Paternal Family History
Documents/Maps/Data

---I, Henry Mesenholl, considering the uncertainty of this mortal life and being of sound mind and memory (blessed be Almighty God for the same), do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following (that is to say):

---First, I give and bequeath unto my oldest son, William Mesenholl, all my part of property which I and my son William Mesenholl held in common in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three in the village Osthoben in Europe.

---I made a general division of all my property, real, personal and mixed, among the following named William Mesenholl, Elizabeth Mesenholl, John Peter Mesenholl, Eave Catherine Mesenholl, now Jacob Waggner. Each of them above named got for his share and share alike of four hundred guildens in silver, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-two.

---I made the last division among my two sons, William Mesenholl and John Peter Mesenholl and myself and for the maintenance of my natural and comfortable life, the division was equally made in three shares, namely grain and wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, oats, potatoes and livestock such as horn cattle, hogs and other mixed property and lastly, as to all the rent, residue and remainder of my personal estate, goods and chattle of what kind and nature so ever. I give and bequeath the same to my said son William Mesenholl and his heirs and thereby appoint my son William Mesenholl executor of this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills by me made.

---In witness whereof, I have here unto set my hand and seal on the thirteenth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

---(Signed, sealed, published and declared by the above named Henry Mesenholl to be his last will and testament in the presence of us, who, at his request have subscribed our names thereunto)---(several illegible signatures followed).

---By Authority Of The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania

---This is to certify that on the first day of February, A.D. 1842, before me, H.C. McCulloregh, one of the Justices of the Peace in and for the County of Beaver, William Mesenholl of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and Charlotte Grieger (Kruger?) of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, having plighted to solemn vows of Duty and Affection, were by me legally joined in marriage; each of them declaring themselves of full age and free respectively, from any prior engagement or other lawful impediment.

---Whereupon I, the said Justice, have declared and by these present do declare them to be man and wife, according to the constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

---In witness whereof, I, the said Justice, have subscribed my name and affirmed my seal the day and year above mentioned. Signed, H.C. McCulloregh.

---Within the treaties of 1828 and 1835, the Federal Government granted seven million acres of land to the Cherokee Nation. In addition to this gift of land, the United States guaranteed to the Cherokee Nation a perpetual outlet west. This outlet was to measure 58 miles wide and extend 220 miles along the northern border of the future state. This land was intended for use as a tribal hunting ground.

---During the Civil War some members of the Cherokee Nation fought for the Union and others for the Confederacy. The federal government used their divided support for the Confederacy to void the treaty with the Cherokee Nation. The terms of the new treaty forced the Cherokee to give up part of the land in the eastern end of the Outlet the federal government used this area to relocate "friendly tribes," separating the Cherokee from their western Outlet. With the start of the cattle drives following the Civil War the Cherokee used their western land to make a profit. The cattlemen wanted to fatten their cattle on the rich grasses before taking them to railheads in Kansas so they leased the land from the Cherokee.

---Land hungry settlers viewed the cattlemen's use of the area as a waste of fertile farmland and pressured the government to purchase the Cherokee land from the Cherokee. Congress eventually paid the $8,505,736 or about $1.40 per acre, and announced the opening of the Outlet to homesteaders.

---President Grover Cleveland designated September 16, 1893, as the date of the "run." On that day, an estimated 100,000 people rushed in from the borders to stake a claim. They came by horse, train, wagon, and even on foot, all trying to claim the best farmland or town lot. Many of the hopeful settlers remained landless, shunning the rough terrain in the western part of the Outlet. By the end of the day, farms were being established, and the cities of Enid, Perry, Alva, and Woodward had risen out of what had been virgin prairie the day before.

---The first task of the homesteader was the construction of a suitable home. The typical post-run farm dwelling was usually a "soddie," constructed from bricks of prairie sod, or a dugout built into the side of a hill. The inhabitants of these structures were plagued by leaking roofs and often had unwelcome visitors in the form of snakes, lizards and insects.

---The farmer next turned his attention to the planting of crops. The Run had taken place too late in the season for a cash crop to be planted, so the new arrivals grew vegetables to see them through the winter. The following seasons brought hard times in the form of drought and depression. It was not until 1897 that good crops brought farmers a degree of prosperity.

---Not all of the people came for farm land, many came to establish businesses or ply trades in the towns that sprang into existence following the Run. These new towns saw an influx of a variety Of people. Along with the merchants, tradesmen, and professionals came saloon-keepers, gamblers, and prostitutes.

---In a little over 100 years this vast prairie domain was changed from an Indian hunting ground to an area of prosperous farms and growing cities.

---The Cherokee Outlet, known generally today as the Cherokee Strip, was a part of lands exchanged by the Cherokees living in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia for lands in the West. The Treaty of New Echota, signed in 1835, defined it as a perpetual outlet west and gave them free and unmolested use of the buffalo hunting lands in the west.

---But the Cherokees were not hunters. They had lived among the European settlers for 200 years and had adopted many of their ways. The real buffalo hunters were those tribes who lived on the plains and depended on the buffalo for their very life. The Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Comanche recognized no boundaries or treaties, considering the lands in the Cherokee Outlet as their hunting preserve. They had no concept of land ownership any more than they thought they could own the air they breathed or the water in the rivers and streams. They were not friendly to the white men or to any Cherokees who might venture out on the plains to hunt.

---The lands of the Cherokee Outlet lay relatively unused until after the Civil War. In other treaties, the government settled other tribes on parts of the Outlet which in effect cut the Cherokees off from their hunting land in the west.

---Texas cattlemen driving their herds north to the railheads in Kansas crossed the Outlet stopping occasionally to graze their cattle and let them fatten a little before driving them the final miles to market. The unused grasslands were a tempting oasis along the dusty Chisholm Trail. Too tempting for some, who drove their tired herds out on the Indian lands for longer and longer stays.

---The next step was grazing the herds in the Outlet throughout the grazing season. It was much easier to raise cattle near the railheads than to make the long trip north from Texas. Six million acres of free grass was in the Outlet for anyone who would take it.

---Then, in 1880, the Cherokees decided they were being robbed again by white men. In the Cherokee Council that year they set a herd tax of $1 on all cattle being grazed on their land. The cattlemen protested and for at least part of the year, the tax was reduced to 40 cents a head.

---Still the Cherokees were not satisfied with the system because they had to depend on the cattlemen for an accurate count. The cattlemen were not satisfied either, because they had no way governing the vast expanse of grass. In March, 1881, several of the cattlemen gathered at Caldwell, Kansas to talk over the situation. Nothing much came of the meeting except for an arrangement to register their brands. A second meeting the following year resulted in an agreement that all cattlemen in the Outlet must stand together.

---At the third meeting, held in March 1883, the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association was organized. Major Andrew Drumm was elected president of the association and Charles Eldred secretary. Headquarters of the Organization would be in Caldwell.

---The organization signed an agreement with the Cherokees to lease the entire Outlet for five years at $100,000 a year. Each year a wagon load of silver dollars was hauled from Caldwell to the Cherokee capitol at Tahlequah where it was counted, dollar by dollar, into the hands of the Indians.

---Ranches were then leased by the livestock association to stockholders. Beef became the most profitable investment in the country. Investors included many congressmen, senators, industrial giants and in some cases, the crown heads of Europe. When the lease expired in 1888, the Cherokees wanted a larger share of the profits. A new lease was signed paying the tribe $200,000 per year for use of the lands in the Cherokee Outlet.

---But there was trouble brewing in the form of a river of immigrants coming to America from Europe. Some filled the need for cheap labor in the industrial areas but most were farmers who had been lured to America with the promise of free farmland in the west. It had been true during the decades of the westward expansion, but by the waning years of the 19th Century, America was running out of free land. Fearing large numbers of immigrants trapped in eastern states night become a political force, congressmen began looking around for somewhere to send these new Americans. The Cherokee Outlet became an easy solution for their problem.

---Within months of the completion of the second cattle lease, Congress appointed a commission to talk with the Cherokees about selling their lands in the Outlet. The commission was authorized to offer the Indians $1.25 an acre for their land. Learning of this, the cattlemen made an offer of their own of $3 an acre.

---When the commission failed to reach an agreement, Secretary of the Interior John Noble studied the treaty with the Cherokees and decided their title to the lands in the Cherokee Outlet was not absolute. In his opinion, the government had only given the Cherokees an easement. Since they didn't use it, Noble felt they should forfeit their rights to the Outlet lands.

---The Commission of Indian Affairs disagreed with the Interior Department ruling, but the Attorney General sided with Noble and against the Indian claims. The argument raged for many more months until, in 1890, President Harrison ordered all cattle to be removed from the Outlet by the end of the year. Association members were ordered to remove every fence, every house, every improvement of any land. The Army was sent in to ensure the order was carried out.

---No longer able to collect lease money from the cattlemen and faced with confiscation of the land by the government the Cherokees finally agreed in 1891 to sell the land back to the government for $8.5 million. The agreement provided that if congress did not come up with the money by March 4, 1893, the treaty was void. On the day before the deadline, Congress appropriated $8.3 million. It was short of the agreed amount, but Cherokee leaders took it rather than risk of being stripped of all rights.

---The title to the Outlet was cleared in May and on Sept. 16, 1893, in the greatest land run ever held, the vast grassland was opened for white settlement. For a few brief years, cattle had been king in the Cherokee Strip. Within a few more years, wheat would rule the economy of Northwest Oklahoma.

---The Kansas Territory was opened to settlement in May of 1854, and according to the concept of "popular sovereignty," settlers could decide whether or not to admit their territory as a slave or free state. Soon after the territory was opened to settlement, abolitionists from New England rushed to the area, now called Lawrence, in an effort to keep the territory from becoming pro-slavery. It is said that Lawrence is one of the few cities founded purely for political reasons. The group named the town after the financier of their expedition, Amos Lawrence.

---Lawrence also acted as an important stop on the Underground Railroad; helping escaped slaves reach freedom safely. Anti-slavery Jayhawkers from Kansas frequently clashed with pro-slavery Bushwhackers from the neighboring slave state of Missouri. The conflict grew in 1861 after war broke out and Kansas chose to become a free state. Lawrence, the headquarters of the Jayhawkers, was the scene of several bloody encounters.

---The worst of these occurred in 1863, when William Clarke Quantrill assembled a group of 400 men in Missouri and rode into Lawrence. Early on August 21, the raiders entered the city "to burn every house and kill every man." The raiders sacked the town for four hours before escaping to the south.

---The resilient citizens of Lawrence banded together to bury their dead and rebuild their city. Many of the homes and buildings constructed after the raid are still in use today. Lawrence's motto, "From Ashes to Immortality," is inspired by the efforts of these first settlers.

---Even before the Kansas Territory was opened to settlers, it was well known to travelers of both the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. Lawrence is located between the two trails, which run through Douglas County and parts of Lawrence. American traders headed west along the wagon trails beginning in the 1820s. Settlers also followed the Oregon Trail to take up free land in Oregon. For these later travelers, Lawrence offered important services and supplies.

---After the Civil War ended in 1865, railroads rapidly pushed their way across the Great Plains, and the wagon trails became obsolete. Although most physical traces of the trails have now been obliterated, a few wagon ruts are still visible around Lawrence.

---William Clarke Quantrill came to Kansas as a young man in 1858. Two years later he acheived a measure of notoriety by engineering a scheme with four free-state men to liberate the slaves of a Missouri farmer; however, Quantrill warned the farmer before the raid occurred, and three of the Kansas men were killed in the ambush. Quantrill adapted well to the ruthless chaos that Civil War brought to the Southwest, and until 1864 was the most popular and powerful leader of the various bands of Border Ruffians that pillaged the area.

---While he and the men who followed him had more in common with the Confederate than the Union cause, they were by no means enlisted soldiers. They terrorized the Kansas countryside almost entirely for profit: to rob the citizens and loot the towns. In addition, the innumerable atrocities committed on both sides made the guerilla armies convenient vehicles to carry out personal vengeance. The sack of Lawrence in 1863 by Quantrill's Bushwackers is one occasion in which revenge and avarice produced a bloodbath.

---Prior to this attack the pro-slavery farmers of Missouri had been continuously antagonized by the marrauding forces of Jim Lane and "Doc" Jennison's Jayhawkers; due to their obvious position as abolitionist headquarters in Kansas, the citizens of Lawerence were frequently sent into hysterics when rumors of an attack from Missouri gained creedence. Nevertheless, security around the city was usually lax, and on August 21 the populace was jarred awake by the sounds of Quantrill's men invading the town. After a swift and bloody assault, the Ruffians had the town secured.

---Once their military objective was out of the way, they eagerly proceeded to loot and burn as many houses as they could. They cleaned out all the banks, and the taverns were drained of whiskey. While they killed no women or children, they shot every man they saw. The death toll numbered 150 men, whose burned and mangled corpses littered the streets of Lawrence when Quantrill's men rode away.

---Although the raid was indeed a crushing blow to the Free State community in Kansas, it failed in one of its goals of executing prominent Lawerence residents such as Charles Robinson and the hated Jim Lane. The Bushwhackers destroyed a great deal of property, but did not take much with them to Missouri. The Federal troops in the area, who blatantly allowed Quantrill take over 400 men into the heart of Kansas, further demonstrated their incompetence by failing to make an organized pursuit of them as they left.

---Quantrill's raid stands out in history as being not only one of the more gruesome events of the Civil War, but also the climax of the border conflict between Missouri and Kansas.

From Osthofen To Darmstadt

Oklahoma, Land Of My Birth

Eastern Ohio/Western Pennsylvania

---The mother, however, was cut down in the prime of life, dying when her son, John C., was a mere child. She was a lady of many estimable qualities, and a consistent member of the Christian Church. Eleven children were left motherless at her death, of who John C. was among the younger. The mother bore the maiden name of Cynthia Cook.

---William Weaver Peckham, the father of our subject, after the decease of his first wife, was subsequently married to Mrs. Rebecca (Ralson) McLaughlin, and there were born to them six children who were all reared upon the same farm, and there the father and stepmother died. The latter was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Peckham belonged to the Christian Church.

---He and his first wife were natives of Rhode Island, where the paternal grandparents of our subject lived for many years. After the death of Grandfather Peckham the son brought his mother to Ohio, and she died in Holmes County at the advanced age of one hundred and one years.

---The subject of this sketch was married in his native county in 1848, to Miss Isabel, daughter of James and Sarah (Leadon) Hackenberry, a native of the same county, where her father located when a boy. The parents of the later were amoung its earliest pioneers, and James, the son, was there reared to man’s estate. He died in Missouri about 1872.

---In 1849 John C. Peckham removed to Marshall County, Ind., here he sojourned ten years. We next find him in Maries County, Mo., and from there in 1863, he removed to DeKalb County, that State, where he prosecuted farming until 1878.

---That year he became a resident of this county, purchasing a farm about two miles northwest of the present site of South Haven. He occupied himself in agricultural pursuits until February, 1889, when he wisely decided to retire from active labor, and is now enjoying the fruits of his industry.

---During the progress of the late Civil War Mr. Peckham enlisted as a Union soldier in Company A, Thirty-second Missouri Infantry, and served one year, at the expiration of which, on account of illness he was obliged to accept his honorable discharge. Politically, he is a Republican, but his very little to do with public affairs otherwise than casting his vote at the general elections.

---He belongs to South Haven Post. G. A. R. at South Haven, and with his estimable wife is prominently connected with the Christian Church.

---There have been born to them six children, all of who are living, and named respectively: Sarah Jane, Mary Alice, James W., Eliza, Emma Cook and Ella. The family residence is nicely located in the east part of the city, and is the frequent resort of is best people.

(Written in 1890 at South Haven, Sumner County, Kansas)