A. Samuel Bassett
Visitors to the Archive asking for information on Samuel Bassett
        Cousins & spouses, cousins descendents of Bassett
        One was a Civil War re-enactor who had taken Bassett as his character

            Looking for information on Bassett's Civil War career

Many sources on Bassett
        His book - History of Buffalo County
        Biographical souvenir of Phelps, Kearney & Buffalo County
        Family file
        Probate file

Contents of Probate file
        Application for administration
            Heirs – 7 children
        Will
            Divided Echo Farm between the children
            $25 to each grandchild upon reaching legal age
        List of all 19 grandchildren and their birth dates
        List of the 7 who were already of legal age and were paid
        Correspondence:
            from John Dryden to Judge Easterling which had included the $300 for remaining 12
            from Judge to Gibbon Exchange bank depositing money at interest (CD)
            from 1st grandchild to turn 21 asking for his money
            from judge – wait for CD to mature – paid in Aug 1928
            payment to 2nd & 3st grandchild Aug 1929


        Nine left – into the 1930’s now
            2 received $7.35 plus an assignment of 1/9 of the balance
            This was 25% of their money due ($25) + interest
            Would get about $20 more when the old Exchange Bank liquidated.
                That was 1/9 of the CD = $180 – should have been $225 + interest
        All have reached maturity – Sued the Judge
        Confusing, things said verbally not recorded
        One letter from judge asked the girl to come to his office and he will explain it to her.
        Settlement reached Aug 17, 1936
            $108.08 received by the 9 remaining grandchildren
                Probably not divided equally because two had already received $7.35 each
     

       Judge was sued but it wasn’t his fault. It was the financial situation of the day.

B. Found on Library of Congress website

Journal of the Senate - March 27, 1872.
        Bill (S. 829) granting the Fort Kearney military reservation to the State of Nebraska for the use and benefit of the Nebraska State deaf and dumb and insane asylums, had been referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, was reported without amendment.

Journal of the House of Representatives - May 11, 1872.
        Several bills from the Senate were, by unanimous consent, referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, including:
• S. 829.

        An act granting the Fort Kearney military reservation to the State of Nebraska for the use and benefit of the Nebraska State Deaf and Dumb and Insane Asylum.

C. John Rose
 

Nov. 1916 - John Rose, who had been operating a taxi cab in Kearney, left town with another woman, leaving his wife and three children here destitute. Mrs. Rose was admitted to the hospital, a charge to the city, and there was a search for homes for the children.

Feb 16, 1917 – Sheriff Funk traced Rose to St. Louis and had the police there arrest him. He sent a deputy from here to go get him, figured he would come voluntarily without extradition papers.

Feb. 19, 1917 – Rose came back peacefully from Mound City where he was arrested. The woman who had left with Rose accompanied them part of the way back. [Didn’t say where she got off the train.]

Feb. 21, 1917 – Charged with wife desertion. Hearing was held. Rose waived examination. He was held over, bond $500.

May 15, 1917 – Rose was placed under a bond to provide for his wife and children

[This was not the only John Rose in the area]

D. The "Roaring Twenties"
This was the decade of prohibition and Al Capone,
        bobbed hair and the Charleston,
        the Teapot Dome scandal, the Scopes trial,
        raccoon coats, talking pictures and radio.

        Ford Motor Company was moving into mass production on the assembly line as cars became a necessity of life for the average American and there was a strong campaign to develop a nationwide road system.

        The Nebraska Lincoln Highway Association held a state meeting in Kearney in April of 1925.

        By summer the Lincoln Highway through Buffalo County was all graveled as well as the road from Kearney to Pleasanton.

        This made Buffalo County "further advanced on gravel surfacing of state aid roads than any other county in Nebraska."

        In Kearney a goat parade was held to promote the downtown businesses.

        The Ku Klux Klan held a big rally at the Buffalo County fairgrounds in Kearney.

        The school at Amherst was set on fire to divert attention while the bank was robbed.

        The last wood bridge across the Platte River in Buffalo County was replaced by a concrete and steel structure south of Gibbon at a cost of $55,000.

        Jack Knight, air mail pilot, had engine trouble and landed at the Shelton air field to make repairs.

        The Shelton High School music program in the spring of 1926 included three quartets.
            1. The Sober Seniors was made up of Roy Loffer, Leland Cook, Everett Waddington and Francis Kelly.
            2. The Hoky Poky quartet consisted of Mark Hackman, Richard Taylor, Fred Hehner and Alex King.
            3. The Hayseeds included John Spahr, Fred Schroeder, Gale Allen and Franklin Finck.