Bethel in the North River Valley, five miles from Shelbyville, was founded in 1844 as a religious communal colony by Wilhelm Keil and his German-American followers. Keil, an independent preacher, called his adherents Christians. Without a written agreement, they shared property and labor, though private earnings were allowed. The community became known early for its handicrafts and musical band. Membership was about 650 in 1855, when Keil, fearing Bethel was too subject to outside influence, led a group west and established Aurora colony in Oregon. Their journey over the Oregon Trail was conducted as a funeral cortege after Keil's son Willie died before his father fulfilled a promise to lead the group; Willie was carried in the head wagon in a metal box filled with alcohol and, after six months and more than 2,000 miles, was buried at Willapa, Wash. Keil never returned to Bethel and directed affairs there by letter. When the colonies disbanded from 1879 to 1881, they held property in common valued at $109,806, of which Bethel supplied $64,328 and 4,267 acres. Bethel's small settlements included Elim, Mamri, and Hebron in Shelby County, while Nineveh lay in Adair County, and Keil's mansion stands at Elim east of Bethel. Shelby County, a fertile prairie region known for grain and livestock farms, bluegrass, and saddle horses, was organized in 1835 and named for Kentucky's first governor, Isaac Shelby. Its county seat, Shelbyville, was laid out in 1835. Hunnewell, Shelbina, and Clarence were laid out in 1857 by officials of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, the first across Missouri, in 1859. During the Civil War, Shelbyville was a Union post; Shelbina saw a battle in 1861 and a raid in 1864; and the Salt River railroad bridge near Hunnewell was burned twice in 1861 and partially in 1864. U.S. Grant's first active command of the war was of the 21st Illinois Infantry guarding the rebuilding of the bridge in July 1861. Methodist Bishop William F. McMurry was a native of Shelby County.