Well, that is incredibly thorough. I'd say you've got it pegged exactly. There is still (1987) a group of 4-5 homes up on the hill on the N side of HW JJ, just 0.24 miles SW on HW JJ from the intersection of HW JJ and HW V. I'm guessing Manton may be the correct name, and Menton and Maintain may be corruptions of this. Just a guess though. I appreciate all the work you (and others) did on this. Mike Flannigan > Subject: Re: [MOMARIES] Ghost Towns - Maries County > Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2001 15:40:08 EST > From: BPrater@aol.com > To: MOMARIES-L@rootsweb.com > > Hi Mike, > > << Menton - Maries county - Menton was a PO in northern Boone T. It was > discontinued by 1938. >> > > I've heard of Menton from stories handed down to my dad from my > Great-grandfather Henry V. Prater, an old confederate from Warren County, > Tennessee. Henry settled up along the northwest corner of the Hwy 52 and Hwy > 133 junction up in the NW corner of Maries County a few years after the war. > He would talk of going to Menton before the town of Meta was built in 1902 > and his mail came in through there. > > There was a post office over in what King, in his History of Maries County > called Manton. King also refers to the post office as "Maintain" in his > book. I'm not sure if Menton, Manton, or Maintain are same place but Manton > and Maintain were also in northern Boone Township. > > If Menton is the same as Manton or Maintain are the same place, here's what > King says: > History of Maries County by King pp. 807-808 Lewis G. Wiles...married Frances > Pendleton about the time he reached his majority, and the only known home > during their married lives was on the Little Maries above the Boone > Settlement at its mouth....Manton post office was first established and for > many years maintained at his home. > > King also writes in his History of Maries County of the Wiles family: > Re: King -- History of Maries County: > The ancestors of the local Wiles family were James and Betty Wiles, nee > McGhee, both of whom were born, grew up, and married in North Carolina. They > continued to live there until at least five children were born to them. > Betty, Louisa, Lewis, Benjamin, and Thomas. Sometime in the eighteen and > twenties, supposedly before the youngest child was eight years old, they > started a move to or near Paducah, Kentucky. The mother died on the journey > and the father soon after reaching their destination, leaving the children > orphans. > Betty, who never came to this county, seems to have grown to maturity and > married there not long afterwards, her home serving as a central point for > the other children. > The other daughter, Louis, married Joseph Russell, stepbrother of Thomas > Anderson and such biography of them as has been obtained will be found in the > Anderson chapter. > Benjamin Wiles, reputed to have been the oldest of the three brother, > married in Kentucky and lived there a number of years before moving to St. > Louis, where both he and his wife died. He left at least two children, George > W. and Lewis Edward (Tad) Wiles; both of whom came to this county as children > and made it their home the balance of their lives. Both lived near the Big > Maries several miles west of Vienna. Tad never married. George W. Wiles first > married Louisa, daughter of John Crimson and was the father of two children, > Louisa and John. > The former married Stephen Crimson, by whom she was the mother of one son > Fred, now living in this county. She was also the mother of one daughter, > Rose, now wife of Thomas Bredden, by her later marriage to Chris Martin. John > Wiles married, first, Martha, daughter of Leonard Schell, and was the father > of one daughter, Viola, now Mrs. Fisher. His second marriage, to Nellie, > daughter of Charles Sooter, was childless. > George W. Wiles was the father of seven children living to maturity by > his second marriage, which was to Sarah D. daughter of Lytle Lambeth. Two of > them, Mattie Ellen and Bessie Elizabeth, are dead, the latter dying single, > Mattie married R.M. White and is survived by her two sons, ray and Casper. > The five living children of the last marriage are: Matilda D. wife of William > Hollis, Emma, widow of Robert L. Sudheimer, Benjamin, Grover C. and Gideon, > all of whom live in the western part of the county. > Lewis G. Wiles, who was probably the first of the brothers to come to > this county, may have come with the Russells and the Anderson, or he may have > come to them, but in either event he came much more than a hundred years ago. > He married Frances Pendleton about the time he reached majority, and the only > know home > during their married lives was on the Little Maries above the Boone > Settlement at its mouth. His farm is now divided among several different > owners. He was one of the early day school directors and Maintain post office > was first established and for many years maintained at his home. Both he and > his wife died in this county at advanced ages. > > Lewis G. Wiles and Frances Pendleton Wiles were enumerated in Boone Township, > Maries County, MO in 1860, 1870, and 1880. He died in 1888 and she died in > 1897. > > Lewis G. Wiles patented land in 1856 in this area of Maries County: > West 1/2 of the NE Qtr, Section 4; Township 40-N, Range 10-W > SE Qtr of the SW Qtr, Section 33; Township 41-N, Range 10-W > SW Qtr of the SE Qtr, Section 33; Township 41-N, Range 10-W > > He patented land in 1859 in this area: > West 1/2 of the SW Qtr, Section 33; Township 41-N, Range 10-W > North 1/2 of the SE Qtr, Section 32; Township 41-N, Range 10-W > > These tracts of land lie in Boone Township right along the Little Maries > River and along County Road JJ south of Argyle. Take County Road T south out > of Argyle about 2 and a half miles and County Road JJ goes off to the right > (to the west). That's Section 33 of Township 41-N. The road then dips down > into Section 4 of Township 40N and runs along the north side of the Little > Maries River through Section 5 then Section 6 of Township 40N. > > I'm not sure if Menton and "Manton" or "Maintain" are the same place. If > they are, those tracts of land were where Lewis G. Wiles home was and where > Manton Post Office was at one time. > > Bob Prater