James Riley STRONG ³

  Research Notes:

Besides James and his brothers, Eli and Henry, another unrelated Strong family lived in Vernon County, Missouri. Thomas L. Strong was born on 15 Jan 1834 in Columbiana County, Ohio. He was the youngest son of George Strong, born in Ireland, and Elizabeth Lewis, born in Ohio. Thomas came to Vernon County in 1871 and settled in Schell City, where he owned and operated a mill. He was married to Sarah C. Goodrich in Ohio and had four children: Homer L.; Jennie, wife of W. V. Herrick; Harry C.; and Albert. ⁶

  Death Notes:

Obituary in The Nevada Noticer, Thursday, 18 Dec 1890, Page 2, Col. 4:

"J. R. Strong of Henry Township died at his home of paralysis Friday December 12. Deceased was about 50 years of age. He had not been well since last Ausgust. A wife and five children survive him, mourning the loss of a kind father and affectionate husband and an exemplar, for he was all these to them. On Saturday his remains were interred at the Fields graveyard."

  Burial Notes:

While his obituary states he was buried in Fields Graveyard, it's location is unknown. Cemetery records for Vernon County show several burials there, but no one has been able to locate this cemetery. Might Fields Graveyard have also been known as Turley Cemetery? Turley Cemetery is southeast of Stotesbury and is where two of his infant children were buried. [Terry Ramsey of the Vernon County Historical Society wrote to me on 13 Dec 2002 as follows: "That cemetery is horribly overgrown and many of the stones are lost to vines and other growth. When Mr. Bernard, the man who put together the cemetery directory, surveyed that cemetery he did so by reading all legible stones. I am quite certain that there are many graves there that he was unable to find. I was in that cemetery about a year ago and it would take a large crew with chain saws, machetes, and digging tools to find all of the stones."]

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Census: 1850, Newton County, Missouri. ⁷

Household of Hiram Strong: James Strong, age 8, male, born in Missouri.

2. Census: 1860, Cole County, Missouri. ⁸

Household of Becker ['Becca] Strong: Jas. Strong, age 19, male, guarding at the PY [prison yard], born in Missouri.

3. Military Service: 1862-1865, Arkansas and Louisiana. ^{9 10 11}

Summary of James R. Strong's Service Record:

James R. Strong was enlisted into Company D of Hunter's Regiment by Captain Elbert Feaster on 12 Aug 1862 in Benton County, Missouri. [Note that M. A. Strong, probably James' brother Moses, enlisted in the same unit on the same day. Moses died near Little Rock, Arkansas on 25 Mar 1863.] Roster cards also show that James was detailed as a teamster on 5 Aug 1863 by General Parson. A teamster was someone who was in charge of supply wagons.

Summary of 11th Missouri Infantry's Role in Civil War:

The 11th Missouri Infantry was formed from the Missouri State Guard in the summer of 1862. Recruiting was led by Colonel DeWitt Hunter. It was formed in response to the need for Confederate troops in Missouri caused by the troops of Generals Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn having been called to Corinth, Mississippi to engage the Federal forces under General Ulysses Grant. Initially known as Hunter's Regiment, it underwent some other designations until it was designated as the 11th Missouri Infantry in Dec 1863.

In response to this recruitment in Missouri, the Federal forces in Missouri and Kansas were organized into The Army of the Frontier. Confederate and Federal forces concentrated their commands in Southwest Missouri. The superior Federal forces forced the Confederate forces back into Arkansas. It was in Arkansas in Nov 1862 that Hunter's Regiment joined up with the Confederate forces and became part of Parson's Brigade.

Company D of the 11th Missouri, under Captain. Elbert Feaster and as part of Parson's Brigade, fought at Prairie Grove, Arkansas on 7 Dec 1862. Although the battle was considered a draw, the Confederate forces retreated to Fort Smith. They were then ordered to Little Rock; the sick and wounded had to be left behind. [Recall that James' brother, Moses, died near Little Rock on 25 Mar 1863.]

The next battle for Company D of the 11th Missouri was on 4 Jul 1863 at Helena, Arkansas. There, under the overall command of General Theo. Holmes, Parson's Brigade attacked at Graveyard Hill. They were repulsed and suffered heavy casualties. Half of those who attacked did not return to their ranks. The 11th had 14 killed, 82 wounded and 67 missing. After the battle, the 11th Missouri had only 467 men present. The losses were made worse by the fact that on the same day General Grant captured Vicksburg, which meant that even a victory at Helena would have been of no long term significance.

The regiment returned to Little Rock and Helena became the base of the Federal expedition led by General Frederick Steele to capture Little Rock. General Sterling Price, then in command of the Confederate forces at Little Rock, was outnumbered and on 10 Sep 1863 retreated to Camden in southeastern Arkansas. Many men of the 11th were left behind in Little Rock hospitals.

When Federal forces under General Nathaniel Banks began the Red River Campaign in the spring of 1864 to capture Shreveport, Louisiana, General Kirby Smith, the commanding officer in the Trans-Mississippi, ordered the Arkansas forces, including Parson's Old Brigade now commanded by Colonel Simon Burns, to join up with the forces under General Richard Taylor in Louisiana. Parson's Old Brigade joined Taylor's army on 9 Apr 1864. On that day, the 11th Missouri joined in the battle of Pleasant Hill, where 5 were killed, 9 officers and 35 men were wounded and an unknown number were captured. The captured were exchanged on 20 Apr 1864 at Blair's Landing on the Red River.

Even though the Union forces were successful at Pleasant Hill, they retreated. General Smith then took General Taylor's forces, including the 11th Missouri, back to Arkansas to join up with General Price, who was having some success in fighting large forays of Union forces launched by General Steele from his base in Little Rock. In an effort to stop the retreat of General Steele's forces to Little Rock, General Smith engaged General Steele's forces on 30 Apr 1864 at Jenkins' Ferry on the Saline River. The Confederate forces were unsuccessful in stopping the Union retreat.

The regiment returned to Camden, Arkansas. Although General Price's cavalry made raids into Missouri, General Parson's infantry remained in Camden to protect Southern Arkansas from General Steele in Little Rock.

On 1 Apr 1965, the regiment arrived in Shreveport, Louisiana. On May 26, 1865, the regiment, including the 11th Missouri, surrendered at New Orleans. The men were paroled at either Alexander, Louisiana on 7 Jun 1865 or Shreveport on 8 Jun 1865.

4. Deed: 1868, Moniteau County, Missouri. ^{12 13}

Dated 11 Apr 1868, Filed 20 Dec 1873, Bk R:258
James R. Strong and Polly Strong his wife of Moniteau to Greenbury Howard of Moniteau; $700 for SE1/4 of SE1/4 and E1/2 of SW1/4 of SE1/4 of Sec. 8, Twp. 44, Range 16, containing 60 acres more or less. [Greenbury Howard was the husband of Minerva Strong, James' youngest sister.]

Dated 27 Aug 1868, Filed 26 Sep 1868, Bk M:246
James R. Strong and Polly R. Strong his wife of Moniteau to W. M. Bolin of Morgan Co.; $1200 for the SE1/4 of the SE1/4 and the W1/2 of the SW1/4 of the SE1/4 of Sec. 8, Twp. 44, Range 16, containing 60 acres more or less. [This 60 acres abutted the 60 acres in the Deed dated 11 Apr 1868 on the east. James and Polly appear to have moved to Vernon County, Missouri after this sale.]

[Note that the deed(s) by which James and Polly acquired the land they sold in these two deeds has not been found.]

5. Deed: 1870, Vernon County, Missouri. ¹⁴

Dated 31 Jan 1870, Recorded 7 May 1870, Bk Q:110
Jackson Hutchins (by J. W. Ellyson, his attorney in fact) and Mary J. Ellyson and J. W. Ellyson her husband of Elko County, Nevada to James R. Strong; $200 for the SE1/4 of the SE1/4 of Sec. 22, Twp 37, Range 33, containing about 40 acres.

Dated 1 Apr 1870, Recorded 7 May 1870, Bk Q:105
Peter Achor to James R. Strong; $60 for his interest in the SE1/4 of the SE1/4 of Sec. 22, Twp. 37, Range 33, containing about 10 acres. [This legal description is for 40 acres. Also, it matches the description of the 1871 deed for 10 acres. Since the 1876 sectional map shows J. R. Strong owned 60 acres, I suspect this deed and the 1871 deed together represented the SE1/4 and the SW1/4 of the SW1/4 of the SE1/4 of Sec. 22. Which deed was for which 10 acres cannot be determined.]

Dated 1 Apr 1870, Recorded 7 May 1870, Bk Q:107
Peter Achor to James R. Strong; $34 for his interest in the SW1/4 of the SE1/4 of Sec. 22, Twp. 37, Range 33, lying North of the Little Osage River, excepting what is already sold to Richard Meeks, containing about 2 acres.

6. Census: 1870, Vernon County, Missouri. ¹⁵

Dwelling 109, Family 110
Strong, James; age 28; male; white; farmer; real property value $4,200, personal property value $500; born in Missouri.
Strong, Polly; age 21; female; white; keeping house; born in Missouri.
Strong, Chas; age 2; male; white; born in Missouri.
Strong, Hannah; age 8; female; white; born in Missouri.
Strong, Henry; age 40; male; white; born in Missouri.

[Henry is an older brother of James. Hannah is his child. Sarah, age 2, daughter of James and Polly is not listed. Could she have been incorrectly recorded as Chas.? Or, might Chas. be a child of Henry who died before or left home before the 1880 census?]

7. Deed: 1871, Vernon County, Missouri. ^{12 16}

Dated 20 Jan 1871, Recorded 13 Feb 1871, Bk R:85
Nathan Hutchins of Howard Co., KS to James R. Strong; $60 for the SE1/4 of the SE1/4 of Sec. 22, Twp. 37, Range 33, containing about 10 acres. [This legal description is for 40 acres. Also, it matches the description of the 1870 deed for 10 acres. Since the 1876 sectional map shows J. R. Strong owned 60 acres, I suspect this deed and the 1870 deed together represented the SE1/4 and the SW1/4 of the SW1/4 of the SE1/4 of Sec. 22. Which deed was for which 10 acres cannot be determined.]

8. Deed: 1879, Vernon County, Missouri. ^{17 18}

Dated 8 Mar 1879, Recorded 8 Mar 1879, Bk 10:134
J. R. Strong and Polly R. Strong to Affier E. Truet; $600 for SE1/4 of SE1/4 of Sec. 22, Twp 37, Range 33, about 40 acres, and S1/2 of SW1/4 of SE1/4 of Sec. 22, Twp. 37, Range 33, running west to the Kaufman branch, about 20 acres. [This sale appears to match the property shown on the 1876 sectional map.]

Dated 17 Nov 1879, Recorded 28 Nov 1879, Bk 10:297
J. B. Raines and Jane Raines to J. R. Strong; $1200 for N1/2 of NE1/4 of Sec. 27, Twp. 37, Range 33, about 80 acres, and also 10 acres off NW corner of NE1/4 of SE1/4 of Sec. 22, Twp. 37, Range 33. [The first parcel was the north half of the 160 acres previously owned by Eli Strong. The second parcel appears to be part of the 40 acres on the Little Osage River that had also been owned by Eli Strong. The 1886 sectional map shows J. R. Strong owned the described 80 acres and also 10 acres in the SW1/4 of the NE1/4 of the SE1/4 of Sec. 22.]

9. Census: 1880, Vernon County, Missouri. ¹⁹

Dwelling 1215, Family 130

James Strong; white; male; age 37; married; farmer; born in Illinois; father born in Tennessee; mother born in Tennessee.

Polly Strong; white; female; age 32; wife; married; keeping house; born in Missouri; father born in Tennessee; mother born in Virginia.

Sarah Strong; white; female; age 12; daughter; single; attended school; born in Missouri; father born in Illinois; mother born in Missouri.

Eli Strong; white; male; age 9; son; single; attended school; born in Missouri; father born in Illinois; mother born in Missouri.

Ida Strong; white; female; age 6; daughter; single; born in Missouri; father born in Illinois; mother born in Missouri.

May Strong; white; female; age 2; daughter; single; born in Missouri; father born in Illinois; mother born in Missouri.

James Strong; white; male; age 4/12; son; single; born in Missouri; father born in Illinois; mother born in Missouri.

Sarah Legg; white; female; age 73; mother-in-law; widowed; cannot write; born in Virginia; father born in Virginia; mother born in Virginia.

10. Deed: 1884, Vernon County, Missouri. ²⁰

Dated 19 Apr 1884, Recorded 19 Apr 1885, Bk 31:181
James R. Strong and Polly R. Strong to David Williams; $1 to quitclaim interest in the SW1/4 of the SE1/4 lying north of the Little Osage River in Sec. 22, Twp 37, Range 33, containing about 3 acres. [This would appear to match up with the 1 Apr 1870 Deed in Bk Q:107, thus negating the possibility that deed was for 20 acres.]

11. Deed: 1888, Vernon County, Missouri. ²¹

Dated 19 Mar 1888, Filed 4 Apr 1890
This was a Quitclaim Deed from A. H. Gossard of Kansas City, Missouri to James R. and Polly R. Strong in satisfaction of a Deed of Trust dated 10 May 1885, recorded in Bk 7:531. Consideration was $150, presumably the loan balance then due and owing, and the land released was the N1/2 of the NE1/4 of Sec. 27, Twp. 37, Range 33 West.

12. Census: 1890, Vernon County, Missouri. ²²

Dwelling 57, Family 53
Strong, James R., Priv [Although this Special Schedule was supposed to list only Union veterans or their widows, many Confederate veterans were listed. James was listed at the end without entries in the columns that describe his military service, probably to indicate he was a Confederate veteran.]

13. Military Reunion: 1890, Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri. ^{23 24}

Strong, J. R., Pvt. Co. "D," 11th Mo. Reg.
Ex-Confederate Missourians Association, 8th Annual Meeting.

14. Estate Administration: 1891-1892, Vernon County, Missouri. ²⁵

Undated and unrecorded document:
Polly R. Strong, widow of James R. Strong, relinquishes whatever right or preference she may have to administer estate of J. R. Strong, Dec'd. and requests that J. H. Rinehart be appointed Administrator.

Adminstrator's Bond, filed 3 Jan 1891, recorded in Book C:268:
J. H. Rinehart, as principal (with W. W. Scott, as his security), gave bond of $1000 to qualify as Administrator of the Estate of James R. Strong, Dec'd.

Inventory, dated 5 Jan 1891, recorded 10 Jan 1891, Book H:80 and Appraisement, dated 5 Jan 1891, recorded 10 Jan 1891, Book G: 218:
Inventory by J. H. Rinehart, Administrator, witnessed by James Turley and Wm. Scott. Appraisers were E. P. Carter, J. M. Turley and W. W. Scott. Includes all property ascertained, "except absolute property of Widow" [suggesting possibility Polly may have had property of her own]. Real Property consisted of 80 acres, N1/2 NE1/4 Sec. 27, Twp. 37, Range 33, which was mortgaged to the Kansas Trust Co. of Topeka for $1,000. Personal Property consisted of cash at Hume Bank ($538.92), cash on hand ($40), 2 cultivators ($5), 1 two horse wagon ($30), 1 spring wagon ($2.50), 2 braking plows ($2.00), 1 corn planter ($20), 3 tons hay ($9), 1 slack oats ($5), 50 bushels of corn in crib ($15), 225 shocks of corn ($16.80), 1 black mare ($20), 1 gray horse ($20), for a total value of 724.22. [Stricken from the inventory were a bay and a roan horse that were the subject of a chattle mortgage held by Robert Wagner and William Wagner, securities for a note dated 10 Sep 1890 in the amount of $100 from J. R. Strong to First National Bank of Nevada, Missouri. Chattel mortgage was recorded 6 Dec 1890 in Book 37:421. Horses were appraised at $100.]

Turnover of personal property and receipt, dated 5 Jan 1891:
J. H. Reinhart, Administrator, turned over all personal property of deceased, excepting cash at Hume Bank, to Polly R. Strong, widow, who acknowledged receipt of same. Valued at $185.30.

Receipt for payment for coffin, dated 17 Jan 1891, in amount of $25. J. M. Turley, not the Administrator, made the payment.

Trustee's Sale, dated 17 Nov 1891, filed 17 Nov 1891:
James R. and Polly R. Strong executed a Deed of Trust on 28 May 1890 (Bk 20:207) for the N1/2 of the NE1/4 of Sec. 27, Twp. 37, Range 33 West to secure a loan of $1,000 from The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. Beginning with the 1 Dec 1890 payment, the loan went into default and at the time of sale the amount due, including costs, was $1,232.11 At the Trustee's sale on the steps of the Courthouse, the property was sold by George W. Toms, Trustee, to the Hume Bank of Bates County, Missouri for $1,232.21. Query who got the $.10 difference.

Circuit Court Judgment, dated 29 Jan 1892:
Hume Bank vs. J. H. Rinehart, Administrator of the Estate of J. R. Strong, Dec'd. Chattel mortgage and promissory note dated 2 Jun 1890 found to be valid and the debt secured to be $1,444.40 plus interest. Further found that the deceased during his lifetime disposed of the mortgaged property without the knowledge or consent of plaintiff and that the proceeds of such sale in the amount of $532 came under the control of defendant, as Administrator of the estate. Ordered, adjudged and decreed that defendant pay plaintiff the balance of said amount after deducting the cost of the proceeding.

Receipt by Hume Bank, dated 1 Mar 1892, for $457.70.

1st Annual Settlement, dated 5 Apr 1892, recorded Book I(J?):140:
By J. H. Rinehart, Administrator. Charged himself with cash in Hume Bank, $532.32, cash on hand at death, $40.00, and personal property appraised at $145.30. Credited himself with $538.32, the amount in Hume Bank determined by the Court to belong to Hume Bank and not the Estate (no explanation of discrepancy between amount of judgment and amount in bank). The balance of $185.30 in cash and personal property appears to have been turned over to the widow as her dower. Real estate belonging to deceased was sold under deed of trust and all proceeds were applied to payment of the mortgage debt. There being no assets, real or personal, in the hands of the Administrator, he requested he be discharged. [There are indications there were as many as three settlements, although details of subsequent settlements are not known. Probably nothing more was involved than the filing of receipts.]

James married Polly Roberson LEGG, daughter of Samuel LEGG and Sarah Jane KING, on 28 Oct 1866 in Moniteau County, Missouri.^{2 4} (Polly Roberson LEGG was born on 9 Jul 1848 in Cole County, Missouri,⁴ died on 5 Apr 1916 in Richards, Vernon County, Missouri ^{4 26 27} and was buried on 7 Apr 1916 in Richland/Wall Cemetery, Richards, Vernon County, Missouri ^{26 28}.)