Joseph Scholl II

 

Joseph Scholl (referred to as a Junior or II) was born in Clark County, Kentucky, on June 15, 1800, to Joseph and Levina Boone Scholl. They lived in the newly forged community known as Schollsville (near Lexington and the Boone and Bryan Stations) which included 1400 acres preempted by Daniel Boone, ceded to William Scholl, and populated primarily with William's three sons - Joseph, Peter, and Abraham - and other descendants of the Boones and Scholls. Joseph Junior's mother died when he was but two years old.

 

As a young man, he visited Missouri with his brother around 1819-1821¹. Daniel Boone had moved to Missouri around 1799 with at least one son and settled in nearby St. Charles County. Missouri became a state in 1821.

 

First Marriage and Move to Missouri

 

Joseph returned to Kentucky in 1821 and married Rebecca Van Meter Miller in 1824².

 

Their children were:

 

                    Cyrus Rector, born November 18, 1824 who married Mary Jane Maughas

                    Oliver Perry, born March 28, 1825

        James Riley, born January 1, 1829 who married Artamesia McMahon

 

Apparently Joseph had moved his family from Kentucky to Missouri between April 1825 and December 1826. Cyrus and Oliver were born in Kentucky and James was born in Missouri. Joseph is shown as Co-Executor with Boon(e) Hays on Peter Scholl's (Joseph's cousin's) probate record filed in Callaway County, Missouri, in December 1826³. He also purchased Public Land (160 acres in the Northwest Quarter of Section 15, Township 47, Range 7 West)from the Government in 1827⁴.

 

Other Scholls (Peter and Abraham) and Boones (Edward, Jesse, and Samuel) also left the Schollsville area about the same. The three Scholls who settled at Scholl's Station had thirty-eight children altogether and there was not enough land to give each of them a home. There had also been disputes about the Boones' and Scholls' claims to the land and the amount of land they owned had been seriously reduced.  When Joseph II went to Callaway County, Missouri, his brother, Abraham, went wth his extended family across the Mississippi River to Pike County, Illinois

 

Joseph's first wife, Rebecca, died in 1829 while on a visit to Kentucky⁵.  This left Joseph with three young boys under 6 years of age.

 

Starting Life in Missouri

 

Joseph Shull is listed in the 1830 Missouri census in Callaway County, Missouri [page 75]. His household includes

 

            1 male under 5     Oliver and James [?]

            1 male 5-10           Cyrus

            1 male 20-30         Joseph

            1 male slave 10-24

            1 female slave 10-24

 

Was the newborn James left with relatives in Kentucky when his mother died?   

 

The 1830 Assessor's Book for Callaway County⁶ lists Joseph Scholl with no land. Personal property is shown as having $569 in value and his taxes were $92.25.

            1 free white male   [Joseph]

            1 improvement (house?)   value = $     75

            2 Negroes                                           450

            1 horse                                                 25

            3 cattle                                                 19

 

Boon Hays' listing shows that he had the land that was originally held by Joseph Scholl (160 acres in NW, Section 15, Township 47, Range 7W) valued at $240. Boon Hays was Joseph's first cousin and later went to California as a "Forty-Niner". Oddly, Hays has no other property. Had Joseph just sold his land and was waiting to purchase the 240 acres in Section 9 that he purchased in February 1831?

 

Second Marriage in 1831

 

In 1831, Joseph married Eliza Ann Broughton in Callaway County⁷. The Justice of the Peace was J. W. Johnston. He was 31 and she was 19. [See more on Eliza Scholl below]

 

Their children were:

    Rebecca Van Meter, born February 28, 1832 who married James W. Muir

    Elizabeth Courtright, born April 4, 1833 who married Richard Hays then David Owens

    Celia Ann, born May 17, 1834, who married Henry Crump

    Catherine Miller, born January 30, 1836 who married Levi McMurtry

    Sarah Adaline, born December 4, 1837, died June 4, 1839

    Lavinia Boone, born January 24, 1841 who married Thompson S. Crump then James T. Hutts

    Jesse Boone, born March 9, 1844 who married Adah V. Dearing

    Eliza Jane, born on January 3, 1848 who married Joseph Monroe Bolton

    Joseph  Reece, born on February 7, 1850 who married Arabella Tharp

    Nelson Milton, born June 22, 1853, died in infancy

    

 

Military Service in Black Hawk War, 1832

 

From August 4, 1832, through September 24, 1832, Joseph served as a private under Col. Austin A. King in Capt. Ewing's Indpt. Co., Mo. Mounted Vols. in the War of 1832 (the Black Hawk War). A deposition from Joseph dated February 19, 1851⁸, stated that he "volunteered at Paris in Monroe County, Missouri, for the term of thirty days on the second day of August or thereabouts 1832. That he continued in actual service in said war for the term of fifty three days and was honorably discharged at Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri, on or about the 24th day of September 1832." Apparently he received 40 acres of Bounty Land under the act of Congress passed September 28, 1850.

 

In an Additional Warrant for Soldier⁹ dated October 11, 1855, he applied for additional Bounty Land to which he may be entitled because of a new act of Congress (March 3, 1855). In this warrant, he states that he had received a Bounty Land grant of 40 acres which he had disposed of prior to October 1855. He also notes that his muster papers list him as Joseph Shull and he warrants his service and adds "that my name is pronounced Shull and may appear on the muster rolls spelt Shull but should be spelt as my signature - Joseph Scholl." It is unclear whether he received additional Bounty Land, but it appears that he may have received 120 acres June 12, 1856.

 

A Prominent Man of the Readsville Community

 

Joseph purchased Public Lands from 1827 through 1833¹⁰ to become a major landowner in eastern Callaway County:

      July 20, 1827 - 80 acres - W1/2NW, Section 9, Twp 47N, Range 7W¹²

      February 2, 1831 - 80 acres - E1/2NW, Section 9, Twp 47N, Range 7W

      February 2, 1831 - 160 acres - SW, Section 9, Twp 47N, Range 7W

      September 14, 1833 - 40 acres - NWNE, Section 17, Twp 47N, Range 7W

All of this land is 1-3 miles north of Readsville. Original neighbors were Bluford Hutts, Robert Blackburn, Thomas Crump, Joseph Fowler and Daniel Miller.  The "homeplace" was in the Southwest corner of Section 9.  The house (shown in the photo section below) was a one-and-a-half story log house of six rooms built between 1820 and 1825 of native walnut logs, weather-boarded with the same, with a clapboard roof.  All of his children with Eliza were born and raised here.  Joseph's father-in-law, Job Broughton, bought land adjacent to his on the west.

 

In February 1833, Joseph was appointed guardian for Milton (9 or 10 years old) and Mary Scholl (7 or 8 years old), orphaned children of Peter Scholl (Joseph's cousin). Peter's wife, Betsey, was still living in 1926 when the estate first came to probate. Boon Hays (brother-in-law to Peter Scholl) also signed the court document as joint estate administrator with Joseph Scholl.³

 

In 1834, Joseph Scholl was the Administrator of Job Broughton's estate (his father-in-law)¹¹. The probate is dated September 29, 1834. He is also listed as Sec[urity] along with John and Jesse Scholl and apparently became the guardian of at least 4 of Job's younger children.

 

Joseph became a member of the Masonic Order at the Williamsburg Lodge of A. F. and A. M. and was member of the Antich Christian Church north of his home.  A biography of him (reproduced below in his obituary)  stated that Joseph "was an adventurous, restless pioneer of this then wilderness, a great hunter, an intrepid Indian fighter, and withal, a successful farmer and good citizen; a man who administered justice to his neighbors with an even hand for over a quarter of a century."

 

He was appointed County Justice of the Peace and held the office for over twenty-five years, being continuously elected when the law made it an elective position.

 

On June 15 and 16, 1868, Joseph was interviewed by Lyman C. Draper, author of the Draper manuscripts which were the basis for much of the early Scholl information and Helen Atterbury Spraker's The Boone Family.

 

Census Records

 

The 1840 US census shows that Joseph Schull still lived in Callaway County, Missouri [page 219].

 

        1 male under 5           Septimus, 1

        2 males 10-15             James, 15, and Oliver, 11

        1 male 15-20               Cyrus, 16

        1 male 30-40               Joseph, 40

        2 females under 5       Catherine, 4, and Celia, 6

        2 females 5-10             Elizabeth, 7, and Rebecca, 8

        1 female 10-15                       ?

        2 females 20-30           Eliza, 28 - wife and ?

 

The 1844 Missouri census shows Jos. Scholl in Auxvasse District, Callaway County with

            2 males under 10         [Septimus, 5, and Jesse 1]

            2 males 10-18              [James, 15, and ?]

            2 males 18-21              [Oliver, 19, Cyrus, 20]

            2 males 21-45              [Joseph, 44, and ?]

            4 females under 10      [Celia,10, Catherine, 8, Lavinia, 3, and ? ]

2 females 10-18           [Rebecca, 12, and Elizabeth, 11]

1 female 21-45            [Eliza, 32]

2 male and 2 female slaves

 

The 1850 US census for Callaway County lists:

            Joseph Scholl, 50, farmer, real estate value of $1500 born in Va.

            Eliza, 36, born in Ky.

Cyrus R., 26, born in Mo.

James R., 21, born in Mo.

Elizabeth, 17, born in Mo.

Catharine, 14, born in Mo.

Septimus, 12, born in Mo.

Lavinia, 8, born in Mo.

Jesse, 6, born in Mo.

Eliza J., 2, born in Mo.

 

The slave schedule for 1850 shows that Joseph had seven slaves ranging in age from 6 months to 36 years of age.

 

Joseph's land holdings had changed by 1858 when he paid taxes on¹²:

            150 acres SE Section 8, Township 47, Range 7

            100 SW Section 9,                  "                      "

            75 acres N/2NW Section 16,  "                     "

 

The 1860 US census for Callaway County lists:

            Joseph Scholl, 60, farmer, real estate value of $3500 and personal property of $4000, born in Kentucky

            Eliza A. 48, born in Kentucky

            Cyrus R., 30, farmer, born in Missouri

            Septimus, 20,                   "

            Jesse, 16,                         "

            Eliza J., 10,                      "

         

 

The 1870 US census for Callaway County, Nine Mile Prairie Township shows:

            Joseph Scholl, 70, farmer, real estate value of $2000, personal property of $1800, born Kentucky

            Eliza A., 58, born in Kentucky

            Jessie, 25, born in Missouri

            Joseph R. 20, born in Missouri

            Moriah Williams, 59, lives with family

            Dinah, Carter, 18, Black, housekeeper

            Arthur Carter, 1, Black

 

The 1876 Missouri census and the 1880 US census for Callaway County, Township 47, show that Joseph and Eliza A. were living with their son, Joseph R. Scholl and his young family on the family farm.

 

Joseph's Death

 

Joseph Scholl died May 10, 1884, at 10pm at home in Readsville, Missouri¹⁴ of apoplexy from cerebral hemorrhage which lasted one hour. He is buried at the Scholl cemetery near their house just north of Readsville, Missouri, where a grave marker was inscribed and placed.  Eliza died April 1, 1887, just three years after Joseph.  We presume that his wife is buried at the Scholl Cemetery as well since (although no stone has been found).

 

Joseph Scholl Will

 

Joseph's probate was filed May 15, 1884 and finally settled on August 12, 1887¹⁵. His will was written on August 30, 1881 and shown below is a literal transcription including incorrect spelling and punctuation:

            "I Joseph Scholl being far advanced in life and sensible of my mortality do make this my last will and testament hereby revoking any and all former wills or testaments I may have he[re]tofore made

            first I give and bequeath to Joseph R. Scholl my son all of my estate real personal and ____ for the use and benifit of his mother Eliza Ann Scholl during her natural life and after her death to be his absolute property to have and to hold the same with all the rights and privileges thereto belonging. The property hereby given consists the following described property

To wit fifty acres part of the south west quarter of section nine range seven Township forty seven and twenty four acres part of the north west quarter section sixteen range seven and Township forty seven To have and to hold the same with all the rights thereto belonging said Joseph R. Scholl To have and To hold the same for the use and benifit of his mother during her natural life and after death to be his absolute property

            Then 2nd, I do hereby constitute and appoint Joseph R. Scholl my Executor to carry this will into effect ad do authorize said executor to collect any moneys due me and pay off all debts and demands against said estate.

            In testimony whereof I affix my Seal

Signed Joseph Scholl

Witness: John B. Scholl

            Sydney E. Fox

            Elias J. Tharp"

Also attached to this will was the following dated August 30th 1881:

            "A list of money and property paid to my Children in advance as their interest in my estate as follow to wit

            The heirs of Cyrus R. Scholl one negro girl valued at $3.75

            James R. Scholl cash and note $3.55

            Elizabeth Owens cash and negro girl $6.00

            Celia A Crump cash and negro girl $4.00

            Cathrine McMurtry cash $3.50

            Lavina B. Hutts land & cash $5.25

            Septimus A. Scholl cash and land $5.55

            Eliza J. Bolton cash and land $5.45

            Jesse B. Scholl cash $6.00"

 

The document shows the periods in the dollar amounts but it seems that the value for land and slaves would have been higher - more likely around $350-600. He had $850 of cash on hand when he died and his personal possessions were valued at $114.50. Joseph R. Scholl eventually received $1033.52 on August 12, 1887, as the remainder of the estate.

 

 

 

____

Joseph Scholl Obituary¹⁶ - 1884

 

"Joseph Scholl breathed his last at his residence, five miles south of Williamsburg, last Saturday evening, May 10th. He had been enjoying his usual good health up to a few minutes before his death. After partaking of a hearty supper he was suddenly taken with a dizziness of which he complained, and passed away in a few minutes. He was 83 years, 10 months and 25 days old, one of the oldest members of Williamsburg Lodge of A. F. and A. M., and an old and consistent member of the Antioch Christian church. The funeral took place Monday evening at the residence and was attended by a large concourse of people from all the adjacent country. Elder T. J. Marlow delivered an appropriate discourse, after which the remains were interred at the family cemetery with Masonic honors by the Williamsburg and Readsville Lodges.

 

We append the following sketch of his life from the National Historical Company's History of Callaway County¹⁷:

 

Joseph Scholl, II

Farmer. No clearer light could be thrown on the picture of pioneer life in this section of the State, as it presented itself over half a century ago, than would be cast by a full sketch of the old veteran citizen whose name is given above - one of the well known characters of that time; an adventurous, restless pioneer of this then wilderness, a great hunter, an intrepid Indian fighter, and withal , a successful farmer and good citizen; a man who administered justice to his neighbors with an even hand for over a quarter of a century, and still survives, bright in mind and heart and vigorous in body, under the gray hairs which age and a useful and honorable life have crowned him with, to enjoy the veneration and respect of another generation that has grown up around him, to listen to the well-told stories he relates of the lives of their fathers and of their fathers in the days long agone; but space will not permit us to give a satisfactory review of the life of this one of the noblest old Romans of them, "Squire Scholl', who still stands among us like an ancient and moss-grown monument of a bygone age, whose letters tell a story all the more interesting because dimmed by time, and speaking like an echo from an unseen shore. How much we regret that we are confined to dry dates of births, marriages and deaths, with only now and then a glimpse at the bright fields of tradition and story to the right and to the left - fields we would love to enter and ramble in as lovers do, to stray into great sylvan greens in the springtime of life, and whisper into each other's hearts the short, sweet stories of their love; but we must withdraw from these mellifluous reflections, else we shall be made to fill the forfeit of our bond - our salary - and return to sledge-hammer facts.

 

"Squire Scholl", then, to commence with, is a grandson of that old pioneer her, Daniel Boone, the fame of whose name, like the rule of Britannia, the Imperial Island of the seas, has circled the earth. His mother, Levina, was the third daughter and 5th child of that great Hercules of American history and tradition. His father, whose name was also Joseph, was a worthy lord to such a spouse - a Titan monarch of the wilds of North Carolina, an old hunter and settler, and a worthy, brave-hearted, good man. He became a pioneer in Kentucky, and there reared his family.

 

Joseph was born on Stone river, in Clark County, Kentucky, about the beginning of the present century. The only way they kept dates then was to hack notches in trees, and it has been so long ago now that all the notches have grown up; but while the notches were growing up, Joseph was growing up also, and in 1821, he was a young man ready for the trials and adventures of life. His brother had been to Missouri in 1811, and had been an old soldier in the War of 1812. The two decided to try their fortunes in the Callaway regions of Missouri, and accordingly they came here, and Joseph remained two years. In those days there were more bears and wolves in Callaway county than "the loved and fair", and Joseph, though leaving Kentucky in 1821, had left his heart behind in the tender keeping of one -

            "As fair as the evening air,

            Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars,"

until he should return. He was not long in returning - two years were all, and then he went back and was happier when he reached his love, but not less than when he killed his first bear. They were married, he and Miss Rebecca Miller, and that settled that part of it. In a few years more, he came back to the land of game and rich soil, Callaway County, his cousin Peter coming with him. He entered a tract of land and made a home for Rebecca and the babies. He was industrious, intelligent, and a good manager, and he prospered abundantly in his new home. Time rolled on and he became what was fairly called wealthy in those days. He became the lord of a place of nearly 500 acres, and owned a fine herd of negroes, some eight or ten. In public estimation, being a man of a strong and generous mind, and of a big heart, he became quite prominent. Away back in the days of Auld Lang Syne, he was appointed County Justice of the Peace, and afterwards held the office for over twenty-five years, being continuously elected when the law made it an elective position; but there is another side to his life. He was the greatest hunter in all the country around. He has killed more deer than most of the pioneers of the present day ever raised hogs, and more than one churly old bruin of the forest has fallen at the deadly crack of his rifle. The writer could have listened for hours at his stories of the glorious sport he has had, when the red man of the forest and the slow-paced bear were common company in the wilds of Callaway. These are days we have never seen, and, alas, will never see. It may be better as it is, but it hardly looks so. They were happy in those days; we are not so now; but we must jog along with our biography.

 

"Squire Scholl" was a gallant soldier in the Black Hawk War, and kept step to the music of the drum until the old feather-bedecked chief had become a good Indian - a dead one. Like other men the Squire has had his troubles. His good wife died in 1829 while on a visit to Kentucky. She left him three children: Oliver P. now deceased; Cyrus R. and James R. On the 24th of February, 1831, the Squire was married to Miss Eliza A. Broughton, daughter of Job Broughton, whose father, William Broughton, came over from England as a soldier in Braddock's aide and body guard, and was at Braddock's defeat in 1755, when all the officers of the command were killed except Colonel (afterwards General) Washington, and 600 men fell under the fatal fire of the French and Indians.   His good wife (Eliza) still survives, a worthy old lady, fit in every way to be the wife of such a man. Many and many a time she has cut the throats of deer that her husband had shot - a thing that not a few men would now be afraid to try. They have been blessed with twelve children: Rebecca, deceased; Elizabeth C., wife of David Owens, of Martinsburg; Celia A., wife of Henry Crump, of Independence; Lavinia B., wife of James T. Hutts; Septimus A., of this county; Jesse B., in Audrain county; Eliza J., wife of Monroe Bolton, in Jefferson City; Joseph T. and Nelson, in this county, and Adaline, Milton and Catherine are deceased. The old "Squire" is still living on his farm which he settled many years ago.

 

[This is originally from the History of Callaway County and Its People, circa 1884]"

 

Source Notes

 

1.   1.   Bryan, Wm. S. and Rose, Robert: A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1984, page 373 [originally published in St. Louis in 1876].

2.   2.   Spraker, Hazel Atterbury: The Boone Family, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1974, page 185 [Originally published in Rutland, Vermont, 1922]. 

      3.  Callaway County, Missouri, Probate Records, Peter Scholl estate, Box 151, Bundle 9, dated December 9, 1826

3.   4.   The Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society, Original Land Entries for Callaway County Missouri, Fulton, Missouri 1986, page 52.

4.   5.   Bryan, Wm. S. and Rose, Robert: A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1984, page 373.

5.   6.   The Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society, 1830 Assessor's Book, Callaway County, Missouri, Fulton, Missouri, 1985, page 44.

6.   7.   Spraker, Hazel Atterbury: The Boone Family, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1974, page 185 [Originally published in Rutland, Vermont, 1922].

7.   8.   National Archives and Record, Joseph Shull, [February 19, 1851], Warrant 33384 MO, Book 8?, Dec 26, 1851, page 199.

8.   9.   National Archives and Record, Joseph Shull, Additional Warrant for Soldier dated October 11, 1855, File 78065.

10. 10. Callaway County, Missouri Probate Records, Job Broughton estate, dated September 29, 1834.

11.11.  The Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society, Original Land Entries for Callaway County, Missouri, 1886, Fulton, Missouri, 1985, page 52.

12. 12. Sale of Public Lands, Certificate 1393, page 379, January 1, 1828, Joseph Scholl, Jr.

13. 13. 1858 tax list.

14  14.  Missouri Certificate of Death, Callaway County Roll C11876, page 51, #187, Joseph Scholl.

15. 15. Callaway County, Missouri, Probate Record, Joseph Scholl estate, Box 153 #15, Will filed May 15, 1884, Book F, pages 301-302.

16. 16. Obituary, Fulton newspaper? We have clipping.

17. 17. National Historical Company: History of Callaway County.

 

Eliza Ann Broughton Scholl

 

Eliza was born October 12, 1812, in Bourbon County, Kentucky, to Job and Elizabeth (Betsy) Broughton. Job had married Betsy Curtright, daughter of Samuel and Rachel Curtright on February 1, 1810.

 

Eliza died April 1, 1887, at the family home in which she was living with her youngest son, and is presumed to be buried in the Scholl Cemetery with her husband and parents.  The Spraker book mistakenly lists her death year as 1886 which has been reproduced in thousands of family trees online.  Joseph's Probate Records definitely show that Eliza was alive until April 1887.