50 - Jeremiah Haston, from Illinois to Dallas County, Missouri
The three youngest sons of Daniel Haston settled in Missouri. Jesse and Jeremiah remained there for the rest of their lives, but Isaac moved on to California after about 20 years in the “Show Me” state.
Dallas County, Missouri
When a new county was created out of Polk County, Missouri in 1841, it was named Niangua County for the Niangua (ni-an-gua) River that flows northward through the southcentral and eastern sections of the county. In 1844, the county’s name was changed to Dallas County in honor of Vice President George Mifflin Dallas.
According to the 1850 census, 400 of the 600 families in Dallas County came from Tennessee. The “Hastings,” family* was one of the earliest families to settle in the county.[i]
*The “Hastings” spelling of Jeremiah’s family name appeared in early Dallas County documents, but it morphed into Hastin, Hasten, and eventually Haston through the years, especially after two of Jeremiah’s sons became well-known county officials.
At the time of the early settlement of the county, the land was full of many kinds of wild animals, such as elk, deer, turkeys, geese, and other small game. But wolves, panthers, wildcats, and some bears were there to terrorize pioneer families.
Unfortunately, the pre-Civil War county records were destroyed during the war by courthouse fires.
Consequently, much of what could have been known about Jeremiah Haston’s family in the first three decades of their life in Dallas County is not available to us. Marriage records, tax records, deeds, court records—all these pre-Civil War records are gone!
[i] Dallas County Historical Society, 4-5.
1840 – Jeremiah Hastings lived in Polk County, Missouri at the time of this census, because the county that would become Dallas County was not yet created out of Polk.[i] A young Thomas Riddle and a young John Riddle, relatives of Esther Riddle Haston and the early Cane Creek Tennessee Riddles lived near Jeremiah. On January 12, 1841, a section was carved out of Polk County and named Niangua County initially, but the name was changed to Dallas County on December 15, 1844. So Jeremiah probably lived in three counties in Missouri without moving after his initial settlement there.
[i] Year: 1840; Census Place: Polk, Missouri; Roll: 228; Page: 170; Family History Library Film: 0014857.
About 1845 – Malinda E. Hastings, daughter of Jeremiah and Esther, married Martin Rose, son of John W. Rose, in about 1845. The marriage date is based on the age of their first child. Their marriage record was probably destroyed in one of the courthouse fires, but other evidence reveals that Malinda did marry Martin Rose.
January 15, 1846 – John Wesley Haston married Mary Caroline Forester[i] in Greene County, Missouri. Rev. John Gilmore, a neighbor of Isaac Haston in Greene County, performed the ceremony. John Wesley and Mary Caroline would have traveled about 30 miles, southwest, to “get hitched” by Rev. John Gilmore. Was this the Presbyterian Rev. John Gilmore who was in Southern Illinois when the Jeremiah Haston family lived there?[ii]
[i] Audrey L. Woodruff, Marriage Records, Greene County, Missouri (Books A & B, 1833-1860). (Bowling Green, MO: InfoTech Publications, 1971), 15; “John W. Hastin,” Greene County Missouri Marriage Records, 1833-1900, 137.
[ii] A.T. Norton, History of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Illinois, Volume I. (St. Louis, MO: W.S. Bryan Publisher, 1879), 33, 103, 141.
About Early 1849 – This was approximately the time that Melissa Haston married a Mr. Webb. At the time of the 1850 census for District 26 of Dallas County, Missouri, Melissa Haston had been married to Matthew Webb “within the year.”
Jeremiah Haston - 1850 Census, Dallas County, MO
1850 – Jeremiah Hasting, age 50, appears as a head of household for a Dallas County, Missouri family. The post office that served Jeremiah’s family was at Shady Grove, in Washington Township of Dallas County. That was about eight miles east of Jeremiah’s home.[i] [i] Year: 1850; Census Place: District 26, Dallas, Missouri; Roll: 398; Page: 341a.
1850 – John H. (sic W.) and Mary C. (Caroline) Hastings, as well as one-year-old Hester, were on the census for District 26 in Dallas County, Missouri. John owned 50 acres.
1850 – In 1850 the A.V.F. Haston family was living in Finley Township of Greene County, Missouri. Finley Township was a part of southern Greene County that became Christian County on March 8, 1859.
August 15, 1850 – Jeremiah M.C. Haston married Nancy E. Cooper in Campbell Township of Greene County, Missouri.[i] Campbell Township was where the town of Springfield was located. R.A. Huffard, Justice of the Peace performed the marriage ceremony.[ii]
[i] “Nancy E. Haston,” Federal Civil War Widow’s Pension, Claim 344528 and Certificate 347044, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.).
[ii] Greene County, Missouri Marriage Book A (1833-1854), 204.
State | Meridian | Twp – Rng | Aliquots | Section | Document | County | Acres |
MO | 5th PM | 032N – 019W | W ½ NE ¼ West ½ Lot 2 | 4 | 12882 | Dallas | 39.95 |
Members of the Haston family-owned five tracts of land in Section 4 of Township 32N – Range 19W. Three of the tracts were clustered around the 39.95 acres issued to Jeremiah on April 15, 1853.
1860 – In addition to Jeremiah Haston (Senior), there were four people in his household at the time of the 1860 census.[i] His son Jeremiah M.C. was living next door to him and son-in-law Matthew Webb and daughter Melissa Webb were one household away.
[i] Year: 1860; Census Place: Jackson, Dallas, Missouri; Page: 240; Family History Library Film: 803617.
The Civil War
Missouri was a hotly contested border state during the Civil War, with a mixture of sympathizers for both sides. However, Dallas County remained quite firm with the Union. Jeremiah’s Haston family, other than one son-in-law of Jeremiah, appear to have been loyal Unionists. There’s MUCH more to be said about Jeremiah’s family and the Civil War – too much to say here, but it will be said in the book as well as a later posted article.
1870 – Three Haston families were living in a cluster of dwelling houses. Heads of households: Manerva Haston (now in charge of her father’s household), Jeremiah (not “James”) MC Haston, and Melissa Haston Webb.[i]
[i] Year: 1870; Census Place: Jackson, Dallas, Missouri; Roll: M593_773; Page: 175B; Family History Library Film: 552272.
November 10, 1872 – Elizabeth (Betsy) A. Haston, daughter of Jeremiah Haston, married John (Jacob) Moser* (or Mosier) in Dallas County, Missouri.[i] She would have been about 39 years old at the time she married Jacob, who was 42.
[i] Dallas County, Missouri Marriage Book A (1867) and B (1873-1880), 68.
1876 – According to Joan Moore Gillett’s family group record for Jeremiah Haston, this son of Daniel died in 1876 in Charity, Missouri (“1-mile N-Buffalo Rd.”).
The Lost "Haston Cemetery"
There is no record of Jeremiah Haston, Sr. being buried in any of the known cemeteries in Dallas County, Missouri. The same is true for several of his early family members. For the place of Jeremiah Haston, Sr.’s burial, Joan Moore Gillett wrote “Haston Cemetery” in her records, as if other people would know the location of that graveyard. She did say he died in Charity, Missouri, “1 mile N-Buffalo Road.” I assume that was where he was buried–somewhere on his 40-acre farm. From the village of Charity, it is almost exactly one mile north on the road to Buffalo to a high spot on Jeremiah’s 40-acre tract where his homesite was probably located.
The Mystery of a Local Cumberland Presbyterian Church
We know that some, if not all, branches of the Jeremiah Haston family were God-fearing people. Jeremiah and Esther Riddles Haston named their first son, John Wesley Haston–“John Wesley” being the founder of the Methodist denomination. And it is likely that the “Mr. Hastings” who was an 1845 charter member of the Church Grove Methodist Church in Dallas County, MO was the widower, Jeremiah Hastings. That little church group began meeting in the home of David Brundridge, about six miles northwest of where Jeremiah lived.
The Church Grove (Methodist) Class was organized in 1845, by Robert Foster, at the residence of David Brundridge,* with David Brundridge and wife, Catharine, Sarah and Samuel Williamson, Rebecca Maddux, Mary, Sarah, and Melvina Fraker, Susan Taylor, Mr. Hastings and Mr. Vincent as constituent members. This class continued to worship at private houses and schoolhouses until 1871, when its present frame edifice was erected at Church Grove, at a cost of $1,000.
[i] Dallas County Historical Society, 22-23.
An obituary of John Wesley Haston states that he was a faithful member of a Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Tennessee-based Presbyterian denomination) for more than 50 years. And information from the grandchildren of Jeremiah Haston confirms what was stated in the obituary. But Dallas County historians generally were unaware of a Presbyterian church of any denomination in the county until the latter half of the 19th century. I believe there is enough evidence to say there was a Cumberland Presbyterian Church near where the Hastons live, and early enough that John Wesley Haston could have been a member there for 50+ years.
I discovered from an obituary of Rev. E. Fortner that there was a Union Mound Presbyterian Church near the Hastons. And Thelma Kurtz provided a record of Jeremiah Haston being a member there in 1877, the same year as E. Fortner’s conversion.
Probably the reason the existence of the Union Mound Presbyterian Church was generally forgotten was the fact that since 1956 there has been a Southern Baptist Church at that location. Fortunately, Thelbert R. Gott was able to resurrect some important historical information about that church site and its cemetery.
The original building was a log structure, indicating it was probably built in the early decades of the 1800s. The earliest dated tombstone in the cemetery is of a woman who died in 1843.
Even though the obituary does not refer to it as a Cumberland Presbyterian Church, I assume (based on what I know about that denomination in Southwest Missouri at that time) that it was a part of the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. And it was very close to where John Wesley Haston, the 50+ year Cumberland Presbyteraian, lived.
Based on the facts we do have, I speculate that some branches of the Jeremiah Haston family were faithful members of a Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Union Mound, from soon after they arrived in Missouri. Whether or not, Jeremiah, Sr. became a member there–I do not know.
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