Springfield-Greene
County LibraryCAPT. LUCIUS ROUNDTREE, Springfield, Mo., son of Joseph, the original pioneer, was born in Orange County, N. C. February 27, 1814, and was about six years of age when he went with his parents to Maury County, Tenn. He had small opportunities for getting an education and afterward received his education from his father, and was sixteen years of age when he came with the family to Missouri and well remembers the trip. John P. Campbell, William Fullbright and John Fullbright, were settled near the Fullbright Spring. F. Shannon was settled on Wilson's Creek, near the Roundtree settlement; Joseph Weaver was settled at the old Indian Delaware town; Joseph Miller was settled on Indian Creek, near his brothers; David B. Miller was settled north of Springfield, at Miller's Spring; Isaac Wood was settled near Springfield; Joseph Price and a Mr. Thompson were settled on the James, and Larkin, Payne and John Mooney, who were settled here among the Indians before the settlers came. There were two French traders--Gillis and Joseph Fillibar--settled at Delaware town; trading with the Indians, and a Mr. Marshall, another Indian trader who reared an Indian family. The Indians were peaceful and traded freely with the whites. Mr. Roundtree was thus brought up with the hunters and pioneers and became an expert hunter and has shot many a deer, wild turkey and two bears. Game was so plentiful that any man who could hunt could keep his family supplied with meat. In 1839 Mr. Roundtree entered 120 acres of land in what is; now Campbell Township, which he improved and sold. On September 25, 1845, he married Rebecca, daughter of Samuel E. and Elizabeth (Talliferro) McClelland, and to Mr. and Mrs. Roundtree were born five children: Jennie, Mattie E., Joseph E. (deceased at six), Josephine E. (deceased at two), Clara L. (deceased at six). After marriage Mr. Roundtree settled on land on the Mt. Vernon Road, two and one-half miles west of Springfield, consisting of eighty acres at first, and to this he added until he owned 340 acres. Mr. Roundtree sold his old homestead and is now settled on a smaller place, owing to declining years. Upon this property he has built a tasteful residence, beautifully situated in a pleasant grove. Mr. Roundtree has been two terms a member of the State Legislature. In June, 1861, he was elected captain of the Home Guards, which were organized by Gen. Lyon. After the battle of Wilson's Creek Capt. Roundtree enlisted in Company F, Twenty-fourth Regiment U. S. Volunteer Infantry, as a private and was promoted to lieutenant. He served nine months and was in the battles of Pea Ridge, Dug Springs and in several skirmishes. After this service he volunteered in Company A, Forty-sixth Regiment, U. S. Volunteer Infantry, was commissioned first lieutenant and was detailed as post quartermaster at Cassville, Mo., where he served to the close of the war. He then organized, in the spring of 1864, at Springfield, a company of cavalry and was commissioned captain of Company F, Fourteenth Regiment, U. S. Volunteer Cavalry, and served in Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, against the hostile Indians. During the most of his time he was in charge of the battalion and acted as major. His battalion was detailed to guard the council held with the Indians at the mouth of the Little Arkansas River, where Wichita, Kan., is now located. He was mustered out of the United States service at Leavenworth, Kan., and received an honorable discharge at St. Louis in 1865. Capt. Round- tree is a member of the G. A. R. Politically he was originally a Democrat, but after the breaking out of the war became a Republican.
HISTORICAL NOTES.
John P.Campbell arrived in March,1830; William Fullbright arrived about the same time, if not a short time before. Both Campbell and Fullbright raised a crop in an old Kickapoo Indian cornfield. This was a large field; the residence of Joseph Kirby now stands upon a portion of it. When the Roundtrees first settled in the county they bought cows and hogs from the Delaware Indians; the cows were small but proved valuable milkers. Among the early settlers for years afterward this breed of cows was plentiful. The broad in the settlement gave out in the middle of May, 1831, and for six weeks the settlers had no bread. When the new potatoes came and the green corn became eatable they were happy and always had an abundance of food thereafter. At the time of the scarcity there was no corn to be had nearer than one hundred miles on the Gasconade River. On July 6, William Fullbright cut a large field of wheat with sickles, by the aid of his neighbors, each settler bringing his sickle and gladly assisted. Some of this grain was threshed on July 7 and all the settlers were supplied with wheat. Lucius Roundtree, our subject, took his portion to a rude mill--the stones being roughly hewn out from limestone--and here his wheat was coarsely ground. His mother passed it through a sifter to remove the rough hulls, and Capt. Roundtree says it was the sweetest and best tasting bread he ever ate. Mrs. Roundtree is the daughter of Samuel E. and Elizabeth (Talliferro) McClelland.. The latter were of Scotch-Irish origin, the remote ancestors coming from Scotland and settling in Pennsylvania, Adams County, near Galesburg. They were Scotch Presbyterians. James McClelland, grandfather of Mrs. Roundtree, was born in Pennsylvania and there married Sarah Ewing, of the old pioneer family of that name, and to them were born eight children: Samuel, Thomas, Joseph, John, Mary, Rachel. Nancy and Martha. Mr. McClelland moved to Ohio and settled in Clermont County about 1798 and was one of the pioneers of Clermont County, his farm being on the Miami River. He became a substantial farmer. He lived on the National Turnpike, fourteen miles from Cincinnati, in a large two and one-half story brick residence, with fine orchards of pears, peaches and apples, and passed all his days on this farm. Both himself and wife were members of the Presbyterian Church. He was a man of intelligence, an esteemed citizen, and lived to be an aged man. Samuel McClelland, his son, and father of Mrs. Roundtree, was born near Gilpie, Penn., September 15, 1797 and taken by his parents to Clermont County, Ohio, when an infant of one year. He received a good education and when a young man returned to Adams County, Penn., and taught school in the old neighborhood; but here turned to Clermont County, Ohio, and married Elizabeth Talliferro, in 1827, and to them were born three children: Sarah (deceased at eight years), Martha A. (deceased at eight years), and Rebecca, born April 27, 1828. After marriage Mr. McClelland settled on a farm and in 1833 moved to Peoria, Ill., and settled near there on La Salle Prairie and lived there four years. He then returned to Clermont County, Ohio, and remained a few years and then moved to Indianapolis, Ind., and lived on a farm near there for four years. In 1843 he moved to Missouri and settled in Greene County, on the Mt. Vernon Road. He traded his farm near Indianapolis (which was a fine property).for about 640 acres in one body and here he made his home. When the war broke out he was too old to go as a soldier, and during this conflict, not wanting to see the distress around him, returned to Ohio and engaged in merchandising at Blanchester, Clinton County, and remained about eight years. He returned to Greene County in 1871 and on the journey took a severe cold and died three months after. Politically he was a Republican and was postmaster at Moscow, Ohio, at one time. Both himself and wife were Presbyterians. He was an excellent farmer, a man of good business ability and a man of sterling worth. Mrs. Roundtree's mother is yet living, at the great age of eighty-nine years. Her faculties are well preserved, eyesight good and she reads without glasses. Her father was Richard Talliferro, a wealthy man of Clermont County, Ohio, and a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The Talliferros; were an old French family of distinction who came to America in old Colonial times, settled in Virginia and were people of prominence.
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