Helen Murray White

Butterfield Overland Mail Route: History of Early Settlers Along Boonville Rd in Northern Greene County Helen Murray White

This book is a search for the origins of the Boonville Road and to learn why the name changed to Bolivar Road. Boonville Road was named as early as 1833 and was used as a trade route connecting mid-Missouri to the Southwest. Early settlers traveled the road as they explored and settled the wilderness of central Missouri. Because the road bed was established, John Butterfield used the road for the Butterfield Overland Mail. The book traces the Butterfield Overland Mail Route as it traveled through northern Greene County, Missouri. The Boonville Road crossed sections where the earliest settlers purchased property and married their neighbors. Their names are as familiar to Helen Murray White as if they were family. The author also wanted to identify people who were buried in the Murray farm cemetery and she found that it was originally a neighborhood cemetery, not a family cemetery. Some of the people buried there were family members, some were neighbors, and some were buried without stones and could only be identified by newspaper obituaries. Others will always remain unknown. Chapters include: All Roads Lead to Boonville, Boonville Road and the Butterfield Mail, Boonville Road Becomes Bolivar Road, Early Settlers in Sections 35 and 26, The Banfield Family, David Murray Comes to Missouri, and Burials in the Murray Cemetery. The text is enlivened by a wealth of maps and numerous facsimile reprints of original documents, in addition to photographs of people and places. An index to full names, places and subjects completes this work.