MONEKA Excerpted from "Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911-1912", Edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary. Vol XII., State Printing Office, Topeka, Kansas 1912, 429-430. submitted by Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net); (copyright) 2001 by Teresa Lindquist ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KSGENWEB INTERNET GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In keeping with the KSGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other gain. Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MONEKA. (3) Moneka, Linn county, was located on parts of section 1, township 22, range 23; section 31, township 21, range 24; and section 6, township 22, range 24 east. It was said to have been named for an Indian maiden, meaning morning star. The town was located in February, 1857, with the following incorporators: John B. Wood, Erastus Heath, Andrew Stark, Julius Keeler, Augustus Wattles and John O. Wattles. The town was abandoned about 1864 or 1865. In 1858 Moneka's population was nearly 200 people. From this time it dwindled away until, in 1859, all the inhabitants had left for other localities. Most, or all, of the incorporators of the town were abolitionists, as were the settlers who lived on its site. The Wattles settled on quarter sections adjoining on the north and Andrew Stark on the west. The latter was the first clerk of the supreme court, serving from 1861 to 1867. John O. Wattles was an ardent advocate of Spiritualism, a non-resistant, an enthusiastic educator and an optimist of the most pronounced type. Through his influence a large frame building, to be used for an academy, was erected by the town company, and for several years Moneka was the educational center of Linn county. On the death of Moneka the academy building was moved to Linnville, and in 1871 to Pleasanton. The company also erected what was, in those days, considered quite a commodious hotel, which was run by George E. Dennison. Under its roof were sheltered at various times several of the territorial governors and most of the free-state leaders of the territory. Here plans of action in behalf of the free-state settlers were inaugurated and truces between the contending factions proposed and agreed upon. One of the various projects of which J. O. Wattles was a promoter, and for which he worked with great enthusiasm, was a railroad from Jefferson City to Emporia by way of Moneka. This railroad was to make the city one of the great emporiums of the West. He held meetings along the whole route, organized a company, obtained a charter, with directors in both Missouri and Kansas. He besieged Congress one winter to grant the right of way and make an appropriation of public lands. He had the preliminary surveys made and did divers other things, among which was the breaking of ground for the proposed road at the state line, which ceremony was attended by many citizens of both Kansas and Missouri. Congress granted the right of way, but the death of Mr. Wattles and the breaking out of the Civil War stopped all further proceedings. Augustus Wattles came to Kansas in 1855 from Ohio, where he had been for years an active worker on the underground railroad in that state. He located near Washington creek, in Douglas county, and came to Linn county in 1857. He was associated with G. W. Brown for some time in the publication of the Herald of Freedom. Soon after the Marais des Cygnes massacre, in May, 1858, he brought to his home John Brown and some of his men, and they made their headquarters there off and on until Brown's departure from the state, when he took a dozen slaves from Vernon county, Missouri, and landed them safely in Canada. Wattles corresponded with Brown up to the time of the Harper's Ferry raid, and it was at his house that the plan to liberate Brown from Charlestown jail was inaugurated.(4) He went east to perfect the plan, and it was only Brown's refusal to sanction it, together with the deep snow in the mountains at the time, that prevented its being carried out, or at least attempted. Afterwards he was summoned to Washington to tell the celebrated Mason investigating committee what he knew of Brown and his so-called traitorous plans. As might he expected, the testimony elicited from him on this occasion only showed how profoundly ignorant he was of the whole matter. NOTE 3.--This article was written by J. H. Stearns for the Kansas State Historical Society. NOTE 4.--See "Attempted Rescue of John Brown," by O.E. Morse, in volume 8, Kansas Historical Collections, p. 213.