Rachel Boone brought her infant son John William "Willie" "Blind" Boone to Warrensburg, Missouri in 1864 shortly after he was born in Miami, Missouri. He lost his eyesight as an infant, but he expressed an early interest in music and residents of…

J. H. Christopher purchased the land just one and half miles south of Warrensburg in 1884 that came to be known as Pertle Springs. The faith leaders of the community approached Christopher in 1886 and asked if he would support bringing Sam Jones and…