Eli J. Cline

As printed in 1897

ELI J. CLINE.

Th. subject of this sketch disclaims any pretense as an old settler. He was born in the north part of Vernon County, March 23, 18S0, and moved with his parents to Rich Hill in 1886, where they resided till 1897. Here he got his education and learned the printers art. In 1897 his father, H. Cline, purchased the Foster Beacon plant, and it was published under the name of H. Cline A: Son for two years; then the plant was removed to Amoret and the paper is continued as the Amoret Beacon with Eli as editor. He is the youngest editor in the county and probably in the state. H. Cline is the publisher of the Beacon but has little to do with conducting the paper. He came to Bates County in 1876, moved to Vernon and returned to Bates in 1886. He was born in Scotland County, Mo., in 1850 and was married to Judy E. Drake in 1869. Five children are now living— three at home and two married daughters in Terre Haute Ind.

the north lino was some distance south of wnerc it now is and, there being no other town of any sizy in the comity, it was believed that the seat of county government would remain at Papinsville. This appeared all the more sure when it was considered that the river afforded almost the only, and by far the most feasible, route for the shipment in and out, of such commodities as constituted the articles of commerce of those days; an inland town was not expected to attain any great importance, as a town situated distant from a railroad is not expected to do any great volume of business at the present time. But conditions change as time passes, especially during the period of settlement in new countries. Almost every session of State Legislature changed county lines, and carved new counties out of the remains of old ones. In a few years efforts were m ide to divide the county. This division was bitterly fought by the friends of the old town, and was once defeated in the courts, but the attempt aroused the people of that part of the county into activity. Up to this time court had been held in a log building, but the County Court now proceeded to build a substantial brick court house. They also put a bridge across the river at that place, seeking thereby to avoid the complaint that the county seat was inconvenient of access to the citizens who resided south of the Osage. But these measures did not long delay the inevitable change.

In 1855 the Legislature again divided the county, this time on the present lines, naming that part south of the river, [ Vernon county, and leaving Papinsville in Bates, but locate ing the county seat in the center of the county. This left an almost new court house on the hands of the County Court, which they sold to Philip Zeal, and removed the county seit from Papinsville in 1856-7.

During the time the county seat was located at Papinsville I the town grew rapidly and was, for some years, the metropolis of the county. Next to Harmony Mission, the history of the early days in Bates County centers around this place, which, in fact, was the offspring of the old Mission, and is I so regarded in the fond recollections of our old settlers. Here many of the interesting and exciting events of the early i times ioo£ place. Here the politicians and influential men i of the community naturally congregated, and the public questions which came up for consideration in those days were just as momentous, and probably excited greater interest among the people of the spurcely settled country, than like matters now do. Heiv occurred the first murder trial ever held in the county, and the first and only execution by civil authorities. It was the landing place of a large majority of the first settlers of the county, and the distributing point for the supplies brought in for a great many of the early inhabitants. Even after the removal of the county seat it continued to prosper until the Civil War brought ruin to so many of Bates County's people, but from this blow Pa pins vi lie never recovered her one-time prestige and improtauce.

As printed in The old settlers' history of Bates County, Missouri : from its first settlement to the first day of January, 1900 (1897). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.