Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-08-11

lights and cOnV6Elonc6S or modern
metropolis for the certain hardships of
the then frontier required those traits
of character eminently worthy of
praise, yes, of emulation.
Reinecke. Wilka, Schultz and John
are the names destined to be perma>
nently linked with the history of Bar
ton couRty. The proud distinction of
having wrested from a wilderness
state the fairest creek valley in Kansas
is theirs.
JOHN REINECKE The province of
! Hanover, Germany. is the place of his
nativity. The school advantages of
his early years he we'll utilized-farm
work engaged his attention later on
married in 186Sand during the same
year at the age Of twenty-six departed
from Germany for the United States,
choosing home near Chicago-from
viewing a map of Kansas determined
to settle On the Walnut-started from
Chicago about March l, 1870 for Sa>
lima, visited the German settlement on
Spillman creek in the northwest part
of Lincoln county. and there met An
ton Wilka with whom arrangements
were made to spy out their future
lands. Today. after nearly thirty
years of exemplary industry and ecOno-
my amid the many trying and discour
aging 80 isons that were, Mr.. Reinecke
is a very well to do citizen, highly re.
spected and widely known.
ANTON WILKA-Bohemia is his
native province, and the year 1910 the
time of his birth. By application be-
came possessed of all that the schools
of the place afforded. Chose tor his
vocation that which in all the years
and conditions of the race since its
introduction has been an unqualified
mark of industry. that of "A smith. To
have fOstered in a full measure the
good of "militarism" to the individu
al, served eight years in the Austrian
army. Bade farewell to his native
country in 1868, having Detroit the
Michigan dust from his shoes in the
fall of '69 journeying to Lake Superior
then through Minnesota and Nebras-
ka, on south to the German ueighbor
hood in Lincoln county, Kansas
About one score years ago Mr.. Wilka
left Barton county, and most OF the
time since lived in that magnificent
metropolis situated on the imm edlate
eastern edge of the colossal silver.
stratumed backbone of the continent.
HENRY SCHULTZ - Was born in Han
over province, Germany, in 1910, Was
schooled in the village of his birth
Applied his time to farming Sailed
to America in 1865, selecting Chicago
as an abiding place. Married two
years later. With Reinecke left Chi
cagO for Salina, Kansas, in March of
1870. Henry Schultz does not now
live on his Old homestead, but still
owns and farms it. a we'll equipped
farm three miles farther west contrib>
utes to his comfort and we'll being
His home being on considerable ise
OF ground commanding view is his
containing the original four home
steads in the county, of Heizer but a
| mile morningward, ,and OF che move
ments of that typical machine of the
age-the locomotive.
VIM. JOHN native of Hanover,
was but one year old when the rum>
blings and shocks of the great revolu~
tion that brought Schurz to America
disturbed his childish sense of hearing.
Equipped with such al education as
only every native German can boast he
applied himself to shoemaklng. His
| fatherland he bade farewell to in 1867,
making tor Chicago. His claim and
| home became we'll known, as for years
the only bridge beyond the one at the
mouth of the Walnut was near his
place. Though abundantly courage
Gus to encounter the hardships of the
wilderness he has thus far failed to
venture into the realm of conjugal
bliss. Some few years ago he rented
his farm and went to Chicago.
In the first days of March 1870 Wills
ka became acquainted with Reinecke.
Schultz and John who were from the
same village in Germany and were
relatives. The purposes of the four
were the same-search for desirable
land. Their objective point was the
Walnut valley. Reinecke and Wilka
were asked to explore the unknown
region. The appointed and willing
spies walked out from Ellsworth along
the government road to Ft. Zarah.
Though finding neither milk nor