Prairie Bluestem

Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2012

2012-05-25T04:32:00.001-05:00

Fun at the Renn Faire, May 19, 2012

When we arrived at the "Tenn-Renn" grounds, we were surprised at the number of people lined up and waiting to enter the festival. We had to climb uphill from our parking place to reach the back of the line. But the line moved quickly, and we reached the ticket booth in about ten minutes.

Looking downhill to the ticket stand

Looking uphill at the line behind us

Inside the gates, we joined other faire-goers in the market place. Merchants were selling all sorts of Renaissance-themed goods, services, and foods from tents and stands.

The market

Circlets for both ladies and gents

Shiny things

Fortune telling

The spirals in the photo below are hair ornaments. What? No cash? Most merchants will accept credit cards, as the sign notes. The bottom line reads, "Old World Discover."

The first show we attended was Paolo Garbanzo's excellent juggling exhibition. The first photo below shows him juggling an apple, orange, and onion, and taking a bite of apple every time it came around. He also juggled his "mostly-sharp knives" and various other objects. In the grand finale, he balanced on the "ball of death,", while juggling a "knife of death," a "torch of death," and the "onion of death." I do believe he finally ate some of the onion as well. It was quite an entertaining show.

Isaac and Rachel went to the jousting tournament and took these photos of the knights and horses. The checkerboard design at the front of the grassy area is used by the Members of the Court when they play Human Chess.

I always enjoy seeing the costumes at the Renn Faire. The best-dressed characters are usually members of the troupe of professional actors who work at the Faire. But some of the patrons of the Faire have outstanding costumes as well. Sometimes, it's impossible to guess whether the costumee (yes, I invented that word) is a worker or a guest.

Pirate

A great fairy costume

Dwarf ladies are bearded, just like the men.

The woodland creatures and the ogre who posed with Rachel were professionals, as was the brightly dressed wench playing with the pebbles. With the temperature in the low 90s, it probably felt good to sit on the cool earth. I hope she was wearing some chigger repellant!

Oh my, the hat shop! It exerted a powerful magnetic force! When Isaac walked away, one of the hats stuck to him.

A group of guys in kilts was having lunch. Maybe they belong to a Scottish organization. Keely commented that kilts are the shorts of Renaissance Festival garb -- cool and airy. I was so hot in my own get-up that I observed every costume with considerable interest in how hot it might be to wear it. I decided that one advantage of a hooped skirt is that it does hold the fabric away from the body.

Obviously cool

Hot!

Hot, but very cool!

It was Pirate Weekend at the Renaissance Festival, so there were several Jack Sparrow sorts in the crowd. This fellow was one of the most authentic. First we saw him walking by. Then, he stopped in the shade near where we were sitting, so I asked to take his picture. Afterward, I realized that I should have invited the executioner to step up and be in the photo, too!

I believe that some of the games like "Catapulting Critters" were free for the youngsters to play.

Hammer in action

So cute!

The Queen and her attendants were graciously posing for photographs with people. The Queen seems to like children, and she's always very careful to avoid frightening the little ones. I admire her ability to look and play her part with royal flair!

Fortunately the queen stopped in the shade, because she was there for a while!

The Queen meets a small patron.

At the Oops Comedy Knife-Throwing Show, one lucky lady was "volunteered" to come on stage and have tricks done around her. Preceding this photo, there was a lot of talk about how fast the pins would fly by her, whacka, whacka. Everyone (including the victim) got a good laugh when the two performers trotted past her, waving the pins instead of throwing them.

The only food I bought at the Renn Faire this year was some kettle-popped corn, but I made up for it by buying plenty of drinks. 24-ounce bottles of ice-cold water were $2.00 each, and I was more than happy to pay that price!

Rachel with a turkey leg

Isaac and Rachel

Keely, Isaac, and me

Later in the afternoon, the sun went under a cloud. That was fortuitous, because it was time to go to the Birds of the Gauntlet show at the arena. If you ever go to the Renn Faire, try to see this show! The birds are beautiful, and it's very interesting to see how they are trained and to hear about the lives of their species. Some of the birds in the show were rescued and rehabilitated after an injury, but were unable to return to the wild. I am not sure about the parrot -- he may have been an unwanted pet. The lady talked about how parrots are often bought by people who are unprepared for their natural tendencies.

Every year as we leave the faire, we say, "One of these times, we have to take the castle tour." Well -- maybe next year we'll finally do it! If you enjoyed these photos, you can see photos from six more Renaissance Festivals under the label "Tenn-Renn".

Mother's Day Rainbow and More

2012-05-15T15:40:00.000-05:00

May in Christian County, KY

I saw this beautiful, full rainbow on Mother's Day about

6:30 pm. On the left side, a double rainbow is slightly visible.

The farm buildings here (and those in the rainbow photo)

are Mennonite-built. Their distinctive, consistent

building style is easy to recognize, once you know it.

This crow was perched on one of the big lights in the

mall parking lot in Hopkinsville. If this photo had

sound effects, you'd quickly turn down the volume.

He was very noisy! When he saw me paying
attention to him, he flew over to the highest point

of the mall's roofline and sat there -- still cawing!

Sweet peas in a cemetery fence row, and

overhead, branches and cones of Virginia pine.

I took this photo of our neighbor's field in early May.

Now, many wheatfields are nearly ready for harvest.

We are happy for recent rains because we've had a dry.

spring. But heavy storms right now could lay the wheat

plants down, making harvest difficult and reducing yield.

Most of our wild roses are pink, but this one is very white.

There might be a very slight hint of pink in the buds.

"O, the month of May, the merry month of May,
So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green..."

--Thomas Dekker (c. 1572 – 1632))

Old Movies for Me!

2012-05-01T01:11:00.000-05:00

How a man I never knew changed my life forever

When I was a little kid, Brent was my dad's best friend. Mom will tell you that Brent was Dad's best friend many years before I came along, and that he is the one who introduced them to each other. Mom will also tell you that I met Brent, but I was too little to remember.

Even though I don't remember meeting him, I know that Brent loved movies -- especially old movies. He was an aficionado. He knew why a movie was unique, or what crazy stuff had happened during shooting. He knew what actors and actresses liked each other and which ones didn't.

Brent knew that Isaac's and my education in the great classic movies was being neglected. When I was about 10, he started sending us movies that he thought we should see, that were appropriate for kids. I remember being so excited to get Brent's boxes. Isaac and I would look up all of the new movies in Dad's movie books to see what they were about. Even though I never watch VHS anymore, I still have all of the movies he sent us, because they bring back such happy memories.

I watched those videos hundreds of times over the next ten years. I can recite huge swaths of several of them. Our favorites were the "Road to..." movies, and the Marx Brothers. I still have to restrain myself from quoting them to people who will have no idea what I'm talking about. I've even gone so far as to infect my husband with my old movie love. He still swears that he doesn't like black and white movies, but he loved Harvey.

Brent is the reason that I sing Marx brothers songs. He's the reason that when all of the other little girls in my class had a crush on a member of Hansen or Leonardo Dicaprio, I had a crush on Errol Flynn. And the reason that I view the new Flight of the Phoenix movie with much skepticism. How can you replace Jimmy Stewart? All of these years later, I still don't like modern horror movies. Give me Vincent Price or Boris Karloff any day over these movies with all of their blood and gore.

Brent passed away when I was in high school. Mom tells me that we're his legacy, because he was the last of his line. He passed on his love of those movies to both me and my brother. He also passed on the knowledge that the truly great stories never get old.

- - - - - - - - - -
Thank you, Keely. Here's Brent in about 1979, in the kitchen of the first apartment Dennis and I had after we were married. I can't believe it, but he appears to be washing dishes!

Brent has a starring role in many funny, happy memories of our college and newly-wed years in Warrensburg, Missouri. He had juvenile (Type 1) diabetes, and he died at the young age of 38. G.L.N.

Down in the Ditch

2012-04-28T02:51:00.000-05:00

Where the mower doesn't go

Our Mennonite neighbor has several small businesses and dealerships in addition to his farming operations. Along the highway beside our two mailboxes, he has several signs advertising these enterprises.

Every Saturday, one of his sons mows both sides of our shared lane, from their house, past our house, down to the highway, around the mailboxes and signs, and along the highway for fifty feet or more in both directions. One of our neighbor's sidelines is lawn mower repair, so he probably thinks that keeping the grass cut short is a good business practice.

But down by the mailbox, on the banks of the ditch, where the lawn mower doesn't go, all the plants are growing wildly. I enjoy seeing them.

And I like the little pool of water that stands in the ditch in the springtime. It's interesting. When I stop to get the mail or go for a walk down our road, I stand at the end of the culvert and peer down into the shady depths. Sometimes I see a frog or a turtle or a crawdad enjoying the water.

But even when I see something interesting, I don't go any closer. I like to look at all that vegetation on the ditch banks, but I don't want to wade through it. There's too much poison ivy!

Five-year-old Fruit Cake and Other Delicacies

2012-04-25T23:22:00.003-05:00

Dinner Party Menu, 1892

On January 4, 1892, Mr. and Mrs. Sam E. Stegar of Trenton, Kentucky, had a Leap Year dinner party, Fifteen unmarried couples and a few extra guys attended the event. The party was such a social success that it even made the news in Hopkinsville, a few train stops west of Trenton.

The entire four-course menu of the Stegar's party was included in the article that appeared in the Hopkinsville Kentuckian. It was interesting. I've presented it below with some links to recipes and other background information from the period.

First Course

Florida Oranges
Bananas
Figs
Pears
Malaga, Concord, and Catawba Grapes

Second Course

Turkey and Ham
Sauce
Roast Mallard Ducks
Oyster, Egg and Chicken Salad
Oysters
Salmon
Sardines

A careless typesetter may have changed "Oyster, Egg and Chicken Salads" to "Oyster, Egg and Chicken Salad." The salmon, sardines, and oysters could have been fresh, brought by refrigerated railroad car to Trenton.

Celery (a palate cleanser after the meat course)

Third Course

Cream
Vanilla Sherbert
Lemon Pudding
Bisque
Fruit Cake, 5 years old and layered with lemon icing. One layer was citron with vanilla, another layer was chocolate. (This fruit cake was the most interesting thing in the entire menu!)

Fourth Course

Cheese
Doughnuts
PretzelettesChocolata (Menier and Van Houten's Cocoa)
Coffee

After this feast, the guests "engaged in original wit and humor and all the latest games of fascination, until the late hour of 1 o'clock, when the weather becoming very inclement, the party adjourned." Since it was a Leap Year party, the young ladies escorted the young gentlemen safely to their homes, before heading for home themselves.

Source: Hopkinsville Kentuckian, January 1, 1892, page 2.

Abigail Willoughby, 1822-1880

2012-04-20T06:39:00.000-05:00

An incomplete story with a sad ending

Abigail Willoughby (b. 1822, Pennsylvania) appears as one of my great-great-great grandmothers in every family tree related to me that I've seen online. She was married to my great-great-great grandfather, James C. Vining (b. 1812, New York). James and Abigail are on my dad's side of the family. They were my paternal grandfather's maternal great-grandparents, to be exact. (I know it's confusing!)

Vague and missing info

Abigail Willoughby and James Vining are "brick walls," as family-tree researchers often say. Their branch of the family tree ends with them, because no one yet has learned the names of any of their parents. Abigail told an 1880 census taker that her parents were born in Massachusetts.

I like the sound of "Abigail Willoughby" -- it's almost poetic. But I don't know if Willoughby was really her maiden name or not. Most family trees say that Abigail Willoughby was born on 15 Feb 1821 in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and that she married James C. Vining in 1838 in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. But where did my fellow researchers get that information? Was it in a family Bible or passed down in family letters? Or was it just an estimate and a guess, copied from one family tree to another? I haven't found any birth or marriage records at all.

Fairly reliable data

Here are some things I do know about James and Abigail:

James Vining was living in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, at the time of the 1840 census with a total of three people in his household. The exact date of the census is not given, and only the head-of-household is named.

My great-great grandmother Martha Almeda Vining was born in 1839 in Pennsylvania. Her sister Abigail Christine Vining was born in 1840 in Pennsylvania. They gave this information on multiple census records.

In September 1850, the James C.Vining family was living in Henry County, Illinois. James was married to Abigail, and they had a new baby boy, Robert Henry (b. 1848, Illinois).

James and Abigail had six more children between 1850 and 1868 in Illinois. Then between 1868 and 1870, they moved to Cloud County, Kansas, where they were some of the earliest settlers.

James Vining died soon after they moved to Kansas. The 1875 Kansas census shows Abigail widowed and living with four of the children on a farm in Cloud County.

Before 1880, Abigail married Silas Zenus Waters. He was a farmer, ten years older than her. The 1880 census shows them living in Norton County, Kansas, (about 150 miles west of Cloud County). Two of Abigail's children were still with her, listed as stepchildren of Silas Waters. One of Abigail's sons (James W. Vining) was the Norton County sheriff from 1879-1883.

Family trees say that Abigail died in 1880. The date usually cited is December 4, 1880..

Willoughbys and more Willoughbys

I've been especially curious about Abigail Willoughby because of a series of marriages that took place in Illinois before the family moved to Kansas. The two oldest Vining girls, Martha and Abigail, married Mapes brothers. And a William H. Willoughby married a Mapes sister. Were William H. Willoughby and Abigail Willoughby related? They probably were, but I haven't been able to prove it.

I've looked at a zillion census records and family trees and I still don't know how Abigail Willoughby fits into the Willoughbys who lived in or near Tioga County, Pennsylvania, where supposedly she was born. The generations aren't right. She's either too old or too young for those families.

I've entertained a weird theory that maybe Abigail's real father died and then her mother married a Willoughby, so Abigail wasn't really a Willoughby by blood. And I've explored an alternative (but similar) theory that maybe Abigail was married to a Willoughby before she married James Vining, and that her real maiden name wasn't Willoughby at all.

Most recently, I've begun to think that she might be the daughter of Elijah Willoughby who appears in the 1850 census in Delmar, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, living with his daughter Laura and her family. Elijah was born in Massachusetts, so that matches. Elijah's mother's name was Abigail -- hmmm. And Abigail Willoughby (my Abigail, not Elijah's mother) named one of her daughter's Laura -- possibly after her older sister?

Betsy Who?

Lately, I've renewed my research efforts, and I've turned up two pieces of information about Abigail that I haven't seen on anyone else's family tree or read in their notes. Both of them shocked me.

First, it turns out that Abigail may not be a blood relative to me. A brief family history (on the middle of p. 202, Genealogy of the Hannum Family by H. F. Temple, 1911, West Chester, PA ) that I found for Louisa V. Mapes (my great-grand-aunt,) states that her grandparents were James Vining and Betsy Ann Murphey, of New York State.

James Vining and Betsy Ann Murphey? I had to think about that! But upon examination, it makes sense. Maybe James was married to Betsy, had two daughters, became a widower, and then married Abigail several years later. That would explain why no children were born for about eight years after the first two girls.

Also, Louisa Mapes was 53 years old and in her right mind in 1911 when that family history was printed. Surely she was the one who provided the facts about her family. She was 22 years old when Abigail died. She would have remembered Abigail clearly, but she didn't name Abigail as her grandmother!

Abigail's death

My other discovery is very sad. Last week, I learned that Abigail Willoughby committed suicide. This tragedy was mentioned in a short biography of James W. Vining, (p. 172, The History of the Early Settlement of Norton County, Kansas by F.M. Lockard, 1894, Norton, Kansas), who was one of James C. Vining's and Abigail Willoughby's sons.

[J. W. Vining's] father died in Cloud County in 1868. His mother married S. G. Waters in 1874; they came to Norton county in 1876 and settled near Edmond, their domestic life was unhappy which caused Mrs. Waters to commit suicide. Her remains were taken to Clyde [in Cloud County, Kansas] and buried beside her former husband. Mr. Waters died in 1889.

The county history where this account appears is criticized for containing gossip, but there are two unhappy facts here, whether or not they are related: (1) Abigail's marriage to Silas Waters was thought to be miserable, and (2) she killed herself.

There is nothing new under the sun -- didn't Solomon say that? I suppose that unhappy marriages have been around ever since marriage was invented. And I've seen dozens of stories in old newspapers about people committing suicide. I just didn't expect to find such a happening in my own family tree.

About fifteen years ago, a member of my husband's family committed suicide. I know how deeply we grieved about that. I also know how I grieved when my parents died. Abigail's children must have been devastated.

- - - - - - - - - -
This article was written by Genevieve L. Netz and originally published as a blog post at http://prairiebluestem.blogspot.com/2012/04/abigail-willoughby-1822-1880.html. Copyright 2012 Genevieve L. Netz. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for attaching this article to Vining and Willoughby family trees as long as this entire notice is included. Any other use requires written permission. gnetz51@gmail.com

The Easter Blizzard of 1873

2012-04-06T02:28:00.000-05:00

Deadly April snowstorm on the prairie

I found this account of the terrible Easter Blizzard of 1873 in a history of Seward County, Nebraska that was published in 1920. This account is part of a longer passage that was reprinted from W. W. Cox's earlier history of Seward County.

Seward County in Nebraska

I have edited Mr. Cox's prose a little, breaking the very long paragraphs-- and in some cases, the very long sentences-- to make them easier to read. In doing this, I changed some words and punctuation. Please see the original if you want to quote something from this account.

Nebraska in the United States

The spring of 1873 was very pleasant, and people had made gardens. Prospects were so fair for an early summer that the ordinary straw stables for stock had been neglected and permitted to become open, the sides having been blown away. In fact, all precatution and care for the protection of man and beast from the cold blasts of a winter storm had been forgotten.

On the tenth of April, a rain commenced to fall, the wind blowing mildly from the south-east, both continuing until the night of the twelfth. The clouds, thickening at times, were accompanied by lightning and thunder.

We were living in our twelve foot pioneer residence with two windows. On that memorable night of the twelfth of April, we were awakened by an unusual roaring of the wind. Glancing at the windows, we thought the moon was shining, but soon recalled the fact that there was no moon.

We got up and opened the door, and were almost instantly made aware of the source from which the disturbance and the light in the windows came. The wind had veered to the north-west and seemed to have the force of a cyclone, and the air was so full of snow as to produce a moonlight appearance.

In fact, the most terrifying blizzard we had ever witnessed was before our drowsey eyes in all the horrors that could be depicted. We did not tarry long to enjoy the panarama as the ruling elements seemed to suggest that we retire and shut the door.

This blizzard continued three days and nights without abatement for an instant. The doleful tones, ever present in our ears during that time, scarcely left us even when in the refreshing embrace of slumber.

And there was scarcely a minute during the seventy-two hours that an object of any dimension could be discerned ten steps distant. Two minutes exposure to the full force of the storm would cause the vacant places in a person's clothing to fill full of the celebrated (but not appreciated) "beautiful snow."

Several of our neighbors saved their cows, horses, and mules by taking them into their houses. We saved three out of four small hogs and about thirty hens by dividing our twelve-foot space with them. We did not bring these animals in until the second day, and one of the hogs died in fifteen minutes, after being brought in.

Charles Emerson, living is a sod house on a hill in L precinct, kept his horses in a dugout stable at the foot of the hill, perhaps six or eight rods from his house. The storm was so blinding and severe that he did not venture to go and attend to them during the three days.

After the storm abated, his heart almost failed him when he went to his stable and opened the door that he had carelessly left only half-closed. He found the interior packed full of snow and not the least sign that his faithful horses were alive.

He secured a shovel, and after digging a while, came upon the horses, both standing up. The snow had filled in so close around them that they could not lay down. The warmth of their bodies melted the snow sufficiently to give them breathing room, and both were alive.

This terrible storm raged during the 13th, 14th, and 15th of April, the latter being Easter Sunday, and would justly pass to history as the greatest Easter storm on record.

Source: Pages 24-26, General History of Seward County, Nebraska, by John Henry Waterman. Published in 1920 in Beaver Crossing, Seward County, Nebraska.

Other histories tell of blizzard winds that tore the roofs off flimsy homesteader shacks, exposing the occupants to the elements. Other settlers froze to death because they didn't have enough firewood on hand. Some lost their way between house and barn and wandered off into the blizzard. Others were caught traveling or hunting on the prairies and either froze to death or smothered under the snow. Thousands of livestock died, and a great deal of wildlife perished as well.

After the storm, snowdrifts were fifteen and twenty feet tall. Some settlers who lived in dugouts had to burrow through deep snowdrifts. Hilltops were swept bare, but the draws were full of deep, hard-packed snow. The best of the spring grass, which the surviving livestock really needed, was buried under the snow for a long time afterward. Many bodies of both man and beast were not found until the snowdrifts finally melted.

Read more:
Text of a Nebraska historical marker for the Easter Blizzard of 1873
Out of Old Nebraska: April Blizzard of 1873
The Easter Storm of 1873
Google Books search for "Easter Storm of 1873"

Kolaches: Czech Pastries of the Great Plains

2012-03-31T18:41:00.001-05:00

Trying another recipe today

Last Christmas, one of my Facebook friends from Nebraska posted that someone had brought her a plate of kolaches, and she had already eaten one with blueberry filling, which was so good that she wanted to post about it. I thought I knew that kolaches were round, baked yeast rolls with a fruit filling in the center, but I searched for some recipes to confirm what I thought, and sure enough, I was right.

Tradiční české koláčky: Kolackys as made
in the Czech Republic. Image from Wikimedia.

About a month ago, I tried a kolache recipe that came from the website of a butter company. It called for 2-1/4 cups of butter in total, so I cut that back quite a bit, but otherwise, I followed the recipe fairly closely. Dennis became a huge fan of kolaches, as soon as he tried one.

Today I'm making kolaches for the second time, and I'm using a recipe for a folded kolache. It has a spicy dough that's made with a more reasonable ratio of shortening (oil) to flour. I have the dough resting in the refrigerator right now, and late tonight or early tomorrow morning, I will assemble and bake the kolaches.

This recipe is from the Smithsonian Folklife Cookbook by Katherine S. Kirlin and Thomas M. Kirlin, published in 1991 by the Smithsonian Institution Press in Washington and London. I got my copy at a local thrift shop. The recipe is credited to Genevieve Trinka of Lidgerwood, North Dakota.

KOLACHE DOUGH

Combine in a small bowl and set aside to soften:
3 tablespoons dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon sugar.

Combine in a large mixing bowl:
2 cups warm milk (scalded and slightly cooled if raw)
3/4 cup sugar (I used half Splenda)
2 teaspoons salt (I cut this back to 1 teaspoon)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (I had no mace so I used 1 teaspoon nutmeg)
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 eggs, well-beaten

Add:
2 cups flour
The yeast mixture that you set aside, above

Beat well, and add a little at a time:
5 cups flour (I used white whole wheat flour.)

This makes a very soft dough. Grease a large bowl, scoop the dough into it, cover, and place in the refrigerator overnight. I've had to stir it down twice now because it had risen over the top of the bowl, but surely the yeast process will slow down now that the dough is chilled completely.

FILLING

Here's what I'll be doing later.

The next day (or after the dough has chilled 8 or more hours,) get your filling and glaze ready. I'm going to use canned blueberry pie filling because I have some on hand, but many recipe websites have directions for making homemade fruit fillings. (For example, here are recipes for nine different kolache fillings.)

According to the Smithsonian cookbook and according to what I've read around the internet, prune, apricot, and poppy seed fillings are traditional. My mother would probably have called these fruit pockets and filled them with spicy applesauce. She loved applesauce as an old-timey fruit filling.

A folded kolatsche from Austria. Image from Wikimedia.
My kolaches will be folded something like this, but
I don't think the filling will be completely covered.

GLAZE

Here is the recipe for egg glaze that the recipe book gives. I have not decided if I'll use this glaze, or just drizzle a little powdered-sugar glaze on them after they've baked. Or maybe I'll brush the hot kolaches with a little melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened.

To assemble the kolaches, place some of the dough on a well-floured surface and pat it out to about 1/2 inch thick. Then cut it into 2 inch squares. Take a square, flatten it a little more, and place 1 teaspoon fruit filling in the center of it. Join diagonal corners of the square and squeeze the dough together a little to fasten at the center of the kolache. (Repeat for the other two corners.)

Brush tops of the kolaches with the egg glaze. Place on a well-greased cookie sheet. Let them rise. Bake at 350° until lightly-browned.

These are kolache recipes I'm going to try in the future:

Kolaches from a Texas bakery. Flikr photo.

The Elkhorn Livestock Company

2012-03-27T03:15:00.000-05:00

One of my unsolved mysteries

About five years ago, I found an old seal on eBay. Or maybe I should say that I found a seal-maker. When you insert a piece of paper and squeeze the handles of this little tool, you get a tidy embossed circle that says "Elkhorn Livestock Company, Bassett, Nebraska" around the edge and "Seal" in the center.

You may remember that Bassett, Nebraska, is my hometown. I grew up on a ranch out south of Bassett. So when I saw this nifty device that was connected to the place of my childhood, I bid $5 for it, and after a few days, I became its owner. No one else even bid on it. It was meant to be mine!

I was very curious about the seal's history, but the seller had no information to share. He found the seal in a box of stuff that he bought at an estate auction in Minnesota. He didn't even remember whose estate it was.

I wrote to the Rock County Historical Society and asked if they knew anything about the Elkhorn Livestock Company, but they had no information, either. And I couldn't find anything about the company on the internet. So with little hope of ever learning anything about the Elkhorn Livestock Company, I filed my questions in the back of my mind.

Then, a few months ago, I was looking at a 1912 plat book of Rock County, Nebraska, on Ancestry.com, and I noticed a couple of landowners south of Bassett whose names are similar to "Elkhorn Livestock Company."

An "Elkhorn Valley Land Company" owned 2920 acres, all in one piece, in the northeast corner of Thurman Precinct. And an "Elkhorn Land and Cattle Company" owned an adjoining 360 acres in Lay Precinct. If these two outfits were one and the same, they owned over five sections in total, one of the larger spreads in that part of Rock County at the time.

I also found a possible clue in a 1911 book of discontinued American corporations and securities. It says that the Elkhorn Livestock Company (the name that's on the seal) of Embar, Wyoming*, cancelled its Nebraska charter in 1909. Maybe the "Elkhorn" names in the plat book are different than the name on the seal because of legal changes?

Tonight, I searched the internet again for "Elkhorn Livestock Company" and I learned that the University of Nebraska at Lincoln has a document that pertains. Box 4 of their Mari Sandoz papers includes the following:

Item 174. W.B. Hodge to Mari Sandoz, 1937, Nov. 10 [frame 1037]
Regarding Elkhorn Livestock Company; the hanging of Kid Wade; Doc Middleton; someone claims to be Mari's sister.

Kid Wade and Doc Middleton are well-known names in early Rock County history, so I'm virtually certain that this letter has information about "my" Elkhorn Livestock Company.

I sent the UNL library an email asking how to get a transcript of the letter's text or a photocopy of it. The library's website says that I should get a reply within 48 hours, and I'm waiting with keen anticipation to see what they say. Maybe the story of the seal's first owner will be revealed at last.

-------------------
*Researching the Elkhorn Livestock Company of Embar, Wyoming led to a strange discovery that I'll write about another time!

Spring Days

2012-03-26T08:45:00.000-05:00

Fresh and beautiful

Seen in Clarksville, TN

At the edge of a Hopkinsville parking lot where country meets town

Overgrown garden at an old house, long abandoned.

We've had plenty of bluster, but little damage from storms.