1861-1865 Johnson County Missouri Records Were Buried during the Civil War, Lost and then Found

1881 Account - Concealed Records

During the war, from December 1861, until July 20, 1865, Johnson County official records were concealed in a thick growth of underbrush, situated nine miles west of the county seat. 

Your historian was furnished the following facts about this interesting incident of the county’s history, by two of the party who took the records from the courthouse and transported them to their hiding place, and although at the present time, no one would entertain a feeling of reproach for such a discreet procedure, their unusual modesty has led us to comply with their request, to refrain from revealing their names in this connection. Suffice it to be said that they are now and have been for upwards of forty years, prominent and highly respected citizens of Johnson County, and their names appear frequently in this work in this connection, with the county’s growth and development. 

When the civil war broke out Col. James McCown was recorder and circuit clerk of the county; he soon entered the rebel army under Gen. Sterling Price, and was in camp near the Osage river, when he conceived the idea of preserving the records, whose custodian the suffrages of the people had chosen him. Accordingly, he sent A. M. Perry to Warrensburg, to carry out the project. Mr. Perry, who was deputy circuit clerk, under McCown, left the army and on arriving at the county seat, secretly made known to a few trusty friends, his intention. The plan agreed upon was that Mr. Perry should meet C. O. Silliman and another man still living in Warrensburg, at the courthouse, between ten and eleven o’clock one Sunday night, where they were to prepare the records for the wagon, which was to be driven out from Centerview township by Silas Cockrell and another man, who still resides in the township. A. Muron Perry and the other man met at the appointed time and place and packed the county records in a large dry goods box, and the loose court records in two barrels, but Mr. Silliman did not put in an appearance. At midnight the two men from Centerview township drove up, the large box and two barrels were quickly deposited in the wagon and driven away. They first drove south, and passing through Cave Hollow, continued a circuitous and zigzag course to prevent tracking, finally having driven twenty miles to reach the point nine miles distant, just as gray morning began to dawn, arrived at the house of Aunt Polly Hill (Elizabeth Abernathy Jones Hill) and deposited the records in the attic. The records remained in Aunt Polly Hill’s attic for two or three months, when she became alarmed for their safety, in consequence of the marauding bands that about this time commenced ravaging the rural districts, she instructed her boys to take the records from the house and cover them with boards in a dense running post oak thicket, about 150 rods northwest of her house. In this thicket, the records remained till July 20, 1865. 

Isaac Jackson Hill, Elizabeth Abernathy Jones Hill

Poles were laid down to keep the box and barrels from the ground, and boards were placed above to keep out the rain and snow. Very few people knew where these books were. Some thought that a detachment of the rebel army had secretly carried them to Texas; others thought they were concealed in the vicinity and would be brought to light in due time after the war should close. Aunt Polly and Mrs. Matthias Houx watched over those records during the whole war, often making a tour of observation to see if they were suitably protected from the weather. At one time the covering was blown off and the papers considerably damaged by the rain, when these two women with true patriotic zeal in the cause they believed to be right, which characterized women of revolutionary fame, took out the wet papers and books and having dried them in the sun, made the covering more complete, thus preventing further damage except small mite. The exact spot where the thirty-five volumes of records, together with the court papers were hidden, is now the midst of a large cornfield cultivated by a colored man named David Farrall; land owned by Ed. B. Conway in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 21, township 46, range 27. Aunt Polly Hill’s house is at the southwest corner of section 22, same township and range as above. The house is a story and half frame, with a log kitchen, and still occupied by Aunt Polly together with Mrs. Jack Hill and the family, Aunt Polly’s daughter-in-law. 

in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 21, township 46, range 27. 

When the war had closed and Aunt Polly Hill thought the records would be no longer in danger from destructive military bands if returned to the civil authorities, also that settlers were coming in, the pursuits of peace again claiming the attention of the people, the records were needed to make transfers in real estate complete and the titles good, took the following method of revealing their hiding place. Aunt Polly proceeded on horseback about four miles southeast to the house of Moses G. Mullins, with whom she frequently consulted regarding business transactions, and in whom she placed great confidence, and told him: “On hearing a party of hunters and dogs in the thick woods northwest of my house, I became anxious about a young litter of pigs which I knew were running in the vicinity, proceeded to look them up, and while engaged in this search through the dense thickets and underbrush, suddenly stumbled upon a large dry goods box and two barrels with plank and quilts partly covering them, and on examination found them to contain what I believe to be the long lost and much sought after county records.” Mr. Mullins on hearing this good news hurried off to Warrensburg and reported to the circuit clerk, Capt. M. U. Foster, that the Johnson County records had been accidentally discovered near Aunt Polly Hill’s place. Capt. M. U. Foster at once applied to Quartermaster Capt. Joel K. Shaw, who was then in charge of the government property at this post for vicinity use of a U. S. team and wagon to bring in the county property. A detachment under command of Lieut. James Flanigan, consisting of Corporal Adam Wolfe, privates Mortimer Hubenthan, August Baker, and Julius P. Daniels, of Capt. J. L. Edwards’ Co. A, 51st Wisconsin Infantry, piloted by M. G. Mullins, started with the U. S. wagon for the designated locality. 

At Hobson’s farm, the party left the main Holden Road and proceeded across the open prairie, arriving at their destination at one o’clock p. m., Wednesday, July 20, 1865. The timber of running post oak was so dense, that no team, and with difficulty, a man could come nearer than a quarter of a mile of the concealed records. The soldiers wormed their way into the thicket, and one by one brought out the large index and record books to the wagon, whence they were brought to Warrensburg the same evening and deposited in the clerk’s office where they have remained to this day. It is due to the memory of the patriotic women who watched and preserved the records, also the union soldiers who brought them to the county seat that they receive special commendations for their noble service.

Back Story Feb 28, 1861, Col. Jas McCown (age 43) was the County Clerk hiding, protecting the records but was only in office because his son, William H. McCown (attorney, age 21) shot and killed Marsh Foster (age 24) who that day was elected County Clerk. "When he shot and killed Marshal M Foster on Feb. 28,1861, it was kind of one of the first killings of the war that started in early 1861 the convention for Secession took place in Missouri in 1861. It was PROBABLY over that. The amazing thing to me is they lived next door to each other, on the 1860 census."  Marshall M. Foster Esq. (1837-1861) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

This election was held in February 1861. On the evening of the election day, at Warrensburg, an unfortunate difficulty arose between William H. McCown, a young attorney, and son of James McCown, circuit clerk, and Marsh Foster, the then county clerk, which resulted in the killing of the latter. As they were regarded as prominent men in, or leaders of, the two contending parties, the unfortunate affair did much towards widening the fireech and embittering the two factions against each other. It is but proper that we should remark in this connection, that the two parties as afterward known—union and secessionists—had, at that time, no settled organization. Many men who were open and avowed unionists went to the polls in February and voted for the union candidates for delegates to the constitutional convention, after the capture of camp Jackson in May?

1861, became most rampant advocates of the southern confederacy, while others who voted for delegates in favor of the south, at the same election, after having read Pres. Lincoln’s inaugural address, espoused the union cause with equal zeal.

Former party affiliations and associations had nothing to do in determining to which of the new parties a man would attach himself. Democrats, old-line Whigs, and know-nothings went side by side into both

HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY. 221

parties and both armies. Soon after the beginning of the war the republican party of Johnson County was organized and has since continued as one of its great political parties.