Western Kansas Homesteads

Clara and Jake Kilbourn

     In 1892 John Andrew Bell homesteaded 160 acres in the southwest quarter of section 15 in Township 33 South range 35 West of the Sixth Prime Meridan of Kansas.   This farm was about 12 miles east of Hugoton, Kansas.
     In 1894 Jonathan C. Kilbourn, homesteaded 160 acres in the northeast quarter of Section 4 in Township 35 South Range 40 West of the sixth Prime Meridian in Kansas.   The Kilbourn homestead was about 20 miles southwest of Hugoton.
     Lewis Joseph "Jake" Kilbourn married Clara Bell on 5 Sep 1901.  In 1913 they homesteaded 160 acres in the northeast quarter of section 28 in Township 34 South Range 38 West of the Sixth Prime Meridian in Kansas.
    All three homestead were within Stevens County.  Jonathan Kilbourn probably was not too successful at farming or he wasn't healthy enough to continue farming because in less than six years he was living in Indiana, where he had met and married his wife.
     While running the homestead, Jake drilled water wells as a sideline.  That eventually became his sole source of income so about 20 years after claiming the homestead he moved the family into Hugoton¹.     
     On aerial images from 1990 there appears to be farm buildings on Jake's property, but there doesn't appear to be any now on Jake's or Jonathan's old homesteads.


By zooming in on this map you can see the land as it appears today.


1. "Jake Kilbourn Passes Following Long Illness." Hugoton Hermes, Nov 7, 1947.

2. "Google Maps Engine Lite." 2012. 23 Aug. 2013 <https://mapsengine.google.com/>

Dust Storms

Dust Storm in Oklahoma
Possibly in Hooker, Oklahoma

     The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was a series of severe dust storms that swept across the midwest.  This disaster was caused by poor farming techniques as well as the severe drought that the region experienced. The drought devastated the farmland and that together with the Depression was certainly one the reasons that Jayme’s maternal grandparents left Kansas and moved west.  

Dust Storm in Kansas
Probably in or near Hugoton, Kansas

     As one who enjoys his daily shower, I can't imagine having to live through one of these storms.  The fine dust made it inside the houses and covered everything.  The dust coated people's bodies but because of the drought, showers were not a daily affair.  
     If you missed the PBS Ken Burns Documentary, you ought to watch it.  It is available on DVD.
     Lewis Joseph "Jake" Kilbourne and Clara Bell Kilbourne (Jayme's great-grandparents) homesteaded land in Stevens County, Kansas but later moved into Hugoton.  Henry Claydean McBee and Ella Mae Tarr McBee (also Jayme's great-grandparents) lived in Hooker, Oklahoma.  Both Hugoton, Kansas and Hooker, Oklahoma felt the full force of these dust storms.

1. Burns, Ken,  The Dust Bowl. PBS Documentary, 2012 http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/