USA > Kansas > Brown County > History and statistics of Brown County, Kansas, from its earliest settlement to the present time, embracing incidents and hardships of pioneer life, the rise and progress made in twenty-two years, location, resources, fertility of its soil, etc., etc. > Part 4
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41
BROWN COUNTY.
liad to obtain from day to day as best they could. Fortu- nately, warm hearts and willing hands were busy in the more favored states gathering for those in need, and many were thus saved from starvation. The most striking fca- ture of that winter was the hearty good feeling that ex- isted between the settlers. To live through the winter'and until another harvest time was the most that any hoped to accomplish, and the feeling of dependence that rested upon all, filled them with a hearty sympathy for their less fortu- nate neighbors rarely manifested in more favored seasons. All were ready to divide their own scanty store with those who had none ; and with all the privations and hardships there was a hearty, cheerful, hopeful, manly feeling that spose volumes in praise of the pioneers. Many passed the whole winter without having groceries of any kind in their honses. Few had a full supply of meat, and potatoes were almost unknown, and many families had little else but corn meal or flour. Many were without sufficient clothing to protect them from the bitter winds of winter, and coarse sac.s and old cloth were made to take the place of boots and shoes. But these trials were not without their compensation. Men and women who bore them patiently were made stronger and better by the sufferings they en- dured, and the Kansas of today is stronger, purer and uobler for having suffered in its carly settlement. Too much praise cannot be given to the generous hearts in the East who contributed so liberally to the needy. Without their aid thousands would have been compelled to aban- dou their homes, and hundreds would have starved.
Among the many incidents in the early history of the county, one, occurring in the fall of 1865, deserves special mention. It was called " stealing a grist mil, ' and cre- ated no little comment at the time. No full statement or explanation of the circumstances has ever before been pub- lished. In the carly part of 1860, A. M. Hamby, who was running a saw mill at Falls City, induced W. C. Foster, Esq., of this county, to enter into partnership with him. Mr. Foster had a portable grist mill consisting of a run of
4.3
HISTORY OF
. burrs, the frame supporting them and the necesssary shaft- ing and cog-wheels to run it, which he removed to Falls City and attached to Hamby's saw-mill. Before the part- nership was fully consummated and the papers signed, Mr. Foster, becoming convineed that Mr. Hamby's representa- tions were false and that he was very much involved, de- clined to carry out the arrangement. When he attempted to remove his grist mill Hamby refused to allow him to take it. To engage in litigation in another state in the un- settled condition of affairs, and with the strong feeling in the community in favor of retaining the mill, seemed use- less. To abandon altogether the idea of recovering his property was not to be thought of. After consulting with his attorney, he arranged with seven of his friends to go with him and quietly remove the property. The party gathered at his house one pleasant autinn evening with two heavy lumber wagons and four good horses, and which the shades of evening gathered around they started for Falls City. At a little after eleven, reaching the wide bottom lying south of that place, they left their teams in the tall grass in charge of one of their number, and pro- ceeded to make an examination of the premises. In a house near by a light was burning. Silently they moved around among the logs in the mill-yard carefully looking over the situation to decide how to act. The frame of the inill was bolted firmly to the sills of the building. A heavy wrench had been brought along, and as the nut turn- ed on the rusty bolt the creaking iron sounded like filing a saw and cansed all to start with the fear that they would be discovered. Industriously they worked and in a few minutes it was carefully lifted from its resting place and laid upon the saw-dust. A span of horses were soon brought np, and . hitching to the mill, it was dragged over the soft ground a quarter of a mile or more to where the wagons had been left. In a few minutes it was carefully taken apart and placed in the wagons, and the party were as anxious to get ont of Nebraska as they were a few hours before to get in. Quietly they pursned their journey until just as the day was dawning, they came in sight of the timber near Mr. Foster's home. Then the five good singers who were in the party struck up with one accord, " Home, Sweet Home," and never was it sung with a more hearty good will. A few days after, the grist mill was attached
43
BROWN COUNTY.
to E. N. Morrill,s saw-mill where it did good service for several years. No attempt was ever made to return it to Falls City, all parties, it is presumed, feeling that under the circumstances, the stealing of the grist mill was perfectly justifiable. The spring of 1861 was a very favorable one, and all went to work with a hearty good will to put in the seed again. Thousands of bushels of choice wheat and corn liad been donated by the more favored farmers of other states, and thus all were enabled to secure the needed sccd. Early in the year, however, the war clouds began to gather and all were watching anxiously the course of events. Largely dependent on Missouri for supplies as the people of Kansas at that time werc, uncertain how the peo- ple of that state would act in the approaching trouble, the settlers looked anxiously forward to the harvest that would to some extent render them independent of their unfriend- ly neighbors. The harvest richly rewarded them for their- labor, and a morc hopeful feeling pervaded the whole com- inunity. During the summer companies of home guards were organized in different sections of the county, holding themselves in readiness to protect the lives and property of the citizens. At Hiawatha there was a very large and finely drilled company under command of Capt. I. J. La- cock, and at Hamlin, Capt. L. B. Hoover had cammand of a good company of true men. At Robinson a company was organized and in readiness, and possibly at other points in the county. In the latter part of summer and early part of autumn, the work of making the crops being over, a large number of the young men went into the service fol- lowed during the winter and spring by many others, until few able-bodied men were left behind. The records fail utterly to give to Brown county the credit of her full quota that volunteered in defense of their country. Many were credited to the counties where thicy enlisted, and others were put down without giving the place of residence. In justice to th . brave boys and to the noble county they rep- r sent d, a list is here given of those who were actual resi- d nts of Brown county at the time of entering the army. Many names are, doubtless, omitted that should be here, but the list has been compiled with great care after ex- hausting all means of information at our command. This list comprises nearly two hundred names. At this time th . largo st vot, that had ever been polled in the county w is fonr-hundr d-and-twenty-five, so it would seem that
11
HISTORY OF
nearly one-half of all the voters in the county went into the army. The following are the names :
1. B. Anderson
Alex. Abshear John Absbear
Andrew Armstrong tico. W. Bunce
Simeon Ansty
Levi C. Anderson
John Barnum
JJ M. Bradlord Julin Bortwell
w. H. Bert well
En F. Benton
Robert Bradley
Samuel W. Buckley
T. F. Barunmı
J. L. Bradiord
C. Bentley Chas. Chandler
Ashley Chase
Albert Chandler John Y. cook
Thurston Chase
Thaddens Corbon
Chas. Cowley
T B. Cummings
Henry Cheal
James Clark
C. M. G. Dusend schon
11. L. Dean
sam'l Donaldson Conrad Englenart
Daniel Etlis A. U. Foster
S. P. DICKINSON B. S. Eye b. S. Foster
D. E. Fowler
John A. Furuish
W. II. Furnish
Joun Feitchter
Martin Ford
R. IL. Fletcher
Henry 11. Graham
hobert Gaston
Win. Graham
John L. Graham
wiu. Gentry
Henry J. Gomespie Henry Wekilan W. N. JonBon
Cbas. B. Ilanber
James Jellison
Frank D. Jellison
Robert Jeffloon
Chester Jones
J. K. Klinefelter Thos. Kelley Peter Lynch
W'm, Lingmist
Lewis Lawrencee
D. U. Mnire
E. N. Morrill
W. P. Meunaney
Zaen. Mallows
Levi Morrill
O. 11 MeCauley
J. S. Marshall
Frans Marak, Jr.
James J. Miller
Andrew Mclaughlin
S. T. Meredith
Jacob Miller
Thomas Martin
A. Meisenbeimer
llarvey Nichols David Oldfield
Abram Norwood John Oldfield John W. Proctor
Joseph H. Poe
P. G. Parker
Jonathan Quick
M. A. Quigley
Stephen Quaite
1., M. Risley
Wm. Richardson
A. Richardson
Chas. E. Robinson
Sam'l Richards
Marshall P. Rush
John W. Smith
Josiah A. Snively Adam Schmidt
Isaac A. Sawin
Luther Sperry
J. S. Stillwell
Moses Scveir
Edwin Selleg
B. F. sweetland
James F, Starnes
Jacob Sigafous
Jonathan W. Scott
Francis M. Starnes
James Sherman
Isaac Sweetland
Isaac Selleg
Dudley Sawyer Ismac Sebmidt
Benj. F. Strange
Eli Swordferger
Jacob Stilwell
Winslow W. Smith
David C. Swayzie
F. W. Steigler
Abraham Sumpter
C. E. Simmonds
Alonzo Scott
Henry Smith
L. 11. Slagle Wm. Schmidt.
John Sebilling Samuel Teas
Andrew Twidwell
Jobn Ulinan
E. M. Vanghn
Lewis Vanghn
Albert Vaughn
Win. C. Vassar
Beuj. Winkles
J. A. Wilson
Amasiah Wescott
A. D. Westerfield
llenry Wilkins
John Weiss
Phillip Weiss
Sam'l F. Withnow
C. V. Wicks
w. S. Woodcock
Wm. Wilkinson
A. H. Watson
W. C. Wyatt
Edward Hickman
John Zimmerman
W'm. Richards Jobu T. Reeves Albert G. Speer Michael Selmidt W. G. Sargent Jolin M. Shively Chas. D. Stumbo John F. Snields Gottleib Spabe John F. Spenser John Smith ilesekiah Smith
I. N. Speer
F. M. Stumbo
Abram Marshall C. Meisendelmer Wm. G. Meredith A. J. Owen Geo. S. Osman Robert Pollock
Dauiel W. Owen
E. N. Ordway
S. U. Probaser
lieury Lenen
Daniel Leuch
H H. Lylu
B. F. Hearton Jolm Hanber
Hiram Horton Peter Hatheld
s. k. hlincielter
1'. h. Khucieiter
Samuel Kaiserman
Melvin Chandler
J. H. Armstrong L. C. Bollinger Geo Bird
Chas. 'T. Boomer
Geo. H. Burgh
Richard M. Bean
Julin Brady
Frank Chandler
J. C. Carnes Joun CrOIL
1. Ezline
Joseph S. Hill
Alex. Johnson
Brown county has its list of martyrs who sacrificed their 'lives to save their country. Henry H. Graham, John L. Graham, John W. Smith, Josiah A. Suively, Daniel Lauch, L. C. Bolinger, Samuel Donaldson, D. U. Muire, E. M. Vaughn, Edwin Seely, James Sherman, John Y. Cook,
ed. are n'
Ta Ta
T
Lear
Wm. Starus
Newton Seveir
Franeis Sevier
Thos, Strange
-15
BROWN COUNTY.
Samuel Keiserman, W. S. Woodcock, Abraham Sumpter, J. A. Wilson, L. M. Risley, T. B. Cummings, Chas. B. Hauber, Simeon Ansty, J. L. Bradford, Jolin Hauber, .. Newton Leveir, John N. Spaurer and Samuel F. Withrow all sleep the " sleep that knows no waking " in southern grsves : but their brave comrades who survive will ever cherish their memories, and the true and the good will ever hold in grateful remembrance the names of our fallen heroes.
The Legislature of 1860 again changed the law in re- . lation to county courts, and adopted the old plan of elceting three commissioners to transact county business. At the election, held Nov. 26th, 1860, W. B. Barnett, Isaac B. Hoover and James Rounds were elected county commissioners, and met on the 2nd of April, organizing by choosing W. B. Barnett chairman. Henry Graves had previously resigned as county clerk, and H. R. Dutton had been appointed. One of the first acts of this board was to require the clerk to make out a statement of the receipts and expenditures of the county from the time of its organi- zation to April 1st, 1860.
This report shows that the total amount
of warrants issued was
$7,713.02
Amount of appropriations for which no war- rants had been issued
835.00
. Total amt. of appropriations
$8,548.02
The total amount of warrants redeemed Taxes due on lands bid in by county
$2.187.18
300.90
Tax due on roll of 1859
4231.01
Total
$6718.09
Leaving an indebtedness of
$1828.93
The tax levy for this year was five mills on the dollar. On the 4th of April David Peebles was appointed Superm- tendent of Schools in place of James A. Stanley, resign- ed. The reasons for Mr. Stanley's resignation are not given, but. as the records of the county show-
$6
HISTORY OF .
that the commisioners allowed him $8.00 for the first six months services, it is not strange that he did not desire to continue in the office. The new Superintendent, however, did better, as he received $12.00 for his first three months services. This board of commissioners only held their po- sitions until the regular election in November, of 1860, when James Round, Lewis C.Dmm and Win. Vassar were elected. James Round was chairman of this board. Mr. Vassar,. however, went into the army carly in the autumn of 1861, . and Thos. Ellis was appointed to fill the vacancy.
In the spring of 1861 the first paper ever printed in the county was struck off; Dr. P. G. Parker was editor and proprietor, and the sheet was called the Brown County Union. Its publication was continued through the sum- mer and antumm, but in the winter the office was entirely destroyed by fire and no effort was made to continue its publication. The office was in the lower story of the building owned by H. M. Robinson, Esq., and stood on the ground now occupied by the law office of' Killey & May. Mr. Robinson was at the time living in the upper story of the building, and narrowly escaped with himself and family, losing all of their house- hold goods.
1 W t
In March, 1861, H. R. Dutton, Senator from this district, was appointed State Treasurer to fill a vacancy, and at the following election he was elected to that office. W. B. Barnett was elected Senator to fill this vacancy. At the general election, in Nov., 1862, W. W. Guthrie was elected Attorney General of the state, being the third state officer taken from Brown county. Since the expira- tion of his term of office, this county has had no represen- tation on the state board, though it is believed that there have been residents of the county who would have ac- cepted positions had they been elected.
At the election, held Nov., 1861, James Round, Thos. Ellis and Noah Hanson were elected commissioners, and E. L. Pound county clerk. Thos. Ellis was elected chair- man. The term of office of this board commenced Jan.
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i
BROWN COUNTY.
1st, 1862 and ended Jan. 1st, 1864. The records, during the time, show nothing of special interest, except that the board observed the most rigid economy in their appropriations, and by liberal levy did much to improve the credit of the county. Their levy for 1862 was five mills, and for 1863 seven mills.
In December of 1863, James Round, who had served the county faithfully as a commissioner for several terms, met his death by the accidental discharge of a gun inl . his own hands. At the session of the board, held Jan. 4th, I. P. Winslow was chosen to fill the vacancy. At the same session the board appropriated $3,000 to build a jail, and appointed W. B. Barnett commissioner to takc charge of the work. This was the last session of this board. On the 4th of April, 1864, M. C. Willis, I. P. Winslow and Isaiah Travis, who had been clected at the Nov. clection, assumed the duties of the office. E. A. Spooner had been at the same time clected clerk. This board organized by choosing M. C. Willis chairman. Upon consideration of the jail question, they decided that they had no authority to erect public buildings without first sub- mitting the question to a vote of the electors of the county, and they therefore discharged the commissioner from further duty in the matter. At their session in the follow- ing July, they decided to submit the question of building a jail to a vote of the people at the next general election. The records of the county fail to show that any vote was taken upon this subject, but it seems that a vote was taken to decide whether the school lands in the county should be sold or not, and it was decided in the affirnia- tive by a vote of 208 to 65. A most unfortunate dceision for the school fund, as five years later the land: were worth three times as much At the Jan. session, 1865, Mr. Travis tendered his resignation as county commissioner, and William Morris was appointed to fill the vacaney. On the 22nd of Oet., 1865, E. L. Pound, County Treasurer, died, and at a special term of the court, held for that purpose, the following resolutions were passed :
11.
48
HISTORY OF
"WHEREAS, in the mysterious ordering of Divine Provi- dence, E. L. Pound, Treasurer of Brown county, has been removed by sudden disease and death, therefore
Resolved, that it is fitting that we should place upon reeord at this time, being called upon to appoint a suc- cessor to fill the vacancy caused by this death, our appreciation of his uniform kindness in all our official intercourse. Ilis fidelity to the interests and responsi- bilities entrusted to his care and perfect integrity in the discharge of the duties of his office, have won for him our highest esteem and affectionate regard. And while we mourn his departure as the loss of a dear, worthy and beloved friend, we feelingly tender our sympathies to the family of the deceased, who are thus suddenly over- whelmed with grief in the loss of a kind, affectionate and beloved husband and father."
W. B. Barnett was appointed treasurer to fill the vacancy.
At the election in November, a vote was taken on the jail question, resulting in a vote of 198 for building a jail to 96 against. Subsequently, however, objections were raised that the vote was not a fair one, as only printed ballots in favor of the proposition were furnished at the polls, and a new elcetion was ordered and the proposition was defeated. This seems to have been a wise decision on the part of the voters, for the county has been so comparatively free from crime that it has cost much less to keep the prisoners in the jail of the adjoining county than to maintain a prison at home. The records of the county show that in twenty-one years, from the first settlement of the county in 1855 to July 1876, there have been but thirty-three convictions for crime of all classes. Of these eight were for assault and battery. Thirteen were for grand larceny, the offense being, with few exceptions, horse stealing, and in almost every case committed by non-residents of the county while passing through it. The other twelve convictions were divided as follows : Petty larceny, 3 ; perjury, 1 ; forgery, 2 ; gaming, z ; selling liquor, 4. The total length of all the
49
BROWN COUNTY.
sentences was forty-three years and the total fines $675. It is questionable whether any other county in the United States cau present a more favorable showing in this respect. Brown county to-day has no jail. Who will say that one is needed ?
This board of commissioners managed the finances of the county with great care and prudence. Early in their term of office, July, 1864, county warrants were at par, and from that time to the present, a period of twelve years, no county warrant has ever been presented at the treasurer's office that was not promptly paid at its par value.
But little of general interest or importance occurred in the county during the war. Those who remained at home cultivated their farms, and as the seasons were favorable and prices high all improved their condition pecuniarily. So many, however, were absent in the army that many fields were left untilled, and at the close of the war there were hardly as many acres under cultiva- tion as at the commencement. While there had bech a considerable increase in wealth, there had been no immigration and consequently no increase in population. In 1865 there was a very general return of the soldiers, and to their praise, let it be said, they engaged heartily in active work and were the same steady, true, industrious men that they were four years before, when the excitements and temptations of army Jife were unknown to them. At the close of the war real estate in the county was extremely low. There was indeed no demand at all for it, and choice tracts of land could be bought, within a few miles of Hiawatha, at three dollars per acre. A choice tract of land, 120 acres, near Morrill station, was sold during the war for a hundred dollar bill, and this when gold was at a hundred per cent. premium. In 1866 there was a slight immigration to the county, and this steadily increased during 1867, 1868 and reaching its height in 1869. The increase in the three years
HISTORY OF
being nearly two hundred per cent. New farms were opened and improvements of all kinds were rapidly carried forward. The county after all its hardships and deprivations had awakened to a new life. Among the canses producing this increased activity, no one was more prominent or did more to attract the attention of the people of other states than the liberal advertising of the Central Branch Union Pacific R. R. Co.
KICKAPOO RESERVATION.
This company became the possessors of the Kickapoo Reservation under a treaty made with this tribe of Indians, dated June 28th, 1862, and ratified by President Lincoln May 28th, 1863, the Indians reserving only thirty sections near the southwest corner of Brown county, and a few small and scattered tracts were taken by members of the tribe. The company acquired title to 127,832 acres, of which much the larger part was in Brown comty. For this large tract of lands the Indians received $1 ._ » per acre. In 1866 the railroad company advertised these lands for sale, scattering maps and descriptive cirenlars broadcast over the whole country. The first sale of land made by the railroad company in Brown county, was effected on the 13th of April, 1867. David J. Par. s was the purchaser and the tract is described as lots 6 and 7 of Sec. 22, Town 3, Range . 17. During the year 1867, 13,207 acres were sold, and as the company required all time purchasers to improve one-tenth of their land cach year for three years, the Reserve was soon dotted over with farms. Only 18,000 acres of this large tract remains unsold, and more than 1,200 individuals are numbered among the original purchasers. A considerable amount of it has since changed hands and some tracts several times. The land department of the company, during the whole time from its organization until to-day, has been under the direction and complete control of Maj. W. F. Downs, and has been managed with great care and skill. While the interests of the railroad company have been carefully watched and guarded
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51
BROWN COUNTY.
everything has been done that could be consistently to favor the settlers. The utmost leniency has been shown those who were delinquent in their payments, and all have been encouraged in their efforts to make homes. With few, very few exceptions, the purchasers deserved these favors, for few new counties are ever blessed with a more sterling, honest and industrious class of settlers than those who improved the Kickapoo Reserve : and no por- tion of Brown county can show finer farms or better improvements.
In the north-eastern portion of the county there is still an Indian Reservation belonging to the Lowas, and embracing some 12,000 acres of the choicest lands in the county. The settlement of these lands would add largely to the wealth and population of the conty.
THE GRASSHOPPER.
No sketch of the county would be complete that omitted to mention the ravages of this pest, and a very serious question in the minds of thoughtful men, is, whether the visits of the locust are going to be frequent enough in the future to be a serious drawback on farming. It would seem a safe rule to judge the future by the past. Up to 1866 there had been no grasshoppers seen in the county, nor had any resident of the county the slightest reason to apprehend any damage from them. The county had theu been settled twelve years, and our people were in blissful ignorance of the existence of this plague. In the latter part of August of that year, reports were brought in by settlers on the frontier that they had appeared there in immense munbers and were very destructive. Day by day reports came that they were drawing nearer, and about the 8th of September they reached the western line of the county, moving from three to twelve miles per day. On the 10th of Sept. the immense army, which no man could number, reached Hiawatha, devouring every green thing from the face of the earth. The corn fields were literally stripped, leaving the bare stalk with the ears hanging to it, and the latter often badly eaten. The corn
HISTORY OF
was too far advanced, however, for them to injure it very seriously, and the only real loss from them that fall was in the destruction of forage. They deposited immense quantities of eggs which hatched ont in the latter part of April and early in May. This young crop were, of course, obliged to feed upon whatever was within their reach until they were large enough to travel, and whenever they hatched in large numbers near fields of small grain there was no possibility of raising it. The beaten paths and roads and the newly broken prairie seemed to be favorite locations for depositing their eggs. Many fields of small grain were entirely destroyed that spring, while many others escaped unharmed. The corn was not so much in- jured though in some localities the early corn was destroy - ed. About the 20th of June they left and were not agan seen during the season. But a small portion of the county was under cultivation then and the total loss was small compared with that of 1874. In the fall of 1868 they again appeared, bnt far less numerous and causing far less loss. Their appearance at this time caused very little excitement and but slight importance was attached to it ; a few eggs were deposited and the following spring a few gardens were injured, but not much attention was paid to it. In the early part of August, 1874, they again appeared. At this time the country west was much better settled, and the railroads, penetrating to the Rocky Mountains, brought the news of the approaching hosts while they were hundreds of miles away and weeks before they reached here. The season had been a very dry one, with frequent, hot south winds, so common an attendant of dronths, and so exceedingly disagreeable. The corn at best would have been nearly a failure, but what little there was of grain or foliage speedily disappeared. Trees were stripped of their leaves. Apple and peach orchards could frequently be seen loaded with rich fruit but without a leaf to protect it from the hot sun. In many cases the fruit was much injured, and it was a common sight to see peach trees hanging full of pits, the meat of the fruit having been
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