Abraham & Martha Onstott House

Story

Abraham Worth Onstott (1849-1933) and Martha Corwin Onstott (1853-1929) were considered Joplin pioneer residents and were widely known in social and religious circles.  Abraham was in the mining business for 25 years and was a member of the original committee which formed the Old Settlers Association of Jasper County.

Young Abraham was well acquainted with the Civil War guerrilla chief William Quantrill having met him when his troops camped at the Onstott place for a time in 1863.  The family home was near Center Creek in Carthage.  While Abraham’s father, Judge John Onstott, was held as a hostage by the federal government, Indians in the employ of the federal government, raided and looted the Onstott home.  About a year later, members of the federal militia burned the Onstott home believing Confederate guerrillas had been fed there. 

 At 18 years old, Abraham worked the cattle drives from Texas to Kansas over the old Chism Trail.  The Joplin Globe reported, “Later he served as a scout on the western plains where he was called White Head by the Indians.  His activities as an Indian fighter so incensed the Indian Chief, Geronimo, that the chief placed a price on Mr. Onstott’s head.”  Ironically, well before the war, Indians had encamped around the Onstott property near Carthage, were peaceful and the family had no trouble.

 The couple lived in this house until Martha died in her home of complications due to an automobile accident. 

Architecture - Arched, boxed eaves ornament the gable ends.  An enclosed shed roof porch projects from the east elevation.  A full-width hip roof porch spans the west elevation.  It has Ionic columns on square posts and a gabled pediment at the center entrance.  An arched opening with a keystone and a projecting sill and brackets pierces the cross-gable.