A remarkable pioneer woman in the 1870s

Often when I am researching a person, I just think the information is interesting and move on, but with this woman, Martha Catherine "Kate" (Owens) Longnecker, I wish I could have met her!

Mrs. John Longnecker was, according to an article from the Old West Magazine (Summer 1968) and posted on www.findagrave.com, "well educated, refined, and cultured. She came from Kentucky with her husband soon after they were married. They brought with them a good library, which was of much value to the neighborhood as there were no schools or churches for some time."

The "neighborhood" was Red Willow and Kate Longnecker was one of the first women to homestead there with her husband.

According to information in Trails West to Red Willow County Nebraska, written by Robert E. Ray and Lois Rutledge, 1982, John Longnecker came to Red Willow County in November of 1871 with a party of 10 men determined to settle the area. John filed his homestead claim and then returned to Kentucky to marry Kate on Feb. 22, 1872. The newlyweds packed their belongings and headed west, beginning the long journey by wagon from the station in Nebraska City.

The story from the same book continues: "After two weeks on the trail, they reached their destination and commenced home making, by living in a tent nine feet square, eating on the ground with newspaper for cloth and cooking by the campfire." They lived in that tent for 14 months, then a dug out and sod home before building a stick frame house.

The formal organization, Old Settlers of Red Willow County, was on July 3, 1897. According to an article in the McCook Tribune, July 16, 1897, charter members and their arrival dates included: E.S. Hill and William Weygint, April 3, 1872; W. M. Nutt, J. C. Sedden and James Barnes, 1878; M. Adams, Chet Dow, E. Wolfe, John Francis, J. S. Phillips, W. O. Bond, James Everist and Henry Tomblin, 1879; James Hetherington, C. A. Hotze, Elias Canaga, Isaac Vandervort, W.S. Fitch and William Byfield, 1873.

In setting a time frame for membership in the Old Settlers group, it was determined that 12 years of residency entitled one to belong, and of course, the Longneckers, as 1872 homesteaders, became attendees. The first reunion for the group was set for Sept. 7-11, coinciding with the G.A.R. soldiers' reunion in Indianola.

By the 1904 Old Settler's reunion, Mrs. John Longnecker is being noted as having "lived here longer than any other woman, and has never been away from the county since coming." (McCook Tribune, Sept. 23, 1904.) The 1904 reunion was at the "Brookside Farm" in a grove of tall ash trees. Kate Longnecker, who gave birth to six children in Red Willow County, would have been 63 years young.

On Sept. 16, 1909, the McCook Tribune wrote about Kate's attendance with these words: "As in point of time, Mrs. John Longnecker is the oldest woman settler in the county, she humored a fancy to wear some venerable articles, as fitting the occasion. She had on a white lace fichu (scarf) which was worn by her sister in Kentucky, as a bride 52 years ago, fastened by a cameo brooch that has been in her possession 54 years, -a black lace veil her mother had when a young lady 87 years ago, and a "Bombazine reticule" (a handbag made of silk and worsted) her grandmother used over 100 years ago."

How I would have loved to meet this stalwart lady! Kate passed away in 1913, John living until 1923. I wonder if these items have survived the last 105 years and if those possessing them know the history.

Southwest Nebraska Genealogy Society's monthly meeting will be Saturday Feb. 13, 1 p.m. at 110 West C, Suite M-3. During the meeting we will be reviewing beginning genealogy tips and following will be a lesson on Legacy Source Writer. Meetings are open to the public and lessons are free!