Early Land Buyers

Early Land Buyers.—The southwest quarter of Township 32, Range 16, including Sections 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33, forming a part of Webster, was first entered December 28, 1846, when Gilbert A. Finley purchased the east half of the northeast quarter, Section 32. George Ikerd bought the southeast quarter of northeast quarter of Section 30 March 22, 1847, also the southeast quarter of southeast quarter of same section on same date. Tyre S. Newbell and John F. McMahan purchased on Section 19 in 1852, and in 1857 H. H. Lee and B. A. Casey purchased the swamp lands in the northern part of Section 21, J. T. Laugdon on Section 30, John B. Casey on Section 29, and Isham H. Cunningham on Section 33. In 1866 large parcels on Sections 21 and 28 were entered by Thomas McCann and Robert Mears, while Edward Coffey and J. J. Middleton entered lands on Section 33 in 1865—69. Homesteads were erected on Section 19, by W. H. Holland in 1867, Reuben Vermillion in 1865, Pleasant Harvey in 1867, William Province and John Joker in 1869. On Section 31 James T. Langdon, William Deckard and James Pickle entered homesteads in the sixties, and Charles Dement on Section 29 in 1870.

Sections 19 to 36, or the south half of Township 32, Range 17, were first entered on Section 24, by Joseph Dougherty, September 3, 1847, who made extensive purchases in 1850-57. The early homesteads entered were by John Durbin, John Essery and Peter Price in 1865—67, on Section 19; Stephen Rambo, W. Hendricks, H. Durbin and Hiram Reid on Section 29, in 1869; Eliza Richardson, Sarah J. Hunnicut and William Simon, on Section 33; Valentine Casebolt, Jacob Casebolt and J. C. Hendrick, on Section 21; J. M. Terry, William Kilburn and W. M Caine, on Section 27; John Roberston, on Section 23; Eliza J. G. Brown, Joseph Bivens, Joseph Leonard and Benjamin J. Smith, on Section 35. John W. Jones, Abner S. Terry, William Jenkin, Robert Hanning, J. R. Bingaman, Leonard Walker and William Jimes homesteaded on Section 25 in 1865-67.

The south half of Township 32, Range 18, was entered first in 1846, by W. B. Latimer and John King, on Sections 30 and 31; James E. Hollis on Section 33, Spencer Marlin on Section 20, Thomas Marlin on Section 28, and R. Graham on Section 23. John E. Haymes bought on Section 21 in 1848, David M. Jameson on Section 20, and Thomas Patterson on Section 19. The homesteaders in the sixties were William L. Lowder, W. 0. Lowder, Jasper M. Price, Spencer Marlin, William J. Simmons, Anthony Hogan, D. McGrew, Charles Marlin, Elizabeth Williams, Charles T. Clements, J. M. Combs, W. T. Mathis, Thomas Alexander, John T. Terrier, James Barret, Joseph Shook, John Melphine and R. W. Zimmerman.

The south half of Township 32, Range 19, south of the Dallas County line, is one of the oldest settled townships in the county. John Plummer and Jacob Bodenhamer entered lands on Section 30 in 1839, and William Davis in 1840; Andrew T. Hudson and J. Bodenhamer, on Section 32 in 1839; while on Section 24 John Henson purchased in 1838-42, Austin Hank and Samuel Latimer in 1839-40, on Section 25, and James Cowin, on Section 36 in 1841.

The west half of Township 31, Range 16, appears to have been first entered on Section 30 by Isaac Whittenburg, in July, 1847, while Enoch Epps purchased close by on Section 20 in 1848. Abraham Whittenburg bought on Section 19 in 1847, but not until 1857 did the great body of purchasers appear, while in 1865 the first homesteads were taken up.

Township 31, Range 17, a full Congressional township, was first entered in 1857 by D. L. Burford, on Section 7; J. F. McMahan, on Section 17; Jones Smith, on Section 29; Martin Kirk, on Section 33, with Charles W. Robinson, G. W. Penland, Valentine Garner (whose entry is dated 1847) ; while Jacob M. Copening bought on Section 27 in 1857. William Cunningham appears to have entered a part of Section 24 in 1819, and William D. Miller in 1847.

Township 31, Range 18, was entered on Section 4 in October, 1846, by Samuel Latimer; by Caleb Haymes on Section 7, and George Triplett on Section 8, in December, 1846. Robert W. Jameson bought on Sections 17 and 20 in 1847, and entered lands in 1843; William P. Edwards, on Section 19, in 1850.

Township 31, Range 19, was first entered by Richard B. Owen, on the southwest corner of Section 21, March 25, 1845; next by Mark Spain, on the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 1. February 6, 1846, William Tabor, James Cowin and William Haymes purchased lands on Sections 1 and 12 late in the year; Richard Pitts, on Section 2, in 1847 ; F. M. Miller and D. Steward, on Section 11, in 1848; John Plummer and Charles Price, on Section 4, in 1848; John V. Coover, on Section 9, in 1849; 5. Gibbins, on Section 34, in 1850, and D. Wammack, on Section 22, in 1848.

The west half of Township 30, Range 16, was opened for entry, and the first lands sold to Asa Biggs and Edwin Dean on Section 30; James E. Munford, on Section 33, October 2 and 3, 1857. 5. D. Pitchford bought on Section 33, and Thomas R. Caskey, Section 17, in 1858, and Robert Cantrell, on Sections 19 and 20. J. W. Ellis entered lands on Section 16 in 1859.

Township 30, Range 17, was first entered on Section 8, by Calvin Barber, December 21, 1846, and by John Smith, on Section 5, in 1847. John Hargus purchased on Section 31 in 1852; John Goodnight, on Section 29, in 1854; Jeptha L. Moore, on Section 22, in 1852; Benjamin Shields, on Section 17, in 1848, and James Deloy, on Section 14, in 1851. In 1857 a large number of entries were made in this township.

Township 30, Range 18, was first entered by Lazarus Nichols, on Section 7, in 1846. In 1846—47 Louis A. Pottillo purchased lands adjoining. William T. Burford bought on Section 4 in 1847, and on Section 9 in 1846. James M. Allen entered lands on Section 17 in 1854; Joshua Hamilton, on Section 7, in 1852; Thomas Bails, on Section 31, in 1850; but not until 1857 did the lands here pass in any large quantity from the Government into the hands of the people.

Township 30, Range 19, was first entered on the southwest corner of Section 35 by Robert Patterson, and by Spencer Clark, on Section 18, in November, 1838. R. W. Robertson located lands in the southeast corner of Section 30 in August, 1840; Peter Ussery, or Essery, on Section 22, in 1841; Spencer Clarke and Alex. Gainger, on Section 13, in 1839; C. W. Bodenhamer, on Section 9; James Graham, on Section 7; George Kepley, on Section 18; Richard Aidridge, on Section 19; Allen Goss, on Section 29, in 1839; and Samuel Greer, on Section 18, in 1840. The great number of land buyers came about 1857.

Township 29, Range 16, was entered in 1846, by Thomas B. Love, on Sections 19 and 30. Allen Cox entered lands on Section 19, in 1851, adjoining the Love purchase. In 1847 George A. Wilson purchased lands on Section 4, and James P. Scott on Section 31 in 1847, and in 1857—58 a number of purchasers came in.

Township 29, Range 17, was opened in 1845, Stephen Julian, Tanner Hailey and John Foster making purchases on Sections 25, 26 and 36 in December of that year. In 1846 Jesse F. Foster, on Section 21; Seabourn Stiles, on Section 17; James Minahan, T. H. Russell, and Dobson Burrow, on Section 25; James Alexander, John C. Trimble, Robert Phillips, Jeremiah Pierson and John Alcorn purchased in this neighborhood that year; William G. Berry, James Brixey and John Brixey located their lands in 1847, in the southeastern corner of the township, while Aaron Wilson, in 1847, and William Roper, in 1846, purchased on Section 17. Bartlett Gentry located on Section 35 in 1848; D. Rippee, on Section 36, in 1847, and Dan. Goss in 1851.

Township 29, Range 18, was opened for entry in 1846. The buyers of that year were John Pane, on Sections 1 and 12, and John Krider, on Section 12, in December, 1846. Jacob Beal bought on Section 2 in 1847; Nicholas R. Smith, on Section 2; Joseph McCarnack, on Section 10, in 1848; D. R. Brown, on Sections 15 and John Clifton, on Section 9; R. W. Robertson, on Section 4, in 1847; Daniel Hyden, on Section 29, in 1848; B. P. Smith, on Section 9, in 1847. From the center of Sections 1 to 6, Lots 1 to 8, extending north, are attached to this township to correct survey. Lots 1 and 2 form the northern halves of the upper tier of sections, while the other six lots represent a section and a half addition to each section from 1 to 6 inclusive.

Township 29, Range 19, claims six lots along its northern line in addition to the Congressional township, but the upper halves of Sections 1 to 6 are described as Lots 1 and 2, thus giving eight lots, this making the township seven and one-half miles long by six miles in width, the same as Township 29, Range 18.

The first land purchases were made on Section 18, by William Dornall, November 4, 1838, and Denny Turner, May 7, 1840. Harrison Hicks and Benjamin Harper purchased on Section 17 in May, 1840; Jonathan Harper, on Section 30, December 17, 1840; John Smith, on Section 4, in 1840; David Welch, on Lots 5 and 6, of Section 4, in 1839; William T. Burford, on Section 5, in 1839. In 1847 and 1848 a number of entries were made in this township, and in 1865 several homesteads were entered. In 1845 Denny Turner entered lands on Section 30, and John Yandle on Section 29.

Township 28, Range 16, was first entered in February, 1848, by William Day, who purchased lands on Section 32, and by Charles Denny, who purchased on Section 21. In 1857 Thomas De Armand and others entered a large area, and in 1850 the first homestead entry was made by W. Hicks, on the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 19.

Township 28, Range 17, passed into the hands of private owners mainly in 1857-58. John L. Spaulding, M. H. Pillom, M. Kean, Jonathan Praley, G. L. Williams, Joel Barker, Edward Pitman, R. S. Mahan, Fred. Myer, Valentine Storkharf, Hanson Philpot, W. B. Killion, A. B. Fales, C. W. Seley and others. Drury Lee and Larwood Denney entered lands on Sections 20 and 21 in 1855. James Ellison entered lands on Section 19 in 1847, and Joseph P. Lyons on Section 10 in 1848; Louisa McGowan on Section 13 in 1852.

Township 28, Range 18, was first entered by James Williams February 8, 1847, on Section 29, and by Garret Cornellison, on Section 28, March 12. In November, 1848, James M. Gray, Samuel Woods amid B. H. Edmondson purchased on Section 19. All time sections south to the center of the fifth tier may be said to have been sold prior to 1859. Sections 31, 32 and 33 do not belong to Webster County.

Township 28, Range 19, was first entered on time southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 17, January 8, 1842, by Madison Thompson. In 1844 Alfred Thompson purchased forty acres on Section 7; in 1845, W. J. Watts, on Section 30; in 1848, Andrew Bryan, on Section 17; in 1850, Hosea Green, on Section 13; and prior to 1860 the whole township may be to have become the property of private owners of the county or of the railroad. Sections 31 to 36 inclusive belong to Christian County.