Biography of Salmon S. Prouty Excerpted from "Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911-1912", Edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary. Vol XII., State Printing Office, Topeka, Kansas 1912. submitted by Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net); (copyright) 2001 by Teresa Lindquist ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KSGENWEB INTERNET GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In keeping with the KSGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other gain. Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SALMON S. PROUTY was born in Van Buren county, New York, July 31, 1835. At the age of sixteen he entered the office of the Phoenix Gazette, in Otsego county, and learned the printing business. In 1856 he was in Aurora, Ill., in the newspaper business, but in June of that year he joined an immigration and semimilitary organization at Chicago to settle in Kansas. At Lexington, Mo., his party was disarmed, and at Leavenworth their provisions and Beecher Bibles, camp equipage and agricultural implements were also taken from them. For two days they were held as prisoners at Weston, and then taken down the river and landed on the Illinois side. In September he joined another Kansas colony and reached Kansas overland, only to be intercepted again and captured near the Nebraska line by Col. Philip St. George Cooke. His party was released about four miles from Topeka by Governor Geary. Prouty settled on a claim near Baldwin, and in the winter worked in the Herald of Freedom office. P. B. Plumb and Thomas A. Osborn at different times acted as foreman of this office. In June, 1857, Prouty issued the first copy of the Freeman's Champion, at Prairie City, afterwards Baldwin. He was the first free-state man to hold the office of county clerk of Douglas county. In 1859 he established the Neosho Valley Register. He was first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster of the First regiment of Indian Home Guards. He was state printer from 1869 to 1873. He founded the Topeka Commonwealth, and was connected with the Junction City Union for about four years. May 3, 1858, he was married, at Lawrence, to Miss Hannah Maud Whitehead, a native of New Jersey. They had seven daughters and one son. Mr. Prouty died January 31, 1889. Mrs. Prouty died August 23, 1901. [included with the article, "A Chapter From the Archives", page 360.]