Small Town Americana

The Gazebo at Old Town Poway Park

     Yesterday, we drove a few miles down Interstate 15 in order to listen to the Shoreline Symphonic Winds play at the Pomerado Community Band Festival in Poway.  The band set up in the gazebo of the Old Town Poway Park.  As I was enjoying the band play, I was reminded of images of Small Town Americana. 

     The music was great and in spite of the recent nearby fires, the sky was clear and weather was great.  

     As the band played I though back to our ancestors who played in community bands like L. J. Kilbourn and J. F. Bell in Hugoton, Kansas¹.  It is too bad we can't go back in time to listen to them play.

     

         Why did we drive for an hour to listen to an hour of music?  It might have something to do with our son, Luke, who played the baritone sax in the Shoreline Symphonic Winds.

1. "The Early 1900s." The History of Stevens County & Its People. Hugoton, Kansas: Stevens County Historical Association, 1979. 

Taking a Horse to School

     When Jayme's grandmother passed away, her belongings stayed with her husband, Bill Larned. When he passed away several years later her belonging passed to Bill's daughter.  Last fall his daughter found us because of our genealogical postings and two suitcases of photographs made their way to our house.  Buried in the middle of a collection was a photo that will make my granddaughters jealous.  
     Among the great-great-granddaughters of Betty are a few that like horses a lot.  A couple even have their own horses.  I am certain that Hailey, Abbey, Mickey, and Laney would think it was fun to ride a horse to school. (At least the first day)  

     Based on information and a picture in a history of Stevens County, Kansas this is likely a picture taken outside Good Luck School southwest of Hugoton, Kansas.  We believe that the girl in front on the middle horse is Fayetta (Betty) Kilbourne. A couple of the others are siblings of Betty. This picture was likely taken around 1920.  

     The second picture was likely taken around the same time since all the kids seem to be wearing the same clothes.  Kids of that time may only have had one set of clothes so interpret the word around quite generously.  Betty is the tallest girl in the back.  Teachers of the Good Luck School around 1920 were 1917-18 - Roxie Schaeffer; 1918-20 Bertha Fields; and 1920-21 Grace Wagner.  In 1921-22 the teacher was  male and I doubt that Betty was in school after that time.  Betty was born in 1909 and married in 1924.

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/>