BARNEBEY, WILLIAM AND LYDIA (CALDWELL)
William Barnebey and his wife, Lydia Ellen (Caldwell), were among the earliest settlers in the Mullen area. William was born in Indiana on April 7, 1839, and prior to coming to Nebraska had been farming his meager holdings in New Sharon, Iowa. His wife, Lydia, was born in Pennsylvania on July 9, 1849, and had moved to Iowa at the age of fourteen. She and William were married on December 30, 1875, at Bloomfield, Iowa. In the ensuing years six children were born into their family: Mary Belle (“Sis''), Charlie Mack, Nannie Novella, Nettie Margaret (died in infancy), Johnie Burk, and Lillie Alice.
William had heard the fantastic promises of land in the great Sandhills region of Nebraska. After discussing the matter with wife Lydia Ellen, a decision was made to dispose of holdings in Iowa and try their fortune further west. Selling property was not easy, but in April, 1887, William managed to trade his home for a Missouri Jack mule which he figured would be much easier to sell for needed cash than it would be to sell the home. William put his wife and the three children they had at that time (Mary Belle, Charlie and Nan) on the train bound for Broken Bow, Nebraska, which at that time was the end of the line. His plan worked out, for just two days later he sold the mule, and with '400 in his pocket he climbed on the train to join his family in Broken Bow.
They remained in Broken Bow for a couple of months until their second son, John, was born. During this time William purchased a wagon, team of oxen, plow, lumber for the new home and other needed supples. By June he was ready, and he preceded his family on the hundred mile journey to the region now known as Hooker County which was then still unorganized territory. William soon located and filed a claim on a 160 acre homestead two miles south and one-half mile west of the present site of Mullen.
William began to ready things for his family by building a house of sod bricks with the roof of split lumber covered with a layer of tar paper and then another layer of sod. He soon completed the 20 by 36 foot one room dwelling using curtains for dividers. William then returned to Broken Bow for his family, arriving back in their new Nebraska San-dhills home on June 18, 1887, when baby John was only two weeks old.
Lydia's father, Joseph M. Caldwell, M.D., who was born February 19, 1823, in Pennsyl-vania, was also among the early settlers in Hooker County. At the time of his death on August 10, 1887, he was living on land which he had filed on as a government pre-emption. It was there that he was buried until some years later, when what was left of his remains were brought to Cedarview Cemetary at Mullen and buried in the Barnebey plot.
William Barnebey and his family were part of the first organized Methodist Church in this area, and William and son Charlie are included among those who signed the Articles of Incorporation in August, 1903. Lydia, having come from a family whose father and one son were both physicians, traveled about the countryside attending at the births of many babies in the area. The oldest daughter, Mary Belle, married depot agent, Anson Andrews, and made their home in the Mullen depot before moving to Ulysses, Nebraska, where they lived out their lives. Sons, Charlie and John, both spent most of their lives in Hooker County. Charlie served in public offices and held a number of jobs in Mullen over the years. John worked as a ranch hand in the area and lived the last years of his life at the home of Sarah and Lloyd Ginkens. Nan Barnebey was the first teacher in the sod schoolhouse of District #6 when it was organized in 1903, being paid $8 a month salary. Daughter, Lillie, married Ira Pierce and continued living on the Barnebey place until moving to Colorado after the death of mother, Lydia.