Daniel Mulford Valentine, 1830-1907, moved to Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, from Fontanelle, Iowa, in 1859. Valentine was 28 years old at the time, and was a lawyer and surveyor. Many of the diary entries record the weather and short phrases such as "loafing" or "reading." Other entries record information about the elections in Kansas and local politics, and include his assessments of many of the territory's leaders. Valentine records information about Abraham Lincoln's 1859 visit to Leavenworth. Lincoln made two speeches in Kansas, and Valentine attended and wrote about both. Valentine served as an associate justice on the Kansas Supreme Court from 1868 to 1893.