(gentle music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Coming up on "Nebraska Stories," A man explores his heritage in the Welsh capital of the Great Plains, (upbeat music) a unique composition honors the work of acclaimed artist Jun Kaneko, (upbeat music) and a mysterious photo leads a young woman on an incredible journey.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (gentle music) - [Narrator] Picking up your life and moving to a new place is a scary prospect.

(gentle music) In 2021, I moved from my home state of Michigan, 10 hours west to Lincoln, Nebraska.

(gentle music) I had never been to Nebraska before.

I was a stranger in a stranger place.

But as I made friends, learned where my new favorite food spots were (gentle music) and explored my new home state, my worries began to fade.

Rather than being nervous, I found excitement within this new frontier.

(gentle music) One such place I stumbled upon was the small town of Wymore, not 10 miles north of the Kansas/Nebraska border.

Wymore is known as the Welsh capital of the Great Plains.

Wymore more caught my attention because I myself have Welsh heritage.

Arthur Jones is a very Welsh name.

(gentle music) I knew I wanted to learn more.

Fortunately for me, Wymore is home to the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Center, who are more than willing to teach me about their town.

(gentle music) Robert Humphries, the director of the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Center and native of Wales came down from Wisconsin to show me around.

(gentle music) - Su'mae, Arthur.

- Robert, how's it going?

(Robert speaking in Welsh) (Robert speaking in Welsh) Wymore, Nebraska.

- What'd you say there?

Was that Welsh?

- That's right.

That's Welsh.

Or as we say in our language (speaking in Welsh).

And I just welcomed you to the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Center right here in Wymore, Nebraska.

- [Narrator] Robert chose to greet me in front of the large mural on the side of the Heritage Center.

- It symbolizes the journey of the Welsh to the Great Plains.

So on the right hand side, you see Wales on the eastern side of the Atlantic there with the mountains, and you see some people waving goodbye to their family members who have sailed for North America.

And then you see the prairies and farms, and of course, the iconic windmills of the Great Plains.

- [Narrator] Robert is a scholar of Welsh immigration to North America, but also has a wealth of knowledge about his home country.

Inside the Heritage Center lies one of the only archives within the United States, chronicling Welsh immigration to North America.

- This is (speaking in Welsh), the archive for Welsh America.

We have a lot of original documents, periodicals, manuscripts, and photographs.

And this is one of the most treasured artifacts here in our archive that speaks specifically to the experience of the Welsh here in Wymore.

Many of them made a promise that they would not consume alcohol or encourage others to drink alcohol.

You see the pledge in Welsh, and then it is followed by the names of the congregation.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] The other portion of the Heritage Center is the museum.

(upbeat music) The museum recounts the beginnings of what became the town of Wymore.

(upbeat music) The area was originally an Otoe and Missouri Tribe reservation, but these tribes were forcefully removed and sent south to Oklahoma to make room for the large influx of incoming settlers spurred by the cheap land promised by the Homestead Act.

(upbeat music) The settlers were primarily of Welsh, German and Czech descent.

(upbeat music) An enterprising man by the name of Samuel Wymore told the CBQ Railroad Company that they could build on the land he owned as long as they named the town after him.

(upbeat music) CBQ agreed, so Samuel Wymore donated the land, and the railroad began construction.

- My great-uncle came to begin with because he had been working in the slate mines in Vermont.

- [Narrator] Janey Williams Ruder is a longtime museum volunteer whose family settled here during the beginnings of Wymore.

- Then he came to buy land and have a farm here.

And my grandmother wrote and said, "My two sons, Isaac and Richard "would like to come to America.

"Could they live with you "and help you with the farm until they can find work?"

And this is the way a lot of people came.

- [Narrator] The museum is full of artifacts that people have donated over the years.

There are Welsh love spoons.

(upbeat music) In old Wales, these spoons were given to someone you wanted to marry.

The man would carve out an ornate spoon and include symbols that he felt represented the relationship.

(upbeat music) There are photos and documents from the Bethel Church, a culturally important place where the Welsh people of the town would often meet.

(upbeat music) (church bells ringing) The largest artifact can be found in Wymore's McCandless Park.

The restored Pleasant View one room schoolhouse began in the early 1900s and at first spoke only Welsh.

That soon changed with an influx of students who spoke other languages.

- I would say it was right after the first World War.

- Okay.

- You know, people said, we don't wanna be any different.

They just wanted to be Americans.

- [Arthur] Yeah.

- [Gwenith] So everything was translated into English.

- [Arthur] Yeah.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Gwenith Closs-Colgrove, the President of the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Center was a student at the school.

She was part of the final class.

Her birthday was still up on the schedule.

- [Gwenith] She still has my birthday here.

- [Arthur] Oh, that's your birthday?

- [Gwenith] That's my birthday, December 22nd.

So it closed in 1960.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] She even remembered where her desk was.

- [Gwenith] I was in fifth grade, and this was my desk.

(gentle music) Now I can still fit in it, but it's a pretty tight fit, right?

But I remember this so well.

- [Narrator] Gwenith's father, also a student of the school, was a large reason that the Heritage Center was established.

- When they came to talk to my dad, who was the last Welsh speaker here, we thought what a wonderful history Wymore has.

And a part of that history of Wymore is the Welsh people that came here.

- [Narrator] The library within the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Center is named after Gwenith's father Ellsworth Closs.

(gentle music) Wymore, Nebraska is a place with a strong cultural foundation.

Because of people like Gwenith, Janey, and Robert.

The history of the Great Plains Welsh capital can be remembered.

Even more so, the history of Welsh immigration to the United States can be remembered.

(gentle music) This year, the North American Festival of Wales was held in Lincoln, Nebraska.

People flocked to Nebraska from around the country, continent, and even world.

- I've come to this festival for a number of years.

My family have Welsh heritage on my mother's side, and so I like to celebrate the Welsh heritage.

I enjoy singing, just the camaraderie.

- I've never been able to attend before, although I've wanted to because it's been further away and now it's only three hours from my hometown.

So I was able to drive.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] They had fresh made Welsh cakes, a tea time treat to eat alongside your hot cup of tea.

- Well, a Welsh cake, it's also sometimes called a tea cake or a baked stone, is pretty much a simple cross between a cookie and a scone.

- [Narrator] Even the kids present shared their excitement.

- We have a ton of Welsh flag mugs and stuff.

I have a mug with the the word (speaking in Welsh) (speaking Welsh) which is a small town in Wales.

- [Narrator] While sitting and enjoying my Welsh cakes and tea, taking everything in, I was transported out of the basement of a hotel into a place that tasted and sounded like home.

Yet this was a home I had never visited.

When talking to those attending, some were surprised that Nebraska would host the event.

- People were somewhat reluctant to, were saying Nebraska, how many Welsh people are there in Nebraska?

Well, we are discovering more and more how much Welsh there is here.

(gentle music) (wind rustling) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] The opening ceremony for the festival was held within the Capitol building rotunda.

Gwenith welcomed everyone on behalf of the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Center.

- What a wonderful, wonderful audience we have today for this initial flag raising in our state capital.

This is the first time we've been honored to host the North American Festival of Wales in its nearly 100 year history.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] The rotunda was full with people from Wales, Canada, and the United States.

I sat amongst a group from Alberta, Canada.

We were audience to speeches, poems and song.

(upbeat music) I found myself thinking about how my ancestors made their way to the US.

They were moving to carve out a new life, much like I was moving to begin a new job.

All those around me were in Lincoln, Nebraska this day because someone before them made the decision to move to a new place, to seek a new life.

It would've not been easy.

But according to an old Welsh adage, (speaking in Welsh) Ad-vid ah thoog wibod-eyth ah gwibod-eyth doy-theen-eb Adversity brings knowledge, and knowledge wisdom.

(choir music) (choir music) (orchestra music) (orchestra music) - [Susanna] I learned about Jun Kaneko really soon after my arrival in Omaha.

He is Omaha royalty and highly respected In the art world.

And once I became aware of his art, I now can spot it everywhere I go in the world.

I mean, it's so distinctive.

I have many friends who are visual artists or just active in the art world in general.

And when they find out that Kaneko is based in Omaha, their minds explode.

They're really excited.

(orchestra music) - [Ankush] To actually visit him in person was a fantastic opportunity to get to know a really beautiful human being and artist.

It was truly breathtaking to see the number of pieces and different works that exist in his studio.

What he's able to accomplish even over decades was mind blowing, the breath and the prolific nature of his art.

(orchestra music) - [Jennifer] The initial concept for this collaboration actually came from Sue Morris, one of our community leaders who shared with us that Jun was receiving the International Sculptors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award and suggested that maybe the Omaha Symphony should find a way to honor Jun and his incredible commitments to Omaha and to his art.

- [Ankush] And we said, "Great.

How do orchestras honor somebody like a Jun Kaneko?"

And we thought maybe the logical thing is to make a commission for him, find a composer and write a piece to honor Jun Kaneko and his artwork.

(orchestra music) - [Dani] We knew we had to involve them in the process from day one, and that meant potentially introducing them to a composer who could be just as thoughtful and intense as Jun was.

And that ended up being Andy Akiho.

(orchestra music) - [Jennifer] Jun and Ree take collaboration really seriously, and they listened for hours and hours to all of the composers that Maestro Bahl offered to them.

And I think part of Andy's appeal is they resonated with the types of work that he was doing and how different that work was.

And I think this, in some ways, his out of the box thinking resonated with them.

(contemporary music) - [Andy] This is next level collaboration, 'cause still collaborating with musicians, the percussionists, the whole orchestra, but it's also the collaboration with the actual sculptures.

I feel like they have a life of their own too, so I'm getting to know them.

And the inspiration started from day one.

The first time we came in here, it was just like instant.

And then from there, that was like the visual, like the subconscious kind of influence.

This is my ultimate type of dream projects.

These multidisciplinary, completely collaborative and good vibes.

(orchestra practicing sounds) - [Jennifer] We did not anticipate the depth of the relationship, the depth of the creativity.

And I think as an organization, that really started to come to light in the late summer of '22, where Andy is here, he is clearly in an environment that is feeding him creatively.

We're watching this relationship between Andy and Ree and Jun develop in beautiful ways.

And we're watching the ideas that he has develop.

- [Andy] I found so much inspiration in the actual sculptures that I could have created a piece, a symphony just from the sculptures, 'cause they had so much to say.

So I wanted to exhaust everything I possibly could with that and take my favorite 1% of that from the actual sculptures.

And so there's so much material that's not in there.

And that was hard to let go of, 'cause it would've been a 20-hour long piece if I would've used every idea of every sculpture that I worked with.

Then when I actually got in the weeds with the symphony part, the actual full orchestra, there was so much in me already from these sculptures that it was just flowing out for the orchestra.

Even though I was gonna try to, and this is where it was a little bit different too, I thought all the melodic material would come directly from that, but I didn't wanna force that.

I just wanted to inspire it.

So it's there, but it's not literal.

And same with the feeling of every movement.

That's what I'm saying, for me, that's how these feel, each individual movements and what they relate to and I show the pictures or whatever the pieces that inspire that, but it might not be the same for everybody, or it shouldn't be, but that's what it was for me.

- [Dani] We knew Andy was going to be inspired by Jun.

We did not necessarily anticipate, though we should have, how much that inspiration would go both ways.

So the moment these two met, it wasn't just, "Oh, this is an artist that happens to like, the composer that we suggested to him."

It was, "Oh, the artist is suggesting specific pieces that he should try and play on."

"Oh, the composer is suddenly given carte blanche to pick different pieces of art and incorporate them into the piece."

We didn't really expect that aspect of it, and it became possibly the coolest part of the work.

- [Susanna] The way that this piece was so integrated into the art and inspired by the art, the sound came from the art, the structure came from philosophy that is involved in the art.

It was just a very successful marriage.

(orchestra music) - [Jennifer] I have so much respect for his creativity.

I have so much respect for his out of the box thinking.

Not only is he an incredible musician, but he's an incredible video artist, and he has unbelievable vision that he is able to make come together in truly unique and powerful ways.

(contemporary music) - [Andy] I didn't know I was gonna be playing on the actual sculptures.

And that actually took over most of the year.

And it was crazy 'cause for several months, I didn't even think about the orchestra parts.

The music's takes me way longer to orchestrate just 'cause there's so many parts.

It just takes a lot of hard work and dedication, experimentation, all that.

(orchestra music) I hope like this experience inspired me, and Jun's work and that the energy that we brought here, I wanted it to inspire other people, too.

(contemporary music) - [Susanna] It was really inspiring to see Kaneko's art on the video screen and the head being performed, to watch Andy and the physicality that he plays with.

It was inspiring to take that to all the movements that we played.

(orchestra music) - [Dani] Andy just keeps doing this thing, where you think you know how things are going to go, and then he flips a script on you a little bit.

And I didn't expect supreme sublime beauty from Andy Akiho.

I expected groove, I expected fun, I expected a percussion like extravaganza.

I did not expect beauty.

(orchestra music) (orchestra music) (orchestra music) (orchestra music) (orchestra music) (orchestra music) (orchestra music) ♪ MUSIC ♪ KATIE FARRITOR: I grew up in a small town in Custer Country, Nebraska.

But I never thought to ask about my family's history until now.

It all started with a photograph that someone once ripped right down the middle.

KATIE: I'm Katie Farritor.

I'm back in my home town, Broken Bow, researching my family's history.

There's a picture taken by Solomon Butcher that has a really interesting story behind it of the homesteading days of my family.

And I'm here to see what I can find.

KATIE: But first, I'm going to go see my dad.

My family has owned Farritor Auto Parts since 1952.

JIM FARRITOR: That's my dad and three uncles, the others are my cousins.

I have a journal that my dad kept.

KATIE: Um, cool.

JIM: And it was mostly gave things that they did, I mean day to day stuff... KATIE: To find out the whole story of my family, I realized I needed to go back farther than the 1960's.

CAROL CHRISTEN: Let me get the Farritor files first, (file cabinet closes) and here we have the Bob Farritor writings, he must have loved to write because there are just all kinds of stories.

KATIE: My great grandfather, Robert J. Farritor was an avid Custer Co. historian.

His nephew, Chuck, wrote a book about our family history that tells the story behind the photo that was taken at our family homestead.

In the late 1800s photographer Solomon Butcher took thousands of portraits like this of the settlers of Custer County.

CARL CHRISTEN: That's where the old dugout was.

We got a picture of it somewhere, but I can't tell you where it is KATIE: It turns out, a family friend owns the land my ancestors homesteaded.

CARL: But that was the original dugout for the Farritor place.

KATIE: Awesome CARL: Then they went from there to the sod house down here on the corner.

KATIE: I'm standing on the land that my family homesteaded.

And this is exactly where Solomon Butcher took the photo.

Behind me is where the windmill featured in the photo stood.

KATIE: I've been told there's quite a story behind this photo, but first I wanted to understand what homesteading was all about.

KATIE: The Homestead National Monument in Beatrice is digitizing homestead records to allow the public to access them.

BLAKE BELL: And you can start just by typing in a last name here and we will see what comes up.

I see that we have zero matches for the name that we searched for, but there are cases where not all homestead records did make it to the National Archives.

KATIE: 1.6 million people homesteaded and it's estimated that 93 million Americans may be descended from homesteaders.

Since we didn't find my great great-grandfather we decided to check the Bureau of Land Management web site.

BLAKE: There is Robert G. Farritor.

KATIE: Great.

BLAKE: There is a reason that he did not show up in our Homestead records and that's because he actually received his land under another authority which was called the Timber Culture Act.

KATIE: Cool.

KATIE: I learned that the Timber Culture Act allowed homesteaders to claim 160 additional acres if they planted trees on one-fourth of their land.

And Robert G. Farritor did just that.

He was the 91st person to prove up on his claim.

KATIE: Now I was ready to find out more about my family's photo from historian John Carter of the Nebraska State Historical Society.

JOHN CARTER: So let's go take a look at it.

KATIE: Okay.

Great.

KATIE; John learned of my family's unique story from my distant cousin, Chuck Farritor.

Chuck kept the story within the family for many years.

But John convinced him it was worth sharing.

JOHN CARTER: Butcher came out and made this photograph and then for years it was lost, damaged, and the family had to put it back together again and it's been a family heirloom ever since.

KATIE: As my distant cousin Chuck told the story, Solomon Butcher stayed with my family for a week.

Just before he left Butcher set up his camera and took the photo.

Then he presented my great-great-grandfather with a bill.

My great-great-grandfather demanded a discount for all the food he had supplied to Mr. Butcher and his horses.

Butcher was furious.

He tore up the photograph and left.

JOHN: When Butcher stomped off, he also said, I'm gonna break the negative.

Relegate you to the dust bin of history.

Now what we learned years later was that he clearly did not break the negative.

KAREN: Okay, so this is the original negative that Solomon Butcher would have taken of your family.

When you hold it, hold it by the long edge, not by the corners.

There you go.

KATIE: Why do you think he didn't break it?

JOHN: Bottom line is Butcher was driven by his project.

He was making photographs that he was going to use to tell the narrative of settlement on the great plains.

Clearly didn't break it.

It exists to this day and you've got it in your hands right now.

KATIE: It's just really interesting.

I mean growing up in Broken Bow and not knowing any of it and then now, you know, being here and having a chance to look at everything and find out way more than I ever had cause I never asked.

♪ MUSIC ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Watch more Nebraska stories on our website, Facebook and YouTube.

(upbeat music) Nebraska Stories is funded in part by the Margaret and Martha Thomas Foundation.

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