Lifescapes

Ancestors, Animals, and Adventures
by Lois Smyres

Ancestors

When I started thinking about writing about my life, I remembered I had a file of stories that my mother had written about her family. In her file were also stories my father had written about his family. My father was very proud of the fact that he was a Dane. My mother wasn't impressed because she had ancestors that had fought in the Revolutionary War. Now that I have reread the family stories I see that the history of my family is like a history of the United States. Here is a short history starting with my mother's maternal (Dille) side of the family. I have more information about the Dilles than the other families.

The information about the Dilles comes from two sources: Dille, George Earl, et al. The Dille Family: Three hundred years in America 1664-1964. Marceline, Missouri: Walsworth Publishing Co, 1965. and a biographical sketch from Portrait and Biographical Album for Marshall County, Kansas, published about 1885.

My great x 5 grandfather was an immigrant who settled in New Jersey across the channel from Staten Island. He probably emigrated from Scotland. He was a Presbyterian, which was a Calvinist faith. His name was John Dille, pronounced dillee. In 1665, John and 56 other Puritans were granted a charter by Sir Phillip Carteret to found the township of Woodbridge, New Jersey. John married Sarah and they had four children. When John, the elder, died in 1684, according to the New Jersey Archives, he left the following legacy 63 pounds, 15 shillings, 9 pence, and a sword.

John, the younger, or John, Jr., married Ruth Taylor and they had two children, Sarah and David. Ruth died and John, Jr. remarried. He and his second wife, Marcy, had one son, Ichabod. After he married Marcy, John, Jr. took his wife and two sons and went to Jamaica. They settled in Jamaica and owned land near Kingston, but for some reason returned to the colonies through Charleston, South Carolina. Marcy and the two boys returned to New Jersey and John, Jr. was declared dead in 1747, "absent and not returned." He may have died in Jamaica or at sea and his wife and two sons returned to New Jersey. Later descendants of John, Jr. tried to claim the Jamaican lands, but were unable to establish a claim because more than 100 years had passed and land records had burned in a fire in Port Royal, Jamaica.

David Dille moved to Morris County, New Jersey. David's first wife was shot and killed by a British soldier using the side of their house for target practice. David's second wife was Mary Elizabeth Wade and they had 14 children. The youngest was Caleb who was born in 1759. David, his wife and several of their children left New Jersey in 1766 and crossed the Allegheny Mountains. They settled in southwestern Pennsylvania on Ten Mile Creek near what is now Amity, Pennsylvania. A British proclamation of 1763 forbade colonists to migrate into territories west of the crest of the Allegheny Mountains. The colonists saw this decree as an infringement on their rights to settle Western lands. The British may have been trying to protect the colonists from the Indians who were fighting to protect their land.

When he was 70 years old, a farmer and minister named Jacob Parkhurst wrote a memoir telling how life had been in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the Revolutionary War period. The settlers "forted" at several forts close to their cabins and acreage. With whatever arms they could gather the men "went round in turn to each one's fields and some stood guard while the balance planted or hoed their crops. Thus with much difficulty they obtained a very small pittance of provisions for the wants of their families."

Seven of David's sons, including Caleb, fought in the Revolutionary War in Captain Miller's Company, Washington County, Pennsylvania, militia. After the Revolutionary War and during the time of George Washington's presidency, Caleb, along with three of his brothers and some of their friends migrated across the Ohio River and settled in the Ohio River Valley. They called the town where they settled Dille's Bottom. Dille's Fort was built to protect the settlers from Indian resistance. Caleb Dille and his wife, Rebecca Martin, lived at Dille's Bottom for thirty years. In 1826, after his children were grown, Caleb, his wife and one of his grandsons moved to Henry County, Indiana. He bought a 54 acre farm near what is now Knightstown, Indiana.

All previous Dilles were Presbyterian, but Caleb and his family were Hard Shelled Baptists. Caleb and Rebecca had eight children. Joseph, one of Caleb's sons, was born in 1790. Joseph married Elizabeth Thompson in 1809. A granddaughter recalled that Joseph had white hair and black eyes. Joseph and Elizabeth had 14 children and the oldest Daniel, a brother of Joseph, started to California in 1849 with a wagon train. Indians attacked the wagon train and everyone was scalped. (Dille, George Earl. p.49).was George Jester Thompson Dille who was named after his maternal grandfather. George was born in 1826 and went to school in a log house. He learned to be a cooper and a few years later became a teacher. He taught in the winter and repaired and made casks and barrels in the summer.

In 1853, in Elizabeth City, Indiana, George married Amanda Creath. Her grandfather had emigrated from Scotland and had served in the Revolutionary War. Her grandmother was a cousin of Steven A. Douglas. Amanda Creath's mother was the daughter of an Irishman, Peter Monahan, who belonged to the Friends church. Amanda was the oldest of 14 children.

George and Amanda moved to Washington County, Iowa in 1855. They bought land, cleared and improved it, and were starting to farm when the Civil War began. George was 35 years old at the time and enlisted for 3 years. He became ill and after nine months was discharged from the army. In 1863, he joined a company of Home Guards which pursued Confederate General John H. Morgan and Morgan's Raiders to the Big Miami (River in Ohio). George reenlisted in February 1865 and was sent to Richmond to join the Army of the Potomac. He was discharged in August 1865. "Mr. Dille states that the declaration of peace between the North and the South was the happiest day of his life, but upon him, as upon the thousands of others, there fell a great cloud in the assassination of President Lincoln." One of Amanda's brothers, Owen, who was in the Union Army, was killed at the battle of Pittsburgh Landing.

The property in Iowa was lost and George was in debt. He rented a farm in Indiana and farmed until 1872 when he decided to change his and his family's life and moved to Marshall County, Kansas. There he homesteaded 160 acres. George and Amanda had seven children. Abegail Elvina, born in 1875, was the youngest and she was my grandmother.

Abegail Elvina (Vinnie) married Francis (Frank) Austin Ruby, March 3, 1897. Frank Ruby was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. His parents, Margaret Jane Rosebough and Danial Ruby moved to Marshall County, Kansas when Frank was 12. They lived near the Dilles. Frank had four brothers and two sisters. Vinnie and Frank had four children, Ralph Austin (born 1898), Hester Irene (born 1900), Kenneth Dille (born 1903) and Joseph Owen (born 1904).

The biographical sketch of George and Amanda is from Portrait and Biographical Album for Marshall County, Kansas (1885) Francis Austin Ruby and Abegail Elvina Dille. Wedding picture, March 3, 1897

My mother, Hester Irene Ruby Nielsen, in 1965 wrote the next part of the story.

Frank and Vinnie were Presbyterians and politically were Republicans. They started their married life on a farm in Marshall County, Kansas. In the spring of 1908, after Frank's mother died, they moved to Wheeler County, Texas, where they lived thirty one miles from the nearest railroad town of Canadian, Hemphill County, Texas, on a quarter section of prairie land that Frank cultivated and improved. Frank took four young, unbroken mules, one milk cow, one large shepherd dog, implements and household furniture in a freight car on the railroad. Vinnie and the four children went later via railroad. The Canadian River was flooded, and the few passengers on the train stood in the aisle of the car as the train passed safely over the river bridge. The Ruby's first post office was Lair, Texas, which has long passed out of existence. The mail came once or twice a week and on mail days people went to the house of the postmistress and sat around the edge of the living room waiting for the mail carrier to come. When he did come the postmistress emptied the mail out on the floor and she handed the mail out to each person as she sorted it.

One of the hardships of this frontier land was prairie fires. I remember we sat up all one night, fully dressed in caps and coats, ready, if the fire came near, to go out and lay face down on plowed ground. The men and boys of this small community loaded wooden barrels in wagons, filled the barrels with water and drove to the fires, whipping the mules all the way to get there as quickly as possible. The men wet gunny sacks in the water and beat out the fire. The worst fire I recall took three days to put out. The men were exhausted.

Another hardship was the long distance when a doctor was needed. Someone had to ride to Canadian, thirty-one miles away and bring the doctor.

The greatest highlight of living in this remote farming community was the trip to Canadian, Texas for supplies. Frank made trips to Canadian for supplies about every six weeks. On arriving in Canadian, Frank stayed at a wagon yard, also called a livery stable. The whole family went twice a year in a two-seated spring wagon. After leaving the farming community we drove over treeless prairie. When we crossed Washita Creek, the mules drank there because it was the only water between home and Canadian. We drove to town one day and stayed overnight at a hotel and came home the next day. Lumber, coal, and food were the important supplies. Flour and sugar were bought in one hundred pound sacks. Dried fruit in twenty-five pound boxes was the only source of fruit.

Our school term was three months each year. Each father made seats and desks for his own children of foot boards. School books were owned by each pupil. We lived one-half mile from the schoolhouse. In this community Vinnie started Sunday School using the school house because there was no church.

Broom corn is the only crop I remember, but Frank must have grown other grains. Water for the house and stock was from a deep well pumped by a windmill.

We lived in Wheeler County three years. In 1911, we moved to the Gageby Community in Hemphill County. This was a much larger community and we lived on a one half section (320 acres) farm until 1924. This community had more farms and prairie fires were no threat. However, there were bad sand storms. When we first moved to this farm we lived in a dugout for a few months, until Frank and Vinnie built a five room house. The kitchen and living rooms were on the ground floor and the upstairs was partitioned into three bedrooms.

Mail in the Gageby community was delivered to the country store/post office three times a week and each farmer went to the post office for his mail. In 1918, a star mail route was established bringing our mail to our farm.

When we first moved to Gageby, the closest phone was twelve miles. When a person needed a doctor someone went to this phone and called the doctor in Canadian. About five years later a rural phone line was installed. Our family doctor drove a team of horses to a buggy.

My mother's family circa. 1910. Clockwise: Joseph, Frank, Ralph, Vinnie,Kenneth, Hester.

Gageby was ten miles nearer to Canadian, but it still took two days to make the trip there. Farming was dry,depending on rain. Frank raised corn, maize, kafir, oats, wheat and lots of hogs. The last few years we lived there he raised cattle. Our first car was a 1917 Overland. Frank
drove this car and we could go to Canadian and home the same day. A few years later we got a Ford two-seated touring car. Frank never learned to drive the Ford. One of the boys drove it for him.

Vinnie died in August 1918 from a gallstone operation. At the time his mother died, Ralph was in
Young men courted on horseback while following the girl's family in their buggy.

The school term in Gageby was eight months. The teacher did not teach school beyond the eighth grade. It was the usual one room country school.

Sunday School was held in the school house on Sunday afternoons. Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian ministers took turns preaching. There was a Methodist Church in the community we had moved from, so the minister from there came to Gageby two Sundays a month. The Baptist minister came from Miami once a month. Because of the long distance he came Saturday and went home Monday. The Presbyterian minister came once a month from Canadian. When there was a fifth Sunday the community held a song festival, called Singing . Everyone went and took a basket dinner and sang all day. The dinner was spread on a long table outdoors. Everyone ate his fill and we sure were happy.

Mother's family shortly before her mother died. Clockwise, left to right: Joseph, Kenneth, Ralph, Hester, Vinnie, Frank.

In the winter of 1924, Frank sold the farm. He bought a new Ford touring car and in the spring, he, Hester and Kenneth started out to find another place to live. They went looking in Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas. They spent the whole summer traveling and camping. While in Kansas they saw the Kansas Free State Fair in Topeka. While there Frank saw an advertisement in a paper for a 180 acre farm in Coffee County, Kansas, which he bought. As soon as they moved onto this farm, Kenneth became ill with typhoid fever. He was taken to a hospital in Emporia where he recovered. The following summer, Hester contracted malaria from drinking contaminated well water. The family lived there three years. Kenneth was married there.

In 1928, Frank sold that farm and he and Hester moved to Manzanola, Otero County, Colorado, onto a fifteen acre irrigated farm, where they grew green beans and tomatoes for the canning factory; zinnias for seed; onions, corn and alfalfa. Hester raised chickens. They lived there four years.

Kenneth, his wife and four children lived on a farm near Pomona, Franklin County, Kansas, and were in serious financial trouble. Frank sold the Manzanola farm and he and Hester moved to Pomona to help support Kenneth and his family.

Frank Ruby died in 1934 in Boone, Colorado.

That ends the part written by my mother.

The history of my father's family in the United States began with Peter Nielsen and Mette Laverne Pedersen. Peter Nielsen was born in OdderYYland, Denmark in 1863, to Mr. and Mrs. Hans Nielsen. Peter was in the Danish army and after being discharged a friend in Wichita, Kansas loaned him $90.00 to pay for his trip to the United States. He worked one year for board, room and clothing to pay off the debt. In Wichita he met Mette Pedersen. Mette was also born in Denmark and had come to America with a brother and sister. Mette was a maid for the Victor Murdock family who owned and published the Wichita Eagle. She was also a nurse. Mette and Peter were married in 1893 and moved to Partridge, Kansas where Peter worked as a section hand for the Santa Fe Railroad. They had four children - Ane, who was born in 1894 and lived only 3 years; Kristen, who was born in 1896 and died shortly after birth; Melvin, my father, who was born in 1898; and James, who was born in 1900.

A friend of Peter's convinced him to start farming and loaned him $600.00. Peter rented a farm in Sylvia, Kansas. He quickly repaid the loan and thanked the man for giving him a start in farming.

One day, while helping with the cattle, Mette was gored by a cow. She died a few days later on Nov. 5, 1905. Melvin was seven and James was five. Their father left them with relatives and was gone for three years. When he returned in 1908, he bought a 160 acre farm in Sylvia, Kansas and resumed farming. Peter married Lydia Barrow in1909. In 1910, he became a United States citizen. My father and uncle attended school through the 9th grade in Sylvia, Kansas. They swept the school's floor for fifty cents a week. While living on this farm the family got their first telephone.

Melvin and James Nielsen, 1903.

In 1917, Peter sold the farm and came to Colorado where he purchased 800 acres of grassland three miles north of Boone. Peter and James moved the family belongings by train to Boone, Colorado. Melvin and Lydia followed a few days later.

Peter, Melvin, and Jim farmed 100 of the acres to raise feed for the horses, milk cows and other livestock. The remaining 700 acres was pasture. In 1920, they bought a Chevrolet 490 touring car. They sold that car in 1926 and bought a Ford T sedan. They also had an older Ford roadster that they fitted with stock racks and drove around buying cattle and hogs to fatten.Peter suffered a stroke and died in 1925. He often told the story that as a young man in Denmark, a Gypsy fortune teller told him that he would go to America and that some day he would own and have cattle and horses of his own. At the time it sounded impossible.

With their stepmother, Melvin and James enlarged the ranch to 5000 acres. In 1931, they also bought an irrigated farm on Highway 50 southwest of Boone. Their stepmother died in 1932.

In May of 1933, Hester married Melvin Nielsen of Boone, Colorado. Melvin and Hester met when Hester was living in Manzanola. Melvin's stepmother was the sister of the Manzanola pastor's wife. Hester and Melvin didn't live close enough to see each other so they courted by letter.

What have I learned while reading about these people? Their lives tell the story of the Westward expansion of the United States. My mother's family were people who risked everything to come to the colonies; who defied a British edict not to travel west of the Alleghenies; who fought the British in the Revolutionary War; who became farmers and moved further and further West; who were religious and had large families; who hated slavery and fought for the Union; and who took advantage of the Homestead Act to better their lives.

cIt was a tough act to follow.

Peter Nielsen with two sons, James and Melvin, circa 1908.