—“The reconciling grave,
Where all alike lie down in peace together.”
The largest delegation was that from Leavenworth county, and only one of the ten gentlemen comprising it, R. Cole Foster, certainly survives. Rare Sam Stinson, whose genial wit and brilliant accomplishments won all hearts, was elected Attorney General in 1861, by a unanimous vote, and died in his old Maine home in February, 1866. William C. McDowell was chosen Judge of the First Judicial District at the first election under the Constitution, served four years, and was killed by a fall from an omnibus in St. Louis, July 16, 1866. John P. Slough removed to Colorado, was Colonel of a regiment raised in that State, and later a Brigadier-General; was appointed, after the war, Chief Justice of New Mexico, and was killed at Santa Fé. Samuel Hipple removed to Atchison county; served as Quartermaster during the war; was elected State Senator in 1867, and died in January, 1876. William Perry removed to Colorado, where he died. Paschal S. Parks returned to Indiana, and engaged in journalism and the law until his death, three years ago. Fred. Brown died in St. Joseph, Mo., and John Wright at his home in Leavenworth county. Robert Graham, of Atchison county, the oldest member, died in 1868. Three of the five members from Doniphan county, Robert J. Porter, Benjamin Wrigley and John Stairwalt, are dead. The members from Linn, James M. Arthur and Josiah Lamb, are both dead, as are also N. C. Blood and P. H. Townsend, of Douglas; H. D. Preston, of Shawnee; Allen Crocker, of Woodson, and T. S. Wright, of Nemaha. W. R. Griffith, of Bourbon, was elected the first State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and died February 12, 1862, before the completion of his term. James G. Blunt, of Anderson, who became a Major-General during the war, and won renown as a brave and skillful soldier, died, in Washington, a year or more ago. James Hanway, of Franklin, after a long life of usefulness, died at his old home only a brief while ago. President James M. Winchell returned to New York shortly after the outbreak of the Rebellion, and resumed his connection with the Times, first as war correspondent, and afterwards as an editorial writer. Until his death, a few years since, he was employed upon that great journal.
SURVIVING MEMBERS.
Of the surviving members, many have attained the highest distinction of the State, and all, I believe, are useful and honored citizens. At the first election under the Constitution, Samuel A. Kingman was chosen as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court; in 1866 he was elected Chief Justice, and reëlected in 1872. Benj. F. Simpson was elected the first Attorney-General of the State, but resigned the position to enter the army, in which he served throughout the war. He has since been Speaker of the House of Representatives, several times a State Senator, and is now serving his second term as U. S. Marshal. Solon O. Thacher was chosen District Judge at the first election under the Constitution, has since occupied many positions of honor and responsibility, and is a member of the present State Senate. J. C. Burnett, S. D. Houston and Sam’l E. Hoffman were members of the first State Senate, and Geo. H. Lillie was a member of the first House of Representatives. E. G. Ross was appointed United States Senator in 1866, and elected in 1867, serving until 1871. John J. Ingalls was chosen a State Senator in 1861; was elected United States Senator in 1873, and reëlected in 1879, and is still occupying that distinguished place. John T. Burris was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Tenth Kansas, and subsequently District Judge. Wm. P. Dutton, James Blood, L. R. Palmer, John P. Greer and John Ritchie have filled many positions of local trust and prominence, with credit and usefulness. R. C. Foster and John W. Forman are residing in Texas; William Hutchinson lives in Washington; Ed. Stokes in Arkansas, and C. B. McClellan, E. Moore and E. M. Hubbard are still prominent and honored citizens of the counties they represented. My old friend, Col. Caleb May, sole surviving member of the three Free-State Constitutional Conventions, lives in Montgomery county. If Dean Swift was right in saying that “whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow on a spot of ground where one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians,” what honor is due this sturdy Kansas farmer, who, during a residence of twenty-eight years in the State, has never—not even in the disastrous seasons of 1860 and 1874—failed to raise a good crop. Even the heroic service he rendered the cause of Freedom during the darkest days of the struggle in Kansas, was less valuable to the State than this practical and triumphant vindication of its soil and climate.
“LOST TO SIGHT.”
Stalwart, quiet Wm. McCullough I have not heard of for many years. John A. Middleton, of Marshall county, was a soldier in the Seventh Kansas, removed to Montana in 1864, and I have learned nothing of him since. R. L. Williams, of Douglas; A. D. McCune, of Leavenworth; J. H. Signor, of Allen, and J. T. Barton, of Johnson, have all disappeared and left no sign. I know not whether they are living or dead.
THE OFFICERS.
Of the officers of the Convention, queer old George Warren, Sergeant-at-Arms of nearly all the early Kansas Legislatures and Conventions, died many years ago. Ed. S. Nash, the Journal Clerk, was Adjutant of the first Kansas, and died some years since in Chicago. Robt. St. Clair Graham, one of the Enrolling Clerks, was elected Judge of the Second Judicial District in 1866, and died in 1880. Richard J. Hinton, also an Enrolling Clerk, is the editor of the Washington (D. C.) Gazette, and a widely known journalist. Werter R. Davis, the Chaplain, was a member of the first State Legislature; was Chaplain of the Twelfth and Colonel of the Sixteenth Kansas regiments during the war, and is one of the most prominent clergymen of his denomination in the State. S. D. McDonald, printer to the Convention, is still engaged in journalism. J. M. Funk, the Doorkeeper, and J. L. Blanchard, the Assistant Secretary, I have not heard from or of for many years.