Medium: Text
Date: June 10, 1859
From Sumner on June 10, 1859, just days after the election for delegates to the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, Ingalls wrote his father about the “well fought” contest in a county…
Medium: Text
Date: March 15, 1859
Although Ingalls began this relatively brief letter from Sumner with comments on the local election (he won the race for city attorney), he devoted most of it to the Pike’s…
Medium: Text
Date: February 11, 1859
In this brief letter from the Senate Chamber, Lawrence, Kansas, February 11, 1859, Ingalls writes about the bill abolishing slavery in Kansas Territory; it was passed too late to give…
Medium: Text
Date: January 26, 1859
From Lawrence, January 26, 1859, Ingalls began this letter with a description of the territory’s pleasant weather, but focused on the activities of the legislature and the status of slavery…
Medium: Text
Date: January 2, 1859
From Lawrence, K.T., where he went to lobby the territorial legislature on behalf of Sumner’s city charter and a “Pikes Peak Express Company,” John J. Ingalls wrote to tell his…
Medium: Text
Date: November 21, 1858
Much of this interesting letter, dated November 21, 1858, from Sumner, Kansas Territory, describes the Ingalls law practice and the nature of a “frontier” court proceedings that often attracted “nearly…
Medium: Text
Date: December 2, 1858
Ingalls opened this letter with comments on the weather (“the fine days are so beautiful as to compensate for a large amount of ambiguous weather”), problems with shipping freight, and…
Medium: Text
Date: December 10, 1858
On the letter head of the “Sumner Company,” Ingalls wrote of the activities of the town company, including its “large distribution of lots,” the “drafting” of a city charter, and…
Medium: Text
Date: October 24, 1858
After nearly two weeks in the territory, Ingalls was somewhat more optimistic about his prospects, and in this letter to his father, Elias Ingalls, John Ingalls wrote of the gold…
Medium: Text
Date: October 5, 1858
On his first full day in Sumner, Kansas Territory, Ingalls penned a second letter to his father to convey his first impressions of “that Promised Land.” The reality Ingalls found…
Medium: Text
Date: October 5, 1858
In this first, rather lengthy letter from Sumner, K.T., Ingalls recorded his “impressions” of St. Louis, Missouri, and detailed the combination rail and steamboat trip across Missouri to Kansas Territory.…
Medium: Text
Date: September 25, 1858
From the Angier House, Cleveland, Ohio, Ingalls wrote to tell his father of the journey to date, which had taken him through Buffalo, N.Y., and offered “the opportunity, long coveted,…
Medium: Text
Date: September 23, 1858
On the first leg of his move to Sumner, Kansas Territory, John J. Ingalls, a 24-year-old Massachusetts lawyer, wrote this brief letter from Boston, Mass., to his father, Elias T.…
Medium: Text
Date: February 2, 1861
Mary Holliday wrote from Topeka to her husband, Cyrus K. Holliday, in Washington, D. C. She described farm and financial difficulties, especially her frustration with John, an incompetent hired hand.…
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Date: January 28, 1861
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote from La Porte, Indiana to his wife, Mary Holliday, in Topeka, Kansas Territory. On his way to Washington, D. C. he planned to collect a debt.…
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Date: January 27, 1861
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote to Mary from Chicago, Illinois, one stop along his journey to Washington, D. C. where he would lobby Congress for assistance with the Atchison and Topeka…
Medium: Text
Date: July 14, 1859
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote from the Wyandotte Convention to his wife, Mary Holliday, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. His efforts to ensure that Topeka would be the capital of Kansas Territory had…
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Date: March 31, 1859
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote from Topeka, Kansas Territory to his wife, Mary Holliday, who had returned to Meadville, Pennsylvania to give birth to their second child, Charles. Cyrus had been…
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Date: February 6, 1859
Cyrus K. Holliday, soon to return to Topeka after a productive territorial legislative session in Lawrence, wrote to his wife, Mary Holliday, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He wrote about a festival…
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Date: January 30, 1859
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote from Lawrence, Kansas Territory to his wife, Mary Holliday, who, accompanied by Mrs. Edward C. K. Garvey, had returned to Meadville, Pennsylvania to give birth to…
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Date: September 20, 1858
Cyrus K. Holliday, founder and prominent citizen of Topeka, Kansas Territory, wrote to Alfred Huidekoper and Edgar Huidekoper, old associates from Meadville, Pennsylvania, to tell them of investment opportunities. He…
Medium: Text
Date: October 26, 1857
William B. Hutchinson, an abolitionist from Lawrence, Kansas Territory and secretary of the Freemen of Kansas, wrote to Cyrus K. Holliday, free state activist and president of the Topeka Town…
Medium: Text
Date: February 14, 1857 & April 22, 1857
This act, handwritten by Cyrus K. Holliday, was passed by the territorial legislature at Lecompton on February 14th, 1857. Its three sections established the city limits of Topeka, designated a…
Medium: Text
Date: October 23, 1856
Mary Holliday of Meadville, Pennsylvania, wrote to her husband, Cyrus K. Holliday, likely at Philadelphia. She had returned from a trip to Wooster, Ohio. She reported improved Kansas Territory conditions…
Medium: Text
Date: October 17, 1856
Three days after the Pennsylvania state election, Cyrus K. Holliday wrote from Monongahela House, a hotel in Pittsburgh, PA to his wife, Mary Holliday, in Meadville. The election results were…
