KANSAS COLLECTION BOOKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ W.A. Johnson's "The History of Anderson County, Kansas, From its First Settlement to the Fourth of July, 1876", chapter 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE HISTORY OF ANDERSON COUNTY, KANSAS, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1876, by William G. Cutler, published 1877. This work in progress is being transcribed and edited by Teresa Lindquist for KanColl (The Kansas Collection), in the Early Kansas Imprint Scanners (EKIS) workshop. A fully indexed, HTML version will be available at the KanColl website (http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/books/) when it is finished. For more information about KanColl, please visit: http://history.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/. For more information about EKIS, please visit: http://history.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/ekis/. For any other questions, please contact Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER II. Organization of the Territory--The Several Elections in 1855-6--Organization of Anderson County, January 7, 1856 THE bill organizing the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas passed Congress May 24, 1854, and was signed by Franklin Pierce, President, on the 30th of the same month. On the 29th day of June President Pierce commissioned Andrew H. Reeder as Governor, and Daniel Woodson as Secretary of the Territory of Kansas. Reeder qualified as Governor on the 7th of July, by taking the oath of office before Peter V. Daniels, one of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court, in Washington, D.C. On the 7th of October Gov. Reeder arrived in Kansas, and established the executive office at Fort Leavenworth. On November 8 the Territory was divided into sixteen election districts by the Governor. The territory which is now included in Anderson county was in the Fifth district, which had four voting precincts, as follows: Bull Creek, Pottowatomie Creek, Big Sugar Creek and Little Sugar Creek. The Pottowatomie precinct was located at the house of --------------------------- ANDERSON COUNTY. 23 Henry Sherman, near what is known as Dutch Henry crossing of the Pottowatomie, in Franklin county. The first election ever held in the Territory was on the 29th of November, 1854. This was an election for a delegate to Congress. At this election there were 63 Pro-Slavery and 4 Free State votes cast at the Pottowatomie precinct. The following persons of Anderson county voted at this election: Henderson Rice, J.S. Waitman, W.D. West and Thomas Totten. On the 22nd day of January, 1855, Gov. Reeder issued precepts to certain persons to take a census of the Territory. The census of this district was taken by C.W. Babcock. The following were the names returned from Anderson county: Francis Myer, Valentine Gerth and John C. Clark. On the 28th of February Gov. Reeder issued a proclamation calling an election for members of a Territorial Legislature to be held March 30, 1855. The following persons were elected from the Fifth district: A.M. Coffey and David Lykins, as councilmen, and Allen Wilkerson and H.W. Yonger as members of the House of Representatives. The following persons voted, at this election, from Anderson county: A. Cassel, V. Gerth and Henry Harmon. This election was held at the house of Henry Sherman. There were at this time about 50 legal votes in the precinct, and the poll-book returned to the Governor showed 199 Pro-Slavery --------------------------- 24 HISTORY OF votes from the precinct. Most of the legal voters did not attend the polls, considering the election a farce. A majority of those who did vote were resident voters of Missouri, who returned homeward on the next day. They came on horseback, in wagons and carriages, well supplied with whiskey, bowie-knives, shot-guns and revolvers. The motley crowd was composed of perhaps the most heterogeneous mass of living humanity that could be collected in any country. Some came for political purposes--to make Kansas a slave State; some, to drive out the "cursed Yankees," whom they regarded as negro thieves; some, for the love of adventure; and some with the intention of taking a claim; but far the greater number came with the promise of all the land they needed, and plenty of whiskey and bacon on the journey. This election for councilmen and representatives was carried overwhelmingly by the Pro-Slavery party, and placed the political power of the Territory in the hands of our Missouri neighbors. The Legislature thus elected convened at Pawnee City, on the Kansas river, about one hundred miles west from the Missouri border. It was immediately adjourned, over the Governor's veto, to the Shawnee Manuel [sic] Labor School Mission, three miles west of Westport, Mo., and there passed the first code of laws for the Territory, commonly known as the "bogus laws." On the 1st day of October, 1855, and election was --------------------------- ANDERSON COUNTY. 25 held for the election of a delegate to Congress. There were only nine votes polled at the Pottowatomie precinct. At this election, Andrew H. Reeder and J.H. Whitfield were the candidates. Whitfield received the entire vote at Pottowatomie precinct. The Free State men did not participate in this election. The only person voting from Anderson county at this election was Geo. Wilson. Samuel Mack was one of the judges of the election, but refused to vote, deeming the election a farce, and an outrage on the Free State men of the Territory, as all the elections had been carried by fraud of the most outrageous kind. The Territorial Legislature of 1855 defined the boundaries of the county. Up to that time there had been no county lines established, and elections had been held by districts established by the Governor. The boundary of Anderson county was established as follows: Beginning at the southeast corner of Franklin county, at the northeast corner of section 22, township 19, range 21; thence south 24 miles, to the southeast corner of section 15, township 23, range 21; thence west 24 miles, to the southwest corner of section 14, township 23, range 17; thence north 24 miles, to the northwest corner of section 23, township 19, range 17; thence east 24 miles, to the place of beginning; containing an area of 576 square miles. The territory so bounded and designated was then named Anderson county, in respect of one Jos. C. Anderson, speaker pro tem. of the House of the --------------------------- 26 HISTORY OF "bogus" Legislature, and member from the Sixth, of Fort Scott, district. Anderson was a young lawyer, lived in Lexington, Mo., and was a handy tool for the Pro-Slavery party, and always ready to do their dirty work. The Territorial Legislature having defined the boundaries of the several counties, it then provided the manner for the organization of counties, and for the election of county officers. At this session of the Legislature it elected Geo. Wilson, in joint session, as probate judge of Anderson county. Wilson was then a citizen of St. Louis, Mo., and a pliant tool of the slave power. On the 27th day of August, 1855, Daniel Woodson, Secretary, and acting Governor of Kansas Territory, commissioned George Wilson probate judge of Anderson county, for a term of two years. On the 1st day of September, 1855, Geo. Wilson took and subscribed the following oath of office: "United States of America, Territory of Kansas, set. "I, George Wilson, do solemnly swear, upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, that I will support the constitution of the United States, and that I will support and sustain the provisions of an act entitled An act to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,' and the provisions of the law of the United States, commonly known as the fugitive slave law, and faithfully and impartially, to the best of my ability, demean myself in the discharge of my duties in the office of probate judge, so help me God. "GEORGE WILSON. "Sworn and subscribed before me, this 1st day of September, 1855. DANIEL WOODSON, "Acting Governor." --------------------------- ANDERSON COUNTY. 27 Wilson was the first officer commissioned for the county. A few days after he received his commission and qualified he started for the county, and arrived at Henry Sherman's house, in Franklin county, on the 10th of September, where he remained until the 15th, when he set out for the house of Francis Myer, near where the town of Greeley is now situated. Wilson had designated Francis Myer's house as the temporary county seat of Anderson county. He had notified William R. True and John C. Clark, who had been appointed county commissioners, and A.V. Cummings, who had been appointed as sheriff, to meet with him at Francis Myer's on the 15th of September, for the purpose of organizing the county; but both True and Clark, and also Cummings, refused to accept the appointment, and Wilson had to defer his attempt to organize the county. He made several attempts to have the persons so appointed qualify, but they refused. Cummings was a resident of Bourbon county, and never had been a citizen of Anderson. After Wilson had failed to get the commissioners, or either of them, to qualify, on the 30th day of October he made a personal appeal to Wilson Shannon, who had, in the meantime, been appointed Governor, for assistance to organize the county; and Shannon thereupon commissioned Francis Myer and F.P. Brown as county commissioners, and Henderson Rice as sheriff. On the 2nd day of January, 1856, Francis Myer took and subscribed the following oath of office: --------------------------- 28 ANDERSON COUNTY "United States of America, Territory of Kansas, set. "I, Francis Myer, do solemnly swear, upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, that I will support the constitution of the United States, and that I will support and sustain the provisions of an act entitled An act to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,' and the provisions of the law of the United States, commonly known as the fugitive slave law, and faithfully and impartially, to the best of my ability, demean myself in the discharge of my duties in the office of commissioner of the county of Anderson. "FRANCIS MIER. [sic] "Sworn and subscribed before me, this 1st day of September, 1855. GEORGE WILSON, "Judge of Probate." January 7, 1856, George Wilson, probate judge, and Francis Myer, met in session at Francis Myer's house, the temporary county seat, George Wilson as president of the board of commissioners, and Francis Myer as member, for the purpose of organizing the probate and commissioners' court, which they did in a very irregular manner. F.P. Brown, the other person who had been commissioned as commissioner, and Henderson Rice, who had been commissioned as sheriff, were neither present, and neither of them accepted the commission so tendered them. The organization of Anderson county dates from the 7th day of January, 1856. The business of the probate and commissioners' courts was conducted for some years thereafter in a very loose and careless manner.