Early Settlements, Centerview Township, Johnson County, Missouri >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** The first permanent settlement in the territory now comprising Center- view township was probably made in 1832. Solomon Cox, a native of Kentucky, settled on section 1 on the east side of Brier creek in 1832, where he built a log cabin, and remained until 1848. Mr. Cox was a Missouri pioneer, coming to this state long before it was admitted to the Union. He was known as "Uncle Solomon," was a frugal and industr- ious man and while living in this township he accumulated about four hundred acres of land. This he sold at ten dollars per acre in 1848, when he left for the Pacific coast. He was a man of a roving and ad- venturous nature and thus his onward march across the plains and over the mountains. Jeremiah Gregg, a native of Kentucky, settled here in 1832. Matthias Houx, a native of Kentucky, came here in 1833. He was a successful farmer and stock raiser and became well to do. He spent the remainder of his life in this county and lived to a ripe old age. His children still live at the old home place. In the early days he was a typical frontiersman and a hunter of considerable note. In 1849, during the gold excitement in California, he went to the Pacific coast overland. It was truthfully said of him that on that overland trip to California he shot nearly every species of animal to be found between Missouri and California, including buffalo, elk, deer, panther, grizzly bear and Indian. He killed hundreds of deer and wolves in his time and in his declining years he retained his trusty old muzzleloading rifle and double barreled shotgun, mute comrades of many exciting events in the once wild and unbroken West. John Conway, of Tennessee, came here in 1833 and died in 1842. James Stirling, also a native of that state, came in 1833 and died here. William Conway came from Tenn., in 1833 and later went to Texas, where he spent his life. Jerremiah and Samuel Carmichael and William Cocke, natives of Tennessee, came in 1833; the former spent the remainder of his life here and the latter later moved to California. Isaac Reese, another Tennesseeian, located here about 1834 and later went to Kansas, where he died. James Fisher came to this section in 1835. He was a native of Mississippi and in 1847 went to Texas. Philip S. Houx came here in 1838 and died about twenty years later. He was a native of Missouri and the father of Rev. James N. Houx and grandfather of Charles H. Houx. John Kennedy, a native of Tenn., came here in 1838 and died shortly afterwards. John G. Graham, a Virginian, settled here in 1838 and died in 1878. Samuel C. Graham, also of Virginia, settled in this vicinity in 1840. The Grahams left numerous descendants, good citizens and men who still live in the town- ship. James J. Graham, also a Virginian, came in 1850. Samuel T. Thistle settled in this vicinity in 1840 and later moved into Rose Hill township. He was a Virginian. And Gideon Harrison, of Alabama, came here in 1842 but soon afterward returned to his native State. Samuel McFarland, a native of Tenn., came to the territory of Missouri in 1816. Later he lived in Cooper and Lafayette counties and in 1843 settled in Centerview township, about two miles east of where the village of Cen- terview now stands. He went to Texas in 1850 and died there in 1851. His brother, George McFarland, settled in Centerview in 1843 in the same locality and spent the remainder of his life there. He died prior to the Civil War. Moses G. Mullins was an early settler in this sec- tion and for a number of years lived in Centerview township, two miles southwest of the Centerview depot. Among other early settlers were William Ramsey, G. Burgess, John Combs, Jacob Fetterling, William Marr, J. W. Houx, John R. Whitsett, T. C. Chamberlain, James Chamberlain, Elhanen Roop, James Stirling, and his son, and P. S. Houx and his two sons. George Washington, a pioneer of sterling worth, was the first supervisor from Centerview township. He held this office for eighteen months, when the law was changed abolishing the office. Later he was elected a member of the county court. He was also one of the first justices of the peace in the township and was postmaster. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. 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