The Lutherans and Catholics each had a small church. Soon there was a Baptist Congregation and not long afterwards the Methodists, so at an early date almost everyone went to church somewhere.

The community was one of young families who came to make their homes in the new state. They were good people and always cooperative, exchanging work in busy times, cared for each other in times of stress, rejoiced with each other in good times and bad.

Dr. Tanner looked after the health of all. Taking calls no matter how far out or what time of the day or night in all kinds of weather. Fire was always a hazard. There were many prairie fires and they were terrifying. They usually occurred at night and were many times set to drive settlers out. The worst home fire was at the Tiedgen barn, a hugh place that housed horses, machinery and a large quantity of hay and grain, as well as fourteen horses. Everything went — the horses were burned to death in their stalls. A man sleeping off a Saturday night celebration, dropped a lighted cigar in the hay mow.

Then there was the burning of the hotel and livery barn, in which a man had been murdered and the body left to burn by the murderer who then set fire to the building.

Some years later, an older man drifted into the country as a farm hand. After sometime he married a young widow with a seven year old boy, then insisted upon her deeding him the farm that belonged to her and the boy. When she refused, he shot her. He served thirty-five years of a life sentence, then came out a tottering old man with no place to go.

Education always played a part and the first school house was a two room frame building in the town cow pasture near where the Alf Reeves house now stands. The four room brick was finished in 1884. Bob Maxwell bought the old building, moved it into town, took out the partition, built a rostrum and two dressing rooms at one end and labeled it "Opera House." I started to school in the place, later danced many a night there, and finally we owned it as a grocery store!

My father was a Democrat who spent many days campaigning for such friends as Senator Allen, Ed O'Shea, F. J. Hale, Pete Zimmerman and John Hughes. United States Senators were then chosen by State Legislatures. He served one term as County Supervisor and in later years spoke about being on the first school board that elected Mollie Taylor.

Our mother died in 1904. The family scattered. My father went to western Nebraska for a while, then retired to Sioux City where he died in 1951 at the age of ninety-five. Owen died in 1947 and Dolly in 1951 and Claude in 1956.

I live in a beautiful state but I miss Nebraska. After all I am still just a farmer's daughter and Battle Creek is "My Home Town."

October 17, 1964 —Gertrude Wade Martin

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