Kearney Happenings

Legal Matters
January, 1895 – Charged

Judge Wm. (age 70) charged with bastardy by a 30 year old single lady
Judge refused to say if he was guilty of not because he did not know if he was guilty or not.
If he was, he said he would do the right thing by the lady and child
        [marry?? Or pay child support??]

Died of apoplexy in 1903 at age 78
Also buried there is Susan, probably wife, died in 1893 at age 68
Also in that plot is Eugene, died at age 24 of “Gun shot in center of forhead”

June 1889 – Arrested

Cora O. arrested for keeping a disorderly home. [not dirty or messy]
A Kearney man petitioned police court to do something about it.
She plead guilty and was fined $29.70
Five men were fined $5 each but their names were not published

August 1898 – Pensions

         James & John O’Kane, two well known GAR men had their pensions raised from $8 to $10 a month.

        Mattie O’Kane in Kearney Cemetery in plot owned by James.

        Died in 1903, no age given.

        No other O’Kane burials


1923 City Ordinances – Town Herd

1. Herds limits area bounded by

        31st (street in front of hospital)
        Ave. H (street by Collins Park)
        14th St. (south of Court House)
        8th Ave (block from university campus)
2. No herds or droves collected or driven through this area.
        Not even singly
        Can lead a haltered animal however
3. Fine up to $10 and animal(s) impounded as per impound ordinance.

Hard times
January 1894 – Donations
        Superintendent of hospital reported
            3 carpets
            quilt, sheet, cases
            sack of flour, pound of coffee, tea
            Sheriff Nutter gave $3

[This was not a time of prosperity in Kearney]

House Moving ---

Kearney after the boom

Capt. L. D. Forehand was employed to take the school census in School District No. 7, the City of Kearney. He was required to visit each dwelling house in the district.

He made note of the number of dwelling houses and the number vacant.
He found 1,400 dwelling houses in the city 700 vacant.

Of these vacant houses hundreds were moved out on the farms of Buffalo County, some of them quite twenty miles from the city.

Many of the large houses in West Kearney, vacated after the Boom, were moved into Kearney.

Farm work: [from a biography in Bassett, 1915]
        In those days (1850’s) farm work was accomplished by actual manual labor but now modern inventions have largely revolutionized the methods of farm work, relieving the agriculturist of much of the drudgery which formerly devolved upon him.

Marriages
Feb, 1888 – Married
        In the Free Reading Room
            [unusual because weddings were usually in parsonage, courthouse, or bride’s home.]

December 1897 – Marriage
        Grandpa Rhine, father of John, went to Boelus last week where he married a “kind and sympathetic lady who will make his life happy and more comfortable.”

Divorce
September, 1889 – Divorce
        Anna P.---- Married in Bohemia 10 years ago
        Husband (must have emigrated) - Sent her $600 savings to come to America
        She followed him here later but has never seen him since.

Illness & Death
April 1896 – Illness
        Woman in Thornton Township had been ill several weeks
        Daughter was there taking care of her
        Daughter became ill from fatigue and was delivered of a 5 lb baby girl.
[Guess there was a reason for the fatigue.]

Woman died in July 1896 and is buried in Prairie View Cemetery. She was 79 years old. She had a son and two daughters, one being the one who cared for her. That daughter died when she was 39. She is buried beside her mother. Neither woman’s husband is buried there.

July 1921 – Death
Boy, age 11, drowned in Kearney Lake when he went into the water to recover a golf ball.

June 1925 – Death
        Thorn Price died in Iowa and was brought to Gibbon for burial.
        When he left home as a young man his mother gave him a $1.00
                Asked him to keep it unless absolutely necessary to use to prevent hunger.
                He still had it and asked that it be buried with him
                It was placed in his hand in the casket

        85 years old. Civil War vet, enlisted in Ohio (26 when war began).
        Not a member of the Gibbon Homestead Colony.

Causes of Death

Spasms
Old age (usually 70 +)
Accidental poisoning (15 year old girl)
Suiside – Hanging (41)
Dropsy
Water bone
Railroad accident
Natural (age 40 in 1976)
Natural causes (age 25 in 1946)
Unknown (3 mo in 1889)
Senile Disability (80)
Malnutrition (1952)
Frozen (Feb 1891, 14)
Bullet wound in back (29, female, 1942)
Injury (68 in 1904)
Cold (no age 1901)
No polio