~ Sullivan Nature Sanctuary ~ History of Development ~
~ Managed by Parkville Nature Sanctuary, Parkville Missouri ~
SULLIVAN NATURE SANCTUARY
In Memory Of
Edgar and Ruth Sullivan
The Sullivan's twin daughters-Kathryn and Virginia
Edgar Sullivan was the founder of the E. H. Sullivan Grain Company, which operated a grain elevator on Mill Street in downtown Parkville during the World War II era. Mr. Sullivan held a seat on the Kansas City Board of Trade for over a quarter century. His wife Ruth was a Kansas City committeewoman who helped organize the Clean Sweep political movement that reformed Kansas City government in the 1940s
~ Also Remembered ~
Carolyn Young Smalley
Julie Brown Carlson
Robert W. Smalley, Sr.
William L. Brown, Sr. DDS>
Sullivan Nature Sanctuary-Maria Ewing Addition
The Sullivan Family History
Edgar Sullivan's mother, Mrs. Charles Sullivan, carried the maiden name Maria Ewing. Maria's family would arrive in Missouri in 1820 and Maria would be born in Lexington, Missouri on July 27, 1853.
Maria's father, Thompson McGready Ewing, would travel to Leavenworth, Kansas occasionally from Lexington, Missouri during the years 1842-1851 for the purpose of conducting business related to the Santa Fe trade. Thompson may have traveled the rough wagon roads available between Lexington and Leavenworth, but it was a much easier journey by steamboat on the Missouri River in that era before the railroads. The record setting "Polar Star" steamboat in 1853 would require 12 hours from Lexington, Missouri to reach Parkville and an additional 3 ½ hours to reach Leavenworth.
Maria's distant cousin, Thomas Ewing, would practice law in Leavenworth, Kansas for a few years beginning in 1856. He would be joined there by his brother-in-law William Techumseh Sherman in 1857 who would also practice law for a couple of years. Ewing and Sherman were from Ohio and would have required a long steamboat journey down the Ohio River, back up the Mississippi and then across on the Missouri to pass Parkville on the final stretch to Leavenworth. A much more difficult overland journey would have been required in the winter months. Thomas Ewing and William Sherman would join the Union Army during the Civil War and become well known generals. In 1881, Sherman, who at that time was the commander of the U. S. Army, would found the famous military school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas that is now known internationally for military command training.
In 1851 Parkville could be described as a fine, flourishing little village with a population of 260. Col George S. Park who had been a veteran of the Mexican War would give his name to the city of Parkville and he established a newspaper there, "The Industrial Luminary" in 1853. In 1855, a proslavery mob, incensed by his abolitionist editorials threw his printing press into the Missouri River. Missouri would be a divided state during the Civil War and the political bitterness that would at times interfere with the customary freedom of the press would gradually die out after the war.
Maria's cousin, Maj. Henry Ewing, would survive the Civil War, but would unexpectedly die in 1873 while serving as the majority owner of the "St. Louis Times" newspaper. Shortly before Ewing's death, Joseph Pulitzer of German ancestry, would begin writing for "The St. Louis Times" and it was on this newspaper that he learned to write in English. After becoming successful in St Louis, Joseph Pulitzer would establish his well-known reputation in New York City publishing. Today, the prize that carries his name stands for the excellence in journalism and supports the freedom of the press that America demands.
Maria's other journalist cousin, Henry W. Ewing, would serve on the 1896 committee of nine that helped to found the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. He would serve as president of the Missouri Press Association in 1897, one year before his death in 1898. Henry's father, E. B. Ewing, was serving as a Missouri Supreme Court Judge in 1873 when Virginia Minor's lawsuit to give women the right to vote in Missouri was rejected by the Court. E. B. Ewing would die due to illness during this trial and eventually old ideas would die to new ones.
Ruth Sullivan would join millions of other American women in the women's suffrage movement of the early 20th Century that gave women the right to vote in 1920. Ruth's in -law W. L. Ewing would lose his seat as the mayor of St. Louis before the turn of the century due to illegal voter fraud committed by the local political machine. Ruth would be a part of the Clean Sweep political movement in Kansas City in the 1940s that would rid Kansas City of the corrupt Pendergast regime. Maria Ewing would have been 67 years old in 1920 when she became legally able to vote. She would have the legal right to voice her opinion for an additional 20 years before her death in 1940.
Maria's uncle, Finis Young Ewing, was an adventurer who traveled to see the Pacific Ocean in Oregon in 1837 and returned in 1838. He would attend the Wyoming fur trade Rendezvous of 1837 and 1838. While there, he would observe the final days of the fur trade of the West and was in the company of Jim Bridger, Kit Carson and John Sutter (who was in route to California). Ewing claimed that he made the trip for his health. He traveled over land with the American Fur Company caravan. The route was the precursor of the Oregon Trail (1845) and was called the Platte River Road which began in Independence then traveled northwest through Kansas and then West through Nebraska.
In 1852, Parkville would be advocated by the Liberty Tribune newspaper as the best place to cross the Missouri River for travelers enroute to the Oregon -California Trails. (The California trail would follow the Oregon trail into Wyoming before veering to the Southwest and became popular after John Sutter discovered gold in 1849.)
The decade of the 1850s would be the busiest period of the steamboat traffic on the Missouri River. Parkville would be one of many bustling riverboat ports during this era. The steamboat Arabia would depart St. Louis with 130 passengers and 200 tons of new merchandise. After several days travel, it would unload some freight at West Port Landing (present day downtown Kansas City), and on the evening of September 5, 1856 it struck a snag and sank within sight of Parkville. The passengers were carried to the riverbank by lifeboat and transported by horse drawn wagons to the hotel in Parkville. The pilot house of the Arabia soon sank out of sight. There were some attempts to recover her cargo through the years, but a successful recovery would not occur for 132 years. The incredible discovery by the Hawley family of the Arabia cargo in 1988 would emphasize the tragic consequences to the settlers and merchants who would be without the necessary food, winter clothing and hardware needed to survive on the frontier in 1856. The Arabia was built in Brownsville, Pennsylvania in 1853 and survived the rigors of the Missouri River for 2 years. This was less than the 5 year life span of an average Missouri riverboat. In 1858, Maria's uncle, F. Y Ewing along with 2 partners, shipped over fifty tons of freight on the steamboat Isabella from the east to Nebraska City, Nebraska (making routine stops in Parkville and other river ports on the way) to be conveyed overland to Utah. In April of 1859, the law firm of Thomas Ewing and William T Sherman would litigate a case in Leavenworth, Kansas concerning the steamboat Isabella. The litigation pertained to the previous year of 1858 when the Isabella had come to the aid of the steamboat Kate Howard which was trapped in ice. The outcome of the litigation was unclear, but the Kate Howard which was built in 1857 would sink in the Osage chute of the Missouri River in 1859.
Steamboat travel to Montana was pioneered in 1819, but became popular in the 1850s. Maria's Uncle Robert C. Ewing would travel to Montana (during Montana's gold rush) by steamboat in 1863 traveling up the Missouri River from Lexington and probably bypassing Parkville because of the violence of the Missouri-Kansas Border War that continued there throughout the Civil War. Ewing's boat would sink somewhere on the upper Missouri, but he succeeded in completing the journey on foot. Though R. C. Ewing did not strike gold in Montana in 1866, he would become the president of the first Constitutional Convention for the state of Montana. This convention was not successful and Montana's statehood would not occur for another 20 years. R. C. Ewing would return to Missouri and become a judge in Jackson County, Missouri in the 1870's.
Meanwhile, the Burlington Railroad had completed its tracks in Parkville in 1869. That, combined with the opening of Park College in 1875, would restore Parkville's fortunes and make it once again a thriving city.
In 1877, Mary Owen would die in Weston, Missouri which was the next Missouri riverboat port north of Parkville. However, similar to Parkville at this time, Weston's fortunes now depended upon the rails and no longer on the river. Mary Owen would spend the last part of her life in Weston, but earlier, in 1836, Abraham Lincoln had met Mary when they both lived in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln would court Mary there and in the course of time, would offer her a marriage proposal which she spurned to later marry someone else. Lincoln would later wed his other Mary- Mary Todd.
Maria Ewing's uncle W. L. D. Ewing, who was a resident of Vandalia, Illinois, would be a political rival of Abraham Lincoln in the years before the Civil War. W. L. D. Ewing witnessed Lincoln's first political speech in 1832 and would call Lincoln "a bright one". Ewing was unsuccessful in stopping Lincoln's plan to move the capital of Illinois to Springfield in 1837, but defeated Lincoln twice (in 1838 and 1840) to become Speaker of the House of Representatives for the State of Illinois. Lincoln would persevere to overcome these and several other political defeats and eventually become the 16th President of the United States.
Earlier Meriwether Lewis and William Clark under President Jefferson's guidance would make the first step of exploration that led to the eventual settlement of the Louisiana Territory. They would pass through the Parkville area on their outbound and inbound journeys and kept a detailed journal of their experiences which described a beautiful natural environment with abundant wildlife.
Maria's distant cousin, Rev. John Ewing, was the Provost of the University of Pennsylvania from 1779 to 1802. Ewing would be partly responsible for the professors and programs in place there that would provide the training that Meriwether Lewis would require for the Louisiana expedition. (Though Ewing would die a few months before Lewis arrived in Philadelphia). Ewing's associate Robert Patterson would train Lewis in navigation and another associate, Benjamin Smith Barton would train Lewis in botany. A distant Ewing relative, Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia would provide as much med-ical advice as possible. Thomas Jefferson did not hesitate to personally recommend Dr. Benjamin Rush to advise Lewis on medical matters even though he (Jefferson) did have reservations about some of the primitive medical practices of that time. After the expedition, Jefferson would write "there are particular branches of science that are not so advantageously taught anywhere else in the United States as in Philadelphia".
Jumping forward in time to the 20th century, Maria's second cousin, Ewing Cockrell, deserves mention. Cockrell would serve as a circuit court judge in Johnson and Cass Counties in Missouri from 1916-1928. In 1916, one Cass County family, though not related, chose to name their son Ewing after Ewing Cockrell. This boy would grow to manhood and he, Ewing Marion Kauffman would move to Kansas City, Missouri where he would become a legend in pharmaceutical sales and major league baseball. He would be affectionately called Mr. K by the people of Kansas City who appreciated his unselfish contributions to their community.
As for Ewing Cockrell, he would found the United States Federation of Justice in 1928. In 1944, he compiled a list of "Ten Fundamental Peace Policies" that were published and approved internationally. Cockrell would be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, 1951 and 1952 though he never won the award. Some of the other nominees included Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Albert Switzer. In 1960 Cockrell authored a plan to stop the arms race. He would die in 1962 at age 87.
Almost two centuries of history have passed by in Parkville, Missouri and its surroundings. Through it all, Parkville has retained much of its charm and remains a step back in time. The Sullivan family has always felt special about Parkville and salutes all the many unselfish volunteers and Parkville public servants who have contributed much to the well being of this city, especially the leadership of Jim Reed, the dedication of Pat Harris, Lewis Jonas, and all the nature sanctuary volunteers. The Sullivan family's hope is that the Sullivan Nature Sanctuary will continue the tradition that has preserved Parkville's beautiful natural environment and made it a great place to live or visit
~ Alison Smalley ~ Marcy A. Smalley ~ Claudia Brown ~ Barrie Smith ~ Robert W. Smalley, Jr. ~ William Brown, Jr.
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