Samuel Reader's Diary

Samuel began keeping a daily record of his life at the age of thirteen and continued faithfully until he died in 1914 at the age of 78. In 1855, when he was just 19, he moved from Illinois to Kansas Territory. These passages are from Samuels diary of 1861, when the war between the North and South is just beginning. Most of Samuels narration is about their every day struggle to raise livestock and produce enough crops to survive in the harsh Kansas climate. He includes copies of his letters home to his family in Illinois.