Abelard Guthrie diaries

Biographical sketch: Abelard Guthrie was born near Dayton, Ohio on 9 March 1814. His parents, James and Elizabeth Ainsworth Andrews Guthrie, were early settlers in Ohio from Pennsylvania. Abelard married Quindaro Nancy Brown, a Wyandot-Shawnee member, in 1844 in what is now part of Kansas City, Kansas. They had four children who survived to adulthood. Guthrie died unexpectedly in Washington, D.C. in January 1873, visiting the city to persuade Congress to follow through on some claims of the Wyandots and himself and the Shawnee claim of his wife and family.

Abstract: The collection consists of typed transcripts of Guthrie's diary entries for February and March 1848 during his time fighting with the United States in Vera Cruz during the Mexican-American War and for the years 1858-1865 (not inclusive) when he lived and worked in Kansas. The diary entries typically consist of Guthrie's business activities, with some information about the weather, his family, costs of items, and other such details. He discusses meeting with General James Lane and others of Lane's circle as well as of working with and for Native Americans in Kansas, particularly the Wyandot tribe, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The 1848/1865 entries include Wyandot losses sworn to before U.S. Indian agent James B. Abbott. Also in the collection is a brief biographical and genealogical sketch of Guthrie, written by William Connelley.