New England Emigrant Aid Company Papers, 1854-1909
IntroductionThis microfilm edition contains all the official records and correspondence of the New England Emigrant Aid Company which are in the possession of the Kansas State Historical Society. This finding aid contains the following sections: History of the New England Emigrant Aid CompanyThe Kansas-Nebraska act became law on May 30, 1854. The opening of these areas to white settlement had long been a controversial subject in congress as the North and South fought to keep a balance of representation in Washington. As a compromise the doctrine of popular sovereignty was included in the act, which meant that residents of the territories should be allowed to choose for themselves whether slavery would be permitted when the time for statehood arrived. There was little question that Nebraska would prohibit slavery for presumably she was too far north for the institution to survive. The South on the other hand assumed that Kansas was destined for slavery. However, the early activities of Northern abolitionists, who were determined not to let Kansas go by default, spurred both the North and South to send in every settler they could. In the North one of the organizations created to encourage abolitionist settlement of Kansas was The Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. Incorporated under the guidance of Eli Thayer of Worcester in April, 1854, the company was a venture designed both for benevolence and moneymaking. Its aims were: 1. To secure reduced transportation fares to the West for emigrants
traveling in companies organized and directed by the company. The company planned to make a profit on its investments by purchasing the land upon which its hotels and mills stood and, when settlement had increased and land values correspondingly elevated, selling to the eventual benefit of the stockholders. Once the territory of Kansas was admitted as a free state the directors were to dispose of all the company's interests and declare a dividend to the stockholders. Then the company was to choose a new area of operation and commence the program again, until another free state had been admitted to the Union. The backers of the company hoped to raise $5,000,000 and send 20,000 settlers into Kansas. The plan received wide publicity in the newspapers of Horace Greeley, William Cullen Bryant, Thurlow Weed, and others. The company itself issued descriptive pamphlets and its advocates toured New England lecturing on the benefits to be derived. The first party sent to Kansas left Massachusetts even before the company had been completely organized. This pioneer party arrived at the site of Lawrence on August 1, 1854. That summer and fall five other parties arrived in Kansas, bringing the total of aid company settlers to about 450. The following spring seven more groups brought about 800 persons. In February, 1855, a new charter changing the name to the New England Emigrant Aid Company and making organizational improvements was secured. In March the company was reorganized and business began in earnest as mills were established in Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, Osawatomie, Burlington, Wabaunsee, Atchison, Batcheller (now Milford) and Mapleton. In Kansas City the Gillis House was purchased and renamed the American Hotel. For years it served as the unofficial rendezvous of Free Staters in the area and was the jumping-off place for settlers bound for the Kansas plains. Hotels in Atchison, Osawatomie, Topeka and Manhattan received financial aid from the company and in Lawrence it built temporary straw-rent hotels while a three-story , stone building, called the Free-State Hotel, was under construction. Just as the hostelry was about to open, it was destroyed by a Pro-slave "posse" which raided Lawrence on May 21, 1856. In addition to establishing Lawrence, the company aided in the founding of Topeka, Manhattan, Osawatomie, and other Free-State towns. The Lawrence Herald of Freedom was financed by a loan from the company and became a voice of the firm in Kansas. The German language Kansas Zeitung was published at Atchison through company aid. Schools and churches were built and practically given to local communities. Libraries and colleges were founded through efforts of individuals connected with the firm. As the company's influence waned some of its agents remained to continue their active roles in Kansas territorial and early state history. Prominent among them were Charles Robinson, who became the state's first governor; Samuel C. Pomeroy, one of her two initial United States senators; and Martin F. Conway, her first representative in congress. In spite of the company's initial spurt of activity there is some question as to its total contribution toward the settling of Kansas. After June, 1855, company emigrant parties became smaller and less frequent. Instead of the $5,000,000 it hoped to have the company actually accumulated only about $190,000. In terms of persons relocated in Kansas it has been estimated that the company was directly responsible for only about 2,000 of whom perhaps a third returned to the East. Kansas was admitted to the Union in January, 1861, and the following year the stockholders of the New England Emigrant Aid Company ordered that all its properties in Kansas and Missouri be sold. When this was eventually accomplished the company realized a total of $16,150, which was just about enough to pay outstanding debts. In spite of its financial failure the principal stockholders seemed well pleased with the results of its operations. Under its influence several important towns were founded, schools were established, churches were built and the cause of freedom served. Indeed, there is some evidence that investors purchased stock knowing full well they would never see their money again. Amos A. Lawrence, a principal stockholder and treasurer of the company, had advised his associates not to invest any more than they felt they could afford to lose. After 1861 the company transferred its activities to other areas. In 1864 and 1865 it promoted the migration of working women to Oregon and from 1866 to 1868 it was active in locating Northerners in Florida. By 1870, however, the company had fallen idle and never again was active in emigrant aid. No more meetings of the stockholders were held until 1897 when an extension of the charter was requested and granted. That year the company presented its single asset, a claim against the United States government for loss of the Free-State Hotel at Lawrence in 1856, to the University of Kansas and for all practical purposes ceased to exist. The extended charter expired on February 19, 1907, and the company was no more. Description of the CollectionThe papers of the New England Emigrant Company, consisting of 13 document boxes of correspondence and miscellaneous records, five letter books and 22 volumes of records, have been in the possession of the Kansas State Historical Society since the 1870's and 1880's. The bulk of the collection was transferred directly from the company through J. M. Forbes, president, in 1878; by the trustees of the company in 1879 and by Sarah E. Lawrence, widow of Amos A. Lawrence, in 1888. Small portions of the collection continued to be donated well into the 20th century. The last large group, 33 letters dealing with the company's final years, was given by James T. Wyer in 1932. The papers have been microfilmed in the same order as the originals are arranged. In general, similar items are grouped together with correspondence constituting the first and major portion of the collection. Unbound correspondence is arranged chronologically, except for the body of New England clergy letters, which is filed alphabetically by writer. The clergy letters and papers relating to Southern emigration comprise their own series and are filed apart from the general correspondence. Undated material follows at the end of the appropriate month, year or series, and has been arranged alphabetically wherever possible. Dates supplied by the editors have been placed in brackets in the upper right-hand corner of the first page of the applicable material. Question marks denote some dissatisfaction with the reliability of supplied dates. Names penciled in the upper left-hand corner of the first page of some letters were supplied by Society staff members many years ago and were not removed or bracketed for this publication. In only one instance has original material not been filmed. Telegrams still on uncut roll tape were impossible to microfilm satisfactorily without destroying the integrity of the originals. Therefore, typed copies of these telegrams, carefully made and checked for accuracy, have been filmed instead. Since all these telegrams were undated they appear at the end of the general correspondence. Numbered but otherwise blank pages in bound volumes have not been filmed. Microfilm targets have been kept to a minimum and are used only when necessary to indicate enclosures, retakes, etc. Targets containing editorial information have not been included. Title targets on small sheets of white paper introduce each new series and are easily noticed during rapid winding of the film. Title targets and roll content headings, except for information enclosed by parentheses, are identical and may be used against each other for rapid location of desired items on the film. Use of the CollectionThese papers of the New England Emigrant Aid Company are the property of the Kansas State Historical Society. Brief quotations are authorized without resrictions but publication of any major portion of the maerial on this fil mus be approved in writing by an officer of the Society. Literary rights are not owned by the Society and cannot be conveyed. It is suggested the following citation be made to this microfilm publication: "New England Emigrant Aid Company Papers," (microfilm edition), manuscript division, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas. Availability of the Microfilm The microfilm of the New England Aid Company papers may be used in the Research Room of the Kansas State Historical Society, borrowed through interlibrary loan or purchased. The MicrofilmMS 619
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Helpful secondary works relating to the aid companies include:Louise Barry, "The Emigrant Aid Company Parties of 1854," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 12, pp. 115-155. Louise Barry, "The New England Emigrant Aid Company Parties of 1855," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 121, pp. 227-268. William H. Carruth, "The New England Aid Company as an Investment Society," Kansas Historical Collections, v. 6, pp. 90-96. Russell K. Hickman, "Speculative Activities of the Emigrant Aid Company," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 4, pp. 235-267. Samuel A. Johnson, "The Genesis of the New England Emigrant Aid Company," New England Quarterly, v. 3, pp. 95-122. Samuel A. Johnson, "The Emigrant Aid Company in Kansas," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 1, pp. 429-441. Samuel A. Johnson, The Battle Cry of Freedom, The New England Emigrant Aid Company in the Kansas Crusade (Lawrence, University of Kansas Press, 1954). {See, also, Dr. Johnson's excellent bibliography on pages 332-341.} Edgar Langsdorf, "S. C. Pomeroy and the New England Aid Company, 1854-1858," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 7, pp. 227-245, 379-398. Webb scrapbooks, 17 volumes of newspaper clippings on the activities of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, 1854-1860, collected by Thomas H. Webb, secretary of the company. Also available on microfilm. New England Emigrant Aid Company collected pamphlets. Miscellaneous printed material, circulars, pamphlets, etc. relating to the company. Related manuscript collections James B. Abbott collection, 1854-1896. This guide and the microfilm it describes were made possible by a grant from the National Historical Publications & Records Commission, Washington, D.C. |
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