Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Volume II, Part 1

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company
Number of Pages: 960

USA > Kansas > Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Volume II > Part 1

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Gc 978.1 K132b v.2 1154030

M. L

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00828 6699

KANSAS

A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc.

Edited by FRANK W. BLACKMAR, A. M., Ph. D.

IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME II

ILLUSTRATED

Sc 978.1 K132b V.2

STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO

1154030

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page Kansas Wesleyan University 62 First House in Lawrence II3

Pen Sketch of Lawrence II4

Cattle Ranch near Oberlin

179

Old Windmill at Lawrence

217

Memorial Building 266

Atchison Hall, Midland College 278

Ogden Monument at Fort Riley 306

Monument to U. P. Track Laborers 308

A Kansas Oil Well 385

Last House on Oregon Trail 393

Osawatomie State Hospital

404

Ottawa University

427

Pawnee Rock 456

An Early Sod School House 518

Consolidated School at Rose Hill 521

A Modern High School Building

522

Santa Fe Locomotives

545

Robinson Hall, State University 591

First Catholic Church in Kansas 603

Marker on Santa Fe Trail 649

Great Seal of Kansas 659

Pioneer Residence, Short Grass Country

694

Southwestern College, Winfield

719

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS CONTINUED

State Normal School, Emporia 700

State Orphans' Home 762

Topeka State Hospital 815 University of Kansas 832 Washburn College, Topeka 888

Threshing Scene, Western Kansas 904

Whitewater Falls near Towanda 908

Fairmount College, Wichita 911

KANSAS

VOLUME II.

Jackson, Alfred Metcalf, lawyer and member of Congress, was born at South Carrollton, Muhlenberg county, Ky., July 14, 1860. He was educated at the Kentucky College in his native town, and in 1881 removed to Kansas, locating at Howard, Elk county, where he engaged in the practice of law. In 1890 he was elected county attorney, and two years later was elected judge of the Thirteenth judicial district. At the end of his term he removed to Winfield. In 1900 he was nominated by the Populists and Democrats on a fusion ticket for Congress and was elected in November of that year. While in Congress he introduced a bill proposing government ownership of telegraph lines which attracted considerable attention. At the close of his term he was defeated for a reelection and resumed the practice of law at Winfield. In 1904 Mr. Jackson was a delegate to the Democratic national convention that nominated Parker and Davis.

Jackson County, one of the counties formed by the first territorial legislature in 1855, is located in the second tier south from Nebraska, and the second west from Missouri. It is bounded on the west by Pot- tawatomie county, on the south by Wabaunsee and Shawnee, on the east by Jefferson and Atchison, and on the north by Nemaha and Brown. It is 1,172 feet above the level of the sea.

The first exploration in the regions that afterward became Jackson county was by M. De Bourgmont and his company of Frenchmen who made a journey in 1724 through the lands of the Kansas to the Padouca Indians. He passed through Jackson county in going from a point above Atchison to the Kansas river just west of Shawnee county. The next exploring party was conducted in 1819 by Dr. Thomas Say, who, with four other scientists, went west as far as the Kansas village where Manhattan now stands, and returning, passed through Jackson county on their way to Cow island near Atchison. Fremont "the Path- finder," passed through in 1843 on his trip to the Rocky mountains.

The boundaries defined by the legislature of 1855 contained 1,140 square miles. The county was first called Calhoun (q. v.) in honor of John C. Calhoun. The county was surveyed in the same year and a place 7 miles from Topeka near the old Calhoun Bluffs was made the first county seat. New boundary lines were defined in 1857, when the actual organization of the county took place, and the present boundary lines were established by the legislature in 1858, when the county seat was located permanently at Holton. (II-2)

CYCLOPEDIA OF

The settlements within the borders of the county as first described date back to the '30s, when Capt. Alley of Kentucky established a trading post on the Kansas river. But settlement within the present borders did not begin until 1855, when the county was divided into three townships, Douglas, Atchison and Haliday. Franklin township was formed in 1856, Jefferson in 1858, Grant in 1870, Netawaka in 1871, Whiting, Liberty and Soldier in 1872; Cedar and Washington in 1873 and Straight Creek, Adrian and Garfield since then. The town- ships of Atchison and Haliday no longer exist. The first settlers in Douglas township, who came in 1855, were John Rippetoe, William Cunningham, David Rice, Josiah Seal, Byron Stewart, J. W. Willard, A. W. Bainbridge, Hugh Piper and Rufus Rice. The land was not surveyed and the settlers established their lines by stakes or blazes on trees. They got their mail from Indianola, Ozawkie or Grasshopper Falls.

Cedar township was settled in 1855 by S. J. Elliott; Jefferson town- ship in 1854 by Francis Smith; Franklin township in 1854 by N. D. Lewis; Grant township in the late '50s by Peter Dickson, R. P. Hamm, William Cruzan, J. P. Fraidley, John James, S. Stephenson and T. Keir ; Liberty township was settled at a date not given, by Missourians, and is said to be the oldest settlement in the county. Some of the early settlers were: Charles Bateman, J. B. Parrot, Alfred Fuller, James Piper, W. R. Hodges and J. W. Taylor; Straight Creek town- ship in 1855 by J. H. Thompson; Soldier township in 1857 by William Kline, Henry Rancier, William Knipe, W. Branham and the Fair- banks; and Washington, Netawaka and Whiting townships were not settled until in the '6os.

The first election for county officers was held on Oct. 1, 1855. The first officers were: James Kuykendall, probate judge; J. T. Wilson, sheriff ; Anthony Wilson, treasurer ; and James Kuykendall, William Alley and P. P. Beeler, commissioners. James Kuykendall was at dif- ferent times probate judge, register of deeds, county clerk and pros- ecuting attorney. He was one of the early business men of the county. District court was held for the first time by Judge S. D. Lecompte Sept. 24, 1855.

The name of the county was changed from Calhoun to Jackson by Golden Silvers, who was the representative in the legislature in 1858. The county officials did not recognize the new name until a year later. In 1858 a vote was taken to choose a new county seat and Holton received 79 votes over all other contestants. The county voted 51 to 12 for a free-state constitution.

The famous Lane road (q. v.) ran through Jackson county and the "Battle of the Spurs" occurred at Fuller's ford on Straight creek, near one of the stations of the "underground railway." During the Civil war Jackson county furnished 175 volunteers, most of whom joined the Eleventh cavalry, the Fifth cavalry and the Eighth infantry.

Prior to 1859 the schools in the county were carried on chiefly by

KANSAS HISTORY

private subscription. The first school was taught by Miss Harriet Warfield in 1857 in Douglas township. A log school house was built the following year and in 1859 district No. 12 was organized. The first school in Jefferson township was taught by Mrs. H. S. Hart; in Grant township by E. S. Hulan; in Liberty township by Sophia Latti- mer; in Straight creek township by James B. Hastings; and the first real school house was built south of Holton in 1858 out of logs. In 1910 there were in the county 90 school districts, with over 5,000 persons of school age, and 60 libraries.

The first marriage for which any definite date is given was between John Coleman and Phoebe Hastings on Jan. 1, 1857; the first birth in the county was probably that of O. F. Cunningham. Some of the early ministers were: Rev. R. P. Hamm, Rev. Byron Stewart, who settled in Douglas township in 1855, Rev. Eli H. Robinson, Rev. Wil- liam Knipe, who held services in a sawmill in Jefferson township in 1858; Rev. J. W. Williams and Rev. Pardee Butler, who was mobbed in Atchison for his anti-slavery opinions.

In 1871 the voters adopted a proposition to issue bonds amounting to $160,000 to get the Kansas Central railroad, and the next year donated the county's stock to the railroad company. A delay in build- ing the road from Holton to the limits of the county caused the com- pany to forfeit all but $60,000 of the money. This line is now a part of the Union Pacific system. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific runs from Topeka to Holton, thence northeast to Whiting, leaving the county near the northeast corner. The Kansas City Northwestern, a branch of the Missouri Pacific, runs from Valley Falls through Holton and Circleville and north into Nemaha county. Another branch of the Missouri Pacific enters the county from Nemaha and runs through the northeastern part through Netawaka and Whiting. The Topeka & Marysville, a branch of the Union Pacific, is a new road crossing the southwest corner of the county.

The surface of the county is undulating plains. The largest stream is the Big Soldier, which flows from north to south through the western part of the county and empties into the Kansas river. Other streams are Cross creek, Little Soldier, North and South Cedar creeks, Straight, Elk, Spring, Bills and Muddy creeks.

The county contains 421,120 acres, of which 316,163 are under cultiva- tion (the Indian lands, comprising at present 74,400 acres, are not cultivated to any extent). The field crops in 1910 totaled $2,013,- 064.78, of which corn amounted to $1,328,664; oats, $210,974, and wheat $24,351.68. The value of all farm products for that year was $3,322,- 371.63. Hay crops and Irish potatoes were also extensively raised. There are more than a quarter of a million fruit trees. Jackson has a high rank as a fruit growing locality, also for the breeding of thorough- bred stock. One source of wealth is the quarries of white, gray lime- stone. Brick clay and gypsum are found along the creeks. The popula- tion in 1910 was 16,861.

CYCLOPEDIA OF

Jaggard, a railroad town in the southeastern part of Leavenworth county, is on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 2 miles northwest of Bonner Springs, from which it has rural free delivery, and 19 miles from Leavenworth, the county seat.

Jamestown, an incorporated city of the third class in Cloud county, is located at the junction of two branches of the Missouri Pacific R. R. and on Buffalo creek, 10 miles west of Concordia, the county seat. It has a bank, a feed mill, stone quarries, 2 grain elevators, a weekly newspaper (the Kansas Optimist), telegraph and express offices and an internationl money order postoffice with four rural routes. There are about 50 business establishments. The population in 1910 was 462. The town was founded in 1878, and incorporated in 1883.

Jamestown Exposition .- (See Expositions.)

Janssen, a country postoffice in Ellsworth county, is located on the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R. 5 miles southwest of Ellsworth, the county. seat. It has a general store, a mill and a grain elevator. The population in 1910 was 15.

Jaqua, a small settlement of Cheyenne county, is located on the south fork of the Republican river in the southwestern part of the county, about 18 miles from St. Francis, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice and is a trading point for the neighborhood. St. Francis is the nearest railroad station.

Jaramillo, Juan, a Spanish soldier and narrator, was with Coronado in the expedition to Quivira in 1540-42. Some years later he wrote an account of the expedition, the original Spanish manuscript of which is in the Buckingham Smith "Coleccion." It has been translated into French by Ternaux-Compans, and into English by George P. Winship, assistant in American history in Harvard University. In this account Jaramillo says that when the Indian guide, Isopete, saw the Arkansas river he recognized it as the southern boundary of Quivira. Some of the historians of the Coronado expedition refer to him as "Captain" Jaramillo, and he was evidently a man of some prominence and influ- ence at that period. (See Coronado.)

Jarbalo, a village of Leavenworth county, is situated on the Leaven- worth & Topeka R. R. 13 miles southwest of Leavenworth. It has a money order postoffice, general stores, agricultural implements house, express office, and in 1910 had a population of 100. The town is the shipping and supply station for a rich agricultural district.

Jasper, a small settlement in the northeastern part of Linn county, is about 15 miles from Mound City, the county seat, and 8 miles south- east of La Cygne, from which point mail is delivered by rural carrier.

Jasper, a post hamlet of Meade county, is a station on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. 6 miles west of Meade, the county seat. It is a local trading point and does some shipping. The population was 20 in 1910.

Jay, a hamlet in the western part of Leavenworth county, is 15 miles from Leavenworth and 6 miles southwest of Easton, the most convenient railroad station, from which place mail is delivered by rural carrier.

KANSAS HISTORY

Jayhawkers .- The origin of the term "Jayhawker" appears to be veiled in uncertainty. During the Civil war the members of the Seventh Kansas regiment, commanded by Col. C. R. Jennison, became known as "Jayhawkers," and probably from this fact the jayhawker came to be regarded by many as purely a Kansas institution. But there is plenty of evidence that the word was in use long before the out- break of the Civil war. There is a report that it was used freely by the Texans during their struggle for independence, but this is not well authenticated.

In 1849 a party of gold seekers from Galesburg, Ill., bound over- land for California, took the name of jayhawkers. Adjt .- Gen. Fox says the name was coined on the Platte river in that year, and offers the following explanation of how it was adopted : "Some kind of hawks, as they sail up in the air reconnoitering for mice and other small prey, look and act as though they were the whole thing. Then the audience of jays and other small but jealous and vicious birds sail in and jab him until he gets tired of show life and slides out of trouble in the lower earth. Now, perhaps this is what happens among fellows on the trail-jaybirds and hawks enact the same rôle, pro and con-out of pure devilment and to pass the hours of a long march. At any rate, ours was the crowd that created the word 'jayhawker' at the date and locality above stated. So far as Kansas is concerned, the word was borrowed or copied ; it is not a home product."

Mr. Fox is corroborated by U. P. Davidson and J. W. Brier, who were members of the Galesburg party, and by Alexander Majors in his "Seventy Years on the Frontier." On the overland journey these men were lost in Death Valley and narrowly escaped death by starvation. For many years the survivors held annual reunions, and John B. Colton had a large scrap-book filled with newspaper clippings relating to these "jayhawker" meetings.

John J. Ingalls, in the Kansas Magazine for April, 1872, in an article entitled "The Last of the Jayhawkers," says: "The Border Ruffians constructed the eccåleobion in which the jayhawk was hatched, and it broke the shell upon the reedy shores of the Marias des Cygnes. Its habits were not migratory, and for many years its habitat was south- ern Kansas." In the same article Mr. Ingalls says "The jayhawk is a creation of mythology. It was an early bird and caught many a Mis- souri worm."

The jayhawkers alluded to by Mr. Ingalls were the free-state men who composed the band commanded by James Montgomery (q. v.), which for some time in the territorial days kept the pro-slavery set- tlers of southeastern Kansas in a state of terror. In the winter of 1858-59 the term "jayhawker" was used by J. E. Jones of Fort Scott and George W. Cavert of Osawatomie in letters to the governor, and Gov. Medary made use of it in a communication to the legislature, under date of Jan. II, 1859, when he said: "Capt. Brown was fortify- ing himself on Sugar creek and Montgomery claims that he can raise

CYCLOPEDIA OF

200 men. Good citizens that formerly sustained these men begged to have something done to stop the 'jayhawking' as they termed it," etc.

Richardson, in his "Beyond the Mississippi" (p. 125), says that on June 13, 1858, he "found all the settlers justifying the 'jayhawkers,' a name universally applied to Montgomery's men, from the celerity of their movements and their habit of suddenly pouncing upon an enemy."

The Standard Dictionary defines a "jayhawker" as a "freebooting guerrilla," and applies the term to persons engaged in plundering their political enemies in Kansas and western Missouri during the territorial period. But that work does not make a proper distinction in its definition between the "border ruffians," who represented the cause of slavery, and the free-state men, who were the real jawhawkers.

Another story concerning the origin of the word attributes it to an Irishman named Patrick Devlin, who lived in the village of Osawatomie. According to this story, Devlin was seen entering the village in the fall of 1856 with his horse loaded down with plunder of various kinds, and a neighbor suggested that he must have been on a foraging excur- sion. Devlin answered that he had been jayhawking, and, when asked the meaning of the term, explained that in Ireland there is a bird called the jayhawk which always worries its prey before devouring it.

From all the evidence at hand the story of the gold seekers of 1849 seems to be the best established. However, through the operations of Montgomery's men and others like them, the "jayhawker" came to be regarded as purely a Kansas institution, and in more recent years the term "Jayhawker" is applied to Kansas men and products, much as the word "Hoosier" is applied to an Indianian, or the work "Buckeye" to a resident of the State of Ohio.

Jean, a country postoffice in Haskell county, is located 7 miles north- east of Santa Fe, the county seat, and 24 miles south of Garden City, the nearest shipping point.

Jefferson, one of the villages of Montgomery county, is located on Fawn creek 8 miles south of Independence, the county seat, and is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. It has an express office, a good local trade, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population, according to the census of 1910, was 100.

Jefferson County, one of the counties formed and organized by the first territorial legislature, is situated in the northeastern part of the state, the second county west from the Missouri river and the third south from the Nebraska line. It is bounded on the north by Atchison county, on the east by Leavenworth, on the south by the Kansas river, which separates it from Douglas county, and on the west by Shawnee and Jackson counties.

Jefferson is one of the older settled counties of the state and some of the most important events in the history of Kansas took place within its borders. The first visit of white men of which there is any record is the expedition of Prof. Say, which entered the county at the south-

KANSAS HISTORY

west corner of Delaware township and proceeded to the falls of the Delaware (then the Grasshopper) river, where camp was made on the night of Aug. 27, 1819. The next day they crossed the northern bound- ary. The first settlement was made by Daniel Morgan Boone, son of the famous Kentuckian, who was appointed "farmer for the Kansas Indians" by the government. He located in 1827 on the north side of the Kaw river in the extreme southern part of what is now Jefferson county, and started to teach the Kansas Indians the art of agriculture. His son, born on Aug. 22, 1828, was probably the first white child born in Kansas. Boone maintained the first agency for Indian lands in the state. Subsequently a settlement grew up, the ruins of which were found near the present village of Williamstown by settlers in 1854.

In 1851 a few Mormon families en route from Missouri to Salt Lake stopped in Jefferson county, about where Thompsonville is now located. They remained about two years and made some improvements. Three log cabins were built and about 15 acres of land cultivated. Three of the women in the company died of cholera. They were buried in the edge of the timber and tombstones put up with the names cut on them. One was a Mrs. Archer and one a Mrs. Platt. Finding they could not obtain the lands in Kansas they moved on.

Permanent settlements were made in 1854, a military and freight road having been opened that year between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley. The following are some of the settlers who came in that year: William F. and George M. Dyer, Henry Zen, Henry Chubb, William B. Wade, Sidney Stewart, Aaron Cook, R. P. Beeler, Jefferson Riddle, J. T. Wilson, John Kuykendall, John Scaggs, Thomas R. and Alexander Byne, Charles Hardt, Simeon and Isaac Hull, Charles Hed- rick, John Hart, J. B. Ross, Robert Riddle, James Frazier, A. J. Whit- ney and T. J. and H. B. Jolley. The settlements were made along the government road and the Kansas river, and at the crossing of the Grasshopper. The lands had not yet been opened for sale, but the immigrants paid no attention to that fact. They staked off claims and began improvements, with the understanding that when these lands were offered for sale they could bid in their holdings at the appraised value. This was the famous "squatter's right" that caused so much trouble in territorial days, and this condition obtained with nearly all the best lands in Jefferson county. An election was held that year, the polling place in Jefferson being at Ozawkie. The Missourians drove the free-state men from the polls. During the summer Con- gress established two mail routes across the county. One was along the old military road and the other was from Fort Leavenworth to the Big Blue by Grasshopper (now Valley) Falls. The first post- office was Ozawkie, established on March 15, 1855, with George M. Dyer postmaster. Hickory Point was established soon afterward with Charles Hardt as postmaster and in Dec., 1855, Grasshopper Falls, with A. J. Whitney postmaster.

CYCLOPEDIA OF

The first white child born after the permanent settlement was Ella Simmons, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alpha Simmons, June 19, 1855. The first marriage was between Alfred Corey and Miss Martha Hoovey at Ozawkie, Nov. 25, 1855.

In the election of 1855 Hickory Point was the polling place. Large numbers of pro-slavery men came into the territory the day before, camped near Hickory Point, laid off claims and the next day demanded the right to vote. On being refused a row ensued, and the election board finding it impossible to secure a fair election refused to serve. When the free-state voters came they found the polls in the hands of non-residents and went away without voting.

The first term of the district court in the county was held at Ozawkie the last week in March, 1856, with Samuel D. Lecompte as the pre- siding judge. At this time it was hardly safe to be abroad unarmed, as the border war was in progress and bands of armed men from other parts of the state and from Missouri frequented the settlements of Jefferson county. If a free-soiler was caught by a band of border ruffians he was apt to be killed. During the absence from Grasshopper Falls of the free-state defense organization the pro-slavery men visited the place, insulted the women and made various threats. In retaliation the free-state band under the leadership of Clark made a raid and killed a man by the name of Jackson, who was responsible. For the death of Jackson Grasshopper Falls was raided on Sept. 8, 1856, by a body of armed ruffians. The town was completely sacked and the store of William and R. H. Crosby was burned. Both sides were now in arms. Some South Carolinians who had been committing various depredations were discovered and captured on Slough creek, but were released on promising to leave the territory. The trouble culminated in the Battle of Hickory Point (q. v.).

The Jefferson county free-soilers took no part in the election of delegates for a constitutional convention in 1857. In August of that year, at the election for state officers, A. G. Patrick of Jefferson county was elected clerk of the supreme court. Two conventions were held at Grasshopper Falls in the latter part of August, one a mass and the other a delegate body, to discuss the contest for the control of the legislature. It was decided to put a full ticket in the field. (See Grass- hopper Falls Convention.) The convention for Jefferson county was held at Ozawkie the same month.

The first county officers were appointed in 1855 as follows: Frank- lin Finch, probate judge; W. F. Dyer, treasurer; G. M. Dyer, sheriff ; Marion Christison, register of deeds; William Sprague, assessor; Gar- ret Cozine, surveyor; James A. Chapman, coroner; N. B. Hopewell, O. B. Tebbs and Henry Owens members of the county court, which was the same as the board of commissioners. Ozawkie was designated as county seat. At the meeting of the county court on Jan. 21, 1856, the county was divided into three townships, Slough, Ozawkie and Grasshopper Falls. The first road in the county was located in April

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Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Volume II, Part 1

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company Number of Pages: 960

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company
Number of Pages: 960