Titherow Hills Revisted

Three years ago I composed a blog post on a region in Randolph County, Missouri called Titherow Hills. It is about five miles north of Huntsville, Missouri and about six miles west of Cairo within only a few miles of Darksville . At that time I was just beginning to solve the mystery of the area my mother's family claimed to hail from. I since learned from discussions with a Towles cousin there was also a stream called Titterow Creek.

The area of Titherow Hills seems to largely be somewhere in 55W-15N Sections  26, 35 and 36, and 54W-15N Sections 1 and 2. I had assumed from a young child the name for the area had came from Thither "to go to or towards that place" and row  perhaps describing how the hills ran to and fro. I later learned it was named for John Titherow. The name for the region is variously spelled "Titterow Hills" and "Tettero Hills." Another spelling of the Tetherow/Titherow name is Dettero, not unlike Tettero. These corruptions of the spelling of the Titherow's surname in the place name may be indicative of the different ways to spell the surname, or just a matter of the name being passed down orally with no one having written it down until many decades had passed,

A John Titherow appears in a land patent dated to 1833 in Howard County, Missouri as Titherow. The minutes of the  Howard County, MO Circuit Court of April 17, 1817  show Solomon Tetherow about 15 chose Henry Weedin as his guardian.  The Court appointed Thomas Herrington guardian of David Tetherow about age 11, and Robert Brown guardian of John Tetherow about age 13 at that time. As the name is not a common one in this part of the state it is assumed John Titherow and John Tetherow are the same person. There appears to be only three Tetherows and one Titherow in Howard County in the period from 1817 to 1833. The other two were brothers to John, Solomon and David Tetherow

The Tetherow's were famous pioneers. John's brother Solomon went to Oregon in 1845, and his life from thereon is well documented including a journal about the wagon train he lead there. David appears to have tried to go to Orgeon with Solomon, but died in transit. Prior to that, Solomon and David along with their brother George had helped settle Daviess County, Missouri in 1831. In 1837, George sat the first jury in Livingston County, Missouri. He founded  Stewartsville, Missouri in DeKalb County. He first named the settlement,  Doodlesville for Evan Doodle. This place was then renamed Tetherton, and finally Stewartsville for Missouri Governor Robert M. Stewart. Stewartsville currently has a population of 750.

John Titherow lived very near my Great Grand Uncle William Payne Towles, guardian of my Great Grandfather Robert D. Towles in Howard County. This was in the vicinity of what is now Armstrong, Missouri, It appears he moved north with my Great Grandfather and my Great Grandfather's First Cousin Stokeley William Towles or they followed him as their families wound up in Titherow Hills by 1850. According to Towles descendants Titherow Hills was named for John Titherow. The tale goes that my Towles ancestors and their friends were looking for John Titherow as he was missing. They stopped some folks that appeared to be passing through, and asked if they had seen John Titherow. They said they had not. It was then they noticed blood pooling under the strangers' wagon.They thought nothing of it assuming the strangers had killed wild game. It occurred to them later that the strangers had killed John Titherow, and his body was in the wagon. They never saw Titherow again.

Another tale appears in an article that touches on the naming of Titherow Hills in the Dec. 3, 1931 edition of the Monitor-Index. This one stemmed from an interview with Warren Turner, a man about 80, and son of David Turner one of the first men to settle Titherow Hills. Warren Turner appeared to be an oddball claiming to be "Governor of Tettero Hills." His version of the naming of Titherow Hills was that a man named John Tettero moved 3/4 of a mile north of his father's place, his father having settled the area before Randolph County was organized. Tettero talked to no one, lived alone, and only owned a dog, a pony, and a rifle. Yet, he always seemed to have plenty of money. Finally, Tettero's cabin burned, and Tettero, the dog, and the pony were never seen again.

It is difficult to say which tale is true, and indeed both may be. It is entirely possible Titherow was robbed, murdered, his body hauled away in a wagon, and his cabin burned to hide evidence. There being no written records from the period, no missing persons report, no investigation, no cold case files as one would have were a person to disappear today there is no way to know what happened to John Titherow. He may have been murdered, or he may have just took off and left for greener pastures. All that perhaps can be known with a certainty is that he disappeared, and was never heard from again. As to when this took place, it can be assumed to be after 1833 when Titherow obtained his land patent in Howard County. However, he appears in neither the 1840 Howard County Census Records nor those for Randolph County. It is likely therefore that John Titherow was either killed or left Randolph County sometime between 1833 and 1840.

As to the name itself, John Titherow's name is spelled Tetherow in one record, and Titherow in another. Tetherow seems to be the more common spelling of the family name although Titherow does appear in old records. Dettero is another variation of the spelling of the surname, although John does not seem to have ever spelled his name that way. There are many other variations of the family name. although John and his siblings seem to have preferred "Tetherow." Family names were often spelled different ways in the 19th century. An example of this can be seen with my mother's family. The accepted spelling is Towles, and this spelling goes back to before the Colonial Period to England. However, my Grand Uncle William Payne's name appeared Toles in a Census Record for Howard County, and my Great Grand Father signed his name "Robert Toles" on a tax receipt shortly before he died while his name appeared in some census records as "Robert Tolls." This despite his name being spelled Towles on most other records. It would not be a far reach to assume that John Titherow may have spelled his name both Titherow and Tetherow. The question of the spelling of the name of the area as Titterow Hills or Tettero Hills is answered easily enough. As stated earlier the variations of the place name may be due to the name being passed down orally. Both the Towles and Turner families had probably never seen the name spelled. Even if the earliest generations that had known John Ttherow had seen the name written down, the name may have become corrupted as it was passed down orally to each succeeding generation. Thus you see the Towles descendants spelling it Titterow while the Turner descendants spelled it Tettero.

The question of how much of an area constituted Titherow Hills is not easily answered. Parts of 55W-15N Sections 35 and 54W-15N Sections 2 are a certainty. Both the Towles and Turner families claimed to be from Titherow Hills and their homes were in Sections 2 and 35. However, they owned land in adjacent sections, and it appears from newspaper accounts the Davis and Winkler families also claimed to live in Titherow Hills. Their homes were in other adjacent sections. I can only therefore assume that Titherow Hills was in all or parts of 55W-15N Sections 26, 35, and 36 as well as 54W-15N Sections 1 and 2 in Randolph County, Missouri. It may have consisted of an area of  2,500 acres or more. Or it could have been a much smaller area if only portions of the above named sections were a part of it. Looking at a topographical map, the hills in the area which are about 860 feet above sea level are bounded roughly by County Road 1275 on the north side, the flood plain of the East Fork of the Chariton River on the east side, Route Z on the south side, and Route C on the west side. The hills may have extended farther into Section 26 to the north. This area of Section 26 has been strip mined however and any hills there leveled so as not to appear on modern topographical maps. Regardless, the hills cover the greater part of Section 35 and parts of Sections 1, 2, 26, and 36. The area is roughly a mile wide and two miles long. This would make the size of Titherow Hills roughly 1300 acres. However, going by the families that claimed to have lived there the area could be much larger. One can therefore only assume Titherow Hills was somewhere between 1300  and 2,000 acres more or less.

All of this pretty much solves the mystery of Titherow Hills for me. I have located it which was my first aim. I had always thought it north of Randolph County Road 1275, and indeed part of it may have been, but most is to the south of that road. I have also found who the area was named for, and the names of four families that say they lived in Titherow Hills. The question of the spelling of the name is one I can live with. Spelling of names has only recently become fixed with surnames and names of unofficial settlements changing with the stroke of a pen being spelled one way one time, and another way another time. I spell it "Titherow Hills" as Titherow is how John Titherow's name appears on his land patent. However, other spellings I feel are valid. Regardless, I hope that the name for the area will be preserved and not forgotten. It is a part of my family's history after all.

View of Titherow Hills from the north:

Below is an interactive map of the area showing the outline of the Hills, as well as important sites and features. You can click on a marker to gain information about it. To enlarge the map click or press on the square in the upper right hand corner.

Some Thoughts on Slavery, Racism, and the American Civil War

The American Civil War is a very complex issue especially for states like Missouri where sympathies were very much divided. Here in my part of Missouri (which is called LIttle Dixie by the way) many wealthy slave holders were Union men. Meanwhile, many that did not even own slaves fought for the Confederacy. The Confederate Bushwhacker "Bloody Bill" Anderson who grew up in my hometown never owned slaves, nor did his father, or his father's father. Meanwhile, wealthy slave holders like Benjamin Lewis of Glasgow, Missouri were Union men. He was beaten nearly to death by Anderson for that very reason. This was very, very common during the war. Wealthy slave holders often were pro-Union while those that owned no slaves served the Confederacy.

This was largely due to the propaganda of the time. Wealthy slave holders in states like Missouri were under the impressionism they could keep their slaves after the war. Meanwhile, many felt the war was being fought for states rights, and that the Union Army was nothing more than Northern invaders. The North had similar issues. People there were often under the impression the war was being fought to "preserve the Union." It never occurred to many on both sides that the issue at heart was slavery.

 Even the issue of slavery is not as simple as it seems. For example, I often recommend people read the slave narrative "The New Man: Twenty-Nine Years a Slave, Twenty-Nine Years a Free Man" by Henry Clay Bruce. The picture of slavery its author paints is neither consistent with the Antebellum white literature, nor that of today, or even the Northern literature following the war. It paints a picture of good and bad inconsistent with white American literature of any era. It is in stark contrast with the Southern Antebellum literature about the "happy slave" and the Abolitionist literature about the cruelty of slavery. The issue for folks like Mr. Bruce pure and simple was freedom. Still, even with the simple idea of freedom being the main concern, post-war society was very complex. For example. what is surprising about what Bruce talked about in his narrative is the he himself was guilty of prejudice against darker skinned African Americans, as well as what he calls "poor white trash." Mr. Bruce is sometimes more sympathetic to former slaver holders than he is his fellow African Americans and whites living in poverty.

As much as racism was an issue in the South, classism was as well. I know this complex situation concerning slavery and race issues firsthand. My Great Grandfather Towles' three slaves begged not to leave him. The fear of being on their own with no money, and having to seek jobs terrified them. My great grandfather was sympathetic, but being a Middle Class farmer and carpenter he could not afford to pay them. He had fed and clothed them from goods produced on his farm, not profits from his business. And unlike the image of the racist former slave holder, he taught his children, "Never mistreat the colored people." This flies in the face of the PC view of the cruel slave master quick with the whip. My Great Grandfather Canote and one of his brothers fought for the Union. And while Southerners intermingled with freemen following the war. Two of my Great Uncles on my mothers side fought for the Confederacy. You even had Southern sympathizers drafted into the Union army. While the war may have been fought over slavery, the personal views of many then were often contradictory in the State of Missouri, or not what we would expect. You saw men who supported slavery fighting for the Union cause, and men who did not believe in slavery supporting the Confederate cause.

One fact remains, the Southern States seceded over slavery. There was no other reason. Even the argument they seceded over states' rights holds no water as the "right" they were wanting to preserve was to own slaves. What bothers me most in all this though is the North seems ignorant of its own racism and prejudice. When desegregation of schools is brought up, it is always Little Rock that is mentioned first. They ignore the riots in Boston in the '70s over "busing" that were racially motivated. In fact the issue of desegregation in what is sometimes called the "most racist city in America" is almost never mentioned. The Boston desegregation race issues have been in my opinion swept under the rug. People also ignore the fact that the draft riots in New York City during the Civil War were in part racially motivated. During the riots blacks were attacked in the streets mostly by Irish immigrants upset that wealthy men could buy their way out of the draft. Even the treatment of the Irish and other immigrants in the North is a lesson in the prejudice of Northern Anglo-Americans. Lynchings were not unheard of in states like Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. In some areas of the North African Americans were restricted to living in only certain neighborhoods. Racism to many only exists in the South though. However, it can be seen in the North as well. Meanwhile, there were areas in the South like mine where the KKK was driven out with guns and baseball bats. Yet it still flourishes in Northern States like Indiana where one sees the Confederate Battle Flag much more often. I will concede that racism was more prevalent in the South esp. in places like Mississippi and Georgia, but the North is not without its own sins in that area. The issues of the American Civil War, slavery, racism, general prejudice, even classism are in many ways as complex now as they have ever been. And I think instead of focusing on one part of the country we need to look at all of it. I often have to wonder if all this hoopla in the media over the Confederate Battle Flag is smoke and mirrors to take our minds over the treatment of blacks by the police in places like New York City and Chicago. One thing is clear though, things must change.

Smithland, Randolph County, Missouri Revisited

A year or two ago I wrote a post on my attempts to find out information on the mysterious Smithland, Missouri which appears on many state maps from 1844 to 1875. It is always shown as being the Southern part of Randolph County. Often it may be the only place shown in the county besides Huntsville and Mount Airy, places still remembered today. It is mentioned regularly in the Fayette, Missouri paper The Boonslick Times (published in the 1840s) in regards to the arrival and departure of the mail, with an occasional announcement of an estate sale or advertisement for some goods sold in Smithland.  Yet, Smithland is not mentioned in any of the county histories, and has only brief entries in gazetteers. There is only one work I have found that contains much information on it and that was a pamphlet entitled Higbee Centennial 1872-1972: Higbee Through the Years compiled and edited by Emily F. Patison now deceased. I presume the information in the pamphlet was compiled from early editions of the Higbee News (sadly for many years a defunct newspaper) about the history of the area many years before at a time when folks remembered Smithland. Using this and what information I could glean from the Moberly papers of people remembering Smithland I composed my first post on Smithland entitled, The Forgotten Village of Smithland I have since learned new information that answers some questions and raises others,

First though a recap of what I had learned when I made that post. Smithland was in the Southern part of Randolph County, Missouri not far from Higbee, Missouri and not far from other ghost towns whose locations are known like Harkes and Elliot. It was a stage stop between Paris, Missouri and Fayette, Missouri, and served as a post office from 1838 to 1858. It was founded by landowner Joel Smith's family, and it was on the land of the Smith family it sat. Joel's son William operated the stage through Smithland during the Civil War, but stopped the line in 1866. According to Esther Leech's Master's Thesis published in 1933 Place Names Of Six East Central Counties Of Missouri  the stage line stopped operation when the Western  Branch of the North Missouri Railroad began operation. The biography of William Smith, son of Joel Smith found in Randolph County, Missouri, Cemetery Records and Histories says much the same thing.  It had operated as a stage stop for over 30 years by that time as in 1833, State Representative George Frederick Burckhardt of Randolph County planned to introduce a bill declaring the stage road from Paris, Missouri via Smithland to Fayette, Missouri a state road. Whether this was done or not I have been unable to find out.  Smithland at its peak boasted a post office, a small inn, a blacksmith shop, a general store, a tavern, and even a horse race track. According to old stories told by old timers of their parents found in editions of the Moberly Monitor-Index from the 1930s Smithland was large enough that political rallies were sometimes held there. Yet by 1867 according to  Missouri As It Is in 1867 by Nathan Parker Smithland had a population of only 50.

When I wrote my first post on Smithland it was not clear to me what caused its decline. However, having done more research and put some thought into it as well as much discussion with other researchers I have decided it was due to a number of factors. Primary was the loss of the post office, and mail being carried through Smithland on its way to Fayette or Paris. This role was taken over by Renick whose post office opened the year Smithland's closed. With the coming of the railroad mail no longer needed to be carried by coach. The railroad also meant no more riders for the stages. As long as rail traffic went north and south on the railroad as it did throughout the Civil War there was room for stages going east and west. However, with the opening of an east/west railroad in the county the need for coaches was gone especially since the largest towns were now served by them. Finally, the Civil War no doubt dealt Smithland a blow. The area of Smithland was a beehive of bushwhacker activity. The Battle of Roan's Creek (also known as Silver Creek) was fought only a few miles away. Joel Smith himself was even pistol whipped by "Bloody Bill" Anderson, and had horses stolen from him. The stage roads were used for all sorts of military and partisan traffic.Finally, Joel Smith was the second largest slave holder in Randolph County, Missouri. With the emancipation he lost a substantial investment, not to mention perhaps no longer had the manpower to operate his farms. Even had it not went into decline its days were perhaps numbered. The railroad bypassed it by a mile or so, and a new town called Higbee sprung up not a few miles to the southwest in 1872 on the tracks.

The big issue for me in addition to its history, was its location. This had been problematic. I had been told by the County Commissioners one who lived not a quarter of a mile from the Smithland site it was south and slightly west of the low water crossing on Randolph County Road 2520 and 2520's intersection with  RCR 2530. The problem with this location is none of my research backed it up. The Smith family owned land close by, but I could not connect them to that specific piece of property. On the 1876 County Atlas it was owned by Henderson Wilcox and none of Joel's land patents from earlier years were close to the area. And while the Smith family owned land nearby, it was not exactly adjacent property. Then while doing more research as the question of Smithland's location still nagged at me I found a legal notice for an estate sale in a November, 1848 issue of the Boonslick Times published in Fayette, Missouri. It read as follows:

Sale

WILL be sold to the highest bidder, on the premises, on the 25 of December next, the tract of land on which the late Wm Smith lived; known as the Smithland tract. containing about 820 acres, on the road from Glasgow and Fayette to Paris, one fourth to be paid in hand, and the balance in three equal annual installments. Any gentleman wishing to purchase a good country residence, would do well to examine this tract; the soil is good; has about 3 or 400 acres under good fence. The buildings all roomy and commodious, there is an abundance of timber land, and it all lies convenient to the grand prairie, and has an abundant supply of stock water, with a never tailing well in the yard.

There will also be sold at the same time five negroes, all in the prime of life, (to wit:) 3 men one boy, about 15, and a girl about 18 (years of age. Tho particular terms of the sale will be made known on the day of sale.

JOEL SMITH
JOHN J. ALLEN.
Executors of the Estate of Wm. Smith, dec'A,
Nov. 18, 1848. 39 ts.

This blew me away. Everything I had read said Joel Smith founded and owned Smithland. Not one book, not one 20th century newspaper article, not even the highly informative Higbee Centennial booklet said otherwise. Joel Smith founded and owned Smithland, end of story. Yet, here was this announcement of a sale in 1848 that says William Smith lived on the Smithland tract and had about 820 acres. My first thought was to go looking for land patents, a task made easy by the Bureau of Land Management. I did a search on the BLM website, and turned up many land patents by William Smith. and the earliest one was precisely where the County Commissioners had told me the village of Smithland was. Further land patents went up and down what is now Randolph County Roads 2520 and 2530. I can probably safely say Smithland has been located. As to who William Smith was to Joel Smith I cannot say. He could be a father, brother, uncle, or even cousin. I did a futile search for genealogical information, but could find none. What is clear is William Smith did live on the area of land called Smithland, and owned at one time the probable site of the village of Smithland.

I also managed to make a longer list of folks that lived in and around Smithland. There is Joel Smith's family to which we must add the William Smith that died in 1848. Joel Smith was originally from Kentucky. His wife was Dorcas Smith nee Tureman. They reportedly had nine children. I can only find the names of six. He had one son William Smith who married Florence Head daughter of Doctor Walter Head of Huntsville, Missouri. He built and operated the Grand Central Hotel in Moberly, Missouri in 1880. The rest of Joel and Dorcas Smith's children were daughters and they are listed in no particular order. One of his daughters was Mary who married William James, William James was through his sister, Susan, brother in law of Doctor James Marion Walker who owned land beside some of Joel Smith's properties. Then there was Sarah Catherine who married James Edwin Rucker. According to her obituary in the Higbee News she lived on the farm she was born on her entire life and died there in 1924. The Smiths' daughter Elizabeth married John Tunstall Coates who would become a Circuit Judge and was influential in the early days of Moberly (he has one of the streets in Downtown Moberly named for him). Elizabeth died young. and after her death her sister Amanda married Judge Coates. Finally their daughter Annie married George Bradford. George became a prominent farmer Southeast of Columbia, Missouri.

In addition to the family, I have uncovered other names of people that may have lived near Smithland. Smithland produced one famous or should I say infamous son. According to the Encyclopedia of  Frontier Biography Thomas F.M. McLean also known as "Bison" McLean was born in Smithland. He attended the University of Missouri and was recommended for an appointment to West Point by W.W. Hudson Professor of Mathematics as well as University President John Hiram Lathrop. He was admitted to West Point in July of 1844, but was dismissed in August of 1848 for being "deficient in conduct." He then traveled to California where he took up life with Native Americans and took to raiding. It could be he is related to Doctor William B. McLean whose estate was listed for sale near Smithland in a January 24, 1846 edition of the Boon's Lick Times. A Mary McLean according to the 1876 plat map of Randolph County Missouri owned land adjacent to Joel's Smith's property, and near the old village site. I cannot help but think they are all somehow related. Abiel Leonard who was at one time Secretary of State of Missouri and lived in Fayette apparently stayed in or near Smithland at some point. He received a letter there in 1855 from a Mrs. Terrell according to The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 58.  Also according to that volume Fleming Terrell lived in Smithland or nearby. According to postal records Reubon Watts was Postmaster of Smithland in 1856. Other people are mere names, and they are Thomas H. Withers, his wife Susan nee Shackleford, T.L. Watts operated a store at Smithland going by ads in area papers of the time.  William Fleming Boulware is stated as living near Smithland in an edition of the Randolph Citizen when his house burned. Other names linked to Smithland in papers of the period were B.G. Harris, Moses Goodfellow, and A. Foster. Peter Bass, Susan E. Creason nee Robb, Henderson D, Wilcox founder of the village of Harkes, Missouri owned property adjacent to Joel Smith's property.

Probable Site of Smithland

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"Historic Huntsville Missouri" Website

About 13 years ago I created a website on Rootsweb Freepages called "Historic Huntsville." I never did much with it except provide an incomplete history and a bunch of links to other websites. And so it sat for 13 years with only minor updates a year or two later. Then last week after completing work on my "Historic Map of Randolph County" I decided to revisit it, perhaps complete the history and write my own pages instead of linking elsewhere. One week later it is done. In the meantime the web address has changed. Last Monday Ancestry.com had a Distributed Denial of Service Attack. This knocked Freepages offline for about a week. Freepages was operational for a few hours Friday which allowed me to complete the history, then again I did not have access until today. This gave me time to complete the biographies and other pages. I also decided to move the site to Google Sites. Google Sites allowed me more features such as a site search, and overall made the site easier to manage. The resulting site is much bigger than the old one with added features such as the "Historic Map of Randolph County;" a map of Huntsville; a photo gallery; a section for community news; new listings for Huntsville clubs, churches, government offices, and businesses; and all new biographies of famous people that have lived in and around Huntsville. I am rather proud of it although it could be so much more, and I am going to work to add to it. I need to bring the history up to present times, and I need to find news to add to the community news section. But for now it is a working and I hope informative site. If you wish to visit it go to: https://sites.google.com/site/historichuntsvillemissouri/ If you have any comments please email me at the links provided or comment here. I could have enabled site comments, and I am still considering it, but for now they are disabled.

A Map of Historic Places in Randolph County, Missouri

A while back I got the idea of trying to document the villages and towns that have existed in Randolph County Missouri. In the early days there were places that were little more than a store and a post office that are now forgotten, yet they were important enough to make it on maps of the time. Among these are Bournesburg, Edwardsville, Oak Point, and Smithland. In the case of Bounresburg, Edwardsville, and Smithland their rough locations are known. Other early places have had their names and knowledge of their locations survive to the present day like Mount Airy and Milton. Still others like Elk Fork and Berthaville despite appearing on maps leave us confused as to their locations.

Later, after the early settlements, mining towns would be founded often within a couple miles of each other as competing mining companies did not wish to use the others' towns. Such is the case with Shafton and Tuanton which were within a mile or two of each other and only a mile or so from present day Renick. These too have largely disappeared and been forgotten. Some mining towns though despite having only a brief existence remain on the map. Kimberly and Harkes are just a couple of examples of such towns.

Some of the locations of places on this map are conjecture and where that is the case a question mark is placed after the name. With some places only a rough location is known, but in those cases I have hoped from directions given in old newspapers and histories to have located the places within a mile or two of where they were. Such is the case with Shafton and McMullen. The location of many places are well known in the county, and some remain on maps to this day. Outside of the major towns these are Darksville, Fort Henry, Grand Center, Hubbard, Kimberly, Levick's Mill, Milton, Mount Airy, Roanoke, Rolling Home, Ryder, and Yates. There is a special exception and that is Kribb's Corner (Kribbsville) which has never appeared on maps or had a post office. It was an attempt at a village that never gained traction in the mid to late 20th century. but remains in people's memories. Finally, there are villages and stores the location of which may never be known. From a post office list there were once places named Breckenridge, Clarno, Hillis Crown and Plum Point. Some such as Hillis Crown even operated post offices for up to 12 years. Yet they are now forgotten.

Towns, villages, and settlements are designated by stars on the map. Historic places are designated by circles. And diamonds designate geographic features. Settlements and mining towns listed besides the major towns are Allen, Belview, Berthaville, Bournesberg, Darksville, Edwardsville, Elliot, Elk Fork, Fort Henry, Grand Center, Harkes (Wilcox), Hubbard, Kimberly, Kribb's Corner,  Levick's Mill, McClainsville, McMullen, Milton, Mount Airy (Uptonville), Oak Point, Penney's, Roanoke, Russell, Ryder, Shafton, Smithland, Sunshine, Taunton, Thomas Hill, and Yates. All of these are in Randolph County except for McClainsville which is over the county line in Macon County, and Russell which is right on the Randolph and Howard County line. Historic places listed are Bagby's Mill. the Battle of Roan's Tanyard, Burkhartt's Fields and the Monkey Nest Mine. Geographic areas that are listed are Dark's Prairie, Foster's Prairie, Grand Prairie, and Titherow Hills. To enlarge the map in another window, please click on the little rectangle in the upper right hand corner. You can zoom in and out by clicking on the + and -.  And when you click on one of the icons (rectangle, circle, or star) you get little tidbits of information about the place.

If you see any corrections that need to be made to the map, let me know. And if you know of anything that needs to be added by all means let me know. This is very much a work in progress.

The Forgotten Village of Smithland, Randolph County, Missouri

On many maps of the State of Missouri dating between the years 1844 and 1875 there appears a place called "Smithland" located in the Southern part of Randolph County. Often it may be the only place shown in the county besides Huntsville and Mount Airy, places still remembered today. Smithland though has been largely forgotten. Many that have lived their entire lives in and around the town of Higbee, Missouri but two or three miles away have never heard of it. Its name does not appear once in the numerous county histories written as early as 1884. I, myself did not recall ever hearing of it, and would have been blissfully unaware of Smithland had I not noticed the name on so many maps of the period. I therefore went on a quest to learn more about it. The only place I found detailed information on it was from a pamphlet entitled Higbee Centennial 1872-1972: Higbee Through the Years compiled and edited by Emily F. Patison now deceased. I presume the information in the pamphlet was compiled from early editions of the Higbee News (sadly for many years a defunct newspaper) about the history of the area many years before at a time when folks remembered Smithland. While what information there was was enlightening, it did not answer the one question I had, exactly where was Smithland? The early maps clearly show it in the Southern part of Randolph County in the general area of the towns and villages of Higbee, Roanoke, and Yates. That is a very large area though. Too, I had many other questions about it. While the piece from the Centennial pamphlet was interesting, it really did not provide much information. So I went searching.

Here is what I learned. Smithland was an active community roughly between 1830 and 1871 founded by prominent landowner Joel Smith. It served as a stage coach stop on a line from Hannibal, Missouri to Fayette, Missouri, and had a post office that served between 1838 and 1858 (it was only one of five in the county at the time). In 1833, State Representative George Frederick Burckhardt of Randolph County was going to introduce a bill declaring the stage road from Paris, Missouri via Smithland to Fayette, Missouri a state road. I could not find out whether he did or did not do so. According to Esther Leech's Master's Thesis published in 1933 Place Names Of Six East Central Counties Of Missouri  the stage line stopped operation when the Western  Branch of the North Missouri Railroad began operation which would have been in 1866. The biography of William Smith, son of Joel Smith found in Randolph County, Missouri, Cemetery Records and Histories says much the same thing. I also learned from Missouri As It Is in 1867 by Nathan Parker that in 1867 Smithland had a population of only 50. The last State of Missouri map I can find that it appears on is from 1875. As early as 1885 it was being called "Old Smithland" in obituaries. In this part of the country a town or village is only called "Old" if it has ceased to exist. However, in its heyday Smithland boasted a post office, a small inn, a blacksmith shop, a general store, a tavern, and even a horse race track. It was large enough that political rallies were sometimes held there according to old stories told by old timers of their parents found in editions of the Moberly Monitor-Index from the 1930s.

What caused its decline is anyone's guess. Its post office ceased operation in 1858, the same year the Renick post office in Randolph County opened. Indeed, it is said in such sources as Ester Leech's thesis that Smithland was displaced by Renick. The Civil War may have done it no good either as the Battle of Roan's Tan Yard was fought within a couple of miles of Joel Smith's land. According to Guerrilla Warfare in Civil War Missouri, Volume III Joel Smith was pistol whipped and had two horses taken from him by some of Bloody Bill Anderson's men as they traveled through the area from their raid on Huntsville, Missouri in July of 1864. It could be the guerrilla activity in the area seriously hurt the business that kept Smithland alive. Finally, it is known that Joel Smith was a slave holder from government records (Descriptive Recruitment Lists of Volunteers for the United States Colored Troops for the State of Missouri, 1863-1865) that show he sent two slaves to fight for the Union army during the war. Many slave owners suffered economically due to the loss of income from the labor of the slaves after the war. The final blow was perhaps the stage line ceasing operation in 1866. It had continued to appear on maps though throughout the Civil War, but it may have already have been in decline by then. Its days would have been numbered anyhow. In 1872 Higbee was founded not three or four miles away to the Southeast to be followed by Yates not many miles to the Southwest. The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad went through Higbee in 1874, and Yates got a railroad in 1879 when the Chicago and Alton Railroad built through both it and Higbee. Later the mining town of Elliot would spring up not far away as well as the town of Harkes. All these towns were in about a six mile radius of  what had been Smithland. Joel Smith moved to Moberly, Missouri in 1880, and died two years later though his daughter Sarah remained living on the original farm. Any number of factors could have lead to Smithland's demise. Most likely it was due to accumulation of many things. All that is known is by 1885 it was being called "Old Smithland" a clear indicator it was no more. My brother Terry has suggested that perhaps it was like a "company town" that declined with the fortunes of its owner. I cannot discount that idea.

I have compiled a list of people that lived in and around Smithland from sources on the internet. First off there is Joel Smith's family. Joel Smith was originally from Kentucky. His wife was Dorcas Smith nee Tureman. They reportedly had nine children, but I can only find the names of six. He had one son William Smith who married Florence Head daughter of Doctor Walter Head of Huntsville, Missouri. He operated the stage line between Allen and Fayette and between Paris and Huntsville all in Missouri during the years of the Civil War and built and operated the Grand Central Hotel in Moberly, Missouri in 1880. The rest of Joel and Dorcas Smith's children were daughters and they are listed in no particular order. One of his daughters was Mary who married William James, William James was through his sister, Susan, brother in law of Doctor James Marion Walker who owned land beside some of Joel Smith's properties. Then there was Sarah Catherine who married James Edwin Rucker. According to her obituary in the Higbee News she lived on the farm she was born on her entire life and died there in 1924. The Smiths' daughter Elizabeth married John Tunstall Coates who would become a Circuit Judge and was influential in the early days of Moberly (he has one of the streets in Downtown Moberly named for him). Elizabeth died young. and after her death her sister Amanda married Judge Coates. Finally their daughter Annie married George Bradford. George became a prominent farmer Southeast of Columbia, Missouri.

There are others that may have lived in or around Smithland. I say, "may have lived" because some of these names are from genealogy pages which do not always have correct information. Smithland produced one famous or should I say infamous son. According to the Encyclopedia of  Frontier Biography Thomas F.M. McLean also known as "Bison" McLean was born in Smithland. He attended the University of Missouri and was recommended for an appointment to West Point by W.W. Hudson Professor of Mathematics as well as University President John Hiram Lathrop. He was admitted to West Point in July of 1844, but was dismissed in August of 1848 for being "deficient in conduct." He then traveled to California where he took up life with Native Americans and took to raiding. It could be he is related to Doctor William B. McLean whose estate was listed for sale near Smithland in a January 24, 1846 edition of the Boon's Lick Times, a paper out of Fayette, Missouri. A Mary McLean according to the 1876 plat map of Randolph County Missouri owned land adjacent to Joel's Smith's property. I cannot help but think they are all somehow related. Abiel Leonard who was at one time Secretary of State of Missouri and lived in Fayette apparently stayed in or near Smithland at some point. He received a letter there in 1855 from a Mrs. Terrell according to The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 58.  Also according to that volume Fleming Terrell lived in Smithland or nearby. According to postal records Reubon Watts was Postmaster of Smithland in 1856. Other people are mere names, and they are Thomas H. Withers, his wife Susan nee Shackleford, William Fleming Boulware, Peter Bass, Susan E. Creason nee Robb, Henderson D, Wilcox founder of the village of Harkes, Missouri owned property adjacent to Joel Smith's property.

Now to the question of locating Smithland. To do so I started first by checking the An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Randolph County, Missouri, 1876. Despite its glorified name it is essentially a plat map showing where people owned property within the county along with the acreage they owned. Through this I was able to locate where Joel Smith owned property in 1876. However, this is long after Smithland's heyday, and he may have sold or bought property in the intervening years. It would be of little use in locating Smithland. I then decided to check for the purchase of land patents by Joel Smith at the Bureau of Land Management website. He obtained land from the government in 1833, 1835, 1837, 1843, 1856, and 1859. The largest patent was the one in 1833 for 160 acres, though he obtained more acreage in another year by buying two patents. The 1833 patent was the largest one at one time. As the township, range, and section are given on the documents I could then locate them on a present day county map. With this information, I set about making my own map. I first drew in the land grants up until 1843. We know Smithland existed in 1838 as that is when the post office was opened, but I figured the later grants may be near to his original holdings. I then went back to the 1876 plat map, and drew in the properties he held in 1876. Amazingly he only sold one of his original land grants that being the 40 acre one in Section 35. Now to the map itself. Sections where he may have owned property between 1832 and 1876 are outlined in red and white. His land patents up until 1843 are outlined in blue and white with the dates of the grants given. Land he owned in 1876 in addition to the land patents are outlined in heavy red lines. As can be seen nearly all the properties run along present day Randolph County Road  2480 or close by. Only two of the properties had residences on them in 1876 (that are marked on the plat map anyway), and I have marked these on my map. In the Higbee Centennial pamphlet it is stated the settlement was near the main house. For that reason I think Smithland was in most likely Section 31, the location of the 1833 land patent. It is possible it was in Section 32 as we have no idea when he obtained that property, but I find that unlikely. It is possible there were other residences on the properties that were torn down before 1876, or that simply were missed in the making of the map. We have no way of knowing. So for now I think the best bet is that Smithland was in Section 31. It would be nice someday, if the present land owners were to allow it to explore Section 31 with a metal detector to find the exact location. Perhaps still there may be those that know the exact location.

Update February 25 2014: I emailed Randolph County Commissioner Jerry Crutchfield who someone said is very knowledgeable about county history. He said he did not know, but he asked County Commissioner Wayne Wilcox (Great, great, great grandson of H.D. Wilcox who founded Harkes) who lives very close to there. According to Mr. Wilcox, Smithland is South of the County Road 2530 and County Road 2520 intersection. It lies West and slightly South of a low water crossing on County Road 2520. Joel Smith did indeed own 80 acres there a little to the South in 1876 in Section 9 Northeast of Higbee shown on the map above. And his son William Smith owned 80 acres catty corner to the Northwest of this property in Section 4. This is a little West of where County Commissioner Wilcox says it is, and far from where I thought it was. However, the Smiths may have owned more property in that area and sold it by 1876. I have no doubt Commissioner Wilcox is probably right and this is the general location of Smithland. It is very near Route A which is a state road, and we know Representative Burkhardt was trying to have the road from Paris to Fayette via Smithland declared such. If that is the case Smithland is probably in Section 3  directly West of Renick. This would be in keeping with old accounts that put it West of Renick. Part of the problem has always been is Joel Smith owned so much land in the area, and referred to all of it as Smithland making locating the village difficult. I owe the Commissioners a great deal of thanks for their help! I cannot thank them enough!

A Little Bit of History about Titherow Hills, Randolph County, Missouri

There is a region of Randolph County, Missouri that old timers like my parents (who were born in 1916 and 1917) called Tittterow Hills. Most if not all probably have not heard the name. How much area this name was applied to I do not know. It may have just been a couple of farms or a much larger area. I do know that it was in the area of farms owned once by the Robert D. Towles family between Darksville, Missouri and Cario, Missouri, well north of Huntsville, Missouri. I suspect much of it is in the area of Riley Lake, Thomas Brothers Lake, and Kohl Lake where a coal mining operation was once several years ago. The old Towles farms are described as being near Darksville, Missouri and north of Huntsville in old newspaper articles and this would be in the right vicinity.

I had always thought the name Titterow Hills had come from a dialectical use of Thither "to go to or towards that place" and row  and never really could make sense of it.  My mother never knew where the name came from, and I never asked other members of the Towles family. So yesterday I was going through old land grants at the Bureau of Land Management website just to see the other grants that were near my great grandfather Robert D. Towles' farms which I suspect he had gotten from his uncle William Payne Towles. The farms were scattered throughout what was then Howard County Missouri and later Randolph County. One land grant was in Macon County, Missouri. I found that my great, great grandfather Ben Eatherton for example owned land near my great, great, great uncle William Payne Towles, and that is probably how my great grandfather and great grandmother met.

As I was looking through the land grants I saw a name that struck me. The grant was to a John Titherow and made in 1833. That would have made him one of the earlier settlers of that part of the county. Apparently he did not stay long in the county as I can find no other trace of him in this region. He nor his family are mentioned in the county histories. There are no newspaper articles or obituaries about any of his family in the area, and no county records like marriage licenses. However, he stayed long enough to give his name to a region of the county. At what point they started calling the area Titherow Hills I do not know. It may have been as early as when he got the land grant. The name persisted until the late 20th century when the grandchildren and great grandchildren of those early settlers in the area began to die off. It may have never went beyond a few families that lived in the neighborhood of the Towles family. I wish my mother and aunts and uncle were still alive so I could pry them for more information. By the way the name Titherow is given in most other documents as Tetherow. The family was quite common once in Clay County Missouri.

Edit: I have since learned the land patent that John Titherow received in 1833 was near Armstrong Missouri in Howard County. This is some distance from the region of Randolph County I am talking about. Never the less he was near the Towles family in Howard County, and could have easily moved to Randolph County. It would only be a matter of moving north 20 miles just as the Towles family did. It would require checking land deeds from the early history of Randolph County many of which were lost in the fires of the various courthouses.

Edit:  More research shows it could also be in the area of the Towles farms of the Stokely William Towles family. These were farms owned by my great grandfather's cousin (son of William Payne Towles). The Towles Cemetery where he is buried is on Route DD which is probably the eastern edge of the Towles holdings while Oakland School sometimes called the Towles School was near the intersection of present day Randolph County roads 1645 and 1650. This is east of where I thought Titherow Hills was. However, the Towles farms ran westward towards Daksville, and my sister thought my great grandfather's farms were around the area of the intersection of county roads 1270 and 1275. So Titherow Hills is probably in the general vicinity of where I thought it was although it may be father south and east. It also could cover a much larger area than I previously thought.

Edit: After discussing it with others, one person said they remembered that their grandfather lived on Titterow Creek and his grandfather's farm was on  the gravel road which ran north from Route Z, that would be Randolph County Road 1270. I also learned  from the Bureau of Land Management website that my great, great grandfather Ben Eatherton's farm was on what is now 1270 on the north side of Route Z. My great grandfather probably had a farm nearby his father in law so I can probably say with some certainty that Titherow Hills was in the general area of county roads 1270 and 1275. 

To the Northwest is Darksville, MO,to the South is Huntsvile, MO, to the Southeast is Cairo MO,  and Jacksonville is to the Northeast.

History of Randolph County Missouri Until the Civil War

This is a piece I wrote for a webpage about thirteen years ago:


The topography of Randolph County began to take its present shape soon after the withdrawal of the glaciers of the last ice age. On the northern edge of the rolling hills north of the Missouri River, what would become Randolph County was covered by hardwood forests and plains grasslands. Large granite boulders left by the glaciers spoted the hillsides here and there. Sometime around 10,000 to 7,000 years ago, the first humans arrived. They hunted the wooly mammoth, mastodon, and other now extinct creatures. The area was rich in elk, wild turkeys, bear, buffalo, and deer. Around 800 CE and again around 1400 CE some of these early inhabitants carved the thunderbird on the entrance of a cave in what is now Camp Thunderbird near Cairo. Later the Missouri Indians used Randolph Co. as their hunting grounds. When white settlers first arrived in Randolph Co., they found the Iowa, Sac, and Fox tribes. Each of these tribes had settled here themselves only shortly before the arrival of the first Randolph Co. pioneers. The first known settler in what is now Randolph County was William Holman along with his father, James Dysart, and brother Joseph Holman. They settled in 1818 near what is now Mount Airy. He was soon followed by Allen Mayo, who settled not far away. James Dysart opened the first school in the settlement that would one day be known as Huntsville in 1822.

Huntsville, the oldest settlement in the county was settled around 1821, and Milton about the same time. At that time, Randolph County was a part of Howard County which extended north to the Iowa border. What is now Randolph County was then made a part of Chariton County to the west. Randolph County was organized out of Chariton County, January 22, 1829, and named in honor of John Randolph, of Roanoke, Virginia. At the time it extended to the Iowa Border. The county seat was located at Huntsville on December 4, 1830. And on the 5th of January 1831, four land owners, William Goggin, Gideon Wright, Daniel Hunt (grandfather of Arizona's first governor George Hunt), and Henry Winburn donated land where the courthouse sits today. As Hunt was the first to settle on the hills of Huntsville, the town was named for him. Previous to that, it had also be known as Gogginsville, as Goggin was the first store owner. General Robert Wilson was the first lawyer in the county and the first circuit clerk (later he would become a United States Senator). Randolph County's first sheriff was Hancock Jackson (later governor of Missouri and cousin of Confederate governor Clairborne Jackson). Its first doctor was William Fort, who also served on the first county court. The other Commissioners on the county court were James Head, and Joseph M. Baker. The first courthouse was completed in the Fall of 1831. It was a two story brick building with one room on the firrst floor used as a courtroom and three above for jury rooms.

The first lot sale took place in April of that year. Huntsville and the county soon prospered with the manufacture of salt, coal mines, hemp rope factories, and tobacco factories. At one time, Huntsville was the second largest leaf tobacco market in the state. By 1857, it was the home to Mount Pleasant College which produced Doctor Victor Clarence Vaughan, one of the finest medical minds of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The college closed in July,1882 after its main building was destroyed by fire. In 1829, Randolph County saw military action with some Iowa Indians. "Cabins of White Folks" was a very small settlement near what is now Kirksville settled by James Myers, Isaac Gross, Stephen Gross, Nathan Richardson, Reuben Myrtle and Jacob Cupp, all formerly of Howard Co. They had been there about a year when a large body of Iowa Indians lead by Chief Big Neck showed up. One of the Indians' dogs killed a pig, and they threatened the women. Alarmed, they sent messengers south to Randolph County. The messenger reached the home of William Blackwell the night of July 24, 1829. A Captain. William Trammell with a group of men went north to help them, engaged the Indians, and were forced to retreat. Routed, they returned to the cabins, got the women, and headed for Huntsville. John Myers, James Winn, Powell Owensby, and Capt. Trammell were killed in the fight. Later, a force of militia under Gen. John B.Clark lead and two other companies under against Captain Abraham Gooddring and Captain Scounce went after Big Neck. Big Neck and his braves, Big Snake, Young Knight, and One-that-Don't-Care were apprehended March 11, 1830, and put on trial by a grand jury of Randolph County. The jury found on March 31, 1830 that: "After examining all the witnesses, and maturely considering the charges for which these Iowa Indians are now in confement, we find them not guilty, and they are at once discharged." Other than this incident, Huntsville did not see much activity during or prior to the Black Hawk War of 1831 - 1832. Two forts built north of what is now Kirksville, Mo., Ft. Matson and Ft. Clark never saw action. In 1833, in her father's home in Silver Creek, Marsha Head, daughter of Dr. Walker Head was married to Sterling Price. Price, of course would go on to be a commander in the Mexican War, governor of Missouri, and General of the Confederate armies in Missouri during the Civil War.

In 1838, the Potawatomi Indians passed near Huntsville on the Trail of Death. They were being relocated from homes in Michigan and Indiana to Oklahoma. During the Mexican War, Captain Hancock Jackson formed a company of about 100 men and went to what is now Santa Fe, New Mexico. The first country fair was held in the Fall of 1854 at Huntsville. In the winter of 1858, the first courthouse was condemned and tore down. A new one, designed by Henry Austin was built in the Spring of 1860. It was a two story brick building with two towers with a balcony and clock. Lincoln County's current courthouse in Troy is very similar. Other early settlements besides Huntsville included Dark's Prarie in 1829 near what is now Darksville and Eldad Church, and Mount Airy in 1837.

Huntsville and Randolph County were not unaffected by the war. It was the site of one "raid" by its son, "Bloody Bill" Anderson, the execution of Confederates, Charles King, Charles Tillotson, and D. S. Washburn, and the first daylight robbery of a train. On the 28th of August, 1861, Confederate Col. Poindexter held up a train at Old Allen (what is now northern Moberly). There he siezed $100,000 in coin being smuggled out of the state from the Missouri State Bank in Fayette. The money was apparently being stolen by Unionist employees of the bank. The money was then reportedly returned to the bank in Fayette by Poindexter.

While no major battles were faught in the county, there were several skirmishes fought in the county. The most significant was Roan's Tan Yard faught near Silver Creek. The battle took place the 8th of January, 1862 withMaj. W.M.G. Torrence in command of the Union forces and Col. J.A. Poindexter, the Confederate. There were only 91 casualties total (11 Union, 80 Confederate), but the battle ended Confederate usage of Randolph County as a base for recruiting and raiding, A small skirmish was also fought near Renick the 1st of November, 1861 with 14 Union soldiers killed. Another small skirmish took place near Roanoke on the 6th September, 1862, and at Huntsville the 9th of November, 1862. Other skirmishes in the area were: Allen on the 23th of July, 1864, Huntsville on the 14th of July and the 7th of August, and Roanoke on the 10th of September.

Most of these skirmishes were between the guerrilla service of the Confederacy and Union regulars in the area. "Bloody Bill" Anderson returned home on the 14th of July, 1864. His "raid" did not amount to much. Having camped near Ft. Henry Church the day before, Anderson road into town and his men robbed the bank of $45,000. A salesman was killed by Anderson's men for trying to run. The money was returned at Anderson's command, and Huntsville escaped harm for the most part. He then burned the depot at Renick and attacked a Union detachment near Allen. Six Union troops and two horses were killed. On July 23 a squad from the 17th Illinois Cavalry was attacked. After this, he moved north into Shelby County where he burned the bridge over the Salt River, and turned south again. He and his guerillas then moved south again, not to return to Randolph County. It was not long after this he and his men committed the Centralia Massacre in what is thought revenge for the illegal executions of CSA regulars at Huntsville, and Palmyra, Missouri. The same day of the massacre, Anderson engaged the 38th Missouri Infantry, USA under the command of Major A.V.E. Johnson between Centralia and Sturgeon, killing 124 of the 147 troops with barely a loss to his own units.

It should be pointed out, the Confederate "guerrillas" were often local partisans. Reports of Anderson's activities in Randolph County show his attacks to be on railroad facilities and Union troops, rarely the farms of those living here. The Union forces were often from Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, and Illinois. They would burn farms, seize horses, and conscript Southern Sympathizers. Renick and Allen were targets for the Confederate partisans as they laid on the North Missouri Railroad, and the CSA troops had orders to disrupt use of the railroads. Roanoke was in a key position near the Plank Road from Glasgow to Huntsville, and was a convient road for both armies to travel. Huntsville, of course, was the county seat, and home to several Confederate units making it a Union objective (much like the former county seat of Macon County, Bloomington, which was burned to the ground by Union forces for its southern sympathies).

A History of Carondelet

This is a piece I wrote about thirteen or fourteen years ago for a website. Carondelet is a neighborhood in the southern part of Saint Louis, Missouri which was once a separate city. It has a long and interesting history.

History of the City of Carondelet.


Carondelet was founded in 1767 by Clement DeLore de Treget, just a little ways north of a temporary settlement made by Catholic Missionaries at the mouth of the River des Peres in 1702. He built his home at the base of what is now Elwood Street near the river, but above the flood stage. A park now rests just beyond where the house once stood. DeLore was born in Quercy, France, and was a former French naval officer, and was apparently appointed syndic or representative by the Spanish government. This allowed him to sell or grant lots to settlers. He was soon joined by other Frenchmen from nearby Cahokia across the river. This French Creole beginning would affect Carondelet well into the 1840s. DeLore laid out the Commonfields in an area that stretched from present day Virgina Ave in the east to Morgansford Road in the west and from Lafayette in the south to Meramac Street in the north. More Commons area was laid out to the south for grazing, stretching as far as River de Peres. This commons was expanded by Lt. Governor Zenon Trudeau to stretch to a mile beyond what is now Jefferson Barracks in 1796. The intial lots in the village its self were 150 feet square with four lots forming a 300 square foot block. This was as with other French settlements like New Orleans and Mobile.

Carondelet was originally called Louisburg in honour of King Louis XV of France, and then Prairie a Catalan, after one of the settlers, Louis Catalan. Finally in 1794, it was named Carondelet in honor of Baron Francois Louis Hector de Carondelet, a Fleming appointed the Spanish governor of Louisiana. It has bore other names as well. In its early days it was refered to as Delor's Village, and Vide Poche which means "empty pocket." Judge Wilson Primm suggested this was due to the Carondelet citizens skill at gambling. They would send their Saint Louis neighbors home with empty pockets.

The village proper originally laid south from Bellerive Park towards the River des Peres, and east from present day Broadway to the edge of the bluffs. The Spanish census of 1796 showed Carondelet to have 181 citizens. By 1850, Carondelet had a population of 1,265. On August 27, 1832 Carondelet was incorporated as a town by the County Court. Its town hall was at Bowen Street and Broadway with a large elm as a meeting tree in the yard. The first trustees were Eugene Leitensdorfer, Louis Fassenor, Auguste Stube, Louis Guion, and Joseph Chatillion. On March 1, 1851, Carondelet was incorporated by an act of the State Legislature as a city. The papers of incorporation decreed the area of the town to be from "Cave Spring" to what is now Michigan Ave, then south for 2,640 yards and east to the Mississippi. The first mayor was Dr. William Taussig, a Bohemian immigrant and medical doctor. In 1862, the city offices were moved to the southeast corner of Broadway and Loughborough. In 1819, the first church was built and named, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Joseph of the Angels. The altar and pews had been purchased at an auction in Saint Louis. They came from the log church that had stood where the Old Cathedral stands now. In 1859, the parish was renamed simply St. Mary and St. Joseph. Saint Mary and Saint Joesph's now stands in the same area.

On July 8, 1826 1,702 acres of the Commons were sold to the United States government for five dollars. This was to become Jefferson Barracks, although it was initally called Cantonment Adams in honour of then president John Qunicy Adams. By 1829, five hundred troops were stationed there, and it served as a training school for infantry recruits. They lived in tents until 1837 when the buildings were finally completed. Eventually, a hospital would be constructed there as well as many other facilities.
In 1836, at the invitation of Bishop Rosati, the Convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph came to Carondelet. The order had been founded in Le Puy, France, by a Jesuit priest in 1647. The order had been disbanded with the persecution of Catholics that followed the French Revolution, but reformed in 1807. Upon arrival, the nuns quickly set about educating the children of Carondelet. Initally only four sisters were working out of a small log cabin. Yet, by September, 1837 with the arrival of two more nuns that had stayed behind in France to learn sign language, they had founded the Saint Joseph Insitute for the Deaf. The order, at one time disbanded, saw its true rebirth in Carondelet, and has since spread all over the United States and to other countries.

Well into the 1840s, French Creole was the prefered language of Carondelet, and French customs prevailed. The citizens of Carondelet were characterized as lazy and uneducated. They made their living by selling food and firewood to St. Louis. By the late 1840s this began to change. Jacob Steins, a German immigrant acquired land south of the old French settlement in 1846. He built a home at what is now the corner of Steins and Rielly, and began encouraging other Germans to move to Carondelet. Initally, the Germans worked in the limestone quarries on the bluffs, and used this same stone to build their homes (quite a few of which still survive). By 1850, almost half of Carondelet consisted of Germans. The city council in 1851 authorized the publication of the city ordiances in English and German. More newcomers would follow in 1849 when a cholera epidemic and the great fire of St. Louis would force some wealthy citizens to flee the city for Carondelet. Judge Wilson Primm moved to what is now 6220 Michigan on what was the outskirts of Carondelet. Henry T. Blow had moved two years earlier to west of what is now Virginia Avenue. Blow, even though a Virginian, helped fund Dred Scott's lawyers in his effort to obtain freedom in 1848. Taylor Blow (Henry's brother), whose family had owned Dred prior to Irene Emerson, eventually bought him his freedom.

In 1855, the railroad came to Carondelet as tracks were laid between Carondelet and the Arsenal. Full railroad service started in 1858, with extensive machine shops being built in Carondelet in 1859. The St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad ran iron ore to the iron works in Carondelet and was a major boom to the small city. Extensive passenger service also took place between Carondelet, Kirkwood, and Saint Louis. It was at this time soldier turned farmer Ulysses S. Grant delivered firewood to the wealthier Carondelet residents. Grant, trained in engineering at West Point applied for a position as superintendant of county roads. Dr. Taussig of Carondelet who was on the county court rejected his application on the grounds Grant had married into a slave holding family. Carondelet was growing rapidly as young men like Louis G. Picot moved in and built homes. Picot's home located southeast of the Sisters of Saint Joesph was a small castle with a four story tower.

On the eve of the the Civil War, Carondelet like the rest of the State had divided sympathies. The 1859 election for mayor was a heated one and that year the Republicans were elected to all of the city offices but two. Once the war began, many southern sympathizers joined the Confederate Army. The German settlers however, were decidedly pro-Union and lead by Henry T. Blow, who would become a Congressman, and serve as Lincoln's minister to Venezeuela. After the war, President Grant made him minister to Brazil. Three Union companies were formed in the area of Carondelet, and one Conferderate lead by Captain James S. Loughborough and Col. John S. Bowen. Col. John S. Bowen (later General) designed the defences of Vicksburg that allowed that city to hold out so long. The defenses were eventually overwhelmed by armies commanded by Carondelet's wood hauler, General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant stated in his memoirs at the time of the surender regarding Bowen, "I had been a neighbor of Bowen's in Missouri, and knew him well and favorably before the war." Bowen died not long after Vicksburg of dysentery, after having refused Grant's offer of assistance from the Union Medical Corps.Castle builder Picot fled to Canada to avoid giving a loyalty oath to the Union. Union forces then seized a hotel he was building in Saint Louis, and tried to seize the castle two months later. Henry T. Blow interceded on Picot's wife's behalf however, and she was allowed to stay. Primus Emerson of Carondelet Marine Railway went to Memphis where he built the ironclad the Arkansas for the Confederate navy. He returned to Carondelet to operate the Carondelet Marine Railway and Dock Company. It went on to build five riverboats, but then burned in May, 1866.

Union ironclads were built at Carondelet. James Eads leased the Carondelet Marine Railway Company (at the foot of Davis Street, near the mouth of the River des Peres). It was then known as Eads' Union Marine Works or the Union Iron-Works or simply Marine Railway. It built the following Cario class ships; "Baron De Kalb" (originally the "St. Louis", but renamed as another ship already bore the name), "Carondelet", "Louisville" and the "Pittsburgh." Also built by Eads at Carondelet were the following ironclads and river monitors; "Fort Henry", "Essex", Neosho, "Osage", "Choctaw", "Winnebago", "Milwaukee", and the "Chickasaw". Many of these vessels saw important action. The Carondelet was principal in action at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Vicksburg. Eads' company is still in operation as the St. Louis Ship-Federal Barge, Inc, one of the largest barge builders in the world. Eads also designed and built the Eads Bridge. As the bridge was being built, it stirred much controversy, and efforts were made to stop its construction. These stopped when Dr. Taussig and Eads traveled to Washington and talked to President Grant in 1873. Grant, not bitter over Taussig costing him a job as a county engineer, and remembering Eads' gunboats ensured the bridge was finished
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The war however did not stop Carondelet's slow growth. In 1865 the population of Carondelet was 4,534. Despite this growth, in April, 1870, by act of the State Legislature, Carondelet was annexed to the City of St. Louis. The city council held its last meeting on Monday, April 4, 1870. The citizens of Carondelet had little say in the matter, and there was much resentment on the part of some of the citizens of Carondelet. Never the less, Carondelet initially benefited from being absorbed by its larger sister. The St. Louis park and library system came to Carondelet. Carondelet Park was opened on July 4, 1876. Its land was once part of the Carondelet Commons. New schools were built as well. And in September, 1873, Susan Blow, daughter of Henry Blow, founded the first continuous public school kindergarten in the United States. She had studied the idea in Germany, where it had been developed by Friedrich Frobel. Upon her return, she convinced St. Louis Public School Superintendant Dr. William Torrey Harris to allow her to experiment with the idea of a kindergarten at the Des Peres School in Carondelet. The school building is now the home of the Carondelet Historical Society. By 1881, every public school in St. Louis had a kindergarten class. Eventually, the idea would spread across the United States, and by 1900 200,000 children were in public kindergartens.

In July, 1877, Carondelet with the rest of St. Louis became a part of a major labor crisis. Wage cuts by the railroads led to a massive strike by local workers across the nation. Carondelet as the iron working capital of the region became central to the strike. Carondelet iron workers marched on Olive Blvd. and seized quantities of zinc, iron, and steel in Carondelet. Carondelet businessmen formed a safety committee in reaction, but with mostly iron workers in attendance, the committee was made of mostly of strikers and a few businessmen like Charles Chouteau of the Vulcan Iron Works. The whole affair ended peacefully without the riots of other cities. The next 20 years were prosperous ones for Carondelet. The Carondelet branch of the St. Louis Library opened in 1884, and new business buildings were being built. The iron works prospered as well. New homes of the Romanesque style were being bult along Michigan, Virginia, and Vermont Streets in the '90s. Electic streetcars were added as well, making the ride from Carondelet to downtown St. Louis in about twenty minutes.

The new century brought more improvements to Carondelet. John Scullin argued for Carondelet to be the site of the 1903 World's Fair, but lost as the fair committee felt that Forest Park would be the better site. In 1908, the present library building was completed. And Bellerive Park was completed at the same time with its view over the Mississippi River. Saint Anthony's Church was built in 1910 with its twin steeples making an obvious landmark. Other churches built in the area at the time were St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Michigan Ave and the Carondelet Christian Church. Adolphus and August Busch built many taverns on the old Carondelet Commons, and theses unique buildings added character to the neighborhood. It was a time of rapid growth when the Carondelet Commons was quickly filling with houses, churches, and businesses.

On April 6, 1917 the United States declared war on Germany and entered World War I. A good number of men from Carondelet served, many of them only second generation German Americans. With the end of the war, growth continued in Carondelet. The Woodward School was completed in 1921, and houses were going up on Bellerive Ave. The Kingshighway Methodist Church was completed in 1925. St. Cecilia Parish built a new church in 1926 with beautiful Romanesque exterior with twin steeples, and a nearly Gothic interior. In 1926, the present YMCA building was constructed. From 1919 until 1925, the Carondelet YMCA had been meeting in storefronts. Also during this time, Holly Hills subdivision was laid out, and the first building permit issued in 1926. This area continues to be one of the most beautiful in Carondelet.

The Great Depression hit Carondelet gradually. Many of its businesses survived for a while after the stock market crash. Enventually, many of them closed. Even still many businesses held on. South Broadway had always been the primary business street, and was home to dime stores, diners, and candy shops. Barter replaced money as a means of transactions during this time with business owners trading goods and services. The WPA stabilized the banks of the River de Peres at this time. The small creek had been a nuisance flooding often and being a general health hazard. Also formed around this time was the Spanish Society, a meeting place for Spanish residents of Carondelet to play cards and talk. World War II ended the depression for Carondelet as factories were hiring for steel workers, sewing machine operators, and the assembly lines. Over 300 men from Carondelet served in the war. After it was over, the Carondelet area still experienced growth. The area south of Carondelet Park began to see development, and to the west of it. Harry Keough, a Carondelet native went on to win fame with soccer's 1950 World Cup competition. Keough captained the American team which knocked the favorite English team out of the play offs. And in 1953, Raymond Tucker of Carondelet was elected mayor of St. Louis.

In the 1960s, Interstate 55 was built through Carondelet. Its construction severed old Carondelet from many of the newer sections, and the area east of the Interstate went into gradual decline. This decline has continued, although it has never seen the decay that other parts of the city have. In the last few years, some recovery has been made. Many of the old houses in the older section are being refurbished, and while businesses have not returned to South Broadway, with time and effort, perhaps they will. The Carondelet Historical Society was founded in 1966 and has managed to keep most of Carondelet's history alive. In 1981 the Historical Society bought the Des Peres School and turned it into a historical center complete with a restoration of Susan Blow's 1873 classroom. The Carondelet Community Betterment Federation was founded in 1973 and has aided the elderly in maintianing their homes. And in 1985 the South Broadway Merchants Association opened with the goal of attracting new businesses. Carondelet begins the 21st Century with about 11,000 citizens and one of the lowest crime rates in the city. It has a very small town feel, and is beginning to be seen as a favoured place to live.

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A History of Carondelet by Nini Harris, Patrice Press: St. Louis, 1991
Lion of the Valley by James Neal Primm: Boulder, CO. 1981
History of St. Louis Neighborhoods by Norburg Wayman, St. Louis Community Development Agency: St. Louis