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The two principals in this tale of early Jewell County, were homesteaders in Odessa Township. Their names are Patrick Carrigan and Benjamin F. Hall. Carrigan, an Irishman, was born somewhere in Ireland, perhaps Kilkenny, in about 1810. When he came to the United States is not certain, but he married Ellen Ferne in Adams County, Illinois, on Jan. 20, 1847. Ellen, 20 years his junior, was also Irish. The family, which eventually included 11 children, lived in Illinois until the early 1870s. Patrick and Ellen, with nine of their children, are foun...
Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day and Veterans Day all have to do with honoring our military service personnel but they are not at all the same. The days celebrate those “who died wearing the uniform,” those “who are currently wearing the uniform” and those “who have worn the uniform.” Memorial Day, celebrated on the last Monday in May, is a federal holiday in the United States. It honors those service personnel who died in the service of their country. They died “wearing the uniform.” The observance began as “Decoration Day” after the Civil War...
“The first post office in the Jewell County was established here.” This fact was part of Mayor J. W. Berry’s speech at the Old Settlers gathering held in Jewell 1898. That first post office, according to the Sept. 9, 1910, Jewell County Republican and the Sept. 9, 1921, Republican, was called “Garley.” It was manned by the first postmaster in Jewell County, John B. Hoffer. Jewell County’s first mail was received from Lake Sibley on July 1, 1870. July 1 was also the date given in Winsor and Scarbrough’s “History of Jewell County, Kansas....
New history is being made in the mansions of Nuckolls and Thayer counties. Here in Nuckolls County the owners of the Lyon mansion near the western edge of Nelson have responded to the many requests for tours by letting people stay in what some believe may be a haunted house. In addition to serving as the Nuckolls County treasurer, Tami Sharp has a unique sideline. She owns and is now operating a haunted house. And it's not just any haunted house, but a real mansion with a storied history in...
Area residents are invited to join with historians and descendants of Charles Watson, a Civil War veteran, at 2 p.m. Sunday in the eastern portion of Evergreen Cemetery for a special ceremony held in his honor. Members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War from Nebraska and Kansas will dedicate a marker recognizing Watson as the last Union solider buried in Nuckolls County. At the time of his death in 1936, he was almost 96 years old and the last living member of Superior's Old Abe Post...
Jewell County was organized on July 14, 1870. Twenty- three days later, on Aug. 6, 1870, the first white child was born in the new county. The baby girl was appropriately named, Jewell Bell. Jewell Bell Thomas. She was born near White Rock, Kansas, to Eli and Barbara Willis Thomas. The location, according to various newspaper accounts was "where the Old Settlers of White Rock hold their reunion." The reunion location is thought to be in the area where Section 12 abuts Section 13 in Sinclair Town...
Ruskin High School was forced to close in 1982 after enrollment dropped below the Nebraska minimum of 25 for three years in a row. However, a loyal group of Ruskin alumni have continued to hold a school reunion every three years. At that time officers for the next event are generally elected. When the alumni group last met, it was decided the Class of 1968 would serve as association officers. From the class a core group developed to serve as the leadership team. Members of that team are Beverly...
Jewell County has at least 58 named creeks. The 1884, 1908 and 1921 Jewell County Atlases were used to locate and identify named creeks. However, flowing water in Jewell County isn't confined to creeks. There is also the Republican River which moves through and along the northern borders of Montana and Jackson Townships in the northeastern part of Jewell County. Some remember major flooding on the Republican River in 1935 and 1947. Another Jewell County River is noted on the 1921 Jewell County...
This issue of The Superior Express contains a public notice advising the City of Superior has scheduled a public hearing with regard to the possible closing of the jail . The current jail is located in the Public Safety Building. Is has seen little use compared to some of the previous Superior jails. It is a costly facility to maintain to current Nebraska jail standards. The city has had several jails since its founding in 1875. After browsing back issues of he newspaper it appears some were busy places. Local historians apparently have not fou...
The annual Jewell County Threshing Bee is upon us. One of the features of the event is a raffle to help fund activities. This year the prize is a 1947 John Deere AN model tractor. The John Deere A was a row crop tractor which was in head to head competition with the Farmall line of tractors. Manufacturing of the A began in 1934. A styling upgrade was introduced in 1939. The 1947 model year saw the introduction of electric starting. The model ceased production in 1952 when the Model 60, an...
Linda Woerner, always one with a bit of Jewell history, tells of finding a news item about the Methodist Church Bell. Not the two-thousand-pound bell that exists today beside the Jewell Trinity Methodist Church, but its predecessor, a smaller, "six or seven hundred" pounder that hung in the belfry of the old M. E. Church. That item, from the Jewell Republican of Aug. 19, 1895, relates how "Janitor Fox" was ringing the bell when the "bolt upon which the bell swings broke." The bell crashed down...
One of the more interesting places to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places is the Nelson Cemetery "Walk" at Nelson. Although there are several places on the register in Nuckolls County, the bridge over a sort of gully on the edge of the county seat's cemetery is certainly unique. (Courtesy photo) (Editor's Note: The following is reprinted from the Lincoln Journal- Star edition of July 9, 2023 written by Jim McKee.) It is unusual, but not unique, for a Nebraska county seat not...
In recent days, the media has reported on the split in the United Methodist Church. The split is real and it has had an impact on all United Methodist Churches in the area. Those reports seem to emphasize human sexuality as the reason for the split. Issues surrounding the LBGTIQIA community are the "presenting symptom" of disaffiliation. Indeed, there are issues with drag queens, homosexual marriages and bishops in practicing homosexual relationships. But, the paragraph of the Book of Discipline...
Jeff Barnes, the Nebraska Humanities speaker who spoke at the Nuckolls County Museum Saturday afternoon, neither confirmed not disproved Lew Hunter’s story which tells of the possible visit of the James Gang to the Bostwick area home of his mother’s family. Extra chairs had to be set up and some people were standing in the museum’s Pioneer Room as Barnes talked about the life of the infamous outlaw and his possible ties to Nebraska. The picture used to illustrate the program was taken in Nebraska City but not circulated until after his death fr...
Many observe Memorial Day. Businesses close, families gather, reunions are held, graves are decorated and cemeteries are visited. Though all are important and meaningful activities, those are not the real reason for Memorial Day. Memorial Day is set aside to recognize, honor and pay tribute to those who gave their lives in the service of their country. Jewell Countians such as Omar Headrick, Aubrey Varney, Lee Keeler, Duane Murray, Robert Standerwick and at least 62 others paid the ultimate sacr...
The late Howard Crilly, became publisher of The Superior Express in the 1930s and had the opportunity to talk with many of the early day residents of Superior. Though he was never able to prove their claim, he said those early residents had assured him the notorious Jesse James had a sister living in Superior and other family members in the Nelson community and he had frequently visited Superior before he was brought down by an assassin’s bullet in 1882. That story is somewhat surprising as Superior was open prairie before the town’s est...
To know Lew Hunter was to know a force of nature. (The same can be said for his wife, Pamela!) I first learned this in 2007 or 2008 when I saw them at an event put on by the Omaha Film Festival. (I re-learned that lesson every time I was lucky enough to be around them.) We were in a classroom at UNO. Around the desk and whiteboard, Lew had placed a slew of “storytellers,” toys and figurines that could inspire a story. After we learned a bit of the writing craft, we each had to submit three ideas for possible screenplays and Lew would help us...
The Odessa Cemetery is located on Road K in western Jewell County. Nestled within the confines of the cemetery is the family plot of Thomas Lewis Watson. While the Watson name may not be a familiar one outside of Sherlock Holmes novels, a Watson family member played a pivotal role in one of the most egregious acts of violence committed in the American West. Thomas was born in Scotland in 1836. He emigrated to the United States as a boy. His family moved from Ohio to Ontario, Canada. Here he married Frances Close. The couple moved to Lebanon in...
Throughout history, Elizabeth (Betsy) Griscom Ross has been credited with sewing the first American flag and with helping George Washington finish the red, white and blue design. It is believed that Betsy was chosen to complete this task because George Ross, an uncle of her deceased husband John (the first of her three husbands), was a flag committee member. While the original flag, called the Grand Union or Continental Colors, no longer exists, a replica is on display at the Betsy Ross house in Philadelphia. Since formal adoption as the flag...
Jewell, Kansas is in the Buffalo Valley with the East, Middle and West Branches of Buffalo Creek flowing nearby. Though now only six blocks long, Buffalo Street is one of the east-west streets in the north part of Jewell. The town is also situated in Jewell County's Buffalo Township. Historically, the first building in the town was Fort Jewell, built in May of 1870. It was manned by 28 Buffalo Militiamen. There is the old story from 1870 about Billy Street walking west of Jewell, climbing...
“On the Eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five.” Do understand that the line is not referring to 1975 or even 1875 but 1775! The words come from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” The poem, famous in American Literature and American History, was written in 1860. The need for a way to alert the revolutionaries was known and planned for in the months before April, 1775. Actually, a century before, a system of alarms was employed by the early colonists to rally settlers during the Indian Wars. This was reorganiz...
The annual meeting of the Nuckolls County Historical Society was held Sunday afternoon at the museum located in Superior’s City Park. Steve Renz, co-chairman, conducted the meeting and introduced the board members present, The board for the past year included Dave Frey, Dave Healey, Camie Kroeger, Lorri Meyer, Fred Meyers, Nancy Meyers, John Price Jr., Marty Pohlman, Steve Renz and Rob Williams. Kroeger has served as secretary, Healey as treasurer, Nancy Meyers as curator and Fred Meyers as co-chairman. The 2022 financial report showed i...
After 114 years, another chapter in the history of Jewell was brought to a close as demolition began, March 13, 2023, on the building that, among other things, had provided groceries for most of its existence. Greg Wilson was the owner-operator of the huge excavator that did the job. The building had a long, colorful history. In 1909 brick was coming to Jewell by the trainload, with as many as five cars a day. A building boom was on as two new banks, a new high school and the IOOF Hall were...
The story is told that Billy Street, in the early days of the settlement at Jewell, walked west and climbed Scarbrough Hill. To the north, south and west, a vast herd of buffalo was all he could see. The hill may or may not have been called "Scarbrough" when Street made his climb, but if not, it soon would be. The big hill west of Jewell was named for early Jewell City settler, James A. Scarbrough. His mother, Sarah McGamey Scarbrough homesteaded on the southwestern slope of the hill. James, who...
In honor of March being Women's History Month, we will take a look at a few of the business women who helped develop Jewell County during its first decade – 1870 to 1879. When Jewell County's government was organized in July of 1870, the US. Census showed 207 people in the county. Thirty-one were women. Though few in number, women were here to stay. Not just to stay, but to build families, homes and businesses. We might visualize the pioneer women of Jewell County as generally being farm w...
