Obituaries from the 1880s at genealogy library

I have a grandson who is not yet a driver, but never fails to notice or comment on using turn signals when you drive, actually, when I drive. I can’t wait till he gets his learner’s permit so I can ride with him and make comments, but since he wants to go into law enforcement, I doubt that I’ll get much of a chance to get even.

I do try and always use my turn signals, which considering that I didn’t actually grow up with cars that had turn signals, or seat belts, or air conditioning….well, you get the point. I learned to stick my arm out the driver’s window and signal my turn with either my arm bent up for turning right and straight out for turning left. After I had children, my right arm was busy slamming them back against the seat when I had to slow down or hit the brakes, who knows who was running the steering wheel.

Apparently the Gazette online version is read quite often. The response to an article I got last week came from California via a McCook resident. The CA person was interested in Shadeland Ranch, W. N. Rogers place, from the early 1900’s and the new McCook resident was going to go out and snap pictures of the area where the ranch was located. I’m fairly sure the house is gone, but maybe not, and sending someone out to the E ¼ of the W ½ of a section was almost beyond my capabilities but holding a 1905 Plat Map along side of a current Red Willow County map got us pretty close. You know the old saying about hand grenades and horse shoes? If you happen to own the land where Shadeland Ranch was located and if any of the old buildings still exist, please let me know!

Then I had some copies made and when Michelle Lytle was done, she texted me and said she had something else for me when I came to pick them up. Apparently, Marc Sis had brought in a picture to be copied and Michelle knew I would want a copy! Marc complied and said if I wanted any back stories about the area, give him a call. The picture was of what is now Pete’s Garage on East B street. At that time, it was the Bender Auto Company selling used cars and I’m dating the photo around the 1930’s. When the photo was t aken, there were stairs leading up the west side to another business on the second floor. That story will follow later.

The Heritage Tour and Cemetery Tour in conjunction with Buffalo Commons should keep everyone entertained over the weekend of June 11-13. Working on the cemetery tour, I stopped and took pictures of headstones. How times have changed! There are so many little ones buried in our cemetery and a large number from the times prior to vaccinations.

SWNGS library has an amazing collection of obituaries from late 1880’ through 2020. The early obits are complemented by records from the Carpenter/Breland funeral home (as it is known today) spanning the years of 1890-1900. Often there are no obituaries for the youngest angels, but the funeral home records may answer the question of cause of death.

Unfortunately, we do not have records from the other mortuaries in existence at that era, and there were several others, but a count shows that in 10 years in those records alone, 162 children died, many from things like pneumonia, diphtheria, scarlet fever, meningitis and measles, or both they and their mother did not survive childbirth.

If you are researching your genealogical history from his area, stop by on Thursdays from 1-4 PM at 322 Norris Ave., Rooms 2-7 on the second floor. There is an elevator for your use.

You can always search our records on line at www.swngs.org. You do not have to be a member to use access our library or the website.