How do I find towns in Missouri that apparently no longer exist.

CrossleyLorraine1 · July 21, 2020

I have 1840 Federal Census records for Harrison, Cole, Missouri, and for Clark, Cole, Missouri. I also have a deed record for my great great grandfather indicating he lived in Clark, Osage, Missouri. But I believe it must have been Clark, Cole, I can not find any record of these towns. What do I do to find their location to see if it fits the timeline I have for my ancestors?

JeffWiseman · August 24, 2020

I don't know much about the area. I had just done a quick check on things based on the original post by CrosslyLorraine1 when I noticed that the county split 5 years after the 1840 Census was taken. The Township may have been actually "founded" in 1845 when the new county it was in was formed. The census referred to it as Harrison (i.e., no "township" designator). So it might have just been a locality based on the name of the settler that originally lived there.

In other words, I only saw a Harrison, Cole, Missouri in the 1840 census, but it didn't say that it was a township at that time. However, the census records DID show a "Harrison" in Cole County at that time.

Skolmoski, Pamella Sue · September 24, 2020

Dear Carolyn,

Harrison, Cole, Missouri (Harrison Township, Moniteau county) can now be found in FamilySearch Places at the following location: https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=4371927

I have been unable to find anything that shows Harrison Township was ever in Cole County. It is listed in Mercer County, Vernon County, Grundy County and now Moniteau County. As Jeff mentioned there is a Harrison Township in 6 counties and a Harrison locality in one county.

Clark, Cole, Missouri can now be found in FamilySearch at the following location: https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=4372349

Clark, Osage, Missouri doesn't exist. It should read Clark, Cole, Missouri

There is an Osage Township, Cole County, Missouri listed in FamilySearch Places

https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=4372368

Thank you for your interest in improving FamilySearch Places.

Best Regards,

Authorities Team

Sandy Remote Operations Center

JeffWiseman · July 21, 2020

I had spent an hour putting together a response for you! I scrolled upwards to check something and as typical, this forum threw is all out! Pretty stupid behavior for a web site. This is one of the main reasons I don't like this community.

Anyway, I'll try and give you the readers' digest version. First some tricks:

1 If you look a location up using google maps, townships, communities, counties, etc. all show the outline of the location. Good for comparing places and their proximity or overlaps. Today, the current location of Harrison Township, Moniteau county is only 2 miles from Cole county. You can see this easily in Google maps.

2 The Familysearch places research tool is useful for these things. It lets you see standard names in the Standards database with their supporting information such as alternate names and supporting documents, as well as their geo-location on maps, etc.:

https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/

Enter a search of Harrison, Cole, Missouri, United States and you will see that there is no standard entry for the name. But there is a Harrison locality in one other county and *6* Harrison Townships in other counties. You will be interested in the one in Moniteau county which is now adjacent to the west boundary of Cole county..

3 Most importantly (and my Favorite) is the Interactive Map of Missouri County Formation History. It is at:

https://www.mapofus.org/missouri/

This shows how county boundaries change over time. (note that you can see the same information on all the other states by just changing the state name in the URL)

To see what it looked like During the 1840 US Census, click on the year 1839. Cole county is in the middle of the State. Moniteau and Osage counties have not been formed yet. If you click on the year 1841, you will see Osage county get formed immediately on the east border of Cole. In 1845, Cole county gets split in half and the western portion is reorganized to form Moniteau county. An area on the east side of Moniteau county adjacent to Cole county is an area that used to be referred to as Harrison, Cole, Missouri on the 1840 census. In 1845, that area was reorganize in the new county as Harrison Township, Moniteau, Missouri.

@FamilySearch Places So in 1840 Harrison, Cole, Missouri existed. In 1845 it got chopped into the new Moniteau county. Since the locality of Harrison, Cole, Missouri existed up to 1845, it should be in the standards database, but it is not. The standard places folks need to add it. You can enter a value of Harrison, Cole, Missouri and then standardize it using the more current Harrison Township, Moniteau, Missouri standard, but you have to wrestle with it to get it set up. Better for the original name that is being used in early census to be added to the standards database.

Also, on the 1840 Censuses, there is no Clark, Cole, Missouri. In the databases we have here it shows a Clark Township, Cole, Missouri. Note that this township is on the east edge of Cole county bordering the river. When Osage county was formed in 1841, it was directly across the river from Clark Township, in Cole county. So you might be right about the Clark Township, Cole, Missouri, but you need to look a bit closer. there is also a Osage city in Cole county as well as an Osage Township in Cole county. (there are 6 Clark Townships in Missouri)

Anyway, explore these tools as it can help in unraveling some of these place issues.

LegacyUser · July 22, 2020

Jeff, thank you for the answers that you provided even after having such a frustrating experience. I truly hope that we can get Community functioning in a smoother way for all of us. Please know that we are working on improving the user experience. We do value your feedback and your service to help other people find the answers that they need.

Your answer was top notch! Thanks for being so willing to help!

PBS · July 27, 2020

Other things that I have found useful 1. google the name of the town and county 2. Check old county histories found on sites like archive.org or google books 3. contact county historical societies and libraries 4. state and county genweb sites http://sites.rootsweb.com/~mogenweb/mo.htm (all volunteer, some are skimpy on information, others are outstanding)

Could it be Clark Township?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Township,_Cole_County,_Missouri

Also remember people may have purchased land but never lived there.

Skolmoski, Pamella Sue · July 28, 2020

If you can't find a place in FamilySearch, you can suggest a place be added. At the bottom of the list of places that might come up, it has Suggest a Place. Or you can send an email to PlaceFeedback@familysearch.org/inbox and we can help find the information you have requested and get it placed into FamilySearch.

Authorities Team

Sandy Remote Operations Center

Tim Carroll · August 23, 2020

Lorraine,

To research old towns, good places to look, though it takes time, are books on local county history, and historic published atlases of the place in question.

For Missouri, here are a couple of research leads:

Missouri Digital Heritage - Cole, Missouri

http://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/mocohist/searchterm/Cole%20County/field/county/mode/exact/conn/and/order/title/ad/asc/cosuppress/1

Missouri Digital Heritage - Osage, Missouri

http://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/mocohist/searchterm/Osage%20County/field/county/mode/exact/conn/and/order/title/ad/asc/cosuppress/1

There are also very helpful collections of county history books and atlases on HaithiTrust , Archive.org, the Library of Congress, and FamilySearch - Books.

see:

HaithiTrust Digital Library https://www.hathitrust.org/

Internet Archive https://archive.org/

Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/

Family Search - Books https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/

Mid-West States Research

How do I find towns in Missouri that apparently no longer exist.

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