Thomas MILLARD

                   FROM AN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT BY CLIFF WARRICK -" IN THE SPRING OR SUMMER OF 1872, PLEAS LEFT HIS HOME IN TENNESSEE TO TRAVEL WITH HIS HALF BROTHER CROCKETT NORTH TO KENTUCKY, WHERE HE PROBABLY BEGAN PREACHING IN HIS FIRST CHURCH.  HE HAD BECOME A CHRISTIAN PREACHER IN 1868,... WHILE LIVING AT RED OAK, MISSOURI, PLEAS BUILT A BARGE WHICH HE PUT ON THE LAKE NEARBY.  SOMETIME EARLIER WHILE THERE WAS A CIRCUS VISITING THE TOWN, A COUPLE OF THE BOYS FOUND A VARIETY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS WHICH THE CIRCUS WAS GOING TO DISPOSE OF.  THE BOYS PICKED THEM UP AND THESE WERE THE INSTURMENTS THAT THEY USED ON THE BARGE.  THEY WOULD GO OUT A SHORT DISTANCE FROM SHORE AND BEGIN TO PLAY AND SING.  A GROUPOF SPECTATORS WOULD SOON GATHER AND AFTER PLAYING FOR A WHILE, PLEAS WOULD RETURN TO SHORE AND BEGIN TO PREACH.  HE WAS A WELL KNOWN PREACHER IN THE AREA AND WAS EASILY RECOGNIZED BECAUSE OF HIS RED HAIR, WHICH HE HAD INHERITED FROM HIS FATHER.
       BEING A PREACHER DEPRIVED PLEAS AND HIS FAMILY MANY OF THE WORDLY GOODS AND POSSESSIONS OTHER PEOPLE ENJOYED.  A PREACHER INVARIABLE DOES A LOT OF MOVING AND IT IS OFTEN UNWISE TO PLAN VERY FAR AHEAD.  LIFE IN "OLD MISSOURI" HAD MANY TRYING AND INTERESTING PROBLEMS.  MONEY WAS AN UNUSUAL THING IN A PREACHER'S HOME.  ONE YEAR IN PARTICULAR, PLEAS' TOTAL MONETARY INCOME WAS ONLY $1.25 MOST PAY CAME IN THE FORM OF HAMS, BACON, CORN MEAL, FLOUR AND SUCH LIKE WHICH IF IT CAME IN SUFFICIENT QUANTITY WAS QUITE SATISFACTORY.  CLOTHES WERE OF THE HOME SPUN KIND AND BEING A PREACHER'S SON DIDN'T STOP A BOY FROM WISHING FOR A PAIR OF BOOTS WITH RED TOPS AND A BRASS TIP ON THE TOE.  BOYS BY NATURE ARE EXPLORERS, AND DELL, JOE AND PAUL WERE NO DIFFERENT.  MISSOURI WAS A LAND FILLED WITH HILLS AND VALLEYS, AND TREES AND RIVERS.  RIVERS FILLED WITH FISH, A PAST TIME MORE ENJOYED BY THE MILLARD BOYS.  IT WAS A COMMON SITE TO SEE THREE BAREFOOT BOYS WITH FISHING POLES HEADING TOWARD A FAVORITE FISHING HOLE OR STREAM FOR AN AFTERNOON OF FISHING."