Kansas

Tag

Frederick J Stierwalt’s Kansas Homestead

The above photo was believed to have been taken in Mound Valley, Kansas sometime after 1891. During this period in the midwest, building a new home on your land claim was something to be proud of. After paying a small fee to claim a homestead settlers were given five years to build a home and farm the land in order to keep their claim. It was not unusual for families to feature their homes in photos during this time, but...

John Joseph “JJ” Carroll: Overcoming the Odds

(Illustration above: New York City in 1851)  “What place is this, to which the squalid street conducts us? A kind of square of leprous houses, some of which are attainable only by crazy wooden stairs without. What lies behind this tottering flight of steps?…This is the place; these narrow ways diverging to the right and left, and reeking everywhere with dirt and filth…See how the rotten beams are tumbling down, and how the patched and broken windows seem to scowl...

Amanda (Evans) Stierwalt: Show and Tell

Photo: Amanda (Evans) Stierwalt While researching this week I came across a newspaper article about Hezekiah K. Stierwalt, who was showing off some treasures while visiting relatives in Kansas. These treasures included the button (rattle) of a rattlesnake that his wife, Amanda, killed with a stick of stove wood. I have so much respect for pioneer women and am so glad to live in modern times....