Springfield-Greene
County LibraryCompiled by Arthur Paul Moser
[I]
The first notice of the organization of Webster County occurs under date of March, 1856.
Arthur Rippee reported that the state taxes due by the people of the new county, who formerly paid taxes in Wright County, amounted to $352.00.
The apportionment of school moneys to Webster County was discussed in September, 1856, R. L. Childress representing the newly formed division of Missouri. The court held that the establishment of such took away two-fifths of the population of Wright, thus reducing it below the ratio of representation -- a thing unconstitutional in itself.
They declared the act unconstitutional, and decided the boundaries of Wright County should remain as they were before the approval of the acts of February 28 and March 3, 1855, and that no moneys should be transferred to Webster County. The commissioner from Webster County was dismissed without ceremony. (--State of Missouri, Goodspeed, 1889, pp. 372.)
The act approved March 3, 1855, provided for the organization of Webster County, and defined it as follows:
That portion of Greene County beginning in the middle of Range 16, on the line dividing Townships 26 & 27; thence west along such line to the middle of Range 19; thence north to the northwest corner of section 22, Township 31; thence east to the line between Ranges 17 & 18; north to the middle of Township 32; east to the middle of Range 16, and south to the beginning.
William R. Prock, of Wright, Robert Hicks, of Ozark, and Thadeus Sherpenstein of Greene, were appointed commissioners to locate the county seat and Hazlewood (was) designated the place of meeting.
The south half of Township 32, Ranges 18 & 19, was taken from Dallas and attached to what is now Webster, while on the southern border, a small area was detached. Prior to this, the act of February 18, 1855, defined the boundaries of Greene and Wright Counties, the following being the boundaries of Wright County.
[II]
Beginning at the southwest corner of Section 24, Township 28, Range 16; thence north to the middle of Township 32; thence east to the middle of Range 12; thence south to the line between Townships 27 & 28, and west to the beginning.
Under this arrangement, the western sections of Wright County were transferred to Greene County, with the ultimate view of forming a part of the new county of Webster, which March following was wholly detached from Greene. (--State of Missouri, Goodspeed, 1889, pp. 183-184.)
The county was organized March 3, 1855 from parts of Greene and Wright, when Mr. A. T. Burford, from Tennessee, who located (1830) where Marshfield now stands laid off and donated the site of Marshfield. (--Campbell's Gazetteer of Missouri, 1874, p. 641.)
It was named for Daniel Webster of Marshfield, Massachusetts (1782-1852), in 1855. (--Our Storehouse of Missouri Place Names, Robert L. Ramsay, p. 53.)