THE LINDSEYS – KANSAS PIONEERS 1855 – 2024: A History of the Lindsey Family of southeast Miami County and northeast Linn County, Kansas

© 2024 Marvin L and Steven E Lindsey. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  02/29/2024

ISBN: 979-8-8230-2225-5 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-2224-8 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-2223-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024903649

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A FAMILY HISTORY

AND HERITAGE STORY OF THE

LINDSEY FAMILY

OF

MIAMI & LINN COUNTY, KANSAS

Jack, Sarah, Marvin and Steven Lindsey - 1947/48

DEDICATION

This book has been created for, and is dedicated

to

the children of Marvin and Steven Lindsey

and

the grandchildren of E. L. Jack and Sarah Nichols Lindsey,

Todd Alan Lindsey,

Elizabeth Ann Lindsey Southers,

Brian Lawrence Lindsey,

Troy Christian Lindsey,

Bruce William Lindsey,

and

their present and future descendants

in order that all might better understand and appreciate their

heritage and the life, faith and sacrifices of their ancestors.

THE GRANDCHILDREN OF JACK AND SARAH

1975 - TROY, TODD, BETH, BRIAN, BRUCE LINDSEY

1989 - BRUCE, BETH, BRIAN

1987 – TROY, TODD

THE GRANDCHILDREN AND G GRANDCHILDREN OF JACK AND SARAH

BETH’S FAMILY – MADDY WITH GINNY, WILL, BETH, FRANK, LINDSEY, JACK, JACQUELINE- 2023

BRIAN’S FAMILY - MEGAN, BRIAN, CYNTHIA, BRANDON - 2023

BRUCE’S FAMILY – NATALIE, ALISHA, BRUCE, SYLVIA - 2021

TODD’S FAMILY - TODD, JODY, JENIFER, TAYLOR - 2023

TROY’S FAMILY - ELEANOR, ALLABELLE, TEDDY & NATHALIE, TROY, HILARY, CLAIRE - 2023

FOREWARD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are part of the sixth generation of Lindseys and fourth generation of Nichols to call the gently rolling hills of eastern Miami and Linn County, Kansas, home. With the passing of our parents, Elson Lawrence Jack and Sarah Nichols Lindsey in 2003 and 1993 respectively, it is unlikely that we, or any of our descendants, will ever again permanently reside in this area and make it home. Thus, a unique period, extending 150 years from the time our ancestors first arrived in the area, has come to an end for our branch of the family. It therefore seemed appropriate to undertake this project so that future generations will have some idea of who they are and where they came from, as well as an understanding of the faith, character, lifestyle, experiences and personal hardships faced by their ancestors. The book was first published in 2011 under the title Lindsey – Nichols A Grand Union 1939-1993 and published by Author House. As the family grew and other events occurred, we decided to update and revise the book. Thus, this newly named second edition. It contains the original book’s information as well as a few corrections, several updates and numerous additions. May each of you read this with pride in family and may God bless you and your families as He has our ancestors and us.

We are indebted to our mother, Sarah Nichols Lindsey, and our grandmother, Ethel Shrake Lindsey, for collecting and documenting much of the information contained in this book. We have also utilized our own resources and the internet to verify their information and to add to the ancestral tree(s) wherever possible. We have made every effort to ensure the data is correct, but it is likely that a few errors have crept into our work. We apologize for any our readers might find. For reference of future family historians, the images and other documentation for this work have been organized, filed and retained by Brian Lindsey, son of Marvin, in the family files as of this second edition. He currently resides in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Marvin L. Lindsey, Highlands Ranch, CO

Steven E. Lindsey, Independence, KS

OUR ANCESTORS

The ancestors we knew personally extended through several of our great grandparents. They are listed below to aid our readers.

GREAT GRANDPARENTS:

GRANDPARENTS:

OUR DESCENDANTS

Listed below are our descendants as of this second edition. They, along with their descendants, are the ones for whom this book has been written.

MARVIN’S DESCENDANTS:

CHILDREN & GRANDCHILDREN:

GRANDCHILDREN & GREAT GRANDCHILDREN:

STEVEN’S DESCENDANTS:

CHILDREN & GRANDCHILDREN:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Kansas – A Beckoning Land

SE Miami County Kansas – A Place to Stay

Early Community And Cultural Life

McCabe Chapel – Our Christian Heritage

The Final Resting Place

Memories Of Our Youth In The 1940’S & 50’S

Lindsey Auction Service

Our Parents

Grandparents Lindsey

Grandparents Nichols

Our G Grandparents

Our GG Grandparents

Our GGG Grandparents

Our Earlier Ancestors

Our Family Trees

Our Own Families

Appendix I – Uncles, Aunts And First Cousins

Appendix II – E L Jack Lindsey Flight Log 1943-45

Appendix III – Timeline To Important Events

Appendix IV – One Room Country Schools In Se Miami And Ne Linn Counties Of Which We Are Personally Knowledgeable

Appendix V – Caleb Lindsey Will Written October 1784, Probated February 1785 In Chatam County, NC

Appendix VI – Woodburn Family History

Explanatory Note to Our Readers:

The first five chapters of this book are largely historical in nature, intended to describe the events that led eventually to our ancestors settling in eastern Kansas. In these chapters we have placed our thoughts and comments regarding our ancestors or our memories in bold italics and boxed for ease of reference by reader and to clarify them from the more historical portions.

KANSAS – A BECKONING LAND

1800 – An Exciting Time to Be an American

At the beginning of the 19th century the young United States of America was a rapidly growing country and its new experiment in democracy and freedom was getting a lot of attention around the world. In the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, was elected as the third U. S. President.

The United States consisted of only 16 states when Jefferson took office in early 1801. All were east of the Mississippi River and all, but Kentucky, Tennessee and western Georgia, were east of the Appalachian Mountains. The westward expansion, however, was well underway and settlers were already pouring into the Northwest Territory and the western parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. But, except for a few farsighted individuals, including the new President, there was not much interest in the territory west of the Mississippi River. And, even Jefferson was reluctant to consider expanding the federal government further west, as the area was largely unexplored and generally considered to be a vast desert.

There was, however, one major issue facing the U.S. and the new western settlers in 1800 - freedom of shipping on the Mississippi River. This issue translated into a national priority to maintain free access to the port of New Orleans, then controlled by Spain. This was essential because the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and their tributaries, were the principal method of shipping goods in and out of the lands west of the Appalachians. This need for access led eventually to Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase in 1803, but clear access was not finally settled until Jackson’s defeat of the British at New Orleans at the end of the War of 1812.

The Louisiana Purchase 1803 – Kansas Becomes Part of The United States

In 1800 the large territory of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River was physically controlled by Spain. This territory of more than 800,000 square miles, comprised all, or most, of 13 present day states and the port of New Orleans. Originally settled and claimed for France in the early 18th century, Louisiana had been ceded to Spain in 1762. Under Spanish control, the United States enjoyed duty free access to the port of New Orleans for shipment of goods.

However, Napoleon was considering creating a French empire in the New World and he wanted the Mississippi Valley as a food and trade center to supply the empire. So, in 1800, he secretly forced Spain to return Louisiana to France. Then in 1802, he sent a large army to the island of Hispaniola (present day Dominican Republic) to suppress the Haitian revolution and establish a French foothold in the Caribbean from which to control Louisiana. He also withdrew the duty free privilege for U.S. merchants at New Orleans.

The United States considered these hostile acts and President Jefferson sent future President, James Monroe, to Paris to assist Robert Livingston, minister to France. Their objective was to achieve one of four possible outcomes:

• purchase Florida and New Orleans,

• purchase New Orleans,

• purchase land on the east bank of the Mississippi for an American port,

• or acquire perpetual rights of navigation and deposit.

About this time Jefferson also read the just published book, Voyages from Montreal, by Canadian Sir Alexander Mackenzie. This aroused his concern regarding the strategic intentions of the British for the Pacific Northwest portion of the continent. So, even while negotiations with France were in question, Jefferson began planning for an expedition across Louisiana Territory to the Pacific.

He envisioned an official expedition designed to achieve political, scientific, and commercial goals. He hoped to discover a water passage through the continent and stake a claim by the United States for the western part of the continent. These two actions, successful negotiations with the French and the expedition to the Pacific, would soon achieve tremendous results for the young republic and establish Jefferson as a most respected and far-sighted President.

Meanwhile, Napoleon’s army ran into trouble in Hispaniola losing thousands of soldiers, mainly to yellow fever, and he soon realized that his dream of a North American empire was not possible. Facing war with Great Britain, he could not spare troops to defend Louisiana. He also needed funds to support his military ventures in Europe.

Accordingly, in April 1803, Napoleon suddenly offered to sell all the Louisiana Territory to the United States. The American envoys quickly agreed and negotiated a price of $15 million dollars.

LOUISANA PURCHASE AND LEWIS & CLARK EXPEDITION

This amazing agreement doubled the country in size, opened a huge tract of land to settlement, and assured the free navigation of the Mississippi River. Although the Constitution did not specifically empower the federal government to acquire new territory by treaty, Jefferson concluded that the practical benefits to the nation far outweighed the possible violation of the Constitution. The Senate concurred, and quickly ratified the purchase on 20 October 1803.

Exploring The New Lands

In early 1804, Jefferson officially commissioned Captain Meriwether Lewis, his young presidential aide, to lead an exploration of the American West and the Pacific Northwest. Lewis, in turn, recruited his army friend, William Clark, as co-commander and the historic Lewis and Clark Expedition was underway.

Lewis and Clark began their exploration in May of 1804, leaving from St. Louis, and did not return until September of 1806, more than two years later. By this time many feared they had been lost. Their expedition across the rugged, uncharted continent covered about 8,000 miles, mainly following the Missouri and Columbia rivers and their tributaries and extended all the way to the Pacific. One of their early camps, in June of 1804, was at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers in present day Kansas City. They explored the surrounding area for three days before continuing up the Missouri River.

Zebulon Pike led another expedition to explore the West in 1806. He traveled across the country, rather than along the rivers. His route took him directly across Kansas and his report of the trip indicated that the Great Plains were largely uninhabitable. Later Major Stephen Long undertook an expedition that explored part of Kansas in 1819 and 1820 and confirmed Pike’s conclusion concerning the habitability of the Great Plains. Of course, both were very wrong.

Populating The New Lands

Neither Pike’s nor Long’s report seemed to concern settlers, as they began to pour across the Mississippi River into Missouri immediately after the purchase. St. Louis quickly became a significant city and settlements developed all along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Missouri became a Territory in 1812 and gained statehood as a slave state in 1821 after the passing of the Missouri Compromise, which also admitted Maine as a free state.

In western Missouri the cities of Independence, Westport and Kansas City were all established in the early 1800’s and grew rapidly spurred by expanding trade with Mexico. By the early 1820’s, the Santa Fe Trail, extending from Kansas City to Santa Fe, had become a regular and significant trade route. The trail crossed Kansas diagonally from northeast to southwest and was heavily used until 1880 when the railroad reached Santa Fe.

Settlers soon began to move south from Westport and Independence and settled all along the Missouri side of the Kansas-Missouri border. Present day Missouri border counties of Clay, Cass and Bates were all established between 1820 and 1850. During this period Indian tribes from east of the Mississippi were being resettled in the lands west of Missouri (present day Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma) so it was illegal to settle there.

Military Road - Ft. Leavenworth – Ft. Scott – Ft. Gibson

In the 1820’s, the United States began building a series of forts along the western border of Missouri. Placed just inside Indian Territory in the present-day states of Kansas and Oklahoma, they were designed to protect trade routes to Mexico and the west coast from Indian raids AND to keep settlers out of Indian Territory. The first of these, Fort Gibson, near present day Tulsa, and Fort Leavenworth, just northwest of Kansas City, became the principal forts in the line. Fort Leavenworth, now the oldest military installation west of the Mississippi, still serves as an important military base.

A military road was built between these two forts beginning about 1835 and Fort Scott, situated in Kansas Territory roughly halfway between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Gibson, was added to the line in 1842. The new road crossed the river near Trading Post in present day Linn County, Kansas, which, at the time, was a small Indian trading post. The exact route of the military road changed from time to time but roughly followed present day US 69 Highway as indicated on the accompanying map. It was along this road that all our Kansas ancestors eventually settled.

The original military survey of the Kansas portion of the road ran west of the Missouri state line in what was then Indian Territory. However, by the latter 1850’s the actual road crossed into Missouri in several places to avoid more difficult terrain. The heavy dotted line on the map shows the road in 1857. Note that the portion near the south end of Lykins County, now Miami County, went into Missouri passing through the small town of West Point. The foundations and the cemetery of this now abandoned town are just across the Missouri border east of Jingo, Kansas.

Early Kansas

When Europeans first arrived in present-day Kansas, there were several Indian tribes living there. The Kansa, Osage, Pawnee, and Wichita lived along the rivers of eastern and central Kansas where rainfall and game was plentiful. The nomadic tribes of Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Comanche lived on the High Plains of western Kansas and other parts of the Great Plains. This area received less rainfall, but buffalo were plentiful, and the tall prairie grass grew as high as the belly of a horse.

The Spanish explorer Coronado was probably the first European to enter the area of present-day Kansas during his 1541 expedition from Spanish New Mexico. Then in 1682 de La Salle, a French explorer, traveled from Canada down the Mississippi River claiming all the land drained by the river for France. This large territory, which included present day Kansas, soon became known as Louisiana. For years, the French conducted fur trading operations in the area sending traders, trappers and explorers into the lower Missouri River valley. The area of eastern Kansas, where our ancestors eventually settled, shows many indications of this early French presence through geographical place names. The major river in the area is the Maris des Cygnes, which becomes the Osage when it crosses into Missouri, and the largest town near where our ancestors settled is LaCygne, in northern Linn County. In the mid 1700’s the French military occupied a trading post and fort near present-day Leavenworth, Kansas.

Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the subsequent explorations by Pike and Long, United States leaders came to believe that much of the Kansas region was unsuited for white settlement. Needing somewhere to relocate the Indian population from the eastern and Great Lakes states, Congress passed legislation in 1830 establishing a large resettlement area west of the Mississippi River. This area, called Indian Territory, included eastern Kansas. By 1840 the U.S. government relocated more than 11,000 Indians to the Kansas area.

Tribes relocated to eastern Kansas included the Shawnee, Iowa, Potawatomie, Ottawa, Wyandot and Miami. Missionaries followed this Indian migration to work among the tribes and establish schools and missions throughout the area. One of the more famous missions was the Shawnee Methodist Mission in present day Fairway, Kansas, near Overland Park. Today, many city and county names in eastern Kansas bear the names of these relocated Indian tribes.

Kansas 1854 – A United States Territory

Almost before the ink was dry on the Indian relocation agreements, the government was forced to begin renegotiation to provide for settlers moving west. By the mid 1850’s almost all of the Indian lands in Kansas had been reacquired by the government and the tribes again relocated south to the Oklahoma portion of Indian Territory. However, settlement remained illegal in Kansas until the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by Congress in 1854. This act created separate Kansas and Nebraska territories out of the former Indian Territory and allowed territorial inhabitants to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery in the territory. This latter stipulation repealed part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that had prohibited slavery in territories north of latitude 36°30’ (border between Kentucky and Tennessee and southern border of Missouri) except for the state of Missouri.

KANSAS TERRITORY INCLUDED PART OF COLORADO UNTIL 1861 KANSAS STATEHOOD

Senator Stephan Douglas of Illinois, a friend and neighbor of our GG Grandfather John Whitlock, sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Douglas, and his supporters, hoped that opening this portion of Indian Territory would encourage a northern route for the proposed transcontinental railroad rather than a southern route. Instead, the bill resulted in proslavery and antislavery factions immediately rushing to Kansas to gain political control of the new territory.

Bleeding Kansas 1854-1865 – The Difficulties of Becoming a State

The Kansas-Nebraska Act resulted in a struggle between citizens from southern states wanting to extend slavery into the new territory and those from northern states determined to stop the spread of slavery. The resulting chaos and violence during this period were called the Border War and the territory soon became known as Bleeding Kansas.

Proslavery and antislavery forces began to establish rival communities in the territory. Lawrence and Topeka became the leading antislavery centers and Leavenworth and Atchison were the main proslavery centers. Of course, not all new settlers came to Kansas because of the struggle over slavery. Many came from the east largely because of the promise of low cost, or free, farmland.

However, the political fight resulted in much turmoil and violence in Kansas Territory between 1855 and 1859. Several elections were held in which fraud and intimidation was rampant. Proslavery forces won the first election, but those results were soon overturned in a second election won by free-soil voters. When neither election gained federal approval, the ensuing stalemate resulted in violence and armed conflict.

Proslavery raids resulted in threats, killings, lootings and burnings all across eastern Kansas. John Brown and his sons retaliated by killing five proslavery supporters near Osawatomie in Miami County. This, and subsequent acts by Brown, made him a national antislavery figure. Raids and skirmishes continued throughout eastern Kansas until finally intervention by federal troops in September of 1856 brought some relief.

The violence continued, however, with attacks, beatings, and occasional killings, usually with no reason except the opposing views on slavery. Miami, Linn and Bourbon Counties along the Kansas – Missouri border all experienced frequent raids by both sides in the argument. The situation finally culminated with the Maris des Cygnes Massacre in May of 1858.

On that day about twenty-five men, led by Charles Hamilton, a former proslavery resident of the area, crossed into Kansas from Missouri and began rounding up antislavery men in the Trading Post area of Linn County. Eventually eleven men were captured, all unarmed and most past neighbors of Hamilton. The men were taken to a ravine northeast of Trading Post, lined up and shot. Five of the men were killed. The news of the massacre soon became headlines all over the nation arousing much indignation and concern. John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem on the murder, Le Marais du Cygne, which appeared in the September 1858 Atlantic Monthly and forever memorialized the event.

Although the trouble did not cease following this tragic event, it was a turning point in the fight over the matter of slavery in Kansas. Finally, in October of 1859, voters overwhelmingly approved a new state constitution that prohibited slavery. Kansas was admitted to the Union as the 34th state on 29 January 1861. Three months later, in April of 1861, the Civil War began.

Kansas troops served in the Union Army on the plains and saw action in Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Indian Territory as well as further east. However, there were no large battles within the state. The largest occurring in October 1864, was the Battle of Mine Creek, just south of Pleasanton, Kansas in Linn County, as Union forces caught a retreating Confederate force under General Sterling Price following his defeat at Westport near Kansas City.

The other significant event that occurred in Kansas during the Civil War was Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence. Confederate guerrillas based in Missouri and led by William Quantrill, attacked Lawrence without warning on 21 August 1863. The dawn raid destroyed most of the city’s businesses and killed 150 people, most of them civilians. Later that same year Quantrill’s gang, disguised in Union uniforms, raided Baxter Springs, and ambushed Union forces inflicting heavy casualties.

Jayhawks – The Origin of The Name

The word jayhawking was used in Miami, Linn and Bourbon Counties during the Border War. I’ve been jayhawking meant that the person had been raiding and plundering the enemy. The word became more generally known during the Civil War when Col. Jennison of the 7th Kansas, used the word Jayhawkers to describe himself and his soldiers. From Jennison’s regiment, the name was passed to all Kansas soldiers and finally was applied to the residents of Kansas. The University of Kansas, located in Lawrence, later chose the fictional Jayhawk bird" as its school symbol.

Peace and Prosperity in Kansas 1865 – 1890

The decades following the Civil War were boom years for the settlement of Kansas. Between 1860 and 1890 the population of the state increased from about 100,000 to 1.4 million. It was in this era that most of our ancestors arrived in Miami County, Kansas.

• Paternal GGG Grandmother Amanda Weaver Vermillion was the first of our direct ancestors to settle in Kansas arriving from Missouri between 1850 and 1855. Kansas census data indicates that she and her children were living with her brother in Valley Township, Linn County, Kansas, in 1855.

• Following his parents’ death, George Shrake, paternal G Grandfather, arrived in 1867 as a young orphan boy. He initially lived with his Uncle Greene Shrake near Trading Post in Linn County.

• Aaron and Mary Jane Jones Lee, paternal GG Grandparents, arrived from Kentucky in 1869 and settled one mile east and ¾ mile north of New Lancaster in Miami County.

• Paternal GGG Grandparents John and Catherine Unknown Johnston moved from Pennsylvania and settled in Sugar Creek Township, Miami County near Jingo prior to 1870.

• Paternal GG Grandparents John and Elizabeth Johnston Richards, were living in Bates County, Missouri, near Butler in the early 1860’s. In 1870 GG Grandmother Richards brought her young family to Miami County to live with her parents following her husband’s untimely death.

• John W and Mary Davis Lindsey, paternal GGG Grandparents, and John T and Sarah Vermillion Lindsey, paternal GG Grandparents, were living near Butler, Missouri, until 1873 when they moved to Miami County and purchased land in Sugar Creek Township one mile north of Jingo on the east side of Jingo Road.

• Edward and Eliza Wilsey Hamilton, maternal GG Grandparents, left Michigan and arrived in Miami County prior to 1880, settling two miles west of Jingo.

• Maternal G Grandfather Henry Kasiah arrived in Miami County around 1880. Following his marriage to Sarah Hamilton in 1884 they lived in Kansas City, Kansas, and St. Louis, returning to Miami County about 1900 and eventually moving to a farm two miles north and ½ mile west of Jingo.

• Jeremiah and Mary Ella Whitlock Nichols, maternal G Grandparents, moved their family from Illinois to Elk County, Kansas, in 1885 and then on to Miami County in 1890, settling in Miami Township two miles north of Jingo on the west side of Jingo Road.

__________

Sources:

Barry, Louise. The Fort Leavenworth-Fort Gibson Military Road and the Founding of Fort Scott. 1837 Military Road Survey Map. Kansas Historical Quarterly. Topeka: 1942. <www.kancoll.org/khq/1942_2_barry.htm>. Used with permission of the Kansas State Historical Society.

Cutler, William G. History of the State of Kansas. Chicago: A T Andreas, 1883.

Family Records, Images and Notes. Sarah Nichols Lindsey, Ethel Shrake Lindsey.

History of Morgan County, Illinois. Chicago: Donnelley, Lloyd & Co., 1878

Jayhawk Logo. A federally registered trademark used with permission of the University of Kansas.

Kansas Territory Map. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/image:kansasterriotry.PNG>.

Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark Map. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc.

Maris des Cygnes Massacre Image. PD-US. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marais_des_Cygnes_massacre>.

Mitchell, William A. Linn County Kansas, A History. Kansas City: 1928.

New Morgan County Family History. Taylor Publishing, 1977.

Reflections and Memories. Marvin and Steven Lindsey.

The United Stated in 1800. Courtesy of the Early American Library,

<http://www.earlyamericanimages.com>.

United States Census Data. <http://www.ancestry.com>.

Area Map – Key to Referenced Sites

SE MIAMI COUNTY KANSAS – A PLACE TO STAY

As mentioned in the previous chapter, our ancestors arrived in Kansas during the latter half of the 1800’s. Eventually, between 1855 and 1900, all our G Grandparents (Lindsey, Shrake, Nichols and Kasiah), four of our eight GG Grandparents (Lindsey, Richards, Lee and Hamilton) and three of our sixteen GGG Grandparents (Lindsey, Vermillion and Johnston) settled in southeastern Miami or northeastern Linn County, Kansas within a few miles of one another. Our four G Grandparents lived on adjacent 80-acre farms in Miami Township just north and west of Jingo. With only horse and wagon transportation, it is no wonder that their children and grandchildren stayed close to home when they chose a mate. Many descendants of these early families remain in the area today, but it is unlikely that, after more than 150 years, any of our direct descendants will ever choose to make this area home again.

Following the Civil War, eastern Kansas became a very attractive destination for new settlers. It was well known across the nation from publicity surrounding the battle for statehood and since the area had only opened to settlement in 1854, the land was still largely virgin territory. Settlers found fertile soil with sufficient moisture for crops and readily available timber for building material and fuel (at least in the eastern half of the state). The roads were poor but better than many other available settlement areas since the Leavenworth - Fort Scott military road passed nearby. In addition, the area was only about 60 miles south of the thriving communities of Westport, Kansas City and Independence, Missouri, where the westward trade routes originated.

All this attracted financiers and railroads to the area. Railheads, essential to farmers for shipment of grain, were established at nearby Fontana and LaCygne, Kansas, in 1869 and in Drexel and Merwin, Missouri, in 1890. Coal was also plentiful in the region with significant mining in the Hume, Missouri, area, providing another source of fuel and economic growth for the area. These are among the reasons our ancestors chose to make this area their home. For the most part, they were not the first settlers, and we don’t believe any of them were original