Salem Gleason

Salem Gleason (1789-1865) Photo courtesy The University of Kansas

Salem Gleason, son of Peter and Annis (Harrington) Gleason, was born August 1, 1789 in Pittstown New York, near Troy. He was raised a Friend, (Quaker).

Easton, New York Meeting House of the Society of Friends where
Peter, Annis and Salem Gleason attended their meetings.

Nineteen year old Salem served as a private in the war of 1812 for five years, in the 7th Regiment U.S. Infantry in Capt. McClellen's Co. He enlisted November 1, 1808 for 5 years and was honorably discharged October 31, 1813.

His discharge bears the description, "New Orleans Oct. 31, 1813. Be it known that Salem Gleason, a private in Captain McClellen's company of the seventh regiment of infantry, having faithfully served the term of five years, the term for which he engaged, is hereby discharged from the army of the United States, and to prevent any improper use which might be made of this discharge, here follows a description of the said Salem Gleason: He was aged 22 years, six feet two inches high and has blue eyes and fair hair and complexion and is by occupation a farmer." signed by C. Wollstoncraft and Capt. Artill T. Comp.
He marched from Westerly, New York to New Orleans.

Not much is known of his service, he was discharged the day before Jackson's great battle at New Orleans.
Salem was given a military land grant in Winneshiek County, Iowa. This was granted for soldiers of The War Of 1812. He is listed as Gleason, Salem; Regiment:  7th Regiment United States Infantry; Granted to:  Salem Gleason.

Polly Houghton Gleason (1794-1859)

     Salem Gleason married Polly Houghton, a baptist, November 17, 1817 and are found living at Elizabethtown, New York near Lake Champlain. This was a beautiful place for a honeymoon and to start a family.  Salem stood before a panel of the Society of Friends and was excommunicated from the  Friends church for his marriage to a Baptist and for serving in the war of 1812. He was still a Quaker at heart and Salem never surrendered the soft speech of thee's and thou's from the Friend's faith. He wore little gold hoop earrings with the Quaker's theory that if one had trouble with their eyes, piercing the ears would bring a cure.

By 1824, we find the Salem Gleason family at Saratoga Springs, New York later in 1826 Greenfield (Note- Greenfield has since become a part of Saratoga Springs), near by. At this time their family consisted of Salem, Polly and their six small children.  Salem and Polly with their family journeyed across N.Y. State to Warsaw then on to Hamburg near Buffalo, close to the shores of lake Erie. One could imagine they traveled by boat most of the way down the Hudson to Cohoes then on the Mohawk and Lake Oneida and if the Barge Canal was then built, barged down to Tonawanda and from there overland south to Hamburg. We can better understand why these Friends preferred making their homes in New York and Pennsylvania than in Massachusetts. In fact, it was obligatory as early as 1660 when Massachusetts passed a law making adherence to the Friends sect punishable by hanging. Later a more lenient law of Cart and Whip provided offenders be tied to the end of a cart and whipped through successive towns until out of the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Colony. The towns along the Hudson, across the state line; Troy, Hudson, Pittstown, etc. settled largely by New England Friends. In Hamburg, New York in 1831 our own Annis was born, however Salem stayed only a short while. By 1894 we find the Salem Gleason family in Crawford Co., Pennsylvania.  They were in Pennsylvania land now and consequently found the roving bands of Indians friendly. These Indians belonged to the Lenni Lenapee Tribe, a peace loving people who were driven out of New York and the Five Nations council by the fierce Algonquins and fled for refuge to the forests of Pennsylvania where they lived at peace with the white man.

In the History of Spring Township, Conneautville and Springboro Pennsylvania as transcribed from the History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania published by Warner, Beers & Co. in 1885, we learn that Polly Gleason, a practicing Baptist, helped to organize the first Baptist church in Spring.

"Spring Borough is located three miles north of Conneautville on Conneaut Creek, in the western part of Spring Township."The first Baptist Church of Springboro was organized May 25, 1833 by Rev. O. L. Dunfee of North Shenango with the following members: Nathaniel Pond, Henry Wait, John Gillett, Lila Woodard, Silas Cooper, Hiram Sheldon, Mary Pond, Polly Wait, Tryphosia Conover, Sybil Woodard, Polly Gleason, Mary Cutler, Ruth Gillett, Jarusha Mann, and Sylvia Hammon."

1840 Pennsylvania, Crawford County, Spring Township Federal Census. (Salem Gleason is 8th from the bottom)
Lists: 1 male under 5 (Jasper), 1 male age 10-15 (James), 1 male age 15-20 (Eli), 1 male age 40-50 (Salem),
 1 female under 5 (Nancy), 1 female age 5-10 (Annis), 1 female age 40-50 (Polly)

  Ella Gamber describes, "Friend Salem finds himself at Spring township, fifteen miles from Meadville, in Crawford Co. Penn. The only settlement in a vast wilderness. He bought on the 20th day of February 1834, a piece of woodland from Harm Jan Huidekoper and his wife Rebecca. It belonged previously to the old Crawford homestead and had been cut over about 20 years previously. A hamlet developed nearby called Spring Corners and later, our Annis went to the young ladies academy at Conneautville, a few miles distant. Much work lay ahead for the busy hands of Salem and his family, a clearing for the modest log house and sufficient land for the grainfelds and sheep pastures and flax fields. Their kitchen bread bowls and plates were made form the curly maple and beech of the forests. They spun their own sheets of linen, their own blankets and woolen things, made their own candles, raised their sheep, cows and horses and made some of their  own dyes from chestnut, walnut and log wood, elder berries, dew berries and wild cherries grew in abundance, as well as crab apples. His harvests were bountiful, two more children, Jasper and the baby, Maria, were born and they all went to school in the little old log schoolhouse at Spring Corners. But after coming to Pennsylvania there was one ingenious invention to lighten the load. Up to the time Annis was born Grandfather Salem had never seen a match for the very good they were not invented. But by the time Uncle Jasper and Aunt Maria arrived on the scene Salem was able to lay aside the steel punk box, with the well worn grooves in the sides for the matches that we now have, or probably the old Chinese block matches such as we used in California when I was a girl, 1874-1890) Ruth Field has the little steel punk box that once belonged to Grandfather Gleason. I had never before seen one. I told her that was what grandfather used to keep the kettle boiling when Annis arrived, but by the time her grandmother was expected, Grandfather just quickly struck a match in preparation of the "Blessed Event". I bet it was quite a comfort, at that. The Pennsylvania lands were fertile and in 1850 Salem was able to build a large comfortable 10 room log house which took the place of the log cabin. It stands today, (1900) almost as good as new, after doing service for 50 years. Salem and Polly experienced the reward of industry and lived and prospered on this homestead for twenty five fruitful years.  Up to the building of the big white farmhouse, Salem was Captain of his own soul, but soon political controversies arose, which together with his grown up family, changed his plan of living for him."
 In 1854 all was at peace in Pennsylvania, but in the halls of Congress the controversial Nebraska-Kansas bill was being debated and the question could be settled only by vote of the people living in Kansas. To gain more votes toward making Kansas a free state, the New England Emigrant Aid Company was formed to help relocate New Englanders out west to Kansas for the cause.
Two companies had already gone out from New England when G.W. Brown (son-in-law of Salem and husband of Lois H. Gleason) decided to organize a company from Pennsylvania. Our peace loving Quaker family decided to add their votes to make Kansas a Free State. Salem Gleason, veteran warrior of 1812, found himself in his old age involved in the border skirmishes between Kansas and Missouri preceding the Civil War.
 This company of G.W. Brown consisted of about 300 persons, including G.W. Brown's parents David and Abigail (Houghton) Brown (Abigail is Polly's sister) and four of the Salem Gleason family (James, Lois, Annis and Salome). Of the journey to Kansas we read in James Gleason's diary, "We made the first part of our journey in a crowded canal boat. At Sharon, took packet for New Brighton on the Ohio River; at New Brighton (still in Pennsylvania) the river was so low we went by rail via Cleveland and Chicago to St. Louis." After two days at St. Louis  the company went aboard the "Sanora" for the trip up the Missouri River and after a little over four days on the river they arrived at West Port Landing (Kansas City). Here they broke up the other members of the family took ox teams or ponies for Lawrence, but James having but 50 cents in his pocket and a farm in Pennsylvania which he could not sell, started out to walk. He describes, "I witnessed a snowstorm on the prairie and traveling through it was no boys play. I stayed that night at a tavern kept by a Shawnee Chief by the name of  Blue Jacket. The tavern consisted of two rooms, one for the women and one for the men. It had a dirt floor and grass roof and I lay down on the dirt floor to sleep with a blanket and buffalo robe for a bed."
This new company laid down their burdens at Lawrence, feeling they had reached the land of promise. The town they beheld could not have been very inspiring.  A few grass and sod houses, perhaps a few shakes.  There were no stores, markets and being in prairie land, there were very few trees. The first frame house was built by G.W. Brown to house the "Herald of Freedom" presses (newspaper) as well as his family. Our Annis lived there for a season, as well as James Gleason, who helped with the carpentry work for the home.
Salem and Polly Gleason would arrive in Kansas the following spring of 1855 along with their two youngest children, Jasper and Maria. They did not come with the first company as their farm had not yet sold. April 23, 1855, at the age of 67, Salem came to join his other children and this new country and cause. He left a comfortable home and largely improved farm with land in Pennsylvania.
Salem's daughter, Maria,  relates, "We lived on the hill just west of where the University now stands until the latter part of August then moved into the country to a place called Mud Springs near the claims. We found an abandoned cabin of logs on the Old Santa Fe Trail which afforded us shelter until father could get a house built on the claim. Here we were obliged to remain all winter as there are many hindrances to building even a log house in a new country. This house had been built and occupied a few years previously by a man named Beach from Ohio. Both he and his wife had died very suddenly just before we moved there. They had left a family of several children, on little girl, apparently four or five years old named Eliza Jane Beach, lived with the family of Coleman until the murder of Dow afterward she was sent to our house "for a few days" and remained for several years. The cabin was roughly built, the doors and roof made of shakes and of windows there were none. The inter of 1855-1856 was intensely cold. The fierce wind blew the snow through the cracks and chinks until in the morning we would wake to find two or three inches of snow covering us. Living neighbors to us at Hickory Point were Charles Dow and Mr. Bronson, also proving up on homesteads. In the neighborhood, on the Santa Fe Trail stood a place called the Santa Fe Wagon Shop owned by Mr. Poole. Here one day came father (Salem Gleason) to get some repair work done on a farming implement. Young Charley Dow who was a Free state man was in the shop at the time, when in came another neighbor, Mr. Coleman, a pro-slavery man. Coleman entered armed and began a dispute with young Dow. Father, seeing the dispute was growing serious, left the shop and returned home. In a short time a teamster passing reported that there was a man lying in the road. Father guessed at once that it was Dow but dared not go out to it until sufficient force had been gathered for defence in case of armed resistance. I was sent to noticy the neighbors and toward midnight a sufficient force of men had gathered to go after Dow's body. They took it down to Branson's house for burial. None of the men dared go on the road to Lawrence for lumber for fear of an attack, so my brother, James Gleason took lumber from his own supply for which he intended to build a house and made for Dow a coffin. My white dress served to make a shroud for him."
After this trouble, Salem was called before a panel to testify as to the events of the murder, as found in the book, "Report of the special committee appointed to investigate the troubles in Kansas" we learn in Salem's own words the events of the Dow murder,
"Salem Gleason called and sworn. I was present at the blacksmith shop, near Mr. McKinney's, on the Ulst day of November, 1855. I drove up to the blacksmith's shop some time between 12 and 1 o'clock. I heard hard words, and heard the blacksmith, a Mr. Poole, say he would not have such words in his shop, and they must go out of doors. I heard him say, "Mr. Buckley, if you cannot behave yourself, go out of the shop. I will not have such words in the shop." I then went into the shop. I saw Mr. Buckley and Mr. Dow there. The blacksmith was mending a small wagon skane for Mr. Dow. The conversation lowered as soon as I stepped into the shop. They soon had the wagon skane and lynch- pin fixed. Mr. Dow paid for his work, and left in the direction of his house. Then there was something said between the blacksmith and Mr. Buckley. And the blacksmith, Mr. Poole, said, " Why did you not shoot him then ?" Said Buckley, " I hated to shoot a man on hearsay ; but if he has said it, I'll be damned if I won't shoot him yet Buckley's gun was then cocked at both barrels ; it was a double-barrelled shot-gun. He said he cocked it to shoot him. He then left the shop, and started on his horse in the direction after Dow. When he took up the gun, which was sitting near the door, it was still cocked. I left the shop very shortly after Mr. Buckley did. He went east and I went west from the shop. Buckley took his gun with him. Some three or four hours after this there came along a teamster who lives at or near Council City, named Henry Smith. He informed my son that a dead man lay in the road east of the blacksmith's shop a little ; he did not say how far. I started for my horse, which was some eight or ten rods from where I was. I mounted him, and rode up to the place where the body lay, some mile or so from where I started. I saw the murdered man, who was Dow, lying with his head in the wagon-track and his feet on the side of the road, with the skane and lynch-pin still in his hand. When I came in sight of the corpse, there were some eight or ten men standing over him. As soon as I got, as I supposed, so as to be seen by them, they left. In this company I recognised Mr. Poole, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Buckley, and Mr. Hargous. The company, all except one or two, had guns, mostly double-barrelled shot-guns. There seemed to be a couple of youngsters in the company who were not armed. Mr. Poole came directly towards me as I was going up. I observed, " Buckley has shot Dow at last." " No,' said Mr. Poole,  It was not Buckley, it was Coleman".  I did not get off my horse when I reached the corpse, but I saw the blood running from his neck, his mouth, and nose ; and saw the blood on his breast. I merely stopped to look at him a moment, and then rode past him and went to Mr. Branson's, where Dow made his home. I informed them there that Dow was shot. Mr. Branson was a good deal alarmed at the news, and said he wished me to go on and give information. I rode from there to a Mr. Hopkins' to inform them. But my daughter had got there before me and informed them. My health would not permit me to ride any more, and I returned home. I noticed two shot-holes in Dow's neck as I was looking at him. I was not at the meeting called at the spot where Dow was found. Mr. Poole left the neighborhood about that time, and, I think, is now in the State of Missouri. Coleman has been backward and forward since that time, during this spring, to Washington creek, which is about six or eight miles from where I live ; generally with a pretty strong guard of from six to eight men with him. We knew nothing of where he was for some time after the murder of Dow. Dow was buried on the Saturday afterwards. At the grave, just after it was filled up, a motion was made by a man named Farley to burn the house of Coleman, who had left his house, with his family. I told them, saying, " Here is this man murdered, and for us to go to doing such a thing as that, it will operate against us. It will be better to fetch the offender to justice than to destroy property. The persons there fell in with me, and argued not to do it. Dow was not armed when he left the blacksmith's shop ; and I know he owned no small arms. He had there nothing in his hand but the wagon skane, which is a piece of iron about 12 or 15 inches long, between a quarter and a half-inch wide, and perhaps a quarter of an inch thick, and is used to go over the end of the axle-tree where the wheel goes on; and the lynch-pin is passed through it. Dow was considered a peaceable citizen. Dow made his home at Branson' s, but I think there was no relationship between them. Their claims adjoined. I am myself a native of New York, but emigrated from Pennsylvania to the Territory. Poole left his shop and the neighborhood shortly after the forces began to gather on the Wakarusa. I believe the Mr. Farley I have mentioned came from the State of Missouri. Coleman's house was burned some few days after Dow was buried. Farley was still in the neighborhood when the house was burned, but left shortly afterwards.
SALEM GLEASON
 Lawrence, Kansas Territory, May 3, 1856".

Proslavery men had flocked over the border from Missouri at the spring elections in Lawrence and voted without having established citizenship, returning to Missouri the next morning. They had elected Jones Sheriff of Douglas County. Sheriff Jones had old Mr. Branson arrested, but a group of Free state men including Salem Gleason and his sons James and Jasper gathered at Blanton Bridge and rescued Branson from the Sheriff.



Circumstances and events continued to be difficut for Salem on the evening of July 20, 1856 Salem was the victim of horse theft when his two bay horses were stolen. We read from the "The Miscellaneous Documents Printed by order of the House of Representatives"" regarding Salem's claim on page 221. Apparently, he was not compensated for his loss as it was deemed a consequence of the difficulties of the time.

Salem had proved himself and was appointed as a judge to help conduct the eections. List of Judges Appointed by Ex. Committee to Conduct the Election for the 1st District, Palmyra Precinct on Tuesday Oct. 9th 1855.

Headstone of Salem Gleason Oak Hill Cemetery,
 Lawrence, KS

The widowed Salem passed away September 10, 1865 at the home of his daughter, Maria Gleason Hubbell in Paola, Kansas. His wife proceeded him in death by six years. He was buried at High Prairie, Kansas and was afterward disinterred and buried in the family burial plot at Oak Hill Cemetery in Lawrence, Kansas. His wife, Polly Houghton Gleason, rests beside him. An ancient granite monument between the graves serves to record their burial place.

Obituary of his wife: GLEASON, MRS. POLLY H., wife of Salem, formerly of Pennsylvania, aged 68 yrs., 4 mos., died in Willow Springs Township, Sept. 1, 1859. (Lawrence, Herald of Freedom, Sept. 3.)

Obituary of Salem Gleason from the Miami Co. Kansas newspaper,"Argus"
"Paola, September 10, 1865, Died in this city, Salem Gleason, in the 77th year of his age. Like the aged Patriarch who watched upon the hills for the coming hosts, he too has been laid away in the silent city of the dead. At the age uncommon for this section of the country, he lived to see his adopted state o the outward road to progress and like the trees of our forest, fell when the bloom of age had become sore."

The Daughters of 1812 laid a marker for Salem Gleason in the Oak Hill Cemetery alongside his grave according to the newspaper article in the Lawrence Journal.

Salem kept the Gleason Family Bible which was known last to be in the possession of Hattie Gleason Whitmore (daughter of Jasper Gleason and Ann Crane Gleason, granddaughter of Salem and Polly Gleason) in the mid 1930's.

The Jeffersonian Gazette, 16 Aug 1900, Thu,  Page 1

The nine children of Salem Gleason and Polly Houghton Gleason are:
1. Salome Gleason b. July 31, 1818in Elizabethtown, New York and died 2 Oct 1873 in Lichfield, Taylor County, Iowa.
Married Seth W. Robinson to Saloma Gleason 17 Sept. 1840, Crawford Co. State of Pennsylvania married by  Ebenezer R. Hall of Spring Township. Salome and Seth had 3 children, Salem, Polly and Charity.

Lois Houghton Gleason Brown Walker
 (1820-1894)

2. Lois Houghton Gleason b. 20 Feb 1820 Elizabethtown, New York, d. 1 Mar 1894 Douglas County, Kansas is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Lawrence, Kansas. (the infant son of Ella Hubbell and Millard Field is interred above her in the same grave). Lois married her first cousin, George Washington Brown known as G.W. Brown on January 8, 1840 in Conneautville, Pennsylvania. G.W. Brown was the Editor of the Conneautville Courier and Lois had gotten herself disinherited for her marriage to her cousin by her Quaker father for her "irregularity", but still stuck to her guns and wore down the opposition. She married second, Henry H. Dorsey previous to Feb 11, 1863 and married lastly, James F. Walker in Lawrence, Kansas.
3. Mary Gleason b. 4 Jan 1822, d. 1 Oct 1824 born and died in Elizabethtown, New York.
4. Eli Gleason b. 15 Jul 1824 Elizabethtown, New York, d. 1 Nov 1846 Conneautville, Pennsylvania
Married Sarah Ann Nelson  December 31, 1845 in Conneautville, Pennsylvania. Sadly, less than a year after his marriage, Eli died from drowning.

brother and sister James Houghton Gleason and
 Annis White Gleason Williams abt 1856

5. James Houghton Gleason b. 10 Nov 1826 in Greenfield, New York, d. 9 Jun 1901in  Pleasant Grove, Kansas. He is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery.
"Obituary of JAMES H. GLEASON, farmer, Section 13, P. O. Pleasant Grove, came to Kansas in 1854; settled in Lawrence, and the following year moved to Willow Springs Township, where he still resides on his farm, containing 160 acres, which he has improved. When he commenced on this place, he had no near neighbors, but now every farm adjoining him is well-improved. His stock of horses, cattle and hogs shows him to be a good farmer, and his house and barns are among the best in the town. Mr. Gleason was born in Saratoga Springs, N. Y., November 10, 1826, but when a child his parents moved to Hamburg, Erie Co., N. Y., where he remained for several years, and then moved to Crawford County, Penn., and there resided until he came to the State. He was burned out by Quantrill, 1863; house, barns and timber in yard all destroyed. Mr. G. was united in marriage in Lawrence, Kan., July 7, 1863, to Miss Joanna L. Ayer, daughter of Charles Ayer, Esq. They have three children - Charles J., Clifton A. and Alice J Bowman. Mr. G. and family are members of the Methodist Church."
6. Salem Gleason Jr. b. 23 Apr 1829 at Warsaw New York at the Western part of the state near Lake Erie, d. 20 Feb 1830
7. Annis White Gleason b. 14 Jan 1831 in Hamburg, New York near Lake Erie, d. 24 Oct 1895 at Table Rock, Colorado. Annis was named after her father's sister Annis (Gleason) White. Annis married Hugh Welch Williams October 24, 1858 of Douglas, Kansas. They had eight children, Charles Eli, Mary Maria, Frank, Edwin, Catherine, Fredrick, Alice and Ella.
8. Jasper Gleason b. 24 Aug 1835 at Springtown near Conneautville, Pennsylvania, d. 7 Aug 1902, Ashland, Oregon, USA. Jasper married Ann Crane and had 5 children, Polly, Lois, Annie, Hattie (Hattie is the last known person to have the Gleason Family Bible from Salem Gleason) and Ellen.
9. Nancy Maria Gleason b. 20 Feb 1838 at Spring, Pennsylvania, d. 17 Apr 1906 in Toledo, Ohio buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Lawrence Kansas. She married Willard Orvis Hubbell April 16, 1860 in Lawrence, Kansas. This is the daughter with whom Salem Gleason lived and passed away in her home. Their children; Ella, Bessie, Frank, Henry Salem (noted painter), Charles and Willard.

MISCELLANEOUS:

"Another thought - There is a great deal of Gleason family information - military, location, etc. at the Old Castle Museum, Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas. The Gleason farm was in Prairie City (west of Baldwin a mile or so). If you could contact the curator you may have better luck. They had a full wall display of the family tree, photos and files of info on the individuals, including war stories. Basic time period is 1850-1868 or more."

My connection to Salem Gleason

Salem Gleason married Polly Houghton who had Annis White Gleason

Annis White Gleason married Hugh Welch Williams who had Charles Eli Williams

Charles Eli Williams married Louisa Christensen who had Charles Fredrick Williams

Charles Fredrick Williams married Illa L. C. Hawks who had Carroll D. Williams

Carroll D. Williams married Lois Keele who had LIVING Williams

LIVING Williams married A. C. Curtis and then came.....