Unearthing a life.....

Photo: My great uncle Rev. D. Loyd M. and wife Lora (their wedding photo - May 1906).

Between the summer of 1815 and the end of the year 1816, the Enos M.’s struck westward to north-central Missouri. Son John stayed behind with his in-laws (the Cherrys)…up in Stewart County - near Bumpus Mills - just south of the border with Kentucky. Married sons Martin and David migrated with their father…and it appears that the widow Warhurst and at least one son, Archibald Archer Warhurst - age about thirteen, went with them. Their destination lay 190 miles west to the southeast tip of Missouri, then 210 miles north up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, and finally 200 miles northwest along the Missouri River to its juncture with the Chariton River in Howard County, Missouri. These are "crow fly" figures and the actual journey may have been well over 600 miles.

In his "A History of the American People," (1977), Paul Johnson writes "….Some of the settlements in the years after 1815 became celebrated for quick prosperity. One was Boon’s Lick, a belt 60 miles wide on each side of the Missouri River which became Howard County in 1816. It boasted superb land, pure water, as much timber as required, and idyllic scenery. By 1819 the local paper, the Missouri Intelligence, produced at the little town of Franklin, offered a spring toast: ‘Boon’s Lick – two years since, a wilderness. Now – rich in cotton and cattle!’ It was widely reputed to be the best land in all the West." The ‘little town of Franklin’ is about 40 miles downstream of Keytesville, Missouri – by way of today’s highways. In 1816, Howard County, Missouri, was bordered on the south by the Osage River, on the east by a line running north from the junction of the Osage and the Missouri Rivers, and on the west and north by little more than a traveler’s imagination…easily a full third of the land that would become the State of Missouri in 1821.

The "Goodspeed History of Linn and Sullivan Counties, Missouri," (published ca 1887) has a short biography of Leroy C. M. and his father, Jackson M. Speaking of Jackson’s parents, Martin and Elizabeth M., the article states "…They lived in the latter State [Tennessee] until 1816, and then immigrated to Chariton County, Mo., where they died." Well, that is a little abrupt! They might have said … ‘where they had many more children and lived out their lives’. In the obituary of Martha (M.) Warhurst, published in the Chariton Courier, Keytesville, MO, March 24th, 1893, we find the following: "She was born January 14th, 1809, and came to Missouri with her parents from Tennessee in 1815 at the age of six years. They first settled on a farm known as the Ben Lewis farm, near Glasgow. From there she moved, with her father, Enos M., to the Wash Welch farm, five and a half miles southeast of Keytesville." In both cases, the information is being supplied some 72-78 years after the fact and by individuals a generation removed from the Tennessee exodus, so pin-point accuracy can not be expected. There is also an even less precise quote from "History of Howard and Chariton Counties," published 1883: "Sterling Price M. [not to be confused with my g-g grandfather Sterling M.] is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Chariton County. His grandfather settled in this county during the second decade of the present century, and his father, James M., was principally reared in the county, being but six years of age when brought here by his parents." And, referring to James "…He himself was from North Carolina."

Sterling Price M. was a son of James M. and a grandson of Enos M. There is at least one mistake in this quote. James could not have been six when the family moved to Missouri. In both the Chariton Tax Lists for 1817 and 1819, Eneas/Enos M. paid 62 ½ cents a head for two "males ten years or older." These two males would have been sons Sterling and James. Which makes James’ date of birth sometime around 1807 - when the family departed from Edgefield, SC. If James was truly born in North Carolina, that would suggest that the M.‘s approached Tennessee by a route through North Carolina and across the Appalachian Mountains and that James was born ‘in camp’ while the family was traversing that southwestern corner of North Carolina. At a minimum, in 1817, the Enos and Nancy M. household was still ‘home’ to Elizabeth, Sterling, James, and little Martha (one day to become the wife of Archibald Archer Warhurst). Daughters Lucy and Nancy were married on unknown dates and so may or may not have been with Enos by 1817 (both these daughters are ‘dead-ends’ in the lineage - so far).

The first note of the M.’s arrival in Missouri is the appearance of the name ‘Eneas’ (or "Eneos’) M. in the Howard County Tax List for 1817. In the 1819 Howard County Tax List, he is identified as ‘Enos’ M. On April 3rd, 1820, he and Nancy are listed as members when the Chariton Baptist Church is organized.

First choice of the lands fell to veterans of the War of 1812. They held Warrants for 160 acres and could lay claim in 1819. The following year land came on sale for non-Warranted settlers. On November 9th, 1820, Sterling M. (now probably just turned twenty-one) bought 80 acres southeast of Keytesville, Howard County - for $123.20. Seven days later the county of Chariton was officially organized and encompassed Sterling’s land.

We are somewhat in the dark as to just where the various family members initially settled in Howard/Chariton County. There are no ‘found records’ of Enos owning land. Or of Martin owning land - until 1828. The extant records are limited to direct purchases from the government. They may have bought land ‘second hand’ from individuals or developers, but no such records have surfaced…and none of them were paying tax on land until Sterling did so in 1821. The Chariton County courthouse was burned during the Civil War and many of the county’s records were incinerated.
The Chariton County Tax List for 1821 lists three of Enos’s sons: Martin (married to Elizabeth McDaniel), David (married to Nancy Warhurst), and Sterling (as yet unmarried). Sterling is the only one listed as being taxed for land (value $130, tax 32 ½ cents)….and for three slaves (value $1100, tax $2.75), one horse (value $40, tax 10 cents), and three head of cattle (value $30, tax 7 ½ cents). Martin is taxed for two each, horses and cows (24 cents total), and David is taxed for two horses and one cow (9 ½ cents total). Sterling’s total tax bill was $4.25 which included a $1 Poll Tax.