Early Hitchcock County

Portrait pages were often included in the first pages of reference directories in the 1800s, such as this one found in the “Patron’s Reference Directory” from Hitchcock County. Courtesy

Our little genealogy library has been blessed in many ways lately. We have received some fantastic donations from families who were clearing homes out. It’s hard to say goodbye to the things that our parents or grandparents loved, but rest assured, by gifting items to our library, they will be shared and appreciated by many.

The latest gift comes again from Jack and Sharon Lytle. It is a 1906 Atlas of Hitchcock County which includes the plat book of the villages, cities and precincts within the county’s borders. I had seen some of these maps but never the book in its’ entirety.

Hitchcock county had 20 precincts: Eden, Palisade, Beverly, Pleasant Hill, Blackwood, Webster, Starkey, Ridnour, Riverside, Culbertson, Stratton, Pleasant View, Trenton, Grant, Logan, Union, Freedom, Upper Driftwood, Cornell, and Driftwood. You first find a full-page layout of the county with each precinct location shown. Then as you go further into the book there are full page layouts of the individual precincts which include notations as to schools, towns, cemeteries and residences plus the name of each landowner.

Taking Cornell precinct as an example, its’ southern border was Kansas and it was flanked by the Driftwood and Upper Driftwood precincts on the eastern edge of Hitchcock County. Laid out in the SW corner, Section 32, surrounded by land owned by Mary Eckhart, sat the plat of Cornell, a proposed town, which in 1906 had a post office. I’ve written a few times about Cornell but had never seen the map of how it was envisioned.

Cornell precinct had four schools and although they are not named on the map, their location is marked. One can assume that the adjacent landowner had provided land for the schools, and that being true, these four were the ones who did so: C. H. Abernathy, Wm. F. Dewey, J.F. Duckworth and Herman & Albert Currence.

One cemetery is noted on the map. Located on the very edge of the Kansas/Nebraska border, the adjacent landowner was Jas. Cooper. Cemeteries are marked with a cross on these maps.

What might be most interesting for those researching genealogical information is the Patrons’ Reference Directory which lists residents by name, occupation, location and year they first became residents of what then Hitchcock County. I could spend several days on that page, but I will share a few of the most interesting, or longest residents just to pique your curiosity.

Just glancing through the list, it appears the earliest settler noted in this book is Henry Kleven who served as postmaster and City Clerk for Culbertson with an arrival date of 1876. O.W. Dewald, 1885, listed his occupation as publisher of both the “Trenton Register” and the “Stratton Signal” and he lived in Trenton. Jesse Terrell was a farmer living in the Cornell precinct, settling in 1886, and getting his mail from the Cornell post office.

Finally, before all the things that have little to do with genealogy, are the portrait pages. The first page is mostly men but turning to the second page there are both family pictures and pictures of the farms they lived on. One particular picture caught my attention and I’ve included it with this article because it is so touching, a father and daughter: W. R. Ratcliff and his daughter who is unnamed.

SWNGS monthly meeting is this Saturday at 1PM, 110 West C, Suite M-3. We are always open to the public and encourage anyone interested in history or genealogy to become a member of our group.