 Barrett hotel, Marysville, Kan. (two views) |
most of his life was spent west of the Mississippi. He was a lover of the West, knowing that with it were associated most of the stirring scenes of his eventful life. He died in Denver, November 25, 1895, leaving a wife and five children, four sons and one daughter. The Rocky Mountain News, the day after his death, closed an editorial on his demise as follows: "He has lived to a ripe old age, and, as the grave closes over his mortal remains tomorrow, it will hide from view as generous a heart, as true a friend and as brave a pioneer as reposes within the soil of Colorado." James S. Magill is one of the old-timers of the Big Blue valley, having settled there on the 8th of July, 1856. Mr. Magill was the first attorney, justice of the peace and county treasurer of Marshall county. He also served as the deputy district clerk of the first district court held by Judge Elmore in the territory, Kansas then being divided into three judicial districts. On the site of what is now the city of Marysville, there was no finished cabin or house of any kind when he reached there, A log house had been begun and four layers of hewed logs had been put in place, about 16x18 feet, which, when finished a story and a half high, was used by General Marshall as a store, and at which the general elections in those pioneer days were held. The store was on the ground floor, the upper story being used for sleeping rooms. Mr. Magill says when he arrived there Marshall had two rows of cabins, all one story, on the river bank, near the crossing of the Big Blue. The front row was built of hewed logs, and in this he lived and kept his store. In the fall of 1856 one of the rooms was used a printing-office, in which was published The Palmetto Kansan, Joshua E. Clardy, editor, and the Palmetto Town Company, proprietor. The other row of plain log buildings stood back about thirty feet upon the banks of the river, and were used as sleeping-rooms for the overland travel. Coming to Kansas when it was a territory and he a young man, Mr. Magill has resided in the Blue valley nearly half a century. He has seen his town grow from the first log cabin until it is now a city of several thousand people, having two railroads, churches, schools, library, water-works, electric lights, telephones, mills and manufactories, elegant business blocks, and fine residences. This house was one of the early buildings erected in Marysville. The main part of it faced north, and was built in 1859 by A. G. Barrett, who, the following year, put on an addition which |
fronted west. All together the building was about 18x44 feet. It was built of native lumber, hauled twenty miles from Barrett's sawmill, on the Vermillion, to Marysville. The name given the house was the "Barrett Hotel." It was a great improvement to Marysville when it was first erected, being one of the largest hotels on the overland route between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains. It was a noted house, and had considerable prominence in early days, for here the pony express and the great overland California stage-coaches used to stop and change horses, and occasionally the stage passengers would stop for meals. For several years in the '60's long mule and ox trains almost daily passed the old house. In the second story the people of Marysville had their balls; religious meetings, sometimes lasting a week, were held in the kitchen and dining-room. The hotel long since became historic. It has had among its guests a large number of pioneer freighters and noted men from all parts of the country--passengers on the stage-coach--who stopped there in the days of overland transportation, more than a third of a century ago, when it was practically the only public house in the Blue valley. After standing for nearly forty years, and being known as the Barrett, Cottrell, American, and Tremont, it was finally torn down in 1899, and in its place stands one of the most commodious and imposing business blocks in the city, built of brick, and owned by White Bros. Comparatively few of the early landmarks of Marysville are now to be seen, the city having, since the Pacific telegraph wiped out the pony express and the building of the Union Pacific railroad stopped travel by the overland stage-coach, seen great changes. The old town has made such a remarkable growth that most of the early structures have had to give way to more substantial and costly buildings, which add greatly to one of the most progressive cities in northern Kansas--the great frontier point between Atchison and Denver, in the palmy days of overland staging and ox and mule traffic. Capt. Perry Hutchinson, who runs one of the largest and best flouring-mills in the Big Blue valley, is an old-timer of Marysville and one of the prominent citizens of Marshall county. He came to Kansas in 1859, shortly after the Pike's Peak gold discovery, When the mining excitement was running high and when it cost a large sum of money to go across the plains by the over -34 |
|
Broadway, Marysville, Kan. (two views) |
land stage. Fond of adventure on the frontier at that early day, he conceived the idea of taking a load of ten passengers by the Platte route to Denver. In the spring of 1860 he fixed up a wagon in suitable condition for traveling and started off on the journey, driving the team himself all the way through, camping by the roadside at night. He received, for transporting his party, $400. This amount of money seemed a large sum to him. The new mining craze was up to fever heat in several camps. He struck out from Denver and went into the mountains, where fabulously rich strikes had been reported, and where, he believed, he could soon amass a fortune; but his anticipations were not realized. On the contrary, misfortune soon overtook him and almost every dollar he had disappeared. The attractions of the Blue valley in Kansas--one of the richest agricultural regions in the state, with its immense water-power seemed good enough for him. He returned, and located at Marysville, where he has resided for more than forty years, and is one of the most progressive and wealthy citizens in his county. During the civil war he enlisted and served his country honorably, going into the service in the Thirteenth Kansas Volunteers, and coming out as captain. In 1880 he represented his county in the legislature, and since that time has taken quite an active part in politics, and has always been one of the foremost in the development of the industries of his city, county, and state. In the early days of Marysville there were a number of prominent characters in the old town, among them a son of the Emerald isle named James Gray, but every one spoke of him as Jim Gray. A peculiarity of his dress was the same coat and plug hat that he wore in "ould Ireland." But he was a kind-hearted, whole-souled fellow, and it was charged that he himself was his worst enemy. However, in many respects he was a popular man in his town, and in pioneer days, when politics in that locality were overwhelmingly Democratic, he was nominated by his friends and elected sheriff of Marshall county. Politically he was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, but apparently he had no more conception of the principles that made up a genuine Jacksonian or Jeffersonian Democrat than a Comanche Indian has of the duties of a United States ambassador to the court of St. James. A great many stories were from time to time told at the expense of Jim but doubtless some of them were invented by polit- |
ical enemies; hence could not be verified. Here is one, however, that is vouched for as true. Having been chosen "high sheriff of Marshall county," it was customary for the people to select Gray as chairman of all the Democratic meetings and caucuses held in the town. The usual place of holding all such gatherings was in the old court-house, and he was supposed to be the proper custodian of the county's property. One time it was announced that a grand rally of the Democracy would be held at the court-house at a designated hour on a certain evening. When the time arrived for opening the meeting, the "unterrified" had assembled there en masse. The crowd waited a long time for Gray. Finally he came into the room, after another chairman had been chosen. He could not understand how the meeting could proceed with any other man as presiding officer, and, in a fine rage, said: "What are yez all doing here? Why the divil's father don't yez organize?" The crowd laughed and yelled, and became so boisterous that Gray was almost fighting mad. He informed them that such proceedings must be stopped. "If yez do n't stop I'll put out-of-doors every mother's son of ye. Go ahead and organize and stop this ---- foolin'. I'll have yez to understand that I'm the high sheriff of Marshall county, and, by the devil's father, this court must be obeyed." One of the old-timers of Marysville is the genial, warm-hearted Chas. F. Koester, who drifted "out west" from Atchison in the summer of 1859, where, as a boy of eighteen, he had been engaged in the restaurant and confectionery business. For over four decades since leaving Atchison Mr. Koester has been a prominent resident of the Big Blue valley. When he first settled in that part of Kansas Territory, letters written from Marysville by correspondents crossing the plains and published in the Champion were headed by the editor "Far Western Correspondence." Marysville at that time was the extreme prominent frontier town of northern Kansas. Mr. Koester settled in Marysville when the place boasted of only a score or two of houses, the most of which were plain, one-story structures. That was before the California pony express was dreamed of; likewise nearly two years before the first daily overland mail left St. Joseph and Atchison. When these enterprises were established. they crossed the Blue river on a rope ferry |
|
C. F. Koester's home, Marysville, Kan. (two views) |
put in by the earliest settler, the late Gen. Frank J. Marshall. The Salt Lake mail-coach, drawn by four mules, at that time, passed through Marysville once a week from Atchison. The great outfitting ox and mule trains from Atchison, Leavenworth and St. Joseph, loaded for military posts on the plains and the various Rocky Mountain mining camps, also passed, making that point the most important on the overland route between the Missouri and the Rockies. Mr. Koester can boast of having seen the old coaches of the Atchison and Salt Lake line, also those of the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express, in 1859, the first California pony express, in April, 1860, and the first daily overland mail stage-coach, in July, 1861, all of which passed through his town. Waiting nearly twelve years, he witnessed the first railway passenger-train into Marysville from St. Joseph, in January, 1871. Mr. Koester was born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, in 1841, coming to America in 1850. Almost from the first the people of his city and county recognized his worth. To show their appreciation he has been kindly remembered. In two years after settling at Marysville he was first chosen register of deeds of Marshall county and for eight years filled that important office. He was next chosen county treasurer for two years and was then reelected. Besides, he has held a number of other positions of trust. He was one of a commission of three to revise the tax laws of Kansas. In 1876 he was married, and the same year selected as one of the state commissioners to the Centennial Exposition, at Philadelphia. In 1882 he was elected to the responsible office of mayor of Marysville, a position he held several subsequent terms. He erected the first three-story brick building in Marysville, which still remains a prominent landmark. He also takes pride CHAS. F. KOESTER. |
Fountain in Chas. F. Koester's garden, Marysville, Kan. The overland stages, pony ex- press and ox and mule wagon-trains passed over this ground in the '60's. in the management of several well-improved farms near his
home town. He has a comfortable residence, which, with its
charming surroundings, is spoken of as one of the most
inviting homes in Marshall county. |
Bank of Schmidt & Koester, that was established by the late Frank Schmidt in April, 1870, and is the oldest bank in Marshall, county. His long residence in the Big Blue valley has made the most of his life a busy one, and he finds pleasure and rest in attending to business. Early in his married life the grim monster took from him a loving and affectionate wife, but he is surrounded and comforted at his household by a family of bright, intelligent and happy children--a son and two daughters. He has passed the half-century milestone; still he is vigorous and would easily pass for ten years younger than he really is. Long live my old and faithful friend Charles Koester, one of the truest and best men I ever knew on the overland route.  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© 1999, 2000, 2001 for the NEGenWeb by Pam Rietsch, Ted & Carole Miller