James Burnett Abbott Papers, 1815-1899

Microfilm rolls MS 1258 – MS 1260

• Introduction
• Biographical Sketch
• Scope and Content
• Container List

Introduction

James Burnett Abbott was an early settler and free state (antislavery) activist in Kansas. He served as both a representative and senator in the State Legislature. In 1861 he was appointed Shawnee Indian agent and served in that capacity until 1866. Abbott was also involved in private business ventures, including the Leavenworth, De Soto, and Fort Scott Bridge Company and the Western Medical and Chemical Company. The Abbott papers were donated by James B. Abbott in 1881 and 1883 and Elizabeth Abbott in 1898.

Biographical Sketch

James Burnett Abbott was born on 3 December 1818 in Hampton, Connecticut, to James and Asenath Burnett Abbott. Educated in the Connecticut common schools, he went on to attend Pottsdam and Gouverneur Academies in New York.

Abbott’s early pursuits in New York and Connecticut included teaching, shoemaking, and manufacturing. His first wife, Amanda Atwood, of Gouverneur, New York, died in 1851. In 1852 he married Elizabeth Watrous of Hartford, Connecticut.

Abbott came to Kansas in 1854 with the third group of emigrants associated with the New England Emigrant Aid Company. He arrived in Lawrence on October 10th. Taking up the free state (antislavery) banner, he was active in the free state militia. In 1856 he traveled east in order to procure arms for the free state effort. He was successful in obtaining over 100 Sharpe’s rifles and a howitzer, which he escorted back to Kansas Territory under threat by Missouri pro-slavery forces. Abbott is also well known for leading the successful attempt to release Dr. John Doy, a free state activitist who had been imprisoned for freeing slaves, from a Missouri prison.

When Kansas became a state, Abbott served in both the Kansas State House of Representatives and State Senate. In 1861 he was appointed Shawnee Indian Agent, a post he held until 1866. Following his retirement he remained active in public affairs while pursuing personal business endeavors. He died 2 March 1897.

Scope and Content

The James Burnett Abbott papers span the years 1815 to 1899 and are divided into three series.

Series 1, Personal Papers, contains primarily bound volumes, including a Day Book of James Abbott, James Burnett Abbott’s father, who was a shoemaker in Hampton, Connecticut; an account book dated Lawrence, 28 October 1854 to 12 January 1856, that also includes selections of lands made in 1862 by members of the Black Bob Band of Shawnee under the Treaty of 1854; memoranda books and morning reports that detail Abbott’s free state activities; a small notebook listing “money subscribed to pay the expense of taking Dr. Doy from St. Joseph prison”; a manuscript book containing descriptions of lands deeded by Major Abbott and Mrs. Abbott to various parties, including cash received from subscribers to the Leavenworth, DeSoto, and Fort Scott Bridge Company; a business memorandum; a secretary’s book of the Western Medical and Chemical Company; memorandums of soldiers’ statements dealing primarily with pension issues; Kansas State Agricultural Society life membership cards; and certificates.

Series 2, correspondence, dates from 1854 to 1899 and includes original and transcribed copies of letters concerning Abbott’s personal business, free state activities, and work as a claims agent for Civil War veterans.

Series 3, Indian Agency Records, contains records of the Kansas and Shawnee agencies dating from 1851 to 1870. Two account books for the Delaware and Shawnee tribes were kept by Thomas Mosely, an agent with the Kansas Agency before it was divided into separate agencies for the Delaware and Shawnee. Shawnee Agency records include tract books of lands included within the Shawnee reservation of 1854, a deed book containing alphabetical lists of grantors and grantees of Shawnee lands, a manuscript account book of J. B. Abbott as agent of the Shawnee, a manuscript book containing abstracts of lands owned by individual Shawnee Indians, and plat maps of lands included within the boundaries of the Shawnee reservation of 1854.

Volumes and papers in all series have been filed chronologically. Several volumes contain different types of entries that have different date spans. Refer to the microfilm roll list (following) for a complete description of volume contents. Oversize certificates have been removed to oversize storage, and maps have been shelved with the map collection, but all have been microfilmed.

A collection of 24 maps by Isaac Cooper Stuck, circa 1857, showing plats of lands included within the boundaries of the Shawnee Indian reservation of 1854 in Johnson and surrounding counties, Kansas, was originally received with this collection but later transferred to the Map Division (MP G4202.S5G46 z1857.S8). On the microfilm, the maps were re-integrated with the collection and appear with other records of the Shawnee Indian Agency at the end of the last roll, MS 1260.

This collection was reorganized by Leslie Cade to reflect the original order and provenance of the documents; she also prepared the collection register and folder list. The documents were prepared for microfilming by Bob Knecht. Microfilming was done by Tim Wennihan, October 1990.

Container List

The entire collection has been microfilmed, and the microfilm may be borrowed through interlibrary loan.