USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 16
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Patrick McAnany lives three-fourths of a mile north of Shawnee on one of the fine improved farms for which this township is famous. Mr. McAnany was born in Ireland in 1839, and came to this country in 1848, and to Shawnee, Kan., in 1858. He was married to Helen Mansfield in 1869, in Kansas City, Mo. Mr. McAnany lived with a Shawnee Indian, David Daugherty, many years, and has a fund of most interesting history of the early days to relate. He says, as do all the others who were intimately acquainted with the Shawnees, that they were a fine people, intelligent and honest. The only objection he had to them, said he, was the way they cooked. He just couldn't like their cooking. "How did they cook their meat?" was asked of him, and he replied : "Well, I don't know as you would call it cooked. They would roast it before the fire until it was partly done, then eat the part cooked and roast it again, continuing this until the piece was finished." The greatest season of rejoicing among these people though was when the corn of the little field had reached the roasting stage. Then these people would gather the corn, tie the ears together by the husks, put
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
some forks in the ground, lay poles across them and hang the corn on the poles, under which they would build fires. When the corn was roasted properly they would take the corn and cut it from the cobs and spread it out on buffalo robes, deerskin or other hides, to dry. The Indian went barefoot and the fact that their bare feet came in contact with the corn made no difference as to its toothsomeness. After the corn was dried it was put away in bags made of hides and kept dry until such time as it was needed for food. Their fields were small, from one to four acres in extent. The corn that was not dried was kept for
STREET SCENE, LENEXA, KAN.
meal, and until a mill was built each family desiring this luxury made its own meal by burning out a hollow in a stump. In this hollow they would put some corn, and with a wooden maul, almost four feet long, would pound or churn it until it was the proper fineness for bread.
When they got their pay from the Government, which was once a year, in the fall, the payment was made at the council house, and those to whom the Indians were indebted were there at desks, ready to receive their money as soon as the Indians got theirs. The Indians carried their money in big handkerchiefs, tied around their neck, and the pay of each one as his name was called was put in his handkerchief. Then he passed
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
down the line to his creditors, and each took out the amount due him, which usually was plenty, no doubt, and often there was nothing left for "Poor Lo," when he had visited the last one. Mr. McAnany received $16.00 per month while working for the Indians and Mrs. Daugherty each month, would hand him the exact amount tied up in a sack. This he gave back to her to keep for him, and when she died he had about $200 of his money put away in the sacks that he had saved. After she died he worked for a Mr. Wilkerson & Knapp, who kept a gen- eral store, groceries, dry goods, boots, shoes, etc. He worked for them until Mr. Wilkerson was killed by the Indians. There were eight to ten saloons there at this time and Wilkerson with others had been drinking and one of the Indians who was also drunk killed him. Wilkerson did not sell whiskey. Mr. McAnany could speak the Shawnee language and was an interpreter at one time. Asked in regard to their songs, if any, he said there was no sense or words, really, to them. The only musical instrument, if it should be called musical, was a sort of drum. made by stretching a hide over a hoop, which was struck with the hands or sticks. The Shawnees were educated too highly to indulge in the dances that many of the other tribes were accustomed to give, yet there was some sort of chants, given at times, which he could not inter- pret. Mr. McAnany was on several hunting trips out West, near Junc- tion City, with the Indians, and he said meat of most any kind was wel- come, even to prairie dogs and skunks, the latter tasting excellent to a half-famished man. Said he: "When you get hungry you can eat any- thing." He says he has seen buffalo wallows so deep that if filled with water, would drown a man. They were made by the buffaloes using their horns and pawing the dust until they made a nice bed in which to wal- low, which desire was no doubt caused by an itching of the skin. The buffalo meat was smoked and dried, no salt being used. It made little difference, said Mr. McAnany, if a few bugs or crawlers did get into it. and "Eggs," said he, "I never could like eggs the way the Indians ate them. The fact that the chick had begun to form did not keep the Indian from using the balance of this great delicacy. They simply threw the chick away and used the balance of the egg, and seemed to prefer their eggs in that condition."
Mr. McAnany saw the real thing in war service and carries the proof with him. He doesn't have to go to the records to convince one that he "fit some." "Just feel here" he said, as he put his finger on the upper part of his left cheek bone. "That is a bullet and its been there since the battle of Wilson Creek. The doctors said they did not dare remove it for fear it would never heal and here in my left ear I received another one, shot from a hot musket and the head of the bullet buried itself, leaving a part sticking out as the bullet seemed to be partly melted. And the buckle on my cartridge box saved me from being bored through. A bullet struck with force enough to have killed, but that buckle saved
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
my life." It was a warm fight and some of the Union soldiers had to lay on their backs and load, then roll over to shoot, while they used rocks for protection. Mr. McAnany was taken prisoner and afterwards exchanged and ordered sent to Leavenworth hospital. On the way there he, and three others, stayed all night about half way between Ft. Scott and Kansas City, and intended to leave by the stage next morning. The hotel keeper was a Union man and knew of a plot to kill them the next day as they left on the stage, so told them to slip quietly out at a signal he would give them during the night, and he would have a conveyance near and take them to Westport. They were ready when the signal came and thus their lives were saved. From Westport they went to Leavenworth by boat. Mr. and Mrs. McAnany live on their 148- acre farm in a stone house, one part of which was built by Fred Choteau before the war. The road to Olathe in the early days was not hard to find. "Just go south one-half mile and twelve miles straight across the prairie" was the direction given. A fine spring was on the road, near Lenexa. Kan., where early-day campers found plenty of good water for their teams. A house stood near this spring in 1862, and the next and the only other house on the road was Mahaffie's big stone house.
QUANTRILL VISITS SHAWNEE.
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Of course Shawnee being so close to the Missouri line, could not escape the terrors of the border warfare, and on October 17, 1862, Quan- trill, with about 140 men, surrounded the town and corraled the resi- dents in the square. A Mr. Styles and Bicker were murdered in the streets, and all the stores in town looted and the buildings set on fire. The Higgins Hotel, the largest house in town, was burned, and thirteen other buildings.
No one but those who saw the terrible destruction can have the faint- est idea of the terror to the residents of the town in the short hour that Quantrill's men were there. Momentarily expecting to be murdered, seeing house after house looted, then set on fire, and seeing defenseless citizens shot down, the terrors of the hour can never fade from the mem- ory of those early pioneers. Yet, strange to say, this happened but six weeks after the Olathe outrage of the same character, and practically no preparations had been made to protect the town and the invaders came without a moment's warning. A few citizens made their escape into the woods surrounding the town. J. A. Walker had a large dry goods stock and after picking out all they could use, the raiders set fire to the store, a plan followed out with all the other business houses in town. Quan- trill's men found two Miami county, Kansas, men camped at Brown's Spring, five miles east of Shawnee. They shot both men, also a boy of twelve or fourteen, and took their teams and set their wagons on fire. The bodies of the two men and the boy were taken to Olathe the next day. The boy was living when discovered, but died on the way to Olathe.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
One of the men from Miami county was a Mr. Butram and two of his wife's brothers were with Quantrill. Mr. Butram had had a quarrel with them previous to this time. James Warfield, who lived on the Brown farm, was also murdered by this same gang and his body left lying in the road a few hundred yards the other side of the place of the killing of Butram and his companions. Warfield had been accused by some of the party of being favorable to the Jayhawkers. An Indian named Washington was met at the crossing of the Big Blue by Quan- trill's men. The Indian supposed that they were Jayhawkers and when asked where he had been, said: "Been over to Missouri to kill Secesh." Quantrill told him he certainly did not mean that and the Indian said again : "Yes, kill Secesh." They explained the mistake he had made but
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SCHOOL BUILDING, LENEXA, KAN.
told him they would give him a chance for his life, however, and to run for the brush. He did so but got entangled in a grapevine and one of the men shot him through the head. A year or more after this, Dr. Bell took the skull home as a curiosity, the Indian not having been buried. Hundreds of cracks radiated from the hole in the skull as in a pane of glass when shot through.
The following is a list of business firms in Shawnee :
Shawnee State Savings Bank ; J. H. Hurd, general store, William Gar- rett & Son, general store ; Patti Brothers, dry goods and notions; G. Gey-
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
sels, harness and hardware; W. H. Heaton, druggist; H. Caswell, bar- ber ; Mrs. E. L. Sautter, groceries ; W. F. Blanton, machinery ; B. Young, cafe and cold drinks ; B. F. Hollenback, postmaster ; Dr. W. O. Quiring, physician.
LENEXA.
Lenexa is a pretty little town, located on the Frisco and Strang Line railroads seven miles northeast of Olathe, in a fine farming country, and is destined soon to be a city of nice residences owing to its close prox- imity to Kansas City. It has service every hour to Kansas City over the Strang Line at the present time.
Its population is about 450, and each year shows a steady growth.
The railroad bought the townsite in 1869 of C. A. Bradshaw and laid out the town, and sold a number of lots to different parties, among them D. Brickly and C. M. Bower. The first store in town was opened by Lee Freeman in 1869; the second by Dr. Bower in 1870; the third by Rush and Gintner.
H. D. Gillette moved to Lenexa in 1870, and started the first black- smith shop. Mr. Gillette is still living in Lenexa. He sold his prop- erty in 1875 and went to California but returned to Lenexa and engaged in business again, and concluded to stay. He has never regretted it and has a nice home now in which to spend his declining years. When Mr. Gillette built his first shop in 1870, he used green cottonwood lumber, and when the summer's sun poured out its rays of heat on that shop the boards cupped till they looked like big troughs. Mr. Gillette does not recommend green cottonwood lumber for building purposes.
Among the early settlers were Joseph Rush and Edwin Bradshaw.
David Huff moved here in 1871. The postoffice was established in 1870. The first birth in town was that of Willis Bower January 19, 1869. The first marriage was that of John Bower to Miss Mary Brad- shaw in 1873, and the first death that of George Bower, the same year. The Methodist church was built in 1878, at a cost of $1,200. They have fine parsonage also, and a strong Sunday school. The finest church in the city is the Catholic church, which has a very large membership. The Methodist Episcopal church was built in 1878, at a cost of $1,200. The Lutherans stand second, having a strong membership and a beautiful church. The Methodists organized in 1870, but prior to that held meet- ings with others in Sunday school work.
The Farmers State Bank of Lenexa, organized April 20, 1904, has a capital stock of $10,000, and a surplus fund of $5,000, deposits, $105,000. President, S. B. Haskins; vice-president, A. E. Wedd; cashier, E. H. Haskins. Directors, S. B. Haskins, A. E. Wedd, W. P. Haskins, Her- man Musch, C. E. Pincomb.
The city is well represented in all lines of business as follows :
Farmers State Bank, E. H. Haskins, cashier; Lenexa Lumber Com-
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
pany, W. D. McClure, manager : Louis O. Krumm, general merchandise : Ellis & Schwald, general merchandise; Mrs. Fanny Lisk, general mer- chandise; E. A. Legler, variety store : D. S. Swartz, blacksmith ; R. E. Mills, blacksmith ; F. J. Spena, garage: J. A. Burnett, drugs; J. Calla- ghan, blacksmith : J. H. Dent, harness ; W. E. Dickerson, barber ; Lenexa Grain Company, grain and implements; M. R. Elrod, cafe and cold drinks; L. E. Newcomer, hotel; R. C. Creeker, hotel; Dr. P. L. Jones, physician ; Bradshaw Bros. Realty Company, real estate and loans ; Miss Maude Williams, postmistress.
THE TRAIL INN
THE TRAIL INN, LENEXA, KAN.
AUBRY.
The village of Aubry was surveyed and the town company organ- ized in March, 1858. The members of the town company were A. G. Gabbart, president : Greenbury Trekle, treasurer ; W. H. Brady, F. G. Franklin, P. J. Ford, and L. M. Smith. Mr. Gabbart named the town Aubry after the famous traveler (Mexican we believe) of that name. Mr. George Cass, a batchelor, who was afterwards a member of the town company, traded his interest in the burgh for a slave negro woman.
The first township election was held May 22, 1858, when Mr. Brady was elected chairman of the board of supervisors, Burton Olny, treas- urer, and W. W. Rice, clerk. Also Gabbart, Snyder, Gamble and Trekle were elected justices of the peace.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
At that time the chairman of the board of supervisors was also a member of the board of county commissioners, Mr. Brady acting in that capacity to represent Aubry township. Also the township treasurer collected the taxes, and the clerk assessed the township. The first school district, now No. 8, embracing the town of Aubry, was organized in the summer of 1858. A frame building 20x24 was built and Sylvester Mann taught the first school.
The first sermon was preached at the house of A. J. Gabbart in Feb- ruary, 1858, by Rev. Duval, a minister of the Methodist church, North. The first church was organized in May, 1859, by Rev. A. Clark of the Christian denomination. Samuel Medell and Miss Nancy Mid- dleton were the first couple married, Justice Gabbart tying the knot in September, 1858. The first birth was their daughter, being born the next year.
A son of A. Purdy died in the spring of 1859, the first death in the township.
The township was gradually settled and improved, generally, by an excellent class of people, and peace and harmony prevailed.
With the commencement of the national difficulties, rural quiet and peace came to an abrupt end. Located on the border of Missouri-the worst part of Missouri too where the adherents of rebellion were most numerous and rampant-the township was most unfortunately situated. With the outbreak of the war, most of the citizens left and joined the armies. A number of the best citizens decided to remain, hoping to escape molestation by adopting a peaceful policy. Some few were in sympathy with the Union cause,' and the rest, who were principally for- mer residents of Missouri, inclined to pray for the success of the rebel- lion. It was equally unsafe to express an opinion on either side.
One of the most outspoken Union sympathizers was Dr. S. B. Bell. The first raid by the rebels in the town was made some time in 1862. A gang of men who were supposed to belong to the Cassidy band came in the night and surrounded Dr. Bell's house. The latter, by this time had learned of the feeling against him across the line, and hearing some noise in the yard, sprang out of bed and found his house surrounded by armed men. He dashed out of the door and by dodging among their horses managed to reach a cornfield near by. The bushwhackers fired at him a number of times, but as soon as he reached the shelter of the standing corn they gave up the chase.
From Dr. Bell's place they went to Jackson Gabbart, another Union man. Mr. Gabbart was away from home and again the raiders were balked. A gun was accidentally discharged by one of the band which shot off the hand of a young man named Sublette, a member of their own party. This mishap caused them to immediately return to Mis- souri without doing any damage. It was afterwards ascertained that
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the expedition was undertaken for the purpose of murdering Bell and Gabbart.
The second inroad was by Quantrill, who passed through with his men on their way to Missouri, after they had plundered Olathe. They found a deserted town, however, as Black Bob, the chief of his band of Shawnees, came in ahead of them, and notified the citizens of their ap- proach. The bushwhackers finding no Unionists to capture, contented themselves with robbing Dr. Bell's store of all goods of value and soon departed.
This threatening aspect of affairs caused the commander of the dis- trict to station Company D, Eleventh regiment, Kansas infantry, there. With this company was Dick Rooks, commissioned as a lieutenant, who afterwards gained some notoriety as a "Red-Leg."
A few miles northeast of Aubry lived old "Uncle Billy" Bryant, who was one of the most uncomprising secessionists of the locality. He was too old to go into the Southern army himself, but had two or three boys who were among the first to join the Confederate cause. He had been a soldier in the War of 1812, and the sounds of the approaching contest aroused all the martial ardor of his youthful days.
One day Rooks scouted around the country with fifteen or twenty soldiers on foot. They arrived in the vicinity of Bryant's farm, and happened to meet the old gentleman in the road, carrying a gun, and in company with a neighbor named Wilson. Rooks ordered Bryant to sur- render. In reply Bryant took deliberate aim and fired at the soldiers. and immediately commenced reloading. They later returned the fire and shot the old man dead. Taking Wilson, who was unarmed, they started to Aubry. When near the town, Wilson grumbled at having to walk, at which a wild Irishman named "Nick," well known in Olathe in those days, stepped up behind him and shot him dead.
The ill feeling on the border between the two factions had been in- creasing day by day, and the acts just spoken of brought matters to the culminating point. From that time on Aubry was a battle ground.
After the death of Bryant his family went away and left the farm unoccupied. Among the property they left in their hasty removal were several fine hives of bees. Early in the spring five men started to get the honey one night, stating to their families that they would be back early. From that time to this they have never been seen or heard of, and even the place where their bones lie is unknown. Early in the evening the citizens heard some shots fired in the direction the men had gone. About sunrise the next morning Quantrill came into town in- tending to take the place by surprise and capture the people.
Dr. Bell, one of the first to discover their approach, ran across the fields, hoping to reach a ravine and hide before they could overtake him. A burly ruffian saw him and started in pursuit. After firing several futile shots, he attempted to beat the unfortunate prisoner's brains out with
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his revolver. Bell managed to ward off the blows enough to keep his skull from being crushed but his face and arms were badly cut and mangled. Soon a comrade rode up and interfered saying: "Wait and see whether he needs killing or not." As the bushiwhackers had sev- eral friends residing in the place and Bell was completely disguised by the blood that streamed from his numerous wounds, this advice appeared timely, and Bell was taken back and put under guard with other cap- tives.
Two or three months previous to this time it had been a fact, pretty well known, that several of the Union men residing in the place had formed some connection with the "Redlegs," who were making it lively for the rebel citizens. The main purpose of this expedition was to cap- ture these parties. They proceeded to Trekle's house and in addition to Trekle, Cody, Tullis, and Whitaker, who lived there, and four strangers were there who had stopped to stay over night.
The Union men saw the bushwhackers approaching, and fired a volley at them, from the window. Then with a want of wisdom that can scarcely be accounted for, they abandoned the house and attempted to seek safety in flight. Trekle and Whitaker after running a short dis- tance turned and attempted to fight. Some twenty men were after them, and in an instant Trekle and Whitaker were riddled with bullets. Tul- lis, who ran in another direction, was shot in the eye and killed. John Cody, while running, fell behind a clump of weeds, and his pursuers ran past without seeing him; he remained there until they were gone, and escaped unharmed. A man named Ellis was shot while in the house, but afterwards recovered, and several others were wounded. After the fight was over, Quantrill had Dr. Bell attend to the wounded which he did though suffering badly from his own wounds. While they were in town the wives of the five men who had gone out the night before went to Quantrill, and besought him to tell where their husbands were. He would give them no satisfaction, saying they had attended to them. properly. All search for them was fruitless.
Trekle had a large house and considerable property. His widow re- mained there for some time, when in another raid, she was stripped of the balance of her personal property, when she went to Iowa with her four children and remained there till the close of the war, when she re- turned to Aubry where she became insane, and was sent back to Iowa. Whitaker left a large family, who went to Ohio to relatives.
Cody had received warning enough to have caused him to seek some more favorable locality, but with the fearlessness that characterized the man he remained. In about a year after his narrow escape while en- rolled in the militia he was ordered to report for guard duty. It was never supposed that he ever intended to evade the order, but instead of going immediately he took his horses to be shod. The major on learn- ing this sent two soldiers to bring him to headquarters. These soldiers
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were Bill Nichols and Van Osdell, former bushwhackers who had been captured a short time and in preference to the chances of hanging or prison had enlisted in the United States service. It was while the "len- ient policy" was in vogue, when it was thought that all that was neces- sary to reform a bushwhacker was to administer the oath of allegiance, give him a good horse, uniform, and arm him. It worked well, with the slight drawback that in a course of a week or two the repentent sin- ners, almost invariably, disappeared with horse, arms and equipment.
These two fellows were among the worst of their class. They found Cody at the shop. Two shots were fired and on going to the shop, citi- zens found Cody with his brains blown out. The fellows reported that Cody resisted them and would not obey orders. The same night they took their horses and arms and deserted, going back to the brush. Cody's death only added another to the long list of foul murders that marked the border troubles.
BRADSHAW HAUS&
BRADSHAW BROTHERS' STORE, LENEXA, KAN.
The next raid of note was on the last day of January, 1864, by Dan Vaughn, a leader second only to Quantrill among the bushwhackers. On that day a traveler named Norman Sampson stopped at Dr. Bell's to get his dinner and horses fed. He lived in Linn county, and was from Wisconsin, originally, serving, we believe, during a part of the war as a soldier in one of the regiments of that State. After staying about an hour, he started to Kansas City. Two miles north of Aubry, he fell in with Vaughn, who had ten men with him. They pretended to be Union soldiers. Sampson rode some distance with them, and to their inquiries. stated that he had served in the Union army, at the same time mention- ing in rather a boasting manner, some of the bloody work he had par- ticipated in while fighting the rebels. That was enough and sealed his fate. He was found dead the next day with two or three bullet holes in his body.
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