A few weeks ago, my husband and I were driving through Saline County in the farmland around Marshall, Missouri. His family owns land in the county, and although they have lived in town for a couple of generations now, they still speak of “going to the country” when they drive out to inspect how their crops are doing.
My husband drives to the country frequently when he visits Marshall, but I don’t go that often. I would probably get lost finding some of the parcels of land they own, though one parcel is on a main road out of town, and another is at the intersection of a state and a county road. I can find those locations.
I was surprised when we drove in the country a few weeks ago to realize that one of their parcels is on the Santa Fe Trail. I had probably noticed the signs on some prior drive, but the knowledge hadn’t stuck with me. This time—perhaps because of my increased interest in the historic trails to the West after writing my novels on the subject—the signs meant more to me.
I’ve followed the Oregon Trail through Missouri pretty thoroughly, but I’ve never researched the Santa Fe Trail that predated the emigration to Oregon. Friends of mine have mentioned the importance of the Santa Fe Trail in Missouri and Kansas, but if it didn’t relate to the Oregon Trail circa 1847, it wasn’t relevant to my novels, and I didn’t pay much attention.
After this trip, when I returned home, I researched the Santa Fe Trail in Saline County, Missouri. I discovered the following on Wikipedia:
“Santa Fe Trail-Saline County Trail Segments are four historic Santa Fe Trail segments located near Stanhope, Saline County, Missouri. The four trail rut segments are located on the Weinrich farm. They date to 1821-1827.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.”
Stanhope is what the family calls one of its farms. My mother-in-law’s parents purchased that land sometime many decades ago. I don’t know who the Weinrich family is, but they must own land quite close to our Stanhope parcel.
Now maybe I’ll take a little more interest in the family farm operation, given that it has some historical significance.
Other parcels have been in my husband’s family even longer. At least one piece, what the family calls the Fairville farm, was purchased by his great-grandfather, or possibly a great-great-grandfather.
Fairville, Missouri, was platted in 1856 (again not relevant to my 1847 research). It was named because of the view from that location. My husband loves the view, though to my Pacific Northwestern sensibilities used to mountains or oceans or lakes, it doesn’t seem that spectacular.
Fairville once had a school and store, but nothing remains now of any development other than an old farmhouse and fields. My husband remembers when his great-uncle and -aunt lived in that farmhouse, so perhaps that’s what makes it special to him.
What historical places have personal significance to you?
