Mrs. Ella Demoret, Pioneer, Dies
Mrs. Ella Demoret, one of the best known women in Western Kansas, died at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday in Wesley hospital, Wichita, where she had been ill since August 1945.
Mrs. Demoret's life was that of a Kansas pioneer, a life that will never be duplicated in America or elsewhere.
She came overland in a'covered wagon from Indiana with, her mother, Mrs. Mary Collingwood, and eight brothers and sisters.
Her father, Daniel Collingwood, died in 1886, shortly after Mrs. Demoret's birth Jan, 27, 1866, in Fredonia, Ind.
For six years Mrs. Collingwood carried on with her husband's business, shoe manufacturing, but the urge of the pioneer was in her and she struck out with her brood for Kansas and its land, homestead land that called so many early residents to the state.
The family arrived in Hutchinson when Mrs. Demoret was seven years old in 1812. Mother Collingwood look around for land, decided on the area that is now Pretty Prarie.
Mrs. Collingwood settled a homestead and built her home, 14 by 16 feet, which was the only "hotel" between Hutchinson and Medicine Lodge.
Here she and her nine children lived. Then five sons, brothers of Mrs. Demoret, also took claims, thus establishing one of the greatest landed estates in a family in Kansas, an estate that extends almost to the state line to the west.
The Ploughs history of Reno county tells of one incident in this early life on the plains. Buffalo hunters once were snowed in at the Collingwood home. The only heat was from a stove in the center of the room. Not all children and hunters could crowd around the stove. The hunters took up a collection and paid Mrs. Demoret and her brother, Frank,, $1.50 a day to stay in bed, this giving the hunters more space around the stove.
Mrs. Demoret was married to S. G. Demoret about the time the State Bank of Pretty Prairie was established. He was president of the bank.
The family bought more land, established elevators, raised wheat in Western Kansas.
Mother Collingwood died in 1916. Her sons and daughters carried on. Mr. Demoret died in 1924. Others of the Collingwood familyh died.
Mrs. Demoret and Mrs. Clara Updegraff, Medicine Lodge, were the only members of the pioneer family left for several years.
Mrs. Updegraff is now the only survivor - with nine nieces and nephews, all living in Kansas.
Mrs. Demoret was active in civic affairs until she became ill. She was a member of women's clubs and gave generously to various institutions. She kept her home in Pretty Prairie although she lived in Hutchinson for several years.
Hutchinson News Herald - Thursday, 12/12/1946