James W. Dolan left Corning, Adams County, Iowa, February 1, 1871,
reaching Lincoln, Nebraska, the same day. After learning about
Government land at the U. S. Land Office at Lincoln, and that the
first location where there was plenty of land was Fillmore County,
he staged to Crete, the Burlington at that time extending no farther
West than Lincoln. Arriving at Crete, in company with John F. Evans,
an old army comrade, he traveled on foot Westward, following the
grade stakes of the railroad. He leached the comfortable home of
Warren Woodard in the evening, where he '.spent the night and the
following day, looking at the Government lands in the vicinity,
under the guidance of Mr. Woodard. He selected for his homestead the
Northeast Quarter of Section 20, Township 8, Range 1, West. Walked
back to Crete, then by stage to Lincoln, where at the U. S. Land
Office he made a homestead filing on the above land, and preempted
in the name of his brother William the Northwest quarter of the same
section. This was about February 20, 1871.
On the 13th of
April he purchased at Lincoln, lumber to build a house on the
homestead. It was all hauled from Lincoln to the land in one wagon
load with one team of horses. The total cost of the lumber, one
window and one door, being $43.00. The hauling cost $12.00. The size
of the house was 12x14 feet. Siding boards were used for the roof,
being less expensive than shingles. The hardware cost $3.00. A young
Englishman, Wm. Haimes, assisted in the building, he being the
principal builder in the neighborhood at the time. Probably the
entire cost of the house was $65.00 A box bed of boards was built in
one corner of the one room dwelling. An empty nail keg and a soap
box were used for seats. These along with the small board table
included the furniture.
The black crickets were quite
plentiful during the summer and entered the houses in large numbers.
They enjoyed roosting on and chewing Mr. Dolan's clothes during the
night. It was his custom before dressing in the morning to give the
clothes a good shaking to dislodge the crickets. One morning while
performing this daily stunt, he disturbed a good sized rattlesnake
that had entered through the floor during the night by way of an
accommodating knothole. The snake replied to the shaking of the
clothes with his rattlebox in no uncertain sound, so Mr. Snake had
to be disposed of the first thing that morning. Rattlesnakes were
not as numerous as crickets, but there were too many for comfort
most of the time during the first couple of years in the settler's
experience.
His farming outfit consisted of one yoke of
oxen, costing $135.00. One second hand farm wagon, $70.00. One 12
inch breaking plow, $29.00, and a limited supply of hand tools,
spade, axe, hammer, etc.
He and his brother William dug a
well some forty odd feet deep, to provide water, and broke up some
30 acres of prairie on their claims during the spring. This was
mostly planted to corn, which notwithstanding the extreme dry
season, grew and did fairly well and helped to inspire confidence,
there being at that time much discouragement and doubt as to the
country's future. Some hay was cut in the slough, this was done with
an Armstrong Mower (Scythe). The corn was also cut and saved with
the hay for feed, this all came handy the following winter. During
the summer for lack of work at home, he sometimes walked to Crete
where he obtained work, assisting in the unloading of lumber, for
which he was paid $1.00 per car load. During the summer of 1871 the
B. & M. R. R. was extended from Lincoln to Hastings.
Through
the efforts of Dr. H. G. Smith and Mr. Dolan, the Lincoln Land Co.,
located the town of Exeter. Mr. Dolan having served in the army in
Company C, 18th Iowa, in which Company Mr. D. N. Smith, the Townsite
Locater, had served as Captain and later as Chaplain of the
Regiment, perhaps helped a little towards the accomplishment of this
most desirable object.
Mr. Dolan wrote and circulated the
petition that brought about the establishment of the Exeter Post
Office, and of the appointment of Dr. H. G. Smith, Postmaster of the
new town. He assisted in the organization of the Exeter School
District, building the first school house, and served as Director on
the School Board most of the time during his nine years residence.
In the fall of 1871, the new town being located, he disposed
of most of his farm apparatus and engaged in merchandising with Dt.
H. G. Smith as a partner. Together they erected the first building
in the new town, the lower room of which was used as a store and
Post Office. The upper room was used as a public hall, church, and
generally for the accommodation of the neighborhood.
Later
he disposed of his interests in the store to Dr. Smith and engaged
in the lumber and grain business, erecting one of the best modern
grain elevators on the Burlington line.
On the 4th of
October, 1876, he was married to Ida M., the second daughter of Mr.
A. T. Hager, who was also one of the early pioneers, an the first
Treasurer of Fillmore County. In the spring of 1880, Mr. Dolan
disposed of his business interests in Exeter and moved to Indianola,
Nebraska, where he engaged in banking and real estate.
He
served as a member of the School Board most of the time of his
twenty-four years residence in the town. He was also a State Senator
from that district in the Nebraska Legislature during the Sessions
of 1883 and 1885.
In October, 1904, he moved to Los Angeles,
California. His present address being 1747 Las Palmas Ave., where he
will be glad to see any of his old pioneer friends.
An "Old
Soddy" in York County, Nebraska
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
