Biography of Edward Parsons Swan

EDWARD PARSONS SWAN – Many years of success in a prosperous business enterprise have fairly earned for Edward Parsons Swan a place among the well-established manufacturers of Western Massachusetts. Mr. Swan is a descendant of an old New England family of English ancestry, which traces its origin back to a Dane of noble ancestry. The Swans have possessed land in the counties of Kent and Derby since the Norman Conquest, their possessions in the first named county including the manors of Swanscombe, Densted, Sutton, and Denton. Immigrants of the name came to New England at an early date, and their … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Samuel C. Pomeroy

Samuel C. Pomeroy, one of the leaders of Kansas in the times of her free-state travail whose political ambition overleaped his sense of honor, was born in Southampton, Massachusetts, January 3, 1816. When a young man be became strongly imbued with antislavery sentiments. He happened to be present when President Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and is said to have remarked to the nation’s chief executive: “Your victory is but an adjournment of the question from the halls of legislation at Washington to the open prairies of the Freedom-loving West, and there, sir, we shall beat you.” So earnest was … Read more

Biography of Charles L. Edwards

Charles L. Edwards was one of the notable figures in the first half century of Kansas. He never became widely known in financial circles, did not make a political reputation, but nevertheless he was one of the most useful men the state ever had. He was intimately identified with the movement by which Kansas was organized with free institutions. He was also the pioneer schoolmaster of Lawrence. He gave many years to the upbuilding of its scholastic institutions, went from Lawrence to serve gallantly through the War of the Rebellion and remained a resident of that city for over sixty … Read more