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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BENTON TOWNSHIP

(By J. C. Henrie and Elmer Dickerson in 1916)

Benton Township was named for the late Thomas Benton Murdock. It was organized in February, 1872. The officers elected were John Mendenhall, trustee; L. A. Harper, clerk; W. H. Litson, treasurer; W. J. Estes and Charles Hazelhurst, justices of the peace. Assessed valuation of the township for 1872 was $20,296; for 1915 - $1,311,059. The township is adapted to agriculture and stock raising. In 1916 there were five school districts in the township, and seven miles of Missouri Pacific railway.

The town of Benton was platted in 1888. In 1916, it contained a high school, two churches, a grain elevator, five general stores, two hardware stores, a drug store, a bank, a hotel, two garages, two blacksmith shops, a lumber yard, and a coal yard. Now the town is lighted by electricity and has a newspaper, The Benton Bulletin, published by John W. Milsap.

Among early settlers were J. P. J. Nelson, J. Edmiston, W. H. Liston, E. E. Armstrong, Noah Siders, William Coverdale, R. C. Spaulding, R. F. Moore, W. A. Aikman, John H. Clark, S. H. Dickerson, Robert Dodge, M. T. Wallace, J. C. Henrie, Ed. Harding, M. Gidly, E. H. Stoddard, S. Shafer, I. W. Maple, E. W. Rollings, M. W. Priest, John Inman, Andrew Duffey, L A. Harper, H. W. Beck, E. Durley, Eli Lytle, A. Melrose, D. Barnett, George Medworth, W. M. Mathers, W. M. McCune, J. L. McCune, Charles Hazelhurst and many others. Practically every quarter section was occupied by the claimant or owner at the time the township was organized.

BLOOMINGTON TOWNSHIP

April 1, 1872, a petition was presented the board of county commissioners asking for a new township, to be called Bloomington, and Fields’ shop was recommended as the voting place. The petition was granted and an election of township officers, held April 20, 1872, resulted as follows: I. N. Crawford, trustee; H. H. Fowler, treasurer; Samuel Major, clerk.

The first settler in what now is Bloomington Township, was Samuel Rankin, who attempted to locate on a quarter section of land in 1867. What became of him is not known.

Among early settlers on the township were D. S. Yates, Daniel Franklin, Fred and W. A. Ward, W. H. Allen, Alex Covert, Richard Padgham, J. B. Seaman, N. M. A. Whitrow , H. H. Fowler, Chris Wirth, William Schoeb, John Riffe, J. P. Bogle, T. C. Crowley, Sam Major, Gideon Stevens. In 1916 few, if any, owned their original claim.

Bloomington had at one time a grist mill for grinding grain by water power. Now much livestock is raised. This stock is fed from the products of the farm.

BRUNO TOWNSHIP

Application for a new township in Congressional township 27, range 3, to be called Highland Township, and to include all of the township 27 and north half of township 28, the election to be held at the school house in district 61, was granted by the county commissioners. April 9, 1872, a petition for changing the name from Highland to Bruno Township was granted. On April 20, 1872, these first officers were elected: N. B. Daniels, trustee; Jacob Brown, treasurer; D. J. Reber, clerk; Isaac Newland and Samuel Reed, justices of the peace; William Riser and Isaac Stroup, constables.

The first settlement of Bruno Township was in February, 1869 when Vincent Smith arrived on section three, on Dry Creek. To his surprise he found there about 500 Indians. He traveled on horseback up this creek from Augusta to its beginning in Sedgwick County. He then went south across the prairie to Four-Mile Creek. Traveling down this creek he came to a spring of water now known as Seltzer Springs, just over the line in Sedgwick County. He continued to follow this creek, and as he came within about three miles of the Walnut River, he found a dugout inhabited by a white man. On questioning the old gentleman, he found that he had been a sailor on the high seas and that his name was Franklin. Smith then proceeded to Winfield. On the first night he arrived, he again found himself among the Indians. They stole his horse and told him the “white man was too fresh.” Finding that the land had not been surveyed he walked to Cottonwood Falls. He came back May 10, 1869, and filed on the southwest quarter of section 3, at the land office in Humboldt.

Nothing much was done until the spring of 1870, when early settlers began to arrive. A man named Champion, a blacksmith; Harry and Frank Kelley, C. A. Glancy and Mr. Graham took up claims along Dry Creek. About October 1, 1870, a few more settlers began to arrive, among them Mr. Wolf, F. A. James and James

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Collison. There was no further settlement until the spring of 1871, when Easterners began settling the township. Soon every quarter section was taken, and improvements began.

Citizens of Bruno Township proudly can say that they rank among the foremost in Butler County. They have a fine high school, churches and well improved farms. The citizens are able business men and excellent farmers. In the early spring of 1870, a few settlers gathered and suggested names for the township. Mr. Graham chose the name of Bruno. Bonds of $18,000 for extension of the Frisco railway were voted and the road, the first, was completed through the township in May, 1880.

Andover, county seat of Bruno Township, was platted by Charley A. Glancy in 1880. By 1916, it was a thriving village with a general store owned by W. E. Peacock; a bank of which J. Earl Tanner was cashier; a lumber yard owned by S. B. McClaren; postoffice, millinery, barber and blacksmith shops.

CHELSEA TOWNSHIP

(By Martin Vaught, in 1895)

In August, 1857, George T. Donaldson, J. C. Lambdin, his son Ralph, and myself camped at Emporia, at that time a village of less than a dozen houses. We were looking for homes and others joined us, among whom were William Woodruff and wife; James Leander, Horace Cole, Stephen White, Israel, Tom and Dave Scott and their mother, Mrs. DeRacken and her sons, Bob, John, and Reuben; William Rice, and last, but not least, Prince Gorum Davis Morton, who, having a wooden limb, was dubbed Pegleg. There came to our camp, too, with a long swinging stride, a long rifle on his shoulder, a large pack on his back, carrying his boots, while his feet were unshod, his hat rimless and clothing in tatters, a man who had been an extended tramp. His hair was light, his eyes blue and bright and contrasted strikingly with his suntanned skin. His name was I. N. Barton, college professor and civil engineer from Maine. He had come to Kansas for health and found it, having explored every stream south of Neosho and as far west as Cow Creek, west of Wichita. His description of the Walnut and Whitewater valleys and prediction that in and near them was the garden spot of Kansas won us. We unanimously decided to go with him and see them. We crossed the Cottonwood where now is Soden’s mill and proceeded across the trackless prairie southwest, up the south fork of the Cottonwood, over the divide to Sycamore Springs and down the Walnut to the hill where J. K. Nelson’s house stands, northeast of Chelsea. We halted and took in the beautiful expanse, over the valley to the south, to Cole Creek on one hand and DeRacken on the other. Surprised and pleased, we went into camp on what now is the Phineas Osborn farm, a half mile east of Chelsea.

We quickly took our claims. We went to building log cabins – homes – with a will. The three Cole brothers settled on the stream – on section 16, now the Shelden farm – that bears their name. The DeRackens took claims on the stream to which they gave their name, now incorrectly splled Durachen. We found Doctor Lewellyn settled on the land. Charles Jefferson, father of Henry, the first white boy born in Butler County – 36 years ago, or 1859 – was his neighbor on the north. Henry Martin, afterward so prominent in Butler County affairs, was farther down the stream. All the land about us was unsurveyed and none could tell where to run lines that would encompass all he desired. But it was in October, 1857, when I took my claim (because of abundant timber on it) at the junction of DeRacken with the main stream, now the C. H. Dawson farm.

“Pegleg” Morton was from Boston, which was to him the hub of the solar and other systems. He enlivened our camp with songs whenever not engaged in relating his adventures, the like of which never were on land or sea. He had sung to the elite of the earth – even the crowned heads of Europe as far back as Mary, Queen of Scots. We kept tab on him and figured up his romancing that he was not under 400 years old. He claimed to be only 35. Morton named Chelsea. He wanted to call it Boston or New Boston, because he was from Boston. We compromised on Chelsea, which is a town near Boston, and Chelsea it is even to this day. The first plat was made in 1858 by a company on what is now the Buchanan and Nelson farms, and another, I believe, in 1867, where the school house now is. Cole brothers and White were from Wisconsin; Woodruff and Rice, Iowa; Scotts, Illiinois, Lambdin, Indiana; Donaldson and myself from Jefferson county (Kansas). The Lord only knows where the DeRackens did come from.

In 1858, the fifth parallel was the line between Butler and Hunter counties on the south. West of range 4 was Otoe; south of Otoe, Irving, while the east line of Butler crossed Fall River near Eureka.

Among the several families that came in the fall of ’58, was Daniel Shipley,

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A burly Missourian, who rarely wore a hat or shoes. His shirt flared open at the bosom and his arms were bare. He was always ready for a fight. Ewing Moxley was another, a thorough frontiersman, born in the wilds, an unerring marksman, fearless, honest and simple and tender as a child. I never read Fenimore Cooper’s “Leather Stocking Tales” without thinking of Moxley. He had been a government scout and guide on the plains and while carrying dispatches was drowned in the Kaw River near Lawrence in attempting to swim his horse across it.

Henderson Thomas first settled on what is now the Henry Diller farm in Sycamore. F. B. McAllister started a blacksmith shop on the Coggeshall farm north of Nelson. Settlers came in rapidly and took claims on the more heavily timbered creeks first. William Thoroughman was the first settler on Satchell Creek. He subsequently sold his land for $300 to Thomas W. Satchell, who gave his name to the stream. This afterward was Shaffer brothers’ farm and is now owned by Charles L. King. It has on it a magnificent spring which furnished water even in 1860, the year of the terrible drought.

Our most accessible postoffice was Lawrence. A tri-weekly hack was running from Lawrence to Emporia, and Chelsea and Emporia people rented Box 400 at Lawrence, to which their mail was addressed. Whoever went to Emporia brought down the mail for Chelsea, receiving it from Messrs. Fick & Eskride, merchants. Ox teams were used, whether for freighting or going to church or to a dance.

L. M. Pratt, his wife and sons, John and Dick, came in the winter of 1857-58; also Matthew Cowley, James Trask and Dr. S. P. Barrett. Settlements were made on West Branch, Upper Whitewater, and on Fall River by a Norwegian colony, whose names even to this day prove that they stayed. Such as Ole Ladd, and H. G. Branson were leaders. In troublous times we found them loyal and true.

Our amusements were hunting buffalo, deer and turkeys. I have seen the prairies between the Whitewater and Arkansas black with apparently one herd of buffalo. Turkeys came to our corn cribs. Lambdin shot one in his crib one Christmas morning. Dances were frequent. James Gordy and John Pratt were the fiddlers – Gordy played half a tune and Pratt the other half, passing the fiddle back and forth. We stayed all night. One time we started to a dance with an ox team and picked up so many girls that the boys had to walk.

My first acquaintance with Bige Bemis was when I found him roasting chickens in camp. He was probably the first restaurant in the valley; we got all the chicken we wanted and a drink out of his whiskey jug for fifty cents.

In the spring of 1859, C. S. Lambdin, cousin of J. C. Lambdin, built a saw and grist mill at Chelsea, the settlers hauling the machinery from LeRoy. We now established an independent municipal organization and voted on one of the numerous state constitutions submitted to us. The first election was in a grove near Joseph McDaniel’s house, on Buchanan’s farm. We used an old coffee mill for a ballot box, furnished by Mrs. Woodruff, to help us out of the dilemma. The drawer would be pulled, the ballot deposited, the drawer closed and the will of an American Kansas elector was expressed.

Archibald Ellis came to us this summer, a sterling man in every relation, a true man, excellent citizen, fine neighbor and honest officer. He and his estimable wife were from Ireland. They were indefatigable workers, generous and kindly. They are remembered by hundreds in Butler County for their strength of character, integrity, thrift and energy. Their children are among the prominent people of the county and are wealthy, not alone by what they inherited, but by what they themselves have won. George is now deceased. John was county commissioner and served two terms. Mrs. N. B. Coggeshall was the only daughter of the Ellises.

Illustrating the light hold the moral code had on some, let me say that many horses had mysteriously disappeared, were traced close to DeRacken’s and Bob was suspected. A vigilance committee called on him but he was discreetly absent. His younger brother was ordered to tell where Bob was. He refused. A rope was brought and he was hung by the neck repeatedly, but he was steadfast, said they might take his life, but they couldn’t make him tell and they didn’t. The DeRackens however, “made themselves scare.”

J. C. Lambdin was elected to the upper house of the territorial council of 1859, the member of the lower house coming from Chase County. Lambdin was also a member of the constitutional convention in 1860, and under that constitution the state was admitted, January 29, 1861.

YEAR OF HISTORIC DROUGHT

The year 1860 surpassed, beyond expression, any I ever saw in Kansas. It was a year of unprecedented drought – May, June and July passed without a drop of rain. Every green thing withered. Even the leaves on the trees turned yellow and then brown. Streams dried up. Fish died, and as the deep water holes dried away they were pitched into a wagon and hauled to hogs. Great seams cracked

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the earth. It was really dangerous to ride a pony at speed across the prairie. To add to our woes along in August came myriad of grasshoppers that literally hid the sun. Many settlers, under these distressing circumstances, coupled with the doubt as to what democracy meant to do regarding their homesteads, left the state never to return. This awful year gave Kansas a name that was a detriment to her for years afterward.

A settler named Gordon died, and his widow, trying to save the claim and house, went to Lawrence, where she had friends who would furnish her money. Her claim was “jumped” by a man and his two sons, who shall be nameless here. They had taken possession, but George T. Donaldson notified the settlers of the facts and in a short time 100 men were at the widow’s cabin, fighting mad. It was dusk and the jumpers were within. Donaldson hailed them. They refused to open the door and Donaldson promptly kicked it into the middle of the cabin. The inmates obeyed orders to strike a light. They said they were going to hold the claim. The settlers directed that they load their “plunder” into their wagon and get off immediately. They pleaded that their horses were on the prairie and could not be found. It was no use. The settlers made them load up, the old man was required to take the end of the tongue and each boy a single tree and the procession moved. When they reached a big drift near Lewellyn’s they were halted. The drift was fired and preparations made to hold an impromptu court. The culprits, ready to promise anything, were turned loose. That broke up claim jumping.

The first law suit was before Justice Scott. Rev. Isaac Winberg of Cole Creek, had a yoke of oxen that broke into a neighbor’s field. The neighbor brought suit for damages. A. J. Miller was attorney for the plaintiff and “Pegleg” Morton for the defendant.

Some buffalo hunters coming in off the plains in 1859 became frightened at what they thought to be hostile Indians. They alarmed the settlers on Whitewater and the lower Walnut. There was a great stampede to Chelsea. One of the hunters, Jerry Woodruff, mounted a pony at Towanda Springs and, with a butcher knife for a spur, made the trip to Chelsea in quick time, feeling for his scalp at every jump and warning everybody he saw. The settlers barricaded the C. S. Lambdin (log) house that stood on the then townsite not far from where J. K. Nelson’s house now is. Some of the settlers declared that as they came they saw houses burning on the Whitewater. Wagons were formed into corrals with the stock inside. Water was provided in the house and every preparation made to stand off the noble Red Man. Pickets were posted by Capt. George T. Donaldson, who commanded, among them “Pegleg” Morton. Along towards morning, when Indians usually made attacks, he heard the whiz of arrows coming from the river. In a panic he fired his gun and broke for the house yelling “Indians! Indians! The Indians have come!!” Consternation reigned. Children cried; mothers prayed; men swore and prepared to sell their lives dearly. The redskins didn’t advance and cool men said, “We’ll reconnoiter.” They advanced with Morton to his picket post when whiz! Whiz! Went the arrows. “That’s them,” said Morton, “they’re shooting at us!” But the sounds were nothing more nor less than goshawks gathering their food as they flew. Morton never heard the last of his scare. The Indians didn’t come, and those of the settlers who quit running at Chelsea (some didn’t, continuing on to “the States”) returned to their claims. The alarm was due to the passing of Indians from the southwest to fight with the Kaws near Council Grove. The false character of the scare was not discovered until P. B. Plumb, heading a small company from Emporia came down to help repel the Indians. Emporia was a little selfish perhaps. She wanted the people of the Walnut as a buffer between herself and the Indians. Neither storm nor flood could restrain Plumb and his men in after years from coming to our relief at the least hint of trouble.

George T. Donaldson was Chelsea’s first postmaster. He was a natural leader, keen, quiet, soft-spoken, with dash and daring when there was a call for action, that made him the admiration of the settlers. He had good judgment and never was “rattled” by emergencies. He had accumulated 800 acres of land, and was in the prime and vigor of manhood, when, in hauling logs, on November 4, 1869, one of them rolled off the wagon, crushing him upon a wheel as it went.

The awful drought of 1860 was disheartening and hundreds of settlers left their claims. Agents went to the states and solicited aid. S. C. Pomeroy, afterward United States Senator, was relief agent at Atchison and all supplies were shipped to him. The human hogs came to the front, as usual on such occasions, but generally relief was fairly distributed. Grain, flour and beans were shipped in heavy grain bags which were utilized for clothing, on which the lettering would show. Sometimes it would be “S. C. Pomeroy” on one leg, “Kansas Relief” on the other and “Atchison” somewhere else. A pair of pants worn by – Bixler took the

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cake. He was both broad and tall and on the broadest part of his pants in black letters was “Kansas Relief, S. C. Pomeroy, Atchison, Kansas.”

I went to my old home in Edgar County, Illinois, in the fall of 1860 and did what I could soliciting aid for “Bleeding Kansas,” a name given in derision by pro-slavery people. When I returned in the spring of 1861, I did not come alone. I had induced a brave-hearted girl to cast her lot with mine. To my wife is due in great measure the credit of our staying through the dangers and privations which followed. The “Border war” in Kansas and the issues leading thereto had become national and the Civil War came on. Indians were restless and threatening. Many settlers abandoned their homes. A majority of the able bodied men enlisted in the Union cause. A more patriotic and heroic people never lived than the Kansans of 1861–1865. Enlistments from our section were discouraged. Col. P. B. Plumb declared that one of us was worth more to the country here than ten of us in the army because of the rebel and Indian raids which we could repel. We kept a military organization in readiness most of the time for quick action.

Butler County’s first organization was in 1859, when J. R. Lambdin (Joshua?) was chosen county clerk; C. S. Lambdin, county treasurer; J. C. Lambdin, probate judge; Doctor Lewellyn, sheriff, and George T. Donaldson, Dr. P. G. Barrett and Jacob Landis, county commissioners. This organization failed, most of the officers moving away.

In 1862, more grief came to us. Nevin A. Vaught and Ole Branson gave their young lives to their country and were buried in unknown graves near Springfield, Mo. Soon after followed Moses, Thomas and Burge Atwood. I cannot recall all, but I know that few who enlisted returned.

In those days buffalo and wolf hunting was a source of revenue. Wolf pelts were work $1.25 to $2.00 each and buffalo skins brought from $3 to $6. These furs had to be taken in the winter and danger from storms and Indians made hunting no pleasant work.

In 1863, Rev. I. C. Morse, of Emporia, Congregationalist, preached to us occasionally. Elder Rice, who was presiding elder of the Emporia Methodist Church, preached each quarter at Donaldson’s (log) house that stood but a short distance south and west of where the stone dwelling is on the Holderman farm.

Society as now defined was unknown. The people were bound by social ties that do not now exist. One neighbor could not do too much for another. None thought of locking doors or granaries. Strangers were welcomed with genuine hospitality and entertainment for man and beast was free.

Miss Sarah C. Satchell taught the first school in Butler County, in the summer of 1860. Miss Maggie Vaught (Mrs. H. O. Chittenden) taught the next two years. Oliver C. Link taught a term. In 1862, I enlisted in the Union army, expecting to help fight General Price in Missouri, but instead was sent to the plains to watch forts and Indians. I shall never forget one beautiful Sunday morning in April, 1865, when I saw a horseman flying down the road toward the present Chelsea, waving a newspaper over his head. It was Henry Donald, and he was shouting, “Richmond is took! Richmond is took!” We could readily forgive his bad grammar for his news was good, and we rejoiced.

John Houser came in 1869 and set up his blacksmith shop on a lot in front of (west of) the store there now. His shop had neither foundation, sides nor roof – the whole business was out of doors. He had few tools, but he made good use of them. He was successful and one of the esteemed citizens of the community.

Mr. and Mrs. Joel Benson (both deceased) and their sons, William F. and Fred W. (deceased) located in 1870 on what was then known as the McQuorter land. They lived there until 1900, when Joel and William Benson moved to El Dorado, where William was engaged in the banking business. Fred Benson left the farm three years later to become register of deeds of this county. In 1877, J. S. McWhorter, Henry Bell, and J. K. Skinner put in a saw mill and shingle machine at Chelsea. A Mr. Watson opened a store. Dr. Sparks stuck out his professional shingle. J. B. Shough, now of Prospect, built a hotel, which still stands as the Chelsea store. J. B. Parsons, J. C. Rayburn, J. M. Rayburn, Dr. Zimmerman and others built dwellings and business houses. The next year, 1869, O. E. Sadler and J. C. Becker built the first good dwelling in Chelsea and put a stock of goods in it.

FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE IN COUNTY

A big frame school house was erected, the first in the county, and the first bell ever in the county was hung in the belfry and is there yet. Mrs. J. E. Buchanan, Mrs. George Ellis and Miss Alma Henderson (later Mrs. Neil Wilkie, of Douglass) were the teachers in those early days.

In looking back nearly 38 years I recall many sad and sorrowful scenes and many ludicrous events. The remembrance of friends who, like myself, were then young, now old and gray; the recollection of many who have gone to the “undis-