Jeremiah F. Humphrey, commonly known as Jerry, was the first-born child of Ambrose and Jane (Martin) Humphrey.  He was born in October 1852 in Sidney Township of Fremont County, Iowa, and there he spent his first 16 years, which included the time of the American Civil War.  About 1869, his family moved down to Falls City Township of Richardson County, Nebraska, and there Jeremiah grew to adulthood.

Jerry as a young man.

In 1872, the Falls City Journal (9 May 1872, p. 3) noted that Jerry (19 at the time) had been elected to be one of the officers of the local chapter of the I.O.G.T. (Independent Order of Good Templars, a temperance organization).  This is an interesting development, considering reports in the family that Jerry’s father was a heavy drinker.

One other item of note from the newspapers (Falls City Journal, 26 July 1879, p. 3) is that Jerry spent several weeks on a visit to Meigs County, Ohio, in 1879.  That’s significant because both of his parents had been born there, although his mother had left there about 1836 (as a toddler), and his father had left about 1850.  Jerry began his trip about two weeks after his grandmother Anna (Bellows) Humphrey had died in Meigs County, although he still had Humphrey aunts, uncles, and cousins in that area, plus a couple of Martin cousins he might have been able to visit with (Oren Branch Martin and Malinda (Martin) Norris).

Soon after that visit, Jerry married Flora E. Hammond in Falls City on 24 September 1879.  Flora had been born at Plattsmouth, Cass County, Nebraska in September 1860, the daughter of John E. and Elizabeth (Stoll) Hammond.  The 1880 census shows the newlyweds living together in Falls City.  Jerry’s occupation is listed as “farmer.”

By 1885, they had moved to Sherman County, Nebraska, as the 1885 Nebraska State census shows “Jery Humphy” living in Clear Creek Precinct of that county, along with Flora and 2-year-old Ora.  She would be Jerry and Flora’s only child:

• Ora E. Humphrey, 1882–1945 (married (1) Willam R. Bebb and (2) Harry Justus Butzbach).

Ora was born in November 1882, and it’s unclear whether that would have been before or after the move to Sherman County.  It seems that Jerry and Flora were still in Falls City as late as September 1881, as Jerry won a prize that month for a pair of mules he exhibited at the Richardson County Agricultural Society (Falls City Journal, 1 Oct. 1881, p. 2), but we have no further records of them until that 1885 census.

The Litchfield Monitor (Litchfield, Nebraska) took note of Jerry’s apparently prosperous farm in Sherman County as early as 7 October 1886 (p. 1 and p. 8), and a few months later (February 1887), it began carrying regular advertising for the J. F. Humphrey furniture store in Litchfield.  On 23 June 1887 (p. 1), it also noted “Mr. J. F. Humphry is marshall of Litchfield.”

Jerry’s venture into the furniture business apparently did not work out well, for a subsequent announcement in the Monitor (2 Aug. 1888, p. 8) stated “Titus & Terhune have purchased entire stock of J. F. Humphry & will be selling at bargain prices.”  Four months later (13 Dec. 1888, p. 1), it reported, “Mr. J. F. Humphry and family moved to Hazard [6 miles southeast of Litchfield] on Tuesday.  Mr. Humphry is attending the elevator at that place belonging to Messrs. Wirt Bros. . . . .”

It’s hard to say how long Jerry operated the Hazard grain elevator, but he must have taken a break from it in the early 1890s, based on this note that appeared in the Republican-Register of Aurora, Nebraska, on 23 August 1895 (p. 5):  “J. F. Humphrey, wife and daughter, who have been in Colorado for the past two years, stopped off here on their way to Hazard, Neb., where Mr. Humphrey will take charge of the elevator.  Mrs. Humphrey is a sister of Mrs. J. R. Davidson, of this city.”  I have no information about where Jerry had gone in Colorado or what he did there.

Once again, it seems, Jerry and his family did not remain in Hazard for many years.  The 1900 census shows them living in Aurora, Hamilton County, Nebraska, and in fact we know that they were there more than a year before that, for this is where Jerry’s father came following his fatal injury, and where he passed away on 21 April 1899.

While in Aurora, Jerry worked as the store manager for J. R. Davidson’s general merchandise store, and Flora also worked there as a saleslady.  Newspaper items show that Jerry was also a leader in the Epworth League at the Methodist Church. 

It should be noted that John R. Davidson, who owned the store where Jerry and Flora both worked, was the husband of Flora’s sister Ida Belle.  So it must have caused consternation both in the workplace and in the family when Jerry and John came to blows one day in December 1904.  Jerry reportedly broke at least one chair over John’s head.  Jerry pled guilty to assault and battery, paid a $35 fine plus court costs, and, presumably, lost his job.  That may explain why, in February 1905, Jerry and Flora sold their house in town and bought an 80-acre farm.  About a year later, though, they sold the farm, and in April 1906, Jerry started a new job driving a patent medicine wagon for the Baker Medical Company.:

On 18 March 1908, Ora married William R. Bebb and, a couple of months later, Jerry and Flora moved to Ravenna, Buffalo County, Nebraska, because it was within the territory Jerry was working for the medical company, whereas Aurora was not.  The 1910 census shows the two of them in Ravenna and shows Jerry’s occupation as a salesman for patent medicine.  It shows Ora still in Aurora with her husband and infant daughter.

Three years later, though, a paper in Delta County, Colorado (Delta Independent, Fri., 10 Oct. 1913, p. 3), reported, “J. F. Humphry, with his wife and daughter, arrived Tuesday night from Denver and intend to make their home here, caring for Mr. Humphry’s mother, Mrs. Jane Humphry.”  Apparently it was not actually Ora’s plan to remain there, for three weeks later the same paper noted that “Mrs. Bebb” had returned with her children to her home in Denver.

Four months later, Jerry and Flora also changed their minds about staying in Delta County, as the Independent (Fri., 13 Feb., 1914, p. 3) reported, “Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Humphry, who for some time had made their home with his mother, Mrs. Jane Humphry, left Tuesday morning to resume their residence in Denver.”  (So they had lived in Denver before?)

Six months after that (9 Aug. 1914), Ora’s husband, William Bebb, died in Pueblo, Colorado, from a self-inflicted bullet wound.  Newspaper accounts differ on whether his injury was deliberate or accidental.  Jerry and Flora apparently had moved to Pueblo as well, as the 1915 Pueblo City Directory shows them living in that city.  The 1920 census also shows them in Pueblo, along with their widowed daughter Ora and her two children, but it’s not clear whether they had lived there continuously from 1915 to 1920.  The Hamilton County Register of Aurora, Nebraska, reported on 17 Nov 1916 (p. 7) that Jerry had been seen in that town, and that he was still (or once again?) running a Baker remedy wagon in the vicinity of Ravenna.  The question is, did Jerry move from Pueblo back to Ravenna for a few years, and then back to Pueblo again, or did he just go to Aurora for a short visit, where he was recognized by the paper’s editor, who merely assumed that Jerry still lived in Ravenna?

Regardless of where Jerry lived, the newspaper probably was correct that he continued to work for Baker Medical.  The 1920 census, mentioned above, showed Jerry, in Pueblo, still employed as a patent medicine salesman.  Jerry and Flora then lived at 805 West 11th St. in Pueblo, and that was still their address 10 years later, as shown in the 1930 census.  By that time, though, Jerry was unemployed, but I have no way to tell whether, at 77, he was comfortably retired, or whether, like so many others, he was out of work due to the Depression.  Ora was no longer in their household then, as she had married Harry Butzbach in 1926.

If you can suggest any corrections to the information above or provide any further details about Jerry, Flora, and their descendants, please contact me at the address shown in the image below:

Thanks,      
     —Pete Martin

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