History

“Jumping Off”

The reader need not be told that John Bull never leaves home without encumbering himself with the greatest possible load of luggage. Our companions were no exception to the rule. They had a wagon drawn by six mules and crammed with provisions for six months, besides ammunition enough for a regiment; spare rifles and fowling-pieces, ropes and harness; personal baggage, and a miscellaneous assortment of articles, which produced infinite embarrassment on the journey. They had also decorated their persons with telescopes and portable compasses, and carried English double-barreled rifles of sixteen to the pound caliber, slung to their saddles in … Read more

Fort Leavenworth

On the next morning we rode to Fort Leavenworth. Colonel, now General, Kearny, to whom I had had the honor of an introduction when at St. Louis, was just arrived, and received us at his headquarters with the high-bred courtesy habitual to him. Fort Leavenworth is in fact no fort, being without defensive works, except two block-houses. No rumors of war had as yet disturbed its tranquillity. In the square grassy area, surrounded by barracks and the quarters of the officers, the men were passing and repassing, or lounging among the trees; although not many weeks afterward it presented a … Read more

Breaking The Ice

Both Shaw and myself were tolerably inured to the vicissitudes of traveling. We had experienced them under various forms, and a birch canoe was as familiar to us as a steamboat. The restlessness, the love of wilds and hatred of cities, natural perhaps in early years to every unperverted son of Adam, was not our only motive for undertaking the present journey. My companion hoped to shake off the effects of a disorder that had impaired a constitution originally hardy and robust; and I was anxious to pursue some inquiries relative to the character and usages of the remote Indian … Read more

The Frontier

Last spring, 1846, was a busy season in the City of St. Louis. Not only were emigrants from every part of the country preparing for the journey to Oregon and California, but an unusual number of traders were making ready their wagons and outfits for Santa Fe. Many of the emigrants, especially of those bound for California, were persons of wealth and standing. The hotels were crowded, and the gunsmiths and saddlers were kept constantly at work in providing arms and equipments for the different parties of travelers. Almost every day steamboats were leaving the levee and passing up the … Read more

Brief History of Malheur County Oregon

For fifty years the tide of civilization has been rolling westward overland towards the Pacific. Between British Columbia and Mexico one will cross at least a dozen trails running east and west, reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and over which, like trunk lines of railway now, have rolled a mighty emigration. One of these trails led to Oregon. Formerly Oregon meant the Willamette valley, and as for many years the weary pilgrim plodded along with his head and hopes fixed hitherward, he many times passed without notice, locations as mach or core desirable than his Mecca. But as … Read more

Early Residents of Dassel Minnesota

Andrew Linquist James B. Lewis Louis A. Nelson Parker Simons Horace P. Breed Samuel A. Bunting Jonas J. Rudberg George D. Breed Louis Rudberg John Osborn John Rudberg J. H. McKenney Chas. J. Atwater Luther W. Leighton W. L. Van Eman Douglas Martin Robert Hunter Seth Nichols Charles A. Morris James H. Morris E. A. Hinds James Wilson Daniel Methven P. F. Spath F. M. Jenks Henry Clay Jeff Carville Ray F. Case H. F. Arnes L. A. Whittemore Jos. A. Goding J. G. Sjoquist J. S. Hough Wm. Wallace John K. Wallace Jos. E. Foster F. M. Boyer O. … Read more

First and Second Churches in Marblehead Massachusetts

The first church in Marblehead was built in 1649. “From the earliest records of this town, it appears that as early as 1648, when ‘the Planta­tion,’ as it was called, contained forty-four families, there was preaching among them by Mr. Walton.” “Mr. Walton continued to officiate as a public teacher, though without ordination, about twenty years, till he was removed by death, in August or September, 1668, but a few weeks before the commencement of Mr. Cleever’s labors.’’ May 24, 1684. The brethren at Marblehead, finding a great incon­veniency in going to Salem, with the unanimous concurrence of the con­gregation, … Read more

Post Civil War Times at Dragoon Creek

The settlers along Dragoon creek received their mail at the post office of Wilmington until the fall of 1869, when a new mail route was established from Burlingame, running up Dragoon creek, to Alma, the county seat of Wabaunsee county, a distance of about thirty-eight miles. A post office was located on the northeast quarter of section 28, township 14 south, range 13 east. The Post-office Department at Washington, D. C, requested the settlers to designate a name for the post office and nominate a postmaster. At a called meeting of the settlers the name New Lexington was selected for … Read more

Emigration to Kansas

I kept in correspondence with Thompson Blair, and in one of his letters he minutely described the trail from Leavenworth to the settlement where he and his brother Willard were located, and I determined to join them at my first opportunity. After earning a little more than one hundred dollars above expenses, I left my home in Iowa for Kansas, on the morning of September 1, 1857. The nearest railroad station was Dyersville, distant about thirty-five miles west from Dubuque, so father hitched up his team and took me and my trunk some ten miles from home to a point … Read more

Gold Digger’s, Indians, and the Santa Fe Trail

In 1858 and 1859, during the period of the Pike’s Peak gold excitement, large numbers of gold hunters passed over the trail for the new diggings. Some of these were driving good teams and wagons, some were on horseback, others had small push carts, and some even wheelbarrows, loaded with all their earthly possessions tied in a small roll. During one day in 1859 three hundred and twenty-five vehicles by actual count crossed at the ford on Elm creek, near the old mail station. At the height of the gold excitement it was not unusual thing for five hundred vehicles … Read more

Early Vital Records of Dragoon Creek

Early births in our settlement were Samuel M., son of Isaiah and Nancy J. Harris, born August 11, 1858; Frank L., son of Jehu and Mary A. Hodgson; Mary E., daughter of Samuel and Dency E. Woods: Lincoln, son of Allen and Joanna Hodgson. Early marriages as I remember them were Edward B. Murrell and Mary J. Harris, married by Allen Hodgson, justice of the peace, January 26, 1860; Burgess Vanness and Eliza Spencer; Ephraim (?) Jellison and Eliza Bailey. After the rejection of the Lecompton constitution, as previously mentioned, the legislature of 1859 provided for the framing of another … Read more

Dragoon Creek During the Civil War

As a result of the admission of Kansas as a free state and the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, seven of the southern states seceded and organized an army in rebellion against the United States government. April 15, 1861, President Lincoln made the first call for soldiers to put down the rebellion, and for the war which followed Kansas furnished more troops according to her population than any other state in the Union. Dragoon creek settlement furnished a large proportion. All the able-bodied men were in the volunteer service, the militia against Price and his … Read more

Settlers at Dragoon Creek after 1865

Among the families coming into the Dragoon creek settlement after the spring of 1865 may be mentioned Jeremiah Fields and wife Betsey, with their two married sons and son-in-law: Joseph Fields and family of six persons; John L. Fields and family of five persons; James M. Johnson and family of four persons; they all came from Ohio in September, 1865. Caleb J. Harvey, formerly of Ohio, but later a teacher at the Quaker Shawnee Indian mission, came in December, 1865. Squire Cantrill, unmarried, came from Ohio in 1867; he later married a Miss Burroughs. Upon her death he married her … Read more

History of Dragoon Creek Cemeteries

In 1860 Jehu Hodgson and wife had a tract of land surveyed and platted for cemetery purposes, James B. Ingersoll and assistants doing the work. This tract as finally platted consisted of eighty burial lots, each twelve by forty feet in size, ample for eight graves. The tract was deeded in trust to the County Commissioners of Wabaunsee County, and their successors in office, for a free cemetery. Eight conditions were named; the first provided that the cemetery should be under the care of a superintendent who might be appointed by the county commissioners, or by friends of the deceased. … Read more

New York as a Social Center

The women who, both at home and abroad, are regarded as the leaders of American society in these last days of the century are or have been, almost without exception, at some time in their career identified with New York. Though there is no city in the United States that fills the central position which Paris holds in reference to all France, and which London occupies, at least socially, in England, the geographical position of New York, to a nation whose progressive spirit inspires it with a keen interest in the doings of the entire world, has given it a … Read more

Idaho Mines

Some of the first discovered veins, already mentioned in a previous chapter, retained their productiveness. The Gold Hill mine was sold in 1869, since which time to 1884 it produced $2,800,000. It was not until 1878 that the Banner district, north of Quartzburg, in Boise County, began to be really developed. The mines of War Eagle Mountain, in Owyhee County, continued productive. Oro Fino, the first discovery, yielded $2,756,128 in six years, without any considerable cost to its owners. The Elmore, later called the Bannack, in one month in 1868 yielded $500,000, the ore being crushed in a twenty-stamp mill. … Read more

The Battle of White Bird Canon

The Wallowa Valley is fifteen or twenty miles east of the Grande Ronde Valley in eastern Oregon, and had long been a bone of contention between the whites and a band of non-treaty Nez Percé Indians under Chief Joseph. The whites claimed the right of settlement under the United States Land Acts, and while no determined effort on their part was made to take up homestead, preemption or other claims, yet they kept it as a grazing ground for their cattle, while the Indians denied them the right to such privileges, claiming to themselves the entire control of the valley … Read more

Montana Constitutional Convention Members 1889

The following persons were members of the constitutional convention: William A. Clark, Walter M. Bickford, J. F. Brazelton, Peter Breen, E. U Aiken, Simon R. Buford, William Mason Bullard, Walter A. Burleigh, Alex. F. Burns, Andrew J. Bums, Edward Burns, James Edward Cardwell, B. Piatt Carpenter, Milton Canby, William A. Chessman, Timothy E. Collins, Charles E. Conrad, Walter Cooper, Thomas F. Courtney, Arthur J. Craven, W. W. Dixon, D. M. Durfee, William Dyer. William T. Field, George O. Eaton, J. E. Gaylord, Paris Gibson, Warren C. Gillette, O. F. Goddard, Fielding L. Graves, R. E. Hammond, Charles S. Hartman, Henri … Read more

Montana Territorial Appointments 1864-1888

Territorial Secretaries: Henry P. Torsey, commissioned June 22, 1864 John Coburn, March 3, 1865 Thomas F. Meagher, Aug. 4, 1865 James Tufts. March 28, 1867 Wiley S. Scribner, April 20, 1869 A. H. Sanders, July 19, 1870 James R. Callaway, Jan. 27, 1871 James H. Mills, May 10, 1877 Isaac D. McCutcheon, 1881 John S. Tooker, April 21, 1884 William B. Webb, 1886-8 Louis A. Walker, 1889 Territorial Treasurers John J. Hull, 1864-6; John S. Rockfellow, 1866-7; William G. Barkley, 1867-71; Richard O. Hickman, 1871-5; Daniel H. Weston, 1875-87; W. G. Prewitt, 1887-9. Territorial Auditors John S. Lott, 1864-6 John … Read more

Montana Justices 1886-1889

Montana Justices 1886-1889 1886 Decius C. Wade, Chief Justices of Montana J. H. McLeary, Associate W. G. Galbraith, Associate T. C. Bach, Associate 1887 N. W. McConnell, Chief Justices of Montana J. H. McLeary, Associate W. G. Galbraith, Associate T. C. Bach, Associate 1888 Stephen De Wolfe, Chief Justices of Montana Moses J. Liddell, Associate T. C. Bach Associate 1889 Henry N. Blake was Chief Justice of Montana Bach, Associate De Wolfe, Associate Liddell, Associate W. J. Galbraith was born in Freeport, Pennsylvania, in 1837, and educated at Dartmouth College, N. H., graduating in 1857. He studied law at Pittsburg, … Read more