Thomas Robert York (Immigrated to America) (1835—1880)

Born November 7, 1835 at Northampton, England;
Died April 19, 1880 of rheumatic fever at Junction City, Kansas;
Buried in Highland Cemetery at Junction City, Kansas.
Married 1860 in England to his first wife, Mary Elizabeth York who was a second cousin. She was born 1839 in Emberton, England and died August 10, 1870 in Junction City, Kansas and it is not known where she is buried as Highland Cemetery was just proposed at the time. (Two different sources have told me that Mary Elizabeth York, Thomas’s first wife, may have been buried in the earlier burial ground which is in the northwest part of Junction City on what is called the Ehler place.)

Thomas married his second wife, Mrs. Naomi Bedford Brown on April 29, 1871. She was born February 9, 1842 in Aldershot, Hampshire, England and died October b, 1925, of colitis in Junction City, Kansas and is buried in
Highland Cemetery at Junction City. Naomi was married previously to Mr. Brown and had two children, Sadie b. March 11, 1863 d. July 25, 1883 and John (Jack) b. September 30, 1864, d. May 15, l917. Naomi lived in West Kent, England during her first marriage and both children were born there. Naomi immigrated to Junction City with her two children in 1870.

Immigration for Thomas and his first wife and seven children was on the ship “China” arriving in New York on May 4, 1870 [April 27?]. They saw a sign advertising Junction City, Kansas signed by A. C. Pierce hanging in Castle Garden, New York. This sign decided their destination and they arrived in Junction City the latter part of May, 1870.

Thomas was a carpenter, stone mason, and a butcher and built some of the oldest stone buildings in Junction City. He was a preacher for a time in the Vinton Church that was north of Junction City and a Baptist church. Some of the notes that Thomas used for sermons are in a note pad that was in the possession of Nellie York. He and his family were among the first members of the First Baptist Church in Junction City although they were not charter members. The following was taken from the First Baptist Church Story, published in 1961, compiled by Hinkson, Kent:

 “The church’s charter was granted by the state on February 29, 1868. The charter was signed by five trustees: S. M. Strickler, James Streeter, Milton E. Clark, Milton Stewart, end E. W. Seymore. Several other prominent fami1ies, among them the Yorks, and the Proutys, came early in the church’s history.”

At the time of his death, Thomas owned and operated a meat market in the location that is now the library on Washington and 7th St. for six years and supplied meat to Fort Riley. He and his first wife lived at or near Piddington, Northampton, England during their marriage as that is where all of their children were born. They came directly to Junction City where both died and are buried, his wife, Mary after arriving in May, died in August of the same year. Thomas died ten years later leaving Naomi, his second wife, with thirteen children to raise.

The following is miscellaneous information, some of it unconfirmed, some of it newsprint and printed items found among Nellie York’s effects, but all of it helping to form a more complete picture of the events of the past generations of Yorks.

Mary Elizabeth York, maiden name York, was a second cousin of Thomas York. She had a sister, Elizabeth York, who lived in Prospect Cottage, Little Houghton, near Northampton, England and corresponded with Alfred end Harry York. -- Ella Taylor [Ella is a daughter of William York and a granddaughter of Thomas]

Harry York’s grandson has a letter that she wrote to Harry and it is copied in with the section written about Harry.

When Thomas Robert York, Mary, and their six boys and six-week old infant daughter came to America, they had a great amount of possessions: tea pots, silver, very elegant clothes for all the children, some of which Ella Taylor still has or has passed to her children and grandchildren. -- File Taylor

William York had never gone to public school before coming to America. He had always had private tutors. -- Ella Taylor

The following entry was in a family bible owned by Ella Taylor: Robert York, age 83, died Aug. 30, 1891. This may have been Thomas’s father or Mary’s but no further information has been found on it.

Thomas York’s father ran a butcher store and general store in England. -- Ella Taylor

A black marble clock in the possession of Thomas Andrew York, the great grandson of Thomas Robert York, reads on the inscription:

Presented to Mr. Thomas York, 

Deacon of the Baptist Church as

Superintendent of Sunday School

Faringdon Berkshire March 1, 1870

As you will notice, the date of their arrival in New York was May 1870 so I assume this to be in the form of a farewell gift.

         The following news item was printed about one week after I had talked to Buddy York and he had given me the very same information contained in this item.

         PLANTING OF TREE LEADS TO UNEARTHING OF JUNCTION CITY’S ORIGINAL CEMETERY

 Discovery of a human skeleton several days ago in the back yard at 1220 Marshall Drive, while the owner, C. R. McDaniel, was digging a hole to plant a tree, has brought out an interesting fact of Junction City history:

 If Junction City ever had a “Boot Hill,” it was located in that rural area on the hillside northwest of Junction City. Marshal Drive is now located in the northwest tip of Junction City between 20th and 21st streets. The authority for that information is John Jeffries, Junction City Senior High teacher, who has devoted a great deal of time to researching local history.

 “That area was Junction City’s burial ground before Highland Cemetery was established,” Mr. Jeffries said. “As near as I was able to find out, it was never surveyed or established as a cemetery; it was just a practice that when there was a body, to take them out there and put them in the ground. It was private property, and as I understand it, was owned by an early-day Junction City firm, Street and Strickler, or one or the other of them.

 “In looking over some old news papers several years ago in researching the city’s history, I recall reading a notice from the owners to people to quit using the property as a burial ground, because it was privately owned.”

 Mr. Jeffries said that some years ago, while engaged in the historical research, he had talked about the burying ground with the late Arthur S. Humphrey, an attorney, who lived a lifetime in Junction City, and was the son of an early-day attorney, the late J. V. Humphrey.

 “He took me out there to see the area, and had said there were some tombstones, but we could find none,” he said. “He told me that as a youngster, he and others would go out there on picnics or outings and would sit on tombstones and eat their lunches. Some of the Ehlers family, who owned in the area, told me that the markers probably were wood, and either burned or rotted away.”

 Mr. Jeffries said the reports indicate that use of the burial ground was in a haphazard fashion. “Apparently it was used for all deaths in the community as well as by groups heading West,” he said. “If one of their group was stricken while they were here, they would bury the person there.” The skeleton found last week is not the first discovered in recent years, according to Mr. Jeffries. He said that several years ego, while excavations were being made for housing, three or four skeletons were found, and they were buried in the Fairview Cemetery east of Junction City, which is used by the county. None was identifiable. Jeffries said. “At the dedication ceremony for the George Smith Public Library here in 1910, the late George W. Martin, one-time publisher of the Union, commented about the burial ground and its replacement by Highland Cemetery. He said they had moved many of the bodies to Highland, where they could find relatives to authorize it, but estimated there probably were still a hundred bodies in the burial ground.”

 Mr. Jeffries said Highland Cemetery was developed largely through the efforts of John A. Anderson, who was the first Presbyterian Church pastor in Junction City and later president of the college in Manhattan. The administration building at the college bears his name. He later served several terms in congress.

 “His mother died and she was buried in the burial grounds,” Mr. Jeffries said. “Mr. Anderson was displeased with that as a burial place, and he obtained money pledges from local residents to build a new cemetery, establishing Highland. They made arrangements with a Chicago architect to plan and landscape it. When it was ready for use, the bodies of Mrs. Anderson and others were removed there”

 The Junction City News,   Wednesday, February 25, 1976.  

[Bill Gateley: this probably the burial site of Thomas' wife Mary Elizabeth as well as their daughter Mary Elizabeth.]

 I found the following items in the 1870 Union that I thought were interesting because they had to do with the time that Thomas and his family arrived from England.

During the month of April six hundred and forty-seven homestead entries were made at the Land Office at this place, covering 90,615 acres; 2,800 acres entired with warrants, and 6,732 with cash.   [Saturday May 7, 1870.]

On Tuesday it was reported that 200 Indians crossed the Kansas Pacific Railroad at Wilson’s Station, going north.  Settlers from the Solomon, in town on land business, dispatched their business and started for home lively.  [Saturday May 7, 1870.]

Yesterday Highland Cemetery Association paid in full for the forty acres of lend purchased from Streeter and Strickler.

Business.   [Saturday May 14, 1870.]

Junction City has been improving so rapidly within the past four months that it is almost impossible to keep posted in regard to its many improvements. We take pleasure, however, in noticing the appearance of a fine hotel on Washington Street, now almost finished, which will be in future known as the “Pacific House”, under the management of Messrs. Edwards and Murkatroid. These gentlemen…(the rest told about the fine furnishings, etc.)   [Saturday May 14, 1870.]

Tom Allen, who signs himself, “champion of America, by permission of Mr. James Mace, Champion of the World,” has issued a challenge to all professional bruisers, except Mace end Heenen, to fight for $50O0 or less. He is particularly anxious that Coburn will accept. Allen admits the defeat he received at the hands of his antagonist near New Orleans.    [Saturday May 21, 1870]