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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The Richland pioneers are nearly all gone. The recent deaths of James Mccluggage and Robert Hodgin leave only one pioneer of Richland Township of the early seventies, Dick Reed, who still owns his claim farm on the Eight Mile. Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Hull, his neighbors in the eighties, recently celebrated their golden wedding at their home in Wichita.

One of the pioneer women of Richland Township, Mrs. Mary Haines, mother of Stella, Roy and Ephraim Haines of Augusta, has been honored as Butler County’s best known pioneer woman. The writer hopes that the time will come when there will be erected somewhere in the state, perhaps on Mt. Oread, in Lawrence, Kansas, a memorial to all those pioneer men and women who aided materially in building our commonwealth, and in such a memorial should appear many names of Richland Township pioneers.

L. D. HIMEBAUGH

L. D. Himebaugh came to Kansas City in 1868, on a river transport from Marietta, Ohio. He worked on a farm near Topeka in the summer and taught school in the winter. In 1870 he came to Richard Township and took a claim in section 33. Here he built one of the first cabins in the township. In 1884 it was vacated for a modern home, one of the finest in the county. Here Mr. and Mrs. Himebaugh lived until March, 1908, when they moved to Wichita, their son, R. W. Himebaugh, succeeding them on the farm.

Mrs. Himebaugh, the former Maria Walton, was also a pioneer, with her husband aided materially in establishing schools, Sunday Schools, and churches. Mr. Himebaugh was public spirited, serving as township trustee and justice of the peace. He was also the township’s historian, contributing the article on Richland Township to the Mooney History of Butler County, in 1916, to which the writer of this sketch is greatly indebted.

MICHAEL COX

Michael Cox, with his wife, Rhoda Cox, and children came to Richland Township in 1872. They had come from a Friends settlement at Holly Spring, North Carolina, to Lawrence, Kansas, in 1871, and made thirteen trips back and forth, between Lawrence and Richland Township before deciding to settle in the Rose Hill neighborhood. In 1872 they took a claim in section 3, which is still known as the Cox place. Here they reared their family, which has come to be the best known in the community. Michael Cox was the head of the Rose Hill Friend’s Church from its organization until his death in 1892, when his place was filled by his son, Reuben.

Uncle Michael it was who, upon every “First Day” and “Fifth Day,” sat with other overseers on a bench in the front of the meeting house, facing the congregation. He had no watch, but there was a certain nail in the floor which served as a sun dial for him; and when the sun’s rays reached that point, he would solemnly shake hands with the brother on his left, often without saying a word. This was the benediction. It was Michael Cox who stamped his character and personality indelibly upon this people. His stern morality, his faith, his industry, and integrity, more than that of any other man, has made a community of pious, law-abiding, prosperous people.

His youngest daughter, Rhodema, died in young womanhood. His other children, Reuben, Eleanor, Eunice (Mrs. Larkin Cox). William, and Elmira Osborn, all lived with their families in Richland or Pleasant Township.

The descendants of Michael and Rhoda Cox number more than a hundred. They have been leaders in every community to which they have gone.

Mrs. Reuben Cox, the oldest of the family yet living at Rose Hill, recently celebrated their eightieth birthday, with a host of relatives and friends doing her honor.

MILTON WOODY

Milton Woody and his wife, Leanna Cox Woody, came from Chatham County, North Carolina, and settled in section 2 in Richland Township. At his coming, the Friends Society was greatly rejoiced, for he was a man of great wisdom and integrity and was devoted to the church. But he was only permitted to serve his community a short time. He died in 1878, leaving his widow and four children: Lenora, who afterwards married Rev. Britton Davis, a well-known Methodist minister; Octavia, who became a Butler County teacher, and is now Mrs. Arthur Davis of McPherson; Irena, now Mrs. William Dannenfelser; and Albert, who was much like his father in character. He became the owner of the Woody farm, which he made a beautiful place. He died in 1932, a man honored by all who knew him. His widow, Mrs. Pearl Pulver Woody, with her sons, Orville and Milton, are now caring for the homestead, one of the few in the township still to bear the name of the original owner.

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LEWIS B. HULL

Lewis Byran Hull was born in Highland County, Ohio, in 1841. At the age of 19 he left college to enlist in the 60th Ohio Infantry. He served two years in Virginia. In 1864 he enlisted in the 11th Ohio Cavalry, serving two years in the Army of the West at Fort Laramie, protecting emigrant trains from the Indians. In 1866, he married Eliza Sinclair, also of Ohio, and they came West settling in Missouri. In 1873 they moved to Kansas, preempting a claim in Richard Township, section 10. In 1884, they bought a farm in section 11, where they built a house and reared their family.

Mr. Hull was much interested in the community life, serving eighteen years on the school board, several terms as township trustee, and one term as county commissioner.

Mr. and Mrs. Hull were both school teachers, as were also six of their children. The family was a musical one, and their home was the scene of many impromptu concerts, in which the neighbors joined.

The chief aim of these pioneer parents was to educate their children. To this end, they labored and sacrificed, almost miraculously wringing from the soil the means by which all seven of their children were sent to college. Furthermore, they taught them by precept and example, to become decent, intelligent citizens. These children wish to record here their gratitude. They are: A. S. Hull, United States Patent Examiner, Washington, D. C.; O. J. Hull, fruit farmer, Ontario, California; M. L. Hull, for thirty years a music teacher in Wichita, Kansas; Myra E. Hull, instructor in the University of Kansas; Hazel Hull Cook, wife of Dr. L. W. Cook, of Boulder, Colorado, who was graduated with her daughter from the University of Colorado; Lois Fern Hull, head of the Latin department, Pueblo High School.

To fifteen grandchildren has been passed the torch of inspiration from the spirit of their pioneer grandparents.

L. B. Hull died in 1902. His wife survived him twenty-seven years, her cheerful, unselfish spirit inspiring all her associates. Of Mr. Hull, his friend, Alvah Shelden of the Walnut Valley Times, wrote: “In the death of L. B. Hull Butler County lost one of her best and most intelligent citizens. He worked much and read much. He reared a large family, and spared no pains in giving them a higher education. He was public spirited and charitable. The good he did was beyond estimate.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

(1) All borrowings from L. D. Himebaugh are from his article, “Richland Township,” Chapter XII of Vol. P. Mooney’s History of Butler County, 1916.

(2) Data relating to the Osage lands south of Butler County are from the so called “Kansas Herd Book,” History of the State of Kansas, edited by William G. Cutler, 1883. A. T. Andreas, Chicago.

(3) All other facts have been obtained directly from the pioneers especially from Mrs. Eliza Cox of Rose Hill and from the writer’s parents.

ROCK CREEK TOWNSHP

On February 15, 1872, Rock Creek Township was formed from territory commencing at the southeast corner of section 36, township 20, range 4. The first officers, elected at the John Wilson home, were: A. T. Havens, trustee; Benjamin Thomas, Treasurer; P. Dillman, clerk; W. S. Wilson and G. W. Wakefield, justices of the peace; John Beard and Thomas Campbell, constables.

The first land upon which final proof was made was in section 32, for which a patent was issued June 13, 1870, to Parlina A. Kinder. Among other making final proof early in 1870 were Chester Briggs, R. A. Taylor, William Cousins, C. R. Guyot, J. J. and J. W. Plummer, Amos Stewart, George W. Burk, James B., Gilbert L., and M. M. Walker, O. B. Lent, S. W. and John A. Adams, S. F. Gibson, E. M. Denton, L. W. Benepe, John Crowe, Joseph Matheny, J. E. Valkman, Charles M. Little, J. I. Hall, A. B. Woodruff and Henry Bally.

Rock Creek is one of the best townships, with some of the most fertile land, in the county. Muddy and Rock creeks pass through it. John Bush, and E. Doornbos raised and shipped much stock.

Some of those who helped to build the township: Peter Dillman, Hank Johnson, W. O. B. Lent, Patrick and Emma Doyle, Henry Baily, Isaih Stevens, G. W. Gibson, James Glaves, W. H. Bare, Amos Whitney, Robert Briggs, John Haggard, C. E. Sleece, E. Stevenson, J. Houser, C. R. Johnson, Mack Philipa and Steve Long.

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SPRING TOWNSHIP

According to M. L. Arnold, Spring Township was named by Henry M. Wingert, because of its numerous and beautiful springs. It was incorporated September 4, 1871. The first election was at the home of O. Greer, September 19, 1871. These were elected: Kane Garrison, trustee; James Crawford, treasurer; C. F. Miller, clerk; E. H. Clark and G. Stephens, justices of the peace; H. King and D. Church, constables.

Among important events of the early history of Spring was the completion of the St. Louis & San Francisco railroad in 1880 and the establishment, in the same year, of a general store at Haverhill by the late Joseph W. Brown. For twenty-five years Mr. Brown was agent for the Frisco at Haverhill.

Around Mr. Brown’s store much of the history of the township centers. H. H. Leonard, later of Wichita, for years held the checker championship of the store. Here the first Haverhill baseball team was organized under the leadership of Will Glaze. J. C. Greer was a member of the first team.

J. C. Glaze, later one of the prosperous farmers of Spring Township, at one time conducted a store at Haverhill. In 1902 C. R. Marshall and Sam Frank opened a general store at Haverhill which was successfully conducted in turn by Frank, J. B. and E. L. Marshall until 1915, when it was closed out by the latter.

In Spring Township’s history its criminal record consists of one murder, that of William Jones, who was killed by an unknown party in December of 1903. C. C. Currier was justice of the peace for twenty-five years and never had a criminal case.

SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP

Sycamore Township was organized July 7, 1871. Its first officers were: J. K. Skinner, trustee; C. H. Hegwine, treasurer; J. Canfield, clerk. Cassoday is the chief town.

Mrs. Lizzie Bishop Harsh’s memories of Sycamore Township are thus recorded: “In February, 1860, my father and mother, Elias and Nancy Jane Bishop, with my two sisters, Pamelia and Emma, and myself landed in the northwest part of Butler County, at the home of Uncle John Bishop. It was only a few days before we bought our farm north of Chelsea, moved and lived in a sheep shed belonging to G. T. Donaldson.

“The following summer my father and cousin, Will Bishop, built our home of logs cut from our timber, puncheon floor, clapboard roof, and it was here that a brother, J. E. Bishop was born. Our house was one room and a shed kitchen. To us it was a mansion. My father was a carpenter. Soon the country began to settle up and father had plenty of work. He helped build the school house at Chelsea. Mother was a mid-wife and had work out of the home, as the nearest doctor to be had was at Emporia. Think of gong to Emporia for all the groceries, lumber and everything that we used! We were homesick many times, but there were two classes of people, “goers and stayers.” We belonged to the latter class. We had fine wild game, wild plums, sorghum and good gardens, but we had too, grasshoppers, drought, hot and cold winds, and the Indians.

“I shall always remember the first Indians that called at our home. We yet lived in the shed. Three large, blanketed and painted Indians came in without being asked, warmed by the fire, talked and then went out and looked at cousin’s ponies, came in again, talked and looked around. We girls stayed close to mother, who was so frightened that she was pale. The Indians said, “Squaw ‘fraid, big ‘fraid.” They did not ask for anything. We learned afterwards they were looking for stolen ponies.

FIRST SCHOOL IN COUNTY

“Chelsea had the first school in the county, a little log hut on the bank of the Walnut, just east of the G. T. Donaldson home. Sister Permelia and I were pupils under three teachers (Mrs. Bates, Lizzie Shriver, later Mrs. Lizzie Ellis, and Mrs. J. E. Buchanan). My father made caskets and one was for our neighbor, G. T. Donaldson, who met his death when a saw log rolled off a wagon, crushing him. The whole neighborhood was one family. When the Ellises or Donaldsons killed a sheep, calf or pig, the Bishops had meat, too; there was no strife or selfishness.

“Soon people wanted amusement. The first was dancing. It was the second or third summer before we ever heard a sermon, and that was at a camp meeting at El Dorado under a big tree. I remember that El Dorado had a prisoner there with a big ball of iron chained to his feet. He was converted an the minister helped carry the ball into the river and immersed him. We had a little Sunday school in the log school house.

“In 1879 father sold the home, and we moved to El Dorado for a short time;

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bought and moved to Turkey Creek in 1881; sold and moved to Sycamore Springs. I taught the first school in Sycamore, in J. B. Parson’s house. Before the term was out the new school house was finished. The first postoffice was at Mr. Hubbard’s. J. B. Parsons built a house at the Springs in 1870. Frank Donaldson, at the same time built a little store just across from it and sold it to William Shriver, of El Dorado, who started a tavern. This was the old stage route. Mr. Slover, bachelor, built the first log hut on our farm, the first in the township. Before this he built a stone stable on the farm later owned by Mrs. William Hoy. In 1870, George Snively and family and Sylvester Myers and family, came from Ohio. Both families lived in this stable until they came to the Springs and bought 160 acres of Mr. Stover. In 1871 Philip Harsh and sons came from Ohio and bought out Parsons and Snively.

“The historic sycamore tree which gave name to the township, the first postoffice, the church and school, has blown down. The Harshes were here only a short time when the postoffice was moved to their house.”

“TUCK” GREEN HERE SIXTY-FIVE YEARS

John Graham (Tuck) Green, who has lived in Butler County sixty-five years, recalls early days of Sycamore and Towanda townships in a delightful story written by George F. Fullinwider. Here are excerpts:

“Those who know John Graham Green best, called him ‘Tuck’ Green. When asked why the name and how he came by it Mr. Green said:

“When Tommy Watkins and I were babies, we were about the same age and grew up together in our home. I was boss or tried to be and was continually taking playthings from Tommy. When I would do so he would cry and mother would slap my hands for punishment. Whenever I got a chance, I would snatch the plaything, he would begin to cry and I would run to Mother, hold out my hands to be slapped and yell, “I tuck it, I tuck it.’ The family took up the word and dubbed me ‘Tuck.’ Candidly it was years before I knew that I had another name.”

Mr. Green was born in McDonough County, Ill., October 8, 1858. When he was ten years old, in the fall of 1868, his father, Gilbert T. Green, with his big family, three teams and equipment left the Illinois home and started for Kansas. With Mr. Green and his family, the train was made up of two neighbors, their families and belongings—Richard Jones and two teams and Jefferson Stearns with two teams, so the emigrants made up quite a train. They came west and crossed the Missouri River at what was then Westport, now Kansas City, Kansas, drove by Council Grove, which then contained but one or two houses, then on to Junction City, where Mrs. Green had a brother in the army in Fort Riley, south by way of Cottonwood Falls, Matfield Green, always taking their time and camping at convenient places. Finally they reached Butler County, camped at Sycamore Springs, and found a store kept by J. B. Parsons, where they laid in supplies. They next camped on Satchell Creek, came to El Dorado and camped near where the old stone school building stood. Here they found the only well in Butler County and while they were enjoying its refreshing coolness, J. D. Conner, whose cabin stood where Clarence King now lives, rode up and told them they must be careful of the water as nine families depended on that well for water. Some of them came four miles for a supply. He told them they must look elsewhere to water their horses. The river and creeks were all dry and water for the teams was a problem. On October 29, they landed in the Whitewater Valley, near where Towanda stands, and the journey was ended. Mr. Green says at this time there was not a well of water in Butler County. They had to use water from the springs and creeks. There were no gardens and all they could raise at this time were cucumbers. They carried water from the creek and irrigated the vines. Then they ate cucumbers, drank creek water and shook with the ague. So far as they knew there were three families, besides their own on the Whitewater—the Wilson family of Plum Grove; the Dorsey and Vann families near them.

At this time food, especially meat, was an item with the pioneers. Mr. Green remembers a party of hunters came to this father and asked him if he did not want to go hunting for buffalo. He replied that he did. They started and the first night camped on the ground where the Broadview Hotel now stands in Wichita. Next morning another hunting party came to them and told them not to go to the Cowskin country to get buffalo, but to stay right where they were, the buffalo would come that night, tramp the sand for water and they could get all they wanted. This prediction proved true for the buffalo came that night and next morning from 1 o’clock until daylight they slaughtered eleven fine animals. This gave them plenty of meat and the hides were valuable.

In 1870 the father, Gilbert T. Green, took a contract with the government to carry the mail from Wichita to Cottonwood Falls. At first the mail was carried

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on horseback, and ‘Tuck’ Green was one of the first to start. The postoffices served, going east, were Towanda, El Dorado, Chelsea, Sycamore Springs, Matfield Green, Bazaar, Cottonwood Falls. This constituted one route.

Mr. Green recalls the first hired girl his mother employed. She offered to work for a gallon of corn meal or 50 cents in money a week.

On February 22, 1882, John Graham Green and Elizabeth Caroline Fisk were married. They have reared a fine family of daughters and sons. All are living except one, Beth, Mrs. B. B. Bowden, who died in 1924.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Green purchased the old Hegwine farm, in Sycamore Township, and there began life. They added to this until they had three quarter-sections. They sold one quarter and this left them one-half section. To this they added until they had acquired 3,760 acres. The improvements on the original tract made their ranch one of the best in Kansas. For years Mr. Green was one of the most prominent and active ranchmen and cattle dealers in the West. He not only owned and controlled the Butler County ranch, but had 65,000 acres in Beaver County, Okla. At one time he had 7200 cattle in his pastures. Of these, during a blizzard when the mercury dropped to 36 degrees below zero, he lost 1042 cattle, frozen to death where they stood. At another time he lost 51 head of cattle along a wire fence by one stroke of lightning. And on the other hand one season in spite of all these heavy losses, he cleared $50,020 profit.

TOWANDA TOWNSHIP

On August 23, 1867, Butler County was divided into four townships. Towanda Township was bounded as follows: Commencing at the southeast corner of section 12, township 27, range 4, west to county line; north to northwest corner of county; township officers, appointed April 14, 1868, were Henry Comstock, trustee; John Wentworth, treasurer, and James N. Jones, clerk. The first election in the township was April 6, 1869, and these were elected: W. H. Avery, trustee; Henry Comstock, clerk; Milton Snorf, treasurer, Stark Spencer, justice of the peace; Amos Adams, constable.

FIRST SETTLED IN 1858

The first white settler in Towanda township was C. L. Chandler, a native of Ohio, who had joined the forty-niners and crossed the plains to California in quest of gold. He arrived in September 1858.

The earliest comers to Towanda Township saw thousands of buffalo roaming the prairies and met with bands of Indians. In a history of Towanda Township, published in the Towanda Times in 1927, Judge V. P. Mooney wrote: A typical Butler County pioneer of 1870, drove his team upon a vacant quarter section, stopped and looked around. He said to his wife and children: “This is our claim. We will live here five years and Uncle Sam will give us a deed to it.” He turned his team loose to feed upon the grass. He and one of the boys went to a little stream one mile away and returned with arms filled with wood for a camp fire. The grub box was taken from the wagon and flapjacks were baked over the campfire – the first meal in the pioneers’ own home. The home – the first they ever owned – a treeless, trackless prairie, the former home of the wolf and the coyote; the grazing ground of the primitive Red Man and the bison. A virgin soil untouched by civilized man. No neighbors, no house, no tree in sight. No water within miles, no fuel except the broken limbs of trees a long distance away. Not a thing on earth except the soil itself.

December 3, 1867, Andrew J. Ralston and James R. Ralston, brothers and Lee Hart, left Cheoa, Illinois, in a covered wagon. They camped at the D. L. McCabe cabin east of El Dorado, January 15, 1868, and landed in Towanda Township three days later. Andrew J. Ralston, Civil War veteran and fine citizen, still lives in Towanda. John Anderson, a native of Sweden, who settled in Towanda Township in 1870, still lives on his original homestead.

PLATTED TOWN OF TOWANDA

Situated nine miles west and south of El Dorado, on a slightly elevated tract overlooking the Whitewater River is Towanda, which was surveyed and laid out in lots of ten acres, by Rev. Isaac Mooney, in 1870. Rev. Mr. Mooney had bought the fertile valley west of the tract, in 1869, from James R. Mead and filed on the 160 acres northeast of it as his homestead. He donated the cemetery, platted the town and gave away lots to encourage new comers.

FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE OF LOGS

The first school house was 12x14, built on logs. The earliest teachers were W. H. Litson, Perry Hawes, Josie Dutton, Dr. R. S. Miller, M. Jacob and V. P.