The Witt Families
WINDOW TO THE PAST
by Peggy Smith Hake
There were several Witt families enumerated in Amherst County, Virginia during tax lists taken in 1783 and 1785. The heads of households included Abner, David, Elijah, George, Lewis, Littleberry, John, and William. Some familiar family names found in Amherst County records were Luttrell, Whittle, Shelton, Patterson, Phillips, and Gilliam.
By 1830, some of the Witt families had moved into East Tennessee and located in the counties of Rhea, Hamilton, Monroe, McMinn and Jefferson. Moving with them into East Tennessee were the Luttrells, Sheltons, Pattersons, and Gilliams. The Whittles went to central Kentucky.
John and Arthur Witt, probably brothers, were born in East Tennessee. They were sons of Jesse and Ruth Witt. John was born c/1804 and Arthur about 1808. Both men came to Miller County in the early 1840s after a short stay in Sangamon County, Illinois. This was the typical migration pattern of early pioneers.....the wanderlust drove these families from the Blue Ridge mountains of western Virginia, into the Cumberland region of East Tennessee, then on north and west into Indiana and Illinois, and finally to Missouri.
In Miller County’s 1850 census, the two Witt families were living in the same area of Glaize township. Back in Tennessee, Arthur Witt had married Mary Bilyeu and John Witt married Frances Coker. Both couples had large families. Some of the children were born in Illinois and some in Miller County.
The children of John Witt and Frances Coker (daughter of George Coker) were: NANCY WITT m. _____Gum; RUTH WITT m. Gilbert Topping; SALENA WITT m. Benjamin Workman; ALTHA WITT m. Gainum Wyrick; JESSE MARION WITT m. Martha Ann Luttrell; CELIA FRANCES WITT m. Henry J. Luttrell; WILLIAM J. WITT m. (1) Ferby Nicholds (2) Sarah Jane Thornton; and GEORGE WITT m. _____.
The children of Arthur Witt and Mary Bilyeu were: JOSEPH WITT m._____; MALINDA WITT m. Carroll Dobson; ELIZABETH WITT m. James A. Wyrick; WILLIAM WITT m. Frances Luttrell; ROSEANAH WITT m. John Kelly; ISAAC WITT m._____; REBECCA WITT m. Marcus Wyrick; and JOHN WITT m. Matilda______.
Among their neighbors in Glaize township in 1850 were the families of Bilyeu, Golden, Wyrick, Russell, Gum, Long, Dobson, Beard, Nicholds, Williams, and Scott.
In Jenkins’ History of Miller County is a paragraph, which states that near the close of the Civil War several families (mainly women and children) in the county were found destitute and near starvation due to their husbands being away at war or else casualties of that war. Among them was Mary A. Witt, a widow of a Civil War soldier. I do not know who she was.....the only record I have of a Civil War soldier named Witt was Jesse Marion Witt, son of John and Frances. He survived the war and lived until 1932.
Most of the Witt families, who live in Miller County today, are descendants of Jesse Marion Witt (son of John Witt Sr.) and John Witt (son of Arthur Witt). The many daughters of these two families married into the families of Gum, Topping, Wyrick, Luttrell, Workman and Dobson. Their descendants are numerous and have scattered all over America.
The Gardner, Bailey, and Allen Families of Miller County.
by Peggy Smith Hake
William W. Gardner was born circa 1765-70. Legend says he was born in Holland, but that has not been proven. If he was born in Europe, then he came to America as a small child and I believe his first home was in Virginia. During that era of time, Virginia entailed all of the present state, West Virginia, and Kentucky. This was a vast region where the settlers had a variety of land to choose from, although the German and Dutch peoples moved into the western sections of this undeveloped country, tilled it, and fought for it with the same faith and stamina that had brought them from their European homes.
As a young boy of perhaps 12 or 13 years, William fought in the American Revolution. This war ended in 1783 and perhaps as a child he served this country as a young American soldier. In 1798, James Garrard, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, signed a land grant deeding 200 acres of land in Warren County, KY to William and Elinor Gardner. It states plainly in the grant that the land was situated south of the Green River in central Kentucky. It is a known, historical fact that all land south of the Green River was only given to ex-Virginia soldiers who had served in the Revolutionary War. William’s land was in Warren County (today it is Barren County to the east because the county lines were extended in 1821). He settled near a small stream that today still carries his name.....Gardner’s Sinking Creek. It is near Park City, Kentucky, but during William’s lifetime, this area was known as Glasgow Junction.
On this land, William and Elinor Gardner, his first wife, reared six children. In my research, Elinor is a vague personality. I can find very little information about her. I only know she was born in North Carolina and was probably of German descent. There’s a possibility her maiden name was Paulding. She died c/1830-35. Nothing else is known of her life nor her heritage. The children born to William and Elinor, all born in Barren County, were: Richard, Jacob, Henry Paulding, Annis, Gemimah, and Mary/Polly. Richard and Jacob married sisters, Jane and Olive Allen. Gemimal Gardner married a brother to Jane and Olive, Joel Allen. Annis married Daniel Spurlock; Polly married a Mr. Reynolds; and Henry Paulding married (1) Susannah Keath (2) Elizabeth Ann Bailey. Paulding and Elizabeth were my great, great grandparents. The Allen and Gardner families were close neighbors in early Kentucky and there were several marriages performed within these families.
In 1804, the Governor of Kentucky once again granted an additional 148 acres of land to William Gardner in Barren County. In 1817, William and Elinor sold 100 of these acres to John Brown for the sum of $6.00............During the period of time, 1804-1842, there was much buying and selling of land between the Gardners, Allens, and Baileys in Barren County. I have found they were large landholders and also had many slaves during the early to mid 19th century.
In 1835, William Gardner went south from his Sinking Creek farm and into the Buck Creek are of Barren County where he acquired himself a new wife. Elinor had died prior to 1835. His new wife was Sarah/Sally Owen, daughter of John H. and Elizabeth (Humphrey) Owen. She was a very young girl at that time and William was nearing the age of 65 years. Sally’s father, John Owen, was a circuit-riding Baptist preacher in the years they lived in Kentucky. He and his wife were both natives of South Carolina. I have a copy of the marriage license for William and Sarah.(Owen) Gardner, dated 21 February 1835. Marriages in those days had to be solemnized only after a bond had been posted. the price amount to 50 lbs, English money, a substantial amount for that day.
William and Sally (Owen) Gardner reared four children: Juliann b. 1837; William Holland b. 1840; James Riley b. 1842; and Sarah A. b. 1844. In 1838, William wrote his last will and testament and had it recorded in the Barren County courthouse. I have a copy of his will and it is priceless! He allotted a portion of land to his three older sons, and each of his six older children (by Elinor) were given one slave each. The remainder of his lands, household goods, farming equipment, slaves, and his mill was awarded to his young daughter, Juliann. Three other children were born after 1838 and they also shared in his estate, but it appears that Juliann became the largest heir. William died in 1846 leaving Sally with four small children to rear alone. She never remarried and lived the rest of her life on the Sinking Creek farm. She died circa 1885. A few months earlier she had broken her hip and she never recovered from the fall.
Sally Owen Gardner was an extraordinary and unique woman. She was self-educated and during her lifetime, she sat down with her slaves and taught them to read and write. This was almost unheard of in her lifetime, but she was apparently a wonderful little lady with a generous heart.
On July 21, 1814, my great, great grandfather, Henry Paulding Gardner, was born in Barren County, KY at the homestead on Gardner’s Sinking Creek. He was a son of William and his first wife, Elinor. In 1836, Henry Paulding married Susannah Keath, in neighboring Edmonson County. They were parents of two sons, William Wiley, born in 1837, and Holland born circa 1839. Susannah died, perhaps in childbirth, leaving Henry Paulding with two small children. It is believed Holland died as an infant, because no further record is found for him. On August 30, 1840, Henry married Elizabeth Ann Bailey (called Betsy), also of Barren County. She was a daughter of Julius and Lucinda (Anderson) Bailey, who were natives of Virginia. Julius was born c/1792; Lucinda/Lucy was born c/1793. They had moved westward and bought land in Barren County. the first record I could find for them in Barren County was a purchase of land they made in April 1821. This acreage contained 174 acres, referred as “being in the barrens”.
In studying past history, I learned that in the Indian language, the name Kentucky means “this barren land”. Elizabeth Ann was born in 1817, so I am presuming she was born in Virginia and came to Kentucky with her parents at an early age. Julius and Lucy Bailey had a large family. The names of their children I have found on record are: Elizabeth Ann m. Henry Paulding Gardner; Samantha m. John B. Stone; Sarah/Sally m. Tarleton B. Wheeler; Julius Jr. m. Neoma Jones; William W. m. Patsy Lucas; Malinda m. Albert G. Wiseman; Mary Catherine m. Joseph Hume; and Tarleton m. no record found.
Many Barren County families migrated into Miller County and settled this land in the late 1830s and early 1840s. The following are some of the families who left Barren County and settled in Miller County: Paulding and Elizabeth Bailey Gardner; Julius and Lucinda Anderson Bailey; John B. and Samantha Bailey Stone; Julius Jr. and Neoma Jones Bailey; Tarleton and Sarah Bailey Wheeler; Joel and Gemimah Gardner Allen; Daniel and Annis Gardner Spurlock; Merlin and Sally Bailey Shackelford (she was a sister to Julius Bailey Sr.); Elias Allen, who later married Mary Gardner in 1843 in Miller County; and the six orphaned children of Jacob and Olive Allen Gardner. These six children were reared in the home of their uncle, Elias Allen. I believe a family named Dickerson also originated from Barren County and came to Miller County during this same time era.
When Henry Paulding (called Paulin) and Elizabeth/Betsy Gardner moved into Missouri, they had 2 sons, William Wiley and Jacob. William, son of Susannah Keath, was born in 1837. Jacob was born in Barren County in 1841 and was only a baby when they came to Missouri. William Wiley was born in Barren Count at a place called Bell’s Tavern. I researched the history of Bell’s Tavern and learned it was a stagecoach stop on the old, original Louisville-Nashville road that ran directly across the county in those years. It was near the place called Glasgow Junction.
Lucy Ann Gardner was the first of their children born in Miller County. Her birthdate was 24 January 1843. Paulin and Betsy Gardner had seven more children after moving to Miller County. They were: Jemima b. 1845; Henry Paulding Jr. b. 1846; Susan E. b. 1848; Felix B. b. 1850; Mary Paradine b. 1852; John M. b. 1856; and Nellie J. b. 1859. The following are the marriages for the children of Paulin and Betsy Gardner:
William Wiley Gardner m Louisa Wilson 1869
Jacob Gardner m. Martha Emeline Smith 1867
Lucy Ann Gardner m. William Harrison Smith 1863
Jemima Gardner m. John Setser 1866
Henry Paulding Jr. m. Mary A. Setser (sister of John Setser)
Susan E. Gardner m. James Anderson 1873
Felix B. Gardner Sarah Hume 1871
Mary Paradine Gardner m. William Clark 1881
John M. Gardner m. Mary Helton 1878
Nellie J. Gardner m. James Arendall 1879
In Miller County’s history, there are quite a few items mentioned concerning these families. In 1843, the Big Richwoods Baptist Church was formed. Paulding/Paulin Gardner was one of the first members. Others mentioned among the first members included Mary Gardner Allen (Mrs. Elias Allen); and Daniel Spurlock (brother-in-law who married Annis Gardner). Later, in 1850, five trustees were appointed to build a new church and Paulin Gardner was one of the trustees selected. The land they agreed to purchase was a one-acre lot in eastern Iberia. A few graves were on this lot, the earliest being that of Elijah Dyer, dated 1841. This was the beginning of the Iberia Cemetery. A building of hewn logs was raised on this lot and was the first Baptist church erected in Iberia.
On February 24, 1854, the inhabitants of Congressional township school district #13, met at the home of H. Paulin Gardner and organized the township for school purposes. Four districts were established becoming Elliott, Hickory Point, Mace, and Spearman school districts.
The land that was homesteaded by the Gardner families was northwest of Iberia running from what we today know as the Gardner Branch and ran almost all the way to the Barren Fork creek. This contained many acres.....the present day farm of Bruce and Janis Williams was the original land and farm that was homesteaded by Paulin and Betsy Gardner in the early 1840s. The Bailey families settled the land on both sides of the creek running west of Iberia that was known as Bailey’s Branch. It originated near the present day farm of Mrs.Vernon Keeth and ran northwest across Highway 42 and on across the Gordon Groves farm and emptied into the Barren Fork.
The Gardner and Allen families were slave owners back in Barren County, KY and they brought several of their slaves with them into Missouri. The Baileys were non-slaveowners as far as I can determine. I found no record of them owning slaves in Kentucky. They were involved in manufacturing and trades in Barren County. In Millr County records in 1869, Joel Allen owned 7 slaves valued at $4000; Elias Allen had 5 valued at $1800; Isaiah Allen had 3 valued at $2100; and Pauling Gardner owned a female slave valued at $800. In 1862, Pauling was listed as owning 2 slaves, so he must have acquired another Negro during the 2-year period. In his father’s will, dated 1838, William Gardner gave Pauling a woman slave named Stephanna. He brought her into Missouri with him. The slaves at that time had no last names and usually acquired the name of the family who owned them. In later years, Paulin deeded Stephanna a few acres of land near his farm and she lived the remainder of her life there. Some land, which today lies south of the Iberia city limits, was deeded to the Allen slaves. They were using the last name of Allen at that time. I do not know how long they lived there because in later years, the land was owned by the Ferguson family.
William Wiley, oldest child of Paulin & Susannah (Keath) Gardner, served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He enlisted as a volunteer in October 1862 at Holly Springs, Mississippi. During the war, he was taken prison of war near Blakely, Alabama. He was given his freedom in April 1865. William Wiley came back to Miller County where he became a schoolteacher and educator in the schools of Miller and Maries counties. His last months of life were spent in the Confederate Soldier’s Home in Higginsville, Missouri. He and his wife, Louisa, are buried in the Home’s cemetery. Louisa was a daughter of Joseph and Nancy Wilson of Maries County, MO.
Lucy Ann Gardner, daughter of Paulin and his second wife, Betsy (Bailey), was born in Miller County in 1843. She married my great grandfather, William Harrison Smith of Pulaski County, MO on 1 February 1863. William Harrison Smith was a son of John Wesley and Nancy (Stinnett) Smith who were natives of Kentucky and Tennessee, respectively.
William and Lucy Gardner Smith were parents of 11 children, all born in Miller County, including: William Daniel Smith b. 1863 m. Sally Harrison; Jemima H. Smith b.1865-died in infancy; James Paulin Smith b. 1867 m. Emma Whalen; Parthenia Minnie Smith b. 1869 m. (1) Rector Thompson (2) Paul Rees; Felix P. Smith b. 1871 m. Fannie Fike; Jessie Rosa Smith b. 1872 m. Charles Aust; John T. Smith b. 1875 m. Hester Smith (no kin); Jacob C. Smith b. 1878 m. (1) Lennie Sooter (2) Elizabeth Sooter; Charles E. Smith b. 1881 m. Molly Mayfield; Henry Franklin Smith b. 1884 m. Sarah Eliza Boyd; Grace Mae Smith b. 1886 m. (1) Henry Lollar (2) Louis May; and Myrtle Clara Smith 1889-1890.
My grandfather, Henry Franklin Smith, was the last of his family to survive and see the modern day miracles of the atomic age and space technology. In 1975, at the age of 92, he died taking with him the knowledge of his age and memories that could have enlightened my search of our heritage................................
In June 1976, I made a trip to Barren County, KY where I spent a few days doing research in the county’s records. This county is rich in history and folklore. There, with the assistance of another descendant of William Gardner Sr., I was able to accumulate much info through old courthouse records. I was fortunate to drive over this land and to walk the fields that were homesteaded by my ancestors over 200 years ago. Gardner’s Sinking Creek is flowing across the beautiful countryside and Buck Creek is still rushing across the fields to the south and I can only say that when I departed from Barren County, I left part of my heart and soul down there in the land of my ancestors. I felt a closeness to those folks whom I will never know. It is as though I can feel what they felt; love what they loved; and I can always identify with their trials, tribulations, and most of all, the joys they experienced in their lives on that early frontier.
Joseph Jasper Cooper
WINDOW TO THE PAST
by Peggy Smith Hake
Joseph Jasper Cooper was born in Green County, Indiana on December 22, 1859. He was a son of Joseph T. and Rebecca Cooper. At the age of 7 years (about 1866) his parents moved to Miller County, near Iberia, where he spent his boyhood days. He was one of ten children born to Joseph and Rebecca. Those found in records were: CORDELIA COOPER 1849-1878 m. James Griffin 1872; MARY ELIZABETH COOPER 1852-1919 m. (1) John Vaughan 1871 (2) Benjamin F. Hensley 1876; MARTHA M. COOPER 1854-1927 m. (1) Benjamin F. Livingston 1874 (2) Silas P. McCubbin 1889; JOSEPH JASPER COOPER 1859-1935 m. Clara Alice Smith 1892; ANNA J. COOPER 1863-1951 m. Herrod Williams 1880; and JAMES H. COOPER 1873-1878. Joseph Cooper (1827-1879) and his wife, Rebecca (1825-1908), with their son, James, are buried at Livingston Cemetery.
Joseph Jasper Cooper married Clara Alice Smith in Miller County on 22 Feb 1892; their marriage performed by John B. Stone, minister of the gospel. Clara Alice was a daughter of John Wesley Smith, Jr (1847-1919) and his wife, Sarah Haseltine Bond (1848-1925) who married 14 Nov 1865.........NOTE: John Wesley Smith, Jr. was a brother to my great grandfather, William Harrison Smith. They were both born in Pulaski County, MO, sons of John Wesley Smith Sr. and Nancy Stinnett.
In the census of 1900, Joseph Jasper (called Jasp) and Clara Alice lived in Richwoods township near the families of Livingston, Thomas, Jones, Casey, Lupardus, Fancher, Smith, Burks, and Lewis. They became parents of several children including: ANNA COOPER b. Oct 1892; BERNICE COOPER b. Feb 1894; CARL COOPER b. Dec 1895; DEWEY COOPER b. Jul 1898; EUNICE COOPER b. after 1900; and FREDA COOPER b. after 1900.
Jasp and Clara Alice Cooper lived in the Iberia area until 1910 when they moved to Oklahoma, first locating at Oglesby and later they lived near Lenapah. While in the Iberia area, he engaged in farming and also owned and operated a hotel at Iberia. This may have been the old Rowden Hotel, which was located on Main Street and was destroyed in the 1939 fire, which leveled much of Iberia’s downtown area. During the years they lived in Oklahoma, Jasper also engaged in the mercantile business. Three years before his death, he sold the business and retired.
In 1907, Jasp united with the Christian Church at Hickory Point, north of Iberia. At his death he was a member of the Nowata, Oklahoma Christian Church. He died July 15, 1935 at the age of 75 years and was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Nowata, Oklahoma beside his wife of 60 years, who had died April 20, 1932. Joseph Jasper Cooper was survived by six children----Anna, Bernice, Carl, Dewey and Eunice of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Freda of Portland, Oregon. He was also survived by one sister, Mrs. Herod Williams (Anna) of Iberia. She was the last of their family of 10 children.
WINDOW TO THE PAST
by Peggy Smith Hake
Malinda Louise Drace was born in Missouri in November 1853. I have not been able to find her maiden name at this time. On February 18, 1876, she married James T. Drace but I do not know where they were married because no record was found in Miller County. In her obituary it does not give the name of her father and mother so trying to find her ancestry is difficult.
James T. Drace was a son of Daniel and Malinda (Alkire) Drace and they were living in Miller County, Richwoods township, during the census of 1860. It appears James was one of several children born to Daniel and Malinda including Elizabeth Drace born c/1847; James T. Drace born 1848; Mary A. Drace b. 1850 (buried at Iberia Cemetery); Vernetta Drace b. c/1851; and George W. Drace b. c/1856.
In 1880, James T. Drace and Malinda Louise had been married for about 4 years and were living in Richwoods township in the Iberia area near the families of Tallman, Dial, Setser, Gardner, McCubbin, and Ferguson. His mother, Malinda Drace (widow of Daniel) lived next door to James. She was 65 years old (born in VA c/1815). Her brother, George W. Alkire age 40 years, lived with her also.
James and Malinda were parents of 10 children. They were: Mary A. Drace b. Dec 1876 m. Lester Francis of New York 1903; Martha E. Drace b. Jan 1877 m. Robert Shackleford 1901; Nancy/Nettie Drace b. Aug 1879 (never married); Jennie Drace b. Apr 1883 m. John Coffee 1912; John Thomas Drace b. Oct 1886 m. Ida M. Whittle 1910; Bertha E. Drace b. Jan 1889 m. James Elmer Whittle 1908; Charles E. Drace b. Dec 1890 m. Edna F. Whittle 1911; and Electa C. Drace b. Jul 1893 m. Henry Currence. Evidently 2 other children died young.
James T. Drace died in 1911 and was buried at the Iberia Cemetery. Malinda Louise lived until August 11, 1934. She died at the home of her daughter, Electa Currence, who was living in Barnett, Morgan Co., MO. She was almost 81 years old at her death and was survived by 6 of her 10 children; 17 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren and 3 step-grandchildren. Her funeral services were held at Iberia Cemetery by Rev. Frank Moneymaker and she was laid to rest beside her husband, James.
Adolphus Jones
by Peggy Smith Hake
Adolphus Jones was born January 27, 1843 in Muskingham County, Ohio, a son of Alfred and Sarah Jones. I do not know if Alfred and Sarah had more children---Adolphus is the only one I found on record. Alfred was born in Virginia c/1810 and Sarah was also a native of Virginia, born c/1811.
When Adolphus was a small child, his parents moved to Illlinois and lived there for a number of years. By 1860, they had moved to Miller County, MO and had settled in Equality township near the families of Dobson, Bourne, McDowell, Wells, Bass, and Wyrick. About the time the Civil War began, the Jones family moved back to Illinois where Adolphus enlisted in the Union Army. He served in Company E of the Illinois 32nd Infantry. He received his discharge from military service in January 1864 at Natchez, Mississippi.
While in Missouri, Adolphus and his parents lived near Thomas and Judith (Stewart) Dobson who had a young daughter named Bethabra, born in Miller County in 1846. She was only about 15 years old when Adolphus went back to Illinois but evidently he did not forget her.....After the war was over, he returned to Miller County and married Bethabra on December 14, 1865. It wasn’t long after their marriage that they went back to live near his parents in Illinois. While there they had five children......
Circa 1877, they came back to Miller County where they lived the remainder of their lives. Two more children were born after their return to Miller County. The children included: Rosetta Alice Jones b. 1866 m. Bird Kelsay 1883; James A. Jones b. 1867; Judith Frances Jones b. 1873 m. Elmer Evans 1889; John Wesley Jones b. 1874 m. Nettie Victoria Kilgore 1898; Walter b. 1878 m. Rosa Kay 1900; and Ida Jones (died in infancy).
Adolphus and Bethabra lived in Glaize township in the Elm Springs community near Little Bear creek. He joined the Elm Springs Christian Church in 1884 and remained a member for many years. The old church, a log structure, later became a Baptist Church. In 1908, Elmer Kidwell bought the log church, which was located on an acre of land. In later years it was used as a storage barn.
After 39 years of marriage, Bethabra died in January 1904 and was buried at the Eldon Cemetery. Adolphus married his second wife, Martha Wilcox, on August 17, 1905. He lived until October 6, 1927 when he passed on at the age of 84 years. His services were conducted by Rev. Charles M. Sooter and he was buried beside Bethabra at Eldon Cemetery.
OAKHURST...EARLY NAME FOR IBERIA
The first time I remember seeing the name Oakhurst was in the Civil War
records of my great grandfather, William Harrrison Smith. He stated in his
pension records that his address was Oakhurst, Miller County, MO, when he
enlisted in 1862. That was certainly confusing to me at the time because I
thought he was living in the Iberia area just prior to the Civil War. He
had been born in northwestern Pulaski County near the settlement later
called Hawkeye. I had been told that grandfather Harrison and his younger
brother, John Wesley, had ventured over to the Big Richwoods looking for
jobs as stonemasons. They had heard rumors that their skills may be needed
in building stone foundations, reinforcing cellars, and building fireplaces
for some new pioneer homesteads that were being constructed near Lenox's
Trading Post on Rabbithead creek. The old settlement was on the trail called
"Old Herald Mill Road" leading to the West Glaize creek in Camden County.
The trading post was in the same area where an old town called Williamsburg
had been platted in the early 1840s but never materialized. In a sheriff's
sale, the land was sold to two gentlemen from Cole County, MO who in turn
sold it to Wilson Lenox in November 1849. Lenox's Trading Post sprang up
instead of the town.
According to Missouri Post Office records, Iberia was the name given the
post office from 1838-1861, although the town did not exist until after
1860. The post office was actually at the site of the trading post about one
mile southwest of present-day Iberia.
In 1862, the name of the post office was changed to Oakhurst and remained so
until 1871 (according to the post office records). I still did not
understand why the name was changed from Iberia to Oakhurst.
Quite by accident, the answer fell into my lap!
I learned through an old will filed at the Miller County courthouse that a
family came to the Big Richwoods from Philadelphia, Penn. about the same
time that other Pennsylvanians settled in the area. There was a huge influx
of Pennsylvania German families to southern Miller County just prior to the
Civil War including the families of Johnston, Moffitt, Brown, Strock,
Gilbert, Huntsman, Pitinger, Getgen, Lahr, Moore, Royer, Tallman, Parsons,
Bennage, Irland, Noyes, James, Warrell, Irwin, Groff, Ludwig, Anderson,
Thomas, Springer, Latchem & Barnhurst. Ad you can see, some families
remained in Richwoods township while others moved on.....(later came more
Pennsylvanians.....the Farnhams, Heitzells, Fikes, Hedges, and Newharts).
The will I mentioned before was for a man named Washington Barnhurst who was a minister of the gospel. Washington Barnhurst, his young wife Jennie Clarke Barnhurst, and a child named Nellie Maria, bought some land southwest of Iberia in December 1860 and probably settled somewhere near the trading
post. They bought the land from Edward and Sarah Moore, also Pennsylvanians,
for the sum of $200. The Barnhursts owned other land in the vicinity,
containing about 275 acres which they sold in April 1861 to a man named
Joseph B. Thompson of St. Louis, MO.
About 1861 (per Jenkins' History of Miller County), Washington Barnhurst
became the postmaster and an innkeeper at Lenox's Trading Post. When the
Civil War began, Lenox's was destroyed by troops, probably Confederate,
since most of the inhabitants around the old trading post were Northerners.
In his will, Barnhurst states his homestead was called "Oakhurst" and at his
death would go to his wife, Jennie. He wrote his will on Dec. 31, 1861 and
was dead by June 20, 1862. I think he was no more than middle-aged at his
death, if that old.
James Dooley Family
(Printed in PIONEER FAMILIES OF MILLER COUNTY, MISSOURI @1990,
reprinted
2000 by Peggy Smith Hake)
James Dooley was born in Bedford Co., VA 14 Feb 1760 and evidently married
his wife, Mary, there also. She was 18 years younger than James, born in
1778 and she was probably his 2nd wife. In 1800, at the age of 40 years,
James pulled up stakes and moved to Maury Co., Tenn. I am sure he had more
children than I found record of. His son Uriah S. Dooley was born in Tenn.
in 1809; son Esom B. Dooley born 1811 Tenn. and son Edward Dooley born in
Tenn. in 1815. James was getting along in years when these three sons were
born.
James, Mary, Edward, Esom B., Uriah S., and his wife Elizabeth, moved to
Miller Co. circa 1829 which would make them among the county's earliest
settlers. Their son, Edward, died in 1835 and was buried in northeast Miller
Co., probably the first person buried in the Dooley cemetery. It is located
about half-way between Rocky Mount and Eldon, approx. 1/4 mile east of Route
Z. The earliest record I could find for a land entry of this Dooley clan was
in 1833 when Uriah Dooley, son of old James, entered some land about 3 miles
southeast of present-day Eldon. In 1838, James homesteaded and patented 40
acres about 1 1/2 miles west of Uriah's land and about 2 miles east of the
Morgan Co. line. Over the next few years, to about 1857, James, Uriah, &
Esom entered and patented 560 additional acres in the same general area.
Dooley cemetery lies 1/2 mile northwest of Uriah's original land entry of
1838.
In 1839, Esom B. Dooley married Ellen Brockman. The Brockman family was an
old pioneering family of Miller Co. having come here about the same time as
the Dooleys and they settled in the Osage river country near Tuscumbia.
Esom was 28 years old and Ellen 17 years at the time of their marriage. In
1854, Elizabeth E. Dooley, wife of Uriah, died at the age of 36 years and
was buried in the Dooley cemetery. In 1857, Uriah took a second wife, Nancy
A. Allen. He and Elizabeth had at least 3 children: Uriah S., Jr.; John B.;
and Corlenda A. These children all died between the ages of 4 and 19 years.
He and his second wife, Nancy, had a son named Samuel T. Dooley who was born in 1860 and died in 1865. Mary Dooley, wife of old James, died in 1847
at the age of 69 years. All these graves can be found in the Dooley cemetery.
I am sure that Esom and Uriah had other children who survived to adulthood
because the family was carried on for many generations. Their lineage was
carried into the families of Taylor, Vernon, Cotten , & Etter.
The Dooleys were slaveowners, having come from the southern states of
Virginia and Tennessee. In 1860, just prior to the Civil War, James Dooley,
who was 100 years old, owned 7 slaves valued at $3000. By 1862, a second
assessment was made and the value of their slaves had made a drastic drop.
His slaves' value had dropped to only $400. This gives you an idea the
effect the Civil War was having on these slaveowners in 1862.
In 1863, James Dooley died at the age of 103 years. At the time of his
death, he owned several slaves and they were all sold at public auction for
$75 each. Their names, mentioned in his estate, were: Hannah, Nancy,
Caroline, Harriett, Patsy and baby, Lemantha Ann and baby, and Samuel. This
sale of his slaves was the last entry on slaves in the record books of
Miller County's Court. The war was over and slavery was abolished in
Missouri on 11 January 1865 by a proclamation signed by Gov. Thomas C.
Fletcher. The bill of sale on these Dooley slaves was approved by the County
Court in May 1865, 4 months after slavery had been officially abolished in
Missouri. Old James Dooley died without knowing that his black folk should
have been free men and women.
In 1892, almost 30 years after he had died, a story was printed about James
Dooley in THE TIPTON TIMES in Moniteau Co. It told about a remarkable
character named James Dooley. He was past 60 years old when he came to
Miller Co. and immediately he went to work cleaning up and building a
home.... all the materials in his house were solid oak which would have been
more appropriate for railroad timbers. The plates were 18 inches square,
corner posts the same size....the rafters were 6 in. thick without a joint,
every plank extending the full length of the house. All the lumber was
sawed by whipsaw and there was not one nail anywhere in this remarkable
house. It was put together with wooden pens!
In his backyard, he had two houses or rather one house with 3 rooms, 16 ft.
square, one for his saddle horse, one for his dogs, and the other for his
smokehouse. Old James Dooley had 8 slaves, all women (NOTE: In his estate,
he had a slave named Samuel, so I am assuming that he owned 7 black women
and 1 black man). They performed all the work of his farm. He never worked
horses, never owned a wagon. All the hauling necessary was done by oxen and
carts. Several years prior to his death in 1863, a friend in Tuscumbia, a
marble cutter, told him if he lived to be 100 years old, he would make him a
tombstone free of charge and when old James died, his promise was carried
out. Between the ages of 96 and 99 years, James joined the Baptist church
and it is said people came from 50 miles around to see him baptized!
JAMES WASHINGTON ROWDEN
James Washington Rowden, son of James E. and Margaret (Lawson) Rowden, was born in Maries County, Missouri, on Sept. 1, 1843. James was the grandson of Nathaniel Rowden and his first wife and a great-grandson of Abraham and Rachel (Cheek) Rowden of Henry County, Virginia. The brothers and sisters of James Washington Rowden were John G. Rowden, Abram E. Rowden, Jehu Rowden, William N. Rowden, Nancy Rowden, Elizabeth Rowden,
Emeline Rowden, Malinda Rowden and Mary Rowden.
James and Margaret Rowden were the first of the Rowden family to move to
Central Missouri. They settled in western Maries County and reared their
large family there. They homesteaded land in the area in 1839 and about
1841, other Rowden families came to Missouri from Tennessee and Alabama. On Jan. 1, 1865, James W. Rowden married Matilda Jane Whitaker, their marriage performed by Elder Charles Mayfield. Matilda Jane was born in Miller County in June 1846, a daughter of Thomas and Susan (West) Whitaker. They were parents of 12 children including:
1. Joseph Rowden b. 1865 m. Mary Burks
2. George Rowden b. 1866 died 1867
3. Adeline Rowden b. 1868 died 1876
4. Susan Rowden b. 1872 died 1876
5. Margaret Rowden b. 1872 died 1873 (twin to Susan)
6. Alcena Rowden b. 1873 m. Gideon M. Durham
7. Mary Rowden b. 1874 m. (1) William Burd (2) _____Steiner
8. Cora Rowden b. 1877 m. George Shelton
9. Thomas Rowden b. 1878 died 1879
10. Daisy Rowden b. 1882 died 1888
11. Livonia Rowden b. 1884 m. Isaac Sherrell
12. Emma Rowden b. 1887 m. Everett Jones
Matilda Whitaker Rowden, wife of James, was connected with the Rowden Hotel in Iberia for a number of years (per his obituary). I suppose that meant
she was the owner or proprietor of the old hotel. Matilda died March 23, 1908.
Joe Rowden, one of the sons, met almost instant death when a team of horses
ran away with him on March 3, 1914. Cora Rowden Shelton, the youngest child
of James and Matilda, died three days after the death of her father on
December 15, 1923 (James had died three days earlier on Dec. 12).
At his death in December 1923, James Wash Rowden was 80 years old. According to his obituary, his death was caused by heart disease. His funeral services were held at the Bray's schoolhouse with Evangelist Bessie Evans officiating.
James was an old Civil War veteran and member of the Iberia American Legion
gave an impressive burial service at Brays Cemetery where he was laid to
rest. The few remaining local Civil War veterans, who were members of the
G.A.R.(Grand Army of the Republic), were unable to attend so the American
Legion volunteered.
Margaret Deatley-Airhart (Cochran)
Margaret E. Cochran was born about 1845 in Indiana (one source says
Decatur, Ill.) She died in Miller County, MO., in 1934, at age 88.
About 1865, she married George W. Deatley in Illinois and they had
several children born in that state. The children were:
1. Ida M. Deatley b Mar. 1867 m 1) James M. Clark 1885; 2) William D.
McGriff 1909.
2. William Deatley, b Jan 1869 m Agnes G. ?
3. Joseph F. Deatley b 1871 m. ?
4. Alfred N. Deatley b April 1875 m ?
5. John T. Deatley b Oct. 1878 m Linnett Bilyeu 1905
6. this child, name unknown, probably died in infancy.
By 1880 Margaret was a widow and was living with her five children
in Maries Co., MO., in Miller Township. According to the census records,
Margaret was a native of Indiana; her father born in Massachusetts, and
her mother born in North Carolina. I do not know if she came to MO.
before or after the death of her husband, George W. Deatley.
The first record of the name Deatley in Miller County records was
the marriage of her only daughter, Ida, to James M. Clark in 1885. The
Clarks were residents of Osage Township, living near the Big Tavern
Creek, a few miles southwest of St. Elizabeth.
The widow, Margaret Deatley, married William R. Airhart/Ahart circa
1898. William R. Airhart was a widower, born Dec. 1832 in Missouri. The
Airharts were an early pioneering family of Osage Township, having
settled there before Miller County was formed in 1837. William and his
first wife, Martha J. (Humphrey), whom he married on June 22, 1854, were
the parents of at least eight children:
1. Mary A. Airhart 1861 - 1882
2. Missouri Airhart b c/1864
3. Nancy A. Airhart b c/1867 m. James Crider 1891
4. James N. Airhart b c/1872 m Mary J. Wickham 1893
5. John F. Airhart b c/1873 m. Mary Melvina Humphrey 1904
6. Susan E. Airhart b c/1876
7. Martha C. Airhart b c/1878
8. William R. Airhart b c/1881 m. Margaret Brandon 1898
The neighbors of the Airharts during the 1880 census included the
families of Doubikin, Evers, Clark, Cross, Airhart, Lawson, Sanderson,
Albertson, Hawk, Musick, Wickham and Holtmeyer.
There is no record of the marriage of William R. Airhart and
Margaret (Cochran) Deatley in Miller County records, but apparently they
married about 1898-99. In 1900, they were living on the Clark farm in
Osage Township, where Margaret's daughter, Ida, and her husband, James
Clark, were rearing their family. In the Airhart home were Margaret &
George's two sons, Alfred and John D. Deatley, and William & Martha's
two sons, John and William Airhart. Their neighbors in 1900 were the
Hamiltons, Humphreys, Schultes, Crosses, Rehagens, Holtmeyers,
Struemphs, Wickhams, and Airharts.
Margaret's second husband, William Airhart, died April 13, 1904,
and was buried beside his first wife, Martha J. (Humphrey) in the
Airhart/Ahart family cemetery in Osage Township.
William R. Airhart was a Civil War veteran and has a military stone
marking his grave. He served as a private in Company I of the 4th
Regiment, Missouri State Militia.
After the death of William Airhart, Margaret
Cochran-Deatley-Airhart lived for 29 years with her daughter and family,
William and Ida McGriff, on the old Clark/McGriff farm. She died there
in 1934 at age 88. Her services were held in the home and were conducted
by Rev. Charles M. Sooter. Her obituary said she was a member of the
Christian Newlight Church, which may have been the Humphreys Creek
Christian Church, located in Osage Township, a few miles from the Clark
farm. She was buried in the Clark/McGriff Cemetery, which was located on
the land near their home.
Today the old cemetery is still there, sitting on a hillside
overlooking the Big Tavern Creek, which flows through the picturesque
valley below.
LUCY JANE COLVIN
Lucy Jane Colvin was born in Miller County, Mo., on April 1, 1879. She was a daughter of Sterling Maynard Colvin and Sarah Melissa Cochran. The Colvins were living in the Bear Creek area of northern Glaize Township when Lucy was born. Her grandparents were James Hamilton Colvin and his first wife, Barbara Phipps, natives of Grainger County (later Union County), Tennessee. James and Barbara came to Miller County and settled in Glaize Township in the late 1850s. Some of the families who lived in the area over the next few decades were the Lovealls, Berrys, Grahams, Hendersons, Nelsons and Wyricks.
Lucy Jane was the third child born to Maynard and Melissa (Cochran) Colvin. Their children included:
1. Amanda A. Colvin, b. 1876, m. James Bennett Plemmons
2. James C. Colvin, 1877-1934, m. Maggie J. Fendorf
3. Lucy Jane Colvin, 1879-1969, m. John Patrick Allee
4. M. Maynard Colvin, b. ___, m. Cora Frakes
5. Mary Colvin, b. ___, M. Frank Frakes
Lucy's father, Sterling Maynard Colvin, died prior to 1900 and was probably buried in the Colvin Cemetery on land owned by the family. There is no inventoried record of his burial there but many of the Colvin family members are buried in the family cemetery. In the 1900 Miller County census, his widow, Sarah Melissa, is living in the home of her son and daughter-in-law, James and Maggie (Fendorf) Colvin.
On May 9, 1897, at age 18, Lucy Jane married John Patrick Allee, the marriage performed by Allen J. Henderson, a minister of the gospel. John Allee was born April 29, 1873, in Moniteau County, Mo., a son of Nathaniel Greene Allee (1835-1917) and his wife, Mary (1842-1920). The Allees moved to Miller County and settled in the Curry community in southwest Richwoods Township sometime before the turn of the century.
Lucy Jane and John Patrick were parents of three children:
1. Ora P. Allee, b. May 19, 1901, Lincoln Co., Okla., m. Minnine Drouillard 1920
2. Emery H. Allee, b. Dec. 30, 1908, Miller Co., Mo., d. Mar. 31, 1970 in New Mexico, M. (1) Gladys Winfrey (2) Berneice ______ (3) Kathy Smith
3. Lottie Jane Allee, b. May 14, 1904, Miller Co., Mo., d. Feb. 2, 1981, Miller Co., Mo., m. Clarence Wm. Wall 1920
When they were first married, Lucy and John made a few trips to Oklahoma and while in Lincoln County, Oklahoma their first son, Ora, was born. They came back to Missouri and lived the remainder of their lives in the Curry district of Richwoods Township, where they reared their three children.
John Patrick Allee died on Aug. 26, 1957, just a few months after they had celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. He was laid to rest at Curry Cemetery where his parents were also buried. Lucy Jane (Colvin) Allee lived until June 4, 1969, when she died at age 90. She was survived by her three children, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Earlier in life, she had become a member of the Mt. Union Church of Christ but her funeral services were held at the Curry Methodist Church and she was interred in the cemetery nearby where her husband had been buried 12 years earlier.
WILLIAM HARDING YARGER
William Harding Yarger was born April 16, 1843, in Jacksonville, Dauphin
County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg. He was a son of Joseph Yarger and Mary
Emma Harding, both natives of Pennsylvania. His father died in 1856 and
shortly thereafter William's mother and her children moved to a farm near
Madison, Wisc.
William enlisted in the Civil War on Jan. 23, 1864, into Company G of the
31st Wisconsin infantry. He served until July 8, 1865, when he received his
discharge. William marched with General Sherman across Georgia to the
sea...the military campaign which has gone down in the annals of history as
the greatest stroke made by the Northern army during the four-year conflict.
After the war William returned to Wisconsin and stayed for awhile. He moved
west to Grenola, Elk County, Kansas, which was located about 60 miles
southeast of Wichita. There he married Mary Emma Reid, a native of the state
of New Jersey. Her father was an immigrant from Scotland and her mother was
born in New Jersey. William and Mary became parents of three sons, all born
in Kansas:
1. Wallace Yarger b. July 1875 m. no record found
2. Clifton R. Yarger b. Jan. 1878 m. Anna E. ___
3. Frank L. Yarger b. June 1880 m. Josephine Haynes 1904.
NOTE:
There is the possibility they may have also lived in Colorado before coming
to Central Missouri. According to the 1900 census of Miller County, the
birthplace of the youngest son, Frank L. Yarger (born in 1880), was given as
Colorado.
About 1895, William, Mary, and their three sons moved to a farm west of
Eldon in Saline Township. They settled near the families of Hickok, Tracy,
Barlow, Patterson, Harrison, Dooley and Haynes. They continued to live in
the Eldon area until their deaths. Mary Reid Yarger died May 16, 1936, and
William died in November 1938 at age 95 years. Both were buried at the Eldon
Cemetery.
MY MEMORIES OF THE ADAMS & CASEY STORE IN IBERIA
By Martha Casey Bunge
(Note: This old store was destroyed in the fire of 1939 which devastated much of Iberia's downtown area. Martha's memories bring life back to the store that was in existence for many years in the first half of the 20th century) ....I am proud to share her memories with everyone. (Peggy Smith Hake)
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My earliest memory of the Adams and Casey Store in the early 1920's was of a large general store, selling a little bit of everything except fresh meat, eggs and dairy products. Almost everyone had laying hens, milk cows and hogs for butchering. If not, the M.F.A. had eggs and Mr. Shelton had fresh meats of all kinds.
The front of the store, on the outside, had a roof covering it and there were benches where old men sat, watching the world go by very slowly. Inside, at the right, was another bench in front of the candy case. On the shelves, behind the candy case, were the school supplies. Next were the groceries on shelves and the counter in front. Crackers were sold in bulk form as were the cookies. The crackers were twice the size we have today and were kept in a large blue tin barrel.
At the end of the counter was a coffee grinder for grinding the Peaberry coffee beans. On the shelves behind the grinder were slabs of chewing tobacco and bags of loose tobacco in case you wanted to "roll your own." There was an instrument for cutting the tobacco slabs into squares.
Shoes came next, and they were on shelves that reached to the ceiling. A ladder was used to reach the top shelves and it rolled ona rod the length of the counter. Men's suits were in the back of the store and men's work clothes were on the left side.There were bib overalls (we called them "overhalls,") blue denim work shirts, accessories, etc. The work shirts looked the same as those sold today at exhorbitant prices.
On toward the front of the store on the left, were the ribbons, bolts of cloth for every use, and hosiery. I loved the ribbon case because the ribbons were so pretty -- satin, velvet, taffeta and of all widths. The bolts of material were of cotton, calico, flannel, rayon, chinasilk, organdy, deimity, dotted swiss, silk shantung, voile and more. There were all widths of laces, lattings, batiste for making baby clothes, threads for sewing, dress patterns and more. Many more women made clothes for their children and themselves in that day than they do in the present day. The hose were lisle, rayon and real silk. nylon hose came later and weren't early as nice as we have today. My first nylons were stiff and shiney, but they did resist runs.
In the wareroom, in my earliest memory, were saddles on wooden "horses," buggy whips, and other horse gear, rope, large containers of lard, flour, and other products for sale. Up the steps from the wareroom was an area where caskets were on display. This was before the fire of 1939, which destroyed the store and it became necessary for Adams and Casey to build their funeral home. This upper floor also contained a variety of furniture for sale.
A very large stove, toward the back of the store on the main floor, provided heat for the whole store. There were chairs around the stove where the men could visit while their wives shopped. A sink with pump was in the middle of the store. A gourd hung there for use as a dipper for drinking. I don't believe we worried as much about germs in those days as we do today.
Saturday was like a holiday in the Iberia of my early years. The country people would come to town on that day for visiting and "trading." There would be wagons and buggies tied up by the side of the store and other places of business. This mode of transportation would be supplanted by Model T's, Model A's, pickup trucks, etc.
One Saturday, when I was very young, I went to the store with my grandmother Adams. Sitting on the bench in front of the candy case was a very old woman, old to me at least, in a calico dress, smoking a corn cob pipe. I know I stood there staring at her. It was most unusual to see a woman smoking a cigarette in that day, but I'd never seen one smoking a pipe before. No one seemed to mind or think it unusual. Times do change.
My sister, Juanita, and I had fun in the store of our childhood. We would play "grocery store" with one of us the clerk and one the customer. The customer would have a basket just like the country women carried, and it was fun, fitting different packages in the basket and adding up the bill. I guess our arithmetic skills, mainly addition, came into play, adding up the bill. I was still using the "pecking" method at that age. We enjoyed playing with our dolls upstiars where the furniture was located. The saddles were a special treat because we could pretend we were actually riding horses.
I loved riding on the ladder in the shoe department. It was fun going from one end of the counter to the other. I would sit at my father's desk and write on the Adams and and Casey stationery, pretending to be a business person. In this area was the cash register, which I was shown how to use in later years. The coffee grinder and tobacco were in this same area and I can still smell the coffee beans being ground. If I was close by when someone wanted chewing tobacco, daddy or grandpa would let me use the cutter to cut the squares.
When I was a teenager in Iberia Academy, I remember the shoe drummer (salesman) would come to the store in the spring and in the fall. He would display his shoes, both moderately priced and higher priced, on the shoe counter. At school, I would spread the word that the shoe drummer was at the store. When school was out for the day, the teachers and others would come and look over the selection. My sister and I would pick out a school pair and a "Sunday" pair of shoes. In those depression years it helped a great deal that we could get our shoes at the wholesale price.
There is so much more that I could write about this store of my growing-up years because it was so much a part of my life at that time. I want to make it clear that our father and grandfather were lenient with us up to a point, but we knew when to stay out of the way on busy days. We also knew to be careful with the merchandise and there was never any problems with that.
My grandfather, George Adams, and my father, Clarence Casey, purchased the store from my other grandfather, John Casey. This was about 1920 when Grandfather Casey retired and moved with his youngest family members and his wife, Martha, to Kansas City.
JOHN D. BRUMLEY
JOHN D. BRUMLEY was born in Miller County, Osage township, 22 Sept 1884.
He may have been the only child of William F. Brumley and his wife,
Margaret Elizabth Colvin. William Brumley died when John was 2 years old
and his mother died when he was 3 1/2 years of age. In the 1900 census of
Miller County, John was living with his uncle, Everett A. Brumley, and his
family.
During the census the neighbors included the families of Lily, Davidson,
Davenport, McCubbin, Hensley, Burks, Nixdorf, and Pickering.
John D. Brumley was a grandson of William Carroll Brumley (1837-1891)
and Sisley Wilson (1839-1891) and a great grandson of John Brumley
(1801-1853) and his wife, Nancy Brumley (1813-1899), early settlers of
Miller County.
John D.Brumley married Aulta Ramsey in Miller Co. on March 20, 1904, the
marriage performed by John H. Aust, minister of the gospel. Aulta was born
in Miller Co. 2 Apr 1889, a daughter of George M. Ramsey and Sarah
Elizabeth Forrester. She was one of several children born to George and
Sarah including:
:
1. James Walter Ramsey b. Aug 1885 m. Mary O. Grosvenor 1905
2. Maxey Ramsey b. Dec 1887 m. Kenyek Kee 1909
3. Aulta Ramsey b. Apr 1889 m. John D. Brumley 1904
4. Jennie Ramsey b. Aug 1890 m. George Bond 1913
5. Stella Ramsey b. Feb 1892 m. Belvia Wickham 1915
6. Perry Ramsey b. Aug 1893 m. Ethel Wickham 1916
7. Oliver Ramsey b. Jan 1896 m. Bertha H. _____
8. Bertha Ramsey b. May 1900 m._________________
NOTE: There may have been other children born after 1900. The above
children were listed in their home in the 1900 census. Also in the Ramsey
home during the same census was Susan Forrester (b. July 1836), mother
of Sarah Elizabeth (Forrester) Ramsey.
John D. Brumley began farming circa 1903 when he was about 19 years of
age.
In 1921-22 he farmed on Cat Tail Creek but by 1923, he had moved his
family back to his "old farm" in Osage township. John Brumley became a
successful farmer of the area serving as the president of the Miller Co.
Farmers Association for 6 years; elected first president of the Farmers
Exchange in Tuscumbia in 1921; and was the first shipping manager of the
Tuscumbia Livestock Shipping Association.
He was also active in Miller Co..... Republican politics. He served as
state representative from the county in 1923-24. His Brumley ancestors before him also were active members of the Republican party in the county and served in various elective offices. John was a charter member of the Fairview
Christian church, north of Iberia, where he served for many years as a
deacon and trustee.
John and Aulta (Ramsey) Brumley were parents of 5 daughters including:
1. Livonia/Dona Brumley 1905-1968 m. Lonnie Ed. Doubikin 1925
2. Dora May Brumley 1906-1906
3. Jennie Brumley 1908- m. Gerard Schultz 1928
4. Evelyn Eileen Brumley b._____ m. Ransome Scott
5. Rayma Clara Brumley b._____ m. Stanley Livingston
John D. Brumley died in 1956 and was survived by his wife and 2 daughters.
He was buried at Livingston Cemetery (Richwoods Township). The Brumley home place was not far from Livingston cemetery, located on the old St. Anthony road in Osage township. Many older members of the Brumley family are buried in an old cemetery called "Brumley Cemetery," located on land owned today by Ralph and Ruby Hendley.
JAMES D. BERRY
James D. Berry was born in Maries County, MO in December 1848. He had a twin brother named William W. Berry. They were two of several children born to
John and Matilda C. Berry who lived in Miller township in Maries County
during the 1880 census. John Berry was born in Tennessee about 1829 and
Matilda was also a native of Tennessee, born about 1830.
The children of John and Matilda Berry were:
1. William M. Berry b.1848
2. James D. Berry b. 1848
3. John J. Berry b. 1851
4. George W. Berry b. 1854
5. Thomas B. Berry b. 1855
6. Mary Berrry b. 1857
7. Nancy Berry b. 1859
8. Sarah A. Berry b. 1860
9. Elizabeth J. Berry b. 1862
The earliest record I could find for James D. Berry in Miller County was his
marriage to Mary Margaret Duncan on 22 October 1871. Mary was a daughter of Alvis and Ann (Palmer) Duncan who lived in eastern Miller County near the
Maries County line. The children of Alvis and Anna Duncan included:
1. James R. Duncan b. 1840
2. Sarah J. Duncan b. 1842
3. Mary Margaret Duncan b. 1849
4. John M. Duncan b. 1853
In census records it is stated the parents of James D. Berry were born in
Tennessee and the Duncans were from Tennessee as well. I believe the Duncans once lived in McMinn County, in east Tennessee near the families of Rowden and Lawson who also came to Miller County. I am not sure where the Berry family lived in Tennessee but I do have record that some of the Berry
families, who came to Jim Henry township of Miller County in the 1840s, lived
in Claiborne County,Tennessee. As far as I can determine, there is no
connection between the Berry family of Maries/Miller County and the Berry
family who settled in Jim Henry township.
James Berry's twin brother, William W. Berry, died at his home near Myerstown
in western Maries County in 1934. He and his wife, Bethitha Berry, are
buried in crismon Cemetery near the old Tavern store and post office which
today is near the Brune store, located on Highway 183 in western Maries
County. William W. Berry was the grandfather of Garrett Allman Berry who
lived in Tuscumbia. Garrett was a former schoolteacher and also served as
Miller County Clerk for several years.
James D. Berry and his wife, Mary Margaret (Duncan), had 4 children:
1. Leonard Berry b. 1875 m. Effie Cross 1900
2. Laura Berry b. 1877 m. David A. Livingston 1905
3. Walter Berry b. 1879 m. Ellen Ponder 1903
4. Ida Berry b. 1882 m. Clayton F. Bilyeu 1900
In 1900, James & Mary Berry were living in eastern Miller County and their
neighbors included the families of Duncan, Kellison, Pendleton, Helton,
Green, Yoakum, Jones, Sherrell, Rowden, and Hannah.
James and Mary (Duncan) Berry are buried at Brays Union Cemetery in northeast Richwoods township. Their son, Walter Berry, and wife, Ellen (Ponder) are also buried at Brays Union.
James D. Berry 1848-1937
Mary M. Berry 1849-1928
Notation from Berry ancestor
DeVere, I have just read the article about James D. Berry and noticed that some of the information is incorrect. James David Berry's twin brother was my great-grandfather. I would just like to correct some of the information, as people (myself included) sometimes tend to accept the information they find re ancestors as correct.
Corrections are as follows:
James David and William Matthews Berry were born December 25, 1848, being the only sons of John and Eliza Copeland Berry.
John and Eliza were married on December 26, 1846 in Crawford County, MO. Eliza, born May 22, 1818 was the daughter of the Rev. John Copeland from his first marriage and was five years older than John Berry. Eliza died three weeks following the twins' birth, at age 30. The twins lived with Nancy Giesler (whom we feel was John's mother; she had married John Giesler, Sr. , b. 1779 York Co., PA. in 1833 in Carter County, TN. Her name was listed on the marriage certificate as Mrs. Nancy Berry). We have not been able to find out her maiden name, nor the name of her first husband.
John Berry was born June 23, 1823 in what was then called "Indian Territory" in Tennessee. As I said, we don't know who his parents were. We are aware of only one sister, Margaret, who was two or three years older than John.
Matilda Carline Carnes was born October 19, 1827. She was the daughter of Jehu Carnes. Jehu Carnes arrived in mid-Missouri in the middle 1830's from McMinn Co., TN. He was a Methodist Minister.
John & Matilda married in 1849.
John & Matilda's children & their dates of birth are as follows:
John Jehu Berry, b. September 14, 1850
Margaret Berry, b. August 9, 1852
George W. Berry, b. November 9, 1853
Thomas B. Berry, b. January 9, 1855
Mary Berry, b. September 23, 1856
Nancy Berry, b. September 1, 1858
Sarah A. Berry, b. January 3, 1860
Elizabeth J. Berry, April 12, 1862
William Matthews Berry's wife's name was Beditha Ellen Hawkins, b. October 13, 1852.
Most of this information was compiled by my cousin, Harry J. (Judson) Berry. Sources for the information are: King's " A History of Maries County"; Rolla (Missouri) Daily News, dated 19 July 1962; Ralph Rowden, Rolla, MO., great-grandson of John Berry; Lois Brown, Rolla MO., great-great-granddaughter of John Berry; U. S. census and various county records held in the Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, MO. The birthdates of John Berry's children are written in his own handwriting in a little ledger book that he kept, copy of which I have.
I hope these corrections are taken as intended; I certainly don't want to offend or insult anyone. We would welcome any additional information which might help us in our search for John Berry's parents.
Hope you and your family are fine. Guess Jessie is getting to be quite the young lady now. I know you all enjoy her.
Thanks for all that you do for all of us on the list.
Faye Berry Adkins
HIX-MYERS-CRISMON-WYRICK
James Guy Hix was born in 1905 in Miller County, a son of John Hart Hix and
Desdemonia D. Myers. His parents married in Miller County on February 7,
1889. Their marriage was performed by John S. Wilson, a justice of the
peace. Their children were:
1. Charles Herbert Hix 1890-1968 m. Bessie Dawson
2. Byron H. Hix 1893-1970 m. Ida M. ______
3. William M. Hix b. 1896 (never married)
4. Gail R. Hix 1899-1951 m. Marjorie Catherine Mace
5. James Guy Hix 1905-1987 m. Grace E. Crismon
6. John Hix
7. Edith (Hix) Wechsler
8. Elsie (Hix) Barnes
John Hart Hix, father of Guy, was born August 10, 1862 during the Civil War
years. His parents were John H. Hix Sr. and his wife, Hettie Frances (maiden
name not known). His father was in the Civil War and served as a Sgt. in
Company D of the Osage Regiment, Missouri Home Guards. I do not know if he
was killed in the war but he died in 1862 when the war was raging across the
countryside. John H. Hix Jr was born the same year his father died. There
were 5 children born to John Sr. and Hetty including:
1.Francis Marion Hix 1851-1856
2.John H. Hix 1854-1859
3.Isadora Hix b.c/1856 m. George W.Wyrick 1882
4 Mary Priscilla Hix b.c/1860 m. Joseph Wickham 1885
5 John H. Hix 1862-1929 m.Desdemonia B. Myers 1889
NOTE: It was not uncommon for families to give a child a name that had also
belonged to an older, deceased child as in the case of John H. Hix..
After the death of John H. Hix Sr. in 1862, his widow, Hettie Frances Hix,
married Jesse Livingston in 1867 and then married a third time to John W.
Cooper in 1874. She lived until May 27, 1914 when she died at the age of 80
years (born in 1834). She was buried at Gott Cemetery beside her first
husband, John H. Hix.
Desdomonia B. Myers, the mother of James Guy Hix, was a daughter of Charles
Phillip Myers and Nancy (Bass) who married in Miller County 30 August 1866,
their marriage performed by Evan L. Short, a justice of the peace in the Big
Richwoods. Charles was a son of Charles P. Myers Sr., a native of Prussia,
Germany and Minerva Davidson, born in Greenup County, Kentucky. His father
died in 1844 and Minerva then married Alexander Clark. Charles and his
brother, James Myers, were reared by their stepfather in Miller County.
Desdemonia was one of 7 children born to Charles and Nancy (Bass) Myers:
1. James R. Myers 1867-1943 m. Sadie Love 1901
2. William M. Myers 1870-1955 m. Martha L. Pierce 1896
3. Desdemonia Myers 1872-1925 m. John H. Hix 1889
4. Asa M. Myers 1875-1949 m. Carrie J. Patterson 1911
5. Emma C. Myers 1877- ? m. (no record found)
6. Dora B. Myers 1880- m. L.J.'Bud' Mayfield 1899
7. Perry P. Myers 1883-1900
Grace E. Crismon was born in 1907, a daughter of Rufus Crismon and Elvia
Wyrick. Her mother was a daughter of Henry C. Wyrick and Brazonia (Gibson).
She was from the Wyrick family who migrated to Miller County from Grainger
County, Tennessee in the 1840s. The ancestry of the Wyrick family was from
the Rhineland of Germany. They came to America in the early 1700s and lived
in Pennsylvania for many years. Some of the family moved down the Shenadoah
Valley of Virginia and settled in Wythe County where they lived and some
remained. Others moved on to Grainger County in Eastern Tennessee. Typical
of other pioneers, they kept moving on westward and many came to Miller
County.
Grace's father, Rufus Crismon, was a son of William J. and Eliza Crismon who
lived in Boone township in western Maries County during the census of 1880.
Evidently when Rufus married Elvia Wyrick he was underage because his father,
William, had to give his consent for them to marry. Rufus was Elvia's second
husband. She had first married Kellis J. Martin in Miller County on April 17,
1887. On April 9, 1893 Elvia married Rufus Crismon, the marriage pefromed by
Joel M. Topping, a minister of the gospel.
James Guy Hix (1905-1987) and Grace E. Crismon (1907-1990) never had children of their own. They spent many years together in Glaize township and in the little town of Ulman where they were well-known and well-loved by all who
knew them. Guy was a staunch Republican in his politics and he never missed
the Lincoln Day Banquets held in Miller County each year. I don't believe he
missed even one during the decades of the late 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and
up to 1987 when he died. I know he loved the game of baseball also because
he told me on several occasions how many times he had played baseball with
the Smith brothers at Iberia…he was speaking of my father, Oliver, and his
brother, Conard/Cap. Later their youngest brother, Glen,played the game but
I believe Guy wasn't able to play baseball by that time. I have pleasant
memories of Guy and Grace Hix……sharing baseball memories with Guy and
sharing the Wyrick family ancestry with Grace.
Rachel Elizabeth Kinder
RACHEL ELIZABETH KINDER was born in Miller County on 4 Feb 1856, a daughter of John Kinder and Didama Ruth Bilyeu. Her father was a native of Shelby County, Kentucky (born 1818) and her mother was born in March 1828 in Christian County, Illinois. They married in Miller County on 18 Jan 1846. Rachel was one of eleven children born to John and Didama including: PETER KINDER 1847-1928 m. Harriett Lamb; JENNIE KINDER b.1848 m. James Brannon in Illinois; MARGARET KINDER died young; NANCY KINDER b. 1852 m. James Dinkens in Illinois; SARAH KINDER b. 1853 m. David Workman; GEORGE ALLEN KINDER 1855-1938 m. (1) Vienna Hale (2) Rebecca Howell; RACHEL ELIZABETH KINDER 1856-1932 m. John Henry Wyrick; CELIA DIDAMA KINDER b. 1859 m. James Clemons Wyrick; RUTH KINDER 1869-1945 m. Jesse M. Topping; JOHN KINDER JR. 1864-1933 m. Luella Blize; JAMES LEANDER KINDER 1867-1949 m. Alvina Lucinda Martin.
Sometime after the Civil War Rachel's parents, John and Didama Kinder, moved back to Christian County, Illinois where other members of the Bilyeu and Kinder families were living. They lived the remainder of their lives there and are buried in Christian County. Several of their children remained in Miller County because they had married their spouses in the area of Equality and Glaize townships.
Rachel Elizabeth Kinder (called Betty) married John Henry Wyrick on August 24, 1878. He was a son of Chesley Nelson Wyrick (1829-1912) and Lucinda Wyrick (1827-1908), natives of Grainger County, Tennessee. Chesley and Lucinda were 3rd cousins. It is believed their fathers were first cousins who were both born in East Tennessee. The known children of Chesley and Lucinda (Wyrick) Wyrick were: JOHN HENRY WYRICK 1853-1923 m. Rachel Elizabeth Kinder; JAMES CLEMONS WYRICK 1856-1941 m. Celia Didama Kinder; JOSEPH WYRICK 1864-1893 (he drowned in the Gasconade River); AMANDA WYRICK b. 1867; LAURA WYRICK b. 1870 m. (1)____Saunders (2)____Heard.
Rachel Elizabeth (Betty) and John Wyrick lived most of their married life near Cat Tail creek about 3 miles south of Tuscumbial. Some of their neighbors during the census of 1900 were the families of Lamb, McDonald, Helton, Topping, Wyrick, Patterson, and Bear.
They reared several children on the Equality township farm including: ERNEST WYRICK 1879-1880; PERRY TOLBERT WYRICK 1880-1956 m. Carrie Gertrude Whittle 1902; VERNETTA AMANDA WYRICK 1883-1942 m. Anthony Cordell Martin 1904; ARETTA FRANCES WYRICK 1885-1919 m. John Hendricks 1907; GEORGE ELMER WYRICK 1890-1975 m. (1) Leatha Shelton 1908 (2) Elizabeth Ferguson; and CHESLEY SYLVESTER WYRICK 1892-1962 m. Amanda Elizabeth Whittle 1912.
About 1917, Rachel/Betty and John moved to Richwoods township and settled southwest of Iberia in the Pleasant Hill community. They had two sons and their families who lived in the same area (Chesley and Lizzie Wyrick & Perry and Carrie Wyrick). Lizzie (Elizabeth) and Carrie were sisters, daughters of Josephus and Leatha Jane (Loveall) Whittle. The Whittles were early settlers of the Pleasant Hill community and had been there for many years. When the Wyrick brothers married the Whittle sisters, they settled down near the other Whittle families of southwest Richwoods township.
John Henry Wyrick died 3 April 1923 and was buried at Pleasant Hill cemetery near the old church which carried the same name. Rachel Elizabeth Kinder-Wyrick lived until July 10, 1932 when she died at the age of 75 years. A couple of years prior to her death she had boken her hip and was a bedfast invalid the last two years of her life. Her daughter, Vernetta/Nettie Martin, took her mother to her home which was about 2 miles northeast of Tuscumbia and cared for her there until her death. Rachel/Betty was taken back to Pleasant Hill church for her funeral services and then was buried in the old cemetery beside her husband. They are the only Wyricks buried at Pleasant Hill.
NOTE: Rachel Elizabeth Kinder and John Henry Wyrick were my great grandparents. Their youngest son, Chesley S. Wyrick, was my grandfather. (psh)
Joseph R. Johnson
by Peggy Smith Hake
Joseph R. Johnson was born in Miller County on April 2, 1860 in the Big Richwoods, northeast of Iberia, in what today is called the Brays community. He was a son of Joseph J. Johnson and Elletha Rowden, both natives of East Tennessee. Joseph and Elletha married in Roane County, Tennessee on 8 Nov 1840. Elletha was a daughter of Meshac Rowden and Sarah (McNabb). Her parents married in Roane County on May 5, 1816.
Meshac and Sarah came to Miller County in the early 1840s with Joseph and Elletha Johnson. William and John Rowden, brothers to Elletha, also came to Miller County at the same time. Meshac Rowden was the first person buried in the old Brays cemetery which was located on land that Meshac and Sarah bought when they came to the Big Richwoods.
Joseph J. Johnson, father to Joseph R., was a justice of the peace in Richwoods township in the 1850s and performed several marriages in the area. In 1860, he was one of only a hand-full of men in Miller County who voted for Abraham Lincoln in the Presidental election. Even though from East Tennessee, which was part of the "Old South", apparently Joseph did not favor the outlook of his southern neighbors concerning slavery.
During the Civil War years, five horses were stolen from the farm of Joseph Johnson by the Confederate troops passing through and Joseph shot into the group, injuring two soldiers. Three years later, about 1864/65, Joseph J. Johnson was called outside his home and killed in his front yard by Confederate troops who remembered what had happened three years earlier. It is probable he is buried at old Brays cemetery where his father-in-law, Meshac Rowden, had been buried a few years earlier. No stone marks his gravesite. I do not know how long Elletha Rowden Johnson lived after the death of her husband because no record of her burial place has been found either.
Joseph R. Johnson, born in 1860, was the 6th child born to Joseph and Elletha (Rowden) Johnson. The known children are:
1. Ernel R. Johnson b. c/1844 TN m. no record found
2. John M. Johnson b. c/1846 TN m. Sarah Winningham
3. Wm. T. Johnson b. c/1848 TN m. no record found
4. Mary S. Johnson b. c/1850 MO m. John A. Slone
5. James M. Johnson b. c/1852 MO m. Sarah Shedman
6. Joseph R. Johnson b.1860 MO m. Charlotte Dake
7. Martha E. Johnson b.c/1866 MO m. George W. Wyrick
During the 1860 census of Miller County, the Johnsons were living near the families of Billingsley, Castleman, Cross, Wiseman, Davis, Bryant, Record, Pittman, Reed and Hanes.
On January 15, 1893, Joseph R. Johnson married Charlotte Dake (known as Lottie). The marriage was performed by F. M. Stickney, minister. Charlotte/Lottie was a daughter of George W. & Mary M. (McKee) Dake of Richwoods township. The children of George and Mary Dake were:
1. Wm. R. Dake b.c/1868 m. Abigail Agnes Humphrey
2. Benj. A. Dake b.c/1870 m. Martha J. Humphrey
3. Mary S. Dake b.c/1873 m. Martin Hicks
4. Charlotte J. Dake b.c/1874 m. Joseph R. Johnson
5. Rachel L. Dake b.c/1876 m. James M. Hicks
6. Eliz. M. Dake b.c/1882 m. no record found
7. Flora A. Dake b. 1885 m. Edward I. Shelton
8. Grover C. Dake b. 1877 m. no record found
Joseph and Lottie (Dake) Johnson were parents of three children but only one lived to adulthood. Their daughter, Gertrude, died at the age of 28 years. Two of their children died in infancy. They grew old together with no family to look after them since no children survived and their story becomes one of sadness at his death................
Sometime in their elderly years they moved to the Tuscumbia area to be near his sister and her family, Mrs. George W. Wyrick (Martha Ella Johnson). Joseph died on Friday morning, December 12, 1930 and his body was not discovered until Saturday evening, December 13. A nephew went to check on his uncle and aunt and found a frightful sight....Joseph had been dead for over 24 hours and Lottie was bedfast, completely helpless. She had to do without food, water, and heat during those long hours before the nephew came to see if they were alright.
Joseph R. Johnson was buried at Mt. Zion cemetery, south of Tuscumbia. His services were held at the church nearby, conducted by Rev. Davenport. His obituary stated he had been a member of the Brays church for over 35 years which was located in eastern Richwoods township in the same community where he had been born 70 years earlier. At his death he was survived by his invalid wife, Lottie, and his sister, Ella Johnson Wyrick.
NOTE: I do not know when Lottie Dake Johnson died nor where she is buried. There is no stone in Mt. Zion cemetery for either Joseph nor Lottie. His obituary said he was buried at Mt. Zion so I would presume she was placed beside him at her death.
Isadora Hix Wyrick
by Peggy Smith Hake
The name of Isadora Hix Wyrick has been discussed in the Autogram-Sentinel for the past few weeks and I thought perhaps you would like to know more about her. Judy Prince, at Brumley, has written in her column that several folks have called her concerning Isadora after her original tombstone was found a few weeks ago. I took time to see what I could find about Isadora and found a few things that may be of interest.
She was born on February 15, 1856 in Missouri and died at the age of 27 years on August 6, 1883. Isadora was a daughter of John H. and Frances Hetty Hix who came to Miller County sometime between the census of 1850 and the one taken in 1860. In 1860, they were living in Glaize township near the families of Ulmon, Martin, Williams, Horton, Graham, Gott, Hawkins and DeVore.
Isadora was the third of six children born to John and Frances (called Hetty) Hix. The children included:
1. Frances M. Hix 1851-1856
2. John H. Hix 1854-1859
3. Isadora Hix 1856-1883 m. George W. Wyrick
4. Dolly J. Hix 1857-1920 m. James DeVore
5. Mary Priscilla Hix 1859-1940 m. Joseph M. Wickham
6. John H. Hix 1862-1929 m. Desdemonia Myers
NOTE: John & Hetty named two sons John H. Hix. That
was not an uncommon practice because in many
families I have researched, I have found when a
child died young, then another child, born later,
was given the same name.
John H. Hix, father of Isadora, died in 1862. I am not sure at this time if he was a casualty of the Civil War because he served as a Sgt. in Company D, Osage Regiment of the Missouri Home Guards. The Civil War was raging across Miller County in 1862 and he may have not survived the war.....at this time, I am only speculating.
On July 11, 1867, Frances Hix married Jesse Livingston. I do not know what happed to Jesse because I could find no record of his death and burial and he was not enumerated in the 1870 census. Frances/Hetty married her 3rd husband, John W. Cooper, in 1874. In 1880, Isadora, her sister Mary Priscilla, and her brother John H. Hix, were living with their mother and stepfather in Glaize township.
Isadora Hix married George W. Wyrick on November 18, 1882 at the age of 26 years. I believe that George, born about 1855, was a son of Michael Wyrick Jr. and his wife, Laura (Golden).
Isadora Hix Wyrick died less than a year after her marriage, on August 6, 1883. I have no way of knowing what caused her death....perhaps it was childbirth complications, or it could have been any number of dieases that struck down many of our ancestors.
Isadora was buried at Gott cemetery where her father and two siblings were buried. Her mother died in 1914 and is buried beside John H. Hix at Gott Graveyard. Isadora's husband, George W. Wyrick, married Ella Johnson, of Richwoods township, in February 1885.
Isadora Hix Wyrick did not live a long life on earth but because of some interest shown in an old gravestone, with her name inscribed, perhaps she will be remembered for awhile by folks who read this column.....If you happen to go by Gott Cemetery sometime, take the time to stop by her gravesite and whisper a soft greeting to her.
Cynthia Hawkins Spearman
by Peggy Smith Hake
Cynthia Hawkins Spearman, age 86, was selected as ‘Pioneer School Teacher’ in Miller County’s Centennial Pageant of 1937.....a most appropriate selection!
Sometimes when I walk down that road to yesterday, I encounter some of the most remarkable people. One whom I would call ‘extraordinary’ was Miss Cynthia. She was born in Miller County in March 1851, a daughter of Presley and Sarepta (McCubbin) Hawkins. She was born in Glaize township near the town of Brumley. Cynthia was a product of a fine, old Virginia family where for generations her ancestors lived. Her great grandfather, John Hawkins (1759-1831), was a soldier of the Revolutionary War. In the early 19th century, her Hawkins ancestors moved from Hampshire County, Virginia (now West Virginia) to Kentucky and located near Elizabethtown.
Her father, Presley Hawkins, was born in Virginia in 1819 and came to Miller County circa 1842 from Hart County, KY. He married Sarepta McCubbin in Miller County in 1843. They had several children including: James Martin Hawkins, Mary Catherine Hawkins, Cynthia Frances Hawkins, Dr. Zachariah Hawkins, William Lewis Hawkins, and Millard Fillmore Hawkins. In 1859, Cynthia’s father died and left her mother with the young children to rear alone.
At a young age, Miss Cynthia began her 40-year teaching career in the rural schools of Miller County. What made Cynthia Hawkins different from other women who taught schools in the 19th century?....At an early age, she lost both arms, just below the elbow, in a cane mill accident.
Her mother, a widow, was operating the cane mill because most of the men of the area had volunteered to go off to war. The Civil War had begun to creep across the countryside and the women were left at home alone to perform the difficult farm work. It was molasses-making time and Cynthia was helping her mother and family members feed cane stalks into the mill. Her arms became caught in the rollers and when they finally freed her arms, they were mangled and crushed. Two days later, Dr. Anton Nixdorf decided her arms had to be amputated. A carpenter nearby had a small hand saw and it was used to amputate her arms.....talk about true grit !
When a young girl, perhaps 13 years old, she drove a covered wagon to Texas taking her ill mother and young brothers with her. In 1874, Cynthia’s mother, Sarepta McCubbin Hawkins, died near Bosqueville, Texas. Shortly thereafter, Cynthia came back to Miller County began her teaching career.
She did not consider herself handicapped nor did anyone who ever knew her. By grasping things between her elbows, she could do almost anything....she dressed and groomed herself, wrote, cooked, raised chickens, gardened, and even made quilts. Her school students verified that she could wield a ‘mean hickory stick’ if the occasion for discipline arose!
Cynthia was the first woman elected to a public office in Miller County. During 1895 and 1896, she served as County Superintendent of Schools. Over the years her Hawkins family were prominent in politics. Her brother, James Hawkins, was a state representative, county court judge, and collector. Her nephew, Charles R. ‘Ted’ Hawkins, was state representative for many years and she was also related to Alvin P. Hawkins, a former Governor of Texas.
In 1885, at the age of 34, Cynthia married Zebedee Spearman, a widower with four children and 20 years her senior. Zebedee was a son of Thomas and Nancy (Shelton) Spearman, natives of South Carolina. She never had any children of her own but helped to rear her stepchildren and grandchildren.
In 1940, about 250 former students and friends gathered at the Brumley high school and honored Miss Cynthia on her 89th birthday. The high school gymnasium was dedicated in her honor. She told them how she had traveled to Texas in a covered wagon, later traveled by train and automobile, sailed on a ship while on the west coast, and finally flew in an airplane on a trip back home from California. She had certainly seen many changes in her lifetime.
Cynthia’s husband, Zebedee Spearman, died in 1897 and she remained his widow for many decades. Miss Cynthia died in Miller County in July 1943 at the age of 92 years. She was buried at Hawkins cemetery, just a short distance east of Brumley, which is located in the same community where she was born in 1851.
WINDOW TO THE PAST
by Peggy Smith Hake
Isaac Newton Boyce was born in Washington County, PA on October 21, 1846. He was a son of Richard and Mary E. Boyce, natives of Pennsylvania. Richard and Mary Boyce were parents of several children including: ISAAC NEWTON BOYCE 1846-1891 m. Elizabeth Ann Russell; SARAH E. BOYCE 1847-1852; JANE BOYCE d. 1848 when a young child; REBECCA BOYCE 1850-1852; MARY EMMA BOYCE b. 1856 m. Green Lee Wright; JOHN R. BOYCE 1859-1885; SARAH JANE BOYCE b. 1863 m. _____White; MARGARET BOYCE b. 1865 (never married).
Richard, Mary and their children came to Miller County at the close of the Civil War, (about 1866) from Pennsylvania. They settled in Franklin township in northwest Miller County on what was called “the old Jimmy Dooley place” a few miles east of Rocky Mount. Both Richard and his oldest son, Isaac, served with the Pennsylvania Union forces during the Civil War......Richard served in the 193rd PA. Infantry and Isaac in the lst PA. Cavalry. I know that many father and sons served as soldiers in the Civil War, but it is not often you find record where both served, survived the war, and later became members of the same G.A.R. Post in years following the close of the war. Richard and Isaac were members of the Samuel McClure G.A.R.Post #145 at Eldon.
Richard Boyce (1817-1909) and Mary E. Boyce (1822-1912) are both buried at Eldon Cemetery. Their son, John R. Boyce (1859-1885) is also buried at Eldon.
Isaac Newton Boyce married Elizabeth Ann Russell in Miller County on January 6, 1870. Their marriage was performed by William McComb, County Court Judge. In 1880, Isaac and Elizabeth wre living in Franklin township near the families of Jobe, Whitaker, Manes, Busic(k), Wood, and McConnell. Elizabeth Ann was a daughter of Alexander and Louisa Russell of Franklin township.
Isaac and Elizabeth became parents of several children including: CHARLES H. BOYCE 1871-1900; BYRON A. BOYCE b. 1873 d. young; THOMAS B. BOYCE 1875-1944; MONTE M. BOYCE 1878-1917 m. Clodia Roark; LENA M. BOYCE b. 1880 m. George H. Deibler; EARNEST R. BOYCE b. 1883; JOHN W BOYCE b. 1886 m. Julia Schott; STELLA B. BOYCE b. 1889 and BESSIE I. BOYCE b. 1894.
The Boyce families were of Pennsylvania origins and when they came to Miller County, after the Civil War, they were strong supporters of the Radical Republican party. Richard Boyce was elected vice president of the Miller County group in April 1868, just a short time after coming to Missouri.
About 1909, Isaac Newton Boyce bought a farm east of Versailles, Morgan County, and moved his family there. In 1918, he moved to the town of Versailles and was living there in 1925, when he was featured in a Versailles newspaper as an “Old Soldier of the Civil War”. He said he enlisted in February 1864 and served till the end of the war and was mustered out of service at Harrisburg, PA in August 1865. While living in Morgan County, he was elected as a county judge and was called “Judge Boyce” the rest of his life.
Isaac Newton Boyce lived until October 14, 1941 when he died at the advanced age of 95 years. Elizabeth Ann (Russell) Boyce, his wife of 66 years, died five years earlier on June 11, 1936 and both are buried at Dooley Cemetery in Franklin township. Three of their sons are also buried at Dooley and their young son, Byron, is buried at the Taylor Family Cemetery, also in Franklin township.
An interesting news item I found while searching through old county newspapers was published in July 1938. Isaac Newton Boyce from Eldon’s Samuel McClure G.A.R. Post #124 and Squire John Ferguson of Iberia’s Miles Carroll G.A.R. Post #l1, attended the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. They were special guests of the United States government and were among 2500 Civil War veterans who attended the special ceremonies that day. Squire Ferguson was 99 years old and Isaac was 92 ! Squire Ferguson lived to reach the age of 101 when he died in 1940 and Isaac lived until 1941, dying at the age of 95 years. He was probably among the last of the surviving Civil War soldiers in Missouri.
James Anderson Stone
by Peggy Smith Hake
James Anderson Stone died during the Civil War at Polk’s Plantation near Helena, Arkansas on July 12, 1863. James was a young Miller county man who had a wife and four children back home in Jim Henry township near present-day Marys Home. They were expecting their fifth child when he joined the military forces. His story is typical of the many thousands of young men who marched off to war and never returned.
In August 1862, General Sterling Price, the South’s famous top general, was winning many successful battles in Missouri. In the area of Miller and Cole counties he had an infamous General patroling the countryside. His name was Crabtree. Everyone remembered that name; no other name is ever used to describe him! He was a bandit, a guerilla fighter, a bushwhacker. General Crabtree had a Captain in his troop named Revis/Reavis and the old general ordered him to round up some men in Miller and Cole counties for the southern army. In rounding up potential soldiers, Captain Reavis also stole many horses. The men and horses were transported to the Southern Army’s headquarters at Thomasville, Missouri, located near the Arkansas border. I believe this recruitment included James Anderson Stone, David Jenkins and J. Riley Jenkins, all of Jim Henry township.
Once reaching Thomasville, James Anderson Stone was placed in Company A of Pindall’s Battalion of Sharp Shooters. Using my imagination, I would venture a guess that James Stone was a very good marksman to be placed in a group of ‘sharpshooters’. He served almost a year with this Company before he was captured at Helena, Arkansas in the battle that occurred there on July 4, 1863. It appears, from military records, he was severely wounded during this battle. He was captured by Major General B. M. Prentiss and taken to Polk’s Plantation, about six miles from the battlefield. On July 7, he was paroled, but evidently could not be moved. He died from his wounds on 12 July 1863. That same day, back home in Miller County, his fifth child, Robert Price Stone was born.
James Anderson Stone is probably buried in the area of Polk’s Plantation near Helena. It is not likely he was ever returned to his home in Miller County. Some of his descendants have tried to find the location of his grave, but have not been successful in finding it. I am sure he is one of those soldiers buried in an unmarked grave and his whereabouts are known only to God.
I can’t tell you where James is buried today, but I do know some of his history....James Anderson Stone was born about 1833 in Barren County, KY, a son of John B. Stone and Samantha Susan Bailey. His brothers and sisters were: MARY CATHERINE STONE b. c/1832 m. John Cordell; JULIUS C. BAILEY b. c/1836 m. Elizabeth Anderson; LUCY STONE b. c/1838 m. William J. Murphy; JOHN B. STONE b. c/1842 m. Dulcena A. Murphy; SARAH J. STONE b. c/1843 m. James Greenwood; KINSEY WILLIS STONE b. c/1846 m. Permelia Angeline Smith; and SUSAN S. STONE b. c/1848 m. Isaiah Rufus Bailey.
James’ parents came to Mille County in the early 1840s from Barren County with the families of Gardner, Allen, Wheeler, Bailey, and Shackleford. They settled along Bailey Branch and Barren Fork Creek, north of Iberia.
About 1853, James Anderson Stone married Priscilla Jane West, a daughter of John W. West and his first wife, Sarah/Sally Smith (they married in Bond Co., Illinois 10 Aug 1832). On 31 Jan 1837, Priscilla was born in Bond County, Illinois, the oldest of four children born before her mother died about 1845. After John West married his second wife, Cynthia Mariah Warrill (a native of Vermont), they moved to Missouri and first settled in Camden County and later moved to Jim Henry township in Miller County. It was there Priscilla married James Stone and they settled down on a farm near the families of Hackney, Berry, Newton, Denton, Varner, Fancher, and Stapp.
By the time James rode off to war, they had become parents of four children: ELIZABETH STONE b. c/1855; LUCY STONE b. c/1857; JOHN W. STONE b. c/1859; and JAMES THOMAS STONE b. c/1861. On the day James died, July 12, 1863, their fifth child, ROBERT PRICE STONE, was born at the family farm in Jim Henry township.
By 1880, Priscilla West Stone had moved her family to Moniteau County and settled near her father and stepmother, John and Cynthia West. They all lived in Burris Fork township during the 1880 census. The youngest son, Robert Price, became a well-known attorney and judge in Cole and Moniteau counties and by 1910, had moved his law practice to Eldon, MO. He and his wife, the former Mary Workover of Cole County, are both buried at Eldon Cemetery.
It seems a rather sad epitaph to know that a Miller County soldier felt compelled to march off to war and fought for a losing cause. In the process, he had to pay the price with his life.
