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As Published - November 1941

November 1941 (Vol. 10, No. 4), pages 419 to 426
Transcribed by lhn;
digitized with permission of the Kansas Historical Society.

The story of the Nelsons, a Swedish family which came to Lindsborg, McPherson county, in 1868, appeared in the McPherson Daily Republican, January 29, 1941. Mrs. T. J. Darrah, one of the Nelson's seven children who made the trip from Sweden, furnished the material for the story.

"History of Kansas Wheat Development" was the title of an article on the introduction of hard Turkey wheat into Kansas by the Mennonites, printed in The Kansas Stockman, Topeka, April 1, 1941. The story was based on an article by Mary Jens in Food Facts.

A brief biographical sketch of Frank Fussman, now seventy-three years old, whose father settled on the present site of Humboldt in 1855, appeared in the Chanute Tribune, April 18, 1941. According to Mr. Fussman, the Newcomer, Schleicher, Sinner and Swanseker families were among the early settlers of Humboldt.

"Pioneer Days in Kansas" was the title of a column by Jessie Hill Rowland in the McPherson Daily Republican during May, 1941. Included in the sketches were the following: "Kansas" (in the days of Spanish exploration), May 6; "McPherson Settlers," May 7; "Buffalo Drank the Smoky River Dry," May 8; "Making a County Seat," May 9; "Pioneer Memories," as told by Mary Darrah, May 12, 13; "Some Incidents in the Life of a Pioneer Mother," by Edith Haight, May 23.

The following Kansas historical subjects were discussed by Victor Murdock in the Wichita (Evening) Eagle in recent months: "Word `Cordelle' Is Gone But Steamboat Survives for Kansas on Its Seal," May 6, 1941; "Some Pioneer Wichitans Appeared to be Old Who Were Really Young," May 9; "Most Important Period for Future of Wichita Appeared Fifty Years Ago," May 12; "Construction of Cache Once a Familiar Device on the Prairie Frontier," May 13; "Old Book of Accounts Tells Story of Start of a University Here" (Garfield now Friends University), May 16; "Saw Mrs. Griffenstein in Her Home in Oklahoma in Later Years of Her Life," May 20; "Double-Barreled Banquet on the Border of Kansas When It Was Next Mexico," May 24; "Early Land Investment in the Wichita Area Showed Rich Returns," June 2; "Start of Oil Era Here as Frank Rexford, Wichita, Has It Stored in Memory," June 3; "Way

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One Early Wichitan [Ola Martinson] Crowded Twenty Years of Activity Into His Life," June 10; "Life of Sally Toler Here and Contribution She Made to the Early Community," June 25; "To Pep Up Street Fair Wichita Found Feature in First Automobiles," June 27; "Introduced a Bullfight on 4th of July Program to Entertain Kansans" (review of Kirke Mechem's article in The Kansas Historical Quarterly of 1933 about Dodge City bull fight in 1884), June 6; "He Saw the Last Herd of Buffalo That Roamed Sedgwick County Prairies," June 30; "What Kansas Was Like and the Prices It Paid Eighty-Six Years Ago," July 10; "First Chinese in This Town, Yung Wing Was His Name, Shows Up as Capitalist," July 18; "Town For Vegetarians Which It Was Proposed to Locate Here in Kansas," July 23; "Power With Bow and Arrow Acquired by the Indians as Noted by the Pioneers," July 24; "Three Wichita Pictures Which Tell Vivid Story of the City's Ambition," July 25; "Pioneer Business Desk Used by Wm. Mathewson Is Preserved in Wichita," July 28; "When Father of Wichita Traveled the Plains With a Townsite in Mind," August 1; "Contrast in Tree-Growth in This Part of Kansas Between Early Day and This," August 11; "Early Experience Here of Recreational Parks Part of Local History," August 15; "Kearny County Oil Strike Brings Up Notable Name Among Prairie Explorers" (Stephen Watts Kearny), August 19; "When Barnum Circus Came It Was Not Able to Show Jumbo in Full Action," August 22; "Store Called a Factory Among First on Frontier Was Run by Government," August 23; "Last Sight of Buffalo as Far East as Wellington Experience of H. L. Woods," August 30.

Articles on the schools, and group pictures of the children who attend district schools in McPherson county, were featured in the "28th Annual McPherson All-Schools Day" edition of the McPherson Daily Republican, May 10, 1941. "The Story of the Last Buffalo in County Revealed in Letter," by Mrs. C. M. Kindblade, several historical articles by Mrs. H. A. Rowland, and early pictures of the city of McPherson were also printed.

The great overland trails leading west across Kansas were discussed by LeRoy T. Hand in the Leavenworth Times, May 11, 1941. Two maps illustrated the article.

The following articles appeared in the "Clark County Historical Notes" in recent issues of The Clark County Clipper, of Ashland: "Early Days in Kansas," a story of Lexington, by Lulu B. Stephens, May 15, 1941; "Boucher Family," by Lillie (Boucher) Owings, and

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a poem "The Fate of the Boucher Girls," written by Thos. O. Kirk in 1886, May 22; "History of Lexington Cemetery," May 29; "Mosquitoes Got Scalps in Last Indian Scare," by John R. Walden (from the Dodge City Daily Globe), May 29 and June 5; "Sixty Years of Clark County," by Dorothy Berryman Shrewder, June 5; an "Old Timer" story by Mrs. Leona Dougan, June 12; "Victim of an Indian Scare," by Mrs. Hattie Mayse, June 12 and 19. An index for volume one of Early Notes on Clark County was published in installments in the issues of June 12, 19, 26 and July 3.

During the summer of 1941 the Kansas City (Mo.) Star carried the following historical feature articles of interest to Kansans: "A Part of Kansas Has Been Under Flags of Five Different Countries," by Cecil Howes, May 17; "'Admiral' Paul Jones Brings Coronado Back to Kansas," May 18; "A Distinguished Alumnus Returns to His College After Fifty Years" (James G. Harbord to KansaS State College commencement), by Milt Dean Hill, May 19; "Kansas Representative 20 Years, Phil Campbell Had the Glamour," June 6 ; "She Raised Her Boys To Be Soldiers-All Eleven of Them!" (Mrs. Margaret Penrod of Weir), by Alvin McCoy, June 29; "U. S. Army Looks to Ft. Riley For Its Crack Cavalry Officers," July 10; "The Fullers of Leavenworth, A New Commandant Finds His Father's Name at Every Turn," by Henry Van Brunt, July 13; "Wheat Seed Brought From Ukraine Made Kansas Nation's Breadbasket," by Cecil Howes, August 1; "Eighty Years on the Same News Run of the Oldest Newspaper in Kansas" (the career of Frank H. Roberts), by Alvin S. McCoy, and "Ninety Years: A Vast Panorama Unfolds in One Man's Life," by Frank H. Roberts, August 17.

The dedication of "Buffalo Bill" park and monument in Leavenworth May 25, 1941, climaxed the Leavenworth "Pioneer Days Festival." For more than one hundred years the tract of land at the top of Cody hill near the old Oregon and Salt Lake trail, which is now Cody Memorial Park, has looked down upon historic ground. An article entitled "Cody Hill and Salt Creek Valley Have 100-Year History," by LeRoy T. Hand in the Leavenworth Times, May 25, described some events which occurred near this site in the early days.

Several articles of Kansas historical interest appeared in recent months in the Kansas City (Mo.) Times: "University of Kansas for 75 Years Grew on Adversity and Uncertainty," by Theodore M. O'Leary, May 29, 1941; "The Oak, Lion Among Plants, Marks Notable Spots From Coast to Coast," by Margaret Whittemore,

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June 5; "Outstanding K. U. Feature Restored by the Reopening of Dyche Museum," by Theodore M. O'Leary, June 6; "Kansas Staged a Real Bull Fight at Dodge Fifty-seven Years Ago" (condensed from article by Kirke Mechem in The Kansas Historical Quarterly), June 10; "Tragic Episode of Custer's Command Recalled by Young Officer's Letter," by Elmo Scott Watson, July 16; "Two Decades in the Gazette Office With Emporia's William Allen White," by Lois Jacquith, July 25; "An Ambitious Kansas Experiment Recalled by Relics of Silkville," by Margaret Whittemore, August 21.

Flags of five countries were on display in Dodge City during the summer of 1941, as a feature of the Coronado Cuarto-Centennial celebration. An article in the Dodge City Daily Globe, June 2, explained the significance of the flags under which a part of southwestern Kansas has existed in the past four hundred years.

A story, "Civil War Vet Makes 66th Annual Trip to Grave," was printed in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, June 8, 1941. It concerned the annual pilgrimage of A. J. Ralston to the grave of his friend Louis C. Hart who came to Kansas with him from Illinois in 1867. The two were early settlers in Butler county and today Ralston is the only G. A. R. survivor in the county.

In celebration of "70 Years of Progress" the Chanute Tribune issued a thirty-six page anniversary edition, June 24, 1941. How the merger of New Chicago, Tioga and Alliance made possible the town of Chanute is told. Included also are articles of historical interest concerning schools, churches, newspapers, railroads, public utilities, aviation, farm bureau, oil industry, and defunct industries of Chanute and Neosho county. Members of the Tribune staff and others who contributed to the anniversary edition include: E. W. Johnson, John W. Berkebile, Dorothy P. Heilman, Vincent Lane, Fletcher McClary, H. G. Curl, Ross Cooper, Charles F. Jones, Lester Shepard, and Kathryn Nelson.

The story concerning the Dutch windmill which formerly stood on West Ninth street in Lawrence, as told by Mrs. C. F. Greenwood of Columbus, Wis., appeared in the Lawrence Daily Journal-World, June 28, 1941. The mill was built in 1854 by Andrew Palm, father of Mrs. Greenwood, and John Wilder and was a flourishing business institution for more than thirty years. In addition to the mill (operated by wind power-the eighty-foot wheel, bearing great canvas sails, making thirteen revolutions a minute), Palm and Wilder established the Wind Mill Agricultural Company where plows and other farm implements and utensils widely used throughout Kansas were manufactured.

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A special "Cuarto Centennial Entrada" supplement was issued by the Salina Journal, June 30, 1941. A number of articles on Coronado's journey into the Southwest 400 years ago by Maude Davis, Jessie Kennedy Snell, Kirke Mechem, and members of the Journal staff make up the forty-page edition.

The Advocate-Democrat, Marysville, under the title "Early Days in Marshall County," printed the field notes of Augustus Ford Harvey, government surveyor, in the issues of July 3, 10, 17 and August 7, 1941. In 1858 Harvey surveyed the territory now known as Washington and Republic counties.

"Pioneer Incidents," a series of reminiscences by R. B. Williams, were published in the Oswego Independent, July 18, August 8 and 22, 1941. Mr. Williams came to Kansas from Tennessee in 1873 and recalled many incidents of his childhood in Kentucky and Tennessee and of pioneer days in Kansas.

"Vivid Memories of Indian Scare Near Dodge Remain For Kancan," a story of Burt Brown's experiences as a boy in the late 1870's and early 1880's, was a feature of the Wichita Sunday Eagle, July 20, 1941.

A historical sketch of the Lakin Methodist Church, by Mrs. Luella Stutzman, appeared in the Lakin Independent, July 25, 1941. The Rev. William V. Burns preached his first sermon there in April, 1886, and in June of that year the church was organized.

Both the Wichita Sunday Beacon and the Wichita Sunday Eagle issued special anniversary editions July 27, 1941. The Eagle comnemorated the sixty-ninth year of publication of the paper, and the Beacon the thirteenth anniversary under its present ownership. These special editions included information concerning the industrial development of southern Kansas in general and of Wichita in particular.

On July 31, 1941, the Tonganoxie Mirror recalled the days when the negro population of that vicinity celebrated Emancipation day, August 1, with picnicking and dancing. Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued the proclamation January 1, 1863, and the negroes in the South asually celebrated that day, but Kansas negroes for many years commemorated emancipation in midsummer.

An article by Edward Bumgardner on the Free-State men of Kansas who faced charges of treason in the territorial conflict was printed in the Lawrence Daily Journal-World, August 6, 1941. The

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story was illustrated with a picture from a daguerreotype of seven of the men who were held in a prison camp twelve miles west of Lawrence.

The Cherokee county-seat fight was reviewed in the Columbus Daily Advocate, August 8, 194I. A special election in 1867w called to settle the question of permanent location of the county seat by popular vote, was the beginning of a controversy between Columbus, then known as Cherokee Center, and Baxter Springs which continued for several years.

A series of articles entitled "School Days in Old Wichita Vividly Portrayed," by Royse Aldrich, were published in The Democrat, Wichita, August 9 to September 6, 1941. Mr. Aldrich discussed the old Lincoln school, built in 1885 and recently replaced by a new building, and the Harry Street school.

The sixty-fifth anniversary edition of the Great Bend Tribune, August 12, 1941, featured brief sketches of Barton county residents who came in the 1870's. This forty-page issue also contained several articles on the history of Great Bend and Barton county, a list of twenty-four daily Kansas newspapers fifty-four years old or older, and a table entitled "Moisture in Great Bend Since 1875."

A "Pioneer and Progress Edition" of the Sedan Times-Star was issued August 14, 1941. Much history of Sedan's churches, schools, clubs and business organizations was chronicled in this eighty-page edition, as well as sketches of institutions and historical events in Elgin, Cedar Vale, Peru, Hewins, Chautauqua, Wauneta, Jonesburg and Niotaze. An interesting account of the county-seat fight between Elk Falls and Boston was also published. The Sedan Times-Star traces its lineage back to the Chautauqua Journal founded in 1873, according to the article on Sedan's newspapers by Charles A. Dunn, publisher of the Times-Star from 1918 to 1938.

The story of Mission Neosho was reviewed in the St. Paul Journal, August 14, 1941. An article on the mission by T. F. Morrison, printed in the August, 1935, Kansas Historical Quarterly, was quoted in part.

Commemorating the seventieth year of the organization of Osborne county, the Osborne County Farmer, of Osborne, issued a special sixteen-page anniversary edition August 14, 1941. Several pages were devoted to articles about the pioneer settlers of the county.

"Tecumseh Once a Boom Town," by Fred Bergmann, appeared in the Topeka Daily Capital, August 17. 1941. Mr. Bergmann

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secured information for the story from a study of the Tecumseh newspapers of 1858.

"A Short History of Pottawatomie County," was featured in the Onaga Herald, August 21, 1941. Subheadings include "WaterPower Mills," "Brewery in Pottawatomie County," "Ghost Railroads," "Indian Guide Post," and "Laclede."

The capture of a buffalo in Ross township, Osborne county, in the spring of 1874, was recalled by Mrs. Louise Cox-Evans in an article entitled "The Rounding Up of the Last Buffalo," in the Downs News, August 21, 1941. The story had previously been read by Mrs. Cox-Evans at the Downs picnic in Los Angeles, Calif., on June 27.

H. P. Tripp discussed the building of a bridge across Wolf creek at Grand Center in his "Memories of Early Days" column in the Luray Herald, August 21, 1941.

A historical sketch of the Friends Meeting House in Lawrence by Edward Bumgardner appeared in the Lawrence Daily Journal- World, August 23, 1941. The meeting house, built in 1872, has been razed and a new modern church is being constructed to take its place. The Kansas yearly meetings were held in this building continuously for nearly a quarter of a century; in recent years, however, most of the meetings have been at Wichita. The yearly meetings drew hundreds of people from the Quaker communities in Kansas, as well as prominent individuals from other parts of the United States and from abroad.

Eighty-one years of the Santa Fe railroad were briefly reviewed in special feature sections of the Topeka Daily Capital, August 24, 1941, and the Topeka State Journal, August 25. The eighteen presidents of the railroad, from Cyrus K. Holliday to Edward J. Engel, were pictured in the Capital.

The sixtieth anniversary of the organization of St. John's Lutheran Church, south of Lincoln, was announced in the Lincoln Sentinel-Republican, August 28, 1941. Printed in the issue were an account of the anniversary services held August 24, and a brief history of the church and the names of its pastors.

A twenty-page special edition of the Wellington Daily News, September 1, 1941, marked the fortieth anniversary of the paper, first issued on Labor Day, 1901. The paper was founded by H. L. Woods and W. R. Stotler. Woods has remained editor of the News throughout this period and Stotler is now a member of the reportorial

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staff of the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Review. Articles of historical interest include stories of the old opera house, the railroads, and Wellington before the debut of the Daily News, as well as "Items From the First Year's Edition of the Wellington Daily News," and a list of the mayors of Wellington.

The discovery of oil in El Dorado and the organization and development of the El Dorado Refining Company were briefly described in an article in the El Dorado Times, September 3, 1941.

"Government Housing Began Back in 1859 For Benefit of the Kaw Indians," an article by Theda Felton related in the Topeka Daily Capital, September 7, 1941. Some of the houses built for the Indians near Council Grove still stand. Souvenir editions of the Marion Review and Record were published as a part of the Coronado and old settlers' celebration held in Marion, September 10, 11, 1941. A special edition of the Review, dated September 10 and 11, contained the following articles of historical interest: "Jack Costello, First Mayor of Marion Centre," and "Ehrlich's Old Mill Model For Painting," by Lucy Burkholder; "Memories of Old Chingawassa Railroad and Resort," by Al Nienstedt; a portion of the historical address delivered by Judge John M. Williams July 4, 1876, and some reminiscences of Mrs. Frank Doster, ninety-four years old, who came to Marion Centre to join her husband in 1871. Mrs. Doster's story was continued in the regular September 10 issue of the Review which also carried a description of the first Sunday school in Marion county, August 8, 1868, by Alex E. Case. The Marion Record of September 11, featured the following articles: "Presbyterian Church [in Marion] Seventy Years Old"; "The Boom Days of the 80's in the News Stories of Those Days"; "Some Miscellaneous `First' Items Regarding Marion County History," and "The First Newspaper in County and How It Got Its Start."

A paper on "Old Indian Trails and Military Roads," given by Albert Stroud of Lafontaine at the Wilson County Historical Society meeting in Fredonia on September 6, 1941, was published September 12 in the Fredonia Daily Herald. At the same meeting Mrs. Edith S. Caughron of Neodesha gave a history of Little Bear, an Osage Indian chief well known to early settlers of Wilson county. Mrs. Eva Keys Stephens of Coyville gave additional information about Little Bear. A list of the charter members of the society was printed in the Neodesha Register, September 11.