Josiah Stogsdill and Lydia Hall
By Mike Landwehr
Copyright 2010
NOTE: The following biography of Josiah Stogsdill and Lydia Hall is an excerpt from a book I authored in 2010, entitled "Moses Couch and William Stogsdill Families". Since that book is still unpublished, I am posting this excerpt to make the information more readily available to others who share my interest in this family.
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Lydia Hall was born in Tennessee on February 10, 1818. I believe that Lydia was the third daughter born to Thomas and Sarah Mily (Williams) Hall, and was probably the last child born to Thomas and Sarah before they moved their family to Alabama. I suspect that Lydia moved to Alabama with her parents approximately 1820, when she was just a toddler.
In 1830, I believe that Lydia was living with her mother, Sarah Hall, on Larkins Fork, in northwest Jackson County, Alabama. The minutes of the early Primitive Baptist Church located on Larkins Fork indicate that Lydia Hall was among ten new members received into the church in January of 1836.
Also among the sixteen new members received into the church in February of 1836 was a young man named Josiah Stogsdill. To the best of our knowledge, Josiah was the eldest of the children of William Stogsdill and Malinda Couch. We are dependent on Josiah’s gravestone for the date of his birth. If his gravestone is accurate, Josiah was born on January 13, 1817. Josiah’s 1850 and 1860 census records both indicate that he was born in Kentucky. Some researchers report that Josiah was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Pulaski County seems to be the most likely place of birth, based on what we know of his parents during that time period, but I am unaware of any direct evidence that Josiah was born in Pulaski County.
Josiah’s parents probably moved from Kentucky to Tennessee when Josiah was only a toddler, and moved to Jackson County, Alabama, during Josiah’s teen years. It was in Jackson County that Josiah met and married Lydia Hall
Sarah Literal’s notebook indicates that “Josiah and Lydia married in Alabama.” Considering the fact that Lydia was still single when she was received into the Primitive Baptist Church in early 1836, and the fact that we believe their first child was born in June of 1837, it appears that Josiah and Lydia were most likely married on Larkins Fork, in Jackson County, in 1836. When Josiah and Lydia married, I believe that the farmstead owned by Josiah’s parents was located slightly more than one mile from the farmstead owned by Lydia’s mother, Sarah Hall. If they were married in 1836, Josiah was probably 19 years old, and Lydia 18 years old.
Josiah and Lydia apparently set up housekeeping on Larkins Fork after their marriage, and started raising a family. To date, I have found no evidence that Josiah purchased any land of his own in Jackson County, so Josiah and Lydia may have made their first home on the 40 acres of land purchased by Josiah’s father in April of 1836. Their first child, Emily Stogsdill, was born to Josiah and Lydia in June of 1837. Their first son, James Stogsdill, was born in December of 1838, and a second son, William Stogsdill, was born in February of 1840. The 1840 census of Jackson County listed the Josiah Stogsdill family “next door” to the family of Josiah's parents, William and Malinda Stogsdill. Only one residence separated the Josiah Stogsdill household from that of Lydia’s mother, Sarah Hall. The 1840 census records lead me to the conclusion that Josiah and Lydia were living in Reed’s Cove, on Larkins Fork.
The 1840 census is our last record of Josiah and Lydia in Jackson County. Following the birth of their third child, Josiah and Lydia moved their family from Jackson County, Alabama, to Ripley County, Missouri. It was the same migration path that had already been followed, or would soon be followed, by others in both Josiah’s family and Lydia’s family, as well as many of the other residents of the Larkins Fork community in northwest Jackson County. In the copy of the Sarah Literal notebook provided to me by Rebecca Ferrell, Sarah documented a family story about Josiah Stogsdill’s migration to Missouri. Sarah wrote:
“Josiah had three children when they came from Alabama. They came from Ala. about 1840 or 1841. . . . Josiah and family John Reed and family and John Brewer and family these two last family only had one or two little children each. They three familys mooved from Tuscaloosa County Alabama in-to Oregon Co. Mo. Josiah furnished the team the other two men furnished the hack. they drove their cows and brought a yearling and buchered it later to eat on their journey starting with fresh butchered meat. They brought two dogs and two guns and got squirrels Rabbits and quails and fish. There was scarcely any if any bridges them days. one of their dogs began to sink in crossing the so wide Mississippi River and its owner went back and carried the dog out. I think he went on horseback. and they let the dogs, horses, cattle, and themselves rest a little while after the crossing before they started on. on their journey”
Sarah mentions two other families who migrated to Missouri with Josiah and Lydia. John Reed was married to Elizabeth Hall, and John Brewer was married to Cynthia Hall. Both Elizabeth and Cynthia were Lydia’s sisters. So the group consisted of three Hall sisters and their families. We know that three of Josiah Stogsdill’s uncles—Lindley Couch, Avery Couch, and Benjamin Couch—had already settled in Ripley County. Benjamin Couch was married to Celia Hall, another sister of Lydia (Hall) Stogsdill. So, the migration of the Josiah Stogsdill, John Reed and John Brewer families to Ripley County reunited Celia (Hall) Couch with three of her sisters.
Sarah Literal indicated in her notebook that her grandparents, Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill, made the journey to Missouri in 1840 or 1841. There is some evidence that the earlier of the two dates is correct. In an affidavit written in 1883, John Brewer would later attest that he moved to Ripley County, Missouri, in 1840. Sarah also indicateed that the families moved to Missouri from “Tuscaloosa County Alabama”. I suspect that this misstatement probably reflects an error that crept into the family story during the one hundred years that elapsed between the family’s migration about 1840 and Sarah Literal’s documentation of that migration in 1940.
While Sarah Literal wrote of the migration of the Josiah Stogsdill, John Reed, and John Brewer families, there were other family members who migrated from Larkin’s Fork to Ripley County, Missouri at, or about, the same time. We suspect that Ralph and Mary (Hall) Reed, another of Lydia’s sisters, migrated in 1840 or 1841. Lydia’s mother, Sarah Mily (Williams) Hall, may have made the journey with Josiah and Lydia. And some of Josiah Stogsdill’s family must have migrated to Ripley County about the same time. Josiah Stogsdill’s father, William, was still living on Larkins Fork in 1840, but died in Ripley County, Missouri, in July of 1841. Josiah’s brother, Archibald Stogsdill, was married in Ripley County in August of 1842. But there is evidence that not all of the Stogsdill family made the journey to Missouri together. Referring to the migration of Josiah Stogsdill to Missouri in 1840 or 1841, Sarah Literal also wrote that “Josiahs brothers William and Daniel came to Oregon Co. Mo. two or three years later.”
After their arrival in Missouri, Josiah Stogsdill’s family continued to grow. John Stogsdill was born in December of 1841, and Mary Lucinda Stogsdill was born in November of 1843. John Stogsdill died about 1844, at two years of age. Archibald Stogsdill was born in February of 1846.
Sometime during the 1840’s, Josiah and Lydia apparently moved their family from Ripley/Oregon County to Greene County, Missouri, where we believe they were living in December of 1846. Our circumstantial evidence that Josiah and Lydia were living in Greene County in December of 1846 comes from the Greene County Stray Records. The internet web site of the Springfield-Greene County Library provides the following explanation of those stray records:
“These are records of stray livestock. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Missouri statutes provided specific guidelines for individuals finding and harboring lost cattle, horses, mules and other livestock. Before a person could take possession of the stray, he was required to post a notice of intent for at least thirty days and pay a bond to ensure that the animal would not be disposed of in that time. After notices had been posted in public places for thirty days, the finder was required to file a notice with a justice of the peace, who determined if the proper procedure was followed and collected a bond equal to the appraised value of the animal. After one year, if the animal remained unclaimed, half of the bond was returned to the finder. The justice of the peace submitted lists which were provided to the county clerk, who posted the information in the stray books.”
The following entry was found in the stray records of Greene County, Missouri[1]:
"Decr 19th 1846
Taken up by James Robb(in)son in Cass Township Greene County Mo. One sorral mare 14 hands high five years old Bald face Blind of the left eye both hind feet white some saddle marks swab Tail no other marks or brands perceivable appraised at fifteen dollars By Josiah Stogsdill & R. W. Eaton. Sworn to before me John M M(echan) J. P."
We don’t know where Josiah and Lydia farmed in Green County, but the stray record suggests that they may have been neighbors of James Robinson, in Cass Township. It is interesting to note that the Cave Spring area, where the families of Josiah’s uncle, Benjamin Couch, and aunt, Delila (Couch) Literal, lived in the late 1840’s, was also in Cass Township. It would not be surprising to learn that the three families lived in close proximity to each other.
Another son, Benjamin R. Stogsdill, was reportedly born to Josiah and Lydia at Ash Grove, in Greene County, in March of 1848.
We don’t know exactly when Josiah and Lydia moved from Greene County to Dade County, Missouri, but we can place them in Dade County by 1850. We know, from Sarah Literal’s notebooks, that Josiah, and one or two of his brothers, were Baptist ministers. And, from an early Dade County history, we know that Josiah once served as the pastor of the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church, located about one mile southeast of the current site of Everton, in southeast Dade County.
The Sinking Creek United Baptist Church was probably the second Baptist Church organized in Dade County, the first being the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church. Both churches were members of the Sac River Association. In A History of Baptists in Missouri, the author quotes Elder A. C. Bradley as follows[2]:
“The Sac River Association was organized, or held its first session, with Pleasant Hill Church. There were 4 churches represented: Pleasant Hill, Union and Crisp Prairie in Polk County, and Mount Pisgah in Dade County. Elder T. J. Kelley was elected moderator…”
The same author describes the early growth of the Sac River Association:
“The session of 1850 (8th annual) was at Mt. Pisgah Church, Dade County. From her organization until then (eight years) only two churches, Bear Creek and Sinking Creek, had been received; which made six churches in all, with 217 members. Eld. D. R. Murphy says that this association was considered anti-missionary.”
The author then provides evidence supporting the suggestion that the churches in the Sac River Association were anti-missionary churches.
A Dade County history, written in 1889, provides the following description of the Sinking Creek church:
“Sinking Creek United Baptist Church was organized August 28, 1847 by Elder Thomas J. Kelley, with Michael Grisham, William Williams, Martha Grisham, Elizabeth Lawrence, Demsey Owen and seventeen other early settlers of the county as assistant members. The following year the society, in connection with other denominations, erected a hewed-log church edifice. The present house in which they worship is a large frame edifice, belonging to the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and the public. The pastors have been Elders Thomas J. Kelley, Josiah Stogsdill, John H. Tatum, Burrow Buckner, H. H. Williams, James Small, John Tatum, John D. Shelton, Calvin Bradley, Z. T. Eaton, G. W. Black, J. T. Rich, W. F. Parker, John Campbell and S. W. Brookens—the latter being present pastor. During the war period the church became disorganized, and was reorganized in 1866. The present members number sixty-three. The church is located in School District No. 5, Township 30, Range 25.”
The pastors are probably listed above in the order in which they served the church. Thomas J. Kelley organized the congregation in August of 1847, and was the original pastor. Josiah Stogsdill was probably the second pastor, and John H. Tatum the third pastor. That assumption is confirmed by the limited information available. The description of the Sac River Association in A History of Baptists in Missouri includes the following:
“At this date (1850) Elds. Elijah Williams, T. J. Kelley, Josiah Stogsdill and Burrow Buckner were the ministers.”
I suspect that Josiah Stogsdill was the pastor of the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church in 1850. From a summary of the churches in the Sac River Association in an early Baptist register[3], we know that J. H. Tatum was serving as the pastor of the Sinking Creek church in 1851, a year in which the church reported five baptisms and 67 members. That same summary lists nine member churches in the Sac River Association. Elijah Williams is identified as the pastor of two of those churches, and T. J. Kelley as the pastor of three of those churches. Josiah Stogsdill was not listed as a pastor of any of the churches in the Sac River Association in 1851, and I have not found any evidence that he ever served as a pastor of any church other than the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church.
There is one additional bit of evidence that is worth mentioning. That evidence is found in the early marriage records of Lawrence County, which is located immediately south of Dade County. From the Lawrence County marriage records, we know that “Josiah Stogsdill a ordained minister of the United Baptist denomination”, married F. M. Campbell and Jane Fare in Lawrence County on January 6, 1850. While this marriage is the only one we can attribute to Josiah Stogsdill in Lawrence County, it does confirm that Josiah was active as a Baptist minister in January of 1850.
Another daughter, Elizabeth Ann Stogsdill, was born to Josiah and Lydia in February of 1850. The family’s appearance in the 1850 census records confirms that Josiah and Lydia and their seven children were residents of Dade County in October of 1850. Dade County was still a relatively new county when Josiah and Lydia arrived, having been organized in 1841 from parts of Barry and Polk Counties. The area where Josiah and Lydia settled was in the southeast corner of Dade County, less than a mile west of Greene County, and less than three miles north of Lawrence County. The area was approximately two miles from the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church. On a current map, the area is about one mile south, and four miles east, of Everton, Missouri.
The Federal census of 1850 provides some information about Josiah farm. Josiah reported that 70 of his 80 acres of land were improved, and valued his farm at $450. At 80 acres, Josiah’s farm was one of the largest in his community. Josiah’s livestock consisted of two horses, eleven milch cows, two other cattle, ten sheep, and four swine. During the year ended June 1, 1850, Josiah reported that his farm produced 50 bushels of wheat, 400 bushels of Indian corn, and 800 bushels of oats. Most families in the area had only two or three milch cows. A family the size of Josiah’s family drank a lot of milk!
The census reported that Lydia could neither read nor write, and that Emily, James, and William Stogsdill had attended school within the past year. It is clear that Josiah and Lydia were a part of an extended family living as close neighbors in Dade County in the fall of 1850. The census included these families:
Family #420 – Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill
Family #421 – Archibald and Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill [Josiah’s brother and cousin]
Family #422 – Lindley and Susannah Couch [Josiah’s uncle and aunt]
Family #423 – Angelina (Couch) Evans [Josiah’s cousin]
Family #424 – Daniel Stogsdill [Josiah’s brother]
Family #425 – Elizabeth (Stogsdill) Bennett [Josiah’s sister]
Family #426 – Delila (Couch) Literal [Josiah’s aunt]
Family #431 – William Stogsdill [Josiah’s brother]
While a U. S. Land Office was opened in Springfield, Missouri, in 1835, and the public land in Dade County was for sale, little of the land in southeast Dade County was sold prior to the 1850’s. The first public land sales in southeast Dade County were in the late 1840’s, and the first land patents were issued in 1848. It is likely that Josiah and his family, as well as most of their Dade County neighbors, were farming on public land as squatters.
Josiah and Lydia received an unexpected addition to their family in April of 1851, when Josiah's youngest sister, Mary 'Polly' (Stogsdill) Lasley, gave birth to twin daughters. Mary reportedly died an hour after their birth, and Josiah and Lydia took in the newborn twins. With the addition of his two infant nieces to their family, Josiah and Lydia had a family of nine children to care for.
The Lasley twins were named Lucinda and Clarinda Lasley. But, Josiah and Lydia already had a seven-year-old daughter named Lucinda. To solve the problem, Sarah Literal, referring to Lucinda Lasley, wrote that:
“Lucinda was called Cinda to avoid two children being called by the same name in one home.”
In November of 1851, only seven months after the death of Josiah’s sister, and the addition of her twin daughters to their household, Josiah and Lydia added a tenth child to their household when another daughter, Sarah Jane Stogsdill, was born.
Josiah was the first member of the Stogsdill family to purchase land in Dade County. By the time he made his first purchase of 40 acres in February of 1852, roughly 15% of the public land in southeast Dade County had been sold. The pace of sales quickened throughout the early and mid-1850’s, and most of the land in the area was sold before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.
The 1850’s were apparently a period of prosperity for Josiah and his family. The first 40‑acre tract that Josiah purchased was located four miles east and one mile south of Everton, Missouri. A review of the land records of Dade County reveals that between February of 1852 and February of 1858, Josiah aggressively accumulated land in southeast Dade County. We can identify purchases of 780 acres, and sales of only 155 acres, during this six-year period. Josiah made his last purchase of Dade County land on February 25, 1858, when he purchased a tract containing 78.59 acres[4] from James and Delilah Campbell for $150.
At the end of the decade, Josiah owned 625 acres of land in southeast Dade County.
As Josiah’s land holdings expanded, his family also continued to grow. Jonathan Franklin Stogsdill was born in September of 1855. Approximately 1857, Josiah and Lydia celebrated the marriage of their eldest daughter, Emily, to Jake Harshaw. With the birth of Mary Adaline Stogsdill in June of 1858, the Josiah Stogsdill family was comprised of Josiah and Lydia, their ten children, plus the Lasley twins. The day after their youngest daughter, Mary Adaline, was born, their eldest daughter, Emily (Stogsdill) Harshaw, celebrated her 21st birthday.
But Josiah’s activities during the decade of the 1850’s were not limited to his family and his farm. Josiah also found time to serve the Baptist church. A Lawrence County history[5] recounts that the Sycamore United Baptist Church was organized in Lawrence County on September 27, 1856. The organizers met in a log cabin near the old Campbell Spring, northwest of the Sycamore Cemetery, and about four to five miles northeast of the present site of Miller, Missouri. The Sycamore Cemetery was roughly ten miles southwest of the Josiah Stogsdill farm. The two Elders present that day were “A. Stapp” and “J. Stogsdill”. The history relates that Elder J. Stogsdill served as the church’s first pastor.
It appears, from the content of the historical sketch, that the records of the Sycamore United Baptist Church are complete, except for the period during the Civil War, when records were not kept. The historical sketch makes no mention of any minister other than Josiah Stogsdill prior to the Civil War, and states that “Elder Stogsdill and Elder James Lackey were the church’s only pastors during the civil war.” This suggests to me that Josiah Stogsdill probably served as the pastor of the Sycamore United Baptist Church continuously from the date of organization until sometime after April of 1861, when the Civil War began.
In June of 1860, the Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill family appeared in the census of Polk Township, in Dade County. The household consisted of Josiah, Lydia, nine of their ten children, the two 9‑year‑old Lasley twins, and Lydia's 68‑year‑old mother, Sarah Mily (Williams) Hall. Their eldest daughter, Emily, was enumerated “next door” to Josiah and Lydia, with her husband, Jake Harshaw, and their two young sons. Josiah reported the value of his real estate as $3000, and the value of his personal property as $1200.
Sarah Literal’s notebook contains a reference to the period when Lydia’s mother lived with Josiah and Lydia. Sarah wrote the following about Josiah and Lydia:
“They had eleven children of their own, and his sisters twins [Clarinda and Lucinda Lasley] and her mother [Sarah Hall] lived in a house to her-self in their yard in her old days one of the girls or two staying with her at night as they grew up”
In December of 1860, James Stogsdill, the eldest son of Josiah and Lydia, was married to Mary Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Morris. When the Civil War erupted in April of 1861, I strongly suspect that Josiah Stogsdill, along with all the members of his extended family then living in Dade County, and most of his neighbors, were sympathetic to the cause of the Confederacy. But there were many others in the county who were strong supporters of the Union cause. Dade County was truly a divided county during the Civil War. One of the Dade County histories[6] provides a summary of military affairs in Dade County during the war:
“The great majority of the people of Dade County have always been loyal to the Government of the United States, notwithstanding the fact that many of them were reared under the influences of the institution of slavery.”
The summary continues:
"When the late Civil War began, in 1861, the people of the northern half of the county were generally loyal to the Union, while many in the southern half were in full sympathy with secession and in favor of the Southern Confederacy; but, upon the whole, a great majority of the citizens of the county were loyal to the United States. Some of the recent immigrants from the Eastern states--especially Illinois--moved back, and there enlisted in the Union Army. Soon after the war began, John T. Coffee and other Southern sympathizers enlisted a number of men in Dade County, but, owing to the vigilance of the loyal citizens, who were forming organizations for the Union army, they were mostly taken beyond the limits of the county to be organized, and later a large number of men followed Price's army southward, and became Confederate soldiers, but there is no way of ascertaining their numbers."
We know that Dade County wasted no time in providing soldiers to the Union Army. For example, on July 4, 1861, at Dadeville, two companies of cavalry were organized. These companies soon marched to Springfield, Missouri, and took part in the Battle of Wilson's Creek. After the Battle of Wilson's Creek, they returned with the remnants of General Lyon's and Siegel's armies to Rolla, Missouri, where they were reorganized from state troops into United States volunteer soldiers, and were mustered into service in early September, 1861. They were reinforced, armed and equipped, and were known as Wright's Battalion.
When the first shots of the Civil War were fired, Josiah was 44 years old. Still living at home were his wife, Lydia, eight of their eleven children, and his deceased sister’s two twin girls. Lydia’s mother was probably living with the family, as well. We have seen no evidence that suggests that Josiah served in any military unit during the war, though it is possible that he did. However, Josiah’s sympathy for the Confederate cause did apparently lead to his arrest by the Provost Marshal’s office during the second year of the war.
A little background on the role of the Provost Marshal may be helpful at this point. The internet web site of the Missouri Secretary of State explains the history of the Provost Marshal during the Civil War as follows:
“In September 1862, the federal Adjutant General's office issued General Order No. 140, appointing special provost marshals for each state. The special provost marshal had many responsibilities, which included investigating charges or acts of treason and arresting deserters, spies, and persons deemed disloyal. A reorganization of the War Department in 1863 eliminated the position of special provost marshal, but appointed an assistant provost marshal general (APMG) for each state, a provost marshal for each congressional district and a deputy provost marshal for each county. The duties remained much the same. In addition, the provost marshal assigned to the district was responsible for maintaining troop discipline, assuming custody of prisoners and deserters, administering punishment, and suppressing any depredations and disturbances caused by Army troops or individual soldiers.
“These provost marshals were assigned regardless of the level of active warfare within a state or district. In districts with active fighting, the provost marshal's primary duty was to limit marauding against citizens, prevent stragglers on long marches, and generally suppress gambling or other vices not conducive to good order and discipline. However, in many districts, the war's fighting was somewhat removed and the area did not see battles. In these areas, the provost marshal's duties were more magisterial. The provost marshal had the power to administer and enforce the law when it came to regulating public places; conduct searches, seizures, and arrests; issue passes to citizens for movement in and out of Union lines; and record and investigate citizen complaints. It was not uncommon for the law to be suspended in many cases and for the provost marshal, mostly independent of any real supervision, to dispense with the rules of civil procedure.”
We don’t know what circumstances led to Josiah’s arrest by the Provost Marshal. But, we do know that Josiah was paroled on January 24, 1863. The terms of his parole were enumerated by the standard Parole form which Josiah signed. The form read as follows:
“I, Josiah Stogstill of Dade County, Missouri, aged 46 years, in consideration of being discharged from arrest, do hereby declare and promise that I will not in any manner, or by any means, aid, encourage or promote the existing rebellion against the Authority of the United States, or any attempt to subvert the existing Government of the State of Missouri; that I will not myself take up arms against the United States or the existing Government of the State of Missouri, nor directly or indirectly furnish information, arms, money, provisions, or any other commodity whatever to, or hold communication with, any person or persons engaged in hostilities against the Government of the United States, or the State of Missouri; all of which I declare and promise solemnly on my word of honor, knowing that for a breach of this parole I am liable to be tried by a Military Commission; and further , that I will report myself in person or by letter to the Provost Marshal General of the District of Missouri wherever and whenever he may so direct.”
Josiah signed the Parole as “Josiah Stogsdill” on January 24, 1863, and listed his post office as Rock Prairie. The Parole was also signed by J. W. Morgan, an Assistant Provost Marshal. One of the requirements of the Parole was a $2000 bond, to be provided within two weeks. On the same day that Josiah signed his parole, he also posted the required bond. The bond is documented by another standard form which read as follows:
“Know all Men by these Presents, That we Josiah Stogstill of [left blank] in the County of Dade and State of Missouri, as principal, and John R. Brewer of the County of Dade in the same State, as sureties, are held and firmly bound unto the United States of America, in the sum of Two Thousand Dollars, for the payment of which, well and truly to be made, we hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, and assigns, firmly, by these presents, sealed with our seals, and dated this 24th day of January A. D., 1863.
“The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas the above bounden Josiah Stogstill has been arrested on the charge of [left blank] and has been discharged from imprisonment upon his Parole and this Bond. NOW, if the said Josiah Stogstill shall carefully and truly abstain from all words or deeds tending to aid, encourage or promote the existing rebellion against the authority of the United States or to disturb the existing Government of the State of Missouri, and shall not, directly or indirectly, furnish information, arms, money, provisions or any other commodity whatever to, or hold communication with, any person or persons engaged in hostilities against the Government of the United States or the State of Missouri, then this obligation is to be void. It is else to be in full force.”
The bond was signed by Josiah Stogsdill, John R. Brewer and James Taylor. John R. Brewer was a neighbor of Josiah Stogsdill. John R. Brewer’s wife, Cintha, was a sister of Josiah’s wife, Lydia. James Taylor was a member of the John D. Taylor family who moved to Ripley County, Missouri, from the Larkins Fork community in Jackson County, Alabama, about 1842. James and his family had migrated from Oregon County to Dade County in the early 1850’s.
While it appears that Dade County was home to a number of families with southern sympathies when the Civil War commenced, a large majority of the Dade County residents were aligned with the Union cause. Dade County must have been a dangerous place to live for those whose sympathies lay with the Confederacy. The following is an excerpt from a letter written on March 17, 1863. The letter was written to a family in Dade County by a Union soldier from Dade County who was, at that time, stationed at Benton Barracks, near St. Louis. The excerpt reads:
“Our forces had a fight on the Yazo River N. Carolina and captured 1,000 rebels and 26 transports. This is late news. Our gun boats also had a fight with the Rebel Boat Nashville after fighting some time the Rebel boat caut fire and the magazine blew up destroying most of the Rebel crew. If I can se rite the South has nearly played out. I think that we will send them up Salt river this summer. Let us all do our duty as soldiers and stand by the flag of our country as patrols. I tell you I have seen a nough of the conduct of rebels to turn the Devil against them. I hate them worse than any person living. I would like to be there with you to clean out and kill secesh in Dade County. I am a spider in their dumpling as long as I live and will give them hale whare every I can find them. I am a soldier in the Union Army as long as there is fighting to do for the Union or tel I am killed. I would like to be there and have along talk with you. I could tel you a great many things of interest that I have neither time nor space to write. Our troops here is all in good spirits and think that we will do the work up brown this summer. We hear that the Rebel Gen. Price is in Arkansas. How true this is I do not know. But we will make him root hog or die. “
On October 6, 1863, Confederate General Joseph O. Shelby and his troops burned the Dade County courthouse, forcing Union soldiers to withdraw. Unfortunately, all of the Dade County marriage records were lost in that fire. With the loss of those records, we also lost a key source of information as to whether Josiah Stogsdill continued to serve his community as a minister after first serving as the pastor of the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church, and then serving as the pastor of the Sycamore United Baptist Church. We do, however, have two pieces of evidence which indicate that Josiah did continue to serve as a minister in the area.
The first piece of evidence is found in the surviving Dade County marriage records. The oldest surviving Dade County marriage record documents the marriage of J. W. Messer to Manerva Walker. Josiah Stogsdill performed the marriage on November 17, 1863, about six weeks after the courthouse was burned, and filed the marriage record with the County Clerk the next day. It may have been the last marriage performed by Josiah Stogsdill, as his name does not appear again in the marriage records of either Dade County or Lawrence County. The second piece of evidence is found in the history of the Sycamore United Baptist Church. As noted earlier, that history suggests that Josiah may have served as the minister of that congregation from the date of its organization in 1856 until sometime during the Civil War period.
All of southern Missouri, particularly near the Arkansas border, was a dangerous place to live during the Civil War. Dade County was no exception. A summary of some of the Civil War experiences of Dade County residents in provided on page 77 of History of Dade County and Its People. It reads:
“Dade County suffered terribly from the ravages of the war. On one occasion, during the early part, while the Union State Militia were occupying Greenfield, a party of guerrillas, in the interest of the Southern cause, and for the purpose of plunder, made a raid upon the town. So sudden was the charge that the militia-men had not time to assemble for defense, but each one, from the several houses where they happened to be, fired upon the enemy, killing one and compelling them to fall back. They fled southward and burned the houses of many Union men on their way. This and other depredations so enraged the militia that squads of them, sent into the country, soon surpassed their orders and resorted to desperate measures in retaliation, such as burning the houses which harbored bushwhackers, whereupon both sides became infuriated and more or less indiscriminately applied the torch and killed defenseless men. A number of citizens were killed in their fields, or at their homes, or on the public roads, by unknown bushwhackers, and many dwellings and much other property throughout the county was laid in ashes. The capture of Greenfield and burning of the courthouse has been mentioned elsewhere. Greenfield was occupied a portion of the time during the war by the militia, and at other times by detachments from the cavalry regiments previously noted. The many cruel depredations, the killing of individuals, and other atrocities committed in Dade County during the war period would furnish material sufficient in itself to fill a volume.”
Like the residents of other southern Missouri and northern Arkansas counties, the residents of Dade County suffered much during the four years of the Civil War. On the 14th of June, 1864, guerillas burned the town of Dadeville, leaving only a few houses standing, and killing a number of citizens. The following letter, written in the closing days of the Civil War by a group of Dade County citizens, provides some insight into their frustration with the continuing guerilla activity in Dade County. The source of this letter is the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 48, Part 1, pages 949-950. The letter reads as follows:
“Greenfield, Dade County, Mo., February 22, 1865.
“To Brig. Gen. J.B. Sanborn, Commanding Southwest District, Springfield, Mo.:
“The undersigned citizens of Dade County would most respectifully ask leave to
represent briefly the condition of affairs in this part of the military district under your command. From the outbreak of the rebellion a very considerable portion of the citizens of Dade County manifested a determination to stand by the Federal Government in sustaining the laws and in the suppression of the rebellion. This is made manifest from the fact that no other county in the state has furnished more soldiers for the Federal Army in proportion to the population than Dade. The few remaining citizens, after filling up the ranks of the Union Army, have struggled with a zeal worthy the cause to sustain the country by cultivating the farms in order to sustain the armies who were so manfully battling in the cause of the Union, and while we look with pride upon their noble and patriotic devotion we turn with deep mortification to the fact that many of them have been inhumanly murdered and their wives and children robbed of their little all. Yet, in the midst of these repeated outrages, our Union citizens have still continued in their devotion to the cause of the Union. They have borne with comparative silence what they considered seeming neglect on the part of the Government in the management of the military affairs of the country. Last spring we hailed with delight a communication emanating from Capt. R.B. Owen, exhorting the farmers to repair to their homes and cultivate their farms, assuring them that they should be protected. Many had made their arrangements to leave the country, but at the earnest persuasions of many of us, in view of the protection thus promised us, were induced to remain, and the result shows that many of them were shot at the plow handle and others robbed of their little all.
“The amount of military protection that we received under that promise was one skeleton company of State militia and a few of the enrolled were all that we had to protect the country and till the soil. But even after the bloody ordeal through which we passed last year we still had hopes that this spring would open more propitiously for us. We had made more vigorous preparations to cultivate the soil; more grain was sown last fall than at any time since the war commenced (in proportion to the population). Confidence in the ability and willingness of the military to give us all the protection that was necessary was manifesting itself among the people, but owing to the appearance of guerilla bands in the country a panic has seized upon the people. Within the past ten days several of our citizens have been robbed of their horses, bedclothing, wearing apparel and money. The consequences are that whole neighborhoods are preparing to leave the country, and unless some steps are speedily taken to arrest it there will be a general stampede and nothing will be left to protect but the military posts, and it is very evident that unless the farming interest is protected there is but little use for a military post. We would not be understood as reflecting in the least upon the command stationed at this post, but, on the contrary, would take the occasion to say that we have a good command, composed of officers and men who feel a deep interest in protecting the country and its interests. But one company is not sufficent to protect the post and country, too. Our settled conviction is that it will require at least one full company to constantly patrol the country or the people cannot stay at home, much less till the soil. We should have infantry to guard the post and mounted men to protect the settlements. Now, general, there is nothing here said that is drawn from the imagination. It is no idle visionary of the brain, but the records of the country will bear testimony, and our sole object is to lay the facts before you and through you to ask of those having the authority to render us that aid which we think we are justly entitled to.
“With sentiments of high regard, we are, general, your friends.”
The letter was signed by fourteen citizens of Dade County.
As an indication of the impact that the Civil War had on the population of the counties of southern Missouri, we need only look at Lawrence County, just south of the area where our Stogsdill family lived. The 1860 Federal census of Lawrence County provided a population count of 8,846. A state census that same year provided a count of 9,115. A state census taken four years later, in the third year of the Civil War, reported the population of Lawrence County to be 3,392.
The Civil War finally ended in May of 1865. I believe that all of Josiah's siblings, and Lydia's siblings, left Dade County by the end of 1865, perhaps driven out by strong Union sentiment during and after the Civil War. Between February of 1858 and October of 1865, we have identified only one Dade County land transaction involving Josiah, when he sold five acres of land in November of 1864. Then, on October 3, 1865, less than six months after the end of the Civil War, Josiah sold 540 acres of Dade County land for $2700. This sale included all of Josiah's landholdings that we are aware of, with the exception of the 78.59 acres he purchased in February of 1858.
I have long been curious about an unusual pattern of land transactions by Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill. Josiah Stogsdill did acquire a substantial amount of property in Dade County. Typically, men who were successful accumulated land during their lifetime, and then either sold the land to their children during that lifetime, or passed on the land to their children at death. But it doesn't appear that Josiah and Lydia followed that pattern.
Sarah Literal’s notebook may provide the answer. After describing the journey that Josiah and his family made from Alabama to Missouri, Sarah Literal wrote:
“Then from Oregon Co. Mo. they came to Dade Co. Mo. Then to where Josiah built the mill on Turnback Creek between Chesapeake and Halltown in Lawrence Co. Mo.”
I suspect that we will learn that Josiah sold his property in Dade County soon after the end of the Civil War, and used the proceeds to buy land and build a grist mill in Lawrence County. Actually, there is some evidence to suggest that Josiah Stogsdill began to acquire land in Lawrence County before, or during, the war. The 1888 Goodspeed History of Lawrence County includes a list taken from Lawrence County assessment books of 1861-63, as certified in June, 1866. Included in that list is the name “Josiah Stoggsdill”.
There were several mills on Turnback Creek, and its tributaries. A Brief History of Lawrence County Missouri; 1845-1870, published by the Lawrence County Historical Society, documents four of them. None of the descriptions mention the Stogsdill family. However, I believe that I have determined the approximate location of Josiah Stogsdill’s mill. On November 1, 1852, Bailey A. Chastain was issued a land patent for 40 acres of land[7] located midway between Chesapeake and Halltown, in Lawrence County. Bailey Chastain apparently died about 1856, as his will was dated April 10, 1856. The executors of his will were two of Bailey’s brothers, John and William Chastain. An Administrator’s Deed filed in the Lawrence County courthouse about 1865 or 1866 indicates that Josiah Stogsdill purchased land from John and William Chastain. An 1879 Lawrence County Historical Atlas lists “A. Stogsdell” as the owner of the 40 acres originally patented by Bailey A. Chastain. The atlas also indicates that West Turnback Creek ran through this 40-acre tract of land.
If Josiah Stogsdill built a mill after the close of the Civil War, he didn’t operate that mill very long. Sarah Literal wrote that Josiah Stogsdill died in Lawrence County on December 1, 1867. Josiah was only 50 years old when he died. He was buried in the Sinking Creek Cemetery, in Dade County, near the church he once served as pastor.
Josiah was survived by his wife, and nine children. Josiah’s estate was probated in Lawrence County, Missouri. Josiah left no will, suggesting that his death may not have been anticipated. Lydia was appointed to serve as the Administrator of his estate.
Lydia Stogsdill died less than two years after Josiah. In her notebooks, Sarah Literal reports that Lydia also died in Lawrence County. Lydia died on October 17, 1869, at age 51, and was buried next to Josiah in the Sinking Creek Cemetery. Josiah and Lydia have interesting gravestones. They appear to be home made, with a simple, but unique, design. They appear to have been made of a soft stone, or of sand, with some kind of bonding agent. When I last visited the cemetery in the 1980’s, the inscriptions were still fairly legible, more than one hundred and twenty years after Josiah and Lydia died.
Lydia’s early death, following that of her husband by less than two years, must surely have been a difficult time for their nine surviving children. The children’s ages, when Lydia died, ranged from eleven to 32. When Josiah died in December of 1867, all of his children, with the exception of Emily, were still living in Lawrence County. Only three of the nine Stogsdill children were married. By the time Lydia died two years later, in October of 1869, three more of their children had married. And by the time the census was taken in the summer of 1870, less than a year after Lydia’s death, six of the Stogsdill children had apparently moved away from Lawrence County. Archibald, Elizabeth Ann and Sarah Jane, along with their spouses, were still living in Turnback Township of Lawrence County. But the other six children were not listed in the Turnback Township census. And I have not been able to locate them in any other 1870 census records.
When the Stogsdill estate was being settled, the two youngest children were still legally minors. In March of 1871, Josiah’s eldest surviving son, William Stogsdill, was appointed to serve as their legal guardian. William was apparently living in Grayson County, Texas, at the time. The final settlement of Josiah’s estate was dated April 12, 1870.
Where were these six missing children in 1870? Emily, William, and Benjamin R. Stogsdill were all married by 1870. Mary Lucinda, age 26, was still single, and Jonathan F., age 15; and Mary Adaline Stogsdill, age 12, were still minors. We have a few clues. A record from Josiah Stogsdill’s estate indicates that Emily was a resident of Boggy Depot, in the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, in 1870. William was a resident of Grayson County, Texas, in 1871, and Jonathan and Mary Adaline were probably living with William and his wife in Texas. Evidence also suggests that Benjamin and his wife were in Grayson County in 1871 and 1872.
There could be a lot of explanations for the apparent absence of the six Stogsdill children from the 1870 census. I suspect that all six migrated to Texas and Indian Territory following the death of their mother in October of 1869. They could have been missed by the 1870 census because they were in the act of moving from Missouri to Texas. Or they could have been in Indian Territory in 1870, where no census was taken.
And why would six of the nine Stogsdill children migrate to Texas following the death of their parents? Free of obligations in Missouri, they could have been seeking new opportunities in the west. Or, they could have been seeking to relocate closer to a favorite uncle and aunt. We believe that their father’s brother, Archibald Stogsdill, migrated with his family from Oregon County, Missouri, to Grayson County in 1869. Their mother’s sister, Celia (Hall) Couch, along with her family, migrated from Dade County, Missouri, to Grayson County about 1862 or 1863, and was still living in Grayson County in 1870.
In settling Josiah’s estate, five of his children (William and wife Isabell, Archibald and wife Susan, Benjamin and wife Margaret, Lucinda, and Sarah and husband Alfred, all of Lawrence County, Missouri) quit claimed their interest in Josiah’s 78.59-acre tract of land in Dade County to Gilbert R. Watson, son-in-law of Josiah and Lydia, for $10 each. The date of the transaction was April 25, 1870.
Otto Qualls, a son of Lucinda (Lasley) Qualls, one of the twin Lasley girls raised by Josiah and Lydia, wrote in 1973 that his mother, Lucinda, worked in the fields like a man for her uncle. Otto also wrote that Lucinda's uncle traded his land in North Greenfield for land in Tennessee, so Lucinda was cheated out of her share of the 400-acre farm in North Greenfield. Josiah Stogsdill did not leave a will, and Lucinda and Clarinda Lasley were not legal heirs of Josiah Stogsdill. So it is not surprising that they did not receive an inheritance. But it sounds like Lucinda expected to receive an inheritance. The statement in the letter indicating that Josiah traded his 400-acre farm in Dade County for land in Tennessee raises some interesting questions that we cannot answer at this point.
NOTE TO READERS: This biographical sketch was last revised in November of 2010. If you are interested in updates to this information, have questions about the content, or can add anything to the material provided by this sketch, please contact me at mike@landwehr.net.
[1] Greene County Stray Records, Book 2, page 133.
[2] A History of the Baptists in Missouri, by R. S. Duncan, published by Scammell & Company, St. Louis, 1882, page 438.
[3] American Baptist Register, for 1852, by John Lansing Burrows, published in 1852 by the American Baptist Publication Society, page 200.
[4] Described as the W 1/2 of Lots #1 and #2 in the NE 1/4 of Section 1 in Township 30 North of Range 26 West.
[5] A sketch entitled “Sycamore Baptist Church”, written by the Reverend Omer Ruark, in Lawrence County Missouri History, published by the Lawrence County Historical Society in 1974, page 268.
[6] History of Dade County and Its People, published by Pioneer Historical Company, 1917, page 74.
[7] Described as the SW ¼ of the NW ¼ of Section 12 in Township 28 North of Range 25 West.
By Mike Landwehr
Copyright 2010
NOTE: The following biography of Josiah Stogsdill and Lydia Hall is an excerpt from a book I authored in 2010, entitled "Moses Couch and William Stogsdill Families". Since that book is still unpublished, I am posting this excerpt to make the information more readily available to others who share my interest in this family.
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Lydia Hall was born in Tennessee on February 10, 1818. I believe that Lydia was the third daughter born to Thomas and Sarah Mily (Williams) Hall, and was probably the last child born to Thomas and Sarah before they moved their family to Alabama. I suspect that Lydia moved to Alabama with her parents approximately 1820, when she was just a toddler.
In 1830, I believe that Lydia was living with her mother, Sarah Hall, on Larkins Fork, in northwest Jackson County, Alabama. The minutes of the early Primitive Baptist Church located on Larkins Fork indicate that Lydia Hall was among ten new members received into the church in January of 1836.
Also among the sixteen new members received into the church in February of 1836 was a young man named Josiah Stogsdill. To the best of our knowledge, Josiah was the eldest of the children of William Stogsdill and Malinda Couch. We are dependent on Josiah’s gravestone for the date of his birth. If his gravestone is accurate, Josiah was born on January 13, 1817. Josiah’s 1850 and 1860 census records both indicate that he was born in Kentucky. Some researchers report that Josiah was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Pulaski County seems to be the most likely place of birth, based on what we know of his parents during that time period, but I am unaware of any direct evidence that Josiah was born in Pulaski County.
Josiah’s parents probably moved from Kentucky to Tennessee when Josiah was only a toddler, and moved to Jackson County, Alabama, during Josiah’s teen years. It was in Jackson County that Josiah met and married Lydia Hall
Sarah Literal’s notebook indicates that “Josiah and Lydia married in Alabama.” Considering the fact that Lydia was still single when she was received into the Primitive Baptist Church in early 1836, and the fact that we believe their first child was born in June of 1837, it appears that Josiah and Lydia were most likely married on Larkins Fork, in Jackson County, in 1836. When Josiah and Lydia married, I believe that the farmstead owned by Josiah’s parents was located slightly more than one mile from the farmstead owned by Lydia’s mother, Sarah Hall. If they were married in 1836, Josiah was probably 19 years old, and Lydia 18 years old.
Josiah and Lydia apparently set up housekeeping on Larkins Fork after their marriage, and started raising a family. To date, I have found no evidence that Josiah purchased any land of his own in Jackson County, so Josiah and Lydia may have made their first home on the 40 acres of land purchased by Josiah’s father in April of 1836. Their first child, Emily Stogsdill, was born to Josiah and Lydia in June of 1837. Their first son, James Stogsdill, was born in December of 1838, and a second son, William Stogsdill, was born in February of 1840. The 1840 census of Jackson County listed the Josiah Stogsdill family “next door” to the family of Josiah's parents, William and Malinda Stogsdill. Only one residence separated the Josiah Stogsdill household from that of Lydia’s mother, Sarah Hall. The 1840 census records lead me to the conclusion that Josiah and Lydia were living in Reed’s Cove, on Larkins Fork.
The 1840 census is our last record of Josiah and Lydia in Jackson County. Following the birth of their third child, Josiah and Lydia moved their family from Jackson County, Alabama, to Ripley County, Missouri. It was the same migration path that had already been followed, or would soon be followed, by others in both Josiah’s family and Lydia’s family, as well as many of the other residents of the Larkins Fork community in northwest Jackson County. In the copy of the Sarah Literal notebook provided to me by Rebecca Ferrell, Sarah documented a family story about Josiah Stogsdill’s migration to Missouri. Sarah wrote:
“Josiah had three children when they came from Alabama. They came from Ala. about 1840 or 1841. . . . Josiah and family John Reed and family and John Brewer and family these two last family only had one or two little children each. They three familys mooved from Tuscaloosa County Alabama in-to Oregon Co. Mo. Josiah furnished the team the other two men furnished the hack. they drove their cows and brought a yearling and buchered it later to eat on their journey starting with fresh butchered meat. They brought two dogs and two guns and got squirrels Rabbits and quails and fish. There was scarcely any if any bridges them days. one of their dogs began to sink in crossing the so wide Mississippi River and its owner went back and carried the dog out. I think he went on horseback. and they let the dogs, horses, cattle, and themselves rest a little while after the crossing before they started on. on their journey”
Sarah mentions two other families who migrated to Missouri with Josiah and Lydia. John Reed was married to Elizabeth Hall, and John Brewer was married to Cynthia Hall. Both Elizabeth and Cynthia were Lydia’s sisters. So the group consisted of three Hall sisters and their families. We know that three of Josiah Stogsdill’s uncles—Lindley Couch, Avery Couch, and Benjamin Couch—had already settled in Ripley County. Benjamin Couch was married to Celia Hall, another sister of Lydia (Hall) Stogsdill. So, the migration of the Josiah Stogsdill, John Reed and John Brewer families to Ripley County reunited Celia (Hall) Couch with three of her sisters.
Sarah Literal indicated in her notebook that her grandparents, Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill, made the journey to Missouri in 1840 or 1841. There is some evidence that the earlier of the two dates is correct. In an affidavit written in 1883, John Brewer would later attest that he moved to Ripley County, Missouri, in 1840. Sarah also indicateed that the families moved to Missouri from “Tuscaloosa County Alabama”. I suspect that this misstatement probably reflects an error that crept into the family story during the one hundred years that elapsed between the family’s migration about 1840 and Sarah Literal’s documentation of that migration in 1940.
While Sarah Literal wrote of the migration of the Josiah Stogsdill, John Reed, and John Brewer families, there were other family members who migrated from Larkin’s Fork to Ripley County, Missouri at, or about, the same time. We suspect that Ralph and Mary (Hall) Reed, another of Lydia’s sisters, migrated in 1840 or 1841. Lydia’s mother, Sarah Mily (Williams) Hall, may have made the journey with Josiah and Lydia. And some of Josiah Stogsdill’s family must have migrated to Ripley County about the same time. Josiah Stogsdill’s father, William, was still living on Larkins Fork in 1840, but died in Ripley County, Missouri, in July of 1841. Josiah’s brother, Archibald Stogsdill, was married in Ripley County in August of 1842. But there is evidence that not all of the Stogsdill family made the journey to Missouri together. Referring to the migration of Josiah Stogsdill to Missouri in 1840 or 1841, Sarah Literal also wrote that “Josiahs brothers William and Daniel came to Oregon Co. Mo. two or three years later.”
After their arrival in Missouri, Josiah Stogsdill’s family continued to grow. John Stogsdill was born in December of 1841, and Mary Lucinda Stogsdill was born in November of 1843. John Stogsdill died about 1844, at two years of age. Archibald Stogsdill was born in February of 1846.
Sometime during the 1840’s, Josiah and Lydia apparently moved their family from Ripley/Oregon County to Greene County, Missouri, where we believe they were living in December of 1846. Our circumstantial evidence that Josiah and Lydia were living in Greene County in December of 1846 comes from the Greene County Stray Records. The internet web site of the Springfield-Greene County Library provides the following explanation of those stray records:
“These are records of stray livestock. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Missouri statutes provided specific guidelines for individuals finding and harboring lost cattle, horses, mules and other livestock. Before a person could take possession of the stray, he was required to post a notice of intent for at least thirty days and pay a bond to ensure that the animal would not be disposed of in that time. After notices had been posted in public places for thirty days, the finder was required to file a notice with a justice of the peace, who determined if the proper procedure was followed and collected a bond equal to the appraised value of the animal. After one year, if the animal remained unclaimed, half of the bond was returned to the finder. The justice of the peace submitted lists which were provided to the county clerk, who posted the information in the stray books.”
The following entry was found in the stray records of Greene County, Missouri[1]:
"Decr 19th 1846
Taken up by James Robb(in)son in Cass Township Greene County Mo. One sorral mare 14 hands high five years old Bald face Blind of the left eye both hind feet white some saddle marks swab Tail no other marks or brands perceivable appraised at fifteen dollars By Josiah Stogsdill & R. W. Eaton. Sworn to before me John M M(echan) J. P."
We don’t know where Josiah and Lydia farmed in Green County, but the stray record suggests that they may have been neighbors of James Robinson, in Cass Township. It is interesting to note that the Cave Spring area, where the families of Josiah’s uncle, Benjamin Couch, and aunt, Delila (Couch) Literal, lived in the late 1840’s, was also in Cass Township. It would not be surprising to learn that the three families lived in close proximity to each other.
Another son, Benjamin R. Stogsdill, was reportedly born to Josiah and Lydia at Ash Grove, in Greene County, in March of 1848.
We don’t know exactly when Josiah and Lydia moved from Greene County to Dade County, Missouri, but we can place them in Dade County by 1850. We know, from Sarah Literal’s notebooks, that Josiah, and one or two of his brothers, were Baptist ministers. And, from an early Dade County history, we know that Josiah once served as the pastor of the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church, located about one mile southeast of the current site of Everton, in southeast Dade County.
The Sinking Creek United Baptist Church was probably the second Baptist Church organized in Dade County, the first being the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church. Both churches were members of the Sac River Association. In A History of Baptists in Missouri, the author quotes Elder A. C. Bradley as follows[2]:
“The Sac River Association was organized, or held its first session, with Pleasant Hill Church. There were 4 churches represented: Pleasant Hill, Union and Crisp Prairie in Polk County, and Mount Pisgah in Dade County. Elder T. J. Kelley was elected moderator…”
The same author describes the early growth of the Sac River Association:
“The session of 1850 (8th annual) was at Mt. Pisgah Church, Dade County. From her organization until then (eight years) only two churches, Bear Creek and Sinking Creek, had been received; which made six churches in all, with 217 members. Eld. D. R. Murphy says that this association was considered anti-missionary.”
The author then provides evidence supporting the suggestion that the churches in the Sac River Association were anti-missionary churches.
A Dade County history, written in 1889, provides the following description of the Sinking Creek church:
“Sinking Creek United Baptist Church was organized August 28, 1847 by Elder Thomas J. Kelley, with Michael Grisham, William Williams, Martha Grisham, Elizabeth Lawrence, Demsey Owen and seventeen other early settlers of the county as assistant members. The following year the society, in connection with other denominations, erected a hewed-log church edifice. The present house in which they worship is a large frame edifice, belonging to the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and the public. The pastors have been Elders Thomas J. Kelley, Josiah Stogsdill, John H. Tatum, Burrow Buckner, H. H. Williams, James Small, John Tatum, John D. Shelton, Calvin Bradley, Z. T. Eaton, G. W. Black, J. T. Rich, W. F. Parker, John Campbell and S. W. Brookens—the latter being present pastor. During the war period the church became disorganized, and was reorganized in 1866. The present members number sixty-three. The church is located in School District No. 5, Township 30, Range 25.”
The pastors are probably listed above in the order in which they served the church. Thomas J. Kelley organized the congregation in August of 1847, and was the original pastor. Josiah Stogsdill was probably the second pastor, and John H. Tatum the third pastor. That assumption is confirmed by the limited information available. The description of the Sac River Association in A History of Baptists in Missouri includes the following:
“At this date (1850) Elds. Elijah Williams, T. J. Kelley, Josiah Stogsdill and Burrow Buckner were the ministers.”
I suspect that Josiah Stogsdill was the pastor of the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church in 1850. From a summary of the churches in the Sac River Association in an early Baptist register[3], we know that J. H. Tatum was serving as the pastor of the Sinking Creek church in 1851, a year in which the church reported five baptisms and 67 members. That same summary lists nine member churches in the Sac River Association. Elijah Williams is identified as the pastor of two of those churches, and T. J. Kelley as the pastor of three of those churches. Josiah Stogsdill was not listed as a pastor of any of the churches in the Sac River Association in 1851, and I have not found any evidence that he ever served as a pastor of any church other than the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church.
There is one additional bit of evidence that is worth mentioning. That evidence is found in the early marriage records of Lawrence County, which is located immediately south of Dade County. From the Lawrence County marriage records, we know that “Josiah Stogsdill a ordained minister of the United Baptist denomination”, married F. M. Campbell and Jane Fare in Lawrence County on January 6, 1850. While this marriage is the only one we can attribute to Josiah Stogsdill in Lawrence County, it does confirm that Josiah was active as a Baptist minister in January of 1850.
Another daughter, Elizabeth Ann Stogsdill, was born to Josiah and Lydia in February of 1850. The family’s appearance in the 1850 census records confirms that Josiah and Lydia and their seven children were residents of Dade County in October of 1850. Dade County was still a relatively new county when Josiah and Lydia arrived, having been organized in 1841 from parts of Barry and Polk Counties. The area where Josiah and Lydia settled was in the southeast corner of Dade County, less than a mile west of Greene County, and less than three miles north of Lawrence County. The area was approximately two miles from the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church. On a current map, the area is about one mile south, and four miles east, of Everton, Missouri.
The Federal census of 1850 provides some information about Josiah farm. Josiah reported that 70 of his 80 acres of land were improved, and valued his farm at $450. At 80 acres, Josiah’s farm was one of the largest in his community. Josiah’s livestock consisted of two horses, eleven milch cows, two other cattle, ten sheep, and four swine. During the year ended June 1, 1850, Josiah reported that his farm produced 50 bushels of wheat, 400 bushels of Indian corn, and 800 bushels of oats. Most families in the area had only two or three milch cows. A family the size of Josiah’s family drank a lot of milk!
The census reported that Lydia could neither read nor write, and that Emily, James, and William Stogsdill had attended school within the past year. It is clear that Josiah and Lydia were a part of an extended family living as close neighbors in Dade County in the fall of 1850. The census included these families:
Family #420 – Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill
Family #421 – Archibald and Perlina (Couch) Stogsdill [Josiah’s brother and cousin]
Family #422 – Lindley and Susannah Couch [Josiah’s uncle and aunt]
Family #423 – Angelina (Couch) Evans [Josiah’s cousin]
Family #424 – Daniel Stogsdill [Josiah’s brother]
Family #425 – Elizabeth (Stogsdill) Bennett [Josiah’s sister]
Family #426 – Delila (Couch) Literal [Josiah’s aunt]
Family #431 – William Stogsdill [Josiah’s brother]
While a U. S. Land Office was opened in Springfield, Missouri, in 1835, and the public land in Dade County was for sale, little of the land in southeast Dade County was sold prior to the 1850’s. The first public land sales in southeast Dade County were in the late 1840’s, and the first land patents were issued in 1848. It is likely that Josiah and his family, as well as most of their Dade County neighbors, were farming on public land as squatters.
Josiah and Lydia received an unexpected addition to their family in April of 1851, when Josiah's youngest sister, Mary 'Polly' (Stogsdill) Lasley, gave birth to twin daughters. Mary reportedly died an hour after their birth, and Josiah and Lydia took in the newborn twins. With the addition of his two infant nieces to their family, Josiah and Lydia had a family of nine children to care for.
The Lasley twins were named Lucinda and Clarinda Lasley. But, Josiah and Lydia already had a seven-year-old daughter named Lucinda. To solve the problem, Sarah Literal, referring to Lucinda Lasley, wrote that:
“Lucinda was called Cinda to avoid two children being called by the same name in one home.”
In November of 1851, only seven months after the death of Josiah’s sister, and the addition of her twin daughters to their household, Josiah and Lydia added a tenth child to their household when another daughter, Sarah Jane Stogsdill, was born.
Josiah was the first member of the Stogsdill family to purchase land in Dade County. By the time he made his first purchase of 40 acres in February of 1852, roughly 15% of the public land in southeast Dade County had been sold. The pace of sales quickened throughout the early and mid-1850’s, and most of the land in the area was sold before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.
The 1850’s were apparently a period of prosperity for Josiah and his family. The first 40‑acre tract that Josiah purchased was located four miles east and one mile south of Everton, Missouri. A review of the land records of Dade County reveals that between February of 1852 and February of 1858, Josiah aggressively accumulated land in southeast Dade County. We can identify purchases of 780 acres, and sales of only 155 acres, during this six-year period. Josiah made his last purchase of Dade County land on February 25, 1858, when he purchased a tract containing 78.59 acres[4] from James and Delilah Campbell for $150.
At the end of the decade, Josiah owned 625 acres of land in southeast Dade County.
As Josiah’s land holdings expanded, his family also continued to grow. Jonathan Franklin Stogsdill was born in September of 1855. Approximately 1857, Josiah and Lydia celebrated the marriage of their eldest daughter, Emily, to Jake Harshaw. With the birth of Mary Adaline Stogsdill in June of 1858, the Josiah Stogsdill family was comprised of Josiah and Lydia, their ten children, plus the Lasley twins. The day after their youngest daughter, Mary Adaline, was born, their eldest daughter, Emily (Stogsdill) Harshaw, celebrated her 21st birthday.
But Josiah’s activities during the decade of the 1850’s were not limited to his family and his farm. Josiah also found time to serve the Baptist church. A Lawrence County history[5] recounts that the Sycamore United Baptist Church was organized in Lawrence County on September 27, 1856. The organizers met in a log cabin near the old Campbell Spring, northwest of the Sycamore Cemetery, and about four to five miles northeast of the present site of Miller, Missouri. The Sycamore Cemetery was roughly ten miles southwest of the Josiah Stogsdill farm. The two Elders present that day were “A. Stapp” and “J. Stogsdill”. The history relates that Elder J. Stogsdill served as the church’s first pastor.
It appears, from the content of the historical sketch, that the records of the Sycamore United Baptist Church are complete, except for the period during the Civil War, when records were not kept. The historical sketch makes no mention of any minister other than Josiah Stogsdill prior to the Civil War, and states that “Elder Stogsdill and Elder James Lackey were the church’s only pastors during the civil war.” This suggests to me that Josiah Stogsdill probably served as the pastor of the Sycamore United Baptist Church continuously from the date of organization until sometime after April of 1861, when the Civil War began.
In June of 1860, the Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill family appeared in the census of Polk Township, in Dade County. The household consisted of Josiah, Lydia, nine of their ten children, the two 9‑year‑old Lasley twins, and Lydia's 68‑year‑old mother, Sarah Mily (Williams) Hall. Their eldest daughter, Emily, was enumerated “next door” to Josiah and Lydia, with her husband, Jake Harshaw, and their two young sons. Josiah reported the value of his real estate as $3000, and the value of his personal property as $1200.
Sarah Literal’s notebook contains a reference to the period when Lydia’s mother lived with Josiah and Lydia. Sarah wrote the following about Josiah and Lydia:
“They had eleven children of their own, and his sisters twins [Clarinda and Lucinda Lasley] and her mother [Sarah Hall] lived in a house to her-self in their yard in her old days one of the girls or two staying with her at night as they grew up”
In December of 1860, James Stogsdill, the eldest son of Josiah and Lydia, was married to Mary Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Morris. When the Civil War erupted in April of 1861, I strongly suspect that Josiah Stogsdill, along with all the members of his extended family then living in Dade County, and most of his neighbors, were sympathetic to the cause of the Confederacy. But there were many others in the county who were strong supporters of the Union cause. Dade County was truly a divided county during the Civil War. One of the Dade County histories[6] provides a summary of military affairs in Dade County during the war:
“The great majority of the people of Dade County have always been loyal to the Government of the United States, notwithstanding the fact that many of them were reared under the influences of the institution of slavery.”
The summary continues:
"When the late Civil War began, in 1861, the people of the northern half of the county were generally loyal to the Union, while many in the southern half were in full sympathy with secession and in favor of the Southern Confederacy; but, upon the whole, a great majority of the citizens of the county were loyal to the United States. Some of the recent immigrants from the Eastern states--especially Illinois--moved back, and there enlisted in the Union Army. Soon after the war began, John T. Coffee and other Southern sympathizers enlisted a number of men in Dade County, but, owing to the vigilance of the loyal citizens, who were forming organizations for the Union army, they were mostly taken beyond the limits of the county to be organized, and later a large number of men followed Price's army southward, and became Confederate soldiers, but there is no way of ascertaining their numbers."
We know that Dade County wasted no time in providing soldiers to the Union Army. For example, on July 4, 1861, at Dadeville, two companies of cavalry were organized. These companies soon marched to Springfield, Missouri, and took part in the Battle of Wilson's Creek. After the Battle of Wilson's Creek, they returned with the remnants of General Lyon's and Siegel's armies to Rolla, Missouri, where they were reorganized from state troops into United States volunteer soldiers, and were mustered into service in early September, 1861. They were reinforced, armed and equipped, and were known as Wright's Battalion.
When the first shots of the Civil War were fired, Josiah was 44 years old. Still living at home were his wife, Lydia, eight of their eleven children, and his deceased sister’s two twin girls. Lydia’s mother was probably living with the family, as well. We have seen no evidence that suggests that Josiah served in any military unit during the war, though it is possible that he did. However, Josiah’s sympathy for the Confederate cause did apparently lead to his arrest by the Provost Marshal’s office during the second year of the war.
A little background on the role of the Provost Marshal may be helpful at this point. The internet web site of the Missouri Secretary of State explains the history of the Provost Marshal during the Civil War as follows:
“In September 1862, the federal Adjutant General's office issued General Order No. 140, appointing special provost marshals for each state. The special provost marshal had many responsibilities, which included investigating charges or acts of treason and arresting deserters, spies, and persons deemed disloyal. A reorganization of the War Department in 1863 eliminated the position of special provost marshal, but appointed an assistant provost marshal general (APMG) for each state, a provost marshal for each congressional district and a deputy provost marshal for each county. The duties remained much the same. In addition, the provost marshal assigned to the district was responsible for maintaining troop discipline, assuming custody of prisoners and deserters, administering punishment, and suppressing any depredations and disturbances caused by Army troops or individual soldiers.
“These provost marshals were assigned regardless of the level of active warfare within a state or district. In districts with active fighting, the provost marshal's primary duty was to limit marauding against citizens, prevent stragglers on long marches, and generally suppress gambling or other vices not conducive to good order and discipline. However, in many districts, the war's fighting was somewhat removed and the area did not see battles. In these areas, the provost marshal's duties were more magisterial. The provost marshal had the power to administer and enforce the law when it came to regulating public places; conduct searches, seizures, and arrests; issue passes to citizens for movement in and out of Union lines; and record and investigate citizen complaints. It was not uncommon for the law to be suspended in many cases and for the provost marshal, mostly independent of any real supervision, to dispense with the rules of civil procedure.”
We don’t know what circumstances led to Josiah’s arrest by the Provost Marshal. But, we do know that Josiah was paroled on January 24, 1863. The terms of his parole were enumerated by the standard Parole form which Josiah signed. The form read as follows:
“I, Josiah Stogstill of Dade County, Missouri, aged 46 years, in consideration of being discharged from arrest, do hereby declare and promise that I will not in any manner, or by any means, aid, encourage or promote the existing rebellion against the Authority of the United States, or any attempt to subvert the existing Government of the State of Missouri; that I will not myself take up arms against the United States or the existing Government of the State of Missouri, nor directly or indirectly furnish information, arms, money, provisions, or any other commodity whatever to, or hold communication with, any person or persons engaged in hostilities against the Government of the United States, or the State of Missouri; all of which I declare and promise solemnly on my word of honor, knowing that for a breach of this parole I am liable to be tried by a Military Commission; and further , that I will report myself in person or by letter to the Provost Marshal General of the District of Missouri wherever and whenever he may so direct.”
Josiah signed the Parole as “Josiah Stogsdill” on January 24, 1863, and listed his post office as Rock Prairie. The Parole was also signed by J. W. Morgan, an Assistant Provost Marshal. One of the requirements of the Parole was a $2000 bond, to be provided within two weeks. On the same day that Josiah signed his parole, he also posted the required bond. The bond is documented by another standard form which read as follows:
“Know all Men by these Presents, That we Josiah Stogstill of [left blank] in the County of Dade and State of Missouri, as principal, and John R. Brewer of the County of Dade in the same State, as sureties, are held and firmly bound unto the United States of America, in the sum of Two Thousand Dollars, for the payment of which, well and truly to be made, we hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, and assigns, firmly, by these presents, sealed with our seals, and dated this 24th day of January A. D., 1863.
“The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas the above bounden Josiah Stogstill has been arrested on the charge of [left blank] and has been discharged from imprisonment upon his Parole and this Bond. NOW, if the said Josiah Stogstill shall carefully and truly abstain from all words or deeds tending to aid, encourage or promote the existing rebellion against the authority of the United States or to disturb the existing Government of the State of Missouri, and shall not, directly or indirectly, furnish information, arms, money, provisions or any other commodity whatever to, or hold communication with, any person or persons engaged in hostilities against the Government of the United States or the State of Missouri, then this obligation is to be void. It is else to be in full force.”
The bond was signed by Josiah Stogsdill, John R. Brewer and James Taylor. John R. Brewer was a neighbor of Josiah Stogsdill. John R. Brewer’s wife, Cintha, was a sister of Josiah’s wife, Lydia. James Taylor was a member of the John D. Taylor family who moved to Ripley County, Missouri, from the Larkins Fork community in Jackson County, Alabama, about 1842. James and his family had migrated from Oregon County to Dade County in the early 1850’s.
While it appears that Dade County was home to a number of families with southern sympathies when the Civil War commenced, a large majority of the Dade County residents were aligned with the Union cause. Dade County must have been a dangerous place to live for those whose sympathies lay with the Confederacy. The following is an excerpt from a letter written on March 17, 1863. The letter was written to a family in Dade County by a Union soldier from Dade County who was, at that time, stationed at Benton Barracks, near St. Louis. The excerpt reads:
“Our forces had a fight on the Yazo River N. Carolina and captured 1,000 rebels and 26 transports. This is late news. Our gun boats also had a fight with the Rebel Boat Nashville after fighting some time the Rebel boat caut fire and the magazine blew up destroying most of the Rebel crew. If I can se rite the South has nearly played out. I think that we will send them up Salt river this summer. Let us all do our duty as soldiers and stand by the flag of our country as patrols. I tell you I have seen a nough of the conduct of rebels to turn the Devil against them. I hate them worse than any person living. I would like to be there with you to clean out and kill secesh in Dade County. I am a spider in their dumpling as long as I live and will give them hale whare every I can find them. I am a soldier in the Union Army as long as there is fighting to do for the Union or tel I am killed. I would like to be there and have along talk with you. I could tel you a great many things of interest that I have neither time nor space to write. Our troops here is all in good spirits and think that we will do the work up brown this summer. We hear that the Rebel Gen. Price is in Arkansas. How true this is I do not know. But we will make him root hog or die. “
On October 6, 1863, Confederate General Joseph O. Shelby and his troops burned the Dade County courthouse, forcing Union soldiers to withdraw. Unfortunately, all of the Dade County marriage records were lost in that fire. With the loss of those records, we also lost a key source of information as to whether Josiah Stogsdill continued to serve his community as a minister after first serving as the pastor of the Sinking Creek United Baptist Church, and then serving as the pastor of the Sycamore United Baptist Church. We do, however, have two pieces of evidence which indicate that Josiah did continue to serve as a minister in the area.
The first piece of evidence is found in the surviving Dade County marriage records. The oldest surviving Dade County marriage record documents the marriage of J. W. Messer to Manerva Walker. Josiah Stogsdill performed the marriage on November 17, 1863, about six weeks after the courthouse was burned, and filed the marriage record with the County Clerk the next day. It may have been the last marriage performed by Josiah Stogsdill, as his name does not appear again in the marriage records of either Dade County or Lawrence County. The second piece of evidence is found in the history of the Sycamore United Baptist Church. As noted earlier, that history suggests that Josiah may have served as the minister of that congregation from the date of its organization in 1856 until sometime during the Civil War period.
All of southern Missouri, particularly near the Arkansas border, was a dangerous place to live during the Civil War. Dade County was no exception. A summary of some of the Civil War experiences of Dade County residents in provided on page 77 of History of Dade County and Its People. It reads:
“Dade County suffered terribly from the ravages of the war. On one occasion, during the early part, while the Union State Militia were occupying Greenfield, a party of guerrillas, in the interest of the Southern cause, and for the purpose of plunder, made a raid upon the town. So sudden was the charge that the militia-men had not time to assemble for defense, but each one, from the several houses where they happened to be, fired upon the enemy, killing one and compelling them to fall back. They fled southward and burned the houses of many Union men on their way. This and other depredations so enraged the militia that squads of them, sent into the country, soon surpassed their orders and resorted to desperate measures in retaliation, such as burning the houses which harbored bushwhackers, whereupon both sides became infuriated and more or less indiscriminately applied the torch and killed defenseless men. A number of citizens were killed in their fields, or at their homes, or on the public roads, by unknown bushwhackers, and many dwellings and much other property throughout the county was laid in ashes. The capture of Greenfield and burning of the courthouse has been mentioned elsewhere. Greenfield was occupied a portion of the time during the war by the militia, and at other times by detachments from the cavalry regiments previously noted. The many cruel depredations, the killing of individuals, and other atrocities committed in Dade County during the war period would furnish material sufficient in itself to fill a volume.”
Like the residents of other southern Missouri and northern Arkansas counties, the residents of Dade County suffered much during the four years of the Civil War. On the 14th of June, 1864, guerillas burned the town of Dadeville, leaving only a few houses standing, and killing a number of citizens. The following letter, written in the closing days of the Civil War by a group of Dade County citizens, provides some insight into their frustration with the continuing guerilla activity in Dade County. The source of this letter is the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 48, Part 1, pages 949-950. The letter reads as follows:
“Greenfield, Dade County, Mo., February 22, 1865.
“To Brig. Gen. J.B. Sanborn, Commanding Southwest District, Springfield, Mo.:
“The undersigned citizens of Dade County would most respectifully ask leave to
represent briefly the condition of affairs in this part of the military district under your command. From the outbreak of the rebellion a very considerable portion of the citizens of Dade County manifested a determination to stand by the Federal Government in sustaining the laws and in the suppression of the rebellion. This is made manifest from the fact that no other county in the state has furnished more soldiers for the Federal Army in proportion to the population than Dade. The few remaining citizens, after filling up the ranks of the Union Army, have struggled with a zeal worthy the cause to sustain the country by cultivating the farms in order to sustain the armies who were so manfully battling in the cause of the Union, and while we look with pride upon their noble and patriotic devotion we turn with deep mortification to the fact that many of them have been inhumanly murdered and their wives and children robbed of their little all. Yet, in the midst of these repeated outrages, our Union citizens have still continued in their devotion to the cause of the Union. They have borne with comparative silence what they considered seeming neglect on the part of the Government in the management of the military affairs of the country. Last spring we hailed with delight a communication emanating from Capt. R.B. Owen, exhorting the farmers to repair to their homes and cultivate their farms, assuring them that they should be protected. Many had made their arrangements to leave the country, but at the earnest persuasions of many of us, in view of the protection thus promised us, were induced to remain, and the result shows that many of them were shot at the plow handle and others robbed of their little all.
“The amount of military protection that we received under that promise was one skeleton company of State militia and a few of the enrolled were all that we had to protect the country and till the soil. But even after the bloody ordeal through which we passed last year we still had hopes that this spring would open more propitiously for us. We had made more vigorous preparations to cultivate the soil; more grain was sown last fall than at any time since the war commenced (in proportion to the population). Confidence in the ability and willingness of the military to give us all the protection that was necessary was manifesting itself among the people, but owing to the appearance of guerilla bands in the country a panic has seized upon the people. Within the past ten days several of our citizens have been robbed of their horses, bedclothing, wearing apparel and money. The consequences are that whole neighborhoods are preparing to leave the country, and unless some steps are speedily taken to arrest it there will be a general stampede and nothing will be left to protect but the military posts, and it is very evident that unless the farming interest is protected there is but little use for a military post. We would not be understood as reflecting in the least upon the command stationed at this post, but, on the contrary, would take the occasion to say that we have a good command, composed of officers and men who feel a deep interest in protecting the country and its interests. But one company is not sufficent to protect the post and country, too. Our settled conviction is that it will require at least one full company to constantly patrol the country or the people cannot stay at home, much less till the soil. We should have infantry to guard the post and mounted men to protect the settlements. Now, general, there is nothing here said that is drawn from the imagination. It is no idle visionary of the brain, but the records of the country will bear testimony, and our sole object is to lay the facts before you and through you to ask of those having the authority to render us that aid which we think we are justly entitled to.
“With sentiments of high regard, we are, general, your friends.”
The letter was signed by fourteen citizens of Dade County.
As an indication of the impact that the Civil War had on the population of the counties of southern Missouri, we need only look at Lawrence County, just south of the area where our Stogsdill family lived. The 1860 Federal census of Lawrence County provided a population count of 8,846. A state census that same year provided a count of 9,115. A state census taken four years later, in the third year of the Civil War, reported the population of Lawrence County to be 3,392.
The Civil War finally ended in May of 1865. I believe that all of Josiah's siblings, and Lydia's siblings, left Dade County by the end of 1865, perhaps driven out by strong Union sentiment during and after the Civil War. Between February of 1858 and October of 1865, we have identified only one Dade County land transaction involving Josiah, when he sold five acres of land in November of 1864. Then, on October 3, 1865, less than six months after the end of the Civil War, Josiah sold 540 acres of Dade County land for $2700. This sale included all of Josiah's landholdings that we are aware of, with the exception of the 78.59 acres he purchased in February of 1858.
I have long been curious about an unusual pattern of land transactions by Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill. Josiah Stogsdill did acquire a substantial amount of property in Dade County. Typically, men who were successful accumulated land during their lifetime, and then either sold the land to their children during that lifetime, or passed on the land to their children at death. But it doesn't appear that Josiah and Lydia followed that pattern.
Sarah Literal’s notebook may provide the answer. After describing the journey that Josiah and his family made from Alabama to Missouri, Sarah Literal wrote:
“Then from Oregon Co. Mo. they came to Dade Co. Mo. Then to where Josiah built the mill on Turnback Creek between Chesapeake and Halltown in Lawrence Co. Mo.”
I suspect that we will learn that Josiah sold his property in Dade County soon after the end of the Civil War, and used the proceeds to buy land and build a grist mill in Lawrence County. Actually, there is some evidence to suggest that Josiah Stogsdill began to acquire land in Lawrence County before, or during, the war. The 1888 Goodspeed History of Lawrence County includes a list taken from Lawrence County assessment books of 1861-63, as certified in June, 1866. Included in that list is the name “Josiah Stoggsdill”.
There were several mills on Turnback Creek, and its tributaries. A Brief History of Lawrence County Missouri; 1845-1870, published by the Lawrence County Historical Society, documents four of them. None of the descriptions mention the Stogsdill family. However, I believe that I have determined the approximate location of Josiah Stogsdill’s mill. On November 1, 1852, Bailey A. Chastain was issued a land patent for 40 acres of land[7] located midway between Chesapeake and Halltown, in Lawrence County. Bailey Chastain apparently died about 1856, as his will was dated April 10, 1856. The executors of his will were two of Bailey’s brothers, John and William Chastain. An Administrator’s Deed filed in the Lawrence County courthouse about 1865 or 1866 indicates that Josiah Stogsdill purchased land from John and William Chastain. An 1879 Lawrence County Historical Atlas lists “A. Stogsdell” as the owner of the 40 acres originally patented by Bailey A. Chastain. The atlas also indicates that West Turnback Creek ran through this 40-acre tract of land.
If Josiah Stogsdill built a mill after the close of the Civil War, he didn’t operate that mill very long. Sarah Literal wrote that Josiah Stogsdill died in Lawrence County on December 1, 1867. Josiah was only 50 years old when he died. He was buried in the Sinking Creek Cemetery, in Dade County, near the church he once served as pastor.
Josiah was survived by his wife, and nine children. Josiah’s estate was probated in Lawrence County, Missouri. Josiah left no will, suggesting that his death may not have been anticipated. Lydia was appointed to serve as the Administrator of his estate.
Lydia Stogsdill died less than two years after Josiah. In her notebooks, Sarah Literal reports that Lydia also died in Lawrence County. Lydia died on October 17, 1869, at age 51, and was buried next to Josiah in the Sinking Creek Cemetery. Josiah and Lydia have interesting gravestones. They appear to be home made, with a simple, but unique, design. They appear to have been made of a soft stone, or of sand, with some kind of bonding agent. When I last visited the cemetery in the 1980’s, the inscriptions were still fairly legible, more than one hundred and twenty years after Josiah and Lydia died.
Lydia’s early death, following that of her husband by less than two years, must surely have been a difficult time for their nine surviving children. The children’s ages, when Lydia died, ranged from eleven to 32. When Josiah died in December of 1867, all of his children, with the exception of Emily, were still living in Lawrence County. Only three of the nine Stogsdill children were married. By the time Lydia died two years later, in October of 1869, three more of their children had married. And by the time the census was taken in the summer of 1870, less than a year after Lydia’s death, six of the Stogsdill children had apparently moved away from Lawrence County. Archibald, Elizabeth Ann and Sarah Jane, along with their spouses, were still living in Turnback Township of Lawrence County. But the other six children were not listed in the Turnback Township census. And I have not been able to locate them in any other 1870 census records.
When the Stogsdill estate was being settled, the two youngest children were still legally minors. In March of 1871, Josiah’s eldest surviving son, William Stogsdill, was appointed to serve as their legal guardian. William was apparently living in Grayson County, Texas, at the time. The final settlement of Josiah’s estate was dated April 12, 1870.
Where were these six missing children in 1870? Emily, William, and Benjamin R. Stogsdill were all married by 1870. Mary Lucinda, age 26, was still single, and Jonathan F., age 15; and Mary Adaline Stogsdill, age 12, were still minors. We have a few clues. A record from Josiah Stogsdill’s estate indicates that Emily was a resident of Boggy Depot, in the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, in 1870. William was a resident of Grayson County, Texas, in 1871, and Jonathan and Mary Adaline were probably living with William and his wife in Texas. Evidence also suggests that Benjamin and his wife were in Grayson County in 1871 and 1872.
There could be a lot of explanations for the apparent absence of the six Stogsdill children from the 1870 census. I suspect that all six migrated to Texas and Indian Territory following the death of their mother in October of 1869. They could have been missed by the 1870 census because they were in the act of moving from Missouri to Texas. Or they could have been in Indian Territory in 1870, where no census was taken.
And why would six of the nine Stogsdill children migrate to Texas following the death of their parents? Free of obligations in Missouri, they could have been seeking new opportunities in the west. Or, they could have been seeking to relocate closer to a favorite uncle and aunt. We believe that their father’s brother, Archibald Stogsdill, migrated with his family from Oregon County, Missouri, to Grayson County in 1869. Their mother’s sister, Celia (Hall) Couch, along with her family, migrated from Dade County, Missouri, to Grayson County about 1862 or 1863, and was still living in Grayson County in 1870.
In settling Josiah’s estate, five of his children (William and wife Isabell, Archibald and wife Susan, Benjamin and wife Margaret, Lucinda, and Sarah and husband Alfred, all of Lawrence County, Missouri) quit claimed their interest in Josiah’s 78.59-acre tract of land in Dade County to Gilbert R. Watson, son-in-law of Josiah and Lydia, for $10 each. The date of the transaction was April 25, 1870.
Otto Qualls, a son of Lucinda (Lasley) Qualls, one of the twin Lasley girls raised by Josiah and Lydia, wrote in 1973 that his mother, Lucinda, worked in the fields like a man for her uncle. Otto also wrote that Lucinda's uncle traded his land in North Greenfield for land in Tennessee, so Lucinda was cheated out of her share of the 400-acre farm in North Greenfield. Josiah Stogsdill did not leave a will, and Lucinda and Clarinda Lasley were not legal heirs of Josiah Stogsdill. So it is not surprising that they did not receive an inheritance. But it sounds like Lucinda expected to receive an inheritance. The statement in the letter indicating that Josiah traded his 400-acre farm in Dade County for land in Tennessee raises some interesting questions that we cannot answer at this point.
NOTE TO READERS: This biographical sketch was last revised in November of 2010. If you are interested in updates to this information, have questions about the content, or can add anything to the material provided by this sketch, please contact me at mike@landwehr.net.
[1] Greene County Stray Records, Book 2, page 133.
[2] A History of the Baptists in Missouri, by R. S. Duncan, published by Scammell & Company, St. Louis, 1882, page 438.
[3] American Baptist Register, for 1852, by John Lansing Burrows, published in 1852 by the American Baptist Publication Society, page 200.
[4] Described as the W 1/2 of Lots #1 and #2 in the NE 1/4 of Section 1 in Township 30 North of Range 26 West.
[5] A sketch entitled “Sycamore Baptist Church”, written by the Reverend Omer Ruark, in Lawrence County Missouri History, published by the Lawrence County Historical Society in 1974, page 268.
[6] History of Dade County and Its People, published by Pioneer Historical Company, 1917, page 74.
[7] Described as the SW ¼ of the NW ¼ of Section 12 in Township 28 North of Range 25 West.