Franklin County, Nebraska

For Another Day

Several years ago in May, after being prompted by a visit from friends and learning a new way of keeping in touch by e-mail, I sat at my computer and wrote this message to family and friends:

“Yesterday, visitors Bill and Carol Crouse from Tucson, AZ asked us if we would like to take a ride south of the river to see his sister and brother-in-law, Clifford and Betty Melton. A quick phone call told u s they were home, so off we went on what was to be a historical tour.

“In 1872 Daniel Haugh homesteaded on Crow Creek south of Naponee (NE * 30-1-16). Instead of building the traditional sod home or dugout, he built a log cabin out of native logs from the creek. Coming from the mountains of Tennessee, where there were those sorts of dwellings, maybe he just flat knew something others didn’t know about durability. The fact that this log cabin is still standing to day tells us a log cabin’s rate of deterioration is very slow. Also helping to prove this, I would like to tell you of another log cabin, south of Bloomington River bridge. The Stinson log cabin lies in a heap of solid logs, though fallen to the ground. It will take years for those logs to return to pulp (story for another day).

“Rumor says Daniel and his brother Jacob were taken and held prisoner by the Indians. They reported not liking the dog stew they were fed. They were later released unharmed by the Indians. Jacob homesteaded south of Daniel. He went the route of so many of the other settlers-life was just too hard. Some of the early day homesteaders didn’t make it, and returned to where they came from.

“Daniel married Mary Clark and they had two children. When he came to Crow Creek, there were only 12 families on the creek and only 126 acres of cropland under cultivation when the Haughs came to Crow creek. Can you imagine that? In the floor of the cabin was a trap door that led to a hiding space from the expected Indian raid. This was probably also used for a cellar, for people found broken dishes and some bullet molds under the floor in later years. Daniel died in 1910. Mary continued to live in the cabin until her age made it necessary to move to Naponee.

“When their daughter, Grace Mae married, two rooms were added onto the north of the established log home for them to live. But Mary was discouraged, because to actually get to Grace’s part of the house she had to go out of her front door facing west and walk around to enter Grace’s front door. This was not convenient, so a door was opened between the two dwellings, and now Mary could visit her daughter and new husband without going out into the elements of the weather to do so. All was well and the world was wonderful. Later, two rooms were added to the upstairs and an entryway was built onto the front of the house, then, the logs were covered inside with lath and plaster, and the outside of the logs were covered with siding. Now they could consider themselves ‘modern’ in their new home, for now there was no sing of the log cabin contained inside the walls.

“Clifford Melton returned to this home of his great-grandfather Daniel when he was 10 years old. He has lived in this house ever since. He knew the logs were still in the walls of his home. In 1984, he began to strip away the lath and plaster. What he found as he uncovered these logs was hand-hewn walnut and native elm tree logs in perfect shape, once dragged from the edge of Crow Creek. They were hewn into a square shape about 12 to 16 inches thick, with an ax driven by the pure strength of a man named Daniel, who was determined to make a home for his family in a new land. Cliff sanded down these logs and varnished them, each one with its own different shape and color giving their living room a warm and comfortable feeling.

“If I go outside and use my imagination to rip away the additions and the siding, I can see the little cabin sitting there in its original state as it was almost 125 years ago, with Daniel and Mary going in and out the door to do their daily work. Through the windows from inside the cabin, I can see the Indians south of the cabin as they drove the buffalo off the cliff to kill them, so as not to waste arrows. At the door I heard the knock of Daniel’s stepson who lived across the creek in the next one-quarter section to the west. A grandchild of Mary’s was born over there her name was Edith. Nearing dark one evening Mary said to her son, ‘you better go home, you will fall in the creek.’ ‘No,’ he said: ‘I know the way home.’ Being a fun person, she slipped to the creek and removed his stepping-stones and into the creek he fell in the dark. I can visualize the son’s time spent over across the creek within hollering distance of the Haughs. It’s just an indentation in the ground marked by a rock that Cliff left so we would never lose sight of home that once was. Can you hear their works float over the plowed earth? Sentences like: “ when does school start at Red Top? ‘Is anyone going to Naponee for supplies?’ ‘We need flour to make bread.’ ‘Can we use the horses today to work the south broom cornfield?’ ‘We have meat to share.’ ‘Wasn’t the rain nice?’ ‘Where will church be held this Sunday?’

“Mary’s son and family, the Hatchers, only lived across the creek for a short time. We think they returned to the east.

“Later, Cliff gave us a tour around the two miles of sections to the north. We looked at the 40 acres that was owned by a Clark and sold to his sister, Sara Crouse, later becoming the Henry Richter home. I wonder could it be? Daniel married Mary Clark. Could they be some relation to this Clark who owned this small acreage? On to the north, on the west side of the road, was the ground of George Washington Crouse. I need to do more research on that farm before we walk it. On the north and a right turn east on the river bottom road, I could see the farm of the Stanlows. To the south, we turned and found the road to the Stovers in 1872, on past where Joseph Richter would have lived. Those are all stories for another day. By then, it had started to rain and Duane and Carol had enough history for one day.

“I left knowing more than when I came, and happy for the new friends I had found. Cliff and Betty Melton are nice people and so are their children. I feel I could go there unannounced for coffee anytime. Thanks to them and their family I had a wonderful day I won’t forget.”

“The soul, secured in her existence, smiles
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grows dim with age, and Nature sink in years
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth.” Joseph Addison

Rena Donovan, For Another Day.

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