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NUCKOLLS COUNTY By GEORGE D. FOLLMER [Paper read at the annual meeting
of the Nebraska State Historical Society, January,
1912.] |
D. W. Montgomery drove to Lincoln to induce Governor David Butler to order an election at which officers were chosen as follows: Judges of election, Philip Michael, Jonas Hannum, Alexander Naylor; clerks of election, Thomas B. Johnston, Charles W. Goodman; county officers: commissioners, Adam Simonton, Jonas Hannum, Alexander Naylor; clerk, Elbridge L. Downing; treasurer, Willis Henby; superintendent of public instruction, Charles W. Goodman; probate judge, Abner E. Davis; sheriff, A. Edwards; surveyor, D. W. Montgomery; coroner, James Candy. Mr. Thaine, who had homesteaded the south half of the southeast quarter and the south half of the southwest quarter of section 23, township 3, range 5, was killed by Indians in May, 1870--the last person killed by Indians in Nuckolls county. The first white child born in the county after the organization was Ella Simonton. There were buffaloes, antelopes, elks, deer and wild turkeys in abundance in 1871, but the Oto and Omaha Indians soon chased them out. The nearest post office in 1871 and 1872 was at Meridian, thirth-two miles from Oak Grove Ranch. The nearest mill was at Beatrice. The first railroad in the county was the St. Joseph and Western, which was built across the northeast corner of the county about 1872.1 At present Nuckolls county ranks third in the state in length of railroad track, having 141.59 miles. The Burlington & Missouri company has three lines, and the Chicago & Northwestern, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, Missouri Pacific, Santa Fe, St. Joseph and Grand Island have a single line each. Only one township is without a railroad. Nelson, the county seat, was surveyed in the winter of 1872 and 1873. The court- 1This road was built by the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad Company, and was opened to Hastings in 1872. It was called the St. Joseph & Western after it was taken over by the new company of that name in 1877.--ED. |
house was built in the spring of 1873. The first district court was held in a small frame building May, 1873,. by Judge Daniel Gantt and prosecuting attorney A. J. Weaver. The county records were moved from D. W. Montgomery's residence on the n. w. 1/4 s. 8, t. 3, r. 5, to the new courthouse in September, 1873. The first female child born at the county seat was a daughter of J. M. Shank, and the first male child was C. S. Follmer. The first frame house in the county was built in 1871 by D. W. Montgomery on the northwest quarter of section 8, township 3, range 5. The siding, finishing lumber, and shingles were hauled from Fairbury, Jefferson county. The length of the Oregon Trail in Nuckolls county was about sixteen miles. It ran through the followng (sic) sections, townships and ranges: Sections 13, 14, 15, 16, 9, 8, 7, 6, township 3, range 5; n. e. 1/4 s. 1, t. 3, r. 6; sections 36, 35, 26, 23, 22, 15, 16, 9, 8, 7, 6, t. 4, r. 6; n. 1/2 s. 2, t. 4, r. 7. The trail is nearly obliterated in this county but traces remain on the e. 1/2 of w. 1/2 of n. e. 1/4, s. e. 1/4 of s. 14, t. 3, r. 5 where it comes out of a draw; also on the n. e. 1/4, s. e. 1/4, s. 15, t. 3, r. 5, where it leaves the bottom to get on higher ground. Then again on the n. w. 1/4, s. e. 1/4, s. 15, t. 3, r. 5, as it comes out of the draw onto higher ground. The next point is on the n. w. 1/4 of n. e. 1/4, s. 16, t. 3, r. 5, as it comes out of the draw on the south Side. Then on the n. e. 1/4 s. 7, t. 3, r. 5, where it leaves the third bottom through a cut to the second bottom. It is visible again east of The Narrows.- on the s. e. 14, s. w. 1/4, s. 6, t. 3, r. 5; also on the e. 1/2, s. w. 1/4 and n. 1/4 of n. w. 1/4, s. 36, t. 4, r. 6. The last sign is where it leaves the Nine Mile Ridge on the west side of the n. 1/2 s. 1, t. 4, r. 7. The massacre on the Little Blue occurred on Sunday afternoon August 7, 1864. The attack seemed general along the Little Blue extending east within a mile of Kiowa Ranch in Thayer county. At this point one of the Eubank |
boys was killed and scalped. Two of the Eubank boys were killed and scalped on n. 1/2 of n. w. 1/4 16- 3-5 and were buried under an elm tree on s. w. 1/4 of s. w. 1/4 8-3-5 on the banks of the Little Blue. It is stated that nine of these were killed. William Eubank and the others were killed on n. w. 1/4 7 & s. w. 1/4 6-3-5, all on August 7, 1864. The wife and child of one Eubank boy and Miss Laura Roper were carried off captives. Because the child was fretful it was killed soon after starting. In about six months these women were exchanged near Denver, Colorado, for Indian prisoners.2 Those killed at Oak Grove Ranch August 7, 1864, were W. R. Kelley and a man by the name of Butler. Those who escaped were E. S. Comstock sr.; Harry C. Comstock; J. M. Comstock, wife and child; Mrs. Francis Blush and child; Sarah Comstock; Mary Comstock; Ella Butler; Tobias Castor; George Hunt. A man by the name of Ostrander was wounded and died a short time afterward in Seneca, Kansas. George Hunt, at present county commissioner of Saline county, Nebraska, was wounded in the calf of the leg. The bodies of Kelley and Butler were put into the small smokehouse on Monday, August 8, before the people left. The building, smokehouse and stable were burnt sometime Monday. The bodies in the smokehouse were nearly cremated when found on Thursday, August 11, by J. M. Comstock, James Douglas, John Gilbert and others, who had returned to bury them. The size of the building burnt was 40 x 22, with a kitchen on west side, 40 x 12, and a bedroom on north side, 2Stories of this Oak Grove tragedy and the recovery of the captives are conflicting. Various authorities are cited in footnote 1 of my history of the Indian war on the Nebraska plains, Ms. Nebraska State Historical Society. See, also, the account of Captain Henry E. Palmer, History of Nebraska, v. 2, p. 188, note; Kansas Historical Collections, v. 8, p. 354; History of Wyoming (Coutant) p. 441.--ED. |
12 x 22. The main building was two stories and was built by Charles and Preston Butler in 1859. The Emery incident occurred August 9, 1864. He saved nine stagecoach passengers by discovering an Indian pony in a clump of willows as he was about to descend into the bottom land. He coolly turned his four horses and started on the race for life. He was fortunate enough to meet George Constable's ox train. Constable, seeing him coming, corralled the train and saved all in the coach. E. Umphrey, and G. G. and Hattie Randolph presented Emery a short time before his death with a fine gold ring. It was lost in 1885. This incident was reported at the time to have taken place near the The Narrows; but it occurred on the southwest quarter of section 13, township 3, range 5, which is five to six miles east of The Narrows. George Constable was afterwards killed by the Indians on the divide between Elk Creek and the Little Blue and buried in the brakes of the Little Blue on the northeast quarter of section 35, township 4, range 6. A considerable number of wagons loaded with goods were burned on this quarter section. Pieces of crockery can now be found at this place. Following are the names of ranches from Kiowa, Thayer county, Nebraska, to Kearney, Nebraska; also those that had charge August 7, 1864. The location is given of those in Nuckolls county. Kiowa Ranch, Thayer county, James Douglas; Oak Grove Ranch, E. S. Comstock; Eubank Ranch, Eubanks, on the n. e. 1/4, n. w. 1/4 s. 7, t. 3, r. 5; Ewing or Kelley Ranch, by W. R. Kelley, on the n. e. 1/4 of n. w. 1/4 s. 1, t. 3, r. 6; Little Blue station, by J. M. Comstock,on the s. e. 1/4 of n. e. 1/4 s. 35, t. 4, r. 6; Buffalo Ranch, by Milligan and Mudge, s.. e. 1/4, n. e. 1/4 s. 2, t. 4, r. 7; Liberty Farm, by Charles Emery; Pawnee Ranch, by Jas. Bainter; Spring Ranch, by Nute Metcalf; Lone Tree Ranch, party not known by writer; Elm Tree Ranch, by William Moody; |
Thirty-two Mile Creek Ranch by George and Ansel Comstock; Hook or Junction Ranch, by Hook. At this point the road from Omaha formed a junction with the Oregon Trail nine miles east of Kearney. The incidents along the Oregon Trail were given by a party who lived on the trail from 1862 till after the massacre, and who was at Oak Grove ranch Sunday morning, August 7, 1864. |
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