USA > Kansas > Brown County > Annals of Brown County, Kansas : from the earliest records to January 1, 1900 > Part 1
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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01064 7896
ANNALS
OF -
BROWN COUNTY, KANSAS.
FROM THE EARLIEST RECORDS TO JANUARY 1 1900
COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY GRANT W. HARRINGTON
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER KANSAS DEMOCRAT-9
HIAWATHA, KANSAS.
1903.
HARRINGTON PRINTING CO. HIAWATHA, -
-
KANSAS
1214155 What The Annals Contain,
During the session of the legislature at Topeka in 1897 I was clerk of Senator Harris's Committee on Railroads. A good part of my leisure time was spent in the rooms of the State Historical Society. There I found a file of Sol Miller's Kansas Chief from its earliest number. In looking it over I found that it contained many items of interest about the early settle- ment of Brown county. In fact, it was more of a Brown county newspa- per than it was a Doniphan county paper. I knew that Capt. Lacock had kept a complete file of all the papers published at Hiawatha, and it oc- curred to me that from these two sources the material could be gathered for an interesting history of Brown county, and I determined to com- mence the work.
The plan followed has been that of Wilder's Annals of Kansas. I have endeavored to note every Brown county happening of interest with the names of its participants and the principal work done. In brief, these are the things it contains:
1. Every election table in the history of the county, giving vote by precinets in state, county, township and city elections.
2. A complete writeup of every county convention, political and other- wise, giving committees appointed, list of delegates in full, resolutions adopted, ballots taken and candidates nominated.
3. A notation of every state or national convention where a Brown county man figured in any way.
4. An account of the organization of each school district in the county with the names of those who composed the first board.
5. The chartering by the state of every semi-public corporation, such as churches, lodges, etc., with the date of charter and list of incorporators.
6. The organization of every lodge, church, grange, alliance or other society. with the list of charter members.
7. The advent of each newspaper, its change of ownership or its un- timely death.
8. The meetings of the county fair and the farmers' institute, with the programs and the list of officers.
9. A complete roster, alphabetically arranged, of the Brown county
boys who enlisted in the war of the rebellion, giving company and regiment.
10. A complete roster of the Brown county boys who enlisted in the Spanish-American war.
11. An account of the laying of cornerstones of churches and other public buildings.
12. A thorough index.
Part II consists of Biographies. The first chapter is entitled the Bench and the Bar and contains sketches of practically all the lawyers of the county past and present The second chapter tells the same story for the newspaper boys. Then comes a chapter on the pioneers, who came to the county before the war. This is followed by several chapters telling of the leading citizens of the county who have contributed towards making it the best county in Kansas.
The matter has run from week to week as a sort of continued story in the Democrat and put in book form afterwards. Every effort has been made to get dates, names and initials right but some errors have of neces- sity crept in. These I would be glad to have corrected and will gladly welcome any information and incorporate it in future editions of the book.
GRANT W. HARRINGTON.
JOHN SCHILLING.
HOOGCACO HARD WARE
Oregon Street, Hiawatha, 1873.
The first house in picture Is Dr. Graves residence. The Graham clothing store now takes its place. In the next building J. N. Davis ran a little cigar factory. The ground is now occupied by Mrs Miner's fine two-story brick. Next door was Hodge's Hardware store. Jas. Falloon had a law office in the front room upstairs, while the rear was occupied by the Odd Fellows' lodge rooms. The Noble building now occupies this ground. The old building has been moved across the track and is now occupied by Lawrence & Culp for a blacksmith shop. Next came the billlard Hall. This was the headquarters for the Hiawatha Social Club and the seat of the beer war two years later. Pottenger's brick now occupies the ground. Eli Allendorf's old stand will be readily recognized. On the corner is the Barnett & Morrill bank building, just completed and the only brick build- ing In the town. Across the street is a little frame shack where W. B. Barnett used to keep store and where Geo. Adams' fine building now stands-Kansas Democrat, Jan. 25, 1900.
ANNALS OF BROWN COUNTY.
1849.
"The California trail crossed Brown county. It entered the county on the eastern border, nearly midway north and south, and wound along on the divides, avoiding all streams on account of the difficulties in crossing; passing on the north of Drummond's Branch, crossing the western part of the present site of Hiawatha, then following the divide between the headwaters of the Wolf and Walnut; left the county near the present site of Sabetha. Hundreds of teams and thousands of persons had probably passed over the trail -Morrill's History of Brown County.
1854.
APRIL 10. Wm. Gentry and H. C. Gragg settled in Powhattan township. D. M. Lochnane came with them and settled just across the line in Nemaha county.
MAY 11. Thurston Chase and Jas. Gibbons marked claims on Wolf River. MAY - Wm. and Jas. Metts settled in Hamlin township.
MAY 30. President Pierce signed the Act organizing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.
JULY 17. Treaty proclaimed with the Kickapoos by which they are to be given 150,000 acres of land between the Deleware reservation and the Great Nemaha. The selection is to be made within six months.
-Treaty proclaimed locating the Sacs and Foxes on the Great Nemalia.
NOVEMBER 2. J. P. Johnson (now a resident. of Highland) contracts to survey the base line between Kansas and Nebraska for 108 miles west. The government paid $1,006.32 for this survey. Hon. C. W. Johnson, of Hiawatha, gives the following account of the work:
"J. P. Johnson and C. W. Johnson, William Sugg and a Swiss left St. Louis on the steamer "Polar Star" or "White Cloud" and landed at Fort Leavenworth the 7th of October and camped there two weeks "outfitting," then crossed over to Missouri at Weston and marched to St. Joseph, a small town boasting of 5,000 inhabitants. Kansas City was known as Westport Land- ing and consisted mostly of a long warehouse and bales of hemp and hogsheads of tobacco and a dash of whiskey, sugar, coffee. salt, etc. Leavenworth had been staked off, perhaps surveyed, three or four weeks before. I remember they were roofing the first real hotel, a two story frame. Shanties, tents and brush camps were abundant. Our party liked the town site, but the com- mandant at the Fort swore he would wipe them all off in a few days and so we did not invest. After staying a week or two in Oregon, Holt County, we camped on the Missouri side just below the mouth of the Nemaha. An officer from Washington established the line and on November 10th chaining and lining commenced. The line was run across eighteen ranges to the Sixth meridian where Township One of Range One, east and west, lie side by side. The work aver- aged six miles per day and was concluded on the 29th, and the returning party reached the Missouri river at Iowa Point December 5th. I was official "corner marker" and had two assist- ants and should have had a team to haul corner stones. I was required to keep a note book with the bearings of each section and township corner, but this amounted to little, as buffalo chips were about the only permanent objects in sight after leaving the Nemaha, Turkey creek and the two Blues. On the return march we camped upon the creek passing John Walters' farm, where the old California Trail crossed it, with little suspicion that a city would grow up within two miles of us. Kansas was then one universal mass of black. The prairies were burned almost entirely and charcoal and cinders and ashes filled the air in high winds and set-
6
ANNALS OF BROWN COUNTY.
[1854-55
tled in the deep ravines like snow drifts. The party was deceived as to the quality of the land. Fifty miles from the Missouri river the fire had burned a glaze over the surface that crackled under our feet as if we had been walking on empty egg shells. From Marysville west the land, except in the bottoms, was reported poor and nearly barren. A fault in the very starting of the contracts caused Calhoun to condemn this line. It was run too with Burt's Solar Compass and the work verified by a transit in charge of the late Ira H. Smith. The line was doubly chained and a descrepancy of two inches caused the re-chaining back to the point of last con- currence. Deer were common and turkeys were plenty at the timber belts, where there must have been something to eat, for there was nothing on the black ridges."
NOVEMBER 8. The territory is divided into sixteen election districts by Gov. Reeder. The territory now known as Brown county wasin the 14th district.
DECEMBER. During the fall of this year Isaac Swaim and Robert Rhea settled in Walnut township near Carson school house; Jacob Englehart set- tled in Hiawatha township on the farm now owned by B. F. Partch.
1855.
FEBRUARY. The Territorial Legislature creates the county of Browne, named after O. H. Browne, a member of that body, and attaches it to the county of Doniphan. It is bounded as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of Doniphan county, thence west twenty-four miles, thence south thirty miles, thence east to the west line of Atchison county, thence north to the northwest corner of Atchison County, thence east with said north line of Atchison county to the northwest corner of Doniphan county, thence north with said west line of Doniphan county to the beginning. The mistake in the description is apparent.
-Among the special acts passed by this legislature is one providing for the laying out and establishing of a territorial road from St. Joseph to the town of Marysville. Also to locate and establish a territorial road from Atchison to Marysville. Both these roads lay across Browne county.
MARCH 13. Sol McCall and L. Ashby settle in Irving township.
APRIL 3. E. R. Cornelison settles on Walnut creek in Padonia township.
JULY 23. Ira H. Smith contracts to run the township lines in Browne county. The returns are made October 1st, and contracts are then let for sur- veying the sub-divisions and the various contracts are all completed before the close of the year.
AUGUST -. Isaac Short born. Probably the first white child born in the county.
SEPTEMBER 10. Joanna Duncan, daughter of Wm. Duncan, born.
SEPTEMBER 17. The Commissioners of Doniphan county pass the follow- ing orders:
"That the county of Browne be and is hereby organized as a municipal township to be known as Browne County Township.
"That the territorial election for delegate to the next Congress of the United States be held at the house of W. C. Foster, on the south fork of the Nemaha, for the county of Browne and that Wm. C. Foster, Wm. Purket and E. W. Short be appointed judges to hold the same.
"That John C. Boggs and Wm. C. Foster be appointed Justices of the Peace and that Wm. Purket be appointed Constable for the County of Browne."
SEPTEMBER 20. John Bunn, son of J. K. Bunn, born.
OCTOBER 1. The first election in the county is held pursuant to the order made by the commissioners of Doniphan county. Four votes were cast, all being for J. W. Whitefield for delegate to Congress.
7
ANNALS OF BROWN COUNTY.
1855-56]
NOVEMBER 9. Commissions issued to John C. Boggs and W. C. Foster as Justices of the Peace for the county of Browne and to Wm. Purket as Constable.
DECEMBER. Among the settlers this year are A. B. Anderson, supposed to be the first settler in Washington township, and Wm. Nash and Moses Proctor, supposed to be the first settlers in Mission township. Nash died sometime in the fall, probably the first settler to die in the county.
-Religious services were held this year by Rev. Allspaugh, of the M. E. church, in the grove near John Belks. These were undoubtedly the first ser- vices of the kind ever held in the county.
1856.
JANUARY 21. The commissioners of Doniphan county appointed John W. Smith as assessor for Browne and Doniphan counties and A. Hayes as cen- sus taker.
JUNE 16. The commissioners of Doniphan assess Browne county $104.25, expense of locating a territorial road from Atchison to Marysville.
JULY 22. The commissioners of Doniphan county order the boundry line between Browne and Doniphan to be surveyed.
AUGUST 7. Gen. Jas. H. Lane with a party of 400 from Iowa entered the county from the north. The Lane road struck Brown county at Pony creek and followed a line west of south from there to Topeka. This party founded Plymouth in town 1, range 15 and Lexington three miles southeast of Sabetha in town 2, range 15. Breastworks were thrown up at Plymouth and a small fort of hewn logs was erected at Lexington.
SEPTEMBER 16. The commissioners of Doniphan create two townships of Browne county. Ranges 15 and 16 form Walnut township and ranges 17 and 18 Mission township. The voting place in Walnut township is fixed at the house of W. C. Foster and in Mission township at the house of Henry Smith. W. C. Foster is named as election judge in Walnut township and Henry Smith, Thompson and James Smith for Mission township.
SEPTEMBER 16. The rate of tax for county purposes for Brown county is fixed at fifty cents for each poll and one-sixth of one per cent. on all taxable property by the Doniplian commissioners.
OCTOBER 6. Second election held. J. W. Whitefield has sixteen votes for delegate to Congress and X. K. Stout, B. O. Driscoll and T. W. Waterson, all residents of Doniphan, seventeen votes each for members of the legislature. Sixteen votes are cast in favor of a constitutional convention.
NOVEMBER 17. John W. Smith is allowed $46.00 for as-essing Browne county.
DECEMBER 1. E. M. Hubbard, superintendent of the Kickapoo Mission, opens a school for the Indians in the new mission building near Kennekuk. This was the first school taught in the county. Under the treaty with the Kickapoos they were to have a school. The Protestant Board of Foreign Mis- sions made them a proposition to build one, but the proposition was rejected. The board proceeded to build the mission, however, without further consulta- tion with the Indians. The building was to have been completed by July 15, but it was late in the fall before the work was done. The government set aside $3000 from the Indian funds to support the school. The Indians did not take kindly to the arrangements and very few children were allowed to attend. In
8
ANNALS OF BROWN COUNTY.
[1856-57
June, 1859, the board abandoned tlie school. In 1861 it was opened again under the auspices of the M. E. Church South, the government appropriating $75.00 out of the school fund for each pupil enrolled. In October it was closed again until June 11, 1865, when a day school was opened by Indian Agent Adams, now secretary of the State Historical Society. This day school was kept up until 1871 when the building was torn down and the material used in the new school building on the Diminished Reserve.
DECEMBER 26. M. C. Willis is commissioned as a justice of the peace.
1857.
FEBRUARY 14. The legislature detaches Browne county from Doniphan, locates the temporary county seat at Claytonville; provides for the election of three commissioners to locate the permanent county seat, and provides that the legislature shall elect a probate judge, sheriff and two commissioners for the county who shall hold office until the general election in October, 1857. Geo. E Clayton was chosen as probate judge, Henry Smith and D. M. Loch- nane as commissioners and Pettus Thompson as sheriff. Lochnane was not a resident of the county and Thompson refused to qualify.
FEBRUARY 14. The Greenwood Town Company, Browne county, is incor- porated. Walter R. Brewster, William Barnes, Martin P. Rively and Albert G. Otis are the incorporators.
-The legislature incorporates Breckenridge College to be located at or near Lodiana City in Browne county. W. H. Honnell, Samuel M. Irvin, F. P. Mont- fort, Walter Lowrie, Robert J. Breckenridge, John Ford, Elijah M. Hubbard, Henry W. Honnell, John M. Scott, John Calhoun, Austin R. Forman, J. P. Blair and James G. Bailey are named as directors.
-FEBRUARY 14. The legislature incorporates the "Newcastle Coal and General Mining Co." for the purpose of exploring for coal and other minerals in Doniphan and Browne counties.
FEBRUARY 17. The Hiawatha Town Co. is incorporated. John M. Coe, John P. Wheeler and Thomas J. Drummond are the incorporators and they are empowered to purchase and lay off not to exceed 640 acres of land where the town of Hiawatha is located and adjoining the same.
-The Claytonville Town Co. is incorporated with power to locate 320 acres of land. The incorporators are Albert Heed, J. Plowman, George E. Clayton and E. Kemper.
-William Sublette, James F. Forman and J. R. Plowman are appointed by the legislature to locate a territorial road from Doniphan to Claytonville in Browne county .
FEBRUARY 19. William Matthews, Hampton Kent and Frank M. Mahan are appointed by the legislature a board of commissioners to mark out and locate a territorial road from Palermo in Doniphan county to the town of Clay- tonville in Browne county.
FEBRUARY 20. The Springfield Town Co. is incorporated with power to prempt 640 acres of land in Brown county. Thomas W. Waterson, Henry C. Murdock, Thomas J. Drummond and Cyrus Dolman are the incorporators.
-The counties of Browne, Nemeha, Marshall, Pottowattamie and Riley constitute the fourth council district.
-Albert Heed, Henry Smith and J. K. Plowman are appointed by the leg- islature to establish a territorial road from Marysville, via. Richmond and
9
ANNALS OF BROWN COUNTY.
1857]
Claytonville, to the town of Troy. On July 20 they report to the county com- missioners that they have finished the work and are allowed $8 00 each for their services.
-The territoral legislature redescribes the boundries of Browne county . It gets it correct this time.
FEBRUARY 27. Browne and Nemalia counties made the second election district.
MARCH 1. The assessors returns show 130 taxpayers and the following property:
4 slaves valued at. $ 1,400 00
135 horses and mules valued at 10,903 00
684 cattle valued at 15,855 00
1 pleasure carriage valued at 15 00
54 time pieces valued at
390 00
Money .
3,500 00
Bonds and notes
2,415 00
Total $38,078 00
MARCH 16. The new board of county commissioners formerly organizes and holds the first court ever held in the county. £ Present, Geo. E. Clayton, probate judge and Henry Smith, commissioner. The following appointments were made: Clerk, James Waterson; sheriff, James A. Fulton; treasurer, John Dunbar; surveyor, Ira H. Smith; coroner, E. M. Hubbard; justice of the peace for Claytonville township, M. C. Willis; assessor, Joseph A. Brown, and Wm. Page, constable for Claytonville township. Later in the day the appointment of Fulton is revoked. The county is divided into four municipal townships nearly equal in extent of territory. The northeast township is called Irving, the southeast Claytonville, the northwest Walnut Creek and the southwest Lochnane.
MARCH 31. Commissioners meeting. Richard L. Oldham is appointed treasurer and James A. Fulton is appointed sheriff.
-On petition of Jas. A. Fulton, Richard Hanley, N. Kimberlin and others John H. Whitehead is granted a license to sell liquors at his store in Kennekuk for six months from April 1st upon payment of $25.00.
-It is ordered that $500.00 be appropriated to build a court house on the north square in Claytonville; said house to be a frame 20 feet wide and 30 feet long and to be enclosed by June Ist. Richard Oldham is appointed a commis- sioner to build the house.
-A tax levy of one-sixth of one per cent. for county purposes and one-sixtli of one per cent. for building purposes is ordered.
-M. C. Willis is appointed allotting justice for Claytonville township.
-C. B. Magill is appointed justice of the peace and allotting justice for Lochnane township.
-Wm. R. Penick is given a county warrant (probably the first ever drawn) for $21.75 for books and stationery.
-It is ordered that all persons who have settled upon school lands prior to the survey appear on April 20th and prove up their pre-emptions.
-APRIL 20. Commissioners meeting. The following plans are laid down for the new court house:
"That said building be thirty feet long and twenty feet wide and ten feet high from the top of the sill to the top of the plate. Said building to be built and enclosed with two ten-foot rooms cut off in the back with studding petitions. To be weatherboarded with oak, walnut, cotton
10
ANNALS OF BROWN COUNTY.
[1857
wood or sycamore weatherboarding. To be covered with cottonwood shingles. The roof to be between a third and fourth pitch, with good substantial sleepers and joice of cottonwood or oak. A floor of cottonwood, oak or sycamore to be laid down loose. To have one outside door and two petition doors of pine, with two windows at each end and three windows on each side, size twelve by fourteen lights. And the said building shall be completed by first day of July, 1857."
-Joseph A. Brown is appointed justice of the peace for Claytonville town- ship.
-Thomas Brigham, Isaac H. Barkley, John Page, Marcellus Sawin and Nathan Kimborlin prove up their pre-emption rights to school lands on which they had settled before the survey . It is ordered that each one pay $1.25 per acre into the school fund. The government refused to recognize this dispo- sition and required the parties to prove their settlements in the U. S. land office.
-The county treasurer is authorized to borrow all school monies paid in at the rate of 15 per cent. per annum for county purposes.
APRIL -. Early this year M. L. Sawin built a store where the Carson school house now stands which was probably the first store in the county.
MAY 18. E. H. Niles, Thurston Chase, Noah Hanson and others petition to have a school district organized in town 2, range 16. This seems to have been the first district organized in the county, but no record can be found as to whether a school was ever hield or not.
-On petition of H. W. Honnell, D. S. Chapson, E. M. Hubbard and others a county road was ordered from Ottar creek near Anderson's, by way of Lodi- ana, to the Atchison and Marysville state road, and Henry W. Honnell, E. M. Hubbard and Sidney Guiwn were appointed viewers.
MAY 19. On petition of T. J. Kinyon, Noah Hanson, Wm. McBryde and others a county road is ordered from the Doniphan county line, by Roys creek crossing. near the home of Mr. McCaul, thence west to the Walnut creek cross- ing near the home of James Winkles, thence west to the old California road. E. H. Niles, I. B. Heaton and Wm. C. Foster are appointed viewers.
-Voting precincts are established as follows: For Walnut Creek town- ship, at the house of W. C. Foster; for Irving township, at the house of J. B. Heaton at Mount Roy; for Lochinane township, at the house of C. W. McGill: for Claytonville township, at the hotel. Judges are named as follows: Wal- nut Creek, Wm. C. Foster, E. H. Niles and John Powe; Irving, Lewis Dunn, Loyd Ashby and John Balew; Lochnane, H. C. Gragg, C. W. McGill and John G. Spencer; Claytonville, Thos. J. Dunn, R. L. Oldham and Joseph A. Brown.
-Lewis Dunn is appointed justice of the peace and Willian Dunn con- stable for Irving township.
-A petition is received from settlers asking for the organization of school districts in town 3, range 18. They are authorized to meet at the house of Mr. Thompson for that purpose.
-John N. Barnes is appointed constable for Lochnane township.
MAY 20. Acting Governor Stanton issues bis proclamation calling for an election for delegates to the Lecompton constitutional convention. Brown and Nemalia constitute the Second district and are entitled to two delegates. The number of legal voters in Brown according to this proclamation is 206. No return is made of the total population .
MAY 27. John C. Powe is appointed administrator of the estate of Jacob Strange, deceased. He gives bond in the sum of $5000, with E. H. Niles and
11
ANNALS OF BROWN COUNTY.
1857]
E. N. Morrill as sureties. This is the first estate to be administered on in the county .
MAY -. Samuel Shields opens the first white school in the county. His son, J. F. Shields, under date of April 12, 1897, writes as follows:
"My father and myself (I being a minor) located on the Kry place in April, 1857. There was no house completed on the place at that time, but a log house was partly built when he bought the claim. We set to work at once and finished the house that spring, and soon after the house was in readiness to occupy my father opened a subscription school. I have no dates to refer to and cannot tell when the school opened or when it closed, but my impression is that it was taught for three months, probably beginning in May or June. My impression is that it was the first school in the county. I remember that there was nothing on the Hiawatha town- site except a frame building which was used by Seth Barnum as a hotel."
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