John Bolt was of Dutch descent. He was born near Lafayette, Indiana on
     June 7, 1857. He and one brother shipped their teams and wagons to Beloit,
     Kansas in 1886. He took a claim in Hamilton County and later worked on the
     railroad grades and broke sod in Colorado with his team of mules. He came
     to Pratt County in 1889. John Bolt and Belle Vincent were married in Pratt
     on November 2, 1891. They lived near Coats for nearly two years where their
     first child, Mary Catherine, was born. The Bolts moved to their new home on
     the southeast quarter of section 5-29-11 in Gove Township on August 7, 1893.
     They bought their home from Mr. Clarkson Thoms, the president of the People's
     Bank in Pratt. The Oklahoma Strip opened September 16, 1893 and a great many
     people went south. However, the Bolts were too poor to travel, so they
     stayed home. The children were Mary, Maude, Kate, Jennie (died in infancy),
     Fred and Frances. All the Bolt children, except Mary were born on the family
     farm. Mary, Maude, Fred and Frances all attended school at Ashton. Mary,
     Maude and Kate attended Prairie Center school before consolidation with
     Pleasant Valley created the Ashton district. Frances graduated from Isabel
     High School in 1933.
          John and Belle Bolt celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1941
     and their sixtieth anniversary in 1951. Mr. Bolt was killed in a car wreck
     at the age of 99 on September 1, 1955, just two months short of their 65th
     wedding anniversary. Mrs. Bolt died October 6, 1963 at the age of 90.  Both
     are buried in the Cairo cemetery.
         
               
     Source: Isabel, Kansas - The First 100 Years, 1887 - 1987,  pg. 49 
     
     Submitted by: Fred Bolt