Capps Family Research
Capps Family Research
If you are researching this family, please contact me at
my Email Address. Thanks!
For Capps research, it is invaluable to read the journal of David K. Capps.
The first part of the transcription is on this page,
and the second part is on this page.
The following is interesting information, although there are some
incorrect assumptions contained within. Silas and Jacob Capps of
Miller county were not brothers, but were cousins. Neither Jacob
nor Silas were sons of Willis, but were his nephews. See the journal
of David K. Capps for specific information on the families.
CAPPS/CAPPS LANDING
(from the book GHOST TOWNS OF CENTRAL MISSOURI, Volume 1)
by Kelly Warman Stalling, a daughter of Peggy Smith Hake..........
I am not sure when the settlement of Capps came into existence, but
probably in the mid 1800s. The Capps family, for whom the vicinity was
named, was in Miller County as early as the 1840s. The small river
town, which was located near the Osage river in northeast Miller
County, had several business places at the turn of the 20th century.
Situated on the south side of the river, and located in Osage
township, it contained several general stores, a post office, a hotel,
a blacksmith shop, a doctor's office, and a ferry boat crossing. It
also had a school nearby, about 1/2 mile south.
The ferry boat crossing was called Capps Landing (some called the town
Capps Landing as well) and it was a very important and major way of
crossing the river for our pioneer forefathers. It was the nearest
ferry and many folks relied on it both north and south of the river in
Osage and Jim Henry townships.
Tuscumbia, the county seat in Equality township, had a ferry also but
it was quite a few miles upriver from Capps. The post office was
established in 1892 and was in operation until 1911. After the turn of
the century, Perry Nixdorf (son of Dr. Anton P. Nixdorf) set up a
doctor's office in the small town. He also had a practice in the
nearby town (across the river) called Marys Home at the same time and
traveled the river between the two settlements. This busy doctor
resided in the Pleasant Farm area.
In 1878, the county had a total of 65 schoolhouses, yet only 56
teachers were employed and received wages of $22.50 per month. In 1878
there were 55 schools for the white children and one school for the
black children. In 1930/31 there was a Capps school district No.39 and
school was held in a small one-room schoolhouse just south of the
small village. The teacher in 1930 was Lucy Kubachek who lived in
Tuscumbia. The Capps school district was also known as Spring Dale.
Today, very little remains of the town. Once more, Mother Nature has
reclaimed the land with her wooded areas and the mighty Osage rolls
past what was once a busy ferry crossing. The Capps cemetery is still
maintained and still bears the name of this once busy river town.
CAPPS FAMILY
In the 1840 census of Pulaski County, Mo. (the county directly to the
south of Miller Co.) there were two Capps families listed. They were
the following:
Capps Jacob 000011-21001
Capps Willis 00111001-00000001
They lived side by side so they were probably father & son.
Over in Miller County, in the 1850 census, lived Silas Capps and his
wife, Julia Ann (Brumley) Capps in Osage Township.
Silas Capps and Julia had quite a few children over the years.
He was born c1818 in in Tennessee and she was born c1820 in
Missouri. Silas Capps was killed in the Civil War and is buried in a
National Cemetery in New Albany, Indiana.
His widow, Julia Ann, remained in Miller Co and died here in the early
1900s. All of their children married and live in Miller County also.
In 1850, 1870, and 1880 there was another Capps family listed also in
addition to Silas & Julia.......Jacob & Naomi Capps were natives of
Tennessee and descendants of both families, say Jacob was an older
brother to Silas. One source I have says they were from the
Claiborne/Grainger counties of East Tennessee and they had a sister,
Sarah, who married James Davis in Grainger County and they remained
there. The same source says that Jacob, Silas and Sarah may have been
the children of Benjamin Capps, born c1794. He was in Ozark County,
MO. in 1850 and was listed as a Baptist preacher.
The following is an obituary I have for Julia Ann (Brumley) Capps.
From: The Iberia Sentinel (Richwoods township dated in August 1908)
July Ann (Julia Ann) Capps, better known as "Grandma", died at her
home in Iberia, Tuesday afternoon at !:40 p.m. of senial
troubles. "Grandma at the time of her death was about 91 years old and
was one of the oldest residents of Miller Co. She has lived within a
radius of 10 miles of Iberia for the past 90 years. Her death occurred
on the 40th birthday of her youngest son, Henry Halleck Capps.
Mrs. Capps, whose maiden name was Brumley, was born in Tennessee in the
early part of the year 1817 and the following year was brought to
Missouri by her parents, The first two years in Missouri, her parents
made their home in Wilson's Cave with the Wilson family for whom the
cave was named and at that time was the only white family in this part
of the state.
She was married to Silas Capps Apil 1, 1838 in Miller Co. To this
union was born 12 children. Six are still living. They were John B.
Capps of Rolla; H.H. Capps of Step-Rock Arkansas; Lucinda Hamilton of
Iberia; Mary E. Ramsey of Brumley; Paulina B. Burnett of Ramsey.
All of her children were at her bedside when she died. She also had 66
grandchildren, 89 great-grandchildren, 10 great-great grandchildren,
and a large number of who survive her.
The funeral was held at the Iberia graveyard, Wednesday afternoon
at 2 o'clock.
NOTE:
The Brumley Family Book places Julyann/Julia Ann's birth in lllinois,
not Tennessee and born in 1824.
NOTE: Silas Capps, her husband was killed during the Civil War and she
reared the children alone in Miller County. He is buried at the
National Cemetery in New Albany, Indiana which is across the river
from Louisville Ky.
They were the parents of the following children:
1. Nancy Capps b. 1839 d. 1867 m. Carroll Roark
2. Louisa Capps b. 1841 d. 1841
3. Lucinda Capps b. 1842 d. ???? m. Archie Roark & James Hamilton.
4. Benjamin L. Capps b.1844 d.1901
5. Silas Wright Capps b. 1847 d. 1847
6. Mariah Capps b. 1849 d. ???? m. Fielding Bilyeu
7. Galen Hart Capps b. 1851 d. 1851
8. Mary Eliz. Capps b. 1853 d. 1922 m. Henry Bilyeu & Richard Ramsey
9. Martha Capps b. 1856 d. 1856
10. Pauline Bass Capps b. 1857 d. 1943 m. Allen Burnett
11. John Brumley Capps b. 1860 d. 1910 m. Rosa McCommons
12. Henry Halleck Capps b. 1862 d. 1923 m. Clementine Flaugher
Silas Capps
by Peggy Smith Hake
Silas Capps was born in Claiborne County, Tennessee in 1818 (per
military records) and arrived in Miller County about 1837 with his
brother, Jacob Capps, and Benjamin Capps, thought to be their father.
Jacob was about 4 years older than Silas. Other Capps in the area at
the time were Rebecca Moulder Capps who settled in Camden County in
1837 with the Moulder family; William Capps who settled on the Niangua
river near Allison Ford in Camden County about 1832; and Willis Capps,
born c/1778, who also settled in Camden County. Benjamin Capps,
mentioned above, was born c/1794 and was living in Ozark County, MO in
1850. He listed his occupation as �Baptist preacher? Jacob Capps was
a preacher also and performed many marriages in Miller County.
Silas Capps married Julia Ann Brumley on April 1, 1838, the marriage
performed by Squire Jesse Kendrick, justice of the peace in Equality
township. Their marriage was the 12th one recorded in Miller County
records. Julia was only 14 years old at the time, by her own account.
Family, census, and army service records indicate they had 8 children,
but actually they were parents of 12 including: NANCY CAPPS b.c/1839
m. Carroll Roark; LOUISA CAPPS (1841-1841); LUCINDA CAPPS b. c/1843 m.
(1)Archie Roark (2)______Hamilton; BENJAMIN L. CAPPS b. c/1845; SILAS
WRIGHT CAPPS (1847-1847); MARIAH M. CAPPS b. 1849 m. Fielding Bilyeu;
GALEN HART CAPPS (1851-1851); MARY ELIZABETH CAPPS b. 1853 m. Henry
Bilyeu (brother to Fielding); PAULINA B. CAPPS b. 1855 m. Allen W.
Burnett; MARTHA CAPPS (1856-1856); JOHN BRUMLEY CAPPS b. 1860 m. Rosa
L. McCommons; and HENRY HALLECK CAPPS b. 1862 m. Clementine Flaugher.
Silas taught some �hog and hominy?schools in early Miller County...I
think the phrase �hog & hominy?referred to the subscription schools
in early Miller County when the parents had to pay a teacher to teach
their children just the basics. Sometimes the cost was $1.00 per month
and that was quite costly for many, so the educator may have been paid
with food items to help supplement his wages.
Silas Capps also mined in the old Capps area and listed his occupation
as a �miner?for quite sometime. During those days of the 19th
century, there were some old mines on both sides of the Osage river.
He also had more than a passing interest in politics and business. He
participated in a petetion to split up the area of Osage township in
August 1837. In 1850, he was a candidate for the state legislature;
was a school trustee during 1857-1859; was an associate judge of the
Miller County Court in 1863; and he also ran an old mill at Capp�s
Landing on the Osage river.
Silas helped his brother, Jacob Capps, organize and was a First Lt. of
Company H, Hickory Battalion, Osage Valley Regiment of the Missouri
Home Guards during the early days of the Civil War. He was later
replaced in that position by Wm. Carroll Brumley. Silas enlisted in
the federal service on December 11, 1863 in Jefferson City. He must
have used some of his political saavy because at the age of 45 years,
he was over the age for enlistment. Most of his federal service was
spent in various military hospitals and he died of acute diarrhea on
January 7, 1865 aboard the steamer R.C. WOODS which was being used as
a U.S. Army general hospital at St. Louis. His wife, Julia Ann,
remained his widow for 43 years and died at her home in Iberia 25 Aug
1908 at the age of 91 years. I do not know for sure when Julia moved
to the Iberia area, but I think some of her children had moved to
Richwoods township. When Julia Ann died in 1908, she was survived by 6
of their 12 children. According to her obituary, she certainly left a
huge number of descendants in addition to her 6 children......she was
survived by 66 grandchildren, 89 great grandchildren, and 10 great,
great grandchildren......quite a legacy!