It’s amazing the house pictured above was dismantled in 1968 and relocated for reassembly. What’s even more interesting is the history behind it. In 1979, it was sold and moved to St. Charles County to be reassembled.
The historic Flanders Callaway House used to be located in Warren County, Missouri about a mile south of Marthasville. This two-story frontier house was constructed around 1812. The architectural style is Federal similar to the types of log structures found in Kentucky. This house was built by Flanders Callaway who was the husband of one of Daniel Boone’s daughters, Jemima.
On July 29, 1969, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), but after it was relocated in 1979, the house was delisted from the NRHP in 1994.
The Callaways and the house
When the Flanders Callaway House was in Warren County, Missouri, it was seen as one of the first settlements in that county. The house was used as a home, trading post, and even a fort. At the time the house was nominated for the NRHP, it was still standing in Warren County.
In 1799, Flanders and Jemima traveled to Missouri. They settled in the Femme Osage River Valley. Close to the junction of Charrette Creek and the Missouri River, Callaway built a home made of logs. Charrette Creek is a stream in Warren County and a tributary of the Missouri River. There was also a French village in this area called La Charrette, which Lewis and Clark had traveled to in 1804.
Flanders and Jemima were founders of Friendship Baptist Church in Charette, which is now known as Marthasville in Missouri.
The Flanders Callaway house served as a center in the growing community. The first church services in the area were held in the Callaway house. The church society meeting there was known as the Friendship Church and was Baptist affiliated. (Source.)
See also History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren Counties, Missouri, published in 1885, p. 960. This book is so full of history and is available to download on the Internet Archive site.
Daniel Boone and his wife, Rebecca, had often visited with the Callaways. Boone lived with Flanders and Jemima for a while but was later taken to Nathan’s home which was about 12 miles from the Callaways.
Jemima’s mother, Rebecca, passed away in her home in 1813. Daniel Boone died on September 26, 1820, at Nathan’s home at age 86. His funeral was at the homestead of Flanders Callaway in the barn and was attended by many.
In 1845, the remains of Boone and his wife were allegedly relocated from Missouri to Kentucky. This was controversial and some say the wrong bodies were removed and reburied which would indicate their remains are still in Missouri. Those who believe they were relocated to Kentucky feel they should be returned to Missouri.
Flanders and Jemima were married for almost 50 years and had 10 children. Flanders died on February 22, 1829, at age 76, and Jemima died on August 30, 1834, at age 71.
Jemima’s kidnapping as a teenager
When Jemima was 13, she and her friends, Betsy and Fanny Callaway, and were kidnapped by Native Americans. That story is written about in Matthew Pearl’s The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America published in 2021. The girls were rescued by Daniel Boone and eight other men two days later.
Within a year after the kidnapping, Jemima married Flanders who was a brother to Betsy and Fanny Callaway. Early in their marriage, they lived in Kentucky and moved to Missouri in the late 1790s to be closer to Daniel Boone and his wife.
The house today
The Flanders Callaway House was dismantled and moved to Boonesfield Village near Defiance, Missouri. It was rebuilt to appear as it was in the mid-1800s. There was siding installed to protect the original walnut logs. The house accommodates staff members and is not open to the public.
Throughout the history of the house when it was located in Warren County, it had suffered flood damage as it was on a flood plain. The bottom 2 to 4 feet of the log walls bulge outward as a result of deterioration caused by repeated inundation. (Source.)
Visit here or the St. Charles County Parks site for more information relating to Boonesfield Village including hours and photos.
Thanks for reading!
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