JOHN BORNER, EARLY SETTLER OF GREYBULL.

John Borner, born in Saxony, Germany in 1885, immigrated to the US in 1859. During the Civil War he enlisted in the Union Army, and after his discharge came west, working on the Union Pacific railroad. In 1868 he began freighting supplies to the gold fields around South Pass.

In 1871 Borner left the gold field at "Miner's Delight," and began raising potatoes near the army post that had been located at the foot of the mountain. Ernest Hornecker, a friend Borner had made while working up in the gold fields, joined Borner's  farming endeavor in 1872, and that  year the two farmed  together near "old" CampBrown. In June 1871, however, the military post had been moved further out on the reservation, where it was subsequently renamed FortWashakie. Since the fort had been moved, in 1873 Borner and Hornecker decided to squat on some land near the mouth of SinksCanyon. That land belonged to the Shoshones, but Chief Washakie encouraged the men to claim and make use of the property. Finally in late '73, Borner moved further up the valley and homesteaded on some meadowland near the PopoAgieRiver. Today the area is still called "Borner's Garden."

In 1875 Borner was farming his homestead along the Popo Agie, and still operating his freighting business. Early that year his friend James I. Patten began looking for some live-in help to assist his wife; Borner thought perhaps Martha Jane Canary's younger sister Lena might be willing to leave Salt Lake City and work for the Pattens.

 Arrangements were made, and the next time Borner returned from SaltLake he had eighteen-year-old Lena Canary seated on the wagon beside him. Lena had only worked for the Pattens a short time before she announced that she was planning to leave her job and get married. It seemed that the 18-year-old Lena and the 40-year-old Borner had fallen in love.

 The Borner's children always thought that the couple had been married in November 1875 at Miner's Delight, Wyoming. However, Borner's application for a military pension, submitted on July 4,1898, reported that the marriage had taken place at Lander on August 20,1875. It is likely that the August date is correct, because nine months later on May 4,1876, the couple's first child, May Rebecca, was born. During the next eight years, six more children were born: Tobias (Tobe) on May 20,1877; Frank Edward on November 16, 1878; Theresa Theodosha in 1880; Hannah on April 26, 1881; Bertha Pauline on December 1,1882; William Frederick on April 27, 1884.

In 1888, John Borner left his home in Lander and began scouting through the BigHornBasin, searching for a new place to live. Eventually he discovered a nice spot along the BigHornRiver where a spectacular bluff loomed up just across the water. He homesteaded in Lander and married Jennie Canary, the sister of the famous “Calamity Jane.” Between 1876 and 1884, seven children were born to the couple. Then in October 1888, Jennie died several months after being badly injured when a cow had knocked her down.
 

Calamity Jane evidently spent a good deal of time in the Lander area while her sister was alive, and for a time the sisters ran a laundry together. Tobe Borner said that Martha Jane took care of his mother when he was born in 1877.

 

 In later years, Tobe recalled that John Borner had little use for Calamity, and felt she set a poor example in front of his children. A good case in point happened one day in Lander when Calamity Jane got very drunk, stripped off her clothes, and paraded up and down main street while singing at the top of her lungs. The long arm of the local law reached out and arrested her, then not knowing exactly what else to do, the officers hauled their songbird out to the Borner's farm and asked the family to take care of her.

 Days later, Borner overheard his young daughter Hannah, swearing in a most vile manner. John was shocked and upset to hear little Hannah's new vocabulary—he knew only one person who could cuss like that. He immediately confronted that person, his sister-in-law, and then proceeded to throw poor Martha Jane out of his home. John ordered her to never come back. After that incident, the Hornecker brothers remembered that the only times they ever saw Calamity Jane pass by in a buggy on her way to visit at Borner's place, was when John was away from home.

The following May, Borner loaded all his possessions in 3-freight wagons, and put his seven motherless children into a 4^th wagon pulled by four mules. Soon the little wagon train headed toward the new cabin, 150-miles to the north. The mules pulling the wagon filled with kids didn’t need any driving, so while the older children helped drive a herd of livestock, the younger ones sat in the wagon box with a box of crackers and a jug of syrup. . The following day, the family awoke to find several inches of snow on the ground.

Nevertheless, Borner and his sons soon enlarged the tiny cabin, ranching at their new home 16 years. The area in which Borner settled was called Coburn from 1892 until late 1905. That summer Borner sold his land to the Lincoln Land Company who surveyed a new townsite on the ranch and in November 1906 renamed the spot “Greybull.” 

In spite of Lena's death, John Borner remained determined to move to the BigHornBasin.
The plaque on the old Borner fireplace in the Greybull city park states that Borner's cabin
was built in 1886. The Borner's children furnished the date, thinking that their mother had
died in 1886, and certain that the cabin was built the same year she had died. But Lander
newspapers still exist from the time of Lena's death, and from them we can confirm that she
passed away in October of 1888. In addition, the 1891 FremontCounty tax roll reported
Borner had been at his (Greybull) location for three years 

Borner, known to his many friends as “Uncle Johnny,” died December 1919 in Greybull. Today, only the chimney from the old Borner cabin remains. It is preserved inside a fence at the Greybull City Park on South 2^nd Street.