Feel free to use anything I send you or post on the list!
I would prefer not to post the pictures on the web.
If a relative would like one, I would be happy to send them a copy in jpg format.
Hello to: Hickory County, Missouri
Daniel Monroe Blackwell was my 2nd great granduncle, and the oldest son
of Joseph and Esther Blackwell, my 3rd great grandparents.
Regarding the Blackwell's buried in Sutter Creek California.
Daniel Monroe Blackwell's wife Margaret (Leith) and their youngest son
George Monroe Blackwell.
Daniel drove a herd of cattle from Hermitage Missouri to Amador City
California in 1854, he is considered one of the early pioneers when
Amador County was in it's infancy, the year it became a county was the
same year Daniel Blackwell arrived, 1854.
Almost immediately Daniel invested in the Spring Hill and Keystone
Quartz mines, later he diversified his holdings to include the purchase
of the Calaveras Lumbering Co., water ditches and flumes, fruit
orchards, grape vineyards, and farming on a commercial basis, he started
a lime kiln, and sold lime.
Daniel spread his investments around, mostly in the supply businesses to
the gold mines. After the installation of the water ditches and flumes,
this allowed the gold mines to continue operation during the dry months,
the mines also were huge consumers of timber and lumber, the miners had
to eat so it appears Daniel had his bases covered in all directions.
The man saw plenty of opportunities and would be considered a "wheeler
dealer" in today’s standards. The term "wheeler dealer" should not be
misconstrued as a shyster type person but as an opportunist making
investments.
I am the editor and publisher of the Blackwell Researcher’s Newsletter
and I am at the present time doing an article on Daniel Monroe Blackwell
from Hickory Co. Missouri. It will include pictures of Daniel and
Maggie Blackwell, the Cemetery on the Blackwell Ranch, what is left of
the old Keystone Gold mine, Amador City and Sutter Creek City California
one hundred and forty four years after Daniel arrived there.
Letter #2 Copy of letter Joe sent to the Index Newspaper which they printed.
I have Joe's permission to use a copy of the original letter here.
July 3, 1998
The Index
P.O. Box 127
Hermitage, Mo. 65668-0127
Gentlemen:
My family has deep roots in Hickory Co. Missouri. I was born just East
of Preston. We moved from Missouri to California in 1947, but my heart
is still in Hickory Co.
I will start with my 3rd g grandfather Joseph Blackwell since he was one
of the first white men to settle in the Hermitage area when it was part
of Benton County at the time. He moved his family to the Hermitage area
from Meigs County Tennessee, there were six, the father Joseph, mother
Esther (Blythe), children Phoebe Jain , Daniel Monroe, Nancy Ann,
Cynthia I Davis Blackwell. The first born in the new land in Missouri
was James Sampson, then Hiram Crockett, Samuel Vanburen, Elzada, George
Washington Blackwell, the youngest of the children.
About 1836, Joseph Blackwell was joined by his brother George
Washington Blackwell from Meigs County Tennessee with his children.
George Washington Blackwell married Nancy Bushyhead a Cherokee Indian
and they were being escorted to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Nancy
didn’t make it, she died on the Trail of Tears. George Washington
Blackwell left the escort with his children and headed for his brothers
home (Joseph Blackwell), in what is now Hickory County Missouri.
Listed here are the Blackwell’s that I have been able to find that were
descendants from these two brothers that was in the Missouri State
Militia during the Civil War: Samuel Blackwell, Samuel V. Blackwell,
William F. Blackwell, James S. Blackwell. These men all came from the
two brothers that settled and made their homes in Hickory Co. Missouri.
We have many more in our family that served in the Civil War from
Hickory Co., to name one in particular is John Wes Quigg, who at one
time according to your article "Wheatland history", owned the town of
Wheatland. John W. Quigg was aged 39 years when the Civil War began,
and served in the Missouri State Militia in 8th Regiment, Company "I".
John became disillusioned with the Militia, and got out when his
enlistment was up, taking the job as Sheriff and Collector of Hickory
Co.. Sheriff Quigg served from October 15, 1863, until November 3, 1868
as the Sheriff and Collector.
(John W. Quigg was my 2nd great granduncle)
I am not sure if you have ever printed a photograph of Uncle Wes Quigg
in the Index, but I would definitely like to see a picture of him. I
understand that there is a portrait of him in the County Court House in
Hermitage.
. My great grandfather James Samson Blackwell was a Judge in Hickory Co.
for eight years, I am not sure if he used this courthouse or not. We
also have George Washington Blackwell, youngest son of Joseph and
Esther Blackwell listed as being a Justice of the Peace in Hickory Co.
Family tradition has it that George Washington was known as Big Foot,
because he held court bear footed. His son Joseph Henry Blackwell
helped cut and deliver the fire wood to run the kiln to fire the bricks
for the Courthouse in Hermitage. So your pictures of the Court House and
the jail on Mar. 11, 1998 were an added bonus to me, My 3rd great
grandfather Jacob Bartshe and a German man named Wente helped to build
the stone jail house in Hickory county in 1870
I am also the Editor of The Blackwell Researcher’s Newsletter I do like
writing and studying the history of my families and would like to see
some of the history of Hickory County printed in your newspaper "The
Index" you are sitting on a wealth of historical information and I am
sure the readers would like to see a weekly article concerning the
history of their County. I know I sure would! (hint)
I will be printing a story on Daniel Monroe Blackwell in my next issue,
his disappearance was a mystery to the Blackwell family for over 144
years. Daniel left Hickory Co Missouri, driving a herd of white face
cattle in 1854, to Gold Fields in Amador Co. California, he never
returned and no one knew what ever happened to him. I went to Sutter
Creek and met the gentleman that now owns part of the ranch Daniel
built. The story gets quite entailed. If you would like a copy of the
story, I will mail you a copy in September when the issue comes out.
I have a web page on the Internet that has some of the history and plan
on adding to it as time allows and I would like to put some of the
stories like "Wheatland history" on the Internet with your permission, I
would naturally give the author and the Index the credit. The URL is:
http://www.leo.net/~joepa/ , feel free to look around in my web site, I
do get a lot of positive comments on it from the visitors.
If I can be of help let me know, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely
Ronald "Joe" Saylor
I do enjoy the History of Hickory Co. because so many were my kinfolk’s.
I like to make the trip at least once a year to visit my aunts, uncles
and cousins still living in Hickory.
Joe
--
Joe Saylor
Brookings Oregon