USA > Kansas > Anderson County > The history of Anderson County, Kansas, from its first settlement to the Fourth of July, 1876. > Part 4
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Dewey selected his claim on the land now owned by William Neal, and drove his claim stake. H. H. Williams took the claim on the land that is now the Isaac Hiner farm. Daniel Baer selected the claim on which P. A. Paul now lives. None of the other parties located in Anderson county. They all re- turned to Partridge's that night, and the next day re- turned to Jones' for their families.
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On the roth day of May Dewey and his party unloaded their goods in a pole cabin, 10 feet by 14 feet, roofless and floorless, on the northwest corner of . what is now James Adams' farm, near the bank of the stream. That was the first settlement on the South Pottowatomie above the Schutte farm.
Dewey, Baer and Williams cleared off three or four acres of brush land and planted it in corn, which produced a good crop. The corn was de- stroyed by a prairie fire in the fall before it was gathered.
H. H. Williams was taken sick on the 5th of July, and was unable to work until the next winter. Baer was taken sick in August, from which he never re- covered. He died in September and was buried on the high bluff on the north side of the Pottowatomie, just above Dutch Henry crossing. He had buried his child soon after their arrival on the Pottowatomie. Mrs. Baer and Mrs. Dewey lay sick during the month of September. 'Dewey's little girl died on the 18th of the same month. The whole colony was sick during the fall. Dewey was the only one that was able to attend to the affairs about the cabin. There were no other settlers to care for or to give aid to the sick; no doctor in the country ; none nearer than Osawatomie. Dewey, having educated himself for a physician, and having been engaged in the practice, and anticipating the necessities of a new country, supplied himself with a small amount of such medicines as would be required, which en-
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abled him to administer to the sick of his family and those who came with him ; and he was often called to attend the sick further down the stream.
In the following winter the government lands in Anderson county were surveyed, and Dewey found his claim not a desirable one, because of the lines separating his timber from the prairie. He jumped the claim made by one Card, a government surveyor, and built a frame house on it, and pre-empted it in the spring of 1856, where he lived until he went into the army during the rebellion, when he traded it to Henry Denman, who still lives upon it.
In the summer of 1855 Patrick Tyler with his family squatted on the farm now owned by Judge Wm. Spriggs ; and John Prior, in the fall following, settled on the claim now the farm of Emery Wilson. H. M. Rumley settled still further up the creek in the same year. In the spring of 1856 Samuel Mc- Daniel came to the Pottowatomie, and bought the claim of Patrick Tyler, who went further up the stream and located another claim.
In the fall of 1855 and winter and spring of 1856 the government survey of the public lands was made, under the supervision of John Calhoun, surveyor general of the Territory of Kansas and Nebraska.
On the first day of May. 1856, Dr. G. W. Cooper arrived at Kansas City, Missouri. He had started a few days prior thereto from his home in Louis- ville, Kentucky, to explore the southern portion of the Territory of Kansas, for the purpose of select-
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ing a site for a town and locating a colony thereat. At the time Cooper arrived at Kansas City, Major Buford landed with a large body of men from Mis- sissippi, Alabama and South Carolina, for the pur- pose of making Kansas a slave State. Kansas Ter- ritory was then under the rule of the Pro-Slavery party, and it was dangerous for a Free State man to enter the Territory, unless he had a voucher from some of the leading Pro-Slavery men. So Cooper, to avoid trouble, applied to General McClain, at Wyandotte, for a letter of recommendation, that would protect him while among the Pro-Slavery men, McClain being a leading man in that party. He gave Cooper the necessary recommendation to all good and true men in the Territory. Cooper, thus armed, set out on his voyage. He traveled in a southwest direction for a few days, returning through Anderson county about the last of May, and afterwards selected and laid out a town on Ianthe creek, and called it Kansas City, afterwards known as Ianthe. This was the first townsite selected in the county. After selecting the townsite and platting the same, he returned to Wyandotte, to General McClain's office. Ianthe, or Kansas City, was a paper town, located on the west half of section 27 and east half of section 28, township 19, range 18, and was afterwards pre-empted by John Murphy, John L. Clemens, Stephen B. Shotwell and Alex- ander Casseday. The three latter were from Louis- ville, Ky., and the former from Virginia. John
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Murphy made a claim on Ianthe creek on 160 acres of land. and made some improvements, and moved on the same. The entire tract of land claimed as the townsite of Ianthe or Kansas City, except the claim of John Murphy, was pre-empted by one movable log-cabin, which was moved from one quar- ter to another until the several claims were pre- empted. The cabin and proprietors have long since "gone where the woodbine twineth."
Cooper, at Wyandotte, met George A. Dunn, who had surveyed most of the lands in Anderson county, and was recently from that region of coun- try. When Cooper ntade known to Dunn his mis- sion to Kansas, he proposed to go with him to the Pottowatomie, in Anderson county, and select a townsite near the center of the county, for a county seat, and, after agreeing upon a plan and the share each was to have, they together set out for the Pottowatomie country, and arrived in this county some time in the summer or fall thereafter. They went to the geographical center of the county and examined the surrounding country, but failing to find a desirable site for a town, Dunn suggested that there was a beautiful site about six miles from the center, on section 30, township 20, range 20, with a fine spring of water. So they came down the Pot- towatomie to Samuel McDaniel's, near the present site of Garnett, stopped a few days with him, ex- amined the proposed townsite. and laid out a town on section 30, township 20, range 20, and returned
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to Wyandotte ; and Cooper, in a few days, returned to Louisville, and afterwards organized a town com- pany consisting of W. A. Garnett, R. B. Hall, G. W. Cooper, Geo. A. Dunn and Theodore Harris. The company, so organized, proceeded to the elec- tion of officers, as follows : W. A. Garnett, presi- dent ; R. B. Hall, vice president : and Theo. Har- ris, secretary. The town was then named Garnett, in honor of W. A. Garnett, a man of wealth and influence in Louisville, Ky. The company at once made arrangements for sending a colony from Louisville to the new town, and purchased the necessary machinery for a first-class flouring and saw mill ; but not being able to send the colony that summer, the mill was not sent until the summer of 1857.
In March, 1857, Cooper again came to Kansas, and on the 10th of May he had the townsite again surveyed, staked out and platted, and then returned to Louisville for the colony, mill and machinery. On his arrival at Louisville he had a lithographed plat of the town made : and the town company then elected new officers, as follows : R. B. Hall, presi- dent ; Geo. A. Dunn, vice president ; and Theo. Harris, secretary.
When Cooper was in Garnett in the spring of 1857 he employed men and had a double log house built, on Fourth avenue, east of Main street, in which Dr. Preston Bowen opened a store in the sum- mer of the same year, which was the first store in
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the town. During the spring and summer of 1857 several emigrants settled in Garnett, before the Louisville colony arrived, among whom were Dr. Thos. Lindsay, John G. Lindsay, Wm. Smith, W. S. Smith and Thos. Owen.
Cooper and Hall, about the middle of July, with a portion of the colony, started for Kansas, and ar- rived in Anderson county about the 25th of the same month.
On the first day of August Robert B. Hall, as president ; Geo. A. Dunn, G. W. Cooper and Theo- dore Harris, as associates, filed a plat of the town of Garnett in the office of the probate court of the county, with a petition setting forth that the town of Garnett was regularly laid out and surveyed on or about the Ioth day of May, A. D. 1857, covering the south half of section 30, township 20, range 20. About this time a store house was built and occupied by a merchant, and the company on this improve- ment claimed the right under act of Congress to pre-empt the above described lands for a townsite ; and on the Sth day of September, 1857, the same was pre-empted by George Wilson, probate judge of Anderson county, in trust for the occupants of the town of Garnett.
August 7, 1857, William C. Hall, Isaac N. Locke and Joseph Barclay, associates of the town of Troy, presented for filing in the office of the probate court their petition and plat, showing the survey of the town of Troy, and claiming the north half of section
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30, township 20, range 20, as a townsite, under the pre-emption act of Congress, which petition was granted, and a record made of the same; and on the 8th day of September, 1857, the land above de- scribed was pre-empted by Geo. Wilson, probate judge, for the use and benefit of the occupants of the town of Troy.
In August, 1857, the Louisville colony arrived on the townsite of Garnett, with the machinery for a flouring and saw mill, and at once commenced the work of getting up the mill, and preparing to build themselves dwellings. The following persons com- posed the colony : Charles Hidden and family, F. G. Bruns and family, W. C. Hall, R. B. Hall, Theodore Harris, G. W. Cooper and family, Mrs. Adeline Duren and family, John Lambdin and fam- ilv. and M. T. Williams and family.
There are but four persons of the Louisville col- ony now living in this county ; these are F. G. Bruns and wife, and G. W. Cooper and Mary L. Cooper. F. G. Bruns was a young man : had not been mar- ried but a few months before coming to Kansas. He arrived here on the roth of August ; his wife came soon after-as soon as he could prepare a house for her accommodation. He built the first frame house in Garnett, where he still resides. He was an active, energetic young man ; was of valu- able service to the town and county ; has held sev- eral prominent positions in the town since. On the 13th day of March, 1858, was born unto him two
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children, named, respectively, Charles Garnett Bruns and Mary Bruns. These were the first births in the town. Charles Garnett Bruns is now 18 years old ; a boy of excellent habits, and respected by all. Mary Bruns died at the age of nine weeks, and hers was the first death in Garnett. Bruns has built several buildings in the town, opened the first cabi- net shop, and by industry and rigid economy has from time to time added to his business until he now, in connection with O. Fabricius, is carrying on one of the most extensive furniture factories and stores in this part of the State.
In the month of December, 1857, the town com- panies of Garnett and Troy were consolidated, un- der the name and style of the "Town Company of Garnett."
On the 9th day of February, 1859, the Territor- ial Legislature passed an act to incorporate the town company of Garnett, with the following incorpora- tors : R. B. Hall, Theodore Harris, J. Y. Camp- bell, James Locke, D. W. Houston and W. C. Hall, with the usual powers of bodies corporate. The company so incorporated met at Garnett on the 9th day of April, 1859, and elected its officers as fol- lows : R. B. Hall, president, and Theodore Har- ris, secretary. The town so organized issued to its members certificates of stock in the following form :
" Town of Garnett. Kansas Territory.
" This is to certify that is entitled to one share. No. -. in the town of Garnett, K. T., transfer-
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able personally or by attorney, upon the books of the com- pany, upon the surrender of this certificate. It is agreed between the stockholders and original pre-emptors of Gar- nett, that this certificate does not entitle the holler to any interest in the grounds and lots that have been set apart for public purposes, built on, sold or given away previous to December. 1857.
" In witness whereof the said company have caused their president and secretary to affix their names, this - day of -. 185 -. R. B. HALL. President. " THEODORE HARRIS, Secretary."
At the head of this certificate is the motto of the State of Kentucky.
Several houses were erected on the townsite of Garnett in 1857. The flouring and saw mill was ' put in operation during the fall of that year.
In 1858 and 1859 a number of prominent settlers located in Garnett, among whom were D. W. Hous- ton, Hiram Tefft, Rev. J. R. Slentz, C. P. Alvey, Dr. G. W. Walgamott, S. J. Crawford, W. A. Johnson, G. W. Iler, J. G. Smith, J. C. Johnson, Hugh Quinn, Gifford McAfee, James McLaughlin, Jared Graham, William McLaughlin, Robert Me- Laughlin, Martin Setter, John B. Stitt, J. T. Pur- cell, Elias Norris, Ephraim Coy. Charles Norris, John Johnson, N. A. Porter, Wm. Tefft, John Tefft, John S. Stowe and others.
Dr. Cooper selected and laid out the town of Valley City, near the junction of the Pottowatomies, in the spring of 1857. Drs. Cooper and Lind- say surveyed and staked it out, and Cooper had a lithographed plat of it made; but there were
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never any town improvements made on the town- site. It had, like many of the Kansas towns of that day, existence only on paper. Townsites became so numerous in the early days of the country that it became necessary for the Legislature to prevent the location of so many townsites, and in 1859 it had a bill before it, providing that each alternate section should be reserved for agricultural purposes, and making it unlawful for more than half of the land to be occupied for town and city purposes.
CHAPTER VII.
Mass Meeting at Hyatt-First Meeting in Gar- nett-County Officers Appointed-Election of Delc- gates to Lecompton Constitutional Convention- Frec State Convention at Sac and Fox Agency- Celebration of 4th of fuly at Grecley-Dividing County into Municipal Townships-Free State Con- ventions at Simons' and Hyatt-First Election for County Officers-Vote of all the Precincts, except Shaunon, thrown out by Probate fudge-Letter Giving Reason for Same-Free State Convention at Grasshopper Falls-Sickness in the fall of 1857.
IN May, 1857, a mass meeting was held at Hyatt.
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D. B. Jackman was elected president, and C. J. Farley, secretary. The object of the meeting was to discuss the question of electing delegates to the Lecompton convention, to frame a State constitution. W. F. M. Arny, William Spriggs, D. B. Jackman and some others of the more radical Free State men took strong ground against going into an election or doing any act that would recognize the organiza- tion of the county under the bogus laws. Dr. J. G. Blunt, Dr. Rufus Gilpatrick, James Hanway and some others took a more conservative view, and were in favor of electing delegates and county offi- cers, believing the Free State men to be in the ma- jority ; but the majority of the meeting was opposed to the proposition, and passed resolutions against going into an election.
On the 18th of May, 1857, a mass meeting was held on the townsite of Garnett, at the store of Dr. P. Bowen. The meeting had been called by Capt. Samuel Anderson and others, for the purpose of considering the subject of electing county officers at the following October election. The meeting elected James Hanway as president, and B. F. Ridgeway, secretary. Speeches were made by Drs. Gilpatrick, Blunt and Lindsay, and Capt. Anderson and James Hanway, all favoring an election. The meeting passed resolutions that it was advisable to elect county officers at the October election. This was the first meeting held on the townsite of Gar-
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nett, and perhaps the most harmonious meeting ever held in the county.
In May, 1857, Thomas Hill was commissioned, by the Governor, sheriff of Anderson county. He qualified and entered on the duties of his office, and continued so to act until after the October election in the same year. He was appointed to fill the va- cancy caused by the removal of David McCammon from the Territory. Hill was not a resident of the county, but lived in Franklin county all the time that he acted as sheriff. In the early settlement of the Territory it was the general understanding of the settlers that the northern boundary of the county was three miles further north than it proved to be when surveyed and established. At the time of the or- ganization of the county the government survey had not been made.
May 25, 1857, John McDaniel and Darius Frank- enberger were appointed county commissioners, to fill the vacancies caused by the removal of Francis Myer and J. S. Waitman from the Territory, and they qualified on the same day, and on the same day Capt. Samuel Anderson was appointed as justice of the peace.
The county commissioners, on the 20th of July, established three voting precincts, and appointed judges of election for each precinct. First precinct, Greeley ; Samuel Mack, W. C. McDow and J. H. Wolken, judges for the October election. Second precinct, Shannon ; Benjamin Davis, Wilson Ander-
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son and John Barker, judges. Third precinct, at Benjamin L. Adington's, on North Pottowatomie ; Benj. L. Adington, Rezin Porter and Christian Feuerborn, judges.
The election for delegates to a convention to frame a State constitution, commonly known as the Lecompton constitutional convention, was held on the 15th day of June, 1857 ; and at this election Dr. Rufus Gilpatrick and J. Y. Campbell received 32 votes each in this county, and both were elected as delegates. This was the first election held in the county. Gilpatrick and Campbell both went to the convention at Lecompton, and on the 10th day of August the convention passed a resolution declaring both entitled to seats : but neither of them qualified or took a seat in the convention.
On the 20th of July A. Simons was appointed county clerk, and Samuel Anderson, probate judge.
On the first day of August Henry Williams was appointed justice of the peace.
On the roth day of September, 1857, a Free State convention was held at the Sac and Fox Agency, for the nomination of candidates to the Territorial Leg- islature from the nineteen disfranchised counties, and it nominated, as such candidates, Samuel J. Stewart, Christopher Columbia and John Curtis.
On the Fourth of July, 1857, a celebration was held in the grove north of Greeley, where C. E. Dewey, J. Y. Campbell and others delivered ora- tions, and patriotic songs and toasts by the patri-
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otic people. appropriately commemorated freedom's birth. It was a season of refreshment, where all the hardships of 1776, as well as those of their own days in the Territory, were rehearsed. Many of them had passed through trying scenes and strug- gles to provide homes for themselves and families. A stream of emigration from the north had begun to flow into the Territory, which brightened their hopes and kindled the anticipation that their success was near at hand.
June 1. 1857, George Wilson was commissioned notary public, and qualified before Judge Cato, at Lecompton.
February 16, John Anderson was commissioned constable.
September 21, a voting precinct was established at Hvatt, and Isaac Pilcher, B. D. Benedict and A. McArthur were appointed judges ; also, a pre- cinct was established at Cresco, and C. H. James. Daniel Long and John Eaton were appointed as judges for the October election.
October 7, 1857, the board of county commis- . sioners divided the county into municipal townships. and established their boundaries, and named them as follows : Walker, Monroe, Jackson, Reeder, Madison, Washington, Geary, Harrison, Clay and Franklin. The townships of Madison, Geary, Clay and Franklin were never organized, and the terri- tory embraced in their limits has since been included in other townships.
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November 25. 1857, B. F. Ridgeway was ap- pointed county surveyor, by the board of county commissioners.
November 16, M. T. Williams was appointed county clerk by the board of county commissioners.
A mass meeting of the citizens of Anderson county was held in the timber near the residence of A. Simons, on the 15th of August, 1857. Wm. Puett was elected chairman, and J. G. Reese, sec- retary. The meeting was addressed by Dr. J. G. Blunt, who stated the object of the meeting ; also, W. F. M. Arny, Dr. Rufus Gilpatrick, D. B. Jackman and William Spriggs made addresses. A committee of nine was appointed to report candi- dates for county offices ; also, for representatives to the Territorial Legislature, on motion of Dr. Gil- patrick ; and on the adoption of this motion, Judge Arny and others withdrew from the meeting a short distance, across a ravine, and organized another meeting. Arny and his friends were opposed to the meeting doing any act that would recognize the bo- gus laws, or yield obedience thereto. The commit- tee reported the names for candidates, as follows : Samuel Anderson, for probate judge ; G. A. Cook, for sheriff : James Fitten, for coroner ; A. Simons, for clerk : Isaac Hiner, for treasurer : William Puett, for assessor; B. F. Ridgeway, for surveyor ; for justices of the peace, James Sutton, Samuel Mack. William Smith and Rezin Porter ; for constables, John Anderson, Oliver Rand, William H. Ambrose
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and Benjamin Clark. The following persons were chosen delegates to the district convention, to be held at the house of Mr. Grant : James Hanway, James Snodgrass, W. O. Cloud, Samuel Anderson, Dr. Thos. Lindsay, Isaac Hiner, John B. Stitt, Da- rius Frankenberger and W. L. Webster. John B. Stitt was nominated as a candidate for representa- tive to the Territorial Legislature. The following gentlemen were appointed to confer with other county delegations of this district, in regard to the nomination of candidates for representatives : Sam- uel Anderson, Dr. Lindsay, D. Frankenberger, John Pryor and G. A. Cook.
Arny and his friends organized their meeting by electing Isaac Hull, chairman, and S. P. Hand, sec- retary, when speeches were made by Arny, D. B. Jackman and Wm. Spriggs against going into an election under the bogus laws. The meeting adop- ted a long series of resolutions, among which were the following :
" Resolved. . That we will use all legal means to resist every attempt to force upon us a Territorial government, and taxation to sustain such government, which is in vio- lation of the constitution of the United States and the or- ganie act ; therefore.
"Resolved. That we will use all legal means to resist every attempt to force upon us a Territorial goverment, and taxation to sustain such government. which is in vio- lation both of the constitution of the United States and the organic act of the Territory."
Then follow several resolutions, censuring the
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Territorial Legislature, at its previous session, for lo- cating the county seat and providing for the erec- tion of county buildings, without first submitting the matter to a vote of the people : and declaring that the meeting repudiated such acts, as tending to the disturbance of the peace of the county, as follows :
" Whereas. The new apportionment and attempt under it to disfranchise nineteen counties (of which we are one). gives us just reason to believe the future will be, as the past, which has been marked by injustice, and a determi- nation on the part of those who profess to act under the so-called Territorial laws. to deprive ns of a full and fair representation : therefore.
" Resolved. That a committee of five persons be appoin- ted by the chairman, to obtain an expression of the citi- zens of that portion of Kansas, and to obtain. if deemed practical. a nomination of a person to fully represent the nineteen disfranchised counties in the Territorial Legisla- ture."
The chairman appointed on this committee, D. B. Jackman, Richard Mills, Solomon Kauffman, J. A. Harvey and B. L. Adington.
On the 25th of August. 1857, the following re- quest for a Free State convention was issued in An- derson county :
" At a mass convention of the Free State party of An- derson county, the undersigned were chosen a committee to confer with the citizens of the other counties compris- ing the Tenth council district, to take such steps as may be necessary for the holding of a convention for delibera- tion and council. The apportionment, as made, is not to be changed. We are associated with Linn. Lykins and Franklin counties, together with a large portion of South-
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ern Kansas. No district committee. regularly elected. is authorized to call a convention. By the express wish of the people, in convention assembled, we assume the re- sponsibility. We ask you to waive all seeming irregular- ity in our call. and to meet in Osawatomie on Monday, September 15, at ten o'clock a. m., for the purpose of nomi- nating a suitable person to represent the Tenth district in the next Territorial Legislature. if the best interests of the party require : also to transact such other business as the committee may deem necessary.
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