CHAPTER XXVIII.

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP.
Settled in 1838 - Named in 1845 - The Old Pioneers - Marriages - Births and Deaths - Ministers and Doctors - schools - The First Divorce in Grundy County - Valuation - Railroad - Town of Gault - BIOGRAPHIES
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     Liberty township was first settled in 1838, but never assumed the name until 1845, after the county of Mercer was organized when it, composing the north half of her present boundary and the whole of Myers, was called Liberty.  Its metes and bounds now, and since 1872, are as follows:  North by Myers township; east by the Sullivan county line; south by Marion, and west by Lincoln township.  It is seven miles east and west, and five miles north and south, and contains thirty-five sections of land, or 22,400 acres.  It is watered by No Creek on the western side, and by Little Medicine on the east, with several creeks emptying into these two streams,  One called Birch Branch, with smaller streams finding its way into Medicine Creek.  Liberty township is about two-thirds, if not more, undulating prairie.  It has some fine bodies of timber lying on No and Medicine creeks and their branches.  The soil is rich and easy of cultivation.  The black and loamy soil is productive to an unusual degree, and its early settlers and its later ones have enjoyed the faithful harvest of forty odd years, and there has been very little in their quiet lives to make history.

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EARLY SETTLERS.

     The earliest settlement in Liberty township of which any trace can be found was in 1838.  Minter Brassfield, Mrs. Mary Brassfield, Thomas W. Brassfield, Hugh Davis, Calvin Brumniet, G. F. Geinan, John Priest, Mayberry Splawn, Anderson Malone, and Reuben Brassfield all came in the spring of that year.  In 1839 R. M. Johnson, William Rucker, John Call, and others came, during the year.  Joseph Rook, who settled in the south part of the township, came also in 1838.  In 1840 there was quite a flow of settlers, Marion getting the most of them, yet many finding their way to Liberty.  The Rooks gathering quite a number around them.  Among those most prominent who came in 1840 was Rev. Nathan Winters, who came from Illinois and was the first preacher in the township.  His family, like the Brassfields and Rooks, was large; among his sons were E. L. William and N. A. Winters.  Then there were William Johnson, Henry Ridenour, Clark Kirk.  These were of those who were called the pioneers of Liberty township.  They had all the trials and tribulations of

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that day to pass through.  They used the pestle and mortar and the handmill to get their corn in a shape to eat, and their meat was the wild game of the woods, while a bee tree was the fountain from which they supplied themselves with the greatest amount of sweets.  They would go to Livingston county, buy grain and go over to Utica and get it ground by a horsemill.  Roads were where they wished to make them.  The prairie could be cut through from any angle, but when the timber was reached the settlers generally converged to a single point as far as practicable.  Most of the settlers came from east Tennessee, some from Kentucky and Illinois.

MARRIAGE

     The first marriage in the township was in section 28, and the wedding
party was Reuben Brassfield to Miss Lucinda Brassfield, cousins, Jan. 17, 1839.  The ceremony was performed by 'Squire Robert Walker.

BIRTHS - BOY AND GIRL

     The first boy was born May 4, 1838, to Minter and Jane Brassfield, and was named Mayberry Brassfield.  The first girl born was (Nov. 19, 1839) Mary Ann, daughter of Mayberry and Fannie Splawn.

DEATH.

     The first death was Hugh Davis, son of Hugh Davis, who died in September, 1841, and was buried in Lindley Cemetery, section 15, in Sullivan county.  He was' a bright and promising youth.

MINISTER AND DOCTOR.

     The first regular physician who practiced in the township was the ubiquitous Dr. William P. Thompson.  The first preacher who held regular service was Reuben Aldridge, a Methodist circuit-rider, who preached at the cabin of Calvin Brummet in 1839.

SCHOOLS.

     The first school was taught in 1842 in the forks of Medicine Creek, then Marion township, on section 33.  The teacher was J. W. Dunnell, who left afterward for Illinois, his former place of residence.  His pupils numbered thirteen that winter.  He received one dollar and fifty cents per scholar per month.  A school-house was afterward built by the neighbors on section 20.  The building was the usual log cabin of the day, minus doors, windows and fire-place.

SPINNING AND WEAVING.

     Mrs. Patty Davis is credited with the first spinning and weaving in the township, and she was a true representative of the pioneer woman of that day.

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A woman who could turn her hand to anything, ready and willing to meet the demands of a pioneer's life, its trials, toil and trouble, making no complaint but tilling her allotted sphere with a happy and cheerful spirit.

DIVORCE.

     The only couple in Grundy county who were divorced, during the early days was John W. and Pauline Paton in 1842, and their home was in Liberty township.  What caused this separation is not noted as far as the records have been searched, but the sad fact that the silken cord was loosened, can be put down in the pages of this history for future generations to know.

VALUATION - RAILROAD.

     The assessed valuation of Liberty township in 1874, was $195,578; since that time there has been no assessment by municipal townships.
     The Quincy, Missouri and Pacific Railroad, which was building July, 1881, crosses the southeast corner of the township and the first village arising within its limits is the town of Gault.  A rapidly growing railroad station, in a good agricultural district, about fifteen miles from Trenton, the county seat, and twenty from the town of Milan, in Sullivan county.  Its southwest corner is near the town of Dillon, which is just over the line in Trenton township.

TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.

     The present officers of Liberty township are as follows:  Justices of the peace, J. H. Wheeler and D. W. Allen trustee, Theodore L. Balser; collector, G. W. Pollock; clerk and assessor, W. J. Jackson constable, A. J. Donaldson.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES