Daniel Vanderslice
Unknown birthdate, Reading, PA
Born in 1799, Reading, PA
Born in February of 1799, Reading, PA
Born on February , 1799, Reading, PA
Unknown death date, Highland, KS
Died in 1889, Highland, KS
Died in February of 1889, Highland, KS
Died on February 5, 1889, Highland, KS
 
 
Biography
Because his family was beset by yellow fever, Daniel Vanderslice was raised by an aunt until the age of four. After his father died in the War of 1812, he wanted to join a gunship ​crew, but​​ was sent to Chester County, Pennsylvania to become an apprentice to a paper maker. In 1820, he moved to Washington, DC but shortly thereafter became a teacher near Louisville, Kentucky. He joined an expedition to explore and exploit the Fever River lead region in Illinois in 1822; in the face of opposition from local Indigenous nations, the expedition formed a rifle company, of which Vanderslice was captain. ​After a stay in Galena, he returne​d to Kentucky and worked as a paper maker. In the 1830s, Vanderslice purchased the Kentucky Sentinel in Georgetown, Kentucky and became a store owner. His began a career in Indian Affairs in 1837 as an agent for Chickasaw migration. Beginning in 1853, Vanderslice was agent to the Iowa and Sauk and Fox, first in Hi​​​​ghland, Kansas, and then at the Great ​​​Nemaha Agency in Nebraska. In 1857 Vanderslice was a member of the pro-slavery "Lecompton" state constitutional convention, and when Lincoln was elected, Vanderslice's job as Indian agent end​​ed. He was licenced to operate a ferry in 1860, together with treaty signer John Forman. Vanderslice was a founder of the first Masonic ​​Lodge in Kansas, and also played a role in forming the Grand Masonic Lodge of Kansas. Vanderslice, his son, his daughter-in-law, and his grandson are the subjects of the "Pioneer Mother" statue in Kansas City.

 
Treaty Signatures
signature (on treaty)
title (on treaty)
 
Network(s)
 
 
Source(s)

​Morton, Julius Sterling, Albert Watkins, and George L. Miller. Illustrated History of Nebraska. ​Vol. 2. Lincoln: Jacob North & Company, 1907​.

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​Wright, Dudley, ed. Gould's History of Freemasonry. ​Vol. 4--6. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936.

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G​ray, P. L. Gray's Doniphan County history: A record of the happenings of half a hundred years. Bendena, Kan: The Roycroft Press, 1905​

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Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. "Papers concerning Alexander Phimister Proctor's statue, The Pioneer Mother, 1924-1950." Accessed May 5, 2019. 

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​Driggs, S. W. Private Laws of the Territory of Kansas​. Lecompton, KS: S. A. Medary, 1860.

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