Way out in the middle of nowhere...

Way out in the middle of nowhere is where my 2x great grandfather, Eilert Heerten, decided to settle. 

Homesteading in Keya Paha County, Nebraska, the property is nearly in South Dakota. The last time I was there... well, let's just say I couldn't yet read, write or cross the street by myself.

The red point on the map represents Springview, Nebraska; the
closest town.
Google Maps

A recent discovery on this particular family (and an exciting one!) started me thinking... was Eilert involved in any fraternal societies? If so, how? Where?

One benefit I have as the researcher is the surname I'm working with: Heerten. Find a Heerten in the U.S., and I'm related. Pretty much guaranteed. Not "I just met them online because we're researching a mutual 6th great grandfather" related; but the "oh, yes, I talked to her last week and her daughter just got a trophy for gymnastics" related. Eilert came to the U.S. with his brother, Sweeney, and as far as we know, they were the only two of their generation to do so. Everyone else stayed home in Germany. And so, if you find a Heerten in the U.S., I'm related.

The second benefit I have is that I know exactly where Eilert and his family settled. I can say this with such certainty because their direct descendants are still working that land. He became a naturalized citizen in Menard County, Illinois, and finalized his homestead in June, 1890.

These two points allow me to be fairly easily intimately familiar with the family tree once more, at just a glance. It's been a while since I actively searched on this line, but a quick refresh was all I needed to get going again. I started by taking a second look at the family headstones, nearly all located in the Ainsworth Cemetery in Brown County, Nebraska. With a new focus on fraternal organizations, I was specifically looking for any symbols or markings that may indicate involvement in any organization. A quick run through the images, and... nothing. Not a single standard symbol from any member of the family, in the Heerten line or a collateral line.

I have looked before for city directories or even state directories that might include this area. It is so remote, though, and has such a low population, I have never been able to locate any. I did a quick search, and once again came up empty.

My next move was to try the Grand Lodge of Nebraska (Masonic). Simply because they are the largest of the fraternal societies, I felt it more likely that there would be a Masonic lodge in the area than any of the others. I found this list, which made me realize that the Masonic mission is still very much alive in the State of Nebraska. From this list, however, I was not able to determine those that might be closest to the Heerten's.

Stop and Evaluate: What do I need? 

As I try to find an answer, I realize that I am more likely to find useful information if I reach out to a couple of folks first:

• A good state map of Nebraska would be very helpful. I have requested one via the Nebraska Tourism Commission. 
• I have reviewed the History section of the Springview, Nebraska website. It would be unlikely for them to mention anything specifically about fraternal societies, but I read it to be sure anyway. I followed up with an email, asking about the general history of societies in the area. 
• Knowing that Eilert and Sweeney immigrated from Germany, it would be beneficial to look at the general populous, to determine if they were in a community that was heavily influenced one way or another. Were their neighbors also German? Or did they originate from another country? Finding a general sense of the heritage of the community may help me narrow down exactly what it is I am searching for; which organizations would have formed naturally in this area? 

The current population of Springview is less than 300 people. I guess if I exhaust all online resources, I'll just have to drive out there and start asking around! 

What am I left with? 

Essentially, just another course of research that is in "pending" status. I am still waiting to hear back from organizations in the Denver area on another family member, and now I am waiting for resources from northern Nebraska. (Not to leave out the very southern edge of South Dakota, certainly!) Hopefully I will have an update on at least one - if not both! - soon after the start of the new year. 

Where Were They? Turn of the Century Mark

With 2012 quickly coming to a close, I thought this would be an appropriate entry in my Where Were They? series.


My initial thought on this topic, the turn of the century – as in 1899 to 1900 – was this: did they have their own Y2K?  Remember that? Remember how the world was “going to end” when we hit 2000?

What was going on in 1899 that would have made folks fear or anticipate the new century?

The United States National Museum Building,
now the Arts and Industries Building,
pictured at the turn of the century.
(Source: http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/century/usnm.htm)

Reviewing a few websites was absolutely necessary, and although what I found was interesting, it was not earth shattering.

• America is a world power. The west has been settled, the Spanish-American War of 1898 – less than 100 days of it – was a success, both on the battlefield and with the populous.
• Our native people had been shuffled onto reservations. Buffalo were essentially gone. Automobiles, or “the horseless carriage” and telephones were household words and tools. Frank Lloyd Wright was starting his career in Chicago, John D. Rockefeller had started the Standard Oil Trust company. Andrew Carnegie had constructed the world’s largest steel mill in Pittsburgh.
• The transcontinental link had been completed in 1869, and by 1900 the nation had “193,00 miles of track, with five railroad systems spanning the continent.” (Source: America at the Turn of the Century: A Look at the Historical Context)

Although still mostly rural than urban, America had become the stand out in world success. Industry, politics, innovation and technology, war. There were many poor, there were many that were overworked in factories; but President McKinley still ran on a platform of prosperity for his re-election in 1900, which he won. (Source: Macrohistory and World Report, The United States to 1910)

Life was not easy. Can you imagine, though, seeing all of that come to be reality? Would it have changed your view of the world, your daily routine? Picture yourself as a young adult, having been born and raised in a rural setting, then walking down the city sidewalks to see the evening sky lit with electric lights for the first time.


Getting Personal

The big question in this series is this: how did this event affect the lives of my ancestors (or yours)?
As always, I will start with the family of Oscar Brown, because, well, his life fascinates me, and there are lots of questions there still.
In 1899-1900, Oscar, his wife Frances, and two of their five children were living in Central City, Merrick County, Nebraska. By this time, Oscar had given up on his homestead and moved into a “city”, living primarily off of his Civil War pension. In April of 1901, his pension file includes a notation that he had suffered from small pox for the last six months.  No occupation is listed for either Oscar of Frances in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census. By the time of his death in October of 1906, his household goods had been assessed at a mere $10.00.

Living in rural Nebraska, would they have ridden in an automobile yet? Perhaps there was one or two in Central City. I have to assume the railroad advancements during the past ten years had affected them in some way, even if it was just to get mail faster.

For a man who had served in the Civil War, was a regional Deputy Sheriff in Missouri, then went on to become a State Senator for Nebraska, these last few years of his life, living in essential poverty, must have been difficult. His pension file, and again in Frances’ widow’s pension, states that his health declined quickly, beginning around 1900.  He could not work, could not support his wife and children, and likely, with adult children in the area, they were helping to support him. Would he even have cared that city streets were gaining cable cars?

Eilert Heerten. Another man whose life remains a bit of a mystery. He is my maternal 2nd great grandfather, and arrived in America from Germany in 1869. He, too, would have lived through this transition period in our country, and just as with Oscar, he lived in a rural area.


His family has settled on land in Keya Paha County, Nebraska. In 1900, he is farming with two adult sons, and has three other children in the household, along with his wife, Amke, or “Annie”. Financially, he appears to be doing better than Oscar, but he’s also 15 years younger. Perhaps he was more interested in the developments across the country, more attuned to what was happening “out in the world.” However, Keya Paha County is more remote, farther from the main rail lines, and therefore, farther from the news.

Did this New Year’s Eve 113 years ago have any affect on these families? Did they celebrate “bigger'”? Did they ignore the entire event, because they still had to get up and take care of the farm the next morning, just as with any other day?


Questions such as this may never be answered, but they are still worth asking.

Where were your ancestors when 1899 became 1900?

Where Were They: The Children's Blizzard, 12 Jan 1888

I am currently reading The Children's Blizzard, by David Laskin. If you have not read this, and are interested in American history or events in the plains states, you should really pick it up. Honestly, I'm only about half way through, but it made me stop to think: where were my family members on this day?

I had two major lines living in Nebraska at this time. Oscar F. Brown and family represent my paternal side, residing in Colfax County. Farther north were the family of Eilert Heerten, farming in Keya Paha County.  Eilert was the first of my mother's Heerten line to immigrate from Germany. Both of these groups would have seen this historic storm, and both would have certainly told stories of it later in life.


This is the comment published on the inside cover of the book, and when I first picked it up, this is what nearly forced me to purchase it and immediately sit down with a cup of coffee to devour this text:

"In three minutes, the front subtracted eighteen degrees from the air's temperature. Then evening gathered in, and temperatures kept dropping the northwest gale. By morning on Friday, January 13, 1888, more than a hundred children lay dead on the Dakota-Nebraska prairie..."

Wow.

The problem with this storm, from what I've been able to decipher so far, was the timing. The morning of January 12 was unusually warm and sunny, so many of the children went off to school, most walking, in lighter clothing, not worried too much about good coats, boots and other typical winter gear. When the storm started to approach, teachers frantically sent their students home, and many were lost in this fast moving weather. When I say they were "lost", I mean that literally. They got lost in the blinding snow and wind, could not find their way to shelter of any kind, and died from exposure. It's a sad tale, tragic. And it begs the question: where were they?

Always curious to know more about the daily lives of my ancestors, and facing the reality that this could possibly explain young deaths in my tree, I begin my journey.

Eilert Heerten immigrated to the United States on the vessel "New York". Family legend and his obituary tell us that he was a stowaway. Three brothers came over together, but they only had enough funds for two, so the other brothers sneakily got Eilert on the ship and managed to keep him hidden for the duration of this voyage. I have no idea if this is really true or not, or even if it was feasible, but it makes for an interesting story.

When Eilert arrived, he originally settled in Mason County, Illinois, and this is where he met and married Amke Dirks Rademacher, also immigrated from Germany. Between 1875 and 1887, though possibly earlier, he had moved the family onto a farm in Keya Paha county, along the northern edge of the Nebraska border with South Dakota.

The young couple had seven children:

John, born 1875, Illinois
Dick, born 1878, Illinois
Annie, 1880, location unknown
Herman, 1884, location unknown
Frank, 1887, Nebraska
Edward, 1890, Nebraska
Bessie, 1896, Nebraska

The storm hit 12 Jan 1888, so all but Edward and Bessie would have been alive for this event. Thankfully, none of the family members have corresponding death dates. No matter what they were doing that day, they all survived. *whew*

Headstone of Eilert & Anna Heerten.
Springview, Nebraska

Enter the Brown family. I know them best, so I'm fairly confident I'm not going to find anything here, either.

Oscar F. Brown, veteran of the Civil War, homesteaded in Colfax County, Nebraska. There he married Frances Elizabeth Lawrence, originally from Ohio. Together, they lived in Nebraska until his death in 1906. After he passed, Frances followed her oldest son to Orting, Washington, where she resided for many years, finally living with daughter Carrie in nearby Tolt.

All of their children were born in Nebraska:

William, born 1876
Elizabeth (Bessie), born 1878
Sarah Alice, born 1880. Died February 1881.
Mortimer, born 1882
Carrie, born 1886
Warren, born 1892

William & Bessie Brown.
Richland, Nebraska.
Image: Private holdings of author.

The only child to die young was Sarah Alice, and she was not quite a year old at that time. Again, no one in the family appears to have suffered too greatly during this event. All but Warren would have lived through it.

Another of my Nebraska lines is the family of Charlotte "Lottie" Lee, whose memoirs I have transcribed and posted on this site. She certainly would have been affected, also, and because I have spent so much time on her recently, here is her family situation.

Cyrus Homer Lee and Mary Josephine Lawrence (sister to Frances, wife of Oscar, above) married 13 Aug 1872 in Columbus, Nebraska. Both transplants from Ohio, they ended up in Nebraska for very different reasons, and based on Lottie's memories of her parents, they lived a happy and fulfilling life; devoted to their religion. During the winter of 1888, they were on their land near Silver Creek in Merrick County, not too far from the Brown family in Colfax County. Cyrus ran the local store and served as post master for a time.

Their children include:

Charlotte, born 1873
Lawrence, born 1874
Bertha, born 1877
Florence, born 1879
Mortimer, born 1881
Lucy, born 1882
Elmer, born 1884
Roy, born 1886

Out of the group, Roy was the only child not born in Nebraska, he is a native son of Colorado. He grew only to be 15 years of age, but died in a drowning accident. Mortimer also died young, passing in July of 1881 at only 4 months. It would appear that the Lee's did well during the storm, also, and did not lose any immediate family.

Lottie does indicate that she and her siblings attended school regularly, as that was important to her parents. So I wonder how they managed to avoid getting trapped in the weather that day? Did Mary have a "sixth sense" as some stories describe in the book; feeling that the morning's warmth was too good to be true, and kept her children home?  Did their teacher shelter the children in the school, rather than send them home when the weather turned?

I suppose we'll never know, but it is certainly interesting to profile my ancestors with a historic event. I think I feel a series coming on...

I would love to hear where your folks were on 12 Jan 1888. Please feel free to comment, or share on your own blog. Just be sure to leave me a link!

1940 Census: Use the Hype to Talk to Your Family

Two days ago, I was pleased to learn about my grandfather and his parents, aunts and uncles using new clues provided through the 1940 Census. I did not know that Grandpa was a hired hand on a neighboring ranch in Nebraska as a young man, I did not know that Great-Grandpa and Grandma rented their ranch, rather than owning it outright. Interesting little tidbits for my research. Nothing that was overwhelmingly surprising, just new small facts that could lead me down different roads in the future.

Naturally, I sent a quick email to my Mom and her siblings outlining the basics of what I had found. I knew they would have heard about the census release through the news, but also knew that none of them would stop to look it up for themselves. I'm the family genealogist; that's my job, and one I enjoy.

This morning, I received a reply from one of my Aunt's, who lives in Alabama. She informed me for the first time that our cousins have a family Bible, that Grandpa also worked on his uncle's ranch at some point, and a few other little pieces that I had never heard before. How could I possibly have been doing this for over a decade and not known there was a family Bible out there?  Even more, it's about a two hour drive from my house to the cousins who own it. Oh, my.

Lesson learned. It had just never come up. I have talked to this side of the family before about our ancestry, but it was years ago. What can I learn if I bring up the conversation again, asking new questions?

So, use the census. Look up your images, find your folks. And then share. Tell your family what you are doing, what you are finding. See if it will open up new doors for you, too.

First Images from the 1940 US Census!

Here's what I managed to acquire before the servers at the National Archives slowed down to the point of not moving (about 30 minutes in!). I am confident they will have all issues resolved soon and we will all be happily searching and indexing away! 

Four images from Orting, Pierce County, Washington and 1 from Keya Paha County, Nebraska. 

UPDATED: Added images from Lake County, Oregon and Lake County, Colorado. 

Best of luck to you!

Tombstone Tuesday: Eilert & Anna Heerten

Eilert and Anna Heerten are buried in the Ainsworth Cemetery, Ainsworth, Brown County, Nebraska.

Eilert was born in Hanover, Germany, 21 Jan 1846 or 1847, and in 1869 he came to the United States as a stowaway on board the vessel "New York", which sailed out of Bremen. Son of Silas Heerten, who remained in Germany, we know that he had at least one brother remaining in that country at the time of his death in 1929.  Originally settling in Pettersburg, Illinois, he also lived in Woodford and Mason counties, and could be found in Illinois at least through 1890.  On 7 Dec 1874, he married Amke "Anna" Dirks Rademacher in Tazewell County, Illinois, the daughter of Dirk Harms Rademacher and Aaltje Frerichs Buhr. She was born 30 Oct 18 in Zwischenbergen, Hanover, Germany, and arrived through Baltimore on 28 Oct 1867. By 1868, the family had settled in Pettersburg, Illionis.

In the 1900 census, he was listed as a farmer in Keya Paha County, Nebraska, and that is where he remained. His descendants can now boast a long line of residency in that county.  He appears in Keya Paha County as early as 1885. Having moved to Nebraska with three children, they spent their first winter in a 12x14 sod house shared with two other families: the Olaf Nelson family and the Frank Dixon family. Over the course of the summer months, three frame houses were built, and each family claimed their homestead.

Well known in the community, and seemingly hard working farmers, the Heerten's were the first to purchase a steam engine and threshing machine in the area, from J.I. Case Company. They would eventually hire son John as a traveling repair man, and he gained quite a reputation as an unmarried good looking fellow. He did eventually marry at the age of 41 to Emma Anna Koehnken of Natrona, Illinois. On 18 April 1913, a dark grey horse was foaled and named "Patsy." This animal is listed in The National Register of French Draft Horses (#26156), and was owned by Eilert Heerten of Norden, Nebraska.

Eilert and Anna had seven children through their married life; John, Dick, Annie, Herman, Frank, Edward and Bessie, most of which remained in Nebraska. Ed was a veteran of WWI.

Eilert died in 1929 and Anna in 1928, her death coming after an extended illness. The family oral history tells us they had a good and happy marriage, and their children and grandchildren remembered them fondly.