Fuller Family Cemetery
Permission Granted for use by Linda Lewis

The Pioneer Spirit Remains

Fuller Cemetery, Gardner Township, Johnson County, Kansas

by Linda Lewis
photos by Linda Lewis

In 1854, the Nebraska-Kansas Act opened the Kansas Territory to settlers and granted the territory sovereignty to decide their Free or Slave status for eventual statehood.  Trade routes, like the Santa Fe Trail, were already established, and railroad construction began in earnest at the opening of the territory.

As a result of these events, there was a great rush of settlers to homestead Kansas prairie land, advertised as fast to get farming with no trees to clear. These early pioneers often formed small secular communities, either pro- or anti-slavery, and they were often located in close proximity. This led to the friction known in history as Bloody Kansas, and the Border Wars with Missouri, a pro-slavery state.  By January 29, 1861, Kansas joined the Union as a Free State. Later that year, Kansas troops marched to serve the Union in the Civil War.

The Santa Fe Trail departed from what is now Kansas City, Missouri, and entered the Kansas Territory in the northeast corner of Johnson County, Kansas.  The Trail served not only as a trade route, but also as the start of the Trail to Oregon and California.  It is in the south central portion of Johnson County, not too far from the Trail, where in 1854, Amos Fuller, his wife Amelia, and his 5 children were among the first settlers to stake their claim to 160-acres in Gardner Township. It is here they survived on their own wits and adaptability through this rugged time in Kansas history. And it is here where they rest forever, in a place where their mark on this prairie still remains visible today.

You can read the rest of Ms. Lewis' essay and see the photos at
Fuller Cemetery.