By GREATER GARDEN CITY
Historical fiction author Ann Hanigan Kotz will give three free presentations this week that will cover Kansas pioneers, bootlegging, and Prohibition in Kansas.
Kotz, a former teacher based in Iowa, will trace the remarkable journeys of the immigrants and pioneers who settled the state. The presentations include:
Wednesday, Aug. 26
- 3 p.m., Finney County Public Library, 605 E. Walnut St. “Settling the Sunflower State: Immigrants and Pioneers who built Kansas.”
- 7:30 p.m., Main Street Food & Brew Hall, 207 N. Main St. “Kansas Prohibition and Bootlegging.” Learn about the state’s history of bootlegging, everything from Kansas City Boss Tom Pendergast to activist Carry Nation as well as bootlegging routes out to western Kansas.
Thursday, Aug. 27
- 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Saffell Library Lobby at Garden City Community College. “Settling the Sunflower State.”/ “Becoming a published author.”
Long before Kansas became a land of wheat fields, small towns, and family farms, it was a distant destination reached only through courage, determination, and an often-grueling journey.
Thousands of immigrants left their homes in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Russia, and elsewhere, crossing the Atlantic aboard crowded sailing ships and steamers in search of opportunity and a better life.
But arriving in America was only the beginning. Upon reaching the docks in New York, Boston, New Orleans, or other ports, immigrants faced long journeys. Many still faced hundreds or thousands of miles before reaching the Kansas prairie. The road ahead demanded persistence, courage, and steady effort.
Their journeys carried them along canals, rivers, and railroads. For many, the final miles were traveled by wagon, horseback, or on foot. They crossed an unfamiliar frontier as they pressed toward the prairie. The routes shifted with canals, river currents, and expanding rail lines, shaping each immigrant’s path.
Through historic photographs, maps, advertisements, and personal stories, you learn what inspired families to leave everything behind. These sources reveal the motivations that drew people to make such a drastic change. They illuminate the hopes that guided their choices and the risks they accepted to pursue a new life on the prairie.
They endured hardships along the way, such as limited resources, harsh weather, and long journeys. After arriving on the prairie, they faced additional challenges, including isolation, adaptation, and rebuilding. These accounts connect the journey to patterns in family life, work, and community.
Learn how homesteaders broke the tough prairie sod, lived in dugouts and sod houses, and established schools and churches. They transformed open grasslands into thriving communities.
From crowded immigrant ships to one-room schoolhouses, and from canal boats to covered wagons, Settling the Sunflower State reveals hopes. It shows the perseverance of the people who made Kansas their home.
About the Author
Ann Hanigan Kotz
Raised on a farm outside of Denison, Iowa, Kotz attended UNI for English Education and started teaching in 1988. She earned a Master’s degree in education through Viterbo University.
Kotz taught for 33 years, the last 30 at Waukee High School in the Des Moines metro area. Retiring in June of 2021 was a difficult decision, but teaching was getting more difficult with lack of funding, parents’ lack of trust in teachers, and legislators making our jobs more difficult. Kotz also wanted to move on to something new.
She began The Longest Journey in winter 2021 and finished in late summer. Initially, Kotz wasn’t sure what to do with the book and planned not to write more or sell it. Book club friends encouraged her to print 100 books. After selling over 400 books on her own, Kotz started to believe that she had written something that entertains others.
Kotz signed with BookPress Publishing in West Des Moines in 2022, and The Longest Journey became The Journey of Karoline Olsen with a new cover and a new name. Since then, Kotz has been busy writing more books and visiting libraries and historical societies across Iowa. Kotz and her husband live in Adel, Iowa, and are both enjoying retirement. They love to take their boat out and ride motorcycles. Kotz is back with Waukee Schools as a supervisor for the Para-to-Teacher program.
For more information, please visit her website: www.annhkbooks.com
