This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Kuhn, Van Sant, Woods, Phillips Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ok.2ADE/746.1.1 Message Board Post: The reason for the erroneous 1995 date is that my fingers wanted to see if you were awake. All ten knew that they were supposed to type in "1895", but they at times are mischievous...And if you believe that, I have "some ocean-front property in Arizona...."...etc... My parents moved to Prairie township in 1930, one and one half miles south of the old Frederick Kuhn farm; John and Lena VanSant were living there then (southeast quarter of section 23 township 69 range 41). It was half a mile east of Mt. Hope country school, and, in the eastern part of what had been called the Nishna Valley neighborhood. John VanSant died in 1946, and soon after that I "painted" Lena's house. That consisted in being sure I covered up the thin spots--no scraping, finishing touches or anything like that! The house could be described as a large one and a half story "T", sitting on the north side of the road with the cross bar to the east, and with a large screened-in porch on the southwest corner. The farm buildings stood on a small hill, and a short distance north of them, Prairie Creek crossed the farm. There was water in it most of the year, and that was probably the reason why the pasture and meadow was just north of the barn, encompassing the creek. I attended Mt. Hope school in the early 1930, and well remember coming home through the "Van Sant" neighborhood where there were wild strawberries growing along side the road. This bit of wild prairie was destroyed when the farm -to- market road replaced the old one, whose road bed was far below the general surface of the surrounding country side. The strawberries grew on the banks, and were as good as they are now reported to have been. You can see this part of southwestern Prairie township just before going down into the West Nishnabotna Valley from atop the bluffs east of Sidney. Look straight east to the low rolling loess hills which follow along the east side of the Nishna Valley. The Frederick Kuhn farm was just a bit north of straight east. The first pioneers of Fremont county were aware of the Nishnabotna Trace which followed the ridge which these hills afforded, between the East Nishnabotna River and Walnut Creek. This trail was used by the Indians who lived on the west side of the MIssouri river, who were in the habit of using the Nishnabotna Trace while going to their hunting grounds located on the Des Moines River around and north of present Des Moines, Iowa...Did you ever hear of any archaeological artifacts that the Kuhn's had found? I see that Frederick Kuhn was buried in Farragut. That means that although they attended church in Nishna Valley, they must have turned southeast and traveled the South Tier State Road whenever they went shopping. The Van Sant's bought the Kuhn farm about a year before Frederick's death, so I suppose they moved into Farragut shortly before? I have one clipping you might be interested in: THE FREMONT COUNTY HERALD. 3/15/1888.--Mrs. Fred Kuhn recently received the sad news that while her daughter was enroute for Riverton with her two children, they both took very sick and the youngest died in the vicinity of Syracuse, Nebr., while the other is dangerously sick. William Kuhns took the train this morning for Syracuse.--Mt Hope News.....I don't know whether that was the Wood's family or the Phillips.--W.F.