John Smith Phelps, one of the original organizers of Greene County Democrats was born in  Simsbury in Hartford County, Connecticut on December 22, 1814. He and his wife came to St. Louis to visit her relatives and decided that Missouri would be a great place to move to. In 1837 they settled in Springfield and set up his law practice.  In 1840 he was elected to represent Greene County in the Missouri General Assembly. Having served four years, Phelps was elected to Congress in 1845. Prior to leaving for Washington he worked to organize the Democrats of Greene County.

The first meeting of the Greene County Democrats was held on March 6, 1845, following are the minutes of the meeting.

“The democrats of Greene County, MO held a meeting. On motion Judge Solomon H. Owen was appointed President, Judge Alex Younger and Larkin Paine Esq’r, Vice Presidents, and J. W. Gray, Secretary. After calling the meeting to order the President  appointed a committee to draft resolutions to be adopted by the body. Committee members appointed were James S. Headlee, Elijah Gray, A. L. Yarbrough, Hosea Mullins, J. M. Bailey, Joshua Dabis, Kindred Rose and W. H. Graves. And after an absence for a short time the committee reported the following resolutions were unanimously adopted.”

Thirteen resolutions were introduced ranging  from current national and state political activities to organizing Greene County Democrats. The thirteenth resolution was that the President appoint three persons in each township in the county to be called the “Democratic Committee Of Greene County” whose duty it shall be to lay before their respective townships all information in their power calculated to promote the democratic cause, and it is also their duty to call democratic township and county meetings.