The McDearmons of Boonville

Builder of the Thespian Hall and Civil War Mayor and his son the Town Marshall of Boonville.

enry McDearmon was born in the vicinity of Prince Edward County, Virginia sometime between the years of 1808 and 1810.

In 1830 Henry McDearmon and his older brother James decided to move to Missouri. What we know of the McDearmons' trip to Missouri comes from letters written which James McDearmon penned to his wife who stayed back in Virginia. We know that they started their journey took them by steamboat from Guyandotte, Virginia (near present-day Huntington, West Virginia) to Louisville, Kentucky. From there they traveled by stage to St. Louis. They arrived in St. Louis in December 1830. Henry McDearmon found work the day after their arrival and offered to give any money he earned to his brother so that he could return to Virginia to bring his family to Missouri ¹ By June 1840, Henry with James and his family had moved west from St. Louis. Henry had moved to the opened lands which were available for settlement in Howard County and was living in Fayette. James was living in the town of Femme Osage in St. Charles County and was made candidate to run for the State Senate. Two years later, Henry had moved across the Missouri River to the bustling town of Boonville in Cooper County where he became a builder and contractor.

By 1850, the Henry McDearmon household consisted of: Henry. age 41, and his wife, Sarah, age 34 born in Kentucky; and their three children: James 14, Thomas  11, and Frank 7. Also in the household was Mrs. Susan Collins, age 54 born in Virginia. Apparently Mrs. Collins owned the home. The value of her property was listed as $500 ². We do not know if Mrs. Collins was a relative or simply the landlady. Two of the sons died young. James McDearmon in 1852 ³ and was buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery in Boonville shortly after it was established. Frank McDearmon was killed in 1862 during an argument over  the Civil War.

During the 1850’s he was a partner in the contractor firm of Homan & McDearmon. One of their projects was the construction of Boonville’s Thespian Hall completed early in the summer of 1857 and considered "finest home of the theater in Mid-Missouri. It is now the oldest theater west of the Mississippi. ⁴  When the Civil War conflict came to Boonville, this theater served as a hospital, military headquarters, military billet and jail.

	The Thespian Hall as it appeared in 1937 and in 1870 (below). The Hall was used as an officers' quarters; soldiers billet, hospital and even a jail and fortification during the Civil War. The Hall was built by Homan & McDearmon.

Between 1857 and 1865 Henry served eight terms as mayor of Boonville. He served as County Treasurer from August 3, 1863 through February 7, 1865 and also Town Marshal. His terms as mayor occurred during the turbulent times of the Civil War, and he was personally affected by the conflicts. On May 11, 1861 the town was in turmoil because because old Mr. [William Raley] Raily had shot  Mayor McDearmon ⁵. A month later the first battle of Boonville occurred outside the town with the Union defeating State troops. Acting City Mayor James H. O’Brian surrendered Boonville to Union General Nathaniel Lyon. Could it be that Henry was recovering from the gunshot wound? His obituary reported that his right arm hung limp from a pistol shot received at the beginning of the War.

Many of Henry E.W. actions as mayor are recorded in contemporary records and local histories. On August 27, 1861, Mayor McDearmon and other city officials went to Jefferson City to plead for some Boonville citizens captured and taken to Jefferson City by Col. Worthington of the 5^th Iowa Cavalry ⁶. 

In October 1861 Col. Logan of the Federal troops accused Col Eppstein’s men of Co. E. of the Home Guards of stealing some of the government stores in Boonville. After a confrontation between the two companies, Logan notified citizens living in the vicinity of Thespian Hall (where Eppstein and his men were quartered) to remove their families as he intended to bombard the hall and clean out the Home Guards. Hearing of this Mayor McDearmon and others prevailed upon him not to carry out his threat, as it would endanger the lives and property of innocent residents ⁷.

Frank McDearmon (Henry McDearmon's third son) was killed on February 12, 1862. A dance took place in a house in east Boonville. Members of the 37^th Regiment Illinois Infantry attended as well as several citizens of Boonville including Frank McDearmon. There was plenty of whisky and liquor and the participants became argumentative and pugnacious. Frank McDearmon and a soldier (possibly Smith M. Martin) became embroiled in a heated argument. Frank McDearmon fatally shot the soldier, who, while dying, managed to cut Frank nine times with a knife. Both men died on the scene of action ⁸.

As the War continued, Confederate Col. Jo Shelby turned his men north toward Boonville, and the citizens became aware that he was approaching the town. On October 10, 1863, Mayor McDearmon called a meeting of the citizens. They concluded that the only sensible thing to do was to surrender the town to Shelby. They sent a deputation of citizens to meet with him, but returned without being able to find the whereabouts of Shelby. Apparently Col Shelby would not be entering Boonville ⁹. However the next day Shelby did enter Boonville. Boonville citizens, who originally intended to defend their town, lost their nerve; and a "trembling mayor was only too glad to take the oath of allegiance" ¹⁰ Shelby’s men took whatever food, clothing, and other supplies they could find, but did not molest or kill anyone during their stay. They soon left the town pursued by Union troops ¹¹.

The following year Boonville suffered raids by bushwhackers who killed and plundered the area around town. On July 14, 1864,  McDearmon wrote to Gen. Brown: "Bushwhackers in considerable force north and south of Boonville. Send us one company of troops immediately." Brown replied that troops had left Otterville in the direction of Boonville after the rebels. "I again repeat: "Your citizens should be organized and armed for their own defense.’ My troops are being drawn off to other districts, and the people in towns will be compelled to rely on themselves for their safety against predatory bands. This is an important matter for the citizens of Boonville, and will be daily more so as the government is moving the soldiers to the front, and will leave the rear to rely on itself for local protection. I have arms to give you and ask you to take them." ¹²

On January 19, 1865, the incident that made McDearmon flee town occurred. An intoxicated Union soldier Henry Hillsman entered a confectionary story on Boonville’s Main Street. Mary Beck the storeowner was famous for her delicious gingerbread and cider, but she was also notorious for her belligerence when aroused. Henry Hillsman became obnoxious and talked louder than Mary Beck. Mary called for Henry McDearmon, who was town marshal as well as mayor. When Hillsman resisted arrest McDearmon shot him. He died three days later. Comrades of the soldier became aroused and obtained a writ for McDearmon's arrest. McDearmon was forced to hide in the loft over a grocery store in town, but soon he headed west for the Rocky Mountains or Canada. On January 23, Governor Thomas C. Fletcher offered a $300 reward for his apprehension. The reward stated that he had made his escape and fled from Cooper County rendering it impossible for the Sheriff to execute the warrant for his arrest. McDearmon was described as being fifty years of age, stout built, inclined to corpulence and lame in his right shoulder. ¹³

On December 16, 1866, while he was still on the run, McDearmon wrote from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to his nephew John K. McDearmon. He said that his wife had written him that he could return home any time that he wished, but that a lawyer in Boonville said that he was to go directly to Jefferson City and give himself up to the Governor. McDearmon had no desire to fall in the hands of the governor’s military substitute for a civil government. He would also ask for a change of venue for a trial and have the case sent to neighboring Howard County. ¹⁴

McDearmon wrote further, saying, "I am fearful that you will not be able to read this letter it is so badly written. I am so nervous I can scarcely write." After he returned to Boonville, he must have regained his self-confidence. A local history portrays a different McDearmon from that in his letter: "When he returned he was a striking figure—a tall, powerful man striding down Main Street with two pistols in holsters at his front and a hand on each. He wasn’t afraid of the devil." ¹⁵

Henry McDearmon lived about 15 years after his return to Boonville. According to the 1880 Census, he was living with his second son, Thomas, as a retired carpenter aged 70 and widowed. A typewritten copy of an undated obituary reported that he died on Wednesday, March 8 (which we think was 1882), and said that bodily infirmities confined him to his room as an invalid. He had outlived his two sons (James and Frank), his brother James R. McDearmon (1805-1848), sister Frances McD. Gannaway (d. 1841), and his wife Sarah, who died when she was about 60. Controversial in life, he received praise in his obituary:

"Mr. McDearmon was a man of much more than ordinary intellect and a conscientious and respected citizen. He used to be one of the best-known politicians of the State and was a firm political and personal friend of Senator Thomas H. Benton, who held him in high estimation. He was well acquainted with the political history of the country, always took great interest in such things, and however widely men may have differed from him, none ever doubted the honesty of his purposes for the sincerity of his convictions. For eight successive terms he was mayor of Boonville, his first election being in 1857 and his last in 1864, and we never had a better officer in that position."

Thomas Hart Benton McDearmon was the second son of Henry McDearmon and was born about 1839.  On August 9, 1862 he enrolled for the Union as 1^st Sgt. in Co. D, 52^nd Enrolled Missouri Militia. ¹⁶ 

Announcements in the Boonville Weekly Advertiser listed his building projects in 1883. 

On January 17 1884, Thomas McDearmon and Finney formed a co-partnership as contractors. Like his father, he was made town marshal and, also like his father, he made his share of enemies, especially with the local press. He was described as a 250-pound policeman, "loud-mouthed, turbulent, and unprincipled." ¹⁷ He "was zealous for duty, but addicted to drink. He worked hard keeping the town like a prayer meeting that he had it in a constant uproar over his miscarriages of justice." ¹⁸ Editor A. B. Thornton of the Boonville News started a crusade against Thomas, who warned him to stop the crusade. But Thornton continued the attacks. One Saturday afternoon on November 17, 1881, Thomas followed Thornton along Boonville’s Main Street, shot and instantly killed him. Thomas H. B. claimed self-defense. The case was tried in Boone County. Melton’s history reported that he was sentenced to one year in jail¹⁹; other sources said he was acquitted ²⁰ (see below). Memories of Thornton haunted Thomas the rest of his life. "Every night when I go home, I see a man waiting at my gate to kill me, but he always disappears²¹", Thomas told street crowds for years after he was repudiated as an official.

 Thomas H. B. McDearmon was the only son of Henry  McDearmon to marry. He married Matilda Givens, in 1859 and Virginia T. Williams in 1867. His children included Fannie (1862- ), Luella (1868- ), Arthur (1874- ), and Mary (1876- ). His daughter Fannie married Giles H. Marshall, a painter, on November 1, 1882, and gave birth to Elma Loris Marshall on October 31, 1883. This is where our records of H. E. W’s descendants end. We are sure that Henry and his family are buried in Boonville’s Walnut Grove Cemetery, but the head stones are illegible. The only recognizable marker reads "Sarah wife of H. E. W." ²²

A. B. Thornton Killed.-On Saturday, Nov. 17, 1881, Thomas H. B. McDearmon, shot and instantly killed A. B. Thornton, editor of the "Boonville News". We copy from the "Advertiser" of Nov. 25, 1881:

"On Saturday afternoon last, about 4:30, our city was suddenly thrown into a state of excitement seldom before witnessed here. The cause of the excitement was the hearing of many of rapid pistol firing up Main street, and the quickly following report that "Tom McDearmon had killed Thornton," which report grated only the truth on the ears of the unwilling hearers, for Marshal McDearmon had, at a moment when maddened with indignation at the publishing of a very severe article on him by the editor of the "News" sought out and shot and instantly killed Dr. Thornton. Some weeks ago, Mr. McDearmon and Dr. Thornton had a dispute and difficulty over the settlement of an ice bill, which was followed by the publication of a severe article on McDearmon in the "News". Mr. McDearmon, though very much aggravated, listened to his friends and took no notice of it and since then there has been no very kind feelings between the two."

The shooting was the outcome of a series of articles which Thornton had published in his paper derogatory to the official conduct of McDearmon.

McDearmon had a preliminary examination and was bound aver to answer an indictment at the succeeding term of the Circuit Court. He was prosecuted by John R. Walker, county attorney, and defended by Cosgrove and Johnston. The case was taken to Boone County, on a change of venue, and there tried at the March term in 1882.

The case was quite an exciting one, there being much interest taken in the proceedings and in the result. McDearmon was acquitted.

 -  Information supplied by Bill Lay

* WebMaster Note: Elizabeth M. Werner is the  Associate Librarian at Clearwater Christian College in Clearwater, Florida; William Lay has written numerous articles on the history of Howard and Cooper Counties  and is a longtime member of the Mid-Missouri Civil War Round Table and James F. Thoma has long been associated with the Historical Society of Cooper County and has recently written a book on the history of Cooper County during the Civil War entitled, This Cruel Unnatural War.

¹ Letter from James R. McDearmon to his wife Martha, December 6, 1830. Original owned by Fielding McDearmon.

² http://www.rootsweb.com/~mocooper/Census/1850Cooper154.htm

²² Telephone conversation between Elizabeth Werner and Mrs. Ada Townlain of the Walnut Grove Cemetery Historical Association. (May 6, 2003) Ada Townlain said that records indicated that Thomas and Virginia were buried in the McDearmon plot, but they had no records beyond 1906. She and her son checked the McDearmon stones and could only distinguish the one for Sarah.. She said the stones were "old, old, old."

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