Tall Tales & True Stories
The Spaldings of Kansas: Pioneers of the Bluestem Prairie
Photo of drawing of Daniel and Diadema Spalding’s home in the “old stone schoolhouse” in Westmoreland, Kansas circa late 1800’s, courtesy of John Deward Pruitt
From an article sent to me by Laura Spalding Written by Charles A. Scott For the Westmoreland Recorder Westmoreland, Kansas November 8, 1956
I am indebted to Judge J.C. Ruppenthal of Russell, Kansas, for much of the information contained in this story. All under quotation marks is copied from his recent letters to me. All dates and names are taken from the Spalding family records, except those relating to recent years.
"The Spalding geneology, [sic] second series, 1897, asserts that Edward Spalding arrived in Virginia from England in 1619. The male line of succession from that date are: 1. Edward, 2. Benjamin, 3. Edward, 4. Ephraim, 5. Ezekiel, 6. Miner, 7. Ephraim, 8. Elisha Lathrop, 9. Luther Greathouse."
The Spaldings appear to have increased rapidly in numbers, and to have scattered to the four winds. Ephraim, No. 7 in the list, was born at Preston, Connecticut, now known as Griswold, July 29, 1797. As a youth he came overland to Orange county, Indiana, where he fell in with a settlement of Germans who also had come overland from North Carolina, and married one of the German girls, Sarah Myers. They continued to live in Orange County some 10 or 15 years.
BORN IN INDIANA?
I presume their four sons were born in Orange County.
I am assuming this because of an incident that I recall very clearly while at
home one summer vacation. I met Mr. Wm. (Bill) Spalding in Westmoreland one
evening while waiting for the evening mail to be distributed. We sat down on the
bank steps to have a friendly chat. He asked me a number of questions about what
I was being taught in college. I told him that I was taking the course offered
in horticulture, which included instruction about how to graft apples and bud
peaches and cherries so as to produced desired varieties, and about everything
else relating to the production and marketing of all kinds of fruit.
Then he told me how they [the Spalding family] used to graft apples on the little sycamore trees in Indiana, and how they had to climb the sycamore tree to shake the apples off. I did not question this story, but I did reply by saying, "Bill, you must have grown up along the Wabash, where the sycamores grow tall." His reply was "That is just where I grew up."
Ephraim [Bill's father] and his family then moved [from Indiana] to Knox County, Illinois. In fighting a forest fire in the new country, Ephraim lost his life. His family then consisted of four sons, two daughters had died young. Elisha Lathrop, Daniel, David, and William B. Sometime after their father's death, Elisha Lathrop, the eldest, went overland to California, but did not remain long. David Spalding, the lame brother, went to Santa Barbara, California, and lived out his days unmarried. After returning to Knox County, Elisha Lathrop Spalding married Lucinda Brown of Knox County. Three children were born to this union, Julia Ann, Mary, and Luther Greathouse. After the family moved to Kansas, Julia Ann, born December 19, 1848, married J.F. O'Daniel of Westmoreland. Mary, born September 3, 1853, married Austin Van Norwick. After a few years they moved to Oregon. Luther Greathouse, born June 21, 1857, but have no further record of him.
Lucinda Brown Spalding died, and Elisha Lathrop married Margaret Young, of Knox County, Illinois. To this union, two daughters were born, Lydia and Rose. Lydia married Frank Axtell of Wamego, Kansas. Rose married Cyrus L. Manley of Lucas, Kansas.
DATES NOT GIVEN
The family record does not mention the dates the
brothers moved to Kansas, or whether they came singly or in a group. As nearly
as I can determine, Elisha Lathrop, his second wife, children and mother came to
Kansas in a covered wagon loaded with corn and household effects, with a cow
following behind. One bit of information that I have gotten says Julia Ann
Spalding came to Kansas when she was 12 years of age. She was born in 1848. Add
12 to that date and it gives us 1860.
Another bit of information is: Elisha Lathrop enlisted for a three year period. He spent two years of that time in Missouri and Arkansas, and one year in Wyoming. Sometime during this period his wife, Margaret Young Spalding, died.
The family record states that "Elisha Lathrop Spalding enlisted as a private in Co. K, 11th Kansas Cavalry, and served in Missouri and Arkansas. Toward close of the war, his company was sent to Wyoming to quiet some Indian unrest. They spent a year of hardship on account of lack of supplies, tents, and equipment. Upon discharge he returned to Pottawatomie county and married: Margaret Wilson, his third wife. To this union three children were born, Fred, Wilson, and Sarah." I have no information relating to Fred and Wilson, but Sarah married J.S. Ruppenthal of Russell, Kansas, who later in life served several terms as a district judge in his home judicial district and is widely known throughout the state.
In 1876 Elisha Lathrop Spalding moved his family, livestock, and farm equipment from St. George to Russell County, Kansas, where he filed on a homestead claim of 160 acres as allowed veterans. Only 80 acres were allowed civilians. Elisha Lathrop Spalding and his wife, Margaret Wilson Spalding, are buried in the Lucas, Kansas cemetery.
I do not recall knowing about Daniel Spalding, except that he, his wife, and son John, lived in the old stone schoolhouse by the spring, after it was vacated as a school building. Their son "Pete" L.J. Spalding lived in Westmoreland and was the community painter and paper hanger for years. Pete also organized all the coon hunts of the community as long as he lived there. John, Daniel's younger son, had very poor eyesite, and was a burden to his father and mother as long as he lived. I knew him when he was from about 15 to 20 years of age.
Wilson B. Spalding located just across Wilson Creek north of the John Whearty home. He married Mary Jane Gard, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Gard, a pioneer family living about two miles north, up Wilson Creek. Their children were Lot and Mattie. Lot married Mary Whearty. They lived on the home farm for a number of years, farmed his father's farm and also the David or Daniel Spalding farm adjoining on the north. I always knew it as the Dave Spalding farm. The family record does not mention he ever lived in Kansas. It was here that I made his acquaintance. The farm may have been his brother, Daniel's place. Lot and Mary were parents of a son whose name I do not now recall. Mattie married M.E. Wood, who was principal of the Westmoreland school one or two years, and was one of the best teachers I ever sat under. I believe he came from Ohio. Soon after their marriage, the Woods and Lot Spaldings moved to Idaho, locating at Payette, I believe, and engaged in a mercantile business.
Some years later Mr. William B. Spalding went to Idaho and made his home with them.
In March, 1912, I boarded a train at Hayes, Kansas enroute to Manhattan. Before locating a seat, I saw Lot Spalding. I spoke to him, he recognized me at once, though he had not seen me for 15 or 16 years. He invited me to share his seat. He was accompanying his father's body to Westmoreland for burial. I have not seen Lot since that time. No doubt he has passed on or is about to celebrate is 100th birthday. Sarah Myers Spalding was the mother of these four Spalding brothers. She had a brother, Joe Myers, who came to Kansas at an early date. The '55 Territorial Census lists a Myers living in the community known as "Myers Valley" since before my time. It is possible that Uncle Joe Myers was the first one of the family to locate "north of St. George."
What did the Spaldings and their in-laws contribute to the community? They helped tame and develop it. They blazed the trail that some of the rest of us followed.