USA > Nebraska > Nebraska history and record of pioneer days, Vol I > Part 13
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An interesting story, by Mrs. Freeman, of "Early Days in Daw- son County," is printed in Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences, published in 1916.
THIRTEEN HOURS IN A NEBRASKA BLIZZARD.
Following is part of a letter written by Dr. G. C. Paxton, of Chambers, Nebraska, to his wife, on January 18, 1888:
'We have had severe blizzards every few days all winter, but on Thursday, the 12th inst., there was the worst storm that was ever known in this or any other country. On the 11th it snowed and was very blustery, but on the morning of the never-to-be-forgotten 12th, the wind was blowing a soft breeze, from the south, and every one said, 'We are going to have a January thaw,' but alas how untrue. In less than one minute, without warning, with no indication that death and destruction would follow that awful storm, with no premonition that an impending and horrible doom await them, the people were out attending to their stock, or at their respective avocations, when it came. The wind blew a terrible gale, the air was full of powdered snow and so cold that hundreds of cattle and live stock of all kinds froze to death. Such was the state of affairs when Lee and Crof Baker, a man by the name of Gorman, from Scotia, Neb., and myself, started to go from our store to Mr. Wry's, our boarding house.
The time was 1:30 o'clock p. m. when we started. We could not see five feet from us in any direction. We got probably within twenty feet of the house, got lost, shouted as loud as we could, but could hear nothing but that fearful wind. We were not clothed to be out half an hour. After trying to find the house we started with the wind which was blowing from the northwest. We were frightful looking human beings with ice hanging from our whiskers and clothes, our faces a sheet of ice, but we staggered on. We went through corn stalks, over cultivated farms, came to trees, went within a few yards of houses, shouted and screamed, but no echoing voice re- turned. By this time night was approaching, but still we traveled on, determined not to yield until we were forced to do so. We finally came to some cabbage and castor bean stalks and we knew we were close to a house. We shouted long and loud, and a dog heard us and barked, and we followed the dog who led us to a hog shed which we welconied with open arms. More dead than alive, we crowded in among the hogs. There was not a dry thread on us when the ice melted. My toes were frozen as I didn't have very warm shoes and only cotton socks. I pulled my shoes off and my feet froze solid and I would have lost them only for Lee Baker, who told me to put them under his coat. I feel very grateful to him as he saved my life. He had no overshoes so he put his feet under a hog and kept them from freezing. We stayed with the hogs ten hours when the storm abated and Mr. Gorman ventured out and found the house. I could hardly walk when I started to go in. We were out altogether thirteen hours.
Oh! that was an awful night. We beat ourselves until we were sore to keep from going to sleep and freezing. I thought of you and the little ones more than once that night. What people were those where we stopped! They could not do enough for us. We stayed with them a day and a half, and John Dougherty and Mr. Chatterton took us home in a sleigh. We were only six miles from home, but we went much farther than that. These people were Germans and would not think of accepting anything for their kindness. This was our ex -. perience, and I wish ours had been the worst case. Old Tom Keller was frozen to death that night. A man by the name of Glaze was. found the next morning stark and stiff within ten feet of his door, and another man was found in a dooryard dead. Mrs. Crupee went out to look for her husband, who was lost in the storm; he came back in her absence and started after her, but did not find her, after- getting lost and staying out on the prairie all night. Dr. Lukens, a. young man who slept here with me since you left, started for his stable and has not been found. I need not go on. There were fifteen in this immediate vicinity whom I have heard of. Fifteen coffins were ordered from Ewing yesterday besides these. All along our trail cattle and sheep were scattered and frozen. One Mr. Graham lost 140 cattle, Mr. Holcombe, 350 sheep, and others in proportion . There are as. many as a thousand cattle lost in this valley, besides sheep, hogs and horses. The mail carrier to this place drove to within ten feet of the- Shamrock stable, turned and went until his horses would go no further, unhitched and stayed by a sod wall all night, froze his feet so badly I may have to amputate his toes. Next morning both horses were found dead close to his sleigh. The weather is pleasant today, but we are looking for another storm.
The Red Cloud Agency Buildings
"OLD SODDY."-P. F. RANCH-HOUSE
Volume XIX of the publications of the Historical Society contains a description of the Red Cloud Indian agency which was situated near the site now occupied by the town of Henry, Scott's Bluff county. It. was conjectured that the accompanying picture, taken by Mr. A. E. Sheldon, represented a building belonging to the agency, but the following letter, dated December 9, from Mr. Erle H. Reid, of Torring- ton, establishes its identity :
As requested, I return herewith the photograph of the "Soddy" and barn at the old P. F. ranch. Mr. Thomas J. Snow was with the Pratt and Ferris Cattle Company when the old ranch was purchased. At that time it was the property of Nick Jonice (I am not sure about the spelling), a former government interpreter, brother-in-law of Red Cloud. He and Senator T. G. Powers both agree that the "Soddy" shown here is not the original "Soddy," but is a sod building con- structed by the Pratt and Ferris Cattle Company for their ranch, and it was probably not erected until late in the 70's or in the 80's. Evi- dently, in taking this picture the camera was pointed almost to the northwest, as the sun shows on the south end of the barn, and the east side of the barn is in shadow. Just west of this barn is an old slough, generally dry, and it was across this slough, south and east from the barn, that the agency sod building was situated.
Mr. Snow remembers the old agency buildings quite well. The largest faced the north; there were some more buildings joining it fac- ing the same way, and then there was a series of buildings or a con- tinuation of building that faced east. These buildings made the west and south enclosures of a compound 120 feet square, the north and east sides of which were themselves sod walls. These walls, as Mr. Snow remembers, were loopholed for riflemen. As Mr. Snow and Mr. Powers remember it, this was known as Red Cloudy agency, and it was the site of Little Moon post office. Mr. Snow has recently seen in print the statement that Little Moon post office was situated at the Bridle Bit ranch at the mouth of Horse creek, but is very sure that the writer, whose name he does not now remember, was in error about this. He says there was a post office at the old Bridle Bit ranch at one time, but he does not remember its name. Mr. Snow told me quite a little about Jonice and his half-breed family consisting of three or four boys and four or five girls, and his son-in-law who was hiim- self a half-breed by the name of Louis Shango. (Again I refuse to take the responsibility of the spelling of this name.)
Senator Powers says that Nick Jonice and two of his brothers are buried in the old military cemetery at Fort Laramie together with some of Nick's children, and that the headstones with their names: on can still be found there.
OCT 2 0 1994
OF:
Allen County Public Library
NEBRASKA AND RECORD
HISTORY PIONEER DAYS
NEBRASKA HISTORY AND RECORD OF PIONEER DAYS
Published Quarterly by the Nebraska State Historical Society
Editor, ADDISON E. SHELDON Associate Editors The Staffs of the Nebraska State Historical Society and Legislative Reference Bureau
Subscription $2.00 Per Year
All sustaining members of the Nebraska State Historical Society receive Nebraska History without further payment.
" Entered as second class mail matter, under act of July 16, 1894, at Lincoln, Nebraska, April 2, 1918.
VOLUME II. JANUARY-MARCH 1919 NUMBER 1
A WAR JOURNEY
The editor of this magazine sailed from New York on the steamer Carmania, October 6, 1918. October 17 he landed at Liverpool, reached London on the 19th, crossed the channel on the 23d and reached Paris on the 24th. He was upon the line of the Meuse and Argonne Forest when the armistice was signed, November 11. The months of November, December and part of January were spent in visiting the war devastated regions of Belgium and northern France, in the camps of American soldiers (especially those of Nebraska) in France and Germany, and in the study of war conditions in Europe as widely and intensely as crowded days and nights would permit. The main purpose of the journey was to secure at first hand important mate- rial for the Historical Society library and museum and to initiate among the Nebraska soldiers overseas the systematic preservation of Nebraska's part in the great war for the Historical Society of their own state. A large amount of war material was secured. From time to time short stories of Nebraska in the World War will appear in these columns, some of them gathered while in Europe, others assem- bled by the men who took part in the war.
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA IN THE WAR
The World War is the greatest single event in human history, both in magnitude and ultimate results. We are now too near the great affairs of the past five years to properly appraise them. Ne- braska's part in the conflict was an important one. Its history must be adequately collected, preserved, exhibited in relics, written in books. This is pre-eminently the work of the Historical Society. It is now gathering the material. In due time there will appear in book form a series of publications bearing the seal of the Historical Society and giving the most vivid and accurate account of the deeds of Nebraska men and women during these years. We ask the aid of every loyal Nebraskan in this work.
OVERSEAS AND AT HOME
The overseas cap is a badge of honor and distinction. It signifies an experience which all will envy, It is not the only title to honor in the world war. The most important work in sustaining the gov- ernment was done thousands of miles from the battle front. The preparation of food and machinery, the organization of funds, the inspiration and unification of the public mind, the service of succor and relief-these were among the great things done at home. Upon them the final victory depended. Out of the spirit which these engen- dered among those who held each other's hands and upheld the world's great cause must come the sane reconstruction now needed. Nebraska is at the heart of the American continent in physical location and in feeling. Her heartbeats were strong, full and regular in those serious months when her sons had been summoned, some of them never to return. It is the story of this part of Nebraska's service which most needs appreciation and record.
A QUARTERLY HEREAFTER
Hereafter Nebraska History will appear as a quarterly magazine. The monthly issue was found impracticable with the many lines of Society work and the small office staff. Each quarterly number will contain more material than the monthly issues and more time for carefully editing the same will be secured.
AID FROM HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEMBERS
Each one of the 1300 members of the Historical Society can render valuable service by sending brief letters of historical information or criticism. Many of our members do this. Whenever there is an im- portant find of historical material relating to Nebraska we shall be glad to have immediate information.
IMPORTANT ADDITIONS
Some of the most important additions ever procured by the His- tarical Society are now being added to our library and museum. Among the most notable may be mentioned:
A complete set of United States war films.
Complete files of the Woman's Division State Council of Defence. Under an act passed by the Nebraska legislature last winter all the files and papers of the Nebraska State Council of Defense are to be turned over to the Historical Society for preservation.
CURATOR BLACKMAN
The curator of the Historical Society museum attended the meet- ing of the American Museum Association at Philadelphia May 19-23, having a place upon its program for presentation of a museum dis- play case invented by him.
The discussion of the papers read, as well as the personal contact with museum men of national standing, broadens the horizon of those who help to maintain this organization.
During his stay in the east he visited, not only the museums of Philadelphia, but the National Museum at Washington and the great museums of New York as well.
Because of the interest in the boulder placed on our University campus by the class of 1892, Mr. Blackman visited the "Dighton writ- ing rock" near Dighton, Mass., while he was in the east. The com- parative study of the petroglyphs on the two rocks will be discussed later, as well as some very interesting items observed in the museums visited.
FIRST NEBRASKA NEWSPAPER FILES
The Nebraska State Historical Society put on an exhibit of papers of the state during the meeting of the State Press Association, which took place in Lincoln on February 20 to 22. Long tables were placed in the halls at the Lincoln Hotel, where the meetings were held, and about sixty of the more than 13,000 volumes owned by the Society. were placed for the inspection of the press fraternity. Among the collection were many papers published in the territorial years of the state. The first paper printed and published in Nebraska, "The Ne- braska Palladium," which began publication at Bellevue July 15, 1854, was of great interest to the newspaper people. "The Nebraska Com- monwealth," established Sept. 7, 1867, which later changed its name to "The Nebraska State Journal," was another old-time paper which was thoughtfully examined. "The Stars and Stripes," the official newspaper of the American Expeditionary Forces, published in France, was on exhibition. The Society has the complete files of this publi- cation, acquired by Secretary Sheldon while on his recent trip to France.
RECENT LIBRARY ADDITIONS
In addition to the usual historical and genealogical magazines, this library has received by gift or purchase the following titles:
History of Richardson County.
History of Gage County.
Centennial History of Illionis.
Pioneer history of Minnesota.
Early Connecticut Marriages.
General Science.
Munsell's List of Titles.
Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History.
The Great Union Pacific Railroad.
Social History of the American Family, Vol. 3.
Iowa Authors and Their Works.
Usury.
These Hard Times.
The last two books are by Mr. Calvin Elliott, their chief interest to Nebraskans being that Mr. Elliott was one of the first regents of the State University.
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Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days
PASSING OF NEBRASKA PIONEERS Men and Women Who Made Our State
DEATHS SINCE NOVEMBER 24
These obituaries are compiled largely from death notices printed in newspapers which are received and kept on file by the Historical Society. While the sketches have been carefully edited, it has been impossible to avoid and correct all inaccuracies. The lives of some subjects of the obituaries were of unusual public interest, and in such cases the sketches have been duly amplified. Statements of fact, particularly those which are of record, have been verified as far as practicable. Obviously, it is very desirable that these records, which will always be used for reference, should be correct, and surviving relatives and editors of local newspapers should carefully cooperate in preventing errors.
Mrs. John T. Van Buskirk died November 24, at her home in Beatrice; was born July 22, 1847, in Wells county, Ind .; came to Ne- braska July 4, 1856, settiing at Nebraska City.
Mrs. Susannah Lillie, a resident of Gage county since 1864, died November 25 at her home near Beatrice, aged eighty-seven years. She owned a farm on which she had resided for nearly sixty years.
Mrs. Catherine. Miller died at Seattle, November 26, aged eighty- one years; came to Lincoln county, Nebraska, with her husband in 1860 and they started a road house at a point east of Cottonwood Springs; moved to North Platte in 1867.
Mrs. Marie Montgomery died December 2 at her farm home near Firth, where she had resided forty-three years; born in Doylestown, Ohio, May 11, 1834; came to Nebraska City in 1862, where she lived for thirteen years, before moving to Firth.
Mrs. J. W. West, maiden name Malinda Spurleck, died at Howe, Neb., Dec. 5; born May 20, 1823, in the state of Alabama; came to Ne- maha county. Nebraska, in 1852, and lived there until the time of her death.
Vaclav Kublicek died December 6 at his home near Crete; born January 16, 1847, in Bohemia; came to America in 1864, first to Chi- cago and after about six months to Arago, Nebr .; then settled on a homestead near Crete, in 1865.
Mrs. Sarah Parks died December 28 at Red Cloud; was born in Northamptonshire, England, July 14, 1832; came to America, landing May 22, 1855; reached Salt Lake City October 24 of the same year; four days after was married to William Parks, to whom she had been previously engaged; in 1859 they left Salt Lake City for Omaha with a government train, escaping from Mormon surveillance; had lived in Webster county about forty years.
Robert Alexander Wilson, born eighty-six years ago; died at Blue Springs on January 30. Mr. Wilson came to the territory in 1856 and for a time was government agent on the Otoe and Missouri In- dian reservation near Barneston, Neb. In 1861 he surveyed and platted the original town site of Blue Springs.
Carl Gustaf Rosengren, born in Ephriam, Utah, June 16, 1866, died January 21, near Colon; came to Fremont with his parents in 1867.
John W. Pittman, born March 25, 1834, in Harrison county, Indi- ana, died January 21, at his home near Union; moved to Weston, Ia., in 1855, where he was a storekeeper; came to Nebraska May 28, 1859, in debt from his business venture, and took a preemption claim near Rock Bluffs, but soon engaged in freighting across the plains from Nebraska City on his own account; in 1867 settled permanently on 160 acres of land in Liberty precinct, Cass county, which he increased to a farm of over 600 acres; married Miss Lydia A. Goodwin of Marion county, Iowa, and they had nine children.
William Powell, born in Massillon, Ohio, March 19, 1843, died January 28 at Syracuse; came to Nebraska in 1857 with his parents, who settled in Johnson county; August 12, 1864, enlisted as corporal in Company A, First Regiment Nebraska Veteran Volunteer Cavalry, from Fort Kearny; mustered out May 28, 1866.
Thomas Long McNeil, born in New York City May 23, 1828, died about January 22, at Ogallala, where he had lived many years; came to Nebraska in 1865 and settled on a farm sixteen miles southwest of Lincoln; joined Lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M. of Lincoln, on February 1, 1870, and remained a member until his death.
Lewis Friel Cornutt, born in Grayson county, Virginia, May 22, 1833, died January 11 at Nebraska City. He left Virginia with friends in September, 1854; traveled by wagon and arrived at Nebraska City November 6, of the same year; he soon went to Atchison county, Mo., but after a short stay returned to Nebraska City; in 1860 moved to Colorado; came back to Nebraska City in 1864; în the spring of 1868 moved to Cheyenne, but again returned to Nebraska City in 1871. He was mainly engaged in the mercantile business in all of these places. though he also gave attention to the development of gold mines at Central City, Col., and to freighting at Nebraska City in 1868.
Andrew Christenson, born at Trelleborg, Sweden, September 26, 1838, died January 12, at Malmo; came to the United States in July, 1867, lived in Omaha until 1870, then settled on a homestead in Saun- ders county.
Mrs. Sallie M. Camp, born in the state of New York June 9, 1832, died January 16 at Humboldt; came to Nebraska in the spring of 1861 and settled near Auburn.
Mrs. Henry Jones, born in Prussia December 26, 1849, died Jan- uary 18, at Wilber; came with her parents to this country in 1867, who settled on a homestead in Jefferson county, which Mrs. Jones owned to the time of her death.
Benjamin Nathan Leisure, born in Indiana on August 3, 1835, died
in Pawnee City, December 28; came to Butler county in his boyliood.
George W. Howe, born on a farm near North Bend May 25, 1866, died December 31, 1918, at Fremont.
Daniel B. Colhapp, born in Covington, Ky., January 24, 1846, died January 2, at Tecumseh; when he was nineteen years of age he be- came an apprentice in the printing office of the Nebraska Advertiser, which was started at Brownville, June 7, 1856, by Dr. John McPher- son and Robert W. Furnas.
Mrs. Nancy A. Gessell, born at Lancaster, Ohio, December 27, 1834, died January 7, at Beatrice. She was married in 1857 and lived at Odell, Neb., and later moved to Beatrice.
Simpson Mckibbin ,born in County Down, Ireland, in May, 1834, died January 10, at Emporia, Kan .; emigrated to America in 1848; lived for a time in Grant county, Wisconsin, next in Clayton county, Iowa; came to Nebraska in 1864, settling in Hendricks precinct, Otoe county, where he became a wealthy farmer; was married in 1860 to Miss Harriet M. Douglas of Mitchell county, Iowa, who survives him. The town of Douglas was named for Mrs. McKibbin.
Mrs. Peter Frederick, Sr., born July 22, 1838, at Delphos, Ohio, died January 11, at Fails City; came to Richardson county in 1863 and had resided there ever since.
MRS. WILLIAM NUTTER, NEBRASKA PIONEER, 1859
Dinah Hingham was born in England in 1835; married to William Nutter in 1855; they emigrated to Philadelphia together in the same year, and thence to Salt Lake City, via the Nebraska route, in 1859; in 1862 came to Nebraska, squatting on a farm near Shelton, Buffalo county; left in the panic caused by the general attacks on white set- tlers by Indians in 1864 and returned to England, but soon came back to Philadelphia and, in 1869, to Nebraska, settling on a homestead near Gibbon, where Mrs. Nutter died on December 31, 1918. Mr. Nutter died in 1908. That through all this vicissitude this staunch couple had acquired and developed one of the finest farms in Buffalo county and had cared for their fifteen children, shows that the traditional English heart of oak is not a myth and that they inherited it. Fur- thermore, while, like many English folk at that time, they were se- duced by Mormon emissaries, they had the moral courage to renounce and escape from this evil, un-English system.
DEATH OF A PROMINENT NEBRASKA PIONEER
Thomas Swobe, who died at Berkeley, Calif., January 20, 1919, had a long and notable career in Nebraska. He was born in Johnstown, Fulton county, N. Y., March 17, 1843; went to Niles, Mich., in 1857; October 16, 1861, enlisted as a private in Company E, Twelfth Regi- ment, Michigan Infantry Volunteers; reenlisted in the veteranized regi- ment, February 4, 1863; was mustered out as first lieutenant of Com- pany K, March 6, 1866. Hc was on staff duty about two years; quarter- master of the Second Division, Seventh Army Corps; post commissary at Washington, Ark., in 1865, and in December of that year was de- tailed as adjutant-general on Brevet Brigadier General May's staff. Southern Division of Arkansas; came to Nebraska in August, 1866; was employed in the city clerk's office for a year; then became seere- tary of the Central Land Company; elected city clerk of Douglas county in 1869; elected councilman of Omaha in 1872 and in 1874; in 1876 engaged in the hotel and railroad dining hall business with J. E. Markel; was one of six men who built the Millard Hotel, in 1882, which was conducted by himself and J. E. Markel until 1891, and afterward by himself alone. In 1883 he became a member of the syn- dicate which founded South Omaha and the Union Stock Yards Com- pany and brought the packing houses there, and was one of the trus- tees of the site and their secretary; 1890, director of the Omaha Driv- ing Park Association; 1891, director of the Real Estate Owners' Asso- ciation of Omaha; 1892, member of the council of Nebraska Command- ery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.
PIONEER ASSOCIATIONS
The Old Settlers Historical Society of Howard county is one of the most active in the state. Its membership includes all persons who have lived in the county thirty years or more.
At Home Rest Farm, near Murdock, the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of George Buell and George E. Vanderburg was cele- brated upon the homestead taken by Mr. Buell fifty years ago.
Kearney county organized a county historical society, April 10, with C. P. Anderberry president and Lee A. Richmond secretary.
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