Chapter 6

1. Welcome To Kansas: “Her Light Shall Shine” Chapter 6

2. Words to understand • Barbed wire • Bigotry • Chain migration • Class system • Communal • Depression • Draft • Dug out • Emancipation • Famine • Irrigation • Pacifist • Sections • Sod house • Tenant

3. Ernest de Boissiere Abbie Bright Philip Bright George Grant Flora Moorman Heston Benjamin “Pap” Singleton People to know

4. Post Civil War • Many wanted to come to Kansas • American Indians not welcomed • Droughts ended Welcome to kansas

5. Most settlers were from other states Immigration to Kansas was encouraged U.S. government sold land cheap Railroads industry resulted in increased population. Let our light shine

6. Horace Greeley- “Go West, young man, go West! • West was a symbol of new opportunities • Homestead Act encouraged land ownership • Homestead requirements • If over 21 you could claim up to 160 acres of public land. • U.S. citizen or intend to become one • $10 fee, had to live and cultivate the land • After 5 years if the land showed improvement then the settler would be given a clear title. • If a settler wanted to buy the land before the 5 years it was $1.25 per acre The homestead act

7. Land was free, but farming was not • Successful homesteaders needed $500-1,000 to start. • Many had less and failed • Went back home • Or became tenant farmers • Cultivated someone else’s land as a renter • 1890 almost 1/3 of Kansas farms were run by tenant farmers Tenant farming

8. The Preemption Act • Squatter could take up residence on public land • After 14 months they could buy it up to 160 acres for $1.25/acre • Advantages • squatter could buy the land before it went up for public sale. • Protected improvements squatters already made. Other ways to get land

9. The Timber Culture Act • Allowed settlers to enlarge their land holdings • 160 acres of land could be claimed • Add a large amount of trees to a portion of the land • They did not have to live on the land • If requirement are met settlers could purchase land for $1.25/acre • Auction • Land was sold at auctions • If land was not purchased at auction it could be bought for $1.25/acre Other ways to get land cont.

10. Hardships • Economy cycles were harsh in KS • Drought • Blizzards and other harsh weather • Grasshoppers Adapting to the Plains

11. Problems Solutions • Lack of wood for housing • Lack of wood for fuel • Lack of wood for fences • Lack of surface water • Build earth houses, dug outs and sod houses • Bundled hay, corn cobs, and dried manure (buffalo/cow chips) • Barbed wire and limestone fences • Dug deep wells • Water pulled up by windmills • Put in to ponds for drinking water and irrigation canals. Adapting to the plains cont.

12. Life in the south was difficult • Many were tenant farmers • Violence and resentment • Kansas was an attractive option for many African Americans • Symbolism of the Promised land • Struggle against slavery in the state • Symbolism of John Brown • Land ownership African American migraton to Kansas

13. Settlements (counties) • Cherokee • Graham • Hodgeman • Morris • Most famous settlement community was Nicodemus in western Kansas African american migration to Kansas cont.

14. Nicodemus • Developed through land speculation (land purchased and town planned before anyone lived there) • Freed slaves from Kentucky settled there • Named for a slave who purchased his own freedom African american migration to Kansas cont.

15. Problems in Nicodemus • Settlers arrived to late to farm • Far away from the more populated areas in the state • Physical environment (Kentucky has lots of forests) African american migration to Kansas cont.

16. Exodusters • Name comes for Exodus in the bible • Traveled from the deep south • Generally poor • Came in the thousands usually by steamboat • Many became sick and died on the journey • Many exited at Wyandotte • Wyandotte paid some to move away to Atchinson because they could not take in any more of the poor. African american migration to Kansas cont.

17. Exodusters • Because of the huge numbers of poor along the Missouri river in Kansas jobs were very sparse. • Governor John St. John formed the Freemen’s Relief Organization which moved exodusters to cities around the state with jobs. African american migration to Kansas cont.

18. All immigrants experience a “push/pull” factor • Something is pushing them away from home • Something is pulling them toward KS • Railroads actively recruited immigrants to come to KS • KS State Bureau of Immigration published pamphlets to promote settlement opportunities Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas

19. German Settlers • Largest European group to settle in KS • Settled in all counties but particularly in central KS • More than 60 newspapers printed in German. • Most came for economic opportunities • Farming • Railroad • Chain Migration • News from immigrants already in KS inspired others to follow and come to KS Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas Cont.

20. Settlers from the British Isles • The British class system mixed with the tradition of taking over in a fathers given trade meant there were few opportunities for advancements. • Wakefield was a British settlement • Runnymede • British settlement for 5 years • F.J.S. Trunly offered to teach the sons of British upper class how to farm for $500 • Instead the sons staged horse races and hunted foxes. • The parents got sick of it and brought the kids back home Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas Cont.

21. The French Settlement of Silkville • Ernest de Boissiere • Upper class Frenchman • Believed in the equality of all men • Arrived after Napoleon came to power • Started in New Orleans • Gained wealth operating merchant ships • Donated a substantial sum of money to an orphanage for African American children Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas cont.

22. Ernest de Boissiere • Moved to KS (1869) because he felt it would be a more tolerant area • Organized the Prairie Home Association establishing a communal settlement • $200 a person could buy a membership to the Prairie Home Association • All members would live together and share the work • The business became producing silk • Became know as Silkville cause de Boissiere imported mulberry trees, silk worms, and workers from France immigrated to KS • Produced 300 yards of silk a day Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas cont.

23. Swedish Immigrants • Reasons for coming • A famine hit Sweden • Sweden was over populated • Potato crops went bad • Religious Freedom • 3rd largest immigrant group in KS • 1st Swedish Agricultural Company brought many Swedes over. • Nearly 100 settled in Lindsborg (wanted a pure Lutheran faith) Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas cont.