SOMEDAY - TODAY WILL BE A LONG TIME AGO
         By Roy Seaver

April 6, 1977

  One time in the long distant past a fairly young man
and his wife and family left Lancaster County In Pennsylvania.
They were heading west. They probably left that morning
with mixed emotions. (I imagine it was morning don't you))
One, the joy of starting in quest of a new untamed country.
The other of leaving friends and close relatives behind and
perhaps forever. They were in two covered wagons. (again I
imagine there were two wagons, because this couple had eleven
children.) They left one lonely grave behind; a daughter
named Martha who died at the age of about fifteen. I imagine
this was around 1850 when they left.
  These eleven children's names were: - Let me tell you
who the couple were first: They were David Seaver Sr. and
his wife Margret. Note how her name is spelled. It was
spelled that way on her tomb stone. Now the children - not
from the oldest to the youngest as I have forgot. David Jr.,
George Wesly, known as Wes. William Aaron, later known as
Billy or Uncle Billy, who eventually came to be my grandfather.
Abraham, John, James, Elizabeth; who never married and died
from a cancer of the breast about 1894 at age 61. Katherine,
Caroline, Margaret who married a man named Hulse and went
to California and came back 61 years later for a visit, and
Mary. She married Ed. Vermillion who died fairly young 1888.
They had no children. Mary died February 15, 1907. I guess
they started west around 1850 for I do know they lived a
while in Terra Haute, Indiana, and the Sr. David ran a grist
mill there run by a water wheel. While there William or
"Billy" was working on the water wheel and somehow hurt his
shoulder which left one shoulder lower than the other. Long
years later when he was my grandfather he told us grand-
children his low shoulder was caused by reaching down pick-
ing bugs off his watermelon vines (he raised lots of melons)
and I believed it till I was almost grown.
  All these children except 3 lived, raised families and
died around Fort Scott except Abraham (Abe) who lived for
years east of Nevada, Missouri and died there, but is buried
in Lath Branch Cemetery east of Fort Scott.
  As I stated Margaret or "Mag" Hulse went to California,
and james or "Jim" who also went to California at age 16
and never returned. I think Mag Hulse lived at Stockton.
California and "Jim" at Fresno or it could be the other way
around. We, here at Fort Scott think maybe Tom Seaver the
famous ball player in the 1970's could be a decendent of
"Jim" as Tom came from the same town.
  In writing this I will probably "jump" around a lot,
writing down things I remember just as they come to me.
  David Seaver Sr. was born somewhere in the east, probably
in Pennsylvania as they were "Pennsylvania Dutch" but really
Germans. I imagine Margaret his wife was the same nationality.
  David Sr. was born in the year May 1810. He died on
July 1891 - age 81. His wife was born February 19, 1811
and died February 23 1892 age 81. Both are buried in Lath
Branch Cemetery.
  Now I'm going to try to tell what I know or remember
hearing about each of these children. I remember Mary. She
died of a stroke; and her and her husband Ed. Vermillion are
both buried in Lath Branch Cenetery. She was 75 when she
died. Ed. died 1888. John never married. When I remember
him he lived about one-half mile south of Lath Branch School
house and what is usually called the back road or 8th street
road. I think he was around 82 when he died.
  My first name is John and I may have been named after
him.
  Abraham was married twice. I think his first wife who
was an "Eddleman" from Lath Branch neighborhood died young.
They had a girl named Lammie. Abraham born 1842 - died 1924
age 82. His second wife's name was Susie. They had two boys
Ed and "Curt" (Probably Curtis). Curt had a son named Glen.
I think Glen had 2 or 3 daughters.
  Now about Margaret Seaver Hulse and "Jim" or James. I
know nothing whatever about their families. Wes married
"Kate" Allison. She was affectionaly known as far back as I
can remember as "Aunt Fate" Seaver by those who knew her well
and sometimes by the Seaver family as "Aunt Kate-Wes" as
at that time there was another Kate Seaver. This is 1977
and she has been gone for many years but still people of the
neighborhood speak of her and Uncle Wes' farm as "Aunt Kate
Seavers' place" not Wes Seaver's place!
  Now David Seaver Jr. born 1850 died 1945 - age 95.
lived and died on what is part of the original David Sr's.
farm.
  I might stop here and say that about the spring of 1858
after coming to Kansas in 1857 and wintering west of Fort
Scott along the Marmaton river by what is known as Stewarts
Dam; he, I think, homesteaded about 240 acres running east
from what is now the East City limits south of Highway 54
l 1/2 miles then south 1/2 mile then west 1 1/2 miles. Some of his
children became owners later of part of this original farm.
John had 40 acres, Dave Jr. had 40 acres and Wes had 42 acres.
Chester, son of Will and Ida still live on part of the
original farm. The family home was just west of what most
people speak of as the "Rock Filling Station" (see note on
page 14) where a Mrs. Gardner now lives. It is a frame house
now but before that was a stone house which I remember. It
had a basement facing the north which was open north to the
road. The family cooked and ate in the basement but the
living quarters were upstairs. Really ground level at the
back or south side. So when the women had a meal ready and
the rest were upstairs, they had a school bell that was
brought with them from Pennsylvania. They would ring the bell.
I have been told that David Sr. always went barefooted
in the summer. One time a summer storm came up, it looked
like a tornado. He had heard when a tornado came to get
outisde, get down low and hold on to something solid. So
he ran and laid down by holding on to the trunk of a hedge
tree. After the storm he said he never got such a whipping
in his life as that tree gave him!
  Now David Jr. (Uncle Dave as he was called in my time)
married a Rhoda Flenner, I believe. They had 2 children,
William or little Bill Seaver as most people called him.
I think he was born in December 1877 and died in the early
1940's. In 43-44 or 45. He married Ida Allen and they had
3 children. Carl, Chester and Evelyn. Chester married
Mildred Rogers and Evelyn married Billy Wiggans who was a
preacher.
  David's other child was a daughter named Norah. She
married a "Rufe" Misner.
  Now time went on and Uncle Dave got old, probably in
his 80's and this was in the "Model T" days. Uncle Dave was
walking to town. My cousin Howard Simmons with an old bat-
tered up noisy Model T, with the top down caught up with
Uncle Dave and picked him up. The old rattly Ford was
bouncing along in the east end of town and Uncle Dave said
to let him out here. My cousin said "arent you going clear
up town?" and Uncle Dave said yes but be -D--- if I'm going
to ride any farther in this thing! So he got out and took
out down the sidewalk - Ha. He was 94 or 96 when he died.
George Wesley or Uncle Wes and Aunt Kate had two boys
- Oscar and Mirt. Oscar worked in a bank in Parsons and
Mirt married Nettle Schakelford. They had one daughter.
Mildred who never married and now (1977) lives on South
National Avenue in Fort Scott.
  I may he a little vague or mixed up about Katherine
Seaver, born 1837 - died 1921 and Caroline Seaver, born 1833
died 1862 - Age 29, but will tell it the way I now remember
it.
  I think Caroline married a man by the name of Richard
Jacks. She had 2 children. Horace and Mag, who married
Jim Shepherd a harness maker. Horace had a son named Byron,
I think.
  Now Caroline soon died and Richard Jacks married
Caroline's sister Katherine. Born 1837 - died 1921 Age 84,
who raised Horace and May. (Later - I'm not sure just who
raised them)!!
  Here is where I'm a little confused. Richard Jacks was
a police man; He and Katherine had had a baby; I think the
baby died soon after birth and Katherine was still in bed
from child birth. Anyhow Richard was on duty at night,
Katherine was alone and a nigger tried to get in the house
with her. What happened I don't know. But about the same
time Richard was killed in the line of duty. The shock of
the whole thing left Katherine a nervous wreck and she was
a little "off" the rest of her life. I remember her. I
have been spelling her name starting with a K. Maybe it
began with a C, as in my time most people spoke of her as
"Cass". Both Caroline and Katherine are buried in Lath
Branch as well as Rich Jacks and the baby and Horace Jacks.
  Now about William Aaron; my grandfather. He married
Francis Shannon always known as or called Fanny - I know
very little of her family. Her father was a high ranking
officer in the U.S. Army. Her mother died while she was
young. She had a brother killed in the Civil War and
another brother named probably Samuel but called Sammy. I
remember him. Grandma Fanny told us grand children lots of
things that happened "way back." The one I remember most
was that Abraham Lincoln stayed all night at their house
and he was so long they had to place chairs at the foot of
the bed to make the bed longer for him. Also she said she
sat on his lap. How old she was I'll never know.
  Grandpa in his early days was a school teacher. Teach-
ing in a log school house which sat on the ground which is
now Lath Branch Cemetary. Later he and his father-in-law
ran a clothing store situated where the Leipman Building is
on the west side of North Main Street. Another time they
ran a grocery store on the South West corner of Wall and
Scott Avenue.
  Grandpa and Grandma had nine children. Willie died at
age 5 years and 4 months in 1870 and Carrie at age 1 1/2 years
in 1868.
  They were married April 10, 1864 in Fort Scott. The
other children were Minnie, Sylvester "Ves". Oliver "Oll"
Margaret "Mag", Wintford "Wint", Etta "Et" and Charley.
  Minnie first married a Smith. They had one child
Gertrude "Gertie". They separated and she married Louie
Leppleman. No children.
  "Ves" married Maggie Phillips. December 3 - 95. They
had one child, Pearl, born 1896. She married John Wilcox.
They had one boy, Clifford. John had a glass eye. when he
was a boy a horse kicked him in the eye. Clifford married
and lives in or around Kansas City. He was born around 1913.
He really was married twice. Had a daughter by his first
wife, they separated. He then married Joan Jaqua; (may be
spelled wrong).
  Now we come to my Grandpa William Aaron Seaver family.
They had 9 children (guess I'm repeating). "Oll" married
Mamie Hayes a niece of old Dr. Hayes daughter of John Hayes.
They had 2 girls, Carrie born June 17, 1901 and Vinna, born
February 8, 1903. Their mother died about the last of August
in 1903. Grandpa and Grandma Seaver raised the two girls.
"Oll" died in July 1917. Carrie married Howard Simmons.
Vinna married Clyde Williams. "Mag" married John Fairman.
They had one child Ora. He died January 21, 1977. Born 1899.
Etta married Will Fairman a brother of John and they had five
children. Willie and Herbie, Both died before they were
4 years old, then Charlie, Carl and Ethel. Will died around
1911-12. Ett. died 1942 or 43. Charles Seaver married
Mamie Klontz. They had 6 children. Asher (committed suicide
about age 20) Fannie, Hazel, Waneta, Leslie, Raymond (died
a baby, maybe 2 years old), and Melvin.
  Hazel married Jay Swartz. he committed suicide some
time in the middle 1940's. Shot in the forehead, died 2
hours later in hospital. I helped load him in the ambulance.
 Now I'm down to my parents. Wint and Edith Gorse. They
were married September 21. 1898. Five children were born to
them. Roy (myself) May 1899. Glen, November 1904. Howard,
January 1907. Frank, August 1911, and Naomi, September 1922.
Naomi came along a little late. "Mom" was 39 and Dad was 44.
  I married Mettie Hamilton December 14 1921. She died
May 16, 1973. We had 4 children. Norman born January 27,
1923; a boy born February 11, 1925, lived only a few hours.
Billy born April 24, 1926, and another boy born in February
7th 1928. It also only lived a few hours (no names).
  Nonnan is now married to Barbara, a fine woman if you
ever saw one. Norman had 3 girls by a former marriage,
Marie, Kathleen and Linda. Kathleen died rather suddenly
in 1974 age 16. Marie is married and has 2 girls (1977) a
boy born 1978. All live in California around the Bay Area.
  Billy first married Margaret Mitchell. They had Lois
and Tommy. Lois lives in Olathe and Tommy lives in Pit-
tsburg (June 77 in Olathe). After he and Margaret separated
he married Wanda Bilyeu at Spring Hill, Kansas 1958. My
she is a nice woman! They have a boy Alan and a girl Waneta.
  My mother's parents came from Germany. Grandpa Gorse
came from Hamburg at about 21 years of age to avoid the
"draft" there. Was a stow-away on a sail ship that was 5
weeks getting to America. It came down the St. Laurence
River to Buffalo, New York and froze in the river about a
mile from shore in January 1867. They had to haul the
freight to shore on the ice with oxen and sleds. He had
less than a dollar when he landed here. One of his first
jobs was a pick and shovel job. He didn't know our language
and he was so glad he had a job and was working too hard!
One of his co-workers tried to get him to slow down. He
couldn't understand him. The man got more firm, louder!
Grandpa thought he was cussing him and drew back his shovel
to hit the man and the man smiled and showed him by signs
and motions not to work so hard but watch the boss and rest
while his head was turned and when he looked around work!
  He had to work his way across on the ship; and while
way out on the horizontal boom or sail pole that extends
out past the side of the ship, the ship rocked way over his
way and "doused" him under and he thought he would have to
turn loose and come up for air, but the ship rocked back in
time.
  One time he was trying to get a job in a Methodist
Community. After trying several places and was asked if he
was a church member (Methodist) he said no. He then decided
if he got a job he would have to be a "Methodist". So the
next place he asked for a job they, as usual asked if he
belonged to a church (Now grandpas talked awful "broken
German" in my time) and so he told them yes, he was a
METT-I-TUST; and he got the job but had to go to church with
them every Sunday.
  After getting home from church they would get a keg of
whiskey out and all had a drink!! He died of a cancer of
the stomach December 11, 1920. He had a driving mare named
Mabel. He wanted me to "curry" her. He said for me to
"Scratch" ol "Maple" while Grant ma got breakfast. One
time he almost got stuck with his team coming up a hill.
He said; "Dey couldn't hardly pull de hill up."
  If us grand children weren't behaving he would say:
"naw-naw-naw-ta-sa-sa." We didn't know what it meant, but
we sure knew enough to behave. He was always good to us tho.
  Grandma Gorse came over from Germany when she was about
six I think. I don't know what part tho. About all I know
of her, or about her is that her maiden name was Elizabeth
Hood. I think she was born in 1848. Her father and mother
were both dead by the time she was 13. Probably buried at
Kansas City. She had a hard time from then on as the people
that raised her was awful mean to her. Her and grandpa met
while she was working in a restaurant in Kansas City. She
had a brother killed in the Civil War.
  Grandma died July 1920. Grandpa died December 1920.
They are both buried in the Deerifled, Missouri cemetery.
They had 7 children. Mary (died January 1920) Charlie, Oma,
Emma, Frank (died 1968) and Edith, my mother (died 1963)
  Charlie was killed in a Sheffied Mills accident in
Kansas City in October 1907. Willie died as the result of
a car accident about 1954 or 55.
  Grandpa Gorse bought his farm just across the Kansas-
Missouri line in Missouri from Indians. I was told he had
to pay for it three times before he got a clear title to it.
He ran a "line House" or saloon on his place near the State
line before my time and later ran a saloon in "Clayton" or
Eve, Missouri, until around 07-08 or 10.
  Now back to Grandpa Seaver: Before there was a rail-
road in Fort Scott he hauled freight from Kansas City to
Fort Scott by wagon. Once on a trip wolves began following
him smelling the bacon he had, and surrounded the wagon so
he cut off a piece and threw to them and while they fought
over it he would drive fast to get away from them; but when
the fight was over here they would come again so he would
cut off another piece and so on until they gave up!
  Another time as he was coming up a hill one of his
horses "balked." He couldn't get it to go on so he un-
hitched the other horse, led it to the top of the hill and
fed it. The balky one stood there hitched to the wagon and
pawed and nickered. Then he hitched the other one back up
and the balky one was ready and in a hurry to get to the top
of the hill to be fed.
  Grandma Seaver said when she was 8 or 10 her folks went
to town and left her home planning on getting home before
nite. But when evening came and she had what chores done
she could, she lay down across the bed watching out the window
for them and dropped off to sleep. She slept all night with
out waking and the house open and Indians all threw the
country then.
  Something had detained her folks and they came home
early the next day.
  Another time: There was an Indian Cemetery close and
instead of burying them it seems they tied the bodies up-
right or on a platform off the ground, with a picket fence
around them. The dead bodies had beads on them. Grandma
and some other girls took long sticks, reached thru the
pickets and fished off some of the beads!!!
  When I was a boy there was a man named Hamp Ward lived
nearby. Here is a story told about him and 2 other men in
the early days: They were in Fort Scott on horse back.
They all 3 lived different directions from a crossroad near
the state line. They had been drinking heavily. They decided
to race each other to the state line which was beyond the
crossroad where they turned off to get to their homes. All
3 in their minds were headed beyond the cross road to the
State line, but their horses turned off at the cross road
heading for their respective homes and all 3 men rolled off
their horses as they (the horses) turned.
  Hamp Ward told of being in the Anderson prison camp
during the Civil War and men were starving. If a rat showed
up they would shoot it and fight over it and eat it raw.
  When I war a boy all country roads were dirt. Once me
and my dad started to town in the buggy, from near the state
line and the mud rolled up so wide on the front wheels it
rubbed against the shafts. We turned back and went home.
It was too hard for the horse to pull. We had gone only
about one-half mile. At that time going east from Fort Scott
on what is now 54, to the state line, the only bridge or
culvert was across Lath Branch. All the rest of the branches
and little streams you forded. Lath branch bridge was at a
different place from where it is now.
  One time in the 1920's a man was crossing the old bridge
with a steam engine and grain separator and the engine had
just got across, and the bridge broke down taking the separator
with it. The separator was never removed and when the road
war straightened and re-built the separator was covered in
the fill and is still there till this day.
  (Note from page 4) At the old Rock Filling Station
location. there is a well the Seaver family used. They
probably dug it, and it is said that soldiers traveling by
headed for or from the Military Ford where the old Military
Bridge is now, would stop and water their horses from this
well. That was the route of the Old Military Road from Fort
Gibson going north toward Fort Riley.
  The Beal family were real early settlers east of town
as were the Rileys. I know very little about either family.
When I was about maybe 17 there was a "tramp" came walking
in to the Beal yard. Actually he was one of the older
generation of the Beal family. He had walked away from the
family home 40 years earlier and had been a "tramp" all that
time and no one here had ever heard from him. Didn't know
if he was dead or alive. I think he stayed around a few
weeks and took out again!
  In April 1904 there was a flood on the Marmaton River.
Robert Hamilton and his wife Mettie and daughter Elsie, 
about 2, lived in a small two room house on the south bank
of the Marmaton River on the west side of the road, where
the crossing is known as "Slick Rock." The river was
rising. Rob walked to town up the railroad track for
groceries in the afternoon. He had a boat tied to a tree
in the river back of the house. As the river would rise he
would pull the boat up closer and tie it to another tree
closer. By dark the water was getting around the house.
He and his father-in-law Jim Scott had a sawmill there.
The river kept raising and about 10 o'clock at night Rob
Mettie (wife) and Elsie got in the boat (as water was coming
in the house) after putting a few things (furniture) on the
table, and rowed out to the sawmill engine which was still
warm, and sat on top of it until daylight. It had quit
raining when daylight came and they got in the boat and came
south to the foot of the hill. Jim Scott came about daylight
from about 2 miles south of there and was waiting at the
foot of the hill for them. I remember the flood. It was
shortly after daylight when Jim Scott came by my dads place
and dad said: "I wonder where Jim Scott is going so early
this morning?"
  After the water went down my dad and Uncle "Oll" helped
clean the mud out of the house and took the rag carpet down
to the river and washed it. I remember dad coming home and
telling all about the mud in the house and washing the carpet.
By the way - a new sewing machine was setting on the table
and water got so high the table tipped over. Mettie my wife
wasn't born until April 1905. She had the sewing machine
after we were married until in the 60's.
  Somewhere about 1908 or '10 there was a Christmas
program at Victory Schoolhouse. It was a very pleasant
evening for December. Although the wind was blowing real
strong from the south. We went to the program in a spring
wagon. Dad let us out at the schoolhouse. About a block
east was Rileys farm. Dad took the team back there and un-
hitched them and tied them on the north side of the barn,
out of the wind.
  About midway thru the program someone came in saying
the wind had changed to the north and very cold and snowing
hard. Dad went to see about his horses. He said they were
so cold they were just "dancing" around. So, he hitched
them back up and drove them up and down the road from Rileys
place to Beals, about 2 blocks in the trot till the program
was over, so as to warm them up! I remember coming out of
the schoolhouse and dad out there waiting for us.
  Then there was the "September Flood" as most old timers
called it. It was Sept 7, 1915. It had been a rainy spell
and the night of the 6th it rained all night. Heavier west
near Uniontown. And by noon water was all over Belltown.
The Belltown bridge over the Marmaton was a two span steel
bridge. A house came floating down and hit one section
knocking it off its supporting pillars and down it went in
river. After the river had gone down traffic forded the
river just east of the bridge. Remember most traffic was
horse drawn in 1915. That was the biggest flood here in
history and still holds the record. On east Wall street
water was over the street east of the Frisco tracks and
maybe even over the tracks. It got up to the windows of
the old Katy Depot on North National Avenue. Water was
backed up "Old Buck Run" to sixth street. "Katy" steam
locomotives were setting on the tracks near National Avenue
and water got halfway up the aide on them putting out the
fire in them.
  It was several months before a new bridge was built
and the only other way to cross the river was over the 2nd
street bridge. Here where I live now on Slick Rock Road,
it was clear up to the bottom of the hill.
  Mettie's grandma Hamilton came to Kansas when she was
16 years old (in a covered wagon of course) from East St.
Louis, Illinois. I don't know who she was with but they
came to the neighborhood of Center School north of Slick
Rock Crossing. She told of meeting a circus on the way here,
near Nevada, Missouri, I think. It was traveling overland,
coming right down the road. Horses camels giraffes,
elephants etc.! I think her maiden name was Shinn. She had
two half brothers Charlie and Kale.  I don't know if this
happened here in Kansas or Illinois. She was several years
older than Charlie. They had a well at the foot of a hill.
She went to get a bucket of water. Charlie ran ahead of
her. The well had no "curb" over it. Just a floor with
hole to draw water thru. The cover was off the hole.
Charlie didn't stop in time and fell in the hole. The well
was almost full. She ran and leaned over and hollered
"give me your hand Charlie," and as he came up his hand was
sticking up so she grabbed his hand and pulled him out.
And saved him. He and Kale or Cale lived and died around
Baxter Springs, Kansas.
  My grandma Seavers told of her grandmother on her fathers
side living with them when she was a small girl. That would
have been my great-great grandma. Well she lived to be 107
years old. She got very "childish." When my grandma would
get a new doll the old grandma would have to have one too!!
Now think of this: My grandma was born in 1848. If the old
grandma was 107, say when my grandma was 7 the old grandma
was probably born in or around 1748, give or take a few years.
  We have just celebrated the 200th year of our United
States. If the old grandma was born around even 1750 she
would have been around 26 years old at the time of the sign-
ing of the Declaration of Independence and could have told
my grandma first handed about George Washington and the
Revolutionary War. And to think I and you Norman knew and
talked to a woman (my grandma Seaver) who knew and talked
to a woman born at least 25 years before the Revolutionary
War!! Over 225 years ago now 1977. Isn't that something!
  Now back to Hamp Ward see page 13. He had a baby die
in 1861. He had a daughter Joann or Johan who married
Rose Norris. The parents of Lizzie and ~iuna Norris Simmons.
Joann died 1961 - 100 years after her brother, in 1861.
  There was an early settler named Peter Riley. He and
his family lived about a mile west of the Missouri State
line on what is now known as Highway 54. But when I was a
boy it was known as the "Nevada Road." Peter Riley died in
1907. My dad, Uncle Ves and "Jack" Sauvain net up with him
during his last illness. I think they were with him when
he died. He was what was called a "country preacher". I
heard him preach in the old frame Victory School House. He
had been married 3 times. I was told once that in the pulpet
he said he had 3 wives, one in heaven, one in hell and one
on earth! I think one of his wives was an Indian. It was
said his funeral was one of the largest ever known at that
time around Fort Scott.
  Back to the Hamiltons: John, Mettie's uncle told me
about this. During the Civil War and General Prices raid
in Eastern Kansas, Price war coming south from Pleasanton
intending to raid Fort Scott but was met north of town and
turned east and went near the Center and Shilow school area.
During the skirmish that ensued a horse got its leg broken.
And was left there. The old Hamiltons took the horse, doctored
it up and kept it for a work horse. John later said he
remembered the horse and had worked it when he was a boy.
Read: "Early Days of Fort Scott" about "Prices Raid."
  Now back to the Seavers. Mildred Seaver my cousin told
me her grandpa, who was one of the children of David Sr. that
came to Kansas with his parents from Pennsylvania said they
were headed for California but upon reaching Fort Scott were
so tired of traveling they decided to stop a few weeks and
rest up and during that time decided they liked it here and
just stayed. I read recently that in 1860 the population
of Fort Scott was 262. Seavers came in 1855. January 1978
a 50-year ago item in the Tribune says they came November
10, 1857. It reads as follows:

         50 Years ago
            (1928)

 Mr. G.W. Seaver, better known as "Uncle Wes" of the Lath
 Branch neighborhood, celebrated his 82nd birthday Monday
 January 16. He is one of the oldest living pioneers
 coming to Kansas from Pennsylvania with his father,
 mother and 11 brothers, November 10, 1857. They made
 their first camp on First Street near where the Buck Run
 Bridge now stands. Later they occupied a log cabin near
 Stuart's Dam. For 72 years Mr. Seaver has lived cont-
 inuously on his farm one mile east of Fort Scott enjoying
 the highest esteem of a host of friends. He is the only
 one living who came to Fort Scott at the same time. The
 late Mrs. Charles Goodlander being the last to pass on.
 Mr. Seaver helped cut the trees for the old Blockhouse
 that now stands on the Plaza. He also gave out valiant
 service in the Civil War as a member of the Sixth Kansas
 Cavalry. He carried the mail from Fort Scott to the
 Indian Territory in 1861.

  Now I am 80 years old, in the same age group as these
I have written about were when I remember them. Even as
they have gone the way of all mankind. I, too, will soon
finish my pilgrimage here on Earth and go to meet my maker;
and maybe 50 years from now someone will be saying: "yes I
remember him or her, you or me, when I was young, don't you
remember them?" And so it is and always will be down thru
the ages to come, someone will be saying; "I remember, I
remember, I remember, and on, and on, and on ......"