HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG0846.AM: Susan Ophelia Carter, 1860-1946
Diary, etc.: 1860-1965; mostly 1886-1887
Box Butte and Valley Counties, Nebraska: Teacher
Size: One folder
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Susan Ophelia Carter was born July 2, 1860 in Gardner, Grundy County, Illinois, the third of six children born to Lewis Wood and Rachel (Wheeler) Carter. In 1869 the Carter family moved to Odebolt, Sac County, Iowa, where Susan received her formal education. The family later migrated to Nebraska, settling on a farm near the Custer-Loup County line. Susan married William A. Payne in 1887. They had one son, Louis Ansel Payne, who died of heart problems in 1900 at the age of 12. William died in 1914. In 1915 Susan married Joseph Nicklas. They moved to Sterling, Colorado, where Susan died on May 3, 1946.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The collection contains Susan Ophelia Carter’s diary, 1887. Up until May 1887, she taught school in Valley County, Nebraska. She then moved to Box Butte County, Nebraska, where she and her fiancée, Will Payne, homesteaded. They married October 29, 1887. Colleen Switzer transcribed the diary and added biographical and genealogical information about Carter, her extended family, and other people from Valley and Box Butte Counties. A map shows the various routes of journeys referred to in the diary. The original diary also has printed reference information, a list of Carter’s correspondents, personal expense receipts, home health remedies, and recipes for cakes and pickles.
INVENTORY
Diary, transcription, etc.
Subject headings:
Box Butte County (Nebraska) — History
Carter family
Carter, Susan Ophelia, 1860-1946
Diaries
Domestic life
Fossey family
Frontier and pioneer life — Nebraska — Box Butte County
Frontier and pioneer life — Nebraska — Valley County
Homesteading
McIntire family
Nicklas family
Payne family
Payne, William Albert, 1854-1914
Switzer, Colleen (Goehring), 1932-2006
Teachers — Nebraska — Valley County
Valley County (Nebraska) — History
Weed family
Revised TMM 02-09-2016
