John Jackson "Jackey" VIVION

                   The first permanent settlement of Jasper county was in the year 1831. In that year Thacker Vivion emigrated from the state of Kentucky and located in the southeast corner of what afterwards became Jasper county, on Center creek, at the site of what is now the city of Sarcoxie. In that same year John M. Fullerton came from Kentucky and settled near Vivion.

The early settlers, for the most part, came from Tennessee and North Carolina, and some came from Kentucky, Illinois and other states. They generally located along the streams, principally on Center creek and Spring river. The prairie lands were, as a rule, only regarded as fit for grazing, and not suitable for cultivation.

In 1833 Ephraim Beasley and Hiram Hanford also settled near Sarcoxie. Ephraim Jenkins settled south of Center creek on what afterwards was known as Jenkins creek. Isaac Seela with his family also settled near Sarcoxie. Abraham Onstott with his family, Thomas Boxley, Tryon Gibson, Isaac Gibson, William Gibson and John W. Gibson settled on Center creek south and southwest of where'Carthage now stands.

Abraham Onstott had emigrated from North Carolina, stopping for a time in Kentucky and Indiana, and later, as early as 1816, when Missouri was still a territory, he settled in what is now Pike county, Missouri. In 1832 he visited what is now Jasper county to look at the country, and the next year moved with his family to this county. His neighbors, Isaac Seela and Tryon Gibson and their families, accompanied him from Pike county. Judge John Onstott, the son of Abraham Onstott, who came with his father at that time, and William Seela and John N. U. Seela, then little sons of Isaac Seela, have resided in Jasper county longer than any other living residents of the county. Judge Onstott, the oldest living pioneer settler of this county, has spent a long and most eventful life in this county and will be gratefully remembered for his sacrifices for the interests of the people of this county and his sterling integrity.

In addition to the above, among those who came to this county prior to 1840, before the organization of the county, were: William Tingle, Benjamin F. Massey. John M. Richardson, B. W. W. Richardson, James Hornback, John Hornback, David Lemasters, Ellwoocl B. James, Montalbon M. James, Hannibal James, Josiah Boyd, John C. Cox, Elijah P. Dale, and Robert J. Dale, his son George Hornback, Joohn Prigmore, John P. Osborn, Claiborn Osborn. William Duncan, John Henry, John Halsell, Samuel M. Cooley, Jeremiah Cravens, Samuel B. Bright, John R. Chenault, William M. Chenault, Clisby Robinson, Thomas A. Dale. Thomas Buck, James N. Langley, Dr. David F. Moss, William Spencer, Calvin Robinson, Rev. John Robinson, Banister Hickey, Middleton Hickey, Milton Stevenson, J. G. L. Carter, Robert R. Laxson, Washington Robinson, Nelson Knight, Rev. Greenville Spencer, Rev. Anthony Bewlev, Rev. William H. Farmer, Charles Vivian (a relative of Thacker Vivian), Judge Daniel Hunt, Judge Rice Challis, Judge Andrew McKee, Hiram Thompson and John D. Thompson.
SOURCE: 
Title The biographical record of Jasper County, Missouri 
Author Malcolm G. McGregor 
Publisher Lewis Pub. Co., 1901 
Original from the New York Public Library 
Digitized Jan 24, 2008 
Length 526 pages 
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