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LINCOLN COUNTY, KANSAS A Souvenir History VESPER Pages 92 - 93 Settlement was begun in Ve"per territory in 1869. It is a tradition that a battle occurred in 1868, at Lone Rock three miles south of Vesper between the Indians and some railroad employees, but it is impossible to find anyone who knew the particulars of the matter. When the settlement was once started the country filled up rapidly, and by 1872 all the government land was taken. Wm. B. Cheney was the first settler. The Middlekauff family was the second, and they came when there was only one house between Lincoln and Vesper. Other settlers were A. W. Lewis, JHL S. Steele, Mr. Schofield, Troup Hickey, John Tool, Wm. Baird. Mr. Schofield's place was the objective point of all newcomers upon first reaching this part of the country. The first school was taught at H. S. Steele's. The Vesper postoffice was established in 1873 and moved around over the neighborhood for some years. It was first kept at H. S. Steele's farmhouse on section 10, Vesper Township, then in turn at the homes of the following people: Robert Lewis, John Stein, J. P. Harmon, Mrs. Robt. Lewis, whose husband had died in the meantime. While Mrs. Lewis was postmistress the railroad came through. and the postoffice moved down near the station. A man by the name of Shoemaker kept the first shoe store. His building was burned later. Mr. Baird, who is a carpenter and architect, built the first wagon ever made in the county in 1873 for Martin Hendrichson. He also built the first windmill for a Mr. Davis. Simon Bough built a store building and kept a stock of merchandise. He sold out to George Elrod, who built an addition to it. Miss Lillie White bought out Elrod. Middlekauff & Gilpin bought out Miss White, and put up the building now occupied by Wick & Jepsen. This firm also built a hardware store. Wick bought out the merchandise part of the business. Thos. Garrity, who had been running a drug store, sold out, built a stone building, bought the stock of hardware. Wick took Mr. Jepsen into partnership and about the same time Porter & Sons put a stock of merchandise in the old Bough building. John Murphy, who bought out Porter & Sons, has gone out of business. Thos. Garrity sold out early in 1908 to Mauris Cromwell. Vesper now has a lumber yard, a blacksmith shop, a hotel, a restaurant, and a meat market, a hardware store and general store and three flourishing elevators. Pictures of two of them are given below. There are two churches, Catholic and Presbyterian. The latter was built by a popular subscription, and is used by all denominations. One of the most important communities in Lincoln County history is the settlement of Danes on the Spillman. The first entry in this settlement was made on the southeast quarter of section 23 by Lorenzt Christensen in February, 1869. His brother homesteaded beside him at the same time. Eskild Lawritzen and wife Stine, Otto Peterson, John Maihoff, Mr. and Mrs. Wichel all came during the winter and lived near each other. Of course, they faced many hardships, especially those incident to pioneering in the winter. One instance of these must suffice. One cold day in February Lorenzt Christiansen, while hueing logs for a dugout, some distance from any house, had the misfortune to cut his foot very severely with the axe. He was obliged to lay in the open without attention all day before help could arrive. His nephew, who was with him, kept up a fire. In the evening he was rescued by John S. Strange. In the Indian raid which occurred the next May, all the Danes but Peter and Lorenzt Christiansen and their families were killed or captured. These two men fought the Indians all day, and at night made their way with their families, to Schemerhorn's ranch. From there they went to Fort Harker, and later to Junction City, where they remained until January 1, 1871. When they returned they brought with them from Junction City John Larsen, N. Nielson, A. Rasmussen. The next April the ranks of Danish colonists were further swelled by James Morgeson, Peter Nielson, Peter Anderson, August Hansen, C. Bunk,. C. Anderson, Mons Swenson, Olaf Holnberg, Ole Peterson, Peter Andreson, and Nels Peterson. All these people lived long, and were prosperous except Cris Anderson, who was killed in a runaway. Those who still remain at Denmark own beautiful and valuable homes. It took a long time in those days to subdue the wilderness and make it bloom as a rose and the present generation whose way is made easier in consequence can not be too grateful. The first school, a log building, was erected in 1875. C. L. Jensen was the first postmaster and storekeeper in the settlement, and his location was next to the present school house site north of the road. Lorenzt Christiansen operated the first blacksmith shop and did work for a very large scope of country-Later settlers in the Danish colony were H. L. Hansen, L. P. Jensen, Henry krrebo, A. P. Jensen, C. Jensen, H. P. Bernhardt, C. Bernhardt, John Bernhardt, Christian Hendrickson, Mrs. Christiansen, Mattsen, and two Krieser families. There was one Indian killing which occurred in Denmark neighborhood, which has not yet been recorded in history. Lorenzt Jonhson, which is the American name of Lorenzt Christiansen (his father's name being Chris Johnson), saw some Indians on the Spillman (date uncertain) and noticed that one of them wore a pair of red-topped boots. He recognized the boots as those formerly worn by a friend and shot the Indian wearing them. The body was buried on a property near by. The horizon of intellectual progress in any community can be gauged by its educational system and the interest shown in education by the people generally. A history of Lincoln County not containing an account of its institutions of learning would, therefore, be misleading, as we have dealt to some length with the other side of the picture. We are fortunate in securing an article from Mr. A. T. Biggs whom every one will recognize as an authority on this subject. Believing our readers will enjoy this article better than anything the historian might write, it is given here with a few additions: "Settled as Lincoln County was by pushing Western people, along with Irish and Scandinavians, it is not strange that education occupied their first thoughts. As early as 1867 or 1868, while still keeping an eye open for Indians, Mrs. Skinner gathered her own children, Everton, Alfred, and Bing, and two Ziegler boys, Eli and Frank, into her dugout and taught them 'without money and without price.' She afterwards taught district school. In 1868 Marion ivy, one of Forsyth's famous scouts, taught a school in a dugout in Uncle Mart Hendrickson's door-yard. "John Lyden, a bright, intelligent Irishman, who was murdered and thrown into a well four years later, was appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction, on the organization of the -county. At the election in 1871 John Harshbarger was elected superintendent, but refused to qualify. Washington Smith, a scholarly old gentleman, served till the election of 1872, being succeeded in 1874 by John P. Harmon. In 1876 A. T. Biggs was elected, and served six years. He was followed in 1882 by H. B. Harris, who served two years. In 1884 James H. Allsworth was elected, and served four years, being succeeded in 1888 by A. T. Biggs, who served till 1892. Horace Trueman, E. D. Smith, W. E. Lyon, and A. J. Stanley, the present incumbent, each served four years. The leading characteristic of each superintendent might be summed up in a single word. Washing ton Smith, oldest, Wright, handsomest, Harmon, finest presence. Briggs, busiest, Harris, strictest, Allsworth, laziest, Trueman, jolliest, Smith, most dignified, Lyon, most scholarly, and Stanley most forceful. Brains and energy pervaded the office of superintendent for many years, until to-day the county stands without a peer. But after all it is to the noble band of teachers, male and female, (particularly the latter) to which we owe the efficiency of our schools. For the last sixteen years every Superintendent has received the bulk of his training in the schools of the County. That there have been some "school keepers" in the great body of teachers cannot be denied, but the great mass have been conscientious God-fearing men and women. A personal mention of all the worthy ones would be impossible-but this history would be incomplete without the names of a. few of the principal actors. No one who knows the early history of the County will deny to Mrs. Anna C. Wait the honor of being dean of the faculty-Her influence more than that of any other person has shaped the course of educational thought. She taught the first school in Lincoln in the little old house next to the City Hotel. This little building 10 feet by 22 feet was kitchen, dining room, bedroom and parlor, as well as Captain Wait's law office, but by some sort of magic it was made to contain a school of thirty pupils. This was in 1872, and there are middle aged men and women in Lincoln today who were pupils in this. school and who-insist to this day that it was the "best ever." She taught many years in .Lincoln as well as in Vesper, Lost Creek, Rocky Hill, and No. 63. Her influence in teacher's meetings, institutes and on examining boards was preeminent. It was she and Captain Wait who brought about the organization of the Normal Institute in 1877 when there were only twenty-three "de-fact" teachers to attend. Without a paid enrollment of fifty no sate aid could be had, so by Captain Wait's advice the business men were enrolled. Teaching seemed to run in families. There was the whole family of Skinners, Bing, Fred, Bert, Norah, and Calvin (Vinney). They were educated in the Monroe School where Mrs. Skinner taught in 1870, and which maintained its preeminence as the Hub, educationally. The Bakers, Florence, Ella, lna, Lena, Meta, Edgar, and Eli, all taught acceptably and their father, Congressman Barker, himself a college graduate taught one term in Sunnnyside. The Smith family, Mrs. S. S. the mother, E. D., H. C, and Mabel, left a large impression for good in Lincoln County. It was said by one who ought to know that Anna C. Wait, Hannah McCorkle and Susan Smith were the "first
three" Mabel Smith was the champion maker of bricks without straw, supplying the lack of apparatus by home
made contrivances. The work of E. D. and H. C. Smith was good but no better than: that of the mother and sister.
The Stanley family, Dan, Nora,. Sadie, Art, and Eunice all taught acceptably, but it has remained for Arthur to
add lustre to the family name as well as; to Lincoln County. For Lincoln is known as one of the leading counties
in educational advancement owing to the pre-eminence of her superintendent in the work of School Law revision,
and the more intelligent and practical study of agriculture in the schools. A. A. Songer who has taught acceptably some twenty years in Lincoln County, and fifteen more in other places is a man who understands the secret of success in his profession. For the past five years he has been on the examining board, where he has acquitted himself with great credit. In point of service he is one of the "oldest" teachers in the County, and his characteristic zeal and energy increases with each year. His work in any given branch has always been complete and thorough. He is now willing and abundantly ocompetent to be probate judge. In fact he is extremely well equipped for the duties of this office. John A. Schofield who taught long and successfully was a man of deep convictions, and strong prejudices. Few persons carried into their work a quicker, finer conscience. His only fault was a peppery temper. But being a very blonde-blonde he could not help being "red-headed." He is now clerk of Dewey County, Okla. Probably the youngest teacher that ever taught in Lincoln or any other County was Carrie Matson, now Professor of Latin in Kansas University. About 1880 teachers were scarce, and Carrie who was thirteen but looked any age from eighteen to twenty-five, was granted a certificate and taught successfully at Rocky Point. At Potters burg her success was repeated but it leaked out that she was under age and the superintendent got the roast that was coming to him. A quarter of a century of successful work has justified the judgment of the examining board. The oldest person who ever taught in the County was Mr. Brown from Ottawa County, who taught in District No. 54, Elm Creek, in the early '90's. James Dengate who taught in the schools of the County for a quarter of a century and was in active demand. He
was a bundle of live wires and his clear megaphone tones penetrated not only the uttermost corner of the school
room, but also the atmosphere for a quarter of a mile. Then there was Alice Reddingshaffer and Lillie Loy who spoke
so low that the pupils had to keep very still to hear them. All succeeded equally well. The earlier schools were taught in dugouts or vacant claim shanties, without desks chairs, blackboards or other furniture. In District 21 .Laura Peate taught in Rod Wilmarth's kitchen and in District 56 the first school was taught in Fouts cellar and it was out and beyond better than the average. In District 22 Mrs. B. H. Ellsworth taught in the basement with earth floor and two small windows. The seats were blocks of stove-wood that could not be split. Large sheets of brown manilla paper were used for blackboards and to write lessons on to supplement the short supply of books. District 34 started a school in a shanty with nothing but four bare walls, an earth roof and floor and a sad
apology for a door. The children were ragged but bright and industrious and many of them, now middle-aged and well
to do people can point with pride to their rise in the world. Mrs. William Nash taught the school furnishing her
own apparatus, a board painted with. lamp-black, some bits of chalk (not crayon) and four or five odd books. Cornstalks
and weeds gathered by teacher and pupils were burned in a cast-away stove. And yet this was only thirty years ago! The Normal Institute provided by the legislature of 1877 has been one of the prime factors in upbuilding the educational fabric. The good results obtained are largely due to the happy selection of the Normal Faculty, many of the very best workers of the State having been employed. E. F. Robinson, Salome Pierson and Anna C. Wait were the first Normal teachers. Robinson received $100.00 for his work, Miss Pierson $60.00, while Mrs. Wait gave equally good service free of charge. C. T. Pickett, once principal of the Lincoln schools, conducted five of the earlier institutes and left the impress of his genial kindly nature, an all precious legacy. At present the institute has a core of instructors equal or superior to any in the state. They are Mr. C. S. St. John, Mr. C. M. Ware, Inez M. Chapman, and Carrie F. Bradley." This is the end of Mr. Biggs' article, but the conclusion of the matter is that he himself is not represented as he deserves. In our educational universe he is one of the immortal gods. When he left the office at the close of his six years' continuous service, he could describe the location of every schoolhouse in the county and he knew the names and faces of all the pupils attending the schools at that time and their rank in their studies. He played ball, ante-over, and pull-away with them, even to the second generation, covering the sixteen years between 1876-1892, ten of which he filled the office of county superintendent. From 1877 to the present (1908) the teachers of the county have been largely of those boys and girls. Do they remember and appreciate him? No Normal institute is complete without him and he has missed but one since 1877. He is always drafted and compelled to come even from the uttermost parts of Kansas. Last year the Normal institute surprised him with a gold watch in which was the inscription: "With love, from your Lincoln County Girls and Boys." Mr. Biggs organized most of the school districts and upon liis leaving the office in 1882 it was found that Lincoln County stood above any in the State regards to the per cent of enumeration as to population, of enrollment as to enumeration, and average attendance as to enrollment. The wages of women more nearly approximated that of men than in any other county. About this time the county had seventy-eight districts with buildings valued at $19,250, and was spending about $11,000 a year. There was an enrollment of 2,267 out of 2,888 people of school age. At the time of Mr. Biggs' final retirement from office there were eighty-five districts employing ninety-four teachers. The school population was 3,600. As compared with the valuation of school property in 1882-3 the high school building as it stands now is worth $18,000. In 1884 the Bible Christian Church of Kansas proposed to build a college. The State Conference voted a sum ranging between $6,000 and $10,000 to start the institution providing the city in which it should be located would furnish a like amount. There were some very enterprising citizens of Lincoln who were members of this church, and they set about to secure the college for their locality. A meeting was held in the Baptist Church and a committee was appointed to present resolutions to the city council. The result was that a sum of $7,500 was voted by .Lincoln, and a committee appointed to secure $2,500 by subscriptions. Those who deserve most of the credit for bringing the college to Lincoln are Rev. E. Cameron, at that time the resident minister of that church, and Rev. Geo. Tenny, who was president of the State Conference and Board of Trustees. The college had its origin in the Southern Kansas Christian Conference. Having decided the location and secured the pledge for money no- time was lost in beginning. April 21, 1884, college was opened in the Baptist Church to prepare students for successful work the next year. The enrollment started at twenty-two and increased till it reached forty-nine. Geo. Tenny was principal of this preparatory school. It closed after several weeks of profitable' work and plans were perfected for the beginning of autumn term. Thomas Bartlett, A. M., was chosen president. He and Geo. Tenny taught the college classes. Courses were offered in Biblical literature, higher English, ancient and modern language, economics, ethics, mathematics, and the sciences. Rev. E. Cameron, principal of the preparatory school, was assisted by a full corps of teachers. The cornerstone of the building was not laid until July 23, 1885. It was occupied in 1886. Ten acres had been
donated for a building site. In a few years the kindergarten and primary departments were discarded and the institution gave its whole attention to strictly college work. The attendants came to be called students and not pupils as before. By 1890 the prepartory fitted the student for first grade certificates. The college at this time offered normal, scientific, classical, and commercial courses. The work of the first president, Rev. Bartlett, extended over a period of eight years and through the early struggles he was a most efficient worker. Rev. Cameron, who succeeded him, served as president three years. His work for the college did not close with his presidency as he is at present on the board of trustees. President Whittaker, who served for thirteen years, probably did more than any one man for the institution. He found it heavily in debt and the building yet unfinished. He was a man of excellent business qualities, and by push and persistence cleared the college of indebtedness and finished the building. Rev. Geo. R. Stoner, A. M., who has been president for the last two years, is a young man, unusually capable and well educated. During his administration -many permanent improvements have been made. Many more contemplated for the coming year. In looking over the courses offered and the splendid faculty secured we feel that Lincoln County ought to be proud of the Kansas Christian College. Yet in our rounds of the country we hardly-heard it mentioned. Lincoln County has a great many advantages to boast of, yet there is one thing which it ought to take pride in above all else-its educational advantages-its public schools and its college. These may not add in any direct way a specified amount to its pile of dollars, but they stand near the goal toward which all material gain ought to aim namely, intellectual and spiritual progress. Material progress is not an end in itself, but it gives an opportunity for higher progress. When made an end in itself it loses all its value, and is a curse instead of the blessing it might be, if used for the proper purposes. If there was a prospect of getting a new railroad through the county the citizens would put up 875,000 or $100,000, by private subscriptions, or by bonds. There are any number of men who would give a thousand dollars each out of their own pockets without expecting any direct returns, in order to see a new railroad come through their vicinity. Why not invest a like amount in a college? There is a financial as well as a moral and intellectual return in a good, flourishing college and the citizens ought to realize this and act accordingly. The college at the present time is doing most excellent work in a $30,000 building, but it ought to have $300,000 in buildings in order to do the work it is capable of doing for the community and for its students. The Lincoln Suffrage Association is in some ways the most interesting of all the women's organizations in the county. It was organized in 1880, the first one in the State since the defeat of suffrage in the Legislature of 1876. Four years afterwards (1884) the State Association was organized, and just seven years from the time that three Lincoln County women got their heads together and made up their minds they would vote, the women of Kansas had municipal suffrage. Mrs. Anna C. Wait was the first woman to vote in Lincoln. During the campaign when the amendment was voted on, Mrs. Wait and Miss Eva Corning of Topeka stumped the county in the interests of the amendment Their program was interesting and to the point, and gained a great many votes. Equal to Mrs. Wait in ability and in works was Mrs. E. J. Biggs. For many years both with voice and pen she dealt sturdy blows for equal rights for women. She had the talent for making converts. She organized the Stanton Suffrage Society near the present site of Barnard, lectured throughout the county, and wrote much. She contributed to the Lincoln Beacon in the '80s, over the pen name of Nancy, and did much to silence opposition by her ready wit and keen sarcasm as well as her valid argument. Mrs. Bertha H. Ellsworth, a writer of ability of both prose and verse, held aloft the banner of woman suffrage and prohibition during all those busy years of work and sacrifice for these twin reforms in Lincoln County. In the early days of the Suffrage Association an amusing incident occurred between this organization and Geo.
A. Anderson, the famous "horsewhipped," who favored whisky and opposed suffrage. He was at that time
editor of the Register and after printing the call for a meeting of the women gave vent to his feelings in a scurrilous
article entitled "Woman vs. Man," displaying his ignorance both in thought and composition. The ladies
sent him a copy each of a standard English Spelling book and English Language Lessons, together with very appropriate
resolutions. In 1884 a petition signed by 226 Lincoln County people was; sent to the Legislature. Representative R. T. Bryant from Lincoln made a speech against allowing Mrs. Gougar to speak in the House. His motion to lay the question on the table was defeated 93 to 18. .Eight members of the Lincoln Suffrage Society and Helen M. Gougar of the Ellsworth Society went to-Topeka, and on June 26, 1884, organized the State Equal Suffrage Association. Two years later Kansas placed the munici-pal woman suffrage law among her statutes. The Lincoln Beacon helped the good work along by devoting a full page each week to suffrage. Mrs. Wait organized associations all over the county. The Kansas W. C. T. U. joined hands with the suffrage society to aid in securing this law. The W. C. T. U. in Lincoln was organized July 24, 1880, and is now, as it always has been, active and alert. From the start it assumed and has always maintained an aggressive attitude and the comparative freedom of Lincoln Center from the baneful liquor traffic is largely due to the efforts of the W. C. T. U. There has been but one licensed saloon in town and it only held its license a year. Sylvan Grove and Beverly also have active W. C. T. U. locals. There have been when especially needed other temperance organizations in the county. The Radical Reform Christian Association, a temperance, purity, and equal rights association all in one, was organized in. 1883 by Mrs. A. G. Lord and held a two-day annual picnic each year for twenty-five years in Christiansen's Grove. The influence of this organization and its founder upon the young people in the northwestern part of the county has been a matter of note for years. The R. R. C. A. attracted attention abroad. Mrs. Lord was a tireless worker. She often preached four sermons a day, driving eighteen or twenty miles to
do it. On one occasion she rode eighty miles to the Bunker Hill vicinity. She was the author of a petition to the
State Legislature to amend the school laws, so as to forbid issuing a teacher's-certificate to any one using profanity,
intoxicating liquors, or tobacco. It was signed by five hundred teachers at their State meeting. All the men's fraternal societies have large, active, and helpful woman's auxiliaries. The Woman's Relief Corps has a large membership and in its quiet "let not your left hand know what your right hand doeth" way does a large amount of charitable work besides giving their brethren, the G. A. R., many a lift. |
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