Dent County, located in the south central portion of the state, was first visited by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft in 1818 with Levi Pettibone. They traveled through this area of Missouri and discovered the Current River. The first settler of the county was George Cole where he cleared a farm on the Meramec near Short Bend. This later became Nelson Mill. By 1829 many more settlers came into the area lured by the .05 per acre land. The county was created in 1851 from Crawford and Shannon Counties and named for one of the early settlers Lewis Dent who was the first Representative for the County. The Marriages begin with the official beginning of the county and the wills do not start until after the Civil War.
Audrey L. Woodruff
(1972), 2023, paper, index, 57 pp.
101C-W5894
