![]() Cole County history was in its early years sprinkled with notations of the Bass family. In the southeastern section of the county, the Bass story began with a man who immigrated from an adjoining state only to become a prominent farmer who had a small settlement named for him that is only remembered through the naming of a stretch of rural road. Metheldred Bass Sr. was born in Barren County, Kentucky in 1821, the same year Missouri achieved statehood. When still a young man, he settled in Cole County, where he married Perlina Apperson in 1843. A worn newspaper article shared by his family on the Find A Grave website notes that Bass and his wife became parents to six children. However, his first wife was only 45 years old when she died in 1871 and was laid to rest in the Hickory Hill Cemetery. “Bass joined the Church of Christ near his home … and has been a devout and consistent member of the Mount Union congregation,” the article explained. Dedicated to making a living, Bass toiled in the field, raised livestock and became a respected and well-known farmer in the southern section of Cole County. Soon, a small settlement began to unfold north of Eugene with the erection of a mercantile organized by several local farmers, which was later supplemented with a post office. Since Bass’ farm was nearby, the settlement was named for him. Shortly after the passing of his first wife in 1871, Bass married Sarah Hogg, with whom he fathered two more children. Eventually, as the years passed, the community of Bass faded with the closing of the mercantile and Bass, having reached his advancing years, went to live with his daughter. When he died in 1920 at the impressive age of 98, he was believed to be the oldest resident of Cole County and was interred in Hickory Hill Cemetery. Of the eight children he and his two wives raised, one of Bass’s sons would carry on the tradition of a life defined by intriguing experiences. John Perry “J.P.” Bass was born in the settlement of Bass on September 14, 1848. A history shared by Palmer Scheperle in the book History of the Scheperle Family of America explained that J.P. Bass fell in love with Mary Scheperle, whose family had settled in and around the communities of Stringtown and Millbrook. “The couple were not of legal age and Mary did not have her parents’ permission to marry John Bass, a Methodist,” Palmer Scheperle explained. “They persuaded the Justice of the Peace that they were of legal age and then eloped on horseback,” he added. Through his marriage to Scheperle in 1868, Bass became the brother-in-law of John Scheperle Sr., a co-founder of the Centennial Mill in Millbrook. Scheperle Sr. was also the individual responsible for overseeing the construction of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Stringtown and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Honey Creek. Even after his marriage to a Lutheran woman, he raised his family in the Methodist denomination. Although it is not documented whether continued tensions existed between Bass and his wife’s family because of his faith, he made the decision to start anew in a community away from his in-laws by moving his family to Texas in 1878. “John and Mary owned extensive property in and around Mineral Wells and in Wise and Hall County, Texas,” the Scheperle book clarified. “The Bass family were cotton farmers, owning a cotton gin, and raised cattle in Wise and Hall Counties.” Mary gave birth to three children—one son and two daughters—while they still lived in the farm community of Bass, but they were raised to adulthood in Texas. Like his father, John suffered the tragedy of losing his first wife, who died in 1905—the same year her brother was building St. John’s Lutheran Church in Stringtown. The body of Bass’ 54-year-old wife was buried in a cemetery in Newlin, Texas. Newspaper records indicate that J.P. Bass returned to Mid-Missouri sometime after his wife’s death and, in 1910, married Sarah Lumpkin in Miller County. Her first husband, Esom Lumpkin, had died in 1900. At the time of her marriage to Bass, she had two children that were independent adults. “Roscoe Lumpkin and wife came in Tuesday to visit their mother, Mrs. J.P. Bass, at Spring Garden,” the Miller County Autogram printed on September 22, 1910. A week later, another newspaper explained that Bass was preparing for his return to Texas with his second wife. “Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Bass shipped some household goods from here Saturday to Memphis, Texas … (and) will go from Jefferson City about Tuesday … where they expect to make their home in the future,” the Eldon Advertiser reported on September 29, 1910. J.P. Bass and his wife traveled to Missouri on several occasions to visit family and attend funerals, including the burial of Metheldred Bass Sr. in 1920. They lived to witness the disappearance of the settlement of Bass, a decline beginning with the closing of the mercantile that had defined the community. In 1936, J.P. Bass died at 87 years of age and services were held at the local Methodist church followed by burial in a cemetery in Memphis, Texas. His second wife died six years later and was laid to rest alongside him. Old Bass Road now stretches between U.S. Highway 54 and State Route AA, providing only a road sign to designate the legacy of a bygone community and the dissipating history of the Bass family in southern Cole County. The pioneer who inspired the naming of Bass, Missouri, is no longer living, but his gravestone in Hickory Hill Cemetery is a hidden reminder of the contribution he made to our local rural tapestry. In the words of writer Henry S.F. Cooper, “A man who thinks too much about his ancestors is like a potato—the best part of him is underground.” Burials do not end the story of pioneer families. The Bass name is etched on the tombstones in several quiet country cemeteries but may someday inspire others to delve into the history of those whose sacrifices provided for the betterment of their families and communities. Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of “Moments on the Moreau.”
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AuthorJeremy P. Ämick is an award-winning author and historian and dedicated to preserving music, military and local histories. Archives
July 2024
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