RARE "Historian" William E Connelley hand Written Note for Sale

RARE "Historian" William E Connelley hand Written Note For Sale

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RARE "Historian" William E Connelley hand Written Note:
$499.99

Up for sale a RARE! "Historian" William E Connelley hand Written Note.

ES-3731D

William Elsey Connelley (1855-1930)

was born in Johnson County, Kentucky.

He was self-educated but he taught school in Johnson County between 1872 and

1880. He moved to Wyandotte County, Kansas,

and lived in Bonner Springs, teaching

until 1882. Connelley then moved on to other pursuits. He attended the

Wyandotte County Normal Institute and received a teaching certificate. He

worked for a time as a farmhand. Connelley

served a term as deputy county clerk and in 1883 was elected county clerk and

served two terms, leaving office in 1887. He held a variety of jobs after that.

In 1899 he was given the power of attorney to act in behalf of the Wyandotte

Indian Tribe, then in Indian Territory, modern-day Oklahoma. He was to represent the tribe in the sale of Huron Cemetery.

The land was to become a public building and the graves were to be moved.

Objections were raised and the deal fell through. The

1890s Connelley became interested in a hobby of historical research and

writing. This is where he excelled and he completed a number of books the rest

of his life. Some of his most important books were The Provisional

Government of Nebraska Territory (1899), Quantrill and the

Border Wars (1909), Eastern Kentucky Papers (1910), Life

of Preston Plumb (1913), a five volume History of Kansas (1917),

a five volume History of Kentucky (1922) and Indian

Myths (1928). Quantrill and the Border Wars has

been used by historical researchers ever since and this book has been reprinted

at least twice since Connelley's death.[4][5] Connelley's books were full of

details and included much material obtained in interviews with persons present

at historical situations about which the author wrote. One criticism has been

that at times Connelley failed to properly document where his material was

obtained and sometimes this material could not be verified by later

researchers. Connelley's works became well known in the historical community

and he became president of the Kansas State Historical

Society in 1912 and its secretary in 1914. Connelley served as

the Society's secretary the rest of his life. He continued his work and

produced a number of maps of historical sites, that were also used by

researchers years after his death. Connelley

served in other organizations. He was president of the Kansas Authors Club from

Feb. 19, 1908, to Feb. 19, 1909, and he served in other officer capacities in

that organization.[8] He was president of the Mississippi

Valley Historical Association (renamed the Organization

of American Historians in 1965) from 1921 to 1922. Connelley

left much material on various historical subjects. Most of his books and some

of his research notes are located in the archives of the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka, Kansas. Much also exists in the Kansas City Kansas Public Library, since Connelley researched

into the history of Wyandotte County, where Kansas City, Kansas, is

located.[1Truman State University,

in Kirksville, Missouri,

contains material from a number of interviews Connelley conducted

concerning William C. Quantrill's

1863 raid on Lawrence, Kansas. This

raid is also known as the Lawrence massacre, since more than 180 men and boys (mostly

defenseless) were killed by Quantrill's men. A collection of correspondence, research

notes and photographs concerning Connelley is located in Lawrence, at the University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research

Library. Another collection of documents written by Connelley and to

Connelley is in the University of Oklahoma library

system.