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BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY JOHN MAHON was born in Delaware county, N. Y., October 5, 1824. His father, Paul Mahon, was born in Ireland and came to America in 1798. He was well educated and taught school in New York State for several years. He married Miss Lyda Moore, daughter of Col. John Moore, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary war. Soon after marriage they emigrated to Pennsylvania, where they resided during the remainder of their lives.
John Mahon was the fourth of a family of nine children. He left home when a lad ten years old, and has never seen his parents since. He went to New York and lived with an aunt until he was old enough to learn a trade, and then served an apprenticeship as a machinist at Troy, N. Y., and soon afterwards accepted a position in the United States arsenal at Springfield, Mass. He was in Washington, D. C., during the Polk administration, where he was connected with the Adams & Shoemaker Express Company. In 1846, he enlisted, at Brooklyn, N. Y., in the navy department and served on board the Trenton in the Mexican war. In 1848 he returned to New York, and soon sailed for California on the steamer Fremont. While in California he was engaged in mining and various enterprises. During his stay in the West he made several trips to Panama and various other places of note. He also spent several years in the Mare Island navy yard, now one of the largest in the United States. During his several years residence in California, he became intimately acquainted with many of the most prominent public men in that state. He was a special friend of Senator Broderick, who was killed by Judge Terry; and knew the latter very well, but disliked him very much. In 1869, he visited Pennsylvania, where he met and married Miss Harriet Kilgore. She was a daughter of W. H. and Lyda Kilgore, the former a native of New Jersey, the latter of Pennsylvania.
Soon after marriage Mr. Mahon went to Idaho, where he worked at his trade for about a year. He came to Buffalo county, Nebr., in October, 187l, and was the first settler on the site where now stands the magnificent city of Kearney. He built the first house and helped to lay out the town site. He had charge of the real estate in the town belonging to the Union Pacific and B. & M. R. R. companies, for about two years.
In the spring of 1875 he assisted in the survey of the Fort Kearney reservation and then took a claim on which he resided for about four years. He then moved to Custer county, where he was engaged in stock-raising for about ten years. He next purchased a farm near Armada in June, 1889, and is now living on it.
Mr. Mahon had a varied and interesting experience during his early settlement in this county. He was one of its earliest settlers and knows something about pioneer life in a new country. He has seen the time when buffalo were plenty in this county and has eaten some of the meat of a buffalo killed on the ground where Kearney now stands. He has watched with a keen eye the wonderful development of this country, and the rapid progress made has far exceeded his most sanguine expectations ; but he believed from the start that there was a bright future in store for this rich and undeveloped valley of the Platte.
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Mr. and Mrs. Mahon have but one child - Willie, born in Kearney, July 23, 1876. Mr. Mahon is a member of the Masonic and K. of P. fraternities and is also a member of the Pioneer Association of California. He is an ardent believer in temperance, and during his varied experience in life he has never tasted a drop of intoxicating liquor. He is no politician, but has always voted the republican ticket. He stands high socially and morally and enjoys the confidence and respect of all his associates.
HENRY C. GREEN, one of the highly prosperous and influential farmers near Armada, Nebr., was born in the county of Kent, in Delaware, February 22, 1842, and is the son of James P. and Hester (Conley) Green, both of whom are natives of Delaware. His father was a farmer and a member of the Baptist church. He was born in 1804 and died in 1855. Mrs. Hester Green was a member of the Methodist church and died in 1849.
Henry C. Green had only such educational advantages as were afforded by the common schools of the day, and his opportunities even then were not the best. When he was but fourteen years old he lost his father, and after that sad event he went to live with a neighboring gentleman. He enlisted at the age of nineteen in the First regiment of Delaware infantry, and rendered honorable service in the late war. He participated in the engagements at Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville; was severely wounded in the left leg at the last named battle and was removed to the hospital at Potomac creek, where he remained until June 14, 1863, when he was transferred to Washington, where he remained until the war closed. He was confined to his bed for twenty-seven months and was unable to walk for some time after his discharge- January 1, 1865 - and so remained in Washington until he had sufficiently recovered to be able to travel. He was there when President Lincoln was assassinated and witnessed the grand review after the war closed.
He returned home and attended school at Wilmington, Del.; for two years, and then entered Crittenden's Commercial College in Philadelphia. In the fall of 1868 he embarked in mercantile business in Wyoming, Del., and in February, 187l, came to Buffalo county, Nebr. He took a soldier's homestead near Gibbon, where he remained a little more than two years, after which he spent about two years on the Fort Kearney reservation. In 1876 he conducted a large cattle ranch near Burr Oak, on the Loup river, and was at this business for about four years, when he purchased land in the Wood River valley and went to farming. He now owns several tracts of valuable land and is one of the most successful farmers in the county.
DARIUS B. JONES, ex-commissioner of Buffalo county, was born in Chautauqua county, N. Y., August 9, 1834.
His father, Miles Jones, was a native of Massachusetts and settled in Illinois, in 1859, where he died in 1881. His
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mother, who bore the maiden name of Pamelia K. Turner, was born in Canada, and died in 1879.
At the age of eighteen young Jones concluded to learn the blacksmith trade and accordingly went to Canada, when he served an apprenticeship. In 1856 he went to Kansas and joined an emigrant company, under the direction of the Massachusetts Aid Society. It was during the great excitement concerning the extension of slavery into Kansas, and when John Brown and Jim Lane were popular leaders of the anti-slavery Movement. He knew both of these men and for a time shared in the kicks and cuffs received by these heroes. He spent several years on this battle-ground, during which he received his share of the hardships inflicted by the Kansas raiders. In 1862 he went to Illinois, where he remained for ten years; during which time he was engaged in the mercantile business at Elmwood. His next move was to Iowa, where he spent five years as a merchant at Emerson, Mills county. In 1879 he moved to Buffalo county, Nebr., and took a homestead in Armada township. He has since purchased considerable additional land and now has four hundred and forty acres. He like many others had to hustle when he first came here, and has hauled cedar posts for one hundred and thirty miles to market and there would receive small pay for his labor; but it was the only way there was of making money in the winter time.
He was married November 29, 1857, to Margaret B. Cowan, who was born in Canada, in 1832, and is the daughter of Hugh and Mary Cowan. This union has been blessed with fourteen children - Mary P., John A., Laurence P., Ella, Hettie, Arthur, Annie, Effie, Willie, Alice, Fred, Addie, Flora and Frank (deceased).
Mr. Jones has served one term as county commissioner, having been elected in the fall of 1882. He is a republican and quite prominent in the councils of the party in the county. He is a Mason and Odd Fellow, and one of the well-known and popular men of Buffalo county.
A. L. ARMSTRONG is one of the first settlers of Armada precinct, Buffalo county. He is a native of Genesee county, N. Y., and was born Nov. 5, 1831.
His father, Aden Armstrong, was a Canadian by birth, but emigrated to New York in an early day, where he met and afterwards married Lydia Aldrich. In 1833 the senior Armstrong moved to Michigan, and located in McComb county. He was one of the first settlers in that county and was for many years one of its most prominent citizens. He held various local offices and was active and influential in the political affairs of the county. He died in 1854.
Aden L. Armstrong, the subject of this sketch, was one of twelve children, and, being reared in a new country, did not enjoy the common school privileges accorded the youth of today. At the age of eighteen he began serving an apprenticeship at the carpenter trade, and worked about ten years in McComb county, Mich., at his trade after learning it. He then moved to Kalamazoo county, and engaged in farming for a few years. When the war broke out, Mr. Armstrong
447BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
threw all his influence on the side of the Union and in April, 1862, was commissioned by the governor of Michigan as a recruiting officer. He traveled over the state and used every means in his power to induce men to enlist and save the Union. August 15, 1864, Mr. Armstrong enlisted in the New Third regiment Michigan infantry, was promoted to duty sergeant before leaving the state and saw considerable active service until the war closed. He participated in the engagements at Decatur, Ala., and Franklin and Nashville, Tenn. He was taken sick at Jonesborough Tenn., and sent to the hospital at Nashville where he remained two months, and was mustered out July 15, 1865. He had served as orderly from November, 1864, until he was mustered out.
In 1869 he went to Mills county, Iowa, and worked at his trade about four years, and in the spring of 1873 came to Buffalo county, Nebr., locating, as above stated, in Armada precinct. He selected his homestead on the banks of Wood river and was one of the first to settle in that fertile valley. The country was of course new and wild and neighbors were few and far between.
Mr. Armstrong was married Feb. 19, 1853, to Miss Amelia Rice, a native of Connecticut, born Feb. 19, 1833. To this union were born seven children, as follows - Elias (deceased), Elmer (deceased), Rose, Lenettie, Stella T., Comer C. and Earnest. Mrs. Armstrong died Feb. 11, 1883, and Mr. Armstrong married for his second wife, June 6, 1883, Miss Mary E. White, who was born in Illinois in 1861.
Mr. Armstrong caused to be established the Armada postoffice in 1876 and was appointed postmaster. He was located then about three miles east of the present village of Armada. In order to get the office established, Mr. Armstrong paid for carrying the mails from Kearney once a week for six months out of his own pocket. He has held various local offices and has always affiliated with the republican party. He is a member of the Masonic, G. A. R. and Good Templar fraternities, and is an ardent temperance man, not having tasted a drop of liquor in his life, and has always been actively identified with temperance movements. He has 320 acres of land located in the Wood River valley, 200 of which are under a good state of cultivation.
ANDREW J. FREEZE, one of the most prosperous farmers and real estate men in Buffalo county, Nebr., was born in Union county, Ohio, July 25, 1839, and when about eleven years of age was taken by his parents to Piatt county Ill. where he grew to manhood, and where, in 1858, he married Miss Jane, daughter of Jonathan Carne, of Illinois, and of English descent. The father of Andrew J. Freeze was a native of Virginia, and was by profession a lawyer. He married Barbara Cubbage, of the same state, and to their union were born eight children, of whom the subject of these lines is the third. When first married Mr. Freeze and his wife Barbara traveled from Virginia to Ohio on foot, but eventually reached Nebraska, in which state Mr. Freeze died, near Red Cloud, at the age of seventy-four years. Jonathan
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Carne, the father of Mrs. Jane Freeze, died in Illinois in 1886. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Freeze have been born seven children, viz.: - William H., Mary E., Ollie, Noah, Earl E., Horace and Minnie.
August 12, 1862, Andrew J. Freeze enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Seventh Illinois infantry, under Col. Thos. Snell, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. Among other battles in which he took part were those of Knoxville, Mossy creek, Bean station, Salina and Greenville, Tenn.; he also was in an encounter with John Morgan at Elizabethtown, Ky., and after twelve months' service in the infantry was transferred to a battery in the First Chicago light artillery, in which he served until the close of the war, when he returned to his old home in Illinois. There he remained until 1879; then made his home in Boone county, Iowa, until 1885, in March of which year he came to Nebraska and settled in Buffalo county, his present home. He bought the east half of section 3, township 9, range 15, two hundred and eighty acres of which were broken and improved with a fair dwelling; this dwelling he remodled and now has a fine residence and also has the entire half section under cultivation and improved with commodious granaries and other out-buildings. He devoted the first three years of his residence here to the farm, raising mixed crops and live stock-chiefly hogs. He then entrusted the farm to the management of his four sons, and turned his attention to real estate, of which he has bought and sold largely in Kearney, and still holds large interests in that city. Mr. Freeze is a self-made man, having received a somewhat meager education in his youthful days; but he is naturally shrewd and has availed himself of every opportunity for self-improvement - watching his business interests with a keen eye and always holding himself ready for a bargain. His standing in the community is very high and he enjoys to the full extent the respect and esteem of his neighbors.
JOHN NASH. To be considered an old settler anywhere in central Nebraska does not necessarily imply that one is an old man. There are numbers of men to be found scattered over the territory covered by this volume, who are now only in middle life, but who nevertheless have seen this country when it was in the undisturbed possession of the Indians. Buffalo county, for instance, which contributes a large share of the sketches composing this work, began to be settled early in the "Seventies." With but very few exceptions does the residence of even the oldest settlers of this county extend back of 1870 - or even a year later, 1871 - at which time the settlement of the county began in real earnest. One of the citizens of this county, not yet an old man by any means, but still a man justly entitled to be called an old settler, is John Nash, of Gibbon township. Mr. Nash settled in Buffalo county in the spring of 1877. He took a homestead at that date in the old Fort Kearney military reservation, filing on the southwest quarter of section 4, township 9, range 13 west, lying between the south and main channels of the Platte river on Elm Island. There he located,
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and lived for two years, at the end of which time he sold out, and, being then , unmarried, struck for the Northwest. He went to Oregon, but remained there only about a year, returning to Buffalo county and purchasing a farm near his former one, and again settled. Shortly afterwards he married, and, selling out again in 1882, went to Texas, settling in Callahan county, but not liking it there came back to Nebraska and located in Buffalo county, in the vicinity of his former place of residence, since which time he has continued to reside there. Mr. Nash is a farmer, and has been steadily engaged at the business since he came to the state, except during what might be called his temporary absence as noted above. He is an honest, hardworking, economical man. He came to the county with no means, and began the struggle for existence as a common laborer. His ways have not been ways of pleasantness, nor have all his paths been paths of peace. He has had his share of difficulties to contend with, and he has had to meet them alone, never having had a dollar in his life that he had not made himself. Friends he has not been without, but from these he has received only the coin of friendship, "esteem." He has relatives, but they have never been able to help him, beyond extending their sympathy and kindly encouragement. He has made his way alone, and the fact that he has done it as well as he has, although he has never attained any great degree of success, ought to be a matter of pride and pleasure to himself as it is a matter of remark by those who know him.
Mr. Nash was born in Ora township, Ontario province, Canada, and is of English and Scotch stock. His father, John Nash, was born in Somersetshire, England, and came across and settled in Canada when a young man. He there married, and, some years after, moved to the United States, settling in Michigan, where he died in July, 1881, at the age of seventy-nine. He was a farmer, a plain, unpretentious man. Coming of sturdy English ancestry, and trained to the steady-going, easy habits of his countrymen, he led the life of the plodding, well-to-do Englishman, working hard, living well, and dying comparatively poor.
Mr. Nash's mother, who, before marriage, bore the maiden name of Christina McCallum, was a daughter of Peter McCallum, and was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She was a child when her parents emigrated to Canada and settled in Ontario province. There she was reared and there married. She died in her native place in 1876, in middle life.
These, John and Christina Nash, were the parents of sixteen children, ten of whom reached maturity, and eight of whom are now living. The ten who became grown were - Peter, Elizabeth, Mary, Marion, Maggie, John, Thomas, Christina, Daniel and Mary Ann. Two of these, besides the subject of this sketch, were among the early settlers of Adams county, both since having moved on west. These were Peter and Daniel.
Mr. Nash had just turned into his twenty-first year when he came to Nebraska, having been born in 1856. He married in 1881, July 25, the lady of his choice being Miss Emma Belle McKinley. Mrs. Nash's parents were among the first settlers of the county, coming in April, 1871, with the soldiers' colony. Her father, Jeremiah McKinley, was born in
450BIOGRAPHICAL SOUVENIR OF BUFFALO COUNTY
Milesburg, Centre county, Pa., in August, 1837, was reared there, and lived there till coming to Nebraska, excepting the time that he was in the army. He enlisted in the Union service in August, 1862, entering as a private in Company F, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania infantry. He served in Virginia, and was in all the principal engagements up to Gettysburg, at which place he was wounded by a gunshot through the lungs, and compelled to retire from the service in consequence. He never regained his health afterwards, and finally died in November, 1872, from the effects of his wound. Mrs. Nash's mother, who still remains as one of the original colonists, is also a native of Centre county, Pa., having been born there in March, 1835. She, too, was reared there, and there married in the fall of 1857. She is the mother of two children - Emma Belle, just mentioned, and Alma Catherine, wife of Hector Bookey. Mr. and Mrs. Nash have one child, a son, Harry Nelson.
HALLECK H. STONEBARGER, one of the rising young farmers of Shelton township, Buffalo county, was born in Jasper county, Ill., April 23, 1863. His father, N. P. Stonebarger, was a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Thomas, was born in Ohio. The parents were married in the Buckeye state and shortly afterwards immigrated to Illinois, where his mother died in 1873, and his father came to Nebraska in 1874 and died in 1889. Both were zealous members of the Baptist church. The boyhood days of young Stonebarger were spent in attending the common district school and working on his father's farm until he was fifteen years old. After that period he had little opportunity for attending school.
Mr. Stonebarger came to Buffalo county, Nebr., in 1880, and bought a farm in Shelton township and has been successfully engaged in cultivating it ever since. He was married May 29, 1887, the lady of his choice being Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Buck, a native of old England and one of the pioneers of this county. Mr. Buck bid farewell to John Bull in 1869 and sailed for the United States. He came almost direct to Buffalo county, Nebr., and was here in plenty of time to say farewell to the Indians as they made way for advancing civilization. Mr. Buck was here in advance of any actual settler, and, indeed, the county presented a wild and desolate appearance. Plenty of wild game abounded everywhere; buffalo, elk, deer and antelope grazed in great herds on the broad prairie, almost within gun shot of the homesteader.
Mr. Buck obtained a position with the Union Pacific Railroad Company and earned means with which he secured passage for his family the following year. He organized the first Sunday-school and was elected the first coroner of Buffalo county. He is now a well-to-do farmer in Shelton township.
Mr. and Mrs. Stonebarger have had two children, viz. - Ethel (deceased) and Russell. He has one hundred and twenty acres of improved land, which produces excellent crops, and nearly all of which is under a good state of cultivation. He is a member of the Alliance, and, while he
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has always adhered to the principles of the republican party, he is becoming more and more inclined to vote independently in the future. He is an industrious young man and is on the road to success.
JOSEPH OWEN, the subject of this sketch, has been a resident of the territory now comprising Buffalo county, since the summer of 1863. He was born in Manchester, England, February 16,1849, and is the son of David and Elizabeth (Lloyd) Owen. His father, who was of Welsh descent, was a black-smith by trade, and came to the United States with his family in 1863. The voyage was safely made on the steamer Adriatic, which arrived in the New York harbor after a wearisome journey of seven long weeks. Soon after landing in the metropolis of the new world, the family came west as far as Omaha by rail. They then joined a Mormon train bound for the famous city of Salt Lake. The journey from this point was made with ox teams, a somewhat slow, but sure way of traveling. The senior Owen had relations living on the "Overland Route," near where the thriving little city of Shelton now stands, who had preceded him a year or so, and he determined to drop out of the train and remain at this point. A log house was provided for the family, who were soon snugly quartered on the cheerful banks of Wood river, almost in the heart of what was once considered as the "Great American Desert." The country presented a wild and forlorn appearance, and was only inhabited by Indians, buffalo, elk, deer and antelope. Immense herds of these wild animals could be seen in almost any direction. The Indians, however, were regarded as peaceable, and as long as they were well treated and closely watched, there was not much danger of being harmed by them. Reports of Indian massacres, however, were frequently circulated, and at one time every settler left the country to escape the reported vengeance of the red men.
The father of the subject of this notice worked at his trade as a blacksmith at Shelton until 1864, when he died. His faithful wife followed him to the mysterious realm in 1874.
Joseph Owen spent his boyhood days in raising vegetables and disposing of them to immigrants as they journeyed westward in great trains. Ready sale was found for corn at $3 a bushel, flour brought $11 per sack and hay $40 per ton. Old Fort Kearney, located up the Platte river a few miles, also afforded a ready market for all kinds of produce raised by the few squatters along Wood river. Mr. Owen is, therefore, familiar with every phase of pioneer life on the Western frontier. He has been identified with the settlement, growth and development of this locality, and has done as much as any man toward accomplishing these great results. Mr. Owen was married, in 1872, to Miss Sarah A. Oliver, a native of England, and who accompanied her parents to America in 1860. The Olivers settled in this same locality three years before the arrival of the Owen family. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Owen, viz. - Edward H. (deceased), Elizabeth J., Alice, Josie, Ida, and Annie.
Mr. Owen was deputy sheriff of Buffalo county under Mr. John Oliver, and has
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also been justice of the peace two terms. He is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F. and K. of P. fraternities, and has always affiliated with the republican party in political matters. He owns two hundred and forty acres of choice land near the town of Shelton, and he enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him.
DR. WILLIAM J. NEELY, one of the enterprising farmers of Thornton township, Buffalo county, was born in Virginia, May 21, 1841. His father, Bashrod Neely, was born in Monongalia county, May 21, 1820. He was in the mercantile business in McGaheysville, Va., for several years previous to 1887, when he emigrated to Buffalo county, Nebr., where he now resides. Dr. Neely's grandfather was James Neely, a native also of Virginia. He died in 1879. Dr. Neely enlisted at the age of twenty, September 6, 1861, in the Sixth West Virginia infantry. His regiment was stationed at Grafton, W. Va., for about three years. While here young Neely acted as post clerk for the regiment. He was mustered out in June, 1865, as quarter-master sergeant. After that he was engaged in the mercantile business at Mannington, W. Va., for a short time. In 1866 he began the study of medicine and subsequently graduated from the American Medical College, St. Louis, Mo. He emigrated to Buffalo county, Nebr., in September, 1833, (sic) and settled on a homestead in Thornton township. His first purchase, upon his arrival at Kearney, was a yoke of stalwart oxen, which served as his team. Dr. Neely was among the very first settlers in Thornton township, and he and his faithful wife stood in a great many hardships, incident to those early days, and frequently suffered for the necessities of life. Their first night on the new homestead was spent in a hole in the ground, which was used subsequently as a cellar. They had no money and were obliged to adapt themselves to their surrounding "circumstances. They had no well of water, and no money to aid them in constructing one; consequently, the doctor carried what water they were obliged to have for three long months from the house of a neighbor, one mile distant. He was used to walking in those days, and it was not an unusual thing for him to walk to Kearney, a distance of nine miles, and home again with his arms full of groceries. He built a sod house ten by twelve feet, which served them for several years. During the summer of 1874, the grasshoppers destroyed everything in the shape of crop, and Mr. Neely was obliged to move to Kearney, where he might be able to get work in order to supply his family with the necessaries of life. He returned to his homestead, however, the following spring, and he has continued to reside there since. Notwithstanding the innumerable hardships endured by Mr. and Mrs. Neely during their early experiences in this country, they have survived them all and are now among the most prosperous citizens in the county. The doctor practiced his profession during fourteen years after his arrival in the county. He was exceedingly generous during the dark days in grasshopper times. He administered to the needs of the sick and afflicted then and charged only half price for his services.
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He now has three hundred and twenty acres in his splendid farm, which has yielded abundant crops every year since 1876. He has set out and cultivated with his own hands 40,000 trees, some of which now measure eighteen inches in diameter. He has always had great faith in the raising of fruit, and now points with pride to his fine orchard and well cultivated vineyards. He deserves especial credit for his marked success in this direction. He planted fruit trees and nurtured them when other men laughed at the idea of raising fruit on these Western plains. He has finally succeeded in demonstrating that with proper care the choicest kinds of fruits can be raised in this country.
Dr. Neely has served as justice of the peace, and held other offices in his township.
He was married August 17, 1867, to Rebecca S. Leston, at Mannington, W. Va. Mrs. Neely's parents were both Virginians by birth. Both the Doctor and Mrs. Neely are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They have no children.
GEORGE R. TRACY was born in Licking county, Ohio, Nov. 21, 1847. His father, George Tracy, was a native of Pennsylvania, but emigrated to Ohio at an early period of his life, and subsequently to Illinois, where he remained until his death. He engaged in various pursuits during the early part of his life, but farming was his chief occupation. He was a minister of the old school Baptist church; a close student of the Bible and one of the best posted men of his day on the scriptures. He died in June, 1858, in Hancock county, Ill. His wife was Barbara Lineberger) Tracy, a native of Germany. She is still living in Illinois and is a devoted Christian woman.
George R. Tracy, the subject of this sketch, worked on a farm in Illinois until twenty-two years of age. He then determined to go to Missouri and try farming on his own responsibility. He finally purchased a small farm of Mary Power, who, on January 22,1870, became his wife. Three children were born of this union, namely -- Luella May, born November 27, 1872, Emma B., born February 4,1880, and William H., born July 4, 1882.
Mr. Tracy immigrated to Nebraska in February, 1875, and took a homestead in Thornton township, Buffalo county. He built a sod house in which the family lived for twelve years. It still stands and is in a tolerably fair state of preservation. At the time of their settlement the country was new and settlers were few and far between. Wild game was plenty, especially deer and antelope, which were frequently seen in the vicinity. Mr. Tracy was among those who suffered on account of the terrible scourge of the grasshoppers. They descended in great clouds in the summer of 1876, and completely destroyed everything green, even eating a bed of fine onions growing in the garden. They flew in such droves that they fairly darkened the sun and made a roaring noise similar to a moving train of freight cars. When Mr. Tracy first settled on his homestead there were only a few houses in sight and it would frequently be days and even weeks before they would see a stranger or even any one they knew.PREVIOUS | NEXT
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