USA > Kansas > Labette County > History of Labette County, Kansas, from the first settlement to the close of 1892 > Part 3
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
they discussed the propriety of paying a bill of about $39 to a young man by the name of Peyett, who had acted as interpreter to Dr. Griffith, of Carthage, who had a year before that time been sent by the Government to vaccinate the Osages. Several of the chiefs made speeches opposing the payment, saying, 'That if the Government intended to do them a kindness it ought to pay the interpreter as well as the doctor'; when they came to the close, White Hair requested Chetopa to speak for him, and he depicted in very strong language the horrors of the small-pox, and what benefit they had received from the young man, who had well earned his money, and that being a just debt they should pay it, and suggested that it be paid by the chiefs; the ranking chief, White Hair, to pay $10, and the other chiefs a less sum.
"After finishing my duties as clerk at this point I returned to my com- pany at Chetopa, where I spent the summer with them in getting out, and hewing the logs for one house and having enough cut for another. Sometime in July I started back to Ohio for my family, and returned with them, arriving at Chetopa about the 20th of November of that year.
"I was met at Jefferson City, to which point the railroad was com- pleted, by the boys from Chetopa with a team, who brought us back to Chetopa in that way. While I was gone the boys had raised a house, which was a double log house with twelve feet space between the two parts ; it stood on the northwest quarter of block 24, near where my residence now stands. The next season we put up a shop and office, which was made of shaved boards and covered with the same material ; the boards of the roof being two feet long, while those covering the sides were four feet; I split and shaved them myself, out of pecan, in the winter of 1857-58. This building was 16 by 40 feet, one part of which was used for my office and drugs, and the other for a gun shop and black- smith shop. It stood on the south side of what is now block 24, just west of the alley, about where my present office and shop stand. I also built a smoke-house and stable; inclosed about twenty-five acres with high rail fence, the rails being of walnut, and the fence was about ten rails high ; the lot extended to about what is now Third and Sixth streets, and from about Maple on the south to Elm or Oak street on the north. I lived upon these premises until November 19, 1863, when I was driven from them by the United States troops, and just as I was leaving saw them all in flames. I lost my library and other valuables in addition to the buildings that I have described. My wife, Phoebe, died on the last day of 1860, and my daughter Penina had married J. E. Bryan, and was then living at Council Grove.
"I took my daughter Martha, and two sons, Albert and John, and
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EARLY HISTORY.
started for Council Grove on the day last named, November 19, 1863. The following persons also accompanied us on that occasion part of the way : Elizabeth and Christian McMurtry, two children of John McMur- try, who had recently died in the army; Larkin McGhee and family ; Jane Jackson, whose husband was then in the army ; and Mrs. Walker, whose husband had been driven into the Rebel army. In addition to my own property which was destroyed at this time, the following persons also had all of their property burned : Sarah Rogers had a large hewed- log house and a large stable on what is now Mr. Crichton's place north of town ; George Walker, a Cherokee, had a house, stable, crib, etc., west of the river, just south of where Mr. Edwards's mill now stands ; John McMurtry had a house near where the west end of the bridge across the Neosho now is, which was set on fire but would not burn, and was after- ward torn down. Larkin McGhee had a house and stable and some grain just south of the branch south of Chetopa, on land now owned by Dr. Halderman. There were perhaps 300 soldiers composed of Indians and whites under the command of Captain Willits, Adjutant Ahle, and Lieu- tenant Joslyn, who did this burning, and who stated that they acted under instructions from their commanding officers. At this same time they ar- rested James Childers and demanded of him his money ; they had been informed that he had $6,000 buried. At first he denied having any, but after they had put a rope around his neck and stretched him up for awhile, and after letting him down, he acknowledged having $2,000, and told them where it was; they found this and wanted more; he said that was every cent he had. He was stretched up and let down two or three times, and was finally killed, his throat cut, and left unburied, and was eaten by the hogs. I asked to be allowed to go back and bury him, but was refused permission. I got this statement in reference to his being killed from his son. This entirely broke up the Chetopa settlement. I stayed at Council Grove until September, 1865, when I went back to Chetopa, and in November of that year moved my family back. I lived with George Walker that winter, and built on my farm across the river, and have ever since had my home in or near Chetopa.
"Soon after coming to the county I traveled up the Neosho, and came upon a clearing on the east side of the river nearly opposite the mouth of the Labette, where I was informed a Frenchman by the name of Pierre Labette had lived for a number of years, but who some time previous had moved west. It was from him that the creek was named.
"On the occasion of the United States troops coming down the river for the capture of Mathews, after he had been killed below Chetopa a detachment of the troops came to the Chetopa settlement and arrested all
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
of us, and took us to the Mathews premises at Little Town, now Oswego, where we were held in custody over night, during which time we were tried by court-martial for assisting or encouraging parties to go into the Rebel army. Colonel Blunt presided at the trial, and after a full hear- ing all of us were discharged, but were kept, however, until the next day. While I was on my way back to Chetopa I could see the flames from the Mathews buildings, which had been fired by the troops before they took their departure. The evening before Mathews was killed he took supper at my house on his way down from his place to the Nation. When I returned from the Mathews place after our release as aforesaid, I started to bury him, but found that he had been already buried.
"In the fall of 1859 I got up a petition for a postoffice at my place, and had forty-one signers between Little Town ( now Oswego) and Timber Hill, in the Nation. I was instructed by the Department at Washing- ton to have all the signers the heads of families, either male or female. I had all but two; they were away at the time, and did not get back until the petition had gone to Washington. Counting five to a family it would make 215; then counting thirty single men who had no families, I think there were about 250 when the war broke out, living on or near the river between the points named. I was granted the postoffice - and it was to be called Chetopa, Dorn county, Kansas-sometime in the summer of 1860, but as there was no mail route near here which could carry the mail we had to wait until 1861 for a new route to be estab- lished, which was done, and the contract for carrying the mail from Grand Falls by Quawpaw Mission, Baxter Springs and Cherokee on Cherry creek, Osage Mission, thence by Chetopa to Grand Falls, was advertised to be let in June, which was not done on account of the war breaking out that summer, and the mail arrangements in the southwest abandoned.
Respectfully, GEORGE LISLE."
SURVEYS.
In 1827 or 1828 the east boundary of the Osage reservation was sur- veyed by Major A. L. Langham, and the northeast corner established. In the summer of 1857 Col. J. E. Johnston, with about five hundred U. S. soldiers forming an escort to the surveying party, surveyed and established the south line of the State. This force was stationed for some time on Russell creek. There were with the expedition two as- tronomers, two geologists, two botanists, and a number of engineers and surveyors. There were twenty wagons with which to haul provisions. After completing the survey to the southwest corner of the State they
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EARLY HISTORY.
came back, having their wagons loaded with salt which they had pro- cured on the salt plains in the western part of the State. It was on this expedition that Col. Johnston established the ford at Chetopa across the Neosho.
In 1871 the south line of Kansas was retraced in compliance with the 21st article of the treaty with the Cherokee Indians, made July 19, 1866. This work was done under the supervision of Rev. D. P. Mitchell as chief engineer. In the fall of 1884, commencing in August, a party of Gov- ernment employés came to Oswego and established their headquarters, making astronomical observations and a geological survey of the country.
The survey of the Osage Ceded lands into sections was completed in the spring of 1867.
LABETTE.
A number of articles have been written, and some of them by persons whose names would carry with them authority, on the origin of the name of the county. This name was first applied to the stream running through our county, and subsequently to the county itself when it was organized. Two or three letters will be found in this work which incidentally refer to this matter. W. S. Mathews, son of the old Indian trader, says the Osage name for the stream meant " some kind of animal ; then the French called it La Bette, which means the same thing." This more fully agrees with the origin of the name as commonly given, but is not to my mind as reasonable as that given by Larkin McGhee and Dr. Lisle, both of whom say that the name was given to the stream on account of the first white settler at or near its mouth-Pierre Labette. This man lived at one time on the east of the Neosho opposite the mouth of the Labette, and subsequently farther up the stream, and afterward went farther west. I think it reasonable to say that it was for him the stream was named ; but whatever the origin of the name, it was given to the stream at a very early date. I have seen in a book originally belonging to the St. Louis office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and now in our State Histor- ical Society, a map of the Osage survey made and signed by Isaac Mc- Coy, dated Westport, Missouri, September 13, 1836, on which the stream is quite correctly located, and the name thereon written " Le Bete creek." At the first Republican convention, held at Jacksonville in September, 1866, where it was agreed that Neosho county should be divided, it was on motion of G. W. Kingsbury agreed that the south part of the county, when it should be organized, should be called "La Bete." J. S. Waters, who was present and took an active part in the work of the convention, says : "That day was the first time I know of the word La Bete having been written, and it was that day written as I have written it above.
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
There was some dispute as to whether there should be two or one t. When the county was organized it was given this name as then agreed upon."
BOUNDARY.
The following acts of the Legislature have in some way fixed or affected the boundaries of our county :
By section 10 of chapter 30 of the laws of 1855, all the territory lying south of Allen county was constituted the county of Dorn. Its east line was 24 miles west of the Missouri line, and its width was 24 miles, ( which was supposed to take it to the west line of range 18.)
By " An act to more particularly define the boundaries of the several counties in Kansas Territory," approved February 22, 1857, the county of Dorn is made to commence at the corner of sections 14, 15, 22, 23, town 28, range 21; thence south to the Territory line, and west to same sections in range 17.
By chapter 31 of the laws of 1860, the east line of Neosho county is declared to be the line between ranges 21 and 22, and the western line the line between ranges 17 and 18; but as yet no bill had been passed creating Neosho county.
By chapter 18 of the laws of 1861, approved June 3, 1861, the name of the county was changed from Dorn to Neosho.
By chapter 29, laws of 1867, approved February 7, 1867, Labette county was created, and made to embrace from the 6th standard parallel on the north to the south line of the State, and from Cherokee Neutral Lands on the east to the east boundary of the Osage reserve on the west. Subsequently the Legislature made provision for a vote being taken as to whether the line between Cherokee and Labette counties should be as above fixed, or whether a part of the way the river should form the boundary. This legislation gave rise to a protracted dispute as to what really was the boundary between the two counties, but finally all parties interested acquiesced in considering the west line of the Cherokee Neutral Lands as the line between the two counties.
By chapter 38 of the laws of 1870, the east line of Montgomery county was made to run south between sections 2 and 3, thus taking a strip from Labette county and placing it in Montgomery.
PERMANENT SETTLEMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND GROWTH.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
At the general election in November, 1866, although we were legally a part of Neosho county, by mutual understanding between the people of what is now Neosho county and those residing in what is now Labette county, the latter took no part in the election of the county officers for Neosho county, but went through the form of holding an election for county officers for Labette county, with the understanding on their part that an act of the Legislature would be secured legalizing the election and organizing the county with the officers thus elected, recognized by the Legislature as the legal county officers ; or in the event such an act could not be secured, then that the officers thus elected would be ap- pointed to the positions to which they were thus respectively elected. It seems to have been agreed that each locality might vote at this elec- tion and make their returns, although the place at which the votes were cast had not been established as an election precinct. Votes were re- ceived at Montana, Oswego, Chetopa, and possibly at Neola. I have found no one among the old settlers who remembers who it was that composed the board of canvassers at this election, but probably it was made up of parties from two or three of the different localities, mutually agreed on by all; I judge from all I can learn that the canvass took place, and the result was declared, at Oswego. A full ticket was run by both the Democratic and Republican parties. The Republican ticket was elected by a large majority ; the officers elected at that time were as fol- lows : Representative in the Legislature, Chas. H. Bent; County Com- missioners, S. W. Collins, C. H. Talbot, and Bergen Van Ness; County Clerk, A. T. Dickerman ; Sheriff, Benjamin A. Rice; Clerk District Court, Elza Craft; Register of Deeds, George Bent ; County Assessor, Jabez Zink; Probate Judge, David C. Lowe; County Treasurer, C. C. Clover; County Attorney, J. S. Waters; Superintendent of Public In- struction, J. F. Newlon; Coroner, G. W. Kingsbury. No one that I have found questions the correctness of the above list, except as to County
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
Attorney and Probate Judge. According to the remembrance of some of the old settlers there was no one elected County Attorney, as at the time there was no one in the county who had been admitted to the bar; prob- ably no one ran for County Attorney at this election. And in respect to Probate Judge, the remembrance of some is that David Stanfield, instead of David C. Lowe, was the party elected. Of course the election had no validity, and all understood that it only amounted to an expression of public opinion as to persons whom the people would like to have for their first officers.
On the certificate of election furnished him, Mr. Bent went to the Leg- islature in January, 1867, and was admitted to his seat soon after the organization of the House. Little or no opposition was made to the bill introduced by him organizing Labette county, and on February 7, 1867, it was approved by the Governor and became a law. On March 7, 1867, N. P. Elsbree, Bergen Van Ness and Nelson F. Carr each made affidavit before C. H. Talbot, justice of the peace, to the fact of the county hav- ing a population of more than 600 inhabitants. Mr. Bent took these affidavits, together with a statement of the fact of the fall election, to Governor Crawford on March 10th, and secured from him on that day a proclamation designating Oswego as the temporary county seat, and the appointment by him of S. W. Collins, C. H. Talbot and Bergen Van Ness as County Commissioners, and A. T. Dickerman as County Clerk ; these being the parties who had been respectively elected to those posi- tions in November preceding. Mr. Bent at once came home, bringing with him the proclamation and the commission of the parties thus appointed.
We have no record of any of the official acts of the officers thus appointed ; whatever record was kept of their doings has been either entirely lost or is so misplaced that it cannot be found. I have been un- able to find a single word of official record pretending to give the trans- actions of any officers prior to June 5, 1867. The nearest I can come to making the statement of the organization of our county authentic is by giving the following letter from the then County Clerk :
"OSWEGO, KANSAS, August 5, 1892.
"Judge Nelson Case-DEAR SIR: In reference to the organization of the county, and the record of the same of which you ask, I will give a brief account. When Mr. Bent came back from Topeka in March, 1867, he brought with him the commissions of the officers who had been ap- pointed to organize the county. Very soon thereafter Mr. Van Ness came down to Oswego and saw Mr. Talbot, and the two talked over what they
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PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
thought should be done. It was agreed that Mr. Talbot should see Mr. Collins, the other commissioner, and have an election called. The three commissioners did not meet together, and in fact Mr. Van Ness never really qualified. The other two commissioners agreed on fixing voting · precincts and calling an election. The four river townships were set off as they now are ; the south one was then called Chetopa. The next two tiers of congressional townships were divided into three municipal town- ships, and named North, Labette, and Hackberry. The balance of the county to the west was divided into two parts, and named Timber Hill and Pumpkin Creek. No election was held that spring in either of these two west precincts. The election was called for sometime in April; I do not remember the exact date. I posted the notices of this election. The commissioners then met and canvassed the vote and directed me to issue certificates of election to the parties who were declared to be elected.
"I kept a record of the proceedings on foolscap paper, which I turned over to old father Clover, who acted as my deputy after the county was organized. The commissioners first held their meetings in a hewed-log house standing on block 24, belonging to C. H. Talbot.
" Respectfully, A. T. DICKERMAN."
Persons who search for information respecting the organization of our county, as I have done, will find a number of printed articles, some in newspapers and some in books, and among the latter the standard histories of our State, stating that the organization took place in May, 1867, the date they usually fix being the third Tuesday in May, and I have been unable to find anything giving a prior date. Notwithstanding this, I fix on April 22, 1867, as the time when our first county election was held, and in support of the time thus selected I offer the following : In the first place, to anyone who has had any experience in Kansas politics it will not be worth while to argue that a set of men who had been appointed to offices on the 10th of March would wait a whole month or more before qualifying and entering upon the discharge of their duties, unless they were prevented from so doing by some uncontrollable force or necessity. I have never heard that these Commissioners were in any way prevented from the exercise of their official duties, and from this fact I conclude that it was not many days after Mr. Bent's return from Topeka until they had qualified and taken some steps to make their official acts known. But there are references in the official records subsequently made which confirm this theory. In the record of the Commissioners' proceedings on July 1. 1867, is the following :
"It is hereby ordered that the election for county-seat expenses be post-
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
poned until the question of county seat is decided. It is ordered that the election held the 22d day of April for county and township officers, the last amounting to $80.40."
It will be seen that the clerk who made this record has not finished the sentence; but from the statement the inevitable inference is that an election had been held on the 22d of April. And again on November 19, 1867, the following appears in the Commissioners' record :
"Ordered, that Austin Dickerman be allowed the sum of thirteen dol- lars and 25 cts. for service as County Clerk in posting notices of the April election, 1867."
These are the only official references that I have found of the transac- tions of any of the county officers, in any way fixing the time when our first county election was held. However, the records show that as early as the middle of May, John N. Watson was exercising the functions of justice of the peace in Richland township; I find no one who claims that he was appointed, nor do I find anything in the office of the Secre- tary of State indicating that he was ; he was evidently elected at the first election, which must have been held previous to the last-mentioned date. From all these considerations, I conclude the election took place on April 22d ; thus giving ample time for the meeting of the Commissioners after the return of Mr. Bent from Topeka, and thirty days' notice of the time and place of the election. Our record being lost, presuming one to have been kept, we have no official declaration of the result of this elec- tion, but we find certain persons exercising official functions, and from reference to them in official records subsequently made, we can arrive at a very nearly, if not an absolutely, correct conclusion as to who were elected ; and the officers at that time elected were the following : County Commissioners, Nathan Ames, Wm. Shay, and David C. Lowe; County Clerk, A. T. Dickerman ; County Assessor, Francis Wall ; Clerk District Court, R. S. Cornish ; Register of Deeds, Elza Craft; Treasurer, C. C. Clover; Sheriff, Benjamin A. Rice ; Superintendent Public Instruction, John F. Newlon ; Surveyor, Z. Harris; Coroner, George W. Kingsbury. I find nothing indicating that anyone was elected County Attorney, and am somewhat in doubt as to who was elected Probate Judge, for the reason the record is silent on that subject; and among the old settlers I find no one who seems to be positive as to who was elected, and some of them have in their memory, somewhat indistinctly, however, different persons. I will here give what I find in the record in reference to the vacancy in the corps of officers : Two of the Commissioners elected, viz., D. C. Lowe and Nathan Ames, met at Oswego on June 5th ; this seems to have been
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PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
the first meeting, and on this date we have our first official record, and from it it appears that Wm. Shay failed to qualify as Commissioner, whereupon the office was declared vacant, and John G. Rice was ap- pointed to fill the vacancy ; thereupon, D. C. Lowe was elected chairman of the board. The next order made declared the office of Assessor vacant, because of the removal from the county of the party elected, leaving him unnamed, however, and A. W. Jones was then appointed Assessor to fill the vacancy. The next order is as follows :
"It is hereby ordered, that the office of Probate Judge be declared vacant on his not coming forward and qualifying and giving bond accord- ing to law. It is therefore ordered, that Bergen Van Ness be appointed Probate Judge until the next general election in November, or his succes- sor is qualified."
Some of the old settlers think that Van Ness was the party elected, but I think the force of this record is strongly against them. It seems that Mr. Van Ness did not at once qualify upon being appointed as afore- said, for in the record of the Commissioners' proceedings of July 3d is the following :
"Ordered, that Bergen Van Ness be appointed Probate Judge of Labette county, Kansas, to fill a vacancy of the Probate Judge owing to his not coming forward and filing his bond in the time required by law."
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