Precinct "P" (Township 9 North, Range 4 East)
Seward County, Nebraska
Note: If you have any obituaries, biographies, photos, or stories about early residents of Seward Co., Nebraska, please consider adding them to this website. --Alice
Return to Seward County, Nebraska Precincts INDEX
Precinct "P" INDEX
History of "P" in History of Seward County, Nebraska by W. W. Cox, 1888The following article is from W. W. Cox, History of Seward County, Nebraska, 1888, Chapter VI, pages 127-128:
[Surnames: BINGAMAN, BUCHANAN, DAVISON, GRAHAM, JOHNSON, JONES, PARKER, ROPER, STANTON, VIFQUAIN, WALLINGFORD, WEST]
"P" TOWN
Is old historic ground. Camden neighborhood was one among the earliest settlements. J. L. Davison located a ranch one mile west of the old bridge in 1862, and A.. J. Wallingford opened one at the bridge shortly afterwards. James Johnson settled near the bridge in the spring of 1863, and also old Mr. Bingaman. The great freight trains and thousands of movers across the plains made Camden bridge a noted place, as it was a favorite camping ground. Gen. Vifquain lived just across the county line; also Mr. Stanton and James West lived a couple of miles or so west of Camden. It was a common sight to see a hundred camps in the vicinity of the bridge. All classes of people were among the throngs of passengers, some [p. 128] very rich and some miserably poor. They were with all sorts of vehicles, with gilded carriages, with finely caparisoned horses, and others with an ox and a cow yoked together, with old rickety wagons; sometimes from thirty to sixty great freight wagons, with six yokes of steers to each, loaded with meat, flour, machinery, and merchandise; great droves of cattle, and once we saw an immense drove of turkeys, several thousand, wending their way to the mountains. Some of these pilgrims were of the best of people and some were of the worst. Many of them were refugees from Missouri, fleeing from the wrath that their crimes had engendered in the bloody work of that state in the early years of the war. Some of these fellows were blood-thirsty and vicious in the extreme. All classes of men carried weapons for defensive and offensive purposes, and occasionally fearful crimes were committed. Grain and hay were in great demand and brought extremely high prices. We have known corn to sell at $2.50 per bushel, and hay to bring six cents per pound. The traffic on the road was immense, and continued to increase in volume until the U. P. railroad reached Grand Island. Then this business all ceased.H. W. Parker and Ford Roper, of Beatrice, commenced the erection of the Camden mills and founded the village of Camden in 1866. For a time Camden seemed to be a very important point, and bid fair to be the great city of this valley, but the change in the route of the main line of the B. & M. railroad changed the whole face of matters, and killed Camden as dead as a mackerel. Mr. Parker did much to build Camden, and his mill was of incalculable benefit to the early settlers.
At the old bridge was the first post-office of the county established, and for several years Camden was the distributing point for a vast area of country. James Johnson was the first postmaster. Wm. Buchanan was the first regular merchant of the county. Thomas Graham taught Camden's first school in the winter of 1866 and 1867.
"P" precinct has much rough land, and consequently has fallen behind many other precincts in population. The census gives her 536 population and ninety-three farms. The mill was sold to Lord Jones and moved off, and now one of the finest water-powers of our state lies idle, but we trust that when the track is laid from Milford to Crete that that splendid power may attract attention. The precinct has six school-houses and one church edifice.
_____________________________________
