Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #4
by Tonya Graham McQuade
Kirksville is a town of about 17,500 people in northeastern Missouri, about 30 miles south of the Iowa border and just over 200 miles northwest of St. Louis. It is the county seat of Adair County, and thus houses the Adair County Courthouse. The current courthouse, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was completed in 1899 – the same year that the great cyclone passed through Kirksville. My ancestors were living there for both of those events.
They were not, however, living there when Kirksville ended up being the site of an important Civil War battle on August 6, 1862 - a battle that is marked outside the Courthouse, where the battle took place. The Union’s victory there, under Col. John McNeil, helped consolidate federal control over northeastern Missouri. Casualty estimates ranged from 150-200 dead and up to 400 wounded - with only eight of the dead and 25 of the wounded being Union troops, according to local news reports.
The victorious Col. McNeil forced Confederate volunteers, under Col. Joseph Porter, to leave the city - but he also took some prisoners whom he later executed after learning they had previously been captured in battle, then paroled with the understanding they would never again take up arms against the Union. Despite knowing that breaking parole brought a death penalty if recaptured, many were outraged by the executions. Confederate President Jefferson Davis called for the execution of Col. McNeil if he were to be captured. While he was never captured or executed by Confederate troops, Col. McNeil later became known as the "Butcher of Palmyra" for his role in the Palmyra Massacre - but that's a different story.
At another corner of the Courthouse stands a sign commemorating the April 27, 1899 Cyclone that destroyed half the town, including the two blocks next to where my great-great grandparents lived, and killed 32 people plus injured hundreds of others. One woman was picked up by the cyclone and carried higher than the church's steeple - she was conscious the whole time and later reported watching a white horse rotating around her. According to some reports, this woman's account later inspired some of L. Frank Baum's descriptions in The Wizard of Oz.
Showing his importance to the town, Dr. A.T. Still’s statue stands at another corner of the Courthouse, with one of his famous quotes: “The God I worship demonstrates all his work.” (Read more about A.T. Still in my previous post about ATSU)
The Adair County Historical Society and Museum is also near the Courthouse, and my father and I enjoyed exploring the exhibits there and learning more about Kirksville’s general history. We read about and saw photos of the Grim Building, the Dockery Hotel, the old Princess Theater, the Brashear House, Kirksville Mercantile College and Writing Institute, the old Kirksville Town Square, the old train depot, the nearby coal mines, the cyclone, the extensive arrowhead collection one resident put together, and various prominent figures in Kirksville history.
I also took lots of photos to help me with research for my book – photos of old farming equipment, cooking utensils, recipes, clothing styles, sewing kits, button collections, toys and games, school supplies, household tools, and more. For Missouri Daughter, the historical fiction novel I’m working on, I’m adding in lots of “at home” descriptions of the various family members’ clothing, meals, chores, and activities, and I want my information to be as accurate as possible.
Garden Hand Plow and Coal Shovel
James also writes several times in his Civil War letters about the issue of "drawing his pay" from the army - and how this pay often came quite late. I wasn't exactly sure what that "pay" might look like, but I learned that it was not until 1863 that the U.S. government halted the practice of private issue "currency" - which could be issued by railroads, utilities, manufacturers, and banks and often was of questionable value - and US currency began to be accepted as the standard of exchange.
Based on my various museum visits on this trip, I also realized two other things: in my book, I have Bailis and Mary Ann getting and reading newspapers too often - in most rural communities, newspapers would likely be published once a week at most; and I do not have them going to church often enough. I have them praying, but I need to have them attending more church services and social activities. Again, I’m hoping for accuracy …
Another thing I realized specifically about Kirksville: for a small town, it was a leader in education! Not only did it have the first College of Osteopathy and one of the first Normal Schools (both discussed in earlier posts); it also boasted the Porter School, which – under innovative educator Marie Turner Harvey – “gained national and international recognition … [as] a rural school where education combined the practical and the intellectual. In doing so, [Harvey] unified a community in support of her efforts and caught the attention of countries as distant as Japan and Russia."
As described in the exhibit:
“Education at Porter School was as innovative as the refurbished school building, Marie Turner Harvey, like other educators active in the country life movement, sought to apply the ideas of philosopher John Dewey to the rural situation. As the leader of progressive education, Dewey argued that the school must help children connect their immediate community to a modern industrial society. Progressives emphasized the role of the environment in explaining human behavior. They also believed that the scientific method and greater efficiency could help solve political and social problems. Progressive thinkers applied these ideas not only to education but also to urban poverty, gaining equal rights for women, and other social problems.
“Mrs. Harvey refused to let textbooks define the content and format of education She thought public schools could only succeed by using the world as their textbook. The school was a part of society, not a separate entity. A curriculum growing out of the child’s environment, she claimed, would address both the vocational and cultural needs of students Mrs. Harvey related the academic disciplines to daily life through her new curriculum. The students not only read Shakespeare, but produced the plays in full-length shows. Contemporary world political news gleaned from national newspapers provided the content for discussions of history and geography. The teachers created reading materials from diary-like stories of school activities. And in the true spirit of interdisciplinary education, a Porter student’s knowledge of math might come as much from financing the raising of a prize pig as from a book.”
That sounds rather “radical” for a time when so much of education was about memorizing and reciting! It also helps me understand how my great grandmother’s family could all become so educated while living in rural Missouri! I’ve always felt rather proud that she graduated from Stanford at a time not many women did such a thing. I have a few photos and other memorabilia from her Stanford days, but perhaps I need to add their library to my research list. But that would be a different book ...
Stay tuned for my next post: A Visit to the Cemetery & More Petree Family History
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