Henry Naysmith & Anna Bennett

| Nicholson Family | Families | Nemaha Co. NEGenWeb |

Scotland to Nebraska

by Kenneth V. Naysmith

My great-grandfather, Henry Naysmith, was born June 7, 1831, Roswell, Scotland,  and came to America in 1852 via New Orleans, LA to Saint Louis, MO. He then went to Pennsylvania and worked in the coal mines for two years before returning to Saint Louis, MO.

There, he met my great-grandmother Anna Bennett, born Febr. 17, 1836, Stubbhill, Scotland, and emigrated to America with her parents Hugh & Jane Robinson Bennett, in 1848.

Hugh & Jane Robinson Bennett Family

Hugh Bennett b. abt 1796 in Cockpen, Midlothian Scotland; married Jane Robinson b. abt. 1801 in Cockpen, Midlothian Scotland d. 1860 in Belleville, IL
Children:

• Violet Bennett b. abt 1821 in Cockpen, Midlothian Scotland d. 1852 St. Louis, Mo, was married to James Stoddard date unknown;
• Barbara Bennett b. abt 1823 in Cockpen, Midlothian Scotland, d. unknown in Scotland;
• William Bennett b. abt 1826 in Cockpen, Midlothian Scotland;
• Sarah Bennett b. Feb. 28, 1828 in Cockpen, Midlothian Scotland, d. 1918 Nemaha County, NE, married first to William Archibald and after his death married Walter Nicholson;
• Robert D. Bennett b. Dec. 2, 1833 in Cockpen, Midlothian Scotland d. (I failed to get this information from Suzzy Thomas) Marriages to #1 Jane Kinghorne 1856 in St. Louis, Mo and she died in 1862,  #2 Sarah E. Long (b. 1842) March 4, 1869, the daughter of John and Rachael Price Long who donated the land for Sheridan Cemetery.
• Anna Bennett b. Feb. 17, 1836 in Stobbhill, Scotland.

Henry Naysmith and Anna Bennett married March 14, 1856 at St. Louis, MO and, depending which obituary one uses, moved to Nebraska Territory in either the spring of 1856 or 1857, settling on the southwest quarter of section 29, Township 5, Range 14. This land record is dated May 1, 1858 in the Nemaha county Register of Deeds, Auburn, NE.

They had eleven children, three died in infancy, and the oldest surviving child, Marion Naysmith was born April 3, 1860. Another son, my grandfather, William Naysmith, was born June 25, 1866, and as a boy herded the family cows where the present day town of Auburn now stands.

My great-grandfather was a coal miner in Scotland, after they settled on Long's Creek just southwest of the present day town of Auburn, in the fall he would go and work in the coal mines of eastern Missouri. My great-grandmother stayed at their log dugout home on the farm and "sometimes was obliged to go to market and she would walk to Brownville fourteen miles and return home with her necessary purchases."

I have a copy of a newspaper article written by the Hon. J. S. McCarty shortly after my great-grandfather's death, on March 6, 1915. Mr. McCarty had lived with the Naysmith as a single young man teaching at the local country school.

"Tribute to Old friend"

In it, he states in part: "...when a young man from eighteen to twenty-one years of age I made my home with Mr. & Mrs. Naysmith, while I taught the school of their district, and was enabled to know their inner lives, their true characters, as only such associations make possible. When I lived with them there were seven children at home and the good lives of these people are reflected in the lives of those children, who are among the best citizens of their respective communities. I never at any time saw Mr. Naysmith show the slightest impatience or anger, and never knew him to express the slightest ill-will toward any person. These are rare traits and anyone who possesses them to such a degree must be controlled by his highest ideas of what is morally right. I have often heard him express himself as to his relations with others, and always and in every instance the dominant idea of doing that which was morally right, free from any taint of ill-will or selfishness inspired in the sentiments he expressed. He was possessed of an unusually well balanced mind, and brought his best judgment to bear in his business affairs. One of his fixed habits was always to keep on hand a liberal supply of corn, and I remember that one spring, corn was exceedingly scarce and the price for seed corn exceedingly high for those times. Several of those in the community less provident and thrifty relied upon Mr. Naysmith's plethoric granaries to carry them through the spring, also for seeding purposes. Mr. Naysmith refused to sell any of his corn because he said the price was too high for him to accept such money from his neighbors, but allowed them to take from his cribs all they wished with the understanding that they were to repay an equal number of bushels after the corn was gathered the following fall. I remember his talking to me about that and saying that he did not think it would be right to take what was then the prevailing price for corn from his neighbors; that to do so would be to take advantage of their unfortunate circumstances, and that in such a case the only right thing for him to do was to let them have what they wanted and then repay it when they had corn to repay, and that such a course could work no hardship upon them." -- J. S. McCarty

The Naysmith farm, was on the creek about 1.5 miles southwest of South Auburn, and since my great-grandfather was a coal miner with that knowledge and skill, he built a house out of hand quarried limestone rock which came from a hill about 1/2 to 3/4 miles south of the house. It has been out of family hands since the late 1940s or early 50s but is (or was in late 1990s) still standing, even though the roof had fallen in.

Since the farmstead was just south of Long's Creek, when the railroad came through about 1880, the tracks were laid on the north side of the creek until they were almost to the farmstead where they crossed over to the south side only a few hundred yards east and the tracks were laid in between the house and the milking barn. Then after passing through the farmstead, the tracks were promptly returned to the north side of the creek again, with large trestle bridges were on either side of the farmstead. After my great-grandfather slowed down farming, he hand dug a well (rocked with limestone walls), later a windmill was put up over it.  The RR tracks were just a few yards from that well, and my great-grandfather had a cut-off tree stump in the shade by the windmill where he would sit and relax on good days. He had a very good friend who was an engineer for the railroad and when going through their farmstead would bring him a daily newspaper and toss it to him from the locomotive cab! One had to be careful going to and from the milking barn as one could get run over by the train passing through the farm yard!

I have pictures taken of the family rock house taken about 1901- 02 at Christmas, my uncle was in the picture as he was born in 1892.

click photo for large version

Back row standing left to right:
Henry Naysmith Jr. (b. Feb 6, 1862) (d. Oct 21, 1909) Buried Sheridan Cemetery Auburn, NE
William Naysmith (b. Jun 25, 1866) (d. Nov 24, 1945) Buried Chester, NE (my grandfather)
Hugh Naysmith (b. Sep 5, 1868) (d. Aug 3, 1952) Buried Chester, NE
James Naysmith (b. May 11, 1878) (d. Mar 31, 1937)  Buried Julian, NE cemetery
John Naysmith (b. Oct 3, 1875) (d. Feb 6, 1961) Buried Sheridan Cemetery
Seated front row left to right:
Anna Naysmith (b. May 17, 1876) (d. Jun 24, 1916) Buried Sheridan Cemetery Auburn, NE
Henry Naysmith Sr. (b. Jun 7, 1831) (d. Mar 6, 1915) Buried Sheridan Cemetery Auburn, NE
Anna Bennett Naysmith (b. Feb 17,1836) (d. Feb 14, 1905) Buried Sheridan Cemetery Auburn, NE
Violet Naysmith Knipe (b. Apr 9, 1873) (d. Oct 31, 1949)  Buried  Sheridan Cemetery ?? (Lutheran)
Not pictured:
Marion Naysmith Adamson (b. Apr 3, 1860) oldest daughter (d. Dec 10, 1921) buried Chester, Nebraska cemetery.

click photo for large version

The limestone rock house built by Henry Naysmith. My uncle is the young lad standing at the extreme right in the picture and the Hon. John S. McCarty and his wife are the couple standing 2nd & 3rd from the left side of the picture.

Marion Naysmith (m. Mar 10, 1880) Faithful Adamson and they had eight Adamson children

Henry Naysmith, Jr (m. Dec 20, 1886) Annie Nichol and they had three Naysmith children. Henry Naysmith Jr. died October 21, 1909 and his widow Annie Nichol Naysmith married John Lechliter after Henry Jr's. death.  Henry Jr. and wife Annie Nichol had 3 daughters: Sarah Naysmith (b. March 17, 1889), Jessie Marie Naysmith (b. November 4, 1892, d. March 29, 1894), and Bessie A. Naysmith (b. June 2, 1897).  Sarah Naysmith married the Rev. Harry D. Keefer and to this union was born 2 children Lewis James Keefer and Irene Keefer birth date unknown, and an adopted son, James Keefer, who was killed in action in WWII.  Rev. Harry D. Keffer, an EUB minister, served those churches in Howe and Stella for over 30 years.  Bessie married Harvey Henry Kuenning June 15, 1922 and they had one daughter Nadine K. Kuenning Mannshreck born July 30, 1924 and died September 24, 2001.

Hugh Naysmith (m. ) Lorena G. Keedy (w1); (m.) Mrs. Dollye Kinghorn (w2) widow of Jame Kinghorn.

James Naysmith (m. ) Angeline Burger, daughter of Peter Sr. & Mary Nolan Burger

Violet Naysmith (m. Mar 6, 1894) Andrew S. Knipe and they had two Knipe children

I presently live in Republic County, Kansas on the farm purchased jointly by my great-grandfather and grandfather in 1891, since he was not the oldest son and no land was available in the area, plus his older sister and brother-in-law had relocated in this area.  He also relished the thought of not having to farm the hilly farms in the Nemaha County area.

I descend from William Naysmith, son of Henry Naysmith, and have a fairly good record of this family as far as births, deaths and marriages, copies of 1880 & 1885 agricultural census from the Nebraska State Historical Society. I would love to see this information preserved and become some of the historical records for Nemaha County, Nebraska.

Submitted by Kenneth & Nancy Naysmith, 1192 170 Rd, Belleville, KS  66935-8060
naysmith@nckcn.com Voice: (785) 527-5251

Henry Naysmith genealogy is on World Connect
Henry Naysmith genealogy is in the subscription database at www.familytreemaker.com

Naesmith, Naysmith surname information and possible ancestors:
http://www.bibliomania.com/2/9/70/117/24591/1/frameset.html

Walter Nicholson Family

Note: Nicholson and Nichol may have been used interchangeably or Nicholson might have been abbreviated as Nichol.
When I found pictures of Sarah Nicholson, Rachel Nicholson Umland (was a wedding picture with a note written by my grandmother stating that this was "Rachel Nicholson-Umland and that William Naysmith and Melsena Lively stood up with them when married".
When I enquired of Suzzy about a Sarah Nicholson being buried in the Sheridan cemetery she informed me there was none, but there was a Sarah Nichol buried along with her husband Walter Nichol and they were buried along side of the Archibald family? I am also going to foreward the scanned image of a Memorial to Walter Nicholson that was also in the box that was passed down to my from my grandparents via my uncle ... Ken

1880 NE Census Index, Douglas precinct, Nemaha county
Walter Nicholson, sp. Sarah Nicholson Douglas, Nemaha, NE b. abt 1827 Scotland Self
Sarah Nicholson, sp. Walter Nicholson Douglas, Nemaha, NE b. abt 1828 Scotland Wife
Sarah Nicholson, Walter Nicholson & Sarah Nicholson Douglas, Nemaha, NE b. abt 1865 Illinois Daughter
Annie Nicholson, Walter Nicholson & Sarah Nicholson Douglas, Nemaha, NE b. abt 1867 Nebraska Daughter
Rachel Nicholson, Walter Nicholson & Sarah Nicholson Douglas, Nemaha, NE b. Oct 1870 Nebraska Daughter

Rachel Nicholson (m. 1890) Henry Umland (b. Jul 1867 Wisconsin); his parents b. Germany); brother Samuel Umland (b. Aug 1870 Iowa)
Children:
Clarence Umland (b. Jan 1891)
Mabel Umland (b. June 1893)
Mattie Umland (b. Sept 1896)
Annie Umland (b. Jan 1898)
Henry Umland (b. Oct 1898)
Rachael Umland (b. May 1900)
Ref: 1900 Census, Nebraska, Nemaha county, Douglas precinct

Walter Nicholson (d. 1 Apr 1899 age 73) emigrated from Scotland to St. Louis county Missouri and moved to Nebraska in 1865.  He had two marriages, the last to Mrs. Sarah Archibald

In 1900, Sarah Nicholson was living with a Kinghorn family as aged mother-in-law

Revised: 04/07/2007 EEM

Copyright © 2007 Kenneth Naysmith, All rights reserved.
Web page by Emmett Mason Updated 06/03/2023

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