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 80
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Selkirk, a hamlet in Wichita county, is located in Leoti township, 9 miles west of Leoti, the county seat. It has a postoffice and a tele- graph office. The population in 1910 was 42.
Selma, a hamlet in Anderson county, is located at the junction of the Missouri Pacific and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroads 13 miles southeast of Garnett, the county seat. It has a hotel, general store and blacksmith shop, telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 60. The railroad name is Trilby.
Seneca, the county seat of Nemaha county, is located northwest of the center of the county on the St. Joseph & Grand Island and the Missouri Pacific railroads. It is also on the Nemaha river, 70 miles northwest of Topeka. It has a brick plant, an iron foundry, a cement block plant, a creamery, 4 banks, 2 weekly newspapers (the Tribune and the Courier-Democrat), high school, city library, waterworks and electric light plant, express and telegraph offices, and an international money order postoffice with five rural routes. The population in 1910 was 1808.
The town site was located by J. B. Ingersoll, who in 1857 staked off a claim which he called Rock Castle. A town company was soon after- ward organized, the members being Samuel Lappin, Charles G. Scraf- ford, Royal U. Torry and Finley Lappin, and the town immediately platted was named Seneca. The first house, a double log structure, was built in the fall of the same year by Finley Lappin, who started a hotel in one end of it and rented the other end to Downing & Stewart for a grocery store. The hotel end was also used for an office by Samuel Lappin, register of deeds. A blacksmith shop, consisting of four poles covered with brush and a few boards over the forge, was put up by Levi Hensel, a correspondent of the New York Tribune.
The next year the Smith family, including John E. Smith and wife, two sons, W. H. and F. E. Smith, his brother Stephen and sister Addie Smith, made a valuable addition to the Seneca settlement. With them came Charles, George W. and Ezra Williams. John E. Smith built a hotel and erected a sawmill a mile from town. The machinery of the mill was hauled by an ox team from Atchison. Miss Addie Smith taught the first school in Smith's hotel in 1858. The next building was of concrete erected by Downing & Stewart. The fourth building of any consequence was a business block erected by the town company.
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The first child born in Seneca was Esther Hensel, daughter of Levi Hensel, in 1859. A town lot was conveyed to her by the town company.
The proximity of Seneca and Richmond, only three miles apart. created considerable rivalry. Up to the year 1859 Richmond received the overland traffic, which was very heavy at times. In order to divert this business to their town some of the prominent citizens of Seneca sowed oats on the road leading to Richmond for a considerable dis- tance, which gave it the appearance of not being used. Seneca became a station on the Pony express from St. Joseph to San Francisco and also on the overland stage route and remained so until the railroads were built.
Seneca was incorporated as a city of the third class in 1870 and the following trustees were appointed: James P. Taylor, Charles G. Scraf- ford, J. B. Meyers, Abijah Wells and John F. McGowan. The first election was held in 1871 and resulted as follows: W. G. Sargent, mayor; George Graham, J. H. Peckham, John H. Larew, Jacob Meis- ner and Mathias Stein, councilmen. Abijah. Wells was subsequently appointed probate judge.
Sequoyah, a half-breed Cherokee Indian, was a native of Georgia. His father was a German named Gist and his mother was a Cherokee woman. Sequoyah's English name was George Gist, the surname becoming corrupted into "Guess." About 1825, while conversing with some of his tribe about the "talking papers" of the white men, he con- ceived the idea of inventing an alphabet by which the Cherokee lan- guage might be written. He first attempted to devise a character for each word, but found that would involve the use of too many marks. His next step was to invent a character for each syllable. By this method he found 126 symbols, all that were necessary, and even this number he finally reduced to 86. When he had his alphabet completed he taught a few of his friends to write. Later he went to Arkansas. and while there wrote a letter in Cherokee to his brother in Georgia. About 1828 a paper called the Cherokee Phoenix was started, and it is believed to have been the first paper ever printed in Indian char- acters. Sequoyah subsequently removed with his people to the Indian Territory and died there.
Sequoyah County, now a part of Finney county, was created in 1873 and named for Sequoyah (q. v.), the Cherokee Indian, who invented the written language of his tribe. The act creating the county defined the boundaries as follows: "Commencing at the intersection of the east line of range 31 west with the 4th standard parallel ; thence south along range line to the intersection with the north line of township 27 south; thence west along township line to where it intersects the east line of range 35 west; thence north along range line to where it intersects the 4th standard parallel; thence east to the place of begin- ning." The territory included within these boundaries now constitutes the western two-thirds of Finney county, which was formed in 1883. (See Finney county.)
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Settlers' Protective Association .- In 1865 a treaty was ratified at the Canville trading post between the United States and the Great and Little Osage Indian tribes. One section of the treaty provided that men who were the heads of families, and who had settled upon the lands prior to the treaty, were allowed to purchase a quarter section of land. Other people, believing all the lands included in the treaty were open to settlement, located upon them. Under the terms of the treaty the lands were to be disposed of on the most advantageous terms for cash, and to this end President Johnson issued a proclamation on Jan. 20, 1868, authorizing the sale of the ceded lands, May 1 to 16, 1868, at Humboldt, Kan.
About this time the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad presented a claim to each alternate section of land for 10 miles on each side of the right-of-way of the proposed route through the Osage lands to the southern boundary of the state, claiming the land under the act of Congress of March 5, 1863, more than two years before the treaty. The Union Pacific railroad also claimed land in a like manner, under an act of Congress of July 26, 1866. Numerous settlements had been made on these lands, and the question came up as to the validity of the claims of the railroads. The commissioner of the general land office, Joseph H. Wilson, rejected the claims of the railroad companies, but O. H. Browning, secretary of the interior, upheld them. The sale of the lands was indefinitely postponed by the president, and the set- tlers were at a loss as to what to do. They could not obtain title to their lands, and meetings were held for consultation. Petitions were sent to Congress, asking that something be done, and a decision was rendered that actual settlers who had located on the lands "prior to the withdrawal of the lands from market, could enter, but that as to subsequent settlements, the aforesaid ruling of the secretary (of the interior) was recognized as paramount, and the odd numbered sections were held as belonging to the railroad companies where settlement was not made on them prior to April 18, 1868."
Many men who had settled on odd numbered sections offered proof of settlement prior to that time and desired to purchase the land but were refused. Added to this the interior department decided that there were not enough sections designated by odd numbers to give the rail- roads the amount of land they were entitled to by the act, and with- drew even numbered sections within a certain limit as railroad lands. Settlers on such sections were notified that their claims were held for cancellation.
After a great amount of agitation; after delegates had been sent to Washington to obtain justice for the settlers and nothing had been accomplished, it was decided that a secret, oath-bound society, by which the scattered forces could be combined for a successful issue, was the best plan. The first meeting was a small one, held at the home of Father Dick in the village of Dennis, a short distance from Parsons. Those present were William Dick, LeRoy Dick, Dr. Thomas Smith
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and David Lindsay. They organized the "Settlers' Protective Asso- ciation of the Osage Ceded Lands." On Oct. 21, 1870, the association was fully organized, and subsequently a charter was obtained from the state. David C. Hutchinson was the first president. He was suc- ceeded by M. J. Slater of Thayer, who remained in office until the object of the society was accomplished. The directors were William S. Irwin, Rochester; David C. Hutchinson, Ladore; George W. McMil- lan, Humboldt; M. H. Sheldon, Urbana; J. Monroe, Mound Valley ; A. J. Campbell, Big Hill; J. L. Williams, Labette City ; J. M. Gaston, Erie; Stephen Medd, Erie; George T. Walton, Ladore; and Van Hen- derlider, Ladore.
The association began work at once. Its operations were secret, and its object was to test the claims of the railroad companies to the lands. There was a grand council which held meetings for the transaction of business. A systematic plan of action was decided upon by this coun- cil. Ex-Gov. Wilson Shannon, G. W. Julian, W. H. Lawrence, all well known lawyers, were consulted upon the validity of the claims of the railroads, and their decision was in favor of the settlers. It was the influence of the association that defeated the ratification of the "Sturgis Treaty," made May 27, 1868, by which the Great and Little Osages were to convey the Osage diminished reserve of 8,000,000 acres of land to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad for 19 cents an acre. The attorneys employed by the association were McComus & McKeegan of Fort Scott, Wilson Shannon of Lawrence, Judge William Lawrence of Bellefontaine, Ohio, and Judge Jeremiah Black of Pennsylvania. They tried repeatedly to obtain a hearing before the courts, but failed, and finally concluded that Congress would have to pass a special enabling act authorizing the attorneys of the association to use the name of the United States in testing the claims of the settlers. Gov. Shannon drew up a bill for the purpose, and attached a memorial passed by the legislature of Kansas, asking Con- gress to pass the bill. The railroads then requested Atty .- Gen. Wil- liams to order the United States district attorney, George R. Peck of Kansas, to enter suit in the name of the United States to adjust the controversy and thus prevent the use of the name of the United States by the attorneys of the association. But Judge Lawrence, who was in Washington, had President Grant suspend Mr. Williams' order until Congress could hear from the legislature of Kansas. After this negotia- tions were carried on between the attorneys of the settlers and the railroads. The former presented the question before the United States court in Kansas, and also before the United States supreme court, which decided that the railroads had no claim to the Osage ceded lands, for the reason that the lands were reserved to the Osage Indians at the time they were granted to the railroads. This decision was ren- dered April 10, 1876, and the work of the Protective association was completed. It had agreed to pay the fees of its attorneys, an amount that would equal twenty-five cents per acre on the lands saved from
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the railroads, but as a number of the settlers had not joined the asso- ciation, or contributed anything toward it, Congress was asked to add a sufficient amount to the price of the land to pay the lawyers, in order that all beneficiaries might share in the expense, but Congress refused to do so, and the members of the association were forced to meet the bills.
Severance, one of the incorporated towns of Doniphan county, is located in Wolf River township on the Wolf river and on the St. Joseph & Grand Island R. R., 12 miles west of Troy, the county seat. It has banking facilities, a weekly newspaper (the News), telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with two rural routes. The population in 1910 was 500. The town was founded in 1869 and named after John Severance, who with C. C. Clonch and Dr. Robert Gunn laid out the town. A postoffice was established with A. Gunn, who owned the first store, as postmaster. The promoters of the town gave the railroad company $500 to build a depot. They put up a platform, thereby violating an agreement they had with Joel Ryan of Ryan's Station not to build a station within 3 miles of his town. This led to litigation which ended in 1874, and the depot was built at Severance that year. Some of the first settlers in the community were C. C. Clonch, Swintz and Waggoner. In 1855 Clonch was attacked in his cabin by Swintz and Waggoner, both of whom he killed. There is an account of a battle being fought on the site of Severance in 1844 between the Sacs and Foxes and the Pawnees.
Some of the first business men were D. J. Grandstaff, physician ; W. H. H. Curtis, lumberman; L. C. Nelson, hardware and harness; J. A. Campbell & Co., druggists; Adam Brenner, grain dealer; M. E. Holmes, tinner; Winchester Bell, shoes; J. J. Glass, saloon. The first teacher was Miss Laura Hern, who taught school about a mile and a half from town. Severance was incorporated in 1877 and the following were the first officers: W. H. H. Curtis, mayor; L. C. Nelson, city clerk ; J. A. Campbell, police judge; Amos Sanford, Dr. G. S. Hopkins, W. D. Rippy, Walter Clonch and John T. Kirwin, councilmen. This council bought and improved a city park.
Severy, formerly Gould, the third town in point of size and impor- tance in Greenwood county, is located on Salt creek at the crossing of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the St. Louis & San Francisco railroads, 16 miles south of Eureka, the county seat. It has 2 banks, a weekly newspaper (the Severyite), churches and schools. This is an important shipping point for live stock, grain, hay and produce. All lines of mercantile endeavor are represented. There are express and telegraph offices and an international money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population in 1910, according to the census report, was 608.
Severy was founded at the time the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. was built in 1879. It was the successor to the town of that name which had been started some years before, and lay a short distance to
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the south. The town was laid out by the Arkansas Valley Town con- pany in January, and by April it had sufficient population to become incorporated. The first mayor was E. Ellingson. The first building on the town site was the combination store and residence of R. Dodds. The next was the blacksmith shop of A. R. Tomlinson. The first gen- eral store was built and opened by E. Ellingson. Other early busi- ness men were Stewart, liveryman; N. S. McDonald, physician; and H. C. Reece, attorney. The first hotel was opened in 1880 by Weir & Whittenhall. The Severy postoffice was first established about 2 miles west of the present town at the home of R. T. Bullock. Later it was moved to the old location of Severy and in 1879 to the new town. The first postmaster after its final location was R. Dodds.
The first religious organization was a Union Sunday school organized about 1879. The first church building was the Congregational, built in 1880 and 1881. The first school was established in 1882. The first newspaper, the Severy Pioneer, issued its initial number in March, 1880 .*
Seward, a little town in Stafford county, is located in the township of the same name, on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 13 miles north of Staf- ford, the county seat. It has a hotel, a creamery, a bank, retail stores, telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 300.
Seward County, in the southern tier, is the third county east from Colorado. It is bounded on the north by Haskell county; on the east by Meade; on the south by the State of Oklahoma, and on the west by Stevens county. It was created in 1873 and named in honor of William H. Seward of New York, who was secretary of state during · Lincoln's administration. The boundaries were defined as follows: "Commencing at the intersection of the east line of range 31 west with the 6th standard parallel; thence south on said range line to the south- ern boundary line of the State of Kansas; thence west on said southern boundary line of the State of Kansas to the east line of range 35 west ; thence north on said range line to the 6th standard parallel ; thence east to the place of beginning."
Ten years later the area was increased nearly threefold by the addi- tion of territory from the adjoining counties, which for a time lost their identity. In 1886 the original limits were restored and the county was organized. C. L. Calvert was appointed census taker in March, and according to his returns, which were made June 5, there were 2,551 bona fide residents in the county, of whom 843 were householders. The taxable property amounted to $421,985, of which $182,719 was real estate. Gov. Jolın A. Martin issued his proclamation on June 17, desig- nating Springfield as the temporary county seat and appointing the following officers: County clerk, J. M. Wilson ; commissioners, Walter H. Harwood, E. M. Campbell and Edwin A. Watson. Fargo Springs was the rival of Springfield for county seat honors and the governor, hoping to divide favors, appointed Fargo Springs adherents as con-
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missioners. They divided the territory of the county into election dis- tricts in such a manner as to give their town the advantage over Spring -. field. The voting place for Seward township was at Fargo Springs. The night before the election, which was held on Aug. 5, 1886, it is said the Fargo men, 40 strong, took possession of the polling place, organized the election board early the next morning and began the voting an hour before the time fixed. It was charged that the Fargo people "voted early and often." The farmers, not approving the way the election was conducted, hauled a wagon up beside the building in which the polls were located and established a voting booth of their own. The commissioners refused to canvass the vote deposited in the ballot box in the wagon bed. There were 225 votes cast in this man- ner, of which a majority were for Springfield. The matter was taken to the courts, the commissioners were compelled to canvass the vote, and Springfield was declared the permanent county seat in March, 1887. Fargo Springs, which was located less than 4 miles south of Springfield, moved to the latter place.
The officers chosen at the August election were as follows: County clerk, Oliver Leisure; treasurer, Adam T. Ragland ; probate judge, L. A. Etzold; register of deeds, George Ferner; sheriff, George Neeley ; coro- ner, Dr. W. H. Dorsett ; surveyor, A. L. Stickel; attorney, C. J. Trax- ler ; clerk of the district court, W. E. McClure; commissioners, E. M. Campbell, W. W. Kimball and Charles Mayo.
The settlement within the present boundaries of Seward county did not begin until 1884. Among the first settlers, who afterward became prominent in the business and political life of the county, were W. J. Tipton, who came in 1884, and the following who came in 1885: Oliver Leisure, L. J. Fulton, L. P. Roberts, Harry C. Nelson, A. T. Ragland, E. M. Campbell, A. H. Saunders, L. A. Etzold, J. M. Adams and J. L. Lundsford. The immigration was heavy during the years 1885 and 1886. The Springfield Town company was organized in the fall of 1885, but the town was not laid out until about three weeks before the county was organized. The first newspaper was the Springfield Transcript, established in 1886 by L. P. Kemper. County buildings were not built for several years, but in a short time there was nevertheless a large bonded indebtedness. The county scrip was handled very extravagantly by the officials. In 1888 legal action was brought by the attorney- general of the state against Oliver Leisure, county clerk, and two of the commissioners, charging them with defrauding the county out of several thousand dollars.
In that year the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad was built and the town of Liberal was founded. In August, four months after it was laid out, the population had reached 800 and it was incorporated as a city of the third class. The people of the south part of the county began a campaign to have it made the county seat. In 1890 the county records were burned at Springfield, and the facts then came to pub- lic notice that the county had a bonded indebtedness of $100,000 with (II-43)
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practically nothing to show for it. In 1892 the last county seat elec- tion was held. The candidates were Liberal and Springfield. The former won by 125 votes. So confident were the Liberal adherents of a victory that a large number of farm wagons were drawn up before the county offices, and as soon as the vote was announced the removal of the county property began. In less than three hours it was all on the road to Liberal.
The county is divided into three townships, Fargo, Liberal and Seward. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad enters on the eastern boundary line, north of the center, and crosses southwest into Oklahoma, a distance of 30 miles. The general surface is undulating with but few hills, and there is practically no timber. The Cimarron river enters near the northwest corner and flows southeast into Meade county. Limestone of good quality is found in the southwest portion.
The total value of farm products in 1910 was $885,529. Wheat, the most valuable crop, brought $258,152; milo maize, $138,270; broom- corn, $110,022; corn, nearly $70,000; Kafir corn, $81,825; hay, $55,634; animals sold for slaughter, $80,701. The live stock aggregated 10,537 head, worth $561,618, and the assessed valuation of property was $6,117,868.
The population in 1890 was 1,503, in 1900 it was 822 and in 1910 it was 4,091. This large increase during the last decade was due to the improved methods of farming and to the fact that the farmers have learned how to handle the soil in the climate of southwest Kansas to the best advantage.
Sexton, a hamlet in Wallace county, is located in Wallace township 16 miles northeast of Sharon Springs, the county seat, and 10 miles from Wallace, the nearest shipping point. It has a postoffice and a gen- eral store.
Shady Bend, a hamlet in Lincoln county, is located on the Union Pacific R. R. 9 miles east of Lincoln, the county seat. It has 2 grain elevators, a general store, a mill, and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 40. The town came into the limelight in Aug., I911, on account of an unfortunate incident. A young lady by the name of Mary Chamberlain was taken from a buggy at night by masked men and tarred. A number of the most prominent citizens of the community were involved in the affair.
Shaffer, a village in Rush county, is located in Garfield township on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 15 miles southeast of La Crosse, the county seat. It has 3 mills, 2 grain elevators, a hotel, a creamery, general stores, telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 45.
Shannon, a post-village of Atchison county, is located on the Mis- souri Pacific R. R. about 9 miles west of Atchison. It has a money order postoffice, telegraph and express facilities, and in 1910 had a population of 50.
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Shannon Guards .- James Redpath, in his "Roving Editor," says the Shannon Guards "were a gang of Missouri highwaymen and horse- thieves, who organized under the lead of -, the Kansas correspondent of a pro-slavery paper, when the territorial troubles first broke out in the spring of 1856."
The dashes in the above quotation evidently refer to Henry Clay Pate (q. v.), and the Shannon Guards constituted the force which fought the battle of Black Jack in June, 1856, when Pate was captured, along with a number of his men.
Shannon, Wilson, second territorial governor of Kansas, was born in what is now Belmont county, Ohio, Feb. 24, 1802. His father was frozen to death in the winter of 1803 while on a hunting expedition, the eldest son, John, being at that time about nineteen years of age. It was due chiefly to the assistance of his brothers, John and Thomas, that Wilson received his education. As soon as he was old enough to be of assistance he was put to work on the farm, but at the age of eighteen years his brothers sent him to the Ohio University at Athens, where he studied for two years, and then entered Transylvania Uni- versity at Lexington, Ky. While a student in this institution he read law with his brothers, George and James, and in 1826 began the prac- tice of law at St. Clairsville, Ohio. He soon won distinction at the bar and became an active factor in politics. By 1832 he had become so well known that the Democratic party nominated him for Congress, the Whig candidate being Gen. James M. Bell. Although the Whigs were in a majority in the district Mr. Shannon made such a vigorous campaign that Bell was elected by a bare 37 votes. The following year Mr. Shannon was elected county attorney of Belmont county, and in 1835 was reelected. In 1838 he was elected governor of Ohio, but in 1840 he was defeated for reëlection by Thomas Corwin. Two years later he again ran against Corwin, and this time was elected. L'pon the expiration of his second term as governor he was appointed minister to Mexico by President Tyler, and served in that capacity until diplomatic relations were suspended in May, 1845. He then prac- ticed law in Cincinnati until 1849, when he went to California. Two years later he returned to Ohio, with about the same amount of money as he had when he started for the Pacific coast, and resumed his law practice. In 1852 he was elected to represent his district in the lower house of Congress, and while a member of that body voted for the Kansas-Nebraska bill. On Aug. 10, 1855, he was commissioned gov- ernor of Kansas Territory by President Pierce. The fact that he had voted for the Kansas-Nebraska bill caused his appointment to be hailed with delight by the pro-slavery men in Kansas and the western part of Missouri, who hoped to gain greater advantages than they had been able to do during the administration of Gov. Reeder. His administra- tion actually lasted but about eleven months, but during that time occurred some of the most turbulent scenes of the "Border War." After his resignation, in Aug., 1856, he located at Lawrence and in a short
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