Collection of Nebraska Pioneer ReminiscencesDaughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska
History
Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences
Daughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska
Frontier and pioneer life -- Nebraska; Nebraska -- History
In 1865, B. S. Roscoe, twenty-two years of age, returned to his home in
Huron county, Ohio, after two years' service in the civil war. He
assisted his father on the farm until 1867, when he was visited by F. B.
Barber, an army comrade, a homesteader in northwestern Nebraska. His
accounts of the new country were so attractive that Mr. Roscoe, who had
long desired a farm of his own, decided to go west.
He started in March, 1867, was delayed in Chicago by a snow blockade,
but arrived in Omaha in due time. On March 24, 1867, Mr. Roscoe went to
Decatur via the stage route, stopping for dinner at the Lippincott home,
called the half-way house between Omaha and Decatur. He was advised to
remain in Decatur for a day or two for the return of B. W. Everett from
Maple Creek, Iowa, but being told that Logan creek, where he wished to
settle, was only sixteen miles distant, he hired a horse and started
alone. The snow was deep with a crust on top but not hard enough to bear
the horse and rider. After going two miles through the deep snow he
returned to Decatur. On March 26 he started with Mr. Everett, who had a
load of oats and two dressed hogs on his sled, also two cows to drive.
They took turns riding and driving the cows. The trail was hard to
follow and when they reached the divide between Bell creek and the
Blackbird, the wind was high and snow falling. They missed the road and
the situation was serious. There was no house, tree, or landmark nearer
than Josiah Everett's, who lived near the present site of Lyons, and was
the only settler north of what is now Oakland, where John Oak resided.
They abandoned the sled and each rode a horse, Mr. Everett trying to
lead the way, but the horse kept turning around, so at last he let the
animal have its way and they soon arrived at Josiah Everett's homestead
shanty, the cows following.
The next day Mr. Roscoe located his homestead on the bank of Logan
creek. A couple of trappers had a dugout near by which they had made by
digging a hole ten feet square in the side of the creek bank and
covering the opening with brush and grass. Their names were Asa Merritt
and George Kirk.
Mr. Roscoe then returned to Decatur and walked from there to Omaha,
where he filed on his claim April 1, 1867. The ice on the Missouri river
was breaking though drays and busses were still crossing. Mr. Roscoe
walked across the river to Council Bluffs and then proceeded by train to
Bartlett, Iowa, intending to spend the summer near Brownville, Nebraska.
In August he returned to his homestead and erected a claim shanty. The
following winter was spent working in the woods at Tietown. In the
winter of 1869 fifty dollars was appropriated for school purposes in
Everett precinct and Mr. Roscoe taught school for two months in his
shanty and boarded around among the patrons.
EXPERIENCES OF A PIONEER WOMAN
BY MRS. ELISE G. EVERETT
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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