Hi Donna,

I have never been to MissourI, but hopefully will one day. My great grandfather, Pierce Asbill, was born in Howard County, MO in about 1835.

He carried that wild, rough MissourI reputation with him to California. When Pierce and his brother Frank began their early exploits in California in the late 1850's, they were said to have dressed in buckskin clothes and moccassins like the mountain men and fur traders. They had long hair past their shoulders, Pierces hair was black and wavy, and he had dark blue eyes. They were hide hunters in the early years and spent most of their time in the isolated, and largely unexplored wilderness that much of northern California was at that date. When they wanted to have some fun, they would ride into one of the gold mining camps that dotted the foothills of the Sierra's, making a grand entrance on their Spanish stallions, and their guns ablaze. Most of the miners ran for cover when the "Wild Missourians" came into town.