Neville Kansas

The Neville community was named after George Richard and Sarah Rebecca Neville. They moved from Chattsworth, Illinois in 1885 to homestead on 160 acres of buffalo grass in Benkleman township, Cheyenne County, Kansas. This was made possible by an act of Congress approved 20 May 1862. “To secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain.” The “Homestead Act”, as it was known, granted a ‘patent’ or deed to settlers who staked a claim to 160 acres of land on the frontier and braved wind, dust, snow, and other acts of nature for at least five years. After they ‘proved up’ with five years residency, the settlers were given clear title to the land.

George Richard and Sarah staked their claim on a plot legally know as “the southeast quarter of section twenty seven, in township five, south of range forty one, west of the sixth principal meridian, in Kansas, containing one hundred and sixty acres.” The short legal being S.E. 1/4 27-5-41. Their application number 8899 and their homestead certificate number was 3290. Original documents were filed at the General Land Office in Oberlin, Kansas and have since been relocated at the Department of Interior Office in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The Neville family; George Richard, age 31, Sarah, age 21, daughter Mae Frances, age 3 and son James Henry age 1 were among the first settlers in Township 5-41. Later twins were born on 5 October 1888. The girl died at birth and was buried on the homestead and the son was named George (nmn) Neville. The area surrounding the homestead became known as ‘Neville’ due to their early arrival and their donation of time and land to community projects. The Neville post office operated from 1887 to 1909 and was shown on early maps of the area. The Neville School was open from 1887 to 1951. The Neville United Methodist Church used the Neville school as a meeting place until a new building was erected in 1910. The Neville Church was dedicated by the congregation at 10:00am on 10 December 1910 and is still in use 70 years later in December 1980.

Neville Post Office

On 10 June 1887, George Richard Neville was engaged to carry the mail to the area near his homestead. He hauled supplies from Haigler, Nebraska (the nearest railroad depot) some thirty miles to the north and picked up the mail for delivery to his neighbors. A few months later Charles A Hodges opened a country store about 1 1/2 miles southwest of the Neville homestead. The post office was then moved to this store and Charles Hodges became Postmaster of Neville Post Office on 25 February 1888. As with many other early settlers Mr. Hodges departed during the early 1890’s and the Neville Post office was moved some 2 miles further south to Grant Township in Sherman county. Simon Kemp, who had retired in 1894 as a sheriff in Sherman county ran the post office from his home after becoming Postmaster on 11 November 1895. Mr. Kemp remained postmaster until the arrival of Rural Free Delivery which closed the Neville Post Office on 30 April 1909. The desk and Mail slots that were in use when the post office closed still exist.

Neville, a country post office in Sherman county, is located in Grant township 20 miles northwest of Goodland, the county seat, and 15 miles north of Ruleton, the post office from which it receives mail and the nearest shipping point.

Page 357 from volume II of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. … / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar. Transcribed July 2002 by Carolyn Ward.

Neville United Methodist Church

1887 11 Feb “To the neighborhood; why not organize a Sunday School, call a meeting somebody, let us all take hold and the wheel is sure to move.” signed “Echo”

The forgoing article by an anoymous writer, known only as “Echo”, which was printed in the “Cheyenne County Restler-Review” as news from township 5-41 (South Benkleman) must have attracted some attention. A Sunday School Group was formed which developed into a Church Group and eventually became the “Neville United Methodist Church”

The Sunday School Group initially met in a frame building which was owned by Bob Hanks at 33-3-41. On 25 March 1889 George Richard Neville donated two acres of land in the northeast corner of his homestead (S.E 1/4 27-5-41) to build a school on. After a one room frame schoolhouse was built on this land the Sunday School Group moved the meeting place to the school location. About 1901 the school house was moved one mile west but continued to be the meeting place of the Sunday School Group.

From the work of Paul Edward Neville