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Carroll County:
History & Townships
Carroll
County, Missouri, is located in the northwestern portion of the State, being
forty-five miles east of the east line of Kansas and sixty-six miles from
the south line of the State of Iowa...It is bounded on the north by
Livingston County; on the east by Grand River which separates it from
Chariton County; on the south by the Missouri River, which separates it from
Saline and Lafayette Counties; and on the west by Ray and Caldwell
Counties...
The territory now embraced in Carroll County formed a part successively of
St. Charles, Howard and Ray Counties. The territory of Louisiana originally
embraced five districts, viz: St. Louis, St. Charles, Ste. Genevieve, Cape
Girardeau and New Madrid. In 1816 Howard County was formed out of the
western parts of St. Louis and St. Charles districts, and included all the
country on both sides of the Missouri River, between the mouth of the Osage
River and the mouth of the Kansas River. Ray County was organized in 1820,
and the present Carroll County, formed a part of it. On the organization of
Carroll County in 1833 its boundaries extended north to the Iowa State Line,
and out of its territory the counties of Livingston, Grundy and
Mercer have been formed. The organization of Livingston County, in 1837,
reduced Carroll County to its present limits...
Carroll County was organized and the bill was signed January 3, 1833. It was
originally intended to call the new county "Wakenda," for the
stream of that name which flows through its territory. The bill forming the
new county under this name had already passed its first and second readings;
but when it came up for final passage the news of the death of Charles
Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of
Independence was received at Jefferson City. The proposition was made to
call the new county "Charles Carroll, of Carrollton," but it was
sensibly shortened to "Carroll," when the bills passed without a
dissenting vote.
The survey of Carroll County was begun by government surveyors in 1816 and
completed the following year. There were no white settlements at that time
within the limits of the county...While surveyors were in the neighborhood
of White Rock a barrel of whiskey was obtained, over which the surveyors
made merry around the evening campfire. Whether too much was imbibed for
their own good or not will, perhaps, never be known, but it is an undeniable
fact that subsequent surveyors have had great difficulty in tracing out the
old lines of that survey in that locality; and in fact some disturbing cause
seems to have operated to the disadvantage of the surveys throughout the
whole of range 21...
The first session of the county court of Carroll County was held at the
residence of Nathaniel Cary (or Carey), as was provided by the act under
which the county was organized...on February 4, 1833. This house stood in
Section 13, Township 52, Range 22, near what is now known as the Chinn
Bridge on Waknenda Creek.
At the time of the organization of the county the territory within the
bounds of the county proper was divided (February 5, 1833) into three
townships by an order of the court which read as follows: Grand River
Township; Sugar Tree Township and Wakenda Township. (The boundaries are
given on page 82 Vol. 1, of History of Carroll County.)
Later Shoal Creek Township was formed. This gave Carroll County four
townships. Shoal Creek Township was afterwards divided into smaller
townships or districts.
At the July term 1834, Medicine Creek Township was formed, also Indian
Creek.
February 1, 1841, Hurricane Township was formed from Grand River.
Wakenda Township was divided on February 7, 1842, to form Morris Township...
December 7, 1870, Bogard Township was formed from Morris Township.
Beatty Township was formed June 6, 1871.
Hills Landing Township was formed at the same time.
In 1872, the following townships were in existence:
53-20, Smith
53-22, DeWitt
55-21, Compton
53-22, Combs
55-22, Hurricane
53-23, Carrollton
55-23, Stokes Mound
52-24, Moss Creek
55-24, Hill
55-25, Egypt
54-25, Fairfield
52-21, Miami
54-21, Rockford
51 & 52-22, Eugene
54-22, Ridge
51 & 52-23, Wakenda
54-23, Van Horn
51-23 & 24, Sugar Tree
54-24, Leslie
51-25, Cherry Valley
53-25, Prairie
55-25, Washington
On March 5, 1877, the General Assembly abolished township organization, and
on August 7, the county was divided into municipal townships as follows:
Grand River Township to include Congressional Townships 52-21, 53-20, and
53-21.
Rea Township to include Congressional Township 51-22, 52-22 and 53-22.
Carrollton Township to include Congressional Township 51-23, 52-23 and
53-23.
Beaty Township to include Congressional Township 51-24, 52-24, and 53-24.
Norborne Township to include Congressional Township 51-25, 52-25 and 53-25.
Bates Township to include Congressional Township 54-25, 55-25.
Morris Township to include Congressional Township 54-24 and 55-24.
Bogart Township to include Congressional Township 54-23 and 55-23.
Wood Township to include Congressional Township 54-22 and 55-22, 54-21 and
55-21.
20th Century History of Carroll To., 1911, Turner, Vol. 1, pp. 89 and 90.
(See page 90 for a discussion of the townships.)
Miami Township
In 1839, Benjamin Kendrick located eighty acres in Section 8, embracing what
were known as the White Rock Quarries...The quarries were opened in 1840.
The stones from these quarries were used in the building of the Iowa State
Capitol at Des Moines as well as the building of the Carrollton Court
House... p. 92.
Desitt Township
Martin Palmer, the first settler, was a transient one only and settled in
1837...In 1831 Bery W. Jones, from Alabama, located. The Maris family came
in 1830... p. 94.
(For a fuller account of Palmer see A Directory of Towns, Villages and
Hamlets, Past and Present of Livingston County, Moser.)
Numerous mounds are found in DeWitt Township, mostly near the town of
DeWitt, whether the work of Indians, or a race antedating the Red Men is a
question yet undetermined...
In the early days of this township Saturday was law day and every one went
to DeWitt either as a principal or witness...
On one particular day, the parties in a case got into a quarrel and finally
got into blows...The lawyers finally got mixed up in the melee and like the
others came to blows. The justice commanded peace, but there was no peace.
The fight became a general; knock downs were the order of the day and
excitement ran high. The judge, taking advantage of the confusion hurriedly
gathered up his books, leaped out of the window and turning to the crowd,
shouted out, "Fight and be d________; this court is adjourned until
nine o'clock tomorrow morning"... pp. 94, 95.
Smith Township
About 1882 the Missouri River changed its channel leaving Brunswick, which
had formerly been a Missouri River town, about three miles away with the
Grand River occupying the old Missouri River bed, thus throwing into Carroll
County an immense sand bar, about which there has been considerable
controversy...
From time to time this sand bar would be enlarged until by 1888 or 1890
these lands had received a deposit of loam or silt brought down from above
until they became recognized as valuable farm land.
Controversies arose over the ownership of the land led to quarrels and
murder...This township was named in honor of John Smith, one of the pioneer
settlers who was a resident of the township at the time of township
organization. pp. 90, 91. Rockford TownshipRockford
Township, being one of the eastern townships of the county, borders upon
Grand River...
This township was named from the ford across Grand River, within its bounds,
which has been from the earliest times designated as "Rockford"
and which has at all times been an important crossing of the river...
Among the earliest settlers were William Jenkins, John B.Winfrey, and
Nathaniel and William Bamks... p. 97. Eugene TownshipEugene
Township embraces fractional Townships 51 and 52 of Range 22, with 32 full
and 11 fractional sections...Eugene Township was one of the first townships
to be settled. Nathaniel Cary, Sachel Woods and others came and located in
this township near the forks of Wakenda Creek as early as 1818...A man named
Harper taught the first school at the house of John Crockett...
Sophia Cary, wife of Nathaniel Cary, was one of the first if not the first
woman to weave cloth in Carroll County... pp. 99, 100. Combs
TownshipCombs Township embraces thirty-six full sections of six
hundred and forty acres...It was named in honor of Col. Howard T. Combs, who
was clerk of county court at the time the county first adopted township
organization.
Stephen Parker was the first permanent settler in this township, locating in
1824. He held a warrant from the government for the southeast quarter of
Section 20...Parkers Grove was named in honor of Stephen Parker...
Turpin Thomas erected the first mill in the township about 1836, which he
afterwards sold to James Lucal, formerly of Hurricane Township. Lucas
immediately improved the property by building a new mill on the site, which
was for many years known as Baum Mill... p. 102. Ridge TownshipRidge
Township embraces thirty-six full sections of high, rolling prairie...
The settlement of Ridge was somewhat slow. Daniel Hill was supposed to have
been the first to locate in the township, he coming in 1835, and locating on
the banks of Big Creek, about 1839. Jack Phillips, who had located in Van
Horn in 1834 came to Ridge Township and located at the ford of the Little
Hurricane... p. 104.
Hurricane Township
Hurricane Township received its name from Big Hurricane Creek, which flows
through it. This township, in turn, received its name from the fact that in
the early days a very large destructive hurricane passed through this
township and along the Grand River bottom. The effects of this storm could
be seen for many years after the arrival of the early settlers.
Probably the earliest settler of the township was Col. William W. Compton,
who came from Tazewell County, Virginia, and located in Section 11, in 1835,
the land having been patented to Colonel Compton for serving in the War of
1812. p. 107.
February 8, 1877, on the petition of more than one-fourth of the voters of
Hurricane and Compton Townships, an election was held to ascertain the sense
of the township upon the proposition of annexing of Compton to Hurricane
Township. At the election, more than two-thirds of the voters favored the
proposition and the townships were united under the name of Hurricane
Township, thus adding to Hurricane Township an area equal to about one-half
of ordinary Congressional Township... p. 110. Wakenda TownshipWakenda
Township derives its name from the Wakenda Creek, which runs through the
northern part of the township. The name of the creek is also spelled Wakanda
and was formerly known as Wyconda Creek...
The earliest settlement of this township was by Nathaniel Cary in 1818, who
settled on Section 13, on the banks of the Wakenda Creek. In the same year
John Maberry and John Riffe settled in Section 1...
Bartlett H. Pitts located in Sections 32 and 33...In the spring of 1833 Noah
Caton established a landing on the Missouri River south of Carrollton. Capt.
William Hill, in a short time afterward, obtained Caton's interest in the
landing, and thereafter it was known as Hill's Landing. pp. 112, 113.
Carrollton Township
Carrollton Township derives its name from Carrollton, the county seat which
was named in honor of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last signer of the
Declaration of Independence...
The first settlement was made November 13, 1819, by John Standley and his
seven sons who located in what is now Tummon's Addition to the town of
Carrollton.
It is related of Uncle Jimmy Standley that in 1818 he was appointed a
Justice of the Peace, the first in the county. (An early law suite was
resolved by Judge Standley who brought the parties to settle the matter
without litigation, and at last was successful in making a compromise.)
In reckoning up the costs, none of the parties had any charge except the
constable, a man by the name of Woolworth, he representing that he had
ridden eighteen or twenty miles through the woods and grass in the heat,
threshing flies and he ought to have twenty cents for his labor; an
inventory of the available cash of the whole party revealed the fact that
Larkin Standley, a son of the Justice, had a silver dollar, the only money
in the crowd.
"Uncle Jimmy" proposed to make the change by making four quarters
with an axe. In cutting the dollar it was somehow divided into five instead
of four pieces. The constable took one of the pieces for his fee, and Lark
Standley his money (four quarters) back again...
"Uncle Jimmy's law library consisted of an old Farmer's Almanac, which
had a constitution in it, but whether of the United States or of some single
state was never known. It made no provision for appeal... pp. 115, 116. Van
Horn TownshipVan Horn Township was named for Col. R. T. Van Horn,
who was a member of Congress at one time and who was later an editor of the
Kansas City Journal...
About 1834, John, otherwise known as Jack, Phillips, located in Section
28...Asa McClaim came from Cooper County, Kentucky, in 1848, settling in
Section 1, where the first school house was erected by Mr. McClaim, Burley
Godsey and John and James Phillips. Mr. McClaim first taught this school,
having about twenty pupils and receiving twenty dollars a month for his
salary.
Doctor Taylor was the first resident physician. He also taught school in the
township and later moved away to unknown parts... p. 124. Stokes
Mound TownshipStokes Mound Township is one of the border townships
on the north line of the county.
Among the first settlers about 1832, were Elijah and William Compton, Solon
and Axley Lewis and James Bunch, of Tennessee.
Hiram McCall settled on Section 29 in 1840. Dr. John Wolfscale and Dr. T. J.
Brown were two of the regular practicing physicians of the township. pp.
127, 128. Sugar Creek TownshipSugar Creek Township is one
of the fractional townships in the county, and embraces Ranges 23 and 24 of
Township 51, its southern and eastern boundary being the Missouri River,
which at times has caused the inhabitants of the rich bottom lands adjacent
much trouble by the cutting of its banks and by the overflowing of the low
lands.
Nehemiah and Noah Woolsey were among the first settlers and, although the
date of settlement is not positively known, it is supposed to have been
about 1823, and even a few years earlier than this.
Doctors Folger and Walling, of Carrollton were the pioneer practicing
physicians of the township...The first death occurred in 1835 when Nicholas
Pitts died in March of that year. The body was interred close to the
Missouri River and the cemetery has since washed away. pp. 132, 133. Moss
Creek TownshipMoss Creek Township derives its name from Moss Creek,
a stream ordinarily clear and beautiful, fed by springs along its course.
Among the pioneer settlers of Moss Creek Township were Stephen Woolsey, from
Tennessee; John A. Austin, from Virginia; Col. W. W. Austin, also of
Virginia; these all settling in the southwestern part of the township,
forming quite a settlement, to which a Mr. Blackwell came in 1839 and was
made the postmaster of Round Grove, the first postmaster of the township.
Mr. Blackwell was also the first Justice of the Peace of the township. p.
134.
The celebrated Wild Moss Mills were located in the northeast corner of this
township. ibid. Trotter TownshipTrotter Township was named
in honor of Judge James Trotter, who was for a number of years presiding
judge of the county court, and was also one of the earliest settlers of the
township.
The first settlers came to this township in 1829, among whom John and
William Trotter...One of the stories of the township which may be worthy of
preservation is that related by John Stamm, one of the pioneer settlers of
the township, in which he relates that in the early days there was across
McCroskie's Creek, a footbridge. It was supposed by all who used the bridge
that it was a log until an examination it proved to be an enormous bone some
twenty-five feet in length and large enough in diameter to be used as a foot
bridge. Its scientific value was appreciated by some individuals and the
valuable relic was removed to the East...
There was never a platted town in the township, although in the early days
there was a store in the southwest portion of the township and in the more
recent years a post-office was established at Bingham, in the center of
Section 8. This town, however, like many another country cross roads store,
was killed by the establishment of the rural free delivery and even now --
1910 -- is scarcely more than a memory. p. 137. Leslie TownshipLeslie
Township is a portion of what was originally called Morris Township, which
was so called in honor of James Morris, one of the earliest settlers who was
proprietor of what in the early days was known as "Buckhorn
Tavern."...
Leslie Township was named in honor of Gen. Leslie Combs, in Kentucky, whose
son Col. Howard T. Combs, was county clerk at the time the townships were
named.
After Morris came to the county in 1832, he soon was joined by James Runyon,
his son-in-law from Clay County, Kentucky...
The first school teacher was James Mopham, who taught school in an old house
in Section 17. The first physician to practice in Morris and Leslie
Townships was Dr. George W. Folger, of Howard County, who lived in
Carrollton. pp. 137, 138. Hill TownshipHill Township was
named in honor of Richard, George W. and Nathan Hill, who were the first
settlers in the township, having come from Tennessee about 1836. John Cole
was the first school teacher of the township, teaching at the home of Aaron
Braden, with an enrollment of fifteen pupils, and receiving a minimal
salary.
There is not -- 1910 -- and has never been an incorporated or platted town
in Hill Township. pp. 141, 142.
Cherry Valley Township
Cherry Valley is the extreme southwest township of the county...Some of the
earliest settlements of the county were made along the Missouri River. The
pioneer settler is supposed to have been David McWilliams, of Tennessee, who
located in Section 15, about 1819...In 1844 Samuel Cole located in Section
10 and John Freeman located near the Ray County Line about 1847. pp. 142,
143. Egypt TownshipJohn Hall is supposed to have been the
first settler in this part of Carroll County. He came from Kentucky...
Dr. Thomas Dobbins was the first physician who permanently located in this
township. He came in 1857...The first school house was built of logs, by
George Cloudis in 1845...As late as 1843, John Dietrich, in order to get a
little flour for Christmas cakes, sent his two boys, aged respectively
twelve and sixteen, thirty-five miles up on Grand River. They were gone
nearly two weeks, but got back in time to have the cakes. p. 146. Prairie
TownshipPrairie Township is one of the border townships on the west
line of the county...
The township was not settled as early as some of the other townships because
of the idea of the early settlers that the prairie lands were not as strong
as the timbered regions.
Jacob Goff was one of the first permanent settlers, he locating in the
southeast corner of the township about 1846...
Dr. Charles Heidel, of Carrollton, was the first practicing physician in the
township. There has never been any attempt to found a town in this township,
the nearest town being Norborne. p. 150. Fairfield TownshipThe
first settler was possibly Henry Brewer...who came in 1843 from Ray County,
settling on Section 32. Dr. George W. Folger, of Carrollton, was the first
practicing physician in the township. John Shirley, a Christian minister,
held the first religious services in the township in 1842 on Section 20.
Fairfield Township has never had a town of any size in its limits, although
the town of Rhoads (or Roads), named in honor of the pioneer settler, has
long been a good trading point... pp. 150, 151. Washington TownshipWashington
Township is the northwest township of the county...James Runion was probably
the first comer to the township, locating on Section 12. He was soon
followed by Andrew Howerton, who located on Section 2, about 1839. Doctor
Coon, of Michigan, practiced medicine in this township from 1867 to 1870,
when he left for California.
The first school was taught and the first school house built on Section 2.
H. Anderson was the teacher, receiving five cents a day for each pupil. p.
152.
Page numbers refer to 20th Century History of Carroll County, Vol. 1,
Turner.
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