Peter D and Sarah’s Farm 12

This post probably deserves its own individual title, such as “Sarah Siebert Buller’s Henderson Home,” but since it is a part of our larger exploration we will keep it in the “Peter D and Sarah’s Farm” sequence. The question at the end of the previous post was: Where did Sarah and family live in Henderson? This post is dedicated to answering that question.

Our first piece of evidence appeared already in the previous post: a record of a 1902 real-estate transfer.

The entry reports that Sarah purchased lot 3 of block 5 in Henderson, Nebraska, from Peter Dick (who was possibly Sarah’s son-in-law) sold; the purchase price was $450.

Our next evidence comes from the 1910 and 1920 U.S. censuses; we begin with the census from 1910 (for the full 1910 census page, see here; see also the ** note at the end of this post).

In 1910, Sarah and her daughter Mary and son-in-law Peter Krause lived in Henderson; unfortunately, we are not given the precise location. Thankfully, the 1920 census does a better job of locating Sarah’s household (for the full 1920 census page, see here). 

Note the vertical writing down the left side of the census page: Alice Street. This indicates that Sarah and the Abraham D. Peters family next door lived on Alice Street in Henderson. The only other member of Sarah’s household was her son Cornelius, who was forty-three years old and listed as divorced (D). (Cornelius presents a number of questions, which we may take up at some point.)

This is why I asked about Henderson’s street names several posts ago (here). I knew Sarah lived on Alice Street and was anxious to identify where that was. Happily, since writing that post I discovered a 1911 map of Henderson that answers all our questions (for a large version of the map, see here).

The full map shows the boundaries, areas, streets, and significant locations within the village at that time. Notice also in the pink section of the map, which corresponds to Henderson’s original boundaries, that the various blocks are numbered; the bottom row, which goes from 11 on the right to 17 on the left, is the easiest to see. Zooming in on a portion of the map will be of greatest help to us.

Now we can see the block numbers more clearly. Note especially the number to the left of the word ORIGINAL; that trapezoid-shaped area is block 5, the block where Sarah purchased a lot, lot 3, to be exact. We can now see on the map exactly where Sarah’s house was located. Our final confirmation that we have the right location is provided by the street name on the map, Alice, the street where the 1920 census located Sarah’s household.

Given the odd shape of the block and the fact that it lies two blocks west of Main (Hernando) Street and just south of Front Street, it is not too difficult to find the same lot today: 1131 Cedar Street (Alice Street was renamed Cedar Street sometime in the 1960s). For a Google Maps view, see here.

According to real-estate records, the house currently on the property was built in 1920. Of course, this raises all sorts of questions. Was there a house on the lot when Sarah purchased it in 1902? Presumably there was, so one wonders when that earlier house was built, what it looked like, and why it was replaced with a new house. Since Sarah still lived on this property in 1920 and apparently lived there until her death on 15 February 1922, was she the one who had the current house built? That would seem to be the case.

As always, we should admit that we may have a few details wrong in our reconstruction, but based on the information covered in this post it seems highly likely that Sarah moved to this location in mid-1902, lived in the house that was located on the lot for eighteen years, then constructed a new house on the same lot in 1920, where she enjoyed the final years of her life.

Sometimes our family history is little more than dull words on dusty pages; other times, however, we are able to see the same things that our ancestors saw, walk in places where they used to walk. That is when our history becomes more real than ever before. I can hardly wait until I am in Henderson again, so I can see Sarah’s house with my own eyes and feel a little more connected to our ancestors of long ago.

** To view Flickr photos at maximum size, click on the  icon in the upper right corner of the screen.