Clifton Township

Clifton Township. - When this township was created cannot be ascertained. It was known as Buffalo tp, when the county was organized. Until 1869 it embraced nearly one-third of the county. The second distinct settlement in the county was made in Clifton tp. L. F. Davis took a claim on the Buffalo, on land now owned by W. S. Soule, in the spring of 1858, but moved onto the Verdigris in the fall. David Johnson and David Pointer took claims and built cabins on the Buffalo in the fall of 1857, but soon abandoned them. In the spring of 1858 John Circle settled at the junction of East and West Buffalo creeks. Peter Welch and his sons, James, Wm. and Nathan, settled the same year. George Gould and Philip Hedrick soon followed. L. F. Woodruff located on the branch which takes his name, in the fall of 1858. In the next two years Wm. Carr, Wm. Mayes, Thos. Cooper, Saml. Combest, Jacob and Wm. Shoop, Hiram Neal, Henry Pearmain, Mr. Albrow, Mr. Maxwell, John Endsley and Andrew Sharp settled in the township, most of them taking claims on East or West Buffalo. Mayes settled on the Verdigris. Mr. Sharp was a minister of the M. E. church. In July, 1864, while crossing the plains with a party of Kansas emigrants, Mr. Sharp and several others of the company were killed by Sioux Indians. Mrs. Fanny Kelly, who was with the party, was taken captive. In a book entitled "My Captivity among the Sioux," she describes the massacre and the killing of Mr. Sharp. The first election in Clifton township was held at the residence of Henry Pearmain. Mr. Pearmain was the second Representative of Wilson county in the State Legislature. He was appointed temporary County Clerk when the county was organized, and was the first Notary Public appointed. Greystone P. O. was established Nov. 18, 1867, Wm. Mayes, P. M., and Buffalo P. O. Sept. 6, 1867, Chester Gould, P. M. During the rebellion most of the settlers in Clifton were enrolled in the State militia: Joseph H. Gunby of Clifton tp. was Captain of a company. Ed. Mosely obtained a claim on Buffalo near its mouth, during the war, and his family lived there, but he was an active Indian trader and operated mostly on the extreme frontier. He was a true specimen of the frontiersman, and found life among the Indians far more congenial than among civilized people. He finally met his death at the hands of Indians in 1872, on the Medicine Lodge, Barbour county. The first school district organized in the county is at Buffalo and is No. 1. The first wedding in the township was that of Nathan Quisenberry and Margaret Welch, in 1860, and the first child born was John Thomas Welch, Aug. 19, 1859.