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 William Alexander Harris
(1841-1909) -
Civil engineer and United States Senator,
he was born in Loudoun County, Virginia on October 29, 1841. He attended school at Luray,
Virginia., until his eighth year, when his father, William H. Harris, was appointed
minister to the Argentine Republic, and for four years the family lived at
Buenos Ayres. When they returned to the United States, he began his
technical education and graduated from Columbia College in Washington, D.C. in
June, 1859. Immediately afterward he went to Central America and spent six
months on a ship canal survey, but returned home and entered the Virginia
Military Institute in January, 1860. He was in the graduating class of 1861, but
the outbreak of the
Civil War stopped all study, and in April he
and his classmates entered the Confederate service. He served three years as
Assistant Adjutant-General of Wilcox's Brigade and as Ordnance Officer of Generals
D. H. Hill's and Rodes' divisions of the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1865, he
came to
Kansas
and entered the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad as a civil engineer. The
road was then completed to
Lawrence,
and his first work was to build the Leavenworth branch, which he completed in
1866. Harris was resident engineer of the road until it was completed to Carson
in the fall of 1868, when he accepted the bought land from the
Delaware
Indian
Reservation and began farming and raising stock. In 1876 he became interested in
short-horn cattle and within a short time, his herds were known throughout the
country for their high quality. When he was nominated for Congressman-at-large
by the Populists in 1892, he was in Scotland, comparing notes with breeders and
planning for the improvement of his stock. His nomination was endorsed by the
Farmers' Alliance and the Democratic Party and he was elected. In 1894 he was
re-nominated but defeated. In the fall of 1896 he was elected to the State
Senate from the Third District, and the following January he was elected to the
United States Senate to succeed William A.
Peffer. Harris took an active part in railroad
legislation in
Kansas and in Congress, but was unable to have his ideas
carried out. He was deeply interested in the Nicaraguan Canal Project when it
came before the United States Senate, and was a member of the committee having
the question of the proposed canal in charge. He saved millions for the
government in the Pacific Railroad claims when that question came before
Congress for settlement. Although an ex-Confederate he was loyal to his state
and country, voting for what he deemed best, and measured up to the standard of
true statesmanship. After retiring from the United States Senate, he made one
political campaign as the Democratic candidate for governor of
Kansas. From 1906
he resided in
Lawrence,
Kansas, although connected with the National Live Stock
Association with headquarters in
Chicago. He was appointed regent of the State
Agricultural College at Manhattan and took an active interest in the development
of that institution and the United States experimental stations. He died at the
home of his sister in
Chicago,
Illinois on December 21, 1909.
 James Madison
Harvey (1933-1894) -
The fifth governor of Kansas
after her admission as a state, he was born in Monroe County, Virginia on September 21, 1833.
While still in his childhood his parents, Thomas and Margaret (Walker) Harvey,
moved to Rush County, Indiana, then to Iowa, and later to Adams County,
Illinois Harvey received his education in public
schools, afterwards becoming a surveyor. In 1854 he married Charlotte R. Cutler of
Adams County
Illinois and in 1859 they moved to Kansas,
settling in
Riley County. When the
Civil War broke out in
1861 he organized a company at Ogden, Kansas, which was mustered into the United
States service at
Fort
Leavenworth as Company G, Tenth Kansas Infantry. He was
commissioned captain of his company, and when the Fourth and Tenth regiments
were consolidated he retained his rank in the new organization. In 1864, he was
mustered out and returned to his farm. The following year he was elected to
represent
Riley County in the lower house of the State Legislature, and was
re-elected in 1866.
During the years 1867-68 he was a member of the State Senate from what was then
the Seventh district, composed of Marshall, Riley and Shirley (now Cloud)
counties. In 1868, when some of his friends urged him to run for governor, he
looked over the field and concluded that he was not financially able to make the
race. At this juncture, a friend came to him and voluntarily offered to furnish
him with sufficient money to pay the expenses of his campaign. Harvey
then borrowed $200, which paid all his expenses, received the nomination and was
elected. Harvey was re-elected governor in 1870 by an increased majority, and upon
retiring from the office in January, 1873, he resumed his old occupation of
surveyor. He was thus employed in western
Kansas when he was elected to the
United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Alexander
Caldwell, the term expiring on March 4, 1877. While in the senate he served on
several important committees, and at the expiration of his service he again took
up the life of a private citizen on his farm near Vinton in
Riley County. Between
the years 1881 and 1884 he was engaged in making surveys in
New Mexico,
Arizona,
Utah and
Nevada. Ill health in 1884 led him to return to Virginia, where he
spent six years -- three in Norfolk and three in Richmond -- but in 1890 he came
back to
Kansas.
He died near Junction City, Kansas
in on April 15, 1894 and was buried at Highland Cemetery in Junction City.
Clara H.
Hazelrigg (1859-??) - Teacher, author and evangelist,
she was born at
Council Grove, Kansas
on November 23, 1859 to Colonel H. J. Espy, Melora
E. (Cook) Espy. When Clara's mother died in 1861, she was taken to Indiana but
returned in 1866. Just two years later, her father died and she was again sent
to Indiana where she attended school When she was just 14 years-old, she began teaching in a private school
and later in the public schools of Ripley County, Indiana on December 27, 1877 she was
married to W. A. Hazelrigg of Greensburg, Indiana and in 1883 they moved to Kansas
settling in Butler County, where she resumed her
work as teacher. She attended business college at Emporia and was elected
superintendent of the Butler County schools. In 1895 she published a History of
Kansas, which shows evidence of considerable research and literary ability. This
is her best known literary work. Later, the family moved to Topeka, but their
vacations are spent upon Mr. Hazelrigg's ranch in
New Mexico. In addition to her
teaching, she also
devoted much time to church work and won a wide reputation as an
evangelist.
Seth Hays
(1811-1873) - The grandson of Daniel Boone, Seth Hays was born on April
23,1811 in Callaway County,
Missouri.
When he grew up, he was living in Westport (now Kansas City),
Missouri. In
April, 1847, two Santa Fe Trail traders -- Albert G. Boone and James G. Hamilton
-- established a trading post on the
Kaw reservation,
by virtue of their
Kanza Indian
trading license. They placed bachelor Seth M. Hays in charge to build the store
and trade with the
Kanza tribe. Hays
became the first white settler of what would later become
Council Grove,
in
Morris County, Kansas.
Hays built a log cabin on the north side of the old Santa Fe Trail near the west
bank of the Neosho River near where the Commercial House later stood. The cabin
served as both a store and a dwelling, which housed Hays, his adopted daughter,
Kitty and a freed slave named Sally.
Ten years later, in 1857, he opened
the Hays House Tavern and Restaurant, which continues to stand in
Council Grove,
making it the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi
River. In its early years, a few of Its customers included Jesse James and
George Armstrong Custer. The following year, in October, 1858, the first term of
court was held in
Morris County
in Hays' log cabin. When court was held, the jury deliberated upon their verdict
under the shade of a tree that stood in the yard.
In 1867, Hays built a new home built
of bricks from a local factory and native lumber. Hays never married, but,
continued to live in the home with his adopted daughter and freed slave.
Familiarly called Aunt Sally, she cared for the family until her death in 1872.
Today, the home still stands and is operated as a museum by the Morris County
Historical Society. In 1871, Hays built an imposing 76-foot-long native
stone barn to house his livestock. This building would later serve as part of
the
Morris County
Poor Farm, which existed from 1889-1945. It, too, continues to stand.
In 1873 Seth M. Hays died. His
remains are buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in
Council Grove.
Continued Next Page
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LEGENDS
OF KANSAS
