Butler County Genealogy Trails Kansas Susan B. Allen Bio

Butler County’s Eighty Years ~ 1855-1935

by Jessie Perry Stratford

A History of Butler County Biographical Sketches and Portraits with Foreword by Rolla A. Clymer

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federated clubs in Butler County—the Book Club, Outlook, Sorosis and Twentieth Century at Augusta; the En Avant, E. M. B., Sr. and E. M. B., Jr. at El Dorado; the Berle Study Club at Potwin; E. M. B. Club at Towanda and the Tuesday Study Club at Whitewater, which was founded eleven years ago by Mrs. I. H. Neiman.

Among the earliest clubs in El Dorado were the Beethoven, organized in 1870, and the Rubenstin, a music club founded by the late Mrs. Fannie DeGrasse Black. The first woman’s club in El Dorado was the Shakespeare Club, which was formed of members of a reading circle organized in 1892 at the home of Mrs. Cyrus Austin Leland. The club began to study Shakespeare in 1898. Present members of this first woman’s club of the town are Mrs. Leland, Mrs. Miller M. VanDenberg, Mrs. Alvah Shelden, Mrs. S. R. Clifford, Mrs. Curtis L. Harris, Mrs. Harry Miller, Mrs. J. B. Adams, Mrs. R. E. Frazier, Mrs. C. E. Thompson and Mrs. D. B. Golden.

Mrs. Alvah Shelden and Mrs. William M. Sinclair organized the Woman’s Mutual Benefit Club in 1898 and it was federated in 1899, the first federated club in El Dorado. The Avon Club, of which many members are daughters of Shakespeare Club members, was organized November 16, 1906. Ruth Bradford is the only member who has been received since 1913. Other members are Flora Leland, Ellina Murdock, Cecil MacKinnon, Susan Ferry, Lida Lou Scott, Nell Cooper, Laura Harker, Kathleen Ferguson, Marion Atkinson, Grace Hegler, Corah Bullock, Lula Cox, Cornelia Simpson, Grace Ernest, Mildred Kilgore, Esther Kirkpatrick, Myrtle Sandifer, Mary Haines, Lillian Benson, Olive Stone, Edith Chesney and Leila Robison. Death has claimed two members of this club, Clara Kramer and Mary Alice Pattison.

Among other El Dorado organizations of women for study of literature, music or art, or for community or welfare work, are the senior Woman’s Mutual Benefit, E. M. B., Junior Woman’s Mutual Benefit Club, Junior E. M. E., En Avant, Book Lovers, Saturday Afternoon Music Club, Research Club, Dramatics Club, Pan-Hellenic, Domestic Science clubs, Story Tellers’ League; Mrs. Harold Long’s Junior Music Club, P. E. O., Parent-Teachers’ associations, Needlework Guild, Graduate Nurses Club, Business and Professional Women’s Club, Hospital Auxiliary, Mothers’ clubs, Fellowship Club, Beta Sigma Phi and Faculty Dames. The oldest social club in El Dorado was the Cub and Saucer, organized January 29, 1904, at that time including its membership, Messrs. and Mesdames R. H. Hazlett, C. L. Harris, H. W. Schumacher, S. R. Clifford, Cyrus A. Leland, Charles W. Ewing, S. E. Black and Harry Miller.

The Outlook Club at Augusta was organized in 1907, with nine charter members, Mrs. R. W. Stephenson, Mrs. A. N. Taylor, Miss Winifred Miller, Mrs. H. A. Hill, Mrs. Park Salter, Mrs. A. Holiday, Mrs. S. A. Simpson, Miss Leonard and Mrs. Warren E. Brown. This club established a library which opened June 1, 1912 with Miss Pancy Wiley, librarian.

Twentieth Century Club of Douglass was organized January 11, 1907; The Cassoday Mutual Helpers Club, under the name of “Needle and Eyes,” was organized in August 1914, with Mrs. Fred Ray as president, Mrs. Albert Sunbarger and Miss Kitty Green vice president and secretary.

E. M. B. Club of Towanda was organized in January 1909 at the home of Mrs. Leslie Robison. On October 1912, the club voted to found a library which opened January 8, 1913. Old People’s Day Club at Potwin was unofficially organized more than twenty years ago; Pontiac Neighborhood Club is long established and immensely enjoyed by the members. On April 30, 1903, the DeGraff Ladies Aid Society was organized at the home of Mrs. LeRoy Stimpson.

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FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS

The first body of Free Masons organized in Butler County was that of Mystic Tie Lodge, No. 74, of Augusta, which received a charter from the Grand Lodge of Kansas on October 22, 1869. The second to receive a charter was Patmos Lodge Number 97, El Dorado, on May 19, 1870. Douglass Lodge was granted a charter on October 22, 1874; Joppa Lodge Number 223, Leon, received its charter February 22, 1883; Towanda, September 1885; Brainerd, June 25, 1886; Latham, February 23, 1913.

MASONIC TEMPLE PORTRAITS

A row of portraits hangs on the walls of one of the lodge rooms of the Masonic temple in El Dorado. And from these pictures, each one of a Master of Patmos Lodge No. 97 A. F. and A. M. can be read a part of the history of El Dorado, and of Butler County, for sixty-four years.

T. G. Boswell, a retired farmer, who homesteaded the property east of the City building where a Skelly station now is located and which was later known as the Minos West property was the first Master of Patmos Lodge No. 97. He acted as Master under dispensation in 1870 and as Master under charter for the years of 1871-1872-1873-1875 and 1878.

Incidentally the charter of Patmos Lodge, issued by the Grand Lodge of Kansas, A. F. and A. M. on October 19, 1871 bears the names of Mr. Boswell as Master; J. P. Gordon, Senior Warden; J. C. Lambdin, Junior Warden. The original charter is kept in the fire proof Grand Lodge building at Topeka for protection.

The second picture is that of C. M. Foulks, dry goods merchant and father of Carl Foulks. He presided over Patmos in 1874.

C. N. James was clerk of the district court in 1876, the first year he was Master. In 1877 and 1880, when he also served, he was a county official. Mr. James can be called the father of Masonry for this section for he instituted Mystic Tie Lodge No. 74, A. F. and A. M. at Augusta, the first Masonic lodge in this part of the state and from it came the influence that led to the lodges in El Dorado, Wichita and Douglass. The town of Augusta was named for Mr. James’ wife. In 1879 E. N. Smith, attorney-at-law held office. H. C. Fitch, a nurseryman, dealing chiefly in fruit and shade trees, was Master in 1881. Next came Volney P. Mooney, who hold a life membership in El Dorado Chapter No. 35 R. A. M., and in El Dorado Commandery, No. 19, Knights Templar. Both in 1882 and in 1898 “Vol” Mooney served Patmos Lodge as its Master.

Some of the names and occupations of those early Masons are remindful of the horse and buggy days, before King Gasolene’s rule of roads began. There was W. H. Baxter, a liveryman, who presided over Patmos Lodge in 1883; M. L. Morgan, blacksmith, Master in 1884 and W. L. Richardson liveryman 1885.

During 1886-1887-1888 Dr. W. F. Kuhn, who at the time of his death in Kansas City was General Grand High Priest of Royal Arch Masonry in the United States, was Master of the local lodge.

Following Dr. Kuhn came J. T. Evans, county clerk and later in the banking business. He held high office in 1889-1890-1893 and 1902.

Then came the picture of a new industry in El Dorado. By this time the Missouri Pacific shops had been established, affording employment for many. T. D. McIntyre, a carpenter in those shops, was Master of Patmos No. 97 in 1891-1892-1894 and 1895. Following Mr. McIntyre, D. E. Peck, Missouri Pacific engineer, presided in 1896. James D. Giffin, clerk in the locomotive department of the Missouri Pacific shops, held office in 1897, with E. D. Moberly, Missouri Pacific agent as his successor in 1899. In 1900 our own James H. Sandiver, then clerk in The Missouri Pacific ticket office, became Master of Patmos, No. 97. But the name of Frank Wilson, Master in 1901 and blacksmith in the locomotive department of the Missouri Pacific recalls that soon after that the shops were moved to Wichita, and following J. T. Evans’ fourth term (1902) Dr. W. O. Bennett became Master in 1903.

To Virgil A. Osburn, engaged in the insurance and real estate business then and now, goes the honor of having been Master of Patmos Lodge No. 97, A. F. and A. M. more times than any other man. The dates were 1904-1905-1906-1907

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1908-1909-1918-1919-1920. William Ray Brown, Master in 1910 and 1911, as now was in the shoe business.

Again came a railroader, Wilbur E. Robbins, Santa Fe agent, is another man all El Dorado knows not along for his Masonic work but also for his long term of service with the Santa Fe and his untiring efforts in all causes of advancement for the town. Mr. Robbins was Master in 1912, 1913 and 1923.

In 1925 Mr. Robbins was appointed chairman of a committee to secure, if possible, the pictures that make up the subject of this article. Another member of the committee was Leon Cousland, secretary of Patmos Lodge, No. 97.

For a start the committee had only the pictures of T. G. Bowell, C. N. James and Volney Mooney. Through letters to Past Masters still living and to relatives and friends of those deceased the pictures were obtained. Some were located in distant states—many of the early ones were taken from old tin-types.

Several had to be sent to Chicago for expert reproduction. Some were located in magazines. That of Dr. Kuhn was taken from a newspaper cut. The files of early El Dorado papers were searched and yielded valuable aid. Once Mr. Robbins and Mr. Cousland gave up. It seemed impossible to obtain a likeness of Frank Wilson, Master in 1901. Mr. Wilson and all known relatives were dead. One morning the two men stood talking of this in front of the Temple when Charles W. Harvey, walking past, stopped to chat. During the conversation they told of their futile search and Mr. Harvey recalled that in his possession was a picture of Mrs. Wilson.

M. I. Morgan, Master in 1884, sat for his picture for the lodge just two weeks before his death. Now all Masters are required to have their pictures hung within three months of taking office. The pictures are all uniform in size and frame. C. O. Boston, photographer, is in charge of framing. For his untiring efforts in thus preserving pictorially the then fifty-seven years (for it took two years to locate all the likenesses) of local Masonic history Mr. Robbins was presented a life membership in Patmos Lodge No. 97, A. F. and A. M. One of his cherished possessions is the gold card of membership given him.

Dr. E. W. Kerr, well-known dentist, followed Mr. Robbins as Master in 1914, with Orville Holford, county clerk, succeeding him in 1915.

Karl M. Geddes, another name needing no further introduction to El Dorado or any other section of the state became Master in 1916. Following Mr. Geddess, H. K. Herbert, jeweler, presided in 1917. Hector Sinclair, who long engaged in the monument business and whose recent death saddened his many friends, became Master in 1921, following V. A. Osburn’s last three terms of office. Prior to placing his membership in Patmos Lodge Mr. Sinclair had been Master of nine different lodges in New York state. In 1922 Louis Guinn, plumber, was Master. The next picture is that of another familiar face. In 1924 Edgar L. Golden, then clothing clerk and general manager of Hitchcock’s Department Store was Master of Patmos Lodge, with Homer H. Hall, watchmaker and later mayor of El Dorado, following in 1925. By that time oil had become an integral part of El Dorado and in 1926 Patmos Lodge had the experience of two Masters. Harry K. Lorenz, an employee of the Empire Oil Company, took office on January 1, 1926, but in October of the year was transferred to Oklahoma. Thereupon Frank A. Shyrer, also an Empire man, finished the term which expired on December 31 of the same year. Duane Fisk, chief clerk for the Santa Fe, was master during 1927.

Out of the oil industry came El Dorado’s refineries. In 1928 Walter C. E. Bertram, welder for the El Dorado refinery, presided over the Lodge, followed by Ewin L. Falkner, welder for the Skelly refinery, in 1929. The utilities have also been represented on the roster—King Hamer Jollife, clerk for the Kansas Gas and Electric, was Master of Patmos No. 97 in 1930. Frank P. McCollum, another Empire man, succeeded Mr. Jollife in 1931. Wayne H. Nuzum, engine foreman for the Santa Fe, held the highest office in Patmos Lodge in 1932 with William Rex Patty, Empire employee, following in 1933.

At the present time Percy F. Neutman, printer composer, is Master of Patmos.

I.O.O.F. LODGE

El Dorado Lodge Number 74 is the oldest Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Butler County, having been organized May 31, 1871. Western Star Lodge 81

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was organized at Augusta October 19, 1971. The Leon lodge was organized May 24, 1882. Walnut Valley Lodge was instituted at Douglass May 20, 1879; Benton Lodge 255 was instituted April 23, 1885; Milton Lodge No. 268, first instituted at Brainerd October 14, 1885 later was moved to Whitewater. Beaumont Lodge 525 was instituted January 11, 1886. Potwin Lodge was instituted May 20, 1901 and the Rose Hill Lodge September 25, 1903. Rosalia Lodge had its inception December 15, 1905 and Cassoday Lodge on October 8, 1906. Andover Lodge was instituted December 17, 1909 and Latham Lodge on may 10, 1910.

MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA

The first camp of Modern Woodmen of America in Butler County was organized November 10, 1902. Chelsea Camp No. 8877 with these officers: Creed Hamilton, counsel; U. M. Green, adviser and C. E. Winkler, clerk. That charter of this camp was afterwards surrendered, most of the members uniting with the El Dorado Camp 647, which was organized July 10, 1888. Other camps were chartered as follows: Douglass, June 18, 1888; Augusta, April 9, 1889; Potwin, November 25, 1892; Towanda, July 25, 1895; Whitewater, May 9, 1896; Benton, July 27, 1896; Leon, March 26, 1898; Rosalia, October 28, 1899; Bodarc, November 25, 1899; Cassoday, January 6, 1908; Elbing, September 7, 1911. Several camps organized in the county have been disbanded, the members uniting with the nearest camp.

The Elks, Woodman of the World, Knights of Pythias, and Security Benefit Association are among other lodges in the county.

Among women’s coordinating lodges are Friendship Lodge Number 10, Daughters of Rebekah; Order of the Eastern Star, Social Order of the Beauceant, and Royal Neighbors.

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INCIDENTS OF THE PRAIRIES

A ROMANCE

In the seventy-eight years that have elapsed since John Hink, a Swede, settled in Fairview Township, Butler County, the usual tragedies, joys and successes have marked the growth of that community. And interwoven in the township’s history—prairie fire fatalities, mysterious murders, grasshopper devastation, plowing with oxen—is a romance of unusual pattern.

The story has to do with a mother who parted with her son when he was born—before she even saw him—and regained him nearly half a century later and until her death, in August, 1933, was her own mother, his foster-mother and his step-mother.

It was on October 15, 1870, the 21-year-old Hiram Brewster Hulburt and his pretty young bride came from Akron, Ohio, by rail as far as the track extended into Kansas, which then was Emporia. The next morning they left Emporia by stage and arrived in El Dorado twenty-three hours later. Then they drove to Fairview Township where they immediately homesteaded land on which they were destined to life fifty-one consecutive years. On that 18-mile trip, they saw no sign of habitation—nothing astir but antelope and jackrabbits.

In 1871, a tornado practically blew El Dorado away, killing several who lived outside the town area. John H. Ewing, father of William, Albert and Charles W. Ewing, was unloading groceries for his store when the tornado struck, and half his stock was blown to the four winds. The Hulburts became seasoned pioneers. They drove oxen to Fairview Township where they immediately homesteaded land on which they were destined to live fifty-one consecutive years. On that 18-mile trip, they saw no sign of habitation—nothing astir but antelope and jackrabbits.

In 1871, a tornado practically blew El Dorado away, killing several who lived outside the town area. John H. Ewing, father of William, Albert and Charles W. Ewing, was unloading groceries for his store when the tornado struck, and half his stock was blown to the four winds. The Hulburts became seasoned pioneers. They drove oxen to El Dorado to Sunday school, until they helped to organize the first church in Fairview and to build a stone building for church service, that still stands.

On Saturday, August 7, 1874, they stood by their crude little home, shortly before noon, and bewilderedly watched grasshoppers come in countless millions, obscuring the sun. In amazement they saw the hoppers eat whole watermelons and consume nearly everything in sigh but the house. “We’ll have onions—they’re under-ground,” Mrs. Hulbert said, and they hurried to the garden. But even the imbedded onions had been eaten.

The Hulburts knew a time when any family that had a sack of cornmeal and a gallon of sorghum in the house was counted well supplied.

But the Hulburts prospered and in 1875 came a thrilling new interest that changed the whole course of their lives. This was the arrival of another young couple—Fillmore Mitchell and his beautiful wife, Wealtha Ann, and their baby son, Edward Peter, who had traveled from Mayview, Mo., to Forence by rail and then by stage to El Dorado, and who homesteaded a quarter section two miles from the Hulburt home, ten miles northeast of Towanda, which was then an Indian trading point.

The couples were congenial—became inseparable.

Then a second son was born to the Mitchells. When he was born Mrs. Mitchell was so ill with typhoid fever that she was not permitted to see the infant and the physician said she could not live. The Hulburts, present to do all they could, heard the doctor’s decree and with the father’s consent, carried the baby home with them.

Mrs. Mitchell survived, but the physician ordered her back to her old home for a year and forbade taking the baby. The Mitchells journeyed back to Mayview—and stayed three years. During their absence, important things happened to both families. The Hulburts fell in love with the Mitchell baby, Charles, and with the parents’ consent, adopted him. Shortly afterward the Mitchells inherited a fortune, returned to Fairview and were regarded as one of the wealthiest couples in the county. Mr. Mitchell invested heavily in land and—he and his wife wanted their son back.

They offered a generous share of the fortune, but the Hulburts were obdurate. They had no children and they adored Charles. The families continued to be close friends and until the day he was six years old and went to school where his schoolmates told him, Charles did not know he was not the Hulburts’ own son.

“He used to visit our house often,” his mother said later, “and played with his brothers, but he evinced no particular affection for me. I had to coax him to sit on my lap. But he loved his foster parents.” The years moved along uneventfully