Cedar Township

Location:
        Second tier, fourth from west, below Beaver
        South, between Ravenna and Sweetwater
        Organized in 1874

Features:
Farmland, rolling hills
Waterways:
        Two major streams flowing north to empty into the South Loup
            Cedar Creek – East part of township about 1 1/2 mile in.
                    First settlements alone or near it
            Other in west about mile then ½ mile in, some early settlement there.

Towns:
        Majors – in Sec. 15 – community, Parts not grouped close enough for a town

Church:
        United Presbyterian, organized in Dec. 1882. Church built in 1887.
            Membership reached 100. Some moved to Poole, others moved away,
            decreased to 30 in 1915. Pastor served both Majors and Poole churches.
            1915 regular services ceased, building used as community center.
            Sold and moved to Kearney to be a home.

Cemeteries:
        Majors Cemetery, Sec. 15, estab. April 1887. Land given for church and cemetery
        St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery, Sec. 35, estab. 1910.
            five miles south & three miles east of Pleasanton.
        Private burial ground in Section 8. St. Peters family
            One son – murdered
            One young man accidentally shot
            Child
            Decker – moved to Majors cemetery

School:
        Dist 20 – est.1874; Mrs. Carpenter first teacher
                Two 3-month sessions @ $10 a month
                1876 build sod schoolhouse

Post office:
        Est. 1879; did not submit a name so P O Dept. assigned name Majors

            in honor of Col. Thomas J. Majors of Nemaha County, a senator.

Tax Assessment – 1877:
Real Estate
        Treichler (He had moved back to Iowa but had not sold the land yet)
        UP railroad
Personal property
        15 assessed, (9 had filed by that time, so 6 had not filed yet or were “squatting”)
        9 had dogs
        Miller had 2 mules, not all of others had horses, no oxen
        Almost everyone had cattle, 1-10 head
        Carpenter had herd of 31 sheep
        Half had 1-3 pigs

Settlement in 1870’s –
1872 –
        Mr. West and Mr.Houston came and looked around
        James Treichler & family and father-in-law, Mr. Dance, moved in

1873 - Early spring –
        John Davis & wife, E W Carpenter family, and Joseph White family came

        West & Houston returned, filed on their land, arranged for Carpenter to break 5 acres of sod on each claim.

        Started for home in Ohio

        Sunday, April 13 – John Davis left for Grand Island for supplies
                Blizzard –lasted Sun & Mon.
                John caught but made it to Grand Island
                Mrs. Davis – froze, buried on farmstead, lost
                        John not in 1880 census, must have moved on
                West & Houston, 3 days in Grand Island, never heard from again

        Six other families arrived
                Three moved on
                Three stayed – Mason Alexander Young, Joseph Clayton & Samuel Higgins/Ewer

1874 – Dry year, grasshoppers
        Five more families arrived
                One moved on
                        John Dance went back to Iowa
                Four stayed - A. St. Peter, John McCool, Henry Luce, & James E. Miller.

1875 – good crops. Dry?

1876 – Grasshoppers again, no crops
        James Treichler family returned to Iowa after grasshoppers ruined their crop

1877 - Excellent crops & high prices

May have been families moving in 1875, ‘76, & ‘77, but no new claims filed

1878 – good crops
        Four new claims filed
        One moved on; three stayed

 
1879 – good crops
        Ten new families arrived and filed claims
        One left
        Rest stayed - Albert J. Stover, and others

1880-1890 – No crop failures - Explains rapid settlement of Buffalo County & Nebraska

A major source of information:
        Rod Stover’s website - Cedar Community (Majors) and Poole

        Descendent of Albert J. Stover. Families married neighbors.
        Website includes information about Clayton, Ewers, etc.

        No other township in the county so well documented.