The boys “slept in swinging beds hung from the cellar rafters so that they would be protected from snakes and insects.” Wildlife of all types, from wolves and coyotes to buffalo would come within a short distance of the house. For the first several years, Mary lived in the small soddy with her eight children, four boys, and four girls. Other members of the family helped her complete a sod house. Mary was determined to keep the homestead. David died on April 3, 1872, leaving Mary with eight children on the prairie. Anderson decided to trade the horse for a pair of oxen and continued to work on improving the claim.Īnderson filed for a homestead in Harvey County, Pleasant Township, Section 26, but he did not live to see the fruits of his efforts. One of the horses died, leaving only one older horse for the difficult work of breaking the prairie sod. Here he began building a new home but met with misfortune almost immediately. From Emporia, they traveled to Florence, Kansas, where the family stayed in a dugout while David Anderson went to the homestead site in Pleasant Township, Harvey County. The Anderson family left all that they knew and traveled by covered wagon to Emporia, Kansas for a chance to own their own land. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed a citizen to file “first papers,” pay a $10 fee and claim 160 acres of land in the public domain. Like many black families they saw the opportunity to own land. In 1871, the Anderson family decided to move to Kansas. Tagged Black History, Bootlegging, Clarence Rickman, Joe Rickman, Joseph C Rickman, Lucinda Paige Rickman, Ocran Rickman An Ordinary, Amazing Woman: Mary Rickman Anderson Grant We are grateful for their willingness to share the stories of this Harvey County family. Much of the information on the Rickman/Anderson/Grant family is based on oral traditions preserved by Marguerite Rickman Huffman & June Rossiter Thaw and research by Karen Wall. During the month of February, in honor of Black History Month, we will be featuring related stories from Harvey County. At the time of his death in 1955, he was living in Omaha, Nebraska. Their other son, Ocran, served in World War I. Greenboam, a native of London, England, on June 13, 1917. and Lucinda Rickman, owned and operated a “recreation parlor” locatedat 114 W 4th, Newton for a number of years, possibly from 1911 – 1913.
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