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A History of Livingston County, Missouri
Published by The Livingston County Centennial Committee |
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Medicine Township, through which flow both Medicine and Muddy Creeks, is the smallest in the County. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad has added to the value of property in this neighborhood. Although William J. Wallace settled here as early as 1837, and in a short time was
followed by other pioneers; land was not put up for entry until year of 1840. Much of the land was entered for investment and profit by persons living in Linn County. On May 5, 1868 , a petition was offered for the organization of Medicine out of Cream Ridge and Chillicothe Townships. When it was organized, the township was a larger district than it is now. Its name, that of the large stream that flows
through it, may have been derived from the Indian name, meaning "medicine," rather than from the fact that a doctor, while crossing the stream, lost his pill bags. The creek bore the name Medicine as early as the spring of 1837. It was in Medicine Township, in 1844, that the anxious young couple was married from across the stream. The postoffice of Gordonville was long the nearest semblance of a town in the neighborhood. Two churches were organized early, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, about 1845; and the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1867. The first sermon in the township was preached in 1840 by the Reverend Nathan Winters at the home of Mr. Wallace. The first school was taught by John H. Perkins at his house in 1846. In 1849, a school house was built.
Medicine Township continues to be one of the most valuable farming communities in the county.