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Contribution #251 of 365
Moses and Susan Cropps-Kirke Speese
Nebraska Homesteaders, Farmers and Agricultural Developers
1882–1894
The contribution
How this work helped shape America
Born enslaved in North Carolina, Moses and Susan Cropps-Kirke Speese built an extensive agricultural enterprise in Nebraska after emancipation. Their homestead and Timber Culture claims totaled more than 318 acres, where the family developed cultivated fields, livestock operations, farm buildings, a well, windmill and orchards while producing corn, wheat and oats. Susan also served families in Custer County as a midwife, and the farm provided an economic foundation for the family's succeeding generations.