Person

Daniel Hickman

Sepia photo of a man with short white hair and mustache, wearing a black suit and black tie.
Reverend Daniel Hickman, date unknown

Kansas State Historical Society

Quick Facts
Significance:
Kansas Homesteader
Place of Birth:
Scott County, Kentucky
Date of Birth:
November 4, 1841
Place of Death:
Topeka, Kansas
Date of Death:
November 22, 1917
Place of Burial:
Bogue, Kansas
Cemetery Name:
Mount Olive Cemetery

Daniel Hickman was a Baptist pastor from Kentucky who traveled to Kansas with his family to homestead near Nicodemus, Kansas.

Daniel Hickman was born into slavery in 1841 near Georgetown, Kentucky. While working as a carriage driver he was intrigued by people reading. Hickman would save scraps of paper with writing and over time learned some of what the markings meant. Once freed, he learned to read.

Following the ratification of the 13th Amendment and the abolition of slavery in 1865, Hickman married a formerly enslaved woman named Willina Lewis; they would raise 10 children together. Shortly after his marriage, Hickman began preaching at the colored Mt. Olive Baptist Church of Dry Run, Kentucky.

In 1877, 900 miles to the west of Georgetown, Kentucky, Black pastor W. H. Smith, white land speculator W. R. Hill, and five African American men formed Nicodemus Town Company. Through the Townsite Preemption Act of 1844, these seven men acquired the original 160 acres to make the Nicodemus townsite, with the wider Nicodemus township being incorporated in 1879.

Attracted by the allure of what was predicted to be the “largest Colored Community in America,” the Hickmans and others saw homesteading on the frontier of Kansas as a new beginning. In the spring of 1878, Daniel and Willina Hickman and about 150 other formerly enslaved people left Georgetown, Kentucky. They traveled by train to Ellis, Kansas, and from there on foot to Nicodemus.

 

"When we got in sight of Nicodemus the men shouted, 'There is Nicodemus!' Being very sick, I hailed this news with gladness. I looked with all the eyes I had. I said, 'Where is Nicodemus? I don't see it.' My husband pointed out various smokes coming out of the ground and he said, 'That is Nicodemus.' The families lived in dugouts … The scenery was not at all inviting, and I began to cry…" – Willina Hickman

Despite the living conditions and their longing for the forested hills of Kentucky, Willina and her Daniel Hickman stayed. Hickman filed Homestead Entry #15623 for the northwest quarter of Section 6 in Township 8 south, Range 22 west of the 6th Principal Meridian.

Under the requirements of the Homestead Act of 1862, Hickman had to live on his land for a minimum of 5 years and successfully improve and cultivate his land; only then, if he completed these, would he be awarded an official land patent.

Daniel Hickman began “proving up” with the construction of a 3-room sod house, stable, corral, and other outbuildings. For the following seven years he would also cultivate 35 of his 156.77 acres for crops.

Hickman still needed to make Final Proof before he officially owned his land. This process included the Affidavit of Publication – a notice published in The Reveille from March 27, 1885 until May 1, 1885 (six consecutive weeks) stating Hickman’s intentions of making Final Proof. He made good on these intentions on May 30, 1885, when he visited the Land Office at Kirwin, Kansas and completed the Pre-Emption Homestead Affidavit and Testimony of Claimant.

Finally, Hickman needed two Testimony Witnesses – people to verify his cultivation and improvement requirements; these came from W. J. Crawford and W. R. Hill (one of the founders of Nicodemus). The Land Office at Kirwin, Kansas approved Hickman’s homestead claim, and on June 14, 1887 issued land patent #8816.

While “proving up,” Daniel Hickman continued his service to the ministry and organized Mt. Olivet Baptist Church four miles west of Nicodemus in a dugout with a sod structure above it. By 1880, a small one-room stone sanctuary had been erected at the same site.

In addition, he assisted in the formation of two other Baptist churches in Hill City – both Black and white – and created the WaKeeney Baptist Association. Being a figure of leadership among the Black community, Hickman transitioned into local politics – becoming the first Graham County Coroner and later the County Commissioner.

In 1903, Daniel Hickman left his homestead and moved to Topeka, Kansas. where he worked as a janitor at the state capitol for 10 years. Near the time of his death in 1917, he was a member of the Knights and Ladies of Protection and had continued ministerial work as a pastor at the Junction City Baptist Church.

Learn more about Black Homesteading in America.

Sources

Homestead National Historical Park, Nicodemus National Historic Site

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Last updated: October 21, 2024