Big Neck War News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

In the summer of 1862, the Civil War had been a reality in the United States for about a year. Due to the lack of news sources in those days, citizens were not well informed about battles and skirmishes going on around them. They relied on newspapers and word of mouth coming through the stagecoach lines, railways or by telegraph. Unfortunately, Kirksville did not have the latter two sources in 1862. Perhaps the locals had heard of the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas in March 1862, but little did they know that one of the major officers in that battle, Major General St...

In our last episode, we left Canada Ownbey (1811-1894) just moving into pre-Adair County from Macon County in 1838. He claimed a wide expanse of land which at that time was about 2 ½ miles south of what would be the center of Kirksville. However, in 1838, Kirksville did not exist.

In Lincolnshire, England, there is a small hamlet named OWMBY. In the Middle Ages, it was common to refer to someone by the name of their hometown. It is likely that the originator of the Ownbey families in America came from this village. A man named Arthur Ownbey is recorded as having emigrated from Lincolnshire, England, to Virginia, USA, bringing his son, John, with him. When John was grown, he resided in Bat Cave, North Carolina. Yes, there really is a place named Bat Cave. But, you won’t find Batman there, only a real cave with real bats and a regular town where one can travel down Bat ...