That is an interesting place, that Snelson-Brinker place. I think it has been relocated to that spot, but I'm not sure. Here is some more info on the nearby cemetery: BRINKER-HOUSTON FAMILY CEMETERY Additional information regarding “Brinker/Snelson Home” from “Cemetery Records of Crawford County Missouri” by Helen Marie Wright, page 563-564. This cemetery is located on Highway 8 west, located in Meramec Township. A plaque located in the cemetery reads as follows: In this cemetery are buried early settlers, Cherokee Indians who died while passing this way on the way to Oklahoma (Trail of Tears), Civil War veterans, and several members of the Huston Family.” This cemetery was recorded october 14, 1996. BRINKER: Vienna Jane, May 26, 1835 - May 1, 1837 - was drown by family servant. Sarah, Apr 25, 1831 - Feb 18, 1846. The history of this cemetery is as follows: “Mr. Brinker purchased 1.7 acres of land from Levi Snelson in late 1836. Mr. Brinker was the owner of several slaves and a Negro maid named Mary, age 16 who took care of the children. One afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Brinker went to town and left Mary in charge of the children. When they returned they found their small daughter, Vienna Jane had drown in the nearby spring. The suspicious parents questioned the maid but no clue as to the cause for the tragedy could be found. On their next trip to town, Mr. Brinker returned to the house immediately after getting out of sight of the house and hid himself to see if the maid would attempt to harm their other children. Mary was seen trying to drown the other daughter, Sarah. An investigation was made by the suspicious father, and at a later date a jury was summoned and the maid was found guilty of murdering one child and attempt to murder another. She was sentenced to hang, and the sentence was carried out. She was buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery on the 1.7 acre plot. Several employees of the Meramec Iron Works are also buried in the cemetery, as is the murdered Brinker child whose grave is completely covered with a sandstone slab. Notes: There are 10 marked graves, and three obituaries of those buried in this cemetery that do not have any stones. Vienna Jan and Sarah are the only Brinker family members buried here. Mike > Subject: HOUSTON GRAVES IN CRAWFORD CO., MO > Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2006 19:19:11 -0500 > From: "jomorgan" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > > While in Crawford County, we stopped by the oldest home there, which then became the courthouse. There was no one there but the doors weren't locked so we could go inside. It was a ranch-style house with 2 front doors. It had 2 rooms that shared a large fireplace. To go from one room to the other, they had to go outside and through the other door. That must have been fun in the wintertime. I guess it was for safety reasons... in case the kitchen caught fire they might not lose the whole house. There was an outhouse still standing, and a fruit cellar which had to have been 30 degrees cooler than the outside. The old shelves were still intact. It was very educational. A washtub hung on the side of it. As we began to leave, I noticed a cemetery off to the side. Not knowing there were going to be thousands of hungry ticks there, we all trooped off to take names and dates down. Here are the ones I got. 2 were already unreadable and one had the name Rachel, but by then I'd reali! ze! > d my error and dancing out of the weeds, shaking every limb at the same time (I must have looked like I was doing some form of weird dance) I headed back to the car without getting closer to hers. I'm sorry now that I didn't try it. > As I was leaving I saw the sign that said this was the HOUSTON-BRINKER cemetery. > > ESCO T. HOUSTON > Born Dec 10, 1875 > Did Jan 6, 1936 > > OPHELIA N. HOUSTON > born Aug 16, 1861 > died Nov 23, 1930 > > MISSOURI O. HOUSTON > born Mar 10, 1839 > died Jan 10, 1920 > > ROBERT H. HOUSTON > born Nov 26, 1834 > died Sept 5, 1921 > > EMMA T. > dau of > R. H. & M. O. HOUSTON > born July 25, 1864 > died Apr 27, 1871 > ---------- > 1880 CRAWFORD CO., MO MERAMEC TWP. > HOUSTON, ROBERT H. white male 46 married farming TENN TENN N. C. > MISSOURI white female 42 wife married keeping house MO KY TENN > OPHELIA white female 18 daughter single MO TN MO > ESCO T. white male 4 son single at home MO TN MO > VAUGHAN, MYRA white female 64 mother widowed TN VA VA > LAWSON, GEORGE white male 17 employee single working farm MO > ------- > 1910 MERAMEC, CRAWFORD CO., MO > HOUSTON, OPHELIA head female white 48 single MO TN MO > MISSOURI O. mother female white 78 m1 49 MO KY TN > -------- > 1910 > HOUSTON, ESCO T. head white male 34 m1 4yrs MO TN MO > GYNNETHA H. wife white female 33 m2 4yrs had 3 still has 3 living children IA OH IL > CALLETA B. daughter white female 1 5/12 single MO MO IA > ROBERT H. father male white 74 m1 49 TN NC NC > PARKER, EVA step-dau female white 13 single TX TX IA > PARKER, HENRIETTA step-dau female white 10 single TX TX IA > wonder why the parents aren't living together. > -------------- > 1920 MERAMEC TWP., CRAWFORD CO. > HOUSTON, OPHELIA head female white 58 single > ROBERT H. father male white 85 widowed > -------------- > 1930 > HOUSTON, OPHELIA head white female 69 single MO TN MO > ------------- > 1930 ST. FRANCOIS CO, MO CENSUS ST. FRANCOIS TWP. > HOUSTON ESCO T. head white male 54 married 30 MO VA MO > GYNNETHA wife white female 53 married 30 IA OH IL > CALLIEdaughter female white 21 single MO MO IA > >