Vol. 11-1

Spring 2002

The Holdrege Area Genealogy Club

P.O. Box 164

Holdrege, Nebraska 68949

Meetings held at the

Phelps County Historical Museum

on the first Monday of the month at 2:00 PM.

The public is welcome!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

            We are looking forward to the "Making History Workshop" being held at the Nebraska Prairie Museum on March 16th. Ada Hinson is chairman of this workshop and can answer any questions you may have. Reservations can be made by contacting Making History, Inc. at <makinghist@uswest.net>.

            Elizabeth Schlatz is chairman for our upcoming Everton Workshop to be held at the museum on September 14, 2002.  Put this date on your calendar so you won't miss this opportunity. Information for this workshop will be in our upcoming newsletter.  Contact us if you wish any information on this workshop or email me at rslater@atcjet.net.

            We are always open to suggestions for making things better for our members. We appreciate all of you who support our club. Remember that you are always welcome to put queries in our newsletter.

Your President, Sandra Slater

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

QUERIES

1.  Would like to hear from anyone interested in the Einsel family history. E. D. Einsel, born 17 March 1850 married first Emma Miller and later her sister Sarah. E. D. Einsel died in Hastings, Nebraska in 1935. He and his family were early pioneers of Phelps County, building one of the first banks in Holdrege, Nebraska in 1883.  His brother John H. Einsel became a partner in the bank.  Other family members that came to Phelps County area were Lewis Einsel and Catherine Driesbach Einsel, his parents and other brothers Andrew and Moses.  Moses was the last family member, having died in Holdrege in 1931. Steven J. Einsel, Suite 202, Burlington Center, 747 Burlington Ave., Hastings, NE 68901

2. Would like to correspond with any one researching my great-grandfather, John Sjorgren Born December 7, 1835 and died January 3rd, 1882 in Harlan County, Nebraska.  I would especially like to find a death notice. Carol Perkins, 9434 Highwood Hill Rd., Brentwood, TN 37027

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NEW BOOKS ON THE SHELF

Donated by Warner Carlson - Holdrege High School Year books: 1928; 1930; 1947; 1949; 1853; 1956; 1958

Donated by Mary Kay Nelson - 1951 Holdrege High School year book

MEMORIAL GIFTS GIVEN IN THE NAME OF WALDO ROST AND MILROY BENTON -- 1870 Nebraska Census Index book

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

SODDY HOMEMAKER

HOW DID A WOMAN MAKE

A DIRT HOUSE A HOME?

By Ellen Austin

From the mid -1850s through the beginning of the 20th century, from Kansas north through the territories of Nebraska and Dakotas, prairie settlers taught each other to drive teams of oxen as they pulled butterfly plows to break sod. The sod was broken in long, straight furrows the depth of the roots of blue stem and buffalo grasses. Using spades men first measured, with notched handles then cut into blades, chunks of the sod which were carted by wagon or stone-boat (a kind of sled) to a building site.  Staking the chunks, row upon row like bricks, inserting simple frames for a door and windows, laying sod over pole-rafters, men soon had durable quarters while they tamed a raw land.

It was the homesteader's wife, however, who was challenged to make the dirt house a home even though she may have wept bitter tears at thought of the lace-curtained frame house she had left in the East.

Many wives must have reacted like Mrs. George Shafer when she first saw her husband's offering of a Kansas dugout home, merely a room scooped out of the side of a hill and walled up with sod bricks at the open end.  According to Everett Dick's account in the "Sod House Frontier", Mrs. Shafer likened the dwelling to a prairie dog hole and heartily objected to living in it. But she stayed, as did thousands of the pioneer women.

The sod houses were forever dirty with their earthen walls crudely shaved to semi-smoothness.  The bare, dirt floor defied sweeping.  Even the ceiling dripped dirt from stringy roots that dangled from sod squares spread over wooden-pole rafters.  A heavy downpour brought fresh trials for a housewife as the room became saturated and rivulets ran down the roots, dripping on bedding, clothing, and family.  How did a woman cope with keeping a soddy clean? One pioneer woman discovered that problems sometimes have a way of revealing solutions for their problems.  As she swept rainwater from her floor she noticed that the earth underfoot had become as hard as cement.  She learned that if she sprinkled the floor with water then swept it, the earth remained smooth, hard and nearly dust free.

Eliminating the dirt which dripped from the ceiling and making the roof watertight were matters not easily solved.  There was no cash to purchase boards to nail over the pole rafters.  Finishing lumber had to be brought in by rail; that made it expensive.  But by using the pennies and nickels she had saved for a dress, her husband bought tarpaper.  He rebuilt the soddy's roof so that the paper lay between pole rafters and the sod squares that served as shingles.  Inside she stretched muslin across the rafters for a cloud like ceiling.

A prairie wife learned to appreciate the protection of her soddy provided.  On the open plains the wind seemed to swish and moan all the way from Dakota to Kansas.  The summer wind fanned the sun's rays, parching plants and drying skin.  The winter wind chilled a person, even through a wool overcoat, and it piled snow as high as a soddy's roof. But the soddy's crude walls, nearly two feet thick and chinked with mud, insulated against summer heat and winter cold, and offered an escape from the constant winds.

But what the house provided in protection from the elements it lacked in charm.  Because it's walls were so thick the sun's rays shown but little past the windowsill and the rooms seemed dark and cave-like. Some women plastered the walls with a mixture of clay and ashes, then white-washed them for an illusion of light.  A red geranium added a splash of color to the soddy when the plant burst into boom on a south windowsill.

The wide sills provided another decorating feature to the soddy.  Plank laid on the sills became window seats.  The children sat there to watch the undulating sea of grasses or to trace the early morning artistry of Jack Frost on the windowpanes.

Food preparation also taxed a soddy homemaker's imagination. Because her house was so different from the one in which she had learned homemaking tasks from her mother, a soddy wife devised her own way of

doing things.  She found that the same planked sills that served as window seats for the children could hold her rising bread dough.  There on a south sill the midday sun encouraged the dough to rise and the soddy wife transformed it into golden loaves of bread.

The pioneer wife learned the cooking skills peculiar to soddy living. While her bread baked in the oven, a pot of beans simmered on the back of her cook stove and, on Mondays, a boiler of wash water was heated for scrub-boarding the laundry.  Gertrude learned to perfection jut how much straw, cow chips, or corn cobs to stoke into the four-hole, cast-iron stove to handle a particular job.

Feather-like cakes of pumpkin pies demanded a steady medium heat.  As for lemon pies, just spit on your finger and when the stove's scission' hot, it's time to pop in the pie.  Summer canning, however, required three hours of even heat to hot water pack garden stuff.

Milk and butter were kept cool without the benefit of refrigeration. The dairy products were lowered in a wooden box, into the cool recesses of a well.  The children knew it was their job to fetch the cooler box and to return it.

Eventually, the soddies disappeared completely.  Most of them crumbled and were plowed back into the earth.  The soddy homesteaders passed their sections and quarter-sections on to their children who were eager to forget the house of dirt.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

SOD HOUSES IN

PHELPS COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Several years ago Roy Bate listed the sod houses and schoolhouses in the northern part of Phelps County, Nebraska.  Below is the list of pioneers who owned them.

1.  Abraham Peterson

2.  William J. Batie - 1885, home of Roy Batie for 15 years

3.  Jim Lindquist Sr.

4.  Ed English

5.  Dan Boyer

6.  E. A. Patrick

7.  Will Brenstrom (Jonas)

8.  A. B. Crandall

9.  Charlie Renstrom

10.___________ Denny

11. Grant Luke

12. Widow Carlson

13. House of hired man

14. Will Holen ?

15. Oscar Matson

16. Oscar Nordenstam

17.

18. Erie Mattson

19. Charlie Carlson

20. Utah Johnson

21. Harvey Wells

22. Andrew  Lindberg

23. Utah Johnson

24. Eric Larson

25.________ Bendict

26. Axel Johnson

27. ________ Logan

28. ________ Mooney (Andrew Schelhase)

29.___________ (Charley Nelson)

30. ___________ (Oscar Peterson)

31 John Grenemeyer

32. Abley Monnington

33. John Fagerstone

32. August Marshall

35. O. B. Balyeat

36. Jaspar Richardson

37. _________ (Hazel Street)

38. Blacksmith Peterson

39. Father of Johnnie Holmes

40. District 5 Schoolhouse

41 Matias Matson

42. Andrew Johnson

43. _________ Nelson

44. __________ (George Thornburg)

45. __________ Street (Albert Hanson)

46. Hog Peterson

47. Pete Eliason

48. Gustav Johnson (father of Emil J. Johnson, 1878)

49. Charley Johnson

50. P. J. Almquist (Laird Township)

51. ___________ Vandell (Westmark Township)

52. August Mattson (Westmark Township)

53. Pete Mattson (Westmark Township)

54. ________ Edlund (Laird Township)

55. Hazel Steet (home place, Williamburg Township)

56. L. J. Johnson (Union Township)

57. Sod School House ( Union Township)

58. C. J. Anderson (Laird Township)

59. Robert Lindstrom (August Windstorm, Center Township)

60. Charlie Arson (Westmark Township)

61. Nels Larson (Westmark Township)

62. A. Anderson ( Forest Morrison Union Township)

OTHER SOD HOUSES LISTED IN THE 1903 PHELPS COUNTY, NEBRASKA ATLAS

John Sand - SW 30 -7-19 Westmark Township

L. J. Johnson N 1/2 17-6-20 Union Township

G. Anderson NE 1/4  11-5-20 Rockfalls Township

A. Anderson NW 1/4 24-6-20 Union Township

P. J. Almquist NE 1/4 18--19 Laird Township

Charles Johnson SE 1.4 12-6-20

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

MRS. LIZZIE MOFFIT HAS RESIDED IN BERTRAND AREA SINCE 1877;

FIRST HOME WAS A DUGOUT

(From Bertrand Herald Diamond Jubilee Edition, 1960)

The Frazell family resided in Gosper County close to the Phelps-Gosper line long before Bertrand, Nebraska started as a community

Mrs. Lizzie Moffit, born Julia Elizabeth Frazell, has been a resident of the State of Nebraska for 87 years.  To her belongs the crown for having resided in the Bertrand area the longest time.  She came here in 1877 when she was four years old.

Prior to their arrival on turkey Creek, the Leonard Frazell family had been residents of Harvard in Clay County.  They owned a farm six miles north of Harvard.  They came to the south end of what has been since called the Fanter Place.  They built a dugout at the end of this land, which is on the south end of Turkey Creek.

At the time of the Frazells arrival, there were two families on Turkey Creek.  The name of one of them was Pence.  But Mrs. Moffit does not recall the name of the other.  The only place between Turkey Creek and Plum Creek (Lexington) was a dugout belonging to a family named Smith.

The arrival of the Frazells was occasioned by a cousin's coming to Turkey Creek and taking up a claim.  He later decided that he didn't want it, and Mr. Frazell took it off his hands.  The trip from Clay County was made in a covered wagon drawn by horses.  Making the trip were the mother and father, the two girls, Lizzie and her sister who was later Mrs. Detenbeck (the mother of Oscar Detenbeck of Smithfield and Mrs. Frank McGee), and their brother Ed.  One of the mares used to pull the covered wagon had a colt, and they also brought two cows.  They had a crate of chickens tied to the side of the wagon.

Their first home was a dugout and log cabin combined.  The back room was a dugout, and the front room was made of logs.  The mother did all her cooking in a stone fireplace built in one end of the cabin.  She kept sheets on the ceiling over the beds so that bugs, snakes and dirt would not get on the beds.

This was primitive country when the Frazells arrived here.  There was an Indian camp a mile south of them.  They were not unfriendly to the newcomers, although they did make pests of themselves by their constant begging and stealing.  After the family had been here a year, a tribe of unfriendly Indians passed through the area.  The mother's uncle, whose last name was Speck had come out here and built a large dugout.  His family, the Frazells and another family holed up in the dugout waiting for the Indians to pass.  The men crawled out at night and tended their livestock and got fresh water for the group.  They remained in the dugout for three days.  This tribe never molested the hidden settlers, but they did kill a man near Arapahoe and tattooed his daughter all over her body.  Mrs. Moffit recalls seeing and talking to her a number of years later

The area abounded in wild game, antelope, buffalo, squirrels, and porcupines.  The family was afraid of the needle sharp quills of the porcupines.   When they were shot by the men, one of the girls pulled out the quills and kept them as sort of hobby.  She had a sewing machine drawer full of quills at one time.  Because of the abundance of game. The family always had plenty of game to eat.

Living was cheap, as meat was to be had for the taking.  The family owned their own cows so they always had butter and cream.  The only things that were necessary for them to buy were flour, salt, sugar, and coffee.  They gathered the wild fruits, which grew on the creek banks and dried and preserved them.

"We grew up on cornbread and sorghum and loved it." Reminisces Mrs. Moffit.  The father built his own grinder and sorghum mill with which he pressed the juice from the cane and made their own sorghum.  He had a huge pan and a burner under it, and in this he boiled down the cane juice.  He made the children little wooden paddles with which they scraped the molasses pans and ate the leavings. He put the finished product in a barrels and what the family did not eat, he sold to the settlers in the area.

It was a hard life to which settlers came.  The snakes were everywhere, and the large prairie rattlers were something to be afraid of.  They were especially terrifying to a small girl who herded cattle all day long.  Mrs. Moffit had company on her cattle herding ventures, however as the neighbor girl, Bess Lewis and she owned a pony in common, and they rode double, herding the cattle of both families.

Every one had to work.  All drinking water was carried from the creek as was all water used on the place.  It was no small task to tote buckets of water up the bank for use in washing and cooking.  This was excellent water as the creek was fed by springs.  However, no one complained.  They all liked the new independent life to which they had come to.

The first school was held in the homes.  The first one which Mrs. Moffit attended had three scholars.  The teacher was a young woman named Miss Filkins.  She went from one home to another.  Mrs. Force later taught in a sod house a week at a time.  The first school was in session only three months of the year.  As the busy homesteaders could spare their children only that long.

The first frame school in the area was built where the Fanter Church now stands.  The second one was built on the hill north of the Church in the same spot where the school now stands.  It is known as the Detenbeck School or the McGee School.

After living in the community for quite a while the families organized a church.  Religion was the natural heritage of the Frazells as the grandfathers on both sides of the family were ministers.  The mother's father was a Baptist minister and the father's father was a Methodist minister. Church was held in the schoolhouse.  The minister was the Reverend Gillett of Lexington.

 The Frizell children became used to the absence of their mother because she was a midwife and her services were in great demand when the babies of the area were born.  Their family was on the whole very healthy.  It was a good thing, as doctors were very hard to find because of the great distances.  Diphtheria was the disease that was dreaded and epidemics of this frequently wiped out the children of families.  The Frazells have three children buried in the Detenbeck cemetery and three in the White cemetery further to the south of Turkey Creek.

Leonard Frazell provided for his family upon their first coming to the area by cutting trees, splitting them into firewood and hauling loads of it to Lexington where he sold it for grocery money.  He also was a blacksmith, and as time permitted, he set up his own anvil and forge and did blacksmithing for all the neighbors.  Never at any time did he farm more than 160 acres; his many other pursuits kept him too busy.

As she recalls life in the sod house, Mrs. Moffit says they were plagued by almost every kind of pest: rats, mice, fleas, hegbugs, snakes, and centipedes whose bodies were as big as your finger. "Ground puppies" or lizards were frequent visitors on the dirt floors.

The children had no pets so when their father brought them a puppy from Lexington, they were overjoyed.  "We thought it was the most wonderful dog that ever lived," comments Mrs. Moffit.

By 1880 Gosper County was organized sufficiently so as to need an assessor.  This position went to Leonard Frazell.  One day in 1880 he was away on business  for the county, and his wife was in Arapahoe purchasing some much needed groceries.  The two girls were at home alone.  A great prairie fire started near Arapahoe, and the fire burned through Turkey Creek area clear to the Platte.  The two Frazell girls proved that they had the mettle that pioneers are made of.  They feared for the livestock on the place so they knocked down the poles, which made the hog pen and drove the hogs into the creek where they would be safe from the fire.  They then took the one horse and two cows and let them into the yard where the sod had been plowed and held them until the fire had passed.  The fire came close enough to burn the sheds on the place, and the sparks from it went into the windows of the sod house and burned holes in the blankets on the beds.

The parents arrived home expecting to find both children dead from the fire.  The father had lain down in a patch of breaking and held on to his horse and thus saved his own life.  When she was complimented on her courage, Mrs. Moffit replied "Courage? We just did what we had to do."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

~Harlan County Nebraska~

Orleans Progress Newspaper

Friday, June 28, 1895

Max Biscoff, proprietor of the Orleans Meat Market, was united in marriage to Miss Anna Mentzmeir, the wedding occurring last Saturday evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Miller of this city, Rev. Benj. S. Haywood officiating. The happy couple have been the recipients of congratulations from many friends during the week.

Miss Edna Claypool, who reached the age of nine yesterday, entertained a company of her young friends at her beautiful home in the city,  from 5 to 8 last evening.  Refreshments consisting of ice cream, cake and candy were served during the evening.  Miss Edna proved herself a charming little hostess and caused the evening to pass in one continual round of pleasure for her visiting companions.  She was the recipient of many dainty little presents from the hands of her admiring friends.

The installation of the newly elected officers of Melrose Lodge No. 60, elected officers of Melrose Lodge No. 60, A. F & A. M., occurred at the Masonic Hall last Monday night June 24, John A. Randall acting as installing officer.  The following gentleman were inducted into the office: Dr. W. H. Banwell, W. M.; B. R. Claypool, Sr. W.; H. R. Easterbrook, Jr. W.; Jno. A. Randall, Sec.; H. T. Ferguson, Treas.; W. Josselyn, Sr, D.; J. D. Martin, Jr., D.

RESOLUTION

The following resolution was unanimously adopted at the regular meeting of Whitehead Post No. 114, G.A.R., held June 8 1895;

Resolved that we the members of the post render our sincere thanks to Rev. E. S. Haywood for his valuable and patriotic address on Memorial Sunday.  Also we are grateful to all who took place in the ceremonies of Memorial Day, so dear to us all and also to the officials of the Orleans College for the use of the chapel.

DIRECTORY OF CHURCHES

F. M. SUNDAY SCHOOL - Sunday School in Lutheran church every Sunday morning at 10:00 o'clock - Milton Cook Sec. - F. R. Kelley, Supt.

METHODIST CHURCH - Preaching every Sabbath at 11 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. General class meetings the first Sabbath of every month at close of morning services.  General prayer meeting on Wednesday evening of each week at 8:00 o'clock. Children's meeting every Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock. Probationers' meeting the second Tuesday evening of each month at 8:00 o'clock. The public is invited to all services. Benjamin H. Haywood, pastor

METHODIST SABBATH SCHOOL - Sabbath School at the M. E. church every Sabbath morning at 10:00 o'clock - John A. Randall, Supt. - Miss Grace Pope, Sec.

UNION SABBATH SCHOOL - Union Sabbath School meets at the Presbyterian Church each Sabbath morning at 10:00 a.m. -  Mrs. T. H. Manning, Supt.

CATHOLIC CHURCH - Preaching each alternate Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Benediction each Sunday of preaching at 3:30 p.m. - Rev. L. J. Harrington, pastor

CATHOLIC SUNDAY SCHOOL - Sunday School every Sunday at 2:45 p.m.

SOCIETIES

Y.P.S.C.E. - The Endeavor Society meets at the Presbyterian Church each Sabbath afternoon at 7:00 - Meda Jennings, President - Arthur Main, Secretary

J. C. E. - The Junior Endeavor meets at the Presbyterian Church every Sabbath afternoon at 3:00. - Lyman Hayard, leader

EPWORTH LEAGUE - Devotional meeting every Sunday evening at 7:00 o'clock, at the M. E. Church.  Business meeting first Tuesday evening of each month.  Cabinet meeting on call of president.  All young people are cordially invited. - H. R. Esterbrook, Pres. - Gertrude Bayard, Sec.

A. F. & A. M. - Melrose Lodge No. 60 meets every Saturday evening on or before full moon at Masonic Hall.  Visiting brethren are cordially invited. - W. H. Banwell, W. M. - John A. Randall, Sec.

MELROSE CHAPTER NO. 79 - Eastern Star meets every Tuesday evening on or before full moon at Masonic Hall. - Mrs. Josselyn, W. M. - Thomas Lorimer, Sec.

K. O. T. M. - Orleans Tent No. 48 meets the first and third Friday evening of each month at Lorimer's Hall.  Visiting Knights cordially welcomed.

N. E. Conelin, R. K. - J. Ellis, Com.

M. W. A. - Orleans Camp No. 755 meets every first and third Thursday evening of each month at Lorimer's Hall.

A. Wickmen, V. C. - J. M. Coulter, Clerk

G. A. R. - Whitehead Post No. 114, department of Nebraska, meets on the Saturday evening after the full moon, each month.  Visiting comrades cordially invited.

G. W. Cook, Ajt. - Stephen A. Morgan P.C.

SONS OF VETERANS - McBrein Camp No. 54 meets the first and third Monday evening of each month at Lorimer's hall.

August Sasse, Jr. C.C. - Arthur Main, lst. Serg.

W. R. C. - Whitehead Relief Corps No. 4, of Orleans, Nebraska meets the first Saturday of each month at 2 p.m.- Mrs. Lucinda Banwell, President - Mrs. Julia F. Main, Sec.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

C. J. LUNDQUIST

(Part 2 of a 2 Part Story)

Lundquist worked a certain number of days each summer at the manor for the use of the croft upon which he lived. During the winter he was obliged to work in the forests belonging to the estate. He found this not much to his liking especially as there was always the mirage in his mind of the New World across the Atlantic. The reward for honest labor in Sweden was too small to be attractive to a young man of ambition. Lundquist was ambitious. It is true that at the iron mines at Mt.Taberg pay was better and probably also where "myrmalm" (oxide of iron) was dredged out of the inland lakebeds, but Lundquist did not care to be a miner.

Two of his children died, the famine year 1868 came and Lundquist's decision was made. He said farewell to his wife and secured passage for America on a sailing vessel that lay in port ready to sail. After a long and tiresome journey he landed In New York. By rail he went to Lewiston, Illinois, where he got his first job. At the end of the first year in America he had saved enough money, out of his wages, so that he could send for his wife. He was now more content, but there still glimmered a vision before his mind's eye, a home of his own and independence. In 1878 he moved to Phelps County, Nebraska, and in 1879 when the Lutheran Fridhem congregation was organized he and his wife joined as charter members. He had become heartily tired of the drinking, the swearing, and the fighting that were daily taking place in the railroad gang, which he had just left. On the prairie was peace, quiet and an opportunity for communion with the God of the fathers in the low and unpretentious sod church which he had helped to build.

But Lundquist's troubles did not cease when he came to Nebraska. A land agent beat him out of $900.00 in money. This sum represented his entire savings in Illinois. He had signed a contract for the purchase of a section of land and had given the $900.00 in cash as part payment. The agent on some pretext asked to see the contract. When he got possession of the paper he went away and kept it and Lundquist never saw it again. As this was the only proof he had of the transaction he lost both the land and the money.

While this was a hard blow he did not give up. He homesteaded the NE 1/4 Section 10, T. 5, R. 17 in Phelps County and also took a timber claim of 160 acres and proved up on both. Later he bought, 160 acres, four miles south east of Funk, from Mrs. John Stone, 80 acres from Crust Wetterberg and 80 acres from Gust Oberg, thus eventually acquiring a section of land instead of the one he had been swindled out of by a dishonest land agent.

Lundquist built substantial buildings for his children on the first three farms. After he and his wife had moved into Funk, where he had built an attractive home, he divided his land among his eight children, giving each, 80 acres with the stipulation that he was to receive $125 cash per year from each 80 acres, as long as he lived.

While Mr..Lundquist still lived on the old homestead a fire destroyed his barn and several other outbuildings. A large quantity each of oats and corn, as well as a number of tools and several sets of harness were burned in this fire. The fire originated in a straw stack, which had been set afire for the purpose of clearing the spot on which it stood. The stack lay there, as a small black pile of soot and ashes, supposedly having been consumed for a long tome. One day a strong wind sprang up, scattered the ashes and fanned to life a flame that spread to the stubble and grass there about and which on reaching the farm buildings, destroyed them. This fire had smoldered in the straw stack from sometime in February to April of that year. The buildings, however, were replaced and farming operations were resumed.

On Sundays the family rode to church in a lumber wagon, Mr. and Mrs. Lundquist sitting on a board laid across the top of a box, with the children sitting in the bottom on some hay. The children enjoyed these rides immensely, but it is not believed that the parents did, as we find that Mr. Lundquist soon hired a carpenter to make him a spring seat for his wagon. Soon, however, a spring wagon was bought and in this the family made longer trips, notable, to attend "Julotta," (Christmas Matin) at the Bethany church in Kearney County. Next a single buggy with crooked wheels was secured. Seeing this vehicle in motion was almost like viewing a performance in a circus, one hardly knew where it would go on those wobbly wheels.

The first wheat raised by Mr. Lundquist was cut with a reaper and bound by hand on the ground. This was afterward shocked and stacked and after it had "gone through the sweat" it was threshed with a horse-power threshing machine. Some of this wheat was hauled to Kearney, a distance of twenty-seven miles, and sold for thirty-five cents per bushel, At first there was no bridge over the Platte River and one had to drive on the sand of the river bed to cross. A full load of grain was more than a team could draw across the river, so half of the sacks were taken off and left on the south bank while the other half was taken across and unloaded on the north bank. Then the river was crossed again and the last half taken on. With this on the wagon the river was again crossed and after having put on what had been unloaded on the first trip the team drew its load into Kearney, having crossed the river three times in order to take the load across, A trip to Kearney with a load of wheat required two days and in cold weather was not a pleasure trip.

Mr. Lundquist went to Bloomington, Naponee, or Orleans, when he wished to have wheat ground into flour. At these places were water mills and wheat was ground into flour for one seventh of the flour yielded by the wheat. The most of the bran and shorts were given back to the customer to take home. A trip to one of these mills also required two days. Folk bringing wheat to the mill had to wait their turn and sometimes slept in the mill while the miller ground their grist. After one of these trips to the mill Mr. Lundquist found, on his return, that a prairie fire had burned everything at the home but the sod buildings. But those were the strenuous days. Mr. and Mrs. Lundquist lived a few years of quiet and peace in the little idyllic village of Funk. Their home was situated one block north of the Lutheran church and their greatest joy was to be present at the services whenever health permitted them to be present.

On December 31, 1914, Mr. and Mrs. Lundquist had been married fifty years and on December 31, 1924, sixty years had passed since their wedding. Both occasions were celebrated and at the sixtieth anniversary their son-in-law, Adolf Akerson, read a poem reviewing their journey through life. On this occasion their living children, with husbands, or wives, their grandchildren and great grandchildren were present.

On January 21, a little more than a year after this celebration Mrs. Lundquist died and was buried in the Fridhem Cemetery two miles east of Funk. On November 5, 1928, nearly three years later, Mr. Lundquist followed her and lies beside her, under the grass and the lilies of the grave mound, awaiting the trumpet of Gabriel on the Day of Judgment.

In America two of Lundquist's children have preceded him to the land beyond Jordan: Jennie, who died December 5, 1895, in Denver; and Anna, the wife of Adolf Akerson, who died in 1908.

Until his retirement, fourteen years before his death, Mr. Lundquist was an active man. Active in church work and active in secular work as well. He held positions of trust in both. He had been moderator in the school district and trustee in the church. For a long term of years he had been deacon and at his death he was honorary deacon of the Fridhem Lutheran Church at Funk, but he asked to be relieved from active service a few years before his death.

The Fridhem congregation appreciated the services of Mr. and Mrs. Lundquist, in the church, and on several occasions surprised them with gifts. One time they presented them with a silver service and on another occasion Mr. Lundquist was given a writing desk.

The Lundquist family, as far as can be ascertained, may be registered as follows:

Carl Johan Lundquist and his wife Christina Maria. Their children are: Charles Herman, Alma Josefina, Nancy Selma Amanda, Arthur David Edward, Frans Robert Samuel, Frances Theckla Matilda.

The children of Nancy Selma Amanda married to Frank Herman Bergstrom are: Selma Martha, Amos Herbert Samuel, Frances Emma Maria.

The children of Carl Herman and his wife, Minnie Luella Bergstrom are Miriam Ellen Sylvia, Carl Kermit, Robert Immanuel.

The children of Anna married to Adolf Akerson are Bert and Bertha (twins), Carl, Naomi Davida, Elmer and Esther.

The children of Alma Josefina and her husband, Algert Sall, are Alfred, David, Melvin, Elvera, Gustaf and Lloyd.

The children of Arthur David and his wife Sadie Maria Elizabeth Erickson are Clifford Marvel Emmanuel, Everett Wallace Alexis, Evar David, Miranda Lavada and Davida Maria.

The children of Frans Robert Samuel and his wife Alvida Gabrellia Wallin are: Aurora Rosalia, Inez Eugenia, Milford Robert, Ida Laurine, Lenore DeLoris.

The children of Frances Theckla Mathilda and her husband, Carl Adolf Larson, are Millecent Eulalia, Hildur Eleanore, Ray Emerald and Earl Wallace.

The children of Edith Christina and her husband, Axel Julius Anderson, are Martin, Mildred, Lillian and Milton.

Great Grandchildren of C. J. Lundquist:

Hubert, Paul, Muriel and Earl Akerson; Blanche and Roland Anderson; Marion, DeLoris and Caroline Akerson; Marjorie and Doris Nadine Erickson; Lee and Wayne Anderson; Darrell and Wayne Talbert.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *