My Present Past
A genealogical experience
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Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad
Named for a market center in Greece, Emporia, Kansas was founded in February of 1857 by Preston B. Plumb,
G. W. Brown. George B. Ditzler, Lyman Allen and Columbus Hornsby of what was then Breckenridge County
(1856) . Charles H. Withington is thought to be the oldest settler in the county, locating here in June of 1854.  
In 1855-56, mail was brought by the Santa Fe stage to Withington's, who had set up an office. Ira Hadley then
took the mail and distributed it by horseback to the settlers on the Cottonwood and Neosho. Emporia is the
county seat of Lyon county and contains a population of about 3,000 people (1871) and located on the prairie
near and between the Neosho and Cottonwood rivers, which provide fine water power for saw and grain mills.
The valleys about Emporia are famous for their well tilled farms and the town commands a very expensive
trade, owing to its advantageous position relative to the vast and rapidly growing region laying south and west.
The citizens also look with confidence for the speedy construction of another railroad from the direction of
Ottawa. Emporia is at the crossing of two established railroads, the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe and the
Missouri Kansas & Texas. Many fine businesses are located here with churches and school houses. The city has
added to its fame by rigorously prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor and the State Normal School is
located here and is doing quite well.
Edward and Sadie Engel came to Emporia , Kansas in the Summer of 1881 along with Sadie's brother,
Clifford L. Nichols and family. Clifford had just secured a position with the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe as a
Dispatcher at Emporia in late 1880. Edward was an agent at Emporia for the Santa Fe until the summer of
1882, where he then took a position as an operator at Halstead, Kansas. He was at Halstead until the summer
of 1883 where he secured a similar position with the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad at Argentine, Kansas.
Living and working in Emporia, Kansas, Edward and Sadie became friends with the people in the community.
Below are two of the many people they became acquainted with from Emporia.
Jennie A. Wicks                                         Emporia, Kansas                                     February 26, 1882
Clifford Nichols was the dispatcher for the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe at Emporia, Kansas starting in 1880. In
1881 he was promoted to Chief Dispatcher and Operator at Emporia, a position that would last until June of 1883.
In October of that same year,  Clifford transferred to Topeka, Kansas to become Trainmaster of the same road.
Lead by kindlier hand than ours, We journey through this earthly scene,
And should not in our weary hours, Turn to regret, what might have been.

Your true friend, Mrs. A. J. Wicks
Emporia, Kansas, February 26, 1882
Amanda Jane (Morford) Wicks was born, January 08, 1846 to Isaac M and Susan (Anderson) Morford in
Jefferson, Madison County, Ohio. The family moved to Grasshopper Falls, Jefferson County, Kansas sometime
after the Civil War. Amanda attended the Teachers College after high school and then attended Kansas State
Normal School in Emporia, graduating in 1868.
Amanda met William Montgomery Wicks and they were married October 28, 1869. Of this union two children
were born in Emporia, Jennie Alice, in 1870 and Willa M., in 1878. The family was  very prominent in the city of
Emporia, with the founding of the First National Bank and William being one of the first merchants in the city,
later becoming Wicks and Frederick grocery. In 1872, William was elected as a councilman of the third ward.
William Wicks fell ill in 1878 and was on his way to Colorado for heath reasons and died May 18, 1878.
After William's death, Amanda became a school teacher and was very active in Emporia. She moved back to
Grasshopper Falls in 1884, next door to her parents and taught school there until she returned to Emporia in
1890. After her retirement in 1894, she became the City Librarian. Amanda Wicks and several other citizens
were the driving force in bringing the Carnegie Library to Emporia. Failing health forced her to move to Helena,
Montana, to live with her daughter, Willa in 1910. She remained in Helena until her death on April 27, 1929.
She is buried next to her husband William in Maplewood Memorial Lawn Cemetery in Emporia.