History of Johnson County, Kansas, Part 1

Author: Blair, Ed, 1863-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan., Standard Publishing company
Number of Pages: 514


USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51


NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08182541 0


WB


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation


http://www.archive.org/details/historyofjohnson00blai


& Blair


HISTORY


OF


Johnson County


Kansas


-


BY


ED BLAIR


AUTHOR OF


Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Siftings and Other Poems and Sketches


IN ONE VOLUME


ILLUSTRATED


STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY


LAWRENCE, KANSAS 1915


ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1920 L


PREFACE


The History of Johnson county as here set forth is not an attempt at metaphysical disquisition, nor a profusion of legendary lore ; neither is it an effort to analyze the unknown motives of man or to seek the hidden causes for certain human events. The constant object before the writer has been to present the story of Johnson county as told by the men and women whose faith, courage, foresight and industry have made the county what it is today. The story of the adventures, struggles and achievements of these pioneers form an indispensable and most interesting part of this work. They possess the value of authenticity, and are the plain, unvarnished tales of those who bore the burden of the days of trying endeavor and who en- dured almost incredible hardships. Confronted by drouths, pests, plagues and repeated failures, and rent by political dissention of the border war period, these brave pioneers never lost faith in the future greatness of Johnson county, and many of this noble band of self-sacrificing men and women still live to exult in its beauty and progress, and to prophesy that the astounding development of today is but the fore runner of still greater things to come.


The data for this work has been gathered with painstaking exactness and it is hoped that its accuracy is commensurate with the efforts that have been put forth to make it so, and that it may be a valuable work of reference for present and future generations.


The editor desires to acknowledge the cordial and valuable assistance accorded him by the many citizens of the county in compiling this work. Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made to the many contributors whose articles embellish these pages, and the cooperation of the press of the county has been a help deeply appreciated and deserves due recognition. I wish to express my sincere thanks to the good people of Johnson county, one and all.


ED BLAIR.


Olathe, Kan., December 1, 1915.


INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS


Page


Ed. Blair


Frontispiece


Johnson County Court House


16


Old Mission Building 25


Santa Fe Trail Marker, Olathe


Santa Fe Trail Marker, Lone Elm 57


63


Johnson County Hospital IO2


Hotel Olathe, Olathe IO5


Old Fire Wagon, Olathe II7


Hodges Brothers Office, Olathe


II9


Old Store Building, Spring Hill I22


Cooperative Store, Spring Hill I27


Old Hotel, Spring Hill I32


136


Farmers' Bank, Gardner


I4I


Kelly's Elevator, Edgerton


I46


Strang Line Depot, Overland Park 152


Scene at Aviation Field, Overland Park 153


Voight Brothers' Building, Overland Park I54


Street Scene, Lenexa 162


School Building, Lenexa


165


Trail Inn, Lenexa 167


Bradshaw Brothers' Store, Lenexa I7I


Judging Colts, Stanley 176


Residence of E. H. Haskin, Lenexa 182


Group of Civil War Veterans 184


Strang Gas-Electric Cars


212


John T. Little 246


277


Benjamin F. Hollenback 309


34I


Florence McCarthy and Family 405


Home of W. W. Anderson and Family 409


Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Reeder 437


J. R. Secrest and Family 46I


Spring Hill Banking Company


Jonathan Millikan


Andrew Rudy and Mrs. Elvira Rudy


HISTORICAL INDEX


CHAPTER I-PRIMITIVE PERIOD


17


Indian Tribes-Early Explorers-Indian Treaties-Black Bob Reservation-Shawnee Tradition-Bread Dance-Corn Dance- Journey of The Soul-Chief Bluejacket-Early Trappers and Traders.


CHAPTER II-INDIAN MISSIONS


25


Establishment of Methodist Mission-Founding of Manuel Train- ing School-Location and Opening of School-Influence of School-Rev. Thomas Johnson and Other Missionaries-Charles Bluejacket-Capt. Joseph Park-Mission Abandoned-Murder of Thomas Johnson-Col. Alexander Soule Johnson-William John- son and His Recollections-Baptist Mission-Quaker Mission- Memories of Missions.


CHAPTER III-THE SANTA FE TRAIL


54


Its Course-When First Traveled-Established By The Govern- ment-Santa Fe Trail Markers-Dedication of Monument at Olathe-Santa Fe Marker at Lone Elm-Pioneers' Experiences on the Old Trail-"The Santa Fe Trail"-Recollections of a "Bull- whacker."


CHAPTER IV-DESCRIPTIVE AND POLITICAL 71 Topography-Organization of County-First Election-County Officers -- Members of the First Territorial Legislature-Border Trouble-Members of the Legislature-County Statistics.


CHAPTER V-EARLY EVENTS AND INSTITUTIONS 81


First Business Concerns-First Marriage-Horace Greeley Visits Johnson County-Old Settlers-The Mehaffie House-The First Twenty Years.


HISTORICAL INDEX


CHAPTER VI-OLATHE I02


Olathe and Its Institutions-Merchants' Association-First Hotel -Voters in 1859-Old Landmarks and Border Day Experiences- Churches-State Institute for the Deaf-Banks-Fifty Years of Olathe-A "County Seat Town."


CHAPTER VII-SPRING HILL I2I


Location and Enterprises-Banks-Churches-Reminiscences of Spring Hill-The Old Hotel-The Pioneer Store-Early Days at Spring Hill-Stage Line and Early Business Ventures-Locating the Town and Organization of Town Company-Spring Hill Be- ginnings-War Times.


CHAPTER VIII-GARDNER 139 Settlement and Townsite Company-Business Firms-Gardner Raided Three Times-The Last Raid-Churches-Gardner of To- day-Gardner's Early Days.


CHAPTER IX-EDGERTON 149 Location-Churches-Commercial Enterprises-Cemetery - The Press.


CHAPTER X-OVERLAND PARK I52


Strang Line-Business Houses-Additions-Aviation Park-Ex- position Club-Bank.


CHAPTER XI-DE SOTO I55 Location and Business Firms-Organization of Town Company and First Building-Churches-De Soto During the Civil War-A Pioneer's Experience-Introduction to the Shawnee Indians.


CHAPTER XII-OTHER TOWNS AND VILLAGES 159


Shawnee-Quantrill Visits Shawnee-Lenexa-Aubry-Stilwell- Stanley-Merriam - Bonita-Morse-Ocheltree - Monticello- Wilder - Kenneth-Choteau-Switzer-Lackman-Craig-Zarah -Holliday-Oxford.


CHAPTER XVIII-CIVIL WAR AND BORDER WAR 185 Free State and Pro-Slavery Conflict-Johnson County in the Civil War-Maj. J. T. Hadley Promoted-Lieutenant Pellett Recruits


HISTORICAL INDEX


a Company-Colonel Hayes Wounded-General Order No. 11- Battle of Westport-Beginning of Quantrill's Band-When Quan- trill Raided Olathe-Quantrill Passed through Johnson County on Way to Lawrence-Spring Hill Looted-The Red Legs-Battle of Bull Creek-Battle of "Blowhard"-War-time Clippings from the Olathe "Mirror"-Grand Army of the Republic.


CHAPTER XIV-PUBLIC SCHOOLS 210 Organization-Growth and Development of the Schools.


CHAPTER XV-RAILROADS 212


Promoting Early Railroads and Voting Bonds-Pioneer Railroad Builders.


CHAPTER XVI-THE GRANGE 210 The Organization and Progress of the Grange in Johnson County- The Grange Insurance Company.


CHAPTER XVII-WHAT THE FIRST WOMAN SAW HERE .. . 222 What The First Woman Saw Here-An Interview with Jonathan Millikan-Henry Wedd-Some Early Day Events in Johnson County and Kansas-A Pioneer's Recollections-A Story of Early Days-Fifty Years After-Reminiscences-A Retrospective View -Yeager Raid Incidents.


BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX


Adair, B. F.


273


Allison, S. H.


294


Anderson, W. R.


368


Anderson, W. W.


408


Ainsworth, H. C.


369


Azendorf, Henry


283


Bell, I. N.


441


Berkshire, J. H.


438


Black, George


434


Blair, Ed.


309


Bradley, William


465


Braun, C. J.


421


Branick, Elias


266


Bradshaw, Harry


255


Breyfogle, L. D.


445


Breyfogle Family


444


Breyfogle, H. L.


444


Brown, W. C.


409


Brown, G. W.


280


Buckley, Jerry


421


Bruner, Maj. J. B.


3II


Busch, Casper


293


Busch, Herman


272


Busch, Deitrich


256


Burgess, H. L.


415


Burke, W. R.


.358


Caenen, Remi


334


Calvert, A. J.


461


Carroll, E. G.


338


Carpenter, A. G.


352


Case, H, H.


285


Cave, L. L.


425


Champion, Frank


385


Chamberlin, W. H. H.


343


Chamberlin, J. H.


332


Clark, Capt. Emanuel


382


Coker, L. H.


467


BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX


Cook, G. W.


462


Cosgrove, J. H.


349


Crawford, Frank


386


Day, Dudley


419


Dare, T. W.


388


Delahunt, Charles, Sr.


337


De Tar, Miss Mary E.


287


De Vault, Lafayette


398


Deweese, J. E.


267


Donham, R. M.


457


Dowell, J. N.


391


Dwyer, D. C.


325


Edgington, A. N.


302


Ellis, G. T.


447


Elliott, G. W.


264


England, W. C.


282


Fagan, W. W.


378


Ferguson, S. E.


432


Folmer, G. W.


396


Foster, J. R.


335 316


Fraser, William


372


Graham, W. W.


442


Gray, W. L.


455


Graves, Col. W. C.


363


Greer, Dr. T. S.


289


Hale, D. R.


288


Hancock, J. H.


387


Haney, F. C.


394


Hannon, J. F.


35I


Haskin, W. P.


360


Harrison, W. H.


350


Haskin, E. H.


275


Hatfield, Dr. F. J.


284


Harbaur, C. E.


326


Hayden, G. C.


322


Hedrick, F. D.


341


Heider, Martin


420


Hendrix, P. K.


128


Henry, H. L.


324


Hershey, I. H.


342


Hodges, Frank


412


Hodges, G. H.


410


Hogue, S. R.


375


Hollenback, B. F.


308


Foster, A. J.


BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX


Hollenback, F. P.


466


Holmes, Joseph


377


Howell, G. H. 35


Huff, George


299


Huff, John


406


Hundley, R. C.


294


Huggins, J. O.


291


Hunt, A. L.


313


Hunt, A. J.


292


Irvin, James


450


James, T. W.


354


James, Col. Andy


402


Jessup, Miss Fern


352


Kellogg, Sherman


404


Kelly, W. H.


323


Kelly, W. J.


252


King, Harry


402


Klusman, H. H.


454


Knabe, G. C.


374


Knox, E. V.


258


Krumm, A. H.


456


Kuhlman, J. J.


400


Lansdown, Harrison


325


Lanter, F. R.


274


Legler, E. A.


257


Lemen, J. R.


427


Lesueur, J. P.


260


Linn, W. T.


346


Lorimer, F. M.


298


Little, John T.


247


Lott, Miss Alice S.


40I


Marty, John


290


McAnany, Patrick


330


McCann, Michael


372


McKaig, J. F.


433


McCarthy, Florence


404


McClintock, W. J.


314


McFeatters, Rev. M.


280


McKoin, W. H.


37 I


Marty, John


290


Mathews, H. A.


440


Meredith, M. T.


272


Miller, E. L.


333


Miller, M. G.


463


Millikan, A. R.


380


.


BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX


Millikan, Jonathan


270


Mize, Johnson


419


Moll, A. E.


278


Moon, A. O. .


296


Moore, G. W.


278


Moore, R. R.


260


Mossman, F. E.


423


Mossman, C. H.


364


Mower, George


302


Murdock, D. E.


453


Murray, Roy


295


Murphy, P. H.


203


Nance, W. A.


344


Nall, John


346


Noland, T. W.


393


Newton, E. D.


399


Ording, Rev. J. A.


270


Pack, W. M.


418


Parks, Horace


328


Pearce, J. A.


317


Pellett, J. S.


269


Pettyjohn, J. L.


413


Phillips, H. L.


370


Post, Smith


422


Rankin, J. F.


320


Rea, J. W.


467


Reeder, Benjamin


436


Rebsamen, A. J.


365


Riley, Thomas


339


Rudy, Scott


340


Rose, Miss Jennie


360


Rutter, W. R.


449


Ruttinger, Frank


253 128


Secrest, J. R.


460


Sharpe, W. F.


392


Shellhammer, C. H.


424


Sitterman, W. M.


355


Sheridan, Patrick


168


Simpson, Joseph


452


Sloan, Dr. J. R.


458


Smallwood, C. N.


259


Smith, G. P.


361


Smith, E. L.


336


Smith, Andrew


265


Ryan, D. H.


BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX


Smith, C. B.


262


Sowers, G. S.


45I


Speer, W. S.


327


Steed, J. S.


395


Stephenson, Jewett


315


Strang, W. B.


249


Strongman, John


319


Swank, J. T.


437


Taggart, David


304


Taylor, B. S.


268


Thorne, J. R.


381


Tibbetts, W. M.


390


Tillotson, B. H.


254


Todd, J. B.


400


Todd, C. E.


287


Toynbee, J. W.


459


Turner, W. T.


366


Uhls, Dr. L. L.


347


Wallace, J. K.


458


Walker, A. J.


410


Walker, Ralston


306


Walmer, Edwin


464


Warner, E. D.


300


Wedd, George


43I


Wedd, Henry


35€


Weeks, Fred


397


Wickens, W. W.


391


Widner, Albert


446


Williams, Irwin


332


Williams, A. P.


329


Wilkerson, W. F 386


Wilkinson, S. E. 259


Wilson, W. J. 320


Young, O. H.


425


Zehring, C. E.


430


Zimmerman, Capt. W. H.


25I


JOHNSON COUNTY COURT HOUSE, OLATHE, KAN.


-


--


-


-


-


1


History of Johnson County


CHAPTER I.


PRIMITIVE PERIOD.


Indian Tribes-Early Explorers-Indian Treaties-Black Bob Reserva- tion-Shawnee Tradition-Bread Dance-Corn Dance-Journey of The Soul-Chief Bluejacket-Early Trappers and Traders.


INDIAN TRIBES AND EARLY EXPLORERS.


The earliest known inhabitants of that section comprising Johnson county were the Kansa Indians. When the first white men visited the region now comprising the State of Kansas they found it inhabited by four tribes of Indians. The Kansa or Kaw, from which Kansas derives its name, occupied the northeast and central parts of the State ; the Osage, located south of the Kansa; the Pawnee, whose country lay west and north of the Kansa; and the Padouca or Comanche, whose hunting grounds were in the western part of the State. It seems that the Kansa Indians occupied the greater portion of the State.


Probably the first white man to acquire a knowledge of the Kansa Indians was Juan de Oñate, who met them on his expedition in 1601. Although Marquette's map of 1673 showed the location of the Kansa Indians, the French did not actually come in contact with the tribe until 1750, when, according to Stoddard, the French explorers and traders ascended the Missouri "to the mouth of the Kansas river, where they met with a welcome reception from the Indians." These early Frenchmen gave the tribe the name of Kah or Kaw, which, according to the story of an old Osage warrior, was a term of derision, meaning coward, and was given to the Kansa by the Osages because they refused to join in a war against the Cherokees. Another Frenchman, Bourg- mont, who visited the tribe in 1724, called them "Canzes," and reported that they had two villages on the Missouri, one about forty miles above the Kansas and the other farther up the river. These villages were also mentioned by Lewis and Clark nearly a century later. Referring to the Kansas river, the journal kept by the Lewis and Clark expedition under date of June 28, 1804, says: "This river receives its name from a nation which dwells at this time on its banks and has two villages, one about twenty leagues and the other about forty


(2)


18


HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS


leagues up ; those Indians are not very numerous at this time, reduced by war with their neighbors. They formerly lived on the south bank of the Missouri, 24 leagues above this river in an open and beautiful plain. and were very numerous at the time the French first settled in Illinois."


Between the years 1825-30 the Kansa and Osage tribes withdrew from a large part of their lands, which were turned over to the United States.


INDIAN TREATIES.


The year of 1825 was a year of treaties with the Indians. On June 3rd of that year the chiefs and head men of the Kansa tribe entered into a treaty with William Clark, superintendent of Indian affairs, at St. Louis, Mo., by which the tribe ceded to the United States all claim to lands in the west of the State of Missouri, the boundaries of the cession being described as follows: "Beginning at the entrance of the · Kansa river into the Missouri; thence north to the northwest corner of the State of Missouri; thence westwardly to the Nodewa river, 30 miles from its entrance into the Missouri; thence to the entrance of the Big Nemahaw river into the Missouri, and with that river to its source ; thence to the source of the Kansas river, leaving the old village of the Pania Republic to the west; thence on the ridge dividing the waters of the Kansas river from those of the Arkansas to the west boundary line of the State of Missouri and with that line to the place of beginning."


Almost immediately upon the acquisition of this land from the Kansa Indians and other acquisitions from other treaties, the Government began negotiations for the removal of eastern tribes to the new territory. On November 7. 1825, at St. Louis, Mo., a treaty was concluded with the Shawnee tribe living near Cape Giradeau upon a tract of land acquired by Spanish grant, signed by Baron de Carondelot, governor of Louisiana, and dated January 4, 1793. By the St. Louis treaty this tract was ceded to the United States by the Shawnees, and they were assigned another reservation, "Beginning at a point in the western boundary of the State of Missouri, 3 miles south of where said boundary crosses the mouth of the Kansas river; thence continuing south on said boundary 25 miles; thence due west 120 miles; thence due north until said line shall intersect the southern boundary of said reservation to the termination thereof ; thence due north, coinciding with the eastern boundary of said reservation to the southern shore of the Kansas river; thence along said southern shore of said river to where a line from the place of beginning drawn due west shall intersect the same."


As thus established, the Shawnee reservation included the present counties of Johnson and Douglas, a little of the northern portion of Miami, Franklin and Lyon, the northern part of Osage, the southern part of Shawnee, the greater part of Wabunsee and portions of Morris


19


HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS


and Geary, the northwest corner of the reserve being about three miles southeast of Junction City.


The Shawnee treaty of 1825 remained in effect until May 10, 1854, when the Shawnee chiefs concluded a treaty at Washington in which all of the above described reservation was ceded to the United States, except 200,000 acres, which also included about 25,000 acres to be allotted to the "absentee Shawnees" upon their return to the tribe. Many of these never returned and the land was ordered to be sold to actual settlers, by an act of Congress, approved by President Johnson April 7, 1869. Another act approved by President Hayes, March 3, 1879, provided for the disposition of the entire reserve and the removal of the Shawnees to a new reservation outside of the State, and thus officially ended Indian occupation of Johnson county as a reservation.


BLACK BOB RESERVATION.


The boundaries of the original Shawnee Reservation in Kansas, as fixed November 7, 1825, and conveyed to them by deed May 11, 18444. contained 1,600,000 acres. Almost precisely ten years afterwards, on May 10, 1854, they ceded to the United States all of this magnificent reservation but 200,000 acres which they reserved for homes for themselves.


Under this treaty the Black Bob Band of the Shawnees, a distinct organization within the tribe, received, as was their choice, and had assigned and set apart in a compact body, to be held in common by them, such a portion of this 200,000 acres as was equivalent to two hundred acres for each member of the band. Black Bob was the recog- nized chief. His band being of limited intelligence they preferred to retain their tribal organizations and customs and to hold their lands in common.


An article, however, was incorporated into the treaty under which they might at any time make separate selections from the tract assigned to them in common. This privilege they did not avail themselves of until 1866, but continued to live as had been their custom, making but little progress and spending most of their time in visiting other tribes and hunting, until the breaking out of the war. Then, on account of the losses and sufferings to which they were subjected from bush- whackers on one hand, and Kansas thieves on the other, they left their homes and went to the Indian Territory in a body. There they remained until peace was proclaimed, when about one hundred returned to dispose of their lands.


The Black Bob reservation is situated in the southeastern part of the county, at the sources of the Blue and Tomahawk creeks, lying in Oxford, Spring Hill, Aubry and Olathe townships.


20


HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS


When the Indians abandoned it at the beginning of the war they expected to return and resume their old habits of living. In 1865 and 1866, at the close of the war, white settlers rushed in and soon every quarter section of it was occupied by a claimant. About the same time certain other parties, not actual settlers on the land, among whom was Gen. Blunt, J. C. Irvin and Judge Pendery, conceived the design of buying up a portion of this land for speculation. This was in October, 1867. An examination was made of the treaty of 1825, by which the Shawnees were granted the reservation, including Johnson and a portion of Douglas and Miami counties, which was deeded to them May II, 1844: and also the treaty of 1854, by which the whole tract was re-ceded to the Government, and then 200,00 acres retroceded to the Shawnees. At this time the Shawnees had divided into two bands, the severalty or head right community, who selected their land in severalty, and the Black Bob band, which chose to hold theirs in common, under the treaty which also gave them the right to select 200 acres each as a head right at any future time. Messrs. Blunt, Irvin and company became satisfied that the title to the land vested in the Indians and that having selected his head right under the treaty any Indian could sell it and convey a valid title to any person by complying with the rules and regulations of the Interior Department of the Government for the sale of Indian lands.


These rules were: That the consideration mentioned in the deed was a fair one, and the amount so mentioned had been paid to the grantor by the grantee, and that the transaction was free from fraud. The Indian agent was under obligation to attach his certificate that these rules had been complied with in the execution of the deed.


Certain Indians having applied in the year 1867 received patents for their land and sold them to different parties for various prices. J. C. Irvin, one of the speculators, purchased three thousand, six hundred acres on October 28, 1867. On November 7, 1867, two settlers, W. H. Nichols and John Wordens, purchased their claims. And subse- quently, but prior to the other date, January 1I, 1869, a number of sales were made to settlers among whom were W. Thomas, J. Nichols, Edward P. Robinson, W. S. Duffield and W. T. Quarel. Sales were made also to other speculators until in the aggregate the land covered by sixty-nine patents had been sold. The price the Indians received was about $4.80 per acre. Two protests against the further issue of patents to the Indians setting forth that gross frauds were being per- petrated and that the Indians were being swindled out of their lands by the speculators having been received by the Government, acting Commissioner Mix, on the 13th of December, 1867, telegraphed Agent Taylor to suspend delivery of patents to the Indians.


This was done and the sale arrested in consequence. Notwithstand- ing a few of the settlers had purchased their selections from Indians


.


21


HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS


who had received their patents, the great majority refused to do so, believing their title should come from the government and not from the Indians. Both settlers and speculator kept an agent in Washington for some years looking after their respective interests. The one party attempting to obtain from Congress confirmation of the validity of the Indian patents, the other attempting to have them set aside, and the title declared to vest in the Government.


In 1879 Congress passed a resolution instructing the Attorney Gen- eral of the United States to cause a suit in equity to be brought in the name of the United States in the circuit court for the district of Kan- sas, to settle the titles to lands claimed by the Black Bob band of the Shawnee Indians in Kansas or adversely thereto, which resulted in the deeds given by Indians to white settlers being declared valid and approved by the Government. The other Indians holding lands sold out their lands to white settlers and many of them bought in with the Cherokees nation in the Indian Territory.


A SHAWNEE TRADITION.


I record here the Shawnee Indian's tradition of their origin, as told by the Rev. Charles Bluejacket, at the Shawnee mission in 1858.


"Our tradition of the antediluvian period agrees in all essential points with the Mosaic record. The first real divergence is in connection with the flood. The tradition gives an account of the white man's great canoe and of the savings of a white family, just about at the bible has it, but in addition it states that an old Indian woman was also saved. After the flood she lived in a valley, with a hill intervening between her and her white brother and his family, over which she could see the smoke rise from the white man's wigwam. When the sense of her lonliness and des- titution came over her she began to weep very bitterly. There then appeared a heavenly messenger and asked her why she was so sorrow- ful. She told him that the Great Spirit had left her white brother his family, but she was just a poor old woman alone, and that there was to be an end of her people. Then said the visitor, 'Remember how the first man was made,' and then left her. From this she knew that a new creation was meant, so she made small images or children from the earth as directed, as the Great Spirit had made the first man. But when she saw they had not the life, she again wept. Again her messenger appeared and inquired the cause of her grief. She said she had made children from clay, but that they were only dirt. Then the visitor said, Remember how the Great Spirit did when the first man was made At once she understood, and breathed into their nostrils and they all became alive. This was the beginning of the red men. The Shawnees to this day venerate the memory of the one they call thir Grand Mother os the origin of their race."


.


22


HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS


BREAD DANCE.


"In the fall of each year a certain number of men, five, I believe, were sent out on a hunt. They stayed three days. On the third day, when they were returning, and were near enough to be heard, they fired their guns, and the men and women in camp go out to meet them. The hunters were taken off their horses and sent to their wigwams to rest. The game is cooked and put in a pile on the ground, leaves having been spread on the ground first. They are also given bread, which has been made of white corn, pounded in a mortar for the occasion. The Indians then dance around the prepared provisions and sing, and then sat down. The meat and bread were then passed around. during this part of the ceremony. After this they can frolic all they please. The women had their petticoats decorated with silver brooches and wear all the handkerchiefs they can. Highly colored handkerchiefs were very highly prized by all Indians. The men were dressed in buck- skin leggins and moccasins. They also ware a loin-cloth and blanket.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.