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Part 8: Prehistory and History: First Arrivals; A Shawnee and a Speculator; Vote Fraud In Oxford Township
Introduction
North America, of course, had been occupied long before these first records of land transfer. The best evidence at present is that it was originally occupied by people around 11,000 years ago. There are a few controversial archeological digs that put the date thousands of years earlier.
Almost simultaneous with the arrival of people, several species of large animals, including horses, disappeared. It seems likely that people exterminated them. It is conceivable that the disappearance of these animals may have had enormous consequences on human history.
In writing this article I used three sources:
I highly recommend each of the two books. As far as that goes, it is also interesting to search through records written in the 19th century about land in which you are interested.
I am not a historian and I limited my research to these sources, so take everything with a very large grain of salt. Each book presents the particular viewpoint and opinion of one author. If this article piques your interest, then it will have been of value. If I had the time, I would try to find out which Native Americans occupied Johnson County before the Shawnees got it as a reservation (Cutler believes it was the Kaws) and who preceded them. How far back can we trace history?
Why Native Americans Were Conquered By Europeans
Guns, Germs, and Steel was recently published and can be found in most bookstores [if you have a Johnson County Library Card and PIN, click here, then go to the bottom of that page to reserve it and have it delivered to the nearest library]. In it Jared Diamond presents the reasons he believes that some societies, such as those in Eurasia, became powerful and were able to conquer other societies, such as the Native American societies. Applied to the recent past, it explains why the Europeans were able to force the Shawnees into one treaty, then take away the lands in that treaty, move them to a reservation on Kansas, and then take those lands away.
I have included passages of Diamond's book that seemed particularly relevant. The book itself includes tremendous amounts of evidence to back up the theory he presents. To cut to the chase, here, in simplified form, are the reasons he believes some societies prevailed. The first three he calls "ultimate factors":
Diamond further states:
"Throughout the Americas, diseases introduced with Europeans spread from tribe to tribe far in advance of the Europeans themselves, killing an estimated 95% of the pre-Columbian Native American population. The most populous and highly organized societies of North America, the Mississippian chiefdoms, disappeared in that way between 1492 and the late 1600's, even before Europeans themselves made their first settlement on the Mississippi River."
The toll of these diseases continued right up to the 1800's. Their effect on the Shawnees living on Johnson County reservation is noted in Cutler's History:
"In 1830 some members of the tribe on their way from Ohio to this reservation, were exposed, in St. Louis, to the smallpox. Upon arriving at the village located near the site of the present Glenwood depot, they halted and infected the portion of the tribe living there. The disease broke out with great virulence, most of the Indians in the village died, the others fled to other localities."
I found Diamond's book convincing, but I am not a historian or evolutionary biologist. What I particularly liked is that he presented a view of history as a scientific theory.
My definition of a scientific theory is that it is an explanation of a set of observations that can be proven wrong - by finding observations that contradict the theory. If an explanation cannot possibly be proven wrong, it is not a scientific theory. Of course, this means that no scientific theory can ever be proven "true". A really good scientific theory raises new questions which can be answered through measurable observations never done before and correctly predicts the results of those observations.
Johnson County In The 1800's
William G. Cutler published History of the State of Kansas in 1886. It gives a wonderful perspective on what it was like in Johnson County from the mid-1800's to Cutler's day. The perspective includes his own prejudices, of course.
His history also includes a short biographical paragraph on each of many Johnson County residents. If you are interested in geneology and believe some of your ancestors may have lived in Johnson County, this could be a useful primary source [as it turns out, I found someone who might be an ancestor, though I never suspected I had any such connections].
Before reading the book and some other material, I was completely unaware of Johnson County's past. Hence, I was surprised to find that virtually all of Johnson County was Shawnee reservation in the mid-1800's and that they had been moved here from the east. Johnson County itself was created in 1854 and was named after the Reverand Thomas Johnson, who founded the Mission in Westport.
I had also been unaware that while Kansas was abolitionist at the beginning of the civil war, most of the (few) white settlers in Johnson County sided with the South in support of slavery. An interesting sidelight on history is Oxford Township's attempt to change the makeup of the Kansas legislature to pro-slavery. Here is Cutler's description of the fraud:
"Perhaps nothing more clearly shows the purpose of the Slavery Propagandists, and their utter and wanton disregard of the principles of right and liberty, than the records of early elections in a small precinct named Oxford, in Johnson County, near the Missouri line, containing eleven houses. October 5, 1857, an election was held for Councilmen, Senators and Representative in the Legislature. On the 19th of the month, Governor Robert J. Walker issued a proclamation rejecting the whole return from Oxford precinct. This return was a manuscript fifty feet long, containing 1,628 names, mostly of imaginary voters. On the 20th a Democratic meeting was held at LeCompton, of which Major G. D. Hand, of Johnson County, was secretary. The meeting passed a long series of resolutions severely condemning the Governor for his actions in this matter. Had the return been admitted it would have changed the party character of the Legislature, transferring from the Free-state to the Pro-slavery side three Councilmen and eight Representatives. On the 21st of December, 1857, an election was held on the LeCompton Constitution. Oxford precinct again distinguished itself by casting 1,214 illegal votes. Shawnee at this election cast 729 illegal votes. At this election, W. J. Sheraff, A. A. Cox, H. W. Jones and J. B. Wiley were chosen Representatives in the Legislature from Johnson County. On January 4, 1858, an election was held for the election of officers under the LeCompton Constitution. Oxford precinct now showed a marked improvement over both of its other attempts, casting only 696 illegal votes. On the 29th of the same month in which this last election was held, a census of Oxford was taken in accordance with an act of the Legislature, which census showed that the precinct contained but forty-two voters. At the three elections, above mentioned, the total vote cast in the precinct was: October 5th and 6th, 1,628 votes; December 21st, 1,266 votes; January 4, 1858, 738 votes. We may certainly say with truth that in each and all of these efforts a zeal worthy of a better cause was shown. "
Lay Of The Land, 1886
Cutler offers in his Introduction what I found to be a nicely written piece on the land of Johnson County in 1886:
"JOHNSON County is located in the eastern part of the State. It is bounded on the north by Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties, on the east by Missouri, on the south by Miami, and on the west by Douglas County. It is twenty-one miles from north to south and twenty-four from east to west, containing 475 square miles, or 304,000 acres. At the first organization of the county, in 1855, the Kansas river constituted its entire northern boundary, but in 1859 the present boundary was established."
"The surface of the county is generally undulating. About ten per cent is bottom land, ninety per cent, upland. The bottom lands are from one-half mile to two miles in width. The central and southwestern are the highest portions, the streams having their sources there and flowing thence toward the north, east and south."
"The soil is from one foot to six feet in depth, is very productive and adapted especially to winter wheat, corn, oats, potatoes and wild and tame grasses."
"The timber belts along the streams average one-half mile in width, and comprise sixteen per cent. of the surface. The principal varieties that grow are ash, hackberry, hickory, oak, sycamore and walnut."
"The streams are not large, but sufficiently numerous. The Kansas river runs along the west two-thirds of the northern boundary, and receives as tributaries, Cedar, Clear, Captain's, Kill, Mill, and Turkey creeks. Blue and Indian creeks run eastward, and two forks of Bull Creek run south. There are numerous springs, and good well water is obtained at an average depth of twenty-five feet."
"There is considerable limestone and some sandstone in the county, the former being extensively used in building, and a tough variety of the former is now being sawed into flagging stone, window sills, etc. There is also excellent brick clay."
"The first white hunter to behold the soil of Kansas, is believed to have been Jacob Pursley, who in 1802 crossed the eastern part of the present State to New Mexico. Other adventurous spirits followed and soon quite a trade was established between Santa Fe, N. M., and Booneville, Mo., the latter place being then the frontier town of the West. In the course of time Independence, Mo., secured the trade, and became for a time the starting point for all westward bound expeditions of whatever kind. The trade grew to such an extent that about the year 1825 the Government employed Maj. Sibley to establish a wagon road from the Missouri line to Santa Fe. This road ran through Johnson County about four miles south of Olathe, and crossed the Missouri line near the present location of Little Santa Fe, Mo."
Today, as you stand on the future Mill Creek Grande, you look up a rise across a field of corn stalks. There is a wind break of trees along 119th and along the eastern border. A small church stands to the west and a subdivision of large lot houses to the east.
Title Abstract: Mill Creek Grande 1858 to 1998
In December, 1859, Betsy Carter, a member of the United Tribe of Shawnee Indians, was granted 200 acres in Olathe, 40 acres of which would later become most of the north half of Mill Creek Grande. Also in December, 1859, the United States granted David C. Boggs a patent on 40 acres that would become the south half of Mill Creek Grande and is, today, being prepared for construction of a subdivision.
Boggs actually obtained deed to the land in June of 1858 and by April, 1859, the land had exchanged hands 3 times. One cannot help but wonder whether this was an example of land speculation and whether any of these sales was part of a larger pattern. In his History, Cutler describes how Native Americans were being swindled out of land starting just after the Civil War, but Boggs' case appears to be different - the land was part of a previous grant to a man in the military, according to the land records:
"Warrant No. 100810 for 40 acres issued in favor of Richard Crammer private - in Captain Newells Company New Jersey Militia War 1812. has been returned to the General Land Office.."
I was unable to track down any further detail on the transaction or the people involved, although I did find a geneological site for the Ransone Family on the Internet that went back to the early 1800's in New Jersey and had a reference to a Richard Crammer and a Captain Crammer:
"2. Ella Ransone, b. ca. 1835, m. Captain Crammer.
If the son was named after the father and if the private mentioned in the land records advanced to Captain, this could be the person originally granted the patent to the south half of Mill Creek Grande. I have not yet received a response from the Ransone family, whom I e-mailed.
In the first sale of this land where the price is listed, which occured in 1859, the land sold for $5.00 per acre. In 1998 it sold for $9,500 per acre. That corresponds to an increase of 5.6% per year compounded annually.
To see the entire list of deeds and patents for Mill Creek Grande from 1859 to 1998, click here. That web page will also provide links to transcripts of the certification done in 1886 of these patents, which I found interesting because of their references to the treaties with the Native Americans. Some of the milestones in the history of land sales are: