September 19, 2018
This is “Our
Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
During the
next few broadcasts, we will be sharing stories about early pioneers in our
area. Today’s story is titled “Early
Pioneers Came From Around The Globe”.
The article, which was published in the “Daily Union” newspaper, was
written by Pat Olmstead, who at one time was the Registrar at the Museum. Pat wrote that: “Some of our pioneers were
headed elsewhere and remained in this area.
This was true of Walter Ramsour.
Ramsour first came to Junction City with his family in the spring of
1870 from England. They were headed for
the newly formed Wakefield, but when his father arrived in Junction City he
liked it so well here that they stayed.
Some
families came by train. In 1887, the Cy
Rogers family consisting of his father, mother, two brothers and three sisters
arrived here after leaving Ohio and traveling by Union Pacific train to later
locate at a farm on the Republican River.
One of the
more detailed accounts was about Mary Connor.
Her future husband, Elias N. Church, originally from Ohio, came to
Kansas in 1857 and was the first settler in Liberty Township. He returned to Woodstock, Ohio in 1864 to
marry 22 year old Mary Connor and bring his bride to their new residence along
Lyons Creek.
They dealt
with the grasshopper plague of 1874, which destroyed all their crops. Indians were frequent visitors occasionally
asking for “fire water” or “tobaccer”, but apparently did them no harm.
After moving
in to Junction City sometime before 1887, the Church’s kept an eating house in
part of what later became the Central Hotel at 702 N. Jefferson St. Mrs. Church stated that Wild Bill Hickock was
one of her boarders and many times played with their children.”
We are still
a transient community, however, many have come and stayed to help build our
community and grow with it.
And… that’s
today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical
Society.
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