USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > Historical sketch of Shawnee County, Kansas : prepared for the occasion of the centennial celebration, July 4, 1876 > Part 2
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Phillip C. Schuyler, of Burlingame, was chosen chair- man, and F. W. Giles, of Topeka, secretary. The nomi- nations were as follows: For member of the Territorial
.
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Council, Cyrus K. Holliday; for Representative in the House, James A. Delong; for Probate Judge, Phillip C. Schuyler; for Sheriff, Jehiel Tyler; for Recorder of Deeds, F. W. Giles; for County Commissioners, Hiram Shields, Harvey W. Curtis; for County Surveyor, Joel Huntoon; and for Justices of the Peace, Joseph C. Miller, J. N. Frazier and P. T. Hupp.
As an illustration of the inattention given to the Ter- ritorial laws by the Free State people, it may be men- tioned that neither the office of sheriff, recorder of deeds, county surveyor, or justices of the peace, were elective under the statutes of the time, but were appointed by the tribunal transacting county business.
There had been a pro-slavery convention held at Tecumseh, and a full list of nominations made, but they were supported with little heart, as the result of the elec- tion fully demonstrated. The returns of that election show the following results; Total votes cast, 710, of which 649 were for the Free State ticket, and 61 for the Pro- slavery ticket-or Democratic ticket, as it has sometimes been styled-but we deem the former the more truthful appellation.
CANVASSING THE VOTE.
The first meeting of the board of county commission- ers after the election, was held on the 20th of November. Present, Hon. Wm. O. Yeager, probate judge; Edward Hoagland, county commissioner; John Martin, clerk. The record of that meeting commences as follows: "The court now having under consideration the subject of the October election returns, on motion, the following orders were made, to wit: First, Hon. E. Hoagland, county commissioner, presented his account as county commis- sioner for the sum of sixty dollars. The account is examined and allowed, and on motion the clerk is
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ordered to draw treasury draft, No. 15, in favor of Edward Hoagland for $60.00.
"John Martin, Clerk of the Commissioner's Court, presented his account as clerk of the board and county recorder from January 19th, 1857, to October 5th, 1857, inclusive. Account examined and allowed, and on motion order No. 16 on County Treasurer in favor of John Martin for the sum of eighty-five dollars and ninety-five cents, ($85.95) account as recorded up to same date.
"On motion the board adjourned.
" Attest :
Signed :
"JNO. MARTIN, " Clerk, &c.
WM. O. YEAGER, Commissioner."
The foregoing proceedings would seem to suggest that the board had the subject of the election returns before it for some purpose, but finding it a disagreeable subject of contemplation abruptly turned its attention to the set- tlement of their final accounts-for services rendered. The law really required no action of the board further than to place the returned poll books on file for ref- erence.
The first officer of Shawnee County who held his position by virtue of a popular election was Jehiel Tyler, who was commissioned by Fred. P. Stanton, Secretary and acting Governor, under the date of the 26th of November, 1857.
Mr. Tyler qualified and entered upon his duties as Sheriff on the 30th of the same month. The regular term of the Commissioners' Court occurred on the third Monday of December.
Of the newly elected Commissioners only H. W. Curtis was present. Adjournment was taken to the 31st day of that month, on which occasion were present
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Hiram Shields and H. W. Curtis, but no public business was transacted.
At the regular meeting of the Commissioners' Court, on the 18th of January, 1858, were present Messrs. Shields and Curtis.
The people of Tecumseh were a good deal alarmed lest the new power in county affairs should not recog- nize the proceedings of the old board, with reference to building a court house, and on the occasion of this first business meeting of the new board they sought to involve it and the Free State party of the county in such full recognition of the proceedings in that behalf, as to bar them from any repudiation of county obligations on ac- count of the court house in the future. In acquiescence of the urgent representations of citizens, and of the "court house ring," the commissioners-unwary of craft or in- different of precedent-ordered Sheriff Tyler to make some slight alterations about the court house; designated its rooms to the several county offices, and ordered the Tecumseh Town Association, contractors, to proceed with their work in completion of the court house. The solici- tudes of the Tecumsans was assuaged by this action in a marked degree.
At the same meeting the board proceeded to do a gracious act towards the unfortunates whom the Free State men had in their ignorance, or rather their indif- ference, of Territorial law, elected to offices which the laws knew not of. Thus Mr. Joel Huntoon, who had been voted for for the office of county surveyor, was appointed to works of civil engineering, especially the preparation of plans and estimations for a bridge over Deer creek, near Mr. Matthews' house, and Fry W. Giles, who rejoiced over his election to hold the office of record- er of deeds, but who thereafter learned, to his great sor- row, that the bogus Legislature had not exercised its
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wisdom in the creation of such an office, was appointed to the more honorable position of " clerk of the board of county commissioners for Shawnee County, and ex officio clerk of the Probate Court, and recorder for said Shawnee County;" and it was further "ordered that the clerk of the board grant unto Mr. Giles a certificate of his appoint- ment, and notify him to appear at the next term of the court to be qualified, and also to produce a bond, with approved sureties, in the sum of two thousand dollars."
The board also ordered that Phillip C. Schuyler, who had been elected to the responsible office of probate judge, be notified by the clerk to appear at the adjourned term of the court, to be held on Tuesday, the 23d day of February, or to signify by letter his intentions as to being qualified as probate judge.
Mr. Schuyler thereafter signified to the board that he must decline to qualify and enter upon the duties as- signed him. Judge Yeager having removed from the county, and there being a vacancy in the office, the com- missioners' court, on the 27th of February, took action as follows, to wit:
" WHEREAS, Phillip C. Schuyler, Esq., judge of pro- bate elect for Shawnee County, has declined to accept said office, and duly signified the same to the Governor, and
" WHEREAS, Hon. William O. Yeager, late judge of probate of said county, has removed from Kansas Terri- tory, whereby a vacancy has occurred in said office, and
" WHEREAS, Hon. J. W. Denver, secretary and acting Governor of the Territory has appointed and commis- sioned Edward Hoagland, Esq., as probate judge of said county, and
"WHEREAS, Doubts exist as to the authority vested in the Governor, as well as to the validity of chapter 44
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of the laws of 1855, in relation to probate courts and the appointment of probate judges-
" THEREFORE, In order to remove these doubts and give validity to said appointment, if necessary, as well as to provide for contingencies that may arise, the board of county commissioners, constituting the tribunal trans- acting county business, to wit: Hiram Shields and Har- vey W. Curtis, by virtue of the authority contained in section 3 of chapter 44 of laws of 1855, do hereby elect and appoint the said Edward Hoagland as probate judge for said county, to fill the existing vacancy caused by the declination and removal aforesaid."
Judge Hoagland qualified to the office on the 26th of February, 1858, and thereafter the " tribunal transacting county business," consisted of Edward Hoagland, probate judge, as chairman, and commissioners Shields and Curtis.
Joseph C. Miller and S. N. Frazier declined to serve as justices of the peace-positions for which they had been designated by the October election ; otherwise they would undoubtedlyy have been appointed to that office by the county board.
C. K. Holliday and James A. Delong were occupying their seats, respectively, as counsellor and representative in the Legislature-in session at Lawrence-and M. J. Parrott was in Washington as delegate to Congress.
Thus a complete political revolution had been accom- plished in the Territory, but nowhere more complete than in Shawnee County-the real sentiment of which had, from the summer of 1855, been most decidedly for " Free Kansas," and always thereafter, unto the present day, most staunch in the faith of the Republican party and all that the name implies.
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LOCALITIES OF FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
In Kansas, as everywhere in the march of humanity around the globe, the lines of communication are the first influence to determine points of settlement. Over the vast region of America lying between the Missouri -river and the Rocky Mountains, expressively designated as " the plains," the ways of travel to the trader, the army and the emigrant, were few and far between; but long before the settlement of Shawnee County, they were well defined and their nomenclature as household words to the fromtiersmen.
From the time when the advanced lines of commerce had threaded their way up the Mississippi and the Mis- souri rivers to the mouth of the Kansas, there to ex- change commodities with the distant regions of New Mexico, vast caravans were traversing the divides of the district now known as Shawnee County, and wearing so deep these channels of communication that twenty years of plowing and cultivating has not been sufficient to efface them.
One of the chief routes for this travel between the Missouri river and Santa Fe, New Mexico, by the way of Westport, followed on the south side of the Kansas river. After passing the Wakarusa, some six miles east of Law- rence, it took the divide between that stream and the Kansas and followed it, making almost a direct course over the high plateau from Big Springs, and recrossing the Wakarusa to the south, near Auburn.
In the summer and autumn of 1854, ten to fifteen families from Missouri, following that great trail, settled at different points upon the rich, well timbered and gen- erally inviting bottoms of that stream. Of those fami- lies, we have the names: Matney, Yocum, Simerwell Happ, Carriger, Brown, Johnson, Berry, Babcock and Snyder.
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After the establishment of Forts Leavenworth and Riley, a military road was opened connecting them and touching the Kansas river near Topeka, and from that point, crossing the river and leading out in a southwest direction to intersection with the Santa Fe road, near Webster mound, some two miles from Topeka.
BURNET'S MOUND.
A moment's digression to speak of the name of this mound-the highest point of land in Eastern Kansas.
On the morning of December 5th, 1854, when the founders of Topeka took their first stroll out upon the high lands between the Kaw and the Shunganunga, now designated as Tenth Avenue, of the many points of in- terest in the landscape to attract and interest them, the conical peak to the southwest was one of the most prom- inent. Feeling that they were where man had not been before, and that one of his first duties was to give names to things, an enthusiastic admirer of Daniel Webster . proposed, as a name for that peak on the plains, Webster Mound. The suggestion was agreeable to the party, and when spoken of by Topekans that name has been gen- erally assigned to it since.
It was afterwards learned that the locality had been known to travelers as Burnett's Mound. Gov. Abraham Burnett, of the Pottowatomie tribe, having since the set- tlement of his tribe in this vicinity resided near its base. To Gov. Burnett, the last of a long and royal line of chiefs that bore rule over the Pottowatomies, the name in all fairness belongs. Topekans, till within a few years, were familliar with his huge proportions and pla- cid countenance, and many a family album holds his picture. The man who, in honor of his political idol proposed Webster Mound, is willing to withdraw it if custom so ordains, but if such be the sentiment, then in decent regard for the memory of the great chief who
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had a prior right, let it be called Burnett's Mound, now and evermore.
For the accommodation of emigrant trains to Oregon and California, which desired to cross the Kansas river at the crossing of the military route, a by-way had been opened from a point on the Santa Fe road at Big Springs, and thence past Tecumseh Creek, Deer Creek and the Shunganunga, at a point about in a line with Fourth Street, Topeka, where a bridge had been con- structed for its accommodation, and intersected with the military road at Paapan's Ferry immediately west of To- peka.
Upon this intersecting branch of the great roads named, traversing one of the most valuable and interest- ing portions of the county, settlements were made in the summer and fall of 1854 by families bearing the names Stinson, Waysman, Grasmuck, Hand, Hopkins, Byler, Hunter, Jordan, Stephenson, Naylor, Morris, Herron Wottman, Hook, Copeland, Nickum, Hayes and prob- ably a few others.
At the crossing of Deer Creek lived a man and family by the name of Matthews. On the bottoms just east of Topeka were French families of the name of Bernier and Billiard ; just west of Topeka A. A. Ward and family and in the neighborhood of Burnett's Mound Shattes Lyford and perhaps one or two others.
The total number of families residing in the territory embraced in Shawnee County on the 29th of November, inclusive of a few at Burlingame and east of there, may have been about forty. The vote reported as polled on that day for delegate to Congress, was forty-seven.
TECUMSEH.
Very few towns have been founded in Kansas under more favorable circumstances than was Tecumseh. For
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many years prior to the passage of the Kansas and Ne- braska Act, Thomas N. Stinson, as an Indian trader, had been familiar with the valley of the Kansas river and adjacent country. In the exercise of a wise discretion he had selected one of the most picturesque localities of all the places of beauty in that valley, as his home, and in advance of all others had acquired title in land there -eight hundred acres as fertile and beautiful as the heart of man could desire.
Perceiving his opportunity, Mr. Stinson in Sep- tember, 1854, procured an engineer and had a portion of his lands laid out for town purposes. Governor Reed- er made this house his stopping place when on trav- els up and down the valley in the fall of 1854, and in his proclamation for the first Territorial election, held Nov. 29th, named Stinson's as the place for voting in the 3d electoral district.
It was said that Gov. Reeder, struck by the beauty of the locality and its eligibility as a site for the capital of the future State, suggested to Mr. Stinson the scheme of making it such. Be this as it may, it is unquestionably true that a tacit understanding was entered into between themselves and others, in the fall and carly winter of 1854, to that end, and Gov. Reeder is supposed to have been largely interested in forwarding the arrangement. Not only so, but, as well authenticated rumor had it, U. S. Judges and other officials representing the influence of the Territorial government were associated in the scheme, and it was prearranged that Gov. Reeder would call the first Legislature to meet there.
During the winter, however, a violent feeling arose between the Governor and the people of Missouri, and this so estranged him from them and all their influences and associates, that he determinnd to hazzard the capital scheme, and call the Legislature at a place as far from
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that influence as possible. This action somewhat dis- couraged his associates, but the enterprise was not aban- doned.
When the Legislature was in session at Shawnee Manual Labor School, the subject of making Tecumseh the territorial capital was brought prominently forward. The Tecumseh Town Association, represented by Thos. N. Stinson, James Hunter, Abraham Coningo, Albert Elmore, A. J. Isaacs, James M. Hunter and their associ- ates was incorporated, and, it is probable that corner lots were freely offered for votes.
A rival scheme, however, was broached, that of locat- ing the capital at a place afterwards known as Lecompton. A sharp rivalry ensued among the interested legislators, but the city in the hollow won, and a potent argument to produce that result was said to have been the expedi- ency of reducing the abolition towns of Lawrence and Topeka to ashes, by placing the capital as nearly as might be midway between them. Had Tecumseh pre- vailed, and an honest expenditure of the money appro- priated by Congress for building a capital been made, it is not improbable that the State capital would have re- mained there. Losing the greater prize, she was made the county seat, and given all the power to retain that honor that could have done her any good.
During the winter of 1854-55 a number of families settled at Stinson's and a little grocery and a drug store were started. In the spring of 1855 ten or fifteen men of enterprise and influence, actuated to a considerable de- gree by the anticipation of the locality becoming the cap- ital, settled there, and during the ensuing summer and autumn the semblance of a "town" was quite apparent.
A ferry was established on the river and public im- provements were in contemplation. During the year 1856 Tecumseh assumed its most violent character as a pro-
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slavery town, and the probabilities of a clash at arms between her and Topeka became so great that she called upon Gov. Geary for protection. Notwithstanding the general gloom pervading Kansas on account of the polit- ical agitations, Tecumseh got her court house built and grew apace, as a commercial and political point. She was quick to perceive the importance of a bridge over the Kansas river and secured an exclusive charter of bridge priviliges at that point and for five miles west of it, at the second session of the Territorial Legislature, doubtless expecting to prevent Topeka from securing a like priviledge.
The bridge company contracted for an iron super- structure to be built at Cincinnati and entered upon the work of preparing abutments for its reception. The un- dertaking involved a much greater expenditure than the little community was able to make, and during 1857 the political prospects were evidently against her ; so that the work could not be pressed with vigor.
Topeka, too, was making efforts for a bridge and actu- ally completed one of cheap construction in the Spring of 1858. This had the effect of quite demoralizing the Tecumseh enterprise. The work was done at Cincinnati and drafts were made upon the company which it could not pay. Discouragement and inaction followed. Later in the season the bridge at Topeka was carried away with the flood. This revived the hopes of Tecumseh and work was resumed there, an abutment having been nearly completed on the south bank of the river made of the well adapted stone of that vicinity and which was a fine specimen of bridge architecture.
In 1858 Tecumseh attained her best proportions. She then stood fully the rival of Topeka in attractions for trade, having mills, and mercantile houses of cost and elegance, well supplied with goods and enjoying trade
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even from her only rival. A newspaper was published there and whatever advantages could come from being the county seat were hers. But with the passing away of 1858, passed away too, forever, those advantages. In January 1859 the public archives were removed from her, and the pretty village,-two years before so full of hope, now mourned and decimated to decay.
Men of southern origin and politics, discouraged by the declining prospect of Kansas becoming a slave State, as well as of Tecumseh becoming the capital or a shire town even, removed to more promising localities in the Territory or returned to their native States.
The decay once began rapidly spread to entire deso- lation.
Dwellings once surrounded by well kept grounds and floral charms-the pride and satisfaction of their posses- sors-were at common, and swine within the dwelling walls.
Storehouses-once filled with costly merchandise and noisy from words of trafic all day-stood in lonely silence or rattled their sash and slammed their doors in discord- ant tones with winds that whistled through ; village cows shaded themselves and clanged their bells in court house rooms and corridors, aforetime familiar with judicial mandates, and the rattle of the crier's bell; while streets were lost in the wilderness of native grass.
Then ensued the scene of buildings falling from neg- lect, or moved for sheds and barns to surrounding farms, the closing of unused streets and parks and the reversion of lots and blocks to fields of agriculture. The court house came to vendue sale, and for the meagre sum of five hundred dollars; its dissevered parts were carried away to reappear in modest farm cottages, and now- where scenes of commerce and social gaiety filled the day-there waves rich fields of ripening grain that
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reconvert the abandoned town to its primative pic- turesqueness.
TOPEKA.
On the 29th day of November, 1854, M. C. Dickey, Enoch Chase, J. B. Chase, and George Davis, arrived, with a pair of oxen and wagon bearing their luggage, upon the present site of the city of Topeka. Being pleased with the locality ofthe scenery and the apparent productiveness of the soil, they made selection of farm claims, with reference to pre-emption. On the 3d of De- cember, while out in pursuit of his oxen, Mr. Dickey learned that a little party of men from the East had arrived at Lawrence, on the previous day, and were seek- ing homes in the new Territory. Stimulated by the thought of associating the newly arrived men with him- self in a town enterprise, he pursued his walk over a rough way and in storms to Lawrence-a distance of 27 miles-the same day, which was Sunday. On the morn- ing of that day a consultation was held by Mr. Dickey with the newly arrived party and a few men of Lawrence, in reference to the practicability of founding a town, the result of which was that a committee of four persons was chosen to accompany Mr. Dickey to his place on the suc- ceeding day, and, if they should deem the proposition a practicable one, to report to the rest of the party.
Agreeable to appointment, the committee and two men besides accompanied Mr. Dickey to his place, arriv- ing there at the close of the day-the fourth of Decem- ber. On the next morning, the committee, by a very casual observation, having become convinced of the practicability of the proposed scheme, entered into agree- ment with associates then upon the ground, to proceed to lay out and pre-empt for town purposes, under the laws of the United States, 320 acres, and by other means secure as much more as might be found desirable.
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The names upon the contract appear in order as fol- lows: C. K. Holliday, F. W. Giles, Daniel H. Horne, George Davis, Enoch Chase, J. B. Chase, M. C. Dickey, C. Robinson, L. G. Cleveland. Scarcely any two of these men had ever met together until within the previous week, and so much as the names of the nine men, was known to no one of them. They were from New Eng- land and the Middle States, and had come to Kansas, principally actuated by a desire to do what they might to make Kansas a free State. The news of the forming of a town was immediately published across the conti- nent to the East, and it at once became a center for the congregation of immigrants from the eastern and north- ern States.
In the spring of 1855, the work of building houses, establishing roads and ferries, and all other accessories of civilization was vigorously commenced, and prosecuted during the summer. By the Fourth of July a newspaper was established, and by autumn it was evident that the town enterprise was to prove a reasonable success.
The founders had frequently jested upon the subject of making Topeka the capital of the forthcoming State; but they now began turning their jests into remarks upon the probability of so great success for the novel enter- prise. In this they had been greatly strengthened by the Free State movement to frame a State Constitution, the convention for that purpose having been held at Topeka and that locality having been actually named as the capital of the State.
During 1856, the town made encouraging growth, notwithstanding the many discouragements incident to the high political excitement and angry strife every- where in the Territory prevailing.
By the spring of 1857, the Free State people, as well throughout the country as in Kansas, having become
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greatly encouraged in the hope of saving Kansas from slavery, a large immigration commenced to flow into her borders, and Topeka naturally attracted a goodly share of its attention. As early as April and May of that year, an active inquiry sprang up for investment in Topeka town lots. The supply was ample and the original holders were happy in so suddenly finding themselves the recip- ients of tens of thousands of precious coin in exchange for that which had cost them nought but a few years of deprivation usually incident to frontier life.
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