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This journal was written by Mary Madgalene (Bower) Bellport, who was born in 1849 in Germany. After her family moved to Ohio, Mary met and married Augustine Bellport in 1877, the same year that she began this journal. Augustine had changed his last name, from Brulport to Bellport, when he moved to Kansas in 1865. Most of the entries in the journal deal with her travels through Kansas and Colorado. She also relates valuable information about frontier life in Kansas, including the near-fatal injury suffered by her brother-in-law, Steve, harsh summer heat, and a prairie fire that threatened to destroy their homestead.
Creator: Bellport, Mary Magdalene Bower, 1849-1935
Date: Between 1877 and 1879
Since many of the entries deal with Bellport's travels in other states, the most useful section for student use is her description of the prairie fire on page 16.
KS:7th:3.7:Challenges of Settlement (2005)
Item Number: 210870
Call Number: Miscellaneous Bellport, Mary M.
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 210870
Collections - Manuscript - Miscellaneous
Community Life - Disasters and accidents - Fires
Curriculum - 7th Grade Standards - Kansas History Standards - 1860s to 1870s (Benchmark 3) - Challenges of settlement (Indicator 7) - Prairie fires
Date - 1870s - 1877
Date - 1870s - 1878
Date - 1870s - 1879
Home and Family - Children - Infants
Home and Family - Courtship and marriage - Marriage
Home and Family - Daily life - Health and Hygiene
Home and Family - Daily life - Settlement
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Journal
People - American Indians - Tribes - Cheyenne
People - Women
Places - Cities and towns - Dodge City
Places - Cities and towns - Great Bend
Places - Cities and towns - Hutchinson
Places - Cities and towns - Leavenworth
Places - Cities and towns - Newton
Places - Counties - Barton
Places - Counties - Ford
Places - Counties - Harvey
Places - Counties - Leavenworth
Places - Counties - Reno
Places - Other States - Colorado
Places - Other States - Missouri - Jackson County - Kansas City
Places - Other States - Missouri - St. Louis
Thematic Time Period - Immigration and Settlement, 1854 - 1890
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Journal
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/210870