RICHARD P. CRUTCHFIELD (1814 – 1840)
See John M. Weidemeyer for further information
St. Clair County Democrat, May 16, 1940:
RICHARD P. CRUTCHFIELD - Richard P. Crutchfield and his twin brother, John, were born in Kentucky about 1814. When Richard P. arrived in this section in the fall of 1835, he was trying to forget a recent jilting by a Kentucky belle and was glad to find a business opening that would give him immediate occupation.
He entered into partnership with Phillips Crow and in the spring of 1836 they opened the first store in what is now St. Clair County at the crossing of the Osage.
The building was of poles and was erected on a claim that Mr. Crow had on the river bank where the old ford was and near the present dam. It was no doubt in the interest of trade that Mr. Crutchfield signed the petition of August 2, 1836 to the Rives County court for a road fro, “Crow and Crutchfield’s” to the Benton County line.
This same year, the attractive Nash girls had moved to the settlement with their mother and stepfather, Dr. Cox and before long young Mr. Crutchfield had discovered he could forget his shattered romance. On
August 12, 1837 he was married to Matilda Penn Nash, the oldest of the sisters and established her in a home not far from his store.
Mrs. Crutchfield, born May 17, 1817 in Virginia, was named for her maternal grandmother, a daughter of Col. Gabriel Penn of Amherst Co. who was first cousin to John Penn of North Carolina who signed the Declaration of Independence.
The summer of 1838 was eventful for the new household. July 23rd a daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Crutchfield and they gave her the name Lelia Vernon.
In August, the first election in Osceola Township was held at “Crow and Crutchfield’s” store.
This river crossing, considered the usual head of navigation of the Osage, proved to be such an excellent place of business as a distributing point for all the country to the southwest, that a number of settlers decided it would be an ideal town site. Mr. Crutchfield was a surveyor and one of the enthusiasts who helped plat the town that he and the Crow brothers held and other tracts adjoining. Among the earliest deeds in the county are some signed by Richard P. and Matilda P. Crutchfield.
The oldest known deed to property in the present bounds of St. Clair County is the one dated the 16th day of May 1839 between Henry W. Crow and Virginia I., his wife, Philips Crow and Maria F., his wife and
Richard P. Crutchfield and Matilda P, his wife of the county of Rives and the State of Missouri of one part and Joseph W. Cox of the county and state aforesaid of the other part, whereby the Crows and Crutchfields sold Lot No. 3 in Block 24 in the newly platted town to Mr. Cox for $50.
In 1840, the population had reached fifty to sixty in the new town, named Osceola for the Seminole Indian Chief and “Crow and Crutchfield” was prospering as a business concern. But, there was an epidemic of
illness that summer and on September 8, 1840, Mr. Crutchfield succumbed. His wife died November 30, 1840 leaving their little daughter to the care of her mother, Mrs. P. M. Cox so Dr. Cox was appointed guardian for the child.
Lelia Crutchfield grew up in the home of her grandparents, along with the Cox children who were about her age, and she received an education unusual for the young ladies of her day. In 1849, she accompanied Mrs. Cox to Virginia by riverboat and when she was about fourteen, she was taken to Kentucky to visit her Crutchfield kin and stayed a year or more.
She had not been home in the county very long when she met young John M. Weidemeyer who was in the mercantile business with his father in Osceola. They soon became engaged and were married November 12, 1856.
They made their home in Osceola until the War between the States when Mr. Weidemeyer left for service with the Missouri State Guard and with the Confederate Army, expecting his wife to stay with Mr. and Mrs.
Zachariah Lilley. But the day after he left, Mrs. Weidemeyer set out and overtook her husband with the troops at Springfield and went on ahead of them to Arkansas and her Cox grandparents.
Mrs. Weidemeyer drove to Palestine, Texas in a buggy accompanied by two children, one and three years old, and a negro woman, a slave. It took many weeks to make the trip and the little party often had only the hospitality of Indians on their nightly stops.
She had expected to find her father-in-law at Ft. Smith but he had gone on to Texas where she eventually joined him after stops with many relatives along the way.
At the surrender of Vicksburg, her husband was paroled for exchange and was given leave to visit his family before reporting back for duty with the Missouri troops in the Trans-Mississippi department.
Capt. Weidemeyer was assigned to Gen. Cockrell as Division Ordinance Officer and was in the campaign from Dalton to Atlanta, Georgia. He was with the Missouri troops that surrendered at Ft. Blakeley near Mobile, Alabama.
When the war was over, Capt. Weidemeyer returned to his family in Texas and then brought them to Fayetteville, Arkansas for a temporary residence before establishing a permanent home in Clinton, Missouri where he opened a grocery store.
Capt. and Mrs. Weidemeyer lived to celebrate their golden wedding and to have Mrs. Lawrence Lewis of Osceola to play their piano for them on this occasion, just as she had at their wedding.
After Capt. Weidemeyer’s death, Mrs. Weidemeyer lived with her daughters, dividing her time between Clinton and Kansas City. Her last years were spent at her old home in Clinton where she passed away Sunday, June 22, 1931 at the ripe old age of ninety-two.
Although Richard P. Crutchfield had but one child, there are many of his descendants scattered from Missouri to the west coast.
International Genealogical Index:
Richard ‘R” Crutchfield m. Matilda “R” Nash 15 August 1837, Henry Co., MO. Batch #515141
St. Clair Co., MO Cemetery Records:
Osceola Cemetery
Crutchfield, Richard P., Date of death 1839
Crutchfield, Matilda P., no dates
