Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

FIRST SETTLERS

In seeking to fix the chain of events leading up to the first permanent settlement in Maries County the writer is hampered by being unable to distinguish between fact and fiction. After a lapse of almost a century and a quarter, and in the almost entire absence of written records, some, at least, of the legends are found to be more firmly entrenched in the public mind than are the discoverable facts.

The following, however, are reasonably well established. About the year 1782 Thomas Johnson was born in east Tennessee. He had an older brother, James, a sister of whom more later, and a younger

brother. We do not know whether there were other children or not, but it is likely there were. James, Thomas, and the sister are the only ones in whom we are now interested. They were the children of Thomas Johnson who had come from England many years before with his brother, Robert, and both had lived at several places along the southern frontier. Robert had fought for the colonies in the American Revolution, but Thomas had taken no part in the struggle, although his sympathies were with them. We know nothing more of Thomas Johnson, not even the date of his death, but the family tradition is that he died and was buried near Crab Orchard, Kentucky. Robert drops out of the picture entirely except for a mere possibility, which will be mentioned later.

James Johnson grew up and married, as did Thomas Johnson. Their sister married a certain George Snodgrass of Pennsylvania Quaker descent who had drifted into Kentucky shortly before, and in so doing brought the first real farmer into the family. The Johnsons farmed--a little--but mostly they were hunters, as were most of the other people of that time and place.

Little is known of their activities for thirty years after the death of Thomas Johnson, but it is likely they continued the roving life led by the father, or at least Thomas and James did. We hear of them at the mouth of the Gasconade in 1811; tradition does not say their families were with them, but James Johnson, son of Thomas, was born in St. Louis County in 1812, so both families were likely along. Yet by 1814 they were back in Kentucky, George Snodgrass does not appear to have been on this trip, he being more of a farmer than a hunter, and to have stayed at home while his brothers-in-law were traipsing around over the country.

Things were pretty quiet in both Kentucky and Tennessee in the summer of 1815, so quiet in fact that a number of people became almost dissatisfied. It had

been very different the year before when there had been lots of excitement. Not much more than a year before a certain redhead from Nashville named Andrew Jackson had sent word around that he wanted as many men as could be spared to help civilize the southern Indians, who had taken up arms for the British. It so happened that every man who could walk could be spared, and they were present at the great battle in the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River in present Alabama, which forever dispelled the fear of Indian attacks in the south.

The Johnson brothers were present, among others, and a general good time was had by one and all. The men had hardly returned home from this chore when the same redhead sent word to them again to come arunnin' to meet still another foe much farther away--the noted British general Packenham, who had landed, or was about to land, an army to try to capture New Orleans. This was late in 1814 and not an able-bodied man was at home Christmas, which was spent in preparation for the battle. Historians say it took the Americans many times longer to bury the British dead than it did to win the battle. The Johnson brothers were lucky enough to get in on this campaign too.

They had all returned to their homes by early summer. A round of visits was indulged in, and then a pall of dullness seemed to settle over the countryside. There was absolutely nothing going on that would interest anyone, and as was usual in that situation and at that time and place the men-folks began having trouble with their feet. And, too, the place was getting crowded; many of the volunteers from Virginia and other eastern states had remained west of the mountains after the war. While the natives admired their judgment, still their presence in large numbers did not add anything to the pleasure of the old settlers.

The foot trouble was just as acute with the Johnson brothers as with the others, and since they had had it

before they knew the remedy. They prepared to move again. George Snodgrass caught it too, his first attack since his marriage, and he prepared to move with them. His wife may have had something to do with it, for after all she was a Johnson, and the roving disposition was in her blood as well as that of her brothers. Too, she felt their youngest son, little Wash, who was born February 8th of that year and was all of six months old, was old enough to make a five hundred mile trip with her along to look after him, but George forbade it. Anyway, James and Thomas Johnson and their families and George Snodgrass and his two oldest sons, James and Arch, prepared to move. Since their preparations were somewhat sketchy, they were soon on the road. In the language of another pioneer 'they thust poured some water on the fire and whistled to the dog and they was thust moved.'

They had come westward into Kentucky and Tennessee so it was only natural that they should continue in that direction. They wound up at St. Louis several weeks later after a leisurely trip which was almost a vacation for them after sitting around all summer waiting for something to happen. During the journey James and Thomas no doubt pointed out to each other the many changes along the Trace since they had traveled it before. They arrived safely in St. Louis, but found the place even more crowded than Kentucky and Tennessee had been. So they went a couple days travel farther out to Wild Horse Creek where Tom--and likely Jim--had lived when they were here before. Both the Johnsons set up housekeeping among their old neighbors again, but the location did not suit George Snodgrass. So far as he could see the place was as badly crowded as the country he had moved from. After a brief visit with the Johnsons and their neighbors he left them and came on west with his sons following the Illinois Trace. It brought him to Lanes Prairie, and when he had left it behind and came to Cedar Creek, he knew he had found what

he had been looking for. Maries County's first permanent settlers had arrived.

Without delay they cleared and 'deadened' enough ground for a small wheat crop, built a small cabin and 'chinked and p'inted' it against the winter storms. Then George hurried back to Kentucky leaving his sons who had reached the mature ages of fifteen and almost seventeen to spend the winter there and do as much more work as the weather would permit. Leaving Kentucky as soon as the season opened the following spring with his wife and remaining children, he joined his sons on Cedar Creek and never moved again. Both he and his wife are buried only a short distance from the spot occupied by that first cabin.

Having made up his mind that he was suited, George Snodgrass went to work to improve his condition. A better home soon replaced the makeshift one in which the boys spent the first winter. Soon after it was occupied, Sarah, their youngest child, was born-,-the only one of the family born in Missouri. He cleared a sizeable tract of ground, a big farm for its day; but never took the trouble or went to the expense of owning any of it. It was not until his son, G.W. Snodgrass, grew to maturity that the family owned the home it lived in. The land and home site is now owned by George W. Snodgrass Junior, a great-grandson of the pioneer. This land has never known ownership outside the Snodgrass family in the one hundred and twenty years since it has been occupied.

George Snodgrass and his wife were the parents of six children living to maturity, all of whom married here. They were James, Arch, Polly, Matilda, George Washington (Wash), and Sarah. James Snodgrass married a sister of William Tennison by whom he had two children; the parents and one child died early. The other child, Benjamin, was raised by Washington Snodgrass and moved to Illinois in an early day. His descendants

are not known.

Arch Snodgrass married Nancy McGee, daughter of Henry, elsewhere mentioned in this chapter. The parents and their two children, Mary Jane and George, all died long before the Civil War.

Polly married Thomas West; their children were three in number: William who married Lucinda Elrod and whose descendants may be living in Oklahoma;

James who married Harriet Slater; and Thomas whose wife was a Haislip; the last four are long since dead.

Matilda married Charles Lane for whom Lanes Ford was named. One of their two daughters, Catherine, married James Parker, and if living is in Wright County, the other died in infancy.

Sarah, the youngest child, was four times married. First to William Davidson by whom she had one daughter, Mary, later wife of her step-son, William Myers. Her next marriage was to William Malone, her two children by this marriage being James and Hannah. The third marriage was to Gabriel (Gabe) Myers to which union four children were born, of whom only one, C. C. Myers of Vienna, survived infancy. The fourth time she wed Zachariah German by whom she was the mother of one son, Alonzo. The latter married in Texas and is long since dead leaving one daughter, Stella, whose present address and married name are not known.

James Malone, the older of the two children of Sarah Snodgrass' second marriage, was born in present Maries County and spent his entire life here--from his birth on May 20, 1842, to his death on February 14, 1913, except for the time he served in Company M of the Third Missouri Cavalry (Union) during the Civil War. He was married to Rachel J. Crum, daughter of Robert S. and Elizabeth (Hutchison) Crum December 3, 1870. Mrs. Malone was born in Tennessee June 2, 1853, and survived her husband until June 20, 1928.

Both are buried in the Carney Cemetery. of the nine children born to James Malone and wife six are now living. They are: Mary E., now Mrs. Mary E. Miller of Craig, Colorado; William R. and Minnie O., now wife of G. A. Breeden of Maries County; Henry and Joseph F. of St. Louis; and George W. of Jefferson City. Sarah, the oldest child, born October 6, 1871, married B. F. Romine and died August 21, 1907; Martha, born November 22, 1881, married James West and died September 29, 1913; James J. Malone, the ninth and youngest child, was born January 21, 1891, and died July 14, 1892.

The children of Sarah Romine are: James who married Hattie, daughter of Lewis Feeler, and who died in Texas leaving two children who live in that state; Beuna who married Jesse Glenn of near old Cadmus, and died leaving one child, William, who died single; Arthur, now in Veteran's Hospital in Texas; Elta who married Ilda Brannam of St. Louis; Desta of St. Louis, single; and Metta who married Ernest Easter, also of near Cadmus, and died leaving one child. The children of Martha J. West are: Mary now Mrs. 'Bud' Threifogel; Clara now Mrs. Herbert Schwemme; Clarence and Dorsey, all of St. Louis; and Viola, wife of Willard Shockley of Vienna.

Hannah Malone was twice married; first to William Followill by whom she was the mother of two sons, James and Frank; Frank died single and James who is totally blind now lives in Henrietta, Oklahoma. She was the mother of six daughters by her marriage to John Prewett: Mary, Hettie, Winnie, Sarah, Dollie, and Hattie. Mary, a widow, who has been twice married, first to Jesse Scantlin and last to William Newman, lives in Gentry, Arkansas. Hettie is the wife of Henry Hefti and lives in Vienna. Winnie, now Mrs. John Siegel, lives in Clinton, Oklahoma, as does Dollie, wife of Tilson Copt. Sarah who married William Bond lived in Gasconade County up to the time of her death. Hattie who

married Jack Mosher is also dead, leaving two children, one of whom died single, the other, a daughter, married a man named Higgins and lives at Mount Vernon in Lawrence County.

George Washington (Wash) Snodgrass was the youngest of the Kentucky-born children of George Snodgrass. No children were born of his first marriage, and upon the death of his wife he was married to Julia Ann, daughter of Thomas Daniels, who was born here in 1831. Nine children of this union were living at the date of the death of Washington Snodgrass on November 5, 1887. They were: J. David, Ebenezer J., Archibald, Simon, George Junior, Sarah A., Julia A., William R., and Maria E.

James David Snodgrass, born March 27, 1853, died January 18, 1910. No children were born of his first marriage to Olivia, daughter of Enoch Ferrell. Six children, two grand-children, and his widow survive his marriage on September 1, 1878, to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Davis. The children are: Olivia whose first husband was Arthur Feeler and who is now Mrs. Jesse Gillispie; Nannie, wife of Alonzo James; Ebenezer J. whose wife was Oilie Satterfield; Jesse J. whose first wife was Gertie Stewart and whose second is a daughter of John Avery Hart; and George W. Junior who married Phoebe, daughter of Thomas Walls and owns and lives on his great-grandfather's home place, which has always been in the family. All of the above live in this county. Another son, Charles D., who is Superintendent of Schools in Miller County, lives at Tuscumbia, where he is also an attorney at law. His wife is a daughter of Judge G. W. Cordsmeyer of Lanes Prairie. Thomas Edward Snodgrass, the remaining son of J. D., born February 18, 1833, died January 23, 1910, leaving two sons, John and Eugene, both of Phelps County, by his marriage with Zaddie, daughter of John Vaughan. Ebenezer J. Snodgrass, born September 5, 1856, died March 17, 1907, was the father of six children, all living, by his marriage in 1878 to Josephine, daughter of

Thomas Davis. Mrs. Snodgrass died in the late winter of 1936. The children are: Oma, wife of William Knight; Clara, wife of Albert Dambach; Lola, wife of Kenneth Allen; Cleve, a widower, and Bessie and Louis, all of Maries County. E. J. Snodgrass received most of old Bloomgarden in the division of his father's property made by him before his death, and acquired the rest later. But his home was not on the original house site which was in the bottomland.

Archibald Snodgrass was twice married; first to Martha, daughter of Thomas Davis (the third of his daughters to marry into the Snodgrass family). One daughter, Nellie, later the wife of Dolph Ragan, was born to them. Mrs. Snodgrass died March 11, 1889, being slightly under twenty-one years of age. His later marriage was to Harriet, daughter of John Vanderpool, by whom he was the father of two children; a son, Virgil, and a daughter, Julia, now wife of Verne Carney. Both live in Phelps County.

Simon Snodgrass married Edna Carney of Phelps County. Of their eight children only one, Sallie, wife of Lew Hodge, lives in this county. The others are: Maud, wife of Robert Wynn; Della, single; Dollie, wife of Harry H. Osbern; William; George W.; Robert, and Cecil. Most of the family live in Detroit, Michigan.

William R. Snodgrass left surviving him his widow, Mary B., nee Feeler, and twelve children, eight of whom still live in Maries County. They are: Loyd who married Adeline, daughter of Joe Davis; Ina and Clarlice, wives of Thomas and Richard James; Roy who married Delia Hutson; Lela, wife of Clarence Hart; Chester whose wife is Ruby, daughter of Ollie Copeland; Wash who married Olive, daughter of John F. Parker; and Holly, single. Ernestine married Everett Hart and lives near Bland just over the line in Gasconade County. Raymond lives in Paducah, Kentucky, where he has taught in that city's public school system for some

years. Leslie and Harry live at House Springs, where they operate a lumber yard and filling station. The former married a Birdsong and Harry married at Columbia. Mrs. Snodgrass, the widow of William R., lives at Belle.

Sarah A. Snodgrass spent her early married life near Bloomgarden after her marriage to Charles Goggin, but the family later moved to upper Spring Creek in Phelps County. The family consisted of eight children: Bessie, Claudia, Maud, Robert, Leo, Alexious, Sextus, and Sallie, the last two of whom are dead. None of them live in this county.

Julia A., wife of Barton Poor, and George W., the remaining son of Wash. Snodgrass, survive. The former lives just on top of the hill east of the river on Highway 63, and the latter at Vienna.

In the meantime the Johnson brothers continued to live in St. Louis County for almost three years--off and on, that is; they made a trip or two out to see their sister, and their visits almost constituted a move for the whole family and their household goods usually went along. But Thomas, at least, was living in St. Louis County in 1817, for a son named Abraham was born to him there that year. But by the next year both brothers decided to locate on the Gasconade, and as any necessary 'arrangements' were easily made the result was that in about ten days future Maries County had two more permanent settlers. Thomas settled on the Gasconade River at Indian Ford, just across the river from the creek and a large Indian camp that gave the ford its name, supposedly on the site now occupied by Jack Duncan's Indian Ford cabins. James settled on Indian Creek near its mouth, somewhat closer to Snodgrass but only a few miles from Thomas.

One season in that location was enough for James, however. His family began to 'enjoy poor health' as soon as the weather got warm, and the warmer it got

the poorer health they 'enjoyed' as the 'aguer' began to sink deeper into their systems. In self defense James moved his family to higher ground where frost and the absence of fog and mosquitoes soon rid their blood of the poison contracted in the lowlands. His second choice of a home site was on the Dry Fork of the Bourbeuse, first known as the Johnson Place, then as the Brittain Place, and now owned by Mr. Huebner. Once there his moving days were over.

Thomas was made of tougher stuff than James, or else the fog and mosquitoes didn't bother him so much, for he stayed at the mouth of Indian Creek a whole year after James moved to the Prairie. When he had another attack of his recurrent foot trouble he moved back to St. Louis County, to or near his old home on Wild Horse Creek. It is said that one cause of his moving was the fact that his younger brother, who had never married and who made his home with him, was killed by the Indians a short distance below the mouth of Indian Creek and on the east side of the river near McAdoo Hollow, If this is correct, the younger Johnson is the only person known to have been killed by the red men in this county. Thomas came near being a permanent settler in St. Louis County that time; he stayed there three whole years. But James continued to live on Lanes Prairie, and George Snodgrass and his wife clung fast to their home on Cedar Creek, and these things, or another attack of his foot trouble, brought Thomas back to this county in 1823--and this time he stayed. First at his old home at the mouth of Indian Creek, then some years later at Bloomgarden several miles up the river on the west side where he lived until he moved out on Lanes Prairie about 1840. Soon afterward he died.

It was a sight the way the country was filling up, though, even before he moved from Indian Creek, so much so that he seriously considered moving farther west along the Trace, even thinking of Kickapoo Town

(now Springfield) as being worth investigating. But he had formed friendships among the newcomers, and these and his relatives 'decided him' to stay. William Hughes had come up the river from the Turnpike Bluff, in present Gasconade County, looking for more elbow room, and they had become great friends. Then, too, A South Carolinian named Walker was fixing to build a mill at the big spring several miles down the river, which would be a great advance over making meal with a pestle and hollowed-out stump for the 'machinery'--and the mill had the added advantage of not being too close. So he compromised with himself by moving to Bloomgarden, thus securing more room for himself and being close enough to his neighbors.

Charles Lane had come up the river and entered land practically in Thomas' front yard, and William Hughes came back and entered some right across the river from him, so now Thomas moved while the moving was good. He had not entered the land he lived on at Indian Creek, and he didn't bother about entering his home site at Bloomgarden either. As in the case of George Snodgrass, that detail was attended to by members of his family after his death. But after moving to Bloomgarden, his moving days were over or nearly so. First his son, James, married old man Hughes' daughter, Elvira; a daughter, Mary, married James Coyle, and his son, William, married a Clements. By now his family was so large it was hard to get all of them in a moving notion at the same time. So he stayed.

James Johnson, too, had lost his old desire for roving. He liked this part of the country since his family had gotted rid of the 'aguer' they acquired on the river. Game was still plentiful, and he was near enough to the Illinois Trace to keep well up on current events-news, even from the East, often reached him less than a month after it happened. And, too, his own family had to grow up and marry off, and he not only had their welfare on his hands but other responsibilities had been

thrust on him which the kindly old pioneer had accepted as nothing more than his plain duty.

Just about the time his brother Thomas had moved back from Wild Horse Creek in 1823, another family, also from Tennessee, camped near James Johnson's, the father and head of the family having taken sick on the road west. His sickness proved fatal, and Henry McGee was the first man buried in the Johnson Cemetery, that same year of 1823. He left a widow and four children, two boys and two girls; Tom and John were the boys, Elizabeth and Nancy were the girls. Mrs. McGee could hardly go on west with her breadwinner gone, and with the ready hospitality of the time, James Johnson looked after the family until the children were old enough to take the burden on themselves, and until, not very much to anyone's surprise, William S. John' son, one of James' sons, married Elizabeth, the oldest of the two McGee girls. Tom McGee later went to the Sacramento Valley and died childless; Sarah and John McGee are noted elsewhere.

James Johnson lived to an advanced age, dying in the late sixties or early seventies.

John McGee, son of Henry McGee named above, born in 1817, was married February 15, 1838, to Sarah, daughter of Thomas Johnson, she having been born in Missouri December 11, 1822. Their children were as follows: Lucinda, born January 31, 1839; William Riley, April 27, 1841; Henry, August 23, 1843 (died September 7, 1851); Thomas, June 13, 1846; Elizabeth, March 17, 1849 (died March 8, 1868); Leona, born September 13, 1851; Sarah Jane, March 2, 1854; James B., February 10, 1857 (died December 11, 1859); and John Ellen, March 26, 1860. Of the six children reaching maturity, Thomas died single in California about 1877 or 1878. Lucinda was the first wife of Milton Followill and died early in life leaving three children, John, Robert, and Riley, of whom John died in Texas, single, before reaching his

majority. William Riley McGee married Elizabeth Clements, widow of Ephriam Clements, whose maiden name was Kinkeade, on January 15, 1865. He died November 5, 1870, survived by his widow and two children: Thomas S., born September 8, 1867, and Edna J., born September 15, 1869. The latter married Ed Crider and is dead, leaving one son, Thurman Crider of this county. Leona McGee married Bert James, and Sarah J. and John Ellen McGee married Thomas R. and Amos Shockley, under which names their further accounts will be found. All the children of John and Sarah McGee are long since dead.

Abraham Johnson, son of Thomas, was born in St. Louis County in 1817, He came to Maries County with his parents, and having received an education above the average for his day began teaching school early in life. He followed this vocation until ordained a minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1844, after which he combined the two professions. Soon after entering the ministry he affiliated with the Methodist Church, and after the vote dividing that church, which was held at his house in 1846, he was ever after a member of the southern branch.

He was three times married; first in 1841 to Erneline Avery (by which 'transaction' he became a brother-in-law to John G. Hutchison and Robert L. Ramsey); next in 1843 to Nancy McGee; and in 1846 to Didamia E. Dunivin, who survived him many years. To his first marriage was born one son, Monroe, on August 31, 1847, to whom he deeded Clifty Dale, the upper end of the four miles of riverfront owned by him.

Having been admitted to the bar in 1855 he there-after substituted the practice of law for school teaching until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he entered the Union Army as Captain of A Company, 63rd Missouri Volunteers. He seems to have been the only one of the entire Johnson family to have espoused the

side of the Union. His brother, John M. (Myscal) was a captain in the Confederate service, and it is related that their two commands narrowly escaped meeting in southern Texas County, being close enough to recognize each other. It is related that both commanders were absent from their troops a greater part of the night, and that the next morning each went his separate way without a conflict.

While holding his military commission he served in the Missouri legislature in 1863-64, succeeding his cousin, Thomas Jefferson Johnson, who refused to take the test oath. Abraham Johnson also served as postmaster at Bloomgarden after Myscal Johnson joined the southern army. Returning from the army after the close of the war he resumed the practice of law and took up his work in the ministry, both of which he continued until his death. He is buried on a high point of land across the river from his old home at Gaines Ford.

Monroe Johnson, only son of Abraham, was married to Naomi O. Fleming, November 24, 1870; to this union eight children were born: James Oliver, January 7, 1872 (died May 1, 1887); Mary E., wife of Perry E. Davis, born October 18, 1873, lives at Nevada, Missouri; William, born June 17, and died July 10, 1877; Clarence. born May 26, 1878, married Elnore L Love November 2, 1902, and lives in St. Louis, where he is connected with the Mutual Bank and Trust Company; Cora E., born February 20, 1855, married Elmer Bassett and lived in this county; Naomi E., born April 1, 1881, died March 3, 1888; Edna F., born February 15, 1888, married William Copeland about 1905 and lives near Vienna; Avery N., born December 2 8, 1891, married Cora, daughter of William Branson of Dixon, May 25, 1917, and lives in St. Louis where he practices dentistry. A half sister, Mabel, wife of John Terry, born of the later marriage of Mrs. Johnson with L. C. Parker, also survives and lives in this county.

Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Johnson, born in this county August 24, 1824, on reaching maturity was married to Zion R. Hawkins. Her husband died in 1866, leaving her with four children: William L., Mary E., Thomas R., and Sallie. William L. Hawkins married Mary E., daughter of William (Threshin' Billy) Johnson by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Elijah Jones, and granddaughter of James Johnson. He spent most of his life near Bloomgarden and has been dead many years, survived by his widow who now lives at Rolla and his six daughters: Dora, wife of Paris Humphrey of near Iberia; Oma, wife of Edward Duncan of Anna, Illinois; Bertha, wife of John Evans of St. Louis; Obedience (Bedie) wife of Herbert Burcham; Lucy, wife of Sam Baker; and Mabel, wife of Professor Zeusch of the School of Mines at Rolla. Ray, only son of William L. Hawkins, has been dead for several years, dying single.

Thomas R. Hawkins died near Vienna in 1936, survived by his widow, the former Jennie Waddle, and his two children, Thomas A. of Vienna and Anna, wife of Robert Stevenson of St. Louis. Mrs. Hawkins survived her husband only about six months. Both are buried at Vienna.

Mary E. Hawlins married her second cousin, Ison H. Robinson, and Sallie married W. M. L. Hutchison. Their descendants will be found under these respective names.

Mary, daughter of Thomas Johnson, and James Coyle were the first bride and groom in Maries County, having been married in the early part of 1824 by Squire Asa Pinnell. Both were born in Tennessee, and the name indicated that Coyle was of Irish descent, Their oldest child, Lucinda, was born the same year and was followed in due course by four sisters and two brothers; Lucretia, Louisa, Louansa, America, Thomas, and

James Coyle Louisa Coyle married a man named Mark Davis and the family lived near Exeter, Barry County, for many years. No trace of them has been found in late years. James Coyle had at least one son, Charles, a carpenter, formerly of Kansas City, but his name has not appeared in the directory for ten years. It is thought that the other children, except Lucinda, died in infancy and are buried in the old Coyle Cemetery, which was on Coyle Creek just above the Parker barn. No trace of it remains.

Lucinda Coyle married James Robinson in 1840, and was the mother of one son, Ison H., who was born in 1844 and died in 1909. Ison was the father of two children by his marriage with Mary E. Hawkins, his second cousin, Alice and Obedience. Alice married Sam Hadley, a cousin of our governor of that name, and is the mother of ten children and lives at Loveland, Colorado. Bedie is the mother of one son by her marriage with Howard Root and lives in Denver.

James Robinson having died, his widow was married in 1846 to William Forester. Forester was the son of William Forester Senior who reached this country about the time of our American Revolution as a stowaway on a ship sailing from Cork, Ireland, to one of the southern ports. He settled about where Nashville, Tennessee, now is, married and was the father of four children: Thomas, William, Memory, and Mildred. Thomas, William, and Mildred came to this county about the year 1838, and spent the remainder of their lives here. Mildred, who never married, lived to the advanced age of one hundred seven years. Thomas, who had fought in the Black Hawk War, settled three or four miles southeast of Vienna, and, it is thought, married a sister of Alex Trammell. He was the father of four children: William A., Margaret, Harriet, and Elizabeth. The last married Roland Breeden and Margaret became the wife of William Hussey. Memory Forester lived and died in Tennessee. William Forester,

the father, came here in his old days and spent the remainder of his life here.

Eight children were born to the marriage of William Forester and Lucinda Robinson, of whom two, James N., born in 1850, and Julius M., born in 1862, died in 1869 and 1883 respectively, single. Margaret Jane, the oldest child of her mother's second marriage, born in 1848, was first married to Frank Hutchison, and by him was the mother of five children: William H. (deceased), Lucinda, Ella Leora (deceased). Daisy Dean, and Clara Jane. Two children, Jessie (deceased) and Maud were born to her second marriage to John T. Lewis. She died in 1913.

John Jasper Forester, third child of his mother's second marriage, born in 1854, was first married to Malinda Senne, daughter of John C. and Malinda Jane Senne, the latter a daughter of Solomon Copeland, another pioneer settler, and was the father of three children: Ola V., who was married April 24, 1901, to Walbridge H. Powell, and lives at St. James; Burton who married Mary Elizabeth Schell and lives at Webster Groves; and Earl Forester, who was born in 1880 and died in February, 1922. He was married to Ida Reissaus of St. James about 1915 and four children were born to them, three of whom with his widow survive. They are: Pauline Jane Forester, now Mrs. James Bryson; Earl Reissaus Forester; and Ida Ola Forester, all of Callaway, Nebraska. The deceased child, Grace Mary Forester, born September 1, 1917, died in February, 1922, about the same time as her father.

John Jasper Forester's second marriage was in 1915 to Libby Good, by whom he was the father of two children: Myscal Coyle Forester of St. James and Libby Jane, now Mrs. Harold Davis, in California. Jasper Forester had a furniture store in St. James for a great many years and was probably the most widely known of the name. He died in 1934, shortly after his

retirement from business.

Josephine Forester, born in 1860 and still living, resides near Cuba with her husband, David Couch. Their children, Louisa, Martha, Albert, and Everett also live in the same neighborhood. Two of their children, Emma and Mona, are dead. Thomas L. Forester, born in 1864, married Belle Copeland and both are dead, together with their two children, Edward and Mary. Colonel Houston Forester, born in 1869 died in 1930, married Bridget Mullin. They had two children, William Thomas in the United States Navy and Virginia living in Kirkwood. William Asa Forester, born in 1871 and still living in St. Louis with his wife, the former Anna Wetekamp, has three daughters, Adele Augusta, Dorothy Lucinda, and Bernice Margaret. All live in St. Louis.

John M. (Myscal) the youngest and likely the most widely known of the children of Thomas Johnson was born in what is now Maries County August 7, 1827, and spent many of the days of his infant years playing with the papooses from the Indian camp just across the river from his father's home at Indian Ford. A great part of his schooling, which was above the average for his day, was obtained in schools conducted by his elder brother, Abraham, in the vicinity of Bloomgarden and on Lanes Prairie. Joining the go Id rush to California in the early eighteen-fifties, he became discouraged and returned home after crossing the continental divide. Prior to this time, however, he had become a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church about 1842. He followed his brother, Abraham, into the southern branch of the Methodist Church, with which they were then affiliated, in the great schism of 1846, and was shortly thereafter ordained a minister of that church, in which he ever after kept his membership. His father having died, he acquired the estate at Bloomgarden where he had been mostly raised, and lived there after his marriage to a daughter of Henry Parker. He was occupied

with the duties of farming and preaching and, after a few years, added the practice of law to his other activities, having been admitted to the bar in the fifties.

Upon the opening of the Springfield Road in the late forties or early fifties Bloomgarden became a place of much importance because the ford and ferry there carried most all the traffic from St. Louis to the southwest and return. In addition to the large farm on the west side of the river, the Johnsons owned an acre on the east side at the ferry landing. It was set apart for camping and it was generally fully occupied. Blacksmith shops and stores ministered to the wants of the travelers, and finally Bloomgarden post office was established on October 2, 1856, with John M. Johnson as postmaster. It continued operating until October 8, 1861, when it was discontinued upon Myscal's departing south with the Confederate Army. It was not reestablished until July 18, 1863, when it was revived with Myscal's union brother, Abraham, as postmaster. At the close of the war and upon Abraham's settling on his own land near the mouth of Dry Creek, it was removed there on February 8, 1865, and the name changed to Clifty Dale, under which name it continued until abolished in 1887.

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War the former close association of Abraham and John M. Johnson ended for the time being, Abraham entering the Union Army and John M. enlisting a troop for service in the Confederate forces. John M. was in the army only a short time before he was elected captain, and as such was in command of the southern forces at the Battle of Bloomington, fought on Lanes Prairie the first year of the war, in which several on both sides were killed and a number wounded. Taking his command south he served until the close of the war, his territory being mostly west of the Mississippi and extending as far south as Red River.

After the close of the war he again took up his residence