In a message dated 5/31/2002 5:55:08 PM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: > LtISandy stated "I understand that Dadeville was burned during the civil > war and one of Peter Cantrell's son's were killed." end quote. > > Does anyone have the details behind the story of Dadeville, burning during > the Civil War? By whom ? Or the details of the Court house in Greenfield > burning during the Civil War? > Hi, I'm inserting three linked posts with information from an exchange on this subject in March 2000. In brief, Dadeville was burned June 14 1864 Killed were (from old post below) -- Lieutnant JESSE KIRBY of Company A, Sixth Missouri cavalry; JOHN > CANTRELL, SHED BERRY, a blind negro. WILLIAM BRADFORD, who was wounded, died > shortly afterward. SAM LANDERS, now of Webb City was also wounded. The burning and murders were committed by (my gg uncle) Nicholas Houston Choate, Alfred Bigley and Stephen Hicks. I don't have my notes with me now, but they were brought trial, and after two changes of venue were acquitted in Greene Co 1867 or 1868 if memory serves. After the incident, several volunteered (below): "Following that incident, James Warren Berry, James Gaskin > Berry's son, joined Company 'E' 76th Cavalry Enrolled Missouri Militia, under > James M. Kirby. Three Cantrells, Jeptha, Hyrum and Thomas C. also joined at> that time, as did Samuel Bigley, and Robert Bird." Nicholas Houston Choate was married to Robert Bird's sister. This incident split local families badly. FYI, Nicholas Houston Choate, the Bigleys and the Hicks' all lived down in Smith township, south of Pennsboro a couple of miles. Best Regards, Jaent Hunter CNIDR Isearch-cgi 1.20.06 (File: 42) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 13:17:17 EST From: <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Subject: [MODADE] My Family & Burning of Dadeville Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Everyone, Florence and I had an exchange on the list regarding the burning of Dadeville last July that I thought I'd pull out of the archives and repost. In essence, my ggg uncle Nicholas Houston Choate, along with two cohorts, Stephen Hicks and Alfred Bigley, were the primary folks responsible for the burning of Dadeville, despite their later acquittal in Greene Co, after two changes of venue. A descendant of Nicholas Houston Choate said they undoubtedly did the deed. Choate apparently saw himself as a self-styled small time version of Quantrill's raiders, aiding the cause of the South. As Florence posted before, after the burning, several men joined the Union forces...among them an undoubted relative of Alfred Bigley, and Nicholas H. Choate's own brother-in-law Robert Bird. Obviously, the incident had a severe impact on families. Ultimately, and perhaps directly related, Nicholas left his wife Nancy Paralee Bird and his children (cared for by his father Powhatan Choate & mother Winney Haley). Another descendant said he committed suicide in the early 1900s in TX. Here is the earlier exchange. Janet (Baugh) Hunter Date: Sat, 31 Jul 1999 22:36:58 -0700 From: Florence Cannariato <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [MODADE-L] Who burned Dadeville 1864?? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii [email protected] wrote: > Fellow Lawrence and Dade Co Researchers: > > Well...my brother right there in Joplin keeps asking me which ancestor of > ours was with Quantrill's Raiders, and I tell him I can't find any and I have > gone through every list I can find. My mother's older brother (now deceased) > told him we had someone who "ran with Quantrill's boys". So since we don't > have any really, really bad apples on our tree I keep looking. > > Yesterday I was sent information from my Choate cousin (4th I think) Grant > Choate of Carl Junction, that my gg grandmother Lucinda (Choate) Bird's > brother Nicholas Houston Choate was tried, along with Stephen Hicks and > Alfred Bigley, for the murder of four individuals that had been killed when > Dadeville was burned in 1864 (see below). The excerpt from the "History of > Dade County and its People" says they were "Guerrillas". Grant's wife told > me on the phone that Nicholas was part of Quantrill's raiders and this 1864 > incident was their doing. Not only have I not located a Choate on > Quantrill's raiders but also no Stephen Hicks or Alfred Bigley. There IS a > George Hicks on one list. > > I only have the page of the Dade history book this excerpt is on, p. 237, so> I can't tell what came before it. I am curious if any of you have any more > history on this Dadeville incident. I do know that bushwhackers were all of> the place, etc..Any information about the infamous William Quantrill being in > the area? ..And I am thinking that maybe my Mr. Choate hooked up with some > parts of Quantrill's boys who may have left his Raiders. > > Here is the excerpt: > > "On the 14th of June, 1864, the Guerillas burned the town of Dadeville, > leaving but a few houses standing, and killed a number of citizens. Among > them were Lieutnant JESSE KIRBY of Company A, Sixth Missouri cavalry; JOHN > CANTRELL, SHED BERRY, a blind negro. WILLIAM BRADFORD, who was wounded, died > shortly afterward. SAM LANDERS, now of Webb City was also wounded. The town > was soon rebuilt." > > Thanks in Advance...FYI, Nicholas Houston Choate was acquitted..the jury > didn't even debate. The case was tried finally in Greene Co, after first > being moved from Dade to Lawrence Co. So the acquittal was good.....but he > abandoned his family later on and moved to Texas. His parents, Powhatan > Choate and Winnie (Haley) Choate, ended up taking care of another set of > children. > > Janet Hunter > > ==== MODADE Mailing List ==== > I never steal taglines - I'm a genealogist - I just adopt them. > Listowner: mailto:[email protected] [email protected] > Janet: I have some shadowy information in my Berry file with which we may be > able to put something together. My GG Grandfather was James Gaskin Berry, who > settled in what became Dadeville in 1838, I believe while it was still called > Millville. His wife, Nancy Finley, was given a man by her father's will, who > was shot in the face by guerillas who burned the town of Dadeville in 1864. It > is alleged in our family stories that this man after being shot, hid in the > Berry's shed where he was given milk (as that was all he could eat/drink) and > attended to by Nancy Finley Berry, until he died, The Berry family home was> burned, as well. Following that incident, James Warren Berry, James Gaskin > Berry's son, joined Company 'E' 76th Cavalry Enrolled Missouri Militia, under > James M. Kirby. Three Cantrells, Jeptha, Hyrum and Thomas C. also joined at> that time, as did Samuel Bigley, and Robert Bird. I don't have any more of the story because it too, is from History of Dade County and its people, on page 90. I have requested pages before and after page 90 from the Dade County Genealogy Society, but without success. I have also looked for that book in the LDS Family History Library, and several other places, without success. Maybe we can get enough information about Quantrill's raiders to puttogether information on both our families. It looks as though these families were truly split and turned against each other at that time. Does anyone have any more information about Quantrill's Raiders and the response to them in Dadeville? Florence ______________________________ All of your post was very interesting, and I am going to see if I can find the book that was also cited to me on the Quantrills. I had no idea about the consequences of the burning of Dadeville..nor the impact on dividing families, further to which: Of particular note, which I did not mention in my original post is that Nicholas Houston Choate's first wife was Nancy Parilee Bird, sister to Lucinda (Choate) Bird's husband Henry Bird. I would imagine that the Robert Bird you mention is Henry and Nancy Parilee's brother who married Jane Wilson. These three Birds and their siblings were all the children of John Byrd and Nancy Couts. You can find them, their descendants (us) and probably alot more folks you might know from Lawrence/Dade, etc. here: http://www.syix.com/bevans/barbara/barjohn.htm. ______________________________ ------------------------------