Mary Rickman Anderson Grant. In 1871, the Anderson family traveled by covered wagon to Florence, Kansas. The family stayed there while David, the husband, went to claim a homestead in present-day Harvey County, Pleasant Township, Section 26. They lived in a small sod house. The boys “slept in swinging beds hung from the cellar rafters so that they would be protected from snakes and insects.” Fuel was scarce, so like other homesteaders, the Anderson family relied on cow chips and corn stalks for cooking and heating.