USA > Kansas > Nemaha County > History of Nemaha County, Kansas > Part 2
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632
Hitchner, Fidell G. 806
Foster, James Wallace
631
Hittle, Harvey 770
Fuller, John 340
Hoffman, Jacob H. 611
Funk, Abram
478
Hollister, George E. 606
Funk, Chester A.
671
Holsapple, Ira 792
Funk, David
580
Holston, Edgar E. 563
Funk, Frederick W.
707
Funk, James E.
668
Funk, John N.
440
G
Huber, George W.
553
Huls, Bernard
596
Gahbert, Adolph, Jr.
777
Gahbert, Augustus F. 798
751
Hybskmann, John William 575
Hybskmann, Ralph A. 783
I
Ingalls, Ray T.
568
J
Jackson, Lyman Robie 432
Jonach, Emil J. 486
Jonach, Charles H. 634
Gilmore, Timothy
693
Jonach Brothers 634
Gilmore, William Curtis 709
Jonach, Emil, Sr. 634
Gladfelter, John P. 457
Jones, Jesse 778
Graham, Benjamin D. 787
Johnson, Irvin 366
Gress, John 499
Johnson, Samuel F. 669
Grigsby, Claude
780
Johnson, William E. 463
Guild, Harry L.
599
Johnstone, James 758
Guise, Charles 543
Johnstone, Otho L. 729
Gurtler, John
808
Johnstone, Thomas P.
712
533
Horth, Edwin L.
551
Hulsing, John G.
489
Humphrey Brothers 630
Gallentine, Henry
Gaston, Lawrence Howard 546
Geary, Frank L. 332
Geren, John William
765
Gerkens, William 483
Geyer, Jacob 733
Gillaspie, John W. 566
Goodrich, Charles S. 687
Gilmore, Roy Roscoe
693
Henry, Nick 721
Henry, Thomas 700
Hesseltine, Bert 597
Ford, Benjamin F. 612
Hilbert, Clarkson A. 583
Foster, Albert
Hecht, Louis
Hecht, Emil 530
508
Heiniger, Gottfred 506
Firstenberger, Burnett G. 385
Gabbert, Adolph J. 776
Holthaus, F. J. 539
Holthaus, Frank H.
INDEX
Johnstone, William
756
McNeill, William S. 799
731
McQuaid, Jerome 491
M
Karns, George 400
Karns, William E. 769
Malone, Michael 771
Kassens, Father Edwin 456
Marshall, Elliot H. 449
Katz, Henry F. 521
Martin, James E. 732
Keck, George E. 597
.
Mather, Reuben Elbert 663
Kelm, Otto A. 371
Kemper, Albert George
443
Mathews, Elmar Roy
367
Kennard, Abbie W.
370
Maxson, John C. 448
Kerl, John F. 528
Meisner, George W.
617
Kerr, George
406
Meisner, Herman
459
Ketter, John A.
723
Meisner, Jacob
621
Ketter, Joseph B.
675
Meisner, John 458
Kimmel, Jacob O.
592
Meisner, Thomas J. 624
King, William M. 640
Melcher, Frank 785
Kinyon, Iris J.
564
Miller, Benjamin Leroy 629
Kirk, James E.
538
Miller, Elmer A. 578
Kirk, Lewis L.
539
Miller, Jacob J.
628
Klose, Karl W.
399
Millick, Frank G. 760
Koelzer, Joseph P. 334
Mills, Ephraim G. 594
Kobler, George E. 474
Minger, Samuel 623
Kongs, William M. 686
Mitchell, Daniel E. 519
Korber, August
529
Krapp, Frank F.
502
Krogmann, Charles
724
L
Law, John W. 540
League, Daniel A. 753
Lehmann, John U. 444
Livingood, Israel 723
Lockard, Isaac C.
676
Long, John A. 658
Long, William T. 658
Lortscher, Christ
619
Lukert, John F.
436
Lukert, William
470
Lynn, Clinton A.
591
Lynn, Harvey H.
744
Mc
McCaffrey, Richard D.
517
MeCliman, Richard D. 387
McClain, Samuel W. 648
McCoy, John
437
McCoy, John
633
McFall, Dennis
633
McManis, John
384
McNeil, Charles Sumner
552
McNeill, John
800
Neff, Samuel C.
620
Neumayr, Rev. Fr. Gregory
486
Newland, Lemuel L.
761
Newman, Edgar M.
422
Nichols, Henry B.
484
Noble, Alexander
561
Nolte, Anton
532
Nusbaum, Andrew H.
603
O
Olberding, Frank A.
490
Olberding, Joseph
534
784
Moore, C. C.
752
Morrell, Willis
688
Mueller, Robert G.
343
Munsell, Rev. Samuel
737
Murdock, Samuel, Sr. 426
Murdock, S., Jr. 430
Murphy, Edward R. 350
Murphy, William Burt 378
Myers, George W.
453
Myers, Solomon R.
344 .
N
Mitchell, Joshua 360
Montgomery, George W. 468
Mooney, James P.
Jorden, Charles K
Magill, George A. 476
Mathews, Charles E. 359
INDEX
P
Parker, Courtland. L. 410
Partridge, Charles 637
Partridge, James
637
Simon, Adam
377
Pendergrass, Edward 467
Peret, Victor N.
363
Pfrang, Fred 809
Phillips, George W. 638
Plattner, John 413
Polson, Nels
569
Price, Daniel N. 464
Pugh, John T. 485
R
Ralston, George M. 593
Reed, Peter H. 496
Reinhart, Jacob A.
406
Reinhart, Jonathan
611
Rethmann, Benjamin C.
542
Rethmann, Charles 516
Rettele, Joseph 498
Reynolds, Willie C. 672
Ridgway, Charles W. 472
Rilinger, John A. 514
Roberts, Dr. James B. 695
Ronnebaum, George 657
Rooney, Thomas E.
347
Root, William H.
452
Rosengarten, Theodore
482
Roth, John
604
Rottinghaus, Bernard
531
Rottinghaus, Bernard Henry 488
Rottinghaus, Henry
505
S
Sanford, Lawrence V. 466
Scanlan, Benjamin F. 535
Scheier, Leo J. 355
Schlaegel, William W. 559
Schmidt, John M. 515
Schneider, Gottlieb 698
Schneider, Mathias 356
Schoonover, Adolphus A. 653
Scott, Philip J. 692
Scoville, Courtney C. K. 329
Schrempp, Charles F. 333
Schumacher, Joseph 481
Schuneman, Louis 713
Severin, Frederick W. 536
Severin, Joseph F. 772
Shaefer, John M. 475
Shaefer, Leonard M. 587
Shaul, George A. 348
Sherrard, William H. 704
Shumaker, Frederick 754
Shumaker, Roy 754
Simon, Clayton K. 573
Simon, Lorrain N. 375
Skoch, John J. 526
Slocum, Louis S. 573
Smith, Alfred A. 518
Smith, John J. 492
Smith, William 646
Smith, William H. 802
Smothers, John Leroy 544
Snyder, Henry Galen 390
Sourk, Chester G. 718
Sourk, George W. 683
Sourk, John Sherman 716
Sourk, William M. 714
Spiker, Howard
738
Spiker, Melvin H.
742
Spring, Earl C.
616
Stallbaumer, George 494
Starns, Francis Marion, Sr. 644
Starns, James F. 470
Steele, Frank D. 570
Stein, Peter P.
379
Steinmeir, Christian H. 790
Stevens, Levi S. 427
Stoldt, John 779
Strathmann, F. J.
811
Stuke, Henry 547
Swart, John M. 681
Swartz, Albert
500
Swartz, Henry
500
T
Talkington, James M. 558
Taylor, Bayard
719
Tennal, Ralph 813
Thiem, August 699
Thompson, Howard 788
Thompson, William 446
Thompson, William E. 640
Thornburrow, Edward W. 744
Thornburrow, Samuel 742
Tolliver, Charles R. 684
Tomlinson, James 650
Townsend, Charles C. 579
Trees, Andrew Jackson 380
Tryon, John F. 510
Trask, Albert F. 649
Turrentine, William F.
746
INDEX
Ukele, Fred U
. 408
V
Wilcox, James E. 764
VanVerth, William H. 541
Vernon, Edward S. W
585
Williams, George W. (Seneca) 328
Williams, George W. (Oneida) 416
Wadleigh, Clarence Curtis 550
Williamson, Andrew 439
Wait, Herbert L. 545
Waller, Peter P. 702
Winkler, Barnard 365
Watkins, Charles J.
661
Winkler, William 554
Watkins, Frank J.
571
Wittmer, Jacob 622
Weart, Samuel
412
Wittmer, William J. 624
Weiss, Adolph
605
Wittwer, Jacob S. 604
Weiss, Jacob Frederick
602
Wells, Hon. Abijah
323
Woodbury, Fred Colfax 419
Woodworth, James E. 574
Wurzbacher, William H. 461
Wempe, John 503
Y
Wessel, Frank F. 655
Young, Mrs. Emma
394
Westover, Ralph 710
Z
White, Edward E. 595
Whittle, Harry G.
608
Zimmerman, John W.
460
Wichman, Barney
479
Wickins, David Durbam 414
Wikoff, Henry L. 506
Williams, Edmond E. 589
Wilson, Robert E. 588
Wolfley, Jacob 735
Wells, Ira K. 368
Wempe, Anton 345
Zug, John
441
History of Nemaha County.
CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGY AND THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.
SCIENTIFIC TERMS-"PLIOCENE"-EVIDENCE OF COAL AND OIL-BRICK CLAY-CRETACEOUS NIOBRARA FORMATION-FOSSILS-LOESS SOIL- ELEMENTS OF SOIL-PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE-EVOLUTION-CAR- BONIFERIOUS AGE-ROCK FORMATIONS - UPHEAVALS- GLACIAL- THEORY.
When one comes to write of the scientific part of ordinary affairs, he is apt to run against a stone wall in the matter of words the first thing. Such unknown quantities as "pliocene," and "alluvian," and sim- ilar terms are handled by the scientist with a familiarity that is appal- ling to the mere lay writer. Going against this geological department was a matter that was tackled with fear and trembling. Armed with dictionary and encyclopedia and a severe, learned frown, the historian sat down to the typewriter. Sure enough, the first word mentioned in the geological matter at hand was "pliocene." Once for all, the his- torian would put "pliocene" in its proper place and fear the unknown quantity no longer. But Mr. Webster, himself, did not have much opin- ion of that word, for in the abbreviated office dictionary of the sainted Noah is found no such word as pliocene. This is the dictionary recom- mended to newspaper men, preachers and pupils. "Pliocene's" stock went down 100 per cent. after several moments of faithful search.
But the Encyclopedia Britannica is more severe than Mr. Webster, and it says of the word "pliocene:" "The name given by Sir Charles Lyell to the section of the upper tertiaries, because the organic remains .found in it contain between sixty and seventy per cent. of living species. A greater per cent. than is contained in the older miocene, but not so great as that found in the later Pleistocene." There you are. You no sooner find one word than a host of others are thrown at you. The first thing is "tertiaries." That has to be looked up, and then there are those other "-ocenes" to go after. And no one would read this chapter at all if they were dug out.
33
34
HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
The Encyclopedia Britannica confines its examples to England nat- urally. London, it seems, has pliocene beds, but Kansas and Nemaha county have too, although the encyclopedia fails their mention.
Tertiaries is taken up by Mr. Webster who explains that it is "of the third order, rank, or formation." Pliocene therefore would be the second of the three geological formations or periods. The most import- ant part of this word, "pliocene," to Nemaha county, Kansas, is that pli- ocene beds make excellent fertilizer.
Carboniferous and bituminous are words that have become as fa- miliar as alfalfa and millet of late. The evidence of coal in Nemaha county has encouraged to leasing of lands for oil-boring purposes. For where coal exists there may be oil also. From the neighborhood of Sycamore Springs in the northeastern corner of the county down to Centralia in the southwestern section, the oil leasing has been extended during this spring of 1916. The veins in northeastern Kansas are thin, but as near Nemaha county as Leavenworth are coal mines that have been producing for years. Wetmore, in Nemaha county, has made re- peated diggings for coal, and so sure were the early settlers of sufficient coal to pay for mining, that one of the streams of the county is called Coal creek, and fuel is found along its banks today.
The fire and brick clay in the region of Seneca is so excellent that a brick is made there, the superior of which has not been manufactured elsewhere, and the reputation of the kiln is international.
The cretaceous Niobrara formation causes one to make another delve into the hidden secrets of Webster and Britannica. "Cretaceous," says Mr. Webster, is chalky. But, horrors! there's something wrong here. Niobrara, says the Britannica, is that section of a diocese of the American Episcopal Protestant church, now called the State of South Dakota.
So we will pass to common every day language and really get some- where. Now, of course, you know by the fossil shells you pick up, that water has covered this region in ages before man came upon it. Scien- tists tell us that this once was an inland sea. The Missouri river is what remains of it. Long, untold ages ago, this great inland body of water brought down silt, which we now call loess soil (pronounced "less.") This loess soil has been identified as far west as Washington county. It is more distinct along the Missouri river, being recognized by its reddish color.
It is the loess soil which makes the country about Doniphan county, Kansas, and Buchanan county, Missouri, (St. Joseph), supreme for fruit growing. There is no better soil in the world for such crops as ours than loess soil.
What soil changes the ages have brought since the deposit of loess soil in this region is mere conjecture, but we know we have loam of exceptional productiveness. This loess soil is composed of fine sand and lime with some clay, usually of a very uniform consistency and un-
1151666
HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
35
mixed with coarse materials. A little iron in its composition gives it its reddish tint. More frequently it has a fair proportion, over ten per
M
THE STREAMS OF NEMAHA ARE BEAUTIFUL AND TEEM WITH FISH.
cent., of carbonate and phosphate of lime and some potash, so that it becomes a rich ingredient, when mixed with the surface loam.
36
HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
To get Nemaha county's first citizens we must look in the solid rock, where lie buried the fossil remains of plants and animals. You may see them any day with a little search in a creek bed by picking up stones left there by freshets. This plant and animal life of the long ago now help us to promote our civilization today. Long before the human family saw the light of day, the seas swarmed with animal life, and the dry lands supported a fauna and flora of marvelous development and variety. All were strange and different from the plant and animal life, as we know it today. Nearly all of their kind became extinct with the changes of the earth's condition and the natural evolution of the species.
In the world .today there are but few evoluted representatives of this extinct life. The horse, centuries ago, an animal of immense size, through the passage of time and useless development, became a tiny animal. Today by careful breeding, training and domesticating, it has attained importance as the king of domestic animals. So it is with other animals in use on the farms of Nemaha county now. When Ne- maha county, for instance, was rugged, wild and unpopulated by man, the horse had five toes. Gradually through lack of use, the toes disap- peared until the hoof known on the animal today became the one best suited to its needs.
From the ages ante-dating written history, we have representatives in different oceans, such as the brachiapods and other shell fish; the crinoids or sea lilies and others of like character. Also, on the dry land, are found a few insects of the cockroach type and other creeping things which inhabit dark and damp places. animals of gloom on whose form the sunshine of day rarely falls.
Science tells us of gigantic vegetation, which, at one time, covered Nemaha county. The modern cat tails, gathered by our children for torches in October, are descendants of prehistoric giants of their kind. which grew twenty times the size of their modern representatives, and grew beside immense lakes with which the land was covered, instead of the marshy streams of today. The little creeping vines which are seen along the fringe of trees by the creek are lineal descendants of mighty trees of the forests, in the long ago, while materials were gathering for the rock masses constituting Nemaha county.
These rocks belong to the age known as Carboniferous. The earth, which is turned when we plow, is called the post tertiary of loose drift. The division below this is called Pliocene, or as told above, "the section of the upper tertiary which contains so great a per cent. of living spe- cies." Sandstone lies in this division.
Beneath the tertiary pliocene division lies the cretaceous, or forma- tion, which includes the Niobrara, the Fort Benton and Dakota stratas. It develops that the Niobrara is the South Dakota title of this geologi- cal condition. The name is taken from the former name of the State of South Dakota, as the Mississippian sub-division of the Carboniferous age is taken from the Mississippi, and the Pennsylvanian is taken from Pennsylvania.
37
HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
Sandstone, limestone and shale are found in the cretaceous deposit. Beneath the cretaceous division we have the rocks of the Carboniferous age. Limestone, shale and coal are the products of the Carboniferous . age.
In the upheavals of nature there has been more or less change in these stratas. You do not find a uniform depth at which the product of each age is found. At one time, quite recently, say a few mil- lion or billion years ago, climatic conditions changed in Nemaha county so that the snow falling during winter was not melted through the sum- mer. To the far north great quantities of snow and ice accumulated, and gradually spread over the surface of a large part of North America. Part of this ice mass moved slowly southward and covered all of Ne- maha county. It brought with it vast quantities of soil, clay and gravel. The deposits of this glacial period are boulders of different kinds, sep- arated by sands, gravels and clays, the last holding the remains of ani- mals, erratic rocks, masses transported great distances and evincing, by their size, that only floating ice could have carried them ; moraines, or the debris gathered in valleys by local glaciers. These evidences of the glacial covering are found everywhere in Nemaha county.
There is a possibility that somewhere within Nemaha county, oil and gas may be found, as there are outcroppings of coal from the car- boniferous period.
CHAPTER II.
EARLY TIMES.
SIGNIFICANCE OF NAME-NEMAHA COUNTY VISITED BY CORONADO IN 1541-CORONADO'S REPORT-FREMONT'S EXPEDITION IN 1841- MORMONS-"FORTY-NINERS"-FREIGHTERS-H. H. LYNN-JOSEPH GRIFFIN-EDWARD AVERY-TRAVELERS' GRAVES-MAJORS AND RUS- SELL-OLD TRAILS-STAGE LINES-OVERLAND TRAFFIC-EARLY DAY PRICES-FARES-ROUTE FROM ATCHISON.
Nemaha, "No Papoose," in its English significance, county, Kan- sas, bears the distinction of having been trod by the foot of white man long before the original thirteen colonies of the United States were touched by any but aborigines. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, coming up from Mexico, marched through Kansas leaving what is now the northern boundary of that State, which then was but an untried wilder- ness, by the way of Nemaha county. This was in the month of August, 1541. The Smithsonian Institute contains records of this famous ex- pedition. A Nemaha county man has written the story of this expedition into a book of charm and interest, and Nemaha county has passed into literature as well as ancient history. John C. Stowell tells the story of the expedition of Coronado. Nemaha county at that time, with all the country north of the Kaw river to the fortieth latitude, by which Nemaha county is bounded on the north, was called Quivera. It was then occu- pied by the Pottawatomie and Fox Indians. But today Nemaha county, bearing its Indian name, is the one county in the northeast corner of Kansas having no Indiana reservation, and no resident Indians.
Coronado said of Nemaha county: "The earth is the best for all kinds of productions of Spain ; for while it is very strong and black it is very well watered by brooks and springs and rivers. I found prunes (wild plums) like those of Spain, some of which were black; also some excellent grapes and mulberries." Nemaha county with the rest of the land of the untried West, was then covered with buffalo. Of them Cor- onado says, "All that way the plains are as full of crooked-back oxen as the mountain, Serena, in Spain, is of sheep." Coronado, in search of the famed City of Gold, which folks since then have sought in the ancient treasures of the Incas, from whence he came, possibly, was accompanied by perhaps thirty-six men when he reached Nemaha county. Provisions
38
39
HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
failing before they reached here by a couple of hundred miles or more. his main body of Spaniards and 800 Indians turned back, and the In- domitable Thirty-six with their Chief, undiscouraged and unafraid, came alone.
Exactly three hundred years later, the next known expedition of white men reached Nemaha county, which meantime had been left undis- turbed to the Indian and the buffalo. In the year 1841 John Charles Fre- mont was sent by Senator U. S. Benton of Missouri to the West to os- tensibly examine the region of the Des Moines river, but in reality to break off an engagement with the handsome young lieutenant and Jessie Benton, the fifteen-year-old daughter of Senator Benton. He completed the work with the rapidity and ardor of an anxious lover and hastened back within a year when he secretly married his youthful fiancee. Then followed the famous expedition of Fremont to do geographical work in all the territories. On this trip toward the Rocky Mountains Fremont crossed Nemaha county. He entered the county just south of Sabetha, crossed Baker's Ford and followed a circuitous route toward the present location of Seneca, the county seat. The inability to cross the many Nemaha streams caused the tortuous path of the Fremont par- ty. The road he traversed, however, was the one followed by the Mor- mons in 1847, which was the third expedition of white men through the land of "No Papoose." It was the beginning of the Mormon ex- odus to Salt Lake. The California "fortyniners" followed this road in their dash for the fascinating gold fields of California. By this time peo- . ple were beginning to stop in Kansas, to stake claims and to become residents. Many are the stories told today of the passing of the Califor- nia gold seekers through Nemaha county in those days. The road be- came then the great military road along which passed many troops bound for the enticing far West. It passed the length of Nemaha county and is now the Rock Island highway destined to become one of the great cross country arteries for the modern motor travel of the day.
Many of the famous early day freighters across the plains from St. Joseph to Denver and California were Nemaha county men. The ro- mantic figures of that day are now the settled, retired farmers or busi- ness men of today and their reminiscences are tales to delight the heart of the adventurous youth of today.
H. H. Lynn, or "Ham" Lynn, as he was called for the half century of his Nemaha county residence, was a freighter across the plains, mak- ing his first trip in 1857. He made more trips than any other Nemaha county freighter. Ham Lynn has lived in and near Wetmore in the southeastern corner of the county for sixty years and he still lives there. His first trip was as driver for Jim Crow and Henry Childs of Indepen- dence, Mo. They started from Leavenworth with provisions of all sorts for the Sioux Indians of Fort Laramie, Wyo., in the Wind River Moun- tains. Mr. Lynn in all his trips never saw an Indian on the warpath and is inclined to believe tradition has stretched the Indian stories consider-
40
HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
ably. In 1858 Mr. Lynn made a trip to Utah, carrying government sup- plies to soldiers who were quelling a Mormon insurrection. His third trip was to Salt Lake City. He received $25 a month and his board, which was composed chiefly of coffee, biscuits and beans. The trip re- quired five months. "When I joined the army in 1861," says Mr. Lynn, "after the hardships and privations of freighting, war seemed like a vaca- tion." After the war he again took up freighting but received $100 a month. In 1866, when he was returning from a trip to the Black Hills he had his first railroad ride, from Junction City to the Missouri river.
A Nemaha county boy, Joseph Griffin, of Sabetha, is said to have been the youngest driver of a freighting team across the great plains and along the highway extending over the Nemaha county to the West. Mr. Griffin was only fourteen years of age at the time. An older brother was a driver of a team, and took the boy, Joseph, with him at one time. Another driver became ill and Joseph was pressed into service. After that he was given one of the teams to drive.
Edwin Avery, one of the early day farmers to take up a claim in Nemaha county, and one who had lived on the same farm for many years, until his retirement eight years ago, says that he remembers well his first glimpse of the old California trail that passed through Nemaha county. "I first saw it in the Elwood bottoms across the river from St. Joseph, Mo., on the first day of December, fifty-six years ago. The trail was located in the forties. It forked just west of Troy in Doniphan county. One fork went by Highland, the other across Wolf river direct- ly through Hiawatha, Old Fairview, past Spring Grove, the farms of Ed Brown and France Dunlap, directly past the Grand Island depot in Sa- betha to the Coleman farm. From there it continued to the Baker Crossing on the Nemaha, now called Taylor's Rapids. It passed through Baileyville in the west end of the county and on to Marysville, Fairbury and thence to Fort Laramie and California." The exact line of the fa- mous old trail is always a bone of contention to early day pioneers.
In the vicinity of Sabetha are many graves of travelers, over the San- te Fe and California trail, who, unable to survive the hardships of the trip, died and were buried with scant ceremony. Mrs. Ruth Willis, who came to Nemaha county over the trail, starting from Elwood on the bank of the Missouri river opposite St. Joseph, recalled that the travel was all in the warm months. In the woods surrounding Sabetha were many wild plum trees. When the body of a forty-niner was buried the rest of the train would sit around awhile and eat plums. As a result a small plum grove grew up around every one of the early day graves. Edwin Avery, son of Mrs. Willis, whose deed to his land, which he still retains, was signed by President Buchanan, says that within a distance of six- teen miles from Sabetha he has counted thirteen such graves. All of them are directly on the old trail which has now become the highway. A few graves are scattered on adjacent farms. A famous one is on the farm of Matthais Strahm, which is called the McCloud grave. McCloud,
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