Person:Drury Hall (1)

This article was published at the time of one of the anniversaries of the Town of Berger. There is no attribution, but it looks to be a newspaper piece. It was probably published in the New Haven Leader. - Sue Lampe, Four Rivers Genealogical Society Researcher

"We have no positive birth or death record of the first Hall to settle on the Little Berger Creek. Neither is there a record of his given name. James Hall, Jr., son of the original Drury Hall, told S. A. Hall of Berger, Mo., that the origonal Hall came and settled on the Little Berger Creek in 1801.The original Hall died while comparitively a young man, and lies buried in the old Roark and Zumwalt Cemetery. The markers of this old cemetery have long since disappeared and probably no mark will ever be found of his grave. According to family tradition the original Hall was born in Virginia and came into Kentucky with his people in an early day. He moved up the valley of the Missouri in the very early vanguard of the Kentucky and Tennessee migration and located on the little Berger near to the place where it is now crossed by the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

The children of the first Hall settlers were Lewis, Henry, Drury, Susan and Lanie. Lewis was born in Kentucky in 1794. Drury was born March 2, 1801. Susan married Michael Roark. The Roarks were among the very early settlers on the Little Berger and their descendants lived there until a few years ago. The Roark heirs claimed the proud record of having lived continuously on the same place since 1812 - possibly a record no other family in the vicinity can boast. Lanie married a man named Jarvis. of them only fragmentary records can be found. No doubt his lot was filled with much hardship and many perils. The country was a vast wilderness and life a real struggle in those days. Few written records were made and fewer kept.

And so we have a family tree of one of the earliest settlers of Berger threaded through the years to the present. It is the only one that I have been able to trace down through the years and much credit must be given to Mrs. Bessie Hoelscher, of New Haven, Missouri, for the family history."

1. ↑ Compiler: Maynard R. Dilthey. Breeding-Dilthey-Roark-Schaub Cemetery.
2. ↑ Probably New Haven Leader but also Town of Berger Anniversary Publication: Descendant of Family Who Settled In Area In 1801 Still lives In Berger, Location: New Haven, Franklin County, Missouri, Page. (unknown date).
3.   Probably New Haven Leader but also Town of Berger Anniversary Publication: Descendant of Family Who Settled In Area In 1801 Still lives In Berger, Location: New Haven, Franklin County, Missouri, Page. (unknown date).