Merrick County, Nebraska - Chapter 2: The Early Settlers, 1898

Chapter 2: The Early Settlers

fROM 1858 until 1869 - eleven years - the early settlers had no permanent "town." Lone Tree Station served simply as a "depot" for the designation of a settlement which was scattered along over considerable territory adjacent to the Platte River. During these eleven years Merrick Cbunty was passing through the uncertain first stages of early settlement. To the question, "Who was the first settler on Merrick County soil?" we doubt if one-fourth of the present population could give a definite answer. Yet, so far as we can deter¬ mine by both the records and the memories of the old settlers, he who first made his home on the soil of the newly named county is still one of our leading business men, just as interested in the county and its future now as he was in the days of his first acquaintance with it.

From the July 4th, 1876, address of John L. Martin, on the occasion of the "Centennial Celebration," we glean the following account of the coming of the first settler:

In August, 1859, James Vieregg, returning to the States from the gold fields of California, stopped in Hall County to visit with his brother John, who had ''squatted" there. While resting there and beholding the fertile plains displayed before him, and looking with prophetic eye forward to its future greatness, he came down within the boundary of Merrick County, drove a cottonwood stake into the ground and lariatted his claim on what the government surveyors afterwards located as the southeast quarter of section 5, township II north, range 8 west. This claim was located Thursday, September 5th, 1859, and was the first settle¬ ment by a white man in Merrick County, Nebraska.

James Vieregg

Many roving trappers and hunters had passed through it, sojourning for a few weeks and perhaps months, but previous to the summer of 1859 no white man had called it his home. It had long been the battle ground between the Pawnees and the tribes of the Plains, the Sioux, the Cheyennes and the Arapahoes.

of the buffalo, the elk and the antelope, as the numerous bones, heads and horns at all depths in the soil abundantly testify. For countless ages the prairie grass had started up fresh and green with each returning summer's sun, to be swept away by the prairie fires that followed the first frosts of each succeeding autumn;

. . . .and the wild prairie flowers had bloomed on the banks of this broad river, had nodded in the wind, and had "wasted their sweetness on the desert air."

It is difficult for us to conceive of the days when Columbus on the east and Grand Island on the west were the nearest towns, and when the scantiness of these often prolonged the eastward jour¬ ney to Omaha and the west ward one to "Fort Kearnfy."

To Omaha was a trip of ten days with the "freight" and one of two days by the "pas¬ senger" coach. To Kearney was a journey of four days with oxen and of one day Vith horses.*

But Mr. Vieregg's honor as the first Merrick Countyite is not without a close com¬ petition. It was the latter part of the same day, towrard sunset, that two other trav¬ elers, from the east this time, stopped beneath the lengthened shadow of the old "lone tree," and counseled whether it would be a good neighborhood in which to make a new business venture. Deciding in the affirmative,

The First Homestead

Taken up in 1859 by Mr. Vieregg. The house seen in the picture was not built until 1865-6, just after the former house had been destroyed by fire.

*Mr Vieregg says no more was thought of a journey to Denver in those early days than people now seem to think of a trip from Palmer to Central City.

they set about the establishment of that complex combination of all branches of industry known then as a "ranch." It may be allowable here to remark that a "ranch" in those days included everything from a hotel, with its inevitable bar, to the feeding of stock for markets further east or west. These two travelers who are entitled to the honors as second and third inhabitants of Merrick County were Jesse Shoemaker and Chas Eggerton, both of Douglas County. By the end of six months Mr. Shoemaker had his family located with him in his new home. "Shoemaker's Point," as the situatton of the ranch was named bv the people of its day, was only a short distance from the present town of Chapman, and was the site of the first post office in Merrick County, located there in 1861, with W. H. Mitchell as postmaster. "Previous to its establishment," says Wells Brewer in a letter to the Lone Tree Courier of August 20th, 1874, "the settlers in the middle and eastern portion of the county had generally had their mail directed to Columbus, whence it was forwarded to them by the kindness of the postmaster, through the pockets of the stage drivers. This insecure method of conveyance was sometimes painfully apparent in the condi¬ tion of the letters when they reached their destination , especially if the weather happened to be stormy. Again, as there was a change of drivers at Eagle Island (situated at the extreme eastern limit of Merrick County, in the Platte River) it sometimes happened that the driver from Columbus failed to deliver to his successor the letters in charge, in which case they would be carried back to Columbus. When there was only a weekly line of stages, the delay thus occasioned was consid¬ erable." But the further history of our early ''post office" will be taken up in a later part of this chapter. For the present we will resume our work of becoming acquainted with the early settlers.

For many days and weeks our pilgrims had been journeying over the verdureless waste of the great plain, wearied with its death-like monotony. As may readily be supposed, the wide, green valley of the Platte - had to them unusual charms. The little patches of sod com by the roadside that they occasionally passed looked so green and luxuriant, the little earth-covered cabins of the settlers, few and far between though they were, looked so cozy and comfortable to them, who had .passed so many months without seeing any human habitation whatever, that they were more and more persuaded that the land in which they were joumey- ing was a goodly land, and that the parched, dreary, and irreclaimable desert was passed. So entirely were they convinced of this that at night, when they halted at the earth-covered cabin of one of the settlers it required but little setting forth on the part of said settler of the good qualities of the soil and climate to induce them to make up their minds to halt for a season, at least, and look around. With that halt of our pilgrims to look around the die was cast; they never continued their journey.

Judge Brewer at once located on the farm which yet bears his name, but after a brief stay his brother Wells returned temporarily to Michigan. The names of Messrs. Vieregg and Brewer, thus early associated with the history of our county, have been prominent in all its later development, as will be found in subsequent chapters. To

But for the present we shall leave them to the mercy of the yet uncivilized Indians, while we follow the movements of the tirst family which made Merrick County its permanent home. On January ist, i860, Jason Parker drove the stakes which bounded his newly acquired possessions, and in March brought his family out to share the fortunes of the great west. Mr. Parker's original claim lies just west up the river from the farm now occupied by Mr. Frank Parker, Sr., a son of Jason Parker.

For the history immediately following Mr. Parker' s introduction into Merrick County life we are again indebted to the " History of Nebraska," which tells the story as follows: ''The next accession to the county's population, but not a permanent one, was occasioned by the erection of an imposing structure on Eagle Island by one Bill Hufftalen. It was built of hewn logs and roofed with actual shingles! The ambition of its owner, however, seems to have leaped his pocketbook (or something), for the ranch building had scarcely been finished when it was purchased by the Western Stage Company. Major Hart¬ well afterward came into possession of it. The 'Lone Tree Ranch' changed hands several times in the course of the year, and another establishment was in complete operation at Warm Slough. Haifa mile west of Lone Tree, Lew Hill operated a ranch a short time. He w;is a stage driver by occupation, a road, agent of the stage company, and, on account of some irregularity, he 'got notice to quit.' It was just above this claim that J. G. Brewer had erected his cabin. The next settler after Mr. Brewer whose personal record is a part of the county's history, is John L. Martin, who had during i860 been living at Shell Creek. In May, in 1861, he. settled upon a claim about a mile and a half southeast of Chapman, where he remained until the time of his death in 1893." During the whole of his lifetime Mr. Martin was a conspic¬ uous figure in the political history of the country. His wife was no less prominent, although in another way, being for five years the only physician between Columbus and ''Fort Kearney," and started a ranch. In the same year Mrs. Mary Hilton came to Merrick County and took' possession of the stage house. Soon afterward the family built a ranch house across the road from the Lone Tree, and still later moved up the river. Their final settlement was made on the southern portion of the land now occupied by Mr. Eugene Hilton, With the few other immigrants who have escaped the recorder's pen, the number of Merrick County's inhabitants at the close of the year 1861 was less than forty. In 1863 Wells Brewer returned from Michi¬ gan and settled in the county, and with Richard Eatough,* who in the same year settled near the present situation (on this side of the river, however) of his son James, completed the list of early settlers so far as we shall attempt to enumerate them in the present chapter.

village When he came the Union Pacific railroad had not been commenced. There was no village - not a single store. Hay was mown at pleasure in any part of the ground now occupied by Central City.

the west; yet Merrick County was not without its stirring, and some¬ times really dangerous, incidents of frontier life. We have at hand two or three examples of what the early settlers were called upon to pass through. The first is contained in the record of daily occurrences as recorded in the diary of J. L. Martin, and reads as follows:

Mr. Henry Martin informs us of the particulars relating to the entry of June 21st. Henry and his father were breaking with a "double header" composed of two oxen and two horses. While Henry was occupied in fixing the chain by which the horses, who preceeded the oxen, were attached to the plow, several Indians came up and demanded one of Mr. Martin's oxen. Mr. Martin refused and started around his plow, when an Indian attempted to stab him, and only failed because Mr. Martin jumped backward. Henry at this juncture threw the monkey wrench, with which he was working, at the Indian and knocked him down. Then Mr. Martin jumped on to one of the horses and ran for the barn, Henry following on one of the oxen. They ran the stock into the stable and then made for the house, where they frightened the Indians away by running around in the house and shoving their three rifles through the various loop holes, thus leading the Indians to believe there were several in the house. The Indians, however, took with them a considerable of the family wardrol>e which had that morning been washed and hung out to dry.

The others occurred a little later in the same year, and are thus described in a recent letter from Mrs. J. G. Brewer, now of La Porte, Texas:

I have been alone with over a thousand Indians and received no harm; then again a few have conducted themselves in such a manner as to frighten a hundred brave women. In one instance, I had brought about $5 worth of dry goods of a peddler and laid them on a bed. The Indians were camping on the Island, and some of them came into the front room of our house while I was in the kitchen. I could not get them out of the house for a long time, and then the goods were gone. In the evening the hired man and myself went to their camp, and they ordered us to go away. The hired man went as fast as he could to the house, leaving me alone. I told the Indians I must have my goods before I left the tepee, for I knew they had them. They set up a great howl and threatened me in every way - by stripping off their blankets, pulling out their knives, ami getting their bows and arrows ready. I think I was too frightened to move; at least I did not,

John L. Martin

Then I went home alone, as Mr. Brewer was gone. These statements may appear trifling to those who read this history, but let them be placed under tho same circumstances and they would find it no laughing matter.

There was a Mr. Hill living half a mile from us, and one day as I was looking down the road (being alone so much I got in the habit of watching) I saw there were Indians aroutid his house I was perfectly satisfied that I would recieve a call. After a little I saw Viola Parker (now Mrs. John Kves) running toward me, screaming. She said they were using Mrs. Hill horribly. Not a man was to be found. Mr. Brewer was in Omaha, the hired man was hunting for a lost cow. We decided we could do her no good, and so ran as fast as we could up the road, our hair streaming in the wind and making us appear very much like squaws.

After going about three miles "we met our hired man. We wore nearer dead than alive. He assured us that he would protect us, and after resting a little while we started for home. When we arrived, Mrs. Hill was there, wailing and crying, her clothing nearly torn from her body and great locks of hair pulled from her head. On our way back we had met the Indians, and dangling at their sides were bed quilts, pans, pails, cheese boxes that were used for tomato and cabbage plants, and various other things from our houses.

Soon after a party of them came to our place and commenced taking things from the walls and stealing things generally after we had fed them well. But Mr. Brewer ran foul of them and made them throw off their blankets, and tried to kick the worst one out of doors. The Indian thereupon drew a small gun from some concealed place and pointed it at Mr. Brewer. Charley Hartley (the hired man) saw the performance (Mr. Brewer did not) and jumped at the Indian, knocking the gun from his hand. The contents of the gun lodged in the wall about 2 inches from Hartley's head. Hartley was very indignant, and so were the Indians, as was plainly shown by their constant "worrying" of us, and returning for revenge, however petty. It was terrible, not knowing how soon we might be scalped. Our windows and doors were always left unbolted, as it seemed the .safest way. To be sure we had the consolation that there were large "trams" camping near us, with a goodly number of men armed to the teeth, and the stage company also ran their coaches twice a day and were a good deal of company, serving to draw our atten¬ tion from the horrors of such a life.

Soon after the last event I was alone with our brave Hartley, who was standing on the outside of the house, making pins to fasten the logs together for an addition to our then one-room house. He came hastily to the door and called out, "Look quick; the Indians are coming." I glanced up the road and saw about forty-five of them, one riding in advance. This one rode his pony on to Hartley with force enough to knock him down. As soon as he recovered himself he struck the pony such a blow as to fell it to tbe earth. The Indian was so surprised that he tumbled off his horse, which ran away. By that time the others had arrived. Then commenced the din of battle. It was -to all appearances a terrible fight, their whips cracking, some of them shooting, the clashing of all their implements, the roaring of their horrible dialect, and occasionally a horrible oath in fair English. -I could hear Hartley swearing profusely, and striking with the log pin. He called loudly to me to hand him the gun, but I would not. He was so mad that he tried to break down the door. I thought it was the Indians, and oh, how

Jason Parker

I prayed for deliverance. Fifteen minutes was the time occupied, but it seemed like hours At last all was quiet but a terrible clanging at the door. I supposed Hartley was killed, for they had made fuss enough to kill fifty men. I thought my time had come and nearly fainted, but managed to say I would not open the door. How relieved I was when I heard Hartley say, "For God's sake let me in; the bloody devils are gone " I opened the door, and what a sight! His hair (which was about three inches long) was standing straight up, his shirt nearly torn ofT, and vest gone - one of the Indians had worn it off. He flew at me with

You don't know how badly I wanted to kill one of them red devils." I said, "If you had killed one of them they would have killed you, and then what would have become of me?" "Oh, they would have taken you with them - such a brave, lovely person!" But he afterward acknowledged it was best for all of us that I did not give him the gun. The Indians were on a war expedition to the Fawnee reser¬ vation, and in four days they came back again. They ordered bread and milk. We gave them all the milk there was, but they thought we had more, and made an examination. I satisfied them by showing the place it was kept and the empty pans. Then Mr. Brewer and myself and Hartley had to shake hands with the whole forty-five. It took us Half a day to wait on them. They thought Hartley very brave not to be afraid of so many of them. They told him to come with them and they would let him have a Sioux wife. But he was still determined to have his revenge and kill one of them. This proved a very great detriment to us all, and was the cause of our losing all we had in the world, as will be shown later.