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Surnames: Bigbee, Brammer, Eyerly, Ferrin, Horner, McCoy, Murch, Powell & Wagner.

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Letter from Hazel (Ferrin) Brammer, daughter of Arthur & Alice (Eyerly) Ferrin, to Norma (Bigbee) Johnson, granddaughter through Esther (Ferrin) Bigbee of Loren & Alcana (Wagner) Ferrin.

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Jan 10, 1981.
428 S. Summit
El Dorado, Kansas 67042

Dear Norma:

"Of all sad words of tounge or pen, the saddest of these is, "It might have been".

I too could have gotten a lot of information from parents. All of their children were at their Golden Wedding, December 25, 1925, and all the spouses and a lot of grandchildren. Our roots didn't seem so important then.

As for your grandmother, her name was Alcana Wagner. I remember her mother, who came to live with them, and died there. She was Pennsylvania Dutch and didn't speak English. She was buried at Coldwater in the east part (old) of the cemetery. Wilmore didn't have a cemetery then. I know nothing about my Aunt Cana's family. I am sure she was born in Holt County, Missouri, and probably at Bigelow , Mo. Missouri joins Nebraska along there. The county seat is Mound City. We've not been able to learn where the Ferrins came from except Essex County, New York. My dad's mother was buried at Elizabethtown, New York. Her name was Murch.

Hannah Philura Murch - married to Rueben Ferrin.
Born 1822 - died 1865

Rueben Ferrin
Born 1818 - died 1879

After the death and burial of Hannah, Reuben moved with his children to Holt County, Missouri, where some of the Murches lived. My dad, Arthur, was 17 and Loren was 15. I don't know, but I think it was a short time after Hannah died that they left for Missouri. Hannah had relatives there. Rueben had a brother Wesley - born 1822, died 1905 - and had a brother Solon who went west with a wagon train that was ambushed near Salt Lake. It is not known if he escaped. There is no record of Rueben having any sisters.

My mother, Alice Eyerly, was born in Iowa. The reason she was in Missouri was that her father died and the family sent Alice by train to a brother in Holt County, Missouri. She was well educated. My mother taught school one year. Then she married Arthur and about that time Loren and Arthur worked for a rancher, Tim McCoy. They loved him. My mother needed help cooking for the men (she said) and got Alcana Wagner to help. That's where she met Loren. Evidentally the families acquired some cattle and left Tim McCoy.

Loren moved the cattle to Kansas near Eureka. Loren and Alcana had Maude then, Ernest was born in Eureka. Arthur and Alice had by this time acquired Eugene, Carrie, Earl and Elsie. From Greenwood County, Kansas, Loren and Arthur went to Comanche county and staked Claims NE of Wilmore. They brought their families to the claims in March of 1886. Loren moved the cattle to Comanche county and "Cana" went (the last part of the trip, after having taken a train) by buggy. The driver was a Powell. She thought it was a long way with 2 kids. Alice and Arthur & 4 kids came by emigrant train to Kinsley. They were two days driving down. My mother wrote an article for the Western Star. I have it.

(signed) Hazel Brammer

(Note by Jerry Ferrin: Norma Bigbee gave me a copy of the above letter in 1991.)

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Related Links:

Early Day Memories by Alice (Eyerly) Ferrin
-- The Wilmore News, October 31, 1939.

Reuben & Hannah Philura (Murch) Ferrin

Loren & Alcana (Wagner) Ferrin

Memories of Alcana Ferrin by Janet (Schrock) Hubbard

Arthur & Alice (Eyerly) Ferrin

Wesley Clay Ferrin, brother of Reuben Ferrin.

Ferrin, DeKalb & Murch Gravestones in the North Jay Cemetery, Essex County, New York

A Brief History of Newton, New Hampshire (A New Chronology of the Life & Times of Jonathan Farren)
Reuben Ferrin was a 5th generation descendant of Capt. Jonathan Farren of Amesbury, MA, & Newton, NH, as follows: Reuben Ferrin ⁵, Zebulon Ferrin ⁴, Zebulon Ferrin ³, Zebulon Farren ², Jonathan Farren ¹.

Wilmore Cemetery, Comanche County, Kansas

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To Loren & Dan Ferrin's daughters: Your line of descent from your great great great paternal grandparents, Rueben & Hannah Philura (Murch) Ferrin is through your great great grandfather Loren Ferrin, your great grandfather Ernest Leroy Ferrin and your grandfather Delmer Lee "Buck" Ferrin. -- Jerry Ferrin, 07 December 2002.