James A. Cruickshank

James A. Cruickshank

Born: 8 NOV 1831 at Cuniston, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Died: 26 MAY 1925 at Blair, Washington County, Nebraska
Buried: Blair Cemetery, Blair, Nebraska

Married: Isabella Poulson on 19 MAR 1857 in Scotland.

Born: 21 NOV 1835 at Aberdeen, Scotland
Died: 27 MAR 1929 at Blair, Nebraska
Buried: Blair Cemetery, Blair, Nebraska

Children:
Isabella, b. abt. 1860 at Scotland, d. unknown, bur. unknown
James, b. abt. 1865 at Scotland, d. unknown, bur. unknown
John P., b. abt. 1866 at Scotland, d. unknown, bur. unknown
Jennie, b. abt 1867 at Scotland, d. unknown, bur. unknown
Alexander, b. abt. 1868 at Scotland, d. unknown, bur. unknown
Maggie P., b. abt. 1869 at Scotland, d. unknown, bur. unknown
Henrietta, b. abt. 1873 at Nebraska, d. unknown, bur. unknown m. Leo Nickerson. They were living in Red Bluff, CA in 1930.
Elizabeth L., b. abt 1874 at Nebraska, d. unknown, bur. unknown m. Ora S. Marshall.
Wilhelmina Emroi "Dolly", b. 25 JUL 1877 at Nebraska, d. 23 APR 1945, bur. Blair Cemetery m. Philip Sheridan "Sherry" Moore, b. 18 SEP 1876, d. 27 MAY 1954, bur. Blair Cemetery.
Andrew L. b. 1 APR 1879 at Nebraska, d. 16 JUN 1968, Los Angeles, CA, bur. unknown

The early De Soto School in District #2 was called the Cruickshank School, named after James. It was located in the hills west of DeSoto. The 1890 Nebraska State Gazetteer lists James’ occupation in De Soto as "justice". When the Cruickshanks moved to Blair, they located on the west end of Colfax Street, in a home built by Chris Crowell for his daughter. After the Cruickshanks bought the house, Isabella named it "Scottston Terrace". This home was later purchased by the Cruickshanks’ granddaughter (Wilhelmina’s daughter) and her husband, Tom and Ruth Moore Blanchard.

Blair Enterprise, 28 MAY 1925:
A. J. CRUICKSHANK CALLED HOME - Blair’s Oldest Citizen Passes Away At His Home In West Blair On Tuesday, May 26, At 1 P.M. - Was A Native Of Scotland

Blair citizens bowed their heads in sorrow Tuesday when the sad news was spread about that "Grandpa" Cruickshank had passed away after a brief illness of but a few days. He was born in Cuniston, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Nov. 8, 1831, where he grew to manhood and it was while still in Scotland that he met, wooed and married when about twenty-five years of age. At the time of his marriage, which was March 19, 1857, he was employed in a bank, but later he farmed his mother’s farm and he continued this work until he came to America in 1872. After visiting his brother who was in business in Omaha, for a time, they purchased a farm in De Soto township of Mr. George McKenzie, who was also a native of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Here he and his good wife lived and reared their family and continued to farm until the family had grown and left the home nest. About ten years ago they decided to move to Blair where they would be free to spend their declining days in peace and rest. The farm was sold to Mr. John Reid of Blair and as chance would have it, Mr. Reid is also a native of Aberdeenshire, Scotland so that from the time of the homesteading up to the present time the title has rested continuously in a native of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Since moving to Blair, "Grandpa and Grandma" Cruickshank, as they are known to us all, have found their ways into the hearts and affections of the people of Blair and it is indeed hard to think of one without the other. At his extreme age of nearly ninety-four years, he was hale and hearty up to the time he was stricken and his pleasant, even, sunny disposition made him an object of love and respect by the whole community. He always had a pleasant smile and kindly work for everyone and we will miss him greatly now that he is gone. As a boy, some thirty-five years ago, the writer can look back when he was still on the farm and his same even tenor of life, his honorable, Christian like method of living made him then as now, an object of greatest respect in his community. For sixty-eight years "Grandpa and Grandma" Cruickshank have enjoyed a married life which was as nearly perfect as is possible in a human way and now when at the age of eighty-nine years she is left without his loving attention but the Almighty has blessed her with ten loyal children, four sons and six daughters, all living, who will do everything possible to make the remainder of her life’s journey as pleasant as possible and drive away all care that is common to nature. She has nothing to regret, theirs was a perfect life and his life was one that we might all do well to emulate. Besides the aged wife, those left to mourn him are: John of Golden Valley, N.D., Andrew and James of Omaha; Alex of Los Ma Linas, Calif; Mrs. Sherry Moore of Blair; Mrs. Ora Marshall of Casper, Wyo; Mrs. J. S. Burnett, Little Medicine, Wyo; Mrs. Leo Nickerson, Marshall, Wyo.; Mrs. M. A. Summers, Page, Nebr.; and Mrs. Anna Mumaugh of California, also nineteen grand children and eighteen great grand children. The funeral services will beheld tomorrow, Friday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock at the Congregational church of which he was a member. Rev. James A. McKeeman, pastor, will have charge of the services and will be assisted by Rev. W. H. Underwood of the Crowell Home, who is a neighbor and friend of the family and interment will be made in the Blair Cemetery.

Blair Enterprise, 11 APRI1929:
Obituary of Noted Woman - Rev. Newell’s Breif Address of Most Widely Known Character of Community, Delivered at the Funeral Obsequies Mch. 30, 1929 - CLOSES PAGE EARLY HISTORY Funeral services for the late Mrs. Isabella Poulson Cruickshank were held in the Congregational church March 30, Rev. A. F. Newell, her pastor, being in charge. Music was furnished by a quartet made up of Miss Ethel Mead, Miss Mary Cook, Don C. Van Deusen and F. W. Arndt, Miss Jeannette McQuarrie accompanying. Mr. Thomas Blanchard also sang a beautiful selection accompanied by Mrs. Blanchard. Following a brief obituary, the pastor said in part: - This is what the world will read in print - it is not what is printed on our hearts. This is not the time to be conventional or formal; Grandmother Cruickshank was neither conventional nor formal. Indeed, she was somewhat of a law to herself. Whatever I may say about her will seem adequate and satisfactory neither to you nor to me. One might speak a long time and say many things about his very dear and Christian Scotch friend of us all, and at the end one would hardly have begun. Nor is this a time to say trite and ordinary things, for she was neither trite nor ordinary. I am almost tempted to say she was in a class by herself - an extraordinary class. Nor is it a time to say the sad and tear-provoking word; for this, while a solemn occasion, is not a sad occasion. Who would deprive her of her present peace - and sight? Who would ask her back to occupy her frail and breaking body? Meeting Mrs. Cruickshank first as a stranger three years ago, I confess to having had a real curiosity to account for that eager, alert, restless, inquiring, original mind, in evidence even at the great age of 90 and 93. Bit by bit I pieced together the elements which made up the background out of which she came. I found that her father was an Aberdeen physician and a Christian; that three uncles were also Scotch physicians, and another uncle a Presbyterian minister. She was thus reared in the thinking atmosphere of a professional and religious home, in which strong books were read, sound papers were taken and absorbed, and questions of weight and importance were discussed before the children; a home which added to its knowledge and soundness of character by constant attendance upon the ministrations of the kirk. Moral questions loomed large in this sturdy Scotch home, and Mrs. Cruickshank never lost the stamp thus fixed upon her in those impressionable years. Out of such an atmosphere in Aberdeenshire came the shrewd, inquiring mind, and the warm, religious heart of Grandmother Cruickshank. One can but stand in patriotic reverence in the presence of these pioneers who broke the sod, faced the hardships, and made the Midwest and Nebraska what they are. It took a stout heart and boundless faith and a consuming love to break away from the beloved hills and yet more beloved kith and kin of her native Scotland, and sail with the man of her choice and a brood of little children to a new land. But this is what Isabella Cruickshank did - and we shall need to live long and well and gratefully and nobly to become worthy of such foundation-stones upon which our western civilization, prosperity and culture are builded. Truly, holy bones lie beneath the superstructure of our western American life. They ought to inspire us to high and unselfish living. This county is richer in more than one way because James and Isabella came as pioneers. Why? Because in themselves, standing with Scotch tenacity for ordered society, law, justice, kindness, hospitality, charity, morality and religion, they, and those like them, became moulding influences and a chief asset of those early, formative days. While not a charter member, Mrs. Cruickshank, with her husband, came to membership in the Congregational church here three years after it was organized in 1870, joining in 1873. Ever since, in a continuous membership of 56 years, through all its fortunes, "in fair and cloudy weather", she has cherished the church, loved it, prayed for it, watched its growth with pride, and attended its services with a fidelity most enheartening to its successive pastors. I never meet one of them but inevitably the question is asked, "And how about Grandmother Cruickshank?". Even up to last November she was still to be found with considerable regularity on Sunday mornings, despite the increasing weight of years and total blindness. To me it was always something of an event when she came up the aisle still bearing herself with a certain air of distinction which was all her own. Her life was a faithful echo of the line of David, "a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Her love and charity were as broad as her broad Scotch accent and as delightful. The greatness of her faith and hope was in inverse ratio to her small, frail body. One wondered how so mall a frame could hold so large a heart. It always is to be one of the very grateful and humbling memories of my whole ministry that so sweet and loving a servant of God has called me, and with such evident affection, "my minister". Yet she ministered far more to me than I could minister to her. And how that love she poured out upon this church and this whole community came back to her! Freely she gave of herself and freely has she received. No one questioned her first place in the affections of our people, and few in Blair have been more beloved. On the occasion of her 93rd birthday last November we prepared a special, flower-bedecked little table during a public dinner in the church, and made her the guest of honor. Every guest came to her table to take her hand and giver her greetings, and her cup of happiness was full. It was her last public opportunity for showing her heart and receiving the love and reverence of her friends. Hers was a glowing and vivid personality. One could never forget it. Whimsical, witty, vivacious, with an astounding memory and a wealth of experience and canny observation to draw upon, it was no wonder that she was engaging and rewarding in conversation, and was welcomed in any company.

Source: Ruth Moss, Washington County Genealogical Society