Did you know that the exact location of the new town site has an old story?
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Pattonsburg is brand new along I-35, with bright lights, new buildings and renewed spirit after reorganizing and relocating following the 1993 floods. But do you know that the exact location of the new town site has an old story?
Few families that pioneered in Northwest Missouri came directly from their properties back East without a few stops of residence along the way. There were, however, examples here. A few families came directly to Daviess County from the Greenbrier Valley of West Virginia to purchase government land which opened for sale in 1842. One of those was Owen Ellis, who brought his wife, sister, and 17 children.
Ellis picked the same place to settle as the community leaders of Pattonsburg did more than 150 years later. The only other settler at that time, 1839, was Matthew and Magdeline Patton. They were building a mill about a mile northwest on Big Creek.
Soon more Virginians were on the way, including the four daughters of. Joseph and Polly Taylor Gwinn. In 1843 James Jarrett Graham and Martha (Gwinn) Graham purchased a quarter section of land north of Ellis’ property. John Jr. and Nancy (Gwinn) Meadows purchased the next quarter section north. Samuel and Sarah (Gwinn) Gwinn purchased 80 acres on the east.
Other pioneers with familiar sir names settled in the same area: Levi Morris and Paulina (Gwinn) Jarrett, Joseph and Elizabeth McClung, Andrew and Susan Graham Jarrett, William and Catharine Johnson Graham, among still others. Friendships and marriages developed and continue. Small wonder that the area became commonly known and mapped as Virginia Ridge.
Owen Ellis built a chapel and started a cemetery about 1845 on his land. The cemetery was in use until 1925. Bethel Church and cemetery were a bit to the east, and Virginia Ridge School was constructed nearer to the east of Ellis. The school operated until 1949.
These families originated from colonial Protestants who had settled in western Augusta County, VA, between 1745 and 1770 for religious freedom. They were mostly stockmen who lived in the valleys of the Calf Pasture, Cow Pasture and Bull Pasture Rivers on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
They crossed the Allegheny Mountains near White Sulphur Springs after the Indian Wars. These Pioneers have their passing marked by stones in the Ellis and Bethel Cemeteries.
Editor’s note: This information was researched by David Stark of Gallatin while pursuing family geneology.