April 1944 Depot Explosion Caused Widespread Damage and Fatalities

This was the first of two explosions at the Hastings Naval Ammunition Depot in 1944.

Hall Gray Carney was Killed in England March 27, 1944

Hall Gray Carney died 75 years ago on March 27, 1944 in a plane accident in England.

Hall was the son of Mr. and Mrs Sam Carney and was of the Carney and Gray families, both Sutton pioneer families.

Our 2011 biography of Hall Gray is linked here.

H. C. King Lamenting the Saturday Evening Post - with mention of Herbert Johnson

This 1969 article by Clay County News publisher emeritus, H. C. King describes the demise of the national magazine, Saturday Evening Post. He mentions Sutton's own Herbert Johnson who drew cover cartoons for this magazine, Country Gentleman and other publications. 

Herbert Johnson also produced hundreds of political cartoons during the 1930's. We have a book of 90 of those cartoons in the Sutton Museum.

This 2017 article on the blog tells the Herbert Johnson Story.

SSgt. Logan Lytle's Air Record in North Africa and Italy

This March 1944 story in The Sutton News told about SSgt. Logan Lytle of Sutton who had completed a tour as a tail gunner in North Africa and Italy and was assigned as an instructor at the Harvard Air Base - back home...

Francis M. Brown Died 100 Years ago - March 20, 1919

Our lead entry in the 1919 section of the museum's newspaper column today, March 20, 2019 was the account of the death of Sutton pioneer Francis Marion Brown:

Long-time Sutton publisher Francis M. Brown died March 20, 1919 at the age of 78. He’d worked at his desk until February 24. He and three brothers homesteaded on Section 10 of School Creek Township in the spring of 1871. He was the first county clerk and the first clerk of the district court when Clay County was formed in October 1871. He purchased The Sutton Register newspaper in 1886 later operating it with his son Charles. Francis Brown was Sutton’s first mayor, or chairman of the board of trustees serving three terms and was police judge for 18 terms. 

He enlisted in Co. B, 14^th Indiana Infantry at the beginning of the Civil war serving until the unit was mustered out in Indianapolis at war’s end. The pall bearers were Mayor Jacob Bender, Samuel Carney, Melchoir Figi, A. W. Clark, C. E. Wieland and Fred Hanke. Those familiar with Sutton history recognize this list of the Town Fathers of that era. 

Dr. Birkner's Brigade - Sutton - September 4, 1896

This outfit was called Dr. Birkner's Brigade. The photo is dated Sep 4, 96.

The key on the back identifies the brigade members by those numbers at their feet: 1. Hugo Birkner, 2. Wm. F. Hoerger, 3. Leslie Schaaf, 4. Dan Anthes, 5. Wm. B. Bonekemper, 6-7-8 not identified, 9. Burr Longstreth, 10. C. I. Bonekemper, 11. Ted Matteson, 12-13-14 not identified, 15. C. A. McDonald, 16, Russ Swearingen, 17. Guy Matteson, 18. W. D. Matteson, 19. Clyde Sodeberg, 20 not identified, 21. Logan Grice, 22. Herbert Grosshans and 23 not identified.

These four lads were identified as Guy, Ted and Will. That would be Guy Harold Matteson (1888-1953) Ted? and Will Dinsmore Matteson (1886-1966). Have not placed Ted Matteson yet..

Dr. Birkner was a Sutton doctor until 1899 when he moved to Lincoln. He sold his home and practice to Dr. John Wesley Thompson who had been practicing in Strang where he had met and married Alice Clark, daughter of Dr. Martin Clark of the Clark brothers, Sutton founders. 

We were hoping to find information about Dr. Birkner's Brigade, but instead we did find a reference to Dr. Birkner himself.

Dr. Thompson's daughter, Edith Thompson Hall wrote a short biography of her father that appeared in the Nebraska History magazine #44 on pages 277-295. An interesting and pertinent segment told of Dr. Thompson's time in Sutton and the circumstances of his replacing Dr. Birkner. That article is on at nebraska.history.org at this link.

The Sutton references begin on the page numbered 289. Of interest is that included in the purchase of Dr. Birkner's medical practice, office and home came what may have been Sutton's first phone system. It was a three phone private system connecting Dr. Birkner's office, home and the home of his driver.

Dr. Birkner's driver later played a big role in Dr. Thompson's challenge to attract business from the Germans in Sutton.

Insights.

Enjoy

This item appeared in the paper in 1919 describing that Dr. Birkner faced obstacles when he tried to serve in WWI, obstacles that were removed by court after the war.

1894 Sutton Bicycle Club

Copies of this 1894 photo of the Sutton Bicycle Club seem to be floating around town.

Seatta Wenz Scrapbook - 1940's

Test post for scrapbooks

1919 Downtown Railroad Crossing Guard

In 1919, the railroad crossing guard was manually operated on Saunders Avenue - apparently a 7 X 24 duty.

Full time telegraph service was also a labor challenge with the Saronville operator pitching in to help the Sutton depot.

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Nathan A. Tyler - Confederate Soldier - Sutton Cemetery

Nathan A. Tyler is one of at least two Confederate soldiers buried in the Sutton cemetery (Leonard Jarrett).

He advertised his tree business in The Sutton News in early 1919.

Nathan Tyler's grave flies a Confederate banner on memorial occasions. He enlisted as a Sergeant in Company D, North Caroline 1st Infantry Regiment on 13 June 1861, two months after the attack on Fort Sumner. He was mustered out 6 April 1862, early in the Civil War.

Tyler's tombstone does not indicate the date of his death. He appeared in the 1920 census, but not in 1930. Other research puts estimates of his death around 1928.

Nathan Tyler listed his occupation in the 1920 census as janitor at the telephone company. His entry for 1910 was "monuments" suggesting that he sold, and/or inscribed monuments, likely tombstones, for instance. Do you suppose that he continued that business into the 1920's and may have still been the local monument supplier at the time of his death? If so, could that be the explanation of why the date of his death did not get inscribed on his own tombstone?

History is not an exact science.