Rebecca Almira (McCord) Hamer

Rebecca Almira (McCord) Hamer: Pioneer, Wife, Mother, Civil Servant,
and Founding Mother of Kearney.

By Kendra Moore

Francis "Frank" Hamer has long been considered one of Kearney's most influential founding fathers. During his forty-six years

in Kearney, Francis Hamer helped to expand and develop the town, served as legal counsel in a variety of county and district court cases, served three terms as a district court judge, and served on the Nebraska Supreme Court. While the story of his life reveals much about the legal, political, and economic development of a new Nebraska town, the story of his wife Rebecca Almira (McCord) Hamer offers a glimpse at what it was like to be a woman on the Plains during the same period. One of the first female residents of Kearney Junction, Rebecca Hamer spent the first few years of her marriage living and struggling on the Nebraska frontier. During her first years in Buffalo County she experienced emotional and physical isolation, Spartan living conditions, and financial difficulties. As time passed and Kearney grew, she became actively involved in the cultural and social development of the community. In many ways, Rebecca's life in Kearney reflects the experiences of middle class women who migrated to the Great Plains in the 1870’s. While they oftentimes do not get as much recognition as their husbands, women such as Rebecca Hamer worked side by side with their husbands, promoting and building their new Great Plains communities. It is for these reasons that Rebecca A. Hamer has been called one of the founding mothers of Kearney, and her story deserves to be told.

         Born on September 17, 1842, Rebecca began her life on the family farm in Delphi, Indiana, where she was the second youngest of five children. Her father, William McCord, had purchased the small plot of land in Indiana in 1827 and after living on the land alone for nearly a year, brought his wife to the farmstead in 1828. Times were hard for the couple at first. One of only seventeen established families in Carroll County, the couple lived in a log cabin and ate basic meals of corn bread, fat meat, milk, and butter during the first few years of settlement. Later, as the farm prospered into one of the largest in the county, a frame home was built that would better fulfill the needs of the family.

        Little is known about young Rebecca's childhood. Her days were most likely occupied with farm chores and school, while nights were spent with the family. Like many of her female companions, she began a career in teaching after the completion of her schooling. During the 1860's she taught at a small rural school on the outskirts of Delphi. While teaching she met a young male teacher and part-time lawyer named Francis "Frank" Hamer. The couple had a mutual interest in the local literary and debating societies. She married Frank in 1869 at her brother's farm in Eddyville, Iowa. Just weeks after their marriage, Frank toured through eastern Nebraska, searching for a suitable location to open a law practice. After brief stops in Omaha and Ashland, Frank settled on the new capital city of Lincoln. In early January, Frank called for Rebecca who joined him after a harrowing travel from Iowa. At the time, Lincoln was not accessible by railroad, which forced Rebecca to travel overland by stage from Omaha. On the journey a keg of molasses overturned, seeping into her box of belongings. Frank later recalled that although he had the best wife on earth, the shock of moving to Nebraska and having her possessions ruined made her a "trifle tearful."

        While her husband practiced law in Lincoln, Rebecca's primary occupation was the upkeep of the one-room living quarters that they rented for ten dollars a month in the capital city. After living a year in Lincoln, Frank decided to move to a government claim six miles outside of town. He hoped that the move would be a good investment but he apparently made a rash decision. "When I went home at dinner," Frank recalled, "I said there would be a team out here in about half an hour and we are going to move this afternoon...she [Rebecca] wanted to know if that wasn't rather sudden." Nonetheless, the couple moved into what Frank described as an "exceedingly small affair," with no stove pipe, coal, or windows. In fact, there was only a "white cotton cloth stretched across where the window ought to be." Frank must have realized that he was in trouble and informed Rebecca that by noon the next day there would be plenty of coal and a stovepipe. Those must have been lonely days for Rebecca. Frank left early in the morning, walking the six miles into Lincoln and then walking home in the evening. Occasionally, when court ran late, he did not arrive home until well after midnight. The couple remained on the claim for several months before they concluded that "the effort was rather strenuous" and sold it for what it had cost.

        Shortly after this failed adventure, the Hamers moved to the new community of Kearney, where Frank opened the first law practice in town. For the first few years in Kearney, life was even more difficult for Rebecca then it had been in Lincoln. When the couple first moved to Kearney during the summer of 1872, the town consisted of a few cabins, post office, and general store. The 14 x 20 general store provided the areas with "salt pork, dried fruit, tea, coffee, calico, and tobacco." The building also housed Frank Harrier's law office. Vast rolling plains surrounded the little building, and the nearest railroad stop was at Buda, a small settlement five miles east of the town site.   The couples homestead was located north of the present day high school, and living conditions were rustic. Although the ground had been broken and some seed corn had been planted, the couple spent the first two years residing in a 12 x 16 unpainted shanty, which offered little protection from the harsh weather conditions.    In an 1873 letter to her sister, Rebecca expressed distress over the couple's poor financial condition. "We are poor to be sure but we expect to get through the worst this summer. Leaving a living law practice and coming here where there is nothing does not fill ones pockets very fast." Rebecca remained hopeful, however, adding that "I still think we will be better off in the end for coming here though we have had to endure...some hardships." She proudly relayed that she and Frank were going to have their pictures taken as soon as they had some money to spare. Although poor, Rebecca took great pride in her marriage and in the things that her simple life could provide.

        In addition to financial worries, Rebecca often experienced feelings of loneliness. As one of the only lawyers in the area, Frank's duties often sent him on the road for weeks, if not months at a time. When Frank was out of town on business, Rebecca roomed at a boarding house in Kearney. Coming from a large family, it has been recorded that she was often lonely living in Kearney by herself, without the company of her husband and family. In the letter to her sister, Rebecca revealed her loneliness. "I would rather have my husband at home and be there myself than board anyplace...I expect him home this week. I do want to see him so bad." She closed the letter by pleading with her sister to write letters because it was the only way to prevent loneliness and keep in touch with her family.

        Like many other pioneer women starting a new life on the Great Plains, Rebecca feared Native Americans. When the Hamers first settled in Kearney Junction, the Great Plains was a hotbed of Indian/U.S. conflict. Oftentimes, Pawnee Indians, who lived on a reservation in modern day Nance County, traveled through the area while on buffalo hunts. Although the Pawnees were not at war with the United States and generally did not bother settlers, Rebecca often worried about the presence of Native Americans when they passed by the homestead. While her interactions with the local Indian tribes were never violent, she reportedly hid in the cornfields when Indians approached her home. Scared and sometimes alone for long periods while her husband worked in Kearney, her interactions with Native Americans were probably at best intimidating and frightening for the young woman. Frank and Rebecca lived in their small cabin on the homestead for nineteen months. By 1874, however, they purchased several residential lots in town and built a small framed home for around $825.

        During the 1870's, Kearney grew steadily as did Francis Hamer's legal career, and Rebecca would no longer have to worry about being a woman alone on the Plains. As Frank Hamer's legal career prospered, the couple finally decided that it was the right time to raise a family. Their son, Thomas Francis Hamer was born shortly after the move into Kearney in 1877, and Grace Julia Hamer was born three years later. After the birth of her children, Rebecca devoted her time and energy to raising them and taking care of the home. Having a family did not stop Rebecca from continuing to help develop the community, however. By the 1880's, Rebecca became active in a club that would promote female equality before the law.

        Since the Seneca Falls Convention had occurred in upstate New York in 1848, women across the United States were rallying for equal rights and treatment in both the private and public spheres, and the right to vote. Woman created organizations across the nation that offered them a place to gather and rally for their cause. In June of 1888, Mrs. Elizabeth Lisle Saxon, vice-president of a National Suffrage Association chapter in Tennessee, addressed the women of the Clio Club in Kearney. Stressing the importance of "Equality of Women before the Law," Mrs. Saxon sparked a fire among Kearney women. After listening to Saxon's speech, ten Kearney women formed the community's first all-female organization. The group named their club The Nineteenth Century Club.

        Rebecca Hamer served as the club's first president, and helped the organization choose their motto, "Interdependence not Independence." The club worked to improve the lives of Kearney's women through participation in education and civic activities. During Rebecca Hamer's presidency and throughout the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the club created committees to address specific concerns. Women on the education committee sought to improve the education in Kearney through sponsoring a variety of lecturers, donating books to the local library, promoting a $40,000 addition to the high school building, and contributing money for scholarships at the university level. They also worked very hard to elect two women to the public school board, a truly monumental achievement in a time of struggle for women's rights.

        In addition to improving education, the Nineteenth Century Club made various donations to local organizations. Monetary donations were made to the Salvation Army, the Mother Hull Hospital, and the Community Club for boys. The club oversaw the sale of Red Cross seals and donated furniture to local hospitals. As time passed the club shifted the focus from suffrage to other national problems affecting women and their children. They sponsored the first baby clinic in 1915 and one member served on a statewide committee that helped pass the first Nebraska child labor law. Serving three terms as president, Rebecca Hamer helped to found an organization that is still active in Kearney today.

        As the years of the new century passed, Francis and Rebecca Hamer continued to be influential residents of Kearney. In 1911 Frank was elected to the Nebraska Supreme Court and served as an associate justice until his death in August of 1918. Rebecca remained active in civil work and looked after the home and her family. Their son Thomas followed the legal path of his father, obtaining a law degree and establishing a thriving local legal practice before moving to Omaha where he worked as a lawyer for the Union Pacific Railroad. Grace followed the path of her mother in teaching. She served on the first faculty at the State Normal School in Kearney before marrying Jacob Kanzler and moving to Portland, Oregon. Rebecca remained in Kearney after her husband's passing, managing the family property with the help of her son. She remained devoted to the town, but traveled often to see her daughter and two grandchildren in Oregon. It was on one of these trips to Oregon in July of 1925 that she became ill and passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage. The Kearney Daily Hub devoted two articles to her passing. On July 15, 1925, under the headline "Hamer Funeral is Held Today," the paper politely gave the details of the funeral, and concluded with expressing great sorrow at the passing of "one of the first white women in the settlement."

        The story of Rebecca Harrier's life can be used to describe the experiences of pioneer’ women who moved to the Great Plains during the 1870's and 1880's. A young wife on the Great Plains, Rebecca struggled with the same loneliness, fear, and meager finances as her pioneer sisters. As the town grew, and her family expanded and prospered, she worked hard to see that the women of the city had influence through the development of the Nineteenth Century Club. A pioneer, wife, mother, and civil servant, Rebecca Hamer justly deserves a place in Buffalo County History as one of Kearney's founding mothers.

Proofread 7-23-2005