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The very first white man
to reside in the wilderness
that became Jackson County
was Daniel Morgan Boone, who
came here in 1798 and spent
12 winters trapping beaver
along the Little Blue and
the Big Blue.
In the spring of each year
Morgan Boone floated down
the Missouri River with his
furs and peltry to St.
Louis, then, and for a long
time thereafter, the largest
fur emporium in the world.
It is interesting to surmise
that Morgan Boon en route to
or from St. Louis spent each
summer, or part of it, with
his father Daniel Boone.
The country was the, as had
always been, Louisiana, not
Missouri. The territory was
named Missouri in 1812.
In 1808 George C. Sibley
opened a government
storehouse at Fort Osage,
acting as the agent of
factor of the United States
Government. His business
was to keep in stock such
articles of traffic as the
Indians would purchase,
blankets, cloth, guns,
traps, cutlery, etc.,
exchanging furs and peltry
in payment. Uncle Sam
actually and actively went
into business and became a
fur trader. Maj. Sibley
lived at the fort from 1808
to 1827. The fort was
located on Osage Indian
land. In order to get the
fort, the Osages
relinquished title to the
necessary site for the fort
and to "Six Miles" square
adjoining the fort. This
six miles country was owned
by the government, but white
people were permitted to
occupy the land temporarily
as gardeners and farmers,
whose produce was sold to
the soldiers and others at
the fort. These were among
the earliest residents in
what was destined to be a
part of Jackson County. The
United States troops, a
small company, was under the
command of Capt. Clemson.
These soldiers were but
temporary residents and
never became citizens. They
were there as a protection
to the government storehouse
and were not under the
command of Maj. Sibley,
whose duty was to attend to
the trade and traffic for
the government.
Maj. Sibley, during the time
of his residence at the
fort, married Miss Mary
Easton of St. Charles,
daughter of Rufus Easton,
first postmaster of St.
Louis. Major Sibley -- all
Indian agents were majors --
built a residence, a log
house, at the fort and
brought his bride there.
The Sibley home was noted
for its hospitality and all
prominent travelers on the
Missouri River were guests
of Maj. and Mrs. Sibley.
We may be justified in
claiming Maj. Sibley as the
first citizen of Jackson
County. Mrs. Sibley was a
woman of culture and she
brought the first piano into
the wilderness, a great
curiosity to the pioneer
settlers, some of whom drove
20 miles in an ox wagon,
bringing their families to
see Mrs. Sibley's piano and
to hear her perform.
Major and Mrs. Sibley moved
to St. Charles, Mrs.
Sibley's old home, the home
of her parents, in 1827, the
year that Jackson County was
organized. Probably Maj.
Sibley never voted in
Jackson County, and those
who object to naming him the
first citizen are entitled
to the argument of his early
removal from the county. by
the way, Maj. Sibley and
Mrs. Sibley founded
Lindenwood College at St.
Charles.
In the County Recorder's
Office in Independence there
are many pages of the
Recorder's books devoted to
a law suit instituted by the
government against George C.
Sibley. Furthermore, it may
be mentioned that Judge
Rufus Easton, a scholarly
and brilliant man, became
incapacitated, and it fell
to his sons-in-law, George
C. Sibley and Archibald
Gamble, to wind up his
affairs. And we may add
here, parenthetically, that
Rufus Easton was one of the
beneficiaries of the
Congressional Act whereby
those whose lands had been
damaged by the New Madrid
earthquake of 1811 were
empowered to choose other
tracts of equal amount from
the public domain. Judge
Easton selected new holdings
here in Jackson County.
Archibald Gamble was one of
the original proprietors of
the town of Sibley. He and
Governor Hamilton R. Gamble,
famous in Missouri history,
were brothers.
If we must eliminate Morgan
Boone and Maj. Sibley as
first citizens of Jackson
County, because one was a
trespasser on Indian land
and the other because
located temporarily as a
government employee, we have
next Lynchburg Adams, whose
citizenship cannot be
impugned or denied. He was
a bona fide citizen and his
descendants, who are many,
take pride in denominating
him the first settler in
Jackson County.
Morgan Boone died in
Westport and his grave is
there. |
