Sorting through history can get messy. Details are often lost as the years pass by, and rumors replace facts. Such is the case surrounding a set of books that were in the Kearny County Court House at Hartland when it caught fire in January of 1894. The Advocate reported that everything in the building was destroyed except what was in the four county safes and the personal safe of Edgar Robinson Thorpe. E. R. Thorpe settled in Hartland in 1888 and was elected register of deeds in November of 1891. He was also a realtor and bonded abstractor. Among the records in his personal safe was a complete set of abstract indexes. The books were his personal property, and there was never any question in the papers as to their rightful ownership. According to current Kearny County Register of Deeds Missie Gerritzen, it was not uncommon for realtors and abstractors to have their own copies back then, “because they didn’t have to go to the court house to research so it was easier.” There would also be property records if something catastrophic happened to the court house.
In 1896, C.O. Chapman filed an injunction to prevent county commissioners from purchasing Thorpe’s abstract books alleging that the commissioners had conspired with Thorpe to “defraud the taxpayers of Kearny County” by paying an exorbitant amount to Thorpe who would then “kick back” some of the money to each commissioner. County officers denied that the purchase had been contemplated, and local papers claimed Chapman made up the false claim because he was bitter over losing a recent bid for office. The injunction was later dismissed at Chapman’s request.
That wasn’t the end to the abstract shenanigans though. After serving two terms as register of deeds, Thorpe passed the bar exam and opened a law practice in Lakin where he specialized in searching land titles and preparing abstracts. In July 1904, someone entered his law firm and stole the abstract indexes while Thorpe, business partner Charles Loucks and stenographer Clara Wright were out to dinner. The community was thrown into a frenzy over the theft. The Advocate claimed that if the records were not recovered, a severe blow would not only be dealt to “Thorpe and Loucks, but to every property holder in the county.”
T.J. Donovan, his wife, and son Denny were arrested for the crime. The elder Donovan had been a well-respected trustee and assessor of Hartland Township and acknowledged that he knew where the books were. He promised to return them if Mr. Thorpe would drop the charges against he and his family. E.R. agreed to the deal, and the books were retrieved from a hiding spot in the sand hills. There was never any reason provided in the papers for the theft, but various members of the Donovan clan had been in trouble for stealing at least three times prior to the incident.
E.R. Thorpe sold his abstract books to Kansas Real Estate and Abstract Company in May 1905. In January of 1910, H.A. Gaskill purchased the books, building and office furniture of the Kansas Abstract Company, and a new corporation known as The Lakin Land and Immigration Company was formed that April. The firm was a consolidation of E.R. Thorpe Realty, the Kansas Real Estate and Abstract Co., G.W. Shell & Co., Thos. C. Nelson Real Estate and Abstracts, and the law firms of E.R. Thorpe and Gaskill. E.R. Thorpe was the president, and Gaskill was treasurer. Thornton Clarence Thorpe, son of E.R., was the secretary. The company was soon advertising that they owned the only complete set of abstract books of Kearny County prior to the court house fire in 1894.
There were various partners and officers in the Lakin Land and Immigration Company during its existence, but E.R. Thorpe was always at the helm. T.C. Thorpe stepped away briefly but was back on the job in 1922. By the end of that year, the ads for Lakin Land and Immigration had stopped appearing in the local papers; however, ads ran for E.R. and T.C. Thorpe’s abstract, real estate, insurance and loan business. Presumably, the Thorpes had bought out the assets of Lakin Land and Immigration and dissolved the company.
In January of 1928, T.C. Thorpe moved to California. The following month, the Independent reported that former Kearny County Attorney Clyde Elmer Beymer had taken over the insurance, loan and abstract business from T.C. “Mr. Beymer is an experienced hand at this kind of work and will carry it forward to the satisfaction of his clients.” Born in Iowa in 1888, C.E. moved to Kansas in 1905. He moved to Lakin in 1924 from Haskell County where he had taught school and served as county clerk.
After E.R. Thorpe’s death in 1935, Beymer retained the original abstract books. In January of 1936, the Independent announced that J. E. (Hap) Beymer had become a partner with his father in the law, abstract and insurance office, and Beymer & Beymer was formed. After Clyde Jr. was discharged from the army in 1945, he too became a partner in the family business. Following Clyde Jr.’s death in 2002, Missie Gerritzen contacted his son Bob about having the abstract indexes microfilmed due to their age and significance to Kearny County’s history. Consent was given, and shortly afterwards Beymer and Beymer donated the Thorpe abstract books to the Register of Deeds office, a gesture that Gerritzen is genuinely grateful for.
Sources: Archives of The Advocate, Lakin Index and Independent; museum archives and family files; History of Kearny County Vol. 1; and ancestry.com with sincere appreciation to Missie Gerritzen, Bob Beymer and Patti Davis Dunlap.