US House Redistricting: Kansas

[freepcrusher]

Hacking up Southeast Kansas is almost as frowned upon (by politicians with connections to there) as hacking up KC or Topeka or Wichita. It's a well-defined region.

One thing that surprises me is that Jenkins was very much considered the moderate candidate in the 2008 primary... you wouldn't think that given the political battle lines now.

Southeastern Kansas (Baxter Springs) is where my great grandfather went from Jackson County, Indiana (a place he described as one where nobody amounted to much and never would), in his covered wagon with his new bride to claim his 160 acres under the Homestead Act as a Civil War Veteran. Great Grandfather was on Sherman's March to the Sea carrying two bullets in him acquired from all that action in Tennessee which he retained until his death in 1933 at age 93, in the rear guard as sharpshooter, trying to pick off the men in gray, who were trying to pick off them. My grandmother asked how good his aim was; he said well, more than once, hostile bullets ceased to fly after he took aim and pulled the trigger. That is all that he would say about it. They didn't eat much; there wasn't much around to eat for that rear guard, where the land had been "cleansed" of anything productive.

Anyway, as to SE Kansas, Baxter Springs was hell. Two of his first three children died there. There were some Native Americans around that did not appreciate the interlopers. So he finally decamped to Winterset, IA, and bought 10 arable acres for $12,000 an acre in today's dollars, next door to where his brother had a rather larger farm (how his brother got there is unknown, my grandmother never talked about that, and I discovered this all looking at old deeds in the Madison County Courthouse last year). Finally, his bonus for serving as a Veteran arrived rather late in 1877 (grandmother didn't mention that either, but I connected the dots, and figured out what must have happened), and with that money, he bought the bottom land just south of Winterset, of which I am now a proud one sixth owner. That land made him "rich" as it were.

It's kind of fun to part a part of American history that way. It comes alive, up close and personal.

Here by the way is a snap of my great grandparents on their 50th wedding anniversary, in front of the home they bought from a chap along with the upland meadows that he owned around 1916 or something (I discovered that too from examining the deeds). The home was built in 1846, and is on the historical register. Sadly, it is now in disrepair inside. Alas, another project for me. My goal is to restore it before I assume room temperature. It deserves it. It's right on John Wayne drive two blocks south of the square, next door to John Wayne's birthplace.

how did your family end up in SoCal?