CHAPTER X
From 1840, the growth of Henry County has been steady and marked by no particular incidents which were not common to the history of many other parts of our State. The names of the early pioneers recorded in the previous chapters of this volume can be as late as the date of the present writing found among the citizenry of the county. It has not been the intention of the author to try to list all of those who came during the period prior to 1840 any more than it is his intention to try to enumerate everyone who has played an important part since that date. He has cited these as being types of men and women and their names are given more to connect the history of the county than to single them out for special preferment. From now on, it is the writer's purpose to chronicle the events which may be of interest to those of the present day. It will be more a running narrative than a philosophical treatise on the causes and effects of matters connected with Henry County history.
In 1840, a new township was created along the southern boundary line of Rives County. Up to that time, it will be remembered that St. Clair County was under the civil and military jurisdiction of the County of Rives as was the territory south of St. Clair County. This was entirely too far for its government to be satisfactory, so at the February term of the County Court, in 1840, a new township was organized to be called Cedar township, the boundaries of which were to be as follows:
"Bounded on the south by the County of Newton; east by Polk; west by Bates and north by the south boundary of township 37 of ranges 27 and 28."
Dade and Jasper Counties were organized in 1841, Cedar township in 1843 and Lawrence in 1845, so it seems that the new township of Cedar was curtailed as soon as it was organized. It must be remembered that this region was under the civil and military jurisdiction of Rives County.
In August, 1840, an election was held for constable. Stephen R. Wright was elected. He brought the returns of that election to the Rives County Court, traveled 150 miles, paid his own expenses, was away from home a week and received five dollars for his services and expenses. The following year, St. Clair County was organized out of that territory lying immediately south and Rives County had no more distinct authority over this newly-organized township of Cedar. In the year 1840, the judges of the County Court began the practice of allowing themselves two dollars per day for each day's attendance at the court. Prior to this, the amount which each one had been allowed was $1.50.
The census of 1840 was taken by the sheriff, who was paid $97.50, or $1.50 a day for sixty-five days, to record it. How many people were in the county at the time is not made a matter of record in the county. Elsewhere in this volume, will be found a copy of the act of the Missouri Legislature which changed the name of Rives County to Henry County. At the same session of the Legislature, the name of Van Buren County was changed to Cass and St. Clair County was organized as a separate county.
In the year 1840, on the third day of May, Preston Wise presented to the County Court a petition for dramshop license, which he secured by paying a tax of $15.00 to the State and $22.50 to the county, together with an ad valorem tax. This was the first establishment of this kind in the county. More than seventy-five years was to elapse before the last saloon passed out of existence. The license above named, granted to Preston Wise, was for a saloon in Clinton. At the same time, Mathew Arbuckle and Sabine Jones received licenses for dramshops in Henry County. The one which was granted to Mathew Arbuckle was for an establishment in Calhoun. No restrictions were placed upon Sabine Jones as to where he should open up his establishment. From time to time, applications were received by the County Court and were granted to all those who applied for them.
The first assessed valuation in Henry County was placed on record in 1842. The total was $197,000.00. Five hundred and five polls were also listed. In 1845, the valuation had nearly doubled, it having reached the sum of $351,000.00. In 1842, the first school township was organized in the county. Of this, Mr. William Akens was the school commissioner. This organization was in congressional township 43, range 26. In the election of 1841, there were two candidates for the office of sheriff and collector which was then a combined office. William R. Owen and P. J. Buster were the candidates. Buster received the certificate of election and Owen immediately filed a contest which was decided in his favor; the costs of the suit amounting to $161.43, were paid by Owen, who immediately filed a bill against the county for its payment. This the County Court refused to allow. Owen immediately proceeded to mandamus the court. The suit was decided in his favor and the costs of the first contest for office ever instituted in Henry County was therefore paid by the county.
It is interesting to know the price of land in the town of Clinton at about this time. The price of lots which had hitherto been as low as $5.00 each, had now raised to $9.00 apiece, while A. C. Marvin paid $15.00 for ten acres of land in the southwest part of town.
On July 4, 1916, there was unveiled in Calhoun a monument to William Bayliss, the Revolutionary soldier who died in this county on the eighteenth of June, 1843. William Bayliss was from Kentucky and had been a lieutenant in the Revolutionary Army in 1776. He was afterwards a soldier in the war of 1812.
The first bridge of any size built in Henry County was started in the fall of 1845 and completed in May, 1846. Fifteen hundred dollars had been appropriated for its building, but the total cost was $1,470 - one of the few instances where public buildings have come within the original appropriations. This bridge was on the road between Clinton and Harmony Mission in Bates County, over Grand River, at a place called Big Ripple.
For the fiscal year ending May, 1847, the record of the receipts and disbursements show that the county had fallen in debt $47.56.
