Everette Samson Sutton, 1893-1987 [RG1446.AM]

HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG1446.AM:  Everette Samson Sutton, 1893-1987

Research files:  ca. 1979 and prior
Benkelman, Dundy County, Nebraska:  Burlington Railroad employee and local historian
Size:  0.25 cu.ft., 1 box

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Everette Samson Sutton, Jr. was born January 3, 1893 in Naponee, Nebraska to Clara and Everette Sutton, Sr. In 1899 the family moved to Brush, Colorado where Everette, Sr. worked for the Burlington Railroad. In 1911, Sutton joined the National Guard at Fort Morgan, Colorado and trained for the wireless and signal corps.

Sutton moved to Max, Nebraska in 1915 and married Hazel Ava Gorthy the following year. The couple lived above the Burlington depot where Sutton worked. In 1943, they moved to Benkelman where Sutton continued to work for the railroad, retiring from his position as Benkelman stationmaster in 1968 after 58 years of continuous service with Burlington.

Everette Sutton acted as the unofficial historian of Dundy County and southwest Nebraska in general. He produced hundreds of files on historical incidents and individuals, wrote numerous church histories, and documented every burial in Dundy County. He helped to found the Dundy County Historical Society in the early 1960s as well as societies in St. Francis, Goodland and Atwood, Kansas; Imperial and Trenton, Nebraska and Wray, Colorado. Sutton served on the Nebraska State Historical Society’s Board of Directors for seven years and authored two books, Teepees to Soddies: Southwestern Nebraska and Thereabouts, 1968 and Sutton’s Southwest Nebraska and Republican River Valley Tributaries, 1983.

Active in community service, Sutton served as president of the Max Rural High School District and the REA, was a board member of the Dundy County Agricultural Society Farm Bureau, a sponsor of the Dundy County Fair, trustee of the Benkelman Methodist Church and a local 4-H leader.

Everett Sutton died at the Kenton Nursing Home in Greeley, Colorado on April 26, 1987 at the age of 94.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection of E. S. Sutton’s Dundy County research files consists of four series: 1) Cemetery Research; 2) Dundy County Sites and Towns Research; 3) Manuscripts; and 4) Miscellaneous.

The collection represents Sutton’s enthusiasm for Dundy County history. Series 1 of Sutton’s papers provide detailed information on twenty-nine cemeteries and burial sites, twenty-one of which include burial listings. In general, information is provided for each site regarding location, date of organization, records available and brief histories. Series 2 of the collection outlines thirty-four towns and historical county sites and relates information garnered from over fifty years of research concerning location, population, churches, schools, post offices, early businesses, published material available, anecdotes and brief histories. Also included is correspondence between Sutton and A.E. Sheldon, Director of the Nebraska State Historical Society. Series 3 contains copies of a 1940 manuscript by Sutton entitled, “As the Indian Knows Beecher Island.” Series 4 consists of photocopies of correspondence, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, etc. relating to Charles Cormack, pioneer and Civil War veteran. Sutton’s work, whether published or found in his research files, provides an exhaustive source of Dundy County history.

Note:  Additional research files of Everette Sutton are available at the Dundy County Historical Society.

INVENTORY

Series 1 – Cemetery Research
Box 1
Folder

1. Table of Contents, Introduction
2. Dundy County Cemeteries and Gravesites:
   Ash Grove
   Benkelman
   Breeden (burial of John Breeden)
   Boston
   Buckskin Jack (cowboy burial)
   Gallagher (burial of Max Joseph Gallagher, one mile east of Max)
   Haigler (see also OB033)
   Hiawatha
   Highland
   Hughes
   Knapp
   Max
   Mt. Zion
   Ough
   Parks Presbyterian/McAllister
   Pleasant Valley
   Rollwitz/Valley Center
   Sandwich
   St. Paul’s Lutheran
   Sleeper’s/Sleepy Hollow
   Texas Trail Canyon
   St. Joseph’s Catholic (Benkelman)
   Miscellaneous burials
3. Chase County Cemeteries and Gravesites:
   Berry brothers/McGillan (Champion)
   Sugden sisters
4. Kansas Cemeteries and Gravesites:
   Baker (Cheyenne County)
   Tallmon/Tolman
   Wheeler
   St. Francis

Series 2 – Dundy County Sites and Town Research

1. Correspondence, 1977 and Maps
2. Towns:
   Allston
   Haigler
   Hiawatha
   Max
   Parks
   Rollwitz
   Sandwich
   Sandborn
3. County Sites:
   Allston
   Arakan
   Benkelman
   Burntwood City, Kansas
   Callison
   Calvert
   Colfer
   Collinsville
   Doane Siding
   Dundy Centre
   Haigler
   Hancock
   Hiawatha
   Hoover
   Ives (Parks)
   Jacobs
   Kaw
   Lamont
   Lux
   Norton
   Max
   Neel
   Ough
   Parks
   Rock Creek
   Rollwitz
   Valley Center
   Rosewater
   St. Elmer (Elmer)
   Sanborn
   Sandwich
   Circle Ranch
   Union
   Custer Historical Marker
   Cheyenne Canyon
   Leavenworth Pikes Peak Stage Line
4. Correspondence with A.E. Sheldon, 1939

Series 3 – Manuscripts

1. “As the Indian Knows Beecher Island,” 1940

Series 4 – Miscellaneous

1. Charles Cormack research

Subject headings:

Beecher Island, Battle of, Colo., 1868
Cemeteries — Chase County (Neb.)
Cemeteries — Dundy County (Neb.)
Cemeteries — Kansas
Cheyenne Indians — Wars — 1868-1869
Cormack, Charles H., 1846-1944
Chase County (Neb.) — Cemeteries
Dundy County (Neb.) — Cemeteries
Dundy County (Neb.) — History
Dundy County (Neb.) — Post Offices
Dundy County (Neb.) — Towns
Kansas — Cemeteries
Post Offices — Dundy County (Neb.)
Sutton, E.S. (Everette Samson), 1893-1987

EL/ksa                        01-1991
Revised TMM        05-09-2007