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The Carey Family of Bradley, S.D.(1885-1906)
My great, great grandfather, William Kerry and his wife Susannah, arrived in Canada from Portsmouth, England in the autumn of 1812. Eventually they made their home in the County of Lambton, Ontario where they raised eight children. In 1838, Capt. Wm. Kerry was killed in a border skirmish during the 1838 Rebellion and was buried on his farm which then passed on to his son, George Carey who was my great grandfather.
In the late 1880's George's youngest sons, Arthur and Myres became enthralled with wanderlust and the promise of free land to settlers in Dakota Territory. The advertisements promised land that would not need to be cleared of timber before it could be plowed and planted. The boys were determined to set off to seek adventure and their fortunes on this new American frontier.
George was loath to see them set off alone, for though Arthur was 21, Myres was not yet 15. And so by spring of 1885, the farm near Euphemia in Lambton County with it's comfortable home, orchards, stream and flowing artesian well was sold and George, Arthur and Myers loaded livestock, household goods and a supply of hardwood lumber in boxcars bound for adventure. That day George, who was in his late sixties is reported to have said, "Today I leave the only home that I have ever known, and only God knows my feelings."
George's wife Emily and daughters Mary Emiline and Rachel were left in Ontario and were to join the Carey men in Dakota once living quarters were built.
Meanwhile George and the boys ended their journey by rail in Clark Center. They loaded their wagons with all their worldly goods and traveled about twenty miles north to the land they had filed upon. Here they built a shanty twelve feet square and before they could accomplish anything else, both Arthur and Myres became ill from drinking tainted water. Myres recovered quickly, but Arthur was desperately ill.
We have in the family, the original letter that George wrote back to his daughter Mary Emiline from near Clark Center in April, 1885:
" I feel like wrighting to you to let you know that we received your welcome letter that let us know
you and mother and Rachel was well. I only wish we could say so. I and Myres are well but poor Arthur is very sick we have done all we can and Myres has gone for the doctor this afternoon and I will tell you before I close this letter what he says is the matter with him. Poor boy came out here among strangers and take suddenly ill is something I can scarsely bare up under."
A post script at the end of the letter attempts to reassure them , saying:
"Mary do not be alarmed the doctor came and said it is typhoid fever but not a very bad type and he says Arthur will come around but will take quite awhile."
It must be presumed that more suitable living accommodation was built for Emily arrived from Ontario with her daughters during the summer and so preparations began for the approaching winter. The Carey's were among the first settlers who founded the community of Bradley and many of their neighbors were also from Ontario. They soon organized a Baptist congregation and George was a senior deacon.
I am sorry that my Carey ancestors were never happy in their South Dakota home. When I look now at lush, green pictures taken in the spring of the year 2000, I can hardly believe this is the same land my great grandparents found when they arrived during the terrible drought years of the late nineteenth century. You have to understand the culture shock of leaving an area with abundant water, trees for fruit and firewood and learning to live with little water and "buffalo chips" for fuel. They hated the hot dry winds of summer and were terrified of winter's blizzards. They missed their friends and families left behind, as I am sure, did all our pioneers who bravely set off into the unknown to open up this huge continent to those who would follow soon after them.
The brush with death that Arthur experienced in April of 1885 was only the beginning of the tragedies that would befall the family. Only three years after leaving Ontario, George then in his early seventies, passed away. Arthur had filed on a homestead of his own, so the farm near Bradley was passed on to Myres with the stipulation that he make a home for his mother and sisters for as long as was needed.
Not all was doom and gloom. In early 1889, daughter Rachel married Frank Rarick and five months later Myres married Mary Ellen Day, one of the sweetest ladies one could meet. In April 1890, Arthur married Nellie McKenny and before the month ended, Myers and Mary Ellen welcomed their first-born, Clara Alberta Carey.
Heartache returned to the family in 1891, first with the stillbirth of Arthur and
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