MONROE COUNTY FORMED AND ORGANIZED

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The same act appointed Hancock S. Jackson, of Randolph - Stephen Glascock, of Ralls, and Joseph Holliday of Pike, commissioners to select the seat of justice for the county.  These were men possessing integrity and purity of character.  Joseph Holliday afterwards removed to the county, where he lived and died, respected by all who knew him.  Hancock S. Jackson was afterward elected Lieutenant Governor of the State, and was one of the most highly respected men in the State.
The first entries of land were made by the following persons: Township 53, range 8, George Markham, in 1819 ; township 54, range 8, Bennet Goldsberry in 1818; township 54, range 8, John Hicklin, in 1819; township 54, range 8, Joseph Holliday, in 1818 township 54, range 8, Benton R. Gillett, in 1819; township 54, range 8, Andrew Rogers, in 1819 ; township 55, range 8, Daniel McCoy, in 1819 ; township 54, range 9, Joseph R. Pool, in 1819 ; township 55, range 9, James Adams, in 1819.

A great dramatist intimates that there is nothing in a name ; but a name sometimes means a great deal.  In many instances, it indicates, in a measure, the character of the people who settle the country and have given to it its distinctive characteristics.  Names are sometimes given to towns and countries by accident; sometimes they originate in the childish caprice of some individual, whose dictate by reason of some real or imaginary superiority is law.  Whether the policy of naming counties after statesmen and generals be good or bad, the Missouri Legislature has followed the practice to such all extent, that fully three-fourths of the counties composing the State bear the names of men who are more or less distinguished in the history of the country.

When we consider that more - than half a century has passed since the men whose names we append below, pitched their tents within the present limits of the county, it will be readily understood how difficult has been the task of collecting them.
ID placing, these names upon record we have doubtless made mistakes arid omissions, but feel confident that the errors will be overlooked, when it is remembered that we have spared no little effort to be accurate and perfect.
They who in the early dawn of Western civilization first 11 bearded the lion in his den, " opened a path through the wilderness, drove out the wild beasts and tamed the savage Indian, are entitled to one of the brightest pages in all the record of the past.
The old pioneers of Monroe county-the advance guard of civilization - have nearly all passed away ; those remaining may be counted on the fingers of one hand.  A few more years of waiting and watching-, and they, too, will have joined- - -

Fresh hillocks in the cemetery will soon be all the marks that will be left of a race of giants who grappled nature in her fastness and made a triumphant conquest in the face of the greatest privations, disease and difficulty.  The shadows that fall upon their tombs as time recedes are like the smoky haze that enveloped the prairies in the early days, saddening the memory arid giving to dim distance only a faint and phantom outline, to which the future will often look back arid wonder at the hearts that lie hidden under the peaceful canopy.
These are the names of the old settlers:
HenryAsberaft, J. R. Abernathy, R. D. Austin, Ovid Adams, Otho Adams, William Atterbury, James Alfred, George Abbott, Chris.  C. Acuff, Jerrv Burton, Dr. John Bybee, Reuben Burton, Elijah Burton, John Burton, Benjamin Blubaugh, Lawrence Boggs, Thomas Brashears, Thomas Bell, Benjamin Bradley, James Bell, Isam.  Belcher, Elijah Bozarth, Ezekial Billington, Ephraim Brink, Shadrack Burnes, Abraham Bush, Elijah Creed Samuel Crow, Augustin Creed, James Cox, Jeremiah Crigler, John G. Collison, Samuel Creed,  A. B. Combs, Charles Clay, Triposa Clay, Samuel Curtright, John R. Currv.  John Colvin, Richard Cave, Green V. Caldwell, Isaac Coppedge, Simon Duckworth, John Dale, James Dickson, James Dale, Ramev Dye, Phanty Dye, George Dry, William Donaldson, Robert Donaldson, Thomas Davis, Van. Davis, Reese Davis, William Delaney, Johu Delaney, Fount Leroy Dve, Edward Damrell, Joseph Donaldson, Cornelius Edwards, Urban East, Daniel East, Charles Eales, Enoch Fruit, Ezra Fox, J. C. Fox, Pleasant Ford, Jacob Ford, Sr., DaIiiel Ford, John Foreman, Joseph Foreman, Hasting, Fike, Thomas M. Glendv, Thomas Gundy, Angyle Gillespie, Robert George, John Gee, Martin B. Gay, Robert Greening, Edward Goodnight, Robert Gwyn, David Gough, Spencer Grogin, F. Gillett, Jonathan Gore, Leonard Green, Clem. Green, James Gilmore, William Goforth, Stephen Glascock, Georce Glenn, William B. Grant, Bartholomew Groginl, Joseph Holliday, Hackuey T. Hightower,  John Hocker, Hugh. A. Hickman, John B. Hatton,  Amon. Hicks, Salmon Humphrey, Edward M. Holden, John Howe, Ezra Hunt, Paul Hereford, Henry Howard, Esom Hannon, Robert Harris, James Herndon, Dr. SvIvester Hagan,  Joseph Hagan, Sarnuel Harper, Robert Hanna, Asaph. E. Hubbard, William Horn, John Ivie, William Jett, Col.  Gabriel Jones, James Jackson, Daniel H. Johnson, John Johnson, Jeremiah Jackson, George Kipper, Henry Kinote, Thomas Kelley, William Kipper, Abraham Kirkland, John Kipper, Lewvis Kincaid, Samuel Kipper, Dr. Keenan, David Kirby, Marshall Kelley, Thomas Kilgore, John McGee, James McGee, John S. 'McGee, William McGee, John Mc Kamey, D. E. McKamev, Joseph H. McKamey, E. W.  McBride, Charles McGrew, Hiram Manama, Boaz Maxey, John C. Milligan, Travis S. Moore, William McSwain, R. C. Mansfield,  James Mappin, Matthew Mappin, Henry Miller, Robert Martin, Payton Maghan, Benjamin Mothershead, Samuel Nesbit, M. Newland, James Noel, Joel Noel, Garnet Noel, Elijah Owens, Mrs. Ownbv, John Porter, Jesse Pavey, Maj.  James Poaoge, James Powers, Richard D. Powers, Thomas G. Poage, Minor Perry, Samuel Pool, William N. Penn, Ezekiel Phelps, William H. Proctor, Aniel Rogers, Achilles Rogers, Andrew Rogers, Joseph Rigsby, Archibald Rice, Nathaniel Rice, William Runkle, John Rigsby, George Rouse, Jones Reavis, Nathaniel Rice, Daniel Rhodes, Edward Shropshire, Harrison Sparks, Harvey Swinney, Robert Swinney, Austin Swimiev, Joseph, Stephens, David F. Sloan,  Joseph J. Sumner, Samuel G. Sutton, William Smith, Joseph Smith, Sr., Alex. W. Smith, Joseph Smith, Jr., Samuel H. Smith, John B. Smith, Robert Simpson, John Simpson, John Shoots, Peter Stice, Joseph Sproul, William P. Stephenson, Stephen Scobee, Robert Scobee, Cavil Shearer, Davis Scott, Robert Snider, Wilson S. Spotswood, George Smizer, George Saling, Ephraim Smith, Larken Stamper, Milton Smizer, Rumsey Saling, Robert Smithey, Richmond Saling, James Stewart, George Stubblefield, Bostick Talliaferro, Thomas Thompson, Michael. Trombo, Alexander Thompson, Hiram, Thompson, Jacob Trumbo, Peter B. Thomas, Thomas Threldkeld, William K. Van Arsdell, James Vaughn, Andrew Whittenburg, Daniel Whittenburg, Joseph Weldon, James Weldon, John Willingham, John Wright, William Wilcoxson, Caleb Wood, Thomas Wood, Fielder Wood, Milton Wilkerson, Hiram Williams, S. J. Williams, Huron Williams, David Weatherford, M. C. Warren,  Joseph White, William Wilkerson, John Witt, James Woods, Giles H. Welch, George W. White, Jacob Young, Benjamin Young, John Yates, Vincent Yates.