before rome, there was fort lawrencepeople.missouristate.edu/joybrown/romearticle.pdf · before...

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Summer 2004 Page 26 JOURNAL of the Douglas County (Mo.) Hist. & Gen. Soc.

Preface: Before she moved to Overland Park, Kansas, last year to be close to her daughter, 85 year-old Pauline Richards Jenkins afforded Guy and Doris Gettys the opportunity to make photocopies of many of her Richards and Jenkins family records and photos. This article, in part, is based on that information, along with other histori-cal sources that help describe the his-tory of the extreme southwestern Douglas County village called Rome, and of the Richards family that estab-lished it and helped it to thrive for dec-ades. Members of the Richards family still live in that area today.

Introduction Anyone who wants to research a Douglas County historical subject would be well advised to first examine what has already been published in one of the earlier issues of the Douglas County Historical Journals. The Soci-ety maintains a complete cumulative index of all the Journals going back to 1974 when the Society was first formed. A search on the topics of Rome and the Richards family yielded these articles from past Journals: • July 1975 Journal: “Sixty Year Old Douglas County Land Mark Gets

Before Rome, There Was Fort Lawrence By Kenneth Brown with assistance from Guy and Doris Gettys

a New Lease on Life” by Herbert Sanders, pp. 3-6. (The article provides a nice history of the bridge that was built at Rome in 1913-14 plus an up-date on the refurbishment of the bridge that occurred in 1974). • July 1975 Journal: “Rome, A Brief Survey,” by Glen Dale Hartley, pp. 8-10. (The article examines the earliest history of the village, and chronicles the mills and other commercial enter-prises that thrived there over many decades). • December 1991 Journal: “Names and Places” by Barbara DeVore, pp. 13-18. (The article briefly discusses the naming of the village and the his-tory of the post office at that place). • December 1994 Journal: “Gertie May Fulton” by Ruby Cunningham, pp. 16-20. (An excellent article to help one get a sense of life on Beaver Creek at Rome when it was in its prime. Ger-tie, born in 1893 at Rome, was a daughter of Mark & Alice (Turner) Richards. She was a granddaughter to the two merchant families that guided Rome into a commercial presence: Frank and Elizabeth Richards, and An-drew and Margaret Turner). December 1999 Journal: “The Turners of Rome, Missouri” by Gary Kester, pp. 6-8. (An informative article of Gary’s ancestor, Andrew Turner, who moved from Georgia to the Rome area in 1869 not long after F.M. Richards

arrived from the Springfield, MO area).

After reading all the above articles plus other available sources, one will learn many answers about Rome but also will develop some nagging ques-tions. For example, Glen Dale Hart-ley’s 1975 article states that: “Frank Richards came to Beaver Creek before (italics added) the Civil War and estab-lished a village named Rome.” Glen Dale’s source was the book: “Our Storehouse of Missouri Place Names,” by Robert Ramsey. Yet, in his Goodspeed biography reprinted else-where in this Journal issue, Mr. Rich-ards acknowledged that he never came to Douglas County until after the war in 1867, and that he started a post of-fice and store several years later in 1876. The National Archives of Postal Records confirms that a post office named “Rome” was established on January 10, 1876, and that F.M. Rich-ards was the appointed postmaster.

Figure 1 shows a map of Douglas County portion of “The Map of the State of Missouri” published in 1879 by the State Board of Immigration. In the author’s collection of some twenty maps published between 1840 and 1910, this 1879 map is the earliest one to show the existence of Rome (shown in the lower left corner of the exhibit).

This provides further evidence that Richards was the founder and named

FIGURE 1 1879 State Board of Immigration Map for Douglas County

Rome is in the Lower Left Hand Corner

Kenneth Brown

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Summer 2004 7 JOURNAL of the Douglas County (Mo.) Hist. & Gen. Soc.

the village/post office of Rome. Even so, as several sources have stated, the area had considerable commercial and military activity prior to the post-war Richards era of the 1870s. As a result, this article focuses on those activities leading up to the Richards era.

A Likely Chronology for the

Village of Rome The remnants of what was a vi-brant commercial center can still be seen in southwestern Douglas County. It is located about 10 miles southwest of Ava. One can visit the site by tak-ing State Highway 76 west out of Ava and look for County Road 76-436. Then, turn left (or back to the east) on 76-436 which leads to Rome. After going a couple of miles the road will turn south, and one will come to the old 1914 iron bridge that crosses Bea-ver Creek at Rome. The village is just across the bridge, and it now consists of several houses, one converted from a store of Rome’s commercial era. Rome is in Campbell Township, and its legal description is Section 23, Township 25, Range 17. Figure 2 con-tains a 2001 plat map for Section 23 and shows the owners of the surround-ing land at that time. The first plat map for the area, however, dates back to 1847. In April, 1847, a state sur-veyor by the name of George Harrison went through the western part of Douglas County laying out subdivi-sions by which legal land title could be subsequently established. Figure 3 contains his hand drawn plat map for Section 23. (A copy of all the 1840s plat maps can be viewed at the Doug-las County Museum in Ava.) The Wright Period In this early day when the county was sparsely populated, the surveyor would make note of the families, mills, or other landmarks he found as he con-ducted the survey. As shown in the southwest quarter of Section 23, the surveyor took note of a family by the name of Wright that had settled there. (During the 1840, 1850, and 1860 cen-suses, this land was located in Taney County. In all three censuses, several

households of the Wright/Right family were shown in that township – called Benton in 1840 and Campbell thereaf-ter).

The 1846 surveyor was likely identifying the farm of James Wright (b. ca 1793 in North Carolina). The 1850 census of Taney County lists James Wright as being a neighbor of Joshua Barnes (b. ca 1801 in Ken-tucky). This is consistent with the 1846 plat map which shows a Joshua Barnes family on Beaver Creek north-east of Rome (not shown on Figure 3). In her book, “Taney County, Mis-souri in 1840,” Nancie Todd Weber, provides several insights into this Wright family (spelled “Right” in the 1840 Census) and its movements in and out of that area. She states (on p.

63) that “Wright Mill was probably the first water-powered gristmill on Bea-ver Creek, near Rome in present-day Douglas County. No history survives except for a notation on an 1847 gov-ernment land survey. Lawrence Mill, built ca 1850 by William Lawrence, was probably on the same site.” The Lawrence Period As mentioned earlier, in 1850 and still in 1860, the Rome area was in Campbell Township of Taney County (the area would not be attached to Douglas County until 1864). William Lawrence (b. ca 1817 in Kentucky) is shown in that township in 1850. The mill built by William Lawrence caus-ing the area around Rome to be called Lawrence Mill. Elmo Ingenthron, in his book “Borderland Rebellion,” provides a detailed description of Fort Lawrence that was built in the Rome area by the Union Army during the Civil War to protect Lawrence Mill and to impede Confederates traveling up the road from Forsyth that went through the Beaver Creek valley. According to Ingenthron, “…the Federals usually referred to it (the site) as Lawrence Mill or Beaver Sta-tion. The Confederates called it Fort Lawrence.” (p. 258). Figure 4 con-tains Ingenthron’s depiction of the Confederates’ capture and burning of Fort Lawrence on January 6, 1863. Also, Ingenthron described the military structure as follows: “The fort was a two-story building, 150 feet long and 40 feet wide, constructed of logs 12 inches thick, dovetailed and closely fitted. The second story projected out-ward over the first story. Portholes for musketry lined the walls around the entire building and were mortised on the inside to enable turning muskets to almost any direction. Eight or ten long buildings adjacent to the fort were used for barracks.” Figure 5 contains Ingenthron’s map of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas that shows Fort Lawrence on Beaver Creek. (A black box has been added to his original map to show the approximate location of current-day

FIGURE 2 2001 Plat Map for

Sec. 23, Twp. 25, Rng. 17

FIGURE 3 1846 Survey/Plat Map for Sec. 23, Twp. 25, Rng. 17

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Douglas County). Note, however, that Ingenthron’s map is inaccurate in that it shows Fort Lawrence (Rome) as be-ing further north than Vera Cruz to the east. M.C. Reynolds in Fort Lawrence Skirmish In her book titled “Early Settlers of Douglas County, Missouri,” Bessie Selleck provides an excellent summary of Douglas County’s Civil War skir-mishes and battles. However, she re-fers to an 1861 skirmish at current-day Rome and does not mention the 1863 burning described by Ingenthron. But, both authors (Ingenthron and Selleck) mention the same story of M.C. Rey-nolds’ battle experience in the area; thus, one could assume they are both talking about the same Civil War en-gagement. Selleck’s story (p. 50) is the more detailed version of the two, and her version is as follows (with some paraphrasing added by this au-thor for clarity). She is quoting long-time Ava merchant, M.C. Reynolds, possibly related to her by his grandson, W.F. “Bid” Reynolds: “We were attacked in the night by surprise, near where Rome now stands. I (M.C. Reynolds) was taking father’s place (J.A.G. Reynolds) upon the night of the attack, when my Uncle Henry Miller had to waken me by pull-ing the hair of my head and tell me to run for my life. I ran so fast across Beaver Creek that I never even got my feet wet.” Selleck’s recount is problematic, however, because she refers to the site of this skirmish as “Clark and Dan’s, near where Rome, Missouri, now stands.” (p. 49). However, Civil War scholars refer to the first of two battles across the county at Vera Cruz (Nov. 7, 1862) as “The Battle of Clark’s Mill.” Jack C. Vineyard’s well-researched 1995 book entitled “The Battle of Clark’s Mill” describes that battle in detail. So, Selleck’s reference to “Clark and Dan’s” is unclear to this author. A portion of Fort Lawrence still

FIGURE 5 “The Confederates capture and burn Fort Lawrence

on Beaver Creek , Jan. 6, 1863.” Painted by John Arnold and reproduced from

P. 259 of Elmo Ingenthron’s book, “Borderland Rebellion

exists today after being relocated from its original southwestern county site to east of Ava. This structure is shown in Figure 6. The photo is of the Andrew R. Turner house at Rome in the early 1900s that family legend identifies as “Fort Lawrence.” In his December 1999 Journal article entitled “The Turners of Rome, Missouri,” Turner descendant, Gary Kester, relates the following family legend: “At Rome, the A.R. Turner family lived in a log house that was said to have been used as a fort during the Civil War. The house was covered with white clap-board for many years, but now stands as a log cabin on the former Gordon Dye property on Highway 14 east of Ava that is now owned by Dean Davis, having been moved there and rebuilt as a historical site.” Further notes provided by Richards descendant, Pauline Richards Jenkins, indicated that the Turner house was two rooms with a double fireplace, and upstairs and a built-on room on the right side of the structure. Perhaps an explanation for the dis-

parity between Ingenthron’s descrip-tion of a huge structure compared to the rather small Turner house is that the later is only a small portion of the original fort or perhaps one of the bar-racks buildings that were adjacent to the fort.

Question: Was there a Post Office at Rome Before the Civil War?

After all his research in Douglas County history, this author has learned never to close the door on any histori-cal remembrance, no matter how un-certain, nor to say that a historical re-count is absolutely true or false. Still, some sources, such as newspaper ac-counts and official records, provide the strongest evidence of events or places. The presence of mills before the Civil War in the area now called Rome vicinity seems to be well established. More difficult to prove is the existence of a post office there before the War as some sources suggest. A manuscript by this author titled “Historical Maps of Douglas County, Missouri,” repro-duces all known map depictions of the county from the early 1840s through

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1910. These early maps tended to identify rivers, roads (to the extent they existed), and post offices of which the map-maker had official notice. Figure 7 contains the Douglas County portion of the 1861 “Lloyd’s Official Map of Missouri,” and it iden-tified seven post offices at that time in present-day Douglas County: • Arno (on Beaver north of Rome) –

established in 1857 by Samuel Turner.

• Cow Skin (current-day Ava) – es-tablished in 1849 by William Turner.

• Copper Spring (on Bryant Creek near the Webster County line) – established in 1858 by John F. Prock.

• Forest Store (between current-day Roy and Smallett near the conflu-ence of north and south Spring Creeks) – established 1854 by Gordon Forest. Closed 1859.

• Pryor’s Store (current-day Roy) – established 1857 by William Pryor.

• Seldon (north of Vera Cruz on Bryant creek) – established 1856 by Harrison Gaither.

• Vera Cruz – established 1848 as “Red Bud” by Robert Hicks.

The Lloyd map is consistent with U.S. Post Office Archives that contain postmaster applications except for one omission. The Lloyd map does not identify Falling Spring – established 1854 by William R. Neill, according to Postal Archives. Establishment dates and initial postmasters were obtained from “Douglas County Post Offices from the U.S. Postal Archives,” by Glen Dale Hartley, December 1986 Journal, with the exception of that given for Arno which is based on Florence Silvey Garrison’s article, “The Turners of Arno,” in the December 1985 Jour-nal. The Lloyd map does show some inaccuracies that should be noted. For example, Arno is listed twice on the map. Pryor (current-day Roy) is shown farther west than its true site. Also, the author is uncertain exactly

FIGURE 5 Elmo Ingenthron’s Civil War Map

Fort Lawrence Shown in Middle of Map (Reprinted from p. 256 of his book, “Borderland Rebellion”)

where the Forest Store Post Office was located. But in the absence of further information, one must conclude that F.M. Richards’ Rome Post Office, opening on January 10, 1876, was likely the first postal facility at that place.

Conclusion There was a time that the phrase “All roads lead to Rome” could have been applied to that little hamlet on

Beaver Creek in Douglas County, MO, that Frank M. Richards named and put on the map in the 1870s. But, when modern highways passed it by in the 1920s and 1930s, Rome’s commercial presence dried up. In a way, it has re-verted to its original state as an agricul-tural area that is occupied by people who love the land and its beautiful creek-side setting. Time is eroding much of the evidence that would point out the area’s milling, merchant, mili-

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tary, and religious institutions that thrived there back to the beginning of white settlement in the area. Thus, articles like this one are important as an attempt to help leave a historical

trail for Douglas County’s Rome, Mis-souri. The author invites individuals with further information about Rome and its predecessor community to write the Society for use in future issues.

Also, the author can be contacted as follows: Kenneth Brown, 4108 E. Eastmoor St., Springfield, MO 65809 Email: [email protected]

FIGURE 6 — Turner House at Rome L-R: Andy Turner, Margaret Turner, Maston Osborn, Della Osborn Huffman

FIGURE 7 1861 — Douglas County Portion of “Lloyd’s Map of Missouri”

(Note: Southern Missouri R.R. across top of map was only projected at that time)

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Transcriber’s Note: The following transcription is what Frank M. Rich-ards provided to Goodspeed represen-tatives for publication in 1894. Frank M. Richards was the grandfather of Arthur Richards whose photo is on the cover, and the great-grandfather of Pauline Richards Jenkins, who in-spired the preceding Rome article and provided photos for this issue. This autobiographical sketch for F.M. Rich-ards is followed by Pauline’s family line. We encourage Richards family members to write further articles about this great family and its patriarch from southwestern Douglas County. F.M. Richards The calling of the merchant is one of the utmost importance in any com-munity, and one of its most successful followers at Rome, Douglas County, MO., is F.M. Richards, who has been a resident of the county since 1867. He was born in Monroe County, Tenn., March 31, 1836, a son of Fredrick and Elizabeth (Renfro) Richards, the for-mer of whom was born in Kentucky, a son of John Richards. Mrs. Richards was also born on Blue Grass soil, and was a daughter of William Renfro. The subject of this sketch was but two years of age when his father died, and was but fourteen years of age when his mother died. He was one of five sons and three daughters: Samuel, John, Halloway, Peter, F.M., Mallissa, Margaret, and Martha. Halloway and the subject of this sketch were soldiers of the Civil War. The later came to Missouri in 1856 while still unmarried, and engaged in farming in the vicinity of Springfield, in Greene County, and there he was married after a time to Miss Elizabeth, a daughter of John and Barthena Noblett, who died in Arkan-sas and Greene County, MO, respec-tively.

Frank M. Richards – Rome Merchant & Postmaster Transcribed by Kenneth W. Brown from

“A Reminiscent History of the Ozarks Region” Goodspeed Brothers, Chicago, 1894. (Paragraphs added for reading ease).

When the war opened the subject of this sketch enlisted in the twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry, and served three months in the Home Guards, af-ter which he was for three years in the regular service, and was first com-manded by S.H. Boyd. He obtained the rank of sergeant of his company, Company K, and was in the battles of Tupelo, Pea Ridge, Little Rock, Cam-den, Devil’s Bluff, Cotton Plant, Old Town Bridge, and had charge of the pontoon bridge at Jenkins’ Ferry until he had destroyed it, during which time he was on detached service. He was an excellent soldier, and served his country well in the san-gunary (sic) struggle between the North and South. He received his dis-

charge October 19, 1865, returned home and after a short time moved to Lawrence County, and in 1867 to Douglas County, locating on a farm two miles from Rome, where he re-mained successfully engaged in tilling the soil until 1872. He then opened a general mercan-tile store in Rome, where he has since conducted an extensive business, and is considered, with justice, one of the leading merchants of the county. In addition to his large and well-selected stock of goods he owns a fine farm of 350 acres at Rome, and an interest in the roller mills at the same place. He has always been an active member of the Republican party, and belongs to the G.A.R. post at Roy, No.

ANSWER TO MYSTERY PHOTO FROM PAGE 1 Nichol’s 5&10¢ Store (early 1940s at Christmas)

(east side of square, second store from south end)

Photo provided by Pauline Richards Jenkins. Her recollection of the people in the photo are as follows: L-R—Mr. Griffin, Manager; Mrs. Ingie Nichol, Owner; Mrs. Reeves; Unknown; Retha Jenkins; Pauline Richards Jenkins; Georgia Jenkins Sanders; and Lavern Lakey. Mr. Griffin was married to Mrs. Nichol’s sister. According to Pauline, “We really worked hard in that place.” Mrs. Nichol came from Bristow, OK, in No-vember 1935, to open Ava’s first 5&10¢. The store was on the site of the old two-story frame GAR Hall that was torn down in the 1930s.

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309. Socially he is a member of the I.O.O.F. and he and his wife move in the highest social circles of their sec-tion. He is a public-spirited man, is popular with all classes, has held the office of county registrar, and was postmaster at Rome for twenty-two years. He and his wife are members of the church, and he has been superin-tendent of Sabbath-school for twenty years. To himself and wife the following children have been born: Marcus E., a farmer and miller; William, who is a farmer and blacksmith of Lawrence County; Lona J. is a merchant in the Creek Nation; James M. is a farmer and lives in Rome; E.S. (Ed) is a farmer of the Creek Nation; Sherman is a farmer at Rome, and also assists his father in the store; and Robert, who is at home; Ann Richards who married a man by the name of Chase; Samuel and a baby daughter died young.

Biographies of other “Prominent Citizens” like that of F.M. Richards are available in

Goodspeed’s 1894 “A Reminiscent History of the Ozark Region”

By Kenneth Brown

In the 1890s, a publishing com-pany out of Chicago called Goodspeed Brothers would go into a region and effectively create a “Who’s Who” book that included biographical sketches of important people. How were people chosen for the book? Well, they paid to have their sketch entered. As a result, many of the sketches were of merchants, public officials, or farmers of some financial means. The biographical sketch in-cluded for Rome merchant, F.M. Rich-ards, is reproduced elsewhere in this issue. The book for Missouri contains over 650 biographical sketches, and provides a valuable resource for histo-rians of Ozarks counties in both Mis-souri and Arkansas. The author scanned all the sketches to identify those related to individuals associated with Douglas County, MO. Here is the list of 42 Douglas County “prominent citizens” he identified in Goodspeed’s 1894 “A Reminiscent History of the Ozark Region.” The page number of the book is noted to the right. Andrews, Jesse............... 453 Bralley, A.C. .................. 400 Bunyard, James E........... 769 Curnutt, Jas. M................. 91 Darrow, W.C.................. 363 Fulton, W.J..................... 126 Gaulding, J.R. ................ 358 Hailey, L.O..................... 270 Hailey, James ................... 86 Hodges, Albert ............... 309 Hartin, Dal...................... 563 Ince, J.P. ......................... 274 Kay, T.A......................... 348

Livingston, Thos. ........... 226 Miller, J.W. .................... 112 Maloy, John ................... 330 Mathes, W.G. ................. 333 Miller, H.M. ................... 494 Miller, A.P. .................... 499 Martin, J.H. .................... 533 Norman, J.F.................... 179 Norman, Jas. P.M........... 340 Newton, M.S. ................. 440 Osborn, M.H. ................. 264 Osburn, G.W. ................. 313 Pennington, E.D............... 74 Pratt, D.B. ...................... 239 Pease, M.M. ................... 312 Reynolds, M.C. .............. 247 Richards, F.M. ............... 440 Small, James .................. 252 Siler, G.M. ..................... 303 Souder, J.W.................... 446 Smith, J.E....................... 428 Squire, John ................... 516 Silvey, Marion ............... 585 Singleton, M................... 751 Turner, A.R. ................... 216 Turner, Wm. J. ............... 284 Turner, Samuel............... 327 Upshaw, Drury............... 757 Wilson, Calvin ............... 199 A copy of Goodspeed’s book is available for reference at the Douglas County Library and at many other li-braries throughout the Ozarks and Mis-souri. If your local library does not have a copy, ask that it assist you with an interlibrary loan from another facility.

Family Line for

Pauline Richards Jenkins 1-Francis M. Richards b. 1833 (m. Elizabeth Noblett) 2-Marcus E. Richards b. 1859 (m. Nancy Alice Turner) 2-Lona J. Richards b. 1866 2-James Mason Richards b. 1868 (m. Lydia Ann Barnes) 3-Arthur Francis Richards (m. Lois Mabel Jenkins) 4-Pauline Rita Richards b 1918 (m. Lester Vernon Jenkins) 5-Beverly Sue Jenkins (m. James Wetherton) 4-Marshall Oren Richards b 1920 4-Jack Mason Richards b 1926 4-Francis Arthur “Dick” Richards b 1933 4-Thelma Helen Richards b 1930 4-Billy Dean Richards b. 1922 2-Ed S. Richards b 1870 2-Sherman Richards b 1872 2-Robert Richards b 1876 2-Ann Richards 2-Samuel Richards 2-{Infant daughter} Richards

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