My Genealogy Hound

FREEMAN SARDOU.
Freeman Sardou, whose handsome brick residence at No. 445 Freeman avenue, Topeka, is surrounded by a tract of 20 acres mainly devoted to fruit culture, is a well-known citizen of Shawnee County and was one of the first residents of Topeka. He was born January 16, 1854, on the Atlantic Ocean en route for free America, and is a son of Charles and Josephine (Mere) Sardou.

The life of the father of Mr. Sardou was full enough of striking events to furnish foundation for a hundred romances. He was born near Carqueiranne, France, in 1813, and for 23 years of his life was a sailor on the sea. He was much more than a sailor as his later life demonstrated, possessing courage and fortitude and the personal bravery which made the revolutionists of 1848 such a menace to royalty in France. For these qualities he was considered a dangerous person and a price of 20,000 francs was set on his head and his faithful wife was exiled. It became a matter of necessity for him to escape to a land where each man could enjoy his rights of citizenship and be protected in the same, and thus the eyes of the French refugees were turned to America. With a party of his mates numbering 17, he seized a vessel at one of the ports and headed for the land across the Atlantic which was reached after a voyage of 120 days. It was during this period that our subject came into the world. The voyagers, being mostly sailors, knew when and how to beach the vessel and after leaving her to her fate made their way to land and freedom.

In 1854, with J. B. Billiard, Frederick K. Vesscelda and a Mr. Berrenger, Mr. Sardou came to Kansas. Each took up 160 acres of land and they were the first white people to locate at Topeka, the date being August 28, 1854. Charles Sardou’s troubles were by no means ended. His first house, a dugout by the side of a bank, was washed away by a sudden flood; a sod house, which took its place, was blown down by a furious wind storm, and the third home, a log house, was burned to the ground, on November 23, 1854. Two days later a party of white people, led by the well-remembered Daniel H. Home, crossed the place where his log cabin had stood, headed for Topeka. The flood which covered all this territory about this time washed away many landmarks, but fortunately left the sills of his house standing. During the flood, the coming of which was sudden, Mr. Sardou crossed the river on the ice with his wife and child—Freeman.

In the succeeding April Charles Sardou went back to his farm and found it occupied, a Dr. Martin having “jumped” his claim. There was nothing to do but to enter suit for his land and it was not until 1860 that he was able to oust the usurper. During all this time no work had been done on the land, but nevertheless he had to pay Dr. Martin all he possessed in order to secure it, a claim being made for improvements. It was mainly owing to the sworn testimony of Daniel H. Home that Mr. Sardou obtained his rights. That pioneer testified to seeing the door-sills of the log cabin on the land when he and his party came to Topeka.

Until May 1870, Mr. Sardou remained on his farm, quietly cultivating it and reaping large returns, but his heart was still in the old country across the ocean. The revolution there again stirred old memories and finally he decided to take what fortune he had been able to accumulate and to return to France and assist in the overthrow of royalty. With $4,000, which the French subjects in Kansas had subscribed to the cause he went to New York and there he recruited 1,000 men and with them sailed to France to help the cause. He took part in the battles of Strasburg, Metz and Sedan, and after seeing the fall of Paris he returned to Kansas in September, 1871, having been absent for nine months.

It has been stated that Mr. Sardou’s friend, Dr. M. A. E. J. Campdoras, was offered the first presidency of France in 1848. Mr. Sardou was pensioned and after his second return to that land was elected to a seat in the House of Deputies for life. He survived all of his companions in the ship and died within a stone’s throw of the house in which he was born, on November 2, 1894, aged 81 and a half years. His tomb is in the old sailors’ and soldiers’ cemetery there.

Our subject, in spite of the adventures of which he was an unconscious witness during his early life, grew up at Topeka as a happy earnest school boy. He was a pupil in the school located at 10th avenue and Jackson street when he had to walk two miles to reach the school house, the teacher being a Mr. Drake who closed the school in 1862 and entered the army. He then became a student in the Harrison and Lincoln schools. In 1869 he was one of the first five pupils admitted to the High School, the others being: Emma Boyd, now Mrs. F. C. Bowen; Mrs. Emma Woods; W. C. Campbell and Lloyd Hope, all still surviving except Mr. Hope.

After completing his education, Mr. Sardou learned the tinner’s trade at St. Louis, at which he worked for 13 years. In 1883 when his father returned to France, he came back to the farm and has continued to reside here ever since. It is a beautiful place, one section of it being shaded with stately old oaks of a century’s growth perhaps, while his orchards of his own planting yield lavishly the most luscious fruits found in the State. He has devoted much care to the culture of fruit and has great arbors of Concord grapes, four kinds of choice cherries and small fruits in abundance.

Mr. Sardou was married on September 26, 1878, to Mary A. Morriss, who is a daughter of George A. G. and Leddie (Ladd) Morriss, and they have two sons,—Charles and George. The former, who is an electrician, married Emma Isaacson and lives at Third and Madison streets, Topeka. The latter, also an electrician, married Gertie Bradenburg and they reside with our subject.

Although not an active politician, Mr. Sardou takes much interest in public affairs and votes with the Democratic party. His fraternal connection is with Topeka Lodge, No. 38, Knights of Pythias.

During the flood of 1903 Mr. Sardou and his sons succeeded in rescuing over 300 people who were in peril of their lives, and the citizens of Topeka in grateful remembrance presented him and his sons each with a beautiful gold medal, appropriately inscribed. Mr. Sardou’s medal on the one side has in gold type “For Bravery,”—below being a representation of a row boat filled with a party he had just rescued; on the opposite side is found this inscription: “Presented by citizens of Topeka, Kansas, to Freeman Sardou for manly and heroic efforts in behalf of his fellow beings during the flood of May 30th, 1903.”

As may be supposed, few men are better informed concerning the early days of Topeka when a few indifferent buildings and Indian wigwams represented what is now the beautiful capital city of the State. The wildest dream of that time would not have pictured, even in illusion, the busy marts of trade, the rush and roar of steam and electric roads, the bustle of some of the largest industries in the world, and the beautiful Capitol Building looking down through streets, avenues and boulevards which are filled with the representatives of the commerce, intelligence, beauty and culture of all parts of the world. And the time has come when Kansas has, through native strength and self-assertion, become really and truly the land the French refugee sought—one of freedom. No early mention of Topeka can be complete without his name.