"THE STRUGGLE FOR A HOME"
When my mother was very young, her father, John Frank Meyer and his wife, Franziska, moved to central Iowa where he bought a small farm near the little town of Halbur. There, the family spent ten very happy years until the failure of crops and the high cost of living caused them to lose their farm and rent.
In the spring of 1886, my grandfather and a friend of his went west on the train as far as Chadron, Nebraska, then the end of the North Western Railroad line. They carried their grub packs on their backs and started out in search for a suitable location for a homestead. They traveled west and after many days of weary travel across barren prairie, the two became discouraged and and turned their footsteps back toward Chadron. After again reaching the town they were greatly pleased to meet an old acquaintance, who had gone west several months previous. He told my grandfather that he knew of an ideal place for locating and that they could ride back with him. So they retraced their path west but this time with lighter hearts. The distance seemed long to them and upon arriving at their destination they found that they were ninety miles from Chadron, and that they had walked about eighty miles when they became so discouraged as to turn back.
My grandfather then filled on his homestead and returned to Iowa to tell his family of his adventures in the West and their new home. In September of 1886, they gathered their few belongings, consisting of a yoke of oxen, a cow and heifer, two newly purchased pigs, twenty chickens, a plow, stove, a few chairs, two bed frames, a box of quilts, clothing and a food supply to last them nearly a year. Then my grandfather, grandmother and eight children climbed aboard the train at Halbur leaving their loved state with light anxious hearts for their new home in Nebraska. Because of the high train fare, my grandfather and the three oldest children rode in the box car while the rest of the family rode in a passenger car.
The Burlington Route at that time extended as far west as Bowen, now known as Harrison, Nebraska. Bowen consisted of only a few tar covered shanties, however, the family had to remain there while grandfather walked to the closest neighbor, a distance of twenty or more miles, to get someone to help carry their belongings to their new home. His friend, Mr. Serres, drove to town to get the rest of the family. My mother, being the second oldest, then barely thirteen years of age, walked behind the wagon and trailed the stock.
In the fall, Mary Theresa, the second oldest girl, took sick with typhoid fever. Every effort was made to save her, but the changed in climate, the long weary hours of toil, and the dampness of the log house were against her and she soon died and was laid to rest in the new church cemetery. In the fall of 1888, they began to make sorghum with their small cane press.
My father, Joseph Konrath, had gone west to Nebraska with his family in the early spring of 1886 when he was seventeen years of age. They settled on a homestead close to Hat Creek. They lived in a log house much like my mother did although his family was well off and so they had few money worries. In 18194, while working at a farm near her home, my mother met my father. They fell in love and became engaged. They were married on the twenty-fifth of November, 1895. My father filled in a homestead just two miles east of his father's homestead.
Grandfather Meyer took extra work whenever he could find it . When the bridge at Ardmore was built by the Burlington, he rode horseback about twelve miles to work on it. He also carried mail for many years. He had thirty miles to go with a team, making the trip three times a week.
In August of 1899, my parents started their family with the birth of their daughter Francis. They had two more daughters and four sons. They lost one child who died at birth. They continued to live in Nebraska and were very happy. However, in 1927, my father became ill with typhoid fever. He eventually recovered and returned home from the hospital in September. His health continued to be poor and on October 12, he was taken to the hospital in Hot Springs where he was operated on and his appendix removed. Unfortunately it was too late and peritonitis had set in and he died on October 16, 1927.