November 7, 2005
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
BRICK FACTORY
Do you have a picture of the brick factory that we could copy? Every so often we find a curious void in our collection at the History Center. This week it is the lack of any good picture of the Moberly Paving Brick Company that was located on South Williams just south of the Sterling Price Apartments. More dwellings are going to be built at the site, so the ground there is being cleared of trees that have grown up in the past 50 years.
We have two old pictures from an old 1909 Chamber of Commerce booklet that are very dark and show very little detail. Jimmy was the one that… Read the rest
September 6, 2005
BLOODY BILL ANDERSON IS COMING
Well, it’s not really Bloody Bill, but one of his latest biographers, Tom Goodrich, will be speaking about him at our annual dinner meeting at Heartland in Moberly. We expect this to be one our most enlightening programs in several years. Hope we see you there. The dinner starts at 6 PM on Sunday, September 18. The dinner is open to everyone and the cost is $10.00.
William ‘Bill’ Anderson grew up in the Huntsville community from his birth in 1840 until he was 14. The family moved to Lyon County, Kansas in 1854. His exploits as a Confederate guerilla during the war between the United States and the Confederate States, won him the title… Read the rest
April 5, 2005
RED HAT SOCIETY VISITS SYCAMORE APARTMENTS
‘Mother Hen’ Juanita Vanskike brought 10 of her ‘Mischievous Chicks’ to the Historical Center and Museum at 223 N Clark in Moberly. They had a guided tour of the old Sycamore bordello. Following the tour they viewed items in the museum.
RALPH GERHARD MICROFILM RESEARCH CENTER
The collection of microfilm at the research center continues to grow thanks to Chris Parrish, who met such an untimely, early death from cancer. Chris was a long time member of the Randolph County Historical Society and traveled from St. Louis to attend the annual meeting of the Society for many years. He was a devoted family history researcher and he had amassed a huge collection of… Read the rest
January 7, 2005
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
RALPH GERHARD MICROFILM RESEARCH CENTER
The collection of microfilm at the research center continues to grow. Chris Parrish, who met such an untimely, early death from cancer, was a long time member of the Randolph County Historical Society. He was a devoted family history researcher and amassed a huge collection of research materials. He had asked his wife Marge to donate his microfilm collection to the Society at his death. We now have the microfilm. In his personal research library were 87 microfilm rolls of birth, marriage, census, and other records from Randolph county and 8 other counties in the surrounding area.
They are a wonderful addition to the Research Center.
SPORTS NEWS
… Read the rest
December 20, 2004
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
HISTORY QUERY
This is from Sue Snider concerning Malinda Paris Jones. “Am looking for more info on this lady and family. She was born in 1826 in Randolf Co., Missouri and died 1915 in Nebraska. Married to a John White in 1845. Thanks, Sue” Let us know if you can help.
December 6, 2004
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
I try to think of ways that I can make history come to life. Usually it takes help and I got it last week from the Horseback Ride for Toys group. They made their annual ride through Moberly collecting toys and having fun with a group-riding event. They collect hundreds toys for kids each year in this manner. Some of you may have noticed a fair amount of horse manure on our streets the next day. For young folks, they are those sort of round things on the road – brown and greenish in color – and smaller than a baseball.
Seeing a few of these ‘Road Apples’ on the street can help… Read the rest
November 22, 2004
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
CLEO NOEL, JR — YASSER ARAFAT
The recent death of PLO leader Yasser Arafat is a sad reminder of the violent, senseless death of Cleo Noel, Jr, a favorite son of Randolph County, who grew up in Moberly. After graduating from Moberly Junior College and getting bachelor and masters degrees in history at University of Missouri, Cleo spent 5 years fighting World War II as a naval commander.
Following the war he was accepted into the United States foreign service academy. This was the beginning of his long and distinguished career in the foreign service. Moving up in the ranks of the U. S. Department of State, he was assigned as Ambassador to Sudan… Read the rest
November 4, 2004
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
MOBERLY MONITOR INDEX MICROFILM FILE
The microfilm files of the Moberly Monitor Index and Evening Democrat as well as its predecessor papers will now be housed in the History Center library at 223 N Clark in Moberly. The collection, belonging to the Monitor Index, ranges from 1882 to 2004, a span of 122 years. Papers do exist back to 1876, but these are not available as yet. This is the single most significant acquisition, ever, by Randolph County Historical Society. We extend our sincere gratitude to Bob Cunningham of the Monitor Index. He felt that the collection needed to be in a location accessible to researchers of Randolph County history. The Little Dixie Regional… Read the rest
October 4, 2004
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
The North Missouri railroad was built several years before the first lot sale in Moberly and since prostitutes tended to follow railroad construction crews, prostitution was a likely activity in Randolph County before Moberly was ever founded. No records have been found to document the activity before 1866. However, Professor Ralph Gerhard has compiled documentation of its existence from 1866 to 1965 from newspaper accounts and city council records. This information is the basis of his new book called MADAMS, PAINTED LADIES AND JOHNS: A History of Prostitution from 1866-1965 in Moberly MO . It will be printed in early November.
Ralph spoke of his reasons for writing the book and gave a… Read the rest
May 4, 2004
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
COUNTY SPORTS PAGE
Transcribed from the HIGBEE NEWS by Kathy Bowlin
Thursday, 29 Sep 1927, Vol 41. No. 21. Page 1, Col. 2–PUBLIC SCHOOL
NEWS–Our volley ball teams this year are composed of the following members: Girls–Maggie Longdon, Eunice Reed, Ruth Eubanks, Lucille Blansett, Eunice Buckler, Genevieve McVay, Nancy Chism, Lois Buckler and Beulah Durnil. Boys–Emerson Hare, Joe Jones, James Cadmus, Edmund Kelso, Edgar Harris, Francis Randolph, C. T. Williams, Lester Jones and Wilbur Compton.
Thursday, 28 Apr 1927, Vol 40, No 51, Pg. 5 Col. 3
Higbee school boys and girls who attended the track meet at Moberly Tuesday did not get as far as many had hoped,… Read the rest
November 24, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
ELLIOT NEWS, 1/23/1908 from the Huntsville Herald
Miss Miller Fieldings was driving to Dover School House last Friday afternoon, when the tongue of the buggy fell to the ground, frightening the horses so that they became unmanageable and ran away. The buggy was upset and Miss Miller was thrown out, one wheel passing over her arm, but did not break the bone, but making a painful flesh wound…
Jeff Wilcox has returned to William Jewell College after spending vacation with home folks.
Leftridge and Wilcox are feeding 60 fat cattle and 110 yearling cattle (this winter).
The box car, which has been used as a depot at Elliott has been taken away, the… Read the rest
November 9, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
Allen, Randolph County, MO no longer exists as a town. It is now a part of Moberly. But it was here long before Moberly. It was located near McDonald’s on North Morley. The North Missouri depot was probably near the Sheltered Workshop on Sparks Avenue. Sparks Avenue is thought to be part of the original route of the stage coach line that ran from Hannibal to Glasgow. Allen was important during the Civil War due to its location on the North Missouri railroad, which went from St Louis to Macon. I am not an expert on the Civil War and nor am I a historian. But, I did come up with a story about… Read the rest
October 27, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
A guerilla fighter, born and raised in Randolph County, was killed north of Orrick by the United States military 139 years ago this week. “Bloody Bill” Anderson was born at Huntsville in 1840 to William and Martha Anderson. William was a hatter and was a charter member of the Huntsville Odd Fellows Lodge. The family moved to what is now Lyon County, Kansas in 1857. When the Civil War started in 1861, Bill Anderson joined Quantrill’s Partisan Rangers.
You can learn more about ‘Bloody Bill’ and guerilla warfare at the Randolph County History Center or at the Little Dixie Regional Library in Moberly. This library is fast becoming a premier collection of rare, out… Read the rest
September 15, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
September 27 is coming. That is the day in 1866 that lots were sold in an area of Randolph County that was to be called Moberly. One of the lots already had a house on it. Patrick Lynch had moved it there from the village of Allen in 1860. (The village of Allen was in the vicinity of today’s McDonalds.) The Chariton and Randolph Railroad Company gave him the lot as an inducement to get the town started. However, the Civil War stopped railroad building and thus, town building for a few years. During the war years Patrick Lynch farmed the land that was to become Moberly. His barn was where Commerce Bank is… Read the rest
August 22, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
People have started saying lately that they have been missing my column in the paper. There is a reason for that. I have been busy with other things and just haven’t written anything for a while. But maybe I can get in the habit again. This column will just be a sort of ‘catch up’ column.
Cecy and I had a good crowd at our open garden in July. We had a good daylily bloom this year and there over a thousand blossoms open that day. It was a particularly good year for hostas. They really like cool weather and lots of rain, so this was the perfect spring for them. They are rather… Read the rest
June 25, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
MURAL PROJECT CEREMONY
Norma Crafton’s art class is coming to a close this Friday. A formal presentation of the mural to the City of Moberly, Main Street Moberly and the Randolph County Historical Society will be made at a ceremony to be held at 5:30 PM, Friday, 27 June at the History Center. The artist in charge, David Loewenstein, and his assistant, Bobby Thorpe will be doing the finishing touches all of next week.
ICE CREAM SOCIAL WRAPUP
Over 300 people bought tickets to the ice cream social this year. The weather was more bearable than last year and it was fun to watch the painters working on the mural. Several people, including me,… Read the rest
June 23, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
TWO RANDOLPH COUNTY MURALS
Thousands of years ago an unknown group of what we think were the first immigrants to North America lived in Randolph County and left a record of their lives on the wall of a cave in the northern part of the county. The cave is now a part Camp Thunderbird and belongs to the Boy Scouts of America. The drawings of these prehistoric Indians, was rather primitive, but it depicted activities of their daily life and, thus, left a record of themselves for future generations.
Now comes the Summer Art Class of Moberly School District with Norma Crafton, the art teacher at Moberly Middle School to the south wall of… Read the rest
June 9, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
ANNUAL ICE CREAM SOCIAL
All the cake and ice cream you can eat for $3.00. Now that’s a bargain in any economy. June 21 from 1PM – 3 PM is when we will have our annual ice cream social.
Rita Daly and her committee report that ticket sales are well ahead of last year. The opportunity to try your hand at painting on the mural is helping sell tickets, too. See any member of the committee or board of directors for tickets. Want to help sell tickets? Call Rita.
Black History
Sylvia Ganaway was so correct in her Letter to the Editor in the Moberly Monitor Index and Evening Democrat on Monday. We… Read the rest
May 26, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County
Courthouse News
News Bulletin – 11 March 1830 – Huntsville, MO – Great Neck, Chief Walking Cloud, Brave Snake, Young Knight and One-That-Don’t Care have been arrested on charges of murder. The quickly impaneled grand jury made the following report on 13 March, 1830. "After examining all the witnesses, and maturely considering the charges for which the Iowa Indians are now in confinement, we find them not guilty, and they are at once discharged." Members of this second grand jury included John Dysart, foreman, James Davis, John Owens, David Turner, William Mathis, Thomas Prather, William Kerby, Jacob Epperly, Nicholas Tuttle, Robert Reed, John Gross, James Cooley, John McCully, Dr William Fort, Nathaniel Floyd and… Read the rest
May 4, 2003
OLD’N NEWS From Around the County – Court House News
The following is an extract from the 1884 History of Randolph and Macon Counties concerning the building of the first court house. ‘The contract for building the first court house was let on the 13 of June, 1831. It was a brick structure, two stories high, built in a square form, one room below used as a court-room and three above used as jury rooms. One of these small rooms was used for a number of years as a Masonic Hall…..’
This room is where the first Masonic meeting in Randolph county was held. The building was torn down in about 1858 or 1859 after it was determined that it… Read the rest
April 14, 2003
OLD n’ NEWS From Around the County
Several have asked, ‘Where have you been?’ This column has been gone from the paper for a while and the following is part of the reason. See, someone sent me a list of sayings called ‘Words of Wisdom’ and I took one to heart immediately. It goes, “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” But some of the guys at Coffee, Inc. have been wondering what I’m going to write about next, people at the historical society are asking if it isn’t about time to have another article and Cecy just told me "You ought to write your column." So, maybe it is coming up like spring – slowly. For me March… Read the rest
December 16, 2002
OLDn’NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY
CORRECTION SECTION: First things, first. I mentioned in the last column that a father and son were Dr’s in Darksville. True, but Dr Robert Terrill is the father of Dr. Willard Terrill instead of the other way around. Mary Jones, mayor of Huntsville told me that Dr Robert Terrill’s wife was the daughter of John Hall. Charlie Gillespie of Renick says that John Hall’s middle name was Hancock. Mildred Terrill, whose article I quoted, is Mary Jones mother.
Your notes and calls are really helpful in correcting and ‘fine tuning’ our history of Randolph County. Please feel free to contact us about anything.
OPEN HOUSE for the HOLIDAYS — 10% OFF ON EVERYTHING EXCEPT… Read the rest
December 2, 2002
OLDn’NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY
George Merideth left Monday for Cedar Rapids, IA.
There is considerable sickness in the community at this writing.
W S Campbell and H C Yeakey now have phones in their residences.
Several from here delivered hogs Monday to J W Swetnam at 4 cents a pound.
Mrs. Homer Cavanaugh of Moberly has been visiting her father-in-law, H B Cavanaugh and family.
Sam Broaddus, who had his hand so severely mashed in the sawmill several days ago, has been suffering greatly with it for the past several days, but is resting better at present.
Rev Campbell will preach at Eldad next Sunday at 11o’clock. All invited.
These are just a… Read the rest
November 11, 2002
OLDn’NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY
The Daughters of the American Revolution, Margaret Miller Chapter, heard Randolph ‘countian’ Jim Harlan describe his Lewis and Clark in Missouri project Tuesday night. Jim, who lives in Moberly and is assistant director of the Geographic Resource Center at the University of Missouri, was in charge of the monumental task of re mapping the Missouri River to show it as it was in 1804 when Merriweather Lewis and William Clark made their historic trip. Lewis and Clark were exploring the new United States territory gained in 1802 by President Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase.
Due to the extensive notes taken by Lewis and Clark plus other members of the party it was possible, with a lot of… Read the rest
November 4, 2002
OLDn’NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY
Saturday we had a joyous first meeting of some of the Staley/Staehly relatives at the History Center. It happens quite often. Sharon Egler of Belleville, IL has been tracking her Staehley family for quite some time. It is a common practice in doing research to try and find collateral lines of family, since they might have the unknown family information that you are looking for. Sharon found out in an old obituary that a brother of her great grandfather had moved to Randolph County in the 1800’s. The brother’s name was Fred Staehly. So two weeks ago she came here to Moberly to find out what she could about him. She started in the Little… Read the rest
October 28, 2002
OLDn’NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY
We hit the jackpot last week. Guy Wright got a photo of the store at Hubbard, Randolph County, MO from Jim Palmer along with a little history of the town. This is the only picture that we have of anything there. The George W Sears family owned and operated the store from 1906 to 1916, so the picture was taken in that time period. George W Sears, daughter Blanch Sears Rice and Elizabeth W Sears are pictured in the photo. The big sign says HARRISON’S TOWN AND COUNTRY PAINT – All Colors / All Good – Geo W Sears – Hubbard.
You can hardly get any further northwest in Randolph County than the place that… Read the rest
October 14, 2002
OLDn’NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY
These cold mornings have made me start reminiscing about my younger years when we had two coal stoves for heat. The one in the living room was only used when we had company or when someone was sick and came to live with us for a while. Otherwise, the living room was curtained off. The stove was a Warm Morning brand; barrel shaped and rather plain looking. You couldn t see any fire, which, for a little kid is an important feature of a stove. The one in the dining room was a big pot bellied stove with a lot of chrome fenders and rising glass windows on the front door that could look like… Read the rest
October 7, 2002
OLDn’NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY
Carolee Hazlet’s grant application really brought home a winner last week. The Missouri Department of Economic Development granted the Randolph County Historical Society $350,000 in Neighborhood Assistance Project tax credits for restoration of the Fourth Street Theater. What does it mean? Here’s an example. If your company owes $10,000 in state taxes, you may give $7,000 of it directly to the Randolph County Historical Society and keep the money in Randolph County. Good way to keep the money at home. Our Board of Directors just named Carolee the NAP Project Director and she will be coming to see you soon.
Boy, did I have fun talking to Mose Alexander the other day. He came by… Read the rest
September 23, 2002
OLDn’NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY
The village of Fairview was about a seven miles north of Allen and one mile west of the north/south railroad tracks going from village of Allen to town of Macon. About 1860, Thomas Dameron, who owned land near the track, donated 5 acres to the railroad for a depot. Another 35 acres was laid out in lots for a town. So Fairview moved to this new location a mile east. Thomas Dameron’s house was the first one in the new town and he became the first postmaster. Post offices were very important in the naming of a town. When the town was large enough for a post office, it was found that there was another… Read the rest
September 16, 2002
OLDn’NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTY
We had the 36th Annual Randolph County Historical Society dinner meeting Tuesday night at Nelly’s in Moberly. Eighty people heard a short business meeting and participated in the election of officers for the coming year. The program had to be changed at the last minute, since Leroy Canaday’s son was having heart surgery in St Joseph. Dr. Howard ‘Rusty’ Marshall gave the program using songs from his new CD album, which will be released in October. His accompanist was guitarist, Ken Appleby. The fiddle music on the album is all from the Lewis and Clark era of United States history. There were two fiddlers on the trip up the Missouri and west to the Pacific… Read the rest
