Volume 35, Number 3 - Winter 1996
Missouri to Kansas:
Ramsey Diary, 1899
by John Ramsey
Edjtor’s note: Many Ozarkers tried farming in Kansas; some stayed, many returned. We are fortunate to have this account written in 1900, and reviewed in 1953, by John Ramsey. The Ramsey family, primary characters in the diary, are Daniel J. and Mary Jane Ramsey, parents; daughters, Lenna and Myrtle; and sons, John (age eighteen) and Ulman (sixteen). The old diary had missing pieces, consequently a variety of omissions or lacunae exits in the text.
Introduction by John Ramsey
As a prelude, I will do a little narrating leading up to the overland trip from Missouri to Kansas.
We left [Greene County] Missouri with two covered wagons, four horses, and a dog. The wagons were equipped with "oveijets" which we made for the purpose. These oveijets were made up of twelve inch boards, the length of the wagon box. One on each side with an upright board of the same width with steeples to hold the wagon bows. All [were] secured with iron strips to give strength and rigidity The purpose of the oveijets was to add [an] additional two feet width to the wagon box above the sideboards.
The horses consisted of a black mare called Puss, a baldfaced sorrel called Ball, a rawboned, dark bay horse called Barney, and a tall anglin’ sorrel mare called Doll.
My first remembrance pertaining to horses was that we had a bay and black called Kit and Puss. I remember that both of these mares had colts; Kit’s colt we called Ball because he was baldfaced. Puss’s colt we called Morgan. He was, as I remember, a very dark bay.
One of my uncles was an M.D. and my father owed him a doctor bill. We took these two colts to my uncle’s, as he needed another horse, for him to take his choice. My uncle selected the one we called Morgan, or Puss’s colt. We kept Ball.
Old Kit died when I was about ten years old, and Ball had to take her place. And it was this Ball that Old Puss later on had another colt. I was about thirteen at the time [1894]. This, we called Barney. Barney was very dependable, but ugly as home made sin. Old Doll was purchased at a farm sale when I was about fifteen for thirty-two dollars [1896]. She was a four year old at that time. She was a good work animal but mean to other horses. [She] would kick the living out of them if she could get them cornered.
The dog, we called him Shiloh, a bull dog. About four years old. We raised him from a pup. He would not ride, but hoofed it all the way to Kansas.
I do not know the exact age of these horses when they died. I left the farm in 1903. My father had all of them then and as I remember bought some additional. Seems to me old Puss was twenty-eight. Barney was about thirteen when he gave it up. I do not know about Ball and Doll, other than they were old horses, especially Ball. My father would. never sell or trade horses.
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Editor’s note: Many Ozarkers tried farming in Kansas; some stayed, many returned. We are fortunate to have this account written in 1900, and reviewed in 1953, by John Ramsey. The Ramsey family, primary characters in the diary, are Daniel J. and Mary Jane Ramsey, parents; daughters, Lenna and Myrtle; and sans, John (age eighteen) and Ulman (sixteen). The old diary had missing pieces, consequently a variety of omissions or lacunae exits in the text.
Introduction by John Ramsey
As a prelude, I will do a little narrating leading up to the overland trip from Missouri to Kansas.
We left [Greene County] Missouri with two covered wagons, four horses, and a dog. The wagons were equipped with "oveijets" which we made for the purpose. These oveijets were made up of twelve inch boards, the length of the wagon box. One on each side with an upright board of the same width with steeples to hold the wagon bows. All [were] secured with iron strips to give strength and rigidity The purpose of the oveijets was to add [an] additional two feet width to the wagon box above the sideboards.
The horses consisted of a black mare called Puss, a baldfaced sorrel called Ball, a rawboned, dark bay horse called Barney, and a tall anglin’ sorrel mare called Doll.
My first remembrance pertaining to horses was that we had a bay and black called Kit and Puss. I remember that both of these mares had colts; Kit’s colt we called Ball because he was baldfaced. Puss’s colt we called Morgan. He was, as I remember, a very dark bay.
One of my uncles was an M.D. and my father owed him a doctor bill. We took these two colts to my uncle’s, as he needed another horse, for him to take his choice. My uncle selected the one we called Morgan, or Puss’s colt. We kept Ball.
Old Kit died when I was about ten years old, and Ball had to take her place. And it was this Ball that made the trip to Kansas. Old Puss was a very well built animal--gentle, docile, as well as smart. I remember us children used to drive her around the yard, hooked to a sled, when I was not over eight years old.
And when I was nine years old, my father would put the harness on her and my sister, Myrtle, and brother, Ulman, and myself would take her to the field, hitch her to a "double shovel," and plow corn. She knew how to "keep the rows" [straight]. All we did was hold the plow from turning over.
Old Puss later on had another colt. I was about thirteen at the time 1118941. This, we called Barney. Barney was very dependable, but ugly as home made sin. Old Doll was purchased at a farm sale when I was about fifteen for thirty-two dollars [1896]. She was a four year old at that time. She was a good work animal but mean to other horses. [She] would kick the living out of them if she could get them cornered.
The dog, we called him Shiloh, a bull dog. About four years old. We raised him from a pup. He would not ride, but hoofed it all the way to Kansas.
I do not know the exact age of these horses when they died. I left the farm in 1903. My father had all of them then and as I remember bought some additional. Seems to me old Puss was twenty-eight. Barney was about thirteen when he gave it up. I do not know about Ball and Doll, other than they were old horses, especially Ball. My father would. never sell or trade horses.
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My father was poor, but a hard worker and honest. Yet, in spite of his toil and labor, [he] seemingly could not accumulate more than a bare living. We always lived on a rented farm. Never had one of our own. Moved about every two years, which meant a lot of extra hard work that brought no return. We left for Kansas with two covered wagons, four horses with harness, and very little money.
Diary
First day’s travel, May 31, 1899
We left Palace, Greene County, Missouri (Palace was a country store and post office [1888-19051 about fifteen miles southeast of Springfield, Mo.) on Wednesday morning, May 31, about eight o’clock--two wagons, four horses and one dog. Were headed for Sumner County, Kansas.
We crossed the Chadwick Railroad branch at Galloway before noon. Watered the horses five miles south of Springfield and were trying to find a better place to feed. Saw two colored fellows plowing and before we got to Brookline we met a man and a woman in a one horse buggy with a calf under the seat and the woman holding it by the ears to keep it from jumping out.
Camped at Cab Galbreths [lacunae. . .1 Mr. McCoy’s. The weather is hot. Has cooled off.
Country continues rough (evidently the second day out). Camped at a house on the eastern edge of the Ozark Prairie, Lawrence County. Crossed four streams and pulled over the "Thrnback Hills County," powerfully rough. Crops poor. Ozark Prairie is wet marshland, or is so far.
Overtook a man from Douglas County with one wagon and some cows bound for Kansas. [He] had been on the road a week. Prospect for better roads now. We are thirty-three miles from Carthage and thirty-two and one-half miles west of Springfield. Spent 57 cents.
Third day’s travel, June 2nd, 1899
Weather cloudy, prospect of rain, but cleared off and is very hot. The Ozark Prairie of Lawrence County, Mo., is poor stuff. Crops are poor, wheat [is] no crop at all. Few oats, mostly pasture and it is poor. Came through the town of Phelps, a one horse town on top of nowhere. Came on through the city of Plew where two crawled and one flew. Crossed two little creeks before noon. Water and camp ground together are hard to find. Population sparse. We camped on a creek fifteen miles east of [lacunae.. .1 it is a nice stream.
Came on to Carthage city. It is not as large a town as Springfield, Missouri. Has a fine court house said to be four hundred feet high [a great exaggeration]. Has a big clock to face each side of the square. Some electric cars [in town]. The buildings are fine around the square as a general thing. We stopped a few minutes in town between twelve and one o’clock. Carthage is about twenty miles from the Kansas line and about sixty-five miles from Springfield. We haven’t seen any electric lights but judge from the wires around town there are some of them in town.
Came on and crossed the railroad west of Carthage and crossed the same railroad four times and saw four trains. Passed about four miles north of Joplin. The country around here is broken.
We came on through Oronogo and it is a mining town, I suppose. There are elevators forty and fifty feet high, or maybe a hundred feet high, and the ground, sand and mud is a sight--piled up to the top of the elevators. Came on and camped in a little branch for night. One of the horses got sick and we didn’t get to bed until midnight. Crossed more railroads than a few. Spent $1.90.
We camped in Cherokee County, Kansas, eleven miles east of Columbus. A Mr. Minerd and two of his boys stayed with us. He lived at Pittsburg, Kansas. He happened up with us Saturday night and his boys wanted to come in right with us to Spring River to fish. Plenty of timber along the river. Spent nothing.
(I remember this Mr. Minerd had his boys out for weekend outing. He was very much worried about his horses. Said there was a gang that made a practice of stealing horses from campers along the river. It was raining some too, and we kept more than the usual vigilance, based on his caution.
In the night I heard my father calling me for help and to bring the knife quick. I knew from the tone of his voice he was in a strain out among the horses and I supposed he was mixed up with a horse thief. I jumped up and grabbed a dagger knife we kept handy and clambered out as fast as I could. It devel
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oped that one of the horses had someway got tangled up in his halter rope and was about to choke to death. Father just wanted to cut the rope before [it was] too late. Otherwise nothing happened.)
Tuesday--seventh day’s travel--June 6th
Left camp about nine o’clock. Roads very bad on account of rain. Came on and camped for dinner one mile from Oswego. Crops are bad. Wheat was near failure. Oats the same. Crossed a little creek named Cherry Creek. Crossed Neosho River. Oswego is a small town, on top of a hill, the county seat of Labette County, nine miles from the Indian Nation line.
We go direct west most of the time, don’t go much north or south. Weather is cloudy, little banks lying around. Would be hot were it not for the wind blowing all the time. Saw a wild jackrabbit.
People appear clever so far. Plenty of colored folks in Oswego. Drove out of town, crossed another stream, don’t know the name of it. Clouds are flying and soaring around. A cloud blowed over and rained hard, the wind blew hard, the sheets leaked very well.
Camped at a man’s house by the name of [lacunae...]. Got wood at his house, got supper, cook had strowed [strewed something?] around everywhere and it began to rain. Had to load things in the wagons in a whiz. We got wet a little and ate in the wagon and got very wet after supper, it rained all night by showers, the wind blew considerably, sheets leaked a little, dogs barked all night at something, presume it was coyotes, was told they were in the country. A man and his wife and boy camped at the same place. He had four heads of horses. Stone coal is used instead of wood here. Some good corn and wheat.
Wednesday--seventh [eighth] day’s travel--June 7, 1899
Weather cloudy and damp. Still muddy Decided to lay over until noon or maybe until morning. Has not rained yet, but think it will before night. Has cleared off some, sun is shining, are cooking dinner now.
Pulled out at noon. Wheat crop some better. Oats are better. Corn weedy Worst crop for eighteen years.
Camped on a road eighteen miles west feast] of Independence. Roads are very bad on account of the mud. So much rain [that] farmers can do nothing. Country fine. Hedge fence is all the fence. Crossed one railroad. Spent 40 cents.
(The farmers are very clever. They keep wood piled up for movers to use. They burn coal themselves. Of course, all farmers don’t keep wood, but some do.)
We came south of Independence two miles. The country around here is broken, rough; [but] considering the other part of the country, it is not bad around here. It is in Montgomery County, Kansas, that is rough. Saw corn high as a man’s shoulder along the road, also some good wheat. Saw some good land, some bad land. Camped by the side of the road about four miles from Independence. Mr. Garber II from Stone County, Mo.] is still with us. Has been ever since Thesday The dogs caught a young jackrabbit, but it took running to do it.
Along in the night it began raining and rained hard, the wind blew hard with it. Of course, things got a little wet in the wagons. Crossed one railroad. Independence is a small town, county seat of
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Montgomery County. Mounds all around here. The town is on top of a mound like. Crops are some better. Spent nothing.
Ninth day’s travel--Thursday, June 8th, 1899
Weather cloudy, has been showering all morning.
Roads are bad yet. Saw several herd of cattle yesterday and on this morning. A traveler from Stone County, Missouri, has been along with us since
Tuesday. It still continues raining. Rains by showers.
Have stopped for dinner now.
We came over some mounds and when we were on top of them we could see ever so far all around us. The country is sure fine here. We are about twelve miles from Independence, Kansas. Crossed a good sized stream called Pumpkin and will cross another just ahead of us called Verdigris. We crossed a creek right after dinner called Big Hill River.
Tenth day’s travel--Friday, June 9th, 1899
Weather cloudy and damp, will likely rain again today. Awful sloppy around the wagons. Pulled away from camp about eleven o’clock. We were put off the road and had about ten miles drive out of the way, didn’t go far. Crops are good, better than they have been. Corn will average about waist high. It did not rain. Cleared off to some extent. We ate dinner at a man’s house by the name of Six, Reverend Six, about five miles from Independence, west.
We stopped for night on an old field place or raw prairie never broke. One [ofi the wild grasses was about half knee high all over the place of twenty acres. Some people by the name of Keck, they had been fishing and stopped awhile. They lived about half a quarter from where we were camped. They came back after supper, the man and his wife and girl. They were Missourians, they tried awful hard to get us to stop and stay there.We did not go to bed until eleven o’clock.
The western part of Montgomery County, Kansas, is broken, rough, and hilly. [There is] Good land tho in parts of it. Crops are tolerable good. Spent 40 cents.
Eleventh day’s travel--June 10th, 1899
Weather fair. We fished a little before breakfast, didn’t catch anything to amount to anything. Didn’t start very early, fooled along, didn’t get far. Broke the King Bolt of the new wagon, delayed us for awhile. Went to a man’s house and got a pin that would do.
The man tried to get us to stop there.
Country very rough. All the breaks are used for cattle. Ranch houses scarce, none only the cow punchers live in. We crossed a three mile ranch with eight hundred head of cattle on it. We camped in the Wild West at night. Ate dinner at the side of the road. Water scarce.
Twelfth day’s travel--Sunday, June 11th, 1899
Weather a little cloudy We started early, crossed the Ranch, have to go every direction across them. Continues rough. Crops tolerable good. Corn awful foul, corn is waist high in some fields while in others it is just coming up, not more than three blades high. We passed some fields that had been planted without breaking. We stopped for dinner in a lane. Saw a prairie chicken. Have not found much [water] if any [it is] alkali water.
We crossed the breaks about noon. Country some smoother, crops better off [away from] the breaks, none on them at all.
Thirteenth day’s travel--
Monday, June 12th, 1899
Weather a little cloudy, clouds flying and a little cool. Pulled up on the Flint Hills and stayed on them all day. They are rough, big edges of limestone. Rock on the hill and wet land in the bottoms. Prairie grass grows all over them. They are not cultivated, but are used by the cow punchers for pasture. We saw three rock quarries along the railroad. There are thousands of head of cattle strewn along the hills and breaks.
The hills begin around Independence, Montgomery County, Kansas, and continue off and on through Chautauqua and Cowley County. We camped on the [lacunae...] Winfield.
Fourteenth day’s travel--Tuesday, June 13, 1899
Weather is a little cloudy, wind high, was cool in the morning, would be hot if it was not for the wind. We left the hills behind us in about two hours after we started. Corn is fine here in Cowley County. Wheat not much. Saw corn knee high, had not been plowed at all and was good and clean. Came through New Salem, a place of two or three stores, a railroad station. Crossed a creek, stopped for dinner about two miles west of New Salem by the side of the road. Country getting leveler and nicer. Corn crop good, wheat not. [lacunae...] about three miles from
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Burden East. Have found some alkali water, not strong tho. Spent 55 cents.
Camped about 150 yards from the railroad track. Came over the hills and all that was seen was cattle, rock and hills, no houses except the cow punchers and they were scattered about every two or three miles or so.
At Winfield it [courthouse?] is a stone constructure, four stories high, a nice building it is. We came on through Winfield about four o’clock. Stopped in town for awhile. They have Mule Cars, Electric Lights, it is a fair sized town, good buildings. Walnut River is about one and a half miles west of town. Has fine buildings, plenty of railroads, a big mill and elevator eight stories high. More bicycles than ever I saw for the size of the town. I believe darkies are scarce, I saw one while we were there. The main streets are well lined with stores, has a National Bank. We crossed the river and drove about a half mile and camped west of town in an old field. Do not know how much we spent.
Fifteenth day’s travel--
Wednesday, June 14, 1899
Weather cloudy, good breeze blowing. Showered about noon. We crossed the Arkansas River about noon. They were cutting wheat on the west side of the river.
We went on to Oxford, about half mile from the river. When it began raining, we pulled out by the side of a hardware store and fed [the stock] and ate dinner. Rained all evening. We roamed over town all evening. The town is not large, just like about ten or twelve stores in all. They have a mill that grinds corn and wheat there and it is run by the wind. The tower is sixty feet high. It has a thirty foot wheel, that is what they say it is. They have Binders and Headers for sale here. We were told we could get plenty of work when the ground got dry enough to work, and when wheat got ripe, and it would be three or five days before the harvest would begin. They have a big elevator, too. Wheat was selling two cents above test. Do not know how much we spent.
Ate dinner out by the side of the road.
We got to the farm about five in the evening. Farm is a good looking place. Good house and barn and wheat grannery [granary]. One hundred acres in cultivation. Two men had already spoke for the place, do not know what we will do about it yet. Spent about 50 cents.
Nineteenth day’s travel--Sunday, June 18, 1899
Weather fair and hot, breeze blowing some. Will lay over here at the farm. Do not know what to do about going to see about renting yet. Jackrabbits are plentiful. Didn’t go to see about the place, the men came that owned it. We moved in with the folks that live here on Monday, June 20, 1899. This was with Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Donley. Very nice people.
Epilogue
The place referred to above that we moved in with the folks on June 20th is a farm located fifteen miles southeast of Wellington. We later rented and put out our first wheat crop on a farm one mile east of this location.
J. J. Ramsey April 8, 1953.
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To the White River Society
by Nancy Jane Ramsey Norris
5118 South 247th W.
Viola, Kansas 316-794-2442
We are tracing the family tree of Daniel James McCage Ramsey, father of J. J. Ramsey, at this time. Any suggestions from the Society would be most welcome.
Daniel married Mary Jane Hedgpeth Ramsey. The Ramseys lived around Springfield, Buffalo and Nixa. The 1880 census for Christian County, Linden township, recorded Daniel and Mary with two daughters.
The Ramsey family settled on a farm eighteen miles southeast of Wellington, Ks., near Geuda Springs or Ashton. Father Daniel died in 1913, and Mother Mary moved to Wellington following a farm sale. Charlie Ulman Ramsey remained in farming near Ashton. The two sisters, Sally Myrtle and Lenna, married and had their own families.
John J. Ramsey left the Kansas farm in 1901 for ajob as a fireman on the railroad in Parsons, Ks. He took correspondence courses in engineering and mechanical drawing and took a job in Wellington where he was in charge of the industrial machines at Hunter’s Flour Mill. In 1905 he returned to Buffalo, Mo., to wed his old sweetheart, Flora May Hoobler. They had four children: Forrest, Janie, Maynard and Bernice. Flora May’s father, John Robert Hoobler, later traded the Dallas Co., Mo., farm for one in Hooker, Texas County, Okla., where he lived until death in 1939.
J. J. and Flora Ramsey moved from Wellington to Attica, Ks., a few years later. J. J. was employed in the public works of the town. In 1917 the Standard Oil Company, Wichita, Ks., hired him to travel as a lubricating engineer and consultant. He worked most of his life at that occupation until retirement at age 65. He died in 1971
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