Adair County’s Town Myth is relatively well documented in a few different sources. It was named “The Big Neck Affair” because of the Ioway Indian chief who was involved with the affair.

The Story:

In 1829, Chief Big Neck leads a group of Ioway Indians into the Chariton River area for a hunting expedition. A group of white pioneers had recently settled the area because of the treaties that the natives had signed giving up their land. The natives of the area had ceded the land in treaties in 1804 and 1824. There was some confusion about which lands had been ceded in the earlier treaty that led to the signing of the second treaty. Additionally, there is also some uncertainty which Native tribes actually signed the treaty. Some say that the Ioway, Sac, and Fox signed them while others claim it was only the Sac and Fox. Both of these events led to confusion among the Native Americans, and probably helped create this event.

In any event, both sets of people were laying claim to this land which created a lot of tension. Some pioneers claim to have been threatened by Ioway Indians and other accounts say that the Indians were falsely accused of stealing. The build up of these events led to a confrontation between the Ioway’s and the white settlers on July 17, 1829. The settlers approached the Ioway encampment of men, women, and children, and tried to force the Ioway’s to give up their weapons even though the Indians were willing to talk peacefully with them. The account becomes muddled at this point becomes some claim that the white men shot first while others believe the Indians were at fault. In the end, three of the Indians, Chief Big Neck’s brother, sister-in-law, and their child, were killed as well as John Myers, James Winn, and Powell Owenby.

The Ioway Indians fled, but were eventually caught and brought to trial in St. Louis where they were proved innocent of any wrongdoing.

Some Background Information:

There are no accounts of any white pioneers settling in Adair County until the 1828 attempt by pioneers from Howard County, including: James Myers, Isaac Gross, Stephen Gross, Nathan Richardson, Reuben Myrtle, and Jacob Gupp. These pioneers created a small settlement that became known as “The Cabins.” This settlement was primarily focused on forestry because the land was not easily worked for agriculture at this time.

These settlers fled back to Howard County after the altercation with Chief Big Neck, and they did not return. However, other settlers moved into the area in 1830.

The Native Americans in the area continued to have contact with the white settlers between 1835 and 1845 with no other major altercations being recorded. After 1845, there are no other accounts of Native Americans in this (Chariton River/Adair County) area of Missouri.

These events happened within a thirty mile radius of Kirksville which is presently the largest town in this area and the host of Truman State University. After talking to some of the residents and workers at the Adair County Historical Society, this seems to be the only major event between Native Americans and white settlers in this area.

Additionally, some of the historical books that reference this account also mention the Black Hawk War of 1832, but Adair County did not play a large role in the war.

 

 

Note:

As I was looking through different books for information on this event, I realized that only the first few pages of the books even mentioned Native Americans. One of the books is over 1000 pages long and only 20 or so pages were devoted to the areas first inhabitants.

Sources:

Book of Adair County History published by The Kirksville-Adair County Bicentennial Committee

History of Adair County by E. M. Viollette

History of Missouri by E. M. Viollette

“The Big Neck Affair: Tragedy and Farce on the Missouri Frontier” by Dorothy J. Caldwell