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The parents of Mr. and Mrs. Olney came from Clinton to Crawford county in the spring of 1873, and Mr. and Mrs. Olney being quite young at that time their parents will be included in this biography to some extent.
Mrs. Olney's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Sherwood came West in regular pioneer style--in a covered wagon. They bought a quarter section of prairie in Section 4, Jackson township, at $6 an acre. One eighty acre tract was bought from a squatter, who had held possession for a couple of years, and was ready to make a change, while the other eighty acres were purchased from the railroad company for the same price.
Mr. Olney's parents accompanied the Sherwoods on their trip west, and for some time Mr. Olney worked for Mr. Sherwood. They bought forty acres southeast of where Herring is located now. The country was quite hilly and the crops raised were none too good, but Mr. Sherwood's pension helped out when crops were poor and the two families managed to exist.
Mr. Sherwood's brother, a carpenter, built their house, a 16x22 structure and 1 ½ stories high. While the house was under construction the families lived in the small basement, that had been under the squatter's shanty. A roof was built over this "hole in the ground" and this was their pioneer apartment for about three weeks. They had brought some wheat from the East, for which they got plenty of flour at the Deloit mill.
After a couple of years the Olney family moved to their forty acres, on which there was a log cabin. In this cabin, Mrs. Millie Smart, now of Whitefish, Mont. was born. She will be remembered as a girl as "Ducky Olney". She was named after the lady acting as nurse, Mrs. Millie Hall, mother of Frank Wardell, of this city.
Their nearest neighbors were two miles distant. One of them Mr. Keister, had homesteaded 160 acres some time before, but he met accidental death, being thrown off a load of hay and breaking his neck. Frank and George Weed, and George Gunn were neighbors and also Dr. F. F. Stevens.
Dr. Stevens had a good practice, although his patients were scattered in Crawford and Sac counties. He had a large family and their home, about a mile north of Herring, was the central meeting place for gatherings of all kinds. The doctor planted many varieties of trees and evergreens and this grove is now one of the nicest in this section of the country.
Shortly after the incorporation of the town of Odebolt, the town had a Fourth of July celebration and Dr. Stevens and his boys furnished fife and drum music, the doctor playing the fife.
One day, a wagon, carrying a number of boys and girls stopped at the Olney cabin. An elderly man came up to inquire about the way to the Wheeler ranch, and after being told, he waved his arm saying, "Come on mother, this is the road." Mr. Olney found out later that the occupants of the wagon were Mr. and Mrs. Eli Ellinger and their family, just coming from Clinton county. "Dad" Ellinger built a home in town later, and was janitor of the Presbyterian church until he died.
Early settlers near the Boyer river had an idea that people buying land further north would either starve or freeze to death. Game was plentiful in that vicinity. A neighbor killed three deer one day on his way to Denison. Prairie chickens and quail were thick and wolves annoyed the settlers at times. Mrs. Olney remembers when her father butchered a hog and hung it on the porch to cool over night. During the night they heard a noise outside and when they went out to investigate, saw someone leaving the pig pen. Next morning they found that one of the hogs had been cut around the neck and they believed that someone had tried to kill it, but left when the family arose. The hog was saved.
Indian trappers captured some beaver, and one of their neighbors shot a bob cat. The Indians wandering along the Boyer river and Otter and Porter Creeks did no one any harm, but scared the women when they came along when the men were away from home.
For some time a gang of horse thieves made their headquarters in Four-mile Grove. Their territory seemed to be unlimited and nothing was safe unless under lock and key.
One day Mr. Olney made a trip to Westside to do some trading and he was overtaken by a blizzard on his way home. His team gave out from wallowing through the snow drifts and he unhitched them and turned them loose, leaving the load behind, but the horses brought him home safe about daylight. In the meantime the folks at home had their share of troubles. There was no wood cut and the snow had covered up the ax. To keep from freezing they shoved a long pole through the window and used a blade of a scythe, which happened to be inside, to chop it into short lengths.
A fish trap was built in the Boyer river and furnished fresh fish for the family. The trap was kept in operation until federal agents got too neighborly and the trap was destroyed.
Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Olney were married in Ida Grove in 1879, this being Mrs. Olney's second marriage. In the spring of 1899 they moved to Odebolt, and have resided here ever since. In 1905 they bought a home on the corner of Fourth and Willow streets and in 1914 they remodeled it and they have a nice home.
Mr. Olney owns seven large lots in the south part of town and he keeps a team and cultivates these and other small tracts, raising a large quantity of potatoes every year. He has lived around the Boyer river, where there is plenty of wood, for many years, and he evidently has not acquired the coal burning habit. Since coming to Odebolt he has burned very little coal, but he always manages to have plenty of wood around the home.
Mr. Olney owns a quarter section of land in Dakota.
Mr. and Mrs. Olney are home alone now, their son Vern living at Storm Lake, and their daughter is teaching near Mason City. Mr. Olney had three children by her former marriage: Frank Tougate, living south of Herring; Mrs. Mildred Hardenbrook of Omaha, and Mrs. Cora Bilger of Des Moines.
Mr. and Mrs. Olney are good citizens and The Chronicle, along with their friends wishes them success and happiness through life.
transcribed by B. Ekse from microfilm