Some Famous Pioneers of Platte County, Mo.

Some Famous Pioneers of Platte County, Mo.
(By George J. Remsburg)

It is probable that no other equal area in the West has produced as many interesting and famous characters as Platte county, Mo. The following are only a few of the more notable ones who lived within the confines of this county in the early days:

Peter H. Burnett, who led the first overland expedition to Oregon in 1843, and afterwards became the first territorial governor of California, lived in Platte county for serveral years in the early days and was the first prosecuting attorney of that county. He was the author of several books, and one of the men who was instrumental in bringing about the Platte Purchase.

General George P. Dorriss, who commanded a regiment in the Black Hawk war, and afterwards became a millionaire, spent most of his life in Platte county. He settled there in 1837, and took out the first merchant's license in the county. For many years he was engaged in the slave trade. His ventures were daring and yielded enormous profits. He built a palatial residence in Platte county.

Capt. Thomas J. Ellis, who was with Col. Henry Leavenworth, when he established Fort Leavenworth in 1827, afterwards became a resident of Platte county and committed suicide at Weston in 1880. He had served in the Black Hawk, Florida and Mexican wars.

General David R. Atchison, the man for whom the city of Atchison was named, and who had the distinction of having served as president of the United States for one day, while president of the United States senate, lived in Platte county from 1841 to 1856. He commanded the Missouri militia during the Mormon war, and directed the Missourians in their invasion of Kansas in 1856-7.

Major John Boulware settled in Platte county as early as 1835, as an Indian trader. He led a battalion to the Mormon war, and for years was a leader in civil and military affairs.

Robert Cain, a soldier under Capt. Dudley Williams, of Kentucky, in the War of 1812, came to Platte in 1836, before the Indian title to the lands had been purchased, settled at the military crossing on Todd's creek, kept the ferry at Fort Leavenworth, opened a large farm and supplied the garrison with provisions and stock. He died and was buried on his farm in 1868.

Gen. Joseph Winston, a distinguished soldier of North Carolina during the War of 1812, came to Platte county in 1839, and opened a store at a place that bore his name, at the mouth of the Platte river. He disappeared and it has always been supposed that he was drowned in the Missouri river. His father was a noted officer and statesman during the Revolutionary war period and Winston, N. C. was named for him. Col. John H. Winston, a son of Gen. Joseph Winston, was a distinguished Platte county product.

One of the most interesting of the pioneer families of Platte county, was the Todd family, from whom Todd's creek derived its name. They were sturdy Kentuckians and were in the county from the very start. One of them had served in four wars -- the Black Hawk, the Mormon, the Mexican and the Civil wars. Another Maj. William Todd served through the War of 1812 under General Andrew Jackson. He planted one of the first orchards in Platte county and originated the White Winter Pearmain or Campbellite apple. John W. Todd stood on a hill in Platte county in 1827 and saw Fort Leavenworth established. Joseph Todd was an expert rifleman and hunter and spent his life on the western frontier. This family formed a pioneer settlement in Platte county known as the Todd settlement.

Major James Brassfield, one of the old-timers of Platte county, lost an eye in the War of 1812. He was a skilled surveyor and fixed the northern line of Platte county. One of his sons, John S. Brahhfield [sic], was one of the California "Forty-Niners," who became lost in Humboldt Desert, and came near perishing. He afterwards became circuit court judge in Platte county.

"Ben" Holladay, famous as the originator and promoter of the "pony overland express," Salt Lake trader, railroad constructor, New York millionaire, etc., settled in Platte county in 1838 and opened a dram-shop in Weston. He was later interested in other business ventures in this county.

Smith Calvert came up the Missouri river in 1819, on one of the steamers of Major Stephen H. Long's Yellowstone expedition, wintered at the military post on Cow Island, below the present site of Atchison and made frequent hunting incursions into what is now Platte county. Later he settled permanently in the county, and died there in 1882.

Capt. James Kipp, who commanded a steamer on the Missouri river, and traversed the western wilds as early as 1830, lived in Platte county, and died there in 1880.

R. C. Ellifrit, a missionary among the Kickapoo Indians in what is now Kansas, when the county this side of the Missouri was a wilderness, and who, in 1837, married a niece of President Thomas Jefferson, at the old town of Kickapoo, below Atchison, later became a well known citizen of Platte county, and died at Weston in 1877.

Captain William Jack, an old resident of Platte, was one of the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He was born in Tennessee in 1778, and died at Platte City in 1864.

Judge William B. Almond was one of the most interesting of Platte county's old-timers. At a very early day he visited the Rocky Mountains with William Sublette, one of the most [obscured word] of the fur traders and frontiersmen. In 1849, he was one of the foremost emigrants across the plains and mountains to California. He became a territorial judge at San Francisco, and was known all over the west. He returned to Platte county with $15,000 and became one of the most influential men in the county.

Capt. Andrew Johnson was a nephew of Vice President Richard M. Johnson, the hero of the battle of the Thames, and served under him in the War of 1812, leading a company at both the Thames and the Raisin. In 1837 he was Indian agent at St. Louis, and later settled in Platte county.

Capt. John McCord, a well known Missouri river steamboat captain, lived in Platte county. He built the steamer, Edna, which exploaded [sic] at the mouth of the Missouri in 1842, and killed about 100 people.

[Contributed by John W. Wilbanks 1 Oct 2000 12:00am; last modified 16 Oct 2000 9:07pm]