Osceola Library, May 2009 - submitted by Mary Zeiler.
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OSCEOLA
Osceola Library, May 2009 - submitted by Mary Zeiler.
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Courthouse &
Gazebo, May 2009 - submitted by Mary Zeiler
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Once the First Baptist Church, today this building is home to the St. Clair
County Historical Society.
May 2009 - submitted by Mary Zeiler.
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Used as the Osceola High School for many years, this building has been converted
into an apartment complex.
May 2009 - submitted by Mary Zeiler.
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East entrance to the Square, May 2009 - submitted by Mary Zeiler.
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Another view of the square, entering from the east, May 2009 - submitted by Mary
Zeiler.
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West side of the Square, May 2009 - submitted by Mary Zeiler.
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North side of the Square, May 2009 - submitted by Mary Zeiler.
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Osceola has had a Post Office during the years 1842 through present.
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Osceola Herald, 29 June 1871:
From a little ragged hamlet of perhaps half a hundred population, Osceola has
grown to be a town of near a thousand inhabitants. Her growth has been steady.
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St. Clair County History, 1883, pages 982, 983:
Osceola - Its Birth
The first house built upon the site of the City of Osceola was in the winter of
1835-36. Sanders Nance and his colored man, Martin, cut the
logs and hauled them to the bluff back of the residence of James H. Linney.
Trouble as to who staked out the claim arose between Nance and Phillip Crow and
Nance vacated the ground giving Crow possession. Phillip Crow put up the house
and also a store of poles. He was joined by Richard P. Crutchfield and in March
or April 1836 the first store
within the limits of St. Clair County was started on the banks of the Osage
River. It was known as the “Crossing of the Osage at Crow & Crutchfields” for
several years and the name “Osceola” was given it after the celebrated Indian
Chief.
Crow & Crutchfield were soon joined by others. Dr. P.M. Cox, Joseph Cox and
William Cox, all brothers, came in May 1836. Dr. Cox purchased the land
adjoining Crows. Finding it a good trading point, Messrs. Cox and Crow decided
to lay out a town. They located it mostly on section 20.
The Cox brothers opened the second store in Osceola in the spring of 1837. James
Gardner opened the first hotel, a double lot with passageway between. Bridges &
Dudley ran a blacksmith shop. Ministers were of the circuit riding class.
Steven Noel started the first saloon and was first road overseer in the county,
having been appointed by the Rives County Court in 1836. William C. Thompson
started a saddler’s shop in 1838.
In 1839 David Corbin and son built the first frame house put up in the town. The
lumber used was whipsawed by the Corbins. It was used as a
tailor shop by a frenchman named Ernest Leming.
The next house which the owners extravagance led to fine lumber instead of logs
for floors, etc. was that of Lawrence Lewis. The joints and planks in his house
were sawed by hand and the plank floor of his residence was the second laid down
in the county. By 1840 the population had reached 40 or 50.
---
Missouri History Encyclopedia, 1901:
Osceola – The county seat of St. Clair County, on the Osage River, and on the
K.C., Fort Scott & Memphis, and the K.C., Osceola & Southern Railways, 107 miles
southeast of Kansas City. Two railway bridges and county bridge, all of iron,
span the stream. The water supply is derived from the adjacent stream, and is
distributed by a private water company operating a plant established in 1899 at
a cost of $12,000. The courthouse is a two-story building erected in 1866 at a
cost of $15,000. In November 1900 the people were to vote upon a proposition to
expand $25,000 in the erection of a new edifice. A public schoolhouse was built
in 1895, at a cost of $6,000; it is of brick, two stories in height. A colored
school is also maintained. Six teachers in all are employed.
The churches are Baptist, Christian, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal
South, and Presbyterian, and colored Baptist and Methodist. There are numerous
fraternal societies. The newspapers are the “Democrat” and the “Republican”,
representing the political parties for which they are respectively named. The
only bank is that of the Johnson-Lucas Banking Co., capitol $25,000,
incorporated in 1896. The Kansas City Trust Co., founded in 1894, is operated by
the same persons who conduct the banking business. The industrial establishments
include a steam roller flour mill, a saw mill, a cheese factory, a fruit cannery
and large kilns producing a superior line. Extensive quarries ship out
quantities of white sandstone and limestone, and a variety much used for fine
cement. Three crushers are operated in producing stone for railway ballast. From
fifty to one hundred men are engaged in the neighborhood in cutting wood, which
is brought to the place on barges drawn by a small steamboat; quantities of
select wood are shipped weekly to Kansas City for use in smoking meats.
Osceola was settled in 1835 by Philip Crow and others, among whom was Sanders
Nance. Between these two occurred a dispute as to the ownership of a piece of
ground, whereupon Nance vacated, and the first house and stone building was
erected by Crow, who associated himself in business with Richard P. Crutchfield,
and the firm existed for several years. In 1836 came the Cox brothers, Pleasant
M., Joseph and William, and the two first named opened the second store in the
place. The same year Crow established a ferry across the Osage; in 1838 a post
office was established, with Crow as the first postmaster.
James Gardner opened a log tavern in 1837, about the same time John W. Bridges
opened the first blacksmith shop, and P.M. Cox set up a horse saw mill. The
first frame house was built in 1839. James Gardner. James Gardner was the first
school teacher, Dr. Pleasant M. Cox the first physician, Littleton Lunsford the
first minister, and Charles P. Bullock the first lawyer. The first white child
born in the county was a daughter of William Cox, in 1837, and the second was a
son of George M. Cox. The first newspaper was the “Whig”, begun in 1848 by P.C.
Davis. Osceola was one of the first trading posts established in the interior of
Missouri.
Beginning in 1844, small steamboats ascended the Osage River regularly until
about 1861; while Osceola was considered the head of navigation, under favorable
conditions their trips were extended to Taberville. The town became the shipping
point for eleven of the great counties in that portion of the state, and goods
were taken from it by wagon into Arkansas. In 1860 the population was about
1,500, with a rich bank and numerous wholesale stores. At many times one hundred
wagons were in at one time to obtain supplies for stores at various distant
points.
This trade disappeared with the beginning of the war, and when peace returned
railways soon followed, and the old conditions were not to be restored. Until
1870 the work of rebuilding the town was but slow; the next decade, however,
brought material development. The St. Clair County Bank was in operation, and
the Eclipse Mills were built, this marking the beginning of various industrial
enterprise. Osceola was made the county seat in 1841 and the town was laid out
upon land donated by Philip Crow, Henry W. Crow, Joseph W. Cox and Pleasant M.
Cox, taking its name from that of an Indian chief. A two-story brick house was
erected in 1842, at a cost of $15,000; this was destroyed by Jim Lane in 1861,
and in 1866 was replaced with the present structure. A brick jail, on a stone
foundation, containing residence of the jailer, was afterward built.
The town was disturbed at various times during the border difficulties from 1858
to the beginning of the Civil War. In December 1860, about five hundred citizens
were assembled for the defense of the city against an expected attack by General
Jim Lane who, however, turned back after reaching Papinsville. September 23,
1861 Lane approached the city, with a force estimated at 1,500 men and with two
pieces of artillery. Captain John M. Weidemeyer, with a Confederate company of
about forty men, fired upon them from the brush. Instead of following
Weidemeyer, Lane pushed on into the town. His men exploded a bank safe, but the
contents, about $150,000, had been sent away for security. The stores were
plundered, and the goods taken away in wagons. The courthouse was burned, the
records being previously loaded into wagons for taking away. The greater part of
these were afterward recovered, on payment of about $500 to those who knew of
the place of their concealment. All the business houses and most of the
dwellings were fired.
Osceola was incorporated by the county court August 6, 1868, and became a city
of the fourth class March 28, 1883. Population, 1899 (estimated) 1,200.
---
History of Henry and St. Clair Counties, Missouri, 1883:
Clinton and Osceola were the trading points for this whole section of the
country. Crow and Crutchfield, at Osceola, and the Wallace Brothers, at Clinton,
were the leading merchants. John F. Weidemyer at Osceola a few years later did a
large business. The roads were through the open woods and prairies, and pretty
generally in a straight line, but the new farms fenced in makes the distance at
this day some five to six miles greater.
There were seventeen business houses in the city of Osceola in 1875, besides six
lawyers, five physicians, one saloon, two hotels, one dentist, three carpenters,
one steam saw and grist mill, one cooper, one blacksmith and one paint shop, two
livery stables, two banks and one newspaper. This was not much improved until
1880, the town remaining almost stationary in its growth. The trouble with the
railroad debt caused general stagnation.
The Osceola Savings Bank opened for business 2 September 1872. John Hancock,
president; W.O. Mead, cashier.
A hack line was established in January 1872 between Osceola and Appleton City.
The Osage Literary Club was in existence in 1872 and 1873, and a
Philosophic-Literary Club was again started in 1879. They are of the past.
An Archery Club was organized which attained considerable skill.
Before the advent of railroads Osceola was considered as the head of navigation
of the Osage River, and all Southwest Missouri and a portion of Arkansas came
here for their goods. A city of about 1,500 souls stood here, one of the
liveliest towns in the state, but Jim Lane laid the place in ashes and left not
even a house to mark the point where it stood.
---
County Court, March term, 1883
To the people of St. Clair County:
Ordered, that in the matter of the railroad indebtedness:
Whereas, Judgments for a large amount have already been rendered against the
county on the railroad bonded indebtedness, and mandamus proceedings are being
continually served on the county court, commanding them to levy taxes sufficient
to pay said judgements; and
Whereas, The entire bonded debt of the county, issued for railroad purposes is
now due, and suits are being brought to recover judgments thereon; and
Whereas, It is the belief of the judges of this court that a fair and reasonable
compromise of said indebtedness can be obtained by the people of the county; and
Whereas, we believe that an effort to that end should be made by the people in
conjunction with the county court; therefore,
Resolved, That it is hereby recommended to the people of the county, that they
meet in their respective townships on Saturday, the 5th day of May, 1883, and
when so assembled, that they appoint and select, five delegates in each
township, belonging to different political parties, whose duty it shall be to
convene in the court house in Osceola, on the 7th day of May, 1883, and consult
among themselves and with the creditors of the county, with a view of agreeing,
if possible, on some terms of compromise of said indebtedness, that may be
satisfactory to the people and acceptable to the creditors.
A petition for the organization of St. Clair county to become an independent
municipality in 1840 was signed by: John Barnett, S.C. Bruce, R.P. Cocke, Dr.
P.M. Cox, Thomas Cruthaid, J.A. Culbertson, G.B. Culbertson, J.C. Greenwell,
Columbus Halin (Hahn?), H.N. Hester, John Howard, James Hoover, William B.
Lawler, Z. Lilley, James Renfro, J. Ridgeway, W.H. Scobey, Albert Sheldon,
George Short, Hiram Short, H.Y. Small, R.H. Sproul, Ervin Thomas, John R. White.
At that time, there were 350 heads of families.
---
Osceola Herald, 17 July1871:
Osceola and St. Clair County
We find the following interesting correspondence about our town and county, in
the Cincinnati Times. We republish the letter entire, knowing it will be read
with interest:
Osceola, St. Clair County.
Osceola, it should be remembered, was the name of the last great chieftain of
the Seminoles of Florida, but that the name was bestowed upon this somewhat
interesting town in honor of that wild prince of the Southern Red Americans, I
am not sufficiently informed to say; but this I can speak in surety, to-wit:
that the appellation is peculiarly appropriate, evincing a love of originality
in nomenclature, and a fine taste in belles letters.
The Town of Osceola
Is situated upon the south bank of the Osage River, 220 miles from its mouth,
and is the capital of St. Clair County. It was laid out in the year ’42, which
makes it one of the old towns of the Southwest, and its history is not without
interest to the lovers of Western life.
Long before the Missouri Pacific Railroad had pierced the State, the people of
the interior depended upon such natural thoroughfares as the Missouri and Osage
Rivers for commercial transportation – the people of the Southwest relying
mainly upon the Osage. Consequently, along its course at certain points there
sprang up heavy trading places, such as Linn Creek, in Camden County, Warsaw in
Benton, and Osceola, in St. Clair.
From the Old to the New.
When the war closed there were but nine houses left standing in Osceola. But
what of the new? Suppose there were a refuge who should stand now on one of the
eminences overlooking the town from the north, seeing Osceola for the first time
since he left it a blackened mass of ruins during the war, his startled
impression would be that some wonderful working of the fabled Oriental magic had
wrought the enchanting change presented to view. He would have before him a
bright, new town, with its commodious brick court house, its elegant brick
church, its ten stores, two printing offices, two hotels, two grist and saw
mills, and pretty cottage residences, and a sprinkling of blacksmith shops, and
the complement of mechanics and professional men that usually go to make up a
country town population of near nine hundred inhabitants. In short, the returned
wanderer would be so charmed with the growing beauty of Osceola the new, that he
could afford to be consoled, in a measure, for the loss of the glory of the old.
St. Clair County.
I have been over two-thirds of Missouri, and in a dozen counties of the
Southwest, and in no part do I see that combination of attractions in the way of
water, timber, prairie & such, that I find in this county. A glance at the map
will indicate how well watered we are by the Osage running almost centrally
through from west to east, and by the Sac from the south to the centre of the
county; besides which we have abundance of small streams and living springs. The
great drawback to increase of population (for we have as yet but 8,000) has been
the lack of railroads. This now, however, we shall not have to complain of long,
as the Clinton, Springfield and Memphis Railroad is fast being finished through
the county, and it is confidently expected that the rolling stock will be on as
far as Osceola this winter.
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Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1881:
Osceola – Originally settled in 1839, is situated on the Osage on the Osage
River, in the eastern part of St. Clair County, of which it is the county seat,
twenty miles south east of Appleton City, on the M.K.& T. Ry (Missouri, Kansas &
Texas Railway), its shipping point. A public school and several churches are
sustained. Shipments, country produce. Tri-weekly mail stages run to Appleton
City and also to Clinton, twenty-nine miles north; fare, $2 to ether place.
Mail, daily. L.A. Mentzer, postmaster.
Amrine Thomas – hotel propr.
Bell, W.E. – physician
Carnahan & Son – flour mill
Conant, L. – general store
Conner, Stevens & Shaw – hides & wool
Cracraft, Mrs. Fannie – milliner
Daniels, F.P. – saddle & harness maker
Eclipse Flowering Mills
English, Joseph L. – hardware
Halley & Edwards – druggists
Hamblin, Cally – physician
Hirsch, S. & Co. – wholesale liquors
Hunt, Rev. W.E. – (Methodist)
Johnson & Lucas – lawyers
Latz Bros. – general store
Lilley, W.E. & Bro. – dry goods
Mentzer, L.A. – general store
Reese & Landes – lumber dealers
St. Clair Co. Bank – W.W. Sanford, President; Joseph P. Landes, Cashier
Settles & Emerson – blacksmiths
Scoby, W.H. – hotel propr.
Sheppard, W.G. – restaurant
Silsby & Silsby – general store
Stewart & Linney – drugs
Younger, C.F. – furniture
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St. Clair County, MO History, 1883, pages 956-957:
THE FIRST MILL
The first water mill was put up in 1841 on the Sac River, southwest from Osceola
about ten miles. It was known for miles around by the name
of Ritchie Mill. It was, with one exception, the only mill of the kind in the
county for several years. It had two runs of burrs and did a good business.
The next mill that is remembered was put up in 1845. James Gardner, one of the
first Justices of Peace in the county, erected a mill on
Weaubleau Creek in Polk Township. It was a grist and saw mill and had an
extensive patronage, especially east and south. The mill stood for about ten
years when high water carried it off.
In 1867, a practical mechanic and miller by the name of A.M. Fuqua settled in
the county. He was the builder of nearly every mill in the county from that day
to this. He is now a prominent citizen of Osceola and the proprietor of one and
joint proprietor with his son in the two mills located in the county seat.
The Wagner Mill was built in 1867 with two runs of burrs.
Mr. Brown erected a mill the same year on the Osage near where the present
flouring mills stand. It was taken down and moved to the Sac to saw the lumber
for the $6000 bridge across that historic stream. From there it went to Vernon
county, then back to Sac River and finally found a resting place at Osceola as
property of Mr. Fuqua. A saw and grist mill was put up in 1869 with two runs of
burrs.
One of these mills. before the war, was owned by James Talley, on the Osage, at
Talley Bend.
Samuel Martin put up a mill on the Weaubleau in 1873 in the corner of Doyal
township and it was kept running for four years. It was then
sold and taken to Roscoe.
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History of Henry and St. Clair Counties, Missouri, 1883:
The Birth of Osceola - The people of Osceola concluded, like Roscoe, to become a
body politic; so they also came before the county court to have their village
raised to the dignity of a town. The petition was presented to the county court
for action August 6, 1868, and reads as follows: Whereas, The petition of W.O.
Mead, J.W. Ramsey, E.J. Smith, Thomas J. Monroe, Wm. D. Graham, J. Wade Gardner,
Lindsey Barnes, Thomas D. Hicks, Alfred G. Clarke, T.B. Sutherland, W.F.
Johnston, E.B. Daniel, Charles E. Spedden, W.S. Terry, Joseph P. Landes, R.S.
Graham, E.P. Bartlett, W.P. Sheldon, William H. Scoby, G.W. Shields, E.T.
Daniel.
--
History of Henry and St. Clair Counties, Missouri, 1883:
Birth of Osceola - By 1840 Osceola began to show signs of permanent
improvements, and for the next two years grew steadily. In 1840 the population
had reached the number of about fifty to sixty, and Crow and Crutchfield had a
portion of their land platted. The first sale of lots, of which the deed was
made of record, was two lots sold for $25 each, by the above named parties, to
James Dudley and Washington Whitlow on February 21, 1840, and was recorded the
following year after the organization of St. Clair County. The lots were lot 1,
in block 20, and lot 1, in block 21, filed for record March 29, and recorded
April 10, 1841.
The first lot sold by the county seat commissioner was lot number 5, block 16,
for $13. 12 ½, on March 14, 1842, in three installments of six months each.
The growth of the town, and near approach of an independent organization of the
county, caused the Osceoleans to be on their metal, for they wanted to secure
for themselves the county seat. So, taking in the situation early, they prepared
for the struggle and won.
The beautiful valley of the Osage and the magnificent region of country which
lined its banks, extending back for miles, began to attract the attention of
those seeking homes, in at that time called the region of the setting sun.
Osceola from its commanding situation, its magnificent surroundings, comprising
the valley and the uplands, the hills and prairies of Southwest Missouri became
the Mecca, which brought its devotees from not only its own state, but from
Arkansas and the Indian Territory.
It was one of the first trading posts established in the interior of Missouri,
and at an early day steamboats navigated the Osage, making the town the
headwaters of navigation. Yes, situated in the heart of Southwest Missouri, in
the rich and fertile valley of the Osage, and has within easy and convenient
access, and abundance of superior coal, lead, copper and iron; the celebrated
Monegaw Springs, which possess superior medicinal qualities, and will some day
be the great summer resort of the south and west, is it any wonder that she grew
and prospered and became a city of 1,500 to 2,000 people. Then look at her
productive capacity. If it is true that water, wood, stone and coal are
requisites for a number one location for a town or city, all these are here.
Water runs by the town in such quantity as to float steamboats six months in the
year, and all who have lived or traveled in this country know that the Osage
water is pure. Of wood, the finest bodies of hard timber in the west are found.
On the Sac River, which empties into the Osage two miles above Osceola, are also
some of the finest bodies of timber to be found anywhere.
Coal is everywhere, all around and probably under the city, nearly crowded out
by an inexhaustible supply of water lime rock for manufacturing cement. Of this
there are two different, independent stratums, a strata of at least twenty-four
feet in thickness, which has an exposed front on the river bank from which the
rock can be obtained for years without blasting, and is pronounced equal in
every respect to that of the celebrated Louisville cement. Here are both the
fosiliferous and non-fosiliferous formations. Another very important feature in
this connection, is the fact that no other locality in the country possesses
advantages over this, so far as cheapness is concerned in its manufacture, wood
and coal in abundance and with an outlet to market by means of the Osage River.
Any amount that can be required of fine building stone, either sand or lime
stone, lies in the immediate vicinity of the town. Some of the very best of lime
is that made from this limestone, while right adjoining Osceola is some as fine
brick clay as is to be found west of St. Louis.
In the immediate vicinity of Monegaw Springs, eight miles up the Osage River
from the city, there is a large and valuable deposit of iron, which can easily
be brought down the river and smelted in the furnaces builded and operated
there.
Such was Osceola and her surrounding up to the commencement of the civil war.
She commanded the trade of an extensive circle of country. Her merchants kept
stocks of all kinds of goods, exceeding hundreds of thousands of dollars in
value. Osceola, then the pride of all Southwest Missouri and portions of
Arkansas, was razed to the ground, not a house being left to mark the spot where
a few hours previously had teemed and toiled nearly 2,000 souls.
After the war ended, as all wars do in time, and Osceola arose to a new life.
The destruction of the old town had been complete, and a new city on the banks
of the beautiful Osage was to be raised upon its ruins. All was not lost. The
land was there, some of the owners still lived, and the spot nature had marked
out for the homes of a generous and hospitable people was to be restored, and
where all was ruin and desolation, a glorious city was to arise, and a cultured
and refined people would make of it bright and beautiful homes, and for true and
generous hospitality, an abiding place.
So new Osceola commenced life, not rapidly but steadily, and where but a few
years since was ruin, now stands an embroyo city of some 550 inhabitants, with a
future before it unsurpassed in all the length and breadth of this land. All her
wealth of timber and mineral resources are still left her, the boundless
prairies, the rich upland and imperishable bottom lands are still there to give
up annually the richness of their inexhaustible nature, her water power and the
enterprise of her citizens will yet place her in an enviable position before her
sister cities.
At the close of the war a new order of things were inaugurated and the town soon
took a reasonable start and grew, not so fast as could be wished for, but
steadily and solidly. The want of railroad facilities were a drawback, for the
road north of her and one south drew the travel away, but a brighter day is
dawning, and before the present decade has passed two railroads will be at her
door, bringing and receiving wealth as they pass. Her growth required the
incorporation of the village into a town, and to this end a petition was
circulated, with the following result.
The people of Osceola concluded, like Roscoe, to become a body politic; so they
also came before the county court to have their village raised to the dignity of
a town. The petition was presented to the county court for action August 6,
1868, and reads as follows:
Whereas, The petition of W.O. Mead, J.W. Ramsey, E.J. Smith, Thomas J. Monroe,
Wm. D. Graham, J. Wade Gardner, Lindsey Barnes, Thomas D. Hicks, Alfred G.
Clarke, T.B. Sutherland, W.F. Johnston, E.B. Daniel, Charles E. Spedden, W.S.
Terry, Joseph P. Landes, R.S. Graham, E.P. Bartlett, W.P. Sheldon, William H.
Scoby, G.W. Shields, E.T. Daniel, William Williamson and Henry Florsheim has
this day been filed, praying that they may be incorporated in the following
metes and bounds, to wit: As the same is laid out and described in the original
town plat of said town of Osceola drawn by Phillip Crow and R.P. Crutchfield,
and now remains on file in the office of the clerk of the circuit court and
recorder of said county of St. Clair, and also described and set out in the plat
of Cole's addition to the said town of Osceola be, and the court being satisfied
that two-thirds of the inhabitants of said town be incorporated within the
bounds above mentioned, and they shall be known as the "Inhabitants of the town
of Osceola", and the court appoints as trustees William O. Mead, T.B.
Sutherland, William Williamson, Charles E. Spedden and Henry Florsheim until
legal termination.
The above named trustees failed to qualify in the time prescribed by law, and
their appointment was revoked, and on December 14, 1868, E.T. Daniels, William
Williamson, Thomas B. Sutherland, J. Wade Gardner and William O. Mead were
appointed as trustees upon the same condition as the others, "until legal
termination thereof". The same year, 1868, Cole's addition was added, but before
the date of incorporation.
---
St. Clair Co., MO History 1883:
Sheldon Family of St. Clair County - James Gardner was among the oldest pioneers
of this county. He was originally from Georgia, but emigrated to Tennessee in an
early day, going thence to Marion County, Missouri, and later to this county in
1833, before it was organized. He, together with Crow and Crutchfield, located
the town of Osceola, erecting the first store above the government trading post,
conducted by Bishop and Hogle.
---
1883 History of St. Clair County MO, National Historical Co., pg. 1159:
UPPER OSCEOLA MILL
JAMES FLETCHER CORBIN, one of the earliest settlers of St. Clair County, was
born December 31, 1831. His father, David Corbin, a Virginian by birth, born in
1790, was married in 1813, to Miss Annie Erwin, originally of Kentucky. Their
family consisted of eleven children, of whom James was the youngest. In 1839 the
senior Corbin removed with his family to St. Clair County, Missouri, they being
among the pioneers here. In the fall following his arrival (1839), he erected
his first dwelling of round logs, it being just fourteen feet square, and in
this house of one room, fifteen persons ate and slept for seven months. The next
spring an addition was placed upon it, which when completed, measured 20x18
feet. During this time the meat used by them was procured with the rifle. Mr.
Corbin and his sons built the first frame house erected in Osceola. This
structure was constructed of whipsawed lumber, sawed by them, and after being
finished it was occupied by a Frenchman as a tailor shop. This was located near
the present site of the Upper Osceola Mill. James F. Corbin resided with his
father until 1853, when he was married to Miss Nancy O. Beckley of this county,
and a daughter of John W. Beckley. They have eleven children: Anna L., David F.,
Susan M., John H., James W. Nancy B., Carolina B., Joseph P., William T., Leona
M., and Mary J. Mr. C., through his own industry and good management, has
accumulated a good competency, now owning a farm of 200 acres.
---
St. Clair Co., MO History 1883:
Postmasters.
The first postmaster of Osceola was Philip Crow, 1n 1838. In 1862, Daniel H.
Webster became postmaster, and in 1870, L.A. Mentzer, a very popular gentleman,
became postmaster, and is still in charge of the office.