Peter Percival Elder (born New Portland,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

, September 20, 1823; died Ottawa,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, November 19, 1914) was an American politician, businessman, and newspaperman. Born to a farming family in northern Maine, Elder was educated at schools in

Farmington Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia * Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States *Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California *Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia * ...

and Readfield, Maine and then became a teacher. An

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, Elder moved to Kansas in 1857 to aid the Free-State cause, settling in Franklin County, which he later helped organize, serving on the first county board of commissioners. In 1859 he was elected clerk of the territorial house of representatives. In 1860 he was elected to the state senate under the

Wyandotte Constitution The Wyandotte Constitution is the constitution of the U.S. state of Kansas. Background The Kansas Territory was created in 1854. The largest issue by far in territorial Kansas was whether slavery was to be permitted or prohibited; aside from the m ...

. In 1861 he was appointed agent for the Osage and

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

Indian tribes at Fort Scott, and he helped keep those tribes friendly during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, even raising Osage recruits for the Union army. Elder resigned his position in 1865 and took up residence in the new town of Ottawa, building the first large house there. In 1868 he was elected to the state senate to fill a vacancy. In 1870 he served as chairman of the Kansas Republican central committee, and was elected the sixth

Lieutenant Governor of Kansas The lieutenant governor of Kansas is the second-ranking member of the executive branch of Kansas state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four-year term. The lieutenant governor succeeds to the off ...

serving under Governor James M. Harvey. From 1875 to 1877 and in 1883 he served in the

Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for crafti ...

; 1877 he was elected Speaker. In 1890 he was again elected to the house of representatives, this time on the "

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

" ticket, and was again Speaker. Elder pursued a various of businesses in Ottawa. He was the president of a railroad which built tracks from Ottawa to Olathe. He operated a banking business and was later president of the First National Bank of Ottawa. He resigned from the bank in 1873 to devote more time to his large interests in farming and stock raising. In 1896 he founded the ''Ottawa Times'' newspaper and was its publisher and editor for some years. Elder married Catherine Felker (1824–1912) in 1845; they had two children, Aldamar (1854–1951) and Olena (1846–1910). Aldamar was a prominent local businessman and was himself elected to the Kansas House of Representatives, as a Democrat, in 1910.

Publications

''P. P. Elder's Financial History: Ups and Downs from 1862 to 1880'', Ottawa, Kansas (undated)listing for the ''Financial History'' in a populist pamphlets collection
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elder, Peter Percival 1823 births 1914 deaths People from New Portland, Maine People from Ottawa, Kansas Businesspeople from Kansas Lieutenant Governors of Kansas American newspaper editors 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) United States Indian agents Republican Party members of the Kansas House of Representatives Writers from Maine Writers from Kansas American abolitionists 19th-century American politicians