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Had kings been in vogue
on the frontier, Andrew
Jackson would have been
chosen king of Missouri. As
it was, Missouri named two
counties for him and three
county seats, honors without
a parallel in the United
States, where nearly 4,000
counties have offered
opportunities for honoring
national or local heroes.
In the several states of the
Union there are 28
Washington counties, 23
Jefferson counties, 21
Jackson counties, 19 Madison
counties and four Van Buren
counties.
In 1824 Andrew Jackson lost
the Presidency to John
Quincy Adams. The next year
the Indians relinquished
title to a wide strip of
land along the western
border of Missouri,
extending from the Missouri
River to the Arkansas
River. The Missouri
Legislature immediately
enacted that the newly
acquired Indian land when
organized would be named
Jackson County -- it's name
chosen thus ahead of its
formation. This was in
1825. The next session of
the Legislature, held in
1826, organized the
aforesaid strip of land into
a county and named in
Jackson. The county seat
was named Independence, in
recognition of Gen.
Jackson's independence of
character. The town of
Independence was laid out in
1827.
The next year, namely in
1828, Gen. Jackson was
elected President of the
United States; and the new
county rejoiced in the new
President and in its own
fortuitous name.
After Jackson retired from
the Presidency, his
popularity continued without
impairment in Missouri. But
it was not until 1845 that
the Legislature conferred
further honors on the hero
of New Orleans. The honors
actually bestowed and those
proposed were the inventions
of hero worshippers, as the
facts will clearly reveal.
In February of 1845, the
Legislature organized a new
county out of parts of
Benton and Polk counties and
named it Hickory for the
victor at New Orleans, whose
pseudonym was "Old
Hickory." The county seat
of Hickory County is
"Hermitage", named for
Jackson's country home in
Tennessee. Neither the name
of the county nor the county
seat had any reference to
President Jackson but to
General Jackson.
It might be surmised that
the hero-lauding Missouri
lawmakers had paid their
final tribute to Andrew
Jackson in naming Hickory
county, but no. The limit
of legislative adulation had
not been reached. If
Jackson himself could not be
directly complimented, an
immediate member of his
family might be
substituted. And this was
done in the most
extraordinary effort ever
made to organize and name a
county -- an effort,
however, that failed.
Lone Jack, in the
Southeastern part of Jackson
County, famous since 1862 as
the scene of a bloody
battle, was ambitious in
1845 to become a county
seat. There was one store,
kept in a log house by
George Tate. But the
surrounding settlers were
enterprising and ambitious
and they set on foot a
movement to form a new
county by taking a corner of
Jackson, Cass, Johnson and
Lafayette counties, so that
Lone Jack might become the
county seat. A convention
was held at Sam Yankee's
house and in anticipation a
full set of county officials
was named. The late Dr. C.
Winfrey of Kansas City, was
a delegate in the convention
which named Rubin Fulkerson
for Sheriff. Josiah Carter
was chosen Circuit Clerk,
while one of the county
judges was Archibald
Riddings, President of
Chapel Hill College, five or
six miles away. The
movement for the new county
was urged enthusiastically
and when the bill came up
for adoption in the Lower
House of the Legislature it
failed by only one vote.
The name of the new county
was to be Donelson and there
is where Andrew Jackson
comes again into Missouri
history.
Andrew Jackson Donelson was
the nephew of Mrs. Jackson
and as a little tot was
brought to the Hermitage and
reared as one of the
family. Gen. Jackson was an
affectionate man in the
home, where he never
displayed any irritability
or impatience, not even
toward servants. However
irascible he might have been
in public life, he was
altogether gentleness in the
home.
Gen Jackson was fond of
children and presumably his
nephew Donelson was a
favorite, inasmuch as he
received special attention
from the uncle and was given
the best educational
advantages, graduating from
West Point, becoming private
secretary at the White House
after Jackson's election to
the Presidency. In after
years A. J. Donelson was
ambassador to Germany and
Charge-de-affaires to the
Republic of Texas. Such as
the man whom Lone Jack
selected as its patron
saint.
We may here add that Andrew
Jackson Donelson went over
to the American party in
1856 and was a candidate for
the Vice Presidency as
running mate with Millard
Fillmore. It is very
probably that Donelson
County would have been
assigned another name after
the Presidential campaign of
1856, if we may take as a
criterion the treatment
given to another Jackson
favorite, Martin Van Buren,
who was honored in Missouri
and then defamed in
Missouri.
Toward the close of
Jackson's second term in the
Presidency, it became fairly
evident that Vice President
Van Buren was destined to be
chosen to the higher
office. The news came to
Missouri that President
Jackson was bending every
administration influence in
favor of Van Buren. That
was enough for Missouri. If
Jackson wanted him then
Missouri wanted him. Ten
years before, the state had
named a county for Jackson
and his election to the
Presidency followed; the
same palladium for Van Buren
would make him President.
To render the charm more
potent the Southern half of
Jackson County was cut off
for a new county named Van
Buren.
In 1848 Gen. Cass was a
candidate for the Presidency
and as a part of his
platform he endorsed the
Wilmot Proviso. Martin
Van Buren, without aspiring
again to the Presidency,
stood opposed to the Wilmot
Proviso. This was bad
enough in the eyes of
Missouri Democrats, but the
final, crushing load of
ignomy was laid on when the
Free Soilers nominated
Van Buren, without
consulting him, for the
Presidency and so ran him
through the race, in which
he polled only 300,000
votes, but enough to defeat
Gen. Cass and to elect Gen.
Taylor, the Whig candidate.
The next General Assembly of
the state changed the name
of Van Buren county to Cass
County.
Mr. Van Buren's popularity
began to wane while he was
in the Presidency -- and
without any fault on his
part. Camden County, Mo.,
was originally named
Kinderhook (Indian word for
"Children's Point"), the
name of Van Buren's
birthplace in New York. The
Missouri Legislature changed
the name from Kinderhook to
Camden.
In Jackson County there was
never any deflection from
Mr. Van Buren; here is a
noble memorial to his name,
Van Buren Township in the
Southeast corner of the
county.
Carroll County was organized
and named in a dramatic
manner. A bill was pending
in the Missouri Legislature
for a new county to be named
Wakenda, an Indian word
meaning "worshiped." News
came that Charles Carroll
had died, last signer of the
Declaration of
Independence. Instantly the
law-making body of the state
was thrilled with patriotic
fervor. A motion was made
and carried to substitute
the name Carroll for Wakenda.
We have no record of the
oratory on that occasion,
but no doubt it was recalled
that when Charles Carroll
attached his signature to
the Declaration of
Independence, a colleague
remarked that the English
might hang the wrong Carroll
for this deed, whereupon the
patriot amended the
signature to read, "Charles
Carroll of Carrollton."
In 1824 Marquis de Lafayette
visited the United States,
and while in the country
came to Missouri. The State
Legislature, ever disposed
to honor great men in the
usual way, changed the name
of Lillard County to
Lafayette. The first name
had been conferred in honor
of a popular member of the
Legislature, but Mr. Lillard,
notwithstanding the honors
accorded him in Missouri,
finally returned to live at
his old home in Kentucky.
His leaving the state was
regarded as very ungracious
if not actually
treasonable. The
Legislature welcomed the
opportunity of administering
condign punishment.
Lafayette's visit afforded
the delightful occasion. At
the same time the proposed
new county of Jackson was
attached to Lafayette County
for administrative and
military purposes.
In December, 1834, the
Legislature created a new
county and named it Rives in
honor of William C. Rives of
Virginia, but in 1841 Mr.
Rives abandoned the
Democratic Party and became
a Whig; the Legislature, in
order to confer honor only
where honor was due, changed
the name of Rives to Henry
County, for Patrick Henry,
the patriotic Virginia
orator.
There was but one honor that
approached the honor of
having one's name given to a
county and that was to have
one's name given to a
steamboat.
Note: Vernon County was
named in 1851 for Miles
Vernon, who fought under
Jackson at New Orleans.
In 1857 Blue Mills, the
original port of entry for
Independence, was designated
as the terminus of a
railroad out from
Independence, a distance of
six miles. The name was
changed from Blue Mills to
Livingstone, in honor of
Edward Livingstone, who had
been President Jackson's
Secretary of State. |
