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.