QUEEN-L Archives

From: "Carol Queen" <>
Subject: Fw: Missouri Queen
Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 10:42:48 -0500

I thought this might be of interest to some of the Ohio & Mo. Queens. There is not alot about the Queen family, but the history is wonderful anyway. The entire text is on rootsweb.
Carol

Subject: Missouri Queen


<snip>History of the Bellevue Presbyterian Church Cemetery at Caledonia, Missouri

by Adella Breckenridge Moore

Elmwood Press Print, Farmington, Missouri

If you use this information, you must give credit to Adella Breckenridge
Moore who spent much time accumulating it in an era before computers.
Her 92 year old son would appreciate a thank-you note. Please write to:
Robert Moore, [now deceased]
I have taken the liberty of typing the full words for some
abbreviations, as the time has come when those abbreviations are no longer in
common usage, and I prefer the original words not be confused. Also the
automatic typer on my computer finishes some months.

AN OPEN LETTER

Dear Friends:
This little book "The History of the Bellevue Presbyterian Cemetery at
Caledonia, Missouri, which is the oldest Protestant Cemetery in continuous
use west of the Mississippi River, comes to you on a Mission. It's mission is
to try to help create enough interest in the plot of ground that sufficient
money will be given from year to year to make it the best kept County
Cemetery in its like area.

Within its pages you will find something of the heroic efforts of the
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who had migrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania and
later farther south and west to build homes and found churches in which to
worship. Many of the older people died and now lie buried in the church yards
of the churches they helped to establish. And their children pushed farther
westward to finally come together in the beautiful Bellevue Valley and its
Presbyterian Cemetery where many of them sleep today.

Since the burying ground was a reality nearly seven years before the
church was [formally] organized, I have tried to give the men who were the
chief actors on the stage in those days their proper place in Missouri
History. Then comes Miss Addie Sloan in whose veins runs the blood of the
Breckenridges, Doaks, Gambles and Cowans of Pennsylvania, Virginia and
Kentucky as well as the Sloans and Harrisses of Pennsylvania and North
Carolina. She carried this same gospel of her forebears to far-away China
within the memory of many people now [in 1950s] living.

May the Lord bless the fulfilling of the mission of the little book.

Sincerely,
Adella Breckenridge Moore

GOD'S-ACRE


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.



p. 5 HISTORY OF BELLEVUE PRESBYTERIAN CEMETERY

This cemetery, which beyond any shadow of a doubt in my mind, is the oldest
"God's Acre" belonging to a Protestant Congregation and in continual service
West of the Mississippi River is located one-half mile to the North-east of
the little, old town of Caledonia on Highways 21 and 32 in the South part of
Washington County, Missouri. It is known that Robert M. Stevenson and Martin
Ruggles donated the ground. The tradition in old families is that Samuel
Imboden donated one of the original three acres. We have found no proof of
Mr. Imboden's donation in the County Deed Records. It is interesting to note
here that in 1809 when the remains of the widow Catherine McCormick, who died
at the home of her son on November 12, some six miles away were laid to rest
ther4e the land was held by Spanish Grants and was not sectionalized until
1822 and the Meridian line between Ranges 2 and 3 East runs along the East
side of the Cemetery. Mr. Imboden's land lay in Range 3 East.

As a location for a burying ground it would be hard to select a better
in all of Bellevue Valley. The ground slopes from it in three directions. On
two sides the virgin forest trees stand as sentinels to guard its sacred
precincts. On the other two sides the fields of waving grain remind us of
God's goodness in directing the North Carolina band of Scotch-Irish
Presbyterians, who had come to the Valley to settle in 1807 to such a fertile
soil with splendid springs scattered round about. If I were a painter I might
paint for you its physical beauty; if I were a poet I might immortalize its
sentiment in song; being neither I can only try to convey to you some of its
hallowed memories and traditions. Some one has said that the cemetery bears a
resemblance to the King's Chapel Burying Ground of Boston, and indeed one of
the patriots who helped throw the tea overboard, lies buried there, where the
stones are most crowded and sunken, and with illegible epitaphs, so there
really is a connecting link.

Some have thought that this was originally an Indian burying ground.
After the Concord (now Bellevue) Church was organized on August 3, 1816, the
first two houses of worship wer4e built on the north acre donated by Robert
M. Stevenson. The grave of Dr. Frank Eversole marks the spot where the last
house there was built. It was of brick and we infer that it stood on the
foundation of the log building which was burned earlier. In 1872 the present
house of worship was built in the town of Caledonia on almost the exact spot
where Robert Sloan had built his cabin some time before November 30, 1807,
when his brother, William Sloan, and others arrived from North Carolina. The
next morning the band arose and as the sun peaked over the eastern hilltops
engaged in prayer. Two men of the band, William Sloan and Robert M.
Stevenson, were known to have been ordained Presbyterian elders before they
left North Carolina.

Little can you and I conceive in the mind's eye conditions as they were
there in that early day. But Mrs. Mary Sloan Ransdell, of Irondale, Missouri,
has contributed the little story her great-grandmother, Sarah Goforth Sloan,
left of the time[:]
"Caledonia, Missouri, April, 1883. I was born in Tennessee in 1799. My father
(Miles Goforth) came to Bellevue Valley in 1803, and took up land on the west
side of the branch where Caledonia now is, where he lived for a number of
years. It was a wilderness when he came here. There were about 8 families in
the Valley at that time. There was very little comfort here then only
friendly neighbors. There was no preaching here for two years after my father
came. I heard the first sermon ever preached in this valley. There was a
Methodist preacher came and preached twice and that was all of the preaching
we had for two more years.

"The Indians were very troublesome then stealing horses though that was
all that they done (sic). I think that it was in 1808 there were two
Methodist preachers came and held a two day meeting not far from where our
old church was built, and ought to have stood there. Yet where so many of our
dear old Christian fathers and mothers and old church members lie in their
sacred tombs. O! that is a sacred spot to me.

"Right at that graveyard is where the church ought to be now, but pride
got in when the old members were all gone and new people came in. They wanted
something new and the church never has had such revivals since as we had
before when we used to take our families and leave the things of this world
behind us and camp in that church yard for 8 or 10 days and nights at a time
and ther4e were the greatest revivals that I ever saw in my life. It seemed
like everybody wanted to be there.

"Everybody appeared to enjoy those camp meetings so much I thought that
love to God and our Christian church was the brightest star that ever shown.
My husband and I united with the church in 1822. In 1837 he was taken to that
pure church above where there is no sin. I have had many hard trials to
endure though I have always trusted in Him who has promised to be a father to
the fatherless, and a husband to the widows. I have had the comfort of seeing
my children all enjoying religion and I hope that we will meet a whole family
in Heaven. Sarah Sloan"

We believe that one of the first Sunday Schools in Washington County was
organized in the house of worship within this "God's Acre." And let us
introduce here the following information: John Hutchings who was from Casey
County, Kentucky, and represented washing County in the first Constitutional
Convention of Missouri, wrote in his Diary: "In the Autumn of 1816 we moved
to Missouri and settled near Big River, Washington County. In the Spring of
1817 my wife and I joined the Bellevue Baptist Church, which had been
organized in 1814. The next year I heard Reverend John Mason Peck. He
furnished me with a copy7 of a Sunday School Constitution. With the help of
the Presbyterians we formed a Washington County Sunday School Union. Those
who were appointed managers of the county were John P. Alexander, Martin
Ruggles, Robert M. Stevenson and myself. In the Spring of 1818 we organized
Sunday Schools in every part of the County." These men were all Presbyterians
except Mr. Hutchings.

So far as we have been able to find out the names of the soldiers buried here
follow:

World War I: Emmett Campbell.

Spanish American War: Wendell Sloan.

Civil War: Thomas Stewart, Riley Hull, Thomas Fortune, Nelson Adams, Robert
Babel, W. H. Harris, Harrison Sweeney, Smith Breckenridge, Charles Akers,
William Bogue, Harrison Queen, Jesse Taylor, Samuel Tatlor, Dabney Imboden,
John Oldham, D. H. Wyatt, William Hornsey, Price Hornsey, John Hornsey,
Thomas King, Lewis Queen, William G. Eversole, Thomas Whitely, Joseph Neel,
J.R. Queen, George Hunt, Frank P. Marrow, George Henry, Giles Lucas, John
Shields, William Townsend, John H. Russell, John Sloan, Chris Hockenheimer,
W. B. Ramsey, John McLane, Samuel Reyburn.

War of 1812: Archibald Robinson, Timothy Phelps, Martin Ruggles. [[[There is
good evidence that several of the men who lived in that area and are buried
in the Bellevue churchyard served during the War of 1812 in a unit called
"Captain Hughes' Company of Mounted Riflemen, Louisiana Militia." This
includes A. Alexander [most likely, Alexander Thompson Alexander], his
brother John P. Alexander, their brother James Alexander, and David and John
McCormick. Also listed are: Nicholas Hays, Annania [sic] McCoy, and Timothy
Phelps, who are mentioned in the Bellevue booklet. This regiment must have
been formed just before MO became its own territory. I don't know if any of
these men also served in MO regiments. Also many of the men listed in the
Bellevue cemetery index are mentioned in the indexes of Territorial Papers of
the United States, vols.13,14,15, which deals with the settlement of this
area. Hope this is of interest. Lorna Dunklee ]]]

Revolutionary War: Comfort Ruggles, George Breckenridge, William Sloan,
Daniel Phelps.

There are items of interest connected with each man of the Revolution
mentioned above. Comfort Ruggles seems to have lived his life in the Bellevue
Valley as a mystery man. There is so little to be found in any record
concerning him. It is not known what relation he was to Martin and Salmon
Ruggles who took up Spanish Grants in the Valley in 1803. The only record I
have ever found of him is in the Probate Office where his File is No. 138.
The heirs were Rhody, Rozanna, Edmond and Benjamin Ruggles. The bond of
Benjamin Ruggles as Administrator was dated December 19, 1833, and was signed
by Martin Ruggles and son, Elijah S. Ruggles, and Cyrus Miner. Mrs. Fannie
Sloan Towle, formerly of Potosi, Missouri, is descended from Comfort Ruggles
through his daughter, Rozanna, who married Fergus Sloan. She says that
Comfort Ruggles and family left Otsego, New York, to come to Louisiana,
probably about 1806.

It was she who visited my mother when I was a teen age girl and I listened as
they talked of Comfort Ruggles. My mother told of the tradition which had
come down to her concerning him. At one time he was sick and sent for the
Doctor. He questioned the Doctor very carefully as to whether he thought his
illness would be fatal. The doctor told him that he was not a very sick man
and would be well in a few days. But a second time before the doctor left he
asked the same question. This time it came out that before he died he wanted
to tell the doctor something that he must promise faithfully that he would
not divulge until after his death. Again he was reassured that he would be
well in a few days. According to the tradition it was nearly twenty years
later when Mr. Ruggles again got sick and sent for the same doctor and this
time he was told that his end was near and the secret he told the doctor
which was given to the world after his burial was that he was one of the
young men disguised as an Indian who helped to throw the English tea
overboard in Boston Harbor. Mrs. Towle asked if he had a grave marker and my
mother's answer was in the affirmative. Although some sixty years have passed
since his grave marker was erected the wording could then be read. But we are
told now that the grave cannot be absolutely identified.

The only record of the service of George Breckenridge, then a lad of twelve
years, was at the battle of King's Mountain. He rode beside his father,
Alexander Breckenridge, from Wolf Hill Creek where the men of South West
Virginia collected to form a volunteer company to help fight the British in
the south, to King's Mountain where this company under the command of William
Campbell placed itself in Gist's
Regiment. Before they left Wolf Hill Creek, Samuel Doak, a cousin of
Alexander Breckenridge led the prayer in which he made use of the expression:
"The Sword of the Lord and Gideon." King's Mountain was one of [the] decisive
and last fought battles of the war.

The tradition in my family is that Daniel Phelps answered the Lexington
Alarm and fought through the was and saw Cornwallis surrender to Washington
at Yorktown. Since there were five Daniel Phelps' in the American Army in the
Revolution it would be hard to trace any one Daniel Phelps in the Revolution.<snip>

CQ-notes:Here are Queens who are buried there as listed in the article.
Hezekiah Queen, born 1856; died 1913.
Anna Queen (nee Gollaher), born 1858; died 1944.
Charley M. Queen, born 1883; died 1928.
Lillie Mae Queen, born 1890; died 1890.
Ira C. Queen, born 1895; died 1897.
Frank W. Queen, born 1902; died 1902.
Roy R. Queen, born 1898; died 1933.
Harrison Queen, born in Meigs County, Ohio, September 29, 1844; died
September 14, 1904. Corporal 194 Regiment, Ohio Volunteers, Co. D.
Martha Queen (nee Bean), wife of Harrison Queen.
Cornelius Queen, died November 19, 1870.
Esther Queen.
Lewis Queen, Corp. 53rd Ohio Infantry.
Emiline Queen (nee Akers), wife of Lewis Queen.
Docia Queen (nee Fortune), wife of C. H. Queen, born December 5, 1879; died
December 21, 1903.
John Queen, born March 15, 1883; died August 13, 1940.
Nancy Queen (nee Castor).
Nancy M. Queen, daughter of E.S. and A.L. Queen, died October 7, 1881, aged 1
year, 1 month, 23 days.
Mary Ellen Queen (nee Seabourne), wife of Henry Queen, born January 1, 1893;
died April 10, 1918.
P 22
L. W. Queen, daughter of C. H. and D.T. Queen, born January 27, 1903; died
January 13, 1905.
J.R. Queen, Co. D, 94th Ohio Infantry.
D. Munson Queen, born 1872; die 1917.
Ellen Queen (nee Seabourne).
J. R. Queen, in the Civil War.

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• Fw: Missouri Queen by "Carol Queen" <>