The History of the Early Settlement of Norton County, Kansas

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He came home and bought a quarter section of land four miles south of Troy joining John Landis and Ed Hooverson, had a house built and went to farming, December 1866 had another little girl, her name is Mary G. died two years ago last September, and on August 1, 1868 a son was born.  In the fall of 1872 John Landis, Ed Hooverson, Frank Fitzpatrick and he took a notion to go west and look at the country.  At Cawker City, where the land office was at that time, got some plats and started for Norton county; coming through Kirwin they found two small board shanties; at Logan there was a hole in the ground, all the buildings at that time.  They came up the Solomon and camped about three miles below where he now lives where Ed Hooverson and Frank located.  Next day he located.  The next morning they started for Norton, that is, where Norton is now.  It was blowing and so cold three went afoot and left Ed Hooverson to drive; if he had not been called to a halt by a herd of buffalo they would not have caught him before he got to the Prairie Dog.  Starting down the creek they came to a log cabin with a piece of carpet for a door, and a lady in the house and a pig outside, Dannevik doos (sic) not know who it was.  They asked for Norton, she said there was a place below there two miles that they called Norton; they came to the city and asked for the county clerk's office; they were informed he was out hunting buffalo.  They went home to Doniphan county stopping at Cawker City to put papers on their land about the middle of October 1872.  They were in a hurry to get home on account of presidential election.  Horace Greeley was running and they wanted him to keep on running.  Ed Hooverson died in St Louis and Fitzpatrick in Doniphan county.

Major Dennevik returned here with his family in the spring of 1873 and has remained here continuously ever since.  He took an active part in the early troubles on the Solomon; his friendship for John Landis brought the execrations of John's enemies.  They burned his stack yard and barn in 1878 which was a net loss of over $1,000.

The Major has always been a Norton man and a republican.  With all these losses and the variations in his eventful career, he is now physically broken down and relies upon his pension for the support of his declining years, and this was recently threatened by Secretary Hoke Smite who suspended payment temporarily.

hamilton_jr.jpg (31574 bytes) John Rowen Hamilton was born August 9, 1841 in Clinton county, Indiana.  His father was a minister, but John was raised on a farm.  He enlisted April 20, 1861, mustered into Company B 17 Indiana infantry, May 20, 1861.  This regiment was afterwards a part of Wilder's Brigade.  He served to the close of the war.  Soon after being discharged he was married at Sidney, Iowa, where he farmed, taught school and read law; he was admitted to the bar and came out of the army sound; he never missed a duty but was often in 

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