J. Butler Chapman arrived in Kansas in the spring of 1854, made a trip over the territory, and then published a small volume, entitled “History of Kansas and Emigrant’s Guide.” He refers to Port William as “Williamsport, a prospective town a short distance above Kickapoo.” “The bluffs,” he continues, “are high and precipitous, and the land broken until you reach the high rolling prairie back some three miles. The whole country is settled on with a view of preëmption.”
A company known as the Port William Sharp’s Rifles, numbering eighty-one, rank and file, was formed at Port William, in October, 1856. The commissioned officers elected were James Adkins, captain; Henry C. Bradley, first lieutenant; James M. Bradley, second lieutenant; S. Bowman, third lieutenant. The company was enrolled, or was intended to be enrolled, in the first regiment, first brigade, northern division of the Kansas militia, and applied for arms and commissions. The Port William Town Company was incorporated by an act of the Territorial legislature in 1855 and the town company was composed of William C. Remington, James G. Spratt, Henry Debard, James M. Bradley, Henry Bradley, Horace B. Herndon and William B. Almond.
General William B. Almond, one of the incorporators of Pt. William, was a noted man in the West in the early days. He was a Virginian, who came to Platte county, Missouri, when the Platte Purchase was opened, and settled near the Buchanan county line. At a very early period he had been connected with the American Fur Company, and as a mountaineer had many adventures. During the thirties he was a brigadier general of the State militia in Missouri. He was one of the foremost “Forty-niners” to California, leading a company to the land of gold, among whom was Ben Holladay, afterwards famous as the originator of the “pony express” and other Western enterprises. While in California General Almond distinguished himself as a Territorial judge in San Francisco. Returning to Platte county in 1851 he was elected circuit judge, was a candidate for lieutenant governor, and filled other offices and places of distinction and prominence. He was also connected with mercantile, milling and other enterprises. He lived for some time in Topeka and Leavenworth, and died at the latter place in 1860.
Judge James G. Spratt, another of the promoters of old Port William, was also a man of some prominence. He came to the West from Smith county, Virginia, where he was born, 1826, and, like General Almond, settled in Platte county at a very early day. In 1843 he was appointed a justice of the peace in Platte county, and was afterwards deputy county clerk, probate judge and held other positions. For some time he was engaged in the practice of law, and was in partnership with Hon. Joseph E. Merryman, in Platte City. In 1864 he went to Montana where he became a mine speculator. He died November 13, 1881, and his remains were brought back to Platte for burial. W. H. Spratt, a brother of Judge Spratt, was at one time sheriff of Platte county.
William C. Remington was another pioneer of Platte, like General Almond and Judge Spratt, a Virginian by birth, who came west at a very early day. He was one of the early assessors of Platte county, and subsequently was elected circuit clerk. He was one of the trustees of the Platte City Town Company when it was incorporated in 1843. He was also a member of the company that laid off the town of St. Mary’s at the mouth of Bee creek in 1857, but no lots were ever sold. Mr. Remington was one of the early merchants of Platte City, one of the proprietors of the Platte City Weekly Atlas, and was interested in various other enterprises. His handsome brick residence in Platte City was among those burned by federal orders in July, 1864. He died December 20, 1864, in Omaha, where he was operating a hotel.
Of Henry Debard, another member of the Port William Town Company, the writer has not yet found any record. The Bradleys lived in Platte county, opposite Port William for many years, moved over to the Kansas side early in 1854, and with Squire Horace B. Herndon started the old town. The Bradleys opened a general store and James M. Bradley was appointed postmaster when the postoffice was established in April, 1855. Squire Herndon was one of the earliest justices of the peace in Kansas, and had much business in his court in the early days, as Port William was one of the roughest of the border towns.
Port William was located eight miles below Atchison. It is one of the most interesting localities from a historical standpoint in Atchison county and northeastern Kansas. It is one of the oldest settlements in Kansas, and for a time in the early days was one of the promising villages of the territory. In fact, it was of enough importance, not in size, but as a prospective populace, to be mentioned by travelers of that time, as one of the principal towns of Kansas. Father Pierre Jean de Smet, the Jesuit missionary, in a letter written February 26, 1859, says: “A great number of towns and villages have sprung up as if by enchantment in the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The principal towns of Kansas are Wyandotte, Delaware, Douglas, Marysville, Iola, Atchison, Ft. Scott, Pawnee, Lecompton, Neosho, Richmond, Tecumseh, Lawrence, Port William, Doniphan, Paola, Alexandria, Indianola, Easton, Leavenworth and others.” The history of old Doniphan, Sumner and Kickapoo has long been well established, but that of Port William has been neglected and has remained obscure. Port William never was much of a town, as were its rivals, Doniphan, Sumner and Kickapoo, but it was proposedly in the race for municipal supremacy in the pioneer days, and though its star may never have attained the ascendency, its story is at least worthy of preservation in the archives of Atchison county history.
Port William was started in 1856 by Henry and James M. Bradley, John T. and Albred Bailey, and Jonathan Hartman. The two Bradleys and John T. Bailey composed the town company. The Bradleys conducted a general store, and a postoffice was established in April, 1855, with Henry Bradley as first postmaster. This was the first postoffice in Walnut township. Jonathan Hartman owned and operated a sawmill, the first in Atchison county, in 1854, and made the first lumber ever sawed in the county. There were several saloons, and later a blacksmith shop, a carpenter shop and other small industries were started. It has been surmised by someone that Port Williams, as it is sometimes called, was named for a Missouri river steamboat captain named Williams, as steamboats often tied up at the place in the early days. There are others who believe it was so-called for the late “Uncle Frank” Williams, one of the fathers of the colored settlement which was started in that vicinity at a later day. The correct name of the place, however, is Port William, instead of Port Williams, and it is known that it was so named more than fifty years ago, or nearly twenty years before “Uncle Frank” Williams settled there. The correct origin of the name is probably given by the late W. J. Bailey, of Atchison, who was one of the very first settlers of that vicinity. He said that in 1854 a man named William Johnson came across from the settlement about Iatan, Mo., and took up the claim on which Port William was afterwards built. It was a likely claim and Johnson soon had trouble on his hands in holding the property. Several men tried to chase him off with guns, but Johnson managed to make such a good defense as to repel them. He stayed in his cabin a week, not daring to come out for fear of being shot. He won out and held the claim. The other fellows then referred to his cabin as Fort William (that was his first name). Soon after Jake Yunt, from Missouri, established a hand ferryboat, and by and by steamboats began to land there. Then the name was changed to Port William, and this is the proper name of the place, although on the Missouri Pacific station board now standing there it is marked “Port Williams.”
There are but few men who came to Atchison county earlier than W. J. Bailey, of Atchison. He crossed the river from Platte county on June 12, 1854, and settled at Port William, and, with the exception of a few years’ residence in Colorado, has lived in this county ever since. Luther Dickerson, who was generally known as the “oldest inhabitant,” came here the same month that Mr. Bailey did. When Mr. Bailey first arrived at Port William he built a one room cabin on his claim near that place, and to do so was obliged to drag logs with one horse a distance of a mile and a half. In 1855 he brought his cattle over. He said the grass all over this county was ankle deep and afforded fine pasturage. There was no town at Atchison then, but Challiss Bros. conducted a store on the river bank, and George Million operated a hand ferryboat. Mr. Bailey worked for Million three years.
“Those were happy times,” said Mr. Bailey, “we met around among neighboring cabins and had parties. When we had a fiddle we danced.” For several years Mr. Bailey was with a freighting crew between Ft. Leavenworth and Ft. Kearney, most of the time as a wagon-master. They generally drove twenty-six wagons with six yoke of oxen to each wagon and hauled Government supplies. Once they were surrounded by Indians and were in imminent danger of being annihilated, when General Harney with a company of troops came to their rescue and chased the red-skins to Ash Hollow, near Ft. Kearney, where a bloody skirmish took place and the Indians were routed. Speaking of old Port William, Mr. Bailey said: “Although laid out as an investment, the town was a failure. The little creek flowed through the center of the town, dividing the stores and saloons from the sawmill, blacksmith shop and carpenter shop. No city government encased the stream with cement tiling, and the best bridge the town ever afforded was built by felling a cottonwood tree across the stream.” Port William had its “town bullies” and fights were of frequent occurrence. Mr. Bailey said that the “town bullies” were Dan McLoud, Bill Pates and Bob Gibson. “It was common,” he said, “for farmers to go to Port William every Saturday afternoon to witness the fights and drunks.” On one occasion a man was badly shot up and another jumped into the river and swam across. Mr. Bailey said the first election there contained 250 ballots, although only sixty people voted. There were two ballot boxes, one controlled by the pro-slavery and the other by the Free State people. Eight or ten men stood around the balloting places with guns, and people voted five or six times, though under different names.