real girl of america fanny

8/14/2019 Real Girl of America Fanny

1/27

REAL GIRL OF AMERICAFanny Craig

The Big Meadows

Hundreds of tiny yellow butterflies swooped in and out among thesoft green leaves. Their wings reflected the suns golden beams.

The sight sent warm tingles down the little girls back.

It was 1875 and summertime in Humboldt County, Nevada. Herfamily was settled in their home on the Big Meadows.

Life was good.

Fanny Craig hung upside down from a gigantic cottonwood tree.She swung her arms and sang:

One dark night, When we were all in bed

Old Mother OLeary lit a lantern in her shed,

The cow kicked it over, she winked her eye and said,

Therell be a hot time in the old town tonight.

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

Her mother often said Fanny was a wee thing. She had long,chestnut braids and mischievous green eyes. Her olive skin camefrom her Scottish mother, Janet Craig. The summer sun tanned itso she was as dark as her Indian neighbors.

Fannys family had traveled from Illinois to Nevada 1872 on thenew railroad that spanned the country. They came West to livenear her grandparents, John and Jean Borland.

Janetts parents ran a telegraph office and hotel 20 miles up therailroad tracks at Rye Patch. Everybody in Rye Patch calledGrandfather Borland Uncle Johnny because he helped them somuch.


2/27

Fannys family had lived with her Borland grandparents whenthey first moved West. Then Father built a beautiful home forthem on their own homestead one and a half miles outside ofLovelock. They were right in the middle of the Big Meadows.

The Big Meadows was named by exhausted travelers from wagontrains. They were overjoyed to see the large Truckee River andrelax beneath shady trees. Their cattle grazed happily in the tallgrass.

Wagon trains had to first cross the barren, alkali desert known asthe Humboldt Sink. Many people died of thirst or went crazy

before they saw the lush green meadows that surrounded Fannyat this very moment.

Her family often took the train or rode their horses to visit RyePatch. There were many Borland cousins living near there. Theywere farmers and miners.

2


3/27

The Great Conflagration

Fanny began singing her verse over again, but was interrupted bya loud HRRRMPH! above her.

Fanny, you dont even know what thats about, her sister Katebellowed.

Kate, who was eleven, was high above her on another limb andswung down to where Fanny was hanging. Her blue sunbonnetbobbed behind her back as she gingerly stepped on Fannyspinkie finger.

Fanny shrieked, KAAAA-TEEEE!!! hoping their mother wouldhear and Katie would be in trouble.

Kate was a redhead with blue eyes like their father William Craig.Mother made her keep her bonnet handy so the sun wouldntburn her fair skin. Like as not, it was usually bobbing down herback.

Elizabeth Frances Craig, youre a big baby, Katie giggled. She

pulled Fanny onto a fork of the huge tree trunk where they bothcould perch. If they held still, nobody below could see themthrough the thick leaves.

I do, too, know what it means, Fanny moped. I remember theGreat Chicago fire when we lived in Farmer City. I remember howthe whole family went outside in the pitch dark. Father lifted meup onto his shoulders and we could see the bright orange glowwhere Chicago burned on the horizon.

Horizon! Katie laughed. Thats a mighty big word for a seven-year-old. But you do love big words.

Katie began scooping up the trees green seed pods that lookedlike tiny caterpillars. She counted them one by one.Fourteen.fifteen.sixteen With a satisfied smile, shepopped them into the pocket of her white pinafore.

3


4/27

Then she scratched her head and attempted to look very grownup. Lets see... you were just three years old then. Are you sureyou remember? Or do you just remember the stories?

Katie lifted her face and spread her arms. Then she tried tosound like a great orator. Fanny smirked and thought, Know-it-all!

It was a sight to behold!!! It was October 8, 1871, a Sundaynightand we really WERE all in bed. The dogs began to howlwildly. Father leaped from bed to see what caused the rumpus.

Then Mother rushed in and shook Belle awake. Belle was

thirteen then and she and Mother wrapped blankets around usand carried us outside.

The sky up North blazed scarlet red and rippled with streaks ofglowing orange. I thought it was Northern Lights, but Fathershook his head no. He shouted to Mother that all of Chicagomust be burning.

We lived too far away to see the buildings burning only the

patterns of hot flames and fireballs plummeting into the sky.

Mother was crying and Father was in shock. He kept repeating,Its impossible impossible impossible!

Later, people called it The Great Conflagration, which meansThe Great Fire. It burned clear through to Tuesday morning.

Cousin Sammy Craig had gone there to sell vegetables. He saidhe saw those flames and ran for his life. The ashes had fallen like

snow and he was almost crushed by the throngs of escapingpeople. Chicago is a very large city, so even though it seemedlike the whole place was going up in smoke, only part of it burned.But 300 people died.

Fanny looked admiringly at her older sister. Goodness, Katie,you sure have an amazing memory. I remember Father told us

4


5/27

that Mrs. OLeary and the cow did not start the fire, but someneighbors claim it really DID start in the OLearys barn.

Katie frowned, Poor Mrs. OLeary! Imagine having a song writtenabout you and such a horrible event!! She and her husband werefrom Ireland, you know.

One story is that their son James was playing cards with Pegleg(Daniel) Sullivan, their hired man, in the barn. Pegleg became ahero because he reported the fire. Later he said ashes from hispipe started it.

He isnt the only one to claim they started the fire. Some people

even think fire balls from a meteor shower started it. Fatherheard towns in Michigan and Canada also burned that week.

So the cow didnt really do it, and Im glad. That part was madeup by a newspaper reporter. He was trying to make his version ofthe fire more interesting than that of other reporters.

5


6/27

Fathers Story

Fannys father, William Craig, had raised quite a commotion whenhe moved to Nevada.

The Silver State newspaper of January 15, 1872 read:

RYE PATCH ITEMS.

...Mr. Craig, from Farmington, Illinois with a lot of blooded stock has located atthis place. The stock consists of one brood mare, one stallion, four Durham heifersand four Berkshire hogs. The mare is seven years old, and will weigh about 1,200

pounds; sired by Canadian Lion; dam Diomede. The stallion is four years old, will

weigh 1,200 pounds - sired by Grey Eagle; dam Rattler.. The four yearling heifersand two yearling bulls are of the short-horn Durham breed, very handsomeanimals, and large for their age. Those who take an interest in fine stock should

pay Rye Patch a visit.

The Humboldt Register of May 27, 1874 stated:Louis II, a fine blooded stallion belonging to W.P.A. Craig, will be inWinnemucca April 15th.

Well, Louis II was just plain Louie to them and their mare was

named Queen Mary after Mary, Queen of Scots.

All of their animals had names. The four young heifers werenamed after flowers Daisy, Violet, Rose and Marigold. Theirbulls were named Romeo and Prince. And, their hogs wereHamlet, Sir Piggy, Pork Chop and Piggles.

Father also grew wheat. He had ideas about irrigating thecountryside so the water from the Truckee River could flow from

farm to farm through ditches. He believed the sandy desertaround Lovelock could bloom.

The Craigs were neighbors to Paiute Indian Chief Winnemucca.Father said he was the first Indian in Nevada to live on a farm andraise crops to support his familys tribe.

6


7/27

About The Natives

At that moment, the girls spotted their Indian girlfriend, NellieCalico sneaking through the wheat fields that separated theirhomes. They covered their mouths so she wouldnt hear them asshe tiptoed up to their front door and popped into the house.

Mother let out a blood curdling scream. She never did get used tothe way Indians would just walk into a house.

She also would throw her apron over her head and moan whenKatie and Fanny rode their horses Roman style with Nellie.Roman style meant they rode with their feet on the backs of two

horses as the horses ran side by side. All the Craig girls wereexcellent horsewomen.

Their neighbor Chief Winnemucca was the son of a famous chiefwith the same name. Chief Winnemucca would come to theirhome to get rheumatism liniment from their father.

He always slid his chair too close to the fireplace. When he gottoo warm, he would refuse to move back. Instead, he would

begin peeling off his clothes one piece at a time.

7


8/27

Fathers Little Book

When Father was seventeen, he trained to be a teacher and hetaught for several years. Then he and his brother Stinson LoweryCraig went to medical school in Illinois. Stinson became a countrydoctor. Father became restless.

Their neighbors called Father Doctor Craig and came to him fortreatment, but he had many other jobs. He was also a miner anda farmer. He was an energetic man. He had even owned hotelsin California.

Father had a small book that he had written when he was inmedical school. In beautifully inked letters, it described how toprepare many medicinal remedies and items for keeping a home.He carried it to California when he and his brothers went theresearching for gold.

In the back of the book, Father used a pencil to write down thenames of his patients. When they paid their bills, he drew a lineacross the page and wrote PAID.

There was something else in the back of the book. Father listedthe supplies he purchased for the Alabama mine where he andhis brothers discovered gold.

8


9/27

A Storm Brewing

Fanny and Katie knew how to speak the Paiute Indian languageand so did Father. The government had him talk to the Indianswhenever there was a problem.

Old Chief Winnemuccas daughter, Sarah Winnemucca, was olderthan the girls. She was very nice to them and taught them how tospeak her language. She often visited her tribe and the Craigfamily when she came to the Big Meadows.

Living in Lovelock, Nevada is sure different from living in Farmer

City, Illinois, isnt it? Fanny laughed. For one thing, you neversaw real live wild Indians in Farmer City.

9


10/27

The Trip from Scotland to The Gold Rush

Fannys mother Janett was born in Glasgow, Scotland. When shewas three, her family sailed to America on the ship Hope. Heruncle Robert Borland and his wife and children had gone withthem.

Janetts brother John J. and baby sister Isabelly died of fever onthe trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Janett was an only child whenshe arrived in America.

Janetts parents had other relatives in America. Her father John

Borland came from a large family and several brothers came toAmerica. Her father mined with his brother Robert at Rauch Gapin Pennsylvania.

Roberts son, Robert Jr. was in the Civil War and followed Johnwest to California. They were lured by tales of the Gold Rush onthe American River.

Jean Borlands brother, James Howat, also came to California from

Scotland. He mined with John and became a hotel owner likeother Craig and Borland relatives.

Janetts mother, Jean, gave birth to a son named James while theylived in Pennsylvania. She later had four more sons: John,William, Robert and Alexander, but John and William died whenthey were babies. Mining camps were not healthy places to raisechildren.

10


11/27

William Meets Janett

William Craig was ill. He thought he might die and decided totake a ship to California to see the Gold Rush. He lived along theAmerican River and worked in the placer mines and he gotbetter. Then he went home to get his family. Several brothersand cousins returned with him.

By the time he was an old man, William had made several tripsback and forth to his parents home in Illinois. Sometimes hewent by ship Around the Horn. going from the Pacific Ocean atSan Francisco, down to Chile, around the tip of South America,

and north in the Atlantic Ocean to the East Coast of the UnitedStates. Another time he rode a mule across the isthmus ofPanama.

Janett and William met at a mining camp named Yankee Jims.Everyone lived in tents instead of houses. He was much olderthan she was. They married when Janett was very young only15. Mother said that Father paid for her to attend Mills Seminaryin San Francisco. She was in the first graduating class of young

women.

11


12/27

Leland Stanford

The Borlands and Craigs had met a shopkeeper named LelandStanford when they lived at Yankee Jims. His wife would not livein a mining camp, so she stayed back East. When he earnedenough money to build a tiny shop, he had to sleep on his counterbecause he could not afford a bed.

One night his shop slid down the hill in a rainstorm with him onthe counter!

Leland became the first governor of the new state of California.He started Mills Seminary and Stanford University. He even

brought the railroads West to join at the Golden Spike Ceremonyin Utah. Both Grandpa John and Father had gone to theceremony.

The family joke with the Stanfords had always been about howMother had to sew up Lelands pants when they all lived in tentsduring the gold rush.

12


13/27

Married Life

William and Janett lived in a cabin high on the cliffs above theAmerican River in a town named Foresthill. Because the minerscut down all the trees in the area to build cabins and placermines, Foresthill was the only place that still had tall Ponderosapine trees, so its name described it very well.

One day the Indians attacked gold miners on the river below theircabin. Mother was still frightened of Indians.

He and his brothers struck gold, and he bought a hotel called

Forest House. They lived behind Forest House for several yearsbefore they moved back to Illinois. They sold the hotel to familymembers.

Williams father, James Craig, was ill and needed help with hisfarm. His son Dr. Stinson Lowery Craig was working as a doctor inthe Civil War and his other sons were at the Gold Rush. Williamand Janet took a ship to Illinois with their baby Isabelle AgneesCraig who they called Belle. They moved to the Craig farm near

Farmer City.

William was elected as a Justice of the Peace in nearby DeWittCounty and held that position until the Civil War was over. Bythen Kathrine Jean (Katie) and Fanny had been born.

Fanny and her family had moved West again.

13


14/27

The End of a New Beginning

Father was very upset. Some of the Indians had been attackingsettlers. He heard stories that the government might move allIndians onto reservations. Reservations were large areas whereIndians were taken and not allowed to leave. Often they did nothave good soil, and it was hard for them to survive.

They would no longer be able to wander freely in the West. Theywould not able to follow the herds of buffalo or hunt for deer.

They could not roam along the many streams to fish where theywished. They would have to stay in one place and learn to farm

as Winnemucca did.

But they wouldnt make Winnemucca move would they?Mother asked. He has always been a friend to the White Man.

The government does not look at individual natives, Fatherreplied. Look at Sarah Winnemucca. She is so intelligent, andthey still treat her badly. They only look at Indians as a wholeand blame many things on them that they have not done.

Ive been told there is a small group of white men who havebeen dressing as Indians and terrorizing the settlers. This is partof the reason why there is so much fear in Nevada right now. Ofcourse there are bad Indians just like there are bad white men.

One day Sarah Winnemucca went to the government Indianagents and told them the Indians were getting ready to rebel. Itwas called going on the warpath. Sarah probably saved thelives of many white people, but she made her people angry. They

now considered her an outcast.

Sarah Winnemucca was famous for helping the Indian children.She wrote books and made speeches, but the Indians still hatedher.

Father traveled a lot since he could interpret for the Indians. Healso mined in the Nevada hills with Janetts Borland family. When

14


15/27

he was gone, Mother had to protect her family as well as shecould.

15


16/27

Mothers Scare

Mother was kneading bread dough. She sang in her beautifulclear voice and watched Fanny who was standing on a bench,bending over a large piece of dough on the table. She waspressing a star-shaped cookie cutter into the dough and cuttingout cookie after cookie. Fanny loved to cook.

The older girls had taken the train to Rye Patch to visit theirgrandparents. They often helped Grandmother serve the hotelguests meals. People from the East loved to take vacations to theWild West by travelling on the train.

A shadow fell over the door as a strange Indian stepped onto theporch. He was dressed for war with many feathers in his hair.Red, white, and black painted symbols adorned his body. His belthung with scalps.

Mother froze in terror.

Time seemed to stand still.

Fanny felt her skin crawling as she stared at the Indians belt.

He moved noiselessly into the room and paused. His cold eyesmoved toward the little girl.

He walked to the table covered with the little star cookies.Peering at Fanny, he lifted one of her braids.

Girl has beautiful hair, he said, turning the braid in his hand and

stroking the chestnut curl at its end. Then he glared at Janett anddemanded, Eateat!

Fanny gulped and dove for her mother, burying her face in herapron. Janett wrapped her arms around the small shaking girl andhugged her tightly.

16


17/27

She hurried to cut fresh bread for the man and whispered toFanny, Quick! Run to the creek and hide until he has gone.

Fanny slipped out of the house as the Indian crammed warmbread into his mouth and grunted noisily.

She sped to the dry creek bed behind their house and crawleddown into it, hoping there were no rattlesnakes at its bottom.Fanny hunched down in the dry rushes trying to become invisible.

Trembling uncontrollably, she cried soundlessly for her mother.

It seemed like hours before she saw the Indian leave her house.He vaulted onto a pony that was also covered with war paint and

galloped away. Fanny waited until he was merely a small spot onthe prairie. Then she sprang up the bank and scrambled home,steeling herself for what she might find in the kitchen.

Mother was safe! She was terribly frightened. She had collapsedonto the bench by the table and was fanning her face with herapron.

Mother, I was so scared. Who was he? He wasnt one of our

neighbors.

Tears ran down Mothers face as she sobbed, I dont know,sweetheart, but I wish your father would get home soon.

Father did arrive within a few hours. The two older girls sooncame home on the train that ran past their farm. Father had badnews.

Naches Winnemucca and the Lovelock Indians were being moved

to a reservation in Washington Territory. Father was asked totravel there to help translate for the soldiers.

Its disgraceful, Father moaned. Its the end of a way of life formy Indian friends. I know they will fight back.

17


18/27

Starting Over

Father spent a great deal of money working on his irrigationproject. He hired men to dig the ditches. He helped them plantpoplar trees up and down the fields around Lovelock to keep theside of the new ditches stable. He told his daughters they wouldprobably last over a hundred years. If they could have seen intothe future, they would have known it was true.

Then one winter they had a Hundred Year Storm. The TruckeeRiver flooded its banks and completely destroyed the dam Fatherand his friends had built. The irrigation ditches were plugged with

mud and clearing them would take more money than they had.They were ruined. Father was declared bankrupt.

Father and Mother decided to start over and applied for ahomestead in Washington Territory. Belle and her husband, JohnCody lived there. John was the first sheriff of Lincoln County.Some of Belles children had been the first white children born inparts of Washington Territory.

Mother had hoped Katie would go to college, but headstrong Katieran away at the age of 16 and married Niels Nelson. They livedon a farm near Lovelock.

Mother had two more babies, Ella Mae who was 5 now and babyJeanette Margaret. Fanny was the oldest daughter still at home.She was now 15.

Father sold their ranch the day before Fanny turned 15 on August13, 1883. He moved to Washington Territory to lay a claim for a

homestead. He had to build a cabin and live there for five yearsto prove to the government that he would stay on his farm. Nowit was the spring of 1884 and Fanny and her mother and twosisters could join him.

18


19/27

The Move

Fanny and her mother applied for the new cattle brand for theirfarm. It was a C with a 2 hooked under it. They closed down thehouse in Lovelock and prepared the cattle for the move toWashington.

Father sent a young homesteader named Mark Brooks to drivethe covered wagon to their new home. He was an unmarriedcarpenter, and he and Father had helped each other build theircabins in Sprague, Washington.

Fanny thought Mark was very handsome. He was quite tall andgangly, while she was very short. They probably made a funny-looking couple, but they liked each other.

Mark told them about their sister Belle. The year before, she hadbeen alone with her children when Indians had attacked. She andthe children hid in a root cellar while the Indians burned theirhome.

But peace had come to Lincoln County, now.

It was a new day, and they were going to a new home.

Life was good.THE END

Fanny thought back to the little girl who would swing from thebranches of the tall cottonwoods and race on horseback withNellie Calico. She remembered the day that she and Katie talked

about the Great Chicago Fire. Now Katie would be far away fromher. She might never see her again.

Maybe Katie would come to visit them on a train.

19


20/27

You can Google The Great Chicago Fire and Sarah Winnemucca and readmany interesting stories about them.

The stories I have told you are all true except the one about the Cousin SammyCraig. I dont know if hed gone to Chicago to market. I just made his trip up todescribe the crowds fleeing the fire.

I also borrowed a name for the Indian friend, Nellie Calico. Even though this is anold family story, nobody ever knew what her name was. Nellie Calico was listedon the 1880 census near Lovelock, so she became the friend.

And except for the name of Louie II, the other animals names were made up byme and it was fun!

My mothers grandmother, Elizabeth Frances Craig Brooks, told my sisters and methe story about the Indian and the scalps when I was about ten years old. At thattime, she was a very old lady living in a tiny house on property behind her sisterElla Crowley in Deer Park, Washington. We walked through the woods to visither in her tiny home and our mother asked her to tell us the story.

My cousins Demaris Snell and Frances Osborne lived with Fanny when she wasold and sick with lumbago. Fanny told them many stories about the Indians. One

was the story about Chief Winnemucca sitting too close to the fire. Another storydescribed how the girls rode Roman style with their Indian friend.

Fanny also told them she remembered seeing the glow of the Chicago fire from herhome.

Katie has a ballad written about her. I have a copy. It is called The Ballad ofKatie Hoskins. She divorced Niels Nelson and moved to Reno, Nevada whereshe married a bandleader named Gabriel Hoskins. The ballad is actually about adramatic horse ride she made when she was Katie Nelson in Lovelock, Nevada. It

was written by Bertha Rafetto, who also wrote the Nevada State Song.

I own the little medical book that belonged to Fannys father, my great, greatgrandfather William Porter Anderson Craig. The back section is scribbled on bysome little cousin over the years. I wonder who it was!!

The facts in this story proved true when my sister Judy and I made trips toCalifornia and Nevada. We visited a hotel in Foresthill on the land where Williamran his hotel. It is still named the Forest House. We also visited a museum in

20


21/27

Lovelock that stands on Williams homestead where Fanny swung fromcottonwoods and hid in a creek bed. Along one of those creeks we saw the tinyyellow butterflies.

The poplar trees that William helped plant are very old and gnarled, but still guardthe many irrigation ditches in and around Lovelock, Nevada. There have beennumerous irrigation projects in Humboldt County (now Pershing County).William DID participate in one and did lose his money in this way.

Around 1996, a librarian in the Winnemucca City Library was working on anewspaper index of all the old newspapers from the county. Judy and I visited thelibrary, and she gave us piles of newspaper records she had found on WilliamCraig, John Borland and family members. The news about William moving toLovelock with thoroughbred horses and also about Williams bankruptcy appearedin these articles.

William and Janett moved from Foresthill back to Illinois in 1861 when the CivilWar started. His father was dying and needed help. While they were there, Janettgave birth to a little boy named John J. Craig after Janetts father John Borland.Little John died as a baby.

William was elected Justice of the Peace in nearby DeWitt County and workedthere until the Civil War was over. I have the certificate with a gold seal from theGovernor of Illinois that proclaims he was JP.

Below is a photo of Sarah Winnemucca, who was a Paiute writer and lecturer. Ihave an old newspaper article that was an interview with Katie when she was old.She said she knew Sarah and she and her father were often asked to interpret forgovernment officials because they could speak the Native language.

21


22/27

Sarah Winnemucca

22


23/27

Elizabeth Frances Craig abt 16

23


24/27

William Porter Anderson Craig (r.) with surveyors at base camp in Sprague, WA

24


25/27

1874 Winnemucca, NV Janet Cowan Borland Craig of Lovelock, NV

25


26/27

William Craig 1857 Wedding Day

26


27/27

Janett Cowan Borland 1857 Wedding Day

27

real girl of america fanny

Documents