Medium: Text
Date: September 22, 1854
Transcription of a letter from the Amos Adams Lawrence Collection, Massachusetts Historical Society. Samuel Pomeroy wrote from a settlement, which would come to be called Lawrence, in Kansas Territory, to…
Medium: Text
Date: March 6, 1855
Thomas Webb, Secretary of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, wrote a letter of introduction for Isaac Goodnow to Samuel Pomeroy, seeking protection for Goodnow and his traveling party when…
Medium: Text
Date: December 1, 1856
Isaac Goodnow wrote from Kansas Territory to a friend Quereau of New England. It appeared that Goodnow was growing tired of the hard -scrabble life in the Territory, which was…
Medium: Text
Date: 1856
This written account reports on the incidents surrounding the murder of Charles Dow, including various skirmishes and military action which followed, leading up to the Wakarusa War. Dow was a…
Medium: Text
Date: May 18, 1856
Ellen Goodnow, wife of Isaac Goodnow, wrote to her sister-in-law, Harriet, in New England. In this mostly personal letter, Goodnow reports on the joys and limitations of life in Kansas…
Medium: Text
Date: January 19, 1856
N. P. Selee, presumably an acquaintance of Isaac Goodnow, and a fellow New Englander, wrote to Goodnow from the East Coast, describing to Goodnow his desire to settle in Kansas.…
Medium: Text
Date: January 12, 1856
William Goodnow wrote from his settlement near Wild Cat Creek, Kansas Territory, to his wife Harriet in New England. Goodnow related his wintertime experiences in the Midwest, which included descriptions…
Medium: Text
Date: January/February 1856
In the wake of the Wakarusa War, Isaac Goodnow wrote to an unknown recipient regarding recent skirmishes and negotiations between proslavery and free state supporters. According to Goodnow, Governor Shannon…
Medium: Text
Date: July 21, 1855
Ellen Goodnow, recently arrived at her homestead near Manhattan, Kansas Territory, wrote to her sister-in-law Harriet Goodnow in New England, regarding her trip West and her impressions of Kansas Territory.…
Medium: Text
Date: July 15, 1855
William Goodnow wrote from a settlement outside Manhattan, Kansas Territory, to his wife Harriet in New England. Goodnow refuted claims that Kansas was “a poor place”, defended the New England…
Medium: Text
Date: July 1, 1855
William Goodnow, brother of Isaac Goodnow, wrote from Shannon, Wild Cat Creek, Kansas Territory, to his wife Harriet in New England. Goodnow described his current activities, among them serving on…
Medium: Text
Date: June 29, 1855
Samuel Tappan wrote from Barker’s Mission on the Shawnee Reserve in present-day Johnson County, Kansas Territory, to Ellen Goodnow, Isaac Goodnow’s wife, near Manhattan. Tappan updated Ellen on the status…
Medium: Text
Date: June 17, 1855
William Goodnow wrote from Shannon, Wild Cat Creek, Kansas Territory, to his wife in New England. Goodnow commented on the weather and crops of the Territory, contrasting them with his…
Medium: Text
Date: June 15, 1855
Lyman Hubbard Whitney wrote from New England to Isaac Goodnow in Kansas Territory, reporting on the proceedings of the Philadelphia National Kansas Nebraska Convention, an organization that he described as…
Medium: Text
Date: June 10, 1855
William Goodnow, brother of Isaac Goodnow, wrote from Shannon, Wild Cat Creek, Kansas Territory, to his wife back East. Goodnow described his experiences participating in the development of the nearby…
Medium: Text
Date: January-February, 1855
This census was taken in order to determine eligible voters for elections to be held as proclaimed by Governor Andrew Reeder on November 10, 1854. The categories for information in…
Medium: Text
Date: November 15, 1860
John W. Robinson wrote from Manhattan, Kansas Territory to John M. S. Williams. Robinson thanked Williams for his $25 donation to the relief fund for Kansans suffering from the effects…
Medium: Text
Date: May 24, 1858
Isaac T. Goodnow wrote from Manhattan, Kansas Territory to Eli Thayer in Worcester, Massachusetts. Goodnow asked Thayer for his support for Bluemont Central College (predecessor to Kansas State University), a…
Medium: Text
Date: March 31, 1857
A. Pierse wrote from Washington, D.C. to Eli Thayer in Worcester, Massachusetts. Pierse was born in North Carolina and lived most of his life in the South but had been…
Medium: Text
Date: March 3, 1857
J. Henry Muzzy wrote from Lawrence, Kansas Territory to Eli Thayer in Worcester, Massachusetts. Muzzy informed Thayer that free state supporters in Kansas were not, as Thayer had predicted, discouraged…
Medium: Text
Date: July 15, 1856
J. F. Tallant wrote from Burlington, Iowa to Eli Thayer in Worcester, Massachusetts, seeking Thayer’s endorsement of a plan to build a railroad across southern Iowa from Burlington, on the…
Medium: Text
Date: May 30, 1856
F. D. Kimball, Attorney General of Ohio, wrote from Columbus, Ohio to Eli Thayer. Kimball reported on James Lane’s recent visit to Ohio and described Lane’s plans to establish a…
Medium: Text
Date: June 4, 1856
George Washington Brown, editor of the Herald of Freedom newspaper, was one of seven free state leaders arrested on May 14, 1856 on charges of high treason and held prisoner…
Medium: Text
Date: April 2, 1855
Charles Robinson, writing from Lawrence, Kansas Territory to Eli Thayer in Worcester, Massachusetts, described voting irregularities in the March 30, 1855 election of members to the territorial legislature. Robinson maintained…
Medium: Text
Date: August 3, 1857
An official statement and accompanying tally sheet detaling the results of the “State Election” held under the authority of the Topeka Constitution. This document was from the Lawrence precinct and…
