Records of the Kansas Governor's Office : administration of Governor Nehemiah Green (1868-1869)

Restrictions: None

Biographical sketch: Fourth governor (interim) of the State of Kansas, Nov. 1868 – Jan. 1869; of Manhattan.

Abstract: Letters received during the administration of Nehemiah Green, governor of the State of Kansas from 4 November 1868 to 11 January 1869, including records pertaining to appointments, county affairs, criminal matters, Indian affairs, justices of the peace, notaries public, the railroads, and relief acts. Additional records of Governor Green are in separate series common to several governors including Executive Record (Official Record), 1861 - 1879; Pardon and Parole Files: Women’s Industrial Farm, 1863 - 1919; Pardons, 1865 - 1893; and Applications for Pardons, 1868 - 1873.

Summary:

• Folder 23: Appointments (commissioner of deeds), 1868 Nov. - 1869 Jan.


• Folder 24: Subject files: County affairs, 1868 Nov. - Dec.


• Folder 25: Subject files: Criminal matters, 1868 Nov. - Dec.


• Folder 26: Subject files: Indians, 1868 [not before Nov. 6] - Dec. 4


• Folder 27: Subject files: Justices of the peace, 1868 Nov. - Dec.


• Folder 28: Subject files: Notaries public, 1868 Nov. 7 - 25


• Folder 29: Subject files: Railroads, 1868 Nov. - Dec.


• Folder 30: Subject files: Relief, 1868 Nov. 11 - 24

Language note: Text is in English.

Biog. Sketch (Full): Nehemiah Green was born in Grassy Point Township, Hardin County, Ohio, on 8 March 1837. He was the son of Shepard Green and Mary A. Fisher Green; his family also consisted of four brothers and four sisters. He was educated at a subscription school in Logan County, Ohio, and at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. He served in the Union Army from 1861 until 1864 during the Civil War as a private and later first lieutenant. He was also a sergeant major in the Ohio National Guard. Green first arrived in the Kansas Territory in 1855 with several of his brothers to claim property near Baldwin City for a small business venture. He decided to return to Ohio in 1857 to join the Methodist ministry and later was sent to Manhattan, Kansas, as minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church there. In 1866, the Republican Party convention nominated Green for lieutenant governor under Governor S. J. Crawford, and both were elected. After Crawford resigned the governorship to command the 19th Kansas Cavalry, Green was a caretaker governor for the final sixty-nine days of Crawford’s term, during which period the Legislature was not in session. Consequently there was relatively little State business for Green to administer. After his short gubernatorial stint, Green became presiding elder (district superintendent) of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Manhattan District. He served as a regent of and taught military drill tactics at Kansas State Agricultural College, now Kansas State University, in Manhattan in 1873. He was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1880 and served as speaker pro-tem until 1882. The town of Green in Clay County was named after him, and he provided the bell for the first church built there. He was married twice with five children and died on 12 January 1890 of a long illness incurred while serving in the Army. He is buried at Sunset Cemetery in Manhattan.

Administrative History:

The Wyandotte Constitution of 1859 established the office of the governor of the State of Kansas. Some of the more important duties, functions, and responsibilities of the governor are to see that the laws are faithfully executed, to require written explanations from other executive officers - at that time the lieutenant governor, secretary of State, auditor, treasurer, attorney general, and superintendent of public instruction - upon any subject relating to their respective duties, convene the Legislature by proclamation on extraordinary occasions, communicate in writing such information as he may possess in reference to the condition of the State at the commencement of every legislative session, recommend such measures as he may deem expedient, and commission officers of the State.

No formal qualifications for the governor have been legislated, aside from the provision that no member of Congress or officer of the State or United States can serve. The governor is elected by a plurality, not a necessarily a majority, of votes cast. The governor takes office the second Monday in January following election. He was authorized to hire a private secretary, pardon attorney, and other staff as appropriations permitted.

By 1865, the governor had the power to appoint Militia officers and members of six part - time boards - boards of directors or regents of the State Penitentiary (now Lansing Correctional Facility), the State University (now the University of Kansas), the Normal School (now Emporia State University), and the State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University); a Board of Visitors for the latter; and the Bureau of Immigration - but no full - time administrators.

Scope and content:

Governor Green’s records consist of one Letters Received series containing one folder pertaining to appointments and seven folders of subject files. The folders are in the same box as the last part of Governor S. J. Crawford’s records and continue the folder numbering of that box. Correspondence received during Green’s governorship has been placed in his files even though it may have been addressed to Crawford. The one folder of appointments (no. 23), 1868 November – 1869 January, relates solely to commissioners of deeds for Kansas in other States and contains requests for appointments. The seven folders of Subject Files address a variety of issues that occurred during Green’s administration, but because of his brief tenure, the number of topics is not as extensive as his predecessor or successor. The County Affairs file (folder 24), 1868 November - December, contains documents of counties’ probate judge resignations with replacement recommendations and county election protests. The Criminal Matters file (folder 25), 1868 November - December, pertains to letters of executive requisition to other States for the surrender of prisoners for crimes committed in Kansas; there is also a chart showing executive pardons ending December 31st, 1868. The Indians file (folder 26), 1868 [not before November 6] - December 4, is a letter of petition requesting a company of 50 soldiers to camp near Republic County to thwart off possible Indian hostilities upon new Scandinavian settlers. The Justices of the Peace file (folder 27), 1868 November - December, contains resignations and petitions for the office of justice of the peace. The Notaries Public file (folder 28), 1868 November 7 - 25, contains applications for appointments to the office of notary public. The Railroads file (folder 29), 1868 December 2, requests the governor accompany the Missouri River, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad commissioners on 9 December 1868 in Kansas City to inspect a completed rail section on the Kansas - Missouri border. The Relief file (folder 30), 1868 November 11 - 24, pertains to State reimbursements of freight charges for crops transported to active service militia, rail passes for victims of Indian raids to evacuate homelands and militia expenses for frontier operations. An “Account of Sales of Agricul’l College Lands, from Sept. 24, 1868, to Jan. 16, 1869,” during the Crawford and Green administrations, submitted by I. T. Goodnow, agent, 1869 February 10, is in the records of Governor James Madison Harvey, Correspondence Files (series 193414), State Agency Files (subseries 2), Agricultural College folder (file unit 1) (records of Governor Harvey’s administration, box 3, folder 1A).

No communications sent by Governor Green appear in these records. The series Executive Record (Official Record) (no. 195968) provides chronological summaries of governors’ official actions, including in some cases summaries of communications sent. Pages 209 - 216 of the Executive Record (Official Record) contain information about documents created during Green’s tenure.

Additional files that record the actions of the Green administration may be found in the series Pardon and Parole Files from the Women’s Industrial Farm (no. 193660), Pardons (no. 193789), and Applications for Pardons (no. 193790). These series contain records of a number of governors.

Some of the files in the series Pardon and Parole Files: Women’s Industrial Farm (no. 193660) are from the Green administration. The records are arranged alphabetically by inmates’ names, so identifying records for this period would require looking at each file and determining its date. There are restrictions on access to these records.

Entries in the first volume of Pardons (series 193789) for the period November 1868 through January 1869, numbers 51 - 57, contain information about pardons issued by Nehemiah Green.

Applications for Pardons received by Governor Green during his term (series 193790) include requests from November and December 1868.

Records of other offices of Kansas government - particularly the secretary of State, record group 622, and attorney general, record group 82 - will give additional information about State activities during this period. Papers of other prominent political figures of the time, most of which are held by the Kansas State Historical Society, may also offer insights about Kansas politics and government during the Green administration. Further information on the military effort against Indians in Kansas after the Civil War may be found in the records of the Adjutant General’s Office, record group 34; the Military history manuscript collection, no. 617; and personal papers of individual officers and soldiers in the manuscripts collection.

The Society’s manuscript collection has a one - folder (“miscellaneous”) collection of Nehemiah Green’s personal papers (UID 41777): Letter (Transcript) ; Postal Card, 1889 - 1906; a finding aid is available on the Society’s web site at http://www.kshs.org/p/nehemiah-green-letter-postal-card-1889-1906/14031 or in the Kansas Historical Society’s Reference Room.

Contents: Appointments (commissioners of deeds), 1868 Nov.-1869 Jan. (folder 23) -- subject files, 1868 Nov.-Dec. (folders 24-30).

Associated materials:

Other State archives records series containing records of the Green administration:

Series 195968. EXECUTIVE RECORD (OFFICIAL RECORD), 1861 - 1879. 1 v.

Bound copy of minutes, transcribed from or used in conjunction with the Executive Record (Secretary’s Minutes) (series 193458). Begins Feb. 8, 1861, and ends Dec. 15, 1879. These records contain information on government, civilian, and military appointments and commissions; extradition requests (requisitions); executed warrants; criminal pardons and sentence commutations; legislative bills and proclamations; land sites and offices; receipt of documents; and organization of new counties. This record is organized chronologically by year but organization of the above categories within the year changes frequently. As a result, it becomes more organized as the years pass. In the later years it was probably compiled at the end of the year from the Executive Record (Secretary’s Minutes) (series 193458), rather than used throughout the year as the beginning organization suggests.

Entries arranged generally chronologically.

pp. 209 - 16: Green administration, Nov. 1868 - Jan. 1869

Series 193660. PARDON AND PAROLE FILES: WOMEN’S INDUSTRIAL FARM, 1863 - 1919. 63 ft. (151 boxes). Access restricted.

Contains letters requesting opinions on parole, Parole Board verdict or certificate, and a prisoner history. Interfiled with Pardon and Parole Files for the Kansas State Industrial Reformatory, 1927-1945 (series 193659) and Parole Certificates Issued by the Coffeyville City Court, 1932-1936 (series 193661), as part of Subseries I, 63 ft. (151 boxes), 1863-1919, arranged alphabetically. Women are only contained in Subseries I; after 1919 women’s files are arranged separately as series 196304, Pardon and Parole of Female Inmates.

Arranged alphabetically by inmates’ names.

Series 193789. PARDONS, 1865 - 1883. 4 v.

Contains information regarding date pardoned, name, county, crime, sentence, and remarks.

Arranged chronologically.

Green administration: v. 1, no. 51 - 57; Nov. 1868 - Jan. 1869

Records of the governor’s pardon attorney

Series 193790. APPLICATIONS FOR PARDONS, 1868 - 1877. 1 v. (unpaged)

Record of applications for pardons received. Contains the date of application, the name of the applicant, who recommended the pardon, and remarks. Dates: Jan. 27, 1868-June, 1877.

Arranged chronologically.

Green administration: Nov. - Dec. 1868

Other Finding Aid/Index: Complete finding aid available in the repository and on its web site, http://www.kshs.org/p/governors-records-nehemiah-green-administration-nov-4-1868-jan-11-1869/13838

Related materials: Records of the Kansas Adjutant General’s Office, record group 34; Records of the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, record group 82; Records of the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office, record group 622.

Finding Aid Bibliography:

Drury, James W. The Government of Kansas. 3d ed. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, © 1980. Available in the Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) Reference Room: call no. K 350.7 D845 1980.

Harder, Marvin A. The Governor of Kansas: An Analysis of Decision-Making Opportunities, Constraints, and Resources. Topeka, Kans.: Capitol Complex Center, University of Kansas, 1981, © 1982. Available in the KSHS Reference Room: call no. SP 378 Z C172 pam.v.1 no. 1.

Socolofsky, Homer E. Kansas Governors. Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, © 1990. Available in the KSHS Reference Room: call no. K BB So13.

Restrictions: None

Use and reproduction:
Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). Most documents created by governmental entities, including the State of Kansas, are considered in the public domain, although copyright to documents found in public records that were written by individuals or organizations and sent to government agencies may be owned by the writers or their heirs.

Add'l physical form: Selected items: Also available via Kansas Memory, Electronic resource. Topeka, Kan. : Kansas State Historical Society, 2007. http://www.kansasmemory.org/locate.php?categories=4894-4796-5095&

Cite as:

Note: [document, folder, subseries, or series description], Green administration (1868-1869), records of the Kansas Governor’s Office, State archives record group 252, Library and Archives Division, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.

Bibliography: Kansas, Governor’s Office, Green administration (1868- 1869), State archives record group 252, Library and Archives Division, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.

Action note: Inventory written by David F. Manning, volunteer, 2006

Accumulation/Freq. Of Use: No additional records are expected.