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History of Nemaha County, Kansas

There are books and books, each purporting to fulfill a mission. Since remote times man has endeavored in some manner to leave behind him the story of his accomplishments during his brief sojourn on earth. Primitive man first chiseled on imperishable stone in various crude ways the messages which he desired transmitted to his descendants; the ancients inscribed history on tablets of clay; in all parts of the known world are found the stories of its peoples inscribed in some form on crumbling monuments, on the walls of forgotten, buried cities — the messages telling in graphic detail the story of the ancient peoples of the earth in the only manner which was possible to the inhabitants thereof.

As enlightenment came gradually through the ages, the crude methods of transmitting knowledge in vogue for untold centuries gave way to the written and printed pages which we have today, when the ability to read is universal throughout the land.

Books have multiplied until their number is incalculable. A good book is a friend and companion. A book of history is not only entertaining, useful, enlightening, but it is valuable and stimulating. We are inspired by the tales of accomplishment by our forefathers to do even greater things than they. We likewise take a just pride in our own deeds and successes. Macauley once wrote: "Show me a country whose people take no pride in their ancestry; they will produce no posterity worth while."

It is well to delve into the past; strive in the present, and to look forward into the future. This volume of Nemaha County History tells of the past, which covers a brief span of three score years since the all-conquering American pioneer came into the prairie wilderness to create a home; its pages likewise speak of the present — all of which is recorded for the benefit and inspiration of posterity.

While Nemaha county is but a small plat of earth, it is very dear to all of us, and is an Empire builded by the hands of brave and hardy men and women, whose composite achievement is one of the wonders of the age. Created and grown beyond the wildest dreams of its creators from an unpeopled wilderness into a populous, wealthy, and thriving community during the memory of living men, Nemaha county occupies a proud and enviable place among her sister counties in Kansas.

The story of Nemaha county's settlement and growth is faithfully and entertainingly told in the succeeding pages. The facts herein set forth are not the result of mere guesswork; they are taken from available records and transcribed as coming from the lips of old settlers who know whereof they speak. Many of these facts are necessarily "recollections of pioneers." All written history is founded on personal knowledge and observation. In my experience of twenty-eight years in the profession of writing for the public, I have found a wide variance in these "recollections." It is seldom that two persons "recollect" alike. This curious phase of "recollecting" is easily explained from a psychological stand-point, and is attributive to the fact that any incident or occurrence affects each of several persons witnessing it in a different manner. Each may tell a story differently — but that divergence does not alter the historical value of the narration. It will be found that the facts set forth in this volume are essentially correct, and it will be "invaluable as a reference work.

This volume is issued not a day too soon. The men and women who made the history contained herein are rapidly passing away, and it is meet that their composite arid individual records be recorded. The book really represents the work of eight years, for we (my wife and I) have had a history of the county in mind for that length of time, and have been gathering material with that end in view.

Were it not for the faithful and unremitting labors of Mrs. Tennal in making historical researches and transcriptions of our joint efforts during the many months which were required for the preparation of the text, I fear the task would not have been accomplished. Sincere and deep appreciation is acknowledged for assistance and contributions from Judge Rufus M. Emery, Ira K. Wells, Prof. W.R. Anthony, Roy Hesseltine, Capt. Lewis Miller, Jacob Mohler, Dr. S. Murdock, Mrs. V.A. Bird, Mrs. Alice Gray Williams, Rev. P. Joseph Sittenauer and an endless number of kindly folk, including the newspaper men of the county, who contributed their assistance and support freely, to the end that the people of Nemaha might have a history.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGY AND THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD.
Scientific Terms — "Pliocene" — Evidence of Coal and Oil — Brick Clay — Cretaceous Niobrara Formation — Fossils — Loess Soil — Elements of Soil — Plant and Animal Life — Evolution — Carboniferous Age — Rock Formations — Upheavals — Glacial- Theory... Pages 33-37

CHAPTER II.
EARLY TIMES.
Significance of Name — Nemaha County Visited by Coronado in 1541 — Coronado's Report — Fremont's Expedition in 1841 — Mormons — "Forty-Niners" — Freighters — H H. Lynn — Joseph Griffin — Edward Avery — Travelers' Graves — Majors and Russell — Old Trails — Stage Lines — Overland Traffic — Early Day Prices — Fares — Route from Atchison... Pages 38-44

CHAPTER III.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
At Baker's Ford — Early Settlers — Settlers Hold Meeting — First Bridge — Other Families Come — Election Held — -Boundaries Defined — First Townships Settled — Samuel Magill — David Locknane — First Negro Settler — Settlement in Rock Creek — Other Townships Formed — Neuchatel — Home Township — Seneca, the County Seat — Ferry — Election District — First White Child Born in Seneca — Early Day Postmasters... Pages 45-50

CHAPTER IV.
FOUNDING OF TOWNS.
Original Townships — Present Townships — Original Towns — Free State Towns — Present Towns and Villages — Central City, the First Town — First Mill — First School — Richmond Incorporated — Temporary County Seat - Ash Point — Urbana — Pacific City — Granada — A. B. Ellit — Capioma — County Seat Election — Seneca Won — Court House Burned... Pages 51-55

CHAPTER V.
FIRST EVENTS AND INSTITUTIONS.
First White Child — First Marriage — First Bridge — First Teacher — First Piano — Indians Perplexed — The Whittenhall Family — First County Commissioners — First Census — Dr. String-fellow and Jim Lane — Judicial District — Judge Horton, First Judge — Election — Political Meeting — An Emigrant Band — Mormons — First Store at Fidelity — The Wempe Family... Pages 56-62

CHAPTER VI.
INDIAN HISTORY.
Traditions of Great Dakotahs — Treaty of 1806 — Believed in a "Great Spirit" — Treaty With the Government — Ceded Lands, — Pottawatomies — Aunt Lizza Roubidoux Barrada — Pawnee Burial Ground — Characteristics — Vanished Race — Treasure Relic — An Indian Tragedy — No Resident Indians — a Modern Incident — An Indian Burial — Modern Conditions — Reservations — Soldiers Pensioned... Pages 63-69

CHAPTER VII.
TRANSPORTATION.
Early Day Methods — The Ox Team — Early Trails — Advancement Slow — Railroad "Talk" — Bonds Voted — St. Joseph and Denver — St. Joseph and Grand Island — Rock Island — Missouri Pacific Branches — How the Railroads Affected Towns — "Railroads on Paper" — Automobiles — St. Joseph and Grand Island the Pioneer Railroad — A Trading Post — Freighting — Ferry on the Big Blue — Government Lays Out a Military Road — California Emigration — Stage Lines — Marysville, Palmetto and Roseport Railroad - Other Railroad Companies... Pages 70-78

CHAPTER VIII.
SENECA, THE COUNTY SEAT.
Selected for County Seat — Town Founded — First House and Store — Second Structure — A Literary Blacksmith — Hotel and Mill — Other Buildings and Early Day Enterprises — Business Booms — Growth of Town — Advantages of Seneca — Progress — Business Enterprises and Professions — Guilford Hotel — A Colony Comes from England — Their Early Struggles — Interesting Citizens — Jake Cohen — Civic Improvement — Community Church — Tabernacle — High School Building — Municipal Light and Waterworks — City Hall... Pages 79-91

CHAPTER IX.
SENECA SHALE BRICK INDUSTRY.
An Agricultural Community — The One Exception — Important Invention — The "Klose Continuous Tunnel Kiln" — A Visit to the Seneca Shale Brick Company's Plant — Interview With Mr. Klose — Organization of Company — Beginning of Industry — Period of Uncertainty — Present Capacity — Capitalization... Pages 92-97

CHAPTER X.
SABETHA.
Unlike Other Towns — Name — Sabetha Excels — A Healthful Climate — Model Town — Prosperous Citizens — Farm Products Shipped — Prominent Men — An Incident of Honor — Sabetha People Everywhere — How Named — Town Located — Town Company Organized — Organization — The Library — A Rare Host — Industries and Business Houses — Albany, the Mother of Sabetha — Reminiscences of the Late J.T. Brady... Pages 98-111

CHAPTER XI.
CORNING.
Its Peculiarities — A Solid Town — Founded By a Colony from Galesburg, Ill. — Dr. McKay — Named in Honor of Erasmus Corning — Postoffice Established in 1867 — First Store — Location of Town Changed When Railroad Was Built — First Hotel — Jacob Jacobia — First School — Present School — Dr. Magill — Modern Corning — Highest Point in County — Nathan Ford and the Drouth of 1860 — Population and Business Houses... Pages 112-115

CHAPTER XII.
BERN.
Town Founded in 1886 — Controversy Over Name — Altitude — Natural Advantages — Statistics — Churches — Societies and Lodges — Business Enterprises — Mineral Springs — As a Trading Point — Above the Average — Business Men... Pages 116-120

CHAPTER XIII.
WETMORE.
A Shipping Point — A Railroad Town — Named for W.T. Wetmore — Postoffice Established in 1867 — Early Business Enerprises — First Events — A Hanging — Earliest Citizen — Pony Express and Overland Stage — Schools — A Jesse James Incident — Pioneers and Their Descendants — First Settler in Township — Prospecting for Coal — Bancroft — W. F. Turrentine — Cardinal Points of Compass Disregarded... Pages 121-126

CHAPTER XIV.
CENTRALIA.
Third Town in County — Townsite Selected — Moved to the Rail- road — Located by a Maine Colony — A Would-Be Seminary — Progress — Incorporated — Library — Becomes City Proper in 1906 — Dr. J.S. Hidden — Prominent Newspaper Men — Schools — Vital Statistics — Home Association — Early Settlers... Pages 127-133

CHAPTER XV.
OTHER TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
Goff — A Railroad Center — Named in Honor of Edward H. Goff — Location — Judge Donaldson — Mr. Abbott, First Merchant — Kelly — A Shipping Point — "The Kelly Booster" — A Beautiful Church — The Kelly Bank — School — Business Enterprises — Pioneer Families — The Villages of Dorcas, Clear Creek, Sother, Price, Etc. — The Town of Baileyville... Pages 134-138

CHAPTER XVI.
ONEIDA.
Founded by Col. Cyras Shinn — Election of Name — Liquor Restriction — Supported Governor St. John^ - Postoffice — Early Enterprises — Churches — Substantially Built — School — "Real Estate Journal" — New York "Tribune" Reports of "Bleeding Kansas" — First Religious Service — Lodges and Woman's Clubs... Pages 139-143

CHAPTER XVII.
NEMAHA IN THE BORDER WAR.
Anti Slavery Sentiment — Underground Railroad — John Brown Here — Rev. Curtis Graham — Recollections of William Graham — Nemaha Not Seriously Affected — Quantrill — Slaves Here — Jim Lane Here — Mexican War Veterans... Pages 144-148

CHAPTER XVHI.
NEMAHA IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Nemaha Responded Promptly — A Company Organized Here — George Graham Organized a Company — "John Brown's Body" — Belonged to the Seventh and Eighth Regiments — Real Warfare - Troops Return on a Furlough — Nemaha Soldiers in Important Engagements — Nemaha Boys in the Ninth Cavalry — Eleventh Regiment in Campaign Against Indians — Nemaha Soldiers Saw Much Service — Prominent Nemaha County Men in the Civil War — Grape Shot Found Here — War Relics... Pages 149-161

CHAPTER XIX.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
Nemaha Responds Promptly-Company K, Twenty-second Regiment — Equipment of Company — To Camp Alger, Va. — Drilling — Efficience — Foraging — Camp Mead, Pa. — Mustered Out at Ft. Leavenworth — Captain Miller — Nemaha Always to the Front — A Sham Battle... Pages 162-165

CHAPTER XX.
AGRICULTURE.
Marvelous Resources — Improved Methods — Evolution in Crop Raising — Live Stock — Comparative Statistics, 1875 to 1915 — Increase of Land Values — Scientific Farming — Improved Stock — Prominent Breeders — Beef Cattle — Model Farms — Irrigation — States and Countries Represented — Survey of County — Cheese and Butter — Other Statistics — The Tractor as a Labor Saver — A Big Grain Business... Pages 166-179

CHAPTER XXI.
AGRICULTURE CONTINUED.
Apple Orchards — Honey — Cattle Shipments — Prize Crops — Agricultural and Horticultural Society — First Annual Fair — Board of Trade — Repaying New York — A Freak Peach Tree — Prize Winners — Pure-Bred and "Scrub Corn" — Fletchell and Wright's $67,000 Grain Crop — Harvesting the Crop — As a Health Resort — Age of Nemaha — Jacob Fleisch's Quarter Section Tree Farm... Pages 180-187

CHAPTER XXII.
NEWSPAPERS.
The First Newspaper — The Nemiaha "Courier" — Its Policy — John P. Cone, Editor — The "Courier-Democrat" — "Mercury" — The Seneca "Tribune" — Other Newspapers — Sabetha Newspapers — Centralia, Corning and Goff Newspapers — The Bern "Gazette" — The Wetmore "Spectator" — A Rare Newspaper Collection... Pages 188-196

CHAPTER XXIII.
BENCH AND BAR.
A Lawyer and Judge — The Lawyer and Necessity of Law — Its Application — The Bench — Judicial Power Vested — Albert L. Lee — Albert H. Horton — Robert St. Clair Graham — Nathan Price — Perry L. Hubbard — Alfred G. Otis — David Martin — Reuben C. Bassett — John F. Thompson — Rufus M. Emery — William I. Stuart — District Clerks — Sheriffs — County Attorneys — Probate Judges... Pages 197-204

CHAPTER XXIV.
THE BENCH AND BAR, CONTINUED.
The Bar - A Lawyer's Duty — His Work — Resident Lawyers — Nernaha Attorneys Who Have Attained Distinction — Experiences of Lawyers — Senator Ingalls — Cases — Early Juries — Important Cases — Louis Lorimer and Regis Loisel Titles — Railroad Bond Case — Noted Criminal Cases — State vs. Carter and Winters — State vs. Wilton Baughn — State vs. Blancett — State vs. John Craig — State vs. Mrs. Frank McDowell — State vs. Thomas Ramsey — State vs. Fred Kuhn... Pages 205-215

CHAPTER XXV
COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND OFFICIAL ROSTER.
First Election — Bogus Legislature — County Created — First Officers — Members Elected to Second and Third Territorial Legislature — County Officers Elected in 1859 — First Court House — First Term of Court — District Judge — Grand Jury — An Important Case — Townships — Council — State Senators — Territorial Representatives — State Representatives — Sheriffs — County Clerks — Registrars of Deeds — County Treasurers — Probate Judges — Superintendents of Public Instruction — Clerks of District Court — County Commissioners — County Surveyors — Coroners — County Attorneys — County Assessors... Pages 216-222

CHAPTER XXVI.
BANKS AND BANKING.
First Bank in the County — The Sabetha State Bank — Wetmore State Bank — First National Bank in the County — Bank- ing Interests Develop — Banks Organized — Changes and Consolidations — Farmers Bank of Morrill Organized — Present Banks — The National Bank of Seneca — First National Bank of Seneca — Citizens Bank of Seneca — The National Bank of Sabetha — The Citizens State Bank, Sabetha — Other Nemaha Banks... Pages 223-234

CHAPTER XXVII.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
Prior to 1860 — Early Day Doctors — Dr. Anderson, Dr. Hidden — Well Known Physicians — First Medical Society Organized — Now a Part of the American Medical Association — Present Organization - Requirements to Practice — Hospital — Prominent Physicians and Surgeons... Pages 235-238

CHAPTER XXVIII.
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.
The Pioneers' Interest in Schools — First County Superintendent — Other Superintendents — Establishing Districts — Records Destroyed by Fire^The District School — Number of Districts — Candidates for Certificates in 1877, 1885, 1900 and 1915 — Officers and Teachers in i886 - School Officers, 1915-1918 - Joint Districts — County High School Plan Rejected — Consolidation — School Centralization — Notable Teachers — The Albany School — A Beloved Teacher... Pages 239-266

CHAPTER XXIX.
LODGES AND SOCIETIES.
Masonic, the First to Organize — Royal Arch Masons in 1877 — Grand Army of the Republic — Women's Relief Corps — Masonic — Odd Fellows — Knights of Pythias — Knights and Ladies of Security — Modern Woodmen — Royal Neighbors — Ancient Order of United Workmen — Degree of Honor — Fire Department — C.M.B.A. — Organizations and Officers — Clubs and Social Gatherings... Pages 267-275

CHAPTER XXX.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Calamities — Great Drouth of 1860 — Grasshopper Visitation — The Cyclone of 1896 — John P. Cone's Experience — Indian Massacre of Argonauts — An Exciting Buffalo Hunt — Reminiscences of Alfred Stokes — The Orphan Population — The County Hospital... Pages 276-287

CHAPTER XXXI.
NEMAHA'S SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF RENOWN.
Dr. Benjamin L. Miller — Mrs. Ethel Hussey — Ex-Gov. W.J. Bailey — E.G. Stitt — Mrs. Nannie Kuhlman — Senator W H. Thompson — Mrs. Virginia Greever — Walt Mason — Frederick Gates — Rev. A.G. Lohman — Col. H. Baker — And Others... Pages 288-296

CHAPTER XXXII.
THE CHURCH IN NEMAHA COUNTY.
First Sermon — Seneca Baptist Church Organized Here — Methodists in 1857 — Presbyterian Church in 1863 — Congregationalists — Universalists — Roman Catholic — St. Mary's Church of St. Benedict — Sts. Peter and Paul's, Seneca — St. Bede's Catholic Church — Seneca Church Meetings — Sabetha Churches — Centralia Churches— Wetmore Churches — Oneida Churches — Corning Churches — Churches of Other Towns... Pages 297-321

CHAPTER XXXIII.
BIOGRAPHICAL.

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