"Cyrus Van Gundy - An Old Man Looking Toward the West
Cyrus Van Gundy, or Vangunda as he would later be called, was my greatgreat grandfather. Born in Ohio, he grew up in Iowa, and homesteadedin Kansas and Colorado. The lure of cheap land and the newpossibilities of the frontier, led his father, John Van Gundy, to takehis family from rural Sycamore, Ohio to Jasper county, Iowa, nearPrairie City. And Cyrus, likewise, was moved to leave that area fornorthwestern Kansas, and then again for eastern Colorado, and yetagain for northwestern Colorado. So when he came home for a visit toPrairie City Iowa in 1915, it was fitting that he described himself as"An Old Man Looking Toward the West" to the Prairie City newspaper.
Cyrus was born February 3rd, 1835 in Crawford county, Ohio, in thepart that would later become Wyandot county. His father was John, andhis mother was Susannah Combs, daughter of William and Barbara BaumCombs. The Van Gundys moved with William Combs and his family toAndrew county Missouri where they lived in 1840. The Combs familymoved to Madison county Iowa, and John and Susannah took their familyto the Prairie City area in 1846. (Iowa became a state on December 28,1846.) I was told that John Van Gundy assisted the early surveyors.
I have found no evidence that Cyrus served in the Civil War, althoughhe would have been the right age. Cyrus married Hannah Dippery January20, 1865 in Van Wert county, Ohio. Hannah already had two children,Emma White, b. 1858 Pennsylvania, and Louisa May Taylor, b 1863 Ohio.But after the wedding, those children remained in Van Wert county Ohiowith Hannah's parents, Edward and Anna Marie Dippery. Cyrus and Hannahdid visit again on a least one occasion, as guests in the Friendschurch in 1879.
But Cyrus and Hannah began their married life in Iowa, purchasing landin Marion county, just south of Prairie City. They had a large family:Lydia, who died young, Mary, John, Isaac, Sarah, Susan and Nancy, allborn in Marion county. But in 1887, all but the oldest son, John,moved to Nutty Comb township, Cheyenne county, Kansas, south ofHaigler Nebraska. Cyrus proved his claim to 120 acres in 1894. Hishomestead papers claim that he had a sod house 16 ft. x 16 ft. with a14 ft. x 16 ft. addition, stable and sheds, cave, corn crib, well, and80 acres broken.
Homesteading was not easy in northwestern Kansas. It is a windy anddry place, with the extremes of harsh winters and hot summers andbarely enough rain to grow crops in a good year. Cyrus' son Isaac,also a homesteader, in 1891, was granted a leave of absence from hishomestead in 1893 because his "wheat came up and looked well for abouttwo weeks or more and then dried up and appears to be nearly all deadon account of want of rain". Isaac went through some tough times,perhaps a topic for another blog entry...
Cyrus' daughter Mary Deliah Sullivan, who was divorced by this time,had also homesteaded, in 1889. She remarried in 1892, to John Long inDenver. Her claim was proved in 1896, where she stated that she livedcontinuously on the land except for Nov. 30, 1891 to March 1, 1892,while she was away to work (and apparently marry!).
Susan, my great grandmother, married a another Iowa transplant, FrankP. Brady, and moved back to Iowa with him and his parents, George W.and Eliza Jane Brady by 1895
Family lore says that the Van Gundys had a fire and lost their houseand most everything in it. In 1900, they were living in Marshallcounty, Kansas, but still had their Kansas land. But in 1906 theypulled up their roots and moved to rural Ramah Colorado. Cyrushomesteaded again, by now he was over 70 years old, but no doubt hehad the help of his son-in-law Norman Thompson who settled next to himon the eastern Colorado plains. Cyrus' wife, Hannah, died in 1907 andis buried in Ramah,
Cyrus and his son-in-law proved their homestead entries in ColoradoSprings on August 25, 1911. I can't help but wonder and hope that theycelebrated by going to this event the same day
Cyrus made at least two trips back to Iowa while living in Colorado.The Runnells Iowa Telegram reported that he was visiting his sister,Mrs. J. F. Hunnel, on April 4, 1913. And then, as mentioned above, hewas featured in a nice article in the Prairie City newspaper on April22, 1915. I'd like to think that he stopped in Dunlap on the way tovisit his granddaughter, Mildred Mesenbrink, and her new son, Russell,my father, but I don't know if that actually happened.
But Cyrus and the Thompson's weren't done yet. In 1916 they packed upand moved to northwest Colorado, over the mountains to the WesternSlope of Colorado.
Cyrus' daughter, Susan, wrote on the picture that her "Pa" just gotunloaded from the train this day in Craig, Colorado on April 10, 1917.She spelled his name "Van Gundy", unlike her father and brother,Isaac, who spelled it "Vangunda".
Cyrus and the Thompsons homesteaded once again near Lay, Colorado.Cyrus died September 9, 1918 and is buried in the Fairview Cemetery inCraig, Colorado."
Residences & events:
1/1865 Wyandot Co, OH, where he married Hannah.
11/1865 Jasper Co, IA, where their first child was born.
3/1867 Marion Co, IA, where the 2nd child was born.
