Leaves of Lineage

When trying to figure out when someone was born always "Remember 8870". It’s the number to remember when you want to find the birthdate of someone when you have the date of death and an age.

Some old tombstones have the date "at X years, X months, X days" How do you figure the birthdate?

Suppose the stone says the person died May 6, 1889, at the age of 71 years, 7 months, 9 day.

This last number answers the question as to when the person was born: the year 1817, 9th month, 27th day or September 27, 1817.

Important dates in Osborne County history
July 21, 1866 – Irish-born U.S. Army soldier Edward Roche of Company I, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, is killed by Indians along Twin Creek while escorting the party surveying what will later become Osborne County. They bury Roche at what later becomes the common corner of Corinth, Penn, Winfield and Bloom Townships; he is later moved to the Osborne City Cemetery.
March 3, 1867 – Kansas Governor Samuel B. Crawford officially names Osborne County in honor of Captain Vincent B. Osborne, a Civil War veteran who lost a leg in a battle on January 17, 1865.
January 14, 1870 – The first homestead in Osborne County is settled on by George Wolberd in the northeast corner of the county, in Section One of what later becomes Ross Township.
March 4, 1870 – Charles and William Bullock settle on claims in what later becomes Tilden Township, where they erect Bullock’s Stockade, the first permanent settlement in Osborne County.
July 2, 1870 – The Last Indian Raid in Osborne County takes place by a band of approximately 50 Indians at Bullock’s Stockade. Two Indians are killed in the brief skirmish.
August 10, 1870 – Around this time Dr. Daniel Tilden arrives in Osborne County to claim a homestead in what later becomes Tilden Township. In the spring of 1871 he lays out and plats the townsite of Tilden on his homestead. In 1874 the town’s name is changed to Bloomington.
September 12, 1870 – Founding of the town of Bull City by Hiram C. Bull and Lyman T. Earl. A coin toss determines the name of the town. In 1885 the town’s name is changed to Alton.
November 8, 1870 – Founding of the town of Arlington by Calvin Reasoner and others and opening of the Reasoner-Thompson General Store.
May 1, 1871 – Founding of the town of Osborne City by the Pennsylvania Colony. By the early 1890s the "City" is dropped from the name.
June 2, 1871 – Founding of the town of Bethany, named by Zachary T. Walrond, and opening day for the Bethany Post Office. In 1880 the town’s name is changed to Portis.
June 3, 1871 – Meeting for the formal organization of Osborne County is held at Arlington on the steps of the Reasoner-Thompson General Store.
October 29, 1871 – J. B. Emley begins touting his new town of Emley City in what later becomes Independence Township at the center of Osborne County as the perfect site for the permanent county seat. In 1873 the town’s name is changed to Centerville. In 1876 it is changed again, this time to Bristow.
April 2, 1872 – Fourth and final election for permanent Osborne County Seat. Osborne City receives 267 votes to Arlington’s 214.
June 19, 1873 – Arrival of Henry and Rosa Ise at Henry’s homestead in Ross Township of Osborne County. The story of their life on this homestead, Sod & Stubble, written by their son John Ise, was first published in 1936. Still in print 75 years later, the book is considered a classic on the homesteading era of the Great Plains of North America.
March 22, 1877 – Arrival of Howard Ruede on his homestead in Kill Creek Township of Osborne County. The story of his life on this homestead, Sod-House Days: Letters of a Kansas Homesteader 1877-78, was first published in 1937. Still in print nearly 75 years later, the book is considered a classic on the homesteading era of the Great Plains of North America.
June 5, 1879 – The townsite of Downsville is platted by landowners John Beal, Azariah & Marinda Blunt, Mrs. Harriet DeLay, with Missouri Pacific Railroad president R. M Pomeroy in Sections 28 and 29 of Ross Township. Within six months the town’s name is shortened to Downs.
October 12, 1879 – Osborne County State Representative Hiram C. Bull and two other men are attacked and killed at Bull City by Bull’s pet elk. The sensational event makes national headlines and the subsequent funeral draws approximately 2,000 people. It is still considered the largest funeral ever held in northwest Kansas.
October 19, 1880 – The townsite of Covert is surveyed and laid out in central Osborne County, with a plat of the town being duly recorded on October 26, 1880.
May 1, 1887 – What is considered to be the first self-driving vehicle ever built in Kansas is invented by Osborne City blacksmith Frank Hatch. The vehicle consists of a wagon propelled by a four-cylinder vapor engine. It is driven that spring and summer through the streets of Osborne City and the surrounding countryside before being dismantled.
October 15, 1888 – The Union Town Company surveys and lays out a plat for the new town of Natoma in the southwest corner of Osborne County.
November 1, 1901 – Around this time is the establishment of Meades Ranch in Delhi Township, Osborne County as the Geodetic Center of North America. This unique and important scientific site is the reference point for all property lines and city, county, state and international boundaries on the North American continent that are tied to the national triangulation networks of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America. It was renamed the North American Datum in 1927.
May 29, 1904 – Birth in Downs, Kansas of psychiatrist Dr. Robert Hanna Felix, the driving force behind the creation of the National Institutes of Mental Health.
June 8, 1904 – Birth in Alton, Kansas of internationally-acclaimed architect Bruce Alonzo Goff.
January 25, 1907 – John Locke, 1976 National Basketball Coach of the Year and the winningest high school basketball coach in Kansas history, was born on the family farm in Kill Creek Township of Osborne County.
October 7, 1912 – The original landowners relinquish all rights to a 40-acre tract around the Seventh-day Adventist-operated Hill Agricultural Academy in eastern Bethany Township. The land is laid out and platted as the townsite of Academy
April 26, 1929 – Osborne High School junior Fred Stambach Jr. makes a high jump of six feet, 3.5 inches at the county track meet in Downs. With this one jump Stambach breaks six records – the county, district, state, national, and world’s interscholastic records. Though his world record is beaten just 24 hours later, Stambach’s jump stands as the Osborne High School record for the next 70 years.
September 22, 1943 – Crash of a B-24 bomber from California to Topeka, Kansas in southern Covert Township of Osborne County, killing eleven military servicemen aboard. In April 2004 a memorial was dedicated at the site to their memory.
October 19, 1968 – Agra High School’s football team defeats Alton High School 19-13, ending Alton’s six-year, 51-game winning streak. The streak was the all-time state record for most consecutive football victories until nearly 35 years and for three decades was among the Top Ten such streaks nationally as well.
May 22, 1970 – Last day of classes for Oakdale School, District #3, in Ross Township. This was the last one-room rural schoolhouse in Osborne County.
October 14, 2000 – Osborne High School senior Brittany Dietz wins her fourth straight Class 3-2-1A girls’ tennis championship. She finishes her high school career with the all-time state high school single-season record of 43 wins (1997) and the greatest all-time career record of 149 wins and no losses.
March 27, 2003 – Osborne High School senior Brooke Ubelaker is named Miss Kansas Basketball. In four years she led the Bulldogs to a 99-5 record, two state championships, and two state runner-up finishes.
November 27, 2003 - Acknowledging Osborne County as the home of two famous books on the homesteading era of the Great Plains of North America, the Osborne County Commissioners adopt a proclamation designating Osborne County, Kansas as "The Homestead Literature Capital of Kansas."
April 2, 2007 - The Kansas Senate passes Senate Resolution No. 1859, declaring that the "Sod & Stubble Country Self-Guided Tour" in Bethany and Ross Townships of Osborne County to be an official state heritage tour.
April 25, 2008 – The century-old Osborne County Courthouse is named one of the 24 finalists for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Architecture contest. The building is selected as being the best example of James Holland-designed courthouses in the state.