Amelia and the people of Custer County in the late 1880s are simply too intertwined to continue to tell her story piecemeal and retain coherency. Before long, I intend to pull this blog and reassemble the story as its own Web site, where it can be told properly, in-depth, and in its entirety.

Yes, its entirety. For at last I have, without a doubt, finally found Amelia. I’ve been in contact with her great niece, who has provided invaluable information to cement the tenuous connections I had assembled.

There is one more bit of information required before I can commit “The End” to Amelia’s story. It requires the exchange of paperwork by necessity, which could take a few weeks. After that, I will begin work on the Web site.

Thank you for your patience, and I will see you all at the new site soon.

(Click post and images for larger versions)

Elizabeth and John Brumbaugh along with an unidentified man (possibly Ira Brumbaugh) and child in front of John’s unusual two-story frame-and-sod house/post office in 1889. The boy may be Clarence Brumbaugh, who died the next year just shy of his 5th birthday.

Westerville in 1887

Custer County in 1888. Coburgh is in the upper right, northeast of Broken Bow.

Site of Coburg school, via Terraserver