Marion County, Kansas
Big Turkey Creek Ranche was established by Charles O. Fuller in 1855. A native of New York state, born in 1828, Fuller came to Missouri as a young man where he obtained employment as driver for the Waldo Hall Company, the first mail contractor on the Santa FeTrail. At some unknown date, Fuller left the ranche, moving to Marion Centre, Kansas where he was elected to the Marion County Board of Commissioners. In Marion Centre, he built the first hotel and in 1872, he joined Ira Moore of the Cottonwood Creek Ranche in the establishment of the grist mill west of Marion Centre. In the same year, Fuller traded his interest in the mill for a farm near Florence, Kansas. Here he lived to his death in 1879.
Fuller's successors at the ranche were Harvey Bickford and L. Hubble. Bickford was appointed postmaster at the post office established at the ranche in 1860. Both Bickford and Hubble figured in the creation of Peketon County. In the November 6, 1860 election, conducted at the Cow Creek Ranche, Bickford, was elected to serve as county commissioner; Hubble was elected to the office of county commissioner.
The ranche became a favorite stop on the Santa Fe Trail because of the fine table set by two sisters employed at the ranche, Clare and Norma Nomi. Norma married a Mr. Smith, a butcher at Fort Dodge. Clare married Henry Schonfeldt. The identity of Schonfeldt is murky. In 1866, a Henry Shonfield paid a dram shop license fee. Conjecture has it that Schonfeldt and Shonfield were one and the same person. If so, then in all likelihood, this person, whatever the spelling of his name, was the last proprietor of the Turkey Creek Ranche.
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