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Chapter 35: Miscellany, Survey of the North Line |
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As organized by the General Assembly in 1849 the boundaries of Butler County were already determined except on the north. The General Assembly had decreed that all of Wayne County south of a line extending due west from the "mouth of Black Mingo" should be organized into a new county.
In the year 1851 the Butler County Court had this line surveyed by Nixon Palmer. On November 11, 1851, Mr. Palmer presented his report to the Court, which was received and ordered filed. On the same day the Court allowed Mr. Palmer $21.00. In the same order Thomas Punch and Samuel Conner were allowed six dollars each. We think Punch and Conner were the Chainmen. Walking across north Butler County in 1851 probably was not too difficult. Most of the trees were large, and there was very little brush or undergrowth. According to the wages usually paid by the Court in the 1850's it appears that Punch and Conner worked three or four days on the survey.
Payments for Services. For many years the Butler County Court paid for most public services on a daily basis or by fees. The members of the County Court received two dollars for each day attended when Court was in session. There was not an allowance for mileage or horse feed. For some of the Justices it was an arduous trip of forty or more miles, for Abraham Romine, William Vandover and Nathan W. Hendrickson, thirty or more miles. Judges and clerks in the elections received $1.50 per day. In one Court entry in 1850, Newton Wallace, Sheriff, was allow $4.50 for three days service as sheriff, or $1.50 per day. The sheriff was paid only on the days he worked as sheriff.
The Commissioners to select the County seat site received two dollars per day as evidenced by the Court order in 1850 paying William Henley $17.00 "for eight and one-half days services in locating the County Seat of Butler County." Henley lived in Stoddard County. The other Commissioners were John Stevens of Cape Girardeau County and John F. Martin of Ripley County. Selecting a county seat site for a wilderness county required considerable time and a lot of travel by horseback. It was not a sinecure job.
In 1851 Jesse A. Gilley, County Treasurer, was allowed $25.00 for six months services and at the end of the next quarter received $12.50, indicating a yearly salary or fee of $50.00 for looking after the county's money. On a percentage basis this was a large payment as the total tax income for 1850 was $260.80. The tax books for 1850 were made by Jacob C. Blount. For this service he was paid $2.15 for 4,300 words and figures, a rate of five cents per one hundred words and figures. Jurors received fifty cents per day served. In August, 1850, Joseph White was allowed $8.00 for eight days as County Attorney, at one dollar per day when the Court was "sitting." In 1850 John Eudaley was paid $17.00 for assessing 272 names. The assessed valuation for that year is not valleys of Cane and Ten Mile Creeks from the north borders of the county to the "Big Swamp" on the south, the meanders of Little Black River from the Ripley County line to Brannum's Mill, the valley of Black River from Keener's Spring to the new town of Poplar Bluff and on the east side of the county from Romine Springs southward through the Ash Hills.
Welfare Work of the County Court. In pioneer times the County Court was the welfare agent of the county. All cases concerning the indigent, the insane, orphans and other types of the helpless, had to have the attention of the Court. There were no other agencies to turn to in such misfortunes.
In a case of supposed insanity the Court called jury for a hearing. These juries were of frontier men who were very direct in their judgments. They did not use sophisticated explanations as "mentally unstable" or "psychologically disturbed." One such jury was especially blunt: "We Jurors find – and idiot incapable of attending to his affairs." If the person adjudged insane was an indigent, the Court referred to as "letting out" or "let out." In one such case the Court appointed Thomas Kearbey as guardian of the property and person of the patient, and Mr. Kearbey was allowed 10 dollars per month for clothing and maintaining him. After three months Mr. Kearbey was released from his guardianship, and the sheriff was ordered to let the patient out to the lowest bidder for maintenance for six months. Six months later Gabriel Davis was allowed $36.00 for "taking care" of him. Four days later, October 28, 1854, William Stell was allowed $50.00 for taking this man to Tennessee. This closed the case so far as Butler County was concerned.
Sometimes the Court paid for the care of an orphan child, but usually orphan children were "taken" by relatives or by neighbors and stayed until the girls married and the boys went out on their own. Older men and women who were homeless seen to have been taken by relatives and neighbors for the assistance they gave in the family living. We find the philosophy of the pioneer community was, "We care for out own." Sometimes children were bound or apprenticed by the Court. We quote two Court orders to that effect. April 15, 1855. "Ordered by the Court that James Brechen be bound to John S. Varner and that the said John S. Varner enter into indentures therefore." September 3, 1855. Ordered by the Court that Thomas Kinney, a minor, be bound as an apprentice to John W. Gregory until he becomes 21 years of age."
We quote the court record on a case of destitution, dated January 10, 1860. The Court members were John N. Yarber, E. C. Scott and N. W. Hendrickson. "Whereas there has been information given to the County Court that certain children of a Widow Hallmark now residing in Butler County are upon the point of starvation. It is therefore ordered by the Court that said Widow Hallmark be notified of the filing of said Information and that said children be brought forthwith before the Court for a trial upon the merits of said information and that Robert Ramey & wife be summoned to appear forthwith before the Court as witnesses on the part of the Commonwealth." We find no further mention of this case in Court records so assume it was settled without Court action.
A Public Well On the Public Square. The following order was made August 29, 1860. "Ordered by the Court that there be and is hereby appropriated the sum of $100.00, One Hundred dollars, for the digging of a public well on the Public Square in the Town of Poplar Bluff and that James M. Jennings be and is hereby commissioned has survived concerning this well. Such bits of information as we find indicates it was on the west side of the Square, between the present Courthouse and Main Street. The late Bill Bradley once told us that, as a small boy, he carried water from a well on the Public Square to business houses and received five cents per pail of water. This was in the days of the dipper and the open pail of water.
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