ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO:The Diary of Emily Sergeant, Part I

Thus ends this section from the diary of Emily Sergeant on July 21, 1879. One hundred years ago the family of Luman Dewitt Sergeant and Maria Antoinette Anjer Sergeant left southern Minnesota for a homestead south of Kearney, Nebraska. Their daughter, Emily, kept a day by day record of the journey. Then in 1881 Emily and her brother Howard L. Sergeant attended public school in Kearney. Her diary account of this period includes many names and places which are familiar to those who have studied the early history of Kearney.

Dr. Dean Sergeant of Kearney shares this writing with Buffalo Tales. Mr. and Mrs. Luman Sergeant were his great grandparents and Howard L. Sergeant, his grandfather. Credit must be given to Mildred Thorne, daughter of Emily, who found the diary after her mother's death and made copies available to interested relatives. Because she was Emily's only child, and had no children, the original diary was given to the Howard Sergeant family.

Dr. Sergeant has learned through research that the Sergeant "sodie" was located three miles west of Axtell and in 1881 became the Clarence Post Office until 1884. A map of the wagon trails that ran from Kearney to towns south revealed that the run from Kearney to Oxford brought the mail to Clarence. The fellow who carried the mail in an ox cart also carried supplies between the towns for the settlers. He made the trip twice a week.

Although many of the children of Luman and Maria Antoinette Sergeant left the area, Howard stayed, living in Kearney for a while and eventually settling in Juniata where he reared a family of ten children, and many of his descendants still live in and around Juniata. A special Sergeant family reunion is scheduled this summer to mark the arrival of the family in this area a century ago.

The first entry of Emily's diary is June 16, 1879, Taopi (near Rochester), Minnesota: "We started for Nebraska this morning." The third day one of the horses was stolen, and ten days later another horse died. This necessitated repacking four boxes to send on to Nebraska by freight because the "load was too heavy for the colts to draw."

The family usually camped, and Emily mentions being "entertained by the Mosquito Band, but we did not appreciate the music," so made a smudge to quiet them. Between Fort Dodge and Lake City in Iowa "we had to go up a steep hill, which was 70 rods long. Uncle drove one team at a time, while Pa had a large stone which he put against the wheel once in a while, to let the horses rest, and we reached the top in safety. "

The last night in Iowa was spent near Onawa City with "streets so wide and clean." It was July 4, the "loneliest Fourth I ever spent," writes Emily. "As we were going through some woods, Flossy (her canary) got out of the cage and flew out of sight. I felt so sorry to lose her."

The diary continues as written, Part I, an account of the trek in Nebraska; Part II, experiences of home, school and community life in and around Kearney in 1881 and 1882. Part II will appear in the July issue.

Decatur, Nebraska, July 5th. We have reached our "Home land," although we have now about 200 miles to go yet.

About noon we reached the Missouri river, where we crossed on the ferry and landed safely in Nebraska. The Missouri river is a very muddy stream, about 1/2 mile in width--where we crossed. We have a great deal to be thankful for; we have now gone over half of our journey. Pa got a new cage for my bird this morning; it is not a very large one, but will do nicely for one bird.

I don't think I should like to live in Decatur, on account of the Indians. We ate our dinner not far from some Indian wigwams; they own about 20 by 30 miles of land here. We saw some Indians riding on their ponies, and when we stopped in town we saw two squaws cross the street and stop in front of a store and pick up pieces of paper that had been thrown out; then they went to another store and peeped in at the windows. They must be very troublesome to have around.

. Sunday, July 6th, 1879. We are spending our Sabbath about 4 miles South West of Decatur. It is very pleasant--though some windy today. We cannot get very good drinking water here, on account of its being so near the Missouri River.

Monday, July 7th. We started for Oakland this morning. The roads are very good. At about 4 o'clock we reached Oakland--it is not a very pretty place. We stayed there long enough for Pa and Uncle to do some trading, then we went about 1/2 a mile, in a little grove by a creek, where we camped for the night. Just after we stopped, three teams drove up, two of the drivers were Indians and one a squaw. They had been drawing wood and came to camp in the woods. I was rather afraid at first, but they seemed quite peaceable. They camped just out of the woods. After we had one fire started and was getting supper--the squaw came over with a coffee pot and cup in her hands. She sat down by the tent door, but didn't say anything; soon she put some coffee on the stove to roast. After that was finished, she put some water in her coffee pot, and when it boiled, she put the coffee in. After she had gone, she came back in a few minutes and wanted some milk. After dark she came again, but we couldn't hardly understand what she wanted; but thought it was a blanket, so Uncle gave her one. When we all had gone to bed--but Uncle--one of the Indians came--he wanted matches--we could understand him very well.

Tuesday, July 8th. Started for Hooper this morning. The roads are good. While we were eating our lunch this noon, two "Emingrants" drove up and stopped where we were and ate their dinner; they were eaten out by grasshoppers in Dakota and were now on their way to Texas.

We reached Hooper at about dark, where we camped near a creek. Pa has a headache. It is beautiful country around here.

Wednesday, July 9th. We started for Schuyler this morning -- a distance of about 30 miles. Before we started, Pa went up town and bought a saddle for Howard. It was very warm. We passed through Centerville this afternoon; it is not much of a town.

We had to ride longer than usual before we could stop for lunch on account of finding food for the cattle. We found a place about 1 o'clock. It rained some before we stopped and after. The men put the tent up and we ate our lunch in it. We found a good place to camp tonight.

Mother and I are watching tonight for awhile so that Pa and Uncle can sleep. We are now about 24 miles from Schuyler.

Thursday, July 10th. We started for Schuyler this morning. At about 1 o'clock we stopped at a farm house about 4 miles from Schuyler to water the horses, and also ate our dinner out in the shade.

The people were very kind--the family consists of a man, his wife, and hired man; their name is Coon. Mother steeped some tea on their stove, for dinner, and they gave us some lettuce, radishes, etc. Mrs. Coon offered us the use of her washing materials if we wanted to wash this afternoon, so we washed a few things that we needed the most and got them partly dry; we started at about 6 o'clock for a place about 2 or 3 miles from Schuyler, where we could get feed for the cattle. Mr. Coon gave me a "boquet of flowers"; he keeps the "Colfax County Nursery."

Schuyler, July 11th. We started for Schuyler--a distance of 3 miles; it seems to be a "Dutch" City. We had to stop there some time for the men to do some trading.

From there we started for Columbus--16 miles; on our way we came to a little town half way between Schuyler and Columbus. It is called Richland--it is a small place--only started last fall. It is situated on the "Union Pacific" R.R. It was about 1 o'clock when we reached there. We stopped there to eat our lunch; it was so very warm. We thought it would be better to wait until it got cooler before starting. After waiting awhile Pa inquired about a camping place not very far. They said that there was no place where we could get water for the cattle this side of Columbus, so we had to stay here all night.

Columbus, July 12th. We reached Columbus at about 10 o'clock; it is quite a nice place of about 2 or 3000 inhabitants. We crossed the "Loup" river just as we went out of town; and then we crossed the Platte; we made a mistake and took the wrong road, so that we had to go about 5 miles out of our way, but we made it nearly up by traveling quite late Saturday night.

Camp Sergeant, Sunday, July 13th. We are spending our Sabbath about 5 miles S.W. from Jackson; we had a good camping place, but it would have been better if we were nearer the creek.

Monday, July 14th. We had to stop here today on account of a new milch cow. This morning after breakfast we all, except me, went down to a creek to wash some clothes; we finished washing about noon. The children had a fine time wading in the water. Uncle found some wild plums and grapes, but they were not ripe.

Tuesday, July 15th. We started this morning for Clarksville; we reached there at about noon. It has rained nearly all forenoon; we thought that it would be better to stop at Clarksville until it stopped raining, but finally concluded to go on; it rained about all afternoon.

Friday, July 18th. Our camping place last night was about 3 or 4 miles from Grand Island.

Saturday, July 19th. We camped last night about 3 miles S.W. from Gibbon, near a school house. This morning we started for Kearney--a distance of 9 miles; when we were about 1 mile from the City, we met Clintie; he was watching for us. We drove through Kearney and ate our dinner a little ways off.

Sunday, July 20th. We reached our Home last night between 9 and 10 o'clock; we could not stay there long, on account of the water in the well not being fit to use; so this morning we all started for Uncle Joe's; we stopped at Mr. Dequines a little while on our way.

Monday, July 21st. We are all very tired, but will have a chance to get rested, as we are through emingrating.