Howard County, Missouri
By R. S. Walton, Armstrong

Before Missouri Was a State

The history of Howard County, from the date of its organization on January 16, 1816, to 1860, is in a great measure a history of the state. The history of the county antedates the history of the state nearly ten years.

These ten primitive years of the county were filled with stirring scenes and thrilling events of the pioneers of the Boon's Lick country. It was these hardy settlers, who by their heroic deeds blazed a way in the wilderness and thus opened up a new and wonderful country to those who were to follow after them. All honor to those men and women who first cast their lots for weal or woe in this New Eldorado. They were a noble and grand body of men and women, they were imbued with a laudable ambition to succeed in establishing for this ancestry happy homes in this far off country. How well these early pioneers laid the ground work for their descendants to reap in the years to follow is to be seen in the splendid homes, here and there on hilltop and in valley. Other fruits of their labors can be seen in the school houses and stately churches. These pioneers were not without their reward, for through the many privations they suffered those to come after them have obtained happy homes.

Agriculture is the greatest among all the arts of man, as it is the first in supplying his necessities. It creates and maintains manufactures, gives employment to navigation and furnishes material to commerce. It animates every species of industry and opens to nations the safest channels of wealth. It is the strongest bond of well-regulated society, the surest basis of internal peace, and the natural associate of correct morals. Among all occupations of life there is none more honorable, none more independent, and none more conducive to the health and happiness of the individual or community. As an agricultural county Howard is the farmer's paradise, where he may always reap an abundant harvest from the soil. The soil has an open, flexible structure which quickly absorbs the most excessive rains and retains moisture with great tenacity. This being the case, it is not easily affected by a drought. The prairie portion of the county is covered with a sweet, luxuriant grass equally as good for grazing and hay as the famous Kentucky bluegrass. The rich sandy loam soil of Howard County produces from year to year enormous crops of corn, wheat and oats, with a boundless pasturage.

The water supply is not only inexhaustible but everywhere convenient. There are few cereals, only a very few, that the soil of Howard County will not produce at a profit in the mart of commerce.

The following products of the soil yield in abundance, broom corn, sorghum, beans, peas, hops, sweet potatoes and in fact, all kinds of garden vegetables. Fruits of the orchard of every variety, including the apple, pear, peach, cherries, apricots, strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry are cultivated with great success. With the building of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad through the county from south to north and the Chicago and Alton Railroad from east to west, these great arteries of commercial industry and progress presaged the dawn of a brighter and grander era in the history of the county. Her fertile prairies, rich high lands and prolific valleys have been made tenfold more productive of material profit, these additional facilities afforded by the railroad have opened wide the marts of trade and commerce, transportation to and from all parts of the country have been secured and a fresh impetus given to the growth of our towns and cities and furnishing new hopes and aspirations to all our people.

Early Settlers

The early pioneer settlers of Howard County were deeply imbued with religious convictions, for we find as early as 1816 church services were held in the county by the Baptists, being followed in 1820 by the Presbyterian church, and in 1826 by the Disciples of Christ, and in the year 1836 by the establishment of a small colony of communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church located in Fayette, the county seat.

History we are told "is but a record of the life and career of people and nations." The historian in rescuing from oblivion the life of a nation or a particular people should nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice. Myths, however beautiful, are but fanciful; traditions, however pleasing, are uncertain; and legends, though the very essence of poesy and song, are unauthentic. The novelist will take the most fragile thread of romance and from it weave a fabric of surpassing beauty. But the historian should put his feet upon the solid rock of truth and turning a deaf ear to the allurements of fancy, he should sift with careful scrutiny the evidence brought before him from which he is to give the record of what has been. Standing down the stream of time far removed from its source, he must retrace with patience and "are its meanderings, guided by the relics of the past which lie upon its shores, growing fainter and still more faint and uncertain as he nears its fountain, of times concealed in the "debris of ages and the mists of impenetrable darkness. Written records grow less and less explicit and finally fail altogether as he approaches the beginnings of the community, whose lives he is seeking to rescue from the gloom of a rapidly receding past. Memory, wonderful as are its powers, is yet frequently at fault and only by a comparison of its many aggregations can he be satisfied that he is pursuing the truth in his researches amid the early paths of his subject. It cannot then be unimportant or uninteresting to trace the progress of Howard county from its crude beginnings to her present proud position among her sister counties. To this end, therefore, we have endeavored to gather the scattered and loose threads of the past into a compact web of the present, trusting that the harmony and perfections of the work may speak with no uncertain sound to the future. Records have been traced as far as they have yielded information sought for, the memories of the pioneers have been laid under tribute and into requisition from all of which we could obtain reliable material to construct a truthful and faithful history of Howard County.

The first white men to visit the territory of Howard county were a colony under the direction of Pierre Laclede Liguest, who held a charter from the French government, granting him the right and privilege to trade with the Indians in all the territory west of St. Louis and as far west as the Rocky mountains. Levens and Drake state in their history of Cooper County that Ira P. Nash with his companions visited Howard County territory in the year 1804 and established a trading post two miles northwest of Old Franklin. Col.

Benjamin Cooper, of Kentucky, moved to Howard County in the year 1808 and he states that when he arrived in what is now known as Boon's Lick in Howard County there were no settlements in this part of the state.
It is claimed on good authority that the old hunter, Daniel Boone, visited the Boon's Lick country about the year 1795 and manufactured salt from the many salt springs found in that region of Howard's territory.

The first authentic record of a permanent settlement to be made in Howard County was in the year 1800, when Joseph Marie sold and deeded a tract of land to Asa Morgan. This land was situated one mile southwest of Fort Kincaid, in what is now Franklin Township. Charles Dehault Delassus, lieutenant-governor of Upper Louisiana, granted a large tract of land situated in Franklin Township on the 26th day of January, 1804.

The next American in Howard County was Ira P. Nash, a deputy United States surveyor, in company with Stephen Hancock and Stephen Jackson, in the year 1804. These pioneers located on land opposite the mouth of the LaMine River in Howard County. In July, 1804, Ira P. Nash and his brother Wm. Nash, also James H. Whitesides, William Clark and Daniel Hubbard, again came into what is now Howard County and surveyed a tract of land on the site of Old Franklin. On this second trip of Nash he claimed that he had left a compass in a certain hollow tree several miles from the river and started out with two companions to find the compass which he did the following day, bringing the compass to camp with him which proved beyond doubt that he had visited the country before as he had stated. Lewis and Clark, on their exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains arrived at the mouth of the Bonne Femme in Howard County on the 7th day of June, 1804, and camped for the night. When Lewis and Clark returned from this journey in 1806, after having accomplished all the objects for which they were sent out, they passed down the Missouri river and camped on the 18th of September, in Howard County, opposite the mouth of the LaMine River.

The Boon's Lick Country

The next evidence we have of any white persons being in the Boon's Lick country is in 1807, when Nathan and Daniel M. Boone, sons of Daniel Boone, the great pioneer, who lived with their father in what is now St. Charles County, about twenty-five miles west of the city of St. Charles, on the Femme Osage creek, came up the Missouri River and manufactured salt at Boon's Lick in Howard County. After the Boons had manufactured what salt they wanted, they shipped it down the river to St. Louis, where it was sold. It is thought by many that this was the first instance of salt being manufactured in what was at that time a part of the territory of Louisiana, now the state of Missouri.

Previous to the year 1808, every white American who came to the Boon's Lick country came with the intention of only remaining a short time. Three parties had entered it while on exploring and surveying expeditions, two parties had been to the salt licks to make salt.

In the spring of 1808 Col. Benjamin Cooper, of Kentucky, arrived in the Boon 's Lick country with his family, consisting of his wife and five sons, and located two miles southwest of Boon's Lick, built a cabin, cleared a piece of ground and made arrangements for a permanent home. But he was not permitted to remain, for Meriwether Lewis, governor of the territory, issued an order directing him to return to below the mouth of the Gasconade River, as the governor thought he had advanced too far into the Indian territory and too far from any white protection in case Indians should go on the warpath. So he was forced to return to Loutre island, about four miles south of the Gasconade River, where he remained until the year 1810, when he again returned with his family to the Boon's Lick country.

The rich territory, however, was not destined to be left forever to the reign of the wild beasts and savage Indians. Aside from the fact that the character of the men of the early days caused them continually to revolt against living in thickly settled communities, the Boon's Lick country presented advantages which those seeking a home where they could find the richest lands and the most healthful climate could not and did not fail to perceive. Its fertile soil promised with little labor the most abundant harvests. Its forests were filled with every variety of game and its streams with all kinds of fish.

Arnold's Tavern, Howard County

Two years after the settlement by Benjamin Cooper and his removal to Loutre Island the first permanent settlement was made in the Boon's Lick country and this party was the forerunner for many others who soon followed. Most of the emigrants who came to the Boon's Lick country were former citizens of Madison county, Kentucky, and we will give the names of a few of the most prominent pioneers whose names are indissolubly linked with the early history of Howard county: the Coopers, Hancocks, Berrys, Browns, Thorps, Jones, Woods, Bynums and many others who left good homes in Kentucky and Virginia and came to the far west.

During the years 1811 and 1812 there was a great influx of newcomers from the east. On their arrival the first work was to erect a log cabin and to clear a small patch of ground and plant just enough corn and garden vegetables to feed their families through the winter. They knew that the country was full of Indians and that the Indiana might at any time begin depredations on the whites. Therefore, they located in colonies where in ease of danger they could render each other assistance in time of need. The county was full of wild game of all kinds which furnished meat in abundance to the settlers. There were large droves of wild turkey, elk, deer, and bear and as soon as a cabin was complete for the family occupancy the men folks turned their attention to hunting and fishing. The range was good and the stock kept fat on the luxuriant grasses, while nuts and berries of all kinds furnished ample food for every species of animal.

It was during the two years of 1811 and 1812 that quite a number of emigrants came into the Boon's Lick country. Many of these new arrivals included families of wealth and culture, who left splendid homes and lifelong friends in the east to take up their abode in a new country infested with savages and wild beasts. They had hardly got comfortably located in their new homes before rumors and mutterings were heard that Great Britain had incited Indians to take the warpath and with British assistance to attempt to drive the whites from the territory. They, therefore, lost no time in building log forts and stockades and making other preparations to defend themselves from the attacks of the Indians and the British.

Three large log forts were built, Fort Cooper was located two miles southwest of Boon's Lick. Fort Kincaid was built about one mile north of the present Boonville railroad bridge. Fort Hempstead was built one mile and a half north of Fort Kincaid. Each fort was a series of log houses built together around an enclosure. In each house lived a family. The stock was corralled and the property of the settlers secured at night in the enclosure. Other small forts were built, but those named were the most important.

As soon as the forts were completed, all the settlers moved into them. They organized themselves into a military company with Marshall Cooper as captain and William Mahon as first lieutenant. In these forts were 112 men able to bear arms. Life in the forts was not one of idleness and ease. It was one of constant vigilance and activity for the space of over two years until the war clouds had blown over. Schools were maintained in the forts for the children and religious exercises were held every Sunday. The first horse mills in the county were erected at Fort Hempstead and Fort Kincaid. The first dry goods store in the county was kept by Robert Morris within the enclosure of Fort Hempstead.

In accordance with an act of the territorial legislature approved January 13, 1816, the county of Howard was created, being the ninth organized county in the territory. Its limits were taken from the territory of St. Louis and St. Charles counties.

Organization of the County

Howard County at its organization was an empire in area, representing 22,000 square miles. It was one-third as large as the state of Missouri and was larger than Vermont, Massachusetts, Delaware and Rhode Island. It is from the fact that so many counties have been created from original territory that Howard County is called the ''Mother of Counties'' and the appellation is a just one. By an act of the legislature February 16, 1825, Howard County was reduced to its present limits of 463 square miles in area, instead of 22,000 square miles.

In the fall of 1816 the town of Old Franklin was laid off opposite the present site of Boonville. It was located on a tract of land containing 100 acres. Benjamin Estill, David Jones, David Kincaid, William Head and Stephen Cooper were appointed commissioners to locate a county seat which had been first located at Cole's Fort. On June 16, 1817, the commissioners made their report to the court and recommended the site of Old Franklin as the most suitable place for the county seat. So on the 2nd day of November, 1817, the court was opened for official business by the sheriff. The land office was also located at Old Franklin in 1818 and Thomas A. Smith appointed receiver and Charles Carroll register.

The first newspaper published west of St. Louis was on April 23. 1819, by Nathaniel Patten and Benjamin Holliday. The name of the paper was the Missouri Intelligencer.

The first steamboat that ever touched the soil of Howard County was on May 28, 1819. It cast anchor at Old Franklin, then a town of 350 inhabitants, and the arrival of the boat was the occasion of great rejoicing by the citizens of Old Franklin. The event was celebrated by the firing of cannon and by big toasts and speeches by her most prominent citizens.

The first post office established in the county was in the year 1821. Until that time the news was carried by the scout and traveler passing from one settlement to another.

The first county court was held on February 26, 1821, at Old Franklin. The judges were Henry V. Bingham, David R. Drake, and Thomas Conway. Hampton L. Boone was appointed county clerk pro tem.

First County Officers

Elias Bancroft was appointed county surveyor, Nicholas S. Burckhartt, county assessor, and Joseph Patterson, collector of the revenue in 1821. These were the first county officers. The county from 1816 to 1821 was divided into four townships: Moniteau, Bonne Femme, Chariton and LaMine. In 1821 the county court made a second division of the county into townships and made seven townships: Franklin, Boonslick, Chariton, Richmond, Prairie, Bonne Femme, and Moniteau. Later on the county court created Burton Township from territory taken from Richmond and Prairie townships.

Kit Carson

Among the famous men who lived in Howard County and whose name and fame is world-wide is Kit Carson, the famous scout who piloted the exploring company of men under the lead of Gen. J. C. Fremont to the Pacific coast. He was born in Madison county, Kentucky, in 1809, and was brought by his father, Lindsey Carson, to the Boon's Lick country in 1810 when ''Kit" was only one year old. Young ''Kit'' when barely seventeen years old joined a party and left his home in Howard County to seek his fortune in the far West, where he remained until his death.

County Organization

From 1804 until October 1, 1812, the territory of Missouri was divided into four districts. At that date Governor Clark issued a proclamation, in accordance with an act of Congress, reorganizing the four districts into five counties: St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid.

Under the act of the General Assembly approved January 13, 1816, the county of Howard was created, being the ninth organized county in the territory, and was taken out of the counties of St. Louis and St. Charles. The boundaries of Howard County, as established after its organization, included within its confines the following counties, which have been created and organized since February 16, 1825: Boone, Cole, Miller, Morgan, Benton, St. Clair, Henry, Johnson, LaFayette, Pettis, Cooper, Moniteau, Saline, Clay, Clinton, DeKalb, Gentry, Worth, Harrison, Daviess, Caldwell, Ray, Carroll, Randolph, Livingston, Grundy, Mercer, Putnam, Sullivan, Linn, Chariton, Macon, Adair, parts of Shelby, Monroe and Audrain, and the following counties in Iowa: Taylor, Adams, Union, Ringgold, Clark, Decatur, Wayne, Lucas, Monroe and Appanoose.

In the year 1816 after Howard County was duly organized the first term of court was held at the home of Joseph Jolly in Hannah Cole's fort on the 8th day of July, 1816. Hon. David Barton was the presiding judge, Nicholas Burckhartt, sheriff, and Gray Bynum, clerk of the court. The attorneys in attendance were Edward Bates, Charles Lucas, Joshua Barton and Lucius Caston.

At this term of court Hannah Cole obtained a license to establish a ferry across the Missouri River.

The first licensed tavern was kept by Harper C. Davis, in Kincaid's Fort.

The first road laid out in the county was a road from Cole's Fort on the Missouri River to intersect the road from Potosi in Washington County at the Osage River. Stephen Cole, James Cole and Humphrey Gibson were appointed to lay out and make the road.

The first elections held in the county were held at Head's Fort, McLain's Fort, Fort Cooper and Cole's Fort.

The first civil action was styled Davis Lodd vs. Joseph Boggs.

Towns and Villages

Armstrong | Burton | Estill | Fayette | Glasgow | Old Franklin | Roanoke | Sebree

The Bar

From 1815 to 1860 the bench and bar in Howard county was represented by some of the most learned and able jurists not only in the state of Missouri but in the American Union. We find recorded the names of such legal lights at the Howard County bar as:

The Press

The first newspaper issued in Howard County was on April 25, 1819, by Nathaniel Patten and Benjamin Holliday at Old Franklin and was known as the Missouri Intelligencer. In 1826 the Intelligencer was moved to Fayette, the county seat, where it was issued until April 9, 1830, when it was purchased by Columbia citizens and moved to that city. It was the first newspaper published west of St. Louis.

The next newspaper published in Howard County was the Western Monitor at Fayette in August, 1827, by Western F. Birch, who was the editor until 1837, when it passed under the control of James H. Birch, a brother of the retiring editor, who changed its name to the Missourian. In a few years the Missourian passed into the hands of C. H. Green, who changed the name of the paper to the Boon's Lick Times. About the time of the publication of the Times by Green, Judge William B. Napton established the Boon's Lick Democrat. The Democrat was published until 1844, when it ceased publication and the Times was moved to Glasgow and was published until 1861.

The next newspaper was the Howard County Banner, started in 1853 by R. C. Hancock. This paper was sold to Randall and Jackson, who in a couple of years sold the paper to I. N. Houck, who changed its name to the Howard County Advertiser. The Advertiser under different management is still in existence at the present time.

The Glasgow Journal, Glasgow Times, and News were short lived publications of only a few years. Since the Civil war the Central Missourian at Glasgow, the Democrat-Leader at Fayette, the New Franklin News and the Armstrong Herald are the representatives of the press in Howard County.

War History

In all the wars, including the Mexican war of 1846, the Mormon and Civil wars, Howard County has always furnished her full quota of soldiers.

In the war of 1846, Capt. J. W. Hughes, at the call of Governor Edwards of Missouri, raised a company of Howard County boys and joined Gen. A. W. Doniphan in his march to the land of the Montezumas.

In the Black Hawk and Florida wars the sons of old Howard were among the first to respond to duty's call. To attempt to write a full and complete history of Howard County just preceding the great Civil war, which swept over our country like a besom of destruction, would fill a book of many volumes. With a very few exceptions, most citizens of Howard County at the beginning of the war between the states were born in Kentucky, Tennessee or Virginia and were strong believers in the doctrine of states' rights, as advocated by J. C. Calhoun and other southern statesmen. They were also strong advocates of slavery. Most of the wealthy citizens were owners of large numbers of slaves. As a matter of fact they could not help espousing the cause of their brethren in the South when war was declared between the states.

Civil War

After the firing on Fort Sumter, when there was no doubt that civil war with all its terrible ravages was close at hand, the citizens of Howard County began to take sides and as most of her citizens were of Southern birth or extraction the general sentiment and feeling was with the Southern cause. A mass meeting was held at the court house in Fayette and many speeches made by those who were in favor of secession and others advising against a severance from the Union. As the Southern sentiment was the strongest and led by such men as Gen. John B. Clark, Gov. C. F. Jackson and many others, a company of men was raised and J. B. Clark, Jr., made captain of the state troops to repel invasion of the state from Federal troops. After every effort had failed to reconcile and compromise the difference of opinion as to what course the people of Howard County should take in the war, those of her citizens who were believers in the justness of the Southern cause from time to time as the war progressed went south and joined the armies of Gen. Sterling Price. It is estimated that Howard County furnished no less than two thousand soldiers to the South and about fifteen hundred to the Union cause during the war.

During the Civil war Howard County suffered considerable from the ravages resulting from the contending forces occupying her territory. No large battles were fought in Howard County, but there were a great number of engagements between small bodies of soldiers representing federal troops and what was known as guerrilla squads under Todd, Jackson, Anderson and Quantrell.

The only battle of any moment was the battle of Glasgow between the Confederate forces under Gen. Sterling Price and a body of Federals stationed at Glasgow under the command of Col. Chester Harding, of the Union army, in October, 1864. The battle was begun by the Confederates under Generals Joe Shelby and John H. Clark and after a few hours' engagement the Federals surrendered with a loss of sixty killed and a great many wounded. The Confederate loss was nearly as large. After the close of the Civil war and the smoke of battle had cleared the horizon from the effects of the most stupendous internecine strife of modern times, the citizens of Howard County returned to the peaceful walks of life. Many had lost all their earthly possession in the war, and hence were compelled to begin life anew.

The County Today

The area of Howard County is about 463 square miles, with a frontage on the Missouri river on the west and south of thirty-four miles. The face of its territory was originally covered with a growth of heavy timber, except small upland and southern prairies and a much larger acreage in the northern part of the county which is included within Prairie Township. The bluffs near the city of Glasgow in Chariton township rise to a height in some places of 275 feet above the average water mark of the Missouri river and this is probably about the general elevation of the highlands throughout the county. The river bluffs on the western border are very steep and in some places are perpendicular, but on the southern border are more gentle in decline. The streams often pursue their course 150 feet below the tops of the ridges and the valleys are connected with the ridges by long and easy slopes. The southern portion of the county is not as hilly as the, northwestern. The undergrowth of timber consists of many valuable varieties such as white, red and black oak, chestnut, oak, black walnut, elm, hickory, ash, linden, and sycamore. Aside from the frontage on the Missouri River the rest of the county is watered by such streams as the Moniteau, Bonne Femme, Salt creek. Sulphur creek. Bear, and Gregg's. There are many salt springs to be found in Boon's Lick and Richmond townships which were utilized by the early settlers to furnish domestic salt. Good coal and profitable deposits of coal are to be found in nearly every township in the county in sufficient quantities to supply all home consumption. In fact, in Burton Township a coal shaft is in active operation on the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad.

Schools

The crowning glory of American institutions in the establishment of the public school system. Nowhere is it found of a higher order of efficiency and conducted by more energetic teachers than in Howard County. The public school system was organized in 1867 under the state laws of 1866. Since that date the public schools have gradually increased both in number and efficiency.

Churches

The religious and moral development of her citizens has not been neglected and the march to a higher plane along the lines of moral rectitude is looked after by the various Protestant churches; Southern Methodist, Baptist, Christian, Presbyterian and Episcopal. There are also denominations of Seventh Day Adventists, Holiness, and Catholic.

It has been a question of dispute for many years as to which denomination was the first to raise the standard of Christ in Howard County. After a close investigation into the records of the past, it is generally conceded that the Baptists were the forerunners in carrying the banner of the cross into the virgin territory of what is known as the Boon's Lick country. The Methodists were but a few years later in establishing the emblem of the cross in Howard County. Mount Pleasant Baptist church near New Franklin is evidently from the records the oldest church organization in the county, having its origin April 12, 1812. The Christian church in Howard County, one of the largest in membership as well as in wealth, was organized between 1816 and 1820. The Presbyterian and Episcopal churches were organized some years later. The Southern Methodist church is probably the largest in wealth and membership of any in the county. The Catholics have churches at Fayette, Glasgow and New Franklin.

Politics

The political complexion of the voting citizenship in Howard County has always been largely Democratic.

Conclusion

In conclusion it may be said that there are few counties in the state with an acreage of only 463 square miles that have had a more interesting history filled with more thrilling events and heroic deeds, and none that have been more potent as a factor in shaping and directing the political history of the state.

From the year 1810 to the present time Howard County has been the center of political thought in the state and has furnished many prominent and eminent men in the state and nation.

In the councils of the nation she had a representative in the United States senate in the person of David Barton. In the House of Representatives are to be found the illustrious names of John G. Miller, Gen. J. B. Clark, Sr., and J. B. Clark, Jr.

In state councils and on the supreme bench: William Scott, George Tompkins, and Abiel Leonard; in the treasury department: A. W. Morrison and R. P. Williams; as state auditor, John Walker; and as governor: John G. Miller, Thomas C. Reynolds, Lilburn W. Boggs and C. F. Jackson.

Abiel Leonard, Jr., and Ethelbert Talbot, bishops of the Episcopal Church,
Eugene R. Hendrix, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church South,
James P. Major, Major General United States Army,
Uriel S. Sebree, Rear Admiral United States Navy, are natives of Howard County.

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Source: History of Northeast Missouri, edited by Walter Williams, Volume I, Lewis Publishing Company, 1913