1769 Daniel Morgan Boone II Born - Helped Select Site of Original Johnson County Courthouse

Johnson County Courthouse, 1838-1878, restoration began 1965. (Courtesy: State Historical Society of Missouri) This is the only surviving example of one of the most popular Missouri 19th century courthouse designs. It was used for county business until 1878, when the commercial emphasis moved several blocks east toward the railroad. The building continued in use as a private residence until 1965, when the Johnson County Historical Society bought it and began restoration. Exterior additions had been made, the brick stuccoed, and the first-floor courtroom, which originally occupied the entire first floor, had been divided into several rooms. Restoration has been guided by the original specifications and has proceeded as funds became available through voluntary contribution. Now furnished as a courthouse, a few original items are supplemented by appropriate period pieces. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Daniel Morgan Boone II (1769 - 1839)

One of the three commissioners to choose the site for the "Old" Courthouse in Warrensburg was Daniel Morgan Boone II, son of legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone.

Daniel II Died in Jackson County, Missouri

Just like his famed pioneer father, Daniel Morgan Boone II enjoyed scouting and settling new frontiers. He was the first Boone to set foot in Missouri and one of the first settlers in Kansas. As a child, he followed his father on hunting trips and soon felt at ease moving through the unknown wilderness.

Daniel Morgan Boone II was born December 23, 1769, in North Carolina. He first ventured into Missouri at the request of his father. In 1797 Daniel Morgan traveled to the St. Charles district and visited with the Spanish lieutenant governor, Zenon Trudeau. The Spanish official was eager to have settler-defenders move into the area so he gave Daniel Morgan a land grant near present-day Matson, Missouri. The official also told him that if his father, Daniel Boone, would come to the area, he, too, would receive land—and so would anyone in his party. Within two years, Daniel Boone led a band of settlers to the area.

Daniel Morgan built a double log house on his new property. His parents lived there for a number of years. He also supervised the construction of a fort on his land. In times of alarm—such as when they feared hostility from the Native Americans—settlers came to live at the fort. Later, Daniel Morgan oversaw a company of Missouri Rangers and served in the territorial militia. During the War of 1812, he worked as a spy and patrolled the frontier.

Daniel Morgan married Sarah Griffin Lewis in 1800. They had at least twelve children. Daniel Morgan made his living as a hunter and trapper. He also conducted government land surveys in what are now St. Charles, Warren, Montgomery, and Lincoln counties. Around 1805, he and his brother Nathan opened a salt-making operation at a “salt lick” near present-day Boonville. They employed several men to boil kettles of water from the saltwater spring there. After the water evaporated, the salt was left behind. It was boated to St. Louis for sale. Salt was important in frontier times. It was used for preserving meat and tanning hides. The area became known as Boone’s Lick.

Boone's Lick Trail

The road the brothers forged to get there—which connected St. Charles to Howard County—became known as Boone’s Lick Trail or Boone’s Lick Road. The pathway enabled settlers to reach central Missouri. The trail ended at Franklin, Missouri. Later, Franklin became the starting point for the Santa Fe Trail, which connected Missouri to the Mexican city of Santa Fe—now Santa Fe, New Mexico.

By 1826, Daniel Morgan Boone II had relocated to what is today Jackson County. In the late 1820s, he moved to what is now Kansas, settling near present-day Lawrence. There, he worked as an agriculturist for the government, teaching Native Americans to farm. He later moved back to Jackson County, where he died from cholera on July 13, 1839.

The township of Warrensburg was organized in October 1836 in an area known for its fertile land. Many of the original settlers came from Tennessee and Kentucky, including Martin Warren. Born in Virginia in 1763, he had fought in the Revolutionary War. Similar to many other frontier adventurers, he continually migrated westward over his lifetime. About 1833, Warren became one of the first settlers in what later became Warrensburg; a blacksmith, his services were sought by many of the early farmers.

Warren’s log cabin was located northeast of the Amtrak depot, and thus when the town was established in 1836 as the county seat, it was named in his honor. 
Martin Warren's Cabin Made Gay Street Angle at Holden St.
The next year, the settlement was platted; it centered on a Public Square that was to hold the courthouse, an essential institution for the governance of the county. Attendant businesses, such as lawyers’ offices and a hotel, were quickly established around the perimeter. The design and construction of a permanent courthouse was of immediate concern, and it was finished in 1841. Interestingly, one of the three commissioners to choose the site for the building was Daniel Morgan Boone II, son of legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone.

Johnson County Courthouse, 1838-1878, restoration began 1965. (Courtesy: State Historical Society of Missouri)

This is the only surviving example of one of the most popular Missouri 19th century courthouse designs. It was used for county business until 1878, when the commercial emphasis moved several blocks east toward the railroad. The building continued in use as a private residence until 1965, when the Johnson County Historical Society bought it and began restoration.

Exterior additions had been made, the brick stuccoed, and the first-floor courtroom, which originally occupied the entire first floor, had been divided into several rooms. Restoration has been guided by the original specifications and has proceeded as funds became available through voluntary contribution. Now furnished as a courthouse, a few original items are supplemented by appropriate period pieces. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Johnson County's second courthouse, located on the square several blocks east of the old square, came as a result of a business population shift to the new railroad depot. Citizens of Warrensburg donated a courthouse in 1875 after the county rejected bond proposals to provide facilities. The simple frame building on the west side of the square measured about 30 by 50 feet (Figure 2). It was used for part of the county's business activities until the 1890s.
Daniel Morgan Boone, II
Birthdate: December 23, 1769
Birthplace: Wilkes Davidson, Yadkin, North Carolina
Death: Died July 15, 1839 in Westport, Jackson County, Missouri
Place of Burial: Hays-Boone Cemetery, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri
Immediate Family:
Son of Colonel Daniel Morgan Boone, I and Rebecca Ann Boone
Husband of Sarah Griffin Boone
Father of Daniel B. Boone, III; Lindsey Boone; Edward H. Boone; Elizabeth Louvisa White; Alonzo Havington Boone and 6 others
Brother of Agnes Robinson; James Boone; Israel Boone; Jemima (Boone) Callaway (1762-1834); Lavina Scholl; Rebecca Goe; Jesse Bryan Boone; William Bryan Boone; Sarah Ann Boone; Colonel Nathaniel Boone and Susanna Hays

MATTHEW DOBSON BROWN Niobrara County Pioneer By Malcolm S. Campbell* Matthew Brown, born in Warrensburg, Missouri, on October 6, 1856, was the eldest of a family of three children whose parents, Matthew J. and Mary Brown, were among' the first white settlers in Johnson County, Missouri. One sister, Lina Brown Warnek, died at the age of eighty-one years and Amanda Brown, his other sister, who resides in Warrensbnrg, is now past eighty-two years of age. An interesting point in connection with Matt Brown's heritage is the fact that his great-grandmother was Daniel Boone's sister. Matt 's father enlisted in the southern army in the spring of 1861, serving under General Price.After six months' service he contracted typhoid fever and died. Matt, then a boy of five, went to live with his grandfather, making his home there until his grandfather's death in 1874. Supplies for the stores in Warrensburg were shipped by boat on the Missouri River to Lexington and then freighted thirty miles by oxen and mule teams, a trip which usually took about fourdays. Matt, on his first trip with his grandfather to obtain supplies, can remember seeing only two houses. Land in this country could be bought from the government for twelve and a half cents or a "bit" an acre, and his father and grand- father each owned one hundred and sixty acres. In front of his grandfather's place stood a "stile block" on which women would step when getting into a wagon or mounting a horse. Matt sat on this and watched General Price's army march by on their way to Lexington where a battle was fought two days later. Many of the soldiers were barefoot, carrying their shoes to relieve their tired feet. Young Matt 's boyhood days were spent on the farm where he helped with the chores, attended school in the old log school house and lived the ordinary life of the country boy.