USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > Historical sketch of Shawnee County, Kansas : prepared for the occasion of the centennial celebration, July 4, 1876 > Part 1
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167010
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF
Shawnee County
KANSAS.
PREPARED FOR THE OCCASION OF THE
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION,
JULY 4, 1876.
TOPEKA, KANSAS : COMMONWEALTH STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE. 1876.
Giles, Frya.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
hawnee
County,
ERRATA.
On page 7 for Thayer read Yeager.
On page 8 for enacted read erected. On page 11 for C. Hooft read t' Hooft. On page 19 for solicitudes read solicitude. On page 29 for morning read evening. On page 32 for there read then. On page 34 for Wakarusa read Wabaunsec. On page 34 for Marvinstown read Mairstown. On page 44 for now read never. On page 46 for regulating read inaugurating. On page 51 for enacted read erected. On page 55 for trust read tread ; and omit "increase of the " before population.
On page 56 for rightly read inaptly. On page 60 for 7th read 17th. On page 64 for southwest read southeast. On page 66 for .0013 read .013.
)N
JULY 4, 1876.
.
1876.
COMMONWEALTH STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE. TOPEKA, KANSAS :
1.5.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/historicalsketch00gile
Giles, Farve Williams HISTORICAL SKETCH
hawnee County,
KANSAS.
.
PREPARED FOR THIE OCCASION OF THE
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
JULY 4, 1876. .
TOPEKA, KANSAS: COMMONWEALTH STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE.
1876. MIT
L. J.
[4]
third electoral district was at the house of Thomas N. Stinson, at Tecumseh. Judges of election were named by the Governor to be John Horner, S. D. Stateler and Anthony Ward. At that election there were polled 47 votes, of which 40 were for J. W. Whitfield and seven for R. P. Flenneken, as delegate in Congress.
On the 25th of February the Territory was divided into three judicial districts, of which the second was bounded as follows: Commencing at the mouth of the Kansas river; thence up the same along the southern shore thereof to the western line of the Pottawatomie Reservation; thence along the western and southern lines of said reservation to the head waters of the Wak- arusa, or the nearest point thereto, and thence directly to and down the northern shore of the same to the east side of the house of Charles Matingly; thence due south to the middle of the Santa Fe road; thence westerly along the middle of said road to Rock Creek: thence due south to the north line of the Sac and Fox Reserva- tion ; thence along the north and west lines thereof and due south to the Neosho river; thence up the southern shore of said river and of the south branch thereof to the head; thence due south to the line of the Territory and thence by the south and east lines of the Territory to the place of beginning. These boundaries included the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seven- teenth electoral districts, and U. S. Associate Judge Rush Elmore, was assigned to it, with provisions for holding court at Tecumseh on the second Monday after the third Monday of April and October respectively. For that portion of this third judicial district which was embraced in the second electoral' district. John Horner, residing at Tecumseh, was appointed Justice of the Peace on the 5th of December, 1854, and on the 22d of January, 1855, C. K. Holliday was commissioned as
[5]
Justice of the Peace and Daniel H. Horne as constable. Mr. Holliday qualified on the 13th of February and Mr. Horne on the 20th.
In the month of January, a census of the Territory was ordered and T. W. Hayes appointed to the work in the third electoral district. He reported, about the last of February, a total of 252 persons in the district, of which 161 were males and 91 females, 101 voters, 112 minors ; 215 were natives of the United States, 12 of for- eign birth, and six slaves.
On the Sth of March, a proclamation was issued for an election of a legislative council and house, to be held on the 30th of the ensuing March. The place of holding the election for the third district, as in the previous au- tumn, was at Stinson's, in the town of Tecumseh. On that occasion was the first assembling together of Free State and pro-slavery men in this district, for the exer- cise of political rights; the former having settled in the district during the last previous three months. They resided mostly at Topeka, while the pro-slavery settle- ments were at and in the vicinity of Tecumseh and along the Wakarusa river. The voters residing about Topeka attended at the polls, but were opposed by a larger number of pro-slavery men, many of whom were armed, and boldly threatened violence to the Free State men if they persisted in attempts to deposit their ballots. The total vote reported to have been cast on that occasion was 372. Of this number, D. S. Croysdale, pro-slavery candidate, was reported to have received, for representa- tive, 366 votes, and C. K. Holliday, the Free State candi- date, four votes. This reported vote, upon the ratio of voters to population, as found one month before by the pro-slavery enumeration, would imply a population of 930 persons in the district-nearly a three-fold increase in thirty days. It was apparent to the most superficial
[6]
observer, that a large number of non-residents had voted, or that great fraud had been perpetrated in the returns. This state of affairs was so apparent to Gov. Reeder that he refused to recognize the election as lawful and valid, but ordered a new election to be held on the 22d of May. At that election, 149 votes were cast, of which C. K. Hol- liday received 148-the Free State voters having gen- erally attended and the pro-slavery men as generally absenting themselves.
The Legislature was called, to convene at the town of Pawnee, one and a half miles east of Fort Riley, on the first Monday in July. A certificate of election was issued to C. K. Holliday, and he attended and demanded his seat, but it was refused to him and awarded to Croys- dale, the candidate of the pro-slavery party at the March election.
The Legislature remained but a few days at Pawnee, and then adjourned to the Shawnee Manual Labor School, near what is now Shawneetown, in Johnson County. At the session there, the county of Shawnee was established, with boundaries as follows: Beginning at the southeast corner of Douglas County; thence west twenty-four miles; thence north to the main channel of the Kaw or Kansas river; thence down said channel to the southwest corner of Douglas County; thence south to the place of beginning. It will be noticed that the boundaries as thus given describe a right angle triangle form, wholly embraced within the territory of Douglas County, and that virtually Shawnee County was given no territorial space whatever. Such ambiguities and impossibilities occur in the boundaries as given of Doug- las, Franklin, Dorn and perhaps other counties.
Assuming for Shawnee County such place as it was doubtless intended to assign to her, the position would . nearly conform to the limits of the third electoral district
[7]
as designated by Gov. Reeder-altogether south of the Kansas river and embracing somewhat of territory that was then called Weller, but now Osage County. To the north was Calhoun-now Jackson County-and to the west Richardson-now Wabaunsee County.
A provision was made at this same session of the Legislature, that after the lands of the Territory were surveyed and subdivided by the Government of the United States, that township, section, or other legal dividing lines that should come the nearest to the boundaries of the counties as described in the statute, should be considered the lines defined.
The name applied to this county, we are confident its people would not be willing to exchange for that of any other county in the State. It probably would have been given to the locality at the time occupied by the Shawnee' tribe of Indians, but for a desire to give to that locality the name of Mr. Johnson, who had long been honorably connected with the Manual Labor School, when the Leg- islature was in session.
For civil and military purposes, as the law had it, the counties of Weller (now Osage) and Richardson (now Wabaunsee) were attached to Shawnee.
The town of Tecumseh was designated to be the per- manent seat of justice for the county of Shawnee, and the time of holding sessions of the District Court was fixed to be the fourth Monday in December.
By act of the first Territorial Legislature, Probate Courts were established in each county, and probate judges elected by joint ballot of the two houses. William O. Thayer was elected to that office for Shawnee County, and was duly commissioned by the Governor.
The Probate Courts, as then established, were clothed with extraordinary powers, under which they had con-
[8]
current jurisdiction with the District Court in most civil cases likely to arise, and were required to hold regular terms for hearing cases, quarterly.
There was also established for each county a tribunal for transacting county business, consisting of two com- missioners and the probate judge of the county, who should be chairman of the board. These commissioners were also elected by joint ballot of the Legislative Assem- bly, and for Shawnee County consisted of Edward Hoag- land and William Yocum. George W. Berry was in the same manner elected sheriff, but declined to qualify, and and on the 24th of September John Horner was appointed to that office by the board of commissioners.
The county was fully organized in the fore part of September, 1855. The first meeting of the county com- missioners of which there is any record was held on the 17th day of September, though it appears from the tenor of the record that there had been at least one informal meeting prior to that date.
The statutes of 1855 required that there should be enacted at the county seat of each county, at the earliest practicable period after the organization of the county and the location of the county seat, a good and sufficient court house and jail, and such other public buildings as the exigencies might demand; and the tribunal trans- acting county business was clothed with full power to do all and singular what should be necessary to accomplish the erection of such buildings. The first business that came before the commissioners was with reference to erecting a court house.
The Tecumseh Town Association had been incorpo- rated in August. On the 17th of September, the commis- sioners entered into contract with the said town associ- ation to crect a court house-the town association donat- ing to the county a site for the same, and other town lots
[9]
in Tecumseh. The town association soon entered into contract with parties living at Westport, Mo., to perform the work of building, and early in the spring of 1856 they entered upon the work, and on the 17th of Novem- ber, following, the building was so far advanced as to admit of occupancy for holding meetings of the county board. It was about 40 by 50 feet on the ground-two stories, with a lofty portico on the north. A broad cor- ridor extended through the building, from north to south. There were rooms on the right and left for pub- lic offices, and in the southwest corner one for offenders against the " bogus statutes." In the southeast corner a flight of stairs led up to the court room, which embraced all the second story. The walls of the building, columns of the portico, and partitions and floors of the first story, were of brick; and these, with the roof and glazing, com- prised what there was of the building. The parties con- tracting to do the brick and stone work were to be paid for the brick work twelve dollars per thousand, brick measurement, when completed; and for stone work, prices current at Westport. The commissioners con- tracted to pay for the same in manner following: " One- fifth to be assessed and taxed, levied and collected under the first term prescribed by law-viz: commencing in February next (1856.) Two-fifths in like manner in 1857, and the remaining two-fifths in like manner in 1858, with ten per cent. interest on the whole sum re- maining unpaid, commencing from the completion of said work, when bonds to be issued, in relative propor- tions, payable as above specified." A contract of similar nature was also entered into with Luther M. Carter, for doing the necessary wood work.
By the Territorial statutes, there was to be a tax col- lected annually for Territorial purposes, of 50 cents upon cach free male person 21 years old and not more than 55 -and a tax of one-sixth of one per cent. on the assessed
[10]
value of all lands and personal property, including slaves; and the tribunals transacting county business were empowered to levy and collect an annual tax upon the same subjects, for county purposes, not exceeding one hundred per cent. above rates for Territorial purposes. The prospective resources of the county were thus ample to make payment, as agreed, for the court house.
The Legislature provided for the election of a delegate to Congress on the first Monday in October.
At the September term of the board of commissioners of Shawnee County, the counties of Shawnee, Weller and Richardson were divided into two voting precincts, as follows-viz: All that portion of Shawnee County south of the Wakarusa river and Weller and south half of Richardson County, to vote at "110," and all that part of Shawnee County north of the Wakarusa river and the north half of Richardson County to vote at Tecumseh. L. B. Stateler, A. A. Ward and Thornton Stralber were appointed judges of election at Tecumseh precinct, and Mobillan McGee, Fry McGee, and George W. Berry, judges at " 110" precinct. At that election, there were polled at Tecumseh 52 votes, and at "110," 23 votes-all of which were for J. W. Whitfield, the pro-slavery candi- date. The Free State party took no part in this election, and for the next two years maintained a position of defi- ance towards the authorities of the county and Territory alike-in no way recognising nor participating in them.
The county commissioners, under these circumstan- ces, had great difficulty in getting the machinery of tax- ation into effective working. They had power to appoint all needed officers, and to make all needed orders, but all this was to little effect against the outraged and un- yielding Free State people, who were numerically in the ascendency. The most essential officer in the work of assessing and collection of taxes was the tax assessor.
[11]
The county board appointed John Horner tax assessor on the 15th of October, 1855, but proving an unsatisfactory officer, it removed him on the third Monday of the suc- ceeding month. They then appointed Benj. J. Newsom, but he resigned after holding the office for two months. They then appointed Gerard C. Hooft, who duly made oath, like his predecessors, that he would faithfully dis- charge the duties of tax assessor for the county of Shaw- nee, with Weller and Richardson attached, for the year 1856, but on the 21st of April of that year, he too resigned. Four days after the resignation of C. Hooft, Anderson Imes was appointed tax assessor, but failing to qualify, on the 30th of May John C. Sims received the appointment, and after long hesitation qualified to the office on the 21st of July, 1856. Mr. Sims was succeeded by Wm. P. Fain, De- cember 16th, but his appointment was revoked on the 23d of February, 1857, because he had "failed to comply with the law." Fain was succeeded by Edward L. Yates, but whether he accepted the office does not appear, nor is it material, for the affairs of the county had become so confused that no valid business could have been done by him in assessing the property of Shawnee County.
An attempt was at one time made in 1856 to assess the property of the county for purposes of taxation, but it did not extend to the assessment of the property of Free State men, and was, so far as appears of public record, ineffectual as to producing any public revenue at all. The commissioners had anticipated considerable revenue for the treasury from the taxation of town lots and improvements, as several towns had been founded in the county in 1855 and 1856. But preparatory to assessment of this property, it was necessary that there should be a public record of the plats of the towns. The parties interested in the town enterprises were slow to comply with the law, so on the 21st of April, 1856, the
[12]
commissioners ordered their clerk to notify the following town companies or corporations to file, according to law, maps and plats of their respective towns, viz: Tecumseh, Topeka, Big Springs, Washington, 110, Brownsville, Paris, Council City and Glendale.
There was difficulty in getting an efficient sheriff to serve during the dark period of 1855, 1856 and 1857. George W. Berry, John Horner, Benj. D. Castleman and James B. Whitaker holding in rapid succession that im- portant office. In fact, a large part of the business dur- ing 1856 and the first half of 1857, by the tribunal trans- acting county business, consisted of appointing, qualify- ing and receiving resignations of assessors, sheriff's, magistrates, constables and other county officers.
Under these circumstances, in connection with the civil commotions generally prevailing, it was impossible for the county to comply with its agreement with the contractors for building the court house; but it did the best it could and issued to them the bonds of the county in full amount of all the work done.
At its meeting on the 16th of December, 1856, the board of commissioners received the following communi- cation, relative to a public seal for the use of the county :
"TECUMSEH, Dec. 1, 1856.
Hon. Wm. O. Yager, Probate Judge, Shawnee County, K. T.,
Permit me to present to the Probate Court and County Court of Shawnee County the accompanying press and seal for the use of the county. The seal reads, 'Shawnee County Court,' ' Te- cumseh, Kansas,' and above the word Tecumseh is the figure of an Indian chief, in hostile attitude, about to strike with his tom- ahawk, his rifle trailing on the ground; intended to represent Tecumseh, the distinguished Shawnee chief, at the battle of the Thames. Tecumseh being the name of our county seat, and named in remembrance of the chief, is the most conspicuous word in the design. Respectfully, EDW'D HOAGLAND."
[13]
The letter was read, and on motion it was ordered by the board that the seal be received and adopted as the official public seal of the Probate and Commissioners' Courts, and that the thanks of the board be tendered to Mr. Hoagland.
On the 19th of February, 1857, the Territorial Legis- lature made provision for the holding of a convention at Lecompton in the succeeding September, for the purpose of framing a State Constitution. It at the same time made provision for taking a census of the legal voters of the Territory-the work to be done in the several coun- ties by the sheriff's thereof, and upon these enumerations as returned to the Governor, he was to apportion the sixty delegates of which the convention should be com- posed. The election was to be held on the third Monday in June.
The number of legal voters as taken and returned for Shawnee, including the attached counties-Davis (previ- ously Weller) and Richardson-was 283. Upon this return, the acting Governor (Stanton) apportioned but two delegates for the 11th election district, comprising the three counties named. The county commissioners, per- ceiving this to be an unjust apportionment, resolved that no complete census of the inhabitants and voters in this district had been taken, as required by law; that the district was entitled to five delegates instead of two, and recommended to the voters that five candidates be voted for, and that the five having the highest number of votes should be returned as duly elected delegates from the district to the constitutional convention. It does not appear that the voters regarded this recommendation. In fact the election was hardly regarded by the people. The Free State party of course took no part in it, and the pro-slavery party but little, as it appears from the result that no candidate received more than 58 votes-David
[14]
Lykins, Wm. Heiskell and J. T. Bradford, having each received that number, and Henry L. Lyons 17.
Two months after this election, an election was held for officers under the Topeka Constitution, and 231 votes were polled.
By act of the Legislature Feb. 11, 1857, Shawnee and attached counties was constituted the second judicial district.
On the 20th of the same month the boundaries of Shawnee County were fixed as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of Douglas county; thence west with the section lines to the corner of sections 14, 15, 22 and 23, town 15 south, range 13 east; thence north with the section line to the middle of the main channel of the Kansas river; thence down said river by the middle of the main channel thereof to the northwest corner of Douglas County; thence south with the west boundary of said Douglas County to the place of beginning, and simultaneously with the passage of this act the county was coustituted the eleventh representative district.
The first subdivision of the county into municipal townships was made by order of the County Board on the 24th of September, 1855, and by which order, all the territory laying north of the Wakarusa river was formed into Tecumseh township, and the territory south of that stream was organized under the name of Yocum Town- ship. The next change of townships was made on the 23d of February, 1857, in anticipation of the election to be held in June for delegates to the Lecompton Constitu- tional Convention. The change at that time consisted of organizing Topeka Township, which was made to consist of all that portion of Tecumseh Township, as theretofore existing, and lying west of section line three miles west of the town of Tecumseh.
[15]
In anticipation of the general election to be held in October of that year, however, a general reorganization of municipal townships was made on the 21st of Sep- tember. At that time the county was divided into five municipal townships under the respective names of Tecumseh, Topeka, Brownsville, Burlingame and Wak- arusa. Each township was declared to be an election precinct, and places for voting were designated and judges of election appointed by the county board, as fol- lows:
In Tecumseh Township, at the Court House. Judges of election: Eli Hopkins, James W. Lacy, Bennett A. Murphy.
Topeka Township, at the Garvey House. Judges : Samuel T. Walkley, M. C. Dickey, Jeremiah Murphy.
Wakarusa Township, at the trading house of Hudson and Lincoln. Judges: Aaron Cuberly, Milton Tharp, Wade W. Babcock.
Brownsville Township, at Fox's Hotel. Judges: Wil- liam Johnson, David Hammond, Daniel Turner.
Burlingame Township, at the house opposite the Bur- lingame House. Judges: Thomas Russell, William Lord, C. D. Marple.
This arrangement of voting precincts and election judges was everything that the Free State party could ask, as to convenience and character of men. Various circumstances had operated in Shawnee County to con- vince the pro-slavery men that it was useless longer to strive against the predominance of Free State sentiments, and, making a virtue of necessity, they had wisely deter- mined to invite a fair and. honorable trial of strength at the polls, and if results should so determine, to gracefully yield the county government to the Free State party.
[16] OCTOBER ELECTION, 1857.
Governor Walker was full of zeal to unravel the knot- ty entanglement of Kansas politics. He visited Topeka, made addresses upon the political situation, urged the Free State men to participate in the forthcoming election, mingled in social circles and made himself generally popular. The friends of free Kansas in Congress and throughout the free States were also advising an active effort in that election, and, in common with their friends in other counties, the Free State men of Shawnee deter- mined to make another effort in that direction, to secure their political rights. This conclusion was reached but two or three weeks before the election came on, and great vigilance was necessary to organize the party to efficient work. A convention was called to meet at Brownsville, to place in nomination county officers and representatives to the Legislature. Few or none but Free State men at- tended, but they were present in good number, especially so from Topeka, Burlingame, the vicinity of Brownsville and on the line of the Santa Fe road between Brownsville and Big Springs. It was the first county convention of
the Free State party. Perfect harmony of sentiment and general good feeling prevailed, though the men were to a large extent strangers to each other. There was indeed a general reluctance to take part in the election on ac- count of the implied recognition of the bogus Territorial government that the act would carry with it; but there seemed no other way out of the difficulties, and, having full knowledge that if illegal votes could be kept out, victory was sure to follow, reluctance finally yielded to enthusiasm, and the work of organizing the first political campaign in Shawnee County commenced.
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