1. McKerrow - William R (1881 - 1951) and Emma E. (1882 - 1974) lived here with there 10 children: Marvin, Merl, Buel, Marie, Alta, Eunice, Lola, Kenneth (1911 - 1965), Gale, and Lena. Betty McKerrow (Buel McKerrow was her first Husband) McCort said, in a June 2003 email, “About the little bitty house in Blue mound, you will probably be surprised to know , that all of Buel’s family lived there, 10 children and 2 adults. He used to say when all the folding beds were made out at night, it was wall to wall beds. you can just imagine. His parents slept in the kitchen in the wintertime, and moved their bed on the back porch in the summer time. Most of the boys slept outside in the summer.”

Howard Brown told me in an April 2003 interview that the McKerrow’s had a year-round spring and during real dry years people would come from miles around to get water from it.

2.Haynes - L. Elmer (1887 - 1961) and Lydia M. (1892 - 1947) lived here with there children: Willis, Harold R. (1914 - 1934), Lloyd and Ray.

Elmer and Everett (Everett Haynes: 31 Aug 1896 - 14 Oct 1978) jointly owned a steam engine and threshing machine and he did all the threshing in the area. The threshing machine man always got paid, but the neighbors just exchanged work as they went from one farm to another. Elmer only had one arm, the other one had been cut off. (Elmer’s Granddaughter, Charlotte Condron, confirmed that Elmer had his left arm cut off in a fodder chopper. Also John Dillard, my Brother, remembered how Elmer used to roll his own cigarettes by putting the bag of tobacco in the crook of the cut off arm and opening the string with his good arm, shaking out the right amount of tobacco into the paper which he held in his good hand, and rolling it up into a cigarette with just the one hand!)

5.Thomas - Donald Barnes related in an interview in 2000 that, “There was a large family of Thomases. They lived in lived in a little old house just South of Blue Mound. They must have had 6 or 8 kids. The oldest one - reason that I remember the exact year - and where he got the money I don’t have any idea - but he had a 29 Model A Roadster. It was yellow with black fenders. And I can still see him going up and down that road with the dust just flying! I was envious and jealous!”

Howard Brown in an interview in April of 2003 also had a story about the Thomases. “The old lady Thomas used to live down there were Edwin Haynes lived on the east side of the road. Her Husband died quite awhile ago. At one time she was going to sue my Dad. Her dog got into our sheep. My Uncle Charley (1878-1961) was there (my Dad’s Brother) and all he did was hunt and work for farmers. I was gone that day. We had sheep in a pasture just south of the house. The wolves had been getting into them so we were keeping them in that 5 acres in front of the house. So old Charley saw this dog going after a sheep and he picked up his rifle and shot him dead. He was a very good shot. So, Mrs. Thomas said she was going to sue my Dad. When Dad got home and found that the dog had wool in its teeth, that was the end of that”.

This later was the residence of Edwin and ??? Haynes. They lived there with their Daughter Charlotte and ???? M. M. Green started a rock quarry on this property in 1950. Charlotte was 5 years old at the time. Charlotte told me that she used to follow me and my Brother around while we mowed their yard in the late 40s and early 50s.

6.Mossbarger - Lewis (L.E. Mossbarger: 28 Sep 1868 - 05 Apr 1930) and his wife, Rettie (Rettie McAlear Mossbarger: 16 Sep 1872 - 18 May 1926), lived here just South of the Mount Hope Church. According to Donald Barnes in an interview in 2000, Mr. Mossbarger owned a Franklin car. It had an air cooled engine and he was pretty sure that Lewis didn’t know how to drive it.

Lewis was found dead in their well. It was after his wife Rettie died. She was the head of the family. (Reva Maberry said, “...she had heard that the reason he drowned was because Rettie wasn’t there to tell him to get out!”) No one ever knew what happened for sure. They say he had grabbing hooks trying to retrieve the water bucket down there and he had lost the rope.

Ina Cameron in an interview in 2000 related the following: “My Great Aunt Rettie McAlear married Lewis Mossbarger in 1910, the same year that my folks married (John and Lilie Jenkins). Uncle Lewis I called him. He came from Ludlow where he worked for some farmers and then he got up around Blue Mound and met my Aunt Rettie. Lewis died in the well. It was after Rettie died She was the head of the family. They had no children and there were four of us. My Sister, myself and Mervyn Jenkins and his Sister Leola. The Lewis’ had no children, so they just adopted us as their children. When other kids would go to their grandparents, I would go to their house cause I didn’t have Grandparents then. I never did have any.

So, before she died, they had planned to leave what they had to the four of us, which was very nominal, just that little 80 acres. It was probably 40 then unless they had bought some more. I don’t know, I was in high school then. He came down one Sunday and Lewis said that he had gone to Chillicothe to talk to Mr. Weatherby, a lawyer, about making a will to leave it to the four of us. And Mr. Weatherby said, “I am just too busy today come back next Saturday. And next Saturday is when they found him down in the well!

So his land went to the Kitteridges of Chillicothe. They were just distant relatives. So was there an accident? I don’t know. They say he had grabbing hooks. He had a bucket down there and he had lost the rope. And, of course living alone and there was no one there to help him out. He had bought a car, but he had never driven a car. Somebody was going to drive him to Chillicothe that day. That is when he had an appointment with Mr. Weatherby.”

Several families lived here afterwards, but Leroy Linscott was the last owner of this property before the rock quarry moved to this site.

9.Mount Hope Church J. M. Hoyt (1 - p 31) stated, “They decided that a church would be in order, so they began to try to raise funds for that purpose. Up to that time they had been holding services in the schoolhouse, but the schoolhouse (most likely the old Burner School) had been blown away by a tremendous storm (most likely the Great Tornado of 1883) so they raised some money and turned it over to a minister, I think his name was Jamison. When they got about enough to start building, Jamison disappeared, so they had to do it over, but it was finally built.”

The Mount Hope Christian Church covenant was adopted on October 16, 1884. On March 11, 1893, a deed for ground to build the Mount Hope Church from Charles and Margaret McAlear to B. F. Knox, H. N. Knox and John Burton (Trustees for the Christen Church at Blue Mound, Missouri) dated November 25, 1885 was filed for record (by S. J. Hoge, Recorder) and witnessed by J. D. Evans, Justice of Peace, Blue Mound, Missouri. The church was built in 1885.

The name Mount Hope was originated by Leora Berkshire and Hattie McGill. H.N. Knox was the first Superintendent of Sunday School, with membership at 60. E. N. Ware was the first preacher. It seems that a problem was brewing over the organ in the church. There was a meeting called on October 2, 1905 for the purpose of uniting all Christian people at Blue Mound into one body. I think that the meeting failed as there was another church built which had been gone for many years.

10. Blue Mound School The 1896 Livingston County Atlas shows this school at its present location - on the east side of the north/south road (Route Z) and on the south side of the east/west road (no designation?). The front of the building (28 feet by 31 feet) faced west with six windows on the north and four windows on the south. There was an anteroom on the west, with one window on the west and a door that opened to the south. A dug well with a pump was just a few feet south of the entrance. There was a “coal shed” just a south of the well. The school also had a flag pole.

After the school closed in the spring of 1957, it was purchased by Mr. Clarence Christmas (1883 - 1958) and converted into a home. Mr. Christmas was struck by an automobile and killed about a year later while he was crossing the road after leaving church. The Reverend and Mrs. James W. Porter (1916 -1997) purchased the building from Mr. Christmas’s daughter (Mrs. Zullig). They converted the building by making the anteroom into a bathroom and changed the entrance to the south side. They also ran a dog kennel at his location for many years. Reverend Porter passed away and Estella A. Porter (1917 - 2000) sold the property in 1998/99 to the Green’s (early owners of the Blue Mound rock quarry). Stella died in 2000.

At this time the building is owned by Hunt Midwest Mining, a Division of Hunt Enterprises (which includes the Kansas City Chiefs), and is used as a lab for rock inspection and storage.

14.Abandon Church This was a Church of Christ which was built in the early 1900s. It was abandon and supposedly was used as a store for awhile. This second church in Blue Mound was located about a half mile east of the four corners on the south side of LIV 430 as you are going east. There was no indication of a building at that site when we moved to Blue Mound in 1945. It was not shown on the 1878 nor 1896 Plat Maps, but did appear on the 1917 Plat Map.

Johnny Hoyt had this to say about that church on Page 32

“It seems that a problem was brewing over the organ in the church. There was a meeting called on October 2, 1905 for the purpose of uniting all Christian people at Blue Mound into one body. I think that the meeting failed as there was another church built which had been gone for many years.”

Lori Olson transcribed the following from the original Warranty Deed filed Oct 25, 1907 at Chillicothe, Missouri.

“This indenture, made on the 8th day of October, 1907, by and between R. L. Knox and Sarah A. Knox, his wife, of Livingston County, Missouri, parties of the first part and John Perry, John W. Sullivan and Huston Carr, Trustees of the Church of Christ of Blue Mound for the use of said Church. of the county of Livingston in the State of Missouri parties of the second part:  Witnesseth, that the said parties of the first part, in consideration of the sum of $1.00 to them paid by the said parties of the second part; their successors and assigns, the following lots, tracts or parcels of land lying, being situate in the County of Livingston and State of Missouri to wit: All of one half acre of ground described as follows: Beginning 12 rods west of the Northeast corner of Section Thirty five (35). Township Fifty six (56) of Range Twenty four (24), for a place of beginning, thence South Eight (8) rods: thence West Ten (10) rods, thence North Eight (8) rods, thence East Ten (10) rods to the place of beginning.

To have and to hold for the use of said Church of Christ, and upon the express conditions that no organ or other musical instrument be used or kept; and that no fair, festival or other practices, unauthorized in the New Testament, be held, had or conducted in, upon or about said premises, conduct, acts or unauthorized practices are committed or performed in, upon or about such said premises, or any organ or musical instrument be introduced into any house or edifice erected on said premises, then said premises to become the property of such persons or person of said Church of Christ who may be opposed to the organ or other musical instruments, festivals or other things, hereinbefore named, being used in said edifice or house erected on said lot or parcel of ground.

Signed: R. L. Knox Sr. Sarah A. Knox”

You will note that there is some pretty specific language (I put in bold) in the warranty deed about organ music or for that matter musical instruments of any kind. Perhaps I am putting two and two together and coming up with five, but could it be that the Church of Christ came about because of that argument in the congregation of Mount Hope over the use of an organ? If you know the rest of the story, please share it with us.

15. Rattle Snake Hill - Rattle Snake Hill is no more. In the early 40s the road going east from the Blue Mound corner (now LV 430) was mostly a straight shot east until you got just past the John Perry place; then the road not only went down a pretty sharp hill, but it also went into an "s" curve. I don’t know when this hill got its name, but supposedly it was from all of the rattle snakes the early settlers found in the area.

M. M. Green rebuilt this road in the early 60s. Rattle Snake Hill was closed and the road straightened and moved to the north.

Rattle Snake Hill is where I got the scar on my chin. The story goes like this. It was winter and we had been having great fun sliding down this hill. We would pick up great speed going down. So much speed that we really couldn't make the sharp curves without caroming off the row of gravel that the road grader left at the edge off the road each time it was graded. Then came the fateful day when we not only had snow on the road, but also several inches of ice. With the ice our sleds flew even faster, and the last curve was even harder to negotiate. On one particularly fast run (I was per usual behind my brother), I hit the gravel row of gravel full speed. The big difference this time from all the others is that I did not carom off the gravel and proceed on down the hill, but instead shot up over the gravel and came down in a deep grader ditch that had some sharp tree stumps left from a ditch cleaning the previous summer.

It was well below zero that Sunday morning. And, my face was so cold that I did not even sense the immediate pain. I did notice about three or four drops of blood on the ice and snow. John had already negotiated the run and had started to walk back for another run. When he got to where I was climbing up out of the ditch, I knew that I must be hurt pretty bad because he offered to pull me home on his sled. You got to be kidding! In Real Life he would not only never offer to do something like this (unless he was trying to pull another one of his cruel jokes on me) he would just not have ever done it.

Therefore, when he offered to pull me home, I figured I must be mortally wounded (maybe even near death!). This suspicion was confirmed when we got home and my Mother took one look at me and almost fainted. My mom was one fairly tough cookie, so when she looked faint, I thought "oh poop, I don't even want to look either - and I didn't - I never saw that sucker until it was completely healed some months later". I had on a fairly substantial parka that day because of the intense cold and later remember my Mother, Father and Brother talking about the blood icicles that had formed between the cut and the collar of that parka - not a pretty sight I'm sure.

Now what were we to do? We are 12 miles from town (Chillicothe). It is fairly early on Sunday morning. The road is a veritable sheet of ice. It is unbearably cold. And, to top it all off, our car (a 1937 Chevy) wont start! Enter, my cousin, Ocal Berry, who had recently moved back from California.

I don't remember whether it was John or my Father who went over to get Ocal. (He lived in the first house on the east as you go north from the four corners.) It was so slick that he fell twice getting over to our place. (I assume that his car wouldn't start either.) Ocal was a pretty good mechanic and finally got our car started, but something was wrong with the transmission, and we had to drive all the way to Chillicothe in low gear! I thought that we would never get there! I remember that Mother had wrapped a couple of towels around my neck to keep the blood from running down.

I guess that we had called the doctor in advance. As I recall, he met us at his office, or actually at the drug store downstairs from his office. He had a key for the front door of the drug store and went there before he took me upstairs to his office, an experience that is hard to forget. Surprise number on was the pint of whiskey he got while he was in the drug store. He begin to nip on it right away. In retrospect I don't blame him. I don't imagine that I would be too happy facing some bloody little kid early on Sunday after seeing patients all week long (including Saturdays - I ought to know since I went almost every Saturday for a year or so). He was good enough to offer me a pull on the bottle, but I declined. What a fool I was, especially when the first procedure he performed was to deaden my face with shots. It would have been infinitely better to have taken at least on liquid shot before getting all those shots with a needle in the area surrounding the cut. He must have given me at least 6 or 7 shots. After each one, he would wait a little while, take another pull from the pint and then ask me, "Does it still hurt son?". Finally, I said no, and we went on to the next procedure which was to sew up the cut. Eight stitches as I recall. I didn't do much feel the needle go through the flesh as I felt the skin bunch up as he pulled the stitch up tight. Almost makes your skin crawl just to think about it doesn't it?

Well, he finally got it sewed up, bandaged up and got me out of there, just about the time he finished the pint. Perhaps he gauged the size of the bottle he needed by the length of the cut. I don't remember how long I wore that bandage, but it seemed like forever. I recall missing school a couple of days because I had to come to the doctor which meant I had to come in with my Mother at 7 or 7:30 a.m. and stay all day (remember my Dad did not drive and we only had one car anyway). So, after all the bandages had been removed, I finally ventured a look. What a rough line. You know as well as I do that with the skill levels and techniques in existence today that scar would only be a very thin line. But what the hey, he got it fixed and I hardly ever notice it.

19.Owens - Dave and ?? Owens lived here. Reva: Yes. Dave Owens lived on the hill, north side of the road (rattlesnake hill). According to Reva and Ralph Condron the house had pilings on one end to hold it up. They also said that Dave raised tobacco down on the flat near the creek. They often saw him picking off worms off of the tobacco. They also saw him burning brush on that piece of land so that the ashes would help nourish the tobacco plants.

Dave’s Son, Joe Owens, ran the garage in Blue Mound for awhile. Joe married Opal Brown, but was later divorced. Joe moved to Chadron, Nebraska, married again and is buried there. Opal married Ray Marlin. She died in 1970 and is buried next to John and Ida Brown in the Blue Mound Cemetery along with her Son Dale Marlin.

20.Perry - John C. (22 Nov 1874 - 1 Jun 1955) and Mary E. (24 Aug 1877 - 28 Jan 1933) lived here with their four children: Rolla J. (Aug 1899 - Apr 1966), Ruby (09 Sep 1903 - 09 Jan 1988) Reva, and Bacil (24 Jun 1911 - 29 Apr 1985). The rock quarry moved to this site in 1957 and it no longer exists.

Later the owners of the rock quarry (M. M. Green) reclaimed some of this property and in 1997 Green sold 12 acres to Rick McCracken. He and his Wife built a home just east of where the Perry house used to be.

26.Brown - John Arthur (16 Jan 1872 - 15 Nov 1953) and Ida Bell (11 Dec 1872 - 17 Jun 1961) lived her with their seven children: Rex (15 Jan 1907 - 24 Oct 1988), Ralph, Ruth, Howard, Eva, Opal (1897 - 1969), and Mary Ellen.

Other families that lived here, in somewhat chronological order, were Shattos, Gibsons, Irelands and then the rock quarry moved in. Jerry and Charlotte Condron rented the house for 5 years from 1966 - 1971. Jerry Condron operated a dozer for Green’s and dozed the house down in 1975.

32.Barnes - Daniel Parker Barnes (1877 - ????) and Mary Elizabeth Groszinger Barnes (1881 - ????) lived here with their children Grace, Audrey, Doraylld, Jerald D. Barnes (1920 - 1996) and Donald.

Daniel bought this 160 acre farm just North of Blue Mound near the entrance to the cemetery. There was 40 acres on the east side and 120 on the west. It was rocky, but they still made a living. They mostly raised crops and livestock and always had 10 or 12 milk cows and some sheep and pigs. The farmers pretty much raised corn, oats and soybeans. They didn’t have much wheat, but always raised oats to feed the horses and chickens. The Barnes’ also raised cane. They would strip it, bundle it and haul it in a wagon to the corner to Del Sperry. He had a sorghum mill and would squeeze out the juice and boiled down into sorghum.

When they first moved in there was an offset in the road in front of our house. They straightened it out before they left Blue Mound. It use to go right in front of their old house there. Daniel gave them the land to straighten it out. It made a good short cut. The offset actually went around an old pond there which Daniel had dug with a slip and two horses. (You can still see where it was today although it is filled in with silt.)

40.Blacksmith Shop - This blacksmith shop was owned and operated by Charley McCracken. Donald Barnes had this to say about Charlie and Mollie, “I remember Mollie smoked a corncob pipe and used snuff tied in a rag fastened to a stick. Charlie had a blacksmith shop and Dad went to have a plow shear sharpened and they were having breakfast. The best biscuits and gravy I ever ate!”

The “Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory” listed other blacksmith shops or proprietors. For instance, in the 1893-94 directory it lists a O. Munroe as running a blacksmith shop. Then in the 1899-00 directory it lists a Thomas Hanes.