Benjamin Jesse Gunn (1865-1939)

The year is 1886. A young school teacher named Benjamin Gunn is sitting alone at the train depot in Arcadia, Kansas. He has just turned twenty-one and is about to embark on a journey he has been dreaming about and planning since he was a young boy. His destination: the Pacific Ocean. Ben is beside himself with excitement. As he steps onto the train, his journal in his hand, little does he know that he is stepping into an adventure that will last his entire life. Over the course of the next fifty years, Benjamin Gunn would become the first person known to have visited every county in every state in the United States. When he returned home from this first "Western Tour," Ben went back to his job as a school teacher. But all he could think about was planning his next expedition. He made up his mind to visit every living relative he could find and gather information to compile A Complete Family Record. Published in 1891, it remains today a valuable resource for genealogists. When Ben got back from his family research tour, he wrote, "Thus ends a 4,000 mile tour of nineteen weeks among 816 relatives. My entire expenses did not exceed one hundred dollars." While searching out distant relatives, Ben met Louise Gunn in Alabama and fell in love. In 1891, Ben and Louise were married. They raised their family in Girard and remained married until Ben's death in 1939. Ben Gunn was born in 1865, just at the end of the Civil War. From the time he was a small child, he had a talent for memorization and a way with words. He gained quite a reputation as a public speaker in his youth. Ben often performed as a "Child Orator" at Fourth of July celebrations and other public gatherings. On July 4, 1892, in Arcadia, Kansas, Ben delivered a speech relating a brief biography of each of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence. As always, he spoke entirely from memory. Ben never used notes. This speech is included in his book, The Son of a Gunn, published in 1893, which was a collection of his travel journals, poetry and speeches. After teaching school for a few years, Ben studied law and passed the bar, but then he decided on a different career path, one that would incorporate his love of writing and allow some freedom to travel. He chose journalism. Ben bought a small newspaper plant in Arcadia. It was an old fashioned plant, even at that time, using tall wooden type racks and a Washington hand press. As editor and publisher of The Times, Ben became well known and respected throughout Kansas. His newspaper was described as a high quality publication that was outspoken and picturesque. Ben made many friends in the world of journalism and politics, including William Allen White and William Jennings Bryan. After twenty years of success as a journalist, however, he made the decision to leave his newspaper in the hands of his oldest son, John, in order to pursue his lifelong passion for travel. In 1914, Ben created an entirely new life for himself, a life on the road selling little pocket sized books that he had written and published himself. His little books were biographies of Lincoln and Washington written in the form of poems. Over the years, he printed and sold hundreds of thousands of these books. He would often schedule speaking engagements at fraternal lodges and afterward peddle his little books to the audience members. For the next twenty-five years, Ben rarely saw his home in Girard. He would pass through occasionally for a quick visit and to pick up more of his little books. Ben's sons, who had taken up their father's profession as printers, continued to print Ben's books and would have a new supply ready for him when he came to town. Although he was gone most of the year, Ben always made it home for the holidays. Ben's oldest son, John Walker Gunn, also became a writer. He published his own newspaper for a time before going to work for The Appeal to Reason in Girard. John Gunn worked with Emanuel and Marcet Haldeman-Julius during the formative years of their publishing venture, the Little Blue Books. John authored several of the early Little Blue Books, which looked remarkably similar to Ben Gunn's little pocket sized books. The year before Ben Gunn passed away, he was featured in Ripley's Believe it or Not. Alongside a drawing of Ben's face, the entry reads, "Benjamin Gunn of Girard, Kansas, has visited every county in every state in the union and can name them all from memory and recall where he lodged each night!" Benjamin Gunn was truly a man who followed his dreams. And yet, he maintained his sense of duty, kept close ties with his family and provided well for them. As a poet, traveler, author, school teacher, public speaker, lawyer, newspaper editor, publisher, and finally a traveling salesman, he lived a life rich with adventure. Ben Gunn's life story is a wonderful reminder that Southeast Kansas history has many hidden treasures waiting to be explored.

Ben Gunn's book, "The Son of a Gunn" (1891) included some of his travel journals, poetry and speeches and was the inspiration for the songs that became my CD
"The Journey."
~ Holly