Nun, more detail of his (known) history

Nun H. Davis, 1865-1925

Nun H. Davis was born March 25, 1865, to Elizabeth Thomas and David “Dave” Howell Davis in Cap Coch, Glamorgan, South Wales.

In the 1871 Welsh census, the family consisted of: Dave, a butcher; Elizabeth; Mary, 16; Sib, 10; Gomer, 9, and Nun, 6. In the next three years, the family grew by Nun’s younger siblings, Margaret, David M. and the baby, Jane. The whole family emigrated to the US in 1873, and came directly to Platte County.

In the 1880 Federal census, Looking Glass Precinct of Platte County, Nebraska, the family is: David, 50; Elizabeth, 50; Mary, 25; Gomer, 18, assisting farming; Nun, 15, assisting farming; Margaret, 12; David M., 10, herds; and Jane, 8. The family grew by one daughter in 1876, but Elizabeth Ann died of scarlet fever in 1880.

His mother, Elizabeth, died in an accident in March 1885, and his brother, Gomer, died of consumption in June 1885. Both Elizabeths and Gomer are buried at Postville Welsh Cemetery.

A freight wagon, probably similar to the wagon Nun was driving on the way to Metz.

Under Shell Creek Items, the Columbus Journal, of Sept. 2, 1885, noted: “The Platte Centerites are in for a new road direct to Metz. The mishap to Nun Davis, son of Mr. David H. Davis, caused by the road and bridge being so close to the R. R. track, … That road … is one of the most dangerous roads in the whole country. Mr. Davis’s mishap is not the only one, and surely it is not the last one, and if not changed, it may cost many a life yet.” Nun was about 20 at the time of the accident.

Nun disappears from the record from 1885 to 1910 and I can’t find him in the 1900 census. Did he marry? Was he widowed? Was he in the military? Digging the Panama Canal? Fighting in the Spanish-American War? Fighting in the Philippine-American War? Take part in the Johnson County War in Wyoming? Join the Klondike Gold Rush? Get caught in the San Francisco earthquake? Travel the west taking photos with the newly designed Brownie camera? Take part in the first automobile produced by Ford in 1903? Or help Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright get off the ground at Kitty Hawk. Did he rob a bank and spend time in jail? What was he doing?

In the 1910 census, he’s living with his sister, Sib Mahood, at Columbus, Platte County. He is 45 and in ill health. Later in the year, he’s admitted to the Norfolk Hospital for the Insane. His family was taking care of him while he was ill until he became delusional, he thought they were poisoning his food, and hit a health care provider and a family member.

It is at this point, where his name was changed. There are three documents about his admission to the hospital, one has his birth name, Nun H. Davis, another says William H. Davis and a third says Newton H. Davis.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the cause of syphilis was unknown and no treatment was known. It was one of the leading causes of disease and death. About 1914, it was found to be treatable with arsenic, which, while being able to cure syphilis, had many drawbacks including toxic side effects.  Treating with arsenic and bismuth was the standard treatment for syphilis until the advent of penicillin in 1943.

Sept. 10, 1910, a warrant was sworn out for his admission to the Nebraska Hospital for the Insane at Lincoln as Nun H. Davis

Case 439, Return of Physician in the case of Nun H. Davis of Platte County, Neb., filed at hospital Sept 7, 1910, patient received Oct. 15, 1910. Under address of friends, it lists only Mary D. Nickerson, Healdsburg, Calif. (Mary is his elder sister.)

Various paperwork at the beginning of September list him as single, a stenographer-bookkeeper, and that this was his first “attack.” Symptoms included ideas of persecution, imagines he is being poisoned, thought his sister was trying to throw pepper in his eyes. The symptoms seem to be increasing. The supposed cause is tabes dorsalis, but with a question mark. This is the syphilitic infection of the spinal cord, which affects coordination and movement. Symptoms include paralysis, dementia and blindness. It typically appears in a person decades after initial infection.

Dated Oct. 15, 1910, Norfolk State Hospital documents give his name at William H. Davis. He’s listed as blind, with dark hair. Condition of body as to cleanliness: Dirty. (Did he not get a bath at the Lincoln Hospital?) Attitude of patient, passive. Condition of clothing: Good.

A Norfolk State Hospital examination describes him in detail, as “a quiet, agreeable little man. Seems very desirous of making as little trouble as possible. He gives his height as 5 foot 5 inches and 119 pounds. Eyes blue, complexions ruddy, quite emaciated. Right ear slightly defective, left normal.” He states that his blindness came on gradually, “I am in a white light, as though a sheet had been draped in front of my eyes. A person sitting in a rocking-chair, moving back & forth can faintly be distinguished. When I awaken, I seem to be in the dark for a while, then the white light comes back again.”

In a 1911 monthly chart, the ward nurse comments that he is polite to attendants and nurses, but verbally abusive to the ward physician. He complains that he doesn’t get enough to eat, but it is the same that everyone gets. He says his cereal never has milk in it, but it always has milk in it. .... These reports show his name as N.H. Davis, at this point.

January 1912, “as irritable as ever.” February 1912, “Patient is exceedingly ill-tempered all the time.” July 1912, “Patient asks for a minister, then abuses him when he calls.” September 1912, his name at the top of the chart is “Davis, Newton,” and the chart number is the same. After this date, going forward, his name is stated as Newton Davis on the charts. Were there enough staff changes that no one really knew his name? Possible. Did he tell them his name was Newton because the name Nun was met with confusion? Possible.

In April 1913, his sister Janie Davis Miles of Palestine was admitted to the same hospital. She thought that her family was conspiring to take her two boys away from her. Two younger children had died as infants. She refused to eat because she thinks she is being poisoned.

Back to Nun: In July 1913, his chart states “Patient talks a great deal to other patients. Appetite fair.” October 1913, “Patient is usually very disagreeable, sarcastic and complaining. Says the physicians don’t care properly for the patients here and are purposely negligent. Criticizes the superintendent.” January 1914, “Is very anxious to go home, that he’s not insane. Very anxious to visit with his sister, also a patient here. Is selfish and unappreciative. Called a nurse “An Irish son-of-a-bitch” when she tried to give him his medicine. Hears voices at times.” April 1914, “Very disagreeable, says he is kept here to be persecuted. At times uses the vilest of language. Always complains of the food.” May 1914, “Wants to visit his sister.” May 27, 1914, “Attacked by a patient, who took him by the throat and dragged him out of the building.” July 1914, “Abused the physician for saying something, and then apologized when the physician started to move him to his room and said the physician should not pay any attention to a ‘poor old blind man.’” States he is kept here for purposes of blackmail. October 1914, “People are bribed to keep him here, the officials are blackguards, tramps, dirty, low-down, grafting politicians. Accuses the employees of being immoral.” January 1915, tells a staffer: If you would take $5.00 and buy me some cheese, I would regain my sight in three months and get well and go home.” July 1915, he is bedridden due to weakness; sits up part of the day. April 1916, under “Complaining” “This is his attitude most of the time, but less so than formerly.”

In 1917, his sister Janie died of tuberculosis, while in the care of the Norfolk Hospital for the Insane. He is listed as one of the survivors. Then 2 years go by w/o any notes about his attitude or abuse. Just “Bed patient.” “Blind.” Or under “Complaining,” a tick mark.

November 1922, a new doctor is in the institution and says of him: “This man is a chronic bed patient. He was for a long time diagnosed as GPI, (General paralysis of the insane (GPI)  is a severe neuro-psychiatric disorder, caused by the chronic meningoencephalitis that leads to cerebral atrophy in late-stage syphilis.) though it is questionable if this diagnoses can be correct, considering the stationary condition of his health and the many years that he has been in this condition. In the Dec. 31, 1922, chart, it says “chronic bed patient,” and “no medical treatment past two months. General health good.” I may be wrong, but I think they were treating him with arsenic and bismuth, as per the treatment for syphilis at that time. Then they stopped.

In June of 1923, his sister, Mary Nickerson, having committed herself to a Masonic Home in California, wrote to the superintendent to ask how Nun was. She asks the superintendent if there are any issues to contact Maggie James of Lindsay or Sib Mahood of Columbus. She asked if Sib had sent Nun anything the previous Christmas.

Then, again, more than four years go by w/o any notes about his attitude. Just “Bed patient.” “Blind.” Or under “Complaining,” a tick mark. Also, at this time, he was weighed monthly. In four years, he only varied from 95 to 98 pounds.

In September of 1924, a different doctor states that this chronic bed patient never talks or takes any interest in his surroundings, but generally eats and sleeps well. In December of 1924, Maggie James, Nun’s sister in Lindsay, Nebraska, sent a Christmas basket. Maggie always referred to her brother as N.H. Davis, not Newton.

In January of 1925, Maggie, at Mary’s prompting, wrote the hospital to acknowledge that they had told her Nun’s health was failing. They spoke of where deceased patients’ bodies were buried.

In Feb. 15, 1925, Nun wrote a letter, dictated, to Judge Smith of Creighton, Nebraska, c/o Quackenbush Gathering of the Society of Friends, asking for him to come visit him at the hospital and he would explain his situation and why he needs to be removed from the hospital. He said he had rescued Smith and saved his life in 1871 (Nun would have been six years old at that time) at the Carpenter’s Camp, and reminds Smith to come rescue him. “With greatest respect to our brave people and clean home cures, I am very affectionately, Jr. H. Davis. -- Did he know his name? Had he provided the “Newton” name and confused the issue on his own? Did he do it knowingly? Nun had been a Baptist like his whole family. Had he become a Quaker at some point? They do not swear, but Nun obviously did.

In March of 1925 he weighed 93 pounds, and the doctor at the time said he seems to take more interest in goings-on.

Nun’s family took care of him prior to his hospitalization, but apparently never visited him in the 15 years he was at the hospital. It was 46 miles from Columbus, where his sister, Sib lived, to Norfolk. She was five years his senior, had a husband and eight children. When Nun left the home, she had four children still in the house, and had recently had two other children die. She was active in the community, including securing funding for the local poorhouse, helping out those in need.

Another elder sister, Mary, who had lived in California since 1899, checked on his health via letter, as did a younger sister, Maggie, of Lindsay, Nebraska. Maggie had four children and had taken in their sister, Janie’s daughter, when she was taken ill and put into the state hospital.

Nun died April 14, 1925. Maggie James heard of her brother’s death and arranged to go by train with a family friend, George Mahood, and brought the body back for burial at the Postville Church.

Nebraska Vital Statistics returned a request from me in 2017 for a death certificate for Nun H. Davis without results. The state hospital, when I got copies of those records, had a copy of the death certificate I was unable to get using his birth name because it is for Newton H. Davis. The informant (for name, occupation, age, and birthdate) is the state hospital records, not a member of the family.

The certificate says he’s buried at Humphrey; however, as Nun, he is in the diagram of burials of the Postville Church Cemetery, though not in its records. A newspaper clipping someone found on my behalf in 2019 says that he had a funeral at the Postville Cemetery.

Did the stigma of mental illness allow the records to not be kept correctly by church officials at this time? It’s hard to say what happened. The clipping does not explicitly say he was buried at Postville, but his whole family except for David Morgan is there. His true burial site is there, but it’s unverifiable at this time.

The mystery of older buildings

Our home has been called The Busselman House by our family since we moved to this small town and realized that the longest-owning recent residents were John & Thiele Busselman, an elderly couple. When people asked us where we lived, we also used that because they would automatically know where we lived.

Later, when I got some time, I got a list of those who had owned it from the Treasurer's Office at the county level, and found that the White-Cline family had lived in it a long time, but not as long as Johnny and Theile. 

The house itself was built in 1911 in the Fourth Addition of the small town. It was not intended to be a farmhouse, and didn't include too much land. A strip of land between it and the next-furthest-south tract was platted as a street, but never used, that land was used by all the homeowners who lived here as far as I know. 

There is a roomy root cellar here, too, which has been repaired about three times, and I'm guessing it went in shortly after the house did, but there is no documentation for the root cellar.

Charles Riesen was the first owner of the house, from 1912 to October 1916, and Mr. Riesen did not get enumerated in either the 1910 or the 1920 Federal Censuses. I haven't found a trace of him so far.

The property was sold to James E. Jenkins, in October 1916. James, his wife, Elizabeth, their two boys and James' brother George lived there. In 1910, James was a salesman in Cass County, Nebraska, before he moved to TinyTown. When he lived at another location in TinyTown in 1920, he was in real estate and his brother George attended college. They had sold the place to Fred G. White in 1918. James Jenkins and family were in Chicago by 1930, where he was a bank president.

Fred White had been married in 1897 to Edith Bland. They had four children and divorced, with the three teenaged children still at home lived with Fred. Fred married Mattie Cline Mossberger, an Iowa girl and recent widow, in 1915. She had a son, Johnnie Mossberger, a baby, later known as Johnnie White. In the census year of 1920, Fred & Mattie, his three teenagers, Cliva, Orval and Iva, Mattie's son Johnny, now six, and Fred and Mattie's children, Margaret and Jerold, ages 2 and 1, lived there. Add to the nuclear family, Anna Cline, Mattie's mother, Everett Cline, Mattie's brother, and a hired man Will Ramey.

Early in my ownership of the house, and before I investigated further, I thought all 11 of them lived in the house. Certainly in an age when you didn't have a lot of possessions or clothing to store anyway, it could work. Eleven people WOULD have fit in here. In an age where more than one person generally slept in a bed, it seemed doable. It has 3 bedrooms, after all. And there's no reason a living room can't be used as a bedroom each night.

Enter the Woodshed. Actually a refurbished corn crib, very similar in proportion to the building at right, we called it The Woodshed. We discovered it had had electric service, scars from having had a woodstove, and a phone line. 

We initially thought that Mister Busselman fitted this building out so he could have some time away from Misses Busselman, which may have been true, but one corner of the building was fitted out to be a kitchen. Windowless, but a kitchen. Mister B wouldn't need to make food independently from Mrs. B. That would have been a true bit of gossip and a travesty of marriage. Word around town was that Johnny & Thiele were very happily married.

However, it was seriously possible that the hired man might have used that building to live in. The more I work in The Woodshed, the more I know someone definitely lived there. The house was re-wired by REA , but the woodshed was wired for power long before that and never updated to REA standards. Two very small windows faced east, each only about 20 x 20, on either side of a large but house-dimensioned, east-facing door. There's a rather rustic door on the west that would allow for a stupendous breeze shooting through some evenings. The square footage of the building is about 15 ft x 15 ft., plenty of room for someone in the 1920s.

Mattie's mother, Anna Cline had been born in 1865 in Iowa and married William Cline 1883. They had six daughters, and a son, Everett, who was 17 in 1920. It's possible Anna and her son were visiting her daughter, Mattie, in the summer of 1920, and were enumerated while they were here, and didn't ordinarily live here. 

Anna's husband William Cline died in 1926 in Buchananan, Missouri, of heart disease. There is no evidence they were divorced and some evidence that they did not. Anna later remarried. 

Some other arrangement is also possible. Ninety years later, no one knows. Just the evidence of what's in that building, teasing a person, tauntingly hinting at further stories.

Not what I thought it was, or who owns Frank's plot?

I know where my grandfather is buried. I learned it late in life. Some things I assumed.
Like I assumed that there was no headstone because my grandmother couldn't afford it.
And while I am probably correct, I didn't take it far enough.

As it turns out she couldn't afford to bury him, either.
Someone else actually owns the little strip of ground he's buried at and the burial location has two people in it, allowable by Nebraska law. This is something I could have known sooner, had I asked the gent who runs the cemetery. But it came up some other way.

So now the question is: Who was Archie Millar, and why did he or his family let Grandma bury Frank there?

Here are some answers, but the time frame hardly makes he and Frank friends or anything. Frank moved to Fremont in the mid 1950s. Hmmm.

Archie W. Millar, 80, the second white person born in Dodge County, died at a local hospital early this morning. 

Born June 25, 1857, at North Bend, the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Millar, North Bend pioneers, he grew to manhood in the North Bend vicinity, and lived there most of his life. Millar married Miss Mary Emma Clark November 12, 1885, at North Bend, and the couple resided on a farm three and one-half miles north of North Bend for many years.

Coming to Fremont 12 years ago, Millar had been residing with his daughter, Mrs. Ruby Westphal, 230 East 15th street. Mrs. Westphal teaches in school district 63 in Dodge county. Millar's wife preceded him in death January 28, 1933. One son, Glenn C. Millar, also preceded him in death. The former North Bend man was a member of the Presbyterian church of Fremont.

Surviving are two sons, Reuel and Harry A. Millar, Anaconda, Mont.; two daughters, Mrs. Charles B. Walker, Sidney, and Mrs. Westphal, and 11 grandchildren.

Making a vine wreath

I made some woodbine wreaths yesterday and it was such FUN! I thought it was easy, too, which is why I went crazy and made four, one nearly after the other.

If you want to do this fun and kinda zen thing, find a nice source of woodbine or grapevine. Know your plants, and know your dangerous plants like poison ivy and poison oak. I’m pretty sure you won’t use greenbriar, it’s just thorny and painful to touch.

These are the two which are easiest to find where I live: Virginia creeper, also known as woodbine, which is the one with five leaflets, and wild grape. Wild grape looks to me like it has leaves a little like maple leaves. Of course if there are grapes present, that's a giveaway. IF they are grapes and not some other berry. Just sayin!

Also, both woodbine and grape will re-grow from this wood you're using, so you may want to consider that, if it's something you have in your yard.  If you're gathering on the roadside, be informed about how recently anyone may have sprayed. And it's the season for pesky wasp-type insects, so take care of yourself, and don't work too close to a food source.

I used to have a trumpet vine with the big orange trumpet-shaped flowers, and I hear you can use those, too. 

Another friend said she has river willow, and all willows can be used, either green or re-soaked after being cut and left.

So! 

1. Have a good, sharp pair of shears, clippers or secateurs. 

2. Maybe have some cheap twine since some wreaths get oblong, and need a little encouragement if you want them to be rounder.

In my case, I had a lot of vine in one place, and I cut several lengths of about 9-12 feet.

I just formed a hoop from the first three or four feet of the vine, and started winding the vine around the hoop I formed. I’m right-handed, so I twined front to back in that direction. It looks rough at first, but it fills in nicely.

Keep going until the wreath is as full as you like it.

The woodbine leaves and stems with berries are about to fall off in early October, which is when I did mine. You can break them off easily or they will fall off as the wreath dries.

Some stems are going to stick out awkwardly. Tuck in now, if you want, as this may be the most pliable they will be. Or just leave them at first, and you can snip them off later. If you want to decorate your wreath, these sticking-out stem parts can be handy.

Some folks leave 6-8 inches sticking out evenly all around the outside as a decorative fringe, and that is certainly an option.

I had one large egg-shaped wreath, and I put it over the bottom of a five-gallon bucket to dry. You can also dry them tied into shape with twine or some string, depending on how thick you made it. And so far, I'm just drying mine in the back porch and deciding what I'm going to do with four wreaths when I don't really need any. Maybe as gifts. If I get crazy and make too many, maybe a craft sale. ... Nah.

Questions of life and wild berries du jour

What's important? Where do you want your life to go? What do you do for fun?

Apparently I don't have the answers to the two latter questions, because there's SO MUCH that I like to do and want to do.

In some bits of free time, I have begun researching my friends' genealogy. Because I'm crazy, I guess. But I do like giving others a boost into one of my obsessions.

Speaking of obsessions, I ate five grapes earlier on a walk, and I'm quite happy about it. But the vine right next to it has seemingly identical fruits, but is a totally different vine. I know the vine I ate from is a wild grape and these are my first wild grapes. By the way: Yum. Seedy but yum!

Right next to (and probably intertwined with) this particular grape is a greenbriar or catbriar that ALSO has little grapelike fruits. The thing you notice most about greenbriar is that it is so so so thorny. Even the folks giving it a common name call it prickly catbriar, because telling you it is thorny once is not enough.

So the fruits of Smilax hispida ("bristly vine") are beautiful, and very similar to grapes in size, at least at this location. I read that the early spring shoots and leaves are the really edible parts, and the berries have thick skins and last through the winter. I did find one place that mentioned making jellies with them. Most talk about the early shoots.

This photo is of greenbriar, but the leaves vary by genus, and the ones I see on my walk don't look heart-shaped like that, although they all have palmate veining.

So now you know. They apparently like very similar locations to grapes.