Wabaunsee County, Kansas Wabaunsee County was one of the first
33 counties created by the Territorial Legislature, and was
organized March, 25 1859. The county was founded by S. H.
Fairfield; John Willig; Dan Horne; and Allen Phillips, and named
for the Pottawatomie Indian chief, Wabaunsee. The county
contains the cities of Alma, Alta Vista, Maple Hill, McFarland,
Paxico, Harveyville, Eskridge and Willard (part). The first
white settlers in Wabaunsee were said to have been a band of
outlaws known as the McDaniel Gang. They built a cabin near
Harveyville from where they preyed on wagon trains on the Santa
Fe Trail. Supposedly a box containing $75,000 in gold was
stolen. The legend says that much later, a "preacher-fisherman"
came to the area, dug up the gold from beneath the ruins of the
cabin and left as mysteriously as he came. In 1854 the Beecher
Bible and Rifle Church was established by the Beecher Colony
from Connecticut. This group of free-staters had rifles shipped
to the church to be used in the free-s