Special Collections Finding Aids

Abstract Correspondence; excerpts from diary (1892-1909) of George L. Dunning, laborer and farm superintendent of Amenia and Sharon farm; genealogical material; term papers; biography of Eben Whitney Chaffee by W.C. Hunter; two interviews with H.L. Chaffee; and brochures relating to Oriente, a community planned for Nicaragua, of which E.W. Chaffee was president.

Abstract Typed summary of interview (4 leaves) with Leonard Sackett which concerns the Chaffee family, and F.H. and George N. Smith, brothers who homesteaded north of Amenia, N.D. Includes mention of work at Amenia and Sharon Land Co., rules for hired men including church attendance, the Smith brothers' farm partnership, their terms in the N.D. and S.D. legislatures (F.H. elected to S.D. legislature, George N. to N.D. House, F. Paul to N.D. House), losing the S.D. farmland in the 1920s, business...

Abstract Typed summary of detailed interview (12 leaves) with Leonard Sackett concerning his father, August, who was a laborer on the Watson farm and the August F. Luther farm in Cass County, N.D. Includes mention of the L.F. Watson farm, its buildings, and various hired men, dispersal sale of the Watson farm, August Trapp's last wages, his purchase of farmland near Enderlin, N.D., threshing equipment, Emil's job as stableboy and assistant to the laundress at Amenia and Sharon Land Company, comments on...

Abstract Typed summary combining two interviews with Leonard Sackett concerning his years while working for Robert Reed of the Amenia and Sharon Land Company. Describes his duties, the Amenia Hotel and its boarders, buildings on Amenia and Sharon Land Co. properties, bathing and laundry facilities, wages, Amenia and Sharon grain elevators, with mention of Edmund Gowland, his son Russell, and Carrie (Mrs. H.F.) Chaffee.

Abstract Two detailed interviews (17 leaves and 9 leaves) with Leonard Sackett decribing the Tracy family's experiences at Amenia and Sharon farm, with mention of the farm buildings, other hired men, poor quality food, E.W. Chaffee's rules for hired men, their departure from Amenia and Sharon, George farming at Hunter, N.D., his move to Emmons County, N.D., his freight hauling business and sheep ranch, the Spicer family murders and the ensuing lynching. Typed copy of pamphlet "The Win Tracy story" (14...

Abstract Letter, typed summary of interview (15 leaves) concerning J.B. Power, Helendale Farm, Amenia and Sharon Land Company, and his father Peter Walburg, a Swiss immigrant. Includes mention of their homestead near the Maple River, his work on Dalrymple No. 1 Farm, son Peter's first jobs as mule driver, choreboy, and herding horses for the Dalrymples, cutting wood at Helendale Farm, his father, and later Martin Hanson, hauling mail, Helendale Farm's soil, selling out and moving to Leonard, N.D.,...