A. TRANSCRIPTION FROM A HISTORY OF THE PIONEER FAMILIES OF MISSOURI DESCRIBING THE EARLY DAYS OF MISSOURI AND ST. CHARLES COUNTY WHERE THE PITTS AND ALLEN FAMILIES CONVERGED
In 1828, thirty-three years before the U.S. Civil War, my second great grandparents, Dr. George Richardson Pitts and Catherine “Kitty” Elizabeth Spence Pitts, moved with their three oldest sons Benjamin, 5, Oliver, 4, and Walter, 3, from Westmoreland, Virginia to the seven-year-old state of Missouri. The following description of St. Charles County, Missouri, where they bought land and lived out the rest of their lives, is taken from the invaluable historical book A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri written by William S. Bryan and Robert Rose and first published by Bryan, Brand and Co., St. Louis, MO in 1876. I am including this narrative because, written just a few decades after most of the events described in Kitty’s letters, it paints a descriptive picture of the times in which these ancestors lived. In this book can also be found stories, not included in this transcript, about others in the Allen ancestry tree and the people who first settled in Missouri.
In 1818 the people of the territory of Missouri petitioned Congress for authority to form a State government, and a bill was accordingly introduced during the session of 1818-19 but it contained a clause prohibiting slavery, and, though it passed the House, it was rejected by the Senate. At the ensuing session the bill was again brought up, and a lengthy and exciting debate took place, lasting several weeks. A compromise was finally effected, by which it was agreed that slavery should be tolerated in Missouri, but in no other part of Louisiana, as ceded by France to the United States, north of 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude. Under this bill a Convention was called for the purpose of framing a State Constitution. The Convention met in St. Louis in June, 1820, and formed a constitution which was laid before Congress early in the session of 1820-21. It was accepted, and the State formally admitted into the Union.
During the following summer an election was held for members of the Legislature and other State officers, and in the winter of 1821-22 the first Legislature of the State of Missouri met in St. Charles. Its sessions were held in a room in the second story of a house on Main street, still standing, the lower room of which is now occupied by Mr. Fred Heye as a tin shop.
The Constitution had made liberal provision for remunerating the Governor and Supreme and Circuit Judges, but one of the first acts of the Legislature was to reduce the salaries of these officers to a very low figure, in conformity with the stringency of the times. The Governor was allowed $1,500, the Supreme Judges $1,000, and the Circuit Judges $1,000. It was expected by many persons that this reduction of salaries would prevent men of ability from seeking those positions but at the next election there was as great a scramble for office as there had been at the preceding one, under the large salaries fixed by the Constitution. Those salaries seem small and mean to us now, and would hardly be sufficient to support the family of an ordinary mechanic but they were sufficient for those primitive times, when a family could live in considerable style on five or six hundred dollars a year …
Most of the members of the first Legislature, as well as the Governor and other high dignitaries, rode to St. Charles on horseback, and their horses were kept during the session by Mr. Archibald Watson, a farmer, who lived a few miles below St. Charles, on “the point.” The members boarded at private houses, and at the few hotels that were in the town at the time, at the rate of $2.50 per week. The remuneration proved to be insufficient, and those who kept boarding houses generally lost money. Uriah J. Devore, who boarded a number of the members, lost everything he had. Pork was worth 1 ½ cents per pound; venison hams 25 cents each; eggs 5 cents per dozen; honey 5 cents a gallon, and coffee $1 per pound. Sugar was not in the market, and those who drank coffee sweetened it with honey. Some of the members were rough characters, and they all dressed in primitive style, either in homespun and home-made clothes, or in buckskin leggins and hunting shirts. Some wore rough shoes of their own manufacture, while others encased their feet in buckskin moccasins. Some had slouched hats, but the greater portion wore caps made of the skins of wild cats or raccoons. Governor McNair was the only man who had a fine cloth coat, and that was cut in the old “pigeon-tail” style. He also wore a beaver hat, and endeavored to carry himself with the dignity becoming a man in his position.
Various newspapers would have been available for Dr. and Mrs. Pitts to read in the early days of the state, including The Missourian, “succeeded by the Clarion, which was established by Nathaniel Patten … and published by him until his death, which occurred in 1837. After his death the paper was continued by his widow.” Over the next thirty-one years the paper changed hands and names several times until it became the Cosmos in 1868. The authors of our referenced book in 1876 stated: “This paper, therefore, running back through several suspensions and numerous changes of name and proprietors, is perhaps, the oldest paper in the State, except the Missouri Republican.”
The first church in St. Charles was organized by the Catholics, at a date so early that there is no record of it. The first church record that has come down to the present day, was made in 1792 by Rev. Peter J. Didier. It recorded the birth of Peter Beland, who was born in St. Charles on the 7th of June, 1792. Since that time the Catholics have preserved a regular church organization in St. Charles, and have, doubtless, possessed a larger membership than any other church in the place. The next church established there was the Presbyterian, which was founded August 30, 1818, by Rev. Salmon Giddings, assisted by Rev. John Matthews … The third church organization in St. Charles was effected by the Methodists, probably not many years after the advent of the Colliers, who came in 1815; but they had no house to worship in until 1830, when they were supplied with one by the liberality of Mrs. Collier. These were the first regular church organizations in the place, but ministers of nearly all other denominations held services there and in the surrounding country on various occasions. The other church organizations of St. Charles are of a comparatively modern date. Rev. James Crittenden, of Kentucky, was a very popular Baptist preacher in those early times, and many children born then were named for him.
Among the old institutions of St. Charles, Lindenwood Female College is one of the most prominent. It was founded by Major George C. Sibley, in 1828, who erected a house upon his own grounds, and dedicated it to the cause of education …
St Charles College, another of the old institutions of this place, is noticed in connection with the history of its founders.
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