Reminiscences of a. Wayfarer
Some of the Important Events of the Pioneer Days
of Richardson County and Southeast Nebraska, as
remembered by the writer who has spent fifty
one years here.
A I.ITTI.K Allot T KVKKYIlOllY.
“Say not thou, what is the
cause that the former days were
ftetter than these? for thou dost
not inquire wisely concerning
1 his.”
The preacher, as the author
of the above is styled in the sac
fed volume, was right in his
conclusion that it was unwise
to say that former days 'were
better than these, the present,
as all days and times, whether
old or new, are just the same, j
and wei'i- intended to be. Yet,
all the world likes the old days,
live very much in them, and
take an especial pleasure in
their recall to be lived over
again in memory as they passed
in actual presence in another
and a lost time. Nevertheless,
all times are said to he good
■when they are old. Whether
this is true or not as mailer of
fact, it is certain that most peo
pic act upon the hypothesis that '
it is, ami in all the departments,
railings, and ramifications of
this variegated life of ours, we
are constantly seeking in the
past acts of men and nations
lor precedents for doing some
Hiing that otherwise might not
l>e done, notwithstanding these
•lays are assumed to be better
than the former. The living,
acting generation in any age
and in all times, is forever con
trolled whether knowing the
fact or not, by two nonentities
the dead of Jthe past and the
unborn of the future the one
historic, the other prophetic,
but whose invisible hands lie
heavy on .ill that is done by
those active toilers at the cease
less, never ending loom of life,
ignorantly but surely weaving
the garment of (Jod we know
him by history. The poet
speaks of a day that is dead.
There is no such day, any more
than there c.tii be a void time.
All days, past or to come, in the
councils of the eternal, make up
the everlasting now, the only
division of time or duration pos
sible in the economy oi the in
finite.
In these desultory papers 1
use the word “history” in its
comprehensive and g e neri c
sense. As applied to a person,
a community, a state or to any
thing else of an organic nature,
it include^, all tin* processes of
integration or growth from their
emergence from a state of non
existence till they disappear
again in the imperceplablt* or
non-being. In the synthesis of
organic lile flu* aggregates par
take of the nature and charac
teristics of their units. A good
house cannot be built of bad
material, nor can a good com
mum tv <>! people Ik* produced
from a bad or immoral popula
tion. The family is the living
prototype and model of that
larger family, the state, and
from the output of the aggre
gate of all such miniature com
munities, the political edifice is
constructed. The moral fiber
in the one, determines it in the
other, and hence, it has been the
effort of the controlling civiliz
ing forces in organized society
to reach down to the fountain,
the masses, and purify that, or
do what may be done to that
end, and the stream will take
care of itself.
1 have heretofore spoken of
individuals only, but now it
comes in my way to speak more
generally of the people who
.aid the foundations of the great
and growing state of Nebraska.
When I became one of its citi
zens in the day of its pupilage
for statehood, there were, all
told, about twelve thousand
people living within its con
fines, of which, proximately,
one of those thousands inhabited
Richardson County. It is inter
- ---
esting to me to pass in review
the leading people, both men
and women, of which that pio
neer community consisted, and
to take note of the many chan
ges the coming and going of tin
years has brought about. It is,
of course, common to all com
munities, but as L have not lived
in all of them, I know of only
one in my world (we all live in
one of our own), and of that
alone am I competent to speak,
if indeed 1 am competent to do
that, which 1, think myself, )s
doubtful.
It was Voltaire, I believe, who
taught the true mode of writing
history, though it is not certain
that historiographer-, have een
erally followed his suggestions.
lie believed that Instur y
should deal with the peoph of
a nation, as well as with its ru
lers, statesmen, battles and
great events: should tell how
the people were housed, clothed,
fed and treated by the laws
with which, iy their enactment
in most cases, they had no voice;
what they were taught, what
they believed in or hoped for:
their fireside traditions, their
prevailing religion and their
folk lore, which may be said to
comprehend all, or nearly all
the others. The trend of mo
deni thought has not been in
accord with the teachings gen
erally of that intellectual giant
of the eighteenth century, but
in that one particular at least,
lie is believed to ha ve been right,
let me imitate the great writer
in a small way, and tell of a
past order of things in a day
that is old, and of a people who
have largely passed away, but
who in their day and opportun
ity did their whole duty as citi
zens, and that is the best epi
taph that can be written for
anybody.
The first family to locate in
Falls City was that of David
Dorrington. lie and his good
wife were natives of old Eng
land, from which, with their
two little boys they emigrated
to the United States in 1"4if. lo
cating at Whitesboro. a little
village near Utica, New York,
where they remained till the
troubles in the territory of Kan
sas were settled and in the
spring of Is57 they removed to
it settling in Doniphan County,
where they fell in with the Hur
banks and Cent ral Lane, and at
their instance came to Nebraska
and helped to found Falls City,
and where they passed the re
mainder of their lives. In the
troublous days during the many
contests over the permanent lo
cation of the county seat, the
town acquired a hard name, hut
the moral integrity of those
people from over the sea, and
others of like character, went
far to mitigate it* effect with
the general public, like the min
itnum ten, for which, if the old
patriarch could have produced
them, the cities of the plain
would not have been destroyed.
They sleep side by side, along
with their two oldest sons, in
the family vault in the beautiful
city of the dead over to the
west, and forty two descendants
rise up and calj them blessed.
The family of.lesse Crook and
his venerable widow, one of the
pioneer mothers of the country,
is the only other, resident in
Falls City in l*as, that has
among its citizens today, mem
bers and descendants in the di
rect line. Those of Isaac Crook
and Wilson M. Maddox.over by
and in Arthur, are quite numer
ous and are among our best citi
zenship. Others came to us at
a later date, and some of them
are with us yet.
Anderson Miller and his ex
cellent wife with their two or
three small children, came in
1859, purchased the Joe Baker |
claim adjoining the town site
an the west, and have made it
their home ever since.
The land was owned by a Mr.
McMillan, when Miller pur
; chased it. They had the lies!
j house in town and tin only one
that had a plastered room in it,
in the whole place. I remember
this fact fora particular reason.
Judge Miller of the territorial
district court was in poor health
in the spring of I "(id. and it was
not thought prudent for him to
be quartered while holding
court in the poorly constructed
and furnished hotel up town,
and at the solicitation of K. S
Dundv (afterwards Judge.) Mrs.
Miller kindly placed at the dis
posal of the invalid Judge her!
best room for hits comfort and ac i
commudatioii, for which lit- and!
the members of the liar (I)undy
and the writer,) were thankful |
indeed. Judge Mi Her died short I
ly afterwards at liis home in
Ohio. Judye Dundy is dead
with most of his family, with
never a survivor left in the state.
And so with numerous others
who have been with us and yone
away leaving no track or trace
behind them. No family on
earth has all its members on the
same side of the river. Mr.
Miller and his tfood wife are
with us still, in the quiet enjoy
ment of hale old atfe, with their
children (except those »a»ne be
fore.) and their grandchildren,
about them, waiting like the
balance of ns. for the ferryman
on the Stygian pool.
Winyate Kin;v and family
came here early, but I don't
know just when. Hewaselect
and healthy children, served his
people with honor and useful
ness in tin* legislature and has
grown old as gracefully as a
seer Time has been good to
him because he has been good
to it, and as the shadows leng
then to the east and the days of
his active exertions recede in
the past, he has given up the
farm and come to town for a
quiet rest. He has earned it,
and besides, he deserves it.
• hi the Nemaha was the Boyd
family, consisting of several
brandies, Joseph the elder and
his two nephews, David and Ab
ner. Some of their descendants
are among our people, as well
as those of Jacob Stumbo: but
the Simpkins people, are all
gone. On the Muddy was Jo
seph Korney, yet in life, but far
ii]i in the eighties, one of the
real pioneers, and among the
stroii”- men ol the early days
Further up the Muddy were
t ie Lambs, the Minchalls and
tin- Nances, all of the heads of
their families ”'one, but with
many of their descendants still
amony our people. Still fur
ther up stream were John Har
kendorf, Louis Misplais. Wil
liam (i. < tools by, L. 15. Frouty,
Zeddock Stephenson, Ed Swim,
Sam Allerton, Steve McElory
and others whose names I can
not recall. Some of these fami
lies have disappeared entirely,
w.file others have many repre
sentatives in the county.
The year following many oth
ers settled in the same neigh
borhood and further u]> the Mud
dy, and to the Nemaha County
line of whom [ will write la
ter on.
Davio Dorrington
ed to the legislature in 1
and was in the row that took
place th«' following winter at
< hnaha, when a part of the mem
hers of both legislative bod it s
rebelled and went to Florence, a
small hamlet four or live miles
north of Omaha, and organized
an independent legislature. < >f
course it was an illegal body,
but as there was no quorum
left in the regular houses at
(hnaha, no valid legislation
could be had bv either, and the
session for that year came to
nothing. It was the result of
an old tight against Omaha, and
between the north and south
Platte sections of the territory.
Mr. King buried bis wife here at
a later period, and sometime
afterwards removed back to
Missouri. A. J. Deshazo, his
son-in-law, surveyed and platted
Falls City, but he, at a subse
quent time went to Missouri al
so and the family ceased from
among our people.
lion. John R. Dowtv came to
Palls City early in l*."<). He
had lived for some time in Ne
maha County, but liking things
in Richardson better, came down
and became one of us, and has
been so ever since. After tak
ing care of Uncle Sam's building
interest on the Indian Reserva
tions in the near vicinity under
the regime of Major Burbank,
for a few years, he did the sell
able thing, got married, built
him a splendid farm out on tin*
Muchly in the Coolsby neighbor
hood, reared a family of bright
Iii Salem there remains but
three families represented in
our midst, who lived in that
town in In'h. They are the Lin
coln, the Holt and the Oliver
families. .1. C. Lincoln, now
dead, and John W. Holt, now a
citizen of this city, were co
partners in business, practically
all the time from the spring of
I".->7. till Mr. Lincoln's death in
lHUJ. His wife died about the
same time, leaving surviving
them two daughters, one of
whom, Mrs. Spurlock, still lives
in Salem, the other, Mrs. Law
ler, is located somewhere I
think, in Colorado.
The only representative of
the Oliver family that I know
of, is Mrs. John \Y. Holt, and
of course, resides with her hus
band in Falls City. If A. S.
Russell was living in Salem in
1 Hart, 1 am mistaken to 111411 ex
tent. but 1 don't think I am
Mr. Lincoln was a blood rela
tion of the great president, and
resembled him very much both
in his physical make-up, and in
mental and temperamental pe
culiarities. If there was a fun
ny or ridiculous side to any
thing, and there usually is. that
came under their observation,
they were sure to see it. Billy
Mann there are not many left
who remember him —was county
clerk, and came to Falls City
with the public records after
the couuty seat was located here
by act of the legislature in Feb
ruary, I860, and when the first
election was held afterwards,
10 permanently locate the seat
of government, showed me a
letter from Lincoln civiiur a re
port of the vote at Salt in. It
read: "One hundred anti six for
Salem and six tights. ' Of course
the six lights didn’t figure in the
tally sheet of the poll, but they
figured in the fun C’ass got out
of the election, and he could no
more refrain from associating
the tights with the votes, than
he could refrain from making
the report itself.
The firm of Lincoln A Holt
was the main standby in com
mercial business in the central
and western parts of the county
fora quarter of a century,
though the town of Salem was
badly situated in the matter of
easy access, except from the
west. It was surrounded on the
north, east and south by the
marshy valleys of the two Xe
mahas, and by that of the great
er river formed by the conllu
ence of the two smaller streams,
and for a considerable part of
the year these valleys were al
most impassable. These natur
al disadvantages were not easily
overcome, and the business of
the town suffered in cons e
quence. But Lincoln A Holt
were Salem while they lived in
it, and their families are the
last of its old inhabitants.
The Hares, the Roberts, the
Walkers, and others I could
name, have drifted away, or
died out, and strangers have
taken their places. This is the
way of the world for it is al
ways moving, whether we take
note of it or not.
John W. Holt has been a fix
ture in Richardson County for
more than half a century, and
during all that time lias been
intimately and prominently con
nected with its business, social
and political affairs. Thirty-one
of those years were passed in
this city, where official duty as
county treasurer brought him in
IhTh, after he had served a term
as Senator from this county in
the state legislature. After the
close of his second term as
treasurer, he, with Mr. S. B.
Miles, a man well known to all
the people of the country and
of great wealth, together with
his life long associate .1. C. Lin
coln, and perhaps one or two
others, established the First
National Bank in Falls City,
and for twenty-five years, he
was practically the head and
controler of the institution.
Whatever it is. he'made it.
Mr. Holt is peculiarly a pro
duct of the frontier. His father,
Dr. Holt, was the first repre
sentative in the Missouri legis
lature from that district of coun
try in the northwestern part of j
the state, known as the Platte
Purchase, away back in lsll;
and Holt County, over the river,
was so named in his honor. He
has seen the country, on both
sides oj the Missouri, grow up
from a wilderness and a waste
to be as tine agricultural dis
tricts as can be found anywhere
in all the great Northwest, and
no one contributed to that result
more than he. He is now in re
tirement, but is just as much the
good citizen he has always been.
it is something ot a rebel to
have a live man to talk about,
for I feel lonesome groping
among the shadows of things
that have been, and calling up
in memory the faces of men and
women I knew in the long ago,
but whom I shall see nevermore,
while the world stands. The
fact is, I seem to have broken
into some vast graveyard where
only phantom memories lie
buried, whose uneasy ghosts
are doomed to continuous and
perpetual resurrection, for they
haunt me at every step.
I am not doing exactly what
“Old Mortality" did with his
chizle and mallet, for the dead
covenanters in the 1 a n d of
cakes: nor singing peans as
Coleridge did, in memory of tin*
ht?roes of the chivalric ages
The Knights are dust
Their good swords are rust
Their souls are with the Saints!
I trust.
but, I am trying to do some
thing that partakes a little
of the nature of both, and af I
succeed only partially, I shall
feel amply repaid for the labor j
expended in the doing.
GEHLING THEATRE
ONE NIGHT
Saturday, March 27th
Joseph Kings NEW Version
East Lynne
with
Gertrude Arden
A play that will live forever. A stort
of a woman's wrongs. It touche i
the hearts of ail. Without a questio ’
the greatest emotional drama of th :
present generation.
Prices, 50c and 35c
Wallpaper
Bargains
Our new line for Spring is
now in and ready for you tc
make your selection.
Don't fail to see our Last
Year's Remnants, which are
selling at a very low figure.
The PRICE sells our Wall
paper.
Our Paint stock is larger
than ever before.
We carry all the best brands
of Hard Oils, Varnishes, Floor |
and Linoleum Varnish and
Varnish Stains.
Come in and see our line
before you buy. It costs ■
nothing to look and it's a
pleasure to show goods.
M Mi I Ian’s !
•I
Pharmacy
Opposite I'ostoffice Falls City. Neb. [
i
VINOLCURES CHRONIC COUGHS.
COLDS AND BRONCHITIS
After Other Remedies Fail
"I have been troubled with a chronhi
cold and bronchitis for a long tim«
and have tried many remedies without
finding relief. Through the kind sug
gestion of a friend 1 tried Vinol, and
after taking four bottles, am entirely
cured.” A. H. Wilde, 733-Sth Avenue.
Minneapolis, Minn.
S. McDonald, 147 W. Congress
St. Paul, Minn., writes: “I con
tracted a severe cold last winter and
thought I would never get rid of it. f
tried Vinol as a last resort, and it hau
completely cured me.”
Vinol combines two world-famed
tonics, the healing, medicinal proper
ties of cod liver oil and tonic iron, de
liciously palatable and agreeable to the
weakest stomach. For this reason.
Vinol is unexcelled as a strength
builder for old people, delicate chi) -
dren, weak and run-down persons, af
ter sickness and for Chronic Coughs,
Colds and Bronchitis.
A. G. WANNER. Falls City, Net.
Nervous
Break-Down
Nerve energy is the
force that controls the or
gans of respiration, cir
culation, digestion and
elimination. When yon
feel weak, nervous, irri
table, sick, it is often be
cause you lack nerve
energy, and the process
of rebuilding and sustain
ing life is interfered with.
Dr. Miles’ Nervine has
cured thousands of such
cases, and will we believe
benefit if not entirely
cure you. Try it.
■'My nervous system gave away
completely, and left me on the verge
of the grave. 1 tried skilled physi
cians but got no permanent relief.
1 got so hi d I had to give up my
business, i began taking iJr. Miles'
Restorative Nervine. In a few days
1 was much better, and X continued
to improve until entirely cured. I
am In business again, and never miss
an opportunity to recommend this
remedy." MRS. W. L. BURKE,
Myrtle Creek, Oregon.
Your druggist sells Dr. Miles’ Nerv
ine, and we authorize him to return
price of first bottle (only) if it falls
to benefit you.
Miles Medical Co., Elkhart, Ind