Wilbur County Pioneers

Pioneers: The Legend of Little Germaine

Germaine Van Bibber was nine years old in 1845 when her family joined the wagon train bound for Oregon at Independence, Missouri. Her father, Isaac, was from a venerable Virginia […]...

History: A Wilbur County Timeline

1845 – After little Germaine Van Bibber becomes ill, the pioneer families leave the Meek wagon train, and settle in the Tamarack Valley near current day Germaine. 1846 – Young Henry […]...

Wilbur Pioneers: The Founding of Germaine

For several years, the pioneers who settled in the present site of Germaine had a very loose structure of governance. They were, after all, just a few neighboring families trying […]...

The Bradford Family

Germaine and Wilbur County have enjoyed the legacy of the Bradford family from the beginning. Nancy Horne Bradford came from an old Connecticut family and she was accustomed to traveling […]...

Wilbur Pioneers: The Van Bibber Empire

In 1868, Isaac Jacob Van Bibber, and his 23 year-old son Peter each claimed 160 acres of prime timberland north of Germaine. Two years later, young Peter began to build […]...

Wilbur Pioneers: The Blue Bucket Mine Legend

You can’t write about this part of the country without mentioning the legend of the Blue Bucket Mine. Does it exist? If so, where is it? The very name, Blue […]...