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Monday, June 4, 2018

Ransomville

For members of the Franklin County Rural History Club, warm weather means one thing: field trips. Our first adventure of 2018 took us a few miles southwest of Ottawa, where a quiet farm near Interstate 35 shared some--but not all--of its secrets.

James H. Ransom; photo courtesy Midge Ransom
The property was once the town of Ransomville, founded by James H. Ransom in the late 1800s. Ransom, also known as Cap, developed what would become the most productive coal mines in Franklin County. He hired workers and built small, one-room houses where they lived. In time, Ransomville sported a post office, a general store, and a school.

On a recent sunny morning, we toured the property where Ransomville once thrived. It is now a family farm owned by James' great-granddaughter, Midge Ransom, who lives in the house he built in 1903. She showed us around the historic site, where a large stone barn looks out over one of the pastures and a couple of the old shotgun houses, now used for storage, serve as a reminder of the bustling community that bore the Ransom name.

James H. Ransom was born in Chautauqua County, New York, in 1836. His father was a doctor and wanted James to follow him into medicine, but James had "wanderlust and a good business sense," Midge said. He left home at about age 20 and lived in Illinois and Pennsylvania before coming to Kansas in 1868. After living in Burlington, Clinton, and Lawrence, he settled for good in Franklin County about 1879. He founded Ransomville soon after and started mining.

Franklin County was never a leading coal producer, even within Kansas. That honor goes to a trio of counties in the southeastern corner of the state: Cherokee, Crawford, and Bourbon Counties. According to the Federal Highway Administration, our neighbor to the west, Osage County, was an important producer of coal, but ceased production more than 50 years ago.

Ransomville mine; photo courtesy Midge Ransom
Within Franklin County, though, Ransomville stood apart. According to a report from 1886, the Ransom mines produced more coal than all other mines in the county combined.

James H. Ransom died in September 1914, and the mines closed the same year. The farm today shows little evidence of mining, although a windmill seen in old photos is still standing. Midge's brother Bud believes that it stood near the entrance of a mine west of the family home. "The windmill was used to pump water out of the shaft while men were working," Midge said. "Later we used the well water for animals through a pipe system still linked to our current system."

She added that the mine openings on the property are mostly sealed and haven't been opened in many years. It's just as well, we noted, for safety reasons, and then conversation shifted to the dangers the miners faced: explosions, cave-ins, flooding, and, for those who survived those hazards, the long-term damage to their lungs.

Maybe James Ransom had those dangers in mind when he started his next venture: dairy farming. "In 1906," according to the Franklin County Historical Society, "Ransom brought registered Guernsey cattle to the farm, establishing one of the oldest Guernsey herds west of the Mississippi." Midge took us around the corner from the 1903 farmhouse to see the former milk house, where milk and cream were stored in large cans, and shared stories of the dairy farm, where she grew up with her sister and two brothers.

Midge Ransom (right) shares photos with the club.
"My father was the farmer of the family, until he broke his leg and had to go to work in town at People's Bank," she said. "I have many memories of the dairy and was heart broken when we had to sell out in '78.  There are few animals as gentle as a Guernsey cow."  

"My Dad and Eldon 'Shorty' Hoyt (a good friend and employee) showed Guernseys all over the Midwest and we had many champions in the '30s and '40s.  We children showed in 4-H.  By the time I was old enough to remember, we had a bulk tank for our Grade A dairy and one of my favorite things to do was get up in the morning and carry the milk buckets, weigh them, and dump them in the tank.  When we needed milk all I had to do was go over to the tank and dip out a gallon, skim the cream from the best fresh milk ever."

 The Guernseys are gone now, but the family is still involved in farming. Midge's nephew, Scott Hatfield, and sister, Nancy, maintain a registered Hereford herd. Midge and her husband, Francis Peed, have Hereford and Blackbaldies. The farm today grows corn, soybeans, and wheat--"standard stuff," Midge said. 

 The Franklin County Rural History Club thanks Midge for her time and for generously sharing her family stories. To learn more about the club and our field trips, become a member: http://fcrhc.blogspot.com/p/membership.html.

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