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Cyrus Van Gundy - An Old Man Looking Toward the West

Cyrus Van Gundy, or Vangunda as he would later be called, was my great great grandfather. Born in Ohio, he grew up in Iowa, and homesteaded in Kansas and Colorado. The lure of cheap land and the new possibilities of the frontier, led his father, John Van Gundy, to take his family from rural Sycamore, Ohio to Jasper county, Iowa, near Prairie City. And Cyrus, likewise, was moved to leave that area for northwestern Kansas, and then again for eastern Colorado, and yet again for northwestern Colorado. So when he came home for a visit to Prairie City Iowa in 1915, it was fitting that he described himself as "An Old Man Looking Toward the West" to the Prairie City newspaper.

Cyrus was born February 3rd, 1835 in Crawford county, Ohio, in the part that would later become Wyandot county. His father was John, and his mother was Susannah Combs, daughter of William and Barbara Baum Combs. The Van Gundys moved with William Combs and his family to Andrew county Missouri where they lived in 1840. The Combs family moved to Madison county Iowa, and John and Susannah took their family to the Prairie City area in 1846. (Iowa became a state on December 28, 1846.) I was told that John Van Gundy assisted the early surveyors.

Cyrus Vangunda ca. 1860


I have found no evidence that Cyrus served in the Civil War, although he would have been the right age. Cyrus married Hannah Dippery January 20, 1865 in Van Wert county, Ohio. Hannah already had two children, Emma White, b. 1858 Pennsylvania, and Louisa May Taylor, b 1863 Ohio. But after the wedding, those children remained in Van Wert county Ohio with Hannah's parents, Edward and Anna Marie Dippery. Cyrus and Hannah did visit again on a least one occasion, as guests in the Friends church in 1879.

But Cyrus and Hannah began their married life in Iowa, purchasing land in Marion county, just south of Prairie City. They had a large family: Lydia, who died young, Mary, John, Isaac, Sarah, Susan and Nancy, all born in Marion county. But in 1887, all but the oldest son, John, moved to Nutty Comb township, Cheyenne county, Kansas, south of Haigler Nebraska. Cyrus proved his claim to 120 acres in 1894. His homestead papers claim that he had a sod house 16 ft. x 16 ft. with a 14 ft. x 16 ft. addition, stable and sheds, cave, corn crib, well, and 80 acres broken.



Homesteading was not easy in northwestern Kansas. It is a windy and dry place, with the extremes of harsh winters and hot summers and barely enough rain to grow crops in a good year. Cyrus' son Isaac, also a homesteader, in 1891, was granted a leave of absence from his homestead in 1893 because his "wheat came up and looked well for about two weeks or more and then dried up and appears to be nearly all dead on account of want of rain". Isaac went through some tough times, perhaps a topic for another blog entry...

Cyrus' daughter Mary Deliah Sullivan, who was divorced by this time, had also homesteaded, in 1889. She remarried in 1892, to John Long in Denver. Her claim was proved in 1896, where she stated that she lived continuously on the land except for  Nov. 30, 1891 to March 1, 1892, while she was away to work (and apparently marry!).

Susan, my great grandmother, married another Iowa transplant, Frank P. Brady, and moved back to Iowa with him and his parents, George W. and Eliza Jane Brady by 1895.

Cyrus and Hannah Vangunda ca. 1900

Family lore says that the Van Gundys had a fire and lost their house and most everything in it. In 1900, they were living in Marshall county, Kansas, but still had their Kansas land. But in 1906 they pulled up their roots and moved to rural Ramah Colorado. Cyrus homesteaded again, by now he was over 70 years old, but no doubt he had the help of his son-in-law Norman Thompson who settled next to him on the eastern Colorado plains. Cyrus' wife, Hannah, died in 1907 and is buried in Ramah.

Newspaper Clipping from Colorado Newspaper 1911
Cyrus and his son-in-law proved their homestead entries in Colorado Springs on August 25, 1911. I can't help but wonder and hope that they celebrated by going to this event the same day:
1911 Buffalo Bill Show in Colorado Springs

Norman Thompson's home was still standing up until recently, and this is discussed in a past blog entry.

Cyrus made at least two trips back to Iowa while living in Colorado. The Runnells Iowa Telegram reported that he was visiting his sister, Mrs. J. F. Hunnel, on April 4, 1913. And then, as mentioned above, he was featured in a nice article in the Prairie City newspaper on April 22, 1915. I'd like to think that he stopped in Dunlap on the way to visit his granddaughter, Mildred Mesenbrink, and her new son, Russell, my father, but I don't know if that actually happened.

But Cyrus and the Thompson's weren't done yet. In 1916 they packed up and moved to northwest Colorado, over the mountains to the Western Slope of Colorado.

Cyrus and Thomsons in Craig, Colorado in 1917

Cyrus' daughter, Susan, wrote on the picture that her "Pa" just got unloaded from the train this day in Craig, Colorado on April 10, 1917. She spelled his name "Van Gundy", unlike her father and brother, Isaac, who spelled it "Vangunda".
Cyrus, daughter Nancy Thompson, granddaughter, and great granddaughter

Cyrus and the Thompsons homesteaded once again near Lay, Colorado. Cyrus died September 9, 1918 and is buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Craig, Colorado.
Cyrus' Funeral Memorial

Bob Mesenbrink
4/20/2015


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