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Title | Creator | Date Made Visible | None
Thomas Ewing, Jr., to Thomas Ewing, Sr.
Ewing, Thomas, 1829-1896
Thomas Ewing, Jr., wrote from Leavenworth to his father in Ohio seeking his assistance with a legal matter involving claims to the land "reserved to certain half breeds of the Kansas tribe." Most of this land was occupied by squatters and questions of legal title and transfer were being litigated in the territorial and federal courts.
previewJonathan Crews to Thomas Nesbit Stinson
Crews, Jonathan
Jonathan Crews, writing from LaPorte, Indiana, expressed strong proslavery views on the situation in Kansas. Crews described his trip home to Indiana from Kansas and discussed several Indiana court cases involving his business interests.
previewJohn James Ingalls to Elias T. Ingalls
Ingalls, John James, 1833-1900
Much of this interesting letter, dated November 21, 1858, from Sumner, Kansas Territory, describes the Ingalls law practice and the nature of a "frontier" court proceedings that often attracted "nearly all the population." According to Ingalls, "the chief difficulty arising [in the courts came] from the conflict of the two Codes, adopted by two hostile legislatures, each of which had adherents who call the other 'bogus.'" Ingalls also discussed the business of land sales, as something many others successfully combined with the practice of law.
previewJohn A. Halderman
John Halderman grew up in Kentucky and was trained as a lawyer. He came to Kansas Territory in 1854 and served as the personal secretary to the first territorial governor Andrew Reeder. In 1855, he served as secretary to the first territorial council. He ultimately separated himself from the pro-slavery Lecompton movement. He was the first probate judge of Leavenworth County. He served as a major of the First Kansas volunteers during the Civil War and lived most of the rest of his life in Leavenworth.
previewRobert Byington Mitchell
Nichols, A. C.
Robert B. Mitchell settled in Paris, Linn County, Kansas Territory, in 1856. He was born in Ohio and studied law. He was active in free state territorial politics. He served in the Territorial House of Representatives in 1857 and 1858, was a member of the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention, and was appointed Territorial Treasurer on February 11, 1859. He was part of the free state supporters who followed Charles Hamilton and his band after the Marais des Cygnes massacre. After the territorial period he served as a brigadier general in the Second Kansas Volunteer Cavalry and held the appointed post of Governor of New Mexico from 1866 to 1869.
previewAbraham Lincoln
A portrait of Abraham Lincoln. In December 1859, Lincoln traveled to the Kansas Territory and spoke at Elwood, Troy, Doniphan, Atchison, and Leavenworth. His speeches covered several issues including preventing the expansion of slavery, the theory of popular sovereignty, and the evils of states seceding from the Union. In 1860, Lincoln received the Republican party's nomination for president. Although Kansans liked him the delegation from the territory did not support his nomination. He won the election, and on February 22, 1861, at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Lincoln raised the United States flag bearing a 34th star, honoring Kansas as the newest state.
previewJohn James Ingalls
A uncased sixth plate ambrotype portrait of John James Ingalls. He came to the Kansas Territory in the late 1850s. Ingalls, a lawyer and politician, represented Atchison County at the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, July, 1859. In January, 1860 and 1861, he was an officer of the council when the legislature met at Lecompton. At the Republican Convention at Lawrence, April, 1860, Ingalls was elected to represent the Kansas Territory at the Chicago National Convention. He later served in the Kansas and the United States Senate.
previewWilliam Addison Phillips
Portrait of William Addison Phillips, an author, lawyer, journalist and politician. In 1857, Phillips attended the Constitution Convention at Topeka and the Free State Conventions at Centropolis, Lawrence, and Grasshopper Falls. He founded the town of Salina in April, 1858. In that same month and year, Phillips was nominated at the Topeka Free-State Convention under the Leavenworth Constitution to serve as a supreme court judge. He attended the Convention at Osawatomie and the Republican State Convention at Lawrence in 1859. Phillips served in the Kansas Volunteer Regiments and rose to the rank of colonel. From March 4, 1873 to March 3, 1875 Phillips was an at large representative to the United States Congress and from March 4, 1875 to March 3, 1879 he represented the First District.
previewWilliam Weer, Brief for Applicant
Weer, William
William Weer served as legal counsel for the Wyandotte Reserve and presented this brief on behalf of William Lykins and Robert Robitaille apparently to the Commissioner of the Land Office at Lecompton, Kansas Territory. Lykins and Robitaille were attempting to receive a patent for land that was also claimed by the Lawrence Association, Gaius Jenkins, Charles Robinson, S. J. Livingston, George G. Mathews, and William Savage. The brief contained a short history of the Wyandot tribes removal west and various treaties involving land. The claim involved parts of the city of Lawrence. The brief cited various cases and laws upon which Mr. Weer based his arguments.
previewJohn Brown to Thomas Russell
Brown, John, 1800-1859
From his jail cell in Charles Town, Virginia, just days before he was to go on trial for treason, John Brown wrote seeking legal counsel for himself and fellow prisoners. Brown mentioned his wounds, but said they were "doing well," expresses special concern for "the young men prisoners," and closed "Do not send an ultra Abolitionist."
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