Barber County Kansas

Roundup In Barber County, Kansas, 1894.

Roundup in Barber County, Kansas, 1894.
Roundup at Cottonwood Springs, about 7 miles southwest of Sun City in Barber County, Kansas, 1894.
Photo by F.M. Steele, courtesy of Mary Lou (Elsea) Hinz.

Left to right, front row: Harry Clements, Joe Gant, Roe Cole, George Abell, Bert Young, Walt Sears, Joe Burson, Jim Talliaferro, Jim Elsea.     Second row: Charlie Kinkaid, round-up foreman; Jack Larkin, George Meadors, Arthur Shaw, Green Adams, Ed Teagle, Pearl Bunton, Jake Warrenstaff, Ed Hoagland, Tom Pepperd, Aub Donovan, Jack Ballanger, Bob Doles, Homer Hoagland.     Back row: Cook Denver Boggs, Frank Abell and Doc Williams. This photo was published in The Kansas Stockman in 1942 and 1949.


Biographical information for some of the men in the above photo, courtesy of Kim Fowles:

Green Adams. Greenville Adams' gravestone is in the Lake City Cemetery. It states he died in 1930. A history of the descendants of his father, Johnson M. Adams, is online at this site, and includes information on how his half-brother, McClelland Adams, once "shot up the town" of Lake City, and of how his brother, Leander Adams was shot (and later died) after a dispute over a gambling debt in a saloon owned by Green Adams in Sun City.

Denver Boggs, a biographical sketch by Dean Reeves, his great grandson. Tom McNeal's book, When Kansas Was Young, has a story about Denver Boggs.

Pearl Bunton. His father, Clark Bunton, has a biography in Chosen Land which states that his son was Pearl Bunton. Pearl was married in 1909 to Anna Sprague. They lived in Woods County, OK until 1922 when they moved to Kiowa, Kansas, where he was City Marshal for many years. He died in 1957.

Bob Doles. There is a Robert Doles biography in Chosen Land which mentions he was a cowboy by trade and drove cattle along the Chisolm Trail. This Robert Doles was married in Monument, Colorado - his family came back to Kansas, girls by train and boys by covered wagon. A few years lter the family moved back to Colorado because of Mr. Doles health. He possibly died in Colorado - not sure when. Further research required.

Aub Donovan. Full name: Aubra Donovan. Death Date: June ___, 1937. Place of Death: From his biography in Chosen Land it appears he died in Barber County.

Joe Gant. Joseph L. Gant died June 14, 1950, in Barber County, Kansas.

Ed Hoagland. Full name: James Edgar Hoagland. Death Date: August 1, 1913 Place of Death: Coats, Pratt County, Kansas. Burial: Coats, Kansas Cemetery. Best place to look for an obituary: Pratt County Newspapers. James Edgar Hoagland was a brother to my 2nd great grandfather, Frank Walker Hoagland.


Also see:

Roster of the Names of All the Old Cowboys I Knew by T.J. Dyer.


"Mr. Groendycke keeps the post-office at Roundup for the accommodation of his neighbors, but he is perfectly willing to turn loose of the public teat if some one else will take hold." -- "Barber County Profiles", Medicine Lodge Cresset, March 2, 1900.


The Roundup School and Post Office

The first few years in Barber County Bob Groendycke saw some pretty hard times. One winter Kaffir corn meal was a main food source. Bob came here in 1887. He first stayed with the Harbaughs until he later moved to his own farm further west. He taught "Lick Skillet" School (later Sunflower). The next winter he taught Round-Up. He was engaged in farming and stock raising.

A star route brought mail every other day to their home from Medicine Lodge. People picked it up from "Round-up Postoffice". Everyone traveled by lumber wagon or on horseback to attend community square dances, literary, spelling bees, or singing schools. A few young fellows brought their girls in their buggys. Families filled wagons with straw and children snuggled into this, with comforters they were snug and warm.

-- Clara Groendycke, excerpt from her biography in Barber County, Kansas: The Chosen Land, page 208.




Last Updated:  

Barber County Home page