TAYLOR ALLEE IN HAMILTON IN 1865

Narrator: Taylor Allee, 85, of Hamilton, Missouri

Mr. Allee's parents were Isaac Reed Allee (1812 War soldier) buried at Kingston and Mary Ann Parks Allee buried in Highland Cemetery Hamilton. He was born in Henry County Indiana. In 1865 Taylor Allee, his sister and half brother came to Caldwell County, the father and mother came 1866. The children had come because a near relative Sarah Smith and her husband Philander Smith had located in the county. Their father's farm was a half of the later Waterman farm three miles west of Hamilton, the other half was the P. Smith farm. Later Allee sold to W.H. Henry, a relative, and bought in Daviess County. Isaac Allee was an herb doctor and doctored many people here and in Indiana. In Indiana he had his own herb garden and always compounded his own medicine. The Taylor Allee family still have some of his old bills in which his charges are shown as 12 1/2 cents for medicine, 16 2/3 cents for a visit.

Taylor Allee with five other Allees enlisted in the Union army from their county in Indiana. He declared he was 18 but really was 15. He was a big boy five feet seven inches weighed 143 pounds, and got by with it. They examined him by giving him two big thumps on the chest and having him jump over a box. His job was to hunt down bush whackers.

He well recalls Hamilton of the 1865 day - which was the time he first saw the town. Then, Kidder was a better town than Hamilton. There were not five hundred people here. He came fresh from the war - age 16.

He as all the other older citizens begins the description of early Hamilton by going to the corner now occupied by the Picture Show north west of the depot. This in 1865 was occupied by the Brosius Brothers (George and Jim) in a general store and Otis B. Richardson had his Post Office in the store.

Then came a space and then Charley Manuel Saloon, then a space and Aiken Dry Goods and Saloon then a space and a Drug Store which might be Jas. A. McAdoo or he might have come a little later.

On the south east corner of this little street in 1865 was a vacant lot but it was soon to have the Dry Goods Store of Bye and Gibson. Due south of the depot on a high bank was the Hamilton House with Uncle Jake Brosius (father of George and Jim) as landlord. On north Main just north of Bye and Wilson was the Van Buren grocery. It was a few years later that Phil Covington opened a restaurant in a poor building located where Hopson is now (and about the same time John Minger had one across the street). About the time of Mr. Allee's coming, the Goodmans had built a hotel south of Covington and Sain had a saloon in the back room. It was in the brick now owned by Whitman and erected as a part of the Goodman block.

On the east side of Davis (Main) was the Kemper-Paxton store (a frame on the Bram site) first building in 1865, then came a space and the livery stable of Thurston Green brother of Harvey who ran the stage coach line which originally ran from Richmond to Gallatin with Hamilton as a middle point. As the railroads developed to the north it was shortened from Richmond to Hamilton.

In the middle sixties Dr. Nunn was the only doctor. Before 1870 Bennett Whitely built a mill due east of what is now the park on the south west corner of the block. This was afterwards used for church and school. He was an ordained Baptist Elder, a merchant and Editor in his time. There was the Goodman lumber yard on Broadway on present Ralph White home.

Before 1870, on Mill street about the site of Parker's grocery, Austin Dodge had a blacksmith shop. His wife soon opened up a millinery shop on the corner of Mill and Broadway. At his death, she married R.D. Dwight and the shop became known as Mrs. Dwight's Millinery Shop.

After Mr. Allee's father bought the Daviess County farm Taylor went there and worked ten years, so he knew little of Hamilton in the seventies. It was about 1870 that the elevator by the right of way on Main was put up, Guy and Naugle ran it, Love and Lamson, Love and Eugene Low, were some of the early men there.

When he came back to Hamilton after living in Daviess County he worked for Schaffer-Tanner in the hard lumber business, site of Alec Warden's home south of the tracks on Broadway. Then he worked seven years for Lamson and Love in the elevator. Then he began clerking for Emmet White who bought out Deaerick on north Main.

Mr. Allee played on the first baseball team in Hamilton about 1870. Dr. King was captain, another player was Roy Bowman (Alston Bowman's son). They played in Dudley's pasture. There were some differences in the old game. The pitch was underhand pitch, not a throw. The pitcher had to give the batter whatever kind of a ball he asked for, as a knee ball, a waist ball.