VOLUME 69 % O'NEILL. NEBRASKA. JUNE.T949~
Pioneer Ministers
. Knew Hardships
First Sunday-School Convened at Prouty
Home on December 14, 1873
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS
Editor-in-Chief
Diamond Jubilee Edition
It was sometimes said that
when the pioneers ol prairie
land crossed over the Missouri
river reverence and religious
forms were left behind. It has
been the genius of the Christ
ian religion to send its apostles
“far hence to the Gentiles.’
The restraints of ingrained
training may be cast aside for
a time but mankind in the end
will lay hold upon that which
transcends his own feeble re
sources. So on the prairies of
Holt county there was a need
for spiritual guidance. There,
too, were brave souls among
the Eastern clergy who discern
m ed the need in homesteadland
and leaving the security of
ministering in an established
•‘charge” cast their lot with the
homesteaders, certainly not for
any financial reward but for
what good they could do.
Who was the first clergyman
to bring words of solace and in
struction to the O’Neill com
munity may never be known.
And by -community it should
be understood not merely the
limits of the town.
Bartley Blain, a pioneer
preacher and as 1 recall the
county's second superintend
ent of public instruction,
compiled early records of the
community.
Among these records is the
story of the first Sunday-school
started at a place just down
the river from O’Neill called
Rockford. This was held at
Prouty’s home on December 14,
1873, and prayer- meeting at the
same place on December 21 the
same year, and these were con
■ tinued until 1875, when Rev.
S. P. Van Doozer came back to
Rockford and preached the first
sermon on April 20 at the
home of Elijah Thompson. At
this time a church was organ
ided with five members: Frank
Bitney, classleader; Clara Bit
ney, Will Dickerson. M. S. Prouty
and Jennie H. Shultz. The
Rockford church was supplied
services every three weeks by
a preacher from Oakdale. In
the Summer of 1876, Rev. J. B.
Maxfield, the new presiding El
der of the district, came to
Rockford and held first com
munion service.
Rev. Blain thought the first
Methodist preaching service m
the Northeast part of Holt coun
ty was at Steel Creek school
house by Rev. Hurt, living at
Walnut Grove in Knox county,
in the Autumn of 1879.
It was largely through the
efforts of Bartley Blain that
the Methodists got a church
building in O’Neill in 1883. He
was a homesteader as well as
a preacher, lived in a tent with
his family on his claim near
Middle Branch for some weeks
before having a shanty to move
into and was gone from homq
several weeks at a time look
ing after isolated church inter
est. Mrs. Blain was one of the
brave pioneer women who bore
the hardships, the loneliness
and desolation with fortitude
and courage. Histories recount
the story of what men have
done. Not upon the limits of a
page, not within the confine^
of a chapter, but let us dedi
cate a sacred volumn to the
quiet fortitude, to the calm pat
ience and the steadfast faith of
our pioneer mothers.
rne r>iain iaiimv ucuuc
Holt county in 1880, the same
year The Frontier was estab
lished. This bit of pioneer hos
pitality, social interest and de
signs of a preacher comes down
to us from Mr. Blain’s history:
“While looking for a place to
make a home we called at the
sod house of G. W. Jones. While
talkign other landlookers
came in. Mr. Jones said: I got
some lumber yesterday for a
floor for my house and intend
to put it in today.’ A young
man who had just come in
said. ‘It will be a good place
for a dance then, won’t it?’
‘Yes, said Mr. Jones, if the
people want to come here and
dance they can dance, and if
a preacher comes along and
wants to preach he can preach
too.’ I said to myself, if I set
tle in this vicinity I will preach
in his house.”
G. W. Jones was George
Jones, father of Mrs. D. N. Loy
and Hurley Jones of O'Neill.
About 1886 the Jones family
came to O'Neill and Mr.
Jones operated a livery and
feed bam located just East
of where the Ford sales room
now stands.
It was because of the cour
age of Mrs. Blain he left home
early one morning on horse
back and headed for Kearney
in Buffalo county to attend a
church conference. Of that trip
he writes:
“Having ridden about 50 miles
I found entertainment at the
borne of a congregationalist
whose treatment was cordial.
On leaving next morning I ask
ed what T should Dav. He said
•Have vou twenty-five cents.’
T handed him the amount. He
took it and placed a half dol- j
lar in my hand saying. ‘I like
to encourage such as vou. who (
are trving to make the world
better.’
“On the second day out I din
ed with a farmer on*i creek sev
eral miles West of Albion. This
man directed me to go past a
blowout in the sand hills sev
eral miles South. ‘Near that
you will see the tracks made
by two wagons some time ago.
Follow that until you reach a
valley, along which there is a
fairly plain road.’ That after
noon I saw but one living thing
besides my horse, a lone med
ow lark. Near sunset I reached
the valley and there found a
plain road which I followed for
several miles. There was a
small creek running down this
valley at the left. Presently I
saw a lantern near the creek
and asked the man for enter
tainment. ‘How are you trav
eling?’ was the reply. ‘On
horseback, I replied.’ ‘The
creek is mirey, you can’t cross
here. Go down the road half
a mile where you can stay,’ he
informed me. I rode on. horse
| and rider both tired until the
barking of a dog was a very
welcome sound. I rapped on
the door of a shack, ‘come in,’
I heard in broad Irish as I op
ened the door, and asked for
entertainment for the night.
‘No sor, I’m away from home
myself and the folks here are
away, he informed me. ‘I have
been riding all day and my
horse is tired; I must stay eith
er in the house or out of it. I
want some feed for my horse
1 and a place to sleep,’ I said,
‘Well I think I can find some
feed for my horse,’ he answer
ed. The horse was fed and we
went in. ‘I can sleep on the
lounge here,’ I said, ‘Oim goin
lo sleep there myself, sor. Oim
here helpin’ with the potato
! harvest an bethought me to
write a letter while fifteen
miles nearer the post office
than my home is,’ he informed
me. I said I could sleep on the
floor. ‘Alright,’ replied mine
host. ‘I tried it but found it
rather lively sleeping as there
seemed to be two or three fleas
on each of my limbs playing
hipptyhop with each other the
whole night. Was finally glad
to get up rather than be a play
ground for a flea circus. The
grandmother and several child
ren were discovered to be at
home an I had a good break
fast.’
"Started Southward and
soon fording the Cedar was
obliged to hold my feet up as
high as possible to keep them
out of the water.
T found a fairly plain
road but was obliged to ride to
ward all points of the compass
among the sand hills. Darkness
overtook me in a strange land
with no human habitation in
sight. Not long after dark, I
heard boys laughing in the
stillness among some small tim
ber. I called to them and asked
if I could get lodging for the
night. ‘Go on to the house and
they will tell you, ‘they shout
ed.’ A few rods' further I saw
a light in a window almost un
der my horses feet. Going a
little further I rapped on a
door. It opened and I saw a
well filled table surrounded by
half a score of people all en
joying their evening meal. One
of them was a Seventh Day
Adventist minister whom I had
known a few years before in
Minnesota. I was cordially en
tertained.
‘‘Before night the next day
a fairly large prairie was reach
ed of several miles in extent.
Considerably improved near
the South side of this prairie
was large farm with a house
octagonal in form and two
stories high. This was also a ho- I
tel the largest room of which 1
was also a general merchan
dise store, well filled with
goods.
‘Late in the afternoon of
Thursday I reached Kearney
and found the M. E. Church
fairly well filled. I saw only
one familiar face, that of Mrs
Mary C Ninde, of Winona,'
Minn. Here on the first
day of the session of a new an
nual conference they organized
Soriety”"S F°reign Missionary
The matter used in this story
taken from the Blain Histor
ical records was first published
lM™* Front,er in February,
Why General O’Neill
Promoted Colonies
Discerning the question in 1
the minds of some, Gen. John O’- ,
Neill, as quoted in Monsignor
Cassidy’s history of St Pat- 1
rick’s parish, puts the question
into words: “Now, why have 11
gone to the trouble and expense,
why have I taken such interest
in Irish immigration to the
West?’’
“Simply and solely,” he says,
“because I have always believed
the next best thing to giving the
Irish people their freedom at [
home, is to assist and encourage
such as are here or who may j
come of their own free will in
procuring homes for themselves
and their children in the free
land of their adoption.”
“Voice of The Frontier ...
WJAG . . . 780 on your dial. ;
Company M of the Third Nebraska infantry regiment, com
posed entirely of Holt countyans, entrained at O'Neill for ser
vice in the w. r with Fpain. The unit trained for a time in Flor
j ida before going to Cuba.
J. J. M’CAFFERTY
READS EDITORIAL
Then He Leaves Cheyenne
and Departs for Head
of Elkhorn
By MRS. JOHN MELVIN
Daughter of J. J. McCafferty
‘To live in the hearts we
leave behind is not to die.”
I asked my father how he
came to settle in O’Neill in the
first place. He said he was roam
ing around in the Black Hills,
always looking for something
better. When in Cheyenne, Wyo.,
stopping at a boarding house, he
J. J. M'CAFFERTY
picked up a copy of the Omaha
Herald and read an editorial giv
ing General O’Neill and
the O’Neill City settle
ment such as a “puff” as could
come only from the pen of a
good writer.
He had never heard of O’Neill
City but at once made up his
mind to come to Holt county and
cast his lot with the new set
tlement. So next day he took the
Union Pacific train out of Chey
enne for Fremont and when he
stepped off the train at Fremont
he asked the first man he met
about the O’Neill settlement and
in what direction it lay.
That man was none other than ■
Geo. W. E. Dorsey, the finan
cier and politican who later
went to congress from North
Nebraska.
My father said Mr. Dorsey
treated him like a prince and
lauded General O'Neill to the
sky, saying there was a bright
future for the new settlement
up toward the headwaters of
the Elkhorn. That settled it for
my father, who arrived in O'
Neill in the late Summer of
1875.
His clothes pretty much in
rags, he took a homestead on
what is.now the townsite of O’
Neill. Patent was issued to fath
er for this land in 1881 by the
United States government, Ches
ter A. Arthur signing the docu
ment as president. Father said
after making pretty much of a
failure at farming he had plat- j
ted into blocks and lots the ter- \
ritory known as McCafferty’s j
Addition and sold some lots. My
sisters and I retain a number of 1
lots that were in father’s home
stead and by which we feel a !
justifiable pride. John Robert 1
Gallagher has his home on a part j1
of his maternal grandfather’s
homestead also.
My father and Neil Brennan
formed a partnership in 1878
and opened a hardware and 1
furniture business. This part
nership was later discontinued
and each member of the firm
continued in separate loca
tions, Mr. Brennan dealing
only in hardware while fath
er dealt in both hardware and
furniture besides furnishing 1
coffins in which the dead were
buried.
The first settlers in the im
mediate vicinity of O’Neill were
a few men from Wisconsin ap
parently under the leadership ot
H. H. McEvony. This settlement
was made in 1873, and 10 months
later, in May, 1874, General
John O’Neill came up the Elk
horn with the first group of col
onists and what is now the city
of O’Neill began to take shape.
This was followed two years la
ter by three more groups of col
onists. When O’Neill came with
first group of 13 men they put
up a sodhouse that was tbe liv
ing quarters of all in the group
for a time.
Securing a map of the coun
ty which showed where timber
could be had, the Red Bird
was selected as the place to get
timbers for the roof of the sod
building.
Six men were selected for this
undertaking. There was no road
over the open prairie, so as a
means of finding their way back
to the starting point a load of
willow branches was cut down
at the Elkhorn and on the way
to the Red Bird branches were
set in the ground at such inter
vals as would enable them to
follow the trail back.
Those 13 men moved into their
sod house in the Spring of 1874,
put out some crops, went to
Eagle Creek and got logs with
which to build on their claims.
The building of O’Neil] proper
started with the arrival of Gen
eral O’Neill’s second colony.
On October 7. 1882, O’Neill
was incorporated as a village.
The articles of incorporation
were adopted by the county
board of commissioners. A ma
jority of the taxpayers had sign
ed the petition to the county
board, which named the follow
ing as the board of trustees of
the newly-formed village: E. E.
Evans, Patrick Hagerty, Sanford
Parker and J. J. McCafferty.
Inman Originally
Designated Yorktown
What later became the village
of Inman started out as York
town, some New Yorkers so des
ignating their settlement. Ew
ing was first known as Ford but
in 1881 took on the name of the
community’s first postmaster,
Mr. Ewing.
Ezra Moore was a lad of 10 in
1881 when his people settled in
the Inman valley. He recalls to
day his childish fear of the cow
boys, whose plaything was the
.44 six-shooter and their tar
get most anything not seen
before. Inman got going in ’81
with a store operated by Clay
ton Roth, who also acted as the
postmaster. A depot and section
house stepped into the prairie
picture the following year. Then
the Graves lumber yard got un
der way with a few sticks. The
townsite was laid out on land
homesteaded by Bert Smith. A
school was established, Metho
dist and Presbyterian churches
organized, business enterprise
undertaken, homes built and by
the middle ’80s another flourish
ing village was on the map of
Holt county. Among those in
strumental in developing the
immunity were the Cross fam
ly, D. L. Pond, the Moore fam
ly, L. T. Shanner, the Hallor
ans and the Gorees.
A store building 16x18 feet
lousing a stock of goods and
fdostetter’s Bitters dispensed ov
?r the counter by Edward
Stringer was about all there was
of Ewing until the Autumn of
1881. In the Spring of 1882 the
jostoffice was moved, a hard
vare store opened by a newcom
er by the name of Kay. Leroy
Sutler started a hotel and livery
ousiness. Bill Beck, Ed Perry, D.
.. Conger. J P Spittler, Ames
Bros., John Carmical, Trommer
ihauser, Selah and others devel
oped a lively town that contin
ues to supply the needs of a ;
arge territory.
Stories of atrocities helped gather volunteers.—Pictures
from the Charles Hardina collection.
*
County Division and
School Districts —
Sixty-five years ago county '
j division was being agitated by
interested citizens in the West j
half of the county, who thought
the empire of Holt should be
split in the middle. The county
board provided for the question
i to be voted on and for a period
of 20 years one division scheme
j after another bobbed up. Then
there was the school districting
question. A. J. Doremus had
published in O’Neill papers his
solution of the matter with dia
grams that the printers labor
iously put into form with the
material at hand in the type
cases. These diagrams were
specimens of what the early day
craftsmen could do with type as
well as comprehensive outlines
of proposed school districts. Six- !
ty-five years later there is the
agitation of the question of re
districting and consolidating
school districts.
Rev. Bartley Blain, pastor of j
the Methodist church in O’- ^
COLONEL BRYAN
LEADS REGIMENT
Company M, Organized in
O’Neill, Part of
Famous Third
William Jennings Bryan, per
haps Nebraska’s best-known
son, commanded the Third regi
ment of the Nebraska volun
teers of which Company M was
a part. He held the rank of col
onel.
Roster of Company M, as or
ganized in 1898, follows:
Captain, Richard F. Cross, At
kinson.
1st Lieutenant, Charles E.
[fall, O’Neill.
2nd Lieutenant, John W.
Wertz, Stuart.
Sergeants: 1st, Arthur M. Coy
kendall; 2nd, Caleb J. Woods;
3rd, William H. Gallagher; 4th,
Martin F. Cronin; 5th, Wilber
Ilorton; 6th, George E. Lord.
(Corporals: 1st, Oscar P. List;
2nd, William T. S. Ayer; 3rd,
William R. J3itney; 4th, Charles
L Harding; 5th, Walter J. King;
6th, Ernest C. Nyrop; 7th, Wal
lace J. Fullerton; 8th, Michael
J. Sherry; 9th, Alva S. Likens;
10th, John Olson; 11th, Richard
Williams; 12th, Ulysses E. Pier
son.
Musicians: John M. Sturde
vant, Lester E. Porter.
Artificer: Gottfried Wyss.
Wagoner: Thomas Lynch.
Privates: C. Glenn Adams,
George B. M. Alter, Charles
Barber, Virgil E. Barker, Miles
Bennett, Geo. Biegler, Frank E.
Bishop, Fred Bitney, Andrew J.
Brewick, James D. Brown, D.
W. Cameron, Oliver W. Camp
bell, John Cantello, Charles S.
Chenowerth, Walter Clark, Mat
this Classen, Otto E. Clevish,
Patrick Condon, McKinney S.
Conover, William Coleman, Rob
ert F. Corrigan, Samuel Cous
tan, Michael F. Cross, Marshall
Custard, Rosco Doyle, Nils Dru
struk, Frank J. Eaton, J. B.
Farnsworth, Oscar F. Feelhaver,
Henry Fleming, Fredrick W.
Foster, John S. Foster, Forney
L. G. Fox, Warren Galleher, Fred
Gossman, Alonzo Graham, Burt
Griggs, LeRoy Hanlen, William
B. Hackett, Ole J. Hanson, Wal
ter Houseman, John A. Hardy,
Robert D. Heisler, William A.
Hensel, Levi Hershiser, Robert
D. James, Frank Judd, John
Kanlen, Morris Klinesmith, Har
ry H. Leonard, Charles Madden,
George Mayes, Joseph E. Max
well, Joseph E. Maxwell, George
E. McKee, N. J. Olson, Chris Pet
erson, Edmond C. Pickett, Ja
son L. Ratekin, J. Ross, James
S. Short, John J. Slaymaker,
Lewis Slaymaker, William C.
Smith, Charles W. Stolze, Louis
Sivick, Alfred D. Timmons, An
drew J. Trapp, James F. Updike,
James Verplank, Frank Wagner,
James S. Weaverling, Cluade H.
Weedman, Lawrence F. Whalen,
Jacob Wiseman, Olander Wilson,
Charles E. Wilson, Elmer Wise,
Rudolph Wyss, Edward D. Zink
Neill, was also county superin
tendent and at the time the mat
ter of districting was under con
sideration he published notices
of teachers’ examinations to be
held in the country school
houses.
1 111 "T
Holt County Aberdeen-Angus Breeders’ Association
FOURTH ANNUAL
Show and Sale
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1950
. . . SELLING . . .
40 BULLS 15 FEMALES
Consigned by the Following Members:
Leo T. Adams, Chambers Harry E. Ressel & Sons, O'Neill
Hugh Carr, Amelia Ernest E. Young, Chambers
Blaine Garwood, Atkinson Clyde Van Every, O'Neill
Fora L. Knight, O'Neill Arthur Hibbs, Star
Freeman Knight, O'Neill Roland Miller, Middlebranch
E. L. Miner & Son, O'Neill Will Sit*, Atkinson
Ray Siders, O'Neill E. J. Revell & Sons, Star
Ray Siders, O’Neill, President and Sale Manager
Leo T. Adams. Chambers, Secretary-Treasurer
