BOYER, ESTELLA NANCY (HEWITT)
Estella Nancy Hewitt was born at Broken Bow, Nebraska on May 26, 1884 and died January 6, 1957. Her parents were Wilson and Elsie Cudebec Hewitt, that had migrated into Nebraska pioneer history about 1877 when Custer County was first documented as a part of the state. Her father Wilson Hewitt was instrumental in getting the post office established and had written to Washington two times to get a name authorized. Each time rejected due to similarity ot other names. It was about this time that the two older Hewitt sons, Fred and Edwin chanced to find a broken indian bow along the banks of Muddy Creek, and took the bow home. It was a keepsake among the family items until nearly destroyed by being thrown into a fire. Hewitt was still trying to think of a name for his town, saw the bow hanging on the wall, and said “why not call the town Broken Bow'', and the name was sent into Wash-ington, and was authorized. Hewitt was the first post-master for Broken Bow for two or three years, along with his other vocation as a blacksmith and medical help to his neigh-bors. When Estella the youngest child, along with the family moved up the Burlington and Missouri railroad to the town of Mullen in 1896, when the father constructed the first frame hotel on what was known for many years as the Evergreen Hotel. The Hewitts operated the hotel for a few years with the reputation of giving a nights lodging and breakfast for 50 cents. Hewitt was numbered among the Hooker County officials down through the years, and his brother-in-law Fred Cudebec was among the pioneers that followed the railroad into Mullen, and held ownership in the township of the original town of Mullen.
Estella attended school in the original frame schoolhouse in the northeast part of town. At the age of sixteen she was united in marriage to Charles Floyd Boyer, and they made their home in southern Cherry County.
Other members of the Wilson Hewitt family were: Fred, Edwin, Clint, and Mary. Mary and her husband Herbert with family of son and two daughters resided in the house occupied in recent years by the John Ronzos.
Herbert Pierce dealt in real estate through-out Hooker County at the turn of the century. Their late years were spent in New York state.