OTHER EARLY LAND HOLDINGS

Besides the land purchase of John Whetstone, there were other sizable transactions in various directions from the townsite of Pomona. we have been unable to get complete information about all of them. Around 1865-66, the Hon. John Palmer Usher purchased from John McManus about 2,000 acres of land to the west. Judge Usher, a resident of Lawrence, had been First Assistant Secretary of Interior under President Lincoln. When Secretary Smith resigned, judge Usher was chosen to occupy his seat in the cabinet. At that time the work of the secretary of the interior was of the highest importance due to the fact that his department handled the territorial expansion of the country then in progress in the West. Following John Usher's resignation from the cabinet, he settled in Lawrence, Kansas, to take up his duties with the Union Pacific. He died in 1889 at the age of 76. At the time his son John P. resided in Kansas City; Linton, a cattleman was in New Mexico; and Samuel C., a graduate of the Lawrence schools, lived with his mother in Lawrence.

In later years, John and Sam built a large stucco house on the land at Pomona and resided there for many years. Before these sons moved to Pomona, Judge Usher had resident managers on the land. Some of these were John and Frank Kraus, Hugh Maxey, and Harvey Taylor. He used to make trips to Pomona on horseback to oversee and manage the land here. A member of the family tells of Sam, who was graduated from the University of Kansas Law School, being so proud that he graduated at the head of his class but having to admit that there were only two in the class. Linton Usher attended Kansas State University in either its first or second year of existence. It was then completely housed in one old stone building, and the boys lived upstairs. Some time after the deaths of John and Sam, Linton returned to Pomona with part of his family and resided in the stucco house for a number of years. When he died at the age of 99, death removed one of the few remaining persons with personal recollections of Abraham Lincoln and other great figures of the time of the War Between the States. One of his prized possessions was an autograph book which contained a paragraph of Lincoln's second inaugural address written and signed by President Lincoln.

Then to the south, Jonathan Parkinson owned a large tract of land as early as 1869. This was land lying between the river and the town. Some reports give it as about 1,000 acres. Another source of information which was written in 1883 tells that Mundy and Parkinson handled over 5,000 head of cattle in the Indian Territory of Utah in 1882. It said they fed 250 head at Pomona in the winter of 1882-83. Jeff Mundy had come to Pomona with his father in 1873 when they rented the hotel property for about one year. At the end of that time, they rented the large farm lying west of town belonging to Hon. J. P. Usher of Lawrence. Here the father died leaving the family with limited means. Jeff got the idea of buying calves and fat cattle and soon built up a business that placed him in the front rank of the cattle dealers of Kansas. From this report a statement was made that Durhams had a fine start in the locality and that the Calloway breed was rapidly pushing to the front.

About this same time, Nicholas V. Hudelson arrived in Ottawa from Paoli, Indiana. He brought his family to Kansas in 1874. They bought 160 acres of land in Greenwood Township and moved there from Ottawa by ox team called Buck and Jerry. At that time his sons, John and Jim, were about 7 and 5 years of age. In a biography printed around 1900, it stated that during the winter of 1898-99 he fed over 1,000 head of cattle. This source said that it was probable that he handled more stock than any other man in the county at that time. By 1899, he owned 800 acres of land which he had improved from raw prairie. He did not raise enough feed for his stock on his place, so he furnished a market for farmers of the township for their corn. By that time, his sons were connected with him in the stock business.

During this time, the earlier mentioned Parkinson and Mundy land had passed into the hands of the Barse Commission Co., Kansas City, Mo. In 1895, Jim and John Hudelson contracted for the purchase of this land. They obtained possession in 1900. Some of the acreage was sold to various individuals, but the bulk of it has remained in the hands of the Hudelson family to this date.

John M. Dyer was the pioneer coal operator in the vicinity of Pomona. he came to Kansas in 1868, also locating in Greenwood township, and improved a valuable farm from raw land. For several months, he acted as agent for Whetstone & Barnett in the sale of their large tract of land south of the Marais des Cygnes River. Mr. Dyer bought 86 acres south of the river. During the first year on the farm, while digging a foundation for a stable, he struck a vein of coal. In 1873, he began to dig out the coal which he supplied to the Topping mill. After that he opened other coal mines. He took out thousands of tons of coal from his land. He supplied Ottawa and other cities and towns of this locality. By 1899 he owned 140 acres, all underlaid with coal. The product was fine quality of soft coal. Also, by that time he had been a partner with Dr. Pasley in the drug business in Pomona for three years. He was a charter member of Pomona Lodge, A.F. & A.M. His son, Frank, was to later own and operate a grocery store where the Farmers Union is now located.