Horse Diver Sonora Webster Carver

 Sonora Webster Carver was a horse diver and thousands of people would come to see her jump a horse into a pool of water from a platform 40 feet high.  She became involved after answering an ad placed by William "Doc" Carver in  1923.  Doc's son Al took over the show.  She married Al in 1928.  She performed the trick for seven years without an accident.  However on one jump she was worried for the horse and neglected to close her eyes.  Both her retinas were detached and she became blind.  She did not however give up the act but continued to jump for another eleven years.  She retired in the 1940s after which she became a dictaphone typist and advocate for the blind.  She became adept at braille.  She died at age 99 in 2003.  Released by Disney, Wild Hearts Can't be Broken, is based on her story. PBS has released a documentary of her life.  

Cowgirl Biography: Mamie Hafley

 Mamie Hafley was a woman who took risks to entertain.  She was a performer in wild west shows.  She would perform acts with gun shooting, sometimes shooting towards others or sometimes towards her with a target held with in her mouth or stuck in her hair.  She would also shoot at targets while she was riding a horse.  She was most famous for participating in horse diving from 40 feet into a 10 foot deep pool.  These acts were very popular for a time.  Over the years there were three accidents.  One time she broke her arm, another the horse landed sideways and was injured, and a third she was pinned in the water an almost drowned.  She did finish the show.  She grew up in Wisconsin where she joined her first show.  She has been voted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame.  

Magazine Article Review: The Old College Try: Nebraska's Ghost Colleges

 The Old College Try: Nebraska's Ghost Colleges by John Irwin, Nebraska History Magazine, Lincoln, Nebraska, Spring 2023, pp 2-29.

It is amazing how many colleges have failed in Nebraska.  Admittedly most of them are religious schools, but still pretty amazing.  Here in Bellevue there is Bellevue College which was a Presbyterian institution.  It went through periods of low enrollment and financial difficulty over time.  At one point it called itself the University of Omaha to gain students from a wider area.  Several things contributed to its closure.  The church had difficulty funding the college.  The tornado of 1908 damaged the main building, tearing off the roof requiring repairs.  The final blow was WWI when many of the potential students were off to war and so enrollment dropped off considerably.  At first the school was used to house military people.  Fort Crook (Now Offutt) is close by.  Several other colleges closed as a result of the war, and the flu epidemic.  The great depression also took its toll.  

Martin Luther College in Sterling Nebraska was a Luthren College.  It had a emphasis in music.  It brags of composer Howard Hansen coming from the school.  It closed during WWI to reopen for a time in the 1920s.  Its main building became a residence for disabled children.  

In Wahoo, Nebraska is a more recent college, John F. Kennedy College.  This was a for profit college that survived ten years.  It is most noted for its female athletics and they sponsored softball teams that won the first three women's college world series.  It closed in 1975 due to decreased enrollment due to the Viet Nam War.  Both Ted and Bobby Kennedy visited the college.  

A total of 45 colleges have died in Nebraska over the years.  Some as recently as the 2020s.  This article lists all of the colleges with a brief blurb about what happened to each.  

How Elkhart got its Name

 Am informational  bulletin at Island Park explains how Elkhart Indiana got its name.  It was called An-na-wa-wah by the Potawatomi.  This means Elk's heart.  It seems the Native American people thought the shape of the island resembled and elk's heart.  My vote is they should have stuck with the Native American name.  

The island looks long for a heart, but I have never scene an elk's heart.

Black/ Native American Biography: Crispus Attucks

 Crispus Attacks was from African and Wampanoag ancestry.  He is most remembered as the first American to die in the American Revolution.  He was killed at the Boston Massacre when someone yelled "Fire" and the British troops opened fire.  Five people were killed that day.  It is not sure if Attacks was a freeman or an escaped slave.  Attacks worked on the docks as a dock worker and also as a seaman.  He appears to have been active in the protests that day.  Different stories have him hitting a British soldier with a stick, or just holding a stick.  At any rate two balls ricocheted and struck him in the chest killing him.  

His name has been used after his death to promote freedom for African Americans, as part of the abolitionist movement and also as part of the Civil Rights Movement.  

artistic representation of Crispus Attucks

Havilah Beardsley: Founder of Elkhart City

 Off of Beardsley, a couple blocks west of Main Street is a memorial to Havilah Beardsley.  Says he purchased the land from the Native Americans, laid out the city and established the first flour mill, wood mill and card mill.  He was the first doctor as well.  

Patricia and Martin De Leon

Patricia and Martin De Leon were Tejanos during the time of the war between Texas and Santa Ana of Mexico.  They did not support the Mexican government but were for a free Texas.  They established a community with about 50 families called De Leon's Colony.  It was about the only Tejano established community in the area as most settlers in this area were from America.  They had ten childen, four boys and six girls.  They had a large property and helped to fund the Texans during the war. Martin died in 1833 of cholera.  His wife continued to manage the ranch.  It was also she who provided financial support and logistical support to the Texans and Tejanos who fought the Mexican army.  Several of her sons were also active in supplying Stephen Austin.  

Martin de Leon