A Brief History of the State of Missouri and the Southard Family during the 1800's.
In 1803 the Louisiana Territory (including the Missouri area) was given to the United States by France as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
On December 16, 1811, the first in a series of earthquakes hits southeastern Missouri. The quake, with an epicenter near the town of New Madrid, was estimated to be about 8.0 on the Richter scale. It is said that the tremors were strong enough to ring church bells as far away as Boston, Massachusetts. Several quakes followed over the next several months.
In 1812, the U.S. Territory of Missouri was set up.
By 1818, the Missouri Territory had gained sufficient population to warrant its admission into the Union as a state. Being that its settlers came largely from the South, it was expected that Missouri would be a slave state. A statehood bill was brought before the U.S. House of Representatives with an amendment that would forbid importation of slaves and would bring about the ultimate emancipation of all slaves born in Missouri. This amendment passed the House in February 1819, but not the Senate. The bitterness of the debates sharply emphasized the sectional division of the United States.
In January 1820, a bill to admit Maine as a state passed the House. It was seen that by pairing Maine (certain to be a free state) and Missouri, equality in the U.S. Senate would be maintained. In March of 1820, Maine was made a state and Missouri was authorized to adopt a constitution having no restrictions on slavery.
In 1821, the question of admitting the Missouri Territory as a state became a burning national issue because it involved the question of extending slavery into the western territories. The dispute was resolved by the Missouri Compromise, which contradictorily admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state but excluded slavery from lands of the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36°30'N (Missouri's southern border). Missouri was admitted in August of 1821. The 36°30'N proviso held until 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise.
On November 30th, 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) is born in Florida, MO.
In 1843, the Maclin Southard and Charles Southard families left White County, Tennessee with the Breshears family. They headed toward the new state of Missouri, via ox cart, under the premises of fertile and inexpensive land in the valleys of Missouri. Maclin settled in Dallas County while Charles settled in neighboring Hickory County. As well, the Gilliam Tolliver Southard family left McMinn County, Tennessee with their neighbors, the Thomas Moreland family. They settled in Crawford County, Missouri (that of which is now a part of Maries County).
In 1854 the problem of slavery was made acute with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, leaving the question of slavery in the Kansas and Nebraska territories to the settlers themselves. The proslavery forces in Missouri became very active in trying to win Kansas for the slave cause and contributed to the violence and disorder that tore the territory apart in the years just prior to the Civil War.
On March 2nd, 1855, Maries County is formed from portions of Crawford, Osage and Pulaski Counties.
On November 6th, 1860, Abraham Lincoln is elected President receiving 180 of 303 possible electoral votes and 40% of the popular vote.
On December 20th, 1860, South Carolina is the first state to secede from the Union. Within two months, so do Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
On March 4th, 1861, Abraham Lincoln is sworn into Office.
On April 12th, 1861, the Confederates open fire upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War begins.
On April 17th, 1861, Virginia secedes and is followed within five weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina.
In December of 1861, William Clarke Quantrill formed his band of guerillas in Missouri. It was mustered into Confederate service in 1862. Riding with him were Jesse and Frank James as well as the infamous Younger Brothers. Much of the fighting in Missouri was an ugly form of terrorism, most of which was carried out by loose bands of Missouri guerrillas, by Bushwhackers (Confederate loyalists), by Kansas "Jayhawkers" (Union loyalists) or by marauding patrols of Union soldiers.
In 1862, James Southard was elected to represent Dallas County in the Missouri State Legislature.
In 1862, the Alford Southard home was attacked by a group of Jayhawkers or Bushwhackers in an attempt to kill Alford and the older boys (anyone old enough to carry a gun). The house was razed but no one was killed as the boys were not present.
In 1863, Thomas Southard's new wife was delivering a breach birth when Thomas rode for help. Along the way, he was stopped by a band of Jayhawkers, then tied to a tree, beaten, and left for dead. After coming to, he managed to escape only to find that his wife and child had already died. Tom and his brothers then began to ride with Quantrill's guerillas.
In 1864, James Southard was re-elected to represent Dallas County in the Missouri State Legislature.
In 1864, Thomas Southard and his brothers were to visit relatives in Maries County when they were confronted by a Union patrol. Fearing sure death for this brothers, Thomas rode out ahead to draw the fire of the patrol, giving his younger brothers a chance to escape. They survived, he did not. He was buried in an unmarked grave in western Maries County.
On April 9th, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to General Ulysses S. Grant.
On April 10th, 1865, celebrations break out in Washington, D.C.
On April 14th, 1865, the Stars and Stripes is ceremoniously raised over Fort Sumter. At 10:30 PM during the third act of the play "Our American Cousin", John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln an Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
On April 15th, 1865, President Lincoln died at 7:22 AM. Vice President Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency.
In 1868, James Southard was re-elected to represent Dallas County in the Missouri State Legislature.
On November 6th, 1868, an arsonist set the Maries County Courthouse on fire, destroying it and most records.
In 1870, James Southard was elected to serve as State Senator for the 20th District of Missouri.
In 1876, Mark Twain pens "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".
In 1876, James Southard was re-elected to serve his final term as a representative for Dallas County in the Missouri State Legislature.
-courtesy of www.historyplace.com/civilwar/ & www.infoplease.com