CONTENTS:

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP - VIENNA TOWNSHIP - WESTERN VIENNA TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER 2
AMERICA CITY - GRANT TOWNSHIP - MILL CREEK TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER 3
FRENCH CREEK - MOUND CREEK - PLEASANT VALLEY

CHAPTER 4
IRISH CREEK - ROCKY SCRABBLE SCHOOL - NEUCHATEL - LONE TREE TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER 5
NEUCHATEL TOWNSHIP, NEMAHA COUNTY

CHAPTER 6
Corrigenda (Footnotes, Additions, Corrections)



PREFACE

In compiling the following record of the more interesting events occurring
during the early settlement of the vicinity of Onaga, the writer has
interviewed about one hundred and twenty persons. He has received the
greatest encouragement in the compiling of the matter contained in this
paper, the older settlers, especially, being greatly interested in the
putting of their early experiences on Kansas soil in shape to be handed
down to posterity. If there are events which occurred here a quarter of a
century or more ago which are not mentioned in this paper, we hope the
public will not judge the writer nor the old settlers too harshly, as many
things have escaped the memory of the older people.


INTRODUCTION

As "Distance lends enchantment to the scene," so Time adds a charm to
matters of history that has always appealed to the curiosity and the
higher sentiments of mankind. If it were not so, all of the great classics
would fail to create emotions that have such a strong hold on the minds of
men. If the Bible had not contained a record of the doings of the most
enlightened race of man from the day of creation, with their genealogy,
vicissitudes, victories, and progresses, until a time when its history was
corroborated by what have been called profane writers, we doubt very much
that it would have been accepted as the infallible guide which it is
called by the nations into whose hands it had the fortune of falling. so,
also, the great hold the Vedas has on the minds of the Hindoos, and that
of the Zend Avesta on that of the Parsees or Persians, lies in the fact of
their age and their dealing with the ancient history of mankind.

Secular history, though not being considered of so much importance as the
above, is appreciated to a greater or less extent by all peoples, and in
consequence it is not only read, but taught in nearly all schools of the
present day.

Though the dissertion [sic] above might seem to imply that written history
is not to be depended on as a reliable source of information, the writer
wishes to say that he hopes the following account of the early settling of
the territory more nearly contiguous to the city of Onaga contains as few
errors as it is possible to keep from creeping into a work which deals
only with persons and things of more than twenty-five years ago. This
article covers all of Vienna, Mill Creek and the western edge of Grant
townships, in Pottawatomie county, and Neuchatel township in Nemaha
county. The removal of many of the older people to other states or
communities, and the passing away of many of the others to that bourne
from which no one returns, has prompted the writer to attempt the
compiling of the comings, goings, and the principal incidents and events
connected therewith, before it will be too late.

We have decided to close this paper with the year 1877, as the time from
the earliest settlement in this locality until that year about equals in
length the time from that year to the present. That year the railroad was
built and Onaga founded, which events were followed by a large influx of
people whose histories it would be difficult to trace; and it was quite
soon after Onaga was founded when a newspaper (The Onaga Journal) was
established, which recorded the principal events occurring in Onaga and
vicinity. Therefore, if there are members of some families which are not
mentioned in this paper, it will be understood that they either came to
this locality or were born later than the above mentioned years. Where the
present residence of people mentioned is not given, it will be understood
that they are either living in the neighborhood where they settled or
their whereabouts is not known. As most of the pioneers mentioned in this
paper built log houses for their first home, it will be understood that
each one built a house or cabin of that kind if there is no mention made
of the style of house that was built.

Like most communities, the country surrounding Onaga was settled by small
colonies, either from the older states or from the various countries of
Europe, and usually consisted of families or people closely related, or of
those speaking the same language as in the case of foreigners.

The earliest settlers always chose the streams as their first places of
abode, as water and wood for building their log houses and for fuel, were
more convenient and game more plentiful. In fact, as Judge Huffman so
quaintly says, they had to do so to keep from freezing and starving to
death. As a rule, the houses were built on the east or south side of the
timber, so the northern wintry blasts would not reach them.

The early settlements consisted principally of the following, commencing
at the east:

The Vermillion river, settled by residents of the older states in 1856-7.

Coal creek, by Irish, and Mound creek (Rocky Scrabble), mostly by French
and Belgians, in the late 60's.

French creek, the lower stretch by Americans in 1856-7, and the upper by
French-Swiss in 1857.

Dutch, Hise, and Mill creeks, in their upper courses by Germans, in 1857,
and various colonies from the older states further down, near where they
join the Vermillion, about the same year.