My Grandpa, Stan Bell, had a photo album with the pictures of his graduating class of 1927 at Giltner High School, Giltner, Nebraska. There were no names in his album, so I went to the school and looked at the class composite hanging in the hallway to get the names of his 13 classmates plus teacher. Lessie Alcorn was Grandpa's cousin and Marie Dieckmann later married his brother Ben.
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| Republican-Register, Aurora, NE, May 19, 1927 |
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| and December trees are brown |
December
Bell family ancestors
15th - Benjamin Franklin Spann died 1901, age 74
29th - John Silas Bell died 1878, age 64
McGrath family ancestors
7th - Josiah Foster Negley born 1846 (son of John & Ruth Negley)
8th - John Negley died 1884 age 76
27th - Ruth (Foster) Negley died 1895, age 87
31st - Charles Lee died 1861, age about 41
Menke family ancestors
4th - Henry Menke born 1832
11th - Mary Crosby Fero born 1836
17th - Caroline Schukky born 1813
25th - Heinrich Knapp born 1805
Mann family ancestors
20th - Anna (Rich) Gaisford died 1882, age 64
22nd - John Potter Smith died 1903, age 78
Mattingly family ancestors
Boone family ancestors
Tunk Spalding family ancestors
27th - Mary Louisa (Abell) Spalding died 1900, age 68
Hutt Spalding family ancestors
2nd - Cora Lula Spalding born 1889
3rd - Mary Jane Abell born 1817
18th - Ann Melvina (Simms) Spalding died 1911, age 80
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| When November's leaves fall faster... |
November
Bell family ancestors
3rd - Martha Eveline Bell born 1842
4th - Martha Eveline Bell died 1928, age 86
McGrath family ancestors
24th - Rachel Jane Simmons born 1841
26th - Susannah (Case) Lee born 1822
Menke family ancestors
2nd - Ole Jorgenson & Caroline Magrethe Peterson married 1866
7th - Charles Albert Menke born 1886
19th - Kenneth Charles Menke & Doris Darle Mann married 1938
28th - Kenneth Charles Menke born 1917
Mann family ancestors
Mattingly family ancestors
20th - Joseph Hamilton "Ham" Mattingly & Harriet Elizabeth "Lib" Spalding married 1934
Boone family ancestors
2nd - John G Ballard & Elizabeth Nally married 1814
Tunk Spalding family ancestors
7th - Joseph T Spalding & Harriett Elizabeth "Bettie" Thomas married 1879
9th - Joseph Abner Abell II & Martha Nancy Mills married 1819
13th - Robert S Thomas born 1803
20th - Harriet Elizabeth "Lib" (Spalding) Mattingly born 1911
26th - Harriett Elizabeth "Bettie" (Thomas) Spalding died 1896, age 37
? - Mark Theodore Thomas born 1834
Hutt Spalding family ancestors
28th - Elizabeth (Beaven) Luckett died 1850, age 65
24th - John Hudson "Hutt" Spalding & Mary Susan Isabelle "Belle" Luckett married 1874
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| for October's golden crown... |
October
Bell family ancestors
18th - Benjamin Franklin Spann born 1827
20th - James Stanley Bell died 1970, age 63
29th - Abner Decker & Mary "Polly" Garner married 1816
McGrath family ancestors
8th - Arthur Levi McGrath & Sadie Ellen Negley married 1908
11th - Sarah Maria Matilda (Lee) Negley died 1927, age 78
17th - Arthur Levi McGrath born 1876
25th - Ruth Marie (Smith)(Simmons) Webb died 1863, age about 44
31st - Charles Lee born 1820 (possibly 1813)
Menke family ancestors
3rd - Lena M (Jorgenson) Roscoe died 1949, age 91
18th - Charles Albert Menke & Charlotte Isabelle "Lottie" Roscoe married 1906
Mann family ancestors
3rd - James Gaisford born 1820
18th - Clarence Lemuel Mann died 1968, age 90
Mattingly family ancestors
14th - Joseph Hamilton "Ham" Mattingly died 1990, age 81
Boone family ancestors
2nd - Christopher Boone & Ann Rhodes married 1824
9th - Walter Boone & Mildred Edelin married 1783
Tunk Spalding family ancestors
10th - Joseph Abner Abell II born 1795
18th - William Thomas "Tunk" Spalding born 1818
21st - Mary (Fenwick) Abell died 1886 or 1888, age 74 or 76
Hutt Spalding family ancestors
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| When September finds the aster... |
September
Bell family ancestors
24th - James Stanley Bell & Violet Jennivee McGrath married 1938
26th - Mary "Hiley" Ann (Decker) Spann born 1836
McGrath family ancestors
15th - John Negley & Ruth Foster married 1836
19th - Violet Jennivee (McGrath) Bell born 1917
28th - Sadie Ellen (Negley) McGrath died 1958, age 78
Menke family ancestors
2nd - William Harlow Roscoe died 1947, age 88
4th - Caroline (Schukky) Knapp died 1895, age 81
16th - Charles Albert Menke died 1965, age 78
17th - Caroline Magrethe (Peterson) Jorgenson died 1910, age 63
20th - Henry Menke died 1915, age 82
20th - Charlotte Isabelle (Roscoe) Menke born 1887
29th - Ole Jorgenson died 1908, age 71
Mann family ancestors
3rd - Henrietta Abigail (Smith) Gaisford born 1848
14th - William Mann & Nancy Jane Climie married 1861
18th - Doris Darle (Mann) Menke died 2017, age 97
Mattingly family ancestors
Boone family ancestors
1st - Elizabeth (Nally) Ballard born 1785
28th - Mary Frances Charlotte "Lottie" Boone died 1962, age 84
Tunk Spalding family ancestors
7th - Richard Augustine Spalding died 1850, age 73
15th - Martha Nancy (Mills) Abell born 1798
22nd - Marcus Thomas Spalding born 1886
Hutt Spalding family ancestors
Richard Augustine Spalding is the common ancestor of the "Tunk" and "Hutt" Spalding lines.
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| and August lilies blaze... |
August
Bell family ancestors
1st - James Stanley Bell born 1907
McGrath family ancestors
Menke family ancestors
Mann family ancestors
29th - Mary Jane (Hull) (Clemie) Jones born 1816
29th - William Mann died 1905, age 75 (son-in-law of Mary Jane (Hull) (Clemie) Jones)
Mattingly family ancestors
28th - William Alfred Bryant Mattingly & Mary Frances Charlotte "Lottie" Boone married 1900
Boone family ancestors
1st - Robert I Boone born 1837
Tunk Spalding family ancestors
13th - Joseph Abner Abell, II died 1863, age 67
13th - Mark Theodore Thomas died 1919, age 84
22nd - Martha Nancy (Mills) Abell died 1875, age 76 (wife of Joseph Abner Abell, II)
Hutt Spalding family ancestors
18th - Mary Susan Isabelle "Belle" Luckett died 1908, age 51
20th - John Simms died 1879, age 72
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| When June shows leafy ways... |
June
Bell family ancestors
29th - Cicero Bell born 1869
McGrath family ancestors
14th - Rachel Jane (Simmons) McGrath died 1896, age 54
16th - Charles Lee & Susannah Case married 1845
18th - Violet Jennivee (McGrath) Bell died 1991, age 73
19th - Arthur Levi McGrath died 1965, age 88
24th - John McGrath born 1831?
Menke family ancestors
Mann family ancestors
2nd - Mary Abigail (Bliss) Smith died 1866, age 36
8th - Doris Daryle (Mann) Menke born 1920
18th - Clarence Lemuel Mann born 1878
Mattingly family ancestors
15th - Gabriel Mattingly born 1777
Boone family ancestors
Tunk Spalding family ancestors
7th - Mary (Fenwick) Abell born 1812
9th - Henrietta (Thompson) Spalding died 1826, age 40
28th - Anna Louisa (Abell) Thomas died 1893, age 55
Hutt Spalding family ancestors
11th - Mary Jane (Abell) Luckett died 1871, age 53
17th - Henry Luckett & Elizabeth Beaven married 1805
24th - John Hudson "Hutt" Spalding born 1852
30th - Mary Elizabeth (Wathen) Simms died 1876, age 74
Henrietta (Thompson) Spalding is the common ancestor of both the "Tunk" and "Hutt" Spalding lines.
May
Bell family ancestors
3rd - John Silas Bell & Rutha Simpson married 1838
5th - Benjamin Franklin Spann & Mary "Hiley" Ann Decker married 1852
19th - Allie Lucinda (Spann) Bell born 1871
McGrath family ancestors
Menke family ancestors
4th - William H Roscoe & Lena M Jogenson married 1882
13th - David A Roscoe died 1884, age 60
14th - Caroline M (Peterson) Jorgenson born 1847 (wife of Ole, step-mother of Lena)
15th - Elizabeth (Knapp) Menke born 1841
16th - Ole Jorgenson born 1837
Mann family ancestors
23rd - Charles Gaisford & Henrietta Smith married 1867
23rd - Henrietta (Smith) Gaisford died, age 83
29th - Mary Jane (Hull) Climie (Jones) died 1854, age 37
Mattingly family ancestors
? - John Baptist Mattingly died in 1817, age 87
Boone family ancestors
Tunk Spalding family ancestors
15th - Aloysius Abell born 1801
24th - Matilda (Spalding) Thomas died 1838, age 32 (mother of Marcus Thomas)
30th - Marcus Thomas "Markie Tunk" Spalding died 1950, age 63
Hutt Spalding family ancestors
1st - Ann Melvina (Simms) Spalding born 1831
2nd - Cora Lulu (Spalding) Spalding died 1970, age 80
13th - Elizabeth (Beaven) Luckett born 1785
26th - John Austin Spalding died 1913, age 86
27th - John Austin Spalding born 1826
27th - John Austin Spalding & Ann Melvina Simms married 1851
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| When March blows up her breezes... |
March
Bell family ancestors
17th - Cicero Bell & Allie Spann married 1901 (Cicero also married his first wife Mittie Ramsey on March 17, 1891 and his son with Allie, Edward Bell, was born on March 17, 1905)
McGrath family ancestors
3rd - Sadie Ellen (Negley) McGrath born 1880
5th - Sarah Maria Matilda (Lee) Negley born 1849
5th - Josiah Foster Negley & Sarah Maria Matilda Lee married 1871
Menke family ancestors
6th - William Harlow Roscoe born 1859
8th - Heinrich Knapp & Caroline Schukky married 1839
15th - Mary Crosby (Fero) Roscoe died 1923 age 86
24th - Charlotte Isabelle (Roscoe) Menke died 1975 age 87
26th - Kenneth Charles Menke died 2003 age 85
Mann family ancestors
18th - Nancy Jane (Climie) Mann born 1938
28th - James Gaisford & Anna Rich married 1838
Mattingly family ancestors
27th - William Alfred Bryant Mattingly born 1850
Boone family ancestors
Tunk Spalding family ancestors
2nd - Robert S Thomas died 1886 age 82
6th - William Thomas "Tunk" Spalding died 1881 age 59
14th - Joseph T Spalding born 1858
Hutt Spalding family ancestors
19th - Lewis Austin Luckett died 1886 age 77
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| "When January freezes..." |
January
Bell family ancestors
19th - Allie Lucinda (Spann) Bell died 1959 age 87
McGrath family ancestors
23rd - John Negley born 1808
Menke family ancestors
13th - Elizabeth "Eliza" Knapp & Henry Menke married 1867
15th - Heinrich Knapp died 1892 age 86
Mann family ancestors
17th - John Potter Smith & Mary Abigail Smith married 1847
25th - Charles Gaisford died 1920 one day short of his 78th birthday
26th - Charles Gaisford born 1842
Mattingly family ancestors
26th - James Raymond Mattingly born 1814
26th - Julia Ann (Mattingly) Mattingly died 1889 age 77 (wife of James Raymond)
? - William Alfred Bryant Mattingly died 1910 age 59
Boone family ancestors
13th - Charlotte "Lottie" Ballard & James Matthew Johnson married 1844
15th - James Matthew Johnson died 1901 age 76
17th - Elizabeth (Johnson) Boone died 1933 age 78 (daughter of James Matthew & Lottie Johnson)
Tunk Spalding family ancestors
6th - Joseph T Spalding died 1945 age 86
10th - Marcus Thomas Spalding & Cora Lula Spalding married 1910
11th - Aloysius Abell & Mary Fenwick married 1829
20th - Richard Augustine Spalding & Henrietta Thompson married 1817
24th - Robert S Thomas & Matilda Spalding married 1824
31st - John Simms born 1807
Hutt Spalding family ancestors
Cora Lula Spalding is in the "Hutt" Spalding line
Richard Augustine Spalding & Henrietta Thompson are the common ancestors of the "Tunk" and "Hutt" Spalding lines
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| Cora & Clarence Mann, Christmas, 1962 |
Well the chicks were more his wife's business, he was a partner.
John William Vickrey was born May 18, 1899 in Wayne County, Kentucky the son of William (maybe John William) Vickrey and Allie (Spann) Vickrey. His father's estate was inventoried on January 24, 1899, He never knew his father. William's estate was valued at at least $1681, the last page or two of it was missing so that was not the final account.
In 1901 Allie remarried to Cicero Bell, who was a widower with two sons. The three boys were joined by four more boys who all grew up together in Kentucky and later Kansas. About 1926 the parents and nearly adult boys moved to Giltner, Nebraska.
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| Photo taken at Cicero's funeral, April 1944. Back: Bill, Frank, Oren; Front: Virgil, Ben, Stan, Ed |
In 1920 Bill opened a restaurant in Ionia, Kansas "to give the town a cold drink parlor". He sold it within a year. Throughout his young adult life he worked odd jobs helping farmers with harvest in Kansas, Iowa, Colorado and Nebraska, as well as working his own farm. Bill married Roberta Emery, a school-teacher, in 1931 at Washington, Kansas. He was 32 and she was 38. He was a big sports fan as he was occasionally noted in the papers for going to baseball and Nebraska football games.
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| Giltner Gazette, August 27, 1931 |
Bill and Roberta lived in Washington County, Kansas until at least 1943. In January of 1939, Roberta became the operating manager of a hatchery in Fairbury. On today's roads it's a 30 minute drive from Washington, Kansas to Fairbury, Nebraska. In 1944, they bought property in Fairbury.
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| Fairbury Gazette, December 8, 1938 |
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| Fairbury Journal, March 26, 1942 |
Bill farmed as well as helping to manage the hatchery. On October 16, 1947 there was an auction of his farm property. I don't believe he sold the land at this time.
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| Fairbury Daily News, October 13, 1947 |
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| Roberta and Bill Vickrey, undated photo |
The chicks were a big part of their lives. Bill and Roberta didn't have any children. They remained in Fairbury until Bill's death on July 22, 1988 at the age of 89. He was buried in the Fairbury Cemetery. Roberta died in Wilbur, Nebraska at the age of 99 on July 29, 1992 and is buried in Formosa, Kansas with her family.
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| Allie Bell in her yard, undated photo from the late 1940's |
Mrs. Cicero Bell, though 83 years young, is one of Aurora's most enthusiastic gardeners, both in vegetables and fruit. And she always finds time to raise an abundance of pretty flowers.
This season it seems peach trees are synonymous to a peach crop, and here again Mrs. Bell is up with the best of them with a peach crop. She has seven or eight trees, some of which produced early peaches, others of the very large and choice variety were picked late last week and still other trees are standing with their broken limbs loaded with lucious fruit. The boys propped up many of the large limbs to the best of their ability but when those big main branches hang so loaded it is hard to do much about it. As a result one of the big trees has the two main limbs broken high in the tree. The peaches will finish ripening but this is the last crop one or more of the trees will have.
Mrs. Bell has harvested quite a crop, giving her sons several bushels. She sold the rest, after canning all she can use. The super large fruit, she doled out by the pound so that many of her friends might have a few. Your writer can vouch for their quality and size. They averaged about three-fourths pound each.
Peaches are only one of her crops this year. Early there were nice cherries and choice summer apples. She had a better than average crop of strawberries and raspberries.
Long a producer of fine tomatoes, Mrs. Bell put her plants out very early and as a result she picked bushels of choice tomatoes, which had matured well in advance of the extreme heat of late June. They are gone now but numerous Aurora housewives have these tomatoes canned for later use.
Mrs. Bell made numerous entries at the county fair, not only fresh fruit but several cans of fruits, vegetables and jellies. She relates that she received some prizes but she didn't know just how many.
In her pleasant little cottage at 1505-13th St., Mrs. Bell keeps busy and happy the year around. Along with taking care of the garden, she always has a variety of colorful annuals and perennials, as well as climbing vines.
When the winter season arrives, Mrs. Bell turns to other interests - handwork of many kinds. She is especially enthusiastic about braided and crocheted rugs. These occupy her time largely until its time to garden again.
A few years ago she had a severe and lenghtly illness, but she has over come this and finds the secret of better health and happiness in keeping busy. She has several sons and their wives in the community who keep a watchful and affectionate eye on "Mom".
Aurora News-Register, September 10, 1954
2020.
COVID-19 put a stop on any plans for Easter dinner. Family reunions in the summer were all cancelled. No Thanksgiving dinner. Christmas is not likely, and we will be staying home for New Year's Eve. I'm very grateful that I have not had to deal with COVID personally. But the news has been been so overwhelming at times, so I turned to old newspapers online for more interesting reading. I've found lots of trivial family news in the social columns of the past.
My Great Grandparents, Cicero and Allie Bell, were parents of a total of seven sons. Frank and G O (Oren) were sons of Cicero and his first wife. J W (Bill) Vickrey was Allie's son from her first marriage. In 1901 after both were widowed, they married and had Ben, Ed, Stanley and Virgil. About 1923, most of the family moved to Hamilton County, Nebraska from Jewell County, Kansas. Depending on the year, Oren, Bill and Virgil each may have had to drive in from out of state for family get-togethers.
We have had many family gatherings in the past where some people were unable to be there. Very often they were celebrating with the other side of their family. In this clipping from 1942 at Thanksgiving, it states "All joined in a prayer for those absent because of sickness, and for the boys in service." I'm thankful at least we're not at war right now. At the time of this dinner a few of the grandsons of Cicero and Allie were serving in WWII. Cicero was living in a nursing home, and Frank is not mentioned. Mr and Mrs Bill Dieckman are Ben's wife's parents.
In 1943 the Bell family gathered for Christmas at the Grandparents home in Aurora. Two families weren't there, Oren's from Oklahoma and Bill's from Kansas. Cicero and Allie were blessed with 9 grandsons and 9 granddaughters.
I admit I had to lookup "Salmagundi", and I believe these dinners were the type of the second definition, "a general mixture, a miscellaneous collection". I've been having salmagundi dinners all my life! How did such a great word get dethroned by "pot luck"?
"Those things mean so much to a shutin." Can't we all relate to that this year!
White Leghorn eggs, Yesterlaid Strain - 75c per dozen or $4.00 per 100 eggs. Also Buff Rock eggs, 75c for 15. - Allie Bell, Esbon, Kansas, Ionia phone 3052.
For Sale: - Eggs for hatching. Buff Leghorns and Buff Rocks, Pure bred from selected pens. $6.00 per hundred or $1.50 per setting at the farm or delivered at Ionia. - Mrs Allie Bell, Ebson, Kansas - Ionia phone No. 3052
Mrs. Cicero Bell is the first to report a brood of young chicks. She now has about 50 little chicks and about 600 eggs setting. She said she sold about $950 worth of eggs and chickens last year. She thinks she can do better this year. Mrs. Bell raises only purebred chickens and says they are the only kind that pays and Mrs. Belle ought to know as she has been in the chicken business for a long time and has tried both pure bred and mixed flocks.
Mr. and Mrs. Cicero Bell of the Ionia country were in town last Saturday. Mrs. Bell has just received a $50 pen of fancy Barred Plymouth Rock chickens from Iowa of which she is justly proud.
Mrs. Cicero Bell came near having quite a blaze on account of the lamp in one of her incubators exploding.
Mr. and Mrs. Cicero Bell were in Mankato, Friday, attending the Poultry show. Mrs. Bell did not make and [any] exhibits at the Poultry show this year, but she had some fine fouls in her pens.
Mrs. Cicero Bell reports over 500 baby chicks over two weeks old and doing nicely. Besides hatching and caring for that number of chicks, Mrs. Bell has had to care for her entire family of boys, five of them, during this recent seige of flu.
Mrs. Cicero Bell suffered quite a loss when she smothered some 385 little chickens last Monday night.
