Letter from Hattie Daugherty Place to her daughter, Edna

I really haven't read this and the copy I was given is very poor, so together let's check out the neatly written words of that dear Aunt Hattie.

Wessington, SD, Sept. 185?

Dear Edna and all,
I'm home, left Simpson (Logan Township, Mitchell County, Kansas - west of Manhatten) at ? Monday morning. Got to Audrey's (Hattie's other daughter) for supper at 5:30 same day. Oka, Ed (Hattie's first cousin and her husband) and her sister Della and Riley Rhodes (another first cousin and her husband) brought me home. They stayed till yesterday and left for home at 4:45 expecting to get home that day. I had a wonderful trip and visit, met 18 of the Armstead Daugherty's(Edward...brother of William Henry...uncle of Hattie) family,. There were two I didn't meet. Were there three Sundays. Each was a big family gathering and a gorgeous meal. Here's the menu at Della's (Edward Armstead's daughter) Sunday, Sept 13. Roast beef with dressing, boiled beef and noodles, potatoes, gravy green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, all kinds of jelly and preserves, one was peach butter and delicious, pickles, 3 kinds of cake, angel food, White and chocolate, sliced peaches, 3 kinds of salads, pumpkin pie, coffee. More left on table than was eaten. As we left for home next morn the food left was taken to needy neighbor. Only 10 for this dinner, Della's son Phillip, his wife and two daughters. The elder daughter, Nita Vaughn (Neida Vahn) had her intended with her. She will be married Thanksgiving. Ed, Oka, Della, Riley and I. Not sure who Riley was.The Sunday before we were at Rhodes and others of the Daughtery family, some from Wichita, Jeweland and Beloit. The Wichita relatives must have been Amost, the son of Edward A. and Sarah.

A letter from Dwight (Hattie's son) this week. He and John (perhaps Pesicka?) had been to see Philo (also known as Mike - Juanita's father) and family. He sid Philo has a fine family. His ? land, 160 acres, is near there. He says they are starting a new town a few miles from his place. The families are there and 50 new houses going in. He has several lots there. Wish I knew where that was.

The Lincoln/Pepper Cradle

I'm hoping I can do justice to the full flavor of this wonderful story. I just received the Cradle Story from Linda Keehner of Rapid City. Her father, Ralph Pesicka had verbally told me this story last summer.

Our gggrandmother, Martha Peppers Daugherty, married to William Henry Daugherty, had a brother named John. John, Jr. married Mary Ellen Prettyman. Here's their story.

"In 1840 Prettymans moved from Ohio to Pekin, Ill. Two sets of babies used the cradle before then. Abraham Lincoln used to go to Prettyman's to visit and study law. He often took care of the children and rocked them in the cradle. John Pepper married Mary Ellen Prettyman. John was Grandma Daugherty's (Edna Place Pesicka's grandmother), brother. The John Peppers had twins so the cradle was not big enough. Note: I have no record of this John having twins, however they had at least 9 children, all with approximate birth dates. Something to look into.

The Doughertys had a wider cradle so they swapped cradles. Then a month or six weeks after the trade one twin died. Grandma Place (Hattie Daugherty - sister of ggrandpa George Daugherty) was the first Daugherty rocked in that cradle (1863).

In 1883 the Dougherty's moved to SD. Uncle (to the Pesicka family)Geo. D. had the cradle for 9 children. This must mean that my dear grandpa Fred was rocked in this historic cradle. George lost his homestead. Uncle Fred Daugherty (the uncle of grandpa Fred also) found the cradle among a bunch of trees, cleaned it and put it in his house.

About 1950 or 51 Edna Place Pesicka (Ralph's mother and Hattie Daugherty Place's daughter) found it in Uncle Fred's junk pile and brought it home.

The few additions that I've heard is that ggrandpa George threw it in the dump and his son Robbie found it and took it to his house. There Hattie found it and said, "That's our cradle!" and took it back with her.

This John, with the twins, is the father of two people I've already written about in this blogsite. One was Hattie Pepper Minthorn, who wrote about the great blizzard, and the other was Irvin St. Clair Pepper who became a representative from Iowa.

The cradle is at Linda Keehner's house where it is well taken care of. The rockers are not longer connected, but the unique workmanship is very interesting. I had the opportunity to see the cradle. What a wonderful experience. I'm not sure what kind of wood it is made of...not oak or pine. Perhaps chestnut.

Part Three of Pam's Notes - SD, 2009

From Chamberlain and our lunch with Kathy we we had a brief stop at Wall Drug. The hills between Chamberlain and Wall were very scenic.

We spent the next few days at cousin Barb Goehring Geidel in Rapid City. While there, she had a luncheon for us. We obtained the addresses of marilyn Fitzgerald (Marilyn Fernholtz - Wilson/Carrington family), Marilyn McNeil Hershly (Daugherty family), Helen Gould Herrmann (Wilson/Carrington family) and Linda Keehner ( Pesicka/Daugherty family).

One evening we met with Lori Moller Templeton & Barbara Moller Gulk. Their grandmother was Pearl Cavenee, the sister of Rosetta Wilson. Barb does accounting, income tax andworks for a construction company in Rapid City. LOri works at Meadowbrook Golf Course in Rapid City.

We visited Gail Fischer in Chaska, MN. She works for Keyside Publishing. Lillian Daugherty Fischer was her mother.

I've had the Bartholomew family information given to me by Delores Daugherty Johnson for a long time. A notation on cousin Gail's copy says, "This is the first record I received from Robert Bartholomew - very rough draft - but interesting. Robert's grandfather was a brother to our great-grandmother, Mary Bartholomew Carrington." This helps me get closer to the source of all the wonderful material I have for this family. I'm trying to figure out a way to zero in on this Robert. Mary had quite a few brothers - six of them. .

Pam's notes from 2009 SD Visit - continued

My terrific notetaker, cousin Pam Rounseville, had this to say about June 21...Huron.

Joan Daugherty is the widow of Ivan Daugherty and she owns Farmers Cashway Do it Center in Huron. www.fc.doitbest.com While visiting the store we met her son Kirk and grandson Brent.

Hitchcock - We stopped at Altoona Cemetery to look for Daugherty graves. No luck. Saw pheasants and yellowheaded blackbirds. Took pictures of the jail and the city hall. Misty/drizzle day. Saw some egrets.

Art Cavenee in Wessington loaned us some pictures. Took a photo of GGuncle Edward Daugherty who died of lead poisoning. He was a painter by profession. Art took us to the location of Wilson and Carrington homesteads in Nance Cty (374th Ave. and 121st). Art and Bonnie Cavenee were born on Pearl Wilson's land.

Art told of the winter of 1898 when Pearl Wilson spent 4 or 5 days in a school house during a ranging blizzard. Check the book "Childrens Blizzard". I've mentioned this book in the Prairie Roots Newsletter. Well worth reading! Many people died in that blizzard, including possibly Peter DeLong, father of Catherine Elizabeth DeLong Daugherty.

William Wilson had a tree claim 1 mile N. from our position. Sounds of pheasants, meadowlarks, redwinged blackbirds, and a small raptor (Kestrel?).

We stopped at Beulah Cemetery where the Carrs and Conkeys have their families interred. There was the headstone of Thirza Carrington (Lucius's sister) and her baby. Both of the formentioned families lost many babies and children over the decades.

June 22 we left Linda and Peter Marcus's house in Huron and took photos of Huron's murals. We stopped @ Rest lawn Memorial Gardens after going to 1421 Utah to see the JW Johnson's house...(the parents of Pam's father, Ben). Saw the current owner who showed Pam changes. The backyard now open, trees removed from habitat created for birds.

Morning started out foggy and became wall to wall blue sky. Went west from outside Huron and S on 28, to 34, and Wessington Springs. Windmills and lots of rolling hills. Drove near the Crow Creek Reservation, Sharpe Lake Area. Took pics of hills and lake.

We met with Kathy Springer Taggert, Nedra Daugherty's daughter at Al's Oasis. Kathy and Ron have been married 36 years and have 7 children. Ron and his son farm organically on land rented from Indian land. Sunflowers, millet, milo, blue corn are some of their crops. Organic growers are inspected to maintain certification. Their millet goes all the way to Spain.

2009 South Dakota Trip - Pam's notebook

As mentioned in the previous blogpost, I'll be going through my bags of information and adding notes as I go along.

I'd like to mention the notebook that cousin Pam Johnson Rounseville kept to my definite advantage. I have a tendency to listen so carefully to a speaker that I forget to write notes. Or if I do write them, they are all jumbled up...written on any piece of paper that I find. My sincere thanks to Pam.

We've got the addresses and E-Mails of the Nebraska Daughertys...Uncle Ken and Aunt Betty's sons Kim (Nancy) and Fred. Also that of Pete (Kim, Jr.). A really wonderful visit to West Point, NE. Pete's got some delightful daughters. Pam has also written the recipe of S'More Brownies that Nancy made for us. Great with the delicious Nebraska steaks that we enjoyed.

Pam was busy taking notes at the home of Norma DeHaven in Wessington. We saw wonderful Bonnie Cavenee Runge and her brother Art and sister Marilyn. Their father was Lloyd Cavenee and grandmother was Pearl Wilson Cavanee. Verna Yarnall of Sioux Falls joined us. She is the daughter of Bonnie and owns a collection agency there. Joan Daugherty was our guide for two days...bless her heart. We received the phone number of Genevieve DeHaven Travis. I need to try calling her soon and get her most recent address. Gen is Jean DeHaven's sister...Norma's sister-in-law.

More notes from Pam...Spent time in Miller with Merlyn Parmely, son of Bertha Daugherty Parmely. We received the address of Merlyn's nephew Kevin and also the phone number of niece Twila Ford. I've been trying to get in touch with Twila for a long time. I'll give her a call soon.
Merlyn also shared the address of his son Mike. Merlyn owns the farm of his mother Bertha and father Archie. It is located 4 miles s. of St. Lawrence and 1 mile east. Merlyn's wife Bernice has several family members from the luck, Frederic, Cumberland area in our part of Wisconsin.

A mention of Vayland was part of our discussion with Merlyn. We also visited the Beulah Cemetery, North of Vayland, past Carr's Hunting Lodge.

Going through South Dakota Notes - Vayland

I'm looking at bags of information and materials from our recent fact finding trip to South Dakota. Where to start? I'm making notes on the Blogsite as I go through all my treasures.

First out of my bag is "Vayland Memories: in a Broken Down Yard" written by Lora B. Karinen-Venjohn, an acquaintance of Clarence McGirr and a resident of this ghosttown. Vayland was a town in Grand township, SD that used to be a thriving community. It was located two miles East of miller. In the early 1900's there was a hotel, restaurant, post office, livery stable, bank, two general stores, lumberyard, area school, blacksmith, real estate office, barber shop, three grain elevators, to mention a few businesses. There was amunicipal band and community center, baseball team, and church. Now there is nothing but piles of scrapmetal and the home of Lora her husband Roger operating a scrap yard business.

Though there isn't a direct connection between Vayland and mom's family, it is an example of the changing environment of the Dakota Prairies. The Township map in the book is interesting and shows land owned by Mom's great aunt Hattie Daugherty Place, and the land of Sam McGirr.

The book is filled with journaling and poetry written by Laura. She's included interesting photos in a rather rambling, personal way. It's obvious that history has a huge hold on her. A Wilson relative, Donna Schiltz and squaredancing is mentioned in the book.

I got this copy from Art Cavenee. I'm not sure if I'm borrowing it or if I can send him a check for it. We did go to Lora's house to purchase a copy, but no one was home. I'm hoping to spend some quality hours enwrapped in the history of another time and place...one that was exemplary of the world in which my ancestors lived.

Writings of Art Cavenee (Wilson Family)

The days until cousin Pam, her husband, Dave, and myself leave for South Dakota are coming up pretty quickly. One of the people we are excited to meet is Art Cavenee, my second cousin once removed. While continuing to organize Mom's (Helen Daugherty Hostvet) house, we came upon the book, "Our Wessington Heritage - a History of Wessington, SD". The book was written in 1892 and is full of short family historys. The following is from Art Cavenee and is helpful to me in understanding more about the Wilson family.

"My grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur McNeely, arrived (at Wessington)in 1910 with their children, Cecil, Loretta, Vernice, Ruth and Hazel, from Illinois. Mabel, my mother, was born in 1911, a year after they arrived from Illinois, on the farm where Ed Brown lives now...

My father, Lloyd Cevenee, married Mabel McNeely. They lived on his parents' homestead until his death in 1974....They had seven children; Bonnie, Marilyn, Joan, Wesley, Arthur, Sharon, and Nedra.

I was named Arthur Franklin Cavenee after two grandfathers. I was born on the homeplace in 1942 and with the exception of four years in the Navy, I have lived in the Wessington area...I married Maxine Peterson from Wessington and we have two children; Jason Everett and Matthew Lloyd.

My first ancestors to come to the Wessington area were my great grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. William Wilson. In 1883 he, his wife, and their children came here from Iowa by covered wagon.

William was born in 1833 in Pennsylvania. He fought in the Civil War with the Yankees in the Illinois Calvary. In 1883 he homesteaded 11 3/4 miles north of Wessington in Nance Township, Beadle County. He died in 1911.

My next relative to come to Wessington was my grandfather, Frank Cavenee. He had been a farmer in Illinois and later fought in the Spanish-American War in the Philippine Islands. After the war, he married Pearl Wilson and they lived on a farm close to her father, William Wilson. Pearl had homesteaded a quarter section close to her father a few years before Frank Cavenee came here and that is where they lived and raised their family; Lloyd, Cliff, Nina, Bill, and Hazel. Frank died in 1920 and Pearl died in 1968."

I'm anxious to meet Art, whose sister is Bonnie Cavenee Runge, writer of the Wilson Family History book. It was Bonnie who was such a wonderful host in Wessington during my last year's trip.