SPANISH AND FRENCH LAND GRANTS IN EARLY MISSOURI

                                                        A GENEALOGY MOMENT

For those researching ancestors that settled in Missouri before 1803, check for Spanish or French land grants.  Between the 1680s and 1803, the French and Spanish governments controlled the land that is now Missouri.  To get a land grant the settler had to clear part of the land, build a house, plant crops and swear loyalty to the King of Spain (in the case of Spanish Land Grants) within a year and a day from the time the grant was received. To complete the title the claim had to be surveyed and the claim approved by the Governor General of the province, who was in New Orleans.

You can locate these records on microfilm or printed form. Here is a good source for locating land records.  Missouri Land Records

JOHN T. McNail, my great great grandfather and progenitor of the McNail family of Missouri, obtained a Spanish Land Grant, #23274, in 1799. He came to South East Missouri with Moses Austin to work in the lead mines.  Moses Austin had obtained written permission from the Spanish Minister to the United States to investigate these lead mine prospects in 1797, and the following year brought 30 families to settle in the area of Mine Au Breton near St. Genevieve. 

 John T.  was born about 1763 in Caswell County, North Carolina. He and wife Mary had four children: Mary born 1809, Joseph born July 1810, Allen born 1813 in and Benjamin S. McNail born April 1815 in Washington County, Mo. and were of the first Anglo settlers west of the Mississippi River. He was in Missouri 5 years before the Louisiana Purchase and 23 years before state hood.

Missouri History Timeline

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPELUNKERS OR OZARK CAVE LORE

There are these two bats in a cave and one says to the other "I could do with some blood right now." The other one said, "Me too but it's almost sunrise." The first one said, "Wait here." He flies off and comes back with a mouth full of blood. The second bat says, "Hey, where'd ya get that blood from?" The other replies, "Ya see that tree over there?" "Yea" "Well, I didn't!"

If you were to walk across the floor of that bat cave you would leave fluffy foot prints in the guano. You would also hear a crunchy sound from the cockroaches feeding on the guano; spiders and other predators that fed on the cockroaches, beetles that fed on dead bats, and parasites that lived on the insects and the bats.

Right about now you are asking yourself what this very bad bat joke and the reference to extremely disgusting bat guano have to do with Ozark cave lore. Well, it seems that in the 1800's there was a very important use for this guano. During the American Civil War bat doo doo, better know as Salt Peter, was used to make gunpowder for the troops and today it is used in making great fertilizer!

Besides the practical use of Salt Peter, Ozark caves have for centuries been surrounded by a swirl of legends. These legends recall days when desperadoes - such as Jesse James, used Ozark caves to hide from lawmen and from fellow criminals. They have also been used as Indian burial sites, shelter for hunters from storms and yes, by bats. 

Legends, tall tales and historically accurate accounts have it that Ozark caves still contain hidden caches of treasure left by the Spanish Conquistadors and robbers. Most assuredly they intended to return for their "stash" and it is possible that maps do exist for finding hidden treasure in the Ozark hills.

My Grandfather, Jacob Whitaker Copeland, loved to tell his grandchildren of his own treasure finding adventure as a young man. While on a hunting trip deep in the Ozark woods of Dent County he had to take shelter in a cave from a violent storm. He told us of stumbling on a cache of long narrow silver bars - so many and so heavy he could not imagine getting them home. He had killed a dear that day and had his rifle to carry as well so there was no way he could get home with any of the heavy bars. He decided to head on home with his deer and  come back for the silver.

 Through many years of trying, he was never able to find the cave again. He lived in what is now Mark Twain National Forest near Bunker, Missouri. If anyone knows the area they may understand why it would be so difficult to locate the cave again. I will never know if his story is true or if he was repeating local lore to entertain the young grand kids that hung on his every word. I so enjoyed his stories and that was probably his intent all along.

Many years ago one of my older cousins found an article in a St. Louis News Paper entitled "Lost Spanish Treasure in the Ozarks", written by Oren Arnold. The story tells of a man finding long narrow silver bars in a cave "around 100 miles south of St. Louis." The story is not in print today and it is too long to relate it here. In preparing for this post I reread the article and it is intriguing to think Grandpa's story just might be true. However, I'm not getting my metal detector out just yet but will tuck that memory of my grandfather close to my heart where it has lived for many years. 

BUSH WHACKED IN MISSOURI - PART TWO

Harry Truman's mother and members of her family were asked, not so politely, to leave the state of Missouri when it became public knowledge that she was a supporter of William Quantrill and his ilk. In her defense, she  considered William Quantrill  a "patriot of the south", which gave some merit to her ideals as a southern sympathizer.   Several people in Dent County were forced to leave as well.

My Copeland and  allied families were still in Reynolds and Shannon Counties during the Civil War and didn't come to Dent till after 1880. My Great Grandfather, James Francis Copeland, born in 1837, was of an age to have fought in the war however no Civil War records exist for him that I can find. I remember my Grandfather telling me his father would hide under the hay, in the barn, when the troops would come by the farm.To be found at home, not fighting in the war, was a short trip to a hanging tree! The fact that there are no records of my Great Grandfather having served gives credence to the story my Grandfather related to me. If anyone can add more information about these killings/hangings I would love to hear from you.

What I did not know when researching James Francis was that other family members, in Iron County,  were busy doing their part for the Southern cause.  William Hugh Copeland, my Great Grandfather's brother - as well as other family relatives, were involved in what could only be called a bush whacking incident. I only recently came across an article of an event that transpired in Iron County during the war involving William Hugh, William Wilson, Thomas Falkenberry and James Stout, all related to Copelands through marriage.

On the 26th of August 1861 E.G. Clay, John Quigley, Edmond Faulkenberry, William Wilson, William H. Copeland, Tolbert Hunt, Thomas Falkenberry, James A. McClurgh and James Stout, went to the mill of Jacob Woolford situated in Iron County Mo. with the intent to deliver Union sympathizer Jacob Woolford to the Southern army in Arkansas. Upon arrival at Woolford's mill Mr. Woolford walked in to view and was shot and killed in broad daylight by these men.

During the inquest it was stated that several shots rang out. McClurgh and James Stout were tried for the murder, found guilty and condemned to death. At some point while being escorted to or while at Alton Prison in Illinois both Stout and McClurgh escaped. William Hugh Copeland was found not guilty and according to his statement removed to Searcy, Arkansas to join Capt. Richard Berryman's "Rebel" Company in Colonel White's Regiment. He states he served about three months and deserted for home.
Reynolds County Genealogy
Transcription of a file of the Provost Marshall records in the Missouri Archives

In a separate incident Ninnian Bay and two of his sons were killed by Bush Whackers near their farm in Shannon County. Ninnian's son, Green Berry Wade,  married James Francis Copeland's oldest daughter Elvira. James Francis and wife are buried in the Bay Cemetery on the Bay farm.

 I would like to talk about an article that I read not long ago, about Bush Whackers. However, I can't seem to find it so I can't quote it. It basically explained there were two kinds of Bush Whackers during the Civil War. One group were southern sympathizers operating under the guise of aiding  the southern cause - as in the case of my great uncle. The others were considered evil doers, using the war as an excuse to kill, rape and steal. So this makes having Bush Whackers in my family tree a bit easier to swallow.

PLAY IT AGAIN, HARRY - PART ONE

Kennedy Library - Cecil Stoughton)

After Harry Truman played “The Missouri Waltz" on the piano at the White House, it was adopted as the official state song in 1949. The lyrics were considered racially sensitive and the song had to be amended before this could happen. As Truman’s ancestors were slave owners and southern sympathizers, they were probably turning over in their graves at the change of tone of the song.

 Truman himself recalled of his parents being “a violently unreconstructed southern family” and “Lincoln haters.” When they migrated to Missouri from Kentucky in the 1840’s, they brought their slaves with them and even received slaves as a wedding present. Talk about a unique wedding gift idea for the couple that has everything!

Truman’s mother was an ardent admirer of William Quantrill, the Confederate guerrilla leader who pillaged Lawrence, Kansas in 1863, killing at least one hundred and fifty of its citizens, including women and children. One historian has called him “the bloodiest man in America”. He wouldn’t have been on MY hero list but he was supposed to be a real ladies man so who knows…. More on this in my next post.

Guerrilla fighters like Quantrill were better known as Bush Whackers during the Civil War, where they were extremely violent in Kansas and throughout Missouri. This was particularly prevalent in rural areas like Dent, Shannon, Reynolds and Iron Counties where there were sharp divisions between those favoring the Union and Confederacy. Most Missourians today can find an ancestor in their past that was effected by these bush whackers where grizzly stories still remain in the family lore.  

I realize this blog is very new and at this point has few readers but I would hope that some would write in, sharing their families’ stories of Bush Whackers during the civil war as will I in my next post.

Stay tuned for Part Two of “PLAY IT AGAIN, HARRY or “BUSHWHACKED IN MISSOURI”.

ABOUT ME

GENEALOGY - LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

I have my cousin, Judson Mason, to thank for introducing me to the world of genealogy. Jud’s mother Della and my father Ben were brother and sister. Our fathers were also partners in a small engine business in Salem, Missouri where I am from.

Jud, being 19 years my senior, had already spent many years searching for his Mason and our Copeland family ancestors. His wife Judy once told me she didn’t know any other family vacation than visiting cemeteries and courthouses.

When I was a young mother and wife of a military man I asked Jud to share what he had found on our Copeland line. He had all hand written notes and charts back to our great - and even a few great-great grandparents with their children and cousins by the hundreds.

It was love at first site for me – seeing our family spread out on pedigree charts and family group sheets - from locations both local and distant. There were so many more family members I did not know about that had familiar first names so obviously handed down for generations.

Jud then explained to me that he was hoping I would take an interest as he would like to hand over all further research of the Copeland’s  to me while he continued with the Mason family. I eagerly agreed as he handed over notebooks of work on our Missouri ancestors.

That was in the late 1970’s and my husband and I lived in Omaha, Nebraska where he was a new 2nd Lieutenant in the US Air Force.  On our return from our Missouri vacation, arms full of my new Copeland history stash, I discovered the base library was offering genealogy classes which I immediately signed up for. I’ll never forget dear Alice Clopton and Sylvia Nimmo who alternated between teaching beginning, intermediate and advanced genealogy at the library. Both were military wives with a vast amount of knowledge in the field. I took every course they offered - filling notebooks full of everything they had to teach. I learned everything from reading census returns to migratory trails throughout the eastern U.S. I never expected the vast amount of American history I would take out of these courses and have since become an avid historian, taking many history classes in colleges where my husband happened to be stationed at the time.

By the 1990’s I was myself working in the genealogy room at the Cheyenne, Wyoming library and for the LDS that was housed in the same location. For the 3 years we were stationed in Cheyenne I enjoyed working and helping others with their research while increasing my own working knowledge.

Then it was off to Germany to our next posting where I landed a job at the Ramstein AFB library. In addition to my regular library duties I took on the genealogy duties as well. By this time I had many of my own family lines back to Europe. I remember speaking with a cousin on my mother’s side of the family who had done a great deal of research on his Stagner line. He told me where this branch of our family was from in Germany and my husband and I located the village; a mere 20 minutes from were we lived in the Rhineland Pfaltz.

This was my first experience visiting the European origins of part of our family. What an exciting adventure! I hope everyone interested in their family’s origins gets to experience this particular “Holy Grail” adventure.

Though my cousin Jud is no longer with us I will be forever grateful for his introducing me to something that has enriched my life in such a profound way.

MEMORIES OF MY GRANDFATHER COPELAND

I’ve entitled this blog “At My Grandfather’s Knee” in honor of Jacob Whitaker Copeland, who  lived from 1883 to 1962.  My grandfather...was my hero, and most beloved relative.   We lived in the same town, Salem, Missouri, and it seems like I lived at his and my Grandmother’s house as much as I lived in my own home with my parents. 

A visit to my grandparents' house was never complete without me sitting on my grandfather’s knee and listening raptly to a family story of “the old days” or to a funny song he had made up, which always made me laugh hysterically. Then we would get into his old pick-up where my job was to sit in the floor and push the starter button - and off we would go to town!

At age 59 I’ve forgotten more than I can remember of my childhood days, but these faded memories of times with my grandfather still linger. I  still remember bits and pieces of his stories - tales of found gold, bushwhackers, and a horse coming home after the Civil War. I long to take these stories out from wherever they're hiding in my mind and thrill once again at their telling. To hear his voice as he recalls those stories of long ago days that have now faded from my mind like a pleasant dream the morning after. And most of all, to find myself once again on his knee while he recants a story, with a twinkle in his eyes, that I've asked him to repeat oh so many times before.

Ours was a close family. As an only child I especially enjoyed the visits of my aunts and uncles and cousins when they would come from the city to visit the grandparents. Most of us have remained close to this day - a testament to this humble but beloved pair.

So it is in honor of my grandfather, Whit Copeland - the inspiration for my 40-year search of our family’s history - that I dedicate this blog.  He continues to inspire me from the other side, planting seeds that take root and grow into a quest to discover my family heritage.

A special thanks to Jeff Copeland - a dear cousin and professional writer - for helping me with this first post.