Wed., April
st
1 ,
2009
Begin Ch.6 “Welcome to Kansas”
Journal #6
The Homestead Act
H/W: Look over notes/clean out binder of
Ch.5 notes
Journal #6
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Look at page 120-121 in book.
Describe what that picture shows.
Based on this picture and the title of ch.6
“Welcome to Kansas: Her Light Shall Shine”,
what do you think this chapter will mainly be
about?
Chapter 6 Welcome to
Kansas: “Her Light Shall
Shine
Timeline Highlights
1862- Homestead Act opens Kansas to settlers
1868- First Swedish Agricultural Company formed
1869- Silkville opens as a French cooperative settlement
1876- Russian Germans move into Western Kansas
1877- Exodusters come to Kansas
Welcome to Kansas
All but 4 tribes were pushed out of Kansas after
the Civil War
Let Our Light Shine
 Most new settlers came from Ohio, Indiana, and
Illinois
 Government encouraged the railroads to move
to Kansas which also brought new settlers
 See handout over Kansas population!!
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The Homestead Act of 1862
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Horace Greeley encouraged many with his quote, “Go
west young man, go west.”
Any individual over 21 could claim 160 acres of public
land. They had to be a citizen or intend to become one.
They had to pay a 10 dollar fee and cultivate the land. If
the person showed 5 consecutive years of cultivation,
or improvements to the land they received the title to
the land. If they wanted to buy the land outright, they
had to pay $1.25 per acre.
The Homestead Act of 1862

Any individual over 21 could claim 160 acres of public
land by paying a $10 fee.

If Land was cultivated or improved for 5 consecutive
years, then title could be claimed.

Land could be bought outright for $1.25 per acre.
Preemption Act (1841-1891)

Squatter could take residence on public lands
and buy land for $1.25 an acre after 14 months

Up to 160 acres could be bought

Advantage to squatter: land could be bought
before it went on sale – eliminating competitive
bidders
Timber Culture Act (1873-1891)

Up to 160 acres could be claimed

Large numbers of trees had to be planted on a
portion of the land

Intent was to increase numbers of trees on
Great Plains
Frontier House Video

Journal what the families in the “Frontier
House” reality show experience as they attempt
to live on the frontier in 1883.

I will let you know each day how long your
journal entry should be. Your journal should be
written in first person.
Thursday, April
nd
2 ,
2009
Ch.6 info. Continued
Frontier House video and journal
H/W: Organize and look over notes
Farming
Other Ways to Get Farms
Preemption Act- squatters could buy the land they already
occupied after 14 months for 1.25 an acre before it went up for
public auction.
The Timber Culture Act- If farmers planted trees on unowned pieces of lands, they could purchase that land for a 1.25
per acre after several years
Surveying the Land

Surveyors cut up land across the country into grids for sale by
the government. The land was divided into 1 mile square parcels
called sections.
Coming to Kansas
Letters of Flora Moorman Heston
 Lived in Clark County and moved to Kansas from
Indiana with her 3 kids by train.
 Husband Sam had moved to Kansas 6 months earlier
to stake out a claim and had problems with the survey.
The Story of Abbie Bright
 Born in Pennsylvania in 1848, became a teacher in
Kansas.
 She came to Kansas in 1871.
 She kept a detailed diary that described her taking a
claim near her brother around Wichita.
Monday, April
th
6 ,
2009
Ch.6 Kansas info.
“Adapting to life on the Plains”
Frontier House video
H/W: Organize and look over notes
Adapting to the Plains
There were few trees, water was often seasonal, and the short grasses in the
west were difficult to plow.
Hardships

Depressions in the late 1800s caused problems for the farmers.

Droughts and grasshoppers also caused the farmers serious money problems.
Adaptation

They often built houses from sod, or in dugouts, homes built into the
ground. Try to build a sod house!!
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http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstoryinhistory/tryonline/buildsodhouse.html.
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They used bundled hay, corn cobs, and manure from cows and buffalo for
fire.
They developed barbed wire for fencing.
They dug wells and used windmills to irrigate their crops.
Tuesday, April
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
th
7 ,
2009
Continue Ch.6 info.
African American migration to KS
The “Exodusters”
Continue “Frontier House” video and journal
H/W: Ch.6 vocabulary due Wed.
African American Migration to Kansas
Emancipation- the freeing of the slaves during
the Civil War.

Many African Americans were unable to get
land in the south and became tenant farmers
(farming land for others) they fell into debt and
became much like slaves all over again.

Many escaped the south and moved to Kansas,
which seemed to them similar to the “Promised
Land.” (economic/political/and social
opportunities)
African American Migration to Kansas
African American Settlements

Most famous town was Nicodemus
(named after a slave who purchased his
freedom)

Made up of freed slaves from Kentucky
who came to Kansas for new start.
African American Migration to Kansas
Benjamin “Pap” Singleton
 From Nashville, Tennessee
 Escaped slavery, moved to Michigan
 Unable to buy land in Tennessee after the Civil
War, he moved to Topeka and encouraged other
blacks to move there as well.
 Organized the United Colored Links
 Unable to help enough blacks he began to
encourage blacks to leave the country, first to
Cyprus then back to Africa.
African American Migration to
Kansas
Exodusters
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The second wave of blacks were poor and from
the deep south.
Named for the Exodus in the Bible
Many were so poor they became stranded in the
river towns where their money ran out.
Gov. John St. John formed the Freeman’s
Relief Organization to help these people and
eventually they were able to afford to move to
towns where they could make a living.
Journal Example
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Date: 11/5/1887
Our training is complete ( I actually know how to kill a chicken
and prepare it for supper). Today was finally the day my family
and I loaded our wagon “schooners” and began our journey
toward our homestead in Boulder Valley.
It wasn’t easy packing the eggs with out breaking them but we
managed to only break two. I also noticed that my parents had
to drink some of the whiskey as they suddenly got headaches
after hearing that our milk cow wasn’t feeling better.
Anyhow, we got the wagons packed after much organizing and
teamed up the horses. I am looking forward to the wagon train
ride tomorrow. I hope we don’t have any accidents on the way.
Wed., April
th
8 ,
2009
Return and check over Ch.6
questions (p.120-139)
Ch.6 Notes: African-American
Migration to Kansas
“Frontier House” video
Block Schedule
Thursday, April 9, 2009
1 – (5th hr.) – 10:30 – 11:35
 Block 2 – (6th Hr.) - 11:40-12:45
 Lunch (12:50-1:15)
 Block 3 – (7th Hr.) 1:20-3:00
 Bulldog Time (7th Hr.)
 Block
Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas

Most people that moved to Kansas were from
the east, however, Kansas also attracted people
from Europe.

Many came from Germany, England, and
Scandinavia.
Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas
German Settlers
 largest group of European settlers
 some German speaking settlers were from
Russia, Switzerland and Austria.
 settled in all parts of Kansas
 News of their success brought other Germans.
known as “chain migration.”
 Strong influence in central KS
Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas
Germans from Russia
 Catherine the Great - German princess married
into Russian monarchy and encouraged many
Germans to move into Russia along the Volga
River.
 She died and special favors granted to these
Germans ended . They looked to America and
Kansas for land and religious freedom.

Mennonite, Lutheran, and Catholic German
Russians all made impacts on Kansas
Foreign Immigrants Come to Kansas
The Topeka Turn Verein
 German gymnastic clubs in Kansas
Settlers from the British Isles
The English had a strict class system that didn’t allow
people to advance in society.
 The Kansas Pacific Railroad and the Emigration
Company in London worked together to bring English
people to Kansas.
 Many settled in Wakefield in Clay County
Runnymede
 Started by an Irishman named F.J.S. Turnly. His idea
was to teach young English aristocrats how to farm.
Instead, it became more of a long party. The parents
got tired of it and the boys went home.

Settlers from the British Isles
Push: Britain’s class system did not allow people
to advance in society.
Pull: economic opportunity; The Kansas Pacific
Railroad and the Kansas Land and Emigration
Company in London worked together to bring the
British to Kansas.
Thursday, April
2009
th
9 ,
Ch.6 The French and Swedish Immigrants
“Frontier House” video and Journal
H/W: Organize and look over notes
Finish the Ch.6 Review questions/pg. 139 #1-17 Due: Mon.
Ch.6 Quiz next Tuesday
The French Settlement of Silkville
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Ernest de Boissiere started the communal settlement in
1869. Silkville was located three miles south of
Williamsburg in Franklin county. He believed in
equality and had fled both France and the south
because of the inequality he saw.

He began the Prairie Home Association which cost new
members 200 dollars and allowed them to share in the
homes and wealth of the town.

His community produced silk, but the labor costs were
too expensive to compete in the world marketplace.
Ernest de Boissiere (1811-1894)
Ernest de Boissiere - wealthy,
upper class Frenchman who
believed in the equality of all men
When Napoleon III came to
power in France, de Boissiere
fled to America, settling in New
Orleans
Silkville School
Stone Silk Mill
Christmas in Silkville (1889)
De Boissiere's House
(and harvest scene)
The Ghosttown of Silkville

After Kansas was
established as a territory,
French settlers continued
to settle in the state.
Ernest Valeton de
Boissière, a former
French army engineer,
came to the U.S. in 1852.
He was a free thinker
who envisioned a
Utopian community
where all would share in
Swedish Immigrants
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Soon after Kansas became a state, many people from
Sweden suffered through a famine which made many of
them want to leave Sweden
Swedes became the third largest immigrant group in
Kansas
The First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson
bought 13,000 acres of land from the Kansas Pacific
Railroad.
One of the largest groups settled in Lindsborg, KS
(Bethany College)