ROOTS OF BUFFALO COUNTY- THE ENGLISH

Unlike some groups of other national origin, the English did not settle in colonies in Buffalo County, nor did they feel a need to preserve a national heritage in the American setting. Thus it was somewhat unusual to see a notice in an Armada Watchman for 1889 that Kearney residents of English birth had formed a social club to be known as the Gordon Club. The meeting was held at the Haden and Pargeter grocery store; ten families were represented. The store was in the "More Block", which served as an opera house for a number of years. It was on the site of the Chicago Lumber Company. R. Pargeter was one of the original members of St. Lukes.

James Jenkins, born in Wales on March 1, 1845, came with his parents from England to Wisconsin in 1851. Two brothers died in service during the Civil War. James served in the Forty-third Wisconsin volunteer infantry. On March 22, 1872, he and his wife homesteaded on a quarter section two and a half miles north of Kearney. When Kearney Junction was incorporated in November, he saw a chance to supplement his income by working at his trade as a shoemaker. For several years, he worked at his bench in town every day, returning to the farm at night. As demand increased, he put in a stock of ready-made shoes, and his Boston Boot and Shoe Store was soon a well-established business. In 1881 he gave up farming and moved his family to town where he became active in community affairs. In 1882 he was elected Mayor of Kearney.

After the war he went into the brick-making business with his brother in Illinois, later setting up business in various Nebraska towns. In July of 1880 he came to Kearney to complete the building of the State Reform School. The Hibberd Brick Yard, located where the Catholic Church and High School now stand, was an important industry in Kearney until 1916, furnishing brick for public buildings in Kearney and throughout the state. Mr. Hibberd's son, Dr. D. L. Hibberd, practiced medicine in Elm Creek for many years.

W.C. Pettett, a native of Maidstone, Kent, came to this country with his parents, who settled in Illinois in 1871. The junior Pettett located on a farm near Elm Creek in 1885. A biographical history (1890) described him politically as "independent, being a strong (Farmers') Alliance man at present." Mr. Pettett had married Annie McConell in Scott County, Iowa in 1881. The couple had four children. A grandson, Paige Pettett, lives in Elm Creek at the present time.

         During the boom period, a number of English people were drawn to Kearney by the promise of a wide variety of jobs. The George Jones family left their row house in West Ham Parish, London, because George, a gardener (or "forester"), wanted space for a garden and property was said to be cheap in Nebraska.   The family first went to Orleans where Mrs. Jones's mother and sister lived. After four years George walked to Kearney where he found a job as caretaker of the parks in the new residential areas of East Lawn, Kenwood and West Kearney. Harriette Jones Nelson stated, "Father....loved every spear of grass and flower that grew there." He also planted many of the trees which lined the residential streets and was in charge of the crew which planted the double row of trees along Seedling Mile.

        At Kearney High School, Harriette was "a high private in the rear ranks" of the Girls' Cadet Company. "We carried wooden guns and were drilled twice a week by my brother" (Walter Jones). Harriette attended Kearney Normal School and was the first woman to be Deputy County Clerk, serving five years until she married Hans Nelson. The couple had two children, Eleanor (Horner) of College Station, Texas, and Robert of Minden. After the death of Hans in 1938, Harriette was elected City Clerk, a position she held for twenty years.

R. L. Napper came to Kearney to "hoist brick" while the Kearney Opera House was being built. He was later manager of the Opera House Company from 1894 to 1907. He also introduced Kearney to its first motion pictures, which eventually brought about the demise of stage shows. His sister Olive came from England to visit him and stayed to marry Joshua P. Gibbons in 1897. Born in Ireland, Mr. Gibbons came to the United States in 1871 and to Kearney in 1892. He later owned and operated a string of elevators.

Lydia V. Stephenson wasn't just playing hard to get when Dan Quinton, a young man from a neighboring village, proposed. Dan had this idea that he wanted to go to America where he had a better chance of making good. Lydia loved her home in the seaport village of Hull, and she was reluctant to leave her family and friends. The couple finally agreed that Dan would go to America first and send for Lydia when he was well established. Dan came to Kearney in 1903 where he achieved some success in the masonry business. He sent for Lydia in 1905 and the couple were married in St. Lukes Church.

       Although Kearney wasn't as primitive as Lydia had been led to believe, it still was not too impressive. "It was like a little western town -- prairie and trees and a little house here and there. None of the streets were paved and there were wooden walks in front of the stores, some of them were broken." She longed for the sea and for her family, but soon grew to like the people. "I couldn't help it. Everybody was so friendly."

        After her first child, Kathleen (Mastin), was born, she expressed a desire to go home to show off her daughter, and also because she wanted her second child to be born in England. With her baby she sailed for England, where she was later surprised by the arrival of Dan. After the birth of Mary (Nye), the little family again returned to Kearney. They later had another daughter, Jeannette (Mercer), and a son Dave.

         Dan was associated with E. J. Scott in the construction business and became manager after Mr. Scott's retirement. He then went into highway construction and was street commissioner of Kearney during the latter part of his life. He died in 1952. Mrs. Quinton busied herself with her needlework and bridge. She liked to play the races, was an avid Big Red fan, and remained active until shortly before her death at the age of ninety-eight, on February 15, 1980.

         Later arrivals from England were members of the Worlock family, who came under different circumstances than their predecessors. Robert Montague Worlock had been an opera singer, trained in England and Italy, who had performed roles in a number of cities on the continent. His wife, Rosina Mathew Worlock was descended from a very old English family with roots in France. Their daughter Beatrice recalled, in an interview with Mrs. H. L. Blackledge in 1969: "I was born at Poplar Cottage, my Grandfather Worlock's home, July 23. It was a lovely place with beautiful garden and paddocks and stables for our horses, overlooking the city of Bristol on the Avon River in Gloucester, the 'beautiful west country'"... After a serious illness, Mr. Worlock was forced to give up his operatic career, although he continued to sing in oratorios and also taught voice. While their son Montague (Monte) was in law school, Mrs. Worlock learned that the trustee of her father's estate had squandered her inheritance on the horses. At about the time Monte graduated from law school his cousin, Robert Mathew, of Loup City, Nebraska, visited his English cousins while on a European tour. He convinced Monte that opportunities were much better for a young lawyer in America than in England where it took years and a good sum of money to become established. The rest of the family accompanied Monte to Loup City, arriving in March of 1913 with five sets of golf clubs and thirty pieces of luggage, including one box filled with music.

       Monte's tailored English tweeds were in marked contrast to the peg-legged trousers and round-toed shoes of Loup City blades. However, there were a number of English people living in the area at that time and the family was well accepted. Mr. Worlock laid out a golf course in a pasture near town; Bea and Monte were soon part of a lively crowd, golfing, or canoeing on the Loup River.

        Since Monte couldn't practice law until he was naturalized, he worked as an abstracter in Loup City, and, after moving to Kearney, with W. W. Barney. When he was admitted to the bar, he worked in the office of Fred Nye before becoming a partner in the firm of Hamer, Tye and Worlock.

    The Worlock family moved to Kearney when Mr. Worlock was asked to fill in for a voice teacher at Kearney Normal while the instructor served in World War I. Bea's education at a girls school in England "prepared me to live, but not for making a living." She took a business course at Kearney Normal, and became Deputy Clerk of the District Court, serving twenty-seven years until her retirement.

         In 1925 Monte married Miriam Anderson, daughter of photographer A.T. Anderson. The couple had three sons, Bob, Roger and John. When the Worlocks built their home on West Lincoln Way in the early thirties, they patterned the exterior of the house after the carriage house at Bartlett Place in Old Kenwood, at present owned by Mr. and Mrs. Carl Whitney. Mrs. Worlock now lives in her parents' former home at 918 West 22nd Street.

         As the activities of the few families listed here reveals, the English have made an enduring contribution to Buffalo County.