Amos Adams Lawrence and The Jayhawks

No, this isn't the cool name of some new band -


Amos Adams Lawrence (July 31, 1814 – August 22, 1886), born in Groton, Massachusetts and educated at Harvard College, was an important figure in the United States abolition (anti-slavery) movement in the years leading up to the Civil War.

He entered business as a commission merchant and eventually became owner of Ipswich Mills, the largest producer of knit goods in the country.

In addition, he was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Boston, where he met and married his wife, Sarah Appleton, as well as a trustee of Massachusetts General Hospital and president of the Young Men's Benevolent Society.

He contributed large amounts of capital to the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, a company that supported the settlement of 1,200 people in what was to become Lawrence, Kansas, and John Brown's abolitionism. He played a major role in the crucial border state of Kansas although I don't believe he actually ever went to Kansas.

Lawrence also contributed to funds for the colonization of "free negroes" in Liberia, Africa. Liberia was founded as a colony by the American Colonization Society in 1821-22. It was created as a place for slaves freed in the United States to emigrate to in Africa, on the premise they would have greater freedom and equality there.

Lawrence financed the founding of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. He also founded a college in 1849 that evolved into Lawrence University on 5,000 acres of land that he purchased in the Fox River Valley, which became Appleton, Wisconsin (so named for his wife).

His farm outside of Boston became the campus for Boston College. In 1857-1862 he was treasurer of Harvard College.


Jayhawkers is a term that came to prominence just before the Civil War in Kansas, where it was adopted by militant abolitionist groups. These groups, known as "Jayhawkers", were guerrilla fighters who often clashed with pro-slavery irregulars, as well as Missouri militia units.

Jayhawker miliary bands invaded Missouri with the intent of freeing slaves and killing slave owners. In the course of their mission they committed some of the most unjustifiable acts of the Civil War, including a massacre at Osceola, Missouri, in which the entire town was set aflame and at least 9 male residents were killed.

The sacking of Osceola inspired the 1976 film The Outlaw Josey Wales, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.

With the admission of Kansas as a free state in 1861, "Jayhawker" became synonymous with the people of Kansas. In more recent years the term "Jayhawker" has been applied to people or items related to Kansas, similar to the term "Hoosier" for Indiana, "Sooner" for Oklahoma, and "Buckeye" for Ohio.

The term refers to the mythical Jayhawk, a cross between two common birds—the noisy blue jay and the quiet sparrow hawk.