Kenneth Spencer Research Library Archival Collections

Reminiscences of early days near Blue Mound. Recounts family's departure from England and trip West. Describes pioneer life in Douglas County, raids during the civil War, and Indians in the area. A 4-page "Excerpt" and map is included with the account.

This collection consists of letters describing incidents of the border raids during the Kansas Territory-Missouri border wars just before the United States' Civil War in detail, including references to John Brown, William Quantrill, Jim Montgomery, and Fort Scott. The collection also includes a deed to land in McLean County, Illinois owned by Vansickle.

This collection consists of Joseph Cody's letters to his wife, Elvira (Cable) Cody, and those received from other friends, arranged chronologically from 1854-1885. It also includes letters written by Elvira and those she received from friends prior to her marriage to Joseph, arranged chronologically from 1847-1853. Letters written by Elvira's father, Eleazer Cable, a nurseryman in Ohio concerned with the maintenance of the Cable nursery, are dated from 1837-1869.

This collection consists of a single, three-page typescript reminiscence by Caroline Updegraff Parker, relating the experiences of her brother William W. Updegraff and her own family in Osawatomie, Kansas from 1855 to 1869, as well as a photograph of her brother William later in his life.