Sullivan County, MO - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

County of mark: Sullivan County
Location of this waymark: courthouse in Milan
Marker on courthouse lawn: Erected by Sullivan County Historical Society

Marker Text:

The Person:
"General John Sullivan was a not only a general in the Continental Army, but also a delegate to the Continental Congress, a New Hampshire Governor, a United States judge, and also a loving husband and father.

Early Life
"John Sullivan was born on February 17, 1740 in Somersworth, New Hampshire. When John was 20, he took Lydia Remick Worster to be his wife. Their first daughter died when she was a baby, after that, they had another daughter and three sons. Later they had another daughter, who died when she was two years old.

Law & Early Military
"In 1758, John started studying law. in 1763 he started to practice law as a profession. John was the only lawyer in in Durham, New Hampshire, and as such many people were upset with him over lawsuits having to do with foreclosure and other personal matters. In 1766, he even started to receive threats from his neighbors.

"However difficult living in Durham may have made his career, it did not do him so badly socially. During his time there, John became great friends with the royal governor, John Wentworth. In 1772, the royal governor made John a major in the New Hampshire militia. When the strife started to grow with Great Britain, however, Sullivan found himself growing apart from Wentworth. He found himself definitely leaning toward the side of the Americans, and this successfully destroyed their friendship.

Congress & Revolutionary War
"On July 21, 1774 the first New Hampshire Provincial Congress met and John Sullivan was elected as delegate for Durham. Later that year, Sullivan and Nathaniel Folsom were sent to the First Continental Congress as delegates for New Hampshire.

"As battles began to break out across the country, Sullivan began to help lead soldiers to fight. He was captured at The Battle of Long Island, but released. He didn't let that stop him, and went right back on fighting at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. He also became a part of finding ways to smuggle weapons and ammunition to the American soldiers.

"Perhaps most notable of these was the Sullivan Expedition. This among others, made him a hero when he finally returned home.

"In 1775, John was elected to the Second Continental Congress. The following year, when George Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, Sullivan was commissioned Brigadier General John Sullivan. All the way through the American Revolution, Sullivan juggled the responsibility of war and the Congress.

Politics After War and Final Years
"In 1782, after the war had ended, Sullivan returned to New Hampshire. Upon his arrival, he was asked to be state's attorney general, to which he agreed. In 1786 he was elected governor of New Hampshire (in that time called president). He served here until 1789, when President George Washington appointed him the first federal judge at the United States District Court of New Hampshire. He held this position until his death on January 23, 1795."
~ Janelle Pavao for Revolutionary War dot net

The County:
Text from Historical Marker located at: Evans Dr., Rolling Rd. & MO-5/6, 2 miles S. of Milan ~ N 40° 10.045 W 093° 08.494
Marker erected in: 1961
Marker erected by: State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission

Marker Text:

Milan, the county seat, where an Indian mound was leveled to form the public square, was laid out 1845, on land given by A. C. Hill and bought from Hiram Phillips. Last U.S. Land Office established in Mo., was located there, 1849-59. During the Civil War, a Union post was maintained at Milan and guerrilla bands raided the county.

Railroad development in 1870's brought modern growth to the county, Milan grew as shipping center and railroad division point when the C., B., 7 K.C. (now C.B.&Q.) was built in the county north and south, 1876, and the Q., Mo., & Pac. (C.B.&Q.), east and west, 1878-1881. The C.,M., & St.P., was built in west part of the county in 1886.

Rich grain fields and productive dairy, livestock, and poultry farms characterize Sullivan County. The main watercourses are Medicine, Locust, East Locust, Yellow, and Spring creeks. Early pioneers were from Va., Ky., Tenn., Ohio, and Ill.

Among county towns are Greencastle, laid out, 1857; Newtown, 12858; Pollock, 1873; Boynton and Cora, 1877; Winigan and Green City, 1880; Humphreys and Reger, 1881; and Osgood, 1886; and Harris, 1887. Among early schools were Green City College, opened in 1885, and Humphreys College and Business Institute in 1884. In the 1880's, Reger was an important railroad tie shipping point.

Near Osgood and west of Milan, is the Widely-known Camp Ground and Pioneer Cemetery. There in the 1850's, at the site of an early wagon trail camp ground, the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church organized Camp Meeting Grounds. Congregations from all over the country held meetings there until the Civil War when all installations were burned. Today's interdenominational church building there was built in 1901.

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