From Piedmont Valley (Italy) to Uruguay (South America)
The emigration which eventually led the Waldensians to the Americas was not altogether the result of religious persecution. During the 19th century many of the Waldensians left the Piedmont Valleys because the more than 22,000 people living there were finding it difficult to sustain themselves in the narrow valleys. A large number who left at this time went to France.
But it was not long before another outlet for the surplus population was found in a country to which no thought had been previously given. In 1852 a young man by the name of Jean Pierre Planchon sailed from Marseilles on a sailing vessel. At the end of a long and dangerous journey he finally arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay. He shortly found employment in a confectioner's shop. Finding conditions in Uruguay to his liking he wrote to his brother in Villar Pellice, urging him to join him. The brother, Joseph Planchon and his family, along with others, arrived in Montevideo on February 3, 1857 and eventually there were forty five Waldensian families from the Piedmont area living in Uruguay.
From Uruguay (South America) to Monett, Missouri (USA)
The exodus from Uruguay which terminated in Monett, Missouri was headed by the Rev. Jean Pierre Michelin Solomon who had become dissatisfied with the living conditions. Many of the families found too much lawlessness and too frequent revolutions. Bands of soldiers were liable to descend on a farm at any time, demanding food, taking the best animals and sometimes forcing the young men to enter the military service.
Rev. Jean Pierre Michelin Solomon and his family left the colony of Rosario, Uruguay in February 1875 and sailed for New York where he awaited the arrival of additional families. Solomon and his wife, Rachel Marie, had five children; Abel, Samuel, Pierre, Will and an infant. The other families to arrive were:
These families had departed from Rosario, Uruguay on the sailing ship Isabelle, bound for Montevideo. From there they took a French steamer, Saint Martin, for Le Havre. They remained in Le Havre for two weeks, awaiting the British steamship, Denmark, which arrived at Castle Gardens, New York, on July 4, 1875 where they were met by the Rev. Solomon and his family.
After remaining for a few days in New York the newcomers boarded a train for St. Louis, Missouri. On the way an accident occurred. The engine of the train has passed over a trestle which gave way, tipping over the coaches. Etienne Courdin, Jr. was slightly cut on the head.
Mr. & Mrs. Solomon were obliged to remain in St. Louis with their child who was desperately ill. Other members of the group proceeded without their leader to Verona, which is about ten miles north of Plymouth (now Monett). Here they were met at midnight by the Rev. Mr. Miller, of Mount Vernon. A few days later, Mr. & Mrs. Solomon arrived with the body of their child, which they buried in Verona.
Settling in Monett
The colonists rented a large house where they remained for about three weeks, buying supplies, teams and household articles. Most of the members of the party were well supplied with money. They had brought considerable sums of English gold from Uruguay that they had sewn into their garments. Some families had as much as three thousand dollars. While the women and children remained in Verona, the men went to see the lands which had been offered for sale. Several tracts were available. The land agent, Colonel Purdy, of Pierce City, representing the railroad company, showed them some very suitable prairie land. Although they were advised to select a location at Spring River Prairie, they considered the land covered with trees to be more fertile. Furthermore, after having lived in Uruguay, where wood was very scarce, they were attracted by the lands heavily covered with various types of oak, hickory, and other hard woods. On the land which they selected the men erected temporary houses made of boards which they placed on end, forming huts like teepees.
The families then left Verona in wagons, going across country to Monett. Upon arrival they were cordially welcomed by the citizens of the region, who had to express their greetings with bows and smiles, as Solomon was the only member of the party who could speak English.
Their first summer was spent in clearing the land and erecting houses, it being too late for planting. Most of the colonists had bought forty acres or larger from the railroad company at four dollars an acre. After the trees had been felled the stumps were pulled out and the land plowed. Prairie grass was cut and stacked to provide for the oxen, cows and mules. Hunting was plentiful.
The most difficult task was the digging of wells. These were dug by hand and were usually six feet in diameter. The dirt had to be hoisted out by boxes or buckets. Many wells were dug to a considerable depth without success and had to be abandoned. On the Planchon farm, for example, a well was dug to the depth of sixty feet where a small supply of water was struck. Then the digging continued to a depth of one hundred feet, without additional streams being found. It was three years before suitable wells were available on all the farms.
The first winter was very severe. To the settlers accustomed to the mild climate of Uruguay, the blizzards and sub-zero weather of the Ozarks were most trying. They had an ample supply of firewood but their houses were not substantial enough to keep out the cold. The water holes were frozen so that water had to be brought from Pierce City. The cattle were driven four miles to Bethel Spring. Some water was obtained by melting quantities of snow in kettles hung at the fireplace.
The Early Years in Monett
The first years in Barry County were difficult. Many were discouraged and homesick but by hard work they kept the cattle alive through summer droughts and severe winters and they raised good crops of wheat, corn, oaks, potatoes, sorghum and beans.
Solomon organized religious services for the colonies soon after their arrival and in the fall of 1876 they were organized and incorporated as a church and affiliated with Ozark Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America.
Jean Pierre Planchon and D.W. Courdin were elected trustees of the new congregation and Etienne Arnaud was elected elder. There were twenty two adult charter members. During the first few years services were held in the summer and fall under the oaks in the open air. During the winter the worshippers met in Solomon's home and later in the Talbert School which was about three miles from the center. A Sunday School was organized with fifty members. Some of the members were children of Baptist and Methodist families which lived in the neighborhood. To accommodate these American children, English was spoken during part of the services. But by 1878 the American families had withdrawn their children and started schools of their own. At that time French again became the only language in the colony school. It was not until 1903 that it became necessary to conduct Sunday School in both French and English. By 1907 English was the primary language used.
By 1879 Jean Pierre Planchon owned a large farm of two hundred and twenty acres, with immense fields of corn, sorghum, Irish and sweet potatoes. He had a good wooden house with hundreds of chickens and many hogs. There were cows, oxen and horses in the uncultivated areas. This was the largest farm of the colony. Most of the other Waldensians having one hundred and sixty acres.
The Colony Expands
There were now nine Waldensian families, making a population of fifty four. Including three other European families, there was a total population of seventy two in the colony.
During the early 1880's the Missouri Colony was increased by a considerable number of families from the Waldensians Valleys, France, Italy and Switzerland. In 1877 Jean Bouvier arrived from Pramollo with his wife and four children; James, Lydia, Marguerite and Ceserine. His oldest daughter, Louise had been left behind with her grandparents, Jacques and Elizabeth Long. She joined the family the following year. In 1890 Louise grew up to marry Paul William Planchon who was the son of Jean Pierre. The Bouviers later had two more daughters, Catherine and Fannie.
Jean Bouvier wrote of the good conditions to his brother-in-law, Pierre Francois Reynaud of Pramollo which resulted in the emigration of another group of Waldensians to Monett. Among them were:
From Pramollo: the families of Daniel Bounous, Francois Reynaud, J. Jacques Bertalot, and Jacques and Elizabeth Long (parents of Mesdames Bouvier and Reynaud)
From Angrogna: the families of Barthelemy Combe, Matthieu Gaudou and Pierre Bonnet
Some of these families had about $600 on their arrival and bought farms. Three of the families; the Bounous, Bertalot and Bonnet, purchased co-operatively, a farm of eighty acres at $12 an acre.
The colony was now thriving with adequate homes, a church building and a cemetery laid out. There were about eighteen yoke of oxen in the colony as well as many cows, pigs and chickens. Most of the colonists planted fifteen to twenty acres of corn, wheat and oats. There were no vineyards but some had cultivated a few Concord grapes. Peach and apple orchards were being set out on several farms. Good breaking plows and tools were in use. The grains were harvested with reapers. Most of the men and boys in the second emigration party worked on colony farms the first season - the maximum wage being fifty cents a day. The new arrivals were soon naturalized, most of them becoming members of the Republican party.
Later, frequent additions were made to the population of the colony. Some of these families were:
Lucien Marchand from Bern, Switzerland, who became an elder of the church
Ami and Charlotte Cuendet from Sainte Croix, Switzerland, to whom were born ten children
Epephane Bariquand and his wife, his brother, Claud and two children, from the Department of Saone et Loire, France
Louis and David Plavan and their brother Frank from the Waldensian Valley in 1883
Moise Griset and his wife, Antoinette and seven children from the Val Cluson
Jean Barolin and his wife and three children, from Villar
Paul Stebler from Switzerland, who became church treasurer, deacon and clerk
Henri Malan from the valleys in 1883
Henry de Jersey from the Island of Jersey, who became an elder in the church
Edward and Louis Schneider from Switzerland
Madame Jappa, Jean Beux, and Louis Rochon
On September 27, 1887 an event of great importance took place. The St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad moved its division headquarters from Pierce City to Plymouth Junction, and the small town became the busy railroad center of Monett, named for an important official of the New York Central Railroad. The Monett Town Company was formed. On May 7, 1888, the city attorney petitioned the Barry County Court for a charter as a fourth class city, there being more than five hundred and less than twenty five hundred inhabitants. The petition was granted and the court appointed S. J. Courdin, of the Waldensian colony, as the first mayor of Monett.
The church continued to grow, changing pastors frequently and growing in membership . Some of the members of the Monett colony did not settle definitely, some going to Wolf Ridge, Texas and others to California in search of greener pastures. Among those going to California and settling in the Santa Clara Valleys in 1882 were Auguste Maynier and family, Mr. & Mrs. Rivoir, Etienne Courdine, Jean P.S. Planchon and Martha Reynaud. In 1886 the last two married and returned to Monett. In September of 1893 four other Waldensian young men; Henri Malan, Emile W. Combe, David Plavan and Frank Plavan, left Monett for San Jose where they were employed by Jean P. S. Planchon in a vineyard.
Most of these early pioneers who came to California from Uruguay or the Waldensian Valleys by way of Monett are gone but there are many descendants, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who have intermarried with American stock, which makes it difficult to discern the Waldensian identity. Also Waldensians of Monett and Barry County and their descendants have not clung to their old Waldensian customs, traditions and celebrations.
But the fact that the virtues of these early Waldensian colonists was appreciated and recognized is shown by the following lines from an editorial in the Monett Times which was printed fifty two years after the establishment of the colony:
"These devout people have handed down to their posterity the same
principles which impelled them to leave oppression for the sake of their
religion. The Waldensian people of this district are a law abiding, sturdy
people, ambitious to develop all their faculties to the glory of God and
good citizenship. By their integrity, industry, loyalty to church, liberality
to the needs of others, and high respect for the laws, they, the people
of the Waldensian colony, cannot help but have a highly moral influence
in the community in which they live."