On December 14, 1852, Samuel Lafayette Bozarth was born, five years later Sarah Jane was born. There are no other children known to have been born to Samuel (son of Joseph 2) and Elizabeth Robbins Bozarth. Samuel and Elizabeth farmed what must have been some of Joseph’s land. They lived a short way down the road from Joseph but there are no records of Samuel C. owning any land, however, agriculture records for 1860 show that he had 2 horses, 2 milch cows, 2 working oxen, 6 “other” cattle, 14 sheep, 20 swine, and the value of his livestock was $398.00. He had 80 bushels of wheat, 500 bushels of Indian corn, 20 bushels of oats, 40 pounds of wool, 1 bushel of beans, 8 bushels of potatoes, 50 pounds of butter, and 30 gallons of molasses. Evidently shortly after Sarah Jane was born Elizabeth died because on the 1860 census Lafayette had married Lucy Elizabeth Alley. There were no known children of this marriage.
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There are no records, but, it has been written by one family that Samuel died in the Civil War some time about 1862. He is not listed on the rolls of either the Confederacy or the Union, however, a lot of the Confederate records were lost or burned. Also a great many of the men did not enlist on either side; they stayed home to protect their families. They were called the “Home Guard, State Troops, or Militia”.
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There were no records on many of these men. Stories are written about the men who were killed on their own property or in their fields; some were killed on their way to or from a neighbors or the nearest town. They were buried near where they fell, many of them being buried on their own property. Their wives and other female neighbors, along with the young boys, too young to fight in the war, buried them. One story tells about Samuel’s brother Levi (son of Joseph 2) killing an uncle, William “Billy Burton” when Levi and some of his fellow Confederates ran into Billy near Caney Creek. (This is the area that Billy lived, not far from the Bozarths). William was shot down and then scalped by Levi. Either William was a Unionist or was trying to stay neutral as many of the Missourians did. William was Elizabeth Burton’s brother, Samuel and Levi’s uncle on his mother’s side. Several women who were in the area buried Billie, one of them was Lucy Alley, Samuel’s second wife.
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War raged heavily in Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas counties. Most of the Missourians wanted to secede so, of course, this was one of the states that was considered necessary for the Union to secure. There were several regiments who were fighting mainly for the spoils; one of these was the Kansas Jayhawkers. They would destroy everything they came in contact with, often killing the women and children. They burned their homes and killed their animals (what they couldn’t take to eat). They burned their crops and left everything in ruins.
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The marauders and thieves gave bad names to the Confederate soldiers who, for the most part had much respect for the women and would often help them. Most of the rebels did not have uniforms or horses; only a few had rifles. When the men were killed and the land destroyed many of the women and children had to live in small out buildings, or in caves and forage for food the best they could. Even those wives whose husbands were still alive had to fend for themselves as their men were out fighting. It was a bloody battle and a horrifying experience for so many people who just wanted to be left alone.
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Our Bozarths did not own slaves; some fought for the North and some for the South. Both Samuel and his father Joseph died during this time. Many of the other men took their families, along with neighbors and widows with their children, to more northern parts of Missouri. Several settled in Hickory Co.. These included Stephen and Esther Robbins; Herod Holt and his family and Elizabeth Burton (wife of Billy). Pleasant E. Robbins, the uncle of Lafayette and Sarah Jane, married Lucinda Holt and took the two young orphans in to live with them. By 1870 the only Bozarths left in Campbell Township, Taney Co (now Campbell Township, Douglas Co) was Elizabeth (Johnson) Bozarth and Melissa. They were either all killed or moved to other, safer, areas during the Civil War.
There have been stories that the uncle would tell Lafayette to take the animals down into the “deep pasture” to keep the enemy from finding them. There is also a story that the uncle was an officer in the Civil War. However, Pleasant E. Robbins did not enter the C.W. until 1864 and was only in for 90 days. He was a private. His tombstone reads that he was “a soldier”.
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Chapter 4
Chapter 5
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