The Land Holdings of Charles C. and Joseph Rich in Missouri
By Michael S. Riggs and Ronald E. Romig 4 December 2002 On October 20, 1836, Charles C. Rich left from his father's home in Tazwell, County, Illinois to go to Missouri. Rich's journal entry the day before he left stated his purpose in taking the trip, “I fixed for to start to Missour[i] [to] by land for the Church in company with Elder Lyman Wight.” He arrived in Caldwell County on 1 November 1836 and each began looking for land to purchase. He arrived in Caldwell County on 1 November 1836 where he encountered Hervey Green, a church member and neighbor in Tasewell County, Illinois. Green was also there to look for land. Within a few days, Rich and Green each identified desirable parcels and traveled together to the land office in Lexington, Missouri. Rich entered 40 acres at the land office on 12 November 1836 (SW 1/4 of SE 1/4 Sec. 33 Mirabile Township 56, Range 29) and also purchased 80 acres from a Mr. O'Dell. While at the land office in Lexington, Missouri, Charles Rich also purchased 80 acres in Rockford T.S. (E ½ or NE ¼ Sec. 15) for his Uncle Landon Rich. And, Green entered a nearby 80 acre parcel located in the N 1/2 of the NW 1/4 of Sec. 3, Township 55, Range 29, on 4-26-36. Green would later sell Charles and Joseph (Charles' Father) 60 of those 80 acres in 1837. Having completed his land acquisition mission, Charles Rich, accompanied by Hervey Green returned to Illinois. Caldwell County was identified as a gathering place for Mormons in 1836. Some LDS members immediately began moving into this new country. Charles C. Rich, an active member of the church from Tazewell County, Illinois, was among this vanguard. Rich traveled to Caldwell County in November 1836 to survey the opportunities of the region. He visited Log Creek several times during this visit, procured some property from an old settler named O'Dell and also 40 acres from the government. Rich then returned to his parent's home in Illinois and began to settle his affairs so he could relocate back to Caldwell County.
1837 Land Receipt from Lexington, Missouri, Land Office
LDS Church members in Tazewell had found Rich to be a born leader, so it seemed perfectly natural when Charles began to organize his family and friends for a move to Northern Missouri. In April 1837, in response to their religious ideals and Rich's urging, Rich's family and a small party of Tazewell Saints set out for Missouri. On arrival, they immediately set to work building the Log Creek area into what they hoped would be a prosperous settlement in their new Zion. These new residents fell in love with the wooded groves and prairie lands that surrounding the upper reaches of Log Creek.
The extended Rich family acquired several additional parcels of land. Charles and his Joseph father cleared land and began improving their holdings. Their neighbors followed their example. As other families arrived, Log Creek developed into a sizable settlement of church members. Members selected Charles as the Presiding Elder of the Rich Branch of the church along Log Creek.
Within a week of their arrival in early April, Charles recorded in his journal that he was looking for more government land to purchase to add to that obtained in late 1836. To that end, on April 26, 1837, he returned to “the land office” in Lexington, and entered in his and his father's name, two 80 acre parcels in Rockford T.S. including the S ½ of NW1/4 of Section 3. We believe, it was on this property that the Rich's built a log house for Joseph, his wife Nancy, and other family members including, a yet unmarried, 28 year old Charles.
Significantly, the distressed remains of this log house are the only ones extant from the Far West period of LDS Church history (1836-39). This conclusion has been determined through the combined efforts of an extensive archaeological investigation and through equally rigorous historical analysis. This approach, giving equal weight to both critical disciplines is truly a cutting-edge methodology. For example, in their recent work, Excavating Jesus, John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed wrote:
Words talk. Stones talk too. Neither talks from the past without interpretive dialogue with the present. But each talks and each demands to be heard in its own way. Only after archaeology and exegesis each get their own full voice should they come together in doubled chorus and common report.
As Historians working many years in the field of Missouri-Mormon Studies, we (Ronald E. Romig & Michael S.Riggs), early on came to realize the vital importance of involving a trained Archaeologist in the process of research. Paul DeBarthe has been an invaluable resource to amplify our understandings of the material culture of the early Mormon communities on the Missouri frontier. Going beyond “texts and stone,” however, Romig and myself have also strove to emphasize the importance of Historical Geography towards providing an even fuller understanding of the period. So, with texts, stones and mapping, we can establish that the log home in question was the Rich's first family dwelling in Caldwell County. What follows is an explanation of how we arrived at that conclusion.
The Archaeology
In 1995, members of Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation (MMFF) discovered a partially extant pioneer log house located near the hamlet of Mirabile, in Caldwell County, Missouri. For the next three years (1996-98), MMFF sponsored a highly productive archaeological reconnaissance at the site.
Research among early records revealed that following the expulsion of the Mormons from Caldwell County and State of Missouri in 1839, the log cabin subsequently became the home of James Wallace sometime before his marriage in 1844. Upon its re-discovery in 1995, the log house had been extensively changed from its original simple log house form as constructed by the Rich's. Though found in a deteriorating condition, the standing log walls were still covered with clapboard siding added by Wallace ca. 1840s. The early single room house faced south. When James Wallace added north and south wings, and a floor, significantly increasing the overall living space, the orientation of the house was modified to have its main entrance facing west.
For three seasons beginning in the summer of 1996, Project Archaeologist, Paul DeBarthe, coordinated a crew composed primarily of Shawnee Mission East High School students. In conducting an archaeological exploration of the site, DeBarthe's team, sampled many "test squares" surrounding the pioneer home site. During the 1998 investigation, two major project objectives were realized. Focusing on the area under the floor of the house and surrounding sectors, sufficient early Mormon period artifactual materials were unearthed, that were found to be consistent with potsherds and glass previously uncovered at Far West, Missouri. As a result, DeBarthe felt reasonably sure the log house is a Mormon Period site and structure. Paul said, "I am convinced by artifacts, structure and the convergence of historical documentation that the house appropriately can be interpreted as the Rich-Wallace home. It therefore merits our best effort to preserve it as a historic site."
At that point in the investigation, a definitive identification of the original dwellers of the log house was inconclusive, but the conclusion that this was indeed a Mormon era structure was verified by several key significant findings. We found that the structure had not been moved, but continues to stand on its original construction site as evidenced by the following findings:
During our first season, we observed that the original structure had been raised about 12 inches to allow the addition of a more recent wood floor structure.
While the upper portion of the log structure was built using a "V" notch pattern, it was noted that the bottom rung of logs (added for floor joists) had been fitted with a dove-tail notch. Because, notching patterns are like handwriting signatures, we knew that we were dealing with two different builders. These construction variations were clear evidence of the work of two separate artisans.
Originally the log house had a dirt floor. It was unclear whether, when the floor was installed later, the building had been moved to its present location or was simply raised and the floor installed. The presence of a fireplace foundation that did not match with the original fireplace opening, cut through the hewn log wall, was confusing at first. The visible hearth was about half the length of the building away from the fireplace opening. On the last day of the 1998 dig, researchers unearthed the foundation of a second (original) fireplace, finding it perfectly aligned with the existing log fireplace opening. This confirmed that the building had not been moved.
If, therefore, Wallace was the second owner of the property and he modified the structure using different building techniques that clearly rule him out as the homebuilder, and since the first owner's of the site were Mormon, it must, therefore, be an original LDS log home.
Circumstantially, we know those living in the Log Creek area, including the Rich Family, were not “burned out" by the Missourians during the 1838 Mormon War. Specifically, Charles C. Rich, did not itemize or list a house as having been destroyed in his 1839 redress petition to the U.S. Congress. So, why wouldn't the next owner (i.e., James Wallace) convert the perfectly sound structure available on this property for his own use?
The Historical Record
Having determined through archaeological investigation that the structure was of vintage Mormon era, several important questions still remained. When was it constructed? Who was the original builder? Which early LDS family lived there? Our next step was to critically examine the documentary evidence for available answers.
The stated purpose of Charles Rich's 1836 trip to Missouri was to buy land for “the Church” (more specifically, his Illinois congregation). He had a hard time raising the necessary funds to acquire as much land has he had desired. Charles did manage to purchase 120 acres for himself (along with his father Joseph) and 80 acres for his Uncle Landon Rich.
Rich's journal mentions helping others locate and buy land, but with the exception of his Uncle Landon's property, Rich did not end up reselling any of his land to other Mormons. He did, however, acquire additional acreage for himself and his father. This is important, because it shows that the house stands on land purchased from the government by the Rich's in April 1837 and still owned by them as late as April 1838.
Rockford Township, Section 3
The journal of the early Mormon Alan Stout (brother of Hosea) begins by observing, "On the 5th of July, 1837, father and I set out for Caldwell County, Missouri, in company with Anna and Jones family, and what was called the Rich branch of the Church. C. [Charles] C. Rich was our leader." Various sources identify a significant list of Mormon families, who, like Stout, settled in Caldwell County, Missouri, south of Far West along Log Creek. Mormon settlement of this locale parallels the same time frame as the founding of the city of Far West.
One can easily distinguish between the earliest Caldwell settlers and those who moved to the area later, primarily because of Rich's influence. Timothy B. Clark, for example, had been associated with Rich from their former days together in Illinois. Others like, Justus Morse, probably first met Charles C. Rich while serving together in the 1834 march of "Zion's Camp."
Charles Rich had begun courting Miss Sarah Pea through letters exchanged after being encouraged by the matchmaking efforts of George M. Hinkle. When the couple finally met in Far West it was not long before they decided to marry. Sarah's remembrance of the honeymoon period of their marriage is a vital data point to efforts to identify the resident's of the subject log house.
As Far West was a place everybody lived in log houses so my husband had built a nice little hewed log hous and got it reddy to live in by the time we were married. It was 4 miles from Farr west near my husbands fathers.
Charles and Sarah's ties to the Branch were intermingled with their business and Church dealings with activities in Far West. For example, Charles was the President of the High Priest's Quorum there and Sarah's parents lived on a town lot in the city. Sarah remembered attending church meetings in Far West every Sunday after they married. In September of 1838, Sarah and Charles received news that resulted in their leaving the Branch on Log Creek and moving to Far West.
My Father and mother and sister had gone on a visit to Illinois to see my brother. They went just before those troubles commenced and as it was not safe for them to travil [sic} and return to there home in Far West they wrote for me and my husband to moove into there house and look after the things they had left.
Although Sarah's account would tend to suggest only a temporary relocation to Far West, two other sources lead us to conclude otherwise. The document is an indenture transferring for five dollars, ownership of their recently built home to Joseph Rich. Why would they bother to sell their home if they were not planning to be gone very long? Sarah claimed that when the rumors first started that troubles might re-ignite between the Missourians and the Mormons, Charles sensed that they might be separated. Charles wanted to be prepared for the worst case, so it seems likely that he would want her to be safe among a larger group of people in the city rather than isolated in the more sparely populated Log Creek area.
An entry in the William Draper journal is another source that leads us to believe Charles and Sarah's move to Far West was not intended to be short term. Draper recounted that, “There was a large branch of the Church here known as the Lay [Log] Creek Branch… I was called upon to take the presidency of this branch being the only high priest in the branch.“ While Draper did not provide a specific date for this entry, the context clearly places it after Rich had moved to Far West. Rich was a High Priest, so if there were no longer anyone holding that priesthood office in the Branch as Draper said, then Rich must have already left. Rich had also been President of the Branch, so if Draper was now President, then Rich was being replaced because of his absence. There would have been no reason to go through the process of selecting Draper to be President of the Branch if Charles was going to return shortly.
The property that Charles and Sarah sold to Joseph in September 1838, was where their log house was built at the time of their marriage only eight months before. We believe this to be correct because the indenture selling the one acre and 115 rod parcel to his father for five dollars, was only a half mile from the extant log house we argue was the original Rich homestead, or as Sarah put it, “close to my husbands fathers.” In addition, the property sold was exactly four miles from Far West, likewise as stated in Sarah's account.
The Maps
There are many examples in the original land entries of early Mormons purchasing government land in multiple places in Caldwell and Daviess Counties. We find it was common for these families to live at one location and farm another, even at great distances apart. Early LDS journals are replete with accounts of secondary land transactions between Mormons and the buying out in 1836 of the “old settlers.” If one made a map only using only these original land entries as a basis for representing where the Mormons once lived, a large part of the picture would be distorted. These first land entries are very important records, but we must also use all other available information to flesh out a clearer image of who really was where.
We are in the process of correlating known textual documentation into a visual map format. The result is becoming excellent tool for field-site explorations. Several significant sites have been identified that offer promising prospects for future archaeological investigations.
Specifically, the use of mapping to pinpoint where the Rich family lived is crucial. As explained above, we had several important clues in journals left by residents of the “Rich Branch” living in the Log Creek area. What was only hinted at in these primary source documents in reference to settlement patterns may be seen through Historical Geographical mapping techniques.
Sarah Rich's statement that Charles built a log house for her four miles from Far West and that it was close to her father-in-law Joseph's, are important benchmarks. The trustworthiness of Sarah's estimation of distances is confirmed by discovering that the couple's September 1838 sale of a one-acre tract of land (and a house) to Joseph Rich is indeed exactly four miles south of Far West. We therefore judge Sarah's observation that they were close to Joseph's house is likewise reliable. This places the young Rich couple's bridal home one half mile from the location where we believe the Joseph Rich cabin stood. These distances can be shown to exactly match geographic reality.
Conclusions
Combining the results of the archaeological investigation at the Rich-Wallace log house site with both relevant documents and maps have led us to conclude that this was indeed the original 1837 log home of the Rich family. The combination of all three approaches verifes our findings.
Archaeology shows the log house was built by Mormons who lived on the site. Numerous journal accounts place the Rich family in the Log Creek region. Historical geography in no uncertain terms reveals the profound influence Charles C. Rich had in organizing a Branch in the Log Creek area south of Far West based on the number of friends and family that settled so near to where his land entries were located. The documentary historical evidence informs us that the site was owned only by the Rich family throughout the Far West period. Lastly, we believe Sarah's account to be an accurate description of distance. So, with all the other data amassed, it is reasonable to conclude that the extant log structure in Section three of Rockford Township was indeed built by and once served as the home of Joseph, Nancy and Charles C. Rich.
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During our first season, we observed that the original structure had been raised about 12 inches to allow the addition of a more recent wood floor structure.
