Boone Co., MO

Boone County, MO

Below is how Boone Co., MO, looked in 1834

Little Bonne Femme Church - the wording is French and means "good little woman"

The windows and beams are part of the original structure. When Charles and "Penny" Penelope (Mills) Haddock were attending church here they went to this very same building. The front was the back and a number of years ago the entry to the church was moved to the back and they turned the pews around to face the opposite direction. This was done to better accommodate automobiles and to utilize the are for cemetery that was already being used for a cemetery. "Records of Little Bonne Femme Baptist Church, Boone Co., MO, Aug 1 of 1834 there was a membership for Penny Haddock by letter dismissed in 1835. August 3, 1834, record for membership Sister Sarah Haddock. Dismissed 1835. Sister Sarah Dawson, late Haddock, returned letter 1836." Ref: Haddock Heritage, Third Edition, Jan 2004.

From page 117 of Virginia Easley DeMarce's "Now Living In Boone co., MO"

From the article that was published in the Columbia Missourian Magazine, dated September 1, 1968.

Easley, MO, population 12, is a sleepy river town located on the eastern bank of the Missouri River. Its society centers around the Easley General Store. There, Hall Easley the owner and his graying hound dog, Mike, greet the few visitors who stray in.

You might say the town is as quiet and peaceful as the muddy Missouri which flows silently by. Peaceful, that is, except for the weekends. Then the little community fills with picnickers and sightseers who come to share the peaceful atmosphere and visit the great gaping hole known as Easley's Cave carved in the bluffs above the town.

The cave has been one of the favorite spots of Columbia sightseers since mining operations ceased in 1952. To get there one drives south on Route I, then on Route N as it winds toward the river. The highway ends at Easley's store.

Then go left for about one-half mile down the gravel road. From here, a road climbs 120 yards up the bluffs to the huge mouth of the cave. From its entrance, two miles of winding Missouri can be seen rushing to meet the Mississippi some 200 miles away.

The mouth of the cave is about 15 feet high and 30 feet wide. Inside six giant stone pillars support the rock ceiling. Civil Defense engineers, who once talked bout using it as a bomb shelter, estimate it could hold 5,000 people.

The cave maintains a comfortable 57 degree temperature year 'round. Hall Easley recalls working in the cave in shirtsleeves in below zero weather. A ventilating shaft allows for smoke from campfires.

Mining was begun by the Easley family in 1934. The rock hauled from the bluffs was "rock wool" used for insulation. Land rights were later sold to a Texas firm, which eventually sold out to an Indiana corporation. The operation ended in 1952 and the cave has been unmined since. Easley still owns the property.

The Easley general store still features such relics as an ornate, hand-manipulated scale, a large "Regulator" pendulum clock, and glass candy-cases against which countless children have pressed their noses. The store is open seven days a week, 12 hours a day and weekends are the busiest.

Hall Berry (or Byron) Easley was born April 19, 1897 and died September 1974, Boone Co., Mo married April 16, 1921 to Lucille Blanch Warren. Hall's father was William Greene Easley born Dec 1862 and died Dec 2, 1937. He married George Ann/Georgia Acton. The town of Easley, Boone Co., Mo was named for him.

William Green Easley was the son of Moss Easley born June 24, 1828 and died March 10, 1889. Moss Easley was the son of John Easley b 1808 in Kentucky.

This John Easley married Nancy Haddock daughter of Charles and Penny (Mills) Haddock on July 23, 1828. John and Nancy were married by Joseph W. Hickman. Her death notice appear in the Missouri Statesman and she died March 18, 1852. He then married Mary Jane McDow Nov 23, 1842.

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