BLAINE COUNTY NEBRASKA

WELCOME



Whether your family gets together for an annual reunion, or you are invited to one of the sandhills famous pot-dinners, you are welcome at our "table" any time as you "get-together" with your family history.

Bon Appetit! Enjoy! and just plain "dig-in" to your familyhistory!

This site is a part of the NEGenWeb Project, which is itself a part of the USGenWeb Project.
These projects are dedicated to the collection and sharing of information about genealogical research in the United States.

Blaine County is currently looking for a new coordinator.

If you would like to volunteer to be the coordinator of Blaine County, please use the email at the bottom of this page to mail the Nebraska State Coordinator.


Ray Gardner, Jim McCormick, Dr. Irvin, E. H. Riggs, and Ringo! Photograph is courtesy of Mike D. Riggs The above photograph is better viewed by clicking on it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Click on the link below for pages you want to view & enjoy!

	BLAINE COUNTY RESOURCES - - - lots of helpful information including Who's Who in Nebraska in 1940 - Blaine County.
	BLAINE COUNTY SURNAMES - - - as connected with researchers' inquiries
	BLAINE COUNTY QUERIES - - - the "what and who" people are looking for.
	BLAINE COUNTY LOOK-UPS - - - where volunteers will help look-up information in resources that they have available.
	INDEX to the Surnames in the History of Blaine County, Nebraska, Volume 1, 1988 - - - Copies of this book may be found at the list of public and academic libraries listed on the above Index.
	INDEX to Colleen Swtizers' The Settlement of Loup & Blaine Counties - Blaine Section This is an every-name index - - you might just find that elusive ancestor! It also includes a listing of public and academic libraries where the book can be found.
	Blaine County, Nebraska Marriage Book A Index Compiled, transcribed, and copyrighted by Donna Collier Dietrich, 2003.
	INDEX TO BLAINE NEWSPAPERS, 1913-1915 - - - including the Blaine County Booster and the Brewster News.
	BLAINE COUNTY OBITUARY INDEX to the Mamie Osborn Collier Collection - - as of February 2003 we have posted over 100 new obituary items!!

	BLAINE COUNTY Cemetery Map and Locations. . . includes a page for Dunning Cemetery, with the headstones of Sam & Flora Field Dunning, and Brewster Cemetery Photographs
	Palmer Monument Customer List. This is part of the Mamie Osborn Collier collection - - - and has information for the communities of Dunning, Purdum, Brewster, and Halsey, in Thomas County
	Maps of Blaine County, Nebraska - - -. including 1885, 1895, and 1920, and 2003 precinct maps.
	BLAINE COUNTY Old (and new) Photographs - - -.NOW including Blaine County officials as of 1908, current Brewster and Dunning photos, and historic photos of the Home State Bank, Wilson Hotel, and Dunning Community Center, and Sandhills Heritage Museum, at Dunning.
	African-Americans of Blaine County . . . features Blaine pioneers, Amos Harris, cowboy, and William Alfred Young, Dunning blacksmith, as well as links to other sites
	Deeds & Abstract for Dunning, NE
	1890 BLAINE Business and Farmers Index - - a way to find someone in Blaine as the 1890 Federal Census was destroyed by fire in 1921.
	1904 Semi-Centennial History of Nebraska, Blaine County - - includes photograph of Blaine County Court House and some biographies of community leaders, together with their photographs.
	BlAINE COUNTY 1917 listing of Male residents and former residents alive in 1917 - - - data from 1917-1918 civil registration cards.
	Belle J. Dunn's History and Development of Blaine County. -- written when she was a student at the University of Nebraska in 1927.
	BLAINE-BITS from the Brewster News! Mamie Osborne Collier's Newspaper Collection, Volumes 1, 2 & 3 (1905-1908) - - - All the bits of news you might have missed!
	From Sunbonnets and Overalls - - A History of the People of the Purdum Community by the Purdum Project Club.
	Pioneer Postings This page has the David Finch story as well as the wonderful essay, "My Father's Memories" of Lawrence Wilson - - this is too good to miss!
	This and That for Blaine County -- . . . including Loup County Pioneer Museum Files for Blaine County, newspaper articles from days gone by, and even a 1917 concert program of the Dunning Band!

	James G. Blaine's Scrapbook on the Internet - - - just for fun, and a bit of information about Blaine County's namesake!
	GenConnect Message Board for Blaine County, Nebraska .. . . browse and/or search postings about Blaine.
	Nebraska's NEGenWeb Resource Center - - - includes basic helps, Nebraska schools, military information, orphan trains, Nebraska railroads, pioneers in Nebraska, ethnic and immigration information, Native American research, cemeteries, ancestors' sharing information, Nebraska family reunions, religious information, Nebraska poorhouses, and links to other Nebraska sites.
	NEBRASKA's NEGenWeb On-line Library, including the Mardos Collection of many historical Nebraska books on-line, as well as Journals, Newspapers, Maps and Atlases

Excerpted from Colleen Swtizer's The Settlement of Loup and Blaine Counties

	Chapter 1, "Blaine County Territory" pp 227-228 Copyright 1977. Published by Purcell's, Inc., Broken Bow, Nebraska.*
"Blaine County, one of the sandhill region group, was Indian hunting ground when the first whiteman explored its valleys. There was big game in abundance and doubtless it was a favorite resort. This is evidenced by Indian bones and stone implements as well as by arrows points and fragments of pottery which have been found. The Pawnee Indians occupied the area and when the Sioux invaded their hunting ground the two tribes became bitter enemies. It is believed several large battles between these Indians occurred in the area of Blaine and Loup county territories. The county was first seen by white man in 1796 when Mackey's French Explorers passed up the North Loup River Valley. In the year 1856 Lt. G. K. Warren passed through the area near where the Blaine-Loup county line now lays, enroute from Ft. Pierre to Ft. Kearney. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "In the late 1870s cattlemen started using the Blaine area as a grazing land. Among the first to range cattle in the territory was David E. 'Davie' James. . . " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Samuel N. Dunning is given credit as the first settler of Blaine County territory, having come to the area in the 1870s long before there was and sign of civilization." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Richard R. Greenland was the earliest cowboy character of the area and the first to range cattle on 'Buffalo Flats' in northwest Blaine county territory." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "The picturesque frontiersman Amos Harris . . . also ranged vast herds on the Calamus River Valley in the early days. Legend states that Harris was the first Negro cowboy in the state of Nebraska."
* Colleen Switzer has graciously granted Blaine NEGenWeb her permission for the use of this material.

Questions or Comments?
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PLEASE put "Blaine County" in your email subject line .
Thanks so much.

	BLAINE COUNTY NEBRASKA
Named for James G Blaine (1830-1893), an American Statesman. Established 5 March 1885.