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 interview with Hiram Drache concerning the Chaffee family and life in Amenia, N.D. Includes mention of Herbert F., Carrie T., and Eben Chaffee, other Chaffee family members, the death of H.F. Chaffee, the hotel managed by his parents, the Chaffee's disapproval of dancing and card games, the burning of the grain elevators at Amenia, N.D.

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 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 Typed copies of two poems, "A Yankee farmer in the new west" and "A legend of Hitchcock's corner," from his Three score and ten and extracts from his diary covering March 1885 to August 9, 1925 concerning activities in his life and various Chaffee family members.

Abstract Typed summary of first interview (12 leaves) with Leonard Sackett includes mention of the Chaffee family, Helendale Farm, description of a round grain elevator at Amenia, handling grain, his uncle, Cornelius Reed, who worked at the Amenia grain elevator, plows and grain binders used at Amenia and Sharon, Amenia store, description of various sections of Amenia and Sharon land, Robert and John Reed buying cattle and sheep, raising sheep at the Amenia and Sharon, the Reed-Sargent farm partnership...

Overview This collection contains a small autobiography of William Guy, Sr., some correspondence, and a biography of his wife.