Person:Sanford Barricklow (1)

                                   Obituary of Sanford Cass Barricklow

He was 12 years of age when his father, Henry brought his family to the town then called Palmyra, on the 13th of April, 1856.

  He absorbed the spirit of the Kansas Pioneer and worshipped at the feet of John Brown, and the rest of those sterling characters. He kept to the day of his death the drum used at the Battle Of Black Jack-- the first conflict of the Civil War-- which occured but a few weeks after the family came to Kansas.
   As he grew older he became the owner of the farm on the crest of the Big Hill, on which was situated the Signal Oak. This oak was used by the settlers on which to hang a lantern to show approaching danger. This tree died a few years since and Mr. Barricklow sat beneath its naked branches and refused to be comforted.
  He was married to Margaret Jane West, Dec. 31, 1872. To this union were born two Daughters-- Mira and Etta-- who with their mother, survive him. He was converted and joined the Methodist church when a young man, was devoted to his family and his country.
  About two years ago he moved to Lawrence, having become very feeble and almost blind. He was one of those sterling characters which stood like adamant when the state was fixing those policies which have made her great.
  The funeral services were held at The Barricklow home in Lawrence, Kansas. Wednesday afternoon. Burial was made in the Oak Hill Cemetary, Lawrence.
  (Then follows a poem entitled "The Old Signal Tree" by William Colfax Markham, which refers to the oak which for many years was under the personal care of Cass Barricklow, whose obituary appears above.)
                           THE OLD SIGNAL OAK
        
                           By  William Colfax Markham
        
        
        God planted an acorn on the crest of the Hill,
           Where the foot of mankind never trod.
       'Twas done in the night when the wild winds were still,
           And the showers had loosened the sod.
        
        It grew to full stature as the seasons made years,
           And its branches gave all kindly shade;
        The buffalo halted there--also the deer
           When hot pressed by the Indian's raid.
        
      It stood there alone without friend in the strife
           To give companionship, sweet and secure;        
        The storm gnarled its branches, but strengthened its life
           For tasks that through ages should ever endure.
        
        When men from the North came o'er the great plain,
           A home to secure where the oppressed might fly,
        They found the Oak standing alone in the rain,
           A shelter and sentry when danger was nigh.
                  *     *    *    *    *    *         
        The battle was on, the strife was severe,
           The raiders were coming with shot and rapine;
        When lantern on arm of the Oak did appear,
           And cast its red light far down the ravine.
        
        Men rushed from their cabins; their guns they carried
           On horseback, afoot, for they saw the light's sheen.
      They repulsed the marauders and the slain were buried
           Where the shade of the Oak could daily be seen.
        
        But now the tree's gone--we know not its years,
           A guardsman it stood in days dark and fair;
        The aged ones whisper and smile through their tears;
           "God had a plan when He planted it there."
        
        
  This article typed on July 8, 1988 by Anne E. Hemphill for her sister Katharine B(arricklow) of Baldwin City Kansas.
                                                                                       
                                 Sanford Cass Barricklow
       
    The recent death of one of Palmyra township's oldest settlers

should not be allowed to pass without some notice of his relations to the stirring events he has passed through, some of which I have jotted down, note-book and pencil in hand, as he recounted them to me.

     Sanford Cass Barricklow was born Sept. 4,1844, at Hartford,
Indiana; so at the time of his arrival with his father, Henry Barrick-
low and the rest of the family, he was in his twelfth year.  His father
and brother had come out in 1855 and made arrangements for the 

family to follow and had gone back to get them. They had reached

the present site of Baldwin, April 13, 1856, and settled on what is now
the farm owned by C.C. Clarridge, better known as the Al. Miller
farm, where a big log cabin was built for the reception.  It was in
this cabin that they lived when some of Captain Pole's men came and
robbed the Barricklow cabin taking the drum which had passed  thru
the battle of Black Jack.  It was here that he first saw John Brown.
I give his account as it is recorded in my notebook of Oct. 10, 1908.
     "His son, young John Brown, rode up and told father that his
father (John Brown) had gone back close to Rantove to kill some "Border
Ruffians." Hes, that was before the Battle of Black Jack, for he
was coming over here to run off Daniel Jones who lived on what was
afterward father's place.  Father told him that he oughtn't to do it

as Jones was prominent in Missouri and that would bring a raid on us. Old John Brown came along about an hour after young John Brown

came and it was then that father talked to him.  I remember him just

as well. He was a great tall fellow with hair and beard as white as mine. His beard was so long that he could put the end of it in the waistband of his pants. He had on an old black hat something like mine and he had the brim turned in under at both sides." "Old Brown went back and then he came up at night and run off Jones. Jones asked father to look after his things until he came back; but he stayed in Missouri. Father paid him $7OO afterwards for his improvements. "I saw Brown again when he and Capt. Shores were taking the prisoners taken at Black Jack to Prairie City. Old Sam Stonebreaker tried to make the people believe, when they had an old settlers picnic, that that is where the battle was fought. But it wasn't. It was in the deep ravine just north of Bob Pearson's house. Capt. Shores and his men were on that hill where Pearson's barn is.

   "The reason I know I saw him before the battle of Black Jack,
was because our folks had brought us boys some drums from back 

East with them. When Captain Pates men came to retaliate for the running off of Jones, they came to our house at night and knocked.

 "Who's there?"  the folks asked.  "A friend," came the reply.  When
they opened the door they rushed in and robbed us of everything
they found that they wanted. There were nine of us all lying about on
the floor and in the loft, sick with the measles.  "We'll take this with us.
You have this to call the darn Yankees together," they said.  And they
took our drums.  We got them back later after the battle of Black

Jack. My drum had three sharper rifle bullets shot through it. I have it

in the house now."
      When a mere boy he used to drive an ox team to Kansas City.

On Nov. 19, 1916, he gave me some of his experiences. Pointing to some wagon tires, he said, "There are a couple of old wagon tires out in the front yard that have carried me clear across the state of Kansas several times. Yes, I was down at the Sac's and Fox Agency. I hauled goods down there. The Sac's and Foxes used to come up this way. You know where the Baptist mission is, just this side of Shawnee Town. We camped there the first night we were in Kansas. We camped again at that very same place when we went down at Price's raid. There was a little stream of pure water

coming out of a hole in the solid rock, two inches in diameter just like

an augur hole and that stream flowed enough to keep the stream

flowing all the time.  That was after Order No.11.  Things were awful
down there then.  In 1865, Charley Lovejoy and my uncle went down
there to buy apples.  They went through Kansas City.  A man there
told them how to go. "Don't tell them where you're from.  Tell them
you are from Kansas City".  While down there uncle got to talking to

a man and said, "I see you have a new style down here." "What is it?" "I see you build your chimneys before you do your houses.' Charley Lovejoy went back and gave uncle a scolding for making

sport of the misfortunes of the people of that region. "
    "Many a time I've gone to Kansas City by myself.  I could only

go as far as Edgerton the first day. I'd camp there at night. I'd unyoke the oxen and let them pick. After they'd eat all they wanted they'd come back to the wagon and lie down. I used to lie there awake and cry nearly all night I was so afraid. There were three yoke of cattle. Father was running a saw mill and I was the only one who could get away. The second night l'd camp at the Baptist mission and the next day would go to Westport and load up and get back the next night to camp at the Baptist mission."

     On May 6, 1917, Mr. Barricklow told me some of the places where

pro-slavery settlers in this region were located. I had told him of Dr. Still, the founder of osteopathy, telling in his autobiography of running across a company of Border Ruffians drilling in a clearing while on his way to see the wife of Daniel Jones and after the Doctor had put them through the manual of arms to show them how Jim Save did it, the commander , a Mr. Owen, piloted him to the home of Jones.

  "That was "Rush"Owen.  He lived down just below where Bert Steen
lives (The Hartwell house.) You know where the "Gold well" was dug

down below the hill. There is a raised place just across the ravine. He had his cabin there. "Rush" (Horatio) Owens, Tom Cunningham,

Ben Bounds and Banks came to father's place when we lived at
Palmyra.They were all worked up and were leaving for Missouri.  

Father asked them what the matter and they said that Jim Love's men were coming to run them out. "Rush" had his gun across the saddle

in front of him and father asked him if he was scared and he said he
wasn't afraid of a dozen of Love's men.  Father told him that a boy
with a gun could kill him and that it wasn't the men that he need to be

afraid of but it didn't make any difference who had hold of the guns so long as they had good guns and that Love's men had plenty of good guns. That was the last time we ever heard anything of them. Banks lived where Will Riggs lives now. Ben Bounds lived on the Place farm. A man by the name of Preston lived on the Cotton farm, but he never bothered anyone and was not molested, and he stayed until DR. Dallas bought him out. Joe Connelly lived on this place. These were about all the pro-slavery men there were around here.

                                             Arthur Bridwell.