Letters written by Elizabeth Agnes Suiter Freeman:

1) to Mrs. Nellie W. Suiter -- Oct 24, 1896

2) to Mrs. F. G. Suiter -- Oct 1, 1914

3) to Mrs. Laura Suiter -- Dec 15, 1914

4) to Mrs. Laura Suiter -- Nov 13, 1922

5) to Mrs. Laura G. Suiter -- Mar 26, 1923

6) to Mrs. Laura Suiter -- Jan 6, 1924

7) to Mrs. Laura Suiter -- Nov 22, 1924

8) Newspaper article including an interview with Agnes Freeman, in which she speaks about her life -- January 1925

Thank you so much to Joanne Loete, head of the Suiter Family Association. These materials can be viewed due to her dedication and generosity, and due to the care she and her husband's family have taken with these letters, which they have kept for up to and over 100 years.

Arranged in chronological order -- all except number 8 are letters written by Agnes Suiter Freeman to her family back in Le Claire, Scott County, Iowa. Although she moved away to Nebraska upon marrying Daniel Freeman, she kept in close contact with her brothers and sisters-in-law back home in Iowa. These letters were kept and passed down through several generations of Le Claire families.

Number 8 is a newspaper article including an interview of Agnes Suiter Freeman, in which she talks about her life. Again, this is thanks to the work of Mrs. Joanne Loete.

These transcriptions preserve original punctuation and capitalization, with one exception -- in handwritten form, it was sometimes the case that the end of a line of writing indicated the end of a sentence. In typewritten form this can be disconcerting, so I have added some periods or dashes (in green type).

(A letter written by Agnes Suiter Freeman to her sister-in-law, Nellie Suiter of LeClaire, Iowa) (Nellie was a contributor to The Port Byron Globe)

    Beatrice, Neb.  Oct. 24th, 1896

    Mrs. Nellie W. Suiter

Dear Sister and family,

Two or three copies of the Port Byron Globe have come and I see no Sycamore items in there.  Why is it, are all the contributors sick?  Feeling uneasy about you I write to find out!  As I am alone with May and Mable (Elizas second girl.)  The rest of the family have gone to the school house to a McKinley speaking!  by the way, none of my family are in favor McK--  but Bryan is the man that has Come up to save the Nation!

I wrote a letter to Mother and have been looking for an answer from her or Bro. Geo. until I concluded to write you and see If I can hear

How is bro Jerry?  has he got stout again.  I am so anxious to hear how things are going.  Does Mother sleep in that back room yet .  Maybe she would not like it if she knew I asked that question, but I think it is so damp for a sleeping room in cold weather.  Does Mother keep a girl now.  Do write to me Nellie and tell me all.  I had a letter from Grace the first of Sept.  said she would write again when she returned from Minneapolis. 

Are all the people hurraing for Bryan. How does Uncle William feel about Bryan or is he for McKinley? Nellie, I am so tired I cannot write well. I have been scrubbing, cooking, making pumpkin pies and am nearly played out. Tomorrow I'll bake bread and cook chickens for a dinner given by the Bryan club to defray expenses of campaign so you see I am busy. With a school marm to board and all the rest to do and no girl to help....

... Sometimes I feel awful sick to see you and think I'll write before I sleep, and then I am so busy all the time.

Does Mother appear to be stout? I think she is very lonely now without father. Sometimes I imagine I hear him complain as he did when I got there and then I can see him on his sick bed. ... Father was so good to me and I shall remember him as a good father to all his children!

... Times are awful hard and money scarce and how long it will continue no one call tell. Corn is 13 cts. per bush.

  Yours affectionately, Agnes S. Freeman

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 2) to Mrs. F. G. Suiter -- Oct 1, 1914  

(postmark and address on envelope:)

•  BEATRICE, NEBR.

•  OCT 1  5:30 PM

•  1914

•  U.S. POSTAGE  2 CENTS 2

•  Mrs. F. G. Suiter

•  Le Claire

•  Iowa

•  Scott Co.

 ---------------

(letter, written in pencil:)

    Homestead No. 1

    Oct 1st 1914

Dear Sister,

We arrived home safely Saturday noon, found Frank sick – better now. Every Thing is just as satisfactory as it ever is. – Did Ellen go home and how is Angie L.? I did want to write to them, but I have been so busy, and so worried. Alice started to school this week. She had a good time. How is Zach, Chas & Anna, love to you all, will write longer next time. Agnes

Write me all the news soon I have been so unsettled I could not write and am not much better now. I hope to get a little rest but have not had much still I am better. John & Irene have rented house in town 12 ½ dollars per month. Have not seen or heard tell of Eliza since I came home, but I can live and am going to take it easy. – Ag

 write me soon

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(return address on envelope:)

•  After 10 days, return to

•  Agnes S. Freeman 

•  R.R. No. 1,

•  BEATRICE, NEBR.

•  Homestead No. 1

(postmark and address on envelope:)

•  BEATRICE, NEBR.

•  DEC 16  5:30 PM

•  1914

•  2  UNITED STATES  2  TWO CENTS

•  Mrs. Laura Suiter

•  Le Claire

•  Iowa

 ------------------------

(letter, written in black pen:) 

    1914

    Homestead No. 1, Beatrice Nebr. Dec 15,

    Mrs. Laura Gordon Suiter

    Le Claire

    Iowa

The Spirit moved me, (as the saying is) to answer your letter, I received your letter some weeks since.  Some of the time since receiving it, I have not been in very good health, and most of the time, May Agnes and her two little boys have been here with me.  While Mr. Q ---- was West to Perkins Co. Neb. husking corn; For the mean time the children got the Whooping Cough, so you realize we had an interesting time.  They have all gone to their home in Beatrice.  Lila is staying with me now, but I miss the little ones, today the eldest one, called over the Phone, & asked if I was lonesome.

Well Laura I am anxious to hear how You are all doing. How is May? That is, Mrs Warren Carter. I have not had a letter for a long time, & when bro. Geo. P.--- writes, he talks Canal. I am glad to hear about the Canal, want to hear more & hope it will be a success. How does Olive do. I guess she is glad vacation is so near. She never sent me a word in your letter, Therefore I conclude she is not interested in me, so I Proceed. How is John F. and Family and Lee? I did not see him, but think he has a good wife & two nice little ones. And James & May, how are they & the children? Christmas will soon be here . The young people are anxiously awaiting Santa Claus – Laura I did not visit near enough with you when I was there. I do hope I may be permitted to see you again. That you are well and happy as any woman can be, when she is almost alone as I am, now since May & her children are gone I am lost.

I do not know what I'll do Christmas, The weather is very Cold & snow two or inches deep which is good for Winter Wheat. How is William Aloa L. Did you get a Card from me: Eliza & family are all well. I hope you will write me soon

With good wishes for all I close, your sister

Agnes S. Freeman

(note on top margin of front page, written in pencil:)

Dear Laura, We have had a very cold night but I am thankful to be able for my meal.  Lila has gone to school  - is miles  - a cold drink it is  . your sister

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(return address on envelope:)

•  After 10 days, return to

•  Agnes S. Freeman

•  Route 1, box 14

•  BEATRICE, NEBR.

(postmark and address on envelope:)

•  BEATRICE, NEBR.

•  NOV  15  6 PM

•  1922

•  UNITED STATES POSTAGE  2 CENTS 2

•  Mrs. Laura Suiter

•  Le Claire

•  Iowa

 ------------------

(letter, written in pencil:)

     Beatrice Nebr.

     Nov. 13th 1922

     Mrs. Laura Suiter

Dear sister Laura: -- I have been thinking of you often. Wondering if you would think to write me a letter. I did not stay enough with you to satisfy me, maybe you were satisfied. I want to hear how Olive & May & their families are getting along. & What does she call the babe. Does her children go to school. Olive's children are too young for school.

 I have had poor health had that itching like mother had  . Think it is kidney trouble.  I am better now, but I had a seige of a month.

 I am some better now, I have been down to see Agnes a number of times.  We have had a big rain And we needed it very much.  The grass begins to grow, & the Winter Wheat looks green.  Have you been to see Willie Adam and Ethel Roller.  How are your sons, John, James, Lee & Willie A.  Have they finished the home?  What will they do next with the dam?  Some one wrot me Vernie was married

 How is James Wife?  I only saw her once.  She is nice, appearing Woman

 Well Laura write me soon

Tuesday Morning the 14th Nov. We had a cold night, frozen ¼ inch in a tub outside. Charles, "Sid" boy that is staying with me for Company, 9 years of age, has gone to school. big frost

Suppose you have your furnace heated this morning I have two fires in my small house. The roads are very muddy. I don't go out much. We get mail rural route every day, I take The Beatrice Sun a daily paper, so I get some of the news. had a letter from Ellen Steel Weeks her folks are all well. Her girls live in the Country – her sons in North Dakota. There is plenty Shows, & Church &c, in The City, but I do not go

I am too lame to walk very much. I hear that brother George has Adopted 4 of Ethel Rollers children. That suits me, however its none of my business. Well Laura Do write me all the news. Don't work too much, be careful about getting falls & breaking bones, go to see Olive & May for me,

  With much love for all, I send this along

  Your sister

  Agnes S. Freeman

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(return address on envelope:)

     Beatrice Neb.

     Route 1, box 14

(postmark and address on envelope:)

•  BEATRICE, NEBR.

•  MAR 26  6 PM

•  1923

•  U.S. POSTAGE  2 CENTS 2

•  Mrs. Laura G. Suiter

•  Le Claire

•  Iowa

•  Scott Co.

 ------------------

(letter, written in black pen:)

     Beatrice Neb. March 26th 1923.

     Mrs. Laura Suiter,

Dear sister,   After so long a time I will try to write you a letter. This is Monday morning . I am alone. Chas' May Agnes youngest boy has gone to school. He has been staying with me for company. His mother has They moved here on the place near me. Three of the children go to school, one little girl Three years of age stays with her mother

 We have had a rough windey month.  Had a fine Winter until March, very little snow, we have had 4 storms this month  no deaths caused by the storm.  But very much sickness, many deaths.  Flu & Pneumonia.  I have rheumatism  have sore throat about a month.  It is better now.  I have thought of you every day for a long time, & I decided to write you.  Are you all well, Olive & May and their little flock 

 I heard about Lees big girl baby! 

How are all the boys, John, James, Lee, & Will. A. – as bro. Georg alwas calls William. How is your health. I hear from Angie since she moved

 Write me how, Willie & Ethel ar  . What Does Willie call her boy  . I was to Lincoln to see Adelaide & Clemie Hartman.  Mr. Hartman has rheumatism and Clemie oldest son was very low with Diabetes.  have not anything since I was there.  How is Angie Lamback & Bessie Thompson.  Is Mr. Peter Smith still alive.

 Eliza & family are well as far as I Know.  Do you think the fruit is Killed Irene still lives here, her daughter is at home now from school at Lincoln having vacation

Do you see George & Jerry & Willie. How is every body and write me all the news. With love to all . Come & see me or write – How is James new Wife. I was glad to meet her, and Think she is lovely and hope They are happy.

Now I'll say good by. Don't forget me, Your sister Agnes S. Freeman

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(postmark and address on envelope:)

•  BEATRICE, NEBR.

•  JAN 7  1:35 PM

•  1924

•  UNITED STATES POSTAGE  2 CENTS 2

•  Mrs. Laura Suiter

•  Le Claire

•  Iowa

 --------------------

(letter, written in pencil:)

     Jan. 6th  1924

 Dear Sister Laura

 I had the pleasure of rec. your letter some time ago, and I was so glad, I had not had a letter from you for so long.  I have letters from Nellie telling me how George & Jerry get along  . she must be quite busy since Jerry is in poor health& not able to help her with her work as he did When his health was better

 I sent you a Christmas Card and would like to have sent one to each of your family but I did not get the cards.  remember me to each one. 

I am not very stout. Sis keeps three of her Children and they do fine. We have a terrible cold spell of weather, but had a fine Fall – over ---

 Well, I wont bother you any more but get this letter in the box  Answer me soon as you can

 I am alone so much and a letter is very acceptable

  Your Sister 

  Agnes S. Freeman

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(return address on envelope:)

•  After 10 days, return to

•  Agnes S. Freeman

•  Route 1, box 14

•  BEATRICE, NEBR.

(postmark and address on envelope:)

•  BEATRICE, NEBR.

•  NOV 22  1 PM

•  1924

•  UNITED STATES POSTAGE  2 CENTS 2

•  Mrs. Laura Suiter

•  Le Claire

•  Iowa

 ----------------

(letter:) 

     Beatrice Neb.  Nov. 22 1924

     Mrs. Laura Suiter, Dear Sister

 It is now about six mo  since I have heard from you.  It fact I have not got a scratch of a pen from you, since I bid you goodby at your dear home where you so Kindly received me & my son James.  – Richard had a nice letter from you which he appreciated very much, I have sent Kindest regards & hopes of hearing from you to every one of the sisters that I have writen to, but not a whisper from you.  Jim, my son has very poor health, has been to the Excelsior Springs, Mo. a number of times the last six months.  he appears to be better but is not well

 I am not well, but Keep moving around  We have lovely Weather

 I got real homesick to see you all, but I have no one to call brother.  I do feel alone now & would be glad to hear from you and see you all.  I remember the children one & all with much love.  My children are all fairly well.  Sen Colby was burried this week  . he had been to Mayo brothers at Rochester  . Had cancer of the stomach, was 78 year

 I wish I could see you all.  I may go to see you after while.  How is John & James P. & Olive and Will A. as bro. George called him  . Now I hope to hear from you all.

  Your loving sister

  Agnes Freeman

 Let me hear soon how all your family are, with good wishes

  Agnes

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HOW HOMESTEAD NO. 1 WAS ACQUIRED BY DANIEL FREEMAN

Appeared in the Suiter Family Association Newsletter, October 1985

Abstracted from THE WEEKLY KANSAS CITY STAR, Wednesday, January 21, 1925

-------------------------------------------------------

Homestead No. 1 has been split up and given away in pieces.

The act marks the passing of another stage in the history of the West – the homestead days when the rush for new lands again roused the pioneer spirit of Americans.

Homestead No. 1 was five miles west of Beatrice, Neb., and was the property of Mrs. Daniel Freeman, who inherited it after her husband's death.

"Homestead days are past," Mrs. Freeman says. "We don't see Indians around here any more and we don't have huskin' bees, and folks hurry along to town in motor cars instead of considering themselves lucky if they were able to jog along on horseback.

Why shouldn't I break up homestead No. 1, then? It's a relic of a time that is gone."

 --------

Daniel Freeman, tall, strapping, good looking young man, considered himself one of the most fortunate persons on earth when he was given the claim to Homestead No. 1, January 1, 1863.

Thousands of homesteads were given away in the United States. Freeman attained the unique honor of being the holder of a deed that had the word, "Homestead Certificate No. 1, Application No. 1," printed formally in its upper left hand corner by being on the spot at a decisive moment and being the possessor of a most persuasive tongue.

For Daniel Freeman was in an unenviable fix when the day for the allotment of homesteads came around.  He had gone to Brownville, Neb.  – now Beatrice in July, 1862, and had purchased "squatter's right" to the bit of ground that later became Homestead No. 1.  "Squatter's right" was given in consideration of the claimant having made actual settlement on the land and having done something to improve the property, such as building a log cabin and a log stable and breaking some of the ground for plowing. 

Mr. Freeman was in the Union army and in Nebraska under special orders, and he was afraid word might come any day for him to rejoin his command before he could get the all important deed that would "prove up" his land.

He was in love with a young girl named Agnes Suiter and used to write her glowing letters, telling the happiness that would be theirs as soon as the property came into their hands. Miss Suiter had attended Abingdon college in Iowa and was teaching a country school after her graduation. She had no fears of the "wilderness." Her father, a pilot over the rapids in the Mississippi River between Davenport, Ia., and Rock Island, Ill., had been a man who loved adventure all his life, and had imparted his spirit to her.

The night of December 31 found Mr. Freeman in Brownville, eager to make his application for a homestead as soon as the government land office was open. There was a ball at the hotel in Brownville, incidentally, and Mr. Freeman was invited and spent the early part of the evening there. He happened to be sitting out one of the dances and noticed another young man who was similarly idle. The two got into conversation and it developed that Mr. Freeman's new found friend was the assistant to the land office receiver.

 "I am making application for a homestead," Mr. Freeman told him. "It's good that I don't have to wait any longer then tomorrow, because I am on army duty and received orders today to report to headquarters at once and there's not a minute to waste."

"You'll have to wait quite a few minutes, I imagine," the young man told him. "What makes you think the land office is going to open tomorrow?"

"Why shouldn't it be?" Mr. Freeman demanded. "Why should it?" the young man countered. "New Year's day is a holiday. Government offices are no exception to the general rule."

 Mr. Freeman was almost frantic. He had stayed in Nebraska as long as he thought possible and he knew that the delay of another twenty-four hours would probably ruin his plans.

"Then it looks as though I have spent all this time and work on this land and am not going to get it?" he asked the young man.

"It's too bad," the latter replied, in a manner of letting it go at that.

A couple of dances were allowed to pass while Mr. Freeman poured his woes into the ears of his new found friend. He told the man how much the land meant to him. He told of Agnes Suiter in Iowa, who was waiting the establishment of a homestead to come West.

"Your's certainly seems to be an unusual case," the young man said. "If I can get the register of deeds looking at things in the same way we are all right."

He went to that official's house. Back to the hotel the two went with Mr. Freeman and the land office was opened at midnight. Before 12:05 a.m., Mr. Freeman had made a filing on the first homestead ever taken out under the homestead act. Seven years later he received the grant to homestead No. 1, which described his property formally as "the south half of the northwest quarter, and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 26, in township 4, north of range 5 east in the district of lands formerly subject to sale at Brownville (now Beatrice, Neb.), containing one hundred and sixty (160) acres." The grant was signed "U. S. Grant, President; I. Barrett, secretary; I. W. Granger, recorder of the general land office."

Mr. Freeman had his army service to do, so it was some time before he and his fiancee could be married. The wedding was early in 1865, however, and the couple started for Nebraska immediately.

--------

Once arrived in Beatrice, they went out on homestead No. 1, where Mr. Freeman had built a log cabin. Mr. and Mrs. Freeman added to their land. Mrs. Freeman has given away 680 acres of it to her children since she started to dispose of her property some time ago. Much of it is valued at $150 an acre now, to quote a conservative figure.

"Didn't you like it when you were pioneering here in the old days?" Mrs. Freeman was asked. "Didn't you get a lot of thrill and enjoyment out of the thought that you were a newcomer in a new country and had an unlimited opportunity before you?"

"I did not," she replied promptly. "I hated it for the first few years I was here. I was so lonesome I just thought I couldn't live. Daniel never knew how many times I went down in the fields and sat down behind a wheat shock, where he couldn't see me from the house, and cried, I was so lonesome.

"I got scared of the Indians, too. They were mainly Otoes and were pretty friendly to us, but they had an awful habit of padding up to our windows without our hearing them and peeking it.

It would give me a terrible start to see an Indian's face framed that way.

"The moment I would see one I would run and bar the door. He would make signs that he wanted something to eat or something for his papoose. I would give it to him and he would go away happy. I shouldn't have been afraid of them – at least the Otoes – the way I was, I know.

"We were all badly frightened, though, when the massacre of Little Blue took place. That was only sixty miles away. The Indians were Cheyennes and Sioux. We lived in fear all the time, as we didn't know what minute they would attack us. We all left our farms and went to Beatrice, and the men built a big embankment along the Big Blue River to use as a fortress against the Indians if a raid should be made. None ever came, however."

"Didn't you ever have any good times?" Mrs. Freeman was asked.

"Oh, my, yes," she answered. "When I began to know everybody and get more accustomed to my surroundings I wouldn't have moved for anything. I taught the first school in Blakely Township and loved it. There was lots doing for people settled the way we were then, and we neighbors used to get together at nights and have good times.

"We mainly had lyceums.  We didn't have any visiting speakers, of course, but we would meet at each other's houses and all speak pieces and get up little plays and so on."

The passing years made little difference in the existence of Mr. and Mrs. Freeman except that they came to be leaders in their community life, and at the same time acquired more property. Eight children came, one of whom died in infancy. The others are grown men and women today, all living in Nebraska. Mr. Freeman died December 30, 1908. Mrs. Freeman at that time refused to move into Beatrice with any of her children, and remained on Homestead No. 1. Mrs. Freeman's daughter, Mrs. Clifford Quackenbush, and Mr. Quackenbush, live on the homestead with Mrs. Freeman.

One never would believe Mrs. Freeman was 81 years old if she did not frankly acknowledge the fact herself. She lives in her little frame house on the homestead and does much of her own work – aided by a very active and likeable 11 year old grandson, Charles Quackenbush.

"What do I do with my time? Well, I raise chickens. I read newspapers and a lot of medical books I have here. I like medical books. I go into town when I feel like it and see a moving picture show when I feel like it. I like them thrilling, like "The Covered Wagon" – none of this mush stuff. I use no tabacco and drink no whisky. I know you think it's funny that I say that, but almost every person that visits us old people seems to have the idea that we have a pipe hidden away somewhere that we're aching to smoke."