ROBERT G. ELLIOTT

ROBERT GASTON ELLIOTT was born in Union county, Indiana, July 23, 1828, of South Carolina parentage, who left the South because of religious antipathy to slavery. He was educated in the common schools of Indiana and at the Miami University of that state, graduating in 1850. It was at this institution that he met Josiah Miller, a native of South Carolina. These two young men formed a partnership to publish a paper in Kansas in the interest of freedom. They moved to Lawrence, Kan., and established the Kansas Free State, which was one of the first papers, if not the very first, established by the antislavery people in Kansas. It was perhaps the ablest paper published in Kansas territorial times. It was conservative but uncompromising. It was destroyed by the border ruffians when Lawrence was sacked, May 21, 1856. The paper was not revived. The files of the Kansas Free State in the Kansas State Historical Society are consulted more frequently than any other early publication of the state. It was edited with great ability and had a broader influence than any other of the early publications.

Mr. Elliott is still living at Lawrence, Kan., honored by all who know him. He has lived to see Kansas grow into a great and influential state, and has the satisfaction of knowing that he contributed largely to its history, its growth and prosperity.

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