CHAPTER XXI

NEW HOME TOWNSHIP -- NEW HOME VILLAGE -- SHOBETOWN AND RIVELY -- CORNLAND -- LONE OAK TOWNSHIP -- PERU AND ATHOL -- PLEASANT GAP TOWNSHIP -- PLEASANT GAP VILLAGE -- STUMPTOWN -- HUDSON TOWNSHIP -- HUDSON -- LAHIA -- ROCKVILLE TOWNSHIP -- ROCKVILLE TOWN -- PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP -- HARMONY MISSION -- PAPINSVILLE -- PRAIRIE CITY -- OSAGE TOWNSHIP -- HOWARD TOWNSHIP -- SPRAGUE -- HUME

The Marais des Cygnes river finds its tortuous way entirely through this township in a general southeasterly direction. Its bottoms are wide, rich and largely covered with valuable timber -- oak, hickory, pecan, elm, sycamore, cottonwood, etc. The only tributaries worth mentioning are Burnett's branch, Island slough, and Cottonwood branch. Formerly there were numerous lakes in the bottoms, but many have been drained and are no more.

Mark West appears to be the oldest settler. He came in 1834, and bought a claim in section 6, from Daniel Woodfin. Mrs. West was a daughter of Col. James Atten. who came to Harmony Mission in 1834. She died in 1842 while struggling with her husband to establish a pioneer home in an unsettled country. Mrs. Charlotte Miller was among the pioneers, settling in New Home in 1841. Jackson Wall came into this township some time prior to 1843, and located near the center of the township on a high mound, and died there in 1849 or 1850. George W. Turner, of Virginia, came in 1843, and died before 1860. Jeremiah Burnett came in 1849. Daniel settled here before 1843. went west to California in 1849, and died there. Lewis and Levi Deweese came from North Carolina and settled in the township about 1841. The brothers both died and their widows returned to North Carolina. James Poag opened a claim prior to 1843 and O. H. P. Miller and William Powers were early settlers.

A man named Haymaker built a mill -- saw and grist -- on the Marais des Cygnes river about 1870, in section 6. It washed away in 1880 and nothing is left to mark the spot.

The village of New Home was founded in 1869, on the southwest quarter of section 20, township 39, range 32. Colonel, afterward Judge, Samuel F. Hawkins owned the town site, and built the first house in the town in 1870. J. E. Thomas built the first business house in the town in 1870. Hiram Slater was the blacksmith. Dr. P. E. Calmes was the first doctor. Dr. R. F. Hulett, now living at Galena, Missouri, came and opened an office in 1875. Edmond Cope was the first postmaster in 1873. Other merchants were Morlan Brothers, Fisher & Givens, and Fisher & Thomas.

Shobetown and Rively, once active mining towns, have passed away and are now enjoying the obscurity of all extinct villages.

Cornland, once an important trading point, on the Marais des Cygnes at the iron bridge on the road to Rich Hill, has ceased to be of commercial importance since Athol, a short distance away, became a stopping place for trains on the Missouri Pacific railroad.

Lone Oak township is irregular in shape and is bounded by its sister townships as follows: On the north by Summit and Mt. Pleasant, on the west by New Home, on the south by the Marais des Cygnes river and on the east by Prairie and Pleasant Gap.

Lone Oak has abundant water and timber, and a variety of soil from low bottoms to bluffs, from bluffs to high prairie land, all good grass, grain and stock lands. The principal tributaries of the Marais des Cygnes in this township are Miami, Mound branch. Double Branches creek and Willow creek, with smaller streams tributary to these. Formerly some large lakes were along the river, but with the recent drainage projects they are nearly all dry land now.

Among the pioneer settlers of Lone Oak was Dr. William C. Requa, who bought out a Mormon fugitive from Jackson by the name of Daniel Francis, in 1837, just before that part of the county had been surveyed and sectionized by the government and he continued to reside there with his family until he died, about 1886 at the ripe age of ninety-one. The story of Doctor Requa will be found elsewhere in this book. William R. Thomas located in section 11, township 39, range 31, in 1844, and died there. Abraham Towner and Daniel Francis, Mormons, who had been driven out of Jackson county, came in 1835. Francis died here before the Civil War and Towner moved to California some time in the fifties. Philip Stanford lived north of Doctor Requa. He went to Texas. George Requa settled in the township in 1834. He was one of the Union missionaries in 1820. He died here before 1860. He left the following children and his widow: William, Austin, James, George, Cyrus J., Martha J., and Lucy E., several of whom, and possibly all, are now dead. James H. Requa opened a farm in 1840, and he was probably the first school teacher in the township.

Enoch Humphreys, A. G. Ellidge, Lindsey Wine, John H. Thomas, Joseph Jones, John and C. Columbus Blankenbaker, John O. Starr and John Daniel were all pioneers and good men and farmers.

The first apple orchard in the township was set out by Dr. W. C. Requa and it was probably the first one in the county after the one set by the missionaries at Harmony, a few miles south of Prairie township.

W. R. Thomas erected a windmill in 1856 which ground corn and wheat. He operated it until the war came on and it was destroyed.

Lone Oak has never had a town or village, but Peru is the community center of the township. Athol is a railroad coal station, and while several families and a club house are near the stopping -- not a station -- of the trains, it has never been laid out into lots or become a village.

The topography of Pleasant Gap township is broken, mostly what is called locally, high prairie; but it is good agricultural land. It is watered principally by Double Branches and Willow creeks. Some timber is along the creeks.

History has written that those who settled in this township prior to 1839 were: the Osbornes, a large family from Illinois; two families of Requas in the southwest; Daniel Francis and two sons-in-law, Arthur and Constable; and Abram Towner, these latter being refugees from Mormon settlements in Jackson county, Missouri. Two families named Harris and Collins lived near the center of the township. Jimmy Ridge, the Walker family, and a family named Beatty. William Harvey came in 1842 from Texas and left for California in 1849. William Hagan located two miles north of the village of Pleasant Gap and went to California in '49. His brother who came at the same time, and at one time county surveyor, left for California in 1852. Joseph Wix located, where his son now lives, in 1843. James Cockrell came some time prior to 1843, also James Cockrell. Jr. and also Larkin Cockrell and James, Jr. All went to California in '49. Henry Beaver came from Kentucky and went with the others, William Deweese and his sons, Jesse, Evan and Eliph, came from Illinois in 1844. Evan was killed in the battle of Lone Jack.

For further mention of Joseph Wix see chapter on Biographies. Among other old settlers entitled to mention were: Dr. John H. and R. W. McNeil from New York, Peter Trimble, Horace Milton, Cornelius Nafus, S. S. Burch, George M. Requa, John Dillon, W. H. Pitts, J. M. Rogers, William Campbell, Jesse Rinehart, W. B. Young, John Haskins, Philip Standford, James Coe, W. L. Campbell, and John Sisson. The old settlers were generally from Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee.

The first post office in the east part of the county was established in 1840, near where Pleasant Gap village now is and an old man named Anderson Cockrell was the first postmaster. A mail route was established from Boonville, Clinton, Pleasant Gap to Balltown, on the Little Osage river near where Horton now is.

The first store in Pleasant Gap village was opened by Joseph Smith about 1850. It became quite a business center before the war, and when the county was re-organized after the war Pleasant Gap was the temporary seat of government until it was finally moved to Butler. Pleasant Gap continued to be a good business point for many years and is still a community center.

Stumptown. formerly called Lone Oak Postoffice, was established in 1854 in the central western part of the township near the confluence of the north and south branches of Double Branches creek. W. B. Young was the father of this village and opened the first business house in 1854. History records that he carried a stock of general merchandise, the predominating articles, however, being tobacco and whiskey; the latter being almost universally used as the matutinal drink of the old pioneer. Young was noted for his bonhomie and was the recognized fiddler of that vicinity. In addition to being the life of every rural gathering, day or night, he was the sole editor and proprietor of the "Stumptown Clipper," which appeared at regular intervals in manuscript form. The happenings, the doings, the sayings of the neighborhood were all faithfully gathered by this original chronicler, who read his "Clipper" aloud to his own admirers in his own inimitable style. So the historian has set it down, and it is to be regretted that nothing further is known of the "Clipper." It seems it had no circulation except vive voce, and no files were ever put up or preserved, so it is lost to the world.

Hudson township is fairly watered and drained by Panther creek and Camp branch and their tributary streams. Timber is along the creeks. It is a fine agricultural township.

Rev. Israel Robords, a Missionary Baptist, came in the spring of 1843 and settled near the then town of Hudson. He was a New Yorker, from Saratoga county. Col. George Douglas came to America from Scotland, and settled in the northwest part of the township in 1837. Before the war he owned eight thousand acres of land in one body, and was one of the largest stock raisers in the state. He was one of the first judges of the county court. When the war came on he went to Texas and took with him forty-five slaves. He died there in 1869. George Rains was an early settler, but we have been unable to learn the date. John D. Myers came to Hudson township in 1842, and he became one of the forceful men of the early building days of the county. Hence larger mention of Judge Myers will be made elsewhere. The Gilbreaths, William, Simeon and Stephen came and settled in Hudson in 1840. John Gilbreath, the father of the three sons, died in 1865. aged eighty years.

The town of Hudson was located April 10, 1867 by Judge Charles I. Robards who purchased the land for a company of twenty-one men. The first building was a general store, erected by Smith Brothers of Clinton, and William E. Brinkerhoff and V. A. Wallace put in charge. The second house was a residence erected by Judge Robards. Then a business house owned and operated by James Hodkins and E. M. King. The first blacksmith was Alexander Gordon. Joel Pratt was the first postmaster. The ambitious little village had visions of greatness, but when the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad went by and Appleton City was started three and one-half miles east its dreams faded, and the village has for years been only a memory. Its fate was only typical of many others -- predicted too much upon what never occurred, and hence death. In 1877 a post office was established called Labia which was discontinued after four years. John W. Brown was the first post-master and Clark Wix the second and last.

Rockville township is in the southeast corner of Bates county. It is mostly rolling to level, and is watered and drained by Panther, Camp and Shaw branches, flowing into Osage on the south line. Plenty of timber and fine soil. It is. according to the government soil surveyors elsewhere quoted in this work, the lowest area of the county, being about four hundred feet lower than West Boone township in the extreme northwest part of the county.

Robert Belcher settled in Rockville township in section 11, in 1838 and he died in 1856. A man by the name of Bridges, a blacksmith by trade, settled on the Osage river south of the town of Rockville about this time. William Anderson settled two and a half miles west of Rockville in 1837. and died in 1858. Berry Hunt, the first shoemaker, came in the fall of 1838, and settled on the river in the southeast corner of the county and township. Matt Millering and John N. Belcher came respectively in 1856 and 1855. William and Wiseman Hollingsworth were early settlers before the war, in the eastern part. David O. Deever, and his father and family; Frank Logan, John H. Walker, Thomas Belcher and William Shaw were all old settlers, and all came before the war.

The town of Rockville was laid out July 29, 1868 by William L. Hardesty on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad, and it has always enjoyed a good trade. It is the shipping point for a wide territory. The township and town seem to have derived their name from a great sandstone quarry which was largely worked in an early day not far from the town. It is excellent building stone and formerly was shipped all over the country; but in recent years seems to have been neglected. The town was incorporated in 1878, the first board of trustees being J. M. Boreing. chairman; A. C. Wood, W. F. Fiquet, L. Johannes, and W. A. Cooper. It now has two banks, a high school, churches, a mill and elevators, and is a thrifty little town, largely surrounded by a good class of good American German farmers.

In Prairie township the Osage and Marais des Cygnes rivers, with their tributaries afford abundant water and also, the means of drainage. Abundant and valuable timber along the rivers and smaller streams; large, fertile bottoms -- somewhat subject to overflow -- and rich, rolling uplands.

Excluding the settlement of Harmony Mission from the discussion of this place and in this connection -- because any adequate story of this township's historical worth requires a separate chapter -- we endeavor at this place to treat Prairie as other townships are treated.

Among the early settlers outside of Harmony Mission, was John B. Chorette, a Frenchman, who built a mill about two miles up the Marais des Cygnes river from Harmony Mission in 1833 or 1834. The precise date of his settlement is not known. He operated the mill for several years and sold it to another pioneer by the name of John M. Parks and while he owned it, sometime during the Civil War, it was destroyed. This was doubtless the first mill in the county, other than the one at the Mission.

Freeman Barrows settled near the Mission in 1838, coming from Middleboro, Massachusetts. He came about the time Harmony Mission was discontinued, and worked in the store of Capt. William Waldo at the Mission until he was appointed county clerk upon the organization of the county. Freeman Barrows was so connected with the early history of the county that he will receive further mention in the proper chapter. Mr. Barrows settled about a mile and a half southeast of what is now the village of Papinsville, or about two and a half miles southeast of Harmony Mission. About a mile further in the same general direction was his nearest neighbor, Peter Colin (said to be pronounced Colee), a Frenchman; and still about two miles further southeast Melicourt Papin and Michael Geraud, two Frenchmen, had settled, on the bank of the Osage river at a place known as Rapid de Kaw, because the Kaw Indians were in the habit of crossing the Osage at that point on their hunting trips. The place is now known as Colin's Ford. Papin and Geraud came from St. Louis and were connected with the American Fur Company and were Indian traders. It is certain they settled there as early as 1834, and probably earlier. Other settlers were R. A. Baughan, G. R. Garrison, John Zimmerman, Thomas Scroghern, George W. Hopkins, Daniel Johnson, A. Goodin, John Hartman, A. B. Bradley, Phillip Zeal, James McCool, Maj. J. N. Bradley, H. A. Thurman. D. A. W. Moorehouse. Thurman & Moorehouse were attorneys-at-law. Alexander Waddle was another old settler and settled in the northeast part of the township.

The history of Harmony Mission requires a separate chapter, and hence we merely mention here that it was the first American settlement in all this section of Missouri, and occurred the year that Missouri became a state of the Union.

The village of Papinsville was laid out in April 1847, and was named after Melicourt Papin, a French Indian trader. The owner of the land was George Pierce who settled, or "squatted"' there about 1844, and was a farmer.

Dr. Samuel Hogan was among the early settlers in the new town. The first drug store was opened by Dr. Zachariah Anderson in 1854. Augustine Deville, a Frenchman, was the first blacksmith. Benjamin Richardson operated the first mill in 1853. It was a portable ten-horse power, but afterward located on the bank of the Marais des Cygnes and improved by substituting steam for horse power. It was destroyed by fire in 1861. Thomas Burnside was the pioneer attorney-at-law. S. H. Loring opened the first merchandise store; F. F. Eddy, the second. Each of these men moved their stock of goods from Harmony Mission in 1848, when the county seat was located at Papinsville. The first postmaster was Dr. Z. Anderson. F. F. Eddy kept the first house of entertainment. Wiseman Hollingsworth, Preston Denton and Jonathan Kemper, a Baptist minister, were early residents. From 1852 to 1855 Papinsville was the center of much business and was a flourishing town. In the early days small steamboats came up the Missouri and the Osage to Papinsville and brought merchandise. During the years mentioned Papinsville had five general stores, and other business and trades in proportion. It was the center of a large circle, and men came many miles to mill and to trade in the most important town in the country at the time.

Prairie City was laid out by Joshua N. Durand May 2, 1858. It is nicely located in the center of a fine farming country; but it has never been anything more than a country village and a pleasant community center -- a school house and one or two stores.

The proud Osage Indians lived about Harmony Mission and where Papinsville was located after their removal to the West, and this township is peculiarly rich from an historical viewpoint, and it will be found adequately treated in this volume.

Out away from the river, Osage township is a rolling rich prairie land, with a little broken land along the streams, and wide, low, flat bottoms along the river. Timber is in abundance on the river and its tributaries, the principal being the Big Muddy. Large sections of the township are underlain by fine bituminous coal.

Osage had few settlers before the Civil War. It was an open grazing country. But among the earliest settlers we may mention Hardin Summers, Prudence Smith, Widow Powers, L. Culbertson, M. V. Berry and William Wear. Settlers soon after the war, we may mention George Reif, John D. Moore, J. A. Barron, Rufus Ross, James Kelly, John S. Craig, Isaac Neat, Ed Crabb, S. G. Rhodes. Allen Haworth, W. C. Hedden, J. P. Moreland, W. B. March, F. M. Dejarnett, Allen Johnson, E. C. Miller, Alfred Miller, Robert Hamilton, William Barnhill, and Benjamin Vance.

Howard is the extreme southwestern township of the county. It is a high, rolling, fertile prairie, very little broken by streams, and scarcely any waste land or timber of importance. It is one of the best grain townships in the county.

A. B. Willoughby was one of the first settlers and came from Jackson county, Missouri, and settled in the southeast part in 1857. Guy Smith came and settled in the same vicinity before the war. Rev. William Rider settled in this township before the war. John Patton, a brother-in-law, lived near him before the war; and James Hardin, a son-in-law of Guy Patton settled on the headwaters of Reed's creek in a nearly day. Among those who came and settled in the township immediately after the war are: A. B. Wilkins, Richard Miller, John Badgett, J. J. Franklin, John Rush, J. Frank, J. J. Bearden, R. N. Covert, U. McConnell, C. W. Hollenback and E. C. Maxwell.

Sprague was laid out in the fall of 1880 by A. Blaker of Pleasanton, Kansas, and was surveyed by Edwin Butts. The first house in town was moved from New Home by Charles Wilson, who was a farmer residing in Howard. He occupied it as a residence and store. The next business house was occupied by J. W. Maker as a general merchandise store. The first board of trustees were: J. R. McDonald, chairman; B. H. Smith, clerk; J. W. Bobbitt; W. A. Williams; Alexander Willoughby; and Dr. R. F. Hulett. Sprague is on the "Frisco" branch which comes in from Miami to Rich Hill.

Hume was laid out in 1880 by Noah Little. In 1882, S. L. Standish laid out an addition north of the "Frisco" right of way. Hume has a public square in the center of business. D. H. Hill built the first business house and put the first stock of goods in. He came from Walnut Postoffice in Walnut township. Messenger, Fisher & Kell erected a grist mill in 1882. Hume is situate on the "Frisco" at or near the crossing of the Kansas City Southern a it is now called; and is a thriving, business-like town. It is claimed that it is the "best town on the Kansas City & Southern in Bates county." Through the influence of its only newspaper, the "Border Telephone," every house in town was painted white, and hence it is known as the White City on the border.