Ellen Liddy Watson was born out of wedlock on 2 July 1860. (Her birthdate was recorded in the Family Bible) She was born to Frances Close in Arran Township, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. According to the 1861 census of Bruce County, she was living with her mother, Frances and her mother's brother Andrew Close. Her mother Frances was born in Dromore, County Down, Ireland, and came to Canada with her parents and her other siblings around 1858. Since they were pure Irish, the fact of an unwed mother probably brought shame upon the family at that time. They were calling Ellen, Fanny at the time, named after her mother and grandmother.
Ellen’s fathers name was Thomas Watson, who lived two farms down from where the Closes lived. He was born in Stonehouse, Lanarkshire County, Scotland, and came to Canada about 1855 from Scotland, living first in Iowa, U.S.A. for about five years with his parents and siblings, and then his parents and siblings moved to Canada, by going to Detroit, Michigan, and getting on a ferryboat there and going to Kincardine, Ontario, Canada. From there, with their wagons and belongings, drove the few miles east to their future home. The land in Arran Township. Thomas Watson's father, John Watson heard about the free land through his sister-in-law, Jane Wilson, who was living in Canada at the time. She wrote to them, and stated that the Queen was giving out free land to her New World Subjects. All they had to do was live on it and pay the taxes and improve the land and after a few years it was theres. Thomas settled on one hundred acres, next to his father's two one hundred acre tracts of land in Arran Township, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. He began clearing his land along side his father's land, and built a two story house on his property. There was a small creek running through his property past the Close’s farm. He would follow this creek and go and visit Frances Close. The inevitable happened, she became pregnant during one his visits. Since she was Irish, and he was Scottish, his parents did not approve of their seeing one another. The Scottish did not like the Irish people at that time. Thomas wanted to marry Frances, after he found out she was pregnant, but I believe his parents forbid it.
On May 15, 1861, Thomas Watson and Frances Close went over to Owen Sound in Grey County and were married in a Canada Presbyterian Church by Rev. Thomas Stevenson. A friend of theirs, John Andrews, witnessed the wedding.(Grey County, Ontario, Canada marriage records.) Thomas moved away from his farm with his new family to another one in another township in Bruce County. He sold his farm in 1861 and moved to another township due to some neighbors being troublesome. He wanted to protect his new wife and family. His father didn't agree with the marriage either. He was left out of his father's will, after his father died in 1872.
On March 27, 1865 Thomas Watson went to Farmsville, New York from his home in Canada, leaving his wife and family behind and mustered into Company I, 96th New York State Volunteers. According to the muster rolls from the Union Army, his description is a follows: age 26; height, 5 feet 6 inches; complexion: light; eyes: blue; hair: brown; where born: Scotland; Occupation: farmer; term: 1 year. He enlisted as a temporary substitute for another soldier for one year. Several months later he left on December 20, 1865 at Dansville, Virginia. He was a nurse in the hospital and after seeing to much suffering by the Union soldiers, he left the Army, and went back to Canada and his family. I believe that Thomas joined the Union Army to become a United States Citizen this way. But seeing too much bloodshed among the American countrymen, caused him to return to his homeland, Canada.
Ellen lived in Canada, going to a one room school house and helping watch her younger brothers and sisters at home when she was old enough. She helped walk them to the one room school house when they were old enough. Possibly doing some of the cooking and different farm chores. Her other brothers and sisters that were born in Canada were: John born Nov. 1861; James born Oct 1864; A set of twins were born in 1865, but did not live; Andrew born January 1868; Frances born in October 1869; Annie born in September 1872; Another set of twins born in 1873, but did not live. Mary E. born May 1874. There was a set of triplets born in 1875, two of them died in Canada, and the third one Elizabeth lived.
In early 1877, Ellen’s father Thomas heard about the United States Government giving out land. A neighbor of his that moved to Kansas earlier, wrote and told him of the land that he was on, and that there was land near him for homesteading.
Thomas after selling his land he was living on in Canada, with his wife and all of his children, and with his wagon full of their belongings went to Kincardine to catch a ferry down to Detroit, Michigan, and from there went by wagon train to Red Cloud, Nebraska. Ellen was put to work helping to take care of the young children, while they were moving. Thomas finally reached his future homestead land in November 1877 in Pawnee Township, Smith County, Kansas, where he built a sod home for his family to live in at first. He dug a well and built a shed for his live stock to stay in. Tragedy struck the family, Elizabeth the last of the triplets died in August 1878. There were three more children born in Smith County, Kansas, near Lebanon. They were: Jane born 1880; Thomas Lewis born 1882 and Bertha born 1884.
Ellen met a young man by the name of William A Pickell, who lived not too far from her parent’s farm. They struck up a courtship and on November 24, 1879, they were married. He was 21 and she was 18 at the time. They got married in the office of the Justice of the Peace in Smith Center, Kansas. I believe they had their picture taken not long after they married in Smith Center, Kansas as a wedding picture.
Ellen left home and moved in with William A Pickell as Mrs. Ellen Pickell. She thought that this was going to be a wonderful marriage. She was settling down as his housewife, when after a few months of living with him, she finally found out that he was not the kind gentleman that she had first met. She found out how much he drank and then he began to beat her with a horsewhip and struck her several times with his hand without any cause, and started to call her obnoxious names. On the last occasion he drove her from her house and home in January 1883. This was on her divorce filing in Red Cloud, Nebraska. They had no children from this marriage.
She stayed with her folks for a while, where she secured employment in the neighborhood, working as a domestic. She landed a job on a farm nearby, working for a banker and farmer from Smith Center, Kansas by the name of H.R. Stone. Not only was he a banker, he also owned over 1200 acres of prime farmland in the area. He raised cattle on his ranch, besides the every day crops. Ellen worked for him as a domestic house cleaner and a cook for about a year. A lot of the people that she worked for loved her. Her father had this to say about her later on: She was a fine girl, of handsome form, strong and rugged, weighing 165 to 170 pounds. but modest and unassuming with not a particle of fastness in her action or disposition. Her reputation was the best and she was always considered a splendid worker.
She decided to moved up to Red Cloud, Nebraska, just about 14 miles north of her parent's farm to get away from her abusive husband. She used to go to Red Cloud a lot with her parents for shopping. The nearest town to their place was Lebanon, Kansas, which was about seven miles to the southeast. But Lebanon, didn’t have a lot of the things that Red Cloud had. It was a growing community.
On February 14, 1884, Ella filed for a divorce in the Webster County courthouse in Red Cloud, Nebraska, while living in Red Cloud, asking for her maiden name back. The court sent out three different summonses to William A Pickell in Smith County, Kansas, to appear, but he refused to show up at the hearings. The Sheriff from Jewell County, Kansas delivered each summons. The last summons that the court sent out was on July 17, 1884. ( Information from her divorce papers)
Ellen was tired of waiting for a divorce, and her husband not answering the summons. Sometime after the last notice to appear, Ellen left Red Cloud against her parent’s wishes. They asked her not to leave, but to stay. From Red Cloud, Nebraska she went to Denver, Colorado, then up to Cheyenne, Wyoming and then over to Rawlins, Wyoming. (From her father's newspaper interview in Rock Springs.)
She did not find anything in Denver that she wanted or maybe she didn’t find the right employment she wanted. From Denver, she moved 120 miles north to Cheyenne, Wyoming. She must have heard that this was a most logical place to look for a job. Cheyenne was a growing city. I do not know why she did not stay in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Maybe it was too wild of a cattle town. Too many drunken cowboys and too many saloons. It might have been too rowdy for her. Remembering how her former husband was a drunk, and how he treated her, maybe she decided to move to a less noisy town. She must have heard of Rawlins just about 80 miles to the west. She took the rail line to Rawlins. She wasn’t there too long before she secured employment at the Rawlins House, which was a room and board place. She worked there as a domestic and cook. She either moved there in late 1885 or early January 1886. Her father stated that she was in Wyoming for about three years from her death. I do not know if he met having her homestead claim for that long, or the total amount of time in Wyoming. In 1884 she was living in Red Cloud, Nebraska, filing for a divorce from her husband in Kansas. From July 1884 to January 1886 we have to assume that she was going to the different cities mentioned above and finally ending up in Rawlins, Wyoming.
On February 24, 1886, Ellen was going towards the courthouse in Rawlins, when she met this handsome young man. He introduced himself as James Averell. Ellen had seen him at the Rawlins House, where he would come in, now and then to get something to eat, and she served him his meals there. He stated that he was was there on business at the Courthouse to file claim on his homestead site just 60 miles east of Rawlins. He lived near the Sweetwater River. He told her he had a roadhouse that had an eating place in one area of it and a General store in the other part. He also had a bar where cowboys or anybody else could have a cold beer to drink, after coming off of the trail. He told her the Oregon Trail by passes within a mile of his place and he gets several customers from it. The Military road wasn't too far away either. He invited her to come out and fix the meals for the hungry customers and she could charge them 50 cents per meal, and keep the money. He also told her about some land adjoining his, that she could probably homestead, and have a place of her own. All of this sounded too good for Ella not to accept it. Jim Averell probably heard about Ellen's cooking from people around town, and probably seen her at the Rawlins House, where she worked at.
Ella Watson started to court James Averell when he came to town. Her divorce from William A Pickell came through in March 1886. That’s when her husband filed in Smith County Kansas against her for Desertion. So she was finally a free woman again.
About May 17, 1886 or before that, since it takes several days to ride to Lander from Rawlins. Ellen Watson and Jim Averell rode to Lander, Wyoming and applied for an application for a marriage license. This marriage license application was never returned as being filled out by the person that might of married them. Maybe they just got the application, just in case they decided to get married. According to John Fales statement, which was a neighbor to Ellen, years later after the lynching, stated that they were engaged to be married and were going to get married after Ellen proved upon her homestead. This explains why it never was returned as the two being married. A long ways to ride just to apply for a marriage license and not get married. This was just to show everyone that they were engaged to be married. They might have had other business in Lander, Wyoming that day also. A County clerk in Carbon County notarized the marriage application before being sent back to Lander. She wrote down on the application as being one Ellen Liddy Andrews, age 24, of Sweetwater, Carbon County, Wyoming. We do not know why they traveled so far out of the way to Lander. They probably took Jim’s freight wagon, all the way there. About 105 miles one-way. Everyone knew them in Rawlins, and no one knew them in Landers. If Ellen wanted to homestead, then she didn’t want anyone to know that if she got married. Lander was on the Shoshone Indian Reservation and no one knew them there. And their marriage could be kept a secret.
Upon their return trip to Jim’s Roadhouse, Ellen did the cooking at the small cafe in Jim's roadhouse. She enjoyed fixing meals for the customers in the small eating-place Jim had in his store. She earned some money this way. The money that she would later use to purchase some cattle with. (Her father in a newspaper interview in Rock Springs stated that is how she earned her money. Working for Jim Averell.) Later Ellen would file on a homestead claim.
James Averell had his own land, with a house built on it. This was on a homestead claim of 160 acres. He used the desert land claim to secure a homestead of another 160 acres for his roadhouse. He was born in Canada and was educated in the United States, and then spent over ten years in the U.S. Army, stationed in Ft Steele, then in different Forts in Wyoming. With this enlistment he began to love Wyoming. He was there when they surveyed the land that he was on. He chose the best land to settle on. Now he told Ellen about the joining land to his. She could homestead it and it would join his, and they would have over 320 acres together. His property was situated between Horse Creek and Sweetwater river.
On June 29, 1886, Jim was appointed as the postmaster at the newly created Sweetwater Post Office, and he received an additional appointment as a justice of the peace. He was also appointed as a notary public. These appointments would create additional traffic through his little restaurant and store.
Jim filed on an additional 160 acres along Horsecreek. Since it was along the main creek in the area empting into the Sweetwater River, he could control the water that led to it. In later days he would build irrigation ditches, with Ditch digging machines, he would rent from Rawlins, Wyoming. This way he could control the land the water was on. His land was in the form of an L shape. Now he will talk Ellen into homesteading the other half of the L and make it a full 320 acres they could control including the water.
The country that Jim and Ellen lived in. The Sweetwater River Valley.
me with any comments feel free!!!!
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