The History of the Early Settlement of Norton County, Kansas

Page 18

be organized and that S. W. Reed, J. W. Beeber and J. C. McGavren be appointed commissioners, D. C. Coleman clerk, and that the county seat be located at Billingsville:

Thomas Brown,	Marander Beeber,
D. C. Coleman,	J. A. Gishwiller,
C. Clumer,	Felix Wood,
Solomon Marsh,	L. M. West,
James W. Vance,	M. M. West,
Fred E. Vance,	Bruce Emmert,
Smith L. Coal,	George Lamb,
George W. Cole,	Canni Hooker,
John Kelly, his (x) mark,	S. R. Rool,
S. M. Miles,	S. T. Rool,
W. M. Jones,	I. Anderson,
Seh Thomas,	Peter Cockburn,
Paul Jones,	N. Hitchcock,
Fred Smith,	N. Cox,
M. R. Jones,	D. A. Sounders,
N. R. Wood,	F. Dir,
J. W. Brown,	Jacob Dir,
C. Cook,	J. G. Gum,
N. Man,	Henry Somick,
Thos. Smallwood,	Thos. Smith.

Before me a Notary Public in and for Cloud county, state of Kansas, personally came Peter Cockburn, N. Hitchcock and C. Cook, who being duly sworn says that the above are the genuine names of the householders and legal electors of Norton county, state of Kansas, and that these affiants verily believe that there are six hundred inhabitants in the said county, as stated in the above memorial.

PETER COCKBURN,
N. HITCHCOCK,
C. COOK.

Sworn and subscribed to this 14th day of June 1872.
[SEAL]

N. H. BILLINGS,
Notary Public

This petition contained the names of only eight actual settlers, and their names were put on without their knowledge. This petition was so defective that the Governor refused to act upon it, but Billings was not the kind of man to get discouraged; he did not permit trifles in the matter of numbers to stand in the way of hatching this out as a full fledged county; so, without leaving Topeka, he prepared another petition which he presented to the Governor on the 3 of July, of which the following is an exact copy:

To His Honor,
Jas. M. Harvey
Gov. of Kansas
We, the undersigned, residents and householders of Norton county and legal electors of the State of Kansas, do solemnly swear that Norton county and State of Kansas contains at least six hundred inhabitants, and al least twenty of said inhabitants are free holders to the best of our knowledge and belief.

DAVID TURNER,
PETTER DAY,
H. H. JOHNSON his x mark.

Subscribed and sworn to this 3rd day of July 1873 before me.

N. H. BILLINGS,
Notary Public

in and for Cloud County, Kansas.

Following this was another petition to the Governor which reads exactly as
follows:
To His Honor
Jas. M. Harvey
Gov. of Kansas
We, the undersigned inhabitants and house holders of Norton county, and legal electors of the State of Kansas. Believing that the above named County contains at least Six Hundred Inhabitants and that at least twenty of said Inhabitants are Free Holders. And we do hereby petition your Honor to Organize Said County by appointing Shelby D. Reed, V. S. Beeber and R. S. Vance County Commissioners and David C. Coleman County Clerk and that Richard M. Johnson be appointed to Take the Census of Said County and that the county seat be located at Billingsville:

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