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In the late 1870’s, George Lewis became interested in ranch land in Sunnyside [9.b], in the |
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White River valley [9.c], in the extreme eastern part of Nye County, over a hundred miles east |
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of Belmont, and just west of the Lincoln County line (like so many other ‘line’s, this county line |
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is just a straight North-South survey line drawn on the map, slashing artificially across mountain |
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ranges, dry basin valleys, and seasonal rivers, with no regard for the actual topography of the area). |
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In the 1880 census, July 1880, the Lewis family was living on a cattle ranch in the Cherry Creek |
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area [9.a] of extreme eastern Nye County, south-west of the Sunnyside settlement [9.b] [11], in |
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the White River valley [9.c] [10]. At that time (1880), there were 14 people enumerated on the |
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Lewis cattle ranch, including George himself, age 48, Martha (Tucker), age 32, (step‑)daughter |
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Victoria (“V. L.”) Tucker, age 14, and George’s brother, G. G. Lewis, age 26 [8]. |
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George Lewis acquired the ranch land in two separate transactions, in 1879 and 1880. First, in |
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September 1879, George acquired a half-section from the State of Nevada (320 acres, presumably |
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the cattle ranch where the family was living at the time of the 1880 census) [12], and a year later, |
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in October 1880 George acquired another 320 acres nearby (for “$5000 gold coin”!, including |
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water rights and the “Flag Spring”) [13]. Today, some of George Lewis’s land is part of the |
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Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Management Area, managed by the Nevada Department of Wildlife [14]. |
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No death records have been found for either George Lewis nor Martha (Tucker) Lewis. George |
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probably died before 1887 (age mid-50’s), presumably in Nye County [15], since his widow, |
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Martha C. (Tucker) Lewis, is listed on the Nye County Tax Lists between 1887 and 1900 [16]. |
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Subsequently, Martha may have died after 1900 (age mid-50’s, or later). |
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Stewart McAninch first appears on the scene in the summer of 1883, when he purchases a house |
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and lot on Main St. in Bristol, Lincoln County, Nevada [17], for one thousand dollars. Bristol is |
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a mining district town (elevation 7000 feet) northwest of Pioche in Lincoln County [18] [19]. |
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Almost eight years later, Stewart McAninch (age unknown) and Victoria L. Tucker (age 25-26) |
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were married on 25 April 1891, by George F. Talbot, a traveling ‘District Judge’, and the marriage |
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was recorded a month later in Nye County (Belmont was still the county seat, until 1905) [20] [21]. |
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The witnesses to the marriage were William Horton and his wife Mary, well-known residents |
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of the Sunnyside area in the White River valley [9] [10], and Mary Horton was the Postmaster |
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for the White River valley [11]. Presumably, William and Mary Horton were also old friends of |
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the George Lewis family, and agreed to witness the marriage of George Lewis’s step-daughter |
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Victoria L. Tucker. Sunnyside is at the corner of three counties (Lincoln, Nye, and White Pine), |
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and in the 1880 census the Hortons were enumerated on the White Pine County returns [22]. |
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George F. Talbot, the district Judge, had just been appointed to this district, first arriving in Pioche |
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(Lincoln County) in February, 1891 [23], just two months before the McAninch-Tucker wedding. |
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Some personal information about Judge Talbot can be found in 1900 and 1920 census records [24]. |
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_________________________________________________________________________ |
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McAninch Family History NL v.XVII n.1 / January 2009 / Copyright Frank McAninch / page 2009-03 |