Salmon Stephen Prouty
Born: Van Buren, Onondaga County, New York,July 31, 1835. Married: Hannah Marie Whitehead in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, on May 31, 1858. Died: Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, on January 31, 1889.
Salmon Stephen Prouty was born to Stephen and Sarah A. (Parker) Prouty in Van Buren, Onondaga County, New York, on July 31, 1835. When he was 16, he began learning the printing trade, working at Phoenix, Oswego County, New York. Prouty soon joined a newspaper partnership to operate the Aurora Guardian in Aurora, Illinois. That partnership was dissolved a few months later and Prouty joined a New England Emigrant Aid Company bound for Kansas Territory. The free-state party’s steamboat was mobbed at Lexington, Missouri, then again after arriving in Leavenworth. The proslavery faction took the remaining belongings of the party and sent them back to Illinois.
Prouty was determined to return to the territory and arrived on October 10, 1855. The proslavery forces arrested the freestaters once they had entered the territory but released them soon afterward and the party continued on to Douglas County. Prouty co-founded Prairie City, with William Graham, Louis Green, and James Lane in 1855 and he filed a land claim. While he was making the required homestead improvements, Prouty worked as a typesetter for Lawrence’s Herald of Freedom. He soon launched the Prairie City Freemen’s Champion. The printing press may have been the territory’s first, used at the Ottawa Baptist Mission. George W. Brown of the Herald of Freedom, claimed to have purchased the press and sold it to Prouty for the Champion, introduced on June 25, 1857. Prouty was forced to halt briefly in September 1857 when the newspaper’s temporary quarters, “far-famed tent, erected by the gallant and generous ladies” of the city, were damaged from “wind, rain, dust and wood-worm filings,” while more permanent structure were under construction. Prouty resumed publication and continued until September 16, 1858. The press followed him to his next newspaper in Neosho. The complicated history of the original printing press remains elusive.
He married Hannah Marie Whitehead in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, on May 31, 1858; they had one son and seven daughters. The family went to Burlington where he was editor of the Neosho Valley Register. The advent of Civil War brought a commission for Prouty. President Abraham Lincoln had appointed James Lane to recruit volunteer soldiers. The First Kansas Colored Infantry and the First Regiment Indian Home Guard were the result of those efforts. White men were recruited to fill nearly all the officer appointments. Prouty was appointed first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster in the First Indian Regiment, which was mustered in at LeRoy in May 1862. They participated in battles in Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Territory. The unit was mustered out in May 1865.
The Proutys moved to Shawnee County in 1868, where Salmon briefly owned the Topeka Journal. He and J.B. Davis and F. L. Crane purchased the Topeka Leader in March 1869, which they renamed and relaunched as a daily on May 1, the Topeka Commonwealth. Prouty invested much attention and creativity to build the reputation of this newspaper, which would become the forerunner of the Topeka State Journal, and the Topeka Capital-Journal.
He was among investors who started the Topeka, Burlington & Verdigris Railway, chartered on July 16, 1869. An economic panic in 1873 stopped that venture. He was selected as state printer in 1870, the first to hold that position after a constitutional change requiring state materials to be printed at the Capitol. He was selected to a second, but not a third term. Changes in employment impacted the family’s financial future and Prouty sold his interest in the Topeka Commonwealth in August 1873. The paper merged with the Capital in 1888, causing Prouty deep disappointment to see the end of the Commonwealth.
A member of the Kansas Editors and Publishers Association, Prouty was present at the founding of the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka on December 14, 1875. He was one of the six incorporators who met in the Kansas State Supreme Court December 15, and the articles of incorporation were filed with the secretary of state that day. He served on the board in 1876, and again in 1885-1888, and remained a member, supporter, and advocate of the Society, a voice for Kansas history.
He was later editor of the Junction City News and Dodge City Globe, before spending 10 months working on Andreas’ History of Kansas, authored by William Cutler and published in 1883. Prouty died in Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, on January 31, 1889.
Entry: Prouty, Salmon Stephen
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: April 2025
Date Modified: April 2025
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
