Land owners again.

Hutchinson, Kansas. Home of the Kansas State Fair which starts tomorrow, and the Salt Mine Museum.

No time to play around. There's work to be done! First to 711 S. Main St. That's the address on the ensus in 1895 and 1900. There's an Iron yard on the blockthere, and in between the two buildings they use, an old crumbling building. I asked at the office and they said that was 711. We went and looked at it. An empty shell - well empty of anything but junk piled to the 18 foot ceilings.

It looked to be 120 years old.

I took a picture or two, and headed for the historical society. Not much there, except that there was no Misrach in the city directory in 1895, 1888, 1900, 1903. Then to the County Clerk. A rather sour bunch, as many clerks have been, but they got into it.

After the tax people got the legal description of the 711 property, they gave me an aerial view, and told me the old building was built in 1933! Hard Kansas winters?

Up to the deed lady who found the book of deeds, after I convinced her I wasn't interested in starting from the current owner and going back one owner at a time. She gave me the book to search.

There he was!

Israel Misrach buys lots 201 and 203 South Main St. on November 16, 1901 for $75.00. That is, and was, just .9 miles from town center. Just four lines down, there is Israel selling the two lots on May 1st, 1903 for $450.00!

He paid taxes, found on old hidden microfilms in the basement, of $1.99 on the lot valued at $30.00 (201) and $3.98 on the lot valued at $60.00(203).

I spent some hours at the library without success, and at the City of Hutchinson Building Department, also without success.

Last Kansas stop today was Subway for a late but tasty lunch. Possible thunderstorms tonight.

The land of Oz.

As I drove from Garden City to Hutchinson, I listened to the radio. I presumed that the Kansans would be fed up with the whole Wizard thing. The radio told me otherwise. This is KXYZ, from the land of Dorothy, Toto and tornados, Southwest Kansas.

Speaking of which, there’s lots of clouds and wind right now. No internet service or TV to see about the weather. The shelter is up at the registration desk, just in case.

In the RV Park, all set up by 2 pm, with a replenished supply of lettuce and vegetables. I could run back the 20 miles to Hutchinson to start researching, since the museum is open until 5pm, but I’m not expecting a lot here so I just plan a full day tomorrow.

A quiet day in SW Kansas

So today was follow-up day. First I headed to the County court Clerk’s Office. As usual, Mickie was pissy. I understand this is usual. I asked about any way to find the “two boys” who dragged great grandpa across the prairie for ¼ mile. She was too busy. I offered to return later that afternoon.

Then to the County Clerk of Deeds to see if I could get the Deed where Israel sold the property. Sure. Got it in a second, and then searched to see if he turned around and bought more. Nope. Kept his two grand and went home.

Got a call from the Smith’s. Left the camera case in the minivan. I’ll stop by there in the afternoon. Then back to the Historical Society although they don’t open until 1 pm and it’s not yet 11 am. Janet said something about coming in at 11 on Monday or was it Tuesday?

As I pull in, so does Janet! We head up to the research library, and I suggest that they may have the books of the court, registering the names of the two cowboys who tried to kill great-grandpa. Into the back room, and three of us are pulling big old county registrar books of all sorts off the shelves. Twenty or thirty books later, I retreat to the microfilm machine to review the papers of the area to see if there’s any mention of the case.

I review 6 different newspapers from July 26th through august to see what there is. There is now news about the Jewish Settlers at all. Actually one snippet: Lew … went looking for Goldfarb and didn’t find him.

Goodbye’s all around and Janet tells me that someone told her they got cooperation from clerks by walking in with a box of chocolates. On the way back to the afternoon at the court, I stop at Walgreens and buy 4 small boxes of chocolate. It’s a small town, and everyone will know who got what.

Mickie is there, and when the receptionist says, “ This gentlemen came to see if you had looked for that case”, she replied, “I didn’t know I was supposed to. She disappeared, and returned with some microfilm about 10 minutes later.

She saw the chocolates on the counter and immediately became a different person. Mickie couldn’t do enough to help me! Of course, she couldn’t help me, but so what.

Then I delivered chocolates to Olga and Janet at the historical society and to the clerks and to Pat and Stan Smith as I picked up the camera case. Hope you all enjoy those chocolates. I would have bought a fifth, but my girlish figure must be maintained.

Time out. Laundry should be done washing…need to move it to the dryer.
Done, with a brief nap on the bench outside the Laundry room.

Ready to go to Hutchinson Kansas to see what they were doing there, if anything, in 1900 when they show up on the US Census. Then on to the Kansas State Historical Society HQ in Topeka.

For now, it’s camper clean-up and sleep.

Back to the land.

After three days of research, I joined Pat and Stan Smith this morning to go to the old homestead. About 30 minutes northeast of Garden City we pulled into the driveway of George Fowler. George was a nice guy, but was totally unaware that his land had any history.

We told him about the homestead papers which tell us that in 1887 there was: A sod and lumber house, 1 ½ stories – 18 x 30 ft, five windows and two doors, plastered inside and outside, value $250.00. A sod stable 18 x 22 ft., value $125.00. Two wells – 25 & 35 feet value $100.00. Sod chicken house 15 x 22 feet, value $50.00. Cellar 12 feet deep value $50.00. 30 acres broke – value $90.00. Two cows. Two calves. 100 chickens. 75 turkeys. Two beds. Two tables. Four chairs. Three trunks. Two cook stoves.

He had never seen any signs of the inhabitants. The land has been unplanted for 9 years, being placed in a “Land Conservation Bank”.

We drove around the perimeter of the southern half of the mile by ¼ mile piece of land. The census taker in 1887 listed the location as section 9, which is the southern half of the property, the northern half being on section 4.

Trying to think about homesteading, we all decided the southern end of the property, along Whipple Road, nearest to the Pawnee Creek, was the most likely place to build a house. Stan and I walked out into the field to a slight rise that had a light spot. It turned out to be a patch of milkweed. There were tons of spots around that looked worth investigating, but of course the chance of finding anything is near zero, so we just declared the milkweed patch to be the house and went back to the car.

We then drove home, passing Ravanna’s ruins which amount to the ruins of the school and the courthouse. Both are reduced to a few stones, maybe 4 to 6 feet high in the corners of the buildings.

If I lived here, I suppose I could set out some sort of grid and search the property, maybe with a metal detector, and I would eventually find something, but it would take months or years. I don’t.

I’ll stay another day or two, to see if I can find out just when they left, and if they bought any other land with that $500.00 mortgage he took out on the land in 1887. Then it’s off to Hutchinson to see if they bought anything there.

The most impressive part of today, for the moment, is the 98 degree heat I am trying to ignore.

Comments?

i'd like to know whether anyone is reading this, so be sure to add a comment if you do.

Hard to keep track of what I have written and what I have yet to talk about.

Let's just start with today.

I worked on the trailer brake problem first, figuring out that the problem is not in the wiring of the truck. Somewhere in the trailer. Found some disconnected wires and postponed the fix while I went to the Smith's.

Off I go to see the 'expert'. She really was!

She has been studying Beersheba for at least seven years. In 1999 she created a map of the entire settlement. She showed me document after document she had, and then pulls out the actual homestead papers for Israel Misrach. I now know the size of the house, the number of cows and calves and chickens and turkeys and tables and chairs. I'll report the details someday.

I have a date tomorow to go to the Smith's, where Stan Smith will drive us up to the homestead to meet Gordon Fowler, the current owner, who will show us around. We'll also stop by Ravanna and Eminence. By the way, the Misrachs voted for Eminence to be the county seat in 1887, but it didn't matter since the County (Garfield) was found to be too small to be a county and was merged with Finney County with Garden City as the county seat.

I lost some of what I wrote, but it's bedtime now, so i can get up for the 9am trip to the homestead.

Wisdom for the electronic age: If your ‘atomic’ clock thinks it is in the Pacific Time zone, and you set the correct time in the Central Time Zone, then overnight it will reset itself to Pacific Time! So, with a couple extra hours sleep, I set out for a day of boring research. I expect hours pouring over old books, finding little of interest.

I start at the County Clerk. Immediately one of the clerks gets “into it” She wants to know where Israel Misrack lived. In the file room, there are walls of OLD dusty books neatly stored in floor to ceiling shelves. Each book is about 25 pounds, and about twenty four inches by 16 inches (I am guessing) and about 4 inches thick. There is a rolling ladder on a rail attached to the ceiling.

We check the big index book and almost immediately find the entry for Misrach. Up I go, and hand down the volume. The Garfield County Register of Final Patent Receipts. There on page …whatever… is a receipt for the final Patent Application for West 1/2 of the SE 1/4 of Section 4 and the West 1/2 of the NE 1/4 of Section 9 in Township 22 South in Range 27 West of the Sixth Principal Meridian. This means 160 acres in NE Finney County Kansas.

Found the deed registration and mortgages - $500 days after the 5 years were up for homestead “Proving” and $75 payable in 10 semiannual payments of $7.50.

In the Historical Museum, Olga who retires tomorrow, spent hours, literally, getting all sorts of information out on Beersheba and Ravanna and the Misrach’s (A court file on the forclosure on the land - after they sold it to the next owners). I go back there today to get copies of more stuff…. Was supposed to get a tour guide for a trip to Beersheba, but he can’t. Maybe they will find another today.

Did I mention that the woman who did all the research on Beersheba for the county and has all the records she could compile, wants to get together to share. I think I’ll see her tomorrow (Sunday) and then plan on going there Monday. Now I go to the library to see what they have. Since it takes me two days to find a wi-fi spot I can upload at...here's a brief of the day after what's above.

Spent the morning at the library and the afternoon at the Historical Society library. Reading over and over again the same stories, repackaged, with almost no new stuff. Much about Beersheba. Nothing definite about the Misrachs.

I did review the microfilm of the Garden City Weekly Herald (not the Garden City Herald) and found the original story of Israel Misrach's run-in with cowboys that led to 2 months in the hospital. This is reported on July 26, 1888. We know they were here at least 6 years.

Many of the books and research studies say the settlement was completely gone by 1887! We also know he was in Hutchinson in 1900. That's 185 miles away...too far to commute, I think.

Today I will try to look at the trailer brake problem, and then spend time with Pat Smith, the local Beersheba historian.