Business Women in Jewell County's First Decade

In honor of March being Women's History Month, we will take a look at a few of the business women who helped develop Jewell County during its first decade – 1870 to 1879.

When Jewell County's government was organized in July of 1870, the US. Census showed 207 people in the county. Thirty-one were women.  Though few in number, women were here to stay. Not just to stay, but to build families, homes and businesses. 

We might visualize the pioneer women of Jewell County as generally being farm wives, living on homesteads in dugouts and sod houses. Many were, but not all. This article will focus on just a few of the women who ran successful businesses in towns during the first years Jewell County existed.

Yes, farm wives did sell their eggs, poultry and butter (and traded them for millinery if they shopped with Jewell City's Mary Lawrence). Women also stayed with the sick or elderly and served as midwives. Women worked for families that needed extra help. Some worked in a business with their husbands and took over the farms, homesteads and businesses when those husbands died.  Women were postmistresses, dressmakers and school teachers as well as other occupations.

But some early businesswomen were milliners, an occupation perhaps not as well known today as in early days of Jewell County. When "civilization" began to take a firmer hold in the new county, women wore hats, not just bonnets. Hats were made by a milliner. A milliner worked in a millinery. Those stores began to open in the towns that sprang up in Jewell County.

An 1878 map of Jewell shows how many towns were springing up – 30 at least! Amity, Athens, Aurora, Big Bend, Bishop, Burr Oak, Cerro Gordo, Delta, Esbon, Glenora, Harrison, Holmwood, Ibaton, Ionia, Jewell Centre, Jewell City, Johnsonville, Oakland, Odessa, Omio, Marsh Valley, Mayview, Northbranch, Rubens, Salem, Steuben, Upland, Vicksburg, Westhope and White Mound. 

Some were simply a post office with a store. Others were communities with a post office, businesses, homes and likely a blacksmith shop.  The 1880 U. S. Census gave recognition to Burr Oak City (the largest community in Jewell County), Jewell Centre and Jewell City as being population centers.

There were so many communities in Jewell County because of the population growth during the first 10 years the county existed. The 1870 census showed 207 persons in the county but the 1880 census showed a population of 17,475. That is a growth rate of more than 8,000%!  It is just a bit more than six times today's estimated population of 2,890. 

The 1880 Kansas Gazetteer listed 18 communities with businesses other than a post office. Dozens of men were listed with their occupations but 10 pioneering business women were also named, two dressmakers and eight milliners. But how many came in the first decade of the county's history?

The first mention of millinery in early newspapers is in connection with Jewell City's, Miss Mary Lawrence. The April 22, 1876, Jewell County Diamond reported that "Miss Mary Lawrence has returned from St. Joe., Mo., and brought on a large stock of millinery goods."  The May 6, 1876, edition informed customers that Lawrence would take corn "in exchange for millinery goods." A later edition added "butter, lard, meat, poultry and produce" to what could be traded for millinery.

According to the May 13, 1876, Jewell County Diamond, her trade was "brisk" and the next week's paper related she wanted a "lively trade" so she sold "cheap." Lawrence was 18 when she began her business, the Ladies' Bazaar. By June she was being assisted by "Mrs. H.F. Stone."

Mr. Hubbard F. and Francis Iantha Jennings Stone came from New York. They were in Kansas by the time the 1875 Kansas State Census was taken. Like many others, they moved through Jewell County and ended their lives in Santa Ana, California.

Mary Lawrence's parents were originally from New York too, but they came to Kansas through Iowa and Missouri. She advertised her business consistently from 1876 to 1878. 1880 found her living in New York and married to Charles Wilcox. Back in Jewell, her mother, Lavinia Lynes Lawrence, had taken over the millinery shop.

Mary Lawrence's millinery shop was quickly followed in August 1876 by a shop in Jewell Centre (Mankato) run by Mrs. C. L. Warren and one in Burr Oak opened by Mrs. T. B. Carpenter.

Mrs. Carpenter was Catherine Ann Modlin from Indiana.  Her family came to Jewell County in 1872 and she married widower, Thaddeus B. Carpenter in 1876. He died in 1902 and was buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery. Catherine spent much of her widowhood in Kansas City with a daughter but is buried beside her husband in the Burr Oak Cemetery.

Warren advertised a "carefully selected stock" and Carpenter "complete stock" in the Nov. 23, 1876, Jewell County Monitor. Later, in 1879, Warren would win the prize and diploma for the "best millinery display" at the Jewell County Agricultural and Industrial Society Fair. The prize was $1 – which would be about $28 today. (Oct. 2,1879, Jewell County Review)

The Warrens were originally from Buffalo, New York. They had moved to Taylor, Iowa, before arriving in Jewell Centre in 1875. His barber shop was near her millinery shop on the west side of Commercial Street. Little else is known about them. (March 20, 1879, Jewell County Monitor)

The Jan. 11, 1877, Burr Oak Herald advertised two millinery shops in Burr Oak. Mrs. T. B. Carpenter was still in business and kept "fancy fixins" for the women. She was also noted for the "coziest millinery shop in the county" and "a most comfortable place for ladies." 

Mrs. J. E. Faidley was also advertising as "always at her post with a full line of female headgear." She was Joanna Ives Faidley. Born in Ohio, she married John E. Faidley in Falls City, Nebraska, in June of 1870. They were some of the early settlers in Jewell County, coming to a homestead near Burr Oak in October of 1870. John Faidley was one of the first businessmen in Burr Oak. The couple had eight children.

Joanna built a "new millinery store" according to the Dec. 4, 1879, Jewell County Monitor. But as with many early settlers, the family didn't remain in Jewell County. After about 15 years in Burr Oak, they moved to Centralia, Washington.

Later in 1877, two more millinery stores were advertised in the April 26, 1877, Jewell County Monitor. Mrs. J. S. Tippery had a shop in White Rock and Mrs. E. C. Greenland had opened a shop in Jewell Centre.

Greenland had a "fine assortment" of stock. She opened the shop "in her residence one door north of the courthouse." (April 19, 1877, Jewell County Monitor) According to the Feb. 4, 1898, Western Advocate, she was the first white woman to settle on the original townsite of Mankato.

Elizabeth Cluggage Greenland had come to Jewell County in 1872 with two daughters, Etta and Minnie, and her mother, Catherine Cluggage. Relying on her own talents, Greenland developed a millinery business which thrived and supported her family from 1877 until her death in 1898.

Mrs. J. S. Tippery was Henrietta Martin Tippery. She married Jacob S. Tippery in 1877 in Illinois. Though she "was carrying on the millinery business in fine style," the couple remained for only a short time in the White Rock area before moving to Omaha.

The Nov. 22, 1877, Jewell County Monitor noted that a Mrs. Johnson also had a millinery and was doing a "brisk business." Mrs. Johnson was Mattie Moore Johnson, wife of B. H. Johnson. He had a "neat store" in Burr Oak in which Mattie and her sister, Ella Moore, ran their millinery business. The two sisters were noted for their "fine stock."

The Johnson's married in Minnesota in 1873 and came to the Burr Oak area that fall. He had been born in Connecticut and she in Vermont. They lived in Burr Oak until 1903 when they returned to Minnesota.

In June of 1878, there were two millinery shops in Jewell Centre.  Mrs. Greenland had her shop near the courthouse and Mrs. C. L. Warren had her shop on Commercial Street.

1879 found more millinery shops opening. Omio was a growing community on the Vicksburg and Grant Township line when the Jan. 9, 1879, Jewell County Journal announced the "Misses Kramer" had opened a "millinery establishment" in the town of Omio. Their items were later advertised as "direct from Chicago." 

The Misses Kramer were Flora Belle and Eva Kramer. They came to Omio with their parents in the mid 1870s. Their shop was not open for too long. Flora was teaching school in 1880 and Eva married in 1882. Eva's husband was Robert W. Turner.  He was a politician and they lived for a time in Cadiz, Spain.

The Jewell County Monitor of May 8, 1879, announced another millinery shop in Jewell City.  Mrs. A.L. Marks advertised her shop saying she had "extensive experience" and was "ready to serve." (June 12, 1879 Jewell County Monitor)

Mrs. A. L. Marks, Jeanette Marks, was born in Bavaria. Her husband, Abraham L. Marks was born in Prussia. It is not known when they arrived in the United States but their daughters were born in Iowa in 1867 and 1868. The family was enumerated in the 1875 Kansas State Census as living in Buffalo Township, Jewell County, Kansas.  Abraham died in Jewell in 1892 but was buried in St. Joseph, Missouri, in Adath Joseph Cemetery. Jeanette died in 1904 and was buried beside her husband.

In the Aug. 7, 1879, Jewell County Review Mrs. M E. Nunnally (Mary Brown Nunnally) began advertising her shop in the "flourishing" town of Rubens. She advertised her items as "the best quality and latest fashions." Her store was open for about two years before she and her husband, William Bush Nunnally, moved to Grant Township then to Crawford County, Kansas. 

 So how many businesswomen were milliners in the first decade of Jewell County's history? It would seem the answer is at least 14, as 14 can be documented. Some were in the business for a short time, but others, like Elizabeth Greenland, made it their life's work.

It was also interesting to note that Greenland, unlike most other women, did not use her husband's initials. Mrs. E. C. Greenland was Elizabeth Cluggage Greenland, a strong woman who came to Jewell County in the early 1870s with her mother and two daughters.  She made a living for them all for 20 years as a milliner.