On March 9, 1916, Pancho Villa and his troops attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing sixteen townspeople and burning the town.

250 troops of the U.S. Thirteenth Cavalry eventually drove Villa’s forces back across the border.

The Cavalry pursued Villa deep into Mexico, but were badly outnumbered by Villa’s 3,000 troops.

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1915 was the peak year for the number of horses on U.S. farms before they were replaced by tractors. About half the U.S. population lived on farms.

Cities were growing much more rapidly than rural areas due to industrialization, immigration, and The Great Migration to northern cities. By 1920, over half the U.S. population would live in cities.

Homes with electricity, plumbing, and telephones were rare, but would boom in the coming years. Automobiles were becoming commonplace, if not essential.

While the World War raged in Europe, the U.S. was focused on domestic issues.

In 1915, life had changed in the almost 300 years since the Cheneys arrived in Maryland.

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In the fall of 1912, Ned Cheney enrolled at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He joined his older brother Rollo who had attended KU for two years.

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In 1911, the Cheneys attended the Easter week performance of Handel’s Messiah at Bethany College in Lindsborg, as they had in earlier years.

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In 1910, the Cheney’s house didn’t have an indoor toilet. There were chamber pots in the bedrooms, and there was an outhouse.

Candles and oil lamps provided light. Fireplaces and wood-burning stoves supplied heat.

In spring 1910, the Cheneys remodeled and modernized their house. It would have all the modern conveniences.

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Mollie Cheney died in December 1907.

Life goes on. It seems insensitive, but so it does. School must be attended. Patients must be treated. Rollo shot Fred. Dr. Cheney and Miss Johnson went to supper.

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