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CASKEY, Joseph H.
65 m SC bks b 1785
Chester Co SC s/o John CASKEY b 1750 Ireland & Esther (?); J.H. d 15
Apr 1853 bur Mtn Dale Cem Webster Co MO; m 16 Jan 1817 Williamson Co TN
to:
Catharine 53 f TN
“Caty” nee: SCOBY; b 1797 d 16
Nov 1876 bur Mtn Dale Cem near Seymour MO; 1860 Webster Co MO in son John's
household.
Elizabeth 19 f TN sch
m John PEARSON s/o Jeremiah PEARSON & 2nd wife
Mary TAGGART; 1860 Webster Co MO; no children; See #20-20 Wright
Co MO 1850.
Nancy 16 f
TN sch
Elenor 12 f
TN
Manerva 09 f TN
sch
Joseph 06 m
MO
Mary 10
f TN
John S. 25 m TN
bks m 22 Apr 1855 Webster Co
MO to Lucinda PEARSON d/o Jeremiah PEARSON & 2nd wife Mary TAGGART,
see #20-20 Wright Co
MO
1850;
John S. CASKEY Blacksmith and Bellmaker.
He was born 11 March 1822 in Williamson County, TN, s/o Joseph H.CASKEY
and Catherine “Caty” SCOBY who married on 16 Jan 1817 in Williamson
Co TN. Joseph H. was born in 1785 Chester Co, SC, to John
CASKEY born in 1750 in Balleymoney, Ireland, died
5 Dec 1785 in Rocky Creek, Chester Co SC,
married Esther (?) about 1769 in Ballymoney. They
with one child, arrived Port Charleston in 1772. His will recorded
in Kershaw Parish SC names wife Esther, daughters
Ezebell, and Mary and sons John, Robert, Thomas,
and Joseph H., January court 1797. Esther
remarried to a Mr. GRAHAM.
Joseph H. CASKEY died 15 April 1853.
Caty SCOBY CASKEY was born 1797 in TN, died 16 Nov 1876 in Webster
Co MO. She is buried beside Joseph and near John S. and Lucinda,in
Mountain Dale “Lick Skillet” Cemetery, near Seymour.
John S. CASKEY followed the trade of his father and ancestors as a
blacksmith
and bellmaker. They set up their forge at Mountain Dale about1846.
He would make up a wagon load of bells of all sizes, drawn by oxen,
he would haul them all around the Ozarks area to
sell.
In 1886 he made a trip to Eureka Springs, AR and on the old Harrison Road,was
ambushed, killed and robbed. Legend is that a farmer said he heard
his dogs carrying-on all night, next morning
he set out to see what it was that had them disturbed, and found
the wagon, the cash-box was broken open and the cash gone. The dogs
led him to a brush pile where the (yet unknown) culprit had tried to hide
the body.
Family members set out on horseback, some returned with the wagon, bearingMr.
CASKEY’S remains, traveling in the blowing snow, back to Lick Skillet;
while others rode for several days in the Arkansas
area hoping to catch up to the killer, but never found him.
John S. CASKEY married on 22 April 1855 in Webster Co MO, newly formed
from Wright and Greene Co., to Lucinda PEARSON, d/o Jeremiah PEARSON and
2nd wife, Mary TAGGART. Lucinda was born in Nov 1833 and died in
1899. They had nine children. Their youngest son, Bill CASKEY,
carried on the blacksmithing trade and had a shop in Seymour. They
say while shoeing a horse he would whistle “Turkey in the Straw” and drive
the nails to the rhythm.
A daughter, Isabelle “Belle” was born 16 June 1860 at Mountain Dale,
married
John Henry CARTER 29 Dec 1878 at Thornfield, Ozark Co MO.
When
the Liberty Bell was cast the third time, the CASKEY brothers from
SC
were called upon to do the job as they were noted for their knowledge ofthe
acoustics of bells.
JEREMIAH PEARSON
His
name is among those who were early emigrants into the Missouri area.
Their
names are mentioned in Schoolcrafts’ Journal of a Tour in Missouri
and
Arkansas, 1818-1819. Jeremiah was a scout, he had backbone
and the
spirit
for survival. Schoolcraft and his group camped about one half
mile northeast of the confluence of Pearson
Creek and the James River. A
historical
marker designates this place as one of the oldest recorded events in Greene
County, MO. Perhaps at this time, Jeremiah decided this was his “Promised
Land”. About 1822 he had obtained permission from the
Delaware
Indians to build his mill, one of the very first mills in all ofSouthwest
Missouri. He settled on 161 acres in Section 5 of Township 29 in
Range 20, near a large spring. The waters from
this spring forms the creekthat bears his name, the sign reads “PIERSON
CREEK”. The land patent number was 4035.
He sold this land, in 1834, to Josiah F. DANFORTH.
He
was always on the move and scouting new areas, he was enumerated on
the
1830 Madison County MO census; 1833 Greene County MO Tax List
and
Court Minutes; 1840 finds him on both Madison Co and Pulaski Co MO;
1850
he appears on the Wright Co MO census, this part later became WebsterCo
MO in 1855.
Jeremiah
first married on 2 January 1811, in Ross Co Ohio, to Susannah
LANTZ
born 13 Sep 1786 in NJ, where her parents, George LANTZ and Ann
(?)
resided before moving to Hocking Valley in Ohio in 1809, where they
resided
in Athens Co.
Jeremiah
and Susannah had one son and two daughters.
After
Susannah’s death, legend is that Jeremiah took a Delaware bride in aceremony
held at the Natural Well (now Springfield, Greene Co MO).
The
Delawares were removed from this area in 1829.
Between
1823 and 1825 a man named TAGGART settled just south of the
mouth
of Pearson Creek. Tradition is that Jeremiah took as his wife, MaryTAGGART,
nearly 20 years younger than he. They had four sons and six
daughters.
Jeremiah was left a widower in 1850. In 1854 he married againto another
Mary (her surname is yet unknown). The divorce papers state they
separated about April 1855, and the divorce granted in October 1856.
Jeremiah
died in Nov 1857. The inventory of his estate is quite lengthy, on
file in Webster County MO Courthouse. It is believed Jeremiah and
Mary (TAGGART) PEARSON are buried on his Webster
County land, his patent
#8085
dated 3 Apr 1848, was signed by James K. Polk, President of the
United
States, contains 160 acres in the E1/2 of the SE1/4 of Section 23 and the
W1/2 of the SW1/4 of Section 24 in Township 29 Range 17.
Levi
PEARSON, a brother to Jeremiah, married Nancy LANTZ, a sister to
Susannah,
another sister, Elizabeth LANTZ, married Jesse H. SANDERS.
In
1818 these three young couples, along with the George LANTZ family,
removed
to Madison and Marion County Arkansas and Ozark County
Missouri
area.
JOSEPH
W. McCLURG was b 22 Feb 1818 near Lebanon, MO, s/o Joseph McCLURG and Mary
BROTHERTON. He was orphaned at an early age and reared by relatives
in Pittsburg. He attended schools in Ohio, studied
a
short time for the ministry, taught school in Louisiana and Mississippi,
moved to Texas, studied law and was admitted to the bar in Columbus, Texas.
He served as clerk of the Circuit Court there. In 1840 McCLURG returned
to Missouri where he opened a general store in Linn Creek. He was
Deputy Sheriff of St Louis County, which stretched half-way across the
state then, went to California in the gold rush and returned in 1852 to
open both a wholesale and retail business at Linn Creek. His “Big
Store on the Osage” became the chief trading point for southwest
Missouri because the business extended into Kansas, Arkansas and the Indian
Territory. He joined the Union Army when the War Between the States
started, organized, equipped and commanded the Osage Regt MO VOL and the
Hickory Co Battalion. He supplied camp utensils, lead and powder
from his store valued at $6,000 and wrote off $4,000 as a loss. Mrs.
McCLURG had inherited several slaves upon their marriage and when the war
started McCLURG moved to liberate them.
In
1862 he was elected to Congress from a ten-county district that includedJefferson
City, Sedalia, Harrisonville, Butler, Nevada and Osceola. In his first
term he voted for the abolition of slavery. He was re-elected twice
and resigned in his third term to seek the governorship, which he won by
defeating John S. PHELPS by a vote of 82,107 to 62,780, PHELPS was elected
governor in 1876. During McCLURG’S administration the 15th amendment
was ratified, the School of Mines established at Rolla, the College of
Agriculture established at the University of Missouri, and the State Colleges
added at Kirksville and Warrensburg. He also reduced the public debt
during his term, which was described as “plain, careful, conscientious,
unostentations and business-like-radical in name only”.
Mary
C., his wife, died in Dec 1861, leaving him with 8 small children.
When
McCLURG came up for re-election, he was defeated by B. Gratz
BROWN.
He returned to Linn Creek and resumed his mercantile business,
engaged
in some steamboating and lead mining and was appointed register of the
Springfield Land Office in 1889 which he held until 1893.
He
died 2 Dec 1900 at the home of a daughter. While Govenor, he signed
the pardon for Charles Mathias PRIESTER.
Mary C.’s mother, Frances Ann (?) JOHNSTON 2nd married Wm. D. “Pop” MURPHY.