DO NOT PANIC!!!

"DO NOT PANIC!  PLEASE REMAIN CALM!" - from the movie Animal House (1978).



It SEEMED like a good idea at the time.

They THOUGHT it would be easy.

For those of you who are still worrying about THIS year and have not been paying attention, next year is the 150th birthday of Kansas.  For some months various state officials and agencies have been wracking their brains trying to think of ways to celebrate this important milestone - cheaply, of course.  

And on November 5, 2010, the following email was sent out across the state:

"Dear Genealogists and Historians,

In commemoration of Kansas’ 150th Birthday and in conjunction with Savor Kansas and Visit Topeka Incorporated, Kansas Network to Freedom is holding a drive to collect local Kansas history for the Kansas 150th Commemorative Calendar.

We are asking every county and/or local society to contribute important dates, pictures of important historical figures and places, and information about their local history to include in the calendar that will be available at the 150th Celebration in Topeka on January 29th, 2011.

Submissions should be sent as attachments via email. Deadline for submissions is November 20th. Selections will be chosen from submissions sent in by the due date. If you have any questions please email or call Sherri Camp. See my information below.)

To contribute, send email to:
Sherri Camp, President
Kansas Network to Freedom
785-969-9144
sherri@kansasnetworktofreedom.com

Thank you,
Sherri Camp"

Now, to the average layman 15 (fifteen) days would no doubt seem like plenty of time to compile such a list of dates, events, and photographs from every county.  They all have them just lying around already compiled, right?

Unfortunately, no.  Most counties don't have anyone who has sat and thought out such things.  Oh, they might remember such events as when the county was formed, and when the county celebrated its centenary, but that is pretty much about it.  And as to the actual dates?  And photos as well?  All that takes time to gather - say, six months, or more. 

And here you have been given 15 (fifteen) days. 

Now imagine what the Osborne County Genealogical & Historical Society thought when they read this email.  Like most of the small, local, all-volunteer-run such organizations across the state of Kansas, the OCGHS does not have someone reading the emails each and every morning.  Truth be told, they are lucky to have volunteers to even man the Society's office/archives for a few hours on any given day.  So when this particular email was read on November 18th - yes, November 18th, as in two days before the deadline for submissions - one can imagine the panic that set in.  After all, they want to be included in this celebration of the state, but - !

Years of being a state representative allowed OCGHS president Laura McClure to marginally control her personal panic enough to quickly send out emails asking for help in the matter.   

As one can imagine, the emails flew back and forth fast and furious.  No one - in Osborne County, at least - had ever sat down and compiled such a list of important events from throughout the county's history.  And we are talking about combing through the county's entire 140 years of political, social, and economic legacy in just two days to make such a list!  What events are important enough to be included?  Usually a year can be found for when events occurred, but what were the actual dates?  And where do you find these at?  And what events are important enough to be included?  And photographs, if available, would need to be found and copied.  And what events are important enough to be included?

And so it was with some relief (and great coincidence) that on that same day - November 18th - a second email was received announcing that the deadline for submissions was extended to December 1st.  Evidently the uproar had not come from Osborne County alone.  Still, that only left 12 (twelve) days in which to compile such a submission. 

So books were pulled, photographs and CDs of scanned photographs perused, the poor people at the county courthouse in charge of maintaining the county records duly harrassed, and every site on the Internet dealing with Osborne County history was consulted, and in 12 days 36 points from the county's past were brought forth.  Of these, two dates could not be confirmed in the time alloted, so they were dropped, leaving just 34 items from the county's 140 years of existence to be shared with the rest of Kansas. 

The following is the 34 entries sent in, along with the two not submitted - still great events in their own right - by the Osborne County Genealogical & Historical Society.  While the list does give some insight into this typical Rural Kansas county's legacy (as well as the mindset of those who compiled the list) please keep in mind that this list merely scratches the surface of this county's rich history, and in no way should be considered the final product:

           Important Historical Dates - Osborne County, Kansas:

July 21, 1866 – Irish-born U.S. Army soldier Edward Roche of Company I, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, is killed by Indians along Twin Creek while escorting the party surveying what will later become Osborne County. They bury Roche at what later becomes the common corner of Corinth, Penn, Winfield and Bloom Townships; he is later moved to the Osborne City Cemetery.

March 3, 1867 – Kansas Governor Samuel B. Crawford officially names Osborne County in honor of Captain Vincent B. Osborne, a Civil War veteran who lost a leg in a battle on January 17, 1865.

January 14, 1870 - The first homestead in Osborne County is settled on by George Wolberd in the northeast corner of the county, in Section One of what later becomes Ross Township.

March 4, 1870 – Charles and William Bullock settle on claims in what later becomes Tilden Township, where they erect Bullock’s Stockade, the first permanent settlement in Osborne County.

July 2, 1870 – The Last Indian Raid in Osborne County takes place by a band of approximately 50 Indians at Bullock’s Stockade. Two Indians are killed in the brief skirmish.

August 10, 1870 – Around this time Dr. Daniel Tilden arrives in Osborne County to claim a homestead in what later becomes Tilden Township. In the spring of 1871 he lays out and plats the townsite of Tilden on his homestead. In 1874 the town’s name is changed to Bloomington.

September 12, 1870 – Founding of the town of Bull City by Hiram C. Bull and Lyman T. Earl. A coin toss determines the name of the town. In 1885 the town’s name is changed to Alton.

November 8, 1870 – Founding of the town of Arlington by Calvin Reasoner and others and opening of the Reasoner-Thompson General Store.

May 1, 1871 – Founding of the town of Osborne City by the Pennsylvania Colony. By the early 1890s the “City” is dropped from the name.

June 2, 1871 – Founding of the town of Bethany, named by Zachary T. Walrond, and opening day for the Bethany Post Office. In 1880 the town’s name is changed to Portis.

June 3, 1871 – Meeting for the formal organization of Osborne County is held at Arlington on the steps of the Reasoner-Thompson General Store.

October 29, 1871 – J. B. Emley begins touting his new town of Emley City, at the center of Osborne County in what later becomes Independence Township, as the perfect site for the permanent county seat. In 1873 the town’s name is changed to Centerville. In 1876 it is changed again, this time to Bristow.

April 2, 1872 – Fourth and final election for permanent Osborne County Seat. Osborne City receives 267 votes to Arlington’s 214.

June 19, 1873 – Arrival of Henry and Rosa Ise at Henry’s homestead in Ross Township of Osborne County. The story of their life on this homestead, Sod & Stubble, written by their son John Ise, was first published in 1936.  Still in print 75 years later, the book is considered a classic on the homesteading era of the Great Plains of North America.

March 22, 1877 – Arrival of Howard Ruede on his homestead in Kill Creek Township of Osborne County. The story of his life on this homestead, Sod-House Days: Letters of a Kansas Homesteader 1877-78, was first published in 1937. Still in print nearly 75 years later, the book is considered a classic on the homesteading era of the Great Plains of North America.

June 5, 1879 – The townsite of Downsville is platted by landowners John Bea1, Azariah & Marinda Blunt, Mrs. Harriet DeLay, with Missouri Pacific Railroad president R. M Pomeroy in Sections 28 and 29 of Ross Township. Within six months the town’s name is shortened to Downs.

October 12, 1879 – Osborne County State Representative Hiram C. Bull and two other men are attacked and killed at Bull City by Bull’s pet elk. The sensational event makes national headlines and the subsequent funeral draws approximately 2,000 people. It is still considered the largest funeral ever held in northwest Kansas.

October 19, 1880 – The townsite of Covert is surveyed and laid out in central Osborne County, with a plat of the town being duly recorded on October 26, 1880.

May 1, 1887 – What is considered to be the first self-driving vehicle ever built in Kansas is invented by Osborne City blacksmith Frank Hatch. The vehicle consists of a wagon propelled by a four-cylinder vapor engine. It is driven that spring and summer through the streets of Osborne City and the surrounding countryside before being dismantled.

October 15, 1888 – The Union Town Company surveys and lays out a plat for the new town of Natoma in the southwest corner of Osborne County.

November 1, 1901 – Around this time is the establishment of Meades Ranch in Delhi Township, Osborne County as the Geodetic Center of North America. This unique and important scientific site is the reference point for all property lines and city, county, state and international boundaries on the North American continent that are tied to the national triangulation networks of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America. It was renamed the North American Datum in 1927.

May 29, 1904 – Birth in Downs, Kansas of psychiatrist Dr. Robert Hanna Felix, creator of the National Institutes of Mental Health.

June 8, 1904 – Birth in Alton, Kansas of internationally-acclaimed architect Bruce Alonzo Goff.

January 25, 1907 – John Locke, 1976 National Basketball Coach of the Year and the winningest high school basketball coach in Kansas history, is born on the family farm in Kill Creek Township of Osborne County.

October 7, 1912 – The original landowners relinquish all rights to a 40-acre tract around the Seventh-day Adventist-operated Hill Agricultural Academy in eastern Bethany Township. The land is laid out and platted as the townsite of Academy.

April 26, 1929 – Osborne High School junior Fred Stambach Jr. makes a high jump of six feet, 3.5 inches at the county track meet in Downs. With this one jump Stambach breaks six records – the school, county, district, state, national, and world’s interscholastic records. Though his world record is beaten just 24 hours later, Stambach’s jump stands as the Osborne High School record for the next 70 years.

September 22, 1943 – Crash of a B-24 bomber from California to Topeka, Kansas in southern Covert Township of Osborne County, killing eleven military servicemen aboard.  In April 2004 a memorial was dedicated at the site to their memory.

October 19, 1968 – Agra High School’s football team defeats Alton High School 19-13, ending Alton’s six-year, 51-game winning streak. The streak was the all-time state record for most consecutive football victories for nearly 35 years and for three decades was among the Top Ten such streaks nationally as well.

May 22, 1970 – Last day of classes for Oakdale School, District #3, in Ross Township. This was the last one-room rural schoolhouse in Osborne County.

October 14, 2000 – Osborne High School senior Brittany Dietz wins her fourth straight Class 3-2-1A girls’ tennis championship. She finishes her high school career with the all-time state high school single-season record of 43 wins (1997) and the greatest all-time career record of 149 wins and no losses.

March 27, 2003 – Osborne High School senior Brooke Ubelaker is named Miss Kansas Basketball. In four years she led the Bulldogs to a 99-5 record, two state championships, and two state runner-up finishes.

November 27, 2003 - Acknowledging Osborne County as the home of two famous books on the homesteading era of the Great Plains of North America, the Osborne County Commissioners adopt a proclamation designating Osborne County, Kansas as "The Homestead Literature Capital of Kansas."

April 2, 2007 - The Kansas Senate passes Senate Resolution No. 1859, declaring that the "Sod & Stubble Country Self-Guided Tour" in Bethany and Ross Townships of Osborne County to be an official state heritage tour.

April 25, 2008 – The century-old Osborne County Courthouse is named one of the 24 finalists for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Architecture contest. The building is selected as being the best example of James Holland-designed courthouses in the state.

 

[And here are the two deleted entries, again only because the exact dates were not able to be found in the time allotted:]

1880 – While digging a well in Section 27 of Hawkeye Township a man uncovers what he believes to be gold nuggets. Word quickly spreads to the nearby community of Bloomington, and the great Bloomington Gold Rush of Osborne County is on. Hundreds of area farmers immediately converge and illegally begin digging in and around the homestead where the strike occurred. The next day two experienced miners now farming in the area examine the original rocks and determine that they are indeed pieces of pyrite, or “fools gold,” effectively ending the rush.

1904 – Bert Walker buys the Osborne County Farmer newspaper in Osborne. Together with Farmer editor and Kansas Speaker of the House of Representatives Charles Mann, the newspaper over the next 44 years becomes for a time the most influential weekly small town newspaper in Kansas.

*  *  *  *  *

To sum it all up:  if anyone out there of any influence or position has been reading this, please in the future take the time to truly consider what you are asking and to properly think it all through first.  You are driving the volunteers - that are driving this state in the first place - absolutely nuts!

In Search Of: The Farnsworth Family Burial Ground!

One of the great out-of-the-way places to go "In Search Of" when wandering out and about the Osborne County, Kansas countryside is that of the Farnsworth Burial Ground, located on the former family homestead along the banks of Plum Creek just a three or so miles southeast of Portis.  Eleven members of the Farnsworth family were interred here between 1888 and 1976.  In 2006 an effort was made to clean up the site, but since then only a lone hunter or two have come across it, no doubt more than  surprised to see a historical marker standing well away from the nearest road informing them that they've stumbled onto a burial ground!

BACKGROUND:  The Farnsworth family traces its roots back to Roger Dade Farnsworth in England, who died in 1297. His ancestor Mathias Farnsworth arrived in America in 1657.  Eight generations later Lynde and Ellen farnsworth moved their family to this farm on the banks of Plum Creek in 1885.  This burial site began with the death of infant Anna Farnsworth in 1888, followed by her brother Walter in 1895. Family patriarch Lynde was next in 1901.  World War I veteran Donald Farnsworth was interred here in 1970, and the last burial was that of William L. Farnsworth in 1976.  Three generations of the Farnsworth Family are buried here, including Harriet (Dedman) Farnsworth.  Shortly before her wedding to Walter E. Farnsworth in 1887 Harriet was involved in an altercation with a student during a literary society meeting at the nearby Green Ridge Schoolhouse. The incident was made famous in the 1936 book Sod & Stubble by John Ise.

Those lying in marked graves:
Arthur Lynde Farnsworth (August 25, 1873-June 17, 1950)
Lynde Earl Farnsworth (November 5, 1831-March 27, 1901)
Nellie Eaton Farnsworth (March 27, 1889-November 24, 1918)
Walter Eaton Farnsworth (November 11, 1858-January 25, 1950)
Harriet Olive [Dedman] Farnsworth (February 9, 1856-March 22, 1922)

Those lying in unmarked graves:
Anna Farnsworth (1888-1888)
Donald M. Farnsworth (January 21, 1897-December 15, 1970) World War I veteran: 3rd Machine Gun Company, 16th Infantry, U.S. Army,
Ellen S. [Eaton] Farnsworth (May 11, 1835-February 1915)
Nina Luella (Carter) Farnsworth (August 6, 1901-July 7, 1953)
Walter M. Farnsworth (1894-1895)
William Lynde (February 14, 1891-December 31, 1976)

So, if one would want to find this site for oneself, one needs to have sturdy hiking clothes (pants are a must!), a generous spraying on oneself of OFF or some other repellant, contract the services of a knowledgeable guide, and it's time for a min-adventure into the wilds of Osborne County, Kansas!

                          

If you know where to look, then as you head east/southeast of Portis on a rock road that turns to dirt before too long, you can glance to your right and see a large clump of trees and other growth - just one of dozens like it along this portion of the road.  The clump conceals the remains of a one-story native rock building that once served as a stagecoach stop.  The road started as the stage route from the city of Downs to the southeast to Portis along the northern edge of the North Fork Solomon River valley.   In the mid-2000s the building was partially torn down. 

So after one pulls over beside the clump of trees and other growth that conceals a one-story native stone rock building that once served as a stagecoach stop, one must cross a quarter mile of wheatfield (or corn, depending on the year) to the southwest.  On the southern side of the field one is confronted with this 13-foot high, 100-foot wide hedge row consisting largely of wild marijuana.  Finding a way around/through this hedge is an adventure in itself.

After managing the marijuana hedge, one works through the chest-high growth for about 300 feet - keeping one's arms up because of the poison ivy and other probable surprises - until one finally comes across an Osborne County Historical Marker and the top half of a metal gate.

View of the gate and the Historical Marker. 

The 2006 Osborne County Historical Marker is in surprisingly good shape! It tells the history of the burial ground and lists those who are interred here.

Looking past the gate into the burial ground one can see a single marker rising amid the growth.  As one stands and does this, one can also feel the mosquitoes making quite a meal out of oneself.

Looking southwest across the Farnsworth Burial Ground.

Here is the view of the burial ground looking northwest to southeast. The fence surrounding the site was repaired in 2006 by Osborne County Tourism volunteers and is still in place.

The western half of the Farnsworth Burial Ground.

There are two large tombstones in the Burial Ground.  This one is to Nellie Farnsworth, 1889-1918.

The other stone is a memorial to Walter and Harriet (Dedman) Farnsworth.

Still to be found is the brick-like stone for Arthur Farnsworth, 1875-1950.

The temporary marker on the grave of the patriarch of the family, Lynde Farnsworth, 1831 -1901, can at least still be found.

That's it.  Just four stones, leaving six people in unmarked graves, including a military veteran.  Is this site just a small preview for all small rural cemeteries in Kansas within the next twenty-five years, let alone by the end of the century?   Food for thought.

The Meadowlark Storytelling Festival Historical Walk

I had contracted to lead a Historical Walk as part of the Meadowlark Storytelling Festival, the state's official such event and the largest, at 3PM on Friday, April 23, 2010.  In recent years this Walk had consisted of visiting area cemeteries and talk about some of the people resting there, amid the very contrary Kansas weather that invariably would add color to the proceedings.   The year before it was perfect weather; the year before that, winds howling out of the north at 30 miles an hour and more.  Before that, rain, cold and at one point even a little hail. 

So it was something of a novelty to have 15-to-20 MPH winds from the south and temperatures in the low 70s.  I met about 25 people at, oddly, 25 minutes till 3 in front of the Downs Memorial Hall.  Upon being asked the Walk's designation this year I replied that I thought we might tour the sites of the people made famous in the book Sod & Stubble in the Downs City Cemetery.  Some potential Walkers did not feel that this was very exciting and so drifted off; still others decided to go see other events instead; one questioned whether walking in the cemetery would be very level; and so on.  So by the time 3PM rolled around I was down to a had a faithful following of five people - two men from Rossville, KS, and three Downs natives.   For a crowd of six we certainly were a merry bunch.   

Our first stop was that of the grave of "General" Martin Luther Benson.  Master Benson in his last years boasted of many things:  that he served in the Civil War and received the rank of general; that he laid out the city of Des Moines, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska; that he was in charge of the railroad that built across Kansas through Downs; etc.  While he was part of the survey crew that did lay out the railroad route and the city of Downs, so far that is the only "fact" that can be verified of the man. 

Next to Benson is the last resting place of Wiley Wilson Jones, "Wilson Athey" in the book Sod & Stubble and the antagonistic next-door neighbor of the Ise family.

When Wenzil Rohowitz is last mentioned in Sod & Stubble he is said to have went away - this being an euphemism found in the book for someone dying.  His last name has been found misspelled no less than 17 different ways over the years.

Poor Leonidas "Big" Huff.  He was considered not a bad person, except for his explosive temper that landed him in the state penitentiary at least once and tried for murder three other times.  His twin, Alonzo, was killed while attempting to steal a box car from the railyard of a nearby town.  Another brother was gunned down for cheating in a card game.  The Huffs were neighbors to the east of the Ise family, Mr. Huff being the area blacksmith.

Lying next to the Huff family is Joseph Craney, the first mayor of Downs.  Craney was also the engineer aboard the first locomotive to ever operate in Kansas, at Elwood.  The engine was taken across the river from St. Joseph, Missouri on a ferry.  Ropes were attached to it on the other side, and men and boys pulled the locomotive up the bank.  In those days engines were named instead of numbered and this first Kansas iron horse was called the Albany.  

Only a few of the stops on the Walk are being shown here; you'll just have to come to the Storytelling Festival sometime to get the full scope of tales.  Above is the grave of Willis DeLay - "Willis Blair" in Sod & Stubble - who was a Civil War veteran that homesteaded next to what is now the city of Downs.  He had a little extra money and often served as the moneylender in the area long before there was a bank.

And then there are the graves of the family that is the main focus of the book Sod & Stubble.  Albert was the firstborn of Henry and Rosa Ise; he passed away at the age of six months and was buried on the homestead.  When his father died in 1900 Albert's remains were brought here to the Ise lot.

Edward William Ise - "Billy" in Sod & Stubble - was the eldest son who attained manhood.  After the family  moved from the Ise homestead in 1910 Edward moved to near Delta, Utah and took out his own homestead.  He died in 1920 in a farming accident and was brought back to Downs for burial.

The stone-lined burial vault of Henry Christopher Ise is easy to locate in the western part of the cemetery.  His funeral in 1900 was so large that people were still leaving the Ise farm, three miles away, when the first of the funeral cortege arrived here at the cemetery.

Henry and Rosa Ise's headstone is very noticeable.   Rosa lived 47 years longer than her husband before her passing in Lawrence, Kansas in 1947.

Something that I learned on this Walk - in the Downs Cemetery lies the final resting place for Charles & Mayme Riggins, paternal grandparents of University of Kansas legend & NFL Hall of Famer John Riggins.

In the eastern end of the Downs Cemetery was the final stop on our Historical Walk.  The Pioneers O Pioneers Monument was paid for by the Ise children in 1969 and shipped from California.  On the monument are the names of all those who settled in Sod & Stubble Country before the railroad arrived in 1879.

After the Walk it was time to retire to the Gathering Grounds coffee house in downtown Downs for a celebratory Four Berry Smoothie.  Sadly this was my last such drink, as the establishment would be closing at the end of April.  Also celebrating there was this rather rowdy "60" club!

The Evening After Fun Day

Upon leaving Glen Elder's Fun Day at around 6:45PM I headed back west on US-Hwy 24. As I drove through the town of Cawker City I spied new initiates at the World's Largest Ball of Sisal Twine and had to stop and say hi. They were from out of state and were thrilled with the opportunity to add some twine to the Ball.


Another interesting Cawker City monument that many people miss is located at the east edge of the Ball of Twine. It is a marker that once denoted the site of the Gledhill Homestead & the Twelve Mile Creek Post Office along the 1870s Cawker City-Smith Center Trail. The marker originally stood approximately ten miles to the northwest of Cawker in Smith County, Kansas. Sometime in the mid-20th Century road work the "temporary removal" of the marker from that original site. For some reason after the work was finished the marker was not put back in place but rather re-erected here in Cawker City.


Driving by the historic Hesperian Library in Cawker City I see that the local goal of $20,000 has been raised toward the renovation of the building, and the final work goes on. Way to go, Cawker!

The old adage To know where you're going, You've got to know where you've been is often more true than most people realize. It's nice to see by this plant stand that the citizens of Cawker City respect their past and their town namesale, Colonel E. Harrison Cawker. Though more respectable plants in the stand might go further to emphasize that point.

Driving on west in the city of Downs stands the Sod & Stubble Monument in their city park. Newly restored, the marker commemorates the local area upon which the classic 1936 novel Sod & Stubble written about.

Then it became time to take off on some good Kansas backroads to my next destination. There's always something to see in rural Kansas!