Pioneers: Briefly Reviewing Daviess County’s Lewis Mill
Courthouse records show 23 grain mills operated in Daviess County prior to the Civil War. Not all of these were water-powered, and few if any mills west of the Mississippi River were like the Lewis Mill. The original mill built about 1855 was rebuilt in 1863 by Eramus...
Pioneers: Crystal Springs on Gagan Farm Near Pattonsburg, MO
Once one of the most popular institutions of Northwest Missouri was the famous Crystal Springs on the John Gagan farm in Benton Township of Daviess County, about five miles northwest of old Pattonsburg on Crystal Springs Branch that empties into Sampson Creek. John...
Pioneers: Stalling’s Ferry the First Crossing Over Grand River
One of the very earliest trails approved by the Daviess County judges was the Gallatin-to-Utica road which ran along the south and west side of the Grand River. There are reports that an old trail used by Indians ran northwest from Utica along the river highlands and...
Pioneers: Gallatin’s Capt. John Ballinger (1833-1914)
Capt. John Ballinger came to Daviess County in 1845 at the age of 13 and distinguished himself in Gallatin with his neighbors Jim McFerran, Sam Cox, Joe McGee, Bill Folmsbee, Benton Miller, Bob Grantham, Bill Gillilan and others of our grand old guard. Ballinger was...
Pioneers: Government Land Sold at Virginia Ridge 1842
The first settlers of Virginia Ridge in Daviess County came to stay. This was during the time immediately after the “Mormon War” of 1838, a time when Daviess County most certainly was in the national news. A few families came here directly from the...
Pioneers: The Long Lost Grist Mills of Daviess County
Much of the time spent by early county court judges was in ordering and approving early roads. These trails ran from historic place to historic place in nearly a direct line. Many of these locations were mills. The records, however, do not describe the power source...
Pioneers: Daviess County’s ‘Temporary’ Courthouse of 1839
In March 1838, the county judges of Daviess County ordered the building of a new jail ($400) and a courthouse ($6,000). The judges were John Freeman, Vincent Smith and Joshiah Moran. Judge Moran had replaced William Morgan on the court on Aug. 7, 1837. The bids for...
Pioneers: Daviess County’s First Grand River Ferry
Daviess County government was first founded in the spring of 1837, but some settlers had been here for seven years as part of northern Ray County. One of the first businesses in the county was a ferry across Grand River, at the mouth of Honey Creek. I was unable to...
Pioneers: ‘List of Firsts’ as Daviess County Organized 1836
Daviess County, MO, organized on Nov. 29, 1836, when a legislative bill introduced by Rep. Alexander Doniphan was passed by both the Missouri Senate and the Missouri House and signed by Gov. Boggs on Dec. 29th. The county was named after Col. Joseph H. Daviess who...
Visit the 1889 Squirrel Cage Jail, located 2 blocks west of the Daviess County Courthouse in Gallatin, MO. This historic relic is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as a visitors’ center — by appointment,
Trudi Burton, ph: 660.663.7342
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