Check back with this web site for additional pictures and information as they become available.

    It may not look like much, but this little toy pistol is actually responsible for the creation of Hector's Bliss. Those of you who have already read the book know that it is featured prominently in several chapters. Now safely held in its own display case, it has gone on book tour with the author. Judging by the reaction it has gotten, it is quite the star attraction of the show. You should see the expressions on people’s faces when they first see it!

     What do we know about it? It was found by a real-life elderly farmer named Paul Hubel, who has lived in the area all his life. The pistol was in the ground by a ruined sod house foundation near Goose Lake.  The exact location will remain unknown, however, because Mr. Hubel is now too ill to tell.

     How did it lead to a book? When Paul found the pistol, he showed it to his son, Jim Hubel. Like everyone who has seen it, Jim was filled with questions. Where did it come from? Who was the little boy who owned it? Why did he leave it behind? What happened to him? In speculating on these and other questions, Paul eventually mentioned that it could have been owned by a child of one of the black pioneers who once lived in the Bliss vicinity. That possibility was very intriguing to Jim because he knew almost nothing about the nearly forgotten black homesteaders of his neighborhood, despite having lived there all his life.

     The longer he thought about the toy pistol, the more fascinated with it Jim became. At a late Christmas family gathering in January, 2005 it was definitely on his mind. He pulled the author aside and discussed it at length. Before long the author also became hooked. It reminded him of old rumors he had heard long ago when he had worked in the Holt-Wheeler County areas in the course of a 31 year career with the IRS. In fact the author became more than hooked, he became obsessed.

     For the next two years the author was absorbed in research, writing, editing, and eventually publishing. The historical novel, Hector's Bliss, is the result. In a sense it was written as an attempt to answer the questions raised by the little toy pistol. Of course nobody will ever know for sure what role, if any, it played in the history of the black pioneers of Bliss. The author’s intent, nevertheless, is to tell a story that is based as much as possible on actual events as discovered by research. 

HERE IS SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS...

    Visitors to the new monument at Valley View Cemetery have occasionally reported seeing an orange placed near the stone's base. Sometimes it's fresh, sometimes it's old and shriveled. Who is placing oranges at the monument and why?

    It's not us. As near as we can suppose, it's a reference to chapter six of the book, "An Orange for Mama." In this episode little Charlie hopes to save his mother's life with the imagined power of a fresh orange, a rare and expensive sacrifice for a destitute pioneer family.

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HERE'S WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT HECTOR'S BLISS:

—  Alan Bartels, Nov/Dec 2007, Nebraska Life Magazine:
  "Entertaining and informative. Vossberg's work reflects his dogged approach to research and accuracy. Exudes insight of anthropologist, historian, archaeologist and poet."

—  Francis Moul, Ph.D., Environmental Historian, Sunday Lincoln Journal-Star:
"...well written, highly readable. An intriguing book that well deserves attention for a story that has been too long neglected."

—  David Harding, Sunday Omaha World-Herald:
"Much of what is known is thanks to the research of Dennis Vossberg, who grew up about 40 miles east of the Bliss area."

  Photos of the Black settlers in Bliss are extremely rare. This picture was provided to the author by an area resident after Hector's Bliss was published. Note that it clearly establishes integrated schools in Nebraska long before the civil rights movement of a half century later.

      ! NEW DEVELOPMENT !
                           
                            
           
    Valley View Cemetery, Southern Holt County, Nebraska — On Memorial Day morning, May 26, 2008 a granite monument was dedicated by the cemetery trustees.   A big crowd was present.  Fundraising efforts had been underway for about a year. The monument now for the first time permanently identifies the previously unmarked burial site of the Black homesteaders of Bliss. Probably the most significant contribution came from Dale and Nancy Powers of Plainview Monument Company, who donated the marker at their cost, and also contributed their time and expenses of installation. The author and trustees deeply appreciate the Powers' generocity and all others who donated and participated.

    Above, Eileen Watson and her son, Dean (left), admire the new monument after the dedication. The front face identifies the Black families of Bliss that are known at this time, including some that are in Eileen and Dean's ancestry.
                                            
    Note: The inscription on the back of the stone reads: 

"In memory of the Black settlement of former slaves who came to the Goose Lake area in the late 1800s. Some remains were re-interred here from the eroded, lost Goose Lake Cemetery in the early decades of the 1900s. Those burials are adjacent to several Black burials made here in the 1890s."

                    "Dedicated May, 2008"