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 The Wakefield Colony ^'"^ 
 
 A Contribution to The 
 
 Local History of Kansas 
 
 By WILLIAM J. CHAPMAN, Ph. D. 
 
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 (Univ. HaUe, 1904.) 
 
 1907 
 
 PUBLISHED AND PRINTED BY THE TIMES 
 
 Clay Center, Kansas 
 

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 \0 THE OLD SETTLERS of Wakefield and the surrounding 
 country this narrative is dedicated in heartfelt appreciation 
 of the interest they have taken in the author's efforts to 
 recover the history of pioneer days. 
 
THE MATERIAL contained in the following narrative was, for the most 
 part, collected during the Autumn and Winter of 1905. An article on 
 the English Settlement at Victoria, ElUs Co., from the pen of Mr. R. T. 
 Batchelor, which appeared in the Wakefield Advertiser January 21, 1898, first 
 suggested the idea of a history of the beginnings of Wakefield. In the year 
 1899 the writer corresponded with several of the older residents of the town 
 but was not successful in getting them to record the story of pioneer days. 
 In consequence, the plan was laid aside for three or four years. The history 
 in its present form does not claim to be exhaustive, although every care has 
 been taken to render it accurate. 
 
 Hosmer HaU, Hartford, Conn., Oct. 26, 1906. 
 
The Wakefield Colony. 
 
 The English Settlement at Wake- 
 field, Clay Co., was one of four Euro- 
 pean colonies that came out to Kansas 
 nearly forty years ago. The following 
 pages recount the story of its begin- 
 nings. Doubtless fuller information 
 might be gleaned by one who had time 
 to devote to the task. The writer has 
 had access to the following sources of 
 
 information: 
 
 I. 
 
 WRITTEN OR PRINTED SOURCES. 
 
 1. Addresses delivered by Mr. J. B. 
 Quinby, Dr. Burt and Rev. Richard 
 Wake, at the Old Settlers' Reunion 
 Oct. 10, 1894. The two first-named 
 addresses appeared in the Wakefield 
 Advertiser Oct. 25, 1894. Rev. Mr. 
 Wake's address was published in the 
 same paper Nov. 8, 1894. 
 
 2. The Wakefield Herald, Vol. 1, 
 No. 3, April, 1871. (By the courtesy 
 of Mrs. Wm. Sparrowhawk.) 
 
 3. Miscellaneous printed matter, 
 including a copy of the "Star of Em- 
 pire" (now unfortunately lost.) 
 
 4. Three maps belonging to Mr. J. 
 P. Marshall of the Wakefield Co-ope- 
 rative Association. The earhest of 
 these is a map of the region north and 
 northwest of Junction City. It shows 
 the area of settlement shortly before 
 the coming of the Enghsh colony. 
 The other two are maps of Wakefield 
 and vicinity. The earUer of the two 
 was made in the year 1874 and has been 
 invaluable in determining the location 
 of the settlers, and in furnishing clues 
 in the search for oral information. 
 
 5. The Plat-Book Maps. These are 
 contained in a subscription work en- 
 titled an "Historical Plat-Book of Clay 
 County," published by the Bird and 
 Mickle Map Co., Chicago, 111., 1881. 
 
 For the use of much of the printed 
 material my especial thanks is due to 
 Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Lumb of Wake- 
 field. 
 
 Official Records: It is a matter of 
 great regret that none of the Official 
 Records of the Wakefield Colony have 
 been available. In a letter addressed 
 to the writer and dated Salt Lake City, 
 Feb. 1, 1899, the Rev. Richard Wake 
 says: 
 
 "The records of the 'Company' were 
 retained by Mr. Maitland when he re- 
 moved to Washington and T presume 
 were destroyed in the great Seattle 
 fire which consumed his property a 
 number of years ago." 
 II. 
 ORAL INFORMATION. 
 
 Information has been gathered from 
 all the old settlers with whom I have 
 had the opportunity of conversing, but 
 especially from the following persons: 
 Messrs. William Guy, John Chapman, 
 R. T. Batchelor, J. P. Marshall, H. S. 
 Walter, T. C. Roscoe, E. R. Hawes, E. 
 Eustace, T. Beldham, H. W. Budden; 
 Mrs. WiUiam Sparrowhawk, and Mr. 
 and Mrs. W. E. Lumb. For additional 
 particulars I am indebted to Messrs. 
 WiUiam Seal and A. R. Goffin, and also 
 to the Rev. R. O. Mackintosh, rector 
 of St. George's church, for his kindness 
 in furnishing information concerning 
 the English settlers in Union township. 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 I. 
 
 Republican Township Before the Coming of 
 the English. 
 
 The earliest American settlers in this 
 neighborhood came in the years 1856 
 and iS57. In April of the former year 
 Moses, William and Jeremiah Young- 
 kens and John King, from Somerset, 
 Co., Pennsylvania, settled on Timber 
 Creek, in what is now Grant township. 
 (Mr. King died at his home near Wake- 
 field May 22, 1906, aged 72 years.) 
 The followinf" year (1857) was marked 
 by the com':i;; of the first New Eng- 
 land settlers, when Messrs. J. B. Quin- 
 by and W. E. Payne settled in S. E. 
 Republican. Persons belonging to the 
 Pennsylvania colony say that the pop- 
 ulation of Somerset Co. was of mixed 
 origin containing both Scotch -Irish 
 and Pennsylvania Dutch elements. 
 They believe the date of settlement to 
 go back to the close of the colonial 
 period. The New England settlers 
 were colonial Americans of Enghsh 
 descent. In the Autumn of 1867 came 
 another group of settlers. Lorenzo 
 Gates, John Gill and Wilham MaU, lo- 
 cated higher up the river where the 
 names of GatesviUe and Mall Creek 
 commemorate them. The Mall fam- 
 ily were natives of Baden, in South 
 Germany. In 1858 the New England 
 colony was reinforced by the coming 
 of Rev. William Todd, formerly a mis- 
 sionary at Madura, in Southern India. 
 The first actual settler on the site of 
 Wakefield was James Gilbert who 
 came in 1858. 
 
 "In the Summer of 1858 James Gil- 
 bert and family took up their residence 
 there (i. e. the 80 south of Wakefield), 
 he filing on it. * * They remained 
 about two years and during that time 
 built a larger and better house a few 
 rods north of the present site of Wake- 
 field, which was occupied by them in 
 1859, making them the first settlers 
 actually living in what is now Wake- 
 
 field. In the Sisring of 1860 he very 
 suddenly left the country and his fam- 
 ily soon followed." (Address by J. B. 
 Quinby Esq., Oct. 10, 1894.) 
 
 The settlers, few as they were, were 
 much depleted by the troublous times 
 of the Civil War. 
 
 "In 1860, there were eleven famiUes 
 in the Quinby neighborhood. In 1863 
 J. B. Quinby and Ed Kei'by were the 
 only men left there. John Butler, 
 Lorenzo Gates and Jacob Mall were 
 the only ones left on Mall Creek." 
 
 Henry Avery Esq., of this city, rec- 
 ollects having been on picket duty at 
 Fort Riley when the news of the burn- 
 ing of Lawrence (Aug. 21, 1863) came 
 to the frontier settlements. 
 
 Dr. Eurt, who came to Kansas in the 
 Sirring of 1868, has thus described the 
 area of settlement: 
 
 "In coming from Bachelor, now 
 Milford, the first house after leaving 
 Mr. Hopkins' this side of the river, 
 was Mr. Quinby's log cabin, then Mr. 
 Todd's stone house, then an old-fash- 
 ioned log cabin where Mr. Pajme's 
 house now stands, then a log house in 
 what is now Wakefield. * * The 
 next house to the north was, I think, 
 Harvey Ramsey's, and the next ones 
 were in the Avery district, which 
 seemed well on toward Clay Centre. 
 * * There was a cabin at the river 
 where Mr. Manual now fives, then oc- 
 cupied by Mr. North, of pleasant 
 memories — we used to hunt wild tur- 
 keys from there. To the west Mr. 
 Kerby's, also of logs, was, I think, the 
 only house between us and Chapman 
 Creek — we had to go half way to Junc- 
 tion City before finding a house." 
 
 "The first public improvement I 
 heard of after I came was to finish 
 school house No. 8, so it could be used 
 as a meeting house." 
 
 "In January, 1870, there were no 
 houses between Clay Centre and Fancy 
 Creek, between Clay Centre and Chap- 
 man's Creek, nor between the head of 
 Chapman's Creek and Wakefield." 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 II. 
 The Origin of the Kansas Land and Emigration 
 
 Company. 
 
 The Rev. Richard Wake, to Y^'hom 
 the first impulse toward the formF.tion 
 of an Enghsh colony in this neighbor- 
 hood was due, came to the United 
 States in 1854, settling at first near New 
 York. In 1859 he removed to Illinois. 
 Soon after the close of the Civil War 
 he began to advocate through the 
 Enghsh press the advantages of colo- 
 nization on the western prairies Two 
 parties of Enghshmen were in this way 
 settled in the vicinity of Lincoln, Neb. 
 Mr. Wake subsequently returned to 
 Ilhnois and, as he tells us, did not an- 
 ticipate further experience in coloni- 
 zation. 
 
 At least three separate factors may 
 be traced in the formation of the 
 "Company" that colonized Wakefield. 
 Mr. R. H. Drew was a land agent in 
 London, and Mr. Wake was also widely 
 known in Great Britain through his 
 advocacy of the prairie states as a field 
 for immigration. At the same time, 
 Mr. John Wormald, of Wakefield, 
 Yorkshire, was anticipating the forma- 
 tion of an Enghsh settlement in north- 
 ern Missouri. By what chain of cir- 
 cumstances these gentlemen were led 
 to merge their respective purposes in 
 a single plan, the writer confesses 
 himself uninformed. Those of their 
 number who were in England seem to 
 have reahzed the advisabihty of en- 
 hsting the services of Mr. Wake, and, 
 with this in view, to have opened cor- 
 respondence with him. The corres- 
 pondence at first took the form of a 
 request for information concerning 
 Government Lands in Kansas and 
 Nebraska. How the first inquiries de- 
 veloped into a colonial enterprise may 
 best be told in IVIr. Wake's own words: 
 "Later a scheme was proposed for 
 the purchase of a large tract of land 
 tor co-operative farming and asking 
 
 my advice on the merits of the scheme 
 generally. I discouraged the co-op- 
 erative features of the plan, but was 
 in favor of associative immigration on 
 a plan which would give to each settler 
 individual ownership of land and ab- 
 solute control of the products of his 
 own labor, and proposed the plan 
 adopted later of the purchase of a large 
 tract of land by a few who should sell 
 it again in quantities to suit, at a slight 
 advance over cost, to first settlers, de- 
 pending upon later sales for profit on 
 the investment. Late in June, 1S69, I 
 received a cablegram saying, 'Select 
 100,000 acres in Kansas for colony,' and 
 on the 8th of July I arrived in Topeka. 
 * * I came west to Junction City 
 with a letter of introduction to Capt. 
 Pierce. July 12th we took a team to 
 view the land lying between the Re- 
 publican river and Chapman Creek, 
 taking the divide west of Junction City 
 and following it to the head of Chap- 
 man Creek. We saw but one house 
 between the two points. 1869 was a 
 fruitful year. Grass in the ravines 
 would meet above the backs of the 
 horses, and on the high-land was knee 
 high or more. Reaching on our re- 
 turn the present site of Wakefield, I 
 thought, as I looked down the vaUey, 
 I had never seen a more beautiful 
 landscape. 
 
 "Seciiring the withdrawal of the land 
 from the market, I reported to Lon- 
 don, and in August Messrs. Wormald, 
 Maitland,Batchelor and others arrived, 
 Messrs. Wormald and Maitland being 
 empowered to purchase the land if it 
 met their approval." 
 
 The purchase of the land was ratified 
 by Messrs. Wormald and Maitland and 
 steps were immediately taken to or- 
 ganize the colony. The land that was 
 purchased is thus described by Mr. 
 Quinby: 
 
 "Their tract of land consisted of the 
 odd sections in the vicinity of Wake- 
 field, and held by the Union Pacific 
 Railroad, from whom they purchased 
 it." On the same subject Mr. Wake 
 says : "Contracts were made wi^li t.he 
 Kansas Railroad Co. and the National 
 Land Co. for 32,000 acres at a cost of 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 .$102,000, one-fifth being paid down at 
 the time of purchase." 
 
 The following list of the pioneers of 
 Wakefield was fui-nished by Mr. R. T. 
 Batchelor : 
 
 The pioneer party consisting of 
 Messrs. Wormald, Maitlandand others 
 sailed from England on the Steamship 
 Main (J^orth German Lloyd) on Aug. 
 3, 1869, and arrived in New York the 
 13th, reaching Jmiction City about the 
 21st of the same month. The party 
 included : 
 
 Mr. John Wormald of Wakefield, 
 Yorkshire. 
 
 Mr. Alexander Maitland, of London, 
 afterwards ' "r^retary of the Kansas 
 Land & Env; Aition Co., and one of 
 the director, of the colony. 
 
 Mr. Spence, the agricultural director 
 of the proposed co-operative colonv. 
 
 Mr. 11. T. Batchelor, Mrs. R. T. 
 Batchelor and two children, of Fare- 
 hara, Hampshire. 
 
 Mr. Martin. 
 
 Mr. Stone (afterwards removed to 
 Topeka.) 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbons, the first proprietor 
 of the "eighty" adjoining Wakefield 
 on the S. W. known as the Allaway 
 farm. 
 
 August the 25th, 1869, the founders 
 of the colony were incorporated as the 
 Kansas Land & Emigration Co., and 
 on the day following the townsite was 
 formally laid out. A cairn of stones 
 was raised on the slope of Cedar Bluff 
 and in it was deposited a parchment 
 certifying the founding of the town 
 and naming the parties therein con- 
 cerned. The cairn stood near the 
 present site of Dr. Hewitt's residence. 
 
 The Plat-Book makes the following 
 statement about the beginnings of 
 Wakefield: 
 
 "The town was laid out by the Kan- 
 sas Land and Emigration Company, 
 consisting of Richard Wake, John 
 Wormald, Alexander Maitland, Col. 
 Loomis, C. Wake, R. H. Drew and J. 
 D. Bennett. The four first named of 
 these selected the townsite of Wake- 
 field Aug. 26, 1869. Col. Loomis named 
 the town "Wakefield" partly in honor 
 of the President of the Company and 
 partly because Wakefield, England, 
 was the former home of John Worm- 
 aid, the Secretary of the Company." 
 
 Col. Loomis, who named the town, 
 was president of the National Land 
 Co., and hke the Rev. Richard Wake, 
 a citizen of Ilhnois. His connection 
 with Wakefield was due to the fact 
 that the EngUsh colony acquired a 
 part of their hand from the National 
 Land Co. 
 
 On Oct. 6th the first large party of 
 colonists arrived, and on the 12th of 
 the same month the stockholders of 
 the Company met for permanent or- 
 ganization in the Hale House at Junc- 
 tion City. 
 
 The new corporation henceforth ap- 
 pears as "The Kansas Land and Emi- 
 gration Company, incorporated Aug. 
 25,1869." The capital for the enterprise 
 was furnished by Mr. John Wormald 
 who invested a fortune of $72,000 in 
 the Wakefield colony. 
 
 We pass now from the formation of 
 the company to the story of the set- 
 tlers whom its inducements brought 
 out to the prairies of Kansas. 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 III. 
 The English Settlers. 
 
 The Kansas Land and Emigration 
 Company aimed from the start to 
 stimulate the immigration of EngUsh 
 settlers. Popular tradition charges 
 the advertising material employed 
 with being highly colored and not 
 wanting in dehberate misstatement. 
 In his address Mr. Quinby puts the 
 matter more dispassionately : 
 
 "To colonize their lands, their pros- 
 pectuses and advertisements were 
 circulated wholly in England, and the 
 colonists were mostly Enghsh trades- 
 people from the cities, a poor class to 
 settle up a new country." (Address 
 Oct. 10, 1894.) 
 
 Yet in all fairness to the new comers 
 it must be said that the hardships of 
 pioneer life were such as neither 
 townsman nor landsman were pre- 
 pared to meet. In many instances it 
 was precisely the experienced Enghsh 
 farmer who proved least adapted to 
 the new conditions. He had as much 
 to learn and more to imlearn than the 
 townspeople had. 
 
 Some of the earhest English settlers 
 came out independently of the Com- 
 pany's plans. Foremost among these 
 were Messrs. P. Gilhes and H. S. Wal- 
 ter. Mr. Walter has kindly furnished 
 the following account of his coming 
 to Kansas: 
 
 "I met Mr. GilHes (who had been in 
 Junction about two weeks) the day I 
 arrived in Jvmction City, Aug. 11, 1869, 
 and the next day took up land in Re- 
 publican Township, on section 28, ad- 
 joining Dr. Burt." 
 
 Mr. Walter also gives some addi- 
 tional particulars concerning the pio- 
 neers of the Kansas Land and Emi- 
 gration Company. He says: 
 
 "The pioneer party who came Aug. 
 21st consisted of R. Wake, J. Worm- 
 aid, Spence, Miller, Maitland, George 
 Gates and a j'omig man named Meek, 
 all of London, England, and also Mr. 
 Loomis, Land Agent, of New York." 
 
 Messrs. Savage and Wooley were 
 
 also in the neighborhood before the 
 coming of the Wakefield colonists. 
 They hved in the same district and 
 owned claims not far from that of Mr. 
 Walter. 
 
 The first large party of settlers came 
 over on the steamship Nebraska, of 
 the Guion Line, saihng from Liverpool 
 on Sept. 15, 1869, and reaching New 
 York on the 29th. The voyage is re- 
 membered as an exceptionally stormy 
 one. The party came west by way of 
 the Great Lakes, visiting Niagara Falls 
 en route, and arrived in Junction City 
 on Oct. 6th. The number of persons, 
 old and young, comprised in the "Ne- 
 braska party" amomited to 77. The 
 following hst of its members was fur- 
 nished me by Messrs. John Chapman 
 and WiUiam Guy: 
 
 Mr. James BiUingham (Warwick- 
 shire.') 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Boyce. 
 
 Mr. John Parington Alsop (was the 
 eldest son of Mr. William Alsop, one 
 of the leaders of a subsequent party.) 
 
 Rev. Joseph Binns. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Binns. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Ison (from Wolver- 
 ham.) 
 
 All of whom came from the West 
 Midlands. 
 
 Mr. John Muston (Lincolnshire.) 
 
 Mr. Christopher Deere, Mr. John 
 Deere (Buckinghamshire.) 
 
 The foregoing were from the East 
 Midlands. 
 
 Mr. William Guy, (Sussex) A native 
 of the parish of Ripe (1833), seven 
 miles from Lewes; proprietor of one 
 of our leading business houses, and 
 my principal informant concerning 
 the early history of Wakefield. 
 
 Mr. Abner Shrives (Sussex.) 
 
 Mr. John Chapman (Somerset), My 
 father was a native of Montacute, in 
 Somerset,where my grandfather (John 
 Chapman Sr.) and great-grandfather 
 (Zacharias Chapman) were quai-ry 
 owners and stone merchants, the 
 quarry (^Ham Hill) being leased of the 
 Duchy of Cornwall. 
 
 Mr. George Taylor (Somerset.) 
 
10 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 Mr. T. P. Pettigrew (Hampshire.) 
 
 Mr. John Spooner and family (Lon- 
 don.) 
 
 The foregoing all came from the 
 south or southwest of England. 
 
 Other members of the party were : 
 
 Mr. H. H. Meade. 
 
 Mr. Edward Moore. 
 
 Mr. Poppleton and family. 
 
 Mr. Johnson. 
 
 Mr. GwjTi. 
 
 Mr. John Cole. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Butcher. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Woodward. 
 
 The party arrived in Junction City 
 on Wednesday , Oct. 6th, and celebi*ated 
 their arrival by holduig a religious and 
 social gathering at the Methodist 
 church, corner of 8th and Jackson, on 
 which occasion the Rev. Joseph Binns 
 was one of the principal speakers. 
 
 During the Winter settlers came 
 singly or by famiUes. Mr. John Pett 
 (from Cambridgeshire) came out as 
 agent for Mr. Docking. He reached 
 Junction City Dec. 6, 1869, and in the 
 following Spring moved out on a farm 
 southwest of Wakefield. Information 
 concerning others who came during 
 the Winter is not now obtainable. 
 
 Not many weeks passed before the 
 English began to feel the hardships of 
 pioneer hfe. My father, who was 
 staying with the Rev. Wilham Todd at 
 Madura, had a severe attack of inflam- 
 matory rheumatism. No one thought 
 he would recover. To add to his dan- 
 ger, his landlady, Mrs. Todd, was at 
 this time afflicted with a felon. Under 
 these circumstances it became neces- 
 sary to move him to another house. 
 He was carried, at the dead of Winter, 
 from the Todd farm to the home of 
 Mr. William Streeter. At the Streeter 
 homestead he lay in an unplastered 
 upper room whose only ceihng was a 
 roof of badly warped native lumber 
 shingles. At night he could see the 
 bhnk of the stars and in stormy 
 weather the snow sifted in on his bed. 
 What this must have been to one suf- 
 fering with rheumatic fever can be but 
 faintly imagined. 
 
 The dry continental climate with it& 
 fitful and \'iolent changes of tempera- 
 ture proved very trying to the Enghsh 
 Settlers. Those who were here during 
 the first winter recall a memorable 
 storm that occurred on the 16th of 
 January, 1870. It was a Sunday morn- 
 ing, and the weather dehghtfuUy mild, 
 when a party of nine started for the 
 Madura School House to attend the 
 preaching service. Messrs, BiUingham 
 and Guy, a runaway midshipman 
 named Broome, and, if my memory 
 serves me, a Mr. Laundy, the first pro- 
 prietor of the Moutelle farm in Union 
 Township, were in the party. While 
 the meeting was in progress the wind 
 veered to the north and blew at the 
 rate of about 60 knots an hour. The 
 temperature fell very rapidly. Mr. 
 Todd told his hearers that he had 
 never seen but one storm as bad, and 
 that no one could drive a team in the 
 face of such a hurricane. But those 
 who had come from Wakefield re- 
 solved to make a dash for the Pioneer 
 House. The distance to be covered 
 was a httle more than two miles. 
 Young Broome was the first to reach 
 the house, but he was so benumed with 
 the cold that he could not open the 
 door. He had to wait in the tempest 
 till others came to his assistance. 
 
 The continual privation of pioneer 
 life was harder to bear than its occa- 
 sional sufferings. In Winter a large 
 part of one's time must be consumed 
 in getting wood and water. To set- 
 tlers on the high prairie this often 
 meant a journey of several miles. 
 Besides all this, there was a serious 
 economic drawback. The coimtry had 
 scarcely recovered from the effects of 
 the Civil War and for many commo- 
 dities one must stiU pay "war time" 
 prices. This had much to do with the 
 apparent failure of the colony during 
 its earlier years. 
 
 The Spring of 1870 was marked by 
 the coming of a second party of colo- 
 nists. They were for the most part 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 11 
 
 from Montgomeryshire, in Wales, or 
 from tlie adjoining English county of 
 Shropshire. The leader of the party 
 was Mr. WilUam Alsop who invested 
 very considerable capital in the settle- 
 ment of Wakefield. The Alsop party 
 sailed from Liverpool in the steamship 
 Colorado (Guion Line) on Wednesday, 
 the 6th of April, 1870. They set out 
 from New York on Tuesday, the 19th, 
 and reached Kansas City on the fol- 
 lowing Saturday. On Monday, the 
 25th, they were met at Jvmction City 
 by the Rev. Richard Wake. 
 
 The following persons were mem- 
 bers of the party. 
 
 Mr. Wilham Alsop and family (Co. 
 Montgomery) Known at Wakefield as 
 Mr. Wilham Alsop of Cain's Creek. 
 
 Mr. Richard Alsop and family (Co. 
 Montgomery.) 
 
 Mr. Edward Jones and family (Co. 
 Montgomery. ) 
 
 Mr. T. C. Roscoe, of Union Town- 
 ship (sec. 22), my principal informant 
 on the history of the Alsop party. 
 
 Mr. S. E. Richards, Proprietor of the 
 Wakefield Cash Store. 
 
 Mr. Wilham Richards, brother of 
 the preceding. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Newell. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Woods. 
 
 Mr. Swinbourne (from Cumberland.) 
 
 Mr. Wilham Dalton (Warwickshire.) 
 
 Mr. Farmer, subsequently a mer- 
 chant in White City. 
 
 Mr. Richard Bird. 
 
 Mr. Bird, brother of the preceding. 
 
 Mr. J. W. Sampson, aftewards re- 
 moved to the western part of the State, 
 probably to Osborne County. 
 
 IVIr. I. W. Thomas (from Cornwall.) 
 
 Mr. A. R. Gofiin, from London, also 
 came out on the Colorado, although 
 he was not a member of the Alsop 
 party. 
 
 A settler by the name of Seimew (or 
 Siemee) came out about the same time 
 as the aforementioned and took a 
 claim in Union Township. 
 
 A smaller party consisting of Mr. 
 James Eustace, Mr. and Mrs. Jardine, 
 Miss Kynaston (an aimt of the Reed 
 brothers), Mr. Alfred Taylor (brother 
 of George Taylor who came out on the 
 Nebraska), Mrs. John Chapman, her 
 two children, Miss Jennie Taylor (with 
 
 Mrs. Chapman as her companion), and 
 a servant girl named Hai-riet, also 
 came out in April, 1870. The writer 
 has the distinction of being one of 
 the two children before-mentioned. 
 This party sailed on the City of 
 Washington, one of the swiftest 
 and best equipped vessels afloat. 
 In New York they stayed at the 
 Astor House and found American 
 travel decidedly expensive. None of 
 them had any notion of what pioneer 
 fife was hke. Of course they took it 
 for granted that America was an El 
 Dorado. 
 
 In April, 1870, Mr. Benjamin Budden, 
 a naturahzed American, came from 
 Ilhnois. He was a native of Eridport, 
 in Dorset, but had hved in America for 
 several years. In May of the same 
 year two brothers named YarroU and 
 a young man named John Brett, from 
 Hastings, in Sussex, came to Wake- 
 field. They hved temporarily in a 
 "dug-out" on the Geoi-ge Taylor farm 
 southwest of Wakefield. Mr. Brett 
 was a brother and Mr. Joseph YarroU 
 the first husband of Mrs. T. C. Roscoe. 
 
 The coming of the Enghsh colony 
 greatly increased the number of voters 
 in Clay County, as the following quo- 
 tation from the Plat-Book will show: 
 
 "The number of votes cast in 1866 
 was 112; in 1867, 155; in 1868, 196; in 
 1869, 232; in 1870, 482; in 1871, 1,003; in 
 1872, 955; in 1873, 1,158. * * The 
 number of votes cast in 1880 was 
 2,672." 
 
 In the year 1870 Kansas suffered from 
 a severe drought. The experience of 
 the settlers seemed in almost every 
 respect to behe the glowing reports 
 that had lured them to the far West. 
 On every side they murmured against 
 the founders of the colony as the Is- 
 raelites of old did against Moses and 
 Aaron. Mr. Wake was especially 
 blamed. They charged him with being 
 the author of their calamities. 
 
 Late in the j^ear 1870 Mr. Alexander 
 Maitland, the Secretary of the Kansas 
 Land and Emigration Company, re- 
 
12 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 visited Great Britain and during his 
 absence the man whom he had left in 
 charge of his property pillaged the 
 house and tossed his papers and cor- 
 respondence out of doors. After this 
 high-handed proceeding the culprit 
 fled to Missouri. 
 About the same time Mr. James 
 
 Eustace also returned to England for 
 the piH-pose of organizing another 
 party of settlers. But in spite of the 
 most strenuous efforts on the part of 
 the Kansas Land and Emigration Com- 
 pany, the tide of immigration was 
 checked. 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 13 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Organization of the Colony. 
 
 The Wakefield Colony was remark- 
 able for the number and variety of its 
 "organization." Tlie most important 
 of these were, The Kansas Land and 
 Emigration Company; The Wakefield 
 Bridge and Ferry Company; The Ag- 
 ricultural and Literary Society; and 
 the Wakefield General Market Com- 
 pany. The Settlement also boasted a 
 newspaper — The Wakefield Herald, 
 printed at the Union OflSice m Jxmction 
 City. 
 
 Much difference of opinion exists as 
 to the original name of the Wakefield 
 paper. My father thinks that it was 
 called "The Star of Empire." Others 
 are equally positive that from the be- 
 ginning it was called "The Wakefield 
 Herald." A pubhcation called "The 
 Star of Empire" certainly did exist, a 
 copy having formerly been in my pos- 
 session, but it may have been simply 
 a prospectus printed and circulated in 
 England. It was printed in newspaper 
 form and bore the well-known motto 
 from Bishop Berkeley, "Westward the 
 star of empire takes its way." As re- 
 gards the societies or corporations 
 previously enumerated, the following 
 items of information may be foiuid in 
 the Wakefield Herald, Vol. 1, No. 3, 
 April, 1871 : 
 
 (1) The Kansas Land and Emigra- 
 tion Company, incorporated Aug. 25, 
 1869. General Office, Wakefield, Kan. ; 
 Branch Office, Cor. 10th & Washington 
 Strs., Junction City, Kan. Directors: 
 John Wormald, Alexander Maitland, 
 Richard Wake, Wakefield; Charles 
 Wake Jr., Junction City; J. W. Ben- 
 nett, John Brown, Morris, lU.; Harry 
 D'Oyle, London, England; R. H. 
 Drew, Sydenham, England. Officers: 
 R.Wake, Pres.; A. Maitland, Sec'y; 
 J. Wormald, Treas. Agents : Charles 
 Wake, Junction City; Robert H. Drew, 
 2 Gresham Bldgs., Basinghall St., Lon- 
 don, E. C; John Miller, 13 GodUman 
 St., London, England. 
 
 (2) The Wakefield Ferry and Bridge 
 Co., incorporated May 30, 1870. Pres., 
 James Euatace; Ferryman, William 
 Guy. 
 
 (3) The Agricultural and Literary 
 Society. This organization was one 
 of the most characteristic features of 
 the colony and its proceedings occupy 
 considerable space in the columns of 
 the Wakefield Herald. From the issue 
 previously cited we take the following 
 announcement : 
 
 "Agricultural and Literary Society: 
 Every Wednesday evening, 7 o'clock, 
 at the Hall. Pres., J. E. Burton; V. 
 Pres., R. Wake; Sec'y, T. P. Pettigrew; 
 Treas., J. Eustace; Exec. Com., Alex- 
 ander Maitland, W. Eustace, C. In- 
 gram, J. B. Quinby, R. N. Cowdery." 
 
 Of the recorded proceedings of the 
 Society we note the following: 
 
 Wakefield, Jan. 25, 1871. Poorly at- 
 tended, general conversation. 
 
 Feb. 1st. Dairy Farming, Rev. R. 
 Wake. 
 
 Feb. 8th. Tree Culture, Mr. Gray. 
 
 Feb. 14th. Economy on the Farm, 
 Mr. T. North. 
 
 Feb. 22nd. A discussion was held 
 on the question of building a bridge 
 on the Repubhcan River at Clay Cen- 
 tre. 
 
 "Messrs. J. W. Burton and others 
 spoke against the proposition to issue 
 coimty bonds to the amount of 325,000 
 to build the bridge." 
 
 "It was also stated that a bridge will 
 be built at Wakefield for one -half the 
 sum, which would be a greater con- 
 venience to a large part of the coxintrj'' 
 than one at Clay Centre." 
 
 Mar. 1st. "Committee on Pubhc 
 Roads recommended the opening of 
 roads on various section lines in the 
 vicinity of Wakefield." 
 
 Mar. 8th. J. B. Quinby, Esq., gave 
 an address on "Opening a Farm." In 
 accordance with a vote of the society 
 this address was printed in full in the 
 April Number of the Wakefield Her- 
 ald. (T. P. Pettigrew, Secretary.) 
 
 (5) The Wakefield General Market 
 
14 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 Co, In the Spring of 1871 the estab- 
 hshment of a Monthly Live Stock 
 Market was proposed by Messrs. Wil- 
 liam Alsop of Cain's Creek and John 
 Chapman of Wakefield. The Wake- 
 field Herald thus announces the for- 
 mation of the new Company: 
 
 "We are pleased to be able to an- 
 nounce the opening of a Monthly 
 Market at Wakefield for the sale of 
 cattle and all kinds of Uve stock." 
 
 Organization: Pres.,Wilham Alsop; 
 Sec'y, E.. Wake; Treas., J. B. Quinby. 
 Directors: W. Alsop, J. Chapman, E. 
 Jones, J. B. Quinby, C. Fulhngton, R. 
 Wake and A. Maitland. 
 
 At the time of the publication of the 
 April issue of the Wakefield Herald 
 the Market Square was being enclosed 
 with a board fence. 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 While the various organizations per- 
 taining to the Wakefield Colony are 
 under consideration it will be fitting 
 to give some accoiuit of the churches. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 imder the pastorate of Rev. R. Wake, 
 met in the Public HaU at Wakefield. 
 
 The Building was situated near the 
 northwest corner of the old Market 
 Square on the west side. The first 
 Sunday School Supt. was Mr. James 
 Dodson, who also held the office of 
 County Supt. of PubUc Instruction. 
 He still resides at Wakefield as its old- 
 est inhabitant. 
 
 The Union Church, with Rev. Wil- 
 liam Todd and Rev. Edward Moore as 
 co-pastors, worshipped in School 
 House No. 8 at Madiu-a. The Madura 
 church was afterward affihated with 
 the Congregational body, and when 
 the new building was erected in Wake- 
 field the name of "Madura Congrega- 
 tional Church" was retained. 
 
 The Episcopal church was organized 
 some years later, its first vestry meet- 
 ing having been held on Oct. 14, 1874. 
 St. John's Church was subsequently 
 erected on the northeast corner of the 
 half section belonging to Mr. Charles 
 Ingram. The church building was 
 dedicated in the Spring of 1876. 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 15 
 
 V. 
 Colonists from the Upper Thames Valley. 
 
 In spite of the severe check which 
 the stream of immigration received 
 in the year 1870, it subsequently un- 
 derwent a partial revival. The Wake- 
 field Herald thus notices the coming 
 of the next large party of settlers : 
 
 "We learn that James Eustace Esq., 
 will leave England for Wakeiield on 
 the 5th of April, accompanied by a 
 large party of English agriculturahsts, 
 whom he has prevailed upon to re- 
 move to the broad prairies of Kansas. 
 Golden opportunities await them 
 here." (Wakefield Herald, April, 
 1871.) 
 
 It was, perhaps, the business rela- 
 tions that existed between some of the 
 Oxfordshire colonists and George 
 Grand Esq., the founder of the Enghsh 
 colony at Victoria, Blhs Co., that led 
 Noble L. Prentis to place the begin- 
 nings of Wakefield in the year 1871. 
 In his history of Kansas he says : 
 
 "In 1871 the Kansas Pacific sold to a 
 Swedish colony, in Saline county, 22,000 
 acres; to an Enghsh colony, in Clay 
 coimty, 32,000 acres, and to a Welch 
 colony, in Riley county, 19,000 acres. 
 In 1873 George Grant, of England, 
 purchased of the Kansas Pacific Com- 
 pany 5u,000 acres in the eastern por- 
 tion of Elhs county, with the design 
 of colonizing Enghsh people of 
 means." (History of Kansas, p. 146.) 
 So far as the date is concerned, the 
 historian is evidently mistaken, for at 
 the time spoken of the Enghsh colony 
 in Clay county had been in existence 
 very nearly two years. The efforts 
 made in 1871 to retrieve the fortunes 
 of the Wakefield colony brought it 
 more prominently before the pubUc 
 eye, and may, not vmnaturaUy, have 
 created the impression that it origi- 
 nated at that time. 
 
 The first party belonging to the new 
 stream of immigration we shall term 
 the "Sparrowhawk party," Mr. Robert 
 Sparrowhawk being one of its leading 
 members. The Wakefield Herald, as 
 
 we have seen, states that it was con- 
 ducted by James Eustace, Esq., and 
 fixes the date of its departure from 
 England, on April 5, 1871. Mr. Eus- 
 tace, it will be remembered, came out 
 on the "City of Washington" in 1870 
 and had in the meantime revisited 
 England. 
 
 The names of the following persons 
 belonging to the Sparrowhawk party 
 were furnished by Mr. E. R. Hawes 
 and Mrs. Wilham Sparrowhawk: 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. R. Sparrowhawk and 
 family, from Aston under Wychwood, 
 Oxfordshire. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs, Tilbury and family: 
 Mr. Tilbury returned to England and 
 was afterwards a curate at Exeter. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Shirley and family. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. B. R. Hawes; settled 
 on the Geo. Taylor farm; are now Uv- 
 ing in Wakefield. Mr. Hawes is one 
 of my informants concerning the party 
 of which he was a member. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Cox and family. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. James Loader and 
 family. 
 
 Mr. Bettridge. 
 
 Mr. Herman Walter. 
 
 Mr. Wilham Thurlow. 
 
 Mr. Richard Jones (brother of Mrs. 
 James Loader.) 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Arkell and family. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Parsons. 
 
 Mrs. Wight man (Uved just east of 
 Tom Keller's place.) 
 
 Most of these came from Oxford- 
 shire and adjoining counties, the 
 streams of which flow into the Thames, 
 and may, therefore, be described as 
 settlers from the Upper Thames valley. 
 
 Among others who came from Ox- 
 fordshire about this time were the 
 CUnches. Their names were Harold, 
 Charles and Duncan Chnch. The two 
 first named were sons, the third a 
 nephew, of a wealthy brewer in Wit- 
 ney on the Windrush. Witney, so the 
 local saying affirms, is famed for four 
 B's— "beauty, bread, beer and blank- 
 ets." During their Btay at Wakefield, 
 
16 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 Messrs. Charles and Harold Clinch en- 
 gaged in sheep and cattle raising. 
 Their father supplied them with ample 
 capital for the enterprise — not less 
 than 40 or 50 thousand dollars, it is 
 said. In addition, Duncan Clinch re- 
 ceived an allowance of $75.00 a month 
 from his father. Prank Harris, an 
 experienced shepherd, was commis- 
 sioned to bring out some 65 or 70 pure 
 blooded sheep of the best Enghsh 
 breeds. The CUnches also imported 
 several head of choice cattle and two 
 Clydesdale stallions that subsequently 
 took the premium at the Topeka State 
 Fair. Although a claim was taken up 
 in their interest, by one of the Buckles 
 on sec. 24 in Gill township, they made 
 their headquarters nearer Wakefield. 
 They kept "bachelors' hall" at Chill 
 Creek, on what is now known as the 
 Haynes' farm, then owned by Mr. 
 Lewinton Howse. But in spite of 
 abundant means, the young men did 
 not adapt themselves to pioneer life. 
 Their domestic arrangements and 
 housekeeping are said to have resem- 
 bled those of primitive man, and many 
 anecdotes are told of their father's 
 disg-ust when he visited Wakefield. 
 
 Among other settlers from Oxford- 
 shire were Mr. H. B. Jones, afterwards 
 a druggist in Industry, Kan. Mr. 
 Thomas Irons is said to have come 
 from the same coimty. Messrs. Cum- 
 ber and (Charles) Harris, who held 
 claims on the south halves of sections 
 26 and 22, respectively, in Gill town- 
 ship, were also Oxfordshire people. 
 The Buckle family, to whom reference 
 has already been made, were from 
 Cawbury in Wychwood (Oxfordshire), 
 having hved on a farm that had been 
 cleared under the disafforesting act. 
 The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Buckle, three sons (Ted, Will and 
 Charley) and two or three daughters, 
 one of whom married the Rev. J. H. 
 Young, an Episcopal clergyman. The 
 Buckle homestead was the south J^ 
 of the N. E. }i of sec. 26 in GiU town- 
 
 ship. The Rev. J. H. Y''oung lived on 
 the south half, on the farm now owned 
 by my brother, Mr. Herbert Chapman. 
 
 In the meantime matters went from 
 bad to worse at Chill Creek. The 
 Clinch brothers ran up bills of from 
 ^100.00 to ii?150.00 yearly for tobacco 
 and similar luxuries, and the ranch 
 proved anything but a success. At 
 length Mr. Clinch Sr., decided to come 
 out and see things for himself. He 
 was thoroughly incensed at his sons' 
 shpshod ways and after satisfying him- 
 self that the enterprise would not suc- 
 ceed, he sold out and took his sons and 
 nephew back to England. The flock 
 of sheep were disposed of to George 
 Grant, Esq., then engaged in founding 
 the English colony at Victoria, ElUs 
 Co. While Mr. Clinch was in Wake- 
 field a cattle show was held, at which 
 he presided as judge. In this capacity 
 he awarded the prize of a silver cup 
 (for the best bull shown) to the Giff ord 
 brothers of Hillside. Mr. Clinch had 
 already sold out and returned to Eng- 
 land when Mr. Edwin Eustace visited 
 Ellis Co. in the Spring of 1874. 
 
 The events just related may be said 
 to close the first chapter in the history 
 of Wakefield. The colony rapidly lost 
 its associative character. The monthly 
 market was early discontinued, and, 
 one by one, the remaining corpora- 
 tions, including the Kansas Land and 
 Emigration Company, passed out of 
 existence. 
 
 Several later settlers came from 
 Shropshire, following in the course of 
 the Alsop party. Messrs. Benjamin 
 Adams, William Kynaston and Ralph 
 Fowles sailed from Liverpool on April 
 1, 1871, and landed in New York after 
 a nine days' voyage. The two former 
 settled in Union township. Mrs. 
 Adams came out in the following 
 August. A number of colonists came 
 to the vicinity of Wakefield under the 
 influence of the Kansas Land and Emi- 
 gration Company but without con- 
 necting themselves with the Wakefield 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 17 
 
 Colony. The Bundles and Winsors 
 can-ie to Junction City and took up 
 claims in Dickinson County. Tliose 
 of the Wakefield colonists, the time of 
 
 whose coming is not definitely ascer- 
 tained, will be noticed at greater length 
 in the following account of the distri- 
 bution and location of the Settlers. 
 
 VI. 
 The Distribution of the Early Settlers. 
 
 (Remark: The following notation 
 will be employed to define the situa- 
 tion of farms belonging to the settlers 
 mentioned. Fractional expressions 
 will be used to denote the subdi\'l3ions 
 both of sections and quarter-sections; 
 thus, S. Yo of N. E. li of sec. 26, is to 
 to be read, the south half of the north- 
 east quarter of section 26.) 
 
 In describing the distribution of the 
 Wakefield colonists the writer will be 
 guided chiefly by the second Marshall 
 map. Many incidents of a descriptive 
 nature, as well as many particulars 
 concerning the settlers themselves, 
 have been furnished by Mr. WiUiam 
 Guy of Wakefield. The Map, to which 
 reference has already been made, was 
 drawn by Mr. J. P. Marshall about the 
 year 1874. The area which it describes 
 is bounded on the east by the hue rvm- 
 ning between sections 4 and 5 (33-32) 
 in RepubUcan towTiship; and:,on the 
 west by the second section Une in 
 Athelstane Township. It includes, 
 therefore, the whole of Township 10, 
 Range 3 east (Gill Township) and parts 
 of the Townships adjoining it on the 
 east and west respectively. The town- 
 site of Wakefield, lying mainly in Sec- 
 tion 5, Township 10, Range 4 east,"oc- 
 cupies the upper right hand comer of 
 the map. 
 (a) THE AMERICAN SETTLERS. 
 Our survey of the district occupied 
 by the American settlers wiU begin 
 with section 8. The proprietors of the 
 northwest quarter of this section were 
 Messrs. Gilbert and Streeter. They 
 were Americans and had taken up 
 
 their claims before the coming of the 
 English colonists. Mr. Ed Southwick, 
 the owner of the S. % of the S. E. }i, 
 was the nephew of the Rev. Wilham 
 Todd of Madura. The occupants of 
 the north half of the section will be 
 mentioned in our account of the En- 
 ghsh settlers. The S. W. }i of Section 
 8 was owned by the State Agricultural 
 College (Organized, 1863; established 
 at Manhattan, 187." ) 
 
 On Section 17 the S. % was owned 
 by Mr. J. B. Quinby and the N. E. i^ 
 by IslT. W. E. Payne (N. %) and Rev. 
 Wm. Todd (S. j/g.) The Todd house 
 is still standing and is a typical repre- 
 sentative of the better class of pioneer 
 dwellings. The deep -set windows, the 
 wood-work of native walnut lumber, 
 the rooms long and low, aU character- 
 ize the dwelling as unlike anything 
 erected since the coming of the rail- 
 road. School district No. 8, and sub- 
 sequently the church organized there, 
 derived their name from the fact of 
 Mr. Todd's having been a missionary 
 at Madura, in India. Mr. J. B. Quinby, 
 who settled in Republican Township 
 in 1857, owned the south half of section 
 17, and, subsequently, also the N. W. 
 1^ of section 20. From him Quinby 
 Creek derives its name. 
 
 The East % of the S. E. }i of Section 
 20 was owned by Dr. Burt who had 
 been an army surgeon in the Civil 
 War. The Dr. and his wife (nee 
 Locke) were both New England set- 
 tlers. In the same neighborhood lived 
 W. P. Gates, who, as a mere lad, had 
 also seen miUtary service. In his ad- 
 
18 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 dress of Get. 10, 1894, Dr. Burt men- 
 tions a settler named French who hke- 
 wise Uved in that vicinity. 
 
 In the district north of Wakefield 
 the Avery family had taken up claims 
 before the coming of the Enghsh col- 
 onists. The first to settle in that 
 vicinity was Mr. Albert Avery. His 
 brother, Mr. Henry Avery, came some 
 time later. They were natives of Or- 
 leans (Jo., Vt., and were of English 
 descent. The following account of 
 the coming of the Averj^ family to 
 this country occurs in the "Avery 
 Family Record, Dedham Branch, 1650- 
 1893": 
 
 "Dr. WilUam Avery: We now take 
 up the record of our earhest ancestors 
 who crossed the Atlantic. He (Dr. 
 W. Avery) in 1650 cast in his lot with 
 the settlers of the town of Dedham, 
 Mass., bringing with him his wife 
 Margaret and three children from the 
 parish of Earkham, county of Berk- 
 shire, England." 
 
 The pioneer settler in Gill township 
 was Mr. Kirby. His claim included 
 the S. y^ of the S. W. I4 of section 13 
 and the N. Y^. of the N. E. % of section 
 24. In the year 1868 his house was the 
 only dwelling in the township. 
 
 With regard to Athelstane township 
 the following information is to be 
 found in the Plat-Book (p. 21) : 
 
 "The first settlers in this township 
 were WiUiam Price and his son Mar- 
 tin, who came Feb. 17, 1860." 
 
 (b) THE ENGLISH SETTLERS. 
 (1) Settlers in Twp. 10, Range 4, East. 
 
 The townsite of Wakefield consisted 
 of 120 acres in the N. W. J4 of section 
 5, and the tv/o "eighties" (E. \i of N. 
 E. ^, sec. 6; and N. J^ of S. W. }i of 
 sec. 5) adjoining it on the west and 
 south respectively. In Sec. 6, the east 
 Yz was owned by Mr. R. T. Batchelor, 
 the west half by Mr. Fitzgibbons, both 
 of whom were members of the pioneer 
 party. When the MarshaU map was 
 drawn the Fitzgibbons homestead was 
 owned by WiUiam Alia way. The west 
 
 J^ of the N. E. ^ adjoining the town- 
 site of Wakefield was owned by Mr. 
 John Chapman. 
 
 An account of my father's family 
 has been given in connection with the 
 hst of those who came out in the 
 steamship Nebraska in 1869. My 
 mother was the second daughter of 
 Mr. WiUiam Hellier of Poundsford 
 (Pitminster) , near Taunton. The Hel- 
 liers had been settled for several gen- 
 erations at Hennock, near Bovey 
 Tracey (Devon) . Mrs. WiUiam HeUier 
 was a daughter of Edmund Rich, Esq., 
 of Cross House, Over-Stowey. The 
 Riches of Stowey, Butcombe, and 
 Bagborough were descended from 
 "Samuel Rich, Esq., Gentleman," 
 (Mural tablet in the parish church, 
 Over-Stowey j, who flourished in the 
 last quarter of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. On the extinction of the elder 
 branch of the family (in 1815) my ma- 
 ternal great-grandfather removed 
 from Butcombe to Over-Stowey. 
 
 The west half of the section was di- 
 vided into four "eighties," lying east 
 and west. The original proprietors 
 were Messrs. Pettigrew (N. ^ of N. 
 W. }x)i Bilhngham (S. Y of same, Geo. 
 Taylor (N. M of S. W. 34'), and John 
 Spooner (S. % of same), aU of whom 
 came out in the steamship Nebraska 
 in 1869. In 1873-4 the Geo. Taylor 
 farm was owned by Mr. E. R. Hawes 
 who came out with the Sparrowhawk 
 party. 
 
 Section 7, lying southwest of Wake- 
 field, was assigned to the Directors of 
 the colony: The N. E. I4 to Mr. John 
 Wormald, the N. W. I4 to Mr. Alex- 
 ander Maitland, the S. W. }i to Rev. 
 Richard Wake, and the S. E. I4 to Mr. 
 R. H. Drew. Of the proprietors men- 
 tioned, Mr. Drew never became an 
 actual settler, although he paid a visit 
 to the colony in the early days and 
 stayed with my father at his farm on 
 section 6. In addition to the quarter 
 section above-mentioned, Mr. Alex. 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 19 
 
 Maitland owned the "eighty" (in T. 10, 
 R. 3 east) adjoining it on the west and 
 also the S. % of the S. W. U of Sec. 5 
 adjoining the townsite of Wakefield. 
 He erected a dweUing house on the 
 first-named eighty and also com- 
 menced to build a stone residence on 
 the farm lying south of the townsite. 
 About the year 1873-4 the Wormald 
 quarter section appears to have 
 changed hands. At some later time, 
 the farm adjoining Wakefield on the 
 south passed into the hands of Mr. 
 Wormald and became known as the 
 Wormald farm. 
 
 The proprietors of Sec. 18 (adjoining 
 Sec. 7 on the south) were Messrs. 
 Skinner, Dodson and Dibben. The N. 
 E. )^ of the section belonged to the 
 State Agricultural College. 
 
 Concerning Mr. Skinner I find the 
 following entry in the "Forty-seventh 
 Annual Session" of the Congregational 
 State Association: 
 
 "Edward Skinner was bom in Old 
 Dalby, Leicestershire, England, Aug. 
 24, 1837. He commenced preaching 
 in England when 18 years of age. 
 Came to America May 14, 1873. Pas- 
 tor of Madura (Wakefield) and Milford 
 churches in Kansas from 1873 to De- 
 cember, 1879. Church was built in 
 Milford during his pastorate, which 
 was the first church in Kansas built 
 without missionary aid. * * Died at 
 his home in Blue Rapids (Kan.^) Jan. 
 8, 1901." (pp. 42-43.) 
 
 Mr. Skinner's homestead was the N. 
 % of the N. W. U of section 18. On 
 the S. W. I4 Mr. A. Gaston appears to 
 have been preceded by a settler named 
 Jacobus. 
 
 On section 19, the proprietors were 
 Messrs. Mark Dodson, Emory White 
 and WiUiam Gaston. All these were 
 of American birth. The Gaston fam- 
 ily were Scotch -Irish Pennsylvanians. 
 The south half of section 20 was owned 
 by the following: Messrs. Walters, 
 Gates, Eustace and Burt. The Walters 
 and Eustace families were EngUsh. 
 The N. E. ^ of section 30 was owned 
 
 by Messrs. Lumb (N. \4,) and Wheel- 
 right (S. k'O They were Yorkshire 
 people. It may deserve mention that 
 Mr. Lumb (now residing in Wakefield) 
 possesses a copy of the "Breeches 
 Bible" (so-called from its curious 
 rendering of Gn. 3:7. Mr. Lumb's 
 Bible was printed in 1599), that has 
 come down from the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth. No entries appear on sec- 
 tions 29 and 31 ; the west H o^ section 
 32 has been mentioned as belonging to 
 the State Agricultural College. The 
 proprietors of the east half of the same 
 section were Messrs. Thurlow and 
 Lawton. The N. % of the N. E. I4 be- 
 longed to Wilham Eustace whose 
 homestead was on section 20. Blr. 
 Robert Sparrowhawk came out with a 
 large party in April, 1871, and settled 
 on the N. E. 14: of so: tion 28. His for- 
 mer home was at A^^ton imder Wych- 
 wood (Oxfordshire.) A curious pass- 
 age in Florence of Worchester's 
 Chronicle shows that this surname is a 
 survival of an Anglo-Saxon proper 
 name current in the upper Thames 
 valley in the days of Edward the Con- 
 fessor. The entry reads: 
 
 "A. D. 1050. Spearhafoc (Sparrow- 
 hawk), abbot of Abingdon, was elected 
 bishop of London, but was ejected by 
 King Edward before consecration." 
 
 The circumstance is remarkable be- 
 cause Anglo-Saxon proper names fell 
 into complete disuse soon after the 
 Conquest. J. T. Tait and H. S. Walt- 
 ers also held claims on section 28. 
 
 (^2) SETTLERS IN TOWNSHIP 10 
 SOUTH, RANGE 3 EAST. 
 We shaU begin our survey of the 
 township with the northeast comer— 
 the point nearest Wakefield. Here, 
 on section 1, the N. E. 1-4 belonged to 
 Mr. T. P. Pettigrew. Forty acres of 
 the S. E. 1-4, adjoining the Spooner 
 farm on the west appear to have be- 
 longed to John Spooner. On section 
 12, there were eight proprietors. The 
 E. 1-2 of the N. E. 1-4, adjoining his 
 
20 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 quarter section in Republican Town- 
 ship belonged to Mr. Alexander Mait- 
 land. In like manner, the E. 1-2 of 
 the S. E. 1-4 belonged to the Rev. 
 Richard Wake. The W. 1-2 of the N. 
 E. 1-4 was the homestead of Mr. Benj. 
 Budden. The east and west halves of 
 the N. W. 1-4 belonged to Messrs. 
 Eustace and Cowdery, respectively. 
 R. N. Cowdery came from the neigh- 
 borhood of Sahsbury, in Wiltshire; 
 Mr. Eustace was from Oxfordshire. 
 The W. 1-2 of the S. E. 1-4 belonged 
 to Dr. Chas. Hewitt; the E. 1-2 of the 
 S. W. 1-4 to Jason Withers; the W. 1-2 
 to Arthur Marshall, a brother of Mr. 
 J. P. Marshall. There were two With- 
 ers brothers, Ralph and Jason. Jason 
 was a son-in-law of Mr. Cowdery. 
 
 On section 13, the S. 1-2 of the S. W. 
 1-4 belonged to Mr. Kirby. The W. 
 1-2 of the N. W. 1-4 was the property 
 of Mr. J. P. Marshall. (This claim was 
 originally purchased by Mr. James 
 Marshall.) Mr. Marshall, to whom we 
 owe the map upon which this account 
 is largely based, was a native of New 
 Alresford, in Hampshire. On section 
 24, the N. W. 1-4 belonged to D. H. 
 Dudy, an American and a veteran of 
 the Civil War. The S. 1-2 of the N. E. 
 1-4 adjoining Mr. Kirby's farm, be- 
 longed to an Enghshman named 
 (Thomas) Goosey. A son of Mr. 
 Goosey's died in Wakefield and was 
 btu'ied on his father's farm. On the 
 S. 1-2 several of the names have been 
 re -written. The entires are: S. E. 
 1-4, E. 1-2 Gaston; W. 1-2, T. White; 
 S. W. 1-4, E. 1-2, (WiUiam) Ware; W. 
 1-2, Buckle. T. K. White was an 
 American; WiUiam Ware, a Devon- 
 shire man. The latter had hved for 
 many years in the United States. On 
 the N. W. 1-4 of Sec. 25 appears the 
 name Blatch, on the corresponding 
 1-4 of Sec. 36, R. Jones. Section 36 
 was school land. 
 
 We shall now resume our survey 
 from the northern boundary of the 
 
 township, beginning with sections 2 
 and 3. On the former section the N. 
 E. 1-4 was owned by Mr. O. R. Swee- 
 zey, an American. His claim was 
 "jumped" by an adventurer named 
 Jack Beatty. Both names appear on 
 the Marshall map. The E. 1-2 of the 
 N. W. 1-4 belonged to Isaiah Jevons, 
 a native of Staffordshire, but many 
 years a resident in America. The V/. 
 1-2 was owned by Mr. Lewin, but oc- 
 cupied by Alfred Yarrow. The S. 1-2 
 was divided into four eighties. The 
 east and west halves of the S. E. 1-4 
 were owned by Messrs. Shrivers and 
 Guy, respectively. Both were from 
 the covmty of Sussex. Mr. William 
 Guy, to whom the writer is more ex- 
 tensively indebted than to any other 
 informant, was a native of Ripe, near 
 Lewes, and came out on the Steamship 
 Nebraska. In the early days of the 
 settlement he hved on his farm on 
 section 2. He is now proprietor of 
 one of the leading business houses in 
 Wakefield. 
 
 The following changes in the owner- 
 ship of the S. W. 1-4 of Sec. 2 took 
 place before the Marshall map was 
 drawn: 
 
 The W. 1-2 was first occupied by 
 Humphrey Hughes, afterwards by a 
 Mr. PhiUips. The E. 1-2 of the quarter 
 section was taken up by John Cole 
 who came out on the Nebraska. It 
 afterwards passed into the hands of 
 Walter Parsons, whose sister married 
 Mr. Phillips, the proprietor of the ad- 
 joining "eighty." Both farms were 
 eventually purchased by B. F. Jevons, 
 son of Isaiah Jevons. 
 
 The N. 1-2 of Sec. 3 was owned by 
 Mr. Charles Ingram, a native of Co. 
 Dorset, England. St. John's Church 
 (Episcopal) was built on the N. E. 
 corner of his estate. Mr. Ingram was 
 a member of the executive committee 
 of the Wakefield Agricultural and Lit- 
 erary Society (see section 4.) He sus- 
 tained serious injuries in trying to 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 21 
 
 rescue some haystacks from a prairie 
 fire, and, shortly afterwards, returned 
 to England and died there. Three 
 ''eighties" on the N. 1-2 of Sec. 10 
 were owned by members of the Tit- 
 comb family, (Mrs. Titcomb and two 
 sons, Mark and Edwin.) They were 
 from London. The S. 1-2 of the N. E. 
 1-4 belonged to John Bulmer. The S. 
 E. 1-4 belonged to Thomas Holt and 
 Richard Cawcutt. In 1873-4 the Holt 
 farm was owned by Greo. Pearson. 
 Both claims were afterw'ards purchased 
 by J. K. Hammond. 
 
 On section 10, the N. W. 1-4 was oc- 
 <!upied by Gilbert Jones, son of a 
 chemist in Sloane Street, Chelsea. 
 The claim was raih-oad land and seems 
 later to have reverted to the Railway 
 Company. Gilbert Jones went back 
 to England, probably about 1874. 
 
 The W. 1-2 of the N. W. 1-4 of Sec. 
 14 was owned by Mr. John Muston, 
 the E. 1-2 of the same quarter by Ed- 
 ward Moore. The latter was associate 
 pastor of the Madura Union Church in 
 the early days. They came out on the 
 Nebraska in 1869. The Moore farm 
 was afterwards purchased by Thomas 
 Waller who came from the Lancashire 
 border, not far from Staleybridge. 
 The proprietor of the E. 1-2 of the N. 
 E. 1-4 of Sec. 14 was James Marshall, 
 a brother of Mr. J. P. Marshall. He 
 married Miss Downey, a sister of Mrs. 
 Alexander Maitland. He subsequently 
 hved in St. Louis for about six years, 
 and then returned to London, Eng- 
 land. The W. 1-2 of the same quarter 
 section was the homestead of Mr. J. 
 P. Marshall. In a letter of recent date 
 (Sept. 31, '08,) he says: 
 
 "My homestead was the W. 1-2 of 
 N. E. 1-4 of Sec. 14, T. 10, R. 3, and 
 my brother James had the E. 1-2 of 
 the same quarter. He also bought the 
 W. 1- ■■ of N. W. 1-4 of 13. When he 
 left I bought both pieces from him." 
 
 Mr. Poppleton and his sons owned 
 claims on the S. 1-2 of the section. 
 
 The W. 1-2 of the S. W. 1-4 belonged 
 to Edward Jones who came out with 
 the Alsop party in 1870. Mr. Jones 
 afterwards purchased the Batchelor 
 farm on Sec. 6, in Republican Town- 
 ship. By far the largest tract of land 
 in Gill Township (Sec. 23, and 1-2 Sec. 
 15) was owned, nominally at least, by 
 parties named South worth. It is 
 probable that they were not actual 
 settlers and that the land eventually 
 reverted to the company. The later 
 proprietoi's of the Southworth section 
 were C. M. Stone and J. M. McDougal. 
 
 On section 22, the E. 1-2 of the N. 
 W. 1-4 was owned by Mr. GiUett. He 
 married a Bliss Eustace. On the S. W. 
 1-4, the W. 1-2 was owned by John 
 Pett who came out in the winter of 
 18G9-70. The E. 1-2 belonged to J. W. 
 Sampson who was a member of the 
 Alsop party. On the S. E. 1-4, the N. 
 1-2 was owned by Joseph Starling, the 
 S. 1-2 by Charles Harris. Mr. Harris 
 was a member of the Oxfordshire col- 
 ony and the neatly painted house 
 which he erected on his claim was a 
 land- mark in the pioneer days. 
 
 The proprietors of the N. W. 1-4 
 of Sec. 28 were Messrs. Poppleton and 
 Exley; the N. E. 1-4, Messrs. Gaston 
 and Buckle. On the S. 1-2 of the sec- 
 tion, the E. 1-2 of the S. W. 1-4 was 
 owned by one of the Oxfordshire set- 
 tlers named Cumber; the W. 1-2 was 
 the property of James Clarke. John 
 Chambers (of Co. Kent, England) 
 owned the E. 1-2 of the S. E. 1-4. On 
 section 28, three eighties were owned 
 by members of the Seal family and one 
 (E. 1-2 of N. E. 1-4) by Thos. Newell. 
 Two "eighties" forming the eastern 
 third of Sec. 21 were owned by Mr. 
 Docking, and the S. 1-2 of section 4 
 belonged to members of the Haden 
 family. The N. E. 1-4 of the same 
 section was the property of Mr. Mou- 
 tree. The W. 1-2 belonged to an 
 American settler named Lake. Con- 
 
22 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 ceming the remaining occupants of 
 the township no definite information 
 has been procured. 
 
 Concerning Mr. R. Hamilton of 
 Athelstane Township (N. 1-2 of N. E. 
 1-4 of Sec. 26) the Plat-Book makes 
 the following statement: 
 
 "One of the foremost men in this 
 township was R. Hamilton, who for- 
 merly hved in Athelstane Ford, in 
 Scotland. When the postofiice was 
 established at his house he named it 
 Athelstane ; and, when the township 
 was formed, it took its name from the 
 postofiice. * * The postofiice was 
 estabhshed in 1873." 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 23 
 
 VII. 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Our survey of the early history of 
 the Wakefield colony closes with the 
 year 1874. In that year Kansas was 
 devastated by grasshoppers, and the 
 settlers felt, not without reason, that 
 the cup of their misfortunes was full. 
 We shall give an account of the fate 
 of the colony in general together with 
 brief notices of the subsequent f ortmies 
 of the settlers. 
 
 The two chief drawbacks with which 
 the colonists had to contend were the 
 dry continental chmate, so different 
 from that of England, and the adverse 
 economic conditions. In addition to 
 these there were also the many hard- 
 ships incident to pioneer life. 
 
 The change from an insular to a 
 continental chmate has often proved 
 one of the severest tests, not only of 
 colonial enterprise, but also of military 
 endurance. One need scarcely men- 
 tion the sufferings of the British sol- 
 diers during the Crimean War (Winter 
 of 1854-5.) Life in the heart of a con- 
 tinent has always been full of surprises 
 to those who were born and brought 
 up in islands or projecting coastlands. 
 Herodotus, who visited the shores of 
 the Black Sea in the 5th century B. C, 
 has thus described his impressions of 
 the chmate of southern Russia: 
 
 "All this country which I have been 
 speaking of is subject to such a severe 
 winter, that for eight months the frost 
 is so intolerable, that if you pour water 
 on the groimd you will not make mud, 
 but if you Ught a fire you will make 
 mud." 
 
 The glowing accomits issued by im- 
 migration companies and the sharp 
 practice often connected with real 
 estate deals was one of the grievances 
 of the colonists. The following inci- 
 dent is vouched for by a family well 
 known among the EngUsh settlers: 
 
 On landing in New York they were 
 met by the local agent of the National 
 Land Co. who endeavored to drive a 
 bargain with them for property in the 
 far west. Faihng to effect the trans- 
 action he gave them a sealed letter to 
 the Company agent at Chicago. En 
 route one of the members of the fam- 
 ily said to the head of the house: 
 "Father, I wouldn't carry a letter from 
 one unknown person to another with 
 whom you are no better acquainted; 
 why don't you find out what is in the 
 letter?" The suggestion was acted 
 upon and the contents of the letter 
 were found to be as follows : 
 
 Dgri* "NT 
 
 S and family think of going 
 
 to Kansas. Fix them and remember 
 me. Yours, etc., 
 
 ( ) 
 
 But pioneer hfe, notwithstanding its 
 hardships, did not lack its humorous 
 side. Old settlers still speak of a pros- 
 pectus that represented steamboats 
 ascending the Eepubhcan river. The 
 following incident is also illustrative : 
 One day a number of the colonists 
 were standing in the Company's oflSce 
 at Wakefield. My father stood on one 
 side of the room and near the corner 
 on the opposite side stood a Mr. Vin- 
 cent who was a man shghtly taller 
 than the average. Just then a party 
 of new-comers drove up to the door. 
 Mr. Vincent and my father tiirned and 
 winked at each other as much as to 
 say : Some more innocents have come 
 to learn the hardships of prairie hfe. 
 
 The greatest drawback to the colony 
 was found in the general economic 
 conditions. The comitry had not re- 
 covered from the effects of the Civil 
 War. (Money was scarce and com- 
 modities of all kinds expensive.) 
 
24 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 Means of communic?^tion were very 
 inadequate and the markets of St. 
 Louis and Chicago were only on the 
 threshold of their development. There 
 was no local demand for agricultural 
 products and the Kansas City market 
 was easily glutted. The lavish expen- 
 diture of English capital in Clay, (Da- 
 vis) Geary and Dickinson counties had 
 no effect on the country at large. My 
 father once said that during 1869-70, a 
 quarter of a million of Enghsh money 
 was spentin the district just mentioned 
 where one couldn't have collected a 
 million cents three years later. This 
 estimate is confirmed by others. 
 
 It was, however, after the grass- 
 hopper-year that matters were seen 
 in their severest guise. About that 
 time my father described conditions 
 as they then were through the columns 
 of one of the West of England papers : 
 
 "Five years is certainly long enough 
 to give a thing a trial. * * When I 
 tell you that scores who went out west 
 with capital and every advantage 
 would be glad enough to occupy a la- 
 bourer's cottage and eat a labourer's 
 food in England, you will know that 
 they have been grievously disap- 
 pointed. It is quite time that land is 
 very cheap and that meat can be had 
 at almost a nominal price. * * * 
 When lecturers talk about the cheap- 
 ness of things, it would be well if they 
 would also tell the cost of raising the 
 crop mentioned and the average price 
 paid to the producer. I see by one of 
 the letters, copies of which were cir- 
 culated by the lecturers, that beef can 
 be bought at IJ^ d. per lb. Where, 
 then, can be the farmers' profit for 
 raising cattle, and feeding them 
 through the fearful winters, if they are 
 afterwards disposed of at such prices? 
 A good bullock should weigh 100 lbs. 
 per quarter, or a total of 400 lbs., which 
 at the price named, would amount to 
 £2. 10 s. for the whole animal. If 
 these things were considered over, it 
 would be seen just where the shoe 
 
 E inches ; and that many years of toil, 
 ardship and disappointment must be 
 endured before the prospects pre- 
 sented can be reahzed. No one look- 
 ing on can tell half of the real facts, 
 and those who have gone through it 
 
 aU find v/ords fail to express their full 
 meaning." 
 
 Bisappohitment was not peculiar ta 
 the English colonists. An American 
 settler. -wTiting to the Courier Journal 
 of Louisville, Ky., says: "This state 
 is a fraud on a grand scale." His re- 
 marks apply both to the conditions 
 then existing in Kansas and to the 
 methods employed by colonizing 
 agencies. His description is decidedly 
 pessimistic : 
 
 "The people are destitute and there 
 is no money. The women are half- 
 clothed and the men are bare -footed 
 on the streets." 
 
 The misfortunes of the sister colony 
 at Victoria (Ellis Co.) were much 
 greater than those of Wakefield. Mr. 
 Grant died in the early days of the 
 settlement and with his decease the 
 moving spirit of the enterprise was 
 gone. 
 
 "Misfortune followed misfortune. 
 Thousands of stock died. The colo- 
 nists were discouraged and moved 
 away, abandoning their homes and 
 lands. Their places were filled by a 
 large party from southern Russia." 
 
 Mr. R. T. Bachelor, who visited Vic- 
 toria in the winter of 1897-98, gives 
 the following account of the church 
 erected by the founder of the Victoria 
 colony: 
 
 "Our first visit was to the beautiful 
 little church erected by Mr. Grant, at 
 his own expense, in the year 1876, and 
 which was not completed when he 
 died. The first time it was used was 
 for his funeral service. A handsome 
 marble tablet inside the building and 
 over the entrance commemorates his 
 death. He was buried just west of the 
 church and his grave is surrounded by 
 a neat fence which has been kept up 
 and cared for by a few of his old friends 
 who still cherish his memory. The 
 church was practically abandoned for 
 many years, as those who were inter- 
 ested were few and too much discour- 
 aged to keep up and maintain the 
 services. Lightning struck the build- 
 ing and did much damage. The Rus- 
 sian children made the church a play- 
 ground. The fine organ was damaged 
 by wet and ill-use. The stained glass 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 25 
 
 windows were broken and desolation 
 prevailed." 
 
 This state of desolation was not, 
 however, suffered to continue per- 
 manently and, as Mr. Bachelor tells us : 
 "Today the church appears as one of 
 the most beautiful Episcopal churches 
 for its size in the Diocese." 
 
 A few words may be added concern- 
 ing subsequent fortunes of some of, the 
 settlers mentioned in the earlier sec- 
 tions of this narrative. 
 
 Rev. Richard Wake resided for some 
 years in Topeka. He afterwards re- 
 moved to Salt Lake City where he 
 took active part in [the State Temper- 
 ance Movement. Mr. Alexander 
 Maitland went to Seattle, in the State 
 of Washington. E. M. Fulcher, who 
 afterwards owned the Maitland farm 
 on Sec. 12, Gill Township, went to 
 South Africa, but later returned to this 
 covmtry and settled in San Francisco. 
 Mr. T. P. Pettigrew, well known as the 
 secretary of the Wakefield Agricul- 
 tural and Literary Society, removed 
 to Virginia and resided at or near 
 Richmond. Rev. W. S. Crouch, in the 
 early days proprietor of a timber 
 claim on Sec. 30 in Republican Town- 
 ship, has been for a number of years 
 pastor of the Congregational chxirch 
 at Maple Hill, Kan. Wilham Allaway, 
 at one time proprietor of the Fitzgib- 
 bon farm, removed to Clay Centre. 
 John Brett also went to [Clay Centre. 
 He died there and his widow married 
 a Mr. Bradbury. John Farrington 
 Alsop, son of Wm. Alsop, Esqr., of 
 Cain's Creek, left Wakefield for Den- 
 ver, Col, He was never heard of 
 again. Felix James Fitters, better 
 known at Wakefield as Jim Fitters, 
 enlisted in the United States Army 
 and fell with Gen. Custer at the battle 
 of Little Big Horn, June 25, 1876. The 
 Castor brothers settled in Texas. 
 Robert Castor subsequently removed 
 to the Pacific Slope. His brother, 
 James H. Castor, is now a prosperous 
 
 cattle man at Zulu, Texas. 
 
 Many of those who left Wakefield in 
 the early days went back to England. 
 Among the number of ex-colonists 
 were the following: 
 
 Rev. Joseph Binns, who came out 
 on the steamship Nebraska in 1869, 
 afterwards returned to England and 
 became a presiding elder in the Mid- 
 lands. John Deere, who came out on 
 the same ship, went back to Great 
 Britain, and became proprietor of an 
 iron- monger's business (hardware 
 store) near the Elephant and Castle 
 (London.) During his subsequent 
 residence in England, my father on 
 one occasion met Mr. Deere on the 
 platform of the railway station at Ox- 
 ford. Mr. Laundy, the first proprietor 
 of the MouteUe farm, (N. 3^ of N. E. 
 ^ of Sec. 34 in Union township), was 
 also one of those v/ho returned to 
 England. Another ex-colonist was 
 James Marshall, brother of Mr. John 
 P. Marshall (See Sec. 6.) 
 
 We have already noticed that Mr. 
 Charles Ingram, one of the members 
 of the executive committee of the 
 Agricultural and Literary Society, also 
 returned to England. His property in 
 Gill Township, Sec. 3, was afterwards 
 purchased by Mr. F. W. Cornell. Gil- 
 bert Jones, whose claim was the N. 
 W. 1-4 of Sec. 11 in the same township, 
 also returned to England, probably 
 about the year 1874. His land seems 
 to have reverted to the company. 
 Uriah Handley (from Cambridgeshire) 
 whose claim was the S. W. 1-4 of Sec. 
 27 in Exeter Township, afterwards re- 
 sided near Bath, England, and engaged 
 in the mining and manufacture of Fil- 
 ler's earth. Another of the ex-colo- 
 nists who went back to Great Britain 
 was Mr. L. J. Millard (claim, S. W. 1-4 
 Sec, 13, Athelstane Township.) Some 
 years later my father, dming his stay 
 in England, met Mr. Millard at Chip- 
 penham in North Wiltshire. 
 
 Among the Members of the Oxford- 
 
26 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 shire colony who returned to their 
 native land were Messrs. Gillett (E. 
 1-2, N. W. 1-4 Sec. 22, Gill Township), 
 Charles Harris (S. 1-2 of S. E. 1-4), 
 Cumber (E. 1-2 of S. W. 1-4 in Sec. 26), 
 the Clinch Bros, and Mr. and Mrs. 
 Jardine . Mr . Jardine was a s on - in - la w 
 of James Eustace Esqr., and came out 
 in the steamship "City of Washington" 
 in April, 1870. He was afterwards 
 connected with the firm of Himtley & 
 Palmer, Biscuit Manufacturers, at 
 Reading. Mr. Thomas Beldham in- 
 formes me, on the authority of Frank 
 Harris, who visited his old home some 
 five years ago, that the Clinch Bros, 
 have prospered since their return to 
 the mother covmtry. Dtmcan CUnch 
 is now a well-to-do veterinary surgeon 
 in London. The Buckle family re- 
 mained at Wakefield for nearly twenty 
 years and then removed to Alberta, 
 British America. 
 
 The story of the Wakefield Colony 
 is but a minor circumstance in the 
 spread of the English-speaking race 
 
 throughout the world. It has, how- 
 ever, for those who took part in it, 
 the same interest which a private sol- 
 dier's recollections have for the battles 
 in which he fought. 
 
 In many ways the experiences of 
 the English colonists of 1869-70 remind 
 one of the first settlements in Virginia 
 and New England. Unlike the Amer- 
 ican settlers, the EngUsh had no weU- 
 de fined idea of pioneer fife. They did 
 not realize the greatness of the task 
 that was before them. 
 
 People cannot change their abodes, 
 pass from an island to a continent, * 
 from an ancient community to a new 
 colony, * without changing their 
 ideas and habits and ways of thinking, 
 nay, without somewhat modifying in 
 the course of a few generations their 
 physical type." 
 
 The interest which the story of 
 Wakefield possesses is not merely 
 local in character. It is an illustration, 
 at first hand, of the movements and 
 the changes that are going on every- 
 where in the EngUsh-speaking world. 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 27 
 
 Appendix I. 
 
 REV. WILLIAM TODD AND ,THE 
 MADURA MISSION. 
 
 Madura, India, was from very early- 
 times one of the chief seats of Hindoo 
 paganism. Rev. Wm. Todd began 
 work there as a missionary of the 
 American Board in July, 1834. The 
 mission celebrated its jubilee in 1884, 
 when a small volume was published 
 giving the history of the mission. 
 There are now three native Protestant 
 churches in the city (Madura Station, 
 West Gate, Madura; and East Madura.) 
 The statistics given in 1884 for the en- 
 tire district were: "Stations, eleven; 
 Churches, thirty-five; Communicants, 
 2,817." In 1901 the mission reckoned 
 4,911 church members and 17,276 ad- 
 herents. 
 
 The city of Madura dates from about 
 500 B. C. From that period until 1064 
 A. D. it was the seat of the Pandian 
 kings. Megasthenes (about 300 B. C.) 
 makes mention of the city and one of 
 its kings sent an embassy to Augustus 
 Caesar. After having been conquered 
 by the Mohammedans (MaUk Kafur, 
 1310 A. D.) the native kingdom was 
 restored in 1559 by Vivanatha. The 
 greatest of his descendants, Tirumala 
 
 Nayakka (1623-1659), restored and 
 beautified the great temple and built a 
 magnificent palace. The kingdom 
 came under British control in 1758 and 
 was annexed in 1801. 
 
 The Madura District is a veritable 
 stronghold of Hinduism, From time 
 immemorial Madura has been the re- 
 Ugious capital of the southern extrem- 
 ity of India. Here is the temple of the 
 great goddess Meenatchi, the presiding 
 deity of the city. "This temple covers 
 143/^' acres, and is in size the third and 
 in magnificence and upkeep the first 
 temple in all India, and has hardly its 
 equal anywhere among the ethnic re- 
 hgions. A part of the temple is given 
 up to the worship of Siva who, under 
 the name of SockaUngam is the con- 
 sort of Meenatchi. Meenatchi was 
 originally an ancient queen of the Ma- 
 dura country, and on her death became 
 the presiding demonness of the devil- 
 worship of the district, later when the 
 Brahmans came to Southern India the 
 new cult absorbed the old by marrying 
 Meenatchi to Siva and giving her a 
 place in the Hindu Pantheon." — Dr. 
 Jones. 
 
2^ 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 Appendix 11. 
 
 THE MARSHALL MAPS. 
 (1) The First Map. 
 
 The first map is entitled a "Map of 
 Junction City, Kansas, and adjacent 
 territory." It was published by the 
 Davis County Emigration(8ic) Society, 
 of which S. M. Strickler was president 
 and A. C. Pierce secretary. The re- 
 verse side of the map gives a pros- 
 pectus of the advantages of Junction 
 City and the surrounding district. 
 
 The map shows the proposed course 
 of the RepubUcan Valley Railroad as 
 originally planned, and also a proposed 
 line to Omaha running north by way 
 of Five Mile Creek. Other points of 
 interest are, (1) southeastern Clay Co. 
 including the Wakefield neighborhood, 
 (2) the mihtary reservation of Fort 
 Riley, and (3) the hiUy country south 
 of the Kansas River, extending from 
 Lyons Creek to Humboldt Creek. The 
 last-named district has been identified 
 with the northern boundary of Quivira 
 invaded by the Spanish conquerer 
 Coronado in 1541. The mihtary reser- 
 vation of Fort Riley contains the ruins 
 of Pawnee, including the capital build- 
 ing in which the territorial legislature 
 met on July 2, 1855. The map extends 
 as far west as the section on which St. 
 John's church stands (Township 10 S., 
 range 3 E . ) The creek flowing parallel 
 to the east bank of the Repubhcan ap- 
 pears to be wrongfully named. It is 
 imquestionably the stream now known 
 as Timber Creek. 
 
 (2) The Second Map. 
 
 The second map owes its origin to 
 matters of practical interest. When 
 the settlers came the land was one 
 continuous expanse of rolling prairie 
 broken only by the timber that skirted 
 the banks of the larger creeks. There 
 were no fences or boundaries and no 
 striking pecuUarities of surface. A 
 
 section seemed to owe its very identity 
 to the presence of settlers upon it. In 
 view of this practical difficulty Mr. J. 
 P. Marshall made an outline chart of 
 the township in which his claim was 
 situated and from time to time entered 
 the names of those who settled upon 
 it. The map was drawn with paper 
 and ink upon a sheet of ruled note- 
 paper and measures 25.3x15.3 cm., or, 
 with the margin 25.5x19.8 cm. It is 
 much yellowed with age. Although 
 the map was drawn in 1874, supple- 
 mentary entries were occasionally 
 made dinging the three or four follow- 
 ing years. 
 
 A few explanatory remarks may be 
 added in this connection: 
 
 (1) The shaded portions of the map 
 represent claims purchased of the 
 Kansas Land and Emigration Com- 
 pany. This excludes Homesteads, 
 technically so-called, as well as the 
 farms of the earUer American settlers 
 in the Quimby Creek Valley. 
 
 (2) The dotted outline represents 
 the boundary of the Golden Ridge 
 School District. 
 
 (3) The name (scarcely legible) on 
 the S. E. }i of See. 17, T. 10, range 4 
 East, is probably to be read "Purin- 
 ton." The earhest entry on the N. % 
 of the S. W. li of Sec. 10, in GiU town- 
 ship, may possibly be read "Winter- 
 bourne." 
 
 r4) With regard to Sec. 15 (Gill 
 Township) the evidence of the Mar- 
 shall map has been called in question. 
 The most Ukely solution is that which 
 has been offered in the sixth section 
 of this history. It is an explanation 
 which must be accepted in the case of 
 sections 11 and 31 in the same town- 
 ship. Here land was purchased by 
 settlers that afterwards unquestionably 
 reverted to the corportion to which it 
 originally belonged. 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 29 
 
 A letter of recent date from Mr. 
 Marshall contains so much interesting 
 matter that I venture to cite it here 
 although a brief extract has been in- 
 serted in the body of the history : 
 
 Wakefield, Sept. 31, '06. 
 My Dear Friend: 
 
 I fully appreciate your desire to sift 
 out the truth and "hold fast that which 
 is good." Men's memories become 
 somewhat hazy as to matters occurring 
 over one -third of a century ago, and 
 even written records may be in error 
 as boundaries were Uttle known and 
 less understood during the first few 
 years of settlement. 
 
 With regard to the Jacobus land, I 
 find that the first settler on that land 
 was George Purinton, who Uved on it 
 (but I do not remember any house or 
 remains of one.) He sold it to Mr. 
 Jacobus, who was a Congregational 
 minister in Junction City — an old man, 
 I believe. A. Gaston bought it from 
 him or his assigns. The other piece 
 of the A. Gaston place was first settled 
 by H. W. Brown who sold it to Chas. 
 Purinton and by whom it was sold to 
 Gaston. 
 
 Mr. Quimby settled on the quarter 
 section of the place known as his. The 
 other 240 acres he got from his brother 
 Frank and a man named Robinson, 
 both of whom went as soldiers during 
 the Civil War and never returned. 
 
 The Chnch boys brought with them 
 Henry Buckle and as they were not of 
 age, or for some other reason, per- 
 haps, he took up the homestead on 
 
 which they all Uved for several years. 
 Henry Buckle died suddenly while 
 driving cattle near Wamego, I think, 
 and the right of homestead passed to 
 his father, who came out with the re- 
 mainder of the family. Mr. Chnch 
 then came out and moved the stock to 
 the place now owned by Richardson, 
 joining Ed Southwick's on the north. 
 Mr. Grant of London — the founder of 
 the Victoria colony— bought most of 
 
 the good stock. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The "80" now owned by JohnYovmg 
 was first settled by a man from IlUnois 
 who bviilt a sod house on the S. E. 
 corner, Jason Withers, I think, got it 
 for a tree claim, and then my brother 
 Arthur had it. When he left I took it, 
 selling it to the Youngs shortly after. 
 Jason Withers married Miss Cowdery 
 and lived on the E. 1-2 of S. W. 1-4, 
 Sec. 12. 
 
 m * * 
 
 The Buckle on Sec. 26 was E. T. 
 Buckle, who hved there before his 
 marriage to Miss Young after he traded 
 places with James Young. 
 
 I enclose some sUps covering some 
 of the discussed points and I think 
 they will agree with my earUer map 
 except that some of the Unes may be 
 run east and west instead of north and 
 south. In the early days with no roads 
 or fences it was diflicult to teU which 
 way the land lay. 
 
 Hoping that these notes may be of 
 use to you, I am. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 JOHN P. MARSHALL. 
 
Tht First Msirsha.ll Map. 
 
% ! 
 
 9. 
 
 z: 
 
 <« 
 
 Z 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 t/2 
 
 
yz 
 
 The Wakefield Colony 
 
 Appendix HI. 
 
 In constructing the chronological 
 table I have selected chiefly those 
 events that have a merely local char- 
 acter, or else such as connect the his- 
 tory of the Junction City district wdth 
 the affairs of the state at large. 
 (a) Indian Trails. 
 
 Prom very early times the Indian 
 tribes carried on a primitive sort of 
 commerce by means of trails or track 
 ways. At least two such trails inter- 
 sected Kansas diagonally. One ap- 
 pears to have passed up the north side 
 of the Kansas river and then to have 
 crossed the watershed from some 
 point below Ellsworth to the great 
 bend of the Arkansas. Another lead 
 from the head waters of the Osage and 
 the Neosho, crossing the trail pre- 
 viously mentioned near Great Bend 
 and then passing up the Arkansas to 
 the mountains. The trail was contin- 
 ued by way of the Rio de los Animas 
 and the Raton Pass to the vaUey of 
 the Rio Grand del Norte. These routes 
 connected the Mississippi vaUey with 
 New Mexico. 
 
 (b) Harahey and Quivira. 
 
 In the sixteenth century the country 
 now known as Kansas was included in 
 two regions called Harahey and Quiv- 
 ira. Harahey was the territory of the 
 Pawnee Indians. It embraced western 
 Kansas but extended far beyond the 
 borders of the state. Quivira lay for 
 the most part between the Kansas and 
 the Arkansas rivers. It was inter- 
 sected by the trails previously men- 
 tioned. When Coronado conquered 
 the settled races of New Mexico in 
 1541, the natives Im-ed him into the 
 open plains of the interior, hoping thus 
 to compass his destruction. On the 
 march to Quivira the Spanish invaders 
 crossed the state diagonally and 
 seemed to have reached the Kansas 
 river somewhere within the limits of 
 the Junction City district. 
 
 In the seventeenth centiu*y a band 
 of the New Mexican natives revolted 
 from the Spaniards and founded a 
 settlement in Quivira. It was known 
 to the Spaniards as Cuartelejo. In re- 
 cent years the site has been identified 
 and excavated. 
 
 (c) Kansas a Border Land. 
 
 Some centuries before the Colum- 
 bian discovery the Siouan Indians mi- 
 grated westward from the region of 
 the Appalachian mountains. At the 
 time of the Spanish Conquest they had 
 spread over aU the more open regions 
 of the Mississippi and the Missouri 
 valleys. To this race belonged the 
 Dakotas on the North, and the O ma- 
 has, Kansas, and Wazhazhas (Osages) 
 on the South. As the Siouan tribes 
 pi'essed up the river valleys west of 
 the Missouri thej^ came in conflict with 
 the warlike Pawnees and Wichitas. 
 
 By the {seventeenth century Kansas 
 had already become the border land of 
 the Siouan and Caddoan races. Each 
 of the important rivers, the Kansas, 
 the Osage and the Arkansas, was the 
 highway of an invading tribe. The 
 Kansas tribe eventually occupied the 
 entire Kaw valley. It will thus be seen 
 that the state owes its name to invad- 
 ers from Missouri. On Vaugondy's 
 map ( 1750) the eastern part of the state 
 ah'eady appears as Pays des Cansees 
 "land of the Kansas (Indians)." The 
 Pawnees still retained possession of 
 the central and western parts of Kan- 
 sas and Nebraska. Their villages were 
 on the Platte and Republican valleys. 
 
 (d) Kansas the Frontier Between the 
 
 Possessions of France and 
 
 Spain, 1705-1803. 
 
 In the first quarter of the eighteenth 
 century Kansas became the borderland 
 between the colonial empires of France 
 and Spain. The French made their 
 first expedition to the mouth of the 
 Kansas river in 1705. 
 
 On Sept. 27, 1719, M. Dutisne, a 
 French officer, took formal possession 
 of the Pawnee country in the name of 
 the king of France. The following 
 year the Spaniards attempted to found 
 a colony on the banks of the Missouri, 
 but were massacred by the Indians. 
 
 In 1722-3 Fort Orleans, Mo., was 
 founded by the French on an island 
 near the mouth of the Osage river. 
 The commandant, M. de Bourgmont, 
 explored Kansas during the following 
 year. "In 1725," says Spring, "Fort 
 Orleans was captured by Kansas sav- 
 ages and the garrison slaughtered. 
 
The Wakefield Colony 
 
 33 
 
 Details are wholly unknown. * The 
 massacre effectually bUghted the en- 
 thusiasm of the Frenchman for explo- 
 ration in Kansas. 
 
 (e) Kansas Comes Under the'^ Sov- 
 ereignity of the United States. 
 Kansas was included in the Louisiana 
 Purchase of 1803, and was explored by 
 Lieut. Z. M. Pike in 1806. On Sept. 
 29th of that year Pike caused the Span- 
 ish flag to be lowered and the United 
 States flag to be raised at Pawnee Ke- 
 pubhc (a village of the Pawnee Indians 
 from which the Repubhcan river de- 
 
 rives its name.) This was 265 years 
 after the invasion of Ooronado and 81 
 years after the destruction of Fort 
 Orleans. 
 
 In 1831-2 the United States began to 
 remove the Indians of the Old North- 
 west to reservations in Kansas. In 
 1843, the Wyandottes came from Ohio 
 and settled in eastern Kansas. They 
 remained in the state about twelve 
 years (1843-1855.) 
 
 Kansas was opened for settlement 
 on May 30, 1854, and after seven years 
 of chequered territorial history became 
 a state in 1861. 
 
 Chronological Table. 
 
 1854, March 30, The Kansas -Nebraska 
 bill. 
 
 Oct. 7, Andrew H. Reeder, first gov- 
 ernor of the territory of Kansas, 
 arrives at Leavenworth. 
 
 1855, July 2-6, Session of the territorial 
 legislature at Pawnee. (Ruins of 
 the Capitol to be seen in the mili- 
 tary reservation at Ft. Riley.) 
 
 1856, (April), Moses, WiUiam and Jer- 
 emiah Youngkens and John King 
 settle on Timber Creek, (Grant 
 Township.) 
 
 1857, (Spring), Messrs. Quinby and 
 Payne settle in Republican Town- 
 ship. 
 
 1858, (May), Rev. Wm. Todd (Repub- 
 lican Township.) 
 
 Dec. 2, Edwin Youngkens born. 
 
 1859, House on the Wakefield Townsite 
 built by James Gilbert. 
 
 1860, July 25, Geo. Kirby born (first 
 child of American parentage in 
 Gill Township.) 
 
 1861, Jan. 30, Kansas admitted to the 
 Union. 
 
 1868, July 4, Madura school house 
 opened. 
 
 Sept. 17, Battle of Arickaree, decis- 
 ive overthrow of the Plains Indians 
 
 (Nov.), James H. Harvey, governor 
 of Kansas. (Re-elected., 1870.) 
 1869j July 12, Messrs. Pierce and Wake 
 inspect the land between Chapman 
 Creek and Wakefield. 
 
 Aug. 12, H. S. Walter and P. GilUes 
 settle in Repubhcan Township. 
 
 Aug. 21, John Wormald, Alexander 
 Maitland, R. T. Batchelor and oth- 
 ers arrive in Junction City. 
 
 The pioneer party left England 
 Aug. 3rd, landed in New York on 
 the 15th, reaches Junction City the 
 21st. 
 
 Aug. 25, PreUminary organization of 
 the Kansas Land and Emigration 
 Company, ("Incorporated Aug. 
 25, 1869"). 
 
 Aug. 26, The townsite of Wakefield 
 laid out by Richard Wake, John 
 Wormald, Alexander Maitland and 
 Col. Loomis. 
 
 Sept. 15, The "Nebraska party" sails 
 from Liverpool, lands in New York 
 on the 29th and arrives in Junction 
 Ciiy Oct. 6th. 
 
 Oct. 12, Meeting of the Stockholders 
 at the Hale House, Junction City. 
 
 1870, Jan. 16, A severe Blizzard occa- 
 sions much suffering. 
 
 April 6, The Alsop party sailed from 
 Liverpool. On the 25th they are 
 met at Junction City by Rev. 
 Richard Wake. 
 
 May 8, Methodist Episcopal Church 
 organized. 
 
 May 30, The Wakefield Ferry & 
 Bridge Co. incorporated. 
 
 (Summer) Drought and crop failure. 
 
 1871, Jan. 25-Mar. 8, Sessions of the 
 Wakefield Agricultural and Liter- 
 ary Society recorded in the Wake- 
 field Herald, Vol. I, No. 3. 
 
 (Spring) Organization of the month- 
 ly market. 
 
 April 5, The Sparrowhawk party 
 leaves England. 
 
 1872, Thomas A. Osborn, governor of 
 Kansas, (re-elected, 1874.) 
 
 1874, Kansas devastated by grasshop- 
 pers. 
 First vestry meeting (Oct. 14th) of 
 the Episcopal church. 
 187ii, April, St. John's church dedicated 
 June 25, Battle of Little Big Horn. 
 Felix James Fitters, a Wakefield 
 colonist, among the slain. 
 
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LE S '09