Anderson County KS Archives History - Books .....Chapter XI 1877 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com August 4, 2005, 11:42 pm Book Title: THE HISTORY OF ANDERSON COUNTY, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1876. CHAPTER XI. First Tax Levy— Valuation on First Assessment —Appointment of County Superintendent of Public Instruction—Location of Territorial Roads—Election of Delegates to the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention—Adoption of the Constitution—Organization of Political-Parties—Election of State and County Officers—Drouth of 1860, etc. AT a meeting of the board of supervisors on the 25th day of September, 1858, the following order was made and entered on the journal: "By order of the board, the clerk of the county board of supervisors of Anderson county is hereby authorized to correct any mistakes that may be discovered by said clerk in the proceedings of said board, and also to do all duties required of him by law, between this and the next meeting of said board." At this meeting the first tax levy for county purposes was made: Six mills on the dollar on all the taxable property, as shown by the tax roll of 1858, for county purposes; two and one-half mills for school purposes; and one and one-half mills for road purposes. The aggregate valuation of taxable property in the county in 1858 was as follows: Monroe township, $69,568.50; Walker township, $36,888.00; Reeder township, $26,355.00; Jackson township, $24,737.00; Washington township, $20,610.00: total, $178,158.50. This was the first assessment made in the county, that is of record. There had been assessments made prior to this, but were not recorded. On the i6th of November, 1858, the board of county supervisors recommended John R. Slentz to the Governor as a suitable person to fill the office of county superintendent of public instruction, and requested his appointment. On the 2Oth day of November, 1858, the Governor commissioned him as superintendent of public instruction for Anderson county. He qualified, and was the first county superintendent. He was a minister of the gospel, and a Christian gentleman, and made an efficient superintendent. At the November session of the board of supervisors petitions were presented for the location of five Territorial roads. One petition, signed by W. F. M. Arny and twenty-five others, for a road from a point on the Missouri line, east of Moneka, Kansas; thence west through the counties of Linn, Anderson, Coffey, Madison, Breckenridge and Wise, on mail route No. 15007. The board appointed James R. Eaton as commissioner to meet with commissioners of other counties at Moneka on the third Monday in January, 1859, to locate the road. A petition signed by W. F. M. Arny and twenty-five others, for the location of a road from Lawrence to Humboldt, through Prairie City, Ohio City, Fairview and Hyatt, on mail route No. 15034. The board appointed Leander Putnam to meet with commissioners of other counties on the third Monday in January, 1859, to locate said road. A petition of W. F. M. Arny and twenty-five others, asking for a road from Osawatomie, Lykins county, to Neosho City, through Anderson and Coffey counties, on mail route No. 15023. The board appointed Darius Frankenberger as commissioner to meet with commissioners of other counties, on the third Monday of January, 1859, at Osawatomie, to locate the road. A petition signed by W. F. M. Arny and twenty-five others, for a road from the Sac and Fox Agency to Cresco, to intersect the road from Jefferson City to Council Grove, on mail route No. 15007, and the road from Osawatomie to Neosho City, on mail route No. 15023. The board appointed as commissioner A. Wycoff, to meet with commissioners of other counties at Sac and Fox Agency, on the third Monday in January, 1859, to locate the road. And a petition of W. F. M. Arny and twenty-five others, for a road from the Osawatomie road, at Hyatt, to Le Roy. The board appointed Charles Ffidden as commissioner to meet with commissioners from other counties at Hyatt, on the third Monday of January, 1859, to locate the road asked for. The board, after appointing the commissioners, made the following order: "In reference to the above petitions, it is ordered that where roads have already been located on any of the above specified routes that the commissioners be directed to adopt them." All these roads were asked for by Arny in the interest of the town of Hyatt, with a view of taking all the principal roads through. Hyatt and around Garnett, as these towns were rivals for the county seat. The old maps of the Territory show all these roads as centering at Hyatt, and not one as passing through Garnett or Shannon. Arny was an active worker, and up to that time had succeeded in getting three mail routes through Hyatt, while Garnett had not even a postoffice. Arny managed to get the line of travel from Osawatomie to Hyatt along the meanderings of South Pottowatomie, passing Garnett about two miles on the south, and the travel from Lawrence to Cofachique and Humboldt, by Fairvew, crossing the Pottowatomie at Adington's crossing, near the residence now of Wm. Rebstock, passing on the west side of Cedar and crossing that stream west of Hyatt. On the fourth Monday in March, 1859, an election was held in each township for the election of township officers, at which election a new board of supervisors was elected, and J. F. Wadsworth, John L. Adington, C. W. Fraker, James R. Eaton and John B. Dildy were elected chairmen of the township boards, and constituted the supervisors of the county. On the 10th day of May, 1859, they organized by electing J. F. Wadsworth chairman; and on the same day Ozark township was organized, and G. W. Sands was elected chairman of the township board of supervisors, and consequently became one of the county board of supervisors. On the fourth Monday in March, 1859, an election was held at the voting precincts in the Territory on the proposition of forming a constitution and State government for the State of Kansas. Of the one hundred and eighty-five votes cast in the county only seven were against the proposition. On the first Tuesday of June, 1859, an election was held for the election of a delegate to a convention to frame a State constitution. W. F. M. Arny and J. G. Blunt were the candidates. Blunt received 98 votes, and Arny received 93 votes, and Blunt was declared duly elected. On the first Tuesday of July, 1859, the delegates elected assembled at Wyandotte to frame the constitution, afterwards known as the Wyandotte constitution. On the fourth day of October, 1859, an election was held for the ratification or rejection of this constitution. Of the three hundred and forty-six votes cast in the county at this election two hundred and sixty were in favor of the adoption, and eighty-six against; and there were two hundred and six votes in favor of the homestead exemption clause in. the constitution, and one hundred and nine against. The struggle between the friends of freedom and the friends of slavery from 1855 to 1858 was conducted with an utter disregard of the constitution of the United States and the Nebraska and Kansas bill, on the part of the Pro-Slavery men, including the national administration. The friends of freedom, by uniting their efforts with all classes of persons opposed to slavery, had now a complete victory over their opposers in the Territory; and it had now become necessary to organize the political parties, preparatory to the national election that would take place in 1860—the great struggle that was to determine the k4 irrepressible conflict" between freedom and slavery. On the 22d of August, 1859, a Republican mass convention was held at Garnett, at which convention the Republican party of the county was organized, by the election of S. S. Tipton as temporary chairman, and B. F. Ridgeway, secretary. James G. Blunt was elected permanent president, and C. J. Farley, secretary. This convention passed resolutions indorsing the Osawatomie platform of May 18, 1859, and nominated candidates for county officers and members to the Territorial Legislature, as follows: For representative to the Legislature, Dr. Thomas Lindsay: superintendent of public instruction, Rufus Gilpatrick; probate judge, J. Y. Campbell; register of deeds, C. J. Farley; county attorney, W. A. Johnson; sheriff, G. A. Cook; county clerk, A. Simons; county treasurer, H. Cavender; coroner, Stephen Marsh; surveyor, B. F. Ridge-way. A central committee of nine was appointed, as follows: Wm. Spriggs, D. W. Houston, J. G. Blunt, W. A. Johnson, W. F. M. Arny, J. B. Lowry, S. S. Tipton, Henry Williams and J. B. Stitt. On the — day of August, 1859, a Democratic mass convention was held in Garnett. This convention passed resolutions indorsing the national Democratic platform, and nominated candidates for county officers and members to the Territorial Legislature: For representative to the Legislature, Samuel Anderson; no nomination for superintendent of public instruction, but resolved to support Rev. J. R. Slentz; probate judge, J. R. Shields; register of deeds, M. Puett; county attorney, B. D. Benedict; county clerk, M. G. Carr; sheriff, L. A. Jones; treasurer, W. Smith; surveyor, G. W. Cooper; coroner, J. R. Means. It was not known which of the parties had the greater strength in the county. Both parties entered the campaign sanguine of success in the election. The election was held on the 8th day of November, and resulted in the success of the entire Republican ticket. On the first Tuesday of December, 1859, an election was held for State -officers, members of the Legislature, judges and other officers, under, the Wyandotte constitution. There were two hundred and forty-nine votes cast in the county at this election, and the following persons were elected: Solon O. Thacher, judge of the district court of the Fourth judicial district; William Spriggs and P. P. Elder, senators of the Tenth senatorial district, composed of the counties of Franklin, Anderson and Allen; W. W. H. Lawrence, Jacob A. Marcells, W. F. M. Arny, S. J. Crawford, B. L. G. Stone and N. B. Blanton, representatives from the district composed of Franklin, Anderson and Allen counties; Rufus Gilpatrick, superintendent of public instruction; James Y. Campbell, probate judge; Alanson Simons, clerk of the district court. S. O. Thacher was the first judge of the Fourth judicial district. His rulings were clear, and generally satisfactory. He was judge until 1864, when he resigned and Hon. David P. Lowe was appointed to fill the vacancy. B. L. G. Stone, one of the persons elected to the House from this district, removed from the Territory in the summer of 1860, and Dr. John W. Scott was elected to fill the vacancy. The year of 1859 was a remarkably prosperous one. The immigration was heavier that year than it had ever been before, the population being almost as large in the county in the fall of that year as it has ever been since. There were heavy rains during the spring, so that travel was often impeded for several days at a time. On the first of June the rain had been so heavy that the North Pottowatomie overflowed its banks and bottoms, so that the settlers in many places had to remove to the hills for safety; some places the overflow being so sudden they had to climb, upon the tops of their cabins and remain until the waters subsided. The rainy season closed about the last of July, and a dry fall followed it. There was no rain or snow during the winter following. The next spring was dry, and then came the terrible drouth of 1860. We had no rain of any consequence until the following October. This was the most oppressive and discouraging year in the history of Kansas. In July strong winds blew from the southwest, dry, and of scorching heat, so that vegetation dried up before their breath; the earth became so dry and hot that the surface cracked open in many places for rods, so that the feet of horses or cattle would go to the depth of several inches into the cracked earth. For several months the Pottowatomie and other streams did not flow. About the first of June of that year a regular panic seized the people, and more than half of the population of the county left the Territory—nearly all that could get away did so, many of them to return no more. The census was taken in 1860, by L. A. Jones, which shows 466 families residing in the county, with an aggregate population of 2,398, or an average of about five persons to the family. Jones reported great suffering and distress on account of the drouth; that one family of ten children subsisted for two weeks on wild plums and the milk from one cow, having nothing else to eat. The Legislature in 1860 passed an act abolishing the board of supervisors, and providing for a board of county commissioners, and for dividing the county into three districts, one commissioner, who should reside therein, to be elected by the voters of the county. On the 12th of March, 1860, the board of supervisors divided the county into commissioners' districts; and on the fourth Monday in March an election was held for county commissioners and county assessor; and Richard Robinson, Preston Bowen and Mathew Porter were elected commissioners, and John T. Lanter, county assessor. The commissioners met on the 2d day of April, and organized by electing Preston Bowen chairman. This board did its duty faithfully and efficiently. November 6,1860, an election was held for members to the Territorial Legislature, county commissioners, superintendent of public instruction and county assessor. Rufus Gilpatrick was chosen rep-r^sentative; Richard Robinson, T. G. Headlev and Mathew Porter, commissioners; Samuel Anderson, superintendent of public instruction; and Solomon Kauffman, county assessor. Kauffman received 192 votes and John T. Hall received 172 votes; and Hall claimed the election, because of 42 votes cast at Hyatt precinct for Samuel Hall, and contested the election before the probate court, which decided that John T. Hall was duly elected, and granted him a certificate of election to the office. The act of Congress admitting Kansas into the Union became a law on the 3ist day of January, 1861, and the judges and county officers elected in 1859, under the Wyandotte constitution, entered upon the duties of their respective offices. For the first time, then, in the history of Kansas, was the judiciary selected by the people. The Territorial Legislature that was in session at the date of the admission of the State, adjourned on the 2d day of February, 18619 and the Legislature elected under the constitution convened at Topeka on the 26th of March, 1861. On the 4th of June, 1861, an act was passed providing for a district attorney in each judicial district. S. A. Riggs was elected attorney for the Fourth judicial district, in June, 1861. William Spriggs was the first State senator from the county. W. F. M. Arny and S. J. Crawford were the first representatives from the county to the State Legislature. Hon. S. J. Crawford returned from the Legislature on May 10, and proceeded to enlist a company of volunteers for the Second Kansas regiment. He raised a company of ninety men in one day, and within three days' thereafter his company was on the march to the front. Crawford was selected as captain of the company, and after five months' service it was mustered out and reorganized. The company did good service, and was in several engagements. The principal one was the battle of Wilson's Creek, on the 10th of August, 1861, where several of its members were killed and wounded. It was the first company that went from Anderson county to take part in the great struggle for the Union. Hon. W. F. M. Arny returned at the close of the session of the Legislature, having gained some notoriety while there. Sol. Miller, in publishing a sketch of the Legislature in the "White Cloud Chief," says: "Mr. Arny is one of the representatives from the Anderson district. He was born on the peak of Tenneriffe, in a very dry season, and the soothsavers who were present upon the melancholy occasion predicted that wherever he went drouth would follow. Such has been his experience in Kansas. His name originally was 'Nary,' and it is supposed to have signified that 'nary' thing would grow where he cast his lot. Thus Kansas has recently experienced the calamity of'nary' corn, 'nary' bean, 'nary' wheat, 'nary' grass seed, 'nary' clothing for volunteers, etc. By some means the letters composing his name have become transposed, and he is now called 'Arny.' His parents found great difficulty in deciding upon a name for him: they had so many from which to choose, and there were so many letters in the alphabet that looked well in a name. They finally hit upon a plan to settle the question: the old man resolved to fashion all the letters of the alphabet of potter's clay, then to throw them against the side of the house, and as many as stuck to the wall, those letters should form the initials of his name; but those that fell off should be discarded. He carried out his design, it was a good day for the business, and nearly all of the letters stuck." Arny having gained such notoriety while in the Legislature, soon received an appointment under Lincoln's administration, as an Indian agent in New Mexico. He left Kansas in the summer of 1861 for his field of labor, where he has since remained, having been appointed Secretary of New Mexico. He has received the title of Governor, having acted as Governor in the absence of the Governor for many years. Additional Comments: THE HISTORY OF ANDERSON COUNTY, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1876. BY W. A. JOHNSON, CHAIRMAN OF HISTORICAL COMMITTEE. PUBLISHED BY KAUFFMAN & ILER, GARNETT PLAINDEALER, 1877. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1877, by KAUFFMAN & ILER, In the office of the Librarian of Congress,Washington, D. C. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/anderson/history/1877/anderson/chapterx64ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/ File size: 18.4 Kb