Part 1 - Averill Farms in Sheridan County, Nebraska

Averill Family in 1885
Sheridan County, Nebraska

My loyal reader might never had heard of Sheridan County, Nebraska, much less what the Averill family might have had to do with it. However, unlike the farms described in Part 2 and 3, the Sheridan County farmland was the only Nebraska land that was actually homesteaded by the Averill family. The homestead was granted in 1890 by the United States Land Office in Chadron, Nebraska. Chadron is in Dawes County, which is immediately west of Sheridan County. The farm is in the area roughly bounded by Hay Springs and Rushville. Sheridan County, Nebraska is immediately south of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where the Wounded Knee Massacre took place.

In 1890, when the Homestead Patent was granted, Sheridan County contained about 8700 people. Today, around 5300 people remain. An image of one of the three Homestead grant letters may be seen below

In addition, a "Timber Culture" receipt was included in the packet, along with a map of the granted land, that mostly told where the land was. That is shown below for one of the three grants.

One grant was made to Charles Henry, one was made to Ida, and one was made to Edward. The locations of the three grants may be seen below, thanks to the "historygeo" website.

You can even get satellite views of the area, such as that shown below for the land grant map shown on the "pinkish" paper. THAT is shown below from the "acrevalue" website. Remember that it is 32N 45W 6 that we are interested in. Land around that area is valued at about $2300 per acre

To wrap all this up, I'll show a Google Maps 3D view of the local, at least the part where there are any buildings to look at. As you can imagine, not long after 1890, the land was sold and the Averills (except Edward and Anna) moved on to Illinois. Edward later more or less came back in 1911 and farmed in Lincoln Township, which is in McPherson County at the north edge of South Dakota. The biggest town in Lincoln Township is Wetonka, which has a population of 8. Still, that's a long way from Sheridan County.

And, before anyone asks, I have no plans to visit these farms in the immediate future.

Back to Series Index
Part 2 - Pierce County
Part 3 - Cuming County