USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > Kansas City > Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Historical and biographical. Comprising a condensed history of the state, a careful history of Wyandotte County, and a comprehensive history of the growth of the cities, towns and villages > Part 14
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Thomas Ewing, Jr., came to the Territory of Kansas at an early day, seeking fame and fortune. In his favor he had the influence of the name of a distinguished family, and he was the possessor of brill- iant talents. He seemed to have been born with indomitable confi- dence in his own capacity for self-advancement. He was a very prince in personal appearance, gentlemanly and dignified in his demeanor, and a forcible and impressive speaker. He was deemed by some re- served and cold in his manner, but those most intimate with him credit him with great social qualities and an intense devotion to his friends. He had the quality of attaching persons to him with hooks of steel, and ever afterward they were not only his earnest supporters but his ardent admirers. He was a member of the Free-State Convention at Lawrence, in 1857, and in 1858, of the Territorial commission which
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exposed in detail the fraudulent votes cast for the Lecompton Constitu- tion. He was one of the officers of the Free-State Convention held at Topeka, in 1858, and in the same year was a member of the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention. He was one of the vice-presidents of the Osawatomie Convention, held in 1859, and as a member of that con- vention assisted greatly in organizing the Republican party in Kansas. He was nominated chief justice of the Supreme Court, by acclamation, at the Republican State Convention held in Lawrence, October 12, 1859. After the admission of the State, he served as chief justice less than two years, resigning his judicial position in November, 1862, to accept the colonelcy of the Eleventh Regiment of Kansas Volun- teers. In March, following, he was made brigadier-general, and on August 22, 1863, issued his celebrated order No. 11, requiring all persons living in Jackson, Cass and Bates Counties, Mo., to remove from their places of residence within fifteen days. Upon leaving the army, in 1865, Gen. Ewing returned to Ohio to live. He there be- came identified with the Democratic party, served in Congress, and at the National Democratic Convention held in New York, in July, 1868 was a prominent candidate for the vice-presidency. His order No. 11, circulated among members of that convention, was prejudicial to his success, and he was finally defeated by Gen. Frank P. Blair, of Mis- souri. As illustrative of his style as a speaker, and the many great changes in travel and mail facilities from the early days of Kansas, the following quotation is given from one of his speeches delivered in Congress: "I have lived on the border, and know how exigent and imperative is the need of good facilities-what social joy and business life the quick coach is freighted with, and how saddening and destruct- ive of business is the laggard mail. I was present when the first fleet horse of the pony express starte.1-that splendid achievement by Ben Holladay-the most characteristic of all the American enterprises of this century. I was present when the courser flung the dust of Mis- souri from his feet, and sped away to the desert, amid the godspeeds and acclaims of all Kansas; and I remember, too, how his reception on the Pacific coast thrilled the continent. A grander and more loving welcome was given to horse and rider, begrimed with soil and sweat, than was ever accorded there to hero or statesman; for the hearts of onr brethren on that far coast leaped with joy to know that they were brought within a fortnight-mail communication with their kindred in the East. That spider's thread spun across the desert has drawn after it railroad and telegraph, city and State; vast fields of wheat and herds
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of cattle, and the pulses of this great artery of commerce now throb throughout our continent."
Hon. Samuel A. Kingman, one of the fathers and founders of the State, was for fourteen years upon the supreme bench as chief justice and associate justice. He was an active member of the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, and was chairman of the committee on the judiciary. In that convention he was eloquent in debate, as well as wise, or rather he was eloquent by his wisdom. His name is en- titled, in Kansas, to enviable immortality for his support of the home- stead provision incorporated in the State constitution. If not the author of the provision, he was its most able defender and successful advo- cate. Against an attempt to limit the value of the homestead to $2,000, he said: " A true homestead law has always laid very near my heart. A home is a home, good or bad, valuable or valueless. It is simply the home, the hearthstone, the fireside, around which a man may gather his family, with the certainty of assurance that neither the hand of the law, nor all of the uncertainties of life can eject them from the pos- session of it. To limit the value is to say to the owner: 'So long as your land remains unimproved, so long as it shall remain poor and sterile, it is yours, but the moment you put your labor upon it, the moment you improve it and adorn it and make it habitable and beau- tiful, it shall be taken away from you for the payment of your debts.' This limitation tells him that his labor shall be in vain; tells him to keep away the hand of improvement, for if you advance its value be- yond the limit proposed, your homestead and your reliance for the sup- port of your family is forever gone." Chief Justice Kingman's judi- cial opinions are models of clearness and conciseness; a natural sense of justice permeates them all. Upon the bench, as well as off, he was noted for unaffected dignity and simplicity. It was a misfortune to the State that ill health required him to relinquish the duties which otherwise he was so ably fitted to discharge.
Benjamin Franklin Mudge (the distinguished geologist), son of James and Ruth Mudge, was born in Orrington, Me., August 11, 1817. In 1818 his parents removed to Lynn, Mass., and in the com- mon schools of that city Benjamin received his early education. From the age of fourteen until he was twenty, he followed the trade of shoe making. He taught school to procure the means of acquiring a collegiate education, and graduated from the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn., first in the scientific and afterward in the class- ical course in 1840. After graduating he returned to Lynn and began
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the study of law, being admitted to the bar two years later, and im- mediately entering upon the practice of his profession. He remained a resident of Lynn until 1859, becoming during those years thorough- ly identified with all the reform movements in that city. He was especially active and earnest in the anti-slavery and temperance move- ments, and was elected mayor of the city on the latter issue in 1852. In 1859, having spent eighteen years of his active business life in Lynn, he accepted the office of chemist for the Breckenridge Coal & Oil Com- pany in Kentucky. On the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion he removed to Kansas and settled at Quindaro, where he remained until he received an appointment as State geologist for Kansas in 1863, from which time until his death, sixteen years later, his whole time and strength were given to scientific researches and investigations in the West, principally in Kansas and Nebraska. In 1865 he was elected professor of "geology and associated sciences," in the State Agricult- ural College at Manhattan, in which position he remained eight years. In addition to the faithful and conscientious work performed by the Professor in the interest of the institution, he presented to it his rare and valuable cabinet, including the collections of more than thirty years and many thousand choice specimens. Having some disagreement with the college administration, which resulted in litigation, Prof. Mudge accepted an appointment from Prof. Marsh, of Yale College, to gather geological specimens in the new West for the cabinet of that institu- tion. He furnished various forms of vertebrate fossils, the first speci- men of birds with teeth (described by Prof. Marsh, American Journal of Science, volume IV, page 34), and also many of the original speci- mens for the engravings in Government publications. During a single year he gathered and shipped three tons of rare specimens of western fossil to eastern scientists. To accomplish such a work his time for the last five years of his life was necessarily spent principally in camp, exposed to the perils and privations of frontier and oftentimes savage life. During the intervals between his tours of exploration and in- vestigation, his time was employed in writing and lecturing on scien- tifie subjects, mainly geology, he being a fine writer, and a most popular lecturer. In 1878 he was elected fellow of the American As- sociation for the Advancement of Science, and was father of the Kansas Academy of Sciences. He was married September 16, 1846, to Mary Eusebia Beckford. Six children were born to them. Prof. Mudge died of apoplexy at his home in Manhattan, Kas., November 21, 1879.
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Col. D. R. Anthony, editor and proprietor of the Leavenworth Times, was boru in South Adams, Mass., August 22, 1824. He re- ceived a common-school education, and his youth and early manhood were spent in various mercantile pursuits. In July, 1854, Mr. An- thony visited Kansas, being a member of that colony sent out by the New England Emigrant Aid Society, under the leadership of Eli Thayer, which founded the city of Lawrence. In the fall of the same year he returned to Rochester, N. Y., where he remained in business until June, 1857, when he returned to Kansas, and located permanently in Leavenworth. At the breaking out of the war, Mr. Anthony be- came lieutenant-colonel of the First Kansas Cavalry, afterward known as the Seventh Kansas Volunteers. In November, 1861, at the battle of the Little Blue, he won a decisive victory over a force of gnerrillas four times as strong as his in numbers; but his reputation as a faithful Union officer was made by the order which he issued while in command of Gen. Mitchell's brigade in Tennessee, forbidding any officer or soldier to return a fugitive slave to his master. His action created no small feeling and commotion in the army and throughout the country, and, by his refusal to countermand the order, he incurred the displeasure of his superior officer, and was arrested by Gen. Mitchell. Within sixty days from the time of his arrest, however, Gen. Halleck restored him to active service, being satisfied that public sentiment sustained Col. Anthony's course. In April, 1861, he was appointed postmaster of Leavenworth, which office he held for five years, being elected mayor of the city in 1863. As chief executive of Leavenworth, he carried into civil life the same nncompromising Union spirit which he had shown in the army, and his administration was one of the most vigorous and effective which the city has ever en- joyed. Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., commanding the District of the Border, headquarters at Kansas City, had declared martial law, and his detectives in Leavenworth seized some horses belonging to a colored man, claiming they had been stolen in Missouri. This Mayor Anthony resented, claiming that Kansas was a loyal State, and that her civil authorities were entirely competent to enforce all the laws, and ordered the police to recover the animals, which they did. On September 7 he was arrested by order of Gen. Ewing, and taken to Kansas City, escorted by a military guard of twenty-four men. The whole of Leavenworth was in a blaze of excitement over the indignity placed upon her mayor. A large public meeting, composed of promi- nent citizens, was held upon the evening of his arrest, and resolutions
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were passed calling upon the President to properly punish or censure those who were responsible for the outrage. Mayor Anthony was. however, released within twenty-four hours from the time he was ar- rested, and was granted a perfect ovation at the market house the next evening. The order declaring martial law in Leavenworth had been countermanded simultaneously with his arrest. In 1868 Col. Anthony was president of the Republican State Convention, and was chosen a presidential elector, his being one of the three votes which Kansas cast for Gen. Grant. In 1871 he served in the city council, and in 1872 was again elected mayor for a term of two years. In 1874 he was elected councilman from the First Ward. and in April, 1874, was appointed postmaster of Leavenworth by Gen. Grant. In addition to the fine record which Col. Anthony has made for himself as a public functionary, he has, for nearly thirty years, been building a journal- istic reputation which is second to none in the State, and which is among the foremost in the country. Mr. Anthony was married Jan- uary 21, 1864, to Miss Annie O. Osborn, of Edgartown, Mass., his father-in-law, Capt. Osborn, being one of the leading whaling mer- chants of that State. Col. Anthony, a man of strong convictions, and fearless in their expression, has made bitter enemies; and it is almost an anomaly that a man of strong character does escape bitter persecu- tion of some kind. On May 10, 1875, he was shot in the opera house, Leavenworth, by W. W. Embry, a printer and newspaper publisher. The ball passed into the right side of the face, passed downward, and lodged in the body. The shot came near proving fatal. It may be incidentally remarked as a singular circumstance, that on New Year's Day, 1880, W. W. Embry, the man who shot Col. Anthony, was himself shot and instantly killed, in a saloon row with his newspaper partner.
Hon. David Josiah Brewer was born in Smyrna, Asia Minor, June 20, 1837. His father, Rev. Josiah Brewer, was a missionary to the Greeks in Turkey at the time of his birth. His mother, Emilia A. (Field) Brewer, was a sister of David Dudley and Cyrus W. Field. The subject of this sketch commenced his collegiate studies at the Wes- leyan University, at Middletown, Conn., but subsequently entered the junior class at Yale College, New Haven, Conn., from which he grad- nated with high honors in 1856. He completed his law studies at the Albany Law School, from which he graduated in 1858. He then came west, spent a few months in Kansas City, and then journeyed farther west up the Arkansas River to Pike's Peak. He remained in the Colo- rado regions until the following June, when he returned to Kansas,
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and after a short visit to his eastern home, settled finally, September 13, 1859, at Leavenworth, Kas., where he has since been a resident. Since he settled in Leavenworth he has been an honored citizen by almost continuous election to offices of honor and trust. In 1861 he was appointed United States commissioner; in 1862 he was elected judge of probate and criminal courts of Leavenworth County; in 1864 was elected judge of the district court for the First Judicial District of the State of Kansas; in 1868 was elected attorney for Leavenworth County; in 1870 was elected justice of the Supreme Court, and re- elected to the same position in 1876, and again in 1882, for a third term. Among the many minor offices with which he has been honored by his neighbors, are the following: Member of the board of educa- tion of Leavenworth City, in 1863-64; president of the school board in 1865; city superintendent of schools in 1865-68; secretary of the Mercantile Library Association, 1862-63, and its president in 1864; president of the State Teachers' Association in 1868; and secretary and one of the trustees of Mount Muncie Cemetery Association, the public cemetery of Leavenworth City, since its organization in 1866. He was married, October 3, 1861, to Miss Louise R. Landon, of Bur- lington, Vt. They have four daughters, all living: Harriet E., Etta L., Fannie A. and Jeanie E. During the long period of twelve years which have passed since Judge Brewer's first election to the supreme bench, he has, by the judicial ability and integrity which have charac- terized his decisions, won distinction for himself and eminence as a jurist, as well as elevated the standard of excellence of the court over which he presides. It has in the past been truthfully said of him, and the truth brightens as the years roll on: "He has honestly merited the confidence and respect which is so universally tendered him by the legal fraternity of Kansas, and is an honor to the bench he adorns."
Samuel Medary was appointed governor of Kansas Territory November 19, and arrived in the Territory and entered upon the duties of his office December 20, 1858. He was born in Montgomery Coun- ty, Penn., February 15, 1801. He learned the trade of a printer, and subsequently became the editor of the Ohio Statesman, published at Columbus, Ohio. He held the position for many years, during which his paper ranked as one of the ablest Democratic journals of the State. In politics he was a stanch Democrat of the Jacksonian school, during his whole life. He was an ardent admirer and follower of Douglas up to the division which grew out of the discussion of the Lecompton Constitu- tion in Congress, at which time he supported the administration and fa-
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vored its policy. He was appointed governor of Minnesota in March, 1857. On its admission as a State, he again made his home in Columbus, Ohio. He was appointed governor of Kansas November 19, 1858, took the oath of office December 1, and entered upon his duties December 20. Compared with the administrations of his predecessors, his was uneventful. The country was in a comparatively peaceful condition, and little opportunity was offered him to show either the administra- tive faults or virtues which he may have possessed. He resigned the office December 20, 1860, and returned to Columbus, Ohio, where he remained until the time of his death, which occurred November 7, 1864.
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WYANDOTTE COUNTY
CHAPTER XI.
LOCATION-TOPOGRAPHY - ALTITUDE- ECONOMIC GEOLOGY - EXPLO- RATIONS-INDIANS-SETTLEMENT-FIRST ELECTION-INDIAN TREA- TIES-SURVEYOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE-LAND SURVEYS-INDIAN SET- TLERS-FIRST WHITE SETTLERS-INDIAN CEMETERY-FIRST MAR- RIAGES, ETC., ETC.
" The fall of waters, and the song of birds, The hills that echo to the distant herds, Are luxuries excelling all the glare The world can boast, and her chief favorites share."
YANDOTTE COUNTY, Kas., is situated at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, in the extreme eastern portion of the State, and is bounded on the west and partially on the north by Leavenworth County, also on the north and northeast by the Missouri River, which separates it from the State of Missouri; on the east by the Missouri River, Kansas City in Missouri, and the Missouri State line, and on n the south by Johnson County, the Kansas River forming the dividing line a part of the way. It contains portions of Townships 10 and 11, south of the base line, in Ranges 23. M2 24 and 25, east of the sixth principal meridian, and a portion of Township 12 south, in Range 23 east. It also lies in the southern part of the fortieth degree of north latitude, and in the western part of the ninety-fifth degree of longitude west from Greenwich, England. According to the rectangular system of United States surveys, it contains an area of about 153 square miles or 97.920 acres,
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The base line above referred to lies on the fortieth degree of north latitude, and constitutes the line between the States of Kansas and Nebraska. The sixth principal meridian crosses the base line, and extends north and south through both of these States, passing through Kansas 132 miles west of the western boundary of Wyandotte County. The townships number south from the base line for the whole State, and the ranges for the eastern part of the State number eastward from the meridian, and for the western part of the State they number west- ward therefrom. The State line between the States of Ohio and Indi- ana constitute the first principal meridian, as used in the system of townships and ranges for the survey of the public lands; the second passes through the middle of Indiana, a few miles west of Indianapolis; the third through the State of Illinois, near the center thereof; the fourth through the western part of Illinois; the fifth through the States of Arkansas, Missouri and Iowa, and the sixth through Kansas and Nebraska, as above explained.
The following is the legal description of the boundary lines of Wyandotte County: Commencing at a point on the west line of the State of Missouri, opposite the mouth of the Kansas River; thence south on the west line of the State of Missouri to the south line of Township 11 south, being the northeast corner of Johnson County; thence west on township line to the middle of the main channel of the Kansas River, in Range 24, east; thence up the said river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the intersection with the east line of Range 22, east; thence north on said range line to the old Delaware reservation line, the same being the dividing line between the original Delaware reserve and Delaware trust lands; thence east on said line to the west boundary line of the State of Missouri; thence southeasterly with the said western boundary line of the State of Missouri to the place of beginning. This, the statutory description, is technical, and yet indefinite, as it depends upon other descriptions not herein expressed. Wyandotte is the smallest county in the State, but it ranks as the third in population, and has a density of 332.43 persons to the square mile. Kansas City, lying in the extreme eastern portion of the county, at the mouth of the Kansas River, is the county seat.
The county is named after the civilized tribe of Indians who com- menced its settlement in 1843, and it has been spelled in three dif- ferent ways, viz .: Wyandot, Wyandott and Wyandotte; the first is the Indian, the second the English, and the third the French method.
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It is found all these ways in the public records, documents and books making mention of it. The latter method is now most generally accepted, and to prevent confusion, will be used in this work, except in quota- tions where the name is otherwise spelled.
The general surface of the county is undulating, high bluffs oc- curring along the Missouri and the south bank of the Kansas River. Bottom lands vary in width from one to two miles, and, in the aggre- gate, comprise twenty per cent of the total area. There is consider- able timber in all sections except the northern, constituting about one- fourth of the area of the county. The belts along the streams average a width of two miles. All the varieties of timber common to the west- ern country, such as oak, elm, sycamore, cottonwood, box elder, wal- nut, honey locust, willow, hickory, ash, hackberry and mulberry, are found here. But unlike the tall timber of the East, with limbless trunks, it has a low and spreading growth, thus making it less valu- able as saw timber.
Springs are abundant, and good well water is obtained at an aver- age depth of thirty-five feet. The Missouri River, flowing in a south- easterly direction, forms the largest portion of the northern boundary and a small part of the eastern. The Kansas River, with a north- eastern course, forms about one third of the southern boundary, and flows into the Missouri River. The creeks which flow from the county into the Missouri River are Jersey, which runs eastwardly through the northern part of Kansas City; Big Eddy, near the line between Ranges 24 and 25; Marshall, near the line between Ranges 23 and 24; Connar, Honey and Island, the last three being in Range 23. All of these except Jersey flow in a northeasterly direction. There are some other smaller tributaries of the Missouri in the county. The creeks which flow from the county into the Kansas River on the north side are Muncy, Mill and Turkey, in Range 24, and Betts, East Mis- souri, West Missouri, Spring and West, in Range 23. These streams all flow southerly and southeasterly. A few small creeks enter the Kansas River from Shawnee Township, of Wyandotte County, on the south. The streams here mentioned, with a few small and un- named rivulets, form the drainage of the county, which is very per- fect.
Kansas River, at its mouth, is 750 feet above sea level. The city hall in Kansas City, Kas., stands 124.61 feet above low water mark in the Missouri River, and the court-house stands 150 feet above the same mark. The surface gradually rises on going westward, but be-
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tween the streams that flow northward into the Missouri, and those that flow southward into the Kansas River, there is a water shed run- ning east and west through the county near the second standard parallel south from the base line, it being the line between Town- ships 10 and 11 south. From this water shed the lands descend toward the Missouri on the north and northeast, and toward the Kansas River on the south and southeast.
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