Oswego Kansas – A Home for the Garrett Family

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.

Garrettsburg Tennessee

Following is a brief account of the town of Garrettsburg Tennessee.  It is drawn primarily from the work of researchers who have told its story before.  It is re-presented here to accompany the bios and records of the Garrett family for whom it was named. A few thoughts about Garrettsburg residents and their relationships with the Garrett family are included.

Garrettsburg was a small community in the southeast quadrant of Carroll county Tennessee; today, a little north of I40, about halfway between Memphis and Nashville.  A current map should identify the small community of Westport, and the nearby Big Sandy River.  Then, the reader can apply this past description; “Garrettsburg was once a small town built where the road from Westport crossed the Sandy River by the Long Bridge.”

The Garrettsburg community centered around a mill, built and operated by Jeremiah Marr “Jerry” Garrett, and probably came into existence in the 1880’s.  Jerry Garrett, born in 1845, was the son of Stephen Garrett and Nancy Walker.  He grew up in Benton county Tennessee where he married, in 1868, Harriett Ann Aden, daughter of Winston King Aden and Jane Farrar.  Jerry and Harriett eventually established their home in neighboring Carroll county, and raised a family of five children.

When James E Jones was reminiscing in 1972, he gave some good detail on Jerry Garrett’s mill - “Powered by a mill wheel, this mill (said to have been three stories high) not only ground corn and flour but carded wool and operated a lathe . . .   In its heyday, The Garrettsburg Mill was so popular that it had customers from as far away as Decatur County.”

Garrettsburg neighbors and buildings were also included in James E Jones descriptions of the town – “An ice house was dug into the bank of the road on the same side as the mill . . . On up the road there were two stores - one run by Martin Butler - then the houses of Terry [Jerry] Garrett and Levi Butler.  Lewis' barn was across the road.”  A Post Office graced the town of Garrettsburg from 1892 to 1903. Caswell Cole (nephew of Jeremiah Garrett) was the original postmaster, and he was followed by Jerry Garrett.

Browsing through the 1880 and 1900 census records brings to light a few interesting neighbors of Jerry Garrett.  It is difficult to determine if they lived in the “town” of Garrettsburg, or in the general vicinity.  But, several were bound to the Garrett family by ties of kinship.  Descendants of Eli Butler, Joseph Townsend, John King, and Calvin Cole all intermarried with the Garrett family.  Many of these families lived in the area of Garrettsburg. 

Census records show all of Jerry Garrett’s siblings living in Carroll county Tennessee – Joseph H Garrett (wife Julia Harmon), Mary Ann Garrett Cole (widow of Calvin Cole), Nancy Garrett Holland (Greenberry Holland), Martha Jane Garrett Wyatt (William Wyatt), and Susan J Garrett Sanders (Ferman Sanders).

The 1880 census introduces an interesting, but unidentified, character to the story – Jerry Garrett’s near neighbor George W Garrett, born 1820, and his wife Isabel (Ibby). To date, they do not appear on Jerry Garrett’s family tree, but it is hoped that they might shed new light on the Garrett family story.  This George Garrett appears to be the same man who married Isabel Stover, and is living in 1860 Overton county Tennessee, and then 1870 Allen county Kentucky, before appearing 1880 in Carroll county Tennessee.  He may not be closely related to Jerry Garrett.

Jeremiah King and his wife Maude Holland (niece of Jeremiah Garrett) appear next door to Jerry Garrett in the 1900 census of Carroll county Tennessee.  King’s occupation is given as Miller.  Also, appearing in their own households in the 1900 census are two of Jerry Garrett’s children, Hulen (Jeremiah Ulan) Garrett and his new bride Lillie Cole, and Vandelia Garrett Butler with her husband Levi Butler.

Researchers record that Jerry Garrett eventually sold the Mill to his partner, Gideon Spellings, and removed with most of his family to the community of Marmaduke in Greene county Arkansas.  This move probably took place not long after the turn of the century.  The “sell-out” to Gideon Spellings raises a few questions of interest to “understanding the Garrett family.” Gideon Spellings owned a stave mill across the road from Jerry Garrett’s operation. He was married several times, and researchers name his last wife as Malinda Lutisha Garrett. Her identity remains in question!  Spellings research suggests that Gideon and Malinda were married in 1877 and had several children. Gideon then died in 1879.  This timeline seems unlikely, and the question remains as to when Garrett sold the Mill to Spellings.  Gideon Spellings’ son, Edward Spellings, operated the mill for a time.  Malinda G Spellings, born 1850, does appear as a widow in the 1900 census of Carroll county Tennessee. She has two daughters and a grandson in her household, and the youngest daughter was born in 1883. Jerry Garrett’s brother, Joseph H Garrett, is one of her near neighbors.

Garrettsburg storytellers mention a row of unique pine trees that were planted and tended by Jerry Garrett before his family moved on to Arkansas.   During the first decade of the twentieth century the work at the Garrettsburg Mill declined.  In James E Jones’ 1972 reminiscence he closes, “ . . The mill burned about 1910.  After that, the town went down, and now-a-days, a stranger would never guess that there had ever been a town there.  Nothing is left but Levi Butler's house and the tall old pines.” 


For more details on Jeremiah Marr Garrett, visit his page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.
Jeremiah Marr Garrett is my husband’s first cousin, four times removed.

About the Photo:  The photo included here is not the Garrett Mill at Garrettsburg Tennessee.  It burned about 1910, and I have not been successful in locating a photograph.  Any photos of Garrettsburg would be warmly received.  The photo above is of the grist mill at Cade’s Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  It is listed on the National Historic Register, and this photo is available at Wikimedia Common, 2007.

The Turkey Herding Garretts

The search for family history can point us to interesting pastimes, practices, and occupations that our ancestors followed.  It caught my attention when my husband’s grandfather told me that his Garrett family used to herd turkeys in Tennessee.

During the 1820’s, 30’s, 40’s the John Garrett family was living in Benton county Tennessee, about ninety miles west of Nashville.  Farming was their primary pursuit, but they may also have done some building in the area.  Isaac Walker Garrett , born in 1831, was the second son of John Garrett and his wife Jemima White Garrett.  He grew up in Benton county Tennessee, and his grandson, Otis Garrett, gave me this little clue to some of his youthful activity:

When the Garrett family was still living in Tennessee IW Garrett had a horse, a dog and a gun and he travelled around buying Turkeys and driving them to New Orleans to market.

When I closely considered this statement, I found it pretty amazing!  - first, because the Garrett family removed from Tennessee to Illinois in the early 1850’s, suggesting that Isaac Garrett was a rather young lad when he pursued this turkey-herding avocation, and second because New Orleans was five hundred miles to the south.  Driving turkeys five hundred miles would have been no small feat!

I had a great time reading through several turkey-herding “memories” posted on the internet.  One article suggested that turkeys were sometimes moved great distances overland.  For the Garretts in Middle Tennessee, it seems slightly more plausible that their turkeys were gathered locally, and driven west to the Mississippi River for a boat ride to New Orleans.  But, I can’t confirm that scenario.  Whatever the case, the process of moving, hundreds, or sometimes thousands of turkeys, must have required monumental patience, tempered with a dose of good humor.  Turkeys are not counted among the most intelligent of creatures, and it took quite an effort to keep them moving along in the right direction.  Apparently, young boys were often hired to scatter feed, and entice the turkeys forward.  This might have been an appropriate task for a boy with “a horse, a dog and a gun”.   Otis Garrett’s statement describes the “buying” and “driving” of turkeys though; which might suggest the entrepreneurial pursuit of a young man.

It is unlikely we will ever know just what role young Isaac Garrett played in the movement of turkeys in 19th Century Tennessee.  But, the memory of driving turkeys to market must have come out of a real experience.  So, the next time we are enjoying our Thanksgiving turkey we can consider the challenge of the Great Turkey Walks, and appreciate Isaac Garrett’s commitment.


For more details on Isaac Walker Garrett, visit his page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.

Photo:  Wild Turkey in twilight found in Zion National Park, USA; by Philipp Kuchler, 2011 (CC, Wikimedia Commons).


Moving back in time:   Richard William “Dick” Garrett 1925 > Otis Sylvester Garrett  1894 > Isaac Sylvester Garrett 1860 > Isaac Walker Garrett 1831 > John Garrett 1805.

For further Reading:
Turkey Herding; Peter A. Gilbert, director of Vermont Humanities Council.
Bullitt Memories - Herding Turkeys; David Strange, originally appeared in The Courier-Journal (Louisville Kentucky), 21 November 2012.
Herding Turkeys in Hancock County; Fred Sauceman, 2013.

Just for fun:
The Great Turkey Walk; a novel for young people by Kathleen Karr (2000).
Big, brawny Simon Green, who's just completed third grade (for the fourth time), may not be book smart, but he's nobody's fool. When it's time to be done with school and make his way in the world, Simon hatches a plan that could earn him a bundle. He intends to herd a huge flock of bronze turkeys all the way from his home in eastern Missouri to the boomtown of Denver, where they'll fetch a mighty price. In the year 1860, the hazards of such a trek are many - how does one shepherd the birds across a river, for instance? - but Simon is undaunted. Accompanied by a faithful drover, and eventually to be joined by two boon companions, he undertakes the biggest journey of his young life, in this high-spirited Wild West adventure by an acclaimed author of historical fiction.

Back to Blogging

Life Happens, . . . and sometimes it changes our direction.  Over the past year I have needed to focus more attention on my living family, and have mostly set aside my search for family in the past.  Now I have an opportunity to return to some work on my Family Stories website and blog, and I am delighted to be posting new notes and stories on some of my husband’s family lines.

Richard William “Dick” Garrett, born 1925 to Otis S Garrett and Elba J Hoffman.

I will be adding all that I know about my husband’s Garrett and Hancock families to my database at the Family Stories Website, and I hope to add a few articles here at the Family Stories Blog to introduce these family branches.

So far, I can only carry the Garrett line back to the 1820’s in Benton county Tennessee, where my husband’s 3xgreat-grandfather, John Garrett, was living with his wife Jemima Walker.  All the research I have done seems to point to John Garrett being a descendant of Stephen Garrett of Buckingham county Virginia, but the connection remains elusive.  Recent DNA evidence is suggesting that there might be more to the Stephen Garrett story than researchers have credited.

I am also excited to share a collection of mostly early 20th century photographs for the Hancock family of Dekalb County Missouri.  Isaac Sylvester Garrett, grandson of the above mentioned John Garrett and Jemima Walker, married Margaret Susan Hancock in 1890 Dekalb County Missouri. She was the daughter of Richard White Hancock and Elizabeth “Betty” Taylor, and the granddaughter of Edward Hancock and his wife Jemima White.  The Hancock photos will appear, along with family data, at the Family Stories website. 

Coming up next – The “Turkey Herding” Garretts.


For more details on John Garrett and Edward Hancock, visit their pages at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.

Moving back in time:   Richard William “Dick” Garrett 1925 > Otis Sylvester Garrett  1894 > Isaac Sylvester Garrett 1860 > Isaac Walker Garrett 1831 > John Garrett 1805.