Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Ancestors of John Franklin Bush, Sr.

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Ancestors of John Franklin Bush, Sr.

Generation No. 3

      4. Robert Rawlins Bush, Sr.³, born December 13, 1803 in Clark Co., KY³; died April 1860 in De Kalb Co., MO³. He was the son of 8. Jonathan Bush and 9. Mary Stevens Rawlings. He married 5. Clarissa Ware December 13, 1824 in Clark Co., KY³.

      5. Clarissa Ware³, born Abt. 1805 in Clark Co., KY; died March 17, 1890 in De Kalb Co., MO ⁴. She was the daughter of 10. Caleb Ware and 11. Martha Emerson.

Notes for Robert Rawlins Bush, Sr.:
In 1804, following the Louisiana purchase, the Sauk and Fox Indians ceded to the United States only a 50 mile wide strip of land on the west bank of the Mississippi, north of the Missouri River and east of a line running from the mouth of the Gasconade River (the western boundary of what is now Montgomery Co], and continuing north to the Ouisconsing [Wisconsin] River. This eliminated, at least until the Black Hawk war, one of the two main Indian threats to American settlement of Missouri. In 1808 the other main tribe in Missouri, the Osage, ceded their claim to most of the state at Fort Osage, aka Fort Clark, the site of which is now in Jackson Co., Mo. Within Missouri they retained only a narrow strip along the western boundary south of the Missouri running to the Arkansas River. At this time the area later called the Platte Purchase was still considered Indian land (Sauk, Fox, and Iowa] although it was within the area ceded by the Osage. In 1824 the Sauk and Fox Indians ceded their claims to land north of the Missouri River that had been previously ceded by the Osage, except for the Platte Purchase area and the northeast corner of the state, between the Desmoines and Mississippi, where half-breeds were allowed to remain. Robert R. Bush received a patent on 80 acres of land in Howard County in 1829. The land he later obtained in Buchanan county was originally part of the Platte Purchase of 1837, when the Sauk, Fox, and Iowa tribes ceded their title to lands in what would become Platte county and the other counties to the north and west of it in Missouri. Other tribes, such as the Missouri and Oto Indians also ceded lands over time but their numbers were very small and they were not in a position to threaten white American settlement.

On December 13, 1824, his 21st birthday, Robert R. Bush married Clarissa Ware, the eldest daughter of Caleb and Martha (Patsey) Ware. Patsey was another daughter of Tilly Emberson, the father of Robert's late stepmother. Robert and Clarissa may have lived for a time on the 90 acres Robert had inherited from his uncle, Robert Richards. On March 19, 1829, he bought an eighty acre tract in Howard County, Missouri, from John and Jane Bradley. On Sept. 1, 1829, Robert R. Bush received a patent on another eighty acre tract in Howard County, Mo.13 His father-in-law, Caleb Ware, also moved to Howard County and purchased land there. Robert Bush sold his Kentucky acreage in 1830. This would have allowed him, after fifteen years or more, to re-establish contact with Owen Rawlings and his other Rawlings cousins, and to visit the grave of his grandfather Rawlings, who had died in 1820.

Robert Bush appeared as a head of household in Howard County on the 1830 census, with a male child under age five, another male age 20-30, and his wife. At some point thereafter, not later than 1839, he acquired 160 acres in Crawford township, Buchanan County, Mo.16 He probably received this land by patent from the government shortly after Indian title was obtained from the Sauk, Fox and Iowa. Deed records for Buchanan County show that he indentured (mortgaged) this property to William A. Bush for $500 in 1839. Robert Bush sold his land in Howard County, along with an 18 year old slave named Jack, to Wyatt Bush in 1843. The deed is poorly drafted as a mortgage or "indenture." Robert sold the land for $225.00, on the condition that he pay Wyatt $225.00 plus interest within one year, but without specifying that such payment would allow him to get the land back. One assumes that he kept the money advanced by Wyatt, and the question never arose. The brick courthouse, jail, and jailor's quarters at St. Joseph were being built in 1843. It is possible that Robert may have worked in its construction, because the mortality schedule of 1860 gives his occupation as "bricklayer." But we cannot be sure, because the 1850 census still gave his occupation as "farmer." In 1846 there were two mortgages on the Buchanan County farm given to Wyatt Bush. Clarissa also signed the first one, for $288, and Robert alone signed the second, for $290. Wyatt later gave a release on these instruments.

Robert R. Bush was still in Buchanan County as of 1851 when he and someone named Robert B. Bush served as sureties on an administrator's bond. The following year, 1852, he did something which was rather unusual for that period. He created a trust for what appears to be all or at least most of the property he then owned, naming as trust beneficiaries his wife and the heirs of her body or any children lawfully begotten by him. It is dated October 20, 1852. The trustee is Mary Williams. The instrument states that he is creating the trust in consideration of the love and affection he bears to his family, but it is highly unusual for that period. It was much more common to sell property to specific children, sometimes for less than full market price, or to leave a will giving the wife a life estate with the remainder in the children. An "inter vivos" (non-testamentary) trust of this kind is not common even today. Furthermore, Robert's trust did not eliminate the need for probate because there was no provision made for remaindermen (disposition of the property within 21 years of the death of the last beneficiary living at the time the trust was made. The absence of such a provision, because of a rule against trusts in perpetuity, could have been used to invalidate the trust.

Notwithstanding technical defects of the trust instrument, the inventory of trust assets gives a pretty good picture of the quality of life that the Bush family was leading at this time. The assets consisted of the 160 acre farm; a slave named Winny, 37-38 yrs. old (who may actually have been the slave of that name inherited by Clarissa from her father); three mares and three suckling colts; one yoke of oxen and ox cart; five milch cows; four beds and bedding for the same; household and kitchen furniture, and all the personal property pertaining to them. All in all the impression given is one that Robert R. Bush, Sr., was planning to live apart from his family, and wanted to make sure they were provided for by someone who could handle the responsibility better than Clarissa herself. Interestingly, Clarissa Bush, Jr., was born about this time, and she is not named as one of his children in the application for probate of Robert R. Bush's estate, although she was listed as a member of Clarissa Bush, Sr.'s household in the census of 1860. Robert R. Bush's name appears on the 1860 census only on the Mortality Schedule for De Kalb County, he having died in April, 1860.

More About Robert Rawlins Bush, Sr.:
Cause of Death: Intemperance ⁵
Medical Information: Spelled "intumperance."

Children of Robert Bush and Clarissa Ware are:

James Francis Bush, born Abt. 1828 in Clark Co., KY or Howard Co., MO.; died Aft. December 21, 1906; married Serena W. Thompson; born Abt. 1835 in IN.

Notes for James Francis Bush:
Middle name taken from 1850 census, Buchanan Co., MO. Probably named for Clarissa's older brother, James Francis Ware. In my great aunt Alba's recollection she referred to him as her uncle "Frank Bush."

ii.

Caleb Lindsay Bush, born September 24, 1837 ⁶; died September 25, 1903 in De Kalb Co., MO⁶; married Mariah Haden.

More About Caleb Lindsay Bush:
Burial: Stewartsville Cemetery, De Kalb Co., MO

iii.

Martha Ann Bush, born Abt. 1837; married Francis Marion Halstead.

Notes for Francis Marion Halstead:
Halstead rented the Bush farm in Buchanan county ca. 1860 from Clarissa Ware Bush. The militia unit in which he was enrolled in 1864 was known as the "Paw Paw" militia, made up mostly of southern sympathizers and former confederate troops. Halstead deserted from his unit. He purchased 80 acres of land in Kansas from his brother-in-law, Robert R. Bush, in the 1870s, and disappeared from the family history after that.

More About Francis Marion Halstead:
Military service: 1864, Pvt., Co. E, 87th Mo. Enrolled Militia (Union)

		iv.		Thomas Bulger Bush, born Abt. 1838.
	2	v.		Robert Rawlins Bush, Jr., born March 1844 in Howard Co., MO; died December 21, 1906 in De Kalb Co., MO; married Margaret Louisiana Shouse March 25, 1877 in De Kalb Co., MO.

6. Thomas Jefferson Shouse⁷, born June 04, 1832 ^8,⁹; died September 03, 1913 in Union Star, De Kalb Co., MO ^10,¹¹. He was the son of 12. John Shouse and 13. Sarah E. Slaughter. He married 7. Angeletta Cook February 05, 1852 ^12,¹³.

7. Angeletta Cook¹³, born May 27, 1834 in Louisville, Jefferson Co., KY¹³; died July 04, 1913¹³. She was the daughter of 14. John Cook, Jr. and 15. Louisiana Buster.

More About Thomas Jefferson Shouse:
Military service: Bet. 1863 - 1864, Co. A, Andrew Co. Militia (Union)
Susequent Mil. Serv.: Bet. 1864 - 1865, Pvt., 18th Mo. Infantry (Union)¹³

Notes for Angeletta Cook:
Angeletta is a third cousin of Claudius Buster (son of William Woods Buster, Jr.), whose family moved from Pulaski Co., Kentucky, to Texas ca. 1836 during the Texas Revolution. Claudius served as an officer in the Texas revolution, the Mexican war and on the Confederate side in the civil war. Because she was not born until 1834 it is doubtful that she knew this branch of her family.

Children of Thomas Shouse and Angeletta Cook are:

	i.	Susan E. Shouse, born February 26, 1853 in Clay Co., MO; married Lee Musick February 05, 1879 in Andrew Co., MO.
	ii.	John H. Shouse, born June 05, 1856 in Clay Co., MO.
3	iii.	Margaret Louisiana Shouse, born October 27, 1858 in Clay Co., MO; died 1918 in De Kalb Co., MO; married Robert Rawlins Bush, Jr. March 25, 1877 in De Kalb Co., MO.
	iv.	Sarah E. Shouse, born March 03, 1861 in Andrew Co., MO; married (1) Ewing J. Neff September 18, 1881 in De Kalb Co., MO; married (2) John C. Hansan 1883 in Clay Co., MO.
	v.	Thomas J. Shouse, Jr., born March 22, 1863; died 1916 in MO.
	vi.	Joseph N. Shouse, born June 21, 1868.
	vii.	Ada Shouse, born November 17, 1874.

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