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        Kansas was part of the Louisiana purchase in 1803. The Santa Fe Trail crossed what is now Kansas beginning in 1821 but it remained unorganized territory until 1854 when it became a territory.  At that time, the Kansas Territory reached all the way west to the Rocky Mountains.  Kansas became the 34th state with its current boundaries in 1861.  This was a major event in US history because the Kansas-Nebraska act said that Kansas had the right to vote to choose whether it was a slave state or a free state.  There was heavy migration to Kansas just before statehood by both factions. The ugly fighting between factions caused Kansas to become known as Bleeding Kansas. Kansas ultimately voted to become a free state.

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Labette County, Kansas is in the far Southeast corner of Kansas on the Oklahoma border and only one county away from Missouri.  Neosho County borders it on the north.  Oswego is a town on the east side of Labette County.

Originally published in the Clover Family Exchange Vol. 5 Issue 3 March 1990
Taken from the Oswego Daily Register Thursday May 12, 1869
Sent in by Laura L. Rice of Salinas, California

1.    Gravestone reads D. W. Clover, born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania on October 29, 1805 and died November 26, 1882 - Founder of Oswego.  ]

2.    The three ads are preceded by one for the Oswego Daily Register:
The Oswego Daily Register
    Published every Friday morning, at two dollars per year in advance, by E. R. Trask editor and proprietor.  All kinds of Book and Job printing neatly executed.

Harris House
    John R. Clover, Proprietor, South East corner of the Public Square, Oswego, Kansas.  Good Livery Stable in connection with the house.  Charges reasonable.

Oswego House
    D. W. Clover, Proprietor, North East corner of the Public Square, Oswego, Kansas.  Table furnished with the best market affords.  Charges reasonable.  Stabling in connection with the house.

Oswego Water Mill
    Bonner & Clover, Proprietors, will keep constantly on hand, a good supply of lumber for sale.  Sawing done at reasonable rates for cash or on the share.  Highest price paid for logs.

3.    From the History: 
More new houses were started, and the town began to take shape.  People worked together.  Neighbor shared with neighbor, and everyone was enthusiastic about the promising future of the place….The first contracts made called the place Little Town, as it had always been called.  According to Andrew Kaho, the name was changed by the Town Company about July 15, at a meeting where two names were submitted.  Vernon for Vernon, Indiana, and Oswego for Oswego, New York.  The Carrs and Clovers, and perhaps some other families had originated in New York State; and they seemed to influence the choice of the name.  Austin J. Dickerman presented a little different story, which is a lot more romantic.  Dickerman said the organizers could not arrive at a conclusion on the choice of a name, so everyone placed a choice name in a box at Carr & Bridgeman’s store.  At the designated time, D. W. Clover drew from the box a slip of paper on which the name Oswego was written; and the name has been Oswego ever since.  Our readers can take their choice of those stories; nevertheless, we are certain that Oswego, Kansas, was named for Oswego, New York.

    The Territorial Legislature of 1854 created a county of the east twenty five miles of the Osage Reservation and named it Dorn.  It was later changed to Neosho.
    On September 8, 1966 a political convention was held at Jacksonville, a town located in the extreme northeast corner of the present Labette County.  A motion was introduced that the county be divided.  After some maneuvering, parleying and discussion the motion was carried.
    It was decided with little comment that the new county be called Labette after the first known white settler.  Then, after a great deal of heated discussion, the town of Oswego was selected as the county seat.

Clover Family Exchange Vol. 6 Issue 1 July 1991 typed by Pat Vaseska
Oswego, Kansas
Also in a WPA book, “Highways and Byways”
Page 491, Tour 12

    Oswego, 219.6 m (912 alt. 845 pop) on the west bank of the Neosho, formerly known as Little Town, has plain, unadorned buildings and comfortable-looking frame houses.  The Oswego Town Well, corner of 4th and Union Sts. Marks the site of a trading post 1840’s by John Mathews, pioneer trader.  The first permanent settlers arrived at the Oswego town site in 1865.  Soon after the town had been founded, D.M. Clover, in filing a petition for operating a ferry across the river, listed the following rates:

    4-horse mule or ox team and wagon      75 cts.
    2- horse mule or ox team                        50 cts.
    2- horse buggy or carriage                      50 cts.
    1-    horse & buggy                                 40 cts.
    Man on horseback                                 25 cts.
    Loose cattle, mules or horses                10 cts.
    Hogs & sheep                                        5 cts.
    Footman                                                10 cts.

    Clover offered special rates for combinations, and dogs accompanied by their masters were allowed to ride free of charge.

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The following excerpts were sent to me by Jim Kimrey and typed by Pat Vaseska.
History of Labette County, Kansas And Representative Citizens
Chicago Biographical Publishing Co., 1901
Permanent Settlement Organization of the County

Page 29
    At the general election in November, 1866, although we were legally a part of Neosho County, by mutual understanding between the people of what is now Neosho County and those residing in what is now Labette County, the latter took no part in the election of the county officers for Neosho County, but went through the form of holding an election of county officers for Labette County, with the understanding on their part that an act of the Legislature would be secured, legalizing the election and organizing the county with the officers thus elected, recognized by the Legislature as the legal county officers; or in the event such an act could not be secured, then that the officers thus elected would be appointed to the positions to which they were thus respectively elected.

    Both the Democratic and Republican parties ran a full ticket.  The Republican ticket was elected by a large majority; the officers elected at that time were as follows:  Representative in the Legislature, Chas. H. Bent; county commissioners, S. W. Collins, C. H. Talbot and Bergen Van Ness; county clerk, A. T. Dickerman; sheriff,  A. Rice; clerk district court, Elza Craft; register of deeds, George Bent; county assessor, Jabez Zink; probate judge, David C. Lowe; county treasurer, C. C. Clover; county attorney, J. S. Waters; superintendent of public instruction, J. F. Newlon; corner, G. W. Kingsbury.

    Of course, the election had no validity, and all understood that it only amounted to an expression of public opinion as to persons whom the people would like to have for their first officers.

Page 39

    In 1866, the Soldier’s Club was formed and met at D. M. Clover’s cabin by the river.

Oswego Township
1865
Page 106

    In November 1865, D. M. Clover and D. D. Clover rode ponies from Kansas City, crossing the Neosho at Trotter’s Ford, and arriving at Little Town about the middle of the month.  There they found Clinton Rexford and N. P. Elsbree encamped, but no start yet made toward the erection of any building.  They looked over the country for a few days, and on November 20, 1866, took four claims – one for each of them, and one each for D. W. Clover and John Clover.

1866
Page 109

    In January 1866, C. C. Clover and his brother, John R. Clover, together with H. A. Victor and one or two others, started from Iowa for this county, having three wagons with two horses each.  They left Oskaloosa, Iowa, about the middle of January; they got to Oswego about the 10th of February.  They found snow all the way down to Kansas City, but from there down to Oswego had pleasant weather and good roads.  D. M. Clover had already commenced the construction of houses on each of the claims.  That season Mr. Clover commenced the construction of a dam across the Neosho at a point some distance above the present dam, and about where the river makes the bend to the east.  He did not succeed in getting his mill in operation until the fore part of 1868. 

    In the spring of 1866 John Clover went back to Iowa, and in July of that year again arrived in Oswego, having with him his father and mother, D. W. Clover and wife, James Stice, Wiley Jackson, _____ Mason, John Burgess and David Stanfield.  They located in the southeastern part of the township, some of them on the river and some on the prairie.

Page 110:    In the election of April 1867, D. W. Clover was elected Justice of the Peace for Oswego Township.

Page 147:    March 21, 1870 D. W. Clover was elected to serve as Councilman of Oswego Township.  The census of 1870 showed that there were 1,000 citizens in town.

Page 223:    In the year of 1868, D. W. Clover served as Labette County Clerk.

1867:    The treaty with the Osage having been ratified and proclaimed by the President, settlers came in this year in greater numbers, and with more assurance of finding here a home than those who had previously come.  D. W. Clover had come into the vicinity the previous July, and had stopped with his sons down on the bank of the river.  Directly after coming he had gone into the organization of the town company, making preparations for helping build up the town.  During the winter he had gotten out logs, and in the spring of this year erected on the southeast corner of block 25 a hewed-log house in which he at once opened a hotel, naming it the Oswego House; ever since which time the principal hotel in the pace has been maintained on that corner under the same name as first started.

Mill
    Capt. Clover had some of the machinery here for his mill in the spring of 1866, but it took so long to build the dam across the Neosho that he did not get it running till 1868.  The first mill to be put in operation in the township was brought here November 9, 1866, by M. B. Jacobs, but he did not get it started till the spring of 1867.  It was located on his claim, just south of town.

Title to Town – Site
        The town company had originally claimed and bought the right of the original occupants to the southwest quarter of section 15 and the southeast quarter of section 16.  Under the ruling of the land office, the odd sections could not be entered under the joint resolution of April 10, 1869, but the even sections could.  It was arranged that the southeast quarter of section 16 should be entered by D. W. Clover, who was then the oldest resident living upon the same.  Immediately after making entry, Mr. Clover conveyed the title to this quarter to the town company, which was thus enabled to make title to the several occupants then living and doing business thereon.  As no titles could be obtained to lots on the southwest quarter of section 15, few persons settled thereon after that became known.

Oswego, Kansas,
July 17, 1866

There is no record now to be found of the exact time when it was done, nor of the action taken in changing from Little Town to Oswego, but it is apparent from the instruments copied above that sometime between the 12th and 17th of July the change of name was made.  At a meeting of the town company D. W. Clover suggested the name of Oswego for the proposed town, and some other member of the company, probably J. Q. Cowell, suggested Vernon.  A ballot was taken, and a majority of the stockholders voted in favor of choosing the name “Oswego;” and from that time on Oswego was the designation of the settlement formerly known as Little Town.

    On August 3, 1867, J. Q. Cowell, C. C. Clover, J. F. Newlon, D. W. Clover, T. J. Flouronoy, T. J. Buntain and D. M. Clover signed the articles of incorporation, which were acknowledged before D. W. Clover, justice of the peace, and the charter thus prepared and signed, was, on August 10, 1867, filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and the company had a corporate existence from that date.

Wilson Bill
August 8, 1890

    On August 8, 1890, the Congressional enactment known as the Wilson Bill was approved, whereby the old rule of allowing the States under their power of police regulation to prescribe such rules as they desired, governing or prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors within their respective jurisdictions, was revived.  Very soon thereafter the original-package saloon, like its predecessor of some other name, took its departure from our county.

    A party brought a lot of liquors to Oswego, and attempted to rent a room in which to open out an original-package saloon.  He found trouble in securing a room.  Finally someone, to see what effect it would have, got a sign painted and put it up over the door of a vacant room belonging to John Clover.  The town was soon astir with excitement.  Mrs. Clover came up town, and, learning of the sign being on their building, at once proceeded to have it torn down.  The determined opposition to the opening of such a saloon deterred any farther attempt in that direction.

The Press
Papers Published at Oswego

    The Oswego Register was the first paper to be published in Labette County.  The town company arranged with E. R. Trask, of Emporia, to bring a press and establish a paper at this point, and guaranteed him 300 paid subscribers, office rent for one year, and a building lot.  The first issue of the paper appeared June 5, 1868.  Trask continued to publish the paper until June 4, 1869, when he sold out to C. C. Clover and F. B. McGill, who thereafter published it until December 30, 1870, when McGill sold his interest to Clover, but continued as editor until June 1, 1871.  About August 19, 1871, John Shorten took charge of the paper as editor and publisher, although there were associated with him in its ownership, and probably in its management, some who had been longer residents of the county.
Page 285

    Five persons who were then “old settlers” in the county, not one of whom had ever pretended to read law, and perhaps neither of whom had ever looked in a law book, unless it were the statutes, were regularly admitted to the bar, after having “passed a satisfactory examination,” at the first term of our court.  The examination was probably on the quality of the liquor furnished by the candidates to the committee.  At first sight the record might indicate that some of these parties were admitted the first day, but from the whole record I am satisfied that all that was done the first day was the appointment of two committees on examination.  Three of these parties were admitted on the second day of the term, one on the third day, and the other on the fourth day.  The following are the names of the parties thus admitted to the bar, in the order of their admission: J. S. Waters, C. H. Bent, Dr. J. F. Newlon, W. C. Watkins, and C. C. Clover. 

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                                                                                Neosho County, Kansas

Neosho County, Kansas is in the Southeast part of Kansas.  It shares a border with Labette County, Kansas on its south side.

Neosho County, Kansas
    July 11, 1866
    “Received of D. W. Clover thirty-one dollars, being one-half the pay of a share in Little Town.”

Little Town, Neosho County, Kansas
July 12, 1866
        The first record of the minutes of any meeting being held is the following:
    “The shareholders of the Town Company of Little Town met for the purpose of organization.  Mr. D. W. Clover was called to the chair.  On motion, Dr. J. F. Newlon was elected president
pro tem.  Wm. A. Hogaboom, vice-president pro tem., and H. C. Bridgman, secretary pro tem.  Moved that a committee of three be appointed to draft by-laws for the company.  Carried.”
Abraham Lincoln Documents
ttp://www.familytreelegends.com/records/49480?c=read&page=111
WASHINGTON, D.C., _March 7, 1862_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit herewith, for the constitutional action of the Senate
thereon, a treaty concluded at Paola, Kans., on the 18th day of August,
between Seth Clover, commissioner on the part of the United States, and
the delegates of the united tribes of Kaskaskia and Peoria, Piankeshaw,
and Wea Indians.

I also transmit a communication of the Secretary of the Interior of the
6th instant and accompanying papers from the Acting Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, in relation to the subject.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
page 111
Source:
Abraham Lincoln, Messages and Papers, Section 1. Family Tree Legends Records Collection (Online Database). Pearl Street Software, 2004-2005. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Lincoln
Section 1 (of 2) of Volume 6: Abraham Lincoln. Richardson, Compiled by James D.

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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875
Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, Volume 10
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llej&fileName=010/llej010.db&recNum=355&itemLink=D?hlaw:2:./temp/~ammem_ZRdt::%230100356&linkText=1
page 354

        Mr. Sebastian, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred, February 14th, 1857, the treaty made at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, on the 16th day of December, 1856, between B. F. Robinson, United States Indian agent for the Delaware Indians, the principal men of Christian Indians, and Gottlieb F. Ochler, in behalf of the board of elders of the Northern Diocese of the Church of the United Brethern in the United States, reported it without amendment and adversely thereto.

Mr. Sebastian, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom were referred, January 7th, articles of agreement between the United States and the Pawnee Indians, made the 24th day of September, 1857, reported them without amendment.

Mr. Sebastian, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred, the 9th just, the nomination of Seth Clover, reported.

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