In the year 1807 a company of traders
with head quarters at St. Louis, sent Captain George Sibley, of St. Charles,
to establish a trading post within the present boundaries of Saline county.
The site chosen, after a careful survey of the country was where the town
of Arrow Rock now stands. . . Sibley had with him a clerk, an interpreter,
one or two assistants, and his family . . . Upon the breaking out of the
war of 1812 he returned to St. Charles or to St. Louis, and it is believed
never after came to the county. Sibley's house stood on the bluff, some
say upon the present site of High street, and others say a mile north of
the town . . . The first settling of Saline county was by settlements.
Eligible locations were discovered, and half a dozen or more families,
usually from the same district in Kentucky or Tennessee, would congregate
together. pp142-144
The pioneers of the Big Bottom, and
of Saline county generally, were people mostly from the states of Kentucky,
Tennessee, Indiana, and Virginia, and accustomed to frontier life from
youth. For the most part they were hunting people, and did not care much
about acquiring extensive tracts of land, or raising large crops, or becoming
farmers with no other avocation. The raised just as much corn as they thought
would serve for the use of their families in furnishing bread and mush,
and enough vegetables to give variety to their dinners of game. They raised
almost everything they ate; they manufactured almost everything they wore.
Their smoke-houses were always well supplied with meats of various kinds,
and honey of the finest flavor, and after the first year or two there was
always plenty of meal in the chest, and butter and milk in the cellar.
Very little coffee and sugar were used; and teas was almost unknown. The
family that had coffee once a week--Sunday morning for breakfast--were
considered 'high livers" . . .
Their dress comported well with their
style of living and their circumstances. The male portion were clad chiefly
in buckskin. A hunting-shirt was generally worn, made of this material,
as were the pantaloons or "leggings." An inner shirt was worn, sometimes
of linsey, or flannel, or even cotton, but more commonly of nettle linen.
A 'coonskin cap, with the tail hanging down the back, and a pair of moccasins,
completed the apparel . . .
The women at first prepared a linen
from the bark of nettles, which grew abundantly in the bottoms and on the
islands in early days. The fibers were prepared similarly to the way in
which flax is treated. The nettles were cut, spread out upon the ground,
rotted by the fall and winter rains, and the next spring "broken," "scutched,"
hatcheled, spun and woven. It answered very well in the place of flax.
This, mixed with cotton, furnished the material out of which their wearing
apparel was chiefly made. After a time every family raised a small patch
of cotton, which the women picked, ginned by hand, carded, and spun. They
went barefoot in the summer, and in the fall and winter wore on their feet
either moccasins or shoes made of home-tanned leather. pp153-154
SETTLEMENT on COX'S BOTTOM
- Above the "Arrow Rock," as it was then spoken of, and opposite from Cooper's
fort, in Howard county, on the north side of the river was, in the early
part of the present century, a considerable expanse of fine bottom land,
covered with a heavy growth of timber and abounding in game which was called
Cox's bottom. p144
Early Settlers of Cox's Bottom (and their
year of arrival if mentioned) pp144-149
Isaac Clark
and family - 1816
(from Tennessee)
|
William Clark
and family - 1816
(from Tennessee)
|
William Collector
and family - 1816
(from Tennessee)
|
Frank Cooper
1813
(cousin of Wm. Cooper)
|
William Cooper
1813
(cousin of Frank Cooper)
|
Jesse Cox
1810
(native of Madison Co. KY)
|
Mr. Ekel
1820
(from Cocke Co. TN)
|
Patsy Gregg
1811
(daughter of Wm)
|
William Gregg
1811
(son-in-law of Jesse Cox)
|
Fred Hartgrove
|
|
John Hartgrove
|
Mr. Hill
and his wife - 1820
(from Cocke Co. TN)
|
Jesse McMahan
(son of William? - c1815)
|
Abraham Nave
and family - 1816
(from Tennessee)
|
Henry Nave
and family - 1816
(from Tennessee)
|
Henry Nave (Neff)
(brother of Isaac Nave/Neff)
|
Isaac Nave (Neff)
(brother of Henry Nave/Neff)
|
Jacob Nave
and family - 1816
(from Tennessee)
|
Jacob Nave (Neff)
|
Mr. Neal
1820
(from Cocke Co. TN
|
Abraham Neff
1820
(from Cocke Co. TN)
|
Isaac Neff
1820
(from Cocke Co. TN)
|
James Sappington
|
Daniel Thornton
and family - 1816
(a native of SC he came
to Saline Co. from TN - his
wife was a sister of Henry
and Isaac Nave/Neff)
|
John Thornton
and family - 1816
(from Tennessee)
|
|
SETTLEMENT of the
"BIG BOTTOM" - In
the fall of 1815, James Wilhite and Wm. Hayes came from West Tennessee
to Cooper's Fort with wagons containg their families and all their household
goods . . . During the winter of 1815-6 he [Wilhite] and Hayes crossed
the riber and explored the country on this side to find homes for themselves.
In October, 1816, they moved over with their families and settled near
the lower extremity of the "Big Bottom." In the fall of 1817, Jacob Ish
came into the settlement. The new colony had now a population of near three
hundred. There had been a large immigration from Indiana and Kentucky the
previous summer . . . pp149-150
Early Settlers of the Big Bottom (and their
year of arrival if mentioned) pp149-152
Mr. Clark
1817
(mill owner)
|
Duff Green
1818
|
William Hayes
and family - 1816
|
Jacob Ish
and wife - 1817
(from TN)
|
William Job
1818
|
William Kincheloe
1817
|
Peter Lausson
1817
|
Charles Lucas
1817
|
Mrs. Smith
1818
|
Robert Stone
1818
|
George Tennille
1817
|
James Wilhite
and family - 1816
|
|
SETTLEMENT OF EDMONDSON'S
BOTTOM - The first settler in this locality was
he for whom it was afterward named -- Richard Edmondson . . .
Like the other bottoms, Edmonson's contained plenty
of rush and peavine pasturage, and afforded fine range for stock, both
summer and winter. Cattle and hogs 'boarded themselves' during the winter,
and came out looking fat and thrifty in the spring. The soil was exceptionally
productive, and furnished corn, beans, potatoes, etc., in abundance, and
of good quality. At quite an early day, flat-boats and keel-boats took
cargoes of produce, as well as other commodities, from the settlement --
bacon, corn, potatoes, furs, peltries, etc., -- down the river to St. Charles,
St. Louis, Herculaneum, and other points on the Mississippi below. pp
156-158
Early Settlers of Edmondson's Bottom (and
their year of arrival if mentioned) pp156-158
Coger Brown
1818
|
Henry Brown
1818
|
James Brown
1818
|
James Burlison
1818
|
Richard Cummings
1817
(from TN)
|
Uriah Davis
1818
(from KY)
|
Rice Downey
1818
|
Samuel Duckworth
1820
|
Richard Edmondson
prior to 1816
(native of Madison Co. KY)
|
Abel Garrett
1816
(Loudon County, VA)
|
Jonathan Harris
1819
(with sons Timothy & Wm.
from KY)
|
Adam Hopper
1817
(from VA)
|
William Hopper
1817
(from VA)
|
Isaiah Huff
1818
|
William Ish
1820
|
James Kuykendall
1820
|
William McDaniel
1818
(from TN)
|
Thomas Rogers
1817
(from TN)
|
Mr. Rucker
1817
|
Daniel Stout
1817
|
Daniel Tillman
1817
(from VA)
|
Thomas Tillman
1817
(from VA)
|
James Wells
1818
|
Mrs. Wheeler
1819
(widow of Thomas with sons
Samuel, William and Alfred
from KY)
|
James Wilkinson
1818
|
William J. Wolfskill
1818
(from Madison Co KY)
|
John Young
1817
(from VA)
|
George Yount
1817
|
|
SETTLEMENT OF THE
MIAMI BOTTOM -
In 1815 the Miami bottom was occupied by a band of Indians of the Miami
tribe, some of whom, after their overwhelming defeat by "Mad" Anthony Wayne,
in Ohio, in 1791, had come west to grow up with the country. Their fort
and village stood immediately on the bank of the river at the foot of the
bluffs, near where the Marshall and Brunswick road crosses the discharge.
From this tribe of Indians the rich bottom on the Missouri in the northern
part of the county and the thriving town of Miami take their names. The
bottom is fully the equal in fertility and general excellence, except in
extent, to that of the same name in the state of Ohio. . . Prior to the
year 1817 no permanent settlement was made on the Miami bottom . . . John
Ferrill, and his son Henry, had trapped . . but no actual settlement was
made until the year named, when John Cook and family settled about one
and a half miles northeast of Miami . . .
pp 158-163
Early Settlers of the Miami Bottom (and
their year of arrival if mentioned) pp158-163
Thomas Clemmons
1817-18
(from KY)
|
William Clemmons
1817-18
(from KY)
|
John Cook
and family 1817
(from KY)
|
Henry Ferrill
1817-18
(from KY)
|
A.L. Langham
1819
|
John McMahan
1817-18
(from KY)
|
William McMahan
1817-18
(from KY)
|
William Miller
1819
(speculator from VA)
|
Robert Patrick
1817-18
(from KY)
|
Samuel Perry
1817-18
(from KY)
|
Louis Rees
1817-18
|
William Renick
1819
|
|
The SALT POND SETTLEMENT
- In the fall of 1817, Edward Reavis ascended the
Lamine and the Blackwater in a flat-boat, and made the first settlement
at the salt springs, two miles east of the present town site of Brownville.
His party numbered about fourteen souls . . . pp163-164
Early Settlers of Salt Pond (and their
year of arrival if mentioned) pp163-164
John Mayes
1817-1820
|
Matthew Mayes
1817-1820
|
Duke Prigmore, Sr.
1820
|
Edward Reavis
and family
1817
|
Isham Reavis
1817-1820
|
|
HUNT'S SETTLEMENT
on BLACKWATER - In the year 1818, Arthur Hunt,
from North Carolina, settled the prairie farm near Napton's bridge, on
the Blackwater.
p164
Early Settlers of Hunt's Settlement on Blackwater
(and their year of arrival if mentioned) p164
Arthur Hunt
1818
|
John Hunt
(Arthur's son)
|
Oliver Hunt
(Arthur's nephew
|
Charles Lockhart
1819
|
|
SETTLEMENT IN THE
SAPPINGTON NEIGHBORHOOD - The first attempt at
settlement in this locality, in Arrow Rock township, it is said, was made
by Wm. McMahan, in the year 1811 . . he did not return to his claim then,
but joined the other settlers in the Big bottom . . . In 1810, Samuel McMahan
and others had located six miles south of Arrow Rock, and built a strong
block-house, or fort, called Fort Anderson. The fort took its name from
three families: William, Ambrose, and George Anderson, who were Mr. McMahan's
nearest neighbors.
pp165-167
Early Settlers of the Sappington Neighborhood
(and their year of arrival if mentioned) pp164-166
Ambrose Anderson
1810
|
George Anderson
1810
|
William Anderson
1810
|
John Bingham
c1820
|
Andrew Brownlee
c1820
|
Asa Finley
1819
|
Alexander Gilbraith
1819
|
Nathan Holloway
c1820
|
David Jones
1810
|
Bradford Lawless
c1820
|
Burton Lawless
c1820
|
Gov. M. M. Marmaduke
c1820
|
Richard Marshall
1819
|
Samuel McMahan
1810
|
Rev. Peyton Nowlin
1819
|
_____ Reese
c1820
|
William Reid
1810
|
Joseph Robinson
c1820
|
Dr. John Sappington
1819
|
Mr. Smith
c1820
|
Sanders Townsend
1819
|
Judge Beverly Tucker
c1820
|
Stephen Turley
1810
|
Joseph Wolfskill
1810
|
|
SETTLEMENT ON THE
PETITE OSAGE BOTTOM - This bottom has a lateral
extent of about eighteen miles. It was long ago named by the French, but
whether it was called originally by them Petite Osage or Petite Saw, is
a matter not definitely settled. It is probable, however, that the original
name was Petite (or Little) Osage in contradistinction to the Osage plains
proper. At this day the locality is invariably called "Tite Saw" (pronounced
Teet Saw) plains.
pp166-167
Early Settlers on the Petite Osage Bottom (and
their year of arrival if mentioned) pp166-167
Elijah Arthur
1815-16
|
George Davis
1816
|
John Dustin
1815-16
|
Barry Estes
before 1820
|
Elisha Evans
1819
(from KY)
|
John Gregg
1818
|
John Lincoln
1819
(from KY)
|
____McDowell
before 1820
|
Andrew Russell
1819
(from KY)
|
Anthony Thomas
1818
|
Notley Thomas
1818
|
Robert White
1815-16
|
William White
1815-16
|
. |
. |
|
Compiled by Melanie Cox, Volunteer Host for Saline County MOGenWeb 7/21/97
