First Settlers, Phelps County, Missouri >From "History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri" The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1889. ********************************************************************** The earliest settlers of whom authentic information is had, outside of hunters and Indians, are a few who arrived in 1818; these were James Harrison, Adam Bradford, John York and Jack and John Ducan, with poss- ibly a few others. Mr. Harrison was an energetic and highly respected Virginian, who located at the mouth of Little Piney, near Arlington's present site. His descendants are very numerous, and are among the excellent citizens of several counties of this region; Polly, the widow of John Robertson, of Laclede county, is the only survivor of his large family of fourteen children. Mr. Harrison and his sons, especially Robert and Thomas, were among the first officers of Pulaski and Phelps counties. His home was a pioneer court house of old Crawford county, the court meeting in his store-room, and the grand jury "considering their presentments" out in the grove near by. When he first settled there the nearest house was at Steelville, and the nearest court, pro- bably at St. Louis. County after county was created around him, so that, it is said, his house had been in five different counties. In his prime he was described as a large, fine looking man, with dark, curling hair, and weighing about 260 pounds. The old place is now own- ed by Mr. Pillman. Adam Bradford first settled on Little Piney, but soon removed to Spring Creek. He was among the first to erect a mill. He was a noted marksman. The Ducans located on the Gasconade, below Arlington site. The caves of Phelps county figure as the next attrac- tion to settlers. Saltpetre Cave, ten miles northwest of Rolla, and Spring cave, near Relfe, are identified with early history. Saltpetre Cave is the largest, and by a surveying party was said to have been explored for five miles into subterranean depths; it was not its spac- ious entrance, with its beautiful spring, nor its extensive compart- ments, pendant with sparkling stalactites seven feet long, and pillared with stalagmites, among which winds a rippling stream, that brought the sturdy settlers in 1823; it was an altogether more prosy thing, namely, the deposits of saltpetre the cave contained. For this William Copp- edge, a powder manufacturer of Kentucky, came with his family of four sons and two daughters, located near the site of Newburg. They engaged extensively in powder making, and afterward undertook agriculture. His descendants are numerous, and excellent citizens. His only living son, Lindsey, is an aged and now childish old man of eighty-three years, residing at Relfe Post office, where he located in 1846. They had with them a mortar and pestle, with which they made meal and flour for a time, until they erected a little water mill on a branch of Little Piney, near Newburg. Lindsey Coppedge was a carpenter, and cabinet maker also, and made the first flour bolting machine ever used within the limits of Phelps county. He is now the oldest resident of the county. Spring Creek Cave furnishes an interesting incident, of another kind and of a later date (1850); it was a severe fright which befell a Sunday exploring party, composed of Delilah and Kaziah Lawson and Aherd Maise. Evening came on, and as they did not return, their friends began a vigorous search of the cave. The search continued until noon the next day, when the party had grown to sixty persons, and the lost ones were found, almost overcome with despair and fright. Their lights had gone out and left them lost. They were found by John D. Bradford and others. Among others who came about 1825 or 1826 were Humphrey Yowell, George Sally, Isaac, Jack and Moses Brown, William Arthur, David Lenox and Jack Vest, who located on Little Piney. David Lenox was a Baptist preacher of the Old School. Willis Bryant and William Hawkins settled on the Gasconade, and Robert Wright "squatted" above Arlington. About this time it was that the Shawnee Indians proved to be an instrument of civilization. They wandered over Illi- nois, Indiana and Ohio, and while camped in Adams county, Ohio, they visited a large store at Brush Creek furnace, and traded with its proprietor, Thomas James. Mr. James was of Welsh descent, born in Maryland about four months after this country achieved independence. He grew to be a remarkably sagacious man of large views, and in 1803, when quite a young man, went to Ohio and established the above named furnace as the first one in the State, and the first forge in the State he built in Ross county. With his usual keenness he learned of the where abouts of iron from these Indians, and in 1825, securing one of them as a guide, he came to Missouri, and soon decided on the Meramec banks, whereupon he returned to Ohio, and with his old foreman, Samuel Massey, and a force of miners, came back, and on August 8, 1826, began the erection of the Meramec furnace and buildings, at a cost of over $40,000. These were erected on Section 1, Township 37, Range 6, where with the magnificent water power, the limestone for fluxing purposes, and the forests for charcoal, a model situation was found for one of the earliest and most famous of the mineral works in Missouri. The first four months they employed from 100 to 200 hands, and all supplies were hauled in wagons from St. Louis. At the end of ten months they began business, and employed from 240 to 300 men; the iron was hauled to St. Louis, and teams even came from Arkansas for iron bars, the annual output being about 300,000 tons. Besides the furnace Mr. James had a blacksmith shop and grist mill, but no saloon was allowed. Mer- amec Iron Works postoffice was established, with Samuel Massey, as the first postmaster. This became a prominent point for the whole south half of the state. Mr. James superintended his vast business until 1844, when he owned 11,000 acres about the furnace. He then turned over the management of it to his son William, and in 1856 his death occurred. It was in his honor that the town of St. James was named. His son William managed the furnace until 1878, when it was closed, for reasons given elsewhere in this volume. The estate now belongs to the Thomas James heirs. William James now is an old resident of St. James. Many of the employees of these works became the farmer settlers of Phelps and surrounding counties. In 1827 Hamilton Lenox settled on Elk Prairie, Wilson Lenox and Robert and James Newburg found homes on Spring Creek, and Wright Light located near the site of Rolla. In 1829 Anthony and George Kitchen located on Little Piney; Anthony was the first tailor to settle in the county, and the young swains gave him considerable work in cutting blue jeans. About the same time Moses Freeman and Joel Melton settled on Beaver Creek. In 1830 Philip Hens- ley and Carter Hawkins located on Gasconade River, and John Rhea on Little Piney; of Mr. Rhea's eight children, only one, Jane, the widow of George Sally, is now living. Mr. Rhea's brother-in-law, William Leek, came with him from Tennessee, and also Joseph Dodd, the father- in-law of Lindsey Coppedge, who located on Mill Creek. James H. Wilson, Martin and John Miller and Washington Brown arrived about the same time. In 1833 Solomon King found a home on Spring Creek, and on Little Piney Isaac Wright located; he was the father of Lewis Wright, whom, with his four sons, were the victims of a war tragedy in 1865. About 1836 William Matthews located on the named Matthews prairie, and John Edgar's name was attached to the well known spring and prairie of the same way about 1840. Isaac and Lee Love were also early pioneers who have left numerous and sturdy descendents. ==================================================================== 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. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny (Eisenbarger) Harrell ====================================================================