Samuel Ellis

Very often, when speaking of the early-day settlers to McCook and Southwest Nebraska, we speak of the man, the soldier or the plainsman as the ones who opened up the frontiers to civilization.

This is unfortunate. The white men who came through Nebraska alone in the early days did not stay. They were buffalo hunters or prospectors, or fur traders or soldiers who were just passing through, or here for a limited time. They were not looking for a place to settle down.

The settlers who stayed to make Nebraska their home were primarily family men, and the decision to stay in this part of the country was very much the decision of the husband and his wife and very often the entire family. This was the case with Samuel Ellis and his young wife, Mary Ellen.

Sam was born in York County, Pa., in 1843, the son of immigrants from Great Britain. He grew up in York County and here received his early education and his apprenticeship in the leather trade and also as a cooper, where he learned to make and repair casks and barrels.

When the Civil War began he was just the right age for service in the Union Army. Accordingly, he enlisted in the 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry, under the command of General Jordon, in August of 1861.

Sam's Company took part in an incredible 43 engagements in the Civil War! In some of these battles casualties were heavy and in a few Sam was one of just a handful of survivors.

One of the battles in which Sam was a part, as a member of the Union Army, was the Battle of the Wilderness. This was the battle in which General Grant took over the leadership of the Union Army in the Eastern sector and showed the country that at last it had a Union General who was willing to fight.

The Wilderness was a particularly bloody battle. The results were inconclusive, but it signaled the beginning of the end for the Confederate Forces under Robert E. Lee, which led to the capture of the Southern Capital, Richmond, Va., and the Lee's eventual surrender at Appomattox. After the Battle of the Wilderness, Sam Ellis was a part of the Union Army, which was loaded aboard transports and sent south to join forces with Union General Sherman, who was headed north from Atlanta, Ga., in his "March to the Sea."

Sam Ellis was honorably discharged in August 1865. He headed home to resume his life in York County, but he was restless after the war and moved about. In 1867, he was married to Mary Ellen March, in Decatur, Ill.

For a time they were content to make their life in that area, but in 1874 they pulled up stakes and set out to make their fortune in the west.

Sam and Mary Ellen settled first in Adams County, Neb., south of Hastings, on the Blue River. They had thought that they would like to venture even further west in Nebraska, but received discouraging advice from neighbors. "Don't g0 farther west," they were told. "Why not?" he asked. "Hell, it's a desert out thar," was the answer.

So the couple stayed. Sam erected a "soddy." He worked hard and soon had a little crop of wheat, corn and potatoes growing. There was talk of drought, grasshopper invasions and Indian raids, but things seemed to be going well on their new farm. Then disaster struck.

In one night, the winged devastation of grasshoppers struck. Their corn was stripped to the ground. The wheat stalks were bare. The tops of the potatoes were gone. It was as if an army had laid siege to the land, as bad as he had seen during the Civil War. In the days that followed Ellis neighbors began leaving, first just one or two, then in increasing numbers -- "to return home to Illinois -- to live on the in-laws."

So it was, on a blistering day in early summer, Sam Ellis returned to his "soddy" after bidding farewell to yet another neighbor who was leaving Nebraska.

"What shall we do, wife?" asked Sam. "Shall we join the others and go back to Illinois? You know it will be easier there. Here, it may be more of the same."

Mary Ellen's reply was perhaps typical of that determined and hearty band of help-mates of settlers who settled our area --"Sam, if you stay, I'll stay!"

And stay they did. There were difficult years ahead. That first year was the worst. There was no crop, the grasshoppers had taken care of that.

But the grasshoppers could not penetrate beneath the soil to get at the potatoes, which were there. Sam made the rounds to all of the abandoned vegetable patches in the neighborhood and dug up the still undersized potatoes and reburied them back at his farm for their winter's rations. A little corn and a tiny store of wheat were salvaged, and this was enough to get Sam and his family through the winter.

There was no money to buy kerosene for their lamps, so Sam built a good-sized fireplace into their soddy for light in the room as well as the source of heat for warmth and cooking. Sam relied upon his subscription to the weekly paper "Chicago Inter-Ocean" for his contact with the outside world, and by the light of the fireplace he read that publication, cover to cover, while Mary Ellen sewed, and no doubt dreamed of the home they had left behind, and of better times ahead.

For 10 years Sam and Mary Ellen stayed on their little farm in Adams County. There were more years of drought, but gradually things got better. Sam got into the cattle business and the little farm was producing. Things seemed good. Others felt the same way and one day a fellow came along with an offer to buy Sam's farm, at a price, which he felt was too good to turn down.

Sam and Mary Ellen had originally wanted to settle arther west, and this they felt was their opportunity. After searching out possibilities in Kansas and Nebraska, Sam finally settled on a tree claim south of McCook, in 1884. It was after moving to Red Willow County that things finally turned in Sam's and Mary Ellen's favor. They lived on their Red Willow farm for many years and prospered in land and cattle.

Sam was active in the local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, and while his health permitted he joined in the celebrations of the Civil War Veterans at the McCook Fourth of July celebration and the Indianola Old Settlers Picnic, sometimes relating his experiences in the Battle of the Wilderness or other battles, which he delivered in what was said to be a "rich baritone" voice.

Sam lost his help-mate in the 1920s, after which he moved into McCook to live with his daughter-in-law on East 5th Street.

Though in his latter years Sam's social contact was restricted because of an extreme hearing loss, he continued to enjoy reading, as his link to the outside world. And, he enjoyed reminiscing -- about the part he played in 43 engagements in the Civil War -- The Battle of the Wilderness, and Sherman's March to the Sea.

And his thoughts returned to his little soddy on the Blue River in Adams County and to his steadfast partner who helped him set the course of their life's work when she determinedly proclaimed, "Sam, if you stay, I'll stay!"

Sam Ellis died at his home in McCook on Jan. 6, 1935, and is buried in the Pleasant Prairie Cemetery.

Source: McCook Gazette Special 50th Edition, 1932.