January 1, 2019
You are reading “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical
Society.
Geary County
was created by an act of the First Territorial Legislature. Davis County, as we were first called was
among 33 counties defined and named by that now infamous body during the last
week of August in 1855.
We have
shared with you in the past that the legislative session at Pawnee lasted only
five days. Pawnee was on what is now
Fort Riley and the First Territorial Capital building still stands where the
legislature met. The building is across
the road from the new Irwin Army Community Hospital.
The five
days was long enough for the body to unseat those minority free-state delegates
elected in the alternate election called by the Governor and then move the seat
of government back to the Shawnee Indian Mission on the Kansas/Missouri border.
When they
reconvened at Shawnee Mission in the middle of July, the Bogus Legislature
succeeded in getting Governor Andrew Reeder removed from office. Then they set about adopting some
questionable pieces of legislation, including the infamous “Black Law”, which
made it a crime to help fugitive slaves or even speak against the right to own
slaves in the Kansas Territory. They then disenfranchised territorial voters by
appointing all the first count officials.
This was done as they set the boundaries and established the first
county geographical divisions toward the end of August. Many of the counties were given names of
Legislators by themselves or their pro-slavery heroes.
Geary County
was originally named Davis County after slavery advocate Jefferson Davis, who
later became the President of the Confederacy.
Eventually, after much protest, our county’s name was changed to Geary
after General John White Geary, the third Territorial Governor of Kansas and
Union War hero.
And now you
know a little more about why we say, “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary
County Historical Society.
No comments:
Post a Comment