Early Kansas City Was Influenced By Four McGee Brothers

Rambunctious. Self-driven. Passionate. Enterprising. Pro-slavery. These are just a selection of words that could be easily used to describe the temperaments of the McGee boys, sons of James H. McGee and his wife, Eleanor, that were present when the City of Kansas was yet established and were instrumental in various ways in the growth of a city.

In June, I wrote about the oldest son, Allen Burr Harrison (A.B.H.) McGee and his remarkable legacy (to read the story, click here!). While researching Allen, I was blown away by the amount of documents that mentioned more than just this man. He was the oldest of six boys and each of them led lives that undoubtedly tell the early history of this city – and of the nation.

Illustration published in the Kansas City Star in 1935 depicting
the Town Company meeting in One Eyed Ellis's cabin

It became clear then that I needed to devote more time to the McGees of Kansas City. Through thousands of pages of documents, there was a complicated yet fascinating historical drama unfolding in front of my very eyes.

Let’s examine the lives of these early Kansas Citians.

Fry P. McGee (1816-1861) – The Man With a 110-Mile Mission

Out of all of the McGee boys, no man’s character is more debated than that of Fry McGee. Labeled as vicious by some and kind by others, Fry functioned under two separate umbrellas, most likely due to his extreme political views and his willingness to sacrifice everything for them.

Bearing his mother’s surname as a first name, Fry McGee was born in Nelson Co., Ky. on May 27, 1816 and moved to Missouri with his family in 1827. In July 1838, at the age of 21, Fry was present at the first sale of what would be the future site of Kansas City (to read more about this early event, click here!).  When that sale fell through and new sale was “cried” on November 14^th, 1838, Fry joined thirteen other historic figures of KC history to form the Town Company in order to purchase this valuable riverfront land and bank on its ability to hold a booming city.

George C. Bingham portrait of Fry P. McGee

At the cabin of One-Eyed Ellis, twenty to thirty men gathered under the cover of hand-hewn logs to witness an extraordinary event that was just another cold day to these early Jackson Co. pioneers. As John C. McCoy reported, “We retired for warmth to the log house of One-Eyed Ellis and gathered before a fireplace of blazing hickory logs and christened the yet unborn baby of a city that was to be there.”

I sure wish we could find more about this illusive One-Eyed Ellis, because he surely has a story worth writing.

After the purchase of the land was complete, Fry McGee passed a motion that lots yet to be platted would be sold on credit for six or twelve months- without requiring security of the purchasers. Setting the terms so loosely would likely help the lots sell quicker – especially considering there was a large bluff blocking the new town from the site of Westport Landing.

Lots were taken up quickly as the levee below along the Missouri River’s banks was established to encourage commerce and trade in the foundling settlement. And Fry P. McGee was a pivotal proponent of this early birth of a city.

Less than a year later, Fry married Martha E. Boothe and purchased 160 acres of land that included the area around 19^th and Main. He burned brick on his own land, a trade learned from his father who had established the first brick house in the area, and erected a home in 1841.

James H. McGee's home, the first brick house in all
of Kansas City

In 1848, he established his homestead at what would become 513 E. 4^th St. In 1844, a flood had wiped out buildings on the south bank of the Missouri River. This red brick house was one of the first to be built on land safely above any future flooding. The home was of sturdy construction; the interior and exterior walls were of brick, and originally, the home had a carefully carved staircase made of walnut.

More on this home in a second.

For several years, farming seemed to be the focus of Fry McGee. The draw of the western-bound wagon trains captivated him, so he packed up and headed out for greener pastures. Although his time in Oregon was short-lived and he did return to Jackson Co., Fry’s willingness to settle into the wilderness was something that was repeated.

Fry P. McGee's homestead at 513 E. 4th St. in
the Kansas City Star 

On a return trip from the west, Fry and his brother, Mobillion could see the opportunity that existed not too far from Jackson Co., Mo. In August 1854, just months after Kansas was opened up to white settlement, Fry and his brother purchased property at a crossing on the Santa Fe Trail. Known as 110-Mile Creek, their new land was named for its distance of 110 miles from Fort Osage, Mo.

Fry built a horse and mule barn with walls two feet thick. He then built a tavern, aptly known as McGee’s Tavern, on the site near current-day US 75 and US 76 highways in Osage Co., Ks. A four room home featured two large fireplaces on each side. The east room was supposedly used to house travelers looking for quick drink and a warm place to stay. Another room was used for Fry’s three daughters, America, Sophia and Anne. The room on the west side was reserved for Fry and his wife.

To be clear, Fry owned five slaves in 1850. When he came into Kansas Territory in 1854, he had three slaves helping with the daily activities.

When they chose this location, there were very few white settlers- just a few white men who had married Shawnee women. They were literally on the edge of the frontier and fashioned to, if Fry could have his way, form a new town called Washington on this land.

Building a bridge over 110-Mile Creek made sense for the enterprising McGees. Instead of risking losing a wagon wheel or flooding after the rains, travelers on the Santa Fe Trail could pay for access to “McGee’s Crossing.” According to records, Fry charged 25 cents at McGee’s Crossing toll bridge and would clear during high months around $30 per day.

Illustration of Fry McGee's homestead in Osage County, Ks. on 110 Mile Creek, commonly referred to as McGee's Tavern

Of course, Fry knew his tavern and toll bridge would also be benefitted from a general merchandise store to help these travelers with any goods they may need. He also was known to sell whiskey to thirsty Native Americans that remained nearby.

Due to Fry’s pro-slavery ways, no abolitionist dare settle near 110-Mile Creek and suffer the wrath. C.R. Green, historian in Osage Osage Co., wrote of Fry after his death but when his wife was still alive. “A rough exterior, a slave owner, and quite partisan in politics, the early settlers found him to be kind-hearted, honest, and never known to shed blood.”

Remnants of a barn at 110 Mile Creek, built
cir. 1860. Courtesy of Kansas Historical Society

Others weren’t so kind to Fry. James W. Winchell wrote “Experiences in Kansas Territory, 1854-1855” and described the McGees as “Intemperate, quarrelsome, and abusive. Fry McGee was the most drunken, profane and honest of the lot, having come to Kansas to live and liberally cursing and feeding all Yankees who were unfortunate enough to enter his presence.”

Apparently after he cursed you out for your beliefs, Fry would simmer down a bit. Winchell wrote, “He would give you the best his house afforded, for a moderate price, and ask you to drink with him in the bargain. . . he was scrupulously honest in all of his dealings.”

Many went out of their way to avoid the boisterous Fry McGee; however, some men were forced to knock on his door and risk it all.

Fry P. McGee and his wife, Martha taken cir. 1860

One infamous account comes from Capt. James R. McClure. He was appointed by Gov. Reeder to take the census of all those residing in Kansas Territory in 1855.

Unfortunately for him, this included Fry P. McGee.

History tells us that the elections in 1854 were full of fraudulent activity with pro-slavery neighbors storming the territory to vote illegally. Another election set for March 1855 needed to establish what eligible voters there were in each precinct.

McClure stopped at McGee’s Tavern knowing he was the leader of the pro-slavery movement in this area of the territory. McClure wrote, “I determined to make myself as agreeable as possible and to avoid any trouble with these men and especially with McGee, who had presented to me as a very desperate and quarrelsome man.”

Nonchalantly as possible, most likely with a tremble in his step, Capt. McClure entered McGee’s Tavern to witness a group of ten to twelve grumbling men. To keep the peace, McClure quickly ordered a round of drinks to whet the appetites of these speculators.

“What’s your name and business?” Fry pushed on the stranger as he leaned against the bar.

Quickly rattling off that he was a Democrat, McClure was definitely still not safe.

Gov. Andrew Reeder

“What’s your business?” Fry pressed on.

“I’m taking the census on behalf of Gov. Reeder,” McClure uttered as he took a drink.

Immediately, Fry accused this wayward traveler of being an abolitionist and a spy. Perhaps to save the government-appointed census taker some time – but more likely to get him the hell out of Osage Co. – Fry offered to give him a list of voters in the area so he “would not have to bother visiting all the people.” McClure bravely asserted he would have time to visit with everyone.

Amidst smoke and whiskey, Fry screamed, “No damn Yankee will snoop around this place!”

So, that was the end of the census at 110-Mile Creek.

Forced to stay the night due to the time, McClure spent the remainder of his visit “in dread of our lives.” Even though the weather was cold and snow was falling, McClure made the decision he’d rather “face the bad weather than to spend the night at McGees.”

That election March 30, 1855 was not much better than the election of 1854- even though the census had been taken. The day of the election, there was one family (the McGees) living at 110 Mile Creek and about ten living around Switzer’s Creek. There was really no one else living in the entire county.

Voter fraud in Kansas Territory

The list of “voters” who stormed to 110-Mile Creek and camped the night before at McGee’s Tavern includes multiple men with Jackson Co. ties. They drank whiskey the night before, stayed up late and stormed the polling place with Fry McGee. Some of the pro-slavery voters of note that stood next to Fry were Ezra Hickman, Upton Hays and John C. McCoy.

One old man from Jackson Co. stated to a number of men while at 110-Mile Creek that he had no claim in the territory. He had been paid $1 per day for going there, and he went along with it because “it was better than staying home and doing nothing.”

When free-state voters showed up to the election, Fry was standing nearby. He gave these voters a different colored ballot so that everyone knew how they were voting as he “yelled and cursed at them.” The crowd of pro-slavery men picked up where Fry left off, badgering these men to the point that they fled without casting their votes.

Fry died September 17^th, 1861 at his home on 110-Mile Creek and was buried at the family cemetery until reinterred in 1881 at Elmwood. The cause of his death is unknown. Some said that his old tavern was haunted, but most of it today doesn’t exist. The remnants of the thick walls remain on a private farm, only leaving us to the imagination of what this small parcel of Kansas history still holds under the earth.

Fry’s homestead in Kansas City at 512 E. 4^th St., built in 1848, stood for decades. Its sturdy construction stood for 107 years until it was in danger of being destroyed to make way for an entryway to the ASB Bridge.

The last known photo of Fry McGee's home in the
 Native Sons archives, State Historical Society of Missouri

The Native Sons stepped in along with councilman Robert J. Benson to try to save this property from the bulldozers. He recognized the city was busy destroying old landmarks with no consideration of preservation. He wanted to move these landmarks to a central location where they could be maintained as an early museum of Kansas City history.

Wouldn’t that have been nice.

The Native Sons needed $10,000 to move the home and wanted to make it into an information center. They claimed at the time (1955) that it was the oldest standing structure in Kansas City. The highway commission looked at the building and decided “the mortar and brick work was so expert it could be moved without hazard.”

At the time, the home had been altered and made into a duplex. Besides some settlement causing sinking spots in the wood floors and the front door being difficult to open, the house was in sturdy shape. The walnut staircase had been removed prior when the home had been converted.

But efforts were short lived. Even though the windows had been boarded up, vandals had shimmied their way in, taking pieces of the building as personal relics for themselves. Windows, door frames, doors and woodwork had been stripped from her home forever. Two fires set by vandals damaged the walls and left what was the prominent home of Fry McGee a shell of its former glory.

The final nail in the coffin was when demolition of an adjoining building by construction crews endangered what was once deemed sound.

The damage was irreversible. The Native Sons returned the $6,000 they were able to raise in order to save Fry McGee’s home and walked away with their heads hung low.

To think that those bricks- those mantels, door knobs, doors and windows disappeared into the hands of trespassers unable to decipher the true meaning of preservation makes me sick. And today, we still have landmarks being torn down to make room for what is labeled “progress.”

Mobillion W. McGee (1817- 1888) – From Bogus Legislature to California Retirement

Mobillion, a name oftentimes spelled Mabillion, had an education that matches his lack of consistency with name spellings. Just like his brothers, he came to the area as a child and married Mary E. Ward in April 1844.

After inheriting some land from his father’s estate in 1840, Mobillion followed in the likeness of younger brother Milt and joined the Seminole wars in Florida in 1847. He was most likely drawn to this because of his knowledge of the Native American languages.

The history of Mobillion is tied directly to the history of his older brother, Fry. Lucky for me, this means I will keep his section brief. J

Mobillion McGee, taken cir. 1865

After settling down with his wife, he bought 60 acres that would eventually become the subdivision, platted by the subject, known as McGee’s Summit in 1871. Located near Westport and including Broadway, McGee’s Summit would later become the heart of Midtown.

Continuing the same pro-slavery sentiments, Mobillion joined brother Fry at 110-Mile Creek and invested in its interests In 1854. On March 30^th, 1855, while the area was under the pressure of the Border Wars and later the Civil War, Mobillion rounded up his friends and hiked the miles to Osage Co. to storm Kansas Territory, drink some booze and vote illegally.

They voted illegally to get Mobillion into the Kansas Territorial Legislature.

There once was a McGee County in Kansas Territory named for Mobillion - this member of the Bogus Legislature who was elected by his Missouri-resident friends. In 1860, the Free State Legislature voted to change the name to Cherokee County. This county on this southeastern edge of Kansas still holds this name.

Mobillion was a part of an interesting proposition that today boggles the mind. With help from his friend Robert T. Van Horn, owner of the Enterprise, they attempted to establish the new Town of Kansas into Kansas.

We’ve all been there as Kansas Citians…. We announce while out of town that we are from Kansas City and these uniformed people assume we live in Kansas.

 

Let the fight begin!

Van Horn and Mobillion fought to move the eastern border of Missouri to the Blue River, meaning that all property to the west, including Westport and the future site of Kansas City would be part of Kansas Territory.

Why, you ask?

Well, this area was heavily saturated with pro-slavery sentiments. When the elections deciding  by popular sovereignty were held, this would mean that this “new” boundary of Kansas Territory would include hundreds, if not thousands of pro-slavery men.

Needless to state, Mobillion’s efforts were not successful.

Mobillion had lived in Osage Co., Ks. for a majority of time but relocated to Kansas City during the Civil War. In 1883, he traveled to Los Angeles Co., Ca. and purchased an orange grove. He then took part of this new land and platted what would be known later as Pasadena.

Mobillion McGee's home in Pasadena, Ca.

He had kept part of this land and built an impressive home that entertained the Kansas City elite looking for palm trees, sun and a needed vacation.

A member of the Knights Templar in Pasadena, Mobillion died June 11, 1888 and was loaded onto a railroad car back to the east to Kansas City. One week later, Mobillion was buried at Elmwood Cemetery next to his reinterred family members.

Although it appears he never had his own children, he did have an adoptive daughter named Josephine Angelo Brown. A small leather-bound photo album belonging to Mobillion passed to her and then to her family where it remained virtually undiscovered until an interested family member brought this album back into the light.

Today, this album of early Kansas City pioneers is a treasure, full of photos of some of the most prominent families of the era.

Elijah Milton “Milt” McGee (1819-1873)- A Private Zoo For One of Kansas City’s First Mayors

“Colorful” isn’t even a word that even begins to identify this incredible yet complicated man of early Kansas City. The fourth born son of James and Eleanor McGee, Milt came with his family from Shelby Co., Ky. and evidently received a very limited education. Reading his personal manuscript tells a story of a man of… high opinion of himself, despite his multiple errors and erroneous writing style.

In his own autobiography written in third person called “Our Hero Was,” Milt described that in 1834 (at the age of 15, although often reported that he left at 12), he took an active part in the Mormon wars and “soon kicked up a fus with his father whoo was of the same temperature [and so Milt] blacked the old gentlemens eye and left.”

He punched his father, James in the eye? Wow.

He quickly left to be a part of the Seminole wars in Florida, and, according to himself, “Much could be said here to his prase.” After the Seminoles were at peace, “the young hero” returned to New Orleans where he learned of the war of Texas.

That’d be the Texas Revolution in 1836.

Milt proclaimed he arrived in Matagorda Bay and joined the ranks of Gen. Sam Houston. “He fought manfully at the battle of San Juanta and other scrmages.”

I think he meant San Jacinto and other skirmishes.

By 1838, he had wooed and married Sarah De Moss in Matagorda Co., Tx. and farmed there until 1841.  His only child, Gertrude, was born in 1840.

Hearing of the great valleys and beautiful scenery of California, “he made up his mind at once to make an adventure west” with two others. It is suggested he later went to California to find gold. . . and he did.

With money burning a hole in his pocket and a sense of pride covering his face, Milt returned to the Kansas City area, buying 240 acres of prime land south of 12^th St. bounded by Main to the west and Holmes to the east.

This land would later be known as the business center of Kansas City.

As he began his plans for cashing in on the growth of a city, he also began a notorious conquest as a border ruffian. One event in May 1855 made national papers. Charged with whiskey and a great hatred of the flood of eastern immigrants into Kansas Territory, Milt (with “two of his creatures”) stormed the American Hotel in Kansas City. This hotel was owned by the Emigrant Aid Society, a group that helped pay up to 25% of the costs for these easterners to relocate into newly-opened Kansas Territory.

They were largely abolitionists, and they were a threat to Milt’s plans to ensure Kansas was a slave state.

After bouncing back and forth between two locations, Milt threatened that if the “damned abolitionists” who entered Kansas and came from “North of the Mason-Dixon line or belonged to the North” must leave the area at once or be thrown into the Missouri River.

They swore to level the place and departed before going through with their threat. So was the life and of the early days of Kansas City during the Border Wars.

For the record, Milt was Justice of the Peace at the time.

McGee's Addition as shown in the 1869 "Bird's Eye View of Kansas City"

Milt predicted that the fledgling settlement of the Town of Kansas would flower into one of the most enterprising settlements of the Midwest. In 1857, he platted a subdivision south of the city known today as “McGee’s Addition” to encourage people to travel south to his newly-built hotel at 16^th and Grand Ave. This hotel, commonly referred to as Planter’s, Farmer’s Exchange, and most commonly McGee’s Hotel, became a landmark during the Border Wars and the headquarters of many pro-slavery men who commonly stormed into Kansas Territory.

To be clear, this was way south at the time. Wagons had to drudge through practically impassable rocky roads perched on the bluffs to get to this new little settlement of the city.

Metropolitan Block, McGee's Addition from 1858

As he carefully carved out roads and lots in the middle of a corn field, people laughed at his ambitions “way out in the country.” P.G. Brock, pioneer engineer, stated in 1887, “We all thought that Milt McGee a speculative idiot for hitching on his addition to the town.”

Milt managed to encourage people to buy lots in his new Addition by selling them cheap and only requiring them to promise to build. When he started his escapade, the only building that existed was his own home at 16^th and Baltimore.

Not only did Milt build in the wilderness, but he also fashioned an incredibly wide street in the middle of it. He called it “Grand Avenue” and made sure that its width was as impressive as large boulevards and avenues in large eastern cities.

Grand Ave. became the widest street in town, and to solidify its prominence, Milt built a row of two story brick buildings on the east side of Grand at current-day 13^th St.- right in the center of a corn field. This was the first brick block in all of the city.

1868 advertisement for McGee's Edition published in the newspaper

In the middle of McGee’s Addition, he built a park (aptly called McGee’s Park) and named the some of the streets after his family: Eleanor (Main St.), James (Walnut), Laurel (Oak) and Hackberry (Cherry) ran through the area, and later streets Mobillion, Milton, Gertrude, Catherine and Amelia were added.

In 1857, the population of the city was 700; only 21 people claimed to live in McGee’s Addition and eight buildings had been built.

Milt was a Southerner and infamous wheeler and dealer. He would meet riverboats filled with droves of people and their earthly possessions at Westport Landing. Accompanied by a full brass band serenading their arrival and huge banners announcing his affordable prices for land, Milt would expound of the greatness of Kansas City and push for the new arrivals buy lots. He was able to convince some to abandon their westward migration to Kansas Territory and move a little bit south to McGee’s Addition.

It worked.

Pioneer settler Joseph M. Chick said in 1908, “No one except Milt McGee would have a lot south of 5^th and Main St. 50 years ago, $30 was a good price for big lot south at that point.”

Milt McGee's home at 16th and Baltimore taken before 1868
Note the brass band and the unicyclist relaxing on the lawn

By 1860, just three years after platting the “preposterous” McGee’s Addition, the area boasted a population of 2,319 and had 469 buildings.

He had always dabbled in politics, assisting his brothers in electing pro-slavery candidates to the Kansas Bogus Legislature. He would offer free rides to the polls in Kansas City – but only if you voted for his friends.

A staunch Democrat, he was elected as State Representative in 1862 and as State Senator in 1865. Pro-slavery before the war but a supporter of the Union at the outbreak, Milt’s home and hotel were oftentimes a stopover to many who fought as border ruffians. It was said that after the war broke out, Milt freed one of his slaves so he could be of use to the Union as a scout.

Milt McGee with a group of Native Americans. Date unknown but likely
in the late 1860s. Photo courtesy of the McGee family

This is what saved Milt from being thrown out of Kansas City during the war.

In 1868, he upgraded his home and, according to his obituary in the Kansas City Times, the 13 acre grounds had an entrance gate made from the lower jawbones of a whale and included a private zoo complete with a brown bear, a dozen deer, two bald eagles and other wildlife roaming in a five acre enclosure.

His political reputation during the Civil War and being a proponent of railroad expansion to Kansas City led him to run for mayor in 1870. On election day, it was reported that Milt supplied kegs of beer on street corners and voters could get a nip of whiskey from one of the barrels at his home.

He won.

After serving a year, Milt retired back to his home and continued to be active in city development. On February 11^th, 1873, just days after returning from a trip from New Orleans, Milt went to lay down and never woke up from his rest.  He was 54 years old.

A current view of where the Metropolitan Block of Kansas City was

Evidence of Milt McGee’s contribution to our beloved Kansas City can be seen in remnants today. One street that he named does remain as the city slowly swallowed his family’s namesakes into the street names we know today. McGee St., of course, does remain.

His hotel was swallowed up by the city and was torn down in 1889 to make way for a brick business block on Grand Ave. between 16^th and 17^th St. By the 1930s, only one building remained as real estate drove prices up and the buildings of McGee’s Addition into the ground. Today, none stand.

McGee’s Addition today includes Kansas City’s newest landmarks such as Sprint Center and Power and Light.

Menard and James Hyatt McGee, Jr- When Guns Go Blazing

The last of the McGee boys born to James H. and Eleanor Fry were Francis Manor (Menard) McGee (1831-1864) and James Hyatt McGee, Jr. (1837-1895). Although not as well-known as their other brothers, Menard and James still are a good portrait of early Kansas City history.

(L-R) James, Milt, Mobillion and Allen B.H. McGee, cir 1871
taken in front of the McGee homestead.

Both these boys were quite young when their father died in 1840, but that didn’t stop them from their duties as a McGee. Both seemed to spend some time in Osage Co. with Fry and Mobillion, and in 1854-55, they spent time in Arkansas on a hunting excursion.

It is said that Menard and James killed 34 buffalo in just shy of two days.

Their love of hunting drew them together, but their paths varied quite a bit due to inevitable events of the time.

Menard was the only one of his brothers to join organized service. At the outbreak of the war, he served as a private in Co. D, 3^rd Missouri Volunteer Infantry. His swiftness with a gun was vital in battles at Pea Ridge, Corinth, Vicksburg and Atlanta.

However, time was running out quickly for Menard.

In a desperate charge led by Gen. Cockrell in Franklin, Tn. where 600 Missouri men were apparently killed, Menard lost his life on November 30^th, 1864. Union losses at Franklin were 189; the Confederates lost 1,750 men. He was 33 years old and unwed.

Battle of Franklin illustration (1890), courtesy of Library of Congress

He was brought back to Jackson Co. and his family erected a beautiful monument to him at their family cemetery. He, with others, was moved to Elmwood Cemetery.

James H. McGee, Jr. used his power of the firearm in a different way. After marrying Ruth Thompson in Clay Co. in 1859, James was involved in a few skirmishes around the area but never served in formal military service.

In 1858, he platted J.H. McGee’s Addition, an area that bordered his mother’s home on the south side and McGee’s Addition, platted one year earlier by Milt on the east side. Today, this is land that includes 15^th to 17^th St. between Broadway and Main St.

In addition to early dabbling in real estate, James also was involved in livestock trade; however, his love of sports guided him in future endeavors.

The father of four children, James became most known for his involvement in hunting and fishing. He was considered to be a “splendid shot” and a nationally recognized sharp shooter. His love of the sport led him to be a charter member of the Kansas City Gun Club and one of the earliest promoters of the Missouri State Fish and Game Protective Association, now part of the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Illustration of James H. McGee, Jr.
published in the Kansas City Star (1895)

By the 1880 census, James was working as a gun dealer. Perhaps his love of the hunt got in the way of more practical ways of making money. It was written that “he was at one time a wealthy man but of late years had reverses.”

So, the youngest of the McGee boys didn’t inherit the ability to manage his financial wealth that he once had.

On August 21^st, 1895, 55-year-old James was found by his daughter in a very concerning state. His breathing was heavy and the damage had been done. The Kansas City Star reported that James “had been for a long time troubled with insomnia and had been compelled to resort to artificial means to produce sleep.”

James H. McGee, Jr. was  a user of morphine. This use killed him.

At the time of his death, all of his 13 siblings had passed away except for A.B.H. McGee. His oldest sister, Amelia, had died less than a month earlier at the age of 82.

Today, J.H. McGee’s Addition includes the Kauffman Center of the Performing Arts and Webster House.

So Many McGees, So Many Stories

Believe it or not, I have only scratched the surface of how much the McGees influenced the early history of the area. Today, our city wouldn’t look the same without the gusto of brave man and woman who plucked their family from Kentucky bluegrass and successfully established them just past the bluffs along the Missouri River in what would be the heart of our cherished city.

Other articles of interest: 

The Founding of Kansas City - "The Land Dispute That Led to the Town of Kansas"-  click here

Allen Burr Harrison McGee- "The McGees of Kansas City: A Pioneer Legacy" - click here

Election Frauds in 1855- "A Bit of Bull at Bull Creek: The Kansas Frauds of 1855" - click here

*Please consider searching "The Santa Fe Trailer" on Facebook and liking my page so you don't miss any of my writing! 

Pious Preacher or Radical Hypocrite? The Reverend Thomas Johnson

The celebration of the New Year 1865 had gone well into the night in the palatial home just shy of four miles from Kansas City. Exhaustion from the evening before had the Johnson family eager for welcome slumber.

Nineteen-year-old William had returned from college to spend the holidays with the family. Fifteen-year-old Cora and eleven- year-old Edna had greatly enjoyed visiting with him and playing games well into the evening before. Their father had forgiven William for his surprise enlistment years before in the Confederate Home Guard under Upton Hays; having two sons fighting on opposing sides was too much for Thomas to even fathom.

As the two girls headed to bed under the warmth of their sheets and William retired to his room, Thomas had business to attend to. As a corporal to the guard assigned to organizing local men to protect the area from guerrillas, Thomas had fought off sleep in order to give his final orders to a group of men near midnight. Mr. Patterson, his farm manager, had retired earlier.

That left his beloved wife, 54-year-old Sarah restlessly waiting for him to finish his orders so they could turn in. She yawned in a daze as she turned a page in her Bible. The fires had been extinguished and the house was dark except for the lantern that sat between them in the parlor.

Battle of Westport- Courtesy of Civil War Trust

Although Thomas was exhausted, his mind continued to shuffle through the days’ activities. Just as sleep was about to enrapture them both and they were thinking of going upstairs to bed, the faint sound of the hooves of horses stirred him wide awake. As the noise grew closer and closer to his 600-acre farm, his heartbeat quickened and he stiffly sat up in his chair. His motions stirred Sarah from the passages of her beloved book.

“What is it?” she questioned as she touched his arm in concern.

Before Thomas could answer, Sarah heard the horses and the faint voices of men. She turned to her husband, a woman’s intuition taking over her actions. She gripped his forearm a little tighter as her eyes widened. Thomas, not one to shy away from a small sense of danger, placed his hand on top of hers. “No worries. It may be the men returning with some type of news.”

As a Southern Methodist minister, Rev. Thomas Johnson was used to late-night visits and had always held a high regard for hospitality to his neighbors. He stood up, his joints stiff. He wrapped his coat around his large frame a bit tighter, the draft from the wind escaping through the cracks of the tightly-shut windows. The men outside on this cold winter night hollered for the reverend.

Sarah Davis Johnson
(1810-1873)

He crept toward the locked front door and turned the large key. Thomas cracked it open just a few inches to explore what these men could possibly need in the dead of night. Sarah, growing more and more concerned with each step, followed her husband as she straightened her nightcap.

It was one of those bright, moonlit nights. The snow on the ground aided in making everything visible even this late. A group of men, possibly as many as nineteen, huddled together mounted on their horses as they stood in the shadows just outside the gate. Each man watched closely as Rev. Johnson cautiously enquired through the partially ajar door to what they could need.

“We’re lookin’ for the way to Westport,” one man responded, his breath blowing fog into the crisp air.

Before Thomas could respond, another man hollered, “Or the way to Kansas City.”

Thomas’ brow furrowed in confusion; he pulled his head back and turned toward Sarah. She violently shook her head back and forth. Regardless of her concerns, Thomas quickly rattled off general directions to both towns.

Dissatisfied with their progress, the men muttered to each other. The first man that spoke when the door was opened asked, “How about a drink of water before we leave?”

Thomas complied as he reached his hand forward and pointed. “Just over there you’ll find our well. The dipper is hangin’ next to it. Help yourselves an’ be on your way.”

The response that followed had Sarah clinging to her husband’s waist. Instead of guiding their horses toward the well, the men began to dismount. As one man opened the gate and the others quickly followed him, she pulled at Thomas’ robe.

“Close the door, Thomas!” she shrieked in a whispered panic. The reverend moved away and began to turn the knob.

But it was too late.*

*******************************

Rev. Thomas Johnson, pioneer missionary of the Shawnee Indian Mission and namesake of Johnson Co., Ks., has one of the most colorful and controversial histories of any man of the area. Piecing together his motivations and his loyalty leaves us to wonder where the truth lies amidst the incredibly differing accounts of one individual.

Rev. Johnson was a man of God. But he was a slave owner. He worked with the Native American tribes and formed a school. But many believe he stole land and financial gain from them. He served on the Bogus Legislature that wished to admit Kansas as a slave state. But he later was labeled a staunch supporter of the Union.

Rev. Thomas Johnson

He was, in fact, a man who fell on both sides of some of the most scandalous “bruises” of the history of the United States. Between the mistreatment of Native Americans and the institution of slavery, Rev. Thomas Johnson was involved in all aspects of the inflamed culture of a country soon divided.

To investigate the life of Rev. Thomas Johnson means you will have to decipher from two very contrasting viewpoints.

John C. McCoy, son of Baptist Rev. Issac McCoy, wrote in the Journal of Commerce in 1880, “[Johnson] was open and liberal toward every enterprise looking to the moral, educational and material advancement and growth of the country.”

In the Springfield Republican in 1854, one man reported, “One of the most determined, bitter and unprincipled enemies to freedom in Kansas is the Rev. Thomas Johnson . . . Once so poor he had not money to get to the territory decently, now worth more than sixty thousand dollars, acquired upon the field labors of love. . . [Johnson] is a slaveholder- a trafficker of human flesh- buys and sells men, women and children. . . He held slaves in violation of the Missouri Compromise, thus showing he regards neither the laws of God nor the laws of man.”

Fasten your seatbelts! This is a ride.

Born July 11, 1802 in Nelson Co., Virginia, Thomas Johnson was the son of Revolutionary War vet Clabourn Johnson and his wife, Elizabeth “Betsy” Simms. From humble means, he came to Howard Co., Mo. with his family in 1822.

Thomas and his younger brother, William (b. 1805) were drawn to the Methodist ministry.  A part of the class of 1826, Rev. Thomas Johnson’s first assignment was at Mount Prairie in Arkansas.

Rev. Johnson's Bible is on display at Shawnee Indian Mission

On September 7, 1830, Thomas married 20 year-old Sarah Tuttle Davis, the Kentucky-born daughter of Thomas and Sarah Ruddel. According to "The Davis Family of Kentucky," her parents, well before marrying, were captured by the Native Americans led by Tecumseh (a Shawnee chief) in 1780. They were later released back to their families.

Also in 1830, Chief Fish of the Shawnee appointed Rev. Thomas Johnson to establish a mission school in Kansas Territory. His brother, William was appointed to the Kanza tribe (Kaw).

Her mother, once a captive of the Shawnee, would later come and live with her daughter and son-in-law at the Shawnee Indian Mission. It was said Thomas Johnson’s mother-in-law “knew the Shawnee language as well as her own.”

Rev. Nathan Scarritt (1820-1890), once a resident of the Mission, wrote, “The fact that Mr. Johnson was the first one selected to go as a missionary to the then-powerful tribe of the Shawnees, is indicative of the high standing he occupied in the eyes of his church.”

"The Prophet," Tecumseh's brother (1775-1836)

Standing six feet tall and well over 250 pounds, Johnson gathered his few possessions and his bride for the trip from eastern Missouri to just west of the edge of America. She rode a horse while he walked beside her the entire way across the state. They crossed into Kansas Territory in late 1830 and settled in a wooded area near the present town of Turner in Wyandotte County. A one-room log cabin was built with a small cabin next to it where he planned to begin his missionary work among the Shawnees. He chose this location due to its proximity to the Chouteau Trading Post.

In a treaty in 1825, the Shawnee were given land bordering Missouri on the east, up to the Kansas River to the north, stretching to Topeka and as far south as the southern border of Johnson County. The 1.6 million acres of land was first settled by a band of the Shawnee tribe that had been pushed earlier to land near Cape Girardeau, Mo. Around 1830-1831, the Fish band of the Shawnees from Ohio, numbering about 900, moved west to the land designated to them. With this band came “the Prophet,” Tecumseh’s brother.

I sure wonder what Rev. Johnson’s mother-in-law thought of this development.

The first proclaimed white child to be born in Kansas Territory was Alexander Johnson, born in 1832. An earlier child, also named Alexander, had been born and died in 1831.

As early as 1832, Thomas Johnson, a man of the cloth, was the first to bring slavery into Kansas. The Shawnees were unfamiliar with this institution, but as further “indoctrination” occurred, some of the wealthier members of the Shawnee tribe followed in Johnson’s footsteps and owned slaves in Kansas Territory as well.

In addition to hopes of converting Native Americans to Christianity, the United States government hoped to use acculturation to mold the natives into something, frankly, not natural to their beliefs. Part of this was to teach Native Americans agricultural practices. Because these tribes, including the Shawnee, were sharing land with so many other tribes, their natural survival method of hunting wasn’t easy.

That means adaptation to farming was essential to survival.

In 1838, Thomas Johnson opted to move his little mission south to a more convenient location for his endeavors. By the following year, he was appointed as superintendent Indian Mission District and to the Shawnee Indian Mission.

The government took a deeper look at the missionary work in Kansas Territory. They granted just over 2,000 acres of land for the Methodist church to further establish the mission. The government promised a fund for the Delaware Indians for $4,000 a year for ten years and a fund of $1,500 a year for the Shawnee. In turn, Johnson welcomed all Native Americans to his new location. The Methodist church also supported the erection of the new Shawnee Mission with about $20,000 over the years.

In “Before Bleeding Kansas” published in Kansas History, Kevin Abing writes, “Although good intentions may have motivated Johnson, other less lofty incentives certainly influenced his thinking. He was an aggressive entrepreneur who capitalized on any opportunity to enhance his own wealth.”

Rev. Johnson had an idea- he didn’t just want to teach the word of God or educate the children. In 1838, he got approval from the government to start a Manual Labor School.

This vision of Johnson’s turned into a model of the government’s goal of civilizing Native Americans.

The West Building in 1927
Courtesy of Kansas State Historical Society

The location chosen was certainly no mistake. Just three miles from pro-slavery Westport, Mo., the new mission was convenient to supplies and support in more ways than one. The new Shawnee Indian Mission was sheltered in a small valley off the Santa Fe Trail. This is where many-a-family, a new generation of explorers, traveled by wagon train into Western expansion. Slow oxen trains, loaded up and bound for unknown crevasses of open countryside, passed by the doors of the Shawnee Indian Mission.

Rev. Johnson brought in lumber from Cincinnati and some of the earliest bricks came from St. Louis. He later built a kiln and fired his own brick to build the structures on-site. The west building, completed in 1839, was used as teacher’s quarters and for classrooms.

In late October 1839, the boarding school was opened. He enclosed 400 acres of the 2,000 granted by the government. He planted twelve acres of apple trees, thus creating the first apple orchard in Kansas. It is said that when he traveled on horseback, he would sprinkle Kentucky bluegrass seeds, then introducing a new grass variety now commonly seen.

East building at Shawnee Indian Mission today
Courtesy of City of Fairway

By 1840-1841, the east building was completed and used for classrooms, housed a chapel, and had a dorm for boys on the upper floor. 16 additional buildings were erected throughout the grounds. A tool shop, blacksmith shop, sawmill, gristmill, a brickyard and numerous trade shops dotted the landscape of the Shawnee Indian Mission. This was the first time that trades were accompanied with worship. Indian boys between the ages of five and 22 were taught numerous trades; girls were taught to spin, weave, cook, sew and keep house so “they became good housewives.”

Naturally, the profits of the manual labor of the Shawnee Indian Mission pupils may have fallen directly into the Reverend’s pockets as goods were sold to travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. In “Before Bleeding Kansas,” Abing points out, “Many suspected that Johnson established the Shawnee Manual Labor School to enrich himself and his Methodist brethren.”

Shawnee Indian Mission girls' school

According to the Kansas Historical Society, the operations of the Manual Labor School centered around routine. Pupils would wake up at 5 a.m. and complete light work until 7 a.m. They would then have breakfast. At 9 a.m., the school bell would ring and they would complete their studies . After a short recess, they would dine from noon until 1 p.m.. From 1 to 4 p.m., they would resume their studies. They would take tea at 6 p.m. and would complete homework until 8. After some “indoor recreation” for 30 minutes, the students were sent to their dorms.

Can you imagine if we introduced these hours to the kids of today?

Tuition per year was $75 per year per child. In 1839-1840, 72 students were enrolled at the Mission’s Manual Labor School. Four teachers were employed.

Later, enrollment soared to a many as 100; at some points, close to 200 children were enrolled.

In 1843, ill health chased Rev. Thomas Johnson and his growing family off to the north. The Shawnee Indian Mission was then run by Jerome Berryman. The Johnson’s first went to Cincinnati for about a year so the reverend could be under the care of physicians. By 1845, he had built a farmhouse in Fayette, Howard Co., Mo.

The North Building, Shawnee Indian Mission
Shawnee Indian Mission Foundation

In 1845, a final large brick building was added to the property on the north side of the road under the guidance of Rev. Berryman. This completed a triangle configuration of structures that solidified Johnson’s place as a powerful early settler of Kansas Territory. At this same time, the issue of slavery split the Methodist church in two. Thomas Johnson, a proponent of slavery, sided naturally with the Methodist Church-South and at the time owned four to six slaves.

In Howard Co., Rev. Johnson met an ambitious and educated minister by the name of Nathan Scarritt- a name synonymous with the growth of Kansas City. Scarritt was then working as the principal of the boys’ department at Howard High School. In 1847, Rev. Johnson convinced Scarritt to leave this career and in order to take charge of “his complicated academy.”

Rev. Nathan Scarritt (1821-1890)

Pupils that had been at Johnson’s Manual Labor School for an extended period of time were anxious and ready for an advanced education. The addition of Rev. Nathan Scarritt was a success. He was a missionary at Shawnee Indian Mission from 1848 until 1851.

Rev. Johnson was able to return to his beloved Indian Manual Labor School in 1847.

The fiery heat of the nation was about to burn what some would consider “peaceful relations” of the Kansas Territory. In the 1840s, the Methodist Mission and the bands of Native Americans got along with no issue. But reports from other missionaries in the area- against the institution of slavery- would disagree with this probability of peace at the Shawnee Indian Mission. According to Kevin Abing in “Before Bleeding Kansas,” an employee of the Mission punished a black man for a small offense. In turn, the slave became irate and pulled a knife on the employee. A fight ensued and the slave lost the knife. The employee then beat the slave with a club but stopped when he figured he had learned his lesson.

Another account, never verified, stated that Johnson fathered a child with one of the girl slaves, but she and the child were sold before she gave birth.

In total, Rev. Johnson and his wife, Sarah had 13 children. Only six survived into adulthood. His second oldest daughter, Eliza (1836-1865), married John B. Wornall.

Yes, as in Wornall Road and Wornall House.

Slave record for Rev. Johnson's purchase of a 15 year-old girl in 1856

In Martyrdom in Missouri, published in 1870, author William M. Leftwich wrote, “Mr. Johnson was never considered a brilliant preacher, but a sound, clear, forcible and able expounder of the gospel.”

He was also an expounder of slavery in Kansas Territory.

Western Expansion was the enemy of the Native American tribes, and it became clear that the only way to move forward would be to section off pieces of land to the individual tribe members. Rev. Thomas Johnson was a proponent of this movement. If they sectioned off the land of the Shawnee, for example, the individual tribe members could opt to sell. And who was interested in buying these rich lands?

Whites, of course.

As Abing explains, “[Johnson] was an aggressive entrepreneur who capitalized on any opportunity to enhance his own wealth.”

It is no surprise that Rev. Thomas Johnson was at the center of the reorganization of the future of Kansas Territory.

In William Walker’s journal from October 21, 1853, concerning who would serve as delegate to Congress, he wrote, “I suppose we may safely set down Thomas Johnson’s election for delegate as certain. . .[He] had the whole power of the federal government, the presence and active support of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the military, the Indian agent, missionaries, Indian traders, etc., a combination that is irresistible.”

In order to admit Kansas as the newest organized state, the government repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 in order to open up white settlement in the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Because popular sovereignty to hold the key of the future of Kansas Territory as free or slave, the “decision” would reside with the voters. They were left to elect delegates who would then decide the fate of the land just to the west of Missouri.

The first atlas of Johnson County, Kansas Territory was in 1854. This image is from the pages of the atlas
and shows the location of the Shawnee Indian Mission.
Kansas State Historical Society

Rev. Johnson aided the efforts by extinguishing the Shawnee title to the Shawnee Indian Mission. The Shawnees gave up 1.4 million acres of land, leaving them with 200,000 acres on the eastern edge. He persuaded the chiefs to accept $10,000 over ten years for educating the Shawnee children. The Methodist church, in return, got 2,000 acres of land that Johnson eventually acquired.

Johnson didn’t stop there; he then gained control of the Shawnee School Fund where the Methodists were to be paid $6,000 a year for educating and boarding up to 70 children.

First territorial governor
Andrew Reeder (1807-1864)

Surveying the land for sale and division in the county named after him came next. But the underlying issue for settlement and peace resided within the institution of slavery. The Shawnees felt they couldn’t trust Rev. Johnson to do what was best for them. And due to the viewpoint of Johnson as greedy and a slave owner in Kansas, the Northerners who were about to storm the territory despised him.

Northern papers reported that Johnson had one slave that netted him $1,000 a year and had a few slaves at the Shawnee Indian Mission. Other slaves owned by him were leased out. In the Springfield Republican, it was stated that he bought a family of slaves and promised they could work for their freedom. Johnson then worked them and sold them before they could do so.

To no surprise of the speculators intently watching the goings-on in Kansas, Rev. Thomas Johnson was elected to the Kansas Territorial Council on the pro-slavery ticket and elected president of the council in March 1855. Missourians had flooded over the border and illegally voted throughout the territory to ensure that those elected were on their side.

In the “Old Shawnee Mission” published by the Kansas Historical Society, writer Edith Connelly Ross declared that Johnson, in regard to being elected as president of the council, “was not permitted to decline. His anxious, futile attempts at promoting peace were ignored.”

Promoting piece under a pro-slavery stance?

The tides were turning toward the spread of slavery to the west under what was labeled the “Bogus Legislature” due to the hollers from Northerners to recall the election because of these injustices.

Andrew Reeder, the first territorial governor of Kansas Territory, was appointed by the President. Gov. Reeder called for the legislature to meet first in Pawnee near Fort Riley far away from the influence of the pro-slavery Missourians. But the men that made up the legislature only took four days to oust the antislavery men and vote to move the legislature to a more convenient location.

They chose a place ½ mile from the Missouri border and three miles from pro-slavery Westport, Mo.

Free state activist Charles Robinson speaking at Lecompton, 1856
Civil War on the Western Border

The Shawnee Indian Mission became the headquarters of the Bogus Legislature in 1855 under the suggestion of Rev. Johnson. Gov. Reeder set up his offices there until he received word that he had been fired from his position in April. A group, including Johnson, had signed a petition charging him with speculation and disloyalty. The legislature then moved to Lecompton, Ks.

In the Conquest of Kansas by Missouri and Her Allies, published in 1856, author William Phillips describes Rev. Johnson as a vulgar man, illiterate, and course with bad grammar. “A violent pro-slavery partisan, he has been useful tool in his way. His name may be found figuring in some of the most violent of the pro-slavery partisan meetings, and he was president of the council of the Bogus Legislature which, within the walls of his mission, in the rooms dedicated to the service of Him who is the God of justice and truth, perpetrated one of the most flagrant outrages on right and justice recorded on the page of history.”

Yes, he was a man of complicated intentions.

A man who switched loyalties in the middle of Bleeding Kansas and the Border Wars.

His daughter, Edna Johnson Anderson proclaimed, “During the Border Warfare, he was always considered a Southern man and all the Missourians were welcomed at all times at his home, while he had always been conservative and considered a loyal citizen. . . He would have gone with the South had the state gone, but he [..] was a firm believer in the Union.”

Rev. Thomas Johnson's recliner is on display
at the Shawnee Indian Mission Museum

The heat of the tensions of the Border Warfare and a call upon retirement had Rev. Johnson opting to leave the Shawnee Indian Mission in the charge of his oldest son, Alexander in 1858. Earlier in 1855, he had purchased a sprawling farm of 600 acres from James Davenport.

According to a 1911 article in the Kansas City Star, the Southern style brick home had been built in 1852 by James Davenport’s slave, Sanders Davenport. The house stood at what would become 2937 E. 35^th St. and was just under four miles from Kansas City and just under three from Westport.

Rev. Thomas Johnson did, in fact, sign an oath of loyalty to the Union. His support was a slap in the face to his Missouri pro-slavery friends. His son, Alexander Johnson served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Kansas State Militia and participated in the Battle of Westport. Another son, William, had joined Upton Hays’ Missouri State Guard on the Confederate side, but the reverend allegedly arranged for his son to be released from duty.

It appears his sons were just as confused as to where true loyalty lay.

After Order No. 11 forced evacuation of the citizens of Jackson, Cass, Bates and part of Vernon counties in 1863, thousands of people, predominately women and children, were driven from their homes. His daughter, Edna stated that sometimes 15-20 families at a time stayed with the Johnson’s on the Davenport farm.

Gen. Order No. 11 by George Caleb Bingham

Those that remained in the district had to sign an “Oath of Loyalty.” Since Rev. Johnson was appointed as corporal to the guard to look out for Union patrolmen in the area, he was sometimes called upon to sign these loyalty oaths as a witness.

At one point, a lady came to their home. Edna recalled, “She was known as one of the warmest sympathizers of the South, and one whose home the guerrillas frequently made their headquarters.”

Johnson refused to sign her oath of loyalty when asked.

Edna wrote, “My mother and family have always considered that this was the principal grudge the guerrillas had against my father.”

Is that what led to the events on that cold, wintery night on January 2, 1865?

***********

Rev. Thomas Johnson tried to slam the door shut, but it was too late. The men outside had charged past the gate and shot through the heavy oak door, a bullet puncturing the reverend in the stomach. As his legs gave way, Thomas was caught by his wife and she eased him to the floor.

The volley of gunfire stirred the rest of the home wide awake. Thomas’ son, William and Mr. Patterson, the farm manager, raced down the stairs and toward the slumped remains of Rev. Johnson. Sarah held his head upon her lap as bullets continued to fire from just outside. “Get him a lounge to lay on!” she screamed to the two men.

It was too late. The Rev. Thomas Johnson, just 64 years old, was gone.

Screams followed from fifteen-year-old Cora who had awoken in the chaos. “They’re settin’ fire to the house!”

Rev. Thomas Johnson's headstone at Shawnee
Methodist Mission Cemetery

There on the back porch, the flames and smoke grew. Sarah Johnson, not one to surrender, raced to the kitchen and grabbed two buckets of water. She pushed open the back door and threw the water on the flames. One of the men in the group of murderers stood nearby and, shockingly, did not stop her from her efforts.

Satisfied the flames were extinguished, Sarah flew back inside, snatching up guns and ammunition on her way up the back stairway. The men had already surrounded the stately brick home and started to shoot at her as she climbed her way up.

According to Edna, the next morning, her mother found where shots had passed through her large skirt.

Hunkered upstairs in the dark, William and Mr. Patterson began to fire at the men below. Blood stained the bright white snow, evidence that some of their efforts of retaliation had been successful. The murderers tried one more time to set fire to the home but were unsuccessful.

About 4 a.m., hours and hours after the fatal shot ended the life of one man, the murderers gave up their efforts “feeling they had had accomplished their chief purpose.”

The next morning, the papers reported of the loss.

The Journal of Commerce wrote, “It becomes our painful duty to chronicle another of those terrible murders of which our borders have so long been ravaged. The Rev. Thomas Johnson, one of the most widely known citizens of Western Missouri, was killed by bushwhackers in his own house about 2 ½ miles from Westport.” It was stated that those responsible were a band of guerrillas spending the winter near Hickman’s Mill.

They didn’t take any time establishing the culprits, although many argue the identity of the killers. Just like so many other parts of Johnson’s life, his death was just as confusing as his questionable loyalty.

The Davenport Home, the location where Thomas Johnson was murdered.
Missouri Valley Special Collections

In Martyrdom in Missouri (1870), the author states, “Many believed it was because of his strong Union sentiments and the bushwhackers were the murderers, while just as many believe that it was because he was a Southern Methodist preacher, that the Jayhawkers were his murderers.”

Another theory is that the murder was a robbery, yet it was reported that Thomas Johnson still held $1,000 in his pocket as he lay on the floor dead.

Rev. Thomas Johnson was laid to rest at the Shawnee Indian Mission cemetery (5341 Canterbury Rd., Fairway, Ks.). His wife never returned to the Davenport home where her husband had met his murderous end. She moved back into the Methodist Mission which was officially abandoned as a mission in 1862 and temporarily taken over by Union soldiers.

The house where Johnson lost his life stood for many years to come. Even in 1912, a bullet hole through the front door and a lead ball lodged in the casement remained at the old Davenport home as telling evidence of the bloodshed it once witnessed.

Later image of the Shawnee Mission, converted to a business
Shawnee Indian Mission Foundation

The house was torn to the ground December 1, 1916.

As for the Mission, the ownership was transferred after Rev. Johnson’s death to Rev. Thomas Johnson. His family owned it for a time before it was eventually sold to other owners. It should come to no surprise that this development made many scratch their heads even then.

Even in the 1980s, the Shawnee tribe sued for control of the Shawnee Indian Mission.

Their efforts failed.

In 1927, the state of Kansas was able to purchase 12 acres of the original land where, although in desperate need of repair, the three original brick structures still stood.

************

Today, the legacy of the Shawnee Indian Mission miraculously survives due to a little bit of luck and a lot of preservation efforts. Three separate entities work closely together in order to preserve the oldest buildings standing in the state of Kansas. The state owns it, the Shawnee Indian Mission Foundation helps sustain it, and the City of Fairway runs day-to-day operations.

The West Building in 1928
Courtesy of Shawnee Indian Mission Foundation

Visiting the mission is a must. Nestled amidst current-day Fairway between golf courses, subdivisions and schools, the Shawnee Indian Mission is a time capsule. The east building houses the museum where you can see Thomas Johnson’s Bible, the old school bell and a cane carved by Shawnee leader Charles Bluejacket. Exhibits in this cir. 1840 building include the story of settlement in Kansas and the Johnson family, Bleeding Kansas, the trail system and the Civil War.

Site director Jennifer Laughlin is a vital piece to the future of the Shawnee Indian Mission. Her positivity and genuine love of the mission is felt the minute you walk through the door. In her position, she hopes to grow additional annual events like the egg hunt and the fall festival, partner with local tribal members to present more Native American history, and grow a volunteer docent program in order to reach more students and visitors (To see what events are offered, go to Shawnee Indian Mission's Facebook page!).

The north building, built in 1845, is a short walk away and offers exhibits on the Native American tribes that once roamed the land here. In addition, a fully functional research library offers visitors a chance to read up on various subjects well beyond the Johnson family and the mission itself. The library is available by appointment.

Efforts are underway to preserve and rehabilitate the oldest of the three buildings, the west building. Today, visitors can stroll nearby on the walking trail that winds through the 12 acres of beautifully landscaped parkland.

The West Building today

Jennifer commented, "Far too often, people drive through the site, not realizing what they just passed through.  History is so important to understand today and bringing in young families and children will help the site to grow and become a vital and memorable part of their local involvement."

We may not understand or even comprehend the complicated life of Rev. Thomas Johnson, but he remains the namesake of the most populated county in the state of Kansas.

Rev. Johnson is forever linked to some of the most controversial issues of American history. We can’t erase these from record; our living history exhibits need to be showcased as a vivid reminder of what once was a brutal struggle along the border. The survival of the Shawnee Indian Mission is imperative so that we can literally walk in the steps of those before us and reflect on the triumphs and blunders that built our area into what it is today.

* The story of Thomas Johnson's murder was taken from several accounts, but poetic license was used to enhance the story. :)

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Main image drawn in 1857 by Henry Howe and courtesy of the University of Kansas

Recommended Reading:

Martyrdom in Missouri by William M. Leftwich. Published 1870 and available online at https://archive.org/details/martyrdominmisso00left

"Before Bleeding Kansas: Christian MIssionaries, Slavery, and the Shawnee Indians in Pre-Territorial Kansas, 1844-1854" by Kevin Abing. Published in Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains, 2001.

Early History of Greater Kansas City  by Charles P. Deatheradge. Published 1927.

Conquest of Kansas by Missouri and Her Allies  by William Phillips. Published 1856.