CHAPTER V
The History of Henry County may properly be said to begin on the 16th of November, 1820, only a few months before the official proclamation of President Monroe, announcing the admission of Missouri as a State into the Union; for it was on that date that Lillard, now Lafayette County, was organized. This county embraced the entire territory now included by the present boundaries of Henry County. In addition, it extended as far north as the Missouri River, while to the south of us it included the northern part of our neighboring county of St. Clair. The northern line of this new County of Lillard was the Missouri River; the eastern boundary was the range line between ranges 24 and 23; the south boundary the Osage River as far west as the Kansas boundary, while the west boundary of Lillard County is the present western boundary of the State of Missouri. So, this new county included all of the counties of Lafayette, Johnson, Cass, Jackson and Henry, about one-half of St. Clair and nearly four-fifths of Bates.
The county seat of Lillard County was established at Mount Vernon, which was situated on the Missouri River some miles below Lexington. On the eighth day of December, 1820, the County Court, composed of James Lillard, Sr., John Whitsitt and John Stapp, who had received their commissions from Alexander McNair, who had been chosen on the twenty eighth of August as Governor of Missouri, met for the first time. The first clerk of Lillard County was Young Ewing. In 1823 the county seat was moved from Mount Vernon to Lexington, the present county seat of Lafayette County.
This marks the beginning of the history of Henry County. We have no record of white settlers having definitely located in the present boundary lines of Henry County until nearly ten years later, though hunters and trappers no doubt were to be found throughout the county as early as 1825 or 1826. As stated in an earlier chapter, the Osages and Shawnee Indians occupied all of the territory of the Osage and Grand River country, which must have abounded in game of all kinds. Doubtless the missionary trail from Jefferson City to Harmony Mission, in what is now Bates County, passed through the present limits of Henry County and many a story of Indian life and adventure and many a circumstance of pioneer days could have been told concerning these hunters, trappers and missionaries who lived their lives in this county before a time when we have any written record of their existence.
The first municipal division of Lillard County of which we can find any record, was called Lexington township. In May, 1830, was organized Davis township. At the same time Blackwater township was organized. The dividing line between these two townships was the range line between ranges 25 and 26, running as far south as the Osage River; this range line is the line which marks the eastern boundary of the present townships of Shawnee, Fields Creek, Clinton and Fairview, so that the twelve townships in the present boundaries of Henry County which lie west of this range line belonged to Davis township of Lafayette County, which was the new name given to Lillard County. The seven townships that lie east of that line, or the present townships of Windsor, Tebo, Springfield, Deer Creek, Leesville, Bethlehem and Osage, belonged in Blackwater township. These two townships as such, soon pass out of the history of Henry County. There seems to be nothing to definitely fix their relationship. On the other hand, the one township which is definitely located with the history of Henry County and which remains today firmly fixed in the minds of all of those who think of the municipal divisions of the county, is the township of Tebo. This township was organized on the twenty-first of May, 1832. The description which appears upon the records is as follows:
"Ordered that the following shall be the line and boundaries of Tebo township in Lafayette County, Missouri: Beginning where the main Blackwater crosses the eastern line of this county, it being the line between ranges 23 and 24, thence up the said creek opposite to Uriel Murray's, thence due west to the line between Lafayette and Jackson Counties, thence south with said line to the middle of Osage River, thence down the same to the line between ranges 23 and 24, thence north on said line to the place of beginning; and the number of taxable inhabitants residing in said township are about thirty-five polls, which is ordered to be certified."
It will be noted by the above record that reference is made to Jackson County, which was organized as a county on the fifteenth of December, 1826. To "translate" this order so that it can be read without difficulty, it may be explained that the line between the ranges 23 and 24 is the eastern boundary of Henry County; while the point "Opposite Uriel Murray's" and the line drawn from that point due west to the line between Lafayette and Jackson Counties, is the northern boundary line of Johnson County. From the Jackson-Lafayette line due south to the Osage River, the western boundary of Tebo township ran; while the southern and eastern boundaries were the channel of the Osage River and the eastern line of Henry and Johnson Counties. It will thus be seen that this township of Tebo included all of Johnson and Henry Counties and half of St. Clair.
At the same session of the County Court of Lafayette County, it appeared that twenty or more petitioners had recommended that the Rev. Henry Avery receive his commission as justice of the peace for Tebo township of Lafayette County and consequently he was appointed to that office, the date of his appointment being May 21, 1832.
At the same session the home of John Brummet, who lived in what is now Johnson County, a short distance north of the Henry County line, was designated as the polling-place; and James Warren and Chesley Jones, residents of the territory now included in Henry County, were named as two of the three judges of election for a period of two years.
In November, 1832, James McWilliams, who was living in what is now Windsor township of Henry County, was appointed first constable; and it is said that the first fine which he ever collected was collected from Drury Palmer, who is said to have paid a fine of one dollar because of a trespass committed by his horse.
We find the record of but one election held at the house of John Brummet; this seems to have been merely a local matter. We find the record showing that the election of 1832 was held at the home of Alfred Askins. In this election, two of the most distinguished Americans who ever contested for the Presidency were candidates. Upon the Democratic ticket appeared the name of Andrew Jackson, who is referred to today as one of the great apostles of Democracy; upon the Whig ticket was the name of the great Kentuckian who served in the United States Congress before he was old enough to qualify under the terms of the Constitution of the United States, and whose compromises gave him the title of "The Great Pacificator." So far as Tebo township was concerned, it shows that Andrew Jackson received twenty-four votes, while six electors cast their ballots for Henry Clay. At this election the clerks were Drury Palmer and Henry Avery, while Thomas Arbuckle, who has been credited with putting up the first cabin within the limits of Henry County, was one of the judges of the election.
From 1828 to 1832 we can note the coming of several men whose names are closely connected with the early history of Henry County. Thomas Arbuckle, Thomas Kimsey, Mathew and James Arbuckle, Isom Burnett, Thomas Collins and P. D. Wade are said to have come between the years 1828 and 1831. In 1831 appeared Thomas Anderson, the first blacksmith in the county; Henry Avery, noted above as being the first justice of the peace; William Ogan, P. W. Sissel, Drury Palmer, William Gladden, William Crowley, Alfred Askins, James and Jesse McWilliams, William Simpson, Fielding Pinel, Mason Fewell, James Warren, Chesley Jones, Valentine Bell, George W. Lake and Zekiel Blevins, all are reported to have settled in this county in the year 1831.
It is not necessary in a narrative of this kind to discuss in any detail the hardships and experiences of these early pioneers; in other books, notably in social and industrial histories, are given accounts of the early life of the men and women who blazed the way for us who have come later. It is sufficient for us to pay our silent tribute to their many virtues and to strive to so live that we may prove worthy of the heritage which they have left us.
In 1831 the Rev. Henry Avery built his cabin; the first one known to have had window-glass in the windows. Two sash with four lights each appeared in the walls of this modern house. His children had slept in a wagon-box prior to the building of the cabin, a sort of sleeping-porch it might be called. In this cabin was held the first term of court of what is now the present organization of Henry County.
Henry Avery also brought the first plow and the first four-wheeled wagon. To him is given the credit for first plowing the prairie in the spring of 1832; for this purpose the plow brought from a few miles below St. Louis and four yoke of cattle were used.
It seems strange to us of the present generation, that the prairie lands were shunned by the earlier settlers. Not long ago, the writer speaking to the descendant of one of the old Missourians who settled in Callaway County, heard him complain about the lack of vision of his forefathers. He said that when his grandfather came to Missouri, he secured 640 acres in the hills along the Missouri River, while he could, with less effort, have secured the finer land of the northern part of Callaway or the southern part of Audrain County. The same condition prevailed in Henry County; the necessity for wood and water kept the early settlers along the stream; and gradually they moved out to the prairie country, plowing the virgin soil and raising corn and wheat and oats, as the development of the country either permitted or required them to do.
After 1831, the county continued to grow in population constantly. In 1833, was born the first white male child in Henry County, Preston Blevins, the event taking place within what is now the boundary line of Shawnee township. The first marriage in Henry County was that of a couple whose names are unknown.
On the night of the fifteenth of May, 1832, a man and a woman who had ridden four days in search of some one who could marry them, reached the home of Squire Henry Avery, who performed this, the first marriage ceremony to take place within the boundary lines of the present Henry County.
The early history of the county is connected rather with settlements than with the municipal or congressional townships. For instance, the Fields settlement, in what is now Fields Creek township, the Avery settlement, in what is now Tebo township, and settlements in and around Windsor, which included the Arbuckles, the Prices, the McWilliams, Kimseys, Palmers and others. The Parks settlement was started in 1833, nearly all of the family coming from Lincoln County, Kentucky.
Mr. John Parks, the father of William Parks, settled on section 5, township 40, range 24, in what is now Leesville township, his descendants scattering over the neighboring sections. Peyton Parks, who platted the town of Clinton, settled in Tebo township in 1834.
Besides these "settlements" many other names of early pioneers who came between 1830 and 1840 may be noted. The Walkers, George W. and Pleasant, who had come in 1832, spent eleven days coming from Lexington to Fields' Creek township, being delayed by swollen streams. William Hatfield and David Ross and Barber Price, appointed constable of Tebo township in 1834; John Buchanan and the Comptons came in 1832. Robert Allen, the first elected sheriff of Henry County, immigrated in 1833; William Goff, one of the first county judges, at whose house was held the first Circuit Court, came in 1835. John Legg, Colby Stevenson, James Fields, who opened a store at Goff's in the spring of 1835, were among the 1833 arrivals.
In 1834, the Cecils came to what is now Springfield township. In 1835, came the Wallaces, who ran a store in Fields' Creek township, just north of Clinton. Bethlehem township was settled by James Anderson; Thomas Keeney and Whit Mulholland settled in Bethlehem township in 1836 and Major S. M. Peeler in 1837. Many others, whose names can be traced on the records of the county, appeared during the ten years from 1830 to 1840.
In May, 1834, there was organized a new township called Springfield township. The official order of the Lafayette County Court shows that all of Tebo township east of the range line between ranges 26 and 27 was to be organized as Springfield township. This division of the county obtained when Henry County became a county, on December 13, 1834, under the name of Rives County.
It will be noted that the range line above described is the range line on the west side of Shawnee, Fields Creek, Clinton and Fairview townships, so that the eleven townships east of this line were designated as Springfield township, while the eight townships west of this line comprised Tebo tovmship.
