The Kansas leg from Kansas City MO to Tipton KS

This post is a stub entry, which is constantly being added to with raw research data about the availability of train travel and the existing roads in the period 1865 (the immigration of John M Kohn) through 1877 (the resettling of the Robert Ohnsat family) and 1883 (the resettling of the Anton Deneke family). This posting records what information I find. If you have further information or know of websites that may provide something, please leave a comment.

I guess that the trip to Tipton and Osborne county could have been made most easily by train, at least from about 1870 on. However, the traveler by train might have limits on how many possessions they could bring. If a family was moving their household belongings, perhaps the more efficient means would be by wagon.

• I know nothing of how John M. Kohn came to Kansas. His first home in the U.S. was likely La Crosse WI.
• According to family anecdote, the Robert Ohnsat family came to Kansas from Pittsburgh PA via Conestoga wagon.
• I know nothing of how the Anton Deneke came to Kansas. Their first home in the U.S. was Cincinnati OH.

Trails and Rails

Santa Fe Trail Research documents a lot of information about the forts established to protect wagon trains, stage coaches, and other travel across Missouri and Kansas. The site also has an index of articles found in the periodical Wagon Tracks, including a number of references to the forts Riley, Leavenworth, Ellsworth, Hays; railroads, stage coaches, Salina KS, Saline county MO, and the Solomon River, wagon trains, and many other topics. A fort existed near Leavenworth KS from about 1827, as reported on the site. Detail there about Fort Ellsworth says, "In June 1864, "Fort Ellsworth, Kansas" was established at the site of the Page Ranche. The fort was one of several that served to protect the area of Central Kansas and the Santa Fe Trail." So far, I have not found a map of the pioneer trails on the site, and its greatest lack is illustrative material in general.

The Legends of America site has detail about the Smoky Hill Trail, which connected travelers from Fort Leavenworth to Denver. Following this trail, the Butterfield Overland Dispatch could travel from Atchison to Denver in about 3.5 months (for example, from 4 June to 23 September in 1865). The stage line was active only from 1865 through 1870, after which train travel obviated its need.

The Legends of Kansas site documents a list of railroad service to the state. However, no maps show clearly  which railway came close to Osborne and Tipton.

The Thompson Family History site records a history that states "On Oct. 18, 1916 the Salina Northern Train arrived in Tipton. It ran between Osborne and Salina." from a history compiled by Adeline Arnoldy. The Tipton municipal site has the same historical record.

According to Solomon Valley Heritage, the first rail to reach the area was to Downs in 1879 and then to Osborne, its terminus. Tipton received service much later from a line that came from Salina. The site also provides a bit of detail about other travel in the period 1865-1880. A detailed early-history of Solomon Valley towns brings new information about the location where my great-grandparents married. Heretofore I had thought they were married at the hotel of Waconda Springs. But now I realize a town named Waconda was begun about two miles south of Cawker City, and it did not survive for many years beyond 1875.

Missouri

Another blog entry holds information about the route the Ohnsat family took through Missouri to Jackson County and Kansas City. In 1877, Kansas City MO was a booming town for about 50,000 citizens who knew it as the Town of Kansas, its incorporated name from 1853. (The city would be renamed in 1889 to Kansas City.)

The bridge across the Missouri River built in 1867 by the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad indicates the growing importance of the city over others in the area, especially St. Joseph MO and Leavenworth KS to the north. The bridge allowed the first rail service to crossing into Kansas and connected Chicago to Texas by a direct link.

Topic: wagon and foot bridges at Kansas City available in 1877

Kansas

The exact route of travel for the resettling family is easy to dispute, since the state was still developing its infrastructure in the last quarter of the 19th Century. As a starting point, I assume the path was relatively a straight line from Kansas City to Salina. This route parallels the modern-day U.S. 40 and Interstate 70. From Salina, the family could have traveled west to Ellsworth and then north or northerly through Lincoln, Mitchell, and Osborne counties. An alternate path from Salina could take them north through Ottawa, Cloud, and Mitchell counties.

Wyandotte County

A plat map of Wyandotte County from 1887 is available. Although many roads exist by then, their alignment to the meridians at one-mile intervals leads me to believe that their quality was low and purpose was farmland access. The most likely throughfare followed the north bank of the Kansas River westward through Muncy, Edwardsville, and Bonner Springs. The road from Bonner Springs is uncertain.

The county population grew five-fold from 10,015 in 1870 to 54,407 in 1890.

Leavenworth County

A plat map of Leavenworth County from 1878 is available. Again, most roads are aligned to the meridian grid, and a clear throughfare is not clear. But a section of road between Le Mare and Stranger that bends in parallel to the railway may indicate its importance as a throughfare from Bonner Springs in Wyandotte County. I would presume the due-west road from Stranger was the continuation of the throughfare.

Tonganoxie

A fellow researcher cited the importance of Tonganoxie, which in the 1878 map is a stop on the Leavenworth Branch of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. However, roadway use as a throughfare is less clear.

Leavenworth

Topic: Could the family have chosen to go north first to Leavenworth from Kansas City? Where would that path lead them in a westerly journey?

Douglas County

Plat maps only from 1873 are available.

Lawrence

Shawnee County

Plat maps only from 1873 and 1898 are available.

Topeka

Wabaunsee County

Plat maps from 1885 are available.

Alma

Geary County

Plat maps only from 1909 are available.

Junction City

Dickinson County

Plat maps only from 1901 are available.

Abilene

Saline County

Plat maps available for 1884 and 1903. Because of a difference of only three years, I present the 1884 maps here.

Salina

Ellsworth County

Plat maps only from 1901 are available.

Russel

Ohio National Road Association lists some Ohio historical societies.

Lincoln County

Plat maps only from 1901 are available.

Osborne County

Plat maps only from 1900 and 1917 are available.

Mitchell County

Plat maps from 1884 and 1902 are available.

Cloud County

Plat maps from 1885 are available.
Ottawa County

Plat maps [supply dates] are available.

The Missouri leg from St. Louis to Kansas City MO

This post is a stub entry, which is constantly being added to with raw research data. If a reader has further information or websites that may provide something, please leave a comment.

Several parts of my forebears resettled from eastern states to Kansas from about 1870 to 1885. One of them, the Robert Ohnsat family, produced a family anecdote that their journey was by "Conestoga wagon along the National Road" in 1877. This post follows the likely journey westward through Missouri.

Previous post

The National Road actually ended in Vandalia IL, and National Road travel was eclipsed by the railway system, beginning as early as the 1860s. The federal funding provided for a paved high road to the Mississippi River, though the dispute between the legislatures of Missouri and Illinois obstructed actual surveying and construction beyond Vandalia. Their dispute lasted nearly two decades, with one state desiring a terminus at Alton, just above the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. and the other state desiring a terminus at St. Louis.

Missouri

In practical terms, with the engineered road end in Vandalia, travelers could take two options to continue into Missouri. Mississippi River crossings were available by (ferry ? / bridge ?) at Alton IL to West Alton MO—just above the confluence of the Missouri River and Mississippi—and by bridge from East St. Louis IL directly into St. Louis MO.

St. Louis County

If their route preference took the Ohnsat family through the city of St. Louis, they would continue into St. Louis County and pass through Florissant, prior to crossing the Missouri River. Though Florissant is now a suburban part of St. Louis, it was very separate from the city in 1877, and its population was only 817 in 1880. (Other named suburbs were founded after the Ohnsat family journey: Ferguson in 1893 and University City in 1903.)

So far, no information is available on possible wayhouses in Florissant.

Topic: crossing the Missouri River at Florissant to St. Charles, in St. Charles County.

St. Charles County

Perhaps the more likely route would have been through Alton and West Alton, since then only one river crossing would be necessary. The way from West Alton allows the two paths to join at St. Charles, about a dozen miles west-southwest. The route west from there would go through St. Peters, O'Fallon, Wentzville, and Foristell in St. Charles County.

Topic: crossing the Mississippi River at Alton to West Alton, in St. Charles County.

St. Charles

Topic: wayhouses in St. Charles.

O'Fallon

Topic: wayhouses in O'Fallon.

Wentzville

Topic: wayhouses in Wentzville.

Topic: when the road became known as Boone's Lick Trail, and if the identity extended all the way to St. Charles.
Quote from correspondent: "The Boonslick Trail, aka the St. Charles Road, went from St. Louis to St. Joseph, MO. One stage/mail/lodging stop was Sexton's Station, located about six miles WNW of Columbia, MO, where I live. It seems the station wasn't used as such after the mid-1800s "

Warren County

Topic: Warren County topography, distances.

Wright City

Topic: wayhouses in Wright City.

Warrenton

Topic: wayhouses in Warrenton.

Montgomery County

/

Jonesburg

Callaway County

http://www.genealogyinc.com/missouri/callaway-county/

Fulton

Boone County

http://www.genealogyinc.com/missouri/boone-county/

Columbia

Sexton's Station, located about six miles WNW of Columbia, MO

Cooper County

http://www.genealogyinc.com/missouri/cooper-county/

Boonville

Pettis County

http://www.genealogyinc.com/missouri/pettis-county/

Sedalia

Saline County

http://www.genealogyinc.com/missouri/saline-county/

Marshall
Sweet Springs

Lafayette County

http://www.genealogyinc.com/missouri/lafayette-county/

Concordia
Odessa
Higginsville

Jackson County

http://www.genealogyinc.com/missouri/jackson-county/

Lee's Summit
Kansas City, Missouri

Next post

Move the ED download to a work location

These steps begin after you've downloaded one or more EDs that were canvassed in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, as guided in a previous blog post. The EDs you downloaded from the National Archives (NARA) site are in zip files, each named by state and ED number. This post guides you in extracting the images from the zip file and placing them in a standard location on your computer.

1. In a directory window, find the files you downloaded in the previous blog post. This is your source directory. How you do this easily depends on your browser. My browser automatically saves files at
   C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\Downloads 
   
   
   
   
2. In another directory window, make a directory to hold the census images in an organized group. This is your target directory. For example, I use
   C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\Genealogy\Locations\USA\KS\MTCH\U.S. Federal Census 1940
   (that is, I have a separate directory for each state—KS for Kansas, county—MTCH for Mitchell county, and each census—U.S. Federal Census 1940).
   
   
   
   
3. In the source directly, double-click on one of the zip files. The zip directory opens.
   
   
4. Selectto open the extraction wizard.
   
   
5. In the extraction wizard, select.
6. In the top field, enter the name of your target directory. You can copy-paste the name from your source directory window or browse for the directory.
   
   
7. Select. The wizard indicates its progress with green bars.
   
   
8. When the extraction is complete, de-select
   and select .
   
   
9. In the directory that shows the contents of the zip file, selectto see other downloaded zip files.
10. Repeat steps 3 through 9 for each census file in the same county.
11. Repeat steps 2 through 10 for each census file in other counties and other states.

Save the census downloads on your computer

These steps begin after you've recorded the EDs for a state and county that was canvassed in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, as guided in another blog post. Using those steps, you have just opened the Census Schedules view. Your working area should look like this.

You can review the actual pages written by the census enumerator in this view, but you can also copy the pages to your computer. (This is downloading the file.) I suggest downloading the file so you cam work without using the NARA computer resources and so you have your own copy of the census record.

1. Selectfor one of the EDs you've jotted down.
2. Place your pointer on, and a small window pops up.
3. Click on the Image box, and select All images.
4. Select , and you are asked to type the words in the security image.
5. Click in the answer box, and type the words. 
6. Selectagain. (If your answer is incorrect, you can use steps 4 and 5 several times until your answer is correct.)
7. If the download is successful, you may see the file listed by your browser window. (This depends on your browser and its settings.) For example: 
8. Repeat steps 1 through 7 for any other EDs you want to download.
9. Go to the next blog post, which guides you in placing the downloaded files on your computer.

Choosing the correct Enumeration District

These steps begin after you've selected a state and county that was canvassed in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, as guided in another blog post. Your working area should look like this.

Working area—ED descriptions for state and county

You can choose one or more of these views.

• If you don't know a name for the area you want a census page for, use the map images to help you find the town, city, ward, or portion of the county (township) and its ED (enumeration district).
• If you have the name for the city, ward, town, or township, use the descriptions to find the ED. The working area shows the descriptions automatically.
• If you have the ED, use the ED list to go immediately to the pages you want.

Map view

Let's work from the Maps view, which lists all available maps that show the EDs for your county. Usually one map shows the full county and its EDs, and another map shows each city or town that has election wards. Some election wards may have more than one ED.

1. Selectfor the county or town.

2. Slide the view bars (at the bottom and right side) to show different parts of the map.
• The small black squares are houses.
• Houses in towns are usually not shown.
• State and U.S. Highways are identified.
• Railways and county roads are mapped but not always identified.
• Usually the boundaries of townships are also boundaries of EDs.
• The ED numbers are usually written in large but fainter numbers. 
• In the example (right), Cawker township has ED 62-11, and Cawker City has ED 62-10.
3. Jot down the EDs you want to view. 
4. Selectto view another page and find other EDs for the county or city.
5. Selectwhen you've reviewed all pages of the map.
6. If you want, repeat steps 1 through 5 for another map.
7. Go to Descriptions view or Census Schedules view, below.

Descriptions view

Let's work from the Descriptions view.

1. Scroll though the groups of descriptions to a group you want to view.
2. Selectto see all the EDs for the group.
3. Jot down the ED you want to view.
4. Repeat these steps for all EDs you're interested in.
5. When you've found all EDs, select(above the descriptions).

Census schedules view

Let's work from the Census schedules view. You can review the actual pages written by the census enumerator in this view, but you can also copy the pages to your computer. (This is downloading the file.) I suggest downloading the file so you cam work without using the NARA computer resources and so you have your own copy of the census record. Go to the next blog post.