John S. Faulkner – A Tombstone and a Question

by Kristine Schmucker, Archivist/Curator

Earlier this week, Wendy Nugent, reporter for the Harvey County Now, sent me a message asking if I knew anything about a man named Scott Owens. His tombstone in Greenwood needed repair and she was doing a story on it with Sylvia Kelly. Turns out, there was an interesting story about a Harvey County family.

Photo Courtesy Wendy Nugent, Harvey County Now.

The first thing to clear up was the mystery of his name. In the Greenwood Cemetery register he is listed under the name of Scott Owen Faulkner. Other Faulkners listed include Laura and Charles. How did these people fit together? Or did they?

One document from 1901 lists a Scott Owens, born in Kentucky living in Newton. The document is a muster roll and he is listed as entering the army May 5, 1864 as a private Co. D 15th U.S, Col Inft, and discharged in August under General Order. The year of discharge is difficult to read. It might be 1865?

Muster Roll ending December 1902. Courtesy Sylvia Kelly

To add to the confusion, his daughter lists his name as Scott Faulkner on the order form for the tombstone and lists the discharge date as December 28, 1891.

Tombstone Application for Headstone or Marker. Courtesy Sylvia Kelly.

The obituary for the man that died on June 6, 1935 is identified as John S. Faulkner or John Scott Faulkner, even though the Greenwood Register lists Scott Owen Faulkner. It seems that Scott Owen Faulkner is the same person as John S. Faulkner. When and why did he change his name? Who was Scott Owen Faulkner?

There is no listing or census record for a Scott Owen Faulkner living in Harvey County, Kansas. There is however, plenty of evidence of a John Scott Faulkner living in Newton.

Pioneer Resident

According to the Newton city directories and the census, a man by the name of John Faulkner had been living in Newton for sure since 1885. The obituary for John S. Faulkner noted that he had been a resident of Harvey County for 55 years, so he likely arrived in 1880. It is possible he came, along with his wife and young daughter, with a larger group that included Katie and Wilson Vance, Willis and Emily Brooks, Frank C. Childs, Madison Thomas and Abe Weston.

J.S. Faulkner was born in 1849 in Virginia very close to the Kentucky boarder. He enlisted in the Civil War in May 1864. He married Laura Yancey February 6, 1872 at Trenton, Todd County, Kentucky.

“Kentucky County Marriages, 1797-1954” Family Search.org

The couple came to Newton around 1880 with 4 year old Mary. Their next child, Charles, was born in Kansas in 1881. Johanna was born in 1884.  In the Newton city directories for 1885 and 1887, John is listed living at 129 S 2nd with the occupation of mason.  By 1911, the Faulkner family is living on W 1st and in 1917 the address of 912 W 1st is given.

“Colored Civil War Veteran”

Further clues come from his and Laura’s obituaries.

John’s obituary noted that with his passing “only five comrades who saw service in the war between the states remain in Newton.” He is likely one of the unidentified Black men in this photograph taken in front of the Harvey County Courthouse.

Faulkner was described as “a stout patriot, devoted churchman,” and seems to have led a quiet life. His name does not appear in the Evening Kansan Republican except for Laura’s obituary and his own.

Laura Yancy Faulkner was born in 1856 in Kentucky, probably Todd County. After her marriage she is a quiet presence. For some reason, her name is not listed as a wife of John’s in the city directories until 1917 although the census’ clearly have her living with him. She died at her home at 912 W 1st on June 25, 1930, from pneumonia. She had been ill for some time.

John died five years later also in the month of June on June 6, 1935. He was survived by his three children Mary Faulkner Garth of the home; Josephine Faulkner Baldwin, Chicago; and Charles Faulkner, Newton; seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. His services were held at the C.M. E. Church in Newton with Rev. C.V. Williams officiating and the Women’s Relief Corp assisting.

Faulkner Children

Son, Charles, worked as a porter and baggaman for the AT&SF. He and his wife, Georgia, also lived at 912 W 1st until the 1930s when they are listed at 119 Elm. Charles died August 13, 1937, at the age of 57.

In 1941, daughter, Josephine* Baldwin ordered a headstone for her father from the government to be delivered to her sister, Mary Faulkner Garth, who was living at 402 Highland, Newton.  Up to that point his grave may have been unmarked and as a veteran he was entitled to a headstone. This is the headstone that Sylvia Kelly hopes to repair.

*All other sources refer to her as Johanna or Joanna.

Additional Note:

During this same time period, there was a white Faulkner family, J.M. and Laura Faulkner.  They lived at 325 W 8th, Newton and had at least two children, Olin and Fern. J.M. Faulkner worked for a time as an assistant Marshall and their names appear frequently in the Evening Kansan Republican. They left Newton at some point  and are not buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

Thank you

to Sylvia Kelly for calling attention to John Scott Faulkner’s tombstone and to Wendy Nugent for being curious. Nugent’s article, “Kelly Wants To Straighten Out History” is in the Harvey County Now August 21, 2023 issue.

Sources

  • Evening Kansan Republican: 7 June 1935
  • Newton City Directories: 1885, 1887, 1902, 1905,1911, 1913, 1917, 1919, 1931, 1934, 1938.
  • Kansas Census: 1895
  • U.S. Census: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930
  • Greenwood Cemetery Register of Burials, Harvey County Historical Museum & Archives, 203 N. Main, Newton, Ks.

 

“A Woman of Good Moral Character” John Burns Pension

by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator

On September 7, 1862, the men of the 86th Illinois marched out of the gates of Camp Lyon, through the streets of Peoria with great fanfare to the train depot. There they joined the 85th and boarded the train for Camp Joe Holt, Jefferson, Indiana. Among the men in the 86th was 20 year old John W. Burns. Described as being 5′ 8″ in height with light complexion, dark hair and hazel eyes, John had volunteered a month earlier with the Union army. He listed his  occupation as a farmer.

Six days before he left, on September 1st, 1862, he married Zelpha L. “Lucy” Roberts in front of Justice of the Peace T. Baldwin in Marshall County, Ill.  According to later statements they had known each other since childhood.

Certificate of Record of Marriage, John W. Burns Civil War Pension File.

Three weeks later, John was a part of Col. Daniel McCook’s Brigade pursuing Confederate soldiers. At the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, the 86th Ill suffered their first casualties.

Over the next two and a half years Private John W. Burns was witness to and a participant in numerous battles, including some of the bloodiest fighting in the Western Theatre including the Battles of Chicakauga, Resaca, Rome, Peach Tree Creek  all in Georgia, and Aversborough, N. Carolina. John was also along with Sherman on his infamous “March to the Sea.”

Sherman’s March to the Sea.

Toward the end of the Civil War, John was injured and sent to a hospital near Camp Butler, Springfield, Ill. PVT John W. Burns was discharged on May 2, 1865 and he returned to his home in Marshall County, Ill. He picked up the pieces of his life with his wife and resumed farming. John and Lucy had one child, Herbert H. Burns, born September 21, 1865.

The Burns family came to Harvey County, Ks in 1877 and settled to farm two miles northwest of Sedgwick, Ks.

There are not many clues as to what kind of person John Burns was prior to volunteering for the Union Army, but his time fighting had an affect on him.  By the mid-1880s, Burns began to have difficulties as a result of injuries received during the war including rheumatism.  He also became violent toward his wife, Lucy.

In 1892-3, he applied for a pension. The list of ailments that John Burns suffered from was included in his file. Sunstroke which happened “on or near Marietta, GA, June of 1864”  and resulted in many problems including derangement, vertigo, disease of brain, heart paralysis. Scurvy and rheumatism in the summer of 1864 also caused problems later in life.

John W. Burns List of Afflictions

In March 1893, he began receiving a pension of $30.00 a month “on account of disease of heart and nervous system, result of severe stroke . . . and rheumatism.” 

“Is not Inclined to Take his Incarceration Easily”

January 1, 1899, Lucy left their home in fear for her life in the middle of the night. The story of the abuse endured by Lucy was chronicled in John W. Burns’ Pension File.  Between the documents in the file and the newspaper, a very grim story emerges of the last years of John’s life.

On April 10, 1902,  Burns was judged to be insane. Since Harvey County did not have a facility that could take proper care of him, John stayed at Axtell Hospital where a male nurse was with him constantly. The Evening Kansan Republican concluded that “Mr. Burns is not inclined to take his incarceration easily and at times makes trouble for the attendants.”

At the end of April, he was transferred to the Asylum in Topeka, where he died a short time later on April 26, 1902. His obituary noted that he was one of the earliest settlers of Harvey County, an “old soldier” and “a well known character . . . however in the last years of his life he was afflicted with poor health and under the strain his mind gave way.” (Evening Kansan Republican,  26 April 1902.)

I am the lawful widow of John W. Burns”

As the widow of John Burn, Lucy Burns was eligible to continue to receive his pension. However, she had to have documented proof that she was “the lawful widow of John W. Burns.”

The pension file of John W. Burns tells the tale of a mentally ill man and the abuse endured by his wife.

Lucy Burns, 55 years old, described the events that led her to separate from her husband in 1899.

“My husband, John W. Burns, commenced to abuse and ill treat me some two or three years ago. . . .One night in December 1896, he walks the floor all night long with a flat iron in his hand and he threatens to kill me. He has not supported me for the past fifteen years . . . the night I finally left him was January 1st, 1899, he pounded me with his fist and he threw me out of the house and then locks the door, so that I could not  get in.” 

Mrs. Burns went to a neighbors and did not go back.

“I am the wife of their only son”

Lucy’s daughter in law supported Lucy. Kate Burns, age 31, noted that she had known John and Lucy Burns for thirteen years. She stated;

John W. Burns has been abusive to his wife during the entire time I have known them.  He often beat and pounded her, she has come to my house at midnight, often earlier to escape a beating. He has not supported her since I have known them.  She made a living by taking in sewing. . . He often swore at his wife and struck her in the face and blackened her eyes.  He would frequently pull hand full of hair out of her head. On a number of occasions, he threatened to kill her. His treatment finally became so bad bad she was compelled to leave him for her own safety. ” 

Initially, he kept possession of the house, but later moved to Newton. After he moved to Newton, Lucy returned to the Sedgwick area to be near her son and daughter-in-law. During the time of separation, and even prior, Lucy Burns had provide for herself working as a seamstress.  Witness statements in the pension file noted that the only thing that her husband had provided for her in thirteen years was a cloak.

Family members from Illinois also sent statements.

Statement from William Roberts.

In all the statements Lucy Burns was described as “a woman of good moral character,” who although living separated from her husband for her safety, was his lawful wife.  She never divorced him, or married another. She was deserving of the widows pension.

Lucy Burns died 14 November 1915 at the age of 72.

Sedgwick Pantagraph, 18 November 1915

The Old Soldier

John Burns was not alone among Civil War veterans from suffering lingering effects of what he saw and did during the war. Witness statements from people that knew him and his wife since childhood do not hint at violent behavior prior to the mid 1880s.  So what caused John Burns to become an abusive husband.

Some Civil War historians have looked into the idea that some of these men may have suffered from what  today is labeled PTSD. In the early 20th century, however, men with suffering from PTSD were diagnosed  with derangement, a feeble mind, insane. How to care for them was a complete unknown other than to send them  to a hospital that could handle the insane.

Burns was  not the only Civil War Veteran to be declared insane. One historian, Eric Dean studied admissions to the Indiana Hospital for the Insane and discovered 291 Civil War veterans were admitted many with violent and erratic behavior or acute panic attacks and  suicidal thoughts. Dean attributed this to the trauma experienced either in battle or in prisons. For many “old soldiers” of the Civil War, it never quite ended. Even though he returned physically, John W. Burns’ emotional injuries took a toll on both himself and his family in later years.

Sources

  • Burns, John W. File. The John C. Johnston Collection of Civil War Pensions, HCHM Archives.
  • Evening Kansan Republican: 24 April 1902, 25 April 1902, 26 April 1902.
  • Sedgwick Pantagraph: 18 November 1915.
  • Information on John W. Burns’ Civil War Record courtesy Baxter B. Fite III on Find A Grave and via e-mail with author.
  • Horwitz, Tony. “Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD?” Smithsonian Magazine January 2015.

This blog post is part of a Heritage Grant from Humanities Kansas to digitize the John C. Johnston Civil War Pension Collection. As part of the project HCHM, seeks to tell the stories of these men and their families.

Humanities Kansas is an independent nonprofit spearheading a movement of ideas to
empower the people of Kansas to strengthen their communities and our democracy. Since
1972, our pioneering programming, grants, and partnerships have documented and shared
stories to spark conversations and generate insights. Together with our partners and
supporters, we inspire all Kansans to draw on history, literature, ethics, and culture to enrich their
lives and serve the communities and state we all proudly call home. Visit humanitieskansas.org.

John C. Johnston: Harvey County Founding Father

Our thanks to HCHM volunteer, Damon Penner, for contributing a guest post. Damon is a senior at Wichita State University, and has volunteered at the museum for the past 3 years.  He has also volunteered at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson

John C. Johnston: Harvey County Founding Father

By Damon Penner, HCHM volunteer

Handwriting and Coffee Stained Paperwork

Soldier, teacher, homesteader, and church founder are just a few words that would
describe Mr. John C. Johnston. Johnston, responsible for collecting the Civil War pension
paperwork in the Harvey County Historical Museum’s collection, was a man who made an
impact on the town that became Newton, KS as well as his neighbors. Through archival research,
I have been able to piece together a short biography of the man, whose handwriting and coffee
stained paperwork I have had the honor to assist in preserving for future generations.
Generations which Mr. Johnston never got the opportunity to physically meet.

Swept up in the Wartime Enthusiasm

Johnston, was not a native of Kansas, but an immigrant from the state of Pennsylvania.
Born in Greenville, Pennsylvania (in Indian County) in 1846, Johnston, like many of his fellow
Pennsylvanians, was swept up in the wartime enthusiasm and passions the were brought about
with the American Civil War’s beginning in 1861. Enlisting at a local recruitment office,
Johnston, aged 15, was made a member of Company A of the 61 st Pennsylvania Volunteer
Infantry Regiment (which holds the distinction of losing the most officers of any US Army
regiment during the Civil War). Serving in the famed Army of the Potomac and in many of the
battles in which the army fought such as the Seven Days Battles, Antietam, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville (Fredericksburg sector), Gettysburg, and the bloody battles of 1864, Johnston
saw three year’s action, receiving a facial wound from an artillery shell at the Battle of
Spotsylvania Courthouse (the wound left him disfigured and afraid to show the left side of his
face for the rest of his life).

Civilian Life

Returning to civilian life however, proved to be boring. Cold feet eventually brought him to Kansas. Accepting a teaching position in the Greenville, Pennsylvania area and marrying a local woman, Johnston lived the life of a teacher for five years. Seeing that Johnston was bored with teaching, his brothers, William and James, and a cousin convinced him that they should head west to Kansas and establish homesteads, which they had been granted because of their status as Civil War veterans. Reaching Sedgwick County, the four travelers would hire a guide to take them to the Highland township in modern day Harvey County. Against their wishes, however, the land that the guide had taken them to (and they had subsequently claimed) was in Marion County. Although their claims were the only claims in the area, Johnston and his fellow veterans sought to create an entirely new county that would encompass their claims.

A New County

Made possible by some politicking with Wichita and Sedgwick County officials, Harvey
County was established in February 1872. Constituting the Alta, Emma, Garden, Burrton,
Darlington, Halstead, Lake, Lakin, Macon, Newton, Pleasant, Richland, and Sedgwick
townships. Seeing that, although he had made his wish for a new county possible, Johnston had
to conduct a formal annexation of the Walton and Highland townships to the county in 1873.
Needing a county seat for this new county, the cattle town of Newton was chosen as the new seat
for the county. Contrary to popular belief, Johnston and the other founders of Harvey County
chose to name the county not after the founder of the famous Harvey Houses, but rather the
governor of Kansas at the time of the county’s establishment, James M. Harvey.

Serving the Community

Becoming a resident of the recently selected county seat, Johnston, his wife, children, and
the men that traveled to Kansas with him, would leave an impact on their brainchild. One of his
friends would serve as one of the first representatives in the state legislature for Sedgwick
County (although he lived in Harvey County). Another, along with Johnston would serve as
Harvey County’s representatives, while two more would serve as the representatives for Marion
County. Seeking to not only have an impact on the politics of Harvey County, but the religiosity
of the county seat’s populace. Establishing the First Presbyterian Church in Newton, Johnston
would see to it that Newtonians would be able to worship together.

Between all of the activities brought about by his public service, Johnston would help local Civil War veterans and their families to receive the money owed them by the government for their services in the Civil War. Although he was influential in the making of modern Newton, it is this humble act of assisting his former comrades in arms in Harvey County that is the act that I am the most grateful for.

Bibliography

  • Johnston, John C. “Early Days in Kansas” The Newton Journal (Newton, KS), February 29,
    1924.*
  • Johnston, John C. “Reminiscence of Early Kansas Days” The Newton Journal (Newton, KS) July
    15, 1921.*
  • Hawks, Steve A. “61 st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment” The Civil War in the East,
    2020, accessed on June 28, 2020 https://civilwarintheeast.com/us-regiments-
    batteries/pennsylvania/61st-pennsylvania-infantry/.
  • *Note: Both articles are available for viewing through the Harvey County Historical Museum.

Civil War Inventory at HCHM

Additional Stories from the Johnston Civil War Pension Collection

 

Stories Waiting to be Told: HCHM Archives

 

 

Minor Child of George Beard, alias George Winter: Civil War Pensions

A Man Named Winne: from the HCHM Archives