According to Augusta, after James
"collected some money for a church in Topeka," they began their
journey to Kansas where they arrived about "the first of November,
1855." By what route and means of conveyance is not certain but they did
stop in Indianapolis briefly to visit the members of the 7th M. E. Church and to
see his old Presiding Elder, Brother John H. Hull. In Kansas City, they were greeted with more bad news. Augusta
explains:
Before
going East, [James] had taken a claim not far from Topeka and paid a man to put
up a log cabin, but on reaching Kansas City on returning, saw the man, who said
sickness had prevented his doing anything. The steamboat coming up the Missouri
[that we traveled on] was full of people coming to Kansas [and we, like them,
had no place to spend the winter.] We left Kansas City in a two-horse spring
wagon called a stage. We staid over Sunday in Lawrence and, at Big Springs, met
Mr. Osborn Naylor of Tecumseh who with others was on his way to Kansas City for
provisions. He told us to go to his cabin until some other arrangements could be
made which we gladly did and were very cordially received.
We found an empty claim cabin nearby and had permission to occupy it. Mr. Naylor
brought our extra trunks and a cook stove from Kansas City and we began
housekeeping in a very humble way. The November weather was delightful.

[Owego,
New York]
November 25, 1855
Dear brother Ralph [Goodrich],
We received your letter
Wednesday together with one from James Griffing for [our brother] Stephen and
mailed from Kansas City
but written on board the boat. We have received another letter from [your
sister] Augusta
since we wrote you last. She wrote it on the boat and mailed it at Brunswick
[Missouri], a village about 200 miles [upriver] from St. Louis. They had very pleasant company & a very great plenty and variety [on
board]. She says it is no wonder that people have the cholera on those boats.
The captain told them each meal cost 100 dollars and every trip 3,000 dollars.
They met with quite a
loss at St. Louis. After they got their baggage on board, they went out around the city some
& while they were gone someone entered their state room and stole from it.
Her box of jewelry containing her pin with Aunt Mary’s and [our sister]
Rachel’s hair, cuff pins, finger rings, James’ gold watch key 3$, her bead
purse with five dollars in [it] and her new black silk apron. It is too bad I do
think for anyone to do so...
Your affectionate sister,
-- Sarah Goodrich

Owego [New York]
December 5, [1855]
Dear Brother Ralph,
...We received a letter from
[our sister] Augusta today from their home [in Kansas
Territory] and we were so glad to hear as we had not in two or three weeks before. They
got there safely with but few of their things injured. [Her husband] James
expected their home would be finished when they got there, but the man had done
nothing to it since he left and they had to stay with a family until they fixed
up one that was built nearby and they had moved into it and were living quite
nicely when she wrote. She likes the country much and if they are only well,
will get along well I think. When you come home, you can have a good time
reading all the letters from them....
Your affectionate sister
– Sarah [Goodrich]
By the time that James returned to Kansas Territory, there was a great deal of
tension between the free-soil and pro-slavery settlers. Already the free-soilers
had met in Topeka to draw up their own Constitution under which they hoped to
apply for statehood. In November, the friction became worse. When a free-soil
settler was killed in the vicinity of Hickory Point on November 21, and it
appeared that the Sheriff of Westport -- the nearest law enforcement official
and a pro-slavery man -- would refuse to arrest the known pro-slavery assailant,
mobs gathered in the free-soil communities of Palmyra and Lawrence to protest.
Taking matters into their own hands, members of the Kansas Regulators -- a
free-soil militia -- traveled to the cabins of the assailant and burned his
cabin along with two of his allies.
When
news spread of these events to the newly appointed territorial governor, Wilson
Shannon -- a Pierce appointee who was determined to support the bogus
legislature -- he issued orders to "his generals" of the Northern and
Southern Divisions of the Territorial Militia to assemble for the purpose of
squelching the "rebellious acts" of the free-soilers. Hiram J.
Strickler, a pro-slavery settler of Tecumseh, was given temporary command of the
Southern Division and ordered to set up his headquarters near Franklin,
southeast of Lawrence. There, within shouting distance of James' original claim,
some 1,500 "border ruffians" gathered, spit tobacco, drank whiskey,
and cursed "black abolitionists." Likewise, Free-soilers flocked to
Lawrence to defend the city and, for what seemed like an eternity to the women
and children in Lawrence, the two forces squared off against each other at arm's
length.
The
so-called "Wakarusa War" -- as it came to be known -- never
materialized. When Governor Shannon and Senator Atchison arrived from Missouri
to find Lawrence heavily defended and the people determined to shed blood -- if
need be -- to protect their city, they reconsidered and decided to dismiss the
militia. Some accounts of the "war" suggest that it was really the
arrival of a cold, wintry blast that sent the Missourians packing back to their
homes. In any event, the incident ended peaceably but foretold eventual and
certain bloodshed in the days to come.
Having
moved his claim to the vicinity of Tecumseh, James was conveniently removed from
all of the chaos that surrounded Lawrence in the winter of 1855-1856. Here, in
relative peace -- except for having his "faithful" pony Jacob stolen
-- James returned to the labors of his mission. On November 21, 1855, the First
Quarterly Conference of the newly appointed Missouri Conference, "South
Kansas District" was held at the cabin of his good friend, Osborn Naylor.
The Tecumseh Methodist society was organized -- "Father Jordan, Secy., J.
S. Griffing, Missionary, and Abram Still, Presiding Elder."
In
December, James received a letter from Rev. Goode informing him of his
relocation to a new home higher up the Missouri River. In Outposts of Zion,
Rev. Goode wrote that, “My year’s residence in Kansas [Territory] had been
attended with great domestic inconvenience and heavy pecuniary expenditures,
growing out of our disappointment in not finding a home on mission premises…
[As a consequence,] I had, in mind fallen back on my original purpose of making
a home further north.” Here, in the southwestern corner of Iowa, “near the
village of Glenwood, twenty miles south of Council Bluffs, and ten miles east of
the mouth of the Great Platt,” Rev. Goode constructed himself a new home.
Nebraska
City, Nebraska Territory
December 11, 1855
Rev.
J. S. Griffing
Truly
my brother I sympathize with you in the late severe losses which, in the
providence of God, have fallen upon you. Yet I doubt not that you have found
divine grace able to sustain. May the same kind providence that has sent the
blow take care of thou that may be left in infancy and helplessness.
I
need scarce say that at the late sessions of Conference, I carved out what you
know was my original purpose -- to settle my family higher up the Missouri --
and from which I had been temporarily diverted by the offer of a home on the
Mission premises at Wakarusa. The necessity of a second breaking up &
removal has caused us great labor, exposure, & expense. But in the mercy of
God, we are spared and in health although we have had some sickness in the
family. We have, of necessity, taken up winter quarters on the Iowa side just
opposite the mouth of the Great Platte -- a central & convenient point for
my present work. [My daughter] Clara -- as you probably have learned -- is
married to John Wilson & lives in an adjoining county.
We just got sheltered in time to escape the storms. The climate [at
present] is rigorous.
There
was much greater difficulty in filling the work in Nebraska than in Kansas and,
in that respect, my services [were] more needed [here]. I am now on my work. We
are conducting our Quarterly Meeting in this place [and] looking to see a
revival.
I
paid over to Bro. L. B. Dennis One Hundred Dollars for the church in Topeka. I
hope that you have set me right there -- that is all I could [raise]. How did
you succeed in raising funds [back] East? Please write soon & let me know
all about matters in Kansas. I am anxious to hear. We hope all to be brought
together again in an Annual Conference at Lawrence and I desire to keep posted.
My regards to Sister Griffing. Address me at Glenwood, Mills County, Iowa.
-- Wm H. Goode
Years later, Augusta wrote about her brutal
first winter in Kansas:
Before
November was over, my husband [James] was taken sick with intermittent fever,
congestion of the brain, and typhoid fever following.
The neighbors were very kind. The
fever lasted several weeks and no one thought he could live. Just as a change
for the better came [in his health], our delightful weather changed and a deep
snow came sifting between the shingles [of our cabin], covering everything in
the room with snow -- there being [only rafters and] no floor overhead. I put
sheets up all around the bed but the floor was covered with snow which, [when
it] melted and the weather turned cold [again], formed a cake of ice over the
floor. [With the snow and ice inside our cabin, my husband] could not get warm,
even with the hot irons, etc. [that I] put around him, and he shivered with cold
[and the fever].
[One
day,] Father Jordan, who lived with Mr. Naylor that winter, came as he
frequently did and, seeing James' condition, cried like a child and said he must
be moved. Dr. Martin, who had been very faithful and kind, came in just then and
said [that James] could not possibly live in that cold room and they decided to
move
him.
Mr. Naylor came with a wagon and they put the bed
with [James] on it -- and another one over him -- and carried him to Mr.
Naylor's hospitable two-roomed cabin. They
placed the bed
before a blazing fire in the large fireplace where his chilled and wasted body
could feel some warmth once more. He was so grateful -- giving thanks to our
kind Heavenly Father -- that it brought tears to all eyes. This home was already
full, but there was always room and a welcome for others when they came, which
was often the case.
The winter of 1855-1856 was unmerciful.
"Resourcefulness and ingenuity were the only weapons against the
indifferent elements" that hurled themselves at the pioneer family.
Summarizing the experiences of several pioneer women who endured the hardships
of a Kansas winter, Joanna Stratton
wrote, "At times, [the winter] seemed interminable. For days and weeks on
end the temperature hovered at zero, and often plummeted to twenty degrees
below. Compounding these freezing temperatures was an almost ceaseless wind that
whipped across the plains, often reaching over fifty miles per hour. To the
settler unaccustomed to such climatic extremes, this numbing weather became
almost unbearable. A winter blizzard was an awesome spectacle. Without warning,
dark billowing clouds roared across the skies and unleashed blinding bursts of
snow... Isolated in its cabin, the frontier family braced itself against the
onslaught of ice and snow. Wrapped
in heavy overcoats and thick woolen blankets, they huddled around the fireplace
[or cook stove] for warmth. Yet the searing gusts of wind outdoors seemed to
penetrate every crack and crevice of the prairie house... In all directions, the
prairie lay enveloped in a boundless and impenetrable whiteness."
What
must this first harsh winter have been like for Augusta, just arrived from the
East with her new life's companion? Whether the strength she exhibited in
enduring this adversity was a basic survival instinct or one cultivated by a
long and faithful trust in her Maker's Divine Will, is unknown. Whichever it
was, she was only one among many women who found themselves in similar
circumstances and discovered uncommon courage and determination. One young
Kansas emigrant named Katherine Oliver, writing years later of her own mother's
tenacity, rendered a statement that could just as easily have been applied to
Augusta. She wrote, "We, her children, have often marveled that she who had
been 'brought up' to the conventional refinements of life and its ordered ways,
prepared neither by training nor anticipation for the life of a plainswoman,..
should have distinguished herself so gallantly"
In
describing that dreadful winter, Allan Nevins -- the eminent historian -- wrote,
"[The] Siberian cold had shut down the plains, keeping most people close
within doors. The icy winds and heaped snowdrifts, causing intense suffering
among the multitude of ill-housed settlers, seemed a lesson in the unsuitability
of the land for slavery." But despite the weather, earnest free-soilers
carried forward the cause of organizing a state government. In December, the
voters ratified the "Topeka Constitution" -- one that contained a
clause forbidding the entrance of Negroes into the territory.
In January, between snowstorms, the free-soilers held their own
"illegal" elections.
With the Missourian's back home, huddled about their fireplaces, an entire
free-soil ticket was elected. And now Kansas had two constitutions, two
legislatures, and two governors. Everyone knew that bloodshed, narrowly avoided
in 1855, was inescapable in 1856. If the emigrants, shivering out in the frigid
territory, did not fear the coming spring, it was only because they were
preoccupied with staying alive.
Making
the most of a difficult situation, Augusta later wrote:
The snow covered the ground until March [1856] and some days were very cold. We
all spent many pleasant hours before the blazing open fire, each having
different ideas and freely expressing them, enjoying our inconveniences and
privations as much as possible -- eating our corn bread, often made by mixing
with water and a little salt, and baked in an iron bake kettle before the open
fire with hot coals on the cover and around the kettle. Never did corn bread
taste sweeter or better than that winter when we had such splendid appetites. A
few quails were a welcome addition. We had some milk -- but no butter -- and
[often ate] the invalid relished toast with milk over it.
Sometime in January, James received a letter
from his Presiding Elder of the Wakarusa District:
Lawrence, Kansas Territory
January 10, 1856
Rev.
J. S. Griffing:
I
certainly feel to sympathize with you in the absence of your "poney"
-- if not his entire loss. I am not certain that I have heard a word of him.
Brother Graham's boy says he saw [your poney] in Lawrence a few days ago
[pulling] a sleigh or sled. He said so before he knew yours had left. But who
had him, or where he is [now], we know not. But I think it quite possible that
he saw him. If I should or can hear anything of him, I will let you know soon.
As
to my visit up to your place, I am not prepared to say what time. But will say
if the 27th of this, or the 3rd or 10th of next month will suit you, I will try
and come. You will [please] let me know immediately which time you will choose.
The 3rd of February will probably suit me the best. Do not fail to let me know
soon.
Our
health is very good -- "Praise God." But owing to a combination of
circumstances, so far we have not done much in religious matters. Winter has
come down upon us in such fury, we have no place sufficiently comfortable to
worship in. As we sometimes sing, we all hope that, "There is a better day
coming." I try to be patient and wait until I can "see the Salvation
of God." I feel yet to trust
in God and try to do right. As yet, I feel no discouragement. "God moves in
a mysterious way, his wonders to perform!" My family join in respects to
you and Sister Griffing. Bear our kindest feelings to Brother Jordan and [his]
family. Believe me, as ever, your undeviating friend, -- L[evin] B. Dennis

Rev. Levin B. Dennis
United Methodist Historical Library, Baker University

Topeka
[Kansas Territory]
17 February 1856
Dear
Brother Ralph,
You
must not think because we have not written to you that we do not think of you.
But you know the reason -- the severe sickness of [my husband] James. He has
said a number of times we must write to you, but since the cold weather
commenced we have been almost destitute of ink as it all froze and broke the
bottles. And what we have had occasionally is pale and I had rather write with a
pencil and have done so several times.
We
received your letter written from home during the Holiday. Then James was
getting better, He was sick a long time and is very far from being well now. He
was feeling so much better a few weeks ago that he went out too much &
overdid in some way & took cold, and has not been as well since. He has a
pain in his side & hip caused by taking cold, the doctor says, but thinks he
will be well of it. He is not strong, not will be like himself for some time. He
has reduced so very low. They all say here [that] they never saw anyone so low
and recover. But I hope he will get entirely well when warm spring weather comes
on.
It
has been very cold & the snow deep for eight weeks, but is now gradually
melting away. Such a winter the Indians never knew in Kansas before. They are
usually very mild and pleasant. How
has it been with you? They write from home [in Owego NY] that there is snow and
it is cold, and so it is everywhere this winter. We are not in our cabin yet. It
has been so cold nothing could be done about it. And so we stay here at Father
Jordan's where we have been nearly eight weeks. It is very pleasant, as they are
kind good people from Illinois. Our claim is adjoining this and we hope to have
a small house on it before many weeks.
I
presume you have heard that the Missourians came up to Lawrence, or near there,
intending to take it &c., &c. -- but they did not then, and now it is
said they are making preparations to come the 4th of March as the Free State
Legislature sets then at Topeka, and they threaten to take that place. But I do
not think they will. Some think one way & some another. Time only will
decide.
It
is expected there was fighting at Easton some fifty miles from here toward
Leavenworth, the 15th, but we have not yet heard. Some Missourians were there
& gave two men until the 15th to leave or they would then smell hemp & a
party went from Lawrence to protect [them], if necessary.
Father
Jordan took James & myself to Topeka last Thursday, about three miles from
here, and we visited at the physician's Dr. Martin's. The family are from
Pennsylvania, not far from Erie. They are pleasant people. A college [class]mate
of James' -- a Mr. [Walter] Oakley from the East, is building quite a large
house in Topeka. We saw him there. He has been here to see James [too]. The
place is very prettily situated on rising ground overlooking the Kansas River
and extending back from the river as far as the eye can reach [on a] rolling,
not a flat plain. I like it and the country very much. When you get an
education, you must come here.
I
wish you and our people [back home] could have some of our fine prairie
chickens. The [Jordan] family have two traps & we have one & catch all
we want and some to spare. We have three ahead now and part of one cooked and
have been cooking for some time. The meat looks almost dark as beef and is very
good, but not equal to the tame chicken, I think. We have had two rabbits &
two quails; fresh pork & beef is our other meat. We have a good cow and have
all the milk we want, but do not make butter this winter, not do Father Jordan's
people. But we have good gravies & syrup &c. as a substitute.
[Our
brother] James Goodrich was here a week ago. He was working for a Mr. Storms
& doing very well. He has sold his claim for a hundred dollars and intends
getting another that he likes better if he can find one. He was very well
indeed. I wish you would write to him. He may go with the Surveyor awhile. They
have offered him good wages; thirty dollars a month with his cattle & twenty
without.
I
suppose you enjoyed your vacation very much seeing so many old acquaintances.
And did the working agree with you? How do you get along with your studies? And
do you keep well? Do you like the place as well in winter as in summer and have
you become acquainted with any of the people, besides students? How does time
pass? Agreeably or not? Do not injure your health permanently with hard study.
Exercise a great deal and try and keep well. If you lose your health now, you
will never be able to finish your studies and always be an invalid. Do be very
careful, Ralph. And take care and not take cold. They wrote you had a cold &
cough when you went home. Write us as often as you can and ever believe
me,
Your
affectionate sister, -- Augusta
I
think my husband will write too.
Topeka
[Kansas]
18 February 1856
Brother
Ralph,
You
will think that ink is scarce in this region, but when there are only three or
four places for purchasing such things, and it freezes at those places, why we
just are obliged to reconcile ourselves to make just such a mark as we can, and
try and speak to our distant friends as audibly as we can through other means.
How very much we should like to have been with you at your visit home [to Owego
NY] and enjoyed the pleasure of a fireside gathering. We can imagine something
of the feelings induced after such an absence from those so dear.
I
was glad, dear brother, to learn of your success among your classmates. Tis
noble, tis satisfactory to know that you are not behind in toiling up the steps
of literature. And whilst one starts in the contest with a noble band, he does
not like to be outstripped, but feels as if a place among the foremost secures
much the most satisfaction. Yet one must not allow his physical frame to be
sacrificed under any consideration. With care it is not necessary. Physical
exercise should be just as systematically introduced and practiced as any of the
lessons or exercises of the school. I hope your entire college course will be
truly pleasant and fully satisfactory to yourself, and that you will find that
your physical education has kept pace with your intellectual and moral.
I
never so much appreciated the value of good health as within the few weeks past.
Disease in its multiplied forms has been preying on my poor weak frame and I
think my ambition has been flagging for some time back. I have not been free
from quite severe pains. For two or three weeks latterly, [I have] been
attending to Doctor's prescriptions but without much encouragement. Our
physician's here are different -- not filling us with that confidence we would
like [to hear]. I am in hopes as the warm weather comes on [that] I shall find
my whole system gathering renewed strength.
I
have secured an entire release from my ministerial cares, believing this would
be best for a year at least. I shall, if health will allow, turn my attention to
agriculture and shall find plenty to claim my attention. We want to plant out
one hundred apple trees this spring and have engaged that number, besides some
peach, cherry, plum, and pear trees. I think from all appearance this will be a
fine country for fruit and the sooner anyone enters upon its culture the better.
I want also to break considerable new prairie, as I have only five acres under
the plough.
I
was greatly in hopes to have secured [my brother] Ossy's aid the coming summer
but from suggestions made in late letters from home, I am almost afraid he will
not come out at all. I shall be greatly disappointed if he does not. I am
confident it would be greatly to his interests to do so for I could afford to
compensate him well for services, and without doubt he could manage to secure a
good claim near[by], which would soon be worth hundreds of dollars to him. But I
suppose the unsettled state of things in the territory will not only keep him
but others from coming.
[With
regard to your brother] James Goodrich, I suppose Cutie has told you about his
late move, selling his claim, and determining to go out with the surveyors. He
may do better in getting money for the time being, but in the end I think he
would have the biggest pile to stay by and improve his claim. He is hardly
sufficiently stable. What he will make out, time will determine. I am not
certain but he is gathering money to [go] home, but I must close as [the]
messenger has come.
Yours,
-- James [Griffing]
[1]
This account was taken from a paper read by J. Augusta Griffing at
the Annual Meeting of the Shawnee County Old Settlers' Association on Dec.
5, 1899.
It was not uncommon for victims of malaria to be diagnosed as having
typhoid fever. In The Principles and Practice of Medicine by
William Osler, published in 1892, it is reported that malarial victim will
often, "after a few paroxysms, or after the disease has persisted for
10 days to two weeks,...get well without any special medication. Such cases,
however, are very liable to recurrence. Persistence of the fever leads to
anemia and a haematogenous jaundice, owing to a destruction of the red blood
[cells] by the parasites. Ultimately the condition may become chronic and
will be described under malarial cachexia. The disease may set in with a
definite chill, or may be preceded by a few days of malaise... The patient
has either chilliness or a distinct rigor in the beginning. When seen on the
2nd or 3rd day of the disease, he has a flushed face and looks ill. The
tongue is furred, the pulse is full and bounding, but rarely dichotic. The
temperature may range from 102 to 103o, or is in some instances
higher. The general appearance of the patient is strongly suggestive of
typhoid fever, a suggestion still borne out by the existence of acute
splenic enlargement of moderate grade." [p. 151]
Years later, in a paper read before the Kansas Historical Society in March,
1880, James Griffing acknowledged the efforts of Father Jordan and Dr.
Martin. He said, "To Rev. Charles Jordan and family, who found me sick
nigh unto death, came to the cold, open cabin where I soon must have
perished, took me to their own home and kindly cared for me for months.
[And] to Dr. S. E. Martin, one of the oldest physicians of [Topeka], whose
testimony I think would be today that no patient ever under his care
lingered so long a time between life and death and was restored to health
again."
SAMUEL E. MARTIN, M. D., physician and surgeon, is one of the pioneers
of Topeka, and probably the oldest resident physician in the State. On the
27th of November, 1854, he located at Lawrence, where he remained until
December 25th of the same year, when he came to Topeka, and took a claim
adjoining the present town site, on the west, Section 36, Township 11, Range
15, and has resided continuously since that time in the place. Dr. Martin
was present, as attending physician, at the birth of Topeka Zimmerman, June,
1855, the first child born within the limits of the city; also, January,
1855, at the birth of Dick Ward, son of Anthony Ward, who then lived in the
little log cabin which is still standing on the farm of his widow. Dr.
Martin was born at Greenville, Mercer Co., Pa., June 18, 1826. He lived in
Pennsylvania until August, 1852, received his education in the schools and
academies of his native State and Ohio, and graduated from the Ohio Eclectic
Medical College, at Cincinnati, June 7, 1852. He commenced practice at
Cussawago, Pa., where he remained three months, and then removed to
Kellogsville, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, remaining in that place until November 1,
1854, the date of his removal to Kansas. He was married at Cincinnati, Ohio,
April 17, 1856, to Maria M. Merrel, of that city, and daughter of William S.
Merrel, one of its early pioneers. Source: William G. Cutler's History
of the State of Kansas, Shawnee County Part 29.

Dr. Samuel E. Martin
from Cutler's History of the State of Kansas
"The place Osburn and Polly Naylor homesteaded is about a mile
and a half west of Tecumseh on the north side of the main road to Topeka,
now Highway 40... The main room of the cabin was some twenty by eighteen
feet with a large fireplace and two windows in the west end and two in the
south front. On the north side of the cabin were a kitchen and dining room
running the length of the main room and about fourteen feet in width."
Ruth Chandler, Two Families of Old Tecumseh, p. 26.
From the paper read by J. Augusta Griffing at the Annual Meeting of
the Shawnee County Old Settlers' Association, Topeka, December 5, 1899.
Joanna L. Stratton, Pioneer Women, Voices From the Kansas
Frontier, Chapter Five.
Joanna L. Stratton, Pioneer Women, Voices From the Kansas
Frontier, page 72.
Many have often believed that the free-soilers of "Bleeding
Kansas" were all fervent abolitionists and embraced the Negro with open
arms. This was simply not true. The vast majority of emigrants to Kansas
Territory in the 1850's came from states in the "Old Northwest"
and often simply wanted to move away from the "Negro problem."
The poll books do not show James Griffing as having
voted at this election, which was held on December 15, 1855.
The poll books show that James Griffing did vote at this election, held on
January 15, 1856.
From the paper read by J. Augusta Griffing at the Annual Meeting of
the Shawnee County Old Settlers' Association in Topeka, December 5, 1899.