| Newspaper | McDonald County Newspaper |
|---|---|
| Date | - |
| Headline | Pioneer Patriarchs Early Times at Jacket and Mountain communities in Southeast McDonald County by Pauline Carnell |
| Text | Sometime in the 1970's the late Payton Hall made a historical talk to the Simsberry Men's Club. That club met in the basement of the Methodist Church at the intersection of Highway 90 and E. Purpose of the organization was to promote improvements for the community. They bought a manure spreader that was loaned to farmers of the organization. At other times they bought other equipment. The club contacted the Missouri Conservation Commission and requested the stocking of wild turkeys and also deer in the county. This accomplished, they turned their attention to securing a municipal water system. After a long time and many meetings with both national and state officials, that too became a reality, supplying rural residents with 31 miles of state approved water. The Men's Club met each month and had some fine programs. So, getting back to Mr. Hall, he told of the early settlement in the extreme southeastern corner of this county. A caravan of settlers from the east came and established the community of Jacket a mile north of the Arkansas line and two miles west of the Barry County line. Actually due to the slow mode of wagon travel, settlement began with some pioneers stopping there along the way for a growing year to make a crop. Early Post Offices It is not known if the Henry Schell family was traveling in a caravan or not, but it is known that they stopped for a time at Luterville, Missouri, then later proceeded on to McDonald County. Mr. Schell acquired some land from a man named Clement. This land was on Otter Creek near where it empties into Big Sugar Creek, and bordered along the Arkansas Line. One information source states he bought the land, however another source says he acquired his land from the government. Since it was quoted as containing 1,000 acres, it seems portions were secured at different times and perhaps by different means. Schell is reputed to have had a mill on Otter Creek. That he did have a post office is recorded by the National Archives in Washington, D.C.; Schell's Mill Post Office established by Henry Schell 10/2/1857 and discontinued 11/20/1863 due to the Civil War. Down stream, on Big Sugar Creek, a post office was established by Peter Morgan, as Round Mountain on 10/26/1860 and discontinued three months later on 1/24/1861. The next office to come into being was Mountain, with Henry C. Schell the postmaster 7/3/1879 (bear in mind that this is after the four years of the Civil War, 1861 - 1865). Phil S. Mahan served from 5/5/1914 to 12/31/1914, when it was discontinued. Now we come back to Jacket, when Henry D. Schell established a post office by that name on 1/27/1879. Jasper Armstrong became postmaster 6/28/1912, and served until 6/4/1918 when Thomas J. Armstrong became postmaster. Then on 4/2/1920 Alvin J. Armstrong, became postmaster and served until its closing on 4/30/1930. Somewhere a post office named "Draten" was in existence for 13 months from 11/16/1903 - 12/15/1904. These communities are south of Missouri Highway 90 on Route KK to the State Line, where recently McDonald County commissioners saw the completion of a bridge that links these communities with an outlet to Pea Ridge, Rogers and Bentonville in Arkansas. I have been told that the Dent Cemetery is in the southeast corner of this county. Then in that area are several other cemeteries, one is Antioch Cemetery and Church, and across the creek from there is another cemetery and farther south is still another cemetery near While Oak Hollow. I have been told of a very large spring in White Oak Hollow and one lady said as a child she and her sibling built a small dam, so they could play in the water during the hot weather. She went on to say that the water was very cold. Civil War Days People living in the Mountain Township, were living so near the Pea Ridge Battlefield that sounds of the battle could be heard for three days. However, official reports only list two days of battle, so the noise heard at that time must have been prior to the battle when numerous skirmishes were taking place. Some very ugly events took place during the war years. One lady who lived somewhere west of the Roller Cemetery, wrote an account of her life at the time and published it. In that account she told of gouging out her horses eyes, to keep it to work. She feared that bushwhackers would take her horse away from her if it could see. After the noise of battle at Pea Ridge died out, she, knowing that her solider husband was there and not knowing if he still lived, set out to go hunt for him. She tells of riding that old blind, stumbling horse past Roller, and on to the battle ground. There were so many dead bodies of both men and horses, that she could hardly walk through them. She went from body to body expecting at any time to find her husband. However, he had survived the battle and moved on with his unit, with no way to let her know he still lived. In another interview it was told of wild animals and how they became even more vicious than usual. Also told was of the wild passenger pigeons and how they were in great flocks in both this county and Benton County. There are accounts of flocks flying over in the day time when it would seem like a thick cloudy day. These pigeons would roost in trees at night and their weight would break tree limbs. At night men would go out to the roosts and pull them off their perch. They were a meat substitute during those war times. Those pigeons, once so plentiful, soon became extinct. There are many descendants of Henry Schell and other hardy pioneers living in this county. Not dated and probably the McDonald County Press, Pineville, MO |
| Resource | McDonald County Newspaper |
| Submitted by | Frances Woodard Coberly |
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