This is my kind of story! Even if the name had been Smith or Jones this is a great story. Out of curiosity I checked the census for 1880 and 1900 and found William K Thomas and wife Rebecca in Ellis County Kansas. (Bessie must me for Rebecca). In 1880 there are three young children. In 1900 one age 17 is the only name other than the couple. This must be the people in the story. Others may wish to add to this. Jim Thomas (no relation). ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joanne Morgan" <jomorgan@swbell.net> To: <REED-L@rootsweb.com>; <THOMAS-L@rootsweb.com>; <KSELLIS-L@rootsweb.com>; <TITCOMB-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 11:20 AM Subject: [THOMAS] BESSIE REED, WILLIAM K. THOMAS, MARIE REED THOMAS TITCOMB > This story comes from an old book I just found that I thought was > interesting. I'm not related to any of these people, just being nice. I > know nothing further about these people. > > THE CLAIM THAT GREW AND GREW > > Bessie Reed Thomas arrived in Kansas in 1871, a bride of 18, with a > shotgun across her knees. Her husband, William K. Thomas, a veteran of the > Civil War, was coming west to settle on his soldier's claim, 160 acres in > Ellis County. > In their two wagons, they carried a Ben Franklin stove and provisions to > last a year: a barrel of apples, flour, sugar, dried fruit, and smoked > meat. One of their wedding gifts, a wonderful sewing machine, one of the > first to be marketed, never arrived in Kansas; on the way the young groom > had persuaded his wife to trade it for a cow, which was to be the > beginning of their Hereford herd. > By fall the family had moved from the wagon to a new dugout. Bessie > papered the dirt walls with copies of the Louisville Courier and later, in > 1879, she added a layer of the Weekly Capital, a paper that would later be > named Capper's Weekly. The newspapers not only kept the dirt from falling > into the room, but they served as a barrier to snakes, centipedes, > scorpions, and the huge spiders common in the country. > Countless settlers had abandoned claims in Kansas. Indian massacres, > tornados, blizzards, and grasshopper plagues had taken their toll, and an > epidemic of diphtheria had wiped out entire families. To bring more > settlers to the region, the government offered a deserted claim to anyone > who would sleep on it for six months. A quarter section adjoining the > Thomas's original claim was acquired in Bessie's name; she slept in a sod > house there, a house similar to the one which now stood on her husband's > claim as a replacement for the dugout. > The government made still another bid for new settlers, offering a timber > claim to anyone planting and nurturing a thousand young trees on the land. > To qualify for this additional claim of 160 acres, the Thomases traveled > 16 miles to the Saline Rover bottoms to obtain cottonwood saplings which > they planted and tended, hauling water from their windmill. > With this new claim they were the possessors of 480 acres of Kansas > prairie ---hardpan, buffalo grass and tumbleweed, a plant Bessie often > mistook for a crouching Indian. > The ranch continued to grow. William added 1,360 acres at a cost which > was less than the asking price for one of those acres today. Between 1871 > and 1899, he accumulated 2,200 acres. > A 10-room stone ranch house on the property was the birthplace of their > sith child, the writer of this account. > Marie Reed Thomas Titcomb - 1831 West Algonquin Road Hoffman Estates, Ill > 60195 > > You must remember that this article is nearly 40 years old. The chances > of them still living at this address are slim to none. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > THOMAS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message