Nebraska Homestead Tour

 

Sod cutter and Sod house   

Items from Charlotte's trunk

Discovery! Charles Deere Littlefield was in Litchfield working as editor of The Weekly Gazette with his cousin, Clarence. Six years later he married Clarence's sister, Clara. We still don't know where they were married.

Rachel, Sadie, Connie Lou, Anne, and I went to the land of soy and corn fields in July 6-12. We went to walk in the footsteps of two families: The Stevens; Xerxes, Elisabeth, Nellie, and Robert and the Littlefields; Joseph, Helen, Clara and her siblings. Both families homesteaded in Nebraska. We are lucky to have letters written by Xerxes to Lizzie when he was starting the homestead in 1871-2, and to have found the Mabons, who have a treasure trove of a trunk that belonged to Joseph's second wife, Lottie, full of photos, letters, and keepsakes.

We found the land where they lived, and we spent 3 days with the Mabons and one afternoon with Jerry Johnson, historian. We went to many museums, including The National Homestead Monument and the Winter Quarters on the Morman Trail. We saw where Nellie and companion and author, Alida Curtiss, had their millinery shop in Sutton. We learned how sod houses are made, and saw a soddy replica at the Plainsman Museum in Aurora. We found probate records for Xerxes and Nellie in an old courthouse in Geneva. We made some discoveries about our ancestors. Plus we had fun riding in Dave Mabon's Polaris down to the dry Platt River.  It was a fun and educational trip.

Littlefield homestead land - Joanna's land on left
and Joseph's "tree culture" land on right.

Stevens' homestead land Bennett Township near Grafton

Rachel, Cherie, and Sadie at Xerxes and Elisabeth's headstone in
Grafton Cemetery

Cherie, Connie, and Terri looking at the wonderful notebook that
Rachel and family assembled for us, including Mike's famous timeline.

Joseph and Lottie's headstone in Aurora Cemetery

Sadie in the Freeman Schoolhouse

Terri and Dave Mabon, two of their granddaughters, and Cherie, Connie, Sadie, & Anne
at Litchfield Cemetery where Joanna Patten Littlefield, and Helen Crandall Littlefield,
Clara's sister, Joanna, were buried

Photos by Rachel