Daniel Haston’s sons, Isaac and Jeremiah, arrived in Southwest Missouri at about the same time, 1836-1837. Isaac Haston/Hastin settled in Cass Township, north of Springfield in Greene County, Missouri. Jeremiah settled about 30 miles northeast of Isaac, in the Charity community of Dallas County, Missouri.
Daniel’s son-in-law (husband of daughter Lucinda), Jacob Mitchell, lived, off and on, in the village of Ebenezer in Greene County, MO, in the mid-1840s to mid-1860s, apparently after Lucinda died. Ebenezer is about 10 miles east of Cave Spring and approximately 25 miles southwest of Charity in Dallas County.
The purpose of our week in Southwest Missouri was to learn what we could about the places where these men lived.
Although I have a lot of evidence that Jeremiah Haston and some of his family members are buried (as late as 1913) in a "Haston Burying Ground" on land where they settled in about 1837, nobody in the county knows the location of the cemetery.
Charlie Dill's family owns the land where we think the cemetery is located. Charlie and his family have been super helpful! He drove us around the 40-acre tract where I feel confident the graveyard is located.
I was pleased to hear that all 160 acres (4 tracts) that Jeremiah and his oldest daughter, Minerva, owned are now in the Dill family and they are very interested in and supportive of what we are doing.
Charlie grew up on this farm and has run cattle on this land most of his life, but he found some large stones that he had never known were there. They were positioned in what appears to be a rectangular pattern, perhaps foundation stones for a very old homesite. And other similar large stones were located on the surface of the ground nearby. A perpetual spring is about 30 yards away.
Some of these stones could be gravestones, but if not there is plenty of room in that area for a burying ground.
Charlie told me that he had heard about a man, James Williams, who knew all about locating forgotten graveyards. You will learn more about James in the Thursday section of this story.
20 yards or so in front of the pattern of old stones is this site. Charlie estimates that some of these oak trees are 200+ years old, old enough to have been there when Jeremiah and daughter Minerva lived on this land. It is on a high point of land that Minerva purchased in 1874, two years before Jeremiah died in 1876! The site overlooks the 1874 40 acre-tract , and the fence row in the distance is the east side of the 40 acres that Jeremiah acquired after he settled there. We think this would be a prime site for a cemetery. We shall see.
After our exciting tour of the original Haston property in the community of Charity in Dallas County, MO. We drove through the little village of Ebenezer, MO, where we would meet with the board members of the Ebenezer Historical Society the next day, Tuesday.
The historical center of the hamlet of Ebenezer, Missouri is the Ebenezer Methodist Church, which was founded in 1832. The current (beautiful) building was constructed in 1894. It is the oldest continuously functioning United Methodist congregation west of the Mississippi. Lucinda Haston's (daughter of Daniel Haston) inlaws--Jacob Mitchell family--lived in Ebenezer in the mid-1800s and were active members in this church. One of Jacob's brothers was the pastor of this congregation in 1850. Jacob may have died in the village. Facebook Page
This is our meeting place for the October 2026 MidAmerica All Hastons Gathering.
The original building was the one-room school for the community of Ebenezer, MO. It has been beautifully remodeled, added to, and converted for meetings such as we will have there. Website Facebook Page
Laura and I discussed logistics and general planning related to the MidAmerica All Hastons Gathering. She also explained the layout of the historic village of Ebenezer, MO in its earlier years.
Laura showed us some of the historical locations of Ebenezer sites, such as the original church, the Methodist college, and the original road.
We visited the Friendship Baptist Church building, the church that some descendants of Isaac Haston attended.
The story of how this building was moved intact from its original location near Isaac Haston's land, down a creek bed to the current site on the Little Sac River is truly amazing--on wagons pulled by mules. You will hear that story when we visit here in October.
Some of Haston relatives worshiped in this building. The family that owns the property where the building is located is in the process of restoring it to, as near as possible, to its original condition.
Now known as the Cave Spring Memorial Church
Isaac Haston/Hastin's land in Cass Township of Greene County, MO was about a mile east of this church, which was established soon after Isaac's family settled in Greene County. It was founded in 1839, a few years after the Ebenezer Methodist Church was organized. Before its founding, large camp meetings were held in this area.
Even though he was probably a Methodist, and not a Presbyterian, Isaac, Agnes, and members of their family no doubt attended here some times. There is evidence that some of their children were associated with this congregation.
This building, which was constructed in 1869, is being restored by members of the local community. After a few decades of the discontinuance of services, monthly services are now held in the building.
Originally, the church services were held in this room, upstairs in the church. You can see the "choir loft" and platform at the front of the church. Eventually, church services were moved to the first floor, due to the difficulty of getting caskets up and down the steps for funerals. Obviously, members with mobility issues had a difficulty time ascending the steps.
This room was originally used for a school, but later used for worship services, as it is monthly now. There are some interesting artifacts in the room. You will hear the story of the founding of this church and its many years of gospel ministry. Let's plan to sing a few old hymns while we are here.
On Thursday morning I visited the Dallas County Historical Society, where I met Jack and Linda Crawford. For several years, Linda, President of the Historical Society, has been my go-to person for historical information about Dallas County, MO. Jack's ancestors lived in the Cherry Creek community of White County, TN in the early 1800s. He's a great storyteller with lots of good stories about history. Website
I was happy that Charlie and James got to meet each other the morning I visited the Dallas County Historical Society. Charlie, whose family owns the possible Haston Cemetery property, and James, an experienced locator of "lost" or hidden cemeteries, are both interested in helping to find the old "Haston burying ground," as it is described in one family source.
James Williams grew up in Dallas County, Missouri but worked for a large cemetery in California for many years. Now, retired, he hopes to locate every "lost" cemetery in the county. He had read about the Haston family cemetery, but I was able to give him more detailed information about it and get him connected with Charlie.
James uses dowsing rods and says they are about 80% accurate in locating graves. He has already located about 50 previously old hidden cemeteries in Dallas County, MO. We hope he can add the Jeremiah Haston family cemetery to his list of successes.
Since the 1950s, this church is a Baptist Church. But its history goes back into the 1840s, when it was a Cumberland Presbyterian Church. It is located about 3 miles from where Jeremiah Haston settled. Although the church records for the earlier years of the church no longer exist, we do have evidence that members of Jeremiah's family were members there. Jeremiah's son, John Wesley Haston, may have been a member there for 50 years or more.
There is one Haston family buried in the old cemetery adjacent to the church.
On Friday, Sharon and I had lunch with the Board of the Ebenezer Historical Society (Nelson, Kevin and Laura), to make some additional plans for our October Gathering.
On Friday, we drove through Cave Spring again. You can see the old Mount Zion Presbyterian [now, Cave Spring Memorial] Church building and cemetery in the background. We were on our way to see the land that Isaac Haston owned while living in Greene County, Missouri.
When Daniel's son, Isaac, left Tennessee in about 1836, he owned no land and was apparently quite poor. But before moving to California in 1857, he owned 280 acres. His son, William Carroll Hastin, owned 40 acres when he died in 1845. Notice that Farm Road 51 goes right through Isaac's land, making it possible to get some good views of the property he settled on and farmed.
When Isaac settled here in about 1836, this was prairie land, part of the Grand Prairie of Greene County, Missouri. Because of the thick prairie grass, the soil was extremely difficult to plow. The land proved good for pasture but not so good for many crops, such as corn.
About 20 miles north of Cave Spring, MO, the historic Mitchell Campground Cemetery is located in southern Polk County, MO. Daniel Haston's daughter, Lucinda married (Jacob Mitchell) into this family. The Mitchells moved there from East TN in the mid-1830s. They were stauch Methodists and established a church, cemetery, and campground there shortly after they arrived. The history of this site is legendary! Daniel Haston's family is probably connected to these Mitchells in another way. Sarah Nave, probably a close relative of Christina Nave (Daniel's wife), is buried in this cemetery. She married Rev. James Mitchell, a popular Methodist preacher from the family for which this site is named.
The Methodist Church and cemetery were organized on this site in 1839. Many of the graves are from the mid-to-late 1800s.
Meetings are still held annually to support the foundation that cares for the property.
The Mitchell Methodist "class" (church plant) was organized in the house of Ransome Cates in 1834 or 1835. A hewed log meeting house was built in 1836, and the Mitchell Camp Ground was established in 1841, in which year the first camp meeting was held there. In 1858, a brick church building was erected at that location. There was a fire in 1904 that partially damaged the building, and it had to be rebuilt. The church [building] was dedicated in 1905.
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