LYON COUNTY, KANSAS

 

HON. CHARLES V. ESKRIDGE

(Emporia)

 

Charles V., son of Charles and Mahala (McClearan) Eskridge, was born in Virginia in 1833.  His father was of English, his mother of Scotch descent.  They immigrated to the State of Ohio from Virginia in 1834, removed to Illinois in 1838, and settled in Lewistown, Fulton county, where Mrs. Eskridge died of pneumonia in 1851, and where her husband still resides.  The family were pecuniarily in very straitened circumstances, and up to the time of the mother’s death were solely supported by their daily labor.

Charles V., the second son in a household of four boys and three girls, was from early childhood required to perform such work as was fitting his years, to aid in supporting the family.  This he continued to do until about fourteen years of age, when, with two dollars in silver, the results of his own labor at odd times when his services were not required by his parents, he suddenly left the “scenes of his early childhood,” without the formality of his parents’ consent, and struck out for Havana, a small town on the Illinois river, about ten miles from his home.  Here he took passage on a steamboat for St. Louis, paying out all his money but five cents for his fare to that city.  After reaching St. Louis, and seeing the sights for awhile, being struck, as an untraveled country lad would be, with the buildings, the crowded streets, the multitudes upon the levee and the dazzle and show of a large city, he invested the balance of his funds—five cents—in a “quarter section” of gingerbread, the holiday luxury of his section ofo the “Sucker State.”  He soon succeeded in obtaining a situation as cabin-boy on a Mississippi river steamboat at eight dollars per month, his wages being shortly afterward raised to twelve dollars per month, and this situation he retained until the boat was laid up in the fall, a period of about six months.  Leaving the boat well dressed, with his purse full of silver, he returned to Lewistown, not without some misgivings of the reception which awaited him at home.  His fears, however, in this respect, were all groundless; he was heartily welcomed by his parents, brothers and sisters, and for the first time realized the anxiety and loving solicitude of the mother’s heart for her absent boy.  He remained at home during the winter, and in the spring, with the consent of his parents, returned to the river, where he remained for a few months, when he returned.

Shortly after this he commenced work in a newspaper office in Canton, a village sixteen miles north of Lewistown, where he had engaged to learn the printer’s trade.  Here, and in various other places in Illinois, he worked for several years until the spring of 1855, when he left the State for Kansas, reaching Lawrence just after the border-ruffian invasion of the 30^th March by the pro-slavery men of Missouri.  He immediately identified himself with the free-state party of the then Territory of Kansas, and carried on an active correspondence with several of the papers in Illinois, occasionally working in the newspaper offices in Lawrence.  After a brief visit to Illinois in the winter of 1856, he returned to Kansas, and in the spring of 1857 settled in Emporia, Breckinridge (now Lyon) county.  At that time the town of Emporia had just been located, and the site was but partially surveyed.  Within the town limits there was only one house, not quite completed, and with the exception of some settlements along the water courses, the country was native prairie.  Mr. Eskridge was appointed agent for the town company, and also found employment as clerk in a store which had just been established.  He subsequently purchased a half interest in this store, on time, having no funds when he came to Emporia.  He was soon after appointed a notary public, and for a long time was the only officer in that portion of Kansas who could legally administer an oath, or take the acknowledgment of an instrument of writing.

Peace having been partially restored between the pro-slavery and free-state men in the Territory, the town of Emporia began to improve, and the surrounding country rapidly settled with an industrious and intelligent population.  In the spring of 1858 Mr. Eskridge aided a movement for the organization of the county, and was elected its clerk and recorder.  The organization was perfected and all the legal machinery put in operation.  In 1859 he was appointed judge of the probate court.

In the month of January, 1861, Kansas was admitted as a State into the Union.  In the fall of 1861 Mr. Eskridge was elected in 1862, and in 1863 was appointed on the governor’s staff with the rank of colonel.  In 1864 he was elected lieutenant-governor, and in 1871 was returned to the Legislature.  In 1872 he was a candidate for governor, and went into the convention supported by a large number of delegates and some of the most influential presses of the State.  Tough unable to secure the nomination for himself, he held the balance of power in the convention, and controlled the nomination that was made.  In 1873-4 he was a member of the city council of Emporia and its president, and in the latter year was again elected to a seat in the House of Representatives.  In 1878 he was chosen as a delegate to the Republican State Convention.

In all these various positions he has been true to his constituents, true to the principles enunciated in the platforms upon which he was elected, and true to the interests of the State.  As a legislator he had the reputation of being an indefatigable worker, and it was always said that his district in particular and the State in general gained something from his efforts.  He is the responsible father of the law by which school districts may negotiate a limited loan for the construction of school houses; through his efforts the name of his county was changed from Breckinridge to Lyon, and honor done to the loyal soldier who fell at Wilson’s Creek, Missouri; he also procured the location of the State Normal School at Emporia, and its endowment of Lands, with the various appropriations for buildings.  He offered the first proposition in the State Senate so to amend the constitution as to extend the right of franchise to colored men, and was also the first to propose biennial sessions of the Legislature.  He drew up and presented the resolutions in the Senate denouncing the treachery of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, to the great principles of the party he was chosen to support.  His influence was given to those measures by which Kansas was enabled to make so complete a display of her products at the Centennial Exposition, a display which has proved of incalculable benefit to the State, and has had its influence in determining the immense stream of immigration which during the past two years has poured into her territory.  Several of the laws by which railroad enterprises were encouraged and aid given to internal improvements, were drawn up and supported by him in one or the other branch of the Legislature, beside several other measures to stimulate and encourage the agricultural and horticultural interests of the State.

As a presiding officer, Mr. Eskridge established a reputation second to none in the State, and in that capacity more than met the expectations of his most earnest friends.  At the commencement of the second session of the Senate over which he presided, which was the first session in the new State House, he delivered to the Senate the following brief address:

GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE:--In resuming the chair, you will allow me to say that we should feel under renewed obligations to the Great Ruler of all people, in being spared, members and officers, to re-assemble in the discharge of our respective duties.  Remembering, gentlemen, with grateful feelings your courteous disposition toward me during the last session, I trust I shall do nothing to prove myself unworthy of a continuance of your kind forbearance.  In the humble effort to discharge faithfully and impartially the duties of  my position, I hope to receive, as I know I shall need, your counsel and assistance.  And, in turn, gentlemen, it shall be my pleasure, as it will be my duty, to see that all your measures, whatever may be my private opinion as to their merits or demerits, receive the protection to which they may be entitled under the rules.  In your deliberations and the zeal with which important measures are sometimes pressed, I trust that I shall not so far forget myself, at any time, as to assume the position of a lobbyist on any proposition that may be brought forward for your consideration.  I feel assured that this session will be characterized, as the last one was, by that earnestness of purpose which is essential to the dignity of the Senate and the dispatch of business.

Assembled here in this magnificent hall, provided by the people at so much expense, we should feel, if possible, under greater obligations, as the servants of the people, to enact, in as short a time as may be consistent with thorough deliberation, such laws as are required to advance the various interests of our State.  To this end, gentlemen, you will pardon me for impressing upon the several standing committees the importance of most thoroughly and promptly considering all matters which may be referred to them, so that the time of the Senate will not be unnecessarily taken up in doing the work of a committee.  And, further, the engrossing and enrolling clerks, and all other officers, will exhibit at least their usual industry and promptness in the discharge of their duties, so that the action of the Senate will not be delayed, as has sometimes been the case—perhaps unavoidably.  Thus demeaning ourselves, we shall meet the approbation of the people, which is our earnest desire.

At the close of the session, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted by the Senate, showing the regard which that body had for their presiding officer, as appears from Senate Journal, 1870, page 665:

WHEREAS, In these last hours of our association here, it is eminently fit that before parting we should give a frank and candid expression of our feelings toward our presiding officer, Lieutenant-Governor Eskridge; there, be it

        Resolved.  That he has our thanks for the ability and integrity he has evinced during the past two sessions of this Senate, in his official capacity as president of the Senate.

        Resolved.  That we congratulate Lieutenant-Governor Eskridge upon the fact that he has so faithfully and impartially presided over this Senate as to merit and receive the highest respect and esteem of every member of his body.

        Resolved.  That we congratulate him upon the fact that no decision which he has made as presiding officer has ever been reversed by a vote of this Senate.

        Resolved.  That in parting with him we bid him abundant success in whatever position, public or private, he may hereafter be called to act, assuring him, moreover, that he carries with him our sincere friendship, son by a faithful official career.

For about ten years he was engaged in the mercantile business in Emporia, and has dealt quite largely in real estate, by which means he has become possessed of a handsome property, in and around the city which for twenty-one years has been his home.  In 1861 Mr. Eskridge was married to Miss Mary E. Dixon, by whom he has four children:  Mattie, Clara, Edward Walton and Mary.

The uniform success of his later years contrasts most strikingly with the privation of his early life, and a few more suggestive lives are presented in the history of any State.  In a little over ten years from his settlement in the Territory to which he came a young man, without capital, without friends and without education, we find him filling the responsible position of lieutenant-governor, having already been twice elected to the House of Representatives and once to the Senate of his State.  The qualities of mind and heart that so commended him to the confidence and repeated suffrages of an intelligent constituency, before he had reached his thirty-fifth year, are certainly exceptional, and deserve such record as will preserve their lessons and encouragements to posterity.  Mr. Eskridge is still in the prime of his early manhood, and has hardly reached the age at which men usually make their mark in the councils of church or state.  With his practical knowledge and wide experience of public affairs so early acquired, we may reasonably expect a life of increasing usefulness to his State and the nation at large.

In 1868, when the question of extending the elective franchise to women was before the people of the State, there appeared to be at first no opposition to it; the press and the politicians all seemed to favor the proposition.  Prominent persons from the Eastern States—men and women—had been invited to canvass Kansas in its support, and were speaking in all the school-houses.  It was sweeping over the State like a prairie fire in a strong wind, and, while there were some misgivings as to the policy of engrafting such a clause in our constitution by way of amendment, yet no one offered open opposition to it; at that time it was a new and somewhat novel question to the people of this State.  The proper line of opposition was totally undefined, and those who manifested any doubt about it were overwhelmed by the avalanche of advocates in its favor.  A large majority was predicted for the proposition, and that it would be carried without opposition; so strong, confident and jubilant were the friends of the measure, they almost dared opposition into the field.  Right in the middle of these brilliant prospects for success, Mr. Eskridge wrote a communication for the “Emporia News,” in opposition to the proposition.  This communication, known over the State as the “elm-peeler letter,” proved to be the entering wedge that bursted the proposition side open.  It was a rough mixture of argument, sarcasm and ridicule.  It was re-published over the State and received, by those who had some misgivings as to the property of adopting the measure, with hearty approval.  Letters were received by Mr. Eskridge from all parts of the State, thanking him for this timely letter in opposition to the question.  He wrote another communication, in which extracts from many of these letters were published, and, in a higher tone and more elaborate manner, argued in opposition to the measure.  This letter was also generally published in the State.  After these letters appeared, by urgent solicitations, Mr. Eskridge was induced to stump the great portion of the State, in connection with a few others.  The proposition was defeated by a large majority, and, whether right or wrong, its defeat was unquestionably brought about by the efforts of one man, and that man was Charles V. Eskridge.  As the voice of the people is conceded to be the voice of God, it must also be conceded that his position was the right one.  After he was nominated by the Republican convention of lieutenant-governor, the friends of woman suffrage called a state convention to nominate a candidate to run in opposition to him, but the convention broke up in confusion and left Mr. Eskridge with a clear field before him.

(Transcribed by Lori DeWinkler ~ “The United States Biographical Dictionary Kansas 1879”)

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HON. CHARLES V. ESKRIDGE, now editor and proprietor of the Emporia Republican, is and has been for many years one of the prominent men in the affairs of the State. Like others who have advanced to high position, his parents were people in straightened circumstances, depending upon their daily labor for subsistence. Their son, Charles V., was born In Virginia in 1833. The next year his parents emigrated to Ohio, and in 1838 to Lewiston, Fulton Co. Ill. where, in 1851, his mother died of pneumonia. His father still resides there. When about thirteen years of age, Charles, wishing to strike out for himself, and being satisfied that $2 in silver was sufficient capital upon which to venture his fortunes, ran away from home, his objective point being St. Louis. Having passed through a succession of boyish adventures, spending most of his succeeding six months as a cabin boy on a Mississippi steamboat, he returned to the parental roof, both richer and wiser. Shortly afterward he commenced to learn the "Art Preservative," and soon became proficient in the trade. He departed for Kansas in the spring of 1855, and arrived at a time when the country was yet in the throes of the border ruffian invasion of March 30th. Locating at Lawrence, he carried on an active correspondence with several papers in Illnois, working, also on the Herald of Freedom. Mr. Eskridge was furthermore a participant in the military operations in which Lawrence played so heroic a part. After a brief visit to Illinois in the winter of 1856, he located at Emporia, Kan., during the succeeding spring. That place was then a "paper" town. He became the agent of the Town Company, and he also acted as a clerk in a store. In the spring of 1858, when Emporia had thrown off its swaddling clothes, and the country had become more settled, a political organization was affected, with Mr. Eskridge as Clerk and Recorder. In 1859 he was appointed Probate Judge, and elected a member of the first State Legislature; re-elected in 1862, and in 1863 was appointed on the Governor's staff, with the rank of Colonel. In 1864 he was elected State Senator, and Lieutenant-Governor in 1868. As a presiding officer he made a most brilliant record, as is evidenced repeatedly by resolutions entered in the Senate Journal. In 1871 he was again elected a member of the Legislature, and in 1872 was placed before the people as a gubernatorial candidate. Though he did not obtain the nomination, he was the means of making the choice, as his influence undoubtedly formed the balance of power in the convention. Mr. Eskridge was President of the City Council of Emporia, in 1873-4, and in 1874 was again elected to the popular branch of the Legislature, and in 1878 was chosen a delegate to the Republican State Convention. Among other subjects of legislation in which he has taken a leading part are those in relation to the State Normal School which, through his efforts, was located in Emporia. He is the author of the law by which school districts may issue bonds to assist in the construction of schoolhouses. He was also the first to offer a proposition extending the right of franchise to the colored race. An amendment to the State Constitution, proposing to extend the elective franchise to women, was defeated mainly by his efforts. During his residence in Emporia for about ten years, Mr. Eskridge was engaged in the mercantile business, and also dealt extensively in real estate, and accumulated a handsome property. Besides the public measures previously mentioned in which Mr. Eskridge has been prominent, several of the laws encouraging railroad and internal improvements were drawn up and supported by him. Through his efforts the name of the county was changed from Breckinridge to Lyon. He has also been the foster father of measures which have greatly stimulated the agricultural and horticultural interests of the State. As an editor Mr. Eskridge is known throughout Kansas. He established The Republican and made it one of the best dailies in Kansas, a full account of which appears in the County History. The daily is a thirty-two column paper - receiving the full Associated Press dispatches, and is in every way metropolitan. The weekly is a thirty-six column paper. This establishment gives employment to thirty-five hands. The circulation of The Republican extends principally throughout the southern and southwestern portions of the State. Mr. Eskridge was married at Donaldson, Bond Co., Ill, in December, 1861 to Mary E. Dixon, of that place. They have four children - Mattie, Clara, Edward Walton, and Mary.

(William G. Cutler’s History of the State of Kansas ~ Transcribed by Lori DeWinkler)