Franklin County, Nebraska

For Another Day

This week’s article continues the pioneer experiences of Elizabeth Duncomb, who was born in Ireland and came to America as an infant.

Elizabeth Duncomb was not only well educated, but also well informed. How did she know, living in a dugout in the middle of nowhere, that the Indians were on the warpath? Elizabeth came here in 1876, only five years after Franklin County was organized. The news of the week must have arrived by word of mouth, or by a newspaper traveling from hand to hand.

Written by another person, the following notes found in Elizabeth’s house by Mrs. Wayne Kile.

“The Sioux friendship was changed in a single day (August 17, 1854), when Mormon emigrants were trailing across Nebraska in the valley of the North Platte, a man was driving a lame cow behind the wagon train. The cow became frightened and ran into a camp of Sioux Indians. The man was afraid to follow her and left her there. The Indians killed and ate the cow. This was the real cause of the Sioux War and from the day onward the Sioux were like a bitter savage toward white settlers.

“The Pawnee were more friendly and often divided their dried buffalo meat with the white man. Years later, Sitting Bull, a Sioux, came down into Nebraska from the northwest. He was on the warpath, and with his followers massacred a settlement of Swedish people in the vicinity of Culbertson. He had sent out a warning that he intended to follow down the Republican and would molest, massacre and lay waste the white settlements and water his horses in the Missouri.

“This news caused terrific anxiety and for three days, Mrs. Duncomb wrote they dared not build a fire, lest the smoke might attract Indians to their camp.

Government forces checked the outrage and the Indians were driven back before they had gone far down the Republican. There was a stockade in the hills south of Riverton, where whites could take refuge from the Indians. This turbulent life on the frontier caused many, many families to return to the East. Only the bravest ones, with determination, were about to endure the desolation and hardships necessary to pave the way to the land of opportunity. This, I believe, is a genuine service rendered the state by our pioneer fathers. The problem of making a living, taxed one’s physical and mental abilities. Water had to be hauled in barrels from a spring creek, a distance of four and a half miles. Many times they dipped water out of buffalo wallows, which they would strain and boil before using. Cow chips and chopped corn stalks were used for fuel, when wood could not be found.

“Each year they tried to raise some sod corn, and often during the severe winters, some families were known to have nothing but cooked, cracked corn for food, until they could make the long hard trip to Hastings for supplies.

“Wild game was almost exclusively the source of meat. Mrs. Duncomb hunted deer, ducks, etc. and wrote of trapping many quail under a sieve, where she had placed breadcrumbs.

“A garden afforded some variety of food, and the children relished the luxury of a jar of pumpkin butter made with sorghum.

“One year, a terrible epidemic of diphtheria broke out. Mrs. Duncomb rendered service as both a doctor and nurse to those she could reach. For six weeks, she walked a distance of four miles to care for a family of children during the night and would keep her home through the day. To keep from carrying the terrible disease home to her family, she waded out into the water hole, where a few willows grew, and changed her clothes each time. She saved all the family, but a baby.

“The people were so scattered that school, church and entertainment were practically unknown for many years. The first school was held in a little sod farmhouse where two of Mrs. Duncomb’s daughter and three other children were able to attend a few months each year. It was not uncommon to drive miles with their wagons to spend an enjoyable evening.

“There was a common tie that bound the pioneers into a common family: They shared their joy and their hardships and made lasting friendships. Some of the most trying of the many long years which lingered in the memories of the pioneers were the ‘grasshoppers years.’ which were in the middle 1870’s.

“It was in the fall and the grasshoppers came with the wind from the north. It was like a black cloud, there were so many millions of them. The terrible noise and clatter was almost unbearable and they could not get away from it, except to hold their ears. For miles around, the grasshoppers ate all the crops and laid eggs in the broken sod, which gave them a new crop of the pests in the spring. They made their visit several weeks long and left as suddenly as they came. The following winter found many families scarcely able to get the bare necessities of life.

“Mrs. Duncomb went to Hastings in search of employment and secured the place of cook in a hotel. She made occasional visits to the little homestead to bring supplies and clean up the house for the family. They were also able to help some of their fellow men in dire need. Whenever opportunity afforded work for her husband, she kept the family. Mr. Duncomb helped build the railroad through Franklin. He died in 1884, when he was struck by lighting. A few years later, the Indian outbreak at Rosebud Agency occurred. Dr. McElwee, of Macon, and Mrs. Duncomb, as a nurse, volunteered their services and were accepted.”

It matters not how long we live, but how…Philip James Bailey

Rena Donovan, For Another Day.

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