https://kccarchives.cvlcollections.org/files/original/17/466/Families-F.pdf cc228efacb349af665586233b6ce422e PDF Text Text helpful neighbors to serving on the school board and helping organized Sunday schools, their influence was felt in many ways in the betterment of their community. They believed firmly in the value of education beyond conventional schooling and encouraged their children to read and develop their minds. Daily newspapers and magazines were always in their home. Life was not always unrelenting hard labor. As the land was more settled there were neighbors to visit with and make friendships. They had an interesting group of neighbors. Young men and women seeking new free land, a hillbilly farmer from Tennessee who never did understand the prairie, and a cultured widow from eastern Nebraska. There is a humorous story about this widow. She lived in a "shack" like everyone else, but she maintained a life style more suited to the east. The story goes that a minister from Stratton cnme to call on her one morning. the widow Loveland was doing some baking and was pretty "floury" and in her everyday house dress. The minister knocked at her screen door, introducing himself, for she was in plain sight in the kitchen. After a few minutes he heard a cultured voice say, "Mrs. Loveland is not receiving this morning". [t was told that the minister turned, scratched his head and slowly went back to his buggy and drove the long miles to town. For entertainment they had "Literary Societies" which met in the schoolhouse on a Friday night, usually. Everyone who had a talent would use it for the entertainment, debates were popular and the social value of meeting and visiting were probably the greatest value. John and Elizabeth bought more land for his growing cattle herd and also had more farm land. He was proud in 1923 of raising someone in the neighborhood would fill his wagon from the then plentiful supply of buffalo bones on the prairies, collect the letters neighbors had ready for mailing to friends and relatives "back East", and make railroad town, Haigler, Nebraska, where he would dispose ofthe bones, purchase supplies After several years of batching on the plains of eastern Colorado, he returned to Missouri to marry his sweetheart, Elizabeth M. Griffith. With his bride he began farming in Missouri, but the call of the prairies was too strong and about a year later they returned to the homestead in eastern Colo- a doctor's care, nursing those children through severe illnesses, usually without benefit ofthe doctor, for the horse and buggy transportation was slow and calls on the doctor were many. The pioneer wife and mother was on the alert for snake bites and accidents of all kinds, and if they occurred she had to keep her head and know how to meet any emergency. Once when a new building was being erected, her five year old daughter suffered a scalp wound from a falling rafter; my mother snlmly sterilized a needle and with white silk thread sutured the wound skillfully without benefit of any anesthetic. Too much praise cannot be given these pioneer wivee and mothers who worked beside their husbands building a home and community. Perhaps the greatest reward of these pioneers was in seeing the development of Kansas line. Latcr several counties were this land from bare prairie with "dugout" formed from a division of this county, among homes to fine productive ranches and farms. John P. Evans, having seen this transformation of the prairie, passed on in 1924, still on the ranch and "in the harness" as he wished to go. His widow, spending her last years County. When family larders needed replenishing, ' couraged during the panic of'93 and the dry years following. Later he bought this land back for $125.00, and it was here they moved when they felt the need of more grassland for their growing herd ofcattle, gradually adding more land as they were able. It was during these years they becnme the parents of five daughters, one of whom died in infancy. Ownership of the old home ranch now rests with the four daughters. The years they spent on the ranch, rearing a family, building their cattle herd and developing the land, were busy years. But he and his wife were never too busy to lend a hand in the upbuilding of their community, to being kind and helpful neighbors to those about them, to serving ou the school board, and develop their minds. No story of a pioneer cattleman would be complete without the part played by his wife, who suffered the privations of a harsh life gladly, bearing her children many miles from them Washington and Yuma. Kit Carson County was at one time a part of Elbert ili:r':t : ' In addition to the homestead and preemption near Idalia he had a timber claim about thirty miles south of Idalia, which he had traded off for a cow when he became dis- She died in 1938 at age 72. Ownership of the In the fall of 1886, when he was a young bachelor of twenty-four, my father, John P. Evans, heard the call of the boundless West, the call for pioneers who would dare follow the star of empire that guided into the land which has, verily, become the Promised Land of our great county. Arriving in Colorado from Iowa where he had spent his young manhood, he filed on a homestead and preemption near Idalia, in what was then Arapahoe County, with Denver as the county seat. Arapahoe County wag then approximately thirty miles across and one hundred fifty miles long, extending to the ',l F194 rado. Their influence was felt in many areas in the betterment of their community. They had a firm belief in the value of education beyond the conventional schooling and encouraged their children and those about them to read Fl93 FAMILY hauled eight miles from the Republican River. and helping to organize Sunday Schools. EVANS, JOHN P. FANSELAU BAMESBERGER and collect the mail for the neighborhood. There were no wells that first winter, and as with supplies and mail, water had to be 10,000 bushels of corn on the place. In 1924, by Grace Evans Weybright by Mary Evans the thirty-five mile trip to the nearest still on the ranch and still working vigorously, he died of a heart ailment, "in the harness" as he wished to go. His widow leased the ranch the following year and spent her last years in Stratton with her daughter, Mary. ranch rests with her daughter, Grace Evans Weybright, of Liberal, KS. more comfortably in Stratton, Colorado joined him in 1938. Henry and Lillie Fanselau, taken in 1932. Henry Fanselau was born February 28, 1890, south of Idalia, Colorado near the Kit Carson County line. He was the seventh child born to German immigrant parents, August and Wilhemina (Wolff) Fanselau. Three of his sistere died in infancy and one sister died at the age of nine of diphtheria in 1893. She was buried in what was known at that time as the Hedinger Cemetery, which is gituated on the Yuma County line and two miles west of Highway 385. At that time there was a small Lutheran Church near the cemetery. About this time the family moved 8 miles North and 2 east of Bethune. Henry's sisters Katie and Minnie Fanselau, married brothers; Gottlieb and Fred Bauder. Henry and his only brother Edward, three years younger than he, attended Blue View, a one room public elementar5r school. For a time they attended church school at Immanuels Lutheran, which was two or three miles from their home. Lillie Bamesberger, adopted daughter of Ferdinand and Dora BenegSttttt, was born on February 18, 1893, in Denver, Colorado. Her adoptive parents were also German immigrants and moved from Denver to the Bethune area a few miles from the Fanselaus. The Bamesbergers also raised a foster son, �Amos Holland, who was three years younger living in their home at 333 5th Street for 22 than Lillie. They too attended Blue View years. In 1973, poor health did not allow them to remain in their home. Lillie spent her last five school and Lutheran Church School, which also taught the basic three R's. Schools were in session 5 to 6 months out of the year and few pupils at that time finished the eighth grade. Henry and Lillie grew up in the same community. In the year 1911, most ofthe land had been taken for homesteads in the area. At the age of 21, Henry ventured further. He purchased a relinquishment on a homestead of 320 acres, located 16 miles south and 4 east of Burlington. Prior to this time only 160 acres could be proved up. On April L4, LgLz, Henry and Lillie were married at Immanuels' Lutheran Church, located 10 miles north and 1 east of Bethune. This was the some date as the sinking of the luxury liner, Titanic. Following their mauiage they moved to their home which was later known as the Smoky Hill Community. There was a Post Office about 4 miles from their home which was called Cole. It wae in a private home and mail was delivered from Burlington two or three times a week. Some staple groceries were also sold there. Rural mail delivery was realized about 1923 or L924. In March, 1916, complying with legal regulations, Henry proved up on the half section, described as S%, T 11, R. 43. This was during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. The Fanselaus struggled and sacrificed the same as most of the pioneers at that time in history. They butchered, cured and canned beef and pork, canned vegetables and fruit, made laundry soap and raised chickens for meat and for laying hens. Eggs were exchanged for groceries at the store. In the 23 years that they lived on the farm, the water was canied in buckets from the well for household use. The only lights were two kerosene years of life in the Burlington Rest Home. Her death was May 1978. Henry was in Grace Manor Nursing Home for seven years, and his death was April, 1980. Outside of the time lived in Oregon, Henry spent the rest of his 90 years in Kit Carson County. by Leona Wiedman FANSELAU, AUGUST F195 My father, August Fanselau, was born in Germany in 1852 and come to the United States when he was 18 years old. He lived in and around Philadelphia and was married to Miss Minnie Wolf in 1876. Then he moved to Texas for a short time, then back to Philadelphia and lived there until 1882 when he moved to Denver, Colorado. They had two daughters by this time. In the spring of 1889 they moved to the homestead that he had taken up the year before, in Kit Carson County about 20 miles north of Burlington. How they enjoyed living out on the open plains after having spent their lives up till then in towns, but they missed a lot of things too, such as schools and church. There were no schools but in town, 20 miles away. The nearest church was 8 miles. Father had some 20 acres of sod broke that first year so we put it into corn and he went back to Denver to his old job, that of cleaning coaches on the U. P. Railroad. Mother and we girls stayed on the homestead. Father had bought a milk cow before he left so we had milk and we had some chickens so we had our eggs. We had no well lemps. so had a neighbor haul water for us. The Three daughtere were born to Henry and Lillie; Mildred, Leona and Geneva. Married, a farmer and a father, Henry was deferred from the draft during World War I. In 1919, the family owned their first automobile, a used 1917 Model T Ford touring car. neighbor was a mile away. They had the only windmill that we knew about except the one in Burlington. They didn't charge for the water but we paid 10 cents a haul for the hauling. The cow we led to water a half mile The girls attended Smoky Hill School where ten grades were taught. In 1934, Mildred married Robert Stahlecker and Leonamarried GeorgeWiedman. Both couples moved to Oregon in the spring of 1935. In 1934 a severe drouth plagued most ofthe high plains states and very little cattle feed was raised. Due to the drouth and the great depression of the 30's, the Fanselaus sold their livestock and belongings and following the pattern of many families in the midwest, they migrated to the west coast, settling in Newberg, Oregon, in September, 1935. Crops were being raised there and jobs were available. Average wage for a man was 25 cents per hour for cutting cord wood, labor in the saw mills or generd farm work. Henry and Lillie both worked at seasonal jobs, picking fruit, berries and hops. They also worked in a cannery during fruit and vegetable seasons. In 1940, Geneva married in Newberg, Oregon and still lives in that area. Living in Oregon seven years, Henry and Lillie returned to Eastern Colorado and settled in Bethune where they resided for nine years. In 1951 they moved to Burlington, away. Later the fathers in the neighborhood went together and built a sod schoolhouse, so we had school for the first time in the fall of 1890. Just four months. Father would come and go to Denver to earn a little money so we could keep going. One time he came home driving a nice pair of bay mares. We worked hard at home with what we had so father could come home to stay. In 1893 we lost our dear little sister, from the after effects of diphtheria. We had had a visitor in our home who came from a home where they had recovered from this illness. They said they had fumigated but it must not have been good enough to have killed the germs for shortly after that we had it. We did not have much chance to get well. I will never forget that gargle and that was about all the doctor did for us. I don't think the gargle was a thing but alum water. We thought Tillie was getting well but her throat was so dry, like mine, and she had just lost too much strength. In 1894 we had our first drouth and it was very dry. No feed was raised. No one would buy cattle here then, so we would trade cattle to the Bar T Ranch and the Spring Valley Ranch for the wild hay. Then with what we had left over from the year before we were able to take the rest of the stock through the winter. Things were never very easy for papa. I think we came after the buffalo were all gone as I do not remember seeing any. I do remember hearing about one being killed around Burlington before we came. I remember the time the big barn burned on the Chase Ranch. That is where John Richards lives now, 1958. It burned in 1896 and I was a small girl at home. It seemed to me that it was as nice a barn that I have ever seen. It was big and they had been particular about building it. They hauled all the sod for the walls clear from the Spring Valley Ranch on the river and the roof was made of the long tough hay that never let the water through. They had been working the horses that day and there was other stock in it and they were about ready to eat supper and Mrs. Chase wondered why it was so light in the house. It was dark outside. Then she noticed what the reason was. The nice big barn was on fire. Theyjust got one horse out and it was burned so around the head that they had to shoot it. The loss was awful. We thought that it was the house that was on fire and papa sent me over to tell them to come to our house and stay and eat. We felt bad about it. The first little church that I can remember stood just two miles west of where George Homm is living now. At that time there was a road that went west from the Homm place and on west from there beyond the church. It was just a little church but as far as I knew it was at that time the only church in the country. My brother Henry Fanselau was baptized there in 1890. It was built of sod. There were a few burials in the plot close by. My sister Tillie was buried there in 1893. Then there was a nine year old boy buried there in 1893 also. He was from the Lange family that lived east of the George Homm place. The boy did in a snowstorm. The father had gone to get supplies and died not get home until late in the evening. It had started to snow so the mother told the boy to see about getting the cows in. They were not usually very far away, but with no fences and the storm struck quickly with such fury, that the boy did not get back. They looked for him all night but he was not found until after the storm was over. He had drifted nine or ten miles with the wind and so was far from home. Shortly after this the father passed away and he was buried in this little plot. Then in 1901 the other boy was riding home from the Spring Valley Ranch, when a thunder shower came up and he was killed by lightning. He was buried there also. The mother and the girls moved away shortly after that. It did not seem to me as a girl that this country was fenced very fast. We did not even have a fence to keep away cattle from our meager stacks of feed, and I have known of Papa getting up at all hours of the night to drive stock away. We tried to protect it with the wagon on one side and the sod barn on the other, but they would still get it. The grass was not too good then as I heard so many say it might have been. I have seen lots better grass since the land has been fenced. Those herds of cattle that used to roem the prairie were larger and after they passed over it, it was not too good and these large ranches knew where it was ifthere was any good grass. There were horses too and some wild ones. We never tried to catch any of the wild ones for it was hard to do and vou did not have �much after you caught one for they were small, just about too small for work. But quite often one was caught and broken and was used for riding, but sometimes not even good for that. by Minnie Bauder FARR FAMILY Fr96 I, Charles Farr, was born November 3, 1860, at Rochelle, Illinois, and came to it was hard to face it. I noticed the cattle suddenly bunched close together, and kept swinging, as it were, from side to side. Then I saw that the lightning seemed to flash and strike on each side of the great herd, first to one side, then on the other. The stampede was in perfect formation, horn to horn, twelve steers wide, and about three miles long. When the storm had calmed down enough that we could overtake them on our cow ponies, we got them turned toward the corrals. by Charles Farr ofcattle. Strange to say, none ofthe stampeding cattle were hurt or killed, but some of the cows which were near the corral were killed by lightning. Of course, we had no wire fences then and the cattle were right out on the open range, or it might have been a different story. In the spring of 1881, I helped drive a bunch of three thousand head of cattle from poor, and at times we got tired of the bacon and salt "sowbelly" they fed us. They bought Wallace, Kansas to Wano, Kansas, south of where St. Francis, Kansas is now located. That was a slow hard drive and we had no water after leaving Smoky Hill Creek, about twenty five miles south of where Goodland now stands. There was no railroad, no towns, no camps along the way. It was while making this drive that we saw the skeletons of the horses that were killed in the Indian uprising in 1876, which were in a small thicket along the creek. It seems that a band of North Cheyenne Indians wandered to the Paxton Company in Omaha to be slaughtered, packed and shipped to the Indian reservation in Nebraska.. Every outfit had its own "chuck wagon" and cook, and each cowboy had his own clothing and blanket. Many a time I have slept on the prairie with my blanket around me and my saddle for a pillow. When I first went to work as a cowboy in this new country, I found the food rather bacon in slabs and I remember once of cleaning out a cellar where the cattlemen had moved out ofthe house and finding slab after slab of bacon stored away. Of course everything was bought wholesale and freighted in by barrels, so we always had enough food and salt meat. We would slaughter a beef once in a while but it was hard to keep fresh meats in the summertime. I cooked for one season and know what it means to try to fill a hungry man with "flapjacks." I got so I could make them pretty good, too. Every year, a number ofthe cowboys would take grub, blankets, and any other supplies needed and go out on a ten-day hunt for strays. We knew all the brands, so if we found a cow belonging to an outfit close to ours, we took it along with our strays and returned it to its rightful owner. We were out in all kinds of weather, and I remember one day in late summer we were driving a herd of four thousand cattle - two thousand steers and the rest cows and calves. We saw a storm coming and tried to beat it to the corral to get the calves in, but it came right down on us. I have always been a little afraid of thunder and lightning storms, as I had had one horse killed under me by lightning, and another one was stunned and fell, but he soon got over it. On this particular day the lightning was the worst I had seen for some time and suddenly the cattle stampeded and got away from us. I rode hard to head them off. The rain was coming down so fast The Republican River is just a few feet from my door, so we always had plenty of water. I worked one winter rounding up strays that had wandered from their range down to creeks around Wallace and Sharon Springs, Kansas. A number of cattle from different outfits were disappearing, and I was sent south to investigate, and found that these cattle were being rounded up, butchered and sold to the people of Wallace and Sharon Springs. This was the fall that Goodland, Kansas was incorporated, 1889. Usually the folks who had these cattle would not say much, they knew they were in the wrong. But Colorado in a covered wagon in the spring of 1877 from Independence, Missouri, with a friend of the family. We followed the Arkansas River from Nebraska to Rocky Ford, crossing the Republican River, along which I later worked for some years. I went to work for a cattleman by the name of Ab Enyart, who lived near Rocky Ford, and whose cattle ranged along the Arkansas River, working as a cowboy for him for two years. Then I began work for the "Mill Iron" outfit, who ranged about five thousand head of cattle. Later I came north with the "Hash Knife" outfit. who owned about ten thousand head of cattle and had eight cowboys working regular, but who employed more for the round up season. This cattle company, at one time, gathered five thousand head of steers which were sold FARR FAMILY just west of this claim and I still own both places, but built my home on the tree claim. Fr97 I Drove the Texas Longhorn Steers But I shall not forget that scene and how the lightning seemed to "play" with that herd away from their reservation, taking their squaws with them. They were on their way south and when they arrived at Dodge City, Kansas, they were noticed acting rather suspicious. So the Colonel sent a scout out with them and about the first thing the scout noticed was that when these Indians shot wild game, they did not use their bullets, but used their arrows instead. The Indians then tried to steal some horses and in the fight that ensued between the owner and the Indians, two white men were killed. The Indians fortified themselves behind stone walls they had built up in the bluffs and there met the troops which had been sent out from the fort. About the first thing the troops did was to go to the thickets where the Indian squaws and horses were hid, remove the squaws and shoot all the horses. After the skirmish with the Indians, they found a few of the Indians dead, and the rest too weak to fight, so they were taken back to the reservation with the squaws. I believe this was about the last Indian trouble we had in this part of the country. There was a man murdered on his ranch near here, and some folk tried to blo-e it on the Indians, but as none had ever been seen around here, we felt sure that some white man had committed the crime instead. We never found the murderer. (Hatch murder, first case on record in district court records of this county.) In 1888 I filed on a tree claim on the Republican River and later took a homestead one day I found a cow and calf in a man's yard and the cow had our brand on it, so I told him I wanted it. He tried to convince me first that the cow belonged to him and when that failed, he tried to get me to give him the calf for the keep of the cow. That proposition didn't work, so I started to drive the cow out of the yard. Then the man's wife cnme out and was very profane in her abuse. However, I did not answer and when I was a few rods from the house a bullet whizzed by me. I do not know who fired the shot, but I kept going with the cow and calf and finally got them back to their owner. That was the only time I was shot at, although in this kind of work I always had to be on the alert and watch both ways so no one would get the drop on me. I was well acquainted with Kit Carson's niece, Mrs. Nelson, who lived with her family at the Nine Mile House, south of LaJunta. She had four children at the time I visited her, and her husband traveled with Kit Carson. She was a very fine woman and we always enjoyed visiting at her home. Mr. Farr lived in the Flagler area. Copied from an old copy of the Burlington Call, September 23, 1934. by Charles Farr FASSE - HUDLER FAMILY F198 Eugene Fasse remembers riding a horse or walking to school in the District 5 schoolhouse at the site where the town of Carlyle used to be before the railroad ceme through, and the people moved to Kanorado, Kan. The Fasses have farmed this land for over 50 years, and Gene has boyhood memories of finding broken dishes and remnants where some of the dugouts and foundations used to be. Gene's family moved here from Nebraska just in time to fight the dirt storms of the 1930's. Selling milk and eggs produced on the farm helped the family survive the sifting winds and harvest the bumper crops of the 1940's that put the farm back on its feet. Drilling one of the first irrigation wells in 1954 to help raise enough feed for the milk cows helped stave off the economic hardships of the red dirt storms of the 1950's. Sugar beets were planted for the first time in 1959 with beets and cattle becoming the mainstays of the operation for the next 25 years. In 1961 a Burllington girl, Adrienne Hudler, became a partner in the operation. Soon a son Ernie and daughter Francine were �up in the sky. We figured we would get home before it got here, but it hit while we were still in town, so we took the south road home. It wan so dusty and dark that I had to drive looking out the door at the grader ditch. I had the lights on and was just creeping along, when all at once we were in the middle of a bunch of cattle,lucky we never hit any. Some days when it was real bad the teacher in our school would keep the kids in the school until the parents would come and get them. Fowing up, and Adrienne started teaching junior high English in the Burlington school system in 1971. Ernie graduated from college in 1985 and is pursuing an advanced degree in mechanical engineering while Francine graduated in 1986 with an accounting major. In 1985 Francine married Greg Floerke, a petroleum engineer. by Adrienne Fasee In 1933, Elmer went back to eastern Nebraska and worked in the harvest a couple of weeks. Blfrieda stayed home and tended to chickens, milked 5 cows, and tried to raise FASSE, ELMER AND ELFRIEDA some garden stuff. My father was staying with us at that time, so Elfrieda was not alone. Our daughter, Doris, was born in 1929 F199 so Elfrieda had to look after her too. The year the grasshoppers were so bad I had a field of Elmer and Elfrieda Fasse with son, Eugene. taken in 1934. Brockmeyer, were moving out here at the Irrne time. We arrived here March 1, 1931. Our emigrant car was set on the sidetrack in Kanorado, Kansas. That way we did not have to pay to enter another state. It was a nice day to unload. We pulled a 4wheel trailer behind our Desoto touring car. In it we had several dozen laying hens and other things. We put the hens in what had been a chicken or hen house. A friend ofours, Rudolf Aeschliman, suggested we stay at his home until we could fix and clean up the house we were going to live in, so we stayed Elmer and Elfrieda Fasse and daughter Doris in front of their home. They moved here in 1931. there about a week. The old house had about all the window panes broken and rags were stuck in them. One even had a pillow in it. Plaster was off in places. The place had been rented, and no one ever fixed a thing. The first night we slept there we kept the kerosene Inmp lit, and once in a while a rat would peek out of the holes in the walls. We had no more than moved in when one of the worst blizzards we had ever experienced cAme. It was 30 degrees below zero, and strong north wind caused the snow to drift real badly. The was the storm when a school bus at Towner, Colorado, stalled in snow drifts and several kids froze to death. The storm lasted a couple of days and Elmer Fasse and his mules. In 1930, my father, Louis Fasse, purchased two 320 acre parcels of land, the North West 1/q sec29-8-42. On this quarter section there was a house and some sheds. The house was very run down. He also purchased the South East l/t sec20-8-42 and the West Yz sec 9-842.We loaded our belongings in an emigrant box car on the Rock Island Rail Road. Elfrieda and I farmed in Gage County, Nebraska, five years. So a John Deere D tractor, a John Deere 3-row lister, a John Deere 3-row weeder, a grass mower and hay rake were loaded in the emigrant car along with two families'household furniture, etc., as my sister Meta, and husband, Henry nights. The snow drifted through the cracks between the boards on the hen house so when the storm was over the snow was almost under the roosts where the hens were sitting. We thought they would surely quit laying eggs after hauling them so far and now this storm too, but they never slowed down at all. Elfrieda had brought along about 30 dozen eggs to play it safe, so she sold the eggs and bought groceries. In 1932, the dust storms started and got real bad for a few years. The dust csme in everywhere. Elfrieda would have to shake the dust out of the bed covers before we went to bed. The wind would subside some over night. Some days it would get dark as night. We had to light the kerosene lamps. One day we started to Burlington and way up north we could see on of those dust clouds rolling spring barley. Since it was ready to cut I set up the grain binder on the end of the field before dinner. Some say without me noticing it, my coin purse slipped out of my pocket and fell on the ground. When I cnme back after dinner, all that was left of the purse was the metal part, and the silver coins. The grasshoppers had eaten the leather and the paper bills. I doubt if there were too many bills in the purse as money was pretty scarce then. The following article was taken from the Burlington Record printed in 1933. A series of rabbit drives is doing much towards ridding the county of this destructive pest. Nearly every day a drive is held in some locality, but the one held north of Bethune Tuesday is the biggest yet. It is estimated that between 9,000 and 10,000 rabbits were killed that day. Fencing with extended wings were put up and the rabbits were driven into this enclosure. People would form lines on four sides all having to walk about the same distance towards the enclosure. No guns were allowed, everyone had a club of some sort, so the rabbits were clubbed to death. At one rabbit drive near Peconic, there were over 400 rabbits killed. The dead rabbits were sold to some pet good processing plant, 8 to 10 cents per rabbit was paid. Most of these drives were supervised by some clubs or organization. If it wasn't one pest it was another. One time the grey army worms moved through. They did not turn out for anything, crawled right up the sides of buildings, ate the foliage off weeds. Driving into Burlington one afternoon about 4:30, Highway 24 was just covered with worms, they were crawing north. In 1934, we took some stock cows to Albert Weinholts who lived on the Smokey River. The cows lived on thistles that grew on the dirt piles. When we took the cows there that spring some cows had little thistles coming up in their hair on their back; the hair was full of blow dust. In 1934, the grading was being done in highway 24. This was done byfarmers using 4 horse teams, who worked in the gravel pit in 8 hour shifts, 24 hours a day. Several kept their horses in our barn. Elfrieda cook for them, and charged 25 cents a meal. Some times there were ten men at the table. 6 or 7 men slept up stairs at night and ate 3 meals too. Due to poor or no crops and low prices times were really tough. The first year we farmed (1931), we planted over 400 acres corn, 320 acres on rented ground E,ast Vz 89-42. That year had fairly good moisture, so that fall the corn averaged 20 bushels per acre. We hired part of the corn picked, so after shelling and picking and other expenses �and selling the corn for 14 cents per bushel, we probably worked all summer for nothing. Wheat averaged 20 bushels per acre, price 20 cents per bushel. We hired a neighbor to combine it, who had a 20 foot pull type Holt combine. Then the dust storms got started with no rain or snow, so for several years no one raised very much. We never had much income or raised enough to sell, and my father could not make the payments to the Federal Land Bank, so he let the land go back to the Bank in 1939. So we moved to the Hugo Arnsmeier Farm in 1940. I had put the wheat out on this farm in the fall of 1939. Mrs. Arnsmeier, having lost her husband, had moved to Lincoln Nebraska. That year the wheat made 50 bushels per acre and was a good price, so we were able to purchase this % section. We lived on this farm till 1944, at which time we purchased the old place from the Federal Land Bank for $12.50 per acre. My father had paid $30 per acre in 1931. At that time the Federal Land Bank would only loan $7.50 per acre. We sold the Arnsmeier Farm in 1946, and moved back to where we lived in 1931. In 1934, Elmer wanted to purchase a few stock cows, so he went to see about a loan from the Bank ofBurlington, but was refused a loan. That year the Production Credit had some meetings and Elmer attended. He applied for a loan of $350. The loan was approved, so for geveral years we borrowed money from the PCA, for operating expenseg and also for purchasing land. In 1948 we had all our land paid for, also the PCA loans. Our daughter Doris had attended college, and in 1947 she was married to Bert Rice. They now live in Centrailia Washington. In 1948, Eugene was going to Burlington High School, so we rented the farm out for 3 years and moved to Burlington so Eugene could use all his energy studying and be close to home. We rented and have farmed the South East l/e 29-8-42 ever since 1945. This is the quarter section where the Town of Carlyse was located. There was no railroad then. When we first farmed there still was a dug out where there might have been a cave. Even now when we work the ground we turn up pieces of pottery or dishes. Eugene liked farm life, so he made this his life career. In 1954, we had our first irrigation well dug. This was also the Eugene joined the army, so Ma and Pa had some new experience irrigating. When Eugene was discharged from the service, we farmed together for several years. Eugene married Adrenne Hudler in 1961. We moved to Burlington in 1966. Eugene moved where we lived. We sold the farm to Eugene and Adrenne in 1979. We look back and marvel at how things have changed. It worries us to see all the pasture land being plowed up. There could very well be dust storms again as bad or even worse, if we have several dry years in succession. We are enjoying life and will be celebrating our 60th anniversar5r February 10, 1986. We are both in fairly good health and looking forward to more anniversaries. by Elmer & Elrieda Fasse FERGUSON - CHRISTIE FAMILY F200 Mitchell Clayton Christie was born September 23,1879 in Rosendale, Missouri. His mother Mary Eleanor Munkreus died when he was seven years old. His father Cyrus Christie and family then moved to Rexford, Ks, where they lived for three years before moving back to Missouri. He married Mamie O'Bright after Mary died. While living seven miles west of Rexford, the burned coal which they had to haul thirty miles from Oakley, Ks. Dad knew Mom's grandfather, Solomon Ferguson. He drove a span of milk cows and lived five miles west of Rexford, Ks. only two houses between them and Seibert. One bitter cold day Uncle Lonnie who lived with them, went to town to get coal. He was lucky to get some in rSeibert as Vona and Flagler had none. It was snowing and the snow drifted so deep making it very difficult for the horses to pull the load. Lonnie unloaded some of the coal and made it home just as Mitchell was pulling up fence posts to burn to keep warm. When it was about time for the first babv to be born, Dad went over to get Mattie Murphy while Lonnie went to town to get the doctor. The weather was terrible. the snow was drifted over the fences and it was 32 degrees below zero. Lonnie froze his ears. The surrey. doctor started out from town at noon and arrived at 5 in the afternoon. By this time Mattie had assisted with the birth and had taken care ofeverything. The doctor checked mother and baby and charged 917.00. He warmed up and went back to town arriving there at 2 a.m. They baby was born on December 29, 1911and nnmed Virginia Pearl. Four other children were to be born later. Fonest Coleman; Ernest Norris, married Hazel Johnson; Virgil Elmer, married Joy Moody; Mary Eleanor, married Charles Earl Allen of Seibert. Virginia married Lloyd Mullen. Mom, Ada Margaret Ferguson, came from Montrose, West Virginia with her mother, Louisa Bell Murphy Ferguson, and sisters, Elsie, Hazel, Allie, Nellie, Charity, Donna and Gladys. Grandmother Ferguson came dances (in later years Mary and Virgil played with him), he was quite good at it. He played once for a dance for Joe Anderson for 93.00. There were three single girls and Wes and Joe When Grandmother Mary Munkres first married Grandad Cyrus Christie, she ran away and went back to her own Dad's house. Her Dad, John Munkres, made her go back to her husband. Dad went to Colorado in 1908 and home- steaded L8 miles south of Seibert. His brother, Alonzo (Lonnie) Christie lived with him. Lonnie had a span of mules and an old west because of her health-she had asthma real bad. Later her husband Coleman came out and farmed a half section of land. Grandad Ferguson made several trips back and fourth to West Virginia. He did not like eastern Colorado very much but Grandmother had to stay because of allergies and asthma. Finally they got so bad that she moved with Gladys to Tolleson, Arizona and Grandad moved back to his beloved West Virginia. Dad met Mom at Ellis Murphy's house when she came out to the windmill to get water. Ellis (Mom's uncle) and Lou's house was a half dugout. Mom and Dad would go courting by going on buggy rides. Dad would buy a box of brown sugar and they would share the sweets. One day they were riding along and there was this big pile of black stuff. Not having seen anything like it in West Virginia, she asked what it was and Dad replied "That is Colorado coal." It was sheep manure piled up to be used for fuel. On December 25, 1910 Dad and Mom were married in Vona, Colorado by G.W. Snyder. Mom's sister Elsie and Dad's brother Lonnie were the witnesses. Theywent back to Mom's folks' house where they spent their wedding night. People from all around came to the house for a wedding dance. They drove horses and they had to put them in out of the cold so some had to be put in the chicken house. A few chickens escaped when they opened the door and they froze, so the next morning the were dressed and cooked for breakfast. Ada and Mitchell's first home was the sod Mitchell Christie played the fiddle for Anderson there, The farmers had a Farmers Protective Association to protect the range cattle. A man butchered a steer, so to have a little fun Dad said to Coleman Murphy, "Do you know why Al Hunkeford thinks Mr. ? did it? He traced him through the frost!" The man was stand- ing there and excitedly said, "That's a lie-there wasn't any frost!" He then realized that he had let the cat out of the bag. Except for three of four years around 1915 when the Christies lived in eastern Kansas, they lived south of Seibert until 1944. by Mrs. Virgil Christie FINLEY, ELMER AND KAROLINE KUGLER F201 My father, Ebner Burcher Finley, was born to Willinm and Mary Adeline Burcher Finley, August 4, 1880 in Belmont County, Ohio. His parents cnme from Green County, Pennsyl- house that Mitchell homesteaded in. It consisted of two 12 by 14 foot rooms with shaped boards bent at the ends for a roof. Then a layer oftar paper was laid on and then a layer of sod. They had a sod barn, one cos' and calfand 18 chickens. They also had a few pigs which they kept in a sod building and fed milo maize which they raised. There were Arthur, Francis, Jake, Floyd, Bob and Mary Finley riding on the Finley farm, in 1916. �musical talent. Most of us played by ear. Mother also taught music at home and one student I remember was Don Smith from Kirk. Brothers Arthur and Francis and I played for dances. Francis was a great violinist; Arthur played Banjo and guitar; I played piano. Literary at the Keckter School was always fun. We memorized poems, Bang songs, had plays, and box suppers. Sister Nellie and I always sang specials at church .,lr! r# l*r -r:. ELner and Carrie Finley's fanily in 1926: back row, left to right: Arthur, Francis, Carrie, Jake, Elmer, Floyd, Bob. Center row, left to right: Nellie, Mary, Eula. Front: Marjorie. lived in the barn until they finished building the adobe house. Noah Morris, a friend, brought the horses and mules from Nebr. on the train to Colorado for my Dad. Morris later lived at Idalia, Colorado. Mary started school in Nebraska before the move to Colorado. There were nine of us children. The five youngest, Francis, Arthur, myself, Nellie and Marjorie, were born on the homestead. Granny Gleaves, as I remember her called, was the lady who helped my Carrie Finley with the sheep on the home place in 1932 when she was 55. vania, where William was born. Elmer had one sister Blanch and one brother Forrest who died at two years old from a fire accident. My mother was born to George and Karoline Schneider Kugler on October 13, 1877 in Sheffield, Illinois. Her parents had come from Hsmburg, GermanY. TheY met and married in New York, and moved to lllinois. Carrie had five brothers - George, Louis, William, John and Alex. In the late 1800's my Kugler grandparents moved to Superior, Nebraska where my parents, Carrie and Elmer, were married June 12, 1900. They lived near Superior, Nebraska at Oxford, where their first four children were born - Mary, Bob, Floyd and Jake. In approximately 1905 my Finley grandparents came to Colorado. Their homestead was 3 miles west and 1/z mile south of Kirk, Yz mile south of the Young brothers farm in Yrrma County. My father' Elmer, came to Colorado and took a homestead in 1907 in Kit Carson County, 17-% miles north and 1 and Vz miles east of Vona. Our place was bordered on the north by Yuma County - location section 1 - Township 6 - Range 48. My father first built a barn. Oldest sister Mary tells me when they came to Colorado on the train, she remembers Dad coming onto the train to meet them, my mother, and 4 children, Jake the baby at that time. They mother deliver the last five of us. My mother was a midwife and delivered many babies in the area during the 1920's and 1930's. The neighbors adjoining us were, to the north, Eligah Coleman, Clyde Coleman's parents. I cannot remember Clyde's Mother's name, but the Coleman's ran the central (telephone) office. To the northwest were Alva (Buck) and Ethel Crist, with their children, Faye, Cecil, Heron, Elizabeth and Philip. Calkins lived on the east and Atwoods on the southeast. In later years my Dad owned the Atwood Farm after they moved away. Ira and Rosy Crist, two daughters Sarah and Susie, along with Lawrence Crist lived to the south of us. To the southwest were William and Emma Seaman. Emma's mother, Permelia McHenry, had her own house in their yard. The Seaman children were Pearl, Chester, Orville, Dave, Florence, Avirene and Bertha. My older brothers and sister attended school S- % miles west at the Floegelle School. August Carlstedt was a teacher there. We all later attended Seaman School. I have been told it was earlier called Pioneer School. The school was 1-% miles south and % mile west of our house. Helen Klassen was a dear teacher and friend and I believe a great influence on all of us kids. Helen Herrell and John Weaver also taught there. We always went to Sunday school. My mother taught Sunday school for many years. It was held at the Seaman School and the Boone School west of Kirk. Music and literary was our entertainment. My family was fortunate to all be born with and Christmas programs . . . Nellie being a natural alto. For Christmas Mother knitted our mittens, made sweaters for the boys and rag dolls for the girls. She sewed shirts and overalls for the boys, and dresses for the girls. Our Christmas stockings she made from old lace curtains with red linings. My best memories are of everyone coming home for holiday dinners. Mother always baked a tiered cake for Christmas. The bottom was a large fruit cake, the next - chocolate, the next - marble, with a wonderful white cake at the top. All of this with white coconut frosting. We had a big garden. Usually on good Friday my Dad had us all out planting potatoes. We did raise lots of potatoes and watermelon. Mother canned vegetables and made jams and jellies. In the Fall we butchered several hogs, and my parents cured the hams. My Dad would take a load of corn to Vona and come back with supplies such as several sacks of flour, coffee, 100 pounds of sugar, and staples intended to last the Winter. In the Spring of 1931 my Father became ill. Dr. Virgil Hewitt came out from Vona and treated him. On Friday April 17, 1931 Dr. Hewitt and Mr. Monroe, a depot agent in Vona, came and took my Dad to Denver. Brother Bob went along. On Saturday he had surgery. His gall bladder had already ruptured. He died on Sunday morning, April 19, 1931. The funeral was held in our home. Mother Carrie stayed on the farm; we lived through the hard years and drought of the 30's with a few cattle, a little corn and feed. In the early 40's Mother rented the homestead to Pat McCart, later to Gus Schreiner, and in 1959 sold to Lloyd and Opal Klassen, whom she loved so much. Lloyd and Opal Klassen still own our homestead along with the Atwood place. Mother moved to Seibert, Colorado. She bought a house across from the Reorganized Latter Day Saint Church, which she owned when she died. She spent some time with me, then with Mary at Eckley, Colorado. She was in Renotta Nursing Home in Wray, Colo., then to Burlington where Chris and Helen Klassen cared for her. She died in Burlington, June 25, 1964 ofCoronary thrombosis and kidney failure. Our oldest sister, Mary Caroline, was born October 20, 1901, in Superior, Nebraska and lives in Eckley, Colorado. Robert George was born September 2L,1903, in Oxford, Nebraska and died February 25, 1967. Floyd William was born March 9, 1905, at Oxford, Nebraska and died September 13, 1956. Jake Schneider was born March 2,1907, at Oxford, Nebraska and died February 25,t967. Francis Jay was born May 20, 1909 near Kirk, Colorado and died October 18. 1966. Arthur Elmer was born November 25, L9L2 at Vona, Colorado and died October 23. L973. Euladine Lucille was born February 16, 1915 north of Vona and is living today in South Dakota. Nellie Lorraine was born February 24, 1917 north of Vona and died December 30, 1968. Marjor- �ie Juanita was born November 7, 1920, at Vona and died October 16, 1979. by Eula Finley Browning FISHER - STRODE FAMILY F202 In 1887 Stephen Strode and wife Hannah came from Missoui bringing their family of five girls and one boy to this country in a covered wagon, making their homest€ad east of Flagler, Colorado. Their youngest daugh- the National Directory Co. which has become a national company. In the depression I was going broke in the newspaper business. With Bonny Gaunt (Gould) as a partner and fiUing station man Joe Kaufman as field man we stanted in Lincoln County, Colorado. We eventually covered parts of seven states with more than 25,000 sponsor-advertisors. We had, 42 workers in the field and 14 in the 10,000 spectators. In the years of 1938-40-41 I launched newspapers at Flemming and Craig, Colorado. During World War II I spent 38 months all over the Pacific. I had learned to fly in Haxtun, Colorado in 1919. I aleo sailed the sea. While in the Pacific I managed the creation of the book Hawaiian Mernories. I managed the Arno School of Music and homestead. Albert grew to manhood working for large took a sabbatical. I had three helper teachers. I then proceeded to form the Plains Conservatoire, with many schools and more than 400 students. Students from 8 to 58 years studied piano, any instrument, vocal and drsmslis. Hundreds still acclaim it as great. Januar5r, 1897. He was the second person buried in the Seibert Cemetery. On May 6, 1903 Stella Strode and A.C. Fisher were married at Flagler where they both proved up on homesteads. They were one of the first to breed up an Aberdeen Angus herd in this area. To this union three children were born Marguerite, October 30, 1904, deceased October 2, L979.Ida, April 10, 1908, and Weston, "Buck", August 14, 1910. Stella passed away May 18, 1953, and Albert on January 10, 1959. "Buck" still lives on the original homestead. In 1906, the Gwyn family ceme to Flagler from Decatur, Nebraska. In 1918, they returned to Nebraska. In 1921, James Gwyn returned to Flagler and worked for the late C.J. Farr. On October 16, 1924, he was married to Ida Fisher. b" Id" R. Gwyn FITZPATRIC, V. S. F203 I, V.S. Fitzpatric, arrived in Seibert, Kit Carson County, on September 20, 1920. I last dwelt there in the summer of 1952. My age was 34 when I cnme and 66 when I left. During those years I had tried to "fill each hour with sixty minutes of living." The following are a resume of my life's activities. I helped to start the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Seibert, Colorado. We formed and trained a town band in the 1920's. The town had a big auction to raise money to equip the band. It was a great success attending Denver's annual music week. Seibert and Ft. Collins tied for first. I rescued the local newspaper as it was22 weeks behind on publication. A country club was organized which included rural people. Was elected mayor four times. The Plainsman' Association w{ur founded which promoted summer fallowing and other practices. Membership covered parts of seven states with over 7,000 memberg. I founded by V.S. Fitzpatric FLAGEOLLE, HENRY, JR. printing plant. We "farmed out" work to other printers. The exciting event was starting "Days of the Old Wegt." A replica of a real Indian massacre was staged with 432 actors, 16 covered wagons, 140 mounted Indians, and ter, Stella, started teaching school as soon as she was old enough. Part of the time she rode horseback to school using a side saddle, which her daughter still has. Lafayette Fisher and his son Albert, or A.C. Fisher, came here from Wisconsin in 1887. When the oldtimers first came here it was necessar5/ to ride into Denver to file on their cattle outfits of the area. Lafayette passed away at his home Northeast of Seibert in hand, cowboy, civil engineer and newspaper editor before coming to Seibert. Dramatic Art in Denver while the owners I traveled to South Africa and went far inland as a member of the ship's orchestra. In 1952 I toured Europe and the Mediterranean countries, I was sent to Paris as a delegate to the world convention of American Veterans'Committee to try to make it world wide. In 1955 I joined the "uranium rush" twice going to South America as a consultant or representative of some company member of the National Minerals and Research. I then beca-e a congultant for a mining group with world wide membership. I wrote, researched and had published three books on The Last Frontier. It is now out of print and the last copies of Volume One sold for $200 each. I have been hospitalized seven times and have been within seconds and inches of death. People love to say "My you have had wonderful health." At the present time I continue to publish at intervals ofabout two or three months, 100 page books about unusual persons and unusual events along his "road of life." The title of these books is The Back Trail. I am in my 101st year and eat three square meals of plain food, sleep like a baby and awake full of pep for the day's work - and I do work every day, often 12-15 hours. My father was born in Belfast, Ireland, and was a mineralogist and miner. He came eastward to England, South Africa, India, Australia, Hawaii, Canada, California, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota and Georgetown, Colorado where he metand married my mother. She was a companion to a wealthy mine owner'e daughter and had come from London to New York and then to Georgetown, Colorado. At the age of 8 months I went with the family to the homestead our father had taken on Lay Creek, about 20 miles west of where Craig, Colorado later came. This was the last frontier of the United States. I was a ranch F20,4 And IIis Descendants The following information is offered for Charles Louis Flageolle and Gerald Joseph Flageolle. Their story begins with the same Henry Flageolle I spoke of in my story about John S. Flageolle. John S. and Henry Jr. were brothers. The following are the people on this branch of the family tree: Henry Flageolle, Jr. born May 22, t860, in Bay City, Michigan, and Marie Fountaine, born October 6, 1866, whom he manied September 8, 1885. Henry died February 9, 1952 and Marie on February 9, 1945. Ulalia, their eldest daughter, born January 15, 1887 at Jefferson, South Dakota married Mike Balanga (Magloire Balanger) on January 17, 1905. Mike, born on September 3, 1876, at Jefferson, South Dakota algo, and Ulalie are buried at Stratton. Ulalie died January 28, 1958, and Mike July 10, 1961. Charles Louis Flageolle was born in Jefferson, South Dakota, March 26, 1899, and his wife Amerila Marie Wieber, whom he married April 18, L922, was born on May 27, 1902. Henry and Marie moved their family by train to Wray, Colorado from Jefferson, South Dakota in 1907. They cn'ne with seven children, furniture, farm eqipment, a covered wagon, cows, hogs, horses, and chickens. Their oldest daughter, Ulalie was married and had a daughter of her own. She and her husband Mike cnme also. Henry's family lived in their covered wagon and a tent until they had built a sod house. The soddie was finished in 1908. Water was a problem for 4 years. It had to be hauled 6 miles from a ranch. Wells had to be dug over a hundred feet before there was water. Once water was reached there was a good 14 feet of that precious liquid. After the soddie was completed a cowshed was built of lumber and soap weeds. A horse barn and pig pen were built next. The children worked hard as well as the adults but they didn't have to go to school the first year so the work didn't seem so bad. There was a school opened 3 miles from the homestead the second year they were there. The school was one large room which was for all eight grades. One of the homesteader's wife was the teacher. The soddie was enlarged after the well was dug. Tbo bedrooms and a kitchen were added to the eoddie. Henry Jr. bought a Model T Ford while they lived on the homestead. It only had room for two people on the seat and was open on both sides with a cloth top and no windshield. In 1919 Henry Jr. moved the family to Heartstrong, Colorado where he operated a blacksmith shop. Again in 1921 Henry Jr. moved the family to Stratton, Colorado. He eventually bought six corner lots on the main highway on which he located a large howe, afillingstation, and five cabins. Marie did the book work for the two businesses and kept �the cabins in order as well as plant a garden and tpnd to the housekeeping. In 1936 Henry in the community to go for the things that they needed. They would buy machinery together like threshers and steam engine because one farmer could not buy one by and Marie retired and moved to Denver, Colorado. Their children were Ulalie, Mandy, Lizzy, wilhelm, Louise, Charles, David, and himself. They did all their harvesting together. They would buy a good stud and would share it with each other. When they discontinued the church in this community the bodies were moved to Calvary cemetery at Stratton. This is where John and Lavina are buried. Descendents of John and Lavina still living in Kit Carson County are Richard Flageolle, Angela Isenbart, Diane Miller, Vickie Cure, Jack Brachtenbach, Larry Brachtenbach, Denny Brachtenbach and their children. Pat. Ulalie and Mike Balanga farmed in various places north of Stratton aftcr they left their homestead. They lived in Stratton after they retired from farming. They raised 14 children: Florence, Lawrence, Cecelia, Mildred, Mary, Ruben, David, Louise, Ed, Therese, Anna Marie, Bertha, Dorothy, and Mike. Ulalie and Mike engaged in lively games of checkers in their spare time. They were their grandson Gerald's godparents and a deep mutual love existed between them and Gerald. There was always a bed waiting for Gerald anytime he cared to occupy it and in turn any thing he could do for them he did. Gerald remembers when he was young trying to get all the burrs out of his grandpa's favorite horse's trail. He was so thorough that when he was finsished what had been a beautiful flowing taill was a pitiful mess. Mike would have skinned alive anyone else for having done such a thing but since it was Gerald who had done the terrible deed, he laughed and let it pass. Charlie and Amelia Flageolle lived on his parent's homestead whom they were first mauied. They moved from there to various places, finally moving to Stratton around 1930. Charlie was the custodian at St. Charles Church and school until sometimes in 1937. While he was thus employed, he also started repairing shoes and later even sold cars in Burlington.During this time his children were busy also. Vera recalls when her cousin Anna Marie coached her for plays the children gave in their backyard. For one performance Vera was dressed in old clothes and had dirt all over her face while ehe recited, "Here I stand all ragged and dirty, and if a boy kissed me I would run like a turkey". Charlie moved his family to Denver in 1937. They returned to Stratton for awhile. Eventually in 1956 Charlie and Amelia bought a farm near Kiowa. They now live in Denver, Colorado. by Laura M. Flageolle FLAGEOLLE, JOHN AND LAVINA F206 John S. Flageolle was born on February 22, 1857 in Lansing, Michigan. He was a freighter for several years from Council Bluffs and Sioux City, Iowa through the Black Hills of South Dakota to parts of Montana and Minnesota. John hauled freight with a six mule hitch. They were small mules but were strong and faet. The Indians called him "The rat freighter" becauee of his emall tenm. He would haul supplies for the homesteaderg and sometimes even the Indians. He always had to have some whiskey and tobacco to trade with the fudinnn. One of his favorite past times was sitting and telling his grandchildren of his long hauls with a tenm and wagon and variow encountere with the Indiane. One tine they were traveling early in the morning when they saw a young squaw on the river bank washing her clothes. One of the men by Ruth Brachtenbach Robinson FLAGEOLLE, JOHN S. F206 Descendants John S. and Lavina Flageolle. As other frontiers were conquered, people turned to Eastern Colorado, an area passed riding horseback rode down and attacked the land brought them to this last frontier. squaw. He left her and rode back to the wagon Owning land gives people a strong sense of independence even though at times it would seem the land owns them. Working the land is always demanding. The conditions which by until the latc 1800's. Then the offer of free train. The wagon train kept traveling and in the early morning they were surrounded by Indians. The Indians asked "Big John" as he was called for the man who attacked the squaw. They said they would not harm anyone else or bother them, they only wanted the quality man. The Indians took the man and scalped him and left him. He died a short time later and they buried him and went on for the freight. He said the Indians would not harm them if they did not try to cheat them and respected their rights and customs. John also helped survey for the railroads and help plot several towns in the Dakotas and Nebraska. John and his first wife had two children, William and Pearl. Her name was Anna Homer and she died before he moved to Colorado. He came to Colorado to homestead with a tenm and wagon. He came with his second wife, Lavina, she was born in Oct or Jun 20, 1858. John and Lavina had 5 children, Ester, Ralph, Grace, John and Alvie. William moved out ahead of his father to homestead also and Pearl stayed in Jefferson, South Dakota. John and his family moved 17 miles north and l-r/z west of Vona, known as the Brownwood community. He received his patent on the SE% S4-T6S-R48 on September 21, 1912 and another patent on the SW% of S3-T6S-R48 on June 13, 1913. He built a sod house to start and later on built a frame house. They went into Haigler, Nebraska to haul lumber to build the home and other buildings. He raised wheat and corn and cattle and the usual garden to support themselves. John had a good life and made a home for his family here until February 28, 1930 when he moved to Stratton. He passed away in July 9, 1944. His wife Lavina died March 27, L94L. There was a mass held in a church once a month at the Brownwood community and the priest came out from Stratton by horse and buggy. On October 12, 1917 John deeded 3 acres ofland in SE% of S3-T6S R48 for the Catholic church and cemetery. John S. Flageolle was the person exist in Eastern Colorado make these demands extremely difficult. Yet many of the homesteaders made the area their home as have many of their descendants. Of concern to me are the following people: John Sylvest- er Flageolle, born February 22, L857 at Lansing, Michigan and his wife Louvina Jane Homer, born June or October 20, 1858 at Menominee, Wisconsin. Louvina died March 31, 1941 and John S. July 13, 1944. Both are buried at Stratton, Colorado. John Rudolph Flageolle, born April 18, 1900 at Jefferson, South Dakota, married Mary Agatha Balanga, born January 6, 1914, north of Vona, Colorado, on January 10, 1931. John R. died January t, L97L and is buried at Stratton. Gerald Joseph Flageolle, born Januar5r 22, 1933, atVona, Colorado married Laura Marie Sawyer, born June 19, 1934, at Oelwein, Iowa, on May 25, L957. Victoria Lynn Flageolle, born June 20, 1959 in Denver, Colorado, married Denis Dean Cure, born November 27, 1954 at Flagler, Colorado, on June 9, 1979. Eastern Colorado could be likened to an island in its geographic isolation an island caught in a time and culture lag. The boundaries of this island were the Platte River to the north, the Arkansas River to the south, the Rocky Mountains to the west, and Kansas to the east; an area around which people had gone as they followed the Oregon Trail and the Sante Fe Trail; a last frontier left to the Indians until the white men had to have this land, too. This area of Colorado had been known as the Great American Desert since 1820. There were some two hundred square miles of arid, treeless, limited short grass upland with a few strenms and these few streams often had no water in them. It was observed that buffalo had done well on the prairie grass; why then wouldn't cattle? The desert concept began to change to the newer concept that land was good for growing grass. Sheep, horses, and �cattle could be raised successfully on the grass but the land was too dry for crops. However, the 160 acres a rancher owned and located his ranch buildings on weren't sufficent to feed large numbers of stock. It was the open grazing range which made ranching feasible. Just as the ranchers had replaced the Indians, the homesteaders began to replace the ranchers. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided 160 acres (a quarter section) to anyone 21 years or older, who was a citizen of the United States or who intended to become a citizen, who would live on the said claim for five years and improve it. The quarter section could be bought for $1.25 an acre, which did away with the five year residence requirement. If the terms were met the land patent was issued at the end of five years, giving the homesteader title to the land. The homesteaders had help in displacing 87 the ranchers. The bitter winter of 1886 hit the ranchers hard, killing large numbers of stock. A new invention which made the manufacture of barbed wire at low cost possible, allowed homesteaders to fence their land effectively. These barbed wire fences cut up what had been open grazing land. Homes- teaders were often forced to abandon their claims, due to periodic droughts, grasshoppers, hail, blizzards, or their inability to cope with the isolation. But in place of those who left, others cnme and many more stayed fragmenting the ranchers more and more. Thus my story begins! Henry Flageolle left Montreal, Canada and entered the United States by way of Michigan with his wife Eulalia in 1846. Their son John Sylvester was born in Lansing, Michigan in February of 1847. Another son, HenryJr., was born in Bay City, Michigan in May of 1860. They moved on to Jefferson, South Dakota where several French families settled. Eulalia died in 1862 and is buried in Jefferson. Henry and Eulalia had three daughters and two sons. Henry spent the rest of his life in Jefferson, where he was a blacksmith and vet. He died in 1926. He had remarried and raised a second family before his death. John S. was a successful freighter and contractor owning a hundred wagons and tenms. He built roads thru the Black Hills and built trestles, grades and bridges for the railroad. He also ran a freight line. Henry Jr. was a blacksmith and vet as his father had been. John S. sold out his business around 1900. In the year 1900 he made his first trip to Colorado. He found land in Kit Carson County which he liked. He returned to Jefferson, South Dakota to inform his family of his success in finding land he thought was worth homesteading. In 1904. John S. returned to Kit Carson County with his son William, who was old enough to file a homestead claim and a younger son Ralph. John S. and William filed their claims in Hugo, Colorado for quarter sections in Township 6 R 48 between Cope and Vona. John S. had also brought with him two pine treee which he planted on his claim. Nick Brownwood had a section of land in the same township on which he had built and operated a general store. Nick allowed the men who homesteaded in Township 6 R48 to build a large community building on his section. The building was used for community functions and meetings. It also served as a church until one was built. Until the building was completed the men slept in tents andwagons. Upon completionof the building the men slept and ate inside it. Each day thereafter the men went out to a claim site to build a house for whoever was going to live there. This was done until each man had a house on his claim. Thus, when they returned with their families, there was a house waiting for them. Since there was no timber available the housee that were built at this time were made with sod. The sod was obtained by ploughing furrows. The sod turns in thick, root-matted strips that are cut into chunks a foot and a half long. After the first layer is laid the next layer is laid grass side down, seeing that the joints don't match up, so each sod piece overlapped the two pieces below, much the same as you would do with bricks. Wide eaves were left when the roof was put on so the rain would not wash the sod down. The roof was a layer of sod. Poles placed in the middle of the soddie helped support the roof and with blankets hung from them served as room dividers. The soddie itself was one big room about 14 feet by 24 f.eet. The homesteaders who csme out at this time left some open acres when they filed their claims to afford grazing land and to keep the land from blowing away after it had been ploughed. A township consisted of 36 sections. Ofthose 36 sections, section 16 and 36 were left aside for the support of public schools. They were commonly called "school gections." This land could be rented or leased; the money generated was put into the state's school fund. As later homesteaders came the open land was claimed. A section was one mile square. Thus a township was 36 square miles. In 1906, John S. made the big move to Colorado with his family and all their possessions. His first wife Anna had died some time before. They had two children, Pearl and William. He had remarried, marrying his wife Anna's sister Louvinna who had been married before also. John S. and Louvinna had five children of their own, Ralph, Ester, Grace, John R. and Alvie. John S. and Louvinna loaded their children, all their husband, Charles Homer, Louvinna's father, was gone from home for long periods of time. Louvinna had lived between two haystacks with her mother, her sister Anna and the rest of the children, a cow, and the rest of the things they had been able to carry from their house before a prairie fire had destroyed the house and everything around them. The haystacks had been left when the harvesting crews had gone through. The crews that worked the harvest had lived between the stacks with canvas stretched between them to form a tent. The area round the stacks had been backploughed to form a fire break. Louvinna had a remarkable memory. She kept a journal after she moved to Colorado. In it she wrote the dates the mares would foal, the cows would calf, etc. She also would enter a few personal notes once in awhile. One such entry went something like this: "Today is Valentines Day. It doesn't look like anyone is going to remember, so I will write myself a verse." Then she proceeded to write a poem. She, too, made do in so many ways. Life for the homesteader wasn't easy. They had to hunt their own meat, grind their owrr corn, doctor their own sick and bury their own dead. They learned quickly the sound of a rattle snake and what to do when thatbuzz was heard. Money was something most homesteaders didn't have. When something had to be bought, he would work for the money if he could or find some commodity to sell. Butter, cream and eggs were cash commodities. So were bones. By 1886 buffalo had been virtually made extinct by the hide and tongue hunters. Their bones, however, could be found scattered across the prairie a decade after they had ceased to roam those same prairies. These bones were ground and used for fertilizer. Homesteaders would gather a wagon full of bones and take them to a railroad town to collect cash for them. The bones were shipped back east to fertilizer plants. As a result of John S.'s move to Colorado, family and friends moved to the area also. His brother Henry moved his family by train to Wray, Colorado in 1907. Henry and his wife possessions plus his wagons, livestock, fancy buggy, and matched team of fancy horses Marie brought their children and all their belongings with them to a homestead in Township 6 R48. Their oldest daughter onto the train for the ride to Vona, Colorado. At Vona they disembarked for their home- their infant daughter to a homestead in stead. Once on the homestead all available hands were put to work. A well had to be dug, a barn built to protect their livestock from wild animals, a chicken house had to be built, fences put up to keep stock out of places they shouldn't get into, and ploughing had to be done and crops planted. They may have been crowded inside the soddie but when the work had to be done there weren't too many hands. John R. and Alvie were only six and four but since there was no wood to burn they were old enough to gather cow and sheep chips to burn. They were also old enough to chase the chickens away from places where they didn't belong and to bring in the cattle when older people were busy doing other things. Digging the well was a problem because they had to go so deep for water, over 100 feet. It was a couple of years or more before the well was completed. There was a good 14 feet of water once it was reached. Louvinna was well suited to this kind of life for she had been raised by a mother, Martha Curtis, who knew how to make do while her Ulalie and her husband Mike moved alsowith Township 6 R48. A married sister and family came, as did uncles and cousins. It wasn't long until Township 6 R48 was a third populated with relation of John S. Flageolle. For John S. Flageolle what had looked like a good investment turned out to be a bad one. He had come to Kit Carson County to retire. He watched most of his investment blow away during the dry years. He wasn't alone; there were many like him. He stayed anyway as have some of his descendants. John R. stayed with the land all his life except for a few years spent in retirement in Stratton. He married Mary Balanga and they raised 13 children: Alfred, Gerald, Rose, Robert, Angie, David, Lorena, Donald, Doris, Diane, Jane, Mark, and Gregory. Of these 13 children, only Angie and Diane still live in Kit Carson County. John R. farmed in several areas north of Stratton. As his children reached school age, he began to think of moving closer to town so that school would be accessible. In 1947, John and Mary bought 400 acres of land 3 miles north of Stratton. He farmed the land. �raised hogs and chickens, and kept from 25 to 30 milk cows. He sold cream to the FLAGEOLLE, WILLIAM AND crenmery. For a period of about three years, Town- ship 6 R48 had a Catholic Church and a PAULINE cemetery. Someone would got to Vona and bring Fr. Keifer to the church for Sunday mass, or to officiate at weddings, Batisims, or funerals. The church was abandoned when I.207 St. Charles Catholic Church was built in Stratton around 1910. John R. Flageolle transfened the bodies in the cemetery to the cemetery in Stratton in 1935, at the request of Fr. Munich, the parish priest. Gerald J. Flageolle has many fond memories ofhis father John R. and his grandfather John S. The boredom of milking cows wag relieved by his father's stories and old songs. His grandfather lived with them for a time after Louvinna's death. He would walk into town after the noon meal to play cards or checkers with the group of retired men who met each day down town. Then he would walk home again when school was over. Gerald would walk with him and list€n to the stories he would tell about the places he had been, the things he had done and the people he had met. Gerald lived in Kit Carson County until he went into the Air Force in 1953. William and Pauline on their wedding day. Gerald J. Flageolle's daughter, Vickie, maried Denis Cure and lives a mile north of Pauline (Wynn) Flageolle was born in 1894 in South Dakota. Her father, stepmother, two sisters, one brother and one half-sister moved to Colorado from Jefferson, South Dakota in 1908. William and Pauline were manied in raise hogs and sheep. Joehua is aheady active helping with chores on the farm and is active 1910. They had 5 children. Stratton, just off the Kirk highway. They have five boys: Joshua, Kevin, Douglas, Bradley and Eric. They farm the land, and in 4-H. Kevin is beginning to help with the farm chores. Douglas, Bradley, and Eric enjoy following their father around as he works and accompanying him in the truck. They think the farm life is the only life. The descendants of John S. are still a part of Kit Carson County. They live an work to fullill the sn'ne kind of goals their ancestors had eighty years ago. The land was free, the investmentwas hard work, and the homesteader was his own boss. He lived on hope . . . hope for sufficent moisture, hope that they could survive the winter storms. Someone once said, "East€rn Colorado wag one ofthe wonders ofthe world. Wonder anyone's here. I cnme here with nothing and still have it. We live on air, water . . . when we can get it, and good times." Eastern Colorado was a last frontier. There are some people who need a challenge, who meet that challenge and don't back down no matter what the coet to themselves. There are people who don't know how to live any other way. Surely these are the people of Eastern William and Pauline and family. Catherine is not in this picture. Back row L to R: Pearl, Richard, Ruth. Front row: Willio-, Archie and Pauline. William Flageolle, son of John and Anna Flageolle was born on July 29, 1886 at Council Bluffs, Iowa. He came to Colorado in 1906 to homestead in the Brownwood community 1672 miles north of Vona, Colorado. William's dad, John Flageolle, homesteaded a farm north and one east of the William's farm. We would have terrible tornadoes every summer. Dad would send us all to the cellar and he would stand on the top step and raise the door a little to tell us what was blowing away. One time the tornado picked up a colt and dropped it in the horse tank. Another time Dad was farming with six horses and some dark clouds came up and he no more than got home when the storm hit one and killed it. They used a horse and buggy to go to Mass at Stratton, and to get supplies in town. Dad was caught in a blizzard and never got home until real late at night one time and when he Colorado. Unless we know where we came from, something about the road we traveled as people, how can we know who we are and where we are going? Because I feel this way, I have gathered togetherthe information that precedes. Eastern Colorado is where my children's grandparents chose to make their home. Their story is my story too, because it is everyone'e story who had grandparents who were in the United States in the 1?00's and 1800's. A frontier is a frontier, whenever or wherever it is happening. by Laura M. Flageolle William Flageolle standing by his sod house on the homestead. �did he was alnost frozen to death. My folks rented a house in town across from the Catholic church and sent the children to the Catholic echool. My father interest in the affairs of the community. He was never too busy to lend aid to a worthy cause or to someone in need. During World War II, he served as the Red Cross officer for stayed on the farm during this time. They the Kit Carson County area. He was a member of the school board for 15 years, 1930 and then they moved to a farm north of served on the city council of Burlington and was active in the Burlington Rotary Club. lived in the Brownwood co-munity until Stratton. They moved to Minnesota for 4 years but decided it wae too cold and moved back to a farm one mile north and one mile west of Stratton. They lived there until Willinm's death on August 3, 1951. Archie stayed with Mother for one month after Dad's death to help get ready for a sale. Mother moved to Denver and lived with Catherine and worked in a Rainbow Bakery for 10 years. After she retired she bought some acreage in Parker, Colo. and built a house and retired. She still residee in her own home at the age of 93. When they lived on the homestead, my dad only lived just a V, mile north of the Brownwood store so he would to to Vona, Seibert or Burlington to haul supplies back to the store for Mr. Brownwood. Later he sold out to people that cnme from Holland. Their name was Fred Loppstra. They had a child that was sick when they came over and he had to stay in Holland. I do not know if he lived or not. They went to Chrietian Endeavour Church which was also in that community. The school house was about 1/z mile west of the store. Fred Loppstra sold the store in the 30's after most of the eettlers left their land because of drouth or lost it to delinquent taxes. He ca-e back years later and looked up my father at Stratton and asked him if he knew where any of the people had gone or if some still lived around here. He said that my father did not owe him any money but if he could find some of the people they might pay gome to clear the debt. The ledger was quite large. I don't know if he ever go any money from anyone. Most people just gave up and left for the city and got jobs in factories or somewhere and had juet enough to live. So the 30's were hard on everyone. Archie lives and works in Denver Colo. Richard is retired and lives in Stratton, Colo. Pearl lives in Denver, Colo. Catherine lives in Parker, Colo. Ruth liveg in Chappell, Nebraska. William and Pauline received a patent on their homestead on March 3, 1913 signed by William Taft. The legal description of the land is SWYr and SE% of S15 T6S R48. Richard and Dorothy Flageolle, Jack Brachtenbach, Larry Brachtpnbach and Denny Brachtenbach and their children are the only family of William that are etill in Kit Carson County. Dr. Flatt maried Bernice Hartstine in 1928. Tbo children were born to them, William Stanley and Cynthia Jane. They also raised a nephew, Jack Dillon who cnme to live with them at the age of four years. Dr. Glenn S. Flatt was born on Januar5r 3, 1899 and died on November 1, 1952. After Glenn died Bernice taught in the Burlington School system and received her degree by attending summer school. After retiring she helped teach refugee families English and was active in several community organizations. Bernice was born on March 10, 1903 and died in January of L977. by Bill Flatt After our marriage we lived with his parents south of Vona until we established our own farm which was located 12 miles south of Vona. It was difficult to make a living farming. Our income wae made by growing crops, cattle, and selling creo- and eggs. After our first three boys were born, Ray had to leave one winter and work in the oil fields in Texag to supplement our income. I stayed home with the boys and took care of the cattle, horseg, and chickens. We lived on the farm until 1936 when we moved to Vona. At this time Ray becane Poetmaster of the Vona Post Office. In 1949 he became a mail carrier until his retirement in 1970. During these years we had 11 children: Leon, (deceased); Merl, (manied Hazel Thompson); Pat, (married Nina Lou Walker); Jack, (deceased, married Peggy); Ramon, (deceased); Jo Ann, (married Kenneth Pickard); Mary Lou, (married Roch Luebbers); Colleen, (deceased); Kay, (married Bill Crum); Carol, (mauied Art Taylor); and Linda (married George Card). Atthis writing there are 29 grandchildren and 25 gteat- FORD - MOHR FAMILY grandchildren. by Ifarriet Ford F209 In 1912 my parents, Fred and DeEtta Mohr, my brother, Bill and I moved to Kit Carson County. We boarded an immigrant car at Corsica, South Dakota. We brought with us all of our personal belongings, 8 horses and 6 cows. Our homestead was located 2 miles NE of Vona. We lived in a 2 room sod house and my father farmed. During this time I remember many visits from gypsy caravans. They would travel from farm to farm and town to town and beg. FRANKFATHER, CLAY AND DACY F210 In the coming years my parents had 6 more children, Henry, Gladys, Mildred, Lester, Myrna, and Betty. All of the above are deceased except for Myrna and Betty, who now reside in California. We attcnded school in Vona, walking 2 miles each way every day. I also belonged to 4-H and Bertha Wear was the 4-H leader. Our main transportation during those years were horges. They were much more than working animals though, they were also beloved pets. Eventually my father decided to quit farming and opened a Harness and Shoe Repair Shop in Vona on Main Street. A Crenmery was added later, At this time Vona congigted of 2 hotels, 2 cafea,2 grocery stores, a livery stable, hardware store, a bank, drug store and post office. by Ruth Brachtenbach Robingon In 1908 Pat and Julia Ford moved their family to Kit Carson County from South FLATT FAMILY F208 to a homegtead south of Vona. During this time, Pat Ford worked for the Rock Island Railroad and ran a butcher shop before Dr. Glenn S. Flatt was a native of the moving to the farm. Pat and Julia had 4 children, Clair, Giles, Dakota. They lived in Stratton before moving Hawkeye State, Iowa. While etiil very young the family moved to Stanley, North Dakota, where Glenn grew up. Glenn attended the Stanley Schoolg and graduated from high school in 1918 and immediately entered the Denver University School of Dentistry. As a licensed dentist, he came to Burlington in 1924 to practice his profession. "Doc," as he was known to his friends. had a sincere Ray, and Celia; all of whom are deceased except for Celia, who ie married to Bob Straughn and lives in Longmont, Colorado. In 1921 Ray Ford and I were married at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Denver. Prior to this, Ray had attended a country school and went to high school in Vona. He went on to attend Barnes Business College in Denver. Wedding picture of Clay and Dacy Franlf,ather, June 3, 1902. Clay Demaree Frankfather was the firgt male child born in Roca, Nebragka. His parents were Snrnuel S. Frankfather and Anna Maria Gilson Frankfather, who came from Potterstown, Ohio in 1868 and homesteaded near Roca. Dacy Lee Frankfather was born at Lucas, Iowa. She loet her father at an early age and her mother, Arbella Lee and two children, Dacy and Allie, moved two miles north of Seibert, Colorado. �Burlington, also at a school four miles east and four north of Seibert, and in the town of Vona. Clay and Dacy moved to Denver in 1947 and had a rooming house. Aft€r five years Dacy started teaching again at a school 30 miles north of Denver. She retired from teaching in 1958. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in June, 1952. Clay Demaree Frankfather born August 28, 18?6 and died March 22, L966. Dacy Lee Frankfather born June 13, 1879, died August 5, 1961. by Irene Boger FROMONG, Iil.AZE'L F2l1 The Dwight Frankfather family, back row; Kevin Thomas Fitz Simmons and his wife Clara, Dwight Jr. and Karen. Seated; Arwen, Shannon, with their three daughters, Florence, Dorothy and Hazel, moved from Nebraska to and Kirk. Standing; Joanne, Dwight, Helen, Vidrik, Lori and Todd. building roade into Cripple Creek for 93.00 Clay and Dacy Frankfather's SOth wedding anniversaq/, June, 1952. per day. They also staked a gold mine claim, had it surveyed and patented, and built two houses and a barn on the property. On the strength of a gold find near their claim and since their claim had not yet produced, they sold it for $6000 and returned to Roca in the fall of 1899. In the spring of 1900, the family returned to Colorado and settled on a ranch one and a half miles northwest of Vona. It was here that Clay met Dacy Lee, a schoolteacher. They were married on June 3, 1902 by H.H. Priest, Justice of the Peace, two miles north of Seibert. Clay and Dacy went to Cripple Creek but due to a big miner's strike at that time, they returned to Seibert. In 1903, Samuel Frankfather traded his land for a store in Colorado Springs and Clay and Dacywentthere to help in the store for I year, after which Clay bought a team and wagon and moved to Flaglerwhere their son, DwightLee, was born on September 11, 1904. r 986 Dwight and Helen Frankfather on their 5fth wedding annivereary. After homeeteading, Clay's parents opened a general merchandise store and hotel in Roca. Clay worked in the area at odd jobs and for a time drove a tenm and wagon, working at a stone quarry ten hourg a day, eix days a \peek for $20 a month including room and board. In 1896, he and his father combined their money and bought another tenm and wagon and two heavy used railroad tents and took the family to Cripple Creek, Colorado. The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Frankfather and three children, Clay, Mabel and Grace, who had all been born in Roca. It took them 40 days to reach Cripple Creek. They found an area on Spring Creek near a freshwater spring and set up their tents. Clay and hie father goon found work with a crew The next several years were spent in Seibert where Clay worked in stores, served as a deputy county assessor and auctioneered, crying numerous public auctions. He later opened his own grocery store and closed it in 1927 because during the dry years farmers were not able to pay their bills. Fuel became scarce about this time and residents of the area walked along the railroad track, picking up coal which had fallen from the trains, and algo resorting to old railroad ties and cow chips to burn in their stoves. Dacy taught echool for a total of 23 years, 20 of which were in Colorado. She first taught a six-month school 12 miles north of Seibert. Her second school was in 1898 on the Osage Indian reservation near Gray Horse, Oklaho- Burlington in 1921, living south of Burlington . for a few years. In 1924 Dorothy passed away at age sixteen. In 1927 they moved to the Smoky Hill Community. They were active in all ofthe school activities and the church and Sunday School there. Hazel attended school at Smoky Hill, graduating from Burlington in 1929. Her mother passed away in 1933. Florence taught school in the Pond Creek district and in other country schools. She later married Ted Woods from Stratton. When the dirt storms came they moved to Oregon where she remained with her family until her death in 1982. Hazel manied Everett Fromong from Kanorado. They are the parents of three children, Tommy, Terrence and Phyllis. Everett served in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II. When he returned he established the Fromong Body Shop, which he operated until his death in 1965. During World War II, Hazel continued her education at Greeley, and started teaching, and continued for 30 years. Four of those years were at Smoky Hill, and in other country schools, until the re-organization of the school districts, and she taught in the Burlington School for 22 years. After retiring, Hazel went back to school and got her real estate license. She worked in that capacityfor several years. The Fromong children attended Burlington Schools, and chose different careers. Tommy was engaged in farming until his death in 1985. Terrence is a psychologist in Tacoma, Washington. Phyllis has served as County Clerk in Burlington for seventeen years. Her husband, Doug Collins is engaged in farming and cattle and also serves the community as an auctioneer. Hazel is now employed in the new project called, Old Town, here in Burlington. ma. She returned to Seibert and taught in her home district three miles north of Seibert, and when heavy rain washed down the native limestone schoolhouse she was forced to finish school in a tent. The next year she taught in the district where the Frankfathers lived and boarded with them. In 1929, Mrs. Della Hendricks, Superintendent of Schools for Kit Careon County, asked Dacy to complete a term of school 20 miles northeast of Burlington. She later taught at Smoky Hill which was 12 miles south and five east of by Mrs. Ted Eberhart �FUHLENDORF, ELIZABETH HENRIETTA Fogg place, a mile north and a mile east of Vona. I, Alma Bigelow Becker, was born on this place on Jan. 15, 191.9. A big snowstorm had blocked roads so Dr. McBride from Seibert had to come to Vona, on a handcar, F2I-2 My mother, Elizabeth Henrietta Fuhlendorf, was born July 27, LBW on a farm near Odebolt, in Sac County, Iowa. Grandfather Fuhlendorf operated a crermery in Iowa. It was at this crenmery that mother's oldest brother, Gus, was scalded fatally when he fell into a vat of hot water. The Gus Fahlendorfs moved to Armour, South Dakota in 1896. Here is where my mother lived until she graduated from high school in 1908. Grandfather Gus and Uncle Fred had homesteaded northeast of Vona, in early 1907. When mother finished high echool in the spring of 1908, Uncle Fred came to Armour and escorted mother to the homestead in Colorado, 5 miles north,3 miles east and. t/z mile north of Vona. Grandfather's homestead house has been moved into Strat- ton, and is today the dwelling at 211 New York Ave. Mother, having a high school education, was a certified school teacher for the state of South Dakota, but in Colorado, she was not eligible to teach before she finished a course in Colorado civics. Mother says she put her nose in some book learning and in the fall of 1909, started a career in teaching. Her firet gchool was the Ashview school, a half mile south of grandfather's homestead. In 1910 and 1911, mother taught at the Murphy school, northeast of Seibert. Father and Mother were married on March 30, 1911. Dr. Beechley lived in Stratton, and was the Justice of Peace. My parents were married by him in his home. Father often remarked, that he never became his own boss, because he got married a few days before he becn-e of age. My parents roamed around for bwo years. They had a team of horses and a b,esm of mules and a Jersey cow. They hitched the horses and the mules to a covered wagon, tied the Jersey cow to the rear and headed to the beet, potato and hay fields, around Fort Morgan and Hudson, Colo. In 1912, they rented a farm about 2 niles southeast of Fort Morgan. On March 14, 1913, my parents ca-e back bo Kit Careon county. They homesteaded rbout 10 miles northwest of Stratton, Colo. Ihis is the place where LeRoy Brachtenbachs Live today. Mother returned to teaching again. This bime at a country school called Solid Center. Ihis school was about 2 miles east and north rf my parents homestead. Mother does not know if there are any remains left of this Solid lenter School. Mother knows of at least one rf the pupils still living today, Cora Tuttle, rrho lives at Wray, Colo. One day, as mother was driving to this rchool, she turned back to see smoke billow,ng from their homestead house. Earl was rorking in the field. Both arrived and uatched as flames burned their home to rshes. They could not even find mother's redding ring, which she had taken off that norning because it was a bit loose and ghe vas afraid of losing it. The fire start€d from r defective chimney. My two older brothers l'loyd and Howard were born here. In 1918, Earl and Elizabeth bought the on the Rock leland railroad, and then rode a horse to our place. The doctor was too late, before he got to our house, I was born. I was such a small baby, my parents feared for my life. The flu epidemicof 1918 was still around. In 1920, my parents moved from the Fogg place (where the Kenneth Pickards live today) to a farm 1 mile south and % mile esst of Vona. This is where my sisters Louise and Rose Anna were born and also where my future hugband, Wilbert, came to court me. About 20 years ago (after the folks sold the place) this house also burned to the ground, and the people that lived there lost all their belongings. The descendants of Earl and Elizabeth Bigelow fanily are 5 children, 12 grandchildten,24 great grandchildren, and 3 great great grandchildren. by Alma L. Bigelow Becker FUHLENDORF, VIOLET LILLIAN F213 Gustav Fuhlendorf came to America by boat from Germany, and then by boat up the Mississippi River to Davenport, Iowa. Eventually the family moved into Colorado. Fredrick Carl Fuhlendorf, the 3rd child, 2nd son of Gustav and Fredricka Fuhlendorf and Chloe Altha Lloyd, the 5th child, Srd daugh- ter, of So-uel Merida Lloyd and Alvira Vianna (Cage) were married in Vurlington, Kit Carson County, Colorado, on Oct. 13, 1909. When they got married, the folks drove into Burlington and as it was a long trip they had to stay overnight. Today it is only an hours drive there and back to Vona. Dad's homestead was located 6 mi. north and 2 mi. east of Vona, Colo. To sign up and prove on the homestead, Dad had to go to Farming hadn't been good because of the drought years, so they moved into Vona. Dad wae the Assistant Postmast€r for 6 years. Then they moved to Wheatridge, where he was the school janitor for the Wheatridge School. In 1944, they returned to Vona and he becnme the janitor of the Vona School until he retired. There were three song in the service; Wayne was in the Navy, and Carl and Dale were in the Army dwing World War II. Dad passed away in Denver on Sept. 9, 1950, and Momlived in Vona, untilherhealth got worse. Then she moved into Grace Manor in Burlington, until her passing. by Violet Ednunds FULLER FAMILY E2t4 With the development of Stratton and that section of Kit Carson County, Nason Hoyt Fuller was closely identified through his farming operations and through general merchandising. He lived a busy, useful, active, clean and honorable life and left to his family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name. He was born in Canada February 6, 1846 and pursued his education to the age of 16 when he moved to Piatt Co., Illinois, later moving to McDonough County, Tllinois. He worked in a wood shop assisting in the building of wagons and other wood work. It was here he met his wife, Miss Angeline Ingram. They were married and moved to Iowa where he worked at blacksmithing and farming. They had two children, Ira D., and Manda Iva who later became the wife of J.W. Borders. In 1888 they moved to Colorado and homesteaded near Stratton. Theyfarmed but his health was impaired so they moved into Stratton. Mr. Fuller once more embarked in General Merchandising, but a year later his store was destroyed by fire. He was entering the store with a lighted lemp when he suffered a heart attack and ths lamp fell, breaking and starting a fire. His friends came Hugo, Colo. to do it. Our land was the SW% in 31, and the NW% in Sec. 6-8-47. Our Address was Stratton, which was 5 mi. E. and 6 mi. South of the homestead. There were 11 to the rescue, taking him from the burning building. All the buildings on the store's side of the street were burned including the relatively new home of Mr. and Mrs. J.W. ber the time when I was about 4-5 years old, Borders. Mr. Fuller then sold his farm in order to get ready money to resume his business. He remained in active business until his death in December, 1917. children and all were born in the general vicinity of the homestead. I, Violet, remem- we were in the horge drawn buggy and headed downhill from our home to town. The horses ran off and Mom wan so scared she tried to jump out. Dad had all he could do to hold her in and gain control ofthe horses. They finally turned at the top of hill and stopped. We kids were under the buckboard and were so scared; I still remember it to this day. Dad's first Model T car had to be started by jacking up the hind wheels and cranking on it. One day Dad was starting the car this way but it ran thru the clothes line, clothes and all. Mom was scared and didn't get mad till it was all over with. To get to go to the County Fair in Burlington, we would get up and leave home before daylight in an old Model T car and spend the whole day. It would be way up in the night when we got home. Dad farmed until 1936. Times were so hard and I don't know how they fed all of us. by Floyd Borders � 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- F Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1988 Description An account of the resource Brief family history from founders of Kit Carson County whose names begin with "F." As told in the book, 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. History 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>