EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS.
In the latter part of 1853, a Tennesseean by the name of Samuel D. Dyer, was
running a government ferry at Juniata, about one mile below Rocky Ford, on
the Big Blue. Soon after, the Government built a bridge at this point, but in
1855 it was swept away by a flood. Mr Dyer, the first white inhabitant of
Riley County, died in February, 1875. His politics were Pro- slavery: he was
of good, common sense, excellent judgment, and great kindness of heart. His
house has been described as "one story high and two stories long."
Rev. Charles Emerson Blood, a native of Mason, New Hampshire, commenced his
labors as a Home Missionary, at Juniata, November, 4, 1854, having with others
in his own words "left their homes in the States not simply to improve their
worldly interests, but to fight the battles of freedom and save this beautiful
country from the blighting curse of slavery."
Zeandale Township.--Mr. J. H. Pillsbury, who settled in this township
in 1855, gave this name to it, which is a combination of the Greek word
zea, meaning corn or spelt, and the English word dale, the
signification being corn-dale or corn-valley. Its location is the extreme
southeastern part of the county. It borders on the Kansas River and is
intersected by Deep Creek. Originally a part of Davis County, it was
transferred to Wabaunsee, and it became a part of Riley County by an act of
the Legislature of 1871, compensating for the loss of the territory in the
southwest part of the county, that became a portion of Davis County. In 1854,
John M. McCormick, C. P. McDonald, and William Wiley located their claims;
Daniel S. Bates, J. M. Burleigh, H. D. Hall, E. R. McCurdy, and John C.
Mossman settled in the township in 1855. Abner Allen, Jesse Allen, Robert
Earl and G. R. Mosses in 1856; D. M. Adams and Harvey Marshall in 1857. A
town was laid out, Mr. Adams was appointed Postmaster, the first post- office
was kept at the house of J. H. Pillsbury.
A Congregational Church was organised in 1858; a church edifice was begun but
never completed, Rev. Harvey Jones, of Wabaunsee, preached here alternate
Sundays during 1856. Mrs. M. Pillsbury taught at her home the first private
school in 1858. Miss Mattie Keyes, in 1859, taught the first district school
in a small building on the farm of Mr. Abner Allen. In 1862 the first
schoolhouse was built. It was made of hewn logs, and called the "Conic
Section," because of its hexagonal shape. Mrs. E. Van Antwerp taught the
first school in the building.
Ernest McCurdy, son of E. R. McCurdy, was the first child born in the
township. The birth occurred April 26, 1856.
Rev. Harvey Jones performed the first marriage ceremony, December
11, 1856. The parties united were C. P. McDonald and Mary E. McCurdy.
Clinton H. Pillsbury, infant son of J. H. Pillsbury, died early in 1857,
the first death in the township.
The recorder of the weather from Christmas, 1855, to February 11, 1856,
gives the average temperature, at eight degrees below zero; the coldest stood
31 degrees below. The snow, February 1, 1856, was three feet deep.
Ashland Township.--This township, originally a part of Davis County, was
transferred to Riley by an act of the legislature of 1873. Its area is some
thirty square miles. Thomas Reynolds, one of the first County Commissioners
and a Probate Judge, mad the first settlement early in 1855, on Section 10,
Township 11, Ranger 7. April 22, 1855, a colony made up in Covington, Ky.,
and Cincinnati, Ohio, arrived, consisting of thirty-five members. It came by
steamer from Cincinnati to Kansas City, and from there in emigrant wagons.
Among these colonists were many ardent admirers of the great Commoner, Henry
Clay, and to honor his memory they gave the name of his late residence to the
township and city which they attempted to build. The settlement was made on
McDowell Creek. F. G. Adams was president; Rev. N. B. White, Vice President;
Henry J. Adams, Treasurer. C. N. Barclay, W. H. Mackay, John E. Ross, C. L.
Sanford, William Stone, M. Weightman, and J. S. Williams were among the
members. In March, 1857, Ashland became the county-seat of Davis County; and
remained so until November, 1860, when it gave way to Junction City. There
were several terms of the Territorial District Courts held here, Rush Elmore,
Judge. In 1858, a post-office was established; M. D. Fisher, Postmaster. Dr.
E. L. Patee was the first County Clerk. He settled in the township in 1856.
He was County Treasurer of Riley County in 1864 and 1865.
Miss Marcia Woodward taught the first school. It was in 1857, and the first
school house was erected in 1865. Rev. N. B. White married the first pair,
William Stone and Matilda Williams, December 13, 1857. John McDonald, of the
Ashland Colony, died on the day after his arrival, April 23, 1855. Clarence
Patee, son of Dr. E. L. Patee, was the first child born, March 6, 1857.
In 1880, a Christian Church was organized, but it has ceased to be.
Ogden Township.--This township obtained its name from Maj. Ogden of the
United States Army. Thomas Reynolds erected a 10x12 log cabin, without glass
for its windows, in June, 1854, on the southwest quarter of Section 6,
Township 11, Range 7. It was the first dwelling in the present limits of the
county. Here was held an election for the first Territorial Delegate,
November 29, 1854. The site is on the knoll a little east of where the iron
bridge crosses Seven Mile Creek. Dr. Daniel L. Chandler is the owner of the
tract at this time, 1882. Dr. Chandler, the Dixon brothers -- James, John,
Patrick and Thomas -- C. M. Dyche, B. B. Edmonds, Robert Mallon, Daniel
Mitchell, C. R. Mobley, R. D. Mobley, John M. Morris, Joseph Myers, P.
O'Malley, J. U. Parsons, Jacob Theirer, Moses Walker Josephus Warner, M. D.
Waters and S. B. White were among the first settlers. John Dixon died August
1855, and a Mr. Allen the same month. In July eight died of cholera at Pawnee.
The first marriages in the township were that of Thomas Dixon and Mary
Hoffman, May 1, 1856; C. M. Dyche and Miss B. A. O'Malley in December, 1856.
Alla, daughter of C. R. Mobley was the first birth, born in 1856. Robert
Wilson, at Pawnee in 1855, opened the first store in the township; a Mr.
Johnson, of Kansas City, the first store at Ogden. D. L. Chandler, B. B.
Edmonds, J. U. Parsons and Moses Walker brought in the first saw and
corn-mill in 1856, and they manufactured considerable meal and lumber. Mrs.
E. Myers taught the first school in 1859; James Weston taught the second one.
In 1857, religious services were held, and a Congregational Church was
organized; Rev. J. U. Parsons preached, and a neat stone edifice was erected
in 1859. In 1882, the church is partially supplied by services from Rev. M.
S. Riddle, the pastor at Milford. The first Roman Catholic Church in the
county was organized at Ogden in 1865. The church property is valued at
$1,200. Fathers DeMather, Remley, Vanderburg and Cairns have been the pastors.
The Ogden Town Company was chartered by the Legislature of 1857, and the
town was at once laid out in blocks and lots. The streets running north and
south are named Elk, Walnut, Park and Oak. There are seventeen streets
running east and west; Riley, which is the business one, is 110 feet wide;
Park is 150 and Water, which runs along the river, is 150 feet.
Ogden has one hotel, the Union Pacific House. West of it was the residence of
Daniel Mitchell, one of its earliest and most prominent citizens; east of it
was the log residence of Governor Reeder, moved from Pawnee after its
extinction. Theodore Weischelbaum, its prominent merchant, came in 1860, and
for years did a large freighting business across the plains, and had five
stores out at Western forts. He has been an extensive brewer. Thomas Dixon
has a large stone warehouse north of the railroad track, and he has
heretofore been an extensive shipper. Henry Roberts and George Micholland are
merchants; L. Bailey is the blacksmith; A. J. Turner, shoe-maker; William
Foster, carpenter and wagonmaker; Frederic Rehfield, saddler, and A.
Friedenstein, general mechanic. Here is an excellent stone school building;
the school is graded. Frank Eastman is auctioneer for the town and country.
Ogden Division, No. 3, Sons of Temperance, commenced February 19, 1877. Its
first officers were: William J. Rich, Worthy Patriarch; S. J. Engle, Worthy
Assistant; H. Haucke, Recording Secretary; M. White, Assistant Recording
Secretary; R. W. Estres, Financial Secretary. Its members exceed fifty.
Ogden, since 1870, has been a city of the second class. Its Mayors have been
Frederic Hubert, Theodore Weischelbaum, Frederic Rehfield and C. C. Emerson.
In October, 1857, the United States Land Office was located here, but
soon thereafter it went to Junction City.
The Ogden postmaster is George W. Campbell; the one at Vinton,
which is near the home of Ex-Senator Harvey, is J. B. Reynolds.
Madison Township.--This township, organized April 5, 1872, tooks its
name from the creek, which was given it in honor of the fourth President
of the United States. Its area is fifty-nine square miles. At its longest
place from north to south, it is eight miles; from east to west nine miles.
The first claims were near the head of Wild Cat Creek; taken by the
Hairs in May, 1855. Jonas Hair located on the southwest quarter of Section
7, Township 9, Range 6; T. R. Hair on the southeast quarter of Section 12,
and J. P. Hair on the northwest quarter of Section 7, Township 9, Range 6.
In 1856, George Lyall settled on the northwest quarter of Section 12,
Township 9, Range 5, on the Upper Wild Cat Creek; John Forman, Bradley
E. Hellington, Lorenzo Gates and A. B. Whiting located on Madison Creek;
A. D. Reed on Timber Creek. In 1857, James Kester settled on the northwest
quarter of Section 11, Township 9, Range 4, on Timber Creek. In
1858, among the new-comers were George Avery, Lewis Parish, Gilbert Steel
and D. C. Walbridge.
In 1860, George Avery and H. H. Whiting, in company with some teams from
Manhattan, started for Denver with corn. It was the first attempt to find a
Western market and it proved to be successful. For years afterwards there was
considerable freighting across the plains from this vicinity. In 1861, George
Avery brought the first threshing machine into the settlement that was owned
west of Manhattan, and in 1882 the power is used by B. E. Fullington on a
corn-cracker. Mr. Fullington lives just south of the township, having been
legislated into Davis County.
Dr. J. Crans, a distinguished physician and druggist at Riley Centre
(sic), dispenses stimulating fluids for medicinal, mechanical and
scientific purposes as the prohibitory liquor law provides.
Joseph Roberts keeps the "Central House," which is the half way place between
Manhattan and Clay Centre (sic). It was built in 1879, and with it and
his feed stable he has five acres of ground in the burg. Ira Wilcox has a
livery, feed and sale stable.
The first marriage in the township occurred March 30, 1856. The parties united
were James Johnson and Mary A. Hair. In 1857, Thomas was born to E. C.
Bartgell and wife; Alice, to A. H. Bartell and wife, the first births. The
parents settled the same year on Madison Creek.
There is a post-office at Riley Center; C. W. Hessebroeck is postmaster. He
located at Riley Center in 1871, opening a store there. The building when
first erected was a frame, two stories in height, 24x60 feet. He has made
several additions to the original building, and the structure compares
favorably with any store in the county in the convenience of its arrangements
and stock of goods carried.
Bala Township.--From a town in North Wales this township received
its name. As at present constituted its area is forty-two miles.
In the spring of 1862, Mr. A. D. Phelps settled on the fork of Timber Creek,
near the present town site of Bala. Twelve miles distant on the north was
Rowland Spurrier, his nearest neighbor; nearest on the east, Rev. Aaron
Silvers, eight miles distant; on the south, A. B. Whiting and B. E. Fullington.
In 1870, a Welsh colony was organized in the State of New York, under the name
of "The Welsh Land and Emigration Society of America." James H. Jenkins, general
agent for the colony, bought on time considerable of the Kansas Pacific Railroad
lands. In 1870, with Mr. Jenkins came Thomas Daniels, Rowland Davies, J.
Griffin, John E. Hughes, Owen R. Jones, Theodore Morgan, William Randall,
Richard W. Roberts, J. P. Thomas, David Watkins, E. C. Williams and others.
The village of Bala is a thriving one. Its avenues running north and south are
Park and Powys. Its streets are Kansas, Caroline, Louisa, John, Davies, Laura,
Emma, Broadway and Genesee. Its lanes are Welsh, Ann and Elizabeth. Its
post-office was established in 1871, succeeding the Old Timber Creek
post-office. Rowland Davies is postmaster. L. Kilbourne is the postmaster at
Alembia in Bala Township. The first marriage in the township was that of
Christopher Young and Mary Lock in 1866. George Carrighan was the first child
born in the township.
There is a Welsh Calvinist, an English Methodist Episcopal and a
Congregational (Welsh and English) Church.
The first cheese factory in the county was erected here in 1876, by James
Sharpless, and it is successfully carried on. Mr. Sharpless, Mr. Davis and
Mrs. Jenkins have the general stores; J. H. Jenkins, the drug store. The town
has a good hotel, harness shop, shoe shop and blacksmith shop.
Leonard, the only station on the Kansas Central Railroad in this county is
situated in Bala Township, in Section 19, Township 8, Range 5, was started in
October, 1881, and it was named after Leonard T. Smith of Leavenworth,
formerly President of the road. Here is a new schoolhouse, and the Methodists
are building a parsonage. The town has four general stores, of which the most
prominent are those of the Erpelding Brothers and William Sikes. Meetings are
held in the fine hall of the store building of Erpelding Brothers. The hotel
is the Jones House. H. Wilcox has an excellent livery stable. J. H. Jenkins
has a drug store. There is an elevator, a lumber-yard, and a blacksmith shop.
The town is twenty-six miles northwest from Manhattan; sixteen from Clay
Center; six from Riley Center, and fourteen from Randolph.
The Leonardville Brass Band has six instruments. William Fryhoffer
is leader. This was organized in 1878.
Fancy Creek Township.--This township was named from the creek
which flows through it. The Randolph family named the creek, and it is
said, that whoever has wandered up and down its charming valley, or has
enjoyed a look down upon the picturesque panorama spread out at its
feet from an adjacent bluff, will exclaim, "A singularly appropriate name."
The township was organized September 8, 1879, and embraced the south one half
of what was then May Day Township, containing forty-eight square miles each.
August Winkler came up from St. Louis, Mo., in the spring of 1857, and F.
Winkler, C. L. Caley and J. J. Myers were settlers here soon afterwards. August
Winkler built the first permanent grist-mill in the county. He has been a very
successful miller and farmer, and has the largest flock of sheep in the county.
In 1872, Richard Bork established a general store.
In 1880, a Baptist Church was erected at a cost of $1,500.
Center Township.--This township was organized August 13, 1881, and it
embraces what was the south one-third of May Day and the north one-third of
Fancy Creek townships, containing thirty-two square miles. May Day and Fancy
Creek each contains the same.
May Day Township.--In January, 1872, this township was organized, the
territory having been taken from Jackson Township. It embraced a tract 8x12
miles in the northwest part of the county. Its name was suggested by Hon. A.
S. Edgerton, who was postmaster of an office established there in 1869, and
first called Stanton. This name was objected to, because of there being other
offices of that name in the State.
In the year 1857, Frank Droll and Rudolph Niehenke settled in the township.
Peter Dick, A. S. Edgerton, O. E. Osborne, George Pickett and Fred Schartz
came soon after. In 1871, Solomon Weichselbaum established a store at May Day.
The first marriage was that of A. Brockhart and Sarah Morris in 1862.
The first birth that of John H. Schartz, August 1, 1859.
Parallel Post-Office, M. Jerome, postmaster, is on the first standard parallel.
Farmer's Lodge, No. 166, was organized at May Day under a dispensation, January
15, 1876. G. T. Polson was chosen Worshipful Master; J. W. Smith, Senior
Warden; Frank Coffie, Junior Warden; H. A. Freeman, Treasurer; Sol Weichselbaum,
Secretary. It was organized under a charter October 18, 1876. Its membership
is upwards of thirty.
W. W. Jones is the physician at Parallel; H. A. Meier, physician and surgeon at
May Day.
Swede Creek Township.--This township is in the northeast part of the
county, and its area is about fifty miles. It was organized August 4, 1879.
H. H. Rice was its first Trustee. Frederic Toburen was Trustee 1880-82. Its
post-office is Big Timber; Maynus Vilander is postmaster. The township
receives its name from the creek which flows through it, and the creek was
named in honor of Peter Carlson, a Scandinavian, who settled on it in 1857. In
1858, L. Pierson settled just below the mouth of Swede Creek, and N.
Christenson, a Dane, settled a little farther down the Big Blue. The same year
the Meyer brothers and Frederic Toburen made a settlement in the township, and
later Mr. Toburen's parents and his brothers, Herman and Adolph.
In 1877, a German Evangelical Church was erected. The township contains tree
stone and two frame schoolhouses.
Jackson Township.--The early settlers of this township came from
Jackson County, Ind., hence the name. Formerly it embraced all the territory
now included in Jackson, May Day, Madison, Bala and a part of Grant townships.
Early in 1855, Gardner Randolph and his large, grown-up family of sons,
daughters and sons-in-law, near the mouth of Fancy Creek, made the first
settlement. They claimed all the land, with the exception of a single tract on
Fancy Creek, between Peter Heller's on Section 4, Township 7, Range 6, and the
mouth of Baldwin Creek, also a slice east of the Blue called Timber City.
Though this family came from Illinois, they avowed their purpose of aiding in
making Kansas a slave State.
In November, 1856, Edward Secrest, Solomon Secrest and Henry Shellenbaum,
three young men, natives of Switzerland, but recently from Seymour, Jackson
Co., Ind., came up the Blue River, and built the first log cabin on the Big
Blue, above Fancy Creek. In the early part of 1857 they settled on Fancy
Creek, where they were joined by Mr. John Fryhoffer. The father of the
Secrest brothers joined his sons in the fall of 1860. William Fryhoffer and
Peter Heller came in 1863, and the father of the Fryhoffers in 1864.
Fancy Creek Valley is settled with some of the best farmers in the county, who
are largely Swedes and Germans, the large portion of whom were in the
territory of Jackson Township. The township, as constituted in 1882, embraces
about fifty-five square miles. Its eastern boundary is the Big Blue, the
western, the line between Ranges 5 and 6.
In the original bounds of the township the first school was taught by J. M.
Byarlay in 1863. The first schoolhouse was built in 1867. The first church was
built in 1876, by the German Evangelical Association.
The first regular religious meetings were held at Mr. Randolph's early
in 1857, by ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
The first marriage was that of Lewis Baldwin and Matilda Randolph
in 1856, and the fist birth was that of their son in 1857.
Randolph, first called Waterville, was laid out in 1856, by J. K. Whitson; the
first inhabitant, G. L. Ruthstreno, established the first store. In 1882, its
population is about 300. It has a graded school, with two teachers. The
Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church is organized and the Swedish Mission Church
has a good building. Its postmaster in 1882 is J. W. Nelson. The first
post-office here was a the house of Gardner Randolph, and it was on the weekly
mail route between Ogden and Marysville.
The town has a lumber-yard, a millinery establishment, a livery stable, a
jewelry establishment, a tin shop, a cabinet shop, a drug store, two harness
shops, three blacksmith shops, three hotels, and three physicians. Its
attorneys are T. B. Lewis and R. C. Walter. J. F. Beckman & Bros., and A.
Wikander carry the largest stock of goods.
In 1881, A. A. Chapman and Milton Foreman, practical carpenters and
mill-wrights, got their three-story wood and stone grist-mill in running
order. It has three run of stone, and the mill is moved by a turbine wheel of
forty horse-power. The mill is situated south of the town, and the water
running it is taken from near the bend of Fancy Creek and conveyed through a
canal to the bulkhead.
Randolph is a peninsula, North Otter being on the east; Fancy Creek on the
south and considerably on the west of it. The original plat (sic) of
the town contains five blocks. Whitson's Addition has nine, north of the same;
Beckman's is a few lots south and west of the original plat. The town contains
some eleven acres, and is located on the south part of the southwest quarter
of the southeast quarter of Section 33, Township 8, Range 7.
Grant Township.--This township was formed from Jackson and Manhattan
Townships, April 11, 1870, and was named in honor of President Grant. It
contained ninety-two square miles. J. W. Paul was the Township Trustee in
1870, 1874, 1878, 1880, 1882; H. P. Dow in 1871; Charles McGiloray in 1872;
James E. Freeman in 1873; Edelbute in 1879.
On Wild Cat Creek the first settlers were S. D. Houston and Henry Eubank, who
settled in 1855. The same year Henry Condray, and his sons Mincher, William
and John settled near the mouth of Mill Creek, built dwellings, and started a
mill and blacksmith shop. In 1856 came Jonas Kress; in 1857 and 1858, Lemuel
Knapp, Samuel Kimble, George Slye, John Warner and his sons John and George,
Lorenzo Westover, Jesse White and Joshua Williams.
H. C. Kennedy is the postmaster at Grant post-office; J. D. Sweet at Stockdale.
The first schoolhouse was built in 1859; first teacher, V. Ruddrick. The first
printing was by Newell Trafton; the first church the Methodist Episcopalian.
The first marriage was that of William Frake to Catherine Condray, in
1856. The first births were Newton Frake and George Eubank.
Stockdale is located at the junction of Mill Creek and Big Blue. There
was a saw-mill here in the early days, and the ample water-power can be
easily utilized. J. D. Sweet has a store and a blacksmith shop.
Manhattan Township.--The history of the settlement of this, the most
important township of the county, is given with the history of the city of
Manhattan.
|