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Caldwell County, Missouri, Mormon Sites, Ca. 1838 Haun's Mill

Discovery of Haun's Mill Face Wheel, 1986

Archaeology Reports from Recent Haun's Mill Explorations

Exposed Rock Creek Bottom, 2 September 2002
In 1835, Jacob Haun joined the Mormon Church and moved to Shoal Creek in what became Caldwell County, Missouri. Haun purchased 40 acres containing a good mill seat in the eastern part of the county. A sizable settlement developed as other Latter Day Saints gathered into the area. Haun's home sat on the south bank of the creek. Jacob Myers, a millwright from Richland County, Ohio, also moved his family to the area and helped construct a sawmill and a gristmill. Soon there was a blacksmith shop, plans for a store and six to ten homes. In addition, as many as 40 or more Mormon families lived on farms of their own in the vicinity. Jacob Myers, Jr., built a home nearby and helped operate the mill. In early 1838, the settlement was full of promise for a bright future. Jacob Myers, Jr., began work constructing a hand dug well near his new home.
Relations between church members and Missouri citizens began a downward spiral during 1838. A clash of cultural attitudes and events set the stage for a horrific event at Haun's Mill. Distorted reports and rumors circulated by both camps. Unlawful assemblies of citizens formed on both sides to protect perceived local interests, as Missourians purposed to drive the Mormons from the state.
In late October 1838, a group of church members en route to Far West camped at Haun's Mill in their wagons and tents. Community men prepared to defend the hamlet. On 30 October 1838, about two hundred-forty Livingston County regulators and other volunteers caught the settlement by surprise.

Jacob Potts' and Levi Stiltz' Haun's Mill Accounts

Setzer Marker
Despite the wider significance of the Haun's Mill episode, no permanent marker identified the site until 1941. Area resident, Mr. Glenn M. Setzer, took the initiative to construct a cast concrete marker for the site. He set the marker near the main entry road to the property. He further marked the site by erecting a red sandstone, perhaps part of a millstone, he found on the property.
"On Sunday afternoon, July 13, 1941, [before a crowd of interested persons, estimated to number about 2,000], a ceremony was held at the site of the mill. Several hundred residents of Caldwell County and vicinity and church members [and friends] within a hundred-mile radius attended the services. Elder Earl S. Craven (now of the Richmond, Missouri, RLDS Congregation) was in charge. President Israel A. Smith, of the presidency of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now known as Community of Christ, spoke and read a historical paper prepared by Samuel A. Burgess. Other speakers included Caldwell County's able historian Dr. Bertha Booth of Hamilton. Mr. Glenn M. Setzer, a resident of Kingston who was directly responsible for arranging the services and for providing the marker," also made a brief address stressing his belief Caldwell County should commemorate its many places of historical interest with suitable makers. Setzer eventually placed a number of additional hand cast markers around the county..
". . . the site of the old mill [community] was located near Shoal Creek by an old resident, William R. Pemberton, and a marker was placed there to perpetually identify the spot.[Saints' Herald, 102 (31 October 1955): 1043].

The Setzer Marker at Haun's Mill reads:
Southwest of here on October 30th 1838 occurred the incident generally known as the Haun's Mill Massacre. This site located by Wm. R. Pemberton. This marker placed here by Glenn M. Setzer, 1941. Marker photographs were shot by Kieth B. Stokes.

The Massacre at Haun's Mill
By Samuel A. Burgess
(Because the author could not be present to read the paper, it was read by President Israel A. Smith).

We consider it a privilege and pleasure to be permitted to meet with you this afternoon, even though it be for the sad purpose of marking the graves of those who died here. . .
. . . We are not here to glorify that event or to celebrate a great victory.
We meet as Americans, those of us who stand for government of laws and not of men- by consent of the governed. We stand for the Constitution and the laws of this country and this State.
We stand for civil liberty and religious freedom which means the right of every man to worship as he chooses, provided, of course, that religion shall never be used as the cloak or shield of immorality in any of its forms. . .
We are here out of respect and to honor Mr. Glenn Setzer because of his great interest in the history of this country and the work he has done in marking unmarked graves and points of historic interest.
We are here as Missourians in honor to each other with a pledge under the Constitution of this country and of this State to stand firm for liberty with justice, for morality and toleration.
We are here as Missourians and as brethren, as a pledge of that unity which our great country now so greatly needs.
We are here in a belated funeral service in respect to these dead whose ashes have rested here for over a hundred years.

-[Saints' Herald, 88 (9 August 1941): 1002-1004].

Even Setzer's marker has now deteriorated, having been frequently covered by flood sediment over the years. Only the upright red stone remained visible at times. Sitzer's Marker was restored by caring area residents in 2001.
Rt. 13 south from Kingston or north from Polo to County Road F, about nine miles east on F, turn north on Catawba Road, 2.5 miles, cross Shoal Creek bridge and turn west, ½ mile.

Haun's Millstone Marker- Breckenridge City Park
This relic of old Haul's Mill remained at the Haun's Mill property near Catawba, Missouri, from 1845 until around 1914. In 1907, LDS Missionary George Edward Anderson visited Haun's Mill to photograph the historic site. Anderson's party found a partially exposed millstone in the bank of the creek and moved it to the mill site where he shot photographs of the front and back of the stone. Afterwards, the stone apparently remained on the edge of the bank until 1913-14. Citizens of Breckenridge considered the millstone of sufficient public and historic interest to recover it and place it in the city park. At first the stone simply lay loose by a wooden marker, until the mayor was offered a sum of money for it. By 1941, it was permanently set edgewise in concrete.
A new commemorative marker was erected by the City of Breckenridge Park Board and Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation in May 2001.

Text on the new commemorative marker reads:
Mill Stone believed to be from Haun's Mill (1836-CA. 1845). This relic represents a tragic episode in American Religious history. A testament to an enduring need for greater understanding and tolerance between peoples of differing ideologies, including religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds. As a result of miscommunication and feelings of powerlessness to effect change in the wake of what they saw as offensive Mormon military actions in Daviess County, Livingston County Regulators and other volunteers, brutally attacked the nearby Mormon settlement of Haun's Mill, on Shoal Creek, 30 October 1838, killing 17 persons, 14 of whom were hastily interred in a partially completed well on the site. In memory of the massacre, local residents moved this Mill Stone to Breckenridge sometime after 1927 [1914]. Dedicated May 26, 2001, City of Breckenridge Park Board and Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation.
As you wend your way down the byways of the past- while visiting Haun's Mill, take time to drive 8 miles northeast to Breckenridge. It's a convenient stop, just off Route 36. It's well worth the time to see the famous Millstone from Haun's Mill for yourself.

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