Van Tassell, A Day in the Life - Shoults Ranch
A Day in the Life, Van Tassell was celebrated on Sunday, June 14 as part of the America 250/Explore Niobrara events.
Click Here for Anton Larson / Shoults Family Ranch presented by Georgia Shoults
Shoults Family Ranch
Written by Ron Shoults presented by Georgia Shoults
Our family ranch was established by my grandparents, Tony and Ethel Larson in 1912. My Great Grandfather and Grandmother were Carl and Ida Larson. They both came to this country from Sweden and Carl worked on the railroad at first. He was granted his United States citizenship June 6, 1893 in Chadron, Nebraska. We still have his certificate of citizenship on the wall in my parent's house. My Grandpa Tony was born in the Western Nebraska Panhandle, but my Grandma Ethel was born in Phillipsburg, Kansas. Someway she ended up having a teaching job in Harrison, Nebraska. She told me when she arrived on the train that she was not impressed with this flat open country. My Grandpa also was a teacher in Sioux County, and that is how they met and fell in love. Sometime later they decided to try 'proving up' on a homestead north of Van Tassell. They decided that they would each file for a homestead before they got married, so they did and then went to Grandma's home town in Kansas to get married. They lost their first baby, Olive Mae, but had three girls-Gayle, Lucille and Doris. Their middle girl became my mother, and she met my Dad, Rex Shoults, at a dance at Prairie Center. My parents worked at the ranch, and moved from Lusk to live there in 1953 and lived there the rest of their lives and loved it. My wife, Georgia, and I still live in the original homestead house of my Grandpa Larson's. Our son, Skeeter and his wife, Carla, and family, are now the 4th generation to live on the ranch which God has so graciously given us to live on. We still use my Great Grandpa's brand which is a Rocker CL, standing for Carl Larson.
When my Grandparents were homesteading, they also continued to teach at rural schools and later in Van Tassell. Grandma told me that she would cook breakfast really early on their wood stove, and Grandpa would go and hitch up two teams and grain the horses. Grandma would heat bricks on their stove and then Grandpa would put them in gunny sacks and put them on the floor of the sleds to keep the children's feet warm in the winter as they picked them up on their way to the schools. Grandpa went to one school and Grandma to another. The foundation for what was called the Star School is still visible in the pasture south of our house. This was one of the schools that they taught at. They lived a much different live-style than I have ever known. Later, when Grandma taught in Van Tassell, they had to have a house in town. Shelly Ladwig's house is a part of what was once my Grandparent's home. The Congregational Church was just to the west of their house; and that is where they went to church. My Grandpa would ride horseback into town as often as he could to spend time with the family. In the summer, they all lived back at the ranch which is 4 ½ miles north of Van Tassell. My Mom said she loved to ride her horse bareback into town in the summers to get the mail. Bob and Bertha Bancroft ran the Post Office at the Depot by the train tracks. Bob Bancroft's brother Dave was a professional baseball player and when I was a little kid Mr. Bancroft gave me a baseball signed by his brother. That was a gift I never forgot. I still have that baseball.
My Grandpa later had opportunity to buy up a number of other homesteads when people decided that it wasn't the life for them. I have an old ledger in which my Grandpa Larson recorded these transactions and how much he paid for them. Slowly, he put together the ranch which we now live on. I am very thankful for my Grandparent's hard work that allowed my family to be able to live there now.
My Mom always said how she loved seeing Van Tassell in the summer from the top of the big hill to the south with the bright green grass and the big white rocks in the background. Our family is so grateful to have been a part of the Van Tassel community. Hey, there is no place like home and the blessing our neighbors have been to all of us through the years.