SIMONSON, S.T. AND HELEN

by Lucille Simonson Barent

Entry F392 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

S.T. and Helen Simonson and little daughter Allegra

Simon Tobias, better known as Sam, oldest
son of S.O. and Sarah Simonson of Newman
Grove, Nebr. came to Hooker County in 1906
to file on a homestead three miles north of
Mullen. He worked for Colonel Osborne.
Sam's father had come from Norway with his
parents on a boat when he was four years old.

Sam was born July 5, 1885 at Newman
Grove, Nebr. He grew up there and attended
school there and at Madison, Nebr. before
moving to Hooker Co. He helped his father
with his farming and the haying, going home
at recesses and noon to help as they lived just
across the road from the school.

Sam and Helen Lorraine (Stewart) were
married October 9, 1912 at her parents home,
Albert and Augusta Stewart, Rita Park,
Nebr. twenty miles northwest of Mullen.
Helen was born November 23, 1887, at
Newman Grove, Nebr. and filed on a home-
stead and proved up on it at Rita Park, Nebr.
in Cherry County. She was a teacher and also
Postmaster at Rita Park. Homestead entry
August 8, 1911. Final proof before clerk of
Dist. Court. Hooker County, September 17,
1915.

Before coming to Cherry County she set
type for her father, Albert Stewart at Newm-
an Grover, Nebr. where he ran a printing
office.

Sam and Helen lived on Sam's homestead
while they built a house and barn on Helen's
homestead and were ready to move when the
blizzard of March 13, 1913 came. It prevented
them from moving until a month later.

Sam was sworn in as a deputy sheriff in
Mullen and guarded a prisoner until the trial
came up. During the trial a window fell down,
making a terrible bang, scaring them all,
thinking it was a shot.

Five children were born: Stewart Orin who
died in infancy, Allegra Bertha (Mrs. De-
wayne Buechler, Sunland Park, New Mexi-
co), William Ervin, who resides on the ranch,
Simon Dana, who passed away at the age of
six, and Lucille Alice (Mrs. Stan Barent, who
lives east of Seneca, Nebr.)

On September 30, 1917, their home caught
on fire and burned down. Their daughter
Allegra was 2 years old at the time. Sam had
to go to Mullenon business so Helen, Allegra,
and Bill went as far as her sister Marguerite
Simonson's. They were eating supper when
the phone rang and told them the house was
on fire. Allegra remembers the phone ringing
and said, "Oh goody, we get to stay all night!"
That's all it meant to her.

They had grown lots of large potatoes so
they hauled potatoes to town in a wagon and
brought lumber back to build another home.
With the help of friends and neighbors they
had a new home to move into in nine days and
they finished it later. Helen remembers a bat
coming in and settled on her face. She woke
up and removed the bat.

They had many trials and tribulations but
they worked together and raised their family.

Sam was a committee member of the
Cherry Co. Soil Conservation and worked
there for several years. He was also a brand
inspector at Mullen at one time.

Sam and Hellen moved to Mullen in 1947
after their children were grown and married.
They celebrated their Golden Wedding Anni-
versary on October 7, 1962.