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THE McCUBBIN FAMILY AS PIONEERS NEAR BRECKENRIDGE 
THE OLD MIRABILE TAVERN 
THE SMITH FAMILY IN PLUM CREEK DISTRICT 
THE KEMPERS WERE PIONEERS
CAPTAIN EDWARD D. JOHNSON OF MIRABILE AND KINGSTON
THE JOHN ORR FAMILY IN MIRABILE TOWNSHIP
THE MORRIS FAMILY IN MIRABILE TOWNSHIP IN THE SIXTIES
THE HARPOLDS, PIONEERS IN MIRABILE TOWNSHIP 1845 
THE CRAWFORD FAMILY AT KINGSTON IN 1867 AND HAMILTON IN 1875
THE RICHEY FAMILY OF RICHEY MILL AT SALEM 1833 

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.

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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.

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This page was last updated September 24, 2006.