PIONEER LIFE IN KANSAS. 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, pages 353-358. 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PIONEER LIFE IN KANSAS. Written by Miss FANNIE E. COLE, of North Topeka, for the Shawnee County Old Settlers' Association, 1900. I HAVE BEEN ASKED to write some reminiscences of pioneer life in Kansas; of those early, exciting days which marked the struggle here between the opposing interests of the North and the South--the one section believing that all men were created free and equal; the other section believing that a certain part of their fellow men were created to be their bondmen forever, and resolutely bending all their energies to extend and perpetuate this institution of servitude. There were several territories organized at nearly the same time, but Kansas possessed the most fertile soil and the finest climate, and because of her many natural advantages both political parties cast covetous eyes upon her fair domain, and each determined that the other should not win the wished-for prize. It is well remembered how emigrants poured in from the Northern states, and emigrant-aid societies were formed in eastern cities. Doubtless there are persons still living in Kansas who formed a part of that famous company whom Henry Ward Beecher addressed and to each of whom he presented a Bible. But these things are matters of history and need not be rehearsed. In 1855 the writer of this paper came with her parents and other relatives from Illinois to the newly organized territory of Kansas. There were two other families in the party, and at Quincy, Ill., we were joined by two young men, also traveling in a wagon, the cover of which bore in large letters the word "Kansas." One of these young men was a Mr. Kimball, the other was a gentleman who has since become famous in political life in this state and in the editorial field, Charles V. Eskridge, of Emporia. I need not describe our journey in wagons from civi ization [sic] to the wilds of Kansas. Our experiences in traveling and camping out were those of thousands of others, and have been too often described to be interesting. I was a child, but the journey and the early years of our life in Kansas were so new and strange, so different from anything I could have imagined, that they made an ineradicable impression upon my memory. When we reached Lawrence some of our party wished to remain there, while others preferred to go on to Topeka, and finally the whole party proceeded to the future capital; but after a few days Mr. Eskridge and his friend returned to Lawrence and we saw them no more. My father, the late J. M. Cole, crossed the Kansas, or Kaw river, and settled upon a farm three miles north of Topeka, near a village called Indianola.(1) This town had been laid out by some southern gentlemen, and on paper it was an imposing city; in reality it consisted of one double log residence, occupied by a Pottawatomie half-breed named Louis Vieux and his family, and one store in another log house, kept by Louis Harris, a young Missourian from Weston. Somewhere during our journey to Kansas a pamphlet written by one J. Butler Chapman had fallen into my father's hands. This pamphlet described at great length and in glowing language the manifold advantages and the phenomenal growth of a city called Whitfield. In this city, besides the many elegant residences, were banks, schoolhouses and other public buildings, and plans for a great college or university were then under way. My father decided that he would settle as near this town as possible, and for this reason had declined to remain at Lawrence. Whitfield was described as being situated on the banks of the "Conda river," and was three or four miles north of Topeka. Upon reaching the site of this wonderful city, my father's disgust can be more easily imagined than described when he found that it was a city of stakes only; not a single house or even a tent to break the monotony of bare hills and wide, rolling prairie. This place is now known as Rochester.(2) It was not then, and never has been, a town, but is a pleasant country neighborhood of fine farms, some of them small, and pretty homes. The "Conda river" is well known under the more prosaic appellation of Soldier creek.(3) I have described in another place the tiny village of Indianola, near which we ultimately settled. About a mile west of the town site lived George L. Young, a cousin of Mr. Harris, the storekeeper, and also from Weston. He was a territorial postmaster and the post office was in his residence. It was called Loring post office, after a Major Loring of the United States army. Not long ago, in looking over some old letters, I found one or two addressed to "Loring P.O., Soldier Creek." (4) Just two miles west of us was the east line of the Pottawatomie reserve. Along the river just south of us, and where North Topeka now stands, was the Kaw half-breed reserve, and every summer hundreds of the wild Kaws came from their reservation near Council Grove and encamped near the homes of their half-breed relatives, usually remaining five or six months of the year. They often came to our house in companies of five or six, to the great terror of us children, for we never could be convinced by our elders that those Indians were not casting covetous eyes upon our scalps, and we were firmly persuaded that they would promptly avail themselves of the first opportunity to deprive us of our natural head covering. Ten or twelve miles east of us was the Delaware tribe of Indians. We were much interested in this nation, from the fact that some of the older members of our family were fervent admirers of J. Fenimore Cooper's Indian stories, in which he describes the Delawares in glowing language as among the noblest of the human race. Alas for our preconceived opinions. They were certainly the homeliest and most degraded-looking Indians we had seen. The Delaware trail leading from their reservation to the buffalo hunting grounds west of Fort Riley ran through our farm, near the house, and every spring and autumn for several years after we became residents of Kansas many hundreds of these Indians would go along this trail to the hunting grounds to secure their summer and winter supply of meat and robes. Upon one occasion, when they were returning from one of their semiannual hunts, we saw an Indian boy about twelve or fourteen years old carrying a long pole with a scalp fastened to the end of it. Some of the Indians who stopped at our well for water told us that they had had a fight with the Pawnees at the hunting ground, and that the boy had killed one of them and had borne off his scalp as a trophy, and they were very proud of his achievement. How did we live in those early days when sawmills were few and far between and lumber yards were not? We built our houses of logs and roofed them with clapboards. If the roof was properly constructed--that is, made with a steep slant--it would shed rain very well, but would not keep out the snow. Fine, dry snow, when driven by a Kansas wind, was blown under the edges of these clapboards, no matter how carefully they were laid, and it was no uncommon thing to wake up on a winter morning and find our beds covered with a white sheet of snow, Our cabin was floored with puncheons--a sort of heavy plank split out of logs with axes and wedges and smoothed on one side with a broadax. We went to Weston, Mo, for furniture and household supplies, and the trip there and return consumed four days. When we first settled at Indianola there were but three white families in the neighborhood. One of these was a southern family, Mrs. Young and her two sons, George L., who was well known to citizens of Topeka in later years, and John, who died many years ago. Another family was of Irish extraction and was named Murphy, while the third family was French and their name was Blondel. There were several bachelor establishments around--young men who kept house in small log cabins without floors, and sometimes without windows. The furniture in these "shacks" was of the rudest possible description, being mostly home-made. A few miles north of us were two or three other white families, with whom we soon became acquainted, and it was always a matter of rejoicing to hear that a new white family had settled in the neighborhood. But let me do justice to our half-breed neighbors. They were inoffensive, hospitable, and always ready to render acts of neighborly kindness to all, and they proved to be firm and trustworthy friends. Not all of the white people who came to Kansas in that early day were desirable neighbors. It is well known that many early settlers in all territories are mere adventurers and persons who, because of their peculiar temperament, or perhaps for more weighty personal reasons, keep themselves in advance of civilization and the wholesome restraints of the law. Some of this class of people came to Indianola, and though they never became permanent citizens, they remained long enough to give it a bad name. Many astonishing things have been written and told of this village (for it was never anything more than a small village), a few of them true, but the greater part either much exaggerated or wholly untrue. The first school taught at Indianola was during the winter of 1856-'57. The teacher was Mrs. J. L. Cowee, formerly Miss Emma Drinkwater. She was a young lady of more than ordinary intelligence, and she sometimes wrote for eastern magazines. I remember seeing one of her poems in Godey's Ladies' Book. The Drinkwater family was well known to the early settlers of Topeka. Most of them died young, and I think Mrs. Cowee is also dead. Among the many people who came from the northern states to help make Kansas a free state was Mr. Judd, the father of Orange Judd, editor of the American Agriculturist. He was well advanced in years, but was an enthusiastic abolitionist and a very religious old gentleman. He came to our house many times. During one of the incursions of the border ruffians into Lawrence, Mr. Judd, who was down there, was made a prisoner by them. They took him to their camp. It must have been late in ihe autumn of 1855 or 1856. The weather was cold, and that night it grew colder and a Kansas blizzard set in. Mr. Judd prayed that the Lord would send colder and colder weather until the Missourians were frozen out.(5) His prayers were answered. Early Kansans will remember the awful storm which swept over Kansas during one of the border-ruffian invasions, literally freezing them out. They set the old gentleman free, and he returned to Topeka. He died not long afterwards, and was buried in Rochester cemetery, and after some months his son, Orange Judd, came and removed his remains to New York. I must not forget to give some account of the "Indianola Squatter Association." In those days, before the government land sales had been held, there was much "jumping of claims," as it was called. Some man, seeing a desirable piece of land, or claim, would take possession regardless of the fact that stakes, or perhaps a small cabin, proclaimed the fact that some one else had already "taken it up." Then, when the first claimant appeared upon the scene, trouble ensued. The unsettled state of government in Kansas at that period rendered it almost impossible to make and enforce laws for the benefit and protection of the early settlers. So the law-abiding citizens of Indianola and the surrounding country assembled and formed what was known as the "Squatter Association." The object of this association was to insure the settlers in the possession of their lands, to settle the disputed question of ownership between different claimants, and to dispose of any matters which might arise affecting the peace and prosperity of the neighborhood in as equitable a manner as possible. My father was president of this association. I do not know how long it existed, but it certainly contributed very much to the welfare and good order of our neighborhood in those lawless times. The part of Shawnee county lying north of the Kansas river was once included in Calhoun county. When the territory was organized into counties the greater part of the early residents on the north side of the river were southerners, and some had brought slaves with them. Mrs. Young owned two negroes; her nephew, Louis Harris, had one; Judge James Kuykendall, who lived at the little town of Calhoun, seven miles down the river, owned several--I do not know the precise number. I think there were one or two other families who possessed, perhaps, one negro servant. Indianola and Calhoun were both southern. I find upon looking over one of Mr. S. J. Reader's journals of that period, which he has kindly placed at my disposal, that Indianola was for a short time the county seat of Calhoun county; then the little town of Calhoun became, in its turn, county seat. Finally, as the northern element became dominant, the name of the county was changed to Jackson and the county seat removed to Holton. This change in the county name occurred in 1859. the next year the line between the counties, instead of following the river as formerly, was fixed at the second standard parallel, and in 1868 it was pushed six miles north to township 10, thus taking its final form.(6) The great military road leading from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley and other forts farther west ran through Indianola, Every summer hundreds of government and other trains, bearing supplies for the forts in the Indian country or goods for settlements in the Far West, passed along this road. Many soldiers traveled it, either going to or returning from the plains, as Colorado, New Mexico, etc., were called in those early days. Upon one occasion Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, with 600 soldiers, encamped within a few hundred yards of our house on his way to Utah to hold the Mormons in check. In those days we were not afraid of soldiers, they were kept under strict discipline and were not allowed to leave camp without permission of their commanding officers, and they dared not commit any depredation upon the property of the people who chanced to live near their camps. All this was changed a few years later, when the volunteer soldiers, forgetting that they were not in the enemy's country, despoiled chicken houses and smokehouses, even dwelling houses not always being secure from them. I have said nothing of the troubles which beset Kansas in those days--of the invasions of the border ruffians and the persecutions of the free-soil settlers. We lived out of the track of these events, and our neighborhood was for the most part very quiet. But there were occasional alarms, and all the free-state men of the neighborhood would sally out with their guns, and, after marching around or waiting in anxious expectation a few hours, would learn that it had been a false alarm and would return home. A few young southerners, who were really harmless fellows, fancied it would be a fine thing to have a company of their own, and do something to intimidate the free-state people who were flocking into the territory. So one morning they sallied out and stopped a traveler who was quietly pursuing his way to Topeka and questioned him in regard to his politics and his destination. In those troublous times such a proceeding was calculated to fill any stranger with alarm. They let him go without injury to person or property, and he hastened to Topeka where he told a wild story of border-ruffian outrage and his escape from a terrible danger. Then the Topeka company of militia, under command of Colonel Whipple, the Aaron Dwight Stevens of Harper's Ferry fame, bravely marched over, and, not finding any border ruffians, proceeded to sack Indianola, carrying away all the goods in the store of Harris and Young, which I think was the only dry goods store in town.(7) This state of things gradually passed away, and as the free-state party became strong enough to control affairs, law and order resumed their sway and the evils and hardships of those early days passed away forever. --- NOTE 1.--See sketch of the dead town of Indianola in this volume. NOTE 2.--Rochester was first named Delaware City. The site was selected in August, 1854. The name was soon changed to Whitfield City, then to Kansopolis, and finally to Rochester. As Kansopolis it became quite a little hamlet. An express ran twice a week to Topeka, and until the location of the capital Kansopolis had aspirations in that direction.--Cutler's History of Kansas. p. 534. NOTE 3.--In the library of the Historical Society is a copy of the book mentioned by Miss Cole, the "History of Kansas and Emigrant's Guide, by J. Butler Chapman, Esq.," published in 1855. Mr. Chapman, unconsciously humorous, says in his preface: "This volume is intended as a guide to the emigrant....It is particularly intended to guard the emigrants against any false allurements. Some writers, and the most we have observed on Kansas, write with such graphic and novel style that the reader going there would not suppose it to be the same country described. No man is considered a hero unless he can describe Kansas as a paradise. We profess to give its history as we saw it and understand it." In view of the facts as told by Miss Cole, Chapman's description of Whitfield City is too good to be lost. He says: "Whitfield City is located upon the bank of the Conda river, in one of the most central and commanding situations in the territory. It has an elevated situation and commanding prospect, immediately on the Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley roads, and on the old Independence and California emigrant road, and at the junction of the Pottawatomie and St. Joseph roads. No place in the territory can have more public access to roads,...it being equal distance from almost every settled point in the territory. We venture to say that no other place has the claims for the seat of government that Whitfield has. One mile from the town is one of the finest free stone quarries in the country. Rocks one hundred feet long could be split off from the beautiful mass....The roads designated...are the finest imaginable, rendering carriage traveling the most delightful in the world. "Whitfield City, a name of ancient remembrance among all Christian denominations, is laid out on a splendid and magnificent scale. Its peculiar locality...induced the original proprietor, John B. Chapman, to select this site for the establishment of a public school and other benevolent and literary societies, to promote the happiness and better the condition of its inhabitants. No place in the territory could he find, in all his investigations, so admirably calculated for public institutions of learning as this location. "He first named the place Delaware City, and associated Mr. Jas. A. Gray and F. Swigce as partners in the location, and they immediately set about erecting a schoolhouse, and Mr. C---- returned to the States to procure teachers, designing at the earliest possible period to establish a Protestant institution of learning....On petitioning for a post office it was found that there was already a Delaware post office, when it was changed to Whitfield....It is laid out at right angles, with a number of large public squares for schools, churches, etc....On the east and west of the town plat and public square are clumps of shade trees overshadowing two large and limpid springs of water....To the northwest you behold the smooth, serpentine windings of the Conda river [Soldier creek], studded with a black-looking forest, shooting off to the north through the Pottawatomie lands, like the great hydra for which it was named, retreating from view in the high rolling prairie. "Whitfield City is laid out with a view of encouraging scientific, literary and religious institutions. Liberal donations are made for schoolhouses and churches, and the fine springs insure comfort and convenience....A railroad up the Kansas river will soon supersede every other thoroughfare.... "A manual-labor college is about being established at Whitfield City, under the patronage of donations from the town. The peculiar features of the college is [sic] its manual-labor department....The plan of the school being as yet unsettled, this notice is merely to call the attention of the philanthropist and patrons of education in the East to extend to it some of their material aid when called upon, as such an enterprise must do much good in Kansas....A printing press is also preparing for Whitfield City." NOTE 4.--Loring post office was established March 15, 1855, with R. C. Miller postmaster; name changed to Indianola December 21, 1855; abolished December 29, 1868. NOTE 5.--The Cleveland Daily Herald, January 21, 1856, published the following story of the answer to Mr. Judd's prayers: "E. C. K. Garvey, with others, was taken prisoner of war by the border ruffians while on his way to Lawrence, disarmed and ordered to the camp of the enemy. In his paper, after the war was over, he mentions the following incident connected with the imprisonment: 'Sabbath morning, 9th inst. [January, 1856], was very cold and windy. Suffering ourselves from the severity of the weather, we approached our venerable friend, Ozias Judd, Esq., late of Lockport, N. Y., that we might sympathize with him as a fellow sufferer. We were struck with the fortitude of the old gentleman and the degree of patience manifested by him. Upon our approach the first words we heard from him were: "Thank the Lord for this cold night! O Lord, send it a little colder." We inquired why the shivering friend was desirous of greater suffering. His reply was: "One more cold night would send the Missourians home to care for their slaves." The reply was followed by an earnest petition to the Throne of Grace for the conversion of the ruffians. As for ourselves, we honestly prayed that those who detained us might have a warmer place in the other, if not in this, world.'" NOTE 6.--In Kansas Historical Collections, vol. 11, pp. 61 and 561, note 1, will be found interesting accounts of the gerrymandering in county lines in Kansas territory and state. NOTE 7.--This free-state organization at Topeka was known as company B, Second regiment, Kansas volunteers. Aaron D. Stevens, then known as Charles Whipple, was colonel of the regiment, and William F. Creitz was captain of the company. For some account of this organization see Cutler's History of Kansas, p. 542.