Great story, thanks. Not my Thomases, but that's OK. Kathleen VH On Dec 13, 2007, at 9:20 AM, Joanne Morgan wrote: > 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