NEBRASKA STATE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
WINTER 1987
VOLUME 9, NO. 3

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DOUBLE DATING

A common occurrence which almost never fails to confuse the novice genealogist is the practice of "double dating." In many early colonial American records, you will find entries like "12 February 1732/33," or "14 January 1701/1702." An explanation can be found in the history books.

The various calendars in use prior to 46 B.C. were woefully inaccurate, so that year Julius Caesar instituted a new (the Julian) calendar, which brought together lunar and solar time. Caesar determined that the solar year was 365 days and six hours, so his calendar made provisions for an extra day to be added every four years. But Caesar's calculations were off by 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Consequently, over the centuries, solar and lunar time began to drift apart again.

By the year 1582, the deviation amounted to ten days. It was in this year that Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar. First, he eliminated the ten-day discrepancy by directing that 4 October 1582 be followed by 15 October. Second, since the Julian error of 11 minutes and 14 seconds amounted to three days every 400 years, he further directed that those three days be dropped from the calendar by not observing any year which ended with two zeros as a leap year, unless the first two digits were divisible by four. Therefore, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years. But the year 1600 was, as will be the year 2000. By these simple expedients, Gregory once again brought lunar and solar time together.

Now for the matter of double dating in early American records. Not all countries accepted the Gregorian calendar at the same time. England and her colonies, in fact , waited until 1752 before embracing the new calendar. By that time, of course, the difference was eleven days. The eleven days were duly dropped from the calendar by the direction of Parliament that the day following 2 September 1752 would be 14 September. Many people at the time also added eleven days to their birthdates so that they might celebrate the exact anniversary. This explains why, for example, original records indicate that George Washington was born on 11 February, but that after 1752, his birthdate has always been considered to be 22 February.

Furthermore, original records indicate that George Washington was born not only on 11 February, but on 11 February 1731. We now recognize Washington's birthdate as 22 February 1732. What about that extra year?

For a long time, England and her colonies had been in the habit of observing two separate New Year's Days. The government and civil authorities considered 25 March to be New Year's Day, and the people at large considered 1 January to be the beginning of the new year. To return to the example of Washington's birthday, as far as the English government was concerned at the time, the year 1732 was still more than a month away. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of confusion. In an attempt to clarify things, many people took to using both years in their notations. For example, you will find dates similar to Washington's birthday written 1731/32. Or you may find the same information expressed as 1731 O.S. (old style), or 1732 N.S. (new style). At any rate, along with reconciling solar and lunar time in 1752, the English government also officially recognized 1 January as New Year's Day. Therefore, you should only ecounter (sic) double dating of years in or prior to that year, and of dates (e.g., 1/12 February, 3/14 March) in the months of January, February, and March in or prior to 1752.

Sun City "Genealogist"      Vol VII, no. 1

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Submitted by Lela SHEER RICKERSON, Omaha NE

KNOX COUNTY, NEBRASKA

TAXPAYER LIST
which was published in the 29 March 1877 Niobrara Pioneer

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KNOX CO. Cont'd

***************************

A regular feature among copy set by a Detroit printer for a church news-letter is an obituary column headed "In Our Father's Mansion." The editor returned a galley proof with two names circled and the notation: "Hold-no room."

D.A.C. News

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Submitted by: Mrs. Emma Land Osterman, St. Paul
Abstracted from the "Centennial History of Hamilton County" 1867-1967.
     Book was loaned by Mrs. Freeman Larsen of Central City. She is the daughter of the C. B. Land mentioned in the story.

CAPTURED BY THE SIOUX

The first hand experience were first recorded by Mrs. Martha LAND 52 years ago in 1915, and at that time she recalled experiences of almost a half-century earlier. Mrs. Land came to Nebraska in April of 1869.

"My husband, Joseph LAND, his father, Jackson LAND and brother Charlie came from Wisconsin to Nebraska in April of 1867 by rail as far as Nebraska City. They had a hard time to get where the first settlers lived - our neighbors from Wisconsin - on the Blue River not far from where Henderson is now". They were the WADDLES, HENDERSONS and others. They took homesteads in Sections 28 & 30 and then went to work on the UPRR. My husband came home in July.

My husband & I started for Nebraska in September of 1869. We were accompanied by his mother, his sister & her husband and 2 children, C. B. LAND & A. M. DAY. We came by way of Grand Island and had to stay for three days. The men attempted to wade across the Platte to find Charlie LAND'S place. Finally a man took us upstream to where a man lived who had 2 yoke of oxen, which finally succeeded in getting us across the river.

The men returned to Grand Island the next day for our trunks and we then journyed (sic) to Jackson LAND'S log house on Section 28. After arriving there we cleaned out an old granary 10 x 10 and plastered it with mud to live in that winter. Our furniture was homemade. There were plenty of potatoes, vegetables of all kinds, sugar cane and sorghum so we did not fare so bad. Neighbors were few, but very good. John HARRIS loaned us 30 bu. of wheat to be paid back from our first crop. If I remember right, we didn't raise any wheat that year.

In the spring of 1870 we moved into our log house on Section 30, a pre-emption for we had lost our homestead right. After 12 years, we sold & moved 2 miles south where we lived for 2 years, then moved to Marquette where we lived for 29 years. Mr. LAND died in 1911 and since then I have lived in Aurora.

Our first County Clerk, J. D. WESCOTT (or Uncle "Si") was a great help to everyone. When our eldest son had his finger cut off in play, Uncle Si was called. Later when our little 17 month old girl died he made a coffin and covered it with cloth.

Mr. LAND helped haul lumber, fording the Platte, to build the first frame house for Fred CLARK in Hamilton County.

Orville was established in due time. Soon the railroads made their appearance.

The Sioux Indians made several raids along the Platte terrifying the settlers by keeping their scalping poles flying even when their purpose was only to drive off the stock.

Mrs. Charlie LAND and others had been captured (2 years prior to our arrival) at the home of her parents west of Grand Island. Those taken besides herself were a sister, twin brothers, a neighbor girl and a small brother. They were kept by the Indians for 6 weeks. The Indians made a basket and fastened it on 2 poles for the twins to ride in. This was drug behind a pony. The other small boy cried & fretted so they shot him and left him by the wayside. The parents moved away, but learned of his death from their daughter, they went and gathered up his bones. The U.S. Gov't. assisted the parents in having the children returned to them. My sister-in-law, Mrs. Charlie LAND, was Jennie CAMPBELL before her marriage. I have been at the home where she was captured, a short distance above Grand Island on the south side of the Platte.

I have 3 sons and 3 daughters living: C. B. LAND, near Central City; Elmer, McCool Junction; Will & Mrs. Frank GION of Marquette; Mrs. ROBBINS, Chappell, and my eldest daughter, Mrs. MOORE of Mauston, Wisconsin.

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Submitted by Marlene Plambeck, Kearney NE

Wisner Free Press, Wisner, Coming County, Nebraska
January 18, 1901

Petit Jurors for January, 1901 term
Wm. Frost, Isaac Gehris, Frank Schafer, F. T. Nellor, Chas. Bolling, N. Denesia, Henry Kluthe, Wm. Oligmueller, Owen Kane, Mike Kelly, L. A. Gatzmeyer, M. H. Leahy, Frank Flores, James Mortensen, F. Sonnenschein, Tom Kirk, Ernest Melcher, Otto P. Herse, Joe Krunert, Frank Matties, J. C. Fisher, L. R. Fletcher, Andrew Zost, Ike Galbraith.

List of officers of Sons of Herman
John Stark, Aug. Trantow, Carl Schneider, F. Wiggers, Aug. Toelle, J. E. Melcher, Theo. Huettmann, Ludy Dutchman, Geo. LaBohm, C. B. Schademann, F. E. Kaul.

Wisner Free Press Febr. 22, 1901
List of old Veterans
W. H. Fleming (Uncle Billy) of Beemer, N. T. Dudley, G. M. Drew, A. Parady, J. L. Rewey, Wm.
Farley, J. H. Aughs, H. Perrine, C. L. Siecke, and Louis Faubel.

May 31, 1901 (Listed as a part of the Memorial Day Services)
Soldiers buried in Wisner Cemetery
Henry Rewey, Jr. born Thompkins Co., New York 1841, died 1874; Co. "C" 7th Wis. Vol. Inft. Edward Carr - born 1842, died 1885; Co. "G" 2nd Wis. Cav.

Christian Hoff - born Norway 1825, died 1885; Co. "B" 5th Wis. Inft.

Wm. Merriam - born near Whitehall, N.Y. 1836, died 1883; Co. "K" 12th Ill. Inft.

Richard A. Thompson - born in Norway 1830, died 1882; Co "A" 2nd Cali Cav.

H. W. Fenfield - born Taswell Co., Ill 1844, died 1884; Co. "F" 108th Ill. Inft.

Isom C. Grogan - born Mo. 1844, died Silver City, N.M. 1885; Co. "A" 27th Mo. Inft.

Willima (sic) Wanzer - born 1848, died 1874; Co. "G" 146th Ill. Inft.

Hugh McGill - born Ireland, died 1894 (no birthdate given); Co. "F" 22nd N.Y. Inft.

Spring Graduate of Wisner High School June 7, 1901
William Austin Milligam, born on farm in Cuming County 4 Febr 1885
Edward D. Ulrich, born Saganaw, Mich., 1883
Albert Rich, born on farm in Cuming County, 6 Oct 1883
Gertrude Helen Rich, born on farm in Cuming County 21 Dec 1885
Agnes B. Leahy, born Lost Nation, Iowa, 23 Jan 1884
Jane Elizabeth Galbraith, born on farm in Cuming County, 24 Sept. 1882
Mabel Lillian Owen, born on a farm in Stanton County, 23 Sept 1884
Alta May Milligan, born on a farm in Cuming County, 18 Jan 1884
Annie Laurie West, born Old O'Brien, Iowa, 11 Aug 1883
Mabel A. Kay, born in Wisner, 25 Nov 1885
Neba Irene Davis, born in Syracuse, NE, 14 Aug 1882

High School Class of 1902   5/30/1902
Ida Severson, born March 1884 in Cuming County, Nebr.
Alfred f. (sic) West "Fred", b. 25 Nov 1885 in Iowa
Ida Helen Breetzke, b. 24 Sep 1885 in Wisner
Alice Vera Minor, B. 1 Dec 1882 in Essex County, NY (Valedictorian)
George Andrew Griffin, B. in 1887 in Chcago (sic)
Bertha Adeline Ringer, B. Aug 1883 in Wisner, NE
Julia Ann Crowley, b. 17 Aug 1882 in Weeping Water, NE
Jesse Raymond Lane, b. 1 June 1882 in Herrick, Shelby Co., Illinois
Emma M. W. Wiggers, 18 Jan 1885 in Oakland, NE
Anna Charlotte Torgerson, b. 15 July 1883 in Wisner, NE
Charles C. E. McElroy, B. 26 Dec 1886 in Rapid City SD
Katharine V. Ryan, b. 4 July 1885 in Tilden, NE
Richard McGuire, b. 14 July 1885 in Michigan

Beemer High School Class of 1902, 5/30/02
Earl Briggs, Maud E. Dutcher, Alta E. Spencer, Rose Hehn, and Ethel J. Farren

(No additional information given.)

Wisner Free Press Sept. 12, 1902
List of Young people confirmed in Danish Lutheran Church
Augusta Sinmonson, Emelie Thompson and Lida Hansen--Anton Winter, Andrew Tinning, and Andrew Hanson.

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Wisner Free Press Cont'd.

Farmers reporting hail losses 8/29/02
Chas. Cannon, Monroe Soden, Michael Griffin, Ernst Albers, Henry Schaffermann, Miles Terrell, Henry Corneman, Goo. Spangler, George Sherriffs, John Albers, John Spangler, Isaac Galbraith, Jos. Birky, Jacob Birky, Thomas Bowman, August Westerholt, Anton Konepasek, Jerry and Harry Spangler, Dan and James McNamara, H. Bressler, Anton Gatekin, A. K. Dinges, Felix givens (sic), Wm. Keller, Fred Seabrandt and Zach Gardner.

Students home for Christmas from University 12/03
Pearl Buck, John Hoff, Charles Rolfson, Ralph Mansfield, Eric Siecke, Charles McElroy, and Fred Wiggers

High School Class of 1904
Claude Dewald, Edith Dudley, Ellen C. Jensen, Katharine C. McGill, Carrie D. Niedermeyer, Anna B. Dewald, Pauline A. Nelson, and Sarah Murray.

****    ****

"And the Windows have no glass."

Humble but also practical and inexpensive, the sod house was a key factor in the settling of the prairies.

Shortly after the Civil War hardy souls flocked to Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakota Territory to settle on homesteads - 160 acres of government land available under the Homestead Act signed in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln.

One immediate problem the new prairie settler faced was securing material for a house. On the wind swept prairie there were few, if any, trees. Not being able to build a log cabin, as the earlier Eastern frontiersman had done, he usually built his house of sod, something that was plentiful and that did not cost a cent.

First, the homesteader had to mow an acre or so of tall grass to ge (sic) down to the sod-thick truf (sic) with tangled matted roots. This done, he hitched up a team of oxen or mules to a special "grasshopper" plow that gently turned over uniform strips of sod about twelve inches wide and four to five inches thick. Using a sharp spade or and (sic) ax, he would chopped these strips into blocks he could easily handle.

The settle (sic) then went about building the walls of his house, laying the sod block like bricks, grass-side down. Slighty moist sod was preferable; damp blocks would settle down more tightly on the layer below, and there would be no dust to get into one's throat and eyes. Often the wall were as much as thirty inches thick built from two or more courses of "Nebraska marble" blocks. With no mortar to hold the earthern layers together, the walls had to be thick to support a heavy roof and withstand gale-like winds.

The roof of a soddie presents it own special problem. If the homesteader had some cash, he bought rafters and boards for his roof. Otherwise, he had to find a tree, perhaps growing beside a creek miles from home, fell it and laboriously saw it into planks. Then, with his board roof in place and if possible covered by a layer of tar paper, the builder would peeled (sic) up more sod from the prairie and placed a layer on the roof, this time the grass side up. The sod cover would help insulate the house from the heat of summer sun and from the cold winter. Such a roof often sprouted weeds and sometime a few wildflowers.

Unfortunately, today, these unique remenders of the hardships of the pioneer days have vertually disappeared,

.... JOHN T. WHITE ....

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Submitted by Mrs. Georgene Sones		Nebraska Telephone Co.
Omaha, Nebraska
NEBRASKA TELEPHONE COMPANY DIRECTORY
January 7, 1897
		"Every Bell Telephone is the Center of the System"
Ames (Dodge Co.)
A. B. Cady, Manager
Allen, R. M. office		Fremont Brewery
Allen, R. M. residence		Fremont Foundry Co.
Allen, R. M. farm		Fremont Herald office
Allen, R. M. foreman's res.		Fremont High School
Standard Cattle Co. office		Fremont Hospital
U. P. Ry. Depot		Fremont Ice Co.
Fremont (Dodge Co.)		Fremont Milling Co.
P. B. Cumings, Manager		Fremont National Bank
Albers, A. J. store		Fremont Saddlery Co.
Amer. Chicory Co. factory		Fremont Waterworks
Amer. Chicory Co. res.		Fried, Wm. residence
Amer. Express Co. office		Fulkerson, L. G. drug store
Andrews, J. W. plumbing shop		Fulkerson, L. G. residence
Bader & Anderson Store		Gannon, D. residence
Bader, J. P. Residence		Glidden & Carroll office
Balding, James residence		Green & Humeston green house
Bauman, A. livery barn		Hammonnd Bros. office
Bell. Dr. Nellie office		Haulon & Gannon store
Bell , Dr. Nellie residence		Hansen, L. P. store
Buehring & Fuchs Laundry		Haslem, Dr. Geo. office
Boggs & Balduff meat market		Huette & Son store
Brooks, J. B. store		Ideal Steam Laundry
Brown, Dr. N. H. office & res.		Jacobson, Julius meat market
Bruner, C. H. drug store		Jans, Aug. boarding barn
Chapman, Wm. C. residence		Jansen, A. C. livery barn
Christensen, C. store		Keene, L. M. residence
City Hall City Mills		Kendricks, J. F. market
Clemmons, W. H. residence		Kirschbraun & Son office
Club Room		Knechtel, John store
Club Stable		Larson, L. P. office
Coad, Mark N. office		Larson, L. P. residence
Coad, Mark N. residence		Leak, Dr. office & residence
Colson, S. B. residence		Lee, H. J. store
Coman, L. B. office		Lollick, C.T.C feed store
Commercial Nat' l Bank		Mahanna, H. C. office
Crabbs, Dr. office		Mahanna, H. C. residence
Crabbs, Dr. J. H. residence		Mallon, J. P. meat mardket (sic)
Cronin, W. J. store		Martin, Dr. E. W. office
Davies, Dr. W, J. office		Masonic Temple, lodge room
Davies, Dr. W. J. residence		May Bros. office
Davis, Geo. B. feed store		May, Cahrles (sic) H. residence
DeLaMater, Fred uptown office		May, Joseph T. residence
DeLaMater, Fred residence		McGiverin, F. residence
Dengler, Chas. residence		Mead, Geo. A. residence
Devries, Dr. J. S. office		Meister, Adolph residence
Devries, Dr. J. S.		Mercer, W. G. residence
Dierks Bros. lumber yard		Morse & Haman ice office
Dodge Co. Jail		Murrell J. A. Store
E. B. & L. Assoc.		New York Hotel
Eddy Bros. Store		Normal School
Eldredge Coal Co.'s. office		Nyc & Schneider Co. gen'i, office
Ely, Geo. M. store		Nye & Schneider Co. local office
Esmay, Frank L. residence		Nye, Ray residence
Farmers & Merchants Nat' l Bank		Nye, Theron residence
Fields, B. E. residence		Pacific Express Co. office
FE & MV Ry (all offices)		Peterson Bros. feed & grocery
Fidelity Steam Laundry		Pillsbury, Veazie & Co. store
First National Bank		Plambeck, John store
Fowler, Frank residence		Police Headquarters

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