County: Lafayette County
location of courthouse: Main St. & N. 11th St., Lexington
Location of county: west-central in state; crossroads of I-70, US-40, US-24, MO-20 & MO-13, MO-23, MO-131, MO-213
Organized: Nov. 16, 1820
Named after: General Lafayette, a French statesman who served in American Revolution
County seat: Lexington
Elevation (highest): 335 meters (1,099 feet)
Population: 32,708 (2019)
The Person:
Marquis de Lafayette
FRENCH NOBLE
"Marquis de Lafayette, in full Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, Lafayette also spelled La Fayette, (born September 6, 1757, Chavaniac, France—died May 20, 1834, Paris), French aristocrat who fought in the Continental Army with the American colonists against the British in the American Revolution. Later, as a leading advocate for constitutional monarchy, he became one of the most powerful men in France during the first few years of the French Revolution and during the July Revolution of 1830.
"Lafayette was born into an ancient noble family in the Auvergne region of central France. Orphaned in his early teens, he had already inherited an immense fortune by the time he married Adrienne de Noailles, the daughter of the influential duc d’Ayen in 1774. He joined the circle of young courtiers at the court of King Louis XVI but soon aspired to win glory as a soldier. Hence, he traveled at his own expense to the American colonies, arriving in Philadelphia in July 1777, 27 months after the outbreak of the American Revolution. With no combat experience and not yet 20 years old, Lafayette was nonetheless appointed a major general in the Continental Army, and he quickly struck up a lasting friendship with the American commander in chief, George Washington. The childless general and the orphaned aristocrat seemed an unlikely pair, but they soon developed a surrogate father-son relationship. It was as thus that Lafayette distinguished himself among a large colourful group of European soldiers of fortune and idealists—among them Frederick William, Freiherr von Steuben of Prussia and Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Kazimierz Pulaski of Poland—who had joined the Continental Army to fight for American independence. The more Washington saw of the young Frenchman, the more impressed he was and the closer the two became.
Lafayette served on Washington’s staff for six weeks, and, after fighting with distinction at the Battle of the Brandywine, near Philadelphia, on September 11, 1777, he was given command of his own division. He conducted a masterly retreat from Barren Hill on May 28, 1778. Returning to France in February 1779, he worked with American emissaries Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to help persuade the government of Louis XVI to send additional troops and supplies to aid the colonists. Lafayette arrived back in America in April 1780 with the news that 6,000 infantry under the command of the comte de Rochambeau, as well as six ships of the line, would soon arrive from France. He was given command of an army in Virginia, and in 1781 he conducted hit-and-run operations against forces under the command of Benedict Arnold. Reinforced by Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne and militia troops under Steuben, Lafayette harried British commander Lord Charles Cornwallis across Virginia, trapping him at Yorktown in late July. A French fleet and several additional American armies joined the siege, and on October 19 Cornwallis surrendered. The British cause was lost. Lafayette was hailed as the “Hero of Two Worlds,” and on returning to France in 1782 he was promoted to maréchal de camp (brigadier general). He became an honorary citizen of several states on a visit to the United States in 1784.
"In 1824 Lafayette accepted an invitation from his old friend Pres. James Monroe to visit the United States, where he was received with adulation. Crowds by the thousands greeted him, and he was lauded in cities across the land. The visit included emotional stops at Washington’s grave and at Monticello, where the ailing 81-year-old Jefferson lauded and feted his old comrade. Lafayette became the first foreign citizen to address the U.S. House of Representatives, which he did on December 10, 1824. As a direct result of that tour and the patriotic enthusiasm that it inspired, dozens of cities across the country were named in his honour.
"During the turmoil of the short-lived July Revolution of 1830, when the antirepublican King Charles X was forced to abdicate, Lafayette was given the opportunity to lead a military coup and seize control of the government. He declined and instead led the moderate faction that ousted Charles X and installed the duc d’Orléans, Louis-Philippe, as the “citizen king” of France. Lafayette retired six months later. He died in 1834 and, in accordance with his wishes, was buried with dirt from Bunker Hill that he and his son had collected during his last trip to America. In 2002 Lafayette became the fifth person in U.S. history to be granted honorary citizenship." ~ Encyclopedia Britannica
The Place:
"Lafayette County is bounded on the north by the Missouri River, opposite Ray and Carroll Counties; on the south by Johnson County, on the east by Saline County, and on the west by Jackson Co...On November 16, 1820, the county of Lillard was established from a portion of Cooper County. John Dustin, James Bounds, Sr., David McClelland, James Lillard and David Ward were appointed commissioners and the act by which they were named provided that Mr. Vernon should be the county seat. The county took its name from Commissioner Lillard, who was its first member of the Legislature and who framed the county bill. He was also one of the earliest settlers of that territory. Lillard resided in Missouri a few years and then returned to Tennessee on account of his health. By act of the Legislature in 1825 the name of the county was changed to that of the honored and patriotic Lafayette, which change was brought about by the visit of the French patriot to this country in that year.
"Gilead Rupe was, from all accounts, the first settler in Lafayette County, he having located, according to some statements as early as 1815, according to others in 1819...George Houx, who fixes the date of Rupe’s location at 1819, settled at Old Frankin in 1817. In the spring of 1818, Houx stated, he passed through Lafayette County, and there was not a white settler in it...
"Mr. Houx fixed 1819 as the year when Thomas settled in Lafayette County, and 1820 when Abel Owens, Wilson Owens, Markham, Thomas and Richard Fristoe, Thomas Hopper and Solomon Cox settled there...
"It is impossible to ascertain who founded the first county seat of Lafayette County. It was situated within the present limits of the county upon the Missouri River bluffs between the present (1901) site of Berlin* and the mouth of Tabo Creek. The first county court of what was Lillard County met in the house of Samuel Weston January 22, 1821.** The court was composed of Judges John Stapp, John Whitsett, and James Lillard...
"The first term of the Lillard Circuit Court was held in 1821. On February 2d of that year, Judge David Todd...opened court at the house of Adam Lightner, in Mt. Vernon...Owing to the limited amount of room at the command of the court, it is said that this jury, with many others, subsequently held its sessions in the hazel brush until better accommodations were furnished...The transfer of the county seat to its present location, Lexington, was made in 1823, and on February 3d of that year the county court held its first session in Lexington.
"No public buildings of any kind had been prepared. March 17, 1823, the first term of the circuit court was opened at the house of Dr. Buck in Lexington...In a log room adjoining Dr. Buck’s residence, the room being used as a temporary jail, was confined at one time the notorious Kentucky outlaw, John A. Murrell." ~ Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 1901, Conard, Vol. 3, pp. 572, 573, 574.
"In passing, it may be said of Lafayette’s first seat of justice that “Mt. Vernon”, the spot designated, was never a platted place and is now gone from memory. It was a mere irregular shaped group of log cabins on the southwest quarter of Section 23, Township51 N, Range 26 West, on the high bluff a mile east of Tabo Creek, three-fourths of a mile from the Missouri River. It was a place where three or four tribes of Indians used to congregate to smoke the Pipe of Peace and barter with the French traders. Terre Bonne, "good land", or "good place", or "no fight place", was what the French had taught the Indians to say. But the American settlement called it Mt. Vernon, as a token of respect for General Washington, whose home was at Mt. Vernon, Virginia. The county court held its first session at Mt.Vernon, in November, 1822. Its next term was at Lexington, February 5, 1823, in Doctor Buck's house, the first house erected in the place.
As a majority of the first settlers came from Kentucky, the new county seat was called Lexington in honor of the city of that state.
* Berlin is no longer listed in Lafayette County.
(** The first county court was held at the house of Samuel Weston a justice of the peace (within the limits of Cooper County at that time.)" ~ Lafayette County Missouri, Hon. William Young, 1910, Vol. 1, p. 42.