Individual Details

Joseph Guizolund / Guizlo

(11 Apr 1823 - 30 Oct 1890)

Little is known about Joseph Guizolund's early years. His obituary says he was born in Geneva, Freiberg canton, Switzerland in April, 1823. Two old photographs in our family album were taken in Vevey, which is in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva. Fribourg canton lies to the NE. According to his obituary, he married about 1851 and the couple immigrated to America in 1853, settling in Mercer, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Their first child, a daughter they named Mary Catherine, was born in Mercer 8 September 1855. They shortened their surname to Guizlo soon after coming to the United States.
About 1857 they removed to Osage County in Kansas and settled in Burlingame. Burlingame is the oldest surviving city in Osage County. Joseph and family came to Burlingame from Pennsylvania about four years after the town was first settled. A large group of the first settlers had also come from Mercer, Pennsylvania in 1854 to settle the proposed town, orignially named Council City, in the Kansas territory. What connection Joseph had with this group, if any, is unknown. Following the Santa Fe Trail, ruts of which can still be seen west of the city, the first settlers developed Burlingame, renamed from Council City in 1857, along it's path. Main Street, officially Santa Fe Avenue, is still extra wide today from the time large oxen teams pulling covered wagons needed room to turn around. The street wasn't paved until 1922 when it was laid with bricks. Presumably, Joseph also traveled along the Santa Fe Trail with his wife and baby daughter when he came to the new town. His obituary ends with "Mr. Guizlo was well known among all the old settlers of this part of the county, and the knowledge of his death will bring to them many reminiscences of the early days of Kansas."
Joseph lived in Burlingame the rest of his life. He and Mary had eight children, though three died in infancy. They raised five children to maturity, two daughters and three sons. His wife Mary G. died October 20, 1889, and Joseph followed her a year later, dying on 30 October 1890. They are buried together in the Burlingame Cemetery.
He worked as a laborer to support his family during his first decade in Burlingame, and in the 1870 census he called himself a stone mason. Exactly what kind of labor he did during those years the records don't say, but the young city grew rapidly until the outbreak of the Civil War, creating many construction jobs. A bridge had been put across the creek by Switzler, saw mills and grist mills were built, and durable buildings, some of them of stone, were put up (Blackmar 256). Even during the war laborers were needed as the town built a circular stone fort around the town well to guard against Confederate action. After the war the fort was dismantled and the stones used to build a Baptist Church. Growth renewed with the peace and when the Santa Fe Railroad came to Burlingame in 1869, it opened more employment possibilities. Some time after 1870 Joseph was hired by the railroad and lists "works on section" in 1880 and simply "railroader" in 1885. With his steady employment Joseph was able to make home improvements; build an addition and add landscaping, to his house.
The Osage County Chronicle Burlingame, Kansas) Thu, Apr 14, 1881, Page 4
Smith & Black, masons, have a contract for the erection of an addition to Jos. Guizlo's stone residence.
The Burlingame Herald on Sat. April 22, 1882 prints that "Mr. Joseph Guizlo has planted a number of trees in front of his residence."

Joseph was an well-liked resident of Burlingame. The Osage County Chronicle (Burlingame, Kansas) Thu, Feb 28, 1889, Page 5 mentions that Mr. Joseph Guizlo, sr., was a pleasant caller Saturday at The Chronicle office. Mr. Guizlo is one of Burlingame's oldest settlers, having been here thirty-one years. He is sixty-five years old and in the enjoyment of very good health.
His children grew up with the city. His oldest, Mary, became a teacher at the local school according to both the 1875 and 1880 census, age 19 and 24. She married in 1881 to a Frenchman employed by the railroad. His eldest son Joseph was a foreman for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad before becoming a farmer in 1910. Joseph Jr. had married in 1889 in Lyon Co. where he settled with his wife. Charlotte, or Lottie as she was called, was also a school teacher in 1880 before marrying and moving to Xenia, Ohio.  Zella married in 1888 but died at 21 of childbirth complications after having her daughter Zella in 1890. Little Zella was adopted by her paternal aunt but sadly, only lived five years. The youngest son, Benjamin Franklin, who went by B. F. or even Bennie, became the most well known. He was a telegraph operator, and then an agent for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, about 1900 in Manchester, Dickenson Co., Kansas. About 1905 he started working as a cashier at the Farmers & Merchants State Bank in Macksville, Stafford Co., Kansas, eventually becoming one of their bankers. He was elected mayor of Macksville, serving from 1907 to 1915, when he passed away at 44.

At least some of the family went to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mary and Zella Guizlo's names are found on the pledge signed by the Youths' Temperance Alliance, Burlingame, Kansas (1877- 1879) which was held at the ME church. Mary and Louis Duval's marriage was held there in 1881 officiated by Pastor Wm. Stevenson.

After his wife died in 1889, Joseph declined in health. By this time all of his children except the youngest, Bennie, had married and left home. Though only 66, he seems to have developed serious dementia, which in that time period was judged being insane, and care was given to Frank Hile.
The Osage County Chronicle (Burlingame, Kansas) Thu, Jul 18, 1889, Page 5
--W. C. Chatfield, George Stoors, C. W. Hallock, Geo. Empie, Doctor W. C. Wolf, Frank Hile and J. N. McDonald visited Lyndon Monday as witnesses in the Guizlo insane case.
The Burlingame Democrat (Burlingame, Kansas) Fri, Jul 19, 1889, Page 3
After examing several witnesses Probate Judge Doty adjudged Joseph Guizlo insane, last Monday, and appointed Frank Hile as his guardian.
His obituary claimed his wife's death "was an affliction that brought upon him a deep meloncholly from which he never recovered." More details are found in a newspaper account from the Burlingame Chronicle, also reprinted in the Overbrook Herald, July 25, 1889:
Adjudged Insane.
In a trial before the probate court at Lyndon, Monday, Joseph Guizlo, of this city, was adjudged insane. Mr. Guizlo has been a resident of Burlingame for more than thirty years and has always been among our most industrious citizens. The first symptoms of his loss of mind were shown three of four months ago, since which time his condition has every day grown more alarming, so that his family and friends finally decided that steps should be taken to guard against any possible harm he might inflict upon himself or others. He has not attempted violence, but fears have been entertained by those who have watched the progress of his malady that he might yet do mischief. One of his hallucinations is that God has commanded him to take charge of the affairs of this world and do certain impossible things which could come from no other source except an unsettled mind. Mr. Guizlo is about sixty-six years of age. His many friends, and particulary those who have know him for so many years, will learn with feelings of sincere regret of his affliction, and all hope, with us, that he may again be restored to reason. (OCFP 7/25/1889)
Frank Hile eventually received compensation for his care, though he was denied at first.
The Osage County Chronicle (Burlingame, Kansas) Thu, Oct 17, 1889, Page 1
Claim of Frank Hile, boarding and guarding Joseph Guizlo, insane, rejected by order of the board.
Osage County Times (Scranton, Kansas) Fri. Apr 25, 1890, Page 4
Commissioners' Proceedings.
Lyndon, Kans. April 17th, 1890.
The following claims were examined and allowed:
......Frank Hile care of J. Guizlo Insane 90 00 ......

He lived over a year more before dying on 30 October, 1890, a few months after his daughter Zella.

Events

Birth11 Apr 1823Geneva, Freiburg Canton, Switzerland
Census1834Rue, Kanton Freiburg, Schweiz
Marriage1851Switzerland - Mary Geneva Grandjean
Emigration1853Geneva, Genève, Switzerland
Residence1858Burlingame, Osage, Kansas, United States
Census (family)8 Jul 1860Ridgeway Township, Osage, Kansas, United States - Mary Geneva Grandjean
Census (family)1865Burlingame, Osage, Kansas, United States - Mary Geneva Grandjean
Census (family)1870Burlingame, Osage, Kansas, United States - Mary Geneva Grandjean
Census (family)1 Mar 1875Burlingame, Osage, Kansas, United States - Mary Geneva Grandjean
Census (family)1880Burlingame, Osage, Kansas, United States - Mary Geneva Grandjean
Census (family)1 Mar 1885Burlingame, Osage, Kansas, United States - Mary Geneva Grandjean
Death30 Oct 1890Burlingame, Osage, Kansas, United States
Burial3 Nov 1890Burlingame City Cemetery, Burlingame, Osage, Kansas, United States
Alt nameJoseph Guisolan
Alt nameJoseph Guisolan

Families

SpouseMary Geneva Grandjean (1823 - 1889)
ChildMary Catherine Geneva Guizlo (1855 - 1905)
ChildJoseph A Guizlo (1860 - 1919)
ChildCharlotte "Lottie" Guizlo (1862 - 1910)
ChildZella Emilene Guizlo (1868 - 1890)
ChildBenjamin Franklin Guizlo (1871 - 1915)
FatherPierre Guisolan (1779 - )
MotherUNK (1780 - 1830)

Notes

Endnotes