The Youngers of St. Clair County, Missouri

by Jo Mohr

Charles Lee Younger, grandfather of Cole, Jim, John and Bob Younger (the Younger Gang), was a land speculator.  A friend of his, Theodrick Snuffer persuaded him to come to St. Clair County around 1850.  The land around Osceola was becoming more and more valuable due to the prosperity of the town.  Between 1850 and his death, November 12, 1854, Charles bought around 240 acres.  He also owned property in town where Permelia Wilson, the mother of nine of his children was brought to live.  He had left behind his legitimate family in Cass County and lived on land north and west of town with his mulato slave Elizabeth and the two children he fathered with her.

Charles was buried on his land but his legitimate family had the body exhumed and reburied in the Orient Cemetery near Harrisonville.  His will and codicil acknowledged his children with women other than his legal wife and left provisions for them.  Elizabeth and her two children, Catherine and Simpson, were freed and Elizabeth was given the land they were living on.  Catherine and Simpson were taken to Ohio by Waldo P. Johnson, executor of the estate, in order to be properly educated.  They didn’t see their mother again until they turned 21. 

Elizabeth was only 22 and Charles’ friends must have helped her hold on to the land Charles wanted her to have once his legitimate wife contested the will and the estate was sent to Jackson County for settlement.  Elizabeth became the matriarch of a settlement that became known as “The Kingdom”.  She went on to have five more children.

The Younger Gang stopped in St. Clair County often when they were in Missouri.  They had several relatives in the county but they would spend very little time in their homes due to the risk of being captured.  The Younger families were highly respected here.  One of their half uncles, through their grandfather’s relationship with Permelia Wilson, was a county judge.  Cole had several friendships of long standing in the county as a result of being comrades in the Confederacy during the Civil War.  Several men from St. Clair County had fought alongside Cole in the Confederate victory at the Battle of Lone Jack.  Many also felt grateful to Cole and Jim who rode with Quantrill and his guerrillas when they destroyed Lawrence, Kansas in retaliation for the burning of Osceola.

At times when the law would come into the area looking for the Youngers, the boys would hide out in a cave which overlooked the Osage River near Monegaw Springs.  The cave is on the north side of the river on a high bluff with a large overhang.  On top of the overhang the boys could see for miles and it is still known today as Younger Lookout.  It was impossible for the law to get to them from any direction without making themselves a clear target.

A posse from Appleton City led by Marshal Cobb rode into Monegaw Springs to capture the Youngers early in 1874. The Youngers surprised them as they were drinking at the old sulphur spring and took their weapons from them.  After giving them a stern warning, the Youngers turned them loose without harm and told them to go home.

John and Jim Younger were in St. Clair County during the winter of 1873-1874.  They moved around while here frequently spending time in the settlement of former slaves near Roscoe.  They attended a dance at the Monegaw Hotel on the night of March 16, 1874.  When they left the dance, they went to the John McFerrin home which was one of the larger cabins within the former slave settlement.  John’s wife, Hannah, knew the boys because her sister had worked for the Youngers in Jackson County. 

The next day, the boys went on to have lunch with Theodrick Snuffer.  His home was in the same section as the McFerrin cabin.  Two Pinkerton detectives pulled into the yard pretending to be cattle buyers.    As John and Jim hid in the attic they were able to see that these men were too well armed to be roving cattle buyers.  The men asked Mr. Snuffer for directions to the Simms place because they said they had heard that the widow there had cattle to sell.  He gave them directions and when the two rode off, they didn’t go in the direction they were supposed to if they were being truthful.  The boys took out after the detectives and the resulting battle left two men dead and one badly wounded.  John Younger and Ed Daniels who had served as a guide for the Pinkerton detectives were dead.  John was buried in the Yeater Cemetery.  George “Speed” McDonald dug the grave at an angle and buried John with his head to the northwest and his feet to the southeast.  Ed Daniels was buried on the highest point in the Osceola cemetery.  The badly wounded Captain Lull was said to have died but there is some speculation that the story was made up so that he could be taken out of town without further harm.  The doctor who treated Capt. Lull was Dr. D. C. McNeil.  His daughter was a friend of the Youngers.  She wrote a book called Mizzoura.  In it she leaves no doubt that the Pinkerton Detective, Lull, did not die.

Many crimes have been attributed to the Younger Gang.  Their criminal career ended when they were captured in Northfield, Minnesota during a bank robbery.  Bob died of tuberculosis in 1889 in prison.  Cole and Jim were imprisoned for 25 years before being paroled in July 14, 1901.  One of the conditions of their parole was that they not leave Minnesota.  Both desperately wanted to return to Missouri.  Jim returned in a casket after committing suicide on October 19, 1902.  He is buried in the family plot in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

Cole received a conditional pardon from the Minnesota Board of Pardons on February 4, 1903.  Two of the conditions were that he sign a document promising that he would not place himself in exhibition in any way and that he would never return to Minnesota.  He returned to Missouri and joined Frank James in “The Cole Younger and Frank James Wild West Company” in March of 1903.  The two toured with Frank being the master of ceremony.  Cole worked unobserved where he could stay out of the limelight but his official title was manager.   The Company made several stops in St. Clair County.

Shortly after Cole’s pardon, he visited Monegaw and was photographed at the Clubhouse and lookout.  He died at his home in Lee’s Summit, Missouri on March 21, 1916 of natural causes at the age of 72.

Thomas Jefferson Younger was born November 20, 1847 a son of Charles Lee Younger and Permelia Wilson.  T. J. was a member of the Missouri State Legislature from St. Clair County in 1880.  He was married to Emma C. Barmour but the marriage ended in divorce in July, 1893 in St. Clair County.  They had two children:  Charles A. and Jessie.  T. J. remarried and died in Pauhuska, Oklahoma in 1911.

Bruce Younger was born in St. Clair County to Permelia Wilson and Charles Lee Younger.  He married Belle Shirley in 1880.  The marriage didn’t last long because Belle married Sam Starr three months later in Oklahoma.  Bruce Younger died in a cave in New Mexico sometime after 1888.  He had been a horse trader and gambler. 

Sources: 

The Roscoe Gun Battle by Wilbur Zink

   Various newsletter articles from “The Friends of the Youngers”

          The Families of Charles Lee and Henry Washington Younger by Marley Brant