Thomas Sears Huffaker

Thomas Sears Huffaker (1825-1910) = Methodist Missionary. Postmaster. County Commissioner. Probate Judge.  Kansas Legislator.  Born on March 30 to  Catherine (Lowe) and George Smith Huffaker, an ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal South church in Clay County, Missouri.  

Eliza Ann Baker was born in Illinois to Agnes (Inghram) & blacksmith, Joshua W. Baker in 1836, raised in Iowa and married Thomas on 6 May, 1852 at the age of 16 in Council Grove by a missionary traveling to Mexico, one Rev. Nicholson.

Previous to their marriage, in 1850, Thomas  was sent to Council Grove, Morris County, Kansas as a missionary to teach the Indian children by the Methodist Episcopal South Board of Missions after he taught at the Shawnee Manual Training School in Johnson County for two years. Few Indians allowed their children to attend the Kaw mission school, so the mission closed within a few years. After awhile, when settlers began to settle around and in Council Grove, he taught the children of those settlers and began a Sunday School there. In addition to teaching, he engaged in a mercantile business, farming and raising farm stock. 

They lived at the mission until a new fourteen room house was built for their family, eventually numbering twelve members, one quarter mile north of the mission. Thomas and Eliza celebrated their fifty-third anniversary there. After her father passed, a daughter, Anna Carpenter, sold her home on Second Street and moved to the mission in 1911 with her mother (1836-1920), living there until her death in 1921. 

Both Thomas and Eliza were buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Council Grove, Kansas. 

More to Read:  

1. Some Boone Descendants and Kindred of the St. Charles District. By Lilian Hays Oliver. Chedwato Service, 1964. p. 267-270. Repository: Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, MO. 

2. "Old West Kansas." Kansas Heritage website

3. History of the State of Kansas. By William G. Cutler. A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, 1883. p. 805-806. Repository: Google Books. 

4. Kansaspedia. Kansas Historical Society website

5. "Homer Huffaker." A Standard History of Oklahoma. by Joseph Bradfield Thobum. Vol. 5. p.2133-34. Repository: Google Books.

6. Photo of the Kaw Mission in Council Grove, Kansas. Kansas Memory.

7. Thomas Sears Huffaker, Ancestry.com

8. Findagrave #20168737

Places to Visit:

1. Santa Fe Trail Historic Markers from Independence, MO to Council Grove, KS. 

2. Shawnee Indian Mission Historic Site & Museum, 3403 W. 53rd,  Fairway, KS.

3. Kaw Mission State Historic Site, 500 North Mission, Council Grove, KS. 

Citation: "Thomas Sears Huffaker." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 17 January 2019. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Edna Thimes

Edna Florence Thimes (1914-1995). Missionary Nurse. Evangelist. Edna was born to Henry J. and Martha (Son) Thimes on September 26, 1914, fourth child of five, in a loving, but unchurched family. They lived on a farm near Emporia, Kansas. Henry and Martha taught the children high moral standards and a reverence for God. Edna was fourteen when she first attended a Church of God congregation and was saved within two months.

After graduating from high school, she attended Anderson College, Anderson, Indiana, graduating in 1940 with a Bachelor of Theology. She trained to be a registered home nurse at the St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing at Anderson and at the former Bethany Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas.

She served as a Sunday School teacher and Superintendent in her home church and spent her vacations as a resident nurse at the Anderson Church of God campmeeting.

Edna served in the mission field in Kenya, East Africa for 22 years at the Mwihila Hospital at Kisumu and in Kima. She once said that half the babies born in Kenya were named “Edna” in her honor. Her special interest were babies whose mothers had died in childbirth. She often kept them until they were two, sharing the love of Jesus with them and returning them to their fathers when they could eat regular table food.

When Edna retired from the mission field, she returned to her home in the United States, next moving for a time to California to live near a niece, and finally returning to Kansas City.

Edna’s big heart gave out on June 22, 1995. Her “heavenly graduation ceremony” was conducted at the former First Church of God and her body is buried in Emporia.

* Near the time of my birth, the ladies at church, including Edna, had a baby shower for my mother, presenting her with a hooded baby towel embroidered with their signatures. We considered her family, as she shared an Uncle William and Aunt Lillian with my mother's maternal Aunt Nadine. Furloughs from the mission field were five years apart and she stayed with us or my grandparents during her deputation visits to churches nearby. I corresponded with her during my teen years and once sent her $5.00 out of my allowance. She wrote a thank you note, stating she had purchased an apple as a treat in the local market. Apples didn’t grow in the climate there and she had been hankering for a taste of home. My mother played the organ for Edna’s funeral service. She’s rejoicing in heaven!

More to Read:

1. Anderson University Alumni, alumni@anderson.edu

2. Church of God Missions Magazines, various issues from 1961-1978.

3. US Federal Census

4. Ancestry.com
5. "Bethany Hospital." History of Wyandotte County, Kansas: and its people. Edited by Perl Wilbur Morgan, p. 413-415.  Vol. 1
6. Edna's Embroidered Signature
7. Findagrave #116965706

Places to visit in KS.

1. New Life Family (formerly First Church of God), 4835 Shawnee Drive, Kansas City, KS. 913-262-8048
2. Bethany Methodist Hospital  (org. 1892) stood at the corner of 12th & Reynolds, Kansas City, KS until July 2001 when it closed. Stand at that corner and imagine all the babies born there! 
3. Providence Hospital's Medical Museum in the Main Entrance Lobby. (Contains two cabinets of Bethany Hospital & Nursing School memorabilia.), 8929 Parallel, Kansas City, KS.

4. Maple Woods Memorial Lawn Cemetery, Emporia, KS


Citation: "Edna Thimes." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 12 August 2018. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder

LAURA ELIZABETH "Bess" INGALLS WILDER (1867 – 1957) = Pioneer, Schoolteacher, Columnist, Author. Best known for her book called "Little House on the Prairie." The semi-fictional television series starring Michael Landon as Pa and Melissa Gilbert as Laura was based on her autobiographical books written for children. Born on February 7, 1867, in Wisconsin, she was the second child of Charles and Caroline Quiner Ingalls.

When Laura was three, the Ingalls moved to Kansas, traveling through Missouri, to the Verdigris River, ten miles from the present-day town of Independence. Pa built a log home there, near an Indian trail. The following year they moved back to Wisconsin. She didn't come back to Kansas until 1894 when she passed through the state on her way south to Mansfield, Missouri. At that time, Mansfield boasted a Methodist and a Presbyterian church, but not a Congregational one like Laura's Pa had helped organize in DeSmet, SD.

Laura married Almonzo James Wilder (1857-1949) or "Manly" as she called him, in 1885 and homesteaded near De Smet, Dakota Territory. They had two children, a daughter named Rose Wilder Lane (1886-1968), who became a famous journalist after she grew up and a boy who lived only a few weeks. Mama Bess and Manly were married 64 years. Manly passed away at the age of 92 and Laura, three days after she turned 90.

Sunday was a day not only to worship God in church, but also a day to visit with friends pioneer farmers might not see all week. Laura's Pa once gave three dollars to a church bell fund and the Wilders were active in the building of a Methodist Church in Spring Valley, MN in 1876. After coming to Missouri, Laura and Almanzo attended Methodist camp meetings.

A Quote by Laura Ingalls Wilder:

"Our ideal home should be made by a man and woman together."

Manly built this first home for Laura in Mansfield, Missouri. Our Tour Guide is standing on the front porch. 

Interesting Genealogical Fact: Laura was a Mayflower descendant on her paternal (father's) side. 

More to Read: (This is a short list of the books written about Laura Ingalls Wilder.)

1. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Ozarks. Ed. By Stephen W. Hines.

Thomas Nelson, 1991.

2.100 Authors Who Shaped World History. By Christine N. Perkins. 1996.

3. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Fairy Poems. Compiled by: Stephen W. Hines.1998.

4. Who Were They Really? The True Stories Behind Famous Characters. By

Susan Beth Pfeffer. 1999.

5. Visiting the Homesites of Laura Ingalls Wilder with Barb Hawkins VHS.

Camelot Studios, 2000.

6. Laura Ingalls Wilder, Storyteller of the Prairie. by Ginger Wadsworth

7. Little House Traveler: Writings from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Journeys

Across America. By Laura Ingalls Wilder. Harper-Collins; 2006.

8. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Farm Journalist. Ed. By Stephen W Hines. 2007.

Missouri Legends: Famous People from the Show-Me State. By John W.

Brown., 2008.

9. The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Author of The Little House on the Prairie. Donald Zochert. 1976.

10. The Ghost in the Little Hill: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane. William Holtz. 1993.

11. Pamela Smith Hill's website on Laura

12. Pepin, Wisconsin website 

13. Walnut Grove, Minnesota website 

14. Burr Oak, Iowa website

15. DeSmet, South Dakota website

16. Missouri Death Certificate: #11919
17. Findagrave # 1625

Writings by Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Big Woods (1932);

Farmer Boy (1933); Little House on the Prairie (1935);On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937); By the Shores of the Silver Lake (1939); The Long Winter (1940);Little Town on the Prairie (1941); These Happy Golden Years (1943); and The First Four Years (1971);

poetry such as  "The Sunshine Fairy"

Book by Rose Wilder Lane: Woman’s Day Book of American Needlework. By Rose Wilder Lane. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1963. 

Listen to: 

49th Annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant: The Hard Winter Radio Play  

For more PBS specials, see this list. 

Remember the little girl who played Laura on TV? Her name was Melissa Gilbert. Check this out: www.modernprairie.com

Places to Visit in MO. & KS:

1. Kansas Travel Guide

2. Missouri Travel Guide

3. Rocky Ridge Farm, 3068 Highway A, Mansfield, MO. 65704

4. Laura Ingalls Wilder Library. Mansfield, MO

5. Mansfield, Mo. Cemetery

6. Little House On the Prairie log house replica, US Hwy 75, Independence, Ks. (13 miles SW of Independence).

Our Field Trip:
I finally found the photo I snapped of the replica of the Ingalls cabin the first weekend of October, 1992. My husband, son, and I were on a weekend holiday to Coffeyville, KS. for the 100th Anniversary of the Dalton Raid on the Banks and we veered over to Independence, KS. to see it on the way down.
My great-grandparents owned a café on Main Street and the Farmers Motel in Coffeyville, in 1892 and were "front row" witnesses to the original bank robberies.

Extras For the (Home) Educator:

1. The History Chicks featured article

2. Laura Ingalls Wilder Frontier Girl website

3. Garden of Praise website on Wilder

4. Here is a Sunbonnet Card inspired by Laura.
5. Homeschooling Unit Study and Lapbook Ideas 
6. A printable Laura Ingalls Wilder quote
7. Kansas Trading Card! 
8. Actress YouTube Interviews - 
Laura Ingalls Wilder (Melissa Gilbert)
Nellie Olson (Alison Amgrim) 
9. Vintage Photographs of the Ingalls family & tombstone photograph of Rose Wilder Lane 

10. Coloring Sheets by Cheryl Harness

Citation: "Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 12 July 2018. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Joyce C. Hall

Joyce Clyde Hall (1891-1982) = Entrepreneur. Founder of Hallmark Cards. Born Aug. 29, 1891, in tiny David City, Butler County, Nebraska, the youngest son of George Nelson Hall, an itinerant preacher and inventor of a wire fly swatter, and Nancy Dudley (Houston) Hall, was named in honor of the Methodist bishop, Rev. Isaac W. Joyce, who was in David City the day he was born.

At the tender age of eight or nine, Joyce went to work, doing whatever a small child could find to do to bring home a little money. When he was sixteen, after a traveling salesman stopped by the local bookstore with his picture postcards, J.C. and his older brothers, William and Rollie, got their heads together, pooled their money and began selling imported post cards too. They called their new business venture the Norfolk Post Card Company. Two years later, J.C. loaded up two shoeboxes of postcards, rode the train into Kansas City,  arriving on January 10, 1910. Within days of his arrival, he was selling his cards to drugstores, bookstores, and gift shops from the top floor of the local YMCA.  At the time, picture postcards were collected and put into scrapbook albums, but J.C. felt that they lacked a private, personal touch, so Rollie joined J.C. in Kansas City and they formed their company called Hall Brothers. After a fire in January of 1915, they set up shop again and bought an engraver's printing presses to produce their own greeting cards. Impressed by the hallmark of medieval goldsmiths, J.C. began printing his cards with his hallmark on the back of each one by 1928.

In 1921, he married his wife Elizabeth Ann Dilday (1896-1976) and had three children: Elizabeth Ann Reid, Barbara Louise Marshall, and Donald Joyce Hall. Donald became president and CEO of Hallmark when JC retired in 1966, and his sons, Donald, Jr. and David E., have impressed their mark on the company too.

Mr. Hall's wife, Elizabeth Ann, died in 1976 and was buried in Kansas City's Forest Hill cemetery. J. C. followed in 1982 at the age of 91 and was laid to rest next to her.

Quote: "Guard your integrity, because it's your greatest asset."

More to Read:
1. About J.C. Hall
2. About Hallmark -- Company Code and Vision Statement, Hallmark's History and Timeline, Divisions, etc.
3. Dayspring Products
4. Wikipedia
5. When You Care Enough. Autobiography by Joyce C. Hall with Curtiss Anderson. Kansas City: Hallmark Cards, Inc., 1979, reprinted 1992.
6. The Very Best from Hallmark: Greeting Cards Through the Years. by Ellen Sterns. Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1988.
7. Here Lies Kansas City: A Collection of Our City’s Notables and Their Final Resting Places. By Wilda Sandy. 1984.
8. YouTube Video: Crown Minute No. 1: Mr. J.C.
9. Wrapping Paper was invented by Mr. Hall in Kansas City! 

10. Hallmark Art Collection. Click here. 
11. Findagrave # 1428

Historical Note: From the mid-1930s through the 1950s, J.C. Hall approved every single Hallmark card, giving his official thumbs up by writing "OK JC" on the back. In 1939, an artist, Dorothy Maienschein, who worked for Hallmark, made a watercolor of a bunch of pansies in a basket. It was the most popular card ever sold and in 2010, the US Postal Service created a postage stamp from a corner of the image.

Places to Visit:
1.  Hallmark Cards Visitor Center, Crown Center Complex, 2500 Grand Ave, Kansas City, MO. 
2. Coterie Children's Theatre, Crown Center Complex, 2450 Grand Blvd, Suite 144, KCMO
3. Crayola Store, Crown Center, 2450 Grand, KCMO
4. Eat lunch at the Crayola Café, Crown Center,
OR
5. Eat lunch at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant, Crown Center, 2450 Grand, KCMO
6. Crown Center Ice Skating Rink, 2425 Grand, KCMO (seasonal)
7.  Kaleidoscope, Crown Center Complex, 2500 Grand Ave, KCMO
8.  Lego Land Discovery Center, Crown Center Complex, 2475 Grand Blvd., KCMO
9. Musical Theater Heritage, Crown Center Complex, 2450 Grand Blvd KCMO
10.  Sea Life Aquarium, Crown Center District, 2475 Grand Blvd, KCMO
11. A Hallmark Gold Crown Gift Shop

Quote:  "If a man goes into business with only the idea of making a lot of money, chances are he won't. But if he puts service and quality first, the money will take care of itself. Producing a first-class product that is a real need is a much stronger motivation for success than getting rich."

Citation: "Joyce C. Hall." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 4 May 2017. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver (1860-1943) – Professor Scientist of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Best known for his work with the peanut. George Washington Carver was born to a slave woman named Mary owned by his German foster parents Moses and Susan Carver. Since the Carvers did not have any natural children of their own, they raised George and his brother James after their mother was stolen by night riders during the Civil War.

George loved God's creation and had a way with plants and animals. He wanted to learn more about the mysteries of God's creation and left home at age 11 to get his education. Between 1873 and 1877, he attended the services at a African Methodist church in Neosho, MO. Later, around the year 1883, George joined a Presbyterian church in Minneapolis, Kansas. We know this because the Church Registry Roll book has been preserved.

George was talented in many areas. Not only was he good with plants, but he also loved music and art.

He wanted to attend college, but was denied admission to Highland University in Doniphan County, Kansas because he was black. He then tried farming in Kansas and soon afterward was accepted as an art major at Simpson College in Iowa, later transferring to the present Iowa State University and earning two degrees in Agriculture.

In 1896, Carver accepted an offer from Dr. Booker T. Washington to come to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to teach. He could have become a rich man, but he freely shared his secrets. For example, he wrote a series of free Agricultural Bulletins for farmers that provided information on crops, cultivation techniques and recipes for nutritious meals.

After Carver died in 1943, Congress designated the Carver home in Diamond Grove, Missouri a National Park.

A Bit of Trivia:

1847 = The Missouri Legislature made it illegal to educate blacks. Also, the legislature prohibited slaves from gathering in any kind of assembly, barred any religious services that were led by a black minister (unless a white official was present), and flatly outlawed the immigration of free black people into the state.

More to Read:

1. George Washington Carver. By Henry Thomas. 1958.

2. George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist. By Janet & Geoff Benge.

3. George Washington Carver, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior tourist brochure

4. Missouri Legends: Famous People from the Show-Me State. John W. Brown. 2008.

5. Webster's Biographical Dictionary. G & C. Merriam, 1956.

6. George Washington Carver: Scientist and Inventor. By Judy Monroe.

7. George Washington Carver: Peanut Wizard. Laura Driscoll.

8. “George Washington Carver in Paola” By Joe Hursey. Miami County Historical Museum, Summer 2012 Edition. P. 6. 

9. "Negro Scientist, George Washington Carver" Official Manual "Blue Book," State of Missouri 1949-50. Secretary of State, Jefferson City, MO. p. 24
10. Carver Birthplace Association website 
11. The Peanut Man
12. Find-a-Grave Memorial

Places to Visit in MO. & KS.:

1. George Washington Carver National Monument, 5646 Carver Road, Diamond, MO.

2. Griot Museum of Black History & Culture, 2505 St. Louis Ave., St. Louis, MO.

3. See Carver's statue at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, St. Louis, MO.

4. National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame, 630 Hall of Fame Dr. Bonner Springs, KS.

5. Miami County Historical Museum, 12 E. Peoria, Paola, Ks.

6. Former Residence = 309 East Miami Street, Paola, KS.


Extras For the (Home) Educator:
1. Classroom Poster, (#T-38306) Trend Enterprises, IN. St. Paul, MN.
2. There are many resources at the US Department of Agriculture website such as the coloring book below. Put "George Washington Carver" into their search engine to see what's available.
2. USDA Honors Dr. George Washington Carver (1864-1943) Coloring & Activity Book. US Department of Agriculture.

3. Discovering with God. By Lois Dick. Child Evangelism Fellowship Press, Warrenton, MO., 1987. 
4. George Washington Carver's Kansas Trading Card! 

Historical Note: The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute of Tuskegee, Ala., headed for many years by Booker T. Washington (1859-1915) was associated with the National Baptist Convention, USA.

Holiday:

"March is National Peanut Month."

George Washington Carver

By Elizabeth McKinnon.

George Washington Carver liked peanuts,

He thought they were really a treat.

He made many products from peanuts,

From peanuts that we love to eat!

Citation: "George Washington Carver." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 14 February 2017. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

James Slavens

James W. L. Slavens (1838-1905) = Civil War Veteran. Republican. Co-founder of the Women’s Christian Association. Kansas City Treasurer (1867) and Mayor (1876; 1895). He was born on August 3 in Putnam County, Indiana to Hiram B. Slavens.

James was mostly self-taught and prepared himself for college by reading many books. He entered the law profession in 1861 after he graduated from Asbury University in Indiana in 1859 with high honors.

In 1859, he married Martha (Mattie; Mary) McNutt, in Douglass County, Illinois and to this union eight children were born: five sons and three daughters.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the 73rd Illinois Volunteer Regiment, serving in the Quartermaster Department under General George H. Thomas.

In the fall of 1865, James came to Jackson County, Missouri and practiced law with his brother, Luther C., for seven years. Then he became one of the first meat-packers, forming a partnership with E.C. Pattison, Wm Epperson and later J.C. Ferguson.

James was a member of the Grand Avenue Methodist Church, first organized in 1863 by Rev. A.H. Powell. A lot was purchased at the corner of 6th and Walnut to build on, but during the war, the society broke up and the lot sold. Rev. Nesley reorganized in 1865. In the late 20th century, an office building with an attached church on the east replaced the earlier, spired brick edifice dedicated by Dr. Bishop Thomas Bowman. It is located at 9th and Grand, close to the Federal Reserve Building in Kansas City.

Slaven’s financial success enabled him to donate to many charitable organizations. When he became mayor, he contributed his salary to them.

He died as the result of a stroke on February 10, 1905 at the Old Soldiers’ Home in Leavenworth, Kansas.

More to Read =

1. A Condensed History of the Kansas City Area: Its Mayors and Some V.I.P.s 1850-1950 ” Assembled by George Fuller Green. City Historian. The Lowell Press; Kansas City, MO. 1968

2. Kansas City Star, February 11, 1905.
3. Wiki List of Mayors of Kansas City
4.  James W. L. Slavens
5. Findagrave #70168444

Places to Visit =

1. Former Mayoral Residences at 10th & Jefferson and 3016 Oak Street, Kansas City. 

Citation: "James Slavens." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 19 August 2015. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Edward Everett Sullens

Rev. Edward Everett Sullens, M.G. (1865-1940) -- Circuit Rider. Edward was born July 3, 1865 in Brazito, Cole County, Mo. to Peter Washington Green and Sarah Ann (Johnston) Sullens. Edward began preaching for the Lord when he was about 19 years of age.

He married Viola Catherine (Loveall) (1866-1940), daughter of Daniel David Loveall and Frances Ann "Annie" (Sweaney), May 18, 1887 in Tuscumbia, MO. They had 9 children. He performed two of his children's marriages and two of his daughters married ministers – Alva married Rev. Harrison Gordon Butler and Flossie married Rev. Clifford Moody.

Edward organized the Jim Henry Methodist Church in the late 1800s. The church and furniture were built by himself and his brother, Enos Asbury Sullens (1867-1934). James M. Rush donated a hilly part of the Rush land for the church and cemetery. It was known as the Jim Henry Methodist church for many years because of the location – Jim Henry was an Osage Indian who lived in the area between Tuscumbia and Mary's Home. The township now carries his name. Later the name of the cemetery was changed to Rush Chapel in memory of the early Rush pioneers who are buried there.

The Jim Henry church was one of Rev. Sullen's early pastorates. The rickety building was torn down about 1962. All that remains is the cemetery and a small picnic shelter that was built in the 1980s. The Rush family continues to meet there on Decoration (Memorial) Day once a year to decorate their loved ones graves and celebrate with a picnic lunch. A descendant of Ephraim, James M's brother, continues to care for the cemetery and picnic grounds.

Edward died August 26, 1940 in Hitchcock, OK and Viola died 3 months and one week later the same year in Eakley, Ok. Both are buried in Hobart, OK.

More to Read:
!. Peter Sullens and Mary Carson & Two Hundred Years of Descendants. By Maude Sullens Hoffman, 1971.
2. The Rush Report. Compiled by Gaynelle Jenkins Moore. Research Assistance: David W. Rush. March 2003.
3. The Loveall Report. Compiled by Gaynelle Jenkins Moore. April 2010.
4. Walt Eis' Wiki-tree page for Rev. Sullens. 
5. Findagrave #23903612

Places to Visit in MO.
1. Rush Chapel Cemetery, Jim Henry or Rush Road, Mary's Home, MO.
2. Miller County Museum, 2005 Highway 52, Tuscumbia, MO.

Citation: "Edward Everett Sullens." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 17 June 2015. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

James M. "Kain Tuck" Rush

James M. "Kain Tuck" Rush (1826-1892). Carpenter. Farmer. Pioneer. James M. was born in 1826  to Henson and Margaret Stout Rush, the first son of six children.

James married 2 times, first to Mary Blake circa 1848. They were the first Rush family to migrate to Missouri from the present-day Adair County, Kentucky. The following year, after Mary died in childbirth in Booneville, he headed west to California's gold fields.

Wedding Photo: James and Theresa Rush

Enroute with his wagon train, he stumbled across a nearly dead man who had been fenced in because he had fallen ill. Rather than risking the spread of a possible deadly disease, wagon trains often left the sick in wooden pens to ward off wild animals, with enough food and water to last them for a few days. As the wagon train meant to camp close by a few days, James nursed the man, named John Walls, until he regained his strength and was able, with James' help, to keep up with the travelers when they moved on. Mr. Walls dubbed James "Kain Tuck," because James was a "Kaintuckian" (from Kentucky); he felt indebted to the man who rescued him.

James had little success in finding gold, so he returned to Missouri, sailing around South America. He married his 2nd wife, Theresa Jane Loveall (1835-1909), February 1, 1855 in Miller County. Seven children were born to this union.

James was listed as a southern sympathizer in August of 1862 after the Civil War began, automatically revoking his citizenship. However, since he served in the Union Army as a private in Co. B, 6th Regiment MO. Cavalry from June 11, 1863 to July 18, 1865, was honorably discharged with no injuries, his citizenship rights were restored in May, 1866.

Both were laid to rest in the Rush Chapel Cemetery, Miller County, MO.

More to Read:

1. The Rush Report. Compiled by Gaynelle Jenkins Moore. Research Assistance: David W. Rush. March 2003.

2. The Loveall Report. Compiled by Gaynelle Jenkins Moore. April 2010.
3. See the Leaf labeled biographies for more information.

Places to Visit:
1.  Miller County Museum, 2005 Highway 52, Tuscumbia, MO.

2. Rush Chapel Cemetery, (see his Civil War Veteran tombstone), on Rush Road between Mary's Home and Tuscumbia, Miller County.
3. Findagrave # 40277126

Citation: "James M. 'Kain Tuck' Rush." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 20 September 2014. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Nathan Scarritt

Rev. Nathan Scarritt (1821-1890) = Methodist Preacher and Teacher. Missionary. Nathan was born in Edwardsville, Illinois on April 14 and was educated at McKendree College, in Lebanon, Illinois.

He arrived in the Kansas City area in September of 1848 to teach the classics at Rev. Thomas Johnson’s Shawnee Methodist Indian Manual Labor School. He also taught at early grammar schools in Westport, at a seminary for young women and at a Bible training school for missionaries.

Rev. Scarritt preached at the Delaware Indian Methodist Mission White Church organized by Rev. Thomas Johnson for a time. In 1852, the Independence Methodist circuit was dropped and a new Kansas and Westport circuit filled, with Rev. Scarritt appointed as preacher. He attended the St. Louis Methodist Conference at Springfield, MO. on Wednesday, October 24, 1855. Nathan was presiding elder over the Lecompton district in the fourth session of the Kansas Methodist Mission Conference held in Tecumseh on September 23, 1859.  In 1858-59, he was appointed to the Shawnee Reserve, and for the next two years he was the presiding elder of the Lecompton district. Later he preached at the Washington Street Methodist Episcopal Church, a preaching point begun by a Methodist layman, W.B. Barber in 1877.

Nathan married Martha Matilda Chick, daughter of Col. William Miles (1794-1847) and Ann Eliza Smith Chick (1796-1876) and produced nine children. Originally, Nathan and Martha lived in Westport, in a tidy two-story frame house, but moved to a farm in 1862, close to today’s Cliff Drive and Gladstone Blvd in Kansas City. Still standing is his eldest son’s 1898 Scarritt-Royster home.  In October of 1874, he married Mrs. Ruth E. Scarritt, the widow of his brother Isaac.

Nathan died on May 22 and is buried in the Mt. Washington Cemetery in Independence, MO. 

More to Read:

1. Kansas City Then & Now 3. By Monroe Dodd, Kansas City Star Books, 2007.

2. Here Lies Kansas City: A Collection of Our City’s Notables and Their Final Resting Places. Wilda Sandy. 1984.

3. He Came To Pray: History of White Church Christian Church: 1832-1996.

4. Lecompton Methodist Church" By Iona Spencer. Bald Eagle. Lecompton Historical Society, Lecompton, KS. Summer, 1998.

5. Methodist Episcopal Church, South History. By Rev. Joab Spencer.

6. Postcards from Old Kansas City. By Mrs. Sam Ray. 1980.

7. Westport: Missouri's Port of Many Returns. By Patricia Cleary Miller. Lowell Press, Kansas City, Mo. 1983. Repository: Mid-Continent PublicLibrary, Raytown Branch, 10016 E. 62st, Raytown, MO.
8. Findagrave #6870909

Places to Visit in KS. & MO.

1. Shawnee Indian Mission Historic Site & Museum, 3403 W. 53^rd, Fairway, KS

2. White Christian Church/Delaware Indian Mission (see stained glass window), 2200 N. 85th St., Kansas City, Wyandotte County, KS.

3. Lecompton & Tecumseh, KS.

4. Former home stood at 4038 Central street, Kansas City, MO.

5. Scarritt Point Memorial, (first home site), West side of Walrond Street and Norledge Ave, at Kessler Park, Scarritt Spring, Kansas City, MO. (section 34 shows Nathan Scarritt's name on this 1877 Jackson County, MO. historic map)

6. Scarritt Building, 9^th & Walnut, Kansas City, MO. (completed in 1907)

7. Scarritt-Royster home, 3500 Gladstone Blvd, Kansas City, MO.
8. Scarritt Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri
9. Westport Historical Society, 4000 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City

10. Mt. Washington Cemetery, 614 Brookside Drive, Independence, MO.

Citation: "Nathan Scarritt." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 4 March 2013. History Nut of Missouri, USA.