Family Nibbles

In March 1872, just a few years after they moved to Missouri, Patrick and Ellen Gallagher bought a farm east of Lamar in Barton County, Missouri.

Pat and Ellen Gallagher paid $400 for a 40-acre farm and an additional 8-acre parcel, buying from George and Kate Gilbert and James and Lizzie Neal. The Gilberts and Neals were in-laws, both in the real estate business in Barton County.

How in the world did Pat and Ellen Gallagher accumulate $400? We know from later years that Patrick and Ellen were savers, and quite frugal. Somehow, they had saved $400 from mining and railroad work in the preceding years.

The Gallagher farm was five miles east of Lamar, Missouri. There was a farmhouse in the southeast corner of the farm. It was home for Patrick, 45, and Ellen, 39, and their children, Hannah, age 12 and Michael, age 9.

Two more land parcels

In 1879 the Gallaghers bought an adjacent 20-acre tract for $50, and in 1883 another 20-acre tract for $200. These tracts were at the north edge of their 40 acres.

Now they had an 80-acre farm and also held 8 acres two miles west.

They probably grew corn, as it was the main cash crop of the area. Some portion of the farm probably grew pasture grass, which was put up as hay for animal feed. They probably kept a cow or two.

Pat and Ellen raised and sold mules.

If Hannah and Michael attended school, it was at Harmony School No. 8, located just a quarter-mile north and quarter-mile west of their farmhouse.

Barton County is Home

There would be no more coal mine work. No more railroad work. Patrick and Ellen would live on their Barton County farm the rest of their lives, another 30 or 40 years.

Nibbles Extra Credit – From White Barn to White House

Patrick Gallagher wasn’t the only mule trader in Barton County. John Truman bought and sold mules at his White Barn near the Missouri Pacific depot in Lamar.

It’s likely that Pat Gallagher and John Truman did some mule trading.

John Truman and his wife Martha lived just across the tracks from the White Barn. At that home, on May 8, 1884, Martha Truman gave birth to a son, Harry S. Truman.

As we know, Harry Truman became the 33rd President of the United States. He’s the only president born in Missouri.

For Truman’s Inaugural Parade in 1949, it was fitting that the Lamar, Missouri parade entry was a wagon drawn by a hitch of Missouri mules.

Timeline

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Sources

• Map – County map of Missouri highlighting Clinton and Barton Counties – https://gisgeography.com/missouri-county-map/
• Map – Historical Atlas of Barton County, Missouri – 1886 – State Historical Society of Missouri – https://digital.shsmo.org/digital/collection/plat/id/414
• Deed – Gilbert and Neal to Patrick Gallagher – 1872 – Barton County, Missouri Register of Deeds, Lamar, Missouri
• Deed – Burkhart to Patrick Gallagher – 1879 – Barton County, Missouri Register of Deeds, Lamar, Missouri
• Deed – McClure to Patrick Gallagher – 1883 – Barton County, Missouri Register of Deeds, Lamar, Missouri
• Quotation – Gallagher Family History – Teply family documents – Kathleen Gallagher Teply
• Image – Barton County farmer – 1880s – Barton County Historical Society – https://www.facebook.com/bchistorical/photos
• Image – Shocking Corn – Thomas Hart Benton – 1945 – Minnesota Museum of American Art – https://mmaa.org/portfolio-item/thomas-hart-benton/
• Photos – Gallagher farm today – Mark Jarvis – 2015
• Image – Harmony School No. 8 – 1900 – Barton County Historical Society – https://www.facebook.com/bchistorical/photos
• Image – Advertisement, J. A. Truman Feed and Sale Stables, Lamar, Missouri – ca. 1884; Collection HST-MJT: Mary Jane Truman Papers – https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/advertisement-j-a-truman-feed-and-sale-stables-lamar-missouri
• Image – Harry S. Truman Birthplace State Historic Site – Missouri Over There – https://missourioverthere.org/index.php?symphony-page=explore/monuments/harry-s-truman-birthplace-state-historic-site/
• Image – Portrait of President Harry S. Truman – NARA and DVIDS Public Domain Archive – https://nara.getarchive.net/media/portrait-of-president-harry-s-truman-a3f800
• Image – President Truman’s Inaugural Parade – January 20th, 1949 – Barton County Historical Society – https://www.facebook.com/bchistorical/photos
• Map – Gallagher farm today – Google Earth – 2022
• Music – Shady Grove – Shake That Little Foot – Free Music Archive – https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Shake_That_Little_Foot/Shake_That_Little_Foot/Shady_Grove_vbrmp3/