Grasshoppers

Posted on June 12, 2024June 12, 2024 by FHadmin

Grasshoppers can be a nuisance. However, when they turn into huge creatures with bright red legs and long wings that work together to satisfy their huge appetites, they can destroy your entire livelihood.

The Jury Homestead

In 1869, John Charles Jury Sr., his mother, children, sister, and his brother’s family moved from Ontario, Canada to Bourbon County, Kansas. Once in Kansas, they set up housekeeping in a clapboard house. By 1871, they had moved to a log cabin. His brother William and his family settled nearby.

Both men went to work farming while the women raised the children and tended to household chores. John’s mother Eleanor “Ellen” (Willett) Jury and his sister Eleanor “Ellen” were helping raise his children since his wife Matilda (White) Jury had died in Canada the year before they undertook their journey to America. However, neither his mother nor his sister was listed in the 1870 census begging questions of where they might have gone without the men folk.

The Invasion

When the grasshoppers (Rocky Mountain Locusts) swarmed the Midwest in 1874 (John’s son John’s notes say this occurred in 1873, but he was only a child and it seems he was off a year per other supporting evidence), all attention turned to the sky and the grapevine for signs that swarms would be descending on the area.

Reports came in that the grasshoppers were in this county or that county. Often the reports included the damage, direction of movement, and sometimes even an estimated speed and expected date of arrival.

Warning

The newspapers also prepared their readers for the worst or scared the daylights out of them (depending on your perspective). They told horror stories from other states of the damage the grasshoppers had done. In some locations the grasshoppers were said to have eaten everything green (plants, tree leaves, fruit, corn, etc.), clothing, wool from live sheep, paper, wood handles, and even saw dust.

They even invaded homes eating anything they found to their liking and ruined uncovered wells.

Stopping The Trains

The St. Joseph – Denver railroad reported that the grasshoppers were so thick on the rails in one area that the train there could only proceed at a snail’s pace. Another train was completely blocked from making any progress due to the little critters.

Exaggeration

Some stories might have been exaggerated (e.g. entire fields stripped in a matter of minutes), but the damage was real. Some areas had been completely devastated. There were reports of families having no food except wild animals they could catch or handouts from those not so severely affected.

In the News

So, while waiting to see if Bourbon County, which was already fighting drought and chinch bugs, would be the next target of the “enemy”, the newspapers added grasshoppers to stories right and left. Some of the grasshopper happenings included:

Grasshoppers being soulless and establishing their machine shop
Grasshoppers taking a boxcar to Peoria, Illinois, being offered a free ride back, but deciding to stay
When moving south, grasshoppers read a newspaper that they had missed destroying some crops and they turned around and headed north “to finish the job.”
Grasshoppers had taken control of the grapevine so the newspaper didn’t have a lot of news.
Large numbers of grasshoppers visiting the town imitating farmers that come to town one day a week to do business.
A guy was in the country “herding grasshoppers.”

One store advertised that they had “grasshopper prices,” whatever that means. Meanwhile, meteors were compared to grasshoppers. And, in a interesting approach the Lawrence Journal started a discussion about whether the grasshoppers were sent by God.

Meanwhile, the local newspapers told stories of the “huge” grasshoppers that had been found by local people. It appeared to be a bit of a competition and quite embellished.

Source: Fort Scott Daily Monitor, The Border Sentinel, various issues.

Source: *Fort Scott Daily Monitor*, August 23, 1874.

Preparations

When they saw the swam coming, some people tried to smoke out the little creatures. This had limited success. Sometimes the creatures would turn away and other times they simply ignored the smoke. If the flame was small enough, they smothered it.

Others tried covering their crops. This had its limitations because it wasn’t physically possible to cover fields of any size. However, people were sometimes able to cover sections of their gardens. However, the cloth or other covering was often eaten along with the vegetation that had been below it.

Dust, explosives, shooting into the swarm, and swinging of boards or farm implements were also attempted to be used as a deterrent. Usually, these were unsuccessful.

Even the most successful technique was a matter of timing and knowing exactly when to execute the defensive plan. It needed to occur just before they arrived. However, none of these methods was guaranteed to work. The best method was to harvest crops, assuming they were ready to be harvested.

Destroyed everything

John Jr. reported that at “the time of the grasshopper raid in Kansas they were so thick they looked like snow coming down.” This was similar to other depictions of the invasion of the grasshopper army.

Despite the county being relatively spared of the wrath of the grasshoppers, the Jury family lost all their crops. There crops were gone and likely the next spring there would be another wave of grasshoppers, possibly worse than this one, as the beasts seem to lay eggs everywhere they went.

According to John C. Jury Jr., they had no choice but to sell out and move. As of 1870, John Sr. and his brother William each had $1500 of real estate. It is unknown how much they got for their barren land in the fall when few people were moving around or moving into the area. It was off-season for moves as most people moved in late winter or early spring just before planting season. Additionally, the swarms of grasshoppers were scaring people away from moving westward.

Missouri

It is unclear if they had a destination in mind when they packed up and headed out. I assume they traveled until they found some place with little damage by the invading insects and also had farms to rent.

Although Missouri was also a destination for the pesky grasshoppers, John, William, their mother, and families ended up near Chiliothe, Livingston, Missouri. John’s sister Ellen had married Thomas Hartnett and she remained in Bourbon County, living in Hiattville. He was a farmer, but may have had less damage. Additionally, with the completion of the railroad, Thomas began working for them and their small boarding/hotel business expanded.

On Christmas Day, William’s wife Agnes Jane (Moore) gave birth to their seventh child, a son. Despite Agnes being only 29 at the time, they would not have another child for 10 1/2 years. It begs the question, “Why?” I wonder if it was their living conditions and situation that played a part in that result.

The next summer they “raised a good crop of corn, broom corn, and 11 acres of tobacco.” (John Jr.) However, by the time they returned to Kansas in the spring of 1876, they had lost all of their horses, but one a piece. John Jr. did not explain how or why their horses were lost.

Post-Grasshoppers

John remarried to Harriett Warner in August 1876 in Bourbon County. They had two children in the following couple of years. One died when only a year old. Like, William and Agnes, they had a 10-year gap before their third and last child was born, which may be due to their movement around the country.

During that gap in time, John, William, their mother, and their families moved again. This time much further north, landing in Michigan. There John Jr. stated that he hauled logs and shingles. It isn’t known what John Sr. was doing, but he had been a shingle maker in Canada so it is very possible that he returned to his previous occupation to make a living.

After some time at the location where they settled, they decided that they had moved too far north. And, they moved a bit further south, but stayed in Michigan. John Jr. stated that John Sr. purchased 40 acres of timber, which they cut and presumably sold. This is possibly the only property that John Sr. and William owned after selling out in Kansas.

After the matriarch of the family died in 1883, John Sr. and his sons looked at other opportunities, but ended up in Kansas, where John Sr. rented property in Drywood Township and later just north of Hiattville. His brother William and family remained in Michigan.

John Sr. died September 7, 1911. By this time the Rocky Mountain Locust were extinct. As quickly as they had come, they had died out, but not before changing the course of the lives of many families, including the Jury family.

Grasshopper/Rocky Mountain Locust Statistics and Fun Facts

1873-1877 crop damage in Midwest estimated $200m
Estimated 12 trillion grasshoppers
120 billion created a path 100 miles wide in 1874
The cloud of grasshoppers in 1875 estimated to have 3.5 trillion covering 198,000 square miles as possibly as much as a mile deep.
The grasshoppers in 1874 covered 2,000,000 square miles.
Grasshoppers estimated to weigh 27 million tons, which was more than the bison population
The 1874 invasion led Kansans to start growing more winter wheat, which was ready for harvest earlier in the season before grasshoppers usually appeared.
The “hopperdozer” was created to capture grasshoppers by raking it across the land.
The hopper vacuum was created. It sucked the grasshoppers into the machine and bagged them for disposal.
Rocky Mountain Locust bodies (minus legs and wings) were said to have a nutty flavor, taste like crawfish, and to be good fried or in stew.

Sources:

1874 The Year of the Locust

The Locust that Ate the American West

Grasshopper Plague of the Great Plains

Image at top: John Jury, Sr.

The Injury

Posted on June 3, 2024 by FHadmin

Sometimes a single event can totally change your life. Rod’s Uncle Kenny (great-uncle, but referred to as uncle) was only 15 when an event occurred that likely changed the direction of his life.

On the Job

Smith Baking Company 2 26th and O Street, Lincoln, Nebraska. Source: Lincoln State Journal March 7, 1926.

When Great-Uncle Kenneth Duane Van Allen (Uncle Kenny) was not quite 16, he got a job working at Smith Baking Company. The company had been around for some years, having opened November 13, 1913. However, the new modern facility at 26^th and O Street in Lincoln, Nebraska had only opened three years earlier in the spring of 1926.

The new facility could product 15,000 loaves of bread a day. In addition, the company had added pastries to their offerings. The mixing and baking process was one of “mechanical accuracy.” The mixing, dividing dough into loaves, wrapping, and other functions were controlled by electricity.

Three-Days In

On June 12, 1929, it was Kenny’s third day and last day on the job. On that day, his hand got stuck in some dough and was pulled into the dough breaking machine. It was an electric machine that consisted of rollers that the dough was fed through. His fingers and palm on his right hand were mangled. Four days after the incident, the doctor amputated his 3^rd and 4^th fingers and the worst part of his palm. The doctor hoped he could save a third finger that was a bit less damaged. However, it was not to be. Thus, Kenny was left with a thumb, one finger, and a portion of his palm.

The Lawsuit

His father John (Warren) Van Allen had died in a farming accident when Kenny was a baby. Therefore, it was incumbent upon Kenny’s mother Grinda Josephine (Hanson) Van Allen to sue the Smith Baking Company on his behalf. She sought $25,000 in damages.

The Plaintiff’s Claims

Doctors supported the extent of Kenny’s injuries and testified that he had lost 80 – 90 percent use of hand. The attorney for the plaintiff claimed that the machine should have had safe guards to prevent such an accident.

The Defense

Meanwhile, the defense brought in a boy/young man from small town some counties away that had received damage to his hand that they felt was similar to Kenneth’s injury. Injured at age 11, he had gone on to become captain of his basketball team. They also had him demonstrate writing and other functions.

Additionally, the defense argued that Kenneth had accepted compensation under the employer’s liability act. Thus, they felt that he was not allowed to request additional compensation.

Machine Stoppage

Both sides argued over how quickly the machine could be stopped. The defense argued that it could quickly be stopped by the operator. Meanwhile, Kenneth’s attorney argued that it wasn’t as quick and easy as the defense stated.

Fight Over His Age

Much of the trial, however, focused on a secondary issue – his age. Grinda’s attorney claimed the company had hired Kenny knowing that he wasn’t 16, which was the legal age for working in this job. The defense claimed that he had presented himself as being 16 and that they couldn’t be held accountable for him being illegally hired.

The defense argued that there were discrepancies in the records over the year and that some records had been doctored. Not having access to all the records of the trial, it is difficult to comment on what they saw in the records. However, I suspect that they had assumed that he started school at age 6. However, he started school before he turned six and he graduated 8^th grade at the same time as Donna, his sister who was just over a year older than him.

The Verdict Is In

In early November in 1929, the jury awarded Kenneth $10,000 for his injuries. However, the case didn’t end there. The defense sought a new trial on the grounds that the jury tried to guess at how much money would need to be paid to the plaintiff’s attorney. Two jurors claimed that they wanted to give him $5,000, but doubled it to pay for the attorney. Also, it was claimed that one of the jurors independently investigated the machine and told the other jurors about it.

On January 3, 1930, the judge reduced the judgment to $5,000, overruled a new trial, and got both sides to waive their right to appeal. After that date, the Smith Baking Company continued to be in litigation over the case. At this point, they were suing the liability company for $2,995 for refusing to pay the claim. What is confusing is that they earlier stated that Kenneth had received payment from the liability company. It is unclear how that was resolved. In any case, an event that lasted a few seconds wasn’t fully resolved at least until 1931.

After settling the case for $5,000, instead of giving the money to Grinda since Kenny was a minor, a guardian was appointed to accept the money for him. The Guardian controlled Kenny’s money until November 1934. Once, Kenny had access to the money, he purchased a Chevy coupe.

Farming

In 1935, he purchased a small farm. The following year Kenny married Adla Mae Slepicka. However, the year following his marriage, he gave up his farm. It was during the depression and making a living farming was a challenge. The following year Kenny was a salesman for the Beatrice Creamery Company.

Kenneth Duane Van Allen’s signature in 1940 on his WWII Draft Registration.

Beatrice State Home

New Job

By 1940, Kenny had taken a position as an assistant farmer or assistant to the farm manager at the Beatrice State Home. He would have overseen some portion of the farm operation. The facility had been around since 1885 and had grown to have 1,570 patients. The patients were of varying abilities including those needing complete care, those that could be trained to care at least in part for themselves (e.g. dress, toilet), and those that although mentally challenged could be educated. A portion of the patients worked on the farm in various capacities.

In 1945 Kenny was recognized for the purebred Hampshire hogs that he raised. It is unclear if they were raised as a part of this operation or if he raised them independently. However, he is credited for them and the home is not mentioned. Thus, I assume that he raised them separately from his job at the state home farm.

Making It A Career

By 1950, Kenny was the farm manager and his wife was the house mother. The family had 20 patients living with them and working the facility’s large farm. What was once a 40 acre property was now nearly 650 acres. In addition, 500 more acres were leased by the facility.

By 1957, the facility had grown to house 2,184 patients with a large staff of teachers, nurses, farmers, and others. The home’s slogan was “Learning for Living: Love, care, and training.”

The facility had 23 buildings including a 3-story school, and two hospitals with one dedicated to tuberculosis patients. It also had gardens, orchards, and farm acreage. The previous year a dam had been constructed creating a 7-acre pond/lake. The facility had previously stated that they had 218 head of cattle that produced 400 gallons of milk daily. In addition, they raised swine and poultry.

In 1976, Kenny was acknowledged for 35 years of service at the Beatrice State Home.

Influence

Kenny’s influence went beyond this specific home. He spoke about conservation, production, and management of agriculture. His knowledge was shared with state officials and officials at other similar facilities.

Kenny was also a member of the Elks and the Gage County Saddle Club.

Morale of the story

Kenneth might of lost three fingers, but he didn’t let it hold him down. He married, raised three children with his wife, and worked in a management position where he appeared to have been recognized as an expert. Still, we don’t know how that few moments on July 12, 1929 changed Kenny’s life.

Image of Kenneth Van Allen is from the Beatrice Times, February 2, 1945.

Creative Genealogy – The Story of John Adams and our Family

Posted on May 29, 2024May 29, 2024 by FHadmin

It seems that when people tell their history, especially about people that are no longer living, that the stories become bigger, better, different than they were originally, or in some cases completely manufactured. That said, most of them are based on at least a grain of truth. Thus, they can’t be completely dismissed.

Key Elements

A good genealogy story – not a true one, but a good one that intrigues people and gets them interested in the family – are made of at least one of the following: an illicit affair, ties to Native Americans, being born on a ship to America, the Mayflower, Salem, Capt. John Smith, a rich relative, and/or connections to famous people. Bonus points are given for any story that incorporates multiple key elements into one story.

The problem is that people believe these stories no matter how little data supports their story. One of my family stories with little actual evidence is the case of my family’s alleged ties to President John Adams.

The Story

According to distant cousins, 4^th great grandmother Tabitha, who married the earliest known Passco Peelle (not the earliest Peelle, but the earliest Passco), was the illegitimate daughter of President John Adams. And, some of the family notes say that she was the daughter of both John Adams and his later wife Abigail Smith.

This story was based on family lore and a few notes and letters that were written years after Tabitha’s death that supported the story. Additionally, Passco and Tabitha’s grandson William Peelle’s middle name was Adams, which seemed to support the story.

Schroth-Peele Research

In 2015, Milton N. Schroth, a descendant of Tabitha and Passco through great-grandpa William Johnson Peelle’s sister Rachel, and Horace B. Peele, a longtime Peel/Peele/Peelle researcher and far distant cousin, published the results of their extensive research into Tabitha’s lineage in the Peelle Newsletter. Down load Volume 15 Issue 1 of the Peelle Newsletter to read the results of their investigation.

Their Conclusions

In their research, they examined numerous aspects of this claim, including John Adams’s history with women, ages of people involved, Tabitha’s lack of verifiable history, the handwritten document that listed John Adams as Tabitha’s father, and more. I will not reiterate their entire stated research. However, they found that they could not prove it false and believed that the evidence that did exist supported the claim.

On the other hand, they decided that the claim that his later wife Abigail Smith was Tabitha’s mother was not true despite that being part of the notes they had. This was based on her age and health. So, they believed part of the story. That is not unreasonable given that stories that are passed down are usually partially true, but rarely completely true.

Questioning The Conclusions

At the time, I corresponded with both the authors, whom I had previously discussed family history, stating my questions and concerns. I was assured that if I had seen all the research they had done that I would not question the outcome. That answer was not satisfactory to me and I continued to question this claim.

Since their research has been widely circulated and this connection to President John Adams is now all over ancestry.com, I feel that it is appropriate to share questions about the story. I am not saying that we are or aren’t related to John Adams. I just have a lot more questions before I claim him as an ancestor.

My Specific Questions

Location, Location, Location

The first question that came to mind was that Passco lived in North Carolina. Thus, it is assumed that he met Tabitha there. If her biological mother got pregnant by John Adams, it is likely that occurred in the Boston area. So, was the mother sent to family or friends in North Carolina to have the baby? Was there a story of Tabitha’s mother’s “husband” dying (a common cover for a child out of wedlock)? Was Tabitha sent to North Carolina after her birth to be raised by or adopted by a family? Did a well-to-do family pay someone to raise her? Why so far from Boston?

What Is In a Name?

Tabitha’s last name was said to be Dunigan. However, I have never found a record that shows her maiden name. In addition, there are lots of versions of that name. Many spelling options exist at the time of her birth and many people didn’t know how to even spell their own name. Yet, it is unclear if that is supposedly her mother’s name, adoptive parents name, or where the name came from exactly. Additionally, I have found zero proof that her name was Dunigan. Was that name passed down in the family? Did somebody get the name wrong?

Missing Records

One contributing factor was that they could not find a record of Tabitha’s birth or of her parent’s names. Tabitha most likely married around 1775. Thus, most records regarding her birth and parents would likely have been recorded pre-Revolutionary War. It is not at all unusual to encounter a lack of records in that era even for a Quaker.

I saw an article once where I believe it was Tabitha that claimed she did not know her age. The reason why was that the meeting house with the records had burnt. This is very possible and could definitely explain a lack of records as numerous Quaker meeting houses (and churches in general) burnt in the early years of our country. Since the Peelle family were Quakers and no record exists of Tabitha and Passco’s marriage or the birth of at least many of their children, it seems very likely that records of the family were lost, which makes the lack of records inconsequential and clearly not an indicator that someone was trying to hide Tabitha’s history.

So, why did anyone assume that missing records equate to supporting the story? Aren’t missing records in genealogy expected? Especially in the 1700s?

Adams Middle Name

Passco and Tabitha’s grandson being named William Adams Peelle would seem to strongly corroborate the story until you realize that another ancestor of mine named Sarah (Adams) Johnson lived in the area and her ancestors were from North Carolina as were the Peelle ancestors. Additionally, there were two other Adams family in Wayne County, Indiana around the time of William’s birth. Couldn’t they have named him Adams after one of these people? Or, couldn’t they have named him after the President without him being Tabitha’s father? After all, people named their kids after presidents all the time.

Additionally, they stated that John Adams and his wife had died by the time William Adams Peelle was born and so there was no worry of a scandal. However, this is incorrect. His wife Abigal had died. However, President Adams did not die for several years after William Adams Peelle was born. Besides, who would have known that the middle name of Adams had any relevance to the person’s grandmother’s father unless someone in the family went around telling the story? So, it would seem that anybody in the family at any time could have been named Adams without starting a scandal.

Tabitha’s Birth

When was Tabitha born? The conclusion that the authors of the research had was about 1755. Others have assumed that as well based on the ages of her children. According to Quaker records, Anna born in 1778 is Tabitha’s daughter. If we assume that Tabitha is the mother of all the known children of Passco, then she was child bearing from 1775 – 1795. Thus, they assumed that she was about 21 when the first child was born in April 1776 and that she was approximately 40 when her last child was born. This is a reasonable assumption for searching for records. However, Tabitha’s exact birth year is very important when determining if John Adams was indeed her father.

Childbearing & Age

If I look at reasonable child bearing years, Tabitha could have been as young as 13 with her first child or as old as 50 with her last child. This places her birth sometime between 1745 and 1762. If we then apply the 1800 census, we find that the oldest female in Passco’s household was marked as 45 and over. Thus, this reduces the interval that Tabitha could have been born to 1745 to 1755.

Passco was born in 1733 (unless there is another generation with the name Passco that we don’t know about), which means that if Tabitha was born in 1755, he was 22 years older than her. However, if she was born in 1745, there was only 12 years difference in age. Since such age differences were not uncommon, does this age difference have any meaning?

What is important is that if Tabitha was born in 1745, John Adams wouldn’t have been her father as he was only 10. He wouldn’t have likely fathered a child until he was 13 or more likely 15. This would mean that for Tabitha to have been his daughter, she would have to have been born between 1748 and 1755 inclusive, but was she?

Who Would Have Known?

The story was shared at least within two family lines that descend from Passco and Tabitha’s son William. It is important to note that they were co-located and were in Indiana, but were far from where Tabitha’s family or people who raised her lived. It is said that Tabitha moved with William’s brother John to Indiana. If so, she would have lived in the same area. So, there would have been an opportunity to learn of Tabitha’s beginnings from her. However, the question in my mind is, “How did she know?”

If adopted or raised by some family, would they really have known the story of Tabitha’s conception? In my experience helping adoptees, my guess would be that they would not have known and if they did, they likely would have kept it a secret or changed the story in some way.

If raised by her mother, her mother would have known and could have shared the information with Tabitha. But, would she had done so?

If Tabitha was born in Massachusetts or somewhere nearby and was sent away as a baby or young child, she couldn’t have possibly known who her parents were. Is it simply a story she made up?

DNA Evidence

Does DNA show a tie to John Adams? Using DNA to prove a connection to John Adams would be challenging. The number of generations required to make a connection and the fact that it is a common name add complexity. In my case, it is even more challenging since I am also related to the Adams that married into the Johnson family. Similarly, I am also related to at least one Smith family, which is also tied to the Johnson family. All of these families came together in Wayne County and Randolph County in Indiana. And, all of them had ties to North Carolina.

I have verified my Adams family line to Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1708. Additionally, I believe the family was in that area at least as early as 1690. My Adams family line appears to be a completely separate family line from President John Adams family. My family appears to have immigrated either to New York or Pennsylvania while John Adams’ family immigrated to Massachusetts.

A major DNA undertaking would likely be required to have any hope of proving this connection.

The Real Story

No matter what people put in their family trees, the real story may never be known. Too bad we can’t go back in time and find out exactly what happened. Until then, it will remain an interesting story, but won’t be listed in my tree as fact.

Image: By Gilbert Stuart – This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the National Gallery of Art. Please see the Gallery’s Open Access Policy., CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81314356

The Great Name Debate

Posted on May 20, 2024 by FHadmin

Figuring out all the names, nicknames, ordering of names, and initials for a person is one of the great challenges in genealogy. Sometimes the answer is obvious with research and sometimes it isn’t.

The Debate

My Grandmother Dessie May (Thomas) Pellett and her youngest brother “Bud” Thomas always argued about their mother’s real name. Was her real name Sadie Ella or was it Sadie Ellen and Ella was a nickname?

They couldn’t ask her directly since she died due to hemorrhaging and myocarditis related to childbirth. Her baby was stillborn or died within hours of birth. He was the third of nine pregnancies to come to a tragic end. She died two days later.

Dessie was 15, however, at the time of her mother’s death. So, she actually knew her mother and had some opportunity to know her mother’s name. However, Bud was a toddler when his mother died and probably remembered little if anything about his mother. So, his information would have come from their father or other relatives.

The Real Name

Still, according to her delayed birth record and her marriage record, both of them were incorrect. Their mother’s name was Sarah Ellen (Ashby) Thomas. The name Sadie appears in some records, but it appears that most often she was simply referred to as Ella. She had been born August 13, 1884 in Fayette County, Iowa and died November 2, 1918 in the hospital at Fort Scott, Kansas.

Children of James William “Will” and Sarah Ellen “Sadie Ella” Thomas – Front: Bud, Oren, Leland (a.k.a. Leonard and Tom); Back: Dessie, Verdie, Delbert

Life After Ella

Dessie was the oldest child and for the next several years she helped her father, James William “Will” Thomas, raise her younger siblings. I remember her being especially close to her youngest two siblings. “Verdie,” who was actually Verda Leola Thomas was five when their mother died and Theo Melvin “Bud” Thomas was only two at the time of their mother’s death.

Verdie is an obvious nickname for Verda. However, I have no idea how Theo became Bud. He used his initials in most business dealings and Bud the remainder of the time. He was the postmaster at Hiattville; thus, known by many people in the area. Yet, I imagine there were plenty of people in the neighborhood that never had any idea that his real name was Theo.

Theo Confusion

Theo is an obvious nickname for Theodore. However, it seemed that his name was officially Theo with the exception of the Social Security Administration and an article about his marriage to Ida (Louise) Hanson, that stated his name was Theodore. Now, I would believe a social security record over the census and other records. However, his draft registration for WWII lists his official name as Theo. So, which was it?

He went by Bud, his wife used her middle name of Louise, his son James went by Jimmie and his daughter Leola Mae was called Tillie. Again, I have no idea how Leola Mae became Tillie.

In the next generation, all of the children of Jimmie Lee and his wife Sandy, another nickname, had nicknames. One who lived only about a month was nicknamed “Buddy.” Can’t guess where they got that name!

This family sure liked nicknames!

The Business of Western Expansion

Posted on May 14, 2024May 14, 2024 by FHadmin

When we think about people who settled along the trails westward, we often think about the hardships that they encountered. We may wonder if they were traveling west and simply gave up and decided to settle in that location or if the location was their original destination. However, we often don’t consider the business they did catering to . . . or in some cases taking advantage of . . . people moving west. In fact, the westward expansion business was responsible for the establishment of cities like St. Joseph, Missouri, Kansas City, and Denver.

Mary French (Gourley) Ronald

Mary French Gourley (Rod’s great-great-great grandmother) was born February 18, 1803 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. It was there that she married Thomas Ronald II on June 6, 1820. As their children became adults, some of them immigrated to the United States, settling in Wisconsin.

In 1856, Thomas, Mary, and their children that remained in Scotland set sail for the United States. They joined their children in Wisconsin. On April 19, 1860, Thomas died. By 1864, Mary’s sons William and John and her daughter Margaret, who had married Arthur Reid Thomson, all made their home in Nebraska. It had become a separate territory in 1854, but would not become a state until 1867.

The Diary

With a majority of her children settled in Nebraska, Mary decided to make the move to Nebraska. On August 24, 1864, Mary, her two youngest children, and her granddaughter Mary Barbara Wallace (daughter of Mary’s daughter Mary and her first husband Joseph Wallace) left Berlin, Wisconsin in a covered wagon headed to eastern Nebraska to Margaret Thomson’s home.

Her daughter Jane, who was 22 at the time, kept a diary of their journey. She noted where they traveled, how long they traveled, the difficulties they encountered, and interesting things they saw along the way. One of the things she mentioned were expenses of their travel and other things they bought.

Tolls

Plank Road

Various people that they met along the way gave the travelers advice on the best way to travel through the local area on the way to their destination. The first that she noted was a gentleman that directed them to save 9 miles traveling through Wisconsin by going to Lodi, Mazomanie(the diary has a different name, but this is the closest sounding town along that portion of the route), Arena, and Prairie du Chien. When they reached the area of Portage, they encountered a plank road that required a toll. It was 1 ½ miles in length and had a toll of 16¢.

Before they reached Prairie Du Chien, they encountered a sign with the wrong mileage to the town. They continued on the route for a few miles learning that it was actually 30 miles to the town instead of 3 miles as was stated on the sign. By following this route, they had already gone 4 to 5 miles out of their way.

River Crossings

The largest toll they had to pay was $1.80 to take a ferry across the Mississippi River. There were tolls for ferries and bridges to cross other rivers, such as, the Missouri River. At the Cedar River, they paid a 60¢ toll to use the bridge to cross the river that she estimated to be about 30 rods wide. However, after they crossed, they learned that they could have forded the river and saved their money.

There were other rivers and streams that they forded. Among them were the Raccoon River and the Des Moines River. Each of them had a toll for using the bridge. However, the rivers were low, allowing the family to cross without the use of the bridge.

To this day, there are bridges that cost to use them IF you are traveling west. However, there is no cost when traveling eastward. Clearly, a leftover system from the days of westward expansion.

Accommodations

Good Nights Sleep

It rained and stormed a lot during their journey. They didn’t always get a good night’s sleep. On many nights, they just attempted to sleep in their wagon. One night they laid under the wagon in the mud when the cover blew off. However, sometimes they visited a house to get out of the rain. One night during a rain storm, a man charged them two bits to sleep on the floor in his filthy house. And, in Cascade, Iowa, they paid to spend the night in an actual hotel.

Of course, worry and concern also cost Jane a good night’s sleep. This was especially true after they met men coming from Idaho that stated that it was very dangerous where they were going. The worry became amplified when they met a Potawatomie Indian while camping and he told them that they should not go to Nebraska. He said that the Indians were going to work together to drive all the white people out. He managed to scare Jane, but not stop the trip.

Rough Map of The Journey from Berlin, WI to Paisley, NE; Background map is from maps.google.com

Livestock

They also had to find accommodations along the way for their cows and oxen. It was not always easy. There were nights when finding good pasture and water for them was quite difficult. On a few nights that meant paying to use pasture land. The night they spent in a hotel, they had to pay for feed for the oxen at 5 cents per head.

Not all the livestock expenses were for accommodations. On two occasions the cows and oxen got into someone’s fields. The first time they damaged the corn field, buckwheat, and cabbage. This cost the family 50¢. The second time, less damage occurred. In addition, only the hired hand was home. So, they gave him some fresh milk. He was from Scotland, like them, and he not only accepted the milk for the damage, but also gave them melons in return.

They met a family along the way, whose horse had been injured. They had been charged $50 for a new horse that was no better than the injured one. Fortunately, the family did not encounter a need for additional oxen during their journey.

Gains & Losses

The family did, however, have other losses. When bathing in the Wisconsin River, Robert lost his hat. They also lost his new boots along the way, Mary’s reader, and a powder flask. Matter of fact, the diary itself was lost, but they went back and recovered it.

One day when Robert was ill, they traveled only a short time before setting up camp. That afternoon while Robert rested, the ladies walked to the top of a high hill. When they returned, the ox had eaten all of their bread and two pounds of crackers. This led to more baking. When possible, they borrowed someone’s kitchen to make biscuits. However, on at least one occasion, Mary made biscuits over an open fire.

When they stopped at the McAlister family’s home, they were treated to biscuits and given a loaf of bread. The family was from Scotland and likely considered them home folk.

Other Expenses

To bake, the family purchased flour multiple times. One time they purchased 50 pounds at $4.50 cwt. Later, they purchased 25 pounds of flour at $4.00 cwt.

It seemed that when they bought flour, they bought matches (10¢). Likely, the need for multiple boxes of matches was all the rain. At times it was too wet to start a fire.

They bought other routine items: soap, candles, powder, and shot. There were other unforeseen expenses as well. For instance, Robert had to replace his hat. They also had to buy a chain because the cattle kept breaking the ropes.

They did gain a little money to help pay for purchases when they sold a pound of butter for 35¢.

Land

Although they weren’t in the market for any land, as they traveled they inquired about the local price of land. They found that land near Dubuque, Iowa was selling for $25 per acre. Near Marengo on the Iowa River, land was going for $10 to $40 per acre depending on the specific property. And, later on they found an area where land would only cost them $15 to $20 per acre.

Arthur Reid and Margaret (Ronald) Thomson

Wrapping Up The Journey

After listening to people giving them directions earlier in their journey, the family was not so quick to follow other’s directions. One person recommended they go to Potosi to Iowa City, and on to Council Bluffs, where they would cross into Nebraska. They decided to ignore that advice. Instead, they went further south and crossed the Missouri River at Nebraska City, which was a thriving city of about 2,000 people. That went well and they continued westward. They stopped at a log house about 20 miles before their destination. The next morning, they pressed onward despite the rain. By nightfall on October 4, 1864, they arrived at the Thomson’s home near Paisley, Nebraska.

Mary would live the rest of her life in the Paisley area. She lived for a time with her son John who was a bachelor. Afterward, she lived in a dugout before having a home built. Her granddaughter Mary Barbara Wallace, who had made the trip from Wisconsin with Mary, stayed with her until she reached age 15. Later, Mary sold her farm to her grandson Arthur T. Thomson and built a small house near her daughter Margaret Thomson’s home. She lived there until the last year of her life, which she spent with her daughter Margaret. She died in 1893 at age 90.