Records of the Kansas Governor’s Office

John Pierce St. John administration
Jan. 13, 1879 – Jan. 8, 1883

• Overview of the Records
• History and Biography
• Scope and Contents of the Records
• Organization of the Records
• Related Records
• Other Finding Aid
• Bibliography
• Index Terms
• Restrictions on Access
• Restrictions on Use
• Preferred Citation
• Acquisition Information
• Processing Information
• Accruals
• Detailed Description of the Records

Overview of the Records

Repository

Kansas State Historical Society (Topeka)

Creator

Kansas.Governor (1879-1883 : St. John)

Title

Kansas Governor John P. St. John correspondence received

Portion of title: Correspondence received

Other titles

• Correspondence files
• Records of the Kansas Governor’s Office: administration of Governor John Pierce St. John (1879-1883)
• Records of the Office of the Governor of Kansas: John P. St. John administration (1879-1883)

Dates

1879-1883

Quantity

20 ft. (24 boxes + 1 oversize folder)

Abstract

Eighth governor of the State of Kansas, 1879 – 1883; of Olathe, Kansas.

Correspondence and other records of the administration of John P. St. John, governor of the State of Kansas from 13 Jan. 1879 to 8 Jan. 1883. Correspondence received includes general letters, official response letters from & letters concerning State agencies, and subject files; some proclamations are also included. Subject files include applications, endorsements, & remonstrances relating to candidates for appointments to normal school, penitentiary, judicial, & other positions; county organizational papers; and letters relating to counties, crime & criminals, justices of the peace, lands, military affairs, relief, the black exoduses, and prohibition. Non-correspondence series include Extradition warrants, 1879-1880, and Executive messages and proclamations, 1881-1882. Additional records of Governor St. John are in separate series common to several governors including an Executive record (Official record), 1861-1879; Executive proclamations, 1861-1980; Pardon and parole files from the Women’s Industrial Farm, 1863-1919; Pardons, 1865-1883; Letter press books, 1865-1904; a Letter register, 1871-1895; a Record of death sentences, 1872-1906; and Death sentence warrants, 1872-1908; Requisitions on governor from governors of other states for persons accused of crimes, 1873-1960; County organization censuses, ca. 1873-ca. 1886; Applications for extradition requisitions: Subseries I and II, 1874-1953; Prisoners in Kansas State Penitentiary, ca. 1875-ca. 1897; and Citizenship pardons, 1876-1960 .

Identification

Record group 252.

Consult the Detailed Description of the Records section below for locations of individual series and folders.

Language

Text is in English.

Notes

This finding aid describes materials held by the Kansas Historical Society. Materials may be used in the State Archives and Library during regular research hours. Support for telephone, mail, and online reference and research is limited.

In a continuing effort to improve the completeness and accuracy of finding aids, revisions are made as more or new information becomes available. Consequently finding aids in paper format and on the society’s web site may differ slightly.

History and Biography

History of the Office of the Governor

The Wyandotte Constitution of 1859 established the office of the governor of the State of Kansas. Some of the more important duties, functions, and responsibilities of the governor are to see that the laws are faithfully executed, to require written explanations from other executive officers — at that time the lieutenant governor, secretary of State, auditor, treasurer, attorney general, and superintendent of public instruction — upon any subject relating to their respective duties, convene the Legislature by proclamation on extraordinary occasions, communicate in writing such information as the governor may possess in reference to the condition of the State at the commencement of every legislative session, recommend such measures as he may deem expedient, and commission officers of the State.

No formal qualifications for the governor have been legislated, aside from the provision that no member of Congress or officer of the State or United States can serve. The governor is elected by a plurality, not necessarily a majority of votes cast. The governor takes office the second Monday in January following election. He was authorized to hire a private secretary, pardon attorney, and other staff as appropriations permitted.

At the beginning of John St. John’s term, the governor had the power to appoint Militia officers; members of part - time boards of directors, trustees, or regents of the State Penitentiary (now Lansing Correctional Facility), schools of higher education, the State insane asylum (now Osawatomie State Hospital), and schools for deaf and blind students; a Board of Visitors for the State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University); the Bureau of Immigration; the Commission for Care of Destitute Orphans and Children of State Soldiers; the State librarian; the superintendent of insurance; and a number of minor commissions. He was also an ex officio member of the State Board of Canvassers, boards of directors of the Agricultural College and Normal School, the Bureau of Immigration, the Board of Treasury Examiners, and other committees. St. John was the fist State chief executive to lobby for, and enforce the law of prohibition making Kansas the second State, behind Maine, to do so. He succeeded in persuading the Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment for prohibition that was put before the voters in 1880.

Biography of John Pierce St. John

John P. St. John was born on 25 February 1833 in Franklin County, Indiana. He was the son of Samuel St. John, a simple farmer, and Sophia Snell St. John. He grew up with one brother and one half-brother. His parents originated from New York State where their parents and grandparents had lived and farmed for many years.

For much of his boyhood he grew up on his father’s farm and was educated in sparse and crude public schools operating with limited resources. In 1848, he moved with his parents to Olney, Illinois, but sadly, soon after settling in their new home, his parents died. His father had fallen victim under the weight of the social class and drank himself poor; his mother suffered from severe anxiety and depression and died of a broken heart. At the age of nineteen he crossed the plains to California, and there he mined, chopped wood, clerked in a general store; he did just about anything so he could pay his living expenses.

In 1852, he married Mary Jane Brewer. They had one son but divorced in 1859.

In 1853 – 54, as a young militiaman he fought in the Indian Wars of northern California and southern Oregon being twice wounded. But St. John’s greatest ambition was to study and practice law. After a long day’s work, St. John would read law books, that he had bought and barely could afford, at night by the flickering light of a candle. He was an adventurous man and traveled extensively to Mexico, South America and the Sandwich Islands (present Hawaii). In 1859, John St. John returned to Illinois a poor man but rich in experience and knowledge of culture and the world. He finished his law studies in the offices of law firm Starkweather and McLain, in Charleston, Illinois. Charleston was also where he married his second wife, Susan J. Parker, in March of 1860; they had two children.

During the Civil War, St. John enlisted in the Army in April of 1862, and served as captain of Company C, 68 th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He later recruited, organized and commanded the 143 rd Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, as a lieutenant colonel. The record shows that he served gallantly.

Unscathed by battle, at the end of the Civil War, he moved to Independence, Missouri, to practice law. Four years later he relocated permanently to Olathe, Kansas.

John P. St. John, by nature was a Republican in heart and mind, standing firmly on whatever he believed to be morally right. In 1872 he was elected to the Kansas State Senate by popular vote. In 1876, the Prohibition Party nominated him for governor of Kansas, but he immediately declined the offer. However, when the affairs of state became frustrating enough to earn his attention, he ran and was elected to that office two years later by the Republican Party and his vast and growing constituency in Kansas. People adored his warm nature of generosity and political style. He held the governorship for two terms but was defeated for a third term in 1882 by George W. Glick.

John St. John was the first governor to have a formal inauguration ceremony held on the steps of the newly completed east wing of the State capitol; the event was eloquently described in the 8 February 1879 issue of the nationally distributed Harper’s Weekly. After a long day’s work and often quite late in the evening, Governor St. John would retire to his cozy residence at the Tefft House. In the subsequent 1880 race for Governor, St. John defeated United States Senator Edmund G. Ross, who was a former Republican running as a Democrat.

In 1879, Governor St. John’s first order of business was to push the Legislature to provide for the building of the west wing of the State House and a new State Reform School in Topeka. Being a staunch politician of temperance, the governor’s agenda included new legislation to amend the constitution of Kansas prohibiting within the State of Kansas the “manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors,” with exception for medical or scientific purposes. The people voted in favor of prohibition and the amendment was adopted at the general election of 1880; in 1881, the Legislature passed the Prohibitory Law making Kansas the second State in the Union, Maine being the first, to pass such a statute.

The governor often spoke sentimentally and from the heart on the issue of temperance, most likely inspired by his father’s alcoholism. St. John never used a prepared speech but delivered his message extemporaneously and ensured no doubt that his agenda was on religious and moral grounds as well being a political statement. “Our covenant touching this matter is with the Lord,” he said, “and we propose to complete the good work.” It was St. John who started what became known as the gubernatorial “water banquettes” where only water was served in lieu of alcohol. This practice fared well for most people visiting the governor but not with Former President Ulysses S. Grant who felt rather annoyed when he wasn’t served his usual alcoholic drink.

One of the greatest results of the Civil War was the thousands of former slaves in the postwar Reconstructed South that were, to a large extent, denied human respect, independence, and the opportunity to work in that region. A huge opportunity for St. John to mark his place in history came during the “exodus” movements toward Kansas that began in 1875 and ultimately resulted in a considerable refugee problem for the State. The 1876 presidential election that put Rutherford B. Hayes in the White House, by very close margin, came with conditions: an agreement with the Democrats that the Republicans would discontinue federal troop occupation in the South and allow the advancement of radical Reconstruction policy promoting African American voting rights, employment, and equality in accommodations. Not surprisingly, the latter was never realized. By 1878 the mass migration of former slaves westward, largely from an existing state of oppression and despair in the South, had begun. Governor St. John stood firmly on moral grounds that to accommodate these brethren, when many other States east of Kansas denied them homestead, was the right thing to do and was in the tradition of Kansas that would later prove beneficial.

Poor, exhausted, and homeless, many of the former slaves displayed a remarkable cheerfulness and childlike trust in Providence. Governor St. John formed the Freedman’s State Central Association and he became the chairman of its board of directors. A Quaker woman, Elizabeth Comstock from Chicago, was given its managerial charge, and henceforth much was accomplished in relief for these displaced persons. Many black immigrants settled on tiny patches of land throughout Kansas. The most prominent was the large settlement of Nicodemus in Graham County, established by Benjamin “Pap” Singleton from Tennessee, with the aid of W.R. Hill, a white minister and land speculator. Two smaller but poor black colonies were established in Hodgeman County. One former slave there became a prosperous farmer who began by breaking an acre of prairie for wheat with a single spade. His annual harvest grew exponentially to be shipped to and stored in Topeka. F. W. Giles was a well-known resident and historian of Topeka. Giles estimated that over seven thousand former slaves had migrated to Topeka by August of 1879. He estimated the population of Topeka was close to 30 per cent African American, all congregated in a section of town called Tenneseetown. Giles wrote, “many had a vague knowledge, since the mid 1850’s, that somewhere on this earth was a place known as Kansas, and they fancied that in some way the question of their emancipation was connected with it.”

The State Legislature of 1879 posed a huge but delicate question to governor St. John: What is Kansas to do with them? Given the complexity of accommodating their vast numbers, Kansans, principally, rejected any notion of turning these people away. The governor believed that the migration could be well managed if the immigrants were distributed evenly around the State. However, many problems ensued in the distribution, the biggest being prejudice. A proclamation made public by the mayor of Wyandotte (now part of Kansas City) threatened legal action against anyone bringing black migrants into the town. The town councils of Atchison and Leavenworth turned a blind eye to those destitute being unloaded from the steamboats. When the relief association sent a group of blacks to Wichita, the city council returned them to Topeka like substandard merchandise on unproven official grounds that they might be diseased. Governor St. John made it publicly clear that Kansas would have no sentinel at her portals as to birthplace, race, condition, color, politics or religion for condition to enter its borders, however difficult the numbers. The Topeka Commonwealth wrote in support of St. John’s policy, “the question of the exodus is not one of business merely, as shallow thinkers and flippant writers would have us believe. A large portion of the American people will ignore the humanitarian side, but Kansas cannot afford to do so by measure of principle in the right to freedom.” Kansas had indeed become the promised land for those who suffered from America’s worse national disgrace toward humanity.

John St. John believed that State institutions should be self-supporting, and not dependent on State or federal funding, so he opened a coal mine at the State Penitentiary at Lansing to provide jobs for inmates.

The threat of Indian raids along the Oklahoma - Kansas border prompted Governor St. John to post a militia guard along the southern border. However, his fear was cautioned on the grounds that an armed militia would perpetuate the violence; therefore he vacillated on the issue of a massive army permanently keeping watch on the border.

The 1869 treaty with the Osage that resulted in the sale of over 8,000,000 acres of Indian land to the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad Company eventually gave way to public scrutiny. Plans to expand the railroads northwest inflamed fear because the settlers worried that they could lose their homes in the deal. In 1874, a lawsuit pursued on the validity of the patents issued to the railroad companies for the Osage lands led to seven years of litigation. St. John publicly argued for the settlers and the courts finally decided in their favor in 1881.

Governor St. John’s administration was highly praised for its honesty and integrity of leadership. The Governor’s moral ground and rigid standards of honor for life and liberty gave way to a trusted citizenry and his two - term administration was not blemished with a single questionable act.

St. John’s defeat in the third term race for governor did not dampen his ambition for higher public office. The Prohibition Party of the day was a force of power that was not going away, and the party ultimately nominated St. John for president of the United States in 1884. His stature as a candidate caused his campaign to attract national attention, and he tallied fifteen times more votes then any previous prohibition candidate. The votes he received in New York alone were so voluminous that they cut the Republican Party’s tally greatly and cost James G. Blaine that State and the presidency, making Grover Cleveland the first Democratic president since the Civil War.

Although St. John didn’t get the presidency, his righteous enthusiasm for morality and Prohibition continued; he traveled in excess of 350,000 miles across the country advocating its just cause until his death in 1916.

His first religious preference was Congregational, but he later converted to Christian Science. John P. St. John died on 31 August 1916 in Olathe from the effects of his extensive public speaking crusade on behalf of prohibition; he is buried in Olathe Cemetery.

Scope and Contents of the Records

Governor John P. St. John’s records consist of three series.

Items in the series Correspondence Received, 1879 – 1883 (no. 03417), are primarily letters received by Governor St. John; however there may also be proclamations and a few petitions, reports, copies of letters sent, and other types of documents. The letters and proclamations are organized into four subseries: (1) General (Alphabetical) File, (2) State Departments, (3) Subject Files, and (4) Proclamations. Some proclamations may have also been interfiled with other items received relating to the subjects of the proclamations.

Documents that may have been addressed to Governor St. John but dated or pertaining to the time period after his term expired in 1883 may be filed with the records of his successor, George W. Glick.

The General (Alphabetical) File, 1879 – 1883 (subseries 1), consists of twenty-seven folders containing letters received that were filed in alphabetical order by author. Contained therein are letters relating to positions, recommendations, and vacancies; Governor St. John’s addresses; State contracts; the extension of State jurisdiction to former Indian reservations; the judiciary and judicial procedure; legislation; requests for information, publications, or action; politics; services and goods offered for sale; taxation; transportation; public lands; and interstate co-operation. Letters may have been filed here because there was not an appropriate place for them in the State Departments (subseries 2) or Subject Files (subseries 3).

Letters from or relating to State offices are in subseries 2, the State Departments File. Some of the letters relate to personnel, vacancies, resignations, and appointments, but most pertain to the operation of individual State agencies. The letters request the Governor to take specific actions, ask his approval, send him information, ask him questions, tell of events, provide legal opinions, forward other letters and petitions, confirm or acknowledge gubernatorial actions, and request the Governor’s presence. Topics include the Agricultural College (now Kansas State University) (Manhattan), the Attorney General, the School for the Blind (Kansas City), the Deaf and Dumb School (now Kansas School for the Deaf) (Olathe), the Executive Branch, the Fiscal Agency of New York, the Fish Commissioner, the Kansas State Historical Society, the Horticultural Society, the facility for Idiotic and Imbecile Youth, the Insane Asylum, the State Land agent, the Legislature, the Normal School (now Emporia State University), Penitentiary wardens, boards of directors, inspections, State offices, judgeships, audits, the State treasury, the Board of Medical Examiners, Charitable Institutions, Indian raid claims, federal taxation, State payments, prisoners, bonds, the Board of Statehouse Commissioners, detectives, and fraud. A more complete list of contents by folder is in the Detailed Description of the Records section, below.

The largest component of the Correspondence Received is the Subject Files subseries, no. 3. A major part of these files consist of applications, endorsements, and remonstrances; appointments to; and bonds required for State positions. Non-personnel files deal with cities and towns; claims for the Indian raids of 1878, Price’s Raid, and Quantrill’s Raid; soldiers’pensions and bounty claims; commissioners of deeds of other States, England, and France; congratulatory messages; Kansas county affairs, counties and county organization; crime and criminals, extraditions, and rewards; fairs; immigration; Indians; invitations; Indian, school, railroad, and other land; legislation; federal and State military affairs; railroads; relief; the United States government; elections; fairs and expositions; centennials and conventions; the Freedmans Institute and relief associations; the Garfield Monument Fund; immigration; the African American exodus, microfilmed on Kansas Historical Society microfilm roll MS 79, available through interlibrary loan; Indians; invitations; justices of the peace; lands; the Militia; military affairs and special scouts; notaries public; receptions for presidents Grant and Hayes; railroads; relief; women’s suffrage; and prohibition in Kansas and other States. A folder - by - folder contents list is in the Detailed Description of the Records section, below.

The Proclamations subseries, no. 4, consists of notices proclaiming rewards for criminals, 1879 – 1883. Other proclamations are in Executive messages and proclamations, 1881-1882, series 05962, and Series 05959, Executive messages and proclamations, 1877 – 1921.

The series Extradition warrants, 1879-1880; no. 03770, contains two warrants in one folder. The reason why these are housed separately is unknown, but unlike many other warrants a county is not listed.

Executive messages and proclamations, 1881-1882, series 05962, are contained in one volume, Book B. The volume includes handwritten messages and proclamations, arranged chronologically, that were probably used as rough drafts for the printed and signed copies made public. Other proclamations are in the Correspondence received, 1879 – 1883, series, no. 03417, subseries 4, and Series 05959, Executive messages and proclamations, 1877 – 1921.

Additional records of Governor St. John are in separate series common to several governors including an Executive record (Official record), 1861-1879; Executive proclamations, 1861-1980; Pardon and parole files from the Women’s Industrial Farm, 1863-1919; Pardons, 1865-1883; Letter press books, 1865-1904; a Letter register, 1871-1895; a Record of death sentences, 1872-1906; and Death sentence warrants, 1872-1908; Requisitions on governor from governors of other states for persons accused of crimes, 1873-1960; County organization censuses, ca. 1873-ca. 1886; Applications for extradition requisitions: Subseries I and II, 1874-1953; Prisoners in Kansas State Penitentiary, ca. 1875-ca. 1897; and Citizenship pardons, 1876-1960 . Descriptions of each of them are found in the Detailed Description of the Records section, below.

The Kansas Historical Society also holds a large collection of John Pierce St. John’s personal papers (ms. collection 494). A finding aid to the collection is available on-line.

Organization of the Records

Subgroup. Organized into 3 series by type of material.

Contents: Correspondence received, 1879-1883 (ser. 03417, 24 boxes) — Executive messages and proclamations, 1881-1882 (ser. 05962, 1 v.) — Extradition and requisition warrants, June 1879-Apr. 1880 (ser. 03770, 2 items).

Related Records

Records of the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, record group 82
Records of the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office, record group 622

Other Finding Aid

Copies of this finding aid are available in the State Archives & Library and on its web site, http://www.kshs.org .

Bibliography

Drury, James W. The Government of Kansas, 3d ed. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, ©1980. Available in the Kansas Historical Society (KsHS) State Archives & Library: call no. K 350.7 D845 1980.

Harder, Marvin A. The Governor of Kansas: An Analysis of Decision-Making Opportunities, Constraints, and Resources. Topeka, Kans.: Capitol Complex Center, University of Kansas, 1981, ©1982. Available in the KsHS State Archives & Library: call no. SP 378 Z C172 pam.v.1 no. 1.

Kansas, Governor, 1879-1883 (St. John). Biennial Message of John P. St. John, Governor, to the Legislature of Kansas, 1881. Topeka, Kans.: Kansas Publishing House, 1881. Available in the KsHS State Archives & Library: call no. SP 353.03 K13.

Ross, Edith Connelley. “John Pierce St. John,” in William Elsey Connelley, A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Chicago: Lewis, 1918, v. 2, chapter 53, pt. 1. Viewed 8 Nov. 2006 on the Internet: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1918ks/v2/ch53p1.html. Also available in the Kansas Historical Society (KsHS) State Archives & Library: call no.: Ref. K 978.1 C76 1918.

Socolofsky, Homer E. Kansas Governors. Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, ©1990. Available in the KsHS State Archives & Library: call no. K BB So13.

The Topeka Daily Capital, obituary of John P. St. John, Sept. 1, 1916. KsHS microfilm roll T193.

Legions of America. Nicodemus Kansas, A Black Pioneer Town. Nov. 8, 2006.

Index Terms

Persons

St. John, John Pierce, 1833-1916. ( subject and co-creator)

Corporate Names

Kansas. Governor (1879-1883 : St. John)–Archives.
Kansas. Governor (1879-1883 : St. John)–Records and correspondence.

Geographic Names

Kansas–Military policy.
Kansas–Officials and employees–Selection and appointment.
Kansas–Politics and government–1865-1950.

Subjects

African American pioneers–Kansas.
African Americans–Colonization–Kansas.
Civil-military relations–Kansas.
County government–Kansas.
Criminal justice, Administration of–Kansas.
Criminals–Kansas.
Extradition–Kansas.
Justices of the peace–Kansas.
Liquor laws–Kansas.
Prohibition–Kansas.
Public institutions–Kansas.
Public lands–Kansas.
Public welfare–Kansas.
State-local relations–Kansas.

Document Types

Government correspondence– Kansas.
Proclamations–Kansas.
Public records–Kansas.

Occupations

Governors–Kansas–Archives.
Governors–Kansas–Messages.

Restrictions on Access

None

Restrictions on Use

Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Most documents created by governmental entities, including the State of Kansas, are considered in the public domain, although copyright to documents found in public records that were written by individuals or organizations and sent to government agencies may be owned by the writers or their heirs.

Preferred Citation

Note: [document, folder, subseries, or series description], St. John administration (1879 – 1883), records of the Kansas Governor’s Office, State archives record group 252, State Archives & Library, Kansas Historical Society, Topeka.

Bibliography: Kansas, Governor’s Office, St. John administration (1879 – 1883). Records, 1874– 1883. State archives record group 252, State Archives & Library, Kansas Historical Society, Topeka.

Acquisition Information

Transfer: Office of the Governor, date unknown

Processing Information

Inventory written by David F. Manning, volunteer , 2007.

Accruals

No additional records are expected.

Detailed Description of the Records

Series 03417. Correspondence Received, 1879-1883. 12 ft. (24 boxes)

Primarily letters received by Governor St. John, however there are also proclamations and a few petitions, reports, copies of letters sent, and other types of documents. Some proclamations may have also been interfiled with other items received relating to the subjects of the proclamations. Copies of letters sent are described below in the St. John portion of the series Letter Press Books, 1865-1904 (no. 03397).

Organized into 4 subseries: (1) General (Alphabetical) File, 1879-1883; (2) State Departments, 1873-1876 ; (3) Subject Files, 1879-1883; and (4) Proclamations, 1873-1876.

Subseries 1. General (Alphabetical) File, 1879-1883. 2 ft. (27 folders). Box 1 (027-03-08-07)

Letters received relating to positions, recommendations, & vacancies; Governor St. John’s addresses; State contracts; the extension of State jurisdiction to former Indian reservations; the judiciary & judicial procedure; legislation; requests for information, publications, or action; politics; services & goods offered for sale; taxation; transportation; public lands; U.S. Dept. of Interior, U.S. Dept. of State, U.S. Dept. of Treasury, U.S. Dept. of War, and interstate co-operation. Letters may have been filed here because there was not an appropriate place for them in the State Departments (no. 2) or Subject Files (no. 3) subseries, described below.

Subseries 2. State Departments, 1879-1883. 0.2 ft. (38 folders)

Letters from or relating to State offices: Some of the letters relate to personnel, vacancies, resignations, and appointments, but most pertain to the operation of individual State agencies. The letters request the Governor to take specific actions, ask his approval, send him information, ask him questions, tell of events, provide legal opinions, forward other letters and petitions, confirm or acknowledge gubernatorial actions, and request the Governor’s presence. Topics include organizing another Kansas’s cavalry regiment, supplies, boards of directors, inspections, State offices, judgeships, audits, the State treasury, federal taxation, State payments, prisoners, bonds, and fraud.

Arranged alphabetically by name of State agency.

Subseries 3. Subject Files, 1879-1883. 2 ft. (21 boxes).

Topics include applications, endorsements, and remonstrances & appointments to State positions; bonds; charitable & correctional institutions; cities & towns; claims; counties & county organization; crime & criminals, including the Bender family, extraditions, & rewards; fairs; immigration; Indians; invitations; Indian, school, railroad, & other land; legislation; federal & State military affairs; railroads; relief; and the United States government.

Subseries 4. Proclamations, 1879 – 1882. 14 items. 072-03-11-01

Notices issued by the governor proclaiming rewards for criminals.

Arranged numerically.

Series 05962. Executive Messages and Proclamations, 1881 – 1882. 1 v. 024-14-01-01

Contains handwritten messages and proclamations that were probably used as rough drafts for the printed and signed copies made public. Book B only. Other proclamations are in the Correspondence received, 1879 – 1883, series, no. 03417; Proclamations, 1879 – 1882, subseries 4; and Series 05959, Executive messages and proclamations, 1877 – 1921.

Arranged chronologically.

Pardon Attorney

Records of the Pardon, Parole, and Extradition Attorney

Series 03770.Extradition and Requisition Warrants, June 1879 – Apr. 1880. 2 items. 031-13-03-05

Two warrants dated 1879 and 1880 in one folder. The reason why these are housed separately is unknown, but unlike many other warrants a county is not listed.

Other records series of multiple governors containing documents relating to the St. John administration:

Series 03814. REQUISITIONS ON GOVERNOR FROM GOVERNORS OF OTHER STATES FOR PERSONS ACCUSED OF CRIMES, 1873-1960. [2] v. + 1 bundle. 025-12-04-01

The bundle covers years 1886-1898 and does not have any type of arrangement. This bundle contains requisitions and supporting documents that were sent to the Governor's office from other States. Volumes cover the years 1873-1932 and have alphabetical indexes in the front. Entries are arranged chronologically and list the case number, the date of request, fugitive name, the requesting State, name of agent, crime charged, and county suspect is believed to located in.

Volumes arranged chronologically.

St. John administration: Vol. B, pp. 12-43

Series 03660. PARDON AND PAROLE FILES: WOMEN’S INDUSTRIAL FARM, 1863 – 1919. 63 ft. (151 boxes). ACCESS RESTRICTED. 032-01-02-01 thru 032-03-07-04

Contains letters requesting opinions on parole, Parole Board verdict or certificate, and a prisoner history. Interfiled with Pardon and Parole Files for the Kansas State Industrial Reformatory, 1927-1945 (series 03659) and Parole Certificates Issued by the Coffeyville City Court, 1932-1936 (series 03661), as part of Subseries I, 63 ft. (151 boxes), 1863-1919, arranged alphabetically. Women are only contained in Subseries I; after 1919 women’s files are arranged separately as series 06304, Pardon and Parole of Female Inmates.

Arranged alphabetically by inmates’ names.

Series 03397. LETTER PRESS BOOKS, 1865 – 1904. [143] v. 027-02-08-04 thru 027-03-06-02

Exact copies of texts of letters sent by Governors S. J. Crawford and James Madison Harvey through Willis Joshua Bailey; there are no letters for Nehemiah Green. Most of the letters sent respond to concerns expressed to the governor. Subjects are generally similar to those in letters received by governors, including State institutions, departments, & programs; appointments; events; counties; investigations; the cattle trade; land; claims; the military; State funds; immigration; Native American issues; laws & legislation; pardons; and other topics mirroring letters received by governors. Recipients included citizens of Kansas & other States, other elected officials, heads of State institutions & departments, the adjutant general, members of the Kansas congressional delegation, other governors, members of the Legislature, railroad officials, newspaper editors, military officers, local officials, and the president & vice president.

Volumes arranged chronologically.

Some volumes indexed alphabetically by recipient and subject.

St. John administration: v. 14 – 46 (boxes 4 14, 027-03-01-03 thru 027-03-02-06)

Series 03781. DEATH SENTENCE WARRANTS, 1872 – 1908. 1 v. (unpaged). 26-15-08-01

Handwritten and typescript warrants that were sent to the Governor’s Office after the convicted person’s sentencing for the governor to approve when the date and time of execution had been set. Also included are related documents that were written by the sentencing judge, county sheriff or attorney, clerk of the District court, or jury foreman.

Arranged generally chronologically.

St. John administration: 1879 – 1882

Series 03814. REQUISITIONS ON GOVERNOR FROM GOVERNORS OF OTHER STATES FOR PERSONS ACCUSED OF CRIMES, 1873 – 1960. [2] v. + 1 bundle. 025-12-04-01

The bundle covers years 1886-1898 and does not have any type of arrangement. This bundle contains requisitions and supporting documents that were sent to the Governor's office from other States. Volumes cover the years 1873-1932 and have alphabetical indexes in the front. Entries are arranged chronologically and list the case number, the date of request, fugitive name, the requesting State, name of agent, crime charged, and county suspect is believed to located in.

Volumes arranged chronologically.

St. John administration: Vol. B, pp. 12 – 43

Series 03451. COUNTY ORGANIZATION CENSUSES, ca. 1873 – ca. 1886. 0.8 ft. in 2 boxes. 028-03-01-01 thru 028-03-01-02

Census rolls for enumerations conducted 1873 1886. Entries contain number of householders, ages, and number of acres under cultivation. Some also contain gender, number of voters, number of schoolchildren and location.

Arranged alphabetically by county.

Series 03784. PRISONERS IN KANSAS STATE PENITENTIARY, ca. 1875 – ca. 1897. 1 v. 026-15-08-01

Contains information furnished to the governor about each prisoner in the Kansas State Penitentiary (Lansing) (KSP) such as name, county, date of sentences, crime, term of sentence and remarks. Other records of prisoners for this period may be found in the records of the KSP, record group 525, and on an alphabetical, card Index to the Inmate Records at the Kansas State Penitentiary, 1861 1952, on Kansas State Historical Society microfilm rolls AR 7458 AR 7469.

Arranged alphabetically by the first letter of the prisoner’s surname, thereunder roughly chronologically by date of entry.

Series 05959. EXECUTIVE MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS, 1877 – 1921. 6 v. 024-14-02-01 thru 024-14-03-01

Handwritten copies of messages and proclamations that were probably used as rough drafts for the printed and signed copies made public. They do not contain exact dates for each, but the volumes do have date spans noted. They also contain an alphabetical index.

St. John administration: vol. A (024-14-02-01), pp. 102 – 393

Series 03811. EXTRADITIONS, 1877 – 1960. 1 ft. (3 v.) 020-10-06-01 thru 020-10-06-02

Contains name, demanding state, crime & where it was committed, agent name, and information about the return of the warrant.

Arranged by application number and date.

Each volume contains an alphabetical index.

St. John administration: v. 1 (020-10-06-01), pp. 14 – 40

Records of the governor’s pardon attorney

Series 03789. PARDONS, 1865 – 1883. 4 v. 059-08-01-20

Includes date pardoned, name, county, crime, sentence, and remarks.

St. John administration: v. 4, 1879 – 1883

Series 04090. APPLICATIONS FOR EXTRADITION REQUISITIONS: SUBSERIES I AND II, 1874 – 1953.  37 ft. 060-03-03-03 thru 060-03-04-20

Applications to other States to extradite criminals for prosecution in Kansas.  They show the State applied to, name, crime, and date issued; most also contain court papers or similar documents explaining the case.  The application itself was an envelope into which all the related documents were placed.  Collection is missing the years 1886-1892; years 1937-1953 have not been refoldered and remain in their original application envelopes.  Subseries I: #65-A-1 to 594-A-62 (1874-1885);  Subseries II: #1871-B-6 to 6300 (1893-1953).

Arranged by file number.

St. John administration:  boxes 1 – 3 (060-03-03-03 thru 060-03-03-05)

Series 03802. CITIZENSHIP PARDONS, 1876 – 1960. 8 ft. (22 v.) 020-13-10-01 thru 020-04-01-02, 026-15-08-02 thru 026-15-10-02, 35-08-05-02

Copies of declarations of pardon, which contain information about the crime committed, date of pardon, and the governor’s signature on a preprinted declaration form. The first subseries covers 1879 1933 and the second subseries covers 1933 – 1960. Also contained in this collection are citizenship pardon stubs, which cover 1876 – 1883. The stubs are arranged chronologically in three smaller volumes and do not contain an index or signatures.

Entries arranged chronologically.

Alphabetical index in each volume.

St. John administration: Stubs, v. [1 – 3] (035-08-05-02), no. 68 – 649½

Series 03791. RECORD OF PARDONS, 1877 – 1888. 0.7 ft. (2 v.) 026-15-07-01

Contains name, county, crime, sentence, reason for pardon, and executive action & reasons. Does not usually list dates for each application.

Arranged chronologically by application number.

Alphabetical index.

St. John administration: vol. A, no. 167 – 477

Series 03769. PARDON ORDERS AND COMMUTATION OF SENTENCE ORDERS, 1878 – 1882. 0.4 ft. (1 box). 031-13-03-04

Issued by the Governor to the Secretary of State. Pardons cover 1878 – 1880, while sentence commutations cover 1878 – 1883.

Arranged alphabetically.

Series 03768. CITIZENSHIP PARDON ORDERS, 1878 – 1884. 0.8 ft. (2 boxes). 031-13-03-02 thru 031-13-03-03

Issued by the governor to the secretary of State.

Arranged alphabetically.

Contents: Box 1. A-L — box 2. M-Z.