William F. Walch – Minister of God & Drugs (Part II)

On June 9, 1880 the census taker found W. F. Walch, 22, living alone at his home in Harper Township. Under the heading Occupation the census taker simply wrote that W. F. was "at home." Normally he would have written "unoccupied" for the able that were unemployed. So, what was occupying W.F. on that June 9th? Possibly, he was settling his affairs in Harper just three months after he moved there. A week before on June 2nd William Fletcher Walch had married Caroline "Carrie” Leasure, 22, in Pawnee County, Kansas. Carrie was the daughter of John Boyd Leasure a shoemaker and cobbler in Larned. William had returned from Larned that week, a distance of 120 miles, and left the care of his bride to her family.

William eventually returned to his wife in Larned where their first child was born on the 20th of March in 1881. William Wilbur Walch, who was called Will, said he was born in a sod house -- the ‘starter home’ for newlyweds in Kansas at that time.

Prairie grasses covered much of Kansas then -- Big Bluestem, Switchgrass, and Buffalo Grass, just to name a few. Over centuries of grow, these grasses created a thick, root-bound turf that was tough yet flexible, and was a ready building material where lumber was in short supply. The sod was cut into thick squares and stacked as building blocks. The most primitive were simply igloo-like dwellings, but most were rectangular, sod walls supporting a beamed roof, which was also covered in sod. A wooden door and a window or two completed the structure. One drawback was that it often leaked, leading to wet bedding and clothing after a heavy rain. Not the most hygienic home, but it proved to be cool in the hot Kansas summer and warm in the winter. But as soon as they could afford it, a farm family would build a lumber frame house and leave the sod house to slowly decay.

In 1800, the city of Larned was a bustling cow town on the Santa Fe Trail, just 60 miles up the trail from Dodge City. In 1878, Larned was the largest city in Pawnee County with a population of 716, which was 40 percent of the county population. Larned was first settled just eight years before William Walch arrived, and was growing at such a rate that the agricultural production in the county had increased by more than 2,708 percent in the four years prior to his arrival. The Walchs would add one more child to this boom: Lizzie Belle Walch on the 26th of June 1883. The following year, the 1884 Kansas State Census shows the W. F. Walch family of four living in the city of Larned, where William was working as a druggist.

On January 28, 1887 William and Carrie’s last child was born in Topeka, Kansas: Stephen Fletcher Walch (my grandfather). Two years later William was likely the same W. Walch who submitted a bill for $2.70 for 18 hours of labor on the construction of the first school in Gutherie, Oklahoma - the same town in the same year his brother James staked a claim in the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889.

When Stevie Walch was a young boy his father left home to ostensibly find better work. It is not known whether the marriage was strained before he left or if the time away took its toll. In any case William never returned home; and the marriage dissolved.

William may have gone to California for a time but eventually returned to Hastings-on-Hudson where he stayed with his mother. By 1900, 42-year-old William was living in Baltimore, Maryland, on 1001 Scott St. with his new wife, Alice Z. Walch, 37, of New York. He was working as a drug clerk at the time.

William died in 1906 at age 48 in a streetcar accident in Poughkeepsie, New York. It was said that he was buried there in Union Cemetery but the cemetery record does not list him. Perhaps he was buried alongside other family members in Hastings. In any event, his wife Alice returned to Yonkers where she was working as a hotel housekeeper in 1910.

Back in Arkansas City, Kansas, William children were fathered by their Grandfather John Leisure, who had moved to “Ark City.” There was at least one upside to William's absence: years later his son Stephen said his deep sense of abandonment as a child helped to steady him through rough periods of his own marriage, the rough periods all marriages inevitably encounter.

The first photo above is Main Street of Larned, Kansas, in 1880. The William Walch family photograph is courtesy of Anne Haskin of Lansing, Michigan, William’s great-granddaughter. Click on photo to enlarge.

William F. Walch – Minister of God & Drugs (Part I)

William Fletcher Walch, the sixth child of Stephen Walch and Elizabeth Charnock, was born on November 8, 1857 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He was named in honor of John William Fletcher, an early Methodist theologian, whose early writings on piety were popular among Methodist at that time.

William's early years were spent in Hasting. Around 1878 at the age of 20, he went to Kansas either at the same time as his sister Elizabeth's family or shortly after. And like his brother James, he would have ridden the train to Wichita and then walked the 60 miles to Caldwell. He may have gone to help the Drews build their new home in Caldwell or possibly to work in his brother-in-law's fledging construction business. Whatever his reasons for going he didn't stay in Caldwell long. In 1880 William moved further west to neighboring Harper County.

The Rev. W. F. Walch of Harper, Kansas

The Methodists were among the first denominations in Kansas. Their method for expansion called for established churches to raise missionary funds to support young Methodist circuit riders who rode from settlement to settlement, through the nearly unbroken wilderness to organize congregations. For a brief period in 1880, William Walch served in that capacity.

The city of Harper is Harper County's oldest city and is located in the north-central part of the county. It is 29 miles northwest of Caldwell. Harper’s growth was typical of many other towns in central and western Kansas during that period: a group of people, in this case Iowans, formed the Harper City Town Company at a meeting in Reno County, Kansas, on April 1, 1877. On April 2nd, the company struck out south and engaged the services of a county surveyor in Kingman County. On April 3rd, they ran a survey line from the government cornerstone two miles south of Kingman, south into Harper County. They camped at the future site of the city on April 5th. The following day they ran a line east to another governmental marker. Three surveys were made before the town was finally located on April 14th. On April 16th the building of the first house commenced. The first frame house was completed on April 19th. In May, the first blacksmith shop opened. On July 1st the first postmistress was commissioned. In July, the first grocery store opened, the first child was born, the first lawyer arrived, and the last wild buffalo was killed. In October, a Presbyterian minister preached the first sermon and a physician opened a practice.

"During 1878, the settlement of the town was so rapid as to preclude all specific mention of the settlers who stood not on the order of their coming, but went to work on the boom, which has known no cession for four years," according to William Cutler's History of the State of Kansas of 1883. However, Cutler did mention by name some of the people who arrive after 1878, including Rev. Walsh: “The Methodist church was organized in 1878 with a membership of seven, under the care of Rev. J. W. Anderson. Rev. Messrs. Walsh and Rose held the pulpit in 1880-81. Cutler also noted that earlier services were held in private homes and the schoolhouse. The church was built two years after William’s ministry there.

In Danville, which is located a little over 7 miles east of Harper, Cutler noted that the “Rev. Mr. Walsh” served as the Methodist society’s first pastor and that he “lived in Harper and came down to perform services.”

W. O. Graham, a local Harper historian writing in 1886, also mentioned William and correctly spelled his surname: "Rev. W. F. Walch arrived March 19, 1880, but did not remain the entire year, Rev. J. L. Rose filling out the last quarter and the following year.” The membership had grown to about 80 by 1886. Incidentally, the circuit riders throughout Kansas were so effective that by 1900 Methodists were the largest denomination, representing twenty-six percent of all churchgoers in Kansas.

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This was indeed a brief ministry -five months at best. But, we shall learn in the next blog that the 22-year-old Rev. Walch had new obligations to meet and that he would turn to drugs to fulfill them.

The photo of William Walch is courtesy of Anne Haskin of Lansing, Michigan, a great granddaughter of W. F. Walch. (Click on photo to enlarge)

John W. Walch of the Wichita & Western Railway

John W. Walch, the seventh child of Stephen Walch and Elisabeth Charnock, was born on the 27th of December 1854 in Connecticut and grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. In about 1877, John, 23, married Ella, 22, a native New Yorker. In 1880 after most of his siblings had gone to Kansas, John remained and is believed to be the “John Walsh” working as a machinist in the carpet mill and living at 6 Jones Place in Yonkers. John and Ella had three children in New York: Olive May in about 1878, Elizabeth Etta in 1879 and Mamie E. in 1882. Olive is believed to have died in early childhood.

John and Ella moved to Kansas sometime between July 1882 and the birth of their next child Eleanor "Elia" B. Walch on August 1885. The 1888 City Directory of Wichita list John living at 1030 S. Lawrence St. and working as a machinist for the Wichita & Western Railway. His grandson, Jack A Walch, said he heard that many of the Walch men worked for the railways at one time or another. This was indeed the height of railroad building throughout Kansas. The Wichita & Western Railway connected Wichita to Winfield, a route that John no doubt knew well given that his brother John lived there and he eventually would move there too.

It is not known if John participated in the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889. If he was still working for the W&W, federal law would have made him ineligible, a fact that many railway workers overlooked. There were many railroad men among the Sooners, the name given to the Oklahomans who occupied land ‘sooner’ than others who followed the law and Land Rush rules. It's a curious thing that Oklahomans are proud of their Sooner status. Without a euphemism, would they be equally proud of their college football team if they were known as the Oklahoman Cheaters?

It was said that John was a member of the Masonic Lodge, as were the Walch ancestors and Walch men at that time. Their membership in the Masons was apropos given that modern Freemason springs from the medieval stonemason guilds. Some say the ‘free’ part of Freemason referrers to the masons who worked with even-grained limestone, called freestone. Of course, Masonic membership was later open to non-stonemasons; and the focus shifted from trade secrets to ancient wisdom. But the Walchs, still ingrained in the practice of stonemasonry, most likely felt a deeper sense of belonging to the membership.

John died on May 18, 1893 in a railway accident at the early age of 38. He left his wife, Ella, 37, and five children ranging from about 11 to 3 years of age: Elizabeth, Maime, Elia, Artie, and Earl. Ella remarried about a year later to John W. Gilliland, who had at least 4 children of his own. The combined family lived at 602 South Street in Winfield. Ella died on November 28, 1910, just 13 days before her 57th birthday.

Both John and Ella were buried in the Union Cemetery in Winfield. Their grave marker is a large ornate stone obelisk with a carved ball on top. Given that John and Ella were not likely financially well-off, it is quite possible that Brother James had a hand in arranging for the obelisk if not directly fashioning it himself.

Incidentally, the Wichita & Western Railway Co. was sold in 1898 on foreclosure to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway five years after John's death.

I was able to track down a few of John's descendents but have not been able to find a photograph of him yet. The photograph above is a historic picture of a Wichita train depot.

Lizzie & the Van Winkle Family

While her sister and brothers witnessed murder and mayhem in the streets of Caldwell Kansas, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Walch sat on the porch of her mother's house in Hastings-on-Hudson in the summer of 1880 sewing her only child Arthur a new pair of pants. This was not a difficult task because Arthur was only two years old and was not yet style conscious. At that time, Elizabeth and her husband Owen Van Winkle were living in her mother's home. Owen was working as a carpenter then. He was the son of John and Carolyn (Mosher) Van Winkle of Yonkers and, like his dad, once worked as a ship’s carpenter there. Owen was also a member of the Vesper Rowing Association of Yonkers and part of the championship crew of 1871-72.

Incidentally, many of the Walch children said they were from or born in Yonkers, but that appears to be simply a general reference. That was not unlike suburbanites today referring to the core metro city as ‘home’ when speaking to outsiders. Yonkers was the market town for Hastings-on-Hudson, which was only 3.5 miles away - easy walking distance in those days.

While we have our map out, note that the town of Irving is only 4 miles north. The town was named after Washington Irving, who wrote of the legends of Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane. And, just 5 miles beyond Irving is the town of Sleepy Hollow itself. In those days, the culture of Hastings and the rest of Westchester County was still influenced by the early Dutch settlers. Some of their better-known descendents, like the Roosevelts and the Vanderbilts built largest estates not far from Hastings-on-Hudson.

Unfortunately, we know little of Owen and Lizzie Van Winkle's life. They had two more children: Howard in 1882, and the daughter, Elizabeth Charnock, in 1892. After 1892 Owen and Lizzie have not been found in public record and it is presumed that they died. Arthur is also thought to have died in early childhood as his brother Howard never made mention of him to his children.
It is believed that Grandma Elizabeth (Charnock) Walch took over the care of her orphaned grandchildren. In any event, by 1910 Elizabeth (Charnock) Walch, 89, was being cared for by grandson Dr. Howard Van Winkle in Glenolden, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth likely died in Pennsylvania before Howard's move to Iowa.

In 2004 I was able to track down two of Howard's daughters: Marjorie (Van Winkle) Lindsay of Bailey’s Harbor, Wisconsin and her older half-sister Florence (Van Winkle) Ramsay of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Florence said that she had many old photos but did not know the names of the people. She never had the opportunity to review them with her mother who died when Florence was a young child. Hopefully the photos were not destroyed in the recent flood of Cedar Rapids. Before we ended our first phone conversation, Florence asked, “I have an unusual middle name. Do you know where it comes from?” “What is it?” I asked. She answered, "Charnock."

Because I have no pictures of Lizzie or the Van Winkles, I am including a photo of Elizabeth Charnock, Mrs. Stephen Walch. The photo is courtesy of Phyllis (Walch) Stork of San Francisco who is her great-granddaughter. My sister, Jean (DeFord) Conlin of Ann Arbor, has an original copy of this picture as well.

Margaret Walch & the Drew Family of Caldwell, Kansas -- Part II

Thomas and Margaret Drew were in their late 20s when they arrived in the small cattle town of Caldwell, Kansas in 1878, just as the town’s population was ready to explode. They most likely had in tow Maggie's two younger brothers, Ike, 14, and William, 20, to help in the building of their new home. If Jimmie Walch did not come directly with them, he would arrive shortly to help in the home building.

By 1880, the Drews had settled into their new home in the city of Caldwell. In that year their household was composed of Tom and Maggie, 30, their two young sons, Stephen, 5, and Alfred, 4; Maggie's brother, Ike, 23, a stonemason; and Frank Higgins, 23, a stonemason; and Bob Smith, 22, a laborer. Tom Drew was working as a building contractor at the time. In the spring of 1882 Maggie and Tom added their third and last child to the household: Maude Mildred Drew.

Tom was such a successful building contractor that he owned, and most likely built, a commercial building in downtown Caldwell as noted in The Caldwell Journal of October 11, 1883:

“The Directors of the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association have made arrangements with Mr. Drew to occupy the south half of the second floor of the new block which is the buildings south of the Journal office. The floor will be divided into two rooms, furnished with folding doors. The front room will be furnished as office, and a bookkeeper has already been employed to take charge of affairs. This is certainly one of the wisest things the Directors have done, and is a great improvement over the old order of affairs. The Journal complements them on the wisdom of their choice.”

The Cherokee Strip Livestock Association was an association of cattlemen who leased grazing rights In the Indian Territory. The largest cattle operations of the time were owned by corporations of English investors. One wonders if Tom's English background was beneficial in his dealing with these cattlemen. In any case, Tom Drew was successful enough to afford a visit to England, arriving back in New York aboard the ship Servia on the 23rd of February 1886.

Tom also opened a general store in Caldwell and was most likely instrumental in helping his two sons open up general stores in Oklahoma following the land rush. Like his Walch brother-in-laws, Tom also staked out an Oklahoma Land Rush claim in Kingfisher. Given Tom's multiple business ventures and construction background, the Drew home in Caldwell most likely was a stately affair. We know it was large enough to house a piano on which their daughter Maude gave lessons.

Margaret Walch, 68, died on the 29th of April 1918 while in Wichita, Kansas, and was buried in the Caldwell Cemetery. Following her death, her husband Tom returned to live in the town of his birth, Paington, England, where he died in 1934.

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We'll take a closer look at the Drew family experiences in the Oklahoma Land Rush and follow the trail of descendents in later blogs.

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The photo of the Thomas Drew family is courtesy of Jean (DeFord) Conlin of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Maggie's great grandniece.