Putnam County Agri-Facts
PUTNAM COUNTY is in the north central part of the
State. It is bounded on the north by the State of Iowa;
east by Schuyler County; south by Adair and Sullivan
Counties; and west by Mercer County. It has a land area
of 333,000 acres.
Brightwell Martin located Lesley's Ford on the Chariton
River near the present site of Worthington in 1836. From
1836 to 1837 Spencer Grogan, William Pinnix, Thomas
Kelly, James Cochran, Thomas Wright, Jack Lesley and
John Corneilison were among the first settlers. Brightwell
Martin had the first recorded land entry on April 24, 1836.
Marketing was done at Brunswich on the Missouri River
75 miles to the south, or to Alexandria on the Mississippi
River 80 miles to the east, a journey requiring 8 to 10
days. James Davis in 1838 put up a mill on Shoal Creek
near the present site of Petty's Mill. Thomas Hargraves
built a mill on the Chariton River three miles south of the
Iowa line in the summer of 1841.
Putnam County was organized by a legislative act
approved February 28, 1845, and was named in honor of
General Israel Putnam.
Putnam County was one of the strong Union counties of
Missouri during the war. Company D of the 18th
Missouri, made up mostly of men from Putnam County
gained a wide reputation for bravery at the battle of
Shiloh.
Source: Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri
Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service
Missouri Agri-Facts
Putnam County Agri-Facts