History of Elsberry 1673-1955 [Lincoln Co., Missouri]

By Clarence A. Cannon (1879-1964)

                     History of Elsberry

                         1673-1955



    Remember the days of old, consider the years of many
generations: ask thy father and he will shew thee; thy elders,
and they will tell thee.

                             Deuteronomy XXXII, 7.


                 by Clarence Cannon, A.M, LL.B., LL.D., M.C.
                    1955


Page 1:

                          HISTORY OF ELSBERRY

    The first white men ever to have an opportunity to view the site of
Elsberry were the explorers Father Marquette and Louis Joliet (for
whom Joliet, Illinois is named). With five French voyageurs they came
down the Mississippi River from Canada in two birch bark canoes hop-
ing to find the great river emptying into the Pacific Ocean, the passage
to India for which Columbus was looking in 1492. To their disappoint-
ment they found it emptied into the Gulf of Mexico instead of the Bay of
Sacremento.
    Late in June, 1673 they skirted the banks opposite Elsberry and a day
or two later discovered the mouth of the Missouri River, discharging
a vast torrent of muddy water and uprooted trees into the placid waters
of the Mississippi. A statue of the great Jesuit priest in polished marble
stands today in the Hall of Fame in the Capitol at Washington, the gift
of the State of Wisconsin to the nation.
    Later hunters and trappers came through the Elsberry country from
time to time but permanent settlers did not arrive until after the Revolu-
tion. Most of those drifted on down to Saint Charles or Saint Louis and
the few hardy pioneers who built cabins were driven out by Black Hawk
and his Indian allies prior to the close of the War of 1812.

                    INDIAN ABORIGINES

    The local tribes were the Sauk (Sac) and Fox Indians, members of
the Algonquin family. They were part of the confederacy organized by
Tecumseh and his brother, "The Prophet", at the great Indian con-
clave, June 26, 1812 and their chiefs, with the representatives of ten
other allied tribes, signed the famous treaty with the United States
Commissioners at Portage des Souix in Saint Charles County, of which
Lincoln County was then a part, in 1816.
    They were a nomadic people and moved their teepees from place
to place as the seasons, pastures, and hunting grounds called them.
They inhabited the bluffs along the streams and descended into the bot-
tom lands only to hunt and fish and when the land was first cleared and
cultivated by the early settlers their artifacts were found in abundance.
For many years a profusion of flint arrow points, knives and granite
axes left by them and their predecessors, the mound builders, appear-
ed in the plowed grounds adjacent to Elsberry. Incited by the English
they committed many atrocities during the early wars but in com-
pilance with the Treaty of Portage des Sioux moved West, and small
pox and other white man's diseases, to which they had not developed
immunity, decimated many of the tribes almost to the point of extinction.

                    THE FRENCH

    The first documentary acquisition of land in the vicinity of Elsber-
ry were the Spanish grants. The French were the first to visit Mis-
souri and LaSalle who crossed the Mississippi near St. Louis, but did
not come as far north as Elsberry, took formal possession of the coun-
try by right of discovery April 9, 1682 in the name of Louis XIV, and in
his honor named it Louisiana. And Louisiana it has remained ever
since. But the French were explorers and adventurers and left few
permanent settlements. The only local record of their brilliant era re-
mains today in the names of streams and geographical localities, such
as Cape au Gris, Cuivre River, St. Charles, Burboise, Charette, and
Portage des Sioux.



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                        THE SPANISH

    French occupation was short lived and on November 3, 1762 France
by a secret treaty ceded Louisiana and New Orleans to Spain in com-
pensation for heavy losses sustained by Spain as France's ally in the
Seven Years War. By that treaty the site of Elsberry became a Spanish
possession and the country along the Mississippi from Canada to the
Gulf was known as New Spain.
    During this period the Spanish grant on which Elsberry is located
(Survey 1706) was made to Pierre Chouteau, January 8, 1798 by His
Excellency, Don Zenon Trudeau, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisi-
ana, under the Government of the Kingdom of Spain. It consisted of a
league square of land containing 7,056 arpents, was located "on the
River S Austin" (Lost Creek) and ran North to the "River St. Antonis"
(Page's Branch). From this 7,056 arpents was carved the present site
of Elsberry.
    Pierre Chouteau was of pure French extraction and was born in
New Orleans. His brother, Auguste Chouteau, cooperated with Laclede
in the establishment of St. Louis in 1764 and took over the manage-
of the enterprise after Laclede's death. Both brothers spent the re-
mainder of their lives in St. Louis and became men of prominence and
wealth.
    The French name Pierre Chouteau is written "Peter" Chouteau
in the English versions and "Don Pedro" Chouteau in the Spanish, just
as the name of the grantee in the adjacent Survey of 1760 is written
Guillermo Palmer in the original Spanish grant and William Palmer in
the English translation. (The south line of Survey 1706 is the north line
of Survey 1760).
    William Palmer had served under Napoleon and on his retirement
was rewarded with a grant of land (Survey 1760) in Louisiana and came
to America to claim it but does not seem to have visited it again after
its first survey. His son, Alexis Palmer, however assumed possession
early in the century and spent the remainder of his life there. And
William Palmer, Jr., son of Alexis and grandson of William Palmer,
the original grantee, inherited a portion of the tract and subsequently
plays an important part in this narrative.
    The Spanish spent large sums of money vainly trying to colonize
Louisiana, during which time they gave Daniel Boone 850 acres and
appointed him syndic (Justice of the Peace) to induce him to come to
St. Charles County (which then included Lincoln County) from Ken-
tucky, and after heavy losses, finally ceded Louisiana back to France
by the Treaty of San Ildefonso, April 30, 1800. And Survey 1706 and
Elsberry were again French Territory.
    Napoleon was preparing for war with England and was desperate-
ly in need of money. Nelson had annihilated his fleet at Trafalgar and
English ships were hovering in the Gulf of Mexico ready to seize New
Orleans and Louisiana. By a brilliant coup Napoleon sold Louisiana
April 30, 1803, to the United States for fifteen million dollars and there-
by prevented the conquest of Louisiana by the English and at the same
time secured funds for the English war. And the future Elsberry was
at last a part of the United Sates of America.
    The territory was formally transferred to the United States, at St.
Louis, December 20, 1803 by an elaborate ceremony in which Lieutenant
Governor Delassus representing Napoleon, lowered the French colors
and Captain Soulard, representing President Jefferson, raised the Stars


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and Stripes. And Congress on April 12, 1814 enacted a statute under
which Survey 1706, Survey 1760 and other Spanish surveys, were con-
firmed to their original grantees, Peter Chouteau and William Palmer,
and others.
    By act of Congress the Territory of Louisiana became the Terri-
tory  of Missouri in 1812 and shortly thereafter Governor William
Clark, under Congressional authority, proclaimed St. Charles as a
county reaching from the Missouri River on the south to the British
Dominions on the north, and from the Mississippi River on the east
to the Pacific Ocean on the west, which naturally included Elsberry.
    From this area the Territorial Legislature, meeting at St. Charles,
then the capitol of the State, established Lincoln County, December 14,
1818 and named it for Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, a revolutionary soldier.
And on August 10, 1821, by act of Congress and on the proclamation of
President Monroe, Missouri was admitted as a State to the Union. And
for the first time it could be Elsberry, Missouri, U. S. A.
    During the intervening years title to various parts of Survey 1706
had passed by purchase or inheritance to various owners until in 1868
the present site of Elsberry with outlying land was bought by R. T. Els-
berry from the heirs of Nelson Watts who had held it for many years.

                         NELSON WATTS

    Nelson Watts was a wealthy bachelor and owned many slaves. He
lived in the first brick house built in Lincoln County, which was situated
on the hillside sloping down from the east to the "Bluff Road" (now
7th Street) about where the Church of God in Christ now stands. His
orchard, in which, according to the custom of the times, he and his
slaves were buried, extended east from the Bluff Road and included
the land now owned by Mrs. Edward Mayes. When South 6th Street was
surveyed through it from Broadway to Lost Creek, the new street bi-
sected both the orchard and the burying ground and for many years
the limestone markers could be seen in the middle of the street. His
own grave was enclosed by a high brick wall which unfortunately served
as a convenient quarry for any occasional brick needed now and then
and which through long attrition has now completely disappeared hut
the marble headstone, which still lies covered with dust and debris be-
tween the margin of the street and the sidewalk In the second block from
Broadway bears the inscription: "Nelson Watts, born in Albemarle
County, Virginia), March 12, 1790, died March 2, 1868." His will
left to "my servant Emaline" all of his land lying west of the Bluff
Road, now comprising a large part of west Elsberry including "Piniky".
The remainder of his estate was left to his brothers and sisters who
are named in the abstracts covering this tract.
    At the sale of his effects held at the brick house, a number of
books sold for sums ranging from one bit (12 1/2c) to three bits (37 1/2c)
each. But as the auctioneer was waving the last book, as he cried the
sale, it slipped from his hand and fell and from its open leaves flut-
tered five, ten and twenty dollar bills. An examination of the rest of
the books showed greenbacks in various amounts in all of them which
were recovered for the estate. The nearest bank was in St. Louis and
people of the time were accustomed to sequester their cash in such
convenient hiding places about the premises.
    Nelson Watts had come to Missouri following his elder brother
Captain William Watts who had been horn at the family homestead in
Virginia but later had settled at Hartsville, Tennessee where he en-


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gaged in the slave trade and was owner and captain of a Mississippi
steamboat. Hence his title of "Captain." But eventually he sold his
steamer and his business and, with his household effects and his do-
mestic servants, followed the Bluff Road north in the spring of 1828
prospecting for a favorable location to establish a home where he could
spend his declining years. Late one afternoon he camped on a hill on
what is now a part of the Government Nursery, near the intersection
of the Bluff Road with what is now Highway 79. Rising the next morn-
ing he looked around and located a spring, an indispensable adjacent
to the pioneer home, and decided this was the promised land, and bought
the tract from the heirs of Alexis Palmer.
    William Watts born in Virginia in 1783, had married Nancy Wom-
mack, of Halifax County, Virginia, whose brother Capt. Richard Wom-
mack (1804-1880), came to Missouri in October of 1823. Captain Wom-
mack became sheriff of Lincoln County, represented the County in the
Legislature, for four terms, and was a very prominent man.
    William Watts died in 1837. In his will he left all his property
to his wife but provided that the slaves should be parcelled out at her
discretion among the children named below. As was the custom, the
will provided that all negro children were to be separated from their
mothers at the age of 4 years and sent to one of the other heirs.
    He is buried on a little knoll across the Bluff Road from his former
residence. In a family cemetery on the Forest Keeling Nursery land. He
left eight children:
    Seneca Watts (1812-1897) was married in 1835 to Nancy Kemper
(1814-1903), daughter of Martin and Rosamond Kemper and was the
grandfather of Ewing H. Watts, who was for 50 years a prominent busi-
ness man in Elsberry.
    Eliza Ann Watts (1801-1879) married Francis Marion Luckett (1792-
1838) and was the great-grandmother of Mrs. L. W. Crank.
    Wesley Watts (1804-1841).
    Gabrilla Watts, (1814-1880) who married Joseph Conn Wilkinson
(1816-1876) was the great-great-grandmother of Mrs. Waldo Cannon
and Lee Francis Ligon. She was first married to Jordan Gibson, and had
one son by the former marriage, William N. Gibson (1840), merchant
of Falmouth noted Union agent during the Civil War.
    Arzilla Watts was born in 1816 and married Charles Ferry, a veteran
of the Black Hawk War who received as pay for his military service in
that war a warrant for the land on which he spent the remainder of his
life. He was the grandfather of J. W. Ferry and the father of Miss Jen-
nie Ferry, whose entry of a single turkey gobbler took first prize at the
Chicago World's Fair in 1904 as the finest bird of its class in the world.
    Burdilla Watts, horn in 1819, married Leander (Lee) Hammack,
the grandfather of David H. Hammack, an attorney in Mount Vernon,
Washington.
    Caucyra Watts, born in 1826, married Mary A. McQueen and was
the grandfather of Thomas Watts.
    Mordecai R. Watts, born in 1822, married Mary Amanda Ham-
mack in 1846 and was the grandfather of Mrs. W. F. Long. At one time
he owned the entire town of Falmouth, all residences, warehouses,
boat office and landings, stores, extensive stables, bars and hotel, with
145 acres of adjacent land, left as a ghost town after the U. S. Engineers
destroyed the harbor and made it impossible for boats to land there.
He moved the hotel, a commodious building, with broad verandas over-
looking the Mississippi, considered one of the finest of its kind in the


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county, to the corner of 5th and DuBois streets in Elsberry where it
is today the residence of Dr. C. B. Lindsay.
    This family, the William Watts Family, inherited the Nelson Watts
farm on which the City of Elsberry is built. Through the executor,
Mordecai R. Watts, the family sold the farm to R. T. Elsberry, later to
become the Founder of the City.

                          RAILROAD ERA

    In the meantime the nation was becoming transportation conscious.
Fleet-footed teams with buggies and surreys, on gravel roads, were
superceding the ox teams which had brought the pioneers to Missouri.
And the steamboat which had brought civilization to remote rivers
was giving way to the steam locomotive. In 1869 the Union Pacific com-
pleted the first transcontinental railway from Baltimore to San Fran-
cisco. The same year the Clarksville and Western Railway Company was
organized at Clarksville and built twelve miles of track northward
On January 11, 1870 the road was incorporated to connect with the Chica-
go & Alton at Louisiana. And on April 29, 1871 the charter was amend-
ed to provide for an extension south. The same year three enterprising
businessmen of Clarksville, John O. Roberts, William M. McIntosh
and Henry S. Carroll, conceived the idea of supplementing the city's
river traffic with rail transportation. Mobilizing the financial resources
of the community they undertook the seemingly impossible task of pro-
viding both personnel and money for a railroad paralleling the Missis-
sippi River to connect with the Wabash Railroad at Dardenne (St. Peters)
running between St. Louis and Kansas City.
    In December of 1875 construction of the St. Louis, Keokuk and
Northwestern railway south from Hannibal began. The line was completed
to Clarksville in January of 1877 and a round house was built at Clarks-
ville from which, commencing February 1, 1877 trains ran to Hanni-
bal.
    Immediately after the formation of Clarksville and Western Rail-
road the Company contracted with Henry Rust, contractor, by whom
the railroad was completed and operated until the amount expended by
him in completing the road was returned.
    The extension of the road south from Clarksville met with disastrous
obstacles. The construction of bridges across local streams, notably
Bryant's Creek and Guinn's Creek, proved more difficult and costly
than had been anticipated. Much of the land was being cleared. Brush-
piles, logs, cordwood and railroad ties littered the floors of the valleys
drained by the water courses and the first freshet piled vast heaps of
debris against the bridges and railroad embankments which choked the
outlets and inundated adjacent lands destroying crops and drowning live-
stock. The enraged farmers burned the obstructions and the bridges
with them. And when replaced burned them again. It was only after
long and costly negotiation and expert engineering of the locals, that
orderly construction could be resumed.
    It seems incredible that three men could be found of such visions
and courage and resource as the three remarkable men who pioneer-
ed the Clarksville and Western Railway. It is to be regretted that more
is not known about them.
    John Q. Roberts seems to have usually taken the initiative. He was
the prime mover in the building of the first toll roads in Pike County
and may be said to have been the Father of the system of hard surfaced
roads which later became famous throughout the state and which were


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the scene of the international bicycle races reported in detail by every
metropolitan newspaper in the nation.
    He was married to Miss Malvina M. Tibbetts, the courtship originat-
ing when Miss Malvina, having rendered his mother some special favor,
and being pressed by Mrs. Roberts to know how she could return the
favor, Malvina said, "You may give me John." Mr. Roberts was primari-
ly a grain merchant and a miller although he was a man of many inter-
ests and was in partnership at various times and in various enterprises
with both McIntosh and Carroll.
    William M. McIntosh was perhaps the outstanding merchant of
the city. His mother, Mrs. Millie McIntosh was a popular woman, of
literary tastes and widely read, but a notoriously poor housekeeper.
It was said that she read books "to keep her heart young" while the
beds remained unmade and the dishes unwashed.
    Henry S. Carroll married Miss Lucy Clifford. With B. P. Clifford,
his brother-in-law, and John O. Roberts, he participated in the found-
ing of the Clifford Banking Company at Clarksville, June 1, 1871. It
was through this banking institution that the finances of the Clarksville
& Western Railway Company were administered,
    Incidental to the building of the roadbed was the location of sta-
tions, the acquisition of land for town sites and sale of lots to provide
funds for the ever-empty exchequer of the Company. Local travel was
by wagon or horseback. Roads were primitive. Progress made in a
day's travel was limited especially in the spring months when the roads
were little more than quagmires. So it was decided to establish the
stations four miles apart and for many years that seemed a reasonable
distance. Accordingly, the engineers were instructed to drive a stake
every four miles along the road the landowner on whose farm the stake
happened to fall was approached with a proposition under which the
railroad agreed to locate the "town" on his farm and survey and plot
the metropolis, in return for a deed to every other lot. Lots thus deed-
ed to the Company were sold to prospective citizens and the proceeds
used to meet weekly construction payrolls. The farmer was free to
sell his half of the lots and retain the proceeds as his profit in the en-
terprise.
    The first stake south of Clarksville was driven on the land of James
H. Kissinger. The embryo town was named for him and a station was
built and streets laid out but with the exception of a store, an elevator
and a blacksmith shop, the city failed to materialize and today even the
station has been abandoned by the railroad and is now utilized as a
residence.
    The second stake dropped on land belonging to Ephriam Jameson
who named the town for his two small daughters, Miss Ann Jameson and
Miss Ada Jameson, and called it Annada. It was better located and far
enough from Clarksville and Paynesville to escape being smothered
by competition, and while growth was slow it eventually developed into
a busy and permanent bailiwick.
    The third stake was driven on the farm of John D. Dameron and
the town was named for him. At one time it handled large quantities of
grain and livestock, had several stores and a number of residences and
supplied the needs of a fertile neighborhood. But in the end the proximity
of Elsberry and the improvement of the roads curtailed business and
it is today only a whistle stop.
    The fourth stake met the most inhospitable reception of any along
the entire length of the road from Clarksville to St. Peters.
    To understand the situation in connection with the location of the


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fourth stake it is necessary to make a brief survey of the adjoining
terrain in the eventful year of 1879.

                         THE FOURTH STAKE

    Only one through north-and-south road traversed the entire area
between the Mississippi River and New Hope. It was known as the Bluff
Road because it hugged the contour of the limestone bluffs paralleling
the river and followed the old Indian trail which the earliest settlers
found when they reached Missouri. The Indians in turn had merely utilized
paths made by the deer, the most expert highway engineers in history.
These deer trails were too narrow to permit travel side by side and
the Indians always trotted along in single file. Hence the term "Indian
file." The only change made by the pioneers for may years was to widen
them sufficiently to accommodate a wagon and in 1879 the Bluff Road was
still the original Indian trail with trees and underbrush cut here and
there to admit two-horse traffic. Rail fences restricted it now and
then but much of it was unfenced and ran through heavy white oak forest.
Coming south it crossed Page's Branch at the present crossing and
then turned west of the present road passing immediately west of the
home of Dr. James Long, later the home of R. E. Black, now the resi-
dence of Dr. P. C. Chamberlain, and then on down what is now 7th
street past the brick house of Nelson Watts to Lost Creek where a ford
crossed diagonally southwest; thence on over the hill to what is now the
north entrance of the Government Nursery. Here it passed across where
the gate now stands, intersected the Falmouth-New Hope Road and angled
down the hill to the present culvert across Union Branch.
    It was up this road that William Watts came seeking a home. And it
was at the ford across Lost Creek on this road that Rawleigh Mayes,
the great-grandfather of Mayor E. R. Whiteside, bent on a similar mis-
sion in 1832, camped his first night in the primeval wilderness and early
the next morning shot two deer which had come down through the forest to
drink.
    Neither the present Elsberry-New Hope road nor Highway 79 were
then in existence. Two through roads ran east and west. The Browns
Mill Road which left the River at the Hamburg Landing and largely
followed its present course to and past a grist mill erected by an early
settler by the name of Brown in the vicinity of Louisville.
    The major east-and-west road extended from Falmouth to New
Hope and then on west to Auburn. It crossed a bridge which spanned
King's Lake and intersected the site of the railroad south of Highway
JJ, the present farm-to-market road, passed between the residence
and the barn of "Uncle Billy Palmer," through the yard and over the
exact site of the present F. H. Hagemeier home, crossed Lost Creek
a hundred yards below the Big Rock opposite the R. T. Mayes place and
through the Richard Crank farm on to New Hope. Falmouth was the
Liverpool of that section of the country and all freight, merchandise
and supplies were shipped by boat from St. Louis to Falmouth and haul-
ed from there to New Hope and Auburn by ox wagons. The road was im-
passable in March and except to horseback riders the road was practical-
ly closed during the spring rains.
    One of the staple commodities of the times was bourbon whiskey
shipped from the Kentucky distilleries down the Ohio River and up the
Mississippi to Falmouth for the Falmouth, New Hope and Auburn saloons.
All drivers carried gimlets, and straws were found in abundance along
the roadside. The practice was to hammer up the iron barrel hoops,


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bore a small hole with the gimlet and insert a straw. The hole was then
plugged and the hoop driven back into place leaving no evidence of the
happy interlude. Sometimes the driver knew when he reached New Hope
and sometimes he did not.

                            TOWN OF NELSON

    At the crest of the bluff on the Browns Mill Road was the village of
Nelson, named for Nelson Watts on whose farm a part of it was built.
It consisted of the general store of Elsberry and Wilkinson (R. T. Els-
berry and James C. Wilkinson, his son-in-law), a drug store operated
by Bill Gibson whose principal stock in trade was Dr. Bull's Bitters,
"guaranteed 68% alcohol," popular specific recommended for all mala-
dies affecting the human race, the furniture store of Tully R. Goodman,
Henry Leo's blacksmith shop, the carpenter shop of A. A. Brothers and
Sons, a commercial saw mill and several residences. Dr. W. A. Hemp-
hill, a young practitioner, was a silent partner in the furniture store and
had his office there. The Nelson post office was established September
7, 1877 and moved to Elsberry, August 28, 1879. James C. Wilkinson
was the first and only postmaster. An envelope bearing the Nelson post-
mark is still in existence.
    After removal of the post office from Nelson to Elsberry, Wilkinson
who had been appointed, September 17, 1877, continued to serve until
April 26, 1880 when he was succeeded by Dr. W. A. Hemphill. The post-
masters at Elsberry have been as follows: James C. Wilkinson, August
28, 1879; William A. Hemphill, April 26, 1880; Anderson David Shipp,
January 17, 1882; William A. Hemphill, May 3, 1882; Herman H. Reuter,
December 19, 1882; Joseph W. Bibb, September 25, 1885; Anderson D.
Shipp, April 26, 1889; Manford Burley, July 30, 1889; Blufford S Can-
non, August 10, 1893; William A. Ulery, July 29, 1897; William B. Ellis,
January 19, 1916; Bertha D. Marling, September 1, 1924; Roy M. Burchett,
October 10, 1933; Gordon Crank, February 1, 1942; James H. Powell,
February 15, 1945.

                       TOWN OF CROSS ROADS

    A second hamlet, known generally as "The Cross Roads" but of-
ficially designated as "Lost Creek" by the postal authorities, was lo-
cated at the intersection of the Bluff Road with the Falmouth-New Hope
Road. It was built on land owned by William Palmer, one-time post-
master, and included the general store of Wigginton and Welch (R. T.
Wigginton and B. C. Welch), the usual ubiquitous blacksmith shop, op-
erated by Dosh Gilliland who had married one of the Palmer daughters,
and several residences.
    This was the original post office in Hurricane Township and served
this section of Lincoln and Pike Counties continuously for more than
26 years. The post office at New Hope, for many years the second largest
community in the county, was established July 19, 1837. But the post
office at Lost Creek (The Cross Roads) was inaugurated July 2, 1833.
The mail was delivered and dispatched by pouch carried on the river
packets and brought out to the Cross Roads by courier. The office,
sometimes in a residence and sometimes in the general store, was
located approximately at where the north gate to the Government Nur-
sery now stands. The postmasters were: William Watts, July 2, 1833;
Norborne Woolfolk, June 22, 1835; Benjamin Vance, September 9, 1836;
Joseph Turnham, March 16, 1839; BenjamIn Vance, May 19, 1839;


Page 9:

John Wilkinson, January 1, 1840; William Watts, March 19, 1840; James
Vance, February 4, 1842; Seneca Watts, January 5, 1849; Dr. T. R.
Hawkins, April 9, 1849; Nelson Watts, February 10, 1851; William
Palmer, December 3, 1853; John R. Thompson, January 12, 1858. Thomp-
son served until October 4, 1859 when the office was finally discon-
tinued.

                             LOST CREEK

    But the principal feature of the over-all topography of the region
was Lost Creek which left its present channel at the foot of what is now
7th street and turned north across 6th street and circled around the foot
of the hill on the Edward Mayes property and then ran due north crossing
Broadway and DuBois streets along 3rd street, then known as Nelson
street, turning east in Block 13 and then south, crossing Broadway
the second time about where two garages on either side of Broadway
now stand. It continued south to a point a little below the mill and then
crossed the present right-of-way of the railroad into the R. E. Black
field where it spread out in numerous smaller channels and was entire-
ly lost. Hence the name "Lost Creek."
    It was in the center of this swampy morass that the engineers
drove the stake marking the fourth town site south of Clarksville. Water
from the River regularly covered the site every "June rise" and in
1877 came out three times. Steamboats landed and loaded wheat on the
exact site of the present Elsberry Banking Company Building, now
owned by J. B. Cannon. Men frequently rowed over from Falmouth.
The engineers reported to the Clarksville office that a town at this point
was out of the question. But the triumvirate were adamant. There must
be no deviation from the four mile rule.
    However, at last impressed by the accounts of the surveyors and
construction foreman, the three came down and after a convincing in-
spection, reluctantly agreed that the swamp and the creek constituted
an insurmountable barrier.
    In a body, accompanied by their staff, the three men called on Wil-
liam Palmer who owned the next farm south of the stake, now a part
of the Government Nursery. He met them graciously. He was in high
fettle. He had already tasted blood. He had sold farm land as town lots
for the Cross Roads buildings. He envisioned the possibilities of a rail-
road town on his farm. And he laughed uproariously when they submit-
ted their usual proposition of the town site in return for half the town
lots. "You can build the town here if you like", he said. "As a matter
of fact it is the only place you can build it. Everything north of my land
is a swamp. South of it is the bluff. You've got to put your town on my
farm. But you will pay for every foot of land you take-even for your
depot."
    Dismayed they took a second look at the original site and its water-
soaked stake. But finances were low. The treasurey was depleted. In
desperation they hunted up R. T. Elsberry the owner of the land and
submitted their proposal. "Why, of course" said "Uncle Bob." "Go
right ahead."
    Early the next morning men were blasting off the ledge of the bluff
in front of what is now the Bank of Lincoln County, and pulling down the
banks to smooth the road for vehicles up and down Broadway. A tempor-
ary bridge was thrown across the creek at Broadway and Third Street.
The split rail fence running north along what is now fourth street was


Page 10:

pulled down and a couple of shock rows of corn cut through the corn field
from the bridge to the Bluff Road and the corn shocks moved back. At
the east end board walks eleven feet high and ten feet wide were built
across the creek on both sides of Broadway over to the "depot." A hur-
ried trip to Troy secured an order from the County Court and Edwin E.
Whiteside, (1832-1899), the local road overseer, great great grandfather
of Ranette Peasel, started with ox teams plowing a straight line due east
from the Lost Creek ford out into the prairie towards King's Lake. The
original channel was then closed with timber and stone and the first
heavy rain washed a straight channel through along the line between
Surveys 1706 and 1760 where it remained for many years, until diverted
by the diversion canal of the Elsberry Drainage District.
    Uncle Billy Palmer rode over on his saddle horse and watched the
proceedings incredulously and then returned home and in his chagrin
and disappointment took to his bed and remained there for a week. But
for his miscalculation there would have been no Elsberry. The city would
have been Palmer, and Broadway would have extended west through his
farm half way between Lost Creek and the Bluff. On what small pivots
the course of empire turns!
    A stampede followed. Almost overnight every building in Nelson and
the Cross Roads was torn down and moved to the new town. Buildings
were moved from Falmouth and stores and shops were moved in from
New Hope, Clarksville, Curryville and Louisiana. It was the first and
only railroad in Lincoln or Calhoun counties and excitement mounted
as the first trains came through, and again when the local road became
a part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad system in Decem-
ber, 1880. The site was unpropitious but Uncle Billy had let the day of
salvation pass by.
    Because Spanish surveys 1706 in which the Elsberry land is located
and 1760 in which the Palmer land is situated are so closely related,
both geographically and historically, it is pertinent to note the back-
ground of both.
    Our William Palmer here was the son of Alexis Palmer and the
grandson of Guillermo (William) Palmer, a superannuated French soldier
in the Napoleonic wars to whom Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1798 (confirm-
ed by Congress in 1804) had granted a league square of land, known as
Survey 1760. Guillermo Palmer never resided on the land, which was at
the time of the grant an unbroken wilderness. He lived and died on 40
arpents of land which he purchased May 4, 1797 in Carondelet, a small
French village on the Mississippi River a short distance below St. Lou-
is, long since incorporated as a part of that city, and is buried in old
Fee Fee Cemetery in St. Louis County. His son Alexis Palmer was the
first to occupy the land and he and his son, the William Palmer of this
narrative, spent their lives here and both are buried in the family
cemetery enclosed in the Federal reservation.
    William Palmer was not in high favor with his neighbors. He and
William M. Gibson, of Falmouth, were local agents for the Union and
cooperated with the three county commissioners appointed to administer
what amounted to military government of the county, while the rest of
the people of the section were largely Southern sympathizers and sent
sons to the Confederate army. One of the commissioners, Joseph Winston
Sitton, born in Tennessee, in 1806, owned a farm on the Browns Mill
Road. During the later days of the Civil War, he was for a time with the
northern troops in the South. About a year after the close of the war a
tall stranger with heavy beard got off the steamer at Falmouth and in-
quired guardedly where he might find a man by the name of Winston Sit-

Page 11:

ton. On getting directions he secured a horse from the livery stable and
started out to the Sitton farm. Bill Gibson, who had been keeping the
stranger under surveillance since his arrival, put a negro boy on his
race horse and sent him through a by-road with a note. The boy reach-
ed the farm first and when the note was delivered Sitton rushed to the
house, packed a carpet bag and was not seen again for more than a year.
    During the war a distinguished looking man appeared one afternoon-
in Falmouth and after making a slow circuit of the business district
stopped in Bill Gibson's saloon and ordered a drink. He then sauntered
down the street and entered the store of R. T. Wigginton and Company
where he took a chair by the stove. Bill following closely to learn the
identity of the stranger, took a seat beside him and started abusing old
Abe Lincoln, "Lissus" Grant and other Union dignitaries. The stranger
remained silent. Wigginton, sitting on the other side of the stove moved
around until the stove pipe was between him and Bill, and looking sig-
nificantly at the stranger slowly shook his head. After a while Bill des-
pairing of getting any information left the store and the stranger spoke
for the first time. "I've got to get across the river", he whispered.
Rube Wigginton, who had volunteered for Price's Army and had been in-
structed to await orders - which never came due to Price's disastrous
defeat at the battle of Westport near Kansas City - had never seen or
heard of the stranger but he said: "Wait for moonlight at the first syca-
more that hangs over the river below town." Just as the moon came up
he drifted down the river in a skiff and rowed the man across to the Il-
linois side, where he got out of the skiff and disappeared in the under-
brush without conversation or explanation.
    Several months later a family driving into town over the New Hope
Road reported soldiers at the bridge across King's Lake and Bill Gib-
son promptly ordered his race horse saddled and rode out to look into the
matter. A few minutes later there was a fusilade of shots and Bill came
in sight bending low on the neck of his flying horse pursued by a squadron
of Southern cavalry. When he reached town he wheeled into the side
road leading north and through the fleetness of his horse escaped. Im-
mediately the bushwhackers swarmed through the streets pillaging and
lining up all the men they encountered on the sidewalks. But as they
rushed into Wigginton and Company's store and began to pull goods from
the shelves, there was an explosion of authoritative orders and the Cap-
tain in command, the stranger who had been put across the river, stood
there directing the return of everything that had been removed and
placing a guard at all doors and windows with instructions to shoot
anybody entering the premises without a pass.
    Columbus Harvey, a brother of F. F. Harvey, one of the founders
of the Bank of Lincoln County, serving in the Confederate Army, came
home on a furlough and was reported by an informer to be at the home
of his father, Francis Harvey on Bryant's Creek. Orders came from
Troy to bring Rebel Lum Harvey in. Captain Thomas A. Reed, great-
grandfather of Mrs. Harold McKay, of Edina, and later Mayor of Els-
berry, one of the most distinguished men of the section, was out of
the county at the time and First Lieutenant Wm. D. Jamison, the grand-
father of J. B. Cannon, was ordered to take a detachment to the Har-
vey Farm and bring Lum back "dead or alive." "Bill Dave" refused
to accept the order unless he was allowed to select the men of his de-
tachment, and when granted that privilege, selected only men of the
neighborhood who knew the Harvey Family. It was then late in the after-
noon and he ordered his men to fall out and go home and ressemble the
next day at the sugar camp on the creek below the Harvey house. The


Page 12:

following morning Lieutenant Jamison was late arriving but his men as-
sembled, and while waiting for him, noted great activity at the house.
Presently Miss Margaret Elnora Harvey, (1841-1900) the courageous
daughter of Francis Harvey, (1790-1860) and the mother of Dr. C. B.
Lindsay, with two brothers in the Confederate Army, one of whom died
at Shiloh, ordered her horse saddled and rode briskly down to the sugar
camp and through the men assembled there, noting all of them and then
turned her horse and came back through them again. Eventually Bill
Dave came in and led his men up to the house and searched the premises
without finding Lum, of course, and posted Sergeant John Ferry, father
of our Joe Ferry, at the head of the Auburn lane with instructions to re-
main two hours and then catch up with the company. Seeing his old friend
on guard, Lum came out of the woods and said he was willing to sur-
render because he knew he would get a square deal. But Ferry explain-
ed that when they got to Troy they would not be in charge and refused to
accept his surrender and told him to get on back to his regiment, which
he did.
    Less fortunate was Dudley McQueen, another "secessionist" who
came home for a furlough and took refuge at the Cummins farm near
Paynesville, confident that Cummins, an old friend, would keep his presence
a secret. But Cummins led the Home Guard to his hiding place and they
surrounded the buildings and shot him down summarily.
    Later in the war when the revised draft act went into effect, many
of the men drafted were southern sympathizers. But as the regulations
gave the draftee the option of enlisting in the Militia, which was never
called out for active service, or paying $30 for a substitute, many of
them took the easiest way out and enlisted. The newly enlisted militiamen
were mobilized at New Hope to organize and elect their captain. There
was two candidates, William D. Jamison, who was at the time serving
as First Lieutenant in the old company, and Virgil Sitton, the son of Ma-
jor Sitton.
    As the crowd prepared to vote, a small man named Rush jumped up
on the platform and shouted, "Look at Bill Dave Jamison. What kind of
a captain would he make? Every damned rebel on the ground is for him.
Vote for Virgil Sitton. He's the man. He's my kind of a man. I can tell
you where I stand. Every time a Union man is disturbed I say go out and
get six rebels. That will stop it in a hurry."
    Sitton was elected. But as Rush walked out he was handed a letter
without a signature. It said "You leave town at once. And stay away.
If you ever come back to New Hope you had better bring your coffin with
you." So far as is known Rush was never seen again on the streets of
New Hope.
    There were five of the Sitton brothers (called Sutton), Winston, Law-
rence, Clifford, James and Major. Major survived all the brothers. He
lived on the Page road and was a noted raconteur. When he was reported
to be in town all small boys immediately gravitated to the grocery store
or the barber shop where he sat by the stove surrounded by his spell-
bound audience while he related hair raising accounts of battles with
the Indians, dispatching a grizzly bear with a barlow knife or using
small peach seed for bullets after his ammunition was exhausted. Space
will permit only one typical experience of his early days when he first
came to Missouri. He had just acquired a new fangled shot gun with two
barrels and percusion caps and was trying it out on a hunting expedition
along the bank of the Mississippi between the river and the slough. But
hunting was poor and he had about decided to call it a day when, with a
whir of wings, about a million prairie chickens flew in from the west. He


Page 13:

was lifting his gun to fire when he happened to look towards the river
and there were literally acres of ducks coming in. Then just ahead a
magnificent buck suddenly stood at bay with the finest branch of antlers
he had ever seen, While he was trying to make up his mind where to
shoot, he heard a vicious hiss and looked down, and there almost at his
fee was a huge diamond-backed Mississippi Bottom rattlesnake with
rattles whirring as it prepared to strike. Startled by the proximity of
the rattler, he involuntarily pulled both triggers. As his gun was new
he had loaded it with double charges of black gunpowder and both bar-
rels exploded. One barrel with the entire charge of shot went west and
killed vast numbers of prairie chickens. The other barrel went east and
slaughtered innumerable ducks. The gun sight drove ahead and down-
ed the buck. And the ramrod went straight down and killed the rat-
tler. In his excitement he fell off the bank into the slough and when he
waded out one boot was full of catfish and the other boot was full of
perch. He counted the prairie chickens and the ducks, which drifted to
the bank in a strong wind, and found there were exactly 999 birds.
One breathless listener blurted out: "Mr. Sitton why don't you make it
an even one thousand?" "Oh," retorted the Major scornfully, "I wouldn't
lie for one bird."
    The Major was patriotically interested in the Elsberry community
and late in life when visited on his farm by the local school board which
was floating a bond issue to replace the crumbling old brick school
building, subscribed for $3000 of the bonds. He is still remembered by
the small boys of his day for stories unsurpassed by anything written
by Mark Twain or Bret Harte.
    William Palmer was twice married, the first time to the widow
Booth, the mother of Bud Booth, and the second time to the widow Gil-
liland nee King, mother of Dosh Gilliland. Children of the first mar-
riage were Rebecca Palmer who married Dosh Gilliland, Cynthia Palmer
who married Elmer E. Brother, son of A. A. Brother and at one time
Mayor of Elsberry, and Joseph Kinkaid Palmer (1862-1936) who mar-
ried Mary Emma Cannon in 1889. The two children by the second mar-
riage were Lila Palmer who married William W. Omohundro, a promi-
nent and popular businessman of Elsberry who for a number of years
exerted wide political influence in his Congressional district, and Al-
bert W. (Pete) Palmer who married Rosie Dempsey. William Palmer
was the grandfather of William Jesse Palmer, long an employee of the
State government at Jefferson City.

                     EARLY CONSTRUCTION

    The first building in Elsberry was a residence moved from Nelson
and rebuilt on the northwest corner of Sixth and Griffin Streets. A day or
two later the railroad company erected a warehouse for tools and sup-
plies south of the depot. The next building was the Webb Hotel, built
on the bank of Lost Creek just north of the present location of the Bank
of Lincoln County, on the edge of the Incipient bluff to keep out of flood
waters. The Hotel was built early for the accomodation of the work-
men engaged in the survey and construction of the road.
The first train reached Elsberry August 10, 1879. I. C. Davidson,
the first telegrapher and station agent who was residing at the time in
Creston, Iowa, and who spent the later years of his life as editor of a
weekly paper at Carthage, Illinois, relates that he received a tele-
gram August 9, 1879, directing him to come to Keokuk. There he found
a brand new train waiting to make its first trip south on the new rail-


Page 14:

road which had just been completed from Keokuk to St. Peters, where
it connected with the Wabash. He was instructed to establish a station
at a place they were expecting to name Elsberry but when he got off the
train there about midnight and the train moved on he found no depot
or other building and no one in sight. After a while a man came down
the track carrying a candle lantern, a glass globe with a tallow candle
inside, and took him to his home about a quarter of a mile away. The
good Samaritan proved to be A. A. Brother, who had a carpenter shop in
Nelson and was the earliest carpenter in Elsberry. Mrs. Brother was a
fine motherly woman, daughter of Joseph W. Sitton (1806) and Mary
Buchanan Sitton (1813) and Davidson always remembered her with af-
fection. She was a member of a large family of sisters: Elizabeth Ann
(1832-1916) who married Samuel Perry Cannon (1827-1900), Frances
(Fannie) Emaline (1834-1917) who married William Trail (1830-1887),
Ida who married Ben Shipp, Catherine who married Columbus (Lum)
Long, Harriet F. (1868) who married Henry A. Ashbaugh, (1841) Euse-
bia who remained unmarried, Julia Ellen who married Thomas J. Diggs,
(1846), Mary Melissa (1855-1938) who married Thomas V. Farmer
(1852-1939), and Jane (1836-1922) who married A. A. Brother(1829-
1907). They were granddaughters of Captain William Sitton (1778-1865)
who commanded a company in the War of 1812. At the Battle of New Or-
leans his company was in the front line and when the captain of the com-
pany next to him deserted, he took charge and commanded both com-
panies in the historic battle in which Andrew Jackson crushed the Eng-
lish army under Packenham.
    The new agent boarded with the Brother family until the Webb Hotel
was opened nearer his work. The following morning after his arrival
he found a telegraph instrument which had been placed on a large board
beside the railroad track, and the next train which came through brought
lumber and men who built a lean-up shack where the track intersected
the Browns Mill Road. A week or two later, in September, 1879, a depot
was erected on the present site, which was remodeled in 1923 and is
now serving as the freight room of the present brick station. Davidson
was succeeded in 1880 by Manford Burley who served until he was ap-
pointed postmaster in 1889. He was followed by J. C. Edwards and then
by C. L. Bushman who served from 1898 to 1936, the longest period
served by any incumbent in the history of the station. W. E. Long as-
sumed charge in 1936 and on his retirement in 1954 was succeed by
Roy N. Nichols, the present agent. These six men were without excep-
tion men of special ability and, serving in quasi-official capacity, con-
tributed materially to the progress and prosperity of the community.
They were especially helpful in maintaining orderly business procedures
and in inculcating the highest ideals of good citizenship.
    Business came slowly. People gathered in crowds to see the rail-
road and meet the trains. But they still shipped their grain and livestock
by boat and patronized the bar and "Palace Dining Saloon" on the St. Lou-
is packets. One courageous native, fortified with a stiff bracer from the
drug store, announced to all the world that he was, "a goin to ride the
danged thing" and a crowd collected to see him off. The train came and
went without the passenger. Why didn't you get on demanded his friends.
"Well," he said, "I was ready but they didn't put out no gang plank."
On another occasion the engineer, leaning out the window of his cab
waved his arm at the gaping crowd and shouted, "Look out down there.
I am going to turn around," precipitating a frenzied stampede as the
frightened crowd raced for safety.
    But it was difficult to divert traffic from the river. Falmouth was


Page 15:

two miles east of Elsberry, the largest river port between Clarksville
and St. Charles, with stores, shops, saloons, hotel and extensive stock
pens. Through it flowed the commerce of New Hope, the local metropolis,
and Auburn, one of the centers of culture in the county, and a dozen
smaller villages. The trip to St. Louis by boat consumed the larger part
of two days whereas daily trains from Elsberry reached St. Louis in
three or four hours. But custom was strong and shippers and passengers
enjoyed the leisurely trip down the river on the boat with its freedom,
its friendly bar and its traditionally hospitable dining room. Freight
and passenger rates were standardized and the only competitive in-
ducements which could be offered by the rival steamboat lines was the
cuisine. Consequently the bill of the fare from which the patron might
choose any or all of half a dozen kinds of meat, every vegetable the
market afforded, and conserves, pastries and desserts without end, were
attractions which left the railroad at a hopeless disadvantage.
    Unfortunately the boats also offered other social diversions and
one among many instances is recalled in which Wright Mayes, a local
farmer, shipped his wheat at a time when it was selling at war prices
and received a little over $3,000 for it. As there were no local banks
he carried the money with him on his trip back home. In the course
of the evening he engaged in a friendly game of poker and got off the
boat at Falmouth without a penny.
    Another deterrent to railroad traffic was the credit system main-
tained by all packet companies under which accounts were charged and
settled once a year. The railroad, on the contrary, demanded payment
for passage when the ticket was bought and refused to release freight
until transportation charges were paid. As specie was scarce, few
patrons had cash with which to defray current obligations and a path
was worn up the right-of-way of the railroad to the home of Mordecai
W. Wilkinson, (1848-1883) one of the few "monied" men of the times
who lived on the bluff where the Brown's Mill Road crossed the rail-
road, now the residence of Ralph Galloway, and who lent numerous
small sums to enable friends to get shipments out of the freight house or
buy a ticket to St. Louis.
    However, the railroads were not without recourse. They maintain-
ed a powerful lobby at Washington and in a few months the United States
Board of engineers suddenly found it necessary, in the maintenance of
the river channel and the promotion of interstate commerce, to build
dikes and revetments which in a short time so filled the harbor that
Falmouth, the principal harbor between Clarksville and St. Charles
for half a century, became a ghost town and the customer was free to
travel by railroad or walk.

                       ELSBERRY FAMILY

    Robert Thomas Elsberry, founder of Elsberry, son of William N.
Elsberry (1792-1871), of Maryland, veteran of the War of 1812; and Lydia
P. Owens (1800-1882), of Kentucky; brother of Benjamin F. Elsberry,
postmaster at New Hope from July 19, 1862 to October 10, 1863, George
W. Elsberry (1820-1877), great great grandfather of John Elsberry Palmer,
Nancy Ann Elsberry Cannon (1825-1877), great great grandmother of Lu-
cinda Galloway and Diane Galloway, and William Lewis Candus Elsberry
(1822-1895), the great grandfather of Mary Willena Mayes; was born in
Bourbon County, Kentucky, June 14, 1818. He came with his father's
family to Missouri in 1837 and in 1839 was married to Julia Ann Buchan-
an (March 16, 1821-September 30, 1876) at her father's home near


Page 16:

Paynesville. To them were born ten children: Thomas S. Elsberry who
married Frances B. Berkley and moved to North Dakota in 1888. None
of his descendants remain in Missouri.

    William Aziel Knapp Elsberry, born in 1840, was named for W. A.
Knapp, postmaster at New Hope from May 23, 1844 to September 1866.
He was married to Rachel Temperance Sitton in 1860. He was in business
with his brother Thomas throughout their lives and moved with him to
North Dakota in 1888 where he died in 1896. He was the father of Mon-
trose P. Elsberry born, 1868, Mayor of Elsberry, and Benj. D. Els-
berry, born 1864, and grandfather of Mrs. Wm. Curtis Taylor.
    Elisha F. Elsberry who died in 1864 in camp during the Civil War.
    George G. Elsberry (1844-1864), volunteered with his brother and
died in camp.
    Nancy Elizabeth Hester Elsberry (1849-1923), married September
6, 1866 to James Causyra Wilkinson (1846-1888), a grandson of James
Wilkinson (1788-1855), who was a soldier of the War of 1812. She was
the great great grandmother of David Thomas Bowers.
    Lydia Elsberry, married Samuel Overton Robinson who was born
in Kentucky. Her son, Robert (Bob) Robinson was Editor and Publisher
of the Elsberry Advance. She was grandmother of Leighton Ferry and
Barbara Robinson.
    Mary Elsberry, married James Robinson, who was not related to
Samuel Overton Robinson. Her granddaughter, Edna Mae Robinson mar-
ried Prof. Glen Kilmer, a member of the faculty of the Elsberry High
School.
    Virginia Elsberry, first married Samuel Jamison and then James
Evans. She was the great grandmother of John Wm. Dowell and Ella
Lee Daniel. James Evans grew the bushel of wheat which in 1904 won the
highest award at the Chicago World's Fair as the finest wheat in the
world.
    Sarah Lou Elsberry, known affectionately in the family as "Dite,"
married Charles W. Gleeson. Her son, Frank Gleeson, was a member
of the Railroad Brotherhoods and one of the outstanding labor leaders of
Hannibal.
    Orion Elsberry (1861-1862), who died in childhood.
    The mother, Julia Ann Buchanan Elsberry died in 1876 and in May of
1882 the Founder was married to Mrs. Columbus (Lum) Frazier, nee
Laura Arcelia Sydnor, who had a millinery shop in the original building
on the northeast corner of Fourth street and Broadway where the Foley
Building now stands, and who with her daughter, Claudine Frazier, was
a charter member of the Elsberry Christian Church.
    From their marriage, the couple were affectionately known in the
community as "Uncle Bob and Aunt Ceil." They began housekeeping
in the house now owned by J. B. Ellis at Fifth and DuBois streets. Later
she designed a new home which they built on the crest of the hill on the
west side of Fifth street, now known as the Katie Jane Home.
    On March 21, 1874 Robert T. Elsberry and Julia A. Elsberry, his
wife, had deeded 250 acres of the farm, which he had bought from the
heirs of Nelson Watts in 1868, to his son Thomas S. Elsberry. But in the
summer of 1879, when the fairy with the magic wand touched him and
opportunity beckoned, he bought back, on July 9, 1879, 102 acres of
the tract, reaching from the south line of Survey 1706 (Lost Creek)
on the south, to the Browns Mill Road on the north, and from the rail-
road to be built on the east to the Bluff road on the west.
    This is the original town of Elsberry as surveyed by A. E. Freer,


Page 17:

in August of 1879, and recorded in the Recorder's Office at Troy, at
page 158 of Book 13.
    On the same day, July 9, 1879, in conformity with his agreement
with Roberts, McIntosh and Carroll, he deeded them a one-half interest
in the 102 acres - and the great promotion was under way.
    From the time of his second marriage all the first deeds in the
original town of Elsberry bear the signatures: R. T. Elsberry and Lau-
ra A. Elsberry, his wife; John O. Roberts and Malvina M. Roberts, his
wife; William M. McIntosh and Martha A. McIntosh, his wife; Henry S.
Carroll and Lucy C. Carroll, his wife. A few of these deeds still re-
main as treasured heirlooms.
    There was an immediate and growing demand for town lots. Titles
changed hands and were sold and resold, each time at increasing prices.
It was the first railroad in the county and expectations ran high. The
first edition of the Elsberry Advance recounts that one carpenter alone,
R. E. Black, (1846-1927), grandson of John Black who was born in Jed-
burg, Scotland, who moved from New Hope in the spring of 1880, erect-
ed 25 houses in the new town in the following six months. Bob Black
is almost as closely identified with the town and its development as
the Founder. He gave the Public Park to the City (deed by Robert E.
Black and Sudie J. Black, Robert T. Elsberry and Laura A. Elsberry,
dated January 12, 1887) and he and his son, R. A. Black (1878-1948),
were benefactors of the community throughout long and useful lives.
Other contractors and builders were A. A. Brother and Sons, who
have moved from Louisiana and were living at Nelson the year the build-
ing boom started; and Michael Cooney, who relates that his first work
on reaching Elsberry in 1880 was chopping trees in the valley where
he cut sycamores so large that a man could ride his horse up on the
stump of the tree and turn around without the horse stepping off the
stump. One of these sycamores standing a short distance out in the
field of the R. E. Black farm, just across the railroad track from the
elevator, which had been hollowed out by rot but was still growing on
the outside left a space inside the tree so commodious that when the
sheriff happened to be in the vicinity, many illicit poker games were
transferred there from the neighboring saloon which also stood on that
side of the track. And for many years after the saloon was closed by
local option the nails driven on the inside of the tree, from which lan-
terns were hung, were to be seen in this popular resort so convenient-
ly screened by the growing corn which grew luxuriantly on this rich
soil washed down by Lost Creek from the surrounding hills. Another
prominent contractor and builder was Alvin Harris (1827-1912) and his
son Charles (Buck) Harris, who made a speciality of building mills and
built the Brown Mill near Louisville from which the Browns Mill Road
took its name. He and his family left Elsberry in the earliest of the
many migrations beginning in 1873 which drew population from the
vicinity from time to time, and moved with others to "New Brasky"
(Nebraska). Other such migrations included those to Montana (vicinity
of Billings) in 1883, to North Dakota in 1888, to Texas in the 1890's, to
Oklahoma in 1893 and to Manitoba, Canada in 1910. Some of these treks
involved many people, vast quantities of chatels and extensive capital.
For example the Elsberry brothers, Tom and Bill, were among the
wealthiest men of the community and chartered an entire train to take
families, retainers, stock, machinery and household goods. But all of
them, especially the migrations to the Dakotas and Canada, ended dis-
astrously in the practically total loss of all assets. Only those who still
later moved to California attained expected prosperity.


Page 18:

    The sudden and sustained growth of Elsberry seems to have been
due to its location, sufficiently distant from Clarksville on the north
and St. Charles on the south, to avoid stifling competition in those days
of slow and difficult transportation in trade territories, and the fact
that it was on the arterial road from Faimouth to New Hope, Auburn and
Olney, and other important commercial centers. Another factor was
the low price of the excellent lumber which flooded the river markets
about this time. Ruthless exploiters had discovered the millions of
square miles of virgin forests in the north and were filling the Missis-
sippi with rafts of logs, the finest lumber ever grown. The clear white
Minnesota pine, with hardly a knot, easily worked and almost indestructi-
ble, provided at negligible cost lumber for buildings which stand today
with joists and rafters as good as the day they were built. Any man who
could afford to buy a lot could afford to build a house and in a remark-
ably short time Elsberry was housed and sidewalked with white pine
which cannot be bought today at any price. The ties, the long planks
ten inches wide and two inches thick with a hole at each end through
which stakes were driven into the logs to hold the rafts together, were
a by product which sold for almost any offer. They were ideal for side-
walks and in Pike County a continuous road from Louisiana to Bowling
Green was built by laying them cross-wise on stringers. Toll was
charged and the road was highly profitable until the planks began to
warp and toss one end up to break the legs of fast driven horses or sud-
denly engage the wheels of passing vehicles. Finally the cost of patrol-
men to locate and nail down the warped ends exceeded the revenue
derived from the tolls and the road was dismantled and consumed as fuel
by neighboring farmers.
    Winfield and Foley, like Elsberry were exempt from withering com-
petition and were on strategic roads from the River, Winfield between
Cape au Gris and Argentville, Foley between the Mississippi and Burr
Oak. Foley was named for Addison Foley, great great grandfather of
Donna, and Phil Chamberlain, one of the most remarkable men of his
time, who owned a large tract of land nearby, including the site of the
town.
    He was a merchant at New Hope and when the war came on, had
the foresight to see that the North would eventually blockade the South
and stop the exportation of cotton and cotton products. He mobilized
all financial resources and hurriedly took passage on a river packet
to St. Louis and bought heavily. He filled his shelves with calico, sheet-
ing, cotton flannel, bleach, cotton batting, cotton wrap, then much in de-
mand, and every other commodity in which cotton was a factor. He
filed the attic of the store and the basement. He filled the spare room
in his dwelling and in those of neighbors.
    No other merchant foresaw it. Soon supplies at Clarksville, Louisi-
ana, Troy and St. Charles were exhausted. Every day the price on the
St. Louis market went up until calico which he had bought to retail at
5c a yard was $1 a yard. Clay Sanders, a great uncle of Harry Robert
Sanders, was a salesman in the Foley store at the time and relates
that every morning when the price current, a small sheet of paper re-
porting prices on the St. Louis market, came they went through and
marked up the goods. Much of it was yard goods and was wrapped around
a wooden core on the end of which it was customary to write the price
per yard with a lead pencil. Soon the board had a row of figures clear
up one side and down the other where the old price had been crossed
out and the new price written in. Customers came from two or three
counties away and were glad to pay the war price for indispensible neces-


Page 19:

sities. Money poured in in such quantities that in the absence of banks
its disposition became a serious problem. But it was all in greenbacks
and on July 11, 1864 greenbacks, which had been steadily dropping
fell to 39c per dollar in gold. Rawleigh Mayes, previously mentioned
as the great grandfather of Mayor Whiteside, had three thousand dol-
lars in gold which he had accumulated from the sale of wheat which
had been selling for $3 per bushel, and other farm products at war
prices. Addison urged Rawleigh to sell him the gold for greenbacks.
Finally after some negotiations, Rawleigh, who also had some fore-
sight and who, though an extensive slave holder foresaw the inevitable
exhaustion of the South, sold the three thousand dollars in gold for
$8,000 in greenback. And when specie payment was later resumed by
the United States Government saw his judgement vindicated.
    Addison sealed the gold in fruit jars and buried them in the dirt
floor of his stable where they remained for many years, so long in fact,
that when finally dug up, one of them was overlooked and remained be-
hind. In the course of time an old colored hand when directed to clean
out the stable and scatter the manure on the field at the northwest corn-
er of the juncture of the Auburn and Clarksville roads, late in the eve-
ning, broke the jar without noticing it and tossed it up with the manure
on the top of the load. Thereafter it was years before the plow ceased
to turn up a five or ten or twenty dollar gold piece when the field was
plowed. It was said that it was never difficult to get hands to plow that
field.
    The first new building erected in Elsberry was the Webb Hotel,
built by Capt. J. P Webb at the corner of DuBois street and Third
street, at that time known as Nelson Street, just north of where the
Bank of Lincoln County now stands. It was built on the edge of the bluff
high enough to escape flood waters from Lost Creek which flowed up
Third Street in front of it. The Hotel was opened September 15, 1879
for the accommodation of the engineers, workmen and mechanics en-
gaged in the construction of the railroad. Local wags originated a dog-
gerel verse which was shouted in the dining room on all occasions with
great good nature:
      "Elsberry Town - Nelson Street,
    Webb Hotel - and nothing to eat."
    As a matter of fact the sentiment was purely jocular. The serv-
ice was excellent and the hotel was popular with its clients and cus-
tomers, and prospered until the erection of a larger and more modern
hotel nearer the depot. It was later purchased by Dr. S. M. Bailey who
remodeled it and resided there until its destruction by fire. The location
was subsequently occupied in part by the Elsberry Fire Department.
    About the same time, the railroad put up a temporary warehouse
south of the depot between Main Street and the railroad. As need for
storage of construction tools and materials passed, Henry Carroll
brought R. R. Smither, a local grocer, down from Paynesville and open-
ed a grocery in the front end of this structure.
    The first building for business purposes was moved down from Nel-
son, The firm of Elsberry and Wilkinson (R. T. Elsberry and James C.
Wilkinson) had maintained a general store there for several years and
J. C. Wilkinson the postmaster devoted a corner of the building to the
post office. Immediately on the opening of the depot, R. T. Elsberry,
anxious to encourage the construction of buildings on Broadway, moved
the store and stock of goods from Nelson to the corner of Broadway and
Fourth Street and wishing to devote his time and capital to other town
enterprises, sold the store to three young men, Tully R. Goodman, a


Page 20:

son-In-law of A. A. Brother, who had been in the furniture business in
Nelson, J. R. Cannon and Dr. W. A. Hemphill, who opened the store
under the name of Goodman, Cannon and Company. In 1880 the two
partners sold their interest to Randolph Cannon who with various part-
ners remained in business on that corner, now occupied by Cannon and
Riffle, the remainder of his life.
    R. T. Elsberry immediately began the construction of a two-story
frame building just across the street on the corner now occupied by the
Foley Building, for many years the only two-story business house in
Elsberry, and rented the lower story to Mrs. Arcella Frazier who moved
from New Hope to open a millinery and dressmaking establishment.
The upper story served as a community building and lodges met there,
the churches held oyster suppers there and important political meetings
were held there. For some time these two buildings remained the only
structures "on the Hill." The construction of the town proper started
on Main Street and slowly spread to the east end of Broadway and for
a time there was brisk competition between the merchants "on the hill"
and those "under the hill," with a distinct advantage in favor of those
under the hill. Main Street was lined with business houses down where
they could ' watch the trains." Furtherest south was the drug store
of John Montgomery Gibson (1855-1948) who married Ada B. Hunter
in 1878, great grandfather of James Albert Ricks, and who was to play a
prominent role in the annals of the town in which he was one of the first
businessmen. John Gum had a drug store in New Hope when the Els-
berry boom began. Forseeing the growth of the railroad and the town,
he erected a store on Main Street and moved his stock there. Shortly
after, in September, 1880, he sold the store to W. L. Prior, son of a
Cnristian minister of Paynesville. In the store he rented quarters to
J. F. Crane, a watchmaker and jeweler from Illinois.
    Next door north on Main Street was the firm of R. T. Wigginton
and Co. with B. C. Welch and W. A. K. Elsberry as partners and with
branch stores at Faimouth and the Cross Roads.
    Immediately north was the store of Smither and Shipp, Dick Smither
and A. D. (Bud) Shipp, the grandfather of Dr. Howard A. Rusk, perhaps
the most noted surgeon and rehabilitation specialist in America today,
a man of international reputation and the most distinguished living
Missourian. His great aunt, Mrs. Nelle Eastin Morris, is one of the
beloved residents of the city.
    The store of Smither and Shipp was the successor of Smither, Car-
roll and Co. Carroll who, like the Founder, sold out as soon as he had
established the firm, sold to Shipp who later served as postmaster,
and remained one of the outstanding businessmen of the town until his
removal to Brookfield.
    The next store, located on the corner of Main and Broadway, in a
new building was "Etter's O. P. C. H. (One Price Cash House) owned
by M. E. Etter and Robert Etter who moved the stock of dry goods
and clothing from Paynesville to Elsberry in January, 1880. It was suc-
ceeded by Gibson and Eastin, later by Eastin and Rose (Lum Eastin and
Thos. M. Rose, of Curryville) and, in a new location by Rose and Trail
and now by the Reid Dry Goods Co.
    Across the street Charles A. Mayes, the great grandfather of John
Randolph Howard, built a new two-story hotel which was operated by
Samuel Richards, former owner of the Falmouth Hotel, where the local
newspaper reported he at times "fed 48 regular boarders." Meals were
provided for transients at from 15c to 25c each. And north of the hotel
on Main street, Mrs. M. Hitt, the great grandmother of Lieutenant James


Page 21:

H. Elliott, U.S.A., one of the earliest and most highly regarded residents
of the town, maintained a popular delicatessen.
    Extending west on Broadway from Main street was the emporium
of Sour and Reuter, who moved from New Hope in July of 1880; the law
office of James W. Powell; Wilkinson and Hefflington, saddlery and
harness; James Saulsberry, merchant tailor (the first man to die in
Elsberry); the Guile Furniture Store, operated by Geo. C. Elliott who
also had a stove and tinner's business in the same building; Miller's
Restaurant, where according to his advertisement in the local paper,
he also provided 'card tables, pigeon hole tables and other forms of
entertainment and games of chance."
    On the north side of Broadway, beginning with the Richards Hotel,
were Suddarth's restaurant and Felty's blacksmith shop. About mid-
night one Saturday night when the weekend business had been brisk and
the day's receipts were still in the tills, a clerk sleeping in the store
of Cannon Bros. was awakened by the sound of an auger boring through
the front door around the lock. The door opened gently and as a man
came down the center aisle with a dark lantern, the clerk opened fire
with a revolver. The man dashed back through the open door and could
be heard running down the street. The next morning the blacksmith
appeared and said the tools lying at the door had been stolen from his
shop. Soon after he moved away and was never heard from again. On
up the street were Tim Mulcare's shoe shop, Webb's Hotel, B. S. and
I. N. Cannon, grocers, T. L. Foley, jewelry, Goodman, Cannon and
Co., the Bibb residence, the W. T. Reed residence, E. D. Frazier's Wagon
Shop and John D. Carter, wheelwright. And at the confluence of Broad-
way and the Bluff Road was the blacksmith shop of Henry D. Leo (born
1852, married Dorcas Hogue in 1881, moved to Nebraska in 1883).
    These buildings constituted a solid block on Main Street and two
blocks of business houses on the south side of Broadway from Main
Street up to Third Street. The block from Third Street to Fourth Street
on the south side of Broadway was occupied by three structures, two
residences with a small barber shop between. The large and imposing
residence of Sour and Reuter came First, and West of the barber shop
was the residence of L. D. Gatewood, the barber who married a sister
of Mrs. Charles A, Mitchell, and who operated the shop, Reuter was
the son-In-law of Sour. He served as postmaster of Elsberry from
December 19, 1882 to Sept. 25, 1885. Sour and Reuter had a general
store and bought goods in Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Kansas City
and St. Joseph. They always discounted the bills and enjoyed a high
credit rating. In 1886 they ordered large quantities of goods and start-
ed a series of special sales. They offered such bargains that other
merchants in both Elsberry and New Hope were practically out of the
market, For example, ACA bed ticking, then a staple commodity, sel-
ling at 17c and l8c per yard was sold at 2c a yard, and everything else
in proportion. Extra clerks were employed and new hitch racks were
erected to take care of the unprecedented volume of trade which flow-
ed in from the surrounding trade territory. And then after a riotous
Saturday in which goods were sold at almost any price offered, the firm
closed its doors and announced it was bankrupt. The crowd of credit
men which poured in on every train from wholesale stores of every
city within 500 miles and more, resembled a national convention and
taxed to the utmost the hotel and restaurant facilities of the communi-
ty. Many had to be taken by private householders. A brigade of lawyers
and detectives followed. But no assets were in sight. It was the sensa-
tion of the year if not of the business life of the town. And in a short


Page 22:

time the unfortunate and impoverished family of Sour and Reuter moved
away leaving behind only debts and recollections.
    The pioneer physicians of the town were: Dr. R. T. Hawkins, Dr.
B. J. Lee, Dr. W. A. Hemphill, Dr. S. H. Kerr, Dr. Samuel M. Bailey
and later, Dr. Leroy M. Lee, Dr. Charles E. Powell, Dr. A. M. Taylor,
Dr. C. A. McAfee, Dr. W. N. Lowry, Dr. Forest V. Keeling, Dr. Lynnie
Lindsay, Dr. C. B. Lindsay, Dr. Perry Balmer, Dr. Gilbert H. Calla-
way, Dr. R. N. Hull, and Dr. E. O. Damron.
    The earliest resident dentist in Elsberry was Dr. J. W. Taliferro,
followed in succession by Dr. James McClelland and Dr. Charles S.
Irvin. Later came Dr. Clinton L. Alloway, Dr. J. N. Damron, Dr. J. M.
Beard, Dr. F. V. Diggs, Dr. C. W. Powell and Dr. G. G. Wilson.
    After the removal of the first residence from Nelson to the corner
of Griffith and Sixth Street, and the opening of the Webb Hotel, the first
dwelling erected in Elsberry was built in the summer of 1879 by James
W. Gentry (1849), who married Leticia Jane Cannon, sister of B. S. and
I. N. Cannon. The cottage stood on the corner of DuBois and Fourth
Streets directly across Fourth street from the present site of the Metho-
dist Church and across DuBois street from the Catholic Church. Jim
Gentry was for many years the livery man in Elsberry, and later in
Troy, and was sheriff of Lincoln County for eight years. In quick suc-
cession the residence of Rev. Webb Bibb and sisters Nora and Jessie Bibb
at the corner of Broadway and Fifth Street, now occupied by the LaCrosse
Lumber Yard, the residence of W. T. Reed, the editor, at the corner of
Broadway and Sixth Street, now belonging to Miss Mattie Rose, the dwelling
on Fifth Street just north of the lumber yard and the A. A. Brother house
on Fifth Street near Broadway now owned by Mrs. Nelle Eastin Morris
were built in 1879 and 1880.
    R. T. Elsberry, the Founder, took an active interest in the location
and erection - and frequently in the financing - of all these buildings
and all community enterprises. He was a prominent promoter and stock-
holder in the elevator and flouring mill, in the school building, in "our
brick church" and much later in the Elsberry-New Hope Gravel Road
and every intervening local enterprise.
    He was a man of profound convictions and although he lived in a day
when drinking was all but universal, when a tin cup hung by the whiskey
barrel in most stores, and beloved pastors of local congregations were
regaled on their pastoral calls with a glass of wine, he was bitterly op-
posed to the sale and use of liquor, and inserted in all deeds he executed
in the new town a provision forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquors
on the premises conveyed, under penalty of reversion of the title to the
grantor and his heirs. For many years this limitation was scrupulously
observed but eventually it was forgotten and one of the Founder's grand-
sons, Wesley Amos Robinson (1869-1942) brought suit to enforce the
covenant. The grounds for the decision of the court were in equity
rather than in law and the suit was dismissed. But had the decision
been appealed and the appellate court taken the view handed down on
similar covenants in other states, the decision of the lower court would
have been reversed. However, it would have made little difference in
the local situation as two saloons were opened just across the town
limits at either end of Broadway, shortly after the building of the depot.
Ironically, the saloon across the railroad track at the east end of Broad-
way was the firm of Watts and Elsberry which included the two oldest
sons of the Founder, William A. K. Elsberry and Thomas S. Elsberry.
The saloon just across the Bluff Road at the west end of Broadway,
known as "The Elsberry Saloon" was owned and operated by the firm


Page 23:

of R. T. Booth and Company, consisting of John Singleton, formerly of
Farquir County, Virginia, and R. T. (Bud) Booth. As an early copy of the
Elsberry Advance advertises, they were resorts where "one can wet
his whistle when it's dry, heat himself when he's cold, or cool himself
when he is warm." The western pub was known locally as "Glory" and
the eastern as "Hallelujah" and a large part of the masculine popula-
tion of the city circulated with uninhibited and unrestrained ardor be-
tween Glory and Hallelujah.
    But Elsberry - and in fact, Lincoln County - were temperately in-
clined and on September 17, 1887, in a county-wide local option election,
Elsberry cast 61 votes for the sale of liquor and 175 votes against the
sale of liquor. In the county the vote was 951 votes for the sale of liquor
and 1,622 against the sale of liquor - and the saloon left Elsberry never
to return.
    But the most exciting election In the history of Elsberry was held
in November of 1884 resulting in the election of Grover Cleveland over
James G. Blaine, the first Democratic President elected since the Civil
War. It was a campaign of unprecedented intensity. Women closed the
doors and pulled down the window shades and did not appear on the
streets. Practically every male citizen of Elsberry was a member of
the Democratic Campaign and Marching Club or the James G. Blame
Republican Club. The Democrats erected a tall flag pole in the north-
east corner of the Park and flew a Cleveland and Hendricks banner
surmounted by the American flag. Each member of the Club was pro-
vided with a cap, a torch light consisting of a long handle on the end of
which was a swinging can of coal oil and a heavy wick when ignited gave
out a black and odorous cloud of smoke and a minimum of illumination.
Each marcher also had an oilcloth cape to protect the wearer from
sparks and drippings from his torch. The slanderous nature of the cam-
paign was reflected in the songs of the two parties. The Democratic
clubs marched through the streets and up Broadway chanting: Blaine,
Blaine, James G. Blaine, Continental liar from the State of Main, BURN
THAT LETTER; to which the relatively few but equally vociferous Re-
publicans on the sidewalks and roofs of buildings shouted derisively:
    Maw, Maw, Where's my paw? Going to the White House, Haw, Haw,
Haw.
    Elsberry voters cast 215 votes for Cleveland and 125 for Blaine but
it was several days before the national result of the election was known.
When it became evident that Cleveland had really been elected, Elsber-
ry Democrats were delirious with joy. There were no buildings north
of Hill street. A wheat field extended from the crown of the hill to Page
Branch and on either side of the Bluff Road, from where the Presby-
terian Church now stands, a split rail fence ran zagzag north to the
Branch and beyond. Accordingly the brow of the hill just over the rail
fence was selected for the bonfire and Campbell McDonald, the black-
smith, was placed in charge of the anvils. For two days patriotic farm-
ers hauled in loads of cordwood. Quantities of soft coal were appropri-
ated from the railroad sidings. A barrel of tar and a barrel of pitch
were supplied at the expense of the Club, and nearby, about where the
home of Mrs. Fred Cox now stands, the anvils were placed. Gunpowder
was poured on one anvil and the other anvil was placed on top of the
powder. Then Cam swung a 16-foot rod of wrought iron from the fire
where one end had been heated a cherry red around to the gunpowder
and a gratifying explosion like the roar of a battery of guns reverberated
over the surrounding country. Politics was a serious matter in those


Page 24:

days and so hilarious was the celebration that late the next morning
many of the revellers were still sleeping on the sidewalks of the city in
in the sharp November air, "but 'twas a glorious victory."

                          INCORPORATION

    With the rapid growth of the village, and the heavy patronage of the
two adjacent saloons, the necessity of an organized municipal govern-
ment became imperative.
    The town had been surveyed and plotted by Z. E. Freer, a civil
engineer, employed by the Clarksville entrepreneurs in August of 1879.
This plat was officially acknowledged by R. T. Elsberry, John O. Rob-
erts, William M. McIntosh and Henry S. Carroll and was filed for record
May 21, 1881. Main Street ran parallel with the railroad, Broadway
ran west from the depot, the north and south streets were numbered
from second to sixth and the Bluff Road later became seventh street.
The east and west streets were given local names as New Hope street,
Auburn street, Lincoln street, Hill street, with the exception of two,
one of which was named DuBois street in memory of a civil engineer
by that name who was killed when a locomotive was derailed by a cow
near the present Columbia Quarry and Griffin street, named for a pop-
ular foreman on the road.
    A petition signed by 54 citizens was presented to the County Court
at its August session, praying for incorporation of the town as follows:
    "Beginning at a stone on the north bank of Lost Creek where a con-
tinuation on the Bluff Road south would intersect said Creek; thence
north with said Bluff Road to the northern line of Lincoln Street, as shown
by the recorded plat of said town; thence east on Lincoln Street to Sixth
Street; thence north on Sixth Street to the north line of Hill Street; thence
east on the north line of Hill Street to the St. Louis, Keokuk and North-
western Railroad; thence southwest with said Railway to Lost Creek;
thence west along the north bank of Lost Creek to the place of begin-
fling."
    The petition was granted November 17, 1883 and the town was in-
corporated as "Inhabitants of the Village of Elsberry." The first Board
of Trustees appointed by the Court consisting of C. A. Mayes, J. W.
Powell, J. M. Gibson, J. R. Cannon and G. C. Elliott, organized by elect-
ing C. A. Mayes as Chairman and J. R. Cannon as Clerk of the Board.
    The first municipal code of the town was adopted by the Board of
Trustees December 13, 1883 and signed by C. A. Mayes, Chairman,
and J. R. Cannon, Clerk.
    According to John M. Gibson, who was a member of the first Board
of Trustees, C. A. Mayes was the First Mayor of Elsberry. When he re-
signed in that or a subsequent term to make an extended trip, J. R. Can-
non was elected to succeed him and became the second Mayor of Els-
berry and Judge Gibson, himself was the third Mayor of Elsberry. The
designation at the time was "Chairman of the Board" and the term May-
or did not come in until organization of the town as a City of the Fourth
Class. The roster of Mayors Includes: Charles A. Mayes, J. R. Cannon,
J. M. Gibson, Capt. Thomas R. Reid, A. A. Brother, H. B. Suddarth,
W. L. Martin, M. P. Elsberry, John W. Luckett, Jesse B. Ellis, Wallace
S. Reid, Wm. W. Watts, J. R. Palmer, Elmer E. Brother, Tom C. Smith,
Dr. Forrest V. Keeling, Gordon Crank, A. L. Gladney, Salem A. Reid,
Waldo O. Fischer, Malcoln Reid, Dr. Edwin R. Whiteside and Charles
Addison Mayes (1837-1918), grandfather of Thomas Elmo Foley and


Page 25:

Mrs. T. C. Howard, the first Mayor of Elsberry, married Mary Jane
Duncan Sanders, daughter of James William Sanders and Edna Foley,
great grandparents of Robert Francis Sanders, of Moberly. He was
one of the wealthier men of the community and financed many of the
earlier enterprises of Elsberry. He was a man of wide influence and
largely controlled the affairs of the growing town.
    In 1898 the Board of Trustees ordered a census of the town which
showed a population of 815 people. Thereupon the town was organized
as a city of the 4th class and on June 7, 1898 adopted ordinances con-
forming to the statutory requirements of that class.
    The original town as platted and incorporated included only the
area between DuBois and Griffin streets from the railroad to the Bluff
Road. Additions have been incorporated as follows: Plat of Elsberry,
November 6, 1879; Robert T. Elsberry Addition, May 25, 1882; R. T.
Elsberry Addition No. 1, May 25, 1882; R. T. Elsberry Addition No. 2,
May 25, 1882; R. T. Elsberry Southeast Addition, July 16, 1891; Rob-
ert E. Black Northwest Addition, November 14, 1891; R. E. Black North-
east Addition, November 14, 1891; John M. Gibson Addition, June 30,
1892; A. Brown Addition, Administrator of R. T. Elsberry, July 25,
1892; B. C. Welch Addition, August 19, 1892; C. A. Mayes Addition,
January 10, 1893; Amended Plat of R. T. Elsberry Southeast Addition,
January 16, 1903; Robert E. Black Second Northeast Addition, January
28, 1914; Cannon Heights Addition, November 3, 1915; J. H. Ligion Ad-
dition, January 5, 1939; Berger Tract Addition, April 20, 1948; Char-
ley Brooksher Subdivision, June 1, 1948; Cannon Addition Subdivision,
February 21, 1949; Amended Plat of Subdivision of B. C. Welch Tract,
December 21, 1950; Oscar V. Wagner Subdivision of B. C. Welch Ad-
dition, October 20, 1951; Brooksher Subdivision of M. A. Cox Tract,
March 28, 1952; Charley Brooksher Subdivision of B. C. Welch Lot 2,
April 17, 1954.
    The Cannon Heights Addition consisted of 80 acres off the eastern
end of a tract of land comprising the northern portion of Survey 1706
extending from the Browns Mill Road to the northern line of the Survey,
formerly belonging to Samuel Cannon (1786-1857), son of James Cannon
(1762-1842), a Revolutionary soldier, and great great great great grand-
father of Olin and Andy Cannon. At the time of Samuel's death all his
twelve children were married with the exception of Lydia who was
so frail that it was not believed she could live more than a few months,
Accordingly, in writing his will he left this 80 acres to Lydia her life
time, to go to the rest of his children at her death. Contrary to ex-
pectations and predictions Lydia survived all her brothers and sisters and
in 1869 married Frederick W. Page, a Civil War veteran born in Ver-
mont in 1831. And thereupon the River St. Antonis of Napoleon's en-
gineers, known to the early settlers as the Cannon Branch, became
Page Branch and has so remained to this day.
    It was a very fortunate marriage for both. And true to story book
sequence they lived happily everafter. Lydia during her entire life
retained the garb universally worn by the pioneer women of the earliest
period of settlement with all undergarments hanging from the shoulder,
which may account for the fact that not withstanding her frailties she lived
to a ripe old age.
    When the dear old lady died in 1911 there were 86 heirs living in
14 states of the Union, some of whom were never located, and whose
interest was paid into the State Treasury under the statute governing
disposition of such estates. By order of the Circuit Court the tract was
sold at auction by the sheriff to the highest bidder.


Page 26:

    Up to this time the city had been contained in a straight-jacket of
narrow limits. It could not extend east across the railroad or south
across Lost Creek. As long as Lydia lived none of the entailed Page
land could be sold on the north. The only outlet was to the west. Im-
mediately following the settlement of the estate there was an insistent
demand for sites in the new tract. To dispose of the tract most expedi-
tiously and most equitably the services of an expert auctioneer were se-
cured. The land was surveyed and platted. Two lots were set aside for
a drawing each day. All the space in the local newspaper not under an-
nual contract was engaged and for the first and last time nothing ap-
peared on the front page of the Elsberry Democrat except advertising -
the announcement of the sale. The entire second floor of the local ho-
tel was engaged and office furniture installed. An extra passenger
coach was hooked on to the morning train from St. Louis to accomo-
date personnel and paraphernalia and the shock troupe detrained at
Elsberry with the band playing lively airs and the sales force glad-
handing everybody on the station platform.
    The next morning, November 5, 1915, promptly at ten o'clock the
procession started at the depot on its way up Broadway led by the brass
band of eight or ten pieces making more noise than any band ever made
before in the entire county. In martial order the procession swept up
the street with two auctioneers six feet tall in Prince Albert coats and
high silk hats gesticulating and ballyhooing as they came. At Fifth
Street they turned north followed by crowds in buggies, wagons, on horse-
back and on foot completely obstructing all traffic. The sales force car-
ried a wheat sack of mixed nickles, dimes and quarters. At the first
stake the wagon drove to the center of the lot. The band gave a staccato
rendition of Dixie. Handfulls of coins were broadcast through the crowd
in every direction. The music was drowned out by the two auctioneers
at opposite ends of the wagon chanting and talking bids simultaneously
and - "Sold." A representative of the legal staff of the organization
immediately located the successful bidder. With tears in his voice he de-
plored the low price at which the lot had sold, congratulated the buyer
on his great bargain - and took his signature with witnesses. In the
meantime, without stopping to take breath, the band started up again.
The wagon moved over to the next lot, the air was filled with flying
change and again the auctioneers went into action. "Sold."

    All morning and all afternoon for two days the sale went on, the
crowd growing in size and excitement as the sale progressed. Until
at the end of the second day every lot in the 80 acres had been sold. A
large delegation followed the troupe to the train to bid them an affec-
tionate goodby. And the exhausted band with swollen lips and aching
feet waved a feeble farewell.
    At the next school election a spirited contest developed over the
location of the new high school building. The school directors voted
to build it in Western Elsberry but in a vigorous campaign the holders
of deeds to lots in the new addition, awake to a new community of in-
terest, ganged up on the West and voted to place the new high school
on the north side of the Browns Mill Road. Some forty years later West-
ern Elsberry had its turn and the new grade school was built on the Wig-
ginton hill.
    Elsberry's first appreciable setback came in 1887 when a fire de-
stroyed the major portion of the business section of the town. The origi-
nal business district was on Main Street and the first two blocks of
Broadway. The area was tightly packed with pine buildings and there


Page 27:

was no fire service. The fire started at night and within two hours the
entire area on the south side of Broadway from Main to Third Street
was reduced to ashes with little opportunity for salvage. When morning
dawned the entire heart of the town with vast quantities of merchandise
was gone.
    The larger part of the area was not rebuilt for more than 50 years
and the business district of the town shifted over night. Eight years ex-
perience with flood waters and the distracting proximity of the adjacent
railroad, had demonstrated the disadvantages of the site, and the sur-
vivors moved to higher ground.
    The railroads had other unexpected disadvantages. Herds of pro-
fessional hoboes, with no other occupation in life, and unrestrained by
modern police supervision at city terminals, "rode the rails" in box
cars and under passenger trains, and swarmed out over the country at
every stop, begging at back doors for handouts. They lived suprisingly
well on the bounty of the unsophiscated housewives along the line. Train-
men sought to dislodge them but invariably they got back on like fleas
dislodged temporarily from the family dog. The fill on the right-of-way
at Elsberry just below the mill where Lost Creek crossed over from
Main Street to the Black farm was rich alluvial soil and the finest crop
of Jimpson weeds to be seen from St Louis to Keokuk grew there in
luxuriant abundance. Early one morning two Knights of the Road who had
been unceremoniously thrown off the last train took stock of their finan-
cial situation and found they had just one dime between them. But the
fall frost had opened the Jimpson burrs and when the stems were tilted
a handful of lustrous black seed poured out. The two resourceful gentle-
men stopped at the grocery of J. T. Culbertson on Broadway and pur-
chased two large Bermuda onions, which fortuitously had just come in,
at five cents each. From an accomodating druggist they secured wrap-
ping paper and then with the onion as a sample descended on the town.
The size and aroma of the sample onion, along with the ingratiating
courtliness of the vendors, was so convincing that they made a sale at
practically every door. Late in the afternoon with their pockets bulging
with small change they majestically entered the waiting room of the
depot and bought first class passage to the city. But before they board-
ed the Pullman they had grace enough to divulge the origin of the "onion
seed," and by the next day no one in Elsberry could be found who had
been a customer.
    The next blow fell on October 3, 1891 when the engineer of a freight
train backing in on the siding, lost control, and freight cars were catapult-
ed into the elevator and piled up against the mill and warehouses. The
stove in the caboose set fire to the wreckage destroying what had been
left of that part of town by the conflagration of 1887. Two of the cars
were loaded with beer and the heavy kegs cascaded out over the streets
rolling in every direction. Again it was a night fire and the blaze and
roar of the flames with the long blasts of the whistle on the locomotive
brought men in from miles around. Every kind of vehicle from wheel-
barrow to ox cart was pressed into service and a celebration started
that spread over the countryside and lasted for ten days or two weeks.
The adjacent field on the R. E. Black farm was dense with growing corn
and afforded ideal seclusion for special parties and the next spring when
planting time came it was necessary to haul away wagon loads of empty
kegs before the field could be cleared for cultivation. Of all of Elsber-
ry's fires this was probably the most memorable.
    Again in 1894 fire originating in a restaurant burned two blocks of
substantial brick buildings on Broadway, in what the local newspaper


Page 28:

termed "the greatest fire in the history of the city." The destruction
included the Bank of Lincoln County and various stores and shops, and
the bank vault heated white hot could not be opened for several days. Most
of the contents of the safe were unrecognizable but the records and specie
in the vault were still intact when finally reached. Records of the Masonic
and I.O.O.F. lodges, then in the Foley Building, were badly damaged and
charters had to be replaced.
    In March of 1930 the larger part of the block on the south side of
Broadway extending from Third street west was burned. The fire was
marked by the abandon with which volunteer fire fighters in the attempt
to salvage stocks of merchandise and protect threatened buildings in
the neighborhood, destroyed more than they saved. Doors, windows
and shelving were chopped out of building outside the fire zone with
axes. China and glassware were stripped from the shelves and tossed
out of the doors to safety on the concrete sidewalks while coal scuttles
and brass spitoons were carried tenderly out and deposited without ap-
preciable damage at a safe distance from the fire.
    The following summer, June 9, 1930 the west end of the same block,
was burned west of Fourth street, including the new I. O. O. F. building with
records, insignae and regalia.
    With the exception of a third fire, in this same block, In which Cecil
Cannon died in his theatre, September 7, 1937, Elsberry suffered no
further fires of any consequence until the destruction of the MFA Ele-
vator, March 17, 1955, and seems to have at last solved its fire problems
by the establishment and maintenance of an efficient municipal fire de-
partment which renders such catastrophes practically impossible and
has materially reduced insurance rates in the business section of the city.
    A disaster of another character struck in 1899 when a light epidemic
of small pox broke out and a temporary pest house was erected in the
bottoms east of the city. There were no deaths but the people of the trade
territory naturally gave Elsberry a wide berth during the entire sum-
mer. The streets were deserted. Business practically ceased and mer-
chants and professional men suffered serious losses, the effects of which
were discernable in diverted patronage long after the danger was past.
    In this day of modern medicine and vaccination it is difficult to ap-
preciate the stark terror which swept a community when a case of
smallpox appeared. Death was slow and terrible. Few recovered and
those were marked for life. The only safeguard was flight and entire
towns were left vacant. When the disease appeared in Falmouth shortly
after the Civil War no one remained to attend the sick but one or two who
had survived an attack and were immune. Boats refused to land and
grass grew in the streets. It is related that victims in their delerium
would sometimes escape from their rooms and would be tracked by the
bloody imprints of their hands on the walls and their feet on the side-
walks.
    A son of the Gabriel Thompson family, Edward Thompson living on
a farm now known as the Page Place on a branch of the Browns Mill
Road - and for whom the Thompson Crossing a mile or two north of
Elsberry on Highway 79 was named - went down to St. Louis with some
livestock shipped by boat. He spent a day or two in the city "seeing
the sights." Shortly after he returned home he developed a high fever
and the doctor when called pronounced it to be small pox of the most
virulent type. An old colored man who had survived an attack in his boy-
hood waited on the family. Neighbors brought food and medicine which
they left on a stump in the middle of an adjacent field. One by one mother,
father, brothers and sisters died and were carried out by the old servant


Page 29:

and buried without benefit of clergy. The only survivor of the entire
family was a daughter, Cynthia who had married W. D. Jamison a short
time before.
    Through prompt vaccination the epidemic of 1899 was soon under
control and there were no fatalities. It was the last appearance of the
dread disease in this section of the State.
    Robert Thomas Elsberry, the Founder, was in many respects in
advance of his times. He did not drink. He did not smoke. He was temperate
and devout in language. He was an active patron of education. And he was
a communicant of the Primitive Baptist Church, known in those days as
the Hardshell Baptist, and was affiliated with the Bryant's Creek Baptist
church, at that time adjacent to the pioneer cemetery about three miles
west of New Hope on the State road between Elsberry and Auburn Junc-
tion. His brother William L. Elsberry and his sister-in-law Mary Ellen
Mayes Elsberry, who lived just across the road from the church were
also members of this congregation.
    One of his first cares in the establishment of the new town was pro-
vision for religious services. He donated the lot and gave the brick for
a church and personally superintended the erection of the building. After
the foundation had been completed and they were ready to lay the corner
stone, the foreman asked if there would be any ceremonies in connection
with the laying of the stone. The Founder was not familiar with such
ceremonies and asked what was usually done on such occasions. The
foreman explained that it was customary to put a metal box under the
stone with a roster of members and a newspaper of the date and coins
of the year. The mortar had been spread and the stone was waiting. He
felt in his pocket and drew put a silver half dollar and tossing it down
in the center of the mortar said "Lay it on that." When the old building
had served its time and the present building took its place the corner
stone was laid with elaborate ritual and ceremony and in the copper
box enclosed in the new corner stone was placed the Founder's silver half
dollar which was found beneath the old stone when the old building was
razed.
    The inhabitants of the town cooperated in the erection of the church
without regard to creed or denomination. All faiths were represented in
the contributions to the building fund, and services were held in the build-
ing by ministers of all religious persuasion. Among those who preach-
ed in the new church were Rev. Hayes Bell, of Clarksville, pastor of
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, three miles north of Elsberry,
Rev. Charles A. Mitchell, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Rev. T.
A. Abbott, pastor of the New Hope Christian Church, and Rev. John
Moorehead O'Brien, then or later presiding elder of the Hannibal Dis-
trict of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, later presiding elder of
the St. Joseph District and still later presiding elder of the Plattsburg
District. All these ministers originally held meetings in the waiting
room of the depot. Later meetings were held in the warehouse south of
the Mill and still later in the hall above the millinery establishment of
Mrs. Arcelia Frazier.

                            METHODIST

    Rev. O'Brien had served under Lee in the Civil War as captain of
a North Carolina company and shortly after the close of the war had
moved to Missouri. He was a man of fine presence, tall and command-
ing, with a generous shock of red hair and was a Peter Cartwright type
of preacher. He organized the first Methodist Church, the first church of


Page 30:

any persuasion in Elsberry, November 24, 1879 and as soon as the new
building was completed dedicated it as a Methodist Church. Great dis-
content and criticism followed. The Founder, who had contributed more
than anyone else to the building of the edifice was especially critical,
so much so, that he never "darkened its doors again" and refused
to attend the marriage of his step-daughter Claudine Frazier, the first
marriage solemnized in the building.
    Ministers who succeeded Rev. O'Brien, in the order of their succes-
sion, were: J. M. O'Brien, H. D. Groves, J. M. Ramsey, John Holland,
A. V. Bailey, M. P. Pryor, J. M. Major, T. P. Middleton, H. I. Cobb,
J. L. Taylor, E. W. Reynolds, Clyde W. Gow, W. D. Neale, B. A. McKnight,
J. O. Coppage, W. W. Richeson, W. N. Gidlens, L. C. Maggart, J. W.
Tanquary, E. E. Bustwich, W. H. Ellington, B. D. Sipple, G. F. Poole,
H. E. Corbin, J. E. Rudloff, C. H. Sherman, C. E. Yoes, J. Clifton Lee,
Frank C. Tucker, Jr., Marvin Fortell, E. D. Watkins, Jr., O. O. Diven,
T. G. Matkin.

                             BAPTIST

    The Elsberry Baptist Church was organized with 13 members, Octo-
ber 27, 1883 by Rev. W. A. Bibb. Pastors who have served the church
have been: Charles A. Mitchell, J. D. Hacker, W. H. Stone, Dr. Wiley
J. Patrick, Dr. F. B. Dillard, W. A. Bibb, J. T. Nevins, S. L. Palmer,
Joshua Hickman, Charles King, Abe C. Jones, W. L. Hatcher, J. T.
Phillips, K. E. Magruder, O. C. Cooper, L. D. Gregory, Ed D. Dawson,
E. E. Bauer, G. Elmo Purvis, C. D. O'Neill and D. R. Pickern.

                             CHRISTIAN

    The Elsberry Christian Church was organized with 29 members March
27, 1887 by Rev. T. A. Abbott. Mrs. Nelle Eastin Morris is the only sur-
viving member of the 29. Pastors of the church have been: Thomas A.
Abbott, James A. Grimes, R. A. Martin, J. E. Dyer, J. B. Mayfield,
W. A. Bibbony, Dr. William W. Rumsey, E. G. Merrill, William A. Me-
loan, Bowling G. Reavis, Guy V. Ferguson, James E. Todd, Frank W.
Leonard, Arthur A. Hedges, Arthur S. Anderson, Francis J. Yokley,
J. Morgan Harris, Ralph V. Callaway, H. Lee Jacobs, O. Leonard Angel,
Benn Hill Cleaver, Oris E. Watson, George W. Swan, Jr., William Stea-
gall McLean, Robert F. Bristol, Dr. Enoch P. Gabriel, Harold Lindsay
Odor and Oscar P. Campbell.

                             PRESBYTERIAN

    The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church was organized August
21, 1911 with 12 members, the daughter of the Mt. Zion Church, the old-
est church of that faith west of the Mississippi River. Pastors of the
Elsberry Church have been: R. N. Hunter, J. H. Snell, R. L. Grier, R.
C. Kennedy, D. P. Presley, W. C. Halliday, L. P. Knox, F. B. Edwards,
C. E. Edwards, J. Calvin Smith, Nale Falls, Dr. H. H. Wernecke, H.
H. Watson, John Guthrie and J. B. McFerrin.

                             CATHOLIC

    Under the pastorship of Reverend Father George P. Kuhlman, the
Sacred Heart Catholic Church was dedicated June 16, 1910 by Arch-
bishop John J. Glennon, later His Eminence John Cardinal Glennon of St.


Page 31:

Louis. Among the priests who have served the congregation are Father
Joseph Newman who offered the first Holey Mass in the residence of
Cy Wantland at Sterling Landing in 1905; Father Patrick F. Quigley, from
Millwood, Father George P. Kuhlman from Louisiana, Father Daniel
J. Gleeson, Father Thomas Geraghty, Father Cornelius J. Flavin, Father
Joseph H. Huels and the present pastor, Father Aloysius F. Wilmes.

                             HOLINESS

    The Fire Baptized Holiness Church of Elsberry was organized by Rev.
William A. Femmer and Rev. Laurence Schaper in August of 1930 and co-
operated in the establishment of the Elsberry Holiness Mission. The con-
gregation now has its house of worship at the intersection of Welch Avenue
and B. Highway, where the first service was held September 7, 1953. Their
pastors have been: C. C. Ham, Lawrence Schaper, and Oliver Allen.
    The Elsberry Free Holiness Church was established in 1950 and is
the outgrowth of the Elsberry Holiness Mission. Mrs. Ray Mills is pastor.
    Both churches have contributed actively to the spiritual growth and
progress of the community.
    In South Elsberry the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in
1882 by Rev. Lewis Overton, the Baptist Church in 1884 by Rev. Turner
Donaldson, the A. M. E. Church in 1889 by Rev. Ed Poe, the Church of God
in Christ in 1923 by Rev. Grant Bottom.
    In the early days of the town great emphasis was placed on the doc-
trinal differences which divided denominations. A local wag related that as
he came down Fourth street one Sunday morning the congregation of the
Christian Church on one side of the street were singing 'Will There Be
Any Stars In My Crown" while the Methodist on the other side of the street
were singing "No Not One, No Not One."
    "Typical of the times was the inquiry of the small miss on her way
home from Sunday services when she asked: "Mother, why did the minis-
ter talk so much about John the Baptist without saying anything about
Jesus the Presbyterian?"
    The second church building in the town, the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, was moved from the intersection of the Thompson Crossing road
running west, with the Bluff Road running north. The church had stood for
many years before the establishment of Elsberry directly north of the in-
tersection just across the road from the old toll gate of the gravel road
and in recent years had declined in membership. The Baptists offered to
move the church to Elsberry if the Presbyterians would grant them a half
interest in the building. The offer was accepted and the church was located
on the corner lot at Sixth and DuBois streets. The arrangement proved to
be a very happy one and both congregations grew and prospered. During
this period several ministers of the Presbyterian church, notably Rev.
Deccard, Rev. G. Bell, Rev. T. Bernard and Dr. Alonzo Pearson, men of
great power and scholarship, contributed invaluably to the intellectual
as well as the spiritual life of the community.
    In the late 80's Rev. J. D. Hacker became pastor of the Baptist church.
He was a brilliant man but a militant controversialist and introduced the
custom of preaching an annual "doctrinal" sermon in which he demon-
strated conclusively the errors of all other sects, especially on the car-
dinal issues of communion and baptism. He was accustomed to adorn his
discourse with piquant illustrations as "A boy drew a picture of a cow.
After looking it over he was afraid it would not be recognized so he wrote
under it. This is a cow." Likewise the Founder of the church down the
street, apprehensive lest it not be recognized, figuratively wrote under it


Page 32:

"This is a Christian Church." The effect on sister denominations can well
be imagined. Finally he challenged Rev. Wm. A. Paton, a visiting evangelist
of the Presbyterian church with whom his Baptist brethern were living in
brotherly regard and commity to a public debate on the probity of the
fundamental doctrines of the two denominations. The challenge was promptly
accepted.
    Needless to say the debate attracted great attention. The church was
crowded. No such congregations had been seen before. Aisles were jammed,
windows and doors were filled. All over the church people stood during the
entire program. While applause was taboo in the churches of that day, in-
terest was intense and feeling ran at fever heat.
    Rev. Hacker opened the debate by announcing that he would utterly
discomfit the opposition. In rebuttal, Rev. Patton quoted from the First
Book of Kings: "Let not him that putteth his armour on boast as he that
taketh it off."
    The high water mark in the debate was the interpretation of a phrase
in the original Greek of the New Testament offered by Rev. Patton. In
response Rev. Hacker at the conclusion of his speech laid a Greek Testa-
ment on the pulpit and held up a twenty dollar gold piece and offered to give
his opponent the gold piece if he would correctly translate a designated
passage from the original Greek. Rev. Patton who had taken four years
of college Greek promptly translated the passage and Rev. Hacker handed
over the money and the debate was over without any issue having been
settled. Shortly thereafter Rev. Hacker removed to Boulder, Colorado
where he became a noted evangelist. And all controversial agitation having
been withdrawn on the local field, peace and amity settled down once more
over the Elsberry churches and today cooperation among the pastors in
the local Ministerial Alliance is reflected in their respective congregations
which now work together in effectual fellowship for the good of the com-
munity and the Kingdom.

                               EDUCATION

    As soon as the depot had been completed and the mushroom growth of
the town started, attention turned to the question of a school for Elsberry.
It was generally taken for granted that the nearest district school, the
Cannon School, located on the Isaac Cannon farm on the Browns Mill Road
would be moved into town and the name changed to the Elsberry School. So
it was something in the nature of a surprise, if not a shock, to the town
boosters when at an election called for this purpose, the proposition was
defeated by a decisive vote of the school patrons.
    Under the assumption that the matter had not been sufficiently can-
vassed with the voters, a campaign was organized and a second election
held in which the proposal to move the school to Elsberry was defeated
by a still larger majority. Nothing daunted, a third election was held out
reaction from the bitter rivalry which had sprung up between New Hope
and Elsberry and personal jealousies coupled with the fear of increased
taxes, prevailed and for the third time the vote was adverse.
    Again the Founder led the way. If the school would not come to Els-
berry, then Elsberry would build its own school. Again the Founder donated
the land and offered brick from his own brickyard at a favorable figure.
Stock was subscribed and sold at $100 a share and in 1883 a two-story
brick building was completed with two rooms down stairs, ample accom-
modation for school purposes, and one large unfinished room upstairs
which was available for any worthy community purpose.
    Among the activities accommodated was the Thespian Club with a


Page 33:

membership made up of the young beaux of the neighborhood which from
time to time staged plays and entertainments in the "school hall." Es-
pecially successful was the play "Ten Nights in a Barroom," staged with
elaborate scenery and accessories in which Dr. T. V. Farmer played the
father, Miss Nita Bailey, now Mrs. H. R. Sanders, was the daughter and
Dr. Charles Powell, grandfather of Etta Jean, sang Old Black Joe, then a
new song, between curtains. No culmination in all the dramatic history of
Elsberry ever provided a greater thrill than when the father threw the
whiskey glass - which was caught by a stage hand in the wings while another
rattled a box of broken glass - and Nita dashed through the door with
cranberry juice streaming down her face and fell dying at his feet. The
women in the crowded audience sobbed openly and the men cleared their
throats stentoriously and blew vociferously into red bandana handkerchiefs.
    The school opened in the fall of 1883 as an academy, for a ten months
term, at a tuition fee of $2 per month per pupil. Prof. W. J. Seaman (1848-
1924) who in 1882 married Miss Frances Melinda Vance (1858-1935) was
principal. Both Prof. Seaman and Mrs. Seaman were graduates of LaGrange
College and later of the Kirksville School of Osteopathy. Miss Callie
Towles, of Louisiana, and Miss Nonie Elgin, of Clarksville, were assist-
ants.
    The occasion of the year was the closing day with exercises in which
Miss Callie reclining on a divan on the stage, directed a May pole dance
about a red and white ribboned pole in the community hall, indicating the
reversals by snapping her fingers. To the fond mothers and other patrons
of the school who filled the hall to capacity it was an inspiring scene of
cultured elegance.
    As there was no indication of a change of heart on the part of the voters
in the neighboring district, the school was continued the following term
with Prof. E. F. Nichols (1864) as principal and Miss Sophia Seaton (1862)
in charge of the lower grades. They were married in 1887 and moved with
her brother-in-law, J. H. Voorhees (1859) to Pueblo, Colorado where he
was eventually elected to the bench of the 10th Judicial District of Colorado.
    It now became evident that subscription school was unpopular and a
burden on the average citizen with a large family. Accordingly negotiations
were entered into with John M. Gibson, the leader of the recalcitrants,
with a view to arranging a compromise. Various inducements were offered
but John Gum was uncompromising. The only terms to which he would
agree were for the stockholders of the Elsberry school to turn over their
new brick building to the school district without compensation or limitation
of any kind. And on those terms, exempting the tax payers of the district
from any of the costs of the new building, the voters finally consented and
the Cannon School became the Elsberry School. However, all the conse-
quences were not necessarily advantageous. The school term was reduced
from ten months to six months and local teachers sometimes barely fa-
miliar with the three R's took the place of college trained teachers from
outside. The hiatus in the school term was made up by Miss Claudia J.
Triplett and Miss Lorena Ellis (1866-1928) who supplemented the winter
term with a two months summer term at the rate of $2 per month per pu-
pil.
    Up to this time there was no high school of any class in the county.
Through the years excellent secondary schools have been developed and
beginning July 1, 1947 the 82 school districts of the county were gradually
consolidated into the four present districts. By February 6, 1951 four
high schools, approved by the State University and the State Department
of Education, including the Elsberry High School, were permanently es-
tablished.


Page 34:

    Eventually the soft brick, of home manufacture, in the school building
burned with cord wood for fuel, began to crumble and at the turn of the
century bonds were voted to replace it with the present grade school on
the original site. Still later the school district having cancelled its obliga-
tions, a second issue was floated and the first section of the present High
School Building was constructed. In 1940 on application to the WPA an ad-
dition including a gymnasium and auditorium was added at an approximate
cost of $50,000 of which the school district paid a little over $6,000 and
the Federal Government supplied the remainder.
    On August 8, 1950 a further bond issue of $45,000 was voted for the
purpose of building and equipping a vocational education department of
domestic science and manual training.
    By 1953 an unprecedented increase in the school population of the dis-
trict, and the approaching integration of the colored student body, rend-
ered additional class rooms imperative and the largest bond issue ever
voted by the Elsberry patrons, in the sum of $150,000, was approved which,
supplemented by a State grant of $50,000, provided $200,000 for the con-
struction of an additional primary school building to be located on the
Wigginton Hill, on a site purchased from the American Legion.
    With this addition Elsberry now has one of the most modern and most
complete school plants to be found in a town of its size anywhere in the
Mississippi Valley.
    Among those who have served as superintendent of schools since the
founding of the city have been.
William J. Seaman
Edward F. Nichols
William A. Dudley
Robert Sanderson
A. O. Moore
Wm. F. Schofield
James W. Graves
Briton P. Taylor
John A. DeTienne
Asa G. Steele
William J. Rowley
S. P. Bradley
O. A. Wilson
Theodore A. Hollman
J. B. Rodgers
A. C. Floyd
W. H. LeFever
Frank Hales
Francis B. McCluer
Herman L. Purdin
    Two men in particular in the educational history of the city are en-
titled to special note, Howard G. Colwell and Briton P. Taylor. It is all the
more remarkable that they were contemporaries.
    In the summer of 1897 a local minister who had recently accepted the
pastorate of an Elsberry Church decided to open an academy to articulate
with the senior year of the Elsberry High School. He advertised proposed
academic and musical courses in the Elsberry Democrat, issued a printed
prospectus and negotiated with a teacher's agency for a principal and a
teacher of piano and voice. The first week in September Howard G. Colwell,
who had graduated from William Jewell College the previous June and
Miss Bessie Lindsay, a graduate of a St Louis conservatory of music, got


Page 35:

off the train asking for the minister who was President of the Elsberry
Academy. They had one interview he told them the response to his ad-
vertisement had been so discouraging that he had abandoned the idea of
starting an academy and had made no arrangements of any kind for a
building or other incidentals and that he was resigning his pastorship and
would leave Elsberry in the next day or two. His proposals had been so
satisfactory that they had declined all other offers and it was now too late
to make other arrangements for employment for the school year. Making
the best of it, Miss Lindsay with the help of sympathetic people of the
town enrolled a large class of pupils and enjoyed a number of successful
years as teacher of piano. Prof. Colwell faced a more difficult situation.
But in the end he rented a vacant cottage on Fifth Street, borrowed a small
table for a desk, and neighbors donated a few chairs. He cut the weeds,
replaced broken window glass, did a little necessary painting and repair
work and opened on the day advertised for the beginning of the fall term.
And then with perhaps a dozen students began one of the most important
school years in the lives of any of his pupils. He was a talented teacher, a
man of the highest integrity, and he led his classes to intellectual and
spiritual heights heretofore untouched. He was active in all branches of
church work. Practically every boy and girl in the community, either di-
rectly or indirectly came in touch with him and the effects of his life and
teaching were plainly discernable for many years after his work in Els-
berry was done. He later became President of Buchanan College and sub-
sequently Principal of Soldan High School in St. Louis, and died of tubercu-
losis superinduced by early years of privation.
    Briton P. Taylor, a graduate of Central College, came to Elsberry as
Superintendent of Schools in September of 1898. He was remarkable for
what he taught outside the textbooks of his academic courses. His influence
on the youth of the school and community was profound, inspiring and last-
ing. Like Colwell his works lived after him. From the Superintendency
of the Elsberry Schools he entered the ministry and held some of the larger
pastorates in the South, including those of Kansas City, Missouri and
Charleston, South Carolina. On several occasions when a bishopric was to
be filled he was within a few votes of election. It is not too much to say
that these two extraordinary men, by a strange coincidence contemporaries,
within the space of the few years of their service in the local schools,
completely changed the ideals and standards of that generation of young
men and women.

                         THE ELSBERRY PRESS

    Another young man who seemed destined to exert a profound influence
on Elsberry affairs was Henry F. Childers who came to Elsberry in 1880
from Westminster College and gave Elsberry its first newspaper. Up to this
time the only newspapers in Lincoln County had been published at the county
seat. New Hope, the second largest town, and Auburn the third largest
town in the county had never had a newspaper. But Elsberry, a railroad
town, drew young men as a magnet draws iron and on October 8, 1880,
Henry Childers, just 21 years old, published the first issue of the Elsberry
Advance. In a "Salutatory" editorial the editor announced that "Politically,
the Advance will be strictly and unwaveringly Democratic at all times and
under all circumstances. The National, State and County Democratic tickets
are to be found at the head of our columns which is an indication that they
have our hearty support." The tickets referred to included Winfield S.
Hancock for President and William H. English of Indiana for Vice Presi-
dent. The State ticket listed T. T. Critenden for Governor, Aylett H.


Page 36:

Buckner for Congress and Col. Thomas G. Hutt for State Senator. Champ
Clark, of Pike County was the Democratic candidate for Presidential
Elector. Prominent on the county ticket was Howard S. Parker for State
Representative and A. C. Snethen for sheriff.
    Incidentally, it is interesting to note that the above candidates were
reported elected but as a later issue of the Advance points out, "Hancock
was cheated out of the Presidency which was awarded by a partisan com-
mission to Chester A. Arthur."
    Illustrative of the times, carried in the first issue of the Elsberry
Advance is a news item reporting the robbery of a stage coach between
Pierce City, Missouri and Eureka Spring, Arkansas the previous week by
six men wearing handkerchief masks and armed with double barrelled shot
guns. The robbery seems to have been a successful proceeding in every
particular.
    Under the fashion notes in this early copy of the Advance for the year
of 1880, the reader is informed that "the betrothal bracelet sometimes
takes the place now of the engagement ring and is worn on the left arm."
    Two columns of this first edition are devoted to a description of the
new flouring mill then under construction by the Elsberry Milling Com-
pany incorporated in May, 1880 with Wm. L. McIntosh as President Henry
S. Carroll as Vice President and B. C. Welch as Secretary. Through this
mill were to pass in the years ahead millions of dollars worth of wheat,
corn and other grain with their products.
    The paper also carries current quotations of prices of staple com-
modities on the St. Louis markets; choice cattle at $5.10 to $5.50, native
cows at $2.25 to $3.00, hogs at $3.50 to $5.35, wheat at 94c, corn at 38c,
butter at 25c, eggs at 14c, tobacco, then the cash crop on every farm in
the county and marketed at the Tinsley Tobacco Co. at Louisiana or the
Boone Tobacco Company at Clarksville, at $6.00 to $7.00 per cwt.
    The Advance seems to have been a profitable investment from the
start. According to the announcement at the mast head of the paper, 1200
initial copies were printed and distributed gratis and the public were in-
vited to subscribe. The subscription rate was $1.25 a year. As it later de-
veloped this amount was sometimes paid in cordwood, eggs or vegetables
and sometimes in hams or country made sorgum molasses. Apparently no
reasonable offer was refused. So it was not surprising that a number of
prospective purchasers made bids to buy the paper almost from the time
the first issue hit the street. But the future was promising and Childers
had as his assistant an expert typesetter W. D. Wiggins, known affection-
ately as Billy Wiggins and he whetted the appetites of prospective pur-
chaser by declining to place a price on the paper. However, in March of
1881 the pressure became too strong and he sold a half-interest in the
paper to J. W. Powell and in December of the same year sold Powell the
remaining half of the Elsberry paper and bought from W. J. Knott a half-
interest in the Troy Free Press, the Troy firm becoming Ward and Child-
ers. In September of 1882 he brought Ward's interest becoming the sole
proprietor of the Troy Free Press.
    The transaction was probably an unfortunate one so far as Elsberry
was concerned. Powell was a rising young lawyer and while he was a tal-
ented editor he would perhaps have done better to have concentrated on his
law practice and Elsberry would have retained Henry Childers, one of the
most dynamic personalities of his time.
    James Watson Powell (1855-1924) son of Watson Thomas Powell and
Sarah Washington Zimmerman, member of the firm of Walton, Avery and
Powell until April of 1880 when he moved from Troy to Elsberry, was ad-
mitted to the bar in October, 1879, married Anna Eliza Whiteside in 1881,


Page 37:

editor of the Elsberry Advance from December of 1881 to 1894 when he was
elected Prosecuting Attorney of Lincoln County. After serving 4 years as
prosecuting attorney he resumed his legal practice and in 1902 was elected
Probate Judge and served for eight years. He returned to Elsberry in 1910
but was never again associated with newspaper work.
    In February of 1884 Powell sold the Advance to William T. Reed, for-
merly of Paynesville, related by marriage to Mrs. Hugh A. Steavenson.
In May, 1885 Reed sold to J. W. Powell and Robert T. Robinson. In July of
1887 Robinson sold his half interest to Richard H. Wommack. For the year
1888 the paper was published by Powell and Wommack. In the meantime
Hurley M. Cornick had moved the "Lincoln County News" from Troy to
Elsberry and two enterprising young men, Charles S. Huckstep and Robert
J. Bradley, had started published the "Elsberry Gazette."
    On the election of J. W. Powell as Prosecuting Attorney, he sold the
Advance to Cornick and it was merged with the Lincoln County News. In
his valedictory of February 7, 1895, the last issue of the Elsberry Advance,
Powell writes "I have been connected with the paper for about 15 years.
After the first of March I will move to Troy." And the Elsberry Advance
had ceased to exist. Times were hard. A depression was on. And business
does not seem to have prospered with the News and a few months later
Cornick abandoned the field to the Gazette and moved his plant to Hardin,
Illinois where in a destructive fire the back files of the Elsberry Advance
were destroyed. In fact as late as 1906 it was announced that all files of
all papers ever published in Elsberry had been destroyed.
    On March 27, 1900 James T. Walker bought the remaining paper the
Elsberry Gazette and changed its name to the Elsberry Democrat, under
which name it has been published ever since. In 1902 Walker sold the paper
to the Mayhall brothers and accompanied by his friend and plant foreman,
Gordon Crank, moved to Welsh, Louisiana where they published the Rice
Belt Journal. In 1906, having sold the Journal, they returned to Elsberry
and Walker again became owner of the Elsberry Democrat selling a half
interest on December 1 of that year to Crank. In 1923 Gordon Crank be-
came the sole owner and under his management the Democrat entered on a
period unsurpassed editorially and typographically by any similar period
in the history of the Elsberry press. Following his untimely death in
1945 the family continues the publication of the paper under the standards
and traditions set by him in his long and brilliant career.
    Editors who have served under the Estate have been Hurley Crank,
John M. Self, R. H. Jackson, R. Ferguson, M. H. Alderson, W. Stamper
and S. A. Howard.

                              FRATERNAL

    One of the interesting features of the first edition of the Advance is
the column of announcements of lodges and other fraternal organizations.
Long before the building of the C. B. and Q railroad A. F. & A. M. and
I. O. O. F. lodge had been chartered at Auburn, New Hope, Burr Oak and
New Salem. As the towns of Elsberry, Foley and Winfield developed along
the railroad, and the original sites of the lodges became ghost towns,
the lodges were moved to the new towns but retained the original names
as written in their charters. The Masonic lodge at Elsberry still bears the
name of New Hope Lodge No. 199. The lodge at Foley is still the Burr Oak
Lodge and the lodge at Winfield is the New Salem Lodge.


                            A. F. & A. M

Page 38:

    New Hope Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons No. 199 was
chartered May 31, 1860, just at the beginning of the Civil War. The charter
was signed by the Grand Master of the State, Marcus McFarland, of Lin-
coln County who at the time was a resident of Troy. The lodge was moved
from New Hope to Elsberry in 1890. Here it has had a distinguished history
and has been honored with three Thirty-Third Degree Masons, Robert
Elliott Black 33 degree, Roscoe Bruce Black 33 degree and Arthur Lyndon
Gladney 33 degree. On the date of publication, of the first issue of the
Elsberry Advance, the lodge was still meeting at New Hope and Dr. James
S. Long, great-grandfather of James Gordon Welch, who is also a grandson
of Gordon Crank, and who bears the name of both grandfathers, was Wor-
shipful Master. James O. Baskett, a great-great uncle of Michael Reid
and Bobby Trail, was Secretary of the Lodge. The Baskett Family, one of
the oldest and most distinguished in the county, has long been intimately
identified with Freemasonary and in each generation members of the fam-
ily have "passed through the chairs" of the lodge. At a time when trans-
portation was difficult and no radio, telephones, television or rural de-
livery of mall or daily newspapers were available the monthly sessions
of these fraternal bodies, usually meeting the Saturday before the full
moon in each month, were notable occasions and members would ride
long distances to attend and then retrace the road after lodge closed. At
New Salem, regularly, and at other lodges from time to time, the lodge
had contracts with local housewives who timed their baking to turn out
loaves of hot bread, which were served with large crocks of freshly churned
butter and huge pots of strong coffee when the lodge closed. Members
thus fortified would head their horses back through mellow moonlit nights
or through snow and sleet and storm on their way home.
    Beginning with the first Worshipful Master of the Lodge, whose serv-
ice dated from 1860, the long line of distinguished men who have presided
over the deliberations of the lodge include.: A. F. Downing, John Black
(brother of Robert F. Black). Dr. James W. Welch (father of James C.
Welch), T. J. Neely, Dr. Geo W. Vaughn, Henry F. Wells, John D. Cox, Dr.
James Long, Geo. W. Hammack, Will H. Baskett (father of L. T. Baskett),
Isaac Whiteside, R. F. Black (father of R. B. Black), James L. Dawson
(father of F. L. Dawson), M. S. Alloway, J. C. Bradley, W. W. Watts, James
C. Welch, C. C. Eastin, Dr. C. F. Powell (father of Dr. C. W. Powell),
Floyd Galloway (father of Carlyle Galloway), J. J. Shaw, L. T. Baskett,
F. L. Dawson, S. R. Hoover, Harry R. Penick, Dr. James N. Damron (faith-
er of Dr. O. E. Damron), W. S. Sanders, Joseph R. Palmer, Robert Trail,
Jos. K. Palmer (father of W. J. Palmer), W. J. Palmer, R. B. Black, Harry
Ross, H. K. Cunningham, Claude B. Lilley, Clarence H. Feix, Dr. C. W.
Powell, T. Louie Wells, Harvey F. Powell, Wm. A. Ulery, Jr., L. W.
Trescott, Carlyle Galloway, Charles W. Miller, W. E., Long, F. L. Palmer,
Otis Hammack, G. Jack Jones, Norman C. Evans, E. Palmer Cox (brother
of Thompson Cox), Jesse K. R. Langford, A. J. Vann, Thompson Cox,
Wayne B. Leftwich, Forrest Brooksher and Lon H. LaRue, now serving
in 1955.

                              I. O. O. F.

    The Elsberry I. O. O. F., the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Dead-
wood Lodge No.382 was instituted at New Hope February 28, 1878 and was
moved from New Hope to Elsberry in May of 1895. At the time of the first
publication of the Advance, Dee F. Foley, a nephew of Addison Foley, of
New Hope, was Noble Grand and W. J. (Jap) Cannon was Secretary of the
Lodge. It is related that when it was proposed to buy an organ for the use


Page 39:

of the Lodge the Secretary, who enlivened lodge dinners and other festive
occasions by playing the banjo, closed the debate by asking sententiously
"If we had an organ who'd pick it?" The Cannon Family has been associ-
ated with Deadwood Lodge from its earliest history and Otto B. Cannon,
great-grandfather of Charla and Brenda Howard, prominent for many years
at sessions of the Grand Lodge of the State, served as Conductor in the
exemplification of the ritual in practically every jurisdiction in North-
eastern Missouri.
    Among the Noble Grands who have presided over the Lodge are: W. D.
Dudley, A. H. Kercheval, W. J. Nash, I. N. Cannon, Otto B. Cannon, H. B.
Metts, William A. Dudley, Perry J. Cannon, D. F. Dever, W. P. Morton,
J. R. Cannon, H. H. Ashbaugh, W. W. Omohundro, Mont. P. Elsberry, Wil-
liam A. Ulery, W. D. Bradley, John Brother, Charles W. Ellis, James Metts,
Clarence W. Ferry, Albert J. Cannon, J. R. Palmer, Edward S. Morris,
Ed. McAllister, Henry Humphrey, Dr. Forest V. Keeling, Gordon Crank,
S. Price Fleener, Jesse B. Fills, R. C. Dixon, Dr. W. N. Lowrey, George
C. Levengood, William B. Ellis, L. W. Crank, J. R. Wilkinson, C. L.
Bushman, Charles S. Huckstep, J. T. Devaney, Thomas C. Smith, John S.
Watts, W. R. Cannon, James T. Rice, Charles W. Miller, M. Burley, Charles
C. Brown, B. D. Hardesty, J. V. Whiteside, Dr. J. M. Beard, J. H. New-
man, Cecil W. Cannon, F. H. Brinkman, Elmer L. Mayes, Lewis Trescott,
C. H. Feix, Frank Bowton, Dr. Edwin R. Whiteside, Roy M. Burchett,
Harry T. Palmer, Herman L. Purdin, Wilford L. Cramer, Wiley P. Lons-
berry, D. H. Kanoy, L. F. McBride, Clifton Miller, Ernest Bowton, Cecil
Fines, Charles Machir, Franklin Miller, Virgil Weeks, William Reid,
Reginald Watts, Charles Poole, Harold Ligon, Walter McClelland, Russell
Gladney, Eugene Duncan, George Swan, Ivan Hammond, Wayne Werges,
Stanley Presley, Harold Ives, Hugo Branham, Charles Johnson, Sidney
Wipke, James H. Callaway, Joseph Lilley, Alfred Farmer, Harvey Hat-
field, Floyd Turnbull, Norman Blakey, Eugene Palmer, Hurley R. Crank,
Robert Zumwalt.
    It would be impossible to estimate the far-reaching influence of Odd
Fellowship and Freemasonry on Elsberry and its people and its History,
through the classic language of their rituals, the love of liberty and free
government and the profound truths and high ideals which they inculcate.
From these two fraternities have come the men who have been leaders
in every worthy civic enterprise in the history of the city.

                          O. E. S.

    Elsberry Chapter 39 of the Eastern Star Lodge was organized January
25, 1902 and received its charter under date of October 31 of the same
year. Through its chairs have passed many of the representative woman
of the city and the adjacent countryside.
    Worthy Matrons of Elsberry Chapter No. 39, order of Eastern Star
are: 1902 Mattie Rose (Mrs. John W.) Alvis, 1904 Jennie Waters (Mrs.
Dr. Stephen H.) Kerr, 1905 Miss Amy Reid, 1908 Kate Hemphill (Mrs.
Jno.) Cochran, 1909 Jessie Fisher (Mrs. Judge W. W.) Reid, 1910 Miss
Lorena Ellis, 1911 Miss Lena Alloway, 1913 Etta Jamison (Mrs. Dr.
C. F.) Powell, 1915 Mollie Thomas (Mrs. Frank L.) Dawson, 1916 Fannie
Mulherin (Mrs. Gabriel) Damron, 1918 Minnie Callaway (Mrs. I. Lewis)
Trescott, 1919 Cynthia Palmer (Mrs. Elmer F.) Brother, 1923 Mary Ellis
(Mrs. D. K.) Knapp, 1925 Lillian Dawson (Mrs. W. Seaton) Sanders, 1927
Oneida Cochran (Mrs. W. R.) Cannon, 1929 Vesta Green (Mrs. Dr. C. B.)
Lindsay, 1930 Irene (Mrs. Harry) Brinkman, 1931 Gerda Cobb (Mrs. Floyd
O.) Galloway, 1932 Clarice Gentry (Mrs. A. L.) Gladney, 1933 Isa Smith


Page 40:

(Mrs. L. W.) Trescott, 1934 Gussie Brown (Mrs. J. J.) Shaw, 1935 Melba
Mayes (Mrs. Dr. C. W.) Powell, 1936 Mary Ann Green (Mrs. Howard K.)
Watts, 1937 Margaret Trescott (Mrs. Cecil W.) Cannon, 1938 Mary Bailey
(Mrs. Wm. A.) Ulery, 1939 Mary Redd (Mrs. Clinton L.) Alloway, 1940
Miss Mildred Baskett, 1941 Nell Millard (Mrs. Paul H.) Gibson, 1942 Vir-
ginia Banks (Mrs. Carlyle) Galloway, 1943 Anna Laura Baskett (Mrs. Mal-
colm) Trail, 1944 Mary Ross (Mrs. Christian) Meyer, 1945 Winona Hobbs
(Mrs. Russell) Taylor, 1946 Mary Miller (Mrs. G. Jack) Jones, 1947
Nettle Luckett (Mrs. B. F.) Gladney, 1948 Frances Watts (Mrs. Jack)
Vann, 1949 Isabelle Rogers (Mrs. Raymond) Miller, 1950 May Burbridge
(Mrs. Clardy) Moss, 1951 Lelia Graham (Mrs. Olon) Gray, 1952 Helen
Whiteside (Mrs. Wm. H.) Machir, 1953 Kathryn Trescott (Mrs. O'Garlan)
Ricks, 1955 Ruth Tiller (Mrs. Harold) Ligon.

                             REBEKAHS

    Elsberry Rebekah Lodge No.415, the auxiliary to the Odd Fellows
Lodge, was organized and chartered May 12, 1906. The women who have
occupied its chairs have contributed materially to the social, civic and
fraternal life of the community.
    The roll of those who have presided as Noble Grand of the Order in-
clude: 1906 Minnie Lindsay (Mrs. Edward S.) Morris, 1907 Mattie Brother
(Mrs. Benjamin D.) Elsberry, 1908 Annie Robinson (Mrs. C. C.) Ferry,
1909 Cynthia Palmer (Mrs. E. E.) Brother, 1910 Lizzie (Mrs. John)
Humphrey, 1911 Annie Jeffries (Mrs. Joseph R.) Wilkinson, 1912 Beatrice
Sanders (Mrs. Mont P.) Elsberry, 1913 Ida Miller (Mrs. Clarence) Feix,
1914 Mollie Lowrey (Mrs. Dr C. A.) McAfee, 1915 Emma Fields (Mrs.
John S.) Watts, 1916 Dora Mildenstein (Mrs. Ed. S.) Metts, 1917 Susie
Bradley (Mrs. Nide E.) Cobb, 1920 Edith Evans (Mrs. George C.) Leven-
good, 1921 Nettle Luckett (Mrs. B. F.) Gladney, 1922 Elizabeth Pryor (Mrs.
J. V.) Whiteside, 1923 Couchie Palmer (Mrs. Rommie E.) Cramer, 1925
Mary Triplett (Mrs. Val. W.) Waters, 1926 Miss Georgia Huckstep, 1928
Clarice Gentry (Mrs. A. L.) Gladney, 1929 Irene Pollard (Mrs. Harry)
Brinkman, 1930 Annie Rowbotham, (Mrs. Harry T.) Palmer, 1931 Alberta
Elsberry (Mrs. W. C.) Taylor, 1933 Isa Smith (Mrs. Lewis W.) Trescott,
1934 Winifred Whiteside (Mrs. Joe) Langord, 1935 Ruth Langford (Mrs.
Arch) Taylor, 1939 Verna Elsberry (Mrs. Frank L.) Palmer, 1940 Eileen
Jamison (Mrs. Joseph) Gladney, 1941 Pauline Dryden (Mrs. Clifton) Miller,
1942 Virginia Hearin (Mrs. Charles) Machir, 1943 Miss Sadie Hunt, 1944
Addie Boyd (Mrs. Thomas N.) Harpole, 1946 Alene Norton (Mrs. Luther)
Segrass 1948 Pearl Smith (Mrs. Everett) Fine, 1949 Kathryn Cole (Mrs.
William) Whitaker, 1950 Anita Strus (Mrs. James H.) Callaway, 1951
Augusta Corbin (Mrs. Charles) Johnson, 1952 Mrs. Kathryn Graham (Mrs.
Harold) Ives, 1953 Hazel Coffman (Mrs. Forest) Davis, 1954 Ruth Anna
(Mrs. Eugene T.) Taylor, 1955 Hattie Meyer (Mrs. Joe) Lilley.

                             THE GRANGE

    A surprising number of Grange lodges is reported. The Grange, the
oldest farm organization in America today, and at that time a political
power throughout the New England states and agricultural West, and which
is still active in many states of the Union although completely forgotten
in this immediate section of the country, reported eight chapters widely
distributed over the county. Among them, as listed in the Elsberry Advance
of October 8, 1880, was the Star Hope Grange No.1868. Isaac Cannon,
great-great-grandfather of Richard Cannon Mayes, was Master and W. C.


Page 41:

Sleet, the great grandfather of Ruth Ann Mayes Taylor, was Secretary of
the Grange which was advertised as meeting at the Star Hope School House
the fourth Saturday in each month.

                        AMERICAN LEGION

    Elsberry Community Post No.226, of the American Legion, was org-
anized and chartered in October, 1919. Its first home was acquired in 1948
through the cooperation of Pauline Wigginton who suggested the sale of the
Wigginton home for approximately the amount then in the Post treasury,
$8,000. This property was sold in 1953 to the Elsberry School District for
$20,000 and the present home of the Post on Highway 79 with ample grounds
and extensive buildings was acquired in February of 1954. The Legion Com-
manders have been: Otto T. Crank, Dr. F. V. Diggs, Dr. J. M. Beard,
Curtis Taylor, Ralph Graham, Sr., T. C. Knapp, Ira T. Langford, Dr. C.
W. Powell, T. Elmo Foley, G. Jack Jones, O'Garlan Ricks, R. Eugene
Duncan, John W. Steward, T. F. Manning, Jesse K. R. Langford, Wm. B.
Waggoner, Roy M. Burchett, Frank Phillips, and Ralph Humphrey.

                        AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY

    The American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 226, auxiliary to American Legion
Post 226, was organized under the sponsorship of Commander G. Jack
Jones in October, 1946 and received its charter in November of that year.
The benevolences of the auxiliaries are not confined to veterans and their
families but include patriotic service to community, state and nation. The
Elsberry Auxiliary has contributed generously to the social and civic life
and welfare of the entire community.
    Among those who have served as President of Unit 226 are Mrs.
O'Garlan (Kathryn) Ricks, Mrs. Eugene (Sara) Duncan, Mrs. O. C. (May)
Kessler, Mrs. Harold (Ruth) Ligon, Mrs. Sylvester (Ruth) Kerpash, Mrs.
Forrest (Hazel) Davis.

                             P. E. O

    AI Chapter of the P. E. O. Sisterhood was organized October 3, 1904.
Presidents of the Chapter have been: Leona Nuckolds, Juanita Sanders,
Mary Alloway, Elizabeth Keeling, Nell Gibson, Mollie Dawson, Lillie Al-
exander, Lillian Sanders, Elizabeth Trail, Minnie Trescott Palmer, Martha
Elsberry, Annie Powell, Etta Powell, Florence Palmer, Martha Rose, Anne
Palmer, Lou Ellis, Alberta Taylor, Nelle Bradley, Margaret Cannon,
Oneida Cannon, Mary Jones, Isa Trescott, Viola Ringhausen, Mary Lucy
Howard, Mary Stevenson, Gerda Galloway, Margorie Fisher, Vesta Lind-
say, Ernestine Lahr, Ellen Morrow, Kathryn Ricks, Margaret Gladney, and
Isa Trescott.

                            HISTORY CLUB

    Closely following came the various women's federated clubs which
have added so much to the cultural and intellectual life of the city:
    The History Club, organized in 1905, was affiliated with the State Fed-
eration in 1911 and admitted to the General Federation in 1913. Presidents
of the Club have been: Miss Jessie Black, Mrs. H. H. Palmer, Miss Lydia
Ferry, Mrs. Robert Fisher, Mrs. L. W. Crank, Mrs. J. H. (Lucile) Heine-
mann, Mrs. W. E. Long, Mrs. T. C. Howard, Mrs. Everett Watson, Mrs.
J. H. (Virginia) Heinemann.


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                              A. B. C.

    The A. B. C. Club (Arts, Books and Crafts) was organized and feder-
ated in October 1926. Its presidents have been: Pauline Cannon, Kathryn
Crank, Alberta Taylor, Mary Lucy Howard, Isa Trescott, Margaret Cannon,
Bessie Ellis, Mary Ann Watts, Aldulia Chamberlain, Vesta Lindsay, Melba
Powell, Frances Clark, Kathryn Gladney, Grace Turner, Rosa Branch, Lucy
Catherine Weeks, Dorothy Fischer, Jessie Dudley, Frances Vann, Dorothy
Kopitke, Mildred Mitchell, Edna Mae Purdin, Adeline Reid, Pauline Miller,
Clarice Gladney and Frances Mallinckrodt.

                         JESSIE BLACK CLUB

    The Jessie Black Club, named for a beloved sponsor, was organized
in April, 1932 and federated in June of that year. Its presidents include:
Mrs. Joe Langford, Mrs. Jonathan Clarke, Mrs. John Gibson, Mrs. Ray-
mond Miller, Mrs. Edwin Whiteside, Mrs. Tom Chamberlain, Mrs. Arch
Taylor, Mrs. Nick Riffle, Mrs. Sid Wortman, Mrs. Ralph Humphrey, and
Mrs. Robert Hull.

                            FORTNIGHTLY

    The Fortnightly Club was organized September 20, 1938 and federated
October 3, 1938. Those serving as president have been: Mrs. Charles Lev-
engood, Mrs. Irvin Van Matre, Mrs. Olon Gray, Mrs. Val Waters, Mrs.
William Machir, Mrs. Earl Galloway, Mrs. M. O. Dixon and Mrs. Hallie
Temple.

                             D. N. C.

    The DNC CLUB (Daughters of the New Century) was organized in 1933
and federated January 8, 1934. The Presidents were: Mrs. Charles Kelly,
Mrs. Harry Brown, Mrs. A. T. Palmer, Miss Virginia Tate, Mrs. Franklin
Miller, Mrs. Maurice Bartee, Mrs. Tom Burks, Mrs. Ralph Galloway, Mrs.
Douglas Ringhausen, Mrs. E. O. Damron, Mrs. W. O. Howard, Mrs. Thomas
F. Manning and Mrs. H. R. Sanders, Jr.

                             A. E. P.

    The A. E. P. Club (Alpha Epsilon Pi) was sponsored by the D. N. C.
Club and was organized in October of 1941. It was admitted to the State
Federation in 1942 and in the same year to the General Federation. Mrs.
Delmas (Bonnie Berkley) Colbert served as the first president. She has
been succeeded by Miss Mildred Parker, Mrs. Joe (Grace Beauchamp)
Clark, Mrs. Harold (Katherine Graham) Ives, Mrs. Ralph (Anna Mae Whit-
aker) Ferguson, Mrs. Forest (Hazel) Davis, Mrs. Harvey (Faye) Walden,
Mrs. Marlow (Shirley) Briscoe and Mrs. Charles (Sue) Gladney.

                             STUDY CLUB

    The Elsberry Study Club was established in August of 1944. Its presid-
ing officers have been: Mrs. Clardy Moss, elected in 1944 and following
her, Mrs. Wm. Gray, Mrs. Forrest Brooksher, Mrs. Robert Hensley, Mrs.
Harvey Walden, Mrs. Guy Ray, Mrs. Robert Canady, Mrs. Earl Pflasterer,
Mrs. Ray Kammeier and Mrs. Chris Meyer.


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                               KIWANIS

    The Elsberry Kiwanis was organized June 12, 1950, chartered August
8, 1950 and is one of the most active and successful of the business and
benevolent organizations of the community. The Presidents have been Clif-
ton Miller, Ralph Galloway, Sid Wipke, Robert E. Parks, Wayne Werges
and O'Garlan C. Ricks.

                           THIRD ANNIVERSARY

    The first notable social event in the life of the new town was the cel-
ebration of the third anniversary of its founding held in a grove of prime-
val forest just across the railroad bridge, east of the railroad and south
of the Creek, on land now a part of the Erosion Control Nursery. Here
was staged a widely-advertised all-day picnic with special invitations to the
old settlers who were enrolled as they reached the grounds, with the date
of their migration to Missouri and the name of the state from which they
came. The Prairieville band (Eolla had not yet come into being) was en-
gaged for the occasion and "discoursed sweet music" during the day until
some of the key performers became so enthusiastic as the result of enjoy-
ing the hospitality of friends and admirers as to no longer be in position
to participate. Two beeves, 27 sheep and ten hogs were barbecued and al-
though the attendance broke all local records no one went away hungry.
The principal attraction of the day were formal addresses by Hon. Howard
S. Parker, of Troy, a young attorney of exceptional ability who represented
the county in the State legislature, and Hon. David A. Ball, of Louisiana, a
member of the State Senate, subsequently elected Governor of Missouri,
as claimed by unprejudiced friends, but "swindled out of the Governorship
by unprincipled city machines." "Governor Ball" (1851-1928) who was a
very able but very homely man, of the Abe Lincoln type, delivered an elo-
quent patriotic address suitable to the occasion in the course of which he
indignantly denied charges by his opponents that he was, "two-faced."
"Heaven knows," he said, "If I had another face I would wear It."
    Parker (1853-1886) a native of Fayette County, Kentucky who had
moved to Missouri early in youth and who had served as prosecuting at-
torney of the county before election to the House of Representative, dis-
cussed a more serious and controversial question. A highly questionable
group claiming to represent Wall Street interests, and systematically can-
vassing Chambers of Commerce and county courts in railroad-hungry in-
land counties, had organized a "court house ring" in Lincoln County and
was offering to build a railroad across the county if a bond issue was voted
to pay a part of the expenses. Parker, alert to the proposed fraud, fought
the combine represented by Bonfils the County Clerk and had received
anonymous letters threatening his life if he did not withdraw his opposition
to the bonds. Parker had the courage of his convictions and was not to be
intimidated. A short time before in a personal controversy about an en-
tirely different matter he had engaged in a pistol duel with Richard Henry
Norton (1849-1918) who had just been elected to Congress, and had stood
in the middle of the street calmly returning Norton's fire until the ammuni-
tion in his six-shooter was exhausted and Norton was wounded. When the
newspapers announced that he would speak at Elsberry, a second letter
came advising him that if he mentioned railroad bonds in his speech he
would be shot down. Although it was excessively hot weather he appeared
on the picnic grounds wearing a long Prince Albert coat, a popular gar-
ment in that day, and one which concealed any cartridge belt and pistols


Page 44:

the wearer might be carrying. The crowd had by this time become so dense
that a wagon was backed up in the picnic grounds and Parker climbing up
into the wagon, made a blistering speech charging crime and malfeasance
in the handling of the bonds. He left the grounds unmolested but his wise
advice was unheeded. Beguiled by the bait of a railroad cleverly dangled
before the public, the bonds were voted and turned over to the promoters
but the railroad was never built. After many court battles in which the
county tried to void the obligation a compromise was finally reached under
which the bondholders were paid 60c on the dollar and the taxpayers got
nothing. Unfortunately it was not the last time the public was to be de-
frauded by clever promoters looking after their own interests.
    Events now began to move in rapid sequence.
    In October of 1903 a franchise was granted to the Buffum Telephone
Co. which installed a switchboard on the second floor of the Foley Building.
In 1906 it was sold to Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company and in 1912
was absorbed by the Bell Co. of Missouri, and became a part of the South-
western Bell Telephone Co. June 1, 1924. Dial operation was adopted No-
vember 3, 1953 and it is today one of the most modern and efficient systems
in the State.
    The Elsberry Drainage District of Lincoln and Pike Counties, was org-
anized as a municipal corporation in 1911. It embraces approximately 20,765
acres, of which 12,816 acres is in Lincoln County and 7,949 acres in
Pike County.
    In 1901 the Crystal Carbonate Lime Company, of Louisiana, leased land
on the bluff south of town and opened a commercial quarry. In geologic
times the Gulf of Mexico extended north almost to the Canadian line and
sediment was deposited in layers over thousands of years, eventually form-
ing the strata of limestone being quarried today. This particular bluff has
been pronounced the purest (98%) calcium carbonate to be found from
Minneapolis to New Orleans. When first quarried, it was used as flux in
smelting iron ore, in the sugar industry as a bleeching reagent, as a sta-
bilizer in fusing glass and for domestic purposes such as commercial chick-
en grit and agricultural lime for the neutralization of acid soils. The
development of better processes, however, has limited utilization for these
purposes and it is now sold largely for construction and agricultural uses.
    Subsequently the Crystal Carbonate Co. withdrew and the Columbia
Quarry Co., of St. Louis took over the business, and has maintained a sub-
stantial pay roll appreciated by the business men of the trade territory.
    Elsberry business men promoted the first gravel road in the county
and organized a stock company which built five miles of toll road from
Elsberry to New Hope. It attracted so much attention that August Busch, at
that time head of the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Co., came up from St. Louis
to see it. He was met at the station by the Mayor and a group of business
men and the delegation was driven to New Hope and back in buggies drawn
by spirited horses especially commandeered for that purpose. At that time
a huge elm tree grew beside the perennial spring on the Louis Wingfield
farm two miles west of town, now owned by T. C. Howard. So vast was the
coverage of this giant tree that it extended from the spring to the road and
out over the road forming an arch under which the Mayor's party drove.
Mr. Busch was greatly impressed by the tree and paused and discussed it
on the way out. On the return trip he asked about the ownership of the farm
and when told that the land had recently passed to Mrs. Wingfield on the
death of her husband, asked to see her. When introduced to Mrs. Wingfield,
he asked her what price she would take for her farm. It was evident that he
was disposed to pay any reasonable price to get the tree. But Mrs. Wing-
field explained that she had lived there ever since her marriage and wished


Page 45:

to die there, and could not find it in her heart to sell it. He thanked her
courteously and returned to St. Louis and a few months later bought the
land on which he developed his great estate near Pasadena, California.
    In 1924 a group was organized to bring a factory to Elsberry for the
employment of surplus labor. Twenty thousand dollars was contributed
and a building was erected and leased to a St. Louis shoe company and
opened January 15, 1925. The project was not a success and in a short time
operations were discontinued and the building was turned back to the pro-
moters. Eventually it was leased to Wells-Lamont Co., manufacturer of
gloves and except for a brief interval during which a strike closed the fac-
tory, has operated continuously ever since on terms entirely satisfactory
to all concerned. Its pay roll has been a material factor in the business of
Elsberry merchants and professional men.
    The Elsberry Experiment Station, conducting research work in the util-
ization of Wabash clay, locally known as gumbo, and supported exclusively
by Federal funds under the management of the University of Missouri,
opened in March, 1928. Since its establishment, funds in excess of $100,000
have been spent, principally in experiments in the culture of rice and soy
beans. It has perfected systems of culture and developed new and valuable
strains, and has made Wabash Clay one of the most productive of Missis-
sippi River bottom soils.
    On August 22, 1923 announcement was made of the decision of the
Federal Government to establish nine soil conservation nurseries in as
many states, including one at Elsberry, Missouri. For this purpose
$630,000 was provided by executive order, of which $70,000 was allotted
to the Elsberry station. Arthur D. Slavens was assigned to the station.
Land was acquired and construction was started and the plant was in full
operation by 1936. Of the nine original stations only three remain, one of
which is the Elsberry station. The nursery has this year distributed ap-
proximately 20,000 pounds of grass and legume seed to more than 300 soil
conservation districts in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Sodding and sprawling, spreading
types to be used in terrace outlets, grass waterways, erosion points and
pastures where depletion is excessive have priority.
    All tillable land in the United States is now under cultivation. There
are no new lands to be opened. With our rapidly increasing population and
our steadily shrinking supply of arable land for the production of food,
erosion control is becoming one of our most pressing domestic problems.
It would be difficult to estimate the amount of land saved to cultivation by
the methods and materials supplied by this important agency of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture.
    In 1936 the Works Progress Administration announced approval and
allocation of funds for the construction of a water and sewer system for
Elsberry. The work was handled by the most expert government engineers
to be secured and Elsberry became a modern city over night. The total
cost amounted to $140,100 of which the city provided $36,963 and the Fed-
eral government $103,137. To reproduce the system at this time at present
prices of labor and materials would cost more than twice the amount spent
at the time.
    One of Elsberry's most attractive assets is the Forrest Keeling Nur-
sery, established in 1938, operating an extensive plant embracing several
hundred acres and maintaining a large force of professional and technical
employees. Under the direction of Hugh Steavenson, the President of the
Corporation, it has developed a wide mail order business supplementing
its local sales offices. One of their specialties is the famous Multiflora
Rose developed for hedge fencing purposes and advertised by the familiar


Page 46:

slogan 'Horse high - Bull strong -Goat tight." But this extraordinary rose
is only one of the many beautiful and serviceable shrubs, trees, plants and
evergreens which the nursery ships to practically every state of the Union.
    Mr. Steavenson, a graduate of the great agricultural college at Ames,
and for a decade a ranking staff member on nursery research in the U. S.
Department of Agriculture, is one of the outstanding nursery experts of
the nation and the Forrest Keeling Nursery is one of the show places on
Highway 79 between St. Louis and Keokuk.

                          RECESSIONAL

    With all this progress it is still easy to hark back to the day when
"The Old Man" came down Fifth street with a yoke of oxen, without halter
or harness, only the yoke. He was walking along beside them carrying a
goad, a slender rod of oak eight feet long with pointed tip. As he approached
DuBois Street he said "Haw." Instantly without change of pace the oxen
swung to the left down DuBois. At the intersection with Fourth street,
"Gee" and the two swung automatically to the right without further word or
gesture from the master.
    But with all its changes he would not be so much out of step with the
times were he here today. He had the capacity of adaptation. And he had the
supreme gift of common sense.
    Not that he was especially gifted. He was in every sense a very ordi-
nary man. And he was intensely human. But sooner or later, he was en-
gaged in practically every class of business activity of his time and lo-
cality except the saloon business. Usually motivated by his desire to co-
operate in any enterprise which promised to contribute to the growth of
the community, he was at times a participant for other reasons. He was a
man of strong likes and dislikes and did not hesitate to take drastic meas-
ures when he thought the situation warranted them. Among those unfor-
tunate enough to incur his antipathy was Clement L. Gennie who with his
mother lived near Falmouth and when the railroad came through, moved to
the new town. Both were charter members of the Elsberry Baptist Church
when it was organized in 1883. Gennie was an active, energetic man, inter-
ested in many enterprises and was the first to cut ice from King's Lake
and store it underground in sawdust on a commercial scale. Before the
invention of the ice machine and modern refrigerators, practically every
household had an "ice box" and commercial ice was in practically uni-
versal demand in both business and private houses. Gennie made it a pay-
ing enterprise. But immediately "Uncle Bob" became a competitor and
with the capital at his command undersold Gennie and forced him out of
business. Gennie then opened a butcher shop and prospered temporarily
until Uncle Bob opened a shop in competition and again forced him into
bankruptcy. In Gennie's last effort to stay in business he opened a brick
yard on the southwest corner of DuBois and Sixth street. The clay was dug
across the street from the yard and vast quantities of cord wood were
consumed in the process. No sooner had Gennie started his brick yard
than Uncle Bob started a yard on the alley next to DuBois between Fifth
and Fourth streets and for many years a large pond adjacent to the present
Methodist parsonage marked the excavation where the clay was dug. Here
was burned the brick that went into the church and school on Fourth street
and into most of the chimneys of the new houses in the vicinity.
    Unable to sell his brick in competition with Uncle Bob's low prices,
Gennie used them to build the first brick house erected in Elsberry on the
site now occupied by the Christian parsonage. But his mother having died
in the meantime he finally gave up the unequal struggle and moved to Texas


Page 47:

destitute, leaving behind bills he was unable to meet. Two or three years
afterward his creditors began to receive letters from him enclosing pay-
ments on his obligations and when all his debts had been liquidated he re-
turned to Elsberry on a visit as a Holiness minister. He brought with him
the first complete Bible concordance ever seen in Elsberry, a volume
about the size of an unabridged dictionary, which he carried about with
him when he visited old acquaintances, finding for them their favorite
scriptural references and making it an occasion to discuss with them their
spiritual welfare. Having completed his visit he returned to Texas and was
never heard from again.
    Uncle Bob was himself a man of indefatigable industry. Even in his
later years when he was among the wealthier men of the community and
lived in the most pretentious home in Elsberry, he engaged in daily man-
ual labor. In his 74th year, hauling rock for the foundation of one of his
buildings on a drowsy afternoon, he fell asleep holding the lines and when
the wagon jolted over an obstruction in the road was thrown under the
wheels. Aunt Ceil was one of the first to reach him and held him in her
arms. But he had passed on to a Greater City than his beloved Elsberry.
    The calendar read October 14, 1891.
    In the most largely attended obsequies in the history of the county,
with such pomp and ceremony as the times afforded, he was laid to rest in
the family cemetery on his farm at the outskirts of Elsberry
    Founder of town and church and school, a man of exemplary life, an
example to the youth of his day in industry and sobriety, he builded better
than he knew.

                                ENVOI

    Elsberry will never be a big town with slums and police control and
all the problems that beset great centers of population. We should be
thankful for that. But it will always be one of the delightful residence towns
of the state, where we know our neighbors and our neighbors know us and
where daily association develops a fellowship and community of interest to
be achieved in no other way. We live in a rapidly changing world. Miracles
are just ahead. And in that expanding future Elsberry and Elsberry people
have their special part and place.
    In closing, some who have read this narrative have thought that per-
haps I have told too much.
    Ah, my friends, you should hear what I have not told!
                                 Finis

Page 48:


INDEX

A
Abbott, Rev. T. A.	29, 30
A. B. C. Club	42
Academy	33, 35
Additions	25
Advance	16, 23, 37, 38, 40
A. E. P. Club	42
A.F.&.A.M. Lodge	37
Alderson, M. H.	37
Alexander, Lillie	41
Allen, Rev. Oliver	31
Alloway, Dr. Clinton L.	22
Alloway, Miss Lena	39
Alloway, Mary Redd	40, 41
Alloway, M. S.	38
Alvis, Mattie Rose	39
American Legion	41
American Legion Auxiliary	41
Anderson, Rev. Arthur S.	30
Angel, Rev. O. Leonard	30
Ashbaugh, Henry H.	14, 39
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church	31

B
Bailey, Rev. A. V.	30
Bailey, Nita	33
Bailey, Dr. Samuel M.	19, 22
Ball, David A.	43
Balmer, Dr. Perry	22
Bank of Lincoln County	9, 11, 19, 28
Baptist Church	29, 30, 31, 46
Bartee, Mrs. Maurice	42
Baskett, James O.	38
Baskett, L. T.	38
Baskett, Miss Mildred	40
Baskett, Will H.	38
Bauer, Rev. E. E.	30
Beard, Dr. J. M.	22, 39, 41
Bell, Rev. Hayes	29, 31
Bell Telephone Company	44
Berger Addition	25
Berkley, Frances B.	16
Bernard, Rev. Taylor	31
Bibb, Jessie	22
Bibb, Joseph W.	8
Bibb, Nora	22
Bibb, Rev. Webb A.	22, 30
Black Addition	25
Black Hawk War	4
Black, Jessie	41
Black, John	17, 38
Black, R. A.	17
Black, Robert Elliott	7, 9, 17, 27, 38
Black, Sudie J.	17
Blakley, Norman	39
Bluff Road	3, 7, 9


Page 49:

Boone, Daniel	2
Boone Tobacco Company	40
Booth, Bud	13
Booth R. T.	23
Bottom. Rev. Grant	31
Bowers, David Thomas	16
Bowton, Ernest	39
Bowton, Frank	39
Bradley, J. C.	38
Bradley, Nellie	41
Bradley, Robert J.	37
Bradley, S. P.	34
Bradley, W. D	39
Branch, Rosa	42
Branham, Hugo	39
Brinkman, F. H.	39
Brinkman, Irene Pollard	39, 40
Briscoe, Mrs. Marlow	42
Brooksher Addition	25
Brooksher-Coy Tract	25
Brooksher, Forrest	38
Brooksher, Mrs. Forrest	42
Brooksher-Welch Tract	25
Brother, A. A.	8, 13, 14, 17, 20, 22, 24
Brother, Cynthia	39, 40
Brother, Elmer E.	13, 24
Brother, John	39
Brown Addition	25
Brown, Chas. C.	39
Browns Mill Road	8, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26, 32
Bristol, Rev. Robert F.	30
Bryants Creek Baptist Church	29
Buchanan College	35
Buchanan, Julia Ann	16
Burchett, Roy M.	8, 39, 41
Burley, Manford	8, 14, 39
Burley, Manford	8, 14, 39
Buffum Telephone Company	44
Busch, August	44
Bushman, C. L.	14, 39
Bustwich, Rev. E. E.	30

C
Canady, Mrs. Robert	42
Cannon Addition	25
Cannon, Albert J.	39
Cannon, Andy	25
Cannon, Bufford S.	8, 21, 22
Cannon, Branch	25
Cannon, Cecil W.	28, 39
Cannon Heights Addition	25
Cannon, I. N.	21, 22, 39
Cannon, Isaac	32, 40
Cannon, James	25
Cannon, J. B.	9, 11


Page 50:

Cannon, J. R.	20, 24, 39
Cannon, Leticia Jane	24
Cannon, Lydia	25
Cannon, Margaret Trescott	40, 41, 42
Cannon, Mary Emma	13
Cannon, Nancy Ann Elsberry	15
Cannon, Olin	25
Cannon, Oneida Cochran	39, 41
Cannon, Otto B.	39
Cannon, Pauline	42
Cannon, Perry	14
Cannon, Perry Jr.	39
Cannon, Samuel	25
Cannon School	32, 33
Cannon, Mrs. Waldo	4
Cannon, W. J.	38
Cannon, W. R.	39
Callaway, Anita Strus	40
Callaway, Dr. Gilbert H.	22
Callaway, James H.	39
Callaway, Rev. Ralph V.	30
Campbell, Dr. Oscar P.	30
Carroll, Henry S.	5, 6, 17, 19, 24, 36
Carroll, Lucy C.	17
Carter, John D.	21
Catholic Church	30
Chamberlain, Aldulia	42
Chamberlain, Donna	18
Chamberlain, Dr. P. C.	7
Chamberlain, Phil	18
Chamberlain, Mrs. Tom	42
Childers, Henry F.	35
Chouteau, Peter	3
Chouteau, Pierre	2
Christian Church	16, 30
Church of God in Christ	31
Clark, Champ	36
Clark, Frances	42
Clark, Mrs. Joe	42
Clark, Governor William	3
Clarke, Mrs. Jonathan	42
Clarksville	5, 9
Cleaver, Rev. Benn Hill	30
Clifford, B. P.	6
Clifford, Lucy	6
Cobb, Rev. H. I.	30
Cobb, Susie Bradley	40
Cochran, Katie Hemphill	39
Colbert, Mrs. Delmas	42
Columbia Quarry Company	44
Colwell, Prof. Howard G	34
Cooney, Michael	17
Cooper, Rev. O. C.	30
Coopage, Rev. J. O.	30
Corbin, Rev. H. E.	30


Page 51:

Cornick, Hurley M.	37
Cox, E. Palmer	38
Cox, Fred	23
Cox, John D.	38
Cox, Thompson	38
Cramer, Wilford L.	39
Crane, J. F.	20
Crank, Gordon	8, 24, 37, 39
Crank, Hurley R.	37, 39
Crank, Kathryn	42
Crank, L.W.	39
Crank, Mrs. L. W.	4, 41
Crank, Otto T.	41
Crank, Richard	7
Cross Roads	20
Cross Roads Town	8
Crystal Carbonate Lime Company	44
Culbertson, J. T.	27
Cumberland Presbyterian Church	29, 31
Cummings Farm	12
Cunningham, H.	38
Curryville	10


D
Dameron, John D.	6
Damron Dr.	22, 38
Damron, Mrs. E. O.	42
Damron, Fannie Mulherin	39
Damron, Dr. James N.	22, 38
Daniel, Ella Lee	16
Davidson, I. C.	13
Davis, Mrs. Forest	42
Davis, Hazel Coffman	40, 41
Dawson, Rev. E. D.	30
Dawson, F. L.	38
Dawson, James L.	38
Dawson, Molly Thomas	39, 41
Deccard, Rev.	31
Delassus, Governor	2
Democrat, Newspaper	26
Dempsey, Rosie	13
Dentists	22
DeTienne, John A.	33, 49
Devaney, J. T.
Dever, D. E.	39
Diggs, Dr. F. V.	41
Diggs, Thomas J.	14
Dillard, Dr. E. B.	30
Diven, Rev. O. O.	30
Dixon, Mrs. M. O.	42
Dixon, R. C.	39
D.N.C. Club	42
Donaldson, Rev. Turner	31
Dowell, John William	16
Downing, A. F.	38


Page 52:

Drainage District	44
Dudley, Jessie	42
Dudley, William A.	34, 39
Dudley, Rev. W. D.	39
Duncan, R. Eugene	39, 41
Duncan, Sarah	41
Dyer, Rev. J. E.	30

E

Ebenezer Baptist Church	29
Eastin, Columbus C.	20, 38
Education	32
Edwards, Rev. C. E.	30
Edwards, Rev. F. B.	30
Edwards, J. C.	14
Elgin, Miss Nonie	33
Ellington, Rev. W. H.	30
Elliott, George C.	21, 24
Ellis, Bessie	42
Ellis, George W.	39
Ellis, Jesse B.	16, 24, 39
Ellis, Miss Lorena	33, 39
Ellis, Lou	41
Ellis, William B.	8, 39
Elsberry Academy	34
Elsberry Addition	25
Elsberry Advance	16, 23
Elsberry Banking Company Building	9
Elsberry, Beatrice Sanders	40
Elsberry, Benjamin D.	16
Elsberry, Benjamin F.	15
Elsberry Democrat	26
Elsberry Drainage District	10, 44
Elsberry, Elisha F.	16
Elsberry Experiment Station	45
Elsberry Family	15
Elsberry Gazette	37
Elsberry, George G.	16
Elsberry, George W.	15
Elsberry, Julia Ann Buchanan	15
Elsberry, Laura A.	16
Elsberry, Lydia	16
Elsberry, Martha	41
Elsberry, Mary	16
Elsberry, Mary Ellen Mayes	29
Elsberry, Mattie Brother	40
Elsberry Milling Company	36
Elsberry, Montrose P.	16, 24, 39
Elsberry, Nancy Elizabeth Hester	16
Elsberry, Orion	16
Elsberry, Sarah Lou	16
Elsberry, Robert Thomas	9, 15, 16, 19, 22, 24, 29, 47
Elsberry, Thomas S.	16, 17
Elsberry, Virginia	16


Page 53:

Elsberry, William Aziel Knapp	16, 20, 22
Elsberry, William Lewis Candus	15, 29
Elsberry, William N	15
Etter, M. E.	20
Etter, Robert	20
Evans, James	16
Evans, Norman C.	38


F

Factory	45
Falls, Rev. Nale	30
Falmouth	9, 14, 15, 20
Farmer, Alfred	39
Farmer, Dr. Thomas V.	14, 33
Federal Contributions	45
Feix, Clarence H.	38, 39
Feix, Ida Miller	40
Felty, Blacksmith	21
Femmer, Rev. William A.	31
Ferguson, Rev. Guy V.	30
Ferguson, Mrs. Ralph	42
Ferguson, Robert	37
Ferry, Annie Robinson	40
Ferry, Charles	4
Ferry, Clarence W.	39
Ferry, Miss Jennie	4
Ferry, Joe W.	4, 12
Ferry, John	12
Ferry, Leighton	16
Ferry, Lydia	44
Fines, Cecil	39
Fines, Mrs. Pearl Smith	40
Fire Baptized Holiness Church	31
Fires	27
Fischer, Dorothy	42
Fischer, Waldo I.	24
Fisher, Mrs. Robert	41
Flavin, Rev. Father Cornelius J.	31
Fleener, S. Price	39
Floyd, A. C.	34
Foley	18
Foley, Addison	18, 38
Foley, B. F.	38
Foley, Edna	25
Foley, Thomas Elmo	24, 41
Foley, T. P.	18, 21
Forrest Keeling Nursery	4
Fortell, Rev. Marvin	30
Fortnightly Club	42
Founder	32
Fraternal Organizations	37
Frazier, Arcelia	20
Frazier, Claudine	16, 30
Frazier, Mrs. Columbus	16


Page 54:

Frazier, E. D.	21
Frazier, Mrs. R. C.	29
Free Holiness Church	31
Freemasonry	38, 39
Freer, A. E.	16
Freer, Z. E.	24
French pioneers	1

G
Gabriel, Rev. Enoch P.	30
Galloway, Carlyle	38
Galloway, Diane	15
Galloway, Mrs. Earl	42
Galloway, Floyd	38
Galloway, Gerda Cobb	39, 41
Galloway, Lucinda	15
Galloway, Ralph	15, 43
Galloway, Mrs. Ralph	42
Galloway, Virginia Banks	40
Gatewood, L. D.	21
Gennie, Clement L.	48
Gentry, James W.	22
Geraghty, Rev. Father Thomas	31
Gibbony, Rev. W. A.	30
Gibson Addition	25
Gibson, Bill	8, 10, 11
Gibson. Mrs. John	42
Gibson, John Montgomery	20, 24, 33
Gibson, Jordan	4
Gibson, Nell Millard	40, 41
Gibson, William M.	10
Gibson, William N.	4
Giddens, Rev. W. N.	30
Gilliland, Dosh	8, 13
Gladney, Arthur Lyndon	24, 38
Glandey, Mrs. Charles	42
Gladney, Clarice Gentry	39, 40, 42
Gladney, Eileen Jamison	40
Gladney, Kathryn	42
Gladney, Margaret	41
Gladney, Nettie Luckett	40
Gladney, Russell	39
Glennon, Cardinal John J.	30
Gleeson, Rev. Father Daniel J	31
Gleeson, Frank	16
Glory and Halleluiah	23
Glove Factory	45
Goodman, Tully R.	8, 19
Gow, Rev. Clyde W.	30
Graham, Mrs. Olin	42
Graham, Ralph, Sr.	40
Grange	40
Gravel Road	22, 44
Graves, James W.	34


Page 55:

Gregory, Rev. R. L.	30
Gregory, Rev. L. D.	30
Grimes, Rev. James W.	30
Groves, Rev. H. D.	30
Gray, Lelia Graham	40
Gray, Mrs. William	42
Guinn's Creek	5
Guthrie, Rev. John	30

H
Hacker, Rev. J. D.	30, 31
Hagemeier, F. H.	7
Hales, Frank	34
Halliday, Rev. W. C.	30
Ham, Rev. C. C.	31
Hamburg Landing	7
Hammack, David H.	4
Hammack, George W.	38
Hammack, Leander (Lee)	4
Hammack, Mary Amanda	4
Hammack, Otis	38
Hammond, Ivan	39
Hardesty, B. W.	39
Harris, Alvin	17
Harris, Charles (Buck)	17
Harris, Rev. J. Morgan	30
Harpole, Addle Boyd	40
Harvey, Columbus	11
Harvey, F. F.	11
Harvey, Francis	11
Harvey, Margaret Elnora	12
Hatcher, Rev. W. L.	30
Hatfield, Harvey	39
Hawkins, Dr. T. R.	9
Hawkins Dr. R. T.	22
Hedges, Rev. Arthur A.	30
Heinemann, Mrs. Lucille	41
Heinemann, Mrs. Virginia	41
Hemphill, Dr. W. A.	8, 20, 22
Hensley, Mrs. Robert	42
Hickman, Rev. Josiah	30
High School	33
History Club	41
Hitt, M.	20
Hogue, Dorcas	21
Holiness Church	31
Holland, Rev. John	30
Hoover, S. R.	38
Holmann, Theodore	34
Howard, Brenda	39
Howard, Charla	39
Howard, John Randolph	20
Howard, Mary Lucy	25, 41, 42
Howard, Sanford A.	37


Page 56:

Howard, T. C.	44
Howard, Mrs. W. O.	42
Huckstep, Charles S.	37, 39
Huckstep, Miss Georgia	40
Huels, Rev. Father Joseph H	31
Hull, Dr.	22
Hull, Mrs. Robert	42
Humphrey, Henry	39
Humphrey, Lizzie	40
Humphrey, Mrs. Ralph	42
Hunt, Miss Sadie	40
Hunter, Ada B.	20
Hunter, Rev. R. N.	30

I
Incorporation	24
I. O. O. F	28, 37, 38
Indian Aborigines	1
Irvin, Dr. Charles S.	22
Ives, Harold	39
Ives, Mrs. Harold	42
Ives, Kathryn Graham	40

J
Jackson, Robert H.	37
Jacobs, Rev. H. Lee	30
Jameson, Ada	6
Jameson, Ann	6
Jameson, Ephraim	6
Jameson, W. D.	29
Jamison, Samuel	16
Jamison, William D.	11
Jefferson, Thomas	2
Jessie Black	42
Jessie Black Club	42
Johnson, Augusta Corbin	40
Johnson, Charles	39
Joliet, Louis	1
Jones, Rev. A. C.	30
Jones, G. Jack	38, 41
Jones, Mary	41
Jones, Mary Miller	40

K
Kammeier, Mrs. Ray	42
Kanoy, D. H.	39
Katie Jane Home	16
Keeling, Elizabeth	41
Keeling, Dr. Forest V.	22, 24, 39
Keeling Nursery, Forrest	45
Kelly, Mrs. Charles	42
Kemper, Martin	4
Kemper, Nancy	4
Kemper, Rosamond	4


Page 57:

Kennedy, Rev. R. C.	30
Kercheval, A. H.	39
Kerpash, Ruth	41
Kerr, Jennie Waters	39
Kerr, Dr. S. H.	22
Kessler, May	41
Kilmer, Prof. Glenn	16
King, Rev. Charles	30
Kissinger, James H.	6
Kiwanis Club	43
Knapp, Mary Ellis	41
Knapp, T. C.	41
Knott, W. J.	36
Knox, Rev. L. P.	30
Kopitke, Dorothy	42
Kuhlman, Rev. Father George P.	30

L
Lahr, Ernestine	40
Langford, Ira. T.	41
Langford, Mrs. Joe	42
Langford, Jesse K. R.	38, 41
Langford, Winfield Whiteside	40
LaRue, Lon H.	38
LaSalle	1
Lee, Dr. B. J.	22
Lee, Rev. J. Clifton	30
Lee, Dr. Leroy M.	22
LeFever, W. H.	34
Leftwich, Wayne B.	38
Legion	41
Leo, Henry	8
Leo, Henry D.	21
Leonard, Rev. Frank W.	30
Levengood, Mrs. Charles	42
Levengood, Edith Evans	40
Levengood, George C.	39
Ligon Addition	25
Ligon, Harold	39
Ligon, Lee Francis	4
Ligon, Ruth Tiller	40, 41
Lilley, Claude B.	38
Lilley, Hattie Meyer	40
Lilley, Joseph	39
Lincoln County News	37
Lindsay, Miss Bessie	34
Lindsay, Dr. C. B.	5, 12, 22
Lindsay, Dr. Lynnie	22
Lindsay, Vesta Green	39, 41, 42
Lodges	38
Long, Columbus	14
Long, Dr. James S. 	7, 38
Long, W. E.	14, 38
Long, Mrs. W. E.	5, 41


Page 58:

Lonsberry, Wiley P.	39
Lost Creek	2, 9, 13, 16, 17, 19
Louisiana	10
Lowry, Dr. W. W.	22, 39
Luckett, Francis Marion	4
Luckett, John W.	24
Lumber	18

Mc
McAfee, Dr. C. A.	22
McAfee, Molly Lowry	40
McAlister, Ed	39
McBride, L. E.	39
McClelland, Walter	39
McClelland, Dr. James	22
McCluer, Francis B	34
McDonald, Campbell	23
McFarlane, Marcus	38
McFerrin, Rev. J. B.	30
McIntosh, Martha A.	17
McIntosh, William L.	36
McIntosh, William M.	5, 6, 17, 24
McKay, Mrs. Harold	11
McKnight, Rev. B. A.	30
McLean, Rev. William Steagall	30
McQueen, Dudley	12
McQueen, Mary A.	4

M
Machir, Charles	39
Machir, Helen Whiteside	40
Machir, Virginia Hearin	40
Machir, Mrs. William	42
Maggart, Rev. L. C.	30
Magruder, Rev. K. E.	30
Major, Rev. J. M.	30
Mallinckrodt, Frances	42
Manning, T. E.	41
Manning, Mrs. Thomas E.	42
Marling, Bertha D.	8
Martin, Rev. R. A.	30
Martin, W. L.	24
Marquette, Father Jacques	1
Matkin, Rev. T. G.	30
Masonic Lodge	38
Mayes Addition	25
Mayes, Edward	9
Mayes, Charles A.	20, 24
Mayes, Mrs. Edward	3
Mayes, Elmer L.	39
Mayes, Mary Willena	15
Mayes, Rawleigh	19
Mayes, Richard Cannon	40
Mayes, Roy	7


Page 59:

Mayes, Russell T.	7
Mayfield, Rev. J. B.	30
Mayhall Brothers	37
Mayors	24
Meloan, Rev. William A.	30
Merrill, Rev. E. G.	30
Methodist Church	29
Methodist Episcopal Church	29
Methodist Episcopal Church South	29
Metts, Dora Mildenstein	40
Metts, H. B.	39
Metts, James	39
Meyer, Mrs. Chris	42
Meyer, Mary Rose	40
M. F. A. Elevator	28
Middleton, Rev. T. P.	30
Migrations	17
Miller, Charles W.	38, 39
Miller, Clifton	39, 43
Miller, Franklin	39
Miller, Mrs. Franklin	42
Miller, Isabelle Rogers	40
Miller, Pauline Dryden	40	42
Miller, Mrs. Raymond	42
Mills, Mrs. Ray	31
Mitchell, Rev. Charles A.	29,	30
Mitchell, Mrs. Charles A.	21
Mitchell, Mildred	42
Moore, Prof. A.	34
Morris, Edward S.	39
Morris, Minnie Lindsay	40
Morris, Nelle Eastin	20, 22, 30
Morrow, Ellen	41
Morton, Rev. W. P.	39
Moss, Mrs. Clardy	42
Moss, May Burbridge	40
Mt. Zion Church	30
Mulcare, Tim	21

N
Napoleon	2, 10
Nash W. J.	39
Neale, Ray. W. D.	30
Neely, T. J.	38
Nelson, Town of	8, 14, 19
Nevins, Rev. J.	30
New Hope	10
Newman, John H.	39
Newman, Rev. Father Joseph	31
Newspapers	35
Nichols, Prof. Edward F.	33, 34
Nichols, Roy N.	14
North Dakota	16
Norton, Richard Henry	43


Page 60:

Nuckolds, Leona	41
Nurseries	45
Nursery	46
Nursery, Forrest Keeling	4
Nursery, Government	7, 9

O
O'Brien, Rev. John Morehead	29
Oddfellowship	39
Odor, Rev. Harold Lindsay	30
Old Settlers Reunion	43
Omohundro, William W.	13, 39
Order Eastern Star	40
O'Neill, Rev. C. D.	30
Overton, Rev. Lewis	31
Owen, Lydia P.	15

P
Page Branch	2, 27, 25
Page, Frederick W.	25
Palmer, Alexis	2, 10
Palmer, Anne	41
Palmer, Annie Rowbotham	40
Palmer, Mrs. A. T.	42
Palmer, A. W. (Pete)	13
Palmer, Cynthia	13
Palmer, Eugene	39
Palmer, F. L.	38
Palmer, Florence	41
Palmer, Guillermo	2
Palmer, Harry T.	39
Palmer, Mrs. H. H.	41
Palmer, J. K.	38
Palmer, John Elsberry	15
Palmer, Joseph Kinkaid	13
Palmer, Lila	13
Palmer, Joseph R.	24, 38
Palmer, Minnie Trescott	41
Palmer, Rebecca	13
Palmer, Rev. S. L.	30
Palmer, Uncle Billie	10
Palmer, William	2, 3, 9, 10, 13
Palmer, William Jesse	38, 13
Parker, Howard S.	36, 43
Parker, Miss Mildred	42
Parks, Robert E.	43
Patrick, Dr. Wiley J.	30
Patton, Rev. William A.	31
Pearson, Rev. Alonzo	31
Peasel, Ranette	10
Penick, Harry R.	38
P. E. O.	41
Pflasterer, Mrs. Earl	42
Phillips, Frank	41


Page 61:

Phillips, Rev. J. T.	30
Physicians	22
Pickern, Rev. D. R.	30
Picnic	43
Piniky	3
Poe, Rev. Ed	31
Poole, Charles	39
Poole, Rev. G. E.	30
Portage des Sioux	1
Postmasters, Cross Roads	8
Postmasters, Elsberry	8
Powell, Annie	41
Powell, Dr. Charles E.	22, 33, 38
Powell, Dr. C.	22, 38, 41
Powell, Etta Jamison	39, 41
Powell, Etta Jean	33
Powell, Harvey E.	38
Powell, James H.	8
Powell, James Watson	24, 37
Powell, Melba Mayes	40, 42
Presbyterian Church	30
Press	35
Pressley, Rev. D. P.	30
Presley, Stanley	39
Prior, W. L.	20
Pryor, Rev. M. P.	30
Purdin, Herman L.	34, 39
Purdin, Edna Mae	42
Purvis, Rev. G. Elmo	30

Q
Quarry Company	44
Quigley, Rev. Father Patrick F.	31

R
Railroad era	5
Ramsey, Rev. J. M.	30
Ray, Mrs. Guy	42
Reavis, Rev. Bowling G.	30
Rebekahs	40
Reed, Captain Thomas A.	11
Reed, William T.	37
Reid, Adaline	42
Reid, Albro	20
Reid, Miss Amy	39
Reid, Captain Thomas R.	24
Reid, Jessie Fisher	39
Reid, Malcolm	24
Reid, Michael	38
Reid, Salem A.	24
Reid, Wallace S.	24
Reid, William	39
Reid, W. T.	21, 22
Reunion	43


Page 62:

Reuter, Herman H.	8
Reynolds, Rev. E. W.	30
Rice, James T.	39
Richards, Samuel	20
Richardson, Rev. W. W.	30
Ricks, James Albert	20
Ricks, Kathryn	40, 41
Ricks, O'Garlan	41, 43
Riffle, Mrs. Nick	42
Ringhausen, Mrs. Douglas	42
Ringhausen, Viola	41
Roberts, John O.	5, 6, 17, 24
Roberts, Malvina M.	17
Roberts, Mrs. Millie	6
Robinson, Barbara	16
Robinson, Edna Mae	16
Robinson, James	16
Robinson, Robert T. (Bob)	16, 37
Robinson, Samuel Overton	16
Robinson, Wesley Amos	22
Rodgers, J. B.	34
Rose, Mattie	22
Rose, Martha	41
Rose, Thomas M.	20
Ross, Harry	38
Rowley, William J.	34
Rudloff, Rev. J. E.	30
Rumsey, Dr. Wm. W.	30
Rush, Mr.	12
Rusk, Henry	5
Rusk, Dr. Howard A.	20

S
Sacred Heart Catholic Church	30
Saloons	22
Sanders, Clay	18
Sanders, H. R.	33
Sanders, Harry Roberts	18
Sanders, Mrs. H. R. Jr.	42
Sanders, James William	25
Sanders, Juanita	41
Sanders, Lillian Dawson	39, 41
Sanders, Mary Jane Duncan	25
Sanders, Robert Francis	25
Sanders, W. S.	38
Sanderson, Robert	34
Saulsberry, James	21
Schaper, Rev. Lawrence	31
Schofield, Prof. Wm. F.	34
School buildings	26
School Superintendents	34
Seaman, Dr. W. J.	33, 34
Seaton, Miss Sophia	33
Segrass, Alene Norton	40


Page 63:

Self, John M.	37
Sewer system	45
Shaw, J. J.	38
Shaw, Gussie Brown	40
Sherman, Rev. C. H.	30
Shipp, Anderson David	20, 8
Shipp, Ben	14
Shoe Factory	45
Singleton, John	23
Sipple, Rev D. D.	30
Sitton, Captain William	14
Sitton, Catherine	14
Sitton, Clifford	12
Sitton, Elizabeth Ann	14
Sitton, Euselia	14
Sitton, Frances Emaline	14
Sitton, Harriett F.	14
Sitton, Ida	14
Sitton, James	12
Sitton, Jane	14
Sitton, Joseph Winston	10
Sitton, Joseph W.	14
Sitton, Julia Ella	14
Sitton, Lawrence	12
Sitton, Major	12
Sitton, Mary Buchanan	14
Sitton, Mary Melissa	14
Sitton, Rachel Temperance	16
Sitton, Virgil	12
Sitton, Winston	12
Slavens, Arthur D.	45
Sleet, W. C.	41
Smallpox	28
Smith, Rev. J. Calvin	30
Smith, Tom C.	39, 24
Smither R. R.	19
Snell, Rev. J. H.	30
Snethen, A. C.	36
Soil Conservation Nursery	45
Sour and Reuter	21
South Elsberry	31
Spanish Grants	2
Spanish Pioneers	2
Spanish survey	10
Stamper, Billy	37
Station Masters, Elsberry	14
Steavenson, Hugh A.	45
Steavenson, Mrs. Hugh A.	37
Steavenson, Mary	41
Steele, Asa G.	34
Steward, John W.	41
Stone, Rev. W. H.	30
Suddarth, H. B.	24
Sub-Division Additions	25


Page 64:

Study Club	42
Survey 1706	2, 3, 16
Superintendent of School	35
Swan, George	39
Swan, Rev. George W. Jr.	30
Sydnor, Laura Arcelia	16

T
Taliferro, Dr. J. W.	22
Tanquary, Rev. W.	30
Tate, Miss Virginia	42
Taylor, Dr. A. M.	22
Taylor, Alberta Elsberry	40, 41, 42
Taylor, Mrs. Arch	42
Taylor, Prof. Britton P.	34, 35
Taylor, Rev. J. L.	30
Taylor, Curtis	41
Taylor, Ruth Anna	40
Taylor, Ruth Ann Mayes	41
Taylor, Ruth Langford	40
Taylor, Mrs. William Curtis	16
Taylor, Winona Hobbs	40
Telephone Company	44
Temple, Mrs. Hallie	42
Thespian Club	32
Thompson, crossing	28
Thompson, Cynthia	29
Thompson, Edward	28
Thompson, Gabriel	28
Thompson, John R.	9
Tibbetts, Malvina M.	6
Tinsley Tobacco Company	36
Todd, Rev. James E.	30
Towles, Miss Callie	33
Town of Cross Roads	8
Town of Nelson	8, 10
Trail, Anna Laura Baskett	40
Trail, Bobby	38
Trail, Elidabeth	41
Trail, Richard	20
Trail, Robert	38
Trail, William	16
Trescott, Isa Smith	40, 41, 42
Trescott, L. W.	38, 39
Trescott, Minnie Callaway	39
Triplett, Claudia J.	33
Tucker, Rev. Frank C. Jr.	30
Turnbull, Floyd	39
Turner, Grace	42
Turnham, Joseph	8

U
Ulery, Mary Bailey	39
Ulery, William A.	8, 40


Page 65:

Ulery, William A. Jr	38

V
VanMatre, Mrs. Irvin	42
Vance, Benjamin	8
Vance, Francis Melinda	33
Vance, James	9
Vann, A. J.	38
Vann, Frances Watts	40, 42
Vaughn, George W.	38
Voorhees, Judge J. H.	33
Vote, Election of 1884	23
Vote, on Local Option	23

W
Waggoner Addition	25
Waggoner, William B.	41
Walden, Mrs. Harvey	42
Walker, James T.	3,7
Walton, Avery and Powell	36
Wantland, Cy	31
Water system	45
Waters, Mary Triplett	40
Waters, Mrs. Val	42
Watkins, Rev. Ed	30
Watson, Mrs. Everett	41
Watson, Rev. H. H.	30
Watson, Rev. Oris E.	30
Watts, Arzilla	4
Watts, Burdilla	4
Watts, Caucyra	4
Watts, Eliza Ann	4
Watts and Elsberry	22
Watts, Emma Fields	40
Watts, Ewing H.	4
Watts, Gabrilla	4
Watts, John S.	39
Watts, Mary Ann Green	40,42
Watts, Mordecai R.	4
Watts, Nelson	3, 5, 7, 8, 16
Watts, Reginald	39
Watts, Senaca	4, 9
Watts, Thomas S.	4, 22
Watts, Wesley	4
Watts, William	3, 4, 8, 9
Watts, William W.	24, 38
Webb, Hotel	14, 19
Webb, Captain J. P.	19
Weeks, Lucy Kathryn	42
Weeks, Virgil	39
Welch Addition	25
Welch Tract Addition	25
Welch, B. C.	8, 20, 36
Welch, James Gordon	42,38


Page 66:

Welch, Dr. James W.	38
Wells, Henry F.	38
Wells-Lamont Company	45
Wells, T. Louie	88
Werges, Wayne	39, 43
Wernecke, Dr. H. H.	30
Westminster College	35
Whitaker, Kathryn Cole	40
Whiteside, Anna Eliza	36
Whiteside, Edwin E.	10
Whiteside, Mrs. Edwin R.	42
Whiteside, Dr. Edwin R.	7, 19, 24, 39
Whiteside, Elizabeth Pryor	40
Whiteside, Isaac	38
Whiteside, J. V.	39
Wiggins, W. D.	36
Wigginton Hill	26, 34
Wigginton, Pauline	41
Wigginton, R. T.	8, 11, 20
Wilkinson, Annie Jeffries	40
Wilkinson, Hefflington	21
Wilkinson, James	16
Wilkinson, James Causyra	8, 16, 19
Wilkinson, John	9
Wilkinson, Joseph Conn	4
Wilkinson, Mordecai W.	15
Wilkinson, J. R.	39
William Jewell College	34
Wilmes, Rev. Father Aloysius F.	31
Wilson, Dr. G. G.	22
Wilson, O. A.	34
Winfield	18
Wingfield, Louis	44
Wipke, Sidney	39, 43
Wommack, Nancy	4
Wommack, Captain Richard	4
Wommack, Richard H.	37
Woolfolk, Norborne	8
Works Progress Administration	45
Wortman, Mrs. Sid	42

Y
Yoes, Rev. C. E.	30
Yokley, Rev. Francis J.	30

Z
Zimmerman, Sarah Washington	36
Zumwalt, Robert	39