Mary Jane Cantrell was born in December of 1848 in Jackson County Mo. Her brother Hiram was born in 1850. Their mother Thirza (Land) Cantrell later died, the date being undocumented. Their father, Jacob Cantrell remarried on Aug. 8, 1852, to Rebecca Stacey.

In 1855 Jacob Cantrell moved his family to Kansas, settling near Palmyra, north of present-day Baldwin, Kan. In

1924, Mary wrote of those early days in Kansas in a letter to the Lawrence Daily Journal.

“We stopped in the woods about three or four miles from it (Palmyra). Father with his ax and saw and broadax went to work and put up a little cabin. We lived in and out of the wagon until the cabin was ready to move into. That was as soon as the roof was on. It had neither floor nor door. Only an opening for the door and at night the wolves would come in and we could hear them sniffing around. Then Father would make a noise and they would run out. Oh how scared I was! I was about eight years old.”

Mary recalled that by the winter of 1855-56 they moved into a tworoom log house within the town of Palmyra. There were only three other houses in the town at the time.

The editor of the Kansas Herald of Freedom, George Washington (G. W.) Brown, wrote of Cantrell in his Oct. 24, 1857, edition.

Brown recalled that Cantrell told Brown that upon his arrival in Kansas he felt as if “he had entered a new world.”

Brown said that Cantrell was, “Elevated with the prospect of speedily securing a fortune and the great blessing and privilege of rearing and educating his children in a free community ... (Cantrell) entered into all our plans of improvement, both in church and State, with a hearty will and a ready co-operation.”

Prior to coming to Kansas Cantrell had lived on the farm of Otho Hall in Jackson County, Mo. Cantrell hauled Hall’s produce by wagon to the fledgling town of Lawrence, Kan.

Recognizing a kindred spirit among the Lawrence settlers, Cantrell had the words “Kansas a Free State” painted on one side of his wagon cover. Unfortunately Otho Hal was a slave-holder.

Upon Cantrell’s return to Missouri, Hall was incensed at Cantrell’s declaration of support for abolition. Taking out his knife Hall cut the words from the wagon cover. Little Mary Jane was in the wagon and saw the knife cutting through the cover. She heard Hall threaten her father, saying he would kill him if it took 20 years. Cantrell being “wholly unarmed” was severely cut when Hall turned the knife on him. Cantrell only escaped by driving his team swiftly away.

Undoubtably the event led Jacob Cantrell to promptly move his family to Kansas in 1855.

G. W. Brown wrote that Kansas Territory was in a state of “revolutionary confusion” in the spring of 1856. Lawrence was “sacked.” The Herald of Freedom’s office was burned, and the press destroyed. Militias were formed for the defense of many of the frontier towns including Palmyra.

In the aftermath of the sack of Lawrence, Old John Brown and his sons killed five men on Pottawatomie Creek near present-day Lane, Kan. Capt. Henry Clay Pate, commander of the proslavery Westport Sharpshooters was commissioned deputy United States marshal before his unit joined a mission to hunt down Old Brown.

His sons were captured, but Pate missed the notorious father. Pate went into camp with his prisoners southeast of Palmyra on Black Jack Creek. The local militias, including the Palmyra Guard attacked Pate’s camp under the command of Old Brown on June 2, 1856. Pate and his men were taken captive.

Jacob Cantrell recognized some of his former Missouri neighbors among the prisoners. Col. Sumner arrived with U. S troops on June 5, released Pate and his men, and ordered them to leave the territory.

Mary Jane wrote that several times Missouri men tried to catch her father. He often slept in the woods away from the house. Before Pate’s men left the territory they captured Cantrell, taking him with them as they moved toward Missouri. Going into camp at Cedar Creek, 20 miles east of Black Jack, Cantrell was told that he could gain his freedom by joining his old neighbors in the fight against the abolitionists. “No never!” was his answer.

His captors found him guilty of “treason to Missouri.” He was tied to a tree and summarily shot. It was said that with each shot he cried out, “My God!” His body was found several days later, mostly devoured by wild animals.

In the words of G. W. Brown, Cantrell had seen and felt the influence of that hydra-headed monster that even then was gnawing at the vitals of the country.

Mrs. Cantrell gave birth Oct. 31 to a fine boy who was named for his father. Jacob Cantrell has largely been forgotten as one of the first martyrs in the cause for freedom. Long may he live in his rightful place of honor among the pages of The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone: (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.

G.W. Brown wrote that Kansas Territory was in a state of “revolutionary confusion” in the spring of 1856. Lawrence was “sacked.” The Herald of Freedom’s office was burned, and the press destroyed.