Missouri (named for the Missouris
Indian Tribe) became a territory in 1812 and was originally
organized into five "districts", then organized into counties by
proclamation of Governor Howard. These were St. Charles, St.
Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid. In 1813,
Washington County was formed; 1816 Howard; 1818 Jefferson, Franklin,
Wayne, Lincoln, Madison, Pike Montgomery and Cooper were formed.
Crawford County at this time was a part of Washington County.
The main judicial and military affairs were conducted in Potosi.
Mail came by horseback to the office in Potosi and waited to be
picked up by the settler or a traveler.
In 1820 Gasconade was formed from
Franklin County. Crawford County was formed on January 23,
1829 out of a huge territory that made up Gasconade County (named
after "Gascony", a French place). This vast area comprised
part (if not all) of Barton, Camden, Cedar, Crawford, Dade, Dallas,
Dent, Greene, Hickory, Laclede, Maries, Miller, Phelps, Polk,
Pulaski, Texas and Wright Counties. On the Northern boundary,
a post office called Bourbois was formed in 1851, and in 1870 the
boundary was changed and it was renamed to Rosebud.
Crawford County was named for
Georgia Senator, W. H. Crawford, and the county seat is Steelville,
being laid out in 1836. Archaeological findings conclude the
area had once been inhabited by Seminoles, Shawnee, and Cherokee
tribes, some small bands of Kikapoo and Delaware, but was mostly
inhabited by the Osage.
The legend of Jake Prairie (aka "Jakes's
In 1825, at St. Louis, Missouri,
the Osage Indians signed a treaty to surrender all land north of the
Arkansas border. From this time on they were gradually pushed
out west to Indian Territory (Oklahoma). At about 1835, nearly
all had been forced out by the settlement of the White Man, except a
few remnants who settled from place to place adopting to the White
Man way of life. Legend has it, there was one such Osage
Indian Tribe consisting of over 300 cabins, that settled just over
the Franklin County line, till they decided to move further north.
Among them was an Indian named Jake, who got in an argument, packed
up his lone teepee, moved to an area in the northwest part of
Crawford County, and stayed there for years. Others who would
visit him would say, "Let's go down to Jake's Prairie", to visit
Jake. This is how it got its name. If you would like to
hear more about any other town, just let me know. Enjoy your
Joe L. Miller