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Jackson Township, Missouri History
Jackson Township occupies the northeastern part of Greene County, and comprises the portion of congressional township thirty-one, range twenty included in Greene County; township thirty, range twenty, and one-half of the upper tier of sections of township twenty-nine, range twenty. We have already made mention in the county history of the coming of Andrew Bass to the county at the close of the year 1829, and his first settlement half a mile west of Strafford. In the same neighborhood (Section three) Jeremiah Pierson was an early resident and one of the first settlers of the county. He lived at the Danforth farm on the Springfield and Marshfield road, a farm which Josiah F. Danforth purchased of Jeremiah Pierson in 1834 and where he lived for many years. Danforth was from Tennessee and the father of James, Joseph, and William Danforth.
In the year 1830 , Andrew Bass put about nine acres of land under cultivation at the place where he first settled, and at the close of the year moved about six miles north to section four, township thirty, range twenty, to the farm now owned and occupied by his son, Sampson Bass. The remains of the old pioneer and his wife now repose on the farm where he lived for many years. Alpheus Huff, the same year (1830) moved from Franklin county, Missouri, and settled near the line between sections four and five of the same township. Huff was a native of the State of New York. He and Bass were the first settlers of congressional township thirty, range twenty. Alexander Chadwick was the next arrival. He came from Tennessee and settled in section seven, of the same township in 1831. No settlements of any account were then made for two or three years. In township thirty one, range twenty, among the first settlers were Thomas Potter, William Potter, John Adams, Robert Small, James Donnell, and Capt. John Ramsey; and in township thirty, range twenty, William Price, George Kepley, Nathan Webb, and Bennett Thrower.
The first church organized in Jackson township, was the Bethsaida Methodist Church, built of logs, which stood on section seven, of township thirty, range twenty. Within a mile and a half was afterward built the Elm Spring Methodist Church, erected after old Bethsaida had ceased to exist. One of the first preachers in the township, was the Rev. Joplin, a traveling Methodist preacher, who preached from house to house throughout that part of the county. The first Methodist society was organized at the widow Price's in section four of township thirty, range twenty. The first white child born in the township was probably James Bass, the son of Andrew Bass.
Among the old residents of the township now are the Basses, the Huffs, John Harkness, who came to the township in 1843, and R. B. Wommack, who came from Tennessee to Missouri in 1839, settled at Sand Springs in Webster county, and moved on the Pomme de Terre in Jackson county in 1852. There are several families of the Wommacks in the township, all old residents. Esquire Murrell has been an old resident, and a leading and influential citizen.
Fair Grove is in this township fifteen miles northeast from Springfield. It contains two dry- goods stores, two drug stores, two blacksmith shops, a wool-carding machine and a cotton gin. A Cumberland Presbyterian Church and a Methodist Episcopal are also situated here, and a substantial school house built in 1868. It has mail twice a week, and is a considerable business point.
Strafford, in the southern part of the township, is on the railroad, ten miles north-east from Springfield. Walnut Forest is a settlement two miles north from Strafford.
The Pomme de Terre creeks flow through the township. In July, 1876, this stream was extraordinarily full on account of freshets from heavy rains, and did widespread damage to the farms along its banks, overflowing fields, and sweeping away fences and crops. The height to which it rose was between three and four feet higher than it was ever known to have reached before.
OTHER PIONEER SETTLEMENTS
In the neighborhood of Strafford the family of Jerry Pierson was living at a very early date, as far back as 1829. In the fall of 1829, Andrew Bass, the father of Sampson Bass, left Tennessee for Missouri, arrived in what is now Greene county toward the close of the year, and settled about half a mile west of Strafford, put up a cabin, and the following summer put a few acres of land under cultivation. The country north of where he lived (now Jackson township) was still inhabited by some Indians, but on their removal he chose a new location, now the farm occupied by Sampson Bass, and moved there toward the close of the year 1830, and there remained till his death in 1864. Alpheus Huff, whose sons still live in that part of the country, came to Greene county the same year (1830) from Franklin county, Missouri, and made a settlement within a mile of Andrew Bass. Alexander Chadwick came from Tennessee in the fall of 183l, and then there were no other new arrivals in that immediate part of the county for a period of two or three years.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
The agricultural productions are wheat, corn, rye, oats, potatoes and other staple crops. The tobacco produced is of fine quality. Fruit yields abundantly. Blue grass grows luxuriantly, and is constantly adding to its acreage as the native grasses are trampled out by stock. The county is favorably adapted to the stock business, and for the products of the dairy it possesses advantages superior to almost any other county in Missouri. The undulating surface, numerous springs and streams of pure and limpid water, and its luxuriant growth of tender grass, eminently fit it for grazing, and give it all the conditions for the production of an article of butter largely in advance of that generally seen throughout the Western country. With attention paid to this branch of farming, and the requisite skill of the part of those having charge of dairies, the Greene county butter might be made to possess as high a reputation as is now the case with the favorite brands which bring high prices in the Eastern markets. Of late years a large improvement has been made in the character of the stock in some parts of the county, and an earnest effort has been made on the part of certain gentlemen, notably W. R. Robertson, living west of Springfield, to introduce the finer breeds. Mr. Robertson has been the pioneer in this direction in Southwest Missouri, and has made several importations from Kentucky. There is nothing needed but enterprise and capital to make Greene one of the finest stock counties in the state.
taken from: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORICAL ATLAS MAP of GREENE COUNTY, MO. Carefully Compiled from Personal Examinations and Surveys.
Published by BRINK, McDONOUGH & CO., 1876
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