Mary Holliday wrote, deeply disappointed, from Meadville, Pennsylvania to her husband, Cyrus K. Holliday, in Topeka, Kansas Territory. Mary was prepared to leave when she received his report of continued hostilities and instructions to wait further. Mr. Nichols, Mary's would-be escort, considered leaving shortly despite the political strife in K. T. Mr. Johnson, optimistic about the Free State cause, had told Mary of Colonel Edwin V. Sumner's recent activities there. She mentioned an upcoming Mason's banquet (Cyrus had joined a lodge in Crawford, Pennsylvania on November 4, 1852) and the well-being of their daughter, Lillie.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Mary Dillon Holliday to Cyrus Kurtz Holliday - p. 3