Part 1

COLLECTION OF NEBRASKA PIONEER REMINISCENCES

ISSUED BY THE

NEBRASKA SOCIETY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

NINETEEN SIXTEEN

THE TORCH PRESS

CEDAR RAPIDS

IOWA

FORETHOUGHT

This Book of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences is issued by the Daughters of the American Revolution of Nebraska, and dedicated to the daring, courageous, and intrepid men and women--the advance guard of our progress--who, carrying the torch of civilization, had a vision of the possibilities which now have become realities.

To those who answered the call of the unknown we owe the duty of preserving the record of their adventures upon the vast prairies of "Nebraska the Mother of States."

"In her horizons, limitless and vast Her plains that storm the senses like the sea."

Reminiscence, recollection, personal experience--simple, true stories--this is the foundation of History.

Rapidly the pioneer story-tellers are passing beyond recall, and the real story of the beginning of our great commonwealth must be told now.

The memories of those pioneers, of their deeds of self-sacrifice and devotion, of their ideals which are our inheritance, will inculcate patriotism in the children of the future; for they should realize the courage that subdued the wilderness. And "lest we forget," the heritage of this past is a sacred trust to the Daughters of the American Revolution of Nebraska.

The invaluable assistance of the Nebraska State Historical Society, and the members of this Book Committee, Mrs. C. S. Paine and Mrs. D. S. Dalby, is most gratefully acknowledged.

LULA CORRELL PERRY (Mrs. Warren Perry)

CONTENTS

SOME FIRST THINGS IN THE HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY 11 BY GEORGE F. WORK

EARLY EXPERIENCES IN ADAMS COUNTY 18 BY GENERAL ALBERT V. COLE

FRONTIER TOWNS 22 BY FRANCIS M. BROOME

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF BOX BUTTE COUNTY 25 BY IRA E. TASH

A BROKEN AXLE 27 BY SAMUEL C. BASSETT

A PIONEER NEBRASKA TEACHER 30 BY MRS. ISABEL ROSCOE

EXPERIENCES OF A PIONEER WOMAN 32 BY MRS. ELISE G. EVERETT

RECOLLECTIONS OF WEEPING WATER 36 BY I. N. HUNTER

INCIDENTS AT PLATTSMOUTH 41 BY ELLA POLLOCK MINOR

FIRST THINGS IN CLAY COUNTY 43 BY MRS. CHARLES M. BROWN

REMINISCENCES OF CUSTER COUNTY 46 BY MRS. J. J. DOUGLAS

AN EXPERIENCE 50 BY MRS. HARMON BROSS

LEGEND OF CROW BUTTE 51 BY DR. ANNA ROBINSON CROSS

LIFE ON THE FRONTIER 54 BY JAMES AYRES

PLUM CREEK (LEXINGTON) 57 BY WILLIAM M. BANCROFT, M. D.

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS 62 BY C. CHABOT

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE FIRST SETTLER OF DAWSON COUNTY 64 BY MRS. DANIEL FREEMAN

EARLY DAYS IN DAWSON COUNTY 67 BY LUCY E. HEWITT

PIONEER JUSTICE 72 BY B. F. KRIER

A GOOD INDIAN 74 BY MRS. CLIFFORD WHITAKER

FROM MISSOURI TO DAWSON COUNTY 75 BY A. J. PORTER

THE ERICKSON FAMILY 76 BY MRS. W. M. STEBBINS

THE BEGINNINGS OF FREMONT 78 BY SADIE IRENE MOORE

A GRASSHOPPER STORY 82 BY MARGARET F. KELLY

EARLY DAYS IN FREMONT 84 BY MRS. THERON NYE

PIONEER WOMEN OF OMAHA 90 BY MRS. CHARLES H. FISETTE

A PIONEER FAMILY 93 BY EDITH ERMA PURVIANCE

THE BADGER FAMILY 97

THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER IN FILLMORE COUNTY 102

PIONEERING IN FILLMORE COUNTY 107 BY JOHN R. MCCASHLAND

FILLMORE COUNTY IN THE SEVENTIES 109 BY WILLIAM SPADE

EARLY DAYS IN NEBRASKA 111 BY J. A. CARPENTER

REMINISCENCES OF GAGE COUNTY 112 BY ALBERT L. GREEN

RANCHING IN GAGE AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES 123 BY PETER JANSEN

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF GAGE COUNTY 127 BY MRS. E. JOHNSON

BIOGRAPHY OF FORD LEWIS 129 BY MRS. (D. S.) H. VIRGINIA LEWIS DALBEY

A BUFFALO HUNT 131 BY W. H. AVERY

A GRASSHOPPER RAID 133 BY EDNA M. BOYLE ALLEN

EARLY DAYS IN PAWNEE COUNTY 135 BY DANIEL B. CROPSEY

EARLY EVENTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY 137 BY GEORGE CROSS

EARLY DAYS OF FAIRBURY AND JEFFERSON COUNTY 139 BY GEORGE W. HANSEN

THE EARLIEST ROMANCE OF JEFFERSON COUNTY 147 BY GEORGE W. HANSEN

EXPERIENCES ON THE FRONTIER 152 BY FRANK HELVEY

LOOKING BACKWARD 155 BY GEORGE E. JENKINS

THE EASTER STORM OF 1873 158 BY CHARLES B. LETTON

BEGINNINGS OF FAIRBURY 161 BY JOSEPH B. MCDOWELL

EARLY EXPERIENCES IN NEBRASKA 163 BY ELIZABETH PORTER SEYMOUR

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 166 BY MRS. C. F. STEELE

HOW THE SONS OF GEORGE WINSLOW FOUND THEIR FATHER'S GRAVE 168 _Statement by Mrs. C. F. Steele_ 168 _Statement by George W. Hansen_ 169

EARLY DAYS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY 175 BY MRS. M. H. WEEKS

LOCATION OF THE CAPITAL AT LINCOLN 176 BY JOHN H. AMES

AN INCIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF LINCOLN 182 BY ORTHA C. BELL

LINCOLN IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES 184 BY ORTHA C. BELL

A PIONEER BABY SHOW 186 BY MRS. FRANK I. RINGER

MARKING THE SITE OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK COUNCIL AT FORT CALHOUN 187 BY MRS. LAURA B. POUND

EARLY HISTORY OF LINCOLN COUNTY 190 BY MAJOR LESTER WALKER

GREY EAGLE, PAWNEE CHIEF 194 BY MILLARD S. BINNEY

LOVERS' LEAP (POEM) 196 BY MRS. A. P. JARVIS

EARLY INDIAN HISTORY 198 BY MRS. SARAH CLAPP

THE BLIZZARD OF 1888 203 BY MINNIE FREEMAN PENNY

AN ACROSTIC 204 BY MRS. ELLIS

EARLY DAYS IN NANCE COUNTY 206 BY MRS. ELLEN SAUNDERS WALTON

THE PAWNEE CHIEF'S FAREWELL (POEM) 208 BY CHAUNCEY LIVINGSTON WILTSE

MY TRIP WEST IN 1861 211 BY SARAH SCHOOLEY RANDALL

STIRRING EVENTS ALONG THE LITTLE BLUE 214 BY CLARENDON E. ADAMS

MY LAST BUFFALO HUNT 219 BY J. STERLING MORTON

HOW THE FOUNDER OF ARBOR DAY CREATED THE MOST FAMOUS WESTERN ESTATE 235 BY PAUL MORTON

EARLY REMINISCENCES OF NEBRASKA CITY--SOCIAL ASPECTS 240 BY ELLEN KINNEY WARE

SOME PERSONAL INCIDENTS 242 BY W. A. MCALLISTER

A BUFFALO HUNT 244 BY MINNIE FREEMAN PENNY

PIONEER LIFE 246 BY MRS. JAMES G. REEDER

EARLY DAYS IN POLK COUNTY 248 BY CALMAR MCCUNE

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 252 BY MRS. THYRZA REAVIS ROY

TWO SEWARD COUNTY CELEBRATIONS 254 BY MRS. S. C. LANGWORTHY

SEWARD COUNTY REMINISCENCES 255 COMPILED BY MARGARET HOLMES CHAPTER D. A. R.

PIONEERING 263 BY GRANT LEE SHUMWAY

EARLY DAYS IN STANTON COUNTY 266 BY ANDREW J. BOTTORFF AND SVEN JOHANSON

FRED E. ROPER, PIONEER 268 BY ERNEST E. CORRELL

THE LURE OF THE PRAIRIES 272 BY LUCY L. CORRELL

SUFFRAGE IN NEBRASKA 275 _Statement by Mrs. Gertrude M. McDowell_ 275 _Statement by Lucy L. Correll_ 277

AN INDIAN RAID 279 BY ERNEST E. CORRELL

REMINISCENCES 281 BY MRS. E. A. RUSSELL

REMINISCENCES OF FORT CALHOUN 284 BY W. H. ALLEN

REMINISCENCES OF WASHINGTON COUNTY 286 BY MRS. EMILY BOTTORFF ALLEN

REMINISCENCES OF PIONEER LIFE AT FORT CALHOUN 288 BY MRS. N. J. FRAZIER BROOKS

REMINISCENCES OF DE SOTO 289 BY OLIVER BOUVIER

REMINISCENCES 290 BY THOMAS M. CARTER

FORT CALHOUN IN THE LATE FIFTIES 293 BY MRS. E. H. CLARK

SOME ITEMS FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY 295 BY MRS. MAY ALLEN LAZURE

COUNTY-SEAT OF WASHINGTON COUNTY 298 BY FRANK MCNEELY

THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF FONTENELLE 299 BY MRS. EDA MEAD

THOMAS WILKINSON AND FAMILY 305

NIKUMI 307 BY MRS. HARRIETT S. MACMURPHY

THE HEROINE OF THE JULES SLADE TRAGEDY 322 BY MRS. HARRIETT S. MACMURPHY

THE LAST ROMANTIC BUFFALO HUNT ON THE PLAINS OF NEBRASKA 326 BY JOHN LEE WEBSTER

OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE NEBRASKA SOCIETY, D. A. R. 333 BY MRS. CHARLES H. AULL

ILLUSTRATIONS

MRS. LAURA B. POUND _Frontispiece_

OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT NEAR LEROY, NEBRASKA 18

OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT ON THE NEBRASKA-WYOMING STATE LINE 18

MRS. ANGIE F. NEWMAN 22

DEDICATION OF MONUMENT COMMEMORATING THE OREGON TRAIL AT KEARNEY, NEBRASKA 27

MRS. ANDREW K. GAULT 50

MONUMENT MARKING THE OLD TRAILS, FREMONT, NEBRASKA 78

MRS. CHARLOTTE F. PALMER 90

MRS. FRANCES AVERY HAGGARD 127

OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT NEAR FAIRBURY, NEBRASKA 139

MRS. ELIZABETH C. LANGWORTHY 155

MRS. CHARLES B. LETTON 168

BOULDER AT FORT CALHOUN, COMMEMORATING THE COUNCIL OF LEWIS AND CLARK WITH THE OTOE AND MISSOURI INDIANS 187

MRS. OREAL S. WARD 203

OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT ON KANSAS-NEBRASKA STATE LINE 240

MRS. CHARLES OLIVER NORTON 252

OREGON TRAIL MONUMENT NEAR HEBRON, NEBRASKA 268

MRS. WARREN PERRY 305

MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN, ANTELOPE PARK, LINCOLN 326

MRS. CHARLES H. AULL 333

MONUMENT MARKING THE INITIAL POINT OF THE CALIFORNIA TRAIL, RIVERSIDE PARK, OMAHA 337

CALIFORNIA TRAIL MONUMENT, BEMIS PARK, OMAHA 337

SOME FIRST THINGS IN THE HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY

BY GEORGE F. WORK

Adams county is named for the first time, in an act of the territorial legislature approved February 16, 1867, when the south bank of the Platte river was made its northern boundary. There were no settlers here at that time although several persons who are mentioned later herein had established trapping camps within what are now its boundaries. In 1871 it was declared a county by executive proclamation and its present limits defined as, in short, consisting of government ranges, 9, 10, 11, and 12 west of the sixth principal meridian, and townships 5, 6, 7, and 8, north of the base line, which corresponds with the south line of the state.

Mortimer N. Kress, familiarly known to the early settlers as "Wild Bill," Marion Jerome Fouts, also known as "California Joe," and James Bainter had made hunting and trapping camps all the way along the Little Blue river, prior to this time. This stream flows through the south part of the county and has its source just west of its western boundary in Kearney county. James Bainter filed on a tract just across its eastern line in Clay county as his homestead, and so disappears in the history of Adams county. Mortimer N. Kress is still living and now has his home in Hastings, a hale, hearty man of seventy-five years and respected by all. Marion J. Fouts, about seventy years of age, still lives on the homestead he selected in that early day and is a respected, prominent man in that locality.

Gordon H. Edgerton, now a resident and prominent business man of Hastings, when a young man, in 1866, was engaged in freighting across the plains, over the Oregon trail that entered the county where the Little Blue crosses its eastern boundary and continued in a northwesterly direction, leaving its western line a few miles west and a little north of where Kenesaw now stands, and so is familiar with its early history. There has already been some who have questioned the authenticity of the story of an Indian massacre having taken place where this trail crosses Thirty-two Mile creek, so named because it was at this point about thirty-two miles east of Fort Kearny. This massacre took place about the year 1867, and Mr. Edgerton says that it was universally believed at the time he was passing back and forth along this trail. He distinctly remembers an old threshing machine that stood at that place for a long time and that was left there by some of the members of the party that were killed. The writer of this sketch who came to the county in 1874, was shown a mound at this place, near the bank of the creek, which he was told was the heaped up mound of the grave where the victims were buried, and the story was not questioned so far as he ever heard until recent years. Certainly those who lived near the locality at that early day did not question it. This massacre took place very near the locality where Captain Fremont encamped, the night of June 25, 1842, as related in the history of his expedition and was about five or six miles south and a little west of Hastings. I well remember the appearance of this trail. It consisted of a number of deeply cut wagon tracks, nearly parallel with each other, but which would converge to one track where the surface was difficult or where there was a crossing to be made over a rough place or stream. The constant tramping of the teams would pulverize the soil and the high winds would blow out the dust, or if on sloping ground, the water from heavy rains would wash it out until the track became so deep that a new one would be followed because the axles of the wagons would drag on the ground. It was on this trail a few miles west of what is now the site of Kenesaw, that a lone grave was discovered by the first settlers in the country, and a story is told of how it came to be there. About midway from where the trail leaves the Little Blue to the military post at Fort Kearny on the Platte river a man with a vision of many dollars to be made from the people going west to the gold-fields over this trail, dug a well about one hundred feet deep for the purpose of selling water to the travelers and freighters. Some time later he was killed by the Indians and the well was poisoned by them. A man by the name of Haile camped here a few days later and he and his wife used the water for cooking and drinking. Both were taken sick and the wife died, but he recovered. He took the boards of his wagon box and made her a coffin and buried her near the trail. Some time afterwards he returned and erected a headstone over her grave which was a few years since still standing and perhaps is to this day, the monument of a true man to his love for his wife and to her memory.

The first homestead was taken in the county by Francis M. Luey, March 5, 1870, though there were others taken the same day. The facts as I get them direct from Mr. Kress are that he took his team and wagon, and he and three other men went to Beatrice, where the government land office was located, to make their entries. When they arrived at the office, with his characteristic generosity he said: "Boys, step up and take your choice; any of it is good enough for me." Luey was the first to make his entry, and he was followed by the other three. Francis M. Luey took the southwest quarter of section twelve; Mortimer N. Kress selected the northeast quarter of section thirteen; Marion Jerome Fouts, the southeast quarter of eleven; and the fourth person, John Smith, filed on the southwest quarter of eleven, all in township five north and range eleven west of the sixth principal meridian. Smith relinquished his claim later and never made final proof, so his name does not appear on the records of the county as having made this entry. The others settled and made improvements on their lands. Mortimer N. Kress built a sod house that spring, and later in the summer, a hewed log house, and these were the first buildings in the county. So Kress and Fouts, two old comrades and trappers, settled down together, and are still citizens of the county. Other settlers rapidly began to make entry in the neighborhood, and soon there were enough to be called together in the first religious service. The first sermon was preached in Mr. Kress' hewed log house by Rev. J. W. Warwick in the fall of 1871.

The first marriage in the county was solemnized in 1872 between Roderick Lomas or Loomis and "Lila" or Eliza Warwick, the ceremony being performed by the bride's father, Rev. J. W. Warwick. Prior to this, however, on October 18, 1871, Eben Wright and Susan Gates, a young couple who had settled in the county, were taken by Mr. Kress in his two-horse farm wagon to Grand Island, where they were married by the probate judge.

The first deaths that occurred in the county were of two young men who came into the new settlement to make homes for themselves in 1870, selected their claims and went to work, and a few days later were killed in their camp at night. It was believed that a disreputable character who came along with a small herd of horses committed the murder, but no one knew what the motive was. He was arrested and his name given as Jake Haynes, but as no positive proof could be obtained he was cleared at the preliminary examination, and left the country. A story became current a short time afterward that he was hanged in Kansas for stealing a mule.

The first murder that occurred in the county that was proven was that of Henry Stutzman, who was killed by William John McElroy, February 8, 1879, about four miles south of Hastings. He was arrested a few hours afterward, and on his trial was convicted and sent to the penitentiary.

The first child born in the county was born to Francis M. Luey and wife in the spring of 1871. These parents were the first married couple to settle in this county. The child lived only a short time and was buried near the home, there being no graveyard yet established. A few years ago the K. C. & O. R. R. in grading its roadbed through that farm disturbed the grave and uncovered its bones.

In the spring and summer of 1870 Mr. Kress broke about fifty acres of prairie on his claim and this constituted the first improvement of that nature in the county.

J. R. Carter and wife settled in this neighborhood about 1870, and the two young men, mentioned above as having been murdered, stopped at their house over night, their first visitors. It was a disputed point for a long time whether Mrs. Carter, Mrs. W. S. Moote, or Mrs. Francis M. Luey was the first white woman to settle permanently in the county; but Mr. Kress is positive that the last named was the first and is entitled to that distinction. Mrs. Moote, with her husband, came next and camped on their claim, then both left and made their entries of the land. In the meantime, before the return of the Mootes, Mr. and Mrs. Carter made permanent settlement on their land, so the honors were pretty evenly divided.

The first white settler in the county to die a natural death and receive Christian burial was William H. Akers, who had taken a homestead in section 10-5-9. The funeral services were conducted by Rev. J. W. Warwick.

In the summer of 1871 a colony of settlers from Michigan settled on land on which the townsite of Juniata was afterward located, and October 1, 1871, the first deed that was placed on record in the county was executed by John and Margaret Stark to Col. Charles P. Morse before P. F. Barr, a notary public at Crete, Nebraska, and was filed for record March 9, 1872, and recorded on page 1, volume 1, of deed records of Adams county. The grantee was general superintendent of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company which was then approaching the eastern edge of the county, and opened its first office at Hastings in April, 1873, with agent Horace S. Wiggins in charge. Mr. Wiggins is now a well-known public accountant and insurance actuary residing in Lincoln. The land conveyed by this deed and some other tracts for which deeds were soon after executed was in section 12, township 7, range 11, and on which the town of Juniata was platted. The Stark patent was dated June 5, 1872, and signed by U. S. Grant as president. The town plat was filed for record March 9, 1872.

The first church organized in the county was by Rev. John F. Clarkson, chaplain of a colony of English Congregationalists who settled near the present location of Hastings in 1871. He preached the first sermon while they were still camped in their covered wagons at a point near the present intersection of Second street and Burlington avenue, the first Sunday after their arrival. A short time afterward, in a sod house on the claim of John G. Moore, at or near the present site of the Lepin hotel, the church was organized with nine members uniting by letter, and a few Sundays later four more by confession of their faith. This data I have from Peter Fowlie and S. B. Binfield, two of the persons composing the first organization.