Averill Farms in Nebraska. A Saga in Three Parts

The Averill family; led by Charles Henry Averill and Maria Louise (Elliott) moved from Connecticut to Nebraska around 1872. They lived near Wisner, which is in Cuming County. They left Nebraska sometime between 1885 and 1900, where they settled in McHenry County, Illinois. However, where people lived, and where they had farms was then, as today, not one and the same. In the move from Nebraska to Illinois, two of the oldest children stayed in Nebraska with their families, but that's another story.

There were three main farms. Actually, there were multiple farms in each farm. There's a post for each farm. They are:

Part 1 - Averill Farm(s) in Sheridan County, Nebraska

Part 2 - Averill Farm(s) in Pierce County, Nebraska

Part 3 - Averill Farm(s) in Cuming County, Nebraska

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

Part 2 - Averill Farm in Pierce County Near Hadar

The second Averill farm in this series is located in Pierce County, between Hadar and the County Seat; Pierce. This farm, as far as I can tell, was never farmed by any Averills It was purchased later and then passed down through time. According to historygeo, the farm was homesteaded in 1870 by Martin Raasch. In 2019, the land is farmed for the Averills by Robert Seegebarth. You can also see nearby parcels homesteaded by Seegebarth's Great Grandfather, Ferdinand Seegebarth . Ferdinand is buried in Hadar, as are his wife, children, and grandchildren.

Original Pierce County Homesteads

By 1920, many of the original owners had either passed away or sold their farms to move elsewhere, though a significant fraction remained; even through their descendants to the present day. Since Raasch isn't buried in Nebraska, I can only guess that perhaps he moved on north to Wisconsin. In 1920, the farm was owned by Klaus Winter. There is a good story about his tenure, along with his son Herbert, to be found on findagrave. Klaus is buried in nearby Pierce (the story is there), as is his wife, Emma. His son, Herbert, is buried in Norfolk, which is a bit further south down the highway.

Averill Farm (Circled) Around 1920 - Klaus Winter Farmed it at that Time

Click for Larger Image

Sometime after Klaus gave up the farm, Bruce and Hazel Emley acquired the farm. I don't know if they bought it directly, or inherited it from Bruce's mother, Anna Waldo Emley (Averill), who was the daughter of Charles Henry Averill and Maria Louise. In any event, Anna outlived her younger son, and Bruce was childless. To make a long story short, Bruce passed away in 1960 and his wife, Hazel inherited the farm as shown in 1961 below. Hazel, when she passed in 1979 with no children, left the farm to Eleanor Averill, her cousin. Eleanor never married nor had children either, but she outlived Hazel by ten years.

Hazel Emley Owned the Averill (Circled) Pierce County Farm in 1961

Eleanor also outlived all of her own cousins.

Eleanor Averill Owned the Farm from 1979 to 1989

When Eleanor died, in 1989, she left it to Robert and Eddie Averill. Eddie was a cousin's son and Robert was another cousin's son. A third cousin's son passed away before Eleanor. Accordingly, in 1990, the farm became "Eddie Averill et al." Apparently she felt it appropriate to split the farm evenly between Edward Averill Jr's eldest son and Arthur Averill's eldest son. In any event, that's how things worked out.

Eleanor Averill Left the Farm to Eddie and Robert Averill in 1979

Steve purchased Eddie's share so half wouldn't get sold off outside the family, as had happened in Cuming County, and it became divided into a portion owned by Robert and another owned by Steve. Robert wanted the old homestead, though there was little left of it other than the trees that once surrounded the farmhouse and barn. As you can also see, the Seegebarth family picked up other land in between 1990 and 2009, which is shown below. The land on the other side of the highway from the Averill farm was part of Ferdinand's original homestead, and some of the nearby Mittelstad pieces have been owned by that family since they were homesteaded. Compare with the original homesteads.

Averill Pierce County Farm in 2009

As you can see from the last photo, the farm is still around. Nancy is talking corn talk with farm managers Marlin Krohn and Sam Zach. Steve would be in the photo, but someone had to hold the camera!

Nancy holding Corn for Inspection by Marlin Krohn and Sam Zach

Back to Series Index
Part 1 - Sheridan County
Part 3 - Cuming County

Part 3 - Averill Farm in Cuming County Near Wisner

The Cuming County Farm is the most complicated one of the three. Like the Pierce County Farm, Bruce and Hazel Emley acquired it or inherited it from Anna. Based on the timeline, I suspect this was from a will made up by Bruce Emley before he passed away in 1960. At that time, both Arthur Averill and Edward Averill Jr were both alive, but both passed away between then and the time Hazel died in 1979. . Apparently, however it happened, half of it went to Eddie Averill (Edward Averill Jr's heir) and half to Robert and Richard Averill (Arthur Averill's two children). As far as I've been able to reconstruct, Eddie sold his half to Lyle Roth and Robert got Richard's quarter in some sort of deal that involved Richard getting the Chestnut Street house in Des Plaines. According to land records, the more involved history of the Cuming Farm is shown below, along with family history events

• 1874 – Homesteaded by George and Orlando Pease in 4 parcels totaling 320 acres
• 1908 – Owned by C.O. Keiser according to “Geo. A. Ogle and Co”
• 1919 – Owned by Frank B. Hughes according to “Anderson Publishing Co”
• 1951 – Anna Emley passes away
• 1960 – Bruce Emley, Anna’s only surviving child, passes away
• 1962 – Arthur Averill, father of Robert and Richard, passes away
• 1962 – Fred Emley, oldest son of Edward Averill Sr passes away with no known children
• 1965 – Owned by Hazel Emley according to “R. C. Booth Enterprises”
• 1966 – Owned by Calvin Stueve Wis 2 according to “Directory Service Company”
• 1968 – Edward Averill Jr, father of Eddie, passes away
• 1970 – Owned by Howard Denton et ux according to “Title Atlas Company”
• 1976 – Herbert Averill, son of Edward Averill Sr passes away with no known children
• 1978-1984  – Owned by Lyle Roth Wis 2 according to “Directory Service Company”
• 1979 – Hazel Emley passes away
• 1985 – Owned by Lyle Roth according to “Directory Service Company”
• 1986-1994 – Owned by “Lyle Roth et al” according to “Farm and Home Publishers”
• 1989 – Eleanor Averill passes away – you’ll recall she inherited the Pierce County Farm
• 1995-2007  – Divided into 2 defined, equal size parcels between Lyle Roth and Robert Averill according to “Farm and Home Publishers”
• 2008-2009 – Divided into 2 equal size parcels (but different than previous map) between Lyle and Robert according to “R. C. Booth Enterprises”
• Between 2009 and 2014 – Robert Averill sold farmland to Lyle so that according to Tax assessor, Lyle now owns 252.5 acres and Averill owns 67.5 acres
• 2015 – Deed of Distribution to Audrey Lucille Averill executed

Back to Series Index
Part 1 - Sheridan County
Part 2 - Pierce County

Charles Henry Averill and Maria Louise Elliott in Nebraska and on to Illinois

Charles Henry and Maria Louise Averill in Front of the Marengo House Sometime Between 1900 and 1911

Charles Henry Averill represented a major shift in the Connecticut wing of the Averill family. Around 1870, he took his family and they all moved to Nebraska in order to homestead farmland around Wisner. His son, Edward and his daughter, Anna (Annie) stayed in Nebraska. The rest of them moved on with Charles Henry and Maria Louise when they left Nebraska around 1890 in order to go to Marengo, Illinois.

Charles and Maria Enlargement From the Previous Photo

There, they built a house that still stands and is clearly recognizable, though they've added a garage, changed the porch, and made a few other nips and tucks over the last century. I will let the photos and news clippings that accompany this post to tell some of the rest of the story. Click on any graphic for a larger version. This is particularly useful for the newspaper clippings.

Obituary of C H Averill

Obituary of M L Elliott

Google Maps Streetview of CH and ML Averill's House in Marengo

Five Averill Brothers

From Left: Edward, Charles, William, Frederick, and Howard

In the early 19th Century, our wing of the Averill Family lived in Connecticut. Specifically, they lived in and around Pomfret. However, after the middle of the Century, things were on the move. Charles Henry Averill had married Maria Louise Elliott. Their first three children (Ida, Edward, and Anna) were all born in Connecticut or Rhode Island. the rest were born in Nebraska. Some moved on to Illinois, and some stayed in Nebraska. The photo at top shows the five brothers born to Charles Henry and Maria Louise. I believe the photo shows them in order from oldest to youngest. If that is so, then from left, we have:

• Edward
• Charles
• William
• Frederick
• Howard

Fred is Robert Louis Averill's grandfather and he fought in the Spanish War.
Charles died at a fairly young age, but his one son was later taken under William's wing.
William is Eleanor Averill's father. His other two children each died before the age of four.
Edward is Eddie Averill's grandfather. Eddie was the one that shared the Nebraska farm with Robert. Howard finished WW1 as an aviator.

None of the Averill sisters are in this photo. Perhaps they have a separate photo of their own that I haven't found yet. However, Anna Waldo Emley (Averill) was notable among them. She was prominent in the DAR. Her DAR ancestry is shown here. One of her sons (Arthur Averill Emley) fought in Mexico with Black Jack Pershing, and later as a Captain in WW1. I do know that Ida, Anna, and Maude all lived to a ripe old age. However, that's another post entirely.

Averill Connections in Nebraska

The Averills migrated from Massachusetts to Connecticut, to Illinois and then on to, among other places, Washington State. One place they stopped along the way was Nebraska. That's how we wound up with farmland in Pierce and Cuming Counties. While in Nebraska, the Averill and Emley families intermarried and our dad, Robert, inherited the farmland from the Emley family.

While in Nebraska recently, we visited a cemetery in Wisner where a number of Averills and Emleys are buried. Wisner is in Cuming County. Like many small town cemeterys, there's no full-time office to make inquiries. Instead, they have a map and book of "who's where." In some cases, the guidance is easy to follow. In other cases, one still has to do a lot of hunting around. In still other cases, moisture made the book hard to read.


Still, you'll find out things in a cemetery that you'll never see in census or most other data. Little Clyde never made it into a census...