by Betty Jane Wilson, society president
"Why Sautrelle?" — Valley Falls, Kan., survivor of three names of which Sautrelle, (French for Grasshopper) was name number two given by the legislature in 1863.
Adoption of the name evoked sundry reactions from citizens and outsiders, especially when the nickname "Sowtail" was substituted for Sautrelle. The name was not acceptable to the citizens so the legislature restored the old name, "Grasshopper Falls" in 1864.
Still the inquiry "Why Sautrelle?"
The subject of the name change, revived in 1874, and an assortment of names were suggested. According to the Kansas Historical Quarterly, ironically, the worst invasion of grasshoppers came the summer of 1874, and the residents of the town, eager to eliminate the name Grasshopper, met with the legislature and in 1875, the bill was passed changing the name to Valley Falls, with no answer to the "Why Sautrelle?" inquiry.
The October 1990, Yesteryear, Jefferson County Genealogical publication, included newspaper quotes dated March 17 and March 31, 1883, respectively, taken from the Annals of Oskaloosa and compiled by Mr. Frank R. Roberts, 1945.
March 17, "R. A. Van Winkle of Arrington reports a conversation he held prior to 1854 with Jos. Robidoux, founder of St. Joseph, Mo., regarding the Delaware or Grasshopper River.
"About the year 1818, Robidoux and others, hauled some merchandise from the Missouri River westward to the bank of this small stream where they traded it to the Indians. While there the party encountered an infestation of grasshoppers, which in two or three days, ate all the grass in the vicinity and later most of the grass in Kansas. From the circumstance, Robidoux and his party named the stream 'Sautrelle' (French for grasshopper).
March 31, "Jas. H. Jones, Grantville, adds a chapter about the first naming of the Delaware River. In 1827, a government surveyor recorded in his field notes the name of the river as Sautrelle or Necushcontabe, the later presumed to be an Indian term, meaning unknown."
The Valley Falls Historical Society Museum will be open at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 23.
August 19, 2014
August 18, 2014
Celebrates 100th birthday: Anna Christina Goodrich, 1928
Compiled by Betty Jane Wilson, society president
"Anna Christina, daughter of Henry and Emily Butler, was born in Granville, Ohio, Dec. 16, 1828. Her parents were members of a colony that moved from Granville, Mass., and established the new town in 1805.
"There were five children in the family, all except Anna dying in infancy or early childhood and Anna was a delicate child. There was little hope that she would even survive to womanhood. It was during the first year of her birth that the first iron rail was laid for the first railroad in American. The stage coaches and canal boats were the only means of public transportation in the states and slow-going sailing vessels were the only method of communication with 'the old world' — taking weeks and often months to cross the Atlantic. Would anyone at that time have been so credulous as to believe that the little girl would live to see the day when not only would there be a network of railroads with palaces on wheels, steamships plowing the seas on a regular schedule, but that men would fly not only from place to place on the continent, but across the seas, and that communication by telegram, telephone, and radio would become instantaneous all over the entire world?"
A story taken from the Topeka Capital, Dec. 23, 1928, expressed these words of awe and respect in the following story titled "Girl Doomed to Early Death Lives to Be 100."
"Valley Falls, Kan. Dec. 22, 1928, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. A.D. Kendall, and surrounded by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a host of neighbors and friends of years, Mrs. George Goodrich celebrated her centennial birthday last Sunday.
"A lover of the outdoors and her father an expert horseman, she became an expert horsewoman to which she attributed much of the credit for her health and long life.
"She was eight years old when the first telegraph communication was perfected by Samuel Morse and 37 when the first cable was laid across the Atlantic. She was 15 when the first postage stamp was used. Prior to that time, postage was paid in cash by the recipient of the letter and based on the mileage. The miracle of electricity had not been discovered, an open fireplace, 'grease dips,' or candles made of tallow, were sources for light.
"John Quincy Adams was the president and the United States was still struggling in a effort to become a world leader. No one would have imagined that those states would take the commanding lead of the entire world in education, invention, trade, arms, finance, and luxury, yet all of these 'Mother Goodrich' has seen come to pass.
"She was educated in the Episcopalian female college of Granville and taught school for a number of years, so efficient in instruction that many children from the surrounding districts came to her school rather than attend their own.
"She married George Goodrich in Granville June 22, 1853, and as was the custom of that day, visited Niagara Falls, without which trip no wedding was deemed complete. On Oct. 17, 1878, the family moved to Valley Falls and located in the house built for them by Mark Hillyer, now (1928) the parish residence of the Catholic congregation. Here they lived until the new home was built on Broadway. Mr. Goodrich died Dec. 18, 1910, since which time she has lived with her daughters, Alma and Lida. Her family has always been her world. She attributes her long life largely to regular exercise, moderation in eating, the ability never to worry, and the use of cistern water. In other words, 'to work and love and service.'
"Those of the immediate relatives present Sunday were: Harry S. Goodrich, Brentwood, Calif., Mrs. May Allen, Spokane, Wash., Mrs. Kate S. Kendall, and Misses Alma and Lida Goodrich, Valley Falls, son and daughters; Mrs. W.A. Turnbull, Los Angeles, Calif., Mrs. Henry Starr, Tulare, Calif., Mrs. W.M.B. Lord, Sanford, Maine, Mrs. Gordon A. Bergu, Morgantown, W. Va., Mrs. Lida Ferguson, and Mrs. Ina Leglar, granddaughters; Miss Constance Lord, Sanford, Maine, Master Gordon Goodrich Bergu, Morgantown, W. Va., and Miss Ina Bumgardner, Lawrence, great-grandchildren; and a host of old friends." — Source: Yesteryears, April 1990.
The Valley Falls Historical Society Museum will open at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 16.
Clarke Davis
Davis Publications, Inc.
The Oskaloosa Independent
The Valley Falls Vindicator
785-945-3257
Fax: 785-945-3444
"Anna Christina, daughter of Henry and Emily Butler, was born in Granville, Ohio, Dec. 16, 1828. Her parents were members of a colony that moved from Granville, Mass., and established the new town in 1805.
"There were five children in the family, all except Anna dying in infancy or early childhood and Anna was a delicate child. There was little hope that she would even survive to womanhood. It was during the first year of her birth that the first iron rail was laid for the first railroad in American. The stage coaches and canal boats were the only means of public transportation in the states and slow-going sailing vessels were the only method of communication with 'the old world' — taking weeks and often months to cross the Atlantic. Would anyone at that time have been so credulous as to believe that the little girl would live to see the day when not only would there be a network of railroads with palaces on wheels, steamships plowing the seas on a regular schedule, but that men would fly not only from place to place on the continent, but across the seas, and that communication by telegram, telephone, and radio would become instantaneous all over the entire world?"
A story taken from the Topeka Capital, Dec. 23, 1928, expressed these words of awe and respect in the following story titled "Girl Doomed to Early Death Lives to Be 100."
"Valley Falls, Kan. Dec. 22, 1928, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. A.D. Kendall, and surrounded by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a host of neighbors and friends of years, Mrs. George Goodrich celebrated her centennial birthday last Sunday.
"A lover of the outdoors and her father an expert horseman, she became an expert horsewoman to which she attributed much of the credit for her health and long life.
"She was eight years old when the first telegraph communication was perfected by Samuel Morse and 37 when the first cable was laid across the Atlantic. She was 15 when the first postage stamp was used. Prior to that time, postage was paid in cash by the recipient of the letter and based on the mileage. The miracle of electricity had not been discovered, an open fireplace, 'grease dips,' or candles made of tallow, were sources for light.
"John Quincy Adams was the president and the United States was still struggling in a effort to become a world leader. No one would have imagined that those states would take the commanding lead of the entire world in education, invention, trade, arms, finance, and luxury, yet all of these 'Mother Goodrich' has seen come to pass.
"She was educated in the Episcopalian female college of Granville and taught school for a number of years, so efficient in instruction that many children from the surrounding districts came to her school rather than attend their own.
"She married George Goodrich in Granville June 22, 1853, and as was the custom of that day, visited Niagara Falls, without which trip no wedding was deemed complete. On Oct. 17, 1878, the family moved to Valley Falls and located in the house built for them by Mark Hillyer, now (1928) the parish residence of the Catholic congregation. Here they lived until the new home was built on Broadway. Mr. Goodrich died Dec. 18, 1910, since which time she has lived with her daughters, Alma and Lida. Her family has always been her world. She attributes her long life largely to regular exercise, moderation in eating, the ability never to worry, and the use of cistern water. In other words, 'to work and love and service.'
"Those of the immediate relatives present Sunday were: Harry S. Goodrich, Brentwood, Calif., Mrs. May Allen, Spokane, Wash., Mrs. Kate S. Kendall, and Misses Alma and Lida Goodrich, Valley Falls, son and daughters; Mrs. W.A. Turnbull, Los Angeles, Calif., Mrs. Henry Starr, Tulare, Calif., Mrs. W.M.B. Lord, Sanford, Maine, Mrs. Gordon A. Bergu, Morgantown, W. Va., Mrs. Lida Ferguson, and Mrs. Ina Leglar, granddaughters; Miss Constance Lord, Sanford, Maine, Master Gordon Goodrich Bergu, Morgantown, W. Va., and Miss Ina Bumgardner, Lawrence, great-grandchildren; and a host of old friends." — Source: Yesteryears, April 1990.
The Valley Falls Historical Society Museum will open at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 16.
Clarke Davis
Davis Publications, Inc.
The Oskaloosa Independent
The Valley Falls Vindicator
785-945-3257
Fax: 785-945-3444
August 06, 2014
Window displays for August 2014
by Betty Jane Wilson, society president
The Valley Falls Historical Society Museum's seasonal window scene for August consists of scores of Jefferson County, Kan., automobile license plates with issue dates as early as 1939.
Displayed against a traditional 4-H exhibit mural backdrop, painted by local artist Susan Phillips, the license plates accompanied by a series of mega photos of Jefferson County and local citizens in their vehicles of past years, honor the antique cars and drivers participating in the 4-H parade. Welcome to the 12 4-H clubs, 325 members, and 124 adult leaders!
The veterans' window features the American Eagle, symbol of liberty. A colorful eagle symbol plaque, attached to a dark blue background and surrounded by miniature American flags, and military company service flags with select eagle figurines in the foreground, complete the August window display.
The society's museum will be open at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9.
The Valley Falls Historical Society Museum's seasonal window scene for August consists of scores of Jefferson County, Kan., automobile license plates with issue dates as early as 1939.
Displayed against a traditional 4-H exhibit mural backdrop, painted by local artist Susan Phillips, the license plates accompanied by a series of mega photos of Jefferson County and local citizens in their vehicles of past years, honor the antique cars and drivers participating in the 4-H parade. Welcome to the 12 4-H clubs, 325 members, and 124 adult leaders!
The veterans' window features the American Eagle, symbol of liberty. A colorful eagle symbol plaque, attached to a dark blue background and surrounded by miniature American flags, and military company service flags with select eagle figurines in the foreground, complete the August window display.
The society's museum will be open at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9.
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