1880-1899
HOMESTEADERS N - P
| NICOL FRANK b. 1849 d. 1930 Year Arrived: 1881 Patent Year: 1890 Rng & Twn: 32N 100W Sections: 3 Acres: SCE-120 Map # 6 | Frank Nicol was born in South Bend, Indiana, on September 16, 1849, and spent his youth there. Frank came to Wyoming in 1881 and in 1893 married Jennie McBride at Casper, Wyoming. They came to the Lander Valley and established their home in the Borners Garden and began testing the possibilities of fruit growing there. Their orchard was one of the first. Mr. Nicol took an active part in the work of the Fremont Horticultural Society and later took a part in the county fair. Another outstanding achievement of Mr. Nicol was the expansion of the Table Mountain Ditch project. Frank Nicol died on October 24, 1930, following an illness of several weeks. He is buried in the Borners Garden Cemetery. |  |
| NICOL FRANK Year Arrived: 1881 Patent Year: 1892 Rng & Twn: 32N 100W Sections: 3 Acres: HE-160 Map # 6 | See Other Entry | |
| NOBLE WORDEN P b. 1847 d. 1914 Year Arrived: 1868 Patent Year: 1884 Rng & Twn: 33N 99W Sections: 8 Acres: SCE-160 Map # 8 | Worden Noble was born at Sacketts Harbor, New York, in 1847, the second of six children. He received a good schooling and then graduated from a commercial college. While still a teenager, he worked in a Sutlers store, as a cabin boy on a Missouri steamboat, and as a night clerk in a hotel in Omaha. In the spring of 1867, he took a job with Ecoffey and Curry, government freighting contractors at Fort Laramie. In 1868 he moved his freighting business to Camp Stambaugh and Sweetwater mining district by which he accrued considerable wealth. Noble married Margaret Halloran on December 25, 1869, at Atlantic City. She bore him four children, three daughters and a son, Fred W. Noble. In 1870 his freighting business was extended to Camp Brown on the Big Popo Agie River where he became well enough known and respected by 1874 to be elected a Sweetwater County commissioner in then Wyoming Territory. He received one of the earliest patents in the Lander Valley in 1884. He opened a store at the Shoshone agency and by 1885, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Albert D. Lane, he opened another store in Lander. Noble's younger brother, Fred F. Noble, joined the banking firm of Noble & Lane and helped in management of both the store and bank. Noble sold his Lander home and moved to Salt Lake City where he helped organize a commercial bank of which he was vice president. He had interests in both the cattle and sheep business and had purchased a 60,000 acre sheep ranch in Nevada that his son managed for him. W. P. Noble died in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 6, 1914. |  |
| O'BRIEN WILLIAM b. 1849 d. 1924 Year Arrived: 1869 Patent Year: 1890 Rng & Twn: 34N 99W Sections: 32 Acres: HE-42 Map #12 | William "Bill" O'Brien was born in June 1849 in Dublin, Ireland and immigrated to America in 1852. William was a Civil War Veteran as a Private in Co. B, 17 Regiment New York Infantry. He enlisted in 1861 and was discharged in 1863. William was attracted to the South Pass gold excitement and arrived in the newly established Hamilton City in 1869. In 1882 he married Molly (last name unknown) and the couple took up a homestead on North Fork, north of Lander. They had two sons, James and Leo, who remained in the Lander area after their parents passed. William was a charter member of Fremont County Pioneer Association. William died in Lander in 1919 and is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery. | |
| O'BRIEN WILLIAM Year Arrived: 1869 Patent Year: 1899 Rng & Twn: 34N 99W Sections: 31 Acres: HE-160 Map #12 | See Other Entry | |
| O'NEAL ANGELINA/ W.F. b. ca. 1843 d. 1911 Year Arrived: 1879 Patent Year: 1890 Rng & Twn: 33N 100W Sections: 19, 24 Acres: HE-159 Map # 9 | Angelina (Angeline) LeClair was born about 1843 to unknown parents. She married William F. O'Neal circa 1871. In the 1880 census they were living in the Big Popo River Valley where they homesteaded 160 acres in about 1885. They had three children before William died in 1887: William F. Jr. born 1871, Minnie born 1876, and Calvin L. born 1877. Angelina sold her interest in the homestead to James O'Neal in 1886, who in turn sold it to Ed Farthing. She married Charles Mitchell LaJeunesse on September 1, 1887, and was listed in the 1898 U. S. Indian Census Rolls. Angelina died on July 7, 1911, at Fort Washakie, Wyoming. | |
| O'NEAL JAMES W b. 1857 d. 1913 Year Arrived: Not Available Patent Year: 1892 Rng & Twn: 33N 100W Sections: 24 Acres: HE-80 Map # 9 | James O'Neal was born May 30, 1857, in Blue, Missouri, to James C. and Susan J. McLean O'Neal. In 1860 the family started overland to California. The father and brother died on the way to California. James lived there until he was 20 years old. James came to the Lander Valley in 1877 where he met Rosina Grimmett, daughter of John and Sarah Passey Grimmett, who had recently moved from Utah and filed a homestead with their son, Orson. James and Rosina were married December 15, 1880, and James filed a homestead of 80 acres for which he later received patent in 1892. James was one of the pioneer farmers in the area. He and his wife raised five children on the ranch. James served two terms as county assessor. In 1911, the ranch was sold and James and family left for the Pacific Coast. The illness and death of his daughter, Mrs. Oliver Leedy, of Hudson, brought the family back to Hudson. James died November 16, 1913, and is buried in Lander. |  |
| OLSON PETER b. ca.1827 d. unknown Year Arrived: Not Available Patent Year: 1890 Rng & Twn: 33N 99W Sections: 7, 8 Acres: HE-160 Map # 8 | Peter Olson was born in Scandanavia about 1827 and immigrated to the United States in the 1860s. . He was a single farmer who homesteaded as a squatter in the early 1870's on Baldwin Creek, Sweetwater County, Wyoming Territory. A patent for 160 acres was issued to him in 1890. He mortgaged his farm on which he raised mainly wheat in 1892 and again in 1893. Peter never married and there is no further information on when or where he died. | |
| OSBORN O(R)SBORN JOHN b. ca. 1868 d. 1925 Year Arrived: Not Available Patent Year: 1892 Rng & Twn: 33N 100W Sections: 10 Acres: HE-160 Map # 9 | John Osborne was born about 1868 in Missouri to unknown parents. He married Alice Townsend, the daughter of William Townsend a prominent lumberman in Lander Valley on July 11, 1886. John homesteaded 160 acres on which he received patent in 1892. Three sons were born to them: William P. in 1889, Charles in June 1891, and Bert L. in Jan 1893. The family moved to Big Horn County and by 1910 three girls, Alice, Addie, and Dora, were added to the family. They then moved to Fergus, Montana, where John died on November 1, 1925. | |
| PATTEN JAMES I b. 1840 d. 1927 Year Arrived: 1870 Patent Year: 1890 Rng & Twn: 33N 99W Sections: 18 Acres: SCE-118 Map # 8 | James Patten was born in Ohio in February 1840. After being discharged from the Union Army he worked in gold mines and then on to Laramie, Wyoming, in 1868. It was there he married Mrs. Clara B. Haynes. He accepted a teaching position at the Shoshone Agency, but in 1874 his salary was cut so drastically that he could not stay on. They then moved to Lander and took up land that later became part of the city. In 1875 he was appointed Lander's first postmaster. Then, in 1877 he was named Indian Agent at the Shoshone Agency. In 1882 he established the Lander Drug Store and a sister store, Bonanza, in Big Horn County. Clara died in 1883 and four years later James married Anna Dodge White. He won a seat in the House in 1887 and served one year. In 1896 he sold his Lander store and moved his Bonanza store to Meeteetse. In 1897 he moved to Basin where he died in 1927. (see story) |  |
| PELON JOHN P.(PELONG) b. ca. 1828 d. 1913 Year Arrived: 1868 Patent Year: 1890 Rng & Twn: 33N 99W Sections: 5, 8 Acres: HE-171 Map #8 | John Pelon was born in Canada around 1828. He came to the United States as a young man and was in Colorado when the Civil War broke out. He joined Company A, Second Colorado Cavalry, and saw active service during the rebellion. In 1869 he joined the gold rush to South Pass where for a number of years he was engaged in freighting. He later ran a band of horses on a ranch he located just north of Lander. Mr. Pelon died in 1913 and is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander. (see story) | |
| PERALTA PETER T. b. 1855 d. 1927 Year Arrived: 1879 Patent Year: 1892 Rng & Twn: 33N 99W Sections: 28, 33 Acres: HE-160 Map # 8 | Peter Peralta was born in California on April 14, 1855. He married Ase Marie Nielsen (Mary) Jesperson on April 27, 1885, in Fremont County. He owned a ranch at the foot of Table Mountain. His occupation was listed as stock raiser in the 1900 census. Besides his homestead, Peter also had a harness and blacksmith shop in Lander. From reading a Wind River Mountaineer article, Peter recognized the men involved in a jail break, held them with a rifle, made them throw down their guns, gave them breakfast, and took them into Lander to the courthouse and turned them over to Sheriff Charley Stough. Peter purchased William Oldenburg's wagon and blacksmithing shop in Lander to which he added a farm implement inventory. He spent several winters in California as a stock manager and after the sale of his ranch he moved to Casper again as a stock manager where he died August 15, 1927. Peter "Pete" Peralta is buried with his wife in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander. |  |
| PERALTA PETER T. Year Arrived: 1879 Patent Year: 1892 Rng & Twn: 33N 99W Sections: 28 Acres: SCE-160 Map # 8 | See Other Entry | |
| PETERSON LOUIS Year Arrived: 1879 Patent Year: 1890 Rng & Twn: 33N 100W Sections: 2, 11 Acres: SCE-120 Map #9 | See Other Entry | |
| PETERSON LOUIS b. ca. 1848 d. 1896 Year Arrived: 1879 Patent Year: 1891 Rng & Twn: 33N 100W Sections: 5, 10, 11 Acres: HE-160 Map # 9 | Louis Peterson was born in 1848 in Denmark. We first find him in the Lander Valley in the 1880 census listed as a single man engaged in the livestock business. Louis married Mrs. Anna Kiernan on August 29, 1882. She brought one son, John James Kiernan, to this marriage. In 1890 they homesteaded on the North Fork of the Popo Agie. As time passed he and Anna separated with Anna remaining in the house with her son, John. Louis became ill and deeded his property to Anna in 1889 and 1891 but obtained the patents in his name. In his remaining years Louis moved to Fort Washakie where he died in late December 1896 and is buried there. |  |
| PETERSON MARY A. b.1833 d. 1900 Year Arrived: 1879 Patent Year: 1891 Rng & Twn: 33N 100W Sections: 1, 12 Acres: HE-160 Map # 9 | Mary Ann Griffinauch, an immigrant born in Switzerland, met and married Henry Peterson, a Mormon flour miller working at Logan, Utah Territory. Henry had come to America in 1858 and made the journey across the plains and mountains, in one of the handcart companies. He arrived in Lehi, Utah Territory where his mother and his young wife died from the trials of the arduous journey. While in Logan, two children were born to Mary and Henry before they moved to the Bear Lake Valley in Idaho Territory. While there four more children were born before they moved to the Lander Valley in 1876. Henry filed on a homestead and entered the livestock business as a partner with Henry Harting. Henry lived for only three more years when he died in 1881, leaving Mary with her eleven year old son, Henry Peterson Jr. and two younger children to run the ranch. Mary made significant improvements to the homestead and received the patent in 1891. Mary became seriously ill in 1889 and died April 16, 1900 at the age of 67. | |
| PITTS ELIJAH H. b. 1847 d. 1922 Year Arrived: 1876 Patent Year: 1894 Rng & Twn: 33N 99W Sections: 23, 24 Acres: HE-160 Map # 8 | Elijah Pitts was born in February 1847 in Kentucky. He came to the Lander Valley in 1876 and on June 27, 1887, married Mrs. Jennie E. Black Oldham, a widow with several Oldham children. Elijah received a patent in 1894 on a 160-acre homestead. In August of 1909 he was arrested for shooting at his wife and daughter, who also testified that he had repeatedly threatened them in the past besides having threatened to kill Charles Oldham (a son) and Joseph Huftile (a neighbor). The courts approved a divorce, sentenced Elijah to several months of community service, and ended up hiring him as a janitor at the courthouse where he served until his death in 1922. | |
| PLUMB WILLIAM b. 1863 d. ca. 1910 Year Arrived: Not Available Patent Year: 1890 Rng & Twn: 33N 100W Sections: 25 Acres: SCE-160 Map # 9 | William Plumb was born June 1863 in Ohio. He married Mary Anna Behymer in 1884 and they had two sons born in Wyoming: William in 1885 and Frank Raymond in 1888. William homesteaded under the Preemption Act and cash sale 160 acres in the Borners Garden area of Lander Valley. He received the patent in 1890 and the family moved to Montana in that year. He died in Montana around 1910. | |
| POIRE LOUIS b. ca. 1830 d. 1900 Year Arrived: 1868 Patent Year: 1890 Rng & Twn: 33N 99W Sections: 17, 20, 21 Acres: SCE-520 Map # 8 | At the age of 22, Louis Poire emigrated with his brother, Celestin, from France and arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana, in the fall of 1852. He had a store in South Pass City and became quite wealthy in his gold mining ventures. On April 3, 1877 at the age of 47 he married the sister of wealthy freighter and homesteader Jules Lamoureaux, Marie Leah Lamoureaux. They moved to Lander in 1878 where Louis acquired a homestead and set up several businesses on Main Street. No children resulted from their marriage. Louis is buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander. (see story) | |
| PUGH JONATHAN b. 1827 d. unknown Year Arrived: Not Available Patent Year: 1895 Rng & Twn: 31N 99W Sections: 4, 9 Acres: HE-120 Map # 4 | Jonathan Pugh was born in Virginia in 1827 to unknown parents. He is first recorded in Wyoming in 1867 as an organizer of the California Mining District, at Spring Gulch, a tributary of Beaver Creek in the vicinity of the South Pass gold fields. There he with others discovered the Miners Delight, a most productive mine that fostered the development the mining town of Lewiston. Its name was changed later and remains today the ghost town of Miners Delight. A nearby mine, the Lone Star, discovered first by a Dr. Leonard, was afterwards relocated by Johnathan and his friend, Louis Poire. Both men were active in mining into the early 1890s but operated from their respective homesteads taken up in the Lander Valley in the early 1880s. Jonathan apparently remained single all his life. Our last record for Jonathan is when he deeded his property in Red Canyon to his brother, Lawrence Pugh, in 1898. | |