Crider - McDowell Family Tree

The first wedding in the new settlement along Owl Creek seems to have been that of August Lauber and Augusta Stockebrand which occurred in December 1860. And just about one month later in January, 1861, Ernest Stockebrand was married to Mary Stange. Both couples were recorded as being residents of Belmont Township and both couples were married by “Rudolph Dubs – a minister of the Gospel”. This group of men we have mentioned took turns every few weeks or months of driving a yoke of oxen to Kansas City or Leavenworth after supplies. On one occasion when it was the time for Ernest Stockebrand to go to Kansas City his wife and baby son Ernest were staying at the cabin alone. This trip usually took several days.

Indians were rather common to these settlers but on this one occasion Mrs. Stockebrand became frightened and took her baby son and hid in the corn field. She then thought she would go to the Toedman home which was across the creek, the distance being over a mile. After spending several hours in the hot sun and having difficulty in going through the high grass, brush and timber she resolved to go back to the cabin and let come what may as she was exhausted. The Indians did not come to molest her.

The Ernest Stockebrand farmstead recently became the property of one of Ernest Stockebrands decedents but the land has been continually owned by the family since the beginning.

-- Information from e-mail received from Don Tucker, a great-great-grandson of Ernest and Mary Strockebrand.