Josiah William Beckley (1841-1899) was in 1868 appointed town surveyor of Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, England, a position he held until his death in 1899.
Summary note
Diary, dating from September 15 to November 23, 1868, of Englishman J.W. Beckley that documents his trip to Kansas to visit siblings who had emigrated there. The first volume mostly records his trip west by ship, train, and stagecoach, with descriptions of New York, Pittsburgh, Steubenville, Ohio, and Indianapolis in late September, and then Kansas City on October 7. The second volume is largely devoted to an excursion billed as "a buffalo hunt on the immense plains of Kansas & Colourado where the Indian now roams, defiantly bidding civilization to advance." Besides documenting the hunt, Beckley writes about encounters with African American regiments at Forts Hays and Riley, in particular, American Indians, and a saloon gunfight, among other things.
Source acquisition
Purchase, 2016. AM 2017-1.
Other title(s)
Trip to the west of America, 1868
OCLC
1340481087
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