https://kccarchives.cvlcollections.org/files/original/17/456/Families-C.pdf b74828cf5ca8eca3032a0db6cc5857d9 PDF Text Text bring home orphan lambs' Marvin and I shot rabbits and skunks to sell their hides and use the money to buy more shells. In the 30'e there were so many rabbits. The farmers ? & would hold rabbit drives and pay 10 or 12 l cents each. A place in town skinned them and the carcases were trucked to Denver for the mink farms. When we all went to town on Saturday. I would go right to the library and check out Zane Gray Bookg. Dad played the cornet in the city band when they had summer concerts in the city park. It was a treat to eat a loaf of bakery bread on the way home. Most of the time we kids stayed home and entertained ourselves by hitching up a wild horse and a tame horse to a wagon and let them go; or ride the wild horses. Kenneth and Junie would get up in the grainery and find eggs, throw them down, thinking they could pick them up later. Verna said they made mud pies with eggs, but Mom didn't know about that for years. One time Kenneth fell out of the hay loft and landed on a cow who bucked him off. The dust storms of the 30's were terrible. We would put up wet sheets over the windows but could never keep the dirt out. There were lots of bull snakes around, they'd get in the chicken house and eat the eggs. One time Mom gathered eggs and put her hand in the nest on a snake; she never did gather eggs after dark again. In the wintcr time during a blizzard, we would make ice cream in a covered gallon bucket and hang it on the clothes line; the wind would keep it stirred up until it was frozen. Four of us kids had February birthday's; we would take a freezet ofice cree- to school on the bus. The kids at school called Kenneth "George" because he was born on George Washington's birthday. by Barbara Butterfield BUTTERFIELD FAMILY F106 Melvin and Barbara Butterfield After completing the 10th grade at Smoky Hill School, I went to High School in Burlington for 2 years. Earl Sivey and I batched together at Shooks gn-p ground. After school I went out for football and track. I played right guard of the football teem that won state shnmpionship in 1940, coached by Curly Schlupp. I graduated from Burlington High School in1942 and served in the Navy L942-46. I manied Barbara Ann Magee, daughter of C.L. and Vera Magee of Burlington, in 1948. I wae elected County Clerk and Recorder 1950-59. We moved to Denver in 1959. I retired from ReaI Estate Sales in 1982. We have 3 children: (1) Kerry Lee, born 1949, married, 2 children, Jenny born 1972 and Paul, born 1975. They lived in Denver and Montrose, Colorado. In July of 1987 they moved to Woodinville, Washington. (2) Dea Ann, born 1952, married, has 3 boys, Thomas (1980), Scott (1982) and Eric (198 a). They live in Woodinville, Washington. (3) Lonny Jack, born 1955, married, 3 boys, Andrew (1982), Nathan (198a) and Jeremy (1986)' Jack is a fireman with Bancroft Fire Dept' His wife, Kathy, is a chemist at Coors. County Clerks Office in 1951 with Iva Gross seated on right, Melvin Buttcrfield and Mary Marnell. Mel was County Clerk of Kit Carson County. My brother, Marvin Delet Butterfield, graduated from B.H.S. in 1943; served in the Navy 1944-46. He married Dolores Ann Dunn, daughter of Al and Mattie Dunn of Burlington, in 1949. They moved to Denver in 1951; moved to LaSalle, Colorado in 1967. He died in 1971 at age 47. They had 3 children; (1) Bruce, born 1951, married, one son, Brett (1977). They live in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Dolores makes her home with them. (2) David, born 1955, married, has 2 girls, Jennifer (1981) and Dawn (1983), born in Oklahoma. (3) Tami Sue, born 1959, married, 2 children, Nickalos (1980) and Anneka Marie (1983). They live in Texas. Ellen Verna Butterfield was born 1927. She graduated from B.H.S. in 1949; married Glenn Franke, son of August Franke in 1952. They moved to Glenwood Springs, Colorado in 1956. Glenn will retire from Holy Cross Elec. in Feb. 1988. They have 3 children, (1) Jeffrey, born 1954, married, 2 children, Crystal (19?7) and Jason (1979). (2) Lesyle, born 1957, married, divorced, has twin girls, Linsey and Krysta (1983). Lesyle teaches school in Glenwood Springs. (3) Norman, born 1961, married, one son, Jarrid (1985). They also live in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Kenneth Ervin Butterfield, born 1929, graduated from B.H.S. in 1947. Served in the Navy 1948-1952. Married Ruby Buchholz, daughter of Fred and Gertrude Buchholz of Bethune, Colorado, in 1952. They moved to Denver in 1953. "George" joined the Denver Fire Dept in 1955 and retired in 1980. They have a daughter, LaDonna Connie, born 1955, married, has 2 boys, Michael (1981) and Christopher (1984). They live in Denver. Willard Butterfield, Jr. born 1932. Graduated B.H.S. 1950. married Connie Lee Wilcox, daughter of Irene (Chalfant) and Kenneth Wilcox, in 1951. They moved to Denver in 1955, "Junie" works at the Federal Center, in Research Electronics. They have 2 children, (1) Kenetha Ann, born 1956, married, 2 children; Justin (1983) and Stefanie (1986). (2) James Michael, born 1958, married, one daughter, Sarah (1986). "Mike" works for the Castlewood Fire Dept. and lives in Denver. On August 30, 1979, all ofthe Butterfield children and their families were gathered at Willard and Lettie's home to celebrate their 59th Wedding Anniversary, when Willard had a fatal heart attack. Letie lived in her home until her failing health caused her to make her home with son Kenneth and wife Ruby. In December of 1987, she entered the Villa Manor Nursing Home at 7950 W. Mississippi Ave., Lakewood, Colorado, 80226. by Barbara Butterfield CALVERLEY FAMILY Fl06 In 1924 Raymond H. Calverley moved to Stratton with his wife, Ellora, and two daughters, Lois Jane and Lola May. For the next thirty-one years that he and Ellora lived in Stratton, he not only ran the First National Bank but was active in every aspect of the community. His many years on the Stratton Town Council enabled him to be a part of the development of the town itself, while at the same time being a member of the school board showed his concern for the education of children. As a charter member of the Stratton Rotary Club, he became a part of the many fine programs assigned for the social benefits of the town. Mr. and Mrs. Calverly were faithful supporters of the Congregational Church which eventually became the United Methodist Church of today. Ellora particularly worked energetically for the many activities of the church. In the early 1960's the Calverleys left Stratton, moving to Loveland, Colorado, for their retirement years. by Ellora Calverley �CALVIN, MELVIN FAMILY FtoT Melvin Gerald Calvin was born Sept. 27, 1915, at Smith Center, Kansas to Leonard and Katherine (Baetz) Calvin. At the age of six months he moved with his parents and two sisters, May (Calvin) Kellogg, and Irene (Calvin) Hermbloon to Stratton. The family moved to a farm southeast of Stratton. During the first year the family lived in a dugout basement while Leonard built the house and the other buildings. The farm is presently owned by Mrs. Chris Schwieger. In 1919 the family left Stratton to live in Greeley, Co. while their Dad Leonard attended teacher training at Colorado State Teach- ers College. The following year the family returned to the family farm south of Stratton. Melvin and his sisters all graduated from Stratton High School. Both of his sisters taught in the country schools. Melvin graduated with the class of 1933. His class was the only class to have graduation pictures during the depression. He then went on to attend college for a short time in Wichita, Ks. where he studied business. Bernice (Fass) Calvin met our father Melvin on her many visits from Syracuse, Nebr. She came to visit her aunt and uncle, the Peter Kruse family. On May 20, 1936 Melvin and Bernice were married in Goodland, Kansas. They eloped so they would have some time to tell Dad's parents about their marriage. But as it always goes the announcement of the maniage was published in the Goodland Daily News. So his parents found out before they got back to Stratton. The first ten years of their married life they resided in Denver. where two of their four children were born: Betty and Linda. Melvin worked for the Remington Arms Co. until he was drafted into the Army on March 4,L944. During his time in the service he was the recipient ofthe Silver Star, Bronze Star, Good Conduct Star and the Purple Heart. He received his discharge papers on Oct. 20, 1945 with the ranking of Staff Sergeant. After his return from the war he decided he wanted to farm. So he moved his family to Stratton to live on his dad's farm which he finally purchased. His parents then moved to Denver. In 1946 and 1947 their last two daughters; Christine and Vickie, were born in Stratton at Mrs. Border's Maternity Home. Basically times were pretty good on the farm, except during the dirty fifties, where our greatest fears were having to move and leave the farm, but as with many things, we were able to withstand the drought and bad timee and stay. During this time Dad put the farm in the soil bank progro- and stafied working at the ASCS offrce. Mom started working at the Stratton Equity Co-op where ghe was employed by them for eighteen years. Melvin and Bernice were involved with many community activities. Dad was a member of the Stratton School Board for eighteen years. He was actively involved in the planning of the new high school. He also took many a load of pep club girls to football and basketball games. He also served on the fire district board for many years. Melvin and Bernice both were actively involved with the American Legion and Auxiliary. Dad marched in the honor guard at all Stratton Days and Homecoming events up and until his death Oct. L6, t974. Dad was up for reelection to the county assessor office unopposed on the Democratic ticket at the time of his death. After Dad's death Mom was asked by many people of the community to run for the assessorjob to which she was elected, serving a four year term. During this time she decided to sell the farm to Chris Schwieger and then she bought a home in Burlington, Co. where she resided until her death in Nov. 21, 1982. Their four daughters all graduated from Stratton High School and are now all married. Betty Belt lives with her husband Leroy in Alamosa. She has three boys and two girls and four step children. Linda Torline who died Feb. 5, 1984, lived with her husband Larry in Lakewood, Co. They have three sons. Christine Brachten- bach lives with her husband Dennis on a farm north ofStratton. They have one boy and two daughters. Vickie Hahn lives with her husband Lyden in Fresno, Calif. She has two girls and one stepchild. by Christine Brachtenbach served as County Chairman. They were members of the Congregational Church. Tope was a member of the Masonic Lodge, a charter member of the Lions Club and active in the American Legion. Blanche belonged to the Eastern Star and the Legion Auxiliary. Tope had a great interest in sports and managed many baseball teams through the years as well as playing in his younger years. As long as he lived he took an active interest in the sports activities in the commu- nity. After Tope's retirement and Blanche's retirement a little later, they spent five winters in Bullhead City, Arizona to enjoy a more mild climate. After a period of failing health, Tope died on Jan. 29, L976. Burial was in the Flagler Cemetery. Blanche has continued to make her home in Flagler, enjoying leisure time activities, after working for so many years. Their daughter, Jackie married Ray Spiars on Dec. 26,L954 in Riverton, Wyoming where she was teaching and where he worked for Frontier Airlines. Since then they had lived in Hastings and Grand Island, Nebr., and in New Castle and Worland, Wyo., Seattle, Wash. and in Denver. The Spiars have four children: Terri, Michael, Steve and David and six grandchildren: Mandy, Aaron and Benjie Armstead and Trevor, Brandon and Jordan Spiars. CARPER, H. C. AND BLANCHE FloS From the 1930's until 1968, H.C. (Tope) Carper and his wife, Blanche (Lipford) Carper, operated the Carper Barber and Beauty Shop on Flagler's Main Street. Tope had first come to Flagler in Lg22 to work in Harry Gray's Barber Shop, later returning to Jennings, Kansas, Blanche, the daughter of Lena and J.W. (Jack) Lipford, had lived in the Flagler area since coming to a homestead with her parents in 1908. She was a graduate of Flagler High School and had taught the Mt. Pleasant School, located north of Flagler on the Kit Carson - Washington County line for two by Blanche Lipford Carper CARTER, FLOYD AND ESTALEENE (ESTIE) Fr09 Floyd Carter born Sept. 3rd 1915 in Cass County Iowa came with his parents Adam & Katie Carter when a small boy of 4 years old from Cumberland, Ia., to rural Yuma County Colo. He and his sister Ruby attended the Prairie View grade school 12 miles north and years. The couple were married on May 24,L923, at Oberlin, Kansas, by a woman probatc judge, Emma L. Lathrop. Witnesses were Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Nellans of Jennings, Kansas. The newlyweds made their home in Jennings, where Tope was a barber. While living in Jennings, their two daughters were born. Patricia Jean was born on June 8, 1927, but lived only 3 months. Their second daughter, Jacqueline Fae was born on Jan. 19,1929. In 1931, the Carpers returned to Flagler where Tope worked first at the Campbell Barber Shop located in the IOOF Hall which he soon bought. Then they bought the building on the east side of Main Street and moved the shop there. In 1936, Blanche attended the Charles Beauty School in Denver and upon completing it, began the operation of a beauty shop along with the barber shop. During their years in Flagler, the Carpers were active in the life of the community. Tope served on the Town Council and as mayor. He was also active in the Democratic party and Floyd and Estaleene Carter. �a mile west of Yuma, Co. In 1925 Adam & Katie moved with their children Muriel, Ruby, & Floyd into Yuma. Floyd attcnded grade school and High School there, graduating with the class of 1932 or 1933. As a little boy he delivered the Denver Post, raked leaves, mowed lawns, to help out at home. The Crash of 1929 and the dirty thirties were hard on this family as well as a lot of other families so any help was a blessing. Adam worked on the W.P.A. and Katie picked turkeys to make ends meet. The Dirty Thirties were hard to recover from but survive they did. Possibly making then appreciate the good life when it cane. In the teens Floyd started working for Ray Beanblossom in his creamery, carrying in cream and eggs and washing dirty cream cans. Little did he know then he would follow this route for the next 42 years. Later he changed jobs going to work for the Gisi Produce Co. By this time he was old enough to drive trucks so he drove for Mike Gisi as well as helping Nellie Gisi in the creemery. He picked up eggs, s1snm, & poultry and delivered them to markets in Denver for Mike. He later hauled corn & feed for Mike, hauling grain to Ia. Other markets for eggs were Omaha Nebr. and chickens to Norton Kan. In 1940 on May 6th Floyd married a displaced Missouri girl, Estaleene Haley. I was born Dec. 16, 1920 and had come to Wray, Colo. to visit my Aunt Iva Lair. Liking Wray so much I convinced my parents (with a lot of persuasion) Brack & Ona Haley to let me stay in Wray with my Aunt Iva & finish the last 2 years of High School there. They finally gave in and I graduated with the class of 1940. After our marriage Floyd bought his own cre4mery, Carter's Produce, as it was known and we started buying produce from the farmers of the surrounding areas. Eventually we had a new business added to our produce business and that was delivering Meadow Gold Milk and products to homes and through the years, Meadow Gold Milk, Sealtest Milk, & Sinton milk was to be the last. Estie, as all Burlington called me, was always active helping Floyd in the creamery & milk business. I also worked 15 years for the J.M McDonald Co. a family Dept. store. Had my own Hobby - Craft - Army Surplus Store for 4 years located on the west side of our creamery building. I worked part time for West€rn Auto for 2 years until it closed. Then 4 years at Burlington Flower Shop from where I retired in 1981. Our three children attended Burlington grade and high school in Burlington. Sheryl graduated in 1959. She is married to Glen Davis, an employee of Peoples Natural Gas. Sheryl being employed by Tyrrell's Insurance. They are the parents of a son Jeff who A new beginning . . . meeting new friends . . . neighbors . . . & most of all our new customers. We bought creo- for Beatrice Creamery Co, Eggs for Boswell's Produce & hatching eggs for Jamison Hatchery all of these located in Denver. Through this business we prospered & thanks go out to our valued cugtomers throughout the years of being able to deal with them, until our retirement Sept. 1981. Floyd spent his entire adult life in the creom and milk business, even though during the 1940's farmers beca-e more wealthy and didn't have to depend upon their cream and egg check for groceries as much as before. The crepmeries started closing over the country and ours was no exception & it eventually closed also. The milk business continued profitable for us and we continued to be in the milk business until retirement in 1981. So what Floyd Carter start€d out doing as a young man he continued for nearly 45 years. Milk business was hard and a lot of early morning hours . . sometimes a thankless job but it had been good to us. We delivered, and her husband. Theresa and Martin Blinde, gave him a place to "come home to". He continued to work cutting timber, picking and shelling corn and helping in Martin Blinde's General Mercantile Store. In the winters of 1917 and 1918, Art made five cents a bushel picking corn, picking an average of fifty bushels a day. He made 250 an hour when he cut timber. $35.00 a month was full time wages. Elementary. Art's formal education ended with the death of his father but he continued to read whatever he could and stayed in contact with family, especially some cousins from Oklahoma. When a teenager, he found out by accident that this especially nice girl cousin was actually his little sister, Anna. Anne Shinn was always very dear to Art and Fern. Anne, her husband Carl, and two children, Betty and Ed spent most of 1930 with Art and become a school teacher and he graduated Fern in Bethune and returned often for a visit. Art said that the first person that really is 21 and lives in Denver where he is employed in the Porcelian Dept. at Coor's Brewery. Jim graduated in 1961. Married Bonnie Clark. He worked for U.P.S. nearly 11 years & Schlosser Redi-Mix for 10 years and at present is working for Hitchcock Inc. They are the parents ofBrent 12 and Brooklyn age 8. Brent in middle school and Brooklyn in Dan graduated in 1966. He decided to from Western State in Gunnison in 1970. Received his Masters from C.S.U. in Fort Collins. He married Patricia Whaman Brews- ter from Bird City Kans. & they have a son Christopher age 9. Dan and Pat are both teachers in Natrona County, Casper Wyo. Since our retirement in 1981 we have enjoyed taking several major trips. In May 1987 Estie came out of retirement and accepted a job at Burlington's Old Town Museum and it is a job I dearly love. Hope I can continue to be a part of this great endeavor of Old Town for a long time to come. by Estaleene (Estie) Carter business places. Floyd and Estaleene were parents of 3 children Sheryl, Jim & Dan. On March ?th 1955 Floyd and Estie chose to move to Burlington to make their home. We bought Leo King's Produce from Charolette & Leo King & again we had Carter's Produce in Burlington after selling the one in Yuma. caused complete disaster for Art and his brother Al. They were on their own. Art took a small trunk, the family Bible and a couple ofhard bound books and ronmed the country picking up what jobs he could find, if nothing more than for his board and room. Art often told of cutting timber all day and having cherry soup for their meal. Finally a cousin CASSEN, A.E. AND FERN FllO Arthur Emil Cassen and Katie Fern Blount were manied June 15, 1918 in Nebraska City, Nebraska. The following April the newly weds came to Bethune, Colorado by immi- grant train. They arrived with a team of horses, a jersey cow, six hens, a rooster and Fern's piano. They journeyed three miles south of Bethune to an unimproved 80 acres owned by Fern's father. Since there were no buildings a neighbor, Mr. Lamb, let them stay in a stall in his barn. He and his wife had only a one room house. They took the piano out of the box so the jersey cow had shelter. Their first night in Colorado was spent on a bed of straw. They awoke to a Colorado spring blizzard. Art Cassen was born to Charles and Anna Fredrick Cassens on August 31, 1880 on the family farm near Johnson, Nebraska in Nemaha County. In January, 1900 Art's mother passed away. Charles Cassens married Anna Behrman. Times were tough for the Cassens family. Art attended first and second grade in Roosevelt County school and then went to school in Johnson for three more years. Art's father passed away in 1911. This cared about him was Fern Blount and he was not going to let her get away. Fern Blount was the only daughter of William K. and Eliza Virginia Kite Blount. She had three brothers, Kay, Ora, and Roy. Fern was born April 26, 1897 near Auburn, Nebraska. She attended Fairview Country School, Auburn High School and studied music at Peru Normal Teachers College in Peru, Nebraska. Fern loved to play the piano and played for Sunday School, church, weddings, high school graduations and funerals. She also taught many young people the art of playing the piano. Being of such tough stock they were full of determination and hope. The snow melted, sod was plowed and crops were planted. A barn was built for the horses and then a one room frame house was built. Faith was what had kept Art and Fern going. While living with the Blinde's in Johnson, Nebraska, Art was confirmed in the German Lutheran Church. Fern was a member of the Bethel Methodist Church in Auburn, Nebraska. In 1920 Art and Fern helped organize a Sunday School that met in the old Bethune School. This was the beginning of many years of community involvement. By 1923 they had helped organize school district No.45, Prairie Star. Art served as president for 14 years. They worked until the Bethune Community Evangelical Church was formed in 1929. They were charter members and both served many years as Sunday School Superintendent and or Sunday School teachers. Fern helped organize the first Ladies Aide. Fern served many years on the Red Cross board helping in distribution of food and clothing to the needy. She made bandages and knittsd garments for the Red Cross for use during WWI and WWII and during the depression. In the late 30's Art served on the Bethune Town Council for four years. The depression hit Art and Fern hard as it did everyone. Art was working part time for August Heilscher in the grocery store in Bethune and trying to hang on to the farm. In 1936 Art and Fern had to leave the farm and moved to Bethune. Later in 1936 thev �purchased Heilscher's grocery store. Art and Fern spent the next twenty-six years side by side in a grocery store. No one wEur ever sent out of his store because they could not pay. ln 1942 Art and Fern bought the Freel Grocery in Arriba and moved to Lincoln County. They remained in the grocery business until retiring in the summer of 1962. They were as community oriented and caring in Arriba as they had been in Bethune. Though Art and Fern had no natural children they touched the lives of many young people including lris Rouse Taylor, Frances Bitter- Jack and Minnie had both grown up in eastern, Nebraska. Jack was born on Oct. 30, 1886, to John and Lena (Gantt) Chalfant of Rock Bluffs Township, Cass County, Nebras- ka. His parents had both emigrated to Nebraska from Pennsylvania with their parents in 1857. John and Lena were married in 1868 in Omaha, and lived on their farm for fifty years. Minnie was born September 17, 1889, to Matthew and Alice (Olds) Shoemaker of Liberty Township, Otoe County, Nebraska. Her parents, too, had both come from man Todd and Roland Schmidt. It did not take much to have Art or Fern produce pictures of their "grandsons", Delbert, David and Don, sons of Roland and Peggy Schmidt. Fern passed away November 21, 1983. The Pennsylvania. Matt and Alice were married at Wyoming, Nebraska, in 1874. They lived on their farm until they retired in 1910 and moved into Union. following March 22, t984 Art died of a 1910, and lived on a rented farm near Union. massive heart attack. Though they had not lived in Bethune for 41 years they stayed in All the farms in the area were small and the land was expensive. Jack had dreams of a bigger place and thought that the open contact with many of their old friends and Bethune was home. by Margaret Schmidt CHALFANT, JACK AND MINNIE Flll John Mac (or Jack, as he was always called) and Minnie Chalfant moved to Burlington in 1920. Jack arrived in early spring to plant wheat on his land south of town. Minnie and her four daughters - Alice, Mary, Irene and Margaret - c4me on the train in June. They moved into a small white house on the south end of Main Street, now 153 14th St. Minnie was shocked by the barrenness of the town. There were only a few trees, very little grass, some wooden sidewalks, and lots of brown, dry dirt moving around with every breeze. There was nothing green around the house. It was years before Minnie felt at home. Jack and Minnie were manied June 8, prairies of eastern Colorado might give him the opportunity to get some of the land and machinery that was changing the agricultural world. It was just after the first World War, and young men wanted to go west. Jack went to Colorado in 1919, and decided that it was what he wanted. He bought three quarters of land 12 miles south and 4 miles west of Burlington. Instead of building a house on the land, he bought a house in town. He knew it would be easier for him to get to the farm than to get his growing family to school in town. He then went back to Union for the holidays, and in early 1920 he returned to Colorado. When school was out at the end of May his family followed. Jack built a shop behind his house for repairing machinery and selling Case tractors. In the mid-1920's he operated the Victory Garage on Main St. at the site which is now 469 14th St. While there he was the Chrysler dealer. In the mid 1930's he became the John Deere dealer and had a large shop and sales room in the building which is now 478-48415th St. In 1945 he sold it to Harold t:: McArthur. Harvest time in the 1920's and 30's brought crews of men to operate the threshing machines and trucks. They worked from sunup to dark. Minnie cooked meals for them, sometimes uul many as thirty. Breakfast and supper were served in relays at the house. Dinner was taken to the fields. The summer of L92L, when John was born, Jack hired a cook to live on the farm and cook the food in a small trailer, called a "cook shack". Four children were born in the little house on Main Street. They were John, Betty Jane, Lucille and Danny Mac. It was a good place for children to grow up. They could go any place in town, and they were known to everyone. There were vacant lots to play in, machinery to climb, a city library where Mrs. Hoskins made children welcome, drug stores and grocery stores where children could take time spending their pennies, and school was within easy walking distance. All the children went to the Burlington public school and participated in many school activities. In the early 40's, Jack bought a farm two miles east of Burlington. He was one of the first farmers in the area to have an irrigation well, and he was a pioneer in the use of well water for irrigation. He was the mayor of Burlington from 1942 to 1946. He was a member of the Volunteer Fire Department from 1921 to 1961, and was chief for several of those years. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Rotary Club. In 1943, Jack and Minnie moved to Bl? 12th St., where they lived the remainder of their lives. Minnie spent her time raising her eight children and helping those around her who needed help. Her favorite project was the repairing and dressing of dolls for the Santa Claus Shop in Denver. During her last twenty five years she contributed thousands of dolls to the children of poor families. In 1963, she received the V.F.W. Citizenship Award. In 1982, she received the National Enquirer's Good Samaritan Award. Jack died August L2,1973 at the age of86. Minnie died September 25, 1984, at the age of 95. Both died in Kit Carson Countv Memorial Hospital and both are buried in Fairview Cemetery. Their children are: Alice, who married Harold Shangle and now lives in Oak Grove, Oregon; Mary, who married A.R. Ormsbee, had two children, and now lives in Boulder' Irene, who married Kenneth Wilcox, had two children, and now lives in Burlington; Marga- ret, who married Doyle Ketchnm, had one son, and now lives in Kansas City, Kansas; John, who manied Betty Brown, had two children, and died November 6, 1968; Betty Jane, who married Lester Farwell, had five children, and now lives in Boulder; Lucille, whomarried Stanley Davis, had two children, and now lives in Colby, Kansas; and Danny Mac, who maried Anne Schaal, had four children, and now lives in Phoeniz, Arizona. by Mary Ormsbee The Chalfant Family, 1943. Standing: Margaret, Irene, Alice, Betty Jane, Mary, Lucille. Seated: Danny, Jack, Minnie and John. �was plastered inside, and the deep windows- CHANDLER, CHARLES FAMILY Fll2 ills had potted carnations in bloom, giving the place a cozy, homelike appearance. The barn was also of sod, except that it was half dug out, or half below the ground level, which provided a warm place for the livestock. One of the first tasks the spring of 1909 was to dig a well. Since the house was close to Spring Creek, a dry creek except after heavy rains or snow, a good water supply was found at 57 feet. Since the Homestead Act of 1862 had been a-ended to provide that an "additional" quarter section could be acquired, Charles and Meta Chandler each filed on an addition- al quarter section adjoining the original homestead, so now the family had 480 acres. Since there was still plenty of free range On March 1, 1909, Charles and Meta Chandler arrived at Stratton, Colo. on Rock Island Train No. 39, after a day and night from Kansas City, including a change of trains in Belleville, Kansas to No. 39 from Omaha. Charles and Meta were both 3? years of age. They had been living the previous 7 years in Dallas County, in the Missouri Ozarks. Mr. Gill, who was visiting in Mis- souri, told glowing tales of his homestead in Kit Carson County, Colorado. He actually wanted to get back to the Ozarks, so offered to relinquish his homestead to the Chandlers in trade for the Chandler place in Missouri. The homestead in Colorado included a quarter section of land, a 3-room sod house, a sod barn, and some livestock. So the trade was made and the family was headed for their new home on this first day of March, 1909. Besides Charles and Meta Chandler, the family consist€d of Marie, who had reached her 7th birthday the previous November, Elsie, who would be 5 on April 26, Joseph, who would be 3 on June 30, and John, who was 3 months and a week old on that date. The Gill homestead relinquishment to which the family was headed was four miles west and three miles north of Stratton. Mr. Gill met the family, prepared to take them out to their new home, in an open spring wagon (uncovered wagon) the seven miles, heading into a driving blizzard all the way. By the time they arived at the homestead, the family was chilled to the bone; so it was a great relief to get inside the cozy sod house. The house was a typical sod house of the day in that area, having three spacious rooms, warm walls of buffalo grass eod, at least a foot thick, with plank roof covered with rubberoid, and layer of sod over that. It was well l^^^+^l . .-rl norlnr hoofar Tf minutes, rather than hours it took by horse and buggy. Religion was an important element in the lives of the Chandler family. In fact, Charles had attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for two years but never attained ordination. In Colorado, he and Meta organized a Sunday School that met in interested neighbor's homes each Sunday. Charles offered prayer, and delivered a short sermon besides conducting the Bible lessons. Meta played the pump organ as the old h5nnns were sung; hymns like "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder", "Bringing in the Sheaves", "No Not One", "Jesus Lover of My Soul", and "Neater My God to Thee". About the year 1912, a Baptist church was organized in Vona and beyond, providing endless pasture for the cattle, the 480 acres of deeded land was sufficient to provide a living in those days' Crops consisted mainly of corn and cane, a form of maize used for livestock feed, and now generally referred to as Milo. The years 1909 thru 1912 were dry years, so harvest of the family attended that church regularly for several years, until they moved near Stratton in the fall of 1916, when they joined the Congregational (now Methodist) Church in living. The hens provided eggs, and there was attend college, Marie finished her last year of High School in Lakefield, Minnesota, where she stayed with her Grandmother. Elsie had her last year of High School in Boulder Colorada. Of the Chandler children, only Joseph graduated from the Stratton High School in 1924. In the fall of L924, a home was purchased in Boulder, Colo. so that the children could attend the University there. At that time Marie had already attended crops was rather meager. But there was always the buffalo grass, so the "cream check" from the weekly shipment of cream provided the necessary cash for the family The Chandler children in June, 1913, Top row, L. to R.: Elsie 9; Marie 1; Joseph 7. Bottom row: John 4. and Ruth 1. Stratton or Vona could be made in a few always plenty of milk, and cornmeal was ground with an hand mill. Two sows with pig were acquired, and within a year's time, the pigpen and barn were alive with.about fifty head of swine. The port barel was always well filled with tasty pork roasts and "Sow Belly". The skim milk was ready for market in Stratton. The cattle herd was soon built up to over fifty head, some of which could be sold off each year. Also one was butchered each year in the fall when cold weather had set in so the meat could be frozen in the well-house. So the only foot items necessary to buy were the staples, flout, sugar, yeast for homemade bread, and occasionally, for a treat, some oranges and bananas. Potatoes were homegrown, as were watermelons, cantaloupes, and wide variety of garden vegetables, such as peas, green beans, lettuce, radishes, sweet corn, catrotg, beets, cucumbets, squash, and pumpkins. The shelves in the cellar were lined each year with glass jars filled with fruit and vegetables, as well as a big five-gallon crock of cucumber pickles. When a carload of apples was put on the siding in Stratton, several bushels were purchased to fill the apple bin in the cellar. Besides eggs the chickens provided plenty of fried spring chickens for Sunday dinners. In February, 1912, a fifth child' Ruth Eva was.born, and that stme year a two-story white freme house was acquired from a homesteader who was selling out to leave the country. The house was moved to the end of the sod house with a door cut for access. The new house had spacious rooms on the main floor with a nice stairway and two bedrooms upstairs. Since Meta had been a school teacher for several years in Iowa and South Dakota, she was hired in 1913 to teach the neighborhood school, the Hansen School, 1 % miles north of the homestead. However, Marie was ready for High School in 1914, and had to ride horeeback the 7 miles to the Stratton High School. In the spring of 1916, a shiny new Ford Model "T" touting car was purchased from Jim Holloway, who had the Ford agency in Strqf.fnn wifh the Model "T" the trin to Stratton. The move to a place two niles north of Stratton was made in the fall of 1916, so that Marie and Elsie and later Joseph, could be closer to High School. But since Stratton High School was not accredited at that time, and since the Chandler children planned to three years there and Elsie one year. In Boulder the Chandlers operated a retail dairy until retirement. Charles was deceased in 1951 and Meta in 1964. Only Marie, who was married to Harry Greenwood in 1923, remained in the Stratton area, where she still resides. Marie taught in several area schools for several years, then as Marie Greenwood, became the Startton Postmaster in 1943, from which position she retired in 1971. Marie and Harry raised three children, Laura (Greenwood) Thomason, of Mclean, Virginia, Thelma (Greenwood) Hutton, of north of Burlington, and Allen Greenwood, of Stratton. Elsie maried Joe Frizzell in Boulder in 1932. They settled in Downey, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, in 1943. They also raised three children, Guin Charles, deceased in a climbing accident in Yosemite Park in 1966, James Lowell, of Santa Rosa, Calif., and LaVonne (Frizzell) Rainey, of Placentia, Calif. Elsie was also a school teacher in Downey for many years until her retirement in 1969. she was deceased in 1981. Joseph was a school teacher in Longmont, Colo. until he joined the Indian Service in 1936. He was married to Edna (Walker) Chandler in 1930. Theyhad five children, Ted of Oxnard, Calif., Ruby (Chandler) Racine, of Columbia, Maryland, Donald and Robert, both of Mission Viejo, Calif., and Kristen (Chandler) Kania- tobe, of Albuquerque, N.M. In the Indian Service, Joe was principal of Indian schoolg in Rosebud, S.D., Eklutna, Alaska, and of Sherman Institute in Riverside, Calif. Then for five years before retirement in 1968 he spent five years in Liberia, Africa, with the Agency for International Development, helpine that countrv oreanized a school svst€m in �the hinterland. Joseph was deceased in 1971. John taught school for three years, then operated the family dairy in Boulder for five years. He was married to Thelma Maurine Young of Longmont, Colo. in 1932. He was appointed Immigration Officer in El Paso, Texas, in 1941. In this capacity, he worked in El Paso, Tex., Denver, Colo., San Juan, Puerto Rico, L.A., San Francisco, and Terminal Island, Calif., retiring in 1972. He and Thelna have two children, the Reverand John Richard Chandler, of Darouzett, Texas, and Jeanette (Chandler) Davis, of Prescott, Ariz. John and Thelma now reside in into Burlington in 1964. John Chapin graduated from C.U. in 1968, and from the University of Texas Law School. He married Carolyn O'Neal in 1970, and has recently become the law editor for advance students at the University of California. by Bernice Eberhart Spahr, a minister in Colorado Springs, and Doyl Spahr, with his own ice business in Loveland. The reason for mentioning the names is not to brag, but to give credit to the town and school we come from. Our school was small and had it's share of problems, like qualified teachers at times, financial problems, and others but we never lacked for enthusiasm. Bethune has had a lot of successful graduates, as have all the CHAPMAN - HOWELL FAMILY Prescott. Ruth was narried to Philip Reno in Fl14 schools in Kit Carson County. Getting in trouble at school, meant more trouble at home, when your Dad was on the school board. He absolutely would not tolerate disrespect for school. We played in town both day and night without the slightest Boulder, Colorado in 1933. She was deceased in Denver, Colorado in 1943. The Chandler Family's sixteen years in Kit Carson County, Colorado from 1909 to 1925 worry of being molested by anyone. As a young boy I remember helping people move in or out of town. We didn't expect to get paid, it was just a way to get acquainted with people. We built our own ice skating rink, made sled runs, built caves, made hide-outs, had picnics at the rocks west of Bethune, had had great influence on the lives of these "Children of the Prairie", by a lifetime of love and memories of the magnificence of the prairie sunset that can be gained only with an endless horizon; by the rolling hills of green buffalo grass; aft€r a month of May rains; by the sweet smell of wild flowers Sunday School parties, went to taffy pulls, went duck and rabbit hunting, played.all kinds of ball, rode our bikes as far ag blooming in the grass; by the trill of the meadowlark and the mocking songs of the Burlington or Stratton in the evening, went swimming when the lagoons were full or we could get someone to take us to Burlington to swim. We played with legal fire works on the fourth of July, and we would gather coal coyote that eent chills down your back while walking home after dark; by the distant wail along the railroad tracks for a candy bar. We sometimes hauled freight from the depot for a 5 cent Pepsi Cola. We had snow ball fights, went to the annual School Carnival, we went lark hunting; by floating a raft on Spring Creek when it was running; by the plaintive call of the prairie chicken, or the howl of a of a Rock Island train whistle; and the thrill of a hide-and-seek game in the hundred area out north to the river to fish and hunt pheasants, and we went to Sunday School and Church. Many of these activities were cornfield on a late August moonlit night. Then too, we left Marie there as a family legacy to Kit Carson County. by John T. Chandler CIIAPIN, ORVILLE AND FLO FlrS When the severe drought began to taper off, families began slowly coming back to the district. Some of the families came to farm on land that had been bought for a little bit of nothing, some for 500 to $f. per acre. Orville and Flo Chapin were living in Benkelman, Nebr. where Orville was a car salesman for Albert Kirschmer. Albert was one of those people who had purchased cheap ground here, and so he sent the Chapins here to farm. They ca-e in March 1944. Shirley was 9 years old and then John was born in 1946. A favorite teacher of Shirley's was Johnnie Robertson. John's favorite teacher was Hazel Fromong. The Kirschmer-Chapin farmers were one ofthe first to develop irrigation in this area. Irrigation has made a whole new world of the Smoky Hill Community. The Chapins were very active in the Community Sunday School, in 4H, card parties, gun club meetings, pot luck dinners, softball games, Extension Homemakers, etc. Shirley graduated from Fort Collins Aggies in 1953 and married Larry Woods. They have three children, and 1 grandchild. They are now living in Chandler, Okla. Orville still farms over south of Stratton. and they both are avid bowlers and outstandinggolfers. Theybuilt a newhome and moved Donald and Betty Chapman. Reflections of Bethune Growing up in a small town: Kit Carson County and Bethune have a special place in my heart. I was born in Bethune in May 1929, the fifth child of Earl and Blanche Chapman. My folks were of modest means and raising six children in the 1930's was no small task. What with drouth, depression and bank failure, only the heartiest survived. My parents taught all of us to love our home, our neighbors and to be proud of our community. Also to have respect for others and to appreciate the people of Kit Carson County. As a little boy, I never knew what it was like to not be loved by my farnily or by neighbors and everyone looked out for all the kids of the community. As a young boy I knew most ofthe business people in Burlington and Stratton and they knew who I was and they treated kids, from other towns, with respect. We kids always knew who the county elected officials were, and we always went with our folks to political rallies. We knew the Sheriff, the Police Chief and State Patrolman and they were looked up to and respected by all kids. We knew they were there if we needed them. My closest friends, as a boy; were Russ Knodel, a school administrator in Anchorage, AL, Ray Kno- del, a school administrator and textbook salesman, in Loveland, Ivan Amman, a minister in NB, Gene Amman, a PHD biologist in Ogden, UT, Alvin Buchholz, a senior member of the State of Colorado Tax Commission, in Grand Junction, Keith without parents help or knowledge. Most all boys were taught to defend themselves by their fathers. Fist fights were not uncommon, even with best friends, but they didn't last long and no grudges were canied. So you see why we didn't have time to get into trouble. Then World War II came and all of my older brothers were in the army. Dean was in the South Pacific, Vern was in Europe, Dale was in Texas, and each day brought fear of bad news at the post office. Many boys were drafted while in High School. Alvin Buchholz, Bud Stolz, George Bear, and Jinks Critchfield, who was killed in the South Pacific. I was 16 when the war ended. I started to help in the garage and on the gasoline delivery truck when I was 14. Many kids were driving at that age, helping parents in business or on the farm. You were not bothered by State Patrol, or Police when you were helping your folks. I'm sure, had we been driving for pleasure or at night, we would not have been over looked by the law. Having graduated from Bethune High School, most of us went our separate ways. I started in business with my father, Earl Chapman, brothers Dean and Vern, and later brother-in-law Neil Springer. Our business was good for all of us. Kit Carson County and its people gave us a great start in life. In 1950, I married Betty Howell from Vona. Her family cane to Vona in the 1880's, and she taught school in Vona for three years. We have been married for 38 years. We have two children and four grand children, our son Donald H. and his wife Judy, with their two children, Donald J. and Cheryl, and our �daughter Elizabeth and her husband Ross, and their two children John and Greg. by Don Chapman CHAPMAN MORELAND FAMILY Fl16 Earl Chapman was born October 25, L897, 1st son of Willian T. and Anna Mitchell Chapman in Clear Springs Mo. They moved to Ramah Colorado in 1910' He was married to Blanche Moreland in Colorado Springs June 30, 1917. Blanche was the third daughter of John and Emma Morris Moreland' She was born February 28, 1898 in Clear Springs Mo. They moved to Burlington in 1919 where Earl worked for Evans Brothers, which later beco-e Sim Hudson Motor Co. They moved to Bethune in 1921 where Earl started his first Garage. He built the cement block building on Highway 24 in 1931 under the Eastern Colorado and Western Kansae. Earl was a great supporter of Kit Carson County, a strong Mason, as were all his sons and sonin-laws. He was a life time Republican and loved hunting and fishing. The love of the mountains finally got to the entire family as they moved to Paonia, Colorado in Delta County in 1956. Earl died at 69 years of age in 1967. Blanche and all of her children are still alive and well. by Donald L. Chapman CIIURCH, GEORGE AND LOUISA Fl16 George and Louisa Church with their one year old daughter Ruth (Schaal) came to Burlington from eastern Nebragka in 1906. Their first few nights were spent in a not yet finished room in the Montezuma Hotel, while horses, wagon and meager supplies were being purchased. Then while a one room sod house was being built on the homestead nine miles northwest of town they stayed with the Mundt family whom they had known in Nebraska. This family lived on the farm now occupied and farmed by Bob Brown. There I, the second daughter was born. Three years later the only son, Garvin, was born. Our little sister Francis Faye wasn't born until we had moved from the homestead. She was cute and pretty with a head covered with blond curls. Being so much younger than the rest of us, she was the family's darling pride and joy. She died of diphtheria when eleven years old. As the family grew, from time to time another room was added to the sod house until it had four rooms all in a row. This house, with thick walls and sod on the roof was comfortably warm in winter and cool in summer. However the long narrow shape of the house made it bad for drifting snow. One winter when my dad wae working away from name of Chapman's garage, then Earl Chapman & Son's until the family moved in June of 1956 to Paonia, Colorado. Six children were born; Dale O. March 5, 1918 at Ramah, Colorado, who married Louise Bateman of Loveland, Colorado. Dolores E. October 11, 1919 at Bethune, Colorado, who maried Robert H. Grant of Colorado Springs. Dean A. April 16' L921, at Burlington, married Leona M. Guy of Bethune. Vernon R. May LL, L924 at Bethune, married Margaret R. Guy of Bethune. Donald L. May 9, 1929 at Bethune, married Betty J' Howell of Vona. Margaret L. August 21' 1930 at Bethune, married Neil M. Springer of Burlington. All of their children went to Bethune School for 12 Years. Earl was mayor of Bethune from the early 30s until leaving in 1956 and served on the school board as treasurer for many years. He also served on the Kit Carson County Hospitd board. He was a Conoco distributor in Bethune for over 35 years' The garage and machine shop was known for it excellence in motor rebuilding and machine work all over !i1*: 4tr;!. " 1."." - "' Daughtere Gertrude (Sally) and Ruth standing by their sod house on the homestead in 1910. The cattle bad iubbed the corner of the house making the indentation. The rug was brought out for the picture taking event. Remaing of the spring blizzad in 1915. The snow had covered the house. Mother shoveled the enow from the door and window so that we would not be emothered. home, as he often had to do so we could live, we had a big blizzard. No young person living The Earl Chapman family, L. to R.; Dale Chapman, Vernon Chap9an, Earl Chapman, Blanche Chapman, OonAa Cmpman, and Dian Chapman. Froni, Delores Chapman Grant and Margaret Chapman Springer, 1948. now can imagine the enormity and ferocity of the blizzards in those early days when the snow could sweep across the prairie for many miles without anything to stop it. In this particular blizzard the snow drifted against the north side ofthe house until it was roof level then came over the house and started piling against the south side, covering �with Kenneth and Lucile Lepper on their farm I mile north and 1 mile east of Stratton. doors and windows. To keep from being buried alive and emothered my mother went out every hour with a scoop shovel and shoveled the snow away from one door and one window. Before any of us were school age my dad helped neighbors build a one room schoolhouse 7z mile west and t/z mile south of our home. We walked to school about 3/ mile along a winding road across the prairie. I can't remember a time when there were over eight or nine pupils in this school including we three Churches. During Don's last year of high school, Kenneth went through several surgeries so Don stayed with the John Clark and the Zeke Kerl fanilies, graduating in May 1961. Kenneth died of cancer in July, 1961, and that fall, after the wheat was drilled, Don startpd working for the First National Bank of Stratton and continued there for almost four years. He now works as an Engineering Technician I for the Colorado Department of Highways in Grand Junction, Co. Don married Jackie Lynn Winkler 9 April 1966, and they have a daughter (Cynthia Lynn) attending the University of Denver, and a son (Kenneth William) finishing his Senior year at Central High School in Grand Junction. Eugene married Mary Forrester and they have six children; Barbara, Michael, Robert, Jay, Andy and Randy (twins). Their permanent residence is north of Jerusalem, Arkansas close to where Clarence is now residing on property owned by Harold. Our parents were determined that we should get a better education than they had a chance for. We were nine miles from Burlington with no school bus and no car. My dad did get his first car, an old Maxwell, about 1916 but it would barely get us to town occasionally to get groceries. So the parents sold the homestead and moved near First Central School where they had a country grocery store for several years. This school was twelve miles south of and half way between Bethune and Stratton and had a full four year accredited high school. There my brother and sister and I went through high school. This district was later absorbed by Stratton school and nothing remains of the buildings that were there. Ruth and I after one summer at Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley, now the University of Northern Colorado, and taking a teachers examination, started teaching in country schools. Garvin went to Barnes Business College in Denver, served in the Navy in World War II and now lives with his wife Lillian, in Camarillo, California. Ruth died in 1955. Our parents later moved to Burlington in 1929 where they lived on ?th St. the rest of the years of their lives. My mother loved flowerg and raised so many she becnme known as the "flower lady." by Sally Bauder CIIURCIIES - JONES FAMILY Fl17 Clarence Everett Churches was born to Cornelius and Maggie (Bozworth) Churches, 16 November 1906, near the town of Lawrence, Nebraska. Leona Pearl Jones was born to Roy Eugene and Matilda (Heisz) Jones, 8 October 1909' northeast of Stratton, Colorado at the Jones' Homestead place, which is located 9 miles north on SH 57 and 4 and 1/8 miles east of Stratton on the north side of the road. After graduation in 1928 from Stratton High School, Leona attended Barnes Business College in Denver. While working for Bernard Cummings (who ran for attorney general) she met Clarence who was working for MontgomeryWard. Theywere married 28 August 1933. Shortly after their marriage they moved to Humboldt, Kansas to live with his parents. In August, 1934, they moved to Stratton and raised chickens on what is known as the Park's Place now owned by Tom Price, approximately 1% miles north of the Jones homestead. While living on the Park's Place their first gon (Eugene Clarence) was born 27 by Donald D. Churches Clarence and Leona Churches and family. Left to right: Harold in front of mother (Leona), Eugene, CLAIR FAMILY and father (Clarence) holding Donald. DatB 1944 or 45. Fl18 The Clair family came to Kit Carson November 1935. When Eugene was one year old they moved to California. Clarence worked for Runnymede Chicken Ranch, which at that time was the largest chicken operation in the world. While in Reseda, California, their second son (Harold Wayne) was born 28 January 1938. Leona became homesick for Colorado so by December, 1938, they were back in Colorado living on the Olsen Place, 80 rods west of the Jones' Homestead. In December, 1939, they re- turned to California where Clarence was able to get a job at Lockheed Aircraft. While residing in Reseda, Leona became pregnant with their third child (Donald Dee). Due to the unrest in California (war time), Leona wished to be near her family for delivery, so she, Eugene, and Harold returned to Colorado by train in January, 1943. Don was born at the Stratton maternity Home on 5 March 1943, while Grandpa Jones and other family members looked after Eugene and Harold. As soon as Leona was able to travel, she returned with her three sons to their home in Reseda, California and resided there till her death from cancer on 28 June 1945. She is buried in the Claremont Cemetery at Stratton, Colorado. After her death, Clarence and sons moved to Stratton, Co. and lived on the Jones'farm. Eugene attpnded the 3rd grade and Harold 2nd grade at the District #28 school for the school year 1945-46. The school was located 1 mile south and 3 miles east of the Jones' farm. During August, 1946, Clarence and sons returned to Reseda, California. Harold and Don came back to Colorado on 7 July 1955, living with their aunt (Mettie Jones Sisson) and uncle (Elmer Jones, brother to Mettie) who reside on the Jones' farm. Harold graduated from Stratton High School in May 1956. He now lives in Eagle, Colorado and works as an Engineering Technician II for the Colorado Department of Highways. Don left his aunt's home in 1958 and lived County in the spring of 1908. They traveled here by covered wagon from Alton, Kansas. John Clair and his son, Warrenton, followed the carnivals to make a living; they also farmed. Warrenton married and began to raise his family of nine. His sons and daughters are Mrs. Hattie Clayton, of California, born June 23, 1902; Mr. William John Clair, of Burlington, Colorado, born August 30, 1904; Mr. Walter Clair, of Oregon, born July 27, 1906, deceased September 13, 1978; Mrs. Sarah Waitman, of Burlington, Colorado, born July 30, 1908; Mrs. Sylvia Klein, of California, born June 21, 1910, deceased December 17, 1983; Mrs. Goldie Higgins, of California, born April 16, 1913; Mr. Jesse Clair, of Burlington, Colorado, born June 14, 1915; Mrs. Gertrude Monroe, of Vona, Colorado, born March 16, 1917; and Mr. Johnnie Clair, of Bennett, Colorado, born May 13, 1918. Warrenton raised his family on the Clair homestead sixteen miles north and five miles east of Stratton. Colorado. On the homestead, he built a half dugout, half soddie house. They raised all of their meat and only bought itcms like sugar, coffee, at the store. There was usually a dance or card game to help pass the long evenings. On December 2, t926, William married Miss Lucye Belle Tryon of Stratton, Colorado at the Kit Carson County Courthouse in Burlington, Colorado. They had six children, one of whom did not survive. The two older boys were raised during the Depression when Bill and Walter were forced to make beer and bootleg it to provide for their families. The two boys also beca-e marksmen to help provide for their families and often, for entertainment or practice, took a Velvet tobacco can and would shoot the pipe out at twenty-five yards. They would then put a card in the can and shoot through that same hole at twenty-five yards. Bill and Lucye's children were James, born at Kirk, Colorado �on July L7, L927; Donald, born at Vona, Colorado on February 6, 1930; Ethel, born at Vona, Colorado July 28, 1935; Jeanne, born at Boulder, Colorado on August 6, 1937; and Richard, born at Alo-oga on January 27, 1945. In 1937, Bill and his family moved to a resettlement house and farm five miles south and five miles west of Alamosa. Colorado. In 1962, they sold that farm and moved to 6755 Trinchera Lane in Alnmosa, Colorado. They remained there until May of 1986 when they left because of health reasons and returned at that time to Burlington, Colorado. In September, 1984 they bought a trailer house at 355 Senter Avenue, Space 54, where they are at present. Their children are now in the following places: Je-es is in Englewood, Colorado; apartments. Paul Clapper's father, Charles Clapper, was Pennsylvania Dutch and his mother, Tina Alice (Tiny) Lierle, was Cherokee and German. Paul was born the youngest of nine children and was raised on a farm south of Dodge and in Dodge. Paul Clapper and Billie Wolf met at a dance during W.W. II, when he wag home on leave. He was a gunner on "the Spirit of FDR", one of the escorts when they dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan. Being a secret mission, he and his crew didn't know what was about to happen. Paul and Billie were married in 1944. They lived in Dodge, where their first three children were born; Terry in 1947, Chyrl in 1949, and Paul in 1951. In 1951, they bought the Fred Fuhlendorf homestead, 5 miles Donald is in Buena Vista, Colorado; Ethel is in La Jara, Colorado; Jeanne is in Alamosa, north, 3 east and 1 north of Vona. They lived in a very small, two-roomed house with very low ceilings; about 6'9". Jody was born here Colorado. They have nineteen grandchildren in 1953. Colorado; and Richard is in Burlington, living, one grandchild deceased, and twenty seven great grandchildren with two more on the way. There are also countless nieces and nephews belonging to the brothers and sist€rs of Bill. by Richard R. Clair CLAPPER FAMILY Fl19 One beautiful sunshiny March day in 1952, the Clappers had company from Kansas. Along about bed-time Paul jokingly told them they'd better put their car in the quonset as it might snow. They laughed and went to bed, only to awaken to a two day blizzard. It was five days before they could get out to go home. Caught by surprise this way, they had to butcher chickens and roll their own cigarettes. Needless to say, everyone was glad when the road opened. In 1954, Oscar Wolf, suffering from ill health, turned his farm, 2 miles east of Vona on Highway 24, over to Paul and Billie. Soon after they moved there, Chuck was born. Penny was born in 1956, Jerry in 1958, Tim in 1960, and Chris in 1961. The girls have all married and moved away, but the boys remained in the county. Living along a main highway brought many strangers to the house looking for handouts or gas. Others sought refuge during the bad dust storms of 1955-56. One couple, from Illinois, stopped in just to see how people survived in such dusty country. In 1975, Paul and Billie, bought a trailer house and moved it over the old Barsock basement home in Vona. Gib Anderson, who ran the Foster Lumber Co. in Vona, built this basement house in 1928. Paul quit farming and around 1980 went to work for the Kit Careon County Road and Bridge. At this time, 1987, all of the sons are involved in farming; Terry married Glenna White of Seibert, they have three sons: Jay Allen, Todd Michael, and Jeffery Paul; Chyrl married Dick McAuley and had two sons: Chyrl and Terry Clapper at our home north of Vona. Oscar V. Wolf was born in Tipton, Missouri Lance, and Eric. She remarried Ron Statler from Greeley; Paula married Keith Eaton, they have 3 children: Tonya, Brent, and Alicia and they live in Torrington, Wyo. Jody married Jim LeVecchi; they live in Pueblo; Chuck is living on and leasing the Tom McCormick farm south of Stratton; Penny married Roger McCaffery, they have 3 children: Cory, Sarah andTyler, and theylive in 1880 and moved to a god house south of Wright, Kansas in 1905, where he married Gertrude Vogel in 1908. They had ten at Grand Junction where Roger works for the Warner Bros. ranch; Jerry and Tim rent some to buy land east of Vona, although he farm. children, with Lucy (Billie), being the ninth. In 1945, Oscar came to Kit Carson County continued to live in Kaneas. Billie was raised on a farm south of Wright. The houee was so large, that after the family sold it, it was moved into Dodge City and made into three McCormick farm ground by Bethune; and Chrie married Cathy Busby, they live in Burlington, where Chris works on the Busby CLARK - ALBRIGIIT FAMILY FI.20 Ralph Clark, son of Emma and Edward Clark, was born on Oct. 30, 1879 on a small farm near Bloomfield, Iowa. His parents sist€rs and two brothers lived on several small farms in Davis County. Land was high and crops were sometimes destroyed along the creeks and rivers by high waters, so in 1908, Ralph decided to go west to try to locate cheaper and more desirable land to farm. The fields he had been farming were small, and large tree stumps and roots kept hindering the plowing. So he vowed that he was going to go where he couldn't see a tree. Ralph first made a trip to the sandhills of Nebraska near Thedford, but didn't find the soil to his liking. The wagon wheels cut into the sand and traveling was difficult as there were no improved roads at this time. He then returned to Iowa and later in the year ceme to western Kansas and eastern Colorado where he and hig father located some land approximately twelve miles north of Kanorado, Kansas. Plans were made to come to their new home the fall of 1908. An immigrant railroad car was loaded with cattle, a team ofhorges, chickens, some farm machinery, furniture and other necessary things for their new home. Ralph cnme with the immigrant car taking care of the stock enroute. He arrived in Kanorado, Dec. 2, 1908, and found the snow very deep and no way to get his stock and possessions out to the farm they had purchased. He rented a small barn and house in town to keep the stock and store the furniture until his parents and younger brother Dewey anived in the paseenger train. He then inquired of some of the merchants if anyone was in town from around where his farm was located. Someone told him at the Winn store that one of his neighbors, Emil Stalgreen, was in and he got in contact with him and followed his wagon and team to his home, which was about one and a half miles south of the Clark land. This was the beginning of a lifeJong friendship with the Stalgreen family. They were neighbors and helped one another many times. He found a vacant farmstead about one-half mile north of where they planned to build their farmstead buildings, so they rented it and moved their possessions there until they could get their farm buildings built. They built the house of lumber. Some of Mrs. Clark's neighbors were envious of her new frnme house as most of the people lived in sod houses at this time. Their home was located on one of the main traveled roads, now known as the Beecher Island road. Most of the farmers north of t}ris point traveled this road coming from Idalia, Hale, Bonny and St. Francis. The Clark farm wag about half way between these places and Kanorado. Many stopped, fed and watered their horses, and the Clark's graciously offered them their meals and a nights' lodging. The next morning they would continue their journey towards Kanorado where they sold their grain, purchased their supplies and came back to the Clark farm, spent the night again and then returned to by Glenna Clapper their homes the following day. A man near Idalia owned a steam engine. He would fagten several wagons loaded with �grain for several of his neighbors and begin the long trip to Kanorado. When he was two miles north of the Clark's he would blow his whistle several times and they would hear it and know he would be a guest for a meal before too long, so Mrs. Clark would prepare the meal and it would be ready for him when he arived. Most of the guests were glad to pay for their accommodations. Mr. and Mrs. Clark raised a big garden, kept a flock of chickens, butchered their own pork and beef, canned vegetables and meats, so meal preparation could be quite speedy. They farmed small grains and raised feed for their cattle. In 1909, Ralph bought a corn binder. He cut and shocked feed for several of his neighbors, some of whom were Se- Morrow, Frank Morrow, Jim Barnett, Roy Pratt, Bill Cody Sr., and the Stillwagons. His sister and family, Mr. and Mrs. William Kneedler, had come to Colorado by this time and lived in the same neighborhood for eeveral years. Two of the Kneedler sons remained and owned and operated farms near the Clarks. They were Falace and Ralph Kitten and Bliss. After living on this land five years and doing the required amount of improvements on it, the land becnme their property. Then Allie, Bliss, and Kitten signed their property over to the husband and father James Clark so that he owned one section of land. Lewis Beck (7 /24/76-5/27161) son of Mary Helen (1844-1881) and Lewis Beck (18431879) (both died of tuberculosis) lived with uncles and an older brother Joe from the age of 5 until at the age of 16 he moved to Colorado with an uncle who also had tuberculosis. He died in a few years and Lewis worked as a farm hand and cowboy from Kit Carson They received their mail from the Wallet post office. Later from the Ashland post office which was located on Mrs. Louise Kneedler. Edward and Emma Clark continued to live in Kanorado, where they had built a new home, until Edward's death in 1922. Emma stayed in her home until she became ill as a result of a fall, when she moved to Ralph's home in August, 1931. She was an invalid and passed away in August, 1932. In 1943, Ralph and Bina purchased a home in west Burlington, Colorado, having a farm sale and retired there in October, 1944. For eight years, Ralph was custodian of the city parks. He enjoyed the many visitors of the parks. Bina enjoyed her home and hobbies of fancy work, quilting, sewing, flowers and textile painting. She also did baby sitting for Stratton on the north side of Smokey Creek. The adobe was made by running well water daughter of Ralph and Bina Clark.) Later a rural route was established and mail was delivered with a teqm of horses pulling a church as long as health permitted. Ralph suffered a broken hip and spent two and a half years in Grace Manor Care Center, passing away December 6, L972, at the age of ninety-two years. Bina continued living in Anderson's farm. This is where Keith, Phobe, Fortmeyer, son John and wife Fayrene and son Jordan now live. (Fayrene is a great grand buggv. Sunday school was held at the Wallet schoolhouse. Sunday ball ga-es, with two tenms of local residents being the contestants, were held as a form of recreation and were held in different locations in the vicinity. As in many of the early day western stories, Ralph left his sweetheart in Iowa when he ceme to Colorado. They kept in touch by letter and in December 1912, he returned for his bride, Bina Albright, also of Bloomfield, Iowa. Her mother had passed away in 1904. She had remained at home helping her father care for two younger eisters and a small brother. They were married on December 29, different people. Both enjoyed attending the home with the loving care of her daughter, Maxine, until July, 1977, when she passed away at the age of ninety-two years. They enjoyed seeing the country develop, observed the changes, such as travel by horses and buggy to space travel and man landing on the moon. Della Statler CLARK - BECK FAMILY F12t 1912. They spent the next month visiting then boarded the relatives near their home As the train train for far away Colorado. neighbors here also. In November, 1914, their first child, Della, was born. In 1917, Ralph and Bina purchased the Fletcher farm, also known as the Charlie Hansen homest€ad. which was located one mile west of the original Clark place. His parents had gold the place and moved to Kanorado to retire in 1916. In August, 1921, a second daughter, Maxine, came to bless their home. Ralph and Bina continued to raise stock and farm. In 1930 they began to improve their farmstead. Much of the labor was done by Ralph and the help of a hired man. It is now the home of Esther, Paul and Dean Kneedler. side. This was about 18 miles south of on the clay soil in a corral during the day and then turning the cattle into the corral at night so that they would walk in the mud all night and mix it up. The next day the cattle were turned out on the prairie grass and adobe blocks were made from the mud and some straw, and then the whole process started over again that night. This continued until enough blocks were made to build the house which had walls 18 inches thick with wooden frames and roof. The lean-to was made of sod with a sod roof and used as a store room, milk separator room, and as a kitchen in the summer. A cement walled barn was built in 1915 and is still standing. They did some farming, had horses, cattle, hogs, and chickens and raised a large garden. A smoke house for curing meat and a cellar for food storage were added. Later two rooms (built from wood) were added on the south side of the original structure. Marian Louise (8/31/09-) Bliss Belle erts (2/2L/L7-4/L3/85), and James Lewis (1/10/19-) were born during the years on the farm. A stillborn baby was born in 1911. Lewis built a small wooden casket and lined it with a baby blanket and buried the baby one. enjoyed lasting friendships and friendly owned the Beck and Wagner Ranch south of Stratton for a few years. Anna Bliss Clark and Lewis Beck were maried in Burlington, Colorado on November 21, 1908. They moved into his two room adobe house with a sod lean-to on the north (4/L3/L3-'), Allie Jean (5/3LlL5-), Doris Rob- reached western Kansas, she noticed how far she could eee. When she caught her first glimpse of a sod house, she said she would never live in one of them. This unfortunately was not true as she lived for several years in They spent the next year with Ralph's parents, then moved to a farm northeast of Burlington, which is now where Paul Janssen lives. They engaged in raising small grains and feed for their small herd of cattle, milking cows and raising poultry for a livelihood. There was open range in the neighborhood and many large herd roamed the prairies near them. Some of the owners being the Reinholds, Pooles and others. Ralph and Bina to Hugo, Colorado. He and Jim Wagner on the farm. After a land resuwey showed the land on which the farm buildings were built was not on the Lewis Beck property and he was not financially able to buy the additional land, he sold the farm and they moved to Stratton in Lewis and Bliss (Clark) Beck at home east of Stratton, summer of L942. Anna Bliss Clark (7/2L/85-r2/22/45) with her parents, James Clark (L/L5/61-4/22/15) and Allie Mae (Newton) Clark (L2/8/6Ll0/8/4L), and her sisters, Kitten (9/19-8610/58), Allie Mae (L0/27/89-7/22/51), and Ruth Belle (51L7/94-LL/29/60) moved to Stratton from Spearfish, South Dakota in 1908 with all of their possessions in railroad box cars. They claimed four quarter sections of land. that was made available by the Homestead Act of Congress. These quarters formed one section of land, on which they put up their buildings so that the four adjoining corners were each a part of the actual improved portion. These were claimed in the names of James, and Allie Clark and their two daughters who were over 21 years of age, April, 1919. They lived in town while their home on the corner of State Highways 24 and 57 were being built. They moved into the new house in July, 1919. William Clatk (a/La/2L), Leon Victor (2/15/25-) and, Ruth Joyce (Ln /27 -) were born in this house. It had three bedrooms, a bathroom (no fixtures), living room, dining room, kitchen, and pantry. There was no water in the house and it was heated by a wood and coal furnace in the basement with one heat register directly above the furnace in the living room. A large coal range in the kitchen provided heat for cooking and warmth in the wintcr. A kerosene three burner stove did the cooking in the summer. Water was collected in a barrel at the windmill and carried into the house. A three hole (one low hole for the children) toilet (privy) was built out in the yard. Baths were taken in a wash tub in the kitchen. �ln 1927 carbide gas lights were installed in the home.The gas was formed in a tank in the yard from water and powdered carbide, then Dean lives in Hugo and their daughter Roxanne lives in Seattle; neither is married. Joyce is married to Gene Clark and they live in Stratton. Their son Paul is in Germany with his wife Heather, and Scott, Tonya, and Tnmara; son Kenny married Nancy and their children Sean and Lauri, live in Grand Junction, Colo.; Candi Spicer and daughters Casey and Britan live in Denver; and Bonnie married Jim Mattix, they have two children, Jason and Annie, and the four of them live in Grove, Oklahoma. piped to the light fixtures, and lighted by a spark or a match. A two burner carbide stove by Belle B. Danforth One by one the children left home to go to work, to school, or to be married. Bligs and CLARK, ELLIS L. AND AMY BELLE SMITH Kerosene lamps were used to light the house. When they moved to Stratton they bought their first car, a Model T Ford. Lew worked at odd jobs around town, butchering for the butcher shop, plowing gardens, building, etc. until he was hired by the Stratton Equity Coop in 1921. The children graduated from the Stratton High School. and a carbide iron also made life a little easier. These were used until 1929 and proved to be too expensive so kerosene lsmps were again put into use. Lew sold their home with approximately eight acres for $1,800 in lg43 and moved to 222 New York avenue in Stratton. In 1931 the family who were still living at home became members of the Stratton Et22 Family of Ellis L. and Amy Belle Clark. Front Row Left to Right Bess Clark Wells Hayball and Robert EIIis Clark. Second Row Ethel Clark Church of God. Lew retired from the Stratton Equity Coop in 1946 but still worked at the - Foster Lumber Yard, did cement work with Hank Pelle, sharpened saws, and did other odd jobs until in his 80's. L. Clark and Ada Clark Andes, Lola Clark Chenot. Taken at Arvada, CO about 1939. Bliss died in the hospital in Burlington from a stroke in 1945 at the age of 60 years. Her burial was in the Clarmont Cemetcry in Stratton. Lew died in the Pueblo hospital 2 months before his 85th birthday. His burial was also in the Clarmont Cemetery, Stratton. Marian Louise Weddell had two children, Our Grandparents came to Kit Carson in 1906 from Nebraska. Harrison L. Clark (1862-1928) and wife Nellie M. Clark (18641944) moved to a homestead 16 miles north of Burlington because of the good water. Ellis (our father) (1886-1946), the oldest of Joan Rosier and Lewis Klein. Lewie has never married, Joan and Steve Rosier have one son, 4 children, Ethel, Walter, and Opal. He Stevie. They live in Port Clinton, Ohio. Marian lives in Flagler, Colorado with Lewis. Her husband T.J. Weddell died in 1966. Belle manied George Danforth, Jr. of homesteaded. and met and married our mother, Amy Belle Smith (1888-1973), who had homesteaded as well as her parents, Moses T. Smith (1862-1923). There were 6 members of this family, most of whom homesteaded 16 miles north of Burlington in Burlington and they have two children, George, III (Gerry) and Dolores. Gerry had one daughter by his first wife, Marilyn, and the snme geographical area as the Clarks, her name is Kristi. She is now married to Ronald Nelson and they have a gon n"med Trent. They live in Yuma, Colorado. Gerry and his wife Betty have a son Craig, who is a sophomore at Colorado State University in Fort Colling. They life in Greeley, Colorado. Dolores lives in Carson City, Nevada. Her Ellis Leroy Clark (188ti-1946). Picture taken in 1911 at Burlington, Colorado. daughter Kathy and Kathy's husband, Glenn. live with her. Her son Kent and his wife, Sonya, and children, Jessica 4 and Steven 3, live in Santa Barbara, California. Allie Jean is married to Clarence Iseman and they have no children. They live near Ellicott, Colorado. Doris was married to Ernest Englebrecht and they had three sons, Rick of Tucson, Arizona, Robbie of Chicago, and Russell who farms in Strasburg with his father, Ernest. Doris died April 13, 1985. Amy was one of the six which included Maye, Elva, Dora, Myron and Edmond Smith. Our father, Ellis Clark, filed a claim for his homestead located about 18 miles north of Burlington around 1909. He had a dugout to live in at first. later a 2 room house. He and our mother, who had taught school in Iowa, had a store and Post Office made of cement on that property. It was called Morris P.O. Our Father had a ice house which was sort of a dugout with an A frame roof. Dad would haul ice from Launchman Creek in the winter. The farmers were glad to be able to have that ice in summer time. Dad also made a ball diamond for the men of the community to play ball. It was at this location that our brother Verle (1911-1983) was born. Also sister Ada was born (1913), followed by Lucille (1915-1979). In 1914, our father purchased his parents' homestead, as they wanted to move to Sterling so their daughter Opal could go to high school there. It was in this house which our grandfather had built, before bringing his family to Burlington to live, that I, Lola Clark Chenot (1917), and my two sisters. Bessie Clark Hayball (1919) and Ethel Clark Fay- Lewis married Margo and they had two children, Debbie and Mike. Debbie is married and has a daughter and two sons. Lewis, Margo, and Debbie and her family live in Greeley, Colorado. Mike was killed in the war in Vietnam. Clark married Shirley and they live in Strasburg, Colorado. They have two sons, David of Denver, and Steve who teaches school in Walden, Colo. Neither of them is married. Leon maried Nadine, they have two sons, Keith and Kevin, and the three families live in Fleming, Colorado. Their daughter, Lynn - Faydock, Lucille Clark Mitchell, and Mother MayBelle Clark. Third Row - Ellis L. Clark, Verle dock (1920-19&t) were born. Amy BeIIe Clark (1888-1973) and baby Verle (1911-1983) Burlington, Colorado. Our Aunt Opal (1900-1982), to whom we give great credit for recording much of our family history gave us this account of their arrival at Burlington on a cold and blustery day. The wind was blowing so strongtheyhad �to hold onto posts as they walked from the depot to the hotel. The next day they rode to the homestead in a horse drawn buggy with their heads covered with a buffalo robe to keep from freezing. The one and a half story house on the homestead was a landmark. They lived there until Opal was 14 yrs. old at which time they moved to Sterling. The Ellis Clark farnily lived on this farm until 1923, when Ellis bought a grain elevator in Glade, Kansas. They lived there until 1925, then cnme back to Burlington. That fall 1925, Robert Ellis was born. Later we moved to the old homestead where we were in the Happy Hollow School Dist. At one time there were 5 Clark children in that school at one time. One of the early day teachers of that school was Lola Reneau, who taught 3 yrs (which was remarkable), as most young teachers beca-e home sick and quit mid term. This young dedicated teacher was instrumental in getting a larger school with a belfry and bell, also an organ. The organ and bell were purchased with money raised from box socials and programs put on by the pupils. Lola Reneau James is living in Wheatridge at this writing. Also at this writing four of Ellis and Amy Clark's children are living: Ada Belle Andes, Lola Marie Chenot, Bessie Maye Hayball and Robert Clark. Written Jan. 1986. by Lola Clark Chenot CLEMENT - SKOW FAMILY Fl23 Our father, Marvin J. Clement, came to Colorado from New York in 1904. He shipped his livestock, equipment and household goods by train to Nebraska, which was the closest rail terminal to his destination of the Thurman, Colorado area. The last leg of the journey was by team and wagon and driving the livestock. Marvin homesteaded north east of the Thurman store, first digging a well and building a sod house. Our mother, Carrie Skow, was raised in north central lowa. Due to hardships, she had gone to Minnesota to work. There she and 2 other young ladies felt the challenge of the process of low bidder wins. He was then appointed Flagler Town Marshal and remained in this position until his health failed in 1934. He passed away in 1936. During his tenure as Marshal, he planted the original trees in the Flagler park and cared for them as long as he served the town. He was at every fire, guarding the water hose to keep traffic from crossing. He cleaned the gravel from the gutters and shoveled snow from the cross walks of Main Street. At one time, there were signs welcoming people as they cqme into town. On the signs were other information giving the population and the speed limit of 10 miles per hour. Once a man inquired if he would be arrested if his horse trotted faster than 10 miles. There was no TV nor radio in those days. One of our fondest memories is an evening secretary-treasurer which included the hand- ling of bookkeeping, money, and food supplies for the needy at that period. She went with the chairman to take cotton to Flagler for a mattress making project, drove people who had no means of transportation to pick up flour and foodstuffs, going with the local Doctors to make calls in the country when needed. The plan ofserving hot lunches to school children was started by Pearl and was later sponsored by the Inter Sese Club. She was active in community affairs and served in various offices, always giving more than her share of time and talent. Pearl was a charter member of the Garden Club, organized in 1928, the County Historical Society, and served on the local Library Board from 1921 to 1959. then listening to the Edison phonograph with cylindrical records and a big horn, while eating pop corn. Mother continued to live in Flagler until 1941, when she moved to Limon, and on to moving to a home on 12th Street, where she passed away on June 15th, 1972 from a massive heart attack. Denver in 1946. After her retirement, she enjoyed the pleasure of traveling to many of our western states. She passed away in 1973. Of the four children, two have died Frank in 1926 and Harry in 1983. Charles lives in Denver with his wife, Charity (Wolfe). Lena lives in Southern California, her husband having preceded Harry in death by 24 days. Charles, Harryand Lena, each attended Flagler schools from beginning through graduation from high school. She was manied to Hank Schell in 1924, and they sold the Montezuma in 1944, The Montczuma Hotel, started in 1905, operated continuously under the same name and management for 39 years, but Mr. J.A. Haughey made many changes in the building during that period, which included removing the third story and lowering the roof to cover the second story, and later raising that same roof, and rebuilding the third story when business improved after the dust bowl days. by Bill llaughey by Charles M. and Lena C. Wheeler COAKLEY - SCHELL FAMILY Fr24 Pearl Coakley Schell was born in Sherwood, Iowa in 1885 and received her early education in the Omaha Public Schools where she later taught. Her first visit to Burlington was in 1905, returning in 1907 to file on a homestead eleven miles south of town. At that time it was permissible to work in town during the day and stay at the homestead at night. The only transportation was horseback or horse and buggy. One night when she arrived at her cabin after dark, steaded three miles southwest of Flagler and also worked in the Lavington store in Flagler. In May, 1910, she and Marvin Clement were married. She sold her homestead and moved when she was opening the door, she heard a strange noise. She quickly closed the door, went to a neighbor's home, returning with one her cattle to Thurman. After a few years of farming, Carrie was appointed postmistress of the Thurman post rattlesnake under the table on which the larnp was sitting. It was generally believed that when you found a snake there were two, but Pearl was brave and stayed alone that night and slept well. Pearl also worked in the Montezuma Hotel, which her mother had established in 1905, and in which Hank Schell later became a partner, and subsequently married Pearl. Pearl also operated the Racket Store in the north side of the Hotel building. This store office and Marvin was mail carrier from until the dirty thirties. She also served as listening to our father play the mouth harp, new frontier and came west. She home- Thurman to Arickaree, having the first motor driven route. He also carried the mail from Flagler to Thurman, first by team and wagon and again having the first motor driven route. The family moved in 1919 to Flagler, into the new houee built by John Collier and Fred Probasco, according to their design. Later, they becnme charter members of the Baptist Church. Three sons were born to this union, while living in the sod house Frank J., Charles M. and Harry C. After -moving to Flagler, a daughter, Lena C. was born. In L924, Marvin lost the mail route in the Baker of the Red Cross from World War I of the men, lit the oil lamp and saw a was similar to a variety store today where she carried many fine articles including china and linens, in which establishment Peggy Wilson was a partner. Pearl also taught school until she moved to Denver. The store was in operation until 1919. Pearl was co-chairman with Mrs. E.C. CODDY, GEORGE AND BERTHA Fl26 Sometime around the year 1906, three sisters and their brother and their families answered the call "Go west, young man, go west." They chose land 20 miles north of Flagler, Colorado. My mother and father were George and Bertha (Phipps) Coddry. The Robeys and the Hollenbecks and the Bert Phipps families moved to the area. My parents had lived in Shelby County, Missouri all of their lives. Mom's parents were William H. and Martha (Heckart) Phipps. The Heckarts had moved into Missouri as early as 1838 and William H. Phipps moved there in 1869, moving from New York state. The families rented a freight boxcar and brought their teams and what items they needed most of their new home. My Dad and one of the uncles rode in the boxcar from Shelby County, Missouri to Flagler to care for the animals. They proceeded to build their sod shanties, meager barn and then fenced their property. The first winter they were in Colorado, the weather was so cold they had to bring their tenm of horses into the sod house for protection. The Robys and Hollenbecks became discouraged and moved back to Missouri, and then later they moved to California. Uncle Bert Phipps moved his family into Flagler and he worked as a bridge contractor. My parents, the George Coddry's stayed out on the homestead on the prairie. They braved the hardships and trails ofthose early days and were too poor to think about moving anywhere. My sister came into the scene in March of �and in trying to figure out what was wrong, my Dad lit a match and looked in the gas tan. !!Boom!! What an explosion! For years my Dad was teaeed about that. The old Tin Lizzie was more stubborn than a Missouri mule. Once Dad broke hie arm trying to crank it. Sometimes we'd get the tenm of horses out : 'and tow it to get it gtartcd. I can still see my Dad coming over the hiU in his bobsled with a 4 ft. x 4 ft. box loaded with dried fruit, clothes and other supplies from our family in California, making our Christmas a delight. Each year at harvest time, the neighbors would get together to help each other harvest their wheat and barley. My job was to drive the tenm of horses to the header barge. The women would furnish a bountiful dinner of fried chicken and freeh produce from our gardesn. Even though we were poor those early memories of life on the prairie were t i 9r happy one. In the fall of 1933, we had a big gale, selling the homestead, livestock, farm machinery Modern school transportation as of 1925. Trusty "OId Colonel" is pulling a one-horse buggy. On t!" l.ft doing the driving is Kenneth Coddry, Middle - Lorene (Coddry) Goode, Teacher - Miss Ella (Robb) Hunizinger. The neighbor boy standing by is Roy Pratt. This was the first year the school was held in the new frade building, Mt. Pleasant school, district 14. Note: This is the same type buggy to which we attached a sail that was pushed by the wind as we scampered over the prairie. We finally quit and that was all for that school year. The next year, they had the ninth grade at Mount Pleasant and then I took the tenth grade at White Plains. Glenn Thompson, son of Aaron and Mnrnie Thompson, and joys of those early days on the prairie, I herders trailer. My sister and I rode to school by Kenneth Coddy I batched that year, living in an old sheep The Coddry Homestead, a two room sod house where I lived the first 18 years of my life and the trusty old windmill that supplied aII our water. We are cutting potatoes on the entrace to our ground vegetable cellar. L. to R. George Coddry, Lorene (Coddry) Goode, Olen Hollenbeck, Mildred Robey Nelson, and Kenneth Coddry age five yeare. Note: The Robey and Hollenbeck families had stayed over for a visit enroute from Missoud to California. The year was 1920. 1914 and I followed 18 months later. We lived in the 2 room sd house until I was 18 years of age. In the meantime my Mom'g father, William H. Phipps came and bought a farm, later belonging to Rube Sparks. My grand- father moved into Flagler and lived to be past ninety. My sister, Lorene and I, attended the Mount Pleasant School District 14 all eight grades, and in the ninth grade we attended the Shiloh School until a big blizzard struck and we could not get to school for six weeks. and household itemg. We were heading west. These were the years of the big dust bowl. In the spring we loaded our Model A Ford and headed to California and settled once again near the Robeys and Hollenbecks. I have been in California now for over 50 years but I left a part of me in eastern Colorado. My father and mother are both gone. My sister and husband live a couple of miles from us. We are all retired, getting the most from life as possible, traveling a little and getting back to Flagler about once every ten years. Although I remember the hardships and each day in a one horse buggy with trusty "Old Colonel" in the lead. Usually a whole flock of kids would hang on to the side of the buggy."Old Colonel" was quite an attraction at recess time and he was so patient when the kids climbed all over him. My early childhood memories are roo-ing the prairies, herding the cattle on the open range, and picking up wagon load after wagon load of cow chips. I have seen the time when we would run out of fuel and have to burn corn to keep warm. Our dogs would catch rabbits and we would skin and dress them, and then hang them on the fences until we went home from the fields at noon or evening. We'd have fried rabbit the next meal. In the spring, I remember how beautiful the green rolling hills were, spotted with blooming cactus and other wild flowers in shades of yellow, purple and white. My parents allowed me to roam the prairies. The only danger out there was the rattlesnakes. We would kill them with dirt clods, a hoe or anything handy. Life on the prairie was not all hard wouldn't trade the experiences for any amount of money. COLES - SCHLICHENMAYER FAMILY Fr26 Life began for me in Coldwater, Kansas on October tO, L947 with the assistance of my father, Doyle C. Coles. I war' named after my two grandfathers, Robert Tempel Coles and Charles L. England. I progressed through most of the aches and pains of childhood without major dnmage. Starting school in Vona, I was transferred to Wichita, Kansas in 1954 and returned to Stratton in 1959 and graduated there in 1965. Beginning college in 1965, I returned home the next summer and purchased a new to me 63 Chewolet Impala and soon found just the girl to go with it, a Bethune cheerleader and, my future bride, work. Taking advantage of the strong winds in East€rn Colorado, my sister and I would borrow old quilts from Mom which we used Linda Sue Schlichenmayer. which we paraded around the prairie. One of the highlights each day was seeing the mailman, Ray Thompson, coming over the hill from the east bringing the Flagler News and the Cappers Weekly. We went to town lington, Colorado on 21 June, 1950. Over the next few years Linda was to see the hospital in Burlington several times as a ruptured appendix and resulting complications kept Dr. R.C. Beethe busy with two surgeries and resulting care from age 10 through 12 years. A stormy off and on long distance coutship, while I continued at CSU and Linda attended Pikes Peak Institute of Medical Technology, finally resulted in our marriage to rig sails on an old one-seated buggy in once a week taking our small amount of cream and eggs with which we used to buy a few staples. Sometime around 1917 my dad bought his first car, a "Model T". (Our first Tin Lizzie). One time my dad ran out of gas Linda a native Coloradoan as were her parents, R.O. Schlichenmeyer and Anna (Weiss) Schlichenmayer was born in Bur- �went to work for Mountain Bell as a loop technician, where I am gtill working today. . by Robert Coles COLES, DOYLE AND FRANCEIS w * I t .,rl Robert and Linda Coles with Megan and Meriah, July 1985. on 14 June 1969. Linda immediately went to work financing my last year and a half of schooling to my graduation with a B.S. in Education from Colorado State University in 1970. New jobs, with me teaching school, and Linda working as a medical secretan5/, resulted in our moving to Cheyenne Wells, CO. for the next two years. After two years of teaching, itchy feet led me to join the Army in 19?2. The pay was better and there sure were lots of travel opportunities. My first stop was Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, followed by Ft. Bliss, Texas for radar school, where Linda joined me for 1 year. My next step wae a big one to Wacherheim, Germany where Linda again joined me after a separation. This was a memorable trip for Linda traveling alone, on Ft27 Doyle Coles and I, Franceis Bngland grew up in Comanche County in Kansas. We both attended rural schools then attended Coldwater High School where we met. I went on to college, at Kansas State in Manhattan while Doyle went into the Army service. For three years, he moved from Ft. Riley, Kansas to Fort Leonard Wood. Missouri and later to San Luis Obispo, California. Finally in San Luis Obispo, Doyle was told that we would set out the nrar as a drill sergeant so we decided to get married. We were married in the Methodist Church in San Luis Obispo on September 5, 1943. Three weeks later Doyle was in Hawaii and from there on to the New Guinea area. I went back home and worked at Boeing Aircraft in Wichita in the Personnel Department. Later I moved back home to be with my dad and help him on the farm. Doyle came through the war years with only a broken finger. He received the Bronze Star as a Scout in the first wave of troops to return to Luzon in the Phillipines. He arrived back in the United States on September 21, 1945 and was discharged in Denver. We next made our home in Coldwater where Doyle was a Standard Oil Bulk agent and I worked one year as high school secretary. Doyle also worked for his brother as bulk agent inButtermilk, Kansas. Rob, our oldest son was born October 10, 1947 in Ashland, Kansas. My dad, Charles England bought the former Tony Kordes farm west of Stratton in the fall of 1950 and wanted Doyle and I to her first plane flight, while pregnant to a strange country to live in civilian quarters giving a lot of new eye openers. Along with traveling extensively in Germany and surrounding countries, Germany was memorable for the birth of our first daughter, Meriah Danielle Coles at Wiesbaden Air Force Hospital on 9 July, 1974. l.J.tr'r 2-Yz years a desire for change led us to a reinlistment and a change ofjob to L.P.N. The trip home was memorable for 3 reagons: first, a 15 month old daughter who didn't sleep in 18 hours, a Coors beer and McDonalds hamburger, the first in two years, and a blizzard that isolat€d us for 4 days the same night we got home. Our next stop was Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texae followed by another year at Ft. Bliss. Another big change came when we were reassigned to Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey and our eecond daughter, Megan Kathleen, was born at West Long Branch, New Jersey. In 1979 we felt it was time for the kids to grow up in a gmall town go it was out of the Army and back to Stratton for a new job at Co-op. Building a house and new jobs for Linda, first aB secretary and later as Director of CECAA followed by ad salesman and typist at the Stratton Spotlight occupied the next few years. I also changed jobs again and Doyle and Franceis Coles and Sons, JD and Robert. come with him. Jeffrey Doyle (J.D.) was born October 5, 1951 in the Burlington hospital, making our family complete. Bad weather and poor crops forced us to leave the farm and move back to Wichita in 1954. Doyle and I both worked for Boeing aircraft on different shifts. After four years Doyle quit and went to Barber School graduating in April 1959. He worked in the Indian Hills Barber Shop in Wichita. We were homesick for the farm and Dad wanted us to come back so we returned to Stratton in June of 1959. Doyle started working as the American Legion manager in 1960. I started teaching 3rd and 4th grade at Vona, Colorado in 1961, where I continued for the next four years. I went back to Ft. Hays in 1965 receiving my B.S. Degree in Education in 1966. Rob started to college at Ft. Collins in the fall of 1965. We were both in college at the seme time. J.D. stayed home with Doyle. I staded teaching at Stratton in the fall of 1966. Doyle, who had been working for the county road crew, took over as foreman in July, 1966. I retired in the spring of 1986 after 20 years of teaching at Stratton, then went back for 1/z year in 1987. Doyle retired from the county road crew in June of 1987. by Franceis Coles COLLIER, JOHN AND AGNES Fl28 My parents, John and Agnes Collier, cnme from Iowa in 1908 and took a homestead 18 miles from Flagler, Colo. Dad cane in January and Mother and I came in March. Dad built a fre-e building in which we lived until the 3-room sod house was built later that year. My father and uncle, Elmer King, came in a railroad car with a team of horses, a cow, chickens and pigs, as well as �furniture for each family. All the farm buildings were made of sod. After arriving here, Mother and I spent the night in the hotel, then owned by W.W. CONARTY, WALT Walt Conarty was born in Norton, Kansas, Aug. 10, 1878 to Patrick Conarty and Marga- Reynolds. Dad came for us the next day in the wagon. It was a nice warm day. I remember thinking how nice it was, ae it had been storming when we left Iowa. After the crops were in, my father cnme to Flagler to do carpenter work. After a very bad hail, he shingled the schoolhouse (now an apartment house) and the Madole house (now owned by John Herzog). He also built ret Waltprs Conarty, the sixth of eight children. At age 24 he was married to Ina Kinzer and started farming south of Norton. After six years of drought and disappointment, Walt and hie brother-in-law, Milton Kinzer, cnme to Colorado to claim a farm. It was March, 1908, when they brought two covered wagong, two 4 horse tenms, and 2 milk cows about 200 miles and started working on their claims. Walt had a heavy tent 15 feet long. They pitched the tent and anchored it so no creeping animals could get in. They put bales of hay down through the center forming 2 rooms. Milton put his bed, dresser, and chairs and an oil stove on the west side. Walt had a bed, table and chairs, the house on Main Street now owned by Russell Goodin. In 1909, my sister, Garland Lucille was born and in 1911, my brother, Paul J. In the early years, maybe 1909 or 1910, the neighbors went together and built the first sod school house in that neighborhood. It was called Ash Grove. It was located about L/2 mile north of the Shiloh School. It was used as a church and general meeting place. My first teacher was Claire Williams. a brother of Ivy Stevens and Viola Willia-s. The second was Dora Wolverton and then Daisy Hewett, who always came to school riding a horse, using a side saddle. There were many other teachers later. In 1911, my folks moved back to Iowa and in 1916, we c'me back and lived in Flagler. My father built the house which Glenn Saffer now owns as well as the one owned by Don Moss. The new brick school had just been built and we were so proud of it! yard southwest ofSeibert in 1921 leaving for farm sale where he would be the auctioneer. L922 on the homegtead. which is now owned by Ted Wickham. In 1926, my parents moved from the farm and builtthe place in town now her brother, Milton Kinzer, loaded up their furniture in two covered wagons and drove 200 miles to Seibert, Colorado, then 13 miles They lived there until their deaths. In southwest of Seibert, where they had staked their claims. The men came to Colorado in March 1908. They sent for their wives and My father built up the farm buildings in owned by Clair and Agnes Loutzenhiser. February of 1948, my folks celebrated their 5fth wedding anniversary. In October of 1948, my father passed away. He was buried in Sterling where he had worked for some time. Mother passed away in 1969 and was also buried at Sterling. My father and Ho-er Shaw did a lot of building in Flagler through the years. Dad always said something always called him back to Colorado. He loved this country. CONARTY, IDA an oil stove with a separate oven, and a large woven rag carpet for the floor. They each had dishes, skillet, etc. They had bought groceries Mr. and Mrs. Walt Conarty in their farmhouse in Colorado. With a wife and three children he thought he might do better on his own land. Ina was a good helpmate and never complained when times were hard. She took her three children and moved into Norton withWalt's sister, Ada Smith, while Walt and children in May. The two women, Ina Conarty, with three children and Bess Kinzer with two children came on the train and they brought the cattle and chickens in other cars. They were happy to have their families together and didn't mind living in a tent until the frost was out of the ground so sod could be plowed to build sod houses. Milton and Bess went back to Kansas but Walt and Ina worked hard to make their by Velma Taggart Ft29 Ina Kinzer was born to John Henry Kinzer and Laura Taylor Kinzer, March 4, 1884, in Scandia, Kansas. Her father was a Civil War veteran. He helped build the Rock Island railroad from Phillipsburg, Kansas to River- bend, Colorado. Ina was married to Walt Conarty when she was eighteen years old. His first gift to her was a New Home treadle sewing machine. She sewed all of her clothes and clotheg for her children, too. They were married March 23. L902 and their frrst child was born, a girl, Irma, March l4th, 1903. They rented a farm south of Norton, Kansas, and when Irma was 18 months old a boy was born but he died soon after. Times were hard and women had midwives instead of a doctor. Their next child, born in 1906, was a girl, Opal. Then in January 5th, 1908, they had a boy, Tom. Since crops were poor, Walt filed a claim F130 home like they wanted it. There was no school and Ina kept talking about it until Walt and other neighbor men built a sod school house two miles west and they hired a teacher in 1911. Later three school districts consolidated and built Second Central in 1915. Ina was a loving mother and a good neighbor. She raised 8 children along with her husband, Walt. It seemed she got very crippled with arthritis and she could not do things like she used to but she never complained. Then, in 1940, Walt died suddenly with a heart attack. She was lonely and missed him very much but she lived with her children. Her hands beca-e so twisted that she could not turn a door knob or tie a shoe. She could always see that someone was in worse shape than she was and went about cheering others. She lived 25 years after Walt died and was missed by her children, grand- children and friends. She died October 31, 1965. by Opal Joy in Seibert, Colorado, enough to last for several weeks as they were located ten miles south and three west of town. They were camped on a draw on the south part of Walt's claim and hand dug a shallow well so they could water their animals. Milton made a trip to town to get fence posts and barbed wire so they could fence in their animals and keep stray animals out. By May they sent for their wives, Ina Conarty and Irma 5, Opal 2, and Tom 3 months; Bess Kinzer and Laura 4, and Everett 5 months. The women and children came on the train and also there was a car with cattle and one with chickens. They left the women and children in town with a kind lady, Mrs. Jones. She ran a restaurant in her large frame house and she was glad to accommodate them and they helped her. The men drove the cattle out to the claim but left the chickens at the livery stable until they could fix a crude hen house. The next trip to town was made to get the women and children. The ground had thawed now so they could break sod. They put up a 3 room sod house on Milton's place first. Walt insist€d that he wanted the well drillers to come first and get him a good well. Then he'd know where to put his house. Also they could now plant corn and feed. It was a hard struggle the first year. Then Milton Kinzers moved back to Kansas. Walt helped build the first school house three miles west of his farm. He served on the school board several years. He was instrumental in getting 3 school districts to consolidate in 1915 and build a large frame 3 teacher school, Second Central. He was a good farmer and had good crops when neighbors didn't. He and Ina raised eight children. His farm income never seemed to be enough, so he worked as overseer, building county roads and went to auction school and became a successful auctioneer. His two eldest daughters, Irma and Opal, went to Flagler High School by working for their board or batching in town. He said that he had only an 8th grade education so he wanted all eight of his children to finish high school; so he rented the farm to a family and moved a mile east of Flagler so the children could live at home and go to school. Then several politicians coaxed him to run for county sheriff. Ina was opposed to this because it was during prohibition time and �they wanted him to catch the bootleggers. The election was a landslide and the fanily had to move to Burlington during the middle of the school term with four children still in school. Walt worked hard catching the bootleggers, but when they came to trial the jury would let them go. Also there was a murder while he was in office. Walt caught and convicted the guilty one, but the people complained about the expense of the trial and defeated him on the second term. His farm was still rented, so he rented a farm north of Burlington until the lease was up. The crash came at this time and the Burlington bank closed its doors and Walt, like many others, lost all they had. So he moved back to his farm with the youngest daughter still in high school. She was able to stay with her eldest sister, Irma Rowden, and finish school. Walt's health was broken and his second son, Edward, did most of the farming but he insisted on working hard, too. His second daughter, Opal Murphy, was divorced and needed to go to college to finish her college degree. Her two daughters stayed with their grandparenk, and their mother went to college summers and taught winters to supplement their income. In the summer of 1940, Opal was to graduate on August 8, 1940. She begged her parents to come to her graduation in Greeley. Harvest was late in July and Walt insist€d on helping out at the field. Then just as harvest was over on July 20, L940, Walt Conarty dropped dead with a heart attack. by Opal Joy CONGER, JOHN THOMAS FAMILY FrSr 1889; Lee Roy Dec. 27, L892; Harley March 30, 1897; Elvin Feb. L2, L902; Everett Merle March 19, 1904. John T. was a carpenter and mason, having completed his apprentice training as a young man in Iowa. Viola's father, John Burtlow was an army scout in the 1860's at Fort Wallace, Ks. and Fort Laramie, Wyo. He was known for his hair raising and wonderful stories ofthe west upon his return to Iowa. This may have been what influenced John T. to come to Colorado. In 1898, John T. cnme to Landsman, near the Republican River to work for the summer, returning to Iowa for the winter. He did this for several years. In 1906 he filed for a homestead and brought his family, including his mother Mahala, to Colorado. They traveled by wagon driving a few head of stock, samping at night in a tent. Their trip took about six weeks and it was autumn when they arrived. Feeling it was too late in the year to build a soddy house, they dug a dugout using the tent for a covering to make a roof for the winter. Grandmother Mahala died in 1907. John T. made her casket and Viola and good neighbors lined it with padding and cloth. John T. harnessed the horses and drove to the Kirk Cemeterywhere Mahalawas laid to rest. In the years to follow John T. and his sons farmed and built houses and barns for the homesteaders and ranchers, mostly on the Republican River. The following w{ls taken from John's journal telling about some of the places he built: A house for Garfield Scherer Stone barn for Jacob Scherrer Dipping tank on Harry Cox Ranch Stone house for John Evans Stone chicken house for Fred Bitman Stone house for Mace's Built house for Rosser Davis for $50.00 and six hogs. The Conger boys were coming of age, marrying and establishing homes of their own. Alfred Conger married Jessie Harmon, Horace manied Maude Andrews, and John married Reva Andrews. John T. moved to another farm. south of the Pugh ranch, where they lived out their remaining years. The John Conger Fn-ily portrait just before corning to Colorado in 1907. Back row: Horace, John Jr., and AUred. Front row: LeRoy, Viola, Evertt, John T. and Harley. John Thomas Conger was born in Keokuk Co., Iowa on October 5, 1861. He was descended from John Conger who was born in Brooke, England in 1640; he was also descended from Robert and Ann Fuller ofthe Mayflower pilgrims. Robert Fuller was a signer of the Mayflower Compact and was the brother of the ship's doctor, Samuel Fuller. John T. Conger was married March 8, 1885 in Butler, Iowa to Laura Viola Burtlow. To this union were born eleven children: Laura Isabel Nov. 2, 1885; Alfred Allen Jan. 21, 1888; John Thomas, Jr. Oct. 4, 1891; Amos Feb. 6, 1895; Alvin Feb. 12, 1902; Martha Ellen Dec. 14, 1886; Horace Gilbert Nov. 11, Harley Conger was in the army from 1917 to 1919 and eerved with the Expeditionary Forces in France. In 1920 Viola was badly burned in a tragic accident and passed away on August 25th; she was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Burlington. In 1921 John T. died of cancer and was also buried in Fairview. Harley and Merle left the farm after the death of their parents working around the county at carpentry and farming. In L922 Harley built a barn and did other carpentry jobs near Hoxie and Quinter, Kan. It was here that Harley met Pansy Belle Bailey and after dating for a year, they were married Aug. 5, 1923 at Hoxie, Kan. To this union were born two sons, Milton (Pete) Oct. L, L924 and Harley Jr. Dec. 4, 1935. Harley and family moved back to Burlington in 193L and he worked as foreman for the Orin Penny ranch until 1935. He spent most of his life as a contractor and builder. In 1940 he supervised the building of the gymnasium at what is now the grade school. Harley was an active member of the American Legion and the Masonic Lodge. Everett was married to Cherald Bailey, sister of Pansy, at Pueblo, Colo. on Aug. 26, 1927; they were parents ofa son, Richard, and a daughter Laura Belle. Merle was a professional army man starting his career with Co. T in Burlington. He passed away April 16, 1980 and is survived by his wife Mae. After the death of Pansy in 1939, Harley married Helene (Reteuke) Taylor, March 9, 1940; also joining the family were Helene's two daughters, Shirley Ann, and Carole Helene. Helene worked many years as a practical nurse at the Kit Carson Co. hospital. Later she worked for the Department of Social Services, retiring in 1984. Harley died of heart failure on Jan. l, L974 at his home in Burlington. by Milton (Pete) Conger COOK, GEORGE Fl32 The George Cook and Clifford (Cliff)E. Reavis family moved from Smith County, Kansas to Flagler, Colorado, the 16th of April, 1916. The Cook family numbered twelve, George and Nora Cook with their ten children. The children were Vernon, Lois, Vinnetta, Ruby, Christine, Howard, Marvin, Forest, and Arroll. The oldest daughter, Estella, was married to Clifford Reavis. It was a long journey for the two families. The Reavis family consisted of Clifford and "Stella", with three small children, Verland, Bernadine, and 6-month old Maxine. One mode of travel was a Model T Ford touring car. The Reavis family, plus Arroll Cook, who was a mighty little tyke, rode in the car. The rest of the Cook family drove through in a covered wagon, except for Vernon, the oldest boy, who rode in a train with the livestock. The Cooks moved onto a farm northwest of Flagler known as the "Officer Place". Clifford and Stella Reavis went into the restaurant business located on the main street of Flagler. Vinnetta Cook worked for them in the restaurant. Vern joined the Army and served in World War I. He came home early in 1919. Soon after returning home, he married Bernice Garett, who was a sister of Fred Garrett, Flagler, and Bertha Stewart of Seibert. They lived on a farm northwest of Flagler and had one son, Donald. Vern was one of the first to have an Atwater Kent Radio. For the marital status of the rest of the Cook family; Lois married Dana Strohmeyer. They had one girl and 4 boys. Vinnetta married Orlo Searcy, and they had 3 girls. Ruby married Leslie Miner, and had no children, and Christine married Clyde Bigelow, and they had 5 girls and one boy who died. Dana Strohmeyer, Orlo Searcy, and Clyde Bigelow were all residents of the Flagler area. Howard married Margaret Marsh of Missouri, and they had 2 boys and one girl. Marvin married Goldie Peyton of Idaho, having 3 boys and one girl. Marvin married Mary from Goodland, Kansas, after Goldie died. They had one boy. Forest married Geneva Hamilton of the Second Central area, and had 2 girls. Arroll married Doris Woodring of Goodland, Kansas and they had one girl. Those deceased as of January, 1986, are �Est€lla Reavis, Ruby and Leslie Miner, terminal building; rebuilt, resurfaced and Goldie Cook, Forest Cook, Orlo Searcy, Dana Strohmeyer, Clifford Reavis, and Donald refenced the ramp. "Built a new police building, sixty thousand dollars; bought a street sweeper, fourteen thousand dollars; and an eleven thousand dollar garbage packer truck. Meantime payrng off bonds reducing taxes. - and accounting system, au"How? A modern thorized purchase orders, separate accounts Cook. The living Cook children and their spouses keep in close touch with each other, even though they live miles apart. Vern and Bernice live in Agra, Kansas; Lois Strohmeyer lives in Stayton, Oregon; Vinnetta Searcy lived in Englewood, Colorado, until recently, when she moved to Valley Center, Kansas; Christine and Clyde Beigelow live in Falcon, Colorado; Howard and Margaret Cook live in Kansas City, Kansas; Marvin and Mary Cook live in Kirkland, Washington; and Arroll and Doris Cook live in Denver, Colorado. In 1920, the Cook family moved to a farm northwest of Arriba, Colorado, and then in 1925 moved to a farm one-half mile south of Second Central School, which was located southeast of Flagler. Here they resided until 1936. George Cook died in 1936. for separate departments, investing idle money. In other wordg 'Good Housekeepingt.tt This is a salute to an excellent woman and in hopes of inspiring capable women to fill public office, Willa Wales Corbitt is showing the way. by Dessie Cassity CORLISS - GRAMM FAMILY by Arroll L. Cook CORBITT, WILLA WALES F133 In 1909 and 1910 Mr. Bert Corliss and Mr. John Pugh, two of the directors of the Tuttle School (we are unable to get the n'me of the other member) hired a Miss Willa Wales to teach their school. Mrs. Mable Guy, who has kept in touch with her and who was in the eleventh grade at that time, had the following sent to her from a clipping of a Wyoming paper, written by Paul Hawey: "Willa Wales Corbitt is a widow with two sons." I don't know what they were thinking of back in 1955 when they asked her to run for mayor of Riverton, Wyoming. She had accumulated a measure of distinc- tion in educational circles, had her Master's degree from Wyoming University, and had been active in community, county, and state affairs. She took it seriously, their proposal for her to run for mayor. "Riverton had stagnated, civic pride was at a standstill. Downtown streets were still dirt; muddy when it rained, and dusty when it didn't. "First thing Mayor Corbitt did was to pave the streets. Next, with a town council, which at first watched in awe, and at last cooperated with enthusiasm, Riverton institut€d five paving districts. Copper water-service lines were laid underground. As soon as the frost was out of the ground, new sewer lines were laid. High-powered gas and phone lines moved. "Willa Wales Corbitt has now been elected to four congecutive terms. Most every street in Riverton has curb, gutter, storm drainage, and asphalt surfacing. "This was a big undertaking for a town of seven thousand people, but it was all done without five cents of 'Government money'. The projects were financed by a sale ofbonds, and already, within five years, 74.9 percent of those bonds have been repaid. "They purchased two hundred and forty acres for ten thousand dollars for a new city park; built a fiireproof maintenance shop and yard; remodeled and enlarged the airport Fl34 Esther Gro-m Corliss was born on September 26, L932 on the home place north of Bethune, Colorado to Gottlieb and Lydia (Stutz) Gramm. She was the youngest of five children and has three brothers and one sister. Esther attended the Prairie View and Bethune Schools. After she quit school she helped on the family farm and helped other families with household work when the need arose. Just before her maniage she worked as a clerk at the Duckwall Store in Burlington, Colorado. Mervin Corliss was born on April 7, L929 to Sherman and Grace (Messing) Corliss at Hebron, Nebraska. He has four brothers and five sisters numbering ten children in the family. When Mervin was five years old the family moved to Colorado to the Corliss Ranch northwest of Burlington, Colorado along the Republican River. He attended the Tuttle and Kirk schools. Mervin served his during the Korean war from February 29, 1951 to December 28, L952. He was stationed in Korea during the war. After his discharge he returned to the family farm and helped his father with the farming and cattle operation. Mervin and Esther were both members of the Settlement 4-H Club and have served as leaders when their children were in 4-H. Mervin along with his brothers enjoyed rodeoing at home and at the county fairs. Mervin also participated in the 4-H Rodeo at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo. Mervin and Esther were married at the Hope Congregational Church north of Bethune on March 7 , 1954. Mervin had attended the Four Square Church at Kirk, Colorado and joined the Hope Congregational Church where Esther was a member after their marriage. They are both active members in their church. Esther and Mervin have made their home on the Corliss Ranch and are residing there presently. Mervin and Esther were blessed with two children, Verlin and Nadine. Verlin was born in Burlington, Colorado on August 3, 1955. He attended the Bethune school and graduated with the class of 1973. On December 14. 1984 he was manied to Rhonda Davis of Thornton, Colorado. At that time she was teaching at Liberty School, Joes, Colorado. They have two children, Krista and Stephan- ie. They are also living on the Corliss Ranch and Verlin is working with his father in their farming and livestock operation. Esther drove the school bus for nine years from 1969 thru 1978 while her children attended school. This was a very interesting experience and she drove through good and bad roads and weather. Nadine was born on Februar5r 15, 1958 in Burlington, Colorado and attended Bethune school and graduated with the class of 1976. She graduated from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley, Colorado in 1980, majoring in Home Economics. She spent her first three years teaching in Benkelman, Nebraska then moved to Joes, Colorado to teach at Liberty school. In July, 1987, she graduated with her Masters Degree in counseling and guidance from Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. Both Verlin and Nadine were active in 4-H work receiving many honors for their projects over the years. They were also active in the youth fellowship of the Hope United Church of Christ where they are members. Growing up on the farm meant you had to make your own entertainment and also you helped with the work even if you were too small for the job. We thought we were really something if we could help with special jobs and, of course, there were a lot of things we could do in spite of age and size. I remember farming with horses, especially picking corn. Dad was picking corn and I was helping being the age of 12 years. The horses took off, I climbed on the wagon and got one leg in the box and the other one still out. I thought I could grab the reins and stop the horses. I finally gave up and jumped off and the horses, Barney and Hank, ran next to a bank and upset the wagon full of corn. That stopped the horses! I will never forget that event. Sunday afternoons usually brought company and, of course, we kids always found something to do. The great excitement that one Sunday was that dad got a new tractor. Of course we kids had to have a look. It was a new "Farmall" tractor and he had it parked in the garage. We, Esther and Gladys Grarnm, were sitting on the rubber tires. (Our dads were playing horseshoes.) Raymond wag pretending to drive and Richard Grn-m wae going to try and see if he could st€rt it. He oanked it and it start€d! Off it went, pushing the wall out of the garage and did stop, somehow, before anyone got hurt. My how thankful we all were that no one was hurt. not even the new tractor! by Esther Gramm Corliss CORLISS - IIASART FAMILY Fl36 Lowell Wayne Corliss was the firrst son of Sherman and Grace Corliss born in Hebron, Nebraska, on May 22,1926. As a child Lowell and his family moved to Colorado and lived along the Republican River on the A.N. Corliss homestead. He started his school years at Hebron attending the first grade there and after moving to Colorado he attended north Tuttle school and after the flood finished the 8th grade at T\rttle school �south of the river. Lowell drove a horse and buggy to and from school bringing his sister, Betty, and brothers Lyal and Mervin with him. "How quick can we get there?' Lowell would ask. Betty would just squeeze Mervin a little tighter and say, "Now Lowell, slow down!!!". The 1935 flood was full of lasting memories for a small boy. The water just missed coming into the basement of their home but Lowell's mother fixed the upper story so that they could stay up there until the waters were going down. They were surrounded with water for 3 or 4 days and Lowell remembers that they really felt isolated as they could not go outdoors due to that water. Lowell attended Kirk High School for Llh years driving a model A Ford. He began working for Mark Jay, Harvey Wood, Jerry Guy and A.W. Adolf after he left school. Lowell and Virginia Corligs at Corliss Centenial, September 7,198? Lowell joined the Colorado National Guard. Lowell Corliss and Virginia Hasart, daughter of Jake and Nettie Hasart were married on November 6, 1949, in Immanuel Lutheran Church north of Bethune. Virginia was born in her grandmother Adolfs home north of Bethune on January 24, L932. She attended Union School riding with her brother, Jim, on his horse Tippy and later riding "Nellie". Every day she would ride her horse the three miles to and from school making for some memorable times. The horse has some bad habits and when Jake would see Virginia turn the corner he would head for the water tank, the horse Colorado and Kit Carson County Hereford Tour at Corliss Hereford Ranch, 1981. would stop with a jerk and there would be Virginia in the water tank if Jake wasn't there to catch the horse. After attending Union school for eight years she went to Stratton High School for three years. In 1948 Virginia was Kit Carson County Queen Attendant. Lowell and Virginia started their manied life together on the HommRanch where Lowell was employed in 1949. tn 1950 they moved to their ranch northeast of Stratton. With their first child due in the spring of 1951, consider the problems of going to the hospital in Goodland, Kansas. It's now May 21, 1951. "Lowell it's time, the babys on it's way!", Virginia stated and off they go in Jake's Buick, mudding it into Stratton and then on the highway to Goodland most likely erceeding the speed limit. Every thing was going fine until they pulled up at the hospital and who would be behind them but a policeman. "Why were you going so fast?" Lowell, a little anxious, "my wife's having a baby"? The policeman replied "well okay, but don't let it happen again". The two additions of the family were Vickie Marie born on May 21, 1951 and Russell Lowell born on October 10, 1958. Family activities were very important, so 4-H and the Stratton Roping Club found the Corliss'really involved. Lowell helped from the Little Britches Rodeo Association in Kit Carson County, ofwhich he was a director for 23 years. Virginia and Lowell were both 4-H leaders with Virginia sewing 15 years and Lowell serving 27 yean. Lowell was also Superintendent of the Beef Barn at the Kit Carson County Fair. In the early 1950's Lowell was the lineman for the Northeast Stratton Telephone Company and also helped wire houses when the REA came to the area. Registered Hereford cattle have been a part of their lives since 1963 when Lowell purchased his first registered Hereford cattle starting small and growing with the cattle industry. Corliss Herefords have shown cattle at the Kit Carson County Fair, other local fairs, the Colorado State Fair, and the National Western Stock Show in Denver. Lowell is a life member of the American National Hereford Association and the Kit Carson County Hereford Association. The Corliss ranch hosted the Colorado Hereford Tour in 1971 and 1981. Four registered Hereford bulls were selected by the Hungarian Government from the Corliss Hereford Ranch in 1973. These were chosen by the Hungarian delegation who selected 35 buls from ranches in Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. These animals were taken to Denver loaded in trucks for shipping to Chicago where they were placed aboard airplanes and flown to Hungary. TRUC :Ol mry/4 There is still a major interegt in the National CCA, Colorado CCA, Kit Carson County Cattleman's Association and the Kit Carson County Cowbells. Lowell has been an active member of KCCCA for 38 years serving as a director for a nu-ber ofyears and as Becretary for five years. Virginia has been serving as president for the past 8 years and is still serving in that capacity. Lowell was elected to the Stratton Fire District Board and served as Treasurer. Virginia has been employed at Dishner's Grocery in Stratton since 1977. One of the most exciting events was helping with the Colorado Cattleman'e Convention when it was held in Burlington in 1986. Lowell wae in charge of the Ranch Roundup and they hosted the Pre-convention Steak Fry at their ranch. Lowell has collected many bits and spurs Colorado Hereford breeders (from left) Morris Richardson of Simla, Don Norgren of Platteville, BiIl Diehl of Can, Lowell Corliss of Stratton, Harold Sidwel of Carr and Ruesell Corliss watch as a Hungarianpurehased shipment of Colorado Herefords were loaded preparing to leave for Chicago. and has an extensive barbed wire collection. Lately he has been learning the art of flint knapping (arrow head making). Virginia enjoys crewel work and sewing and in the summer you will find her driving the tractor and working in her yard. �Now that their children are grown and started families of their own, Lowell and Virginia enjoy special times with their grandchildren, Peggy Sue and Mathew Allan Schlepp. Vickie graduated from Stratton High School and completed the Data Processing course at Northwest Kansas area Vocational-Technological School in Goodland, Kansas in May of 1970. On June 13, 1970 Vickie married Clinton Schlepp and are living on their ranch northeast of Idalia, CO. Russell graduated from Stratton High School in 1977 and married Susan Korbelik on July 18, 1980. Russell is now ranching and living on the home place. The family tradition is "the coffee pot is always on and a neighbor's always welcome." by Virginia Corlies CORLISS - KORBELIK FAMILY Fr36 said, "Hang on to your jeans Russ!" That's all it took, he went three days in the hospital with his jeans on! The Corligs fanily enjoyed family events which Russell and Vickie both participated ice cream. Russell's other two main interests were wrestling and 4-H. 4-H was a year long job, getting ready for the next year's fair. The family raised Registered Herefords, so the beef projects were Russell's favorites. In 1974, Russell had the Grand Qftnvnpion Market Steer at the Kit Carson County Fair. National Western Stock Show was a big time to show cattle and his senior year he participated in the Catch-It-Calf, where he received Top Showman honors. 4-H had other important effects on Russell and Susan. They met at a judging contest in Sterling, Russell on the livestock tenm and Susan on the home-ec teem. Kit Carson County Fair Superintendent of Catch-It-Calf, which he also works with the Kit Carson County Cattlemen's Association who sponsor the Catch-It-Calf program. Susan is the fair superintendent of the Fashion Revue, one of her favorites! She is also the Recording Secretary of the Kit Carson County Cattlemen's Association. When Russell and Susan were married in 1980, they got a taste of the worst. Ten days born in Burlington. They were united in marriage on July 18, 1980, in the St. Cath- erine of Siena Catholic Church in Burlington. Russell Lowell Corliss is the son of Lowell and Virginia Corliss. He grew up northeast of Stratton. One of his earliest memories was his "large mosquito bit€". Russell had been playing down by the old silo (this was not allowed) when he was bit by a rattlesnake. At the age of four, he didn't want to get in trouble for being at the silo - so he didn't say anything! At noon, his sister, Vickie, was showing her dad her mosquito bites. Russell said, "That's nothing, look at the big one on my foot." Lowell and Virginia knew it was a snake bite, so in to the hospital they went. Luckily Russell didn't receive a full bite (or dose of venom). Then it became a game; Russell didn't want to take off his jeans - the nurses tried every trick. One evening Dr. Ross :i:ll:l,r: night long and then devour a half gallon of Russell is a director of Little Britches and the Russell and Susan Corliss are lifetime Fr37 rope! Even at the card parties, they'd rope all Little Britches and 4-H gave so much to Russell and Susan, they are giving now. residents of Kit Carson County, both being AND LTLLTAN in. Little Britches, the Stratton Family Roping Club, and the community card parties. Russell and Tony Paintin - born to Susan Marie is the daughter of Hawey and Connie Korbelik. She grew up southeast of Burlington. The Korbelik fanily also took great int€rest in family type activities. Susan was very active in school and 4-H. Being in Pom-Pon was really exciting to Susan; school spirit was always really important to her. The thrill of being selected FFA Sweetheart will always be with her, too. 4-H offered so many opportunities, like the trip to Washington, D.C. with the Citizenship Shortcourse . . . the pride that came to heart just to be in the nation's capitol but also from Colorado! Russell and Susan Corliss'Fifth Anniversary, 1985. CORLISS, ALBERT after their wedding, Susan was admitted to the Kit Carson County Memorial Hospital Mr. and Mrs. A.N. Corliss The family records show that George Corliss, the founder of our family in America, was born in Devonshire, England and came to this country in 1639 and settled that year at Newbury, Massachusetts. In 1864 Albert Nathan Corliss was born at St. Albens, Vermont, to Martin Joseph and Paulina Skinner Corliss. In 1887 at the age of 23 Albert N. Corliss c'me on a train to Wray, Colorado. He worked on the Bar T Ranch near the Republican river in Kit Carson County, where Burt Ragen was the foreman. Soon after, he took a homestead north of the Yale Post Office, around 12 miles northwest of Burlington. Here he met Lillian May Yale, who he later manied on June 26, L892. Sherman Henry and Sarah D. Bevier Yale came to Kit Carson County in the early 1880's with 104 degree temperature. The next two weeks were touch and go for awhile, even a trip on Flight for Life to St. Anthony's in Denver. It was finally diagnosed as Toxic Shock Syndrome. It's not a time Russell or from Illinois in a covered wagon and settled on a homestead about 12 miles northwest of Susan would want to relive again, but with a strong faith and love for each other they both Post Offices north of Yale. He used a 2 wheel cart and an old white horse. Sarah Yale was the postmistress, also a midwife. She delivered many babies in the area which is known survived. The remaining six years are full of many happy memories. They are both active in the church activities and Susan has taught the First Communion class for seven years, with each class being "her kids"! They are both looking forward to what their future will bring especially in Kit Carson County, each as a 4th generation member of their respective families. by Susan Corliss Burlington. Here the Yale Post Office was established. Sherman Yale was the mail carrier from Burlington to Yale and other as the German Settlement. Lillian May Yale was born May 17, 1876 in Knox County, Illinois. Albert and Lillian Corliss lived on the homestead north of the Yale Post Office for a few years. Their home was a dugout and later a room was built on top. Here Luella Yale Corliss was born December 29, L894. After a few years, Albert relinquished this homest€ad to John Schlichenmayer and took another homestead on the Republican river in 1895 around 27 miles northwest of Burlington, the address being Tuttle, Colorado. Albert Corliss, also known as A.N. Corliss, was Kit Carson County assessor in 1898. He �driven through the rubber. It was known as the Stratton Telephone Company. Lillian Corliss was the switchboard operator, with the switchboard in the southeast corner ofthe living room in the cement house. The Corliss ring was four short rings. Albert N. Corliss had forty shares at $5.00 a share. Sherman still had this contract from the telephone company. In 1908 A.N. Corliss received a sugar beet growers contract to plant 50 acres of sugar beets in order to get a railroad formed along the Republican river. There wasn't enough interest so it never took place. Ifthe railroad had been built they would have been paid $5.00 a ton for sugar beets. Sherman has this beet growers contract in his files. One of the happenings that Sherman recalls is about his older brother Joe. It was the first fall snow storm around 1910 when there was free range for cattle. Joe and his dad (Albert) went to look for cattle in the later afternoon. Dad told Joe to go home as it was getting cold and late. They were about four miles from home at this time. Joe started out going over the hills and somehow got going in the wrong direction. When Dad got home and Joe was not there, Dad went back to look for him and notified the neighbors Early day picnic, year 1900, at the Cor Ranch, now the McArthur Ranch. Mr. and Mrs. A.N. Corliss far left Holding Sherman. Some of the others are Will Richards, Mr. and Mrs. E.G. Davis, Martin Joe Corliss (old man with beard), Bill Richards holding son, Luella and Joe Corliss setting on the ground. moved his family to Burlington at this time and served two terms. Joseph Martin Corliss was born in Burlington on March 8, 1898. Between 1898 and 1900 they moved to the homestead on the Republican river near Tuttle. They lived in a sod house and Sherman Henry Corliss was the first child born here on April 5, 1900. On the L3th of December, 1902, A.N. Corliss proved up on his homestead on the Republican river. Three more sons were born to Albert and Lillian in the sod house. They were Edward, Harold, and Ralph. In 1908 A.N. Corliss built a two story cement house with a basement under it, next to the sod house. Here in the cement house Mary, Frank, and Myrna were born, making a family of 9 children. In 1895 Martin Joseph Corliss, father of Albert N. Corliss, c4me from Vermont after the death of his wife and took a homestead the 3fth of April, 1896, under a Soldiers Declaration. (He was a Civil War veteran.) This homestead joined his son Albert's. After Martin Joseph proved up on his homestead he sold it to Albert for $200.00 in 1901 and returned to Vermont. A homestead consisted of 160 acres and you lived on your homestead a few years before you proved up. These homesteads have never been out of the Corliss family. Albert N. Corliss was interested in education. He was on the school board for Tuttle School District #39. Tuttle District had a sod gchool house. In 1901 or 1902 they moved a frame school house from south of Seibert to northeast of the Tuttle Ranch to the site where the sod school house stood. They were in need of a larger clasgroom. Those who moved the school house were John J. Pugh, G.G. Bur, A.N. Corliss and others. Horses and wagons were uged to move the school house. Ethel Boyles Burr was the school teacher and several of the older Corliss children attended school here. A few years later, around 1907 or 1908, the Tuttle school was moved north about one and one-half miles close to the G.G. Burr ranch, now Wood ranch. Then again around 1913 or 1914 Tuttle school was moved further north about two miles, close to the Tuttle store. This is where the school got its name of North Tuttle. At this time, around 1913 or 1914, people could homestead one-half section of ground. There were 50 children in the one room school. Mabel Pugh was the teacher, teaching all 8 grades. It was decided to build another school, which was known as South Tuttle. It was built on the southeast corner of the Hightower place. Several of the younger Corliss children attended classes at South Tuttle. Suzie Underwood was the first teacher of South Tuttle and stayed at the Corliss home with Uncle Bill and Aunt Nellie Yale while the Corliss family was in Ft. Collins. The school year of 1913 and 1914 Albert N. Corliss moved his family to Ft. Collins. Luella, Joseph (known as Joe) and Sherman attended the agriculture school. Joe and Sherman also received military training. The younger children attended grade school in Ft. Collins. In 1917 Albert and Lillian bought land near Hebron, Nebraska, and leased the ranch in Colorado. They moved their family to Hebron because ofbetter schooling. Paulina was born here making a fanily of ten children, six boys and four girls. Joe moved back to the ranch in Colorado in 1919. Luellaalso joined him.In 1921Luella and Gordon Hitchcock were married and were in partnership withJoe for several years. Rose Mae, Marie, Merton and Albert Hitchcock were all born on the ranch. In 1906 there was a telephone line built up and down the river to the ranches. It was a one wire line on the fence posts, with two by fours holding it up. Some places it was just on the barbed wire fence with rubber (from old boots, etc.) for insulators with a staple that Joe was lost. Dad got Jake Strobel to go and help him look for Joe. Joe had drifted into the Tom Jones place up south in the hills. Tom Jones boy took Joe to the Pugh ranch. It had been decided that if he was found they would ring their dinner bells, so Pugh's rang their dinner bell and so on down the river to let Mom (Lillian) know that Joe had been found. Joe stayed the night with Pugh's and went home the next morning. Joe was about 12 years old and he was riding their pony Mexico. Sherman also tells of his and Edward's (known as Ed) first train ride. Around 1910, Dad (Albert) had two carloads of cattle shipped to Denver from Stratton. Dad went on the train to Denver with the cattle. Sherman and Ed went on the train with Mr. and Mrs. Pugh, Lloyd and Luther. Dad met them in Denver and they went to the stock show. Here they saw Buffalo Bill ride his horse into the arena with his buckskin suit on. Dad had to hold us boys up so we could see him as there was such a crowd. They also went to the top of the Daniel and Fisher tower and they could see all over Denver. Sunday School and Literary was held in the schoolhouses and different ones ofthe neigh- bors would help with the teachings. Lillian Corliss was known as a hard working Christian woman. Some of the old timers would recall seeing her going to help a neighbor, riding her gray horse with side saddle, with two small children. Albert and Lillian enjoyed 63 years of married life and are both buried in Hebron, Nebraska. Albert lived to be 91 vears and Lillian 84 years. by Lois Henry �brothers in the sod house until his father built a new two story cement howe next to the sod CORLISS, SHERMAN AND GRACE house in 1908. Sherman's education started at the Tuttle Fr38 School District #39 northeaet of the Tuttle ranch. In 1913, after completing the 8th grade, Sherman and his brother Joe went to Ft. Collins for two years of agricultural school. This was a school teaching vet€rinary, shop and livestock judging. Rabbit Drive on 1935. The largest drive was north of the Loyd Pugh Ranch (formerly Tuttle Ranch). It regulted in the kill of 10.000 rabbite near Hell Creek. The Corliss family moved to Hebron, Nebraska in 1917 where Sherman helped his father. In 1924 Sherman married Grace Messing, a school teacher, daughter of William and Lilly erwin Messing of Gilead, Nebraska. Sherman was involved in farming for ten years in Nebraska. The children born to Sherman and Grace in Nebraska were Betty, Lowell, Lyal, Mervin, Albert and Doris. In the spring of 1934 they had a farm sale and Sherman and Grace Corliss, year L972. moved their family of six children and household goods to Colorado with a Model T ton truck and Chevy car, pulling a trailer. They rented the ranch from Sherman's Dad (Albert). It was a dry year and Shermau irrigated from the Republican river that ran just south of the big cement house. On the north side of the bottom land was artesian wells on a spring creek. These artesian wells supplied wat€r for the north ponds and irrigation was algo done from these ponds. Sherman remembers a good crop was raised that year in spite of the drouth. The school year 1934 and 1935 the children Betty, Lowell, Lyal and Mervin went to the North Tuttle School. They drove the horse Goldie hitched to a two wheeled buggy. There were a lot of dust storms that year. Sherman and Ruby Corlise. The children remember going to the teachers house, who was Glen Smith, near the school and waiting for the dust storms to be over before starting home. There was a plague of rabbits, the neighbors formed a company and bought chickenwire and corn cribbing to build pens to drive the rabbits into and then the rabbite were Corligs home built on 1908. East eide showing picture windows. ? of the 10 children were born here and the 4 Hitchcock children were also born here. Gordon Hitchcock and eon Bert after the 1935 flood ofthe Republican River on the Corlies Ranch. On April 5, 1900, Sherman Henry Corliss was the third child born to his parents Albert Nathan and Lillian May Yale Corliss, in a sod house on the Republican river near Tuttle, Colorado. Sherman was named for his grandfather Sherman Henry Yale, the founder and postmaster of Yale, Colorado. Sherman lived with his parents, sist€rs and Children of Sherman and Grace Corliss. Boys L. to R. Mervin, Albert, David, Lyle, and Lowell. Girls L. to R. Mary, Doris, Betty, Ruth, and Lois. �clubbed to death. The schools were dismissed so that the children could help drive the rabbits. The largest drive amounted to 10,000 rabbits. The drive was north of the Tuttle ranch (then known as the Pugh ranch) near Hell Creek. In the fall of 1935, South Tuttle wag moved to the Corliss land on the southwest corner of the east one-half of Section 18. This is where the Corliss kids continued their educa- tion. On May 30th, Decoration Day 1935, the wind blew hard all day from the south. That night it started raining a little after dark. It rained all over the country. Hell Creek, Spring Creek, and South Fork Republican all came together about 3 miles above the Corliss home dumping into the Republican river. Water was one mile wide through the bottom with our house about in the center. About midnight the water was splashing up on the weet side of the cement house, so we began moving things upstairs (flour, water, gugar, potatoes, etc.). The water never did get in the house. The Rosser Davis family, about one mile up the river, had to get in their upstairs. Water was in their house getting up as high as the keyboard on the piano. They tell that they thought the Corliss family would be worse off than them. Roeeer got on the house roof waving a lantern thinking the Corliss neighbors would see him trying to let them know of the danger. The waves were so high no one could see him. Shortly after daylight the water began to recede from around the house. We couldn't get out until the next day. The flood washed out a lot of big cottonwood trees and changed the course of the river to where it is one-half mile north of the cement house. Before the river was south and east of the house. We lost 33 head of cattle, 4 head of horses, and lots of hogs and chickens. Davis'lost more livestock and chickens that we did. There was a fanily by Seibert, a young man, his wife and hig wife's father, drowned in the flood. The young man wag found one-fourth mile southwest of our house. The other two people were found later in the summer further down the river. As soon an we could get out in tenm and wagon, we took the bedding, food and cooking utensils and moved up to the Babeon rock houee, two miles southeast on a hill. We lived there through the summer, getting back to the cement house in time for the children to walk to school through the sandbar south of the house. The boys stayed with Uncle Joe's off and on through the gummer on the John Weisshaar place. Betty stayed some with the Jerry Guy fanily. Mom (Grace) and Doris stayed with Aunt Luella in Burlington where Lois was born on August 9, 1935. Sherman recalls meeting Homer and Dolly Hightower on their way home from town and they told him that he had another little baby girl. It took a long time getting the ranch back in shape after the flood. There was not a fence left across the bottom. We got some fences in on the west and east so we could keep the cattle home. There was Corliss and Davis lakes up and down the river and the flood filled all of these with sand and there were no more. Lots of good timee, picnics, swimming, and fiahing went on at these places by many people of the country. Indian camp grounds were uncovered by the flood and buffalo heads, pottery, beads and arowheads were found. Trees were also found that had been buried years before in a flood and the banks of the river where it is now shows that the river had run here many years before. When Dad (Albert N. Corliss) came to this country, it is said an old Indian chief told him to not build in the river bottom as he had seen water from one hill to the other. It is believed he knew what he was talking about. After the flood, Mom (Grace) was always terrified whenever she saw a cloud in the sky, even if it wag a little one. She carried this fear the rest of her life. After the flood Sherman continued to irrigate his crops. It took a lot of hard work and patience to irrigate from the river. The water level was lower so a da- had to be put across the river to form a pond and then a ditch had to be dug for the water to run out of. Every time a little flood came up it would take out the dam, which would have to be replaced and then the ditch would also have to be dug deeper. Each time there was a flood the water table lowered, sometimes as much as a foot making the ditch digging quite a job. After a few years Sherman bought a centrifugal pump, (it had to be primed with water to start it) and punped the water from the river. This pump wag used for about three or four years, Sherman then had his first irrigation well dug in 1956. Sherman said this is one of the best things he ever did. Eventually we had two more wells drilled and went to the circular sprinkler systems. For a few years after the flood Sherman had a large truck garden, raising produce and delivering it to customers in Burlington and other towns. Many people came from miles around the country to buy tomatoes, potatoes, onions and melons. Sherman would do his own butchering and curing and Grace took care of the lard rendering, frying the sausage to be stored in crock jars in lard, and also making lye soap from the cracklings. After the butchering, the carcass (usually a hog) would hang overnight from the big cottonwood tree lime in front of the house to cool. Of course the Corliss kids always had a job to help with the chores or whatever was going on. The first tractor Sherman had was a used G.P. John Deere and the first washing machine Grace had was a one cylinder Maytag. Sherman traded T.W. Backlund some hay for it in 1934. In 1944 Sherman bought the ranch from his Dad (Albert). He continued to improve the ranch. One of the first improvements was to get grass and hay started in the sandbars left by the flood of 1935. The house was also modernized, getting electricity and telephone in 1945 and 1946 on a teaching permit. Doris was in sixth grade and Lois in third grade. Lowell worked for Jerry Guy and A.W. Adolf as a farm hand for several years until he married Virginia Hasart in 1949 and then he worked for Homm ranches. Lyal, Mervin and Albert were in the Army in Korea during the Korean conflict. David was a paratrooper in the Vietnnm War. In 1954 Mervin and Esther Gramm were married. A second place was built up for them north of the river, making sure it was above the flood level of the 1935 flood. In 1968 when David and Betty Gramm were married a new house was built for Sherman and Grace on the south side where Martin Joseph Corliss (Sherman's grandfather) had originally homesteaded. It was also above the flood level of the 1935 flood. David and Betty made their home in the old cement house. The Corliss family attended church regularly, belonged to the Settlement 4-H Club and were also members of the Farm Bureau, Grange, and Cattlemans Association. Grace enjoyed crocheting, writing and painting in her later years. Grace passed away in April of L974 at the age of 70 years and is buried in Burlington. Sherman and Grace would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in December. Sherman's grandson, Verlin (Mervin's son) and wife Rhonda, live in the new house. This makes the fifth generation to live on Martin Joseph's homestead. The Sherman Corliss children all married and several are still living in the area. They are Betty and Richard Guy, Bethune, Colo- rado, Lowell and Virginia Hasart Corliss, Stratton, Colorado, Lyal and Delores Miller Corliss, Crescent City, California, Mervin and Esther Gramm Corliss, Stratton, Colo- rado, Albert and Arnella Adolf Corliss, Yuma, Colorado, Doris and Roy Henry, Joes, Colorado, Lois and Ralph Henry (deceased), Vona, Colorado, Mary and Clinton Hasenauer, Wallace, Nebraska, David and Betty Gramm Corliss, Stratton, Colorado, and Ruth and pisl flnmpton, Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1975 Sherman manied Rubbie Deloris Schmitt Corliss (his brother Joe's widow). Rubbie, the fourth child of A.A. and Frieda Dandliker Schmitt, was born at Davenport, Nebraska on April 12, 1909. Sherman and Rubbie now reside in Bur- lington, Colorado. by Loie Henry when the lines went through the country. In February 1941 Mary was born and David in April 1942. Ruth was born in February 1944. This made a family of ten children, five boys and five girls. All the Corliss children except Ruth attended the South Tuttle School. David was in the first grade the last year classes were held. Tuttle school was closed in 1950 and the Corliss kids, Lois, Mary, David and Ruth, drove to Harvey Woods and went on to Kirk to school with the Woods children. In 1960 Tuttle disbanded or consolidated, the Corliss children going to Bethune. David and Ruth graduated from Bethune High School. Mary graduated from Liberty High School in 1959. Joeg and Kirk schools consolidated in 1955 and was named Liberty. Betty went to Blair Business School in Colorado Springs and taught Tuttle School COX FAMILY F139 Cox Ranch The Cox Ranch was originally part of the large Tuttle Ranch, which fell upon hard times in the late 1880's. The terrible blizzards of that time severely stressed the cattle industry in eastern Colorado and although the Tuttles managed to hang on for awhile after that, the depression of the early 1890's finally did them in. Herman Tuttle died in 1894 and the ranch was taken over by a bank in London, England, among others. Shortly thereafter John and Jane Pugh �bought the headquarters portion ofthe ranch (now the Price Ranch) and Harry Cox those who follow will get as much from it as we did. Ranch, so called because it was located six miles from the Tuttle Ranch headquarters. Mr. Cox began constructing his ranch headquarters in 1896 and had completed several stone buildings including a barn and by Kenneth McArthur purchased what was called the Six Mile some stone corrals by 1897. The house, CRONISE, FLORENCE Fl40 bunkhouses and a cook house were completed in 1898. Construction ofother stone buildings and corrals continued most of the time while Mr. Cox owned the ranch. The rock was a limestone which came from the surrounding hills. Except for the house, most of the construction wffr accomplished by ranch hands and some part-time help during slack periods. A contractor and small crew were hired to build the house. All the stone was shaped by hand using hnmmers and chisels. Harry Cox was an interesting and highly respectcd man. He was small, about 5'6", rather frail, a bachelor, and very English. He had some trouble walking but was an outstanding horseman with a reputation for being able to ride hard for days at a time. He wore English riding breeches, English riding boots and rode English saddles. He was a progressive cattleman running some 800 cows and was among the first to import quality British bulls for herd improvement. He was active in the Cattleman's Associations of that time and was one of the first to install a dipping vat for the control of parasites. This vat was made available to everyone in the area and was used by most. Incidentally, Mr. Cox did not call his ranch "Cox Ranch". He called it the "Rock Haven Ranch". In 1910 due to poor health, Harry Cox was forced to sell the ranch and it was bought by John and Art Pugh. John Pugh died in 1913 leaving Art and Ruby Pugh, along with his widow, Jane, to operate the ranch which they did until 1924 when hard times caught up with them. During this period, the property was referred to ae the "Art Pugh Ranch". The Art Pughs remained on the ranch until the late 1920's when they moved to Burlington. A bank in Colorado Springs owned the ranch from L924 to 1944. During that time it was occupied at various times by the Guys, Radcliffs and the Coopers. In 1944 the ranch was purchased by Mark and Fay Jay and, in 1946, they sold it to Ernest and Mary McArthur who still own it. In 1970 Kenneth and Beverly McArthur came into the operation with Ernest and Mary. In 1981, Ernest and Mary retired to Burlington while Kenneth and Beverly continued on. The history of the ranch is much the same as that of the other ranches in this area. A story of good times and bad. The problem all ranches had was that they were totally dependent upon the cattle market, usually a feast or famine situation. Most of the larger cattle operations went out of business in the 1920's or before and it was not until after World War II that diversification into farming was undertaken on any scale. The combination of cattle and crops has enabled most of the operations to survive and even thrive at times. This short history has covered over 100 years and while times and techniques have changed, at least one constant remains; whether we were a Tuttle, Cox, Pugh, Guy, Radcliff, Cooper, Jay or McArthur, the land remains and we are here because we love it and when we leave it we can only hope that Youngsters or relative newcomers to Flagler hear the carillion from the Congregational Church of a Sunday morning of - some them may even know that it is the Cronise Carillion. For those who knew this remarkable lady, however, the ringing bells from the church have a very special meaning indeed. She was a pioneer in more ways than one and yet the antithesis of what we generally think of as a "pioneer woman". Born on June 15, 1861 in Newark, New Jersey, her father was a prominent and prosperous business- man and very active in church affairs. Her mother evidently died when Florence was still young. She went to a woman's seminary and then to Europe on three occasions where she studied languages in both France and Germany. Back in the United States she studied for and received a BA in Philosophy. Then she joined other Congregational Missionaries for a tour of duty in Sierra-Leone, West Africa, returning to Iowa where she taught at Leander College in Toledo. But, here we come to the part that we don't know about and never will. Here was a woman who in youth and as a young adult was in the upper-class of the country, extraordinarily educated and of a refined, prosperous and genteel background, and yet she came to Flagler in 1907 to homestead 8 miles northeast of town on a parcel that in future years becnme part of the Baxter ranch. We know that she fulfilled the requirements of homes- she died. The house is now the Lester Loutzenhiser residence. Her home had many works of art and craftsmanship she had secured in the Orient and another feature unique in Flagler homes. A small, sunny room with southeast exposure was an aviary in which she had dozens of birds, many of them one-of-a-kind, most of them ofa singing variety. She and her friends used to enjoy watching and listening to them and many a youngster in the community would come by to see them and, incidentally, get a plate of cookies and a glass of milk on a near-priceless piece of hand-painted china from Japan. Nothing but the most serious illness would keep Miss Cronise from Sunday morning Church services. She, along with others who had homesteaded in about that period, was a charter member of the Congregation Church and one of it's staunchest supporters. In her ankle-length dresses of pale blue or grey, Miss Cronise was a part and permanent fixture in the community. She died in Flagler in her 87th years, on March 1, 1949. She loved the land, the high plains, the people and her life there. Given the advantages ofher youth, it is a little difficult to fathom why. Her grave in the Flagler Cemetery is near many of the other early pioneers and her close friends, and it just may be that relationship to old and dear friends made her feel that Flagler, and only Flagler, was home. by Donald Page CUCKOW, LEROY Fl4t When Leroy Cuckow (pronounced Cuckoo) died on April 4, 1942, the Flagler News teaders to "improve up" her property and received title to same. We know that she had to live in almost primitive circumstances to do so. But why? Once in a conversation with Fred Page she hintcd that she had once planned marriage but that the gentleman involved changed his mind. At any rate, she never married and the real reason for leaving the collegiate, refined and prosperous region ofher birth for a 160 acre dry-land homestead was and will always remain known to her carried the standard-type obituary and concluded that, although he was an eccentric, he had many friends, was honest, etc., etc. One is tempted to point out that saying Cuckow was "eccentric" took fully as much journalistic courage as saying the Pope is Catholic. For Cuckow was eccentric and in retrospect one is suspicious that he enjoyed if not revelled in that eccentricity. Born in Wisconsin and educated in South Dakota, he saw alone. Manila Bay, was mustered out in 1899 and almost immediately came to Flagler (1900, to be exact) to homestead. His quarter Section was across the road from the Kliewer place and shared one-fourth of the Section homesteaded by Fred Page. Cuckow (few ever referred to him by his first name and all pronounced it, as did he, as Cuckoo) built his homestead shack much the way many did half was dug-out from a small hillside and part then the upper completed with sod. The roof, in all probability, was of planks with sod laid over those planks. Any remnant of that shack has long since disappeared but one story of when he lived there remains firm in my memory. One day Fred Page went by the shack and noticed dozens upon dozens of empty baking powder tins laying in the dirt outside the shack. "How", he asked, "could Cuckow use so much baking powder?" "Hell", said the ever-profound if not profane one, "Ijust learned that I was supposed to be putting flour in with the baking powder and water from now on I won't be using near After gaining her homestead, Miss Cronise, as she was always to be known to each and all, including friends of her own age, stayed in Flagler; but in short order joined her Congregational Missionary organization again, this time to go to Japan. Close friends would hear Miss Cronise give graphic and wonderful descriptions of Japan and - land a people that she dearly loved. Loved enough to learn their language so that she could communicate adequately with them. She did not appear to have the same affection for the land and the people of Africa. She taught English in Yokohsma and Nagoya but, as mentioned, could also communicate with her students in their own language. On her trips back to the United States in about two decades of missionary service in Japan, she would inevitably come back to Flagler and, in the late 20's or very early 30's, came back home to stay to Flagler. She taught English for a few -years in the high school and built the home across the old Baptist Church that would be her home until battles in the Spanish-American War at - as much." �Scratching at the earth wasn't really Cuckow's dish of tea, however. In the early 1900's he started a Garage business in Flagler which later turned into a parts shop. In the 1920's and 30's he sold Case tractor parts, an honorable enough business proposition but somewhat fiampered by the fact that there were precious few Case tractors or other implements in or around Flagler. His shop, on Main Street, now occupied by Steven's Garage, undoubtedly saw days when less than a dollar changed hands. Cuckow lives at the back of the shop which had somewhat primitive toilet facilities but, you can be certain, no bathtub. Or at least you would have been certain if you had had occasion to visit Cuckow in those days. Then there was Cuckow's dog whose na-e, unfortunatply, is lost to history. It would be unfair to say that this dog was of indeterminate breed as there were probably 50 or 60 separate breeds in that mutt. The dog was about knee-high and the only adequate description of him would be that he was a scroung'y, flea-bitten mutt but all of that is quite beside the point -because Cuckow loved him and would tell any and all who would listen that the dog had extraordinary intclligence. For instance, the dog (according to Cuckow) heartily disliked Republicans and could distinguish them by smell. A familiar sight on a Saturday evening was Cuckow and his dog slowly walking up the street to the theater where Cuckow would lay down the 15 or 20 cents that it then cost to go to the movies and he and his dog would then go in and watch it. The following Monday Cuckow could tell all visitors not only what he thought of the movie but what his dog thought of it. At any rate, sometime in the 30's the Republicans arranged to rent the theater, mid-week, for a big election year rally (probably Alf Landon versus FDR in 1936). Cuckow claimed that his dog wouldn't set foot in the theater until they fumigated it and, as far as recollection serves, he did not. Cuckow had many dislikes or pet-peeves. He was outspoken about two in particular, however and they were W.H. Lavington, the town banker and without question the richest man in the community and the other wag women in general and "high school girls" in particular. The term high-school girl, understand, included anyone under 30. It is not "character" to satisfy the whole town and western end of Kit Carson Countv. in the fall. by Donald Page CURE - POOLE FAMILY works at home. She also officiates volleyball Er42 Bill was born in Burlington, Colorado. He was the sixth of eight children born to Bunny and Ernie Cure of Stratton. St. Charles Academy was the site of Bill's first six years of education. Continuing his schooling at Stratton Public School, Bill became a member ofthe football, wrestling and track teams. As a senior, Bill was na-ed to the All-State Football f,sam, became State Heavyweight Wrestling Qlampion in helping the team bring home the State Championship and placed second throwing the shot-put at the State Track Meet. He graduated in 1974. During the years following Bill became engaged in farming and ranching with mem- bers of his family. The second of four children. Janet was born in Oklahoma in 1961 to Jim and Nora Poole. They moved to Bethune in August, 1964, where he (dad) accepted the position of superintendent of schools. Janet received all Dex and Sadie Poole, daughter of Janet's older brother Dave, share the sarne "lucky" birthdate, Friday the 13th, February 1987. Bill is still farming and ranching with his brothers Ed, Mike and John. His sisters include Jane Hubbard of Hugo, Kay Unrein of Eaton, Colorado, Mary Bohnen of Stratton and Theresa Cure of Aurora, Colorado. Presently, Janet's brother Dave and his family Janet, Sara and Sadie are in Homestead, Florida. Dave is in the Air Force training to be a fighter pilot in the F-4 Phantoms. Her sisters are Sharon Green of Simla, Colorado and Kristy Liming of Kirk, Colorado. by Janet Cure DANIEL - KYLE FAMILY It was Aug. 7, L954, that Raymond and I were married at St. Charles Catholic Church in Stratton. Colo. Raymond Urban Daniel was the youngest twelve years of education under the watchful eye of her dad! Participating in many activi- son of Frank and Gertrude Daniel, his two older brothers being John and Robert. He was born April 18, 1925 at Burlington, Colo. and spent his childhood on the farm with his ties, including volleyball, basketball, track family five miles south of Burlington. This and cheerleading she graduated valedictorian in 1979. Two years later, Janet transferred farm was where his Grandfather John Daniel came to in 1906 from Crete, Nebraska, and being a carpenter, he built the house and barns that are still on the place. Raymond and his brothers spent many hours playing in the hay mows of the barns and it is told that one of them made some wings and tried to fly out the hay mow door and consequently suffered a broken arm. It was on very rare occasions that the family ever missed Sunday from Colorado State University, Ft. Collins to the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. Graduating with a teaching degree in 1983, she accepted a position teaching kindergarten in Burlington. In December of 1983, Bill and Janet were mamied. Blessed with their first son, Luke, in March 1985, Janet continued teaching, but only half-time. Dex was born almost two years later. Janet has since resigned and Mass. Raymond attended school in Burlington and graduated in 1943. He did spen ' difficult to conclude why the poor dislike the rich (and Republican to boot), but the source of hie hatred for women lies buried with the man. If he had ever loved but lost, he didn't divulge the fact to anyone. On any given spring or summer day, however, you could find Cuckow at the front of his shop uttering low-down remarks about "high school girls." One short ditty that was current in those days was attribut€d to Cuckow but was unquestionably written by someone else - Cuckow never ghowed any such literary "f,slslf,s" at any rate, it went like this: The gum chewing girl and the cud-chewing cow, yet, different gomehow Somewhat alike - it now Ah! yes, I remember It's the intelligent look on the face ofthe cow. Well, every family should have in it's background some ancestor who qualifies as a real "character". A small town is very much like an extpnded family and one Leroy Cuckow, born Nov. 9, L872, qualifies as a predecessor or ancegtor with enough Fl43 Christmas 1987, BiU and Janet Cure with their children, Luke and Dex. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Families of Kit Carson County Description An account of the resource Brief biographies of the founding families of Kit Carson County Colorado. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Book Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Families- C Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1988 Description An account of the resource Brief histories of the founding families of Kit Carson County whose names begin with the letter "C." As told in the book, The History of Kit Carson County. Type The nature or genre of the resource text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salmons, Janice Hasart, Marlyn Smith, Dorothy Language A language of the resource English Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Histoy of Kit Carson County Volume 1 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource text/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Curtis Media Subject The topic of the resource History Kit Carson County Biography Genealogy Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a>