Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/365

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 305 the records of the county were not destroyed. They had been removed by Major 11. H. Bed- ford, who took them to Arkansas and con- cealed them; they were returned after the war was over without the loss of a single liook. The rebuilding of the court house was undertaken in 1867, when the court appointed William G. Phelan as superintendent. The contractors, George F. Miller and Samuel D. Henson, completed the building in 1870. In that same year the contract was let for the building of the jail at a cost of $8,000. There has long been a strong rivalry be- tween Dexter and Bloomfield and for a num- ber of years an effort was made to move the county seat from Bloomfield to Dexter. Fail- ing in this, the people of Dexter secured in 1895 the enactment of a law declaring that four terms of the circuit court should be held in Stoddard county, two of them at Bloom- field and two in Dexter, making Dexter prac- tically one of two different county seats. The citizens of Dexter erected a handsome two- story brick building to be used as a court house. The arrangement, however, was found to be unsatisfactory and within a few years the law was repealed and Bloomfield became once more the sole county seat. This left the people of Dexter with a court house on their hands for which they had no particular use. It was finally transferred to the Chris- tian church to be used for college purposes. For a short time an academy was conducted in the building, but in 1911 the building be- came the property of the school district of Dexter and is now in use as a high school building. The present townships are Pike, Elk, Liberty, New Lisbon, Richland, Castor and Duck Creek. Henry Hale Bedford, who was for a num- ber of years the leading lawyer in Stoddard county, was a native of Tennessee, where he was born November 27, 1821. He received a common school education in Tennessee and was employed for three years as a teacher. With the money which he saved from teach- ing he purchased a farm in Scott county, Mis- souri, at the foot of Wolf Island. While en- gaged in farming, he began the study of law under Judge Hough. The great flood of 1844 compelled him to leave his farm and he re- moved to Bloomfield in Stoddard county. Bloomfield then had a population of about 150 and Mr. Bedford combined the practice of his profession with school teaching for several years. Later he devoted himself ex- clusively to the law and soon built up a very extensive practice, as he was an able lawyer and one of the very first in that part of the state. At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted in the Confederate army in the brig- ade commanded by General Jeff Thompson. He was promoted to be a major at the battle of Belmont and served until the close of the war. Major Bedford had considerable polit- ical experience, also. He was a member of the legislature for two terms before the war and served for twelve years as prosecuting attorney. He was a Democrat in politics and was for many years one of the most influen- tial citizens of his count.y, taking a great in- terest in all matters looking to the upbuilding of the community and to public improve- ments. Ripley County As we have seen, the first permanent settler in Ripley county was probably Lemuel Kit- trell, who settled near Current river about 1819. Shortly after he made this settlement, a road was laid out from Potosi in Washing- ton county to Little Rock, Arkansas, and the first settlements in Ripley county were made along this road. Other earlv settlers besides