The following is an article out of the Kiowa County Signal, which was the newspaper of Greensburg, Kansas. Evalena Erzinger, who also shares the Coons line, sent it to me. The date of the article is unknown.
By CARRIE ALLPHIN
“Yes, indeed, I know about sod houses; I taught school in a sod house and I was married in one,” laughed Mrs. Eva M. Bryan of this city, while reminiscing recently of pioneer days in Kansas.
Mrs. Bryan came with her parents, two sisters and a brother, in April 1887, from the wooded state of Indiana, to establish a new home on the prairies of Kansas. The family purchased a quarter section of land which had been homesteaded by Mrs. Bryan’s grandmother, and elderly lady in her seventies, who had come out to the West with a son. This land lay four miles south and east of the present town of Bucklin. The town, however, had not as yet been laid out and Mrs. Bryan watched the lumber and material being hauled to start work.
Mrs. Bryan smiled as she gave us her maiden name--Mary Evalina Meade Coons—the Meade is Irish and is for a great-great grandfather who came from Ireland to fight with the Colonists in the Revolutionary War. She can boast of a family of warriors having three great-great-grandfathers who fought in the war for independence. One, Captain Pritchard, had charge of the Continental Forces and his name may be found in the archives of Maryland. An uncle, John Coons, fought in the Mexican war, and another uncle, Nick Coons, lost his life in the Civil War.
Since there was no house on their land, the family moved into a tumbled down shanty with a dirt floor, nearby, until they could build their own home. Mrs. Bryan remembers one afternoon when she remained at home to bake the weekly supply of bread while her mother and sisters went to visit a neighbor. Suddenly one of those quick electric storms came up and the rain began to pour through the leaky roof. Mrs. Bryan moved the bed from corner to corner to find a place where the rain did not drip through and crawled into bed to get away from the sever fury of the storm. Finally, when the sky cleared, the dirt floor stood inches deep in water. Her father, returning from work, took the scoop shovel and scooped the water outside. Papers were placed upon the muddy floor and the discomfiture was soon forgotten.
Mrs. Bryan taught school her first winter in Kansas. The school was two miles distant and for a while she walked to and from home. Later, when the weather grew colder, she boarded with a family who lived near the school. A new frame building was being put up but school was at first held in a dwelling. Chairs were place in a circle and school was a happy experience. As the weather grew cold and since there was no flue in this room the school was moved to the kitchen. The family had a young baby and quite frequently the monotony was broken for the pupils by this toddler who found his way into the schoolroom. Often, too, the mother had to come into the room for a forgotten box of pepper or a bar of soap. In the spring they moved into the new building.
The second term was held in a sod house. It was known as the Blizzard school, being named for a family by that name.
This pioneer educator continued to teach for 15 years. She speaks with pride of the students who have made good in the world. “I can name three bankers, one minister, and several who have become influential in the business world, she said. Among the bankers she lists, Archie B. Sidener of Mullinville, who was a favorite pupil. She has kept in touch with many of her pupils and is always glad when they call upon her, as they often do, to talk over old times. A short time ago, an old pupil, influential in the grain world, stopped to visit her while on an inspection trip through the West.
When the family came to Kansas a definite resolution was made not to use the “surface coal” for which Kansas is noted. They would burn corn stalks, which seemed much more refined. On ironing days the sisters took turns at ironing and firing with the stalks. Soon, however, Kansas proved herself anything but a corn state and the stalks were not to be had, so the family was force to resort to the use of surface coal.
“Using buffalo chips would have seemed a bit more dignified than the planer variety of cow chips, but we were reduced to the state where we went to the pastures and brought the fuel in in wagon loads, she recalls. Homesteaders having little or no shed room piled the chips up in large piles and when it rained dry fuel could be obtained by removing the top layers.
Having no pasture fences, the family kept the milk cows, the oxen and horses staked out on ropes. It was Mrs. Bryan’s job to haul water to these animals each day. The water was drawn by hand and placed in a barrel, which could be hauled on a sled. “I often used the ox team to haul this water,” Mrs. Bryan explained. The well, which was 122 feet deep, was hand dug. Mrs. Bryan, who was a sturdy young girl, helped with the windlass. In fact, she and her father did most of the work. A man was hired to go down in the well and do the digging and the earth was hauled to the top in buckets. When the man was lifted to the top for meals it was a real job.
Mrs. Bryan tells an amusing incident of an “out-door” wedding. A Miss Juda I. Wallace, a neighbor girl, was engaged to Addison Hamilton. Both parties lived in Kiowa County, but Mr. Hamilton having business in Dodge City, secured his marriage license while there. The minister, not being quite up on the law, fearing the marriage would not be quite legal if performed at the girls home in Kiowa county, suggested the group go across the county line into Ford count for the ceremony. This they did, going in buggies, on horseback and on foot. The men held the horses, while the bride, since it was one of those typical windy summer days, held her hat with on hand and her full, billowy skirt with the other as she said “I do.”
The young couple lived on the homestead for a time, and later, when the husband died, Mrs. Hamilton lived for some time in the house in Greensburg which is occupied by the L. B. Ricketts family. Mrs. Hamilton later married a Mr. McDermitt, and her name appears on the tax roll as Juda I. McDermitt at the present time.
Mrs. Bryan married the Late Benson Bryan in 1901 and moved to Mullinville. When Mr. Bryan later became register of deeds of Kiowa County, the family moved to Greensburg. After Mr. Bryan’s death Mrs. Bryan was elected to the office of county clerk which she held for eight years and it was during her last year in office that she suffered the injury which has compelled her to use a crutch to get about. She has three children living, the eldest son, Malcom, having died in 1933, Marshall lives in Concordia, Doris Williams, the only daughter, in Waverly, and DeLoss, the youngest son, in Hutchinson. Mrs. Malcom Bryan with her two daughters live in Los Angeles, California, where Mrs. Bryan is professor of music in Southern California University.
Mrs. Bryan has had her share in making the history of this community. She has taken the years as they came—some good, some bad—but through it all she has retained that splendid quality of being able to see the bright side of things and to know the best in her friends.
In describing her first impression of Kansas she said: “Just illimitable space and dazzling sunshine as far as the eye could reach, but to us it was a new life, a striking change, a big adventure.”