Early Indianola Settlers in 1883

Friday, November 8, 2013

By Susan Doak

SW Nebraska

Genealogy Society

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Resuming meandering through the "Illustrated Handbook of Red Willow County," I find the unknown author with his flowery language amusing.

He did, however, managed to fit a significant number of people into his 34-page booklet! Here are a few more of the many Indianola residents he mentions.

Indianola's legal profession was covered by two men: Maj. R. H. Criswell and Col. R. M. Snavely. Criswell, having been in practice since 1873, is described as "a man of superior mental and legal gifts....pure literary tastes....and strong positive personal traits. Criswell originated from Pennsylvania. Snavely, "whose fluent speech and close devotion to the profession are well recognized in a liberal and growing practice" hailed from Iowa.

J. W. Welborn is noted as serving his second term as County Sherriff. Described as a "genial and big hearted Kentuckian....one of the squarest and best men in the county," Welborn came in 73 to the county and had served a term as the County Treasurer plus "has a good sized army of strong friends."

Capt. C.D. Crame, the County and District Court Clerk, is "a strong, intelligent, level-headed manly New Yorker" who came to Indianola in 1880 and "has shipped 5,000 tons of buffalo bones from the upper Republican valley to eastern manufacturers." As a note, one ton of buffalo bones was worth around $10. To give you an idea of how many buffalo contributed to his shipped tonnage, it took 100 buffalo skeletons to produce one ton, so if my rudimentary math skills are correct, it took 500,000 skeletons to make his shipment!

The land men surrounding Indianola were well represented. G.A Hunter raised 20 tons of "mangle wurtzels" from 1/3 acre of his 250 acre "Eastside" stock farm. (Mangle-wurtzels are large field beets.) C.A. Hutze's 320 acre "Garden Grove" farm was on Coon Creek with a 2 ½ acre market garden from which he sold $600 worth of vegetables. (Hutze hailed from Kentucky and arrived in 1873) Frank Fritsch, owner of the 320 acre "Coon Creek Ranch," who also came in 73, "without a dollar, has now 150 cattle" and a "$1,500 home" and has "seventy acres in plow." Three miles from Indianola was Henry Wolf's "Grafton Stock Ranch," named for his hometown in West Virginia consisting of 1,000 acres.

Wolf came, penniless, in 1876, having to borrow the money to pay the freight on his household goods. At the junction of the Dry and Wild Cat Creeks sat J.W. Thomas's 800 acre, "Graceland" farm and ranch land, Thomas having come to the valley in 82 from West Virginia in bad health and carrying $350. Lastly, ten miles southwest of Indianola lies "Longmont," the home and 320 acre farm of George Huggins, "one of the squarest, manliest men that ever turned a furrow in Red Willow County."

This tiny booklet is a perfect example of how research puts "flesh on the bones" of your family tree. There is so much more to genealogy than a name on a headstone, so much more to the people that populate your family. Research helps bring them to life for you.

My next two articles will focus on notations of McCook's progress and people in 1883.

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