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Title | Creator | Date Made Visible | None
Cyrus Kurtz Holliday to Mary Dillon Holliday
Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote from Topeka, Kansas Territory to his wife, Mary Holliday, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He described the Territorial Legislature election of March 30, 1855, in which he was a Representative candidate for the Fourth District (in the third election district). Missourians had taken charge of the polls, and Holliday, along with other free state Kansas Territory citizens, did not vote. He assured his wife that Kansas would be a free state. Business in growing Topeka continued to delay his return to Meadville. Holliday also alluded to the recent birth of their child and mentioned his ragged clothing.
previewCyrus Kurtz Holliday to Mary Dillon Holliday
Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900
Cyrus K. Holliday, founder of Topeka, Kansas Territory, advised his wife in Meadville, Pennsylvania concerning travel. He restated advice from his much longer letter of September 26th. He wrote of his nomination, yet to be confirmed by vote, as a delegate to the Topeka Constitutional Convention. Holliday decided to decline the editorship of The Kansas Freeman. He expressed sympathy for Lizzie Holliday, his wife's sister, and suggested boarding when Mary Holliday and their daughter Lillie arrived, as he had not yet built a house.
previewCyrus Kurtz Holliday to Mary Dillon Holliday
Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900
Cyrus K. Holliday, reelected on the 6th for a third six-month term as president of the Topeka Town Association, wrote from Topeka, Kansas Territory to his wife, Mary Holliday, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He had been appointed to visit Washington by the Free State Executive Committee and nominated for territorial Secretary of State (losing in the January 15th election). Cyrus had received the money drafts Mary sent. He reported cold, stormy weather.
previewMary Dillon Holliday to Cyrus Kurtz Holliday
Holliday, Mary Dillon, 1833-1908
Mary Holliday of Meadville, Pennsylvania reported the contents of a letter her husband, Cyrus K. Holliday, had received from William D. Paul of Topeka, Kansas Territory. Cyrus was speaking in New Castle, PA on the behalf of Republican presidential candidate John C. Fremont. Paul wrote that Harry G. Young was living in Cyrus' Topeka house. Milton C. Dickey and Dr. George A. Cutler had returned to Topeka without weapons, to the disappointment of the "Topeka boys," who anticipated conflict with Missourians. Mary recommended reading the New York Times. She wrote of her dissatisfaction with their separation and readiness to emigrate to Kansas Territory.
previewWilliam Morris Davis to Cyrus Kurtz Holliday
Davis, William Morris
William Morris Davis, a Quaker and abolitionist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, wrote to Cyrus K. Holliday, who was speaking in PA. In response to a report Holliday sent of their work on behalf of Republican presidential candidate John C. Fremont, Davis sent $500.00 reimbursement to Holliday and William Y. Roberts, also of Topeka, Kansas Territory. Davis mentioned Jefferson Davis, secretary of war in President Franklin Pierce's administration and a Missouri slave owner. (March 4th, 1857 was the day James Buchanan took presidential office.)
previewHenry Woods to Cyrus Kurtz Holliday
Woods, Henry
Henry Woods, member of the Township Meetings and Speakers committee of the Fremont Club, asked Cyrus K. Holliday, founder of Topeka, Kansas Territory, give an address that evening in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Holliday had returned to his home state to speak on behalf of Republican presidential nominee John Charles Fremont, who supported the free state cause. Woods' brief letter was written on the back of a printed list of subcommittees of the Fremont County Executive Committee. Evidentially, Woods had enclosed with the letter a note from G. E. Appleton of Birmingham, which requested that Holliday speak there the following day.
previewWilliam Hutchinson to Cyrus Kurtz Holliday
Hutchinson, William , 1823-1904
William B. Hutchinson, an abolitionist from Lawrence, Kansas Territory and secretary of the Freemen of Kansas, wrote to Cyrus K. Holliday, free state activist and president of the Topeka Town Association, informing him of his appointment to a secret committee. The fifty-two members were to gather and turn in evidence against those responsible for election fraud. Holliday had also been appointed to the fund-raising subcommittee. In a later written response, Holliday refused these appointments, referring to time-consuming family and business responsibilities.
previewCyrus Kurtz Holliday to Mary Dillon Holliday
Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900
Cyrus K. Holliday wrote from Topeka, Kansas Territory to his wife, Mary Holliday, who had returned to Meadville, Pennsylvania to give birth to their second child, Charles. Cyrus had been joined in Kansas Territory by his mother and two brothers, James T. and George K. Holliday. Cyrus sadly told of his mother's death at George's home in Wakarusa, Kansas Territory. He suggested that Mary wait to return to Topeka until May 1st, when Alfred Huidekoper of Meadville would issue him a loan. Cyrus also mentioned his political aspirations and two upcoming elections, the first at the Osawatomie Republican Convention, the second for delegates to the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention.
previewAlbert C. Morton to Hiram Hill
Morton, Albert C.
Albert Morton wrote from Quindaro, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts. Morton had recently returned to Quindaro in order to vote on the Lecompton Constitution as submitted by the English bill. Having arrived there, he found the place to be "dull". Morton described many empty houses and buildings, left behind from settlers selling out to return home; money had also been lost in investments and bridges were washed out in floods. However, the Town Company had invested in a flour mill, which had commenced operations. Morton also discussed matters of buying and selling land warrants with Hill.
previewHenry F. Parker to Hiram Hill
Parker, Henry F.
Henry Parker wrote from Lawrence, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts. Parker described the situation in K.T. as "dull. . .every man you se [sic] here Looks blue and no Business and allmost [sic] Every Family are Sick". He told Hill that the Cincinnati House was the only property of his that was occupied, all other of Hill's homes and buildings were vacant; many people were selling their property. Parker closed his letter with a mention of the recent election to ratify the Lecompton Constitution under the English bill.
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