|
GEORGE AND MARTHA CHILES
By:
Faye
Portschy
FROM THE LOUP
COUNTY CENTENNIEL
BOOK
1883-1983
George William
Chiles
was born in Clayton
County,
Iowa. He came to
Nebraska in 1878 with
his parents,
William Walker
and
Isabella
Chiles. They
settled in
Roca, Nebraska,
where Walker
found
employment
with
the railroad
and his wife
operated
the
Roca
Hotel.
In
1889,
George
married Martha
Olive
McKinney, daughter of
Daniel
and Anna
McKinney.
Daniel
had come from
Iowa and settled
in
Saline County
where he
homesteaded
near
Pleasant Hill in
1862.
Daniel and
Anna Moore
were
married
in 1864 and moved
to
Roca in
1868.
To
support his
family George
worked on
the
railroad and in
the evening
operated a barber
shop and
candy
store.
George and his
friend,
John Harrop, began to
hear
about the land they
could
obtain
under the
Homestead
Act. In the spring of 1909 they
set forth
for the
sandhills in their
covered
wagons. The trip was not without
incident as
George lost one of
his horses on the
way.
He somehow
obtained
another
to
continue
their
journey to Loup
County.
As soon
as
their claims
were
staked
and filed
they
started building shelter
for
the coming
winter
months.
George had
left
his wife
and youngest
daughter, Daisy,
in
Roca,
Nebraska until a
dugout
had
been completed for
living
quarters. Late in
the
summer Daisy and her
mother
took the train from
Roca
to
Burwell,
Nebraska. They
were met
by George to
begin
the long
trek by team
and wagon
to
Northwest Loup
County.
Their
sod
house was completed
by
next
summer
and Daisy
celebrated her
eleventh
birthday, on the
homestead,
with a cake and a
rabbit
her
father had
shot.
They
begin to
acquire some
livestock.
During
haying season
George worked
for ranchers on
the hay
flats around Duff,
Nebraska.
Their
oldest
daughter,
Estella, and
her
husband and daughter
arrived
in 1913 and
they
worked on
what was known as
the Russel
Ranch, near
Duff.
During
World War I the
regular
mail
carrier
was
called to duty and
being
the
substitute carrier,
George was
obligated to
carry
the
mail
from Ovitt
postoffice
to
Fox
Postoffice and on
to Taylor. He
stayed
overnight and
returned the
next day. In the winter
months
when the snow was too
deep for
the
horse and buggy
he
strapped
the
mailbags to the
saddle and
walked ahead of his
horse to
break the
trail.
During
the
twenties
George and
Olive
left the
homestead and
moved
to Burwell
where they farmed
until
1928.
At that time
they
returned to
the homestead went
through the depression years of
the
thirties.
Their
health began to fail and they
returned to Roca, Nebraska
in
1944 where they spent their
remaining
years.
They are
laid to
rest in
the
Hickman Cemetery,
Hickman,
Nebraska.
transcribed
by:
Melody
Beery
RETURN TO THE LOUP COUNTY
BIOGRAPHIES MAIN PAGE
RETURN TO THE LOUP COUNTY
MAIN
PAGE
Copyright ©
Genealogy Trails
All Rights Reserved with Full
Rights Reserved for
Original Contributor
|
