I recently had the pleasure of touring around Linn County, Kansas – a place where I believe two lines of my husband’s family briefly lived. The trip was interesting, but relatively unproductive. I didn’t gain any new information but met some lovely people and toured some wonderful places.

Linn County, Kansas

Linn County, Kansas, was no stranger to battle and bloodshed. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act called for a vote of the people to be held upon statehood to determine whether Kansas would be a slave state or a free state. This kicked off a decade of political killings and election fraud. Pro- and Anti-Slavery groups battled back and forth, killing each other, burning houses and buildings, etc. throughout the 1850’s. This was followed up by the Civil War in the 1860’s. Union and Confederate soldiers clashed at the Battle of Mine Creek outside of Mound City, Linn County, Kansas. It was this two-decade long bloody mess that Bart’s family chose to move into.

William PAGE and Rebecca DUKES

This is the only image I have of William PAGE:

I also only have one image of his 2nd great grandmother, Rebecca DUKES:

Bart’s 2nd great grandfather, William Benjamin PAGE, moved westward into Kansas Territory. The earliest I’ve located him in Kansas Territory was in 1859 where he was living in Paris Township in Linn County. I haven’t found him in Kansas in 1860. However, it was common (due to the Border Wars over slavery) for people to leave and come back and sometimes to leave and never come back). William PAGE did come back, though. On 10 August 1861, William enlisted in the 5th Kansas Cavalry, Company D. He mustered in on 11 February 1862 and he mustered out on 5 September 1864. He fought for the Union. Just over a month after he mustered out, Union and Confederate troops went head to head at the Battle of Mine Creek near Mound City, Linn County, Kansas.

North of Mine Creek about 6 miles was the area where the soon-to-be-widow Rebecca (DUKES) WORKMAN lived with her parents, Henry and Martha (TATUM) DUKES. Rebecca was married at the time to Private Francis WORKMAN. Francis was taken as a prisoner of war and died before he could get back home. I’ve never found any evidence that Francis and Rebecca had children together. After the war, Rebecca married William PAGE. I can’t pinpoint the exact year they were married. Three separate years from 1866 to 1867 to 1873 have been floated by various researchers but I’ve yet to find a marriage certificate or any definitive source for their marriage. I know they weren’t married as of 23 August 1865. On that date, the census enumerator marked Rebecca as living with her parents, under her married name of Rebecca J. WORKMAN, but listed as a 21-year-old single woman. This is accurate since her first husband, Francis WORKMAN, died in February of that year as a prisoner of war. The DUKES were living in Brooklinn, Scott Township, Linn County, Kansas. William Benjamin PAGE was living with the Jeremiah and Margret FARRIS family south of the WORKMAN-DUKES family. He was living in Paris, Paris Township, Linn County, Kansas. The census enumerator marked that William was 33 years old and single. William was working as a “farm hand”.

There are about 6 miles’ distance on current roads between where Brooklinn was and where Paris was. Brooklinn is the top yellow circle, Paris is the bottom yellow circle. Although the two towns were in different townships, they were close together.

I’ve marked both on this Google map screenshot. Once you arrive at Polly Road and E 1450, if you look East, you’ll see a field that used to be the town of Paris.

Both Paris and Brooklinn are extinct towns in Linn County, Kansas. The only identifying feature left of Brooklinn is the cemetery (shown below) and there is no identifying feature left of Paris to my knowledge. It’s currently being used as farm land. I’m not sure what crop is being grown but I’ve seen a lot of soybean fields here so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the crop they’re growing there.

Both Brooklinn and Paris were founded as pro-slavery towns. However, by 1859 when William PAGE was in this area, the anti-slavery groups had mostly won out over the pro-slavery groups. (Side note: Why the town and the cemetery spelled the names differently I don’t know, but each is spelled as it should be in this blog post. The town was named after the founder of Linn County. I suppose the cemetery name was either misspelled to begin with or it morphed over time to become what it is now.) Here is a picture of Brooklyn Cemetery the day I visited:

It’s a one-way-in, one-way-out cemetery with no place to turn around. It dead-ends at the back. In order to get out, you have to back up through the very narrow front gate and it empties you onto a highway. I don’t recommend driving in there. Just a word of warning… It’s a lovely, peaceful place though. I don’t know of any relatives buried there. I only went because it was the one place left of the now-defunct town of Brooklinn.

As I said, I haven’t been able to document William and Rebecca’s marriage. Their first known child was born in April of 1868 so probably they were married at least by July of 1867 (definitely an assumption my part). In 1870, the family was enumerated for the census on the 26th of July. They were living in Jackson, Paris Township, Linn County, Kansas. I’ve found no record at all outside of the census that would indicate where Jackson was located. The people living in the home were William and his wife Rebecca, their children Henry and Charles, and Arthur DUKES (a 50 year old male). This same man (Arthur) was living with Rebecca’s family in 1865 when Rebecca was a new widow. The logical assumption is that he’s a relative – possibly a brother to Rebecca’s dad Henry, given his age. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to prove who he is or how he’s related/connected to the family yet.

This is the last time I can place the DUKES-PAGE family in Linn County, Kansas. From here, they moved westward into Chautauqua County, Kansas.

On Location

As I said, we were recently able to visit Linn County, Kansas and see some of the places close to where Bart’s family lived. Those places included the Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site where they have a small battlefield tour, library, and museum. We were also able to visit the Marais des Cygnes Massacre State Historical Site. It was a tasteful and interesting memorial to some of the people who were killed in the fights between pro- and anti-slavery factions during the Bleeding Kansas era. In addition to these two places, I visited Brooklyn Cemetery as noted above.

Finally, I visited the Linn County Historical Museum and Genealogy Library in Pleasanton, Kansas. Never underestimate a small town historical museum/library! I highly recommend them. (Quick plug for Mariee Wallace Museum in Jay, Delaware County, Oklahoma!) My visit to Linn County’s museum put me in touch with the Linn County Historical Society President, Theresa Miller, who helped me dig through their files for records on Bart’s family, gave me tips on places to visit, and talked about projects she’s working on for the Linn County museum. Although Theresa’s Linn County marriage records skipped the years I needed to look at, she was able to help me find a potential military record for William PAGE as well as a much-appreciated, detailed history of the now-extinct town of Brooklinn, Kansas. Thanks, Theresa! Below are a few of the wonderful things Theresa has on exhibit. If you ever plan a trip to/through Pleasanton, give Theresa a call at the museum and make an appointment to visit it.

Above is the Muster Register for the 5th Kansas in which William PAGE was enlisted.

Above are possessions of Harlan JACKSON who was a 6th Kansas volunteer and fought at the Battle of Mine Creek. Both of the above images are on exhibit at the museum as part of their military collection.

One additional item from the museum was the plat map for the town of Brooklinn which I was very happy to find.

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Linn County and hope this isn’t my last trip there. I encourage Bart’s family to get out and explore the area, do some research, and have fun!

Happy travels until next time,

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog