History of Atchison County, Kansas. Sheffield Ingalls

a letter written February 26, 1859, says: “A great number of towns and villages have sprung up as if by enchantment in the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The principal towns of Kansas are Wyandotte, Delaware, Douglas, Marysville, Iola, Atchison, Ft. Scott, Pawnee, Lecompton, Neosho, Richmond, Tecumseh, Lawrence, Port William, Doniphan, Paola, Alexandria, Indianola, Easton, Leavenworth and others.” The history of old Doniphan, Sumner and Kickapoo has long been well established, but that of Port William has been neglected and has remained obscure. Port William never was much of a town, as were its rivals, Doniphan, Sumner and Kickapoo, but it was proposedly in the race for municipal supremacy in the pioneer days, and though its star may never have attained the ascendency, its story is at least worthy of preservation in the archives of Atchison county history.

      Port William was started in 1856 by Henry and James M. Bradley, John T. and Albred Bailey, and Jonathan Hartman. The two Bradleys and John T. Bailey composed the town company. The Bradleys conducted a general store, and a postoffice was established in April, 1855, with Henry Bradley as first postmaster. This was the first postoffice in Walnut township. Jonathan Hartman owned and operated a sawmill, the first in Atchison county, in 1854, and made the first lumber ever sawed in the county. There were several saloons, and later a blacksmith shop, a carpenter shop and other small industries were started. It has been surmised by someone that Port Williams, as it is sometimes called, was named for a Missouri river steamboat captain named Williams, as steamboats often tied up at the place in the early days. There are others who believe it was so-called for the late “Uncle Frank” Williams, one of the fathers of the colored settlement which was started in that vicinity at a later day. The correct name of the place, however, is Port William, instead of Port Williams, and it is known that it was so named more than fifty years ago, or nearly twenty years before “Uncle Frank” Williams settled there. The correct origin of the name is probably given by the late W. J. Bailey, of Atchison, who was one of the very first settlers of that vicinity. He said that in 1854 a man named William Johnson came across from the settlement about Iatan, Mo., and took up the claim on which Port William was afterwards built. It was a likely claim and Johnson soon had trouble on his hands in holding the property. Several men tried to chase him off with guns, but Johnson managed to make such a good defense as to repel them. He stayed in his cabin a week, not daring to come out for fear of being shot. He won out and held the claim. The other fellows then referred to his cabin as Fort William (that was his first name). Soon after Jake Yunt, from Missouri, established a hand ferryboat, and by and by steamboats began to land there. Then the name was changed to Port William, and this is the proper name of the place, although on the Missouri Pacific station board now standing there it is marked “Port Williams.”

      There are but few men who came to Atchison county earlier than W. J. Bailey, of Atchison. He crossed the river from Platte county on June 12, 1854, and settled at Port William, and, with the exception of a few years’ residence in Colorado, has lived in this county ever since. Luther Dickerson, who was generally known as the “oldest inhabitant,” came here the same month that Mr. Bailey did. When Mr. Bailey first arrived at Port William he built a one room cabin on his claim near that place, and to do so was obliged to drag logs with one horse a distance of a mile and a half. In 1855 he brought his cattle over. He said the grass all over this county was ankle deep and afforded fine pasturage. There was no town at Atchison then, but Challiss Bros. conducted a store on the river bank, and George Million operated a hand ferryboat. Mr. Bailey worked for Million three years.

      “Those were happy times,” said Mr. Bailey, “we met around among neighboring cabins and had parties. When we had a fiddle we danced.” For several years Mr. Bailey was with a freighting crew between Ft. Leavenworth and Ft. Kearney, most of the time as a wagon-master. They generally drove twenty-six wagons with six yoke of oxen to each wagon and hauled Government supplies. Once they were surrounded by Indians and were in imminent danger of being annihilated, when General Harney with a company of troops came to their rescue and chased the red-skins to Ash Hollow, near Ft. Kearney, where a bloody skirmish took place and the Indians were routed. Speaking of old Port William, Mr. Bailey said: “Although laid out as an investment, the town was a failure. The little creek flowed through the center of the town, dividing the stores and saloons from the sawmill, blacksmith shop and carpenter shop. No city government encased the stream with cement tiling, and the best bridge the town ever afforded was built by felling a cottonwood tree across the stream.” Port William had its “town bullies” and fights were of frequent occurrence. Mr. Bailey said that the “town bullies” were Dan McLoud, Bill Pates and Bob Gibson. “It was common,” he said, “for farmers to go to Port William every Saturday afternoon to witness the fights and drunks.” On one occasion a man was badly shot up and another jumped into the river and swam across. Mr. Bailey said the first election there contained 250 ballots, although only sixty people voted. There were two ballot boxes, one controlled by the pro-slavery and the other by the Free State people. Eight or ten men stood around the balloting places with guns, and people voted five or six times, though under different names.

      The “village blacksmith” of old Port William, and one of the early justices of the peace of Walnut township, was Thomas J. Payne, later living at Canyon City, Colo. Mr. Payne settled at Port William, March 18, 1855, and was one of the pioneer blacksmiths of Kansas. He operated blacksmith shops at three of the old towns of Atchison county, Port William, Sumner and Mt. Pleasant. He was appointed a justice of the peace by Governor Shannon, in 1856. The office of “county squire” was of more importance in those stirring times than it is now. Mr. Payne’s son, Charles Sumner Payne, was the first child born at old Sumner. His birth occurred September 25, 1857. He was named by the town company, who made out and presented to him a deed for a lot in the once thriving city. Another son was born at Sumner on the day that John Brown was hanged, and was named for the great abolitionist. A third son was named for Jim Lane. Thomas J. Payne enlisted as a private in Company F, Thirteenth Kansas infantry, at Atchison, August 20, 1862, and was later promoted to orderly sergeant. He was discharged at Ft. Smith, Ark., October 29, 1864. Then he was immediately appointed by the secretary of war first lieutenant of Company B, First Regiment of Kansas infantry, colored. He took part in many engagements, and was mustered out in August, 1865. He was born in Georgetown, Ohio, the town in which General Grant was born. There are few men in Kansas who have served as a justice of the peace longer than Mr. Payne. He held the office in Atchison county for a number of years, at Robinson, Kan., for eighteen years, and later at Horton, Kan., for several years.

      The old Horace B. Herndon farm at Port William, now owned and occupied by Frank Bluma, Sr., was known as the “Old Indian farm,” in the early days. According to W. J. Bailey it was so-called because an Indian known as “Kickapoo John” located on it previous to the settlement of Kansas by the whites and was still living there with numerous other Indians when Mr. Bailey first came to that locality. Mr. Bailey said that the butts of tepee poles could be seen sticking in the ground on the site of Port William for some time afterwards. In 1854 Horace B. Herndon preëmpted the “Old Indian farm,” built a cabin thereon at the southwest corner of the field near the creek, and put an old negro slave in it to hold the claim for him. The old darkey died and was buried in the family burying ground on the farm about 1855. He was probably the first colored man who ever lived and died in what afterwards became famous as the “Port William colored settlement.” This was about twenty years before this community became generally settled by colored people. The old Herndon family residence, one of the landmarks of this region, is still standing and is occupied by Frank Bluma and family. There is evidence that the “old Indian farm” was occupied by Indians long before “Kickapoo John’s” time for the old field is strewn with various fragments representing the stone age and prehistoric times. Mr. Herndon died a number of years ago. He was another of the early justices of the peace of Walnut township and was generally known as “Squire” Herndon. He was also a public administrator for Atchison county, and was one of the most prominent citizens of the southern part of the county for many years. He was the father of Mrs. Henry King and James Herndon, residents of Round Prairie. Mrs. King, then Miss Virginia Herndon, was the “belle” of the old town of Port William, and was a social favorite throughout this section of the county.

      Another early settler of Port William was Henry Luth, the veteran carpenter, who moved from Atchison to Leavenworth. Mr. Luth lived in Port William for several years in the early fifties, removing to Atchison in 1857.