During the 1870's and 1890's, opportunities in the new Kansas frontier attracted many settlers seeking a better life. Among the settlers were large numbers of Mennonites from Prussia (now Poland) and Russia, and others from Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, & Germany.
John Wesley Tull was one of those settlers seeking land and a better life in Kansas. Wanderlust and the seeking of a better life would be a characteristic of his descendants. John I Wesley Tull moved family to Newton Kansas, 25 mi north of Wichita. It is believed that he followed his sister Rutha Jane & Her husband Henry Clay Hunt. Clay Hunt had a right to settle on a land grant in Kansas based on his Civil War service. The Hunts had moved to Newton in March 1885 to participate in the Kansas & Oklahoma Land Rushes.
Before the railroad arrived in Newton, the area was only sparsely populated by a few homesteaders. However, with the anticipation of the railroad’s arrival, a number of businesses were soon established.
Newton is located the end of the Chisolm Trail which was a destination for Cattle drives to the Railroad head there. When the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad arrived on July 17, 1871, Newton became the shipping point of the immense herds of Texas cattle which prior to this time had been driven to Abilene. It became a rowdy & violent town.
According to Legends of Kansas Cow Towns (https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-kansascowtowns/3/): “the arrival the large herds of cattle brought cowboys, gambers, “soiled doves,” and roughs of every variety to the town. To accommodate these rowdy men and women, a portion of the fledgling city known as “The Park” developed which held no less than fifteen buildings devoted to “social amusement,” with such flamboyant names as the Do Drop In, the Side Track, and the Gold Room. In total, the town boasted 27 saloons and eight gambling halls. During these days, Newton was filled with tales rivaled only by Dodge City and was called the “wickedest city in the west.” This reputation came primarily from the August, 1871 Gunfight at Hyde Park, which ultimately resulted in eight men being killed before, during and after the event”.
From 1867 to 1872 more than a million longhorn cattle were driven 900 miles north from Cuero, Texas to railheads of the Kansas Pacific Railway in Abilene, Kansas, where the cattle would be sold and shipped eastward. Later the railheads would be extended to Abilene, then Newton in 1871, and to Wichita by 1872. The Texas cattlemen followed a route laid out by Jesse Chisholm, an half-Cherokee Indian trader. The portion of the trail marked by Jesse Chisholm went from his southern trading post near the Red River to his northern trading post near Kansas City, Kansas.
1873 Map of Chisholm Trail with Subsidiary Trails in Texas (from Kansas Historic Society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chisholm_Trailal
By 1887, the railheads moved westward and Newton began to grow as a more civilized town. John Wesley Tull’s family lived there 3 years before moving back to IL. It is not known what his occupation there was. The Hunts moved on to OK territory in 1890 later to an area which later became Council Grove 1907 and they participated in OK Land Rush.
Queen of Central Kansas: Newton in 1887
Posted on December 11, 2015 by hchm-curator
Extracted from: http://hchm.org/queen-central-kansas-newton-1887/
In the December 31, 1887 edition of the Newton Evening Kansan, editor Charles Kurtz highlighted the progress and prosperity of Newton. He noted that the future for the “Queen of Central Kansas” is “a gloriously busy and a growing one.”
Drawings were included and they portray a town full of industry and growth from Main Street . . .
To the banks and businesses
and the private residences.
Source: Newton Evening Kansan, 31 December 1887. This entry was tagged Newton Main Street. Bookmark the permalink. Harvey County Historical Museum • 203 N Main, P.O. Box 4 • Newton, Kansas 67114 • (316) 283-2221 Website by Flint Hills Design | Log in
This is a story about the Austian side of my family, my mothers side. My mothers maternal Grandfather was Henry Clay Hunt( 1844-1936) . Henry served in the Civil war with the Union forces as a member of the 69th Indiana regiment. Though he was not wounded in his three years' fighting, he twice was captured by confederates, once at the battle of Vicksburg and another time in Kentucky. He was, at one point, a member of an expeditionary force which went up the Red river on the Texas side. Hunt had enlisted from Randolph county, Ind. There is a family legend that at the war’s end he WALKED home...to Indiana from somewhere in the deep south.
There is another family legend that he carved his initials on a tree in Indiana in 1883 and then returned to Indiana from his home in Oklahoma late in his life (1927) and had his photo taken next to the tree. His 1883 initials were still visible in 1927 (see photos). H.R. Hamblen, a family friend wrote a poem about Henry's return to Indiana (see photos to read the poem).
Yet another family legend was that, just prior to the Oklahoma land rush in 1889, Henry was employed as a hunter and/or a scout by the U.S. Army, helping to feed the troops present to support the land rush and serving as a guide for some people who were looking for land to homestead. The Tull family is one of the families he helped find land and, he later married Ruth Jane Tull. The land designated for homesteading in Oklahoma was opened for settlement on April 22, 1889 and there was a, literal, “rush” starting that day. Henry and his wife (Ruth Jane Tull Hunt) and their family made the run into Oklahoma from the Kansas line and filed his declaratory claim April 28 1889. He homesteaded 160 acres cornering on NW50 and Council road. He was one of the few pioneers who continued to live on his homestead. until his death in 1936. 15 years later, on April 22, 1904, Henry's granddaughter, my Aunt Winnie (Winnifred Gladys Austian) was born to Henry's oldest daughter Armina Hunt Austian (my maternal grandmother). Perhaps because her birthday was on the anniversary of the land rush, Winnie always seemed to have a connection to the land rush and a special fondness for her Grandpa Henry. In 1948, I was born on Aunt Winnie's 44th birthday (and the anniversary of the land rush). I feel this connection to Henry, through Winnie. Vicariously, I’m a sooner. Even though I was born in California... maybe I should buy an OU football jersey. In 1992 my grandson Dillon Neighbors, was born on MY 44th birthday and Winnie's 88th (see the photo of the three of us).
OBIT from Indiana Newspaper (Brown County Democrat) 08 Oct 1936
I have been doing some research on family history at Ancesry .com and Newspapers .com and I've found a lot (hundreds) of newspaper articles about various family members. I'm going to start posting a few of the most interesting here. I'm starting with a news story about the death of my Paternal Grandparents, James L and Iva M Neighbors.
From Neighbours by John Whitman Monroe Neal:
"The name "Neighbours" appears to be the spelling of the family name when the fist members of the group came to America. It is now spelled many ways and very few members use the old spelling. Among the new spelling, most used are: Neighbors, Nabours, Nabors and Nabers. As to the different spelling of the name, it has been found many times that, if a certain family did not spell its name, Nabors, then members assumed they were of no relation to others spelling it Nabers or Neighbors. This is not true; as I have found in many cases, the name has been spelled four different ways in the same immediate branch of the family.
It shows that the family was mostly French Huguenots. After leaving France, they went to England and Ireland where many descendants live today. The first member of the family I have found in this country was Abraham Neighbours in Pennsylvania. he was born in 1684 and it is not known if he were born here or not, but it is believed he was an emigrant from Ireland.
Abraham Neighbours shall be considered out subject as the vast majority of the descendants of the family appear to have descended from him. It might be well to mention here that the name, "Neighbours" meant friend, as did the name, Nachbor, the German version of the word. Abraham Neighbours remained in Pennsylvania until the English soldiers were routed out be the Indians. He then came down into Loudon County, Virginia and settled on the Potomac River. He remained there until sometime in the early 1700's, ca. 1725. While living there, he married Rebecca, (maiden name unknown).
About 1725 Abraham and Rebecca Neighbours left Loudon County and went to Buckingham County, Va. The only courthouse record in Loudon County shows that property then was willed in 1758 to daughters of Nathan Neighbours and his wife, Mary Thacker. This Nathan Neighbours was believed to have been the son of Abraham and Rebecca as records will show in later years that the Thackers and the Neighbours family, along with the Gore family moved from Loudon County, Va. to Newberry Co., South Carolina and members of the Thacker family acted as administrators of the Neighbours family wills.
The next record found of Abraham and Rebecca Neighbours was in 1771 when they lived in Prince Edward County, Va. and it is recorded that they sold land in Buckingham Co., and it was mentioned in the papers that they were formerly of Buckingham County. Records show that several families of Neighbors lived in Buckingham County, Va. after Abraham left there for Prince Edward County. They are believed to be the sons and grandsons of Abraham and Rebecca. One grandson who served in the Revolution was Nathan, born and died near Bowling Green, Kentucky leaving many descendants in that area. It is believed that while part of the family of Abraham and Rebecca stayed in Buckingham County, others went with him to Prince Edward and it is believed that the Neighbours living in Campbell and Roanoke Counties, Va. are all descendants of Abraham.
When Abraham and Rebecca went to Prince Edward Co., Va., Jacob Neighbours was already there and was active in political matters, having on one occasion been a signer of a petition on Civil Liberties to the Continental Congress.
The next record of Abraham and Rebecca is in Laurens District, South Carolina where they apparently came about 1780. (It is also recorded that Abraham Neighbours bought 200 acres in Craven Co., S.C.(in 1771). Part of his family had come much earlier, around 1750-60.
Ramsey's "History of South Carolina" published about 1800 states, "Abraham Neighbours died in 1798 at the age of 114 years, and his wife, Rebecca, had fallen and broken her hip at the age of 105. She is doing nicely."
To give an idea of the size of Abraham's family, the Federal Census of South Carolina in 1790 shows 7 males over 16 including himself, 8 males under 16 and 5 females, one of which was his wife. After the death of Abraham, most of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren remained in Newberry and Laurens Counties for about fifty years, having large families which multiplied to great proportions before they started their migration to Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and later to Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. All these states today contain large numbers of Nabors and there is hardly a family that cannot trace its roots to Abraham and South Carolina. The particular branch of the family to which my wife, Lois, belongs is still located in Clinton, Laurens Co., S.C.
In the pages which follow will be found records of courthouses that I have visited and notes on various members of the family listed according to counties of the various states. Also listed are the Federal Census for the various years that I have checked. This census record is by no means complete, with the exception of the 1880 Soundex census record which shows every member of the family in the United States that had a child in the household ten years of age or younger. At this time, there is no doubt may families who did not have a child ten or under; therefore, they are not listed in this record. Listed also, herewith, are Army and Pension records. All these data are being included in order to enable anyone to make further family research.
As was the case of all families in America in the earlier years of our existence, much migrating took place; moving from one section of the country to another until they were finally satisfied with the area in which they settled and desired to make their permanent home. From the item in Ramsey's "History of South Carolina" Abraham Neighbors was the oldest person in the state of South Carolina. It might also be mentioned here, that this same item shows that Abraham and his wife were both Pennsylvanians so it is highly possible that both were born in Pennsylvania. Also mentioned is the fact that this couple was married more than 80 years. In no record is there any mention of the maiden name of Rebecca.
The Neighbors started migrating from South Carolina mainly to Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee at first. The ones who went to Alabama were very prominent, being lawyers, Judges, doctors and members of the state government.
As to religion, I found that most of the family is Baptist, however, have found many other religions including Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Mormon.
No records of graves of the family members before the early 1800's was found. Most of the deceased had, no doubt, been buried on their own land as was the general custom. Therefore, no record is to be had of this and if burying places were found, possibly no tombstones or markers continue to exist. A much more comprehensive record could be had if records had been better kept. For instance, the census of Virginia for 1790 was destroyed and neither North or South Carolina kept vital statistics until 1913. Other states did not start their records until about the same year --- thus making it hard to secure information."[1]
