Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
summer 1867, Orville was again searching for a suitable place for himself
and Kate. His diary entry, dated September 12, says, The last good bye is
given and I start for the southwest, arrived in Quincy, crossed the river and
camped for the night. This is the commencement of keeping batch. This
reference tells us Orville was still quite single although he definitely did not
intend to leave Kate behind in Illinois for very long. Although he missed her,
he wrote that the prospect of having a home where we will enjoy each
others company will help me to bear it.
Orville arrived ten miles north of Lamar, MO on September 24th, 1867. He
wrote he was moving over hills and hollows and acrost prairies and camping
at nights. Given the distance covered from Quincy, IL to Lamar, MO he
would have averaged about 30 miles a day. He drove a team of horses or
perhaps mules from Quincy, he didnt specify.
This is where the timeline gets curious. In this letter written 10 miles north
of Lamar, Orville tells Kate that he is about 24 miles from our future home.
Assuming he headed south, 24 miles would put him around Jasper; nowhere
near Southeast Kansas. Obviously, he either had found a place near Jasper
during the earlier trip to Petersville or had made this decision by some
other means. In any event, the future home had been determined and it
was likely in northern Jasper County; somewhere south of current day Jasper.
Within two weeks of arriving, his letter to Kate tells us he is making hay,
cutting corn, preparing ground for wheat and getting timber to build a house.
This is a really quick start from nothing so I must conclude that previous
plans must have been made and that their land had previously been farmed.
Orville sends Luther down to Carthage to get some provisions and lumber;
perhaps another strong indication that they had settled north of the current
day city. They put up a 8 foot by 12 foot shanty. As he describes it, the bed
takes up one half the room, the stove the other half, a cupboard and chest
the third half so there is only the fourth half left for us two little scrubby
runts. He refers to the shanty as Batchelors Hall. To continue his tongue
and cheek humor, Orville writes that he bought a Peerless (brand) stove and
we do very good cooking on it but when I get that Peerless cook from Illinois,
there will be some Peerless cooking done. Once again he lets us know that
he does not intend to be separated from Kate for very long.
In her reply, Kate wonders about Orvilles western home: how things look
down here and whether, the people raised anything to live on and whether
there is any grasshoppers, etc. He tries to assure her that things arent that
much different.
Within a month of arriving in Jasper County, Orville writes he has sown his
wheat, framed his house, and got the lumber for a house of his own. It will
be 14 feet by 26 feet, one story high, two rooms: one 14 by 14 feet, and one
12 by 14 feet. He and Luther have purchased 275 more acres of land to go
with their original 80 acres for a total of 355 acres. This land was apparently
purchased from a man named Busby. Orville intends to fence 120 acres
around the house to make it look more like a home. He writes that he is well
pleased with this part of the state and thinks that he stopped in the right
place. He describes it as a place with large prairies, timber on the creeks
and creek bottoms. When he arrived, the prairie had the appearance of a
great flower garden although it is all dead now. Sometimes at night the
country looks as if it was all on fire. The ashes flying through the air makes
quite a fog so it is not pleasant to be out in it.
By late October 1867, Kate is growing lonesome for Orville and impatient
with the waiting game. Her letters contain references to other marriages,
gossip about when he was coming back and for what purpose, that she is
rapidly becoming the last young girl in the community, that she wished he
would come over but knew it wasnt, etc. and admonitions for him to be a
good little boy. Orville, on the other hand, is busy farming, building a
home, tending to domestic chores, hauling stone, splitting rails, and keeping
stock. She asked if he got the blues but he told her, some stole them from
him when he was a little boy and he never went to get them back. It will be
at least six more months before he makes tentative plans to return to Quincy.
In November, 1867, Orville writes that he intends to return to Illinois in the
spring to help out at home. This continues the patterns of trying to provide
Worthy Frost with the manpower he needs to work the family farm. Luther
will stay in Jasper County to take care of the farm until Orville returns in the
fall. This plan provides Orville with an opportunity to get things arranged
between he and Kate, and to make provision for a permanent move to
Missouri.
The winter months of late 1867/early 1868 are lonesome for both Orville and
Kate. They frequently wrote of their feelings for each other and their
expectations of the coming year. She wants to know when he is coming
back. Orville and Luther amused themselves by starting a singing school
with only themselves as pupils. He thought the natives sang rather poorly
and would be easily charmed if Kate would also learn to sing before she
came. Luther continued to hunt and trap; taking deer, wild turkeys and
otters.
In January 1868, Orville is hauling rails to build a new fence which, he says,
takes in about 18 acres of an old field which had been cultivated before the
war. This will be some help to me or both of us. I mean you and I nobody
else. Perhaps this is reading too much between the lines, but maybe this is
an early indication that Orville and Luther would part ways as soon as Orville
and Catherine became a married couple. It also tells us that Orville did not
settle on virgin prairie but on a farm that had been previously worked.
As they were during the War, Orville and Luther are still partners in this great
adventure. They completed the house over the winter. It must have
impressed the neighbors as they received offers to build others. Keep in
mind, neither had any previous experience in house construction. Orville
agreed to build another house for the simple reason he could hire someone
to split rails while drove nails. In his words, he would shove the plane and
saw which is much easier than swinging a maul. For his part, Luther would
use his new found carpentering skills to build homes in Barton County,
Kansas when he migrated further west in 1871.
In February 1868, Orville writes Kate that he has bought some chickens so
she could get rid of her lame, blind, deranged, crazy, frozen, tired, sick
ones as he would give her some that were all right. He also writes that he
expects to be back in April when he finishes building the house for his
customer. Kates reply was written on the Sabbath. She remarked that They
used to tell me it was wicked to write letters on Sunday.
When I transcribed Orville letter of February 28, 1868 I thought I had missed
something as he wrote Kate that he would be six years old tomorrow. Dont
you think I had better quit writing girls until I get older? Does anyone know
what this meant? Kate replied that a six year old was too young to be writing
to girls.
By March 1868, Kate is getting anxious for Orville to return to Quincy as that
was the original return date. However, Orville is sowing oats, getting the
fields ready for corn, building fence, hauling rocks and making improvement.
He is a bit evasive about when he will begin his trip back but does tell her
that he will travel to Kansas City and then eastward to St. Louis; whether by
boat or rail isnt clear. He also tells her that this (March 22, 1868) is the end
of the many letters he has written to her.
The letters between Orville and Catherine stop at this point. Catherine is
afraid anything she sends will be delivered to Luther and he would find her
to be as green and simple as can be. For his part, Orville is on the road
back to Quincy. Without any additional documentation, one can only assume
a happy reunion, wedding plans, and hopes for the future. Orville and
Catherine get married on September 17, 1868. They return to Jasper County
and begin a life together which resulted in this family reunion today.