USA > Kansas > Linn County > A centenary of Catholicity in Kansas, 1822-1922 ; the history of our cradle land (Miami and Linn Counties) ; Catholic Indian missions and missionaries of Kansas ; The pioneers on the prairies : notes on St. Mary's Mission, Sugar Creek, Linn County; Holy Trinity Church, Paola, Miami County; Holy Rosary Church, Wea; Immaculate Conception, B.V.M., Louisburg; St. Philip's Church, Osawatomie; Church of the Assumption, Edgerton, Johnson County; to which is added a short sketch of the Ursuline Academy at Paola; the diary of Father Hoecken, and old Indian records > Part 7
USA > Kansas > Miami County > A centenary of Catholicity in Kansas, 1822-1922 ; the history of our cradle land (Miami and Linn Counties) ; Catholic Indian missions and missionaries of Kansas ; The pioneers on the prairies : notes on St. Mary's Mission, Sugar Creek, Linn County; Holy Trinity Church, Paola, Miami County; Holy Rosary Church, Wea; Immaculate Conception, B.V.M., Louisburg; St. Philip's Church, Osawatomie; Church of the Assumption, Edgerton, Johnson County; to which is added a short sketch of the Ursuline Academy at Paola; the diary of Father Hoecken, and old Indian records > Part 7
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
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
"During the territorial days immediately preceding the war, Kansas was a storm center," says the Kansas City Star. "It was full of noise and bluster and turmoil. It was torn with strife-it was at war with the country. Every day was a day for black headlines over the news from that state. It was the day of the radical in politics as well as in state affairs-and, perhaps, necessarily so. The times called for radical action. The fight for a free state was not won by namby- pamby methods. The mollycoddle was of no particular value to Kansas in the fight she was making.
"Then followed the war and its attendant bitterness and the overturning of natural order and normal conditions.
"But Kansas had been settled by a class of men and women who were not content simply with tearing down slavery. They were not satisfied merely with the admission of the state with slavery forbidden. They had brought to the West high ideals of government. They came from New England, from the At- lantic Coast, and from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and other states, and they had an ambition to place the new state of Kansas upon a foundation as firm and as stable as that of Massachusetts. To do that the radical and the wild and the woolly, who had their place in the stormy days, must be supplanted by the leaders with constructive ideas and purposes. Kansas was no longer at war with the rest of the country. It was called upon to settle down to the business of mak- ing a place for herself in the nation."
Beneath the disturbed condition of affairs, however, other benef- icent influences were at work laying the foundations of religion and education ; the humble "squatter" or homesteader was patiently watching his growing crops, his roaming herds, or, what was more likely. scanning the horizon for the ever threatening cyclone or tornado; a constant observer of nature, he sought at all times to accommodate his plans to the circumstances. The whole country now became an experi- mental station, so to speak, and thus, in a few years, Kansas became one of the finest agricultural sections of the United States. Education kept apace with the swiftly growing population and the various Chris-
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
tian denominations were animated with a friendly rivalry-yet, with a fine spirit of neighborliness. Kindness and helpfulness dominated the people.
Catholics came in ever increasing numbers after the territory was opened to settlers. They were a patient, industrious, God-fearing class of men and women. These were chiefly Irish at first, but, soon, the Ger- mans also came and established colonies and both have grown in wealth and numbers. The two races have harmonized to a great extent and their children are, today, what might be called the "back bone" of Catholicity in Kansas. Other races in after years came and are proving a valuable addition to the Catholic body.
It was in 1822 that the first Catholic priest entered Kansas. Father De la Croix came from St. Louis; he was a secular priest and passed through this section on his way to the Osages on the Neosho River. Father Lutz of the diocese of St. Louis came as a missionary to the Indians a few years later.
Father Theodore Heimann seems to have been the first secular priest to enter the field as a subject of Bishop Miegc. He was a teacher at Osage Mission in 1853, and in 1854, on the 28th of September his name appears on our old Record book as baptizing solemnly, Louis, son of Joseph Te- beaux and Matilda Reoume. Father Heimann was ordained in Kentucky by Bishop Flaget and came to Kansas in 1846. He joined the Carmelites in 1864 and was the first to receive the Holy habit of that Order in the United States. He gave the original farm at Scipio to the Carmelite Order. He became the first Carmelite pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Leavenworth, REV. THEODORE HEIMANN. where he was greatly beloved by the people. He died at the Novitiate, New Baltimore, Pa., on September 3, 1893.
The Benedictine Fathers came in 1857 under the leadership of Father Augustine Wirth, O. S. B. They established a Priory in the town of Atchison in 1858 and from this humble beginning has sprung the present magnificent church and college.
The Benedictines have labored successfully in Kansas; they have developed some fine parishes and built many splendid churches and have worked in harmony with the secular clergy throughout a large section of the northern part of the state. Their Venerable Abbot, Rt. Rev. Innocent Wolf, O. S. B., D. D., has been a light to the clergy and
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FOUNDATIONS LAID
a pillar of strength to the Church in the west.
The Benedictine Sisters have a fine Academy at Atchison and also teach many parochial schools in the Diocese.
The Carmelite Fathers came to Kansas from Europe in 1862. They established themselves at Leavenworth and Scipio, Kansas, and did con- siderable missionary work, with Scipio as a center. The trend of the Order, however, was Eastward and now, their finest establishments are in Chicago, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Old Scipio is now flourishing after fifty years of struggle, and the fine church, school and monastery at Leavenworth are still doing efficient work.
The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Kentucky, came to Leaven- worth by way of Nashville, Tennessee, in 1858. They have developed
A SISTER OF NAZARETH.
A SISTER OF LEAVENWORTH.
into a great body of active workers and have branch houses in many states west of the Mississippi, and far into the Rocky Mountains. They are able teachers, efficient nurses, and splendid charity workers in every field of human misery. These three Orders were pioneers in the west.
In the meantime the ranks of the Secular Clergy were being aug- mented. Father Theodore Heimann was the first to reside in Kansas.
The end of 1858 saw Father Schacht wending his way through Miami County. Father Sebastian Favre came from France in 1862 and Father An- thony Kuhls was ordained by Bishop Miege in 1863. Two years afterwards John F. Cunningham and Francis .J. Wattron were raised to the holy priest- hood at Leavenworth by the same bishop and were at once sent forth on horseback to comb the prairies and fish for the living when hunting failed. Fort Scott was the destination of the former and Paola of the latter. Father Cunningham afterwards became pastor of Lawrence, Topeka and Leavenworth successively. He became Vicar General of
RT. REV. INNOCENT WOLF, O. S. B., D. D.
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FOUNDATIONS LAID
the diocese under Rt. Rev. L. M. Fink, O. S. B., and, finally, died on the 23d of June, 1919, as the revered and respected Bishop of Concordia.
The only remaining figure of those early days is Right Reverend Mgr. Kuhls, now in retirement. Father Kuhls was ordained by Bishop Miege and appointed pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Leavenworth. Succeeding Fa- ther Fish, he became the pastor of Old Wyandotte which included the county as a whole. Monsignor Kuhls has lived to see his single parish dotted over with churches, schools, and religious institu- tions. He has beheld a great city grow up around him as by magic. A new people and a new name-Kansas City, Kansas-have taken the place of all that was dear to his heart fifty years ago.
Here might be related an abundance RIGHT REV. MGR. KUHLS. of missionary experiences that ap- proached the heroic as well as the ludicrous, and commingled the sublime with the ridiculous in the most fantastic manner. Everything was topsy-turvy in Kansas in those early times. There were no roads, no fences, no railroads to speak of. Dugouts, sod houses, and miserable cabins were everywhere to be seen, but the people were of a superior class altogether, and this one fact changed the aspect of everything. The priests admired and loved the people and the people entertained the poor, tattered and tired clerical wanderers with great reverence and with an hospitality that was both primitive and warm. What a pity that we have not a few of the personal diaries of those days! As it is we retain in memory only the fireside tales of the older folk and the older priests who lived through the sod-house, cabin days of Kansas.
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
"The cabin homes of Kansas! How modestly they stood Along the sunny hillsides Or nestled in the wood. They sheltered men and women Brave-hearted pioneers; Each one became a landmark Of freedom's trial years.
"The sod-house homes of Kansas! Though built of Mother Earth, Within their walls so humble Are souls of sterling worth. Though poverty and struggle May be the builder's lot, The sod-house is a castle, Where failures enter not.
"The dug-out homes of Kansas! The lowliest of all, They hold the homestead title As firm as marble hall. Those dwellers in the caverns, Beneath the storms and snows Shall make the desert places To blossom as the rose.
"The spelndid homes of Kansas! How proudly now they stand, Amid the fields and orchards, All o'er the smiling land. They rose up where the cabins Once marked the virgin soil, And are the fitting emblems Of patient years of toil.
"God bless the homes of Kansas! From poorest to the best. The cabin cf the border, The scd-house of the West. The dugout low and lonely The mansion grand and great: The hands that laid the hearthstone Have built a mighty state."
SOL MILLER.
PART IV MIAMI COUNTY'S FIRST SETTLERS
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MIAMI COUNTY'S FIRST SETTLERS.
The French traders, who accompanied Father De la Croix on his second visit to the Osages in 1822, were probably the first white men to enter the field. As was the custom of all traders, they exchanged for pelts and furs whatever the Indians needed.
From the earliest times the French were in close touch with the Indians in Canada, throughout the Great Lake regions and along the rivers to the Gulf. Their advent, therefore, amongst the tribes in the New Territory was very welcome. They found a ready market for their wares and reaped a rich harvest in furs which were then abundant.
The old records hold such names as Burdon, Peret, Bertrand, Prayon, Bourg, Robbideaux, La Fontain, De Richardville, etc., none of which names are found amongst us today.
The Indian agent appointed by the United States Government in 1852 was Col. Ely Moore, a former congressman from New York. He was held responsible for the well-being of the Miamis, Weas, Peorias, Piankeshaws and the Kaskaskias.
Other white men, who with their families lived at or near the Osage River Indian Agency in 1854, were Wm. Maynard, Wm. Hunnewell, W. A. Mobley, the Hoggetts, the Shaws, A. G. Mckenzie, General W. A. Heiskell. The Wea or Baptist Mission was established one mile east of Paola about the year 1848. It was for a number of years under the charge of Dr. David Lykins, who discharged his trust with great fidelity to the great advantage of the Indians. The doctor went to Colorado in 1861 and died there.
Kansas began to exist as an organized territory on the 30th of May, 1854, when President Pierce signed the famous Kansas-Nebraska Act, by which Kansas was taken into the bounds of civilization and empowered to determine her own future policy in regard to the National issues that were then before the people of the United States.
The paramount question at the time was: whether the New Territory should permit the introduction of slavery and thus make it constitu- tional in the West as it had been in the South.
The question aroused the keenest interest and provoked the most serious discussion throughout the whole country, north and south. At this point appears the noted figure of John Brown of Osawatomie who fought the first battle on the soil of Miami County for the abolition of slavery. He thus struck the first spark that enkindled the flame of one of the greatest wars of history-the Civil Struggle of 1861 to 1865.
According to Major Simpson in his notes on the first settlers we are able to state that, "Early in September, 1854, Daniel Martin who had been a resident of West Point, Missouri, made a claim and settled on the land afterwards owned by Orin Williams and now (Jan. 1881) occupied by Mrs. W. G. Rainey. He is believed to have been the first white man that resided in this part of the county.
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
"Charles N. White, long a resident of the northern part of the county, sometime during the year 1854 settled on a claim north of the Marais des Cygnes, that embraces the land owned for so many years by Judge Thomas Roberts. Late in the fall of that same year Thomas Rice settled in the south part of the county on Mound Creek." Many others who took up claims in 1854 relinquished them the following year. James Poland settled on a claim southwest of Osawatomie in 1854.
On the 24th of October, 1854, William Chestnut, O. C. Brown, John I. Everett, Elder Palmer, Henry DeVillers, a young land surveyor by the name of Smith, Allen Wilkerson and two or three others whose names are not recollected, made claims in and around the mouth of the Potta- watomie Creek and in the course of the next two weeks erected their cabins and made such permanent preparations to stay that they are entitled to be considered as the first exclusively white settlement of the county. About the time of their location, probably a few days before, W. C. Childers, from Missouri, with his two sons, James and A. Childers, located on the northern bank of the Marais des Cygnes, a little east of the Chestnut settlement. About this time Paola began to receive an influx of white settlers.
PAOLA
Miss Ethel Wise in her class essay before the Paola High School on June 11, 1918, says :
"On the 16th day of August, 1855, the First Territorial Legislature passed an act incorporating the Paola Town Company, consisting of Baptiste Peoria, Isaac Jacobs, A. M. Coffey, David Lykins and their associates. Early in August, 1858, the Osawatomie people presented a petition for a vote to permanently locate the County Seat in accordance with the provision of the law of 1858, which said, "When the County Seat of any county has not been located by a vote of the electors of the county and county buildings have not been erected, the Board of Co. Commissioners upon the petition of a majority of the legal electors of the county shall order an election for the location or removal of such county seat." The County Seat had never been located in Paola, that' is by a vote of the electors. Some of the earliest settlers remember the submitting of this important question to the Paola Board as causing much agitation among the Paola people. The Board of Supervision ordered an election for the permanent location of the County Seat to be held on the same day as the general election and from that time on party lines were abolished. The Paola people worked like beavers. It was said at the time that they personally visited every legal voter in the county. For ten days before the election it was believed that Paola would win if the voters could be persuaded to go to the polls; hence every effort and inducement was used to get all voters friendly to Paola to the vot- ing places. The county was divided into small districts and three men consti- tuted a committee to get every voter of every district to the respective polls. The returns showed that Paola had won by a majority of about 90 votes. A contest was threatened based upon some illegal Indian votes. But after examination it was found that if the claim of illegal Indian votes was sustained that Paola would still have a majority of 48 votes. The result of that election was of great importance to Paola. It created a belief among those who wanted to live and build at the County Seat that the town was sure to remain as such. The only
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MIAMI COUNTY'S FIRST SETTLERS
evidence now existing that Paola is the County Seat is to be found in the act of 1855 establishing it as the permanent Seat of Justice. The petition upon which the Board of Supervision ordered the election has disappeared. The journal of the Board does not contain the order of election. No record of the canvass of the vote seems to exist. The County Seat still rests on an act of the Bogus Legislature.
"One of Paola's earliest settlers will be remembered as Knowles Shaw, who came here as a blacksmith in 1854 and hammered an honest living out of iron for many years.
"Cy Shaw came to Paola in 1855 and ran the first stage line from Kansas City to Fort Scott, by way of Paola and Osawatomie. The trail which our fa- thers and grandfathers followed was then along Ten Mile and Indian Creek, later it was moved west to take in Olathe and Springhill. The stage coach came daily, bringing the mail and a coach full of passengers at each trip. Fresh stage horses were procured at a barn in the northwest part of town. When the coaches were in need of repair, they were run into a barn located where the Vassar Hotel is and made ready for further use.
"That which is possibly Paola's oldest house is the home of Martin Timken, situated on North Pearl street. It was built by a man by the name of Totten in the year 1858. He turned rebel and his property was taken over by the Gov- ernment for military purposes. During the time soldiers were stationed. here the officers' headquarters were in this house. They took their meals at Ezra Robinson's house, which was then directly across the street in what is today known as the home of Watt Glenn.
"We may think of the block in which the Peoples Nat'l Bank is located as being the block in which were the homes of two of Paola's first settlers, one being Thomas Hedges and the other Knowles Shaw. Opposite them was the home of Mother Baptiste. In my recent talks with old settlers, I have found that Mother Baptiste held a warm spot in the hearts of all who knew her.
"Mrs. Jacobs was probably the first white woman that came to Paola. Her husband had the first house erected that was built on the town site. It was located about where Prendergast's store is. The carpenter work was done by Samuel P. Boone. Mr. Jacobs was Paola's first mayor. B. F. Simpson was the, first lawyer; Dr. W. D. Hoover the first practising physician. He lived about where Devins Laundry is situated. Samuel Boone was the first carpenter; Mrs. Cy Shaw taught the first school; Rev. Wood was the first preacher. Walter Buck and his brother Alf were the moving water works of the city and with a little cart and pony they were at it early and late. The first wedding was that of George Tomlinson and Miss Mary Mead. Mrs. P. H. Latimer of Louisburg has the name of being the first white child born on the town site. Her maiden name was Sue Heiskell. The first death was that of an infant son of Dr. Coffey. There is a record of almost every trade and who started it in Paola, with the exception of the barber shop and no records can be found of the first man to start up such a business here.
"The land for the city park was given to Paola by the Town Company with the proviso that no buildings should ever be placed on it. While we think of it as a place of beauty, in our fathers' day it was an open common where the Indians were wont to run horse races, and indulge in war dances. Baptiste Peoria had made it a play ground for his people and the Town Company continued the gift and so recorded it on the books.
"Pacla in her youth was not without churches. Her first Methodist church was where Mr. Hunt keeps a plumbing shop. Those of the Christian Church held their services in a town hall on the west side. In 1882 the foundation for their church on East Piankeshaw was laid. The Baptists held church in a small building located in the same place as the one they now have. While we look upon the Busy Bee as a hotel, it was in the time of the generation before us
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
and the generation before them the Presbyterian Church located where the pres- ent Presbyterian church is. The location of the Congregational Church has al- ways been the same. The first Catholic Church was a one-room, stone building. The ground together with a donation in money was given to the Catholics in 1859 by Baptiste Peoria and his wife. This first church was torn down in 1880 and a brick building was put up. This burned in 1906 and the one now stand- ing was built in 1906-07.
"The first county building erected was the jail, which was built in 1858 and cost $2,600. It was a stone structure and was situated back of Mayers' Cloth- ing store. The first term of court was held May 23, 1856.
"With the year of 1860 came the famine and, quoting Mr. H. M. McLach- lin, "hustlers for Pomeroy's beans and old clothes showed up in force." Aid was given out from a room on the northeast corner of the square and was quite a help to some, but like all charities it was greatly abused. Men who owned acres and acres of land were compelled to take provisions for their families, but the sympathetic manner of Ezra Robinson in issuing the goods softened the bitterness of charity.
"The amusements in the earlier days consisted of lodges, suppers given by the different organizations for the purpose of raising money, and literaries given once a month. There were also singing schools which furnished a good deal of pleasure to the young folks. A dancing club called the Q. A. M. D. C. (quit at midnight dancing club) gave dances every two weeks in the Mallory Hall which was on the west side of the park.
"Baptiste Peoria was the big man of that day, a large, full-blooded Indian with a great deal of business tact and shrewdness. The Indians were then in force and life with them was sport galore. Horse racing was possibly the great- est sport. Northeast of what was known as the Bell place they cleared up a straight track about a quarter of a mile long. The Indians were great traders, and every horse they got was tried on the track. Saturday was always fete day for the Indians, and all congregated at the track and races filled the time. The track was later changed out east of town and then they would swap races with the boys from the surrounding towns and Missouri.
"The Paola Free Library is known as the pride of Paola and well it might be called that. There was a stock company formed in 1872, called the Miami Co. Teachers Library. Its few books were kept in a hall on the north side of the square. This room was kept open on Thursdays from 4 to 6 o'clock, and on Satur- day afternoons. The librarian then was Mrs. H. S. Turner. In 1878 the asso- ciation turned the books over to the city as a gift with the understanding that the city was to provide and care for it. Mr. Sponable became inerested in the work and gave not only the land on which the building now rests but gen- erous sums of money at different times. His work for the library was a part of his life work. It must be remembered that we owe much to Mrs. Martha Smith, who at her death in 1901 gave $10,000 to the directors of the library for the pur- pose of erecting a library building. Thus, Paola's library is not a Carnegie Library.
"If from this imperfect sketch you can look back and see Paola as she was in May, 1855, a town fighting for an existence, I am sure you will take a more appreciative view of Paola, and note what remarkable changes have been wrought by time and the hand of man." ETHEL WISE.
PAOLA INCORPORATED. APPROVED DEED.
This Indenture Made this 13th day of December A. D. 1860, between Baptiste Peoria, a reserve of the Confederated tribes of Piankeshaw, Peoria, Kaskaskia and Wea Indians of Kansas, Territory, and Mary Ann Peoria, his wife, residents
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MIAMI COUNTY'S FIRST SETTLERS
of Lykins county, Kansas Territory, parties of the first part and The Paola Town Company, of the second part.
Witnesseth, That the parties of the first part, and The Paola Town Com- pany of the second part:
Witnesseth, That the parties of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of Five Thousand and Dollars, in hand paid by the parties of the second part in gold and silver coin of the United States, to the parties of the first part, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, have granted, bargained and sold and do hereby grant, bargain, sell and convey to the party of the second part and to their heirs, successors and assigns the following described real estate lying in Lykins county, Kansas Territory and bounded and described as follows, that is to say:
Commencing at an ash stake by an oak tree on the north- west corner of the town track, thence east 321 perches and 3 feet to a stone monument and stake, thence south 200 perches to stake and stone, thence west 321 perches and 3 feet to a stake, thence north 200 perches to beginning and containing 4031/2 acres, in Sections 16 and 17, township Seventeen, Range Twenty-three, East, and is all upon the headright of Baptiste Peoria, and is a part of the allotments of lands to the said Baptiste Peoria made under the treaty May 30, 1854, between the above con- solidated tribes of Indians and the United States.
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the above described premises with the appur- tenances to the said party of the second part, and to their heirs, successors, and assigns forever. The party of the first part hereby covenanting with the party of the second part that the title hereby conveyed is free, clear and unincun- bered and further that the party of the first part will forever warrant and de- fend the same to the party of the second part and to their heirs, assigns and suc- cessors against the lawful claims of all persons whomsoever.
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