Mulliken family shows a pioneering spirit

Horatio Mulliken was just 17 years old when he headed west.

He set out by train to join his older brother, William, who was raising sheep in the Elkhorn River valley. It was 1857 - and back then, the teenager probably never imagined his descendants would be farming in this area five generations later.

Yet that’s what happened.

On Sunday, the Mulliken family will be honored with Aksarben’s Pioneer Farm Family Award during the Dodge County Fair in Scribner. The award honors farm families in Nebraska whose land has been owned by the same family for 100 years or more. The presentation will take place at 6 p.m. in the fairgrounds tent.

The Mulliken farm lies four miles northwest of Fremont. Today family members produce corn and beans and own some pasture land.

But it all began with a young man named Horatio, who came from Massachusetts.

Boarding a train, Horatio traveled to Omaha then walked the rest of the way to Fremont, said his great-grandson, Jerry.

William left in 1859 to fight in the Civil War and was killed in the Battle of the Wilderness. He was buried in Massachusetts.

In 1860, Horatio filed for the Homestead Act through which settlers were granted 160 acres of land by the government. If they held it for three years and were approved, it was theirs.

Horatio built a house and later was able to purchase more land for $8 an acre.

"It was a rugged time to be farming," said Nellie Mulliken, 90, wife of Horatio’s grandson, Alan.

Horatio eventually married and became the father of five children. His wife, Hannah, died in 1888 when their youngest child was only 4 months old.

He and the older children remained on the farm, but the youngest, Nikita, went to New York for a time to stay with a relative, and later returned to the farm while still young.

During the school year, Horatio hired a housekeeper to help, and in the farming season had hired farm help. Horatio did all the gardening himself, and the two older girls did a lot of work. Horatio moved to town after the children were grown, but drove out to the farm every day, Jerry said.

After Horatio died in 1908, his son, Warren, became responsible for the farm.

He and his wife, Adelene, raised six children.

"He farmed the land for a long time," Nellie said.

Then Warren began having health problems. At the time, his son, Alan, was attending classes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He and Nellie were married by then.

"I came from the city and had never lived on a farm ... I thought I would like it - and I love it," she said.

When Warren died in 1945, Alan became responsible for the farm and never did finish college. He was only a few credits short of

obtaining a degree.

Alan and Nellie, who raised three children, hung onto the farm, she said. When Alan became ill, the Mullikens’ oldest son, Jerry, came to work on the farm. And their son, Jack, later came to help his brother farm.

"He and his brother have been farming ever since," Nellie said.

And there’s yet another Mulliken working on the farm: Jack’s son, Robert.

Throughout the years, the Mullikens have purchased land and added to the initial homestead.

"The boys have flourished on the farm," Nellie said. "They've worked hard and we’ve all enjoyed each other ... For us, it’s been a privilege to work with each other."