USA > Kansas > Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Volume II > Part 23
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The first settler was Charles H. Withington, who located in the extreme northern part of the county on the Santa Fe trail, a short dis- tance south of the present town of Allen, in 1846. He opened a store in 1854, which was the first one in the county, and also the only one in southern Kansas outside of the regular Indian posts. His store was a hotel as well as a supply station. Mr. Withington was influential in the settlement of the county and prominent in all public affairs. In April, 1855, Oliver Phillips located on One Hundred and Forty-second creek. He was elected to the legislature in 1859; was a delegate to the Osawatomie convention, and repeatedly held county offices. Chris Ward and J. S. Pigman came about the same time. Others who came during the same year were: Charles Johnson, James Pheanis, David Vangundy, John Rosenquist, Joseph Moon, Rev. Thomas J. Addis (at that time the only free-state man), Lorenzo Dow, R. H. Abraham, William Grimsley, Thomas Shockley, Joseph Hadley, William H. Eikenbery, Joel Halworth, Dr. Gregg, Mr. Carver, James Hendricks, Albert Watkins, John Fowler, G. D. Humphreys and L. H. Johnson. These, with very few exceptions, settled along the creeks in the north- ern half of the county.
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A number of new settlers came in 1856, and a much larger number in 1857. The problem of securing mail now became a serious one. Previous to this time the mail for the settlements had been thrown off the Santa Fe coaches at Mr. Withington's place and was distributed by a horseman at private expense. When the government began giving them their mail by way of Jefferson City and Council Grove and estab- lished a postoffice at Columbia, there was a great deal of dissatisfac- tion, as the settlers did not wish to trust the pro-slavery men who handled it. Finally they secured a box at Lawrence, where all mail was sent, and thence brought by private conveyance to the hotel at Emporia. John Fowler, the postmaster at Columbia in the fall of 1857, resigned and the office was moved to Emporia, where W. H. Fick became postmaster. In August hack lines were established to Topeka and to Lawrence. A great deal of the mail was lost, there being about three bushels of mail belonging to Emporia lying at Osawatomie in Jan., 1858. The next year regular mail routes were established from Council Grove to Fort Scott by way of Emporia, and from Lawrence to Emporia. In Aug., 1860, there were tri-weekly coaches from Law- rence. By March, 1861, Emporia was receiving ten mails per week from different points.
The first school was established in 1858 and taught by Rev. G. W. Torrence. The first newspaper was the Emporia News, founded in 1857 by Hon. P. B. Plumb under the name of the Kansas News. (See Newspapers.) The first sawmill was built by G. D. Humphreys on the Cottonwood river in 1857. The first marriage was between Charles Carver and Sarah Vangundy in Jan., 1856. The first birth was in 1856 in a family by the name of Hennick. The first assessment of property was made in 1858, but was of little value, as the assessor is said to have been prejudiced.
Nearly all authorities give 1858 as the date of organization of the county, although an election for county officers was held on Oct. 6, 1857, which resulted in the election of the Americus ticket as follows : Probate judge, A. I. Baker ; sheriff, E. Goddard ; treasurer, N. S. Storrs ; clerk and recorder, C. V. Eskridge; surveyor, Mr. Voke; coroner, W. B. Swisher; commissioners, H. W. Fick and William Grimsley. Prior to Oct., 1858, the county seat was at Agnes City, which was the resi- dence of Arthur I. Baker, whom the legislature had appointed probate judge. The first term of district court was held on Dec. 20 at Ameri- cus, Judge Elmore presiding. At the general election of 1860 Emporia was chosen as the permanent county seat. Other early towns which figured in the contest were: Fremont, 8 miles north of Emporia, founded in 1857; Waterloo, on the State road 15 miles north of Em- poria, laid off in 1858; and Forest Hill, east of the Neosho river opposite the junction, founded in 1858.
In 1860 there were 3,500 inhabitants in Lyon county, but the drouth of that year so discouraged the settlers that many returned east and those who stayed saw actual want and suffering in spite of the relief
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obtained from Atchison. The next year the breaking out of the war put an end to the already paralyzed activity in business and industry.
The first military company to leave for the seat of war was the "Emporia Guards" in May, 1861. They numbered 50 men and had been drilled by W. F. Cloud, a veteran of the Mexican war. The com- pany took part in the engagement at Wilson's creek, Mo., in August. A. J. Mitchell raised a company of artillery numbering 47 men. L. T. Heritage recruited a company for duty within the state, which became Company B of the Eighth regiment. In the fall of 1862, in response to President Lincoln's call for more troops, 150 Lyon county men im- mediately offered their services. They were recruited by P. B. Plumb and formed a company in the Eleventh regiment. Soon afterward they were engaged in a battle at Prairie Grove, where several were killed. In 1864, when Gen. Price threatened Kansas, 300 more answered the call to repel the invasion. They were in active duty about a month. Besides this the men of Lyon county played their part in protecting their homes and in driving out hostile Indians in the west and south- west and the bushwhackers in the south.
A number of tragedies occurred in connection with the guerrilla activities between pro-slavery and anti-slavery bands. One of these was the death of Mrs. Carver, who was killed by a free-state mob from Topeka. She was in bed, and the men, on being refused admis- sion to the house, fired into the building at random, two of the shots taking effect in her body. In 1862 occurred the most noted raid in the history of the county. Judge A. I. Baker had called the notorious "Bill" Anderson, his father and brother Jim, horse thieves, and later was obliged to shoot the elder Anderson in self-defense. About the same time a Mexican who belonged to the Anderson gang was hanged by a mob at Americus. A few weeks later the Andersons, with four others, one of whom represented himself to be Quantrill, came to the Baker home, persuaded him to go to his store to get them some whiskey, and just as he was going down the cellar steps shot him a number of times. He drew his revolver and inflicted a flesh wound upon Jim Anderson. The ruffians shot Baker's brother-in-law, Segur, and threw him into the cellar. Then they piled boxes on the cellar door and set them on fire. Baker died before the fire reached him, and Segur escaped by a back window but died a few hours later. All of Baker's property was destroyed by fire and his horses stolen. After a number of other robberies the guerrillas came to the residence of C. H. Withington at Allen. Here they placed all the men under arrest, took what they wanted and destroyed some property. Mr. Withington escaped death through the intercession of Quantrill. At Elm creek they attacked the house of a Mr. Jacoby, whose life was saved by a Santa Fe train which happened to be passing.
The first efforts to secure a railroad were in 1864, but it was not until 1870 that the first road was built. This was the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, which runs south from Topeka. The county issued $200,000
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in bonds to aid in its construction. A like amount was voted to the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, which crosses the county in a southeasterly direction and which was built in the same year. Another line of the Atchison, Topeka' & Santa Fe from Kansas City enters the county in the east and crosses into Chase county. A third line runs from Em- poria south into Greenwood county. The Missouri Pacific crosses the northern part from east to west.
The general surface of the county is prairie, with but few bluffs. The principal streams are the Neosho river, which runs across the county in a southeasterly direction; the Cottonwood river which crosses from west to east and joins the Neosho just above Neosho Rapids ; and numer- ous creeks, of which Duck, Dows and Eagle are the most important. The timber belts along these streams average one-half mile in width, and contain the following varieties: oak, walnut, cottonwood, hickory, elm, hackberry, coffee-bean and locust. Magnesian limestone and sandstone are abundant, and a good quality of potter's clay is found between the Neosho and Cottonwood rivers. The bottom lands along the rivers and creeks comprise about 15 per cent. of the total area.
Lyon is one of the two leading counties in the production of Kafir corn. In 1910 this crop amounted to nearly $300,000. Corn the same year brought $1,750,000; oats, $130,000; wheat, $40,000; tame grass, $170,000; and wild grass, $260,000. Live stock netted $1,630,000; poultry and eggs, $180,000. The total output of the farms for the county that year was nearly $4,500,000. About 400,000 acres are under cultivation. There are 300,000 fruit trees, two-thirds of which are apples. Lyon is the foremost county in the state in the production of live stock. The population, according to the census of 1910, was 24,927. The assessed valuation of property in the same year was $38,600,000.
Lyons (formerly Atlanta), the county seat of Rice county, is located in the central part of the county at the crossing of three lines of rail- road-the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Missouri Pacific and the St. Louis & San Francisco. It is situated about midway between the Arkansas river and the Little Arkansas, at an elevation of 1,696 feet. It has an electric light plant, 3 banks, 2 good hotels, I daily and 2 weekly newspapers, 2 flour mills, a large salt works, gas engine works, machine shops and cement building block works. It is beautifully laid out with the court-house square in the center. Around this are handsome, modern retail establishments. The city is equipped with telegraph and express offices and has an international money order postoffice with six rural routes. It is divided into four wards and according to the census of 1910 had a population of 2,071.
The original town of Atlanta was founded in 1870. It was absorbed by Lyons, which was laid out adjoining it in 1876, and the same year was made the county seat. The first postoffice was established at this place in 1871 and was called Brookdale. It was also the first one in the county and Earl Joslin was postmaster. The town was incorporated in 1880 with T. W. Nichols as the first mayor. In the same year the
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Marion & McPherson branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe was extended to Lyons. Two years later it was a thriving town of 900 inhabitants.
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McAllaster, a hamlet in Logan county, is located on the Union Pacific R. R., about 15 miles northwest of Russell Springs, the county seat. It has a general store, telegraph office and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 50.
McBratney, Robert, journalist, was born near Columbus, Ohio, Jan. I, 1818, a son of Robert and Margaret (Hoskins) McBratney, the father of Scotch and the mother of English descent. He received a common school education and at the age of sixteen years began learning the printer's trade. Four years later he commenced the publication of the Union County Star at Marysville, Ohio. In 1841 he visited Louisiana and`Texas, after which he worked on newspapers at Xenia, Ohio, and Detroit, Mich., until 1856. He was a delegate that year to the conven- tion that nominated Gen. John C. Fremont for president, and after the election decided to try his fortune in the West. In Feb., 1857, he located at Atchison, Kan., where he became identified with the company that bought the Squatter Sovereign. With F. G. Adams he assumed the edi- torial management of the paper which was changed to a free-state organ. In 1861 he assisted in organizing the Frontier Guard (q. v.) and was then register of the Junction City land office until the fall of 1864. He was interested in the building of some of the early Kansas railroads, and from 1872 to 1875 was president of the First National bank of Junction City. Mr. McBratney was twice married. On March 28, 1848, he married Mary Palmer, of Springfield, Ohio, who died on March 18, 1859, and subsequently he married Mary E. Harbison, of Xenia, Ohio. She died on May 10, 1859. Some time later Mr. McBratney went to New Mexico and died at Santa Fe on Feb. 6, 1881.
McCandless, a small hamlet of Johnson county, is situated about 10 miles southeast of Ottawa, the county seat, and 4 miles from Rantoul, the nearest railroad station, from which it has rural mail delivery. In 1910 it reported a population of 21.
McCarter, Margaret Hill, author and educator, was born near Car- thage, Rush county, Ind., May 2, 1860. Her parents, Thomas T. and Nancy (Davis) Hill, came to Indiana from North Carolina in 1858. They were Quakers, and through the Parker and Wickersham families Mrs. McCarter can trace her ancestry back to the members of that sect who came over with William Penn. She was educated in the common schools, the Carthage high school, Earlham College, a Quaker institu- tion at Richmond, Ind., and in 1884 was graduated in the State Normal School at Terre Haute, Ind. She taught for nine years in the Indiana public schools, and in 1888 came to Topeka, Kan., where for nearly six years she was a teacher of English in the high school. On June 5, 1890.
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she was married to Dr. William A. McCarter. She has contributed to the newspapers and magazines, and is the author of The Cottonwood's Story, Cuddy's Baby, In Old Quivira, The Price of the Prairie, One Hundred Kansas Women, and The Peace of the Solomon Valley.
Mckeever, William A., educator, author and lecturer, was born on a farm 4 miles east of Hoyt, Jackson county, Kan., and received his early education in the common schools. He then entered Campbell College at Holton, Kan., where he graduated with the degree of B. A. in 1893. For the next two years he was principal of the Holton high school, and in 1898 he received the degree of A. M. from the University of Kansas. He was then superintendent of the public schools of Smith Center for two years, and in 1900 was made assistant professor of English and philosophy in the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan .. The next year he became the head of the department of philosophy, which position he still holds (1911). In 1904 he was awarded the degree of Ph. M. by the University of Chicago, and the same year he took grad- uate work in the Harvard summer school. Prof. Mckeever has given a number of lectures, especially on topics relating to psychology and children. A few years ago he conceived the idea of distributing pam- phlets on child culture in the same way that circulars relating to agri- cultural topics are distributed. The result has been the pamphlets known as the "Home Training Bulletins," which have attracted consid- erable attention. They are intended to aid in teaching boys and girls how to work and save; to assist them in the choice of a vocation, and to discourage bad habits in the young. Prof. Mckeever has written a number of pamphlets, contributed to magazines, and is the author of two elementary books. Prof. Mckeever married Miss Edith Shattuck.
McClung, Clarence Ervin, professor of zoology in the University of Kansas, was born at Clayton, Cal., April 5, 1870. He was educated at the University of Kansas and Cambridge, England, receiving the degree of Ph. G. in 1892, A. B., 1896, A. M., 1898, and Ph. D., 1903-also A. B. at Cambridge, 1903. He was assistant professor of zoology from 1897 to 1900; associate professor, 1900 to 1906; head of the department and curator of vertebrate paleontological collections, 1902, and acting dean of the medical school from 1902 to 1906. Prof. McClung has carried on a number of important investigations that have drawn the attention of scientists in Europe and America. Among these are sex determination from the study of germ cells of insects; osteology of upper cretaceous fish of Kansas, spermatagenesis of insects, etc. He is fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the So- ciety of Vertebrate Paleontology. He has been recently appointed superintendent of the state biological survey. In 1899 he was married to Miss Anna A. Drake, of Lawrence, Kan.
McCormick, N. B., lawyer and member of Congress, was born in Fayette county, Pa., Nov. 20, 1847, and reared upon a farm. He received his education in the public schools of his native county, where he lived until twenty years of age. In 1867 he decided to start in life
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for himself and came west. He first took up land in Marion county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming and stock raising, until 1877, when he removed to Phillips county, Kan., and settled upon a homestead. His great ambition was to become a lawyer and he began to read law while farming for a living. In 1882 he was admitted to the bar and within a short time formed a partnership with S. W. McElroy, under whom he served as deputy county attorney for four years. He was elected county attorney of Phillips county in 1890 and reelected in 1892, serving in that capacity four years, but refused a third nomination. In 1896 he was nominated for Congress by the Populist party and elected. After serv- ing one term in Congress he retired from politics and gave his attention to his law practice.
McCoy, Isaac, missionary, was born near Uniontown, Fayette county, Pa., June 13, 1784. The next year his family removed to Kentucky, where his youth was passed, and in 1817 he began his work as a mis- sionary among the Miami Indians in the Wabash valley in Indiana. In the spring of 1820 he went to Fort Wayne, Ind., and in Dec., 1822, fol- lowed the Pottawatomie Indians to Michigan, becoming the founder of the Grand river mission in 1826. Two years later he was one of the commissioners appointed to visit the western country and select homes for the Ottawas and Pottawatomies. In Jan., 1829, he visited Washing- ton and made a report of his investigations, and in July he again started west. In 1837 he was sent by the government to survey the Delaware lands and while on this work he made arrangements for missions among the Otoes and Omahas; held a council with the Pawnees; visited the Cherokees and Creeks and assisted in adjusting the boundaries of their reservations, and made a report proposing locations for the Pottawato- mies, Ottawas, Miamis, New York tribes and some others. His report was accepted by the government and he remained with the Indians on their reservations until 1842, when he went to Louisville, Ky., to assume the management of the work of the American Indian Mission Associa- tion. Mr. McCoy was the author of a History of Baptist Indian Mis- sions. He died at Louisville in 1846.
McCoy, Joseph G., founder of the cattle trade in Kansas and orig- inator of the Abilene trail (q. v.), was born in Sangamon county, Ill., Dec. 21, 1837, the youngest of eleven children born to David and Mary (Kirkpatrick) McCoy, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. He was educated in the common schools and at Knox College, and in 1861 he embarked in the cattle business. On Oct. 22, 1861, he married Miss Sarah Epler. In 1867 he conceived the idea of establishing a ship- ping depot for cattle at some point in the west and selected Abilene, Kan., from which place he opened a trail to the Indian Territory. Some people sneered at his ideas, but he demonstrated their practicability. About 75,000 cattle were shipped from Abilene in 1868, and by 1871 the number had increased to 600,000 or more. He lived in Abilene, where he served as mayor, until 1873, when he removed to Kansas City, Mo. In 1881 he was employed by the the Cherokee Indians as agent to col-
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lect the revenue on outlying lands belonging to that tribe and removed to Wichita, where he still lives. Mr. McCoy is a Democrat in his po- litical affiliations and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. In 1890 he was appointed superintendent of the range cattle de- partment by the United States census bureau, a position for which he was well fitted by his long connection with the cattle trade. It is said that his wedding coat was one which had been made for Abraham Lincoln.
McCracken, an incorporated city of the third class in Rush county, is located on the Missouri Pacific R. R. and on Big Timber creek, 17 miles west of La Crosse, the county seat. It has a bank, a flour mill, grain elevators, and a weekly newspaper (the Enterprise). All the leading church denominations are represented, and there are telegraph and express offices and an international money order postoffice with one rural route. The retail establishments number nearly 100, and the population in 1910 was 371.
McCune, an incorporated city of the third class in Crawford county, is located 16 miles southwest of Girard, the county seat, and is on the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R. It has 2 banks, a weekly newspaper (the McCune Herald), a high school, the leading church denomina- tions, telegraph and express offices, and an international money order postoffice with six rural routes. The population according to the cen- sus of 1910 was 736.
McCune was laid out in 1879 by Isaac McCune, who owned and had been farming the land. He built the first store, which was opened by J. D. Rodgers. The postoffice, which was called Time prior to founding the town, was changed to McCune and Mr. McCune was made postmaster in 1878. The town was incorporated as a city of the third class in Oct., 1881. The following were the first officers: Mayor, Isaac McCune; councilmen, I. V. McCune, R. O. Harris, M. Casey and K. P. Minard. The first newspaper, the McCune Standard, was estab- lished in that year by D. A. Burton. By 1882 the town had made con- siderable progress, having 500 inhabitants and a dozen stores.
McDonald, a little town in Rawlins county, is located in Celia town- ship on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R., 22 miles west of Atwood, the county seat. It has a bank, a weekly newspaper (the News). and a number of mercantile establishments, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was reported as 350.
McFarland, an incorporated city of the third class in Wabaunsee county, is located in Newberry township 4 miles from Alma, the county seat. It is at the junction of two lines of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. and has over 30 passenger trains per day. All the lead- ing lines of mercantile enterprise are represented; there are telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 388. It is one of the new towns of the county, founded by the railroad company a few years ago.
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McGee County, one of the 33 counties created by the first territorial legislature in 1855, was located in the southeastern corner of the terri- tory and was bounded as follows: "Beginning at the southeast cor- ner of Bourbon county; thence south to the southern boundary of the territory; thence west on said boundary 24 miles; thence north to a point due west of the place of beginning; thence east 24 miles to the place of beginning." It was named in honor of Mabillon W. McGee, a member of the Kansas house of representatives in 1855. The county was attached to Bourbon for all civil and mili- tary purposes. In 1860, the name of the county was changed to Chero- kee and some changes made in the boundaries. (See Cherokee County.)
McGraw, a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. in Harvey county, is located 3 miles south of Newton, the county seat, from which place it receives mail by rural delivery.
McLain, a discontinued postoffice in Harvey county, is located on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 5 miles southeast of Newton, the county seat, from which postoffice its mail is distributed by rural delivery. The population in 1910 was 26.
McLouth, one of the thriving towns of Jefferson county, is located near the east line of the county at the junction of the Atchison, To- peka & Santa Fe and the Missouri Pacific railroads. It is in Union township 7 miles east of Oskaloosa, the county seat. McLouth is an incorporated town with a weekly newspaper (the Times), bank- ing facilities, express and telegraph offices, and a money order post- office with three rural routes. The population in 1910 was 775. The town was founded in 1881 and named after the original owner of the land. The grange store was moved from Dimon when McLouth was laid out and was kept by I. Pearson. The amount of business done in 1882 was over $20,000. At present all lines of business are repre- sented and considerable produce is shipped.
McPherson, the judicial seat and largest town of McPherson county, is located in the central part of the county, about 25 miles northeast of Hutchinson and about 50 miles northwest of Wichita. Four of the most important railroads converge at this point, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Missouri Pacific and the Union Pacific, making this one of the important shipping points of this section of Kansas. It has 5 banks and there are a number of manufacturing establishments which work up various raw ma- terials produced in the vicinity. The broom and sorghum factories are supplied by the broom-corn and cane raised by McPherson county farmers and each turns out a high grade finished product. The ce- ment works gets the raw material from the northern part of the county. There is also a smoke consumer works, and a stove drum factory. The McPherson Republican is published daily and weekly, and the Freeman, the Democrat, the Opinion and Der Deutsche Western (Ger- man) are published weekly. Rays of Light is a college publication is- sued monthly.
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