PERHAPS THE OLDEST HOUSE IN WABAUNSEE COUNTY?????

This is a picture postcard which I purchased 10 or more years ago. You will be able to read the label on the bottom of the postcard, It says, “Old Log House On Romick Camping Grounds, Maple Hill, Kansas” The post card is addressed to Mr. John Verity, who was a pioneer storekeeper when Maple Hill was in its original location on the south banks of Mill Creek on the old Hamilton/Oliver farm southwest of present-day Maple Hill. Subsequently, I was able to buy a second post card of this same scene, but its condition is not nearly so good. I bought the second card because on the back it said, “This RJ and Aunt Mary’s Old Log Cabin at Maple Hill.” That information was worth a great deal in identifying the house and adding to its history.

Then I received a first draft of an autobiographical history of Nell Beaubien Nichols, who was born in Maple Hill Township to Hector C. and Rachel A. (Curtis) Beaubien, both children of very early Maple Hill pioneers.

As an aside, Nell Beaubien Nichols is probably one of Maple Hills best known personalities. She was for more than 60 years the author of dozens of cookbooks and was famous worldwide. Nell was born in the home her grandparents, Edmond and Mary C. (Blanchet) Beaubien built on Mill Creek. Most of us “old timers” will know it as the Don and Hattie McClelland farmhouse. The Beaubiens arrived from Illinois in 1870 before there were many settlers. In fact, Mrs. Nichols says in her autobiography that her father, Hector, often said that they were only the eighth family of European ancestry that lived in what later became Maple Hill Township.

In addition, I was doing some research in the Citizen Band Potawatomi Historical Library and Archive in Shawnee, Oklahoma on the Native American families that lived in early Maple Hill. There, I found a multi-paged auto biography written in 1936 by Margaret (Frignon) Whistler, whose grandmother was Philinese (Frignon) Hass (wife of Ruben Haas) who lived in this log house.

So, gentle reader, you may be wondering how I might have come to the conclusion that it’s one of the oldest houses in Wabaunsee County. Let me explain but my daughter has suggested that I not write such long original stories, but continue my thoughts in the comment section. I’m going to try that because this will be a long story.