When the, United States received Louisiana they proceeded to divide it into two parts; North and South, with the 33rd parallel the dividing line. The south part became the Territory of New Orleans. The north part became the Territory of Louisiana. 1n 1812 when the south part was changed to the state of Louisiana the north part became the Territory of Missouri.
The seventeen years that this area was under territorial administration saw great changes in the way of life for people who lived here. The American settlers who wanted to move west, saw the door open to the fertile uplands of the Riverways.
The first eight years of United States ownership brought little change as they remained under the Cape Girardeau District that continued French type administration. On December 18, 1803; William C.C. Claiborne received the territory for the United States. He appointed Captain Amos Stoddard to administer the north part until James Wilkinson was made governor. He was soon replaced by Meriweather Lewis of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition but Lewis met death under unusual circumstances on a road in Tennessee, His death was ruled suicide and no one was convicted of the crime.
To replace him Benjamin Howard of Lexington, Kentucky was appointed. He served until congress passed a law December 12, 1812, making the north part of Louisiana Territory, Missouri Territory. The new governor was Captain William Clark who served until Missouri was admitted to the United States eight years later.
When Missouri became a territory there were no shouts of joy along the rocky trails because the people who lived along them knew the way of life of leather pants, fringed and beaded vests, longhair, and passing the pipe in the campsites of the clan would soon end and be replaced by English settlers that would organize a state, pass laws and elect men to enforce them.
The large percent of the people who lived in this area had lived under tribal law even if they were all white and as Indians they held no title though they had lived on the land and held it for generations. Also as there had not been a survey, the only way to show title was by meets and bounds. As soon as possible, Congress was petitioned to grant title to the people who occupied the land but this they did not get around to doing for eight years which resulted in claimants using all means including guns to determine who owned the land.
Some of the thoughts of the first writers to travel through the area were: The inhabitants have the worst moral character imaginable. Being many of them renegades from justice, they engaged in underground slave trade by selling Mexican and Indian people to the eastern market. They often obtain livelihood by making and selling whiskey and cheating newcomers and Indians, others are outlaws preying on all decent people and when further flight becomes necessary, they pass over into Spanish Territory.
While the future of the residents of the Riverways was still in doubt there happened one of the greatest disasters known. It changed the rivers, destroyed roads, flooded the most settled areas and changed the trade routes as it threw up a ridge over one hundred feet high that split the watershed of the St. Francis River. The east part joined the Prunes River and retained the name St. Francis. The west part joined the White River and became known as the Black River. This greatest of disaster, (The New Madrid earthquake) started after midnight, December 16, 1811 and lasted for over one year.
A story of a family that lived on the St. Francis River when the earthquake started and fled to the hills and a home on the Eleven Points River about eight miles west of Richwoods, later named Thomasville, was told to my grandmother Rachel Holmes in 1857 when she lived with them and taught school in their home.
"In the night of December 16, 1811, we were awaken by the rattling of pans and the creaking of the house that continued through the morning. We built a fire in the yard and moved outside as it was cold this night. When time came for daylight there was a heavy cloud over the area that made it like twilight till afternoon. There were bright flashes mainly to the south but no thunder. Our house was on a bench east of the river and our only field was a strip along the river. When it was so we could see, the field was nearly covered with water and the land around our house was at least ten feet higher than before. The shocks came at intervals and sometimes holes opened in the ground and when the water run into them, it exploded and threw hot water and red clay all over things. The water of the river that was backing up became warm even though it was cold outside.
We lived along a road that came from the Mississippi River above New Madrid and many people were moving past us toward the west and north. After a bad round of shocks, in February we decided we must leave our home so we joined a group who had left their homes in Little Prairie. We moved northwest up the St. Francis and Current River and settled on the Upper Eleven Point Rivers. "
From this great upheaval, floods, and flight from diseases, we gained many of our permanent settlers of the Upper Current and Eleven Points Rivers.