Cloud County, Kansas
EARLY SETTLEMENTS
The first attempt at settlement in Cloud County was made in the fall
of 1858, by John and Lew Fowler, hunters and trappers. The next year,
they, with G. W. Brown, plotted a town site and designated it Eaton City.
They also built a house and lived in it during the following winter.
It was situated in the western part of what is now the city of Clyde,
and was afterwards called the Conklin House. The Conklin house was torn
down by a mob in 1862.
In the spring of 1860, John Allen, of Kentucky, and his son-in-law,
Sutton McWhorter, took claims north of Lake Sibley, on the military road
to Fort Kearney, and laid out a town which they named Union City. Mr.
Allen brought with him sixty head of blooded cattle stock. Three other
families from Kentucky, comprising Allen's party, settled near him.
In July 1860, J. M. Hagaman, J. M. Thorp, and August Fenskie came to
the county, and settled on Elm Creek. Mr. Hagaman resided in the county
from that time, and was known as the oldest permanent settler in Cloud
County. He was prominently identified with the growth of his community,
and wrote a history of Cloud County.
John and Lew Fowler, the first settlers of the county, enlisted in the
Fifth Kansas Volunteers on the 5th of August, 1861. John was discharged
in December, 1862, for disability, but Lew remained in the service until
June 22, 1865. J. M. Thorp had two sons in the army--Caleb and Jacob.
Emigration to the county was almost cut off by the war. Many who had
but just commenced to establish a home in this new country joined the
Union army, and never returned to their new homes, preempting, with
their comrades, only some six feet of Southern soil.
1860, known as the great drouth year, was nearly as disastrous
to the emmigration to Kansas as the Civil War. Many discouraged new
settlers either returned to their old homes or removed to other States.
Those that remained were able to subsist until the spring of 1861, and
were rewarded with an abundant harvest in the spring and summer of 1861.
But the settlers of Cloud were still sixty miles from a post-office,
and 150 miles from mill or market for their grain.
THE CIVIL WAR
In 1862, Charles and Peter Conklin, with their two sisters and an
orphan child, lived in this first house built in the county, on the
town site of Eaton City (before mentioned). It was also the best
house in the county at this time, built of hewn logs and covered with
shakes. The citizens of Cloud and adjoining counties suspected that
these men were a part of an organized band of horse thieves.
A posse was organized for the purpose of lynching these two men.
The Conklins, learning of the design upon their lives, secreted
themselves near their home. The mob came and not finding their men,
tore down the house.
The Conklin men evaded the posse and made their escape to Iola, where
they were captured by United States soldiers, carried to Leavenworth,
and confined in the calaboose. They escaped a second time, and Pete
eventually died in Missouri. Charles disappeared from sight.
The year 1864 is noted as the commencement of public religious worship
in Cloud County. Rev. R. P. West, a Methodist circuit preacher, was
the first minister to commence the mission of his life in Cloud County.
West held his first services in the house of Moses Heller. He
usually enlivened his audience with a few jokes or stories,
and then proceeded to deliver his sermon. His circuit included Jewell,
Republic, Washington, and Clay and Cloud counties.
Source: Extracted from William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas
First published 1883 by A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL.
CLOUD COUNTY TODAY
It's been some years since lynch mobs formed or county residents had
to travel far to post their mail. Many communities formed, drawn
together by the mutual need for commodities, services, and entertainment.
Concordia, Kansas, is home to the historic Brown Grand Theater,
built in 1906-1907.
During World War II, Camp Concordia housed German prisoners of war.
The Guard House of the camp remains, and has been restored.
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