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| '''Samuel J. Reader''' (1836 - 1914) was an American ] and artist who wrote about |
'''Samuel J. Reader''' (1836 - 1914) was an American ] and artist who wrote about his experiences living in ] including during the ] and ] eras.<ref name=kshs>{{cite web|url=https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/samuel-j-reader/12180|title=Samuel J. Reader - Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society|website=www.kshs.org}}</ref> | ||
| ==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
Revision as of 15:33, 29 May 2018
Samuel J. Reader (1836 - 1914) was an American diarist and artist who wrote about his experiences living in Kansas including during the Bleeding Kansas and American Civil War eras.
Biography
Reader was born in Pennsylvania on January 25, 1836 in Greenfield, Pennsylvania, the son of Francis Reader and Catherine (nee James) Reader. His mother died May 19, 1836 and he was raised by an aunt, Eliza James, and lived in La Harpe, Illinois from the age of five to 18. He had a sister, Eliza Matilta, who later became the wife of Dr. M. A. Campdoras.
He began recording events in his life in journals in 1847 after being inspired by the documentation of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His journals, written in English and French, included serious and comic illustrations. In 1855, he traveled in a wagon from Illinois and settled on a farm near Indianola, Kansas with his sister and his aunt.
He served as a sergeant of the Indianola Guards, a local militia group, and was a member of John Brown's forces, opposing slavery and supporting Kansas as a free state prior to the Civil War. In 1856, he participated in the conflict against the Border Ruffians and fought in the Battle of Hickory Point, coming "under fire" for the first time.
He was a soldier of the Kansas state militia during the Civil War and fought in the Battle of the Blue (October 22, 1864), and depicted the conflict in an oil painting. His journal includes accounts of several Civil War battles.
On December 18, 1867, he married Elizabeth Smith at La Harpe, Illinois. They had three children, the only one of whom survived was their daughter, Elizabeth. His wife died in 1898 in Topeka. He died at his home on September 15, 1914 and was buried in Rochester Cemetery.
References
- "Samuel J. Reader - Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org.
- ^ "Samuel J. Reader Was Shawnee County Pioneer". The Topeka Daily Capital. September 18, 1914. p. 6. Retrieved May 28, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ John W. Jordan, LL.D. (1914). Pennsylvania. p. 529.
- ^ "Samuel James Reader Papers, 1853-1955". Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved May 28, 2018.
- "Samuel J. Reader's autobiography, volume 3 - Kansas Memory". www.kansasmemory.org.