Our latest article sent to the Valentine Midland News
J. Gray
6/8/2015
DeWitty- Audacious
A town of New Beginnings and Lasting legacies
Their point was not to establish a generational farming community but to create a base for their children and future generations to excel in whatever field they choose, and they had the audacity to think they could.
Coming from as far away as Louisiana, Virginia, and Canada; many families, traveled to Nebraska in search of a fresh start. Arriving in the mid-1880’s, some of the families from Canada were the Brown brothers, Meehan’s, Guilds, Robinson, Crawford, Walker, Riley, Morgan, Mance, Hatter, and Emanuel families. All of who first homesteaded in Overton, and later with more families arriving they began moving on to Cherry County after the ratification of the 1904 Homestead Act. Eventually, they established the DeWitty settlement in the Sand Hills, named in honor for their postmaster. Charles “Boss” Woodson was the mail carrier: and as a rule he would kindly give folks a lift in his wagon at no charge.
John Pegg, the Weights and Measures Inspector for Omaha, vigorously spread the word of the Homestead Act of 1904 and sponsored many families including his brother Charlie Pegg. Robert Hannahs, who opened a barbershop in Brownlee and worked his farm on weekends and the Hayes family, are still remembered fondly. Roy gassed in WWI and couldn’t hold on but his wife Goldie and her sister Fernnella (who married Charles “Boss” Woodson) were exceptional teachers all over
Cherry County. In fact, their brother George A. Riley was the Director of District 164. Goldie elected as the Cherry Co. Rural Teachers delegate to the General Assembly and then appointed as principal in Norris S.D. in 1955.
The Riley’s oldest, Jerome R., became a doctor and was busy down in Washington D. C.; his nephew William ”Bill” Riley Sr. became the first black Locomotive Engineer at Union Pacific. Albert Riley Sr. remained in Nebraska for many years, spending 34 of them working at the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.
Their point was not to establish a generational farming community but to create a base for their children and future generations to excel in whatever field they choose, and they had the audacity to think they could.
Coming from as far away as Louisiana, Virginia, and Canada; many families, traveled to Nebraska in search of a fresh start. Arriving in the mid-1880’s, some of the families from Canada were the Brown brothers, Meehan’s, Guilds, Robinson, Crawford, Walker, Riley, Morgan, Mance, Hatter, and Emanuel families. All of who first homesteaded in Overton, and later with more families arriving they began moving on to Cherry County after the ratification of the 1904 Homestead Act. Eventually, they established the DeWitty settlement in the Sand Hills, named in honor for their postmaster. Charles “Boss” Woodson was the mail carrier: and as a rule he would kindly give folks a lift in his wagon at no charge.
John Pegg, the Weights and Measures Inspector for Omaha, vigorously spread the word of the Homestead Act of 1904 and sponsored many families including his brother Charlie Pegg. Robert Hannahs, who opened a barbershop in Brownlee and worked his farm on weekends and the Hayes family, are still remembered fondly. Roy gassed in WWI and couldn’t hold on but his wife Goldie and her sister Fernnella (who married Charles “Boss” Woodson) were exceptional teachers all over
Cherry County. In fact, their brother George A. Riley was the Director of District 164. Goldie elected as the Cherry Co. Rural Teachers delegate to the General Assembly and then appointed as principal in Norris S.D. in 1955.
The Riley’s oldest, Jerome R., became a doctor and was busy down in Washington D. C.; his nephew William ”Bill” Riley Sr. became the first black Locomotive Engineer at Union Pacific. Albert Riley Sr. remained in Nebraska for many years, spending 34 of them working at the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.
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