In 1867 President Johnson ratified a treaty with the Osage tribe which facilitated more confident settlement in the southeast corner of Kansas. Families began to come into Labette county in greater numbers – establishing farms and populating several new or informally established communities. One of these communities was called by the name Little Town. It had started up a few years prior to 1867, and was showing promise. Not long after the Osage treaty, Little Town incorporated, changed its name to Oswego, and set out on a rigorous program of growth.
William Cutler’s 1883 History of the State of Kansas, includes a brief, but informative account of JH Garrett. From this short bio we discover that in August 1867 Joseph Henry Garrett left his home in Illinois, and “located on a claim one mile and a quarter southwest of Oswego Kansas . . . “
Joseph H Garrett was the son of John Garrett and Jemima Walker. The earliest of the John Garrett family is not clearly defined, but records suggest that they came from Virginia to Tennessee, and first appear in the records of Benton county Tennessee in the late 1830s. Most of John and Jemima’s seven children were born during their years in Tennessee, including their sons Isaac Walker Garrett in 1831, and Joseph Henry “Joe” Garrett (above mentioned) in 1841. About 1850 the Garrett family removed to the county of St Clair in Southern Illinois, where they lived for the next seventeen years.
August of 1867 is the time pinpointed for the move of Joe Garrett from Illinois to Kansas. The 1870 census suggests that his parents and several siblings also moved to Labette county Kansas about that time. In the 1870, John Garrett, age sixty-five, and Isaac W Garrett*, age thirty-nine, are living in the town of Oswego, along with their families. Joseph Garrett, age twenty-nine, is living with his wife and young daughter in nearby Richmond Township.
Like most people of that time, the Garretts had always farmed, but they also were skilled wood craftsmen and builders. By 1870, farming probably primarily supplied family needs, while the building trade produced income. The 1870 census gives Isaac W Garrett’s profession as builder. His younger brother Joe Garrett farmed outside of Oswego for three years before moving into town, and “giving his attention almost exclusively to contracting and building”.
The Garretts certainly arrived in Oswego Kansas when builders were in demand, and their hands assuredly contributed to many of the new construction projects.
The History of Labette County Kansas and its Representative Citizens, by Nelson Case 1901, gives a detailed account of the growth of Oswego Kansas in the late 1860’s and early 1870’s. The Garretts are not specifically mentioned in the history, but there can be little doubt that they played their part in the early development of the town. Case’s history describes how the first buildings (1865-1867) were of hewn logs, but with the advent of a sawmill in 1867, frame structures began to appear. “At the close of 1867 there were in Oswego ten frame buildings and eleven log houses, with a population of sixteen families numbering about one hundred individuals. There were in all five stores . . . one blacksmith shop and one hotel.” A year later, “ . . . at the close of the year (1868), there were one hundred frame buildings in town, a very fair proportion of which were occupied by business of one kind or another. Nearly all of the lines of business usually found in frontier towns were at that time fairly represented.”
Old John Garrett and his wife Jemima are shown as operators of a boarding house in 1870 Oswego Kansas. They are listed among the eight or ten business people and families who established the First Baptist Church of Oswego. Garrett family names appear occasionally in a scattering of records of early Oswego organizations, including the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic), and the AOUW (Ancient Order of United Workmen).
By the 1880 census, John and Jemima Garrett, in their seventies, are living with their son Joe Garrett’s family in the town of Oswego. Their home is on Wisconsin Street, and Isaac W Garrett is nearby. They are continuing with the construction projects, but the flurry of activity is slowing. Sometime between 1880 and 1900 the family moves on to Missouri, and then Oklahoma.
Certainly the Garrett family left their mark on the town of Oswego Kansas. A question remains as to when John and Jemima Garrett died, and where they are buried; - during the 1880’s in Oswego Kansas, seems a likely scenario. One or two Garrett family members are buried in the Oswego Cemetery, but John and Jemima are not listed. Perhaps a visit to the cemetery, and a search through local newspapers could provide some further clues, or answers.
*Note - The 1870 Census of Labette county Kansas mistakenly records Isaac Walker Garrett as John Garrett, age thirty-nine, born in Tennessee, wife Celia.
For more details on John Garrett, visit his page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.
About the photo:
A bird's eye view of the city of Oswego, Kansas, the county seat of Labette County. Created by Augustus Koch, 1877; part of the Kansas Memory Project of the Kansas Historical Society.
Moving back in time: Otis Sylvester Garrett 1894 > Isaac Sylvester Garrett 1860 > Isaac Walker Garrett 1831 > John Garrett 1805 (of Benton county Tennessee).
John Garrett is my husband’s 3xgreat-grandfather.
No comments:
Post a Comment