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Charles Nettleton Strevell, was presumably born about 1857 or 1858 to someone named Nettleton (possibly Z. N. Nettleton, one of the founding fathers of Pontiac, Illinois) and Elizabeth Butler Kelley in Pontiac, IL. Local sources refer to him as "Charles Nettleton". In 15 August, 1858, his mother married local founder [[Jason W. Strevell]]. Strevell was a lawyer who also operated hardware stores. In 1969, when Charley was about 11 or 12 years old, he went on a surveying adventure that almost cost him his life. ::'' "Another of the first trustees, Nelson Buck, who came from near Bloomington, was a widower with three children, and shortly after his coming, was married to the widow of Augustus Fellows who lost her family to cholera a few years before. Mr. Buck was a man of many interesting peculiarities and was always first and foremost in everything that went for the up-building of the town. He was a surveyor and was elected to that position for several terms. Mr. Buck was one of the first trustees of the village of Pontiac, organized in 1856, and was the leading force which brought about the incorporation. He was a ready writer for the press in the early days of Pontiac, and many of the older residents now living remember the caustic articles printed over his signature. In 1869, while engaged in writing the first history of the county, he received an appointment as surveyor from the United States government, with orders to proceed at once to the territory of Nebraska. The history was about one-fifth completed when he left for the west. '' ::''Before leaving for the west, Mr. Buck inserted an advertisement in one of the local papers for eight young men to accompany him on the trip, assuring them of plenty of sport, with an excellent chance to see the country. The opportunity afforded by the expedition for exploring the wilds of western Nebraska attracted the attention of several of the more adventurous young men of this place, who made application to Mr. Buck for employment, and were enrolled as members of the party, and on the [[29 June, 1869]], Mr. Buck, Frank McFarland, Buxton McGregor, John Nettleton, Will McCulloch and James Sager started from Pontiac for the field of their labors. None of these young men were over seventeen years of age. They left Pontiac and proceeded to [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]], by rail, and from that point proceeded to a point opposite Plattsmouth, Nebraska, where they crossed the [[Missouri river]]. At Plattsmouth, they were joined by six others and proceeded without interruption to [[Fort Kearney]], Neb., where they were to receive a military escort. While at Fort Kearney, Mr. Buck was cautioned not to proceed further by the commandant, [[Colonel Pollock]], who stated that the country was full of Indians on the warpath and that they had been engaged but a few days previous by a troop of cavalry from the fort. After waiting for several days for the escort and not procuring one, Mr. Buck decided to push forward, and accordingly left the fort with his party. After journeying two days westward and encountering many of the Sioux tribe, Mr. Buck became alarmed and sent young McGregor and Nettleton back to Fort Kearney with a request to the Colonel that he send an escort at once. The boys returned to the fort and delivered the message, and as no troops were forthcoming decided to remain until one was provided. No troops being available the escort was not provided and McGregor and Nettleton left the fort with their faces turned toward the east and worked their way back to Pontiac, having seen all the Indians they desired. The surveying party, ten in number, had left Fort Kearney about the middle of July, and as nothing had been heard of them, an expedition from North Platte headed by [[Lieutenant Haskins]], U. S. A., with [[William F. Cody]] (Buffalo Bill) as a scout, left that place the first of October in search of them. On the 10th of October, Lieutenant Haskins reported to his superior of having found about thirty miles southeast of McPherson, where Mr. Buck's party was supposed to be, two tripods, a camp and camp equipage, and some canned fruits. The camp had the appearance of being deserted. He also saw some parts of a wagon. Not long after this, a band of Indians were captured, and it was admitted by them that they had a fight with a party at the point above mentioned; that it was a desperate one and that the last to fall was a tall man, who was in charge of the party. The Indians denied that they burned the bodies of the men, but careful search by expeditions sent out in search of the missing party failed to find them, and as not one of them ever returned or has since been heard of, it was generally supposed at the time that after killing every member of the gallant little band, their bodies were disposed of by the Indians in a manner peculiar to their own." '' When he was about 21 or 22, his parents moved to the new frontier town of Miles City, Montana in 1879 (3 years after Custer's Last Stand and 2 years before the railroad reached town). Those seeking a fortune were getting into the open range cattle business as the Native Americans were subjugated and the bison herds decimated. Charley's father combined livestock and law in the new town. Charley's sister married the nephew of the town's namesake and top military officer. George M. Miles followed his uncle Nelson A. Miles to the new post and started a business selling things to the soldiers. Soon he and the Strevells had gone into the hardware store business together ("Miles & Strevell", then "Miles, Strevell & Ulmer", which later was just "Miles & Ulmer"), as well as founding a local Presbyterian church together. Charles married Elizabeth Crawford in 1881 in Pontiac, Illinois, and after several years in Miles City, they extended the hardware store to Ogden, Utah in 1890. He and Elizabeth then moved themselves and their store to Salt Lake City, consolidating with the George M. Scott Co. The firm later became the Strevell-Paterson Hardware Co., of which he was president for 28 years before his retirement in 1931. While hardware was his vocation, his real love was archeology. It is supposed that this was the reason for the move to Utah. He became known for his rare collection of historic, geological and archeological relics and established a museum. He became well known for his essay, "Dinosauropodes," which was published several times during the 1930s. As a member of the Utah state constitutional convention in 1895, he helped draw up the state's first constitution. In 1943, he published a 304 page memoir: "As I Recall Them". Recollections of Abraham Lincoln in Illinois in 1860, and Strevell's father persuading Lincoln to stand against a door frame and have his height verified as 6'4"; experiences in cattle ranching in Montana in the 1880s including the brands of prominent ranches, hardware sales in Ogden and Salt Lake City, Utah during the 1890s, as well as various banking and Mormon activities in Utah. "This privately printed book has some mention of Calamity Jane and the hanging of Big Nose George Parrott, as well as the hanging of Cold Turkey Bill and his gang, and Beaver Creek Jake and his bunch of rustlers." An informative and interesting book of the author's lifetime experiences in Illinois, Montana, and Utah. Charles died in a Salt Lake City hospital 21 September 1947 of causes incident to age (89).
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