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Butler County, Kansas

FOREWORD

"What is past is prologue." (Wm Shake.)
(continued)

essentially the American frontier. The Santa Fe and other trails crossed the state, but personal transport for most people was actually no more advanced that it had been for Marco Polo five centuries earlier in Asia - though Simon Peter's wagon must certainly have dodged those new-fangled horse-drawn streetcars in St. Louis as they passed through on their hope-filled trek toward some free land in Kansas. The horse and the oxen might well be called the real heroes of western expansion in America, for without them not even the railroads could have been built.

The railroads were inching their way across Kansas, but had barely made it half way.^2,3 One was far more likely to see a band of "renegading" Indians or a herd of buffalo in the southwestern Kansas than he was to see a road that was much more than a trail.

So, enough of that. You now have the general setting of the story. We'll leave the rest to the story itself, for it accomplishes that quite well.

An important word or two about the transcription and the format in which you view the book here: The original document is what we today call a "desktop publication," typewritten (in Courier type) and bound with a plastic multi-ring binder - nicely done all things considered. For reading comfort, I have chosen to change the font. For ease of browsing I have elected to give each a chapter a number (which appears in parentheses, as do the few other additions). To reduce the size for emailing I have abandoned the original pagination, but indicate in "ghost" (i.e. light gray) images where each page ended in the original; so that if you desire you can insert page breaks at each of those indications, and by changing the font to Courier, adding spaces here and there, you can essentially produce a copy of the original.

I do not have clear copies of all of the original pictures, and so have scanned those from the book - not good, but the best process available. Better copies of the pictures may be available later and will be emailed to all who today receive the book via email.

The "Addenda" chapter at the end is as originally published except for the addition of two documents: (1) a list of the pioneer family, and (2) a map of Butler county Kansas as it appeared in the 1870's (marking the location of the homestead).

Additions and corrections will be made as they are found. If you wish to receive those (as well as other periodic Peter family revelations) please put yourself in the "Do Update" mailbox by emailing the message "Do Update Prairie Pioneers" to wpeter@charter.net. This will also keep you apprised of the progress of one of the sequels to this book, i.e. The Peter Family of Pawnee OK, currently in the writing and editing process by Stephen Peter (and myself), he of Oklahoma City, (and I of Warrensburg, MO). Incidentally, Stephen has another related publication, A Journey Without End: The Story of the Peter Family in America (May 1986); though it is at present out of print, he is working on an updated edition. If you are on the "Do Update" list you will be apprised of republication of this work as well.

We thank Jean Tuohino, who, like Stephen and I, is a great grandchild of the progenitors, Simon and Mary Peter, and a granddaughter of the author of Prairie Pioneers, Anna Burns, and is the owner of the copyright. Thanks go to her for granting the permission to distribute the book in this way to progeny of the Simon Jesse Peter, Jr. All rights beyond this are strictly forbidden without her permission.
William G. Peter (March 2008)

P.S. As with all transcriptions there are some inevitable typos and errors. We would greatly appreciate help in spotting those, and calling them to our attention.

²An early line, the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad was chartered in 1855 and in May 1857 they began the grading of the line. On July 6th 1863 the name was changed to the Union Pacific Eastern Division and to the Kansas Pacific on May 31st 1868. This name change was typical of many railroad companies in early day Kansas. The first rail had been laid in Wyandotte (Kansas City) on April 14, 1864 and by the fall of 1865 the line had been completed through Lawrence and was fast approaching Topeka.
³The five year period ending in 1873 was one of feverish railroad building in the U.S. Roads to the Pacific, roads to the coasts, connecting lines, and lines into undeveloped areas were pushed ahead of settlement in the expectation that they would create their own traffic by inducing settlement. Kansas was a perfect example of the railroad mania which seized the country. Before the panic year two railroads reached its western boundary and three its southern boundary.

Thomas Peter, fearing a possible diversion of the cattle trade away from Newton, headed a group of Kansas promoters who incorporated under the name of Wichita and Southeastern Railroad Company. The maiden run on this important feeder which extended to Wichita, twenty seven miles to the south, took place on May 13, (Any relationship between this Thomas Peter to Simon Jesse has not yet been researched.)