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Southeast Missouri had a key role in the road to Missouri statehood in 1817-1821. The events leading to statehood, and some of the events, people, and lifeways in the area may be unfamiliar to many modern-day Missourians. Currently, Missouri is celebrating its Bicentennial, and this program aims to summarize the events leading to statehood, some of the factors affecting Missouri’s entry into the Union, and how people lived and worked during that time 200 years ago.Every Friday morning at 6:42 and 8:42 a.m. and Saturday morning at 8:18 a.m., Bill Eddleman highlights the people, places, ways of life, and local events in Southeast Missouri in 1821.The theme music for the show ("The Missouri Waltz") is provided by Old-Time Missouri Fiddler Charlie Walden, host of the podcast "Possum’s Big Fiddle Show."

MO Bicentennial Minutes: Livestock Husbandry 200 Years Ago in Missouri

Stray notices
Jackson Independent Patriot, July 28, 1821, page 4, col. 4.
Stray notices
Stray notices
Jackson Independent Patriot, July 28, 1821, page 4, col. 4.
Stray notices

Livestock are valuable for food, fiber, and economic security--even more so in 1821. For example, a milk cow provided a crucial part of a settler’s family diet that might be life or death. Nonetheless, husbandry practices for many might be an open shed as shelter for livestock and rail or pole fences. Farmers turned out hogs in the prairies and woodlands to fatten on natural forage. Because farmers fed livestock at the homestead, most rarely wandered too far.

Nonetheless, animals strayed. The general assembly enacted a legal procedure to assist. Farmers registered a unique brand or mark (usually a notching pattern in the ears) with the county. The stray law provided more stringent requirements for the more valuable equines. Any landowner “taking up” a stray horse had to report it to the local justice of the peace within 5 days; for stray cattle, sheep, goats, or hogs within 10 days.

The “taker up” had to swear the mark was unaltered, then appraisers estimated value. The justice of the peace forwarded the information to the county clerk. The law required the taker up advertise stray horses in a public newspaper within 40 days, but only required posting of public notice for strays valued at less than $20.

The owner could stop the process by proving ownership, and had to pay a reward to the taker up, ranging from 10 cents for a hog over 6 months old to $1 for equines over age 2, and pay costs. After one year, the taker up could take ownership by paying half the appraised value to the county; otherwise the sheriff sold the estray at public sale.

Bill Eddleman was born in Cape Girardeau, and is an 8th-generation Cape Countian. His first Missouri ancestor came to the state in 1802. He attended SEMO for two years before transferring to the University of Missouri to study Fisheries and Wildlife Biology. He stayed at Mizzou to earn a master of science in Fisheries and Wildlife, and continued studies in Wildlife Ecology at Oklahoma State University.