Rock County, Nebraska; Biography, Frank Blaine Sybrant USGenWeb Project NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the internet, data may be used by non-commercial researchers, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, nor for presentation in any form by any other organization or individual. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must obtain express written permission from the author, or the submitter and from the listed USGenWeb Project archivist. *************** Biography extracted for the NEGenWeb Archives by Bev Hopkins, yellowhawk_51@webtv.net Title: Rock County, Nebraska, Centennial, 1888-1988. Published by Centennial Book Committee - 1987 Copyright 1987 by Rock County Centennial Book Committee and Rock County Historical Society Frank Blaine Sybrant Biography Frank Blaine Sybrant was born in Guys Mills, Pa, February 12, 1883, the 7th child of Lucretia (McFadden) Sybrant and the 12th child of David Oscar Sybrant. Blaine was four years old when he arrived in Nebraska. He spent the first few years of his life in Nebraska on the same land that he would later own and on which he would raise his family. He attended school until about age 18 in a sod school house located about a half-mile north of the present Sybrant School. He spent his growing up years helping his brothers with well work, some carpentry work, but mainly working for Karl Linke, who advised him to but land with his wages. For recreation in those years, it was mostly picnics, baseball games, house dances, horse races and whatever went with community gatherings. Wild game in those days was plentiful, especially prairie chicken, ducks and rabbits. Lucy Clark came with her father, borthers, and sisters to a place about 2 miles east of where the Sybrant Church now stands. Blaine and Lucy were married May 1, 1906 at the courthouse in Bassett, Ne. and moved to the "homestead" that Blaine had acquired from his brother Herb. Blaine and Lucy started their wedded life together in a 10 by 12 foot shack, which had been the first Sybrant Post Office that Herb had moved down to live in when he homesteaded. It was here that their first two children were born, Ray & Ruby, in 1908. Blaine and Lucy built a sod house in 1909. Mable was born in October of 1917 and what a joy she was to her Mom and Dad and the twins. In the spring of 1918, Blaine and his family decided to go west to Washington where Lucy's father lived. It was quite a undertaking to get there with the almost impassable roads at times and the narrow mountain roads. When they did arrive at Kelso, Washington, Blaine went to work for a lumber mill and continued in that work until they came back to Nebraska two years later. In 1922, there was another blessed event in the Blaine Sybrant family, Frank was born October 30th of that year. In 1926, Lester was born October 13. Blaine caught a bad cold, which developed into pneumonia and he died April 22, 1932 at age 49. Lucy was left, along with her sorrow, the problem of supporting her three kids left at home. It seemed as if all of Blaine's notes and mortgages came due at this time and bankers were no more tolerant of widows then than they are now. Most of what was on the place, livestock, etc. was sold, leaving Lucy with nothing much to make a living with. She did have one thing in abundance, her faith in the Lord. He surely supplied her with courage and determination and gave her hope for better things to come. She had some good neighbors, she mentions quite often, Guy Haszard, the Ammon's and the Nachtmans who were real close to her. Eventually she accumulated a few cattle, some milk cows and horses, with which she was able to start over. Lucy married Bill Kreitman on March 13, 1943. In 1957 they retired, moving to Newport where they lived until Bill's death in 1968. Lucy then moved to Bassett. She died October 28, 1986 at 99 years of age. (End of File)