This is an exterior view of the Elam Bartholomew sod house. There is also a buggy and horses in the photograph. Elam Bartholomew settled in Rooks County, Kansas, in 1874. He was born in Pennsylvania and his family moved to Ohio and then Illinois. In 1873 he became engaged to Rachel Montgomery and returned to Illinois to marry her in June 1877. They returned to Kansas in September of 1877. The Bartholomews lived on their farm on Bow Creek until 1929 when they moved to Hays. Elam Bartholomew was a well know botanist specializing in rust flora and he served as curator of the mycological museum at Fort Hays Kansas State College. He died in 1934. A diary for the years 1877 and 1878 is contained in Kansas Memory.

Date: Between 1899 and 1905