Plattsmouth Journal, Thursday, August 31, 1916 VERY INTERESTING PIONEER STORY BY MRS. C.H. PARMELE A most interesting story of Pioneer life and times is told by Mrs. Catherine PARMELE, widow of C.H. PARMELE, who was an active factor in the early history of Plattsmouth and Cass county. She with her husband, located in Plattsmouth in 1857, Plattsmouth at that time was a lively frontier town, and an outfitting point for Pike�s Peak and the mountains. Mr. Parmele was one of the early freighters, making many trips across the plains; the Indians on some of these occasions giving them much trouble. In 1857, the Pawnee Indians were still around Plattsmouth, and the Parmele family had the usual experiences with these aborigines. They were always a source of annoyance, and created a good deal of fear among the women and children. Mrs. Parmele calls to mind that the business of the village was transacted on Second street, for several blocks north and south on the river front. Boats were constantly landing and discharging their cargo. It was one of the amusements of the times for the young people of Plattsmouth to have dances on the boats, and frequently these parties would last for the trip to Omaha and return. In those days, people were generally very sociable and more unselfish than in later years. Mrs. Parmele mentions among leading citizens of that date, T.M. MARQUET, Willett POTTENGER, Tootle and Hanna, Wheatley MICKELWAITE, Samuel H. ELBERT, and many others who were the moving spirits of that time. Houses were scarce for renting purposes and their first home was in what was known as Patterson Row, which was situated near the Catholic church. Mrs. Parmele has resided for over fifty years in the residence she now occupies on Vine street, which was considered at the time of its construction a pretentious building. Mrs. Parmele is mother of one of our fellow townsman, C.C. PARMELE, T.E. PARMELE, banker at Louisville; Mrs. Myrtle ATWOOD, of Lincoln; and Mrs. Nellie AGNEW, now visiting in this city. *More information about the Parmeles is available at http://www.rootsweb.com/~necass/ http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&%20p=localities.northam.usa.states.nebraska.counties.cass __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com