I am a great-grandson of Edward and Hannah Whittaker, who lived at Gandy, Nebraska in the 1880's. Their daughter (my grandmother), Pearl Eva Whittaker Balfour, was born at Gandy, NE on August 7, 1889; she lived most of her life in Palmyra, Nebraska, where she is now buried.
Gandy is no longer shown on a modern map of Nebraska, but it was a town or community in the "Garfield Table" portion of Lincoln County, northeast of North Platte, NE.
I have a book that I inherited from my grandmother which contains histories of families who homesteaded in and around the "Garfield Table", and one of the entries in the book is the following.
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PIONEER AND HOMESTEAD DAYS OF EDWARD CHARLES WHITTAKER.
Edward Charles Whittaker was born April 30, 1862 at Peoria, Illinois. He lived there with his folks until a good sized boy. The family immigrated from Peoria, Illinois to a little town in the southeastern part of the state by the name of Douglas, Nebraska, in Otoe County. They established a home there. When Ed became the age of 21, he could take a homestead; he started out on his western trip with a team and covered wagon. He did not know where his stopping place would be. It took several days to make his trip, it was hard on the horses as feed and water was very scarce. All the folks along the route were good, dividing up with him.
At last he reached his destination on the Garfield Table. He took a homestead which was 160 acres. He established himself a home, which was a dugout. The roof was the cover of his wagon. Once in awhile rain came, then he had to leave his dugout and get up on higher ground. He always had to be on watch out as rattle snakes were thick. The first house he built was a one room sod house, they had school through the day in the house then he occupied it the rest of the time. In the fall when hay making time came, he worked on the Platte "bottom". There wasn't much for wages in those days. He took his homestead in 1884, proved up on it. On August 14, 1888 he took himself a bride, a nice young lady from Camden, New Jersey. She was a city girl, didn't know anything about farm life, so they started out doing the best they could, putting in a garden. They plowed the seed under but it didn't get through the ground. Then the drought years came, most crops and vegetables had all burned up and there was nothing much to eat or wear. Aid was sent in from other places which was appreciated greatly. Fuel was scarce. We burned corn stalks, corn and hay; later on there were a few cow chips.
The neighbors, few and far, were all good to help each other in any way they could.
(Written by his daughter, Jennie McGue)
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Finally, I have a photograph of Edward and Hannah Locke Whittaker which was taken on their 50th wedding anniversary in 1938. Would you like to have a copy?
I hope this information is helpful to you.
Ray Balfour
29 Blue Ridge Court
Madison, Wisconsin 53705-2521
Telephone: (608) 238-9297
E-mail:
rsbalfour@aol.com