Mr. Charles Hole came to America, in 1870, from West Pennard, near
the famous city of Glastonbury, Somersetshire, England. He landed in
Poston, and made his way up to Detroit, where he lived for two
years. In April 1872, he came to Exeter, Nebr., and homesteaded 80
acres of land three miles south of town. There were three other
young men who came from Somerset at that time and settled in this
neighborhood, Alfred Corp, "Bill" Haimes, already mentioned
elsewhere, and Frank Appleby, a cousin to Haimes. We can quite
imagine how great would be the change of environment offered to
these young men by the open prairie, they having come from so
beautiful a county as Somerset; it being only excelled for beauty by
its neighbor, Devonshire, and from such an historic place as
Glastonbury.
According to the old legend, it was to
Glastonbury that Joseph of Arimathea came with eleven other
disciples, when sent to England by Philip, the Lord's disciple, soon
after the death of Jesus. Taking with him".
"The cup, the
cup itself, from which our Lord
Drank at the last tad supper
with his own.
To Glastonbury, where the winter thorn
Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of our Lord."
At Glastonbury
is found the site of the earliest Christian Church in Great Britain;
said to have been completed in the year 64, A. D.
Here too,
is the burial place of the famous King "Arthur" and his Queen,
"Guinevere."
We are reminded of Tennyson's "Morte D' Arthur":
"Pray for my soul; more things are wrought by prayer than this world
dreams of,
But now farewell, I am going a long way
To this
island valley of Avilion;
Where I shall heal me of my grievous
wound."
But the King died.
Also of his "Sir Lancelot and
Queen Guinevere:"
"Then in the boyhood of the year
Sir
Lancelot and Queen Guinevere
Rode thro' the coverts of the deer
With blissful treble mingling clear,
She seem'd a part of
joyous spring.
A man had given all other bliss,
And all his
worldly worth for this
To waste his whole heart in one kiss
Upon her perfect lips."
"Me hopes to use the brogue common in
this part of England I baint saying more than is necessary about
thick there three lads coom from Zomerset, and the ist'ry of their
plazes."
Having commenced my Christian ministry in that country, and for
nearly three years going in and out its thatched homes, and old
world gardens, and having' climbed the Quantock and Brendon hills,
and visited the shrines of its Poets and Prophets, and many of the
places made famous in Blackmore's "Lorna Doone;" all of which are
places that Americans love to visit. I thought it would be to our
advantage; "If us knows something about the plazes I have tooched
upon and which I say, show us in contrast perhaps more so than
oother plazes, the great changes of environment some people have
made in coming from the old world to the new." There's a country
where hedges, ferns, flowers and fruits are most luxurious and
abundant, yet, they came and settled on an open prairie, an
antithesis in every relationship.
Frank Appleby found an
early grave; he died at the residence of Warren Woodard in the
spring of 1872, and was the first white man buried in this district,
his grave being at first south of town, but his body was afterwards
laid to rest in the new cemetery.
He was a carpenter by
trade and went to work on the new bridge over the Platte River at
Kearney. Having to work in the water, he caught a cold which
developed pneumonia with which he died.
Mr. Hole married and
settled in Exeter in 1878. Then in 1881 he built his present home,
having now lived in it 33 years. They are believed to be the only
people in town who have lived so long a time in one house. On the
afternoon of their marriage they bought a cook stove, which stove,
after 36 years, they are still using. It has not only had the
regular wear and tear for so many years, but the first two winters
it burned corn; which is considered extra hot in the burning. Corn
at that time was worth only 10 cents a bushel, so in many cases it
was burned instead of coal.
Pioneers of Fillmore and Adjoining Counties
Source: Pioneer Stories of the Pioneers of Fillmore and adjoining Counties, by G. R. McKeith, Press of Fillmore County News, Exeter, Nebraska, 1915
