Franklin County, Nebraska

For Another Day

In this week’s article, the story of Franklin County Pioneer Elizabeth Duncomb continues in her own word (written circa. 1920). The notes were gleaned from Mrs. William Hubert’s scrapbook.

“One of the outstanding recollections of my school days was stopping on my way to school in the Negro market to watch the sale of slaves. Many times I was late for school through watching the bidding, the male Negroes lined up on one side and female on the other. Often, the auctioneer was a northern speculator. I became so indignant seeing children sold from their mother’s arms, husband and wife separated and seeing their grief, I resolved then if I ever had a chance to help in any way in preventing this, I would. That was why I became a nurse in the Union Army during the Civil War.

“Sometime a slave owner, when wanting to sell a number of his Negroes, would load them in a wagon and peddle them out like animals. He would have a good dinner at noon while the slaves were left to eat from a tub of bran mash.

“Coming to Nebraska in 1874 with my husband and children, we took a home stead about six miles south and tow east of the present site of Upland. The prairies were literally covered with flowers and the beautiful buffalo grass. Until we could get a better place, we were glad to live in a dugout.

“Then my husband had a cottonwood tree sawed up into boards, as there was a little saw mill down at Riverton. We used these for a roof for our sod house and for window and door casings. We still have one of those slabs we brought from the old homestead.

“We had to go to Lowell or Hastings for our supplies, the latter town being a three-day journey. As we were very anxious to have a mill in the county, Riverton offered to give the ground for one, and Tom Valentine was induced to put in and I tell you we were all proud of our mill. Mr. Valentine sold the mill to Isaac Shepherdson, later. It was hard to find our way on the prairie, and when going far we carried a spade and threw up mounds to make a trail. The antelope and deer were numerous and there were still a few of the buffalo.

“The first store at Riverton was kept by Charles Hokff and was in a little log house on the hill. Tin cups and pans, tobacco, coffee and saleratus(soda) were his chief supplies.

“On January 1, 1876 there was one of the worst snow storms I ever saw and it sifted in our house so bad, snow was everywhere. The stock had to go for two days without care, as we could not get out to tend to it, and many cattle were frozen to death. Had we not had quite a little money when we came to Nebraska we would have staved for we did not raise anything for three years. The second year the grasshoppers came and took everything. Then later, when we did have something to sell, there was no railroad and so no market. We took eggs to Riverton store and were only offered 3 cents a dozen and they did not want them at that, so we fed them to the hogs. Frank took corn to Minden and was offered 4 cents a bushel, so we used that for fuel.

“For seven years there was no doctor near, and I went all around when there was sickness, and I was the happiest woman in the county when Dr. McElwee came. For 22 years I did nursing with him. One time after a hard rain, I had to swim across Sand Creek to get to my destination. In the early days, one neighbor had an ox team and he would come and take some of the young people to parties. He could play the fiddle and his wife was a beautiful singer. We were all poor alike…some became so hard up they sold their farm for a pony and left in the night.

If the day and night are such that you greet them with joy,
And life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet scented herbs,
Is more elastic, more starry, more immortal, --that is your success.
Henry David Thoreau.

Rena Donovan, For Another Day.

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