The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
By S. C. Turnbo
The following was contributed by an old pioneer lady, Mrs. Cassia King,
daughter of Samuel B. Orr.
"I was born in Hopkins County Kentucky November 17, 1824. My parents
came to southern in 1835 but remained here only a short time when they went
down into Arkansas and lived a while on White River at the mouth of Big
North Fork then returned to Missouri again and lived at Springfield which
was only a little country village then. At that time only one house in the
village was built of lumber which was occupied by a man of the name of Shackelford
who was selling goods in this building. This was the only store house in
Springfield at that time. What few residences houses there were were built
of logs. While my father lived in Springfield he kept a small hotel which
was known then as an Inn. In 1837 the government established a land office
at Springfield and I recollect how the settlers who lived far and near rushed
there to enter land. It was interesting to note the number of people that
were so anxious to secure homes in Southern Missouri. The number of people
increased until about a week when the crowd began to diminish and gradually
dwindle down from day to day until there were only the usual number of visitors.
For several days after the land office was opened to the public the crowd
of men there was so great that the employees of the office were compelled
to make a fixed rule to accommodate their patrons by having each man to
wait for his turn to be waited on. In a few months after the land office
was established here we returned back to Kentucky where I married Robert
King in the month of October 1840. I was nearly 16 years old at the time
of my marriage. We lived together 51 years before death parted us."
Mr. King and his wife lived a number of years in the Sugar Loaf Prairie
and also on the farm on West Sugar Loaf Creek known as the Charles Coker
land, and while they lived here and on the Prairie Mr. King kept the Lead
Hill Post Office for several years before the town of Lead Hill started
up. Mrs. King, in refering to, the small cemetery on the old Charles Coker
Farm on West Sugar Loaf Creek says that the body of Lenard Coker son of
Charles Coker was the second burial there. Mr. Robert King died at Harrison
Arkansas in 1891 and his remains rest in the beautiful cemetery there.
Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
