William S. Stogsdill
By Mike Landwehr
Copyright 2010
NOTE: The following biography of William S. Stogsdill 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 Since that book is still unpublished, I am posting this excerpt to make the information more readily available to others who share my interest in this family.
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William S. Stogsdill is reported by other researchers to have been born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, on February 21, 1822. While I don’t know whether direct evidence of his place of birth exists, Lincoln County is logical, based on what we know of the William’s parents. William’s gravestone is inscribed with a date of birth of February 22, while the John Walker Stogsdill family Bible, published by John and Lanita Sconce Miller in their book The Welcome Bennett Family, clearly lists the date of birth for John’s father, William Stogsdill, as February 21, 1822. William apparently celebrated his birthdays on the 21st of February, so we will assume that to be the correct date.
William was about 18 years old when his family settled in Ripley County, Missouri, and was 23 when he married Sarah Catherine ‘Catherine’ Justice in Randolph County, Arkansas, on November 23, 1845. Sarah, the daughter of John Dyer Justice and Sarah Nettles, was born in either Missouri or Arkansas in 1825.
William and Sarah left Oregon County less than two years after they were married. By 1847, it appears that they were residents of Greene County, Missouri. The Greene County Stray Records contain the following entry[1]:
"Mch 1st 1847
Taken up by John L. Davis in Cass Township Greene County Mo. Eight Miles West of Springfield One estray red sorrel Filley Four years old next spring. Fourteen hands and one inch high no other marks or brands perceivable Appraised at Twenty five dollars. By William Stogsdill and Thomas Alexander. Done before me John McMichan Justice of the peace”
The stray record seems to place William Stogsdill in Cass Township, roughly eight miles west of Springfield, in March of 1847. He was probably a neighbor of John L. Davis. It is interesting to note that the Cave Spring area, where the families of William’s uncle, Benjamin Couch, and aunt, Delila (Couch) Literal, lived in the late 1840’s, was also in Cass Township. The village of Cave Spring was located about ten miles northwest of Springfield. And, we believe that William’s brother, Josiah, and his family, were living in Cass Township in December of 1846. It would not be surprising to learn that the four families lived in close proximity to each other.
On December 20, 1847, William Stogsdill, of Greene County, paid John and Nancy McMichan the sum of $300 for 150 acres of land[2]. This tract of land was located in Cass Township, about three miles east and five miles south of Cave Spring, where the first store was constructed the next year, in 1848. The land was located about seven miles northwest of Springfield. The John McMichan who sold William Stogsdill the land may have been the same John McMichan who was the Justice of the Peace named in the Stray Record referenced above.
The first child born to William and Sarah was a son, born in Missouri in 1846 or 1847, who they named James Marion Stogsdill. Their second child, John Walker Stogsdill, was born in Greene County on May 25, 1848. Even though William owned a farm in Greene County, he and his family did not remain in Greene County very long. From Greene County, William and Sarah and their two sons moved to Dade County, where they were enumerated in the census in October of 1850.
During the 1850’s, William’s family continued to grow. Mary Jane Stogsdill was born in Dade County in October of 1850; Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Stogsdill was born in March of 1855; Sarah Ann Stogsdill was born in 1856 or 1857; and Lydia Evaline Stogsdill was born in October of 1859. It would not be surprising to learn that William and Sarah lost a child born about 1852 or 1853.
On March 7, 1856, William traveled to the land office at Springfield, and paid cash for 80 acres of government land[3]. He was accompanied to the land office by his uncle, Benjamin Couch, who purchased an additional 120 acres of land at the same time. The northern edge of the land that William purchased (see tract #17 on page ) abutted the southern edge of some of the land that Benjamin Couch purchased that day.
Approximately one year later, William made a second purchase of Dade County public land. William’s second purchase consisted of 120.04 acres[4] located about one-half mile south and three miles west of the 80 acres he purchased a year earlier, and was immediately north of an 80-acre tract that Benjamin Couch purchased in February of 1857 (see tract #18 on page ). William did not pay cash for this tract of land. Instead, he purchased it with Bounty Land Warrant #56166, which had recently been issued to Benjamin Couch for his service in the Second Creek War. William apparently purchased the warrant from Benjamin, who then assigned the warrant to William. William was later issued a patent for this land on July 10, 1858.
In June of 1860, the census of Polk Township, in Dade County, included the family of William and Sarah Stogsdill, along with their six children. William’s neighbors included a number of William’s uncles and aunts, siblings and cousins. William valued his farm at $2000, and his personal property at $2000.
The 1860’s was undoubtedly a turbulent decade for William’s family. The family continued to grow with the birth of Ellen Stogsdill in 1860 or 1861. The Civil War began in April of 1861, and southeast Dade County was a dangerous place to live during the war. William’s eldest son, James, died in his youth. We don’t know whether his death was war-related. Another son, William Stogsdill, was born in 1865 or 1866; and Thomas Jasper Stogsdill was born in 1867 or 1868.
At some point during the decade of the 1860’s, William and Sarah moved their family from Dade County back to Oregon County. Their move may have occurred soon after the end of the war. Their eldest surviving son, John Walker Stogsdill, was married in Dade County in August of 1865, less than four months after the end of the war. John and his bride were married by John’s uncle, Archibald Stogsdill, an Ordained Minister of the Gospel. Less than 14 months later, in September of 1866, Mary Jane Stogsdill, the eldest daughter of William and Sarah Stogsdill, was married in Oregon County.
William and Sarah were listed in the census of Moore Township, in Oregon County, in July of 1870. Living at home with William and Sarah in 1870 were their six youngest children. The war had apparently taken a toll on the family financially, as William valued his personal property at only $600, and apparently no longer owned a farm.
Sarah Catherine (Justice) Stogsdill died sometime between the 1870 census and the 1880 census. A clue to where she died is provided by a biographical sketch which appears in Reminiscent History Of The Ozark Region, published in 1894 by Goodspeed Brothers, in Chicago. The book contains a rather lengthy biography of the family of William W. McLelland, husband of Mary Jane Stogsdill, and son-in-law of William and Sarah (Justice) Stogsdill. Referring to William W. McLelland, the biography states:
“September 9, 1868 (sic), he was married to Mary Jane, daughter of William and Catherine Stogsdill, who came to this State from Tennessee (sic). The father is still [ca 1894] a resident of Oregon County, but his wife died in Howell County. Mrs. McLelland [Mary Jane] was born in Dade County, Missouri, and has borne her husband twelve children…”
While the accuracy of biographical sketches in the Goodspeed county histories is always a bit suspect, this biography does clearly suggest that Sarah (Justice) Stogsdill died in Howell County. And, indeed, the statement appears to be factual. A gravestone in the Moffitt Cemetery, located near Willow Springs, Missouri, carries the inscription “Sarah C. (Justice) Stogsdill & Infant 1825 -1875”. The stone strongly suggests that Sarah died in childbirth in the Willow Springs area in 1875.
If my suspicions are correct, Sarah died in childbirth at age 49 or 50. An uncommon occurance at that age, but not unheard of. It is surprising to learn that Catherine was in Howell County in the mid-1870’s, and also surprising that she was not brought back to Oregon County for burial. But, there are many explanations that would cover this set of circumstances. The biographical sketch of William W. McLelland provides some helpful clues. Referring to William W. and Mary Jane (Stogsdill) McLelland, it reads:
“After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McLelland resided a few years in Oregon County, two years in Dade County, five years in Howell County, five years in Oregon County, and since that time on the farm of 360 acres three and a half miles southeast of West Plains…”
We know that William and Mary Jane were married in 1866, that they were living in Dade County in 1870, and that they were living in Oregon County in 1880. Assuming the information in the biographical sketch to be accurate, it would appear that William and Mary Jane McLelland lived in Howell County from about 1871 until about 1876. We don’t believe that William and Sarah Stogsdill owned a farm in 1870, five years after the end of the Civil War. It is certainly possible that they never got back on their feet again, financially, after the war, and became reliant on their children for assistance at a relatively young age. They may have been living with the William W. McLelland family in Howell County when Sarah died in 1875. The Moffitt Cemetery does not, to our knowledge, contain the graves of any relatives of William or Sarah Stogsdill or William W. McLelland. But, there are probably a number of reasons why Sarah might have been buried there rather than returning her to Oregon County. We can only speculate at this point, and the senario may change as we learn more about William and Sarah in the 1870’s.
We believe that William and Mary Jane McLelland moved from Howell County back to Oregon County approximately 1876. If William Stogsdill accompanied his wife, Sarah, when she went to Howell County, he also returned to Oregon County before 1880. In June of 1880, 58-year-old William Stogsdill and two of his unmarried children, Elizabeth and Thomas Jasper, were living with the family of William’s eldest son, John Walker Stogsdill, in Oak Grove Township of Oregon County.
On April 9, 1896, William married Mary Adaline (Nicholson) McIntire. Mary, the daughter of John A. Nicholson and Martha Malinda Berry, was born in Georgia in June of 1837. Her first marriage, in Oregon County in 1857, was to Absolom McIntire. Absolom and Mary had twelve children before Absolom died in Shannon County, Missouri, on July 15, 1887.
William and Mary were married in Shannon County, Missouri, on April 9, 1896. William was 74 years old, and Mary was 58. After their marriage, I believe that William and Mary made their home in Oregon County. In 1900, they were residing on a farm that William owned in Johnson Township of Oregon County.
William S. Stogsdill died on January 31, 1907, just three weeks short of his 85th birthday. He was the last surviving sibling in his family. William was buried in the Garfield Cemetery, near the village of Garfield, in Oregon County. Mary was 69 years old when William died. After his death, she moved back to Shannon County, where she lived with her son, Johnson McIntire, who never married. Mary Adaline (Nicholson) McIntire Stogsdill died at Montier, in Shannon County, on January 23, 1928, and was buried beside her first husband in the Turkey Oak Cemetery at Montier.
[1]Greene County, Missouri, Stray Records, Book 2, Page 145
[2] Described as the East half of the South East quarter of Section No Thirty Six in Township No Thirty of Range Twenty three containing Eighty acres also a part of the West half of the South East quarter of Section Thirty Six same Range and Township described as follows. Beginning at the North East Corner of said half quarter Thence South One hundred and Sixty rods to the Base line, thence West on said line seventy rods, thence due North to the line dividing the Section, thence due East to the place of beginning containing seventy acres.
[3] Described as the West ½ of the Southeast ¼ of Section 27 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West.
[4] Described as Lot #2 in the Northwest ¼ and the North ½ of Lot #2 in the Southwest ¼ of Section 31 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West
Copyright 2010
NOTE: The following biography of William S. Stogsdill 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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William S. Stogsdill is reported by other researchers to have been born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, on February 21, 1822. While I don’t know whether direct evidence of his place of birth exists, Lincoln County is logical, based on what we know of the William’s parents. William’s gravestone is inscribed with a date of birth of February 22, while the John Walker Stogsdill family Bible, published by John and Lanita Sconce Miller in their book The Welcome Bennett Family, clearly lists the date of birth for John’s father, William Stogsdill, as February 21, 1822. William apparently celebrated his birthdays on the 21st of February, so we will assume that to be the correct date.
William was about 18 years old when his family settled in Ripley County, Missouri, and was 23 when he married Sarah Catherine ‘Catherine’ Justice in Randolph County, Arkansas, on November 23, 1845. Sarah, the daughter of John Dyer Justice and Sarah Nettles, was born in either Missouri or Arkansas in 1825.
William and Sarah left Oregon County less than two years after they were married. By 1847, it appears that they were residents of Greene County, Missouri. The Greene County Stray Records contain the following entry[1]:
"Mch 1st 1847
Taken up by John L. Davis in Cass Township Greene County Mo. Eight Miles West of Springfield One estray red sorrel Filley Four years old next spring. Fourteen hands and one inch high no other marks or brands perceivable Appraised at Twenty five dollars. By William Stogsdill and Thomas Alexander. Done before me John McMichan Justice of the peace”
The stray record seems to place William Stogsdill in Cass Township, roughly eight miles west of Springfield, in March of 1847. He was probably a neighbor of John L. Davis. It is interesting to note that the Cave Spring area, where the families of William’s uncle, Benjamin Couch, and aunt, Delila (Couch) Literal, lived in the late 1840’s, was also in Cass Township. The village of Cave Spring was located about ten miles northwest of Springfield. And, we believe that William’s brother, Josiah, and his family, were living in Cass Township in December of 1846. It would not be surprising to learn that the four families lived in close proximity to each other.
On December 20, 1847, William Stogsdill, of Greene County, paid John and Nancy McMichan the sum of $300 for 150 acres of land[2]. This tract of land was located in Cass Township, about three miles east and five miles south of Cave Spring, where the first store was constructed the next year, in 1848. The land was located about seven miles northwest of Springfield. The John McMichan who sold William Stogsdill the land may have been the same John McMichan who was the Justice of the Peace named in the Stray Record referenced above.
The first child born to William and Sarah was a son, born in Missouri in 1846 or 1847, who they named James Marion Stogsdill. Their second child, John Walker Stogsdill, was born in Greene County on May 25, 1848. Even though William owned a farm in Greene County, he and his family did not remain in Greene County very long. From Greene County, William and Sarah and their two sons moved to Dade County, where they were enumerated in the census in October of 1850.
During the 1850’s, William’s family continued to grow. Mary Jane Stogsdill was born in Dade County in October of 1850; Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Stogsdill was born in March of 1855; Sarah Ann Stogsdill was born in 1856 or 1857; and Lydia Evaline Stogsdill was born in October of 1859. It would not be surprising to learn that William and Sarah lost a child born about 1852 or 1853.
On March 7, 1856, William traveled to the land office at Springfield, and paid cash for 80 acres of government land[3]. He was accompanied to the land office by his uncle, Benjamin Couch, who purchased an additional 120 acres of land at the same time. The northern edge of the land that William purchased (see tract #17 on page ) abutted the southern edge of some of the land that Benjamin Couch purchased that day.
Approximately one year later, William made a second purchase of Dade County public land. William’s second purchase consisted of 120.04 acres[4] located about one-half mile south and three miles west of the 80 acres he purchased a year earlier, and was immediately north of an 80-acre tract that Benjamin Couch purchased in February of 1857 (see tract #18 on page ). William did not pay cash for this tract of land. Instead, he purchased it with Bounty Land Warrant #56166, which had recently been issued to Benjamin Couch for his service in the Second Creek War. William apparently purchased the warrant from Benjamin, who then assigned the warrant to William. William was later issued a patent for this land on July 10, 1858.
In June of 1860, the census of Polk Township, in Dade County, included the family of William and Sarah Stogsdill, along with their six children. William’s neighbors included a number of William’s uncles and aunts, siblings and cousins. William valued his farm at $2000, and his personal property at $2000.
The 1860’s was undoubtedly a turbulent decade for William’s family. The family continued to grow with the birth of Ellen Stogsdill in 1860 or 1861. The Civil War began in April of 1861, and southeast Dade County was a dangerous place to live during the war. William’s eldest son, James, died in his youth. We don’t know whether his death was war-related. Another son, William Stogsdill, was born in 1865 or 1866; and Thomas Jasper Stogsdill was born in 1867 or 1868.
At some point during the decade of the 1860’s, William and Sarah moved their family from Dade County back to Oregon County. Their move may have occurred soon after the end of the war. Their eldest surviving son, John Walker Stogsdill, was married in Dade County in August of 1865, less than four months after the end of the war. John and his bride were married by John’s uncle, Archibald Stogsdill, an Ordained Minister of the Gospel. Less than 14 months later, in September of 1866, Mary Jane Stogsdill, the eldest daughter of William and Sarah Stogsdill, was married in Oregon County.
William and Sarah were listed in the census of Moore Township, in Oregon County, in July of 1870. Living at home with William and Sarah in 1870 were their six youngest children. The war had apparently taken a toll on the family financially, as William valued his personal property at only $600, and apparently no longer owned a farm.
Sarah Catherine (Justice) Stogsdill died sometime between the 1870 census and the 1880 census. A clue to where she died is provided by a biographical sketch which appears in Reminiscent History Of The Ozark Region, published in 1894 by Goodspeed Brothers, in Chicago. The book contains a rather lengthy biography of the family of William W. McLelland, husband of Mary Jane Stogsdill, and son-in-law of William and Sarah (Justice) Stogsdill. Referring to William W. McLelland, the biography states:
“September 9, 1868 (sic), he was married to Mary Jane, daughter of William and Catherine Stogsdill, who came to this State from Tennessee (sic). The father is still [ca 1894] a resident of Oregon County, but his wife died in Howell County. Mrs. McLelland [Mary Jane] was born in Dade County, Missouri, and has borne her husband twelve children…”
While the accuracy of biographical sketches in the Goodspeed county histories is always a bit suspect, this biography does clearly suggest that Sarah (Justice) Stogsdill died in Howell County. And, indeed, the statement appears to be factual. A gravestone in the Moffitt Cemetery, located near Willow Springs, Missouri, carries the inscription “Sarah C. (Justice) Stogsdill & Infant 1825 -1875”. The stone strongly suggests that Sarah died in childbirth in the Willow Springs area in 1875.
If my suspicions are correct, Sarah died in childbirth at age 49 or 50. An uncommon occurance at that age, but not unheard of. It is surprising to learn that Catherine was in Howell County in the mid-1870’s, and also surprising that she was not brought back to Oregon County for burial. But, there are many explanations that would cover this set of circumstances. The biographical sketch of William W. McLelland provides some helpful clues. Referring to William W. and Mary Jane (Stogsdill) McLelland, it reads:
“After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McLelland resided a few years in Oregon County, two years in Dade County, five years in Howell County, five years in Oregon County, and since that time on the farm of 360 acres three and a half miles southeast of West Plains…”
We know that William and Mary Jane were married in 1866, that they were living in Dade County in 1870, and that they were living in Oregon County in 1880. Assuming the information in the biographical sketch to be accurate, it would appear that William and Mary Jane McLelland lived in Howell County from about 1871 until about 1876. We don’t believe that William and Sarah Stogsdill owned a farm in 1870, five years after the end of the Civil War. It is certainly possible that they never got back on their feet again, financially, after the war, and became reliant on their children for assistance at a relatively young age. They may have been living with the William W. McLelland family in Howell County when Sarah died in 1875. The Moffitt Cemetery does not, to our knowledge, contain the graves of any relatives of William or Sarah Stogsdill or William W. McLelland. But, there are probably a number of reasons why Sarah might have been buried there rather than returning her to Oregon County. We can only speculate at this point, and the senario may change as we learn more about William and Sarah in the 1870’s.
We believe that William and Mary Jane McLelland moved from Howell County back to Oregon County approximately 1876. If William Stogsdill accompanied his wife, Sarah, when she went to Howell County, he also returned to Oregon County before 1880. In June of 1880, 58-year-old William Stogsdill and two of his unmarried children, Elizabeth and Thomas Jasper, were living with the family of William’s eldest son, John Walker Stogsdill, in Oak Grove Township of Oregon County.
On April 9, 1896, William married Mary Adaline (Nicholson) McIntire. Mary, the daughter of John A. Nicholson and Martha Malinda Berry, was born in Georgia in June of 1837. Her first marriage, in Oregon County in 1857, was to Absolom McIntire. Absolom and Mary had twelve children before Absolom died in Shannon County, Missouri, on July 15, 1887.
William and Mary were married in Shannon County, Missouri, on April 9, 1896. William was 74 years old, and Mary was 58. After their marriage, I believe that William and Mary made their home in Oregon County. In 1900, they were residing on a farm that William owned in Johnson Township of Oregon County.
William S. Stogsdill died on January 31, 1907, just three weeks short of his 85th birthday. He was the last surviving sibling in his family. William was buried in the Garfield Cemetery, near the village of Garfield, in Oregon County. Mary was 69 years old when William died. After his death, she moved back to Shannon County, where she lived with her son, Johnson McIntire, who never married. Mary Adaline (Nicholson) McIntire Stogsdill died at Montier, in Shannon County, on January 23, 1928, and was buried beside her first husband in the Turkey Oak Cemetery at Montier.
[1]Greene County, Missouri, Stray Records, Book 2, Page 145
[2] Described as the East half of the South East quarter of Section No Thirty Six in Township No Thirty of Range Twenty three containing Eighty acres also a part of the West half of the South East quarter of Section Thirty Six same Range and Township described as follows. Beginning at the North East Corner of said half quarter Thence South One hundred and Sixty rods to the Base line, thence West on said line seventy rods, thence due North to the line dividing the Section, thence due East to the place of beginning containing seventy acres.
[3] Described as the West ½ of the Southeast ¼ of Section 27 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West.
[4] Described as Lot #2 in the Northwest ¼ and the North ½ of Lot #2 in the Southwest ¼ of Section 31 in Township 30 North of Range 25 West