Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1897-11-03
NICHOLAS VAN vRANKEN.
Returns to Ills New York Home After IN
Absence Of Forty-eight Years.

oCkoAA5 Vi IL tSeA
corning a gentleman well known in
the Judith Basin:l
Thus over Enoch's early silvering head
The sunny and rainy seasons came and went
Year after year. His hopes to see his own,
And pace the sacred old familiar fields.
Not yet had perish'd. when his lonely doom
Came suddenly to an end"
Thus wrote Tennyson in his poem
of Enoch Arden. 1t was n the mind
of England's dead laureate, an ideal,
a fancy, a fiction, but the the story
OF the wanderer returning to his
home after years of absence has be-
come not a romantic fancy but an
actual fact. Every once in awhile
the newspaper reader learns of
story similar to Tennyson's ideal,
and now out in the town OF Niska-
yuma there is an Enoch Arden OF the
first water, and one who in length
of absence from home breaks all pre-
vious records.
The whole story seems more like a
fiction than the enactment of a ro-
nance in real life.
Nicholas l.. Van Vranken, remem-
bered only by the Oldest inhabitants
of ~Niskayuna. and his wife, are the
leading actors i'm this story.
: Away back In 40 when gold was
burning, feverish desire to hunt for
the precious nuggets struck the east,
Nicholas, or as he was better known,
Clausie Van Vranken, was among
the people i'm this vicinity who
comfortable homes to try fate and
fortune in the then comparatively
unknown west. He was one of
several SONS, and his home was the
old Van Vranken homestead on a
cross road leading from the Rosen-
dale road down to the Mohawk
river. 1t is called by some the river
road.
For two years husband and wife
correspondent regularly and the for
mer sent substantial remittances to
his wife. Then no words of cheer
setting sun.
"Then tho she mourneo MS absence as his
grave,
Set her said will no less to chime with his,
But throve not in her trade, not being bred
To barter, nor compromising the want
By shrewdness. neither capable of lies,
Gained for her own a scanty sustenance.
And lived a life of silent melancholy"
After a weary waiting and watch
ing for 10 years Mrs. Van Vranken
came to the conclusion her husband
was dead and married a man named
Ferguson. For twelve years they
lived happily together, and then he
died. Since then she has lived alone,
except when her son Isaac, who now
resides in Rotterdam, was with her.
Since the death of her second hus-
band Mrs. Van vranken made
living by doing homework for the
neighbors.
Several years ago the son Isaac
began a determined effort to find out
whether his father was dead or alive
Nothing came OF his efforts till a few
months ago when he became salts
fed that his father was alive in Mon
tana. Last July when the news of
the great gold finds in the Klondike
region reached the east Isaac's son
determined to follow in the footsteps
of his grandfather and seek fortunes
in a strange land. The father was
willing but he requested his son to
go by way of Montana and visit
several places where he believed his
father was known. Young Van
Vranken did SO and about three
weeks ago located his grandfather.
The news was soon told that his
wife and son were still living and as
soon as he could arrange his affairs
the older Van Vranken was on his
way east. Hearrived in Schenectady
on Saturday. For two days his son
had been watching every train, but
this one he missed. The man who
had not been in Schenectady for As
years began to make inquiries how
to reach his old home. The memory
of the roads had been entirely obli-
terated from his mind, but he finally
reached the abiding place of his wife
from whom he had been so long
separated, and as Tennyson puts it:
"He therefore turning softly like a thief,
Lest the harsh shingle should CRATE underfoot.
And feeling all along the garden wall,
Lest he should swoon and tumble"
The wife had been told of the COM
ing of the husband, but she expected
to see hin with her son, and when
h opened the door in response to a
knock she did not even recognize the
man b had taken years ago for
better or worse.
Explanations were soon made,
and there was a happy time In that
house that night. The news OF the
Homecoming of Mr.. Van Vranken
spread rapidly and all day Sunday
and Monday he received a large nun
Der of callers.
A representative of The Union went
out to the Van Vranken home early
last Tuesday. 1t is a story and a
half structure that has not seen paint
in many a day. 1t stands opposite
a clump Of woods some distance
from any other dwelling.
In response to the reporters knock
at the back door. a hearty voice
bade him "come in" Mrs. Van
Vranken was busily engaged prepar-
ing a breakfast for her newly found
liege lord, while he sat contentedly
toasting his shins before a blazing
wood Are.