Marshall County, one of the original 33 counties created by the first
territorial legislature, is located in the northern tier of counties. The act
defining the boundaries is as follows: "Beginning at the northwest corner of
Nemaha county, thence west on the boundary line 30 miles, thence south 30 miles,
thence east 30 miles, thence north 30 miles to the place of beginning." By the
act of Feb. 16, 1860, the county seat was permanently located at Marysville.
The history of Marshall county goes back to the expedition of Stephen H.
Long, who passed through this territory in 1819 and 1820 on his way from
Pittsburgh to the Rocky mountains. Gen. Fremont led a similar expedition through
what is now Marshall county in the early '40s, and in 1847 John Smith, the
Mormon apostle, with his band of followers from Illinois opened a permanent
trail crossing the Big Blue river 6 miles below the present city of Marysville,
at a place afterward called "Mormon," for the reason that it became a camping
place for these people, who during the next two years crossed the plains by the
thousands. In 1849 this trail was used by California gold hunters and the place
was called "California crossing." Later it was known as Independence crossing.
The first permanent settlement was made at this place by A. G. Woodward in 1848.
The most prominent man in the settlement and early development of the county
was Francis J. Marshall, after whom it was named. He came from Missouri in 1849
and established a ferry at California crossing, but for several seasons he
returned to his old home every winter. In the spring of 1851 he moved his ferry
6 miles up the river and established a trading post where Marysville now stands.
In 1854 James McCloskey, who had been out to the Rocky mountains and had there
married an Indian woman, came with half a dozen other traders and their
families. McCloskey settled near Marshall's ferry and the others settled on the
Vermillion on invitation of a Pottawatomie half-breed by the name of Louis
Tremble.
Early in the spring of 1855 settlements were made in the
southeastern part of the county along the Vermillion. Some of the first to come
were John D. Wells and his family from Kentucky, A. G. Barrett, the Brockmeyer
brothers, Joseph Langdon, Thomas Warren, H. Ashdown and the Farley brothers. A
number of new families located in and around Marysville. In 1857 Smith Martin
took up a claim in Center township and built a cabin. William Reedy and M. T.
Bennett settled on Coon creek; George Guittard and his sons located in the
northwestern part of the county, about 3 miles north of the present town of
Beattie; Blue Rapids City township was settled by James Walter, M. L. Duncan and
others; Blue Rapids township was settled by four brothers—Ambrose, East, Martin
and James Shipp—who located near the present town of Irving. In 1858 Samuel
Smith settled near the east line of Noble township and the next year Isaac
Walker had taken a claim on the west fork of the Vermillion.
The county
was organized in 1855 and the county seat established at Marysville. The first
election was held on March 30 of that year. It was an interesting event. The
Kansas-Nebraska act, which provided for the organization of the territory,
conferred the right to vote upon every "inhabitant" of the territory, otherwise
qualified, who should be an actual settler. Nothing was said about any required
period of residence. A most liberal construction was put upon this provision by
the Missourians who came into the territory by the thousands and voted. The
party which came to Marysville numbered several hundred men who came in wagons
with camping equipment, stayed long enough to vote, and then left. The polling
place was in the "loft" of F. J. Marshall's store. The voter would go up a
stairway far enough for the clerks and judges to see his head, call out a name,
deposit his ballot, go back down, absorb some bad whiskey, think up another name
and repeat the process. It is said that Jonathan Lang of Vermillion (nicknamed
"Shanghai"), after voting all day long between drinks, sprang upon a whiskey
barrel and offered to bet $100 that he had outvoted anybody in the crowd. The
challenge was accepted and the money put up. The investigating committee found
that "Shanghai" had lost the bet, the winning party having deposited nearly 100
votes. It is said that this man had in his possession a St. Louis city directory
and had voted half way through the "A" list. As a result Marysville, which
consisted of only three or four log cabins (although it was the only town in
northern Kansas of any importance at that time), rolled up 1,000 votes. Francis
J. Marshall was elected a member of the territorial legislature.
The
first probate judge of Marshall county was James Doniphan, who held the first
term of court on Oct. 10, 1855. Alexander Clark, the first sheriff, received his
commission in October of that year and was killed the next June while attempting
to arrest two horse thieves. M. L. Duncan was appointed to serve out Clark's
term. James McCloskey was the first county clerk. W. N. Glenn, John D. Wells and
M. L. Duncan were the first commissioners.
In 1856 a colony of 85 South
Carolina men organized at Atchison what they called the Palmetto Town company.
The site of the old ferry at Independence crossing was bought from Francis J.
Marshall for $500 and a town laid out, which was called Palmetto. Among those
who came and settled were J. S. Magill, J. P. Miller, O. D. Prentis, Albert
Morrall, W. B. Jenkins, J. R. Allston, John Vanderhorst, A. S. Vaught and Robert
Y. Shibley. About the same time Marshall laid out a town around his trading post
and ferry which he called Marysville, after his wife. The two communities were
at variance for the next two years, and in some cases their quarrels were
settled with pistols. At last Marshall induced the South Carolinians to move
their town up the river to Marysville.
The first newspaper established in
the county was the Palmetto Kansan, owned by the Palmetto Town company and
edited by J. E. Clardy, in 1857.
The first marriage was in Aug., 1856,
between Timothy Clark and Judy North on the Vermillion. They were married by
Squire Ault at the home of James Smith. The first birth was that of Emma Shipp
in 1857, and the first death was that of Ellis Myers, who froze to death in a
terrible storm in the winter of 1856-57. The first postoffices were Marysville,
1854, Francis Marshall, postmaster; Barrett, 1857, E. Pugh, postmaster; Irving,
1860, M. D. Abbott, postmaster; Waterville, 1860; Lanesburg, 1863, E. Lewis,
postmaster; Nottingham, 1867, D. C. Ault, postmaster.
The population in
1860 was 2,280, well distributed over the county. Churches had been built and
school districts had begun to be organized. The first school was taught by Miss
Jennie Robb in 1859 in Marysville. Other early teachers were Miss Kate Webber,
R. S. Newell and P. O. Robbins. In the spring of 1861 the war broke out and the
growth of the county was retarded for four years. The war department made
Marysville the recruiting station for Washington and Marshall counties. Three
full companies were recruited here. Company K, Ninth Kansas cavalry, which
consisted of 80 men under Capt. Thomas M. Bowen, J. D. Wells as first
lieutenant; Company G, Thirteenth Kansas infantry, recruited in Marysville in
Aug., 1862, Vermillion township, furnished the most of the men, W. S. Blackborn
captain and Thomas Hensel first lieutenant Company E, Thirteenth Kansas
infantry, was recruited in Marysville in the fall of 1862, with Capt. Perry
Hutchinson in command. Company H, Second Kansas cavalry, was made up entirely of
Washington and Marshall county men, and Marshall county men joined other Kansas
regiments and regiments raised in other states. Out of 450 voters Marshall
county furnished in all 431 men for the Union army. At that time Marshall county
was on the border and was at times the seat of panics arising from Indian
depredations. Emigrants, ranchmen and settlers who had ventured farther west
were often driven in. There was some fear that the older settlements would be
attacked while depleted of able-bodied fighters. In 1862 a raid was made into
Washington county. A detachment of troops being recruited at Marysville was sent
out, but no Indians were seen. In 1864 a raid was made on the Little Blue river.
On Aug. 10, 1864, the refugees began arriving at Marysville in wagons, each
party telling of terrible outrages and tortures of those captured. The next day
two companies, one under Capt. Frank Schmidt and one in charge of Lieut.
McCloskey, had been raised and were on their way to the scene of trouble. A
company from Vermillion, under Capt. James Kelley, and one from Irving, under
Capt. T. B. Vaile, joined them. The Marshall county troops were commanded by
Col. E. C. Manning. A brigade expedition of Nemaha, Riley and Washington county
men also went out under the command of Gen. Perry of Seneca. Both expeditions
returned without finding the Indians.
During this time considerable
domestic trouble was caused by what was known as the "Oketo cutoff." In 1863 the
overland stake[sic] route came by Guittard's station through Marysville. The
proprietor of the stage line for some reason did not like Marysville and
proposed to change the route to go through Oketo. Accordingly he built the
"cutoff" at great expense, and in Oct., 1862, the stage began traveling that
route, leaving Marysville several miles to the south. This was bad for the town,
for it not only diverted travel but delayed the mail so that it was sometimes a
month behind the regular time in reaching the town. Instead of daily mail they
would get it twice a week or once in every two weeks with exasperating
irregularity. This precipitated a sort of neighborhood struggle in which no one
was killed, but many tricks played by both sides, some of which were destructive
to property. At one time the United States troops were called out from Fort
Leavenworth to protect the stage line. After losing some $50,000 by the cut-off
the proprietor of the stage line changed the route back to Marysville in March,
1863.
As was the case with nearly every county, Marshall had a county
seat contest. The territorial legislature placed it at Marysville in 1855, but
in 1859 T. S. Vaile, who was a member of the free-state legislature, had the
county seat changed to Sylvan, a place located on Section 25, township 3, range
8. By a vote of the people it was taken back to Marysville. In 1871 the matter
again came before the people, with Waterville, Blue Rapids, Frankfort and
Marysville contesting. The election resulted in favor of Marysville. The number
of votes cast would indicate that there were between 13,000 and 14,000 people in
the county at this time.
The first train came into Marshall county over
the St. Joseph & Western R. R., which was begun in 1860 and reached the eastern
limits of Marshall county in 1870. The next year it was extended to Marysville.
Marshall county is now well provided with railroads. The Union Pacific crosses
the county from north to south a little west of the center; the St. Joseph &
Grand Island crosses the northern part of the county; the Missouri Pacific
crosses the southern part, and a branch of the same system crosses the northeast
corner. These lines afford ample transportation and shipping facilities to all
parts of the county.
The surface of Marshall county is prairie, broken by
hills and bluffs along the Blue river and its branches. The geological
formations include gypsum, limestone and coal. Building stone is quarried out of
the bluffs. The Big Blue river runs through the county from north to south,
furnishing a water power unequaled elsewhere in the state. The Little Blue, one
of its branches, enters near the central part of the west line of the county and
empties into the Big Blue 2 miles above Blue Rapids. The Black Vermillion flows
through the southeastern part of the county and empties into the Big Blue a few
miles below Irving. Numerous smaller streams complete the water system of the
county.
Marshall is divided into 23 civil townships; Balderson, Blue
Rapids, Blue Rapids City, Center, Clear Fork, Cleveland, Cottage Hill, Elm
Creek, Franklin, Guittard, Herkimer, Logan, Marysville, Murray, Noble, Oketo,
Richland, Rock, St. Bridget, Vermillion, Walnut, Waterville and Wells.
The leading farm crops are corn and wheat. The value of the corn crop in 1910
was $2,416,480, and of the wheat $115,200. The minor crops are grains, grasses
and potatoes. Considerable live stock is raised and shipped. The total value of
farm products in 1910 was $5,383,389.52. The population in 1910 was 23,880.
Contributed 2002 by Carolyn Ward, transcribed from Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago: 1912. 3 v. in 4.: front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar, Volume II, Pages 227-231.
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