Editing Lafayette County, Missouri (section)

==History==
Lafayette County was settled primarily from migrants from the [[Upper South]]ern states of [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]] and [[Virginia]]. They brought [[slaves|enslaved people]] and slaveholding traditions and started cultivating crops similar to those in [[Middle Tennessee]] and Kentucky: [[hemp]] and [[tobacco]].

[[Peter Youree]] (1843-1914) was born here to merchant P. E. Youree and the former M. M. Zimmerman. As a young man, he enlisted in the Confederate forces from here, and gained the rank of captain during the American Civil War. Afterward, he settled in [[Shreveport, Louisiana]], where he married, became a successful merchant and banker, and served on the Caddo Parish Police Jury.

As a result of the migration from the South, this part of Missouri, and neighboring counties, became known as [[Little Dixie (Missouri)|Little Dixie]]. In 1860 [[slaves|enslaved people]] made up 25 percent or more of the county's population, and the county was strongly pro-[[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>T. J. Stiles, ''Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War'', New York: Vintage Books, 2003, pp. 10-11</ref>

But immigrants from Germany, as well as German Americans from [[St. Louis]], began arriving shortly before the war, with many more to come afterwards. Many of the Germans were sympathetic to the Union and opposed slavery. They eventually made up a large part of the populations of Concordia, Emma, Wellington, Napoleon, Higginsville, Mayview, and Lexington.

After the war, there were racial tensions as whites worked to dominate the freedmen. Following Reconstruction, whites lynched two blacks in the decades around the turn of the century.

Sunday May 4, 1919, Lafayette County Sheriff Joseph C. Talbott was killed while transporting car thieves to jail. Also killed were Deputy Sheriff John McDonald and Deputy Constable James Stapleton. On May 29, 1919, Lafayette County held a special election to replace Sheriff Talbott. Sheriff Talbott's wife, Minnie Mae Talbott, won the special election becoming the first woman elected to the office of Sheriff in the United States. Minnie Mae Talbott was sworn into office on June 8, 1919. Minnie Mae Talbott was elected by an all-male electorate. Women would not gain the right to vote until August 1920, with ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

===21st century===

In November 2013, Leland Ray Kolkmeyer pleaded guilty, in federal court, of a fraud scheme in which he embezzled more than $1.5 million from Wellington-Napoleon Fire Protection District and Special Road District while serving as their treasurer.<ref>[http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/22/4643124/public-servant-steals-15-million.html "Public servant steals $1.5 million from two tiny towns in Missouri"]; ''The Kansas City Star''; November 22, 2013</ref><ref>[http://fox4kc.com/2013/11/22/treasurer-admits-to-embezzling-over-1-million-from-small-towns-funds/ "Treasurer admits to embezzling over $1 million from small towns’ funds:]; Fox4KC; November 22, 2013.</ref><ref>[https://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2013/kolkmeyer.ple.html Treasurer for road district and fire district pleads guilty to embezzling $1.5 million; justice.gov; November 20, 2013.]</ref>