We went to the Hannibal Library hoping to search old newspapers for accounts of THBS.  The newspapers they had available are mostly on line, and there was no index available, so I decided not to browse through the microfilm.  There were some other resources there and I made a few copies of interest:  A short biography of Captain William Hilleary, the man replacing THBS after the latter’s death and an account of the battle of Vassar Hill including a confirmation that THBS died in the home of Rudolph March. 

A History of the Battle of Vassar Hill, compiled by Reta Idell and Erwin Langston, has the following entry in chapter 6:

"Colonel Martin E. Green from Lewis County already had a firm hold in Northern Missouri for the Confederates. Under his command was Captain William Ewing, Major Ben Shacklett of Scotland County, Captain John T. Davis of Knox, Captain Jim Porter of Lewis, Captain Tom Stacey of Marion and Captains Cyrus Franklin and William Dunn of Schuyler county. Rebels and Yankees swarmed the area by late summer (1862)...

"County History by Jack Brumback: REBEL OFFICER DIED AT BIBLE GROVE, MO. "On the 20th day of July, 1862, Captain Tom Stacey of Colonel Joseph Porter's command died of wounds he received in the battle of Vassar Hill. He died two days after the battle in a log house of Rudolph March (located 1/4 mile southwest of the battle site) and 1 1/2 mile north of Bible Grove. The land, where the house stood is now owned by the Dunne family. Just north of the log house was the location of the battle. The battle was fought on the old road east of the road that is there today...Capt. Thomas Stacey was raised in Miller Twp. in Marion Co., Missouri. Stacey died July 20, 1862, in the Rudolph March located in NE 1/4 of SE Quarter Section 7 Township 64N Range 12 West northeast of Bible Grove."

We also learned that A.J. Stasey enlisted in Pindall’s Sharpshooters, a Confederate unit, as a Private in Company A, on  August 31, 1862 at Camp Mitchell, Arkansas, near Stuttgart, a month after his brother’s death.  He transferred at Little Rock, Arkansas to Tilden’s Battery on September 1, 1863.  He was wounded slightly at Helena, Arkansas, one of the main engagements of Pindall's sharpshooters.
Cousin Steve Ayers picked us up in his truck and drove to Macon where we picked up Aunt Donna and drove up into north Shelby County to visit the old THBS II home site. 

We drove through Atlanta where several Borrons lived. My grandparents, Tommy and Mamie Stasey, briefly owned a restaurant in Atlanta in 1949. The building, which they shared with a slaughterhouse and meat locker, is still there. Most of the accompanying pictures are recent, but one has survived from inside the café, complete with the names of its subjects.

At that time, 1949, a north-south railroad went through Atlanta, a block east of the café, but today there is only an empty right of way. Andrew Grigg created a map of abandoned railroads, published on the website, "Only In Your State," and we can see the railroad through Atlanta was operated by the Wabash Railroad from Moulton, Iowa to Moberly, Missouri. The tracks were abandoned sometime between 1990 and 1999.

Incidentally, in 1949 the Stasey café adjoined a vacant lot and beyond that was a large brick building, see picture, looking very much they way they do today. On summer Saturday nights someone, I think from out of town, set up a projector, and showed free movies on the side of that brick building. I'd love to know who they were, and why they did it, but at the time every kid in town was in that vacant lot on Saturday night. I'm remembering popcorn being sold, but can't swear to it.

 

We drove through Economy, Missouri, where Dr. Borron, the original immigrant lived, to Mount Tabor cemetery where most of the Borrons, including Dr. Borron, are buried, and finally on up to the Borron farm.

Borron Farm