Obadiah Smith

Obadiah Smith (1805-1863) = Pioneer farmer and preacher. Soldier in Black Hawk War. Born in Kentucky, he emigrated with his family to Missouri when he was a young man. His wife, Lucinda, born in North Carolina, also emigrated with her parents to Missouri some years previous to their marriage in 1832 and when they arrived in Cedar County, MO in 1837, they had two small children with them -- Ruben (4 yrs) and John (2 yrs), named for Obadiah's brother, John M. Smith. John M. became known in Cedar Creek for his agility and strength. He loved to demonstrate it by lifting two ordinary men at the same time without apparent effort.

Obadiah had very little schooling, but had an interest in reading and understanding the teachings of the Bible. He also had a passion for holy living. Even before he completed his own home [Sec. 3; Twp. 35; R 27], he began promoting the idea of establishing a Baptist church in the area with his neighbors which they did the following summer. Elders Hiram Savage and Elijah Williams and Deacon William Savage organized the new Cedar Creek Baptist church on July 1st, 1838. In August, the small congregation elected Obadiah as moderator for the new church. Later he felt called to preach and preach he did, but didn't receive ordination until September 1841.

Lucinda died shortly after the family settled in Cedar County and Obadiah married her younger sister Elizabeth Hartman. They had six children -- Andrew, Henry, Peter, Campbell, Samuel W. and Catherine (b. 1849).

During the Civil War, he put aside church work and entered politics, being appointed to the State Legislature (1862-63). He was killed with his own weapon, a rifle, while standing next to his wife by deceptive Confederate soldiers who came to visit them. 


More to Read:
1. History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade and Barton Counties, Missouri. Goodspeed, Chicago, 1889.
2. Historical Sketches of Cedar County Missouri. By Clayton Abbott. Stockton, MO. 1967.
3. Missouri Legislators = Smith, Obadiah, Rep., Cedar, 1862.
4. Findagrave # 2591509

Places to Visit:
1. State Capitol and Museum, 201 W. Capitol Ave, Jefferson City, MO.
2. Hackleman Cemetery, Cedar County, MO.

Rev. Alexander M. Sullens

Rev. Alexander M. & Martha Ritter Sullens

Rev. Alexander M. Sullens (1830-1905)  = Christian (Campbellite; Disciples of Christ) Minister. Union Soldier in Civil War.

Alexander, born in Mill Springs, Wayne county, Kentucky on Oct 15, the third of thirteen, to John (1804-1883) and Malinda Thompson Sullens (1805-1867), emigrated from Kentucky to Miller county, Missouri where his brother was born the following year. Alexander's grandparents were Peter & Mary Carson Sullens, Sr. Alexander's first cousin, Judge John H. Sullens of Adrian, Bates County, MO.,  born in Kentucky the year before he was, was elected to both circuit court and as a Missouri state legislator. As a victim of the Burnt District, John, along with other representatives, asked the editor of the St. Louis Republican paper to publish George Caleb Bingham's letter concerning General Thomas Ewing's Order No. 11.

Alexander married Martha (1831-1914), daughter of Abraham and Nancy Ritter on May 19, 1849 in Cole County, MO and to this union six children were born -- William Jasper  (1850-1829); John Thomas (1852-1935); Mary E. (b.1857); George Washington (1859-1896); Ezra L. (1861-1930); and Lewis Pinkney "Pink" Sullens (1867-1945). Their son, William, played a fiddle and it is said that he could play all night and not play the same song twice. William's son, Loyd Carl would accompany his father on his banjo.

Alexander pastored the Spring Garden Christian Church, the mother church of all the Disciples of Christ churches in Miller County. The church was organized in 1840 and two church houses were built in the northwest corner of the present day cemetery in 1845 and 1870. When his granddaughter, Cora Lee (1875-1955), daughter of William Jasper and Nannie C. Scrivner (1857-1901) Sullens, married William Thornton Rush (1874-1954), son of James M. (1826-1892) & Theresa Jane Loveall Rush (1835-1909), on March 30, 1902,  he officiated at their wedding ceremony.

 More to Read:

1.) Bingham: Fighting Artist. By Lew Larkin. School of the Ozarks Press, Point Lookout, MO. 1971. P. 293.

2.) The History of Cass and Bates Counties, Missouri. St. Joseph, Mo. National Historical Company, 1883. p. 1299-1300. Repository: Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, MO, www.mymcpl.org

3.) Miller County, MO. Marriages, Bk. E. P. 137 By A. M. Sullins.

4.) The Rush Report. Compiled by Gaynelle Jenkins Moore with research assistance by David W. Rush. Historical Data Services, Glens Falls, NY; 2003.

5.) Peter Sullens and Mary Carson and Two Hundred Years of Descendants. By Maude Sullens Hoffman. Printed by J.W. Brown. 1971.
6.) A Photo of William Jasper & Loyd Sullens playing their instruments.

7.) Miller County, Missouri Communities: Spring Garden
8.) See the "Leaf" labeled biographies for more information.
9.) Findagrave Memorial  # 61286760 and Find A Grave Memorial # 60413035

Places to Visit:

1.) Spring Garden Cemetery, AA Hwy & Binkley Road (north of 54 Hwy), Spring Garden, Miller County, MO. 



Alexander Sullen's Civil War Tombstone
Spring Garden, MO. cemetery

Certificate that came with Civil War tombstone
signed by US President

Isaac McCoy

Rev. Isaac McCoy (1784-1846) = Baptist Missionary. Surveyor. US Commissioner Indian Agent. Ferry operator. Born in Pennsylvania and reared in the frontier settlements of Indiana and Kentucky.

Isaac brought his family of six west in 1830. His son, John Calvin, born in Indiana in 1811, his daughter, Delilah, and his son-in-law, Dr. Johnston Lykins. When the Rev. McCoy arrived, he knelt, offered prayer and dedicated the land.

Isaac built a log cabin high on a hill (northeast corner of Main and Linwood Blvd.) overlooking what was to become Westport.

In August of 1830, Isaac McCoy addressed a council of Shawnees on the subject of establishing a Baptist mission. He wrote in his diary: "The Methodists have been talking of forming an establishment among them. Today more than twenty Shawanoes assembled in obedience to a call of Major John Campbell, [sub-agent] to whom I made a pretty lengthy address on the subject of a mission being established among them. The celebrated Shawnaoe prophet, who was so often heard of in the last war, and brother to Tecumseh, replied briefly to me. An answer will be deferred, until I return from my tour in the wilderness."

Isaac McCoy surveyed the Indian reservation land in Kansas. Mrs. Eliza McCoy, a niece, worked at the Wea Baptist Mission near Paola in 1848.  

On July 13, 1835, Isaac purchased a female slave named Chiney for $15 to prevent her from being torn from her husband and family. He was against slavery, but promised to provide her freedom when Chiney had paid him back.. He left Chiney to his wife in his will and Jotham Meeker, another Baptist missionary, witnessed it.

A marker was placed at McCoy’s  home, near what became St. Luke’s Hospital on Wornall Road, in 1961 by the Jackson County Historical Society.

Historical Note: Isaac's brother-in-law, Judge William Polke of Rochester, was the conductor of the Pottawatomi Indians during the Trail of Death from Indiana to the Indian territory in Kansas in 1838. If you wish to know if a Pottawatomi ancestor traveled on the Trail of Death, see the Tribal Rolls here. 

 More to Read:

1. McCoy Papers, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS www.KSHS.org

 or www.kancoll.org

2. The Annual Register of Indian Affairs within the Western (or Indian) Territory. By Isaac McCoy, 1837-1838. KSHS.org

3. History of the Baptist Indian Missions. by Isaac McCoy. 1840.

4. The Memoir of Mrs. Eliza McCoy. Calvin McCormick, Dallas, Texas, 1892.

5. Jackson County Pioneers. By Pearl Wilcox. 1975

6. A Historic Outline of Grinter Place from 1825 to 1878. Compiled by Harry E. Hanson. c. 1970.

7. “The Trail of Death” by Marilyn Mullins, Osawatomie and Its People. Osawatomie Historic Society, 1995

8. Annals of Shawnee Methodist Mission. Compiled by Martha B. Caldwell. Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS. 1977.

9. John Brown and the Legend of Fifty-Six. By James Claude Malin. 1942.
10. Missouri: Day by Day. By Floyd C. Shoemaker, Editor. Mo State Historical Society, 1942.

11. The History of the Jackson County Historical Society: 1909 to 1996. By Wilda Sandy. 1996. and  Here Lies Kansas City: A Collection of Our City’s Notables and Their Final Resting Places. Wilda Sandy. 1984.
12. History of Kansas. By Noble L. Prentis. E. P. Greer, Winfield, KS; 1899.
13. Polk Family & Kinsmen. By William Harrison Polk (1843-), Louisville, KY Press, 1912.
14. Memoir of Jason Mason Peck. Rufus Babcock. 1864.

15. Carey Mission, Michigan

16. Baptists in Illinois
17. John Calvin McCoy on Pearl Street, Kansas City, MO. And "Paving the Way to South Kansas City." 

18. “Missouri Star: The Life and Times of Martha A. “Mattie” Livingston Lykins Bingham. By Dr. Rose Ann Findlen. 2011. 

19. Findagrave # 20796462

 

Places to see in Mo and KS.

1. Westport Landing, Missouri River and Grand Ave, Kansas City
2. Harlem, Clay County, MO Historical Marker 

3. Residence Marker, near St. Luke’s Hospital on Wornall. Kansas City, MO. Jackson County Historical Society. 1961.

4. John Calvin McCoy’s former home, 711 Olive Street, Kansas City, MO.

5. John built a two story log cabin in 1833 at 444 Westport Road, Kansas City, MO.

6. Look up! The Westport Historical marker is attached to a brick building on the corner of Pennsylvania and Westport Roads, Kansas City, MO. 
7. Pioneer Park, Westport Road and Broadway, Kansas City
8. Westport Historical Society/Harris-Kearney Home, 4000 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City

9. Red Bridge, spans Red Bridge Road between Blue River Parkway and Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO (Renew the Blue River)

10. Trail of Death Marker at Minor Park (between the old Red Bridge and the first park shelter on east side of Blue River), off Red Bridge Road, Kansas City, MO. (The west side of Blue river is where the Pottawatomi's camped in Nov. 1838 before reaching their reservation in Miami County, Kansas two days later).

11. Union Cemetery, 227 East 28th Terr. Kansas City, MO. (Note: According to John Mark Lambertson, a former member of the Union Cemetery board, Rev. Isaac McCoy passed away in the city of Louisville, Kentucky and was buried there. However, his son, John Calvin McCoy, was buried in Union Cemetery). 

12. Mary Ann Isaacs Dagenette Peoria's home, 708 E. Kaskaskia St., Paola (Private home).

13. Wea Baptist Mission History, Miami County Historical Museum, Paola, KS. 

Nathan Scarritt

Rev. Nathan Scarritt (1821-1890) = Methodist Preacher and Teacher. Missionary. Nathan was born in Edwardsville, Illinois on April 14 and was educated at McKendree College, in Lebanon, Illinois.

He arrived in the Kansas City area in September of 1848 to teach the classics at Rev. Thomas Johnson’s Shawnee Methodist Indian Manual Labor School. He also taught at early grammar schools in Westport, at a seminary for young women and at a Bible training school for missionaries.

Rev. Scarritt preached at the Delaware Indian Methodist Mission White Church organized by Rev. Thomas Johnson for a time. In 1852, the Independence Methodist circuit was dropped and a new Kansas and Westport circuit filled, with Rev. Scarritt appointed as preacher. He attended the St. Louis Methodist Conference at Springfield, MO. on Wednesday, October 24, 1855. Nathan was presiding elder over the Lecompton district in the fourth session of the Kansas Methodist Mission Conference held in Tecumseh on September 23, 1859.  In 1858-59, he was appointed to the Shawnee Reserve, and for the next two years he was the presiding elder of the Lecompton district. Later he preached at the Washington Street Methodist Episcopal Church, a preaching point begun by a Methodist layman, W.B. Barber in 1877.

Nathan married Martha Matilda Chick, daughter of Col. William Miles (1794-1847) and Ann Eliza Smith Chick (1796-1876) and produced nine children. Originally, Nathan and Martha lived in Westport, in a tidy two-story frame house, but moved to a farm in 1862, close to today’s Cliff Drive and Gladstone Blvd in Kansas City. Still standing is his eldest son’s 1898 Scarritt-Royster home.  In October of 1874, he married Mrs. Ruth E. Scarritt, the widow of his brother Isaac.

Nathan died on May 22 and is buried in the Mt. Washington Cemetery in Independence, MO. 

More to Read:

1. Kansas City Then & Now 3. By Monroe Dodd, Kansas City Star Books, 2007.

2. Here Lies Kansas City: A Collection of Our City’s Notables and Their Final Resting Places. Wilda Sandy. 1984.

3. He Came To Pray: History of White Church Christian Church: 1832-1996.

4. Lecompton Methodist Church" By Iona Spencer. Bald Eagle. Lecompton Historical Society, Lecompton, KS. Summer, 1998.

5. Methodist Episcopal Church, South History. By Rev. Joab Spencer.

6. Postcards from Old Kansas City. By Mrs. Sam Ray. 1980.

7. Westport: Missouri's Port of Many Returns. By Patricia Cleary Miller. Lowell Press, Kansas City, Mo. 1983. Repository: Mid-Continent PublicLibrary, Raytown Branch, 10016 E. 62st, Raytown, MO.
8. Findagrave #6870909

Places to Visit in KS. & MO.

1. Shawnee Indian Mission Historic Site & Museum, 3403 W. 53^rd, Fairway, KS

2. White Christian Church/Delaware Indian Mission (see stained glass window), 2200 N. 85th St., Kansas City, Wyandotte County, KS.

3. Lecompton & Tecumseh, KS.

4. Former home stood at 4038 Central street, Kansas City, MO.

5. Scarritt Point Memorial, (first home site), West side of Walrond Street and Norledge Ave, at Kessler Park, Scarritt Spring, Kansas City, MO. (section 34 shows Nathan Scarritt's name on this 1877 Jackson County, MO. historic map)

6. Scarritt Building, 9^th & Walnut, Kansas City, MO. (completed in 1907)

7. Scarritt-Royster home, 3500 Gladstone Blvd, Kansas City, MO.
8. Scarritt Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri
9. Westport Historical Society, 4000 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City

9. Mt. Washington Cemetery, 614 Brookside Drive, Independence, MO.

Biography written by Dolores J. Rush. Updated: 1/17/2020.  

Daniel Lewis LaRue

 Daniel Lewis LaRue (1867-1934) = Farmer. Stonemason. Born to Amos Tiffin Davis "AT" (1830-1900) and Sarah Ann (Stroud) LaRue (1831-1891), Sr. in Madison County, Indiana on August 22. He was their 7th child of eight and he moved to Burr Oak, Rooks Co., Kansas when he was seven with his parents. His siblings names were: Amos, Jr., Elizabeth, Mary, John William, Jacob, Joseph, and Sarah.

Daniel married twice and had a total of thirteen children. In 1890, he married Amanda Jane (Moon) (1870-1891), daughter of Jonathan D. (1846-1916) and Harriett (Wall) Moon. Amanda died the following year giving birth to Earnest Preston (1891-1972). Daniel, then 22, was unable to care for his newborn son and left the little tyke in his sister, Sarah's (1870-1952) care until he was nine. Four years later, Sarah married Amanda's brother, Linton Henry Moon (1871-1950), producing seven children of her own.

Meanwhile, Daniel met Deliah "Della" E. (1879-1943) in Hebron, Nebraska. She was there caring for her sister, Belle, who had married one of Dan's cousins, Marion LaRue and contracted tuberculosis. Dan & Della tied the knot on August 27, 1898 in Stockton, KS. Della was the daughter of James A. (1828-1903) and Hester Ann (Morris) Bailey (1844-1925) of Stanberry, MO. Since Dan was a stonemason, they moved where there was work. Their first five children were born in a different towns every two years. Eventually, when number six came along, they had reached Hill City, KS where they lived a number of years. In 1920, they moved to Topeka, KS where Ernie was residing at the time.

Following a broken neck caused by a drunk driver in a head-on collision, Daniel died in Bell Memorial Hospital, Kansas City. Both he and Della rest in peace together in the Waverly, Kansas cemetery.

More to Read:

1. Ash Rock Church

2. Captain Osborn's Legacy. By Patsy Redden. (Biography of first pastor of Ash Rock Church, Rev. R. S. Osborn).

3. Ash Rock and the Stone Church. by Leo E. Oliva

4. Woodston: The Story of a Kansas Country Town. by Leo. E. Oliva.

Click to Enlarge.

My great-grandfather repaired the walls of this historic stone churchhouse,

Ash Rock Church (org. 1878; stone bldg. built 1883), near Woodston, Rooks County,Ash Rock Twp., KS. in 1900.