The Emporia Gazette, 11 Feb 1927, Friday
OLD-TIMERS' COLUMN
Twice a Pioneer.
Mrs. John Nicklin, in good health and spirits and interested intensely in what is going on in the world, as she has been all her long and useful life, living in the comfortable modern home of her daughter, Mrs. George Gadbery, 811 West NInth, smiles reminiscently as she relates her pioneer experiences. For she has been twice a pioneer. She and Mr. Nicklin were married in Tyler county, West Virginia, in May, 1865, and the following September they set out to find a new home. Mr. Nicklin had declared he would no longer farm among the hills and rocks of Virginia. They boarded a boat on the Ohio river at Sistersville, W. Va., went down the river to Cairo on the Mississippi, and up the Mississippi to New Ellen, Minn. On the boar Mrs. Nicklin for the first time saw table napkins in use. They were small, with fringe and a red border, and were stuck in the goblets at each plate. The Nicklins traveled more than 2,000 miles by boat. They carried with them one trunk and one dry goods box , all of their earthly possessions, except $600--but by the time they reached their destination a good share of the money had been used.
Mr. Nicklin was a veteran of the Civil war, and he preempted 160 acres of rich timberland in the valley of the Minnesota river. The state had been open for settlement only a few years, and the Indians had not all moved out. Only the year before they had been a terrible massacre, and fear of he Indians always was in Mrs. Nicklin's heart, though the family never was harmed or molested by them.
Mr. Nicklin soon had cleared a few acres of land, and from the trees he felled he cut logs with which he built the first home--a one-room cabin with a fireplace, the chimney built of sticks, and with no floor except a few boards laid under the bed. There were no sawmills and no lumber to be had, and they were 100 miles from a railroad. A dirt floor isn't so bad, said Mrs. Nicklin, after it is tramped down hard and solid. In this log cabin their first child was born. On the land cleared in the autumn, Mr. Nicklin the next year raised the most wonderful potatoes and other vegetables, they had a few chickens and pigs, and really lived in comfort, says Mrs. Nicklin, though it may not sound that way in the telling.
Mr. Nicklin frequently worked for neighboring farmers, and the young wife and her baby often spent the entire day alone at their home in the forest. A family of half-breeds lived not far from them, in the edge of the timber, and one day when Mrs. Nicklin was alone, a fat, greasy squaw and her little boy came to the house. The squaw sat down near the home-made cradle Mr. Nicklin had built for his son, and in which the baby lay asleep. The squaw talked to her little boy and pointed to the baby, and made hideous motions with her hands, laughing all the time, and Mrs. Nicklin said she was so frightened she could hardly keep from screaming. She realized later the squaw probably only was putting on the performance to tease her, knowing she was afraid of Indians.
The cabin was near a small creek, which was fed by a lovely bubbling spring a short distance from the house, and from the creek they got all the water for the house use. It was clear and cold, and in those days there was no thought of contamination in water. One day Mrs. Nicklin, going around the house to the creek after water, saw standing on the opposite bank of the creek an immense buck, evidently having come to the creek for a drink. Scenting the air, he discovered a strange presence, threw up his great head, and was gone like a flash.
The climate of Minnesota was severe, the winters long and cold and the Nicklins decided they would not stay in that state. Cold nights, often as they lay in bed, often they were aroused by the popping and cracking of trees from the action of the frost. The noise sounded like the firing of guns. Men working outdoors wore mittens made from the skins of cats and rabbits. They tanned the skins carefully, and kept a supply of them for use during the winter. The second year the Nicklins traded and 80 of timberland for a prairied eighty, and after four years they sold all of their land and moved to Van Buren County, Iowa, where they had relatives, and where they lived a year. They had started from Minnesota with the intention of coming to Kansas, and in 1870 they reached this state.
The Nicklins settled on Dow creek, six miles north of Emporia on an eighty three-quarters of a mile north of the Bethel church site. Long before Mr. Nicklin's death in 1913 the eighty had grown to 480 acres of well tilled farm land, with good buildings and other improvements. The family suffered all of the hardships of the grasshopper year of 1873, of the hot winds and drouth, but they managed to pull through without help. The winters became colder, said Mrs. Nicklin, and they observed that a cold, hard winter always was followed by a good crop year. After the first few years, they had no entire crop failures.
The Nicklin children grew up in the Bethel neighborhood, and attended Central school, the forum for the community. Here the Sunday school and the church services were held, and the literary and debating societies, and many forms of entertainment and amusement. The old stone school house burned, but many interesting and tender memories of it remain, and the trees the Nicklin children and other children of the school planted are there, grown large, , and help to make pleasant the school life of the present generation of boys and girls in the newer and better schoolhouse. The Bethel neighborhood always has been a united one, says Mrs. Nicklin, and she ascribes this to the fact that, through thick and thin, through hard times and good times, always a Sunday school had been maintained and regular preaching services held. For years there was preaching only every two weeks, but now the pastor, the Rev. Eugene Kramer, of the Grace church in Emporia, preaches every Sunday morning at 9:30 at Bethel, and gets back to town to preach to the Grace congregation at 11. At Bethel, Sunday school follows the preaching service. Epworth League meetings are held regularly Sunday evenings, and have been for many years.
Of the four sons and three daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Nicklin, two were born in Minnesota, one in Iowa, and the others in Kansas. The eldest son, Edwin J. Nicklin, lives in Vancouver, B. C., and three sons, Frank, Page and Lloyd, live each on a part of the old home place. The only living daughter is Mrs. Gadbery. Two daughters, Ida and Alice, died many years ago. Mrs. Nicklin has 13 living grandchildren, two dead, and 13 great-grandchildren. She retains her membership in Bethel church, and says she never expects to change it. She attends the First Methodist church in Emporia, of which the Gadberys are members.
Mrs. Nicklin was born in Tyler county, [West] Virginia, in 1846. Her maiden name was Mary E. McCluster, and she is of Irish ancestry. The McCluster family moved to Tyler county, West Virginia, and there the daughter met John Nicklin. They were married in May, when the Virginia spring is the most beautiful, in the church at Centerville, and all of their friends and neighbors for miles around were there. The big wedding dinner for all the guests was served at the home of Mr. Nicklin's parents, on long tables under the spreading trees on the lawn--it was a beautiful sight, says Mrs. Nicklin. Her wedding gown was of the sheerest white swiss, with low neck and short shirred sleeves, and the wide skirt was many yards around--all hand-made. Mrs. Nicklin treasures a quilt [the following has several errors] is red, white and blue sur- friends as a wedding gift, album pattern, and on the blocks are the names of all the boys of their neighborhood who "went to the war away." The center of the quilt! a red-white and blue surrounded by the album blocks. Mrs. Nicklin, a bride at 19, never again saw her father and mother after she left them the September following her marriage.--L. M. F. (Laura May French)
***************************
The Emporia Gazette, 29 Aug 1940, Thu
MRS. MARY E. NICKLIN DEAD
Mrs. Mary E. Nicklin, wife of the late John Nicklin, died Wednesday evening at 8:20 o'clock at the home of her daughter, Mrs. George Gadbery, 811 West Ninth. Mrs. Nicklin and her husband were pioneers both in the early settlement of Minnesota and Lyon County.
Funeral services will be Saturday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at the Roberts-Blue Funeral home. Rev. Ira Nicklin and Rev. C. E. Davis will conduct the services. Burial will be in Maplewood cemetery.
Mrs. Nicklin was the former Mary E. McCluster, the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Samuel McCluster. She was born in Tyler county, [West] Virginia, in 1846, and there Mrs. Nicklin met John Nicklin and they were married on May 23, 1885. Mr. Nicklin died May 27, 1913, near Emporia. Mrs. Nicklin, a bride at 19, never saw her father and mother after she left them the September following her marriage. The Nicklins preempted 160 acres of rich timberland in the valley of the Minnesota river. The state had been open for settlement only a few years, and the Indians had not all moved out. The Nicklins soon cleared several acres of land and from the trees Mr. Nicklin felled, logs were cut for their first home, a 1-room log cabin. The climate of Minnesota was severe, and the Nicklins decided to move. They left Minnesota and arrived in Kansas in 1870. The Nicklins settled on Dow creek, six miles north of Emporia, near the Bethel church site. The Nicklins improved the land and more acreage was added. The Nicklin children grew up in Bethel Neighborhood and attended Central school, the forum for the community. Mrs. Nicklin was a member of the Bethel Methodist church. She was the last surviving member of the McCluster family of 13 children.
Mrs. Nicklin is survived by her daughter, Mrs. Gadbery; three sons, Frank, Page and Lloyd Nicklin, who live on Route 2 north of Emporia; five granddaughters, seven grandsons, 22 great grandchildren and ten great great grandchildren. A son and two daughters preceded Mrs. Nicklin in death.
***************************
From FAG Member #47576499 EEM:
According to the Tyler County, West Virginia marriage record of John Nicklin, age 36, born in Tyler County, West Virginia and Mary E. McCluster, age 20, born in Highland County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Franklin and Susan McCluster and he was the son of Samuel & Martha Nicklin.
***************************
West Virginia, Marriages Index, 1785-1971 about John Nicklin
Name: John Nicklin
Gender: Male
Spouse's Name: Mary E McCluster
Spouse Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 1865
Marriage Place: Tyler, West Virginia, United States
The Emporia Gazette, 11 Feb 1927, Friday
OLD-TIMERS' COLUMN
Twice a Pioneer.
Mrs. John Nicklin, in good health and spirits and interested intensely in what is going on in the world, as she has been all her long and useful life, living in the comfortable modern home of her daughter, Mrs. George Gadbery, 811 West NInth, smiles reminiscently as she relates her pioneer experiences. For she has been twice a pioneer. She and Mr. Nicklin were married in Tyler county, West Virginia, in May, 1865, and the following September they set out to find a new home. Mr. Nicklin had declared he would no longer farm among the hills and rocks of Virginia. They boarded a boat on the Ohio river at Sistersville, W. Va., went down the river to Cairo on the Mississippi, and up the Mississippi to New Ellen, Minn. On the boar Mrs. Nicklin for the first time saw table napkins in use. They were small, with fringe and a red border, and were stuck in the goblets at each plate. The Nicklins traveled more than 2,000 miles by boat. They carried with them one trunk and one dry goods box , all of their earthly possessions, except $600--but by the time they reached their destination a good share of the money had been used.
Mr. Nicklin was a veteran of the Civil war, and he preempted 160 acres of rich timberland in the valley of the Minnesota river. The state had been open for settlement only a few years, and the Indians had not all moved out. Only the year before they had been a terrible massacre, and fear of he Indians always was in Mrs. Nicklin's heart, though the family never was harmed or molested by them.
Mr. Nicklin soon had cleared a few acres of land, and from the trees he felled he cut logs with which he built the first home--a one-room cabin with a fireplace, the chimney built of sticks, and with no floor except a few boards laid under the bed. There were no sawmills and no lumber to be had, and they were 100 miles from a railroad. A dirt floor isn't so bad, said Mrs. Nicklin, after it is tramped down hard and solid. In this log cabin their first child was born. On the land cleared in the autumn, Mr. Nicklin the next year raised the most wonderful potatoes and other vegetables, they had a few chickens and pigs, and really lived in comfort, says Mrs. Nicklin, though it may not sound that way in the telling.
Mr. Nicklin frequently worked for neighboring farmers, and the young wife and her baby often spent the entire day alone at their home in the forest. A family of half-breeds lived not far from them, in the edge of the timber, and one day when Mrs. Nicklin was alone, a fat, greasy squaw and her little boy came to the house. The squaw sat down near the home-made cradle Mr. Nicklin had built for his son, and in which the baby lay asleep. The squaw talked to her little boy and pointed to the baby, and made hideous motions with her hands, laughing all the time, and Mrs. Nicklin said she was so frightened she could hardly keep from screaming. She realized later the squaw probably only was putting on the performance to tease her, knowing she was afraid of Indians.
The cabin was near a small creek, which was fed by a lovely bubbling spring a short distance from the house, and from the creek they got all the water for the house use. It was clear and cold, and in those days there was no thought of contamination in water. One day Mrs. Nicklin, going around the house to the creek after water, saw standing on the opposite bank of the creek an immense buck, evidently having come to the creek for a drink. Scenting the air, he discovered a strange presence, threw up his great head, and was gone like a flash.
The climate of Minnesota was severe, the winters long and cold and the Nicklins decided they would not stay in that state. Cold nights, often as they lay in bed, often they were aroused by the popping and cracking of trees from the action of the frost. The noise sounded like the firing of guns. Men working outdoors wore mittens made from the skins of cats and rabbits. They tanned the skins carefully, and kept a supply of them for use during the winter. The second year the Nicklins traded and 80 of timberland for a prairied eighty, and after four years they sold all of their land and moved to Van Buren County, Iowa, where they had relatives, and where they lived a year. They had started from Minnesota with the intention of coming to Kansas, and in 1870 they reached this state.
The Nicklins settled on Dow creek, six miles north of Emporia on an eighty three-quarters of a mile north of the Bethel church site. Long before Mr. Nicklin's death in 1913 the eighty had grown to 480 acres of well tilled farm land, with good buildings and other improvements. The family suffered all of the hardships of the grasshopper year of 1873, of the hot winds and drouth, but they managed to pull through without help. The winters became colder, said Mrs. Nicklin, and they observed that a cold, hard winter always was followed by a good crop year. After the first few years, they had no entire crop failures.
The Nicklin children grew up in the Bethel neighborhood, and attended Central school, the forum for the community. Here the Sunday school and the church services were held, and the literary and debating societies, and many forms of entertainment and amusement. The old stone school house burned, but many interesting and tender memories of it remain, and the trees the Nicklin children and other children of the school planted are there, grown large, , and help to make pleasant the school life of the present generation of boys and girls in the newer and better schoolhouse. The Bethel neighborhood always has been a united one, says Mrs. Nicklin, and she ascribes this to the fact that, through thick and thin, through hard times and good times, always a Sunday school had been maintained and regular preaching services held. For years there was preaching only every two weeks, but now the pastor, the Rev. Eugene Kramer, of the Grace church in Emporia, preaches every Sunday morning at 9:30 at Bethel, and gets back to town to preach to the Grace congregation at 11. At Bethel, Sunday school follows the preaching service. Epworth League meetings are held regularly Sunday evenings, and have been for many years.
Of the four sons and three daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Nicklin, two were born in Minnesota, one in Iowa, and the others in Kansas. The eldest son, Edwin J. Nicklin, lives in Vancouver, B. C., and three sons, Frank, Page and Lloyd, live each on a part of the old home place. The only living daughter is Mrs. Gadbery. Two daughters, Ida and Alice, died many years ago. Mrs. Nicklin has 13 living grandchildren, two dead, and 13 great-grandchildren. She retains her membership in Bethel church, and says she never expects to change it. She attends the First Methodist church in Emporia, of which the Gadberys are members.
Mrs. Nicklin was born in Tyler county, [West] Virginia, in 1846. Her maiden name was Mary E. McCluster, and she is of Irish ancestry. The McCluster family moved to Tyler county, West Virginia, and there the daughter met John Nicklin. They were married in May, when the Virginia spring is the most beautiful, in the church at Centerville, and all of their friends and neighbors for miles around were there. The big wedding dinner for all the guests was served at the home of Mr. Nicklin's parents, on long tables under the spreading trees on the lawn--it was a beautiful sight, says Mrs. Nicklin. Her wedding gown was of the sheerest white swiss, with low neck and short shirred sleeves, and the wide skirt was many yards around--all hand-made. Mrs. Nicklin treasures a quilt [the following has several errors] is red, white and blue sur- friends as a wedding gift, album pattern, and on the blocks are the names of all the boys of their neighborhood who "went to the war away." The center of the quilt! a red-white and blue surrounded by the album blocks. Mrs. Nicklin, a bride at 19, never again saw her father and mother after she left them the September following her marriage.--L. M. F. (Laura May French)
***************************
The Emporia Gazette, 29 Aug 1940, Thu
MRS. MARY E. NICKLIN DEAD
Mrs. Mary E. Nicklin, wife of the late John Nicklin, died Wednesday evening at 8:20 o'clock at the home of her daughter, Mrs. George Gadbery, 811 West Ninth. Mrs. Nicklin and her husband were pioneers both in the early settlement of Minnesota and Lyon County.
Funeral services will be Saturday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at the Roberts-Blue Funeral home. Rev. Ira Nicklin and Rev. C. E. Davis will conduct the services. Burial will be in Maplewood cemetery.
Mrs. Nicklin was the former Mary E. McCluster, the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Samuel McCluster. She was born in Tyler county, [West] Virginia, in 1846, and there Mrs. Nicklin met John Nicklin and they were married on May 23, 1885. Mr. Nicklin died May 27, 1913, near Emporia. Mrs. Nicklin, a bride at 19, never saw her father and mother after she left them the September following her marriage. The Nicklins preempted 160 acres of rich timberland in the valley of the Minnesota river. The state had been open for settlement only a few years, and the Indians had not all moved out. The Nicklins soon cleared several acres of land and from the trees Mr. Nicklin felled, logs were cut for their first home, a 1-room log cabin. The climate of Minnesota was severe, and the Nicklins decided to move. They left Minnesota and arrived in Kansas in 1870. The Nicklins settled on Dow creek, six miles north of Emporia, near the Bethel church site. The Nicklins improved the land and more acreage was added. The Nicklin children grew up in Bethel Neighborhood and attended Central school, the forum for the community. Mrs. Nicklin was a member of the Bethel Methodist church. She was the last surviving member of the McCluster family of 13 children.
Mrs. Nicklin is survived by her daughter, Mrs. Gadbery; three sons, Frank, Page and Lloyd Nicklin, who live on Route 2 north of Emporia; five granddaughters, seven grandsons, 22 great grandchildren and ten great great grandchildren. A son and two daughters preceded Mrs. Nicklin in death.
***************************
From FAG Member #47576499 EEM:
According to the Tyler County, West Virginia marriage record of John Nicklin, age 36, born in Tyler County, West Virginia and Mary E. McCluster, age 20, born in Highland County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Franklin and Susan McCluster and he was the son of Samuel & Martha Nicklin.
***************************
West Virginia, Marriages Index, 1785-1971 about John Nicklin
Name: John Nicklin
Gender: Male
Spouse's Name: Mary E McCluster
Spouse Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 1865
Marriage Place: Tyler, West Virginia, United States
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
