1880-1899
HOMESTEADERS A - B
| ADAMS ELLIS E. b.1836 d.1905 Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1893 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: HE-160 Sections: 19,30 Map # 8 | Ellis Adams was born on September 20, 1836, in York, New Jersey to William and Margaret Drake Adams. Ellis married Emma E. Evans in 1867 in Utah and six children were born to them. In 1880 the family moved to the Lander Valley and homesteaded one-mile south of town. Ellis received a patent for his Borners Garden/Mortimore Lane homestead in 1893. He died on June 17, 1905, at the home of his daughter Mrs. H. E. Boedecker in Dubois, Wyoming at the age of 68. Four months later Emma died while living with her son Ellis H. Adams at Wind River, Wyoming. Both are interred in the Odd Fellows section of Mount Hope Cemetery at Lander. |  |
| ALTON EDWARD b. 1837 d. 1901 Arrived: 1868 Patent Year: 1890 Rng-Tsp: 34N 100W Acres: HE-147 Sections: 27,34 Map # 13 | Edward Alton was born at Battle, East Sussex, England on December 1, 1837. He immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen. Saria Neeley Andrews had two sons and was living at Piedmont when she met Ed. They were married at Salt Lake City in October 1873 and where their oldest son, Edward Jr. was born in 1874. Ed and Saria came to the Lander Valley in 1875, homesteaded on North Fork of the Popo Agie River, and built a stage stop, later to become a saloon, on the Rawlins to Fort Washakie freighting road. Records show he was a Justice of the Peace at North Fork (Milford) in 1878 and he became postmaster at Milford in 1891. Upon Edward's death, Saria became the postmaster and carried on the business of the store and ranch. Ed Alton died at his home in Milford on February 11, 1901 and was buried beside his son in the Alton-Leseberg Cemetery. His wife, Saria, outlived him by ten years and is buried beside him. |  |
| ANDERSON PETER b. 1845 d. 1930 Arrived: Patent Year: Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: HE-160 Sections: 7,8 Map # 8 | Peter Anderson was born on November 11, 1845, in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. When he was two years old, his parents were converted to the LDS Church. The family immigrated to America in 1849 and stayed in St. Louis, Missouri, for over three years until they could earn enough money for the rest of the journey. They crossed the plains in a covered wagon to Utah in 1853. His older brother died in Missouri when Peter was four years old. When yet a young man in his twenties he got the urge to go west to make his fortune. He obtained employment as a teamster for Judge William Carter at Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory. In 1868, the lure of gold drew him to the mines at Hamilton City (Miners Delight), near South Pass City. He was apparently unsuccessful since the census of 1880 indicates he had relocated to the Big Popo Agie Valley where he had homesteaded and was farming on the outskirts of Lander. So close to Lander was his location that he divided much of his property into town lots which he then sold. He was then able to conduct both of his ranch and real estate businesses from his home in Lander. Peter's business success was evident in the 1900 federal census in Lander, where his occupation is listed as "capitalist." He married Laura Elizabeth Nicol on December 14, 1882, and seven children were born to this union. Peter was president of the Fremont County Pioneer Association in 1926. He died on May 10, 1930, in Lander at the age of 84. He is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander. | |
| GEORGE L. BALDWIN b. 1869 d. 1930 Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1894 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: SCE-320 Sections: 20 Map # 8 | George Baldwin was born May 4, 1869, in the tiny log cabin built by his father Noyes in the spring of 1868. The cabin, still in existence, was to serve as living quarters next to a spacious 30 X 75 foot trading post building situated on the banks of Baldwin Creek. George was the first white child to be born in the entire Wind river Basin, an area stretching from the South Pass mines north to the Montana border. George homesteaded a fine farming property near the place where he was born, for which he received a patent in 1895. He married Helen Gertrude Stephenson of Lander in January of 1893. Helen was the first white child born at Camp Stambaugh in 1870, a year of frequent Indian uprisings. Two children were born to this marriage, Erwin George and Helen Josephine. George's wife Helen died in Lander in October of 1908 and is buried in the Masonic Cemetery. George died in December of 1930 at the age of 61 and is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery. |  |
| BALDWIN LYMAN E. b. 1837 d. 1901 Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1895 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: HE-160.5 Sections: 6,31 Map # 8 | Lyman Baldwin was born 20 Dec. 1837 at Hope, Hamilton Co. N.Y. to Reuben W. and Hannah Wilson Sloan Baldwin. At the age 22 he left his home in Amity Flats, Erie, PA and traveled west in search of work and wealth in the Colorado (then Kansas territory) gold fields. He joined the Denver City Home Guards, Colorado Infantry and was stationed in Central City where he, at the age of 30, married Sarah Elizabeth (Lizzie) Peterson. They raised four children in Colorado and following the death of Lyman’s mother and his children out of the nest, he moved in 1887 Wyoming territory where he resided in the Lander Valley. In 1890 he took up a homestead in the North Fork area and received a patent in 1895. After six years behind the plow, Lyman returned to Colorado and joining with his brother-in-law, George Peterson, he established a successful mining claim, the Wyoming Lode, in the Central Mining District of Boulder County . He died on 3 March 1901 at the age of 63 and is buried in the Green Mountain Cemetery at Boulder, Colorado. | |
| BALDWIN MARY b.1860 d.1955 Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1894 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: SCE-320 Sections: 19,20 Map # 8 | Mary Ewing was born in England in 1860 to John and (unknown) Ewing. She immigrated to the United States in 1889. In 1884 she met and married Melvin Noyes Baldwin in Lander. Mel's father Major Noyes Baldwin had acquired one of the earliest homestead patents in the Lander Valley, part of which was located within the town limits He encouraged his family members to homestead property adjacent to his. So George, his oldest son and Mary, his new daughter-in-law, made Desert Land entries for which they received patents in 1894, thereby securing a block of 800 acres of prime Lander Valley real estate for the Baldwin family. Mary and Mel had four children; sons Harry and Chester, and daughters Eleanor and Marion. Mary was widowed in 1924 and she spent her remaining years in Los Angeles, California where she died in 1954 at the age of 94. | |
| BALDWIN NOYES b.1826 d.1893 Arrived: 1866 Patent Year: 1891 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: HE-160 Sections: 17,18 Map # 8 | Noyes Baldwin was born on September 8, 1826, at Woodbridge, Connecticut, the son of Lyman and Marie (Beach) Baldwin. Baldwin volunteered for the service and was made captain of Co. B First Nevada Cavalry. He soon rose to the rank of major. Major Baldwin was placed in command of Fort Bridger, Utah Territory, in 1863. In 1866 he was mustered out of the army and traveled to the Lander Valley where he established a 30 X 75 foot trading post and traded with the Indians for furs which he took to Salt Lake City. In 1868 he built a new house next to his trading post on Baldwin Creek. During one of his absences, American Indians made attacks on white settlers and miners in the area. About sixty miners came down from Miners Delight to rescue Major Baldwin's wife Josephine, two daughters and two sons, one of which was infant George Lyman, the first white child born in the Wind River basin. Major Baldwin was appointed post trader and postmaster at newly constructed Camp Stambaugh but when the military no longer needed to protect South Pass miners, he returned to Lander Valley. In 1884 he built and operated a general merchandise store in Lander shortly after it was voted county seat of recently established Fremont County. He sold his hugely successful store to his son Melvin in 1890. After a career of unusual adventure and successful business enterprises, Major Baldwin died at his home on January 12, 1893. He was greatly valued by the many people and places he served and was to the prosperous community of Lander Valley, its founding Father. |  |
| BARNABY ROBERT b. ca. 1821 d.1895 Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1887 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: HE-120 Sections: 7 Map # 8 | Robert was born in Kentucky about 1821. He married Mary Jane Shepard in Missouri in 1856. In the 1860 census he was living in Kansas Territory. By the 1870 census he had moved to the Colorado Territory and in the 1880 Census was listed as a farmer on the North Fork of the Popo Agie River. Robert and Jane had two daughters, Kate born in 1858 and Ella Jane born in 1861. Robert died in 1895 and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander. | |
| BATTRUM ALEXANDER b. ca. 1865 d. 1935 Arrived: 1880 Patent Year: Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: SCE-80 Sections: 26 Map # 8 | Alexander Battrum was born in England in 1838. He came to the United States in 1855 and worked as a farm hand until the Civil War began. He enlisted in the Illinois Infantry. After being discharged with a disability, he got into mining and freighting. He bought a ranch on Baldwin Creek in the early 1880s. He married Mrs. Elizabeth Casto Clark in August 1886. In 1900 Battrum was elected county commissioner and chosen as chairman. After his wife died in 1916, Alexander moved to California where he died in December 1923. He is buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander. | |
| BATTRUM ALEXANDER b. 1838 d. 1923 Arrived: 1880 Patent Year: 1889 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: HE-160 Sections: 35 Map # 8 | See Other Entry | |
| BATTRUM ALEXANDER P. Arrived: 1880 Patent Year: 1890 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: SCE-120 Sections: 26 Map # 8 | See Other Entry | |
| BAY JOHN b. ca. 1865 d. 1935 Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1894 Rng-Tsp: 33N 100W Acres: HE-160 Sections: 2 Map # 9 | John Bay was born in Ohio in 1865 or 1866 to Benjamin and Clarrisa Ann Martin Bay. He worked as a sheep herder along Beaver Creek with George Black. He was single in both the 1880 and 1900 censuses. He does not appear to have married. He homesteaded 160 acres in 1894. In 1888 he partnered with William Steers to purchase the homestead rights to the John Burns farm on the North Fork of the Popo Agie River. They ran cattle on the place for several years until the partnership was dissolved and Bay received the patent for the ranch in 1894. Meanwhile, Steers filed for an adjoining homestead to the west of Bay and received his patent in 1901. John Bay died in Lander in 1931. | |
| BEEBE JAMES T Arrived: 1878 Patent Year: 1890 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: HE-167 Sections: 3,4 Map # 8 | See Other Entry | |
| BEEBE JAMES T b. ca. 1848 d. 1930 Arrived: 1878 Patent Year: 1890 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: SCE-160 Sections: 9 Map # 8 | James Bebee was born in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, in 1848 although an 1847 birth year is listed frequently. He was married to Sarah Jane Robinson in 1871. He is listed in the 1900 census as living in Lyons valley, Fremont County, where his occupation was listed as a farmer on his owned property. His wife, Sarah, was born in England and came to the United States in 1860. She became a naturalized citizen. In the 1900 census five children are listed, three boys and two girls. At that time, they were living in Lyons Valley. By the time of the 1920 census he and his wife had moved to National City, California. James Beebe died in San Diego, California, in 1930. | |
| BIRCUMSHAW JOHN b. 1860 d. 1958 Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1892 Rng-Tsp: 31N 98W Acres: HE-160 Sections: 4 Map # 3 | John Bircumshaw was born in Heanor, Derbyshire, England in 1860. He married Mary Elizabeth Salsbury in 1881 and they immigrated to America. They arrived in the United States in 1882 or 1883 and became naturalized citizens. They came to the Lander Valley about 1886 and partnered with a Mr. (George) Jackson until 1899. They each took part of four herds of sheep and he continued as a businessman. He had enough land leased and filed upon, some 3,000 acres, on which he could lamb out several thousand head of ewes. He formed the Long Creek Sheep Company on the Big Bend of Twin Creek in 1892. In 1888 John was appointed postmaster at Derby, Wyoming. He appeared to have moved to Basin, Wyoming, where he and Elizabeth entered the merchandizing business. They then moved on to Everett, Washington, where Elizabeth died in 1939 and he died on March 24, 1958. | |
| BLACK GEORGE A. b. ca. 1839 d. 1922 Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1893 Rng-Tsp: 33N 98W Acres: SCL-40 Sections: 10 Map # 7 | George Black is listed as being born in Vermont in 1839 or 1840. He served as a private in the 1st Rhode Island Infantry during the Civil War. George came to the Lander Valley as early as 1888 and was a professional sheepherder in the Beaver Creek area. He lived in the Lander Hotel for several years before he died in Bishop Randall Hospital on February 16, 1922. He appears to have been single. He is buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander. | |
| BLISS LOUISA/LEANDER b. 1824 d. 1889 Arrived: 1869 Patent Year: 1892 Rng-Tsp: 34N 99W Acres: HE-195 Sections: 30,31 Map # 12 | Leander Bliss was born July 19, 1830, in Ticonderoga, New York. He came west at age 17 and served in the Second California Regiment during the Civil War. Later he served with a detachment of the California Volunteer Cavalry at Fort Bridger in Wyoming Territory. While working as a carpenter in the South Pass/Atlantic City gold mining area, he met Dr. James Irwin who hired him as the Shoshone and Bannock Agency carpenter in 1870. Leander was listed in the 1870 census as a carpenter living in Atlantic City, Sweetwater County, Wyoming Territory. In 1874 he married Louisa Stegmiller and by the 1880 census was living at the Shoshone and Bannock Indian Agency, Sweetwater County, Wyoming Territory. Again, his occupation was listed as carpenter. In the mid-1880s he homesteaded adjacent to his good friend, Charles Harrison, on the North Fork of the Popo Agie. When the first Pioneer Association met in 1886, Leander was elected their first president. The next year in November he was elected to represent Fremont and Uinta Counties as a member of the Council (Senate) during the Tenth Legislative Assembly, Wyoming Territory. He died on December 14, 1889, and is buried in the North Fork Masonic Cemetery. | |
| BORNER(BOERNER) JOHN G. b. 1835 d. 1919 Arrived: 1867 Patent Year: 1884 Rng-Tsp: 33N 100W Acres: SCE-160 Sections: 26,35 Map # 9 | John Borner was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1835. He arrived in the United States in 1859 and was living in Pierce, Wisconsin, in 1860. Borner enlisted in the Military in 1861 and was discharged in 1862. He married Lena Pauline Canary on September 23, 1875, in Wyoming. The 1880 census shows his residence as the Big Popo Agie Valley where he was listed as a farmer. After his wife's death in 1888, John moved to the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming. He died in Greybull, Wyoming, in 1919. |  |
| BOSSERT KATE H, b. unknown d. unknown Arrived: Not Available Patent Year: 1894 Rng-Tsp: 32N 100W Acres: SCE-80 Sections: 9 Map # 6 | Kate Bossert was married to a young merchant, Thomas J. Bossert, from Lake City Iowa. Kate, daughter of James and Eleanor Hogan, came to the Lander Valley and purchased a homestead on one of the most picturesque sites of the area, the Sinks and the Rise of the Big Popo Agie River in Sinks Canyon. Together with her husband's purchase of an adjoining 80 acres in 1897, they owned the majority of what is today Wyoming's Sinks Canyon State Park. No children were born to the marriage and after more than 10 years of operating a general merchandise business in Lander, the couple retired to Los Angeles, California, where they remained the rest of their lives. | |
| BOSSERT THOMAS J b. ca. 1849 d. unknown Arrived: Not Available Patent Year: 1897 Rng-Tsp: 32N 100W Acres: SCE-80 Sections: 8 Map # 6 | Thomas Bossert was born in Pennsylvania around 1849. He married Kate R. Hogan in December 1883 at Hopkinton, Iowa. After a short time as a retail merchant in Lake City, Iowa, he and Kate came to the Lander Valley. In the early 1890s he and Kate homesteaded land in Sinks Canyon which has been set aside for the people in Wyoming as Sinks Canyon State Park. They soon sold the property and moved to Lander. He built the building at 259 Main Street in Lander in 1894. It is known as the Bossert Building. Bossert was the first Lander merchant to operate on a cash only basis; he was highly successful. He sold out to Henry W. Houghton in 1905 and retired with his wife to California. Sometime in the early 1930s Mr. Bossert was tragically killed when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving. | |
| BOWMAN ANDREW b. 1848 d. unknown Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1890 Rng-Tsp: Acres: SCE-80 Sections: 31 Map # 12 | Andrew Bowman was born in 1848 on a farm near Jamestown, Stone County, Missouri. Andrew's parents were John and Elizabeth Bowman. Exactly when Andrew arrived in Fremont County is unknown, but he proved up on a Desert Land Entry (cash sale) homestead in January of 1890. He was single and listed as a ranchman in 1889. In the 1900 and 1910 censuses, he was listed as a patient in the Asylum for the Insane in Evanston, Wyoming. It is unknown when Andrew died. | |
| BOYD WILLIAM b. 1839 d. 1903 Arrived: 1869 Patent Year: 1889 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: SCE-120 Sections: 7, 18 Map # 8 | William Boyd was born on November 7, 1839, in Greenvale, Tennessee. He was married to Louisa Lajeunesse (1847-1926) in 1873. Louisa was the daughter of Edmore LeClaire and Phillisete Enos LeClaire who go back to the early days of trappers in the Wind River Valley. In the 1870 census William was listed as residing at Atlantic City, Sweetwater County, Wyoming Territory. Boyd brought in the first cattle in 1869. In 1900 he evidently moved to the reservation and was a farmer there where he owned his own farm. He and Louisa had a total of nine children together. William died in Lander on January 8, 1903, and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander. His wife, Louisa, died on November 26, 1926, and is buried beside her husband. | |
| BRUCE ALFRED L. b. unknown d. unknown Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1891 Rng-Tsp: 31N 98W Acres: HE-160 Sections: 1 Map # 3 | Alfred Bruce homestead in the vicinity of Twin Creek on the Rawlins to Lander highway. Bruce was appointed postmaster at Derby, Wyoming, on January 7, 1895. He was listed on the 1890 Veterans schedule as having served for six months and was living at Rongis, Wyoming. No additional information was available. | |
| BRUCE ALFRED L. Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1892 Rng-Tsp: 31N 98W Acres: SCE-40 Sections: 12 Map # 3 | See Other Entry | |
| BRYANT WILLIAM FRANK b. 1858 d. 1903 Arrived: Unknown Patent Year: 1895 Rng-Tsp: 32N 99W Acres: HE-160 Sections: 2 Map # 5 | Frank Bryant was born in Indiana in 1857. He came to Wyoming and married Mary Mildred Clark in 1885 in the Lander Valley. They had one child, Jesse James and then evidently divorced as Mary is later noted as marrying Chester D. Chrisman on February 24, 1896, in Lander. Besides having the reputation as a notorious rustler, Frank had a mean streak in his nature and was involved in a number of assaults; one in 1896 landed him in the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie. Soon after he was released, he was shot by a Lander man, James Dollard, and died in the Lander hospital in 1903. (see story) | |
| BUNCE ROSS b 1875 d. 1945 Arrived: Not Available Patent Year: 1899 Rng-Tsp: 33N 98W Acres: SCL-40 Sections: 3 Map # 7 | Ross Bunce was born on June 14, 1875, in Pettusville, now Sterling, Utah. He was an engineer in the stationery industry. He came to Lander in the Fall of 1883 with his cousin, Charles, and his aunt and uncle, Mary and Austin Bunce. He was a respected flock master with a ranch of 160 acres on Muskrat Creek. He developed a coal mine on land patented in 1899 and turned it over to his uncle, Austin. He had another ranch in the Big Horn Basin. He married Ethel Warnock in 1902 in Lander. Mr. and Mrs. Bunce had two children. He died on April 1, 1945, in Portland, Oregon, and is buried there. |  |
| BURNETT FINCELIUS b. 1844 d. 1933 Arrived: 1868 Patent Year: 1887 Rng-Tsp: 33N 99W Acres: HE- 73 Sections: 24 Map # 8 | Fincelius "Finn" Burnett was born in Monticello, Missouri, on April 8, 1844. He arrived in Fort Laramie in 1865 and was involved with the troops in the famous Wagon Box engagement with the Indians. In 1868 Fincelius was a contractor on the Union Pacific. In 1869 he moved to South Pass working in the mining business until 1871. He married Eliza A. McCarty from New York in 1869. They moved to Lander Valley where he obtained employment through Dr. James Irwin, the second superintendent of the Shoshone Reservation. He was employed as Head Farmer. His job there was to teach the Indians to farm. After six years he and his family moved back to the Lander Valley to homestead on the outskirts of Lander. When Eliza died, Finn married Millie E. Large on April 24, 1909, in Twin Falls, Idaho. He lived in the Lander Valley until his death in 1933. |  |
| BURNETT FINCELIUS Arrived: 1868 Patent Year: 1887 Rng-Tsp: 33N 100W Acres: HE-80 Sections: 19 Map # 9 | See Other Entry | |
| BURNETT FINCELIUS Arrived: 1868 Patent Year: 1888 Rng-Tsp: 33N 100W Acres: SCE-80 Sections: 24 Map # 9 | See Other Entry | |