If this sounds confusing then the reader may in small degree be sympathetic to the head-jerking collection of conflicting but evermore illuminating facts that were presented in the process of coming to a conclusion about the exact location of the last Butterfield Overland Mail Station in Missouri which was said to be under the care of stationmaster John G. Harbin between the years of 1858 and 1861. My conclusion could be said to be reinforced as well as placed equally in doubt by the fact that my initial discovery and certitude to its location were undermined almost immediately by a simple photograph purporting to be “the station” and I found myself circling through family histories and land records and plat maps and multiple emails only to find myself arriving days later somewhat dizzily right back at the same location. Regardless of the meandering path I might have taken my certitude was reinforced. It lacks little else in the way of verification other than a nod and a wink from John G himself which can only come in the form of a land and title transaction for the parcel in question with John G.’s name on it. Even that may come with a little more time and research.
In May of 2009, after a successful trip to Washburn, MO and a return visit to collect a little more information and some photographs I prepared an update to the Butterfield Overland Mail blog that I have been posting since 2006.
South of Washburn in an area that my research had led me to, I had made the acquaintance of Mrs. Roberta Ellis. During my visits with her she convinced me that her farm and more specifically the area west of the old mail road and the area east of it near her spring constituted the site of the old station. She cautioned me that some folks would insist that a separate site about a mile away (and marked by an old standing chimney) was the station but that hers was the “Harbin Farm” and that Virginia Harbin married a Bert Davis. After giving birth to Gertie she died and Bert married a Sally McCary. She also offered me a photograph of Sally (McCary) Davis along with Mrs. Ellis’s mother as a child (Pauline Henry) standing in front of a small clapboard house. She explained to me the station had burned in the Civil War and that the house in the photo was built on top of the foundation at the site of the original station.
Everything that Mrs. Ellis offered reinforced the information I had already gathered from several sources.
Principal among those sources was the definitive 3 volume set by Conkling, R. P. and Conkling, M. B. The Butterfield Overland Mail, 1857-1869, Glendale, California, The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1947.
I had made a list of important indicators which help to focus the search for Harbin Station.
Following is a list of known indicators (Conkling) which help to site the station:
John G. Harbin was the original station-keeper.
15 miles SW of Crouch’s
It was 6 miles north of the Missouri Arkansas line.
The house was a two-story double log home.
The house stood a mile SW of Washburn and was burned during Civil War
A modern house stood there in the 30’s occupied by Mrs. S. L. Davis.
The mail road approximates Highway 37 but ran slightly east of 37
The mail road ran 25 feet east house
37 was established west of property isolating it from the flow of traffic.
The mail road actually continued south along the east side of 37 about another mile and then meets up with county road. (1050)
John G. Harbin and W. E. Frost acquired land there in 1857.
There were a few stones near an ancient tree by the site and they looked similarly dressed to the stones in the photo of the house with Sally Davis. The fact that a Mrs. S. Davis had occupied the house on the site in 1932 certainly lined it up perfectly with the site that Conkling and Conkling had determined.
So now, thoroughly convinced, I proceeded. As I was posting the information I noticed a photograph in as yet unpublished work by Kirby Sanders.
This old photo purported to be the Harbin Station and was credited to Paul Rutherford. A short Google moment later I was at this site. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mobarry/rocksprings/harbin.htm This well constructed page gave extensive history and photos of what was labeled the Harbin/Gowen House. It was at the site a mile south and west from the Ellis’ (Harbin) Farm and the same as the one which now has the standing chimney.
It turns out that John G. Harbin might have lived here at this structure. He had married to Martha (Gowens) Arnold after the death of John B. Arnold. The website claimed the structure pictured was the last Butterfield Station in Missouri. It was constructed pre-civil war and stood until the 40’s when it finally burned.
The fact that John G. was married to Martha and might have lived in this house, which was also located on the mail road in 1858 really gave credence to the claim it was the station. Martha’s brother Walter Gowen was a stagecoach driver;
There were, however, several immediate problems with this claim if one can assume that the Conklings had done their homework.
- It was not on property owned by Mrs. S. Davis
- It was not on the east side of Highway 37
- The mail road passes it generally on the east but just as much to the south
The main problem I had with this site was that it was not consistent with what the Conklings had found.
The fact is that the Conklings could have been wrong but every time I have thought this in the past a little more diligence proved them right. So I proceeded to contact Mr. Rutherford. Paul had submitted this information to the site but he referred me to a Donna Cooper for any questions or clarifications.
Donna who is the coordinator for the Barry County, Missouri Genealogy and History site was very enthusiastic and extremely helpful. She referred me to Bill Landers and together the three of us entered a lively exchange on the possibilities. Bill Landers is a researcher for the Barry County site and had an amazing depth of accurate information.
The first thing that Donna did was to refer me to the 1909 plat map located on their site. Atlas of Barry County
The Ellis farm is in the upper right hand corner and listed as the I. B. Davis farm in 1909. This is probably the Bert Davis that married Virginia Harbin and later Sally McCary. You can see the structures of interest on the site Mrs. Ellis pointed to which is in NE corner of the NW quarter of section 4. These two structures, probably the clapboard pictured with Sally Davis and Pauline on the west side of the old mail road and the other is possible a barn near the spring. Having this map to locate the old road and the structures still on it in 1909 was a great help in locating the Ellis site.
Here you will see an overlay of the above plat map on to a current aerial view of this area.
On this map I have outlined the Stage Road in Red. The Ellis house is marked with a red E and the Station Site is marked with a Green House. The Site is easily located on the 1909 map because it corresponds nicely to the sharp right angle the road makes both then and now. The Road is still used as a farm road on the Ellis farm. Granted this is a 1909 map and structures depicted here would not necessarily have been built at the time of the Butterfield but the road I believe remains relatively unchanged from 1858. Also we have Mrs. Ellis assertion that a structure was rebuilt on the same site following the burning of the station during the civil war. This makes perfect sense to rebuild at the site because of the dependable spring still flows on the east side of the old road. (Despite the fact, as Mrs. Ellis said, her uncle tried to expand the spring by blowing it up with Dynamite.)
The Blue lines are the Section lines with the center of 5 , 4, 8, & 9 marked with a crosshair. The Conklings put the site in Section 4 as is the site on Mrs. Ellis’s farm. The tan lines outline the other old roads for comparison with the plat.
All of the above reinforces the location of the site.
Next I received an email from Bill Landers. The first part of his email simply reinforced my consideration and added these facts.
Alfred S. Harbin and Isaac Peevey settled in Section 4, Township 21, Range 28 before 1840, bought government land in sections 4 and 5 and lived as neighbors until the Civil War started to turn.
· John Graham Harbin, nephew of A S Harbin, bought land south of Washburn in 1860.
· James Carroll Harbin (relationship never established) bought land in section 4 in 1860, adjacent to the land owned by John G. (This was corrected to 1850 by a later email)
In 1909, O D Davis owned the land just south of Washburn and I B Davis, his brother, owned the land first purchased by James C Harbin.
· The photo of Sally McCary Davis and Pauline Henry standing in front of the old house is precious. I slept in that old house! Sally was my mother’s aunt. She was the daughter of Benjamin F. and Tennessee (Peevey) McCary. She was also the second wife of Isham B. (Bert) Davis and the step-grandmother of Pauline Henry. Family tradition says that Pauline visited Sally often and eventually came to live with her full time. Her mother, Girtie, lived up the road and had other children. When Pauline married, her husband, Tiff Cantwell moved in. He later built the bungalow on Route 37. I suspect that the little road that runs between the bungalow and the Burl Gowen house was the old Wire Road.
He finishes with:
“I would be inclined to agree with Roberta, that the house where she was born was the replacement home for the double log cabin that served as the stage stop before it was burned. However, here is a differing point of view:”
What follows is a quote from ‘Early Barry County’ by Addah Longley Matthews.
“Today, the A S Harbin home is known as the Burl Gowen farm on the old Wire Road near Rock Springs. It was a meeting place of Confederate Army officers in the first year of the Civil War.”
John G Harbin settled on land one mile south of Washburn, which is now the home of Mrs. Gertie Davis Henry, a Harbin granddaughter. Mrs. Henry, whose mother was Tennie Harbin, has owned and lived on her grandfather’s old homestead nearly all of her life.”
“The Harbin home south of Washburn became a relay station on the Butterfield Overland Mail route in 1858. John Harbin operated the station until 1861 when the service was discontinued because of the war. The mail road remained the regularly traveled road until Highway 37 was established west of the property.”
“The home, a two-story double log house, was burned during the war and the house which Harbin rebuilt was also destroyed by fire in 1894. Nothing remains of the place but an old brick walk covered with soil and grass, leading out to the Wire road.”
This excerpt from the Mathews history assigns the location to the A S Harbin home aka Burl Gowen Farm.
"Mrs. Henry, whose mother was Tennie Harbin, has owned and lived on her grandfather’s old homestead nearly all of her life.”
Mrs. Henry being “Gertie” daughter of Virginia Harbin with Bert Davis. Which gave weight to the site later owned by Mrs S. Davis (Sally) and cited by the Conklings as the occupant of the site in the 1930’s
At first I thought this wholly discounted the Ellis Farm. It seems clear that Gertie has lived and is still living on the B. A. Gowen farm. What is not clear to me is which B A Gowen farm this may have been. A quick look at the 1909 map shows he has property all along the Old Mail Road which includes the chimney site (Harbin/Gowen House). However we know that the Harbin/Gowen house though built pre-civil war stood until the 1940’s. The last paragraph of the “history” asserts “The home, a two-story double log house, was burned during the war and the house which Harbin rebuilt was also destroyed by fire in 1894. Nothing remains of the place but an old brick walk covered with soil and grass, leading out to the Wire road.”
This reiterates the claim that the structure was burned during the civil war replaced and then asserts nothing remains of it but a brick walk. Clearly they are not referring to the Harbin/Gowen house of the standing chimney fame.
So more correspondence and still a heartened attitude that the Addah Matthews may have got everything right except the name of the farm.
Continuing on I received an email with this Obit:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mobarry/data/obits/h/harbinMartha.htm
The pertinent point was “Mr. Arnold was killed near Washburn, Jan 16, 1863. In 1872, she (Martha {Gowen} Arnold) and the late John G. Harbin of near Washburn, were married…..”This seemed significant because it places Martha and John G. together and probably in the Harbin/Gowen House but after the Butterfield station is long gone. So it is more likely John married into the house that then stood until the 40’s and had his original property elsewhere and probably where Virginia was living with Bert Davis before her death. That site is on the Ellis Farm. (Which of course Mrs. Ellis refers to as the “Harbin Farm”.
After a few more email exchanges Bill Landers added a great deal of information in an email on June 12th. ·
“The Gowens did not buy the 190 acres from John G Harbin in 1856 because he never owned that land. It would have been A S Harbin. John G owned the land to the North, that Sally and Gertie must have split between them. I do not believe that what is being referred to as the Harbin-Gowen house was Harbin Station. Also, the house in the photo may have been built long after 1856.”
"John Graham Harbin and Nancy A Pallet had seven children and as you will see, most died young.
1) Franklin P Harbin b c 1854 in Arkansas per census (NFI)
2) James M Harbin 1855 m Belle Boon Thomas. Had son Walter (a name often used among Harbin clan)
3) John G Harbin, Jr. 1856-1871
4) Walter B Harbin 1857- 1883
5) Jefferson D Harbin b c 1861 d 1887
6) Virginia Tennessee (Tennie) Harbin b 1863 Texas- d. 1886
m. Isham B Davis 1851-1917
Daughter Mary Gertie Davis 1884-1968 m William Lafayett Henry
Children: Freddie, Mary Pauline Henry 1906-1995 m Tif Cantwell. Children Roberta and Buddy, Paul E Henry 1908-1982, Jessie Henry 1910 m. John Handock
7) Jennie Bell Harbin 1865 Texas d 1908 m. William Burl Hammers. They had 9 children. As noted by Matthews: Jennie outlived her siblings, died at age 42. "
"· Pauline Henry Cantwell born in 1906, which would date the photo of her and Sally in front of their home about 1916 or there about. This is significant because it shows that Virginia aka “Tennie” married Bert “the 1909 I.B Davis” and they had Gertie and confirms everything Mrs. Ellis understood about the history of her farm. And places Pauline Henry Mrs. Roberta Ellis’s mother as the daughter of Gertie in a direct line to John Harbin at the Ellis Farm. Bill Landers continues: "
“In an article I did for the Barry County Gen & Historical Society quarterly in May 2001, I attempted to prove a connection, without success, between the various Harbins residing in Barry County in 1850. James ‘Cal’ Harbin first purchased land in section 10, Twp 25, R 28 on 6-1-1845. This land is in the northern section of the county. In 1850, James, Amanda Peevey and three children were living next door to Alfred S Harbin. “About the mid 1850’s James “Cal” and family joined his father and brother in Yolo County California where the family purchased vast acreages.”
"I based the above date of departure on the 1870 Lake County, California census that shows daughter Mary, age 14, born California, in the home. Alfred H. and Adeline (Peevey) Harbin had a son, William, age 15, also born in California. This makes it quite possible for John G. Harbin to have purchased the 40 acres in section 4 from James C and established the stage station by 1859. "
It would be nice to find the actual date when the land title was transferred. This may take a search of land records at the court house.
If we could determine that John G. Harbin owned the NE ¼ of the NE ¼ of the NW ¼ of section 4 in 1858 there could be no doubt about the location of the station. This shows a structure in 1909 which is probably Mrs. Davis' house.
The NW1/4 of the NW1/4 of the NE1/4 of section 4 is just across the road on the east side. This shows a structure that was probably a barn by the spring.
Lacking that I believe that Mrs. Roberta Ellis has the weight of oral history and a direct lineage to Station Master John G. Harbin. There can be no doubt that what was the Davis farm and became the Ellis farm and was referred to as the “Harbin Farm” by Mrs. Ellis included that piece and that certainly Gertie Davis daughter of Virginia Harbin John G.s daughter was born and lived there.
This is certainly enough for me.
To go Back to the Harbin Update Click here
