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. 1. Table of Contents, Introduction

1. 1. 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

1. 1. Chase County Cemeteries and Gravesites:
      

      Berry brothers/McGillan (Champion)
      
      Sugden sisters

1. 1. Kansas Cemeteries and Gravesites:
      

      Baker (Cheyenne County)
      
      Tallmon/Tolman
      
      Wheeler
      
      St. Francis

Series 2 – Dundy County Sites and Town Research

Box 1

Folder

1. 1. Correspondence, 1977 and Maps

1. 1. Towns:
      

      Allston
      
      Haigler
      
      Hiawatha
      
      Max
      
      Parks
      
      Rollwitz
      
      Sandwich
      
      Sandborn

1. 1. 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

1. 1. Correspondence with A.E. Sheldon, 1939

Series 3 – Manuscripts

Box 1

Folder

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

Series 4 – Miscellaneous

Box 1

Folder

1. 1. Charles Cormack research

Subject headings:

Beecher Island, Battle of, Colo., 1868

Cemeteries — Chase County (Nebraska)

Cemeteries — Dundy County (Nebraska)

Cemeteries — Kansas

Cheyenne Indians — Wars — 1868-1869

Cormack, Charles H., 1846-1944

Chase County (Nebraska) — Cemeteries

Dundy County (Nebraska) — Cemeteries

Dundy County (Nebraska) — History

Dundy County (Nebraska) — Post Offices

Dundy County (Nebraska) — Towns

Kansas — Cemeteries

Post Offices — Dundy County (Nebraska)

Sutton, E.S. (Everette Samson), 1893-1987

EL/ksa                        01-1991

Revised TMM        05-09-2007