Historic People of Kansas - Last Name starts with "H"

Historic People of Kansas - "H" - Page 1

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John A. Halderman (1833?-1908) - Soldier, statesman and diplomat, Halderman was born and raised in Kentucky. He was educated at McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, and subsequently studied law at the University of Louisville. In the spring of 1854, at the age of 21, he came to Kansas and began the practice of law at Leavenworth. He served as private secretary to Andrew H. Reeder, the first territorial governor, and in 1855 was Secretary of the first Territorial Council. He was appointed the first probate judge of Leavenworth County; was a major of the First Kansas Regiment in the Civil War, and a major-general of the State Militia. He served two terms as mayor of Leavenworth; was a regent of the University of Kansas; a member of the State House of Representatives and in 1870 was elected a member of the State Senate. In 1872-73 he traveled abroad. In 1880 he was appointed Consul at Bangkok and was soon promoted to Consul-General by President James Garfield. In 1883 he was the first United States Minister to Siam, where the king honored him with the decoration of Knight Commander of the Order of the White Elephant, and later the French government bestowed on him Commander of the Royal Order of Cambodia. He resigned his position in 1885 and returned to Leavenworth. For some years he resided in Washington, D.C., and at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War promptly tendered his services to the Secretary of War. He was a member of the Kansas Historical Society and a frequent contributor to its publications. He died in Washington, D.C., in October, 1908, and was buried in the government cemetery at Arlington.

Charles A. Hamelton - A pro-slavery leader during the Kansas-Missouri Border War , he was a native of Cass County, Georgia, where his father, Dr. Thomas A. Hamelton, was a wealthy and influential citizen. When the Territory of Kansas was organized Milton McGee went to Georgia to recruit men to aid in making Kansas a slave state. At Cassville, he made a fiery speech and Charles Hamelton and his brother were among the first to rally to McGee's side. His father, Dr. Hamelton contributed $1,000 to the cause. Hamelton is best known as the perpetrator of the Marais des Cygnes Massacre on May 19, 1858. Afterwards, the governor offered a reward off $500 for Hamelton's apprehension but wasn't caught. When Hamelton came to Kansas he was the owner of a plantation in Georgia, but was heavily in debt. At the close of the Kansas-Missouri Border War, he returned to Georgia, was stripped of everything by his creditors, took bancruptcy and went to Texas, where he engaged in horse raising. In 1861 he raised a regiment, of which he was commissioned colonel, and served with General Robert E. Lee in the Confederate Army in Virginia. After the war he went back to Georgia, where he died some years later.

William Alexander Harris 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.

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