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Present Governing Board
Executive Board-Officers and Elected Members
President, Robert Harvey, Lincoln.
1st V-President, Hamilton B. Lowry, Lincoln
2nd V-President, Nathan P. Dodge Jr., Omaha
Secretary, Addison E. Sheldon, Lincoln
Treasurer, Philip L. Hall, Lincoln Rev. Macheal A. Shine, Plattsmouth
Don L. Love, Lincoln
Samuel C. Bassett, Gibbon
John F. Cordeal, McCook
Novia Z. Snell, Lincoln
William E. Hardy, Lincoln
Ex Officio Members
Samuel R. McKelvie, Governor of Nebraska
Samuel Avery, Chancellor of University of Nebraska George C. Snow, Chadron, President of Nebraska Press Association Howard W. Caldwell, Professor of American History, University of Nebraska
Andrew M. Morrissey, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Nebraska Clarence A. Davis, Attorney General of Nebraska
TAT
NEBRASKA AND RECORD OF
HISTORY PIONEER DAYS
Published Quarterly by the Nebraska State Historical Soceity
Addison E. Sheldon, Editor
Subscription, $2.00 per year
All sustaining members of the Nebraska State Historical Society receive Nebraska History and other publications without further payment.
Vol. V.
April-June, 1922
No. 2
In the September number of the Wisconsin Magazine of History, in a history of Platteville, in that state, is the fol- lowing paragraph of interest to Nebraska readers:
One of our oldest living residents at Platteville is Mr. Frank Rowe, who came here in the forties and who crossed the plains to California with an ox team in 1852, leaving Platteville on the last day of March. There were five ox teams in the company. Close to the mouth of Shell Creek, Nebraska, the company was attacked by Indians, but fortunately at that moment another company bound for California came in sight. A corral was quickly made of the wagons, and the oxen, horses, and non- combatants were put in the center. The battle lasted for a considerable time, and finally the Indians withdrew leaving nine of their number dead.
William J. Holladay was buried in North Loup cemetery June 18. He was one of the early settlers in that region, conducting a sutler's store at Fort Hartsuff, the frontier post guarding the early settlements on the Loup rivers. Later he was sheriff of Valley County.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
JAMES N. PAUL Sept. 23, 1839 March 9, 1922
NICHOLAS J. PAUL July 27, 1841 July 18, 1921
The Paul Brothers of St. Paul
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
THE PAUL BROTHERS OF ST. PAUL
By Robert Harvey President Nebraska Historical Society
During the past twelve months Nebraska has lost two pioneers, identified with Nebraska territory and state for nearly sixty years. Howard county has lost two citizens, James N. Paul and Nicholas J. Paul, the sponsors for its posi- tion on the map of the state, first to give to the world its ad- vantages of location, fertile soil and healthful climate; who initiated, induced and gave direction to the first tide of a peaceable and thrifty emigration into the Loup country, thus giving Howard county character, dignity and an enviable standing among the counties of the state. Together they se- cured the severance of sixteen townships from the north part of Hall county and the passage of a bill in the legislature of 1871 defining the boundaries of Howard county. They pro- moted its speedy organization. They showed their faith in the country by more than fifty years of continuous residence within its boundaries, and by constant, harmonious labor for the betterment of its citizenship, educational and financial in- terests. They opened to the world's toilers the door of that great agricultural region drained by the Loup rivers, compris- ing the counties of Howard, Greeley, Sherman, Valley, Gar- field and Loup.
St. Paul, the county seat of Howard County, was named by U. S. Senator Phineas W. Hitchcock in their honor.
James N. Paul, the older brother, was born in Beaver County, Pa., September 23, 1839, and soon after the family moved to Meigs County, Ohio. He served in Company H, 140th Regiment Ohio Infantry, in the Civil war, after which he came west and for six or seven years was engaged in government surveying. In the winter and spring of 1871, with his brother, he was interested in founding a colony in the Loup river coun- try in Howard County and took a homestead adjoining St. Paul which he still owned at the time of his death.
At the permanent organization of the county he was elec- ted county commissioner for the long term and was the cen- tral figure in piloting the organization through its infancy to a stable financial basis which had marked influence in the fu- ture management of its finances.
In the fall of 1873 he succeeded Seth P. Mobley as pro- prietor and editor of the Howard County Advocate which he ably conducted until 1878, when the plant was sold to Robert Harvey. He then entered upon the practice of law to which he gave all his time and energy and soon became one of the lead- ing trial lawyers in central Nebraska. He was a member of the senate in the legislature of 1885 and was chairman of the judiciary committee.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
In 1901 he became judge of the 11th judicial district which place he filled with great ability until the expiration of his term in 1917 when he voluntarily retired on account of failing health.
He was positive and firm in his convictions, wise in his counsels and honorable in business transactions.
As pioneer, home builder, lawyer, statesman and jurist he made a firm and lasting impression upon the people and the institutions of central Nebraska.
He died at his home in St. Paul March 9th, 1922, at the age of 82 years, five months and sixteen days.
Nicholas Jay Paul, the younger brother of Judge Paul, was born in Meigs County, Ohio, July 27, 1841. Receiving an academic education at Ewington, Ohio, for a time he taught district school. In the fall of 1862, he moved to Leavenworth and the following years was engaged in government survey- ing in southern Nebraska. He was also a trusted employe of the Union Pacific land department.
He was associated with Judge Paul in founding a colony in the Loup country and filed a homestead entry on a quarter section of fine land adjacent to St. Paul where he continued to live until his death. Mr. Paul was one of the commissioners appointed to effect the temporary organization of Howard county and at the fall election of 1871 was chosen probate judge which office he held for four years. In 1876 he was elected the first representative to the legislature from the county.
In 1879 he was elected county treasurer and reelected in 1881. After the expiration of his second term he declined further to be a candidate for any office, excepting that of school director which he held for forty-eight years, always manifesting a great interest in educational matters.
In 1884 he purchased the stock of the Howard county bank and soon after organized the St. Paul National Bank, and in later years changed to the St. Paul State Bank to which he gave his undivided attention for the remainder of his life. It was during the dark financial days of the nine- ties that the rugged honesty of the man was displayed when in despair of being able to weather the storm of national financial depression he said he would rather give up all his property and begin over again, than that any of his depositors should suffer. His bank was considered one of the substantial institutions of central Nebraska.
He had kept a diary since 1866 in which he briefly recorded his busi- ness transactions and those who have been permitted to examine his books have been surprised at the great number of money loans during the first few years of the colony's early life and the repayment of the same amount apparently without interest. During those few years, which in- cluded the years of the grasshopper scourge, there was great destitution and many families would have suffered great hardships had they not known where they could go for aid and sympathy. It falls to the lot of few men in private life to be so generally known and to possess so many true friends.
He died of apoplexy at his desk at the noon hour, July 18, 1921, at the age of 79 years, 11 months and 21 days.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
MILITARY POSTS IN THE WEST.
One of the rare volumes upon Western history is circular No. 8, issued from the Surgeon-General's office, War Depart- ment, May 1, 1875. It is a report on the hygiene of the United States army with a description of all military posts and a map. It is a volume of 570 pages and is now quite out of print and difficult to find. The volume recently secured by the Ne- braska State Historical Society was through the kindness of General Wm. H. Carter, whose letter is printed elsewhere in this magazine.
The volume contains complete descriptions of all western army posts, with an account of the surrounding country, tabu- lation of all buildings, an account of the health of soldiers at each post and hygienic conditions, diagrams of each fort and its buildings and a weather record during the history of the fort.
The forts and camps in Nebraska described in this vol- ume are Camp Hartsuff, in the North Loup valley, located in 1874; Fort McPherson, in Lincoln county, located in 1866; North Platte station, Lincoln county established in August 1867; Omaha Barracks, Douglas County, established Novem- ber 20, 1868; Camp Robinson, Sioux county, established in February, 1874; Camp Sheridan (Spotted Tail Agency) Sheri- dan county, located September 9, 1874; Sidney Barracks, Chey- enne county, located in 1867.
In addition to these there is a chapter each upon these forts inseparably connected with the history of Nebraska: Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Fort Laramie, Wyo- ming; Fort Randall, South Dakota.
Most interesting detailed information is given of living conditions for the population of these forts. This includes such details as the number of cubic feet for each person in living rooms, the kinds of diseases and number of cases at each post, the methods of heating, water and ice supply, bath- rooms, garden products, libraries and scientific observations upon conditions which could be made only by trained medi- cal observers.
Fort Kearny, the most important military post in Ne- braska during the frontier period, was abandoned in 1871 and therefore does not appear in this report. Fort McPherson in 1875 was still a post of importance and the description of the buildings and conveniences there are of interest:
The buildings are arranged about a quadrangle 844 by 560 feet. Two sides are formed by five barracks, three log and two frame; one (log, shingled-roof) 145 by 27 feet, with wings of 87 by 20 feet; one (frame, shingle-roof, unoccupied, and out of repair) 108 feet by 27 feet, with a wing of 69 by 20 feet; one (log, shingle-roof, unoccupied) 114 by 27 feet,
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
with wing 69 by 20 feet; one (frame, shingle-roof) 147 by 27 feet, with wing of 69 by 20 feet, and another (log, shingle- roof) 132 by 30 feet, with no wing. Each building contains eighteen windows, and compartments used as dormitories, or- derly-rooms, dining and cooking rooms. The dormitories are ceiled. Average air-space per man in two buildings occupied at present is 698 cubic feet. Single iron bedsteads are used. Ventilation is by windows and roof-ventilators.
One side is occupied by officers' quarters-frame, lathed and plastered, with shingle-roofs-in good repair. Three single buildings, 42 by 20 feet ; four double 54 by 20 feet ; one commanding officer's, 65 by 24 feet. Two single buildings, 40 by 20 feet, are on a line with hospital, in the rear of the main line of officers' quarters. All have kitchens 24 by 15 feet.
The fourth side is occupied by the adjutant's office, (new) 41 by 30 feet; quartermaster's office, (new) 36 by 30 feet; the commissary storehouse, (new), 96 by 25 feet; and the band quarters, (new) 52 by 22 feet; with wing 90 by 19 feet.
In the rear of the barracks are the quartermaster's ware- house, (log) 132 by 30 feet; the forage building, (log), 130 by 27 feet, and six laundresses' houses, (five log and one in an account of the construction of the building, says, "Three frame;) two, 40 by 24 feet; one 30 by 15 feet; one, 40 by 18 feet, with wing 24 by 15 feet; one 60 by 18 feet; one, 30 by 15 feet, with wing 12 by 15 feet; also,the cavalry stables, log with shingle-roofs; four, 200 by 30 feet, and one, 235 by 30 feet.
A new guard-house was erected in 1874. It is built of logs, 42 by 18 feet, and 9 feet high from floor to ceiling, and contains, besides a guard room, ten single cells, each 6 by 3 feet, and one double cell, 6 by 6 feet. There is no general prison-room. Ventilation is sufficient.
The post-bakery (log) is 45 by 30 feet, with large oven.
The hospital is a log building, well chinked and plastered, with lathed and plastered ceilings and shingle-roof. It con- sists of a main building 69 by 20 feet, and a wing 56 by 20 feet, forming an "L".
The two ward-rooms, respectively 20 by 38 feet and 20 by 20 feet will accommodate twenty-four patients, giving to each 466 cubic feet air-space. The dispensary is 20 by 12 feet, the steward's room 10 by 20 feet, and the dining room and store room are each 20 feet square. The washroom 81/2 by 15 feet, adjoins the larger ward. The steward's quarters have a kitchen 14 by 20 feet, adjoining. The hospital kitchen, 16 by 20 feet, communicates with the dining room in the wing of the building. An addition of a post-mortem room has been made.
There is no post library ; but two company libraries, one containing 362 volumes, the other 26 volumes.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
The bathing facilities are good in company quarters; the river, however is preferable in summer. No post or company order for compulsory and systematic bathing has been issued.
BRANDING IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
Whereas many questions, and sometimes troublesome suites grow betwixt men, about horses running together in the woods unmarked, It is ordered, That each plantation in this jurisdiction shall have a marking iron, or flesh-brand, for themselves in particular, to distinguish the horses of one plantation from another; namely, New-haven an iron made to set on the impression of an H, as a brand-mark, Milford an M, Guilford a G, Stamford an S, Southold an S with an O in the middle of it, Brainford a T. Which plantation brandmark, is to be visibly and as sufficiently as may be, set upon the near . buttock of each horse, mare, and colt, belonging to that plan- tation. Beside which, every owner is to have, and marke his horse or horses, with his own particular flesh-brand having some letter, or letters of his name, or such distinguishing mark, that one man's horses may be known from another's. And that in each plantation there be an officer appointed, to record each particular man's mark, and to see each particular man's horse, mare, and colt, branded, and to take notice, and record the age of each of them, as near as he can, with the colour, and all observable marks, whether natural or artificial; and what artificial marks it had before the branding, whether on the ear, or elsewhere, with the year and day of the month when branded. And in each plantation, the officer for his care and pains, to have six pence of the owner, for each horse, mare, or colt, so branded and recorded. And that after the publishing hereof, every one who hath any horse or horses, of what age: or kind soever, doe duly attend this order, at his perill; the officer also is to require as satisfying evidence of his right, who presents any such horse, etc. as may be had, or to record any defect of due evidence, that a way may be open to other claims.
New Haven Code (pub. 1655.) probably 1643 in use, Trum- bull-Blue Laws, p. 227.
From Phil. R. Landon, "North Acre Seedsman," at Sterling, Nebraska:
The statement in "Nebraska History" that "no earthwork, mound, lodge site or human bones, along this part of the Missouri river has been there 1,000 years," is correct ,so far as my examination and obser- vation go. In fact, bones and stone work that I have dug up in Nebraska in the past forty years have proved to me that they were not more than a century old. One instance was in my digging on North Acre. I came upon the bones of an Indian and white man buried together, and among the bones was a belt buckle with the letters U. S. A. upon it. If there were any "pre-historic" men in Nebraska I will have to be shown."
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
BANK NOTE
DESCRIPTIVE LIST
SUPPLEMENTARY TO
Thompson's Bank Note & Commercial Reporter,
.
UNTURING ACCURATE DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE
Genuine Bank Notes,
A$+LAD HY THL
BANKS . IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA:
:
SUBSCRIBERS WHO PAY ONE YEAR IN ADVANCE.
VONFILED BY
THOMPSON BROTHERS, BANKERS;
No. 2 Wall Street.
NEW YORK :
PUBLISHED BY CHAS. BLONDELD, 117 FRANKLIN
STRET
1860.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
SENATOR P. W. HITCHCOCK'S BANK NOTE REPORTER, USED IN 1860
Winona County Bank,
1s, steamboata-i, bust of female-1, Indian overlooking city. 2s, bust. Indian, female, children, globe- Indian squaw, with bow and arrows-2, portrait of boy. 3s. two females, cows, sheep, factory-3, 3- flying female, cars, canal, &c.
KANSAS TERRITORY.
Kansas Valley Bank, Atchison. 3s, two wild horses ruumng, horses in dis- ance-3, female portrait-3, pigs.
5s, Indlan on horse shooting buffaloes-5,male portrait-3, portrait of girl holding dove.
10s, right end, 10, steamboat, river, &c .- left end, 10, cars, X on shield.
20s, emigrants, oxen, horses, wagons, &c .- 20, male portrait-20, feniala seated on either side of shield.
50s, steamboat, city in distance-50, male portrait-50. sailor with hand on capstan, bar- rels, bales, &c., vessels in distance.
100s, spread eagle on shield-100, male por- trart-C, male portrait.
NEBRASKA TERRITORY.
Phineas W. Hitchcock was United States Senator from Nebraska from 1871 to 1877. He was the father of our pres- ent Senator Gilbert M. Hitchcock. Sen- ator P. W. Hitchcock was one of the leading spirits in the pioneer period of Nebraska history. He was the author and introducer of the Timber Culture Act passed by Congress in 1874. His name is forever associated with the great en- terprises of the empire builders of the trans-Missouri region.
In the Nebraska historical library is now a copy of Thompson's Bank Note and Commercial Reporter, published in 1860. A fac-simile of the title page of this historical document is printed upon the opposite page of this magazine. The picture shows the name of P. W. Hitch- cock written thereon. A loop at its upper left-hand corner shows where it was hung to a hook in Mr. Hitchcock's office for ready reference. The scattered spots across the title page are evidence to the historical student of the existence of flies in the business offices of pioneer Ne- braskans.
Thompson's Reporter was a necessity for every business man in the United States in the period of state bank note circulation. It describes and gives pic- tures of all the foreign coins likely to circulate in the United States and there were many of them. It also gives fac- similes of many of the state bank note issues of that period and a description of all of them. There were hundreds of banks under state charters issuing cur- CANADA. rency under various degrees of regulation. Before a merchant dared accept a curren- Bank of British North-America. Mon- treal, AND BRANCHES. cy bill he needed to look up the stand- ing of these banks and examine the notes offered for possible counterfeits, of which there were many. So this early Nebraska book is of very rare value, made all the more so by bearing the signature of the first Senator Hitchcock.
Upon this page is given a half-tone of the page of Senator Hitch- cock's Bank Note Reporter which shows the bank notes in circulation in Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory in 1860. It will be observed that only one Kansas Bank, the Kansas Valley Bank, of Atchison, had its notes listed in the Bank Note Reporter of 1860. For Nebraska Ter- ritory the space is significantly vacant. There were plenty of Nebraska wildcat banks issuing paper currency in the period between 1855 and 1857. Over $400,000 in paper currency was issued by these Nebraska banks. These notes are still found occasionally in the papers of early Nebraska pioneers. They are interesting to museum collectors. In the Nebraska Historical Society museum are many of these early wildcat notes. But the editor of Thompson's Bank Note Reporter in 1860 ruled all these Ne- braska bank notes issued out of his publication. This Historical Society is indebted to Mr. C. A. Westerfield, 3116 Mason Street, Omaha, for this valuable addition to its library.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
SOME DISTINGUISHED OTOE CHIEFS
From Attorney Edwin R. McNeill, of Pawnee City, Okla .:
Chongatonga, (now spelled Shunatona by the Indian Office, which is not correct) or Big Horse was born about 1838. He was named after his grandfather, the head chief of the tribes who made a peace and friendship treaty in 1817. When Shunk-co-pe died he left two minor sons-Cha-doe-nah-ye, or Standing Buffalo, who afterwards took the name of James Arkeketa, Sr., and Chon-ga-tong-a, or Big Horse. Chon- gatonga was a brave and every war party gotten up he was always selected as a scout.
His activities in battles won for him the divine right to wear two eagle feathers upon his scalp, which was considered the highest honor that could be conferred upon a brave. As a brave he earned for himself a name among-his people. His brother, who was older than he, was a chief and took the name of Arkeketa.
In those days it was the custom of the various Indian Agents to appoint as policemen of the agency the braves of the tribes, so when the Otoes settled down, he was appointed as a policeman. When part of the tribes under Chiefs Medicine Horse and White Horn left their former reservation in Nebraska and moved to the Indian Territory, Chongatonga came, because he had favored the proposition of moving to the lands set apart for all of the peaceful Indians.
When the rest of the tribes finally gave their consent, some of the chiefs were delegated to come and look over the land and choose their home. His brother, James Arkeketa, was on e of those to come and he returned with his brother to assist him.
He was a policeman up to the time of his death and for his efficiency and faithfulness to his duties he was appointed a chief of the tribes by the Indian Office and approved by the Interior Department on July 6, 1886. He took sick soon after he became a chief and died in the fall of 1887.
Richard William Shunatona (Chongatonga) was born upon the plains of western Nebraska, while the Otoes were on their annual fall hunt for buffaloes in 1876.
From the words of Shunk-co-pe, that the only chance for the red man was to go to school and learn to move the head, the hand, the feet, the body, and the tongue like the white man, and also from his own ex- perience as a policeman, he saw, so he wanted his son to receive some education.
He sent him to the boarding school at Otoe and when he finished the grades he sent him to Chilocco Indian School, from which school he graduated in 1896.
After graduation he entered the government service as a clerk, but resigned on account of the race prejudice in the work.
He became a chief and was acknowledged as one of the leading men of the tribes. He knew the ways because he was raised in the council fires.
He is the head of the buffalo clan and has represented his tribes as a delegate to Washington several times and is now one of the five men selected by the Superintendent to act as a Committee to transact all tribal business with the government.
He is married to a Pawnee and they have eight children who are being educated in the public schools of Pawnee, Okla. His children do not understand their Indian tongue.
He is of good royal blood from both sides and therefore he is one and belongs to the aristocratic families of the tribes.
(Editor's Note) The treaty of peace and friendship between the United States and the Otoe tribe signed December 26, 1817 is signed by William Clark, Auguste Choteau, Benjamin O' Fallon. Manuel Lisa, Jo- seph LaFiesche (interpreter) and by Chongatonga (Big Horse) among the Otoe chiefs.
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
LETTER FROM INDIAN COMMISSIONER MANYPENNY
To Ar-kee-kee-tah, or Stay By It.
Department of the Interior, Office Indian Affairs, March 20, 1854.
Principal Chief of the Confederate Bands of OTTOE and MISSOURI Indians
Having concluded the business which brought you here, I deem it my duty on your departure for your home, to ex- press to you my approbation of your official conduct while here, and to commend the interest you have shown for the Ottoe and Missouri people.
On your return to the Ottoes and Missourias, you will find many perplexities and difficulties; but by constant persever- ance and a firm determination to do right at all times and un- der all circumstances, you will be sustained in all your efforts for the civilization of your people; and it may be allotted to you to yet see them in quite an advanced state of intellectual improvement, and each family comfortably situated.
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