People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1897-08-19
ORGANIZATION.

CulIu Ill Iuc ldulllJ vi UuliO W VO"H
ships which comprise Sumner county,
1t was born in 1885.
1t was formerly part Of Belle
Plaine township. The agitation
which finally brought on the sepa-
ration was caused by the voting OF
township bonds to the amount Of $685.
900 for the building Of the D. NJ. Il A.
railroad through the town Of Belle
Paine, now the Missouri Pacific line.
Farmers this side OF the Minnesota
river could see no benefit to them in
the building of railroads through
Belle Plaine, and were averse to help.
ing the people on the other side of the
river pay for such enterprises. There
fore they concluded to seCede, but they
did not get out in time to relieve
them from the D. NJ. ga. bonds.
Several attempts were made before
they could get sufficient number of
petitioners, Tut boundaries were
altered and new efforts put forth IN
til finally they were successful.
The record of the cOunny com
missioners, dated Oct. I, 1897, tells
the balance Of the story Of the organ
izatiOn:
In the matter of the petition to Or
ganize Cicero township:
And now on the 7th day of October,
1885, the petition of j. H. Halter and
seyenty-six others for the organization
of a new township (said petition hay
Ing been filed on the 9th day of
April, 1885, came on for consideration
before the board, and after due con-
SideratiOn OF said petition as well as
of the facts proven by the petitioners
insuppOrt thereof, the boar d fine that
said petition has been signed by more
than fifty electors residing within
the territory described therein; that
notice of the proposed change and
the presenting of the petition there
for had been given for three months
next prior to the time of presenting
the same to this board by publication
once a week in the Sumner County
Standard, a weekly newspaper
published in said Sumner county, an
of general circulation among The
people to be effected by said proposed
change for three consecutive weeks, a;
required by law, and that said petit OF
ought to be granted and a new town
ship organized as prayed for in sale
petition.
1t is therefore ordered by the bOarC
that new township be organized
composed of the territory in sai(
Sumner county known and described
in said petition, and bounded a;
follows tO-wit; Here follows the de
ScrptiOn taking in all of township 81
range east, except |, 2, 3, and y il
the northeast corner.
And that said new township shall
be named Harmon, that the frs
election in said township shall b
held on the Tuesday after the frs
Monday, 1885, at the usual place o
voting in the old precinct.
The personnel of the board at tina
time was A. W. Sherman. Harmon
Straw and VIM. Corzine: VIM. q
Berry county clerk.
Harmon Straw, the commissions
in the north district, had champione
the movement to form The new town
ship, movement which was Tough
quite vigorously by the people Of Bel!
Plaine, and since it had becom
successful may thought the town
ship ought to wear his name. Their
were objections to calling it Cicero
as proposed in the petition, becauS
Cicero was named in honor of Hamil
ton Cicero St. Clair, an active Bell
Plaine citizen, who had opposed tb
organization of the new township.
The name STRAW" had not a yer
melifluous RIM, hence Harmon wa
proposed and so it went.
The first election resulted in th
election Of the following TOWNSHIP
officers: G. W. Friend, trustee; N
Holiday treasurer, G. A. Stewart
clerk; VIM. BurfOrd and 5. B. Carte
justices, and James Linn and John
Wright cOustables. The relatiy
strength Of the Democratic and Re
publican parties at that time, base
on the vote OF ]. I. Herrick and l.
Reed for Judge of the district coul
was5l to s..
One OF the arguments made by th
opposition to the new township va
that there were no citizens in I'll
territory proposed who were Qualifie
to make good township officials. I'll
year 1886 VIM. H. Berry, county clerl
offered a gold pen to the trustt
who would bring in the best set
books. Mr.. Friend takes a great de.
of pride in the memory that
received the gold pen.
The present township officers ar
trustee, VIM. Hatfield; treasurer.
A. BurfOrd; clerk, J. E. Curry; justice
W. Fl. Calvert and E. Platt.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
We have it upon the authority
Mr.. and Mrs. James W. Lawless tn;
Dick Cook was the first settler to Gro
the Ninnescah river into what is no