CHAPTER IX

by Judge Charles A. Denton

NATIONAL, TERRITORIAL, STATE, AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS -- FRENCH POSSESSION -- SPANISH POSSESSION -- PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA -- ACT OF MARCH 26, 1804 -- ACT OF MARCH 31, 1805 -- ACT OF JULY 4, 1812 -- MISSOURI ADMITTED -- TREATY OF NOVEMBER 10, 1808 -- LEGISLATIVE ACTS

We deem a re-capitulation of the different national, territorial, state and county governments, under which the territory now within the present boundary lines of Bates county has been, would be of interest and profit to those who are interested in the history of the government of the county.

It was of the French possessions up to 1763, then of Spanish possession until 1800 when it again came under the control of the French government, and so continued up to April 30, 1803, when France ceded the Province of Louisiana to the United States of which it was a part.

On March 26, 1804, by act of Congress it became a part of "District of Louisiana," and was placed under the jurisdiction of what was then known as "Indian Territory." On March 3, 1805, it became a part of the "Territory of Louisiana," and so continued until July 4, 1812, when the Territory of Missouri was organized, Missouri being admitted as a state on August 10, 1821, it has therefore been under its jurisdiction since that time.

November 10, 1808, at a place or fort called at that time Fort Clark which was located on the Missouri river, at or near what is now the town of Sibley in Jackson county, a treaty was entered into by the United States with the Great and Little Osage Indians, by which the said Indians relinquished to the United States all claim or right to the land lying east of a line commencing at said Fort Clark and running due south to the Arkansas river. From data and information gathered from the general land office at Washington, it appears that this boundary line so agreed upon as separating the lands to be thereafter claimed and used by the Osage Indians for their home and hunting ground, entered this present territory at a point on the south bank of the Grand river at or near the center of section 14, of Grand River township and continuing south until the township of Pleasant Gap is reached, when its location would be about, or on the line between sections 3 and 4 of said township, and would therefore as it continued south pass on the east line of the town of Papinsville or about one-half mile east of the bank of the Marais des Cygnes river. All that part of the present territory lying west of that line continued to be under the jurisdiction and control of the Osage Indians until the treaty of the United States with said Indians on June 22, 1825, by which treaty the Osage Indians relinquished all their right or claim to lands lying within the State of Missouri.

That part of the present territory of the county lying east of said Osage boundary line, or a strip about seven and one-half miles of the present territory, first came under the jurisdiction of county organization, by act of the Legislature, Laws of 1813 and 1814, in the organizing of St. Louis county. By an act of the territorial Legislature of January 23, 1816, that part of now Bates county lying east of the Osage boundary line became a part of Howard county. This same territory was made a part of Cooper county, Territorial Laws 1818, act December 17, 1818.

By act of the Legislature of November 16, 1820 all that part of now Bates county lying north of the middle of the main channel of the Osage river to the west boundary line of the state, was organized with other territory into a county named Lillard.

From the fact that at that time what is now called the Marais des Cygnes, was then probably called the Osage river, that the said southern line of Lillard county was to west line of the state, understood and intended to be the main channel of the now Marais des Cygnes river.

By act of Legislature February 16, 1825, all that part of the present territory of Bates county lying west of the middle line of Mingo, Spruce, Deepwater, Hudson, Rockville townships, and north of a line starting at a point where the above said line crosses the middle of the channel of the Osage river and thence west to the state line, was organized into a county named Jackson. This south boundary line was about three-fourths of a mile south of the present southern boundary line of Bates county.

That part lying east of the middle line of Mingo township and the other townships south of it, was organized February 16, 1825, as a part of a county named Lafayette.

That part of the present territory of the county lying north of a line starting at the northeast corner of Hudson township and running west to the state line was by act of the Legislature of January 16, 1833. made a part of a county called Van Buren and that part lying south of this line with attached territory was organized into a county called Bates. It appears that the territory of both the said counties of Van Buren and Bates were attached to the county of Jackson, for all civil and military purposes until they should be established and organized as separate counties by law. It appears that the southern boundary of said Jackson county was by this act fixed at about its present boundary line.

On the 29th day of January 1841, by act of the Legislature, Bates county was organized for civil and military purposes and included with other territory lying south of it, only that part of the present territory lying south of the line, commencing at the northeast corner of Hudson township and running thence west to the state line. By law March 28, 1845, the north boundary line of Bates county was moved six miles further north so that its northern boundary was a line commencing at the southeast corner of township 41, range 29, (Spruce township) thence west to the state line.

By act of the Legislature, 1849, the name of Van Buren county was changed to Cass county, consequently all that part of what is now Bates county lying north of the line above described as being the north line of Bates county was from that time a part of Cass county.

By act of the Legislature February 17, 1851, all that part of the present county from what is now its northern boundary line south to a line for a southern boundary, which commenced on the state line at the northwest corner of section 18, running thence east to the line now dividing Bates and St. Clair counties, was organized into a county named Vernon. It will be noted that this line, with reference to the following towns as now located, would pass through the town of Hume, just south of Rich Hill, through Prairie City and strike the northern boundary line of Rockville. It was about three-fourths of a mile north of Papinsville, which was at that time the county seat of Bates county.

The said act organizing Vernon county provided, however that there should be an election held within its prescribed boundary line, on the first Monday of August 1851, and if a majority of the voters in the said new county did not vote therefor then the act should be void and inoperative. The election was so held, and a majority of the votes cast was for the organization.

One Samuel Scott was by the governor appointed sheriff, with other county officers, of the new county of Vernon. On October 8, 1851, in the circuit court, begun and held in the town of Papinsville, Samuel Sawyer, circuit attorney, filed an information in the nature of a quo warranto at the relation of George Douglass against the said Samuel Scott and other county officers, charging that the county of Vernon had not been legally organized and therefore the said Scott and others were unlawfully exercising authority as such officers.

A change of venue was taken from the said court to Henry county circuit court, where it was tried before Hon. Waldo P. Johnson as judge of that circuit. At the November term, 1852, Judge Johnson held that the act establishing the said Vernon county was unconstitutional.

An appeal was taken to the supreme court and the supreme court January term, 1853, affirmed the holding of Judge Johnson. This of course disorganized the said county of Vernon and that part of Cass and Bates counties that had been within the boundary of the proposed county of Vernon was again under the jurisdiction of the said counties respectively.

By act of the Legislature of February 22, 1855 the present northern boundary line of Bates county was established, thus making the two northern tiers of townships in Bates county as they are now.

By act of the Legislature, February 27, 1855, the present county of Vernon was organized with its northern boundary line the same as it is at this time. This resulted in fixing the boundary lines of Bates county as they are now.

It is novel, if not interesting, to note that had not the act of February 17, 1851, organizing Vernon county been declared unconstitutional, Butler would have been the county seat of Vernon county, while Nevada would have been the county seat of Bates county.