Harden & Richey Stones - Hamilton, MO, USA - Daughters of the American Revolution on Waymarking.com

County of Displays: Caldwell County
Location of Display: Penney Dr. & S. Davis St. (MO 13), Hamilton, MO
Stone Display Erected by: Major Molly Chapter 1912, Daughters of the American Revolution
Date Richey Stone Erected: 1938
Date Harden Stone Erected: 2003

I found these because I stopped to see a small white house hidden in trees and a very unusual weather vane. The house turned out to be J.C. Penney's birth-house. The city was tearing down an old bank building (1800's) and the lot was going to be made into a park...these stones were near the sidewalk of that old bank. A mural about J.C. Penney's life was painted on the now exposed wall of the building next to the now empty lot. This was back in 2013, 9 years ago.

"In May, 1832, occurred the first wedding in this county. Julia Mann, daughter of Jesse Mann, Sr., was married to Hardin Stone, who later ran a well-known mill just over the Daviess County line. (It is of interest to know that the millstone on the Hamilton Library ground once belonged to the old Hardin Stone Mill.)

"Now we come to the first town in our county. In 1833, the three Lyons brothers, who were Mormon exiles form Jackson County, settled at Log Creek, two miles southeast of Kingston. They built a horse mill (the first mill in the county), a blacksmith shop and three cabins for their families. Four other families were quickly drawn to this little backwoods settlement, among them being Samuel Richey of Ohio. ...

"he Lyons brothers in the fall of 1833 built the first mill in the county, a horse mill, at Salem in Kingston Township and made good money. In 1834, Robert White built a water mill on Shoal Creek in Fairview Township near what was later known as Mormon town Ford. This mill was washed away in the flood of 1839. In 1834, Jacob Haun, a Mormon settler, started another water mill on Shoal Creek in Fairview Township near the White Mill. It was on the N.W. 1/4 of the N.E. 1/4 of section 17, a site destined to become one of the most famous spots in Caldwell County because of the Mormon troubles (see below). This mill stood until torn down in 1845. The Mormons started a water mill on Shoal Creek a little west of the old bridge on the old Hamilton- Kingston road. At the expulsion of the Mormons, this unfinished mill was sold to Wilhoit and Massingill who ran it until it was washed away in the forties.
Mills built after 1838 will be described in Chapter II.

" ... In 1847 Sam Richey built a "pull around" horse mill near Salem, which after his death was run by his wife. Old people in the south part of the county yet talk about "Mother Richey's" Mill. The Richey millstones may be seen today in the old McClelland graveyard in Kingston Township." ~ History of Caldwell County