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Subject: Hiatt - Estes Reunion, 1931.
Date: 7 Apr 2002 14:11:43 -0600

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: Hiatt, Estes, Boone, Mintle, Thornton, Wood, Stiles, Grape, Nix, Rickabaugh
Classification: Biography

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ok.2ADE/1403

Message Board Post:

THE SIDNEY ARGUS - HERALD. August 27, 1931. "Pioneers Hold Reunion".--Members of the Hiatt-Estes family, pioneers in Fremont county, met in reunion Saturday and Sunday, August 22 and 23, at Glenwood park. They are descendants of Joseph and Martha Hiatt who came to Fremont in 1851 when the land was wilderness and there were only three homes in the county, the nearest settlement being St. Joseph, Missouri. They homesteaded the land and had to clear the first eighty before they could establish a home. They put up a log cabin for temporary residence until they were able to build a more substantial home. They added to their holdings, buying land at $1.25 an acre. It was on this home place at Sidney that an unusually large family, seventeen in number,. was born--fifteen of whom grew to maturity and reared families of their own.

The descendants of Joseph and Martha Hiatt are widely scattered and include among their numbers nearly every occupation one could mention. They are descended from a sturdy and vigorous sock of patriots and pioneers--defenders of their country who fought in the revolutionary war, the war of 1812 and civil war, and frontiersmen who eagerly pressed forward to push the boundary lines of civilization westward, having to engage in Indian warfare oftentimes, to make the country safe for their families.

One of these sturdy men accompanied Daniel Boone into Kentucky and fought side by side with him when he was waging a warfare upon the Indians.

The father of Martha Hiatt, whose memory was being commemorated, was Joel Estes, the man who discovered and homesteaded Estes park in Colorado, and lived in this park for nine years. The female members of his family were the first white women in Colorado, and Joel Estes' flocks were the first to cross the plains into Colorado. Later the land was transferred to the government and converted into a national park.

The family trekked to the west when the gold rush was at fever heat and traversed the vast plains in a prairie schooner. Leaving the family in Colorado, Joel and a son went on to California and struck gold, but disposed of the claim at a ridiculously low price, according to the value of the claim, because he wanted to return to his family.

So, descended from a roving pioneer stock, we see the progeny of Joseph and Martha Hiatt scattered widely. However, once a year they meet in reunion, doing honor to their forefathers and taking up their acquaintance where it was left off the year previous, for it is only upon rare occasions, and for the annual reunion, that they all get together.

Upon this occasion there were 103 present. The states represented this year were Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado and New York. There were thirty-seven families represented. Miss Vera Mintle, a granddaughter of Joseph Hiatt, came 1,300 miles from Columbia university where she was taking summer training.

Members present from Sidney and vicinity were M. M. Thornton, Ralph Wood of Omaha and wife, who will be remembered as Miss Vesta Thornton, Mr. and Mrs. Emer Thornton of Brooklyn, Iowa, Irmil Thornton, Mrs. Eugene Stiles, Sr., Brit Stiles and wife and family, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Grape of Beatrice, Nebraska, Mr. and Mrs. George Hiatt, Mr. and Mrs Sam Nix and family, Mr. and Mrs. Ribe Hiatt and family, Mrs. and Mrs. Mont Hiatt, Mr. and Mrs. Arch Rickabaugh of Silver City, Miss Edna Hiatt of Des Moines and Miss Bessie Estes.

After the dinner had been served, there was a short business meeting during which officers for the coming year were elected, and the business incident to the organization was taken care of. After the meeting adjourned, a good time was had by all in visiting. Along toward evening everybody repaired homeward, proclaiming it another successful reunion.

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