Elder, Peter Percival, for many years intimately connected with Kansas affairs, was born in Somerset county, Me., Sept. 20, 1823. He was educated in his native state and in 1857 came to Kansas, locating in Franklin county, which he helped to organize. In 1859 he was a delegate to the Osawatomie convention which organized the Republican party in Kansas, and in 1860-61 he was a member of the territorial legislative council. President Lincoln appointed him agent of the Osage and Seneca Indians at Fort Scott, and while serving in that capacity he recruited a regiment of Osages for service in the Union army in the Civil war. Alter four years as Indian agent, Mr. Elder resigned, and in 1865 engaged in the banking business at Ottawa. In 1870 he was elected lieutenant-governor on the Republican ticket. Subsequently he served several terms in the state legislature; was speaker of the house in 1878 and again in 1891. He is still living at Ottawa, practically retired from active business cares.