(This one is very interesting!) "The Kansas City Journal" (Missouri) Saturday, May 13, 1893 MRS. SARAH BALES DEAD. One of the Pioneers of Jackson County Departs From Earth. Mrs. Sarah BALES, the oldest inhabitant of Kansas City or Jackson county, died at her residence, corner of Twelfth street and Porter road, yesterday afternoon at 1 o'clock. Her death was due to old age. She was 85 years old, having been born April 6, 1808, and has lived in Kansas City for sixty-eight years. Mrs. BALES had been very feeble for several years and her death was not unexpected. Three years ago she met with an accident which rendered her practically helpless. Mrs. BALES is the mother of five sons and one daughter, all of whom are living. Three sons and the daughter reside in Kansas City. The sons here, William, S. H., and J. E. BALES, and the daughter is Miss Mary E. BALES. John BALES and Walter BALES reside in Belton, Mo. Her husband, Judge Walter BALES, died July 8, 1887. October 10, 1825, Mrs. BALES, then Miss Sarah JOHNSON, arrived with her father's family on the site of the future Kansas City. They came from Cole county, Mo., where Mr. JOHNSON had previously removed from Tennessee. With Mr. JOHNSON came his three married sons. In all there were twenty-one persons in the party. The land had that year been opened for settlement and the JOHNSONs took claims. This land is now within Kansas City and embraces some of the finest residence portions of the city. It includes all that land bounded by Independence avenue, Seventeenth street, Virginia avenue and Porter road. The country was wild and Indians were quite thick in this neighborhood. The elder JOHNSON put up a house where is now the corner of Bernard avenue and Fourteenth street. The house was built of round logs, which was about the only building the undeveloped country then afforded, and was 20X25 feet in dimensions. The floor was made by splitting straight trees into boards about two or three inches thick. There were no nails used in the construction of the building and wooden pegs took their place. The inside was all one room, and in this for some time the twenty-one persons of the JOHNSON colony made their home. At the time the family came here, Miss JOHNSON was 17 years old, and was among the first white settlers of the county. West of Independence there were perhaps a half dozen hunters and trappers. Kansas City soon afterwards sprang into existence, and among the first settlers was Judge Walter BALES who came here from Tennessee in 1831. On June 3, 1832, he and Miss Sarah JOHNSON were married. Both spent their lives in Kansas City and within a mile of the first house built by Mrs. BALES' father in Kansas City. The original BALES farm contained 175 acres, which extended from Ninth to Seventeenth and from Bellefontaine avenue to Porter road, and now embraces five or six well known additions. A division of this property was made prior to Judge BALES' death, he preferring to administer upon his own estate. The funeral will be held Sunday afternoon from the residence, 3600 East Twelfth street, at 2:30 o'clock. Rev. Mr. MEYERS, of Bales Avenue Christian church, will officiate. The burial will be in Elmwood. The pallbearers are C. M. DOWNING, William HARRIS, William CAMPBELL, J. T. HOLMES, Benjamin HOLMES, I. E. JACKSON, R. O. STEELE and John EATON. ====================================================== (I have no connection with this person but I'd appreciate knowing if you found this posting helpful.) ======================================================