Some Old Nebraska Citizens

Filley, Nebraska, March 2 – Special Correspondence of the World-Herald

The subject of this sketch, whose maiden name was Mahala Boggs, was born in Ohio on the 15^th day of December, 1814, and is, therefore, ion her 77^th year.  

Her parents removed to Indiana, near where the present city of Richmond is located, when she was 6 years old.  Here she grew to womanhood and here, when but little past 15 years of age, she was married to Obed Swain, by whom she had three children, two of whom are till living – Cyrus Swain of this place and Mrs. Ellen Burroughs of Plymouth, Indiana. 

Mr. Swain died in 1886, and after nine years of widowhood she was married to Thomas Sumner, who died in 1883, after thirty-eight years of happy wedded life.  Mr. Sumner fought in the rebellion, entering the service in 1863 and major of the Eighty-seventh Indiana Infantry, as was promoted to the colonelcy before he was mustered out in 1885.  He died in 1893 and in the fall of the same year his widow removed to Nebraska, where she has since lived. 

Mrs. Sumner is a small woman, active in all her movements, and beyond the inevitable wrinkles, gives but little evidence of her advanced age.  Her life has been an uneventful one, passed on a farm as a rule.  By hard work and thrift she has accumulated considerable property, part of which consists of three farms near the town of Filley.  At present she makes her home with her grandson, Orlando Swain, but spends a good deal of time looking after her farming interests in the vicinity.

Ann Wooley was born in Wayne County, New York, September 18, 1816, and is, therefore, in her 78^th year.

Her parents were both American born, the father being English and mother of Scotch decent.  In 1830 her parents immigrated to Illinois, going by the Erie Canal to Buffalo, then to Detroit by steamboat where they got on board a schooner and sailed to Fort Dearborn, or what is now the city of Chicago.

At that time there were but two American families at Fort Dearborn, one a missionary and the other his son-in-law.

Going out into the country a few miles the father purchased a yoke of oxen and a wagon, with which he hauled his effects about forty miles to what is now called the town of Plainfield, on Dupage River.

After living at this place with her parents a number of years, the subject of this sketch was married to Silas Burd with who she lived until his death, which occurred in 1854, while they were traveling in Texas in hope of bettering his health. Mrs. Burd is the mother of eight children, five of whom are still alive. 

After the death of her husband she continued to keep house until her children were married.  Since that time, as for the last fifteen years, she has made her home with her daughter, Mrs. E. Filley, of Filley, Nebraska, among whose family is an honored guest.  She is an ideal “grandma” and her grandchildren love her dearly. 

In person Mrs. Burd is of medium size, with a pleasant voice and smile.  She is a brilliant conversationalist and when she begins some of her anecdotes of pioneer life in Illinois, her listeners always hear something interesting. 

During the Blackhawk War she molded bullets that in all probability sent some of the noble redmen to the happy hunting grounds.  The famous chief himself has been a guest at her father’s house and she remembers distinctly where he and a number of his braves stopped there for the night when on their way for their allowance. 

Her father was quite a prominent politician in the early days and had personal acquaintances with many of the political wire pullers of those times.

Among those who used to frequent her fathers place was “Long John” Wentworth, upon whose exceeding length of limb and awkwardness she yet loves to decant.

Mrs. Burd is intensely American in her views and has pronounced ideas upon the restriction of emigration and many other questions of the day.

Catharine Boussman was born in Pennsylvania, September 1, 1812, of good old Pennsylvania Dutch Stock. 

She was married to Samuel Caley in 1834, with whom she lived fifty-four years. 

Removed to Ohio in 1840 and in 1844 came to what was then the wilds of western Wisconsin. Here they lived for thirty-four years, coming to Kansas in 1878 and to Nebraska in 1884.

Since the death of her husband in 1888 she has made her home with her son, Village Marshal L. C. Caley of Filley, Nebraska. 

Mrs Caley is the mother of twelve children, seven of whom grew to manhood or woman hood and four of whom are still living.

In person she is of strong frame, with eyesight and hearing remarkable well preserved for one of her great age.  She can recall many interesting reminiscences of her pioneer life in Wisconsin, and lovingly cared for by her son, lives largely in the memory of her bygone days.

Omaha World Herald – March 8, 1891