First Families in Buffalo County
Shelton
Olivers - 1860
Edward & Sarah Oliver, 8 children,
daughter-in-law, grandchild, and a maid = 13
English family converted to Mormonism, came to the
US to settle in Utah
Wagon axle broke near Wood River Center
Repairs made using green wood which soon bent under heavy load in wagon
Late enough in the summer they could not get over the mountains before
snowfall
Decided to stay in a
cabin on the Wood River until spring
In spring Edward ready to go on
west
Sarah declared she was
staying, children sided with her
Edward and maid left for rest of journey to Utah where they married and
raised a family
Sarah and children settled on a plot of land along
the Mormon Trail about a mile west of present day Shelton
Youngest son had 9 children, 8 sons 1 daughter
Almlst all Olivers stayed in the Shelton area
Today most people living in the Shelton area are Olivers or have an Oliver
descendant in their family
Gibbon Nutters
1862 & 1868
Latter part of March, 1855 John, Dinah two
children landed in Philadelphia, May 5, 1855
No mill
work, went to Gloucester, N. J., got job in the print works for 2 years
Spring 1857 Worked in a mill in
Philadelphia, superintendent of carding and spinning departments
Spring 1860 To Utah Territory
Engaged
in farming for 20 months; disillusioned about Mormons
Spring 1862 - Retraced steps towards the East;
settled in Hall county, on the banks of Wood river near the western line of
the county.
There was a stage station where the village of Shelton now stands,
August 1864 Indian
outbreak culminating in the Plum Creek massacre; Nutters fled east and north
to Canada to returned to England
Took
this route to avoid traveling through northeast US where he might be
conscripted into the Union Army
April, 1865 returned to the US and worked 3
years at same mill in Philadelphia.
1868 Returned to Nebraska, settled again on
Wood River, Buffalo county, buying a place near Gibbon
Large family of 15 children, not all lived
toadulthood
Many Nutters in
Gibboin area
Kearney James & George Smith, not Asbury
& Louisa Collins 1871
Spring 1871 - The Smith brothers and
two others filed first claims on section south of railroad and west of 2nd
Ave
Built the first house in Kearney Precinct in center of section
Sold their homesteads to Burlington Railroad
James A Smith
Stayed around for about 6 years
1876 - Lost election for City Engineer - City Minutes book for April 7, 1876
Manager
for two plays, presented as a money-making project for a library.
Left
Kearney shortly thereafter
George E. Smith
January 2, 1843 Born in
Rochester, Indiana
After selling his first claim to the Burlington
Railroad, George filed on another piece of land about a mile of north of
Kearney
SE corner of this 80 acres is now the NW quadrant of 39th & 2nd location of
Family Food Fresh
He & wife also purchased lots in Kearney Junction
and erected buildings on them.
Lived
at the corner of 23rd Street and Avenue D, about 4 blocks east of downtown
George was a
real estate agent for the South Platte Land Co.
This was the Burlingtons land company.
City Clerk off and on from April 1875 to April
1878 and possibly longer
George E. was the first Postmaster in Kearney,
holding the office for four years
Must have had a retail store a news item in
May 1877 said he had added a large variety of musical instruments to his
stock of books, and stationery
Store
described as a news depot.
1900 Insurance agent
1907 Buffalo County atlas lists him as a
landowner.
But he had
disposed of his land by the time of his death because there is no probate
record.
Sometime
between 1900 & 1920 - family moved to Lake Forest, Illinois
1920 George retired
1921 wife, Emma,
died
1923
George died
Both buried in Kearney
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