HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Geological Formation-Surface-Boundaries-Name-Early Inhabitants—The Home of the Indian-Irresistible March of Civilization—When Grundy County Was Settled-The Vanguard of Progress—“The Good Old Times”—Reverence for the Pioneer.

There is, perhaps, no portion of the temperate zone showing a more desirable climate than that which we have in the State of Missouri, or one wherein the demands of an advanced and progressive civilization are so well met. While all portions of the State have their separate or local advantages, we are inclined to think that in such comparison Grundy county and central north Missouri hold their full share. The geology of the State shows that the carboniferous period gave to Missouri much of that magic element of which the soil. is composed, and at the age of man, or quartenary age, developed her most valuable resources. The coal of the former period, and the soil, sand, marl, peat, clay and gravel of the latter, formed the groundwork of the State of Missouri for the habitation of man. Much might be given from the geological history of the State that would interest the reader, but in this work it would be of little practical value.

When this continent rose from its waste of waters, it left its rugged surface to be worn by the elements for ages before it became habitable for man; but with that we have little to do.

Missouri in her magnificent proportions and unlimited productive wealth, her mild and salubrious climate, and that part of her municipal corporation bounded by the line forming Grundy county, is what we have at present to record. The present boundary of Grundy county was first made the home of the pale-face in 1833.

That year the first white man gave to civilization a habitation and a name within its border. At that time it was a part of Livingston county, but still the home of the red men-a home which they were loth to part with, and which for years after they continued to visit and occupy as a huntingground. God had given them this beautiful valley of the Grand River as their home. It was a migratory field for the restless buffalo; the elk and the bear roamed its wooded hills; the deer and wild turkey made it their

home; the valleys and the uplands were filled with smaller game; fish sported in the cool, placid waters of her rivers and creeks; and in shady nooks and near bubbling springs, the aborigines built their wigwams. It was a paradise for the hunter, and the red man was the lord of all.

Nature had indeed been lavish of her gifts. The tribes of Sacs, Foxes, Pottawattamies and Musquakies who inhabited this magnificent country were indeed loth to leave it, and it is no wonder that many, very many, of these warriors were more willing to join their departed braves, in the happy hunting-grounds of the "Great Spirit," than give to the pale-faces the lands of their fathers. But manifest destiny knew no obstacle. The Saxon and Gallic races had decreed that this should be their home and that of their posterity. They came as the leaves of the forest in number, they pressed forward and the gallant, heroic and vengeful struggle of the Indian for his home is written in letters of blood, in burning cabins and wide-spread desolation, but all gave way before the irresistible march of civilization. The cabin of the hardy pioneer took the place of the wigwams of the savages. The war-whoop and the war-dance gave way to the woodman's ax, the stealthy tread of the Indian hunter, to the sturdy walk of the old pioneer, and civilization and christianity walked arm in arm to the glorious future of to-day. Let us drop a silent tear to the memory of the red man. He had a beautiful home and he was despoiled of it; he had the hunting-ground of his father, it became his burial-place. We can rejoice in the glory of our country, but the fate of the original possessors of the soil is a dark and bloody chapter in the record which gives the history of the onward march of civilization. However, when Grundy county was first settled the struggle for supremacy had ceased, and the Indians had given way to the palefaces, who had full possession of the country. The remnants of the different tribes found here became the friends of the whites, and they roamed the country at will. There is no record of aught but friendly greeting between the whites and the Indians when this county assumed a place upon the page of history.

The advance-guard of civilization, the heroic and self-sacrificing band of pioneers now took possession of the country. They-whose place is ever to the front of progress-began blazing the way (in the light of burning cabins, and ofttimes the victim of the scalping-knife) which was to guide the grand army of occupation, an army imbued with the spirit of true religion, and a faith which builds and populates a country, and makes it great and prosperous. We hear much of the good old times in the earlier history of our country, but the people of to-day have little knowledge and less realization of the troubles, trials and privations of the early settlers. The men and women of the present generation may feel thankful that they know, by bitter experience, nothing of the lives of those who gave a score or more of years in their struggles to make a home for their children, and their

children's children, free from the cares, the trials and vexations of a pioneer's life. The people of to-day should reverence these people of a past half century, and those who are spared to us at this late day should have all the care that loving hearts can give. Years of devotion is but a small recompense for the heroic sacrifices made by the pioneer in the early settlement of the county.

CHAPTER II.
PIONEERS.

Early Settlers-1833-1834-First Store-Heatherly Gang-1838–1839-New Settlement— Mormon Family — Campaign 1840-Women Pioneers - Wedding Tours - Marriage Record-First Coffin-Cheaper Market-Hard Cider Campaign - Names of Old Settlers-Tetherow and Lomax-The Coming County Seat Struggle-Poem-1841.

THE PIONEERS.

The early settlers are entitled to a high and honored place in the pages of history. Many, many days of toil have been devoted to gathering the facts which shall embalm the memory of this band of civil heroes who gave to Grundy county its first step in the progress of civilization, and who, in all the phases of life, have proven themselves not only true sons of toil but noble men and respected citizens. If the time spent in trying to secure facts and reliable information necessary to make this history complete has been one of incessant toil to the author, it has, also, been no less a work of love on his part, for in the records of the past, and when the light of civilization and progress first dawned upon this section of our common country, and in the early reminiscences which have been secured, he has found much which brought to mind many bright and glowing incidents of early days, and of those who taught him what life was and is, and what might be in the vista of the far off future, but who have now gone to the home beyond.

Memory is ofttimes treacherous, and a confusion of dates has not been the least of the troubles which has fallen in the pathway of the compiler. Reliable dates of the early settlement of the county are all important to those who take an interest in the progress of events, and who desire of its early days a correct and succinct history.

Many of these old settlers have removed to other States and climes; very many have crossed the "dark river" to the impenetrable and mysterious beyond; while those who are left are weak in body, with memory sadly at fault on many facts of deep interest. Nevertheless, they have been willing, so far as health and memory would permit, to impart all the incidents and trials of early years, and with a spirit of cheerfulness that makes it a pleas

ure to record them. They are to-day, as in olden times, the same self-sacrificing people. It is well that in the sordid, grasping avariciousness which characterizes so many of the present generation, that they should have yet within them, by consanguinity, the leaven which made the grand old pioneer stand out so prominently in unselfish and heroic sacrifices as "God's noblest work."

WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN.

There may have been a few settlers somewhere on the southern line of Grundy county, but when or where they settled, if at all, is not of record earlier than 1835. It has been reported that a few families had made a home there so close to the border of Livingston county that when the Grundy county line was run they found themselves just over the border, for there are no foot-prints of man found on this side of the line, not even an initial spot where the historic cabin might have been erected.

Forty-eight years have passed since the first settler placed his foot upon the soil of Grundy county, and the date was October, 1833. All previous to that date is a blank, unsolved mystery.

1833.

The first white man who came to Grundy county to make it his home was Gen. W. P. Thompson, of Ray county, who came here the last of October, 1833, and was followed in a few days by Jno. Scott and Harvey Meek, who settled on the west side, northeast of Edinburg, on the Thompson River, at that time known as the West Fork of the East Fork of Grand River. Dr. Thompson's was the first cabin in the woods, quickly followed by others, and the Thompson settlement became the pioneer one of the county. They proved an energetic class of citizens, and Gen. Thompson, perhaps better known as Doctor Thompson, for years was the most prominent man in this whole section of country.

1834.

We can find nothing to dispute the point that Moore's settlement contained the first white invaders of the soil of Grundy county, east of Grand River. They occupied the land which is now the flourishing city of Trenton, the metropolis of Grand River Valley, and built cabins thereon in the spring of 1834. The family of Levi Moore was a large one, consisting of a wife and a number of children, besides his four sons-in-law. Their names were Wm. Cochran, John Thrailkill, George Tetherow and Yancy Stokes. The first had a family, and Mr. John Thrailkill had just married. Wm. Thrailkill came at the same time. They came from Randolph and Howard counties, and their cabins were located near the bluffs. Of course this settlement soon began to grow, and not only this part of the county, but other sections began to receive their quota of the hardy and venturesome pioneers.

1835.

Next is found in the early spring of 1835 that the Heatherleys, whose reputations were not of the most savory kind, with the Watsons and Hawkinses, settling in the southeast corner of the county. Then the Dobbinses and others on the east side, near where Lindley now is. Settlers, however, while dropping in, were not numerous. There were miles of wooded hills and bottom-lands and open prairie between the cabins of the pioneers. It was weeks, and sometimes months, before the lonely occupant of the wilds would see a sign of a human being outside of his own family. These settlers of '34 and '35 became, many of them, of much note in the county. Cochran and Thrailkill held some offices in the early organization of the county, the latter, Mr. Thrailkill, being the first sheriff. But the man of grandest note at that day was Dr. Thompson. He came from Ray county, in the full prime of his manhood, a man of noble mould and a character so self-sacrificing as to win the love of all his neighbors and retain it until the earth covered all that was mortal of his giant frame. He practiced as a physician for many years, and that practice was immense, literally covering hundreds of miles in extent. The west fork of the Grand River was named after him. He died in 1848. Both Harvey Meek and John Scott, who came with Dr. Thompson from Ray.county, were hardy, progressive men, who fully met. the demands of a pioneer's life. Humphrey Best was another of the early immigrants, and settled here in 1835. It is reported of him that he was the first man to break prairie in the county. Cochran owned most of the site of Trenton. He bought it at government price and sold it to Jas. R. Merrill, for $400. It is worth something over a half million dollars to-day. That old pioneer, Uncle Levi Moore, outlived nearly all of those who came to the county past middle age. He was of a lively, jovial character, was loved and reverenced by the young folks, and never more happy than when telling the wonderful stories of pioneer life, or joining in the fun and frolic going on around him. He lived to be one hundred years of age and died in 1875. His farm became known as the Lomax and Jacob land, and among his many descendants are his two sons, Capt. John Moore and James Moore. Among the few other settlers scattered through this section are found the names of George Peery, and his sons William, Archibald and a daughter Louisa, Jewett Harris, Philip Wild, George Bunch, Humphrey Best and others. There were three other Peerys, Evan and his son William N., and a Thomas. The latter was a Methodist minister who preached in the Bain settlement off and on all the winter of '37-38. Mr. George Peery, who settled on the west side of the river in 1835, was held in the highest respect by his neighbors and was for years a leading spirit in advancing the social and material interests of Grundy county. He lived to the good old age of ninety years and died, in the year 1874, leaving a large family, and his death seriously mourned. Jewett Norris finding himself rather cramped