Lincoln County

Builders: John Riley Hendrickson

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By Thelma J. McMullen
Lincoln Sentinel-Republican, October 26, 1939

John Riley Hendrickson, the oldest son of the late Martin Hendrickson, moved to Lincoln county, Kansas, from Davis County, Indiana, with his family in October 1866, when he was nine years old. The Hendrickson family lived two miles east of the present site of Lincoln in a little shed covered with straw. The claim on which Martin Hendrickson settled was situated in Colorado Township. John Riley recalls that about the first thing he learned to do was shoot a gun. Martin Hendrickson was a great hunter and because his eyesight was poor, John Riley was privileged to accompany his father on practically every excursion he made. Buffalo hides sold at $2.50 each, and it was possible to load 80 at a time on one wagon.

Martin Hendrickson, lovingly known by many as "Uncle Mart," was one of the pioneers in Lincoln County, who lived long enough to witness all the changes which transformed a territory of buffalo, Indians, wolves, grasshoppers, drouth and lawless men, into an improved and well-ordered land of plenty that reaped prosperity until quite recent years. Uncle Mart gave freely of both his physical power and kindhearted friendship in furthering the changes made during the aforementioned transformation of the territory to which he had brought his family. It is said that Mr. Hendrickson was ever willing to do without personal needs if by so doing he could help promote a just cause. Among the material contributions Mr. Hendrickson made during his lifetime was a donation of $1000 which he gave to the Kansas Christian College, at one time a popular institution founded in Lincoln and situated where the modern high school building now stands.

Uncle Mart was a man unlettered and approaching the prime of line when he first settled in Kansas; his kind deeds and courageous strength, however, compensated for any educational shortcomings he may have had. The land for miles to the east and for hundreds of miles to the west was virtually a primitive wilderness, thus making Mr. Hendrickson's task of carving a home and future for himself and his little family a very discouraging aspect. The river valley sod was very tough; two yoke of oxen required to draw a single plow. Oxen were preferred to horses because they were stronger and could subsist cheaply on a ration which consistted mostly of the rich, wild grasses that grew in this part of the country at that time.

The Union Pacific Railroad was built through along the Smokey Hill River, many miles south of where Hendricksons had settled on the Salina. Junction City was the nearest mill prior to the arrival of the railroad at Salina. It was customary at one time to drive 100 miles to the nearest mill and pay $12 for a barrel of salt.

It is recalled that 16 days was required for completing a round trip to the mill at Junction City on one occasion; Mr. Martin Hendrickson was accompanied by Tom Faith and two brothers by the name of Henderson. They encountered numerous extreme difficulties which started when they were obliged to pay $2.50 a bushel for some corn to take to the mill to be ground into meal. The rainy weather which prevailed at the time caused the streams to be swollen, thus making it impossible for them to deliver their grist to mill when they reached Junction City; the river between the road and the mill was running bankfull. Having removed the box from one of the wagons for the purpose of converting it into a boat, Uncle Mart proceeded to ferry the grist over in the improvised craft; when it was ground, he returned with it in the same crude and dangerous vessel. Returning to Lincoln, the men were confronted by further difficulties upon reaching the Solomon River which was flowing beyond its banks for a distance of six miles. Cold weather had set in and caused the water to running mush ice. Uncle Mart's yoke of oxen, the largest in the outfit, took the lead across the flooded area; Uncle Mart waded beside his oxen. The water was so deep in one place that it nearly floated the beds from the wagon. Uncle Mart's oxen had to carry the wagons through this particular spot, one at a time. More than three hours were required for the little party to cross the inundated country with water and slush ice running from the knee deep to four feet most of the way. ' At last, Mr. Henrickson found that the neighbors had eaten all of his seed corn.

The year 1867 was so filled with the horrors of Indian raids, that Uncle Mart left with his family only to find that he had brought [unreadable] into the midst of the dangers he had intended to escape when he returned the following year.

On May 30, 1869, he with John S. Strange, Thomas Alderdice and other neighbros went to Salina to transact business and purchase a new stock of supplies. Mr. Hendrickson claimed that an inward monitor forewarned him of evil; he was very uneasy and restless, and voiced a desire to return home the following day, the others rejected his plea on the grounds that their horses would be equal to the extra strain. Having gone on to Salina where they subsequently loaded their goods, they received a dispatch there at 10 a.m. the following day, stating the the Cheyennes were on the warpath, plundering and murdering the settlers. The men, returning home as fast as their teams could travel, were all worked up to a high pitch of excitement and anxiety because Hendrickson, seemingly prompted by unusual gifts of foresight, prophesied the coming of a messenger with bad news. A short time after they left Salina, the men sighted a mounted messenger approaching. Before the message was delivered, Uncle Mart, turning to the others, said, "Strange, your boy is killed or captured." Such proved to be the truth of affairs. Although their horses were already fatigued almost to the point of exhaustion, they doubled their haste. Those who had lost loved ones were so nearly beside themselves with grief despair that they urged their horses to still greater exertions. Uncle Mart warned them that they would fail in their purpose entirely if they did not spare their teams. At Hendrickson's house, they found the sole survivor of Alderdice's family, a stepson named Willis Daily, lying on a bed transfixed by an arrow. Mr. Washington Smith, afterwards superintendent of public instruction, assisted by Phil Lantz and Hendrickson, drew out the shaft. The child survived, is in fact still living. One source of information concludes that Mr. Daily draws, or did draw, a pension deducted from the annuities paid to the Cheyennes, of which the band was comprised.

The following was related in full by Martin Hendrickson to the late Mr. John C. Baird, early historian, over 30 years ago, and was eventually published by the late Mr. Adolph Roenigk in his "Pioneer History of Kansas."

"During the summer of 1868, a party of thieving Pawnee (perhaps Cheyennes) struck across the northwest part of the county, frightening the settlers, stealing horses and capturing three white women; one of the women, Mrs. Bacon, was so terribly unnerved by the frightful circumstance attending her capture, that she was uanble to sit on the horse, which the savage gave her to ride, and either fell off, or was voluntarily liberated by her captors. The exact details of her horrible experience she could never fully recollect. At any rate, she was left wandering on the pathless prairie in the darkness of the night, as utterly wretched and forsaken as any creation of Dante's fertile imagination. Her home was on the banks of a small stream, which to this day is called Bacon Creek. When the Indians made the attack upon the cabin, she and her husband ran to some timber nearby. She was overtaken and carried away; he concealed himself in a hollow log, around which the Indians vainly searched, until after nightfall, when he made his way, barefooted, over 26 miles of prairie, arriving at Mart Hendrickson's after midnight. From stepping on small stones and the fearful spines of cacti, Bacon's feet were, as Uncle Mart affirms, "A gore of blood." The unfortunate man was in a pitiable condition, both physically and mentally. His account of the fearful experience he had passed through was incoherent. When asked about his family he said, "He did not expect to see Janie (his wife) for three long years." Hendrickson did what he could for the afflicted man and prepared to make a search for the woman. He says he was exasperated at the way in which Bacon talked, seeming to feel more concern for the property he had left on his claim than for the dreaful fate of his wife. It turned out that all three of the women had escaped, or were set free. Hendrickson prevailed upon a young man to accompany him in a search for them, and rather poorly armed, they set out, going in the direction of Bacon's claim. After traveling a number of miles he saw what he thought was a human figure ahead. His companion, fearing an ambuscade, wanted to turn back, but Uncle Mart kept on until satisfied it was one of the women. Of all the clothing she had one when captured, there remained only the yoke of the bodice.

"The day was cool; Uncle Mart wore a long coat. With the chivalry of an olden knight, he removed this coat and turning away, awaited until the woman (who was Mrs. Bacon) had enveloped herself in its ample folds. She was so exhausted that he was obliged to hold her on his horse all the four miles back to his home (where it took Mrs. Martin Hendrickson most of a day to clean the unfortunate woman's body and untangle her matted hair. One authority also states that Mrs. Bacon had a baby which she still held when she was found wandering on the prairie, and that both were critically hurt.) When she had recovered her strength she returned to her parents in the east and Bacon became a wanderer on the face of the earth."

Mr. Martin Hendrickson's children who survive his passing, include John Riley, Lincoln; Dave, west of Lincoln; Mrs. Mary Webb, Lincoln; Mrs. Susan Colvin, Montana; William, youngest of his family, east of Lincoln.

John Riley Hendrickson was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Green, daughter of Mr. William (Uncle Billy) Green on January 11, 1879. Immediately following their marriage 60 years ago, Mr. and Mrs. John Riley Hendrickson lived two miles due west of where Lincoln's Main Street is located. Mrs. Hendrickson, the youngest of her father's living children, accompanied her widowed father to Kansas from Illinois when she was 15 years old. She recalls that it was almost impossible to raise anything the first few years after they settled in Lincoln County.

Many are the friends in Lincoln who count it a privilege to have in their midst a beloved couple who have through their endurance, contributed as much toward the building of their community as have Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Hendrickson.

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