HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 65 In 1778 this grant passed into the pos- session of Thomas Tyler, another of the early settlers of the county. In 1776 the King of Spain began the opening of a road to ex- tend from St. Louis to Ste. Genevieve and afterward to New Madrid ; this road, which came to be called the King's highway, crossed the Maramec river not far from its mouth, passed near Kimswiek, Sulphur Springs, Pevely, Horine, Rockfort Hill and on to Ste. Genevieve. In order to provide a ferry across the Maremee river a grant was made by the government to Jean Baptiste Gomache. In 1776 Gomache located 1,050 ar- pents of land at the mouth of the Maramec river and established a ferry about one mile above the mouth, which he operated for a number of years. In 1779 a settlement was made near Kimswiek and in the same year one near ]Montesano Springs, the latter one was made for the purpose of obtaining salt. In 1786 Benito Vasquez located at the mouth of Saline creek. By the close of the 18th century there were a number of settlers living along the Maramec river; west of the river near the settlement made by Hildebrand were John Boli, Benito Vasquez, John Cummins, Jac- ques Glamorgan, Antonio Soulard. John Charpenter, Levi Theel, John Seindre, John Remain, James Steward, Baptiste Raniller, August Gomache, Jean Baptiste Gomache and Hardy Ware ; east of the river were William Boli, Gabriel Cerre, Joachim Roy, Pierre Tanot, Charles Jones. Joseph Ney- bour, Baptiste Riviere, Sophia Shafer and Phyllis Bocarie. The first mill in Jefferson county was built in 1802 on Big river about three-quarters of a mile above Morse's mill, by Francis Wide- ner. Some of the logs in the old dam are still to be seen. Vol. 1—5 The first town laid out in the county was New Hartford, which was situated not far from Riverside on the Mississippi river, the settlers were Christian Witt and John Honey, who in 1806 opened a store and built a shot tower on the site of their proposed town. Other early settlers in the county besides those mentioned, were Peter McCormack who settled on the Plattin in 1802, James Head, who built a cabin near House's spring in 1805. A year later Head sold his cabin and claim to Adam House for whom the spring was afterward named; House was later bru- tally killed by some Indians during their raid. William Null settled Hematite in 1800 and John Boli on Romin's creek in 1788. The first Protestant services within Jeffer- son county were held at Bates Rock on the Mississippi river in 1798 by John Clark, Clark was at that time an Independent Meth- odist preacher who lived in Illinois, he after- ward became a Baptist and preached for many years in Missouri and Illinois. The first church house was a log cabin erected by the Baptists on the land of John Boli at the headwaters of Saline creek; in what is now known as Maramec settlement, this was not far from the place located by John Hilde- brand. The date of the building of the first meeting house cannot now be determined bni it was probably about 1825. In 1836 the- Baptists built another log meeting house in Upper Sandy settlement and used it until 1840. The oldest Catholic church in the county is the church of the Immaculate Conception at iIaxville, and it was established in 1845. A Lutheran church known as St. Johns was organized in Rock township in 1843; both these churches are still in existence.
