Jesse Swope Family Jesse and Mary Heddrick Swope came to Missouri in 1819, settling first in Howard County and coming to Pettis County in 1822, when the section was still in Saline County. There were only five families between his place and Boonville when they came and earliest settlers were the ones nearest them. Jesse and his family had few wants that could not be supplied in the neighborhood and much of his time he spent hunting and fishing. He was a famous hunter with remarkable skill. At one time he wounded a bear some miles distant from his home and not wanting to carry the carcass all the way to his home, he managed to drive it within sight of his house and then killed it. One year he set a record killing eleven panthers and also many deer. One day Mary set a pole for fish in a stream nearby and caught a forty pound fish which was so strong that its weight pulled her into the water waist deep before she could land it. Rebecca, who was called Becky, one of the daughters of Jesse and Mary, married Joe Cunningham. Going to the spring to get some water to do the family washing, Becky saw two buck deer fighting with their horns locked together, so she went back to the house, got a big butcher knife and killed both deer. Jesse and Mary's oldest daughter, Dallie, was the first white woman married in Pettis County, marrying Matt Newbill. She lived to be ninety-four years old. Another daughter Opera married David Greer. She lived to the age of eighty-four. Jesse, son of Jesse and Mary Swope, was born October 12, 1837, in Pettis County just a mile from his own farm, living his entire life in that area. After serving in the Civil War he was discharged and continued his farming. On October 4, 1859, he maried Nancy Lower and immediately afterward they settled on their own farm where they built a home, and in 1867 they built their second home. They were parents of ten children. Milton Swope was born in Pettis County in 1823 and grew up on his farthers farm. In 1847 he married Virenda Sandridge of Pettis County and they had four children: Mary Ann, who married Madison Lee of Pettis County; Permelia; Susan who married Dr. Henry Park of Johnson County; and Larkin. In about 1849 Milton and his wife moved to Johnson County. Other children in the family of Jesse and Mary Swope were: Hiram, Meredityh, Joseph and Mary. Hiram, born August 14, 1819, in Kentucky, married Elizabeth Greer, daughter of Benjamin Greer and they were the parents of seven children. Like his father, Hiram was a great hunter, and killed an average of two deer a day. It was at Jesse Swope's home that elections were held for several years.