A Kansas Memory Podcast

Andrew Reeder, Territorial Governor

The documents used in the Andrew Reeder podcast are available on Earlier Kansas Memory podcasts used documents from Territorial Kansas Online: A Virtual Repository for Territorial Kansas History, 1854-1861.

• Memoranda, Records of Reeder's Stock in Towns
  [1855]
  This document was an undated "Mem. Of Stock in Towns," which appeared to have been written in longhand by Reeder himself and included the number of shares he had purchased (and how they were acquired) in fifteen different towns: Leavenworth, Pawnee, Tecumseh, Marysville, Lecompton, Montgomery (Dickinson Co.), Reeder (Dickinson Co.), Richmond, Whitfield (Shawnee Co.), Topeka, Douglas, Omaha City, Chetolah (Davis/Geary Co.), Grasshopper Falls, and Easton. Interestingly, he held thirty-four shares in Pawnee, his most famous (or infamous) investment venture, but he had thirty-six shares in Montgomery, twenty in Douglas and there appears to be a good number in Omaha City.
• Letter, A.H. Reeder, to Dear Doctor [Charles Robinson]
  February 16, 1856
  From "Washington City" on February 16, 1856, former K.T. governor Andrew Reeder wrote Charles Robinson regarding his (Reeder's) efforts to influence Kansas policy in the nation's capital. Reeder was working through friends, since he no longer had personal influence with President Pierce, and he was not pleased with the president's February 11 proclamation, which he called "the low contemptible trickstering affair which might expected from Pierce, and is like the Special Message [of January 24] a slander on the Free State Party." Nevertheless, Reeder thought it could have been worse and insisted that Robinson and the other free-state leaders "should not organize the State Govt." Pierce would just use that action to justify aggressive moves to suppress the movement.
• Letter, A.H. Reeder to Dear Sir [J.A. Halderman]
  August 11, 1856
  The former governor wrote this letter from Easton, Pennsylvania, to his former secretary and attorney, J. A. Halderman, in order to secure his services in an effort to retrieve some personal papers and settle some matters of business pertaining to town lots and shares. According to Reeder, "the Sheriff posse at the sacking of Lawrence broke open my trunk and stole the contents. The clothing is probably by this time worn out" and he was not concerned about other contents, with the exception of "some private papers" that someone had informed him could be retrieved. He asked Halderman to get the papers, which included "certificates of stock in Leavenworth, Tecumseh, Lecompton, Lawrence, Easton, Pawnee" etc., and then take care of business matters that were reflected therein--"some obligations for money, leases contracts Receipts & etc." Reeder also asked Halderman "to attend to my Leavenworth lots" and went into considerable detail about these matters.
• Letter, A.H. Reeder to J.A. Halderman
  January 9, 1857
  From the National Hotel in Washington, Andrew Reeder wrote to advise Halderman on the disposition of some business matters, especially those related to his Leavenworth lots. He went on to comment on a variety of subjects, including his desire "to return to Kansas in the spring" and to have some long-term impact on the growth and development of Leavenworth. Reeder also mentioned his influence with "some of the men who will probably control the Pacific [Rail] Road when it is built," his desire to help Leavenworth secure the eastern Kansas terminus, and his activity with the National Kansas Committee. Although he had no interest in the rival town of Quindaro, he intended to "help build up" that city if he were not "fairly dealt with" in Leavenworth.