Lindsey - Nichols: "A Grand Union" 1939 -1993

By Steven E. Lindsey and Marvin L. Lindsey

Our ancestors began arriving in eastern Kansas about 1855. Few white people were in Kansas at that time as it was illegal to settle in Indian Territory until the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. But soon thousands of newcomers began arriving, especially after the Civil War, and by 1900 the area was fully settled.

But life remained largely unchanged from that experienced by people for thousands of years previously. Automobiles, telephones, television, tractors, air travel, electricity and good roads did not exist on the farm in 1900 much less in 1855. The United States was still an agrarian society dependent on horse power supplemented by a few railroads and steam engines. Things were about to change dramatically!

Between 1900 and 1920 widespread introduction of tractors, automobiles, airplanes, radio and telephones changed life on the farm forever. Our grandparents and great grandparents not only lived through and adapted to these profound changes, they fought and won WWI. Drought and depression followed in the 1930s and then they won WWII in the 1940s.

We came along about that time as the sixth generation of Lindseys in the area and the first post WWII generation. Much of the life our ancestors knew on the frontier had already passed, but remnants still existed. Most importantly, many of our ancestors who had lived through and experienced these times were still around and were eager to share their life stories with us. We soaked it up and have now tried to pass it on.

We think you will enjoy learning something of what it was like growing up on the farm in the 1940s and 50s and hearing of our ancestors lives in early Kansas. In many ways it was a simpler life then but it certainly wasnt easy.

Marvin and Steven Lindsey

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463429522

Steven E. Lindsey

Marvin and Steven Lindsey grew up in rural southeastern Miami County, Kansas in the 1940’s and 50’s. As part of the sixth generation extending from early settlers of the area, their personal experiences and extensive family knowledge of previous generations provides an interesting perspective on the life and times of the period beginning about 1850. Currently residing in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Concordia, Kansas, respectively they have long been interested in their family history and preserving it for future generations.

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Contents

FOREWARD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

OUR ANCESTORS

OUR DESCENDANTS

KANSAS – A BECKONING LAND

SE MIAMI COUNTY KANSAS – A PLACE TO STAY

EARLY COMMUNITY AND CULTURAL LIFE

THE FINAL RESTING PLACE

MEMORIES OF OUR YOUTH IN THE 1940’S & 50’S

OUR FAMILY TREES

OUR OWN FAMILIES

UNCLES, AUNTS AND FIRST COUSINS

E L JACK LINDSEY FLIGHT LOG 1943-45

TIMELINE TO IMPORTANT EVENTS

A FAMILY HISTORY

OF THE

LINDSEY AND NICHOLS FAMILIES

OF

MIAMI COUNTY, KANSAS

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Jack, Sarah, Marvin and Steven Lindsey- 1947/48

THE GRANDCHILDREN OF JACK AND SARAH

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1975 – Troy, Todd, Beth, Brian and Bruce Lindsey

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1989 – Bruce, Beth and Brian

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1987 – Troy and Todd

DEDICATION

This book has been created for, and is lovingly dedicated

to

the children of Marvin and Steven Lindsey

and

the grandchildren of E. L. Jack and Sarah Nichols Lindsey;

Todd Alan Lindsey,

Elizabeth Ann Lindsey Southers,

Brian Lawrence Lindsey,

Troy Christian Lindsey,

Bruce William Lindsey,

and

their present and future descendants

in order that all might better understand and appreciate their

heritage and the life, faith and sacrifices of their ancestors.

FOREWARD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are part of the sixth generation of Lindseys and fourth generation of Nichols to call the gently rolling hills of eastern Miami and Linn County, Kansas, home. With the passing of our parents, E. L. Jack and Sarah Nichols Lindsey in 2003 and 1993 respectively, it is unlikely that we, or any of our descendants, will ever again permanently reside in this area and make it home. Thus a unique period, extending 150 years from the time our ancestors first arrived in the area, has come to an end for our branch of the family. It therefore seemed appropriate to undertake this project so that future generations will have some idea of who they are and where they came from, as well as an understanding of the faith, character, lifestyle, experiences and personal hardships faced by their ancestors. May each of you read this with awe and pride and may God bless you and your families as He has our ancestors and us.

We are indebted to our mother, Sarah Nichols Lindsey, and our grandmother, Ethel Shrake Lindsey, for collecting and documenting much of the information contained in this book. We have also utilized our own resources and the internet to verify their information and to add to the ancestral tree(s) wherever possible. We have made every effort to ensure the data is correct but it is likely that a few errors have crept into our work. We apologize for any our readers might find. For reference of future family historians, the images and other documentation for this work have been organized, filed and retained by Marvin in the family files as of the date of printing.

Marvin L. Lindsey, Steamboat Springs, CO

Steven E. Lindsey, Concordia, KS

OUR ANCESTORS

The ancestors we knew personally extended through our great grandparents. They are listed below to aid our readers in the journey through their history.

GREAT GRANDPARENTS:

PATERNAL:

William Albert Bert Lindsey     1866-1954     (88)

Blanch Frances Richards Lindsey     1870-1935     (65)

George Wyman Shrake     1858-1942     (84)

Lena Della Ree Lee Shrake     1861-1930     (69)

MATERNAL:

Jeremiah Vardamann Jerry Nichols     1832-1910     (78)

Mary Ella Whitlock Nichols     1839-1910     (71)

Henry Bradley Kasiah     1853-1909     (56)

Sarah Wilhelmina Hamilton Kasiah     1863-1927     (64)

GRANDPARENTS:

PATERNAL:

Willie Lawrence Bill Lindsey     1896-1982     (86)

Ethel Cynthia Blanch Shrake Lindsey     1898-1986     (88)

MATERNAL:

John Edwin Whitlock Ed Nichols I     1869-1955     (86)

Nellie May Kasiah Nichols     1891-1991     (100)

PARENTS:

Elson Lawrence Jack Lindsey     1917-2003     (86)

Sarah Ella Nichols Lindsey     1913-1993     (80)

OURSELVES:

Marvin Lawrence Lindsey     1940 -

Steven Edwin Lindsey     1943 -

OUR DESCENDANTS

Listed below are our descendants as of the writing of this book. They, along with their descendants, are the ones for whom this book has been written.

MARVIN’S DESCENDANTS:

PARENTS:

Marvin Lawrence Lindsey     1940 -

Sara Ann Woodburn Lindsey     1942 -

CHILDREN & GRAND CHILDREN:

Elizabeth Ann Beth Lindsey Southers     1963 -

Frank Vernon Southers II     1964 -

John Addison Jack Southers     1992 -

Lindsey Grace Southers     1994 -

Madeline Emily Maddy Southers     1995 -

Brian Lawrence Lindsey     1967 -

Cynthia Jean Puma Lindsey     1970 -

Brandon Lawrence Lindsey     2000 -

Megan Alexandra Lindsey     2003 -

Bruce William Lindsey     1971 -

Alisha Kjersti Trottier Lindsey     1979 -

Natalie Rose Lindsey     2010 -

STEVEN’S DESCENDANTS:

PARENTS:

Steven Edwin Lindsey     1943 -

Judith Ann Miller Lindsey     1943 -

CHILDREN & GRAND CHILDREN:

Todd Alan Lindsey     1963 -

Mary Jo Jody Martin Lindsey     1964 -

Calvin Taylor Lindsey     1989 -

Troy Christian Lindsey     1968 -

Hilary Anne Mills Lindsey     1970 -

Nathalie Anne Lindsey     1999 -

Allabelle Mills Lindsey     1999 -

Claire Landon Lindsey     2001 -

Eleanor Lauren Lindsey     2003 -

Explanatory Note To Our Readers:

The first five chapters of this book are largely historical in nature intended to describe the events that led eventually to our ancestors settling in eastern Kansas. In these chapters we have placed our thoughts and comments regarding our ancestors or our memories in bold italics and boxed for ease of reference by the reader and to clarify them from the more historical portions. We have not followed this practice in the remaining chapters.

KANSAS – A BECKONING LAND

1800 – An Exciting Time To Be An American

At the beginning of the 19th century the young United States of America was a rapidly growing country and its new experiment in democracy and freedom was getting a lot of attention around the world. In the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, was elected as the third U. S. President.

The United States consisted of only 16 states when Jefferson took office in early 1801. All were east of the Mississippi River and all but Kentucky, Tennessee and western Georgia were east of the Appalachian Mountains. The westward expansion, however, was well underway and settlers were already pouring into the Northwest Territory and the western parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. But, with the exception of a few farsighted individuals, including the new President, there was not much interest in the territory west of the Mississippi River. And, even Jefferson was reluctant to consider expanding the federal government further west, as the area was largely unexplored and generally considered to be a vast desert.

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There was, however, one major issue facing the new western settlers in 1800 - freedom of shipping on the Mississippi River. This issue translated into a national priority to maintain free access to the port of New Orleans, then controlled by Spain. This was essential because the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and their tributaries, were the principle method of shipping goods in and out of all the land west of the Appalachians. This need for access led eventually to Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase in 1803, but clear access was not finally settled until Jackson’s defeat of the British at New Orleans at the end of the War of 1812.

The Louisiana Purchase 1803 – Kansas Becomes Part Of The United States

In 1800 the large territory of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River was physically controlled by Spain. This territory, more than 800,000 square miles in size, comprised all, or most, of 13 present day states as well as the port of New Orleans. Originally settled and claimed for France in the early 18th century, Louisiana had been ceded to Spain in 1762. Under Spanish control, the United States enjoyed duty free access to the port of New Orleans for shipment of goods.

However, Napoleon was considering creating a French empire in the New World and he wanted the Mississippi Valley as a food and trade center to supply the empire. So, in 1800, he secretly forced Spain to return Louisiana to France. Then in 1802, he sent a large army to the island of Hispaniola (present day Dominican Republic) to suppress the Haitian revolution and establish a French foothold in the Caribbean from which to control Louisiana. He also withdrew the duty free privilege for U.S. merchants at New Orleans.

The United States considered these hostile acts and President Jefferson sent future President, James Monroe, to Paris to assist Robert Livingston, minister to France. Their objective was to achieve one of four possible outcomes:

• purchase Florida and New Orleans,

• purchase New Orleans,

• purchase land on the east bank of the Mississippi for an American port,

• or, acquire perpetual rights of navigation and deposit.

About this time Jefferson also read the just published book, Voyages From Montreal, by Canadian Sir Alexander Mackenzie. This aroused his concern regarding the strategic intentions of the British for the Pacific Northwest portion of the continent. So, even while negotiations with France were in question, Jefferson began planning for an expedition across Louisiana Territory to the Pacific.

He envisioned an official expedition designed to achieve political, scientific, and commercial goals. He hoped to discover a water passage through the continent and stake a claim by the United States for the western part of the continent. These two actions, successful negotiations with the French and the expedition to the Pacific, would soon achieve tremendous results for the young republic and establish Jefferson as a most respected and far sighted President.

Meanwhile, Napoleon’s army ran into trouble in Hispaniola losing thousands of soldiers, mainly to yellow fever, and he soon realized that his dream of a North American empire was not possible. Facing war with Great Britain, he could not spare troops to defend Louisiana. He also needed funds to support his military ventures in Europe.

Accordingly, in April 1803, Napoleon suddenly offered to sell all of the Louisiana Territory to the United States. The American envoys quickly agreed and negotiated a price of $15 million dollars.

This amazing agreement doubled the country in size, opened a huge tract of land to settlement, and assured the free navigation of the Mississippi River. Although the Constitution did not specifically empower the federal government to acquire new territory by treaty, Jefferson concluded that the practical benefits to the nation far outweighed the possible violation of the Constitution. The Senate concurred, and quickly ratified the purchase on 20 October 1803.

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Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark Expedition

Exploring The New Lands

In early 1804, Jefferson officially commissioned Captain Meriwether Lewis, his young presidential aide, to lead an exploration of the American West and the Pacific Northwest. Lewis, in turn, recruited his army friend, William Clark, as co-commander and the historic Lewis and Clark Expedition was underway.

Lewis and Clark began their exploration in May of 1804, leaving from St. Louis, and did not return until September of 1806, more than two years later. By this time many feared they had been lost. Their expedition across the rugged, uncharted continent covered about 8,000 miles, mainly following the Missouri and Columbia rivers and their tributaries, and extended all the way to the Pacific. One of their early camps, in June of 1804, was at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers in present day Kansas City. They explored the surrounding area for three days before continuing up the Missouri River.

No doubt our ancestors read and discussed the purchase and ensuing expedition with great interest. The younger ones, in particular, would most certainly have been excited about the prospects of adventure and the opportunity of free land in the new Territory.

Zebulon Pike led another expedition to explore the West in 1806. He traveled across the country, rather than along the rivers. His route took him directly across Kansas and his report of the trip indicated that the Great Plains were largely uninhabitable. Later Major Stephen Long undertook an expedition that explored part of Kansas in 1819 and 1820 and confirmed Pike’s conclusion concerning the habitability of the Great Plains. Of course, both were horribly wrong.

Meanwhile, our ancestors continued to work their way westward. Paternal GGGG Grandfathers George Shrake and Rueben Ash and their families left Kentucky for Indiana around 1810. Maternal GGG Grandfathers James Nichols and John W Lindsey and their families left Virginia for Kentucky about the same time. Paternal GGGG Grandfather Jesse Weaver moved from Tennessee to Missouri, arriving near present day Jefferson City, prior to 1820. As a result, he probably became our first ancestor to settle west of the Mississippi. The Nichols clan soon followed leaving Kentucky for Pike County, Missouri, near Hannibal shortly after 1820. And in 1828 John and Mary Sheppard Whitlock, maternal GG Grandparents, left Kentucky for Illinois. A generation later, the children of these pioneering families would follow in their parent’s footsteps and push on westward to Kansas.

Populating The New Lands

Neither Pike’s nor Long’s report seemed to concern settlers much as they begin to pour across the Mississippi River into Missouri immediately after the purchase of the new lands. St. Louis quickly became a significant city and settlements developed all along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Missouri became a Territory in 1812 and gained statehood as a slave state in 1821 after the passing of the Missouri Compromise, which also admitted Maine as a free state.

In western Missouri the cities of Independence, Westport and Kansas City were all established in the early 1800’s and grew rapidly spurred by expanding trade with Mexico. By the early 1820’s, the Santa Fe Trail, extending from Kansas City to Santa Fe, had become a regular and significant trade route. The trail crossed Kansas diagonally from northeast to southwest and was heavily used until 1880 when the railroad reached Santa Fe.

Settlers soon began to move south from Westport and Independence and settled all along the Missouri side of the Kansas-Missouri border. Present day Missouri border counties of Clay, Cass and Bates were all established between 1820 and 1850. During this period Indian tribes from east of the Mississippi were being resettled in the lands west of Missouri (present day Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma) so it was illegal to settle there.

Our paternal GGG Grandmother, Amanda Weaver, was born in Cole County, Missouri, about 1830, and was probably the first of our ancestor’s to be born west of the Mississippi. Just a short time later, in 1832, G Grandfather Jeremiah Jerry Nichols was born in Pike County, Missouri.

Military Road - Ft. Leavenworth – Ft. Scott – Ft. Gibson

In the 1820’s, the United States began building a series of forts along the western border of Missouri. Placed just inside Indian Territory in the present day states of Kansas and Oklahoma, they were designed to protect trade routes to Mexico and the west coast from Indian raids and to keep settlers out of Indian Territory. The first of these, Fort Gibson, near present day Tulsa, and Fort Leavenworth, just northwest of Kansas City, became the principal forts in the line. Fort Leavenworth, now the oldest military installation west of the Mississippi, still serves as an important military base.

A military road was built between these two forts beginning about 1835 and Fort Scott, situated in Kansas Territory roughly half way between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Gibson, was added to the line in 1842. The new road crossed the river near Trading Post in present day Linn County, Kansas, which, at the time, was a small Indian trading post. The exact route of the

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military road changed from time to time but roughly followed present day US 69 Highway as indicated on the accompanying map. It was along this road that all of our ancestors eventually settled.

The original military survey of the Kansas portion of the road ran west of the Missouri state line in what was then Indian Territory. However, by the latter 1850’s the actual road crossed into Missouri in several places to avoid the more difficult terrain. The heavy dotted line on the map shows the road as it existed about 1857. Note that the portion near the south end of Lykins County, now Miami County, went into Missouri passing through the small town of West Point. The foundations and the cemetery of this now abandoned town are just across the Missouri border east of Jingo, Kansas.

Our paternal GG Grandfather, John T Lindsey, married his second wife in West Point in 1876. Our early ancestors living in the Jingo area probably traded in the small town of West Point since Jingo wasn’t settled until later.

Early Kansas

When Europeans first arrived in the area of present-day Kansas, there were a number of Indian tribes living there. The Kansa, Osage, Pawnee, and Wichita lived along the rivers of eastern and central Kansas where rainfall and game was plentiful. The nomadic tribes of Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Comanche lived on the High Plains of western Kansas and other parts of the Great Plains. This area received less rainfall but buffalo were plentiful and the tall prairie grass grew as high as the belly of a horse.

The Spanish explorer Coronado was probably the first European to enter the area of present day Kansas during his 1541 expedition from Spanish New Mexico. Then in 1682 de La Salle, a French explorer, traveled from Canada down the Mississippi River claiming all the land drained by the river for France. This large territory, which included present day Kansas, soon became known as Louisiana. For years, the French conducted fur trading operations in the area sending traders, trappers and explorers into the lower Missouri River valley. The area of eastern Kansas, where our ancestors eventually settled, shows many indications of this early French presence through geographical place names. The major river in the area is the Maris des Cygnes, which becomes the Osage when it crosses into Missouri, and the largest town near where our ancestors settled is LaCygne, in northern Linn County. In the mid 1700’s the French military occupied a trading post and fort near present-day Leavenworth, Kansas.

Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the subsequent explorations by Pike and Long, United States leaders came to believe that much of the Kansas region was unsuited for white settlement. Needing somewhere to relocate the Indian population from the eastern and Great Lakes states, Congress passed legislation in 1830 establishing a large resettlement area west of the Mississippi River. This area, called Indian Territory, included eastern Kansas. By 1840 the U.S. government relocated more than 11,000 Indians to the Kansas area.

Tribes relocated to eastern Kansas included the Shawnee, Iowa, Potawatomie, Ottawa, Wyandot and Miami. Missionaries followed this Indian migration to work among the tribes and establish schools and missions throughout the area. One of the more famous missions was the Shawnee Methodist Mission in present day Fairway, Kansas, near Overland Park. Today, many city and county names in eastern Kansas bear the names of these relocated Indian tribes.

Kansas 1854 – A United States Territory

Almost before the ink was dry on the Indian relocation agreements, the government was forced to begin renegotiation to provide for settlers moving west. By the mid 1850’s almost all of the Indian lands in Kansas had been reacquired by the government and the tribes again relocated south to the Oklahoma portion of Indian Territory. However, settlement remained illegal in Kansas until the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by Congress in 1854. This act created separate Kansas and Nebraska territories out of the former Indian Territory and allowed territorial inhabitants to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery in the territory. This latter stipulation repealed part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that had prohibited slavery in territories north of latitude 36°30’ (border between Kentucky and Tennessee and southern border of Missouri) except for the state of Missouri.

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Kansas Territory extended well into present day Colorado until 1861 when Kansas became a state

Senator Stephan Douglas of Illinois, a friend and neighbor of our GG Grandfather John Whitlock, sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Douglas, and his supporters, hoped that opening up this portion of Indian Territory would encourage a northern route for the proposed transcontinental railroad rather than a southern route. Instead the bill resulted in proslavery and antislavery factions immediately rushing to Kansas in an attempt to gain political control of the new territory.

Bleeding Kansas 1854-1865 – The Difficulties Of Becoming A State

The Kansas-Nebraska Act resulted in a struggle between citizens from southern states wanting to extend slavery into the new territory and those from northern states determined to stop the spread of slavery. The resulting chaos and violence during this period was called the Border War and the territory soon became known as Bleeding Kansas.

Proslavery and antislavery forces began to establish rival communities in the territory. Lawrence and Topeka became the leading antislavery centers and Leavenworth and Atchison were the main proslavery centers. Of course, not all new settlers came to Kansas because of the struggle over slavery. Many came from the east largely because of the promise of low cost, or free, farm land.

However, the political fight resulted in much turmoil and violence in Kansas Territory between 1855 and 1859. Several elections were held in which fraud and intimidation was rampant. Proslavery forces won the first election but those results were soon overturned in a second election won by free-soil voters. When neither election gained federal approval, the ensuing stalemate resulted in violence and armed conflict.

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Proslavery raids resulted in threats, killings, lootings and burnings all across eastern Kansas. John Brown and his sons retaliated by killing five proslavery supporters near Osawatomie in Miami County. This, and subsequent acts by Brown, made him a national antislavery figure. Raids and skirmishes continued throughout eastern Kansas until finally intervention by federal troops in September of 1856 brought some relief.

The violence continued, however, with attacks, beatings, and occasional killings, usually with no reason except the opposing views on slavery. Miami, Linn and Bourbon Counties along the Kansas – Missouri border all experienced frequent raids by both sides in the argument. The situation finally culminated with the Maris des Cygnes Massacre on 19 May 1858.

On that day about twenty-five men, led by Charles Hamilton, a former proslavery resident of the area, crossed into Kansas from Missouri and began rounding up antislavery men in the Trading Post area of Linn County. Eventually eleven men were captured, all unarmed and most past neighbors of Hamilton. The men were taken to a ravine northeast of Trading Post, lined up and shot. Five of the men were killed. The news of the massacre soon became headlines all over the nation arousing much indignation and concern. John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem on the murder, Le Marais du Cygne, which appeared in the September 1858 Atlantic Monthly and forever memorialized the event.

Two of the men rounded up and shot were William Hairgrove and his son Asa. They were cousins of Grandfather John Nichols from the Whitlock side of the family. They had come to Linn County in 1856 from Illinois. The site of the massacre is a Kansas state park today and is located about 3 miles northeast of Trading Post, Kansas. We visited there several times as we were growing up and held a Lindsey/Woodburn family picnic there in 1977 when we (Marvin and Sara) were preparing to move to New Jersey.

Although the trouble did not cease following this tragic event, it was a turning point in the fight over the matter of slavery in Kansas. Finally, in October of 1859, voters overwhelmingly approved a new state constitution that prohibited slavery. Kansas was admitted to the Union as the 34th state on 29 January 1861. Three months later, in April of 1861, the Civil War began.

As near as we can determine all our ancestors at the time of the Civil War were Union sympathizers and did not own slaves. However, we have confirmed several instances of slave ownership in earlier generations. It is likely there were more, as all of our ancestors were farmers and many had southern roots. Maternal GGGG Grandfather Charles Whitlock was listed in the North Carolina census of 1800 as owning 3 slaves. And in the 1850 Kentucky census, we believe paternal GGGG Grandfather William Lee is listed with one slave. In addition, Grandmother Ethel Shrake Lindsey said that her grandmother, Mary Jane Jones, came from a well to do family in Kentucky that owned slaves. We know little about the Jones line of the family, but they lived in Bath County, Kentucky, in the early 1800’s and, if they owned significant land, it is likely they owned slaves.

Kansas troops served in the Union Army on the plains and saw action in Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and the Indian Territory as well as further east. However there were no large battles within the state. The Battle of Mine Creek, just south of Pleasanton in Linn County, was the largest engagement occurring in Kansas as Union forces pursued a retreating Confederate force under General Sterling Price in October 1864 following his defeat at Westport near Kansas City.

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