Robert G. Farritor family, Custer County, Nebraska.

summary: Identified from left to right: Lizzie Wells (a visiting neighbor); Mary, Hennie, Robert J., Frank, Michael, Nora, Will, Anne holding Alice, and Robert G. Ferritor.<p>About the Picture of the Robert Garrett Farritor Homestead -Custer Co. Nebraska by Charles F. Farritor<p>Mr. Solomon Butcher was something of a celebrity in his time. There was much talk of the book he was planning to do on the settlers in Custer County. When he came into the valley in 1892, he put up at "Bob's place" for a week, or more, while he traveled to the neighboring ranches and homesteads taking and selling his pictures. His wagon was heavily loaded with glass plates in crates, plus chemicals and other tools of his trade, so he traveled with two teams of horses. These teams had celebrity size appetites as did Mr. Butcher.<p>To my knowledge, the story I'm going to tell you now has not been told before outside the family. It seemed to be the single exception in the free telling of the stories coming out of "the early days". It was very likely Grandpa himself who put the lid on it. His reasoning possibly stemmed from a genuine reluctance to expose Mr. Butcher for the raging piker that Bob knew him to be.<p>The question has to arise as to why I didn't tell the story correctly in my book "Buffalo Grass and Tall Corn"? ------Recently, while talking to a friend, Jack Manion, at a seminar on an aspect of the "Battle at the Little Big Horn" I gained an insight that had 'till then, eluded me. Jack was commenting on the inexplicable reluctance of families to divulge, so called "family secrets" even after a hundred years or more have passed. --- Reflecting on Jack's words, I realized I had been a party to the thing he was talking about, this in my treatment of the photograph of the homestead in my book.<p>I have since, by correspondence, discussed the matter with John E. Carter (Butcher's biographer). His comment was, "The story you tell of the incident at "Bob's place" provides an insight into this important photographer's character, and not, I think, to his detriment. In working on his biography I found him to be quite quirky, quite idiosyncratic, and quite lovable. He is all of those things in Bob's story. ----Thank you for sharing it, I will treat it as confidential. I would though, encourage you to make it public". <p>
original size: 6x8