Volume 6, Number 12 - Summer 1979
A Taney Visits White River
by Kathleen Van Buskirk
The "Land of Taney" has finally met some members of the family from which it drew its name. The visit was unofficial, perhaps almost accidental, but the presence in Taney County of a great-great-great-grandnephew of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney was nonetheless an event to be remembered.
In 1837, when the county was being carved from the Ozark Hills surrounding the north loop of White River, political subdivisions were being named for national leaders more often than for local families of note. However, when the state legislature began the name selection process, President Andrew Jackson already had been honored in Missouri by a Jackson County. Strong Jackson supporters, rejecting the name Jasper’, in honor of Revolutionary War hero William Jasper, chose instead to honor Jackson’s attorney general, who, that same year, was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Roger Taney held the office of highest jurist in the land for 27 years, longer than any other man before or since. His most famous decision, rendered in the Dred Scott case, has been judged a precipitating factor in the outbreak of the Civil War.
Though Chief Justice Taney obviously affected Taney Countians in many ways during his years in office, according to research done by Elmo Ingenthron for his history of "The Land of Taney", during 140 years of county history, neither Taney nor any of his family were ever known to have visited the only county in the nation to bear his name. Had the visit occurred in the mid 1800’s, Ozarkians might be pronouncing Taney County differently.
Residents and friends of Taney County have always pronounced the name with a long "a", as in "day". The Taney family, on the other hand, has always pronounced it as if it were spelled ‘Tawney".
When Peter and Janet Taney stopped by the Old Shepherd Book Store on West 76 and asked to see a copy of Ingenthron’s book that was on display in the window, they asked for ‘The Land of Tawney". Ionamae Rebenstorf, secretary-treasurer of the White River Valley Historical Society, was minding the store, and her curiosity was immediately aroused.
In the ensuing discussion, Mrs. Rebenstorf learned that the bearded young man and the young woman with her hair in rustic braids were members of a musical trio called the Juggernauts, but their roots were in Philadelphia, Pa., and in the historic Taney family. The young couple had come to the midwest to perform their particular brand of country music at high schools across the state of Kansas, and they were currently appearing at Silver Dollar City.
Clad in blue jeans, the Taneys looked and sounded quite at home in the Ozark hills.
The visitors shared their story with Mrs. Rebenstorf, heard some of the history of their namesake county, and purchased a copy of Ingenthron’s book to take home to Pennsylvania. Then they brought in a banjo and violin and perched on stools at the rear of the shop to play and sing for Mrs. Rebenstorf and her other customers. Finally, Peter and Janet gave their hostess one of their recordings as a keepsake, and headed out to enjoy the sights and sounds of the White River Valley county that shares their name.
President Lucille A. Brown presented Elmo Ingenthron with a certificate naming him an honorary member in our society at the annual meeting on June 10. Elmo was one of the founders and served as the society’s first president. He was an educator and school superintendent in the area for many years. Now an historian and writer, being the author of "Indians of the Ozarks Plateau" and "The Land of Taney".
Photo Courtesy of Branson Beacon
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