Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-04-08
For tie SPECTATOR
Pioneer Life.

Pioneer Life.
Mr.. EDITOR:-Would that we had a chile
among us taking notes a century and hal.
ago, we, too, might have had volume
such as l have by accident gotten hold of q
day Or two ago. 1t was published in St
Louis, No., by Messrs. VIM. s. Bryan anG
Robert Rose, and is a history of the Pho
neer families in three or four counties. We
are sure the majority Of your readers will
appreciate it, and as this is the centennia
year of Methodism, we will promise ou1
friends of that ilk much they will appre
ciate and thank us for. Now, we will in.
troduce series of brief sketches, if you
please, with wee spice of what you will
find occasionally in Eastern Virginia yet
"a Hardshell Baptist preacher.
STEPHEN HAM.
He lived and died in Madison county.
KY. He was the father of John, Jabez and
Stephen Ham, Jr. John was born in Ken
lucky in 1856, and came to Missouri in
1909, and settled in st. Charles county,
He Joined Nathan Boone's Company of
Rangers and served during the Indian war.
In 1916 he and Jonathan Grow built bark
tent on Auxvasse creek, now in Callaway
county, and lived in it some time while en-
gagged in hunting. They were probably
the first American settlers within the limits
of Galloway county. Ham cut his name
ON lone tree in the prairie, which has
since borne his name. He was Methodist
preacher. He was twice married, first to
Miss Bennett, by whom he had two chill
dren. She died when the children were
quite small, and their father took them to
their relatives in Kentucky, performing the
journey on horseback, with one of the chill
dren before him and one behind. When
he came to water courses that were deep
enough to swim his horse, he would tie one of
the children on the bank swim across with
the other, tie it, and 60 back for the other.
He married Miss Thomas and they had
six daughters. He was daring hunter, and
there wer- few with nerve enough to follow
him in all his adventures He once
smoked a bear out of a cave, and then
knocked it in the head with an axe. In
1928 he built a house on the Auxvasse, five
miles above its mouth; the following year
the big overflow came and washed away
his smoke-house, filled with bear and dear
meat. He followed it in a soap-trough that
he used as canoe, and overlook the float
ing where it had lodged against large elm
tree. He hung the meat in the tree, and
when the water subsidized had to cut the
tree down to get his meat. He subsequently
removed to Illinois, where he died in 1869.
Jabez Ham, his brother, was born in Madi-
son county, KY, in 1897, and came to Mis-
souri, in 1917. He had no education, was
of a rowing disposition, and did nothing for
several years but hunt and fish. His mind
was naturally bright, and had he been edu-
Gated would have made a remarkable man.
Rev. Alex. Snethen and Lewis Jones taught
him the alphabet and learned him to read,
and in 1924 he began to preach, having
united with the old or Hardshell Baptist
church. In 1926 he organized church of
that denomination on SQUIRE creek, and
called it New Providence. For some time
after he began to preach he always carried
his gun when he went to church, on week
days and he Sabbath, and often killed deer
on his way to and from his place of preach
ing. He also manu- ufactured powder, which
he had ready sale for at high prices; and
by this means and the proceeds of his rifle
he lived well. He was a large, stout man,
and often added emphasis to his opinions
by the use of his fists. On certain occa-
sion he forgot his text, and on getting up
in the pulpit said to the congregation that
he had text when he left heme, but had
nah (his wife) had looked for it, but they
couldn't find it; but to the best of his be-
lief it was somewhere in the hind end of
Job, or thereabouts, and it went about this
way: 'Do any of you al know the good old
woman they call Mary, or Sal of Tarkus,
who said you must not put new wine into
old bottles, for the bottles will bust and the
good stuff will all be Spilled" Mr.. Ham
often compared his sermons to an old shot
gun loaded with beans, which, when it
went off, was almost sure to hit some body
or somewhere. He died in Galloway coun-
ty in 1842, and was buried at New Provi-
dence in Montgomery county.
Capt. John Harper was native Of Phil
adelphia. and followed the sea for many
years after he was grown. In 1850 he set
tied in Alexandria, where he died in his
87th year. He was twice married and had
twenty mine G ildren, eighteen sons and
eleven daughters. The second son by his
last wife, whose name was Charles B., was
born in Culpeper county, Va, in May, 1909.
He was married in 1928 to Anna G. Price,
of Pittsylvania county, Va, and settled in
Montgomery county, Mo-, in $780, He was
engaged in merchandising at Danville for
five years and one year on his farm. He
brought the first demijohns to Montgomery
county and sold great many as curiosities,
most of the inhabitants never having seen
anything of the Xxi d. Soon after his ar
rival in Montgomery county he went over
to Galloway county to get load of corn,
and wore his usual everyday clothes, made
of homespun cloth On his way back the
road led him by house where Jabe Ham
was preaching, and he stopped to hear the
sermon During the services, the minister
called on the congregation to kneel in
prayer, and all knelt except Mr.. Harper,
who leaned his head upon his hand and re-
NAMED in that position. Ham noticed
him, and prayed that the Lord would bless
that "Virginia man who had on store
clothes and was afraid to get on his knees"
OLD MORTALITY,