Pioneer Ancestry:
Sims Family: English Heritage
Merlue's mother's family came west by covered wagon and horseback. They also homesteaded and were hard workers and tilled and farmed the soil in Southwest Nebraska near Wauneta Nebraska. She has a blacksmith billows that her grandfather used extensively on the farm.
Her grandfather, Artie Sims and Uncle Guy were heroes in the Spanish American war of 1896. Merlue has many heirlooms and relics of her grandfather and uncle--priceless letters depicting the history of that forgotten war. She is proud of the bible, war medals, and a pocket knife her grandfather carried with him during the war which she has on display in a shadow box.
Her grandfather, as a very young teenager, rode the Texas Trail in cattle drives.
A historic stone home (which is still standing) was built east of Wauneta--her grandfather, uncle and her great grandmother, Alice Sims, lived there.
Her Uncle Guy was a historian that documented an extensive amount of southwestern pioneer history. Stories of wolves attempting to come through the open windows and doors in a sod home (there were no windows and doors) and Great grandma beating them off with a broom.
This home was not far from the battlefield of the last Indian Uprising between the Sioux and the Pawnee.
Merlue has the original "door" that was on the sod dugout of the "Frenchman" that lived along the river which was later named the Frenchman River. It is priceless. This door was placed on the stone potato cellar at the Sims homestead.
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| Grandma Myrtle Sims, Jackie, Dianne, Merlue, Marilyn and Gary Frasier, and Betty Lou Sims |
Beth loved to Hunt |
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| Grandma Myrtle Sims and Clair Sims | Beth Sims, 16 yrs old and Smokey |
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| Guy and Grandma Alice Sims | Beth Sims Frasier |
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| Beth Sims Frasier | Mom and Uncle Guy Sims |
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| Grandpa Sims Spanish-American War memorabilia |
Grandpa Sims' Bellows |