Crow's Nest Homes 41-48



41.       The Residence of Dr. L. E. Belding
            On January 15, 1917, Dr. L. E. Belding and his wife, Imogene Dudley Belding, bought this tract of land from Tacy Silvey Grotwiel and built a five room bungalow here where their daughter Alice was born and where they lived until they moved to St. Charles in 1920. On February 27, 1924, Mr. Robert Fulkerson and his wife, Leora Keithly Fulkerson, bought the property from Dr. and Mrs. Belding, and here they lived until 1940 when they moved to Wentzville. Leora K. Fulkerson was a great-granddaughter of James Dunlap and Beulah Burroughs Dunlap. (40)


42.       The H. H. Heusler Property
Owned by the following:
            Melvin Dunlap to H. H. Heusler—August, 1901
            H. H. Heusler to W. F. Snyder—October 12, 1911
            W. F. Snyder to C. M. Moore—August, 1914
            C. M. Moore to Fred Brokoetter—January 30, 1919
            Fred Brokoetter to Victor Johnson—April 7, 1922
            V. Johnson to Sybil D. Hallock—July 31, 1923
            Sibyl Hallock to Matthew Schiebendrein—March 19, 1924-1940


43.       The John Stewart Home
            About 1858 or 1859, John Stewart, a son of William Stewart who settled on Spanish Grant 16 in Green’s Bottom in 1798, built a very attractive and substantial stone house here. Alberta Stewart Dugan, a granddaughter of John Stewart and Elizabeth Bryan Stewart, said that she had heard her father (William Stewart) say that it was lifting and handling the heavy stones for his house that caused the death of John Stewart when his son William was about seventeen years old.
            The children of William Stewart and Sarah Howell Stewart were Susan, John and Nancy, twins, Francis, Elias Climson, and Melcena.
John Stewart by will deeded this place to his daughters Adaline, Mary, and Martha. On January 7, 1882, Adaline Stewart and Martha Stoltz deeded the property to their sister, Mary L. Ronen. Then it passed through the following ownership:
Perry Ronen to E. P. Silvey—September 16, 1885
E. P. Silvey to George Curtis—November 21, 1905
George Curtis to Mr. and Mrs. John McWaters—August 22, 1908
John McWaters to Emma Keithly—July 17, 1919
            Emma Keithly to William Crow—September 15, 1926-1940


44.       The Victor Stoltz Farm
            April 17, 1885, James Patton of the County of St. Charles sold to John Stewart 194 6/10 acres which included the land conveyed by deed February 11, 1886, from Victor and Martha Stoltz to my grandmother, Harriet Darst Hays, then acting in the capacity of guardian of my father, Daniel B. Hays, for whose benefit the land was bought. On my father’s twenty-first birthday, March 21, 1889, Grandmother Hays deeded this land to him, and here he brought his bride, Serena Castlio Hays, on June 12, 1889. Lois and I were born in this house where we lived until I was three years old. On September 17, 1902, my parents sold this property to the Misses Annie and Alice Stevenson who made it their home until 1940, when they moved to Warrenton.


45.       The Daniel Berry Hays Farm
When my uncle, Uncas Castlio, married Allene Castlio in 1886, he built a small two-story frame house on this land which he had inherited from his father. In November, 1888, he sold this land to Mr. William Huning and moved to Spokane, Washington.
            On September 17, 1902, my parents bought from Mr. Huning Uncle Unc’s lot number 7, Uncle Norman’s lot number 8, part of Aunt Dora’s lot number 10, and part of Aunt Iantha’s lot number 5, all of the O. C. Castlio estate and all adjoining lot number 9 which my mother had inherited. This was our home until 1904 when, because of the ill health of my father and sister, we moved first to California and then to Spokane, Washington; but we did not sell the farm which was rented from 1904 until 1940.


46.       The Othaniel C. Castlio Homestead
            This was the farm home to which Othaniel Caleb Castlio brought his bride, Cordelia Keithly, that May day so long ago—May 12, 1852.
            In 1851 and 1852 Grandfather bought this farm of 640 acres from the Thomas D. Stephenson heirs with the gold he had found in California in 1849. His farm consisted of part of Spanish Land Grant 424 of Godfrey Krah (Crow) and adjacent sectional acreages. It was Thomas Stephenson who built the house and other improvements on this place where he lived for thirty-five years.
            In this house and on this farm occurred most of the incidents related in “Crow’s Nest.” Here were born Norman, Colman, Medora, Hortense, Serena, Wheeler, Aletha, Uncas, and Iantha, and here the children lived until they were grown.
            Until 1918, Aunt Wheeler, Mother and Uncle Ora Keithly owned what had been the farm of O. C. Castlio. In October, 1918, Aunt Wheeler sold her part of the farm to Mr. Henry Boerding.
            In 1940 what had been the 640 acre farm of Grandfather Castlio was owned by Mr. Henry Boerding, Hortense Keithly Spence, and me.
In that year the house and all buildings were destroyed, though rocks and bricks now indicate where the old house had stood. The spot is marked, too, by some lilac bushes and old cedar trees which Grandmother planted when Uncle Norman was a baby. The giant sycamore tree still stands above the spring branch, though it seems to me that each time Ray and I go to the farm a few more limbs have broken off. The spring bubbles up in a different place—such a tiny spring compared to the one which was there during my mother’s childhood. Near the foot of what was the peach orchard hill, the Missouri Conservation Commission has built a fishing lake.
            When World War II was over and the Government discontinued its use of the TNT Plant, classifying it as surplus, the University of Missouri received approximately 8000 acres for use as an agricultural experiment station and the Missouri Conservation Commission about 7000 acres for a wild life refuge and recreation area. To this wild life area, known for almost one hundred and fifty years as Howell’s Prairie, was given the name August A. Busch Wildlife Area. Many Howell-Castlio-Stewart descendants regretted that the name Howell was not perpetuated in memory of the hardy and progressive Francis Howell, the scholarly Lewis Howell, and the beneficent Colonel Francis Howell.
            On a knoll across the spring branch the little family cemetery remains undisturbed, some old cedar trees sheltering the graves of Grandfather and Grandmother, of two still-born infants, of Samuel Harrison who lived but one week, of Uncle Colman’s daughter Jett Rogers, of Uncle Unc’s son Faunt. After the death of Uncle Unc, November 29, 1949, Morris Muschany, Ray, and I sprinkled Uncle Unc’s ashes over the grave of Faunt, thus marking, I am sure, Finis to the burials in this cemetery.
            While delving among the old records at the St. Charles County Court House, Ray found the following deed:

Book O, Number 2, page 420
            “Know all men by these presents that we Othaniel C. Castlio and Cordelia Castlio his wife of the County of St. Charles and state of Missouri, for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar to us paid by John Johnson, John C. Castlio, and Caleb Dunlap, Trustees of the Howell Prairie School House, have granted and sold unto the parties of the second part, trustees of said school house, a certain lot or parcel of land either for a private school house or for a district school house whenever legally made so, the said lot containing an acre described and bounded as follows:
            The said lot being situated on the east side of the tract of land purchased by the said Othaniel C. Castlio of Stephenson heirs and adjoining land owned by Francis Howell ********** to place of beginning including the school house now built upon said lot. To have and hold the said lot or parcel of ground to the use of (above named) and their successors alone for school and educational purposes.
In witness our hands and seals this 19th day of January, 1857.
Othaniel C. Castlio
Cordelia Castlio

            This school house was burned during the Civil War by members of the Home Guard. Grandfather had the teacher and pupils move to the two-room stone house in his yard until friends and neighbors persuaded him to discontinue this school, fearing that it and his home would be burned too.
            We also found, in the office of the Probate Court, Box 23, #532, the sale bill of Grandfather Castlio’s estate, interesting because it gives the names of many former residents of Howell’s Prairie and the opportunity to compare prices in 1871 with those of today.

SALE BILL OF ESTATE OF OTHANIEL C. CASTLIO, DECEASED, SOLD BY
CORDELIA CASTLIO, ADMINISTRATRIX, AUGUST 10, 1871

William Stewart, 1 pair of scales
1.40
A. Alexander, 1 tent
5.00
Anst. Hogerman, 1 rifle
2.50
 . . . . . Cliff, 1st bee stand
0.50
A. J. Coshow, 2nd bee stand
3.00
Jos. Dunlap, 3rd stand
8.75
Fritz Hitsman, 1 cradle
0.30
Jno. Hutchison, buggie springs
0.50
Wm. Stewart, 1 scythe
0.25
Jno. Early, 2 corn knives
0.35
A. J. Journey, old irons
0.25
Louis Dorias, 1 double tree
0.45
N. Harris, 1 corn planter and wrench
0.35
T. McClenny, 1 corn planter and 2 bells
1.00
Clint Halsey, 1 broad ax
2.00
W. Hughes, 5 augers
1.20
Perry Ronen, 1 square and brace
0.95
T. McClenny, 3 planes
1.00
Clint Halsey, brace, bit, saw
4.75
Jos. Stewart, 1 corn sheller
5.00
Jos. Callison, 1 reaper and mower
47.00
Jno. Snyder, 1 sulky plow
2.50
Julius Keithly, 1 wheat drill
40.00
Fritz Hitsman, 1 sleigh
0.75
Wm. Dibbit, 1st log chain
1.60
Wm. Boyd, 2nd log chain
0.25
Jos. H. Stewart, 1 pond scraper
7.00
Fritz Hitsman, 1 corn coverer
0.65
Fritz Hitsman, 3 old plows
0.25
Jno. N. Snyder, 13 horse plows
1.80
Perry Ronen, 2 plows
3.80
Jno. Lay, 1 harrow
9.75
Fritz Hitsman, 1 sled
0.25
Jos. Dunlap, 1 corn marker
0.25
Wm. Stewart, ½ of a horse power (?)
1.50
Cordelia Castlio, 1 hay frame
0.25
Cordelia Castlio, 1 wagon
49.00
A. J. Journey, 1 scoop shovel
0.20
. . . . . .  Griffith, 90 bu. wheat more or less at .83¢
74.70
Henry Schneider, 200 bu. wheat more or less at $1.15
230.00
Jas. W. Howell, 75 bu. wheat more or less at $1.00
75.00
Peter Mades, 100 bu. oats at .30¢ bu.
30.00
Z. Moore, 5 hogs $6.60 per head
33.00
Jno. Cunningham, 20 hogs at $5.95 per head
119.00
Z. Moore, 1st lot sheep, 10 head at $4.25 per head
42.00
Z. Moore, 2nd lot sheep, 10 head at $3.75 per head
37.50
Z. Moore, 3rd lot sheep, 10 head at $2.20 per head
22.20
Jos. Dunlap, 4th lot sheep, 10 head at $2.15 per head
21.50
L. Long, 5th lot sheep, 10 head at $2.05 per head
20.50
Eugene Castlio, 6th lot sheep, 15 head at $1.90 per head
28.50
B. Stallard, 1st cow and calf
35.00
J. K. P. Stephenson, 2nd cow and calf
42.00
Jos. Dunlap, 1 white bull
17.00
E. L. Cunningham, ½ of 80 head sheep more or less, $2.00 per head
80.00
Wm. Schultz, 1st mule
138.00
Wm. Schultz, 2nd mule
113.00
F. A. Hays, 1 black mare
84.00
George Doughty, 1 sorrel mare
96.00
Robert Pourie, 1 horse
47.00
Jas. Miller, 1 saddle horse
145.00
Wm. Graveman, 1 sorrel horse
105.00
Wm. Schemeier, 1 roan cow
41.00
E. L. Cunningham, 1st lot of cattle, 5 head at $37.25 per head
186.00
E. L. Cunningham, 2nd lot of cattle, 5 head at $33.25 per head
166.25
E. L. Cunningham, 3rd lot of cattle, 5 head at $30.25 per head
151.25
Jos. Moore, 4th lot of cattle, 10 head at $26.75 per head
267.50
Jos. Moore, 5th lot of cattle, 10 head at $23.50 per head
235.00
M. Stump, 6th lot of cattle, 10 head at $15.50 per head
155.00
Jos. Dunlap, 7th lot of cattle, 10 head at $15.75 per head
157.50
Jno. N. Snyder, 8th lot of cattle, 5 head at $11.75 per head
58.75
Wm. McClure, 1 whip
2.30

$3,316.25
Jno. N. Snyder, Sale Clerk




47.       The Home of Captain James Callaway and Nancy Howell
            After the marriage of Captain James Callaway and Nancy Howell (36, 51) on May 9, 1805, James Callaway built a cabin on a little stream which he named Kraut Run in Survey 296, originally granted by the Spanish Government to Adam Zumwalt and adjoining Survey 460, also owned by James Callaway and formerly conceded by the Spanish Government to Lewis Crow. In 1940 the land where the Callaway cabin had stood was owned by W. Schiermeier and the spring was on the boundary line between the Schiermeier farm and land owned by Lola and Ray Oliver.
            Though all the Callaway buildings have been gone for years, about 1922 Dr. Mitchell Castlio showed Ray Oliver the Callaway spring still enclosed by a rock wall. Now the spring has been washed out. Often Ray and I take our lunch, look for mushrooms or blackberries where Great-grandmother Nancy used to look for Indians, and later eat our lunch under a tree not far from where her house and spring used to be.
            After Captain Callaway’s marriage, he lived for the remainder of his short life on Kraut Run, where his three children were born—Thomas Howell, William Boone, and Theresa Etaline Callaway.
            In chapter II of “Crow’s Nest” I have told of the death of Captain James Callaway whose grave near where he was killed on Loutre Creek is marked by a slab on which is engraved:
Capt. Jas Callaway
March 7, 1815


48.       John C. Castlio Farm and Home
            This farm was part of the original Spanish Land Grant issued to Andrew Zumwalt. Until about 1868 or 1870 it was the farm home of John Callaway Castlio, his wife Elizabeth Stone Castlio, and their children—Edward C., Albert J., William M., Eugene Webster, John Doran, Milton, Zerelda E., and Mary Keturah. (22) All the children were born in the house which was destroyed by the Government in 1940.
            February 9, 1892, H. B. Castlio bought from his oldest brother, J. C. Castlio, this farm. Between 1892 and his death in 1904, H. B. Castlio bought and added to this farm two adjoining tracts of land. The second clause of his will, made May 4, 1901, has the following provision concerning this farm:
            “I desire and direct that my said Executor shall within five years after the date of my death, sell the above described lands at either public or private sale as he may think best and for the best price he can obtain therefor and in the event he shall sell said lands for less than $10,000 he shall collect and receive from Mitchell Castlio in whose favor a special device is hereafter made, a sum sufficient to make that amount. The fund thus raised I desire and direct my Executor to pay over to the Y.M.C.A. of the city of Columbia, Missouri, upon the condition however that said Y.M.C.A. of Columbia, Missouri, shall first raise the sum of $20,000 from other sources to be added to the fund hereby provided, and the whole to be used to construct a building on said association’s lot in the city of Columbia, Missouri, said building when completed to be used as much as may be in assisting deserving young men in obtaining an education.”
            Dr. Mitchell Castlio bought the farm for $10,000 after the death of his uncle, H. B. Castlio. In 1940 the owners of this farm were A. Ray and Lola Castlio Oliver.