Manville, Jireh & Keeline, A Day in the Life - The Grant Family with Georgia Shoults

A Day in the Life, Manville, Jireh & Keeline was held on Saturday, July 4, 2026 as part of the America 250/Explore Niobrara events.

Click here for the Grant Family presentation

Grant Family History

As I understand it the Grant family was of Scottish descent. After immigrating to America, they first settled in Massachusetts and eastern New York and later came to Iowa. Daniel Seaver Grant, son of Reverend Daniel Howard Grant, was four years old when his father died, leaving a family of eight. To the union of Daniel S. Grant and Frances Adams, (who also lost her mother at the age of 8) were born 10 children, two of which eventually homesteaded in the Keeline/Jireh area, Theron and George.

Theron, next to the youngest of 9 brothers and one sister, graduated and taught school in Ames, Iowa and then homesteaded at Box Elder, WY. He sold his place there to his brother Ulysses and moved to Manville where he was principal of the high school. He married Pamela Wright and in 1902 moved to Lusk where they owned a furniture store. After burying a still-born baby, they sold out and moved to Jireh. Theron owned a small store and was the first postmaster there, taking office Sept. 17, 1908. He also published the newspaper, and also a Keeline newspaper. They built a house three miles east of Jireh and adopted and raised a daughter, Helen. His wife died in 1930, and in 1942 after his house burned down, moved to Casper where he lived until his death in 1956. Theron continued writing for local newspapers for many years and wrote the Pioneer Days message for the Congregational church in 1945 and occasionally other articles for the Lusk Herald.

George and his wife, Delia, lived in Lusk for 3 months before settling one mile west of Jireh in 1908. Seven children were born to them, Robert, Josephine, Maurice, Neil, Frances, Mary and Claudia. George was elected as County Commissioner in 1920, holding that office for a total of 16 years.

There were several memories that my mom, Mary, and Neil mentioned in the history written in 2020 for the book Our Heritage: Niobrarans and Neighbors. I just thought I'd share a portion of them with you...

According to Delia, one of the first things that happened in Wyoming was when George met the train one day to find a man had been run over and killed. He took care of the body and since nothing was found belonging to him other than a small insurance policy, he was buried in the Jireh Cemetery with one of the largest headstones, bearing nothing but his name, "Waltz". George did some of this work at the time and ran for County Coroner in 1912.

Much of the community life in the early days centered around Jireh College and the church. Delia told oi decorating the college for a commencement one year with beautiful large clusters of the native red sour dock. George sang with the male quartet and in cantatas during the ten years that the college existed. He also sang for many funerals. George was a trustee of the college and he and

Theron worked at the Jireh State Experiment Farm located on 40 acres of the Koontz place between 1915 and 1920. George had a great interest in roads and bridges, as he'd seen Hwy 20 built and had the contract to build the fence from Lusk to Lost Springs for $100 a mile and material. Lyle and Beryl Fullerton and Ken Rood worked for him accomplishing it all by hand.

Before Memorial Day each year, the graves at the cemetery were cleaned, wild flowers gathered, every grave decorated and George told the kids something about each person buried there. A short service was held and the neighbors had good visits. I want to note that both George and Delia, Maurice, Josephine, the Theron Grants', and Neil and Naomi are buried in the Jireh Cemetery and I so appreciate the hard work given to its upkeep each year.

The 4^th of July was also a special time with a service, a community picnic and baseball game. Neil remembered the rodeo, picnic and ball game held in 1934 commemorating the SO-year anniversary of the last round up of 1884. A foreman of that round-up, Addison Spaugh of Manville, along with Lee Moore, rode that day and spoke of working with 200 cowboys and 2000 horses rounding up 400,000 head of cattle in six weeks in this area. Neil did extensive research on the life of Ad Spaugh and also the Keeline Ranch.

The farm where Mom's family lived was mortgaged and lost in 1935 and they moved to the old townhouse that had been built by the Jireh Land Company around 1910 for the use of newly arriving homesteaders. This was where Neil lived until entering the nursing home in Lusk before his death in 1995.

There were other childhood memories mentioned, such as rabbit drives, sledding parties, dances, and school events, illnesses and accidents. I won't go into the details on these, but there was one funny one that you might get a laugh out of. "The boys used to haul coal from Shawnee in a car and trailer in the 1930's. An example of their troubles was having 19 flat tires coming home one time. Each tire had to be removed, patched and replaced." (The next time we have numerous flats out at the ranch, I'll try to remember this incident and smile).

They had many good times and good teachers in the Jireh school. Neil's teachers from 1925 on, were Ann Humphrey, Mildred Rice and Aaron Lincoln. Mom's teachers from 1929 on, were Clara Rice, Bess Ruffing, Mrs. Hazel Weymouth and Mrs. Browning.

Mom and Neil put together a short history of their work in the Lance Creek area between 1934 and 1951. Mary taught school at the Ross-Sides School the term of 1942-43. She also taught 7^th
and 8^th grade at the Ohio School the fall of 1943.

Thelma Klindt was the principal at the time.

When he was young, Neil often accompanied his dad, George, when he was county commissioner. He wrote that in 1937, he went to work for Guy Mosier, and in 1939 and 1940 worked with Maurice Grant, his brother, doing dirt work. In 1942 he hauled crude oil from Lance Creek and Manville and in '43 went to work for Frank Gorman. In 1947, he worked for Northwest Engineering building streets in Lusk. He did most of the lines of work in the oil fields that there were, including oil well servicing, rough necking, dirt work, welding, and pumping. Due to poor health he quit working about 1984 after working for Walt Kant.

Such was life in Jireh and the surrounding communities. Many good times and tragedies were witnessed and yet families experienced a sense of security, home life and loyalty that we don't often share these days.

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