NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG1917.AM: John Gilbert, 1837-
Letters: 1917-1918
Oak Grove, Nuckolls County, Neb.: Farmer, stage driver
Size: 8 items
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
John Gilbert was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, in 1837. The family moved to Columbia County, Wisconsin, where they lived until 1857, when they moved to Knox County, Missouri. In 1859 Gilbert prospected for gold at Pike’s Peak. He was unsuccessful and came back as far as Nuckolls County, Nebraska, where he was employed at the Oak Grove Ranch as a stage driver. In March of 1864, he took part in a classic stagecoach escape from an attack of hostile Indians who were raiding the area. He was elected lieutenant of the Stoner Expedition along the Little Blue River after the killings of the Eubanks family at “the Narrows.” He married Libbie Artist in 1864 and they moved to Saline County and purchased a section of the townsite of DeWitt. In 1870 he sold his land to the town company and moved to Red Cloud, where he remained.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection consists of a series of six letters, written in 1917 and 1918 to Albert Watkins and A.E. Sheldon. These letters contain Gilbert’s recollections of the killings of members of the Eubanks family, the Stoner Expedition and the stagecoach chase, all of which occurred in March of 1864. These letters were transcribed for publication in Nebraska History Magazine and Record of Pioneer Days, vol. 1 no. 5, September 1918, and in Publications of the Nebraska State Historical Society, XIX 1919.
Note: See the photo component [RG1917.PH] for photographs.
DESCRIPTION
Letters, 1917-1918, and copies of NSHS articles
ADDED ENTRIES:
Coaching (Transportation) — Nebraska
Frontier and pioneer life — Nebraska
Gilbert, John, 1837-
Indians of North America — Nebraska
Indians of North America — Wars — 1862-1865
Nuckolls County (Neb.) — History
Oak Grove (Neb.) — History
06-05-2007 Revised TMM/tmm