Harry & Blanche Page
Harry Page was born in 1882 in Hendricks County, Indiana. His wife Blanche Elsie Kurtz was born in 1886 in Kansas. Harry Page came to Wyoming in March of 1917 and filed on a homestead about two and a half miles north of the Little Missouri River. The snow was deep at the time and when it began to melt and the sagebrush began to show up, he wondered what king of a place he had filed on! His wife, Blanche Kurtz Page, stayed in Indiana until school was out; then she came out with their five children on the train. Her folks didn’t think she could manage all five children by herself so her brother, Frank Sellers, came along as far as Deadwood, which was the last stop they had to make before arriving in Belle Fourche. Harry met them in Belle Fourche with team and wagon. They arrived in the Government Canyon at Enice and Della Cheshier’s place – Harry & Della Cheshier were second cousins. They stayed there about a month until Harry got their log house done.
Daughter Muriel (Huseby) said she would never forget crossing the river and getting stuck. One of the horses was spirited and nervous, he got so mad because the other horse wouldn’t help him pull – he layed right down in the river and tried to drown himself. Two cowboys came along and hitched on to him and pulled him out, then finished pulling the wagon across. One of the cowboys, Carl Smith, became a brother-in-law later on.
The Fred Hickey famlily was their closest neighbor at the time. Harry helped and they all built a little log schoolhouse halfway between the places; that was where the children went to school for several years. There were five of the Page kids (Maynard, Gerald, Kathryn, Muriel & Henry(, four Hickey boys (Raymong, Gerald Lowell Jess). Later on there were two Maurer kids (Agatha and Rex).
Later on, more people came out to file on land, among them Art Mauer & family, the Stewart family, and the Kruger family. Harry helped them all build log cabins and get settled. They would stay at the Page place until their cabins were ready to live in. Mr. Kruger asked them over to listen to his radio – the first one that came to the neighborhood. The kids would see the adults taking turns listening with earphones and laughing and wonder what it was all about.
Muriel got sick with Typhoid fever and said her folks had an awful struggle with her. She was isolated out in a little log cabin with a trained nurse that Dr. Sheriill had sent out from Camp Crook. Before she got over it, she was so weak she had to learn all over again how to walk. All her hair came out from the high fever and when it came back it was very curly. They had to keep fresh fruit of some kind in the cellar for her to eat. Harry was about four years old and it didn’t take him long to learn when the nurse went after some fruit for Muriel, he was always there so he could get some too.
There was plenty of open range then and Harry bought and traded around until he had about fifty head of horses. Lots of them were unbroken, so on Sundays, the young men would gather at their place and ride the wild horses. They had lots of rodeos – that was about the only excitement there was except going to dances.
Harry and Blanche had a tough time making a living for their family and dreamed of the day they might strike oil, but didn’t live long enough for that. They were killed in a car wreck on August 23, 1950 near Alva. Harry was 67 years old, Blanche was 64.
Harry Page was born in 1882 in Hendricks County, Indiana. His wife Blanche Elsie Kurtz was born in 1886 in Kansas. Harry Page came to Wyoming in March of 1917 and filed on a homestead about two and a half miles north of the Little Missouri River. The snow was deep at the time and when it began to melt and the sagebrush began to show up, he wondered what king of a place he had filed on! His wife, Blanche Kurtz Page, stayed in Indiana until school was out; then she came out with their five children on the train. Her folks didn’t think she could manage all five children by herself so her brother, Frank Sellers, came along as far as Deadwood, which was the last stop they had to make before arriving in Belle Fourche. Harry met them in Belle Fourche with team and wagon. They arrived in the Government Canyon at Enice and Della Cheshier’s place – Harry & Della Cheshier were second cousins. They stayed there about a month until Harry got their log house done.
Daughter Muriel (Huseby) said she would never forget crossing the river and getting stuck. One of the horses was spirited and nervous, he got so mad because the other horse wouldn’t help him pull – he layed right down in the river and tried to drown himself. Two cowboys came along and hitched on to him and pulled him out, then finished pulling the wagon across. One of the cowboys, Carl Smith, became a brother-in-law later on.
The Fred Hickey famlily was their closest neighbor at the time. Harry helped and they all built a little log schoolhouse halfway between the places; that was where the children went to school for several years. There were five of the Page kids (Maynard, Gerald, Kathryn, Muriel & Henry(, four Hickey boys (Raymong, Gerald Lowell Jess). Later on there were two Maurer kids (Agatha and Rex).
Later on, more people came out to file on land, among them Art Mauer & family, the Stewart family, and the Kruger family. Harry helped them all build log cabins and get settled. They would stay at the Page place until their cabins were ready to live in. Mr. Kruger asked them over to listen to his radio – the first one that came to the neighborhood. The kids would see the adults taking turns listening with earphones and laughing and wonder what it was all about.
Muriel got sick with Typhoid fever and said her folks had an awful struggle with her. She was isolated out in a little log cabin with a trained nurse that Dr. Sheriill had sent out from Camp Crook. Before she got over it, she was so weak she had to learn all over again how to walk. All her hair came out from the high fever and when it came back it was very curly. They had to keep fresh fruit of some kind in the cellar for her to eat. Harry was about four years old and it didn’t take him long to learn when the nurse went after some fruit for Muriel, he was always there so he could get some too.
There was plenty of open range then and Harry bought and traded around until he had about fifty head of horses. Lots of them were unbroken, so on Sundays, the young men would gather at their place and ride the wild horses. They had lots of rodeos – that was about the only excitement there was except going to dances.
Harry and Blanche had a tough time making a living for their family and dreamed of the day they might strike oil, but didn’t live long enough for that. They were killed in a car wreck on August 23, 1950 near Alva. Harry was 67 years old, Blanche was 64.