Wayne County's Lost River Settlements

Wayne Countys Lost River Settlements isa history of six hamlets in southeasternMissouri that were destroyed by thegovernment to clear the landscape fordevelopment of Lake Wappapello on theSt. Francis River in the late 1930s. Severalof the profitable river bottom homesteadshad been in the families for well over 100years, but with nothing else to do the evictedfarmers moved on reluctantly in whatbecame the greatest upheaval in the historyof the county. With so much of Wayne Countys assessedvaluation lost in the government buyout, itwas feared remaining tax revenues would beinadequate to support essential services andthat the countys various parts by necessitysoon would be attached to adjoiningcounties. That didnt happen, but citizensat the doomed county seat, Greenville,struggled through an ordeal of pain anduncertainty that went on for several monthsbefore finally coming to an agreement tobuild a new town outside the flood plain. Greenvilles turmoil and fight for survivalis covered in the concluding segment ofthe book. It lives on as the county seat inits new location, but little is known todayof the lost settlementsChaonia, Taskee,Ojibway, Bethel, Center Ridge and Kime,each near the other and all at the timeof their destruction closely aligned byblood and marriagewhich gives addedsignificance to the discovery of the papersof Henry Yeakley Mabrey (1836-1915),who spent his childhood at Kime and forthe greater part of the rest of his life resideda few miles to the south at Center Ridge,which was just north of Chaonia, whosebirth he witnessed in 1888. Chaonia,a railroad town, became the trading centerfor one of the richest farming areas inthe southeastern part of the state. Much of what is known of the settlementsformative years is based on informationgleaned from the Mabrey papers, whichinclude school, church, governmental,and Civil War journals, as well as diaries,letters, and personal notes. Mr. Mabrey,a teacher, served in a number of politicalposts, including two terms as commissionerof public schools and two terms as probatejudge of Wayne County. The author brings a unique perspectiveto the story, since he has lived with itsince early childhood. As he states in thepreface of the book, My involvement,my yen to write about these people,was possibly ordained, for I had heardmuch chatter about many of the familiesand of course the lost settlements whilegrowing up at Greenville. It is his hopehis work brings a measure of honorif not appreciation to the families in thelost settlements whose sacrifices forthe common good were for the most partmade without fanfare or public notice.