News, Events & County History
Board members re-elected to two-year terms
With the cancellation of the 2020, 2021 and 2022 Annual Meetings, the Kearny County Historical Society has retained the same board members since the 2019 elections except for filling the spots of Dave Horner and Cary Henderson after their resignations. The board decided this year that KCHS members should have the opportunity to vote and included a ballot in the spring newsletter. All ballots had to be returned by April 25.
The following board members were all re-elected for two-year terms: Karen Burden, Joe Eskelund, Robbie McCombs, Bob Price, John White and Marilyn Wolfe. The remaining board members will be up for re-election next year.
At the April board meeting, Donna Neff was appointed to complete the unexpired term of Ginger Hartman on the KCHS board. Ginger had served on the board since 2016.
Pioneer Day Returns to Kearny County Museum
What a fun day we had when the Kearny County Museum hosted Lakin’s 5th and 6th graders for Pioneer Day on April 14. There were nine stations ranging from branding to making butter, and each station was both fun and educational. This event has a long history at Kearny County Museum going back to the 1980s when former Museum director Lucile Dienst invited Carol Panzer’s and Barbara Broderick’s 5th graders for scavenger hunts to encourage students to learn about Kearny County’s history. The Museum was still located on Main Street at that time. When our current complex was opened, the students dressed up in pioneer fashion for the day, walking and touring our facility. In 1988, Sandy Wanklyn replaced Mrs. Broderick, and work began to make Pioneer Day a living history day with stations. The event continued to evolve through the years, often including mountain man presentations, dancing on the lawn while the local Fiddlers and Pickers played, and various demonstrations. Mrs. Wanklyn retired in 2016, and Wendy Anderson now has the monumental task of planning this activity and recruiting community, parent and student volunteers.
Irishman made his mark in Kansas history
John O’Loughlin, the father of Lakin, was born in 1842 in County Clare, Ireland. His parents, Peter and Margaret O’Loughlin, had four other children. Two of those children and Peter died during Ireland’s great potato famine. John’s mother re-married, and the family moved to America when he was six years old.
John’s stepfather, Andrew White, began a freighting business in Dubuque, Iowa, but was soon killed by lightning. The family, strangers in a foreign land, were helped by John’s uncle. When John was big enough to harness up the horses, he went to work. By the age of 17, he was out on his own. When the Civil War began, John freighted for the Army as a government teamster in the department of quartermaster at Fort Leavenworth. After the war, he continued with the Army, driving wagons to all the western outposts. John was along on several expeditions against the Plains Indians serving beside Generals Hancock, Sheridan and Custer. The experiences were certainly dark spots in his life, and he never spoke about them. John left government service in 1869.
After eight years of traveling over the trails, he knew that both Army and civilian wagons on the military road from Fort Hays to Fort Dodge had trouble crossing Pawnee Creek about 40 miles north of Dodge City. So John built a toll bridge and stockade from poles cut along the creek. He also had a well inside the stockade ensuring that the Indians could not cut off his water supply. His stockade consisted of bedrooms, a store and eating rooms. He sold all kinds of groceries and served meals at all hours, night and day. Thus, he became the first white settler in what was later named Hodgeman County. John thrived by doing business with the government troops, freighters, cowboys and buffalo hunters. Well-known names such as President Hayes, “Wild Bill” Hickock, “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Jesse James were recorded in his register at the crossing.
John sold his lucrative little business to George Duncan after the railroad reached Dodge City in 1872. The site would become known as “Duncan’s Crossing” and is marked by a historical sign to this day. And although he had already had a very full and colorful life, John still had much ahead of him. According to notes left by one of his grandchildren, John then bought a boarding house in Dodge City, but it was a wild and rowdy town which was disappointing to the Irishman. He sold the boarding house soon after and on April 3, 1873, arrived at the rail site of Lakin. John had been impressed with this part of the Arkansas River Valley while delivering supplies to Fort Aubrey. He set up a trading post in an abandoned dug-out left behind by the railroad crews.
John traded with buffalo hunters, freighters, travelers on the Santa Fe Trail and cattlemen. His business flourished, and eventually Lakin began to grow. By 1879, John had more business than the dugout store could handle. He built a 30×50-foot store building just a few feet away from the dug out. He married Mary Farrell who was also Irish in 1882, and they made their home upstairs in the store. Using eight horses, chains and large logs, the store building was moved to Main Street in 1883. For a time, John’s brother-in-law, Michael Weber, joined him in the mercantile business, and they expanded their services to include the sale of dry goods, clothing, hardware, agricultural implements, cement, lumber, coal and more. But John’s business dealings were not limited to the store. He also had considerable land and cattle interests and served as postmaster. He was also vice-president of the Lakin State Bank.
As John’s business interests grew, so did his family. John and Mary raised seven children in their family home on the southeast outskirts of Lakin. When their sons were grown, they took over the O’Loughlin Store and John’s ranching interests.
John O’Loughlin died in 1915 at the age of 73. In 1935, he was chosen as Kearny County’s entry to the Hall of Fame at the Kansas Diamond Jubilee because of his pioneering qualities, his honest methods of dealing with his fellow man, and his helpfulness to early settlers who found themselves in need of assistance. His daughter Margaret once said that John was the last person to want any fuss made over him or what he did. “One reason I think the old timers said so many nice things about my father was that he was able to extend credit to so many of them for so long while they were proving up. When settlers got discouraged, they’d come and want to sell their land. But Papa wouldn’t let them. If there was any way he could persuade them, he would not let them sell the land. Then he would arrange either for them to … work on his farm, or they could work on one of the other ranches, so they’d have groceries and things to get through the winter. And that way, they could stay in this country.”
John and Mary’s children also played key roles in the development of Lakin. In 1974, their daughter Jennie Rose deeded the museum’s White House and the half block that it sat on to the Kearny County Historical Society. The oldest house in town, the White House was once home to John O’Loughlin’s eldest son, William, and his family. The property has since been enhanced to include not only the house, but also the main museum building and annex, the Columbia School and Lakin’s depot. The community of Lakin has much to be thankful for because of John O’Loughlin and his family.
Sources: “Timing is Everything” by Fern Bessire, Kansas Territorial Magazine July-August 1983; The Lakin Independent Aug. 9, 1935; “Ft. Hays – Ft. Dodge Trail” by C. E. Roughton, History of Kearny County Kansas Vol. I, and museum archives.
A Glimpse of Frontier Living by Tillie Davies Copeland Pt. 2
For judicial purposes, this part of the country was connected with Dodge City, and F.L. Pierce was appointed justice of the peace in case something should happen that would require court proceedings. Pierce had come out from Iowa and located on a homestead a quarter of a mile west from Mrs. Davies. He and his wife didn’t escape any of the hardships that their neighbors were enduring, but they, like the rest, made the best of the hard times, stayed with their claim, proved it up and got their patent from Uncle Sam.
Everyone seemed peaceable, and living on their claims without any fear, never locking their homes when leaving or their doors at night. It would seem they were free from anything that would call for fear. But one night a change came. The Santa Fe railroad brought in a gang of men together with their boarding cars in which they ate and slept. Their work was to replace the iron rails with steel. These men would spend the evenings in any place of business that was open.
One evening, a group of them gathered in Mr. Brackett’s store. For some reason, not made known, one man made an attack on a man sitting in a chair. He had a knife his his hand just ready to strike the man in the chair, when the man drew a revolver, fired, hitting him in the head, causing instant death. There was a young man from Lakin in the room at the time, a nice boy, a harmless chap by the name of James Boyle. They called him “Prairie Dog Jim.” So when the man fell to the floor, Jim ran to help him if he could and in trying to help he got blood all over his hands. About the time someone thought papers should be gotten out against the man who fired the shot, so they told Jim to go find Mr. Pierce, the justice of the peace, and bring him to town.
On the way to where Mr. Pierce lived, Jim had to pass the home of Mrs. Davies. When he reached her home he thought he would stop and get his directions a little better, so he rapped at her door, as usual she called, “Who is there?” “Prairie Dog Jim,” was the reply. Well, no one was afraid of Jim so she opened the door and there he stood, as it looked to her he was blood all over, and she became frightened, and in his excitement he kept trying to tell her what had happened, until he seemed beside himself. And she was really frightened by now.
She asked, “What do you want?” He said, “Mr. Pierce, the justice of the peace.” She replied, “He lives up west – go on.” And she locked her door, went to bed, but not to sleep. She was afraid he would come back and she didn’t know how much of his story was truth. He might be the murderer and come back to do her harm because she had seen him in that condition, and so her thoughts continued until the rays of light began to lighten the eastern sky.
It was not all fun by any means for the pioneers to obtain a home even if it was given to them by their Uncle Sam.
A Glimpse of Frontier Living by Tillie Davies Copeland Pt. 1
People coming from the east to Western Kansas in the late 1870s and early 1880s felt sure they had reached a land, where, by labor, they could turn it into a Paradise. As they looked across the rolling plains for miles and miles with not a mountain or hill to obscure their sight and away in the distance they could often see herds of buffalo and antelope as well as cattle and wild horses browsing the grass and as the song goes, “The skies are not cloudy all day.” But things did not remain in this condition for long.
Hunters came in and killed the buffalo by the score, sometimes taking only the hide to sell, leaving the rest of the animal for the coyotes and other wild animals to eat. Whole herds of wild horses were walking until they became so weary and footsore that they could be driven into a corral and captured and sold.
When these newcomers were informed that the United States Government would give each settler of age 21, 160 acres of land as a homestead if they would plant and cultivate a certain number of acres of land, build a house and live on it for five years, “My, how wonderful,” they thought. Why, it was just so grand! To get a home for so little.
Mrs. Davis and family who had come out from Chicago recently was one of these and they secured a nice homestead one-half of a mile west of Lakin. They built a little two room house, but there was no water or fuel, except as they picked up coal along the railroad track, go to the river a mile away and gather wood or picked up buffalo chips where were quite plentiful. Carrying water half a mile was a hard task, so she had a man about 25 years old, single, come and dig a well. He turned out to be quite an interesting character to her. His name was Jerry Curran and he said he was from Hot Springs, Va., the same place Mrs. Davies had spent her girlhood days.
Mr. Curran dug the well and got a nice supply of water, that was still there as long as Mrs. Davies knew anything about the place. Next, being anxious to live up to the regulations of the government, she planted some potatoes but they failed to come up. It was so dry. Just no rain at all. In the fall she thought she would like to see just what the potatoes looked like so she found they had never as much as sprouted.
Those poor settlers found they paid price enough for their land by the time the five years had ended.
Kansas celebrates 161 years of statehood
Our great state of Kansas recently celebrated 161 years of statehood. Native Americans inhabited the region that is now Kansas for thousands of years before the first white man appeared. Spanish conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado marched north from Mexico in search of the Seven Golden Cities of Gold in 1540. In New Mexico, he was told of the Land of Quivira, and he turned east and north in search of the fabled place of wealth. By the summer of 1541, 80 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Coronado had reached the Arkansas River in Kansas, crossing near the area which is now known as Dodge City.
Coronado returned to New Mexico. Father Juan de Padilla, a priest who had accompanied him, returned to Kansas the following year in hopes to bring Christianity to the Indians but was killed. The exact place of his death is unknown. For a time, Spain, France and England all had claims on Kansas. The English did nothing to further their claim. French claims were ceded to Spain in 1762, but title was returned to France in 1800. The US purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803.
Kansas was organized as a territory in May of 1854, but the battle for statehood was intense from 1855 to 1861. Bloody battles between free-state and pro-slavery forces led to the nickname, “Bleeding Kansas.” After three unsuccessful constitutional conventions, a fourth took place in Wyandotte in July 1859 which proved successful. Free-state advocates were solidly in control and drafted a document barring slavery and fixing the present boundaries of the state. The document was accepted by a vote of the people in October, and in December a provisional state government was elected. In April 1860, the US House of Representatives voted to admit Kansas, but the Senate which was under pro-slavery domination refused. Statehood for Kansas became a national issue, and the Republican platform of 1860 included a plank for immediate admittance. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November, several Southern states seceded. The withdrawal of Southern senators and representatives gave control of Congress to the Republicans. The Kansas bill was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President James Buchanan on January 29, 1861, making Kansas the 34th state admitted to the Union.
For well over 100 years, Kansas school children have been celebrating January 29 as Kansas Day with special activities in and outside of their classrooms. Second and third graders from Lakin and Deerfield joined us the last full week of January to learn about Kansas history, the first people who lived in our part of the state and how they lived, as well as how they got here. Check out the pictures below of our tours then go to the Fun and Games page on our website and check out some fun Kansas activities to do at home.
Military Exhibit Re-opened
We are excited to announce that the military display has been re-opened to the public! This has been a special project taken on by Amy Fontenot, our Assistant Director. Amy served in the Army and Army Reserves so it was very important to her to make this exhibit as correct as possible. She spent countless hours researching and identifying our artifacts and cataloging them correctly in our system. Amy isn’t completely finished with the display but will tweak it as time allows.
The military display was moved to the ground floor in the Annex and includes artifacts from the Civil and Spanish Wars, World Wars I and II, Korean War and Vietnam War. Uniforms, Calvary saddles and bits, hard tack, mess kits, souvenirs brought from overseas, German artifacts, photographs and more fill the display cases. We invite you to come see all the wonderful artifacts that were so generously donated. We would also like to thank Rose Eatinger White for her generous donation and the families of Harold Williams, Earl Kleeman and Richard Landon for designating memorials to the museum which helped to fund the improvements.
Our veterans deserve nothing less than the best, and Amy has honored them both respectfully and beautifully.
This teacher’s job was tougher than most
The winter of 1887-88, Veturia E. Boyd was hired to teach the Deerfield school. She boarded with Ada Oliver who lived 3/4 mile north of Deerfield. Miss Boyd walked back and forth to the school and was told by the school board never to send the children home during a blizzard. She was to keep them at the schoolhouse until help arrived.
During school hours on December 19, 1887, a blizzard unleashed all the fury it had gathered from Canada all the way down. By mid-afternoon, the school children had all been retrieved and Miss Boyd started for Miss Oliver’s place. But starting was about all she got done. For close to two hours, she walked around in circles and asked the good Lord for help. Eventually she gained a half mile and stumbled on the dugout door of a bachelor by the name of Dayton Loucks. Mr. Loucks heard a noise on his door and wondered what it was. He pried open the door, and in dropped Miss Boyd. Nobody knows which of the two were surprised the most.
Being a shy and modest woman, the young teacher sat in a chair in front of the fire all night while the blizzard was howling and dried the clothes right on her back. The next morning dawned bright and clear like short blizzards do. Miss Boyd thanked her host and walked a quarter mile south to the Neil Beckett place where Mrs. Beckett gave her some breakfast and a lunch to take to school. The schoolhouse was less than a quarter mile away. Miss Oliver, worried about her boarder who did not get home the night before, walke
d to the schoolhouse. There she found Miss Boyd getting ready to take up school as usual.
Hendersons selected as 2021 Historical Society King and Queen
Kearny County Historical Society is pleased to announce that Cary and Joyce Henderson were selected as this year’s King and Queen for the annual Christmas Parade on Dec. 4. Cary is a former KCHS board member and officer, serving from 2003 until last spring.
The Hendersons moved to Lakin in 1980 when Cary went to work for Pioneer Communications, a job he retired from in 1999. The couple has two daughters, six grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Congratulations, Cary & Joyce!