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Chapter 33: Place Names of Butler County |
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Broseley. Mrs. R. C. Opperman and Mr. Sylvester Bagwell, have given us additional information on Broseley. Mrs. Opperman is a granddaughter of William Bailey from whom was derived the early name of Bailey, Bailey's and Bailey's End for the present Broseley. Mr. Bailey was born in 1863 near Mayfield, Kentucky. Sometime, somewhere he became an employee of Mr. H. D. Williams, owner and operator of the H. D. Williams Cooperage Company, one of the large cooperage companies of the United States. Mr. Bailey was mill manager for the mill this company had at the present town of Broseley. He lived in the house which later was the home of Dr. Crump, a physician of Broseley. Mr. Bailey died in 1924 in Leslie, Arkansas, where he was operating a mill, and is buried in City Cemetery, Poplar Bluff.
Mr. Bagwell tells us the post office at Broseley was once named Hunt. Miss Pottenger in her work on places names states the post office at Bailey's End was once called Hunt and was kept by Richard Hunt in John Funk's store. She also states that Alfred Hunt kept the office in his home for a time.
Hendrickson. Miss Pottenger states the Town of Hendrickson was established in 1873 as a station on the Iron Mountain Railroad, now the Missouri Pacific Railroad. It was named for Nathan W. Hendrickson who owned a large tract of land in that area and who was a firm supporter of efforts to secure a railroad through Butler County. The town is neat the former Reeves' Station on the Old Military Road. Mr. Hendrickson was a very active leader in public affairs in pioneer Butler County. His full name was Nathaniel Wells Hendrickson. He usually signed the County Court record as N. W. Hendrickson. Miss Pottenger quotes one reference stating that he was of Danish Descent.
Hilliard. This name has and interesting development. Miss Pottenger states that in 1869 George W. Hill came from Washington County, Arkansas and purchased a large tract of timber land in Butler County. After the building of the Iron Mountain Railroad Mr. Hill established a timber business dealing in ties, cordwood and other timber products. His storage yard near the railroad tracks was known as "Hill's Yard." Goodspeed's "History of Southeast Missouri," page 1090, uses the spelling "Hillyard." Judge Deem in "History of Butler County" states the railroad station was founded in 1872. Mr. Hill sold wood to the railroad company for use in the woodburning locomotives until wood was displaced by coal. When the place merited a post office, the Post Office Department shortened the name to Hillard, but the railroad company called the station Hilliard, earlier Hilliard Switch. The post office and the railroad station have been closed for several years. The Missouri State Highway Department and the United States Corps of Engineers use the spelling "Hillard" as a place name on Highway W. Hilliard is near the old Shipman Ford crossing of Black River on the road from Greenville to Poplar Bluff.
Baskey School. The origin of this name is one of the most intriguing stories we have found concerning place names in Butler County. Several years ago we talked with Mrs. Anna Brown, a daughter of Peter Baskey. Mrs. Brown told the story of her father. He was born Pierre Basquet in Alsace-Lorraine, France, about 1843. When he was about four years old his family came to the United States and settled in Ohio. As a young man Pierre Basquet traveled widely in the United States. In his wanderings he came to Butler County where he homesteaded a tract of land east of Black River neat Little Raft Slough, now Palmer Slough. The French pronunciation of Basquet rhymed it with croquet and bouquet, but the Anglo-Saxon neighbors of Mr. Basquet insisted on calling him Mr. Basket. This grieved him very much. He did not wish to be a basket. He decided to preserve the French pronunciation as best he could by changing his name to Baskey and at the same time changed Pierre to its English counterpart of Peter. Thus Pierre Basquet of Alsace-Lorraine, France, became Peter Baskey of Butler County, Missouri.
When it was necessary to establish a school in the community Mr. Baskey gave land for the school house site and was honored by having the school and school district named for him. The school house stood just east of Black River. The school patrons had to board the teacher around on circuit the first winter to get the school started. The Baskey School District has now been absorbed by Reorganized School District of Poplar Bluff, the school has been closed to make way for larger school units, and in a few years the names will be lost except as found on old maps and in school records.
By occupation Mr. Baskey was a farmer and carpenter. He died in 1897 in Doe Run, Missouri, and is there buried.
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