This site is dedicated to the History of Butler County between the years 1857 and 1875. My interest in Butler County history dates back several years when I took classes at Wichita State University from Dr. Craig Miner in Historical Methods, Kansas History, and the History of Wichita. I teach at Circle High School in Towanda and have also taught at El Dorado High School (1976-1980) and Bluestem High School in Leon (1983-1990). Most of my twenty eight years of teaching history have been spent in Butler County schools. Through those years, I tried to incorporate local history into the teaching of American History. It became immediately apparent that the available resources were difficult to use and considerably lacking in many respects. My intent is to further develop the rich early history of the county and to provide teachers in the area a resource to use in their teaching of history. Please let me know what you think and how you have used this information. Hopefully, after another year or so of research, there will be a comprehensive history of Butler County for this time period in some sort of printed form.
The following links are to pages dedicated to a specific topic that is relevant to the years 1857-1875. This is a work in progress and I will update these pages as I have the time. Currently, I am in the process of reading the Walnut Valley Times from 1870-1875 and I will soon post notes and quotes as I get them transcribed.
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Updated 12/19/08 |
Drought of 1860 |
Civil War Years Updated 12/18/08 |
Resettlement | County Seat Conflict | Political Issues | Butler County War | Grasshoppers |
| The County Before Settlement | Scope of Research | Pre-emption Regulations | Homestead Regulations | Timber Claim Regulations | Land Policy Terms | Links to Online County History Resources |
| Emporia News 1857-1871 | Newspaper notes and quotes from the nearest newspaper to Butler County until 1871 when the county acquired it's own, The Walnut Valley Times. |
| History of Butler County (1916) by Volney Mooney | This is the best history available of the early history of the county. Many of the historical sketches were written by early settlers who were still living in the area in 1916. This work, as are all of the existing general histories of the county are biased in the favor of El Dorado. It's presentation is disjointed and is subsequently rather difficult to follow and use. |
| Cutler's History of the State of Kansas (1883) | This is a link to the section on Butler County within this early history of the state. |
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Census Records:
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In 1860, what is today's Butler
County was contained within the counties of Butler, Hunter, and Otoe.
Butler County at that time contained the northern part of the current
county boundaries and included the community of Chelsea. Hunter County
consisted of the community of Eldorado and the southern portion of the
current county. Some of Hunter County was taken in the creation of
Cowley County. Otoe County consisted of the western part of the current
county, The Towanda area was part of Otoe County in 1860. I have added the transcription of the 1865 Kansas State Census. When this enumeration is compared to that of the Federal Census of 1860, it becomes quite evident that the 1860 drought and the Civil War had a significant impact. By the time of the 1870 Census, the county was close to the boundaries of what it is today. The county consisted of five townships; Chelsea, El Dorado, Augusta, Towanda, and Walnut. Chelsea Township contained the northern part of what is the county today. Walnut Township contained of Leon and the area to the southwest. There are County census records online for 1880 and 1910. However, they are outside the parameters of my research. I have added a link to where you can find those records. The Butler County Historical Library at the Oil Museum in El Dorado possesses microfilmed census records for each of the Kansas and Federal events. Transcriptions are lists of the residents of the county as they were originally recorded by the census taker. You can get an idea of where people lived and who their neighbors were. The Index simply records the residents in a alphabetical arrangement. |
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Maps Butler County Map - Cutler's 1916 History of Kansas
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These are maps of Kansas showing counties as they
developed through the early years of settlement. It is possible to gain
a relative approximation of the size and location of Butler County.
Boundary lines changed frequently during these early years. The Butler County Map of 1878 is colorized by township. The map was produced by the Kansas State Board of Education. |
| Civil War Online
Resources: Kansas Adjutant General's Report Kansas Adjutant General's Report Database Kansas Civil War Veterans Buried in Butler County Butler County Pensioners List (1883) Chase County Civil War Veterans Butler County Civil War Participants |
The Adjutant General's report is a compilation of information concerning the role of Kansas during the Civil War. Listings of the names of officers and enlisted men for each Kansas unit may be found here. Other information such as company histories and casualty statistics may be found here. The Kansas Adjutant General's Report Database is maintained by the Kansas Historical Society. If you have a soldier's name, you may enter that name and determine what unit he may have been associated with. The link to Civil War Veterans buried in Butler County will not produce much information. Much work needs to be done to provide a comprehensive listing. Very few soldiers are mentioned here. The list of pensioners in Butler County provides information of Butler County residents who were receiving a military pension in 1883. |
