THE FIRST ELECTION — FIRST INVASION. 
11 
to the work of aid for Kansas. His courage has never faltered, 
or his efforts been diminished, in the hour of prosperity, or 
when dark hordes of invader^ hovered in our borders; and, with 
unabated zeal, he still looks forward to the day of our deliverance 
from the bonds of the oppressor. 
On the 21st of February, an act was passed to incorporate the 
New England Emigrant Aid Company. The purposes of the act 
were distinctly stated to be “ directing emigration westward, and 
aiding and providing accommodation for the emigrants after 
arriving at their place of destination.” 
The first of August, 1854, a party of about thirty settlers, 
chiefly from New England, arrived in the territory, and settled at 
Lawrence. Mr. C. H. Branscomb, of Boston, on a tour in the 
territory a few weeks earlier in the summer, had selected this 
spot as one of peculiar loveliness for a town site. A part of them 
pitched their tents upon the high hill south-west of the town site, 
and named it Mount Oread, after the Mount Oread School in 
Worcester, of which Mr. Thayer was founder and proprietor. 
When the party arrived, one man only occupied the town site 
with his family. His improvements were purchased, and he aban¬ 
doned his claim for the town. This party was met with insult 
and abuse on the Missouri river, and on their way into the terri¬ 
tory. After they arrived in Lawrence, bands of these Missou¬ 
rians gathered along the river bottoms, and wherever they put a 
stake they made a pretended claim. They invaded the meetings 
of the actual settlers in the neighborhood, and attempted to con¬ 
trol them. Attempts were also made to frighten and drive them 
from the territory by fomenting disputes about claims, and other 
quarrels. Sept. 28, 1854, a squatter meeting was held at 
Hornsby & FerriPs store, on the California road, about two miles 
from Lawrence, at which the free-state men had a majority. 
The squatters at length decided by vote that no person, resident 
of another state, should be allowed to vote at these meetings, etc., 
and for a while they made their own regulations. 
About the first of September, the second New England party 
arrived and settled at Lawrence. As soon as it was known that a 
