Digital Commons Network^™

Joel T. Griffen, L. G. Egbert

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

JOEL T. GRIFFEN was born in Otsego county, New York, May 22d, 1817. His parents (Rachel Willson and Stephen Griffen) were of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, American born, his father being of Welsh descent. He carried. on a small farm, beside running a grist mill, at which on mill days all the farmers congregated for a friendly chat and to procure their monthly flour and meal. It was proverbial of him that he was never heard to utter an oath or laugh out loud. Joel was the third son in his father's family, having two brothers and two …

Gold At Pike’S Peak – Rush For – Stampede, A. L. Child

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

There is no portion of the history of the past which is not largely obscured, distorted, or absolutely falsified through the omission of unwritten portions.

We are prone to forget or fail to realize how intense the interest of the future may be in the doings of to-day. Or if we feel the importance of leaving a record we are apt to note only the fading and vanishing items of the past. To make a record of transactions and happenings of to-day, of that which everyone knows all about, seems uncalled for and useless labor.

Through this neglect important springs …

Charles Powell

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

Charles Powell died at Omaha, 1884. He was born in Geneva, N.Y., on May 13, 1811, and was therefore at the time of his demise 73 years of age. He was married in 1843 to Miss Catherine M. Bacon, a lady who was a native also of New York, the wedding taking place at Jonesville, Mich. Mr. Powell came to Nebraska in 1858, and located at De Soto, to which point he transported an extensive outfit of machinery with which he started a mill, one of the first and most valuable to settlers in this territory. Two years later Mr. …

Mrs. Caroline Joy Morton

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

Caroline Joy Morton was born on the 9th of August; 1833, at Hallowell, in Maine. Her father was Hiram Joy. He was of Irish descent. His ancestry, as far back as the family records in this country go, were seafaring people. They who go down to the sea in ship learn to cast out fear, and meet danger and toil and watching with steady nerve and toughened muscle. Their children have a heritage of courage and resolution, and the breath of the salt sea air is their constant stimulant. Her mother was Caroline Hayden. She, too, was reared in the …

Some Historical Data About Washington County, W. H. Woods

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

Agreeable to our promise to continue our investigations; we, last Tuesday, visited the site of the old village mentioned in Bell’s History of Washington County, page 39, as the site of an old Mormon settlement of 1845; but thought by Mr. Grenell and others to have been of much older date, and probably a farm station or outpost of either Fort Atkinson, which lay about one mile east, or Fort Calhoun, four miles south.

Bishop Clarkson, Geo L. Miller

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

The Rt. Rev. Robert H. Clarkson, Episcopal Bishop of Nebraska, died at his home on St. Mary's Avenue, Omaha, Monday, March 10, 1884.

The following biography of Bishop Clarkson was an editorial in the Omaha Herald, written by Dr. Geo. L. Miller, editor.

Dr. Enos Lowe, W. W. Lowe

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

DR, ENOS LOWE was born at Guilford Court House, North Carolina, May 5th, 1804. When he was about ten years of age his parents moved to the territory of Indiana, locating at the small settlement known as Bloomington, in Monroe county, the community being mostly composed of quakers, his parents being of that denomination. When a mere boy he began the study of medicine, and soon began the practice of the profession in the midst of the many vicissitudes and privations incident to anew, wild, and sparsely settled country. Little by little, however, he accumulated enough from his practice to …

Elder J. M. Young

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

Elder J.M. Young was really the founder of the city of Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska. He was born in Genesee county, New York, near Batavia, on the old Holland purchase, on November 25, 1806. In 1829, he married Alice Watson, at that time eighteen years of age, and who now survives him at the age of seventy-four. The following year he moved to Ohio and from Ohio he went to Page county, Iowa, in 1859. In 1860 he came to Nebraska and settled at Nebraska City. In 1863, near the end of the year, he came t Salt Creek …

The Place Of History In Modern Education, G. E. Howard

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

The following is• an abstract of an address delivered by. Prof. Howard at the opening of the winter term of the Nebraska University, at the time the Nebraska State Historical Society was in session, and by agreement before a joint session of the two organizations, to serve also as the annual address of the Historical Society.

Autobiography Of Rev. William Hamilton, William Hamilton

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

Every old settler in Nebraska will remember "Father Hamilton," early and so long a missionary among the western Indians. I solicited his biography for this report from his own pen. The following letter in response I feel would be marred if it were changed, even in the "dotting of a single 'i' or the crossing of a 't.’” I therefore present it just as it came to me.
DECATUR, BURT COUNTY, NEBRASKA, May 22nd, 1884

The Discovery Of Nebraska, James W. Savage

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

We are apt to look upon Nebraska as a young state; young in its geological formation, in its political existence, and in its historical records. For descriptions of its soil, its climate, its fruits, or its inhabitants, few have sought to look further back than the commencement of the present century, and the published memorials of its history prior to the advent of the French trappers and traders have boon thought too meagre to serve as a basis for any exact account. But hidden away in the lumber rooms of wealthy Spanish and French families, and piled on the shelves …

Rev. Alvin G. White

Nebraska State Historical Society: Transactions and Reports

REV. ALVIN G. WHITE died at Lincoln, Nebraska, ........., 1884. He was born at Northfield, Massachusetts, June 18, 1833. He early in life moved to New Hampshire, and was called at that time into the ministry. He was licensed as a local preacher in 1853, while in the Wesleyan University. On account of failing health he was not able to finish the college course. He moved to Illinois in 1855, and taught school for two years. In 1857 he joined the Rock River conference, and during the year was married in 1843 to Miss Ella Thompson. In 1858 he transferred …

Creameries And Dairying In Nebraska: What Has Been Done And What May Be Done (1883), J. T. Allan

Department of Agricultural Economics: News, Announcements, and Information

The question with every farmer is, how to make the most from his land. Grain growing by itself will not do it, but grain, stock and dairying will. While crops of corn, oats, rye and millet are growing, the cows are turning the grass of the prairie into butter, calves and hogs. The butter brings cash monthly; the calves and hogs convert the grain into beef and pork. The demand for butter, cheese and condensed milk is increasing faster than the supply, and the market at our western doors, where good articles will always bring the highest prices, will take …

A Sketch Of The Progress Of Botany In The United States In 1880, Charles E. Bessey

Papers in Systematics and Biological Diversity

A valuable paper appeared in the Botanical Gazette for November, on "The Stem of the Pumpkin for illustrating Plant Histology," by J. C. Arthur. The disposition of the various tissues, with notes upon some of their peculiarities, and suggestions as to the best methods of preparing them for observation, make up the bulk of the paper.. Finally a classified list of the tissues is given.

The Perfectionists Of Oneida And Wallingford, Charles Nordhoff, Paul Royster (Depositor)

Electronic Texts in American Studies

The Perfectionists of Oneida, New York, and Wallingford, Connecticut, are best known for their practice of what they called “complex marriage,” a system of polygamy and polyandry devised by their founder John Humphrey Noyes (1811–1886). This account by Charles Nordhoff (1830-1901), a journalist based in New York, was drawn from his visits to the Perfectionist colonies, and includes a description of their history, organization, manners, beliefs, worship, faith-cures, and their practice of “criticism.”

Narrative Of My Captivity Among The Sioux Indians, Fanny Kelly

Electronic Texts in American Studies

THE summer of 1864 marked a period of unusual peril to the daring pioneers seeking homes in the far ·West. Following upon the horrible massacres in Minnesota in 1862, and the subsequent chastisements inflicted by the expeditions under Generals Sully and Sibley in 1863, whereby the Indians were driven from the then western borders of civilization, in Iowa, Minnesota, and the white settlements of Dakota, in the Missouri Valley, the great emigrant trails to Idaho and Montann became the scene of fresh outrages; and, from the wild, almost inaccessible nature of the country, pursuit and punishment were impossible.

I was …

Two Biographical Sketches Of Gabriel Furman, The Faust Club Of Brooklyn, William Gowans, Paul Royster (Transcriber & Depositor)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The following two biographical sketches of Gabriel Furman (1800–1854) appeared in the reprint edition of Notes, Geographical and Historical, Relating to the Town of Brooklyn, on Long-Island published in 1865 by the Faust Club of Brooklyn. The first is by the (unidentified) editor and compiler of that volume; the second is by the publisher and bookseller William Gowans.

Gabriel Furman was a Brooklyn lawyer, judge, and state senator, and an eminent scholar, book collector, compiler, and antiquarian. He led an eccentric and solitary life, and died in poverty, the victim, some said, of an opium addiction.

His published works consisted …

Labor: Its History And Its Prospects [1848], Robert Dale Owen, Paul Royster (Edited By)

Electronic Texts in American Studies

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE YOUNG MEN’S MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, OF CINCINNATI, On Tuesday, February 1, 1848.

Owen’s lecture, supplemented with extensive footnotes, describes the condition of the working class in Great Britain and contrasts its situation to the more equitable economy of the late middle ages and to the situation of labor in America, where the presence of the frontier provides a temporary outlet and the existence of the slave labor power presents an extended threat. Owen calculates the tremendous increase in productive power attendent upon industrialization and decries the relative worsening of the position of labor resulting from …

A Discourse Of The Transient And Permanent In Christianity, Theodore Parker

Electronic Texts in American Studies

PREACHED AT THE ORDINATION OF MR. CHARLES C. SHACKFORD, IN THE HAWES PLACE CHURCH IN BOSTON, MAY 19, 1841.

Parker's controversial sermon is an essential document in the history of American Unitarianism and Transcendentalism. In it, he applies the lessons gleaned from the "higher criticism" of the Bible to the history of organized Christianity in a reinterpretation of the persona of the historical Jesus of Nazareth. As might be expected, Parker valorizes the Spirit over the variety of religious forms promulgated at different times by different Christian sects, and "presentizes" the Gospel message in a way that many conventional Christians …

History Of The Captivity And Providential Release Therefrom Of Mrs. Caroline Harris, Caroline Harris

Electronic Texts in American Studies

Wife of the late Mr. Richard Harris, of Franklin County, State of New-York; who, with Mrs. Clarissa Plummer, wife of Mr. James Plummer, were, in the Spring of 1835, (with their unfortunate husbands,) taken prisoners by the Camanche tribe of Indians, while emigrating from said Franklin County (N.Y.) to Texas; and after having been made to witness the tragical deaths of their husbands, and held nearly two years in bondage, were providentially redeemed therefrom by two of their countrymen attached to a company of Santa Fe Fur Traders.

It was the misfortune of Mrs. Harris, and her unfortunate female companion …

History Of The Indian Tribes Of North America, With Biographical Sketches And Anecdotes Of The Principal Chiefs. Embellished With One Hundred And Twenty Portraits, From The Indian Gallery In The Department Of War, At Washington. Volume I., Thomas L. M'Kenney, James Hall Esq.

Electronic Texts in American Studies

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

War Dance

Red Jacket

Kishkalwa

Mohongo, an Osage Woman

Shingaba W’Ossin, or Image Stone

Pushmataha

Tenskwautawaw, or The Prophet

Eshtahumleah, or Sleepy Eyes

Waapashaw

Meetakoosega, or Pure Tobacco

Weshcubb, or The Sweet

Little Crow

Sequoyah, or George Guess

Nawkaw, or The Wood

Shaumonekusse, or L’Ietan

Hayne Hudjihini, or The Eagle of Delight

Quatawapea, or Colonel Lewis

Payta Kootha, or Flying Clouds

Kiontwagky, or Corn Plant

Pashepahaw, or The Stabber

Caatousee

Chippeway Squaw and Child

Petelasharro

Choncape, or Big Kanzas

Wanata, or The Charger

Peamuska

Catahecassa, or BlackHoof

An Ojibway Mother and her Child

Okeemakeequid

Waemboeshkaa

McIntosh …

Narrative Of The Captivity And Extreme Sufferings Of Mrs. Clarissa Plummer, Clarissa Plummer

Electronic Texts in American Studies

Wife of the late Mr. James Plummer, of Franklin County, State of New-York; who, with Mrs. Caroline Harris, wife of the late Mr. Richard Harris, were, in the Spring of 1835, with their unfortunate families, surprised and taken prisoners by a party of the Camanche tribe of Indians, while emigrating from said Franklin County (N.Y.) to. Texas; and after having been held nearly two years in captivity, and witnessed the deaths of their husbands, were fortunately redeemed from the hands of the savages by an American Fur Trader, a native of Georgia.

Mrs., Plummer was made prisoner and held in …

An Appeal In Favor Of That Class Of Americans Called Africans, Lydia Maria Child, Paul Royster (Editor)

Electronic Texts in American Studies

The roots of white supremacy lie in the institution of negro slavery. From the 15th through the 19th century, white Europeans trafficked in abducted and enslaved Africans and justified the practice with excuses that seemed somehow to reconcile the injustice with their professed Christianity. The United States was neither the first nor the last nation to abolish slavery, but its proclaimed principles of freedom and equality were made ironic by the nation’s reluctance to extend recognition to all Americans.

“Americans” is what Mrs. Child calls those fellow countrymen of African ancestry; citizenship and equality are what she proposed beyond simple …

Appeal To The Wealthy Of The Land, Ladies As Well As Gentlemen, On The Character, Conduct, Situation, And Prospects Of Those Whose Sole Dependence For Subsistence Is On The Labour Of Their Hands (1833), Mathew Carey, Paul Royster (Transcriber & Depositor)

Electronic Texts in American Studies

Mathew Carey’s 1833 pamphlet pleads the case of the paupers, the unemployed, and the working poor in Philadelphia and other Eastern-seaboard cities. He finds it a national disgrace that hard-working seamstresses, spoolers, hod-carriers, canal-diggers, and other manual trades cannot earn enough to support their families and that they live on the edge of economic ruin threatened by temporary unemployment, accident, or illness. He discusses the “welfare system” in both America and England (with a long discussion of the history and abuses of the English poor laws), the price of labor, the cost of living, and the numbers and condition of …

Notes Geographical And Historical, Relating To The Town Of Brooklyn, In Kings County On Long-Island. (1824) An Online Electronic Text Edition., Gabriel Furman, Paul Royster (Transcriber & Depositor)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Furman’s work is one of the earliest compilations of historical documents (with commentary) about an American city, in this case his native Brooklyn. It is an invaluable source of information on the early Dutch and English settlements of Brooklyn, Flatbush, Bushwick, New Lotts, Canarsie, Bedford, New Utrecht, Jamaica, and New Amsterdam, and their controversies with one another and with the Governors of New York and the crown of England. Included are original documents relative to the Indian purchases, original boundaries, water rights, ferry rights, wood rights, and forms of town government. Sections include: Situation of the Town of Brooklyn, Ancient …

A Knickerbocker Tour Of New York State, 1822: "Our Travels, Statistical, Geographical, Mineorological, Geological, Historical, Political And Quizzical"; Written By Myself Xyz Etc., Johnston Verplanck, Louis Leonard Tucker , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

In late August 1822, at the height of a yellow fever epidemic in New York City, an alarmed resident of the lower city resettled his family in the Bedford section of Brooklyn Village. With two male companions, he then boarded the steamboat Chancellor Livingston on August 28 and sailed up the Hudson River to Newburgh. There they boarded a stage and travelled across New York State to Niagara Falls and the adjoining area. They returned along the "psychic highway" of western and central New York to Albany, thence down the Hudson to New York City by steamboat. In the course …

Memoir Of Joshua Scottow (1816), "Sigma" (Pseudonym), Paul Royster (Transcribed And Deposited By)

Joshua Scottow Papers

The earliest known account of Scottow's life and writings. Length = 1500 words.

The Life And Surprising Adventures Of Mary Ann Talbot, In The Name Of John Taylor (1809), Mary Ann Talbot, Paul Royster (Transcribed And Edited By)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

"Comprehending an Account of her extraordinary Adventures in the Character of Foot-Boy, Drummer, Cabin-Boy, and Sailor. Also of her many very narrow Escapes in different Engagements, while in the Land and Sea Services, and of the Hardships which she suffered while under cure of the Wounds received in the Engagement under Lord Howe, June 1, 1794, &c. &c. &c."

An important document in the history of cross-dressing, transvestism, male impersonators, and women soldiers, this autobiographical narrative tells the life story of an orphan girl who was trapped into service in the British army and …

The Nature And Importance Of True Republicanism With A Few Suggestions Favorable To Independence: A Discourse, Delivered At Rutland, (Vermont,) The Fourth Of July, 1801. — It Being The 25th Anniversary Of American Independence., Lemuel Haynes, Paul Royster , Ed.

Electronic Texts in American Studies

This intriguing document is a political 4th of July “discourse” by an African American New England Congregational ordained minister and Revolutionary War veteran from the very early years of the Republic. Lemuel Haynes’ personal history is an interesting story, as is his assessment of the progress, needs, and future prospects of the new nation. Ostensibly and formally, the discourse is about selecting leadership dedicated to serving the public welfare and avoiding men who seek office for personal preferment, power, or fame. Taking a text from the gospel of Luke, Haynes applies the advice of Jesus to his disciples to the …

The Life And Spiritual Sufferings Of That Faithful Servant Of Christ Jane Hoskens, A Public Preacher Among The People Called Quakers, Jane Fenn Hoskens

Zea E-Books in American Studies

In 1712, nineteen-year-old Jane Fenn left her home, family, and friends in London to obey an inner voice that said ——“Go to Pennsylvania! ” Arrived in Philadelphia, she was soon cast into debtors’ prison for refusing to sign an indenture dictated by the man who had arranged her passage. Redeemed by a group of Quakers from Plymouth County who wished to employ her as a schoolteacher, she spent three years in their community and began to absorb their teachings and their ways.

Her narrative chronicles her inward struggles with her own sense of unworthiness, the temptations of Satan, her distaste …