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
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