Last week Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs got a plug in The Kansan out of Newton, KS in an article covering a presentation by Carolyn Williams at the Halstead Historical Society. She explained that Halstead was more than the home of Adolph Rupp, Conrad Nightingale and Dennis Latimore. It was also the home of the Krehbiel Farm Indian School that the Hauser brothers, Pete and Emil, aka Wauseka, attended in the 1890s. I was aware that they had connections with Halstead, KS but didn’t know about the Krehbiel school. Constantly learning new things is one of the benefits of my job.
Christian Krehbiel emigrated from Germany in the mid-1800s and eventually settled on a farm near Halstead. He was also very active in the Mennonite Church. As part of his religious activity, he became involved with the missionary work among the Indians. In 1885 the Industrial School, Halstead, Kansas was formed by the Mission Board of the General Conference Mennonite Church and Halstead Seminary with 15 Indian children from Oklahoma for students. In 1887 the Indian School was moved to Krehbiel’s farm. Students lived on the farm with the Kriehbiels as a large family.Students studied academic subjects during the school year worked on the farm in summer. For the 1892-93 school year Krehbiel contracted with the government to take 30 students for $125 each. After the government ended its contract policy for Indian students in 1896, he organized the Orphan and Children’s Aid Society and started an orphanage on his farm. It’s likely that the Hausers were attending the school in its latter years.
The article about Carolyn Williams’ talk can be found at http://www.thekansan.com/sports/x1772948257/Hausers-a-lost-part-of-Halstead-history. More on Christian Krehbiel can be found at http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/contents/krehbiel_christian_1832_1909. More can be found on the school at http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/I533.html.
Tags: Carolyn Williams, Christian Krehbiel, Halstead Historical Society, Haskell Institute, Krehbiel Farm
Tom Benjey's Weblog 
August 13, 2013 at 1:08 pm |
Christian Krehbiel industrial farm orphanage was connected to H.R. Voth Darlington Oklahoma. Reports from Hopi Arizona to Red Lake Minnesota on Voth and government contracts of abductions of children. They also gathered children dumped out of cattle cars in Wichita, Kansas City and Hutchinson we now call orphan trains, baby trains. Hollywood made a real fake movie that shows loving adoptive parents. East coast political advocates saw the orphan trains as part of the Civil War abolitionist movement, since the labor provided by the fallen soldiers children helped to make slaves unnecessary. Selling children was big business after the Civil War promoted by government.