Black Hills Gold Fever: Abner Howe, Tom Phipps, and George Durnam

 

Just a farmer? No way. Newspaper announcement by Hewes & Clark attracted local men from the Brooklyn Township area and off they went in 1877 on an expedition to the Black Hills to find gold. Their adventures were published fifty years later by Edward Peet, a journalist at that time who had joined the Hewes & Clark Expedition. Peet took on the historical task of identifying all the men who had gone on the trek, but most were deceased by 1927. His stories included Abner Howe, Thomas Phipps, and George Durnam.

Newspaper Articles:

Minneapolis Star Tribune April 18, 1877 p. 4.

GOLD SEEKERS. Another Party of Minneapolitans Turn Their Steps Towards the Black Hills To-day. Another party of men have turned their backs upon Minneapolis and are by this time on their way towards the gold bearing fields of the Black Hills. The "Black Hills" seems to be a magic word among certain people and a stream of human beings are pouring into the region said to contain untold amounts of the '"root of all evil." The party of men leaving Minneapolis this afternoon are in charge of Mr. Julius Hewes, of Minneapolis, and S.W. Clark, of Anoka.....

THE ROUTE TAKEN. This party will take the St. Paul & Sioux City railroad and go by way of Yankton and Fort Pierre to Deadwood City, in the Hills. At the latter named place they disband and will spread out through the Hills. Each man will go where his fancy leads, and what will become of them remains to be told hereafter.

The route they propose taking seems to afford, according to their ideas, the greatest advantages. From Yankton to Fort Pierre the Black Hillers are conveyed in steamboats and from thence by the stage route traveling overland one hundred and fifty miles. The road follows the valley of the Big Cheyenne river, which it crosses only once. By taking this route it is thought less danger is liable to be encountered, and the party do not anticipate having any trouble. They go well provided for any emergency, and expect to make a speedy trip to the Hills.

The Minneapolis Journal. Mon, Apr 18, 1927 ·Page 15. When Minneapolis Adventurers Took 37 Days to Get to the Black Hills. Excerpt:

Peet got better acquainted with some of the party--Abner Howe, George A. Dunham (afterward a Minneapolis alderman); Thomas Phipps, Thomas Nevers and others.

They boarded the John M. Chamberlain April 22, crossed the river and tied up on the Nebraska shore, then went on, reaching Fort Pierre eight days later, having travelled 30 miles a day, getting stuck of sandbars, sounding all the way. They were told to save time by walking across the Big Bend, and did so, and were left all night without food, lost in a strange country. When they got to Fort Pierre, Mr. Peet recognized several men who had walked. They had made better time than the steamboat.

From Fort Pierre, they walked, through wild country, fearing Indian raiders, meeting gunmen and gamblers, living off wild game. He met a slim young fellow, and learned next day the "young fellow" really was Calamity Jane. He held up a gambler who was about to rob his friend. He nearly starved on the prairie. Finally, on May 21, they reached Rapid City, which was a log shanty town with a log blockhouse, and swung north, reaching Crook City three days later and renting a loghouse for $40 a month.

Probably no one who makes the trip today can even realize what it must have been when it took 37 days of railroads, steamboats and walking to make the same trip. And Mr. Peet agreed today that the modern modes of travel are much better and more comfortable.

The Minneapolis Journal. Sun, Aug 07, 1927; page 64. When Minneapolis Adventurers Outwalked Train and Steamboat in a Race for Gold. To view enlarged image go to the McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Center of the West: http://library.centerofthewest.org/digital/collection/MS413/id/5/rec/4

Information on Historical Times via National Archives: in 1876, Custer, leading an Army detachment, encountered an encampment of Sioux and Cheyenne at the Little Bighorn River. Custer's detachment was annihilated, but the United States would continue its battle against the Sioux Tribe in the Black Hills until the government confiscated the land in 1877. To this day, ownership of the Black Hills remains the subject of a legal dispute between the U.S. Government and the Sioux Nation. Information on Gold Seekers From Brooklyn Township.Abner Howe (familysearch ID LHQR-C7M) was the son of Brooklyn pioneer Samuel Howe, born in 1851. His first cousin, Thomas Phipps (familysearch ID LHQR-HB1), son of Eliza (Howe) Phipps, lived in neighboring Crystal Lake Township, and was 12 years his senior. They had married sisters, Julie and Cozomy Sprague, and hence were also brother-in-laws. George Durnam (familysearch ID L4W6-NX2) was the youngest at age 23. He was married to Abner's sister, Eva. So the trio consisted of three brother-in-laws. The portraits of Thomas Phipps and George Durnam were published in the above article. WAIT - the dream didn't stop: Star Tribune. Mon, May 21, 1900; page 5

Brooklyn Storekeepers Valued College Education

 

At the center of Brooklyn Township, in an area referred to as Brooklyn Centre, was the Howe Store conveniently situated at 6900 Osseo Road. In addition to being a general store, it included a post office, and an  upstairs auditorium for social gatherings and room for the township meetings. In the back was a shop for repairing wagons and providing miscellaneous blacksmith tasks. 

This center was owned by Charles Reuel Howe who had migrated in 1852 from Maine to the Territory of Minnesota when he was less than four years old.  The world he grew up in was very rustic; his perspective would have been rustic.  And yet, he ensured that all his children went to college.  Charles [LK11-R7L] and his wife Clara [ GZ7H-LHN ] had two daughters, and an adopted son. Maybe it should be said that it was a team effort between the husband and wife because it seems improbable that a self-sufficient frontier man would value college education.

So who was Mrs. Charles R. Howe? Her genealogy lists her maiden name as Butt, but, Clara was not included in her father's probate proceedings [George MRJB-7HY ].  And her listed mother [Mary Thorpe LZF3-XWR ],  who survived George, appears--according to newspaper articles--to be a selfish, manipulative, lonely woman that Clara had nothing to do with.

Star Tribune

Minneapolis, Minnesota 06 May 1913, Tue  •  Page 11

Star Tribune

Minneapolis, Minnesota 15 May 1913, Thu  •  Page 11

What kind of a woman makes a martyr of a young lady by making her promise to postpone marriage and be her caretaker in exchange for inheriting the house and assets? This scheme was applied a couple of times with "nieces/granddaughter" (she did not have any children of her own; no relationship verified), and NOT with Clara or her daughters.

So with red flags waving around Clara's family background, the disconnection was discovered in Clara's death certificate and obituary--both informed by her daughters.  So although Clara 'Butt' was recorded in her marriage record, her birth surname was a spelling variation of Leimbach; German ancestry. And she, and her sister who's name was stated in the obituary, (and maybe other siblings) were adopted.  Clara was 11 in the 1860 federal census in Indiana, and her sister Anna, age 7, in Illinois. They evidently kept connected.

At age 20, Clara was working as a domestic servant for a young family in Minneapolis; the John McLeod's.(1) The breadwinner was a lumberman who had been born in Scotland, and his wife....Mary Norris, from Brooklyn Township (2).  Mrs. McLeod's connection to the Norris neighbors of the Howe family in Brooklyn Township is yet to be researched, but it seems highly probable that a connection existed and that is how Charles Howe and Clara Butt met.

It is also highly probable that Clara and Mary Norris McLeod maintained contact and that the McLeod family influenced Clara greatly. Mr. McLeod established a music business and his daughter Fanny became a music teacher.(3)  It was the Northwestern Conservatory of Music where Clara's first daughter, Retta, graduated from with an emphasis on pianoforte, harmony and theory.(4)

(1) 1870 Federal census: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDH3-T8J 

(2) Marriage record image online: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJGY-YF3L

(3) Minneapolis city directories accessible via Hennepin County Public Libraries

(4)  Star Tribune 17 Jun 1893, Sat · Page 5

Note: The artist of the Howe Store pen & ink drawing was Leone Howe.