A life sketch written by granddaughter, Verda Noble, to honor her grandfather on his 80th birthday
1863
Santa Fe Trail – Encounter with the Indians
While on the Arkansas river, they ran into five tribes of about 5000 Indians. The Comanche, Apache, Cheyenne, Kiowa and Caddo tribes. They said they were on their way to fight the “Texas Rangers.” They were equipped in their warfare. The old chiefs looked much more fearful than any picture ever painted. Their fire arms consisted of a few guns, some bayonets with sabers, but..Read More
Santa Fe Trail – Bull Whacker
On July 3rd, 1863 Overton went to Ft. Leavenworth and hired out to Uncle Sam as a Government “Bull Whacker” and drove six yoke of oxen to Ft. Union, New Mexico with a train of twenty-seven wagons which had 7500 pounds on each wagon. His load consisted of 75, 100-pound sacks of flour. They were gone for three months and never drove over one bridge..Read More
1858
Donati’s Comet
In 1858 and ’59 there was a comet shown in the northeast with a tail which looked to be two hundred to three hundred feet in length, and the old settlers said it was a token of war. Then the Great Civil War started in 1861 and continued until 1865. (Giovanni Battista Donati, an Italian astronomer, first sited the long-period comet on June 2, 1858.)..Read More
1854
Moving to the Kansas Territory
In the fall of 1854 the Kansas Territory came in for settlement. Overton’s father, Larkin Tuggle and two uncles, John and Peter Cummings, took claims on Deer Creek, four miles north of Atchison, Kansas. In the spring of 1855 they built their log cabins and moved their families there. They crossed the river at Doniphan on a towboat as a ferry. They drove the stock..Read More
School in Missouri
In 1854 Overton’s father, Larkin Ellison, rented a big ranch northeast of St. Joseph. There was a big school house on the farm, and Overton attended three months summer school there. Overton and William Snoddy, who were very chummy, were given permission by the school master after books were called to bring a pail of water from the spring. Finding a nice little branch near..Read More
1853
Moving to Missouri
In 1853 the family decided to go west to get a home and located at St. Joseph, Missouri. They traveled by wagon, one hundred miles to Charleston, Virginia, on the Kanawha river and from there the entire journey was made by water navigation. They took a steam boat and went up the Ohio river to Cincinnati, Ohio, changed boats there and continued on the Ohio..Read More
1852
Trip to the Mill
When about 10 years of age, Overton’s father sent him to the mill with a neighbor on horseback with a pack saddle which contained one to one and one half bushels of wheat. The sack, not balanced very well, began to slip and in order to keep it from falling, Overton got on the short end and rode on to the mill. While on his..Read More
1850
Early School Days in Virginia
Overton’s 1st schooling was in a log school-house 14 X 24. He went for three months when he was ten years old. It was a subscription school where a school master solicited the patrons and when he got 25 pupils at $1 each, he would teach for 3 months, boarding around with the patrons. The neighbors met and built the school house in the forest...Read More
1845
Life in Virginia
Each and every head of the family manufactured his own shoes for his entire family Most of them had a few sheep and they carded the wool by hand, then they would spin and weave the family clothing from wool and flax which they grew, they made linen trousers, towels and table clothes. The women wore linsey woolen dresses for everyday and a calico one..Read More
1843
Early Adventure
One of Overton’s early adventures, when but a mere babe was crawling too near the fire place and burning his left foot. He carried the scar all his life. (Estimated date)