To my southern Missouri people and genealogist friends have u seen this before I thought it may interest u: Family memebers from Jefferson, Madison ,Ste GENEVIEVE, St, Francois, Perry, Boone, Iron, Jackson County Missouri INTRODUCTION VU of the State Historical Society, slight clues were picked up here and there and pieced together, until finally we were led to Nevada, Missouri, there to find, to our great astonishment and greater gratification, Mr. William S. Bryan himself, one of the co-authors of Pioneers and its financial sponsor and publisher. He is in his 89th year, but hale and hearty and still deeply im- mersed in literary labors. Our problem was solved ! * * * * Mr. Bryan says that Robert Rose was responsible for the germinal idea of Pioneer Families, but adds that the idea ap- pealed to him also. Rose seems to have been a good-natured fellow with a roving disposition. He had a habit of riding about the countryside on horseback, with a pair of saddlebags as his only impedimenta, and subsisting mainly upon the generous hos- pitality of the people. During these perambulations he took great delight in quizzing as many persons as possible, partic- ularly the old timers, about their early days in Missouri, their ancestry, and the customs and adventures of those rugged and often dangerous days. The gleanings from these more or less fortuitous interviews he jotted down briefly on scraps of paper, which he then thrust higgledy-piggledy into the saddlebags. When he had accumulated a large quantity of such notes the brilliant idea occurred to him to make a book of them. As Mr. Bryan jestingly puts it, by some unfortunate accident he located and laid the proposition before him. Mr. Bryan was favorably impressed and agreed to furnish the necessary funds ; while Rose continued his itineraries and supplied sufficient copy for a book, in the meanwhile cherishing a secret, but as it proved, a forlorn hope that the sale of the book would make both himself and his partner in the enterprise rich. The more or less inchoate matter which he collected and hoarded in the saddlebags was at intervals turned over to Mr. Bryan to be sifted, arranged, written up, and finally printed and published. The first and only edition numbered 500 copies, and fell still-born from the press. About 200 copies were bound and either sold at $2.50 per copy or given away ; the remaining sheets were disposed of as so much waste paper. But though the material reward for the two years of labor and expense which it took to bring out the book was nil, it is not too much to say that the result otherwise was monu- mental and invaluable. During 1874-1876 many old timers, both men and women, were yet alive, fourscore years and ten and more of age, with vivid recollections of the days when forests Viil INTRODUCTION had to be cleared and crops planted and harvested almost under the guns of hostile Indians ; when log forts dotted the land, and towns were laid out in the uncharted wilderness. These old people passed away rapidly very soon afterward, and with their passing their personal experiences of the early days in Missouri would have been lost forever had not our roving Rose garnered them on scraps of paper in his saddlebags. If the task had not been undertaken precisely at that time, and in the homely manner in which it was done, the priceless data now preserved between the covers of Pioneer Families would never have been col- lected at all. * * * * Of Robert Roses career before and after he located I\Ir. Bryan, very little is known. Mr. Hughes Pegram, of Mont- gomery County, the son of James Pegram, one of the settlers of that county who knew Rose, describes him as about six feet in height, slender, dark complexioned, with a short beard. For a few months after the publication of Pioneers he seems to have tried peddling it from door to door in the region which he had combed over for its contents. The result was heart-breakingly disap- pointing and he died soon afterward, probably in 1878, in dire poverty, at about sixty-two years of age. He lies buried some- where in Montgomery County. Could there be a more vivid illustration of what is sometimes spoken of as the irony of history, that so little can be said about the man whose unre- munerated job it was to rescue thousands of his fellows from oblivion? Happily, it is quite otherwise of Mr. Bryan, of whom a quite fairly complete genealogy and life-sketch can be set down here, the latter supplied in part by himself and the former secured from other sources. * * * * William Smith Bryan is a descendant of a notable family, the history of which, in America, goes back to 1615, when another William Smith Bryan landed on these shores from Ireland. It appears that he had aroused the hostility of the British govern- ment by a too ardent Irish patriotism and had been deported as a rebellious subject. At thfs time this Bryan was supposed to be the onlv living lineal descendant of Brian Borou, one of the half mythical Kings of the Emerald Isle. It is recorded that he had quite a number of children, eleven in fact, but the record of only one, Francis, has come down to us. He accompanied his father to America, and in due time himself became the father INTRODUCTION IX of two sons, Morgan and William S., who were born in Denmark, whither their father had fled after an unsuccessful return to Ireland to regain his hereditary title and estate. His son Mor- gan, by some turn of Fortunes wheel, became a standard bearer for William of Orange and was present at the battle of the Boyne. He came to Pennsylvania in 1695 and married Martha Strode, whom he had met on the ship which brought him over. Their children were Joseph, Samuel, James, John, Morgan, Eleanor, Mary, William, Thomas, and Sarah. James married Mary Austin of South-east Missouri and of the family after whom Austin, Texas, is named. Their son, Jonathan, settled on Femme Osage Creek in St. Charles County in 1800. His son Elijah married Lydia Anne McClenny and became the father of W. S. Bryan, co-author and principal sponsor of Pioneer Families of Missouri. * * 5fS * William Smith Bryan was born on a farm near Augusta, in St. Charles County, on January 8, 1846. He was educated at home by two sisters, who were school teachers. Later he grad- uated from Stewarts Commercial College in St. Louis. On November 25, 1875, he married Nancy Mildred North. The fruits of this union were two daughters and a son. The latter, William S., was a lieutenant of infantry in the U. S. Army during the World War, and was recently decorated for valor. In 1865, aged nineteen, Mr. W. S. Bryan, Sr., went to Council Grove, Kansas, and learned to set type in the printing office of his brother James, who was then editing and publishing a small weekly paper. The next year he returned to his native state and established the St. Charles Nezvs in company with Joseph H. and William A. Pereau, whose family had settled in Missouri during the Spanish regime. Having sold the Neivs in 1873 he became for a short time editor of and contributor to a literary publication in St. Joseph. During 1873-75 he was the editor and publisher of the Montgomery, Mo., Standard. In 1880 he established the Historical Publishing Company in St. Louis, with branches In Boston, Philadelphia, Richmond, Toronto, Chicago, and other important cities. The panic of 1893-96 put an end to this enterprise, which previously had been markedly successful. In 1898 he edited the Mississippi Valley Democrat in St. Louis. In 1906 he was the editor of the United States Encyclopedia and an assistant editor of the Encyclopedia Americana. Mr. Bryan is the author, among other works, of Footprints of the Worlds History (1893), Americas War for Human- X INTRODUCTION ity (1898), Our Islands and Their People (1900). He also completed eight of the volumes of Ridpaths History of the United States, which were left unfinished when that author was overtaken by death. In like manner he completed the last three volumes of the same historians Universal History. He is now busily at work on a book to be called Episodes in the Life of Daniel Boone, which he hopes to publish in the near future. * * * * As was said above, Pioneer Families is a unique book. It is one of the most remarkable genealogical feats ever at- tempted. Here, indeed, the readers disappointment will be great if he looks for scientific pedigree or radial charts, or expects to find evidence of learned fussing over musty town, state, or national records. There is no evidence here that the old family Bible, or funeral sermons and historical orations had been sought for far and near and carefully conned. There is no reference to family crests. Here we have only what is so mod- estly stated in the brief preface, that Mr. Rose has personally visited one or more of each family whose history is given, and from notes thus obtained the histories have been written. These are mostly just a plain A begat B and B begat C. That there was a conscientious effort to avoid errors is evident from the further assertion that Where differences occurred in the state- ments of different members of the same family, we have care- fully compared them and endeavored to sift the facts from each ; and we feel confident that this book is as near correct as it is possible for any work of the kind to be. Here, furthermore, is no comparatively simple effort to trace a single lineage backward to some distant ancestor. Here is rather the much more ambitious and stupendous task to secure through personal interviews with the people chiefly concerned a reliable, even though only a skeleton record of over 800 fam- ilies scattered over five counties which sprawled over an area of 2890 square miles of territory that was quite innocent of what are now considered to be traversable roads. But there can be no doubt that it was precisely this intimate intercourse through- out two or more years between Rose and the people in whom he was interested that finally gave such a human, often such a poignant human touch to these pages. The diverting anecdotes, the serious and humorous stories, the historical incidents and dramatic events that so often interrupt the otherwise dry gene- alogies, the hilarious illustrations, are most entertaining and in- structive features. They often fairly r^ek of the soil and are an INTRODUCTION Xl important contribution to the sometimes recklessly mendacious folklore of those strenuous times. The passing of them from mouth to ear around the logfires in winter or under the rustling trees in summer must often have relaxed the over-strained nerves of the pioneers. * * * * The histories are limited to those families which settled in the above named five counties, which lie almost entirely north of the Missouri River. Contemporary settlements in Pike, Boone, Howard and Cooper counties are scarcely mentioned, and then only casually. The very important French immigration (the so- called Creoles, the Chouteaus, Gratiots, Cabannes, Papins, Pauls, etc.) into St. Louis and its immediate vicinity is only lightly touched upon. In his Creoles of St. Louis (1893) Paul Beck- with does these full justice. The equally important though much later German immigration is briefly sketched under a separate heading. The very early influx into South-east Missouri is entirely ignored. This latter omission is all the more strange because as early as 1793 a Dr. Jesse Bryan, who had been a sur- geon in the Continental Army, and a rather important member of the Bryan clan, settled in what is now Ste. Genevieve County, where he died in 1843. Furthermore, Mr. W. S. Bryans grand- father James got his wife, Mary Austin, from that region. Lack of time and means no doubt sufficiently explain these omissions. To have tried to compass the entire State would have been a Herculean task indeed for our two amateur genealogists. Let us be grateful for what they actually accomplished. However, it is clear that the title of their book was somewhat too am- bitious. Some Pioneer Families of Missouri would have been better. Some American Pioneer Families of Missouri would have defined its content yet more correctly. But, mayhap, this is carrying criticism a bit too far. ^ *l* I* I* To justify what was said above about the very early influx into south-east Missouri, we briefly indicate here a few of the fam- ilies which settled in that region: Aubuchon, Antoine, and his wife Ellen N., were natives of Ste. Genevieve County. Their son Francis was born there in 1812. He married Teressa Coleman, who bore him six chil- dren. Of these, Ferdinand married Luella Brooks. They had six children. After his first wifes death he married Annabella Brannon. His brother Peter married Eliza A. Brickley. They Xii INTRODUCTION had eleven children. Adrian, another brother, married Paulina Rouggly. Cissell, Joseph, and his wife Mary Ann Miles, came from Kentucky and settled in what is now Perry County in 1803. They had five children. Their son Vincent married Carolina French. Eight children were the fruits of this union. Lewis, the second son, married Sarah Mattingly, who bore him nine children. John V. married Melissa Brewer, and, after her death, Theresa Brewer. Loretta married Wilfred Brewer. Leo F. first married Katie Frazier, and, after her death, Louisa Brewer. Emanuel married Emma Mattingly. Ezekiel married Louisa Rankin. Kendrick married Alice Brewer. Jane F, married William Difani. DeLassus, Ceran E. and his wife Elenore Beauvais were natives of Ste. Genevieve county. They had eleven children, of whom Ceran F., the oldest, married Mattie E. Walton. They had sev- eral children. Joseph L. married Josephine Stewart, who pre- sented him with five children. Joseph R. married Elizabeth J. Shelby. Hagan, Aquilla, and his wife Mary Tucker, came from Ken- tucky to Perry County in 1797. They had nine children. Of these Rebeccah Ann married John Brewer, whose family settled in Perry County in 1818. The Brewers had eight children. After Rebeccah Anns death her husband married Cecelia Layton. She bore him ten children. Gregory, Rebeccah Anns son, married Sarah Riney. They had nine sons and four daughters. Kenner, Francis, settled in Ste. Genevieve County from Ten- nessee in 1802. He married Elizabeth Pillars in 1804. She bore him sixteen children. Their son, Housand, married Ophelia Duvall. They had six children. Moore, James, came to Perry County in 1790. His son James J. married Cecelia Manning, who bore him ten children. Of these, Basil married Emma Burgee, and had by her six sons and a daughter. Obuchon, Francis, was born in Ste. Genevieve County in 1791. In 1816 he married a widow Pratte. After her death he married Judith Calliot, who bore him five children. Louis, their oldest son, married Lucinda Perry. They had eight children. Rozier (Rosier?), Ferdinand, was born in France in 1777, and settled in Ste. Genevieve about 1810. He married Con- stance Roy, of Illinois, in 1795. They had ten children. Firmin A. married Mary M. Valle. Felix married Louise Valle. Charles INTRODUCTION XIU C. married Emily La Grave. Francis C. married Zee Valle. Their son Henry L. was married twice, first to Mary A. Janis, and then to Sallie M. Carlisle. The former bore him three sons, the latter, two daughters. The Valles were connected by mar- riage with the Chouteaus of St. Louis. St. Gem, John Baptiste, a French-Canadian, settled at Kas- kaskia, Illinois, during the last half of the eighteenth century. John B. Jr., and Vital, his sons, were among the earliest settlers west of the Mississippi. John B. Jr.s son Augustus, born in Ste. Genevieve in 1791, married Felicite Desile Le Clerc in 1821, and by her had ten children. Of these, Gustavus married Eliza- beth Skewes. They had three children. Howard, Henry, settled in Cape Girardeau County in 1799. His son, Hamilton B., married Sarah Daughtery. Their son H. W. married Mary P. Shaver. After her death he married Rachel G. Horrell. They had three children. Barks, Humteel, located in Cape Girardeau County in 1800. His son, Joseph, married Serena Parton. Their son Jonathon H. married Josephine Snider. After her death he married Narcissa Jones. George H., another son of Joseph, married Sarah New- kirk. After her death he married Mary A. ProfiFer. Tucker, Peter, came to Perry County early in the nineteenth century. His son, Raymond, born in 1811, married Mary Mar- tina Cissell. Their son Nereus married Tresa Tucker. Tucker, Josiah, was born in Perry County in the early years of the nineteenth century. He married Sarah Miles, by whom he had eleven children. Simeon L married Mary A. Cissell. They had five children. Leo P., another son of Josiah, married Elizabeth McBride. Layton, Joseph, settled in Perry County in 1808. His son John B., married Elizabeth Hagan and by her had fifteen chil- dren. Three of his sons had forty-six children among them. Felix Layton married Melissa A. Layton. They had fifteen chil- dren. Kinder, Adam, settled in Cape Girardeau County in 1800. His son, Joel, married Irene Thompson. After her death he married Sarena Thompson. By the former he had Levi J., who married Martha J. ONeal. They had five children: Susan J., who married William J. Strong; Sarah E., who married John Hamilton ; William M. ; Mary, who married Daniel Lape ; Martha Ann, who married Jacob Thompson. Beauvais, Joseph, and his wife Cecilia Obuchon, were natives XIV INTRODUCTION of St€. Genevieve County. His ancestors came from Canada to the western territory during the first half of the eighteenth cen- tury. They had two children, Eleanora and Peter. After the death of his first wife, Joseph married a widow DeLassus. By her he had two children, Matilda and Mary. His second wife having died, Joseph married a widow Struve. His son Peter, by his first wife, was born in 1815. He was twice married, first to Elizabeth Henderson, who left him three children. His second wife was Rachel Smith. Seven children blessed this union. McCormick, Andrew, of Scotch-Irish descent, came to Amer- ica before the Revolution. In 1807 he settled in Washington County. His son, Joseph, married Jane Robinson. Of their six children, James R. married B. N. Nance, who bore him two children. Of these, Emmet C. was married twice. By his second wife, Susan E. Garner, he had one child, James E. Oliver, Thomas, of Virginia, served in the Revolutionary war. His son, John, settled in Cape Girardeau County in 1819. He first married a Miss Cobb. After her death he married Margaret Sloan, and had four children: Louella, John F., R. B., and Henry C. * * * *
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