This is a story of two men, H.T. Jackson and Thomas Jefferson Turner. Both men lived in Stone County and both vanished mysteriously in the late 1800's. They each departed from their homes never to return, leaving their families to wonder still to this day what circumstances could have led up to their disappearances. I do not know if they knew each other or if the following events occurred at the exact same time. However, the similarities of their disappearance leaves one to wonder if the strange happenings are not in some way connected.

Thomas Jefferson Turner and his wife, Rhoda Ellen Beal Turner lived with their children about four miles east of Hurley, Missouri. Thomas operated a saw mill near there and started off to work one morning, never to be seen again. Although it was believed he was going to the saw mill, a cousin said that Thomas was on his way to Billings, Missouri to do carpenter work. No one knows if he was traveling on horseback or in a buggy.

The other man, H.T. Jackson lived with his wife Molly Marean Gold Jackson, daughter of William C. and Sara Gold. Molly's parents lived on the old Wire Road in Stone County. At the time of H.T.'s disappearance he was suffering from a fever, and left his wife and young son at her parent's home to go in search of medical treatment. He never came back to retrieve his family.

A few days after the disappearance of H.T. Jackson an unidentifiable corpse was found by a railroad track near Billings. The corpse was wearing H.T.'s clothing. Molly refused to claim the body, and insisted that it was not her husband.

I suppose all sorts of predicaments could have occurred in those days to explain the mystery of the two men. In the late 1800's there were wild bears and wolves still roaming the area, as well as post Civil War bushwhackers prowling the back roads, railways and woods looking for victims to rob and kill. One could speculate that perhaps the two men decided separately just to leave and make a new life somewhere else. After all, existence in those days must have been pretty stressful, filled with the daunting task of making sure your family survived. It surely was a dismal and discouraging era.

Perhaps the answer lies in Billings, Missouri. There in Charity Cemetery are two graves marked only with field stone. Who lies in those graves? Could it be H.T. Jackson or Thomas Jefferson Turner? Thomas may have been traveling to Billings, and H.T.'s clothing was found on the corpse there. Maybe these two graves are the final resting place of both men.

H.T. Jackson was the great-great-grandfather of Paul Jackson. Thomas Jefferson Turner was my great-great-grandfather. These unsolved mysteries surrounding the two men have been passed down to us through our separate families from generation to generation. It is not likely that the answer to the puzzle will be found. We will pass these stories on as they were told to us and conceivably our descendants will discover the answers to the mystery of H.T. Jackson and Thomas Jefferson Turner.