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| WARD, MORRIS AND MCCARTY FAMILIES IN NORTH DAKOTA The following are excerpts from a forthcoming book by Elizabeth (Betty) KENNEDY in which the WARD, MORRIS and MCCARTY families are traced from their origin in England and Ireland to first settlement in Virginia, western North Carolina, Tennessee, southern Illinois, Iowa, and finally to western North Dakota The whistle of the emigrant train, as it approached the raw little town of Belfield on the western North Dakota prairie, echoed eerie and mournful through the cool evening air. Members of the WARD, MORRIS and MCCARTY families, nearing their destination in September, 1906, after a five-day journey, had fleeting moments of doubt-had they made the right decision in leaving their prosperous farms and the rich land of western Iowa to pioneer on this new frontier? The children of the group had no such apprehensions, their faces eagerly pressed against the windows, straining to see their future home, hoping in vain to see some signs of buffalo or Indians of which they had heard many tales. Among the families arriving on the emigrant train were my father and mother, Arthur Sinclair WARD and Lulu MCCARTY WARD, and their two children, Marvel, age 6, and Frederick, age 2; Charles MORRIS and Rose MCCARTY MORRIS, and their two children, Lucille, age 2, and Charles Millard, age 1; my maternal grandfather, William Francis MCCARTY and his daughter, Ida, age 12. My grandmother, Emily Hamer MCCARTY, being in ill health, had remained in Iowa at the home of another son, William and his wife, Edna Rosenberger MCCARTY, and came to North Dakota in the late fall. William MCCARTY, Jr., was the only child of William F. MCCARTY who did not make the move to North Dakota. He elected to rent the farm my grandfather's land near Botna, Shelby County, and was heard to make the statement, "When it gets too rough for you in North Dakota, you can all come back to the Iowa land I will hold for you." He misjudged their perseverance because they never went back except to visit. Only his mother, Emily, returned, in death, to be buried in the Iowa soil. And William MCCARTY did prosper in Iowa, and today his sons' families still own the land, my grandfather having sold his farm in Iowa to his son. Shelby WARD, my father's half-brother, and Charles Elmer WARD, my father's cousin, both unmarried, were also in the group. It is told in the family that Charles was a "stowaway" and remained in the freight cars, helping to care for the livestock. The emigrant train which had brought them from Iowa consisted of several freight cars and one passenger car. In the freight cars were all the livestock of the various families-horses (two named Billy and Kate) and several cows, one of which was a fine Jersey. The other freight cars carried the plows, harrows, and other farm equipment which my father had purchased at cost from the Ohio Cultivator Company, Bellevue, Ohio, and the Fuller and Johnson Manufacturing Company, Madison, Wisconsin, for whom he had been a representative. At one end of the passenger car was a large cast iron stove which was kept constantly burning. On this the milk for the babies was heated and other food prepared. The majority of the food, however, had been prepared in advance by the women who had spent many hours baking bread and other edibles which would keep them supplied during the trip, with some to spare for their first days on the homesteads. These families came into western North Dakota on the tide of a second land boom which swept the state. Prices of agricultural products and farm lands had risen, the North Dakota legislature in 1905 had appropriated $20,000 for advertising, and a flood of new settlers, eager to get a share of the last free land, poured into the Missouri plateau. The covered wagons, and now the railroads, were opening up the last frontier of the West. Their pioneer blood stirred to the bonanza of free land. And so these families formed an informal compact to claim 1,280 acres, in aggregate, in the area of south of Belfield, North Dakota. The Manning Monitor, published near the town of Botna, Iowa, where the families were living, carried large advertisements of the railroads, offering special excursion fares, extolling the advantages of settlement in North Dakota. A land agent of the Northern Pacific Railway, Hugh CONNOR ran Short (father of Don L. Short, U.S. Congressman from 1959 to 1965), lived in Iowa and brought parties of land seekers to the Belfield, Sentinel Butte and Beach areas, and it seems very probable that he may have been instrumental in interesting the WARD, MORRIS and MCCARTY families in settling in the south Belfield area. Further, since Arthur WARD had traveled the state (he covered the entire North Platte area) while representing the farm implement companies, he had seen the area first-hand. It is known that Arthur WARD, Shelby WARD, Charles MORRIS, and William F. MCCARTY were in the Belfield area in the early spring since their homestead application papers bear filing dates of March and April 1906. It was at this time that my father made arrangements for a small frame house, 14' x18', a granary 12' x 24' x 14, and a hen house, 10' x 12', to be built before the arrival of his family in the fall. My grandfather, William F. MCCARTY, also made advance arrangements for a similar house to be built on his homestead site. The Imperial Hotel, built in 1883, owned and operated by James A. ESLICK, was located south of the railroad tracks and offered the only accommodations for travelers. The families, weary from their long trip, were glad to rest their while arrangements were made for transporting the stock and equipment to the homestead sites. Belfield, founded in 1883, was at this time a village of several hundred inhabitants. Ed O'CONNOR, a business man of Sacred Heart, Minnesota, moved to Belfield in 1906, and in anticipation of the influx of new settlers, had the town portion north of the Northern Pacific Railway re-surveyed and placed on the market. The Belfield State Bank had just opened with $10, 000 capital. In looking around the town the following morning, the newly arrived families found a hardware and furniture store owned by N. P. NELSON, the MCCUTCHAN stables which accommodated 100 horses, and various other small businesses. There was also a two-story brick school building. An article in the March 28, 1908, edition of the Dickinson Press presented this glamorized version of Belfield: "Business lots sell at $500 to $800 each on Main Street. A mail service runs south weekly to Gaylord and Midway, and steps are being taken to get a stage line north. Belfield is the largest cedar post market in the state, it being estimated that there are 1,000,000 posts in town at the present time. Settlers in the Badlands get them during the winter and find a ready market at 10 to 12 cents apeice. Five new steam-breaking outfits have been ordered this spring, making 12 or 15 in the locality. Ed Jowseks will use a steam plow at his farm five miles northwest of town. Attorney H. E. Haney is already getting a good line of legal and contest business. About 35 immigrant cars have arrived this spring. This is just a starter." A few mornings later, after a hearty breakfast in the Imperial Hotel's dining-room, the families made preparation for the final portion of their trip. Outside, Mr. Jim Christiansen and Mr. Eslick hitched up the teams, but before their departure, Mrs. Eslick, who befriended many of the new settlers, provided the women from Iowa with scarves and warmer clothing; not being familiar with the climate, they had arrived wearing suits and their large plumed hats which were in current fashion. Finally, they were on their way, the road stretching out over the treeless prairie like an unending ribbon. At this time, not much land was under cultivation, but in their imagination, they could visualize the golden wheat fields they hoped to produce. The melodious trill of the meadowlarks, lilting over the prairie, seemed almost a welcoming chorus. About noon they stopped for a brief rest and to eat the lunch which had been packed for them at the hotel. Mr. Eslick volunteered the information that the area in which they had stopped had been claimed and was soon to be settled by some families from Minnesota. This proved to be true because in the spring of 1907, the community of Gaylord was started with a rapid influx of settlers. The MOLMs, parents of Herbert, Chester, Leota and Ralph MOLM, arrived in Belfield in April, 1907, by emigrant train from Minnesota, along with a number of relatives who homesteaded on nearby land. In the summer of 1907, the Gaylord Store was established by Howard MOLM and his wife, Ivy. The Gaylord Store was to play an important part in the lives of the homesteaders. It was much more than a general store-it was an oasis on the prairie. It was a gathering place for all the community, a contact with the world outside their homesteads. Here they picked up their mail from the post office; here they discussed, and often solved, their common problems. The Gaylord Store also became a sort of recreation center. The surrounding communities competed in horse races, with much wagering, and in baseball games every Sunday when weather or farm chores permitted. Later, when a two-story frame building replaced the original sod structure, dances were held on the second floor, where many a fiddler held forth-probably the old bachelor, Dick Durick who lived in the community and played for many of the barn dances. With the advent of telephone service a switchboard was installed in the Gaylord Store, and I can remember, as a child, being quite awed by the flashing lights and mysterious cords. The Gaylord Store was located on the original freighters' trail from Belfield to the Bowman and Scranton areas, which was used by a large number of the area homesteaders. The construction of improved roads and the advent of the automobile led to the closing of the Gaylord Store. However, the structure is still in use as the residence of Chester and Marvel MOLM. Feeling much refreshed after their lunch and brief rest, the families continued on their journey, and in the early afternoon, they reached the homestead sites, thankful to have arrived safely at their destination. And so it is recorded that they settled on their on Monday, September 10, 1906. |
