Nora O’Melia Blake (my great grandmother) was born on Jan 1, 1883 in Maryland. She died sometime in May 1975 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Her dad’s name was Wesley Blake and her mother’s name was Kate Jean O’Melia.
On Sept 16, 1902 she married Hudson Dexter Mead in Carbon, Utah.
They had four children:
Hudson Dexter Mead II (Gloria’s dad) – b. 11 Sep 1906, d. 18 Mar 1985
Mary Elizabeth Catherine Mead (Denny) – b. 18 Nov 1910, d. Oct 1984
Kate Jean Mead (Bristow) – b. 7 Nov 1913, d. 1979
John Mead (died when 18 months old)
In the 1900 census she was living in Uintah Valley Indian Reservation, Uintah, Utah. At some point she moved to Chadron, Nebraska where Grandpa Mead (Hudson II) was born in 1906. She lived in Chadron until sometime in the 1950’s and then moved to Omaha, Nebraska. She passed away in 1979 and is buried in Chadron, Nebraska at the Greenwood cemetery.
The story goes that as a young girl she actually met Chief Sitting Bull (of the battle of Little Big Horn fame). Sitting Bull was killed in 1890 (at 59 years old) so Nora would have been very young. Sitting Bull did travel around with an exhibition show, even working with “Buffalo Bill”, until 1885, and then retired to an Indian reservation in the Dakotas, probably not too far from Chadron Nebraska.
retravelment.com 
It would be something if you could trace back and confirm that she met Sitting Bull. Enjoyed the post very nice family history.
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That is the coolest ever!! I love this!
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Hello! I am your step-cousin once removed! My father is William Denny, stepson of Mary Mead Denny. I remember meeting your grandpa Hudson many times as a kid at Grandma Mary’s in Omaha. I also remember meeting your Uncle Huddie many times. Great Grandma Nora had many wonderful stories and was such a lovely woman! I live this photo of her, Grandma and Aunt Kate….exactly how I remember them!
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Hello Beth, step-cousin once removed! It is great to hear from you and thank you for the comment. I have the name of William Denny as husband of my great aunt Mary, but no further information. So I guess William had a son William from an earlier marriage and he would be your father. You just inspired me to do some more work on my family tree. Grandma Nora was the best, for sure!
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Yes. Grandma Mary married my grandpa, William Denny. Mary was his second wife and my dad, also William Denny, was his son from his previous marriage. Mary did not have children of her own. Neither did Aunt Kate.
We lived in Omaha so spent a lot of time at Mary’s house, which you may know is where Nora lived for as long as I can remember until she died.
I remember your Grandpa Hudson so clearly. And I also remember as a kid that I thought your Uncle Huddie was movie star handsome!
My dad has quite a bit of information about Grandma Nora as he was very close to her and Mary.
I also received some information just this weekend from the Nebraska historical society about Hudson Mead’s parents John Groot and Mary Mead. As you probably already know, they were very well entrenched in the Native American Reservation areas in South Dakota operating general stores/trading posts.
The manuscript I received copies of were written by Mary Mead and she talks about key players in Little Big Horn and also some specifics of the Sun Dance. It was all very interesting and I would be happy to email them to you. Feel free to email me directly at beth.denny@yahoo.com as that may be easier than through the website as I don’t see where I can upload documents or photos.
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I will send you an email shortly. I have a copy of that manuscript also which I purchased a few months back from the historical society. Awesome reading.
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