Republic County History for You!

The story of one homesteading family in Republic County

George and Ophelia Stewart, Homesteaders in Republic County

The Homestead Act of 1862 opened up millions of acres of publicly owned land to settlement and land ownership by individuals. The land was broken into 160 acre tracts. This had long been a goal of Northern politicians, but was fiercely opposed by Southern politicians, preferring that massive tracts of land be given to plantation owners and farmed under the slave system. This would have also insured that states created out of westward expansion would not all be Free States, a great fear of the South. The Civil War eliminated the votes of the South and land ownership was opened up to individuals in small claims through the Homestead Act.

We can never know exactly why any particular family decided to give up the life they knew and gambled on homesteading in Republic County, Kansas. Of course we know in general that people were seeking a better life or to become landowners for the first time. Many people had their lives and livelihoods destroyed by the Civil War and a fresh start was in order. Others had extremely limited opportunities in life.

But in 1883, when George and Ophelia Stewart of Bucyrus, Ohio, married for just three years, packed their belongings into a covered wagon and set out for Republic County, we can only speculate as to why they chose to make such an audacious move. Homesteading was indeed a daring and risky move. The requirements for taking full ownership of the homestead were to live on the designated land, build a home, make improvements, and farm it for a minimum of five years. This seems like a lot of work, but possible. In fact, the majority of homesteaders did not complete these requirements. Many had never farmed before, did not have sufficient funds to buy the needed farm equipment, livestock and seeds, had never dealt with the harsh weather of the Plains, insect infestations or simply could not bear the isolation and unceasing demands of such an undertaking.

George and Ophelia Stewart were among those determined and tough enough to deal with homesteading in Republic County in the 1880’s. George was the sixth of eleven children born to Nicholas and Catherine Stewart, a farm family in Allen County, Ohio. It is easy enough to imagine the opportunities for a sixth born child of a farmer being very limited in options in the 1880’s. Ophelia, however, was the oldest of four children of a carpenter, Washington Diddie and his wife Maria of Bucyrus, Ohio. Washington Diddie owned property valued at $2,000 in 1860 according to the 1860 Census. They were not wealthy, but certainly not poor for that time and place. We know from items belonging to George and Ophelia Stewart recently donated to the Republic County Historical Museum that Ophelia had lovely clothing made by professional seamstresses and an expensive camel back trunk given to her by her mother.

George and Ophelia were married on August 25, 1880 in Washington County, Ohio. Ophelia was 34 years old at that time. This was unusually old for a woman entering into marriage in the late nineteenth Century. In both the 1860 and 1870 Censuses, Ophelia was listed as single and living with her parents. We have no record of her being married previously, but intriguingly enough in her Find A Grave record, Ophelia is listed as Ophelia D. Goward Stewart. This could simply be an error, an extra name not recorded or an indicator of a part of Ophelia’s life we do not know about.

Whatever the motivation, in 1883 George and Ophelia loaded a covered wagon and set out for Republic County. A covered wagon could travel ten to fifteen miles a day, depending on weather and terrain. Being very generous in their daily travel distance it would have taken at least sixty days to travel the approximately 880 miles from Bucyrus, Ohio to Republic County, Kansas. Upon arrival, they would have made their way to Concordia, Kansas where the Land Office for our area was located. George would have paid the $18 filing fee for his 160 acre homestead, being the southwest quarter of Section 15, Washington Township, Republic County, Kansas. This land was good and had a stream on it, a bonus for farming and livestock.

It is not known what kind of structure George and Ophelia lived in during their first years of homesteading. Dugouts were common, as were sod houses and less commonly, log cabins acted as temporary shelter for Republic County homesteaders. Eventually the Stewarts built a two story wood frame house on their homestead. Karen Cheney, who currently lives on the exact quarter section the Stewarts homesteaded, related that George and Ophelia had built a large barn as part of their improvements. Remnants of the barn are still standing, but the house has long since disappeared. Her grandparents bought the farm from the Stewart Estate sometime after Ophelia’s death in 1916 and the family has lived there since.

Along with the land and structure improvements the Stewarts made to the homestead, they welcomed a son, Ralph Didie Miles Stewart into the family. Ralph was born at the homestead on April 21, 1884. It is hard to imagine dealing with a pregnancy in such difficult and primitive conditions, but Ophelia did as did many other homesteaders of the day. Perhaps a doctor came out to assist with the birth, or perhaps a neighbor. Our homesteading ancestors were tough. Men and women!

There is very little documentation of the farming aspect of the Stewart’s homesteading. We have a wood corn shucking peg in the museum donation, so we can surmise they grew corn on the property. A farm at that time would have required horses, mules or oxen, a plow, a disc or harrow, a cultivator and planting equipment at a minimum. As is the custom to this day, it is likely that George would have also planted a spring crop. Wheat was the most common spring crop, but sometimes farmers of the day grew oats for livestock feed. Hay of some kind would have also been high on the list of possible farming efforts of that day. No doubt George and Ophelia would have had a garden to produce food for themselves. Tomatoes, beans, and potatoes were likely in the garden. One of the two pictures the museum has of their home has a dog in the yard, so we know they had dogs and very likely cats to deal with mice and rats attracted to stored farm crops. While there is no proof, chickens very likely were a part of the Stewart’s farm as well.

Like most people’s history we know little of their day to day lives. From their obituaries, we learn that George was a County Commissioner at some point in his life, demonstrating that he was respected by his neighbors and a citizen of some importance. Ophelia was active in her church as a part of her civic contributions to Republic County. Ralph grew up and moved away, with his death occurring in 1954 in Benton County, Arkansas.  The museum has an air rifle belonging to Ralph. It is an example of the first air rifle ever produced. The Markham Company’s Chicago model was produced from 1886 to 1911 and is all wood. They paid 97 cents to buy this rifle for Ralph, as that was the listed price in the Sears and Roebuck catalogue.  Like parents of any time, they wanted to meet the needs of their child.

The story of the Stewart family is the story of all of our ancestors. Whether Swede, Czech, German or wherever they came from, we owe all of the pioneers and homesteaders who came to Republic County a great deal of thanks. The Stewart family left a tremendous legacy through the family heirlooms saved by them and the family over all of these years. It is a great tribute of all of our ancestors that a number of their artifacts are on display at the Republic County Historical Museum today.

Hand Tools and the Building of Republic County

The Olson Collection

Ed Glenn, Director/Curator, Republic County Historical Society and Museum

Can you imagine a world in which every piece of wood and every piece of metal for use by people had to be hand crafted individually with a variety of non-electric hand tools? You want a widow to fit in your frame? You will need a hand plane to make it fit. No factory made windows with exact dimensions in each window.  You need a door hinge? It will have to be hand forged, pried into shape with anvil tools, and a good beating with a blacksmith’s hammer to get what you need!

Well, this hypothetical world WAS Republic County about one hundred and twenty or so years ago. Until the full force of the Industrial Revolution caught up with mass production methods, even the tools needed to make tools were all handmade! Almost everything made in Republic County from the time of immigrant settlement until well into the 20^th Century was made by hand and hand tools. The planes, axes, hammers, wrenches, adzes, hand drills and so on were vital to building our County and communities. A good carpenter or good blacksmith were worth their weight in gold. A fast and accurate construction lather was always in demand. (Before drywall, lathes were cut to be hammered onto the studs of a wall, spaced a little bit apart so the plaster would have a space to “curl” into and stay in place when it was smoothed out and dried. Lathers cut and nailed the lathes. This was the preferred technique for building walls beginning in the 1700’s.)

Bertil Olson in His Tool Room

The Republic County Historical Museum is proud of having possession and to display one of the largest collections of hand tools from the 19^th and early 20^th Century anywhere. Two brothers, both farmers in the Courtland area, collected these tools for over forty years. Bertil Olson was the primary hand tool collector and his brother Andy focused one cylinder “hit and miss” engines. Bertil was also a master carpenter and toymaker. The brothers worked together on their irrigated cropland and had a sizeable hog operation as well. Their collections were donated to the Historical Museum and they are a vital part of the museum today.

Part of the Larson Tool Room Collection-Republic County Historical Museum

Included in the Olson Tool Collection in the lovingly named “Tool Room” is an expansive collection of woodworking planes. Planes are by far the most collected hand tool, given their long history and the vast number of types of planes. Planes are a relatively simple tool with a blade placed in a wood or metal frame to shave off small portions of a piece of wood

A Few of the Planes in the Olson Collection

to finish it into the proper size and to create a smooth finish to the wood. This tool is known to have been used in ancient Rome and has been a staple tool for thousands of years.

In the Museum collection, you can see block planes, chariot planes, moulding planes and many other types of planes. Moulding planes cut finished crown mouldings and other similar wood finishes. Block planes are small, one-handed planes to eliminate mill markings or to square up a piece of wood. A chariot plant looks like its namesake. It is a form of a block plane with a very low angle on the blade, allowing cutting to the end of a board. There are literally hundreds of types of planes, from cooper’s planes used to make barrels, shipbuilder’s planes, basket maker’s planes and a great many other specialty planes. You can see a lot of them at the Historical Museum. Ask anyone who has used a plane, there is a very satisfying feeling in watching the thin ribbons of wood fall to the ground like confetti!

Hammer Collection

Some form of a hammer has been used since prehistorical times in the form of rocks. Bronze hammers were in use around 3,000 years ago, but the metal was so soft it did not make great working hammers. Iron or steel claw hammers as we know them today have been around since the time of Christ. It was a Roman invention, with the advances available then in metallurgy. One of the most important construction tools ever invented, the hammer was critical to building Republic County. How many of us can remember Dad or Grandpa (or ourselves) building fences, outbuildings, or repairing things with a hammer? Do you remember the first hammer you ever got?

The hammer collection at the museum is fairly extensive. The various types of heads on hammers were first developed in the Middle Ages, as various new crafts came into existence. The barrel makers (coopers) had their own hammer heads, as did tinkers (tinsmiths), blacksmiths (peen hammers), leather workers (tack hammers) and pick hammers for masons, to name a few. Commercially made steel hammers did not come into widespread use in the United States until after the Civil War. Hammering before was most commonly done with the flat end of a hatchet. Come on out and see what types of hammers you can see in our collection!

Hammer Collection

Broad Axe Collection

            The Republic County Historical Museum is the custodian of an 1870’s Log Cabin, now fully restored. The construction of log cabins in this era were sure to use a broad axe. This tool was used to square logs for fit, cutting large notches to connect the timbers together. Usually a felling axe was used to cut down the trees, but a broad axe could have been used if necessary. When you next view the Museum Log Cabin, take a minute to view cuts that were obviously made by a broad axe. You can see them on any of the four sides. Of course, mechanized saws and other tools have replaced the broad axe today. The broad axe is also very similar in design to an ancient weapon of war, the battle axe.

            As you might guess from all of the hand tools displayed, a way of keeping any cutting tool sharp was of great importance. We have a collection of hand operated grinders that were used just for that purpose.

Hand Powered Grinder Collection

            These sharpening tools consist of a grinding wheel, a set of gears, and a hand crank. The grinding wheels were typically made of a form of silicon, bauxite, or emery. The raw materials were mixed with a bonding agent. In the latter part of the 19^th Century, a vitrified glass compound was invented and used for many years. The grinding wheels were formed into round or other shaped wheels, depending on their intended use. Various sizes were also produced. We have a variety of sizes and shapes in the Museum collection, most of them are still operable. They are a fascinating collection, in and of themselves.

            These are a few of the types of tools in Bertil Olson’s collection. You will also be able to see drawing knives, augers, ice handling tools, braces, drills, shaves, levels, tongs, oilers, scythes, scissors, and squares. And other items as well. These beautiful old tools teach us that we have had our lives made so much easier with powered tools and standardized mechanization, eliminating the need for most hand powered tools. We can see these tools and think of our ancestors and admire their fortitude, ingenuity and perseverance in the building of our beautiful Republic County.