SHSMO Cape Girardeau Research Center

06/20/2026

Robert Green was a leader during the Revolution, and a leader in early Cape Girardeau County:

From Revolutionary War sergeant at Brandywine and Camden to Cape Girardeau County official and loan commissioner, Robert Green’s records show a life of military...

06/03/2026

Mitchel Fleming was a Revolutionary War veteran, but later was a leader in local Presbyterian churches in North Carolina and Missouri

Mitchel Fleming is one of the better-known Revolutionary War veterans to settle in Cape Girardeau County. He was born in Kent County, Delaware, in 1761 and was the son of George Fleming. The family immigrated to North Carolina when Mitchel was age 10, settling on Coddle Creek northeast of Charlotte in the part of Rowan County that is now Cabarrus County.

Fleming’s pension application documents two enlistments in the Rowan County Militia. Mitchel initially volunteered for five months, supposedly in 1777, but the events he remembered occurred in 1778. His was one of the militia units called to resist the British effort to take Savannah, Georgia. Fleming fell in with Capt. James Craig’s company, under Col. Francis Locke and Gen. Griffith Rutherford. The company marched to Ten Mile Spring north of Charleston, South Carolina, then marched south to Gen. Rutherford’s headquarters at Purrysburg, 20 miles above Savannah, near the Georgia boundary with South Carolina. They joined the Patriot army under command of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, then spent the remainder of their five months patrolling along the east side of the Savannah River. He fought in one small engagement at Caney Island, and by February 1779 both Savannah and Augusta, Georgia, fell to the British. Fleming’s enlistment expired, and Rutherford’s force returned to North Carolina by April.

Mitchel claimed he was drafted in 1782, although the events he discussed actually occurred in 1781. He mustered into a company of horse commanded by Capt. James Stevenson, then marched with a company of horse and foot commanded by Col. Samuel Isaacs against the British force occupying Wilmington, North Carolina. The patriots stopped at Deep River about 50 miles above Fayetteville, a little over halfway, because the British evacuated Wilmington on Nov. 18 after the surrender at Yorktown in October. Loyalist bands still operated in the area but were unable to get supplies and arms after the departure of the British. Col. Isaacs’ men spent two months rounding up Loyalists and conveying them to jail in Salisbury, north of Charlotte.

Fleming’s militia service is like that of other patriot militia. Militia in general were poorly trained and thus less dependable than state or continental troops. Often they were employed in support roles of a non-military nature, used to counter Loyalist actions, or focused on one small aspect of a battle. Commanders used the regulars for the principal tasks of battle tactics.
Fleming went on to become a church and community leader, being a trustee of Bethphage Presbyterian Church in Rowan County. His farm, centered on land he inherited from his father, prospered. However, the lure of better land and prospects in Missouri caused Fleming and many of his neighbors to move to Cape Girardeau County, where they settled in the area in and near Pocahontas. Many were Presbyterian and were active in Apple Creek Presbyterian Church. Fleming was a ruling elder of the church from the time it was formed in 1821 and pledged his pension to the church building fund.

Mitchel Fleming married twice, first to Agnes Kennedy in Rowan County, North Carolina, in 1784. Agnes died in Aug 1821, and Mitchel briefly returned to North Carolina to marry Jane Stevenson, daughter of his Revolutionary War captain, in 1824. Mitchel and his first wife Agnes Kennedy were the parents of three sons and six daughters. Their two elder sons, William (m. Jane Woodside) and Richard (m. Jane Waddington/Weddington) married in North Carolina and remained there. The remaining seven also came to Missouri, including Jane (m. James Stevenson, Jr.), Margaret (never married), Mary (m. Benjamin Franklin Brown), Agnes (m. Robert McFarland), Elizabeth (m. James R. Little), Sadah (m. Zenas Ross) and Hiram (m. (1) Jane Stevenson, granddaughter of Capt. James Stevenson, and (2) Margaret S. King). All their children except James and Elizabeth Little remained in Cape Girardeau County, and consequently there are numerous local descendants of Mitchel and Agnes Fleming, mostly through his daughters.

Mitchel Fleming died on April 16, 1837. Tragically, his was the first of five family deaths within a year suggesting a contagious disease ran through the family. Mitchel’s second wife Jane died a little over two weeks later, followed by his brother- and sister-in-law, John and Elizabeth Stevenson, within another two weeks. His daughter-in-law, Jane, wife of his son, Hiram, died in December 1837. Mitchel and family members are buried in a small cemetery on his farm southeast of New Wells.

Descendants of Mitchel Fleming have conducted substantial research on the family. Fleming’s life is well-documented in North Carolina and Missouri, especially in land, probate and church records. A good place to start is the excellent web site maintained by a descendant, Rob Lewis, at: www.robsgenealogy.com/fleming/fleming.html.

04/27/2026

Full text of the column on Stephen Ranney:

Few settlers of early Cape Girardeau County hailed from New England. The Ranney family, led by patriarch and Revolutionary War veteran Stephen Ranney, provided an exception. Ranney’s birth occurred May 24, 1761, in Bethlehem, Litchfield, Connecticut, into a large and well-established New England family.

Stephen Ranney enlisted for Revolutionary War service just after his 15th birthday on June 12, 1776, in Capt. Jonathan Johnson’s Company of Col. Phillip B. Bradley’s Regiment of Connecticut forces, and was discharged Jan. 1, 1777. He re-enlisted May 2, 1777, for the duration of the war in Capt. Samuel Mattock’s Company, 8th Connecticut Continental Line Regiment. He transferred in January 1781 to Capt. Benton’s Company, the 7th Company of the 5th Connecticut Continental Line Regiment, commanded by Col. Isaac Sherman.

His rank was private until appointed corporal June 1, 1781, and he transferred Aug. 1, 1782, to a light infantry company of the same regiment. He finally transferred Nov. 1, 1782, to the 5th Company, 1st Connecticut Continental Line Regiment, commanded by Col. Zebulon Butler. His war service ended in April 1783 at the rank of sergeant, having earned two badges of merit.
Stephen Ranney’s later stated he was in “most of the principal actions fought during the war.” He was in several actions as part of the Philadelphia campaign, including the Battles of Brandywine (Sept. 11, 1777), Germantown (Oct. 4, 1777), skirmishes around Mud Island (Sept. 26-Nov. 16, 1777) and Fort Mercer (Oct. 22, 1777). The 8th Regiment was with the part of Gen. Charles Lee’s corps which checked the British advance at the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778), giving Washington’s reserve a chance to form up and counterattack. Ranney received wounds to the leg and hand at Monmouth.

After the war, Ranney returned to Litchfield, where he served as a militia commander, married and started his family. He operated a military school for a time. When the “Quasi-War” with France led to the raising of an army in 1798, Ranney received appointment as a captain in a field command. No military action occurred, and the army disbanded. He returned as a captain in the 4th U.S. Infantry in 1808, recruited a full complement of men, occupied forts at Salem, Marble Head, Cape Ann and Newbury Port, and remained in command until 1813. He reluctantly received orders to superintend Recruiting District No. 1 at Boston. He rejoined his regiment in January 1814 at Plattsburgh, New York.

The army disbanded in 1815, and despite requesting an appointment from President Madison, Ranney became a civilian. The family lived near his wife Elizabeth’s family in Salem, Massachusetts, before relocating to Crawfordsville, Indiana. Elizabeth died Aug. 11, 1822, in Indiana. Indiana Gov. William Hendricks appointed Col. Ranney as state adjutant general, and he served in that capacity from Dec. 5, 1822, until Sept. 3, 1823.

Stephen Ranney followed his son Johnson C. to Cape Girardeau County after his service in Indiana. He appears little in local records, but his legacy is large because of the role of his sons Johnson C. and William C. in the history of the judiciary of Southeastern Missouri.

Col. Ranney married four times and outlived all his wives. He was the father of 15 children, nine of whom survived him. First, he married Margery Camp on April 15, 1785, and they were parents of Jeremiah (m. Susan Beach), Mary (m. ___ Norton), Johnson C. (m. (1) Mary C. Gayle and (2) Emily Neale) and Stephen (died young). Margery died in May 1792. Ranney married Rhoda Langdon in May 1795 and of their three children only Margary (m. ___ Hysslop) survived childhood. After Rhoda’s death in 1802, Ranney married Hannah Cooper in 1804. His children with her included Stephen, Rhoda L., Eliza (died young) and Hannah Cooper Ranney (m. John Willis McGuire). After Hannah’s death in 1811, Ranney married Elizabeth Hathorne, a distant relative of author Nathaniel Hawthorne/Hathorne, on Oct. 11, 1812. Two of their sons, Julius A. and Benjamin H., died in infancy, but two others, William C. (m. Elizabeth (Giboney)) and John H. (m. Caroline L. (Wall)) became well-known Cape Girardeau County citizens.

There is great potential to learn more about Col. Stephen Ranney, especially regarding his military career. There are Revolutionary War records, correspondence files during the War of 1812 and other resources on Fold3. His service as Indiana adjutant general provides more information, and local records in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York could provide more personal details for descendants to find. In addition, a number of letters written by Stephen and Elizabeth (Hathorne) Ranney survive in the Ellis-Ranney Papers manuscript collection of the State Historical Society of Missouri.

04/24/2026

The period from May 25 through June 1, 1917, was one of the worst severe weather weeks in the history of southern Missouri. During that time, three low pressure systems in succession formed on the…

04/12/2026

The remarkable career of Dr. Drake McDowell.

Perhaps no physician who practiced in southeast Missouri in the 19th century had as varied a career as Dr. Drake McDowell. Drake, or Isaac, McDowell was eldest son of Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell of St.…

03/29/2026

A brief history of the present-day community of Lawrenceton, formerly Punjaub.

The present-day community of Lawrenceton is about 15 miles west of Ste. Genevieve. It is unincorporated, but in its heyday, it had a post office between 1867 and 1941. The initial town, Punjaub,…