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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Mooney. In 1872, Mr. Mooney built a 32x32 hotel. Frame and dimensions were of native timber; pine and shingles were hauled from Emporia. When it was completed, the family moved into it from the historic old log store and post office. The new hotel became a rendezvous for the traveling public and the younger generation. From an Indian camping ground and trading post, Towanda grew. In 1892, it was almost destroyed by a tornado.

Among those of second generation who owned the original claim or an interest therein in 1927 were Ida Surdam McGinnis, Will and Denny Kappes, Nora Kappes Shriver, Florence Strearns Wait, Joe E. Stearns, Grace Stearns Lowery, M. A. Wait, Ida Wait Stearns, Florence Wait Pace, Maggie Wait Cozad, Wilbur Wait, Seppie Mooney Spaulding, Celia Mooney Swiggett, Luella Mooney Orban, Walter and Joseph Mooney, Lizzie Mooney Green, Vada Gaskins, William R. Green, Ed A. Shriver, Charles, John W., James L. and Fred G. Shriver, Ella Shriver Otten, Bertha Shriver Stewart, Nellie Shriver Bishop, Eugene Fulton, Eva Fulton Poorbaugh, Ida Fulton Robison, Jonas L. Mosier, Dan Mosier, Eva Mosier Thomas, Ida Bennett Ralston, George Stewart, Minnie Stewart Ralston, William Lindsey, Matsys Braley, Theora Braley Davis, Matthew and Arthur Jones, Delia Jones Mosier, Clara Straw Lindsey, Sallie Straw Stewart, W. G. Turner, Jennie Turner Mooney, I. W. McClure, John W. McClure, Bessie McClure, Mary McClure Hess, Lillie Wheeler Wait, A. E. Ralston, Renwick Ralston, Ray and Clarence Ralston, Ella Ralston, Edna Ralston, Bessie Ralston Wood, May Ralston Hutchinson, Arthur Lee Settergren, Harry, Ike, Ray and Sidney Hammond and Jennie Hammond Valentine.

UNION TOWNSHIP

Union Township, in the extreme southeast corner of the county, is six miles north and south and ten miles east and west, extending into Flint Hills. It contains some of the finest pasture land in the world, as well as some of the best farming lands.

Citizens of Union Township voted at the general election held in November, 1871; these township officers were elected in April, 1872: George Sherar, trustee; J. A. McGinnis, treasurer; H. M. Lemon, clerk; George Messick, constable. Among the earliest settlers of the township, in addition to the above, were J. S. McKee, Alvin Proisen, William and D. L. Sherar, T. F. Ferguson, William VanMeter, and Milo Nance.

PLATTED IN 1885

Latham was laid out in 1885. It is on a branch of the Frisco railway. Atlanta is a small station in the southern part of the county. In 1916, Latham had a population of 350.

WALNUT TOWNSHIP

Walnut Township was formed from the “Twenty Mile Strip.” It was ceded to the general government by the Osage Indians September 19, 1865, and was legally known as the Osage Trust Lands. This tract was surveyed and opened to settlement by the government for $1.25 per acre. At first, August 23, 1867, Walnut Township comprised a strip across Butler County, sixteen miles wide. November 5, 1867 peter Harpool was elected justice of the peace, receiving seven votes. Benton Kramer was elected constable with seven votes. Harpool homesteaded the northeast 3-29-4, which later was owned by Elroy Warner.

At the first township election, in April 1868, William H. Edsell became trustee; John Fetterman, clerk, and J. W. Crawford, treasurer.

CHANGE NAME OF TOWNSHIP

March 11, 1873, a petition to organize Walnut City Township, comprising the territory known as township 28, range 4, east, was granted. In Walnut City, April, 1873, William Potter was elected trustee; M. C. Robbins, treasurer; Thomas Purcell, clerk; W. S. Waters and John C. Riley, justices of the peace and A. J. Hughes and J. P. Bare, constables. On July 8, 1873, a petition to change the name of Walnut City Township to Walnut, was granted.

INDIANS LOVED TREES

It is probable that the buffalo and the Indian left Walnut Township about the same time, according to William J. Snodgrass, the township historian. He wrote: “The buffalo likely went in 1865-65. The Indian followed in 1865-66. There were numerous buffalo horns and bones in a good state of preservation to be picked up in 1869 and 1870. There were forks, poles, bark and cooking utensils to be found where the Indian’s wigwam was, on the south side of the northeast quarter of section 35-28-4. The large elm trees had the bark peeled as high as a man could

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reach from one side of the tree, but never clear around. Indians must have loved trees. The line of cutting was regular and V-shaped. So it must have been cut cross licks with a tomahawk. Where his wigwam stood was a patch of ground cultivated and enclosed by a log fence. This little patch of rich, low ground is still known as the Indian Field.

“The pioneer, came in 1866-67-68-69, to bid the Indian goodbye. He came from the East, North and South. He cut trees, not the bark and replaced the wigwam with the log cabin. Like the Indian, he built his hut in or near timber along the river, often near the little “Indian Field.” He was not prepared to turn the prairie sod. He planted his Indian field to corn and looked after his game.

George B. Green settled on the northeast quarter 35-28-4, on the Little Walnut in 1867 or 1868. George W. Long was also an early comer. Green sold his place to W. J. Snodgrass in October 1869, giving a warranty deed, acknowledged before C. H. (Henry) Lamb, justice of the peace. W. A. Sallee, register of deeds, recorded it. U. S. Grant signed the patent, number 189, on November 1, 1870, as President of the United States. This probably was the first quarter-section of land deeded in the township.

Miss Jennie Blakey taught the first school and Miss Alice Yowell the second school in the township, in 1872, in a claim house built by James Yowell.

Gordon, the chief town in the township, was platted in 1881. Brownlow, established in 1915, is owned by the Mid-Kansas Oil Company.

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CIVIL WAR – SPANISH-AMERICAN – WORLD WAR

“Now tell us what ‘twas all about,”

Young Peterkin he cries;

And little Wilhelmine looks up

With wonder-waiting eyes.

“Now tell us all about the war,

And what they fought each other for.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“But what good came of it at last?”

Quoth little Peterkin

“Why, that I cannot tell,” said he;

“But ‘twas a famous victory.”

--“The Battle of Blenheim,” Robert Southey.

BUTLER COUNTY AND THE CIVIL WAR

The great Civil War – the most bloody, bitter and desperately waged conflict ever to harrow American soil – made its thunders heard and its quakings felt, even in the almost isolated pioneer country that was Butler County in the early ‘sixties.

As citizens of Kansas, a decidedly free state and the fountainhead of the zeal for abolition and union that brought on the fierce struggle between the states, Butler County dwellers were for the Union. Few new settlers came. Some of the younger men traveled to the larger communities and enlisted to fight for the Stars and Stripes. And every wandering trader, every courier, every wagon train was besieged for news of the conflict.

J. D. Conner, who took an active part in Butler County’s organization on the side of the Union, drew on his vivid memories to write the following historic account of wartime events for the Walnut Valley Times of March 8, 1895:

“Of course matters of the Civil War were discussed here and had a peculiar interest for us, being on the extreme frontier and subject to a raid, both from Indians and the rebs from Texas and the Cherokee Nation. In the summer of 1861, when probably there were not more than 300 white persons of all ages in the territory that now is Butler County, a company for home defense was organized, with P. G. Morton, of Chelsea, captain.

“In November we learned that a large train of government wagons from the west was headed toward Arkansas on the old California trail, which crossed the Whitewater about where the Amos Adams homestead is, and the Walnut below El Dorado. As all intercourse in that direction was prohibited at that time, we concluded that something was wrong, so the company assembled at El Dorado.

“In the meantime, the train of about thirty government wagons such as were used by government freighters at that time, each drawn by six yoke of oxen, had passed us. We started after them with thirty men, and overtook them in the camp on Hickory Creek. We surrounded the camp and ordered them to surrender, which they did. They too had about thirty men and if they had shown fight, we might have fared badly.

“Returning, we camped for the night on a little branch of the Hickory, and it was the most disagreeable night I ever experienced. Rain and sleet feel all night. There was no wood for a fire and by morning we were all chilled to the marrow. We returned to the Walnut and camped on land later owned by James W. Teter. After resting the oxen a few days, we started the outfit with an escort to Lincoln, where we found the train belonged to Majors & Rensch, of Leavenworth from whome it had been stolen and to whom it was later returned. The men were turned loose. We then established regular camp, built breastworks of logs and dirt, drew tents and rations from the government and made it headquarters until the spring of 1862, when tiring of camp life on the Walnut, twenty-six of us, with Matthew Cowley at the head, went to Iola and enlisted, with some others, making up Company L, Ninth Kansas Cavalry. The list included J. D. Conner, Burge Atwood, David Upham, Joe Darius, I. Thomas, the Wells brothers, Hager brothers, James and Thomas Craft, Wilson and John King, D. L. McCabe, T. B. White, Alex Petrie, W. R. Cowley, J. Howell, Jake Landis, Jim Shipley, Norman Chapman and Dan Cupp. Matthew Cowley was the first lieutenant, loved and respected by every

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member of the company. He died of malarial fever at Little Rock, Ark., and was buried there in the military cemetery. (He was the father of Mrs. Addie Cowley Bradley, and grandfather of Mrs. Flora Stewart and Harley I. Bradley of El Dorado.) D. L. McCabe, our farrier, later went to the legislature from Butler County.

“Poor Tom White died one the march on the Santa Fe Trail and was buried at sunset on the bank of the Little Arkansas. Of the boys who went from here, few returned. Only Ben King and myself answer the roll call in the Walnut Valley. (Ben King died years ago. Mr. Conner died in Long Beach, in December 1915.)

During 1862-63, the company did duty among the Indians on the plains and in 1864, the regiment was consolidated and ordered into Arkansas, where, as Mr. Conner wrote, it “thumped around until the final muster-out of 1865.”

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

In May, 1898, the United States was concerned about the trouble existing with Spain over the possession of Cuba and the Philippines. Feeling ran high in El Dorado, where Company H was formed and almost 100 young men enlisted to participate in the Spanish-American War. The Walnut Valley Times of May 4, 1898, said:

“Every member of Company H will offer his services to the government and enlist, if he can, tomorrow. Two coaches have been set off on the Santa Fe tracks to carry our volunteers to Topeka.” James Greer and William Glaze, former pupils of C. L. Aikman, came from Osawatomie to enlist. Sergeant Charles Alger, of Douglass, a brother of Mrs. Charles W. Thomas, was eager to respond and as trains were not running when he wished to start for El Dorado, he walked the twenty-four miles in nine hours. The G. A. R. marched in a body to the enlisting hall, after this invitation in The Times: “Watch the boys brace up as they did thirty-five years ago.” Major Armstrong, General Allen and E. N. Smith made speeches.

This is a roster of Butler County men who enlisted in the United States service against Spain “for three years or during the war.”

El Dorado – Harry C. Hinter, Warren D. Gill, Perry E. Carroll, William Hoober, George M. Dickson, Carlos E. S. Barsley, John B. Miller, John G. Dickson, Charles H. Betz, William A. Rogers, Stephen A. Beardsley, Addis E. Long, Frank W. Weaver, Charles H. Peak, Charles M. Ruckle, Ford E. Newton, William H. McDaniel, Charles Hulburt, Warren Merrifield, Walter G. Corrie, Perry L. Mitchell, Robert M. Vaught, Henry Iverson, Norman Thomson, John Adams, Daniel W. Litzkus, Frank D. Adams, Earl M. Douglass, Isaac M. Cronk, Charles Brittenstein, George S. Osburn, John E. Miller.

Whitewater – Grant W. Martin, Roscoe A. Roach; Douglass – Chris Musselman, Hezekiah Elliott, Charles R. Alger; Haverhill – James G. Greer, William A. Glaze; Potwin – Roy S. Diemart, Charles B. Diemart; Augusta – Leroy C. Buffum; Fairview – William H. Harden; Sycamore Springs – Wm. M. Gaddis; Leon – Edward H. Morford, Isaac Lynn, Ira Buell; Towanda – Andrew W. Snodgrass; Benton – George H. Baker; DeGraff – Walter M. Mock.

WORLD WAR

El Dorado members of the 139th United States Infantry, Company F, were called to the colors by presidential proclamation, on August 5, 1917, and encamped at East Park until September 26. They then left for Camp Doniphan, located of the Fort Sill reservation in the Wichita Mountains, near Lawton, Okla. Here they were combined with Company F of the 4th Missouri Infantry to form a war strength company of 250 men and given six months of intensive training. On April 8, they entrained for Camp Mills, New York, going by way of Canada, and sailed for Liverpool, April 21, 1918 on the transport Coronia, in company with twelve other ships.

After arriving at Liverpool they went immediately to South Hampton for a ten day wait, before they went across the English Channel to Le Havre, France. They were assigned to the British Army and were held in reserve in the En sector. After the German drive on Chambri and St. Quinten had been stopped, Company F was moved to southeastern France in the province of Alsace, staying there three months and holding three sections of trenches while there.

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On August 8th they were moved to the St. Mihiel sector, and were held as reserve troops but were not in action in this sector. Going into the Argonne, one of the greatest battles of the war, on September 25, the shattered company emerged October 5 with only 33 of the original 250 men, not killed or wounded. After a three weeks’ rest and reorganization, the company, again at full strength, was moved to the front line of a new offensive in the Metz sector which would undoubtedly have been the greatest battle of the entire war, but before plans were completed, the Armistice was signed.

After spending the winter in Enville, the company sailed from St. Nazaire, landing at Newport News, Virginia on April 21, 1919, exactly one year from the date they sailed from the United States. On May 8, 1919, the company was discharged from the service, at Camp Funston.

El Dorado members of the 139th Kansas Infantry Company F who made the supreme sacrifice and who are buried in Flanders Field beneath the highest military decoration any government can award, the White Cross, are Roy Richardson, Ernest Broadbeck, Delta W. Doyle, Thomas Ingram, Nat M. Lindsey, Rama S. Love, Elba B. Peffley, Edwin O. Ricord, John P. Whalen, Walter Wilson and Floyd Sussesx.

PATRIOTIC ORGANIZATIONS

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC

W. H. L. Wallace Post, Number 66, Grand Army of the Republic, was organized in El Dorado in 1882, and from that date until 1923 was an integral part of the town. In 1923 the Post deeded its hall to the Woman’s Relief Corps.

Due to prominence in state affairs of its members, this Post played an important part in the national organization. One of its best known and beloved members was General Alfred W. Ellet. The first meetings of the Post (Named for Col. W. H. L. Wallace of the 11th Illinois Infantry) were held in a hall over the present office of Frank S. Allen. In March, 1896, the present G. A. R. hall, until then the Methodist church building, was purchased.

Thomas E. Woods was the first commander, with these successors: Daniel Boyle, T. O. Castle, R. A. Cameron, C. E. Hunt, W. H. Avery, H. H. Grover, B. F. Allebach, William Karnahan, Barnard Stiver, H. W. Wardell, Greenup Mercer, J. R. Lambert, J. H. Chesney, George N. McHuey, Andrew Lytle, W. V. Nelson, Nathan Hudson, Dr. J. B. Carlyle, W. L. Riley, and Daniel Weidman. The annual G. A. R. Encampment for Kansas was held in El Dorado in 1933. In 1934, Marion Perry and James Dodwell are the only surviving members of the W. H. L. Wallace Post in El Dorado.

WOMAN’S RELIEF CORPS

W. H. L. Wallace Relief Corps, with an enrollment of 168 members, has been an important factor in El Dorado’s patriotic and civic life since it was founded in November, 1883. Its first meetings were held in Wingert Hall.

Since establishment, its members have fulfilled its purpose of aiding and assisting the Grand Army Post, honoring the memory of the heroic dead, comforting and heping their widows and orphans.

There were twenty-seven charter members of the organization, with Mrs. E. L. Gibson as the first president. Other presidents have been Mary E. Conley, Carrie McGinnis, Mary Douglass, Mrs. George Gardner, Emmeline Tanner, Hattie E. Riley-Ritcherdson, Hannah Pattee, Mrs. Doty, Mollie Avery, Sarah J. Boyden, Mrs. James Stinson, Maggie Ripley, Cynthia Ann Dailey, Rachel Stewart, Elizabeth Collett, Marietta McCormick, Lillian James, Mary Williams. Rosa Sharp, Mollie Owen, Jessie Bankey, Flora Stewart, Emma Allard, Mary E. Davis and Irma Scoggin, present head of the corps.

The local Woman’s Relief Corps has several state officers in its membership. Flora Stewart is state president, Mary Davis state inspector and Corrine Acton state secretary.

DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Susannah French Putney Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was organized in El Dorado by Mrs. W. E. Stanley, then state regent, on July 8,