The Rev. Timothy Flint left an 1820 account of the Dutch or Bollinger Settlement, 1st to 3rd generation German immigrants who came to Missouri starting in 1800. His book, Recollections of the Last Ten Years, includes details on Missouri in 1815-1822. Thousands of Missourians trace their ancestry to the Bollinger Settlement, so it is well-worth discussing his observations.

A number of Missouri counties found it necessary to move their county seats early in their history. Often, the goal was to find a central location so residents would not have to travel as far to conduct public business. In the case of Shannon County, the destruction of the county seat during the Civil War doomed the original site.

The Scripps family was notable in Cape Girardeau in the early 19th Century. William Scripps, head of the family, was born in England in 1749, married Grace Locke, and worked as a shoemaker. The couple were parents of 19 children, 5 of whom lived to adulthood.

In southeastern Butler County, Missouri, along the east side of Black River, is the site of the former community of Carola. The location is along Missouri Route N, 2 ½ miles southwest of Oglesville and 3 ½ miles north of the Arkansas border.

Over a dozen indigenous tribes inhabited Missouri in 1800. The Osage occupied the largest area, but in eastern Missouri the Shawnee and Delaware predominated.

European settlers in southern Missouri sometimes encountered a large woodpecker in bottomland forests. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker was larger than any other woodpecker, including the Pileated Woodpecker which is still common today.

The Civil War was a tragic event, resulting in the death of over 700,000 people. It is easy to forget that the dry statistics of deaths often masks the tragedy of each individual story. The story of the death of one Iowa soldier in Cape Girardeau in a tragic accident is one example.