KANSAS HISTORY – R. H. Pearson
Copied from Andrea’s Kansas History of 1882
R. H. Pearson, farmer, section 12, township 15, range 20, P. O. Baldwin, settled on his present place in 1860. Is operating 240 acres of land, devoted to grain and stock, also to fruit raising, having an apple orchard of over 600 baring trees, besides pears and other fruits, to which he has devoted considerable attention.
He was born in England, April 1, 1828, and removed with his father in 1832, to Alleghny City Pennsylvania; at that time known as the town of Alleghny. There he received his education. After spending five years in the employ of the cotton factories there (Alleghny at that time containing five of them) he learned the trade of coach body builder, which occupation he followed for about 6 years. In 1851, he went to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and returned by the same route in the spring of 1854. He was engaged out there in mining and other operations.
After a short visit to the old home in Alleghny City, he took a boat at Pittsburgh for St. Louis, MO.; from there by boat to St. Joseph, and from there to Weston, MO. At which place he, with others, waited for information from Ft. Leavenworth, of the ratification of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill then pending in Congress, his object being to locate in the then territory of Kansas. So, in the month of May, 1854, only a few days before the passage by Congress of the act to organize the Territory of Kansas, he, in the company with Jenkins, (who was afterwards shot in an altercation with James H. Lane), Joel K. Goodin, Henry Barricklaw, Sr., and a Mr. Martin, left Westport, MO., to hunt for claims, etc.
After looking through the territory for several days, Mr. Pearson finally located upon a claim now owned by Mr. William Priestly and Mr. C. B. Beeks, and situated immediately north of Baldwin City. Here he found Kibbee a few days in advance of him. He had moved from Iowa with his family, and had selected a claim and located upon it. Mr. Pearson, being a young man and single then, he made his home with Kibbee until the following September.
About this time, Kibbee become notorious in Kansas History as an active Free-State man, and for the killing of Davis, and curiously enough he incidentally procured from Mr. Pearson the cap for the pistol which fired the fatal shot. After the shooting was done, Kibbee was arrested and tried before Judge Elmore at the Johnson Mission farm near Westport. The Judge holding that the case was not a baleable one, he was sent to Leavenworth to jail. A short time afterward, he was taken out and had a hearing before Judge Lecompte, who also held his court at the Johnson Mission farm. He was released upon bonds to appear before Judge Elmore at Tecumseh, Ellsiur Hill and Peter Baysinger, of Prairie City, Kansas, being his bondsmen.
Kibbee appeared at the proper time for trail but, owing to the absence of the Judge, he was never brought to trial. The bondsmen were released and two days afterward Kibbee left the country. During these Border Ruffian trials, Mr. Pearson took an active part in the ranks of the free-state party.
He was connected with Captain Shore’s and Captain Dexter’s company, and took part in the battles of Franklin, and Black Jack, the defense of Lawrence, etc. The first claim taken by Mr. Pearson, in May, 1854, was found, when the Shawnee Indian Reservation lines were run, to be within the limits of said reservation. So, he abandoned it, and took another not far from it outside of the reservation, which he occupied until the spring of 1860, and is at present owned by Mr. Beeks and Mr. Priestly, as above stated.
In the same year, he bought the place he now occupies, which is located on the Old Santa Fe road between Black Jack and Baldwin City, and where he has resided over since. During the late rebellion he was connected with the Kansas State Militia under Colonel Nugent, and took part in the pursuits of Quantrill and General Price. Whether under the leadership of John Brown and James H. Lane, or under the leadership of the officers in the late war, he always aimed to do his duty as a soldier.
He was married in Palmyra township, Douglas County, in 1855, to Miss Catherine Baysinger, daughter of Peter Baysinger, one of the pioneers. They have nine children, — William F., George, Ann, Sigel, Edward, Fannie, Lizzie, Nettie and Fred. He is a member of the I.O.O.F having passed all the chairs, and is also a member of the Grange. Kibbee was the first actual settler, in Douglas County, and Mr. Pearson claims to be the second. Since Kibbee’s departure he has remained the oldest resident settler of the Count of Douglas.
Infantry Co. F. Division 9
Kansas Militia
