Isabella, Missouri Post Office today.Photo byGoogle Maps.

Isabella is an unincorporated community in Ozark County, Missouri dating back to the mid-1850s. The largest city and county seat of Ozark County is Gainesville. It's believed this small community was named after an early postmaster's daughter, Isabella Bratten.

Ozark County is located in the Ozark region of Southern Missouri. There are many unincorporated communities in this county.

Isabella is about 13 miles west of Gainesville and two miles east of the Village of Theodosia and Bull Shoals Lake on U.S. Highway 60 and State Highway HH. The population is 549.

The post office in Isabella has been operating since 1856 and was the third post office established in Ozark County. Its founder was Henry A. Bratten.

In the 1880's the community had several stores, two hotels, and a college which I assume wasn't large. However, in the 1890s, several stores were destroyed by fire which halted the community's growth.

Since the mid-1860s, the Isabella Cemetery has been a burial ground. It's located along U.S. 160 and is west of a store and post office in Isabella.

Isabella Cemetery.Photo byGoogle Maps.

Henry A. Bratten

Bratten was born near Liberty, Tennessee in 1824. He died on September 3, 1896, at 2:25 a.m. close to Fayetteville, Missouri. He was 71. He came to Isabella, Missouri when he was a young boy.

Bratten married Martha Cantrell in 1844. He was a merchant and postmaster for several years in Isabella.

During the Civil War, he moved to Johnson County, Missouri. He purchased R.C. Graham's farm. This is where he lived until he passed away. After his first wife died, he married the widow of Craig Graham, Nancy Ann Taylor Graham, in 1873.

Thanks for reading.