The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-07-29
JUDGE TALCOTT's "REMINISCENCES.

JUDGE TALCOTT'S "REMINISCENCES.
SAN DIEGO, Cal, July 20, 1892.
DEAR REGISTER: A strange man
indeed must have been the lonely
traveller who planted the tent of the
first white settler within the limits of
Allen county. AS to his intentions
and expectations. other than to be a
pioneer and escape the inroads of So
ciety and a better civilization, it is
fair to presume that he had none.
However bright the prospect may
at first have seemed to him, and how
ever wise and judicious he may have
been in selecting his claim, it is not
unreasonable to suppose that he was
void of any settled and determined
purpose-that his coming and going
was as the feather before the wind,
or as the rolling stone down the
mountains side-so wieldy as liable
to be tossed about from place with the
least possible cause, and so rapid and
unsettled in movement as to "gather
no moss"
What history l have of him is gath
cred from conversation held years ago
with some of the pioneers of Allen
county who were acquainted with him
and from recent acquaintanceship and
conversation with his nephew, resi-
dent of this county, whom, since re-
siding here l occasionally meet, and
to whom l referred in a previous let
ter. From all such information there
can seem no doubt that he was a for
eigner and Frenchman whose name
was Richard Fuqua. The apparent
weight of evidence is that he settled
near Geneva and built his house in
January, 1866.
1t seems strange that a county
which for so long time contained SO
little of a foreign element, should be
settled by a foreigner, but it is I'M
doubtedlly true that such was the
case, and the fact that Mr.. Fuqua was
a lone Frenchman, and that others
from his native land did not accom-
pany him or afterwards closely follow
his footsteps, is another link in the
chain of evidence which would estab-
lish the fact that the pioneer of Allen
county, as is often the case with the
pioneer everywhere, was one of those
rowing, unsteady, unknown and indie
pendent beings who are al home ev-
erywhere, and have no home any
where; who are full of romance and
adventure and are never satisfied to
remain quietly in one place or posi-
ton so long as there is country to
explore or cline to invite.
These speculstions are partly a re-
production of an article once publish
ed in the REGISTER, and to which ex-
ceptions were taken by that venerable
and old time citizen of Geneva-Esq.
NATION. He insisted that the REG
IsTER did not do justice to Mr.. Flu
qua, and wrote substantially, concern
ing him,-''that his forefathers
might have been Frenchmen for
aught know, but he claimed to be
Kentuckian. He moved from Ken
lucky to Missouri, several years be-
fore coming to Kansas. When he
came to Kansas in the winter of 1854
he came with family of three boys
and five girls, and a drove of cattle of
60 odd head, settled in Allen county
and opened up one of the best farms
in the county, and in 1859 built large
two story house, one of the best farm
houses in Southern Kansas and lived
on the same farm until the spring or
summer of 1868, when he sold his
farm for $500 and at that time had
about 200 head of cattle. So you see
if he could not gather moss he knew
how to gather greenbacks and CATTLE"
Mr.. Nation gave no information,
land, as recollect, could not,) as to
Mr.. Fuqua's destination after selling
his place at Geneva. His nephew
(whO, blythe way, bears the same
name) says that his uncle first went /
to Louisiana; from there to Kentucky: 1
thence to Missouri; thence to Kansas;
and from thence to Colorado, with an
eve to California. He last saw his
uncle in Kansas, so he says, and was
there but one day, himself being on
the way TO California. He has had no
with his uncle since
his Kansas visit, but has heard, indi- 1