History of Butler County Kansas, Part 21

Author: Mooney, Vol. P
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan. : Standard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 946


USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 21


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).


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Rosalia township took its name from that of the first postoffice established in that portion of the county. H. C. Stevens and his uncle, J. M. Stevens, came out from Mendota, Illinois, filed on homesteads and improved them. The postoffice was located at his house and in casting about for a name for it the happy thought of honoring his wife occurred to him and he called it Rosalia.


The first settlers came in 1868 but they did not stay. Those who did establish a local habitation are: 1869-D. R. Blankenship, Phil Korn, Robert Huston, Sam Woodward, J. G. Cook, James B. Correll and George Auten; 1870-A. P. Foster, S. H. Foster, Hiram Benedict, Gus Raymond, Mr. Tuttle, Dick Wiley, Samuel Davidson (who built


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the first house on the high prairie between Eureka and El Dorado), William Woods, J. T. McClure, L. W. Decker, Nelson Surpluss. James and J. P. Huntley, Elias Leh, Fred Miller, G. W. Chamberlain, Charles Butler, the Shermans and N. B. Snyder: 1871-George McDaniels, Robert Martin and Doc Reynolds.


Walter Clark came in seventy-two and still lives in the old town- ship, jolly as ever. The same year came M. M. Piper and his sons, Charles, Allen, Will, Dan and Val. George Songer and his family came about that time. The privations of some of these people sound like romance. Nelson Surpluss, having no conveyance, in 1871 carried a sack of flour home from El Dorado, at least thirteen miles and was glad to get it that way. The biscuits tasted mighty good, so he says. His daughter, Miss Mary, the first white girl born in Rosalia, was one of the county's foremost teachers. Forman Cook is the first boy born in the township.


D. R. Blankenship drove his stake on his present farm on the north branch of the Little Walunt in November, sixty-nine. Himself, wife and baby began the battle in December following. Their worldly possessions were two horses, a wagon and $50. One of the horses died, which was a serious loss. Preacher Small sold him some of Charley Noe's corn at seventy-five cents a bushel, and Elias Bishop of Chelsea let him have some at the same figure. Edward Jeakins, below El Do- rado, parted with two bushels of potatoes at $4.50. J. G. Cook helped him and soon poles were ready for the log cabin which G. W. Miller and Robert Huston helped him to build. He rived the "shakes" from an oak tree and roofed the cabin himself ; then chincked it and moved in on a dirt floor and built a fire in the stone fire place. Even the hinges of the door were his own make. He tells this whopper: In Feb- ruary, seventy, he sowed wheat and oats on prairie sod which he turned over and harrowed. His crop was twelve bushels of wheat and thirty of oats to the acre. This was the first sod broken in the township and who can doubt that Providence favored the poor and humble home- steaders and their families.


The town of Rosalia was platted in September, 1883, by G. W. Chamberlain and F. G. Miller. It is now a thriving little village on the Missouri Pacific railroad, having two general stores ; C. A. Blanken- ship and S. R. Anderson; B. F. Branson, hardware; the Rock Island Lumber Company ; a State Bank, J. H. Liggett, cashier, and other bus- iness firms and all prosperous. The township has about twelve miles of railroad within its borders which assists in keeping up the school and other taxes. There have been but two county officers from Rosalia township: S. F. Packard, county commissioner and W. A. Liggett, county assessor.


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SPRING TOWNSHIP.


By M. L. Arnold.


Spring township was named by Henry M. Wingert, because of its numerous and beautiful springs. Was incorporated by the board of county commissioners September 4, 1871. The first election was held at the home of O. Greer, September 19, 1871. The following were elected : Kane Garrison, trustee ; James Crawford, treasurer ; C. F. Mil- ler, clerk ; E. H. Clark and G. Stephens, justices of the peace : H. King and D. Church, constables.


The early settlers of Spring endured all the privations, hardships and pleasures incident to life in a new country. Those who stayed were more than compensated for all the self denial practiced and all the struggles through which they passed. But few are left. Those living on their homesteads at the present time are L. A. Ridge, B. F. Arnold, J. B. Smock, H. C. Morgan, and I. G. Morgan, C. C. Currier, who re- sides in El Dorado still owns the quarter he preempted. Children own - ing the land pre-empted by their fathers are J. C. Green, George Dee -- dond, J. J. Mannion, of Augusta ; W. A. Warner, O. Cody and John White. Among the early settlers who bought their land and still re- main are W. B. Earll, L. Bolinger, D. T. Willits, Mrs. Carrie Bankey, Mrs. James Conest, Mrs. W. Sharrock and J. H. Armstrong and G. W. McGahey, of El Dorado.


Thus we can see that the pioneers who moved from comfortable homes in the East, many of them, and broke the prairie, built the homes, planted the hedges and orchards, established the churches and schools are almost gone. Those who are left are not the vigorous men of forty- five years ago, many of them are broken in health, old, retired; the second generation have active charge of affairs today and the' third is fast coming on. Next to the name of the soldier should be placed the name of the pioneer who gave much of his life that we might enjoy the luxuries that are ours today.


Among the important accounts in the early history of Spring town- ship was the building of the St. Louis & San Francisco railroad in the summer of 1880. The establishment of a general store at Haverhill in the same year by the late Joseph W. Brown was another important event. From a small beginning Mr. Brown built up a good business and prospered. For twenty-five years he was agent for the Frisco at Haverhill, at the time of his retirement being in point of service the oldest agent of the road between St. Louis and Wichita. Mr. Brown always took an active part in public affairs, was a man of strong per- sonality and always stood for what he thought was right and for the best interests of the community. Before his death he sold his stock of goods to McDowell Brothers, who conduct the business at the present time. The store was a favorite meeting place for the exchange of ideas,


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gossip and the discussion of all kinds of subjects. The man who would do his trading and hurry away was looked upon with a little suspicion.


H. H. Leonard, now of Wichita, and one of the finest citizens any community ever had, for many years held the checker championship of the store. He perhaps did not always play the best game, but played more of them. It was here that the first Haverhill base ball team was organized under the leadership of Will Glaze and for many years Ha- verhill has had one of the best teams in the county. J. C. Greer, who still ambles around first base with as much agility, if not quite as much grace, as he did twenty years ago, is the only member of this first team who still plays. J. C. Glaze, now one of the prosperous farmers of Spring township, at one time conducted a store at Haverhill. In 1902, C. R. Marshall and Sam Frank opened a general store at Haver- hill. This business was successfully conducted in turn by Frank, J. B. and E. L. Marshall until 1915, when it was closed out by E. L. Mar- shall, that he might devote all of his time to his veterinary practice.


From an agricultural standpoint, it is an ideal township. It is divided up, as a rule, into small farms, a very large majority of the resi- dents owning their own homes. It is drained by the Walnut and Little Walnut rivers. Along these streams and their branches are many acres of fine bottom land. The people are and always have been progressive, intelligent and law-abiding. In the forty-five years of its history, its criminal record consisted of one murder, that of William Jones, who was killed by an unknown party in December, 1903. C. C. Currier was justice of the peace for twenty-five years and never had a criminal case.


There are three churches in the township. These organizations, with their splendid membership, have always exerted a great influence for good over the entire community. In 1891, C. Y. Trice located a num- ber of families from Illinois in Spring township, among whom were the families of C. R. Marshall, S. Kenyon, A. Bailey, J. H. Leonard, Knute Seglem and A. Kneutson. These families were a splendid addition to the community. Cave Springs, located in the northeast corner of the township on the A. C. Smock farm, has attracted much attention and is one of the natural wonders of the State. In this article time and space forbid the mention of many names that have been prominently identified with the history of the township and county. This story in its completeness is offered without apology in the hope that it will con- tribute to some extent to the memory of the pioneers of Butler county, Spring township, located in line of the developed oil and gas fields, and. with its wonderful natural resources, will contribute to the happiness and prosperity of its people for a century yet to come.


CHAPTER XIII.


TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND TOWNS. (Continued. )


SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP-TOWANDA TOWNSHIP-TOWANDA-UNION TOWN- SHIP-WALNUT TOWNSHIP.


SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP. By Mrs. Lizzie Bishop Harsh.


I esteem it quite an honor to be asked to add a little to the history of the great county of Butler. It was some time in February, 1860, that my father and mother, Elias and Nancy Jane Bishop, with my two sisters, Permelia and Emma, and myself landed in Butler county on the west branch of the Walnut river at the home of Uncle John Bishop, who, with his family, had moved there the year before. It was only a few days before we bought our farm north of Chelsea, moved and lived in a sheet shed belonging to G. T. Donaldson.


The doctors in our old home in Iowa advised my father to move and settle somewhere in the West on account of mother's health, which was very bad at that time. The following summer my father and cousin, Will Bishop, built our new home out of logs out of our own timber, puncheon floor, clapboard roof, and it was here that one more was added to the family, a baby brother, J. E. Bishop. Our house was one room and a shed kitchen. It was to us a mansion. My father was a carpenter ; soon the country began to settle up and father had plenty of work. He helped to build the school building at Chelsea. Mother was a mid-wife and so had work out of the home, as the nearest doctor to be had was at Emporia. Just think of going to Emporia for all groceries, lumber and everything that we used. We brought one load of supplies with us, so did not have to go to town soon. We were homesick many times, but there were two classes of people, "goers and stayers," and we belonged to the latter class, as we were not able to go. We never wanted for meat, as my father was a hunter and brought in great many deer, chickens and a few turkeys. I remember we had fine


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wild plums, raised sorghum and good gardens, but we had some things that were far from pleasant, grasshoppers, drought, prairie fires, hot and cold winds; Indians were plenty. I will always remember the first Indians that called at our home. We vet lived in the shed. Three very large fellows, real blanket and painted Indians came in without being asked, warmed by the fire, talked and then went out and looked at cousin's ponies, came in and warmed more, talked and looked around. Well, we girls stayed close to mother, who was so frightened that she was pale. The Indians said, "Squaw 'fraid, big 'fraid." They did not ask for anything. We learned afterwards that they were looking for stolen ponies.


Chelsea had the first school in the county, a little log hut on the bank of the Walnut, just east of the Donaldson home. Sister Permelia and I were pupils under three teachers (Mrs. Bates, Lizzie Shriver, now Mrs. Lizzie Ellis, and Mrs. J. E. Buchanan) in the little old cabin. By that time we had our new school house, No. 10, and it got that number by dividing the district and giving No. I 'to the northern district. By this time we had many neighbors and a saw mill on the Donaldson farm, very near our old log school house, and here I must say that my father made many, if not all, of the caskets to bury our dead, and one was our dear neighbor, G. T. Donaldson, who met his death by a saw log rolling off the wagon and onto him, crushing him. If people who complain of hard times and think they have so little could go back and go through one month of the early days they would be thankful and would not complain. Well, we lived through it all and enjoyed life, too. The whole neighborhood was one family. When the Ellises or Donald- sons killed a sheep, calf or pig, the Bishops had some, too; no strife or selfishness then. Soon people wanted some kind of amusement. The first was dancing, then parties. I think it was the second or third sum- mer before we ever heard a sermon, and that was at a camp meeting at El Dorado under a big tree. Don't remember the preacher's name or denomination ; only remember that El Dorado had a prisoner there with a big ball of iron chained to his feet and he was converted and the minister helped carry the ball into the river and immersed him. We had a little Sunday school in the log school house .. We had no Sunday school literature, just the Bible, learned verses and received cards ; sometimes we committed whole chapters to memory. Miss Maggie Vaught conducted the Sunday school and later Mrs. Lizzie Shriver.


It must have been about 1879 that father sold the home, and we moved to El Dorado for a short time; bought and moved to Turkey Creek in 1881 : sold and moved to Sycamore Springs, and now will tell a little about Sycamore. I taught the first school in Sycamore. Before we moved here I taught in a room in J. B. Parson's house. Before the term was out the new school house was finished, and that was almost in Mr. Parson's yard. The first postoffice was at Mr. Hubbard's, two


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miles south of us. J. B. Parson built the house at the springs in 1870. Frank Donaldson at the same time built a little store just across from the Parsons house and sold it soon to William Shriver, of El Dorado, who sold eats and drinks to the travel. This was the old stage route. Mr. Slover, an old bachelor, built the first log hut on our farm, the first that was built in the township, and before this he built a stone stable on the farm now owned by Mrs. William Hoy. In 1870, George Snively and family, Sylvester Myers and family, came from Ohio, and Mrs. Snively told me that they left one load of household goods at Emporia and brought one load of lumber instead. They came to this stone stable. which had a manger, and it served both families until they came down to the springs and bought. Mr. Myers took eighty acres of school land and Mr. Snively bought one hundred and sixty acres of Mr. Stover. He began to build and sent teams back to Emporia after lumber and goods. In 1871, Philip Harsh and sons came from Ohio and bought out Parsons and Snively. Mr. Snively went west three miles and bought land, and now owns a dry oil well and 800 acres of land.


The old historic sycamore tree which gave name to the township, the first postoffice and church and school, has been blown down. The old house, which has had in time new roof, siding, floor and kitchen ad- dition, is still standing, filled with grain, plows, etc. The old shop or store, whose foundation was not on a rock, has fallen. The Harshes were here only a short time when the postoffice was moved to their house and remained for years, and it was in this house that so many weary travelers were housed and fed. Father Harsh sat and slept in his chair many night to let the stranger have his bed and many times the doors would have to be closed so that the beds made from door to door. The upper story was already full. The man without means to pay was cared for as well as the one with money. It was in this house that the first sermon was preached. Preachers of all denominations were invited to preach. When a preacher came the boys on horses went and told the neighbors and all came. It was hard for Father Harsh to to come out here and do without his church, the German Reform.


As I write this and try to think of old times passed, the hard things we had to endure, the awful prairie fires and one terror to all was the chills and fever. We could stand the fever better than we could the chills, because often we were unconscious and did not realize the suf- fering, but oh the chill! How we did shake, and everybody had them the first, second or sometimes the third year, and now people come and go and we have forgotten the awful ordeal that we used to have to pass through, but we lived through and now in our old age, we are trying to enjoy our homes, telephones, automobiles and just waiting for the old ship to take us on.


Sycamore township was organized July 7, 1871. Its first officers were: J. K. Skinner, trustee; C. H. Hegwine, treasurer; J. Canfield. clerk. There are no railroads in the township, but we have one graded


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and are patiently waiting and watching for the arrival of the "Orient." There are many thousands of acres of grazing land and thousands of cattle are pastured thereon during each pasture season. Cattle are shipped from Texas to the Eastern markets in the spring, unloaded here and pastured during the summer, when they are re-loaded and sent on to market.


Cassoday is the capital of this township and consists of all the accessories that are needed to make up a good, thriving country villlage, including a bank, blacksmith shop, stores of various kinds, hotel, churches and schools. The township is in the northeast corner of the county, and is eight miles north and south and fourteen miles east and west.


TOWANDA TOWNSHIP.


By A. W. Stearns.


On August 23, 1867. Butler county was divided into four townships. Towanda township was bounded as follows: Commencing at the south- east corner of section 12, township 27, range 4, west to county line ; north to northwest corner of county ; east to range line, between ranges 4 and 5 ; south to place of beginning. The first township officers were appointed on April 14. 1868. They were as follows: Henry Comstock, trustee ; John Wentworth, treasurer, and James N. Jones, clerk. The first election in the township was held April 6, 1869, and the following were elected: W. H. Avery, trustee ; Henry Comstock, clerk; Milton Snorf, treasurer; Stark Spencer, justice of the peace; Amos Adams, constable.


The first white settler in Towanda township was C. L. Chandler, a native of Ohio, who had been stricken with the gold fever and had joined the forty-niners and crossed the plains to California in quest of the yellow metal. Here he remained until 1857, when, not having ac- quired the wealth he hoped for, he started on his return home, follow- ing part of the way the old Santa Fe Trail. On reaching a point north of what is now Butler county, he chanced to meet a party of Indians, traders, who were returning from a trip through the southern part of their territory of Kansas. Their description of its beauty and apparent adaptability for settlement so interested him that in company with two others leaving the train of returning gold miners, they proceeded south, reaching the head of the Whitewater in September, 1858. Following the stream down to a point near the large spring flowing from the hill on which Towanda is now located, Mr. Chandler was so pleased with the country in general and the Whitewater valley particularly that he decided to settle here. A small log cabin was soon built on the bank of the little creek near the spring, in which he spent the winter of 1858 and 1859. This was the first house build in Towanda township. In the spring of 1859, Mr. Chandler returned to his old home in Ohio after


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his wife and two children, coming back to his claim with them after a few months' absence. The family remained here until 1862, when their claim was purchased by J. R. Mead. and they left the country, destina- tion not known.


During the year 1858, and soon after Mr. Chandler's location at the Towanda spring, William Van, from Missouri, with his family, con- siting of a wife, three sons and four daughters, arrived on the White- water and settled near another large spring a short distance below the Chandler home. Here a log cabin and other buildings were built. The family remained here until 1872, when they sold out and left. One other pioneer of Towanda township, Jay Que Hager, a single man, from Barry county, Michigan, came to the Whitewater the latter part of 1858 and located on what is now the southeast quarter of section 6, in Towanda township, and near the junction of the main Whitewater. A small log cabin was built, in which Mr. Hager lived two or three years, when he left, going to New Mexico, where he died soon after. This comprises all of the 1858 or first settlers of Towanda township. A Nir. Jackson, wife and one child came into the township in 1859. They remained until 1862, when they left, going back East. But little seems to be known concerning them. At this time Kansas was yet a territory. The country was not surveyed and none of the settlers know the num- bers of land on which they had located. There were still roving bands of Indians passing through and camping on the river, sometimes re- maining there for weeks. While not really hostile, they were not desira- ble neighbors and caused considerable uneasiness to some of the whites because of their isolated location.


In 1868, a little party of immigrants from Fulton and McDonough counties, Illinois, consisting mostly of relatives and neighbors of the settlers, reached the Whitewater country. They had been preceded the previous year by two pioneer families from Hancock county, Illinois, Harrison Stearns, wife and three children, and Daniel Mosier, wife and six children, who had settled on the Whitewater near Towanda. The party of immigrants consisted of Gilbert Green, wife and eight children ; Richmond Jones, wife and two children; J. G. Stearns, wife and four children ; John Heath, wife and seven children, and C. Watrous, wife and four children. All of these settled in Towanda township and helped materially to found and build up the present thriving and progressive community. Their descendants are still living here, some of them on the original homesteads taken by their parents.


Probably the great spring which has gushed its torrents of cool water for ages was the cause of the founding of Towanda. Old plains- men and hunters knew of it fifteen years before there was thought of settling the country. In those years, now known to only lengend, its volumes of water was greater than now. The Indians knew of it and told the whites of it long before it was seen by them. Ilere in the wide bottoms of the Whitewater, covered by abundant grass for their ponies.


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the Indians pitched their teepees. While the squaws stayed in camp looking after the domestic affairs, the braves were chasing the lordly buffalo that roamed the prairie in countless herds. The Whitewater valley must have enchanted the first white men who beheld it. Its broad and fertile valleys and gentle undulating uplands that let the eye scan miles of its surface, had beauty and attraction irresistible. It is a stream abounding in crystal waters that never fail and fed by many tributaries like itself.


Daniel Cupp seems to have been the earliest comer in the White- water valley, at least, the first who came and stayed. That was in 1860, when he and his young wife braved the perils of the frontier and settled upon the farm they still possess and is their home. William Vann in the same year built his cabin further up the Whitewater. Mrs. A. G.


MAIN STREET, TOWANDA, KANS.


Davis now of Benton, is a child of this early comer. Cupp and a few others who came about 1860, have killed buffalo without number in western Butler. S. C. Fulton "struck the country" in 1863, and found them roaming in unnumbered thousands in what is now known as Sedg- wick and Sumner counties, and west to the Rocky Mountains. The close of the Civil war left thousands of soldier boys with home ties broken. The government began giving away homesteads. The boys married the girls they left behind them when going to the war and came to Kansas. With each year after 1866 the tide of immigration grew higher until the climax was reached in 1870. Who does not recall the claim hunter, the home hunter, the land agent, the speculator, the scout, the cowboy, and the horseman, "the prairie schooner" that cut across the


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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY


country without road, paying no attention to aught save direction? Somebody has remarked that all there was to Kansas at that time was prairie grass, sunshine and wind-an abundance of all.




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