Founders and Early Settlers of Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas

Surname/tag: Wichita

The goal of this project is to discover and document the lives of the founders and early settlers of Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas.

Right now this project just has one member, me. I am Michelle Enke.

Here are some of the tasks that I think need to be done. I'll be working on them, and could use your help.

• Discover the people
• Create profiles
• Develop profiles
• Connect profiles to the big tree

Will you join me? Please post a comment here on this page, in G2G using the project tag, or send me a private message. Thanks!

Contents 1 Founders ( -1871) 1.1 Wichita Settlement 1863 to 1865 1.2 Treaty of the Little Arkansas October 1865 1.3 Camp Beecher 1868-69 1.4 Osage Trust Lands Opened August 1869 1.5 Sedgwick County Incorporated January 1870 1.6 1870 Federal Census for Wichita 1.7 Petition for Wichita's Incorporation 21 July 1870 2 Early Settlers (1871-1881) 3 Churches 4 Cemetery 5 Sources

Founders ( -1871)

Wichita Settlement 1863 to 1865

Jesse Chisholm (abt.1805-1868)

Anthony Garnet Davis (1838-1918)

Wilhelm Greiffenstein (1829-1899)

John "Jack" Lawton (1839-1867)

Doc Lewellen (1826-1901), wife Susannah (Ryan) Lewellen (1832-1872), and children Albert Lewellen (-1868), Hannah (Lewellen) Ward (1852-1910), Sarah (Lewellen) Cooley (1856-1895), Emma (Lewellen) Slyter (1862-1942), Louisa Jane (Lewellen) Rodwell (1863-1923), Birdie B. (Lewellen) Fox (1869-1897), and John Francis Lewellen (1872-1935)

William Mathewson (1829-1916), his wife Elizabeth (Inman) Mathewson (1842-1885), and their children Lucille Ella (Mathewson) Murray (1880-1960), and William Alford Mathewson (1883-1938)

James Richard Mead (1836-1910), children James Lucas Mead (1863-1943), Elizabeth Agnes Mead (1864-1956), and Mary Eleanor Mead (1867-1952), and second wife Lucy (Inman) Mead (1855-1894)

Treaty of the Little Arkansas October 1865

The treaty was signed on the east bank of the Little Arkansas about six miles above its mouth.

See Little Arkansas Treaty for a list of participants and signers.

Camp Beecher 1868-69

Established at the junction of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers on 11 May 1868. It was originally called Camp Butterfield, but renamed Camp Davidson in June, and then renamed Camp Beecher in honor of Frederick Henry Beecher (1841-1868) on 19 October 1868. It was closed in June 1869.

Elias Hicks Durfee (1828-1874)

Campbell Kennedy Peck (1831-1879)

Osage Trust Lands Opened August 1869

The Osage Trust Lands opened to settlement in August 1869. D. S. Munger took his claim and those of fifty-two others to Humboldt land office to file papers.

Darius Sales Munger (1812-1879), his wife Julia (Phelps) Munger (1814-1894), and their daughter Mary E. Munger (1854-)

Sedgwick County Incorporated January 1870

The county had 1,095 people in residence.

1870 Federal Census for Wichita

• See the free space page 1870 Federal Census Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas for an alphabetical listing of names by family group on the census.

Petition for Wichita's Incorporation 21 July 1870

In July 1870, 123 men and 1 woman signed a petition to incorporate Wichita.

Catherine (Devine) McCarty Antrim (abt.1830-1874) and sons William Henry McCarty (1859-1881) and Joseph (McCarty) Antrim (1863-1930)

Early Settlers (1871-1881)

William Henry Harrison Antrim (1842-1922)

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (1848-1929), his brother James Cooksey Earp (1841-1926) and James' wife Nellie Bartlett Catchim (1840-1887)

Thomas Masterson (abt.1826-1921), and wife Catherine (McGurk) Masterson (1832-1908), and their children Edward John Masterson (1852-1878), Bartholomew Barclay Masterson (1853-1921), James Patrick Masterson (1855-1895), Hélène Élisabeth (Masterson) Cairns (1857-1925), Thomas Masterson (1858-1941), Georges Henri Masterson (1860-), and Catherine Émilie Masterson (1862-abt.1884)

Marshall Mortimer Murdock (1837-1908), wife Victoria (Mayberry) Murdock (1841-1914), and children Sybil Kate (Murdock) Hull (1866-1892), Victor Murdock (1871-1945), Love'n Tangle Murdock (1875-1883), Pearl Jane Murdock (1879-1945), and Marcellus Marion Murdock (1883-1970)

Heinrich J. Schweiter (1844-1925), and wife Caroline (Gardner) Schweiter (1854-1923), and children Henry Schweiter (1876-1948), John Schweiter (1878-1943), and William Charles Schweiter (1880-1953)

William Eugene Stanley (1844-1910) and wife Emma Lenora (Hills) Stanley (1858-1939) who was a founder, and sons Charles Stanley (1878-1880) and Harry Wilbur Stanley (1880-1963)

Hooper George Toler Sr (1846-1906), his wife Sarah J (Frame) Toler (1848-1941), and sons Matthew F. Toler (1869-1930), Edwin Clayton Toler (1871-1947), and Hooper Graff Toler Jr (1874-1947)

Churches

• First Presbyterian Church, founded 13 March 1870
• St. John's Episcopal Church

Cemetery

• Highland Cemetery

Sources

• History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas
• Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains
• Kansas Federal Census 1870 and 1880
• Kansas State Census 1875, 1885, 1895
• Sedgwick County Plat Map, 1882
• Wichita: A Pictorial History by Kay Kirkman, 1981
• Wichita Century
• Wichita City Directory 1877
• Wichita: The Early Years, 1865-80