Grandpa Phenice Working in the Yard

I had a hard time choosing the best title for this post.  When I refer to the man in the photo as “Grandpa Phenice,” some people may think that I’m referring to my mom’s grandfather who was Harry Clifton Phenice.  I myself did not have a grandfather that was a Phenice.  My maternal grandmother’s maiden name was Myrtle Phenice and she was married to Fred Bucklin, so she was usually just called Grandma.  Sometimes I do refer to her as “Grandma Bucklin” just to be a little clearer.  The man in the photo was Myrtle’s paternal grandfather Samuel Charles Phenice.

Samuel Charles Phenice fought in the Civil War out of Pennsylvania and was a witness to the Lincoln Assassination.  Shortly after those events he got married to Cathrine Jane Foster.  They had children and moved around (for more details of that, see my post HCP in 1938) and ended up in Nebraska.  During that time there were documents about homesteading and marriages.  Samuel Charles was called either “Samuel” or “Charles,” while Cathrine was usually called “Kate.”  So I could have called the post “Grandpa Charles Working in the Yard.”  I just didn’t like the sound of it. 

Samuel Charles Phenice in Precept, Nebraska, circa 1920s.

The “Working in the Yard” part was the easy part.  As you can see from this old photo circa 1920s, Samuel is working hard in his yard.  He’s cutting logs, possibly for firewood.  It gets cold in the winters in Nebraska and I’m sure he would have a fireplace or two burning in that house to keep warm.  I can see that he had at least two chimneys showing in his house. 

I’m thinking that this is his home in Precept, Nebraska.   That’s where he lived with Kate until she died in 1921.  He was 76 years old when she died and probably lived there by himself for a few years.  I know that in 1930 he was living with his daughter Emma Quillen in Richmond, which is in the same county (Furnas) as Precept.  So my guess is that the photo was taken between those dates.

I got the photo from my cousin Mona who is the granddaughter of Emma Quillen.  She was kind enough to share it with me almost four years ago.  She sent me several photos and I call it the Lincoln Collection.  I call it that because of Samuel being a witness to the Lincoln Assassination, but also because Mona’s father was born and died on Lincoln’s birthday and his middle name was Lincoln.  If you’ve looked at my blog posts, you’ve seen most of my copies in the Lincoln Collection.  I’m running low on new ones to share.  I’m hoping that there are possibly some more that could be added to my collection.

This photo is not the best image quality, but I still really treasure it.  Something about how he is busy about his work and it looks like he is not even aware that his photo was being taken.  He’s just going about the business of getting his chores done:  Grandpa Phenice working in the yard.

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