Introduction
Elizabeth Agnes Suiter Freeman
Elizabeth Agnes Suiter was born on November 16, 1843, to Mississippi River rapids pilot John Halford Suiter and his wife, Eliza Wright Suiter. Agnes was the first of eight children. The family home was in Le Claire, Scott County, Iowa, USA.* More information on the Suiters.
At age 14, Agnes entered Abingdon College (in Abingdon, Knox County, Illinois), and while studying there she fell in love with James H. Freeman, four years her senior. Upon the start of the Civil War, he enlisted, and they continued their relationship by letter. Sadly, James was to die of exposure and sickness during the war.
In her grief, Agnes began corresponding with James' beloved eldest brother, Daniel, who was also serving in the Civil War** as a Secret Service Agent, roaming the South alone on horseback. Daniel had been married previously, and had 3 children who lived elsewhere. Eventually, Agnes grew to love Daniel, and they married on February 8, 1865 in Scott County, Iowa. Agnes was 21, and Daniel 38.
Daniel Freeman had secured a homestead in Nebraska about 2 years before, but had not had time to move there due to his Civil War activities.After their marriage, Agnes and Daniel traveled from Iowa to Nebraska, and Agnes began the difficult task of establishing and running a pioneer home. Her first child, Eliza, was born on January 27, 1866, when Agnes was 22 years old. She and Daniel went on to have 8 children together, 7 of whom grew to adulthood. Their 5th child, Daniel Jr., died in 1880 at the age of three. More information on Agnes and Daniel's family.
Agnes's many activities included teaching, studying medical texts, and doctoring local people (she delivered many babies and eventually became a qualified doctor), and running the homestead during Daniel's absences from home. Growing up as a river pilot's daughter, college student and then teacher, her previous experience with farming and isolation was probably limited. The daily tasks within and around the home would have been familiar to her, however. Many early Nebraska homesteading families gave up and returned to the more settled places they had come from. However, Agnes and Daniel struggled on, through droughts, blizzards, locust attacks and other hardships, and eventually became secure and prosperous. The town of Beatrice grew, and Daniel and Agnes became important members of the community.
Daniel died in 1908, but Agnes continued to live on the homestead until shortly before her death in 1931, at the age of 87. Many of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren lived in Beatrice or on the homestead, and some can still remember her, as an elderly grandmother/great-grandmother living alone in a small house on her homestead, with a cat and visiting children to keep her company.
After Agnes's death, her homestead was bought by the government, and made into the Homestead National Monument of America, which hosted over 46,000 visitors in 2001. Though none of the Freemans' original homes are standing, you can walk on 2 ½ miles of trails around the old homestead, see re-creations of pioneer life, and go inside the one-room schoolhouse that Agnes's children and some of her grandchildren attended. Link to official site of Homestead National Monument.
Main source for this section: Daniel and Agnes Freeman, Homesteaders, by Beverly S. Kaplan. Lincoln, Nebraska: Johnsen Publishing Company, 1971, and J&L Lee Company, 1992. 179 pages. A highly recommended book. www.leebooksellers.com (search for "homesteaders" or "freeman homesteaders"). Also can be purchased at the Homestead National Monument Bookstore.
* All locations given in this website are in the United States, unless specified otherwise.
** There is some dispute about whether Daniel actually served as an officially listed member of the Army during the war. I would welcome emails regarding the evidence one way or the other.