Miles Pease
Miles was born July 8, 1822 or 1823 in Hartford, Windsor County, Vermont.
(His sister, Sophia's family Bible lists his birthdate as July 8,
1823, even though the census records seem to lean toward the earlier date).
He was about six month old when his grandmother, Rebekah Pease died.
He was 19 when his grandfather, Christopher Pease II died in 1842 in Hartford,
Vt.
In Oct. 1846, he was 24 years old and living in Burlington, Vt. (on Lake
Champlain -- about 12 miles south of Burlington is Pease Mountain, located
at the town of Charlotte) when he married Susan Metcalf in her hometown
of Croydon, Sullivan Co, NH. However, after he married they moved
to Lowell, Mass. where he superintended a mill maybe about 1846-1849 [his
sister Sophia had 2 babies in those years in Lowell, Mass. so evidently
they were there, too. Maybe the whole family was!]
Miles was engaged in the milling business all his life. By 1850
he had moved back to Burlington (Chittenden Co.), Vt. with his wife and 2
sons, Clarence & George, where he ran a carden wool mill.
[p338 of census] In 1852 he was in Providence, Rhode Island where son
Clinton was born. In 1855, son Myron was born in NH.
Winona Co., Minn. was officially established with its present boundaries
on Feb. 23, 1854. There were 800 people in all of Winona County. In November,
1854, government land sales were held at Winona Co, MN.
In 1856 Miles moved west and settled in Winona county where he made his
home for 4 years. Susan's parents and several of their siblings appear to
have moved to Minnesota about the same time. [His sister Sophia later
moved to Kansas. His younger sister Ermina (12 years younger than him) married
in Minnesota, moved to California, then later joined Miles in Douglas Co,
Missouri where she died.] Susan's parents and several of her siblings also
lived in Winona Co. and/or neighboring Wabasha Co, MN.
In 1856, Miles was on a list of all the postmasters in Minnesota:
Whitewater Falls - Miles Pease [appointed thru Dec 12, 1856]
[from “Christopher Andrews, Letters from Minnesota & Dakota”,
p 191-193]
Miles bought 120 acres on Dec. 1, 1856 at the land office in Winona.
Land description:
# -Aliquot Parts- Base Line-
Fractional Section- Township- Range- Section #
1-- N1P2SE-------5TH PM---- No--------------
108 N -----10 W----27
2-- NWSW-------5TH PM---- No--------------
108 N -----10 W---- 26
He was a pioneer of Minnesota and hauled the first printing press ever
taken to St. Paul up the Mississippi River from LaCrosse, Wisc. (near where
they lived) about 100 miles north to St. Paul. The Sioux Indians were very
numerous in the area at that time, but were peaceful. The city of Winona
(Winona Co) grew from 813 in 1855 to 2,468 in 1860. Maybe Miles thought
it was getting too crowded!
It’s not known why he and Susan left all their family in Minnesota and
moved to Missouri. But in 1859 they moved to Franklin county, Missouri,
probably going down the Mississippi River, and there settled near St. Clair
where Miles ran a tub factory making wooden tubs and water buckets.
[Miles' father, Chris
III was still in Vermont in 1860. He eventually moved to Minnesota before
1870, but by then Miles had already moved on to Missouri. Miles had
siblings still in Minnesota though--at least for a while. His parents died
in Minnesota in 1873 & 1874.]
This census listing has some problems with the children [wrong sex, names,
birthplaces]
1860 MO census - Franklin Co, Minimace? twp, Sept 19, p 225:
Pease, M - 39 b NH, manufacter [b VT]
. . . . Susan - 39, b VT
[b NH]
. . . . Clar. E. (f) - 13, b NH
[Clarence E., male, b VT]
. . . . Maleim? (m) - 10, b RI
[George A., b VT]
. . . . I. M. (m) - 9, b NH
[Ida Maria, female]
. . . . C. M. (m) - 8, b MN
[Clinton Miles, b RI]
. . . . M. - 6, b MN
[Myron Metcalf, b NH]
. . . . Alendo (m) - 4, b MN
[Alando, b 1856 MN]
. . . . Ella (f) - 3, b MN
[Ella Louisa, b 1857 MN]
. . . . Ladaz (f) - 6 mos, b MO
[b Mar 1860, maybe died young]
Miles stayed there 2 years until 1861 when they moved to Gasconade county
and ran a steam powered grist mill on the Gasconade River. He was
the postmaster at the Oak Hill PO in Gasconade Co, Mo from July 29, 1862
to 9 June 9, 1863. See:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mogascon/post.html
In 1865 they moved to Rolla and ran a hotel during the Civil War.
About 2 years later (1867) he moved to Arlington (in the same county) and
worked in the same business, but that same year they went down into the
Springfield, Mo. area and stopped at the Massey Hotel. The people
there tried unsuccessfully to get Miles to build a mill in Springfield.
He later regretted that he didn't, not knowing at the time what Springfield
would become, but he wanted to get further back into the pine timber lands
to put in a lumber mill as well as a flour mill.
So they moved to the southeast corner of Douglas county (by 1870 there
were 3900 people in the county). Miles went ahead with George, Myron,
& Julius, an old negro, to build a house. On March 17, 1868 they
arrived at their new homesite, on the north fork of the White River, and
near an immense supply of pine. Here, near the "steel bridge", he
built one of the first mills built after the Civil War in that section of
the country, and it was patronized for a distance of 40-50 miles.
First he built a dam across the river near the steel bridge and put up
a water mill. The next year he put in a saw rig and a grist mill
for corn. Then Miles told the people if they would raise wheat, he
would put in a bolt for flour, and at one time they had grain from 5 counties
in Missouri and 2 counties in Arkansas. The third year he had a carding
machine for wool and a cotton gin. Men would sometimes camp there
for a week to get their wool carded while the machine ran day and night.
There were no schools then in the county so, since Miles had 8 children
himself who needed an education, he fixed up a vacant house for a school
and hired a girl to teach. She was paid $20 a month with board, and
after 2 years of schooling, his son George married the teacher.
In the early days, their nearest neighbors were 2 and 6 miles away, and
since their house was the largest for many miles around, it became the meeting
place for all public gatherings, the polling place for elections (the citizens
were all Republicans at that time), for dances and various other frolics.
Once a month old brother Johns, the Methodist circuit rider, got around to
their place and held services in the big Pease house. Miles also
put in a general store, established the Richville post office, and the
voting precinct there. [The above information about their early days in
Missouri is from a newspaper article written by Miles' son Myron in 1940.]
Miles was a very successful, money-making businessman, always very active
and energetic. One of his prized possessions was a large framed picture
of the Washington Monument that was sent to him after he made a contribution
to the building of it. Miles was a Republican, a Mason, and a Methodist.
Susan was a very religious person and also a member of the Methodist church.
Though he had sold the business in 1878, they continued to lived in their
home that he built at the mill until he died in Sept. 15, 1879 (age 57).
When he died he only had a few very small grandchildren, so they never really
knew him. He was buried behind the mill (which is now gone and the grounds
plowed up). Susan lived with her children in Howell County until
she died in 1896 (age 73). She was buried in Oak Lawn Cemetery in
West Plains, Mo. After Miles died the 5 boys scattered out, but they
all ran mills around that part of Missouri.
1870 Wood-Richland twp, Texas Co, Mo, p 56
[1870-1872 Douglas County's 6 easternmost townships were temporarily
attached to Texas County]
Pease, Miles - 48 Vt miller,
. . . . Susan A - 47 NH [Metcalf]
. . . . George A - 21 Vt
. . . . Clinton M - 18 RI
. . . . Myron - 16 NH
. . . . Lando M - 13, Minn
. . . . Ellen L - 12 Minn
. . . . Clara M - 8 Mo
Wilson, Joseph - 67 Maine carpenter
Taylor, Julius - 23 SC (black)
Miles was 50 years old when his mother died in April, 1873 in Winona
Co, Minnesota. His father died 10 months later in Feb. 1874.
It’s not known whether he made the trip up the Mississippi to the funerals
or not, but probably not -- they were probably buried by the time he heard
about it. His brother Christopher Columbus Pease was still living
there.
In 1875 he bought 160 acres of land in Douglas Co, Mo.
Search for land record at: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/
Pictured at left is Susan and sons: Alando,
Myron,
George,
Clinton
& Clarence
Miles lived on Norfork River near the steel bridge, north of 14 highway
a few miles.
Son Myron said that he died of grief (from economic stress and disappointment).
Life in southern Missouri was tough and he couldn't seem to make the kind
of living that he expected and probably was accustomed to before.
He was a businessman though and built a big house (probably log) and he
taught all of his sons to be businessmen.
Miles was buried on his property near his house and mill, just a little
ways off the road. The area had a metal fence around it. Later
an outsider bought the place and plowed up the area (there is a story that
he removed the remains, but we don't know where to. I've heard that
his great-granddaughter, Joyce Pease Bell in West Plains might know something
about it.)
Be sure to read more about Richville, Mo
-- the village he founded, owned and ran. The Richville that Miles
builts was washed away in a flood in 1883, but he had died in 1879 so didn't
live to see all he had worked for washed away.
Children:
1. Clarence Egbert
2. George Albert
3. Ida Maria
4. Clinton Miles
5. Myron Metcalf "My"
6. Alando Moses "Landy"
7. Ella Louisa
8. Ladaz