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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1909)
TIIE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: DECEMBER 19, 1909. Story of Prosperity of a Sturdy Welsh Colony in Richardson County D O colony in southeastern N e- N nruii ever piayea a mom i" I portent prt r the develop I mefit nf thn rtmm niin(rV than the Welsh who came to Rich ardson county, Nobrsika, from l'omeroy, O., In the first thri or four years following the civil war, settling In a community known aa Prairie Union, northnat of whera la now located Stella, and about ten miles went of the Missouri river. Preceding the Ohio Welsh there rame here from Wisconsin three Welsh families, David Thomaa and Thomas Hig Klns, who-came together In IK, and Imnlel Davis -who came In 13. The "Wisconsin Welsh, mali the entire Journey by ox team. They sit onon began to prosper and were most enthusiastic over the new country. Reports by Mr. IIlKsins or Mr. Davis were Mlit ti n Welch paper Drych printed In New Yiuk, and It was the reading of these report a by tin; miners at l'omeroy thnt led to the coming here of the Ohio WelHh. A fulony of thirteen families nettled within a radius of five mile In tlie territory east of Prairie 1'nion. a number of other at Salem and some at lirownvllle. When Daniel Diivl started from Wiscon sin JIT. represented his entire amount of cash; ho had prcfUlons for the Journey, a yoke of oxen and a pair of cows. . ITe died Uio ir.nrnlng uf July 4. WO. and left an estate worth $75,000. For forty-six years Mr. Davis lived continuously on the same farm. Of rll the early Welsh settlers he had the reputation of belnvr the most liberal giver, giving help wherever needed. There was a bit? colony rt l'omeroy nf Weltili who had come over, from the old country 'to work In the coal mines. As they h.til hern here but a comparatively Hhoit time tliey did not enlist In the civil wir. as did their American neighbors, so many of whom were away from home that tlie miners were paid higher wages than usual. Inning any time of Idleness they rtUoitssed opportunities for Investment In land and the bet place to i;o. Alex Mc- lochlo, a 'Scotchman, and some of his Welsh ft lends from returning soldiers heard wonderful stories of the country about Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain In Tennessee and made a Journey of In vestigation, hut decided that section was better adapted to mining. Rev. John T. James was an important personage In bringing the settlers to Ne braska from Pomeroy. He and Caleb Reese came to Investigate In September, 1SCS, and contracted to buy 600 acres of land at Xi an acre. Reese and his family moved to Nebraska that same fall, taking up their residence at the old river town of Asplnwall. where soon after he waa shot and killed at dusk one evening by a couple of drunken soldiers on the way to Fort Leavenworth. They stated they had mis taken him for a wolf. Mrs. Reeae gave up her contract for the large tract, but bought and resided on a quarter section In the Welsh settlement. She died not long ago in Quthrlo. Okl. The wife of Rev. James waa largely re sponsible for his western movement, aa she had lived on a farm In the old country. She died in December, after his purchase here, but following her wishes to bring the sons up on the farm, he moved here the next summer. Within the very next few years there came from Pomeroy the following twelve families, making thirteen in the settle ment from the same place: David N. Jones, Alex McGechle, John M, Lewis, Richard Morris, Jonah Jones, Edmund Wil liams, David N. Jones, David R. Jones, Samuel Brlmble, James Evans, Robert Roberta, David Phelpe and John Owens. All were Welsh except Mr. McGechle. The trip was made by water, aa Pomeroy was on the Ohio, and Asplnwall waa made the landing polat. At the time Mr. McGechle and others came, six weeka were spent on the boat Two weeks of this time the boat was laid up on a sandbar, and three times on the Journey the cargo waa unloaded. Of the fourteen men named there are but one survivor today, Alexander McGechle of Broken Arrow. Okl, who waa S3 years old last April, and is still strong and well and keen of mind. Mrs. John M. Lewis of Shubert, who waa 78 years old In August. Is the, only surviving wife who moved here with the homeseekers. David N. Jones, the last surviving head of a Welsh family among the settlers, died this week of dropsy at his home seven miles northeast of Stella. He was born in Wales In 1832, Andrew Johnson the Poorest HIS country has had five accl- rW I dental presidents John Tyler of I I Virginia, who succeeded to the . . , u.m in j i , , coi dent William Henry Harrison; Millard Fillmore, who owed Ms elevation to the death of President Zach ary Taylor; Andrew Johnson, who suc ceeded Lincoln; Chester A. Arthur, the uocessor of President Garfield, and Theo dore Roosevelt, who wm President Mc Klnley's successor. To Andrew Johnson belongs the distinc tion of having been the poorest of the presidents. Other presidents have been poor men, but he was unlike all others in that he went to the White House almost as poor as when he entered the legisla ture of Tennessee, while yet a jailor. The earlier presidents were men of means, excepting the second and sixth, who were John Adams and bis son John Qulncy Adams, and who may be dt scribed as comfortably off. Tyler was a poor man with a Urge family, but bla degree of pov erty waa so far removed from Johnson's thnt It appeared to be wealth by eompari nm. Tylor had a Virginia plantation and sluves to plant and harvest crops. John son owiu.t his little tailor shop and his home at (.Iretnvillo, Tenn., and the latter was scarcely more than a ruin. It had been uaeri as a hospital by the confederates and was .spared from complete destruction o.tly because It served the purposs. Coiue Ip (rout People. Many publlo men in this country have risen from humble surroundings, Jack son and Lincoln among ths presidents being notabU examples; but no man of national repute has sounded to the same degree the depths of poverty aud obscurity that encompassed the early life of Andrew Johnson, yet no man baa left a record of greater Integrity. Ha waa the personi fication of honest Industry, and aa boy and man be had a passionate hatred of debt. His enemies, and he had his full share, paid tribute to his honesty, and his bitter est foes, such as Isham Q. Harris and-' Parson Brownlow of Tennessee, admitted that he had an Invincible shield In his probity. His attitude of dignified, cheerful ao veptanoe of his fata from his boyhood made him strong friends. He never alluded to his poverty and never shirked the con wcuencei of being poor. When he waa a lad In Raleigh, N. C, his birthplace, be worked at auy task assigned to him, and he uncomplainingly accepted his fate when hla mother had him bound out as an ap prentice to tailor. The following Is k : d. V ' r ' REV. J. P. JAMES. From a photo taken when he was about 60, the only vone now existing. came to America In K,7, and had lived continuously on the same farm since the spring of lWf. His first marriage took place In Pomeroy, O., In and the wife died here In 1M7 and was burled In Prairie Union cemetery, where more than forty two years later, this week ber husband waa laid to rest beside her. He was mar ried the second time in 1SC9 to Dorothy Bebbe of the Wisconsin Welsh. Of the pall abearers four were sons of the early Welsh settlers, who were his associates: Daniel Hlggins, David Lewis. W. W. James and Morgan Williams; also Evan W. Evans and Thomaa Edwards, two young Welsh men, who camo Into the community in an early day and became his friends. The death of his first wife waa the first in the Ohio colony after Reese's. While Reese's death Was tragic in the Ohio colony, among the Wisconsin Welsh there were also two traglo deaths. David Thomas had a friend here from Wisconsin and he was drowned while attempting to cross the Nemaha in a flat boat at Bennett's mill. He Is burled at Prairie Union. Later Joseph Jones waa drowned in a well at Liberty while drawing water. Of the heads of the above families, Mr. Mc Gechle is the only one who ever went from here to live 'elsewhere. It Is rather a sin gular coincidence that as he and Mrs. Lewis ore the only surviving heads of families that his only surviving son should be married to a daughter of Mrs. Lewis, and for the last four or five years he has resided with this couple on a farm near Broken Arrow in tho old Indian territory, whore he has large land holdings. These pioneers prospered and their fam ilies were an honor to the community. Most of them, perhaps all, were of a de vout religious nature; anyway, two Welsh ohurohes were founded in the community. Prairie Union and Penneil, the latter dur ing Its existence being about two miles northeast of the former. The home- copy of the document which Indentured him; State of North Carolina, Wake County. At a Court of 1'ieoae & Quarter Sessions begun and held for the County of Wake at ihe Court house In Rulelgh, on the third Monday of February, A. D., 1S2J, being the 8 year of American Independence, the Uth day of February. . Present The Worshipful CHARLES L. IHNTON. NATHANIEL O. RAND, MEHRIT'P DILLAKO. It is "Ordered that Andrew Johnson, an orphan boy, the son of Jacob Johnson dee'd. 14 years of age, be bound to James I. Selhy until he arrive to lawful age, to learn the trade of a Tailor." Was Not Asi Orphaa. Why he should have been referred to as an orphan Is Inexplicable, because his mother and his stepfather were both living in Raleigh at the time. The popu lar Idea that Johnson was the only sun of a widowed mother is incorrect. He was ber youngest son and she was not a widow dependent upon him until after the death of her second husband, which occurred near Greenville after Johnson had been elected to the legislature. ( In the autumn of IS JO, Johnson and his mother and stepfather went from Raleigh to Greenville. They trawled In a cart In which was carried all their household goods and they camped the first nlht in a lot which Is now a part of his old home. As if led by some unseen hand Johnson selected the' spot and then ex plored the village. It pleased him, and Its nearness to the college made him de sire to remain. His mother was of Irish parentage. Her first husband. Jacob Johnson, was the jan itor of the court house In Raleigh at the time Andrew Johnson was born. He died when the boy was very young and Andrew Johnson never knew a father's care or had a real home. Ha was not yet AJB when he arrived In Greenville. The family had started to go to west Tennessee, where his oldest brother was living, but the young man saw in Greenville the place of opportunity for hint and he refused to go further. In Green ville In May, 1SJ7, he waa married. Hur 1st Ills Meetla. Johnson's bride, Eliza McCardle, was the daughter of a widow, who sewed for a liv ing, bite lived on the pike leading from J ones bo ro through Greenville, and the day that Johnson paased the house on his en trance into the village her daughter stood at a window of her home aud, seeing John son, said to her mother: "There goes my weetheart; that's the nioa I'm going t seekers were peaceable, quiet loving men. They stuck together like a band of broth ers, helping one another until new ma chinery made the necossity less. Alex Mc Gechle, to the southeast of the settlement,' and Sam Brlmble. to the northeast, have walked many and many a time through the tall, wet grass In the morning to do a day's binding of grain, and the same may be said of the other settlers. These early pioneers kept attracting other Welsh people from Ohio, and It is less than five years ago the last, A. E. Evans, now postmaster at Shubert, moved west to be near a son, John M. Evans, cashier of the Farmers' State bank of Shu bert. Another son,' at Auburn, W. h. Evans, is county superintendent of public Instruction of Nemaha county. A big colony also came from Pomeroy and neigh boring towns to Ealem In an early day, among whom Is Miles Jones, at one time superintendent of public Instruction In this county. Another Is Al Nace, a venerable river man at Brownvllle. Thomaa Hlggins was a devout and pious man. It was .his dream that there should be a Welsh settlement In the community, and a Welsh church be founded. The Com ing of the Ohloans made his dream come true. At first Sunday school was held In his residence, and so soon as Higglns' school house was built It was the place of holding Sunday school and preaching serv ices; and next was Prairie Union church, built in the early '70 s. Of the list of mem bers appearing on the orglnal church book, Mrs. Elizabeth Hlggins of Stella, a daugh ter of Kev. James, Is the only one who le mains. Prairie Union was organized as a Welsh Baptist church, but as the younger people grew up it became Eng.ish, and, although a county church, Is today one of the strong Baptist churches of the state. Prairie Union In itself is quite a little settlement. Four years ago the old church waa struck by lightning and burned and a marry." Mrs. Patterson, the eldest child of the marriage and the Idol of her father throughout his life, Is the authority for this account of the meeting of ber parents and also for the facts given In connection with her father's life In Greenville. From lhZl to 1830 Johnson worked and studied, living in a log house of two rooms, one of which was his shop. At first his young wife helped him, doing the lighter work, such as sewing on collars and ths like, but It was not long before the young tailor could hire help. He had all the best custom of the place and when he aban doned the business he had seven men In his employ. He was twice elected alderman and then was sent to the legislature. While away his shop waa run by his foreman, over looked by Mrs. Johnson. When he was elected to congress he sold Ills trade, but not his shop, and no one ever occupied It after he left It. He taught his young daughter to sew, and when she had learned to do good sew ing he let her sew on the sleeves of coats. For this he paid her, carefully measuring her work and estimating its worth. She waa put at school at the ags of years and knew how to read before that age. Her father had taught her, and as soon HE use of mistletoe at Christ mas time is one of the links connecting the Chris tian festival to oie tbat was celebrated by our pagan ances T TV't tors. The earliest religion that can be attributed to the Aryans waa simple nature worship, with the sun as chief deity. Among the Greeks and Romans, this worship has in hlstorio times evolved Into the pantheon of Jupiter and Ms fellow di vinities, but traces of the original system can bo distinguished. In Gaul and adjacent lands Inhabited by the Celts, the old religion retained Its pristine characteristics, and under the name of Druldlsm received the study of Tacitus, Pliny, and other classical writers. Knough has been recorded by them to en able us, with the aid of tl.e austuma of the modern European peasantry, to recon struct the ancient system. The two principal festivals of the Druids were In Jane and December. The first oc Mistletoe an Ancestral Link of Our Festival f..- - - i .. . ' .. .. . A I ... . J '.--Ih-. - I-. --I vrriY Ldnl , n ; i -j i; r " f ' ' ( ' -.-' iew( v ' d ' ORIGINAL, PRAIRIE year lalar a modern church was dedicated In Its place. The church hus stalnod glass windows, Is furnace heated and has Its own lighting plant. Several of the farmers who are members attend church In auto mobiles and touring cars. There Is a nice parsonage with an acre or two of land, a school and a cemetery, all within a short distance of the church; also the sexton's house. The cemetery Is beautifully located and splendidly kept. The parsonage is al ways occupied by a minister. The commu nity Is bright Intellectually and the young people have always had the privilege of the best schools In the country. At the present time Bert Evans Is professor of electricity In the Colorado university at Boulder. A number of these pioneers, Hr their sons, helped to build a farmers' ele vator at McCandless Siding so aa to have a point nearer Shubert or Nemaha to mar ket their grain. Rev. James was Instrumental In organis ing the Welsh Baptist church of Penneil, the organization being later than Prairie Union. But with the passing of the activ ity of the elder Welsh this church became no more. Rev. James was a minister in Ohio, and also in the old country, yet be worked in the coal mines. A son, W. W. James, now mayor of Shubert. ' gave one acre of his farm for the location of Pen neil church and cemetery. The church is no longer standing, but the cemetery is maintained, and when Rev. James died three years ago there he was laid to rest. W. H. McGECHIE, Prominent among the sons of the Welsh Bettlers and now a resident of Tulsa, Okl. d:--J ... Jv of Presidents Yet Not a Taker of Gifts as she was started at school he studied with her. Worked With Ills Daughter. In after years she said of those days: "My father would sew all day until about dark, and then he would go out to meet me as I came home from school. We would walk togethor slowly to the house. At that time our home was separate from the shop. His invariable greeting was, 'Well, daughter, what have you learned to day?' and I would tell him, and then re peat all that I could of the different les sons. v "After supper we would read over the lessons for the next day, and thus be studied my lessons, and learned themy sometimes better than I did. If I knew my lessons better tlian the other girls sometimes I would be taunted with the remark, 'Oh, your father helps you. " All the way along his Journey from obscurity to the White House, Johnson lived In an unpretentious and economical manner, studying every day and trying always to get knowledge from every one he met. The course he pursued of avoid In debt and cultivating a contented mind eiiabled him to live a comparatively enrn free life. When called to fill the highest curred some days after the lonre.st day of the year, when It could lie noticed that the sun hod ceusvd Its upward o'.ltnb In the heavens; the second followed the shortest day. when the people saw that the dhlne luminary had once more started its march to the zenith to bring bock the kprliig. The first festival was a period of fear, tlie second of rejoicing. And they have both survived; one in St. John's day (midsum mer), the other in Christmas. In both these festivals a principal rite was the cutting of the !n!st!toe. Among tlie Aryans, ths oak was always an object of warship, either because they came originally from a locality whore the oak was the principal tree, or because, as records, prove, the oak was at one time far more plentiful In Europe than it is to day. Now among these primitive Aryans the only way to obtain fire was by rubbing two sticks together As this practice wus started whera only oak trees grew, It cama to be thought than only such wood was ultabte for the act. Even to this day In UNION BAPTIST CHURCH. It wus to the home of Thonius lliggins most of the pioneers went when flrBt com ing here. It is related of him that as be prayed in public he would often start in English, but as his zeal Increased he would revert to his native tongue. In public, such as at farm sales, the Welsh made It a habit to converse with each other in Eng lish. Upon being asked the reason the :e ply was given that "No gentleman In com pany speaks In a language that others can not understand." These pioneers grew up as miners and none knew anything about farming as car ried on In this country at that time. Many had never hitched a horse or knew how to turn a furrow. Consequently they learned by experience, and many are most amusing. Of tho sons who came here with their fathers, H; E. Williams, a merchant at SI urbert. and W. W. James, are the old est. Mr. James recalls a time when he crawled quite a distance through the grass, thinking to find a wolf, only to learn the noise he was following was made by a prairie chicken. He was nineteen when h9 came here. A few days ago In talk ing over their boyhood days, It was men tioned once when at Shook's mill at Hills dale. Mr. Williams did not know how to back his team so as to get the wagon in the desired position. The first public school vas in the kitchen of John Henderson, who came from Wisconsin In 18S9. One of his sous. Jack Henderson, resides in .Stella, and a daughter, Mrs. Juste King at Shubert. Charles Peabody, a young man from the east was the teacher, and he was paid perhaps $30 a month. The school house at Prairie Ulnon Is known as . Pioneer. The original school house is now used for a feed store in Shubert. In the early days every one walked to church on Sundays. The pioneers believed after their horses had worked six days, they should then be given a day of rest. The roads at first were Bcarco- more than a trail or path; often the grass was tall and wet or the path filled with dust, yet Mrs. Elizabeth Hlggins recalls that It was the early autumn of the young ladles to go barefoot a part of the way, carrying shoes and stockings so as to protect them from dust or dew. Once she had a silk Jacket of which she was very proud, but It was ruinod one day on the way to church by a big grasshopper alighting o her back and eating a large round hoi through the silk. She also recalls her first Fourth or July here. The day was spent at a big celebration at Hillsdaye on the Missouri river. There was a barbe cue, beef being roasted over the fire and distributed free among the merrymakers, and she laughingly tells of the young office in the land he entered upon Its dutlea poor but not oppressed with any sense of poverty. His family remained in Tennessee for a long time after he and his oldest daughter took possession of the president's house, and. when they were finally established there Mrs. Patterson had It under the same careful control that had characterized the governor's house at Nashville, She best knew the sllmness of his purse, end she had all the ambitions for him that he hud felt for himself. ' Life In the White ltoase. It wa3 with no lHtle anxiety that they considered the management'of the salary of the presidential office and the demands of a public nature that would be upon It. The one simple rule of his life he Insisted should be carried out there, and a man never had a more loyal and faithful colaborer than this daughter. Johnson had not the money-making spirit. He was too ambitious to let a love of "money dominate him, and he treasured his personal Independence as above all wealth. As president much was required of him and ho was eager to meet all the require ments of his position. His family knew his wishes, and plain and unassuming though they were, they . sustained the dignity uf tlie various nooks and corners of Europe, where annual fires are lighted, su'ii aa on Hallowe'en, the ilre Is Ubually brought out by rubbing oak wood. Our primitive an cestors, therefore, conceived the fire us being Inherent In the oak) UUe a miraculous kind of sap. and consequently, they found a mystical roninn tlon between ouk and pun, the divine fire. Therefore, when tl,ey noted this strange plant growing out of tho oak, belonging nejthw to earth nor sky and derived its Sustenance from no visible source, they concluded' that here was the eosence of the oak. Hence, it was regarded as sacred and gifted with strango powers. When cut, it was not allowM to touch tlin dese crating earth, but white cloths were spread beneath It- , Cutting of the mistletoe w.n aUo piob ably the signs! for festivllii that cul minated In en unlicensed sstui iiqllu. as Is suggested by a custom that formerly pre vailed In New York on C'hrlstmts Kve, when the high alter was ladtu with mistle toe. New York Post. FRAIR1K I NIUN CHURCH, STELLA, NEB beuus walking about with a big chunk of roast beef in their hand, taking a bite every now and than. Mrs. Hlggins was sixteen, when she came here and with her chum, Miss Maggie Jones, now Mrs. William Wilkingson of Lincoln, were the oldest girls In the settlement, and accordingly were very popular, In fact, they were the belles In a large territory. Mrs. Higglns, un til her marriage three years later, waa her father's housekeeper. Corn bread and sorg hum werd staple table, food. Once she needed soda, and had to go about, a mile to borrow at tho home of David R. Jones. On the way, she saw two Indians com ing on ponies. She was badly frightened and tried to hide in the tall grass. They saw her, but only grunted as they passed. Strapped to the saddle of each was half a hog with the hair still on. They hud Just raided some farm, and were mak ing way with their stolen property. Sing ing school at the Hlggins' school house was a great diversion of thty pioneer young pedple, and many of the families Intermarried, the courship being helped along by going to singing school. There was a big grove, known as Harg ler's, on the farm of Rev. James. The Indians had oeen in the habit of holding councils and camping in this grove, and ill l Mrs. John M. Lewis of Shubert, her daughter, Mrs. W. O. McGechle; W. G. McGechle, Jr., and William Ollon McGechle. FOUR GENERATIONS OF THE SETTLERS. their positions, while his eldest daughter became a popular hostess. The White House In the time of Presi dent Johnson's administration was a simply furnished and unpretentious place as com pared with its present condition. All its appointments were plain, while its equip ages consisted of a plain old coach and a general utility carryall. The president's family rode about Washington in a car riage that had done duty there since Buchanan's day, and it was driven by a colored coachman, whose only sign of livery was a high hat. Spartan simplicity characterized the stables, tho kitchens and the drawing rooms. It never entered the thoughts of any one to wish that a new cttrrlage was needed. Declines a Present. In the early days of his administration, before the shadow of the Impeachment trial had fallen upon the president and while yet he nad the good will of both political parties, some of his admirers In New York conceived the Idea of making him a present. It was finally decided that a suitable carriage was most nteded at the White. House, and it was ordered to be made. A pair of horses was purchased to accompany tlie cariiugo to Washington, To notify Johnson of the gift a large pit co uf parchment was selected and a suitable envelope was uiadu to hold it. The letter, which Is now published for the first time, was engrossed on the parchment and the names of the donors appear on It in tl.ree rows. Tho list, as will be seen, represents many of the leading bankers and merchants of that day. Tho letter was sent to Washington by a personal friend of President Johnson, a Tennessee union man, w ho, knowing him well, went with many misgiving an to the reception of the gift. The biter is us follows: The und'-rsigned citizens of New York take great pleasure in knding to Washing ton, by tiie Camden, and Amboy It. It. cars, a coach, Sn ot horses, harness, blvnkcts, et cnteia., respectfully asking Aidrew Johnson, President of the I'niteH States, to accept the same an a token of their high appreciation of his fidelity to the country as a statesman, well approved by word and deed to all the various offices to which h has been called. Jioyu Urol hers. II. Armstrong & ftieips, HodKe t uo. won. J. S. Mchultz. Heaver Calhoun ro. Horace B. Clufllii. Hoyl lliolhers. Hull, Houthwltk L Co. John K, Iawrence & Co. Wlcksml'h Co. 8. n. Chittenden. Henry A. Smyth Latin op, Xiudlii glon 4t Co. Daniel H. Rons. Daniel Drew. Sprague C. lljlbein. Homy Clews Co. W Inslow Lanier & V lit. W. De Forest Co. St Co. ChttS. A. Meigs Son. Eugene Kelly. A. A. Low. Arthur Leary, tt E. A. Qulntard. Wilson O. Hunt, t'nas. H. Marshall. Chan. H. Bosdlok. Arnold Constable Co, It is said took precautions to protect It from fires. Along most of the Btream. now covered with a. good growth of timber, in those early days of the Welsh there was not a tree, owing to the fre quent prairie fires. In this community some of the settlers, bought a small piece of timber land along the Missouri, there was, and still Is, what Is known as the "half breed line." This was a lino at one time, marking the boundary of alotted lands set off by the treaty of Prairie dti E'.uen, for half breeds and their decend etits, including from tho Otoes, Sioux, l'oncas and Omahaa. The line waa be tween the two Nemahas, ten miles from tholr mouth at the Missouri. At first measurement was made by the actual course of the rivers, but this waa not satisfactory to tlie "half breeds," as they believed it did not give them enough ter ritory, and the survey was again made, the second time ten miles from the mouth of either Nemaha, to points on the rivers In a direct line straight as the crow files. When these ploners first came, the near est railroad was St Joe. BrownvIHe was an important river point In those daya and the settlers did much In their trad ing there, aud also at Asplnwall. William H. Fogg. Hunt, Tllllnghttst A r.awiii rioyt. Shepard Knapp. V ei'imo e Al t o. Peter Huyden. Co. L. jt". Morton A Co. Kelchum, Son & Co. Reeve, Case ii 11. J tluKtr. Ranks. Wllliain i'. iilodaott. Georae II. Potts. Peter Cooper. New York, May 17, 1KC3. Johnson's Answer. The answer mut was returned was this; WASHINGTON CITY, May ii, ltMtf. Messrs. A. A. Low, Phelps 4oUgu St Co., Ho) t liros., J. S. Sciiuliznd others. Ut,NThhMK.: I am In receipt of your very complimentary note dated New York, Muy IS, ltb(i, wlierelu you request my ac ceptance of a coach, tpun of horses, har ness, etc., us a token of your high appre ciation of my publlo course. While I fully appreciate the purity ot your motives in thus generously tendering me such substantial evidence of your re gard, 1 am compelled soleiy from the con victions of duty I have ever beld in ref erence to the acceptance of presents bv those occupying high official positions to decline tho of tarings of kind aud loyal friends. The retention of the parchment convey ing your sentiments and the autographs of those who were pleased to unite In this manifestation of regard Is a favor I would ask, and I assure you, gentlemen, I shall egurd it as the highest mark of respect from any portion of my fellow citizens. Trusting that I shall continue to merit your confidence and esteem in the dis charge of thn high and important duties upon which I have but Just entered, and with twst wishes for your health, etc.. In dividually, I am, gentlemen, yours trulv, (Slgnd ANDREW JOHNSON. it is a fact that after the death of An drew Johnson, but one present waa in his family's possession. This waa a silver service, consisting of a pitcher, ft dozen goblets and a salver, given him by the union men of Nashville. These men were not a numerous body, and they had been closely ussoclated with Governor Johnson In his reconstruction work in Tennee,., They asked permission to give til m a token of their appreciation of his efforts beforo he left Tennessee, and lie agreed to receive the offering In the spirit of com radeship in which It was offered. This gift was taken with him to Washington and was one of the features of the private dining room's decorations while be lived in tlie White House. It occupied a place of honor in his home In Oreenvllle and re inultny in the possession of a grandson. Tlie union men of Nashville were his per sonal friends and, as he was leaving then for an Indefinite stay, he made their wlshts his own, and this was the sole ex ception to his lifelong rule of Independence In the matter of gifts. It was said of him by his neighbors who had known hint longest and best that he never borrowed a dollar lu his life and never spent orie that be bod not first earned. t