HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 311 ner now occupied by the Shelion office build- ing. It was used as a jail until 1910, when the present structure was erected. The present townships are Independence, Cotton Hill, Union, Freeborn, Holcomb, Sa- lem, Buffalo, and Clay. The legislature created Mississippi county on February 14, 1845 ; the territory being cut off from the south part of Scott county. The commissioner selected Charleston as the coiuity seat, and the coiuity court was organized there April 21, 1845. The judges of the court were : William Sayres, Absolom McElmurry and James M. Overton; George L. Cravens was the clerk of the court. The meetings of this court were, for a number of years, held in the store house of Henry G. Cummings. A court house was not erected imtil 1852. At the time the present building was erected by James T. Russell. At the time of the organization, the county was divided into five towTiships. These were : Tywappity, Mississippi, St. James, St. James Bayou, and Wolf Island. In 1847 Mississippi township was divided and a new toTQship created which was named Ohio. In 1858 Long Prairie to^Tiship was formed from parts of Tywappity and St. James. The circuit court was organized September 29, 1845, by Jolui D. Cook. The meetings of the court were usaaUy held in the Methodist church, until the erection of the court house. Reynolds County Until 1830 the territory now embraced in Reynolds county was a part of Ripley county. At that time it was attached to Washington coimty and later to Shannon. The legislative act organizing Reynolds coimty was approved February 25, 1845, and the county was named in honor of Governor Thomas Reynolds of Missouri. It then included a part of what is now Iron coimty which was afterwards cut off when that coimty was formed. The com- missioners appointed to select the county seat were Ayers Hudspeth of Washington county, John Miller of Madison county, and Moses Carty of St. Francois county. It was pro- vided also that imtil a county seat was lo- cated the court should be held in the house of Joseph McNails at Lesterville. The first term of the county court was held in this hou.se in November, 1845, with H. Allen as the presiding judge; Marion Miuiger was sheriff and C. C. Campbell clerk. The com- missioners selected Lesterville as the county seat and a small court house was erected. This building was burned during the war and the county seat was changed to Centerville, where another small building for court pur- poses was erected. This, too, was burned in 1872, and another building, now standing, was erected at a cost of $8,000. There are six to^'nships in the county. Black River, Carroll, Jackson, Lesterville, Logan and Webb. BuTLEB County Butler county was created by an act passed Pebruarj' 27, 1849. It had previously been a part of Wayne county, and at the time of the organization the larger part of the land in the coimty belonged to the government. The first session of the county court was held at the house of Thomas Scott, June 18, 1849. The judges were: John Stevenson, Solomon Kittrell, and Jonathan R. Sandlin ; the clerk of the court was Jacob C. Blount. The com- missioners selected the site of Poplar Bltoff for the coimty seat and the court met there in November, 1850. Until 1852 the sessions of the court were held in various private houses and in that year a small frame court hoiLse was erected on the southeast corner of
