USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 69
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 69
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 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104
Woodson County is well watered. Springs abound in the hill country, large pools in the creeks of the lowlands supply stock water and well water is found in sufficient quantities from twenty to forty feet below the surface.
Coal is found in veins of considerable thickness in the western half of the county and it was once depended upon for a considerable item of fuel. As a resource it was mined and marketed to some extent but as heavy "stripping" was necessary to reach the coal the labor expended came to be regarded of more value than the mined coal.
The ridge passing through the center of the county and upon which the county seat is located abounds in a fine grade of sandstone. It is stratified and varies in thickness from a few inches to a few feet. Several quarries have been opened and considerable quantities of the stone taken out but used largely by the settlers and by contractors and builders in the construction of the county seat. In color the stone is a deep cream or a light brown and when first taken from the ground contains a large percent of water and is, therefore, easy to work.
582
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
Early Settlers
All of Woodson County and a small strip off the south side of Coffey County was included in the New York Indian Reserve. This strip began at the state line and ran westward beyond the surveys. while on the south it joined the Osage Reserve. The Woodson County part of the strip was never occupied by any of the New York tribes, their only settlement being a temporary one near Ft. Scott. Finding that the Indians would not settle on the Reserve, the Government, in 1860, had all of these lands offered for sale and opened to pre-emption at the land office at Ft. Scott. There were many squatter settlers scattered about over the county, people who had come into the county as early as 1855 and '56 and on down to 1860, and these settlers hastened to the land office, upon hearing of the Government's move in placing the land upon the market, and made entries of their choice of lands.
Just who the first settlers of the county actually were it is difficult at this date to determine. Many of the "first settlers" passed on, later, and those who remained are not certain as to whom the honor of the "first settler" in the county really belongs. On March 2. 1857 Jack Cavan, John Woolman, John Chapman and others reached Neosho Falls. Soon after this the Stockbrands. August Lauber and August Toedman settled in Center township and there were some early settlements made in Belmont township. Reuben Daniels settled in the latter place in 1856 and some of his children and many of his grandchildren reside there still. The Gregorys went into Belmont as early as 1858 and James and Cortes Gregory, two sons of the pioneer, have resided almost continu- ously in the county for forty-three years. David Cooper settled on the Verdigris in 1856 and the same year John Coleman squatted upon a piece of land in Owl Creek township.
Many notable propositions have come before the voters of the county for their decision. They approved the Banking Law in 1861 by a vote of 62 to 7, and the same election gave Lawrence 71 votes for state capital and Topeka 5. In 1867 the question of elective franchise was submitted -- striking the word "white" from the constitution-and of women suf- frage, striking the word "male" from the constitution, all of which propo- sitions were defeated in the county by heavy majorities. February 27. 1875 the question of voting $5,000 in bonds in aid of the destitute of the state was voted on and lost by more than two to one. November 2, 1880, the Prohibitory Amendment was voted upon and carried by a vote of 748 to 530.
58,3
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
August 16, 1858, the Board of Supervisors met at Neosho Falls and proceeded to lay off the county into townships. Neosho Falls, Liberty, Owl Creek. Belmont and Verdigris townships were the result of this meet- ing of the board. May 22, 1858, the Board of Supervisors consisting of I. W. Dow, G. J. Cavan and William Phillips, with Charles Cameron, clerk of the board, met at Neosho Falls and passed an order establishing the seat of county government at that place. The same month N. G. Goss & Company donated to the county a building to be used as a county jail so long as the County Seat should remain at Neosho Falls. Dow's hall was eventually rented for court house purposes. In 1867 began an agitation over the question of County Seat location which continued nine years and was not settled until a half dozen elections were held and much bitterness of feeling engendered among the contesting sections of the county. The result of the election of November 5, 1867, gave Neosho Falls 129 votes. Center 2, Colma 2, and the Southwest quarter of seetion 11, township 25, range 15, (the present site of the County Seat) 118. Elections followed each other in rapid succession, the next one being held September 21, of the next year resulting in a vote of 313 for Neosho Falls and 199 for Chellis. The third election took place November 3, 1873, and gave Defiance 506, Kalida 530 and Waldrip 1. Kalida, which thus became the County Seat, was three miles southeast of the center of the county, and Defiance was six miles east of the center. Both towns were at a later date transferred bodily to Yates Center. On February 23, 1874, the question came up for decision again and Defiance was chosen over Kalida by a vote of 643 to 491. A year later a new factor came up in the fight and another. and the fifth, election was called to locate the County Seat. The contestants were Neosho Falls. Defiance and Yates and resulted in Neosho Falls received 301, Defiance 235 and Yates Center 335. On the 12th of September, 1876, a 'second election was held to decide between Neosho Falls and Yates Center as to which should be the seat of govern- ment. At this election Yates Center received 488 votes and Neosho Falls 426, which was a final settlement of the vexed and vexing question.
From the first official aet of the Board of Supervisors down to the selection of Yates Center as the County Seat the county had nothing but a temporary court house, or place for the transaction of its publie busi- ness. Some hall or old store building was fitted up for the reception of the records, wherever the County Seat chanced to be and the nearest approach to a genuine court house. until its present strneture was dedi- rated, was in the arrangement and preparation of the old wooden shack at the northeast corner of the square in Yates Center to become such building and to be used for public purposes. A number of elections were held to vote upon a proposition to bond the county for a court house but little enthusiasm was manifest for such a proposal outside of the County Seat and smaller towns. As time wore on it became more and more apparent that the old "Bee Hive" was fast becoming inadequate for the
584
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
public needs. Its hygienic conditions were almost intolerable, and its run-down dilapidated appearance all conspired to arouse the people to a true realization of their public needs. In 1899 a proposition to vote $30,000 in bonds for the erection of a new court house and jail met with a willing response, and on August 9, 1899, the corner stone of the new structure was laid with much ceremony, and an address by the District Judge, Hon. Leander Stillwell.
585
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
Woodson County in War
A company of soldiers for service in the Union Army was organized at Neosho Falls in November, 1861. B. F. Goss was chosen Captain and 1. W. Dow First Lieutenant. This company formed a part of the Iola Battalion of the 9th Kansas Cavalry. They served along the border between Kansas and Missouri and in Arkansas and participated in many of the well known engagements and skirmishes fought in those Bush- whacking strongholds the first three years of the war. The state militia enrolled many other men of the county who were either indisposed to service in the volunteer army or were physically incapacitated for such service. These militiamen were subject to the call of the Governor or of the commander-in-chief of the state, in emergencies, chief of which were the raids of "Pap" Price.
For service in the Spanish-American war the county furnished her quota of young men-sons of veterans and other sons-who enlisted in one of the companies of the famous 20th Kansas, Colonel Funston. The regiment rendezvoused at Topeka, was ordered to San Francisco and there equipped and made ready for the field. It was one of the last com- mands to be ordered to the Philippines and took a conspicuous part in the first, and all other prominent engagements of the Philippine Insurrection. Upon its return home after an absence of a year and a half the regiment was tendered a public welcome and reception by the state in honor of its gallant, brave and patriotic achievements in Luzon.
586
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
Railroads, Towns, Etc.
As early as 1867 the question of a railroad for Woodson County begam to claim the attention of the people. Beginning then and continuing down to the summer of 1881 there were many bond propositions sub- mitted to a vote of the people in behalf of as many different companies for lines of railroad aeross the county from almost every cardinal and semi- cardinal point. All these propositions were voted down except the one to: aid the St. Louis, Ft. Scott and Wichita Railway which asked of Center and Toronto townships an aggregate of $50,000 in bonds. There was little opposition to the proposition, and in the summer of 1881 the first railroad for the county became a reality. This line became a part of the Missouri Pacific system a few years later, which company built a line from Leroy southwest through Yates Center where it formed a junction with the Wichita road for points west.
In 1887 the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway constructed a feeder from its line at Colony southwest through Neosho Falls to Yates Center, a distance of twenty-six miles. and there terminated the branch. The same system built a branch line from Madison, Kan., in 1884, down the Verdigris River, crossing the southwest corner of Woodson County, and called the Chicago, Kansas and Western railroad. This, with the Missouri Pacific line, gave Toronto two railroads and aided much in the development of the west side of the county.
The Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad built a line from Junction City, Kan., in 1870 down the Neosho River, passing across the northeast corner of Woodson County to Parsons. For many years this was an im- portant line of road and heavy trains of Texas cattle were shipped over the road to northern connecting points. With the construction of com- peting lines, and directly to the markets of Chicago and St. Louis, through business sought other channels and the Junction City branch dropped into a line solely for local traffic.
The towns of the county are Yates Center, Neosho Falls, Toronto Piqna, Vernon and Rose. The mere postoffices are Burt, Finney Griffin, Keck Coloma, Lomando, Cookville and Conger. The histories of Neosho Falls and Toronto appear under separate heads in this work while that of the other towns is recorded below.
Yates Center, the County Seat of Woodson County, is located upon sections 10, 11. 14 and 15, township 25, range 15, and includes, with its additions, something over a section of land. The fact that this location
587
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
is in the geographical center of the county, and that its original owner's name was Yates led to the christening of the town as "Yates Center." When the election had decreed that this spot was to be the seat of govern- ment of the county Mr. Yates purchased a two story building and moved it to the townsite-the first building in the town. This building was for a long time used not only for a county building but for holding religious services and for other public gatherings. George Wille was the first general merchant. T. W. Wilson opened the second store and J. M. Wolfer came with the first stock of drugs. E. V. Wharton was the first physician and was followed by Dr. J. W. Turner. Jesse Pickett was the first lawyer in the town, but Judge W. H. Thurber and Alexander Stewart were on the ground almost as early. The first hotel, moved from Kalida. was run by (". W. Wilson, who was also the first liveryman. J. B. Fry was the first blacksmith. In 1878 the court house was moved from Defiance to the new County Seat and was located at the northeast corner of the public square. In 1884 the town was incorporated and became a city of the third class. The town is supported almost entirely by an agricultural district and has maintained a steady and continuons growth. The popu- lation has increased from year to year, the census showing a population of 500 in 1880; of 1,370 in 1890 and of 1,638 in 1900.
Piqua is situated at the junction of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas and the Missouri Pacific Railways, and is one mile from the east line of the county. It grew up burriedly to a town of a couple of hundred souls and has remained at that stage-a good country trading point. The place is not incorporated and its chief educational and denominational institu- tions are conducted by the Roman Catholics. Other churches maintain organizations there and a public school is conducted in the district several months in the year.
Vernon is a modern village situated on the Missouri Pacific Railway. nine miles northeast of Yates Center. A population of a hundred or more gathered together in a bunch near the head of Cherry Creek and in the midst of a fine rolling prairie country constitutes Vernon. J. N. Shannon is the leading general merchant, and all the enterprises usually found in the smaller towns are represented there.
Rose consists of a store, blacksmith shop, a church and a large hay market. It is on the Missouri Pacific Railway eight miles southeast of Yates Center and in the very heart of a fine agricultural and hay region. Less than a hundred souls number its population hut its importance as a trading and shipping point is second to none of its size in the state. Du- mond Brothers and William M. Patterson are the leading shippers of the place, and the postmaster and merchant is Tuttle.
The Neosho Falls Post is the oldest paper in the county, and has had many editors: W. W. Sain, if we mistake not. was its founder and first editor. while H. D. Dickson, now of Emporia, was the first typesetter of the sheet. J. N. Stout, now postmaster, has for the past dozen years
588
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
been publisher, but he transferred the title the first of April last to H. C. Sticher, who is now its editor and proprietor.
The Ya es Center News was the next paper established. It was founded at the county seat by Ret Baker in May, 1877. It had several owners and publishers up to July, 1886 when the business management came into the hands of R. H. Trueblood, who has had charge of the paper ever since. The owners of the News to-day are R. H. Trueblood and F. L. Stephenson. The former is editor and publisher, and the latter simply owns an interest, being engaged in the banking business which requires all of his attention. The News is the official county paper, Republican in politics and for the best interests of its town and county all the time.
The Argus was established in the winter of 1882 by W. H. Jones who conducted it a short time and sold it to N. B. Buck, who a short time afterwards sold the paper to J. P. and J. H. Bell, who in a very few days sold the plant to the Yates Center News. That ended the Argus.
Next came the Sun, at Yates Center, by J. A. Overby, that was after- ward converted into the Independent-Sun, and a few months later was absorbed by the Yates Center News.
This was followed along about 1888 by the Tribune, at Yates Center. by the irrepressible W. H. Jones, and later Jas. H. Hale was taken in as a partner. This paper lasted the usual length of time and was then gathered in by the Yates Center News.
The Woodson Democrat should have been mentioned before the Tri- bnne. It was established in 1884 by Dr. E. V. Wharton, and through its columns he rode into the postoffice after Grover Cleveland was elected President. He then sold the paper to R. R. Wells who conducted it until it burned up along with the block on the east side in 1893. It remained dead.
With the Alliance in 1890 came the Advocate at Yates Center, by A. E. and N. S. Macoubrie. They stayed with the paper until 1896 then sold it to Hudson & Faught, of Eureka. A little later Faught sold out to E. G. Kinyon, who in turn sold to Fred Wilkinson, and the firm to-day is Hudson & Wilkinson.
Along about 1894 the Woodson Republican was established by Harve Bristow. That had a short life, and was in due time moved to Altamont. Kan., and the subscription list turned over to the Yates Center News.
A few months later this outfit was moved back to this place and another weekly paper, the Republican, was started and had a brief ex- perience, but it did not survive long and was gathered into the folds of the Yates Center News.
Toronto has one paper, the Republican, conducted by Mrs. M. M. Buck, widow of the late N. B. Buck. Another paper was established there last year but was discontinued in a few months, after demonstrating ing that Toronto was not large enough to support two weekly newspapers. (The editors are indebted to Mr. R. H. Trueblood, for many years editor of the Yates Center News, for the foregoing sketch).
589
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
The Bench and Bar (BY SENATOR G. H. LAMB.)
The early history of the events of the Bench and Bar of Woodson County are very difficult to obtain, and any attempt to write an exact account of that period is out of the question. If the writer seeks the records for information on this point. there are none. If he applies to the old settlers, they do not remember things alike. So the writer of this article will have little to tell of the judicial proceedings of Woodson County prior to 1864.
Chapter 78 of the session laws of the territorial legislature of 1860 divided the Territory of Kansas into three judicial districts, and placed Woodson County in the second district, and assigned Hon. Rush Elmore, one of the Associate Justices of the Territorial Supreme Court to the judgeship of that district. By this same act, Woodson County was attached to Coffey County for judicial purposes. The terms of court were held in Coffey County on the second Monday of March and September of each year. This arrangement continued until Kansas became a state under the Wyandotte Constitution, and Woodson County became a part of the fifth judicial district.
May 22nd. 1861. the state legislature passed an aet detaching Woodson from Coffey County, and attaching Greenwood, Wilson and Godfrey Counties to Woodson for judicial purposes. By this act Woodson County was given one term of court commencing on the first Monday in September of each year.
This law further provided that the clerk of the district court of Coffey County shall make out and deliver to the clerk of the district court of Woodson County. "a full and complete transcript of all process and proceedings pending, and of eases tried and determined in the district court of said county between parties or against defendants resident in said county of Woodson together with all papers on file in his office belonging to or pertaining to such cases." This order of the legislature has never bcen complied with.
On February 2, 1865 the legislature detached Greenwood from Woodson County and attached it to Lyon County for judicial purposes. There were no other changes until 1867, when the legislature created the seventh judicial district, and placed Woodson County in that, with terms of court commencing on "the fifth Monday after the fourth Monday in March and September and on said days annually thereafter." In 1874
590
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
Woodson County was given three terms of court, commencing on the first Monday of March, and the second Monday of June and October of each year. The next change occurred in 1877 when the time of holding the June term of court was changed from the second to the first Monday in the month. The legislature of 1901 fixed the terms of court to begin on the third Tuesday in March. the third Tuesday in June and the Tuesday succceding the second Monday in November.
The first judge of the fifth district of which Woodson County formed a part was Hon. O. E. Learnard, of Burlington, Kan. He was elected December 6, 1859, at the first election held under the Wyandotte Constitu- tion. He resigned before entering upon the duties of his office and was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the first regiment of Kansas volunteers and served as such during the civil war. Hon. R. M. Ruggles, of Emporia was appointed to fill the vacancy. and on November 5. 1861 was elected for the unexpired term. Hon. J. H. Watson was elected November 8 1864, but before his term of office as judge had expired, the legislature had taken Woodson County from the fifth district and placed it in the seventh since which time the history of the bench of this county is identical with that of Allen County, already recorded in this volume.
The Bar of Woodson County has undergone many changes since 1860. The pioneer lawyers are all gone except A. Stewart who now resides at Yates Center, and W. B. Stine, who quit the practice of law in the latter 60's and has since engaged in farming. Samuel E. Hoffman was the first lawyer in Woodson County. He came from Pennsylvania to Kansas in 1858. and was 24 years old when he reached Woodson County.
He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1859 and helped frame the Wyandotte Constitution, and was the first State Senator from Woodson County. He is now a resident of St. Louis and is engaged in the banking business.
In the early 60's there was no resident lawyer in the county. and N. H. Bent, of Burlington, was appointed county attorney. Prior to 1867. the principal law business of the county was transacted by Eli Gilbert and Alex Johnson, of Garnett, N. H. Bent, Silas Pearl, Alex Stewart and A. Jones, of Coffey County, and Ruggles and Plumb, of Emporia. Soon after the formation of the seventh judicial district, William E. Grove located at Neosho Falls, then the county seat, and was appointed county attorney, He was then the only lawyer in Woodson County who devoted his entire time to the practice of law. He moved from Woodson County to Grand Rapids, Mich., and was there elected Circuit Judge, which position he held for many years.
During the year of 1870. W. H. Slavens. W. A. Atchison, T. J. Petit, and C. B. Graves opened offices in Neosho Falls, and the following year Willard Davis, afterward attorney general of the state, and W. P. Talbott located there. About this time Peter Bell, who lived on a farm near Kalida commenced the practice of law. Then H. D. Dickson opened an
594
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
office at Neosho Falls and following him during the 70's came J. E. Pickett, W. H. Thurber, J. P. Shively, M. V. Yoder. G. R. Stephenson, W. E. Hogueland, J. H. Sticher and J. W. Dickson. Of these attorneys. Slavens. Atchison, Petit, Davis, Thurber and Bell are dead. Talbott lives at Parsons, Kan. Graves moved to Burlington, Kan .. and was elected judge 0; that district which position he held for twelve years. He now lives at Emporia and is actively engaged in the practice of law. H. D. Dickson served one term as Representative of Woodson County, one term as county attorney and now lives at Emporia, Kan. Since moving to that place he has served one term as county attorney of Lyon County, and was for several years attorney for The A. r. & S. F. Ry. Co. J. E. Pickett served five years as county attorney, and in 1888 he abandoned the practice of law to enter the ministry, and is now pastor of the Christian 'church at Boulder. Colo. J. P. Shively is farming near Paola. M. V. Yoder went to Washington Territory (now state), and the last known of him here he was probate judge of one of the counties in that territory. J. W. Dickson served as postmaster at Neosho Falls during the Harrison admin- istration and went from there to Danville. Ill .. where for several years he served as bookkeeper for a coal company at that place. In February, 1901 he returned to Woodson County and is now bookkeeper for the Yates Center Bank. G. R. Stephenson and W. E. Hogueland and J. H. Sticher are the only attorneys of this period who still reside in Woodson County, and are engaged in the practice of law.
During the 80's D. C. Zimmerman. M. C. Smith. C. N. Warner, C. C. Clevenger, W. P. Gregory, G. M. Martin, E. H. White, W. A. Reid, P. S. Ray. G. H. Lamb and F. M. Sutton became members of the Woodson County Bar. Mr. Zimmerman now lives in Indiana and has recently been a prominent candidate for member of congress from his district in that state. M. C. Smith is now a leading lawyer of Springfield, Mo. C. N. Warner is practicing law at Seattle. Wash. W. P. Gregory served one term as county attorney of Woodson County and is now located at Trenton, Mo., and is practicing law at that place. C. C. Clevenger served four years as Probate Judge of Woodson County and then entered the news- paper business. He is now editor and proprietor of the Osawatomie Graphic of Osawatomie, Kan., and is postmaster at that place. E. H. White is engaged in the mercantile business at Yates Center. F. M. Sutton lives on a farm near Toronto. W. A. Reid is in the railway service in Texas. and the other gentlemen named are still residing at Yates Center and engaged in the active practice of law.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.