Leon's photo of an old homestead house reminded me of this old photo of my paternal grandparents.?ÿ The Kinkaid Act modified the 1862 Homestead Act by raising the acreage to a full section of ground for homesteads in western Nebraska.?ÿ The Act was passed on April 28, 1904, the same date as a very important Act regarding mineral surveys.
In 1941, my grandfather managed another man's ranch in exchange for being allowed to graze his 30 cows.?ÿ The ranch is west of Alliance, NE and the old rancher's parents acquired it under the Kincaid Act.?ÿ The homestead house was a soddie.?ÿ
For the car aficionados, that is a 1941 Chevy Special Deluxe sedan.?ÿ I'm fond of the cowboy hat decal on the windshield.
These are my Dad's parents...Bertha Traber Karoly and Bennett Karoly.?ÿ Probably somewhere in San Francisco, My Grandfather was a Union Ironworker; my Grandmother was a left wing agitator...
I'm sorry. ?ÿ ??ÿ
I own a fourth of one set of great-great grandparents' homestead property. ?ÿDo not have the part where the house and outbuildings were located, though.
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While doing some online genealogical research last evening I finally found that great-grandmother's parents. ?ÿThey appear in the 1860 Census of Rosefield Township in Peoria County, Illinois. ?ÿThey both were born in Virginia (which included what is now West Virginia).
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Nice post Gene. As much as I have read about the American West I've never found out how "Soddies" hold up in a downpour.?ÿ ??ÿ
These are my Dad's parents...
I see where you got your 14B shoe size.
Soddies were rather resistant to the weather and easy to patch. ?ÿSome roofs were covered with long, slough grass to help shed rain quickly. ?ÿThe walls were quite thick.
My granddad's homestead house was a half dugout with short framed walls and roof. ?ÿHe treated himself to the luxury of one four-paned window. ?ÿThey didn't worry much about rain as the annual rainfall amounts total to 15 inches or less.
These are my Dad's parents...
I see where you got your 14B shoe size.
It could be worse, my Dad wore size 15.?ÿ He couldn't get white shoes when he was a Naval Officer, his C.O. told him to hide at inspection time (no white shoes, no Dress white uniform).
These are my Dad's parents...
I see where you got your 14B shoe size.
It could be worse, my Dad wore size 15.?ÿ He couldn't get white shoes when he was a Naval Officer, his C.O. told him to hide at inspection time (no white shoes, no Dress white uniform).
As an old saying goes, "He'd be tall if he didn't have so much tucked under."
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Here's my great-grandfather's original homestead patent.?ÿ No pics of the soddy that stood there for a few winters though.
Interestingly both my grandmother and her son (my father)?ÿwere born on this quarter.?ÿ I had a great aunt that for years kept the old iron bed frame that aided in both of those births and I believe her birth as well.?ÿ Someone in the family ostracized her for letting the bed go in an estate sale.?ÿ Her remark?ÿwas something along the lines of, "Lord, why would anybody keep that old thing around just because of that?"
A frame farmhouse came not long after. My father did remember the sod dug-out from his childhood though.?ÿ At that time (early nineteen twenties) it contained several 5 gallon crocks used as Leyden jars that were hooked up to a DC wind generator.?ÿ My great grandfather?ÿused them?ÿto power one small lamp and a radio he listened to of an evening.
Those would be wet cell batteries, not Leyden jars.?ÿ Appliances don't run on the volt/amp combination a Leyden jar could provide, even if you had a way to charge them to their high voltages.
Those would be wet cell batteries, not Leyden jars.?ÿ Appliances don't run on the volt/amp combination a Leyden jar could provide, even if you had a way to charge them to their high voltages.
Noted.?ÿ That was just?ÿthe term my father used.?ÿ But you're right; they apparently were wet cell batteries filled with some sort of electrolyte.?ÿ My father's recollections included the story that neighbors would purposely wander past the house near dark to see my great grandfather turn on the lamp that sat by his chair adjacent to a window for all to see.?ÿ
The lamp story is believable, but I'm not sure about the radio story however.?ÿ It may have come later than my father related.?ÿ I'm not too sure there were many broadcast stations in the twenties near the OK panhandle, SW KS or SE CO...unless he was listening to Nicholas Tesla crank out Morse code. ??ÿ
My grandmother was not a woman to smile very often, but she sure looks awfully proud of that Chevy.
Here she is a couple of years later in the hay field while her three sons fought in WWII.?ÿ The back of the photo says "The Last Survivor".?ÿ I cannot see any padding on that steel seat, which may be one reason she had a hard-a**ed disposition a decade later when I was a boy.?ÿ ??ÿ
Edit to add:?ÿ Holy Cow, do you know who the manufacturer of the mower is?
Nice post Gene. As much as I have read about the American West I've never found out how "Soddies" hold up in a downpour.?ÿ ??ÿ
I don't know but wouldn't it just water the grass?
I been checking patents.?ÿ I?ÿ believe every one of my great grand fathers got a land patent. Some two, homestead and cash entry.?ÿ One surprise was I'm doing a survey/subdivision currently on one of the patents.?ÿ I had no idea before checking the name last night.
I been checking patents.?ÿ I?ÿ believe every one of my great grand fathers got a land patent. Some two, homestead and cash entry.?ÿ One surprise was I'm doing a survey/subdivision currently on one of the patents.?ÿ I had no idea before checking the name last night.
Yep Leon, we're just a couple of simple country boys.?ÿ Not to mention our engineering educations and an odd desire to retrace GLO surveys!?ÿ
The lamp story is believable, but I'm not sure about the radio story however.?ÿ It may have come later than my father related.?ÿ I'm not too sure there were many broadcast stations in the twenties near the OK panhandle, SW KS or SE CO...unless he was listening to Nicholas Tesla crank out Morse code. ??ÿ
There were stations in range for him in the 1920's, beginning in 1922 with one in Okie City.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKY
My grandfather had the 2nd radio receiver in my home county in Iowa, I think a 1924 model with two sets of headphones. With an antenna strung from the barn to the house he said he heard stations from as far a way as Cuba during its period of use. ?ÿ It was a regenerative receiver (to increase sensitivity) so if you advanced the control to far it would go into oscillation and transmit that signal.?ÿ He and his neighbor, who had the first receiver, would hear each other squeal occasionally.?ÿ
Power for a receiver of that vintage would have been a big "telephone" 1.5 volt cell for the filament and a "B" battery of 45 to 100 volts, neither of which would have been easy to obtain from his wet cell system.
Dad spoke of his family having a crystal set type of radio in the 1920's.
On the hay mower question above, I could only guess. ?ÿIn the early days of farm mechanization there were all sorts of manufacturers springing up everywhere. ?ÿA relative few survived. ?ÿCase, for example, and John Deere. ?ÿWith Cyrus McCormick getting credit for inventing the reaper, a McCormick--Deering mower would have been a possibility.
I been checking patents.?ÿ I?ÿ believe every one of my great grand fathers got a land patent. Some two, homestead and cash entry.?ÿ One surprise was I'm doing a survey/subdivision currently on one of the patents.?ÿ I had no idea before checking the name last night.
Yep Leon, we're just a couple of simple country boys.?ÿ Not to mention our engineering educations and an odd desire to retrace GLO surveys!?ÿ
See you in Vegas Gene.?ÿ If you are not sold out buy you lunch.
Wife and I still talk about that Phantom Canyon drive in the new Suburban.?ÿ Must of been out of my mind, looked like a nice drive, scary in places, narrow gauge roadbed not wide enough to pass on, straight down a ways.?ÿ I got a little stressed, about IF we had to pass another vehicle, lucky we didn't in any bad spots. When I asked you about it you seemed sort of reluctant but I didn't really get the hint. But we will remember it always.
