the railroad, and the county seat was moved from Georgetown to Sedalia.
When the war ended Oswald was sixty five years old, he was suffering from asthma and failing eyesight, his slaves had been freed, and he was going broke. When their hotel burned Oswald and Margaret managed to salvage a mattress in which they had hidden a thousand dollars. They sold their Georgetown properties, and bought a rooming and boarding house in Sedalia, where Margaret managed the boarding house which was filled with workmen from the railroad. Here their second daughter, Florence Augusta, married Milton Calvin Fall on January 1, 1878 in the parlor of Margaret's boarding house. Oswald died two months later on March 20, 1878 ending the career of one of Pettis County's earliest and most enterprising and energetic pioneers. In his will Oswald left all his property to Margaret whom he had come to love and respect for her care of him and his children and for her proven ability in judicious management of his property.
Although no records have been discovered, it is believed that Margaret was born in Boonesboro, Clark County, Kentucky in 1819. Her mother had died when Margaret was young, and she had continued living as a spinster house keeper in the home of her father, James Marshall. Her father had apparently discouraged suitors of Margaret fearing that he would lose a house keeper. This situation may help one understand why Margaret at the age of thirty seven years went to Missouri either in the company of Oswald or in effect as a mail order bride to meet Oswald in Missouri. She and Oswald were married in Johnson County, the next county west of Pettis County. Margaret applied herself diligently to the tasks of raising (Dswald's children as well as her own three children, and also running the hotel in Georgetown. After the war as their family financial situation began to look bleak and Oswald's health was failing, Margaret took the initiative in managing what was left of Oswald's affairs. After their hotel burned, Oswald and Margaret moved to Sedalia where they bought and Margaret operated a rooming and boarding house which catered chiefly to the numerous workmen on the railroad. After Oswald's death Margaret continued to operate the boarding house until her health also failed. She then built a one room cabin on the farm of her daughter, Florence Augusta. The cabin was built at Margaret's expense and was built a short distance north of the log cabin previously described. Margaret lived in this cabin until her death in l893 at the age of seventy four years. She had been a faithful, devoted and hard working wife and mother.
About the time that Margaret died in 1893, Milton's log cabin was replaced by a sixteen by twenty four foot frame structure and connected to Margaret's cabin to form the "L" shaped frame house the author remembers as a small boy in 1936. At that time the author and his brother, James, slept in the north bedroom which had originally been Margaret's cabin while our parents slept in the bedroom created by the connecting link. These bedrooms formed the short leg of the "L" of the house. The author recalls several trips in company with Keith Eads back to look at the old house during the 50's and 60's as the house