The Founding of the Homeplace - Summer 1843, Progress Report, Part 2 of 4

The Founding of the Homeplace

Summer 1843, Progress Report

Part 2 of 4

"The Founding of the Homeplace" stories will continue here on every other Friday during August and September. This is a serial presentation of the story, beginning in 1833, when four families decided to settle the land, the valley, that would become the setting of the first two books in the The Homeplace Saga: "Back to the Homeplace" and "The Homeplace Revisited" and subsequent series stories, set in 1987 and 1996, to date. The underlying premise of this series is the desire of the family matriarch to retain the family farm in the southern Missouri Ozarks in whole and in the family. 

[See Story 1 (Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4), Story 2 (Part 1, 2, 3, and 4), Story 3 (Part 1, 2, 3 and 4), Story 4 (Part 1, 2, 3 and 4), 1838 Progress Report (Part 1, 2, 3 and 4) earlier, and 1841 Progress Report (Part 1).] 

Characters in this series become actively involved in the study of their family history and snippets of that research appear, from time to time through the series (one example). This serial presentation begins to share that ‘research’ in Story Form, and, some of the Stories represent 'writings of the family' that were ‘discovered’ in the process of that research. Each Story is an essay or report of the activities of the initial four families and their descendants that settled the Homeplace – the farm and the surrounding valley.

Summer 1843, Progress Report

In this episode, we share "Part 2 of 4"

Hugh Truesdale had found much success in using mules on his farm where others were using oxen. When he met the Campbell men at an early Fourth Sunday valley meeting, they found they had much in common.  They quickly learned that sharing knowledge and experience was beneficial to each of their operations. By the end of 1840, they had formed a partnership, along with Jake Patton, to begin to breed mules for their own use as well as for sale to others. Jake Patton had earlier begun a modest horse breeding operation and was pleased to be able to expand use of some of his mares to the breeding of mules.  After spring planting season in 1843, eighteen-year-old Ralph Campbell moved to the central valley to work full-time with for the mule breeding partnership operation. Previously each of the workers had been part-time, supervised by one or the other of the three partners.

Two young couples that came into the valley in the spring of 1837 bought 160 acres each on the north side of the east-west road just north of Jake and Kate Patton’s most recent purchase.  Oliver and Deborah Dodson were to the west, and Jesse and Eliza Bartlett to the east. All four were in their early 20s and full of energy to be successful farm families.

In 1838, George and Marcia King settled about a mile south of the Campbell family, around two curves of the Western Branch. Also in 1838, Eli Rhodes, his wife, Emeline, and their four children had settled on the 160 acres downstream east of the King family. In 1841, Michael Duncan and his wife, Amanda, bought 160 acres a mile south of the Victor Campbell place, also along Western Branch creek, but upstream from the Rhodes family. In the spring 1842, Peter and Elvira Simpson came in from the west and settled on 160 acres along the Western Branch, between the Campbell and King home, locating on the north side of the stream near a fording location.

[...to be continued... on Nov 1, 2013, with Part 3 of Summer 1843 Progress Report]