Free Land

Free Land! Or buying land at a very low price. That's why most of the people moved to Kansas and Nebraska. The Indian wars were over and large families couldn't be sustained on the farms back east, so many of children of families that had been in America for generations took advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862. Some came, only to lose their crops to drought, grasshoppers, hail or fire. Many went back home, but more came in their place, or their neighbors bought their land at a low price.

My Crabtree ancestors came from England in 1706, migrated through Maryland, Virginia, Scioto County, Ohio, eastern Nebraska, then on to the northwest corner of Kansas about 1895-1900. My great-grandfather, Peter Crabtree, grew up in a family of 17 children. My grandfather, Frank Crabtree, had 10 brothers and sisters. When they all became old enough to marry, the home place no longer would support them, so whole families uprooted themselves and moved to Kansas where the father, Peter Crabtree, the sons; Sylvester, Dave and Hurley laid claim to their 160 acre homestead plots. Even the daughters, Lizzie, Mary and Serepta filed their claims. Some of the family remained in eastern Nebraska.

My Bartlett ancestors came from New York through Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas before settling on their homestead south of Parks, Nebraska.

My Gregory ancestor, John S. Gregory was born in Stockwith, England and migrated to Caroline County Virginia sometime before 1640 when the first American Richard Gregory was born. Through the next 12 generations to my brother, David Richard's son Jarrod Richard Gregory, there was a boy with the name Richard. This family lived in Virginia until about 1850 when Abel Gregory and his sons Henderson P. and Levi Richard migrated through Sumner county Tennessee to Lewis County, Missouri. My Great grandfather, Gabriel Richard Gregory moved from Missouri to Phillips County, Kansas in about 1880 and is buried there in the Woodruff cemetery north of Phillipsburg along with his son, Richard who my dad called "Uncle Richie". My grandfather, Dave Gregory followed Mollie Sampson to Haigler and that is how that side of the family came to be here.

My Sampson ancestors came through Massachusetts, Virginia, Scioto County, Ohio, Brown County, Kansas, then to Haigler. They came to operate a hotel.

Many of the people came from other countries. There is a large population of German descendants that settled in the northwest corner of Kansas and southwestern Nebraska. Many of these immigrants lived elsewhere before arriving here, but some of them came directly from the old country. They brought their rich culture of hard work, delicious food and family values.

Some of the early settlers were here for the grassland. "Between 1860 and 1880, cattle in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Dakota increased from 130,000 to 4.5 million head." and some of them came for the land. Yet others came to set up service businesses or came with the building of the railroad and decided to stay.

How did YOUR family happen to end up in Haigler?