HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG0938.AM: Ava Geraldine (Speese) Day, 1912-1988
Correspondence: 1964-1975
Size: Five items
BACKGROUND NOTE
Born in Wyoming on July 16, 1912, Ava Speese was the daughter of Charles and Rose (Meehan) Speese. The family lived in Wyoming for a time before Charles moved the family back to Nebraska. The 1920 census shows Charles working as a ranch hand in Cherry County, Nebraska. By 1930, the family had moved to Sully County, South Dakota. Ava Speese married Lue Day on December 24, 1931, at Hughes, South Dakota. The couple moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. Ava (Speese) Day died on November 9, 1988. She is buried in Elmhurst Cemetery, St. Paul, Minnesota.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The collection contains letters from Ava (Speese) Day of St. Paul, Minnesota. Two letters were written in 1964, one in 1975, and one is undated. She writes of her African-American family homesteading in Cherry and Dawson Counties, Nebraska, ca. 1885-1920s. She discusses the family genealogy relating to the Meehan, Speese, Brown, and Crawford families. The 1975 letter describes a trip she took to the East and South where she visited family. Included in the March, 1964 letter is a rough sketch showing how various families were situated along the Loup River. Also included in the collection is a newspaper article from the Omaha World Herald dating from February 11, 1899. The article gives an account of J.W. Speese homesteading in Custer County, Nebraska.
Note: See also the audio recordings of Harry and Miles Speese [RG4834.AU].
Subject headings:
African Americans — Nebraska — Cherry County
African Americans — Nebraska — Dawson County
Brown family
Community life
Crawford family
Day, Ava Geraldine (Speese), 1912-1988
Domestic life
Frontier and pioneer life — Nebraska — Cherry County
Frontier and pioneer life — Nebraska — Dawson County
Homesteading
Meehan family
Speese, J.W.
Speese family
Revised TMM 05-27-2009
