Barn - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  44
Hamilton, Frederick Graer, Blacksmith  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  46
     Pickells and Jordan Families- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  47
     Gee Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  48
     A.G. Howards- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  49
     Old Rohrbough Cemetery- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  50
     Baptist Church- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  51
     William H. Gwynn, Blacksmith- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  52
     Middle and Late 60s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  53
     Prough Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  54
     Wm. Wagenseller - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  55
     Butcher Shop- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  57
     George Lamson, Agent- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  58
     Reed Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  59
     Mitchell Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  60
     Holliday Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  61
     Newspaper History - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  62
     Prof. Ferguson- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  63
     Dan Booth, Banker - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  65
     The Cowgills- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  67
     Hamilton, Charley Dunn, Ex-slave  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  69
     Weaver and Bowen Families - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  70
Van Note District, Mrs. Elizabeth Brown- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  71
     Harpister Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  72
     Dawson Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  73
     Gurley Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  74
Gomer Township - Murrell Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  75
     Watson Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  76
     German Family in County - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  77
     Christian Schneiter, Swiss Settler- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  78
     "Grand River Country" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  79
Breckenridge Township, Estabrook Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  80
     Halsteads - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  82
     Dr. James Earl- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  83
     Goins Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  84
     Terrill Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  85
     Scanlon Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  86
     Trosper Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  87
     McCubbin Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  88
     Old Mirabile Tavern - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  90
Plumb Creek District - Smith Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  91
Kempers, Pioneers- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  92
Mirabile and Kingston
     Capt. Edward D. Johnson - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  93
Mirabile - John Orr Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  95
     Morris Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  97
     Harpolds Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  99
Kingston - Crawford Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 100
Salem, Richey Mill - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 101
Kingston Township, Elder R.C. Hill - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 102
McClelland and Kin - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 103
Kingston Township, Billy Jones - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 105
Old Salem Town, McClelland Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 106
Early Kingston Carpenter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 107
Poor Farm- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 108
Kingston, Clarkson Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 109
Farm Life- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 110
Wonsettler Family near Kingston- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 111
Caldwell County Seat - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 112
Kern Family, Kingston- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 113
New York Township - Houghton Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 114
     Cox Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 116
     Kautz Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 117
     Pioneer Preacher- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 118
     Edwards Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 119
     New York in the 60s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 120
     Filson Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 121
     Puckett Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 122
Fairview Township
     Waldo Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 123
     Proctor Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 124
     Chapman Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 125
     Cheshire Family - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 126
Davis Township, Farm Life- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 128
     Before Civil War- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 129
Black Oak, Early Days- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 130
     Rogers and McDonald - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 131
     "Death" of E.G. Wallace - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 132
     Killing of Weldon - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 133
     Killing of Myers- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 134
     Hanging of Jimmy Silkwood - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 135
     Bristow, Casey Fight- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 136
     Killing of Southern Sympathizers- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 137
     He Voted for Lincoln- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 138
     "Hanging" of George Rogers- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 139
     Mormon Temple - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 140
     Living by Haun's Mill - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 141
     Mormon Sites- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 142
     Mormon Members- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 143
     Rag Carpets - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 144
     Epidemics - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 145
     Before Day of Automobiles - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 147
     Water Sources - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 148
     1874 Drought- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 150
     Schools - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 151
     Voted for Lincoln - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 152
     Public Hanging- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 153
     Election- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 154
     Ex-slaves - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 155
     Before Bank Checks- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 156
     Burial Custom in 70s- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 157

______________________________________________________________________________

    OUT OF COUNTY OR STATE

Livingston County, Missouri- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 158
Jacksons of Ray County, Missouri - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 159
Caldwell-Daviess Counties- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 160
By Covered Wagon to Daviess County, Missouri - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 161
McClellands to Daviess County, Missouri- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 163
Manns in Daviess County, Missouri- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 165
In 60s and 70s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 166
Cemeteries - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 167
Indian Reservations- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 168
Homesteading in Kansas - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 169
Kentucky in 70s- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 170
Iowa McQueens- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 171
Kansas - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 173
Irish in Iowa-Oklahoma - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 174
Ozark Cabins in 60s- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 176
Ozark Wash Day - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 177
Wilsons of Miller County, Missouri - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 178
Grundy County, Missouri, Clave Family- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 179

------------------------------------------------------------------------
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Karen Walker.
1281 NW Bus 36 Hwy, Hamilton, MO 64644

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