MEIDELL, FREDERICK AND THOMINE (HALVERSON)

by Nelle Meidell Satter

Entry F290 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Frederick and Thomine (Minnie) Meidell August 14, 1940

Frederick Meidell was born September 24,
1861 in St. Louis, Missouri. Thomine Halver-
son was born in the country of Norway, April
30, 1869. Fred and Thomine were married
September 7, 1890 in Burlington, Kansas. To
this union were born nine boys and three
girls: Donald, Clarence, Charles, John, Wil-
liam, Norman, Stanley, Jim, Francis, Hazel
Pearman, Daisy Martin, and Nelle Satter.
Fred died May 3, 1951 and Thomine died
June 2, 1948 and both were brought back to
Hooker County and laid to rest in the
Cedarview Cemetery.

The Meidell family moved to Hooker
County from Cambridge, Nebraska in 1907
to take advantage of the Kincaid Homestead
Act. Until the sod house was constructed they
camped out on the building site. Due to the
absence of regular building materials, resour-
ceful homesteaders found that the deep-
rooted prairie land could be cut into building
blocks for a home. A sod plow was used to
make a long and deep furrow. These strips
were then cut into blocks and layered row
upon row, forming walls. Ample space was
allowed for windows and door entries. Sod
blocks were also laid over pole rafters to form
the roof. Dirt Floors eventually had a wooden
one installed. Blue building material covered
the walls and ceiling. The walls were about
3 feet thick which made lovely big window
seats for my mother's few precious plants,
and for idle sitting. I was only 18 months old
when our family came to Hooker County,
thirteen miles southeast of Mullen.

The land my father filed on had been used
by the UBI Cattle Company and they had
installed a well. This well had a windmill with
an oaken wheel spanning 12 feet in diameter.
The cattle that grazed the land left a good
supply of manure chips behind. Due to the
absence of timber, the scattered chips proved
to be an excellent source of fuel for heating
and cooking purposes. After proper drying,
the chips were stacked into mounds resem-
bling small haystacks. This odorless fuel, due
to the chlorophyll in the grass, along with
corn cobs met the requirements for sufficient
fuel. My father often said that we lived in a
country where the wind pumped the water
and cattle chopped the wood.

Undoubtedly, one of the fondest memories
I have of my wonderful mother and her many
fine qualities, was her ability to prepare each
meal to seem very special and to prepare
them from basically nothing. This family of
an even dozen children never went hungry.
I also remember those barren sandhills and
my father's obsession to grow trees on them.
A variety of trees were planted as young
seedings and our efforts would often seem
futile as we carried countless buckets of water
up those hills to the planting sites. Many
trees of various types survived which includ-
ed fruit trees, and trees planted to act as a
barrier from the unrelenting wind and many
to substantiate my father's aspiration - to
prove that trees could be grown in those hills
of sand and prairie.

A number of wild berries and fruits grew
along the Dismal and Loup Rivers. Those
being in abundance were choke cherries and
wild plum. On the ranch itself' namely
growing in the "blowouts", were a handy
supply of sandcherries. To this day I can still
taste the delicious flavor of the homemade
jellies made from these fruits. An unpleasant
memory, however, is also recalled while
harvesting these wild cherries. One day near
the ranch, while picking sandcherries with
my sister, Daisy and younger brothers, Jim
and Francis, my sister was bitten by a
rattlesnake in the hand. This was during the
so-called "Dog Days" of summer, at which
time the rattlesnakes do not issue a warning
with their rattlers prior to striking, also
during this period the snakes are in the
process of shedding their skins. Our older
brother Norman, heard our screaming and
rushed to carry her to the house. My mother
extracted some of the venom, using her
mouth and applying a necktie as a tourni-
quet. My father took 11 year old Daisy to Dr.
Phillips in Seneca by horse and buggy. The
Dr. kept her in his home for two weeks. When
I finally was allowed to see her, I cried, she
had temporarily lost most of her hair and her
arm was withered. It took six months for her
to learn to walk and talk again. In those days
a rattlesnake bite was considered fatal. The
love and care of family contributed to her
recovery.

A tragedy I recall of the little Ella Hook
girl, a neighbor of ours about eight miles
south. Little Ella accidentally had fallen into
the ranch well. Family and neighbors dug
feverishly for a number of days but on the
fourth day they reached her but little Ella
had perished.

The Fairfield School was a simple frame
one room building only a few miles from our
ranch. We usually walked or rode horseback
unless it was cold and stormy, then our father
took us by horse-drawn sleigh. Of the 18
pupils, nine were Meidell children, taught by
Miss Wiggins. During my father's years in
Hooker County, he spent from 1908 to 1911,
working as a carpenter on the CB&Q railroad.
He was a commissioner, active in Cattlemen's
Association and Farmer's Union. As he
acquired more land and the ranch increased,
it provided a good means of living for his
family in Hooker County.