OWEN A. BASSETT
Owen A. Bassett, of Leavenworth county was born
in Troy, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, July 16, 1834. His father removed with his family to Hancock County, Illinois,
in 1837 and two years later settled in Lee County, Iowa. He first studied with the intention of becoming a civil
engineer, but finally decided on the law. In 1855 he was employed in the United States land-office at Fort Des
Moines, Iowa, but resigned to engage in business in Kansas, and in the spring of 1856 started for Lecompton. He
early became connected with the free-state militia company, and was engaged at the battle of Franklin and also
at the taking of Fort Saunders, August 15, 1856. From this time on he was constantly engaged in the service of
the free-state army of Kansas, holding the position of engineer and quartermaster. He removed to Leavenworth in
December, 1856, and engaged as engineer for the Quindaro Town Company, served in the territorial house of representatives
in the special session of 1857 and in the session of 1858. At the breaking out of the war he helped organize the
First Kansas regiment. He was appointed bearer of dispatches from Colonel Weer at Fort Scott to General Lyon at
Springfield, Mo.; was appointed first lieutenant under Colonel Root, received a commission as lieutenant-colonel
of the Ninth Kansas, which regiment was changed to the Second Kansas cavalry, and served with this organization
till 1865. In 1868, he was elected district judge, and re-elected in 1872, holding office till 1876. He was married
at New London, Iowa, to Miss Josephine E. Butland, only daughter of Richard Butland. He was a member of the Masonic
order and held almost every office of trust in the same. He died at Ellsworth, Kan., July 19, 1896. (Transactions
of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office,
Topeka, 1908, page 209)
JOHN P. HATTERSCHEIDT
John P. Hatterscheidt, of Leavenworth county, was
a German by birth, who came from Cincinnati to Kansas in the spring of 1857. He did much work in the territory
as an engineer and surveyor. In 1858 he was a member of the Leavenworth constitutional convention. In the spring
of 1859 he returned to Cincinnati, and died there. All the Germans were free-soilers, and Hatterscheidt was quite
a leader. Another story about him is, that he made quite an impression on Abraham Lincoln when he visited in Kansas,
and that when elected president he made Hatterscheidt a consul at some European point and that he never returned
to America, but died abroad. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by
Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 211)
GEORGE HORINE KELLER
George Horine Keller, of Leavenworth, was born
February 22, 1801 in Mercer county, Kentucky. He died on his farm at Springdale, Leavenworth county, Kansas, November
13, 1876. His wife, Nancy J. Van Dyke, was born at the same place in the year 1805, and died in Leavenworth, Kansas
in 1881. Both were descended from Holland Dutch stock. Valentine Keller and Garret Van Dyke emigrated to this country
from Holland and settled in Pennsylvania, but subsequently removed to Mercer county near Harrodsburg, in Kentucky.
Keller worked on his father's farm till manhood, and after he married they emigrated to the territory of Indiana,
settling on a timbered farm near Terre Haute. It required heroic efforts to effect a clearing in those impenetrable
forests in those days in order to do much farming, but being a man of inflexible energies he performed the difficult
task. He gave his attention mostly to stock raising and prospered well. He finally constructed a large inn on the
National Road, which he managed for several years. He moved about the year 1835 to Platte county, Missouri. Here
he engaged in farming and manufacturing till the year 1850, but catching the gold fever, he sold out, equipped
a large train with merchandise and went to California during the spring of that year. Settling down in the Sonoma
valley, he founded the town of Petaluma, now a prosperous city of some 10,000 people. He returned in 1852 to Weston,
and at once embarked in farming, and was thus engaged until the spring of 1854, when he and other citizens of Weston
founded the town of Leavenworth, Kan., to which place he removed his family in the fall of that year, after completing
the Leavenworth Hotel, the third building ever constructed in that city. Selling this property in 1855, he built
the Mansion House at the corner of Fifth and Shawnee streets, which was operated by him until the sale in 1857.
Here John Sherman and other members of the Congressional Investigating Committee of 1856, stopped during their
sojourn in Leavenworth. He early imbibed the principle of freedom for the slaves and took and maintained a determined
stand in making Kansas a free state. No man was more outspoken in his private and public utterances than he, and
because of this he was branded as an abolitionist and marked not only for expatriation but assassination. At the
end of the fight he became a member of the first free-state territorial legislature. He used his time and money
in securing the election of James H. Lane and Marcus J. Parrott to the United States Senate. He succeeded with
the former, but lost in the latter. Under Governor Crawford, he became the first warden of the Kansas State Penitentiary.
In 1866 he retired to his farm at Springdale, Leavenworth county, where his generous, useful and blameless life
passed away at the age of seventy-six years, without an enemy in the world. John Speer said: "His name was
a synonym of honesty, integrity, and patriotism; his house in Leavenworth illustrated the proverbial hospitality
of the "old Kentucky Home." (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited
by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 211)
ROBERT CROZIER
Robert Crozier of Leavenworth county, was born
at Cadis, Ohio, October 15, 1828. He entered Cadiz Academy when eighteen years of age. and graduated at twenty-one;
he read law and was admitted to the bar, and was elected county attorney of his county in 1848, serving four years.
He arrived In Kansas in the fall of 1856 settling in Leavenworth, where he issued the first number of the Leavenworth
Times, March 1, 1857. He was elected to the council in 1857, successfully contesting the seat of John A. Halderman.
In 1861 Judge Crozier was appointed United States district attorney, but resigned that office to accept the nomination
of chief justice of the supreme court, to which he was elected in November, 1863, holding the position until 1866.
He then became cashier of the First National Bank of Leavenworth, where he remained until 1876. In 1874 he had
been appointed United States senator to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Alexander Caldwell November,
1876, he was elected judge of the First judicial district holding that office for four successive terms, or until
within three years of his death. which occurred at Leavenworth October 2, 1885. Brig.Gen. William Crozier, chief
of the ordnance department United States army, is his son. . (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society
1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 205)
JOHN ADAMS HALDERMAN
John Adams Halderman of Leavenworth county, was
born in Kentucky in 1888. He came to Kansas in 1864, and was appointed private secretary to Governor Reeder in
November of that year, serving until July 1, 1866. He was secretary of the first territorial council, 1866, and
was the first probate Judge of Leavenworth county; was a member of the territorial council of 1867, and maintained
his seat until December 11, when on account of the report of the committee on contests he was removed. He was one
of the delegates in the Democratic convention at Leavenworth, December 24,1868, which repudiated the Lecompton
constitution. He served as major in the First Kansas volunteers and major-general of the northern division of the
state militia. He was twice mayor of Leavenworth, was a regent of the State University, and in 1870 a member of
the house of representatives, and elected state senator in 1874. In 1880 he was appointed consul to Bangkok and
promoted to consul-general, and in 1883 was made minister to the court of Siam. where he was decorated by the king.
He is passing his declining years in Washington, D. C. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908,
Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 206)
JOHN WRIGHT
John Wright of Leavenworth county, a farmer, was
one of the three successful contestants from Leavenworth county for the seats in the territorial council of Halderman,
Davis and Martin. Mr. Wright took the oath of office and entered on his duties December 12, 1867. At this time
he was about thirty-one years of age. A native of Indiana, he settled in Buchanan county. Missouri, in 1889. and
in Kansas in 1864. He was a delegate to the Big Springs convention in 1856 and captain of a Stranger Creek company
during the troubles of '66, and served as a member of the Wyandotte constitutional convention. He was a colonel
in the militia during the Price raid in 1864, and was in the battle of Westport. He was born near Greencastle.
Ind. June 4. 1827 and died at Fort Scott in December 1870, where he had gone for medical treatment. His remains
were interred in the Fall Creek cemetery, Leavenworth county. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society
1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, pages 207 & 208)
HENRY MILES MOORE
Henry Miles Moore of Leavenworth county, was born September 2, 1826 in Brockport, N. Y. He received a common-school
education, and later an academic course at Clarkson and Brockport Academies. He studied law at Rochester, N. Y.,
and was admitted to the bar in that city in 1848. He removed to Louisiana, and practiced law from 1848 to 1850.
In 1850 he removed to Weston. Mo., and was a member of the editorial staff of the Weston Reporter. In 1864 he removed
to Leavenworth. Kan., a Southern sympathizer, but he did not shut his eyes to the outrages he witnessed in those
early days, and accordingly, he says, he took his position as an active and influential champion of free-state
principles and policy. In 1855, under the Topeka constitution, he was elected attorney-general. In 1857 he was
elected a member of the first free-state house of representatives, and in 1867 was elected to the state legislature
of 1868. In 1868 he was elected city attorney of Leavenworth, being; elected three times and appointed to that
position several times. He is a Democrat in politics, and in 1882 was the candidate of his party for attorney-general
carrying his county by nearly 2000 votes. He is a member of the Masonic order, and of the Episcopal church. He
was married September 15, 1857, to Miss Lina F. Kehoe, who was born at Fairfax Court House, Va. In 1906 he published
a volume entitled "Early History of Leavenworth City and County." He resides at Leavenworth. (Transactions
of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office,
Topeka, 1908, pages 212 & 213)
PATRICK R. ORB
Patrick R. Orb of Leavenworth county, was born in West Virginia. April 15, 1806, and was educated in the common
schools. In 1829, he moved to Morgan county, Illinois, and in 1848 settled in Missouri. He married Matilda Johnson,
October 16, 1839. He settled near Easton, in Leavenworth county, March 20, 1855. Mr. Orr was also elected, January
4, 1858. a member of the, state legislature under the Lecompton constitution, but no session was ever held. He
died at Easton. June 6, 1862. He has a son. John J. Orr, living at Holton. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical
Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 213)
WILLIAM PENNOCK
William Pennock, of Leavenworth county, was born
in Waynesburg, Greene county, Pennsylvania. in 1826 the son of Henry Lisle Pennock and his wife. Anna Maria Smith.
He was educated in the common schools. He was married December 25, 1849. to Mahala Hill, from whom he was divorced
in later years. In 1855 he removed to Kansas, settling on a farm in Leavenworth county, and remained there about
two years. He then moved his family to Minneola, Franklin county, and engaged in the Indian trade at Centropolis,
a mile west of the Minneola town site. His trade was with the Sac and Fox, Ottawa. Chippewas, and Muncees. He was
a member of the first free-state legislature from Leavenworth county in 1867 and served in the extra session called
by Secretary Stanton to meet in December, 1867, and the regular session in January, 1868. January 4, 1868, he was
elected to the house under the Lecompton constitution. He was made captain of a militia company organized in the
north part of the county, and afterwards, in 1864 was, by the companies of the counties of Franklin and Anderson,
composing the Tenth regiment, elected colonel of said regiment. This regiment was called into active service with
others by proclamation of Gov. Thomas Carney and participated in the battle of Westport, during the Price raid.
He was afterwards a member of the legislature from the north district of Franklin county, in 1866. About 1859 he
removed his trading-post to the Sac and Fox agency near Quenemo. and was associated with Perry Fuller in the trade.
The family remained at Minneola during these trade ventures, until Ottawa was started, about 1864, when they removed
to that town, and Mr. Pennock engaged in the dry-goods business, until he failed in business, in 1870 and removed
to his farm, a quarter-section on the town site of Minneoia and occupied the large fourteen-roomed house said to
have been built for the governor's mansion during the effort to make that town the territorial capital. Joel K.
Goodin owned the other part of the town site. Mr. Pennock died on his farm near "Silver Lake," on the
Marais des Cygnes, between Pomona and Ottawa. February 4, 1890. Mr. Pennock had four children, of whom the two
youngest are still living: Henry Lisle; Caroline; Frances Leisure, now Mrs. Frances L. Paramore. 4448 St. Lawrence
avenue. Chicago, Ill., who gave the above information regarding her father; born in Pennsylvania; and Mary, now
Mrs. Benjamin Sands, 683 Maple street, Ottawa, Kan., born in Kansas, Leavenworth county. He was of Quaker descent,
some of his ancestors receiving a land grant from William Penn, in Philadelphia. Said property still remains in
the family. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary,
State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, pages 213 & 214)
JOSEPH POMEROY ROOT
Joseph Pomeroy Root, of Wyandotte, then a part of Leavenworth county, was born at Greenwich, Mass., April 28, 1826
and died at Kansas City. Kan., July 20, 1886. He was a member of the Connecticut-Kansas colony, better known as
the Beecher Bible and Rifle Company, which settled at Wabaunsee. He organized free-state forces and in every way
identified himself with the early history of the territory. As chairman of the free-state executive committee he
located the road from Topeka to Nebraska City, thereby securing a safer route of travel for free-state fan-migrants.
He was sent east as agent to obtain arms and other assistance and was very successful. On his return he located
at Wyandotte and was there elected a member of the council. He was lieutenant-governor of the state in 1861; served
in the Second Kansas as surgeon, and was medical director of the Army of the Frontier. At the close of the war
he returned to Wyandotte and the practice of his profession, but was appointed minister to Chili in 1870. At the
close of his term of office he returned again to Wyandotte, and continued there until his death, July 20, 1886.
(Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State
Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 205)
JESSE CONNELL
Jesse Connell was born in Kentucky about 1819. He settled in Leavenworth in 1855 and was a member of the senate
of the first state legislature, 1861. He was also a member of the Lecompton constitutional convention in 1857.
He was a man of high character. He died in the early 70's. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society
1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 240)
JOHN H. MCDOWELL
John H. McDowell, was born in Virginia about 1825, and settled in Leavenworth in 1858. He was elected state senator
December 6, 1859. He was a railroad contractor; was one of the purchasers of the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western
and sold it to a St. Louis syndicate at a handsome profit. He was a shrewd business man. He returned to Ohio and
died there. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary,
State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 238)
