The Superior Express -

The little, now long-gone, town of Mayview, Kansas, was getting “a new store” and the “population was increasing” in March of 1881 (March 24,1881, Jewell County Review and the March 11, 1881, Jewell County Monitor) In fact, 1881 might seem a watershed year for the little community. 

That year there was also a “base-ball club” (April 28,1881, Jewell County Review) and a “Mayview opera house” (April 28, 1881, Jewell County Monitor).  Quoting the Monitor, the “Brown’s Creek Dramatic Association will play the new and popular dramma (sic) ‘The Old Kansan’s Last Drink’ at the Mayview opera house, on April 30th. Tickets $1.00.”  (In today’s prices, the ticket would be about $29!)

In 1881, the town was also planning a large celebration for the 4th of July.  Fourteen men, “citizens of Mayview and surrounding area,” were serving on various committees to organize the event.  The location for the celebration was “one mile south of the Mayview Post Office.”

But there was also activity in the community before 1881. The Dec. 26, 1879, Jewell County Republican told of having horse races on Dec. 20, as well as the Templars having a Christmas tree and entertainment at the Grange Hall. The article claimed 97 members “in good standing” and the lodge was “in flourishing condition.”

Later in the history of Mayview, the town had both I.O.O.F and Rebecca lodges. The two were in existence until at least 1914. The 1910 census gave the population of Mayview as 35.

For several years, newspaper advertisements and items were rife for the Mayview stores. Wellstead’s store as well as a store owned by Jeremiah Bennett – perhaps two stores in Mayview at the same time. There is also evidence of a blacksmith shop and a nearly forgotten story of a hotel. According to the late Rex Headrick, Walter Holloway (1906-2000) told of Mayview having a hotel.

A mainstay of the community was the Mayview Christian Church. There is a document, in the possession of Linda Woerner (Jewell) which states “A Charter was given to the Christian Church of Brown’s Creek in 1883.”  From that time until March of 1962 the Mayview Church had worship services, Sunday School, Children’s Day programs, revivals and many more church and community activities.

But when did this town actually begin?  Dates vary but according to the 1880 Kansas Gazetteer, Mayview was founded in 1871. Other information gives other dates.

For example, Grace Gladys Jenkins’ obituary (Jewell County Record , June 1, 2006) states “She grew up in the Mayview community which was founded by her grandfather Saxon Alfred Welstead in 1879.”

1879 seems too late as an item has been located in the June 30, 1877, Jewell County Diamond advertising a horse for sale by “S. A. Welstead, Mayview.” At this time, 1877 is the earliest newspaper mention of Mayview.

Another piece of the puzzle is the obituary for Agnes Irene Jenkins which states “in 1871 he (Welstead) homesteaded.” Though the patent wasn’t granted until March 3,1879, the homesteading process well could have started in 1871. 

Welstead’s obituary, another clue, gives “early in 1875” as the date the Welstead Store opened.  The Welstead homestead – the SE 1⁄4 of Section 17 of Brownscreek Township, was the location of the store, the post office (when either of the Welsteads were postmaster) and the hub of the community.

So, it would seem Mayview began sometime between 1871 and 1875. Though the exact founding of Mayview is murky, the date the Mayview Post Office was organized is crystal clear - May 3, 1872.  

On her own initiative, Mary E. Benner wrote her congressman explaining the need for a post office, indicating her qualifications and listing her references. On May 3, 1872, she received the appointment as postmaster, the first woman in a government position in Jewell County. She is also credited with naming Mayview.

Shute and Dillon in Prairie Jewels cite the reason for the name “Mayview” as Mary Benner’s comment “You may view as far as eye can reach.”   Lillian Forrest’s collected information on Brownscreek Township has Benner saying “You may view, I may view, they may view as far as eye can reach.”  Gloria Garman Schlaefli quotes her as “I may view, you may view, why not Mayview?”  Whatever Benner said, the name of Mayview stuck with the community.

Benner was appointed Mayview Postmaster on a Friday. According to Forrest, on Saturday a mail carrier from Jewell showed up at her cabin with mail sacks and supplies. As the story continued, she ran the post office in her kitchen using her cupboard for the mail. 

At that time, the post office was on Benner’s homestead, which both Forrest and Prairie Jewels give as in Brownscreek Township’s Section 21, specifically the SW 1⁄4. Benner may indeed have begun the homestead process but she did not finish as she was never granted a land patent.

Mary E. Snyder Benner had been born in Pennsylvania but moved to Indiana with her family as a child.  She married Joseph Henry Benner on Feb. 17, 1862, in Elkhart, Indiana. Their daughter, Harriett, was born there on Sept. 23, 1862.

Joseph Benner enlisted in the 74th Indiana Infantry, serving as a sergeant in the Civil War.  He was killed on Feb. 23, 1863, during the Battle of Atlanta.  After the war, Mary brought Harriett to Jewell County for the purpose of homesteading. She came with a group of homesteaders including her two brothers, John and William. 

While serving as postmaster, Mary Benner became acquainted with William G Coffeen, another local homesteader. Coffeen, born in Illinois and also a Civil War veteran, served with the 88th Illinois Infantry. He came to Jewell County in 1872, began homesteading, met and then married Mary Benner on Dec. 18, 1873. 

Mary resigned as postmaster on Feb. 24, 1874, and her husband, William, became the second Mayview Postmaster. He served until Oct. 16, 1874.  They, with their six children, continued living in Jewell County until 1892 when they moved to Holton. Both William and Mary Snyder Benner Coffeen died in Holton and are buried in the Holton Cemetery.

The third Mayview postmaster was Saxon A Welstead, the man credited with founding Mayview. When he received his appointment on Oct. 16, 1874, he moved the post office to his homestead on the SE 1⁄4 of Section 17.

Welstead had been born in Canada and came to Jewell County in about 1871. On July 6, 1876, in Jewell Centre (Mankato), he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He also married Emma F. Detweiler in 1876.

The Welsteads had three children and lived either in Brownscreek Township or in Jewell the remainder of their lives. Emma died on July 26, 1903, and Saxon died on Jan. 20, 1940. Both are buried in Couch Cemetery.

Both Saxon and Emma served as Mayview postmasters. Saxon was the third, fifth and ninth (last) postmaster and Emma was the sixth postmaster.  While they were postmasters, the post office remained in the Welstead Store in Section 17, just west of where the Mayview Church would later be built.

Saxon’s first appointment as postmaster ended on June 3, 1875, and Jerome B. Reed became the fourth Mayview postmaster. Reed, another Civil War veteran, moved the post office to his homestead on the SE 1⁄4 of Section 15.  Reed served until Feb. 16, 1877.

According to a biographical sketch in the March 12, 1903, Jewell County Monitor, Reed came to Jewell County in 1872. He had been born in Ohio on Nov. 25, 1845. He didn’t remain long in Jewell County, the 1880 U. S. Census finds him and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth, living in Cawker City with their four children. By his 1917 death, he was living in Oregon.

On Feb. 16, 1877, Saxon Welstead became the fifth Mayview Postmaster. This appointment lasted until Jan. 29, 1880, when he resigned to spend more time with his store. Emma Detweiler Welstead took over the as the sixth Mayview Postmaster and served until Feb. 11, 1888.

Emma Welstead was, according to her obituary, an “early settler” of Jewell County.  She had been born in Pennsylvania on June 15, 1850. Her 1903 death came from an infection acquired after she stepped on a rusty nail.

George Alvord took over the duties of postmaster on Feb. 11, 1888, and it is felt the post office remained in or near the Welstead Store. Alvord had been born in 1839 in New York but moved to Wisconsin where he married Ella Perkins in 1875. The couple was in Jewell County by 1885 and remained in the area until around 1920 when they moved back to Wisconsin.

Alvord’s appointment was relatively short.  On Aug. 8, 1888, Jeremiah Bennett took over as the eighth Mayview postmaster. Bennett, like Welstead, had a store.  He had the Mayview Post Office in his store until June 14, 1897.

Bennett was another of the vast number of Civil War veterans who headed west after the war.  He had been born in Indiana but served with Company H of the 118th Illinois Infantry.  He married Mary Elizabeth Adams in Hancock, Illinois on Sept. 8, 1868.  They moved to Jewell County sometime in the 1870s and lived there the rest of their lives. They are buried in Mount Hope Cemetery just west of Mankato.

The ninth and final postmaster was “the merchant of Mayview” – Saxon Welstead.  The post office was again in the Welstead Store. This appointment lasted until the post office was discontinued on July 14, 1904.

The store was still in business in 1916 but by 1920, David Jenkins is noted as having “taken down the old Mayview store building.” (March 5, 1920, Jewell County Republican). 

By 1920, the Mayview Post Office, the Rebecca Lodge, the Odd Fellows Lodge, the Grange and both stores were all closed.  No more horse races, no more blacksmith shop and no more hotel. The only thing remaining – Mayview Church. Then in March of 1962, there was only a driveway into a field to mark where Mayview, Kansas had once been.