The Warren/Cocks/Romig/Kitchen/Clark/Willet Farmhouse at Maple Hill, Kansas

Greetings to all!    I'm back from my trip to Europe.   Unfortunately, I caught some kind of viral infection while on the river cruise and it really knocked me out for a couple of weeks.   I missed some of the planned excursions on the trip and just sort of "languished" for a week or so when returned home.    I'm feeling better now and I want to get back to writing.

During mid-June, I attended the 50th reunion of my Maple Hill High School graduating class of 1962.    Eight of the ten members of my class were present (there were 41 students in MHHS at the time I graduated) and we enjoyed talking about old times and getting caught up with each other, as well as talking about our grandchildren and those kinds of things.   All ten of my classmates are living and well, but for one reason or another, two were not able to attend.   The Alumni Association invites those who may have attended but didn't graduate from MHHS.   Among those present were Brent and Douglas Kitchen.   They went thought the first eight grades at MHHS, but then transferred to Rossville High School.   It was good to see them again.  Brent now lives in the Ozarks of southwest Missouri and Doug lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

In February 1973, I bought 10 acres and what was then known as the Kitchen House, from their parents Oliver and Shirley Kitchen.    I owned the property from 1973 until 2005, when I sold it to Jeff and Annette Willett.   Doug and I were talking about the old house and how much we both enjoyed living there and he asked me about it's history.   I told him about the blog and promised to write what I knew after returning home.    Here's the fulfillment of that promise.

This is a 1975 photograph of the ashlar stone house built in 1890 by Senator William Willets Cocks on 600 acres located three miles west of Maple Hill, Kansas.  The house was built with a gambrel roof line, which is common to Long Island, New York, where Senator Cocks was born and raised, but is one of the only gambrel roof line homes in Wabaunsee County, Kansas. 

The land on which the house is located, was a part of the Potawatomi Indian Reservation until becoming a part of those sections of land granted to the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad by the United States Government.   When the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad sold the land, the funds were to be used to cover construction and operation costs of building their railroad across Kansas.    To obtain land from the Indians to be used for the grants, the United States Government negotiated a treaty with the Potawatomi Indian Nation which provided for the present reservation north of Topeka, Kansas in Jackson County and also provided lands in southcentral Oklahoma for the removal of a majority of tribal families.  Nearly 3,000,000 acres was sold by the Potawatomi.

I became interested in the history of Maple Hill Township while a high school student and after purchasing the Kitchen property, I visited many times with William Sprague "Bill" Warren and his brother John Dura "Jack" Warren about how their family, native to Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York came to own Kansas lands.  I wrote the story of their family for "New Branches from Old Trees: A New History of Wabaunsee County, Kansas," published by the Wabaunsee County Historical Socity in 1976.

It was a tragic financial loss that brought the Warren and other related famlies to Maple Hill Township.   The Warren Family was an old, distinguished and wealthy New England Family that traced its heritage to the Mayflower Colonists.  The family lived in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York States from the 1600s until moving to Maple Hill Township in 1873.

Bill Warren told me that various members of the family had invested heavily in banks and railroads following the Civil War.  Banks loaned money to the railroads to build lines to the growing Midwest and West.   Credit in the form of loans and bonds was extended to railroads when there was no more collateral than the paper on which bonds were printed.    As a result, some of the nation's largest financial institutions failed in what became known as The Railroad Panic of 1873.   As a result, many families, the brokers, banks and construction companies failed and went into foreclosure.   Among those who lost their family fortunes were the Warren and Cheney Families.

Bill and Jack Warren told me that their grandfather, William Henry Warren, was a successful banker and stock broker in New York City.   His father, Dura Warren and his wife Meletiah (Childs) Warren lived in Connecticut and owned a successful inn and horse breeding farm.   They had invested money in stocks and bonds with their son, William Henry Warren.   When the companies failed, the stocks and bonds became worthless.

Their salvation came in the form of three Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway bonds which had been purchased at $1,000 face value by William Henry Warren for his wife Meletiah (Childs) Warren.   There were coupons attached to the bonds which entitled the holder of each bond to purchase up to 600 acres of Kansas land at no more than $2.50 per acre.   Ruined by the financial panic which occurred in August 1873, the families decided to sell their properties in the East, taking what they could get, rent a railroad boxcar for their possessions, cash in their bonds, and move to Kansas where they could start over.

Bill Warren said they were not able to sell the bonds for the full $3,000 face value, but had to take a discount of $1,000.   Their total cash capital was $2,000 plus an additional $1,000 raised from property sales for a total of $3,000.  The decision having been made, the family bravely boarded a passenger train bound for St. Marys, Kansas.   They arrived there the second week in November, 1873 just as winter approached.   Those in the party were: Dura anad Meletiah (Childs) Warren and two unmarried children, Charles and Annie Warren.  A third child, William Henry Warren and his wife Maria Joy (Cheney) Warren and their son, William Warren, Jr., and Mrs. Warren's parents Samuel and Julia Cheney, and Mrs. Warren's sister Ellen Cheney Thayer and her husband Albert F. Thayer.  There were eleven in all.

I took this photograph of the William Henry Warren home west of Maple Hill in 1975.  The house was built in 1874.  In 1975, the house was occupied by William Henry Warren's grandsons, William Sprague "Bill" and John Dura "Jack" Warren.  Since their deaths, the house has been sold to Bud and Catherine Hund of Paxico, who have done extensive restoration work there.   This house and the Dura and Meletiah Warren House were built from the same floor plan.   The bay-window conservatory which was built in front of the downstairs left windows has been been removed, as has the pantry on the first-floor rear of the house.   There was also a front porch over the front steps, which has been replaced by the Hunds.  Imagine building this house for $200 today???

The families rented rooms at St. Marys and settled in for the winter.  They rented livery buggies and wagons and visited lands in the Mill Creek Valley, where Frederick Raymond and William Pierce had already purchased ranches.   Mr. Raymond and Mr. Pierce were the bachelor nephews of men who were on the board of directors of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad which was mostly controlled by Boston merchants and businessmen.  They advised the Warrens, Cheneys and Thayers to purchase Sectoins 15, 16, 21 and 22 at $1.25 per acre for a total of $3,000.   They purchased all of the land and then sold the north half of Section 16 to the Clothier family for $2.50 per acre netting them $800.

These sums seem minuscule today, when we think of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 600 acre section of pasture land, but to these families who had been wealthy and were suddenly at poverty's door, they were equally significant.

With the remaining $800, the families contracted to have 400 acres of prairie broken and planted to wheat the next spring.   In addition, there was an entire colony of Swedish immigrants living in St. Marys, Kansas.   These families included many talented stone masons.   The Warren and Thayer families contracted with the colony to have stone quarried from their pastures used for the construction of three very large dwellings and two barns.

Two-story identical homes were built for William Henry Warren and Maria Joy Warren and for his parents, Dura and Meletiah (Childs) Warren.   Each of these houses was to have a large parlor, a central hallway, a sitting room with bay window conservatory, a dining room, a large eat-in kitchen, a pantry, and six bedrooms on the second floor.  The third floor was to be finished as two large rooms for storage and dormitory sleeping area for hired help.  The second floor was also to have a "toilet" room which was configured the same as an outhouse, but had chamber pots under the two-hole seats.  Each house was to also have a partial basement with a tornado shelter.   Since stone house collapse into basements when hit by tornadoes, the houses had small "rooms" built in the basements.   The rooms had stone walls with large walnut logs overhead substantial enough to prevent collapse.   The Swedish masons were to quarry the stone and provide construction of stone walls, wooden framing and plastering.    The windows, doors, cabinetry and millwork came from Kansas City, Missouri.

They Thayers also had a stone house built which was slightly smaller and included only four bedrooms but also had a finished attic and a large living room, dining room and eat-in kitchen.   There were porches across both the north and south exteriors.  Albert F. Thayer and William Henry Warren had both received an excellent education which included degrees from the Massachusetts College of Agriculture.   Albert F. Thayer was also hired as a construction engineer for several Midwestern railroads.   Bill Warren said that he recalled his father saying that the houses and barns were designed by William Henry Warren and Albert F. Thayer.

With their hopes soaring, the families awaited the harvest of their 400-acre wheat crop in the late summer, 1874.   Wheat was at an all-time high price and they thought that they would gain enough funds from the sale of their crop to fence in their properties, break more cropland from native pasture ground, and purchase additional seed wheat for 1875.    However, just as the crop was ready to harvest, The Great Grasshopper Plague of 1874 descended upon their fields and those of farmers in the entire Midwest.   Not a single stalk of wheat was harvested.

Bill Warren used to shake his head when I'd ask him about where they got money to survive the winter and plant crops the next year.   He would simply said, "I don't know.   They never said where it came from."   His guess is that other relatives in the East or wealthy friends in Boston and New York lent the money to them, but he said his father never said where the money came from.

Bumper crops were harvested in the next two years, with yields of 30 to 38 bushels per acre.   In 1877, the Maple Hill news reporter for the Wabaunsee Signal Enterprise reported that William H. Warren had purchased a new wheat harvester and binder and would be using it on his own farm as well as contracting to harvest grain on other farms.  The families were doing well.

In 1885, disaster again visited the new settlers.   The following article was included in the Maple Hill News items:  December 9 – A serious fire occurred in Maple Hill on Thursday morning when the beautiful stone residence of Mr. and Mrs. Dura Warren with the contents was destroyed.   Mrs. Warren was first made aware of the fire when her maid came into her chamber screaming fire.   They barely got out from upstairs when parts began to collapse.  The men were husking in the field and Rev. Crouch and family, who live opposite their former home, were there almost as quickly as the women got out, but the fire was too hot and all was lost.  Mr. Isaac Stephenson was nearly killed while trying to retrieve winter provisions from the basement when the walls caved in on him but miraculously escaped.  The source of the fire was a faulty flue.  Neighbors who saw the smoke came from three or four miles.   They will make their temporary home with their daughter-in-law, Mrs. William H. (Maria Joy Cheney) Warren."

Since Mrs. Meletiah Warren was advanced in age, the home was not rebuilt.   The charred basement foundation remained.

In 1890, an acquaintance of William Dura Warren, by the name of Senator William Willets Cocks, purchased 400 acres of land from the Warren family which included the former residence site of Dura and Meletiah (Childs) Warren.   On the old foundation, he built a new eight-room stone house, using the same stone quary on the north side of Old Highway 10, that had been used to provide stone for the earlier stone house.

During the early years of my ownership of this house, I did not know that it had been built on the old Warren House foundation, and I often wondered why all of the basement stone showed signs of being burned.   Much of the stone was red and white, which indicates that it has been exposed to high heat.  Senator Cocks simply cleared out the debris from the fire and used the foundation for his new home.

William Willets Cocks was born at Old Westbury, Nassau County, Long Island on July 24, 1861 and was a contemporary of William Dura Warren.   He was from a wealthy and influencial family and was the son of Isaac Hicks Cocks and his wife Mary Titus (Willets) Cocks.   The Cocks were Quakers and attended meetings weekly near Old Westbury.


Senator William Willets Cocks, Old Westbury, Nassau County, Long Island, New York

William Cocks served as Road Commissioner for Nassau County, during the 1890s and was in office when automobiles began to traverse Long Island.   He served as a State Senator from Nassau County and as a New York Assemblyman from 1903 to 1904.   He was elected to Congress in 1905 and served until 1911.

He was the author and sponsor of the first speed limit and automobile laws for New York State and became quite well-known both in New York and nationally for his advocacy of auto safety.  He was know as the "Quaker Congressman.  He had attended school with President Theodore Roosevelt and was one of his close advisers.  Both men graduated form Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

Sen. Cocks owned extensive agricultural interests in "the West" including the property at Maple Hill.   His purpose in buying the ranch in Maple Hill Township, was to raise thoroughbred racing horses, which were shipped East to be trained to race.   After purchasing the land, he hired Walter and David Hamilton to staff the operation, which he called "Long Island Farm."   One of the sires on the farm was the grandson of racing legend "Diomed Wilkes," famous both in Europe and America.  The Hamilton's maiden sister, Janet Hamilton, moved into the new stone house with them.   Although Senator Cocks reserved an upstairs room in the house, he usually stayed at the home of his friend, William Dura Warren, one mile to the east.

Senator Cocks lived on the Cocks Estate at Old Westbury all of his life.  He was elected mayor of Old Westbury in 1924 and served in that role until his death on May 24, 1932.  

The Cocks House, Old Westbury, Nassau County, Long Island, New York, is now registered on the National Register of Historic Plaaces.

His death occurred when he was injured while riding one of his horses on his estate.   There is a coincidence in that William Dura Warren also died as the result of a fall from his horse while riding on his ranch west of Maple Hill---but thirty years later.

Senator Cocks sold Long Island Farm to Ulysses Grant Romig in 1907.  Romig and his father, Henry Joseph Romig, moved from near Manhattan, Geary County, Kansas to adjoining farms three miles west of Maple Hill.   Grant Romig was married to Flora Millie Hulse and they raised seven children in the Cocks farmhouse:  Olive May, Margaret Ann, Wendell Grant, Ulysses Reed, Clifford Willis, Mildred Flora and Kenneth Roy Romig.

Ulysses Grant Romig died in 1948 and the farm and home were sold to Oliver and Shirley Kitchen who lifed there until the early 1960s, when they moved to the South living in Florida and Tennessee.
The farm and home were rented to various families until I bought it in February 1973.

The stone home was in pretty bad shape in 1973.   It had old electrical wiring.   It had never had running water or indoor plumbing.   Raccoons had torn fascia boards off and were living in the attic.  The roof leaked buckets of rain.  We moved into the house on Easter weekend in 1973 and lived in one room until work could be completed in other rooms.

When we bought the house, it had four large bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen, dining room, living room and parlor downstairs.   The house had a full basement.   We first put on a new roof and then tore out a window which went from the kitchen to the enclosed back porch.   We replaced the window with a door and built a new downstairs bath and laundry room in the enclosed back porch.   Then we took out wall partitions for an upstairs bedroom and built a full bath and office area.  That left three large bedrooms upstairs.  We took out all the windows, replaced some of the sash and reglazed all windows.  Plywood flooring was laidd in the attic and two furnaces and air-conditioning systems were installed in the house, one in the attic and the other in the basement.

The house had a central fireplace and chimney which had not been properly supported in the basement, so the entire fireplace was torn out of the house and rebuilt brick by brick.  The old plaster had been loosened over the years and finally the plaster was torn off, new sheetrock was applied and taped and then the walls were papered or painted.    Most of the work was completed during the seven years my family lived in the house, although some was done after we converted it to rental property and moved out-of-state.    We sold the house to Jeff and Annette Willett and their family in 2005.

While we lived there, we called the property Moundview Farm because when you look out the south windows of the house, you see Buffalo Mound in the distance.   Both children, Nicholas and Amelia were born while we lived at Moundview Farm.  We loved the property and enjoyed having large gardens and raising calves while we lived there.    We were sorry to leave but decided that if we wanted to take advantage of our educations, we had to live elsewhere.

Anyhow---that's as much as I know about the stone house west of Maple Hill built in 1890 by Senator William Willets Cocks. 

Happy Trails!

On Summer Hiatus!

I thought I'd write a little today just to let you know that I'm okay----I'm just on summer hiatus.

I've been doing a lot of traveling and haven't had time to do much blog writing.    I just returned from a trip to Kansas, where I attended my 50th High School Reunion at Maple Hill High School.   There were ten in my graduating class and eight of us were present.   It was great to see everyone again.   The other two are alive and well, but live in Ohio and Connecticut and distance prevented them from making the trip.   Go Cowboys and Cowgirls!!!

I'm going to be leaving on July 4th and taking my first river cruise on The Danube, followed by a visit to Mallorca.   I've never seen or experienced the Danube so I'm looking forward to that.   I have visited Mallorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranian.    I liked it very much in 1975---now we'll see what has changed.    I'll return to Palm Springs on July 18th and perhaps then, I'll have the time to resume writing.

I had a fun trip to the San Diego Zoo this past weekend.   The giant pandas were great!!  If you've never been to the SDZ, I highly recommend it.   In addition, temperatures were in the 70s in San Diego while they were 110 in Palm Springs---what a difference two hours makes.

A giant panda enjoys a lunch of bamboo shoots in the San Diego Zoo.




I hope this post finds you all well.   Happy Trails!

The Good Ol' Summertime

I now live in Palm Springs, California and every day, the temperature climbs above 100 degrees during the summer.   Temperatures on a normal day between June and September can be 100 to 120 degrees.  When the winds blow, there are often sand storms that create drifts of sand along our streets.  Sometimes, the streets are even closed if the winds get to high.    We normally get about 3" of rain every year and when we do get a thunderstorm, which is fairly uncommon, lightening strikes dry vegetation hanging from palm trees and sets them on fire.   It is a very strange site to see five or six or seven palm trees burning during a thunderstorm!

This is a view of the pool at our complex.    You can see the tall palms in the background.   Sun warms the pool water to about 90-95 degrees in the summer months and electric heat keeps it at 85-90 during the rest of the year.   You expect heat in the desert and that's why most of us live here.  From October through May, the weather is very pleasant.   Daytime highs are normally 70-80 degrees while the evenings cool off into the 50s and 60s.    We seldom have any humidity in the air in Palm Springs, unless we are having a rare flow inland from the Pacific Ocean, which may result in a little drizzle.   Fortunately, there is a huge underground aquifer underneath Palm Springs.   Our Cochella Valley has about 500,000 residents and scientists tell us that we have enough water for 300 years, even with projected growth in population.   Otherwise, the 93 golf courses would be in trouble!

I dare say we could not live without air conditioning.   I was reminded of that yesterday when mine failed.   The temperature in the apartment quickly climbed until it was oppressive.  Luckily it has been restored and it is comfortable again today.

I spent the first thirty years of my life in Wabaunsee County, Kansas.    My family did not have air conditioning when I was growing up.   During June, July, August and early September, the temperatures would often be in the mid to upper 90s and sometimes even top 100 degrees.    In Kansas, we could usually count on very high humidity and wind.   There weren't many times when the air was dry and there was no breeze.   Today everyone has air conditioning and we would suffer greatly without it.

I wasn't born until 1944 and I don't remember having any stretches of intolerably hot weather as my parents and grandparents endured during the 1930s.   This is a quote from the National Weather Service Website:  "Nearly every year in the 1930s was below normal on rainfall, especially during the growing season. Combined with record-setting heat, this produced what is known as the "Dust Bowl Days." Numerous high temperature records, many of which still stand, were set in the mid-1930s. The highest temperature ever recorded in Topeka of 114 degrees occurred on July 24, 1936. Also during that year, the maximum number of 100 degree or greater days, 59, also occurred. The drought and extreme unrelenting heat took its toll on both humans and animals."

My home community, Maple Hill, Kansas, was just 25 miles west of Topeka, so it's easy to see that they suffered mightily from the heat and drought.   I never remember a time when our family didn't have electric fans to help cool us.   But I remember all of my maternal grandparents, Robert and Mildred (McCauley) Corbin and my parents, John L. "Tim" and Lucille (Corbin) Clark, and many of my aunts and uncles and others talking about how torturous it was to live through those times.

This 1935 photograph shows a dust storm approaching.   I don't think Maple Hill ever had anything this severe, but I remember my grandparents and mother talking about having dust so bad that they had to wet sheets and hang them over windows to prevent the dust from coming into the house.   There were many cases of death and illness related to dust storms.   One could get "dust pneumonia" from breathing too much dirt into your lungs.   The temperatures were so hot that it was impossible to close windows and the wind blew so hard that the dust found its way into homes through the smallest cracks in siding and around windows and doors.   There was no way to escape it.

My paternal grandparents, James P. and Mable R. (Jones) Clark, had a big Emerson Electric Fan with a black cast iron body and brass blades.   I remember it well because my grandmother was still using it well into the 1950s.   I wish I knew where it was today because I'll bet it is still working.   They got it in the late 1920s.   My grandmother was the chief operator at the Maple Hill Central Office (telephone exchange) and the United Telephone Company bought the fan to keep the business off cool.   Operators had to sit at the switchboard and needed air movement.   Electric fans were not common in rural homes until the 1940s.

During the 1930s, my mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, was a teenager.   She remembered well how the heat and dust affected her family's life.   She said that it would be stiflingly hot in any upstairs, especially if there was not breeze.   Her mother and maternal grandmother, Lucy Mae (Lemon) McCauley-Banta-Strong made comforters during the winter.   They would take wool fabric, place old clothing or batting in between the layers of fabric, and then take yarn and tie the two pieces together making knots every six or eight inches.    These were taken outside onto porches or just laid on the ground and used for "pallets."    Adults and children slept outside under the stars to keep cool.   They really thought nothing of it because everyone was doing the same thing.

Ice was at a premium during that time.   Few people had refrigerators because few people in rural areas had electricity until the Rural Electrification Administration Act of 1935 began to bring electricity to the farms of America.   Most farms had electricity by the end of World War II in 1946.   I checked the "Maple Hill News Items" and found that the reporter had noted on June 30, 1922 that "Maple Hill is really enjoying our new electric lights."   So houses in town had electric power much earlier than in the country.

Moundview Farm, built by Sen. W. W. Cocks three miles west of Maple Hill, Kansas.  The acetylene gas tank was in the basement of the house.

Before that, most of the houses were lighted with kerosene lamps, with acetylene gas lamps and Rayo lamps using gasoline under pressure.   The old stone house we lived in three miles west of Maple Hill, had been built in 1893 by Sen. W. W. Cocks of Long Island, New York.   It was equipped from the beginning with acetylene gas lamps and the fixtures were still on every wall when we moved into the home in 1973.  There was usually a tank located in the basement where chemicals were combined to "make" acetylene gas.   These could be quite dangerous and could explode and cause many problems.

One way people and children kept cool was by going to the ol' swimming hole.   Mill Creek was located about 1.5 miles south of Maple Hill, and unless it was not running because of drought, provided some relief.    I can remember going to the big, deep "hole" located under the Highway 30 bridge over Mill Creek and going swimming a few times with friends.   My father, John L. "Tim" Clark and his friends used to go often and in addition to swimming, my father developed a real fondness for what he called "hand fishing."   He would swim under water and feel along the banks for holes or dens where big catfish lived.   He would come up for air, go down again, and catch them by the gills and pull them out of their holes.   Some of these fish could be 30 or 40 pounds and not easily landed, but Dad seemed to know how to do it.    Of course, this kind of fishing later became illegal and he quit doing it.  

The riffles just to the east of the deep hole under the Mill Creek highway bridge were also a good place to play and splash.   In my lifetime, I'm quite sure no one was baptized in those riffles, but within the last ten years, Rev. Andrew McHenry baptized many of the congregation there.    About the first or second time I went swimming in the Mill Creek hole, a great big water snake joined me and that was enough to scare me away from the creek.   We didn't have any poisonous water snakes in eastern Kansas, but I really didn't care.   They were big and looked ominous and I didn't want to share my swimming with them.

Writing about Mill Creek and being in the water, reminded me of how my father and his father, James P. Clark, used to break their horses.   Both were considered very good horsemen and my grandfather bought and sold horses for many decades.    Dad always said it was the "Indian" way of breaking the horse.   He would lead the unbroken horse into Mill Creek, and after it was swimming he would get on its back and just swim the horse and swim it until it was exhausted.   Then he would remain on the horse's back and walk it out of the creek.   He would stay on and continue to ride the horse bare back until the horse was used to him and most of the time the horse would never buck.   Then he'd get the horse used to having the saddle on its back and to having the since cords under it's stomach and walla---within a week the horse would be gentle and accept the saddle and rider without any resistance.

Water snakes were scary critters but not poisonous.    I think I've prattled on for enough today.       Hope you're having a good day and not suffering from heat!    Happy Trails!

Love Those Flint Hills of Kansas Along with their Native Plants

Is there anything more beautiful in spring, than the lush, green, rolling Flint Hills of Kansas?

I grew up in the northeast corner of the Flint Hills, known for their native grass pastures, dotted with cattle.    I haven't lived in the Flint Hills of Wabaunsee County, Kansas for nearly 40 years, but I think of them as "home."   Since leaving Kansas in 1978, I've lived in Idaho, Wisconsin, Oregon, Indiana, Texas and California, and as a native Jayhawker I'm usually either teased about Dorothy and Toto or about how  the individual hated driving across flat, dull, Kansas on their way too or from the Rocky Mountains.

I can agree with the flat part, if you're thinking about the western half of the state, but how could anyone say that about Eastern Kansas.   In fact, I was raised at Maple Hill, Kansas which is with in sight of Buffalo Mound, one of the tallest hills in Kansas at 1,269 ft above sea level (isn't Google wonderful!!)

I took this photograph of Buffalo Mound looking southeast across the pastures of the Imthurn Cattle Company.   There is nothing more beautiful than Flint Hills pastures in June when the grasses are at their greenest and the wildflowers are coming into bloom.

In my youth, I climbed Buffalo Mound many times, along with half the population of Maple Hill.  I've fished the pond in the Adams pasture on the east side of Buffalo Mound, where  Warner and Emma Jean Adams and I spend happy hours catching bass and bull heads, which Emma Jeanne prepared delectibly.

The wild strawberry plant looks just like the tame varieties, but the berries are much smaller and a great deal sweeter.   Perhaps that is because you don't pick them until they have reached ripeness on the vine.
  

When my wife and I were first married, we picked wild strawberries in the Adams pasture with Emma Jeanne Adams.   Wild strawberries are very small compared to tame berries but their taste is so sweet and succulent there's no comparison to what you buy in the grocery store today.   We were picking strawberries and I heard a shriek from my wife who announced, "A rattle snake just went between my legs!"    That was our last trip to pick wild strawberries, but they were plentiful and good on the slopes of Buffalo Mound.

Mill Creek, the largest stream in Wabaunsee County, and runs along the north base of Buffalo Mound.  The stream is so beautiful because it drains most of the county's pastureland and rainwater is filtered through the native grasses.  Col. John C. Fremont camped on top Buffalo Mound when his expedition crossed what later became Buffalo Mound in 1842.    Pioneers reported for many years that a large mound of stones, erected to hold Fremont's American flag, was visible until the early 1900s.  

We don't think of otters playing in Mill Creek today, but Fremont reported that the resident Native Americans (probably the Kanza) called the stream "otter creek" because there was so many of these long, brown sleek animals playing along the stream banks.

One of my favorite past times when visiting "home" is to take long drives through Wabaunsee County and enjoy the dirt roads, verdant vistas and many wildflowers.    My mother was pleased, as I am, that Wabaunsee County has banned wind turbines for the production of electric power.    Living near many wind farms in California, I now know how they forever change the landscape.  You could never enjoy the vista below if it was dotted with wild turbines instead of cattle.

This is a photo of "Old #10" which passes through Maple Hill Township.  The photo is taken about 5 miles west of Maple Hill.   If you were to follow the road east, it would take you right into the town of Maple Hill.   It is one of the many dirt and gravel roads which are endangered and thought to be unnecessary in these days when governments want to cut costs and travelers want paved roads.    My paternal grandfather, James Peter "Jim Pete" Clark used to maintain Old #10 in Maple Hill Township with his big four horse hitch of Percheron draft horses.   The picture below was taken around 1915 when he owned and operated the Maple Hill Livery Stable on Main Street.   Visible at the left-hand corner of the photo, is the front porch of the Maple Hill Central Office where my paternal grandmother, Mable R. (Jones) Clark was the chief operator from 1914 to 1958.  The stone building in the background is the blacksmith shop of the Turnbulls.

Native grasses first attracted ranchers to Wabaunsee County, Kansas and the entire Flint Hills Region (which includes a strip across the entire state from north to south) during the 1860s and 1870s.    William Pierce, a gentleman rancher from Boston, Massachusetts, his acquaintance Frederick R. Raymond, Kansas City packing company owner George Fowler, Scotsman William J. Tod, Sen. Frederick Jackson, the Dura and William Warren families, and many others were attracted to the native grass areas of the Mill Creek Valley in Maple Hill Township during the early 1870s.  Native grasses were abundant and so nutritious.   Cattle gained weight fast when pastured on native grasses, and for that reason, ranching became the predominant industry early in the area.

There are four primary native grasses in our pastures:  long stem blue stem, short stem blue stem, Indian grass and side oats gramma.    Native Americans called the long stem blue stem "turkey foot" because it's seed head resembles a turkey foot.   Here's a photo which will illustrate their reasoning.   The photo also includes native yellow cone flower, a form of echinacea.  

Long Stem Blue stem Grass with "turkey foot" seed heads.   Also visible are many yellow coneflowers, part of the echinacea family.

I took this photo in mid-July when there are beautiful summer native flowers.   In addition to the grasses, botanists have identified over 500 other forbs in Kansas prairie growths.

As a youth, I remember Wanda (Mrs. Arthur) Adams spending much of her time on the Saturday before the Old Stone Church Memorial Day Services, going through the Adam's pastures and gathering wildflowers.   She would then put them in old-fashioned baskets and vases and bring them inside putting one bouquet in each of the big gothic windows.

Snow on the Mountain was another favorite.   These native plants with beautiful white and green variegated leaves and flowers are suitable for cutting and make really nice bouquets all by themselves.  Native Americans ate the young tender leaves as a green before the flowers set on and the leaves also had an important medical use.   When dried and used as you would tea leaves, steeping them in hot water, the plant was known to be very effective in the treatment of gout and arthritis. 

Gayfeather was another prairie native flower that I have always enjoyed in the pastures.   It is another of the plants that can be easily grown in your home flower garden and is long lasting in floral arrangements.   Gayfeather also had important medicinal uses.  The bitter-tasting decoction of the tuberous root was used topically for sore throats, and internally as a diuretic to cleanse the lymph and move metabolic wastes. The plant contains coumarin which enhances the circulation and increases anti-coagulant activity.    All of these wildflowers had important reasons to be cultivated.    Did you ever wonderful why Native Americans burned the prairie grass in late October and early November, instead of when we burn it in the spring?   The reason was to promote the continued growth and health of forbs (herbs and wildflowers.)   Forbs provided much of the Native People's food and all of their medicines.    They were important to sustain.    When you burn grasses in the spring, it is intended to get rid of many of the forbs and promote the health of grasses.

The common Milkweed really isn't very pretty.   It can't be cut and used in floral arrangements.   It has a white milky substance that is poisonous if ingested and is very sticky.   It spreads easily when its fluffy white seeds are blown across the countryside.   It is treated as a common pest when it comes up in cultivated fields.   But the milkweed was one of the most important native plants of any the Native Americans made use of.    Without the milk weed, Native People would not have been able to weave the fine bags in which they kept their dried meats and other foods.   Finely woven bags of milkweed fiber also held their seeds for next year's planting.   Often times the nets and sanes that they made were woven from milk weed fibre.   Many examples of these bags and weavings have been found in prehistoric and historic collections and traditional Native People are still weaving them.   I learned how to do it myself.  The leaves are stripped away from the long stems, the bark is carefully removed, and within are long, strong white fibers that are as long was the stem of the plant.   These fibers are dried and the ends are rolled on top your leg to join the fibers together to make fine, long lengths of silky fiber.

Teas made using Milkweed leaves were used as a diuretic but the latex-like substance milkweeds produce is poisonous to animals and humans when used in excess so it is not generally used as a medicinal plant.   Early European explorers in Kansas reported that the Native Americans used the latex substance produced by Milkweed as a natural remedy for sunburn.   Native Americans also lined the soft doe or rabbit skin diapers they used on their babies with the white fluffy seeds from Milkweed.

How many of you remember gathering the silky milkweed pods during World War II so that the white fibers could be used as insulating lining for jackets, coats and sleeping bags by the US Military?    Milkweed fiber was much prized and it was patriotic duty to collect and donate it.

Last but not least, the white substance produced by milkweed plans actually does contain 1% to 2% latex, just like the latex used in rubber.    Milkweed is grown commercially in Germany and other countries specifically for it's latex.

There aren't very many areas where you can still find fences with hedge posts anymore.   Hedge posts were used in Maple Hill Township by the 1870s and were the primary fence building post from the 1890s through the 1940s.    The posts were resistant to the burning that occurred each spring but would eventually catch fire if dry enough.  Hedge wood was very dense and fence staples pounded into hedge were there to stay!!  Stone posts never caught on in eastern Kansas as they did in the western part of the state.   Today, mostly metal posts are used.

I won't go on and on but I do want to mention the native sunflowers that are so abundant in Kansas.  I took this photograph along Old Number #10 in western Maple Hill Township.    I grew up hearing my maternal great grandmother, Lucy (Lemon) Mccauley-Banta-Strong telling me and showing me how the amber-colored sap of the native sunflower can be chewed and used as gum.   Grandmother would turn the leaf over where it joins the stem, press her fingernail into the soft area, and would wait for the sap to ooze out.   She would then put it in her mouth and chew on it.    We naturally did the same thing.   It wasn't as good as gum because it didn't have the mint flavor, but to pioneer children, it was something they could use as chewing gum.

Sunflowers are absolutely essential to our good health.    We know that sunflower oil is very healthy for cooking.   We also know that sunflower seeds are a low-fat containing only 48 calories per ounce.  Native Americans used the tea of the flowers for lung ailments, malaria. Leaf tea was used for high fevers.  A poultice of roots was applied to snakebites and spider bites. Seeds and leaves are diuretic and expectorant. Sunflower seeds contain all the important nutrients that benefit the eyes and relieve constipation.  Sunflower seeds are extremely high in iron content, higher than liver! Sunflower tea is useful against dysentery, inflammations of the bladder and kidney. The leaves are astringent and used in herbal tobaccos.

Sunflowers were absolutely essential to the Native American diet.   Native Peoples collected the sunflower seeds, hulled them and then either pulverized them into flour for high protein cakes, or ate them raw and roasted.   Along with cattail pollen, the sunflower flour provided almost all of the Native's breads.   They would mix the sunflower flour with animal fat or grease and if sweetness was desired, a little honey and these "energy cakes" would last for weeks without spoiling.

Here's something you probably didn't know.   Sunflowers absorb toxins from the soil.   After the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in Russia, as much of the ground as could be cultivated was planted to sunflowers.   The plants were said to absorb the nuclear waste through the roots and into their stems and leaves.   The plants were then burned and the nuclear waste was collected.

We need to be more careful about what we call "weeds."   God put them here for a purpose!

I'm sure many of my readers are saying, "There he goes again!   He began talking about the beauty of native pastures and ended up talking about the Chernobyl Disaster."    Well, so be it!   That's just the direction my thought processes took me on today.

I am thankful for grandparents and parents who taught me to understand and respect native plants of all kinds.

Happy trails!

The Children of John L. "Tim" and Lucille (Corbin) Clark: The Twins - Steven and Stanley Clark

I'm sure my mother and father thought the time of rearing children had passed for them, but in June 1954, my mother announced to our family that we were going to have a brother or sister.   I was born in 1944 and my brother Gary in 1947, so a number of years had passed.

My mother always said "No baby is an accident."   She thought it was awful when people said that, particularly in the years after the child was born when a statement like that could cause a lot of harm psychologically.    But my mother never looked back, she always hoped for the best and didn't think about anything else.

Lucille and Tim Clark were both 39.   Mother seemed to have a normal pregnancy.    She went to Dr. Orval Smith in St. Marys for her prenatal care, such as it was in those days.   She had gained 50 pounds when she was pregnant with me, and she gained 54 pounds with her third pregnancy, so she didn't think too much about it.   I weighed 9 pounds and 10 ounces and each of the twins weighed over 6 pounds at birth, so it didn't seem too much different, except for the mass.   She knew this baby was a lot bigger than any she'd had previously but Dr. Smith told her that he only heard one heartbeat.

My brother Gary Wayne and I were hoping for a sister.    We talked about a sister and planned for a sister but sometimes we don't get what we want.    Gary Wayne Clark was born on January 26, 1947 and even though my Mom was miserable and mostly resting as much as she could, she made a big chocolate cake for Gary's birthday.   That evening, Grandmother Mable (Jones) Clark, Grandmother and Grandfather Robert and Mildred (McCauley) Corbin, and cousins Charlie and Bonnie Mitchell came for supper and we had a good time.  Aunt Sarah (Corbin) and Uncle Leslie Justice dropped for cake as did Aunt Vivian (Corbin) and Uncle George Wild.    We went to bed about 10pm and I don't remember hearing a sound during the night, but my mom awakened by dad about midnight and told him that she was in labor.

They telephoned Grandmother Corbin who came and they left for the hospital in Wamego, Kansas.  The next morning, Gary and I awakened and Grandmother Corbin fixed breakfast and told us that mom and dad had gone to the hospital and we would soon hear about our new little sister.   By then, our enthusiasm for a little girl had become infectious and we all believed it would be a girl.

Shortly before we left for school, the telephone rang and it was my Dad.   Gary and I listened to the conversation and hear Grandmother Corbin use a lot of words for shock and surprise---but she held the phone receiver down and said, "Your Dad wants to talk to you."    Gary and I walked over to the phone and could hear him say, "Boys, guess what we have."   Gary and I both shouted "A sister" into the phone but Dad said, "No sister but you have twin brothers, Steve and Stan."    Our disappointment lasted about two seconds since having twin boys was going to be lots of fun in future years.

The twins surprised Dr. Smith and my parents.   No one had expected twins.   So my grandmothers and Aunt Bonnie (Thomas) Mitchell all joined together and started finding an addition crib, clothing and supplies that would be needed----including an additional 48 cloth diapers.   Disposable diapers were not yet being commonly used in 1959.    These ladies had already planned to repaper my parents bedroom and do some painting while they were gone, and they did that work in addition.  So seven days after their birth, they arrived at their new home in Maple Hill.    Gary and I were amazed at how much attention twins brought to our family.   It seemed the house was always full of family and friends.  My mom distributed all the family pictures that were pertinent to her four sons, so I don't have many photos of Steve and Stan Clark as children, but I'll share what I have in this blog.

This is a photo of Lucille (Corbin) Clark with twin sons Stanley J. (left) and Steven K. (right) Clark in our living room in Maple Hill, summer, 1955.

L-R:  Mable R. (Jones) Clark, Stanley J. Clark, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, and Steven K. Clark taken in the back yard at the Maple Hill Central Office, Maple Hill Kansas.    It would also appear this photo was taken in summer, 1955.   Seeing the propane tank in the background reminds me of how happy Grandmother was when she didn't have to build coal fires every morning in the heating and cook stoves.   I believe the telephone company installed propane in about 1952 or 1953.

This is a photo of Susanna Jeanetta (Rinehardt) Jones, second wife of Leander Emory Jones and step-great grandmother to Stanley J. and Steven K. Clark.   We always called her Grandma Jones and she lived just one house from us, and gave our family the two lots in 1959 on which to locate our new home.    She had terrible diabetes and lost her leg to the disease.   She had an artificial leg and got around fairly well.   She always had peppermint candies on her kitchen table and was very good to our family.

This is the earliest photo of the twins I have.   It was taken when they were about three months old in 1955.   Stanley J. is on the left and Steven K. is on the right.   They were very happy little babies and mother always made little "curls" on top their heads.

This is a photo of John L. "Tim" Clark with twin sons Steven K. on the left and Stanley J. Clark on the right.   It was taken in summer, 1955 at the back porch of the Maple Hill Central Office, Maple Hill, Kansas.   My dad was always so proud of the twins.   They turned out to be carbon copies of my dad, loving to play sports and fish and hunt.    They still do.

Steve and Stan Clark grew up in Maple Hill, Kansas and attended Maple Hill Grade School.   By the time they started to high school, Maple Hill had closed its high school and consolidated with Alma so they graduated from Wabaunsee High School at Alma, Kansas.    Steve and Stan were both outstanding athletes and played all sports as well as playing ball on summer teams at Maple Hill.  Since I was 10 years older, I remember going to their basketball games after I was married and living in Maple Hill.    Again, I don't have many photos of the twins in their school years, but I'll share them here.

These are all photos of Steven K. Clark.   The upper left is his third grade photo.   The upper right is his fifth grade photo and the photo opposite is his 8th grade photo.   So far I haven't "unearthed" photos of Stanley J. Clark in pictures given to me by my Mom and Grandmothers, but I will keep looking and add them if I find them.

This photograph was taken in 1982.   L-R standing are Nicholas L. Clark, Steven K. Clark, Gary Wayne Clark and Stanley J. Clark.   L-R are Nicholas L. Clark, II, Mable R. (Jones) Clark and Amelia M.V. "Amy" (Clark) Allendorf.    The photo was taken at the 40th wedding anniversary for Lucille (Corbin) and John L. "Tim" Clark.

Steven K. Clark, was married to Brenda (Harris) Clark on September 15, 1982 in Topeka, Kansas.  The photo above is of Steven's family.   L-R in the back row are:  Nicholas L. Clark, Sr. holding daughter Amelia M. V. "Amy" Clark, Verona S. (Little) Clark, John L. "Tim" Clark, Brenda (Harris) Clark, Steven K. Clark, Terry (O'Dell) Clark, Gary W. Clark, Judy (Henderson) Clark and Stanley J. Clark.   L-R in the front row are:  Nicholas L. Clark, II, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, Mildred M. (McCauley) Corbin-Clark, and Mable R. (Jones) Clark.

Steven and Brenda have lived most of their married life in Topeka, Kansas where Steve was employed by Cormery-O'Niel Veterans Administration Medical Center.    Steve retired from the VA Hospsital in 2010 with over 30 years of service.    Brenda (Harris) Clark is a very talented artist and worked in several mediums.   Professionally, she has been an administrative assistant.

Steven and Brenda are the parents of two children:   Timothy John Clark born October 30, 1983 and Katy Lynn Clark born June 13, 1987, both in Topeka, Kansas.   From the beginning, Timothy John has been called T. J.    T. J. graduated from Highland Park High School in Topeka, Kansas where he was active in music and theater.   He is now a pharmacy assistant at Comery-O'Niel VA Medical Center in Topeka.

This photograph was taken in 2001.   L-R are:  Katy Lynn Clark, Steven K. Clark, Timothy John "T.J." Clark and Brenda (Harris) Clark

Katy Lynn Clark also graduated from Highland Park High School in Topeka.   Katy was active in sports and enjoyed playing soccer.  Katy and Josh Ray (born November 8, 1983) are the parents of Noah Porter Ray (born February 26, 2011) and live in Topeka, Kansas. L-R are Katy Lynn, Noah and Josh Ray.

Stanley J. Clark was married to Karen Cochran on March 9, 1985 in Topeka, Kansas.   Karen is the daughter of Clayton and Norma Cochran and has spent all of her life in Shawnee County, Kansas.   Stan and Karen are the parents of a son, Joshua James Clark, who was born on August 30, 1985 at Topeka, Kansas.    Stan is employed by Cormery-O'Neil Veterans Administration Medical Center in Topeka, Kansas and Karen is employed by the State of Kansas and works in the Secretary of State's office.

This photo was taken at Gary Clark's home in Maple Hill, Kansas on Thanksgiving Day, 2002.

L-R are:  Josh Clark, Steve Clark, Katy Clark, Brenda Clark, Stan Clark, Lucille Clark, Gary Clark, Karen Clark, T. J. Clark, and Nick Clark.

Decoration Day/Memorial Day Memories

This weekend has traditionally been significant in the history of my hometown, Maple Hill, Kansas.

As a youth of 10 or 12, I remember everyone calling this Decoration Day.   Over the years, it became known as Memorial Day, a time when we pause to remember our family, friends and others who have served in the armed forces of the United States.

This year will be no exception as folks gather for Memorial Day services at the Old Stone Church and Maple Hill Cemetery.    The Old Stone Church, or Eliot Congregational Church, as it was known initially, is the parent church of the present Maple Hill Community Congregational Church.   Once each year, on Memorial Day, MHCCC holds its services at the Old Stone Church to honor its heritage and to salute veterans of the church and those buried in the cemetery that surrounds it.

This photo was taken in 2011 and shows members of the James Elmer Romick American Legion Post at Maple Hill lined up to fire a salute, play taps and then escort the colors into the church.  That has been the tradition as long as I can remember.

The Eliot Congregational Church, commonly known as the Old Stone Church, was dedicated in 1882 and was twice destroyed and rebuilt.   In 1955, the church burned to the ground leaving only the stone walls.   It was repaired and rededicated in 1963.    In 1994, the church including the stone walls, was destroyed by a tornado.    It was loving restored using the original stone, and rededicated in 1997.    Nothing was changed except new, modern windows were installed. 
The Avenue of Flags was a project of the American Legion Auxiliary, and many donated money to make it possible to have one flag for each of the fifty states line the cemetery road.

This photo of my mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark and oldest son Nicholas L. Clark, Sr. was taken in 2010.   My Mom would shame me for saying that she was proud of her work with and for the Legion and America Legion Auxiliary, but she was a member for 73 years and served as president of the American Legion Auxiliary for many decades.  

Over the past ten years or so, a new feature has been included with Civil War reinactors bringing their cannon to the cemetery and firing their own salute to those veterans who are buried there.   The "soldiers" come in their respective uniforms, form ranks and fire the salute.   It's a very nice tribute.

My maternal grandmother, Mildred (McCauley) Corbin, all of my aunts, Joan (Corbin) Andrews-Frazier, Sarah Emma (Corbin) Justice, and Vivian (Corbin) Wild were members of the American Legion Auxiliary and worked on various projects.   My cousin, Bonnie (Thomas) Mitchell was also involved for many decades and her brother, Pinkney Thomas, was commander of the American Legion in Oklahoma.  It was decided that the Legion and American Legion needed a permanent home and meeting place in the community and funds were donated to purchase a lot on Main Street and build a new, brick American Legion Hall.

I have purchased many picture post cards of Maple Hill on Internet auction sites, and among them was this one.

I don't know the exact date when the photograph was taken, but the post card was used and the stamp cancelled in September 1916.   When I initially purchased the card, I thought that it was a photograph of the newly completed American Legion Hall.   But after closer examination, it was evident that the two-story brick building was instead the David Stewart General Store.  The Maple Hill Masonic Hall occupied the entire second floor.  This building burned in 1919 and the American Legion Hall was built on the same lot on the west side of Main Street in 1921.

Maple Hill was visited by many horrendous fires during it's early history.   Nearly every building was burned to the ground on both the east and west sides of Main Street.   The Stewart Family certainly sustained many losses during that time.   From the Maple Hill News Items in area papers, I've collected a little history of the Stewart family's businesses.

June 1890 - Gilbert Stewart, Maple Hill's pioneer butcher, has sold his business to his sons, David and Robert.    Gilbert Stewart came to Maple Hill from Paxico soon after the town was established and has been an integral part of the community since.

May 1901 - Fire destroyed nearly all the west wide of Main Street including Gilbert Stewart's Meat Market and Ice House.

July 19, 1901 - Dolly and Stewart's (David Stewart) stored burned to the ground.   Robert Stewart's barbershop also burned.

December 1902 - The newly constructed building owned by Dolly and Stewart burned to the ground.

October 20, 1903 - David Stewart's store burned to the ground but the building and contents were covered by $10,000 in insurance and he will rebuild.This time, the building will be brick and stone.

April 1919 - David Stewart has sold his store to Sam Wiley and will retire.

December 12, 1919 - Sam Wiley's two-story store and the Masonic Hall, burned to the ground last night and was a total loss.   Wiley had no insurance.

David Stewart went back into the grocery store business in 1924, but not in that location.   He purchased the store and goods of Russell T. Updegraff and continued in business until 1927 when he again sold his store and retired.

The Maple Hill American Legion Hall was destroyed in January 2002 when a heavy ice storm collapsed the roof.   The second story fell into the first and onto other nearby buildings.   Luckily no one was injured but it was decided not to rebuild the American Legion Hall.

On Sunday, May 27, 2012 friends and families will gather at the Old Stone Church to honor our veterans, just as they have for nearly 100 years.

Happy Trails!