Fitch, Dryden and
  The following story of early pioneer days at Farnam was given us by W. R. Fitch of Gothenburg, when we talked with him recently.
Mr. Fitch's father, Horace Fitch and three other men, George Dryden, E. B. Hayden and Thomas Stokes of Olmstead Falls, Ohio, came west in April, 1885, and arrived at Gothenburg, from where they started out on foot for the place of H. H. Yorty, which was located south of where Farnam now is, some four or five miles near what is today the Darnall place. Their journey on foot the first day took them through the canyons and over the hills to the Skull place, about where Tom Crampton now lives, northwest of Farnam. The second day they continued their journey and arrived at the Yorty place. Mr. Yorty, agreed to help them locate claims and in a short time they all filed on their homesteads, some three miles southwest of Farnam, with the exception of Mr. Stokes, who returned to his native state without the knowledge of the others and told their families that he couldn't sleep out here, because of the noise made by the prairie chickens.
Mr. Fitch, was at the time a lad of about 11 years and he said he wondered a good deal about these birds and the strange noise they made. He was soon to know all about it, as the families of the three men who had filed their homesteads came west in June and were met at Gothenburg by the homesteaders and were taken to their new homes by team and wagon.
This settlement was called the Ohio settlement by the other settlers of the early days and the three families consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Fitch, and four children, Jesse, Will, Jennie and Dallas; Mr. and Mrs. Dryden and two daughters, Kitty and Gertrude; Mr. and Mrs. Hayden and four children, Mae, Lois, Bessie and Claude.
Mr. Fitch homesteaded the place now occupied by Raymond Smith, Mr. Dryden,
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part of the Howard Gardner place and Mr. Hayden part of the W. E. Wharton place.
Mr. Fitch also related an incident where the light from the Fitch home undoubtedly saved the lives of a family lost in a blizzard, during the winter of 1886. The Hibblin family living in Deer Creek, nearly west of Farnam, were returning home from Gothenburg and became lost, when a blizzard struck. They wandered about and reached the canyon near the Fitch homestead, and were about to stop and make some sort of camp when the light from the window of the Fitch home attracted their attention and they were able to reach there and the shelter of the Fitch home for the night. They had some of their hands and feet badly frozen, from being out in the storm and would no doubt have perished in the storm before morning, if they would have had to remain out all night.
Of the members of these families, still living some have remained in our community, while others have moved to other places and other states.
Mr. and Mrs. Fitch and Dallas are deceased. Jessie lives at Hershey, Nebr., Will at Gothenburg, and Jennie, now Mrs. A. O. Hicks, lives south of Farnam.
Mr. Geo. Dryden is deceased. Mrs. Dryden lives in Farnam. Kitty, now Mrs. H. S. Crampton, lives south of town, and Gertrude is now Mrs. H. B. Taylor, living in Farnam.
Mr. and Mrs. Hayden are both deceased, as well as Lois, later Mrs. John Martin of Farnam. Claude lives at Curtis and is the county surveyor of Frontier county. Mrs. Mavis Brittan is now located at Branson, Mo., and the other sister, Bessie, now Mrs. L. E. Redford lives at 3516 Indiana Ave., Kansas City, Mo.
LET US MEET YOU AT THE GOLDEN JUBILEE AUGUST 5-6
1886
1936
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